Several contributors to this thread have frequently pointed out the fact that, like any other genre, there was a wide range of subject, quality, sources, inspiration used to produce the matter that appeared on street literature. We have on many occasions agreed that the overall quality of material put out on broadsides is certainly not to modern tastes. The evidence is there in the songs themselves for all to see. They certainly used set formulae and many examples of this continued onto the oral versions we now call folksongs. That doesn't exclude the fact that some of them were very creative and talented.

'sailors, soldiers..... were in town and accessible, they surely would have been regarded as a rich source of material.' Nobody is denying this.