"The Sheep Sheering"
Printed in: 'The Country Lasses; or, The Custom of the Manor', by Charles Johnson, 1715, Act 1, Scene 1, pp.3-4.

The text and tune also printed in:
'The Merry Musician; or, A Cure for the Spleen', Printed by H. Meere, Vol 1, 1716, pp. 234-236.


When the rose is in bud, and blue violets blow,
When the birds sing us love-songs on every bough,
When cowslips, and daisies, and daffodils spread,
And adorn and perfume the green flowery mead;
When without the plough fat oxen low,
The lads and the lasses a sheep-sheering go.

The cleanly milk-pail
Is fill'd with brown ale;
Our table's the grass;
Where we kiss and we sing,
And we dance in a ring,
And every lad has his lass.

The shepherd sheers his jolly fleece,
How much richer than that which they say was in Greece!
'Tis our cloth and our food,
And our politic blood;
'Tis the seat which our nobles all sit on;
'Tis a mine above ground,
Where our treasure is found,
'Tis the gold and the silver of Britain.




"The Sheep-Shearers"
Bodleian Library Broadside Ballad Collections: Firth b.25(209)
Printer: Evans, J. (London)
Between 1780 and 1812


There's the rosebud in June, and violets blow,
And the small birds they warble on every bough,
There's the pink and the lily, the daffy-down dilly,
To adorn and perfume the sweet roses in June.

We hold on the plough, fat oxen draw slow,
While our lads and our lasses a sheep-shearing go.

When the shepherds have shorn their jolly fat fleece,
What joys can compare, when he talks of increase;
Each lad takes his lass gently on the green grass,
To adorn and perfume, there's the rose-bud in June,

We hold, &c.

There's our clean milk pails, which foam with good ale,
At our table where plenty is found;
We whistle and sing, and we dance in a ring,
To adorn and perfume the sweet meadows in June.

Now sheep-shearing's over, and harvest draws nigh,
We'll prepare for the fields, our strength for to try;
We'll reap and then mow, then we'll plough and sow,
To adorn and perfume the sweet meadows in June.

Now our barns they are full, and our fields they are bare,
We must thrash for the market, and our ground we must till;
We must reap and then mow, next plough and then sow,
To adorn and perfume, 'till June does return.



"Sheep Shearing Song"
Sung by farmer William King to Cecil Sharp at Castle of Comfort, Mendip, Somerset on 15 April 1904. 
Published in: Folk Songs from Somerset 1, 1904, pp.36-37.

1
It's a rosebud in June, and violets in full bloom,
And the small birds singing love songs on each spray.
We'll pipe and we'll sing, Love,
We'll dance in a ring, Love,
When each lad takes his lass
All on the green grass,
And it's all to plough where the fat oxen graze low
And the lads and the lasses to sheep shearing go.

2
When we have a-sheared all our jolly, jolly sheep,
What joy can be greater than to talk of their increase?
We'll pipe and we'll sing, Love,
We'll dance in a ring, Love,
When each lad takes his lass
All on the green grass,
And it's all to plough where the fat oxen graze low
And the lads and the lasses to sheep shearing go.

3
With the lily-white pail filled full of brown ale,
Our table, our table is all on the green grass;
We'll pipe and we'll sing, Love,
We'll dance in a ring, Love,
When each lad takes his lass
All on the green grass,
And it's all to plough where the fat oxen graze low
And the lads and the lasses to sheep shearing go.


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