Hi Steve,

Ossian's Folksongs and Ballads of Ireland, Vol. 2 indicates the following:

Although the words are in apoem by W.B. Yeats in a publication of 1889, a song called 'The Rambling Boys of Pleasure' was composed in the 18th century. Its first verse goes: 'It's down in Sally's garden O, there hangs rosies three.' Yeats certainly found his inspiration in these lines. The air is 'The Maids of Mourne Shore'.

All the best,

Mick