I'm afraid I don't follow your reasoning Ray.

Why should the Bodleian Broadside be discounted???

It was produced by Harkness of Preston .... a well respected printer of broadsides (over 800 in the Bodleian and ,I believe, even more in Manchester Library) who definitely operated between 1840 - 1866.

The fact that it was printed by a Northern printer gives credence to the use of the Northern meaning of "lish" as explained above.

Add to this the evidence of another broadside about broom sellers coming from Germany (see above) and you could see how the lyrics gain credibility.

Unless you can produce evidence to the contrary, I will certainly continue to believe that this is the story of a young northern lad who is bowled over by a hard drinking, smooth talking, young German female broom seller.