1991.1016.254

Ballad entitled, A Bold Young Farmer (Essex). Found inserted in the book, English and Scottish Ballads edited by Child, Francis James, when acquired by the museum, shelf P58 (B) . Part of the Emery Walker Library.

Poem or folk song lyric copied out by Emery Walker. Found in English and Scottish Ballads edited by F. J. Child. A Bold Young Farmer (Essex) A bold young farmer he courted me, He gained my heart & my liberty, He has gained my heart with a free good will, And I must confess I love him still. There is an inn in this same town Where my love goes and sits him down, And takes another girl on his knee. He tells her what he doesn’t tell me. It’s grief to me, I’ll tell you for why, Because she has more gold than I, But in needy time her gold shall fly, And she shall be as poor as I. There is a bird on yonder tree They say it’s blind and cannot see; I wish it had been the same with me, Before I joined his company. Go dig my grave long, wide & deep Place a marble stone at my head & feet, And in the middle a turtle dove, To show the world I died for love. Collected & set with an accompaniment by R. Vaughan Williams[i] [Footnote: [i]This folk song setting features in Vaughan Williams’s ballet ‘Old King Cole’, composed in 1923. CAW]