True Love Requited, or the Bailiff's Daughter of Islington is an English broadside ballad from the 17th century. It tells the story of a young couple from Islington who are separated by a seven-year apprenticeship, only to encounter each other once more along the road to London and live happily ever after. Copies of the broadside can be found in the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and Magdalene College, Cambridge. Facsimile transcriptions are also available on-line for public consumption. [1]
This ballad tells the story of a squire's son who falls in love with a bailiff's daughter in Islington. She remains coy and won't requite his love at first. His friends send him to London to become an apprentice. Seven years later, when everybody in Islington goes to a local festival, the girl dresses in "puggish" attire and runs away to London. On the road to London, she runs into the squire's son riding back to Islington. She asks him for a copper and he asks her if she knows the bailiff's daughter. She tells him that the bailiff's daughter has been dead for years and he swears to sell his horse and run off somewhere where nobody can find him. She begs him not to and reveals herself as still alive. He is happier for this news after thinking she was dead, and they are married.
The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington became an important British folk song, recorded by a number of artists.
"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional English ballad. The song lists a number of impossible tasks given to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The "Scarborough/Whittingham Fair" variant was most common in Yorkshire and Northumbria, where it was sung to various melodies, often using Dorian mode, with refrains resembling "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" and "Then she'll be a true love of mine." It appears in Traditional Tunes by Frank Kidson published in 1891, who claims to have collected it from Whitby.
"Barbara Allen" is a traditional folk song that is popular throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. It tells of how the eponymous character denies a dying man's love, then dies of grief soon after his untimely death.
"The Daemon Lover" – also known as "James Harris", "A Warning for Married Women", "The Distressed Ship Carpenter", "James Herries", "The Carpenter’s Wife", "The Banks of Italy", or "The House-Carpenter" – is a popular ballad dating from the mid-seventeenth century, when the earliest known broadside version of the ballad was entered in the Stationers' Register on 21 February 1657.
"Matty Groves", also known as "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" or "Little Musgrave", is a ballad probably originating in Northern England that describes an adulterous tryst between a young man and a noblewoman that is ended when the woman's husband discovers and kills them. It is listed as Child ballad number 81 and number 52 in the Roud Folk Song Index. This song exists in many textual variants and has several variant names. The song dates to at least 1613, and under the title Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard is one of the Child ballads collected by 19th-century American scholar Francis James Child.
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads.
"The Cruel Mother" is a murder ballad originating in England that has since become popular throughout the wider English-speaking world.
"Geordie" is an English language folk song concerning the trial of the eponymous hero whose lover pleads for his life. It is listed as Child ballad 209 and Number 90 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The ballad was traditionally sung across the English speaking world, particularly in England, Scotland and North America, and was performed with many different melodies and lyrics. In recent times, popular versions have been performed and recorded by numerous artists and groups in different languages, mostly inspired by Joan Baez's 1962 recording based on a traditional version from Somerset, England.
"Young Beichan", also known as "Lord Bateman", "Lord Bakeman", "Lord Baker", "Young Bicham" and "Young Bekie", is a traditional folk ballad categorised as Child ballad 53 and Roud 40. The earliest versions date from the late 18th century, but it is probably older, with clear parallels in ballads and folktales across Europe. The song was popular as a broadside ballad in the nineteenth century, and survived well into the twentieth century in the oral tradition in rural areas of most English speaking parts of the world, particularly in England, Scotland and Appalachia.
"The Broomfield Hill", "The Broomfield Wager" "The Merry Broomfield", "The Green Broomfield", "A Wager, a Wager", or "The West Country Wager" (Child 43, Roud 34) is a traditional English folk ballad.
"The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" is a traditional English folk song. It is numbered as Child ballad 105, and as Roud number 483.
Sir James the Rose is Child ballad 213. It was published as a broadside ballad.
"Bonnie Annie" is a folk ballad recorded from the Scottish and English traditions. Scottish texts are often called Bonnie Annie or The Green Banks of Yarrow, English texts are most often called The Banks of Green Willow. Other titles include The Undutiful Daughter, The High Banks O Yarrow, The Watery Grave, Green Willow, There Was a Rich Merchant that Lived in Strathdinah and The Merchant's Daughter.
"The Sprig of Thyme", "The Seeds of Love", "Maiden’s Lament", "Garners Gay", "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" or "Rue" is a traditional British and Irish folk ballad that uses botanical and other symbolism to warn young people of the dangers in taking false lovers. The song was first documented in 1689 and the many variants go by a large number of titles.
A Pleasant New Song Betwixt a Sailor and His Love is an English broadside ballad from the 17th century. It tells the story of a sailor who is reunited with his lover in England after a long time at sea. They vow that they were constant and true to each other while he was away, and promise to stay together in England from that moment forward. It is sung to the tune of Dulcina. Copies of the ballad can be found in the University of Glasgow Library and Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Amintor's Lamentation for Celia's Unkindness is an English broadside ballad from the 17th century that tells the story of a young man who falls in love the coy Celia who does not love him back, and leaves the country to avoid him. The ballad begins with Amintor lamenting her refusal to return his love, and concludes with Celia's response, in which she accuses Amintor of using charm and arts to try to steal her purity. Sung to the tune of "Since Celia's My Foe." Copies of the broadside can be found in the British Library and the National Library of Scotland. On-line transcriptions of the ballad are also available for public consumption.
The Sailor's Departure From His Dearest Love is an English broadside ballad from the 17th century, about a sailor and his lover saying goodbye just as the sailor's ship leaves. Sung to the tune of Adieu My Pretty One. Copies of the broadside can be found at the British Library, the University of Glasgow Library, the National Library of Scotland, and Magdalene College, Cambridge.
The Merchants Daughter of Bristow is an English broadside ballad from the 17th century about a young woman who defies her father and follows her lover to Italy, where she saves him from religious persecution and execution. Also known as Maudlin the Merchants Daughter. Copies of the broadside can be found in the British Library, the University of Glasgow Library, and Magdalene College, Cambridge.
The Golden Glove is an English folk song also popular in Scotland, Ireland and North America. It tells the tale of a young woman who falls in love with a farmer and devises a somewhat far-fetched ruse to win his love. This song is also known as Dog and Gun and The Squire of Tamworth
The Banks of Sweet Dundee is a folk song very popular with and frequently collected from traditional singers in Britain and Ireland, fairly common in North America, and also performed by revival singers and groups. A young woman escapes a forced marriage by shooting dead both the squire who is her intended husband and her uncle who attacks her.
"Early, Early in the Spring" is a British folk song that has been collected from traditional singers in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the United States. It tells the story of a sailor gone to sea whose beloved promises to wait for him. When he returns she has married a rich man and he goes back to sea with a broken heart and a bitter attitude. In a few American versions the betrayed lover is a cowboy.