Nonfiction · 1857
Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England
A collection of traditional English ballads and songs, gathered from oral tradition and old broadsides before they could be forgotten — love, death, outlaws, and the supernatural, sung for generations by people who left few other records of themselves.
Robert Bell published Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England in 1857, building on earlier collecting work by James Henry Dixon.
This Bibliomancer edition presents the complete text.
Contents
- Introduction
- The Plain-Dealing Man
- The Vanities of Life
- The Life and Age of Man
- The Young Man’s Wish
- A Dialogue Betwixt an Exciseman and Death
- Smoking Spiritualized
- Part I
- Part II
- The Masonic Hymn
- A Dialogue Between the Husbandman and Servingman
- Argument
- A Dialogue Between the Husbandman and the Servingman
- The Catholick
- The Three Knights
- The Blind Beggar of Bednall Green
- Part I
- Part II
- The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood
- The Outlandish Knight
- Lord Delaware
- Lord Bateman
- King James I. And the Tinkler
- The Keach I’ the Creel
- The Merry Broomfield; Or, the West Country Wager
- Sir John Barleycorn
- Blow the Winds, I-Ho!
- Part I
- Part II
- Part III
- Part IV
- The Berkshire Lady’s Garland
- Part I — Showing Cupid’s Conquest Over a Coy Lady of Five Thousand a Year
- Part II
- Part III
- Part IV
- The Nobleman’s Generous Kindness
- The Drunkard’s Legacy
- Part II
- Part III
- The Bowes Tragedy
- The Death of Queen Jane
- Part I
- Part II
- Part III
- Part IV
- Part V
- The Brave Earl Brand and the King of England’s Daughter
- Lady Alice
- Arthur O’bradley’s Wedding
- The Painful Plough
- The Farmer’s Son
- The Farmer’s Boy
- Wooing Song of a Yeoman of Kent’s Sonne
- The Clown’s Courtship
- Harry’s Courtship
- Harvest-Home Song
- Harvest-Home
- The Mow
- The Barley-Mow Song
- The Craven Churn-Supper Song
- The Rural Dance About the May-Pole
- The Hitchin May-Day Song
- The Helstone Furry-Day Song
- Cornish Midsummer Bonfire Song
- Suffolk Harvest-Home Song
- The Haymaker’s Song
- The Sword-Dancers’ Song
- The Sword-Dancers’ Song and Interlude
- The Maskers’ Song
- Gloucestershire Wassailers’ Song
- Fragment of the Hagmena Song
- The Greenside Wakes Song
- The Swearing-in Song or Rhyme
- Fairlop Fair Song
- As Tom Was a-Walking
- The Miller and His Sons
- Jack and Tom
- Joan’s Ale Was New
- George Ridler’s Oven
- The Carrion Crow
- The Leathern Bottel
- The Farmer’s Old Wife
- Old Wichet and His Wife
- The Jolly Waggoner
- The Yorkshire Horse-Dealer
- The King and the Countryman
- Jone O’ Greenfield’s Ramble
- Thornehagh-Moor Woods
- The Lincolnshire Poacher
- Somersetshire Hunting Song
- The Trotting Horse
- The Seeds of Love
- The Garden-Gate
- The New-Mown Hay
- The Praise of a Dairy
- The Milk-Maid’s Life
- The Milking-Pail
- The Summer’s Morning
- Old Adam
- Tobacco
- The Spanish Ladies
- Harry the Tailor
- Sir Arthur and Charming Mollee
- There Was an Old Man Came Over the Lea
- Why Should We Quarrel for Riches
- The Old Man’s Song
- Robin Hood’s Hill
- Begone Dull Care
- Full Merrily Sings the Cuckoo
- Jockey to the Fair
- Long Preston Peg
- The Old Man and His Three Sons
- A Begging We Will Go
- Footnotes
New editions
Never lose your place.
This book is free to read in full, and stays that way. Leave an address: one click confirms it and opens a free account, so your progress and bookmarks sync across every device. You'll also hear when the next restored edition enters the archive. Terminate at any time.
About this edition
The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.
Adjacent records
