From Mr Wanstall
Collected by Francis Collinson, Aldington, 1942
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/4/22
As I sat under a Sycamore Tree
Contributed by Anne G. Gilchrist to the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Dec., 1946), p32.
From Notes and Queries, Series 3 Volume 3, No 53 (January 3rd 1863), p6
Gilchrist noted:
Another variant [of ‘I saw Three Ships’] with the “As I sat” opening (words only) as formerly sung in mid-Kent was contributed to “Notes and Queries,” 3rd series, III, 7, by “A. A.”
Here is the entry from Notes and Queries, Series 3 Volume 3, No 53 (January 3rd 1863), p6:
EXTRAORDINARY CHRISTMAS CAROL. — In a town in Mid Kent some children were going from house to house the other day, singing carols; one of them struck me as very odd ; I took down the words as well as I could collect them, which ran thus, —
“As I sat under a sycamore tree [the last three words three times]
I looked me out upon the sea,
A Christmas day in the morning.
“I saw three ships a-sailing there, [three times, as above]
The Virgin Mary and Christ they bare,
A Christmas day in the morning.
“He did whistle and she did sing [three times]
And all the bells on earth did ring,
A Christmas day in the morning.
“And now we hope to taste your cheer [three times]
And wish you all a happy new year,
A Christmas day in the morning.”
The children said there were a great many more verses, which they did not know. Has this very singular production ever been printed? The tune was that generally known among children as “A cold and frosty morning.” A. A.
A Man Who is Married
The Fox and the Bear
From Mr Ring
Collected by Francis Collinson, Bethersden, November 1942
Francis Collinson Collection COL/1/17
There was a jolly boatman
Collected by Francis Collinson, Pembury, 26th March 1952
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/5/59B
Under the title ‘The Bold Boatswain of Dover’ this song was published on broadsides in the first half of the nineteenth century by, among others, the London printers J. Pitts and J. Catnach. A Catnach printing can be viewed in an Album of Broadside Ballads, Volume 5, held by the University of Kentucky.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Collected by Francis Collinson, Pembury, 26th March 1952
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/5/59A
I am a man who’s done wrong to my parents
From Bill Rolph
Collected by Francis Collinson, St. Nicholas at Wade, 19th May 1948
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/1/21
Tune – no name
From Mrs Oliver
Collected by Francis Collinson, Bethersden
Francis Collinson Collection COL/5/10
Roud 0
I wish I wish, but it’s all in vain
The Aged Pair
From Mrs Oliver
Collected by Francis Collinson, Bethersden, 30th April 1945
Francis Collinson Collection COL/2/36