From Mrs Oliver
Collected by Francis Collinson, Bethersden
Francis Collinson Collection COL/2/7
This is a fragment of a song usually known as ‘Hal the Woodman’, which appeared on nineteenth century broadsides by printers including Catnach, Fortey, Harkness and Pitts – see for example this broadsheet from the Frank Kidson collection https://archives.vwml.org/records/FK/10/126/3.
According to the Monthly Supplement to the Musical Library, August 1834, the words were written by dramatist William Pearce, the music by singer, musician and composer Thomas Linley (1733-1795).
The full words are:
- Stay, traveller, tarry here to-night,
The rain yet beats, the wind is loud;
The moon, too, has withdrawn her light,
And gone to sleep behind a cloud. - ‘Tis seven long miles across the moor,
And should you chance to go astray,
You’ll meet, I fear, no friendly door,
Nor soul to tell the ready way. - Come, dearest Kate, our meal prepare,
This stranger shall partake our best,
A cake and rasher be his fare,
With ale that makes the weary blest. - Approach the hearth, there take a place,
And till the hour of rest draws nigh,
Of Robin Hood and Chevy-Chace.
We’ll sing, then to our pallets hie. - Had I the means, I’d use you well;
‘Tis little that I have to boast:
Yet should you of this cottage tell,
Say Hal the Woodman was your host.
My thanks to Steve Gardham who identified this as the source of Kate Oliver’s words.