By Chance It Was

DESCRIPTION: "By chance it was I met my love, It did me much surprise." They encounter each other among the flowers. He asks why she is coy. They go to watch their flocks. He must serve three more years, but when it is done, they will marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1770 (The Court of Apollo, Being a Collection of New Songs)
KEYWORDS: love courting
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Baring-Gould/Sheppard-SongsOfTheWest2ndEd, #1, "By Chance It Was" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6901
NOTES [85 words]: This is so "pastoral" that it makes me want to scrape off my shoes.
Baring-Gould/Sheppard-SongsOfTheWest2ndEd found this in "The Court of Apollo," which claims to be a collection of new songs, and is from 1770, but Baring-Gould et al think it more likely that it is from the reign of James I or Charles I, i.e. 1603-1649. I'll admit that the language seems a bit older than 1770, but that was probably just an attempt to be flowery. It does not sound old enough to belong to the early seventeenth century. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: BGFS001

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography