Death of the Beckwith Child (The Beckwith Tragedy)

DESCRIPTION: "My frends allow my febel toungue, If I may speak my mind, This plainly shoes to old and young The frailty of mankind." A family in Manchester had five children. Two wander off, and one is killed by a falling branch
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1773 (date of composition, according to Coffin/Cohen)
KEYWORDS: death children family burial
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jun 20, 1773 - Death of the Beckwith child
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Flanders-ChapBook Flanders-VermontChapBook, pp. 10-15, "Beckwith Tragedy" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Tristram P. Coffin and Hennig Cohen, _Folklore in America: Tales, Songs, Superstitions, Proverbs, Riddles, Games, Folk Drama and Folk Festivals_, Doubleday, 1966, pp. 78-80, "The Death of the Beckwith Child" (1 text, with the original peculiar orthography preserved)
Roud #4672
File: CoCo078

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