Young Roger of the Mill

DESCRIPTION: Roger, a ploughman, courts Nell. She says she prefers to marry a farmer's son. He prepares to leave, saying he has "other fish to fry": Joan loves him. Nell says she has 50 shillings; Joan has none. Roger has 40. They agree to marry and buy a cow.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1749 (_The Robin_, according to Kidson-TraditionalTunes); 1750 (Ramsay)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage rejection farming money
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "YOUNG ROGER OF THE VALLEY"
Logan-APedlarsPack, pp. 343-344, "Young Roger of the Mill" (1 text)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 66-68, "Young Roger of the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Allan Ramsay, The Tea-Table Miscellany: or, A Collection of Choice Songs, Scots and English (in four vols) (London, 1750 eleventh edition) ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. IV, pp. 379-381, "Hodge of the Mill and Buxome Nell" ("Young Roger of the mill") (1 text)
Frank Kidson, Traditional Tunes, (Oxford, 1891), pp. 66-68, "Young Roger of the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune) [Not yet indexed as Kidson-TraditionalTunes pp. 66-68]
Charles Read Beckwith, "Mummers' Wooing Plays in England" in Modern Philology, Vol. XXI, No. 3 (Feb 1924 (available online by JSTOR)), pp. 262-268, especially ll. 105-119, "Swinderby 12/31/1842" ("Madam if thoug [sic] will consent to marry") (1 text)
ST Log343 (Partial)
Roud #590
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(194), "Young Roger of the Mill" ("Young Roger of the mill, one morning very soon") , W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824
NOTES [69 words]: Logan-APedlarsPack: "This also bears the imprint of W. Armstrong, Liverpool. The Logan text is almost identical to broadside Bodleian Harding B 28(194).
The Beckwith text is an example of a song of courting and rejection inserted into a mummers' "wooing" or "plough" play. In the Beckwith text the song ends with Roger's rejection and decision to leave. For other examples and some discussion see "Sweet Moll." - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: Log343

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