Flower of France and England, O, The

DESCRIPTION: "As I was on my rambles, I came from Dover to Carlisle..." The singer goes to "The Grapes" to lodge. One of the serving girls is very pretty -- "the flower of France and England,O"; they are much attracted to each other and before long are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (Christie)
KEYWORDS: beauty courting marriage travel
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #134, p. 1, "The Flower of France and England O" (1 text plus 1 fragment, the complete text being from Christie)
Greig/Duncan4 719, "The Flower of France and England" (2 texts)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 188-190, "The Flower of France and England, O" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1881 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol II, pp. 42-43, "The Flower of France and England, O" (1 tune)
Roud #5532
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Corbshill" (tune, per Greig/Duncan4)
cf. "The Banks of Sweet Dundee" (tune, per Greig/Duncan4)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
One Night in My Parading
NOTES [138 words]: Most scholars believe that the reference in the third line of the song to the town being "full of rebels" refers to the Jacobite Rising of 1745 (and Prince Charles's army did indeed spend time in Carlisle). But there is no other hint of this, and indeed, there were earlier conflicts (going back to the Wars of the Roses and even before) which might cause the singer to find "rebels" (i.e. people who disagreed with his politics) in Carlisle. And when Bonnie Prince Charlie's army captured Carlisle, they occupied every bed and requisitioned just about everything movable. I strongly doubt that the reference is actually to 1745, because no random rambler would have been able to find a place. - RBW
Greig/Greig/Duncan4 have the "rebels" line as "The place being full of revels"; Christie, with the usual caveats, has "rebels." - BS
Last updated in version 6.6
File: Ord188

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