Fair Maid in Bedlam, The

DESCRIPTION: In Moorfields a maid in Bedlam laments the absence of her lover. Her father's apprentice was sent to sea by her parents. He returns, wealthy, and hears her as he passes Bedlam. He bribes the porter and frees her. They are married in spite of her parents.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1832 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(602))
KEYWORDS: madness love marriage prison rescue father mother
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "THROUGH MOORFIELDS"
Broadwood-EnglishTraditionalSongsAndCarols, pp. 6-9, "Through Moorfields" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-FolkSongsCollectedBy-Ralph-VaughanWilliams, #113, "Through Moorfields" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #605
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Through Moorfields" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(602), "The Fair Maid in Bedlam" ("It was down in Moorfields, as I walked one day"), J. Marshall (Newcastle), 1810-1831; also Harding B 22(65), "The Distracted Maiden"; Firth b.26(457), Harding B 11(1116), "The Fair Maid in Bedlam"; Harding B 22(66), "The Distracted Maden's [sic] Lamentation"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Nancy's Complaint in Bedlam" (theme of a maid in Bedlam) and references there
File: LEB113

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