Sheffield Apprentice, The [Laws O39]

DESCRIPTION: The singer abandons his work in London to go to Holland. His new mistress proposes marriage. He refuses her; he is already engaged. His mistress plants evidence on him and has him condemned as a thief. He bids his Polly farewell and is hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1804
KEYWORDS: travel courting farewell trick lie execution apprentice
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(Lond),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (33 citations):
Laws O39, "The Sheffield Apprentice"
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "SHEFFIELD APPRENTICE, THE"
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 131-132, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text)
Gray-SongsAndBalladsOfTheMaineLumberjacks, pp. 90-93, "The Prentice Boy's Love for Mary" (1 text)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 94-96, "In the Town of Oxford" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 55, "The Holland Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 80, "Way Up in Sofield (or, The Sheffield Apprentice)"; 152, "The Sheffield 'Prentice" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 83, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 120, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 120, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 70, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 80, "The Sheffield Prentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 57, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, pp. 80-81, "Farewell, Lovely Polly" (1 text)
Dean-FlyingCloud, pp. 18-19. "The Apprentice Boy" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 16, "The Sherfield (sic.) Apprentice" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 97, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #33, "Sheffied Apprentice" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol2, pp. 56-57, "Soefield" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H31, p. 411, "The 'Prentice Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang, pp. 192-194, "The Sheffield 'Prentice Boy" ( text)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #45, p. 2, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 998, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (18 texts, 12 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 421-422, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
OShaughnessy-YellowbellyBalladsPart2 45, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #141, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 203-206, "The Sheffield Prentice" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 17, "The Sheffield Prentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 709-710, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 132, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 244-245, "Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text)
Sedley/Carthy-WhoKilledCockRobin, pp. 133-135, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 489, SHEFFAPP*
Roud #399
RECORDINGS:
John Connors, "Lonely Sarah" (on MUNFLA-Leach)
George Reid, "The Sheffield Apprentice" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(23), "Sheffield Apprentice," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Firth b.26(316), Firth b.34(270), Firth b.26(499), Harding B 11(624), Harding B 15(281a), "Sheffield Apprentice"; 2806 c.16(20), Harding B 11(3489), Firth b.34(269), Harding B 25(1763), Harding B 17(282a), Harding B 28(235), Harding B 28(249), Harding B 11(4098), Harding B 11(3490)[a few illegible words], Harding B 15(282a), Harding B 20(127), "[The] Sheffield 'Prentice"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Child Owlet" [Child 291]
cf. "Nairn's River Banks" (tune, per Greig/Duncan5)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Was Brought Up in Cornwall
The Apprentice Boy
Farewell My Dearest Polly
NOTES [15 words]: Compare this story to the biblical tale of Joseph and Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:1-20) - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: LO39

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