+The Text+ is from a broadside in the Douce Ballads, with a few
unimportant corrections from other stall-copies, as printed by Percy
and Ritson.
+The Story+ is much the same as _Lord Thomas and Fair Annet_, except in
the manner of Margaret's death.
None of the known copies of the ballad are as early in date as _The
Knight of the Burning Pestle_ (a play by Beaumont and Fletcher, first
produced, it is said, in 1611), in which the humorous old Merrythought
sings two fragments of this ballad; stanza 5 in Act II. Sc. 8, and the
first two lines of stanza 2 in Act III. Sc. 5. As there given, the lines
are slightly different.
The last four stanzas of this ballad again present the stock ending,
for which see the introduction to _Lord Lovel_. The last stanza condemns
itself.