The English version of this ballad, 'Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor' (D), given, with alterations, in Percy's Reliques, III, 82, 1765, is a broadside of Charles the Second's time and licensed by L'Estrange, who was censor from 1663 to 1685. This copy has become traditional in Scotland and Ireland. The Scottish traditional copy, A, given by Percy in the Reliques (unfortunately with some corrections, but these cannot have been many), is far superior, and one of the most beautiful of all ballads. 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William' (No. 74) begins in the same way, but the conclusion is that the forsaken maid dies of grief, not by the hand of her incensed rival. It is most natural that the two stories should be blended in tradition, as they are here in I (and in versions B-H). Sts. 31 ff. of I belong to 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William' (No. 74). Norse ballads (see Grundtvig, IV, 219) have the story of 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet,' coming very close in details. Those forms which are nearest to the English resemble more the mixed versions than the simple version A. A southern ballad has something of the outline of the English and Norse, and sounds like a thin echo of them.
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