HENRY MARTYN
The Text is from a copy taken down from North Devon tradition by the Rev. S. Baring Gould, and printed by Child; since when other versions have been found still in circulation in England. A Sussex version, though perhaps derived from a Catnach broadside, is given in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, vol. i. 162.
The Story.—This ballad is undoubtedly a degenerate version of the preceding, Sir Andrew Barton, of which name, as Child says, Henry Martyn would be no extraordinary corruption. It is given here as an instance of the fate which awaits a popular ballad in the process of being sung to pieces.