Mr. Sharp has given a version in his "Folk-Songs from Somerset," No. 27.
[78.] The Dilly Song. An almost endless number of versions of this song have been taken down, and have been sent to us. It is known throughout Cornwall, and is, indeed, still sung in the chapels. When a party of amateurs performed the "Songs of the West" in Cornwall, 1890, the Dilly Song always provoked laughter among the good folk at the back of the halls. This puzzled the performers, till they learned that folk laughed because this was their familiar chapel hymn. In the text I have given the version of the words with least of the religious element in them. Here are some of the other versions—
2. "God's own Son, or Christ's Natures"; or "The strangers o'er the wide world rangers"; or "The lily-white maids."
3. "Three is all eternity"; "Three are the Thrones." The strangers are probably the Wise Men from the East.
4. "The Gospel Preachers"; "The Evangelists."
5. "The Ferryman in the Boat"; "The Nimble Waiters."
6. "The Cherubim Watchers"; "The Crucifix"; "The Cherrybird Waiters."
7. "The Crown of Heaven"; "The Seven Stars."
8. "The Great Archangel"; "The Angels"; "The Daybreak."
9. "The Nine Delights," i.e. the Joys of Mary; "The Moonshine."