The axe was sharp and strong,
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
A.
24. Ere.
73. the 3rd.
Motherwell has made a few changes in his printed copy.
12. This stanza is given in Notes and Queries, First Series, I, 318, by a scholar of Christ’s Hospital, who informs us that the ballad was there current about 1785–1800:
There’s fifty pounds in my right pocket,