J.M.B.
Long Lonkin.—Can any of your readers give me a clue to the personality of Long Lonkin, the hero of a moss-trooping ballad popular in Cumberland, which commences—
"The Lord said to his ladie,
As he mounted his horse,
Beware of Long Lonkin
That lies in the moss."
And goes on to tell how Long Lonkin crept in at "one little window" which was left unfastened, and was counselled by the wicked maiden to—
"Prick the babe in the cradle"
as the only means of bringing down the poor mother, whom he wished to kill.