The well-known Welsh air "The Ash Grove" is but another version of the
same tune; but whether the Welsh derived the air from England or _vice
versa_ is a moot point. The matter is discussed, at some length, in
Chappell's "Popular Music of the Olden Time," p. 665, to which the reader
is referred.

The air that we print is as the Headington Morris-men played it; but we
also recovered a variant of it from the Bidford dancers. The "Constant
Billy" of the Bampton men, already mentioned, is yet another variant, but
in the Æolian mode.

The words of the first verse of the Headington version were as follows:

O Constant Billy,
Shall I go with 'ee?
O when shall I see
My Billy again?

The Bampton words were different:

O my Billy, my constant Billy,
When shall I see my Billy again?
When the fishes flies over the mountains
Then you will see your Billy again.


"BLUE-EYED STRANGER."

Mr. Kidson tells us that this is a variant of "The Mill, Mill, O" in
"Orpheus Caledonius," I., p. 40 (1725). It has also some points in common