Annotation:Aye Marry and Thank Ye Too

AYE, MARRY, AND THANK YE TOO. English, Air (6/8 time). E Minor. Standard tuning. One part. This air appears in Youth's Delight on the Flagelet (1697) and the ballad operas Silvia (1731), and Robin Hood (1730). Chappell could find nothing of the original ballad (the title was the burden), except the first line: "I live in the town of Lynn", though a variation appeared in the 1707 edition of Pills to purge Melacholy. Several other ballads were sung to the tune, including "'The May Morning Ramble' or 'Robin and Kate' (Pepys Collection), "'Nells Humble Petition' or 'The Maiden's kink and courteous Courtship to honest John the Joyner, whose love she earnestly desired'" (Pepys Collection), "'The London Lass's Lamentation' or "Her fear she should never be married'" (Roxburghe Collection/ Evans Collection).

Printed sources: Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), vol. 2, 1859; pg. 70.