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Sir Hugh, or the Jew’s Daughter

No: 155; variant: 155[T]

  1. Easter Day was a holiday, Of all days in the year, And all the little schoolfellows went out to play, Bat Sir William was not there.
  2. Mammma went to the Jew's wife's house, And knocked at the ring, Saying, Little Sir William, if you are there, Oh, let your mother in!
  3. The Jew's wife opened the door and said, He is not here to-day; He is with the little schoolfellows out on the green, Playing some pretty play.
  4. Mamma went to the Boyne water, That is so wide and deep, Saying, Little Sir William, if you are there, Oh, pity your mother's weep!
  5. 'How can I pity your weep, mother, And I so long in pain? For the little penknife sticks close in my heart, And the Jew's wife has me slain.
  6. 'Go home, go home, my mother dear, And prepare my winding sheet, For tomorrow morning before eight o'clock You with my body shall meet.
  7. 'And lay my Prayer-Book at my head, And my grammar at my feet, That all the little schoolfellows as they pass by May read them for my sake.'