Cecil Sharp's Note 33 (1916)

No. 33. The Seeds of Love

This song, which is known to the peasant-folk all over England, is a modernized version of “The Sprig of Thyme,” the next number in this collection. According to Whittaker’s History of the Parish of Whalley, the words were written by a Mrs. Fleetwood Habergam, circa 1689, who, “undone by the extravagance, and disgraced by the vices of her husband,” soothed her sorrows by writing of her woes in the symbolism of flowers. But this, of course, is merely a case of “intrusion.”

Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), who suggests that Mrs. Habergam’s lines were originally sung to the tune of “Come open the door, sweet Betty,” prints a traditional tune noted down by Sir George Macfarren.

For other tunes set to the same or similar words, see the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Songs of the West, Traditional Tunes (Kidson), English County Songs, Ancient Irish Music, etc.

The tune printed in the text, with its octave in the penultimate phrase, is an example of a certain type of English folk-air.