Little is known about this song, but the theme of a soldier going off to war is common enough.  A Scottish version is ‘Farweel Lassie, I maun leave ye’ or ‘The Harvest Shearin’.  Cecil Sharp found a Somerset version with the following words:

As William and Mary sat reposing
Under the banks of primeroses
Marching through the field of battle
Where we heard the cannons rattle.
Love Farewell

Now don’t you hear the colonel crying
Drums a-beating, colours flying,
Marching through the field of battle
Where we heard the cannons rattle.
Love Farewell

Now it’s every man in front make ready
Every man behind be steady.
Every man with a flask of powder
With his firelock over his shoulder.

Now the mother cries ‘It’s do not rob me
Never take my daughter from me
For if I do I will torment you
After death my ghost will haunt you.

Now it’s on the seas we must be rolling,
From fair France and from fair Poland
For to reign to reign victorious
After death our names will be glorious.

Notes by Gwilym Davies 3 April 2016