Samuel Pepys in his Diary under the date of January 2nd 1665, speaks of the singing of "Barbara Allen". The English and Scotts both claim the original ballad in different versions, and both versions were brought over to the US by the earliest settlers. Since then there have been countless variations (some 98 are found in Virginia alone). The tune is traditional. The last two verses of this ballad correspond to the last verses of "Lord Lovell" except that in this case the roles are reversed and the rose grows from the man and the briar from the woman. It is in Child as #84 and in the Roud Folk Song index as #54. This ballad, along with "Edward" and "Lord Randall" usually comprise the English Traditional Ballad section of most English literature anthologies. Following the example of Francis Child, they were presented with lyrics only. We had to discover the collections of Cecil Sharp and Bertrand Bronson to find the relevant melodies. It has also been printed in The Burl Ives Songbook, Lomax's Folk Songs of North America, Sharp's 100 English Folk Songs and Sharp's English Folk Songs in the Southern Appalachians.