Queen of Hearts- (Birm) Wright broadside c.1833
[Broadside from Wright, Printer, 113, Moor-Street, Birmingham c. 1833.
This broadside was printed about 12 years later than the Pitts' "Queen of Hearts" broadside and has an extra stanza plus two changes-- one might be important-- the ship is now called the "Royal Victory" (instead of "Victory'). A ship by that name was operating in the late 1600s.
The Queen of Hearts broadside is identified by the 2nd stanza. It's ending (stanzas 7 and 8) is similar to, or a rewrite of B, The Cruel Father, where her lover is sent to sea and killed by a cannonball. Some of the intermediate stanzas as pointed out by Steve are found in Elizabeth St. Clair's "Irish Boy."Baring-Gould collected a traditional version about 1884.
R. Matteson 2017]
"The Queen of Hearts" Wright (Printer), 113, Moor-Street, Birmingham c. 1833
1. Oh my poor heart-- my heart is breaking
For a false young man or I am mistaken
He is gone to Ireland long time to tarry,
Some Irish girl I'm afraid he will marry.
2. The Queen of Hearts and the ace of sorrow,
He is here today and gone to-morrow,
Young men are plenty sweethearts few
But if my love leaves me what shall I do.
3. When he comes in, I gaze all around him,
When he goes out my poor heart goes with him,
To meet is a pleasure, to part is a sorrow,
He is here to-day and gone to-morow.
4. I wish I was on yonder mountain
Where gold & silver I could have for coun[t]ing
I could not count it for thinking on him
He is not kind to me, what makes me love him?
5. I love my father and likewise my mother,
I love my sister and also my brother
I love my friends and relations too,
I will forsake them all, and follow you.
6. My father will give me both houses and land
If I'll consent to be at his command,
At his command I never will be,
I will forsake them all, and go with thee.
7. O Billy O Billy I love thee well,
I love you better than tongue can tell,
I love thee dearly, and dare not show it,
You do the same, and no one shall know it.
8. But when her father came to hear,
That he was a courting his daughter dear,
He had him press'd and sent to sea,
To keep him from her sweet company.
9. He had not been there passing years three,
On board the ship called the Royal victory
It was his misfortune there for to fall
And killed he was by a cannon ball.