'The Cambrick Shirt; Gammer Gurton's Garland, by Joseph Ritson, London, 1793; Child 2- Version G
[The version from Gammer Gurton's Garland in 1793 with the "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" refrain is remarkably close to the version we know today and internationally as "Scarborough Fair," popularized by Simon and Garfunkel. In 1965 Paul Simon learned the song from Martin McCarthy in London. McCarthy's arrangement was taken from Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's songbook. We know that it came from Mark Anderson, a retired lead-miner, at Middleton-in-Teasdale, Yorkshire, 1947 (Malcolm Douglas). The first text and music version under this title was published by Kidson in 1891.
Child's Version E came from the 1810 edition of Gammer Gurton's Garland. In the 1866 edition it says: "Gammer Gurton's Garland, or, The Nursery Parnassus: a choice collection of pretty songs and verses for the amusement of all little good children who can neither read nor run" was originally issued at Stockton, as a small twopenny brochure, in 32mo, without a date, "printed by and for R. Christopher." Sir Harris Nicholas says it appeared in the year 1783, "one of the most prolific of Ritson's pen." Haslewood is of opinion that it appeared about the same period as " The Bishopric Garland, or Durham Minstrel," which was printed at Stockton for the same R. Christopher in 1784. " Gammer Gurton's Garland " was again printed, with additions, 1809, in 8vo. This little work, a great favourite with those for whose amusement it was compiled, has been more than once reprinted since."
The Ritson mentioned above is the author Joseph Ritson, 1752-1803. Child scholar Bertrand H. Bronson wrote a book about him titled, Joseph Ritson, Scholar-at-Arms in 1938. Here's a brief biography from Answers:
"Although he scraped a living as a conveyancer, Ritson's real preoccupations were with his antiquarian researches and writing, and he quickly amassed an unparalleled knowledge and collection of early British poetry and song, which at the time had been neglected by other scholars. His undoubted strengths as gatherer and annotator resulted in a number of valuable publications on his chosen subjects, often issued at his own expense. On a personal level, however, Ritson had definite problems, and he publicly attacked a number of other authorities—particularly Warton (History of English Poetry), Pinkerton, and Percy—for their errors and what he saw as their slapdash and dishonest editorial methods. These attacks were so vehemently worded and so personally abusive that, despite often being right in point of fact, he made few friends and many enemies. Combined with his other personal peculiarities—vegetarianism and atheism included—Ritson's pedantry and obsessive behaviour meant that when he died after a brief spell of ‘madness’ he was not much mourned. In hindsight, there is no doubt that his public strictures on the likes of Pinkerton and Percy forced editors of the time and later to be more careful in the way they handled and presented their sources, and he thus contributed a fair amount in the development of scholarly method which is now taken for granted. His main publications in folklore related fields are: A Select Collection of English Songs (1783), Gammer Gurton's Garland (c.1783), Ancient Songs from the Time of King Henry III to the Revolution (1792), The English Anthology (1793), Scotish Songs (1794), Robin Hood (1795)."
R. Matteson 2011]
The Cambrick Shirt- Gammer Gurton's Garland, p. 3, 1810 (originally 1783) by Joseph Ritson, 1752-1803.
1 'Can you make me a cambrick shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without any seam or needle work?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
2 'Can you wash it in yonder well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Where never sprung water nor rain ever fell?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
3 'Can you dry it on yonder thorn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
4 'Now you have askd me questions three,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
I hope you'll answer as many for me.
And you shall be a true lover of mine
5 'Can you find me an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Between the salt water and the sea sand?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
6 'Can you plow it with a ram's horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And sow it all over with one pepper corn?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
7 'Can you reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And bind it up with a peacock's feather?
And you shall be a true lover of mine
8 'When you have done, and finishd your work,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Then come to me for your cambrick shirt.'
And you shall be a true lover of mine