Little Sir William (Arr. Britten)

Easter Day was a holiday

Of all the days in the year,

And all the little schoolfellows

Went out to play

But Sir William was not there.

Mamma went to the School Wife House

And knocked at the ring,

Saying, “Little Sir William if you are there,

Pray let your mother in”.

The School Wife open’d the door

And said “He is not here today.

He is with the little schoolfellows

Out on the green

Playing some pretty play!”

Mamma went to the Boyne water

That is so wide and deep, saying,

“Little Sir William, if you are there,

Oh pity your mother’s weep”.

“How can I pity your weep, mother,

And I so long in pain?

For the little penknife

Sticks close to my heart

And the School Wife hath me slain.

“Go home, go home my mother dear,

And prepare my winding-sheet,

For tomorrow morning before eight o’clock,

You with my body shall meet.

“And lay my prayer book at my head,

And my grammar at my feet,

That all the little schoolfellows as they pass by

May read them for my sake.”