View source for Annotation:Old Woman Poor and Blind, An

Chappell has discovered the earliest printing of the tune to be by W. Thackeray in the reign of Charles II, and later by Playford in '''Pills to purge Melacholy''' (all editions), '''The Village Opera''' (1729), and '''The Fashionable Lady''' (1730). Numerous other ballads were written to the air, including the titles "The Cries of London," "The Crafty Cracks of East Smithfield," "The Toothless Bride," "'The Deptford Plumb Cake' or 'The Four Merry Wives,'" and "Here's a Health to great Eugene." 

Printed sources: Chappell ('''Popular Music of the Olden Time'''), vol. 2, 1859; pg. 82.