... in approximately 1884, The Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, while teaching carols

to a party of mill-girls, began to relate the carol by Dr. H. J. Gauntlett, "Saint Joseph was a-walking," when they interrupted him, saying “'Nay ! we know one a deal better nor yond;' and, lifting up their voices, they sang, to a curious old strain,—

Sant Joseph was an old man,
And an old man was he ;
He married sweet Mary,
And a Virgin was she ...