<Li> There is a reference to "the lily - white boy" in W.H. Auden's poem As I Walked Out One Evening . </Li> <Li> The song is referred to in the famous Aubrey - Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, specifically on pg 271 of Post Captain . </Li> <Li> Twelve of Anthea Fraser's novels featuring fictional detective David Webb reference lines of the song . </Li> <Li> The song is sung by Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols preceding her murder in Alan Moore's From Hell . Though there is no record of Nichols knowing the song or being known to sing it, Moore admits in his annotations that he included the song to tie into the book's theme of the pagan symbolism of Britain - as well as it being a song likely to be sung by a citizen of London in the 1800s . </Li>

I ll sing you one song green grow the rushes o