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Full text of "Popular music of the olden time : a collection of ancient songs, ballads, and dance tunes, illustrative of the national music of England : with short introductions to the different reigns, and notices of the airs from writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries : also a short account of the minstrels"

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POPULAR    MUSIC 

OF    THK 

OLDEN    TIME; 


A    COLLECTION    OF 


ANCIENT     SONGS,     BALLADS, 

AND 

DANCE     TUNES, 

ILLUSTRATIVE  OF  THE 

NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    ENGLAND 

WITH     SHORT     INTRODUCTIONS    TO    THE     DIFFERENT     REIGNS, 

AND   NOTICES   OF   THE   AIRS    FROM    WRITERS   OF   THE 

SIXTEENTH  AND  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURIES. 

ALSO 

A   SHORT  ACCOUNT   OF   THE    MINSTRELS. 

BY 

W.  CHAPPELL,  F.S.A. 

THE  WHOLE  OF  THE  AJIJS  HARMONIZED  BY  G.  A    M.U'KAIIKKN. 

VO  L.    I. 


'Print  Mint  illi  An^rcaiM  roivrntm  suavissimi  qiiiciem,  ac  elp«intes." 

Thmmirns  Tfnrmniiiriix  r.At'iiFXfl vi.   n»i>;rnii, 


LONDON: 
CRAMKR,    BKALK,    &•    CHAPPET.L,    20!.    REGENT    STIiEET. 


ML 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

PAGB 

Minstrelsy  from  the  Saxon  period  to  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  .1 

Music  of  the  middle  ages,  and  Music  in  England  to  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  11 
English  Minstrelsy  from  1270  to  1480,  and  the  gradual  extinction  of  the  old  Minstrels  28 
Introduction  to  the  reigns  of  Henry  VII.,  Henry  VIII.,  Edward  VI.,  and  Queen  Mary  48 

Songs  and  ballads  of  ditto  .....  5f3  to  97 

< 

Introduction  to  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ....  98 

Songs  and  ballads  of  ditto  .....  110  to  243 

Introduction  to  the  reign  of  James  I,         .  .  .  .  .  244 

Songs  and  ballads  of  the  reigns  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  .  .          254  to  ,384 


INTRODUCTION. 


IT  is  now  nearly  twenty  years  since  the  publication  of  my  collection  of 
National  English  Airs  (the  first  of  the  kind),  and  about  fourteen  since  the  edition 
was  exhausted.  In  the  interval,  I  found  such  numerous  notices  of  music  and 
ballads  in  old  English  books,  that  nearly  every  volume  supplied  some  fresh 
illustration  of  my  subject.  If  "  Sternhold  and  Hopkins"  was  at  hand — 
the  title-page  told  that  the  psalms  were  penned  for  the  "  laying  apart  of  all 
ungodly  songs  and  ballads,"  and  the  translation  furnished  a  list  of  musical 
instruments  in  use  at  the  time  it  was  made :  if  Myles  Coverdale's  Ghostly 
Psalms — in  the  preface  he  alludes  to  the  ballads  of  our  courtiers,  to  the 
whistling  of  our  carters  and  ploughmen,  and  recommends  young  women  at  the 
distaff  and  spinning-wheel  to  forsake  their  "  hey,  nonny,  nonny — hey,  trolly,  lolly, 
and  such  like  fantasies;"  thus  shewing  what  were  the  usual  burdens  of  their 
songs.  Even  in  the  twelfth  century,  Abbot  Ailred's,  or  Ethelred's,  reprehension 
of  the  singers  gives  so  lively  a  picture  of  their  airs  and  graces,  as  to  resemble  an 
exaggerated  description  of  opera-singing  at  the  present  day ;  and,  if  still  receding 
in  point  of  date,  in  the  life  of  St.  Aldhelm,  or  Oldham,  we  find  that,  in  order  to 
ingratiate  himself  with  the  lower  orders,  and  induce  them  to  listen  to  serious 
subjects,  he  adopted  the  expedient  of  dressing  himself  like  a  minstrel,  and  first 
sang  to  them  their  popular  songs. 

If  something  was  to  be  gleaned  from  works  of  this  order,  how  much  more  from 
the  comedies  and  other  pictures  of  English  life  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  !  I  resolved,  therefore,  to  defer  the  re-publication  for  a  few  years,  arid 
then  found  the  increase  of  materials  so  great,  that  it  became  easier  to  re-write  than 
to  make  additions.  Hence  the  change  of  title  to  the  work. 

Since  my  former  publication,  also,  I  have  been  favoured  with  access  to  the 
ballads  collected  by  Pepys,  the  well-known  diarist ;  and  the  nearly  equally  cele- 
brated "  Roxburghe  Collection"  (formed  by  Robert,  Earl  of  Oxford,  and  increased 
by  subsequent  possessors)  has  been  added  to  the  library  of  the  British  Museum. 
These  and  other  advantages,  such  as  the  permission  to  examine  and  make  extracts 
from  the  registers  of  the  Stationers'  Company  (through  the  liberality  of  the 
governing  body) ,  have  induced  me  to  attempt  a  chronological  arrangement  of  the 
airs.  Such  an  arrangement  is  necessarily  imperfect,  on  account  of  the  impossi- 
bility of  tracing  the  exact  dates  of  tunes  by  unknown  authors ;  but  in  every  case 
the  reader  has  before  him  the  evidence  upon  which  the  classification  has  been 
founded. 


Yi.  INTRODUCTION. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  registers  of  the  Company  of  Stationers  would 
furnish  a  complete  list  of  ballads  and  ballad-printers,  but,  having  seen  all  the 
entries  from  1577  to  1799,  I  should  say  that  not  more  than  one  out  of  every 
hundred  ballads  was  registered.  The  names  of  some  of  the  printers  are  not  to 
be  found  in  the  registers. 

It  appears  from  an  entry  referring  to  the  "  white  book"  of  the  Company 
(which  is  not  now  existing),  that  seven  hundred  and  ninety-six  ballads  were  left 
in  the  council-chamber  of  the  Company  at  the  end  of  the  year  1560,  to  be  handed 
over  to  the  new  Wardens,  and  at  the  same  time  but  forty-four  books. 

Webbe,  in  a  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie,  printed  in  1586,  speaks  of  "  the 
un-countable  rabble  of  ryming  ballet-makers  and  compylers  of  senseless  sonnets," 
and  adds,  "  there  is  not  anie  tune  or  stroke  which  may  be  sung  or  plaide  on 
instruments,  which  hath  not  some  poetical  ditties  framed  according  to  the  numbers 
thereof :  some  to  Rogero,  some  to  Trenchmore,  to  Downright  Squire,  to  galliardes, 
to  pavines,  to  jygges,  to  brawles,  to  all  manner  of  tunes ;  which  every  fidler  knows 
better  than  myself,  and  therefore  I  will  let  them  passe."  Here  the  class  of  music 
is  named  with  which  old  English  ditties  were  usually  coupled — dance  and  ballad 
tunes.  The  great  musicians  of  Elizabeth's  reign  did  not  often  compose  airs  of 
the  short  and  rhythmical  character  required  for  ballads.  These  were  chiefly  the 
productions  of  older  musicians,  or  of  those  of  lower  grade,  and  some  of  ordinary 
fiddlers  and  pipers.  The  Frog  Galliard  is  the  only  instance  I  know  of  a  popular 
ballad- tune  to  be  traced  to  "a  celebrated  composer  of  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  scholastic  music  then  in  vogue  was  of  a  wholly  different  character. 
Point  and  counterpoint,  fugue  and  the  ingenious  working  of  parts,  were  the  great 
objects  of  study,  and  rhythmical  melody  was  but  lightly  esteemed. 

In  the  reigns  of  James  I.  and  Charles  L,  we  find  a  few  "  new  court  tunes" 
employed  for  ballads,  but  it  was  not  until  Charles  II.  ascended  the  throne  that 
composers  of  high  repute  commenced,  or  re-commenced,  the  writing  of  simple 
airs,  and  then  but  sparingly.  Matthew  Locke's  "  The  delights  of  the  bottle"  is 
perhaps  the  first  song  composed  for  the  stage,  that  supplied  a  tune  to  ballads. 

My  former  publication  contained  two  hundred  and  forty-five  airs  ;  the  present 
number  exceeds  four  hundred.  Of  these,  two  hundred  are  contained  in  the  first 
volume,  which  extends  no  further  than  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  This  portion  of 
the  work  may  be  considered  as  a  collection  ;  but  the  number  of  airs  extant  of  later 
date  is  so  much  larger  than  of  the  earlier  period,  that  the  second  volume  can  be 
viewed  only  in  the  light  of  a  selection.  To  have  made  it  upon  the  same  scale  as  the 
first  would  have  occupied  at  least  three  volumes  instead  of  one.  My  endeavour 
has  therefore  been,  to  give  as  much  variety  of  character  as  possible,  but  especially 
to  include  those  airs  which  were  popular  as  ballad-tunes.  Some  of  those  contained 
in  the  old  collection  have  now  given  place  to  others  of  more  general  interest,  but 
more  than  two  hundred  are  retained.  Every  air  has  been  re-harmonized,  upon  a 
simple  and  consistent  plan, — the  introductions  to  the  various  reigns  have  been 
added, — and  nearly  every  line  in  the  book  has  been  re-written. 

I  have  been  at  some  trouble  to  trace  to  its  origin  the  assertion  that  the  English 


INTRODUCTION.  vii. 

have  no  national  music.  It  is  extraordinary  that  such  a  report  should  have 
obtained  credence,  for  England  may  safely  challenge  any  nation  not  only  to  pro- 
duce as  much,  but  also  to  give  the  same  satisfactory  proofs  of  antiquity.  The 
report  seems  to  have  gained  ground  from  the  unsatisfactory  selection  of  English 
airs  in  Dr.  Crotch's  Specimens  of  various  Styles  of  Music ;  but  the  national  music 
in  that  work  was  supplied  by  Malchair,  a  Spanish  violin-player  at  Oxford,  whose 
authority  Crotch  therein  quotes.  It  is  perhaps  not  generally  known  that  at  the 
time  of  the  publication  Dr.  Crotch  was  but  nineteen  years  of  age.  No  collection 
of  English  airs  had  at  that  time  been  made  to  guide  Malchair,  and  he  followed 
the  dictum  of  Dr.  Burney  in  such  passages  as  the  following : — 

"It  is  related  by  Giovanni  Battista  Donado  that  the  Turks  have  a  limited 
number  of  tunes,  to  which  the  poets  of  their  country  have  continued  to  write  for 
ages  ;  and  the  vocal  music  of  our  own  country  seems  long  to  have  been  equally 
circumscribed :  for,  till  the  last  century,  it  seems  as  if  the  number  of  our  secular 
and  popular  melodies  did  not  greatly  exceed  that  of  the  Turks."  In  a  note,  he 
adds,  that  the  tunes  of  the  Turks  were  in  all  twenty-four,  which  were  to  depict 
melancholy,  joy,  or  fury, — to  be  mellifluous  or  amorous.  (History,  ii.  553.) 

Again,  in  Shakespeare's  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  when  Bottom  has  been 
turned  into  an  ass,  and  says  "  I  have  a  reasonable  good  ear  in  music ;  let  me  have 
tongs  and  bones,"  the  stage  direction  is  "  Musick  tongs,  Rural  Music."  Burney 
inverts  the  stage  direction,  and  adds  "  Poker  and  tongs,  marrowbones  and  cleavers, 
salt-box,  hurdy-gurdy,  &c.,  are  the  old  national  instruments  of  our  island." 
(iii.  335.) 

Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  published  a  letter  on  French  music,  which  he  summed 
up  by  telling  his  countrymen  that  "  their  harmony  was  abominable ;  their  airs 
were  not  airs  ;  their  recitative  was  not  recitative  ;  that  they  had  no  music,  and 
could  not  have  any."  (Rousseau,  Ecrits  sur  la  Mtisique,  Paris,  edit.  1823, 
p.  312.)  Dr.  Burney  seems  to  have  improved  upon  this  model,  for  Rousseau  did 
not  resort  to  misquotation  to  prove  his  case,  but  Dr.  Burney's  History  is  one 
continuous  misrepresentation  of  English  music  and  musicians,  only  rendered 
plausible  by  misquotation  of  every  kind. 

The  effect  of  the  misquotation  is  that  he  has  been  believed ;  and  passages  as 
absurd  as  the  following  have  been  copied  by  writers  who  have  relied  upon  his 
authority  : — 

"  The  low  state  of  our  regal  music  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. ,  1530,  may  be 
gathered  from  the  accounts  given  in  Hall's  and  Hollinshed's  Chronicles,  of  a  masque 
at  Cardinal  Wolsey's  palace,  Whitehall,  where  the  King  was  entertained  with 
'  a  concert  of  drums  and  fifes.'  But  this  was  soft  music  compared  with  that  of 
his  heroic  daughter  Elizabeth,  who,  according  to  Hentzner,  used  to  be  regaled 
during  dinner  '  with  twelve  trumpets  and  two  kettle-drums;  which,  together  with 
fifes,  cornets,  and  side-drums,  made  the  hall  ring  for  half  an  hour  together.' '' 
(History,  iii.  143.) 

There  is  nothing  of  the  kind  in  the  books  Dr.  Burney  pretends  to  quote.  The 
account  of  the  chroniclers  is  of  Henry  the  Eighth's  landing  at  Wolsey's  palace, 


viii.  INTRODUCTION. 

where,  by  a  preconcerted  arrangement,  "  divers  chambers"  (short  cannon  that 
made  a  loud  report)  were  let  off,  and  he  was  conducted  into  the  hall  with  "  such 
a  noise  of  drums  and  flutes  as  seldom  had  been  heard  the  like,"  for  the  purpose 
of  surprising  the  Cardinal  and  the  masquers.  Not  a  word  of  the  music  of  the 
masque. 

As  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  Hentzner  describes  only  the  military  music  to  give  notice 
in  the  palace  that  dinner  was  being  carried  in.  Music  then  answered  the  purpose 
of  the  dinner-bell.  He  says  "  the  queen  dines  and  sups  alone." 

Burney  carries  his  depreciation  of  English  authors  systematically  throughout 
his  work.  It  might  be  supposed  that  he  would  have  allowed  an  author  of  so  early 
a  date  as  John  Cotton,  who  flourished  soon  after  Guido,  to  pass  unchallenged,  but 
he  first  misrepresents,  and  then  contradicts  him.  Burney  tells  us  that  Cotton 
ascribes  the  invention  of  neumae  erroneously  to  Guido  (ii.  144).  Now  Cotton 
speaks  of  various  modes  of  writing  music  by  the  musical  signs  called  neumae,  and 
attributes  the  last  only  to  Guido.  It  is  certain  that  Burney  read  no  more  of  the 
treatise  than  the  heading  of  a  chapter  (Quid  utilitatis  afferant  neumce  a  Guidone 
inventce),  for  he  proves  by  a  note  upon  neumse,  that  he  only  half  understood  what 
they  were.  To  any  reader  of  Cotton's  treatise,  such  misapprehension  would  have 
been  impossible.  (See  Gerbert's  Scriptores  Ecclesiastici  de  Musicd,  ii.  257.) 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  prove  that  a  writer  reviewed  works  without  reading 
them,  but  I  doubt  if  any  musician  can  now  be  found  who  believes  that  Burney 
had  examined  "  all  the  works  he  could  find"  of  Henry  Lawes,  with  the  "  care 
and  candour"  that  he  professes  ;  while  in  the  case  of  Morley's  Concert- Lessons, 
it  is  certain  that  he  passed  his  facetious  judgment  upon  them  after  scoring  only 
a  portion  of  two  parts,  the  work  being  in  six.  This  is  proved  by  his  own  manu- 
script (Addit.  MSS.  11,587,  Brit.  Mus.),  and  there  was  no  perfect  copy  of  the 
work  extant  at  the  time. 

When  Burney  tells  us  that  the  Catch  Club  sang  old  compositions  "  better  than 
the  authors  intended"  (iii.  123), — that  "  our  secular  vocal  music,  during  the  first 
years  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  seems  to  have  been  much  inferior  to  that  of  the  Church," 
and  has  no  better  proof  of  it  than  a  book  of  songs  composed  by  an  amateur  mu- 
sician, "  Thomas  Wythorne,  Gent.,"  in  1571  (iii.  119), — when  he  says  that,  in 
the  same  reign,  "  the  violin  was  hardly  known  to  the  English  in  shape  or  in 
name  !"  (iii.  143), — and  that  Playford  was  the  fast  who  published  music  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  yet  commenced  in  1653  !  (iii.  417  and  418), — he  shews  not 
only  a  desire  to  underrate,  but  also  a  deficiency  of  knowledge,  that  must  weaken 
all  confidence  in  him  as  an  historian. 

In  his  review  of  the  music  in  Elizabeth's  reign,  he  tells  us  that  "  the  art  of 
singing,  further  than  was  necessary  to  keep  a  performer  in  tune  and  time,  must 
have  been  unknown  .  .  .  solo  songs,  anthems,  and  cantatas,  being  productions  of 
later  times"  (iii.  114).  A  more  strange  misconception  could  scarcely  have  been 
penned.  No  songs  to  the  lute  ?  No  ballads  ?  If  so,  Miles  Coverdale  might  have 
spared  himself  the  trouble  of  telling  the  courtier  "  not  to  rejoice  in  his  ballads," 
and  Chaucer  should  have  represented  at  least  three  persons  as  serenading  the 


INTRODUCTION.  IX. 

carpenter's  wife,  and  not  one.  As  to  the  art  of  singing,  Dr.  Burney  has  himself 
quoted  the  description  of  John  of  Salisbury,  written  four  hundred  years  before 
Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  and  that  is  quite  enough  to  refute  the  opinion  above 
expressed ;  but,  if  more  be  required,  the  reader  will  find  it  here  in  the  long  note 
at  p.  404. 

There  was  a  proverb,  of  French  origin,  current  both  in  Latin  and  English  in 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  respecting  the  manner  of  singing  by  dif- 
ferent nations.  The  Latin  version  was  "  Galli  cantant,  Angli  jubilant,  Hispani 
plangunt,  Germani  ulutant,  Itali  caprizant:"  the  English  was  "The  French 
sing,"  or  "  The  French  pipe,  the  English  carol  [rejoice,  or  sing  merrily],  the 
Spaniards  wail,  the  Germans  howl,  the  Italians  caper."  (The  allusion  to  the 
Italians  is  rather  as  to  their  unsteady  holding  of  notes  than  to  their  facility  in 
florid  singing;  caper  signifying  "a  goat.")  Burney,  without  any  authority, 
renders  it  "the  English  .shout "  (iii.  182).  Now,  although  we  have  no  modern 
English  verb  that  is  an  exact  translation  of  "  jubilare,"  the  Italian  "  giubilare" 
has  precisely  the  same  signification ;  and  Pasqualigo,  the  Venetian  ambassador 
to  Henry  VIII.,  describing  the  singing  of  the  English  choristers  in  the  King's 
chapel,  says  "  their  voices  are  really  rather  divine  than  human — non  cantavano 
ma  jubilavano,"  which  can  be  understood  only  in  a  highly  complimentary  sense. 

It  is  sufficient  for  my  present  purpose  to  say  that  Dr.  Burney's  History  is 
written  throughout  in  this  strain.  What  with  mistake,  and  what  with  misrepre- 
sentation, it  can  but  mislead  the  reader  as  to  English  music  or  musicians  ;  and 
from  the  slight  search  I  have  made  into  his  early  Italian  authorities,  I  doubt 
whether  even  that  portion  is  very  reliable.  The  public  has  now  forgotten 
the  contention  between  the  rival  histories  of  music  of  Hawkins  and  Burney,  and 
a  few  words  should  be  placed  upon  record.  Hawkins's  entire  work  was  published 
in  1776,  and  Burney's  first  volume  in  the  same  year,  his  second  in  1782,  and  his 
third  and  fourth  in  1789.  Burney  obtained  a  great  reputation  by  his  first  volume, 
which  is  upon  the  music  of  the  ancients.  In  that  he  was  assisted  by  the  researches 
of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Twining,  the  translator  of  Aristotle's  Poetics,  who  relin- 
quished his  own  projected,  and  partly- written  history,  in  Burney's  favour. 
Hawkins's  work  is  of  great  original  research,  and  he  is  a  far  more  reliable 
authority  for  fact  than  Burney :  still  the  history  is  by  no  means  so  well  digested. 
It  is  an  analysis  of  book  after  book  and  life  after  life,  fitted  rather  for  supplying 
materials  to  those  who  will  dig  them  out,  than  to  be  read  as  a  whole.  Burney's 
is  a  very  agreeably  written  book,  but  he  made  history  pleasant  by  such  lively 
sallies  as  those  I  have  quoted :  he  took  his  authorities  at  second  hand,  when  the 
originals  were  accessible ;  and  copied  especially  from  Hawkins,  without  acknowledg- 
ment, and  disguised  the  plagiarism  by  altering  the  language.  Many  of  his  appro- 
priations are  to  be  traced  by  errors  which  it  is  impossible  that  two  men  reading 
independently  could  commit.  Burney  had  but  one  love, — the  Italian  school, — and 
he  thought  the  most  minute  particulars  of  the  Italian  opera  of  his  day  worthy 
of  being  chronicled.  The  madrigal  with  him  was  a  "  many-headed  monster" 
(iii.  385)  :  French  music  was  "  displeasing  to  all  ears  but  those  of  France,"  and 


X. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Rousseau's  letter  upon  it  "  an  excellent  piece  of  musical  criticism,"  combining 
"  good  sense,  taste,  and  reason"  (iv.  615)  :  he  dismisses  Sebastian  Bach  in  half 
a  dozen  lines;  and,  although  he  devotes  much  space  to  Handel's  operas,  his 
oratorios  are  often  dismissed  with  the  barest  record  of  their  existence  by  a  line  in 
a  note.  Israel  in  Egypt,  Ads  and  G-alatea,  &c.,  are  unnoticed. 

The  present  collection  will  sufficiently  prove  that  "  the  number  of  our  secular 
and  popular  melodies"  was  not  quite  as  "circumscribed"  as  Dr.  Burney  has 
represented  ;  but,  indeed,  he  had  a  book  in  his  library  which  alone  gave  a  com- 
plete refutation  to  his  limited  estimate.  I  have  now  before  me  one  of  the  editions 
of  The  Dancing  Master,  a  collection  of  Country  Dances,  published  by  Playford, 
which  was  formerly  in  Burney's  possession.  It  contains  more  than  two  hundred 
tunes,  the  names  of  which  must  convince  an  ordinary  reader  that  at  least  a  con- 
siderable number  among  them  are  song  and  ballad  tunes,  while  a  musician  will  as 
readily  perceive  many  others  to  be  of  the  same  class,  from  the  construction  of 
the  melody.  If  a  doubt  should  remain  as  to  the  character  of  the  airs  in  collections 
of  this  kind,  further  evidence  is  by  no  means  wanting.  Sir  Thomas  Elyot,  writing 
in  1531,  and  describing  many  ancient  modes  of  dancing,  says  (in  The  Grovernour), 
"  As  for  the  special  names  [of  the  dances],  they  were  taken  as  they  be  now,  either 
of  the  names  of  the  first  inventour,  or  of  the  measure  and  number  they  do  con- 
teine,  or  of  the  first  words  of  the  ditties  which  the  song  comprehendeth,  whereoff 
the  daunce  was  made";"  and,  to  approach  nearer  to  the  time  of  the  publication  in 
question,  Charles  Butler,  in  1636,  speaks  of  "  the  infinite  multitude  of  ballads 
set  to  sundry  pleasant  and  delightful  tunes  by  cunning  and  witty  composers,  with 
country  dances  fitted  unto  them."  See  his  Principles  of  Musick. 

The  eighteen  editions  of  Tlie  Dancing  Master  are  of  great  assistance  in  the 
chronological  arrangement  of  our  popular  tunes  from  1650  to  1728  ;a  for,  although 
some  airs  run  through  every  edition,  we  may  tell  by  the  omission  of  others,  when 
they  fell  into  desuetude,  as  well  as  the  airs  by  which  their  places  were  supplied. 


•  The  first  edition  of  this  collection  is  entitled  "  The 
English  Dancing  Master :  or  Plaine  and  easie  rules  for 
the  dancing  of  Country  Dances,  with  the  tune  to  each 
dance  (104  pages  of  music).  Printed  by  Thomas  Harper, 
and  are  to  be  sold  by  John  Playford,  at  his  shop  in  the 
InnerTemple,  neere  the  Church  doore."  The  date  is  1651, 
but  it  was  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall  on  7th  Nov.,  1650. 
This  edition  is  on  larger  paper  than  any  of  the  subsequent. 

The  next  is  "  The  Dancing  Master with  the  tune  to 

each  dance,  to  be  play'd  on  the  treble  Violin  :  the  second 
edition,  enlarged  and  corrected  from  many  grosse  errors 
which  were  in  the  former  edition."  This  was  "  Printed 
for  John  Playford,"  in  1652  (112  pages  of  music).  The 
two  next  editions,  those  of  1657  and  1665,  each  contain 
132  country  dances,  and  are  counted  by  Playford  as  one 
edition.  To  both  were  added  "the  tunes  of  the  most 
usual  French  dances,  and  also  other  new  and  pleasant 
English  tunes  for  the  treble  Violin."  That  of  lt'65  was 
"  Printed  by  W.  G.,  and  sold  by  J.  Playford  and  Z.  Wat- 
kins,  at  their  shop  in  the  Temple."  It  has  88  tunes  for 
the  viulin  at  the  end.  (The  tunes  for  the  violin 
were  afterwards  printed  separately  as  Apollo's  Banquet, 
and  are  not  included  in  any  other  edition  of  The 


Dancing  Master.)  The  date  of  the  fourth  edition  is 
1670  (155  pages  of  music).  Fifth  edition,  1675,  and  160 
pages  of  music.  (The  contents  of  the  sixth  edition  are 
ascertained  to  be  almost  identical  with  the  fifth,  by  the 
new  tunes  added  to  the  seventh  being  marked  with  ",  but 
I  have  not  seen  a  copy.  From  advertisements  in  Play- 
ford's  other  publications,  it  appears  to  have  been  printed 
in  1680.)  The  seventh  edition  bears  date  1686  (208  pages), 
but  to  this  "an  additional  sheet,"  containing  32  tunes, 
was  first  added,  then  "a  new  additional  sheet"  of  12 
pages,"  and  lastly  "a  new  addition"  of  6  more.  The 
eighth  edition  was  "Printed  by  E.Jones  forH.  Playford," 
and  great  changes  made  in  the  airs.  It  has  220  pages, — 
date,  1690.  The  ninth  edition,  196  pages,— date,  1695. 
"  The  second  part  of  the  Dancing  Master,"  24  p:iges, — 
date,  lflt'6.  The  tenth  edition,  215  pages,— date,  1698  ; 
also  the  second  t  dition  of  th  second  part,  ending  on  p.  48 
(irregularly  paged),  1698.  The  eleventh  is  the  first  edition 
in  the  new  tied  note,  312  pages,— date,  1701.  The  twelfth 
edition  goes  back  to  the  old  note,  354  pages, — date,  1703. 
The  later  editions  are  well  known,  but  the  above  are 
scarce. 


INTRODUCTION.  XI. 

Many  of  our  ballad-tunes  were  not  fitted  for  dancing,  and  therefore  were  not 
included  in  The  Dancing  Master  ;  but  a  considerable  number  of  these  is  supplied 
by  the  ballad-operas  which  were  printed  after  the  extraordinary  success  of  The 
Beggars''  Opera  in  1728. 

I  might  name  many  other  books  which  have  contributed  their  quota,  especially 
Wit  and  Mirth,  or  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  with  its  numerous  editions  from  1699 
to  1720, — but  all  are  indicated  in  the  work.  I  cannot,  however,  refrain  from 
some  notice  of  the  numerous  foreign  publications  in  which  our  national  airs  are 
included.  Sometimes  they  are  in  the  form  of  country  dances, — at  others,  as 
songs,  or  as  tunes  for  the  lute.  I  have  before  me  three  sets  of  country  dances 
printed  in  Paris  during  the  last  century,  and  as  one  of  these  is  the  "  5Sme  Recueil 
d'Anglaises  telle  qu'elles  se  dansent  che  la  Reine,"  there  must  have  been  at  least 
four  more  of  that  series.  Many  of  my  readers  may  not  know  that  the  "  Quad- 
rille de  Contredanses"  in  which  they  join  under  the  name  of  "  a  set  of  Quad- 
rilles," is  but  our  old  "  Square  Country  Dance"  come  back  to  us  again.  The 
new  designation  commenced  no  longer  ago  than  1815, — just  after  the  war. 

Horace  Walpole  tells  us  in  his  letters,  that  our  country  dances  were  all  the  rage 
in  Italy  at  the  time  he  wrote,  and,  as  collections  were  printed  at  Manheim,  Munich, 
in  various  towns  of  the  Netherlands,  and  even  as  far  North  as  Denmark,  it  is 
clear  that  they  travelled  over  the  greater  part  of  Europe.  The  Danish  collection 
now  before  me  consists  of  296  pages,  with  a  volume  of  nearly  equal  thickness  to 
describe  the  figures. 

Some  of  the  works  printed  in  Holland  during  the  seventeenth  century,  which 
contain  English  airs,  have  materially  assisted  in  the  chronological  arrangement. 
Of  these,  Vallet's  Tablature  de  Luth,  entltule  Le  Secret  des  Muses,  was  published 
at  Amsterdam  in  1615.  Bellerophon,  of  Lust  tot  Wysheit,  in  1620,  and  other 
editions  at  later  dates.  Valerius's  Nederlandtsche  Gedenck-Clanck,  at  Haerlem, 
in  1626.  Starter's  Friesche  Lust-Sof,  and  his  Boertigheden,  in  1634,  and  other 
editions  without  dates.  Camphuysen's  Stichtelycke  Rymen,  1647,  1652,  and 
without  date.  Pers's  Gresangh  der  Zeeden,  1662,  and  without  date.  Urania, 
1648,  and  without  date. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  remark  upon  the  chronological  arrangement,  that,  in 
order  to  ascertain  what  airs  or  ballads  were  popular  in  any  particular  reign,  the 
reader  will  have  occasion  to  refer  also  to  those  which  precede  it.  Without  endless 
repetition,  it  could  not  have  been  otherwise. 

Facsimiles  of  a  few  of  the  manuscripts  will  be  found  in  the  following  pages. 

I  have  now  the  pleasing  duty  of  returning  thanks  to  those  who  have  assisted 
me  in  this  collection  ;  and  first  to  Edward  F.  Rimbault,  LL.D.,  and  Mr.  G.  A. 
Macfarren.  Dr.  Rimbault  has  been  the  largest  contributor  to  my  work,  and  a 
contributor  in  every  form.  To  him  I  am  indebted  for  pointing  out  many  airs 
which  would  have  escaped  me,  and  for  adding  largely  to  my  collection  of  notices 
of  others  ;  for  the  loan  of  rare  books  ;  and  for  assisting  throughout  with  his  ex- 
tensive musical  and  bibliographical  knowledge.  To  Mr.  G.  A.  Macfarren  for 
having  volunteered  to  re-arrange  the  airs  which  were  to  be  taken  from  my  former 


xii.  INTRODUCTION. 

collection,  as  well  as  to  harmonize  the  new  upon  a  simple  and  consistent  plan 
throughout.  In  my  former  work,  some  had  too  much  harmony,  and  others  even 
too  little,  or  such  as  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  words.  The 
musician  will  best  understand  the  amount  of  thought  required  to  find  character- 
istic harmonies  to  melodies  of  irregular  construction,  and  how  much  a  simple  air 
will  sometimes  gain  by  being  well  fitted. 

To  the  Eight  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Abergavenny  I  am  indebted  for  the  loan  of 
"  Lady  Novell's  Virginal  Book,"  a  manuscript  collection  of  music  for  the  vir- 
ginals, transcribed  in  1591.  To  the  late  Lord  Braybrooke  I  owe  the  means  of 
access  to  Pepys's  collection  of  ballads,  which  was  indispensable  for  the  due 
prosecution  of  the  work. 

To  Mr.  J.  Payne  Collier,  F.S.A.,  I  am  indebted  for  the  loan  of  a  valuable 
manuscript  of  poetry,  transcribed  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  containing  much  of 
still  earlier  date ;  and  for  free  access  to  his  collection  of  ballads  and  of  rare  books : 
to  Mr.  George  Daniel,  of  Canonbury,  for  copies  of  several  Elizabethan  ballads, 
which  are  to  be  found  only  in  his  unique  collection  ;  and  to  Mr.  David  Laing, 
F.S.A.  Scot.,  for  the  loan  of  several  rare  books. 

To  Sir  Frederick  Madden,  K.H.,  Keeper  of  the  Manuscripts  in  the  British 
Museum,  I  am  indebted  for  much  information  about  manuscripts,  readily  given, 
and  with  such  uniform  courtesy,  that  it  becomes  an  especial  pleasure  to 
acknowledge  it. 

W.  C. 

3,  Harley  Place  (N.  W.), 
or  201,  Regent  Street. 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  FACSIMILES. 


Plate  1  (facing  the  title-page). — "  tSuMEit  is  ICUMEX  IN,"  from  one  of  the  Harleian 
Manuscripts  in  the  British  Mnseum,  No.  978.  It  is  literally  a  "  six  men's  song," 
such  as  is  alluded  to  in  the  burlesque  romance  of  The  Turnament  of  Tottenham, 
and,  being  of  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  is  perhaps  the  greatest  musical 
curiosity  extant.  The  directions  for  singing  it  are  in  Latin  :  "  Hanc  rotam  cantare 
possunt  quatuor  socii.  A  paucioribus  autem  quam  a  tribus  aut  saltern  duobus  non 
debet  dici,  preter  eos  qui  dicunt  pedem.  Canitur  autem  sic.  Tacentibus  ceteris,  unus 
inchoat  cum  hiis  qui  tenent  pedem.  Et  cum  venerit  ad  primam  notam  post  crucem, 
inchoat  alius,  et  sic  de  ceteris.  Singuli  vero  repausent  ad  pausaciones  scriptas,  et  non 
alibi,  spacio  unius  longse  notse."  [Four  companions  can  sing  this  Round.  It  should 
not,  however,  be  sung  by  less  than  three,  or  at  least  two,  besides  those  who  sing  the 
burden.  It  is  to  be  sung  thus  : — One  begins  with  those  who  sing  the  burden,  the 
others  remaining  silent ;  but  when  he  arrives  at  the  first  note  after  the  cross,  another 
begins.  The  rest  follow  in  the  same  order.  Each  singer  must  pause  at  the  written 
pauses  for  the  time  of  one  long  note,  but  not  elsewhere.]  The  directions  for  singing 
the  "  Pes,"  or  Burden,  are,  to  the  first  voice,  "  Hoc  repetit  unus  quociens  opus  eat, 
faciens  pausacionem  in  fine"  [One  voice  repeats  this  as  often  as  necessary,  pausing  at 
the  end]  ;  and,  to  the  second,  "  Hoc  dicit  alius,  pausans  in  medio,  et  non  in  fine,  sed 
immediate  repetens  principium."  [Another  sings  this,  pausing  in  the  middle,  and 
not  at  the  end,  but  immediately  re  commencing.] 

The  melody  of  this  Round  is  printed  in  modern  notation  at  p.  24,  and  in  the  pages 
which  precede  it  (21  to  24)  the  reader  will  find  some  account  of*lhe  manuscript  from 
which  it  is  taken.  It  only  remains  to  add  that  the  composition  is  in  what  was  called 
"  perfect  time,"  and  therefore  every  long  note  must  be  treated  as  dotted,  unless  it  is 
immediately  followed  by  a  short  note  (here  of  diamond  shape)  to  fill  the  time  of  the 
dot.  The  music  is  on  six  lines,  and  if  the  lowest  line  were  taken  away,  the  remaining 
would  be  the  five  now  employed  in  part-music  where  the  C  clef  is  used  on  the  third 
line  for  a  counter-tenor  voice. 

The  composition  will  be  seen  in  score  in  Hawkins's  and  Burney's  Histories  of 
Music.  The  Round  has  been  recently  sung  in  public,  and  gave  so  much  satisfaction, 
even  to  modern  hearers,  that  a  repetition  was  demanded.  It  is  published  in  a  detached 
form  for  four  voices. 

Plate  2. — "  AH,  THE  SYGHES  THAT  COME  FRO'  MY  HEART,"  from  a  manuscript  of 
the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  in  the  British  Museum  (MSS.  Reg.,  Append.,  58).  For 
the  melody  in  modern  notation,  see  p.  .r>7. 


xiv.  EXPLANATION   OF   THE   FACSIMILES. 

In  transcribing  old  music  without  bars,  it  is  necessary  to  know  that  the  ends  of 
phrases  and  of  lines  of  poetry  are  commonly  expressed  by  notes  of  longer  duration 
than  their  relative  value.  Much  of  the  music  in  Stafford  Smith's  Musica  Antiqua  is 
wrongly  barred,  and  the  rhythm  destroyed  by  the  non-observance  of  this  rule.  Aa 
one  of  many  instances,  see  "  Tell  me,  dearest,  what  is  love,"  taken  from  a  manuscript 
of  James  the  First's  time  (Mus.  Antiq.,  \.  55).  By  carrying  half  the  semibreve  at 
the  end  of  the  second  bar  into  the  third,  he  begins  the  second  line  of  poetry  ("  'Tis 
a  lightning  from  above")  on  the  half-bar  instead  of  at  the  commencement,  and  thus 
falsifies  the  accent  of  that  line  and  of  all  that  follows.  The  antiquarian  way  would  have 
been,  either  to  print  the  semibreve  within  the  bar,  or,  which  is  far  better,  a  minim  with 
a  pause  over  it.  In  modernizing  the  notation,  even  the  pause  is  unnecessaiy.  Webbe 
also  bars  incorrectly  in  the  Convito  Armonico.  For  instance,  in  "  We  be  three  poor 
mariners,"  the  tune  is  right  the  first  time,  but  at  the  recurrence  (on  "  Shall  we  go 
dance  the  Round,  the  Round,  the  Round?")  he  commences  on  the  half-bar,  because 
he  has  given  too  much  time  to  the  word  "  ease"  in  the  bar  immediately  preceding. 

Plate  3. — "  GREEN  SLEEVES,"  a  tune  mentioned  by  Shakespeare,  from  "  William 
Ballet's  Lute  Book,"  described  in  note  b  at  p.  86.  This  is  the  version  I  have  printed 
at  p.  230,  but  an  exact  translation  of  the  copy  will  be  found  in  my  "  National  English 
Airs,"  i.  118.  It  is  only  necessary  to  remark  that,  in  lute-music  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  bars  are  placed  rather  to  guide  the  eye  than  to  divide  the  tune  equally.  The 
time  marked  over  the  lines  is  the  only  sure  guide  for  modern  barring. 

Plate  4. — "  SELLENGER'S  ROUND,"  from  a  manuscript  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum, 
at  Cambridge,  commonly  known  as  "  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book."  See  also 
p.  71. 

Dr.  Burney  speaks  of  this  manuscript  first  'as  "  going  under  the  name  of  Queen 
Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,"  and  afterwards  quotes  it  as  if  it  had  really  been  so. 
I  am  surprised  that  he  should  not  have  discovered  the  error,  considering  that  he  had  it 
long  enough  in  his  possession  to  extract  one  of  the  pieces,  and  to  give  a  full  descrip- 
tion of  the  contents,  (iii.  86,  et  seq.)  It  is  now  so  generally  known  by  that  name, 
that,  for  brevity's  sake,  I  have  employed  it  throughout  the  work.  Nevertheless,  it 
can  never  have  been  the  property  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  It  is  written  throughout  in 
one  handwriting,  and~in  that  writing  are  dates  of  1603,  1605,  and  1612. 

It  is  a  small-sized  folio  volume,  in  red  morocco  binding  of  the  time  of  James  I., 
elaborately  tooled  and  ornamented  with  fleurs  de  lis,  &c.,  gilt  edges,  and  the  pages 
are  numbered  to  419,  of  which  418  are  written. 

The  manuscript  was  purchased  at  the  sale  of  Dr.  Pepusch's  collection,  in  1762,  by 
R.  Bremner,  the  music -publisher,  at  the  price  of  ten  guineas,  and  by  him  given  to 
Lord  Fitzwilliam. 

Ward  gives  an  account  of  Dr.  Bull's  pieces  included  in  this  virginal  book,  in  his 
Lives  of  the  Gresham  Professors,  foL,  1740,  p.  203,  but  does  not  say  a  word  of  the 
volume  having  belonged  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  We  first  hear  of  it  in  Dr.  Pepusch's 
possession,  and,  as  he  purchased  many  of  his  manuscripts  in  Holland  (especially  those 
including  Dr.  Bull's  compositions),  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  this  English 
manuscript  may  also  have  been  obtained  there.  I  am  led  to  the  conjecture  by  finding 
the  only  composer's  name  invariably  abbreviated  is  that  of  "  Tregian."  At  the  com- 
mencement of  Verstegan's  Restitution  of  decayed  Intelligence,  Antwerp,  1605,  is  a 


EXPLANATION   OF   THE    FACSIMILES.  XV. 

"  sonnet  concerning  this  work,"  signed  "  Fr.  Tregian,"  shewing  the  connection  of 
the  family  with  Holland,  and  in  the  virginal  book  one  piece  (No.  105,  p.  196)  has 
only  three  letters  of  the  author's  name,  "  Fre."  No.  60,  p.  Ill,  is  "  Treg.  Ground ;" 
No.  80,  p.  152,  is  "  Pavana  dolorosa,  Treg. ;"  but  No.  213,  p.  315,  is  "  Pavana 
Chromatica,  Mrs.  Katherin  Tregian's  Paven,  by  William  Tisdall."  In  the  margin  of 
p.  312,  is  written,  in  a  later  hand,  "  E.  Rysd  silas." 

English  music  was  so  much  in  request  in  Holland  in  the  early  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  that  this  collection  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  pieces  of  virginal 
music  may,  not  improbably,  have  been  made  for,  or  by,  an  English  resident  there, 
and  possibly  designed  as  a  present. 

Plate  5. — "  THE  HUNT'S  UP,"  from  Musick's  Delight  on  the  Cithren,  1666,  and 
"  PARTHENIA,"  from  a  flageolet  book,  printed  in  1682. 

These  are  only  given  as  specimens  of  musical  notation.  The  curious  will  find  exact 
translations  in  National  English  Airs,  i.  118. 


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ON    ENGLISH    MINSTRELSY, 
SONGS    AND    BALLADS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MINSTRELSY  FROM  THE  SAXON  PERIOD  TO  THE  REIGN  OF  EDWARD  I. 

Music  and  POETRY  are,  in  every  country,  so  closely  connected,  during  the 
infancy  of  their  cultivation,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  speak  of  the  one  without 
the  other.  The  industry  and  learning  that  have  been  devoted  to  the  subject  of 
English  Minstrelsy,  and  more  especially  in  relation  to  its  Poetry,  by  Percy, 
Warton,  and  Ritson,  have  left  an  almost  exhausted  field  to  their  successors. 
But,  while  endeavouring  to  combine  in  a  compressed  form  the  various  curious 
and  interesting  notices  that  have  been  collected  by  their  researches,  or  which 
the  labours  of  more  recent  writers  have  placed  within  my  reach,  I  hope  I  may 
not  prove  altogether  unsuccessful  in  my  endeavour  to  throw  a  few  additional  rays 
of  light  upon  the  subject,  when  contemplated,  chiefly,  in  a  musical  point  of  view. 

"  The  Minstrels,"  says  Percy,  "  were  the  successors  of  the  ancient  Bards,  who 
under  different  names  were  admired  and  revered,  from  the  earliest  ages,  among 
the  people  of  Gaul,  Britain,  Ireland,  and  the  North ;  and  indeed  by  almost  all 
the  first  inhabitants  of  Europe,  whether  of  Celtic  or  Gothic  race ;  but  by  none 
more  than  by  our  own  Teutonic  ancestors,  particularly  by  all  the  Danish  tribes. 
Among  these,  they  were  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Scalds,  a  word  which 
denotes  l  smoothers  and  polishers  of  language.'  The  origin  of  their  art  was 
attributed  to  Odin  or  Wodin,  the  father  of  their  Gods ;  and  the  professors  of  it 
were  held  in  the  highest  estimation.  Their  skill  was  considered  as  something 
divine ;  their  persons  were  deemed  sacred ;  their  attendance  was  solicited  by  kings ; 

and  they  were  everywhere  loaded  with  honours  and  rewards As  these 

honours  were  paid  to  Poetry  and  Song,  from  the  earliest  times,  in  those  countries 
which  our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors  inhabited  before  their  removal  into  Britain,  we 
may  reasonably  conclude  that  they  would  not  lay  aside  all  their  regard  for  men 
of  this  sort,  immediately  on  quitting  their  German  forests.  At  least,  so  long  as 
they  retained  their  ancient  manners  and  opinions,  they  .would  still  hold  them  in 
high  estimation.  But  as  the  Saxons,  soon  after  their  establishment  in  this 
island,  were  converted  to  Christianity,  in  proportion  as  literature  prevailed  among 
them,  this  rude  admiration  would  begin  to  abate,  and  poetry  would  no  longer  be  a 


2  ENGLISH    MINSTRELSY. 

peculiar  profession.  Thus  the  poet  and  the  minstrel  early  with  us  became  two 
persons.  Poetry  was  cultivated  by  men  of  letters  indiscriminately ;  and  many  of 
the  most  popular  rhymes  were  composed  amidst  the  leisure  and  retirement  of 
monasteries.  But  the  Minstrels  continued  a  distinct  order  of  men  for  many  ages 
after  the  Norman  conquest;  and  got  their  livelihood  by  singing  verses  to  the 
harp,  principally  at  the  houses  of  the  great.  There  they  were  still  hospitably 
and  respectfully  received,  and  retained  many  of  the  honours  shown  to  their  pre- 
decessors, the  bards  and  scalds.  And  though,  as  their  art  declined,  many  of 
them  only  recited  the  compositions  of  others,  some  of  them  still  composed  songs 
themselves,  and  all  of  them  could  probably  invent  a  few  stanzas  on  occasion. 
I  have  no  doubt  but  most  of  the  old  heroic  ballads  ....  were  composed  by  this 
order  of  men." 

The  term  Minstrel,  however,  comprehended  eventually  not  merely  those  who 
sang  to  the  harp  or  other  instrument,  romances  and  ballads,  but  also  such  as 
were  distinguished  by  their  skill  in  instrumental  music  only.  Of  this  abundant 
proof  will  be -given  in  the  following  pages.  Warton  says,  "As  literature,  the 
certain  attendant,  as  it  is  the  parent,  of  true  religion  and  civility,  gained  ground 
among  the  Saxons,  poetry  no  longer  remained  a  separate  science,  and  the  profes- 
sion of  bard  seems  gradually  to  have  declined  among  them :  I  mean  the  bard 
under  those  appropriated  characteristics,  and  that  peculiar  appointment,  which  he 
sustained  among  the  Scandinavian  pagans.  Yet  their  natural  love  of  verse  and 
music  still  so  strongly  predominated,  that  in  the  place  of  their  old  Scalders,  a  new 
rank  of  poets  arose,  called  GLEEMEN,  or  Harpers.a  These  probably  gave  rise  to 
the  order  of  English  Minstrels,  who  flourished  till  the  sixteenth  century." 

Ritson,  in  his  Dissertation  on  Romance  and  Minstrelsy  (prefixed  to  his  Col- 
lection of  Ancient  English  Metrical  Romances) ,  denies  the  resemblance  between 
the  Scalds  and  the  Minstrels,  and  attacks  Percy  with  great  acrimony  for  as- 
cribing with  too  great  liberality,  the  composition  of  our  ancient  heroic  songs 
and  metrical  legends,  to  those  by  whom  they  were  generally  recited.  Percy, 
in  the  earlier  editions  of  his  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry,  said  :  "  The  Minstrels 
seem  to  have  been  the  genuine  successors  of  the  ancient  Bards,  who  united  the 
arts  of  poetry  and  music,  and  sung  verses  to  the  harp,  of  their  own  composing" 
which  he  afterwards  modified  into  "  composed  by  themselves  or  others"  With  this 
qualification  there  appears  to  be  no  essential  difference  between  their  systems,  as 
the  following  quotation  from  Ritson  will  show  :  "  That  the  different  professors  of 
minstrelsy  were,  in  ancient  times,  distinguished  by  names  appropriated  to  their 
respective  pursuits,  cannot  reasonably  be  disputed,  though  it  may  be  difficult  to 
prove.  The  Trouveur,  Trouverre,  or  Rymour,  was  he  who  composed  romans, 

•  GLEEMEN,  or  Harpers.    Fabyan,  speaking  of  Blage-  strongest  internal  proof  that  this  profession  was  extremely 

bride,  an  ancient  British   king,  famous  for  his  skill  in  common  and  popular  here  before  the  Norman  conquest. 

poetry  and  music,  calls  him  "aconynge  muaicyan,  called        The  Anglo-Saxon  harpers  and  gleemen  were  the 

of  the  Britons  god  of  Gleemen."    The  learned  Percy  says :  immediate  successors  and  imitators  of  the  Scandinavian 

"This  word  glee  is  derived  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  jli^S  Scalds."     We  have  also  the  authority  of  Bede  for  the 

(gligg),   musica,  music,  minstrelsy  (Somner).     This  is,  practice  of  social  and   domestic  singing  to  the  harp,  in 

the  common  radix,  whence  arises  such  a  variety  of  terms  the  Saxon  language,  upon  this  island,  at  the  beginning  of 

and  phrases  relating  to  the  minstrel  art,   as  affords  the  the  eighth  century. 


GLEEMEN,    SCALDS,    BARDS.  3 

conies,  fabliaux,  chansons  and  lais ;  and  those  who  confined  themselves  to  the 
composition  of  conies  and  fabliaux  obtained  the  appellation  of  contours,  conteours,  or 
fabliers.  The  Menetrier,  Menestrel,  or  Minstrel,  was  he  who  accompanied  his  song 
by  a  musical  instrument,  both  the  words  and  the  melody  being  occasionally  fur- 
nished by  himself,  and  occasionally  by  others." 

Le  Grand  says :  "  This  profession  which  misery,  libertinism,  and  the  vagabond 
life  of  this  sort  of  people,  have  much  decried,  required,  however,  a  multiplicity  of 
attainments,  and  of  talents,  which  one  would,  at  this  day,  have  some  difficulty  to 
find  reunited,  and  we  have  more  reason  to  be  astonished  at  them  in  those  days  of 
ignorance ;  for  besides  all  the  songs,  old  and  new, — besides  the  current  anec- 
dotes, the  tales  and  fabliaux,  which  they  piqued  themselves  on  knowing, — besides 
the  romances  of  the  time  which  it  behoved  them  to  know  and  to  possess  in  part,  they 
could  declaim,  sing,  compose  music,  play  on  several  instruments,  and  accompany 
them.  Frequently  even  were  they  authors,  and  made  themselves  the  pieces 
they  uttered." — Ritson's  Dissertation,  p.  clxiii. 

The  spirit  of  chivalry  which  pervades  the  early  metrical  romances  could  not 
have  been  imparted  to  this  country  by  the  Romans.  As  Warton  observes, 
"  There  is  no  peculiarity  which  more  strongly  discriminates  the  manners  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  from  those  of  modern  times,  than  that  small  degree  of  atten- 
tion and  respect  with  which  those  nations  treated  the  fair  sex,  and  the  incon- 
siderable share  which  they  were  permitted  to  take  in  conversation,  and  the  general 
commerce  of  life.  For  the  truth  of  this  observation,  we  need  only  appeal  to  the 
classic  writings  :  from  which  it  appears  that  their  women  were  devoted  to  a  state 
of  seclusion  and  obscurity.  One  is  surprised  that  barbarians  should  be  greater 
masters  of  complaisance  than  the  most  polished  people  that  ever  existed.  No 
sooner  was  the  Roman  empire  overthrown,  and  the  Goths  had  overpowered 
Europe,  than  we  find  the  female  character  assuming  an  unusual  importance  and 
authority,  and  distinguished  with  new  privileges,  in  all  the  European  govern- 
ments established  by  the  northern  conquerors.  Even  amidst  the  confusions  of 
savage  war,  and  among  the  almost  incredible  enormities  committed  by  the  Goths 
at  their  invasion  of  the  empire,  they  forbore  to  offer  any  violence  to  the  women." 

That  the  people  of  England  have  in  all  ages  delighted  in  secular  or  social 
music,  can  be  proved  by  numerous  testimonies.  The  Scalds  and  Minstrels  were 
held  in  great  repute  for  many  ages,  and  it  is  but  fair  to  infer  that  the  reverence 
shown  to  them  arose  from  the  love  and  esteem  in  which  their  art  was  held.  The 
Romans,  on  their  first  invasion  of  this  island,  found  three  orders  of  priesthood 
established  here  from  a  period  long  anterior.  The  first  and  most  influential  were 
the  Druids  ;  the  second  the  Bards,  whose  business  it  was  to  celebrate  the  praises 
of  their  heroes  in  verses  and  songs,  which  they  sang  to  their  harps  ;  and  the  third 
were  the  Eubates,  or  those  who  applied  themselves  to  the  study  of  philosophy. 

The  Northern  annals  abound  with  pompous  accounts  of  the  honors  conferred 
on  music  by  princes  who  were  themselves  proficients  in  the  art ;  for  music  had 
become  a  regal  accomplishment,  as  we  find  by  all  the  ancient  metrical  romances 
and  heroic  narrations, — and  to  sing  to  the  harp  was  the  necessary  accomplishment 


4  ENGLISH   MINSTKELSY. 

of  a  perfect  prince,  or  a  complete  hero.  The  harp  seems  to  have  been,  for  many 
ages,  the  favorite  instrument  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  island,  whether  under 
British,  Saxon,  Danish,  or  Norman  kings.  Even  so  early  as  the  first  invasion  of 
Britain  by  the  Saxons,  we  have  an  incident  which  records  the  use  of  it,  and  which 
shows  that  the  Minstrel  or  Bard  was  well-known  among  this  people ;  and  that  their 
princes  themselves  could,  upon  occasion,  assume  that  character.  Colgrin,  son  of  that 
Ella  who  was  elected  king  or  leader  of  the  Saxons,  in  the  room  of  Hengist,  was 
shut  up  in  York,  and  closely  besieged  by  Arthur  and  his  Britons.  Baldulph, 
brother  of  Colgrin,  wanted  to  gain  access  to  him,  and  to  apprize  him  of  a  rein- 
forcement which  was  coming  from  Germany.  He  had  no  other  way  to  accom- 
plish his  design,  but  by  assuming  the  character  of  a  Minstrel.  He  therefore 
shaved  his  head  and  beard,  and  dressing  himself  in  the  habit  of  that  profession, 
took  his  harp  in  his  hand.  In  this  disguise  he  walked  up  and  down  the  trenches 
without  suspicion,  playing  all  the  while  upon  his  instrument  as  a  harper.  By 
little  and  little  he  advanced  near  to  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  making  himself 
known  to  the  sentinels,  was  in  the  night  drawn  up  by  a  rope.  Rapin  places  the 
incident  here  related  under  the  year  495.  The  story  of  King  Alfred  entering 
and  exploring  the  Danish  camp  under  the  disguise  of  a  Minstrel,  is  related  by 
Ingulph,  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  Speed,  William  of  Malmesbury,  and  almost  all 
the  best  modern  historians ;  but  we  are  also  told  that  before  he  was  twelve  years 
old,  he  could  repeat  a  variety  of  Saxon  songs,  which  he  had  learned  from  hearing 
them  sung  by  others,  who  had  themselves,  perhaps,  only  acquired  them  by  tradition, 
and  that  his  genius  was  first  roused  by  this  species  of  erudition. 

Bale  asserts  that  Alfred's  knowledge  of  music  was  perfect ;  and  it  is  evident 
that  he  was  an  enthusiast  in  the  art,  from  his  paraphrase  of  Bede's  description  of 
the  sacred  poet  Caedmon's  embarrassment  when  the  harp  was  presented  to  him  in 
turn,  that  he  might  sing  to  it,  "  be  hearpan  singan ;"  Bede's  words  are  simply 
"  Surgebat  a  media  csena,  et  egressus,  ad  suum  domum  repedabat :"  but  Alfred 
adds,  that  he  arose  for  shame  (aras  he  for  sceome)  ;  implying  that  it  was  a  dis- 
grace to  be  found  ignorant  of  the  art. 

We  may  also  judge  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  love  for  song,  from  the  course  pursued 
by  St.  Aldhelme,  Abbot  of  Malmesbury,  who  died  in  709.  Being  desirous  of 
instructing  his  then  semi-barbarous  countrymen,  he  was  in  the  daily  habit  of 
taking  his  station  on  the  bridges  and  high  roads,  as  if  a  Gleeman  or  Minstrel 
by  profession,  and  of  enticing  them  to  listen  to  him,  by  intermixing  more  serious 
subjects  with  minstrel  ballads. — Crul.  Malms,  de  Ponttftcalibus.  Lib.  5.  And 
in  the  ancient  life  of  St.  Dunstan  (whose  feat  of  taking  the  evil  one  by  the  nose 
with  a  pair  of  red-hot  pincers,  was  so  favorite  a  sign  for  inns  and  taverns)  he  is 
said,  not  only  to  have  learnt  "  the  vain  songs  of  his  nation,"  but  also  "  to  have 
constructed  an  organ  with  brass  pipes,  and  filled  with  air  from  bellows." 
The  Saint  was  a  monk  of  Glastonbury,  and  born  about  925. 

That  the  harp  was  the  common  musical  instrument  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  may 
also  be  inferred  from  the  word  itself,  which  is  not  derived  from  the  British,  or 
any  other  Celtic  language,  but  of  genuine  Gothic  original,  and  current  among 


ANGLO-SAXONS,   CAMBRO-BRITONS,   AND   DANES.  5 

every  branch  of  that  people,  viz. :  Ang.  Sax.  hearpe  and  hearpa  ;  Iceland,  harpa 
and  haurpa ;  Dan.  and  Belg.  harpe ;  German,  harpffe  and  harpffa ;  Gal.  Tiarpe ; 
Span,  harpa  ;  Ital.  arpa.  The  Welsh,  or  Cambro-Britons,  call  their  harp  teylin, 
a  word  for  which  no  etymon  is  to  be  found  in  their  language.  In  the  Erse  its 
name  is  crwth.  That  it  was  also  the  favorite  musical  instrument  of  the  Britons 
and  other  Northern  nations  in  the  middle  ages,  is  evident  from  their  laws, 
and  various  passages  in  their  history.  By  the  laws  of  Wales  (Leges  Wallicae),  a 
harp  was  one  of  the  three  things  that  were  necessary  to  constitute  a  gentleman, 
or  a  freeman  ;  and  none  could  pretend  to  that  character  who  had  not  one  of  these 
favorite  instruments,  or  could  not  play  upon  it.  To  prevent  slaves  from  pre- 
tending to  be  gentlemen,  it  was  expressly  forbidden  to  teach,  or  to  permit,  them 
to  play  upon  the  harp;  and  none  but  the  king,  the  king's  musicians,  and 
gentlemen,  were  allowed  to  have  harps  in  their  possession.  A  gentleman's  harp 
was  not  liable  to  be  seized  for  debt ;  because  the  want  of  it  would  have  degraded 
him  from  his  rank,  and  reduced  him  to  that  of  a  slave. 

Alfred  entered  the  Danish  camp  A.D.  878 ;  and  about  sixty  years  after,  a 
Danish  king  made  use  of  the  same  disguise  to  explore  the  camp  of  our  king 
Athelstan.  With  his  harp  in  his  hand,  and  dressed  like  a  minstrel,  Aulaff,  king 
of  the  Danes,  went  among  the  Saxon  tents ;  and  taking  his  stand  by  the  king's 
pavilion,  began  to  play,  and  was  immediately  admitted.  There  he  entertained 
Athelstan  and  his  lords  with  his  singing  and  his  music,  and  was  at  length  dis- 
missed with  an  honorable  reward,  though  his  songs  might  have  disclosed  the  fact 
that  he  was  a  Dane.  Athelstan  was  saved  from  the  consequences  of  this  stratagem 
by  a  soldier,  who  had  observed  Aulaff  bury  the  money  which  had  been  given  him, 
either  from  some  scruple  of  honor  or  superstitious  feeling.  This  occasioned 
a  discovery. 

Now  if  the  Saxons  had  not  been  accustomed  to  have  Minstrels  of  their  own, 
Alfred's  assuming  so  new  and  unusual  a  character  would  have  excited  suspicions 
among  the  Danes.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  had  not  been  customary  with  the 
Saxons  to  show  favor  and  respect  to  the  Danish  Scalds,  Aulaff  would  not  have 
ventured  himself  among  them,  especially  on  the  eve  of  a  battle.  From  the 
uniform  procedure  of  both  these  kings,  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  the  same 
mode  of  entertainment  prevailed  among  both  people,  and  that  the  Minstrel  was 
a  privileged  character  with  each. 

May  it  not  be  further  said, — what  a  devotion  to  the  art  of  music  must  have 
existed  in  those  rude  times,  when  the  vigilance  of  war  was  lulled  into  sleep  and 
false  security,  and  the  enmities  of  two  detesting  nations  were  forgotten  for 
awhile,  in  the  enjoyment  of  sweet  sounds  ! 

That  the  Gleeman  or  Minstrel  held  a  stated  and  continued  office  in  the  court 
of  our  Anglo-Saxon  kings,  can  be  proved  satisfactorily.  We  have  but  to  turn  to 
the  Doomsday  Book,  and  find  under  the  head :  Glowecesterscire,  fol.  162,  col.  1. 
— "  Berdic,  Joculator  Regis,  habet  iii  villas,"  &c.  That  the  word  Joculator  (at 
this  early  period)  meant  Harper  or  Minstrel,  is  sufficiently  evident  from  Geoffrey 
of  Monmouth,  of  whom  Dr.  Percy  observes  very  justly,  "  that  whatever  credit  is 


6  ENGLISH   MINSTRELSY. 

due  to  him  as  a  relator  of  facts,  he  is  certainly  as  good  authority  as  any  for  the 
signification  of  words." 

The  musical  instruments  principally  in  use  among  the  Anglo-Saxons,  were  the 
Harp,  the  Psaltry,  the  FrSele,  and  a  sort  of  Horn  called  in  Saxon  "  Pip  "  or 
Pipe.  The  Harp,  however,  was  the  national  instrument.  In  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Poem  of  Beowulf  it  is  repeatedly  mentioned. 

"  There  was  the  noise  of  the  harp,  the  clear  song  of  the  poet."  .  .  .  .  "  There 
was  song  and  sound  altogether,  before  Healfdene's  Chieftains ;  the  wood  of  joy 
(harp)  was  touched,  the  song  was  often  sung."  .  . . .  "  The  beast  of  war  (warrior) 
touched  the  joy  of  the  harp,  the  wood  of  pleasure,"  &c. 

The  FftSele  (from  which  our  words  fiddler  and  fiddle  are  derived)  was  a  sort  of 
viol,  played  on  by  a  bow.  The  Psaltry,  or  Sawtrie,  was  strung  with  wire.a 

The  Normans  were  a  colony  from  Norway  and  Denmark,  where  the  Scalds 
had  arrived  at  high  renown  before  Rollo's  expedition  into  France.  Many 
of  those  men  no  doubt  accompanied  him  to  the  duchy  of  Normandy,  and  left 
behind  them  successors  in  their  art ;  so  that  when  his  descendant  William 
invaded  this  kingdom,  A.D.  1066,  he  and  his  followers  were  sure  to  favor  the 
establishment  of  the  minstrel  profession  here,  rather  than  suppress  it ;  indeed, 
we  read  that  at  the  battle  of  Hastings,  there  was  in  William's  army  a  valiant 
warrior,  named  Taillefer,  distinguished  no  less  for  the  minstrel  arts,  than  for  his 
courage  and  intrepidity.  This  man,  who  performed  the  office  of  Herald-minstrel 
(Menestrier  huchier) ,  advanced  at  the  head  of  the  army,  and  with  a  loud  voice 
animated  his  countrymen,  singing  a  war-song  of  Roland,  i.  e.,  "Hrolfr  or  Rollo," 
says  our  Anglo-Saxon  historian,  Sharon  Turner ; — then  rushing  among  the 
thickest  of  the  English,  and  valiantly  fighting,  lost  his  life. 

The  success  of  his  ancestor  Rollo,  was  one  of  the  topics  of  the  speech  in  which 
William  addressed  his  army  before  the  battle,  to  excite  in  them  the  emulation  of 
establishing  themselves  in  England  as  he  had  done  in  Normandy.  A  "  Chanson 
de  Roland "  continued  in  favor  with  the  French  soldiers  as  late  as  the  battle  of 
Poictiers,  in  the  time  of  their  king  John,  for,  upon  his  reproaching  one  of  them  with 
suiging  it  at  a  time  when  there  were  no  Rolands  left,  he  was  answered  that 
Rolands  would  still  be  found  if  they  had  a  Charlemagne  at  their  head.  This  was 
in  1356. 

Dr.  Burney  conjectured  that  the  song,  "  L'homme  armee,"  which  was  so  popular 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  was  the  Chanson  de  Roland ;  but  M.  Bottee  de  Toulmon 
has  quoted  the  first  four  lines  of  "L'homme  armee"  from  the  Proportionales 
Musices  of  John  Tinctor,  and  proved  it  to  be  only  a  love-song.  He  has  also 
printed  the  tune,  which  he  extracted  from  one  of  the  many  Masses  in  which  it 
was  used  as  a  subject  to  make  Descant  on.b 

•  Representations  of  Anglo-Saxon  harps  and  pipes  will  elegant  in  shape  than  those  in  Sir  John  Hawkins's  His- 

be    found   in  Harl.   MSS.  603,   which  also    contains  a  tory,  copied  from  Kircher's  Musurgia.    A  representation 

psaltry,  in  shape  like  the  lyre  of  Apollo,  but  with  more  of  the  Fithele  will  be  found  in  the  Cotton  Collection, 

•trings,  and  having  a  concave  back.     It  agrees  with  that  Tiberius,  c.  vi.,  and  in  Strutt's  Sports  and  Pastimes, 

which  Augustine  describes  as  carried  in  the  hand  of  the  Both  the  manuscripts  cited  are  of  the  tenth  century, 

player,  which  had  a  shell  or  concave  piece  of  wood  on  it,  b  Annuaire  Historique  pour  1'annee,  1837.     Public  par 

that  caused  the  strings  to  resound,  and  is  much  more  la  Societe  de  1'Histoire  de  France. 


NORMANS. — BATTLE   OF   HASTINGS.  7 

Robert  Wace,  in  the  Roman  de  Rou,  says  that  Taillefer  sang  with  a  loud  voice 
(chanta  a  haute  voix)  the  songs  of  Charlemagne,  Roland,  &c.,  and  M.  de 
Toulmon  considers  the  song  of  Roland  to  have  been  a  Chanson  de  Geste,  or 
metrical  romance ;  and  that  Taillefer  merely  declaimed  parts  of  such  poems,  hold- 
ing up  those  heroes  as  models  to  the  assembled  soldiers.  The  Chanson  de  Roland, 
that  was  printed  in  Paris  in  1837-8  (edited  by  M.  Michel)  from  a  copy  in  the 
Bodleian  Library,  is  a  metrical  romance  in  praise  of  the  French  hero,  the  Orlando 
Innamorato,  and  Furioso  of  Boiardo,  Berni,  and  Ariosto,  but  apparently  of  no  such 
antiquity,*  and  it  seems  improbable  that  he  should  have  been  the  subject  of  the 
Norman  minstrel's  song.  All  metrical  romances,  however,  were  originally  recited 
or  chanted  with  an  accompaniment;  and  Dr.  Crotch  has  printed  a  tune  in  the 
third  edition  of  his  Specimens  of  Various  Styles  of  Music,  vol.  1.  p.  133,  as  the 
"CHANSON  ROLAND  sung  by  the  Normans  as  they  advanced  to  the  battle  of 
Hastings,  1066,"  which  I  give  as  a  curiosity,  but  without  vouching  for  its 
authenticity. 

CHANSON    ROLAND. 


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—  j  —  —  — 

—  I  —  i  —  ;  — 

F  H' 

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HS  —  3  —  &  — 

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J   J    J 

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s  jh    L. 

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^=£ 


Jh  i  11° 


Dr.  Crotch  does  not  name  the  source  from  which  ho  obtained  this  air,  nor 
have  I  been  successful  in  tracing  it.b  The  story  of  Taillefer  may,  however,  be 
altogether  apochryphal,  as  it  is  not  mentioned  by  any  contemporary  historian. 

The  English,  according  to  Fordun,  spent  the  night  preceding  the  battle  in 


•  It  contains,  also,  about  4,000  verses  ;  and  it  seems  still 
more  improbable  that  so  lengthy  a  compoiition  should 
have  been  generally  and  popularly  known.  It  is  more 
likely  to  have  originated  in  the  favor  with  which  an  earlier 
song  was  received. 

b  The  Chanson  de  Roland  that  has  been  printed  re- 


cently, edited  by  Sir  Henry  Bishop,  is  a  Composition  by 
the  Marquis  de  Paulmy,  taken  from  Burney's  History  of 
Music,  vol  ii.  p.  276,  but  Dr.  Burney  does  not  give  it  as 
an  ancient  song  or  tune.  The  tune,  indeed,  is  not  even 
in  imitation  of  antiquity. 


g  ENGLISH    MINSTRELSY. 

singing  and  drinking.      "  Illam  noctem  Angli  totam  in  cantibus   et  potibus 
insomnem  duxerunt." — c.  13. 

Ingulphus,  a  contemporary  of  William  the  Conqueror,  speaks  of  the  popular 
ballads  of  the  English  in  praise  of  their  heroes ;  and  William  of  Malmesbury, 
in  the  twelfth  century,  mentions  them  also.  Three  parishes  in  Gloucestershire 
were  appropriated  by  William  to  the  support  of  his  minstrel ;  and  although  his 
Norman  followers  would  incline  only  to  such  of  their  own  countrymen  as  excelled 
in  the  art,  and  would  listen  to  no  other  songs  but  those  composed  in  their  own 
Norman-French,  yet  as  the  great  mass  of  the  original  inhabitants  were  not  ex- 
tirpated, these  could  only  understand  their  own  native  Gleemen  or  Minstrels  ;  and 
accordingly,  they  fostered  their  compatriot  Minstrels  with  a  spirit  of  emulation 
that  served  to  maintain  and  encourage  them  and  their  productions  for  a  consider- 
able period  after  the  invasion.  That  they  continued  devoted  to  their  Anglo- 
Saxon  tongue,a  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  their  tyrannical  conquerors,  is 
sufficiently  plain. 

"  Of  this,"  says  Percy,  "  we  have  proof  positive  in  the  old  metrical  romance 
of  Horn-Child,  which,  although  from  the  mention  of  Sarazens,  &c.,  must  have 
been  written  at  least  after  the  first  crusade  in  1096,  yet,  from  its  Anglo-Saxon 
language,  or  idiom,  can  scarcely  be  dated  later  than  within  a  century  after  the 
Conquest.  This,  as  appears  from  its  very  exordium,  was  intended  to  be  sung  to  a 
popular  audience,  whether  it  was  composed  by  or  for  a  Gleeman,  or  Minstrel.  'But 
it  carries  all  the  internal  marks  of  being  the  work  of  such  a  composer.  It  appears 
of  genuine  English  growth ;  for,  after  a  careful  examination,  I  cannot  discover  any 
allusion  to  French  or  Norman  customs,  manners,  composition,  or  phraseology  :  no 
quotation,  '  as  the  romance  sayeth : '  not  a  name  or  local  reference,  which  was 
likely  to  occur  to  a  French  rimeur.  The  proper  names  are  all  of  northern 
extraction.  Child  Horn  is  the  son  of  Allof  (i.e.,  Olaf  or  Olave),  king  of  Sudenne 
(I  suppose  Sweden) ,  by  his  queen  Godylde,  or  Godylt.  Athulf  and  Fykenyld  are 
the  names  of  subjects.  Eylmer,  or  Aylmere,  is  king  of  Westnesse  (a  part  of 
Ireland)  ;  Rymenyld  is  his  daughter ;  as  Erminyld  is  of  another  king,  Thurstan  ; 
whose  sons  are  Athyld  and  Beryld.  Athelbrus  is  steward  of  king  Aylmer,  &c.  &c. 
All  these  savour  only  of  a  northern  origin,  and  the  whole  piece  is  exactly  such  a 
performance  as  one  would  expect  from  a  Gleeman  or  Minstrel  of  the  north  of 
England,  who  had  derived  his  art  and  his  ideas  from  his  Scaldic  predecessors 
there." 

Although  Ritson  disputed  the  English  origin  of  this  romance,  Sir  Frederick 
Madden,  in  a  note  to  the  last  edition  of  Warton's  English  Poetry,  has  proved 
Percy  to  be  right,  and  that  the  French  Romance,  Dan  Horn  (on  the  same  subject 
as  Child  Horn),  is  a  translation  from  the  English.  In  the  Prologue  to  another 
Romance,  King  Atla,  it  is  expressly  stated  that  the  stories  of  Aelof  (Allof), 
Tristan,  and  others,  had  been  translated  into  French  from  the  English. 

'  "The  dialect  of  our  Alfred,  of  the  ninth  century,  in  his  in  a  regular  and  intelligible  series,  from  the  dialect  now  in 

Saxon  translation  of  Boethius  and  Bede,  is  more  clear  use  to  the  ninth  century:  that  is,  from  pure  English  to 

and  intelligible  than  the  vulgar  language,  equally  ancie.nt,  pure  Saxon,  such  as  was  spoken  and  written  by  King 

of  any  other  country  in  Europe.    For  I  am  acquainted  Alfred,    unmixed  with   Latin,   Welch,    or    Norman."— 

with  no  other  language,  which,  like  our  own,  can  mount  Burncy's  History  of  Music,  vol.  ii.  p.  209. 


WILLIAM    I.    TO   RICHARD   I.  9 

After  the  Conquest,  the  first  notice  we  have  relating  to  the  Minstrels  is  the 
founding  of  the  Priory  and  Hospital  of  St.  Bartholomew,*  in  Smithfield,  by 
Koyer,  or  Raherus,  the  King's  Minstrel,  in  the  the  third  year  of  King  Henry  I., 
A.D.  1102.  Henry's  conduct  to  a  luckless  Norman  minstrel  who  fell  into  his  power, 
tells  how  keenly  the  minstrel's  sarcasms  were  felt,  as  well  as  the  ferocity  of  Henry's 
revenge.  "  Luke  de  Barre,"  said  the  king,  "  has  never  done  me  homage,  but  he  has 
fought  against  me.  He  has  composed  facetiously  indecent  songs  upon  me ;  he  has 
sung  them  openly  to  my  prejudice,  and  often  raised  the  horse-laughs  of  my  malig- 
nant enemies  against  me."  Henry  then  ordered  his  eyes  to  be  pulled  out.  The 
wretched  minstrel  rushed  from  his  tormentors,  and  dashed  his  brains  against 
the  wall.b 

In  the  reign  of  King  Henry  H.,  Galfrid  or  Jeffrey,  a  harper,  received  in  1180 
an  annuity  from  the  Abbey  of  Hide,  near  Winchester ;  and  as  every  harper  was 
expected  to  sing,0  we  cannot  doubt  that  this  reward  was  bestowed  for  his  music 
and  his  songs,  which,  as  Percy  says,  if  they  were  for  the  solace  of  the  monks  there, 
we  may  conclude  would  be  in  the  English  language.  The  more  rigid  monks, 
however,  both  here  and  abroad,  were  greatly  offended  at  the  honours  and  rewards 
lavished  on  Minstrels.  John  of  Salisbury,  who  lived  in  this  reign,  thus  declaims 
against  the  extravagant  favour  shown  to  them :  "  For  you  do  not,  like  the  fools  of 
this  age,  pour  out  rewards  to  Minstrels  (Histriones  et  Mimos  d)  and  monsters  of 
that  sort,  for  the  ransom  of  your  fame,  and  the  enlargement  of  your  name." 
—(Epist.  247.) 

"  Minstrels  and  Poets  abounded  under  Henry's  patronage :  they  spread  the  love 
of  poetry  and  literature  among  his  barons  and  people,  and  the  influence  of  the 
royal  taste  soon  became  visible  in  the  improved  education  of  the  great,  in  the 
increasing  number  of  the  studious,  and  in  the  multiplicity  of  authors,  who  wrote 
during  his  reign  and  the  next." — Sharon  Turner's  Hist.  Eng. 

In  the  reign  of  Richard  I.  (1189.)  minstrelsy  flourished  with  peculiar  splendour. 
His  romantic  temper,  and  moreover  his  own  proficiency  in  the  art,  led  him  to  be 
not  only  the  patron  of  chivalry,  but  also  of  those  who  celebrated  its  exploits. 
Some  of  his  poems  are  still  extant.  The  romantic  release  of  this  king  from  the 
castle  of  Durrenstein,  on  the  Danube,  by  the  stratagem  and  fidelity  of  his  Min- 
strel Blondel,  is  a  story  so  well  known,  that  it  is  needless  to  repeat  it  here.6 

Another  circumstance  which  proves  how  easily  Minstrels  could  always  gam 
admittance  even  into  enemies'  camps  and  prisons,  occurred  in  this  reign.  The 
young  heiress  of  D'Evreux,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  "  was  carried  abroad,  and  secreted 

•Vide  the  Monasticon,  torn.  ii.  pp.  166  67,  fora  curious  Lord  Howard's  agreement  with  William  Wastell,  Harper 

history  of  this  priory  and  its  founder.    Also  Slotve's  Sur-  of  London,  to  teach  a  boy  named  Colet"  to  harp  and  to  sing." 

vey.    In  the  Pleasaunt  History  of  Thomas  of  Reading,  4to.  d  Histrio,  Mimus,  Joculator,  and  Ministrallus,  are  all 

1662,  he  is  likewise  mentioned.     His  monument,  in  good  nearly  equivalent  terms  for  Minstrels  in  Mediaeval  Latin, 

preservation,  may  yet  he  seen  in  the  parish  church  of  "  Incepit  more  Histrionico,  fabulas  dicere,  et  plerumque 

St.  Bartholomew,  in  Smithfield,  London.  cantare."     "  Super  quo  Histriones  cantabant,  sicut  modo 

b  Quoted  from  Ordericus  Vitalis.  Hist.  Eccles.  in  Sharon  cantatur  de    Rolando  et   Oliverio."     "  Dat  sex  Mimis 

Turner's  Hist.  England.  Domini    Clynton,    cantantibus,    citharitantibus,    luden- 

c  So    in    Horn-Child,   K.   Allof   orders    his    steward,  tibus,"  &c.  4  s.     Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  uses  Joculator  as 

Althebrus  to   "teche  him  of  harpe  and  song."     And  equivalent  to  Citharista,  in  one  place,  and  to  Cantor  in 

Chaucer,  in  his  description  of  the  Limitour  or  Mendicant  another.     See  Notes  to  Percy's  Essay. 

Friar,  speaks  of  harping  as  inseparable  from  singing—"  in  e  The  best  authority  for  this  story,  which  has  frequently 

his  harping,  when  that  he  had  sung."    Also  in  1481,  see  been  doubted,  is  the  Chronique  de  Rains,  written  in  the 


10  ENGLISH   MINSTRELSY. 

by  her  French  relations  in  Normandy.  To  discover  the  place  of  her  concealment, 
a  knight  of  the  Talbot  family  spent  two  years  in  exploring  that  province,  at  first 
under  the  disguise  of  a  pilgrim ;  till  having  found  where  she  was  confined,  in 
order  to  gain  admittance  he  assumed  the  dress  and  character  of  a  harper,  and 
being  a,  jocose  person,  exceedingly  skilled  in  '  the  Gests  of  the  Ancients,' — so  they 
called  the  romances  and  stories  which  were  the  delight  of  that  age, — he  was  gladly 
received  into  the  family,  whence  he  took  an  opportunity  to  carry  off  the  young 
lady,  whom  he  presented  to  the  king ;  and  he  bestowed  her  on  his  natural  brother, 
William  Longespee  (son  of  fair  Rosamond) ,  who  became,  in  her  right,  Earl  of 
Salisbury. 

In  the  reign  of  king  John  (A.D.  1212)  the  English  Minstrels  did  good  service 
to  Ranulph,  or  Randal,  Earl  of  Chester.  He,  being  beseiged  in  his  Castle  of 
Rothelan  (or  Rhuydland) ,  sent  for  help  to  De  Lacy,  Constable  of  Chester,  who, 
"  making  use  of  the  Minstrels  of  all  sorts,  then  met  at  Chester  fair,  by  the  allure- 
ments of  their  music,  assembled  such  a  vast  number  of  people,  who  went  forth 
under  the  conduct  of  a  gallant  youth,  named  Dutton  (his  steward  and  son-in-law) 
that  he  intimidated  the  Welsh,  who  supposed  them  to  be  a  regular  body  of  armed 
and  disciplined  soldiers,  so  that  they  instantly  raised  the  siege  and  retired." 

For  this  deed  of  service  to  Ranulph,  both  De  Lacy  and  Dutton  had,  by 
respective  charters,  patronage  and  authority  over  the  Minstrels  and  others,  who, 
under  the  descendants  of  the  latter,  enjoyed  certain  privileges  and  protection  for 
many  ages. 

Even  so  late  as  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  when  this  profession  had  fallen  into  such 
discredit  that  it  was  considered  in  law  a  nuisance,  the  Minstrels  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  family  of  Dutton  are  expressly  excepted  out  of  all  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment made  for  their  suppression ;  and  have  continued  to  be  so  excepted  ever  since.* 

"We  have  innumerable  particulars  of  the  good  cheer  and  great  rewards  given  to 
the  Minstrels  in  many  of  the  convents,  which  are  collected  by  Warton  and  others. 
But  one  instance,  quoted  from  Wood's  Hist.  Antiq.  Ox.,  vol.  i.  p.  67,  during  the  reign 
of  king  Henry  HI.  (sub.  an.  1224),  deserves  particular  mention.  Two  itinerant 
priests,  on  the  supposition  of  their  being  Minstrels,  gained  admittance.  But  the 
cellarer,  sacrist,  and  others  of  the  brethren,  who  had  hoped  to  have  been  entertained 
by  their  diverting  arts,  &c.,  when  they  found  them  to  be  only  two  indigent  ecclesi- 
astics, and  were  consequently  disappointed  of  their  mirth,  beat  them,  and  turned 
them  out  of  the  monastery." 

In  the  same  reign  (A.D.  1252)  we  have  mention  of  Master  Richard,  the  king's 
Harper,  to  whom  that  monarch  gave  not  only  forty  shillings  and  a  pipe  of  wine, 
but  also  a  pipe  of  wine  to  Beatrice,  his  wife.  Percy  remarks,  that  the  title  of 
Magister,  or  Master,  given  to  this  Minstrel,  deserves  notice,  and  shows  his 
respectable  situation. 

"The  learned  and  pious  Grosteste,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  who  died  in  1253,  is  said, 

13th  Century.— See  Wright 'tSiograph.Srit.,  Anglo  Norman  newal  of  the  same  clauses  in  the  last  act  on  this  subject, 

Period,  p.  325.  passed  in   the  reign  of  George  III.      The  ceremonies 

"  See  the  statute  of  Eliz.  anno.  39.  cap.  iv.  entitled  an  attending  the  exercise  of  this  jurisdiction  are  described 

Act  for  punishment  of  rogues,  vagabonds,  &c.;  also  a  re-  by  Dugdale  (Bar  i..  p.  101),  and  from  him,  by  Percy. 


KING  JOHN   TO   EDWARD   I.  H 

in  some  verses  of  Robert  de  Brunne,  who  flourished  about  the  beginning  of  the 
next  century,  to  have  been  very  fond  of  the  metre  and  music  of  the  Minstrels. 
The  good  prelate  had  written  a  poem  in  the  Romanse  language,  called  Manuel 
Peche,  the  translation  of  which  into  English,  Robert  de  Brunne  commenced  in 
1302,  with  a  design,  as  he  tells  us  himself,  that  it  should  be  sung  to  the  harp  at 
public  entertainments." 

For  lewde  [unlearned]  men  I  undertoke      That  talys  and  rymys  wyl  blithly  here, 
In  Englysshe  tunge  to  make  thys  boke,       Yn  gamys  and  festys,  and  at  the  ale 
For  many  ben  of  swyche  manere  Love  men  to  listene  trotevale.  [triviality] 

The  following  anecdote  concerning  the  love  which  his  author,  bishop 
Grosteste,  had  for  music,  seems  to  merit  a  place  here,  though  related  in  rude 
rhymes. 

I  shall  yow  telle  as  I  have  herde  "  The   vertu    of    the    Harpe,   thurgh 

Of  the  bysshope  Seynt  Eoberde,  [through]  skylle  and  rygbt, 

Hys  toname  [surname]  is  Grostest  "  Wyll  destrye  the  fendys  [fiends]  myght; 

Of  Lynkolne,  so  seyth  the  gest,  "  And  to  the  Cros  by  gode  skylle 

He  loved  moche  to  here  the  Harpe,          "  Is  the  Harpe  ylykened  weyl. 

For  mannes  wytte  it  makyth  sharpe.         "  Tharefore,  gode  men,  ye  shall  le.re,  [learn] 

Next  hys  chaumbre,  besyde  bis  study,       "  Whan  ye  any  Gleman  here, 

Hys  Harper's  chaumbre  was  fast  therby.    "  To  wurschep  God  at  your  powere, 

Many  tymes,  by  nightes  and  dayes,          "  As  Davyd  seyth  in  the  Sautere.  [Psalter] 

He  had  solace  of  notes  and  layes,  "  In  barpe  and  tabour  and  sympban8  gle 

One  askede  bym  the  resun  why  "  Wurschep  God  :  in  trumpes  and  sautre, 

He  badde  delyte  in  Mynstralsy  ?  "In  cordes,  in  organes,  and  bells  ringyng : 

He  answerde  hym  on  tbys  manere  "  In    all    these    wurschepe    the    heveiie 

Why  he  helde  the  Harpe  so  dere :  Kyng,  &c." 

Before  entering  on  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  I  quit  the  Minstrels  for  awhile,  to 
endeavour  to  trace  the  progress  of  music  up  to  that  period.  It  will  be  necessary 
to  begin  with  the  old  Church  Scales,  it  having  been  asserted  that  all  national 
music  is  constructed  upon  them — an  assertion  that  I  shall  presently  endeavour 
to  confute ;  and  by  avoiding,  as  far  as  possible,  all  obsolete  technical,  as  well 
as  Greek  terms,  which  render  the  old  treatises  on  Music  so  troublesome  a  study, 
I  hope  to  convey  such  a  knowledge  of  those  scales  as  will  answer  the  purpose  of 
such  general  readers  as  possess  only  a  slight  knowledge  of  music. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Music  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. — Music  IN  ENGLAND  TO  THE  END  OF 
THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 

During  the  middle  ages  Music  was  always  ranked,  as  now,  among  the  seven 
liberal  arts,  these  forming  the  Trivium  and  Quadrivium,  and  studied  by  all 
those  in  Europe  who  aspired  at  reputation  for  learning.  The  Trivium  com- 
prised Grammar,  Rhetoric,  and  Logic ;  the  Quadrivium  comprehended  Music, 

» Either   part-singing,  or  the  instrument  called  the   symphony. 


12  MUSIC   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES. 

Arithmetic,  Geometry,  and  Astronomy.  Sharon  Turner  remarks,  that  these 
comprised  not  only  all  that  the  Romans  knew,  cultivated,  or  taught,  but 
embodied  "  the  whole  encyclopaedia  of  ancient  knowledge."  If  we  may  trust 
the  following  jargon  hexameters,  which  he  quotes  as  "  defining  the  subjects 
they  comprised,"  Music  was  treated  as  an  art  rather  than  as  a  science,  and 
a  practical  knowledge  of  it  was  all  that  was  required : — 

Gramm.  loquitur ;  Dia.  vera  docet ;  Rhet.  verba  colorat 
Mus.  canit ;  AT.  numerat ;  Geo.  ponderat ;  Ast.  colit  astra. 

But  the  methods  of  teaching  both  the  theory  and  the  practice  of  music  were  so 
dark,  difficult,  and  tedious,  before  its  notation,  measure,  and  harmonial  laws  were 
settled,  that  we  cannot  wonder  when  we  hear  of  youth  having  spent  nine  or  ten 
years  in  the  study  of  scholastic  music,  and  apparently  to  very  little  purpose. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century  (A.D.  374  to  397),  Ambrose,  bishop  of 
Milan,  introduced  a  model  of  Church  melody,  in  which  he  chose  four  series 
or  successions  of  notes,  and  called  them  simply  the  first,  second,  third,  and  fourth 
tones,  laying  aside,  as  inapplicable,  the  Greek  names  of  Doric,  Phrygian,  Lydian, 
^olic,  Ionic,  &c.  These  successions  distinguished  themselves  only  by  the  posi- 
tion of  the  semitones  in  the  degrees  of  the  scale,  and  are  said  to  be  as  follows : 

1st  tone,     defgabcd 

2nd  tone,  —   efgabcde 

3rd  tone,  fgabcdef 

4th  tone,   gabcdefg 

These,  Pope  Gregory  the  Great  (whose  pontificate  extended  from  590  to  604) 
increased  to  eight.  He  retained  the  four  above-mentioned  of  Ambrose,  adding  to 
them  four  others,  which  were  produced  by  transposing  those  of  Ambrose  a  fourth 
lower ;  so  that  the  principal  note  (or  key-note,  as  it  may  be  called)  which  for- 
merly appeared  as  the  first  in  that  scale,  now  appeared  in  the  middle,  or  strictly 
speaking,  as  the  fourth  note  of  the  succession,  the  four  additional  scales  being 
called  the  plagal,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  four  more  ancient,  which  received 
the  name  of  authentic. 

In  this  manner  their  order  would  of  course  be  disarranged,  and,  instead  of  being 
the  first,  second,  third,  and  fourth  tones,  they  became  the  first,  third,  fifth,  and 
seventh. 

The  following  are  the  eight  ecclesiastical  tones  (or  scales)  which  still  exist  as  such 
in  the  music  of  the  Romish  church,  and  are  called  Gregorian,  after  their  founder  : 

1st  tone  Authentic,  D     e^f    g    A    V^c     D 

2d    do.  Plagal,         A    b^c     D     e^f    g    A 

3d    do.  Authentic,  E^f    g     a     B^c     d     E 

4th  do.  Plagal,         —    B~c     d     E~f    g     a    B 

5th  do.  Authentic,   P    g     a     b~C     d     e~F 

6th  do.  Plagal,         0     d     e~F    g     a     b~C 

7th  do.  Authentic,   Ga     b~c     De     f    G 

8th  do.  Plagal,  -D    e~f    G    a    b~c    D 

It  will  be  perceived  at  the  first  glance,  that  these  Gregorian  tones  have  only 


GREGORIAN   TONES.  13 

the  intervals  of  the  diatonic  scale  of  C,  such  as  are  the  white  keys  of  the  pianoforte, 
without  any  sharps  or  flats.  The  only  allowable  accidental  note  in  the  Canto 
fermo  or  plain  song  of  the  Romish  church  is  B  flat,  the  date  of  the  introduction 
of  which  has  not  been  correctly  ascertained. a  No  sharp  occurs  in  genuine  chants 
of  high  antiquity.  In  some  modern  books  the  flat  is  placed  at  the  clef  upon  5,  for 
the  fifth  and  sixth  modes,  but  the  strict  adherents  to  antiquity  do  not  admit  this 
innovation.  These  tones  only  differ  from  one  another  in  the  position  of  the  half 
notes  or  semitones,  as  from  b  to  c,  and  from  e  to/.  In  the  four  plagal  modes,  the 
final  or  key  note  remains  the  same  as  in  the  relative  authentic ;  thus,  although  in  the 
sixth  mode  we  have  the  notes  of  the  scale  of  C,  we  have  not  in  reality  the  key  of 
C,  for  the  fundamental  or  key  note  is/;  and  although  the  first  and  eighth  tones 
contain  exactly  the  same  notes  and  in  the  same  position,  the  fundamental  note  of 
the  first  is  d,  and  of  the  eighth  g.  There  is  no  other  difference  than  that  the 
melodies  in  the  four  authentic  or  principal  modes  are  generally  (and  should 
strictly  speaking  be)  confined  within  the  compass  of  the  eight  notes  above  the  key 
note,  while  the  four  plagal  go  down  to  a  fourth  below  the  key  note,  and  only 
extend  to  a  fifth  above  it. 

No  scale  or  key  of  the  eight  ecclesiastical  modes  is  to  us  complete.  The  first 
and  second  of  these  modes  being  regarded,  according  to  the  modern  rules  of 
modulation,  as  in  the  key  of  D  minor,  want  a  flat  upon  b  ;  the  third  and  fourth 
modes  having  their  termination  in  E,  want  a  sharp  upon/;  the  fifth  and  sixth 
modes  being  in  F,  want  a  flat  upon  b;  and  the  seventh  and  eighth,  generally 
beginning  and  ending  in  G  major,  want  an  /  sharp. 

The  names  of  Dorian,  Phrygian,  Lydian,  Mixolydian,  &c.,  have  been  applied  to 
them  with  equal  impropriety  (more  particularly  since  Glareanus,  who  flourished 
in  the  sixteenth  century) ;  they  bear  no  more  resemblance  to  the  Greek  scales  than 
to  the  modern  keys  above  cited. 

Pope  Gregory  made  an  important  improvement  by  discarding  the  thoroughly 
groundless  system  of  the  tetrachord,  adopted  by  the  ancient  Greeks,b  and  by 
founding  in  its  place  that  of  the  octave,  the  only  one  which  nature  indicates.  And 
another  improvement  no  less  important,  in  connexion  with  his  system  of  the 
octave,  was  the  introduction  of  a  most  simple  nomenclature  of  the  seven  sounds  of 
the  scale,  by  means  of  the  first  seven  letters  of  the  alphabet.  Burney  says  that  the 
Roman  letters  were  first  used  as  musical  characters  between  the  time  of  Boethius,c 
who  died  in  526,  and  St.  Gregory ;  but  Kiese wetter d  attributes  this  improvement 
in  notation  entirely  to  Gregory,  in  whose  time  the  scale  consisted  only  of  two 
octaves,  the  notes  of  the  lower  octave  being  expressed  by  capital  letters,  and  the 

»  It  was  probably  derived  from  the  tetrachords  of  the  reference  in  the   divisions  of  the  monochord,    not  as 

Greek  scale,  which  admitted  both  b  flat  and  ft  natural,  but  musical  notes  or  characters, 

which  it  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  here.  d  "History  of  the  Modern  Music  of  Western  Europe, 

b  In  the  old  Greek  notation  there  were  1620  tone  charac-  from  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  to  the  present 

ters,  with  which  Musicians  were  compelled  to  burthen  day,"  &c.,  by  R.  G.  Kiesewetter,  translated  by  Robert 

their  memories,   and  990  marks  actually  diiferent  from  Muller,  8vo.,  1848.     It  is  a  very  clearly  and   concisely 

each  other.  written  history,  and  -contains  in  an  appendix  within  the 

c  It  appears  from  Burney,  that  Boethius  used  the  first  compass  of  a  few  pages,  as  much  of  the  Greek  music  as 

fifteen   letters   of  the  alphabet,   but  only  as  marks   of  any  modern  can  require  to  know. 


14 


MUSIC   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES. 


higher  by  small  letters.  Eventually  a  third  octave  was  added  to  the  scale,  four 
notes  of  which  are  attributed  to  Guido,  and  one  to  his  pupils ;  the  two  remaining 
notes  still  later.  The  highest  octave  was  then  expressed  by  double  letters;  as,  «a, 
bb,  &c.  These  three  octaves  in  modern  notes  would  constitute  the  following  scale : 


A  B  0   D   E  F  G 


aa  bb   cc   dd    ee    ff  gg 


First  octave. 


Second        octave 


Third  octave. 


This  is  the  alphabetical  system  of  names  for  the  notes  which  we,  in  England, 
still  retain  for  every  purpose  but  that  of  exercising  the  voice,  for  which  solfaing 
on  vowels  is  preferred. 

Gregory's  alphabetical  system  of  notation  was,  however,  only  partially  adopted. 
Some  wrote  on  lines  varying  from  seven  to  fifteen  in  number,  placing  dots,  like 
modern  crotchet-heads,  upon  them,  but  making  no  use  of  the  spaces.  Others  used 
spaces  only,  and  instead  of  the  dots  wrote  the  words  themselves  in  the  spaces,  dis- 
jointing each  syllable  to  place  it  in  the  position  the  note  should  occupy.  A  third 
system  was  by  points,  accents,  hooks,  and  strokes,  written  over  the  words,  and  they 
were  intended  to  represent  to  the  singer,  by  their  position,  the  height  of  the  note, 
and  by  their  upward  or  downward  tendency,  the  rising  or  falling  of  the  voice.  It 
was,  however,  scarcely  possible  for  the  writer  to  put  down  a  mark  so  correctly, 
that  the  singer  could  tell  exactly  which  note  to  take.  It  might  be  one  or  two 
higher  or  lower.  To  remedy  this,  a  red  line  was  drawn  over,  and  parallel  to  the 
words  of  the  text,  and  the  marks  were  written  above  and  below  it.  A  further 
improvement  was  the  use  of  two  lines,  one  red  and  the  other  yellow,  the  red  for  F, 
the  yellow  for  C,  as  it  only  left  three  notes  (G,  A,  and  B)  to  be  inserted  between 
them.* 

Such  was  the  notation  before  the  time  of  Guido,  a  monk  of  Arezzo,  in  Tuscany, 
who  flourished  about  1020.  He  extended  the  number  of  lines  by  drawing  one 
line  under  F,  and  another  between  F  and  C,  and  thus  obtained  four  lines  and 
spaces,  a  number,  which  in  the  Rituals  of  the  Romish  Church  has  never  been 
exceeded. 

The  clefs  were  originally  the  letters  F  and  C,  used  as  substitutes  for  those  red 
and  yellow  lines.  The  Base  clef  still  marks  the  position  of  F,  and  the  Tenor 
clef  of  C,  although  the  forms  have  been  changed. 

Guido,  in  his  Antiphonarium,  gives  the  hymn    Ut  queant  laxis*    (from  the 


•  Specimens  of  this  notation,  with  red  and  yellow  lines, 
will  be  found  in  Martini's  Storia  delta  Musica,  vol.  1. 
p.  184;  in  Barney's  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  37 ;  in  Hawkins's 
History,  p.  947  (8vo.  edition) ;  and  in  Kiesewetter's 
p.  280.  Also  of  other  systems  mentioned  above. 

b  Hymn  for  St.  John  the  Baptist's  day,  written  by 
Paul  the  Deacon,  about  774. 

UT  queant  laxis 
REsonare  flbris, 
MIra  gestorum 


FAmuli  tuorum  : 
SOLve  polluti, 
LAbii  reatum, 

Sancte  Johannes. 

SI  was  not  the  settled  name  for  B  until  nearly  the  end 
of  the  seventeenth  century;  and,  although  it  was  proposed 
in  1547,  Butler  in  his  Principles  of  Musick,  1636,  gives 
the  names  of  the  notes  as  Ut,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la,  pha.  In 
1673,  Gio.  Maria  Bononcini,  father  of  Handel's  pseudorival, 
used  Do  in  place  of  Ut,  but  the  French  still  retain  Ut. 


SCALES,  NOTATION,  CLEFS,  AND  DESCANT.  15 

initial  lines  of  which  the  names  of  the  notes,  Ut,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la,  were  taken),  in 
old  ecclesiastical  notation,  and  in  the  Chronicle  of  Tours,  under  the  year  1033,  he 
is  mentioned  as  the  first  who  applied  those  names  to  the  notes.  He  did  not  add 
the  Greek  gamma  (our  G)  at  the  bottom  of  the  scale,*  as  was  long  supposed, 
for  Odo,  Abbot  of  Cluny,  in  Burgundy,  had  used  it  as  the  lowest  note,  in  his 
Enchiridion,  a  century  before. 

To  Franco,  of  Cologne  (who,  by  the  testimony  of  Sigebert,  his  cotemporary, 
had  acquired  great  reputation  for  his  learning  in  1047,  and  lived  at  least  till  1083, 
when  he  filled  the  office  of  Preceptor  of  the  Cathedral  of  Liege),  is  to  be  ascribed 
the  invention  of  characters  for  time.b  By  this  he  conferred  the  most  important 
benefit  on  music,  for,  till  then,  written  melody  was  entirely  subservient  to  syllabic 
laws,  and  music  in  parts  must  have  consisted  of  simple  counterpoint,  such,  says 
Burney,  as  is  still  practised  in  our  parochial  psalmody,  consisting  of  note  against 
note,  or  sounds  of  equal  length. 

The  first  ecclesiastical  harmony  was  called  Descant,  and  by  the  Italians,  Mental 
Counterpoint  (Contrappunto  alia  mente).  It  consisted  of  extemporaneous  singing 
in  fourths,  fifths,  and  octaves,  above  and  below  the  plain  song  of  the  Church ;  and 
although  in  its  original  sense,  it  implied  only  singing  in  two  parts,  it  had  made 
considerable  advances  in  the  ninth  century,  towards  the  end  of  which  we  find 
specimens,  still  existing,  of  harmony  in  three  and  four  parts.  When  Descant  was 
reduced  to  writing,  it  was  called  Counterpoint,  from  punctum  contra  punctum, 
point  against  point,  or  written  notes  placed  one  against  the  other. 

Hubald,  Hucbald,  or  Hugbald,  as  he  is  variously  named,  and  who  died  in  930, 
at  nearly  ninety  years  of  age,  has  left  us  a  treatise,  called  Musica  Enchiriadis, 
which  has  been  printed  by  the  Abbe  Gerbert,  in  his  Scriptores  Ecclesiastici.  In 
chapters  X.  to  XIV.,  De  Symphoniis,  he  says:  "There  are  three  kinds  of 
symphony  (harmony),  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  octave,  and  as  the  combination  of 
some  letters  and  syllables  is  more  pleasing  to  the  ear  than  others,  so  is  it  with 
sounds  in  music.  All  mixtures  are  not  equally  sweet."  In  the  fifteenth  chapter 
he  uses  a  transient  second  and  third,  both  major  and  minor  ;  and  in  the  eighteenth 
he  employs  four  thirds  in  succession.  Burney  says :  "  Hubald's  idea  that  one 
voice  might  wander  at  pleasure  through  the  scale,  while  the  other  remains  fixed, 
shows  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  genius  and  enlarged  views,  who,  disregarding 
rules,  could  penetrate  beyond  the  miserable  practice  of  his  time,  into  our  Points 
d'Orgue,  Pedale,  and  multifarious  harmony  upon  a  holding  note,  or  single  base, 
and  suggests  the  principal,  at  least,  of  the  boldest  modern  harmony."  It  is  in 
this  last  sense  of  amplifying  a  point,  that  we  still  retain  the  verb  to  descant  in 
common  use.  Guido  describes  the  Descant  existing  in  his  time,  as  consisting  of 


a  To  distinguish  G  on  the  lowest  line  of  the  Base  from  scale,  for  the  monochord,  and  placed  notes  upon  lines  and 

the  G  in  the  fifth  space,  the  former  was  marked  with  the  spaces ;  after  whom  came  Magister  Franco,  who  invented 

Greek  p>  ar"l  hence  the  word  gammut,  applied  to  the  the  figures,  or  notes,  of  the  Cantus  mensurabilis  (qui 

whole  scale.  invenit  in  cantu  mensuram  figurarum).  Marchetto  da 

b  John  de  Muris,  who  flourished  in  1330,  in  giving  a  list  Padova,  who  wrote  in  1274,  calls  Franco  the  inventor  of  the 

of  anterior  musicians,  who  had  merited  the  title  of  four  first  musical  characters;  and  Franchinus  Gaffuvius 

inventors,  names  Guido,  who  construe  ted  the  gammut,  or  twice  quotes  him  as  the  author  of  the  time-table. 


16  MUSIC   OF   THE    MIDDLE   AGES. 

fourths,  fifths,  and  octaves  under  the  plain-song  or  chant,  and  of  octaves  (either 
to  the  plain  song  or  to  this  base)  above  it.  He  suggests  what  he  terms  a  smoother 
and  more  pleasing  method  of  under-singing  a  plain-song,  in  admitting,  besides  the 
fourth  and  the  tone,  the  major  and  minor  thirds;  rejecting  the  semitone  and  the 
fifth.  "  No  advances  or  attempts  at  variety  seem  to  have  been  made  in  counterpoint, 
from  the  time  of  Hubald,  to  that  of  Guido,  a  period  of  more  than  a  hundred 
years ;  for  with  all  its  faults  and  crudities,  the  counterpoint  of  Hubald  is  at  least 
equal  to  the  best  combinations  of  Guido ;"  but  the  monk,  Engelbert,  who  wrote  in 
the  latter  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  tells  us  that  all  "  regular  descant "  con- 
sists of  the  union  of  fourths,  fifths,  and  octaves,  so  that  these  uncouth  and  bar- 
barous harmonies,  in  that  regular  succession  which  has  been  since  prohibited, 
continued  in  the  Church  for  four  centuries. 

Before  the  use  of  lines,  there  were  no  characters  or  signs  for  more  than  two 
kinds  of  notes  in  the  Church ;  nor  since  ecclesiastical  chants  have  been  written 
upon  four  lines  and  four  spaces,  have  any  but  the  square  and  lozenge  characters, 
commonly  called  Gregorian  notes,  been  used  in  Canto  fermo :  and,  although  the 
invention  of  the  time-table  extended  the  limits  of  ingenuity  and  contrivance  to 
the  utmost  verge  of  imagination,  and  became  all-important  to  secular  music, 
the  Church  made  no  use  whatever  of  this  discovery. 

That  melody  received  no  great  improvement  from  the  monks,  need  excite 
no  wonder,  as  change  and  addition  were  alike  forbidden;  but  not  to  have 
improved  harmony  more  than  they  did  for  many  centuries  after  its  use  was 
allowed,  is  a  matter  of  just  surprise,  especially  since  the-  cultivation  of  music 
was  a  necessary  part  of  their  profession. 

We  have  occasional  glimpses  of  secular  music  through  their  writings ;  for 
instance,  Guido,  who  gives  a  fair  definition  of  harmony  in  the  sense  it  is  now 
understood  (Armenia  est  diversarum  vocum  apta  coadunatio),  says  that  he 
merely  writes  for  the  Church,  where  the  pure  Diatonic  genus  was  first  used,  but 
he  was  aware  of  the  deficiency  as  regards  other  music.  "  Sunt  prceterea  et  alia 
musicorum  genera  aliis  mensuris  aptata."  Franco  (about  1050)  just  mentions 
Discantum  in  Cantilenis  Rondellis — "  Descant  to  Rounds  or  Roundelays," — but 
no  more. 

When  Franco  writes  in  four  parts,  he  sometimes  gives  five  lines  to  each  part, 
the  five  lowest  for  the  Tenor  or  plain  song,  the  next  five  for  the  Medius,  five  for 
the  Triplum  Discantus,  and  the  highest  for  the  Quadruplum.  Each  has  a  clef 
allotted  to  it.  Although  many  changes  in  the  form  of  musical  notes  have  been 
made  since  his  time,  the  lines  and  spaces  have  remained  without  augmentation  or 
diminution,  four  for  the  plain  song  of  the  Romish  Church,  and  five  for  secular 
music. 

He  devotes  one  chapter  to  characters  for  measuring  silence,  and  therein  gives 
examples  of  rests  for  Longs,  Breves,  Semibreves,  and  final  pauses.  He  also 
suggests  dots,  or  points  of  augmentation.  Bars  are  placed  in  the  musical  examples, 
as  pauses  for  the  singers  to  take  breath  at  the  end  of  a  sentence,  verse,  or  phrase 
of  melody.  And  this  is  the  only  use  made  of  bars  in  Canto  fermo. 


ANGLO-SAXON   MUSIC.  17 

Turning  to  England,  Milton  tells  us,  from  the  Saxon  annals,  that  in  668, 
Pope  Vitalian  sent  singers  into  Kent,  and  in  680,  according  to  the  Venerable 
Bede,a  Pope  Agatho   sent  John,  the  Prsecentor  of  St.  Peter's   at  Rome,  to 
instruct  the  monks  of  Weremouth  in  the  manner  of  performing  the  ritual,  and  he 
opened  schools  for  teaching  music  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom  of  Northumber- 
land.    Bede  was  also  an  able  musician,  and  is  the  reputed  author  of  a  short 
musical  tract  in  two  parts,  de  Musica  theorica,  and  de  Musica  practica,  seu  men- 
surata ;   but  Burnej  says,  although  the  first  may  have  been  written  by  him,  the 
second  is  manifestly  the  work  of  a  much  more  modern  author,  and  he  considers  it 
to  have  been  produced  about  the  twelfth  century,  i.  e.,  between  the  time  of  Guido 
and  the  English  John  de  Muris.    There  must  always  be  a  difficulty  in  identifying 
the  works  of  an  author  who  lived  at  so  remote  a  period,  without  the  aid  of 
contemporary  authority,  or  of  allusions  to  them  of  an  approximate  date ;  and  when 
he  has  written  largely,  such  difficulties  must  be  proportionably  increased.     But, 
rejecting  both  the  treatises  on  music,  if  he  be  the  author  of  the  Commentary  on 
the  Psalms,  which  is  included  in  the  collected  editions  of  his  works  of  1563 
and  1688,  sufficient  evidence  will  remain  to  prove,  not  only  his  knowledge  of 
music,  but  of  all  that  constituted  the  "  regular"  descant  of  the  church  from  the 
ninth  to  the  thirteenth  century.     I  select  one  passage  from  his  Commentary  on 
the  52nd  Psalm.    "As  a  skilful  harper  in  drawing  up  the  cords  of  his  instrument, 
tunes  them  to  such  pitches,  that  the  higher  may  agree  in  harmony  with  the  lower, 
some  differing  by  a  semitone,  a  tone,  or  two  tones,  others  yielding  the  consonance 
of  the  fourth,  fifth,  or  octave ;  so  the  omnipotent  God,  holding  all  men  predestined 
to  the  harmony  of  heavenly  life  in  His  hand  like  a  well-strung  harp,  raises  some 
to  the  high  pitch  of  a  contemplative  life,  and  lowers  others  to  the  gravity  of  active 
life."     And  he  thus  continues  : — "  Giving  the  consonance  of  the  octave,  which 
consists  of  eight  strings  ;"...."  the  consonance  of  the  fifth,  consisting  of  five 
strings  ;   of  the  fourth,  consisting  of  four  strings,  and  then  of  the  smaller  vocal 
intervals,  consisting  of  two  tones,  one  tone,  or  a  semitone,  and  of  there  being 
semitones  in  the  high  as  well  as  the  low  strings." b     Our  great  king,  Alfred, 
according  to  Sir  John  Spelman,  "  provided  himself  of  musitians,  not  common,  or 
such  as  knew  but  the  practick  part,  but  men  skilful  in  the  art  itself;"  and  in  866, 
according  to  the  annals  of  the  Church  of  Winchester,  and  the  testimony  of  many 

m  As  a  proof  of  the  veneration  in  which  Bede  was  held,  harmoniam  praedestinatos  in  manu  sua,  quasi  citharam 

and  the  absurd  legends  relating  to   him,  I  quote  from  quandam,    chordis    convenientibus  ordinatam,    habens, 

a  song  of  the  fifteenth  century: —  quosdam  quidem  ad  acutum  contemplativae  vitae  sonum 

"  When  Bede  had  prechd  to  the  stonys  dry  intendit,  alios  ver6  ad  activae  vitas  gravitatem  temperando 

The  my[gh]t  of  God  made  [t]hem  to  cry  remittit."— "  ut  ad  alios  comparati  quasi  diapason  con- 

Amen  . certys  this  no  ly[e]  !  "  sonantiam,  quae  octo  chordis  constat,  reddant Quos 

autem  ad  diapente  consonantiam,  quinque  chordis  con- 
Songs  and  Carols.  Percy  Soc.  No.  73,  p.  31. 

stantem,  eligit,  illi  possunt  intelhgere  qui  taut  a-  jam  per- 

b  "  Sicut  peritus  citharaeda  chordas  plures  tendens  in        fectionis  sunt Diatesseron  quatuor  chordis  constans. 

cithara,    temperat    eas  acumine    et    gravitate    tali,    ut        ....  Per  minora  vero  vocum  intervalla  quae  duos  tones 


amerentiam  gerentes,  aliae  vero  diatesseron,  aliae  autem  tonium,"  &c. — Bedce  Presbyten  opera,  vol.  8,  p.  lu/u,  101. 
diapente,  vel  etiam  diapason  consonantiam  reddentes :  ita  Basileip,  1563,  OR  Colonia;  Ayrippirxe,  vol.  8,  p.  908, 
et  Deus  omnipotens  omnes  homines  ad  coelestis  vitas  fol^-1688. 

C 


18  MUSIC   IN   ENGLAND,   TIME   OF   HENRY   II. 

ancient  writers,  he  founded  a  Professorship  at  Oxford,*  for  the  cultivation  of  music 
as  a  science.  The  first  who  filled  the  chair  was  Friar  John,  of  St.  David's,  who 
read  not  only  lectures  on  Music,  but  also  on  Logic  and  Arithmetic.  Academical 
honors  in  the  faculty  of  music  have  only  been  traced  back  to  the  year  1463,  when 
Henry  Habington  was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Music,  at  Cambridge, 
and  Thomas  Saintwix,  Doctor  of  Music,  was  made  Master  of  King's  College,  in 
the  same  university ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  music  was  the  only  one  of  the 
seven  sciences  that  conferred  degrees  upon  its  students,  and  England  the  only 
country  in  which  those  degrees  were,  and  are  still  conferred. 

About  1159,  when  Thomas  a  Becket  conducted  the  negociations  for  the 
marriage  of  Henry  the  Second's  eldest  son  with  the  daughter  of  Louis  VH.,  and 
went  to  Paris,  as  chancellor  of  the  English  Monarch,  he  entered  the  French  towns, 
his  retinue  being  displayed  with  the  most  solicitous  ostentation,  "  preceded  by  two 
hundred  and  fifty  boys  on  foot,  in  groups  of  six,  ten,  or  more  together,  singing 
English  songs,  according  to  the  custom  of  their  country."  b  This  singing  in  groups 
resembled  the  "  turba  canentium,"  of  which  Giraldus  afterwards  speaks ;  and  the 
following  passage  from  John  of  Salisbury,  about  1170,  shows  at  least  the  delight 
the  people  had  in  listening  to  part-singing,  or  descant.  "  The  rites  of  religion 
are  now  profaned  by  music  ;  and  it  seems  as  if  no  other  use  were  made  of  it  than 
to  corrupt  the  mind  by  wanton  modulations,  effeminate  inflexions,  and  frittered 
notes  and  periods,  even  in  the  Penetralia,  or  sanctuary,  itself.  The  senseless 
crowd,  delighted  with  all  these  vagaries,  imagine  they  hear  a  concert  of  sirens, 
in  which  the  performers  strive  to  imitate  the  notes  of  nightingales  and  parrots, 
not  those  of  men,  sometimes  descending  to  the  bottom  of  the  scale,  sometimes 
mounting  to  the  summit ;  now  softening,  and  now  enforcing  the  tones,  repeating 
passages,  mixing  in  such  a  manner  the  grave  sounds  with  the  more  grave,  and 
the  acute  with  the  most  acute,  that  the  astonished  and  bewildered  ear  is  unable 
to  distinguish  one  voice  from  another."6  It  was  probably  this  abuse  of  descant 
that  excited  John's  opposition  to  music,  and  his  censures  on  the  minstrels,  as 
shown  in  the  passage  before  quoted.  It  proves  also,  that  descant  in  England  did 
not  then  consist  merely  of  singing  in  two  parts,  but  included  the  licenses  and 
ornaments  of  florid  song.  Even  singing  in  canon  seems  to  be  comprised  in  the 
words,  "  praecinentium  et  succinentium,  canentium  et  decinentium." 

About  1185,  Gerald  Barry,  or  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  archdeacon,  and  after- 

»  The  earliest  express  mention  of  the  University  of  spectum  Domini,  in  ipsis  penetralibus  sanctuarii,  las- 
Oxford,  after  the  foundation  of  the  schools  there  by  civientis  vocis  luxu,  quaclam  ostentatione  sui,  mulie- 
Alfred,  is  from  the  historian  Ingulphus,  whose  youth  bribusmodisnotularumarticulorumque  caesuris,  stupentes 
coincided  with  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Edward  the  animulas  emollire  nituntur.  Cum  praecinentium,  et  suc- 
Confessor.  He  tells  us  that,  having  been  born  in  the  City  cinentium,  canentium,  et  decinentium,  intercinentium, 
of  London,  he  was  first  sent  to  school  at  Westminster,  et  occinentium,  praemolles  modulationes  audieris,  Siren- 
and  that  from  Westminster  he  proceeded  to  Oxford,  arum  concentus  credas  esse,  non  hominum  et  de  vocum 
where  he  studied  the  Aristotelian  Philosophy,  and  the  facilitate  miraberis,  quibus  philomela  vel  psittacus,  aut 
rhetoritical  writings  of  Cicero.  si  quid  sonorius  est,  modos  suos  nequeunt  coasquare.  Ea 

i"'In  ingressu  Gallicanarum  villanim  et  castrorum,  siquidem  est,  ascendendi  descendendique  facilitas;  ea 

primi  veniebant  garciones  pedites  quasi  ducenti  quin-  sectio  vel  geminatio  notularum,  eareplicatio  articulorum, 

quaginta,  gregatim  euntes  sex  vel  deni,  vel  plures  simul,  singulorumque  consolidatio  ;  sic  acuta  vel  acutissima, 

aliquid  lingua  sua  pro  more  patriae  suas  cantantes." —  gravibus  et  subgravibus  temperantur,  ut  auribus  sui 

Slephanidet,  Vita  S.  Thoma;  Cantuar,  pp.  20,  21.  indicii  fere  subtrahetur  autoritas.— Policraticus,  sive  de 

«  Musica  cultum  religionis  incestat,   quod   ante  con-  Niigis  Curialinm,  lib.  i.,  c.  6. 


GIRALDUS   CAMBEENSIS'  ACCOUNT.  19 

wards  bishop,  of  St.  David's,  gave  the  following  description  of  the  peculiar  man- 
ner of  singing  of  the  Welsh,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  North  of  England  :  "  The 
Britons  do  not  sing  their  tunes  in  unison,  like  the  inhabitants  of  other  countries, 
but  in  different  parts.  So  that  when  a  company  of  singers  meets  to  sing,  as  is 
usual  in  this  country,  as  many  different  parts  are  heard  as  there  are  singers,  who 
all  finally  unite  in  consonance  and  organic  melody,  under  the  softness  of  B  flat.a 
In  the  Northern  parts  of  Britain,  beyond  the  Humber,  and  on  the  borders  of 
Yorkshire,  the  inhabitants  make  use  of  a  similar  kind  of  symphonious  harmony 
in  singing,  but  with  only  two  differences  or  varieties  of  tone  and  voice,  the  one 
murmuring  the  under  part,  the  other  singing  the  upper  in  a  manner  equally  soft 
and  pleasing.  This  they  do,  not  so  much  by  art,  as  by  a  habit  peculiar  to  them- 
selves, which  long  practice  has  rendered  almost  natural,  and  this  method  of  singing 
has  taken  such  deep  root  among  this  people,  that  hardly  any  melody  is  accustomed 
to  be  uttered  simply,  or  otherwise  than  in  many  parts  by  the  former,  and  in  two 
parts  by  the  latter.  And  what  is  more  astonishing,  their  children,  as  soon  as  they 
begin  to  sing,  adopt  the  same  manner.  But  as  not  all  the  English,  but  only  those 
of  the  North  sing  in  this  manner,  I  believe  they  had  this  art  at  first,  like  their 
language,  from  the  Danes  and  Norwegians,  who  were  more  frequently  accustomed 
to  occupy,  as  well  as  longer  to  retain,  possession  of  those  parts  of  the  island."  b 
Now,  allowing  a  little  for  the  hyperbolic  style  so  common  with  writers  of  that  age, 
this  may  fairly  be  taken  as  evidence  that  part-singing  was  common  in  Wales,  or 
that  at  least  they  made  descant  to  their  tunes,  in  the  same  way  that  singers  did 
to  the  plain-song  or  Canto  fermo  of  the  Church  at  the  same  period ;  also  that 
singing  in  two  parts  was  common  in  the  North  of  England,  and  that  children  tried 
to  imitate  it.  Burney  and  Hawkins  think  that  what  Giraldus  says  of  the  singing 
of  the  people  of  Northumberland,  in  two  parts,  is  reconcileable  to  probability, 
because  of  the  schools  established  there  in  the  time  of  Bede,  but  Burney  doubts 
his  account  of  the  Welsh  singing  in  many  parts,  and  makes  this  "  turba 
canentium"  to  be  of  the  common  people,  adding,  "we  can  have  no  exalted  idea 
of  the  harmony  of  an  untaught  crowd."  These,  however,  are  his  own  inferences  ; 
Giraldus  does  not  say  that  the  singers  were  untaught,  or  that  they  were  of 
the  common  people.  As  he  is  describing  what  was  the  custom  in  his  own  time, 


by  the  use  01  D  nai  in  LUC  suait:  ui  r  j  ami  nut  m  i»cc*.    *&*    me*   OIL/*   ^v»io  nun*.    OJ>^\,I.UIAI.E»*\,J.U   ^n...^....... . ... 

the  modes  that  were  peculiar  to  the  church.     B  flat  was  ftui  adeb  apud  utramque  invaluit  et  altas  jam  radices 

only  used  in  the  fifth  mode  and  its  plagal.  posuit,  ut  nihil  hie  simpliciter,  ubi  multipliciter  ut  apud 

b  In  musico  modulamine    non    uniformiter  ut  alibi,  priores,  vel  saltern  dupliciter  ut  apud  sequentes,  mellite 

sed  multipliciter  multisque  modis  et  modulis  cantilenas  proferri  consuaverit.     Pueris  etiam  (qu6d  magis  admi- 

emittunt,  ade6  ut  in  turba  canentium,  sicut  huic  genti  randum)  et  fere  infantibus,  (cum  primum  a  fletibus  in 


20  HARPERS  NOT  TAUGHT  BY  MONKS. 

not  what  had  taken  place  a  century  before,  there  seems  no  sufficient  ground 
for  disbelieving  his  statement,*  and  least  of  all,  should  they  who  are  of  the  opinion 
that  all  musical  knowledge  was  derived  from  the  monasteries,  call  it  in  question, 
since,  as  already  shown,  part  music  had  then  existed  in  the  Church,  in  the  form 
of  descant,  for  three  centuries. 

"  If,  however,"  says  Burney,  "  incredulity  could  be  vanquished  with  respect  to 
the  account  which  Giraldus  Cambrensis  gives  of  the  state  of  music  in  Wales 
during  the  twelfth  century,  it  would  be  a  Welsh  MS.  in  the  possession  of  Richard 
Morris,  Esq.,  of  the  Tower,  which  contains  pieces  for  the  harp,  that  are  in  full 
harmony  or  counterpoint ;  they  are  written  in  a  peculiar  notation,  and  supposed 
to  be  as  old  as  the  year  1100  ;  at  least,  such  is  the  known  antiquity  of  many  of 
the  songs  mentioned  in  the  collection,"  &c.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to  enter 
into  the  defence  of  Welsh  music,  but  the  specimens  Dr.  Burney  has  printed  from 
that  manuscript,  which  he  describes  as  in  full  harmony  and  counterpoint,  are 
really  nothing  more  than  the  few  simple  chords  which  must  fall  naturally  under 
the  hand  of  any  one  holding  the  instrument,  and  such  as  would  form  a  child's 
first  lessons.  First  the  chord,  G  C  E,  and  then  that  of  B  D  F,  form  the  entire 
bass  of  the  only  two  lessons  he  has  translated;  and  though  from  B  to  F  is 
a  "false  fifth,"  it  must  be  shown  that  the  harper  derived  his  knowledge  of* 
the  instrument  from  the  Church,  before  the  assertion  that  it  is  more  modern 
harmony  than  then  in  use  can  have  any  weight.  In  England,  at  least,  not 
only  the  evidence  of  Giraldus,  but  all  other  that  I  can  find,  is  against  such  a 
supposition.  I  have  before  alluded  to  the  Romance  of  Horn-Child,  (note  c,  to 
page  9),  and  here  give  the  passage,  to  prove  that  such  knowledge  was  not 
derived  from  the  Church,  as  well  as  to  show  what  formed  a  necessary  part  of 
education  for  a  knight  or  warrior.  It  is  from  that  part  of  the  story  where 
Prince  Horn  appears  at  the  court  of  the  King  of  Westnesse. 

ORIGINAL  WORDS.  WORDS  MODERNIZED. 

"  The  kyng  com  in  to  halle,  The  king  came  into  [the]  hall 

Among  his  knyhtes  alle,  Among  his  knights  all, 

Forth  he  clepeth  Athelbrus,  Forth  he  calletli  Athelbrus, 

His  stiward,  and  him  seide  thus  :  His  steward,  and  [to]  him  said  thus 

'  Stiward,  tac  thou  here  "  Steward,  take  thou  here 

My  fundling,  for  to  lere  My  foundling,  for  to  teach 

Of  thine  mestere  Of  thy  mystery 

Of  wode  and  of  ryuere,  Of  wood  and  of  river, 

Ant  toggen  o  the  liarpe  And  to  play  on  the  harp 

With  is  nayles  sharpe.  With  his  nails  sharp. 

Ant  tech  him  alle  the  listes  And  teach  him  all  thou  listest, 

That  thou  euer  wystest,  That  thou  ever  knewest, 

Byfore  me  to  keruen,  Before  me  to  carve 

And  of  my  coupe  to  seruen :  And  my  cup  to  serve : 

•Dr.  Percy  says,  "The  credit  of  Giraldus,  which  hath       work,   'Antiquities  of  Ireland,'   by  Edward   Ledwich, 
been  attacked  by  some  partial  and  bigoted  antiquaries,        LL.D.     Dublin,  1790,  4to.,  p.  207.  et  seq." 
the  reader  will  find  defended  in  that  learned  and  curious 


CHARACTER   OF   TUNES   OFTEN  DERIVED   FROM   INSTRUMENTS.  21 

Ant  his  feren  deuyse  And  devise  for  his  fellows 

With  ous  other  seruise  ;  With  us  other  service ; 

Horn-Child,  thou  vnderstond  Horn-Child,  thou  understand 

Tech  Mm  ofharpe  and  of  song' "  Teach  him  of  harp  and  of  song." 

In  another  part  of  the  poem  he  is  introduced  playing  on  his  harp. 

Horn  sette  him  abenche,  Horn  seated  himself  on  a  hench, 

Is  harpe  he  gan  clenche  His  harp  he  began  to  clench ; 

He  made  Rymenild  a  lay  He  made  Rymenild  a  lay 

Ant  hue  seide  weylaway,  &c.B  And  he  said  wellaway  !  &c. 

In  searching  into  the  early  history  of  the  music  of  any  country,  the  first 
subject  of  inquiry  should  be  the  nature  and  character,  as  well  as  the  peculiarities 
of  scale,  of  the  musical  instruments  they  possessed.  If  the  musical  instruments 
in  general  use  had  an  imperfect  scale,  the  national  music  would  generally,  if  not 
universally,  have  retained  the  peculiarities  of  that  scale.  Hence  the  characteristics 
of  Scottish  music,  and  of  some  of  the  tunes  of  the  North  of  England,  which  re- 
semble it.  In  the  following  collection  many  can  be  pointed  out  as  bagpipe  tunes, 
such  as  "  Who  liveth  so  merry  in  all  this  land,  as  doth  the  poor  widow  that  selleth 
the  sand,"  and  "  By  the  border's  side  as  I  did  pass,"  both  of  which  seem  to 
require  the  accompaniment  of  the  drone,  while  others,  like  "-Mall  (or  Moll) 
Sims,"  strictly  retain  the  character  of  harp  music.  Where,  however,  the  harp 
was  in  general  use,  the  scale  would  be  more  perfect  than  if  some  other  instru- 
ments were  employed,  and  hence  the  melodies  would  exhibit  fewer  peculiarities, 
unless,  indeed,  the  harp  was  tuned  to  some -particular  scale,  which,  judging  by 
the  passage  above  quoted  from  Bede,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  the  case  in 
England. 

About  1250  we  have  the  song,  Sumer  is  icumen  in,  the  earliest  secular  com- 
position, in  parts,  known  to  exist  in  any  country.  Sir  John  Hawkins  supposed  that 
it  could  not  be  earlier  than  the  fifteenth  century,  because  John  of  Dunstable,  to 
whom  the  invention  of  figurative  music  has  been  attributed,  died  in  1455.  But 
Dr.  Burney  remarks  that  Dunstable  could  not  have  been  the  inventor  of  that  art, 
concerning  which  several  treatises  were  written  before  John  was  born,  and  shows 
that  mistake  to  have  originated  in  a  passage  from  Proportionales  Musices,  by  John 
Tinctor,  a  native  of  Flanders,  and  the  "  most  ancient  composer  and  theorist  of 
that  country,  whose  name  is  upon  record."  It  is  as  follows  :  "  Of  which  new  art, 
as  I  may  call  it  (counterpoint) ,  the  fountain  and  source  is  said  to  have  been  among 
the  English,  of  whom  Dunstable  was  the  chief '."b  "  Caput,"  literally  meaning 
"  head,"  had  been  understood  in  its  secondary  sense  of  "  originator  or  beginner." 

Dr.  Burney's  opinion  with  respect  to  the  age  of  this  canon  seems  to  have  been 
very  unsettled  (if  indeed  he  can  be  said  to  have  formed  one  at  all).  He  first 
presents  it  as  a  specimen  of  the  harmony  in  our  country,  "  about  the  fourteenth 

"  Warton's  History  of  English  Poetry,  vol.  i.,  p.  38,  fuisse  perhibetur."  From  Proportionate  Musices,  dedi- 

8vo.,  1840.  cated  to  Ferdinand,  king  of  Sicily,  Jerusalem,  and 

b  "Cujus,  ut  itadicam,  novae  artis  (Contrapunctis),  fons  Hungary  (who  reigned  from  1458  to  1494),  by  John 

et  origo  apud  Anglos,  quorum  caput  Dunstaple  extitit,  Tinctor,  Chaplain  and  Maestro  di  Capella  to  that  Prince. 


22  MANUSCRIPTS — THIRTEENTH    CENTURY. 

and  fifteenth  century."  On  the  same  page  he  tells  us  that  the  notes  of  the 
MS.  resemble  those  of  Walter  Odington's  Treatise  a  (1230),  and  seem  to  be  of  the 
thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century,  and  he  can  hardly  imagine  the  canon  much 
more  modern.  Then  he  is  "  sometimes  inclined  to  imagine"  it  to  have  been 
the  production  of  the  Northumbrians,  (who,  according  to  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
used  a  kind  of  natural  symphonious  harmony,)  but  with  additional  parts,  and  a 
second  drone-base  of  later  times.  By  "  additional  parts"  I  suppose  Burney 
to  mean  adding  to  the  length  of  the  tune,  and  so  continuing  the  canon.  Next 
in  reviewing  "  the  most  ancient  musical  tract  that  has  been  preserved  in  our 
vernacular  tongue"  (by  Lyonel  Power),  he  says,  this  rule  (a  prohibition  of 
taking  fifths  and  octaves  in  succession)  seems  to  have  been  so  much  unknown 
or  disregarded  by  the  composer  of  the  canon,  "  Sumer  is  icumen  in,"  as  to 
excite  a  suspicion  that  it  is  "  much  more  ancient  than  has  been  imagined." 
And  finally,  "  It  has  been  already  shown  that  counterpoint,  in  the  Church, 
began  by  adding  parts  to  plain  chant ;  and  in  secular  music,  by  harmonizing 
old  tunes,  as  florid  melody  did  by  variations  on  these  tunes.  It  was  long 
before  men  had  the  courage  to  invent  new  melodies.  It  is  a  matter  of  sur- 
prise that  so  little  plain  counterpoint  is  to  be  found,  and  of  this  little,  none 
correct,  previous  to  attempts  at  imitation,  fugue,  and  canon ;  contrivances  to  which 
there  was  a  very  early  tendency,  in  all  probability,  during  times  of  extemporary 
descant,  before  there  was  any  such  thing  as  written  harmony  :  for  we  find  in  the 
most  ancient  music  in  parts  that  has  come  down  to  us,  that  fugue  and  canon  had 
made  considerable  progress  at  the  time  it  was  composed.  The  song,  or  round, 
'  Sumer  is  icumen  in,'  is  a  very  early  proof  of  the  cultivation  of  this  art."  He 
then  proceeds  to  show  how,  according  to  Martini,  from  the  constant  habit  of 
descanting  in  successive  intervals,  new  melodies  would  be  formed  in  harmony  with 
the  original,  and  whence  imitations  would  naturally  arise. 

Ritson,  who  knew  more  of  the  age  of  manuscripts  than  of  musical  history,  is 
of  opinion  that  Burney  and  Hawkins  were  restrained  by  fear  from  giving  their 
opinion  of  its  date,  and  says  it  may  be  referred  to  as  early  a  period  (at  least)  as 
the  year  1250.  Sir  Frederick  Madden,b  in  a  note  to  the  last  edition  of  Warton's 
English  Poetry,  says :  "  Ritson  justly  exclaims  against  the  ignorance  of  those  who 
refer  the  song  to  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the  MS.  itself  is  certainly  of  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth."  Mr.  T.  Wright,  who  has  devoted  his  attention 
almost  exclusively  to  editing  Anglo-Norman,  Anglo-Saxon,  and  early  English 
manuscripts,  says :  "  The  latter  part  of  this  manuscript,  containing,  among  others, 
the  long  political  song  printed  in  my  Pol.  Songs,  p.  72,  was  certainly  written 
during  the  interval  between  the  battle  of  Lewes,  in  May,  1264,  and  that  of 
Evesham,  in  the  year  following,  and  most  probably  immediately  after  the  first- 
mentioned  event.  The  earlier  part  of  the  MS.,  which  contains  the  music,  was 
evidently  written  at  an  earlier  period — perhaps  by  twenty  or  thirty  years — and 

"  The  best  summary  of  the  state  of  music  in  England,  complete  of  all  the  early  treatises,  whether  written  here 

about  1230,  is  contained  in  Walter  Odington's  Treatise,  or  abroad. 

•which  is  fully  described  in  Burney's  History  of  Music,  h  Keeper  of  the  Manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  155,  et  seq.    Burney  considers  it  the  most 


SUMER   IS   ICUMEN   IN. 


23 


the  song  with  its  music  must  therefore  be  given  to  the  first  half  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  at  latest."  I  have  thus  entered  into  detail  concerning  this  song 
(though  all  the  judges  of  manuscripts,  whom  I  have  been  enabled  to  consult,  are 
of  the  same  opinion  as  to  its  antiquity),  because  it  is  not  only  one  of  the  first 
English  songs  with  or  without  music,  but  the  first  example  of  counterpoint  in  six 
parts,  as  well  as  of  fugue,  catch,  and  canon ;  and  at  least  a  century,  if  not  two 
hundred  years,  earlier  than  any  composition  of  the  kind  produced  out  of 
England.* 

The  antiquity  of  the  words  has  not  been  denied,  the  progress  of  our  language 
having  been  much  more  studied  than  our  music,  but  the  manuscript  deserves  much 
more  attention  from  musicians  than  it  has  yet  received.b  It  is  not  in  Gregorian 
notation,  which  might  have  been  a  bar  to  all  improvement,  but  very  much  resem- 
bles that  of  Walter  Odington,  in  1230.  All  the  notes  are  black.  It  has  neither 
marks  for  time,  the  red  note,  nor  the  white  open  note,  all  of  which  were  in  use  in 
the  following  century. 

The  chief  merit  of  this  song  is  the  airy  and  pastoral  correspondence  between 
the  words  and  music,  and  I  believe  its  superiority  to  be  owing  to  its  having  been 
a  national  song  and  tune,  selected,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  as  a  basis 
for  harmony,  and  that  it  is  not  entirely  a  scholastic  composition.  The  fact  of  its 
having  a  natural  drone  bass  would  tend  rather  to  confirm  this  view  than  otherwise. 
The  bagpipe,  the  true  parent  of  the  organ,  was  then  in  use  as  a  rustic  instrument 
throughout  Europe.  The  rote,  too,  which  was  in  somewhat  better  estimation,  had 
a  drone,  like  the  modern  hurdy-gurdy,  from  the  turning  of  its  wheel.  When  the 
canon  is  sung,  the  key  note  may  be  sustained  throughout,,  and  it  will  be  in  accord- 
ance with  the  rules  of  modern  harmony.  But  the  foot,  or  burden,  as  it  stands 
in  the  ancient  copy,  will  produce  a  very  indifferent  effect  on  a  modern  ear,c  from  its 
constantly  making  fifths  and  octaves  with  the  voices,  although  such  progressions 
were  not  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  music  in  that  age.  No  subject  would  be  more 
natural  for  a  pastoral  song  than  the  approach  of  Summer;  and,  curiously  enough, 
the  late  Mr.  Bunting  noted  down  an  Irish  song  from  tradition,  the  title  of 
which  he  translated  "  Summer  is  coming,"  and  the  tune  begins  in  the  same  way. 
That  is  the  air  to  which  Moore  adapted  the  words,  "  Rich  and  rare  were  the  gems 
she  wore."  Having  given  a  fac-simile  of  "  Sumer  is  icumen  in,"  taken  from  the 


a  The  earliest  specimen  of  secular  part-music  that  has 
yet  been  discovered  on  the  Continent,  is  an  old  French 
song,  for  three  voices,  the  supposed  production  of  a  singer 
and  poet,  by  name  Adam  de  la  Hale,  called  Le  Boiteux 
d' Arras,  who.was  in  the  service  of  the  Comte  de  Provence. 
The  discovery  has  been  recently  made  and  communicated 
by  M.  Fetis,  in  his  Revue  Musicale.  "  It  may  be  placed 
about  the  year  1280,  if  a.  dilettante  of  the  discantus  of  the 
following  age  has  not  experimentalised  on  the  melody  left 
by  De  la  Hale,  as  on  a  tenor  or  Canto  fermo ;  since  the 
other  songs,  in  similar  notation,  are  not  in  counterpoint ; 
and  the  manuscript  may  be  assigned  to  the  fourteenth 
century."  It  is  given  in  Kiesewetter's  History  of  Music. 

>>The  Musical  Notation  in  this  MS.  ( Harl.  978)  is 
throughout  the  same.  Only  two  forms  of  note  are  used 
•with  occasional  ligatures.  "  Sumeris  icumen  in"  is  on  the 


back  of  page  9,  and  just  after  it  is  an  Antiphon  in  praise 
of  Thomas  a  Becket.  At  page  12  we  have  the  musical 
scale  in  letters,  exactly  corresponding  with  the  scale  of 
Guido,  with  the  ut,  re,  mi,  fa,  &c.,  but  only  extending  to 
two  octaves  and  four  notes,  without  even  the  "  e  e,"  said 
to  have  been  added  by  his  pupils.  At  the  back  of  that 
page  is  an  explanation  of  the  intervals  set  to  music,  to 
impress  them  on  the  memory  by  singing,  and  examples  of 
the  ligatures  used  in  the  notation  of  the  manuscript.  At 
page  8  is  a  hymn,  "  Ave  gloriosa  mater  Salvatoris,"  with 
Latin  and  Norman  French  words,  in  score  in  three  parts, 
on  fifteen  red  lines  undivided,  and  with  three  clefs  for  the 
voices.  The  remainder  of  the  musical  portion  of  the 
manuscript  consists  of  hymns,  &c.,  in  one  or  two  parts, 

c  We  ought,  perhaps,  to  except  the  lover  of  Scotch 
Reels. 


24 


SUMER   IS   ICUMEN   IN. 


manuscript,  and  as  it  may  be  seen  in  score  in  Burney  and  Hawkins'  Histories, 
the  tune  is  here  printed,  harmonized  by  Mr.  Macfarren,  as  the  first  of  National 
English  Airs.  A  few  obsolete  words  have  been  changed,  but  the  original  are 
given  below. 

SUMER  IS  ICUMEN  IN.  About  1250. 

Rather  slow,  and  smoothly. 

i.  „  J    f  J   A  J 


£ 


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Summer  is      a    coming  in,     Loud-ly  sing  Cuc-koo ;  Groweth  seed,  and 


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• 

ORIGINAL   WORDS. 
Sumer  is  icumen3  in, 
Lhude"  sing  Cuccu, 
Groweth  sed,  and  bloweth  med 
And  springth  the  wde  nu 
Sing  Cuccu ! 


WORDS  MODERNIZED. 
Summer  is  come  in, 

Loud  sing  Cuckoo ! 
Groweth  seed,  and  bloweth  mead 
And  spring'th  the  wood  now 
Sing  Cuckoo. 


»"  icumen"   come  (from  the  Saxon  verb,  cumun,  to  t-Lhude,  wde,  awe.,  and  calve,  are  all  to  be  pronounced  as 

come);  so  in  Robert  of  Gloucester,  z'paied  for  paid.  of  two  syllables. 


SONGS   WITH   MUSIC — THIRTEENTH   CENTURY. 


25 


Awe  bleteth  after  lomb 
Lhouth  after  calve  cu  ; 

Bulluc  sterteth,  bucke  verteth 
Murie  sing  Cuccu, 
Cuccu,  Cuccu. 

Wei  singes  thu  Cuccu 

Ne  swik  thu  naver  nu. 


Ewe  bleateth  after  lamb, 

Loweth  after  calf  [the]  cow. 

Bullock  starteth,3  buck  vertethb 
Merry  sing,  Cuckoo ; 
Cuckoo,  Cuckoo  ! 

"Well  sing'st  thou  Cuckoo 

Nor  cease  thou  never  now. 


In  the  original,  the  "  Foot,"  or  Burden,  is  sung,  as  an  under  part  by  two 
voices,  to  the  words,  "  Sing  Cuccu,  nu,  sing  Cuccu,"  making  a  rude  base  to  it. 

Two  other  songs  of  the  thirteenth  century  on  the  approach  of  Summer  are 
printed  in  Reliquiae  Antiquse  (8vo.  Lond.  1841),  but  without  music.  The  first 
is  taken  from  MSS.  Egerton,  No.  613,  Brit.  Mus.,  and  begins  thus  : — 

"  Somer  is  comen,  and  winter  is  gon,  this  day  beginniz  to  longe  [lengthen], 
And  this  foules  everichon  [birds  every  one]  joy  [t]hem  wit[h]  songe." 

The  other  from  MSS.  Digby,  No.  86,  Oxford,  of  the  Thrush  and  the  Nightingale : 

"  Somer  is  comen  with  love  to  toune 

With  blostme  [blossom],  and  with  brides  roune  [birds'  songs] 
The  note  [nut]  of  hasel  springeth,"  &c. 

In  the  Douce  Collection  (Bod.  Lib.,  Ox.,  MS.  No.  139),  there  is  an  English 
song  with  music,  beginning — 

"  Foweles  in  the  frith,  the  fisses  in  the  flod." 

and  the  MS.,  which  contains  it,  is  of  the  thirteenth  century,  but  it  is  only  in 
two  parts;  and  in  Harl.  MSS.  No.  1717,  is  a  French  or  Anglo-Norman  song, 
"  Parti  de  Mai,"  which  seems  to  have  been  cut  from  an  older  manuscript  to  form 
the  cover  of  a  Chronicle  of  the  Dukes  of  Normandy,  written  by  order  of  Henry  II. 
It  is  only  for  one  voice,  and  a  sort  of  hymn,  but  a  tolerable  melody.  Both  these 
may  be  seen  in  Stafford  Smith's  Musica  Antiqua,  Vol.  1-. 

Another  very  early  English  song,  with  music,  is  contained  in  a  manuscript, 
"  Liber  de  Antiquis  Legibus,"  now  in  the  Record  Room,  Town  Clerk's  Office, 
Guildhall.  It  contains  a  Chronicle  of  Mayors  and  Sheriffs  of  London,  and  of  the 
events  that  occurred  in  their  times,  from  the  year  1188  to  the  month  of  August, 
1274,  at  which  time  the  manuscript  seems  to  have  been  completed.  It  is  the 
Song  of  a  Prisoner.  The  first  four  lines  are  more  Saxon  than  modern  English: — 


ORIGINAL  WORDS. 

Ar  ne  kuthe  ich  sorghe  non 
Nu  ich  mot  manen  min  mon 
Karful  wel  sore  ich  syche 
Geltles  ihc  sholye  muchele  schame 
Help,  God,  for  thin  swete  name 
Kyng  of  Hevene  riche. 


WORDS  MODERNIZED. 

Ere  [this]  knew  I  sorrow  none 
Now  I  must  utter  my  moan 
Full  of  care  well  sore  I  sigh 
Guiltless  I  suffer  much  shame 
Help,  God,  for  thy  sweet  name, 
King  of  Heaven-Kingdom. 


1  Jumps. 


b  Frequents  the  green  fern. 


26  NATIONAL   SONGS   NOT   ON   CHURCH    SCALES. 

In  the  Arundel  Collection  (No.  292),  there  is  a  song  in  "  a  handwriting  of 
the  time  of  Edward  II.,"  beginning — 

"  Uncomly  in  cloystre  I  coure  [cower]  ful  of  care," 

which  is  on  the  comparative  difficulties  of  learning  secular  and  church  music, 
but,  except  in  the  line,  "  Thou  bitest  asunder  bequarre  for  bemol "  (B  natural 
for  B  flat) ,  there  is  no  reference  to  the  practice  of  music. 

Secular  music  must  have  made  considerable  progress  before  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  for  even  Franco  had  spoken  of  a  sort  of  composition  called 
"  Conductus,"  in  which,  instead  of  merely  adding  parts  to  a  plain  song,  the  stu- 
dent was  first  to  compose  as  pretty  a  tune  as  he  could,  and  then  to  make  descant 
upon  it;a  and  he  further  says,  that  in  every  other  case,  some  melody  already  made 
is  chosen,  which  is  called  the  tenor,  and  governs  the  descant  originating  from  it : 
but  it  is  different  in  the  Conductus,  where  the  cantus  (or  melody)  and  the  descant 
(or  harmony)  are  both  to  be  produced.  This  was  evidently  applied  to  secular 
composition,  since,  about  1250,  Odo,  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  speaks  of  Conduct!  et 
Motuli  as  "  jocose  and  scurrilous  songs." 

Accidental  sharps,  discords  and  their  resolutions,  and  even  chromatic  counter- 
point, are  treated  on  by  Marchetto  of  Padua  (in  his  Pomerium  Artis  Musicae 
Mensurabilis)  in  1274,  and  the  Dominican  Monk,  Peter  Herp,  mentions  in 
Chronicle  of  Frankfort,  under  the  year  1300,  that  new  singers,  composers,  and 
harmonists  had  arisen,  who  used  other  scales  or  modes  than  those  of  the  Church.b 
Pope  John  XXII.  (in  his  decree  given  at  Avignon  in  1322)  reproves  those  who, 
"  attending  to  the  new  notes  and  new  measures  of  the  disciples  of  the  new  school, 
would  rather  have  their  ears  tickled  with  semibreves  and  minims,  and  such  frivolous 
inventions,  than  hear  the  ancient  ecclesiastical  chant."  White  minims,  with  tails, 
to  distinguish  them  from  semibreves,  seem  first  to  have  been  used  by  John  de 
Muris,  about  1330,  retaining  the  lozenge- shaped  head  to  the  note.  He  also  used 
signs  to  distinguish  triple  from  common  time.  These  points  should  be  borne  in 
mind  in  judging  of  the  age  of  manuscripts. 

It  will  be  observed  that  "  Sumer  is  icumen  in"  is  not  within  the  compass  of 
any  Church  scale.  It  extends  over  the  octave  of  F,  and  ends  by  descending  to  the 
seventh  below  the  key  note  for  the  close,  which,  indeed,  is  one  of  the  most  common 
and  characteristic  terminations  of  English  airs.  The  dance  tune  which  follows 
next  in  order  has  the  same  termination,  and  extends  over  a  still  greater  compass 
of  notes.  I  shall  therefore  quit  the  subject  of  Church  scales,  relying  on  the 
practical  refutation  which  a  further  examination  of  the  tunes  will  afford.  Burney 
has  remarked  that  at  any  given  period  secular  music  has  always  been  at  least  a 
century  in  advance  of  Church  music.  And  notwithstanding  the  improvements 
in  musical  notation  made  by  monks,  the  Church  still  adhered  to  her  imperfect 
system,  as  well  as  to  bad  harmony,  for  centuries  after  better  had  become  general. 

»  "  In  Conductis  aliter  est  operandum,  quia  qui  vult  qui  inceperunt  alios  modos  assuere."  When  music  de- 

facere  Conductum,  primum  cantum  invenire  debet  pul-  viated  from  the  Church  scales,  it  was  called  by  the  old 

chriorem  quam  potest,  deinde  uti  debet  illo,  ut  de  tenore,  •writers  generally,  Mtisica  falsa,  and  by  Franchinus, 

faciendo  discantum."  Musica  ficta,  seu  colorala,  from  the  chromatic  semitones 

b  "  Novi  cantores  surrexere,  et  componistcE,  et  figuristae.  used  in  it. 


CHURCH   MUSIC   ALWAYS   IN    AEREAR. 


27 


Even  in  the  sixteenth  century,  modulation  being  still  confined  to  the  ecclesiastical 
modes,  precluded  the  use  of  the  most  agreeable  keys  in  music.  Zarlino,  who 
approved  of  the  four  modes  added  by  Glareanus,  speaks  of  himself,  and  a  few 
others,  having  composed  in  the  eleventh  mode,  or  key  of  C  natural  (which  was  not 
one  of  the  original  eight),  to  which  they  were  led  by  the  vulgar  musicians  of  the 
streets  and  villages,  who  generally  accompanied  rustic  dances  Avith  tunes  in  this 
key,  and  which  was  then  called,  II  modo  lascivo — The  wanton  key.  I  suppose  it 
acquired  this  name,  because,  like  the  "  sweet  Lydian  measure"  of  old,  the  in- 
terval from  the  seventh  to  the  octave  is  only  a  semitone. 


DANCE  TUNE. 


About  1300. 


The  above  dance  tune  is  taken  from  the  Musica  Antiqua  by  John  Stafford 
Smith.  lie  transcribed  it  from  a  manuscript  then  in  the  possession  of  Francis 
Douce,  Esq.  (who  bequeathed  the  whole  of  his  manuscripts  to  the  Bodleian 
Library),  and  calls'  it,  "  a  dance  tune  of  the  reign  of  Edward  II. ,  or  earlier." 
The  notation  of  the  MS.  is  the  same  as  in  that  which  contains  Sumer  is  icumcn  in, 


28  ENGLISH   MINSTRELSY   RESUMED. 

and  I  do  not  think  it  can  be  dated  later  than  1300.  Dr.  Crotch  remarks : — 
"  The  abundance  of  appoggiaturas  in  so  ancient  a  melody,  and  the  number  of  bars 
in  the  phrases,  four  in  one  and  five  in  another — nine  in  each  part,  are  its  most 
striking  peculiarities.  It  is  formed  on  an  excellent  design,  similar  to  that  of 
several  fine  airs  of  different  nations.  It  consists  of  three  parts,  resembling  each 
other  excepting  in  the  commencement  of  their  phrases,  in  which  they  tower  above 
each  other  with  increasing  energy,  and  is  altogether  a  curious  and  very  favorable 
specimen  of  the  state  of  music  at  this  very  early  period." 

The  omission  of  the  eighth  bar  in  each  phrase  would  make  it  strictly  in  modern 
rhythm. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

ENGLISH  MINSTRELSY  FROM  1270  TO  1480,  AND  THE  GRADUAL  EXTINCTION 

OF  THE   OLD  MlNSTREL. 

Edward  the  First,  according  to  the  Chronicle  of  Walter  Hemmingford,  about  the 
year  1271,  a  short  time  before  he  ascended  the  throne,  took  his  harper  with  him 
to  the  Holy  Land,  who  must  have  been  a  close  and  constant  attendant  on  his 
master,  for  when  Edward  was  wounded  at  Ptolemais,  the  harper  (Citharaeda 
suus),  hearing  the  struggle,  rushed  into  the  royal  apartment,  and,  striking  the 
assassin  on  the  head  with  a  tripod  or  trestle,  beat  out  his  brains. 

"  That  Edward  ordered  a  massacre  of  the  Welsh  bards,"  says  Sharon  Turner, 
"  seems  rather  a  vindictive  tradition  of  an  irritated  nation  than  an  historical  fact. 
The  destruction  of  the  independent  sovereignties  of  Wales  abolished  the  patronage 
of  the  bards,  and  in  the  cessation  of  internal  warfare,  and  of  external  ravages, 
they  lost  their  favorite  subjects,  and  most  familiar  imagery.  They  declined 
because  they  were  no  longer  encouraged."  The  Hon.  Dames  Barrington  could 
find  no  instances  of  severity  against  the  Welsh  in  the  laws,  &c.  of  this  monarch,* 
and  that  they  were  not  extirpated  is  proved  by  the  severe  law  which  we  find  in 
the  Statute  Book,  4  Henry  IV.  (1402),  c.  27,  passed  against  them  during  the 
resentment  occasioned  by  the  outrages  committed  under  Owen  Glendour.  In  that 
act  they  are  described  as  Rymours  and  Ministralx,  proving  that  our  ancestors 
could  not  distinguish  between  them  and  our  own  minstrels. 

In  May,  1290,  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Queen  Eleanor's  daughter  Joan, 
sumamed  of  Acre,  to  the  Earl  of  Gloucester,  and  in  the  following  July,  that  of 
Margaret,  her  fifth  daughter,  to  John,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Brabant.  Both  cere- 
monies were  conducted  with  much  splendour,  and  a  multitude  of  minstrels  flocked 
from  all  parts  to  Westminster :  to  the  first  came  King  Grey  of  England,  King 
Caupenny  from  Scotland,  and  Poveret,  the  minstrel  of  the  Mareschal  of  Champagne. 
The  nuptials  of  Margaret,  however,  seem  to  have  eclipsed  those  of  her  sister. 
Walter  de  Storton,  the  king's  harper,  distributed  a  hundred  pounds,  the  gift  of 

•  See  his  observations  on  the  Statutes,  4to.    4th  Ed. 


EDWARD   I.  29 

the  bridegroom,  among  426  minstrels,  as  well  English  as  others.*  In  1291,  in  the 
accounts  of  the  executors  of  Queen  Eleanor,  there  is  an  entry  of  a  payment  of 
395.,  for  a  cup  purchased  to  be  given  to  one  of  the  king's  minstrels. 

The  highly  valuable  roll,  preserved  among  the  records  in  the  custody  of  the 
Queen's  Remembrancer,  which  has  been  printed  for  the  Roxburghe  Club,  marks 
the  gradations  of  rank  among  the  minstrels,  and  the  corresponding  rewards 
bestowed  upon  them.  It  contains  the  names  of  those  who  attended  the  emir 
plenidre  held  by  King  Edward  at  the  Feast  of  Whitsuntide,  1306,  at  West- 
minster, and  also  at  the  New  Temple,  London ;  because  "  the  royal  palace, 
although  large,  was  nevertheless  small  for  the  crowd  of  comers."  Edward  then 
conferred  the  honor  of  knighthood  upon  his  son,  Prince  Edward,  and  a  great 
number  of  the  young  nobility  and  military  tenants  of  the  crown,  who  were  sum- 
moned to  receive  it,  preparatory  to  the  King's  expedition  to  Scotland  to  avenge 
the  murder  of  John  Comyn,  and  the  revolt  of  the  Scotch. 

On  this  occasion  there  were  six  kings  of  the  minstrels,  five  of  whom,  viz., 
Le  Roy  de  Champaigne,  Le  Roy  Capenny,  Le  Roy  Boisescue,  Le  Roy  Marchis, 
and  Le  Roy  Robert,  received  each  five  marks,  or  31.  6s.  8d.,  the  mark  being 
13s.  M.  It  is  calculated  that  a  shilling  in  those  days  was  equivalent  to  fifteen 
shillings  of  the  present  time  ;  according  to  which  computation,  they  received  5QL 
each.  The  sixth,  Le  Roy  Druet,  received  only  2,1.  The  list  of  money  given  to 
minstrels  is  principally  in  Latin ;  but  that  of  payments  made  to  them  being  in 
Norman  French,  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  English  minstrels  from  others.  Le 
Roy  de  Champaigne  was  probably  "  Poveret,  the  minstrel  of  the  Mareschal  of 
Champagne,"  of  1290,  Le  Roy  Capenny,  "  King  Caupenny  from  Scotland,"  and 
Le  Roy  Robert,  whom  we  know  to  have  been  the  English  king  of  the  minstrels 
by  other  payments  made  to  him  by  the  crown  (see  Anstis'  Register  of  the  Order 
of  the  Garter,  vol.  ii.  p.  303),  was  probably  the  "  King  Grey  of  England"  of 
the  former  date.  Among  the  names  we  find,  Northfolke,  Carletone,  Ricard  de 
Haleford,  Adam  de  Werintone  (Warrington  ?) ,  Adam  de  Grimmeshawe,  Merlin, 
Lambyn  Clay,  Fairfax,  Hanecocke  de  Blithe,  Richard  Wheatacre,  &c.  The 
harpers  are  generally  mentioned  only  by  their  Christian  names,  as  Laurence, 
Mathew,  Richard,  John,  Robert,  and  Geoffrey,  but  there  are  also  Richard  de 
Quitacre,  Richard  de  Leylonde,  William  de  Grimesar,  William  de  Duffelde,  John 
de  Trenham,  &c.,  as  well  as  Adekyn,  harper  to  the  Prince,  who  was  probably 
a  Welsh  bard.  In  these  lists  only  the  principal  minstrels  are  named,  the  remain- 
ing sum  being  divided,  by  the  kings  and  few  others,  among  the  menestraus  de  la 
commune.  Harpers  are  in  the  majority  where  the  particular  branch  of  minstrelsy 
is  specified.  Some  minstrels  are  locally  described,  as  Robert  "  de  Colecestria," 
John  "  de  Salopia,"  and  Robert  "  de  Scardeburghe ;"  others  are  distinguished 
as  the  harpers  of  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  Abbot  of  Abyngdon,  Earls  of  Warrenne, 
Gloucester,  &c. ;  one  is  Guillaume  sans  maniere ;  another,  Reginald  le  menteur ; 
a  third  is  called  Makejoye ;  and  a  fourth,  Perle  in  the  eghe. 

"  Pages  Ixix.  and  Ixx.  Introduction  to  Manners  and  Printed  for  the  Roxburghe  Club,  1841,  and  quoted  from 
Household  Expenses  of  England  in  the  13th  and  15th  Wardrobe  Book,  18  Edward  I.  Rot.  Misccll.  in  Turr. 
centuries,  illustrated  by  original  records.  4to.  London.  Loud.  No.  5(3. 


30 


ENGLISH   MINSTRELSY. 


The  total  sum  expended  was  about  200/.,  which  according  to  the  preceding 
estimate  would  be  equal  to  about  3,000/.  of  our  money. 

The  minstrels  seem  to  have  been  in  many  respects  upon  the  same  footing  as  the 
heralds  ;  and  the  King  of  the  Heralds,  like  the  King  at  Arms,  was,  both  here  and 
on  the  Continent,  an  usual  officer  in  the  courts  of  princes.  Heralds  seem  even  to 
have  been  included  with  minstrels  in  the  preceding  account,  for  Carletone,  who 
occupies  a  fair  position  among  them,  receiving  I/,  as  a  payment,  and  6s.  as  a 
gratuity,  is  in  the  latter  case  described  as  Carleton  "  Haralde." 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  H.,  besides  other  grants  to  "  King  Robert,"  before 
mentioned,  there  is  one  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  reign  to  William  de  Morlee, 
"  The  king's  minstrel,  styled  Roy  de  North"  of  houses  that  had  belonged  to 
John  le  Boteler,  called  Roy  Brunhaud.  So,  among  heralds,  Norroy  was  usually 
styled  Roy  d'Armes  de  North  (Anstis.  ii.  300) ,  and  the  Kings  at  Arms  in  general 
were  originally  called  Reges  Heraldorum,  as  these  were  Reges  Minstrallorum.a 
— Percy's  Essay. 

The  proverbially  lengthy  pedigrees  of  the  Welsh  were  registered  by  their  bards, 
who  were  also  heralds.b 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  H.,  A.D.  1309,  at  the  feast  of  the  installation  of  Ralph, 
Abbot  of  St.  Augustin's,  at  Canterbury,  seventy  shillings  was  expended  on 
minstrels,  who  accompanied  their  songs  with  the  harp. —  Warton,  vol.  i.,  p.  89. 

In  this  reign  such  extensive  privileges  were  claimed  by  these  men,  and  by  dis- 
solute persons  assuming  their  character,  that  it  became  a  matter  of  public  griev- 
ance, and  a  royal  decree  was  issued  in  1315  to  put  an  end  to  it,  of  which  the 
following  is  an  extract : — 

"  Edward  by  the  grace  of  God,  &c.  to  sheriffes,  &c.  greetyng,  Forasmuch  as... many 
idle  persons,  under  colour  of  Mynstrelsie,  and  going  in  messages,  and  other  faigned 
business,  have  ben  and  yet  be  receaved  in  other  mens  houses  to  meate  and  drynke,  and 
be  not  therwith  contented  yf  they  be  not  largely  consydered  with  gyftes  of  the  lordes 
of  the  houses  :  &c....We  wyllyng  to  restrayne  suche  outrageous  enterprises  and  idle- 
ness, &c.  have  ordeyned that  to  the  houses  of  prelates,  earles,  and  barons,  none 

resort  to  meate  and  drynke,  unlesse  he  be  a  Mynstrel,  and  of  these  Minstrels  that  there 
come  none  except  it  be  three  or  four  MINSTRELS  OF  HONOUR  at  the  most  in  one  day, 
unlesse  he  be  desired  of  the  lorde  of  the  house.  And  to  the  houses  of  meaner  men 


»  Heralds  and  minstrels  seem  to  have  been  on  nearly 
the  same  footing  abroad.  For  instance,  Froissart  tells  us 
"  The  same  day  th'  Erie  of  Foix  gave  to  Heraudes  and 
Minttrelles  the  somme  of  fyve  hundred  frankes :  and 
gave  to  the  Duke  of  Tourayn's  Minstrelles  gowns  of 
Cloth  of  Gold,  furred  with  Ermyns,  valued  at  two  hun- 
dred franks."— Chronicle  Ed.  1525,  book  3,  ch.  31. 

h  "  The  Welshman's  pedigree  was  his  title-deed,  by 
which  he  claimed  his  birthright  in  the  country.  Every 
one  was  obliged  to  shew  his  descent  through  nine  gene- 
rations, in  order  to  be  acknowledged  a  free  native,  and  by 
which  right  he  claimed  his  portion  of  land  in  the  com- 
munity. Among  a  people,  where  surnames  were  not  in 
use,  and  where  the  right  of  property  depended  on  descent, 
an  attention  to  pedigree  was  indispensable.  Hence  arose 
the  second  order  of  Bards,  who  were  the  Arwyddvierdd,  or 
Bard-Heralds,  whose  duty  it  was  to  register  arms  and 
pedigrees,  as  well  as  undertake  the  embassies  of  state. 


The  Arwyddvardd,  in  early  Cambrian  history,  was  an 
officer  of  national  appointment,  who,  at  a  later  period, 
was  succeeded  by  the  Prydydd,  or  Poet.  One  of  these  was 
to  attend  at  the  birth,  marriage,  and  death  of  any  man  of 
high  descent,  and  to  enter  the  facts  in  his  genealogy. 
The  Marwnad,  or  Elegy,  composed  at  the  decease  of  such 
a  person,  was  required  to  contain  truly  and  at  length  his 
genealogy  and  descent ;  and  to  commemorate  the  survivor, 
wife  or  husband,  with  his  or  her  descent  and  progeny. 
The  particulars  were  registered  in  the  books  of  the 
Arwyddvardd,  and  a  true  copy  therefrom  delivered  to  the 
heir,  to  be  placed  among  the  authentic  documents  of  the 
family.  The  bard's  fee,  or  recompense,  was  a  stipend 
out  of  every  plough  land  in  the  district ;  and  he  made  a 
triennial  Bardic  circuit  to  correct  and  arrange  genealogical 
entries." — Extracted  from  Meyrick's  Introduction  to  his 
edition  of  Lewit  Dunn's  Heraldic  Visitations  of  Wales 
2  volt.  4lo.  Llandovery.  1846. 


EDWARD   II.  31 

that  none  come  unlesse  he  be  desired,  and  that  such  as  shall  come  so,  holde  themselves 
contented  with  meate  and  drynke,  and  with  such  curtesie  as  the  maister  of  the  house 
wyl  shewe  unto  them  of  his  owne  good  wyll,  without  their  askyng  of  any  thyng. 
And  yf-  any  one  do  agaynst  this  Ordinaunce,  at  the  firste  tyme  he  to  lose  his  Min- 
strelsie,  and  at  the  second  tyme  to  forsweare  his  craft,  and  never  to  be  receaved  for 
a  Minstrel  in  any  house — Geven  at  Langley  the  vi.  day  of  August,  in  the  ix  yere  of 
our  reigne." — Hearne's  Append,  ad  Leland  Collect.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  36. 

Stow,  in  his  Survey  of  London,  in  an  estimate  of  the  annual  expenses  of 
the  Earl  of  Lancaster  about  this  time,  mentions  a  large  disbursement  for  the 
liveries  of  the  minstrels.  That  they  received  vast  quantities  of  money  and  costly 
habiliments  from  the  nobles,  we  learn  from  many  authorities ;  and  in  a  poem  on 
the  times  of  Edward  II.,  knights  are  recommended  to  adhere  to  their  proper 
costume  lest  they  be  mistaken  for  minstrels. 

"  Kny[gh]tes  schuld  weare  clothes  That  no  man  may  knowe 

I-schape  in  dewe  manere,  A  mynstrel  from  a  knyg[h]t 

As  his  order  wo[u]ld  aske,  Well  ny  : 

As  wel  as  schuld  a  frere  [friar]  :  So  is  mekenes[s]  fait  adown 

Now  thei  beth  [are]  disgysed,  And  pride  aryse  an  hye." 

So  diverselych  i-digt  [bedight],  Percy  Soc.,  No.  82,  p.  23. 

That  minstrels  were  usually  known  by  their  dress,  is  shown  by  the  following 
anecdote,  which  is  related  by  Stowe : — "  When  Edward  IE.  this  year  (1316) 
solemnized  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  and  sat  at  table  in  the  great  hall  of  West- 
minster, attended  by  the  peers  of  the  realm,  a  certain  woman,  dressed  in  the  habit 
of  a  Minstrel,  riding  on  a  great  horse,  trapped  in  the  Minstrel  fashion,  entered  the 
hall,  and  going  round  the  several  tables,  acting  the  part  of  a  Minstrel,  at  length 
mounted  the  steps  to  the  royal  table,  on  which  she  deposited  a  letter.  Having 
done  this,  she  turned  her  horse,  and,  saluting  all  the  company,  she  departed." 
The  subject  of  this  letter  was  a  remonstrance  to  the  king  on  the  favors  heaped 
by  him  on  his  minions  to  the  neglect  of  his  faithful  servants.  The  door-keepers 
being  called,  and  threatened  for  admitting  such  a  woman,  readily  replied,  "  that 
it  never  was  the  custom  of  the  king's  palace  to  deny  admission  to  Minstrels, 
especially  on  such  high  solemnities  and  feast  days." 

On  the  capital  of  a  column  in  Beverley  Minster,  is  the  inscription,  "  Thys 
pillor  made  the  meynstyrls."  Five  men  are  thereon  represented,  four  in  short 
coats,  reaching  to  the  knee,  and  one  with  an  overcoat,  all  having  chains  round 
their  necks  and  tolerably  large  purses.  The  building  is  assigned  to  the  reign  of 
Henry  VI.,  1422  to  1460,  when  minstrelsy  had  greatly  declined,  and  it  cannot 
therefore  be  considered  as  representing  minstrels  in  the  height  of  their  prosperity. 
They  are  probably  only  instrumental  performers  (with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of 
the  lute  player)  ;  but  as  one  holds  a  pipe  and  tabor,  used  only  for  rustic  dances, 
another  a  crowd  or  treble  viol,  a  third  what  appears  to  be  a  bass  flute,  and  a 
fourth  either  a  treble  flute  or  perhaps  that  kind  of  hautboy  called  a  wayght,  or 
wait,  and  there  is  no  harper  among  them — I  do  not  suppose  any  to  have  been  of 
that  class  called  minstrels  of  honour,  who  rode  on  horseback,  with  their  servants 


32  ENGLISH   MINSTRELSY. 

to  attend  them,  and  who  could  enter  freely  into  a  king's  palace.  Such  distinctions 
amono-  minstrels  are  frequently  drawn  in  the  old  romances.  For  instance,  in  the 
romance  of  Launfel  we  are  told,  "  They  had  menstralles  of  moche  honours,"  and 
also  that  they  had  "  Fydelers,  sytolyrs  (citolers),  and  trompoteres."  It  is  not, 
however,  surprising  that  they  should  be  rich  enough  to  build  a  column  of  a 
Minster,  considering  the  excessive  devotion  to,  and  encouragement  of,  music  which 
characterised  the  English  in  that  and  the  two  following  centuries. 

No  poets  of  any  country  make  such  frequent  and  enthusiastic  mention  of  min- 
strelsy as  the  English.  There  is  scarcely  an  old  poem  but  abounds  with  the 
praises  of  music.  Adam  Davy,  or  Davie,  of  Stratford-le-Bow,  near  London, 
flourished  about  1312.  In  his  Life  of  Alexander,  we  have  several  passages  like 
this  : —  "  Mer[r]y  it  is  in  halle  to  he[a]re  the  harpe, 

The  mynstrall  synge,  the  jogelour  carpe"  (recite). 
And  again, —  "  Mery  is  the  twynlcelyng  of  the  harpour." 

The  fondness  of  even  the  most  illiterate,  to  hear  tales  and  rhymes,  is  much 
dwelt  on  by  Robert  de  Brunne,  or  Robert  Mannyng,  "  the  first  of  our  vernacular 
poets  who  is  at  all  readable  now."  All  rhymes  were  then  sung  with  accompani- 
ment, and  generally  to  the  harp.  So  in  1338,  when  Adam  de  Orleton,  bishop  of 
Winchester,  visited  his  Cathedral  Priory  of  St.  Swithin,  in  that  city,  a  minstrel 
named  Herbert  was  introduced,  who  sang  the  Song  of  Colbrond,  a  Danish  Giant, 
and  the  tale  of  Queen  Emma  delivered  from  the  plough-shares,  or  trial  by  fire,  in 
the  hall  of  the  Prior.  A  similar  festival  was  held  in  this  Priory  in  1374,  when 
similar  gestes  or  tales  were  sung.  Chaucer's  Troilus  and  Cresseide,  though  almost 
as  long  as  the  ^Eneid,  was  to  be  "  redde,  or  else  songe,"  and  Warton  has  printed 
a  portion  of  the  Life  of  St.  Swithin  from  a  manuscript,  with  points  and  accents 
inserted,  both  over  the  words  and  dividing  the  line,  evidently  for  the  purposes  of 
singing  or  recitation  (llistory  of  English  Poetry,  vol.  i.,  p.  15.  1840).  We  have 
probably  by  far  more  tunes  that  are  fitted  for  the  recitation  of  such  lengthy  stories 
than  exist  in  any  other  country. 

In  the  year  1362,  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed,  that  "  all  pleas  in  the  court 
of  the  king,  or  of  any  other  lord,  shall  be  pleaded  and  adjudged  in  the  English 
tongue"  (stat.  36  Edw.  III.,  cap.  15)  ;  and  the  reason,  which  is  recited  in  the 
preamble,  was,  that  the  French  tongue  was  so  unknown  in  England  that  the 
parties  to  the  law-suits  had  no  knowledge  or  understanding  of  what  was  said  for 
or  against  them,  because  the  counsel  spoke  French.  This  was  the  era  of  Chaucer, 
and  of  the  author  of  Pierce  Plowman — two  poets  whose  language  is  as  different  as 
if  they  had  been  born  a  century  apart.  Longland,  instead  of  availing  himself  of  the 
rising  and  rapid  improvements  of  the  English  language,  prefers  and  adopts  the  style 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  poets,  even  prefering  their  perpetual  alliteration  to  rhyme. 
His  subject — a  satire  on  the  vices  of  the  age,  but  particularly  on  the  corruptions 
of  the  clergy  and  the  absurdities  of  superstition — does  not  lead  him  to  say  much 
of  music,  but  he  speaks  of  ignorance  of  the  art  as  a  just  subject  of  reproach. 
"  They  kennen  [know]  no  more  mynstralcy,  ne  mtisik,  men  to  gladde, 
Than  Mundy  the  mnller  [miller],  of  multa  fecit  Dcus  /" 


PIERCE    PLOWMAN. — CHAUCER.  33 

He  says,  however,  of  himself,  in  allusion  to  the  minstrels  : — 
"  Ich  can  nat  tabre,  ne  trompe,  ne  telle  faire  gestes, 
Ne  fithelyn,  at  fe[a]stes,  ne  liarpen  : 
Japen  ne  jagelyn,  ne  gentilliche  pipe  ; 

Nother  sailen  [leap  or  dance],  ne  sautrien,  ne  singe  with  the  giterne." 
He  also  describes  his  Friar  as  much  better  acquainted  with  the   "  Rimes  of 
Robinhode  and  of  Randal,  erle  of  Chester"  than  with  his  Paternoster. 

Chaucer,  throughout  his  works,  never  loses  an  opportunity  of  describing  or 
alluding  to  the  general  use  of  music,  and  of  bestowing  it  as  an  accomplishment 
upon  the  pilgrims,  heroes,  and  heroines  of  his  several  tales  or  poems,  whenever 
propriety  admits.  We  may  learn  as  much  from  Chaucer  of  the  music  of  his  day, 
and  of  the  estimation  in  which  the  art  was  then  held  in  England,  as  if  a  treatise 
had  been  written  on  the  subject. 

Firstly,  from  the  Canterbury  Tales,  in  his  description  of  the  Squire  (line  91 
to  96) ,  he  says : — 

"  Syngynge  he  mas,  mjlowtynge  [fluting]  al  the  day  ; 
He  was  as  fresh  as  is  the  nioneth  of  May  : 
Short  was  his  goune,  with  sleeves  long  and  wyde  ; 
Well  cowde  he  sitte  on  hors,  and  faire  ryde. 
He  cowde  songes  rvel  make  and  endite, 

Juste  (fence)  and  eke  daunce,  and  wel  p[o]urtray  and  write." 
Of  the  Nun,  a  Prioress  (line  122  to  126),  he  says : — 
"  Ful  wel  sche  sang  the  servise  devyne, 
Entuned  in  hire  nose  ful  seemyly ; 
And  Frensch  sche  spak  ful  faire  and  fetysly  [neatly], 
Aftur  the  schole  of  Stratford  atte  Bowe, 
For  Frensch  of  Parys  was  to  hire  unknowe"  [unknown]. 

The  Monk,  a  jolly  fellow,  and  great  sportsman,  seems  to  have  had  a  passion  for 
no  music  but  that  of  hounds,  and  the  bells  on  his  horse's  bridle  (line  169  to  171)  : 
"  And  whan  he  rood  [rode],  men  might  his  bridel  heere 
Gyngle  in  a  whistlyng  wynd  so  cleere, 
And  eke  as  lowde  as  doth  the  chapel  belle." 

Of  his  Mendicant  Friar,  whose  study  was  only  to  please  (lines  235 — 270), 
he  says  : —  "  And  certayn  he  hadde  a  mery  note ; 

Wel  couthe  he  synge  andplaye  on  a  rote  [hurdy-gurdy]. .  .  . 
Somewhat  he  lipsede  [lisped]  for  wantounesse, 
To  make  his  Englissch  swete  upon  his  tunge  ; 
And  in  his  harpyng,  whan  that  he  had  sunge, 
His  eyghen  [eyes]  twynkeled  in  his  he[a]d  aright, 
As  don  the  sterres  [do  the  stars]  in  the  frosty  night." 
Of  the  Miller  (line  564  to  568),  he  says  :— 

"  Wel  cowde  he  ste[a]le  corn,  and  tollen  thries  [take  toll  thrice]  ; 
And  yet  he  had  a  thombe  of  gold,8  parde, 
A  whight  cote  and  blewe  hood  we  [a]  red  he  ; 

«  Tyrwhitt  says  there  is  an  old  proverb-"  Every  honest  nevertheless  he  was  as  honest  as  his  brethren.  There  are 
miller  has  a  thumb  of  gold."  Perhaps  it  means  that  many  early  songs  on  thievish  millers  and  bakers. 

D 


34  ENGLISH    MINSTRELSY. 

A  laqgepipe  corvde  he  Howe  and  sorvne  [sound], 
And  therewithal  he  brought  us  out  of  towne."  * 

Of  the  Pardoner  (line  674  to  676)  :— 

"  Ful  lorvde  he  sang,  '  Come  hider,  love,  to  me.' 
This  Sompnour  bar[e]  to  him  a  stif  burdoun,b 
Was  never  trernpe  [trumpet]  of  half  so  gfe[a]t  a  soun"  (sound). 
Of  the  poor  scholar,  Nicholas  (line  3213  to  3219)  :— 
"  And  al  above  ther  lay  a  gay  sawtrye  [psaltry], 
On  which  he  made,  a-nightes,  melodye 
So  swetely,  that  al  the  chambur  rang  : 
And  Angelus  ad  Virginem  he  sang. 
And  after  that  he  sang  The  Kynge's  note  ; 
Ful  often  blessed  was  his  mery  throte." 
Of  the  Carpenter's  Wife  (lines  3257  and  8)  :— 

"  But  of  her  song,  it  was  as  lowde  and  yerne  [brisk] 
As  eny  swalwe  [swallow]  chiteryng  on  a  berne"  [barn]. 

Of  the  Parish  Clerk,  Absolon  (lines  3328  to  3335)  :— 
"  In  twenty  manners  he  coude  skip  and  daunce, 
After  the  schole  of  Oxenforde  tho, 
And  with  his  leggea  casten  to  and  fro  ; 
Andpleyen  songes  on  a  small  Rubiblec  [Rebec], 
Ther-to  he  sang  som  tyme  a  lorvde  quynylle  ;d 
And  as  wel  coude  he  pleye  on  a  giterne : 
In  al  the  toun  nas  [nor  was]  brewhous  ne  taverne 
That  he  ne  visited  with  his  solas"  [solace]. 

He  serenades  the  Carpenter's  Wife,  and  we  have  part  of  his  song  (lines  3352 — 64) : 
"  The  moone  at  night  ful  cleer  and  brighte  schoon, 
And  Absolon  his  giterne  hath  i-take, 
For  paramours  he  seyde  he  wold  awake. 
He  syngeth  in  hys  voys  gentil  and  smal — 
'  Now,  deere  lady,  if  thi  wille  be, 

I  pray  you  that  ye  wol  rewe  [have  compassion]  on  me.' 
Full  wel  acordyng  to  his  gyternyng, 
This  carpenter  awook,  and  herde  him  syng." 

Of  the  Apprentice  in  the  Cook's  Tale,  who  plays  both  on  the  ribible  and  gitterne : 
"  At  every  brideale  wold  he  synge  and  hoppe  ; 
He  loved  bet  [better]  the  taverne  than  the  schoppe." 

•  A  curious  reason  for  the  use  of  the  Bagpipe  in  Pil-  singing  the  burden,  or  bass,  to  his  song  in  a  deep  loud 
grimages  will  be  found  in  State  Trials — Trial  of  William  voice.  Bourdon  is  the  French  for  Drone;  and  Foot, 
Thorpe.  Henry  IV.,  an.  8,  shortly  after  Chaucer's  death.  Under-iong,  and  Burden  mean  the  same  thing,  although 
"  I  say  to  thee  that  it  is  right  well  done,  that  Pilgremys  Burden  was  afterwards  used  in  the  sense  of  Ditty,  or 
have  with  them  both  Syngers,  and  also  Pipers,  that  whan  any  line  often  recurring  in  a  song,  as  will  be  seen  here- 
one  of  them,  that  goeth  bar[e]fo[o]te,  striketh  his  too  upon  after. 

a  stone,  and  hurteth  hym  sore,  and  maketh  hym  to  blede;  c  Ribible  (the  diminutive  of  Ribibe  or  Rebec)  is  a  small 

it  is  well  done  that  he  or  his  fel[l]ow  begyn  than  a  Songe,  fiddle  with  three  strings. 

or  else  take  out  of  his  bosome  a  Baggepype  for  to  drive  d  To  sing  a  "  quinible"  means  to  descant  by  singing 

away  with  soche  myrthe  the  hurte  of  his  felow."  fifths  on  a  plain-song,  and  to  sing  a  "  quatrible"  to  des- 

b  This  Sompnour  (Sumner  or  Summoner  to  the  Eccle-  cant  by  fourths.    The  latter  term  is  used  by  Cornish  in 

siastical  Courts,  now  called  Apparitor)  supported  him  by  his  Treatise  between  Trowthe  and  Enformacion.  1528. 


NOTICES   OF   MUSIC   BY   CHAUCER.  35 

The  Wife  of  Bath  says  (lines  5481  and  2,  and  6039  and  40),  that  wives  were 

chosen —  "  some,  for  they  can  synge  and  daunce, 

And  some  for  gentilesse  or  daliavmce 

How  couthe  I  daunce  to  an  harpe  smale, 
And  synge  y-wys  as  eny  nightyngale." 

I  shall  conclude  Chaucer's  inimitable  descriptions  of  character  with  that  of  his 
Oxford  Clerk,  who  was  so  fond  of  books  and  study,  that  he  loved  Aristotle  better 

"  Than  robes  riche,  or  fidel  or  sautrie 

Souning  in  moral  virtue  was  his  speech, 
And  gladly  would  he  lerne  and  gladly  teche." 

We  learn  from  the  preceding  quotations,  that  country  squires  in  the  fourteenth 
century  could  pass  the  day  in  singing,  or  playing  the  flute,  and  that  some  could 
"  Songes  well  make  and  indite : "  that  the  most  attractive  accomplishment  in 
a  young  lady  was  to  be  able  to  sing  well,  and  that  it  afforded  the  best  chance  of 
her  obtaining  an  eligible  husband ;  also  that  the  cultivation  of  music  extended 
to  every  class.  The  Miller,  of  whose  education  Pierce  Plowman  speaks  so  slight- 
ingly, could  play  upon  the  bagpipe  ;  and  the  apprentice  both  on  the  ribible  and 
gittern.  The  musical  instruments  that  have  been  named  are  the  harp,  psaltry, 
fiddle,  bagpipe,  flute,  trumpet,  rote,  rebec,  and  gittern.  There  remain  the  lute, 
organ,  shalm  (or  shawm),  and  citole,  the  hautboy  (or  wayte),  the  horn,  and 
shepherd's  pipe,  and  the  catalogue  will  be  nearly  complete,  for  the  cittern  or 
cithren  differed  chiefly  from  the  gittern,  in  being  strung  with  wire  instead  of  gut, 
or  other  material.  The  sackbut  was  a  bass  trumpet  with  a  slide,a  like  the  modern 
trombone ;  and  the  dulcimer  differed  chiefly  from  the  psaltry  in  the  wires  being 
struck,  instead  of  being  twitted  by  a  plectrum,  or  quill,  and  therefore  requiring 
both  hands  to  perform  on  it. 

In  the  commencement  of  the  Pardoner's  Tale  he  mentions  lutes,  harps,  and 
gitterns  for  dancing,  as  well  as  singers  with  harps  ;  in  the  Knight's  Tale  he  repre- 
sents Venus  with  a  citole  in  her  right  hand,  and  the  organ  is  alluded  to  both  in 
the  History  of  St.  Cecilia,  and  in  the  tale  of  the  Cock  and  the  Fox. 
In  the  House  of  Fame  (Urry's  Edit.,  line  127  to  136),  he  says : 
"  That  madin  loude  Minstralsies 
In  Cornmuse  [bagpipe]  and  eke  in  Shalmies,* 

•  "  As  he  that  plaies  upon  a  Sagbut,  by  pulling  it  up  the  shrillness  to  have  arisen  from  over-blowing,  or  else 

and  down  alters  his  tones  and  tunes." — Burton's  Anatomy  the  following  quotation  will  appear  contradictory : — 

of  Melancholy,  8vo.  Edit,  of  1800,  p.  379.  "  A  Sliawme  maketh  a  swete  sounde,  for  he  tunyihe  the 

b  A  very  early  drawing  of  the  Shalm,  or  Shawm,  is  in  btuie, 

one  of  the  illustrations  to  a  copy  of  Froissart,  in  the  Brit.  It  mountithe  not  to  hye,  but  kepithe  rule  and  space. 

Mus. — Royal  MSS.   18,    E.      Another  in    Commenius'  Yet  yfil  be  blowne  withe  to  vehement  awynde, 

Visible  World,  translated  by  Hoole,  1650,  (he  translates  It  makithe  it  to  mysgoverne  out  of  his  kynde." 

the  Latin  word  gingras,  shawm,)  from  which  it  is  copied  This  is  one  of  the  "  proverbis"  that  were  written  about 

into  Cavendish's  Life  of  Wolsey,  edited  by  Singer,  vol.  i.  the  time  of  Henry  VII.,  on  the  walls  of  the  Manor  House 

p.  114.,  Ed.  1825.    The  modern  clarionet  is  an  improve-  at  Leckingfield,  near  Beverley,  Yorkshire,  anciently  be- 

ment  upon  the  shawm,  which  was  played  with  a  reed,  longing  to  the  Percys,  Earls  of  Northumberland,  but  now 

like  the  wayte,  or  hautboy,  but  being  a  bass  instrument,  destroyed.    There  were  many  others  relating  to  music, 

with  about  the  compass  of  an  octave,  had  probably  more  and  musical  instruments  (harp,  lute,  recorder,-  claricorde, 

the  tone  of  a  bassoon.     It  was  used  on  occasions  of  state.  clarysymballis,  virgynalls,   clarion,  organ,   singing,   and 

"What  stately  music  have  you?    You  have  shawms?  musical  notation,)  and  the  inscribing  them  on  the  walls 

Ralph  plays   a  stately  part,  and  he  must  needs  have  adds  another  to  the  numberless  proofs  of  the  estimation 

shawms."— Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle.   Drayton  speaks  in  which  the  art  was  held.     A  manuscript  copy  of  them 

of  it  as  shrill-toned  :  "  E'en  from  the  shrillest  shawm,  unto  is  preserved  in  Bib.  Reg.  18.  D.  11.  Brit.  Mus. 
the  cornamute." — Polyolbion,  vol.  iv.,  p.  376.    I  conceive 


36  ENGLISH    MINSTRELSY. 

And  in  many  an  otliir  pipe, 
That  craftely  began  to  pipe 
Bothe  in  Douced  and  eke  in  Hede* 
That  bin  at  feastes  with  the  brede  [bread]  : 
And  many  a  Floite  and  litlyng  Home 
And  Pipes  made  of  grene  come. 
As  have  these  little  Herdegroomes 
That  kepin  Beastes  [keep  oxen]  in  the  broomes." 

As  to  the  songs  of  his  time,  see  the  Frankeleyne's  Tale  (line  11,254  to  60)  : — 
"  He  was  dispeired,  nothing  dorst  he  seye 
Sauf  [save]  in  his  songes  somewhat  wolde  he  wreye  [betray] 
His  woo,  as  in  a  general  compleyning ; 
He  said  he  loved,  and  was  beloved  nothing. 
Of  suche  matier  made  he  many  Layes, 
Songes,  Compleyntes,  Roundelets,  Virelayes: 
How  that  he  dorste  not  his  sorwe  [sorrow]  telle, 
But  languisheth  as  doth  a  fuyr  in  helle." 
and  he  speaks  elsewhere  of  Dilees,  JRondils,  Balades,  &c. 

The  following  passages  relate  to  minstrelsy,  and  to  the  manner  of  playing  the 
harp,  pointing  and  performing  with  the  nails,  as  the  Spaniards  do  now  with  the 
guitar.     The  first  is  from  the  House  of  Fame  (Urry,  line  105  to  112)  : — 
.  .  .  .  "  Stoden  ....  the  castell  all  aboutin 
Of  all  manir  of  Minstralis 
And  gestours  that  tellen  tales 
Both  of  wepyng  and  of  game, 
And  all  that  'longeth  unto  fame ; 
There  herde  I  playin  on  an  Harpe 
That  ysounid  bothe  well  and  sharpe" 
and.  from  Troylus,  lib.  2,  1030  :— 

"  For  though  that  the  best  harper  upon  live 

Would  on  the  beste  sounid  jolly  harpe 
That  evir  was,  with  all  his  fingers  five 

Touch  aie  o  (one)  string,  or  aie  o  warble  harpe, 
Were  his  nailes  poincted  nevir  so  sharpe 
It  shoulde  makin  every  wight  to[o]  dull 
To  heare  [h]is  Glee,  and  of  his  strokes  ful." 

Even  the  musical  gamut  is  mentioned  by  Chaucer.  In  the  supplementary  tale 
he  makes  the  host  give  "  an  hid[e]ouse  cry  in  ge-sol-re-ut  the  haut,"  and  there  is 
scarcely  a  subject  connected  with  the  art  as  practised  in  his  day,  that  may  not  be 
illustrated  by  quotation  from  his  works ; 

"  For,  gif  he  have  nought  sayd  hem,  leeve  [dear]  brother, 
In  o  bo[o]k,  he  hath  seyd  hem  in  another." 

•  Tyrwh.itt  thinks  Dovcete  an  Instrument,  and  quotes  a  reed),  I  infer  by  "  douced"  that  flutes  are  intended;  the 

Lydgate—  tone  of  which,  especially  the  large  flute,  is  extremely  soft. 

"  Ther  were  trumpes  and  trumpetes,  I  had  a  collection  of  English  flutes,  of  which  one  was 

Lowde  shall  [m]ys  and  doucetes."  yearly  a  yard  and  a  half  long.    All  had  mouth-pieces  like 

but  it  seems  to  me  only  to  mean  soft  pipes  in  opposition  the  flageolet,  and  were  blown  in  the  same  manner;   the 

to  loud  shalms.     By  the  distinction  Chaucer  draws,  "  both  tone  very  pleasing,  but  less  powerful  and  brilliant  than 

in  douced  and  in  teed"  (the  shalm  being  played  on  by  the  modern  or  "German"  flute. 


GOWER. — RICHARD   II.  37 

I  shall  conclude  these  numerous  extracts  with  one  of  the  song  of  nature,  from 
the  Knighte's  Tale,  ( line  1493  to  98)  :— 

tl  The  busy  larke,  messager  of  daye, 
Salueth  in  hire  song  the  morwe  [morning]  gray  ; 
And  fyry  Phebus  ryseth  up  so  bright, 
That  al  the  orient  laugheth  of  the  light, 
And  with  his  stremes  dryeth  in  the  greves  [groves] 
The  silver  drop£s,  hongyng  on  the  leeves." 

Having  quoted  so  largely  from  Chaucer,  whose  portraiture  of  character  and 
persons  has  never  been  excelled,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  refer  to  his  contem- 
porary, Gower,  further  than  to  say  that  in  his  Confessio  Amantis,  Venus  greets 
Chaucer  as  her  disciple  and  poet,  who  had  filled  the  land  in  his  youth  with 
dittees  and  "  songes  glade,"  which  he  had  made  for  her  sake ;  and  Gower  says  of 
himself: —  "  And  also  I  have  ofte  assaide 

Roundel,  Balades,  and  Virelaie 
For  her  on  whom  myn  hert  laie." 

But  about  the  same  time,  in  the  Burlesque  Romance,  The  T[o]urnament  of 
Tottenham  (written  in  ridicule  of  chivalry),  we  find  a  notice  of  songs  in  six  parts 
which  demands  attention.  In  the  last  verse  : — 

"  Mekyl  mirth  was  them  among ; 
In  every  corner  of  the  hous 
Was  melody  delycyons 
For  to  he[a]re  precyus 

Of  six  menys  song." 

It  has  been  supposed  that  this  is  an  allusion  to  Sumer  is  icumen  in,  which 
requires  six  performers,  but  in  all  probability  there  were  many  such  songs, 
although  but  one  of  so  early  a  date  has  descended  to  us.  We  find  in  the  Statutes 
of  New  College,  Oxford  (which  was  founded  about  1380),  that  William  of 
Wykeham  ordered  his  scholars  to  recreate  themselves  on  festival  days  with  songs 
in  the  hall,  both  after  dinner  and  supper  ;  and  as  part-music  was  then  in  common 
use,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  founder  intended  the  students  thereby  to 
combine  improvement  and  recreation,  instead  of  each  singing  a  different  song. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  king  Richard  II.  (1381),  John  of  Gaunt  erected  at 
Tutbury,  in  Staffordshire,  a  Court  of  Minstrels  similar  to  that  annually  kept  at 
Chester ;  and  which,  like  a  court-leet,  or  court-baron,  had  a  legal  jurisdiction, 
with  full  power  to  receive  suit  and  service  from  the  men  of  this  profession  within 
five  neighbouring  counties,  to  determine  their  controversies  and  enact  laws ;  also 
to  apprehend  and  arrest  such  of  them  as  should  refuse  to  appear  at  the  said  court, 
annually  held  on  the  16th  of  August.  For  this  they  had  a  charter,  by  which 
they  were  empowered  to  appoint  a  King  of  the  Minstrels,  with  four  officers  to 
preside  over  them.  They  were  every  year  elected  with  great  ceremony ;  the 
whole  form  of  which,  as  observed  in  1680,  is  described  by  Dr.  Plot  in  his  History 
of  Staffordshire.  That  the  barbarous  diversion  of  bull-running  was  no  part  of  the 
original  institution,  is  fully  proved  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pegge,  in  Archaeologia,  vol.  ii., 
No.  xiii.,  p.  86.  The  bull-running  tune,  however,  is  still  popular  in  Staffordshire. 


38  ENGLISH    JMIN STEELS Y. 

Du  Fresne  in  his  Glossary  (art.  Ministrelli) ,  speaking  of  the  King  of  the 
Minstrels,  says,  "His  office  and  power  are  defined  in  a  French  charter  of 
Henry  IV.,  king  of  England,  in  the  Monasticon  Anglicanum,  vol.  i.,  p.  355;" 
but  though  I  have  searched  through  Dugdale's  Monasticon,  I  find  no  such 
charter. 

In  1402,  we  find  the  before-mentioned  statute  against  the  Welsh  bards, 
(4  Henry  IV.,  c.  27).a  As  they  had  excited  their  countrymen  to  rebellion 
against  the  English  government,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  (says  Percy)  that  the 
Act  is  conceived  in  terms  of  the  utmost  indignation  and  contempt  against  this 
class  of  men,  who  .are  described  as  Rymours,  Ministralx,  which  are  apparently 
here  used  as  only  synonymous  terms  to  express  the  Welsh  bards,  with  the  usual 
exuberance  of  our  Acts  of  Parliament;  for  if  their  Ministralx  had  been  mere 
musicians,  they  would  not  have  required  the  vigilance  of  the  English  legislature 
to  suppress  them.  It  was  their  songs,  exciting  their  countrymen  to  insurrection, 
which  produced  "  les  diseases  et  mischiefs  en  la  terre  de  Gales." 

At  the  coronation  of  Henry  V.,  which  took  place  in  Westminster  Hall  (1413), 
we  are  told  by  Thomas  de  Elmham,  that  "the  number  of  harpers  was  exceedingly 
great ;  and  that  the  sweet  strings  of  their  harps  soothed  the  souls  of  the  guests 
by  their  soft  melody."  He  also  speaks  of  the  dulcet  sounds  of  the  united 
music  of  other  instruments,  in  which  no  discord  interrupted  the  harmony, 
as  "inviting  the  royal  banqueters  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  festival." — 
(Vit.  et.  Gest.  Henr.  V.,  c.  12,  p.  23.)  Minstrelsy  seems  still  to  have 
flourished  in  England,  although  it  had  declined  so  greatly  abroad ;  the  Prove^als 
had  ceased  writing  during  the  preceding  century.  When  Henry  was  preparing 
for  his  great  voyage  to  France  in  1415,  an  express  order  was  given  for  his 
minstrels  to  attend  him. — (Rymer,  ix.,  255.)  Monstrelet  speaks  of  the  English 
camp  resounding  with  the  national  music  (170)  the  day  preceding  the  battle  of 
Agincourt,  but  this  must  have  been  before  the  king  "  gave  the  order  for  silence, 
which  was  afterwards  strictly  observed." 

When  he  entered  the  City  of  London  in  triumph  after  the  battle,  the  gates  and 
streets  were  hung  with  tapestry  representing  the  histories  of  ancient  heroes ;  and 
boys  with  pleasing  voices  were  placed  in  artificial  turrets,  singing  verses  in  his 
praise.  But  Henry  ordered  this  part  of  the  pageantry  to  cease,  and  commanded 
that  for  the  future  no  "ditties  should  be  made  and  sung  by  Minstrelsb  or  others," 
in  praise  of  the  recent  victory ;  "for  that  he  would  whollie  have  the  praise 
and  thankes  altogether  given  to  God," 

Nevertheless,  among  many  others,  a  minstrel-piece  soon  appeared  on  the 
Seyge  of  Harflett  (Harfleur),  and  the  Battayle  of  Agyrikaurte,  "  evidently,"  says 
Warton,  "  adapted  to  the  harp,"  and  of  which  he  has  printed  some  portions. 

•  It  runs  in  these  terms :  "  Item,  pour  eschuir  plusieurs  "  Hollinshed,  quoting  from  Thomas  de  Elmham,  whose 

diseases  et  mischiefs  qont  advenuz  devaunt  ces  heures  en        words  are,  "  Quod  cantus  de  suo  triumpho  fieri,  seu  per 
la  terre    de    Gales  par    plusieurs  Westours    Rymours,        Citharistas  vel   alios   quoscunque  cantari  penitus  pro- 
Minstralx    et    autres    Vacabondes,    ordeignez    est,     et        hibebat."    It  will  be  observed  that  Hollinshed  translates 
establiz,  que  nul  Westour,  Rymour  Minstral,  ne  Vaca-        Citharistas  (literally  harpers)  miristrcls. 
bond  soil  aucunemeut  sustenuz  en  la  terre  de  Gales  pur 
faire  kymorthas    ou    coillage  sur   la   commune   poeple 
ilioeques." 


HENRY   V. 


39 


(Hist.  Eng.  Poet.,  vol.  ii.  p.  257.)  Also  the  following  song,  which  Percy  has 
printed  in  his  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry,  from  a  M.S.  in  the  Pepysian  Library, 
and  Stafford  Smith,  in  his  Collection  of  English  Songs,  1779  fol.,  in  fac-simile  of 
the  old  notation,  as  well  as  in  modern  score,  and  with  a  chorus  in  three  parts  to 
the  words,  "  Deo  gratias,  Anglia,  redde  pro  victoria."  The  tune  is  here  given 
with  the  first  verse  of  the  words,a  for  although  the  original  is  a  regular  composi- 
tion in  three  parts,  it  serves  to  shew  the  state  of  melody  at  an  early  period,  and 
the  subject  is  certainly  a  national  one. 


SONG  ON  THE  VICTORY  OF  AGINCOURT. 


1415. 


^M 

N 
S-\—  < 

=^N 

=h 

-* 

^ 

- 

—  • 

s 

i^l  fr 

-> 

P 

-v- 

•}  — 

^^ 

—  i 

s 
—  • 

fe 

C(r  8  i 
D  • 

Ou 

-rflj 
r  kinj 

—  S 

i 

jwent  fo 

N 

=^ 

rth  to  Nor 

4 

niai 

4=4 

idy,  Wi 

1*  S^'M1 

th  grace  and  might  of 

^hfJil 

-»-fli-_g: 

;hi-val-ry,  The  Go 
N 

i 

-  •< 

dfoi 

Fl 

hir 

=N 

Q  wrough 

i 

s 

^ 

* 

a 

I 

• 

x 

a 

• 

—  K- 

—  a 

-J  —  N-H  — 

> 

•  —  • 

-JL 

5 

i  —  P 

P 

U  — 

—  • 

= 

—. 

—  • 

— 

—  • 

l 

• 

-f 

~P 

r-> 

1  P  — 

K 

:  *  *-; 

-  -i 

1 

\l 

1 

1 

^"1  ^ 

-i 

-  -« 

:  -» 

1 

L 

I 

f 

ritard. 


marv'lously,  Where-fore  England  may   call  and    CIy    "  De    - 


-    o    gra   -  ti    - 


There  are  also  two  well-known  ballads  on  the  Battle  of  Agincourt ;  the  one 
commencing  "  A  council  grave  our  king  did  hold ;"  the  other  "  As  our  king  lay 
musing  in  his  bed,"  which  will  be  noticed  under  later  dates  ;  and  a  three-men's 
song,  which  was  sung  by  the  tanner  and  his  fellows,  to  amuse  the  guests,  in 
Hey  wood's  play,  King  ^Edward  IV.,  beginning — 

"  Agincourt !  Agincourt !  know  ye  not  Agincourt  ? 
Where  the  English  slew  or  hurt 
All  the  French  foemen  ?"  &c. 

Although  Henry  had  forbidden  the  minstrels  to  celebrate  his  victory,  the  order 
evidently  did  not  proceed  from  any  disregard  for  the  professors  of  music  or  of 
song,  for  at  the  Feast  of  Pentecost,  which  he  celebrated  in  1416,  having  the 
Emperor  and  the  Duke  of  Holland  as  his  guests,  he  ordered  rich  gowns  for  sixteen 
of  his  minstrels.  And  having  before  his  death  orally  granted  an  annuity  of  an 


a  I  do  not  intend  to  reprint  songs  or  ballads  that  are 
contained  in  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry,  without 
some  particular  motive,  for  that  delightful  book  can  be 
purchased  in  many  shapes  and  at  a  small  cost.  As  a 
general  rule,  the  versions  given  by  Percy  are  best  suited 


to  music,  because  more  metrical  than  others,  although 
they  may  be  less  exactly  and  minutely  in  accordance 
with  old  copies,  which  are  often  very  carelessly  printed 
or  transcribed. 


40  ENGLISH    MINSTRELSY. 

hundred  shillings  to  each  of  his  minstrels,  the  grant  was  confirmed  in  the  first 
year  of  his  son,  Henry  VI.  (A.D.  1423),  and  payment  ordered  out  of  the  ex- 
chequer. Both  the  biographers  of  Henry  declare  his  love  for  music.a  Lydgate 
and  Occleve,  the  poets  whom  he  patronized,  attest  also  his  love  of  literature,  and 
the  encouragement  he  gave  to  it. 

John  Lydgate,  Monk  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  describes  the  minstrelsy  of  his 
time  less  completely,  but  in  nearly  the  same  terms  as  Chaucer. 

Lydgate  was  a  very  voluminous  writer.  Bitson  enumerates  251  of  his  pieces, 
and  the  list  is  far  from  being  complete.  Among  his  minor  pieces  are  many  songs 
and  ballads,  chiefly  satirical,  such  as  "On  the  forked  head-dresses  of  the  ladies," 
on  "  Thievish  Millers  and  Bakers,"  &c.  A  selection  from  these  has  been  recently 
printed  by  the  Percy  Society. 

Among  the  devices  at  the  coronation  banquet  of  Henry  VI.  (1429),  were,  in 
the  first  course,  a  "sotiltie"  (subtlety)  of  St.  Edward  and  St.  Lewis,  in  coat 
armour,  holding  between  them  a  figure  like  King  Henry,  similarly  armed,  and 
standing  with  a  ballad  under  his  feet"  In  the  second,  a  device  of  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  and  King  Henry  V.,  arrayed  in  mantles  of  garter,  and  a  figure  like 
Henry  VI.  kneeling  before  them  with  a  ballad  against  the  Lollards  ;b  and  in  the 
third,  one  of  our  Lady,  sitting  with  her  child  in  her  lap,  and  holding  a  crown  in 
her  hand,  St.  George  and  St.  Denis  kneeling  on  either  side,  presenting  to  her 
King  Henry  with  a  ballad  in  his  hand.0  These  subtleties  were  probably  devised 
by  the  clergy,  who  strove  to  smother  the  odium  which,  as  a  body,  their  vices  had 
excited,  by  turning  public  attention  to  the  further  persecution  of  the  Lollards.d 
In  a  discourse  which  was  prepared  to  be  delivered  at  the  Convocation  of  the 
Clergy,  ten  days  after  the  death  of  Edward  IV.,  and  which  still  exists  in  MS. 
(MS.  Cotton  Cleopatra,  E.  3),  exhorting  the  clergy  to  amendment,  the  writer 
complains  that  "  The  people  laugh  at  us,  and  make  us  their  songs  all  the  day 
long."  Vicious  persons  of  every  description  had  been  induced  to  enter  the  church 
on  account  of  the  protection  it  afforded  against  the  secular  power,  and  the  facilities 
it  provided  for  continued  indulgence  in  their  vices. 

In  that  age,  as  in  more  enlightened  times,  the  people  loved  better  to  be  pleased 
than  instructed,  and  the  minstrels  were  often  more  amply  paid  than  the  clergy. 
During  many  of  the  years  of  Henry  VI.,  particularly  in  the  year  1430,  at  the 
annual  feast  of  the  fraternity  of  the  HOLIE  CROSSE,  at  Abingdon,  a  town  in 
Berkshire,  twelve  priests  each  received  four  pence  for  singing  a  dirge :  and  the 
same  number  of  minstrels  were  rewarded  each  with  two  shillings  and  four  pence, 
besides  diet  and  horse-meat.  Some  of  these  minstrels  came  only  from  Mayden- 
hithe,  or  Maidenhead,  a  town  at  no  great  distance,  in  the  same  county.  (  Liber 
Niger,  p.  598.)  In  the  year  1441,  eight  priests  were  hired  from  Coventry, 
to  assist  in  celebrating  a  yearly  obit  in  the  church  of  the  neighbouring  priory  of 

»  "Musicis  delectabatur."— Tit.  Liv.,  p.  5.     "Instru-  «  Quoted  by  Sharon  Turner,  from  Fab.  419. 

mentis  organicis  plurimum  deditus." — Elmham.  a  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  Lord  Cobham,  had  been  put  to 

b  Ritson  has  printed  one  of  these  ballads  against  the        death  in  the  preceding  reign. 
Lollards,  in  his  Ancient  Songs,  p.  63,  1790,  taken  from 
MS.  Cotton,  Vespasian,  S.  16.     Brit.  Mu*. 


HENRY   VI.  41 

Maxtoke  ;  as  were  six  minstrels  (MiMi)  belonging  to  the  family  of  Lord  Clinton, 
who  lived  in  the  adjoining  Castle  of  Maxtoke,  to  sing,  harp,  and  play  in  the  hall 
of  the  monastery,  during  the  extraordinary  refection  allowed  to  the  monks  on  that 
anniversary.  Two  shillings  were  given  to  the  priests,  and  four  to  the  minstrels  : 
and  the  latter  are  said  to  have  supped  in  camera  picta,  or  the  painted  chamber  of 
the  convent,  with  the  sub-prior,  on  which  occasion  the  chamberlain  furnished 
eight  massive  tapers  of  wax.  ( Warton,  vol.  ii.,  p.  309.)  However,  on  this  occa- 
sion, the  priests  seem  to  have  been  better  paid  than  usual,  for  in  the  same  year 
(1441)  the  prior  gave  no  more  than  sixpence  to  a  preaching  friar. 

As  late  as  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  we  find  an  entry  in  the 
books  of  the  Stationers'  Company  (1560)  of  a  similar  character  :  Item,  payd  to 
the  preacher,  6s.  2d.  Item,  payd  to  the  minstrell,  12s. ;  so  that  even  in  the 
decline  of  minstrelsy,  the  scale  of  remuneration  was  relatively  the  same. 

A  curious  collection  of  the  songs  and  Christmas  carols  of  this  reign  (Henry 
VI.)  have  been  printed  recently  by  the  Percy  Society.  (Songs  and  Carols,  No.  73.) 

The  manuscript  book  from  which  they  are  taken,  had,  in  all  probability,  belonged 
to  a  country  minstrel  who  sang  at  festivals  and  merry  makings,  and  it  has  been, 
most  judiciously,  printed  entire,  as  giving  a  general  view  of  the  classes  of  poetry 
then  popular.  A  proportion  of  its  contents  consists  of  carols  and  religious  songs, 
such  as  were  sung  at  Christmas,  and  perhaps  at  other  festivals  of  the  Church. 
Another  class,  in  which  the  MS.  is,  for  its  date,  peculiarly  rich,  consists  of 
drinking  songs.  It  also  contains  a  number  of  those  satirical  songs  against  the 
fair  sex,  and  especially  against  shrews,  which  were  so  common  in  the  middle  ages, 
and  have  a  certain  degree  of  importance  as  showing  the  condition  of  private 
society  among  our  forefathers.  The  larger  number  of  the  songs,  including  some 
of  the  most  interesting  and  curious,  appear  to  be  unique,  and  the  others 
are  in  general  much  better  and  more  complete  copies  than  those  previously 
known  (viz.  in  MS.  Sloane,  No.  2593,  Brit.  Mus).  The  editor  of  the  MS. 
(Mr.  T.  Wright)  observes  that  "The  great  variations  in  the  different  copies  of 
the  same  song,  show  that  they  were  taken  down  from  oral  recitation,  and  had 
often  been  preserved  by  memory  among  minstrels,  who  were  not  unskilful  at 
composing,  and  who  were  not  only  in  the  habit  of,  voluntarily  or  involuntarily, 
modifying  the  songs  as  they  passed  through  their  hands,  and  adding  or  omitting 
stanzas,  but  of  making  up  new  songs  by  stringing  together  phrases  and  lines,  and 
even  whole  stanzas  from  the  different  compositions  which  were  imprinted  on  their 
memories."  But  what  renders  the  manuscript  peculiarly  interesting,  is,  that  it 
contains  the  melodies  of  some  of  the  songs  as  well  as  the  words.  From  this  it 
appears  that  the  same  tune  was  used  for  different  words.  At  page  62  is  a  note, 
which  in  modern  spelling  is  as  follows  :  "  This  is  the  tune  for  the  song  following ; 
if  so  be  that  ye  will  have  another  tune,  it  may  be  at  your  pleasure,  for  I  have  set 
all  the  song."  The  words  of  the  carol,  "  Nowell,  Nowell,"  (Noel)  are  written 
under  the  notes,  but  the  wassail  song  that  follows,  and  for  which  the  tune  was  also 
intended,  is  of  a  very  opposite  character,  "Bryng  us  in  good  ale."  I  have 
printed  the  first  verse  of  each  under  the  tune,  but  it  requires  to  be  sung  more 
quickly  for  the  wassail  song  than  for  the  carol. 


ENGLISH    MINSTRELSY. 

CHRISTMAS  CAROL. 


The  Burden  or  Chorus. 


Now  -  ell,  nowell,  now  -  ell,     nowell, 
Bring    us  in  good      ale,  good  ale, 


[Now-ell,  now-ell,  now    -    ell.] 
And  bring  us  in  good       ale  : 


This 


KE 


m 


8  8 


Carol. 


is     the  sa  -  lu  -   ta  -  tion  of          the  an-gel  Ga  -  bri  -  el. 
For  ourbless-ed      La-dy'ssake,     bring     us  in   good    ale. 


Ti-dings 
Bring  us 


true   there 
in      no 


JJ  i  J'h     J.  I^F^ 


be  come  new,  sent   from  the  Trin  -  i    -    ty,  By     Ga  -  bri  -  el    to     Na  -  za  -  reth, 

brown    bread,  for     that    is  made  of        bran,       Nor  bring  us  in    no     white     bread,  For 


S  m 


? 


_ 

ci  -  ty    of  Ga  -  \i    -    lee: 
there  -    in   is     no       gain. 


t— -t-Jfrh 


A  clean  maiden  and  pure  virgin,  Through  her  hu-mi-li 
But  bring  us  in  good  ale,  good  ale,  And  bring  us  in  good 

J     .N     :      J. 


FW 


Hath    con-cei-ved  the     per    -     son         second  in  De  -  i  ._, . 

For    our  blessed      La-dy'ssake,       Bring  us    in     good        ale. 
-£ 


m 


^ 


m 


j.u  -  j 


»  The  two  bars  marked  off  by  a  line  are  added,  because 
there  would  not  otherwise  be  music  enough  for  the  Was- 
tail  Song.  They  are  a  mere  repetition  of  the  preced- 
ing, and  can  be  omitted  at  pleasure.  The  only  way  in 


which  the  latter  could  have  been  sung  to  the  music  as 
written  in  the  manuscript,  would  be  by  omitting  the  line 
"  And  bring  us  in  good  ale ; "  but,  as  it  is  merely  a  repe- 
tition, it  could  be  omitted. 


CHRISTMAS   CAROL  AND  WASSAIL   SONG.  43 

The  notation  of  the  original  is  in  semibreves,  minims,  and  crotchets,  which 
are  diminished  to  crotchets,  quavers,  and  semiquavers,  as  became  necessary  in 
modernizing  the  notation ;  for  the  quickest  note  then  in  use  was  the  crotchet.* 
The  Christmas  carol  partakes  so  much  of  the  character  of  sacred  music,  that  it  is 
not  surprising  it  should  be  in  an  old  scale.  If  there  were  not  the  flat  at  the  sig- 
nature, which  takes  off  a  little  of  the  barbarity,  it  would  be  exactly  in  the  eighth 
Gregorian  tone. 

There  are  seven  verses  to  the  carol,  but  as  they  are  not  particularly  interesting, 
perhaps  the  words  of  the  wassail  song  will  be  preferred,  although  we  should  not 
now  sing  of  "  our  blessed  lady,"  as  was  common  in  those  days. 
Bring  us  in  no  brown  bread,  for  that  is  made  of  bran, 
Nor  bring  us  in  no  white  bread,  for  therein  is  no  gain, 

But  bring  us  in  good  ale,  and  bring  us  in  good  ale  ; 
For  our  blessed  Lady's  sake,  bring  us  in  good  ale. 
Bring  \ia  in  no  beef,  for  there  is  many  bones, 

But  bring  us  in  good  ale,  for  that  go'th  down  at  once.     And  bring,  &c. 
Bring  us  in  no  bacon,  for  that  is  passing  fat, 
But  bring  us  in  good  ale,  and  give  us  enough  of  that.     And  bring,  &c. 

Bring  us  in  no  mutton,  for  that  is  passing  lean, 

Nor  bring  us  in  no  tripes,  for  they  be  seldom  clean.     But  bring,  &c. 

Bring  us  in  no  eggs,  for  there  are  many  shells, 

But  bring  us  in  good  ale,  and  give  us  nothing  else.     But  bring,  &c. 

Bring  us  in  no  butter,  for  therein  are  many  hairs, 

Nor  bring  us  in  no  pig's  flesh,  for  that  will  make  us  bears.     But  bring,  &c. 

Bring  us  in  no  puddings,  for  therein  is  all  God's  good, 

Nor  bring  us  in  no  venison,  that  is  not  for  our  blood.     But  bring,  &c. 

Bring  us  in  no  capon's  flesh,  for  that  is  often  dear, 
Nor  bring  us  in  no  duck's  flesh,  for  they  slobber  in  the  mere,  [mire] 
But  bring  us  in  good  ale,  and  bring  us  in  good  ale, 
For  our  blessed  lady's  sake,  bring  us  in  good  ale. 

An  inferior  copy  of  this  song,  without  music,  is  in  Harl.  M.S.,  No.  541,  from 
which  it  has  been  printed  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  p.  xxxiv.  and  xxxv. 

With  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  we  may  conclude  the  history  of  the  old  wandering 
minstrel.  In  1469,  on  a  complaint  that  persons  had  collected  money  in  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom  by  assuming  the  title  and  livery  of  the  king's  minstrels,  he 
granted  to  Walter  Halliday,  Marshal,  and  to  seven  others  whom  he  names, 
a  charter  of  incorporation.  They  were  to  be  governed  by  a  marshal  appointed  for 
life,  and  two  wardens  to  be  chosen  annually,  who  were  authorized  to  admit  mem- 
bers ;  also  to  examine  the  pretensions  of  all  who  exercised  the  minstrel  profession, 
and  to  regulate,  govern,  and  punish  them  throughout  the  realm  (those  of  Chester 

1  After  the  Percy  Society  had  printed  the  Songs,  I  was  MS.  was  entrusted,  disappeared,  and  with  him  the  manu- 
to  have  had  the  opportunity  of  transcribing  all  the  Music;  script,  whicli  is,  perhaps,  already  in  some  library  in  the 
but,  in  the  mean  time,  the  bookbinder  to  whom  this  rare  United  States. 


44  ENGLISH   MINSTRELSY. 

excepted).  "This,"  says  Percy,  "seems  to  have  some  resemblance  to  the  Earl 
Marshal's  court  among  the  heralds,  and  is  another  proof  of  the  great  affinity  and 
resemblance  which  the  minstrels  bore  to  the  College  of  Arms."  Walter  Halliday, 
above  mentioned,  had  been  retained  in  the  service  of  the  two  preceding  monarchs, 
and  Edward  had  granted  him  an  annuity  of  ten  marks  for  life,  in  1464. 

In  this  reign  we  find  also  mention  of  a  Serjeant  of  the  minstrels,  who  upon 
one  occasion  did  his  royal  master  a  singular  service,  and  by  which  his  ready  access 
to  the  king  at  all  hours  is  very  apparent :  for  "  as  he  [K.  Edward  IV.]  was  in 
the  north  contray,  in  the  Monneth  of  Septembre,  as  he  lay  in  his  bedde,  one 
named  Alexander  Carlile,  that  was  Sarjaunt  of  the  Mynstrellis,  cam  to  him 
in  grete  hast,  and  badde  hym  aryse,  for  he  hadde  enemyes  cumming  for  to  take 
him,  the  which  were  within  six  or  seven  miles,"  &c. 

Edward  seems  to  have  been  very  liberal  to  his  minstrels.  He  gave  to  several 
annuities  of  ten  marks  a  year  (6  Parl.  Rolls,  p.  89),  and,  besides  their 
regular  pay,  with  clothing  and  lodging  for  themselves  and  their  horses,  they  had 
two  servants  to  carry  their  instruments,  four  gallons  of  ale  per  night,  wax  candles, 
and  other  indulgences.  The  charter  is  printed  in  Rymer,  xi.  642,  by  Sir 
J.  Hawkins,  vol.  iv.,  p.  366,  and  Burney,  vol.  ii.,  p.  429.  All  the  minstrels 
have  English  names. 

When  Elizabeth,  his  queen,  went  to  Westminster  Abbey  to  be  churched  (1466) , 
she  was  preceded  by  troops  of  choristers,  chanting  hymns,  and  to  these  succeeded 
long  lines  of  the  noblest  and  fairest  women  of  London  and  its  vicinity,  attended  by 
bands  of  musicians  and  trumpeters,  and  forty-two  royal  singers.  After  the  banquet 
and  state  ball,  a  state  concert  commenced,  at  which  the  Bohemian  ambassadors 
were  present,  and  in  their  opinion  as  well  as  that  of  Tetzel,  the  German  who  accom- 
panied them,  and  who  has  also  recounted  their  visit  to  England,  no  better 
singers  could  be  found  in  the  whole  world,a  than  those  of  the  English  king. 
These  ambassadors  travelled  through  France,  Belgium,  Spain,  Portugal,  Italy, 
and  parts  of  Germany,  as  well  as  England,  affording  them,  therefore,  the  widest 
field  for  comparison  with  the  singers  of  other  countries. 

At  this  time  every  great  family  had  its  establishment  of  musicians,  and  among 
them  the  harper  held  a  prominent  position.  Some  who  were  less  wealthy  retained 
a  harper  only,  as  did  many  bishops  and  abbots.  In  Sir  John  Howard's  expenses 
(1464)  there  is  an  entry  of  a  payment  as  a  new  year's  gift  to  Lady  Howard's 
grandmother's  harper,  "  that  dwellyth  in  Chestre."  When  he  became  Lord 
Howard  he  retained  in  his  service,  Nicholas  Stapylton,  William  Lyndsey,  and 
"  little  Richard,"  as  singers,  besides  "  Thomas,  the  harperd,"  (whom  he  provided 
with  a  "lyard,"  or  grey  "gown"),  and  children  of  the  chapel,  who  were  succes- 
sively four,  five,  and  six  in  number  at  different  dates.  Mr.  Payne  Collier,  who 
edited  his  Household  Book  from  1481  to  1485  for  the  Roxburghe  Club,  remarks 

a  Tetzel  says,    "  Nach  dem   Tantz  do  muosten   des  Korgesang,  das  alls  gesatzt  was,  das  lieblich  zu  hb'ren 

Kunigs  Cantores  kumen  und  muosten  singen  .  .  .  .  ich  was."— Ib.  p.  158. 

mein  das,  in  der  Welt,  nit  besser  Cantores  sein."    "Dei  Leo  Von  Rozmital,  brother  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia 

bdhmitchen  Herrn  Leo's  von  Rozmital  Hitter, — H of  und  says,    "Musicos   nullo  uspiam   in    loco  jucundiores  et 

Pilger—Reise,  1465-1467," $c.,8i>o.,  Stuttgart,  1844,  p.  157.  suaviores  audivimus,  quam  ibi :  eorum  chorus  sexaginta, 

Again  Tetzel  says,  "  Do  hb'rten  wlr  das  aller  kostlichst  circiter  cantoribus  constat."  —  Ib.  p.  42. 


EDWARD   IV.  45 

on  "  the  great  variety  of  entries  in  connection  with  music  and  musical  performers," 
as  forming  "  a  prominent  feature"  of  the  book.  "  Not  only  were  the  musicians 
attached  to  noblemen,  or  to  private  individuals,  liberally  rewarded,  but  also  those 
who  were  attached  to  particular  towns,  and  who  seem  to  have  been  generally 
required  to  perform  before  Lord  Howard  on  his  various  journies.  On  the  14th  of 
October,  1841,  he  entered  into  an  agreement  with  William  Wastell,  harper  of 
London,  that  he  should  teach  the  son  of  John  Colet,  of  Colchester,  harper,  for 
a  year,  in  order,  probably,  to  render  him  competent  afterwards  to  fill  the  post  of 
one  of  the  family  musicians." 

Here  also  a  part  of  the  stipulation  was  that,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  Lord 
Howard  should  give  Wastell  a  gown,  which  seems  to  have  been  the  distinguishing 
feature  of  a  harper's  dress.  In  Laneham's  letter  from  Kenilworth  (1575), 
describing  the  "  device  of  an  ancient  minstrel  and  his  song,"  which  was  to  have 
been  proffered  for  the  amusement  of  queen  Elizabeth,  this  "  Squire  minstrel,  of 
Middlesex,  who  travelled  the  country  this  summer  season,  unto  worshipful  men's 
houses,"  is  represented  as  a  harper  with  a  long  gown  of  Kendal  green,  gathered 
at  the  neck  with  a  narrow  gorget,  and  fastened  before  with  a  white  clasp ;  his 
gown  having  long  sleeves  down  to  mid -leg,  but  slit  from  the  shoulders  to  the 
hand,  and  lined  with  white.  His  harp  was  to  be  "  in  good  grace  dependent  before 
him,"  and  his  "  wrest,"  or  tuning-key,  "  tied  to  a  green  lace,  and  hanging  by." 
He  wore  a  red  Cadiz  girdle,  and  the  corner  of  his  handkerchief,  edged  with  blue 
lace  hung  from  his  bosom.  Under  the  gorget  of  his  gown  hung  a  chain,  "  re- 
splendent upon  his  breast,  of  the  ancient  arms  of  Islington."  The  acts  of  king 
Arthur  were  the  subject  of  his  song. 

The  Romances  which  still  remained  popular  [1480]  are  mentioned  by  William 
of  Nassyngton  [in  a  MS.  which  Warton  saw  in  the  library  of  Lincoln  Cathedral], 
who  gives  his  readers  fair  notice  that  he  does  not  intend  to  amuse  them. 

"  I  warne  you  first  at  the  begynnynge  And  of  many  other  Gestes, 

That  I  will  make  no  vayne  carpynge,  As  namely,  when  they  come  to  festes ; 

Of  dedes  of  armes,  ne  of  amours,  Ne  of  the  lyf  of  BEVYS  OF  HAMPTOUNE, 

As  does  Mynstrellis  and  Gestours,  That  was  a  Knyght  of  grete  renowne  ; 

That  maketh  carpynge  in  many  a  place  Ne  of  SYR  GYE  OF  WARWYKE,  &c. 

Of  OCTAVIANE  and  ISENBRACE,  Warton,  vol.  iv.,  p.  368. 

The  invention  of  printing,  coupled  with  the  increased  cultivation  of  poetry  and 
music  by  men  of  genius  and  learning,  accelerated  the  downfall  of  the  Minstrels. 
They  could  not  long  withstand  the  superior  standard  of  excellence  in  the  sister 
arts,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  competition  of  the  ballad-singer  (who  sang  without 
asking  remuneration,  and  sold  his  songs  for  a  penny)  on  the  other.  In  little  more 
than  fifty  years  from  this  time  they  seem  to  have  fallen  into  utter  contempt.  We 
have  a  melancholy  picture  of  their  condition,  in  the  person  of  Richard  Sheale, 
which  it  is  impossible  to  read  without  sympathy,  if  we  consider  that  to  him  we 
are  indebted  for  the  preservation  of  the  celebrated  heroic  ballad  of  Chevy  Chace, 
at  which  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  heart  was  wont  to  beat,  "  as  at  the  sound  of  a 


46  ENGLISH   MINSTRELSY. 

trumpet;"*  and  of  which  Ben  Jonson  declared  he  would  rather  have  been  the 
author  than  of  all  he  had  ever  written.  This  luckless  Minstrel  had  been  robbed 
on  Dunsmore  Heath,  and,  shame  to  tell,  he  was  unable  to  persuade  the  public 
that  a  son  of  the  Muses  had  ever  been  possessed  of  sixty  pounds,  which  he 
averred  he  had  lost  on  the  occasion.  The  account  he  gives  of  the  effect  upon  his 
spirits  is  melancholy,  and  yet  ridiculous  enough.  [As  the  preservation  of  the 
old  spelling  is  no  longer  essential  to  the  rhyme  or  metre,  I  venture  to  give  it  in 
modern  orthography.] 

"  After  my  robbery  my  memory  was  so  decay'd 
That  I  could  neither  sing,  nor  talk,  my  wits  were  so  dismay'd. 
My  audacity  was  gone,  and  all  my  merry  talk, 
There  are  some  here  have  seen  me  as  merry  as  a  hawk ; 
But  now  I  am  so  troubled  with  fancies  in  my  mind, 
I  cannot  play  the  merry  knave,  according  to  my  kind. 
Yet  to  take  thought,  I  perceive,  is  not  the  next  way 
To  bring  me  out  of  debt, — my  creditors  to  pay. 
I  may  well  say  that  I  had  but  evil  hap 
For  to  lose  about  threescore  pounds  at  a  clap. 
The  loss  of  my  money  did  not  grieve  me  so  sore, 
But  the  talk  of  the  people  did  grieve  me  much  more. 
Some  said  I  was  not  robb'd,  I  was  but  a  lying  knave, 
It  was  not  possible  for  a  Minstrel  so  much  money  to  have. 
Indeed,  to  say  the  truth,  it  is  right  well  known 
That  I  never  had  so  much  money  of  my  own, 
But  I  had  friends  in  London,  whose  names  I  can  declare, 
That  at  all  times  would  lend  me  two  hundred  pounds  of  ware, 
And  with  some  again  such  friendship  I  found, 
That  they  would  lend  me  in  money  nine  or  ten  pound. 
The  occasion  why  I  came  in  debt  I  shall  make  relation — 
My  wife,  indeed,  is  a  silk- woman,  by  her  occupation ; 
In  linen  cloths,  most  chiefly,  was  her  greatest  trade, 
And  at  fairs  and  markets  she  sold  sale-ware  that  she  made, 
As  shirts,  smocks,  and  partlets,  head-clothes,  and  other  things, 
As  silk  thread  and  edgings,  skirts,  bands,  and  strings. 
At  Lichfield  market,  and  Atherston,  good  customers  she  found, 
Also  at  Tamworth,  where  I  dwell,  she  took  many  a  pound. 
When  I  had  got  my  money  together,  my  debts  to  have  paid, 
This  sad  mischance  on  me  did  fall,  that  cannot  be  denay'd ;  [denied] 
I  thought  to  have  paid  all  my  debts  and  to  have  set  me  clear, 
And  then  what  evil  did  ensue,  ye  shall  hereafter  hear  : 
Because  my  carriage  should  be  light  I  put  my  money  into  gold, 
And  without  company  I  rode  alone — thus  was  I  foolish  bold  ; 
I  thought  by  reason  of  my  harp  no  man  would  me  suspect, 
For  Minstrels  oft  with  money,  they  be  not  much  infect." 

From  the  "  Chant  of  Richard  Sheale," — British  Bibliographer,  vol.  iv.,  p.  100. 

m  "  I  never  heard  the  old  song  of  Percy  and  Douglas,  that  in  the  dust  and  cobweb  of  that  uncivil  age,  what  would  it 

I  found  not  my  heart  moved  more  than  with  a  trumpet :  and  work,  trimmed  in  the  gorgeous  eloquence  of  Pindare  !  "— 

yet  it  is  sung  but  by  some  blind  crowder,  with  no  rougher  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  Defence  of  Poetry. 
voice  than  rude  style;   which  being  so  evil  aparelled 


RICHARD   SHEALE. — EXTINCTION   OF   MINSTRELSY.  47 

Sheale  was  a  Minstrel  in  the  service  of  Edward,  Earl  of  Derby,  who  died  in 
1574,  celebrated  for  his  bounty  and  hospitality,  of  whom  Sheale  speaks  most 
gratefully,  as  well  as  of  his  eldest  son,  Lord  Strange.  The  same  MS.  contains  an 
"  Epilogue  "  on  the  Countess  of  Derby,  who  died  in  January,  1558,  and  his 
version  of  Chevy  Chace  must  have  been  written  at  least  ten  years  before  the 
latter  date,  if  it  be  the  one  mentioned  in  the  Complaynte  of  Scotland,  which  was 
written  in  1548. 

In  the  thirty-ninth  year  of  Elizabeth,  an  act  was  passed  by  which  "  Minstrels, 
wandering  abroad"  were  held  to  be  "rogues,  vagabonds,  and  sturdy  beggars," 
and  were  to  be  punished  as  such.  This  act  seems  to  have  extinguished  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Minstrels,  who  so  long  had  basked  in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity. 
The  name,  however,  remained,  and  was  applied  to  itinerant  harpers,  fiddlers, 
and  other  strolling  musicians,  who  are  thus  described  by  Puttenham,  in  his  Arte 
of  English  JPoesie,  printed  in  1589.  Speaking  of  ballad  music,  he  says,  "  The 
over  busy  and  too  speedy  return  of  one  manner  of  tune,  doth  too  much  annoy, 
and,  as  it  were,  glut  the  ear,  unless  it  be  in  small  and  popular  musicks  sung  by 
these  Cantabanqui  upon  benches  and  barrels'  heads,  where  they  have  none  other 
audience  than  boys  or  country  fellows  that  pass  by  them  in  the  street ;  or  else  by 
blind  harpers,  or  such  like  tavern  minstrels,  that  give  a  fit  of  mirth  for  a  groat ; 
and  their  matter  being  for  the  most  part  stories  of  old  time,  as  the  Tale  of  Sir 
Topas,  Bevis  of  Southampton,  Guy  of  Warwick,  Adam  Bell  and  Clym  of  the 
Clough,  and  such  other  old  romances  or  historical  rhimes,  made  purposely  for  the 
recreation  of  the  common  people  at  Christmas  dinners  and  bride-ales,  and  in 
taverns  and  alehouses,  and  such  other  places  of  base  resort.  Also  they"  [these 
short  tunes]  "  be  used  in  Carols  and  Rounds,  and  such  like  light  and  lascivious 
poems,  which  are  commonly  more  commodiously  uttered  by  these  buffons,  or  vices 
in  plays  than  by  another  person." 

Ritson,  whose  animosity  to  Percy  and  Warton  seems  to  have  extended  itself 
to  the  whole  minstrel  race,  quotes,  with  great  glee,  the  following  lines  on  their 
downfall,  which  were  written  by  Dr.  Bull,  a  rival  musician  : — 

"  When  Jesus  went  to  Jairus'  house, 

(Whose  daughter  was  about  to  die) 

He  turned  the  Minstrels  out  of  doors, 

Among  the  rascal  company  : 

Beggars  they  are  with  one  consent, — 
'  And  rogues,  by  act  of  Parliament" 


SONGS    AND    BALLADS, 

REIGNS    OF    HENRY    VII.,    HENRY    VIIL,    EDWARD    VI., 

AND     MARY. 


Little  occurs  about  music  and  ballads  during  the  short  reigns  of  Edward  V.  and 
Richard  El. 

Richard  was  very  liberal  to  his  musicians,  giving  annuities  to  some,  and 
gratuities  to  others.  (See  Harl.  MS.,  No.  433.)  But  his  chief  anxiety  seems  to 
have  been  to  increase  the  already  splendid  choral  establishment  of  the  Chapel 
Royal.  For  that  purpose  he  empowered  John  Melynek,  one  of  the  gentlemen  of 
the  chapel,  "  to  take  and  seize  for  the  king"  not  only  children,  but  also  "  all 
such  singing  men  expert  in  the  science  of  music,  as  he  could  find  and  think  able 
to  do  the  king's  service,  within  all  places  of  the  realm,  as  well  cathedral  churches, 
colleges,  chapels,  houses  of  religion,  and  all  other  franchised  or  exempt  places,  or 
elsewhere."  (Harl.  MS.,  433,  p.  189.)  But  it  is  not  my  object  to  pursue  the 
subject  of  royal  establishments  further. 

In  the  privy  purse  expenses  of  Henry  VH.,  from  the  seventh  to  the  twentieth 
year  of  his  reign,  there  are  many  payments  relating  to  music  and  to  popular 
sports,  from  which  the  following  are  selected : — 

1492.  Feb.  4th,       To    the  childe   that  playeth   on   the   records 

[recorder]        -  -  -  -          £100 

April  6th,     To  Gwyllim  for  flotes  [flutes]  with  a  case          -     3  10    0 
May  8th,       For  making  a  case  for  the  kinges  suerde,  and  a 

case  for  James  Hide's  harp      -  -  108 

July  8th.      To  the  maydens  of  Lambeth  for  a  May  -     0  10    0 

August  1st,  At  Canterbury,  To  the  children,  for  singing  in 

the  gardyn          ...  034 

1493.  Jan  ^st,       To  the  Queresters  [choristers],  at  Paule's  and 

St.  Steven  -  -  0  13  4 

Jan.  6th,  To  Newark  [William  Newark,  the  composer]  for 

making  a  song  -  -  -  1  0  0 

Nov.  12th,  To  one  Corny sshe  for  a  prophecy,  in  rewarde  0  13  4 

Probably  William  Cornish,  jun.,  composer,  who  belonged  to  the  king's  chapel, 
and  was  the  author  of  a  poem,  called  "  A  Treatise  between  Trouth  and  Informa- 
cion."  He  was  paid  13s.  4c?.  on  Christmas  day,  1502,  for  setting  a  carol. 


HENRY   VII.  49 

Nov.  30th,  Delivered  to  a  merchaunt,  for  a  pair8  of  Organnes  30  0  0 
Dec.  1st,  To  Basset,  riding  for  th'  organ  pleyer  of  Liche- 

felde      ••  0  13     4 

1494.  Jan.  2,         For  playing  of  the  Mourice  [Morris]  Daunce     -     2     0     0 
Nov.  29th,    To  Burton,  for  making  a  Masse     -  -  100 

„  To  my  Lorde  Prince's  Luter,  in  rewarde  -     1     0     0 

1495.  Aug  2nd,      To  the  women  that  songe  before  the  king  and 

the  qnene,  in  rewarde  -  -  068 

Nov.  2nd,  To  a  woman  that  singeth  with  a  fidell  -  -  0  2  0 
Nov.  27th,  To  Hampton  of  Wourcestre,  for  making  of 

Balades,  in  rewarde        -  100 

1496.  April  25th,  To  Hugh  Denes,  for  a  lute        -            -  -    0  13    4 
June  25th,   To  Frensheman,  player  of  the  organes  -             068 
Aug.  5th,     To  a  Preste  that  wrestelled  at  Ceceter  -  -    0     6     8 
Aug.  17th,   To  the  quene's  fideler,  in  rewarde  168 

1499.    June  6th,     To  the  May -game  at  Greenwich  -     0    4    0 

1501.  May  21st,    For  a  lute   for  my  lady  Margaret  [the  king's 

eldest  daughter,  then  about  twelve  years  old, 

afterwards  Queen  of  Scots]  0  13    4 

Sept.  30th,  To  theym  that  daunced  the  mer'  [morris]  daunce  168 

Dec.  4th,      To  the  Princesse  stryng  mynstrels  at  Westminster  2'   0     0 

1502.  Jan.  7th,      To  one  that  sett  the  king's  cleyvecordes              -  0  10     4 
Feb.  4th,      To  one  Lewes,  for  a  morris  daunce  1  13     4 

1504.  March  6th,  For  a  pair  of  Clavycordes  -    0  13    0 

„  To  John  Sudborough,  for  a  songe  100 

1505.  July  25th,   To  the  gentylmen  of  the  kinges  chapell,  for  to 

drinke  with  a  bucke       -  200 

Aug.  1st,      For  a  lute  for  my  Lady  Mary  -     013     4 

There  is  also  a  great  variety  of  payments  to  the  musicians  of  different  towns, 
as  the  "  Waytes"  of  Dover,  Canterbury,  Dartford,  Coventry,  and  Northampton  ; 
the  minstrels  of  Sandwich,  the  shawms  of  Maidstone ;  to  bagpipers,  the  king's 
piper  (repeatedly),  the  piper  at  Huntingdon,  &c. ;  to  harpers,  some  of  whom  were 
"Welsh.  And  there  are  also  several  entries  "  To  a  Walsheman  for  a  ryme ;" 
liberal  presents  to  the  poets,  of  his  mother  (the  Countess  of  Richmond) ,  of  the 
prince,  and  of  the  king;  to  "  the  rymer  of  Scotland,"  who  was  in  all  probability  the 
Scotch  poet,  William  Dunbar,  who  celebrated  the  nuptials  of  James  IV.  and  the 
princess  Margaret,  in  his  "  Thistle  and  the  Rose,"  and  to  an  Italian  poet.  All 
these  may  be  seen  in  Excerpta  Historica  (8vo.,  1833),  and,  as  the  editor 
remarks  : — "  To  judge  from  the  long  catalogue  of  musicians  and  musical  instru- 
ments, flutes,  recorders,  trumpets,  sackbuts,  harps,  shalmes,  bagpipes,  organs,  and 
round  organs,  clavicords,  lutes,  horns,  pipers,  fiddlers,  singers,  and  dancers,  Henry's 
love  of  music  must  have  been  great,  which  is  further  established  by  the  fact,  that 
in  every  town  he  entered,  as  well  as  on  board  the  ship  which  conveyed  him  to 
Calais,  he  was  attended  by  minstrels  and  waits." 

a  A  pair  of  organs,  means  a  set  of  organs,  i.e.,  an  organ.        we  still  say,  "  apair  of  steps" — "  up  two  pair  of  stairs." 
A  pack  of  cards  was  formerly  called  a  pair  of  cards,  and 


50  HENRY   VIII. 

A  manuscript,  containing  a  large  number  of  songs  and  carols,  has  been  recently 
found  in  the  library  of  Balliol  Coll.,  Oxford,  where  it  had  been  accidently  con- 
cealed, behind  a  book-case,  during  a  great  number  of  years.  It  is  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Richard  Hill,  merchant  of  London,  and  contains  entries  from  the  year 
1483  to  1535.  Six  or  eight  of  the  songs  and  carols  are  the  same  as  in  the  book 
printed  by  the  Percy  Society,  to  which  I  have  referred  at  page  41,  and  especially 
the  carol,  "  Nowell  Nowell,"  but  the  volume  does  not  contain  music.  The  song 
of  the  contention  between  Holly  and  Ivy,  beginning  "  Holly  beareth  berries,  berries 
red  enough,"  which  is  printed  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  from  a  manuscript 
of  Henry  the  Sixth's  time,  is  there  also,  proving  that  some  of  the  songs  are 
of  a  much  earlier  date  than  the  manuscript,  and  that  they  were  still  in  favor.  At 
fol.  210,  v.  is  a  copy  of  the  "  Nut-browne  Mayde,"  and  at  the  end  of  it  "  Explicit 
quod,  Rich.  Hill,"  which  was  the  usual  mode  of  claiming  authorship  of  a  work. 

In  the  Pepysian  Library,  Magdalene  College,  Cambridge,  there  is  a  manuscript 
book  of  vocal  music  (No.  87) ,  containing  the  compositions  of  the  most  eminent 
masters,  English  and  foreign,  of  the  time  of  Henry  YH.,  written  for  the  then 
Prince  of  Wales.  It  was  the  Prince's  book,  is  beautifully  written  on  vellum,  and 
illuminated  with  his  figure  in  miniature. 

Henry  VIII.  was  not  only  a  great  patron  of  music,  but  also  a  composer;  and, 
according  to  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,  who  wrote  his  life,  he  composed  two 
complete  services,  which  were  often  sung  in  his  chapel.  Hollinshed,  in  speaking 
of  the  removal  of  the  court  to  Windsor,  when  Henry  was  beginning  his  progress, 
tells  us  that  he  "  exercised  himselfe  dailie  in  shooting,  singing,  dansing,  wressling, 
casting  o£  the  barre,  plaieing  at  the  recorders,  flute,  virginals,  in  setting  of  songs, 
and  making  of  ballades."  All  accounts  agree  in  describing  him  as  an  amiable  and 
accomplished  prince  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign;  and  the  character  given  of  him 
to  the  Doge  of  Venice,  by  his  three  ambassadors  at  the  English  court,  could 
scarcely  be  expressed  in  more  favorable  terms.  In  their  joint  despatch  of 
May  3rd,  1515,  they  say :  "  He  is  so  gifted  and  adorned  with  mental  accomplish- 
ments of  every  sort,  that  we  believe  him  to  have  few  equals  in  the  world.  He 
speaks  English,  French,  and  Latin ;  understands  Italian  well ;  plays  almost 
on  every  instrument,  and  composes  fairly  (delegnamente)  ;  is  prudent  and  sage, 
and  free  from  every  vice."* 

In  the  letter  of  Sagudino  (Secretary  to  the  Embassy),  writen  to  Alvise  Foscari, 
at  this  same  date,  he  says  :  "  He  is  courageous,  an  excellent  musician,  plays  the 
virginals  well,  is  learned  for  his  age  and  station,  and  has  many  other  endowments 
and  good  parts."  On  the  1st  of  May,  1515,  after  the  celebration  of  May-day  at 
Greenwich,  the  ambassadors  dined  at  the  palace,  and  after  dinner  were  taken  into 
certain  chambers  containing  a  number  of  organs,  virginals  (clavicimbani) ,  flutes, 
and  other  instruments ;  and  having  heard  from  the  ambassadors  that  Sagudino 
was  a  proficient  on  some  of  them,  he  was  asked  by  the  nobles  to  play,  which 

•  Despatch  written  by  Pasqualigo,  Badoer,  and  Gius-       of  Venice,  from  January,  1515,  to  July  26,  1519.    Trans- 
tinian  conjointly.     See  four  years  at  the  Court  of  Henry        lated  by  Rawdon  Brown.    8vo.,  1854,  vol.  i.,  p.  76. 
VIII.,  Selection  of  Despatches  addressed  to  the  Signory 


VENETIAN   AMBASSADORS — ERASMUS. 


51 


he  did  for  a  long  while,  both  on  the  virginals  and  organ,  and  says  that  he  bore 
himself  bravely,  and  was  listened  to  with  great  attention.  The  prelates  told  him 
that  the  king  would  certainly  wish  to  hear  him,  for  he  practised  on  these  instru- 
ments day  and  night. 

Pasqualigo,  the  ambassador- extraordinary,  gives  a  similar  account  at  the  same 
time.  Of  Henry  he  says  :  "  He  speaks  French,  English,  and  Latin,  and  a  little 
Italian,  plays  well  on  the  lute  and  virginals,  sings  from  book  at  sight,  draws  the 
bow  with  greater  strength  than  any  man  in  England,  and  jousts  marvellously. 
Believe  me  he  is  in  every  respect  a  most  accomplished  prince  ;  and  I,  who  have 
now  seen  all  the  sovereigns  in  Christendom,  and  last  of  all  these  two  of  France 
and  England,  might  well  rest  content,"  &c.  Of  the  chapel  service,  Pasqualigo 
says  :  "  We  attended  High  Mass,  which  was  chaunted  by  the  bishop  of  Durham, 
with  a  superb  and  noble  descant  choir"*  (Capella  di  Discanto)  ;  and  Sagudino 
says :  "  High  Mass  was  chaunted,  and  it  was  sung  by  his  majesty's  choristers, 
whose  voices  are  really  rather  divine  than  human ;  they  did  not  chaunt,  but  sung 
like  angels  (non  cantavano,  ma  jubilavano)  ;  and  as  for  the  deep  bass  voices, 
I  don't  think  they  have  their  equals  in  the  world."  b  (Vol.  i.,  p.  77.) 

Upon  these  despatches  the  editor  remarks:  "As  Pasqualigo  had  been  ambassador 
at  the  courts  of  Spain,  Portugal,  Hungary,  France,  and  of  the  Emperor,  he  was 
enabled  to  form  comparisons  between  the  state  of  the  science  in  those  kingdoms 
and  our  own ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  the  universal  experience  of  the  Venetian  ambas- 
sadors, and  their  peculiar  freedom  from  prejudice  or  partiality  (no  jealousy  or 
rivalry  existing  between  them  and  England),  that  makes  their  comments  on  our 
country  so  valuable."  (Vol.  1,  p.  89.) 

Erasmus,  speaking  of  the  English,  said  that  they  challenge  the  prerogative  of 
having  the  most  handsome  women,  of  keeping  the  best  tables,  and  of  being  most 
accomplished  in  the  skill  of  music  of  any  people; c  and  it  is  certain  that  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth  century  produced  in  England  a  race  of  musicians  equal  to 
the  best  in  foreign  countries,  and  in  point  of  secular  music  decidedly  in  advance 
of  them.  When  Thomas  Cromwell,  afterwards  Earl  of  Essex,  went  from  Antwerp 
to  Rome,  in  1510,  to  obtain  from  Pope  Julius  H.  the  renewal  of  the  "  greater  and 
lesser  pardon"  d  for  the  town  of  Boston,  for  the  maintenance  of  their  decayed  port, 


"  Descant  choir  is  not  a  proper  term,  because  the  Music 
of  the  King's  Chapel  was  not  extempore  descant,  but  in 
written  counterpoint  of  four  parts.  Several  of  the  manu- 
scripts in  use  about  this  period,  are  preserved  in  the 
King's  Library,  British  Museum,  and  some  were  Henry's 
own  books.  They  are  beautifully  written  manuscripts 
on  parchment,  bearing  the  King's  arms.  In  one  a  Canon 
in  eight  parts  is  inserted  on  the  words  "  Honi  soit  qui 
mal  y  pense."  The  references  to  these  manuscripts 
will  be  found  in  Mr.  Oliphant's  Catalogue  of  Musical 
MSS.,  British  Museum,  towards  the  commencement. 
See  Nos.  12,  13,  21,  &c. 

b  The  florid  character  of  the  counterpoint  in  use  in 
churches  in  those  days  is  slyly  reproved  in  a  dialogue  be- 
tween Humanity  and  Ignorance,  in  the  Interlude  of  The 
Four  Elements,  printed  about  1510.  (Prick-song  meant 
harmony  written  or  pricked  down,  in  opposition  to  plain- 
song,  where  the  descant  rested  with  the  will  of  the  singer.) 


Hu. — "  Peace,  man,  prick-song  may  not  be  despised, 

For  therewith  God  is  well  pleased, 

Honoured,  praised,  and  served 

In  the  Church  oft-times  among." 
Ig.  —  "  IS  God  well  pleased,  trow'st  thou,  thereby  ? 

Nay,  nay !  for  there  is  no  reason  why  : 

For  is  it  not  as  good  to  say  plainly 

'  Give  me  a  spade,' 

As  '  give  me  a  spa-ve-va,  ve-va-ve-vade?' 

But  if  thou  wilt  have  a  song  that  is  good, 

I  have  one  of  Robin  Hood,"  &c. 

c  "  Britanni,  praeter  alia,  formam,  musicam,  et  lautas 
mensas  proprie  sibi  vindicent."  —  Erasmus  Enconium 
Moriee. 

d  These  pardons,  says  Foxe,  gave  them  the  power  to 
receive  full  remission,  "apaena  et  culpa;"  also  pardon 
for  souls  in  purgatory,  on  payment  of  6s.  8d.  for  the  first 
year,  and  12rf.  for  every  year  after,  to  the  Church  of  St. 
Botolph's,  Boston. 


52  HENKY  VIII. 

"  being  loth,"  says  Foxe, "  to  spend  much  time,  and  more  loth  to  spend  his  money, 
among  the  greedy  cormorants  of  the  Pope's  court,"  he  devised  to  meet  him  on  his 
return  from  hunting;  and  "having  knowledge  how  the  Pope's  holy  tooth  greatly 
delighted  in  new-fangled  strange  delicates  and  dainty  dishes,  it  came  into  his 
mind  to  prepare  certain  fine  dishes  of  jelly,  made  after  our  country  manner  here 
in  England ;  which  to  them  of  Rome  was  not  known  nor  seen  before.  This  done, 
Cromwell  observing  his  time  accordingly,  as  the  Pope  was  newly  come  from 
hunting  into  his  pavilion,  he,  with  his  companions,  approached  with  his  English 
presents,  brought  in  with  a  three-man's  song  (as  we  call  it)  in  the  English  tongue, 
and  all  after  the  English  fashion.  The  Pope  suddenly  marvelling  at  the  strange- 
ness of  the  song,  and  understanding  that  they  were  Englishmen,  and  that  they 
came  not  empty-handed,  willed  them  to  be  called  in;  and  seeing  the  strangeness  of 
the  dishes,  commanded  by  and  by  his  Cardinal  to  make  the  assay ;  who  in  tasting 
thereof,  liked  it  so  well,  and  so  likewise  the  Pope  after  him,  that  knowing  of  them 
what  their  suits  were,  and  requiring  them  to  make  known  the  making  of  that  meat, 
he,  incontinent,  without  any  more  ado,  stamped  both  their  pardons,  as  well  the 
greater  as  the  lesser."  (Acts  and  Monuments.)  The  introduction  of  these  songs 
into  Italy  is  also  mentioned  by  Michael  Drayton  in  his  Legend  of  Thomas 
Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex,  which  was  first  printed  in  quarto  in  1609. 

"  Not  long  it  was  ere  Home  of  me  did  ring, 
Hardly  shall  Rome  such  full  days  see  again ; 
Of  Freemen's  Catches  to  the  Pope  I  sing, 
Which  won  much  licence  for  my  countrymen. 
Thither  the  which  I  was  the  first  did  bring, 
That  were  unknown  in  Italy  till  then,"  &c. 

In  the  Life  of  Sir  Peter  Carew,  by  John  Vowell,  alias  Hoker,  of  Exeter 
(Archaeologia,  vol.  28),  Freemen's  Songs  are  again  mentioned.  "From  this  time 
he  (Sir  Peter)  continued  for  the  most  part  in  the  court,  spending  his  time  in 
all  courtly  exercises,  to  his  great  praise  and  commendation,  and  especially  to  the 
good  liking  of  the  king  (Henry  VUI.),  who  had  a  great  pleasure  in  him,  as 
well  for  his  sundry  noble  qualities,  as  also  for  his  singing.  For  the  king  himself 
being  much  delighted  to  sing,  and 'Sir  Peter  Carew  having  a  pleasant  voice,  the 
king  would  often  use  him  to  sing  with  him  certain  songs  they  call  Freemen  Songs, 
as  namely,  '  By  the  bancke  as  I  lay,'  and  '  As  I  walked  the  wode  so  wylde,'  "  &c. 

To  sing  at  sight  was  so  usual  an  accomplishment  of  gentlemen  in  those  days, 
that  to  be  deficient  in  that  respect  was  considered  a  serious  drawback  to  success  in 
life.  Skelton,  in  his  Bowge  at  Court,  introduces  Harvy  Hafter  as  one  who  cannot 
sing  "  on  the  booke,"  but  he  thus  expresses  his  desire  to  learn : — 

"  Wolde  to  God  it  wolde  please  you  some  day, 
A  balade  boke  before  me  for  to  laye, 
And  lerne  me  for  to  synge  re,  mi,  fa,  sol, 
And  when  I  fayle,  bobbe  me  on  the  noil." 

Skelton's  Works,  Ed.  Dyce,  vol.  i.,  p.  40. 


THE   ENGLISH   LOVE   OF   SONGS   AND   BALLADS.  53 

Barklay,  in  his  fourth  Eclogue,  (about  1514)  says — 

"  When  your  fat  dishes  smoke  hot  upon  your  table, 

Then  laude  ye  songs,  and  ballades  magnifie  ; 

If  they  be  merry,  or  written  craftely, 

Ye  clap  your  handes  and  to  the  making  barke, 

And  one  say  to  another,  Lo,  here  a  proper  warke  ! " 

The  interlude  of  "  The  Four  Elements"  was  printed  by  Rastall  about  1510 ; 
and,  in  that,  Sensual  Appetite,  one  of  the  characters,  recommends  Humanity  "  to 
comfort  his  lyf  naturall"  with  "daunsing,  laughyng,  or  plesaunt  songe,"  and 
says —  "  Make  room,  sirs,  and  let  us  be  merry, 

With  huff  a  galand,  syng  Tyrll  on  the  berry, 

And  let  the  wide  world  wynde. 
Sing  Frisk  a  jolly,  with  Hey  trolly  lolly, 
For  I  see  it  is  but  folly  for  to  have  a  sad  mind." 

Percy  Soc.,  No.  74. 

"  Hey,  ho,  frisca  jolly,  under  the  greenwood  tree,"  is  the  burden  of  one  of  the 
songs  in  the  musical  volume  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VHI.  (MS.  Reg.  Append.  58.) 
from  which  I  have  extracted  several  specimens.  It  contains,  also,  some  instru- 
mental pieces,  such  as  "  My  Lady  Carey's  Dompe,"  and  "  My  Lady  Wynkfield's 
Rownde,"  which  when  well  played  on  the  virginals,  as  recently,  by  an  able  lecturer, 
are  very  effective  and  musical. 

Some  of  Henry  the  Eighth's  own  compositions  are  still  extant.  In  a  collection 
of  anthems,  motets,  and  other  church  offices,  in  the  handwriting  of  John  Baldwin, 
of  Windsor,  (who  also  transcribe^,  that  beautiful  manuscript,  Lady  Neville's 
Virginal  Book,  in  1591),  is  a  composition  for  three  voices,  "  Quam  pulchra  es,  et 
quam  decora."  It  bears  the  name  Henricus  Octavus  at  the  beginning,  and  "quod 
Henricus  Octavus"  at  the  end  of  the  cantus  part.  The  anthem  "  0  Lord,  the 
maker  of  all  things,"  which  is  attributed  to  him  in  Boyce's  Cathedral  Music,  is 
the  composition  of  William  Mundy ;  the  words  only  are  taken  from  Henry  the 
Eighth's  primer.  Some  music  for  a  mask,  which  Stafford  Smith  attributes  to 
him,  will  be  found  in  the  Arundel  Collection  of  MS.  (Brit.  Mus.)  or  in  Musica 
Antiqua,  vol.  i. ;  and  one  of  his  ballads,  "  Pastime  with  good  company,"  is  given 
as  a  specimen  in  the  following  pages. 

In  1533  a  proclamation  was  issued  to  suppress  "  fond  [foolish]  books,  ballads, 
rhimes,  and  other  lewd  treatises  in  the  English  tongue ;"  and  in  1537  a  man  of 
the  name  of  John  Hogon  was  arrested  for  singing  a  political  ballad  to  the  tune  of 
"  The  hunt  is  up."  It  was  not  only  among  the  upper  classes  that  songs  and 
ballads  were  then  so  general,  although  the  allusions  to  the  music  of  the  lower 
classes  are  less  frequently  to  be  met  with  at  this  period  than  a  little  later,  when 
plays,  which  give  the  best  insight  to  the  manners  and  customs  of  private  life,  had 
become  general.  One  passage,  however,  from  Miles  Coverdale's  "  Address  unto 
the  Christian  reader"  prefixed  to  his  "  Goastly  Psalmes  and  Spirituall  Songes," 
[1538]  will  suffice  to  prove  it.  «  Wolde  God  that  our  Mynstrels  had  none  other 
thynge  to  play  upon,  neither  our  carters  and  plowmen  other  thynge  to  whistle 


54  HENRY   VIII. 

• 

upon,  save  psalmes,  hymns,  and  such  like  godly  songes.  .  .  And  if  women  at 
the  rockes,a  and  spinnynge  at  the  wheles,  had  none  other  songes  to  pass  their  tyme 
withall,  than  such  as  Moses'  sister,  .  .  songe  before  them,  they  should  be  better 
occupied  than  with  Hey,  nonny,  nonny — Set/,  trolly,  lolly,  and  such  like  fantasies." 
Despite  the  excellent  intent  with  which  this  advice  was  given,  it  did  not  evidently 
make  much  impression,  either  then  or  after.  The  traditional  tunes  of  every 
country  seem  as  natural  to  the  common  people  as  warbling  is  to  birds  in  a 
state  of  nature ;  the  carters  and  ploughmen  continued  to  be  celebrated  for  their 
whistling,  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  women  thought  rather  with 
Ophelia :  "  You  must  sing  down,  a-down,  an  you  call  him  a-down-a,  Oh,  how  the 
wheel  becomes  it !  " 

Anthony  a  Wood  says  that  Sternhold,  who  was  Groom  of  the  Chamber  to 
Henry  V1IL,  versified  fifty-one  of  the  Psalms,  and  "  caused  musical  notes  to  be 
set  to  them,  thinking  thereby  that  the  courtiers  would  sing  them  instead  of  their 
sonnets,  but  did  not,  only  some  few  excepted."  They  were  not,  however,  printed 
till  1549.  On  the  title  page  it  is  expressed  that  they  were  to  be  sung  "in  private 
houses,  for  godly  solace  and  comfort,  and  for  the  laying  apart  all  ungodly  songes 
and  ballads." 

Although  Henry  YlLL.  had  given  all  possible  encouragement  to  ballads  and 
songs  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  both  in  public  and  private, — and  in  proof 
of  their  having  been  used  on  public  occasions,  I  may  mention  the  coronation  of 
Anne  Boleyn,  when  a  choir  of  men  and  boys  stood  on  the  leads  of  St.  Martin's 
Church,  and  sang  new  ballads  in  praise  of  her  majesty, — yet,  when  they  were  re- 
sorted to  as  a  weapon  against  the  Reformation,  or  in  opposition  to  any  of  his  own 
opinions  and  varying  commands,  he  adopted  the  summary  process  of  suppressing 
them  altogether.  It  is  in  some  measure  owing  to  that  act,  but  principally  to  their 
perishable  nature,  that  we  have  no  printed  ballads  .now  remaining  of  an  earlier 
date  than  that  on  the  downfall  of  his  former  favorite,  Thomas,  Lord  Cromwell, 
which  is  in  the  library  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  at  Somerset  House.  The 
act,  which  was  passed  in  1543,  is  entitled  "  An  act  for  the  advancement  of  true 
religion,  and  for  the  abolishment  of  the  contrary"  (Anno  34-35,  c.  i.),  and  recites 
that  "  froward  and  malicious  minds,  intending  to  subvert  the  true  exposition  of 
scripture,  have  taken  upon  them,  by  printed  ballads,  rhymes,  etc.,  subtilly  and 
craftily  to  instruct  his  highness'  people,  and  specially  the  youth  of  this  his  realm, 
untruly.  For  reformation  whereof,  his  majesty  considereth  it  most  requisite  to 
purge  his  realm  of  all  such  books,  ballads,  rhymes,  and  songs,  as  be  pestiferous 
and  noisome.  Therefore,  if  any  printer  shall  print,  give,  or  deliver,  any  such,  he 
shall  suffer  for  the  first  time  imprisonment  for  three  months,  and  forfeit  for  every 
copy  10?.,  and  for  the  second  time,  forfeit  all  his  goods  and  his  body  be  committed 
to  perpetual  prison."  Although  the  act  only  expresses  "  all  such  books,  ballads, 
rhymes,  and  songs  as  be  pestiferous  and  noisome,"  there  is  a  list  of  exceptions 
to  it,  and  no  ballads  of  any  description  are  excepted.  "  Provided,  also,  that 

•  Rock,  a  distaff:  that  is,  the  staff  on  which  flax  was        the  corresponding  part  of  the  spinning  wheel. — Hares' 
held,  when  spinning  was  performed  without  a  wheel ;   or        Glossary. 


ACTS   OF   PARLIAMENT   AND    PROCLAMATIONS   AGAINST   BALLADS. 


55 


all  books  printed  before  the  year  1540,  entituled  Statutes,  Chronicles,  Canterbury 
Tales,  Chaucer's  books,  Gower's  books,  and  stories  of  men's  lives,  shall  not  be 
comprehended  in  the  prohibition  of  this  act."  It  was  not,  however,  the  first  time 
that  ballads  had  been  employed  for  controversy  on  religious  subjects.  The  ballads 
against  the  Lollards,  and  those  against  the  old  clergy,  have  been  mentioned  at 
page  40  ;  and  there  is  a  large  number  extant  against  monks  and  friars,  many  of 
which  were,  and  some  still  are,  popular. 

The  first  collection  of  songs  in  parts  that  was  printed  in  England,  was  in  1530 ; 
but  of  that  only  a  base  part  now  remains.*  There  are,  however,  many  such  collec- 
tions in  manuscript  in  public  and  private  libraries.  Stafford  Smith's  printed 
collection  of  songs  in  score,  composed  about  the  year  1500,  is  almost  entirely 
taken  from  one  manuscript. 

Henry  "VTH.  left  a  large  number  of  musical  instruments  at  his  death,  the  in- 
ventory of  which  may  be  seen  in  Harl.  MSS.  No.  1419,  fol.  200 ;  and,  as  might 
be  expected,  all  his  children  were  well  taught  in  music. 

"Ballads,"  says  Mr.  Collier,  "seem  to  have  multiplied  after  Edward  VI.  came 
to  the  throne ;  no  new  proclamation  was  issued,  nor  statute  passed  on  the  subject, 
while  Edward  continued  to  reign ;  but  in  less  than  a  month  after  Mary  became 
queen,  she  published  an  edict  against  '  books,  ballads,  rhymes,  and  treatises,' 
which  she  complained  had  been  '  set  out  by  printers  and  stationers,  of  an  evil 
zeal  for  lucre,  and  covetous  of  vile  gain.'  There  is  little  doubt,  from  the  few 
pieces  remaining,  that  it  was,  in  a  considerable  degree,  effectual  for  the  end 
in  view." 


THE  following  tunes  are  occasionally  classed  rather  under  the  dates  to  which 
I  consider  them  to  belong,  than  by  those  of  the  copies  from  which  they  are  derived ; 
but  as  the  authorities  are  given  in  every  case,  the  reader  has  the  means  before  him 
of  forming  his  own  opinion.  Some,  however,  are  classed  rather  for  convenience  of 
subject,  as  songs  of  Robin  Hood,  songs  or  tunes  mentioned  by  Shakespeare,  &c. 

After  a  few  from  manuscripts  of  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  there  are  specimens 
of  "  King  Henry's  Mirth,  or  Freemen's  Songs,"  from  a  collection  printed  in  1609, 
which  contains  many  "  fine  vocal  compositions  of  very  great  antiquity ."b  But 
of  those,  I  have  only  selected  such  as  were  also  used  as  song  or  ballad  tunes, 
sung  by  a  single  voice. 


*  It  contained  compositions  by  Cornish,  Pygot,  Ash- 
well,  Taverner,  Gwynneth,  Jones,  Dr.  Cowper,  and  Dr. 
Fairfax.  See  the  Index  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs, 
p.  xxiii.,  last  edition.  Stafford  Smith's  are  principally  by 
Fairfax,  Newark,  Heath,  Turges,  Sheringham,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Philipps ;  but  this  list  of  composers  might  be 
increased  greatly  by  including  those  in  other  manuscripts. 

b  In  1609,  Thomas  Ravenscroft,  Mus.  Bac.,  collected 
and  printed  100  old  Catches,  Rounds,  and  Canons,  under 
the  title  of  "  Pammelia :  Musick's  Miscellanie,  or  mixed 
varietie  of  pleasant  Roundelayes  and  delightful  Catches." . 


It  met  with  so  much  success,  that  in  the  same  year  he 
published  a  second,  called  "Deuteromelia:  or  the  second 
part  of  Musick's  Melodie,  or  melodious  musicke  of  plea- 
sant Roundelayes,  K.  H.  [King  Henry's]  Mirth,  or  Free- 
men's Songs,"  &c. ;  and  in  1611,  a  third  collection,  called 
"  Melismata :  Musical  Phansies,  fitting  the  court,  city, 
and  countrey  humours."  Some  of  the  Songs  and  Catches 
in  these  collections  are  undoubtedly  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
VII.,  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  authors  of  all 
were  unknown  to  Ravenscroft,  as,  contrary  to  custom, 
he  does  not  mention  them  in  any  instance. 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


"PASTIME   WITH    GOOD   COMPANY." 

The  words  and  music  of  this  song  are  preserved  in  a  manuscript  of  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.,  formerly  in  Ritson's  possession,  and  now  in  the  British  Museum 
(Add.  MSS.,  5665) ;  in  which  it  is  entitled  THE  KING'S  BALLAD.  Ritson 
mentions  it  in  a  note  to  his  Historical  Essay  on  Scotish  Song,  and  Stafford  Smith 
printed  it  in  his  Musica  Antiqua  in  score  for  three  men's  voices.  It  is  the  first  of 
those  mentioned  in  Wedderburn's  Complaint  of  Scotland,  which  was  published  in 
1549  :  "  Now  I  will  rehearse  some  of  the  sweet  songs  that  I  heard  among  them 
(the  shepherds)  as  after  follows :  in  the  first  Pastance  with  good  Company"  &c. 
The  tune  is  also  to  be  found  arranged  for  the  lute  (without  words)  in  the  volume 
among  the  king's  MSS.  before  cited  (Append.  58),  of  which  "  Dominus  Johannes 
Bray  "  was  at  one  time  the  possessor.  This  may  be  considered  as  another  proof 
of  its  former  popularity. 


In  moderate  time. 


SONG  BY  HENRY  VIII. 
i 


Pas-time  with  good     com   -    pa-ny      I     love,  and  shall  un    -    til         I     die 


Grudge  who  will,  but   none  de  -  ny,  So  God  be  pleas'd  this  life  will  I :  For  my  pastance,  Hunt, 


T^3!' 


sing  and  dance  ;  My    heart      is  set.  All  good-ly  sport  To  my  comfort,  Who  shall  me     let  ? 


r  J  J  r  1 1     r  ^  Ji  r  ""Hi 


Youth  will  needs  have  dalliance, 
Of  good  or  ill  some  pastance  ; 
Company  me  thinketh  the  best 
All  thoughts  and  fantasies  to  digest, 

For  idleness 

Is  chief  mistress 

Of  vices  all : 
Then  who  can  say 
But  pass  the  day 

Is  best  of  all  ? 


Company  with  honesty 

Is  virtue, — and  vice  to  flee  : 

Company  is  good  or  ill, 

But  ev'ry  man  hath  his  free  will. 

The  best  I  sue, 

The  worst  eschew  : 

My  mind  shall  be 
Virtue  to  use  : 
Vice  to  refuse 

I  shall  use  me. 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


57 


"All!    THE    SIGHS   THAT   COME    FRO'    MY   HEART." 

This  little  love-song  is  the  first  in  MSS.  Reg.  Append.  58.,  of  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.,  and  the  air  is  both  elegant  and  expressive.  The  cadence,  or  flourish 
at  the  end,  is  characteristic  of  the  period,  and  there  is  a  pretty  attempt  at 
musical  expression  on  the  words,  "  fro'  my  love  depart." 

Smoothly  and  with  expression. 


(.c  )  *  '  j  .  ^  r-s  —  *— 

-4  \— 

j  .  •  i 

—  5= 

g  :  •- 

_  *   * 

Bp                     ^  L_^_,  „     .^  :  j^    1    •  j.: 

Ah  !  the  syghes  that  come  fro'  my  heart,  They  grieve  me  passing       sore  :  . 

,,            J-^      ^        ^         -                     -...,, 

.  .  Syth 

^•hC     *l  ^  

-±—.  E- 

E—  —  r  —  —  n  — 
19 

Ah  !  the  sighs  that  come  from  my  heart, 
They  grieve  me  passing  sore, 

Sith  I  must  fro'  my  love  depart, 
Farewell,  my  joye,  for  evermore. 

Oft  to  me,  with  her  goodly  face, 
She  was  wont  to  cast  an  eye  : 

And  now  absence  to  me  in  place? 
Alas  !  for  woe  I  die,  I  die  ! 


I  was  wont  her  to  behold, 

And  take  in  armes  twain  ; 
And  now,  with  sighes  manifold, 

Farewell  my  joy  !  and  welcome  pain  ! 

Ah  !  me  think  that  should  I  yet, 
As  would  to  God  that  I  might ! 

There  would  no  joys  compare  with  it 
Unto  my  heart,  to  make  it  light. 


"WESTERN  WIND,  WHEN  WILT  THOU  BLOW?" 

This  is  also  taken  from  MSS.  Reg.  Append.  58,  time  of  Henry  VIII.  As  the 
tune  appears  to  be  in  the  ancient  Dorian  mode,  it  has  been  harmonized  in  that 
mode,  to  preserve  its  peculiarity  of  character. 

The  writer  of  a  quarto  volume  on  ancient  Scotish  melodies  has  asserted  that 
all  the  ancient  English  music  in  Ritson's,  or  other  collections,  is  of  a  heavy 
drawling  character.  An  assertion  so  at  variance  with  fact  must  either  have 
proceeded  from  narrow-minded  prejudice,  or  from  his  not  having  understood 
ancient  musical  notation.  That  he  could  not  discriminate  between  Scotch  and 
English  music  is  evinced  by  the  fact  of  his  having  appropriated  some  of  the  best 
known  English  compositions  as  ancient  Scotish  melodies.a 


»  This  writer  also  cites  the  authority  of  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis,  who  says  nothing  of  Ilia  kind;  and  in  the  same 


sentence,  appropriates  what  Giraldus  says  in  favour  of 
Irish  music  to  Scotch. 


58 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  following  song  is  one  of  those  adduced  by  him  in  proof  of  the  drawling  of 
English  music ;  but  I  have  restored  the  words  to  their  proper  places,  and  it  is  by 
no  means  a  drawling  song.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  specimens  of 
English  music  are  long  anterior  to  any  Scotish  music  that  has  been  produced. 


Moderate  time. 


Westron  wynde  when      wyll  thou blow? The  smalle  rain  downe 'doth' rayne;  'Oh!' 


0    •    * 
if      my  love  were       in      my  armys,  '  Or'        I      in  my  bed      a   -   gayne. 


"  BLOW  THY  HORN,  HUNTER  !  " 

This  is  also  copied  from  MSS.  Reg.  Append.  58,  time  of  Henry  VIII.  It  is  a 
spirited  tune,  and  should  be  sung  more  quickly  in  proportion  than  the  others, 
because  in  modernizing  the  notation,  I  have  only  made  a  crotchet  into  a  quaver, 
instead  of  into  a  semiquaver,  as  would  have  been  more  correct,  considering  the 
date  of  the  manuscript. 


Boldly  and  well  marked. 


T 


KU. 


tr 


^: 


n- 


=F 


rode 


Blow  thy  home,  hun-ter,  Cum,  blow  thy  home  on  hye !   In  yonder  wode  there  lyetli  a  doo,  In 

5J= 


Br 


-^ 

J  J  J 

-^  —  h 

J.  J    .J 

33 

-J- 

;  .  J  ;    n 

jj^j  ^  — 

-^-•L 

J  —  ^ 

-§  —  •  —  *-*- 

—  ^ 

z  ^j 

~^^r          ~jjf  '     £r      *^~^ 
fayth  she  woll  not  dye.  Cum,  blow  thy  home,   hui 

i-ter,  Cum,  blow  thy  home,  joly    hi 

in   -   ter  ! 

t~5 

1  © 

\     \ 

^> 

—& 

1  —  H 

\  

a  —  — 

—  n 

^j     ft<=|         -^                          -o 

h  i        1       1 

1  —  =pl 

FROM   HENRY   VII.    TO    MARY. 


59 


"THE  THREE  RAVENS." 

This  song  is  one  of  those  included  under  the  head  of  "  Country  Pastimes  "  in 
Melismata,  1611.  Ritson  in  his  Ancient  Songs,  remarks :  "  It  will  be  obvious 
that  this  ballad  is  much  older,  not  only  than  the  date  of  that  book,  but  than  most 
of  the  other  pieces  contained  in  it."  It  is  nevertheless  still  so  popular  in  some 
parts  of  the  country,  that  I  have  been  favored  with  a  variety  of  copies  of  it, 
written  down  from  memory ;  and  all  differing  in  some  respects,  both  as  to  words 
and  tune,  but  with  sufficient  resemblance  to  prove  a  similar  origin. 


n  L 

ill                           '                      .     l        1          1         '    1 

I/,  u          \ 

1 

J 

J                            HZJZZZJ 

J  •   •     J       • 

3= 

—  J  —  •  —  -  —  3  —  f 

.    J     J        * 

-^  M 

\S|7  _  •  — 

—  •- 

•  —  i 

^s  —  ;  EH 

There  were 

z>                          4    <"        0        0 

three  ra-vens     sat  on  a  tree,    Down  a  down,  hey  down,  hey  down,  The] 

'  1'  K 

C?> 

m                 m          \                1            (• 

«  ;.,  17  /  1    M 

r     p    r    j                r    i* 

k    I  ,    \ 

\      r    \     n        A            r 

i           i               t^i       \     \ 

, 

r~N 

-/            l          1 

i 

i      l      1      i^l        ^  —  ^  '               i    J     1     i 

j      r  J 

c>       ^  *   • 

J        '        •        J 

-J  —  J  —  •  — 

-J  —  J  —  •  —  J—  *- 

—  F  — 

—  0  *  

-•  — 

^1                 iS 

-^  tfCT  S|  j— 

3T^  

were  as  black 

as 

M                      ^H                                   ^Z)""     1            Cj        • 

they   might   be,   With  a     down.     .     .     .          The    one    of  them  said 

1       1 

1^.1 

@  fa—  - 

=r—  '    i    i 

1  M 

r-.  J    J      1    i 

r-j- 

~i  rri 

J   JTrn 

l-*l  • 

1 

•   •   J  .  J 

-•           —  *  0— 

—  J- 

—  —  i  —  •—  *- 

3  —  *  J  J  J 

—  F3-« 

—  U. 

5E 

—  sj  —  —  —  *  • 

HJJ  •   * 

—  •— 

Cj."            00                ^         -j                    -p        ^.      ^. 

to  his  mate,Where  shall  we  '  now*  our  breakfast  take  ?  With  a  down,  deny,  deny,  deny  down,  down. 
J        "^                        •      -                                                                                                     ^ 

-n  —  —  F  —  r— 

g^. 

•              iX^n 

1 

J    '     r    1 

J_J_ 

-^  —  d— 

—  =1  =  j— 

Down  in  yonder  green  field,     Down  a  down,  hey  down,  hey  down, 

There  lies  a  knight  slain,  under  his  shield.     With  a  down. 

His  hounds  they  lie  down  at  his  feet, 

So  well  'do'  they  their  master  keep.     With  a  down,  derry,  &c. 

His  hawks  they  fly  so  eagerly,     Down  a  down,  &c. 

There's  no  fowl  '  that '  dare  him  come  nigh.     With  a  down. 

Down  there  comes  a  fallow  doe, 

As  great  with  young  as  she  might  go.     With  a  down,  derry,  &c. 

She  lifted  up  his  bloody  head,     Down  a  down,  &c. 
And  kiss'd  his  wounds  that  were  so  red ;     With  a  down. 
She  got  him  up  upon  her  back, 
And  carried  him  to  earthen  lake.     With  a  down,  &c. 

She  buried  him  before  the  prime  :     With  a  down,  &c. 

She  was  dead  herself  ere  even-song  time.     With  a  down. 

God  send  every  gentleman 

Such  hawks,  such  hounds,  and  such  a  leman   [lov'd  one].     With  a  down,  &c. 


60 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


"  THE  HUNT  is  UP." 

Among  the  favorites  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  Puttenham  notices  "  one  Gray, 
what  good  estimation  did  he  grow  unto  with  the  same  King  Henry,  and  afterwards 
with  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  Protectour,  for  making  certaine  merry  ballades, 
whereof  one  chiefly  was,  The  Tiunte  is  up,  the  hunte  is  up"  Perhaps  it  was  the 
same  William  Gray  who  wrote  a  ballad  on  the  downfall  of  Thomas  Lord  Cromwell 
in  1540,  to  which  there  are  several  rejoinders  in  the  library  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries.  The  tune  The  Hunt  is  up  was  known  as  early  as  1537,  when 
information  was  sent  to  the  Council  against  one  John  Hogon,  who  had  offended 
against  the  proclamation  of  1533,  which  was  issued  to  suppress  "  fond  books, 
ballads,  rhimes,  and  other  lewd  treatises  in  the  English  tongue,"  by  singing, 
"  with  a  crowd  or  a  fyddyll,"  a  political  song  to  that  tune.  Some  of  the  words 
are  inserted  in  the  information,  but  they  were  taken  down  from  recitation,  and  are 
not  given  as  verse  (see  Collier's  Shakespeare,  i.,  p.  cclxxxviii.)  In  the  Complaint 
of  Scotland,  1549,  The  Runt  is  up  is  mentioned  as  a  tune  for  dancing,  for  which, 
from  its  lively  character,  it  seems  peculiarly  suited  ;  and  Mr.  Collier  has  a  MS. 
which  contains  a  song  called  "  The  Kinges  Hunt  is  upp,"  which  may  be  the  very 
one  written  by  Gray,  since  "  Harry  our  King"  is  twice  mentioned  in  it,  and  a 
religious  parody  as  old  as  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  is  in  precisely  the  same 
measure.  The  following  is  the  song  : — 

"THE  KINGES  HUNT  is  UPP." 


Merrily. 


The  east  is  bright  with  morning  light, 

And  darkness  it  is  fled, 
And  the  merie  home  wakes  up  the  morne 

To  leave  his  idle  bed. 


Beholde  the  skyes  with  golden  dyes 

Are  glowing  all  around, 
The  grasse  is  greene,  and  so  are  the  treene, 

All  laughing  at  the  sound. 

Awake,  all  men,  I  say  agen, 
Be  mery  as  you  maye, 

For  Harry  our  Kinge  is  gone  hunting, 
To  bring  his  deere  to  baye. 


The  horses  snort  to  be  at  the  sport, 
The  dogges  are  running  free, 

The  woddes  rejoyce  at  the  mery  noise 
Of  hey  tantara  tee  ree  ! 

The  sunne  is  glad  to  see  us  clad 

All  in  our  lustie  greene, 
And  smiles  in  the  skye  as  he  riseth  hye, 

To  see  and  to  be  scene. 


FROM   HENRY  VII.    TO   MARY. 


61 


The  tune  is  taken  from  Musick's  delight  on  the  Cithren,  edition  of  1666,  which 
contains  many  very  old  and  popular  tunes,  such  as  "  Trip,  and  go,"  and  "  Light 
o'  Love"  (both  mentioned  by  Shakespeare),  which  I  have  not  found  in  any  other 
printed  collection.  Kitson,  in  his  Ancient  Songs,  quotes  the  following  song  of 
one  verse,  which  is  in  the  same  measure,  and  was  therefore  probably  sung  to  the 
same  tune.  It  may  be  found  in  Merry  Drollery  Complete,  1661,  and  the  New 
Academy  of  Complements,  1694  and  1713. 

"  The  hunt  is  up,  the  hunt  is  up, 

And  now  it  is  almost  day  ; 
And  he  that's  '  at  home,  in  bed  with  his  wife/ 
'Tis  time  to  get  him  away." 

Any  song  intended  to  arouse  in  the  morning — even  a  love-song — was  formerly 
called  a  hunt's-up.  Shakespeare  so  employs  it  in  Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  3,  Sc.  5  ; 
and  the  name  was  of  .course  derived  from  a  tune  or  song  employed  by  early 
hunters.  Butler,  in  his  Principles  of  Musik,  1636,  defines  a  hunfs-up  as 
"  morning  music ;"  and  Cotgrave  defines  "Resveil"  as  a  hunt's-up,  or  Morning 
Song  for  a  new-married  wife.  In  Barnfield's  Affectionate  Shepherd,  1594, — 
"  And  every  morn  by  dawning  of  the  day, 

When  Phoebus  riseth  with  a  blushing  face, 
Silvanus'  chapel  clerks  shall  chaunt  a  lay, 

And  play  thee  hunt's-up  in  thy  resting  place. 
My  cot  thy  chamber,  my  bosom  thy  bed, 
Shall  be  appointed  for  thy  sleepy  head." 

Again,  in  Wifs  Bedlam,  1617, — 

"  Maurus,  last  morne,  at's  mistress'  window  plaid 

An  hunt's-up  on  his  lute,"  &c. 

The  following  song,  which  is  also  taken  from  Mr.  Collier's  manuscript,  is  of 
the  character  of  a  love-song : — 

"THE  NEW  HUNT'S-UP." 


The  hunt  is  up,  the  hunt  is  up, 

Awake,  my  lady  free, 
The  sun  hath  risen,  from  out  his  prison, 

Beneath  the  glistering  sea. 

The  hunt  is  up,  the  hunt  is  up, 

Awake,  my  lady  bright, 
The  morning  lark  is  high,  to  mark 

The  coming  of  day-light. 

The  hunt  is  up,  the  hunt  is  up, 

Awake,  my  lady  fair, 
The  kine  and  sheep,  but  now  asleep, 

Browse  in  the  morning  air. 


The  hunt  is  up,  the  hunt  is  up, 

Awake,  my  lady  gay, 
The  stars  are  fled  to  the  ocean  bed, 

And  it  is  now  broad  day. 

The  hunt  is  up,  the  hunt  is  up, 
Awake,  my  lady  sheen, 

The  hills  look  out,  and  the  woods  about, 
Are  drest  in  lovely  green. 

The  hunt  is  up,  the  hunt  is  up, 

Awake,  my  lady  dear, 
A  morn  in  spring  is  the  sweetest  thing 

Cometh  in  all  the  year. 

The  hunt  is  up,  the  hunt  is  up, 

Awake,  my  lady  sweet, 
I  come  to  thy  bower,  at  this  lov'd  hour, 

My  own  true  love  to  greet. 


62  ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

The  religious  parody  of  The  Hunt  is  up,  which  was  written  by  John  Thorne, 
has  been  printed  by  Mr.  Halliwell,  at  the  end  of  the  moral  play  of  Wit  and 
Science,  together  with  other  curious  songs  from  the  same  manuscript  (Addit.  MS., 
No.  15,233,  Brit.  Mus.)  There  are  seventeen  verses ;  the  first  is  as  follows  : — 

"  The  hunt  ys  up,  the  hunt  ys  up, 

Loe  !  it  is  allmost  daye  ; 
For  Christ  our  Kyng  is  cum  a  huntyng, 
And  browght  his  deare  to  staye,"  &c. 

but  a  more  lively  performance  is  contained  in  "  Ane  compendious  booke  of  Godly 
and  Spirituall  Songs  .  .  .  with  sundrie  .  .  .  ballates  changed  out  of  prophaine 
Sanges,"  &c.,  printed  by  Andro  Hart  in  Edinburgh  in  1621.  The  writer  is  very 
bitter  against  the  Pope,  who,  he  says,  never  ceased,  "  under  dispence,  to  get  our 
pence,"  and  who  sold  "  remission  of  sins  in  auld  sheep  skins;"  and  compares 
him  to  the  fox  of  the  hunt.  The  original  edition  of  that  book  was  printed  in  1590. 

In  Queen  Elizabeth's  and  Lady  Neville's  Virginal  Books,  is  a  piece,  with  twelve 
variations,  by  Byrde,  called  "  The  Hunt  is  up,"  which  is  also  called  "  Pescod 
Time,"  in  another  part  of  the  former  book.  It  bears  no  appearance  of  ever  having 
been  intended  for  words ;  certainly  the  songs  in  question  could  not  be  sung 
to  it. 

A  tune  called  The  Queene's  Majesties  new  Hunt  is  up,  is  mentioned  in  Anthony 
Munday's  Banquet  of  dainty e  conceits,  1588  ;  and  the  ditty  he  gives,  to  be  sung 
to  it,  called  "  Women  are  strongest,  but  truth  overcometh  all  things,"  is  in  the 
same  measure  as  the  above,  but  I  have  not  found  any  copy  of  the  tune  under  that 
name.  In  1565,  William  Pickering  paid  4dL  for  a  license  to  print  "  a  ballett 
intituled  The  Hunte  ys  up,"  &c.  (see  Registers  of  Stationers'  Company,  p.  129). 


"  YONDER  COMES  A  COURTEOUS  KNIGHT." 

This  is  one  of  King  Henry's  Mirth  or  Freemen's  Songs,  in  Deuteromelia,  1609, 
and  is  to  be  found  as  a  ballad  in  Wit  and  Mirth,  or  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy, 
vol.  i.  1698  and  1707,  or  in  vol.  iii.  of  the  edition  of  1719.  The  story  seems  to 
have  been  particularly  popular,  as  there  are  three  ballads  of  later  date  upon  the 
same  subject.  It  is  of  a  young  lady  who,  being  alone  and  unprotected,  finds  the 
too  urgent  addresses  of  a  knight  likely  to  prove  troublesome ;  and,  to  escape 
from  that  position,  pretends  to  yield  to  him,  and  persuades  him  to  escort  her 
home;  but — 

"  When  she  came  to  her  father's  hall, 

It  was  well  walled  round  about, 
She  yode  in  at  the  wicket  gate, 
And  shut  the  four-ear'd  fool  without. 

Then  she  sung  down,  a-down,"  &c. 

The  knight,  regretting  the  lost  opportunity,  expresses  himself  in  very  uncourteous 
terms  on  the  deceit  of  women.     The  ballad  is  printed  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs. 


FROM   HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


63 


T^fM  —  E 

—  m- 

—  1  P*  — 

H-i 

,    •      • 

*•      '      J        J       • 

<ft>-H—  •  *  —  •] 

F*- 

~m  H  * 

\~l^— 

1*  "5  

-P  =  ^-t- 

3      -*-        J    -    -*-   v  ^ 

Yon  -  der  comes    a      cour-teous  ki 

:  .    r    •    p  •    •        ' 

ight,    Lus  -  ti  -  ly  rak  -  ing      o  -  ver  the  lay, 

.  i  r  •  r  •  .  r  •  f  :  . 

f.  );it  A  1  si  r 

-s*~~    • 

i  r    *  • 

PM  J  —  ^ 

H  

^  —  1  

1  

r  1  —  1 

***SP*L      ! 

^^^1 

^=^= 

-h- 

ij  ;      i. 

[—?—=]  —  ^T 

i^H 

A   was  well  ' 
He 

0 

.>•     
svare  of  a 

bon  -  ny  las 

1  ^  8  ^_^  »^—  j- 

s,     As     she   came  wand'ring    o-  ver  the  way.  Then 

^•^ 

- 

r 

•       •         l1 

m 

n    r        i* 

—\  3EE 

-h  F 

P- 

P  :  —  J  J—  4  b  

H  1- 

—  F1 

—  ^—     —  N-- 

FFtt 

^=^*«- 

--^—  ^-Tl     1     -1  —  -  J^-^-^ 

g-^^  J  *  •  j    i— 

she  sang  down  a  down, 

i  j  <  3  *  f-1-^  =s=i^  '  J  i  ^  ±3±±* 

hey  down  derry,  Then    she  sang  down  a  down,  hey  down  derry. 

—  1  c  

1 

U        K  J 

m- 

^J=     rr    • 

-i  1  —  H 

^       •           *       - 

^     -J^ 

J-         -  i-      —  v  .-  •  • 

"  OFT   HAVE  I  RIDDEN   UPON   MY  GREY  NAG." 

This  is  evidently  a  version  of  the  tune  called  Dargason.  (See  p.  65.)  The  latter 
part  differs,  but  that  may  be  because  this  copy  is  taken  from  Pammelia,  1609, 
where  three  old  tunes,  "  Shall  I  go  walk  the  woods  so  wild,"  "Robin  Hood,  Robin 
Hood,  said  Little  John,"  and  this,  are  arranged  to  be  sung  together  by  three 
persons  at  the  same  time.  Perhaps,  the  two  lines  from  the  Isle  of  Gulls,  which 
are  quoted  at  page  64,  formed  a  portion  of  this  song.  Only  one  verse  is  given  in 
Pammelia,  and  I  have  not  succeeded  in  finding  any  other  copy. 


Oft  have  I   ridden  up  -  on  my  grey  nag,  And  with  his  cut  tail  he  play'd  the  wag,  And 


,):,  fi 


h    1      h 

|J     J*J    J| 

~f^    J      - 

-4- 

_l  H  

0 

-e 

do 

—  J-J  —  E 

•         • 
-  on     his     crag.  Fa, 

4      *J    *  '   J*  j     '     1    '  

0-       •                                0          •                                             0             •             0            • 

la,  re,  la,   la,    ri  dan  -  di    -    no. 

wn  he    fell       up 

^-       . 

1  

P    *            •    * 

B 

. 

U    .            to    . 

hi  :  P-^H 

^,    |  ^_                        ^      I 

|                   | 

i  —  r 

64  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

"  DARGASON."  a 

In  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  class  4  (from  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  to  Elizabeth) 
is  "  A  merry  ballad  of  the  Hawthorn  tree,"  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  Donkin 
Dargeson.  This  curiosity  is  copied  from  a  miscellaneous  collection  in  the  Cotton 
Library  (Vespasian  A.  25),  and  Ritson  remarks,  "This  tune,  whatever  it  was, 
appears  to  have  been  in  use  till  after  the  Restoration."  I  have  found  several 
copies  of  the  tune ;  one  is  in  the  Public  Library,  Cambridge,  among  Dowland's 
manuscripts.  The  copy  here  given  is  from  the  Dancing  Master,  1650-51,  where 
it  is  called  Dargason,  or  the  Sedany.  The  Sedany  was  a  country  dance,  the  figure 
of  which  is  described  in  the  The  Triumph  of  Wit,  or  Ingenuity  displayed,  p.  206. 
In  Ben  Jonson's  Tale  of  a  Tub,  we  find,  "  But  if  you  get  the  lass  from  Dargison, 
what  will  you  do  with  her  ?  "  Giffbrd,  in  a  note  upon  this  passage,  says,  "  In 
some  childish  book  of  knight-errantry,  which  I  formerly  read,  but  which  I  cannot 
now  recall  to  mind,  there  is  a  dwarf  of  this  name  (Dargison) ,  who  accompanies  a 
lady,  of  great  beauty  and  virtue,  through  many  perilous  adventures,  as  her  guard 
and  guide."  In  the  Isle  of  Gf-ulls,  played  by  the  children  of  the  Revels,  in  the 
Black  Fryars,  1606,  may  be  found  the  following  scrap,  possibly  of  the  original 
ballad :  "  An  ambling  nag,  and  a-down,  a-down, 

We  have  borne  her  away  to  Dargison" 

See  also  "  Oft  have  I  ridden  upon  my  grey  nag,"  page  63.     In  the  Douce  collec- 
tion of  Ballads  (fol.  207),  Bodleian  Library,  as  well  as  in  the  Pepysian,  is  a  song 
called  "  The  Shropshire  Wakes,  or  hey  for  Christmas,  being  the  delightful  sports 
of  most  countries,  to  the  tune  of  Dargason"     It  begins  thus : 
"  Come  Kobin,  Ralph,  and  little  Harry, 

And  merry  Thomas  to  our  green  ; 
Where  we  shall  meet  with  Bridget  and  Sary, 

And  the  finest  girls  that  e'er  were  seen. 
Then  hey  for  Christmas  a  once  year, 

When  we  have  cakes,  with  ale  and  beer, 
For  at  Christmas  '  every  day,' 

Young  men  and  maids  '  may  dance  away,' "  &c. 

»  This  tune  is  inserted  in  Jones'  Musical  and  Poetical  (and  especially  by  a  very  different  version,  under  the  same 

Relics  of  the  Welsh  Bards,  p.  129,  under  the  name  of  "The  name,  in  Parry's  Cambrian  Harmony,  published  about 

melody  of  Cynwyd;"  and  some  other  curious  coincidences  fifty  years  ago),  there  is  considerable  variation,  as  maybe 

occur  in  the  same  work.    At  page  172,  the  tune  called  expected  in  tunes  traditionally  preserved  for  so  long  a 

"  The  Welcome  of  the  Hostess  "  is  evidently  our  "  Mitter  time,  but  their  identity  admits  of  little  question.    In 

Rant."    At  page  176,  the  tune  called  "  Flaunting  two,"  vol.  ii.,  at  p.  25, '.'  The  Willow  Hymn"  is,  "  By  the  osiers 

is  the  country  dance  of  "The  Hemp  Dresser,  or  the  Lon-  so  dank."    At  p.  44,  "  The  first  of  August"  is,  "  Come, 

don  Gentlewoman."    At  page  129,  "  The  Delight  of  the  jolly  Bacchus,"  with  a  little  admixture  of  "  In  my  cottage 

men  of   Dovey,"   appears    to  be  an   inferior    copy   of  near  a  wood."    At  page  33,  a  tune  called  "The  Britons," 

"  Green  Sleeves."    At  page  174,  is  "  Hunting  the  Hare,"  which  is  in  The  Dancing  Master  of  1696,  is  claimed.    At 

which  we  also  claim.  At  page  162,  "The  Monks' March"  p.  45,  "  Mopsy's  Tune,  the  old  way,"  is  "The  Barking 

(of  which  Jones  says,  "  Probably  the  tune  of  the  Monks  Barber,"  and  "  Prestwich  Bells"  is   "Talk  no  more  of 

of  Bangor,  when  they  marched  to  Chester,  about  the  year  Whig  or  Tory,"  contained  in  many  collections.    At  vol.  Hi., 

603,")  is  "General  Monk's  March,"  published  by  Play-  p.  15,  "The  Heiress  of  Montgomery"  is  another  version 

ford,  and  the  quick  part,  "The  Rummer;"  and  at  page  of   "As  down  in  the  meadows."     At  p.   16,  "Captain 

142,  the  air  called   "White  Locks"  is  evidently  Lord  Corbett "  is  "  Of  all  comforts  I  miscarried ;"  and  at  p.  49, 

Commissioner  Whitelocke's  coranto,  an  account  of  which,  "If  love's  a  sweet  passion,"  is  claimed."     In  addition 

with  the  tune,  is  contained  in  Sir  J.  Hawkins'  History  of  to  these,   Mr.  Jones  has  himself  noticed  a  coincidence 

Music,  vol.  iv.  page  51,  and  in  Burney's  History  of  M usic,  between  the  tune  called  "The  King's  Note,"  (vol.   iii.) 

vol.  iii.  page  378.    In  several  of  these,  particularly  in  the  and  "  Pastyme  with  good  Company."  Such  mistakes  will 

last,  which  is  identified  by  the  second  part  of  the  tune  always  occur  when  an  editor  relies  solely  on  tradition. 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


65 


There  are  sixteen  verses  in  the  song.  The  tune  is  one  of  those  which  only  end 
when  the  singer  is  exhausted;  for  although,  strictly  speaking,  it  consists  of  but 
eight  bars  (and  in  the  seventh  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master  only  eight  bars  are 
printed),  yet,  from  never  finishing  on  the  key-note,  it  seems  never  to  end.  Many 
of  these  short  eight-bar  tunes  terminate  on  the  fifth  of  the  key,  but  when  longer 
melodies  were  used,  such  as  sixteen  bars,  they  generally  closed  with  the  key-note. 
There  were,  however,  exceptions  to  the  rule,  especially  among  dance  tunes,  which 
required  frequent  repetition. 

Pastoral  character,  "A  MERY  BALLET  OF  THE  HATHORNE  TRE." 


It       was     a  maid  of    my   coun-try,    As   she  came  by      a  hawthorn  tree,  As 


5: 


±& 


h  1  P*- 

=5333 

ft—           9— 

—  P  —  5E  —  —  3-5 

—  « 

»— 

'    ^L 

far—  1  

_  M«  J      •   '^ 

«•-.-•—                           «^l                                                                                        —  —          v 

full      of  flow'rs  as  might    be   seen,  She  marvell'd  to    see     the     tree      so     green.     At 

-J-            h       1           s 

m     •            m     .            H-     .          »     .              —         -»-      J           r     H-                                 * 

E                  p      • 

H                     B 

=B 

1       .                 U 

B       *                Cpl 

r          *1       I*             1 

p  

=P=±  

_C  nC  , 

_I  !  —  L  L_ 

,  _f_                               _^_            _^_                                                  j_^ 

i  —  r^ 

t=w 

J    J  -  J  J 

*  r  i  f 

1  •  —  •  •  —  ' 
last     she    ask  -  ed 

~5~^  1 

of      this     tree,  How 

came  this  fresh-ness 

rV4  1 

un 

£ 

-  to      thee,  And 

cs 

—  c  —  :  

a°  "  • 

P 

~*  —  J*  J  —  iT*~ 

—\  —  —  '  *  J 

i    j  j    j 

L    u  ^f  r  ;: 

ev'  -  ry  branch  so 
•*—  -           P     ' 

'—  •  J  —  )•  —  J  — 
fair  and  clean  ?  I 

mar  -  vel  that     you 

r      ^ 

grow   so  green.  The 

•  —  '  

—  ^  —  I^T  r 

~f~i  T^  

—0  —  -.  • 

UJ—  — 

r  —  ^  —  ' 

U  1  1 

14  f  —  a 

The  tree  made  answer  by  and  by, 
I  have  cause  to  grow  triumphantly, 
The  sweetest  dew  that  ever  be  seen, 
Doth  fall  on  me  to  keep  me  green. 

Yea,  quoth  the  maid,  but  where  you  grow 
You  stand  at  hand  for  every  blow, 
Of  every  man  for  to  be  seen, 
I  marvel  that  you  grow  so  green. 


Though  many  one  take  flowers  from  me, 
And  many  a  branch  out  of  my  tree ; 
I  have  such  store  they  will  not  be  seen, 
For  more  and  more  my  twigs  grow  green. 

But  how,  an  they  chance  to  cut  thee  down, 
And  carry  thy  branches  into  the  town  ? 
Then  they  will  never  more  be  seen 
To  grow  again  so  fresh  and  green. 


66 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Though  that  you  do  it  is  no  boot, 
Although  they  cut  me  to  the  root, 
Next  year  again  I  will  be  seen 
To  bud  my  branches  fresh  and  green. 

And  you,  fair  maid,  can  not  do  so, 
For  'when  your  beauty  once  does  go,' 
Then  will  it  never  more  be  seen, 
As  I  with  my  branches  can  grow  green. 


The  Maid  with  that  began  to  blush, 
And  turn'd  her  from  the  hawthorn  bush  ; 
She  thought  herself  so  fair  and  clean, 
Her  beauty  still  would  ever  grow  green. 

»  *  *  # 

But  after  this  never  I  could  hear 
Of  this  fair  maiden  any  where, 
That  ever  she  was  in  forest  seen 
To  talk  again  with  the  hawthorn  green. 


The  above  will  be  found  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  in  Evans'  Collection  of  Old 
Ballads  (vol.  i.,  p.  342,  1810),  and  in  Peele's  Works,  vol.  ii.,  p.  256,  edited  by 
Dyce.  It  is  included  in  the  last  named  work,  because  in  the  MS.  the  name  of 
"G.  Peele"  is  appended  to  the  song,  but  by  a. comparatively  modern  hand.  The 
Rev.  Alexander  Dyce  does  not  believe  Peele  to  have  been  the  author,  and  Ritson, 
who  copied  from  the  same  manuscript,  does  not  mention  his  name. 

SHALL  I  GO  WALK  THE  WOODS  SO  WILD  ? 

This  is  mentioned  in  the  Life  of  Sir  Peter  Carew  as  one  of  the  Freemen's  Songs, 
which  he  used  to  sing  with  Henry  V1L1. —  (See  page  52).  It  must  have  enjoyed 
an  extensive  and  long-continued  popularity,  for  there  are  three  different  arrange- 
ments of  it  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  all  by  Byrde ;  it  is  in  Lady 
Neville's  Virginal  Book ;  in  Pammelia  (1609)  it  is  one  of  the  three  tunes  that 
could  be  sung  together  ;  and  it  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  the  first  edition, 
in  1650,  to  that  of  1690.  In  the  edition  of  1650,  it  is  called  Greenwood,  and  in 
some  of  the  later  copies,  Greenwood,  or  The  Huntsman. 

There  were  probably  different  words  to  the  tune,  because  in  the  Life  of  Sir 
Peter  Carew  it  is  called  "As  I  walked  the  woods  so  wild;"  in  Lady  Neville's 
Virginal  Book,  "  Will  you  walk  the  woods  so  wild  ?"  and  in  Pammelia,  "  Shall 
I  go  walk,"  &c. 

j    Moderate  time. 


j>  br 

-J-J-J  Hrl 

n  —  s  —  i 

r^TM 

—  h- 

ij  Tr>>i 

y  8  f  '  '     -j--^-J-j  J  J  ^  ig  —  *—  p-:  '  '  ' 

Shall  I  go  walk  the  woods  so  wild,    Wandering,  wand  'ring  here  and  there,  As 

1    \  •      Li     f* 

i 

iK 

JVO      J  r-d  0- 

r   i»  J  . 

H  • 

—  £ 

1  

—  • 

'             '           •       J 

-ir-rr-  T- 

-^  J'  J  —  r<- 

f---N-H  

i 
i 

A 

f=a 

was  once    full 

'•3-^Li   J 

sore     beguil'd,     A    - 

-F  —  0-H  —  h- 

j-  4 

las  !  for  love  I 

—  |  i  —  P— 

^*: 

die    with  woe. 

=3=    -r-i-: 

? 

•  r  c  i 

r  g  j  J 

i*  •  r  "  i 

_^  —  ._  p_  . 

PROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY.  C7 

JOHN   DORY. 

This  celebrated  old  song  is  inserted  among  the  Freemen's  Songs  of  three  voices 
in  Deuteromelia,  1609.  It  is  also  to  be  found  in  Playford's  Musical  Companion, 
1687,  and  for  one  voice  in  Wit  and  Mirth,  or  Pitts  to  Purge  Melancholy,  vofTi., 
1698  and  1707.  It  is,  however,  much  older  than  any  of  these  books.  -  Carew, 
in  his  Survey  of  Cornwall,  1602,  p.  135,  says,  "  The  prowess  of  one  Nicholas, 
son  to  a  widow  near  Foy,  is  descanted  upon  in  an  old  three-man's  song,  namely, 
how  he  fought  bravely  at  sea,  with  one  John  Dory  (a  Genowey,  as  I  conjecture) , 
set  forth  by  John,  the  French  King,  and  after  much  blood  shed  on  both  sides,  took 
and  slew  him,"  &c.  Carew  was  born  in  1555.  The  only  King  John  of  France 
died  a  prisoner  in  England,  in  1364.  In  the  play  of  Crammer  Crurton's  Needle 
there  is  a  song,  "I  cannot  eat  but  little  meat,"  which  was  sung  to  the  tune  of 
John  Dory.  The  play  was  printed  in  1575,  but  the  song  appears  to  be  older. 
(See  page  72).  Bishop  Corbet  thus  mentions  John  Dory,  with  others,  in  his 
"Journey  to  Fraunce  : " 

"  But  woe  is  me  !  the  guard,  those  men  of  warre, 

Who  but  two  weapons  use,  beef  and  the  barre, 

Begun  to  gripe  me,  knowing  not  the  truth, 

That  I  had  sung  John  Dory  in  my  youth ; 

Or  that  I  knew  the  day  when  I  could  chaunt, 

Chevy,  and  Arthur,  or  The  Siege  of  Gaunt" 

Bishop  Earle,  in  his  "  Character  of  a  Poor  Fiddler,"  says,  "Hunger  is  the  greatest 
pains  he  takes,  except  a  broken  head  sometimes,  and  labouring  John  Dory"  In 
Fletcher's  comedy  The  Chances,  Antonio,  a  humourous  old  man,  receives  a  wound, 
which  he  will  only  suffer  to  be  dressed  on  condition  that  the  song  of  John  Dory  be 
sung  the  while,  and  he  gives  10s.  to  the  singers.  It  is  again  mentioned  by 
Fletcher  in  The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle;  by  Brathwayte  in  Drunken 
Barnaby's  Journal ;  in  Vox  Borealis,  or  the  Northern  Discoverie,  1641 ;  in  some 
verses  on  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  1628  : 

"  Then  Viscount  Slego  telleth  a  long  storie 

Of  the  supplies,  as  if  he  sung  John  Doric ;" 
and  twice  by  Gayton,  in  his  Pleasant  Notes  upon  Don  Quixote,  1654. 

A  parody  was  made  upon  it  by  Sir  John  Mennis,  on  the  occasion  of  Sir  John 
Suckling's  troop  of  horse,  which  he  raised  for  Charles  L,  running  away  in  the 
civil  war,  and  it  was  much  sung  by  the  Parliamentarians  at  the  time.  In  will  be 
found  in  Wit  Restored,  1658,  entitled  "  Upon  Sir  John  Suckling's  most  warlike 
preparation  for  the  Scottish  War,"  and  begins — 

"  Sir  John  got  him  an  ambling  nag." 

In  the  epilogue  to  a  farce  called  the  Empress  of  Morocco,  1674,  intended  to 
ridicule  a  tragedy  of  the  same  name  by  Elk.  Settle,  and  Sir  W.  Davenant's 
alteration  of  Macbeth  (which  had  been  lately  revived  with  the  addition  of  music 
by  Mathew  Locke),  "  the  most  renowned  and  melodious  song  of  John  Dory  was 
to  be  heard  in  the  air,  sung  in  parts  by  spirits,  to  raise  the  expectation  and  charm 
the  audience  with  thoughts  sublime  and  worthy  of  the  heroic  scene  which  follows." 
It  is  quoted  in  Folly  in  print,  1667  ;  in  Merry  Drollery  complete,  1670 ;  and  in 


68 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


many  songs.     Dryden  refers  to  it,  as  one  of  the  most  hackneyed  in  his  time, 

in  one  of  his  lampoons : 

"  But  Sunderland,  Godolphin,  Lory, 

*  These  will  appear  such  chits  in  story, 

'Twill  turn  all  politics  to  jest, 
To  be  repeated,  like  John  Dory, 
When  fiddlers  sing  at  feasts." 
The  above  lines  were  also  printed  under  the  name  of  the  "  Earl  of  Rochester." 

The  name  of  the  fish  called  John  Dory,  corrupted  from  doree  or  dorn,  is 
another  proof  of  the  great  popularity  of  this  song. 


-"      ^neerju 

iy. 

-K—  1  ^-|-J 

—  s— 

kZ^*  — 

—I  c  ;  P»  

AM 

T 

fell    on       a          ho   -   li  -  day,  And  up  -    on        a      ho     -    ly 

rK-fi  —  ^- 

; 

—  P  — 

:  F  c  

o    • 

r  '       - 

i  —  j  — 

r        i     -E— 

^N 

i    N  i     h 

H  •  •— 

r*  j   r    i    *  i    . 

V 

j     j 

• 

•  •  * 

•     jj 

—  p— 

4    *  —  2  —  - 

T^  

—  -  —  3— 

—  5  —  f  —  *  —  ^  — 

—  1  h~ 

-4- 

-j  *  

-J^— 

—  j  »  :  

•J-  •  -J-    • 

tide,          a     John 

—  1  M  —  c  — 

r 

Do  -  ry  bought  him  an  am  -  bling  nag   To       Pa  -  ris    for       to 

J     .      J 

^ 

H  F--  - 

•EE3  —  r  —  it 

-T— 

-^     _j  

1  K  1 

,    , 

s  :  j  —  jp- 

-j  N—  j  —  -£- 

—  1  m 

1  —  R- 

~J  —  ~^~1  —  j~ 

—  i  1  

ride,     a,     To 

f  "J/-    v^  **f"'f 

Pa  -  ris  for    to    ride,      a,      And  up  -  on       a  no  -  ly 

i 

tide. 

-J    .    J      r 

r  •  a  —  H5  

W—  -  —  i  

J     .     J 

~N 

[f  !  1 

1  1  1 

1  J~T^ 

And  when  John  Dory  to  Paris  was  come, 

A  little  before  the  gate-a  ; 
John  Dory  was  fitted,  the  porter  was  witted, 

To  let  him  in  thereat-a. 

The  first  man  that  John  Dory  did  meet, 
Was  good  King  John  of  France-a  : 

John  Dory  could  well  of  his  courtesie, 
But  fell  down  in  a  trance-a. 

A  pardon,  a  pardon,  my  liege  and  king, 

For  my  merry  men  and  me-a  : 
And  all  the  churls  in  merry  England 

I'll  bring  them  bound  to  thee-a. 

And  Nichol  was  then  a  Cornish  man, 

A  little  beside  Bohyde-a ; 
And  he  manned  forth  a  good  black  bark, 

With  fifty  good  oars  on  a  side-a. 


Run  up,  my  boy,  into  the  main  top, 
And  look  what  thou  canst  spy-a  ; 

Who,  ho !  who,  ho !  a  good  ship  I  do  see, 
I  trow  it  be  John  Dory-a. 

They  hoist  their  sails,  both  top  and  top, 

The  mizen  and  all  was  tried-a ; 
And  every  man  stood  to  his  lot, 

Whatever  should  betide-a. 

The  roaring  cannons  then  were  plied, 
And  dub-a-dub  went  the  drum-a  ; 

The  braying  trumpets  loud  they  cried, 
To  courage  both  all  and  some-a. 

The  grappling  hooks  were  brought  at  length, 

The  brown  bill  and  the  sword-a  : 
John  Dory  at  length,  for  all  his  strength, 
Was  clapt  fast  under  board-a. 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


SELLENGER'3  ROUND,  OB  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  WORLD. 
Smoothly  and  in  moderate  time. 


±=£ 


* 


f^ 


-H 


r-r  H 

«     • 

flg  :  *     » 

T   •    p  ."' 

"f     r  • 

i 

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=^ 


70  ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

This  tune,  which  Sir  John  Hawkins  thought  to  be  "  the  oldest  country-dance 
tune  now  extant"  (an  opinion  to  which  I  do  not  subscribe),  is  to  be  found  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  and  Lady  Neville's  Virginal  Books,  in  Music's  Handmaid, 
1678,  &c.  It  is  difficult  to  say  from  whom  it  derived  its  name.  It  might  be  from 
"  Sir  Thomas  Sellynger,"  who  was  buried  in  St.  George's  Chapel,  Windsor, 
before  the  year  1475,  as  appears  by  a  brass  plate  there ;  or  from  Sir  Antony 
St.  Leger,  whom  Henry  VIII.  appointed  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland  in  1540. 

In  Bacchus'1  Bountie  (4to.,  1593),  we  find  this  passage:  "While  thus  they 
tippled,  the  fiddler  he  fiddled,  and  the  pots  danced  for  joy  the  old  hop-about 
commonly  called  Sellengar's  Round"  In  Middleton's  Father  Hubburd's  Tales 
(1604) : — "Do  but  imagine  now  what  a  sad  Christmas  we  all  kept  in  the  country, 
without  either  carols,  wassail  bowls,  dancing  of  Sellenger's  Round  in  moonshine 
nights  about  Maypoles,  shoeing  the  mare,  hoodman-blind,  hot  cockles,  or  any  of  our 
Christmas  gambols, — no,  not  not  so  much  as  choosing  king  and  queen  on  Twelfth 
Night ! "  In  Heywood's  Fair  Maid  of  the  West,  part  ii. : — "  They  have  so  tired 
me  with  their  moriscoes  [morris  dances],  and  I  have  so  tickled  them  with  our 
country  dances,  Sellenger's  Round  and  Tom  Tiler.  We  have  so  fiddled  it ! " 

A  curious  reason  for  the  second  name  to  this  tune  is  given  in  the  comedy 
of  Lingua,  1607.  Anamnestes :  "  By  the  same  token  the  first  tune  the  planets 
played ;  I  remember  Venus,  the  treble,  ran  sweet  division  upon  Saturn,  the  base. 
The  first  tune  they  played  was  Sellenger's  Round,  in  memory  whereof,  ever  since, 
it  hath  been  called  The  Beginning  of  the  World"  On  this,  Common  Sense  asks : 
"  How  comes  it  we  hear  it  not  now  ?  and  Memory,  another  of  the  characters, 
says  :  "  Our  ears  are  so  well  acquainted  ivith  the  sound,  that  we  never  mark  it." 
In  Shirley's  Lady  of  Pleasure,  Lady  Born  well  says  that,  "  to  hear  a  fellow  make 
himself  merry  and  his  horse  with  whistling  Sellenger's  Round,  and  to  observe  with 
what  solemnity  they  keep  their  wakes,  moriscoes,  and  Whitsun-ales,  are  the  only 
amusements  of  the  country." 

It  is  mentioned  as  The  Beginning  of  the  World  by  Deloney  in  his  history  of 
Jack  of  Newbury,  and  the  times  to  which  he  refers  are  those  of  Henry  VIII.  ; 
but,  so  great  was  its  popularity,  that  it  is  mentioned  three  or  four  times  by 
Heywood ;  also  by  Ben  Jonson,  by  Taylor  the  water-poet,  by  Fletcher,  Shirley, 
Brome,Farquhar, Wycherley,  Morley  (1597),  Clieveland  (1677),Marmion  (1641); 
by  the  author  of  The  Return  from  Parnassus,  and  by  many  other  writers. 

There  is  a  wood-cut  of  a  number  of  young  men  and  women  dancing  Sellenger's 
Round,  with  hands  joined,  round  a  Maypole,  on  the  title  page  of  a  black  letter 
garland,  called  "The  new  Crown  Garland  of  princely  pastime  and  mirth,"  printed 
by  J.  Back,  on  London  Bridge.  In  the  centre  are  two  musicians,  the  one  playing 
the  fiddle,  the  other  the  pipe,  with  the  inscription,  "Hey  for  Sellenger's  Round!" 
above  them. 

As  the  dance  was  so  extremely  popular,  I  shall,  in  this  instance,  give  the  figure 
from  the  The  Dancing  Master  of  1670,  where  it  is  described  as  a  round  dance 
"  for  as  many  as  will." 

"  Take  hands,  and  go  round  twice  :  back  again.     All  set  and  turn  sides  :  that 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


71 


again.  Lead  all  in  a  double  forward  and  back :  that  again.  Two  singles  and  a 
double  back,  set  and  turn  single  :  that  again.  Sides  all:  that  again.  Arms  all: 
that  again.  As  before,  as  before."  Country  dances  were  formerly  danced  as 
often  in  circles  as  in  parallel  lines. 

The  following  songs  were  sung  to  the  tune  : — "The  merry  wooing  of  Robin  and 
Joan,  the  West-country  Lovers,  to  the  tune  of  the  Beginning  of  the  World,  or 
Sellenger's  Round." — Roxburgh  Collection.  "The  Fair  Maid  of  Islington,  or  the 
London  Vintner  over-reached,"  in  the  Bagford  Collection.  "  Robin's  Courtship," 
in  Wit  Restored,  1658. 

As  a  specimen  of  old  harmony,  I  have  added  the  arrangement  of  Sellenger's 
Round  by  Byrd,  from  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book.  Having  an  instrument 
that  would  not  sustain  the  tone  (for  the  virginals,  like  the  harpsichord,  only 
twitted  the  wires  with  a  quill)  it  is  curious  to  see  how  he  has  filled  up  the  harmony 
by  an  inner  part,  that  seems  intended  to  imitate  the  prancing  of  the  hobby-horse. 
The  hobby-horse  was  the  usual  attendant  on  May-day  and  May  Games. 


In  moderate  time. 


WITH  THE  OLD  HARMONY  BY  BYRD. 


Hobby-horse. 


72 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


I    CANNOT   EAT   BUT   LITTLE   MEAT. 

This  song  was  sung  in  "  a  right  pithy,  pleasant,  and  merry  comedy,"  called 
Crammer  Grurton's  Needle,  which  was  printed  in  1575,  but  the  Rev.  Alex.  Dyce 
has  given  a  copy  of  double  length  from  a  manuscript  in  his  possession,  and 
"  certainly  of  an  earlier  date  than  the  play."  It  may  be  seen  in  his  account  of 
Skelton  and  his  writings,  vol.  i.,  p.  7.  I  have  selected  four  from  the  eight 
verses,  as  sufficiently  long  for  singing.  Warton  calls  it  "  the  first  drinking  song  of 
any  merit  in  our  language."  In  early  dramas  it  was  the  custom  to  sing  old  songs, 
or  to  play  old  tunes,  both  at  the  commencement  and  at  the  end  of  the  acts.  For 
instance,  in  Summer's  Last  Will  and  Testament,  which  was  performed  in  1593, 
the  direction  to  the  actors  in  the  Prologue  is  to  begin  the  play  with  "  a  fit 
of  mirth  and  an  old  song:"  and  at  the  end  of  the  comedy,  Ham  Alley ,  "strike  up 
music;  let's  have  an  old  song."  In  Peele's  Arraignment  of  Paris,  Venus  "  singeth 
an  old  song,  called  The  wooing  of  Colman."  In  Marston's  Antonio  and  Mellida, 
Feliche  sings  "  the  old  ballad,  And  was  not  good  king  Solomon."  To  these  in- 
stances many  others  might  be  added;  indeed,  in  the  very  play  (Gammer  Gf-urton), 
at  the  end  of  the  second  act,  Diccon  says  : — 

"  In  the  mean  time,  fellows,  pipe  up  your  fiddles,  I  say  take  them 
And  let  your  friends  have  such  mirth  as  ye  can  make  them." 

The  tune  is  printed  in  Stafford  Smith's  Musica  Antiqua,  and  in  Ritson's  English 
Songs.  Ritson  says :  "  Set,  four  parts  in  one,  by  Mr.  "Walker,  before  the  year 
1600."  And  Smith,  not  knowing,  I  suppose,  who  Mr.  Walker  was,  seems  to  have 
guessed  "Weelkes  ;  but  it  is  the  old  tune  of  John  Dory  in  common  time. 

In  moderate  time,  and  well  marked. 


bf  —  ^n  —  ' 

I     I     1    J- 

,—  J 

~~1  1  1  J  — 

I      can  -  no 

'.):,»  ..     J 

. 

t. 

- 

'i  i  i  P 

eat  but  lit  -  tie 

~f  P  f  m  

mea 

t,     M: 

e 

t=l 

r  . 

^=3     j     j 

sto  -  mach    is      not 

l  j     \      e       t 

Ir  r  r  r  I 

Ls 

1  *_*_J  J  1 

Y^ 

\ 

1 

1*      *l      * 

• 

1                           fe             • 
—4—  (•  S-            —  -I- 

^   F_    i  „- 

4 

goo 

/  t   : 

d  ;  But  sure    I 

J 

thir 



rs  ;  r 

k  that    I     can 

1  n  ;  P- 

^^P 

drink     With 

i  '  1  1 

^ 

him  tli 

at  wears  a 
»—  ^-P— 

hoo 

-e 

H- 

d. 

N=IF 

"s 

•       4 

u 

^      J      J      1 

^           <z 

II'. 

Though  I  go  bare,  take  ye  no  care, 

'  For  I  am  never '  cold  : 
I  stuff  my  skin  so  full  within 

Of  jolly  good  ale  and  old. 
Back  and  side,  go  bare,  go  bare, 

Both  foot  and  hand  go  cold  : ' 
But  belly,  God  send  thee  good  ale  enough, 

Whether  it  be  new  or  old. 


I  love  no  roast,  but  a  nut-brown  toast, 

And  a  crab  laid  in  the  fire, 
A  little  bread  shall  do  me  stead, 

Much  bread  I  never  desire. 
No  frost  nor  snow,  nor  wind,  I  trow, 

Can  hurt  me,  if  it  would  ; 
I  am  so  wrapp'd,  so  thoroughly  lapp'd 

With  jolly  good  ale  and  old. 

Back  and  side,  &c. 


FROM    HENHY   VII.    TO    MARY. 


73 


I  care  right  nought,  I  take  no  thought 

For  clothes  to  keep  me  warm, 
Have  I  good  drink  I  surely  think 

'  That  none '  can  do  me  harm. 
For  truly  then  I  fear  no  man, 

'  Though  never  he '  so  bold, 
When  I  am  arm'd  and  thoroughly  warm'd 

With  jolly  good  ale  and  old. 

Back  and  side,  &c. 


Now  let  them  drink  till  they  nod  and  wink, 

Even  as  good  fellows  should  do, 
They  shall  not  miss  to  have  the  bliss 

Good  ale  doth  bring  men  to ; 
And  all  poor  souls  that  scour  black  bowls, 

Or  have  them  lustily  troled, 
God  save  the  lives  of  them  and  their  wives, 

Whether  they  be  young  or  old. 

Back  and  side,  &c. 


HANSKIN,  OB  HALF  HANNIKIN. 

In  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book  there  is  a  tune  called  Hanskin,  and  in  all 
the  early  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master,  viz.,  from  1650  to  1690,  one  called 
Half  Hannikin.     Hankin  or  Hannikin  was  the  common  name  of  a  clown  : 
"  Thus  for  her  love  and  loss  poor  Hankin  dies  ; 
His  amorous  soul  down  flies 
To  th'  bottom  of  the  cellar,  there  to  dwell : 
Susan,  farewell,  farewell ! " — Musarum  Delicice,  1655. 

And  Hankin  Booby  was  used  as  term  of  contempt.  Nash,  meaning  to  call  his 
opponent  a  Welsh  clown,  calls  him  a  "  Gobin  a  Grace  ap  Hannikin,"  and  says, 
"  No  vulgar  respects  have  I,  what  Hoppenny  Hoe  and  his  fellow  Hankin  Booby 
think  of  me."  (Have  with  you  to  Saffron-  Waldon,  1596.J 

We  find  Hankin  Booby  mentioned  as  a  tune  in  the  interlude  of  Thersytes, 
which  was  written  in  1537  : 

"  And  we  wyll  have  minstrelsy 

That  shall  pype  Hankin  boby" 
Skelton,  in  his  Ware  the  Hauke,  says : 


"  With  troll,  cytrace,  and  trovy, 
They  ranged,  hariltin  bovy, 
My  churche  all  aboute. 
This  fawconer  then  gan  showte, 
These  be  my  gospellers, 


These  be  my  pystillers,  [epistlers] 
These  be  my  querysters  [choristers] 
To  help  me  to  synge, 
My  hawkes  to  mattens  rynge. 

Skelton's  Works,  Ed.  Dyce,  vol.  i.,  p.  159. 


By  an  extract  from  Sir  H.  Herbert's  office-book  of  revels  and  plays  performed  at 
Whitehall  at  Christmas,  1622-3,  quoted  by  Mr.  Collier,  in  his  Annals  of  the 
Stage,  we  find  that  on  Sunday,  19th  Jan.,  1623,  after  the  performance  of  Ben 
Jonson'g  masque,  Time  Vindicated,  "The  Prince  did  lead  the  measures  with  the 
French  Ambassador's  wife,"  and  "  the  measures,  braules,  corrantos,  and  galliards, 
being  ended,  the  masquers,  with  the  ladies,  did  daunce  two  countrey  dances, 
namely,  The  Soldier's  Marche  and  Huff  Hamukin."  I  believe  that  by  Huff 
Hamukin,  Half  Hannikin  is  intended,  the  letters  are  so  nearly  alike  in  form,  and 
might  be  so  easily  mistaken.  In  Brome's  Jovial  Crew,  1652, — "Our  father  is  so 
pensive  that  he  makes  us  even  sick  of  his  sadness,  that  were  wont  to  '  See  my 
gossip's  cock  to-day,'  mould  cocklebread,  daunce  Clutterdepouch  and  Hannykin 
booby,  bind  barrels,  or  do  anything  before  him,  and  he  would  laugh  at  us." 
The  tune  called  Hanskin  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book  is  the  same  as 


74 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


"  Jog  on,  the  foot-path  way,"  and  will  be  found  in  this  collection  among  the  airs 
that  are  mentioned  by  Shakspeare.  The  following  is  Half  Hannikin,  from  The 
Dancing  Master. 


BE 

ST: 


33 


T- 


^ 


m 


MALT'S  COME  DOWN. 

This  is  one  of  the  tunes  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  where  it  is 
arranged  by  Byrd.  The  words  are  from  Deuteromelia,  1609,  but  it  appears  that 
Ravenscr'oft,  in  arranging  it  as  a  round,  has  taken  only  half  the  tune. 


A-f^ 

-?-* 

i4^=n= 

=P^ 

^=^ 

-J  H  J    1  —  ^ 

—  [       J  "~  — 

H  — 

j'"^'rT*aT^'r'1*i--J'  ^:' 

There's  ne-ver  a  maid  in      all  this  town,  But    well  she  knows  that  malt's  comedown, 

•     •         •     •          A     »          A                                                   ^ 

•    •     ^0    . 

0       • 

r    • 

• 

P         • 

iJ  •  4r  1  >     *i 

i           i^    * 

P  

S—  :  S—  i  

hL 

^  1  

H  

~~^~-  

-  l» 

~^F  

~s 

n^  ^"  ~r~  "^ 

lalt's  come  down,        malt's  comedown,    From  an  old  an -gel        to     a  French  crown 


The  greatest  drunkards  in  the  town 
Are  very  glad  that  malt's  come  down. 

Malt's  come  down,  &c. 


FROM   HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


75 


OF  ALL  THE  BIRDS. 

In  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  play,  The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle,  Old 
Merrythought  sings  many  snatches  of  old  songs,  and  among  others — 
"  Nose,  nose,  jolly  red  nose, 
And  who  gave  thee  this  jolly  red  nose  ? 
Cinnamon,  ginger,  nutmegs  and  cloves, 
And  they  gave  me  this  jolly  red  nose  ;" 

which  are  the  four  last  lines  of  this  song.     It  is  one  of  the  King  Henry's  Mirth 
or  Freemen's  Songs  in  D  enter  omelia,  1609. 


-m,  —  h-rH  —  M  —  h-r-TTj  J—  J- 

J          ^  J^"^ 

J  ,k_J  (VT- 

EO  f\  j  ri  j*  j.a^=j= 

-4  9           *  J     J 

,TJ         J 

LP_B  —  i  n  .  -  -  1  p  .   r  — 

Of       all  the  birds  that     e-ver  I  see,    The 

owl  is  the  fairest  in  her    de-gree  ;  For 

T-f  ;  •  *      ,J        •  »  r- 

r       C    F4; 

r~r1  ~TT 

ft— 

~b~^ 

1  —  E—  b  "—  - 

S                                                                      1 

i          1     *  p 

SI        S    1      k.            w     1      ik.  1        kv 

—  '                                                  |                 |^           ^^^^^^                                                      \ 

—  j  f-  r.4  •     *  •--•  « 

—  J  —  J^-J  —  ^H  — 

:  ,     i^  —  4:. 

-rVi=j=^ 

9  •  9-  - 

^F             =F  Lf  •    r  v  •  • 

all  the  daylong  she  sits     in  a  tree,  And  when  the  night  comes,  away  flies  she  :  Te  whit  tewhoo!  to 

=^-  :            £  :     r-  •    p   :     -   -  J     * 

k    r  '^=^ 

v  r  •  r  —  b-- 

—  i  1  *  —  -  —  i  

~~r  —  ^~r  c  ' 

K  1         K      1       N                     — 

1                       Ir 

-rl  J  5 

~H             i        s      f 

*               r        d           i        •     •     *    •        m     •     m 

i              r 

3    J    •      * 

J                 J      r         f  •      m    •    m      m 

«  •  J  •   J    J     0 

.    K     • 

^      •     m                      9        <m     •     m    •         i     •     i 

R.    •  •  •    • 

^                     r     T       ^    m    it 

S      •                               P. 

ff 

r    r     r<=^r   ^    i               i    .      i 

whom  drinkst  thou  ?  Sir  Knave,  to           you.        This  song  is  well  sung  I   make  you  a  vow,  And 

___  .        ___  ^                c^     .                             p       •           - 

—  P  —  P  —  F  —  F—  r     I  —  r  •  r  —  sr-- 

n  F 



/         u                         ' 

• 

. 

^^  \    h 

1        h    1        N 

M'MMM                               ^       i                      -^* 

1            M        ^        V            0 

J       J    J        r 

*    .*  *  —  5  —  J  —  4  —  -  —  -U—  •  :  T  . 

-p—          —  ^—           -^  1  m^—   9        to 

—  r  1*  

-*—  *  —  J  —  •=: 

i                               r    r 

he    is  a  knave    that    drinketh  now  :     Nose,  nose, 
ff     •             •                   J     •         ft  •                  P  • 

jol  -  ly  red  nose  !  And  who  gave  thee  that 

—  F—  a  £  S  M—  f   •   i 

-r—  -  —  E  —  &-- 

i        r  ~^~  p  r  r     i    ! 

p     • 

\      r  E  : 

-^  —  /  i  [  ],  —  i  

f    \      M      is 

1  —  ^-L 

^^^*_ 

1         pi            JJJ*        JJ       Jv 

—  *L-J  —  J—  J  -P 

-  J  r^«i  —  g 

J     €••»*'*'•     **    Km     9 

.  .    j   r 

J  j  J 

jolly  red  nose  ?  Cinnamon,  gin  -  ger,  nutmegs  and  cloves,  And  that  gave  me   my 

V   C 

jol  -  ly  red  nose. 
-rr1  F  —  1  —  n 

•       f                                                                  —  d 

.    U  •    k   F 

L        U  M 

Lf  F—  >- 

F          r 

76 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


WHO'S  THE  FOOL  NOW? 

This  tune  is  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  and  it  is  one  of  the  Freemen's 
Songs  in  Deuteromelia,  1609.  It  was  entered  on  the  books  of  the  Stationer's 
Company  as  a  ballad  in  1588,  when  Thomas  Orwyn  had  a  license  to  print  it ;  and 
it  is  alluded  to  in  Dekker's  comedy,  Old  Fortunatus,  where  Shadow  says :  "  Only 
to  make  other  idiots  laugh,  and  wise  men  to  cry  *  Who's  the  fool  now  ?  '  "  which 
is  the  burden  of  every  verse.  It  is  thought  to  be  a  satire  upon  those  who  tell 
wonderful  stories. 


Qtttfp  — 

1  d~  —  m 

1  —  J  — 

|—|  K—  |  1 

rH  J3"!^ 

0  

ft    "  I    3  J    =5 

Martin    said    to    his    mi 

;  )  :g  fl  n  —  i  

in, 

fie,     man,  fie  ! 

Fi  i~T  —  f~l 

LJ  J  —  J  J  —  1 

Martin    said   to    his    man, 

1  

J  —  E 

J   c  r   P 

-d  :  

Who's  the  fool  now?  Martin  said  to  hismanjFill  the  cup  and  I  the  can  jThouhastwell  drunken,  man, 


:u  .    r 


I  saw  the  man  in  the  moon  ; 

Fie  !  man,  fie  ! 
I  saw  the  man  in  the  moon  ; 

Who's  the  fool  now  ? 
I  saw  the  man  in  the  moon 
Clouting  of  St.  Peter's  shoon  ; 
Thou  hast  well  drunken,  man — 

Who's  the  fool  now? 

I  saw  a  hare  chase  a  hound  ; 

Fie!  man,  fie! 
I  saw  a  hare  chase  a  hound  ;    • 

Who's  the  fool  now  ? 
I  saw  a  hare  chase  a  hound, 
Twenty  miles  above  the  ground ; 
Thou  hast  well  drunken,  man — 

Who's  the  fool  now  ? 


I  saw  a  goose  ring  a  hog ; 

Fie  !  man,  ^ie  ! 
I  saw  a  goose  ring  a  hog  ; 

Who's  the  fool  now  ? 
I  saw  a  goose  ring  a  hog, 
And  a  snail  bite  a  dog ; 

Tho  hast  well  drunken,  man — 

Who's  the  fool  now  ? 

I  saw  a  mouse  catch  a  cat ; 

Fie  !  man,  fie ! 
I  saw  a  mouse  catch  a  cat  ; 

Who's  the  fool  now  ? 
I  saw  a  mouse  catch  a  cat, 
And  the  cheese  eat  the  rat ; 

Thou  hast  well  drunken,  man — 

Who's  the  fool  now? 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO    MARY. 


77 


WE  BE  SOLDIERS  THREE. 

This  is  also  one  of  the  King  Henry's  Mirth  or  Freemen's  Songs  in  Deutero- 
melia,  1609,  and  will  be  found  as  a  song  in  Wit  and  Mirth,  or  Pills  to  Purge 
Melancholy,  vol.  i.,  1698  and  1707. 


We 


be 


sol  -  diers  three,         Par-dona  moy,  je      vous  an  pree, 


If 

Lately  come  forth  of  the       Low  Country,  With 


-*—» 


-r 

ne-ver   a  pen-ny 


mo-ney. 


r ••*—  r 


Here,  good  fellow,  I  drink  to  thee,  And  he  that  will  not  pledge  me  this, 

Pardona  moy,  je  vous  an  pree ;  a  Par  dona  moy,  je  vous  an  pree, 

To  all  good  fellows,  wherever  they  be,  Pays  for  the  shot  whatever  it  is, 

With  never  a  penny  of  money.  With  never  a  penny  of  money. 

Charge  it  again,  boy,  charge  it  again, 

Pardona  moy,  je  vous  an  pree  ; 
As  long  as  there  is  any  ink  in  thy  pen, 

With  never  a  penny  of  money. 

WE  BE  THREE  POOR  MARINERS. 

This  is  one  of  the  King  Henry's  Mirth  or  Freemen's  Songs  in  Deuteromelia, 
1609,  and  is  to  be  found  as  a  dance  tune  in  the  Skene  MS.  (about  1630),  called 
Brangill  of  Poictu, — i.e.,  Branle,  or  Braule  of  Poictu. 

Braules  a  were  dances  much  in  vogue  with  the  upper  classes  during  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries.  Their  being  danced  at  Whitehall  in  1623,  has 
been  mentioned  at  page  73  ;  and  Pepys  speaks  of  them  at  the  Court  of  Charles  H. 
Branle  de  Poictu  is  explained  by  Morley  (1597)  as  meaning  the  Double  Branle, 
in  contradistinction  to  the  French  Branle,  or  Branle- Simple. 

Another  Branle  de  Poictu  (quite  a  different  tune)  will  be  found  in  the  Straloch 
Manuscript,  for  the  name  was  given  to  any  air  used  for  the  dance.  It  was  so 


•  "  These  pardonnez-moy's  who  stand  so  much  on  the 
new  form." — Romeo  and  Juliet,  act  ii.,  sc.  4.  Dr.  John- 
son in  a  note  says :  "  Pardonnez  mot  became  the  language 
of  doubt  or  hesitation  among  men  of  the  sword,  when  the 
point  of  honour  was  grown  so  delicate  that  no  other  mode 
of  contradiction  would  be  endured." 

"  Braules,  which,  Mr.  M.  Mason  observes,  seem  to  be 
what  we  now  call  cotillons,  are  described  by  Philips  as 


"a  kind  of  dance  in  which  several  persons  danced  together 
in  a  ring,  holding  one  another  by  the  hand."  In  Marston's 
play  of  The  Malcontent  there  is  a  minute,  but  perhaps 
not  now  very  intelligible  description  of  the  figures.  See 
Dodsley's  Collection  of  old  Plays,  vol.  iv.  Braules  are 
alluded  to  by  Shakespeare,  Ben  Jonson,  Massinger,  and 
others. 


78 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


usual  in  England,  formerly,  to  make  dances  out  of  such  song  and  ballad  tunes  as 
were  of  a  sufficiently  cheerful  character,  that  nearly  every  air  in  the  first  edition 
of  The  Dancing  Master,  1650-51,  can  be  proved  to  be  that  of  a  song  or  "  ballet" 
of  earlier  date  than  the  book.  It  has  for  that  reason  been  so  valuable  an  aid  in 
the  present  collection.  About  1690,  tunes  composed  expressly  for  dancing  were 
becoming  more  general,  and  in  the  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master  from  1715 
to  1728,  the  song  and  the  dance  tunes  are  nearly  equally  divided. 


PJH 

f=t=\ 

U    .N-H-i 

&+±^ 

We    be  three  poor 

L^>  ,.  s   j  =^ 

ma  -  ri-ners,  New  -  ly      come  from  the 

-j  -j  1  1  —  I  —  B 

seas  ;                 We 

e?      •                  i 

^ 

•b-^       |     .,„ 

• 

\-&  —  '-  •  —  I 

-J  •      '      • 

J~ 

:         N     n     J     1 

FE=f= 

n  —  <*i  —  i  —  i~i 

~^T          ~^~   " 

spend  our  lives    in     jeo  -  par  -  dy,  While    o  -  thers 

1  •  r  1  1  

-it    ^5* 
live    at 

~^  a     h»~       h 
§      V 

ease.      Shall  we  go  dance  the 

i  —      1  1  1  —  • 

1  J  

I  A  .          M 

4  -4-1 

rr  —  *~""H 

r 

I5J 

-•  —  •  — 

'J  ,j  J.  J  J  J  iJJp  c  .  i 

L,    1     =$=l 

^•Q»*             •         J       ffe      »^I 

-j—  —  5  —  "-p  —  p  p  p 

round,  the  round,  the  round?  Shall  we  go  dance  trie  i 

-^F-  =5=    -«L—  ' 

ound,  the  round,  the  round  ?  And 

-J—  ^  J—  H  —  .  J  1 

s 

^  *           i 

—  4  —  J— 

.        J 

-•  •  

=1  —  i  —  j  —  P? 

=3  -H  r-J  U 

J.  j.  _  —  J    '  •.  ' 

he    that  is      a         bul  -  ly 
jol  -  ly 

1  r""""1  

boy,  Come  pledge  me    on    this  ground,  a  ground,  a  ground. 

M= 

j=j 

1     .    J    J 

=H 

*^N 

-J      '    '      J.      "       "      '  ^-                      -" 

We  care  not  for  those  martial  men 

That  do  our  states  disdain  ; 
But  we  care  for  the  merchantmen 

Who  do  our  states  maintain. 
To  them  we  dance  this  round,  around,  around, 

To  them  we  dance  this  round  ; 
And  he  that  is  a  bully  [jolly]  boy, 

Come  pledge  me  on  the  ground,  aground,  aground. 


FROM   HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


79 


MY  LITTLE  PRETTY  ONE. 

This  ancient  melody  is  also  transcribed  from  a  MSS.  of  the  time  of  Henry  the 
Eighth  (No.  4900,  Additional  MS.,  Brit.  Mus.).  The  original  is,  as  usual,  with- 
out bars,  but  with  an  accompaniment  in  tablature  for  the  lute.  In  the  same 
volume  are  songs  by  John  Taverner,  Shepherde,  Heywood,  &c.  It  has  the  same 
peculiarity  as  the  dance  tune  at  page  27,  each  part  consisting  of  nine  bars.  A 
song  called  "  My  little  pretty  one  "  is  in  the  Roxburgh  Collection  of  Ballads, 
"  to  a  pleasant  new  tune,"  but  the  measure  is  different. 


(}$ 

TT\  —  A  1  1  

« 

_  »  

M: 

J     H  — 

rr->  —  *—  j  — 

<fc)   4   J  -j  • 

3 

;  9  jg  

—  » 

—  •  —  ^  — 

t)           *                                                              -or  " 
My       lit  -  tie         pret     -     ty    one,         My    pret  -  ty          ho    -    ney    one, 

^*y  o  

^ 

-^ 

• 

* 

rail. 


r  j   J   j  i 

I"      >      I      1 

E         -R  —  d 

J     J     J     J       11     H—  tt 

She      is         a        j 
j 

t  J—  J  • 

oy     -     ly    one,     Ar 
Dy     -     ous 

J     J  •    J^   ^ 

id     gen     -     tie         a 

J       .                            . 

*      ^     *       *^j        -y 

s     .     .     .     can           be. 

1              J    ' 

i 

-1  J       -J 

i 

1  1  "  —  • 

rf  —  3  r 

?d  ^  

• 

—  J  —  ^  —  Mi 

—  i  i— 

_s       a  tempo. 

•  1  1  Q 

1  1  

I 

—  ]—  4J  —  jE 

|    J       .       f      \~ 

|       -j  J           J 

J     .     /    j 

•  •  * 

With  a  beck     she 

1  —  «  :  f  -jL  — 

comes           a  -  non, 

With  a    wink     she 

1—  «_  —  :  0  1 
wilP           be     gone. 

r*  —  1  

t~3  ^^ 

—  1  

—  P  d  

~^  d~~ 

j  

1                        '  1 

=N)             ! 

I            * 

^ 

^                  J: 

rail. 


-^—* 

—  g  — 

-J  —  ;  B  

-¥-^-*-*- 

4-          '          d 

-^—^  

==j  S  «  —  ^  ^  ^  —  1  «_  ._  — 

No    doubt    she        is        a  -  lone           of        all  that       e     -  ver      I          see. 

1 

1 

1  1  1 

—  

1  1  

:  

L   ^                -i      ^  .            ^         -J- 

ROBIN,  LEND  TO  ME  THY  BOW. 

This  song  is  still  known  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  and  was  written  down  for 
me  by  a  friend,  in  Leicestershire,  some  years  ago.  In  the  "  very  mery  and  pithie 
commedie  "  called  The  longer  tlwu  livest  the  more  fool  tJiou  art,  there  is  a 
stage  direction — "  Here  entreth  Moros,  counterfaiting  a  vaine  gesture  and  foolish 
countenance,  synging  the  foote  [burden]  of  many  songes,  as  fooles  were  wont." 
Among  the  burdens  is  the  following  : — 

"  Robin,  lende  me  thy  bowc,  thy  bowe, 
Robin,  the  bow,  Robin,  lend  to  me  thy  borv-a." 


80 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  play  was  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall  in  1568-9.  "  That  it  was  a  popular 
song  in  the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  appears  also  from  its  being 
mentioned,  amongst  others,  in  a  curious  old  musical  piece  (MS.  Harl.  7578), 
containing  the  description  and  praises  of  the  city  of  Durham,  written  about  that 
time."  It  is  to  be  found  as  one  of  the  "  pleasant  roundelayes  "  in  Pammelia, 
1609,  and  has  likewise  been  printed  by  Ritson,  in  his  Ancient  Songs.  The  tune 
differs  slightly  from  the  copy  in  Pammelia,  but  I  think  for  the  better. 

Smoothly  and  slow. 


~$\  ^ 

3  —  i- 

i  *n 

iJ  J  i  1  1 

F^t= 

rN  J^ijp  J  fV  "  ^^^ 

Now  Robin,  lend  to      me    thy  bow,  Sweet  Ro-  bin  lend    to     me  thy  bow,    For 

a%n<*  j  F  —  r   P   ?   ~  .•  =  

n  — 

n  —  F  — 

v  '  '  r 

1     p 

5^ 

—  j- 

=4= 

J  1  ^  H 

—  &  — 

-F                         ^                f 
I    must  now    a  hunt  -  ing     with  my 

-H  1  ^  

—  *  ~m  — 
la  -  dy 

=E 

3  ij  *   *  j  i 

With     my  sweet  la  -  dy 

—  f-  f  .  r  —  h- 

go- 

_q  :  1  

-]  

—  f— 

±=t 

—  •  —  j^ 

And  whither  will  thy  Lady  go  ? 

Sweet  Wilkin,  tell  it  unto  me  ; 
And  thou  shalt  have  my  hawke,  my  hound,  and  eke  my  bow, 

To  wait  on  thy  Lady. 

My  Lady  will  to  Uppingham,* 

To  Uppingham  forsooth  will  shee  ; 
And  I  myself  appointed  for  to  be  the  man 

To  wait  on  my  Lady. 

Adieu,  good  Wilkin,  all  beshrewde, 

Thy  hunting  nothing  pleaseth  mee  ; 
But  yet  beware  thy  babling  hounds  stray  not  abroad 

For  ang'ring  of  thy  Lady. 

My  hounds  shall  be  led  in  the  line, 

So  well  I  can  assure  it  thee ; 
Unless  by  straine  of  view  some  pursue  I  may  finde, 

To  please  my  sweet  Ladye. 

With  that  the  Lady  shee  came  in, 

And  will'd  them  all  for  to  agree  ; 
For  honest  hunting  never  was  accounted  sinne. 

Nor  never  shall  for  mee. 

•  A  market-town  in  Rutlandshire. 


FROM   HENRY  VII.   TO   MARY. 


81 


WHO  LIVETH  SO  MERRY  IN  ALL  THIS  LAND  ? 

This  is  also  one  of  the  King  Henry's  Mirth  or  Freemen's  Songs,  in  Deutero- 
melia.  In  the  first  year  of  the  Registers  of  the  Stationers'  Company  (1557-58) 
there  is  an  entry  of  a  license  to  Mr.  John  Wallye  and  Mrs.  Toye  to  print  a 
"Ballette  "  called  "  Who  lyve  so  mery  and  make  such  sporte, 

As  thay  that  be  of  the  poorest  sorte?" 

These  lines  will  be  found  in  the  last  verse  of  the  song,  and  were  probably  printed 
at  the  head  of  it  as  the  title.  Ballets  were  songs  of  a  cheerful  character,  which 
being  "  sung  to  a  ditty  may  likewise  be  danced."  So  the  "  Merry  Ballet  of  the 
Hawthorn  Tree"  (see  page  64),  was  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  Dargason,  which  is 
also  mentioned  as  a  dance  tune. 

The  following  song  will  also  be  found  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  Jovial  Poems,  p.  252, 
and  in  Wit  and  Mirth,  or  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  vol.  i.,  1698  and  1707.  In 
Wit  and  Drollery,  as  well  as  in  Deuteromelia,  the  third  and  fourth  lines  of  each 
verse  are  marked  to  be  sung  in  chorus. 

Moderate  time. 


Who  li-veth  so  merry  in    all   this  land,  As  doth  the  poor  widow  that  selleth  the  sand.  And 

J.    .J  •      J  .     .J  .     J 


*F 


r  JTI 

^^q 

H  —  j!s-j  —  J^5i 

I*'«J     •    JJ    1 

[f  — 

""  —  1  1 

• 

e-ver  she  singeth  as 

1    can  guess,  Will  you  buy  any  sand,  any 

sand,    Mistress. 
r-J    -:  -I* 

5  •  • 

3 

-•  —  i  — 

•  — 

kl  — 

H  ^  f  — 

-f-1 

The  broom-man  maketh  his  living  most  sweet, 
With  carrying  of  brooms  from  street  to  street. 
Chorus. — Who  would  desire  a  pleasanter  thing 

Than  all  the  day  long  to  do  nothing  but  sing  ? 

The  chimney-sweeper  all  the  long  day, 
He  singeth  and  sweepeth  the  soot  away  ; 
Ch. — Yet  when  he  comes  home,  although  he  be  weary, 
With  his  pretty,  sweet  wife  he  maketh  full  merry. 

The  cobbler  he  sits  cobbling  till  noon, 
And  cobbles  his  shoes  till  they  be  done  ; 
Ch. — Yet  doth  he  not  fear,  and  so  doth  say, 

For  he  knows  that  his  work  will  soon  decay. 

The  merchantman  he  doth  sail  on  the  seas, 
And  lie  on  the  ship-board  with  little  ease  ; 
Ch. — For  always  he  doubts  that  the  rocks  are  near, — 
How  can  he  be  merry  and  make  good  cheer  ? 


82  ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD    MUSIC. 

The  husbandman  all  day  goeth  to  plough, 
And  when  he  comes  home  he  serveth  his  sow  ; 
Ch. — He  moileth  and  toileth  all  the  long  year, — 
How  can  he  be  merry  and  make  good  cheer  ? 

The  serving-man  waiteth  from  street  to  street, 
Either  blowing  his  nails  or  beating  his  feet ; 
Ch. — Yet  all  that  serves  for,  four  angels*  a  year, 
Impossible  'tis  that  he  make  good  cheer. 

Who  liveth  so  merry  and  maketh  such  sport 
As  those  that  be  of  the  poorest  sort  ? 
Ch. — The  poorest  sort,  wheresoever  they  be, 

They  gather  together  by  one,  two,  and  three. 

And  every  man  will  spend  his  penny,  ^ 

What  makes  such  a  shot  among  a  great  many.j 

TO-MORROW  THE  FOX  WILL  COME  TO  TOWN,  OR  TRENCHMORE. 

In  The  Dancing  Master  this  tune  is  called  Trenchmore.  In  Deuteromelia  it  is 
one  of  the  King  Henry's  Mirth  or  Freemen's  Songs,  under  the  name  of  "  To- 
morrow the  fox  will  come  to  town." 

In  a  Morality,  by  William  Bulleyn,  called  A  Dialogue  both  pleasant  and  piety- 
full,  wherein  is  a  goodly  regimen  against  the  fever  pestilence,  &c.,  1564,  a  minstrel 
is  thus  described:  "There  is  one  lately  come  into  the  hall,  in  a  green  Kendal  coat, 
with  yellow  hose  ;  a  beard  of  the  same  colour,  only  upon  the  upper  lip  ;  a  russet 
hat,  with  a  great  plume  of  strange  feathers ;  and  a  brave  scarf  about  his  neck ; 
in  cut  buskins.  He  is  playing  at  the  trea  trippe  with  our  host's  son  ;  he  playeth 
trick  upon  the  gittern,  daunces  Trenchmore  and  Seie  de  Grie,  and  telleth  news 
from  Terra  Florida." 

Taylor,  the  water-poet,  in  A  Merry  Wherry-ferry  Voyage,  says : 
"  Heigh,  to  the  tune  of  Trenchmore  I  could  write 
The  valiant  men  of  Cromer's  sad  affright ; " 

and  in  A  Navy  of  Land  Ships,  1627,  "  Nimble-heel' d  mariners,  like  so  many 
dancers,  capering  a  morisco  [morris  dance],  or  Trenchmore  of  forty  miles  long, 
to  the  tune  of  '  Dusty,  my  dear,'  '  Dirty,  come  thou  to  me,'  '  Dun  out  of  the  mire,' 
or  *  I  wail  in  woe  and  plunge  in  pain : '  all  these  dances  have  no  other  music." 
Deloney,  in  his  History  of  the  gentle  craft,  1598,  says:  "like  one  dancing  the 
Trenchmore,  he  stamp'd  up  and  down  the  yard,  holding  his  hips  in  his  hands." 

Burton,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  1621,  says  that  mankind  are  at  no 
period  of  their  lives  insensible  to  dancing.  "Who  can  withstand  it?  be  we  young 
or  old,  though  our  teeth  shake  in  our  heads  like  Virginal  Jacks,  or  stand  parallel 
asunder  like  the  arches  of  a  bridge, — there  is  no  remedy:  we  must  dance  Trench- 
more  over  tables,  chairs,  and  stools."  The  following  amusing  description  is  from 
Selden's  Table  Talk: 

"  The  court  of  England  is  much  alter'd.  At  a  solemn  dancing,  first  you  had  the 
grave  measures,  then  the  corantoes  and  the  galliards,  and  this  kept  up  with  ceremony ; 
and  at  length  to  Trenchmore  and  the  Cushion  Dance :  then  all  the  company  dances, 

•  The  angel  was  a  gold  coin  worth  about  ten  shillings,  so  named  from  having  the  representation  of  an  angel  upon  it. 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


83 


lord  and  groom,  lady  and  kitchen  maid,  no  distinction.  So  in  our  court  in  Queen 
Elizabeth's  time,  gravity  and  state  were  kept  up.  In  King  James's  time  things  were 
pretty  well,  but  in  King  Charles's  time,  there  has  been  nothing  but  Trenchmore  and 
the  Cushion  Dance,  omnium  gatherum,  tolly  polly,  hoite  come  toite." 

Trenchmore  is  mentioned  also  in  Stephen  Gosson's  Schoole  of  Abuse,  1579;  in 
Hey  wood' s  A  Woman  Killed  with  Kindness,  1600 ;  in  Chapman's  Wit  of  a 
Woman,  1604;  in  Barry's  Earn  Alley,  1611;  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Island 
Princess  ;  in  Weelkes'  Ayres  or  Phantasticke  Sprites,  1608 ;  and  in  1728  was 
still  to  be  found  in  The  Dancing  Master.  In  the  comedy  of  The  Rehearsal, 
1672,  the  earth,  sun,  and  moon,  are  made  to  dance  the  Hey  to  the  tune  of 
Trenchmore. 

Several  political  songs  were  sung  to  it,  one  of  which  is  in  the  collection  of 
"  Poems  on  Affairs  of  State,  from  1640  to  1704."  In  the  Roxburghe  Collection 
of  Ballads  is  one  called  "  The  West-country  Jigg,  or  a  Trenchmore  Galliard," 
"  Four-and- twenty  lasses  went  over  Trenchmore  Lee." 

The  following  is  the  song  in  Deuteromelia. 
Moderate  time. 


To  -  morrow  the  fox  will  come  to  town,  Keep,  keep,  keep,  keep ;  To-morrow  the  fox  will 


^=fh 


fe 


J.J-U  •    J 


? 


come  to  town,  O     keep  you  all  well      there.        I    must  de  -  sire  you  neighbours  all,  To 


J-  r    ir  •  r '  'r'J  J'r '  i" 


hal-lo  the  fox  out      of   the  hall,  And    cry    as  loud   as  you    can  call,    Whoop,  whoop, 


£= 


fefe 


~  J.    U    • 


whoop,  whoop,  whoop.  And  cry    as  loud  as    you  can  call,     O    keep  you  all  well    there 


r  •    r 


^TTTT 


^ 


84 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


He'll  steal  the  cock  out  from  his  flock, 

Keep,  keep,  keep,  keep,  keep  ; 
He'll  steal  the  cock  e'en  from  his  flock, 

O  keep  you  all  well  there. 

I  must  desire  you,  &c. 
He'll  steal  the  hen  out  of  the  pen, 

Keep,  keep,  &c. ; 
He'll  steal  the  hen  out  of  the  pen, 

O  keep  you  all  well  there. 

I  must  desire  you,  &c. 


He'll  steal  the  duck  out  of  the  brook, 

Keep,  keep,  &c. ; 
He'll  steal  the  duck  out  of  the  brook, 

O  keep  you  all  well  there. 

I  must  desire  you,  &c. 
He'll  steal  the  lamb  e'en  from  his  dam, 

Keep,  keep,  &c. ; 
He'll  steal  the  lamb  e'en  from  his  dam, 

O  keep  you  all  well  there. 

I  must  desire  you,  &c. 


THE  SHAKING  OF  THE  SHEET,  OB  THE  DANCE  OF  DEATH. 

This  is  frequently  mentioned  by  writers  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, both  as  a  country  dance  and  as  a  ballad  tune.  In  the  recently-discovered 
play  of  Misogonus,  produced  about  1560,a  The  Shaking  of  the  Sheets,  Ttie  Vicar 
of  St.  Fools,  and  The  Catching  of  Quails,  are  mentioned  as  country  dances.b 
There  is  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  ballad  in  the  British  Museum  (Add.  MSS. 
No.  15,225),  in  which  it  is  ascribed  to  Thomas  Hill;  and  printed  copies,  in  black 
letter,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection  (i.,  499),  and  in  that  of 
Anthony  a  Wood,  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford  (vol.  401.,  f.  60).  In 
1568-9,  it  was  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall  to  John  Awdelay  (see  Collier's 
Extracts,  vol.  i.,  p.  195). 

Dance  after  my  pipe,  which  is  the  second  title  of  the  ballad,  seems  to  have 
been  a  proverbial  expression.  In  Ben  Jonson's  Every  man  out  of  his  humour, 
Saviolina  says:  "Nay,  I  cannot  stay  to  dance  after  your  pipe"  In  Vox  Borealis, 
1641, — "I  would  teach  them  to  sing  another  song,  and  make  them  dance  after 
my  pipe,  ere  I  had  done  with  them."  And  in  Middleton's  The  World  Lost  at 
Tennis, — "If  I  should  dance  after  your  pipe  I  should  soon  dance  to  the  devil ;" 
and  so  in  many  other  instances. 

La  The  Meeting  of  Crallants  at  an  Ordinary,  the  host,  describing  a  young  man 
who  died  of  the  plague,  in  London,  in  1603,  says:  "But  this  youngster  daunced 
the  shaking  of  one  sheete  within  a  few  daies  after  "   (Percy  Soc.  Reprint,  p.  20)  ; 
and  in  A  West-country  Jigg,  or  a  Trenchmore  Crattiard,  verse  5  : 
"  The  piper  he  struck  up, 

And  merrily  he  did  play 
The  Shaking  of  the  Sheets, 
And  eke  The  Irish  Hay." 

The  tune  is  also  mentioned  in  Lilly's  Pappe  with  a  Hatchet,  1589 ;  in  Gosson's 
Schoole  of  Abuse,  1579;  by  Rowley,  Middleton,  Taylor  the  water-poet,  Marston, 
Massinger,  Hey  wood,  Dekker,  Shirley,  &c.,  &c. 

There  are  two  tunes  under  this  name,  the  one  in  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book, 
which  is  the  same  as  printed  by  Sir  John  Hawkins  in  his  History  of  Music 
(vol.  2,  p.  934,  8vo.  edit.) ;  the  other,  and  in  all  probability  the  more  popular  one, 
is  contained  in  numerous  publications,0  from  The  Dancing  Master  of  1650-51,  to 
The  Vocal  Enchantress  of  1783. 

»  See  Collier's  Hiitory  of  Early  Dramatic  Poetry,  v.  2,  « The  tune  of  The  Catching  of  Quaili  is  also  in  The  Dan- 

P-  4?4.  cing  Matter. 

b  Sometimes  it  is  called  The  Night  Piece,  or  The  Shaking 
of  the  Sheett. 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


85 


Many  ballads  were  sung  to  it,  and  among  them,  King  Olfrey  and  the  old  Abbot, 
which  is  on  the  same  story  as  King  John  and  the  Abbot  of  Canterbury;  and  Tlie 
Song  of  the  Gaps,  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  which  is  also,  in  an  altered  form, 
in  Wit  and  Mirth,  or  Pills  to  Purge  Melancholy. 

The  following  ballad  is  from  a  black-letter  copy,  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum. 

THE  DOLEFULL  DANCE  AND  SONG  OF  DEATH  : 
INTITULED  DANCE  AFTER  MY  PIPE.— TO  A  PLEASANT  NEW  TUNE. 
Moderate  time. 


rj  —  hj    j>| 

^           jsj    | 

1      1      «TJ>* 

i"T1 

i  M 

Can  you  dance  The  shaking 

o/     <Ae  sheets,  A    dance  that  ev'  -  ry 
-*=  —  =-  »             P 

J.J   *   •  — 

V  •    - 

one  must  do  ;  Ca 

& 

P 

nyoi 

H'gfi     -  B 

""^"     .-  

—  S                      r 

I  — 

H  1  

T    —  r-  — 

ft 

—  h  r  JH 

-4 

T~^\ 

rJ  —  J1  .T^i  1 

f*<^    I  —  ip-j 

trir 
J 

n      it     up      with 

-J- 

daL 

a  -  ty  sweets,  And 

ev'  -  ry      thing  that 

|—  ff  ;  m  ;  1 

'longs  there-to?    Make 

— 

V 

\=r~^-  —  T~^  — 

-j»  —  :  F  J^— 

1  

_^_ 

•      n       * 

5^           *- 

—  fl  •  1- 

-8 

•^  J  —  1 

,  ^~ 

J  J  fa— 

>c_*    J  —  i      t-\ 

»    '   *  "  —  -   -"  »  —  ^  T—  ^  »  —  1-*^  —  =  —  •  —  8-^ 
rea  -  dy,  then,  your      wind  -  ing  sheet,  And      see     how  ye  can  he    -     stir    your  feet,  For 

—  1  .—  1  1  K—  ,  .     .     1  1  K-, 

H^^^ 

J 

=J= 

—  1  1  f~ 

|   J.    •          J     «t= 

^""  ' 

!•  J^~         J  1 

p/ 

h      1          h 

"**5N^ 

W 

—  • 

—  *  i  ^~ 

^^^  

—  i  —  ^ 

~r^  — 

—  • 

—  —  J  —  3- 

-8 

^*  J    i 

—  N-1 

3  —  J—  • 

F5- 

—3  —  '|  • 

•                  '^:*''^V 

Death  is  the  man    that       all      must  meet,  For  Death  is  the  man    that        all  must  meet. 

J                 J           ^ 

^=z==i 

J  1 

"  t"  1  —  ^~ 

^  —  Ml 

—  -•  —      .     ^  —  1 

-.    ^___     __  _  """ 

L_J  :  J  

Bring  away  the  beggar  and  the  king, 

And  every  man  in  his  degree  ; 
Bring  away  the  old  and  youngest  thing, 

Come  all  to  death,  and  follow  me ; 
The  courtier  with  his  lofty  looks, 
The  lawyer  with  his  learned  books, 
The  banker  with  his  baiting  hooks. 


Merchants,  have  you  made  your  mart  in  France, 

In  Italy,  and  all  about, 
Know  you  not  that  you  and  I  must  dance, 

Both  our  heels  wrapt  in  a  clout ; 
What  mean  you  to  make  your  houses  gay, 
And  I  must  take  the  tenant  away, 
And  dig  for  your  sake  the  clods  of  clay  ? 


86 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD    MUSIC. 


Think  you  on  the  solemn  'sizes  past, 

How  suddenly  in  Oxfordshire 
I  came,  and  made  the  judges  all  aghast, 

And  justices  that  did  appear, 
And  took  both  Bell  and  Barham  away,a 
And  many  a  worthy  man  that  day, 
And  all  their  bodies  brought  to  clay. 

Think  you  that  I  dare  not  come  to  schools, 
Where  all  the  cunning  clerks  be  most ; 

Take  I  not  away  both  wise  and  fools, 
And  am  I  not  in  every  coast  ? 

Assure  yourselves  no  creature  can 

Make  Death  afraid  of  any  man, 

Or  know  my  coming  where  or  whan. 

Where  be  they  that  make  their  leases  strong, 
And  join  about  them  land  to  land, 

Do  you  make  account  to  live  so  long, 
To  have  the  world  come  to  your  hand  ? 

No,  foolish  nowle,  for  all  thy  pence, 

Full  soon  thy  soul  must  needs  go  hence  ; 

Then  who  shall  toyl  for  thy  defence  ? 

And  you  that  lean  on  your  ladies'  laps, 

And  lay  your  heads  upon  their  knee, 

'  May  think  that  you'll  escape,  perhaps, 

And  need  not  come  to  dance  with  me.' 
But  no  !  fair  lords  and  ladies  all, 
I  will  make  you  come  when  I  do  call, 
And  find  you  a  pipe  to  dance  withall. 


And  you  that  are  busy-headed  fools, 

To  brabble  for  a  pelting  straw, 
Know  you  not  that  I  have  ready  tools 

To  cut  you  from  your  crafty  law  ? 
And  you  that  falsely  buy  and  sell, 
And  think  you  make  your  markets  well, 
Must  dance  with  Death  wheresoe'er  you  dwell. 

Pride  must  have  a  pretty  sheet,  I  see, 

For  properly  she  loves  to  dance ; 
Come  away  my  wanton  wench  to  me, 

As  gallantly  as  your  eye  doth  glance  ; 
And  all  good  fellows  that  flash  and  swash 
In  reds  and  yellows  of.revell  dash, 
I  warrant  you  need  not  be  so  rash. 

For  I  can  quickly  cool  you  all, 

How  hot  or  stout  soever  you  be, 
Both  high  and  low,  both  great  and  small, 

I  nought  do  fear  your  high  degree  ; 
The  ladies  fair,  the  beldames  old, 
The  champion  stout,  the  souldier  bold, 
Must  all  with  me  to  earthly  mould. 

Therefore  take  time  while  it  is  lent, 

Prepare  with  me  yourselves  to  dance  ; 
Forget  me  not,  your  lives  lament, 

I  come  oft-times  by  sudden  chance. 
Be  ready,  therefore, — watch  and  pray, 
That  when  my  minstrel  pipe  doth  play, 
You  may  to  heaven  dance  the  way. 


WOLSEY'S   WILD. 

This  tune  is  called  Wolsey's  Wild  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  but  in 
William  Ballet's  Lute  Bookb  it  is  called  Wilson's  Wile,  and  in  Musictfs  Delight 
on  the  Cithren,  1666,  Wilson's  Wild.  In  the  Bagford  Collection  of  Ballads, 
Brit.  Mus.,  there  is  one  called  "  A  proper  newe  sonet,  declaring  the  Lamentation 
of  Beccles,  a  town  in  Suffolk,"  &c.,  by  T.  D.  (Thomas  Deloney),  to  Wilson's  Tune, 
and  dated  1586,  but  it  does  not  appear,  from  the  metre,  to  have  been  intended 
for  this  air.  Another  "proper  new  ballad"  to  Wilson's  Neiv  Tune  is  in  the 


•  Anthony  a  Wood  observes:  "This  solemn  Assize, 
mentioned  in  the  foregoing  page,  was  kept  in  the  Court- 
house in  the  Castle-yard  at  Oxon,  4  Jul.,  1577.  The  Judges 
who  were  infected  and  dyed  with  the  dampe,  were  Sir 
Rob.  Bell,  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  and  Sir  Nich.  Bar- 
ham,  Serjeant  at  Lawe."  See  Hist,  et  Antiq.  Univ.  Oxon. 
lib.  i.  sub  an.  1577.  This  verse,  therefore,  cannot  have 
been  in  the  ballad  entered  to  Awdelay,  in  1568-9. 

b  This  highly  interesting  manuscript,  which  is  in  the 
library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin  (D.  I.  21),  contains  a 
large  number  of  the  popular  tunes  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. "  Fortune  my  foe,"  "  Peg  a  Ramsey,"  "  Bonny 
sweet  Robin,"  "Calleno,"  "Lightie love  Ladies,"  "Green 
Slseves,"  "  Weladay  "  (all  mentioned  by  Shakspeare), 


besides  "  The  Witches  Dawnce,"  "  The  hunt  is  up,"  "  The 
Shaking  of  the  Shetes,"  "The  Quadran  Pavan,"  "a  Horn- 
pipe," "  Robin  Reddocke,"  "Barrow  Foster's  Dreame," 
"Dowland's  Lachrimae,"  "  Lusty  Gallant,"  The  Black- 
smith," "Rogero,"  "  Turkeyloney,"  "Staynes  Morris," 
"Sellenger's  Rownde,"  "  All  flowers  in  brome,"  "Baloo,". 
"  Wigmore's  Galliard,"  "Robin  Hood  is  to  the  greenwood 
gone,"  &c.,  &c.,are  to  be  found  in  it.  "Queen  Mariees 
Dump"  (in  whose  reign  it  was  probably  commenced) 
stands  first  in  the  book.  The  tunes  are  in  lute  tablature, 
a-style  of  notation  now  obsolete,  in  which  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  up  to  K  are  used  to  designate  the  strings  and 
frsts  of  the  instrument. 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


87 


Library  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries.  It  is  on  Ballard  and  Babington's  con- 
spiracy, and  was  written  just  after  their  execution,  in  1586.  Wilson's  Delight, 
Arthur  a  Bradley,  and  Mall  Dixorfs  Round,  are  mentioned  as  popular  tunes  in 
Braithwaite's  Strappado  for  the  Devil,  1615. 

The  song,  "  Quoth  John  to  Joan,"  or  "  I  cannot  come  every  day  to  woo,"  is 
certainly  as  old  as  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  because  the  first  verse  is  to  be  found 
elaborately  set  to  music  in  a  manuscript  of  that  date,  formerly  in  the  possession 
of  Stafford  Smith  (who  printed  the  song  in  Musica  Antiqua,  vol.  i.,  p.  32),  and  now 
in  that  of  Dr.  Rimbault.  There  are  two  copies  of  the  words  in  vol.  ii.  of  the 
Roxburghe  Collection  of  Ballads,  and  it  is  in  all  the  editions  of  Wit  and  Mirth,  or 
Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  from  1698  to  1719.  In  Wifs  Cabinet,  1731,  it  is 
called  "  The  Clown's  Courtship,  sung  to  the  King  at  Windsor." 

Moderate  time. 


P3jfr    J*   i 

—  i  —  i 

1  h~ 

-    1 

-F  f4—  1  1  

Quoth  John     to     Joan,  wilt 

thou  have  me  ?      I  prit' 

,J       ^J     r. 

iee  now,  wilt?  And  Tse 

«)  -Sji.fi    «i 

;, 

•  0  

*  8  

—  i  

— 

=1  



1  

•d 

1 

•d-     • 

marry  with  thee,  My  cow,  my  calf,  my  house,  my  rents,  And  all  my  lands  and  tenements:  O 


r  •   r  •  ir-  r  ir  r 


r  • 


say,  my  Joan,  say  my  Joan,  will  not  that  do?        I     cannot  come  ev' -  ry 


day      to  woo. 


I've  corn  and  hay  in  the  barn  hard  by,  I  have  a  cheese  upon  the  shelf, 

And  three  fat  hogs  pent  up  in  the  sty  ;  And  I  cannot  eat  it  all  myself; 

I  have  a  mare,  and  she  is  coal-black,  I've  three  good  marks  that  lie  in  a  rag, 

I  ride  on  her  tail  to  save  her  back.  In  the  nook  of  the  chimney,  instead  of  a  bag. 
Then  say,  my  Joan,  &c.  Then  say,  my  Joan,  &c. 

To  marry  I  would  have  thy  consent, 

But,  faith,  I  never  could  compliment ; 

I  can  say  nought  but  "  hoy,  gee  ho," 

Words  that  belong  to  the  cart  and  the  plough  : 

Then  say,  my  Joan,  say,  my  Joan,  will  that  not  do, 

I  cannot  come  every  day  to  woo. 


88 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


THE   MARRIAGE   OF  THE  FROG  AND   THE  MOUSE. 

In  Wedderburn's  Complaint  of  Scotland,  1549,  one  of  the  songs  sung  by  the 
shepherds  is  The  frog  cam  to  the  myl  dur  [mill-door].  In  1580,  a  ballad  of 
"A  most  strange  wedding  of  the  frog  and  the  mouse  "  was  licensed  to  Edward 
White,  at  Stationers'  Hall :  and  in  1611,  this  song  was  printed  with  music,  among 
the  "  Country  Pastimes,"  in  Melismata.  It  is  the  progenitor  of  several  others  ; 
one  beginning —  "  There  was  a  frog  lived  in  a  well, 

And  a  farce  mouse  in  a  mill;" 

another,  "  A  frog  he  would  a-wooing  go ; "    a  third  in  Pills  to  purge  Melan- 
choly, &c.,  &c. 


~s       Moderate 

dzsbs  

tim 

e. 

111        J-     J 

u  j   j  i 

«))    »     f 
it 

—9 
I 

wt 

:  J  t  is     •=< 

is      a      frog      in      the     well, 

-9^—t  1         -J 

P 

Hum  -  ble-dum,  hum  -  ble  -  dum, 

s 

<J'ff  <*  3  

—  |  

—  In  

t  —  =  — 

H  !  — 

LJ  =  

IJ    • 

L^  1 

-j  

'  H   J    . 

,r^>  .  , 

.  J—  3  — 

=55*|  3 

F   •        ' 

And  the  merry  mouse 

• 

T  '     V 

in  the    mill, 

twee  -  die,  tweedle,  t 

• 

wi 

-  no. 

E| 

P 

9|                            • 

—  1  —  F 

^-1*^ 

f 

1-  -    --  : 

The  frogge  would  a-wooing  ride, 

Humble-dura,  humhle-dum  ; 
Sword  and  buckler  by  his  side, 

Tweedle,  tweedle,  twino. 
When  upon  his  high  horse  set, 

Humble-dum,  &c., 
His  boots  they  shone  as  black  as  jet, 

Tweedle,  &c. 


Hast  thou  any  mind  of  me  ? 
I  have  e'en  great  mind  of  thee. 
Who  shall  this  marriage  make  ? 
Our  lord,  which  is  the  rat. 

What  shall  we  have  to  our  supper  ? 
Three  beans  in  a  pound  of  butter. 
But,  when  supper  they  were  at, 
The  frog,  the  mouse,  and  e'en  the  rat, 

Then  came  hi  Gib,  our  cat, 

And  caught  the  mouse  e'en  by  the  back. 

Then  did  they  separate  : 

The  frog  leapt  on  the  floor  so  flat ; 


When  he  came  to  the  merry  mill  pin, 
Lady  Mouse  beene  you  within  ? 
Then  came  out  the  dusty  mouse  : 
I  am  lady  of  this  house ; 

Then  came  in  Dick,  our  drake, 

And  drew  the  frog  e'en  to  the  lake  ; 

The  rat  he  ran  up  the  wall, 

'  And  so  the  company  parted  all.' 

THE  CRAMP. 

This  is  one  of  the  three  country  dance  tunes  arranged  to  be  sung  together  in 
Pammelia,  and  is  frequently  referred  to  as  a  ballad  tune. 

In  the  Ashmolean  library,  in  the  same  manuscript  volume  with  CJievy  Ohace 
(No.  48),  is  a  ballad  by  Elderton,  describing  the  articles  sold  in  the  market  in 
tune  of  Lent.  The  observance  of  Lent  was  compulsory  in  those  days,  and  it  was 
by  no  means  palatable  to  all.  In  1570,  William  Pickering  had  a  license  to  print 


FROM   HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


89 


a  ballad,  entitled  Lenton  Stu/,  which  was,  in  all  probability,  the  same.  Elderton's 
ballad  is  called —      "  A  new  ballad,  entitled  Lenton  Stitjf, 

For  a  little  money  ye  may  have  enough;" 

to  the  tune  of  The  Cramp. 
"  Lenton  stuff  is  come  to  the  town, 

The  cleansing  week  comes  quickly ; 
You  know  well  enough  you  must  kneel  down, 

Come  on,  take  ashes  trickly  ; 
That  neither  are  good  flesh  nor  fish, 
But  dip  with  Judas  in  the  dish, 
And  keep  a  rout  not  worth  a  fyshe  "  [rush]. 

[Heigh  ho !  the  cramp-a.] 

It  is  not  noticed  by  Eltson  in  his  list  of  Elderton's  ballads,  Bibl.  Poet.  p.  195-8 ; 
but  Mr.  Halliwell  has  printed  it  in  the  volume  containing  The  Marriage  of  Wit 
and  Wisdom,  for  the  Shakespeare  Society.     The  following  is  from  Pammelia. 
Moderate  time. 


The  cramp  is  in     my     purse  full  sore,  No  money  will  bide  there-in,      a,  And 


b 


KI     r»   i     h    r***^ 

!     f     ' 

J        W      J        J 

J                                           ™                            |                                   ^ 

_        *        0            - 

• 

V                  1 

•       •      *       * 

1  :  i   J    J  -P- 

9                                * 

• 

-4-^  J  ^f— 

—m  •—  ;  

•  —  9  —  'jj  •*  — 

—  *—  *  — 

y  —  :  —  *  — 

1                                                             1                     1 
if        I     had    some     salve  therefore,      O     light-  ly  then  would  I      sing,          a, 

§J            ^                ^ 
-;  ™  .                  "*•  *        .      :  Z_A  «_£^  f  , 

—  

—  >H  =  

-r  —  :  — 

• 

•      '        \           *1 

-f-- 

1           ' 

—  m 

J      .         J           1 

M   :     J  —  jH 

1  H  

—  •  —      —d  9  — 

->m—  \  —  *  —  J— 

—  4  —   —  m  i  

-d 

!  —  i  * 

1  

Hey          ho  !      the        cramp,      a.                 Hey         ho  !      the       cramp,         a 

—  Q  :  .  

~T~^  —  f  =i  — 

—  _  _  

i  —  =  —  r 

1  

1  -  —  '1  1— 

-^  

?  —  1  —  p 

—  a  j 

—  i  —  i— 

^      .       J       .  

3  .    j  —  i— 

"1 

p-^-J  

Hey_ 

ho  !     the     cramp,       a. 

Hey        ho!     the     era 

mp,       a. 

|_  

1  1              f 

90 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


I  HAVE  HOUSE  AND  LAND  IN  KENT. 

This  song,  which  is  one  of  the  "  Country  Pastimes,"  in  Melismata,  1611,  is  on 
the  same  subject  as  Quoth  John  to  Joan,  page  87.  The  tune  begins  like  The 
Three  Ravens,  but  is  in  quicker  time.  In  Melismata  it  is  called  A  Wooing  Song 
of  a  Yeoman  of  Kenfs  son,  and  the  words  are  given  in  the  Kentish  dialect. 


-^       moaerat 

?  time 

-J  — 

—  i  —  ^™^^^"™ 

—  TT~ 

—  f  m 

— 

($b  4    iT 

tJ        V 

4-\ 

Ui 

I 

'Qy  :  '  j< 

—  1 

r 

I    have 

house  and     land     in     K 

-f  r  

[.ent,  And    if    you'll 

\^                             | 

\0\ 

re      me,  love      me 

i       i 

—  P  4  —  J  

3  F  — 

=3  

— 

I  

—  1  

i          p        r  r 

now.         Two  -  pence  half-  penny  is      my  rent,     I     cannot  come       ev  -  'ry  day     to 


woo.  Yes,  twopence  half-penny  is     his   rent,  He   cannot  come  ev  -  'ry  day     to     woo 


J    •    J    . 


Ich  am  my  vather's  eldest  zonne, 

My  mother  eke  doth  love  me  well ; 
For  ich  can  bravely  clout  my  shoone, 

And  ich  full  well  can  ring  a  bell.a 
Chorus. — For  he  can  bravely  clout  his  shoone, 
And  he  full  well  can  ring  a  bell. 

My  vather  he  gave  me  a  hogge, 

My  mouther  she  gave  me  a  zow  ; 
I  have  a  godvather  djjglls  there  by, 

And  he  on  me  bestowed  a  plow. 
Chorus. — He  has  a  godvather  dwells  there  by, 
And  he  on  him  bestowed  a  plow. 

One  time  I  gave  thee  a  paper  of  pins, 

Anoder  time  a  taudry  lace  ; 
And  if  thou  wilt  not  grant  me  love, 
In  truth  ich  die  bevore  thy  vace. 
Chorus. — And  if  thou  wilt  not  grant  his  love, 
In  truth  he'll  die  bevore  thy  face. 

•  Bell-ringing  was  formerly  a  great  amusement  of  the 
English,  and  the  allusions  to  it  are  of  frequent  occurrence. 
Numerous  payments  to  bell-ringers  are  generally  to  be 


Ich  have  beene  twise  our  Whitson  lord, 

Ich  have  had  ladies  many  vare  ; 
And  eke  thou  hast  my  heart  in  hold, 

And  in  my  mind  zeemes  passing  rare. 
Chorus. — And  eke  thou  hast  his  heart  in  hold, 
And  in  his  mind  zeemes  passing  rare. 

Ich  will  put  on  my  best  white  slopp, 
And  ich  will  wear  my  jellow  hose, 
And  on  my  head  a  good  gray  hat, 
And  in't  ich  stick  a  lovely  rose. 
Chorus. — And  on  his  head  a  good  gray  hat, 
And  i'nt  he'll  stick  a  lovely  rose. 

Wherefore  cease  off,  make  no  delay, 

And  if  you'll  love  me,  love  me  now ; 
Or  else  ich  zeek  zome  oder  where, 

For  I  cannot  come  every  day  to  woo. 
Chorus. — Or  else  he'll  zeek  zome  oder  where, 
For  he  cannot  come  every  day  to  woo. 

found  in  Churchwardens'  accounts  of  the  16th  and  17th 
centuries. 


FROM  HENRY  VII.  TO  MARY.  91 

LUSTY  GALLANT. 

This  tune,  which  was  extremely  popular  in  former  times,  is  to  be  found  in 
William  Ballet's  Lute  Book.  It  resembles  "  Now  foot  it  as  I  do,  Tom,  boy,  Tom," 
which  is  one  of  three  country  dances,  arranged  to  be  sung  together  as  a  round,  in 
Pammelia. 

Nicholas  Breton  mentions  Old  Lusty  Grallant  as  a  dance  tune  in  his  Works  of 
a  Young  Wit,  1577 :  "by  chance, 

Our  banquet  done,  we  had  our  music  by, 

And  then,  you  know,  the  youth  must  needs  go  dance, 

First  galliards — then  larousse,  and  heidegy — 

Old  Lusty  Gallant — All  flowers  of  the  broom; 

And  then  a  hall,  for  dancers  must  have  room  ; " 

and  Elderton,  wrote,  "  a  proper  new  balad  in  praise  of  my  Ladie  Marques,  whose 
death  is  bewailed,"  to  the  tune  of  New  Lusty  Grallant.  A  copy  of  that  ballad  is 
in  the  possession  of  Mr.  George  Daniel,  of  Canonbury ;  but  I  assume  it  to  have 
been  intended  for  another  air,  because  there  are  seven  lines  in  each  stanza.  The 
following  is  the  first : — 

"  Ladies,  I  thinke  you  marvell  that 

I  writ  no  mery  report  to  you  : 

And  what  is  the  cause  I  court  it  not 

So  merye  as  I  was  wont  to  dooe  ? 

Alas  !  I  let  you  understand 

It  is  no  newes  for  me  to  me  to  show 

The  fairest  flower  of  my  garland." 

If  sung  to  this  tune,  the  last  line  of  each  stanza  would  require  repetition. 

Nashe,  in  his  Terrors  of  the  Night,  1594,  says,  "  After  all  they  danced  Lusty 
Grallant,  and  a  drunken  Danish  levalto  or  two." 

There  is  a  song  beginning,  "  Fain  would  I  have  a  pretie  thing  to  give  unto  my 
ladie"  (to  the  tune  of  Lusty  Grallanf),  in  A  Handefutt  of  Pleasant  Delites,  and 
although  that  volume  is  not  known  to  have  been  printed  before  1584,  it  seems  to 
have  been  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall  as  early  as  1565-6.  Fain  would  I,  &c., 
must  have  been  written,  and  have  attained  popularity,  either  in  or  before  the 
year  1566,  because,  in  1566-7,  a  moralization,  called  Fain  would  I  have  a  godly 
thing  to  sheiv  unto  my  lady,  was  entered,  and  in  MSS.  Ashmolea  48,  fol.  120,  is  a 
ballad  of  Troilus  and  Creseida,  beginning — 

"  When  Troilus  dwelt  in  Troy  town, 

A  man  of  noble  fame-a  " — 

to  the  tune  of  Fain  would  I  find  some  pretty  thing,  &c.,  so  that,  from  the  popu- 
larity of  the  ballad,  the  tune  had  become  known  by  its  name  also. 

I  have  not  found  any  song  called  Lusty  Grallant :  perhaps  it  is  referred  to  in 
Massinger's  play,  The  Picture,  where  Ferdinand  says : 

s  Mr.  W.  H.  Black,  in  his  Catalogue  of  the  Ashmolean  tains  Chevy  Chace).  Mr.  Halliwell  has  printed  the  ballad 
MSS.,  describes  this  volume  as  "written  in  the  middle  of  of  Troilus  and  Creseida,  in  the  volume  containing  The 
the  sixteenth  century" — (it  is  the  manuscript  which  con-  Marriage  of  Wit  and  Wisdom,  for  the  Shakespeare  Society. 


ENGLISH   SONO   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


-"  is  your  Theorbo 


Turn'd  to  a  distaff,  Signior,  and  your  voice, 

With  which  you  chanted  Room  for  a  lusty  Gallant, 

Tuned  to  the  note  of  Lachrymce  ?  "a 

The  ballad  of  "A  famous  sea-fight  between  Captain  Ward  and  the  Rainbow" 
(in  the  Roxburghe  Collection)  "  to  the  tune  of  Captain  Ward,"  &c.,  begins,  "  Strike 
up,  you  lusty  Gallants." 

In  the  Grorgeous  G-allery  of  gallant  Inventions,  1578,  there  is  a  "  proper  dittie," 
to  the  tune  of  Lusty  Grallant;  and  Pepys  mentions  a  song  with  the  burden  of 
"  St.  George  for  England,"  to  the  tune  of  List,  lusty  Gallants. 


tfy-K-^ 

-i-J-d—  ^ 

e  C  i   g 

i  j  «M 

.    J    J 

—  j  j  r 

m 

?r      ^    «» 

Fain    would  I  have    a 

pret-ty  thing  To  j 

L-*  •  ' 

TT 

jive    un  -  to        my 

La  -  dy. 

^):#  fi  —  5^  — 

-p—  '  —  J  

1  

I 

—  F  ^ 

;  

ft    ' 

—  d  

-1  fe  

•    '    I    —  ^ 

;  

^           |J  1        J        J          J[ 

H  —  jfc 

—  fe 

iJ    J  i     hi 

n  —  mi 

I        name      no  thing,  And  mean    no  thing,  But  as  pretty    a  thing      as 

1  1  1  —  •  1 

may    be. 

U^f  —  •-  —  ^H 

H  1  

-i  1  

J  .  f    i 

Twenty  journeys  would  I  make, 
And  twenty  days  would  hie  me, 

To  make  adventure  for  her  sake, 
To  set  some  matter  by  me. 


Some  do  long  for  pretty  knacks, 
And  some  for  strange  devices  ; 

God  send  me  what  my  lady  lacks, 
I  care  not  what  the  price  is. 


There  are  eight  more  stanzas,  which  will  be  found  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  vol.  1, 
p.  123,  edit.  1810,  or  in  the  reprint  of  A  Handefull  of  Pleasant  Delites. 


BY  A  BANK  AS  I  LAY. 

In  the  Life  of  Sir  Peter  Carew,  before  quoted  (page  52) ,  "  By  the  bank  as 
I  lay  "  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  Freemen's  Songs  which  Sir  Peter  used  to  sing 
with  Henry  VUL  ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  King  Henry's  Mirth  or  Freemen's  Songs 
in  Deuteromelia.  In  Laneham's  letter  from  Kenilworth,  1565,  "  By  a  bank  as 
I  lay  "  is  included  in  the  "  bunch  of  ballads  and  songs,  all  ancient,"  which  were 
then  in  the  possession  of  Captain  Cox,  the  Mason  of  Coventry.  In  Wager's  in- 
terlude, The  longer  thou  livest  the  more  fool  thou  art,  1568,  Moros  sings  the  two 
following  lines : —  "  By  a  bank  as  I  lay,  I  lay, 

Musing  on  things  past,  heigh  ho  !  " 
In  Royal  MSS.  Append.  58,  there  is  another  song,  of  which  the  first  line  is  the 

*  Lachrymte,  a  tune  often  referred  to,  composed  by  Dowland. 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


93 


same,  but  the  second  differs ;  and  the  music  to  it  is  not  of  the  light  and  popular 
class  called  Freemen's  Songs,  but  a  studied  composition.  The  words  of  the  latter 
have  been  printed  by  Mr.  Payne  Collier,  in  his  Extracts  from  the  Registers  of 
the  Stationers'  Company,  vol.  i.,  page  193.  They  are  in  the  same  metre,  and 
therefore  might  also  be  sung  to  this  tune. 

The  last  line  of  the  song,  as  printed  in  Deuteromelia,  is  "  And  save  noble  James 
our  king,"  because  the  book  was  printed  in  his  reign. 

^   Moderate  time. 


-p-  H  —  I    J-J  1 

IJ.JJ.j  J  1 

r  '  j  J  J  J    Jj  i 

£-^  1  —  R 

By     a       bank 

as         I         lay,! 

Cl                         f          P                •               9                 ^0 

lusingon  a  thingthatwaspastandgone,heighho! 

'  1*          P               m 

cs 

i 

</•/»!         f              « 

1                                               O 

\t  \      r         r 

^r"*i 

•      m 

J          a 

rjh;  j^  n-j-tsj-j  »  j  ^  J  j  ^ 

iJ.    fiH  iJ.1  J..iJn 

U>i  ^  «    ^  ^fe,^.^  «        1°!    ^^H 

In  themerry  monthofMay,  O  somewhat  before  the  day,  Methought  I  heard 

at         the  last, 

-fl=]  1  

3  1  

^     '-i- 

-^5  

O  the  gentle  nightingale, 
The  lady  and  the  mistress  of  all  musick, 

She  sits  down  ever  in  the  dale  ; 

Singing  with  her  notes  smale  [small], 
And  quavering  them  wonderfully  thick. 


Oh,  for  joy,  my  spirits  were  quick, 
To  hear  the  bird  how  merrily  she  could  sing, 
And  I  said,  good  Lord,  defend 
England,  with  thy  most  holy  hand, 
And  save  noble  '  Henry '  our  king. 


ROGERO. 

This  tune  is  to  be  found  among  Dowland's  Manuscripts,*  in  the  public  library, 
Cambridge ;  in  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book,  and  in  Dallis'  Lute  Book,  both  in 
the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 

The  first  entry  in  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  Extracts  from  the  Registers  of  the 
Stationers'  Company,  is  to  William  Pickering,  a  "Ballett  called  Arise  and  wake" 
(1557).  In  the  Roxburghe  Collection  of  Ballads,  there  is  one  commencing, 
"  Arise  and  awake,"  entitled — 

"  A  godly  and  Christian  A.B.C., 

Shewing  the  duty  of  every  degree," 

to  the  tune  of  Rogero.  It  may  be  the  ballad  referred  to,  although  the  copy  in  the 
Roxburghe  Collection  was  printed  at  a  later  date.  In  the  same  year,  1557,  there 
is  an  entry  of  "  A  Ballett  of  the  A.B.C.  of  a  Priest,  called  Hugh  Stourmy," 
and  another  of  "  The  aged  man's  A.B.C." 


*  The  references  to  these  Manuscripts  are,  D.  d.  2.  11. 
— D.  d.  3.  18.— D.  d.  .4.  23.— D.  d.  9.  33.— D.  d.  14.  24., 
&c.  Some  appear  to  be  in  the  handwriting  of  Dowland, 


the  celebrated  lutenist  of  Elizabeth's  reign.    The  tune  of 
Rogero  is  in  three  or  four  of  them. 


94 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Rogero  is  mentioned  as  a  dance  tune  in  Stephen  Gosson's  School  of  Abuse, 
1579 ;  in  Heywood's  A  woman  killed  with  kindness  (acted  before  1604)  ;  and  in 
Nashe's  Have  with  you  to  Saffron-  Walden,  1596  ;  also  by  Dekker,  in  The  Shoe- 
maker's Holiday,  &c. 

Many  ballads  were  sung  to  the  tune  of  Rogero.  In  the  first  volume  of  the 
Roxburghe  Collection,  for  instance,  there  are  at  least  four.a  Others  in  the 
Pepysian  Collection;  in  The  Grown  Crarland  of  Cf-olden  Roses,  1612;  in  Deloney's 
Strange  Histories,13  1607  ;  in  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry  ;  and  in  Evans' 
Old  Ballads.  Arise  and  awake,  is  also  referred  to  as  a  ballad  tune. 

The  following,  which  is  entitled  "  The  valiant  courage  and  policy  of  the 
Kentishmen  with  long  tails,  whereby  they  kept  their  ancient  laws  and  customs, 
which  William  the  Conqueror  sought  to  take  from  them  c — to  the  tune  of  Rogero" 
is  from  Strange  Histories,  &c.,  1607.  It  was  written  by  Deloney,  "  the  ballading 
silk-weaver,"  who  died  in  or  before  1600. 

Boldly  and  marked. 


35:5  —  fj- 

-h 

~H~ 

SE 

^T 

m=^ 

d- 

^^ 

-^- 

E3E 

H  —  i 

(Qr)  —  "^  —  J~^  — 

-^ 

~^  —  3~~ 

p~* 

-9- 

—  ;  i  

J^ 

J 

^E 

~i  —  * 

When     as 

1      s 
the  Duke 

of         Nor 

-    man- 

dy, 

t?  , 

With         glist'ring 

spear   and 

'  1' 

• 

P^ 

• 

r 

• 

»   /  .,         /   t             M 

r 

•    r 

s 

r 

f.          m 

^ 


shield.  Had     en  -  ter'd  in  -  to    fair  England,  And  foil'd  his  foes     in     field 

J      .        r 


^ 


^J^Li 


? 


On  Christmas-day  in  solemn  sort 

Then  was  he  crowned  here, 
By  Albert  archbishop  of  York, 

With  many  a  noble  peer. 

Which  being  done,  he  changed  quite 

The  customs  of  this  land, 
And  punisht  such  as  daily  sought 

His  statutes  to  withstand  : 

•  See  folios  130,  258,  482,  and  492. 

b  The  Crown  Garland  and  Strange  Histories  have  been 
reprinted  by  the  Percy  Society. 

0  Evans,  who  prints  this  ballad  from  another  copy  (The 
Garland  of  Delight)  extracts  the  following  account  of  the 
event  which  gave  rise  to  it,  from  The  Lives  of  the  three 
Norman  Kings  of  England,  by  Sir  John  Hey  ward,  4to,  1613, 
p.  97:  "Further,  by  the  counsel  of  Stigand,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  of  Eglesine,  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's 
(who  at  that  time  were  the  chief  governors  of  Kent),  as  the 
King  was  riding  towards  Dover,  at  Swanscombe,  two 
miles  from  Gravesend,  the  Kentishmen  came  towards  him 
armed  and  bearing  boughs  in  their  hands,  as  if  it  had  been 


And  many  cities  he  subdued, 

Fair  London  with  the  rest ; 
But  Kent  did  still  withstand  his  force, 

And  did  his  laws  detest. 

To  Dover  then  he  took  his  way, 

The  castle  down  to  fling, 
Which  Arviragus  builded  there, 

The  noble  British  king. 

a  moving  wood ;  they  enclosed  him  upon  the  sudden,  and 
with  a  firm  countenance,  but  words  well  tempered  with 
modesty  and  respect,  they  demanded  of  him  the  use  of 
their  ancient  liberties  and  laws:  that  in  other  matters 
they  would  yield  obedience  unto  him  :  that  without  this 
they  desired  not  to  live.  The  king  was  content  to  strike 
sail  to  the  storm,  and  to  give  them  a  vain  satisfaction  for 
the  present;  knowing  right  well  that  the  general  customs 
and  laws  of  the  residue  of  the  realm  would  in  short  time 
overflow  these  particular  places.  So  pledges  being  given 
on  both  sides,  they  conducted  him  to  Rochester,  and 
yielded  up  the  county  of  Kent,  and  the  castle  of  Dover 
into  his  power." 


FROM    HENRY   VII.    TO   MARY. 


95 


Which  when  the  brave  archbishop  bold 

Of  Canterbury  knew, 
The  abbot  of  Saint  Augustines  eke, 

With  all  their  gallant  crew, 

They  set  themselves  in  armour  bright, 

These  mischiefs  to  prevent, 
With  all  the  yeomen  brave  and  bold 

That  were  in  fruitful  Kent. 

At  Canterbury  did  they  meet 

Upon  a  certain  day, 
With  sword  and  spear,  with  bill  and  bow, 

And  stopt  the  conqueror's  way. 

Let  us  not  live  like  bond-men  poor 
To  Frenchmen  in  their  pride, 

But  keep  our  ancient  liberty, 
What  chance  so  e'er  betide, 

And  rather  die  in  bloody  field, 
In  manlike  courage  prest  (ready), 

Than  to  endure  tbe  servile  yoke, 
Which  we  so  much  detest. 

Thus  did  the  Kentish  commons  cry 

Unto  their  leaders  still, 
And  so  march'd  forth  in  warlike  sort, 

And  stand  at  Swanscomb  hill  : 

Where  in  the  woods  they  hid  themselves, 

Under  the  shady  green, 
Thereby  to  get  them  vantage  good, 

Of  all  their  foes  unseen. 

And  for  the  conqueror's  coming  there, 

They  privily  laid  wait, 
And  thereby  suddenly  appal'd 

His  lofty  high  conceit ; 

For  when  they  spied  his  approach, 

In  place  as  they  did  stand, 
Then  marched  they,  to  hem  him  in, 

Each  one  a  bough  in  hand, 

So  that  unto  the  conqueror's  sight, 

Amazed  as  he  stood, 
They  seem'd  to  be  a  walking  grove, 

Or  else  a  moving  wood. 


The  shape  of  men  he  could  not  see, 
The  boughs  did  hide  them  so  : 

And  now  his  heart  for  fear  did  quake, 
To  see  a  forest  go  ; 

Before,  behind,  and  on  each  side, 

As  he  did  cast  his  eye, 
He  spied  those  woods  with  sober  pace 

Approach  to  him  full  nigh  : 

But  when  the  Kentish-men  had  thus 
Enclos'd  the  conqueror  round, 

Most  suddenly  they  drew  their  swords, 
And  threw  the  boughs  to  ground  ; 

Their  banners  they  display 'd  in  sight, 
Their  trumpets  sound  a  charge, 

Their  rattling  drums  strike  up  alarms, 
Their  troops  stretch  out  at  large. 

The  conqueror,  and  all  his  train, 

Were  hereat  sore  aghast, 
And  most  in  peril,  when  they  thought 

All  peril  had  been  past. 

Unto  the  Kentish  men  he  sent, 

The  cause  to  understand, 
For  what  intent,  and  for  what  cause, 

They  took  this  war  in  hand  ; 

To  whom  they  made  this  short  reply, 

For  liberty  we  fight, 
And  to  enjoy  king  Edward's  laws, 

The  which  we  hold  our  right. 

Then  said  the  dreadful  conqueror, 
You  shall  have  what  you  will, 

Your  ancient  customs  and  your  laws, 
So  that  you  will  be  still  : 

And  each  thing  else  that  you  will  crave 

With  reason,  at  my  hand, 
So  you  will  but  acknowledge  me 

Chief  king  of  fair  England. 

The  Kentish  men  agreed  thereon, 

And  laid  their  arms  aside, 
And  by  this  means  king  Edward's  laws 

In  Kent  do  still  abide  ; 


And  in  no  place  in  England  else 

These  customs  do  remain, 
Which  they  by  manly  policy 

Did  of  duke  William  gain. 

TURKEYLONEY. 

The  figure  of  the  dance  called  Turkeyloney  is  described  with  others  in  a  manu- 
script in  the  Bodleian  Library  (MS.  Rawl.  Poet.  108),  which  was  written  about 
1570.  Stephen  Gosson,  in  his  Sclwole  of  Abuse,  containing  a  pleasant  Invective 
against  Poets,  Pipers,  Players,  Jesters,  &c.,  1579,  alludes  to  the  tune  as  one  of 


96 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


the  most  popular  in  his  day.  He  says,  "  Homer,  with  his  music,  cured  the  sick 
soldiers  in  the  Grecians'  camp,  and  purged  every  man's  tent  of  the  plague. 
Think  you  that  those  miracles  could  be  wrought  with  playing  dances,  dumps, 
pavans,  galliards,  fancies,  or  new  strains  ?  They  never  came  where  this  grew, 

nor  knew  what  it  meant Terpander  neither  piped  Hogero,  nor  Turkeloney, 

when  he  ended  the  brabbles  at  Lacedemon,  but,  putting  them  in  mind  of  Lycurgus' 
laws,  taught  them  to  tread  a  better  measure:"  but,  "  if  you  enquire  how  many 
such  poets  and  pipers  we  have  in  our  age,  I  am  persuaded  that  every  one  of  them 
may  creep  through  a  ring,  or  dance  the  wild  morris  in  a  needle's  eye.  We  have 
infinite  poets  and  pipers,  and  such  peevish  cattle  among  us  in  England,  that  live 
by  merry  begging,  maintained  by  alms,  and  privily  encroach  upon  every  man's 
purse,  but  if  they  in  authority  should  call  an  account  to  see  how  many  Chirons, 
Terpandri,  and  Homers  are  here,  they  might  cast  the  sum  without  pen  or 
counters,  and  sit  down  with  Rachel  to  weep  for  her  children,  because  they  are  not." 

TurTceylony  is  also  mentioned,  as  a  dance  tune,  in  Nashe's  Have  with  you  to 
Saffron-  Walden,  1596;  and  the  music  will  be  found  in  William  Ballet's  Lute 
Book,  described  in  a  note  at  page  86. 

The  words  here  coupled  with  the  tune  are  taken  from  a  manuscript  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Payne  Collier.  Although  the  manuscript  is  of  the  reign  of 
James  I.,  the  "  ballett "  Yf  ever  I  marry,  I  will  marry  a  mayde,  was  entered 
at  Stationers'  Hall  as  early  as  1557-8.  The  name  of  the  air  to  which  it  should 
be  sung  is  neither  given  in  the  MS.,  nor  in  the  entry  at  Stationers'  Hall;  but  the 
words  and  music  agree  so  well  together,  that  it  is  very  probable  the  ballet  was 

written  to  this  tune. 

In  moderate  time,  and  smoothly. 


If  e  -  ver    I  inar-ry,  I'll     mar-ry   a    maid  :  To     marry    a    widow  I'm 


mm 


r-  ir  j. 


it 


r 

sore 


a  -  fraid  ;      For   maids  they  are    sim  -  pie,  and     never      will      grutch,  But 

(grudge) 


-H  — 

r>    i  —  |  —  h— 

^^ 

i 

J  ftj  UJ  —  J  — 

_^  J_q  J  

widows 

=3= 

£•  —  g«  —  •  —  ' 
full   oft,    as  they 

J        .   i 

4      '        J 
say,  know  too    much, 

i                           i 

•  • 
-^ 

-j-  J  

FROM   HENRY  VII.   TO   MARY.  97 

A  maid  is  so  sweet,  and  so  gentle  of  kind, 

That  a  maid  is  the  wife  I  will  choose  to  my  mind  ; 

A  widow  is  froward,  and  never  will  yield  ; 

Or  if  such  there  be,  you  will  meet  them  but  seeld.  [seldom] 

A  maid  ne'er  complaineth,  do  what  so  you  will ; 

But  what  you  mean  well,  a  widow  takes  ill : 

A  widow  will  make  you  a  drudge  and  a  slave, 

And  cost  ne'er  so  much,  she  will  ever  go  brave,  [gaily  dress'd] 

A  maid  is  so  modest,  she  seemeth  a  rose, 

When  first  it  beginneth  the  bud  to  unclose  ; 

But  a  widow  full  blowen,  full  often  deceives, 

And  the  next  wind  that  bloweth  shakes  down  all  her  leaves. 

That  widows  be  lovely  I  never  gainsay, 
But  too  well  all  their  beauty  they  know  to  display  ; 
But  a  maid  hath  so  great  hidden  beauty  in  store, 
She  can  spare  to  a  widow,  yet  never  be  poor. 

Then,  if  ever  I  marry,  give  me  a  fresh  maid, 

If  to  marry  with' any  I  be  not  afraid; 

But  to  marry  with  any  it  asketh  much  care, 

And  some  bachelors  hold  they  are  best  as  they  are. 


98  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


REIGN     OF    ELIZABETH. 


During  the  long  reign  of  Elizabeth,  music  seems  to  have  been  in  universal 
cultivation,  as  well  as  in  universal  esteem.  Not  only  was  it  a  necessary  qualifica- 
tion for  ladies  and  gentlemen,  but  even  the  city  of  London  advertised  the  musical 
abilities  of  boys  educated  in  Bridewell  and  Christ's  Hospital,  as  a  mode  of 
recommending  them  as  servants,  apprentices,  or  husbandmen.*  In  Deloney's 
History  of  the  gentle  Craft,  1598,  one  who  tried  to  pass  for  a  shoemaker  was 
detected  as  an  imposter,  because  he  could  neither  "  sing,  sound  the  trumpet,  play 
upon  the  flute,  nor  reckon  up  his  tools  in  rhyme."  Tinkers  sang  catches;  milk- 
maids sang  ballads ;  carters  whistled ;  each  trade,  and  even  the  beggars,  had 
their  special  songs  ;  the  base- viol  hung  in  the  drawing  room  for  the  amusement  of 
waiting  visitors ;  and  the  lute.,  cittern,  and  virginals,  for  the  amusement  of  wait- 
ing customers,  were  the  necessary  furniture  of  the  barber's  shop.  They  had 
music  at  dinner ;  music  at  supper ;  music  at  weddings ;  music  at  funerals ;  music 
at  night;  music  at  dawn;  music  at  work;  and  music  at  play. 

He  who  felt  not,  in  some  degree,  its  soothing  influences,  was  viewed  as  a 
morose,  unsocial  being,  whose  converse  ought  to  be  shunned,  and  regarded  with 
suspicion  and  distrust. 

"  The  man  that  hath  no  music  in  himself, 
Nor  is  not  mov'd  with  concord  of  sweet  sounds, 
Is  fit  for  treasons,  stratagems,  and  spoils  ; 
The  motions  of  his  spirit  are  as  dull  as  night, 
And  his  affections  dark  as  Erebus : 
Let  no  such  man  be  trusted." 

Merchant  of  Venice,  act  v.,  sc.  1. 
"  Preposterous  ass  !  that  never  read  so  far 
To  know  the  cause  why  music  was  ordain'd  ! 
Was  it  not  to  refresh  the  mind  of  man 
After  his  studies,  or  his  usual  pain  ?  " 

The  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  act  ii.,  sc.  3. 

»  "That  the  preachers  be  moved  at  the  sermons  at  the  Golden  Tunne;"  reprinted  in  The  British  Bibliographer. 
Crosse "  [St.  Paul's  Cross]  "and  other  convenient  times,  Edward  VI.  granted  the  charters  of  incorporation  for 
and  that  all  other  good  notorious  meanes  be  used,  to  re-  Bridewell  and  Christ's  Hospital,  a  few  days  before  his 
quire  both  citizens,  artificers,  and  other,  and  also  all  death.  Bridewell  is  a  foundation  of  a  mixed  and  sin- 
farmers  and  other  for  husbandry,  and  gentlemen  and  other  gular  nature,  partaking  of  the  hospital,  prison,  and  work- 
for  their  kitchens  and  other  services,  to  take  servants  and  house.  Youths  were  sent  to  the  Hospital  as  apprentices 
children  both  out  of  Bridewell  and  Christ's  Hospital  at  to  manufacturers,  who  resided  there ;  and  on  leaving,  re- 
their  pleasures,  .  .  .  with  further  declaration  that  many  ceived  a  donation  of  101.,  and  their  freedom  of  the  city, 
of  them  be  of  toward  qualities  in  readyng,  wryting,  gram-  Pepys,  in  his  Diary,  5th  October,  1664,  says,  "To  new 
mer,  and  musike."  This  is  the  66th  and  last  of  the  Bridewell,  and  there  I  did  with  great  pleasure  see  the 
"Orders  appointed  to  be  executed  in  the  cittie  of  London,  many  pretty  -works,  and  the  little  children  employed, 
for  setting  rogfu]es  and  idle  persons  to  worke,  and  for  every  one  to  do  something,  which  was  a  very  fine  sight, 
releefe  of  the  poore."  "At  London,  printed  by  Hugh  and  worthy  encouragement." 
Singleton,  dwelling  in  Smith  Fielde,  at  the  signe  of  the 


REIGN    OF   ELIZABETH.  99 

Steevens,  in  a  note  upon  the  above  passage  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  quotes  the 
authority  of  Lord  Chesterfield  against  what  he  terms  this  "capricious  sentiment" 
of  Shakespeare,  and  adds  that  Peacham  requires  of  his  gentleman  only  to  be  able 
"  to  sing  his  part  sure,  and  at  first  sight,  and  withall  to  play  the  same  on  a  viol, 
or  lute."  But  this  sentiment,  so  far  from  being  peculiar  to  Shakespeare,  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  prevailing  one  of  Europe.  Nor  was  Peacham  an  exception, 
for,  although  he  says, "  I  dare  not  pass  so  rash  a  censure  of  these  "  (who  love  not 
music)  "  as  Pindar  doth ;  or  the  Italian,  having  fitted  a  proverb  to  the  same  effect, 
Whom  G-od  loves  not,  that  man  loves  not  music;"  he  adds,  "  but  I  am  verily  per- 
suaded that  they  are  by  nature  very  ill  disposed,  and  of  such  a  brutish  stupidity 
that  scarce  any  thing  else  that  is  good  and  savoureth  of  virtue  is  to  be  found 
in  them."  a  Tusser,  in  his  "  Points  of  Huswifry  united  to  the  comfort  of 
Husbandry,"  1570,  recommends  the  country  huswife  to  select  servants  that  sing 
at  their  work,  as  being  usually  the  most  pains-taking,  and  the  best.  He  says : 
"  Such  servants  are  oftenest  painfull  and  good, 

That  sing  in  their  labour,  as  birds  in  the  wood  ;" 

and  old  Merrythought  says,  "Never  trust  a  tailor  that  does  not  sing  at 
his  work,  for  his  mind  is  of  nothing  but  filching." — (Dyce's  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher,  vol.  ii.,  p.  171.) 

Byrd,  in  his  Psalmes,  Sonnets,  and  Songs,  &c.,  1588,  gives  the  following  eight 
reasons  why  every  one  should  learn  to  sing : — 

1st. — "  It  is  a  knowledge  easily  taught,  and  quickly  learned,  where  there  is  a  good 
master  and  an  apt  scholar." 

2nd. — "  The  exercise  of  singing  is  delightful  to  nature,  and  good  to  preserve  the 
health  of  man." 

3rd. — "  It  doth  strengthen  all  parts  of  the  breast,  and  doth  open  the  pipes." 

4th. — "It  is  a  singular  good  remedy,  for  a  stutting  and  stammering  in  the  speech." 

5th. — "  It  is  the  best  means  to  procure  a  perfect  pronunciation,  and  to  make  a  good 
orator." 

6th. — "  It  is  the  only  way  to  know  where  nature  hath  bestowed  a  good  voice  ;  .  .  . 
and  in  many  that  excellent  gift  is  lost,  because  they  want  art  to  express  nature." 

7th. — "  There  is  not  any  music  of  instruments  whatsoever,  comparable  to  that  which 
is  made  of  the  voices  of  men ;  where  the  voices  are  good,  and  the  same  well  sorted 
and  ordered." 

8th. — "  The  better  the  voice  is,  the  meeter  it  is  to  honour  and  serve  God  therewith ; 
and  the  voice  of  man  is  chiefly  to  be  employed  to  that  end." 
"  Since  singing  is  so  good  a  thing, 
I  wish  all  men  would  learn  to  sing." 

Morley,  in  his  Introduction  to  Pratical  Musick,  1597,  written  in  dialogue, 
introduces  the  pupil  thus :  "  But  supper  being  ended,  and  music  books, 
according  to  custom,  being  brought  to  the  table,  the  mistress  of  the  house  pre- 
sented me  with  a  part,  earnestly  requesting  me  to  sing ;  but  when,  after  many 
excuses,  I  protested  unfeignedly  that  /  could  not,  every  one  began  to  wonder ;  yea, 

a  The  Compleat  Gentleman :  fashioning  him  absolute  in  mind  or  boclie,  that  may  be  required  in  a  noble  gentleman, 
the  most  necessary  and  commendable  qualities,  concerning  By  Henry  Peacham,  Master  of  Arts,  &c.,  1622. 


100  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

some  whispered  to  others,  demanding  how  I  was  brought  up,  so  that  upon  shame 
of  mine  ignorance,  I  go  now  to  seek  out  mine  old  friend,  Master  Gnorimus,  to 
make  myself  his  scholar." 

Laneham,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  description  of  the  pageants  at  Kenil- 
worth  in  1575,  thus  describes  his  own  evening  amusements.  "  Sometimes  I  foot 
it  with  dancing ;  now  with  my  gittem,  and  else  with  my  cittern,  then  at  the 
virginals  (ye  know  nothing  comes  amiss  to  me)  :  then  carol  I  up  a  song  withal ; 
that  by  and  by  they  come  flocking  about  me  like  bees  to  honey;  and  ever  they 
cry,  '  Another,  good  Laneham,  another.'  ':  He  who  thus  speaks  of  his  playing 
upon  three  instruments  and  singing,  had  been  promoted  from  a  situation  in  the 
royal  stables,  through  the  favour  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  to  the  duty  of  keeping 
eaves-droppers  from  the  council-chamber  door. 

Dekker,  in  The  GulVs  Horn-book,  tells  us  that  the  usual  routine  of  a  young 
gentlewoman's  education  was  "  to  read  and  write ;  to  play  upon  the  virginals, 
lute,  and  cittern  ;  and  to  read  prick-song  (i.e.,  music  written  or  pricked  down)  at 
first  sight"  Whenever  a  lady  was  highly  commended  by  a  writer  of  that  age, 
her  skill  in  music  was  sure  to  be  included ;  as — 

"  Her  own  tongue  speaks  all  tongues,  and  her  own  hand 
Can  teach  all  strings  to  speak  in  their  best  grace." 

Heywootfs  A  Woman  Jtilld  with  kindness. 

"  Observe,"  says  Lazarillo,  who  is  instructing  the  ladies  how  to  render  them- 
selves most  attractive,  "it  shall  be  your  first  and  finest  praise  to  sing  the  note  of 
every  new  fashion  at  first  sight. — (Middleton1  s  Blurt,  Master  Constable,  1602.) 
Gosson,  in  his  Schoole  of  Abuse,  1579,  alluding  to  the  custom  of  serenading, 
recommends  young  ladies  to  be  careful  not  to  "flee  to  inchaunting,"  and  says,  "if 
assaulted  with  music  in  the  night,  close  up  your  eyes,  stop  your  ears,  tie  up  your 
tongues;  when  they  speak,  answer  them  not ;  when  they  halloo,  stoop  not ;  when 
they  sigh,  laugh  at  them;  when  they  sue,  scorn  them."  He  admits  that  "these  are 
hard  lessons,"  but  advises  them  "  nevertheless  to  drink  up  the  potion,  though  it 
like  not  [please  not]  your  taste."  In  those  days,  however,  the  "  serenate,  which 
the  starv'd  lover  sings  to  his  proud  fair,"  was  not  quite  so  customary  in  England 
as  the  Morning  song  or  Hunfs-up  ;  such  as — 

"  Fain  would  I  wake  you,  sweet,  but  fear 
I  should  invite  you  to  worse  cheer ;  .  .  . 
I'd  wish  my  life  no  better  play, 
Your  dream  by  night,  your  thought  by  day  : 

Wake,  gently  wake, 
Part  softly  from  your  dreams  1 
The  Morning  flies 
To  your  fair  eyes, 
To  guide  her  special  beams." 

As  to  the  custom  of  having  a  base-viol  (or  viol  da  gamba)  hanging  up  in  draw- 
ing rooms  for  visitors  to  play  on,  one  quotation  from  Ben  Jonson  may  suffice : 
"  In  making  love  to  her,  never  fear  to  be  out,  for ...  a  base  viol  shall  hang  o'  the 
wall,  of  purpose,  shall  put  you  in  presently.— (Gri/ord's  Edit.  vol.  ii.,  p.  162.) 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH.  101 

If  more  to  the  same  purport  be  required,  many  similar  allusions  will  be  found  in 
the  same  volume.     (See  pages  125, 126,  127,  and  472,  and  Gifford's  Notes.) 

The  base-viol  was  also  played  upon  by  ladies  (at  least  during  the  following 
reign),  although  thought  by  some  "an  unmannerly  instrument  for  a  woman." 
The  mode  in  which  some  ladies  passed  their  time  is  described  in  the  following 
lines,  and  perhaps,  even  in  the  present  day,  instances  not  wholly  unlike  might  be 
found.  "  This  is  all  that  women  do, 

Sit  and  answer  them  that  woo  ; 

Deck  themselves  in  new  attire, 

To  entangle  fresh  desire  ; 

After  dinner  sing  and  play, 

Or  dancing,  pass  the  time  away." 

"  England,"  says  a  French  writer  of  the  seventeenth  century,  "  is  the  paradise  of 
women,  as  Spain  and  Italy  are  their  purgatory."  a 

The  musical  instruments  principally  in  use  in  barbers'  shops,  during  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  were  the  cittern,  the  gittern,  the  lute,  and 
the  virginals.  Of  these  the  cittern  was  the  most  common,  perhaps  because  most 
easily  played.  It  was  in  shape  somewhat  like  the  English  guitar  of  the  last 
century,  but  had  only  four  double  strings  of  wire,  i.  e.,  two  to  each  note-11  These 
were  tuned  to  the  notes  g,  b,  d,  and  e  of  the  present  treble  staff,  or  to  correspond- 
ing intervals ;  for  no  rules  are  given  concerning  the  pitch  of  these  instruments, 
unless  they  were  to  be  used  in  concert.  The  instructions  for  tuning  are  generally 
to  draw  up  the  treble  string  as  high  as  possible,  without  breaking  it,  and  to  tune 
the  others  from  that.  A  particular  feature  of  the  cittern  was  the  carved  head, 
which  is  frequently  alluded  to  by  the  old  writers.0  Playford  in  his  "  MusicKs 
Delight  on  the  Cithren  restored  and  refined  to  a  more  easie  and  pleasant  manner  of 
playing  than  formerly,"  1666,  speaks  of  having  revived  the  instrument,  and  re- 
stored it  to  what  it  was  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  and  his  tuning  agrees  with 
that  in  Anthony  Holborne's  Oittharn  Schoole,  1597,  and  in  Thomas  Robinson's  New 
Oitharen  Lessons,  1609.  The  peculiarity  of  the  cittern,  or  cithren,  was  that  the 
third  string  was  tuned  lower  than  the  fourth,  so  that  if  the  first  or  highest  string 
were  tuned  to  e,  the  third  would  be  the  g  below,  and  the  fourth  the  intermediate  b. 
The  cittern  appears  to  have  been  an  instrument  of  English  invention.*1 

Of  the  gittern  or  ghitterne,  I  can  say  but  little,  not  having  seen  any  instruc- 
tion-book for  the  instrument.  Ritson  says  it  differed  chiefly  from  the  cittern 

«  Description  of  England  by  Jorevin  de  Rocheford.  the  great  astronomer,  Galileo  Galilei),  I  assume  to  mean 

Paris,  1672.  Cittern,  because  the  word  Liulo,  for  Lute,  was  in  common 

b  Sir  John  Hawkins,  in  his  History  of  Music,  vol.  ii.,  use.  He  says,  "  Fu  la  Cetera  usata  prima  tra  gli  Inglesi 

p.  602,  8vo.,  copies  the  Cistrum  from  Mersenne,  as  the  che  da  altre  nazioni,  nella  quale  Isola  si  lavoravano  gia 

Cittern,  but  it  has  six  strings,  and  therefore  more  closely  in  eccellenza ;  quantunque  hoggi  le  piu  riputate  da  loro 

resembles  the  English  guitar.  siano  quelle  che  si  lavorano  in  Brescia ;  con  tutto  questo 

c  In  Love's  Labour  Lost,  act  v.,  sc.  2,  Boyet  compares  e  adoperata  ed  apprezzata  da  nobili,  e  fu  cosl  delta  dagli 

Holofernes'  countenance  to  that  of  a  cittern  head.  In  autori  di  essa,  per  forse  resuscitare  1'antica  Cithara ;  ma 

Forde's  Lovers'  Melancholy,  act  ii.,  sc.  1,  "Barbers  shall  la  differenza  che  sia  tra  la  nostra  e  quella,  si  e  possuto 

wear  thee  on  their  citterns;"  and  in  Fletcher's  Love's  benissitnoconoscere  daquelloche  se  n' e  di  sopradetto." — 

Cure,  "You  cittern  head!  you  ill-countenanced  cur!"  Dialogo  di  Vincenzo  Galilei,  nobilc  Florentine,  fol.  1S81, 

&c.,  &c.  p.  147. 

d  The  word  Cetera,  as  employed  hy  Galilei  (father  of  • 


102  ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

in  being  strung  with  gut  instead  of  wire;  and,  from  the  various  allusions  to  it, 
I  have  no  doubt  of  his  correctness.  Perhaps,  also,  it  was  somewhat  less  in  size. 
In  the  catalogue  of  musical  instruments  left  in  the  charge  of  Philip  van  Wilder, 
at  the  death  of  Henry  VIII.,  we  find  "  four  Gitterons,  which  are  called  Spanish 
vialles."  As  Galilei  says,  in  1581,  that  "  Viols  are  little  used  in  Spain,  and  that 
they  do  not  make  them,"  a  I  assume  Spanish  viol  to  mean  the  guitarra,  or  guitar. 
The  gittern  is  ranked  with  string  instruments  in  the  following  extract  from  the 
old  play  of  Lingua,  written  in  this  reign : — 

" '  Tis  true  the  finding  of  a  dead  horse-head 

Was  the  first  invention  of  string  instruments, 

Whence  rose  the  Gitterne,  Viol,  and  the  Lute ; 

Though  others  think  the  Lute  was  first  devis'd 

In  imitation  of  a  tortoise  back, 

Whose  sinews,  parched  by  Apollo's  beams, 

Echo'd  about  the  concave  of  the  shell : 

And  seeing  the  shortest  and  smallest  gave  shrillest  sound, 

They  found  out  frets,  whose  sweet  diversity 

(Well  touched  by  the  skilful  learned  fingers) 

Raiseth  so  strange  a  multitude  of  Chords  ; 

Which,  their  opinion,  many  do  confirm, 

Because  Testudo  signifies  a  Lute." 

Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  vol.  v.,  p.  198. 

Coles,  in  his  Dictionary,  describes  gittern  as  a  small  sort  of  cittern,  and  Playford 
printed  Cithren  and  Crittern  Lessons,  with  plain  and  easie  Instructions  for  Beginners 
thereon,  together  in  one  book,  in  1659.  Ritson  may  have  gained  his  information 
from  this  book,  as  he  mentions  it  in  the  second  edition  of  his  Ancient  Songs,  but 
I  have  not  succeeded  in  finding  a  copy. 

The  lute  (derived  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  Hlud,  or  Lud,  i.  e.,  sounded),  was 
once  the  most  popular  instrument  in  Europe,  although  now  rarely  to  be  seen, 
except  represented  in  old  pictures.  It  has  been  superseded  by  the  guitar,  but 
for  what  reason  it  is  difficult  to  say,  unless  from  the  greater  convenience  of  the 
bent  sides  of  the  guitar  for  holding  the  instrument,  when  touching  the  higher  notes 
of  the  finger-board.  The  tone  of  the  lute  is  decidedly  superior  to  the  guitar,  being 
larger,  and  having  a  convex  back,  somewhat  like  the  vertical  section  of  a  gourd,  or 
more  nearly  resembling  that  of  a  pear.  As  it  was  used  chiefly  for  accompanying 
the  voice,  there  were  only  eight  frets,  or  divisions  of  the  finger-board,  and  these 
frets  (so  called  from  fretting,  or  stopping  the  strings)  were  made  by  tying 
pieces  of  cord,  dipped  in  glue,  tightly  round  the  neck  of  the  lute,  at  inter- 
vals of  a  semitone.  It  had  virtually  six  strings,  because,  although  the  num- 
ber was  eleven  or  twelve,  five,  at  least,  were  doubled,  the  first,  or  treble,  being 
sometimes  a  single  string.b  The  head,  in  which  the  pegs  to  turn  the  strings  were 

"  La  viola  da  gamba,  e  da  braccio,  nella  Spagna  non  lutes  of  various  sizes,  from  the  mandura,  or  mandore, 

se  ne  fanno,  e  poco  vi  si  usano." — Dialogo  delta  Musiea,  to  the  theorbo  and  arch-lute;  some  with  less,  and  others 

fol.  1581.,  p.  147.  with  more  strings. 
''  I  apeak  only  of  the  usual  English  lute.     There  were 


REIGN    OP   ELIZABETH. 


103 


inserted,  receded  almost  at  a  right  angle.  The  most  usual  mode  of  tuning  it  was 
as  follows :  assuming  c  in  the  third  space  of  the  treble  clef  to  be  the  pitch  of  the 
first  string  (i.e.,  cc  in  the  scale  given  at  page  14),  the  base,  or  sixth  string  would 
be  O;  the  tenor,  or  fifth,  F ;  the  counter-tenor,  or  fourth,  b  flat ;  the  great 
mean,  or  third,  d  ;  the  small  mean,  or  second,  g ;  and  the  minikin,  or  treble,  cc.a 

Lute  strings b  were  a  usual  present  to  ladies  as  new-year's  gifts.  From 
Nichols'  Progresses  we  learn  that  queen  Elizabeth  received  a  box  of  lute-strings, 
as  a  new-year's  gift,  from  Innocent  Corry,  and  at  the  same  time,  a  box  of  lute- 
strings and  a  glass  of  sweet  water  from  Ambrose  Lupo.  When  young  men 
in  want  of  money  went  to  usurers,  it  was  their  common  practice  to  lend  it 
in  the  shape  of  goods  which  could  only  be  re-sold  at  a  great  loss ;  and  lute-strings 
were  then  as  commonly  the  medium  employed  as  bad  wine  is  now.  In  Lodge's 
Looking  Grlasse  for  London  and  Mnglande,  1594,  the  usurer  being  very- urgent 
for  the  repayment  of  his  loan,  is  thus  answered,."  I  pray  you,  Sir,  consider  that 
my  loss  was  great  by  the  commodity  I  took  up ;  you  know,  Sir,  I  borrowed  of  you 
forty  pounds,  whereof  I  had  ten  pounds  in  money,  and  thirty  pounds  in  lute- 
strings, which,  when  I  came  to  sell  again,  I  could  get  but  five  pounds  for  them,  so 
had  I,  Sir,  but  fifteen  pounds  for  my  forty."  So  in  Dekker's  A  Night's  Con- 
juring, the  spendthrift,  speaking  of  his  father,  says,  "  He  cozen'd  young  gentle- 
men of  their  land,  only  for  me,  had  acres  mortgaged  to  him  by  wiseacres  for  three 
hundred  pounds,  paid  in  hobby-horses,  dogs,  bells,  and  lute-strings,  which,  if  they 
had  been  sold  by  the  drum,  or  at  an  out-rop  (auction),  with  the  cry  of  *  No  man 
better  ?'  would  never  have  yielded  £50."  Nash  alludes  twice  to  the  custom.  In 
Will  Summer's  Last  Will  and  Testament,  he  says,  "  I  know  one  that  ran  in  debt, 
in  the  space  of  four  or  five  years,  above  fourteen  thousand  pounds  in  lute-strings 
and  grey  paper;"  and  in  Christ's  Tears  over  Jerusalem,  1593;  "In  the  first  in- 
stance, spendthrifts  and  prodigals  obtain  what  they  desire,  but  at  the  second  time 
of  their  coming,  it  is  doubtful  to  say  whether  they  shall  have  money  or  no :  the  world 
grows  hard,  and  we  are  all  mortal :  let  them  make  him  any  assurance  before  a 
judge,  and  they  shall  have  some  hundred  pounds  (per  consequence)  in  silks  and 
velvets.  The  third  time,  if  they  come,  they  have  baser  commodities.  The  fourth 
time,  lute-strings  and  grey  paper ;  and  then,  I  pray  you  pardon  me,  I  am  not  for 
you  :  pay  me  what  you  owe  me,  and  you  shall  have  anything."  (Dodsley,  v.  9, 
p.  22.)  ' 

The  virginals  (probably  so  called  because  chiefly  played  upon  by  young  girls), 
resembled  in  shape  the  "  square"  pianoforte  of  the  present  day,  as  the  harpsichord 
did  the  "grand."  The  sound  of  the  pianoforte  is  produced  by  a  hammer  striking 
the  strings,  but  when  the  keys  of  the  virginals  or  harpsichord  were  pressed,  the 
"jacks,"  (slender  pieces  of  wood,  armed  at  the  upper  ends  with  quills)  were 


»  The  notes  which  these  letters  represent  will  be  seen 
by  referring  to  the  scale  at  p.  14. 

b  Mace,  in  his  Mustek's  Monument,  1678,  speaking  of 
lute-strings,  says,  "  Chuse  your  trebles,  seconds,  and 
thirds,  and  some  of  your  small  octaves,  especially  the 
sixth,  out  of  your  Minikins;  the  fourth  and  fifth,  and 
most  of  your  octaves,  of  Venice  Catlim ;  your  Pistoys  or 
Lyons  only  for  the  great  bases."  In  the  list  of  Custom- 


House  duties  printed  in  1545,  the  import  duty  on  "lute- 
strings called  Mynikins"  was  22rf.  the  gross,  but  as  no 
other  lute-strings  are  named,  I  assume  that  only  the 
smallest  were  then  occasionally  imported.  Minikin  is 
one  of  the  many  words,  derived  from  music  or  musical 
instruments,  which  have  puzzled  the  commentators  on 
the  old  dramatists.  The  first  string  of  a  violin  was  also 
called  a  minikin. 


104  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

raised  to  the  strings,  and  acted  as  plectra,  by  impinging,  or  twitching  them. 
These  jacks  were  the  constant  subject  of  simile  and  pun ;  for  instance,  in  a  play 
of  Dekker's,  where  Matheo  complains  that  his  wife  is  never  at  home,  Orlando  says, 
"No,  for  she's  like  a  pair  of  virginals,  always  withjac&s  at  her  tail." — (Dodsley's 
Old  Plays,  vol.  in.,  p.  398).  And  in  Middleton's  Father  Hubburd's  Tales,  de- 
scribing Charity  as  frozen,  he  says,  "Her  teeth  chattered  in  her  head,  and  leaped 
up  and  down  like  virginal  jacks." 

One  branch  of  the  barber's  occupation  in  former  days  was  to  draw  teeth,  to  bind 
up  wounds,  and  to  let  blood.  The  parti-coloured  pole,  which  was  exhibited  at  the 
doorway,  painted  after  the  fashion  of  a  bandage,  was  his  sign,  and  the  teeth 
he  had  drawn  were  suspended  at  the  windows,  tied  upon  lute  strings.  The  lute, 
the  cittern,  and  the  gittern  hung  from  the  walls,  and  the  virginals  stood  in  the 
corner  of  his  shop.  "  If  idle,"  says  the  author  of  The  Trimming  of  Thomas 
Nashe,  "  barbers  pass  their  time  in  life-delighting  musique,"  (1597).  The 
barber  in  Lyly's  Midas,  (1592),  says  to  his  apprentice,  "  Thou  knowest  I  have 
taught  thee  the  knacking  of  the  hands,*  like  the  tuning  of  a  cittern,"  and 
Truewit,  in  Ben  Jonson's  Silent  Woman,  wishes  the  barber  "  may  draw  his  own 
teeth,  and  add  them  to  the  lute-string."  In  the  same  play,  Morose,  who  had 
married  the  barber's  daughter,  thinking  her  faithless,  exclaims  "That  cursed 
barber !  I  have  married  his  cittern,  that  is  common  to  all  men."  One  of  the 
commentators  not  understanding  this,  altered  it  to  " I  have  married  his  cistern" 
&c.  Dekker  also  speaks  of  "  a  barber's  cittern  for  every  serving-man  to  play 
upon." 

One  of  the  Merrie-conceited  jests  of  George  Peele  is  the  stealing  of  a  barber's 
lute,  and  in  Lord  Falkland's  Wedding  Night,  we  read  "He  has  travelled 
and  speaks  languages,  as  a  barber's  boy  plays  o'th'  gittern."  Ben  Jonson  says,b 
"  I  can  compare  him  to  nothing  more  happily  than  a  barber's  virginals  ;  for  every 
man  may  play  upon  him,"  and  in  The  Staple  of  News,  "  My  barber  Tom,  one 
Christmas,  got  into  a  Masque  at  court,  by  his  wit  and  the  good  means  of  his 
cittern,  holding  up  thus  for  one  of  the  music."  To  the  latter  passage  Gifford  adds 
another  in  a  note.  "  For  you  know,  says  Tom  Brown,  that  a  cittern  is  as  natural 
to  a  barber,  as  milk  to  a  calf,  or  dancing  bears  to  a  bagpiper." 

As  to  the  music  they  played,  we  may  assume  it  to  have  been,  generally, 
the  common  tunes  of  the  day,  and  such  as  would  be  familiar  to  all.  Morley,  in 
his  Introduction  to  Music,  tells  us  that  the  tune  called  the  Quadrant  Pavan,  was 
called  Gregory  Walker,  "  because  it  walketh  'mongst  barbers  and  fiddlers  more 
common  than  any  other,"  and  says  in  derision,  "  Nay,  you  sing  you  know  not 
what ;  it  should  seem  you  came  lately  from  a  barber's  shop,  where  you  had 
Gregory  Walker,  or  a  Coranto,  played  in  the  new  proportions  by  them  lately  found 
out."  Notwithstanding  this,  we  find  the  Quadran  Pavan  (so  called,  I  suppose, 
because  it  was  a  pavan  for  four  to  dance)  was  one  of  the  tunes  arranged  for 
queen  Elizabeth  in  her  Virginal  Book;  and  Morley,  himself,  arranged  it  for 

•  The  knacking  of  the  hands  was  3  peculiar  crack  with        barber  was  expected  to  make  while  shaving  a  customer, 
the  fingers,    by  knocking  them  together,  which   every  b  Every  man  in  his  humour.     Act  Hi.,  sc.  2. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH.  105 

several  instruments  in  his  Consort  Lessons.  I  have  alluded  to  the  custom  of 
introducing  old  songs  into  plays,  and  playing  old  tunes  at  the  beginning  and  end 
of  the  acts,  at  p.  72.  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  and  Lady  Neville's, 
contain  little  else  than  old  tunes,  arranged  with  variations,  or  as  then  more 
usually  termed,  with  "  division."  It  is  often  difficult  to  extract  the  air  accurately 
from  these  arrangements,  if  there  be  no  other  copy  as  a  guide.  Occasionally 
a  mere  skeleton  of  the  tune  is  given,  sometimes  it  is  "in  prolation,"  i.  e.,  with 
every  note  drawn  out  to  two,  four,  or  eight  times  its  proper  duration,  sometimes 
the  melody  is  in  the  base,  at  others  it  is  to  be  found  in  an  inner  part. 

The  rage  for  popular  tunes  abroad  had  shewn  itself  in  the  Masses  set  to 
music  by  the  greatest  composers.  Baini,  in  his  Life  of  Palestrina,  gives,  what 
he  terms,  a  short  list  ("  breve  elenco")  of  some  of  them.  It  contains  the 
names  of  eighty  secular  tunes  upon  which  Masses  had  been  composed,  and  sung 
even  in  the  Pope's  chapel.  The  tunes  have  principally  French  names,  some 
are  of  lascivious  songs,  others  of  dance  tunes.  He  names  fifty  different  authors 
who  composed  them,  and  intimates  that  there  is  a  much  larger  number  than  he 
has  cited  in  the  library  of  the  Vatican.  a  Even  our  island  was  not  quite  irre- 
proachable on  this  point.  Shakespeare  speaks  of  Puritans  singing  psalms  to 
hornpipes,  and  the  Presbyterians  sang  their  Divine  Hymns  to  the  tunes  of 
popular  songs,  the  titles  of  some  of  which  the  editor  of  Sacred  Minstrelsy  (vol.  i., 
p.  7)  "  would  not  allow  to  sully  his  pages."  Generally,  however,  the  passion 
for  melody  expended  itself  in  singing  old  tunes  about  the  country,  in  the  streets, 
and  at  the  ends  of  plays,  in  playing  them  in  barbers'  shops,  or  at  home,  when 
arranged  for  chamber  use  with  all  the  art  and  embellishment  our  musicians  could 
devise.  The  scholastic  music  of  that  age,  great  as  it  was,  was  so  entirely  devoted 
to  harmony,  and  that  harmony  so  constructed  upon  old  scales,  that  scarcely  any- 
thing like  tune  could  be  found  in  it — I  mean  such  tune  as  the  uncultivated  ear 
could  carry  away.  Many  would  then,  no  doubt,  say  with  Imperia,  "I  cannot  abide 
these  dull  and  lumpish  tunes  ;  the  musician  stands  longer  a  pricking  them  than 
I  would  do  to  hear  them  :  no,  no,  give  me  your  light  ones." — (Middleton's  Blurt, 
Master  Constable.)  No  line  of  demarcation  could  be  more  complete  than  that 
between  the  music  of  the  great  composers  of  the  time,  and,  what  may  be  termed, 
the  music  of  the  people.  Perhaps  the  only  instance  of  a  tune  by  a  well-known 
musician  of  that  age  having  been  afterwards  used  as  a  ballad  tune,  is  that  of  The 
Frog  Gralliard,  composed  by  Dowland.  Musicians  held  ballads  in  contempt,  and 
the  great  poets  rarely  wrote  in  ballad  metre. 

Dr.  Drake,  in  his  Shakespeare  and  his  Times,  gives  a  list  of  two  hundred  and 
thirty- three  British  poets b  (forty  major,  and  one  hundred  and  ninety-three 
minor),  who  were  contemporaneous  with  Shakespeare,  and  even  that  list,  large  as 
it  is,  might  be  greatly  extended  from  miscellanies,  and  from  ballads.  Some  idea 
of  the  number  of  ballads  that  were  printed  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of 

a  "  Memorie  storico-critiche  della  Vita,  e  delle  Opere  di  is  already  said  (and,  as  I  think,  truly  said)  it  is  not 

Giovanni  Pierluigi  da  Palestrina." — Roma,  2  vols,  4to.,  rhyming  and  versing  that  maketh  poesy  :  one  may  be  a 

1828.  Vol.  i.,  p.  136,  et  seq.  This  evil  was  checked  by  a  poet  without  versing,  and  a  versifier  without  poetry." — 

decree  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  Defence  of  Poesy. 

b  The  word  "  Poet  "  is  here  too  generally  applied.     "It 


106  ENGLISH    SONG    AND    BALLAD    MUSIC. 

Elizabeth  may  be  formed  from  the  fact  that  seven  hundred  and  ninety-six  ballads, 
left  for  entry  at  Stationers'  Hall,  remained  in  the  cupboard  of  the  council  chamber 
of  the  company  at  the  end  of  the  year  1560,  to  be  transferred  to  the  new 
Wardens,  and  only  forty-four  books.a  As  to  the  latter  part  of  her  reign,  see 
Bishop  Hall,  1597. 

"  Some  drunken  rhymer  thinks  his  time  well  spent 

If  he  can  live  to  see  his  name  in  print  ; 

Who,  when  he  once  is  fleshed  to  the  press, 

And  sees  his  handsell  have  such  fair  success, 

Sung  to  the  wheel,  and  sung  unto  the  pail? 

He  sends  forth  thraves*  of  ballads  to  the  sale." 

And  to  the  same  purport,  in  Martin  Mar-sixtus,  1592  :  "I  lothe  to  speak  it, 
every  red-nosed  rhymester  is  an  author  ;  every  drunken  man's  dream  is  a  book ; 
and  he,  whose  talent  of  little  wit  is  hardly  worth  a  farthing,  yet  layeth  about  him 
so  outrageously  as  if  all  Helicon  had  run  through  his  pen  :  in  a  word,  scarce  a  cat 
can  look  out  of  a  gutter,  but  out  starts  a  halfpenny  chronicler,  and  presently  a 
proper  new  ballet  of  a  strange  sight  is  indited." 

Henry  Chettle,  in  his  pamphlet  entitled  Kind  Sarffs  Dream,  1592,  speaks  of 
idle  ypuths  singing  and  selling  ballads  in  every  corner  of  cities  and  market  towns, 
and  especially  at  fairs,  markets,  and  such  like  public  meetings.  Contrasting  that 
time  with  the  simplicity  of  former  days,  he  says,  "What  hafb  there  not,  contrary 
to  order,  been  printed  ?  Now  ballads  are  abusively  chanted  in  every  street ;  and 
from  London  this  evil  has  overspread  Essex  and  the  adjoining  counties.  There  is 
many  a  tradesman  of  a  worshipful  trade,  yet  no  stationer,  who  after  a  little  bring- 
ing up  apprentices  to  singing  brokery,  takes  into  his  shop  some  fresh  men,  and 
trusts  his  servants  of  two  months'  standing  with  a  dozen  groatsworth  of  ballads. 
In  which,  if  they  prove  thrifty,  he  makes  them  pretty  chapmen,  able  to  spread 
more  pamphlets  by  the  state  forbidden,  than  all  the  booksellers  in  London." 
He  particularly  mentions  the  sons  of  one  Barnes,  most  frequenting  Bishop's 
Stortford,  the  one  with  a  squeaking  treble,  the  other  with  an  ale-blown  base,  as 
bragging  that  they  earned  twenty  shillings  a  day ;  whilst  others,  horse  and  man, 
the  man  with  many  a  hard  meal,  and  the  horse  pinched  for  want  of  provender, 
have  together  hardly  taken  ten  shillings  in  a  week. 

In  a  pamphlet  intended  to  ridicule  the  follies  of  the  times,  printed  in  1591,  the 
writer  says,  that  if  men  that  are  studious  would  "  read  that  which  is  good,  a  poor 
man  may  be  able" — not  to  obtain  bread  the  cheaper,  but  as  the  most  desirable  of 
all  results,  he  would  be  able  "  to  buy  three  ballets  for  a  halfpenny."4 

"  And  tell  prose  writers,  stories  are  so  stale, 
That  penny  ballads  make  a  better  sale." 

PasquilVs  Madness,  1600. 

The  words  of  the  ballads  were  written  by  such  men  as  Elderton,  "  with  his  ale- 
crammed  nose,"  and  Thomas  Deloney,  "  the  balleting  silk-weaver  of  Norwich." 

«  See  Collier's  Extracts  from  the  Registers  of  the  Sta-  c  "  Thrave  "  signifies  a  number  of  sheaves  of  corn  set 

tioners'  Company,  vol.  i.,  p.  28.  up  together ;  metaphorically,  an  indefinite  number  of  any- 

b  "  Sung  to  the  wheel,"  i.e.,  to  the  spinning  wheel;  and  thing. — Nares'  Glossary. 

"  sung  to  the  pail,"  sung  by  milk-maids,  of  whose  love  of  d  Fearefull  and  lamentable  effects  nf  two  dangerous  Comet* 

ballads  further  proofs  will  be  adduced.  that  shall  appeare,  &c.,  4to,  1591. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH.  107 

The  former  is  thus  described  in  a  MS.  of  the  time  of  James  I.,  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  Payne  Collier  : — 

"  Will.  Elderton's  red  nose  is  famous  everywhere, 

And  many  a  ballet  shows  it  cost  him  very  dear ; 

In  ale,  and  toast,  and  spice,  he  spent  good  store  of  coin, 

You  need  not  ask  him  twice  to  take  a  cup  of  wine. 

But  though  his  nose  was  red,  his  hand  was  very  white, 

In  work  it  never  sped,  nor  took  in  it  delight ; 

No  marvel  therefore  'tis,  that  white  should  be  his  hand, 

That  ballets  writ  a  score,  as  you  well  understand." 

Nashe,  in  Have  with  you  to  Saffron  Walden,  says  of  Deloney,  "  He  hath  rhyme 
enough  for  all  miracles,  and  wit  to  make  a  Garland  of  Grood  Will,  &c.,  but 
whereas  his  muse,  from  the  first  peeping  forth,  hath  stood  at  livery  at  an  ale-house 
wisp,  never  exceeding  a  penny  a  quart,  day  or  night — and  this  dear  year, 
together  with  the  silencing  of  his  looms,  scarce  that — he  is  constrained  to  betake 
himself  to  carded  ale"  (i.e.,  ale  mixed  with  small  beer),  "whence  it  proceedeth 
that  since  Candlemas,  or  his  jigg  of  John  for  the  king,  not  one  merry  ditty  will 
come  from  him  ;  nothing  but  The  Thunderbolt  against  swearers,  Repent,  England, 
repent,  and  the  Strange  Judgments  of  Grod." 

In  1581,  Thomas  Lovell,  a  zealous  puritan,  (one  who  objected  to  the  word 
Christmas,  as  savouring  too  much  of  popery,  and  calls  it  Chris^We),  published 
"  A  Dialogue  between  Custom  and  Verity,  concerning  the  use  and  abuse  of 
dauncinge  and  minstralsye."  From  this,  now  rare  book,  Mr.  Payne  Collier  has 
printed  various  extracts.  The  object  was  to  put  down  dancing  and  minstrelsy ; 
Custom  defends  and  excuses  them,  and  Verity,  who  is  always  allowed  to  have  the 
best  of  the  argument,  attacks  and  abuses  them.  It  shows,  however,  that  the  old 
race  of  minstrels  was  not  quite  extinct.  Verity  says  : — 
"  But  this  do  minstrels  clean  forget : 

Some  godly  songs  they  have, 
Some  wicked  ballads  and  unmeet, 

As  companies  do  crave. 
For  filthies  they  have  filthy  songs ; 

For  '  some '  lascivious  rhymes ; 
For  honest,  good ;  for  sober,  grave 

Songs  ;  so  they  watch  their  times. 
Among  the  lovers  of  the  truth, 

Ditties  of  truth  they  sing  ; 
Among  the  papists,  such  as  of 

Their  godless  legends  spring 

The  minstrels  do,  with  instruments, 

With  songs,  or  else  with  jest, 
Maintain  themselves :  but,  as  they  use,  [act] 
Of  these  naught  is  the  best." 

Collier's  Extracts  Reg.  Stat.  Comp.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  144,  145. 
Carew,  in  his  Survey  of  Cornwall,  1602,  speaking  of  Tregarrick,  then  the 


108  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

residence  of  Mr.  Buller,  the  sheriff,  says,  "It  was  sometime  the  Wideslade's 
inheritance,  until  the  father's  rebellion  forfeited  it,"  and  the  "  son  then  led 
a  walking  life  with  his  harp,  to  gentlemen's  houses,  where-through,  and  by  his 
other  active  qualities,  he  was  entitled  Sir  Tristram  ;  neither  wanted  he  (as  some 
say)  a  '  belle  IsoundJ  the  more  aptly  to  resemble  his  pattern." 

So  in  the  "Pleasant,  plain,  and  pithy  pathway,  leading  to  a  virtuous  and  honest 
life"  (about  1550), 

"  Very  lusty  I  was,  and  pleasant  withall, 
To  sing,  dance,  and  play  at  the  ball  .... 
And  besides  all  this,  I  could  then  finely  play 
On  the  harp  much  better  than  now  far  away, 
By  which  my  minstrelsy  and  my  fair  speech  and  sport, 
All  the  maids  in  the  parish  to  me  did  resort." 

As  minstrelsy  declined,  the  harp  became  the  common  resource  of  the  blind, 
and  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  harpers  were  proverbially  blind : — 
"  If  thou'lt  not  have  her  look'd  on  by  thy  guests, 
Bid  none  but  harpers  henceforth  to  thy  feasts." 

Guilpin's  Skialetkeia,  1598. 

There  are  many  ballads  about  blind  harpers,  and  many  tricks  were  played  upon 
them,  such  as  a  rogue  engaging  a  harper  to  perform  at  a  tavern,  and  stealing  the 
plate  "  while  the  unseeing  harper  plays  on."  As  to  the  other  street  and  tavern 
musicians,  Gosson  tells  us,  in  his  Short  Apologie  of  the  Schoole  of  Abuse ,  1586, 
that  "  London  is  so  full  of  unprofitable  pipers  and  fiddlers,  that  a  man  can  no 
sooner  enter  a  tavern,  than  two  or  three  cast  (i.e.,  companies)  of  them,  hang  at 
his  heels,  to  give  him  a  dance  before  he  departs,"  but  they  sang  ballads  and 
catches  as  well  as  played  dances.  They  also  played  at  dinner, 

"  Not  a  dish  removed 
But  to  the  music,  nor  a  drop  of  wine 
Mixt  with  the  water,  without  harmony." 

"  Thou  need  no  more  send  for  a  fidler  to  a  feast  (says  Lyly),  than  a  beggar  to 
a  fair." 

Part-Singing,  and  especially  the  singing  Rounds,  or  Roundelays,  and  Catches, 
was  general  throughout  England  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
In  the  Moralities  and  the  earliest  plays,  when  part-music  was  sung  instead  of  old 
ballads,  it  was  generally  in  Canon,  for  although  neither  Round,  Catch,  nor  Canon 
be  specified,  we  find  some  direction  from  the  one  to  the  other  to  sing  after  him.a 
Thus,  in  the  old  Morality  called  New  Oustome  (Dodsley,  vol.  i.) ,  Avarice  says : — 
"But,  Sirs,  because  we  have  tarried  so  long, 

If  you  be  good  fellows,  let  us  depart  with  a  song." 
To  which  Cruelty  answers  : — 

"  I  am  pleased,  and  therefore  let  every  man 
Follow  after  in  order  as  well  as  he  can." 

•Catch,  Round  or  Roundelay,  and  Canon  in  unison,  are,  other,  there  results  a  harmony  of  as  many  parts  as  there 

in  music,  nearly  the  same  thing.  In  all,  the  harmony  is  to  are  singers.    The  Oatch  differs  only  in  that  the  words  of 

be  sung  hy  several  persons;   and  is  so  contrived,  that,  one  part  are  made  to  answer,  or  catch  the  other;  as,  "Ah! 

though  each  sings  precisely  the  same  notes  as  his  fellows,  how,  Sophia,"  sung  like  "  a  house  o"  fire,"   "  Burney's 

yet,  hy  beginning  at  stated   periods  of  time  from  each  History,"  like  "  burn  his  history,"  &c. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH.  109 

And  in  John  Heywood's  The  FourP's,  one  of  our  earliest  plays,  the  Apothecary, 
having  first  asked  the  Pedler  whether  he  can  sing  at  sight,  says,  "  Who  that  lyste 
sing  after  me"  In  neither  case  are  the  words  of  the  Round  given. 

Tinkers,  tailors,  blacksmiths,  servants,  clowns,  and  others,  are  so  constantly 
mentioned  as  singing  music  in  parts,  and  by  so  many  writers,  as  to  leave  no  doubt 
of  the  ability  of  at  least  many  among  them  to  do  so. 

Perhaps  the  form  of  Catch,  or  Round,  was  more  generally  in  favour,  because, 
as  each  would  sing  the  same  notes,  there  would  be  but  one  part  to  remember,  and 
the  tune  would  guide  those  who  learnt  by  ear. 

We  find  Roundelays  generally  termed  "  merry,"  and  cheerfulness  was  the 
common  attribute  of  country  songs. 

In  Peele's  Arraignment  of  Paris,  1584  : — 

"  Some  Rounds,  or  merry  Roundelays, — we  sing  no  other  songs ; 

Your  melancholic  notes  not  to  our  country  mirth  belongs" 
And  in  his  King  Edward  I.,  the  Friar  says  : — 

"  And  let  our  lips  and  voices  meet  in  a  merry  country  song." 
In  Shakespeare's  A  Winter's  Tale,  when  Autolycus  says  that  the  song  is  a 
merry  one,  and  that  "  there's  scarce  a  maid  westward  but  she  sings  it,"  Mopsa 
answers,  "  We  can  both  sing  it :   if  thou  wilt  bear  a  part,  thou  shalt  hear— 'tis 
in  three  parts." 

Tradesmen  and  artificers  had  evidently  not  retrograded  in  their  love  of  music 
since  the  time  of  Chaucer,  whose  admirable  descriptions  have  been  before  quoted, 
(p.  33,  et  seq.)     Occleve,  a  somewhat  later  poet,  has  also  remarked  the  different 
effect  produced  by  the  labour  of  the  hand  and  of  the  head.     He  says : — 
"  These  artificers  see  I,  day  by  day, 
In  the  hottest  of  all  their  business, 
Talken  and  sing,  and  make  game  and  play, 
And  forth  their  labour  passeth  with  gladness ; 
But  we  labour  in  travailous  stillness  ; 
We  stoop  and  stare  upon  the  sheep-skin, 
And  keep  most  our  song  and  our  words  in." 

From  the  numerous  allusions  to  their  singing  in  parts,  I  have  selected  the 
following.  Peele,  in  his  Old  Wive>s  Tale,  1595,  says,  "  This  smith  leads  a  life  as 
merry  as  a  king.  Sirrah  Frolic,  I  am  sure  you  are  not  without  some  Round  or 
other ;  no  doubt  but  Clunch  (the  smith)  can  bear  his  part;"  which  he  accordingly 
does.  In  Damon  and  Pithias,  1571,  Grimme  the  collier  sings  "  a  bussing  base," 
and  Jack  and  Will,  two  of  his  fellows,  "  quiddell  upon  it,"  that  is,  they  sing  the 
tune  and  words  of  the  song  whilst  he  buzzes  the  burden  or  under-song.  In  Ben 
Jonson's  Silent  Woman,  we  find,  "  We  got  this  cold  sitting  up  late  and  singing 
Catches  with  doth-ioorkers"  In  Shakespeare's  Twelfth  Night,  Sir  Toby  says, 
"  Shall  we  rouse  the  night-owl  in  a  Catch  that  will  draw  three  souls  out  of  one 
weaver  ?"  and,  in  the  same  play,  Malvolio  says,  "Do  you  make  an  ale-house  of 
my  lady's  house  that  ye  squeak  out  your  cozier' 's  Catches,  without  any  mitigation 
or  remorse  of  voice?  "  Dr.  Johnson  says  cozier  means  a  tailor,  from  "  coudre," 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

to  sew  but  Nares  quotes  four  authorities  to  prove  it  to  mean  a  cobbler.  In 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Coxcomb  we  find — 

"  Where  were  the  Watch  the  while  ?     Good  sober  gentlemen, 
They  were,  like  careful  members  of  the  city, 
Drawing  in  diligent  ale,  and  singing  Catches." 

In  A  Declaration  of  egregious  Impostures,  1604,  by  Samuel  Harsnet  (afterwards 
Archbishop  of  York),  he  speaks  of  "  the  master  setter  of  Catches,  or  Rounds, 
used  to  be  sung  by  tinkers  as  they  sit  by  the  fire,  with  a  pot  of  good  ale  between 
their  legs." 

Sometimes  the  names  of  these  Catches  are  given,  as,  for  instance,  "  Three  blue 
beans  in  a  blue  bladder,  rattle,  bladder,  rattle,"  mentioned  in  Pile's  Old  Wive's 
Tale,  in  Ben  Jonson's  Bartholomew  Fair,  and  in  Dekker's  Old  Fortunatus;  or 
"  Whoop,  Barnaby,"  which  is  also  frequently  named.  But  whoever  will  read  the 
words  of  those  in  Pammelia,  Deuteromelia,  Hilton's  Catch  that  catch  can,  or  Play- 
ford's  Musical  Companion,mll  not  doubt  that  many  of  the  Catches  were  intended  for 
the  ale-house  and  its  frequenters ;  but  not  so  generally,  the  Rounds  or  Rounde- 
lays. Singing  in  parts  was,  by  no  means,  confined  to  the  meridian  of  London  ; 
Carew,  in  his  Survey  of  Cornwall,  1602,  says  the  same  of  Cornishmen :  "  Pastimes 
to  delight  the  mind,  the  Cornishmen  have  guary  miracles  [miracle  plays]  and 
three-men's  songs,  cunningly  contrived  for  the  ditty,  and  pleasantly  for  the  note." 

Catches 'seem  to  have  increased  in  use  towards  the  latter  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  for,  although  I  cannot  cite  an  instance  of  one  composed  by  a 
celebrated  musician  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  in  that  of  Charles  II.  such  cases  were 
abundant. 

Some  of  the  dances  in  favour  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  will  be  mentioned  as 
the  tunes  occur ;  the  Queen  herself  danced  galliards  in  her  sixty-ninth  year,  and, 
when  given  up  by  her  physicians  in  her  last  illness,  refusing  to  take  medicine,  she 
sent  for  her  band  to  play  to  her ;  upon  which  Beaumont,  the  French  Ambassador, 
remarks,  in  the  despatch  to  his  court,  that  he  believed  "  she  meant  to  die  as 
cheerfully  as  she  had  lived."  Her  singing  and  playing  upon  the  lute  and 
virginals  have  been  so  often  mentioned,  that  I  will  not  further  allude  to  them 
here. 


ALL  IN   A   GARDEN   GREEN. 

By  the  Registers  of  the  Stationers'  Company  we  find  that  in  1565  William 
Pickering  had  a  license  to  print  "  A  Ballett  intituled  All  in  a  garden  grene, 
between  two  lovers;"  and  in  1568-9,  William  Griffith  had  a  similar  license.  In 
1584,  "an  excellent  song  of  an  outcast  lover,"  beginning  "  My  fancie  did  I  fire 
in  faithful  form  and  frame,"  to  the  tune  of  All  in  a  garden  grene,  appeared  in 
A  Handeful  of  Pleasant  Delites. 

In  the  rare  tract  called  "  Westward  for  smelts,  or  the  Waterman's  fare  of  mad 
merry  Western  Wenches,"  quarto,  1603,  the  boatman,  finding  his  fare  sleeping, 
sprinkles  a  little  cool  water  on  them  with  his  oar,  and,  to  "keep  them  from  melan- 
choly sleep,"  promises  "  to  strain  the  best  voice  he  has,  and  not  to  cloy  their  ears 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


Ill 


with  an  old  fiddler's  song,  as  Riding  to  Rumford,  or  All  in  a  garden  green,  but  to 
give  them  a  new  one  of  a  serving  man  and  his  mistress,  which  neither  fiddler  nor 
ballad-singer  had  ever  polluted  with  their  unsavoury  breath." 

In  the  British  Museum  is  a  copy  of  "  Psalmes,  or  Songs  of  Sion,  turned  into 
the  language,  and  set  to  the  tunes  of  a  strange  land,  by  Wplliam]  Spatyer], 
intended  for  Christmas  Carols,  and  fitted  to  divers  of  the  most  noted  and  common, 
but  solemne  tunes,  every  where  in  this  land  familiarly  used  and  knowne."  1642. 
Upon  this  copy,  a  former  possessor  has  written  the  names  of  some  of  the  tunes  to 
which  the  author  designed  them  to  be  sung.  One  of  these  is  All  in  a  garden  grene. 

The  tune  is  in  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book,  from  which  this  copy  is  taken,  and 
in  The  Dancing  Masters  of  1651,  1670, 1686, 1690,  &c.  The  first  part  of  the 
air  is  the  same  as  another  in  TJie  Dancing  Master,  called  Crathering  of  Peascods. 
(See  Index.) 

The  words  are  contained  in  a  manuscript  volume,  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Payne  Collier. 

/Moderate  time. 


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of    the     year,  In         that  time     of    the  year  Com  -  eth  'twixt  May  and       July 


H2  ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

Quoth  he,  "  Most  lovely  maid,  No  sooner  night  is  not, 
My  troth  shall  aye  endure;  But  he  returns  alway, 

And  be  not  thou  afraid,  And  shines  as  bright  and  hot 
But  rest  thee  still  secure,  As  on  this  gladsome  day. 

That  I  will  love  thee  long  He  is  no  older  now 

As  life  in  me  shall  last ;  Than  when  he  first  was  horn  ; 

Now  I  am  strong  and  young,  Age  cannot  make  him  bow, 
And  when  my  youth  is  past.  He  laughs  old  Time  to  scorn. 

When  I  am  gray  and  old,  My  love  shall  be  the  same, 
And  then  must  stoop  to  age,  It  never  shall  decay, 

I'll  love  thee  twenty-fold,  But  shine  without  all  blame, 
My  troth  I  here  engage."  Though  body  turn  to  clay." 

She  heard  with  joy  the  youth,  She  listed  to  his  song, 

When  he  thus  far  had  gone ;  And  heard  it  with  a  smile, 

She  trusted  in  his  truth,  And,  innocent  as  young, 

And,  loving,  he  went  on  :  She  dreamed  not  of  guile. 

"  Yonder  thou  seest  the  sun  No  guile  he  meant,  I  ween, 
Shine  in  the  sky  so  bright,  For  he  was  true  as  steel, 

And  when  this  day  is  done,  As  was  thereafter  seen 

And  cometh  the  dark  night,  When  she  made  him  her  weal. 

Full  soon  both  two  were  wed, 

And  these  most  faithful  lovers 
May  serve  at  board  at  bed, 

Example  to  all  others. 

ROW  WELL,  YE  MARINERS. 

From  the  Registers  of  the  Stationers'  Company,  we  find  that  in  1565-6, 
William  Pickering  had  a  license  to  print  a  ballet  entitled,  Row  well,  ye  mariners, 
and  in  the  following  year,  "  Row  well,  ye  mariners,  moralized."  In  1566-7, 
John  Allde  had  a  license  to  print  "  Stand  fast,  ye  mariners,"  which  was,  in  all 
probability,  another  moralization ;  and  in  the  following  year,  two  others;  the  one, 
"  Row  well,  ye  mariners,  moralized,  with  the  story  of  Jonas,"  the  other,  "  Row 
well,  Christ's  mariners."  In  1567-8,  Alexander  Lacy  took  a  license  to  print 
"  Row  well,  God's  mariners,"  and  in  1569-70,  John  Sampson  to  print  "  Row 
well,  ye  mariners,  for  those  that  look  big."  These  numerous  entries  sufficiently 
prove  the  popularity  of  the  original,  and  I  regret  the  not  having  succeeded  in 
finding  a  copy  of  any  of  these  ballads. 

Three  others,  to  the  tune  of  Row  well,  ye  mariners,  have  been  reprinted  by 
Mr.  Payne  Collier,  in  his  Old  Ballads,  for  the  Percy  Society.  The  first  (dated 
1570) —  "  A  lamentation  from  Rome,  how  the  Pope  doth  bewail 

That  the  rebels  in  England  cannot  prevail." 

The  second,  "  The  end  and  confession  of  John  Felton,  who  sufired  in  Paules 
Churcheyarde,  in  London,  the  8th  August  [1570],  for  high  treason."  Felton 
placed  the  Bull  of  Pope  Pius  V.,  excommunicating  Elizabeth,  on  the  gate  of  the 
palace  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  was  hung  on  a  gallows  set  up  expressly 
before  that  spot.  The  third,  "  A  warning  to  London  by  the  fall  of  Antwerp." 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


113 


In  A  Handefull  of  Pleasant  Delites,  1584,  there  is  "A  proper  sonet,  wherein 
the  lover  dolefully  sheweth  his  grief  to  his  love  and  requireth  pity,"  which  is 
also,  to  the  tune  of  Row  well,  ye  mariners. 

The  tune  is  printed  in  Thomas  Robinson's  Schoole  of  Musick,  fol.,  1603,  and 
in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master  that  I  have  seen,  from  the  first,  dated 
1651,  to  the  eighteenth,  1725. 

Not  having  the  original  words,  a  few  verses  from  the  "Lamentation  from 
Rome,"  above  mentioned,  are  given  as  a  specimen  of  the  merry  political  ballad  of 
those  days.  It  is  the  Song  of  a  fly  buzzing  about  the  Pope's  nose.  The  Pope  and 
his  court  are  supposed  to  be  greatly  disconcerted  at  the  news  of  the  defeat  of  the 
rebels  in  Northumberland. 

Moderate  time  and  smoothly. 


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j  ^  j  j  j  ^=F 

f  All       you    that  news  would          hear,             Give 

•  *            9  •    • 

ear           to     me,       poor 

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Fa-byn  Fly,  At  Rome    I  was  this       year,         And      in       the  Pope  his  nose  did  lie  ; 

~T  —  '  —  f  —  ^-p  —  -  —  r  —  r 

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But  there      I  could  not  long      a-bide,  He       blew   me  out 
For  first  when  he  had  heard   the  news  That  re   -  bels  did 

m         *             m       *            L                          ••       •                "               •      A 

of      ev'  -  ry  side, 
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Then     -     he     -      with     -    joy,-Did  sport  him-self    with  many      a     toy  : 
He     -     then     -     so     -     stout,-That  from    his  nose      he     blew     me  out. 

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I  have  added  the  old  burden  over  the  music,  feeling  no  doubt  of  its  having  been  sung  to  this  part  of  the  tune. 

I 


114 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


But  as  he  was  asleep, 

Into  the  same  again  I  got ; 
I  crept  therein  so  deep, 

That  I  had  almost  burnt  my  coat. 
New  news  to  him  was  brought  that  night, 
The  rebels  they  were  put  to  flight ; 
But,  Lord,  how  then  the  Pope  took  on, 
And  called  for  a  Mary-bone. 

Up-ho  !-make-haste, 

My  lovers  all  be  like  to  waste  ; 

Rise-Cardinal,-up-Priest, 

Saint  Peter  he  doth  what  he  list. 

So  then  they  fell  to  mess ; 

The  friars  on  their  beads  did  pray ; 
The  Pope  began  to  bless, 

At  last  he  wist  not  what  to  say. 
It  chanced  so  the  next  day  morn, 
A  post  came  blowing  of  his  horn, 
Saying,  Northumberland  is  take ; 
But  then  the  Pope  began  to  quake. 

He-then-rubb'd-his-nose, 

With  pilgrim-salve  he  'noint  his  hose  ; 

Run-here,-run-there, 

His  nails,  for  anger,  'gan  to  pare. 


When  he  perceived  well 

The  news  was  true  to  him  was  brought, 
Upon  his  knees  he  fell, 

And  then  Saint  Peter  he  besought 
That  he  would  stand  his  friend  in  this, 
To  help  to  aid  those  servants  his, 
And  he  would  do  as  much  for  him — 
But  Peter  sent  him  to  Saint  Sim. 

So-then-he-snufTd, 

The  friars  all  about  he  cuiFd, 

He-roar'd,-he-cried ; 

The  priests  they  durst  not  once  abide. 

The  Cardinals  then  begin 

To  stay,  and  take  him  in  their  arms, 
He  spurn "d  them  on  the  shin, 

Away  they  trudg'd,  for  fear  of  harms. 
So  then  the  Pope  was  left  alone ; 
Good  Lord  !  how  he  did  make  his  moan  ! 
The  stools  against  the  walls  he  threw, 
And  me,  out  of  his  nose  he  blew. 

I-hopp  'd,-I-skipp '  d, 

From  place  to  place,  about  I  whipp'd ; 

He-sware,-he-tare, 

Till  from  his  crown  he  pull'd  the  hair. 


LORD    WILLOUGHBY. 

This  tune  is  referred  to  under  the  names  of  Lord  Willoughby;  Lord  Wil- 
loughby's  March,  and  Lord  Willoughby' s  Welcome  Home.  In  Queen's  Elizabeth's 
Virginal  Book,  it  is  called  Rowland. 

In  Lady  Neville's  Virginal  Book  (MS.,  1591),  and  in  Robinson's  School  of 
Music,  1603,  it  is  called  "Lord  Willobie's  Welcome  Home:"  the  ballad  of  The 
Carman's  Whistle  was  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  The  Carman's  Whistle,  or  to 
Lord  Willoughby's  March;  and  that  of  "Lord  Willoughby — being  a  true  relation 
of  a  famous  and  bloody  battel  fought  in  Flanders,  &c.,  against  the  Spaniards ; 
where  the  English  obtained  a  notable  victory,  to  the  glory  and  renown  of  our 
nation" — was  to  the  tune  of  "  Lord  Willoughby,  <fc."  A  copy  of  the  last  will 
be  found  in  the  Bagford  Collection  of  Ballads,  British  Museum. 

Peregrine  Bertie,  Lord  Willoughby  of  Eresby,  one  of  the  bravest  and  most 
skilful  soldiers  of  this  reign,  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  Low  Countries  in 
1586,  and  in  the  following  year,  on  the  recall  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  was 
made  commander  of  the  English  forces.  The  tune,  with  which  his  name  was 
associated,  was  as  popular  in  the  Netherlands  as  in  England,  and  continued  so,  in 
both  countries,  long  after  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1601.  It  was  printed  at 
Haerlem,  with  other  English  tunes,  in  1626,  in  Neder-landtsche  Gedenck-clanck, 
under  the  name  of  Soet  Mobbert,  and  Soet,  soet  Eobbertchen  [Sweet  Robert,  and 
Sweet,  sweet  little  Robert],  which  it  probably  derived  from  some  other  ballad 
sung  to  the  tune. 

As  the  ballad  of  "Brave  Lord  Willoughby"  is  printed  in  Percy's  JReliques  of 
Ancient  Poetry,  a  few  verses,  only,  are  subjoined. 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


115 


^  In  Marchin 

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'teenth     day     of 

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F          J          I 

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shield,                A        fa  -  mous  fight  in          Flan    -    ders    Was     fought-en       in      the 

—  i  p  —  (•  — 

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field:     The    most  cou-ra-geous   of  -    ficers  Were  English  Captains  three ;  But    the 


J  r  riJ.J 


bra    -    vest      in  the     bat    -     tie      Was     brave  Lord  Wil  -  lough    -    by. 


Stand  to  it,  noble  pikemen, 

And  look  you  round  about : 
And  shoot  you  right,  you  bowmen, 

And  we  will  keep  them  out : 
You  musquet  and  caliver  men, 

Do  you  prove  true  to  me, 
I'le  be  the  foremost  man  in  fight, 

Says  brave  Lord  Willoughbey. 

The  sharp  steel-pointed  arrows, 

And  bullets  thick  did  fly, 
Then  did  our  valiant  soldiers 

Charge  on  most  furiously  ; 
Which  made  the  Spaniards  waver, 

They  thought  it  best  to  flee, 
They  fear'd  the  stout  behaviour 

Of  brave  Lord  Willoughbey. 


Then  quoth  the  Spanish  general, 

Come  let  us  march  away, 
I  fear  we  shall  be  spoiled  all 

If  here  we  longer  stay ; 
For  yonder  comes  Lord  Willoughbey 

With  courage  fierce  and  fell, 
He  will  not  give  one  inch  of  way 

For  all  the  devils  in  hell. 

And  then  the  fearful  enemy 

Was  quickly  put  to  flight, 
Our  men  pursued  couragiously, 

And  caught  their  forces  quite  ; 
But  at  last  they  gave  a  shout, 

Which  ecchoed  through  the  sky, 
God,  and  St.  George  for  England ! 

The  conquerors  did  cry. 


116 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND    BALLAD    MUSIC. 


To  the  souldiers  that  were  maimed, 

And  wounded  in  the  fray, 
The  queen  allowed  a  pension 

Of  fifteen  pence  a  day ; 
And  from  all  costs  and  charges 

She  quit  and  set  them  free : 
And  this  she  did  all  for  the  sake 

Of  brave  Lord  WilloughbSy. 


Then  courage,  noble  Englishmen, 

And  never  be  dismaid ; 
If  that  we  be  but  one  to  ten 

We  will  not  be  afraid 
To  fight  with  foraign  enemies, 

And  set  our  nation  free. 
And  thus  I  end  the  bloody  bout 

Of  brave  Lord  Willoughbey. 


ALL  FLOWERS  OF  THE  BROOM. 

This  is  mentioned  as  a  dance  tune  by  Nicholas  Breton,  in  a  passage  already 
quoted  from  his  Works  of  a  young  Wit,  1577  (ante  p.  91)  ;  and  by  Nashe,  in  the 
following,  from  his  Have  with  you  to  Saffron-  Walden,  1596  : — 

"  Or  doo  as  Dick  Harvey  did,  that  having  preacht  and  beat  downe  three  pulpits  in 
inveighing  against  dauncing,  one  Sunday  evening,  when  his  wench  or  friskin  was  foot- 
ing it  aloft  on  the  greene,  with  foote  out  and  foote  in,  and  as  busie  as  might  be  at 
Rogero,  Basilino,  Turhelony,  All  the  flowers  of  the  broom,)  Pepper  is  black,  Greene 
Sleeves,  Peggie  Ramsey,*  he  came  sneaking  behind  a  tree,  and  lookt  on ;  and  though 
hee  was  loth  to  be  scene  to  countenance  the  sport,  having  laid  God's  word  against  it  so 
dreadfully ;  yet  to  shew  his  good  will  to  it  in  heart,  hee  sent  her  eighteen  pence  in 
hugger-mugger  (i.e.,  in  secret),  to  pay  the  fiddlers." 

The  tune  is  contained  in  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book,  under  the  name  of 
All  flour es  in  broome. 


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All  the  tunes  here  mentioned  will  be  found  in  this  Collection,  except  Satilino. 


KEIGN    OF    ELIZABETH.  117 

I  AM  THE  DUKE  OF  NORFOLK,  OB  PAUL'S  STEEPLE. 

This  tune  is  frequently  mentioned  under  both  names.  In  Playford's  Dancing 
Master,  from  1650  to  1695,  it  is  called  Paul's  Steeple.  In  his  Division  Violin, 
1685,  at  page  2,  it  is  called  The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  or  Paul's  Steeple ;  and  at 
page  18,  Paul's  Steeple,  or  the  Duke  of  Norfolk. 

•  The  steeple  of  the  old  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul  was  proverbial  for  height.  In  the 
Vulgaria,  printed  by  Wynkin  de  Worde,  in  1530,  we  read:  " Poule's  Steple  is  a 
mighty  great  thing,  and  so  hye  that  unneth  [hardly]  a  man  may  discerne 
the  wether  cocke, — the  top  is  unneth  perceived."  So  in  Lodge's  Wounds  of 
Civil  War,  &  clown  talks  of  the  Paul's  Steeple  of  honour,  as  the  highest  point 
that  can  be  attained.  The  steeple  was  set  on  fire  by  lightning,  and  burnt 
down  on  the  4th  June,  1561 ;  and  within  seven  days,  a  ballad  of  "  The  true 
report  of  the  burning  of  the  steeple  and  church  of  Paul's,  in  London,"  was 
entered,  and  afterwards  printed  by  William  Seres,  "  at  the  west-ende  of  Pawles 
church,  at  the  sygne  of  the  Hedghogge."  In  1564,  a  ballad  was  entered  for 
"  the  encouraging  all  kind  of  men  to  the  re-edifying  and  building  Paul's  steeple 
again ;"  but  the  spire  was  never  re-constructed.  Mr.  Payne  Collier  has  printed 
a  ballad,  written  on  the  occasion  of  the  fire,  in  his  Extracts  from  the  Registers  of 
the  Stationers'  Company,  vol.  i.,  p.  40;  and  it  seems  to  have  been  intended  for  the 
tune.  The  first  verse  is  as  follows : — 

"  Lament  each  one  the  blazing  fire, 
That  down  from  heaven  came, 
And  burnt  S.  Powles  his  lofty  spire 
With  lightning's  furious  flame. 
Lament,  I  say, 
Both  night  and  day, 
Sith  London's  sins  did  cause  the  same." 

In  1562-3,  John  Cherlewood  had  a  license  for  printing  another,  called  "  When 
young  Paul's  steeple,  old  Paul's  steeple's  child." 

In  Fletcher's  comedy,  Monsieur  Thomas,  act  iii.,  sc.  8,  a  fiddler,  being  questioned 
as  to  what  ballads  he  is  best  versed  in,  replies  : 

"  Under  your  mastership's  correction,  I  can  sing 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk;  or  the  merry  ballad 
Of  Diverus  and  Lazarus;  The  Rose  of  England ; 
In  Crete,  when  Dedimusjirst  began ; 
Jonas,  his  crying  out  against  Coventry ; 
Maudlin,  the  merchant's  daughter ; 
The  Devil  and  ye  dainty  dames ; 
The  landing  of  the  Spaniards  at  Bow  ; 
With  the  bloody  battle  at  Mile-End."  a 

»  Of  the  ballads  mentioned  above,  Diverus  and  Lazarus  perhaps,  Deloney's  ballad  of  Fair  Rosamond,  reprinted  in 
seems  to  be  an  intentional  corruption  of  Dives  andLazarus.  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry.    In  Crete  is  often  re- 
The  Rose  of  England  may  be —  ferred  to  as  a  ballad  tune ;  for  instance,  My  mind  to  me  a 
"The  rose,  the  rose,  the  English  rose,  kingdom  is,  was  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  In  Crete,  accord- 
It  is  the  fairest  flower  that  blows ; "  ing  to  a  black-letter  copy  in  the  Pepysian   Collection, 
a  copy  of  which  is  in  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  Manuscript;  or,  Maudlin, the  merchant's  daughter,™  The  merchant's  daughter 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC.   . 

In  the  Pepysian  Collection,  vol.  i.,  146,  and  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  i.,  180, 
is  a  black-letter  ballad,  called  "  A  Lanthorne  for  Landlords "  to  the  tune  of 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  initial  lines  of  which  are — 

"  With  sobbing  grief  my  heart  will  break 

Asunder  in  my  breast,  &c." 

In  The  Loyal  Garland,  1686,  and  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  188  (or 
Collier's  Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  312),  Gf-od  speed  the  plough,  and  bless  the  corn-mow, 
&c.,  to  the  tune  of  lam  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  beginning — 
"  My  noble  friends,  give  ear, 
If  mirth  you  love  to  hear, 

I'll  tell  you  as  fast  as  I  can, 
A  story  very  true : 
Then  mark  what  doth  ensue, 

Concerning  a  husbandman." 

This  ballad-dialogue,  between  a  husbandman  and  a  serving-man,  has  been  orally 
preserved  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  One  version  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Davies 
Gilbert's  Christmas  Carols;  a  second  in  Mr.  J.  H.  Dixon's  Ancient  Poems  and 
Songs  of  the  Peasantry  (printed  for  the  Percy  Society) ;  and  a  third  in  "  Old 
English  Songs,  as  now  sung  by  the  Peasantry  of  the  Weald  of  Surrey  and  Sussex," 
&c., ;  "  harmonized  for  the  Collector"  [the  Rev.  Mr.  Broadwood]  "  in  1843,  by 
G.  A.  Dusart." 

In  the  Collection  of  Poems  on  Affairs  of  State,  vol.  iii.,  70,  is  "  A  new  ballad 
to  an  old  tune,  called  lam  the  Duke  of  Norfolk."     It  is  a  satire  on  Charles  II., 
and  begins  thus : — "  I  am  a  senseless  thing,  with  a  hey,  with  a  hey ; 
Men  call  me  a  king,  with  a  ho ; 
To  my  luxury  and  ease, 
They  brought  me  o'er  the  seas, 
With  a  hey  nonny,  nonny,  nonny  no." 

In  Shadwell's  Epsom  Wells,  1673,  act  iii.,  sc.  1,  we  find,  "  Could  I  not  play 
I  am  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  Cf-reen  Sleeves,  and  the  fourth  Psalm,  upon  the 
virginals  ?  "  and  in  Wycherley's  Gf-entleman  Dancing  Master,  Ger.  says,  "  Sing 
him  Arthur  of  Bradley,  or  lam  the  Duke  of  Norfolk." 

A  curious  custom  still  remains  in  parts  of  Suffolk,  at  the  harvest  suppers,  to 
sing  the  song  "I  am  the  Duke  of  Norfolk"  (here  printed  with  the  music);  one 
of  the  company  being  crowned  with  an  inverted  pillow  or  cushion,  and  another 
presenting  to  him  a  jug  of  ale,  kneeling,  as  represented  in  the  vignette  of  the 
Horkey.  [See  Suffolk  Cf-arland,  1818,  p.  402.]  The  editor  of  the  Suffolk 
Crarland  says,  that  "  this  custom  has  most  probably  some  allusion  to  the  homage 
formerly  paid  to  the  Lords  of  Norfolk,  the  possessors  of  immense  domains  in  the 
county."  To  "  serve  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,"  seems  to  have  been  equivalent  to 
making  merry,  as  in  the  following  speech  of  Mine  host,  at  the  end  of  the  play  of 
The  merry  Devil  of  Edmonton,  1617  : — 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH.  119 

"  Why,  Sir  George,  send  for  Spendle's  noise a  presently ; 

Ha !  ere  't  be  night,  I'll  serve  the  good  Duke  of  Norfolk." 
To  which  Sir  John  rejoins : — 

"  Grass  and  hay  !  mine  host,  let's  live  till  we  die, 
And  be  merry ;  and  there's  an  end." 

Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  vol.  v.,  271. 

Dr.  Letherland,  in  a  note  which  Steevens  has  printed  on  King  Henry  IV., 
Part  I.,  act  ii.,  sc.  4  (where  Falstaff  says,  "  This  chair  shall  be  my  state,  this 
dagger  my  sceptre,  and  this  cushion  my  crown"),  observes  that  the  country  people 
in  Warwickshire  also  use  a  cushion  for  a  crown,  at  their  harvest  home  diversions ; 
and  in  the  play  of  King  Edward  IV.,  Part  II.,  1619,  is  the  following  passage : — 
"  Then  comes  a  slave,  one  of  those  drunken  sots, 
In  with  a  tavern  reck'ning  for  a  supplication, 
Disguised  with  a  cushion  on  his  head." 

In  the  Suffolk  custom,  he  who  is  crowned  with  the  pillow,  is  to  take  the  ale,  to 
raise  it  to  his  lips,  and  to  drink  it  off  without  spilling  it,  or  allowing  the  cushion 
to  fall ;  but  there  was,  also,  another  drinking  custom  connected  with  this  tune. 
In  the  first  volume  of  Wit  and  Mirth,  or  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  1698  and' 
1707,  and  the  third  volume,  1719,  is  a  song  called  Bacchus9  Health,  "  to  be  sung 
by  all  the  company  together,  with  directions  to  be  observed."  They  are  as 
follows :  "  First  man  stands  up,  with  a  glass  in  his  hand,  and  sings — 
Here's  a  health  to  jolly  Bacchus,  (sung  three  times) 

I-ho,  I-ho,  I-ho ; 
For  he  doth  make  us  merry,  (three  times} 

I-ho,  I-ho,  I-ho. 

*  Come  sit  ye  down  together,  (three  times) 
(At  this  star  all  bow  to  each  other  and  sit  down.) 

I-ho,  I-ho,  I-ho ; 

And  bringf  more  liquor  hither  (three  times) 
(At  this  dagger  all  the  company  beckon  to  the  drawer.) 

I-ho,  I-ho,  I-ho. 

It  goes  into  the  *  cranium,  (three  times) 
(At  this  star  the  first  man  drinks  his  glass,  while  the  others  sing  and  point  at  him.) 

I-ho,  I-ho,  I-ho ; 

And  f  thou'rt  a  boon  companion  (three  times) 
(At  this  dagger  all  sit  down,  each  clapping  the  next  man  on  the  shoulder.) 

I-ho,  I-ho,  I-ho. 

Every  line  of  the  above  is  to  be  sung  three  times,  except  I-ho,  I-ho,  I-ho.     Then 
the  second  man  takes  his  glass  and  sings ;  and  so  round. 

About  1728,  after  the  success  of  TJie  Beggars'  Opera,  a  great  number  of  other 
ballad  operas  were  printed.  In  the  Cobblers'  Opera,  and  some  others,  this  tune  is 
called  J  am  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  ;  but  in  The  Jovial  Grew,  The  Livery  Make,  and 
The  Lover  his  own  Rival,  it  is  called  There  was  a  bonny  Hade.  It  acquired  that 
name  from  the  following  song,  which  is  still  occasionally  to  be  heard,  and  which 
is  also  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  from  1698  to  1719 : — 

a  Spindle's  noise,  i.e.,  Spindle's  band,  or  company   of  musicians. 


120 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND    BALLAD    MUSIC. 


There  was  a  bonny  blade, 

Had  married  a  country  maid, 
And  safely  conducted  her  home,  home,  home  ; 

She  was  neat  in  every  part, 

And  she  pleas'd  him  to  the  heart,  " 
But  ah!  and  alas!  she  was  dumb,  dumb,  dumb. 

She  was  bright  as  the  day, 

And  brisk  as  the  May, 
And  as  round  and  as  plump  as  a  plum, 

But  still  the  silly  swain 

Could  do  nothing  but  complain 
Because  that  his  wife  she  was  dumb. 

She  could  brew,  she  could  bake, 

She  could  sew,  and  she  could  make, 
She  could  sweep  the  house  with  a  broom ; 

She  could  wash,  and  she  could  wring, 

And  do  any  kind  of  thing, 
But  ah !  and  alas  !  she  was  dumb. 

To  the  doctor  then  he  went, 

For  to  give  himself  content, 
And  to  cure  his  wife  of  the  mum  : 
"  Oh!  it  is  the  easiest  part 

That  belongs  unto  my  art 
For  to  make  a  woman  speak  that  is  dumb." 


To  the  doctor  he  did  her  bring, 

And  he  cut  her  chattering  string, 
And  at  liberty  he  set  her  tongue ; 

Her  tongue  began  to  walk, 

And  she  began  to  talk 
As  though  she  never  had  been  dumb. 

Her  faculty  she  tries, 

And  she  fills  the  house  with  noise, 
And  she  rattled  in  his  ears  like  a  drum ; 

She  bred  a  deal  of  strife, 

Made  him  weary  of  his  life — 
He'd  give  any  thing  again  she  was  dumb. 

To  the  doctor  then  he  goes, 
And  thus  he  vents  his  woes  : 
"  Oh  !  doctor,  you've  me  undone ; 
For  my  wife  she's  turn'd  a  scold, 
And  her  tongue  can  never  hold, 
I'd  give  any  kind  of  thing  she  was  dumb." 

"  -When  I  did  undertake 

To  make  thy  wife  to  speak, 
It  was  a  thing  easily  done, 

But  'tis  past  the  art  of  man,' 

Let  him  do  whate'er  he  can, 
For  to  make  a  scolding  wife  hold  her  tongue." 


From  the  last  line  of  the  verses  of  this  song,  the  tune  also  became  known  as 
"  Alack!  and  alas !  she  was  dumb,"  or  " Dumb,  dumb,  dumb." 

Rather  slow. 


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REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


121 


PEPPER  IS  BLACK. 

This  tune  is  to  be  found  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1690.  It  is 
mentioned  as  a  dance  tune  by  Nashe  in  Have  with  you  to  Saffron-  Walden,  1596. 
(See  ante  p.  116.)  A  copy  of  the  following  ballad  by  Elderton  is  in  the  collection 
of  Mr.  George  Daniel,  of  Canonbury :  "  Prepare  ye  to  the  plough,  to  the  tune 
of  Pepper  is  black." 

"  The  Queen  holds  the  plough,  to  continue  good  seed, 

Trusty  subjects,  be  ready  to  help  if  she  need." 
Moderate  time. 


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Parnaso  hill,  not  all  the  skill  Can  bring  about  that  I  found  out, 

Of  nymphs,  or  muses  feigned,  By  Christ  himself  ordained,  &c. 

There  are  twelve  stanzas,  each  of  eight  lines,  subscribed  W.  Elderton.     Printed 
by  Wm.  How,  for  Richard  Johnes. 

WALSINGHAM. 

This  tune  is  in  Queen  Elizabeth's,  and  Lady  Neville's,  Virginal  Books  (with 
thirty  variations  by  Dr.  John  Bull) ;  in  Anthony  Holborne's  Cittharn  Schoole, 
1597 ;  in  Barley's  New  Booke  of  Tablature,  1596,  &c.  It  is  called  "  Walsingham^ 
"  Save  with  you  to  Walsingham"  and  "  As  I  went  to  Walsingham" 

It  belongs,  in  all  probability,  to  an  earlier  reign,  as  the  Priory  of  Walsingham, 
in  Norfolk,  which  was  founded  during  the  Episcopate  of  William,  Bishop  of 
Norwich  (1146  to  1174),  was  dissolved  in  1538. 

Pilgrimages  to  this  once  famous  shrine  commenced  in  or  before  the  reign  of 
Henry  HI.,  who  was  there  in  1241.  Edward  I.  was  at  Walsingham  in  1280,  and 
again  in  1296  ;  and  Edward  H.  in  1315.  The  author  of  The  Vision  of  Piers 
Ploughman,  says — 

"  Heremy tes  on  a  hepe,  with  hooked  staves, 
Wenten  to  Walsyngham,  and  her  [their]  wenches  after." 

A  curious  reason  why  pilgrims  should  have  both  singers  and  pipers  to  accompany 
them,  will  be  found  in  note  a,  at  page  34. 

Henry  VH.,  having  kept  his  Christmas  of  1486-7,  at  Norwich,  "from  thence 
went  in  manner  of  pilgrimage  to  Walsingham,  where  he  visited  Our  Lady's  Church, 
famous  for  miracles ;  and  made  his  prayers  and  vows  for  help  and  deliverance." 


122  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD  MUSIC. 

And  in  the  following  summer,  after  the  battle  of  Stoke,  "  he  sent  his  banner  to 
be  offered  to  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  where  before  he  made  his  vows." 

"  Erasmus  has  given  a  very  exact  and  humorous  description  of  the  superstitions 
practised  there  in  his  time.  See  his  account  of  the  Virgo  Parathalassia,  in  his 
colloquy,  intitled  Peregrinatio  Religionis  ergo.  He  tells  us,  the  rich  offerings  in 
silver,  gold,  and  precious  stones,  that  were  shewn  him,  were  incredible ;  there  being 
scarce  a  person  of  any  note  in  England,  but  what  some  time  or  other  paid  a  visit, 
or  sent  a  present,  to  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham.  At  the  dissolution  of  the  monas- 
teries in  1538,  this  splendid  image,  with  another  from  Ipswich,  was  carried  to 
Chelsea,  and  there  burnt  in  the  presence  of  commissioners;  who,  we  trust,  did  not 
burn  the  jewels  and  the  finery." — Percy's  Religues. 

The  tune  is  frequently  mentioned  by  writers  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries.  In  act  v.  of  Fletcher's  The  Honest  Marts  Fortune,  one  of  the  servants 
says,  "I'll  renounce  my  five  mark  a  year,  and  all  the  hidden  art  I  have  in  carving, 
to  teach  young  birds  to  whistle  Walsingham."  A  verse  of  "  As  you  came  from 
Walsingham,"  is  quoted  in  The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle,  and  in  Hans  Beer- 
pot,  his  invisible  Comedy,  4to.,  1618. 

In  The  weakest  goes  to  the  wall,  1600,  the  scene  being  laid  in  Burgundy,  the 
following  lines  are  given : — 

"  King  Richard's  gone  to  Walsingham,  to  the  Holy  Land, 
To  kill  Turk  and  Saracen,  that  the  truth  do  withstand ; 
Christ  his  cross  be  his  good  speed,  Christ  his  foes  to  quell, 
Send  him  help  in  time  of  need,  and  to  come  home  well." 

In  the  Bodleian  Library  is  a  small  quarto  volume,  apparently  in  the  hand-writing 
of  Philip,  Earl  of  Arundel  (eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  suffered  in 
Elizabeth's  time),  containing  A  lament  for  Walsingham.  It  is  in  the  ballad  style, 
and  the  two  last  stanzas  are  as  follows : — 

"  Weep,  weep,  O  Walsingham !  Sin  is  where  Our  Lady  sat, 

Whose  days  are  nights  ;  Heaven  turned  is  to  hell  ; 

Blessings  turn'd  to  blasphemies" —  Satan  sits  where  Our  Lord  did  sway : 

Holy  deeds  to  despites.  Walsingham,  Oh,  farewell !  " 

In  Nashe's  Have  with  you  to  Saffron-Walden,  1596,  sign.  L,  "As  I  went  to 
Walsingham "  is  quoted,  which  is  the  first  line  of  the  ballad  in  the  Pepysian 
Collection,  vol.  i.,  p.  226,  and  a  verse  of  which  is  here  printed  to  the  music. 

One  of  the  Psalmes  and  Songs  of  Sion,  turned  into  the  language,  and  set  to  the 
tunes  of  a  strange  land,  1642,  is  to  the  tune  of  Walsingham  ;  and  Osborne,  in  his 
Traditional  Memoirs  on  the  Reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James,  1653,  speaking  of  the 
Earl  of  Salisbury,  says : — 

"  Many  a  hornpipe  he  tuned  to  his  Phillis, 

And  sweetly  sung  Walsingham  to's  Amaryllis." 

In  Don  Quixote,  translated  by  J.  Phillips,  1687,  p.  278,  he  says,  "  An  infinite 
number  of  little  birds,  with  painted  wings  of  various  colours,  hopping  from  branch 
to  branch,  all  naturally  singing  Walsingham,  and  whistling  John,  come  kiss 
me  now" 

Two  of  the  ballads  are  reprinted  in  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry ;  the 
one  beginning,  "Gentle  herdsman,  tell  to  me ;"  the  other,  "  As  ye  came  from  the 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


123 


Holy  Land."     The  last  will  also  be  found  in  Deloney's  Garland  of  Goodwill, 
reprinted  by  the  Percy  Society. 

Slow  and  plaintive. 


-^                  •* 

1  1 

, 

, 

r^ 

J 

i       , 

If         O             1 

m    • 

—  J  

-J  \- 

—  i  — 

-J  —  E 

—  f— 

3 

VT\  4  ^~ 

~s~~ 

~^  ^~ 

—  — 

—  8  

\My       *T         <-J 

I 

J 

-i 

• 

As 

I  went 

1 

to 

Wai  -  sing  -  ham,     To   the 

r   ^ 

shrine  with     speed, 

'  )  "     ^l         i 

—5  



-F  

—  P— 

—  P  

-4  

-F  1  — 

r'  i  'i 

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1  

=1 

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=E= 

=t= 

1         ^ 

.^ 

• 

1                               ^1      I            ^* 

J       m      •       J 

-  j  —  - 

j  •       j 

0 

•  • 

*  •  *_ 

i  —  3  —  H  — 

J       •       i              u*V^J 

B.  ,  . 

Hi 

~T  i  

-l  —  «  —  J  — 



Met    I 

r                   i     r    r      •*  - 

with   a     jol  -  ly        pal   -    -    mer      In     a  pil    -    grim's      weed. 

—  f  1  

—  i  — 

(•  *  ' 

—  ^1  H  

3 

r    j    i 

—  -}  J  — 

-F  —  '  —  F  — 

\—\  U— 

This  ballad  is  on  one  of  the  affairs  of  gallantry  that  so  frequently  arose  out  of 

pilgrimages. 

PACKINGTON'S,  OR  PAGGINGTON'S  POUND. 

This  tune  is  to  be  found  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book ;  in  A  New  Book 
of  Tablature,  1596 ;  in  the  Collection  of  English  Songs,  printed  at  Amsterdam,  in 
1684;  in  Select  Ayr es,  1659;  in  A  Choice  Collection  of  180  Loyal  Songs,  1685  ; 
in  Playford's  Pleasant  Musical  Companion,  Part  IT.,  1687;  in  The  Beggars' 
Opera,  1728 ;  in  The  Musical  Miscellany,  vol.  v. ;  and  in  many  other  collections. 

It  probably  took  its  name  from  Sir  John  Packington,  commonly  called  "  lusty 
Packington,"  the  same  who  wagered  that  he  would  swim  from  the  Bridge  at 
Westminster,  i.e.,  Whitehall  Stairs,  to  that  at  Greenwich,  for  the  sum  of  3,000?. 
"  But  the  good  Queen,  who  had  particular  tenderness  for  handsome  fellows,  would 
not  permit  Sir  John  to  run  the  hazard  of  the  trial."  His  portrait  is  still  pre- 
served at  Westwood,  the  ancient  seat  of  the  family. 

In  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book  it  is  called  Packington's  Pound ;  by  Ben 
Jonson,  Paggington's  Pound;  and,  in  a  MS.  now  in  Dr.  Rimbault's  possession, 
A  Fancy  of  Sir  John  Pagington. 

Some  copies,  viz.,  that  in  the  Virginal  Book,  and  in  the  Amsterdam  Collection, 
have  the  following  difference  in  the  melody  of  the  first  four  bars : — 


and  it  is  probably  the  more  correct  reading,  as  the  other  closely  resembles  the 
commencement  of  "  Robin  Hood,  Robin  Hood,  said  Little  John." 

The  song  in  Ben  Jonson's  comedy  of  Bartholomew  Fair,  commencing,  "  My 
masters  and  friends,  and  good  people,  draw  near,"  was  written  to  this  air,  and  is 
thus  introduced : — 

Night.     To  the  tune  of  Paggington's  Pound,  Sir  ? 

Cokes.     (Sings}  Fa,  la  la  la,  la  la  la,  fa  la  la,  la !     Nay,  I'll  put  thee  in  tune  and  all ! 
Mine  own  country  dance  1     Pray  thee  begin." — Act  3. 


124 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  songs  written  to  the  tune  are  too  many  for  enumeration.  Besides  those 
in  the  various  Collections  of  Ballads  hi  the  British  Museum,  in  D'Urfey's  Pills, 
and  in  the  Pitt  to  purge  State  Melancholy,  1716, — in  one  Collection  alone,  viz., 
The  Choice  Collection  of  180  Loyal  Songs,  there  are  no  fewer  than  thirteen.  The 
following  are  curious : — 

No.  1.  A  popular  Beggars'  Song,  by  which  the  tune  is  often  named,  com- 
mencing : — "  From  hunger  and  cold  who  liveth  more  free  ? 

Or  who  is  so  richly  cloathed  as  we." — Select  Ayres,  1659. 

No.  2.  "  Blanket  Fair,  or  the  History  of  Temple  Street.  Being  a  relation  of 
the  merry  pranks  plaid  on  the  river  Thames  during  the  great  Frost." 

"  Come,  listen  awhile,  though  the  weather  be  cold." 

No.  3.     "  The  North  Country  Mayor,"  dated  1697,  from  a  manuscript  volume 
of  Songs  by  "Wilmot,  Earl  of  Rochester,  and  others,  in  the  Harleian  Library  : — 
"  I  sing  of  no  heretic  Turk,  or  of  Tartar, 
But  of  a  suffering  Mayor  who  may  pass  for  a  Martyr; 
For  a  story  so  tragick  was  never  yet  told 
By  Fox  or  by  Stowe,  those  authors  so  old ; 
How  a  vile  Lansprasado 
Did  a  Mayor  bastinado, 

And  played  him  a  trick  worse  than  any  Strappado : 
O  Mayor,  Mayor,  better  ne'er  have  transub'd,  [turn'd  Papist] 
Than  thus  to  be  toss'd  in  a  blanket  and  drubb'd,"  &c. 

The  following  song,  in  praise  of  milk,  is  from  Playford's  Musical  Companion, 
Part  II.,  1687  :— 

Moderate  time  and  smoothly. 


f  T        "f 

In  praise  of  a  dai-ry  I  pur-pose  to  sing,  But  all  things  in  order;  first  God  save  the  King! 


r   E  r 


And  the  Queen  I  may  say ;  That  ev'-ry  Mayday,  Has  ma-ny  fair  dai-ry- maids  all  fine  and  gay :    As  - 


r.-   Y      ' 


-  sist  me,  fair  damsels,  to      finish  my  theme,  In  -  spiring  my  fan-cy  with  strawbeny  cream 


^t=^ 


pu 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH.  125 

The  first  of  fair  dairy-maids,  if  you'll  believe, 
Was  Adam's  own  wife,  our  great-grandmother  Eve, 

Who  oft  milk'd  a  cow, 

As  well  she  knew  how  ; 

Though  butter  was  not  then  so  cheap  as  'tis  now, 
She  hoarded  no  butter  nor  cheese  on  her  shelves, 
For  butter  and  cheese  in  those  days  made  themselves. 

In  that  age  or  time  there  was  no  horrid  money, 
Yet  the  children  of  Israel  had  both  milk  and  honey : 

No  queen  you  could  see, 

Of  the  highest  degree, 

But  would  milk  the  brown  cow  with  the  meanest  she ; 
Their  lambs  gave  them  clothing,  their  cows  gave  them  meat, 
And  in  plenty  and  peace  all  their  joys  were  compleat. 

Amongst  the  rare  virtues  that  milk  does  produce, 
For  a  thousand  of  dainties  it's  daily  in  use ; 

Now  a  pudding  I'll  tell  thee, 

Ere  it  goes  in  the  belly, 

Must  have  from  good  milk  both  the  cream  and  the  jelly  : 
For  a  dainty  fine  pudding,  without  cream  or  milk, 
Is  a  citizen's  wife  without  satin  or  silk. 

In  the  virtues  of  milk  there  is  more  to  be  muster'd, 
The  charming  delights  both  of  cheese-cake  and  custard, 

For  at  Tottenham  Court, 

You  can  have  no  sport, 

Unless  you  give  custards  and  cheese-cake  too  for't ; 
And  what's  the  jack-pudding  that  makes  us  to  laugh, 
Unless  he  hath  got  a  great  custard  to  quaff? 

Both  pancake  and  fritter  of  milk  have  good  store, 

But  a  Devonshire  whitepot*  must  needs  have  much  more  ; 

No  state  you  can  think, 

Though  you  study  and  wink, 

From  the  lusty  sack-posset b  to  poor  posset  drink, 
But  milk's  the  ingredient,  though  sack's  ne'er  the  worse, 
For  'tis  sack  makes  the  man,  though  'tis  milk  makes  the  nurse. 

Elderton's  ballad,  called  "  News  from  Northumberland,"  a  copy  of  which  is  in 
the  Library  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  was  probably  written  to  this  tune. 

THE  STAINES  MORRIS  TUNE. 

This  tune  is  taken  from  the  first  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master.  It  is  also  in 
William  Ballet's  Lute  Book  (time  of  Elizabeth) ;  and  was  printed  as  late  as  about 
1760,  in  a  Collection  of  Country  Dances,  by  Wright. 

The  Maypole  Song,  in  Actceon  and  Diana,  seems  so  exactly  fitted  to  the  air, 
that,  having  no  guide  as  to  the  one  intended,  I  have,  on  conjecture,  printed  it 
with  this  tune. 

a  Devonshire  white-pot,  or  hasty -pudding,  consisting  of          A  pint ;  then  fetch,  from  India's  fertile  coast, 
flour  and  milk  boiled  together.  Nutmeg,  the  glory  of  the  British  toast." 

b  The  following  is  a  receipt  for  sack-posset : —  Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  vol.  v.,  p.  138. 

"  From  fair  Barbadoes,  on  the  western  main, 
Fetch  sugar,  half  a  pound ;  fetch  sack,  from  Spain, 


126  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC. 

.  Boldly  and  rather  quick. 


Come,  ye  young  men,  come  a    -      long,     With  your  mu  -  sic,     dance,  and  song, 


^b 


Bring    your  lass  -  es  in         your  hands,         For  'tis  that  which  love  commands 


r  r 


r  r  if 


f  Repeat  in  Chorus 


Then  to  the  Maypole  come  a  -  way, 


For  it    is  now     a  ho  -  li  -  day. 


j  j 


r  i  r  1 1 


It  is  the  choice  time  of  the  year, 
For  the  violets  now  appear ; 
Now  the  rose  receives  its  hirth, 
And  pretty  primrose  decks  the  earth. 

Then  to  the  May-pole  come  away, 

For  it  is  now  a  holiday. 

Here  each  hatchelor  may  chuse 
One  that  will  not  faith  abuse  ; 
Nor  repay  with  coy  disdain 
Love  that  should  be  loved  again. 

Then  to  the  May-pole  come  away, 

For  it  is  now  a  holiday. 


And  when  you  well  reckoned  have 
What  kisses  you  your  sweethearts  gave, 
Take  them  all  again,  and  more, 
It  will  never  make  them  poor. 

Then  to  the  May-pole  come  away, 

For  it  is  now  a  holiday. 

When  you  thus  have  spent  the  time 

Till  the  day  he  past  its  prime, 

To  your  beds  repair  at  night, 

And  dream  there  of  your  day's  delight. 

Then  to  the  May-pole  come  away, 

For  it  is  now  a  holiday. 


THE  SHEPHERD'S  DAUGHTER. 

This  is  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master,  except  the  first,  either  under 
the  name  of  The  Shepherd? s  Daughter,  or  Parson  and  Dorothy.  It  is  also  under 
the  latter  title  in  several  of  the  ballad  operas.  Percy  says  the  ballad  of  The 
Knight  and  Shepherd's  Daughter,  "  was  popular  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
being  usually  printed  with  her  picture  before  it,  as  Hearne  informs  us  in  his  pre- 
face to  Grul  Neubrig.  Hist.  Oxon.,  vol.  i.,  70. 

Four  lines  are  quoted  in  Fletcher's  comedy  The  Pilgrim,  act  iv.,  sc.  2:  "He 
called  down  his  merry  men  all,"  &c. ;  and  in  The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle : 
"  He  set  her  on  a  milk-white  steed,"  &c. 


1  In  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book,  the  third  note  of  the  melody  is  E;  in  the  2nd  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master,  B. 


KEIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


127 


Copies  of  the  ballad  will  be  found  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  30  ; 
and  in  the  Douce  Collection,  with  the  burden  or  chorus,  "  Sing,  trang,  dildo  dee," 
at  the  end  of  each  verse,  which  is  not  given  by  Percy.  The  two  last  bars  are 
here  added  for  the  burden.  In  some  copies  the  four  first  bars  are  repeated. 

Rather  slow. 


—  1  p*~ 

4^ 

\>T~  1     J  J 

1                          ^> 

rj  —  * 

There 

hjM*Sf  -13  :=^=i 

was       a    shep-herd's  daugh  -  ter,   Cai 

ne 

~S    •  -^  —  a  •!  *  a 
trip  -  ping   on    the 

way,      An 

d 

<).,b/i     p. 

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—  1  d  

-?  ^  

,.  _j 

9  —     

—  '  =1  

J     •               ~-J- 

an  1  

—  &  :  0  — 

CHORUS. 


W-      -4    ^     J-^-fi 


r~ 


there,  by  chance,  a  Knight  she  met,  which  caused  her    to        stay.      Sing,  trang,  dil-do  dee. 


J      J  I 

s>  —  u 


J 


The  ballad  will  be  found  in  Percy's  Religues  of  Ancient  Poetry,  series  3,  book  i. 

THE  FROG  GALLIARD,  OB  NOW,  0  NOW ! 

This  is  the  only  tune,  composed  by  a  well-known  musician  of  the  age,  that 
I  have  found  employed  as  a  ballad  tune. 

In  Dowland's  First  Book  of  Songes,  1597,  it  is  adapted  to  the  words,  "  Now, 
0  now,  I  needs  must  part "  (to  be  sung  by  one  voice  with  the  lute,  or  by  four 
without  accompaniment)  ;  but  in  his  Lute  Manuscripts  it  is  called  The  Frog 
G-alliard,  and  seems  to  have  been  commonly  known  by  that  name. 

In  Morley's  Consort  Lessons,  1599  and  1611,  it  is  called  The  Frog  Grattiard ; 
in  Thomas  Robinson's  New  Citharen  Lessons,  1609,  The  Frog;  and  in  the  Skene 
Manuscript,  Froggis  Cralziard. 

In  Nederlandtsche  Credenck-Olanck,  printed  at  Haerlem  in  1626,  it  is  called 
Nou,  nou  [for  Now,  0  now]  ;  but  all  the  ballads  I  have  seen,  that  were  written 
to  it,  give  the  name  as  The  Frog  Grdlliard. 

In  Anthony  Munday's  Banquet  of  daintie  Conceits,  15 88,  there  is  a  song  to  the 
tune  of  Dowland's  G-alliard,  but  it  could  not  be  sung  to  this  air. 

It  seems  probable  that  Now,  0  now,  was  originally  a  dance  tune,  and  the 
composer  finding  that  others  wrote  songs  to  his  galliards,  afterwards  so  adapted 
it  likewise. 

The  latest  Dutch  copy  that  I  have  observed  is  in  Dr.  Camphuysen's  Stichtelycke 
Rymen,  printed  at  Amsterdam  in  1647. 

Dowland  is  celebrated  in  the  following  sonnet,  which,  from  having  appeared  in 
The  Passionate  Pilgrim,  has  been  attributed  to  Shakespeare,  but  was  published 
previously  in  a  Collection  of  Poems  by  Richard  Barnfield. 


128  ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

"  To  his  friend,  Master  It.  L.,  in  praise  of  Mitsic  and  Poetry." 
"  If  music  and  sweet  poetry  agree, 

As  they  must  needs,  (the  sister  and  the  brother,) 
Then  must  the  love  be  great  'twixt  thee  and  me, 

Because  thou  lov'st  the  one,  and  I  the  other. 
Don/land  to  thee  is  dear,  whose  heavenly  touch 

Upon  the  lute  doth  ravish  human  sense ; 
Spenser  to  me,  whose  deep  conceit  is  such, 
As,  passing  all  conceit,  needs  no  defence ; 
Thou  lov'st  to  hear  the  sweet  melodious  sound 

That  Phoebus'  lute,  the  queen  of  music,  makes, 
And  I,  in  deep  delight  am  chiefly  drown' d, 

When  as  himself  to  singing  he  betakes ; 
One  God  is  good  to  both,  as  poets  feign, 
One  knight  loves  both,  and  both  in  thee  remain ! " 

Anthony  Wood  says  of  Dowland,  that  "  he  was  the  rarest  musician  that  the 
age  did  behold."  In  No  Wit,  no  Help,  like  a  Woman's,  a  comedy  by  Thomas 
Middleton  (1657),  the  servant  tells  his  master  bad  news;  and  is  thus  answered : 
"  Thou  plaiest  Dowland's  Lachrimce  to  thy  master." 

In  Peacham's  Crarden  of  Heroical  Devices,  are  the  following  verses,  portraying 
Dowland's  forlorn  condition  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life : — 
"  Here  Philomel  in  silence  sits  alone 

In  depth  of  winter,  on  the  bared  briar, 
Whereon  the  rose  had  once  her  beauty  shown, 
Which  lords  and  ladies  did  so  much  desire ! 
But  fruitless  now,  in  winter's  frost  and  snow, 
It  doth  despis'd  and  unregarded  grow. 

So  since  (old  friend)  thy  years  have  made  thee  white, 
And  thou  for  others  hast  consum'd  thy  spring, 

How  few  regard  thee,  whom  thou  didst  delight, 
And  far  and  near  came  once  to  hear  thee  sing! 

Ungrateful  times,  and  worthless  age  of  ours, 

That  lets  us  pine  when  it  hath  cropt  our  flowers." 

The  device  which  precedes  these  stanzas,  is  a  nightingale  sitting  on  a  bare 
brier,  in  the  midst  of  a  wintry  storm. 

The  following  ballads  were  sung  to  the  tune  under  the  title  of  The  Frog 
Grattiard: — "The  true  love's-knot  untyed:  being  the  right  path  to  advise  princely 
virgins  how  to  behave  themselves,  by  the  example  of  the  renouned  Princess,  the 
Lady  Arabella,  and  the  second  son  to  the  Lord  Seymore,  late  Earl  of  Hertford;" 
commencing —  "  As  I  to  Ireland  did  pass, 

I  saw  a  ship  at  anchor  lay,     , 
Another  ship  likewise  there  was, 

Which  from  fair  England  took  her  way. 
This  ship  that  sail'd  from  fair  England, 

Unknown  unto  our  gracious  King, 
The  Lord  Chief  Justice  did  command, 

That  they  to  London  should  her  bring,"  &c. 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


129 


A  copy  in  the  British  Museum  Collection,  and  printed  by  Evans  in  Old  Ballads, 
1810,  vol.  iii.,  184. 
Also,  "  The  Shepherd's  Delight,"  commencing — 

"  On  yonder  hill  there  stands  a  flower, 

Fair  hefall  those  dainty  sweets ; 
And  by  that  flower  there  stands  a  bower, 
Where  all  the  heavenly  muses  meet,"  &c. 

A  copy  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  L,  388,  and  Evans,  vol.  i.,  388. 


P3r      J  M 

ivy. 

4  8   :   f. 

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£f-             —*  —  i  '  -1    •    '   •  —  1~*  —  ;  ~ 

Now,  O  now    I   needs  must  part,         Part  -  ing  though  I        ab  -  sent  mourn. 
While    I  live    .1   needs  must  love,        Love   lives  not  when    life      is    gone  ; 

'  1'tt   C 

t              m 

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=1  —  • 

m              J       !     n 

fl                      m      *        " 

—I  f    '  ^.  •  —  j—.  - 

r           ^-*  -*- 

-J-     H-  -J  . 

Ab-sencecan     no      joy       im-part,             Joy       once    fled    can    ne'er     re  -turn. 
Now,    at    last,    des  -  pair    doth  prove,        Love        di    -    vi  -  ded,     lov  -  eth  none. 

,  ,  1  ,  —  |  ^ 

i 

i 

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J       * 

—  &  '  *• 

r-*  —  !  — 

H— 

^^- 

i  i  j*  i     i 

rj  j-j  -f 

-^h^  H-^  

Sad     despair     doth      drive  me      hence, 

lr  .J^.^i,  ^^ 

That    des  -  pair    un  -  kind-ness  sends  ; 

'                          P 

1         H      1 

_i 

r  •    r  J 

--J  ^  —  J  f- 

f                ?*• 

2 

If    that  part  -  ing        be       of  -  fence,  It          is       she,  who  then      of-fends. 


^ 


Dear,  when  I  from  thee  am  gone, 
Gone  are  all  my  joys  at  once  ! 

I  loved  thee,  and  thee  alone, 
In  whose  love  I  joyed  once. 

While  I  live  I  needs  must  love, 
Love  lives  not  when  life  is  gone 


Now,  at  last,  despair  doth  prove 
Love  divided  loveth  none. 

And  although  your  sight  I  leave, 
Sight  wherein  my  joys  do  lie, 

Till  that  death  do  sense  bereave, 
Never  shall  affection  die. 

K 


130 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


PAUL'S   WHARF. 

This  tune  is  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  and  in  The  Dancing  Master, 
from  1650  to  1665. 

Paul's  Wharf  was,  and  still  is,  one  of  the  public  places  for  taking  water,  near 
to  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  In  "  The  Prices  of  Fares  and  Passages  to  be  paide  to 
Watermen,"  printed  by  John  Cawood,  (n.d.,)  is  the  following :  "  Item,  that  no 
Whyry  manne,  with  a  pare  of  ores,  take  for  his  fare  from  Pawles  Wharfe,  Queen 
hithe,  Parishe  Garden,  or  the  blacke  Fryers  to  Westminster,  or  White  hall,  or 
lyke  distance  to  and  fro,  above  iijrf. 
Gracefully. 


(0)  ^  ft  —  •— 

ftp    .     tJ?     .  J    *    J 

4—  P-F         J*  J             4 

'-J-    ^Q 

,                 f-  f 

^-    ^J    '  *        !—  ^— 

Vff    f1 

—,—.  —  f—  ^=^  L—  4  — 

P     •            ^-     •>.         • 

^^^if-rj  p  

-f-5  —  I  p—  '  —  -p  —  E  

i  P—    —  P  i" 

IJ 

• 

K            " 

i            i 
i 

1                1 

"*              •           P      '  f  p  •  i 

'                       •                            -1 

p 

j               •  i*           d] 

EP        r                    i      •! 

• 

•         i*      r            ^^L^ 

i       p                   • 

•      i       i 

r              \£—                *^ 

-  W         P             •' 

1          1                               r  * 

J  •     J    J1  1       , 

^sT 

m           •                       r      • 

i          —  -  .     -  — 

"     L 

x.              •    •          U 

m      •               m 

•    r       ^      - 

Q    .                         f    . 

r  ^       zz     • 

TRIP  AND   GO. 

This  was  one  of  the  favorite  Morris-dances  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  and  frequently  alluded  to  by  writers  of  those  times. 

Nashe,  in  his  Introductory  Epistle  to  the  surreptitious  edition  of  Sidney's 
Astrophel  and  Stella,  4to.,  1591,  says,  "Indeede,  to  say  the  truth,  my  stile  is 
somewhat  heavie  gated,  and  cannot  daunce  Trip  and  goe  so  lively,  with  '  Oh  my 
love,  ah  my  love,  all  my  love  gone,'  as  other  shepheards  that  have  beene  Fooles  in 
the  morris,  time  out  of  minde."  He  introduces  it  more  at  length,  and  with  a 
description  of  the  Morris-dance,  in  the  play  of  Summer's  last  Will  and  Testament, 
1600: 

"  VER  goes  in  andfetcheth  out  the  Hobby-horse  and  the  Morris-dance,  mho 

dance  about. 

Ver. — "About,  about !  lively,  put  your  horse  to  it;  rein  him  harder;  jerk  him  with 
your  wand.  Sit  fast,  sit  fast,  man  !  Fool,  hold  up  your  ladle  •  there." 

Will  Summer. — "  0  brave  Hall ! b  0  well  said,  butcher !  Now  for  the  credit  of 
Worcestershire.  The  finest  set  of  Morris-dancers  that  is  between  this  and  Streatham. 
Marry,  methinks  there  is  one  of  them  danceth  like  a  clothier's  horse,  with  a  wool-pack 


*  The  ladle  is  still  used  by  the  sweeps  on  May-day. 

b  The  tract  of  "  Old  Meg  of  Herefordshire  for  a  Mayd 
Marian,  and  Hereford  towne  for  a  Morris-dance,"  4to, 
1609,  is  dedicated  to  old  Hall,  a  celebrated  laborer  of 
Herefordshire;  and  the  author  says, — "The  People  of 
Herefordshire  are  beholding  to  thee ;  thou  givest  the  men 
light  hearts  by  thy  pipe,  and  the  women  light  heeles  by 
thy  tabor.  O  wonderful  piper  I  O  admirable  tabor-man !" 


.  .  .  .  "The  wood  of  this  olde  Hall's  tabor  should 
have  beene  made  a  paile  to  carie  water  in  at  the  beginning 
of  King  Edward  the  Sixt's  reigne ;  but  Hall  (being  wise, 
because  hee  was  even  then  reasonably  well  strucken  in 
years)  saved  it  from  going  to  the  water,  and  converted  it 
in  these  days  to  a  tabor."  For  more  about  old  Hall  and 
his  pipe  and  tabor,  see  page  134. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


131 


upon  his  back.    You,  friend,  with  the  hobby-horse,  go  not  too  fast,  for  fear  of  wearing 
out  my  lord's  tile-stones  with  your  hob-nails." 

Ver. — "  So,  so,  so  ;  trot  the  ring  twice  over,  and  away." 

After  this,  three  clowns  and  three  maids  enter,  dancing,  and  singing  the  song 
which  is  here  printed  with  the  music. 

Trip  and  go  seems  to  have  become  a  proverbial  expression.  In  Gosson's  Schoole 
of  Abuse,  1579  :  "  Trip  and  go,  for  I  dare  not  tarry."  In  The  two  angrie  Women 
of  Abington,  1599  :  "  Nay,  then,  trip  and  go."  In  Ben  Jonson's  Case  is  altered: 
" 0  delicate  trip  and  go"  And  in  Shakespeare's  Lovers  Labour  Lost :  "  Trip 
and  go,  my  sweet." 

The  tune  is  taken  from  Musictes  Delight  on  the  Githren,  1666.     It  resembles 
another  tune,  called  The  Boatman.     (See  Index.) 
Moderate  time  and  trippingly. 

-J"  i    J 


Trip  and    go,      heave  and  ho, 


to  and  fro  ;  From  the  town 


3 


=3= 


9 


T—  TT~ 

x>  the  grove,  Two  and  two         le 


t  us  rove,   A    may  -  ing,   a      play  -  ing ;     Love  hath  no  gain- 


IE 


Ete 


r  T-Pir  •  r  c 


3 


-  say  -  ing  :   So     trip    and    go,  trip  and    go, 


-r  • 

Mer-ri  -  ly  trip     and 


go. 


FPP 


i 


B^ 


The  Morris-dance  was  sometimes  performed  by  itself,  but  was  much  more 
frequently  joined  to  processions  and  pageants,  especially  to  those  appointed  for 
the  celebration  of  May-day,  and  the  games  of  Robin  Hood.  The  festival,  in- 
stituted in  honour  of  Robin  Hood,  was  usually  solemnized  on  -the  first  and 
succeeding  days  of  May,  and  owes  its  original  establishment  to  the  cultivation 
and  improvement  of  the  manly  exercise  of  archery,  which  was  not,  in  former 
times,  practised  merely  for  the  sake  of  amusement. 

"  I  find,"  says  Stow,  "  that  in  the  month  of  May,  the  citizens  of  London,  of  all 
estates,  lightly  in  every  parish,  or  sometimes  two  or  three  parishes  joining 
together,  had  their  several  Mayings,  and  did  fetch  in  May-poles,  with  divers 
warlike,  sheivs,  with  good  archers,  Morris-dancers,  and  other  devices  for  pastime  all 


132  MORRIS-DANCE    AND    MAY-DAY. 

the  day  long :  and  towards  the  evening  they  had  stage-plays  and  bonfires  in  the 
streets.  .  .  .These  great  Mayings  and  May-games,  made  by  the  governors  and 
masters  of  this  city,  with  the  triumphant  setting  up  of  the  great  shaft  (a  principal 
Maypole  in  Cornhill,  before  the  parish  church  of  St.  Andrew,  which,  from  the  pole 
being  higher  than  the  steeple  itself,  was,  and  still  is,  called  St.  Andrew  Under- 
shaft),  by  means  of  an  insurrection  of  youths  against  aliens  on  May-day,  1517,a  the 
ninth  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  have  not  been  so  freely  used  as  afore." — Survey  of 
London,  1598,  p.  72. 

The  celebration  of  May-day  may  be  traced  as  far  back  as  Chaucer,  "  who,  in 
the  conclusion  of  his  Court  of  Love,  has  described  the  Feast  of  May,  when — " 
"  Forth  go'th  all  the  court,  both  most  and  least, 

To  fetch  the  floures  fresh,  and  braunch  'and  bloom — 

And  namely  hawthorn  brought,  both  page  and  groom  ; 

And  they  rejoicen  in  their  great  delight; 

Eke  each  at  other  throw  the  floures  bright, 

The  primerose,  the  violete,  and  the  gold, 

With  freshe  garlants  party  blue  and  white." 

Henry  the  Eighth  appears  to  have  been  particularly  attached  to  the  exercise  of 
archery,  and  the  observance  of  May.  "  Some  short  time  after  his  coronation," 
says  Hall,  "  he  came  to  Westminster,  with  the  queen,  and  all  their  train :  and  on 
a  time  being  there,  his  grace,  the  Earls  of  Essex,  Wiltshire,  and  other  noblemen, 
to  the  number  of  twelve,  came  suddenly  in  a  morning  into  the  queen's  chamber, 
all  appareled  in  short  coats  of  Kentish  Kendal,  with  hoods  on  their  heads,  and 
hosen  of  the  same,  every  one  of  them  his  bow  and  arrows,  and  a  sword  and 
buckler,  like  outlaws  or  Robin  Hood's  men ;  whereof  the  queen,  the  ladies,  and 
all  other  there,  were  abashed,  as  well  for  the  strange  sight,  as  also  for  their 
sudden  coming :  and,  after  certain  dances  and  pastime  made,  they  departed." — 
Hen.  VIII. ,  fo.  6,  b.  The  same  author  gives  a  curious  account  of  Henry  and 
Queen  Catherine  going  a  Maying. 

Bourne,  in  his  Antiquitates  Vulgar  es,  says,  "  On  the  Calends,  or  first  day  of 
May,  commonly  called  May-day,  the  juvenile  part  of  both  sexes  were  wont  to  rise 
a  little  before  midnight  and  walk  to  some  neighbouring  wood,  accompanied  with 
music,  and  the  blowing  of  horns,  where  they  brake  down  branches  from  the  trees, 
and  adorn  them  with  nosegays  and  crowns  of  flowers.  When  this  is  done,  they 
return  with  their  booty  homewards,  about  the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  make  their 
doors  and  windows  to  triumph  in  the  flowery  spoil.  The  after  part  of  the  day  is 
chiefly  spent  in  dancing  round  a  tall  pole,  they  call  a  May-pole ;  which  being 
placed  in  a  convenient  part  of  the  village,  stands  there,  as  it  were  consecrated 
to  the  goddess  of  flowers,  without  the  least  violence  offered  it  hi  the  whole  circle 
of  the  year."  Borlase,  in  his  Natural  History  of  Cornwall,  tells  us,  "  An  ancient 
custom,  still  retained  by  the  Cornish,  is  that  of  decking  their  doors  and  porches, 
on  the  first  of  May,  with  green  sycamore  and  hawthorn  boughs,  and  of  planting 
trees,  or  rather  stumps  of  trees,  before  their  houses :  and  on  May-eve,  they  from 

»  The  "story  of  111  May-day,  in  the  time  of  Henry  the  the  subject  of  an  old  ballad  in  Johnson's  Crown  Garland 
Eight,  and  why  it  is  so  called ;  and  how  dueen  Catherine  of  Golden  Roses,  and  has  been  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old 
begged  the  lives  of  two  thousand  London  apprentices,"  is  Ballads,  vol.  iii.  p.  76,  edition  of  1810. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH.  133 

towns  make  excursions  into  the  country,  and  having  cut  down  a  tall  elm,  brought 
it  into  town,  fitted  a  straight  and  taper  pole  to  the  end  of  it,  and  painted  the 
same,  erect  it  in  the  most  public  places,  and  on  holidays  and  festivals  adorn  it 
with  flower  garlands,  or  insigns  and  streamers." 

Philip  Stubbes,  the  puritan,  who  declaims  as  vehemently  against  May-games  as 
against  dancing,  minstrelsy,  and  other  sports  and  amusements,  thus  describes 
"  the  order  of  their  May-games  "  in  this  reign.  "  Against  May,  Whitsuntide,  or 
some  other  time  of  the  year,  every  parish,  town,  and  village,  assemble  themselves 
together,  both  men,  women,  and  children ;  and  either  all  together,  or  dividing 
themselves  into  companies,  they  go,  some  to  the  woods  and  groves,  some  to  the 
hills  and  mountains,  some  to  one  place,  some  to  another,  and  in  the  morning  they 
return,  bringing  with  them  birch,  boughs,  and  branches  of  trees,  to  deck  their 
assemblies  withal.  .  .  .  But  their  chiefest  jewel  they  bring  from  thence  is  their 
May-pole,  which  they  bring  home  with  great  veneration,  as  thus:  they  have 
twenty  or  forty  yoke  of  oxen,  every  ox  having  a  sweet  nosegay  of  flowers  tied  to 
the  tip  of  his  horns ;  and  these  oxen  draw  home  this  May-pole,  (this  stinking 
idol  rather) ,  which  is  covered  all  over  with  flowers  and  herbs,  bound  round 
about  with  strings,  from  the  top  to  the  bottom,  and  sometime  painted  with 
variable  colours,  with  two  or  three  hundred  men,  women,  and  children,  follow- 
ing it  with  great  devotion.  And  thus,  being  reared  up,  with  handkerchiefs 
and  flags  streaming  on  the  top,  they  strew  the  ground  about,  bind  green  boughs 
about  it,  set  up  summer  halls,  bowers,  and  arbours,  hard  by  it ;  and  then  fall 
they  to  banquet  and  feast,  to  leap  and  dance  about  it,  as  the  heathen  people 
did  at  the  dedication  of  their  idols,  whereof  this  is  a  perfect  pattern,  or  rather 
the  thing  itself." — (Anatomie  of  Abuses,  reprint  of  1585  edit.,  p.  171.) 

Browne,  also,  has  given  a  similar  description  of  the  May-day  rites,  in  his 
Britannia's  Pastorals,  book  ii.,  song  4 : — 

"  As  I  have  seen  the  Lady  of  the  May 

Sit  in  an  arbour,     .... 

Built  by  a  May-pole,  where  the  jocund  swains 

Dance  with  the  maidens  to  the  bagpipe's  strains, 

When  envious  night  commands  them  to  be  gone, 

Call  for  the  merry  youngsters  one  by  one, 

And,  for  their  well  performance,  '  she '  disposes 

To  this  a  garland  interwove  with  roses ; 

To  that  a  carved  hook,  or  well-wrought  scrip ; 

Gracing  another  with  her  cherry  lip : 

To  one  her  garter ;  to  another,  then, 

A  handkerchief,  cast  o'er  and  o'er  again ; 

And  none  returneth  empty,  that  hath  spent 

His  pains  to  fill  their  rural  merriment." 

The  Morris-dance,  when  performed  on  May-day,  and  not  connected  with  the 
Games  of  Robin  Hood,  usually  consisted  of  the  Lady  of  the  May,  the  fool  or  jester, 
a  piper,  and  two,  four,  or  more,  morris-dancers.  But,  on  other  occasions,  the  hobby- 
horse, and  sometimes  a  dragon,  with  Robin  Hood,  Maid  Marian,  Friar  Tuck,  Little 
John,  and  other  characters  supposed  to  have  been  the  companions  of  that  famous 


134  MOKRIS-DANCE   AND   MAY-DAY. 

outlaw,  were  added  to  the  dance.  Maid  Marian  was  sometimes  represented  by  a 
smooth-faced  youth,  dressed  in  a  female  garb;  Friar  Tuck,  Robin  Hood's  chaplain, 
by  a  man  of  portly  form,  in  the  habit  of  a  Franciscan  friar;  the  hobby-horse  was  a 
paste-board  resemblance  of  the  head  and  tail  of  a  horse,  on  a  wicker  frame,  and 
attached  to  the  body  of  a  man,  whose  feet  being  concealed  by  a  foot-cloth  hanging 
to  the  ground,  he  was  to  imitate  the  ambling,  the  prancing,  and  the  curveting  of 
the  horse;  the  dragon  (constructed  of  the  same  materials)  was  made  to  hiss,  yell, 
and  shake  his  wings,  and  was  frequently  attacked  by  the  man  on  the  hobby-horse, 
who  then  personated  St.  George. 

The  garments  of  the  Morris-dancers  were  adorned  with  bells,  which  were  not 
placed  there  merely  for  the  sake  of  ornament,  but  were  sounded  as  they  danced. 
These,  which  were  worn  round  the  elbows  and  knees,  were  of  unequal  sizes, 
and  differently  denominated ;  as  the  fore  bell,  the  second  bell,  the  treble,  the  mean 
or  countertenor,  the  tenor,  the  great  bell  or  base,  and  sometimes  double  bells  were 
worn.a  The  principal  dancer  in  the  Morris  was  more  superbly  habited  than  his 
companions ;  as  appears  from  a  passage  in  The  blind  Beggar  of  Bethnall  Crreen 
(dramatised  from  the  ballad  of  the  same  name),  by  John  Day,  1659 :  "  He  wants 
no  clothes,  for  he  hath  a  cloak  laid  on  with  gold  lace,  and  an  embroidered  jerkin ; 
and  thus  he  is  marching  hither  like  the  foreman  of  a  morris." 

In  The  Vow-breaker,  or  Fair  Maid  of  Clifton,  by  William  Sampson,  1636, 
we  find,  "  Have  I  not  practised  my  reins,  my  careers,  my  prankers,  my  ambles, 
my  false  trots,  my  smooth  ambles,  and  Canterbury  paces — and  shall  the  mayor 
put  me,  besides  the  hobby-horse?  I  have  borrowed  the  fore-horse  bells,  his 
plumes,  and  braveries ;  nay,  I  have  had  the  mane  new  shorn  and  frizzled.  Am 
I  not  going  to  buy  ribbons  and  toys  of  sweet  Ursula  for  the  Marian — and  shall 
I  not  play  the  hobby-horse  ?  Provide  thou  the  dragon,  and  let  me  alone  for  the 
hobby-horse."  And  afterwards :  "  Alas,  sir !  I  come  only  to  borrow  a  few 
ribbands,  bracelets,  ear-rings,  wire-tiers,  and  silk  girdles,  and  handkerchers,  for  a 
Morris  and  a  show  before  the  queen ;  I  come  to  furnish  the  hobby-horse." 

There  is  a  curious  account  of  twelve  persons  of  the  average  age  of  a  hundred 
years,  dancing  the  Morris,  in  an  old  book,  called  "  Old  Meg  of  Herefordshire  for 
a  Mayd  Marian,  and  Hereford  towne  for  a  Morris-dance;  or  twelve  Morris-dancers 
in  Herefordshire  of  1200  years  old,"b  quarto,  1609.  It  is  dedicated  to  the  re- 
nowned old  Hall,  taborer  of  Herefordshire,  and  to  "  his  most  invincible  weather- 
beaten  nut-brown  tabor,  which  hath  made  bachelors  and  lasses  dance  round 
about  the  May-pole,  three-score  summers,  one  after  another  in  order,  and  is  not 
yet  worm-eaten."  Hall,  who  had  then  "  stood,  like  an  oak,  in  all  storms,  for 
ninety-seven  winters,"  is  recommended  to  "  imitate  that  Bohemian  Zisca,  who  at 
his  death  gave  his  soldiers  a  strict  command  to  flay  his  skin  off,  and  cover  a  drum 
with  it,  that  alive  and  dead  he  might  sound  like  a  terror  in  the  ears  of  his  enemies: 
so  thou,  sweet  Hereford  Hall,  bequeath  in  thy  last  will,  thy  vellum-spotted  skin 

*  For  the  bells  of  the  Morris,  see  Ford's  play,  The  Witch  eight  persons  in  Herefordshire,  whose  ages,  computed 

of  Edmonton,  act  2,  so.  1.  Weber  is  mistaken  as  to  together,  amounted  to  800  years;  probably  the  same  as 

"mean"  meaning  tenor.  mentioned  by  Lord  Bacon,  as  happening  "  a  few  years 

b  Brand,  in  his  Popular  Antiquities,  vol.2,  p.208,  1813,  since  in  the  county  of  Hereford."  See  History,  Nalnrn! 

Fives  an  account  of  a  May-game,  or  Morris  dance,  by  >n,i>  K.rpfrimfnfal,  of  T.ifr  and  Dent/,,  lfi.38. 


KEIGN    OF   ELIZABETH. 


135 


to  cover  tabors ;  at  the  sound  of  which  to  set  all  the  shires  a  dancing.  .  .  .  The 
court  of  kings  is  for  stately  measures;  the  city  for  light  heels  and  nimble  footing ; 
western  men  for  gambols ;  Middlesex  men  for  tricks  above  ground ;  Essex  men 
for  the  Hey ;  Lancashire  for  Hornpipes;  Worcestershire  for  bagpipes;  but  Here- 
fordshire for  a  Morris-dance,  puts  down  not  only  all  Kent,  but  very  near  (if  one 
had  line  enough  to  measure  it)  three  quarters  of  Christendom.  Never  had  Saint 
Sepulchre's  a  truer  ring  of  bells ;  never  did  any  silk-weaver  keep  braver  time  ; 
never  could  Beverley  Fair  give  money  to  a  more  sound  taborer ;  nor  ever  had 
Robin  Hood  a  more  deft  Maid  Marian." 

Full  particulars  of  the  Morris-dance  and  May-games  may  be  found  by  referring 
to  Strutt's  Sports  and  Pastimes ;  to  Ritson's  RoUn  Hood ;  to  an  account  of  a 
painted  window,  appended  to  part  of  Henry  IV.,  in  Steevens'  Shakespeare,  the 
xv.  vol.  edition  ;  to  Gifford's  Ben  Jonson,  vol.  i.,  pages  50,  51,  52,  vol.  iv.,p.  405, 
and  vol.  vii.,  p.  397 ;  to  The  British  Bibliographer,  vol.  iv.,  p.  326 ;  Brand's 
Popular  Antiquities;  Douce's  Illustrations  of  Shakespeare;  and  Dr.  Drake's 
Shakespeare  and  his  Times,  vol.  i.,  &c.,  &c. 

BARLEY-BREAK. 

From  Lady  Neville's  Virginal  Book,  which  was  transcribed  in  1591. 
Stately. 


Fast. 


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Repeat  Piano. 

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136  ENGLISH    SONG    AND    BALLAD    MUSIC. 

Gifford  has  given  the  following  description  of  the  sport  called  Barley-break,  in 
a  note  upon  Massinger's  Virgin  Martyr,  act  v.,  sc.  1 : — "  Barley-break  was 
played  by  six  people  a  (three  of  each  sex),  who  were  coupled  by  lot.  A  piece  of 
ground  was  then  chosen  and  divided  into  three  compartments,  of  which  the  middle 
one  was  called  Hell.  It  was  the  object  of  the  couple  condemned  to  this  division, 
to  catch  the  others,  who  advanced  from  the  two  extremities ;  in  which  case  a 
change  of  situation  took  place,  and  hell  was  filled  by  the  couple  who  were  excluded 
by  pre-occupation,  from  the  other  places :  in  this  '  catching,'  however,  there  was 
some  difficulty,  as,  by  the  regulations  of  the  game,  the  middle  couple  were  not 
to  separate  before  they  had  succeeded,  while  the  others  might  break  hands  when- 
ever they  found  themselves  hard  pressed.  When  all  had  been  taken  in  turn,  the 
last  couple  was  said  to  be  in  hell,  and  the  game  ended."  In  this  description, 
Gifford  does  not  in  any  way  allude  to  it  as  a  dance,  but  Littleton  explains  Chorus 
circularis,  barley-break,  when  they  dance,  taking  their  hands  round.  See  Payne 
Collier's  note  on  Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  vol.  iii.,  p.  316.  Strutt,  in  his  Sports  and 
Pastimes,  quotes  only  two  lines  from  Sidney,  which  he  takes  from  Johnson's 
Dictionary  : —  "  By  neighbours  praia'd,  she  went  abroad  thereby, 

At  barley-brake  her  sweet  swift  feet  to  try." 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  i.,  344,  is  a  ballad  called  "  The  Praise  of  our 
Country  Barley-brake,  or — 

Cupid's  advisement  for  young  men  to  take 
Up  this  loving  old  sport,  called  Barley -brake." 

"  To  the  tune  of  When  this  old  cap  was  neiv."     It  commences  thus : — 
"  Both  young  men,  maids,  and  lads, 

Of  what  state  or  degree, 
Whether  south,  east,  or  west, 

Or  of  the  north  country ; 
I  wish  you  all  good  health, 

That  in  this  summer  weather 
Your  sweet-hearts  and  yourselves 

Play  at  barley-break  together."  &c. 

Allusions  to  Barley-break  occur  repeatedly  in  our  old  writers.  Mr.  M.  Mason 
quotes  a  description  of  the  pastime  with  allegorical  personages,  from  Sir  John 
Suckling : —  "  Love,  Reason,  Hate,  did  once  bespeak 

Three  mates  to  play  at  Barley-break  ; 
Love  Folly  took,  and  Reason  Fancy ; 
And  Hate  consorts  with  Pride ;  so  dance  they"  &c. 

WATKIN'S  ALE. 

The  tune  from  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  where  it  is  arranged  by  Byrd. 
Ward,  in  his  Lives  of  the  Crresham  Professors,  states  that  it  is  also  contained  in 
one  of  the  MSS.  formerly  belonging  to  Dr.  John  Bull.  A  copy  of  the  original 
ballad  is  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  George  Daniel,  of  Canonbury.  Watkin's  Ale  is 
referred  to  in  a  letter  prefixed  to  Anthony  Munday's  translation  of  Gerileon  in 

"    Rather,    perhaps,    by   not   less    than    six    people.        break."—  The  Guardian,  act  i.,  sc.  1. 
"  Heyday !  there  are  a  legion  of  young  cupids  at  Barli- 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


137 


England,  part  ii.,  1592,  and  in  Henry  Chettle's  pamphlet,  Kind-barfs  Dreame, 
printed  in  the  same  year.     The  ballad  is  entitled : 

"  A  ditty  delightful  of  Mother  Watkin's  ale 

A  warning  well  weighed,  though  counted  a  tale." 
Moderate  time. 


There     was       a  maid    this      o  -  ther  day,  And  she  would  needs  go  forth  to  play; 
And,      as      she  walk'd,  she  sigh 'd  and  said,  I      am      a  -  fraid  to    die      a  maid. 


3*3                                                                 '                                   J 

1      n 

rhSjrfi  Sr— 

*i     r*       • 

1        *1      r*        r 

i*      -*i       i      *i 

«i 

-jM 

If  u      J 

—  i  1  —  "  P— 

I  U_  —  i!__ 

I         '              ' 

1 

P    • 

j—  a  —  m  k—  j  ^  —  i_0  i—i  0  1_«_ 

_)  —  JJ 

When  that  he-heard  a  lad  What  talk  this   maiden  had,  Tnere-of    he  was  full  glad, 
To  say,    fair  maid,  I  pray,  Whither    go     you    to  play  ?  Good  sir,  then  did  she   say, 


-H  E  

3  

—  i  — 

.Ufc 


. 


And  did  not  spare   „     For  I    will  without  fail,         Maiden,  give  you  Watkin's 

What  do  you  care  I"'  Watkin's  ale,  good  Sir,  quoth  she,  What  is     that?  I  pray,  tell 


'     •//, 


r 


Each  part  of  the  tune  is  to  be  repeated  for  the  words.     The  following  stanza 
is  the  seventh  : — 

Thrice  scarcely  changed  hath  the  moon, 
Since  first  this  pretty  trick  was  done ; 
Which  being  heard  of  one  by  chance, 
He  made  thereof  a  country  dance. 
And  as  I  heard  the  tale, 
He  called  it  Watkin's  Ale, 


Which  never  will  be  stale 
I  do  believe ; 


This  dance  is  now  in  prime, 
And  chiefly  us'd  this  time, 
And  lately  put  in  rhime  : 

Let  no  man  grieve, 
To  hear  this  merry  jesting  tale, 
The  which  is  called  Watkin's  Ale  : 
It  is  not  long  since  it  was  made, 
The  finest  flower  will  soonest  fade. 


THE    CARMAN'S   WHISTLE. 

This  tune  is  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  and  Lady  Neville's  Virginal  Books  (arranged 
by  Byrd) ,  as  well  as  in  several  others  of  later  date.  The  ballad  is  mentioned  in  a 
letter,  bearing  the  signature  of  T.  N.,  addressed  to  his  good  friend  A[nthony] 
M[unday],  prefixed  to  the  latter's  translation  of  G-erileon  of  England,  part  ii., 
quarto,  1592 ;  and  by  Henry  Chettle  in  his  Kind-harPs  Dreame,  printed  in  the 
same  year. 


138  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

The  Carmen  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  appear  to  have  been 
singularly  famous  for  their  musical  abilities ;  but  especially  for  whistling  their 
tunes.  Falstaff's  description  of  Justice  Shallow  is,  that  "  he  came  ever  in  the 
rear-ward  of  the  fashion,"  and  "  sang  the  tunes  he  heard  the  carmen  whistle, 
and  sware  they  were  his  Fancies,  or  his  Good-nights."  a — (Henry  IV.,  Part  ii., 
act  3.)  In  Ben  Jonson's  Bartholomew  Fair,  Waspe  says,  "  I  dare  not  let  him 
walk  alone,  for  fear  of  learning  vile  tunes,  which  he  will  sing  at  supper,  and  in 
the  sermon  times  !  If  he  meet  but  a  carman  in  the  street,  and  I  find  him  not 
talk  to  keep  him  off  on  him,  he  will  whistle  him  all  his  tunes  over  at  night,  in  his 
sleep." — (Act  i.,  sc.  1.)  In  the  tract  called  "The  World  runnes  on  Wheeles,"  b 
by  Taylor,  the  Water-poet,  he  says,  "  If  the  carman's  horse  be  melancholy  or 
dull  with  hard  and  heavy  labour,  then  will  he,  like  a  kind  piper,  whistle  him  a 
fit  of  mirth  to  any  tune,  from  above  Eela  to  below  Gammoth ; c  of  which  gene- 
rosity and  courtesy  your  coachman  is  altogether  ignorant,  for  he  never  whistles, 
but  all  his  music  is  to  rap  out  an  oath."  And  again  he  says,  "  The  word  carmen, 
as  I  find  it  in  the  [Latin]  dictionary,  doth  signify  a  verse,  or  a  song;  and  betwixt 
carmen  and  carman,  there  is  some  good  correspondence,  for  versing,  singing,  and 
whistling,  are  all  three  musical."  Burton,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  says, 
"  A  carman's  whistle,  or  a  boy  singing  some  ballad  early  in  the  street,  many 
times  alters,  revives,  recreates  a  restless  patient  that  cannot  sleep  ; "  and  again, 
"  As  carmen,  boys,  and  prentices,  when  a  new  song  is  published  with  us,  go  sing- 
ing that  new  tune  still  in  the  streets."  Henry  Chettle,  in  his  Kind-hart's 
Dreame,  says,  "  It  would  be  thought  the  carman,  that  was  wont  to  whistle  to  his 
beasts  a  comfortable  note,  might  as  well  continue  his  old  course,  whereby  his 
sound  served  for  a  musical  harmony  in  God's  ear,  as  now  to  follow  profane 
jigging  vanity."  In  The  Pleasant  Historic  of  the  two  angrie  Women  of  Abington, 
quarto,  1599,  Mall  Barnes  asks,  "  But  are  ye  cunning  in  the  carman's  lash,  and 
can  ye  whistle  well  ?  "  In  The  Hog  hath  lost  its  Pearl,  Haddit,  the  poet,  tells  the 
player  shortly  to  expect  "  a  notable  piece  of  matter ;  such  a  jig,  whose  tune,  with 
the  natural  whistle  of  a  carman,  shall  be  more  ravishing  to  the  ears  of  shop- 
keepers than  a  whole  concert  of  barbers  at  midnight." — (Dodsley's  Old  Plays, 
vol.  vi.)  So  in  Lyly's  Midas,  "  A  carter  with  his  whistle  and  his  whip,  in  true 
ears,  moves  as  much  as  Phoebus  with  his  fiery  chariot  and  winged  horses."  In 
Heywood's  A  Woman  Jcitt'd  with  Kindness,  although  all  others  are  sad,  the  stage 
direction  is,  "  Exeunt,  except  Wendall  and  Jenkin ;  the  carters  whistling."  And 
Playford,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  skill  of  Music,  1679,  says,  "  Nay,  the  poor 
labouring  beasts  at  plough  and  cart  are  cheered  by  the  sound  of  music,  though  it 
be  but  their  master's  whistle." 

"  Good-nights  are  "Last  dying  speeches"  made  into  crab-shell,  brought  out  of  China,  and  some  imagined  it 

ballads.     See  Essex's  last  Good-night.  to  be  one  of  the  Pagan  temples,  in  which  the  cannibals 

b  Taylor's  tract  was  written  against  coaches,  which  in-  adored   the  devil."    He  argues  that  the  cart-horse  is  a 

jured  his  trade  as  a  waterman.     He  says,  "In  the  year  more  learned  beast  than  a  coach-horse,  "for  scarce  any 

1564,  one  William  Boonen,  a  Dutchman,  brought  first  the  coach-horse  in  the  world  doth  know  any  letter  in  the  book ; 

use  of  coaches  hither,  and  the  said  Boonen  was  Queen  when  as  every  cart-horse  doth  know  the  letter  G  most 

Elizabeth's  coachman,  for  indeed  a  coach  was  a  strange  understandingly." 

monster  in  those  days,  and  the  sight  of  them  put  both  c  Gamut,  then  the  lowest  note  of  the  scale,  as  Eela  was 

horse  and  man  into  amazement.   Some  said  it  was  a  great  the  highest. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


139 


The  following  ballads  were  sung  to  the  tune  : — "The  Comber's  Whistle,  or  The 
Sport  of  the  Spring,"  commencing — 

"All  in  a  pleasant  morning;" 

a  copy  in  Pepys'  Collection,  vol.  iii.,  291,  and  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  67. 
"All  is  ours  and  our  husbands',  or  the  Country  Hostesses'  Vindication ; "  a  copy 
in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  ii.,  8. 

"  The  Courteous  Carman  and  the  Amorous  Maid:  or  the  Carman's  Whistle,"  a 
&c.,  "  To  the  tune  of  The  Carman's  Whistle;  or  Lord  WillougM>y>s  March." 

Gracefully. 


ryttflfi  N  ij 

^  jij  J-R^ 

j  M  1  1  F 

W-     8    J  

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J 

J  —  *  -  J  •  —  j  ^  —  .-gg  •  ••  «  • 

abroad  was     walk  -  ing          By   the  break  -  ing     of      the  day,  In  - 

.       J     .          J            ]           ... 

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•  "^  .    W  Tf^  

p  —  --  —  F  — 

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••  —  r  — 

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9 

f\  J    H  J  J  —  ^f 

-  to         a     plea-sant 

mea  -  dow      A      young           man 

t      .  !,.,-.*  >A    e 

•  x         ^ 

took       his  way, 

r                 r 

P       '       m        ' 

r       r           ^ 

1                 1 

1               1 

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1           -      ^—\  

1  1  r 

h    J          N    J 

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—  D*^  —  ^  —  —  f  — 

-—  j  —  •  —  j—    p--^=^  ^~ 

-  •  .  m  —  j  — 

And      look  -  ing 

J     ^  J     _h 

1      *      ^*                  T  ."  J-  -•  *-  *     * 

round    a  -  bout  him,         To        mark  what       he     cou|.j  see     A  t 

J      ^  J     N                               _iL-k 

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=1  —  J—1^  —  iP  —  i  IE  — 

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f-J*     J  fr_j= 

h  —  d  1  N  1'  —  •  

fc  -  _r>>  ,   -.-- 

—  •  m  •  
length  he     spied  a 

5     /J     > 

Jr-=*  j    ^v  P  f  ^  |i  m  .   m  — 

*-&-        %      *—    c,     •                T-:5|:  * 

fair             maid              Ua     -     der      a                   _  ^^ 

J       ^  J     ^                                   ' 

•*               J 

«-  -J-*  4-  1  s— 

—  1  fcl  

a 

*,.•*,•  —  •—          -f*~ 

zzte: 

So  comely  was  her  countenance, 

And  '  winning  was  her  air,' 
As  though  the  goddess  Venus 

Herself  she  had  been  there  ; 
And  many  a  smirking  smile  she  gave 

Amongst  the  leaves  so  green, 
Although  she  was  perceived, 

She  thought  she  was  not  seen. 


At  length  she  chang'd  her  countenance, 

And  sung  a  mournful  song, 
Lamenting  her  misfortune 

She  staid  a  maid  so  long; 
Sure  young  men  are  hard-hearted, 

And  know  not  what  they  do, 
Or  else  they  want  for  compliments 

Fair  maidens  for  to  woo. 


»  There  are  twelve  stanzas  in  the  ballad,  of  which  five 
are  here    omitted.      A   black-letter  copy  in   the    DOHCP 


Collection,  fol.  33,  and  one  in  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  Collec- 
tion. 


140 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Why  should  young  virgins  pine  away 

And  lose  their  chiefest  prime ; 
And  all  for  want  of  sweet-hearts, 

To  cheer  us  up  in  time  ? 
The  young  man  heard  her  ditty, 

And  could  no  longer  stay, 
But  straight  unto  the  damosel 

With  speed  he  did  away. 

When  he  had  played  unto  her 

One  merry  note  or  two, 
Then  was  she  so  rejoiced, 

She  knew  not  what  to  do : 
O  God-a-mercy,  carman, 

Thou  art  a  lively  lad ; 
Thou  hast  as  rare  a  whistle 

As  ever  carman  had. 


Now,  if  my  mother  chide  me 

For  staying  here  so  long ; 
What  if  she  doth,  I  care  not, 

For  this  shall  be  my  song : 
'•  Pray,  mother,  be  contented, 

Break  not  my  heart  in  twain  ; 
Although  I  have  been  ill  a-while, 

I  now  am  well  again.' 

Now  fare  thee  well,  brave  carman, 

I  wish  thee  well  to  fare, 
For  thou  didst  use  me  kindly, 

As  I  can  well  declare  : 
Let  other  maids  say  what  they  will, 

The  truth  of  all  is  so, 
The  bonny  carman's  whistle 

Shall  for  my  money  go. 


The  following  is  the  old  arrangement  of  the  tune  of  The  Carman's  Whistle, 
by  Byrd,  taken  from  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book. 


IK  a  .—  r  r  •*  j   j 

*-*-•  —  r  r  ^  j 

-   J.J   J    J     :  • 

Saz  "     *        I      /         * 

5         \      v 

3 

«J 
1          1 

f 

r 

,          i 

r  \  •     p                            J.          m       •             *jj       » 

•—  :.       .   J      +J^  J_---  ... 

ttt  "      *    *  - 

?/    8      *^       "  r    *      C               I 

r 

1      r 

&_                     I                    i 

»                                   1 

^^^ 

—  F*—  J  N-d  N  —  H  

__£_J  ^--^  

"H^^ 

_j_       _j  —  0  ji_j  j  

^  —  *—    -j  —  ^  — 

^.j  j  —  i  —  -f»- 

*               -       -* 

j-  J  ^ 

•  •  -J-    -J- 

j  j^j 

9                     20 

_•  p   f    :  

r     E  *  =s=-F-  r  •?  —  r 

r     D  i*     r 

^f  F~F^  

-J      v  1  —  k-JJ  H^  —  5 

8  —  H  E£f  P= 

H  H-  ' 

—  m  —  i  K  —  i  1  .  

—  fc  —  srH  

_^*^j__  1- 

f  *    JN  J  —   h  J    ^= 

^    f    *       J'-J  : 

•  —  -*-i  —  •  —  •  —  ^ 
i      h  J     =-_-J     -  j  • 

J   '  *  «  1- 
1          h  J          h 

J        f  J 

3  ^  W  1----^-! 

,  J  *^  J^- 

-                    P        2 
.  •                  1C 

GO  FROM  MY  WINDOW. 

This  tune  is  arranged  both  by  Morley  and  by  John  Munday,  in  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's Virginal  Book ;  it  is  in  A  new  Book  of  Tablature,  1596 ;  in  Morley's  First 
Booke  of  Consort  Lessons,  1599  and  1611 ;  and  in  Robinson's  Schoole  of  Mustek, 
1603.  In  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1686,  it  appears  under  the  title  of 
"  The  new  Exchange,  or  Durham  Stable ; "  but  the  tune  is  there  altered  into 
2  time,  to  fit  it  for  dancing. 

On  the  4th  March,  1587-8,  John  Wolfe  had  a  license  to  print  a  ballad  called 
"  Goe  from  the  windowe."  Nash,  in  his  controversial  tracts  with  Harvey,  1599, 
mentions  a  song,  "  Go  from  my  garden,  go."  In  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's 
"Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle,  Old  Merrythought  sings — 


EEIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


141 


Slowly  and  smoothly 


-&ftj  1  —  f^-j  —  ' 

^n 

1  J     Jj    J     J"3    1 

i  j  .  j  j 

p=H=^     ^ 

Go  from  my  windo 

w,  love, 

go; 

Go  from  my  window,  my 

g   : 

dear  ;      The 

-^  H 

—  rs  5  1  

I;):V  (•  J  ....       r 

1      J 

"1                2=\ 

n^-«>-  1  — 

1   '    J-  ' 

=^^ 

H^i  CT 


^^ 


1 

wind  and  the  rain  Will    drive  you  back   a  -  gain,  You         can-not  be   lodged          here. 


ij    J    r  J  i 


^ 


Begone,  begone,  my  juggy,  my  puggy, 
Begone,  my  love,  my  dear ; 
The  weather  is  warm, 
'Twill  do  thee  no  harm : 
Thou  canst  not  be  lodged  here." 
In  Fletcher's  Monsieur  Thomas,  we  find — 

"  Come  up  to  my  window,  love,  come,  come,  come, 
Come  to  my  window,  my  dear ; 
The  wind  nor  the  rain 
Shall  trouble  thee  again : 
But  thou  shalt  be  lodged  here." 

It  is  again  quoted  by  Fletcher  in  The  Woman's  Prize,  or  the  Tamer  tamed,  act  i., 
sc.  3 ;  by  Middleton  in  Blurt,  Master  Constable  ;  and  by  Otway  in  The  Soldier's 
Fortune. 

It  is  one  of  the  ballads  that  were  parodied  in  "  Ane  compendious  booke  of 
Godly  and  Spiritual!  Songs  .  .  with  sundrie  of  other  ballates,  chainged  out  of 
prophaine  Songes,  for  avoiding  of  Sinne  and  Harlotrie ; "  printed  in  Edinburgh 
in  1590  and  1621.    There  are  twenty- two  stanzas  in  the  Godly  Song,  the  following 
are  the  two  first : — ''  Quho  [who]  is  at  my  windo,  who,  who  ? 
Goe  from  my  windo ;  goe,  goe. 
Quha  calles  there,  so  like  ane  strangere  ? 
Go  from  my  windo,  goe. 

Lord,  I  am  here,  ane  wratched  mortall, 
That  for  thy  mercie  dois  crie  and  call 
Unto  Thee,  my  Lord  celestiall ; 
See  who  is  at  my  windo,  who  ?  " 

At  the  end  of  Hey  wood's  The  Rape  of  Lucrece,  a  song  is  printed  beginning — 
"  Begone,  begone,  my  Willie,  my  Billie, 

Begone,  begone,  my  deere  ; 
The  weather  is  warme,  'twill  doe  thee  no  harme, 

Thou  canst  not  be  lodged  here." 
which  is  also  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  Jovial  Poems,  1661,  p.  25. 


142 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


In  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  1707,  vol.  ii.,  44,  or  1719,  vol.  iv.,  44,  is  another 
version  of  that  song,  beginning,  "  Arise,  arise,  my  juggy,  my  puggy ; "  but  in 
both  editions  it  is  printed  to  the  tune  of  "  Good  morrow,  'tis  St.  Valentine's  day," 
and  not  to  the  original  music. 

I  received  the  following  traditional  version  of  "Go  from  my  window  "  from  a 
very  kind  friend  of  former  days,  the  late  R.  M.  Bacon,  of  Norwich.*  The  tune  is 
very  like  that  of  Ophelia's  Song,  "And  how  should  I  your  true  love  know ; "  the 
first  and  last  strains  being  the  same  in  both.  The  words  promise  an  improvement 
of  the  original,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  my  informant  had  only  heard 
the  first  stanza,  which  is  here  printed  to  the  music. 

Rather  slow. 


A                    .            -^         I            ^                       ,                                          -^1         1 

r\      '       «= 

-X—n,  1    J    J  —  J-5^ 

J    J 

J—  J- 

.^  4—  J_ 

(fh  (*  4  —  4  *  '     •  J- 

flj  4 

-m  •    •    I 

—  •  —  m— 

-^U  •  P    *    * 

SS              m                                 J 

m 

\°           t- 

J                                                  •  -4-  &                                                       I 
Go  from  my  window,  my  love,  my  love  ;  Go  from  my  window,  my  dear  ;      For  the 

'  }' 

I      i 

-^  J  

-J            1 

t**J 

3  r  — 

wind  is  in  the  west,  And  the  cuckoo's  in  his  nest,  And  you  can't  have  a  lodging         here. 


^^ 


DULCINA. 

This  tune  is  referred  to  under  the  names  of  "  Dulcina;"  "  As  at  noon  Dulcina 
rested ;  "  "  From  Oberon  in  fairy-land ; "  and  "  Robin  Goodfellow." 

The  ballad  of  "  The  merry  pranks  of  Robin  Goodfellow  "  (attributed  to  Ben 
Jonson)  commences  with  the  line,  "  From  Oberon  in  fairy-land ; "  and  in  the  old 
black-letter  copies,  is  directed  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  Dulcina,  The  ballad  of 
"  As  at  noon  Dulcina  rested,"  is  said,  upon  the  authority  of  Cayley  and  Ellis,  to 
have  been  written  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  Both  are  printed  in  Percy's  Reliques 
of  Ancient  Poetry,  series  iii.,  book  2. 

The  Milk-woman  in  Walton's  Angler,  says,  "What  song  was  it,  I  pray 
you?  Was  it,  "Come,  shepherds,  deck  your  heads,"  or  "As  at  noon  Dulcina 
rested,"  &c. 


•  Mr.  Bacon  was  for  many  years  the  well-known  editor, 
as  well  as  principal  proprietor,  of  The  Norwich  Mercury, 
and  editor  of  The  Quarterly  Musical  Review.  His  memory 
was  so  stored  with  traditional  songs,  learnt  in  boyhood, 
that,  having  accepted  a  challenge  at  the  tea-table  to  sing 
a  song  upon  any  subject  a  lady  would  mention,  I  have 
heard  him  sing  verse  after  verse  upon  tea-spoons,  and 
other  such  themes,  proposed  as  the  most  unlikely  for 


songs  to  have  been  written  upon.  He  had  learnt  a  number 
of  sea  songs,  principally  from  one  old  sailor,  and  some 
were  so  descriptive,  that  it  was  almost  thrilling  to  hear 
them  sung  by  him.  Seventeen  years  ago,  these  ap- 
peared to  me  too  irregular  and  declamatory  to  be  reduced 
to  rhythm,  but  I  have  since  greatly  regretted  the  loss  of 
an  opportunity  that  can  never  recur. 


KEIQN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


143 


The  following  ballads  were  also  sung  to  the  tune : — 

"  The  downfall  of  dancing ;  or  the  overthrow  of  three  fiddlers  and  three  bag- 
pipers," &c.,  "  to  the  tune  of  Robin  Goodfellow.  Copies  in  the  Douce  and  Pepys 
Collections. 

"  A  delicate  new  ditty,  composed  upon  the  posie  of  a  ring,  being,  'I  fancy  none 
but  thee  alone : '  sent  as  a  new  year's  gift  by  a  lover  to  his  sweet-heart.  To  the 
tune  of  Dulcina"  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  i.,  80. 

"The  desperate  damsel's  tragedy,  or  the  faithless  young  man;"  beginning, 
"  In  the  gallant  month  of  June.  " 

"  A  pleasant  new  song,  betwixt  a  sailor  and  his  love.  To  the  tune  of  Dukina;" 
beginning,  "  What  doth  ail  my  love  so  sadly."  In  the  Bagford  and  Roxburghe 
Collections,  where  several  more  will  be  found. 

A  Cavalier's  drinking-song,  by  Matt.  Arundel,  to  the  tune  of  Robin  Good- 
fellow,  commencing,  "Some  say  drinking  does  disguise  men,"  is  printed  in  Tixall 
Poetry,  quarto,  1813.  The  last  verse  dates  this  after  the  Restoration. 

Dulcina  was  also  one  of  the  tunes  to  the  "  Psalms  and  Songs  of  Sion ;  turned 
into  the  language  and  set  to  the  tunes  of  a  strange  land,"  1642. 


l    ^ 

1  ^  1  1 

Jf  />  J  —  r  r  <•  —  h 

~~l  —  \~ 

~d  —  J  —  j  —  tr 

_j  —  a  —  — 

C()  *  '     "  —  ksj  —  P  —  J- 

—  J  —  J  J»- 

f    j|  J   d 

SU/  ^  Z^  1  1 

From  O  -  beron,    in 

'    J     -J- 
fai  -  ry  -  land,  The 

king   of  ghosts  and 

sha  -  dows  there, 

•p-  -?-    A 

s-  — 

.):  (>    ^ 

c      •          r 

—  ^J  S3  

1  —  a  —  r  Q*' 

E3E3  F- 

1  ^j  

-  —  h  1  \— 

t 

i  r  r  r  J 

i 

1  —  ' 

—  PI 

?SV 

—  1  

l*J-  \   j 

-J- 

—  i  J  * 

i  — 

—  •  —  f 

—  fl 

—  *- 

H  f^^  1  

-     -4-          -r      -*-         -*-    ~^m    -*-    1^-  -s^- 

Mad  Robin    I,     at         his    command,  Am      sent    to    view    the      night  -  sports  here. 

* 

I  *  J 

f. 

ri               1 

t  —  t  —  ^  —  H 

~N 

\           ^ 

L  r    i 

r^  j^  j   j   i 

1    J      J    J      1 

i 

^-N 

-4-rV 

\ 

V 

»—  p- 

J     J      1       1 

What  re-vel  rout  Is 

kept    a  -  bout,  In 

ev'  -  ry 

cor 

- 

nei 

where     I         go, 

i                                     1-1^. 

^1 

n 

a                       m 

,-^ 

^ 

3 

J 

i           r 

nJ 

s 

1 

a                   \ 

1 

Ei 

1      P     f    m 

I 

1  — 

^r 

1          «b 

—  ^— 

J       J       J— 

J^- 

—  J  —  i 

—  f 

-4- 

-4  —  P^—  H  — 

Tl 

will  o'er-see,  And 

'     -J-                                      -4-      "^*      -S-    -f^y-  -«*- 
mer  -  ry     be,  And  make  good  sport,     With     ho,      ho,      ho  ! 

.  —  ~                         • 

—  ^2  

—  ^  :  £  

-H             ••-   5 

^ 

-f  —  r  —  ^5  — 

_^2  

__^j  :  

-H  

F1  — 

-U-E  —  §  — 

144 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


WHO  LIST  TO  LEAD  A  SOLDIEK'S  LIFE. 

This  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1725,  called  "  A  soldier's 
life,"  or  "  Who  list  to  lead  a  soldier's  life."  There  were,  evidently,  two  tunes 
under  the  same  name  (one  of  which  I  have  not  discovered),  because  some  of  the 
ballads  could  not  be  sung  to  this  air.  In  Peele's  Edward  Z,  1593,  we  find, 
"  Enter  a  harper  and  sing,  to  the  tune  of  Who  list  to  lead  a  soldier's  life,  the 
following : —  "  Go  to,  go  to,  you  Britons  all, 

And  play  the  men  both  great  and  small,"  &c. ; 
and  in  Deloney's  Strange  Histories,  1607 — 

"  When  Isabell,  fair  England's  queen, 

In  woeful  wars  had  victorious  been,"  &c ; 

neither  of  which  could  be  sung  to  this  air,  but  "  A  Song  of  an  English  Knight, 
that  married  the  Royal  Princess,  Lady  Mary,  sister  to  Henry  VIH.,  which  Knight 
was  afterwards  made  Duke  of  Suffolk ; "  beginning — 

"Eighth  Henry  ruling  in  this  land, 

He  had  a  sister  fair ;" 

and  "A  Song  of  the  Life  and  Death  of  King  Richard  HI.,  who,  after  many 
murders  by  him  committed,  &c.,  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Bosworth,  by 
Henry  VH.,  King  of  England;"  beginning — 

"  In  England  once  there  reigned  a  king, 

A  tyrant  fierce  and  fell,"  a 
as  well  as  several  others,  are  exactly  fitted  to  the  tune. 

Ophelia's  Song,  "  Good  morrow,  'tis  St.  Valentine's  day,"  and  the  traditional 
air  to  "  Lord  Thomas  and  Fair  Ellinor,"  are  only  different  versions  of  this. 

In  the  Pepys  Collection,  vol  i.,  is  a  black-letter  ballad  of  "  The  joyful  peace 
concluded  between  the  King  of  Denmark  and  the  King  of  Sweden,  by  the  means  of 
our  most  worthy  sovereign  James,"  &c.,  to  the  tune  of  "Who  list  to  lead  a 
soldier's  life;"  dated  1613. 

In  The  Miseries  of  inforced  Marriage  (Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  vol.  v.),  the  song, 
"  Who  list  to  have  a  lubberly  load,"  was,  perhaps,  a  parody  on  "Who  list  to  lead 
a  soldier's  life,"  the  words  of  which  I  have  not  been  successful  in  finding. 
;  Gracefully. 


»  These  two  ballads  have  been  reprinted  by  Evans  in 
Old  Ballad*,  vol.  iif .,  30  and  84  (1810) ;  but  he  lias  omitted 


the  names  of  the  tunes  to  which  they  were  to  be  sung,  not 
only  in  these,  but  in  numberless  other  instances. 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


145 


LORD  THOMAS  AND  FAIR  ELLINOR. 

This  traditional  version  of  the  tune  of  Lord  Thomas  and  Fair  Mlinor  is  taken 
from  Sandys'  Collection  of  Christmas  Carols.  It  is,  evidently,  the  air  of  Who 
list  to  lead  a  soldier's  life  ?  adapted  for  words  of  a  somewhat  different  measure. 
(See  the  opposite  page.) 

At  p.  17  of  Ritson's  Observations  on  the  Minstrels,  in  enumerating  the  probable 
"  causes  of  the  rapid  decline  of  the  minstrel  profession,  since  the  time  of  Eliza- 
beth," he  says,  "  It  is  conceived  that  a  few  individuals,  resembling  the  character, 
might  have  been  lately,  and  may  possibly  be  still  found,  in  some  of  the  least 
polished  or  less  frequented  parts  of  the  kingdom.  It  is  not  long  since  the  public 
papers  announced  the  death  of  a  person  of  this  description,  somewhere  in  Derby- 
shire ;  and  another  was  within  these  two  years  to  be  seen  in  the  streets  of  London ; 
he  played  on  an  instrument  of  the  rudest  construction,  which  he,  properly  enough, 
called  a  hum-strum,  and  chanted  (amongst  others)  the  old  ballad  of  Lord  Thomas 
and  Fair  Mlinor,  which,  by  the  way,  has  every  appearance  of  being  originally  a 
minstrel  song." 

The  ballad  will  be  found  hi  book  i.,  series  3,  of  Percy's  Heliques  of  Ancient 
Poetry,  and  it  is  one  of  those  still  kept  in  print  in  Seven  Dials.  The  black-letter 
copies  direct  it  to  be  sung  "  to  a  pleasant  new  tune."  See  Douce  Collection,  i.  121. 
Gracefully,  ;  ^  ^-^j 


TfYTl  —  s~l 

1/7  J  J   JV 

|      |           j-'        |  j  •$- 

J  J  J  J    -h- 

Lord 

'/      r  "  "  J  "'I-  •  r-'1 

Thomas    he  was        a     bold    fo  -  res  -  ter,  And  a  chaser  of  the    king's 

t  )  -ff  ft  fi  «i  

if   o      1 

-jl  *  =  

f  —  :  —  r  —  *»- 

[I 

*  tt 

1     ' 

Lj  1  1 

*  —  :  —  * 

r  -r 


deer,    Fair     El-li-norwas    a        fine  woman,  And  Lord  Thomas  he  loved  her      dear 


'  '  J  .  ir  •  r 


^ 


THE  FRIAR  AND  THE  NUN. 

In  Henry  Chettle's  Kind-harfs  Dreame,  1592,  two  lines  are  quoted  from  the 
ballad  of  "  The  Friar  and  the  Nun."  The  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from 
1650  to  1725;  in  Musick's  Delight  on  the  Cithren,  1666;  in  Pills  to  purge 
Melancholy  ;  and  in  many  of  the  ballad-operas,  such  as  The  Beggars'  Opera,  The 
Devil  to  pay,  The  Jovial  Grew,  &c.  Henry  Carey  wrote  a  song  to  the  tune  in  his 
Honest  Yorkshireman,  1735,  and  there  are  three,  or  more,  in  Pills  to  purge  Melan- 
choly. In  vol.  ii.  of  some  editions,  and  vol.  iv.  of  others,  the  title  and  tune  of 
"  The  Friar  and  the  Nun  "  are  printed  by  mistake  with  the  song  of  "  Fly,  merry 
news,"  which  has  no  reference  to  them.  The  ballad  of  The  London  Prentice,  was 

L 


146 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


occasionally  sung  to  it,  and  in  some  of  the  ballad-operas  the  tune  bears  that  name. 
In  The  Plot,  1735,  it  is  called  "  The  merry  songster."  The  composer  of  the 
modern  song,  "  Jump,  Jim  Crow,"  is  under  some  obligations  to  this  air. 

Henry  Carey's  song  is  called  "  The  old  one  outwitted,"  and  begins — 
"  There  was  a  certain  usurer, 
He  had  a  pretty  niece,"  &c. 

In  The  Beggars'  Opera,  the  name  of  "  All  in  a  misty  morning  "  is  given  to 
the  tune,  from  the  first  line  of  a  song  called  The  Wiltshire  Wedding,  which  will 
be  found  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  iv.  148,  or  ii.  148.  There  are  fifteen 
verses,  of  which  the  following  nine  suffice  to  tell  the  story. 

Quick. 


-Prk-2  —  rq-| 

\  J  J  , 

Fj=£\ 

=^== 

r-4  £ 

Fi~         ~=1 

All 

g 

in    a    mis-ty 

morn-ing, 

1 

=1             *     ' 

Cloudy  was  the 

weather,  I  i 

• 

meeting  with  an 

(   \  .      L.     tf"\ 

I 

1 

P^ 

1 

t  /.,  "  Z      9 

J 

i 

b     A 

a 

•     J 

—  -j 

ft  ' 

—  t  1 

nd  JM— 

hF      T~Tl 

-F  B« 

old       man 

1        , 

Clothed    all    in 

I    t      4 

leather,    With  ne 

—  J  —  J  —  *  —  i 

er     a     shirt    up  - 

i 

on      his   back,  But 

—  d  \- 

i^. 

1  

—  »  F  ^ 

-*  J- 

__]  

1         J 

E3  

-F  1  —  1 

b^  

r—  j  -fn 

—  1  -i— 

j  j  j 

=±  j  j.;  i 

J  .    • 

wool  un  -  to    hi 

• 

skin.  With  how  d'ye  do,  and  how 

i  —  i  —  !  —  f  —  *  —  *"" 

d'ye  do,  and 

•      •     m  •  *     .  • 

r    r     r- 

how  d'ye  do     a-  gain. 

-^  

— 

E 

—  F  — 

-f  F  — 

=t- 

The  rustic  was  a  thresher, 

And  on  his  way  he  hied, 
And  with  a  leather  hottle 

Fast  buckled  by  his  side ; 
And  with  a  cap  of  woollen, 

Which  covered  cheek  and  chin  ; 
With  how  d'ye  do?  and  how  d'ye  do? 

And  how  d'ye  do  ?  again. 

I  went  a  little  further, 

And  there  I  met  a  maid 
Was  going  then  a  milking, 

A  milking,  sir,  she  said ; 
Then  I  began  to  compliment, 

And  she  began  to  sing  : 
With  how  d'ye  do?  &c. 


This  maid,  her  name  was  Dolly, 

Cloth'd  in  a  gown  of  gray, 
I,  being  somewhat  jolly, 

Persuaded  her  to  stay  : 
Then  straight  I  fell  to  courting  her, 

In  hopes  her  love  to  win, 
With  how  d'ye  do?  &c. 

I  told  her  I  would  married  be, 
And  she  should  be  my  bride, 

And  long  we  should  not  tarry, 
With  twenty  things  beside  : 
"  I'll  plough  and  KO\V,  and  reap  and  mow, 
Whilst  thou  shalt  sit  and  spin," 

With  how  d'ye  do?  &c. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


147 


"  Kind  sir,  I  have  a  mother, 

Besides,  a  father,  still, 
And  so,  before  all  other, 

You  must  ask  their  good  will ; 
For  if  I  be  undutiful 

To  them,  it  is  a  sin ;" 
With  how  d'ye  do?  &c. 

Now,  there  we  left  the  milking-pail, 
And  to  her  mother  went, 

And  when  we  were  come  thither, 
I  asked  her  consent ; 

I  doff'd  my  hat,  and  made  a  leg, 
When  I  found  her  within ; 

With  how  d'ye  do?  &c. 


Her  dad  came  home  full  weary, 
(Alas !  he  could  not  choose ;) 

Her  mother  being  merry, 
She  told  him  all  the  news. 

Then  he  was  mighty  jovial  too, 
His  son  did  soon  begin 

With  how  d'ye  do?  &c. 

The  parents  being  willing, 

All  parties  were  agreed, 
Her  portion,  thirty  shilling ; 

We  married  were  with  speed. 
Then  Will,  the  piper,  he  did  play, 

Whilst  others  dance  and  sing ; 
With  how  d'ye  do  ?  and  how  d'ye  do  ? 

And  how  d'ye  do?  again. 


JOHN,  COME  KISS  ME  NOW. 

This  favorite  old  tune  will  be  found  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book ;  in 
Playford's  Introduction ;  in  Apollo's  Banquet  for  the  Treble  Violin ;  and  in  the 
First  part  of  the  Division  Violin,  containing  a  collection  of  Divisions  upon  several 
excellent  grounds,  printed  by  Walsh;  as  well  as  Playford's  Division  Violin  (1685.) 
In  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  vol.  iii.,  1707.,  and  vol.  v.,  1719,  it  is  adapted  to  a 
song  called  Stow,  the  Friar.  It  is  mentioned  in  Heywood's  A  Woman  kill'd  with 
Kindness,  1600 : 

Jack  Slime. — "  I  come  to  dance,  not  to  quarrel :  come,  what  shall  it  be  ?  Hogero  ? 
Jerikin. — "  Rogero,  no;  we  will  dance  The  Beginning  of  the  World. 
Sisly. — "  I  love  no  dance  so  well  as  John,  come  hiss  me  now." 
In  'Tis  merry  when  Grossips  meet,  1609 : 

Widow. — "  No  musique  in  the  evening  did  we  lacke ; 

Such  dauncing,  coussen,  you  would  hardly  thinke  it ; 

Whole  pottles  of  the  daintiest  burned  sack, 

'  Twould  do  a  wench  good  at  the  heart  to  drinke  it. 

Such  store  of  tickling  galliards,  I  do  vow ; 

Not  an  old  dance,  but  John,  come  hisse  me  now. 

In  a  song  in  Westminster  Drollery,  1671  and  1674,  beginning,  "  My  name  is 
honest  Harry:"  "The  fidlers  shall  attend  us, 

And  first  play,  John,  come  hisse  me ; 

And  when  that  we  have  danc'd  a  round, 

They  shall  play,  Hit  or  misse  me" * 

In  Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  1621:  "Yea,  many  times  this  love  will 
make  old  men  and  women,  that  have  more  toes  than  teeth,  dance  John,  come  Mss 
me  now."  It  is  also  mentioned  in  The  Scourge  of  Folly,  8vo.  (n.d.)  ;  in  Brath- 
wayte's  Shepherd's  Tales,  1623;  in  Tom  Tiler  and  his  Wife,  1661;  and  in  Henry 
Bold's  Songs  and  Poems,  1685. 


»  H it  or  miss  is  a  tune  in  The  Dancing  Master  of  1G50, 
and  later  editions.  It  is  referred  to  by  Whitlock,  in  his 
Zootamia,  or  present  Manners  of  the  English,  12mo.,  1654, 


where  he  speaks  of  one  whose  practice   in  physic  is 
"nothing  more  than  the  country  dance  called  Hit  or 

misse." 


148 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


"  In  former  times  't  hath  been  upbraided  thus, 
That  barber's  music  was  most  barbarous ; 
For  that  the  cittern  was  confin'd  unto 
'  The  Ladies'  Fall,'  or  '  John,  come  kiss  me  now,' 

'  Green  Sleeves  and  Pudding  Pyes,'  '  The  P 's  Delight,' 

'Winning  of  Bulloigne,'  '  Essex's  last  Good-night,'  &c." 

From  lines  "  On  a  Barber  who  became  a  great  Master  of  Musick."  The  ground 
of  John,  come  kiss  me  now,  was  a  popular  theme  for  fancies  and  divisions  (now 
called  fantasias  and  variations)  for  the.  virginals,  lute,  and  viols.  In  the 
Virginal  Book,  only  the  first  part  of  the  tune  is  taken,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  it 
then  had  any  second  part ;  the  copy  we  have  given  is  from  Playford's  and  Walsh's 
Division  Violin.  It  is  one  of  the  songs  parodied  in  Andro  Hart's  Compendium 
of  G-odly  Songs,  before  mentioned,  on  the  strength  of  which'  the  tune  has  been 
claimed  as  Scotch,  although  it  has  no  Scotch  character,  nor  has  hitherto  been 
found  in  any  old  Scotch  copy.  Not  only  are  all  the  other  tunes  to  the  songs  in  the 
Compendium,  of  which  any  traces  are  left,  English,  but  what  little  secular  music 
was  printed  in  Scotland  until  the  eighteenth  century,  was  entirely  English  or 
foreign.  The  following  are  the  first,  second,  and  twenty-first  stanzas  of  the 
"Godly  Song":— 


John,  come  kisse  me  now ; 

John,  come  kisse  me  now, 
Johne,  come  kisse  me  by  and  by, 

And  make  no  more  adow. 

The  Lord  thy  God  I  am, 

That  John  dois  thee  cell ; 
Rather  slow  and  stately. 


John  represents  man, 
By  grace  celestiall. 

My  prophites  call,  my  preachers  cry, 
John,  come  kisse  me  now ; 

John,  come  kisse  me  by  and  by, 
And  make  no  more  adow. 


John,  come  kiss  me  now,  now,  now, 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


149 


ALL  YOU  THAT  LOVE  GOOD  FELLOWS,  OB  THE  LONDON  PRENTICE. 
The  tunes   called   Nancie   in    Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal   Book;   Eduward 
Nouwels,  in  Bellerophon  (Amsterdam,  1622,  p.  115);  Sir  Eduward  NouweVs 
Delight,  in  Friesche  Lust-hof,  1634 ;  and  The  London  Prentice,  in  Pills  to  purge 
Melancholy  (vi.,  342),  and  in  The  Devil  to  pay,  1731,  are  the  same:  but  the  two 
last  contain  only  sixteen  bars,  while  all  the  former  consist  of  twenty-four. 
The  following  is  the  version  called  Sir  Edward  Noel's  Delight. 
In  marching  time. 


PP 


i 


S 


~f  —  *  —  *  —  ! 

J  J  *j    • 
•—  4—  i 

n^ 

—  «(— 

H  * 

m 

-1 

—  t- 

J-^-J 

* 

K- 
-l  —  f  —  i~  r-S  — 

-1      -j»-  -4-  •    •                       -8-      -^-" 

h     •    J  i 

r  f  f  r 

-^ 

3E 

—  1  — 

^^  ^— 

The  ballad  of  "  The  honour  of  a  London  Prentice :  being  an  account  of  his 
matchless  manhood,  and  brave  adventures  done  in  Turkey,  and  by  what  means  he 
married  the  king's  daughter,"  is  evidently  a  production  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 
The  apprentice  maintains  her  to  be  "  the  phoenix  of  the  world,"  "  the  pearl  of 
princely  majesty,"  &c.,  against  "a  score  of  Turkish  Knights,"  whom  he  over- 
throws at  tilt. 

The  ballad  is  printed  in  Ritson's  English  Songs  (among  the  Ancient  Ballads), 
and  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  vol.  iii.,  178.  Copies  will  also  be  found  in  the  Bagford, 
Roxburghe  (iii.  747),  and  other  Collections.  It  was  "to  be  sung  to  the  tune 
of  All  you  that  love  good  fellows  ;  "  under  which  name  the  air  is  most  frequently 
mentioned. 


150  ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

Bishop  Earle,  in  his  Micosmography,  1628,  in  giving  the  character  of  a  Pot- 
poet,  says,  "  He  is  a  man  now  much  employed  in  commendations  of  our  navy,  and 
a  bitter  inveigher  against  the  Spaniard.  His  frequentest  works  go  out  in  single 
sheets,  and  are  chanted  from  market  to  market  to  a  vile  tune,  and  a  worse  throat ; 
whilst  the  poor  country  wench  melts,  like  her  butter,  to  hear  them.  And  these 
are  the  stories  of  some  men  of  Tyburn,  or  A  strange  monster  out  of  Germany." 
One  of  these  ballads  of  "  strange  monsters  out  of  Germany  "  will  be  found  in  the 
Bagford  and  in  the  Pepys  Collection  (ii.  66) ,  "  to  the  tune  of  All  you  that  love 
good  fellows"  It  is  entitled  "Pride's  fall:  or  a  warning  for  all  English  women 
by  the  example  of  a  strange  monster  born  late  in  Germany,  by  a  merchant's 
proud  wife  of  Geneva."  The  ballad,  evidently  a  production  of  the  reign  of 
James  !.,*  is  perhaps  the  one  alluded  to  by  Bishop  Earle. 

There  are  other  ballads  about  London  apprentices;  one  of  "The  honors  achieved 
in  Fraunce  and  Spayne  by  four  prentises  of  London,"  was  entered  to  John 
Danter,  in  1592.  "  Well,  my  dear  countrymen,  What-tfye-lacks"  (as  apprentices 
were  frequently  called,  from  their  usual  mode  of  inviting  custom),  "I'll  have  you 
chronicled,  and  all  to  be  praised,  and  sung  in  sonnets,  and  bawled  in  new  brave 
ballads,  that  all  tongues  shall  troul  you  in  scecula  seculorum." — Beaumont  and 
Fletcher's  Philaster. 

One  of  the  ballads  to  the  tune  of  "  the  worthy  London  prentice "  relates 
to  a  very  old  superstition,  and  will  recall  to  us  the  "Out,  damned  spot!"  in 
Macbeth.  It  is  entitled  the  "  True  relation  of  Susan  Higges,  dwelling  in  Ris- 
borow,  a  towne  in  Buckinghamshire,  and  how  she  lived  twenty  years  by  robbing 
on  the  high  wayes,  yet  unsuspected  of  all  that  knew  her ;  till  at  last  coming  to 
Messeldon,  and  there  robbing  and  murdering  a  woman,  which  woman  knew  her, 
and  standing  by  her  while  she  gave  three  groanes,  she  spat  three  drops  of  blood  in 
her  face,  which  never  could  be  washt  out,  by  which  she  was  knowne,  and  executed 
for  the  aforesaid  murder,  at  the  assises  in  Lent  at  Brickhill."  A  copy  is  in  the 
Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  424;  also  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  203  (1810). 

I  have  not  found  any  song  or  ballad  commencing  "  All  you  that  love  good 
fellows,"  although  so  frequently  quoted  as  a  tune ;  but  there  are  several  "All  you 
that  are,"  and  "All  you  that  be  good  fellows,"  which,  from  similarity  of  metre, 
I  assume  to  be  intended  for  the  same  air. 

In  a  chap-book  called  "  The  arraigning  and  indicting  of  Sir  John  Barleycorn, 
knight ;  newly  composed  by  a  well-wisher  to  Sir  John,  and  all  that  love  him,"  are 
two  songs,  "All  you  that  are  good  fellows,"  and  "All  you  that  be  good  fellows," 
"  to  the  tune  of  Sir  John  Barleycorn,  or  Jack  of  all  trades"  Lowndes  speaks  of 
this  tract  as  printed  for  T.  Passenger  in  1675,  and  of  the  author  as  Thomas 
Robins ;  but  there  are  Aldermary  and  Bow  Church-yard  editions  of  later  date. 

Another  "All  you  that  are  good  fellows"  is  here  printed  to  the  shorter  copy  of 
the  tune.  It  is  from  a  little  black-letter  volume  (in  Wood's  library,  Ashmolean 
Museum)  entitled  "  Good  and  true,  fresh  and  new  Christmas  Carols,"  &c., 
printed  by  E.  P.  for  Francis  Coles,  dwelling  in  the  Old  Bailey,  1642.  It  is  one 

m  See  Fgirholt's  Satirical  Songs  and  Poems  on  Costume,  p.  107 ;  printed  for  the  Percy  Society. 


REIGN    OF   ELIZABETH. 


151 


of  the  merry  Christmas  carols,  and  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  "  All  you  that 
are  good  fellows." 


-m  1  m  •  

I-M      »     J    i 

I 

i_J    i 

All          you     that    a 

m  —  p  —  r  —  5  • 

I      p      -• 

re     good       fel     -     lows,  Come      he 

-• 
ark-er 

J 
4 

i       tc 

>      my 

)  ' 

L  P  

p  i 

— 

—  • 

• 

—  L^_!!  

1  

F=t=i 

r~      i 

= 

.  • 

=3= 

1=^  :  ±t 

-4  —  \- 

H  j  m  —  \ 

*  —  i-tr-a  — 

=j    H    :    It 

id      *       2 

-0  0- 

—  d  —  »-+®l  F 

to  —  hd  —  9  —  f— 

-*  —  g   :    II 

song;                 I      know  you  do    not   hate  good  cheer,  Nor    li-quorthat 

V             "^ 

is    strong. 

, 

i                         / 

p 

II 

| 

1      J     P     i 

1                    i         1 

II 

• 

1 

2 

•       J 

*        J 

J         •       J       J 

J           |          |l 

^* 

J        J"    J 

9 

a  —  i 

-^  PM  h-r-r 

fi  1 

—  P- 

f-H-f—  » 

=N 

j^j    ,(— 

-3-  :  j    j     J  |^ 

S  S 

-f- 

=t^  M 
hope  there    is    none 

Lfl^  ^  S-l 

here,                 But 

1                1        i 

soon  will   take    Yny  part,                 See   - 

1— 

—  \~ 

_J  ^J  L_ 

\       J         J    I  P 

—  ffl»      P  J  

b=iL 

=  J     . 

—  j- 

•1    •    f  —  m  J— 
j      ..... 

~0  —  :  —  •  

>      1           ^ 

—  P  —  F  —  t  —  i— 

M=F 

—  f  — 

F^  

,  \— 

1  —  '  f 

F  F  r  p  ' 

-  ing    my     mas  -  ter 

J    J   ar    F= 

'3  *   <  ^  '1  t  i  |  ' 

and    my    dame  Say      wel  -  come  with   their 

-f  —  f   T   .   -+  —  ,  —  

heart. 

—  *  ^__4  — 

i    i 

—  & 

i  

rJ 

This  is  a  time  of  joyfulness, 

And  merry  time  of  year, 
When  as  the  rich  with  plenty  stor'd 

Do  make  the  poor  good  cheer. 
Plum-porridge,  roast  beef,  and  minc'd  pies, 

Stand  smoking  on  the  board ; 
With  other  brave  varieties, 

Our  master  doth  afford. 

Our  mistress  and  her  cleanly  maids 

Have  neatly  play'd  the  cooks  ; 
Methinks  these  dishes  eagerly 

At  my  sharp  stomach  looks, 
As  though  they  were  afraid 

To  see  me  draw  my  blade  ; 
But  I  revenged  on  them  will  be, 

Until  my  stomach's  stay'd. 


Come  fill  us  of  the  strongest, 

Small  drink  is  out  of  date ; 
Methinks  I  shall  fare  like  a  prince, 

And  sit  in  gallant  state  : 
This  is  no  miser's  feast, 

Although  that  things  be  dear ; 
God  grant  the  founder  of  this  feast 

Each  Christmas  keep  good  cheer. 

This  day  for  Christ  we  celebrate, 

Who  was  born  at  this  time  ; 
For  which  all  Christians  should  rejoice, 

And  I  do  sing  in  rhyme. 
When  you  have  given  thanks, 

Unto  your  dainties  fall, 
Heav'n  bless  my  master  and  my  dame, 

Lord  bless  me,  and  you  all. 


152 


ENGLISH    SONG    AND    BALLAD   MUSIC. 


THE    BRITISH    GRENADIERS. 

The  correct  date  of  this  fine  old  melody  appears  altogether  uncertain,  as  it 
is  to  be  found  in  different  forms  at  different  periods;  but  it  is  here  placed  in  juxta- 
position to  Sir  Edward  Noel's  Delight,  and  All  you  that  love  good  fellows,  or 
The  London  Prentice,  because  evidently  derived  from  the  same  source.  The 
commencement  of  the  air  is  also  rather  like  Prince  Rupert's  March,  and  the  end 
resembles  Old  King  Cole,  with  the  difference  of  being  major  instead  of  minor. 
Next  to  the  National  Anthems,  there  is  not  any  tune  of  a  more  spirit-stirring 
character,  nor  is  any  one  more  truly  characteristic  of  English  national  music. 
This  version  of  the  tune  is  as  played  by  the  band  of  the  Grenadier  Guards.  The 
words  are  from  a  copy  about  a  hundred  years  old,  with  the  music. 
,  March. 


-ff- 

•s  j  

1—1  — 

fq 

ij   j  .HI 

n  —  1  —  ' 

*>YW| 

J 

Some 

-J-      * 
talk      o 

f       J 

— 

L   -   1 

t— 

sx  - 

-S  4  —  ±s— 

an     -     der,       And 

9                          _^ 

some    of       I 

ter  -  cu    - 

rK% 

j  j3  

i 

P 

~H  el  

h*               m 

(5  

—  —  i 

V  —  -  — 

-J  

El 

I  

+  —  —  F 

~s 

I 

1 

i        i 

h^l  —  :  —  M 

j   1  J  j 

Bl  —  4-+*- 

^r-A-t 

^^ 

^  — 

-3-  •    J 

-les,              Of 

V    J    i   * 

Hec-tor  and    Ly   - 

40  —  *-     -*-*  -2-^'V  —  — 

san  -  der,  Audsuchgreatnamesas  these; 

tZSfi 

n  i  r 

3  BE 

3  —  J- 

.   r   r—  ^- 

-M=h-  • 

•        * 

r            r         i 

m  •  i*   r       r 

* 

P  ^  "* 

. 

U 

1         /                         W 

hJ 

*   9 

^-, 

•     F 

»     *     \          r 

F     a  I    n*» 

i     '       B 
*            ' 

\-    * 

5 

• 

1                                        P      P 
But  of      all   the  world's  brave    he  -  roes  There's 

CJ  ^  _  ^  9         9 

-     pare,      With  a 

n             mm 

none  that   can  com 

^s  r- 

^  —  h- 

1  5  

3  —  £—*— 

k  ^  '  —  LJ  ' 

a  —  •  
j 

i^r  r  ' 

i 


Repeat  the  last  part  in  Chorus. 


tow  row,  row,  row,     row,         row,  To  the       Bri-tish     Gre  -  na   -  dier. 


^ 


Those  heroes  of  antiquity  ne'er  saw  a  cannon  ball, 
Or  knew  the  force  of  powder  to  slay  their  foes  withal  ; 
But  our  brave  boys  do  know  it,  and  banish  all  their  fears, 
Sing  tow,  row,  row,  row,  row,  row,  for  the  British  Grenadiers. 
Chorus. — But  our  brave  boys,  &rc= 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH.  153 

Whene'er  we  are  commanded  to  storm  the  palisades, 
Our  leaders  march  with  fusees,  and  we  with  hand  grenades, 
We  throw  them  from  the  glacis,  about  the  enemies'  ears, 
Sing  tow,  row,  row,  row,  row,  row,  the  British  Grenadiers. 
Chorus. — We  throw  them,  &c. 

And  when  the  siege  is  over,  we  to  the  town  repair, 
The  townsmen  cry  Hurra,  boys,  here  comes  a  Grenadier, 
Here  come  the  Grenadiers,  my  boys,  who  know  no  doubts  or  fears, 
Then  sing  tow,  row,  row,  row,  row,  row,  the  British  Grenadiers. 
Chorus. — Here  come  the,  &c. 

Then  let  us  fill  a  bumper,  and  drink  a  health  to  those 
Who  carry  caps  and  pouches,  and  wear  the  louped  clothes, 
May  they  and  their  commanders  live  happy  all  their  years, 
With  a  tow,  row,  row,  row,  row,  row,  for  the  British  Grenadiers. 
Chorus. — May  they,  &c. 

THE  CUSHION  DANCE. 

The  Cushion  Dance  was  in  favour  both  in  court  and  country  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  and  is  occasionally  danced  even  at  the  present  day.  In  Lilly's  Euphues, 
1580,  Lucilla,  says,  "Trulie,  Euphues,  you  have  mist  the  cushion,  for  I  was  neither 
angrie  with  your  long  absence,  neither  am  I  well  pleased  at  your  presence."  This 
is,  perhaps,  in  allusion  to  the  dance,  in  which  each  woman  selected  her  partner  by 
placing  the  cushion  before  him.  Taylor,  the  water-poet,  calls  it  "  a  pretty  little 
provocatory  dance,"  for  he  before  whom  the  cushion  was  placed,  was  to  kneel  and 
salute  the  lady.  In  Hey  wood's  A  Woman  killed  with  Kindness,  (which  Henslow 
mentions  in  his  diary,  in  1602),  the  dances  which  the  country  people  call  for  are, 
Rogero  ;  The  Beginning  of  the  World,  or  SeUenger's  Hound;  John,  come  kiss  me 
now;  Tom  Tyler;  The  hunting  of  the  Fox;  The  Hay ;  Put  on  your  smock  a 
Monday ;  and  The  Cushion  Dance ;  and  Sir  Francis  thus  describes  their  style  of 
dancing : — 

"  Now,  gallants,  while  the  town-musicians 
Finger  their  frets  within ;  and  the  mad  lads 
And  country  lasses,  every  mother's  child, 
With  nosegays  and  bride-laces  in  their  hats, 
Dance  all  their  country  measures,  rounds,  and  jigs, 
What  shall  we  do  ?     Hark !  they're  all  on  the  hoigh ; 
They  toil  like  mill -horses,  and  turn  as  round ; 
Marry,  not  on  the  toe  :  aye,  and  they  caper, 
But  not  without  cutting ;  you  shall  see,  to-morrow, 
The  hall  floor  peck'd  and  dinted  like  affnill-stone, 
Made  with  their  high  shoes  :  though  their  skill  be  small, 
Yet  they  tread  heavy  where  their  hob-nails  fall." 

When  a  partner  was  selected  in  the  dance,  he,  or  she,  sang  "Prinkum- 
prankum  is  a  fine  dance,"  &c. ;  which  line  is  quoted  by  Burton,  in  his  Anatomy 
of  Melancholy ;  and,  "  No  dance  is  lawful  but  Prinkum-prankum,"  in  Tlie  Muses'* 
Looking-glass,  1638. 

In  the  Apothegms  of  King  James,  the  Earl  of  Worcester,  &c.,  1658,  a  wedding 


154  ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

entertainment  is  spoken  of:  and,  "  when  the  masque  was  ended,  and  time  had 
brought  in  the  supper,  the  cushion  led  the  dance  out  of  the  parlour  into  the  hall." 
Selden,  speaking  of  Trenchmore  and  The  Cushion  Dance  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 
time,  says,  "  Then  all  the  company  dances,  lord  and  groom,  lady  and  kitchen- 
maid,  no  distinction." — (See  ante  p.  82.)  In  The  Dancing  Master  of  1686,  and 
later  editions,  the  figure  is  thus  described  : — 

"  This  dance  is  begun  by  a  single  person  (either  man  or  woman),  who,  taking  a 
cushion  in  hand,  dances  about  the  room,  and  at  the  end  of  the  tune,  stops  and  sings, 
'  This  dance  it  will  no  further  go."  The  musician  answers,  '  I  pray  you,  good  Sir, 
why  say  you  so  ? ' — Man.  '  Because  Joan  Sanderson  will  not  come  too.' — Musician. 
'  She  must  come  too,  and  she  shall  come  too,  and  she  must  come  whether  she  will 
or  no.'  Then  he  lays  down  the  cushion  before  the  woman,  on  which  she  kneels,  and 
he  kisses  her,  singing  'Welcome,  Joan  Sanderson,  welcome,  welcome.'  Then  she 
rises,  takes  up  the  cushion,  and  both  dance,  singing,  'Prinkum-prankum  is  a  fine  dance, 
and  shall  we  go  dance  it  once  again,  once  again,  and  once  again,  and  shall  we  go  dance 
it  once  again.'  Then  making  a  stop,  the  woman  sings  as  before,  '  This  dance  it  will 
no  further  go.' — Musician.  '  I  pray  you,  madam,  why  say  you  so  ?' —  Woman.  '  Because 
John  Sanderson  will  not  come  too.' — Musician.  '  He  must  come  too,  and  he  shall 
come  too,  and  he  must  come  whether  he  will  or  no.'  And  so  she  lays  down  the 
cushion  before  a  man,  who  kneeling  upon  it,  salutes  her;  she  singing,  'Welcome, 
John  Sanderson,  welcome,  welcome.'  Then  he  taking  up  the  cushion,  they  take 
hands,  and  dance  round,  singing  as  before.  And  thus  they  do,  till  the  whole  com- 
pany are  taken  into  the  ring ;  and  if  there  is  company  enough,  make  a  little  ring  in  its 
middle,  and  within  that  ring,  set  a  chair,  and  lay  the  cushion  in  it,  and  the  first  man 
set  in  it.  Then  the  cushion  is  laid  before  the  first  man,  the  woman  singing,  '  This 
dance  it  will  no  further  go ;'  and  as  before,  only  instead  of  '  Come  too,'  they  sing,  '  Go 
fro ;'  and  instead  of  '  Welcome,  John  Sanderson,'  they  sing, '  Farewell,  John  Sanderson, 
farewell,  farewell;'  and  so  they  go  out  one  by  one  as  they  came  in.  NOTE. — The 
women  are  kissed  by  all  the  men  in  the  ring  at  their  coming  and  going  out,  and  like- 
wise the  men  by  all  the  women." 

This  agreeable  pastime  tended,  without  doubt,  to  popularize  the  dance. 

One  of  the  engravings  in  Johannis  de  Brunes  Emblemata  (4to.,  Amsterdam, 
1624,  and  1661)  seems  to  represent  the  Cushion  Dance.  The  company  being 
seated  round  the  room,  one  of  the  gentlemen,  hat  in  hand,  and  with  a  cushion  held 
over  the  left  shoulder,  bows  to  a  lady,  and  seems  about  to  lay  the  cushion  at  her 
feet. 

In  1737,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Henley,  or  "  Orator  Henley,"  as  he  called  himself, 
advertised  in  the  London  Daily  Post  that  he  would  deliver  an  oration  on  the 
subject  of  the  Cushion  Dance."** 

A  political  parody  is  to  be  found  in  Poems  on  Affairs  of  State,  from  1640  to 
1704,  called,  "  The  Cushion  Dance  at  Whitehall,  by  way  of  Masquerade.  To  the 
tune  of  Joan  Sanderson." 

Enter  Godfrey  Aid-worth,  followed  by  the  King  and  Duke. 
King.  "  The  trick  of  trimming  is  a  fine  trick, 

And  shall  we  go  try  it  once  again? 
Duke.  "The  plot  it  will  no  further  go. 
King.  "  I  pray  thee,  wise  brother,  why  say  you  so,"  tfec. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


155 


The  tunes  of  Cushion-Dances  (like  Barley-Breaks)  have  the  first  part  in 
| ,  and  the  last  in  i  time.  The  earliest  printed  copy  I  have  found  is  in  TaUature 
de  Luth,  intitule  Le  Secret  des  Muses,  4to.,  Amsterdam,  1615,  where  it  is 
called  Graillarde  Anglaise.  In  Nederlandtsche  Gredenck-Clanck,  Haerlem,  1626, 
the  same  air  is  entitled  Grallarde  Suit  Margriet,  which  being  intended  as  English, 
may  be  guessed  as  "  Galliard,  Sweet  Margaret."  It  is  the  following  : — 

Slow. 


fa  1  H  j  4  —  ^ 

~^~t~ 

—  i  1  — 

—  '  •  *t~ 

—  ii  —  ^  *  •  j  — 

saz   ^    J    H         .  p 

m       i. 

m            ^ 

t~"*n 

r^  •  p 

3    #  ^->       '  ^ 

-T   1 

1 

,       i 

-d-    .     ^ 

,*  d  r^r  r 

—      —  i  i 

> 

1        1     ^^^               ^ 

f  •     x 

j-L5-ti  —    f    T  P- 

-j  —  f  — 

-J  —  J 

f   J  J  j 

r_  r    p—  j  —  j- 

4    J    i  —  i  i— 

—  P~ 

—  J- 

*  *  *  -j- 

-i  —  i  —  —  «  — 

-N                     * 

^ 

i 
i  —  i  —  i  — 

!       f" 

1        ,      |  T^S^-T 

J    J        I          ' 

=H= 

J  — 

•  .  J 

i=:d=^n= 

i   i     J  J  J  l 

—  P*'  —  •  *l  ^\  — 

g  *  * 

T  —  •  *  *  m~ 

—  aj  — 

9 
P 

H 

H 

?   '        / 
1 

1 

i 

r-i—i 

1     J      J          1            1 

r     m 

*  . 

j       n 

c?> 

S 

•  •  j  j 

! 

\         mt 

I 

1           f      _J    ^      _i     d 

p 

r*  w 

* 

\ 

r     •     P       P^             1133 

q 

I 

^ 

n.  c> 
i 

f& 

- 

* 

r^f  r  r  cr-3-  -3-  • 

1 

J       ^^1 

'    f 

i                                   1               1   !  ^^^ 

r   d 

t        9 

p 

P            m                           J      P     J  J 

^  —  P 

--*—  J  

*     J  J 

-+4- 

r    *  r  J—  •  —  *—  r    **JJ-- 

?  —  F 

'-S  — 

M  [  •  M  •  *-L 
Quick.                                           ^ 

l 

i       i       i 

i 

f*          I          Si—1          ^  1       1       •"i              ^—  Pn      i 

j 

I 

^      •      J 

Cj                                                      1      •          J    •                   _J    mm 

^  A 

• 

•    f 

j     J 

A 

O          W         mm       mm         lHI2"^fl*' 

j  • 

n 

r     •     F         P 

• 

(>       ^                        B     L 

.    9 

r-r  r  T 

Of 

,      -i 

-J 

i 

'  m 

" 

1 

p                p 

\ 

r 

M               « 

J 

| 

b            •  •      r           i* 

1        •                       i 

J      • 

o              r                         r 

J     ! 

i 

^\ 

"    t    •                                                : 

K* 

-^  i-<l 

1  r 

1 

^5^ 

1 

•         I 
S  1      N      |>*N..     1      w 

j 

1               -  —  - 

P            N 

"rn 

J 

J  J    J            ^-i           N 

J  J      _i'        NJ 

J  t 

1 

*      J             J 

'  •           1      '     f 

H      3     W.  t 

m                '  •  J          i        sz    • 

2 

i1    •    1  . 

»            > 

^ 

•                      3   "    i 

V 

• 

f    , 

1 

r 

,  w 

m 

* 

1      P 

i 

i                                         P      r       1 

~f- 

^  J-=-i 

fe 

4 

-H  r   •    r  •    f  •  l 

The  Galliard  (a  word  meaning  brisk,  gay ;  and  used  in  that  sense  by  Chaucer) 
is  described  by  Sir  John  Davis  as  a  swift  and  wandering  dance,  with  lofty  turns 
and  capriols  in  the  air.  Thoinot  Arbeau,  in  his  Orchesographie,  1589,  says  that, 
formerly,  when  the  dancer  had  taken  his  partner  for  the  galliard,  they  first  placed 
themselves  at  the  end  of  the  room,  and,  after  a  bow  and  curtsey,  they  walked  once 


156 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


or  twice  round  it.  Then  the  lady  danced  to  the  other  end,  and  remained  there 
dancing,  while  the  gentleman  followed ;  and  presenting  himself  before  her,  made 
some  steps,  and  then  turned  to  the  right  or  left.  After  that  she  danced  to  the 
other  end,  and  he  followed,  doing  other  steps  ;  and  so  again,  and  again.  "  But 
now"  says  he,  " in  towns  they  dance  it  tumultuously,  and  content  themselves 
with  making  the  five  steps  and  some  movements  without  any  design,  caring  only 
to  be  in  position  on  the  sixth  of  the  bar"  (pourvu  qu'ils  tombent  en  cadence). 
In  the  four  first  steps,  the  left  and  right  foot  of  the  dancer  were  raised  alternately, 
and  on  the  fifth  of  the  bar  he  sprang  into  the  air,  twisting  round,  or  capering,  as 
best  he  could.  The  repose  on  the  sixth  note  gave  more  time  for  a  lofty  spring.* 
"  Let  them  take  their  pleasures,"  says  Burton,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy; 
"  young  men  and  maids  flourishing  in  their  age,  fair  and  lovely  to  behold,  well 
attired,  and  of  comely  carriage,  dancing  a  Greek  Gf-alliarde,  and,  as  their  dance 
requireth,  keep  their  time,  now  turning,  now  tracing,  now  apart,  now  altogether, 
now  a  curtesie,  then  a  caper,  &c.,  it  is  a  pleasant  sight." 

The  following  tune  is  from  The  Dancing  Master  of  1686,  called  "Joan  Sanderson, 
or  The  Cushion  Dance,  an  old  Round  Dance." 


gig     D 

jH 

"    •     •     1  J     .     •    J 

"j~j  —  i  — 

i 

,     '      9 

•  •  •  J 

V»|y            *H 

5    J 

3         L 

"i              * 

2 

P  ffis 

3 

s/ 

•   i 
>«>. 

fr-T 

J                    -a- 

•       -^ 

r-2!  ^  —  i 

r^- 

t  /  *\  \}~t* 

3 

f.  —  _  ^  

"^  •  — 

- 

*—?~n- 

--J 

—  I  —  j  

n     4 

Q 

n          P 

• 

4 

r 

( 

P 

r 

j    & 

I-N 

1 
Quick.  .^   I 

1          1 

r  131 

1  r 

1 
-. 

^    P 

1 

-1  1  

— 

8-6  —  1  —  •  • 

-J--J--^V 

j  ^  i  J 

3 

—m~ 

-4- 

—  N    1 

ihH 

g 

ft    J 

-;  0  ;  

** 

*  1  * 

-*- 

-im  —  •  —  •  —  -  — 

*-Jr^ 

•       J-  r 

A—  H5  — 

«    . 

B 

~\, 

1 

-H-W 

-^ 

—  -  c>  r  -• 

—  F-^ 

•  ir 

- 

•  r  •  i 

.  f:lr-r-'P:  f 


^ 


=lf—M 


r^ 


T.   ^T 


»  Nare«,  in  his  Glossary,  refers  to  Cinque  pace,  but  that 
•was  a  dance  in  common  time  :  four  steps  to  the  four  beatg 


of  the  bar,  and  the  fifth  on  a  long  note  at  the  commence- 
ment  of  the  second  bar. 


REIGN    OF    ELIZABETH. 


157 


Reverting  to  the  pavan  and  galliard,  Morley  says,  "  The  pavan"  (derived  from 
pavo,  a  peacock)  "for  grave  dancing;  galliards,  which  usually  follow  pavans,  they 
are  for  a  lighter  and  more  stirring  kind  of  dancing."  The  pavan  was  sometimes 
danced  by  princes  and  judges  in  their  robes,  and  by  ladies  with  long  trains  held  up 
behind  them;  but  usually  the  galliard  followed  the  pavan,  much  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  gavotte  follows  the  minuet.  Butler,  in  his  Principles  of  Musick,  1636,  says, 
"  Of  this  sort  (the  Ionic  mood)  are  pavans,  invented  for  a  slow  and  soft  kind  of 
dancing,  altogether  in  duple  proportion  [common  time].  Unto  which  are  framed 
galliards  for  more  quick  and  nimble  motion,  always  in  triple  proportion :  and, 
therefore,  the  triple  is  oft  called  galliard  time,  and  the  duple  pavan  time.  In  this 
kind  is  also  comprehended  the  infinite  multitude  of  Ballads,  set  to  sundry  pleasant 
and  delightful  tunes  by  cunning  and  witty  composers,  with  country  dances  fitted 
unto  them,  .  .  .  and  which  surely  might  and  would  be  more  freely  permitted  by 
our  sages,  were  they  used  as  they  ought,  only  for  health  and  recreation." — (p.  8.) 
At  this  time  Puritanism  was  nearly  at  its  height. 

WITH  MY  FLOCK  AS  WALKED  I. 

Stafford  Smith  found  this  song,  with  the  tune,  in  a  manuscript  of  about  the  year 
1600,  and  printed  it  in  his  Musica  Antiqua,  p.  57.  I  discovered  a  second  copy  of 
the  tune  in  Elizabeth  Rogers'  MS.  Virginal  book,  in  the  British  Museum,  under 
the  name  of  The  faithful  Brothers. 

The  song  is  evidently  in  allusion  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  in  the  usual  com- 
plimentary style  to  her  beauty,  to  her  vow  of  virginity,  &c. 
Gracefully. 


With  my  flock  as     walk-ed  ^  l?      The     plains  and  mountains       o    -    ver, 


Late,    a     dam  -  sel      pass'd  me      by ;    .     .     With  an   in-tent      to       move     her,       I 


r  p 


J  •  r  • 


3 


^tfc 

P  1  *-r-J  ^-1        >         1         v 

—3  — 

i=4=d=d±= 

H—  S- 

=3=? 

u.                m 

J    .    J  . 

stept  in  her  way  ;  She      stept     a  -  wry,    But   oh  !  I    shall  e  -    ver       love      her. 

=3= 

5E1    : 

r  ^    J 

=3= 

^ 

—1  1 

158 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Such  a  face  she  had  for  to 

Invite  any  man  to  love  her; 

But  her  coy  behaviour  taught 

That  it  was  but  in  vain  to  move  her  ; 

For  divers  so  this  dame  had  wrought 

That  they  themselves  might  move  her." 

Phoebus  for  her  favour  spent 
His  hair,  her  fair  brows  to  cover ; 
Venus'  cheek  and  lips  were  sent, 
That  Cupid  and  Mars  might  move  her ; 
But  Juno,  alone,  her  nothing  lent, 
Lest  Jove  himself  should  love  her. 


Though  she  be  so  pure  and  chaste, 
That  nobody  can  disprove  her ; 
So  demure  and  straightly  cast, 
That  nobody  dares  to  move  her ; 
Yet  is  she  so  fresh  and  sweetly  fair 
That  I  shall  always  love  her. 

Let  her  know,  though  fair  she  be, 
That  there  is  a  power  above  her  ; 
Thousands  more  enamoured  shall  be, 
Though  little  it  will  move  her ; 
She  still  doth  vow  virginity, 
When  all  the  world  doth  love  her. 


GO  NO  MORE  A  RUSHING. 

This  tune  is  called  (70  no  more  a  rushing,  in  a  MS.  Virginal  Book  of  Byrd's 
arrangements  and  compositions,  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Rimbault ;  and  Tell  me, 
Daphne,  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book. 


^  moderate  nme.^^ 

n  h         _*i^^i 

| 

-    i     i  , 

i     -«*fi  - 

y/k^/t  —  r"i  J_  J- 

^  i— 

—  1  —  1  —  1  — 

^,^p  r    4- 

-dH  — 

;••  r  » 

M)P  <'  «N.-*=^ 

3=sH 

-m-- 

»P      j  —  g  —  0— 

Li-i-g 

i 

rr^ 

CT  —  -5j  -**" 

Go  no  more  a  rush-ing, 

Bf—  g-  —  '  i>^^   |  '  •  ^L  g 

o          ^   • 

^    rr 
-^  *- 

)*  b        n 

"         J 

D              Up 

r 

•  —     ' 

J  r    I 

H  —  EE 

— 

- 

—  1  —  M— 

i^ 


5 


THE  BLIND  BEGGAR'S  DAUGHTER  OF  BETHNAL  GREEN. 
This  tune  was  found  by  Dr.  Rimbault  in  a  MS.  volume  of  Lute  Music,  written 
by  Rogers,  a  celebrated  lutenist  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II. ,  in  the  library  at 
Etwall  Hall,  Derbyshire.  It  is  there  called  The  Cripple,  and  the  ballad  of 
The  stout  Cripple  of  Cornwall  is  directed  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  The  blind 
Beggar.  See  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  389,  and  Bagford,  i.  32.  It  is  also  in 
Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  97  (1810)  ;  but,  as  too  frequently  the  case,  the  name  of 
the  tune  to  which  it  was  to  be  sung,  is  there  omitted. 

1  This  line  is  evidently  incorrect,  but  I  have  no  other  copy  to  refer  to. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


159 


Pepys,  in  his  diary,  25th  June,  1663,  speaks  of  going  with  Sir  William  and 
Lady  Batten,  and  Sir  J.  Minnes,  to  Sir  W.  Rider's,  at  Bednall  Green,  to  dinner, 
"  a  fine  place ; "  and  adds,  "  This  very  house  was  built  by  the  blind  Beggar  of 
Bednall  Green,  so  much  talked  of  and  sang  in  ballads  ;  but  they  say  it  was  only 
some  outhouses  of  it."  The  house  was  called  Kirby  Castle,  then  the  property  of 
Sir  William  Ryder,  Knight,  who  died  there  in  1669. 

"  This  popular  old  ballad,"  says  Percy,  "  was  written  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
as  appears  not  only  from  verse  23,  where  the  arms  of  England  are  called  the 
'Queenes  armes;'  but  from  its  tune  being  quoted  in  other  old  pieces  written  in 
her  time.  See  the  ballad  on  Mary  Ambree"  &c. 

In  a  black-letter  book  called  The  World's  Folly,  we  read  that  "  a  dapper  fellow, 
that  in  his  youth  had  spent  more  than  he  got,  on  his  person,  fell  to  singing 
The  blind  Beggar,  to  the  tune  of  Heigh  ho!  " — (Brit.  Bibliographer,  ii.  560.) 

In  the  "  Collection  of  Loyal  Songs  written  against  the  Rump  Parliament,"  and 
in  "Rats  rhimed  to  death,  or  the  Rump  Parliament  hang'd  up  in  the  shambles" 
(1660),  are  many  songs  to  the  tune  of  The  blind  Beggar,  as  well  as  in  the  King's 
Pamphlets,  Brit.  Museum. 

Among  them,  "A  Hymn  to  the  gentle  craft,  or  Hewson's  lamentation" 
(a  satire  on  Lord  Hewson,  one  of  Cromwell's  lords,  who  had  been  a  cobbler, 
and  had  but  one  eye),  and  "  The  second  Martyrdom  of  the  Rump." 

The  tune  was  sometimes  called  Pretty  Bessy,  and  a  ballad  to  be  sung  to  it, 
under  that  name,  is  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  142. 
Moderate  time  and  with  expression. 


w^m 


was  a  blind  beg    -     gar  had     long      lost  his  sight,     He 


HL...                          .^f^        | 

r**5    i 

j   r*j   i 

<*1  —  r 

-1 

}  —  r*T«    * 

—  •- 

f  —  •  —  ^  •!  \  

—\ 

11  —  J   *     4 

—±- 

S3   r  j  n 

j     i  L 

5         ^ 

•             1 

n 

1    .   •     ( 

^J      14      ! 

fir^ 

*     bJ* 

0                        •                                                 1 

had    a      fair      daughter   of    bea 

•  m 

i  -  ty  most  bright,  And      ma  -  ny  a     ga] 

-  lant  brave 

•                 -              •                _                  Q                                __««^ 

p 

r 

S3 

is         i 

a 

L 

1 

—  t 

»  —  F  

-^ 

—  1  1 

~1  i  — 

i 

"T3!  ^~l 

r—  I  -j  3  

• 
si 

li  -  tor  had 

• 

1IJ       J      ^= 

she,    For     none 

f 

was  so  come  -  ly  as 

pret  -    ty    Bes-si< 

i  
- 

=>•—+  

-I  

c^                      P 

1  

i 

H 

4  

1  J  

-x 

1  L_^ 

J 

160 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 


The  ballad  of  The  blind  Beggar  will  be  found  in  Percy's  Reliques,  book  ii., 
series  2;  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  10;  and  in  Dixon's  Songs  of  the  Peasantry 
of  England.  It  is  still  kept  in  print  in  Seven  Dials,  and  sung  about  the  country, 
but  to  the  following  tune. 

Moderate  time  and  with  expression. 


-0r 

k-7T  • 

3  i 

—  3  — 

—  J  —  iH— 

—  1    -1    1    H 

J 

(  ,       i 
I 

t 

Wl 

F=3j 
is  a  I 

r  r    f, 

>lind       beg    -  gar  had 

1  1 

long     lost  his  sight,   He 

t)-J?(«    Tf  

?  —  r  —  r  —  J  — 

-f  —  i  —  j  4.1 

r'  f*i    ,  —  |  —  |—  ^-| 

i  j    ri  j  J 

iS 

r--j— 

PFF\ 

had    a  1 

1 

"air     daughter     of 

'  i  j  J  J  : 

beau  -  ty  most  bright; 

And 

y=^ 

ma  -  nj 

"B 

r    a    ga 

*  *  t 

llant  brave 

1  • 

.  

i            m            f 

d  — 



-J  J  

^  1  A-  

-\  —  F  —  r 

• 

J    JH  ;>    IP  -J-  -J.  —  '  '  1  H 

hj      j    J     " 

—  i  —  i  — 

N     JJ  . 

•d     J 

h^=N 

J           J        1 

ip'y'J4     ^      '  g     -i-     -i 

sui  -  tor  had  she,  For          none  was   so  coi 

J                1 

\-         '              "•              ^  ^  "- 

ne  -  ly    as      pret-ty   Bes  -    sie. 

i 

—  •  

1      flV 

—  *  1  1  1  

-j  

1                1 

J    T  •  f  1 

—•  —  *-        ~ih 

—  4  

n  —  j  —  \ 

i  —  ^-^ 

COCK  LORREL,  OE  COOK  LAWREL. 

This  tune  is  in  the  Choice  Collection  of  180  Loyal  Songs,  &c.  (3rd  edit.  1685), 
and  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  as  well  as  in  every  edition  of  TJie  Dancing 
Master,  from  1650  to  1725.  In  The  Dancing  Master  it  is  called  An  old  man  is 
a  bed  full  of  bones,  from  a  song,  of  which  four  lines  are  quoted  in  Rowley's 
A  Match  at  Midnight,  act  i.,  sc.  1.,  and  one  in  Shirley's  The  Constant  Maid, 
act  ii.,  sc.  2.,  where  the  usurer's  niece  sings  it. 

The  song  of  Cook  Lorrel  is  in  Ben  Jonson's  masque,  The  G-ipsies  metamor- 
phosed. Copies  are  also  in  the  Pepys  Collection  of  Ballads  ;  in  Dr.  Percy's  folio 
MS.,  p.  182;a  and,  with  music,  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy.  It  is  a  satire  upon 
rogues  and  knaves  of  all  classes  supposed  to  be  doomed  to  perdition.  Cook 
Lorrel,  a  notorious  rogue,  invites  his  Satanic  Majesty  into  the  Peak  in  Derby- 
shire to  dinner;  and  he,  somewhat  inconvenienced  by  the  roughness  of  the 
road,  commences  by  feasting  on  the  most  delicate  sinner  : 

"His  stomach  was  queasie  (for,  riding  there  coach'd, 

The  jogging  had  caused  some  crudities  rise) ; 
To  help  it  he  called  for  a  Puritan  poach'd, 

That  used  to  turn  up  the  eggs  of  his  eyes,  &c." 

a  See  Dr.  Dibdin's  Decameron,  vol.  3. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


161 


Wjnken  de  Worde  printed  a  tract  called  Cocke  LorrelVs  Bole  •  in  which  persons 
of  all  classes,  and,  among  them  the  MynstreUes,  are  summoned  t»  go  on  board 
his  Ship  of  Fools.  Cock  Lorels's  Boat  is  mentioned  in  a  MS.  poem  in  the 
Bodleian  Library,  called  Doclour  Double  Ale,  and  in  John  Heywood's  Epigrams 
upon  300  Proverbs,  1566  (in  the  Epigram  upon  a  Busy-body,  No.  189). 

In  S.  Rowland's  Martin  MarJchall,  his  defence  and  answer  to  the  Bellman  of 
London,  1610,  is  a  list  of  rogues  by  profession,  in  which  Cock  Lorrel  stands 
second.  He  is  thus  described :  "  After  him  succeeded,  by  the  general  council, 
one  Cock  Lorrell,  the  most  notorious  knave  that  ever  lived.  By  trade  he  was  a 
tinker,  often  carrying  a  pan  and  hammer  for  shew ;  but  when  he  came  to  a  good 
booty,  he  would  cast  his  profession  in  a  ditch,  and  play  the  padder."  In  1565, 
a  book  was  printed  called  The  Fraternitye  of  Vacabondes ;  whereunto  also  is 
adjoyned  the  twenty-jive  orders  of  knaves:  confirmed  for  ever  by  Cocke  Lorell. 

In  Satirical  Poems  by  Lord  Rochester  (Harl.  MSS.,  6913)  there  is  a  ballad  to 
the  tune  of  An  old  man  is  a  bed  full  of  bones,  but  the  air  is  far  more  generally 
referred  to  by  the  name  of  Cock  Lorrel. 

In  the  "  Collection  of  Loyal  Songs  written  against  the  Rump  Parliament " 
there  are  many  to  this  air,  such  as  "The  Rump  roughly  but  righteously 
handled; "  "The  City's  Feast  to  the  Lord  Protector;"  "  St.  George  for  England" 
(commencing,  "The  "Westminster  Rump  hath  been  little  at  ease");  &c.,  &c. 
Others  in  the  King's  Pamphlets,  Brit.  Mus. ;  in  the  Collection  of  180  Loyal 
Songs,  1685  ;  in  Poems  on  Affairs  of  State,  vol.  i.,  1703;  and  in  the  Roxburghe 
Collection  of  Ballads. 

A  tune  called  The  Painter  is  sometimes  mentioned,  and  it  appears  to  be 
another  name  for  this  air,  because  the  ballad  of  "  The  Painter's  Pastime :  or  a 
woman  defined  after  a  new  fashion,"  &c.,  was  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  Cook 
Laurel.  A  black-letter  copy  is  in  the  Douce  Collection  (printed  by  P.  Brooksby, 
at  the  Golden  Ball,  &c.). 

Some  copies  of  the  tune  are  in  a  major,  others  in  a  minor  key.  The  four  lines 
here  printed  to  it  are  from  an  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  1651,  for,  although  some 
of  the  ballads  above  quoted  are  witty,  they  would  not  be  admissible  in  the 
present  day. 


i  i  i  i    h 

Ph   i    . 

^n  i    N 

|  |     |»  J^g^  , 

fl)      A    '       '    '    '    '  —  •  m$J  J    J  —  J*~    J    *  •  *    fl*     •    g     ~  '  g    * 

Let's  cast  a-way  care,  and  merrily  sing,  For  there  is  a  time  for    ev'ry  thing,  He  that 

/-«.                                               A                               A    •         0     • 

•*-i    . 

-*o*           •                        * 

p     '      r 

F      • 

p           • 

'    °L           *1 

SI         " 

J<&  :  —  ^L  :_ 

-i  —  '.  —  k-2  — 

-F—  — 

—  fr   8 

-^-j  

-?  —  !  —  F  

-l  

K                    I                         i                        l           i 

plays  at  his  work,  And  works  at  his  play,  Doth  neither  keep  working      ^ 


1 

g 

1  

M  r—  "  —  l 

— 

II 


162 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


FORTUNE  MY  FOE. 

The  tune  of  Fortune  is  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book;  in  William 
Ballet's  MS.  Lute  Book;  in  Vallet's  Tablature  de  Luth,  book  i.,  1615,  and 
book  ii.,  1616;  in  Bellerophon,  1622;  in  Nederlandtsche  G-edenck-Clanck,  1626  ;  in 
Dr.  Camphuysen's  Stichtelycke  Hymen,  1652 ;  and  in  other  more  recent  publica- 
tions. In  the  Dutch  books  above  quoted,  it  is  always  given  as  an  English  air. 

A  ballad  "  Of  one  complaining  of  the  mutability  of  Fortune  "  was  licensed  to 
John  Charlewood  to  print  in  1565-6  (See  Collier's  JEx.  Reg.  Stat.  Comp.,  p.  139). 
A  black-letter  copy  of  "  A  sweet  sonnet,  wherein  the  lover  exclaimeth  against 
Fortune  for  the  loss  of  his  lady's  favour,  almost  past  hope  to  get  it  again,  and  in 
the  end  receives  a  comfortable  answer,  and  attains  his  desire,  as  may  here  appear : 
to  the  tune  of  Fortune  my  foe"  is  in  the  Bagford  Collection  of  Ballads  (643  m., 
British  Museum).  It  begins  as  follows : — 
Slow. 


dH?  

i  1  h 

n  ]  1  —  i  1  1  —  i  1  1  1  fc-r- 

X  b  /  > 

1  f 

'    J  .   J 

—  H  •  ,  J— 

—  —  ~^rr 

(or  i'  —  & 

•   .  #£ 

A  %   •  #* 

_j  —  :  « 

"~"  ^^     Ji 

&  —  «U-*-L 

^~       —g  0  :  *•  '   &    .  «9-—^  f      \     '    1  «^->       —  fr- 

For  -  tune  my      foe,      why  dost  thou  frown  on          me  ?             And  will  thy 

J=2. 

rMT5  1  h-   ± 

*H  «  

—  3  

~H  —  —  r 

5_±5               J  •    * 

E 

3             ^ 

.  .  & 

F^H  i—,  —       1 

J  . 

N     .  i     i  J  J 

—  h 

d   :  J 

-T~*    ^—  4=- 

« 

V  ' 

»— 

c         m 

a       1 

—  1= 

^      tig 

-+—.  —  d  —  »- 

r*i&  — 

-fr? 

*  .  . 

i 

^     • 

—  ^ 

&     •  *!JL       o                                            'lcj        m  •  m        cj    • 
fa   -   vours     ne  -  ver  great-er        be  ?      Wilt   thou,    I       say,      for      ev  -  er  breed  me 

i                               n        f  '  P          "^^ 

1  \~ 

—  

-^  

S9  1±: 

9  — 

—  <s  

—  ^ 

A            a 

<—-*^ 

a     ,  •  • 

t 

xE3 

—  ^  ^  

~^]  *    .    ^ 

-^)  ?-*- 

73      J     J     J 

—  s  

—  I  )  —  1 

pain, 

And       wilt    thou 

not                  re  - 

store  my  .  ^      a   - 

'   joys 

-    gain  ? 

—•^ 

,-^ 

| 

II 

JJ^J 

\                    i 

•        *        c^ 

-H  

1               f^j 

-P  —  F  —  ^  

-H— 

> 

1       J 

™ 

H  —  i  1  ' 

There  are  twenty-two  stanzas,  of  four  lines  each,  in  the  above. 

Fortune  my  foe  is  alluded  to  by  Shakespeare  in  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor, 
act  ii.,  sc.  3  ;  and  the  old  ballad  of  Titus  Andronicus,  upon  which  Shakespeare 
founded  his  play  of  the  same  name,  was  sung  to  the  tune.  A  copy  of  that  ballad 
is  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  392,  and  reprinted  in  Percy's  Reliques. 

Ben  Jonson  alludes  to  Fortune  my  foe,  in  The  case  is  altered,  and  in  his  masque 
TJie  Gipsies  Metamorphosed;  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  in  The  Custom  of  the 
Country,  The  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle,  and  The  Wild  Croose  Chase ;  Lilly 
gives  the  first  verse  in  his  Maydes  Metamorphosis,  1600 ;  Chettle  mentions  the 
tune  in  Kind-hart* s  Dreame,  1592 ;  Burton,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  1621 ; 
Shirley,  in  The  Gfrateful  Servant,  1630 ;  Brome,  in  his  Antipodes,  163&  See 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH.  163 

also  Lodge's  Rosalind,  1590 ;  Lingua,  1607  ;  Every  Woman  in  her  humour,  1609 ; 
The  Widow's  Tears,  1612 ;  Henry  Hutton's  Follie's  Anatomic,  1619 ;  TJie  two 
merry  Milkmaids,  1620 ;  Vox  Borealis,  1641 ;  The  Rump,  or  Mirror  of  the 
Times,  1660 ;  Tom's  Essence,  1677,  &c.  In  Forbes'  Oantus,  1682,  is  a  parody 
on  Fortune  my  foe,  beginning,  Satan  my  foe,  full  of  iniquity,  with  which  the  tune 
is  there  printed. 

One  reason  for  the  great  popularity  of  this  air  is  that  "  the  metrical  lamenta- 
tions of  extraordinary  criminals  have  been  usually  chanted  to  it  for  upwards  of 
these  two  hundred  years."     Rowley  alludes  to  this  in  his  Noble  Soldier,  1634: 
"  The  King  !  shall  I  be  bitter  'gainst  the  King  ? 
I  shall  have  scurvy  ballads  made  of  me, 
Sung  to  the  hanging  tune ! " 

And  in  "  The  penitent  Traytor :  the  humble  petition  of  a  Devonshire  gentleman, 
who  was  condemned  for  treason,  and  executed  for  the  same,  anno  1641,"  the 
last  verse  but  two  runs  thus  : 

"  How  could  I  bless  thee,  couldst  thou  take  away 
My  life  and  infamy  both  in  one  day  ? 
But  this  in  ballads  will  survive  I  know, 
Sung  to  that  preaching  tune,  Fortune  my  Joe" 
The  last  is  from  "  Loyal  Songs  written  against  the  Rump  Parliament." 

Deloney's  ballad,  "  The  Death  of  King  John,"  in  his  Strange  Histories,  1607  ; 
and  "  The  most  cruel  murder  of  Edward  V.,  and  his  brother  the  Duke  of  York, 
in  the  Tower,  by  their  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester"  (reprinted  in  Evans'  Old 
Ballads,  iii.  13,  ed.  1810),  are  to  this  tune;  but  ballads  of  this  description  which 
were  sung  to  it  are  too  many  for  enumeration.  In  the  first  volume  of  the  Rox- 
burghe  Collection,  at  pages  136,  182,  376,  392,  486,  487,  488,  and  490,  are 
ballads  to  the  tune  of  Fortune,  and  all  about  murders,  last  dying  speeches,  or 
some  heavy  misfortunes. 

In  the  Pepys'  Collection,  i.  68,  is  a  ballad  of  "  The  lamentable  burning  of  the 
city  of  Cork,  by  the  lightning  which  happened  the  last  day  of  May,  1622,  after 
the  prodigious  battle  of  the  stares"  (i.e.,  starlings),  "which  fought  most  strangely 
over  and  near  the  city  the  12th  and  14th  May,  1621." 

Two  other  ballads  require  notice,  because  the  tune  is  often  referred  to  under 
their  names,  Dr.  Faustus,  and  Aim  not  too  high.  The  first,  according  to  the  title 
of  the  ballad,  is  "  The  Judgment  of  God  shewed  upon  Dr.  John  Faustus :  tune, 
Fortune  my  foe."  A  copy  is  in  the  Bagford  Collection.4  It  is  illustrated  by  two 
woodcuts  at  the  top  :  one  representing  Dr.  Faustus  signing  the  contract  with  the 
devil ;  and  the  other  shewing  him  standing  in  a  magic  circle,  with  a  wand  in  his 
left  hand,  and  a  sword  with  flame  running  up  it,  in  his  right:  a  little  devil 
seated  on  his  right  arm.  Richard  Jones  had  a  licence  to  print  the  ballad  "  of  the 
life  and  deathe  of  Dr.  Faustus,  the  great  cungerer,"  on  the  28th  Feb.,  1588-9. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  434,  is  "Youth's  warning  piece,"  &c.,  "  to  the 
tune  of  Dr.  Faustus;"  printed  for  A.  K.,  1636.  And  in  Dr.  Wild's  Iter 
Boreale,  1671,  "  The  recantation  of  a  penitent  Proteus,"  &c.,  to  the  tune  of 
Dr.  Faustus. 

1  It  is  also  printed  in  my  National  English  Airs,  quarto,  part  i.,  1838. 


164  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

The  other  name  is  derived  from — 

"  An  excellent  song,  wherein  you  shall  finde 

Great  consolation  for  a  troubled  mind. 
To  the  tune  of  Fortune  my  foe."     Commencing  thus : 

"Ayme  not  too  hie  in  things  above  thy  reach ; 
Be  not  too  foolish  in  thine  owne  conceit ; 
As  thou  hast  wit  and  worldly  wealth  at  will, 
So  give  Him  thanks  that  shall  encrease  it  still,"  &c. 

This  ballad  is  also  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  106.,  printed  by  the  "Assignes 
of  Thomas  Symcocke  : "  and,  in  the  same,  others  to  the  tune  of  Aim  net  too  high 
will  be  found,  viz.,  in  vol.  i.,  at  pages  70,  78,  82,  106,  132,  and  482 ;  in  vol.  ii., 
at  pages  128,  130, 189,  202,  283,  482,  and  562,  &c. 

In  the  Douce  Collection  there  is  a  ballad  of  "The  manner  of  the  King's" 
[Charles  the  First's]  "  Trial  at  "Westminster  Hall,"  &c. ;  "  the  tune  is  Aim  not 
too  high." 

DEATH   AND  THE  LADY. 

Death  and  the  Lady  is  one  of  a  series  of  popular  ballads  which  had  their  rise 
from  the  celebrated  Dance  of  Death.  A  Dance  of  Death  seems  to  be  alluded  to 
in  The  Vision  of  Pierce  Plowman,  written  about  1350 : 

"  Death  came  driving  after,  and  al[l]  to  dust  pashed 

Kyngs  and  Kaisars,  Knights  and  Popes  ;" 

but  the  subject  was  rendered  especially  popular  in  England  by  Lydgate's  free 
translation  from  a  French  version  of  the  celebrated  German  one  by  Machaber. 

Representations  of  The  Dance  of  Death  were  frequently  depicted  upon  the 
walls  of  cloisters  and  cathedrals.  Sir  Thomas  More  speaks  of  one  "  pictured  in 
Paules,"  of  which  Stow,  in  his  Survey  of  London,  gives  the  following  account : — 
"  John  Carpenter,  town  clerk  of  London  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.,  caused,  with 
great  expense,  to  be  curiously  painted  upon  board,  about  the  north  cloister  of 
Paul's,  a  monument  of  Death  leading  all  estates,  with  the  speeches  of  Death,  and 
answer  of  every  state.  This  cloister  was  pulled  down  in  1549." 

On  the  walls  of  the  Hungerford  Chapel  in  Salisbury  Cathedral  was  a  painting 
executed  about  1460,  representing  Death  holding  conversation  with  a  young 
gallant,  attired  in  the  fullest  fashion,  who  thus  addresses  him : — 
"  Alasse,  Dethe,  alasse !  a  blessful  thing  thou  were 
If  thou  woldyst  spare  us  in  our  lustynesse, 
And  cum  to  wretches  that  bethe  of  he[a]vy  chere, 
When  they  thee  clepe  [call]  to  slake  their  dystresse. 
But,  owte  alasse !  thyne  owne  sely  self-willdnesse 
Crewelly  we[a]rieth  them  that  sighe,  wayle,  and  weepe, 
To  close  their  eyen  that  after  thee  doth  clepe." 
To  which  Death  gloomily  replies : 

"  Graceles  Gallante,  in  all  thy  luste  and  pryde 
Remembyr  that  thou  ones  schalte  dye; 
De[a]th  shold  fro'  thy  body  thy  soule  devyde, 
Thou  mayst  him  not  escape,  certaynly. 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH.  165 

To  the  de[a]de  bodys  cast  downe  thyne  eye, 
Behold  them  well,  consyder  and  see, 
For  such  as  they  are,  such  shalt  thou  be." 

Among  the  Roxburghe  Ballads  is  one  entitled  "  Death's  uncontrollable  sum- 
mons, or  the  mortality  of  mankind;  being  a  dialogue  between  Death  and  a  young 
man,"  which  very  much  resembles  the  verses  in  the  Hungerford  Chapel,  above 
quoted.  We  have  also  "  The  dead  man's  seng,"  reprinted  in  Evans'  Collection, 
"Death  and  the  Cobbler,"  and  "Death's  Dance,"  proving  the  popularity  of  these 
moralizations  on  death.  Another  "Dance  and  Song  of  Death,"  which  was 
licensed  in  1568,  has  been  printed  at  page  85. 

In  the  Douce  Collection  is  a  black-letter  copy  of  "  The  midnight  messenger,  or 
a  sudden  call  from  an  ear&ly  glory  to  the  cold  grave,  in  a  dialogue  between  Death 
and  a  rich  man,"  &c.,  beginning — 

"  Thou  wealthy  man,  of  large  possessions  here, 
Amounting  to  some  thousand  pounds  a  year, 
Extorted  by  oppression  from  the  poor, 
The  time  is  come  that  thou  shalt  be  no  more,"  &c. ; 
which  is  reprinted  in  Dixon's  Songs  of  the  Peasantry,  &c. 

In  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  MS.  volume,  written  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  is  a 
dialogue  of  twenty-four  stanzas,  between  "  Life  and  Death,"  commencing — 
Life. — "  Nay,  what  art  thou,  that  I  should  give 

To  thee  my  parting  breath  ? 
Why  may  not  I  much  longer  live  ?  " 
Death. — "  Behold !  my  name  is  Death." 
Life. — "  I  never  have  seen  thy  face  before ; 

Now  tell  me  why  thou  came  : 
I  never  wish  to  see  it  more — 
Death. — "  Behold  !  Death  is  my  name,"  &c. 

The  following  "  Dialogue  betwixt  an  Exciseman  and  Death  "  is  from  a  copy  in 
the  Bagford  Collection,  dated  1659. 

Upon  a  time  when  Titan's  steeds  were  driven  Speake,  what's  thy  name?   and   quickly  tell 
To  drench  themselves   against  the  western  me  this, 

heaven ;  Whither  thou  goest,  and  what  thy  bus'ness  is  ? 
And  sable  Morpheus  had  his  curtains  spread,  EXCISEMAN. 

And  silent  night  had  laid  the  world  to  bed,  Whate'er  my  bus'ness  is,  thou  foule-mouthed 
'Mongst  other  night-birds  which  did  seek  for  scould, 

prey,  I'de  have  you  know  I  scorn  to  be  coutroul'd 

A  blunt  exciseman,  which  abhorr'd  the  day,  By  any  man  that  lives ;  much  less  by  thou, 

Was  rambling  forth  to  seeke  himself  a  booty  Who  blurtest  out  thou  knowst  not  what,  nor 
'Mongst  merchants'  goods  which  had  not  paid  how  ; 

the  duty  :  I  goe  about  my  lawful  bus'ness;  and 

But  walking  all  alone,  Death-chanc'd  to  meet  I'le  make  you  smarte  for  bidding  of  mee  stand. 

him,  DEATH. 

And  in  tbis  manner  did  begin  to  greet  him.  Imperious  cox-combe !  is  your  stomach  vext  ? 

DEATH.  Pray  slack  your  rage,  and  barken  wbat  conies 
Stand,  wbo  conies  here?  what  means  this  knave  next  : 

to  peepe  I  have  a  writt  to  take  you  up  ;  therefore, 

And  sculke  abroad,  when  honest  men  should  To  chafe  your  blood,  I  bid  you  stand,  once 

sleepe  ?  more. 


166 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


EXCISEMAN. 

A  writt  to  take  mee  up  !  excuse  mee,  sir, 
You  doe  mistake,  I  am  an  officer 
In  publick  service,  for  my  private  wealth ; 
My  bus'ness  is,  if  any  seeke  by  stealth 
To  undermine  the  states,  I  doe  discover 
Their  falsehood ;  therefore  hold  your  hand, — 
give  over. 

DEATH. 

Nay,  fair  and  soft !  'tis  not  so  quickly  done 
As  you  conceive  it  is  :  I  am  not  gone 
A  jott  the  sooner,  for  your  hastie  chat 
Nor  bragging  language ;  for  I  tell  you  flat 
'Tis  more  than  so,  though  fortune  seeme  to 

thwart  us, 

Such  easie  terms  I  don't  intend  shall  part  us. 
With  this  impartial  arme  I'll  make  you  feele 
My  fingers  first,  and  with  this  shaft  of  steele 
I'le  peck  thy  bones  !  as  thou  alive  wert  hated, 
So  dead,  to  doggs  thou  shalt  be  segregated. 

EXCISEMAN. 

I'de  laugh  at  that ;  I  would  thou  didst  but  dare 
To  lay  thy  fingers  on  me ;  I'de  not  spare 
To  hack  thy  carkass  till  my  sword  was  broken, 
I  'de  make  thee  eat  the  wordes  which  thou  hast 

spoken ; 

All  men  should  warning  take  by  thy  trans- 
gression, 

How  they  molested  men  of  my  profession. 
My  service  to  the  states  is  so  welle  known, 
That  I  should  but  complaine,  they'd  quickly 

owne 

My  publicke  grievances ;  and  give  mee  right 
To  cut  your  eares,  before  to-morrow  night. 

DEATH. 

Well  said,  indeed !  but  bootless  all,  for  I 
Am  well  acquainted  with  thy  villanie; 
I  know  thy  office,  and  thy  trade  is  such, 
Thy  service  little,  and  thy  gaines  are  much : 
Thy  braggs  are  many;  but  'tis  vaine  to  swagger, 
And  thinke  to  fighte  mee  with  thy  guilded 

dagger : 

As  I  abhor  thy  person,  place,  and  threate, 
So  now  I'le  bring  thee  to  the  judgement  seate. 


EXCISEMAN. 
The  judgement  seate !    I  must  confess  that 

word 

Doth  cut  my  heart,  like  any  sharpned  sword  : 
What!  come  t'  account!  methinks  the  dreadful 

sound 

Of  every  word  doth  make  a  mortal  wound, 
Which  sticks  not  only  in  my  outward  skin, 
But  penetrates  my  very  soule  within. 
'Twas  least  of  all  my  thoughts  that  ever  Death 
Would  once  attempt  to  stop  excisemen's  breath. 
But  since  'tis  so,  that  now  I  doe  perceive 
You  are  in  earnest,  then  I  must  relieve 
Myself  another  way  :  come,  wee'l  be  friends, 
If  I  have  wronged  thee,  I'le  make  th'  amendes. 
Let's  joyne  together;  I'le  pass  my  word  this 

night 

Shall  yield  us  grub,  before  the  morning  light. 
Or  otherwise  (to  mitigate  my  sorrow), 
Stay  here,  I'le  bring  you  gold  enough  to- 
morrow. 

DEATH. 

To-morrow's  gold  I  will  not  have ;  and  thou 
Shalt  have  no  gold  upon  to-morrow  :  now 
My  final  writt  shall  to  th'  execution  have  thee, 
All  earthly  treasure  cannot  help  or  save  thee. 

EXCISEMAN. 

Then  woe  is  mee !  ah  !  how  was  I  befool'd ! 
I  thought  that  gold   (which  answereth  all 

things)  could 

Have  stood  my  friend  at  any  time  to  baile  mee ! 
But  griefe  growes  great,  and  now  my  trust  doth 

faile  me. 

Oh !  that  my  conscience  were  but  clear  within, 
Which  now  is  racked  with  my  former  sin ; 
With  horror  I  behold  my  secret  stealing, 
My  bribes,  oppression,  and  my  graceless  deal- 
s' ing; 

My  office-sins,  which  I  had  clean  forgotten, 
Will   gnaw  my  soul  when  all  my  bones  are 

rotten  : 

I  must  confess  it,  very  griefe  doth  force  mee, 
Dead  or  alive,  both  God  and  man  doth  curse 

mee, 

Let  all  excisemen  hereby  warning  take, 
To  shun  their  practice  for  their  conscience  sake. 


Of  all  the  ballads  on  the  subject  of  Death,  the  most  popular,  however,  was 
Death  and  the  Lady.  In  Mr.  George  Daniel's  Collection  there  is  a  ballad 
"  imprinted  at  London  by  Alexander  Lacy"  (about  1572),  at  the  end  of  which 
is  a  still  older  woodcut,  representing  Death  and  the  Lady.  It  has  been  used  as 
an  ornament  to  fill  up  a  blank  in  one  to  which  it  bears  no  reference ;  but  was,  in 
all  probability,  engraved  for  this,  or  one  on  the  same  subject.  The  tune  is  in 


REIGN    OF   ELIZABETH. 


167 


Henry  Carey's  Musical  Century,  1738.  He  calls  it  "  the  old  tune  of  Death  and 
the  Lady."  Also  in  The  Gobbler's  Opera,  1729 ;  The  Fashionable  Lady ;  and 
many  others  about  the  same  date. 

The  oldest  copies  of  Aim  not  too  high  direct  it  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  Fortune, 
but  there  is  one  class  of  ballads,  said  to  be  to  the  tune  of  Aim  not  too  high,  that 
could  not  well  be  sung  to  that  air.  The  accent  of  Fortune  my  foe  is  on  the  first 
syllable  of  each  line;  exactly  agreeing  with  the  tune.  But  these  ballads  on 
Death  have  the  accent  on  the  second,  and  agree  with  the  tune  of  Death  and  the 
Lady.  See,  for  instance,  the  four  lines  above  quoted  from  The  Dialogue  between 
Death  and  the  rich  man,  which  the  black-letter  copies  direct  to  be  sung  to  the 
tune  of  Aim  not  too  high.  I  believe,  therefore,  that  Aim  not  too  high,  had  either 
a  separate  tune,  which  is  the  same  I  find  under  the  name  of  Death  and  the  Lady, 
or  else,  Fortune,  being  altered  by  the  singer  for  the  accent  of  those  ballads,  and 
sung  in  a  major  key,  gradually  acquired  a  different  shape.  (Many  of  these  airs 
are  found  both  in  major  and  minor  keys.)  This  would  account  for  Fortune  and 
Aim  not  too  high  being  so  frequently  cited  as  different  tunes  in  ballads  printed 
about  the  same  period. 

I  suppose,  then,  that  ballads  to  the  tune  of  Aim  not  too  high  may  be  either 
to  Fortune,  or  Death  and  the  Lady;  a  point  to  be  determined  generally  by  the 
accent  of  the  words. 

The  ballad  of  Death  and  the  Lady  is  printed  in  a  small  volume  entitled  A  Gruide 
to  Heaven,  12mo.,  1736 ;  and  it  is  twice  mentioned  in  Goldsmith's  popular  tale, 
The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  first  printed  in  1776. 
Slow. 


j>*(,   r^f  '  -  M   J  »  J  —  '  —  i  —  ra  —  i  

viy  ^  J)  *  ^ 

||*l     ji= 

1=8—1      t~^ 

^Sr2       -         a        • 

=*H 

DEATH.    Fair      La  -  dy,   lay    your      cost  -  ly     robes      a     -      side,                    No 

r-rr»  —                —  •—  i-c  =  :  1  •  1  1  1  1  -m  • 

=&  3= 

-J  —  i    J    r 

^  F 

-j 

^    ; 

;    >  I  .     , 

—  3  — 

—  

-^*-  3     '  i    d 

f      i    ~     *_  • 

«        2    • 

Ion  -  ger  may 

•  t   r     ^ 

you       glo  -  ry       in        your   pride  ; 

.         *  -i^ 

Take   leave    of  ev'  -  ry 

1 

i 

, 

i* 

-J  h- 

E± 

J  p—  J- 

-N 

r^  1 

\  

1  1  1 

—  J  —  •  —  4- 

—  LSJ  — 

^. 

—  K—      : 

1 

ihH 

LJ  L_2  1  1 

—  1  1  ^n-n  n- 

—5 

j       j       . 

?—.  J-^f  ~5^ 

i  1 

3E       >   -:/-J^-: 

cai 

J      1     J.          ^     •     r     ^-      ^ 

•-nal  vain  de   -    light,             I'm     come 

|       J   .  i  J   .       J   uJ 

3      '  "f  P  .  ^- 

to  sum-mon  you      a  -  way      this    night. 

ji        I  1  -i  h—        1  

B 

•V 

—  f— 

^-    •     J     J       ...     _J^_:z 

168 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


What  bold  attempt  is  this  ?  pray  let  me  know 
From  whence  you  come,  and  whither  I  must  go! 
Shall  I,  who  am  a  lady,  stoop  or  bow 
To  such  a  pale-fac'd  visage?  Who  art  thou? 

DEATH. 

Do  you  not  know  me?  Well,  I'll  tell  you,  then  : 
Tis  I  who  conquer  all  the  sons  of  men ! 
No  pitch  of  honour  from  my  dart  is  free ; 
My  name  is  Death !  have  you  not  heard  of  me  ? 

LADY. 

Yes,  I  have  heard  of  thee  time  after  time  ; 
But,  being  in  the  glory  of  my  prime, 
J  did  not  think  you  would  have  called  so  soon. 
Why  must  my  sun  go  down  before  its  noon  ? 

DEATH. 

Talk  not  of  noon  !  you  may  as  well  be  mute ; 
This  is  no  more  the  time  for  to  dispute : 
Your  riches,  jewels,  gold,  and  garments  brave — 
Houses  and  lands,  must  all  new  masters  have. 
Though  thy  vain  heart  to  riches  was  inclin'd, 
Yet  thou  must  die,  and  leave  them  all  behind. 

LADY. 

My  heart  is  cold ;  I  tremble  at  the  news ! 
Here's  bags  of  gold  if  thou  wilt  me  excuse, 
And  seize  on  them  :  and  finish  thou  the  strife 
Of  those  that  are  most  weary  of  their  life. 
Are  there  not  many  bound  in  prison  strong, 
In  bitter  grief  of  soul  have  languish'd  long? 
All  such  would  find  the  grave  a  place  of  rest 
From  all  the  griefs  by  which  they  are  opprest. 
Besides,  there's  many  both  with  hoary,  head, 
And  palsied  joints,  from  which  all  strength  is 

fled. 

Release  thou  those,  whose  sorrows  are  so  great, 
But  spare  my  life  to  have  a  longer  date. 

DEATH. 

Though  they,   by  age,  are  full  of  grief  and 

pain, 

Yet  their  appointed  time  they  must  remain. 
I  come  to  none  before  their  warrant's  seal'd, 
And  when  it  is,  all  must  submit  and  yield ; 
I  take  no  bribe,  believe  me  this  is  true ; 
Prepare  yourself,  for  now  I  come  for  you. 

LADY. 

Be  not  severe  !  O  Death !  let  me  obtain 
A  little  longer  time  to  live  and  reign  ! 
Fain  would  I  stay,  if  thou  my  life  wilt  spare, 
I  have  a  daughter,  beautiful  and  fair ; 
I'd  live  to  see  her  wed,  whom  I  adore ; 
Grant  me  but  this,  and  I  will  ask  no  more. 


DEATH. 

This  is  a  slender,  frivolous  excuse, 
I  have  you  fast,  and  will  not  let  you  loose ; 
Leave  her  to  Providence,  for  you  must  go 
Along  with  me,  whether  you  will  or  no. 
I,  Death,  command  e'en  kings  to  leave  their 

crown, 

And  at  my  feet  they  lay  their  sceptres  down. 
If  unto  kings  this  favour  I  don't  give, 
But  cut  them  off,  can  you  expect  to  live 
Beyond  the  limits  of  your  time  and  space? 
No  !  I  must  send  you  to  another  place. 

LADY. 

You  learned  doctors,  now  express  your  skill, 
And  let  not  Death  of  me  obtain  his  will ; 
Prepare  your  cordials,  let  me  comfort  find, 
And  gold  shall  fly  like  chaffbefore  the  wind ! 

DEATH. 

Forbear  to  call,  their  skill  will  never  do, 
They  are  but  mortals  here,  as  well  as  you ; 
I  gave  the  fatal  wound,  my  dart  is  sure ; 
'Tis  far  beyond  the  doctor's  skill  to  cure. 
How  freely  can  you  let  your  riches  fly 
To  purchase  life,  rather  than  yield  to  die ! 
But  while  you  flourish'd  here  in  all  your  store, 
You  would  not  give  one  penny  to  the  poor, 
Who  in  God's  name  their  suit  to  you  did  make ; 
You  would  not  spare  one  penny  for  His  sake. 
The  Lord  beheld  wherein  you  did  amiss, 
And  calls  you  hence  to  give  account  for  this. 

LADY. 

Oh,  heavy  news !  must  I  no  longer  stay  ? 
How  shall  I  stand  at  the  great  judgment  day." 
Down  from  her  eyes  the  crystal  tears  did  flow  : 
She  said,  "None  knows  what  now  I  undergo. 
Upon  a  bed  of  sorrow  here  I  lie, 
My  carnal  life  makes  me  afraid  to  die ; 
My  sins,  alas  !  are  many,  gross,  and  foul, 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  have  mercy  on  my  soul ! 
And  though  I  much  deserve  thy  righteous 

frown, 
Yet  pardon,  Lord,  and  send  a  blessing  down !" 

Then,  with  a  dying  sigh,  her  heart  did  break, 
And  she  the  pleasures  of  this  world  forsake. 
Thus  do  we  see  the  high  and  mighty  fall, 
For  cruel  death  shows  not  respect  at  all 
To  any  one  of  high  or  low  degree : 
Great  men  submit  to  death,  as  well  as  we. 
If  old  or  young,  our  life  is  but  a  span — 
A  lump  of  clay — so  vile  a  creature's  man. 
Then  happy  they  whom  Christ  has  made  his 

care — 
Die  in  the  Lord,  and  ever  blessed  are ! 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


169 


THE   KING    AND   THE   MILLER  OF   MANSFIELD. 

This  tune  was  found  by  Dr.  Rimbault  in  a  MS.  volume  of  virginal  music  in  the 
possession  of  T.  Birch,  Esq.,  of  Repton,  Derbyshire.  The  black-letter  copies  of 
the  ballad  of  King  Henry  II.  and  the  Miller  of  Mansfield,  direct  it  to  be  sung  to 
the  tune  of  The  French  Levalto,  and,  as  the  air  was  found  under  that  name,  it 
may  be  a  French  tune,  although  neither  Dr.  Rimbault  nor  I  think  it  so.  The 
progression  of  the  last  four  notes  in  each  part  is  very  English  in  character. 

There  are  copies  of  the  ballad  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection  (v.  i.  178  and  228)  ; 
in  the  Bagford  (p.  25)  ;  and  in  the  Pepys.  It  is  also  in  Old  Ballads,  1727, 
v.  i.,  p.  53 ;  and  in  Percy's  Reliques,  series  3,  book  ii.  The  French  Levalto  is 
frequently  referred  to  as  a  ballad  tune. 

Rather  slow  and  gracefully. 


Hen-ry,  our  royal  King,  would  ride  a       hunt  -  ing,      To  the  green  fo  -  rest  so 


plea-sant  and  fair,       To      see   the  harts  skip-ping,  and      dain  -  ty  does  trip-ping  Un   - 


-to  mer-ry  Sherwood  his  no-bles  re-pair.      Hawk  and  hound  were  unbound,  all  things  pre-  pa-  red 


For  the  game,  in  the  same,  with  good  re  -  gard.  Hawk  and  hound  were  un  -  bound, 


S 


all  things  pre-pa  -  red       For   the  game,  in  the  same,  with  good  re -gard. 


170 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


All  a  long  summer's  day  rode  the  king  pleasantlye, 

With  all  his  princes  and  nobles  eche  one ; 
Chasing  the  hart  and  hind,  and  the  bucke  gallantlye, 

Till  the  darke  evening  forc'd  all  to  turne  home. 
Then  at  last,  riding  fast,  he  had  lost  quite 
All  his  lords  in  the  wood,  late  in  the  night. 

Wandering  thus  wearilye,  all  alone,  up  and  downe, 

With  a  rude  miller  he  mett  at  the  last : 
Asking  the  ready  way  unto  faire  Nottingham  ; 

Sir,  quoth  the  miller,  I  meane  not  to  jest, 
Yet  I  thinke,  what  I  thinke,  sooth  for  to  say, 
You  doe  not  lightlye  ride  out  of  your  way. 

Why,  what  dost  thou  thinke  of  me,  quoth  our  king  merrily 
Passing  thy  judgment  upon  me  so  briefe  ? 

Good  faith,  sayd  the  miller,  I  meane  not  to  flatter  thee; 
I  guess  thee  to  be  but  some  gentleman  thiefe  ; 

Stand  thee  backe,  in  the  darke;  light  not  adowne, 

Lest  that  I  presentlye  crack  thy  knaves  crowne.     &c. 


LITTLE  MUSGEAVE  AND  LADY  BARNARD. 

This  ballad  is  quoted  in  Fletcher's  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle,  and  Monsieur 
Tlwmas  ;  in  The  Varietie,  1649  ;  and  in  Davenant's  The  Wits,  where  Twack,  an 
antiquated  beau,  boasting  of  his  qualifications,  says — 

"  Besides,  I  sing  Little  Musgrove ;  and  then 
For  Chevy  Chase  no  lark  comes  near  me." 

A  copy  t)f  the  ballad  is  in  the  Bagford  Collection,  entitled  "  A  lamentable 
ballad  of  Little  Musgrove  and  the  Lady  Barnet,  to  an  excellent  new  tune."  It  is 
also  in  Wit  restored,  1658 ;  in  Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  iii.  312  (1716)  ;  and 
in  Percy's  Reliques,  series  3,  book  i. 

The  tune  is  the  usual  traditional  version. 


Gracefully. 


r          ^r      rr 

As       it    fell  out  on    a     high  holiday,  As       many  there  be  in  the  year,      When 


young  men  and  maids  to    -    ge-therdo  go,    Their  mass- es  and  matins  to  hear 


t—?- 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


171 


THE   GIPSIES'  ROUND. 

The  tune  from  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book. 

Whenever  gipsies  are  introduced  in  old  plays,  we  find  some  allusions  to  their 
singing,  dancing,  or  music,  and  generally  a  variety  of  songs  to  be  sung  by  them. 
In  Middleton's  Spanish  Gripsy,  Roderigo,  being  invited  to  turn  gipsy,  says — 
"  I  can  neither  dance,  nor  sing ;  but  if  my  pen 
From  my  invention  can  strike  music  times, 
My  head  and  brains  are  yours." 

In  other  words,  "  I  think  I  can  invent  tunes,  and  therefore  have  one  qualification 
for  a  gipsy,  although  I  cannot  dance,  nor  sing." 

By  Round  is  here  meant  a  country  dance.  Country  dances  were  formerly  danced 
quite  as  much  in  rounds  as  in  parallel  lines ;  and  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  were 
in  favour  at  court,  as  well  as  at  the  May-pole.  In  the  Talbot  papers,  Herald's 
College,  is  a  letter  from  the  Earl  of  Worcester  to  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  dated 
Sep.  19th,  1602,  in  which  he  says,  "  We  are  frolic  here  in  court;  much  dancing 
in  the  privy  chamber  of  country  dances  before  the  Queen's  Majesty,  who  is 
much  pleased  therewith." — (Lodge,  iii.  577.) 
Boldly. 


QP  — — 

T 


THE  LEGEND  OF   SIR  GUY. 


This  ballad  was  entered  to  Richard  Jones  on  Jan.  5th,  1591-2,  as  "  A  plesante 
songe  of  the  valiant  actes  of  Guy  of  Warwicke,  to  the  tune  of  Was  ever  man  so ' 
tost  in  love."    The  copy  in  the  Bagford  Collection  (p.  19)  is  entitled  "  A  pleasant 
song  of  the  valiant  deeds  of  chivalry  achieved  by  that  noble  knight,  Sir  Guy  of 
Warwick,  who,  for  the  love  of  fair  Phillis,  became  a  hermit,  and  died  in  a  cave  of 


172 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


a  craggy  rock,  a  mile  distant  from  Warwick.  Tune,  Was  ever  man,  &c."  Other 
copies  are  in  the  Pepys  Collection  ;  Roxburghe,  iii.  50  ;  and  in  Percy's  Reliques, 
series  3,  book  ii. 

It  is  quoted  in  Fletcher's  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle,  act  ii.,  sc.  8 ;  and  in 
The  little  French  Lawyer,  act  ii.,  sc.  3. 

William  of  Nassyngton  (about  1480)  mentions  stories  of  Sir  Guy  as  usually 
sung  by  minstrels  at  feasts.  (See  ante  page  45.)  Puttenham,  in  his  Art  of 
Poetry,  1589,  says  they  were  then  commonly  sung  to  the  harp  at  Christmas 
dinners  and  bride-ales,  for  the  recreation  of  the  lower  classes.  And  in  Dr.  King's 
Dialogues  of  the  Dead,  "  It  is  the  negligence  of  our  ballad  singers  that  makes  us  to 
be  talked  of  less  than  others :  for  who,  almost,  besides  St.  Greorge,  King  Arthur, 
Bevis,  Guy,  and  Hickathrift,  are  in  the  chronicles." — (Vol.  i.,  p.  153.) 

This  tune  is  from  the  ballad-opera  of  Robin  Hood,  1730,  called  Sir  G-uy. 


Slow. 


Was  ever  knight  for  la-dy 's  sake     So  toss'd  in  love     as    I,  Sir  Guy  !  For  Phillis 


PIP 


fair,   that      la-dy    bright      As     e  -  ver   man      be  -  held  with     eye 


She  gave  me 


c 


f- 
leave     my 


-     self   to       try         The    va-liant  knight  with  shield  and  spear,    Ere  that  her 


love          she    would  grant  me,    Which  made  me    ven  -  ture    far  and     near 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


173 


LOTH  TO  DEPART. 

Tune  from  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  where  it  is  arranged  by  Giles 
Farnaby. 

In  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Wit  at  several  Weapons,  act  ii.,  sc.  2,  Pompey 
makes  his  exit  singing  Loath  to  depart.  In  Middleton's  The  Old  Law,  act  iv., 
sc.  1,  "  The  old  woman  is  loath  to  depart;  she  never  sung  other  tune  in  her  life." 
In  the  ballad  of  Arthur  of  Bradley,  which  exists  in  black-letter,  and  in  the  Anti- 
dote to  Melancholy,  1661,  are  the  following  lines : — 

"  Then  Will  and  his  sweetheart 

Did  call  for  Loth  to  depart" 
Also  in  Chapman's  Widow's  Tears,  1612  ;  VoxBorealis,  1641;  and  many  others. 

A  Loth  to  depart  was  the  common  term  for  a  song  sung,  or  a  tune  played,  on 
taking  leave  of  friends.  So  in  a  Discourse  on  Marine  Affairs  (Harl.  MSS., 
No.  1341)  we  find,  "Being  again  returned  into  his  barge,  after  that  the  trumpets 
have  sounded  a  Loathe  to  departe,  and  the  barge  is  fallen  off  a  fit  and  fair  birth 
and  distance  from  the  ship-side,  he  is  to  be  saluted  with  so  many  guns,  for  an 
adieu,  as  the  ship  is  able  to  give,  provided  that  they  be  always  of  an  odd 
number." — (Quoted  in  a  note  to  Teonge's  Diary,  p.  5.)  In  Tarlton's  News  out  of 
Purgatory,  (about  1589),  "And  so,  with  a  Loath  to  depart,  they  took  their 
leaves ; "  and  in  the  old  play  of  Damon  and  Pithias,  when  Damon  takes  leave, 
saying,  "  Loth  am  I  to  depart,"  he  adds,  "  0  Music,  sound  my  doleful  plaints 
when  I  am  gone  away,"  and  the  regals  play  "  a  mourning  song." 

The  following  are  the  words  of  a  round  in  Deuteromelia,  1609 : — 
"  Sing  with  thy  mouth,  sing  with  thy  heart, 
Like  faithful  friends,  sing  Loath  to  depart; 
Though  friends  together  may  not  always  remain, 
Yet  Loath  to  depart  sing  once  again." 

The  four  lines  here  printed  to  the  tune,  are  part  of  a  song  called  "  Loth  to 
depart,"  in  Wif  s  Interpreter,  1671.  It  is  also  in  The  Loyal  G-arland  ;  and,  with 
some  alteration,  in  Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  iv.,  80.  It  is  there  attributed  to 
Mr.  J.  Donne. 


Slow. 


Jfa- 


Lie  near  my  dear!  why    dost  thourise?  The  light  that  shines,  comes  from  thine  eyes, 


m 


Tis  not  the  day  breaks,    but  my  heart,  To      think  that  thou  and     I    must  part. 


mm 


174 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 


QUEEN  ELEANOR'S  CONFESSION. 

This  is  the  traditional  tune  to  the  ballad  which  is  printed  in  Percy's  Reliques 
of  Ancient  Poetry  (No.  8,  series  ii.,  book  2).  A  copy  is  in  the  Bagford  Collection, 
i.  26,  to  be  sung  to  "a  pleasant  new  tune." 

Moderate  time.  ^ 

fl..      ii         i       i  ra-TlJ    J-hJ-J— *3^ 

-m » *^ — " — 0— 

=»— ^      *..  -       IvT 


»? 


p'f.  err    T 

,  And  a-fraid  that  she  should  die, 


Queen  Eleanor  was    a        sick  woman 


Then 


y 


w 


s 


-F F- 


j  i  —  i  —  3  — 

3P 

1  

—  i  — 

-d  —  iH—  i 

—  s  —  H 

—  J— 

—  •  —  i  —  d  ^  — 

-*f- 

—  J  

H  — 

-^  i-*H 

-s  H  — 

she 

sent  for  two  friars     out 

P 
of   France 

r    r  f-  -P  ^   «•  : 

To  speak  with  her  spee  -  di    -     ly. 

1            1 

M                H 

-4- 

-J  — 

-1  •  

\  

—  i  P  —  H  — 

—  F- 

=i  —  J—  f- 

—  9  — 

—  F  F  — 

IE 

j    r    . 

1   J      1      II 

ESSEX'S  LAST  GOOD-NIGHT,  OB  WELL-A-DAY. 

This  air  is  contained  in  Elizabeth  Rogers'  MS.  Virginal  Book  (Brit.  Mus.)  ; 
and  in  a  transcript  of  virginal  music  made  by  Sir  John  Hawkins,  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  Dr.  Rimbault.  In  the  former  it  is  entitled  Essex's  last  Cf-ood-night,  and 
there  are  but  eight  bars  in  the  tune  ;  the  latter  is  called  Wett-a-day,  and  consists 
of  sixteen  bars. 

The  ballad  of  Essex's  last  Good-night  is  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  106  ;  and 
Roxburghe,  i.  101,  and  185.  In  the  Pepys  Collection  it  is  called  "A  lamentable 
new  ballad  upon  the  Earl  of  Essex  his  death ;  to  the  tune  of  The  King's  last 
Grood-night"  In  the  Roxburghe,  i.  101,  to  the  tune  of  ^Essex's  last  G-ood-night. 
It  is  printed  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  iii.  167  (1810)  ;  but,  as  usual,  without  the 
name  of  the  tune.  The  first  verse  of  the  Pepys  copy  is  as  follows  : — 
"  All  you  that  cry  O  hone,  0  hone  !  [alas], 

Come  now  and  sing  0  Lord  with  me  ; 
For  why  our  jewel  is  from  us  gone, 

The  valiant  knight  of  chivalry. 
Of  rich  and  poor  belov'd  was  he  ; 
In  time  an  honorable  knight ; 
When  by  our  laws  condemn'd  was  he, 

And  lately  took  his  last  Good-night." 

This  is  on  the  death  of  Walter  Devereux,  Earl  of  Essex  (father  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's favorite),  who  died  in  Dublin,  in  1576.  Another  on  the  same  subject,  and 
in  the  same  metre,  has  been  printed  by  Mr.  Payne  Collier,  in  his  Extracts  from 
the  Registers  of  the  Stationers'  Company,  ii.  35  ;  beginning  thus : — 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH.  175 

"  Lament,  lament,  for  he  is  dead 

Who  serv'd  his  prince  most  faithfully ; 
Lament,  each  subject,  and  the  head 

Of  this  our  realm  of  Brittany. 
Our  Queen  has  lost  a  soldier  true  ; 
Her  subjects  lost  a  noble  friend  : 
Oft  for  his  queen  his  sword  he  drew, 

And  for  her  subjects  blood  did  spend,"  &c. 

The  ballad  of  Well-a-day  is  entitled  "  A  lamentable  dittie  composed  upon  the 
death  of  Robert  Lord  Devereux,  late  Earle  of  Essex,  who  was  beheaded  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  upon  Ash.  Wednesday,  in  the  morning,  1601.  To  the  tune  of 
Well-a-day.  Imprinted  at  London  for  Margret  Allde,  &c.,  1603.  Reprinted  in 
Payne  Collier's  Old  Ballads,  124,  8vo.,  1840 ;  and  in  Evans',  iii.  158.  Copies 
are  also  in  the  Bagford  and  Roxburghe  Collections  (i.  184)  ;  and  Harl.  MSS., 
293.  The  first  verse  is  here  given  with  the  tune. 

The  ballads  to  the  tune  of  Essex's  last  Good-night  are  in  quite  a  different  metre 
to  those  which  were  to  be  sung  to  Well-a-day ;  and  either  the  melody  consisted 
originally  of  but  eight  bars,  and  those  bars  were  repeated  for  the  last  four  lines 
of  each  stanza,  or  else  the  second  part  differed  from  my  copy. 

Well-a-day  seems  to  be  older  than  the  date  of  the  death  of  either  Earl,  because, 
in  1566-7,  Mr.  Wally  had  a  license  to  print  "the  second  Well-a-day"  (Ex.  Reg. 
Stat.,  i.  151.)  ;  and,  in  1569-70,  Thomas  Colwell,  to  print  "  A  new  Well-a-day, 
As  plain,  Mr.  Papist,  as  Dunstable  way." 

To  "  sing  well-away  "  was  proverbial  even  in  Chaucer's  time  ;  for  in  the  pro- 
logue to  the  Wife  of  Bath's  Tale,  speaking  of  her  husbands,  she  says  (lines 
5597-600)  "  I  sette  [tjhem  so  on  werke,  by  my  fay  ! 

That  many  a  night  thay  songen  rveylaway. 
The  bacoun  was  nought  fet  for  hem,  I  trowe, 
That  som  men  fecche  in  Essex  at  Dunmowe."  a 

And  in  the  Shipman's  Tale,  "  For  I  may  synge  alias  and  waylaway  that  I  was 
born."  So  in  the  Owl  and  the  Nightingale,  one  of  our  earliest  original  poems,  the 
owl  says  to  the  nightingale — 

"  Thu  singest  a  night,  and  noght  a  dai, 

And  al  thi  song  is  wail  awai." 

'  In  the  sixteenth  century  we  find  a  similar  passage  in  Nicholas  Breton's  Farewell 
to  town —  "  I  must,  ah  me !  wretch,  as  I  may, 

Go  sing  the  song  of  Welaway." 

The  ballads  sung  to  one  or  other  of  these  tunes  are  very  numerous.  Among 
them  are — 

"  Sir  Walter  Rauleigh  his  Lamentation,"  &c.,  "  to  the  tune  of  Well-a-day. 
Pepys  Collection,  i.  Ill,  b.  1. 

"  The  arraignment  of  the  Devil  for  stealing  away  President  Bradshaw."  Tune, 
Well-a-day,  weU-a-day.  (King's  Pamphlets,  vol.  15,  or  Wright's  Political 
Ballads,  139.) 

.  The  claiming  the  Flitch  of  Bacon  at  Dunmow  was  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  See  also  a  song  in 
a  custom  to  which  frequent  allusions  are  made  in  the  Reliquice  Antiijute,  ii.  29. 


176 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


"  The  story  of  HI  May-day,  &c.,  and  how  Queen  Catherine  begged  the  lives  of 
2,000  London  apprentices."  Tune  Essex's  Grood-night.  (Grown  Crarland  of 
Gf-olden  Roses,  or  Evans,  iii.  76.) 

"The  doleful  death  of  Queen  Jane,  wife  of  Henry  VIII.,"  &c.  "Tune, 
The  Lamentation  of  the  Lord  of  Essex"  (Crown  Grarland,  or  Evans,  iii.  92.) 

A  Carol,  to  the  tune  of  Essex's  last  Grood-night,  dated  1661.  (Wright's 
Carols.) —  "  All  you  that  in  this  house  be  here, 

Remember  Christ  that  for  us  died  ; 
And  spend  away  with  modest  cheer, 

In  loving  sort  this  Christmas-tide,"  dec. 

Several  other  tunes  were  named  after  the  Earl  of  Essex.  In  Dr.  Camphuysen's 
Stichtelycke  Hymen  (4to.,  Amsterdam,  1647)  is  one  called  Essex's  Gralliard,  and 
another  Essex's  Lamentation.  The  last  is  the  same  air  as  What  if  a  day,  or  a 
month,  or  a  year. 

In  The  World's  Folly  (B.L.)  a  widow  "would  sing  The  Lamentation  of  a  Sinner, 
to  the  tune  of  Well-a-daye." 
Slow. 


Sweet  England's  prize  is  gone  !      Well  -a-  day,     well  -  a-day  ; 


makesiier 


J.j  jy  J*j  JIJT: 


sigh  and  groan   E-ver  -  more       still.  He  did  her  fame  advance 


r      v 

vance,  In  Ireland,  Spain, 


and 


^T 


^ 


France, 


And      by       a        sad     mis-chance,      Is         from    us       ta'en. 


inn 


THE  FIT'S  COME  ON  ME  NOW. 

This  song  is  quoted  by  Valentine  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Wit  without 
money,  act  v.,  sc.  4.,  where  a  verse  is  printed. 

One  of  my  friends  recollects  his  nurse  singing  a  ballad  with  the  burden — 
"  I  must  and  will  get  married, 
The  fit's  upon  me  now." 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


177 


The  tune  is  from  the  seventh  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master.     In  some  later 
editions  it  is  called  The  Bishop  of  Chester's  Jig,  or  Thefifs  come  on  me  now. 


™-x                    •/        y 

z^f^r1 

,     J   i  

tn 

=  F»—  i  1  h-J  !*- 

«[)  »  j 

Th 

^H%#~J 

5=1 

e 

N—  , 

J    ^   ' 

fit's       up  -  < 

\  5  —  3  —  • 
^^d  —  •  —  *  —  • 

)n          me  now,  Th 

r-f  —  i 

e 

l*~l 

^i 

fit 

s      up  -  < 

LJ  i  J  : 

)n          me  now,  Cor 

r  r  j 

- 

ne 
S-, 

tfft 
i 

•*-^'  ^* 

V-  \  2 
i 

i 

t  —  •  ^* 

1—  !  * 

1 

N                    i        N 

w  »  •  —  , 

—  i  —  J*  r  i  j  «i  —  i- 

• 

j     •  J^T^I  —  h- 

—  i^- 

* 

=h 

K=V  ] 

:  —  p—  t~i 

—  j  —  «-j  —  %~^~*~ 

—  •  i-f—  m  h-  d— 

33 

—  f  

•            <^*    0    m              m          m              m   j_       m 
quick-ly  gen  -  tie  lady,  The    fit's     up  -  on   me  now.-  Th 

• 

e  wor 

™ 

? 

y  're  fools,  And 

-        k. 

Id  shall  know  the 

£• 

m          m                   r 

-^^ 

—  « 

—  !  —  • 

-F= 

=S  —  H 

-• 

-• 

E  \  fc 

s 


s 


so     shaltthou  do  too,  'Let     cob-biers  mend  their  tools, 'The  fit's     up  -  on     nie  now 


i 


i 


MALL  SIMS. 

This  favorite  old  dance  tune  is  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book ;  in  Morley's 
Consort  Lessons,  1599  and  1611 ;  in  Rossiter's  Consort  Lessons,  1609 ;  in  Vallet's 
TaUature  de  Luth,  intitule  Le  Secret  des  Muses,  book  i.,  4to.,  Amsterdam,  1615, 
entitled  "  Bal  Anglois,  Mai  Simmes ;"  also  in  the  second  book  of  the  same  work, 
1616 ;  in  Nederlandtsche  Credenck-Clank,  1626 ;  in  Camphuysen's  Stichtetycke 
Eymen, 164:7  (called  "The  English  Echo,  or  Malsims");  in  the  Skene  MS.,  &c. 

It  is  most  likely  one  of  the  old  harpers'  tunes,  as  it  has  quite  the  character  of 
harp  music.  In  Rossiter's  Consort  Lessons,  1609,  in  which  the  names  of  the  com- 
posers are  given  to  every  other  air,  this  is  marked  Incertus :  and  if  unknown 
then,  it  is  probably  much  older  than  the  date  of  the  book. 

In  Wit  Restored,  1658,  is  the  ballad  of  "  The  Miller  and  the  King's  Daughters," 
written  by  Dr.  James  Smith,  in  which  this  tune  is  mentioned : 
"  What  did  he  doe  with  her  two  shinnes  ? 
Unto  the  violl  they  danc't  Moll  Syms." 

N 


-     fompou 

siy. 

uj   i  r. 

j 

J      | 

| 

, 

j 

Jj     J 

-t-i 

/ui?  (*  —  ?p 

•       \ 

— 

Q 



^"^ 

f^  

r^ 

• 

J- 

V^ly                        £s 

r 

ps. 

r 

•J 

•     1 

i 

r-Q 

1  p-t 

1 

r 

^5 

i 

w  —  i 

t  |  ,|  7-j  — 

i  S  

—  —  H  ^  



—  —  i  — 

i  j  — 

p  —  ^  J  —  - 

^ 



i 

-^ 

-     ^ 

1  H 

i 

1            1 

i  gj  j  j  i 

1  —  H 

•           J- 

4  * 

-J—  j  —  1 

1 

1 

p 

^— 

-^  & 

~*       •      Jff  J— 
m                •"»       1 

•      • 

--  •       L       3 

f^ 

i 

cs          5 

r    r    t 

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t- 

r  r  i 

0 
1 

i\ 

1      I 

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r    r 

^r-. 

3 

p     r 

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3 

CRIMSON  VELVET. 

This  tune  is  found  in  one  of  the  Dutch  collections,  Friesche  Lv.st-Bbf,  by  Jan 
Jansz  Starter,  the  edition  printed  at  Amsterdam  in  1634.  It  is  called  "  'Twas  a 
youthful  Knight,  which  loved  a  galjant  Lady,"  which  is  the  first  line  of  the 
ballad  of  "  Constance  of  Cleveland:  to  the  tune  of  Crimson  Velvet"  The 
ballad  is  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  iii.  94,  and  in  Collier's  Roxburghe 
Ballads,  p.  163. 

The  tune  of  Crimson  Velvet  was,  as  Mr.  Collier  remarks,  "  highly  popular  in 
the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  her  successor."  Among  the  ballads  that  were  sung 
to  it,  are  "  The  lamentable  complaint  of  Queen  Mary,  for  the  unkind  departure  of 
King  Philip,  in  whose  absence  she  fell  sick  and  died ; "  beginning — 

"  Mary  doth  complain, 
Ladies,  be  you  moved 
With  my  lamentations 
And  my  bitter  groans,"  &c. 

A  copy  in  the  Grown  G-arland  of  Gf-olden  Roses  (reprint  of  edit,  of  1659,  p.  09). 
"An  excellent  ballad  of  a  prince  of  England's  courtship   to  the  King  of 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


179 


France's  daughter,  and  how  the  prince  was  disasterously  slain;  and  how  the 
aforesaid  princess  was  afterwards  married  to  a  forrester; "  commencing — 
"  In  the  days  of  old, 

When  fair  France  did  flourish,"  &c. 

Copies  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  102,  the  Bagford,  the  Pepys,  Deloney's 
G-arland  of  good-will,  and  Percy's  Reliques,  series  iii.,  book  2,  16. 
The  following  is  the  ballad  of  "  Constance  of  Cleveland." 

Slow. 


ffi^  —  i  r^  r^g-i  —  rr^  —  ^nsrfl  —  F  —  n 

It    was    a   youth-ful  knight  Lov'd   a     gal-lant     la-dy,  Fair  she  was  and  bright, 
Her-self  she  did      be  -  have,  So  courteously    as    maybe,  Wedded  they  were,  brave; 

^WH*-T—  p  f  i  h  1  f  j.  F5- 

M^'         '          f      IJ        J       J     1'        Lj=^± 

_y  ^^"5     first  time. 

0^3       Second  time.                               J 

And    of    vir  -  tues  rare.       Joy  with  -out     com  -  pare.           Here    be  -  gan  the   grief, 
Wo  -  men    lewd  of   mind, 

|                                                  1                                                                                             0 

^  •        p  

1  r 

H  i  j  —  -J        r       ' 

i     ^ 

-j-    -J- 

"j      ^     J  IE  i  i"    3  «^~  r  *  fg  s    •:•-«- 

Pain     with  -  out    re  -  lief;  Her  husband  soon  her     love       for      -     sook,            To 
Be  -  ing       bad   in-clin'd,  He    on  -  ly    lent    a       plea  -   sant        look,           The  $0° 

•                1 

-%•    •   p       —  p  —                                                                                               —  r  -  tr-3- 

^=A  J  1  n  rinr^      ,                     P|E 

-^L          ^^  —  — 

l    i  J  J  :Ti  i  Jlfl  n  i  i  1- 

TI  ,    she  sat  weeping,  While  that  he  was  keeping  Company  with  others  moe.  Her 
[more] 

tr  3  u.             j 

_i  1  p  f  p  •   r  f  f  p  )>    - 

a  «"  =  

3  ^—     —  r  —  M  — 

<y                      m                 ii 

^"J    My  love,  be-lieve  not,  Come  to  me,  and  grieve  not;  Wantons  will  thee  o-  ver-throw. 

^                              J  =        —  ,  1  =  .  1 

H  ^  J  F  -t;  ^  ^ 

180 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


His  fair  lady's  words 

Nothing  he  regarded ; 
Wantonness  affords, 

To  some,  delightful  sport ; 
While  they  dance  and  sing, 

With  great  mirth  prepared, 
She  her  hands  did  wring 
In  most  grievous  sort. 

Oh !  what  hap  had  I, 

Thus  to  wail  and  cry, 
Unrespected  every  day. 

Living  in  disdain, 

While  that  others  gain 
All  the  right  I  should  enjoy  ! 

I  am  left  forsaken, 

Others  they  are  taken ; 
Ah !  my  love  why  dost  thou  so  ? 

Her  flatteries  believe  not, 

Come  to  me  and  grieve  not ; 
Wantons  will  thee  overthrow. 

The  knight,  with  his  fair  piece, 

At  length  the  lady  spied, 
Who  did  him  daily  fleece 

Of  his  wealth  and  store ; 
Secretly  she  stood, 

While  she  her  fashions  tryed 
With  a  patient  mind  ; 

While  deep  the  strumpet  swore 
"  O  sir  knight,"  quoth  she, 
"  So  dearly  I  love  thee, 
My  life  doth  rest  at  thy  dispose. 

By  day,  and  eke  by  night, 

For  thy  sweet  delight 
Thou  shalt  me  in  thy  arms  enclose ; 

I  am  thine  for  ever, 

Still  I  will  persever, 
True  to  thee  where'er  I  go." 

Her  flatteries  believe  not, 

Come  to  me  and  grieve  not ; 
Wantons  will  thee  overthrow. 

The  virtuous  lady  mild 

Enters  then  among  them, 
Being  big  with  child 

As  ever  she  might  be ; 
With  distilling  tears 

She  looked  then  upon  them, 
Filled  full  of  fears, 

Thus  replyed  she : 
"  Ah,  my  love  and  dear, 
Wherefore  stay  you  here, 


Refusing  me,  your  loving  wife, 
For  an  harlot's  sake, 
Which  each  one  will  take  ; 

Whose  vile  deeds  provoke  much  strife. 
Many  can  accuse  her, 
O,  my  love,  refuse  her, 

With  thy  lady  home  return  ; 
Her  flatteries  believe  not, 
Come  to  me  and  grieve  not ; 

Wantons  will  thee  overthrow." 

All  in  a  fury  then 

The  angry  knight  upstarted, 
Very  furious  when 

He  heard  his  lady's  speech ; 
With  many  bitter  terms 

His  wife  he  ever  thwarted, 
Using  hard  extremes 

While  she  did  him  beseech. 

From  her  neck  so  white 

He  took  away  in  spite 
Her  curious  chain  of  purest  gold : 

Her  jewels  and  her  rings, 

And  all  such  costly  things, 
As  he  about  her  did  behold ; 

The  harlot,  in  her  presence, 

He  did  gently  reverence, 
And  to  her  he  gave  them  all. 

He  sent  away  his  lady, 

Full  of  woe  as  may  be, 
Who  in  a  swound  with  grief  did  fall. 

At  the  lady's  wrong 

The  harlot  fleer'd  and  laughed ; 
Enticements  are  so  strong, 

They  overcome  the  wise  : 
The  knight  nothing  regarded 

To  see  the  lady  scoffed ; 
Thus  she  was  rewarded 
For  her  enterprise. 

The  harlot  all  this  space 

Did  him  oft  embrace ; 
She  flatters  him,  and  thus  doth  say : 
"  For  thee  I'll  die  and  live, 

For  thee  my  faith  I'll  give, 
No  woe  shall  work  my  love's  decay ; 

Thou  shalt  be  my  treasure, 

Thou  shalt  be  my  pleasure, 
Thou  shalt  be  my  heart's  delight ; 

I  will  be  thy  darling, 

I  will  be  thy  worldling, 
In  despite  of  fortune's  spite." 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


181 


Thus  did  he  remain 

In  wasteful  great  expences, 
Till  it  bred  his  pain, 

And  consum'd  him  quite. 
When  his  lands  were  spent, 

Troubled  in  his  senses, 
Then  he  did  repent 
Of  his  late  lewd  life  ; 

For  relief  he  hies, 

For  relief  he  flies 
To  them  on  whom  he  spent  his  gold ; 

They  do  him  deny, 

They  do  him  defy, 
They  will  not  once  his  face  behold. 

Being  thus  distressed, 

Being  thus  oppressed, 
In  the  fields  that  night  he  lay  ; 

Which  the  harlot  knowing, 

Through  her  malice  growing, 
Sought  to  take  his  life  away. 

A  young  and  proper  lad 

They  had  slain  in  secret 
For  the  gold  he  had  ; 

Whom  they  did  convey, 
By  a  ruflian  lewd, 

To  that  place  directly, 
Where  the  youthful  knight 
Fast  a  sleeping  lay ; 

The  bloody  dagger,  then, 

Wherewith  they  kill'd  the  man, 
Hard  by  the  knight  he  likewise  laid ; 

Sprinkling  him  with  blood, 

As  he  thought  it  good, 
And  then  no  longer  there  he  stay'd. 

The  knight,  being  so  abused, 

Was  forthwith  accused 
For  this  murder  which  was  done ; 

And  he  was  condemned 

That  had  not  offended, 
Shameful  death  he  might  not  shun. 

When  the  lady  bright 

Understood  the  matter, 
That  her  wedded  knight 

Was  condemned  to  die, 
To  the  king  she  went 

With  all  the  speed  that  might  be, 
Where  she  did  lament 
Her  hard  destiny. 
"  Noble  king,"  quoth  she, 
"  Pity  take  on  me, 


And  pardon  my  poor  husband's  life ; 

Else  I  am  undone, 

With  my  little  son, 
Let  mercy  mitigate  this  grief." 
"  Lady  fair,  content  thee, 

Soon  thou  wouldst  repent  thee 
If  he  should  be  saved  so  ; 

Sore  he  hath  abus'd  thee, 

Sore  he  hath  misus'd  thee, 
Therefore,  lady,  let  him  go." 

"  O,  my  liege,"  quoth  she, 
"  Grant  your  gracious  favour; 
Dear  he  is  to  me, 

Though  he  did  me  wrong." 
The  king  replied  again, 

With  a  stern  behaviour, 
"  A  subject  he  hath  slain, 

Die,  he  shall,  ere  long  : 

Except  thou  canst  find 

Any  one  so  kind 
That  will  die  and  set  him  free." 
"  Noble  king,"  she  said, 
"  Glad  am  I  apaid, 
That  same  person  will  I  be. 

I  will  suffer  duly, 

I  will  suffer  truly, 
For  my  love  and  husband's  sake." 

The  king  thereat  amazed, 

Though  he  her  beauty  praised,  [take. 
He  bade  from  thence  they  should  her 

It  was  the  king's  command, 

On  the  morrow  after, 
She  should  out  of  hand 
To  the  scaffold  go ; 
Her  husband  was 

To  bear  the  sword  before  her ; 
He  must,  eke  alas  ! 

Give  the  deadly  blow. 

He  refus'd  the  deed, 

She  bade  him  to  proceed 
With  a  thousand  kisses  sweet. 

In  this  woeful  case 

They  did  both  embrace ; 
Which  mov'd  the  ruffians  in  that  place 

Straight  for  to  discover 

This  concealed  murder ; 
Whereby  the  lady  saved  was. 

The  harlot  then  was  hanged, 

As  she  well  deserved  : 
This  did  virtue  bring  to  pass. 


182 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


WALKING  IN  A  COUNTRY  TOWN. 

The  tune  from  Robinson's  Schoole  of  Musicke,  1603,  called  Walking  in  a 
country  town.  In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  412,  is  a  ballad  beginning 
"  Walking  in  a  meadow  green,"  and,  from  the  similarity  of  the  lines,  and  the 
measure  of  the  verse  so  exactly  suiting  the  air,  I  infer  this  to  be  the  tune  of  both. 
The  latter  was  printed  by  John  Trundle,  at  the  sign  of  the  Nobody  in  Barbican, 
rendered  famous  by  Ben  Jonson,  who  in  his  Every  man  in  his  Humour,  makes 
Knowell  say,  "  Well,  if  he  read  this  with  patience,  I'll '  go,'  and  troll  ballads  for 
Master  John  Trundle  yonder,  the  rest  of  my  mortality.'' 

It  is  entitled  "  The  two  Leicestershire  Lovers  :  to  the  tune  of  And  yet  methinks 
I  love  thee"  The  first  stanza  is  here  printed  to  the  music. 

The  last  line  of  the  verse  is,  "Upon  the  meadow  brow,"  and  The  meadow  brow 
is  often  quoted  as  a  tune.  So  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  92,  or  Colliers's 
Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  1,  is  "  Death's  Dance"  (beginning,  "If  Death  would  come 
and  shew  his  face"),  "  to  be  sung  to  a  pleasant  new  tune  called  0  no,  no,  no,  not 
yet,  or  The  meadow  broiv."  And  Bishop  Corbet's  song,  "  Farewell,  rewards  and 
fairies,"  is  "  to  be  sung  or  whistled  to  the  tune  The  meddow  brow  by  the  learned : 
by  the  unlearned,  to  the  tune  of  Fortune" — (Percy,  series  iii,  book  2.)  All 
might  be  sung  to  this  tune. 


Slow 


meadow  green,  For     reere-a-tion's sake,  To  drive   a-way  some 


sad  thoughts  That  sorrow-ful  did  me  make,     I       spied  two  love,  ly  lo-vers,  Did 


hear  each  o  -  ther's  woe,  To  'point  a     place  of  meet  -  ing  Up  -  on   the  meadow  brow. 

J^^N \?=£ 


PHILLIDA    FLOUTS  ME. 

In  The  Crown  Garland  of  Golden  Hoses,  1612,  is  "A  short  and  sweet  sonnet 
made  by  one  of  the  Maides  of  Honor  upon  the  death  of  Queene  Elizabeth,  which 
she  sowed  upon  a  sampler,  in  red  silke :  to  a  new  tune,  or  Phillida  flouts  me; " 
beginning —  "  Gone  is  Elizabeth, 

Whom  we  have  lov'd  so  dear,"  &c. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


183 


Patrick  Carey  also  wrote  a  ballad  to  the  tune  of  Phillida  flouts  me  ;  beginning — 

"  Ned !  she  that  likes  thee  now, 

Next  week  will  leave  thee-! " 

It  is  contained  in  his  "  Trivial  Poems  and  Triolets,  written  in  obedience  to 
Mrs.  Tomkin's  commands,  20th  August,  1651."  In  Walton's  Angler,  1653,  the 
Milkwoman  asks,  "  What  song  was  it,  I  pray  ?  Was  it  Come,  shepherds,  deck 
your  heads,  or  As  at  noon  Dulcina  rested,  or  Phillida  flouts  me  ?" 

The  ballad  of  Phillida  flouts  me  is  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  142,  and  in 
the  same  volume,  p.  24,  "The  Bashful  Virgin,  or  The  Secret  Lover:  tune  of 
I  am  so  deep  in  love,  or  Little  boy,  &c."  It  begins — 

"  0  what  a  plague  it  is 

To  be  a  lover; 
Being  denied  the  bliss 
For  to  discover,"  &c. 

This  appears  to  be  also  to  the  air  of  Phillida  flouts  me,  although  the  first  line  of 
that  ballad  is  "  Oh  !  what  a  plague  is  love,"  not  "  I  am  so  deep  in  love." 

The  words  and  music  are  in  Watts'  Musical  Miscellany,  ii.  132  (1729),  and  an 
answer,  beginning,  "  0  where's  the  plague  in  love."  The  tune  is  also  in  many  of 
the  ballad-operas,  such  as  The  Quaker's  Opera,  1728  ;  Love  in  a  Eiddle,  1729  ; 
Damon  and  Phillida,  1734,  &c. 

Ritson  printed  the  words  in  his  Ancient  Songs,  from  a  copy  in  The  Theatre  of 
Compliments,  or  New  Academy,  1689,  but  did  not  discover  the  tune. 
Slowly  and  gracefully. 


O    what    a  plague    is  love  ! 
She    will     in  -  constant  prove 


I      can  -  not    bear     it ; 
I    great -ly      fear    it: 


It      so     tor  - 

She   wa-vers 


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^ 


mentsmymind,Thatmyheart      fail  -   ell,.  I  may,  She  loves  still 

with  the  wind      As      a      shin        sail  -    etn.KJ  •" 


with  the  wind     As      a     ship       sail  -   eth. 


£ 


I 


a 


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to   gain-say,         A-lack,  and    well    -    a-day !      Phil  -  Ii  -   da       flouts 


184 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


At  the  fair  t'other  day, 

As  she  pass'd  by  me, 
She  look'd  another  way, 

And  would  not  spy  me. 
I  woo'd  her  for  to  dine, 

But  could  not  get  her ; 
Dick  had  her  to  the  Vine, 

He  might  intreat  her. 
With  Daniel  she  did  dance, 
On  me  she  would  not  glance ; 
Oh,  thrice  unhappy  chance ! 
Phillida  flouts  me. 

Fair  maid,  be  not  so  coy, 

Do  not  disdain  me ; 
I  am  my  mother's  joy ; 

Sweet,  entertain  me. 
I  shall  have,  when  she  dies, 

All  things  that's  fitting ; 
Her  poultry  and  her  bees, 

And  her  goose  sitting ; 
A  pair  of  mattrass  beds, 
A  barrel  full  of  shreds : 
And  yet,  for  all  these  goods, 

Phillida  flouts  me. 

I  often  heard  her  say, 

That  she  lov'd  posies ; 
In  the  last  month  of  May 

I  gave  her  roses, 
Cowslips  and  gilly-flowers, 

And  the  sweet  lily, 
I  got  to  deck  the  bow'rs 

Of  my  dear  Philly. 
She  did  them  all  disdain, 
And  threw  them  back  again  ; 
Therefore  'tis  flat  and  plain 

Phillida  flouts  me. 

Thou  shall  eat  curds  ond  cream 

All  the  year  lasting, 
And  drink  the  crystal  stream, 

Pleasant  in  tasting  : 
Swig  whey  until  you  burst, 

Eat  bramble-berries, 


Pye-lid,  and  pastry-crust, 

Pears,  plums,  and  cherries ; 
Thy  garments  shall  be  thin, 
Made  of  a  wether's  skin  ; 
Yet  all's  not  worth  a  pin  : 

Phillida  flouts  me. 

Which  way  soe'er  I  go, 

She  still  torments  me  ; 
And,  whatsoe'er  I  do, 

Nothing  contents  me : 
I  fade,  and  pine  away 

With  grief  and  sorrow  ; 
I  fall  quite  to  decay, 

Like  any  shadow ; 
I  shall  be  dead,  I  fear, 
Within  a  thousand  year, 
And  all  because  my  dear 

Phillida  flouts  me. 

Fair  maiden,  have  a  care, 

And  in  time  take  me ; 
I  can  have  those  as  fair, 

If  you  forsake  me ; 
There's  Doll,  the  dairy-maid, 

Smil'd  on  me  lately, 
And  wanton  Winifred 

Favours  me  greatly ; 
One  throws  milk  on  my  clothes, 
T'other  plays  with  my  nose ; 
What  pretty  toys  are  those ! 
Phillida  flouts  me. 

She  has  a  cloth  of  mine, 

Wrought  with  blue  Coventry, 
Which  she  keeps  as  a  sign 

Of  my  fidelity : 
But  if  she  frowns  on  me, 

She  shall  ne'er  wear  it; 
I'll  give  it  my  maid  Joan, 

And  she  shall  tear  it. 
Since  'twill  no  better  be, 
I'll  bear  it  patiently ; 
Yet,  all  the  world  may  see, 

Phillida  flouts  me. 


LADY,   LIE  NEAR  ME. 

This  ballad  is  entitled  "  The  longing  Shepherdess,  or  Lady "  [Laddy]  "  lie 
near  me."  Copies  are  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  iii.,  59,  and  Douce,  p.  119,  &c. 
It  is  also  in  the  list  of  ballads  that  were  printed  by  W.  Thackeray,  at  the  Angel, 
in  Duck  Lane. 

The  tune  (which  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  Phillida  flouts  me)  is  in  The 
Dancing  Master,  from  the  first  edition  in  1650,  to  the  eighth  in  1690. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


185 


In  Ritson's  North  Country  Chorister  there  is  another  ballad,  called  "  Laddy,  lie 
near  me"  (beginning,  "As  I  walked  over  hills,  dales,  and  high  mountains");  and 
in  1793  Mr.  George  Thomson  gave  Burns  a  tune  of  that  name,  to  write  words  to, 
which  is  now  included  in  Scotch  Collections.  It  differs  wholly  from  this. 

Slowly  and  gracefully. 


All        in     the  month  of  May,  When  all  things  bios   -    som,     As          in    my 


J 


i 


3 


bed    I    lay,     Sleep     it  grew    loath  -  some.    Up     I  rose,  and   did  walk     O  -  ver     yon 


mountains  Through  meadows  and  through  dales,  Over  rocks  and  foun-tains;         I  heard  a 


-r  •  IIT  • 


•    •    • 


voice  to  sing,  Sweetheart,  come  cheer  me,  Thou  hast  been  long  away,  Lady,  lie     near  me. 

V 


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MILL-FIELD. 

In  the  collection  of  ballads  and  proclamations  in  the  library  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  is  one  by  W.  Elderton,  entitled  "  A  new  ballad,  declaring  the  great 
treason  conspired  against  the  young  King  of  Scots,  and  how  one  Andrew  Browne, 
an  Englishman,  which  was  the  King's  Chamberlaine,  prevented  the  same.  To  the 
tune  of  Milfield,  or  els  to  Crreene  sleeves"  It  was  printed  by  "  Yarathe  James," 
to  whom  it  was  licensed  on  30th  May,  1581. 

The  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master  from  1650  to  1658.  The  ballad  in  Percy's 
Reliques,  series  ii.,  book  2,  No.  16.  The  first  stanza  is  here  with  the  music. 


-p-it'r      hj     1      hP>^     1  J  rd  -h 

1  —  1  is  

—  i  —  N  -K 

kj)  ft  j  1^  ':  ^    JTg  :J  g  :^fc|    ^     j     j-iy  '  1.  ^i 

Out,  a  -  las!  what  grief   is  this,  That  princes'  subjects  cannot    be  true  ;  But 

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still   the  Devil  hath  some       of    his     Will 

*   *   j'1/.'  -3-  " 

play  their  parts  what  -  e'er      en  -  sue. 

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For  -get-ting    what     a      grievous   thing      It     is   to  of  -  fend  th'  a-  nointed    king.  A    - 

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-  las  !  for 

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~i  1  

THE  SPANISH  LADY. 

Dr.  Percy  says,  "  this  beautiful  old  ballad  most  probably  took  its  rise  from  one 
of  those  descents  made  on  the  Spanish  coasts  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth : 
and,  in  all  likelihood,  from  the  taking  of  the  city  of  Cadiz  (called  by  our  sailors, 
corruptly,  Gales),  on  June  21,  1596,  under  the  command  of  the  Lord  Howard, 
admiral,  and  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  general." 

The  question  as  to  who  was  the  favored  lover,  has  been  fully  discussed;  it  may 
therefore  be  sufficient  here  to  refer  the  reader  to  The  Edinburgh  Review  for  April, 
1846 ;  The  Times  newspapers  of  April  30,  and  May  1,  1846 ;  and  The  Quarterly 
Review  for  October,  1846. 

The  ballad  is  quoted  in  OttpuTs  Wliirligig,  1616,  and  parodied  in  Rowley's 
A  Match  at  Midnight,  1633.     In  the  Douce  Collection,  ii.  210  and  212,  there 
are  two  copies,  the  one  "  to  a  pleasant  new  tune ; "  the  other  (which  is  of  later 
date)  to  the  tune  of  Flying  Fame;  but  could  not  be  sung  to  that  air.     In  the 
same  volume,  p.  254,  is  "  The  Westminster  "Wedding,  or  Carlton's  Epithalamium," 
(dated  1663)  :  to  the  tune  of  The  Spanish  Lady.     It  commences  thus : 
"  Will  you  hear  a  German  Princess, 
How  she  chous'd  an  English  Lord,"  &c. 


REIGN    OF   ELIZABETH. 


187 


The  tune  is  contained  in  the  Skene  MS.,  and  in  several  of  the  ballad-operas, 
such  as  The  Quaker's  Opera,  1728 ;  The  Jovial  Crew,  1731,  &c. 

The  words  are  found  in  The  Garland  of  Good-will,  and  in  several  of  the  cele- 
brated collections  of  ballads;  also  in  Percy's  Reliques,  series  ii.,  book  2. 
Slow. 


Will  you    hear        a    Span-ish          la  -  dy,        How  she  wooed     an     English 


-9. 

man?         Garments    gay,       and  rich   as         may    be,  Deck'd  with     Jew -els    she  had 


on.     Ofacome-ly  countenance  and  grace  was  she,  And  by  birth  and  pa-rentage  of  high  de-gree. 


m 


THE  JOVIAL  TINKER,  OE  JOAN'S  ALE  IS   NEW. 

On  the  26th  Oct.,  1594,  John  Danter  entered  on  the  books  of  the  Stationers' 
Company,  "  for  his  copie,  a  ballet  intituled  Jone's  ale  is  newe ; "  and  on  the 
15th  Nov.,  of  the  same  year,  Edward  White  one  called  "  The  unthrifte's  adieu 
to  Jone's  ale  is  newe." 

In  Ben  Jonson's  Tale  of  a  tub,  "  old  father  Rosin,  chief  minstrel  of  Highgate, 
and  his  two  boys"  play  the  dances  called  for  by  the  company,  which  are  "  Tom 
Tiler;  The  jolly  Joiner  ;  and  The  jovial  Tinker."  The  burden  of  the  song  called 
"The  jovial  Tinker"  is  "Joan's  ale  is  new."  ("Tom Tiler"  is  one  of  the 
country  dances  mentioned  in  Hey  wood's  A  woman  kill'd  with  kindness.)  In  the 
Mad  Pranks  and  merry  Jests  of  Robin  Groodfellow,  1628,  there  is  a  song  to  the 
tune  of  The  jovial  Tinker,  which  has  a  burden  or  chorus  of  four  lines,  unsuited  to 
this  air,  although  the  song  itself  could  be  sung  to  it.  As  tinkers  were  so  famous 
in  song,  there  was  probably  another  tune  called  The  jovial  Tinker.  "  He  that  a 
tinker,  a  tinker  will  be,"  is  one  of  the  catches  in  the  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  1661; 
"  Tom  Tinker  lives  a  merry  life,"  is  in  Davenant's  play,  The  Benefice  ;  "  Have 
you  any  work  for  a  tinker,"  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  1661 ;  and  Ben  Jonson  says, 
in  Paris'  Anniversary,  "  Here  comes  the  tinker  I  told  you  of,  with  his  kettle- 
drum before  and  after,  a  master  of  music.'''' 


188 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 


The  song  of  Joan's  ale  is  new  is  in  the  Douce  Collection,  p.  110.  It  is  in  the 
list  of  those  printed  by  W.  Thackeray,  at  the  Angel  in  Duck  Lane,  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  II. ;  and  is  in  both  editions  of  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  with  the 
tune.— (Ed.  of  1707,  iii.  133 ;  or  ed.  of  1719,  v.  61.) 

The  copy  in  the  Douce  Collection  consists  of  thirteen  stanzas,  and  has  the 
following  lengthy  title :  "  Joan's  ale  is  new ;  or  a  new  merry  medley,  shewing 
the  power,  the  strength,  the  operation,  and  the  virtue  that  remains  in  good  ale, 
which  is  accounted  the  mother-drink  of  England." 

"  All  you  that  do  this  merry  ditty  view, 

Taste  of  Joan's  ale,  for  it  is  strong  and  new,  &c." 
"  To  a  pleasant  new  Northern  tune." 


fir*-K—  f~: 

T  —  ]  :  *  -j  •  J 

—  si-1—  d  iM  —  f- 

^  —  "—  0  —  L 

There 

J  •  '    *  3    •  -J-         r^f  %   -* 

was       a       jo  -  vial        tin    -    ker,  Who        *^^       a    good      ale 

•       _                                                                     ^&        i 

^  *^f    f* 

m         u 

*  /  •*TU-  *'       • 

-^  U  b  —    -  —  :  —  P 

rd  J  —  J  —  -  —  i 

ft-ft  £  

-f  '  *  h 

id  .  ^  *  »•  —  h 

> 

I 

—  1        "1       m" 

tn  —  S~~s  —  r  1C  !  f    J 

•j.j*j*|     H|*|     ^ 

—  a  —  •  —  d  P~ 

—  f  ^  b-"»     •     L 

n  —  •*"  —  '  —  ^  •'  —  |  —  g  —  ;  —  gi  '  - 

drink 

—  •  : 

P 
-  er,      He 

•    /  r    f 

ne  -  ver   was      a    shrink  -er,     Be 

T  1  —  1  f  

-  lieve  me,  this      is          true. 

hf— 

~1  £~ 

te  —  r~p  —  »  J  .  F--r- 

ir    r  f  -£~i  •  -  •  \\ 

—  J  

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IT 

\                               Ir 

i     /|   J       J>     |     zq^=F 

i    i 

And 

he  came  from  the  Weald     of  Kent,  When     all 

C         • 

his  money  was  gone  and  spent,  Whicl 

r           M 

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f*         •  '     •     -• 

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™ 

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m      •       m      0 

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i/    r           r 

r               r       r 

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^..  J     -•>    .      ^^.      -.-.K-, 

i      3    H      *l 

=S=         g  J^-Fip^ 

as  J    g    r      r  JH 

-j  —  *  —  *  —  t  — 

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-^  ^  *  U  :  b  5— 

made 

him  look  like  a    « 

1                                              1  ^1 

rack  -  a  -  lent.  And        Joan's       ale       is          new,            And 

m           m 

•               r                               r 

—  0  

-P  —  p  — 

rp 

-j  —  -.  —    P  —  r  — 

-f-  —  f  L  J  '—  J  —  J_ 

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->—            'v.  ^ 

l~\l 

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1  m  —  .  .,  — 

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"3i  —  JH  —  i  —  i  —  ^ 

1 

—  «  — 

—  «i  —  j—       '-«-v-j 

__ 

Joan's     ale 

m 

-^-    -d-    •      •       •>.  . 

is       new,  my  boys,  And          Joan's 

ale       is                 new. 

-+i  —  F  — 

r  —  ~f 

i  —  _  «  —  _  — 

P  :  1—  '.  :'*  

— 

•  — 

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g  r  ^  -F  — 

REION    OF   ELIZABETH.  189 

The  tinker  he  did  settle  The  cobbler  and  the  broom-man 

Most  like  a  man  of  mettle,  Came  up  into  the  room,  man, 

And  vow'd  to  pawn  his  kettle  ;  And  said  they  would  drink  for  boon,  man, 

Now  mark  what  did  ensue :  Let  each  one  take  his  due ! 

His  neighbours  they  flock  in  apace,  But  when  the  liquor  good  they  found, 

To  see  Tom  Tinker's  comely  face,  They  cast  their  caps  upon  the  ground, 

Where  they  drank  soundly  for  a  space,  And  so  the  tinker  he  drank  round, 

Whilst  Joan's  ale,  &c.  Whilst  Joan's  ale,  &c. 

In  another  volume  in  the  Douce  Collection,  p.  180,  is  an  answer  to  the 
above,  to  the  same  tune.  It  is  the  "  The  poet's  new  year's  gift ;  or  a  pleasant 
poem  in  praise  of  sack:  setting  forth  its  admirable  virtues  and  qualities,  and. how 
much  it  is  to  be  preferred  before  all  other  sorts  of  liquors,  &c.  To  the  tune  of 
The  jovial  Tinker,  or  Tom  a  Bedlam;"  commencing — 
"  Come  hither,  learned  sisters, 

And  leave  Parnassus  mountain ; 
I  will  you  tell  where  is  a  well 

Doth  far  exceed  your  fountain,"  &c. 

UNDER  AND  OVER. 

This  is  the  same  air  as  the  preceding,  but  in  a  minor  instead  of  a  major  key. 
It  is  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master,  under  the  name  of  Under  and  over; 
but  in  a  MS.  volume  of  virginal  music,  formerly  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Windsor, 
of  Bath,  it  is  entitled  A  man  had  three  sons. 

The  ballad  of  Under  and  over  is  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  264,  B.L.,  as  "A  new 
little  Northern  Song,  called — 

"  Under  and  over,  over  and  under, 

Or  a  pretty  new  jest  and  yet  no  wonder ; 
"  Or  a  maiden  mistaken,  as  many  now  be, 

View  well  this  glass,  and  you  may  plainly  see." 
"  To  a  pretty  new  Northern  tune." 

It  is  very  long,  full  of  typographical  errors,  and  devoid  of  merit ;  I  have 
therefore  only  printed  the  first  verse  with  the  music. 

In  the  same  volume  are  the  following  :  "  Rocke  the  babie,  Joane :  to  the  tune 
of  Under  and  over"  p.  396 ;  beginning — 

"  A  young  man  in  our  parish. 

His  wife  was  somewhat  currish,"  &c. 
And  at  p.  404,  another,  commencing — 

(t  There  was  a  country  gallant, 

That  wasted  had  his  talent,"  &c. 
In  the  Roxburghe,  iii.  176,  "  Rock  the  cradle,  John : 

Let  no  man  at  this  strange  story  wonder, 
It  goes  to  the  tune  of  Over  and  under." 

And  in  the  same  Collection,  i.  411,  "  The  Times'  Abuses;  to  the  tune  of  Over  and 
under;  commencing — 

"  Attend,  my  masters,  and  give  ear,"  &c. 
The  last  is  also  printed  in  Collier's  Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  281. 


190 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


,    Cheerfully. 

^J    J* 

TH  J^       .      ^fi       |          H       I         ' 

As         I          abroad  was 
As       in        a  mea  -  dow 

1  p  •.  •li.iLj.  L  J_v_  •    A.-  -^  s   '• 

walk     -     ing,         I            heard     two     lo     -     vers 
turn     -     ing,        Up    -      on           a      sum  -  mer's 

rKj-fr  —  =i  1 

>  —  s  —  P  —  :  — 

i  r  •  P  •     i  <•      r  P      *  i 

i^-ft     '  I 

:  1  :  

B  —  E  Lf  u:  —  ^i 

.  J  .    i  —  fr.    r^]  g  .  3^    .JC^J    ... 

—  H        i  ,  —  fc_ 

i  ^  m~ 

-          j    >  =»-  ^  —  —  r  .  p    :  •  - 

talk  -  ing  One      to        an  -  o  -  ther 
morn  -  ing,  I     heard  these  lo  -  vers 

r  .r     P  •  r    ?  r—  r 

speaking,  Of        lo  -  vers'   con  -  stan  -  cy.       *> 
mourning  'Cause  of    love's    cru   -   el  -    ty.     ^ 

1  1/       ^ 

.  p  f— 

.  ;jJ_j_^  —  :  ^  J  .  f-J-^-  :  — 

r^ij   ; 

J^Tl  — 

-J- 

-\  r*  —  fc>s  i  r^\  1  —  T 

—  .  —  ..  '   *  *  —  *  .  —  *  .  j  j  i  v  .  *  •   '  '  '  i   h 

^                         r         ^P~  *                ^T"     c 

For    under      and        o  -  ver,       over      and        un    -   der,     Un-der  and     o  -  ver    a    - 

—  ^  —  •-  

P^  »  —  ,  — 

=£—  r  *  = 

r       -1 

i   =—  r     £~r  —  r^= 

t=^  —  ^  —  ••  — 

h  i    _r 

H  leL—  <  k—  L 

j    ,   .  r*T*l    "^"   J'^J 

—  •—  *J  —  •- 

—  J  —  H  h  

—  —  +F  

T—  ^  —  ^  ^=^  »^  —  3  —  ;  r-  • 

£  :  -J-    V    *-*-             -£- 

-  gain.      Quoth     she,  sweetheart,  I 

J          J 

'   p         *—  '    •     •                           P    '  '  ^^*     " 
love  thee,    As       maidens     should  love         men. 

i          1                                                                           1 

r  •  F  — 

*  —  ;  —  •  

—  —  J  1  1  SI 

,  .  '    v  \ 

f  M^ 

v-^  —  =h  —  J--  —  =+=&=• 

THE  OXFORDSHIRE  TRAGEDY. 

This  is  one  of  the  old  and  simple  chaunt-like  ditties,  which  seem  to  have  been 
peculiarly  suited  to  the  lengthy  narratives  of  the  minstrels  ;  and  I  am  strongly 
impressed  with  a  belief  that  it  was  one  of  their  tunes.  It  has  very  much  the  same 
character  as  $w*  G-uy,  which  I  met  with  in  another  of  the  ballad  operas,  and 
which — the  entry  at  Stationers'  Hall  proving  to  be  earlier  than  1592 — may  be 
fairly  supposed  to  be  the  air  tfsed,  by  the  class  of  minstrel  described  by  Puttenham, 
in  singing  the  adventures  of  Sir  Guy,  at  feasts.  See  page  172. 

I  have  seen  no  earlier  copy  of  The  Oxfordshire  Tragedy,  than  an  edition 
"  printed  and  sold  in  Bow  Church-Yard,"  in  which  the  name  of  the  tune  is  not 
mentioned.  The  ballad  is  in  four  parts,  the  third  and  fourth  of  which,  being  in 
a  different  metre,  must  have  been  sung  to  another  air. 

"  As  I  walk'd  forth  to  take  the  air,"  is  the  second  line  of  the  first  part, 
and  a  tune  is  often  referred  to  under  that  title.  As  the  measures  agree,  it  may 
be  a  second  name  for  this  air. 

In  the  Douce  Collection,  44,  is  a  black-letter  ballad  of  "  Cupid's  Conquest,  or 


KEIQN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


191 


Will  the  Shepherd  and  fair  Kate  of  the  Green,  both  united  together  in  pure  love : 
to  the  tune,  As  I  went  forth  to  take  the  air  ;"  commencing, — 
"  Now  am  I  tost  on  waves  of  love  ; 

Here  like  a  ship  that's  under  sail,"  &c. 

and  in  the  Roxburge,  ii.  149,  "  The  faithful  lovers  of  the  West :  tune,  Aslwalkt 
forth  to  take  the  air." 

In  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  Collection,  is  "  The  unfortunate  Sailor's  Garland,  with 
an  account  how  his  parents  murdered  him  for  love  of  his  gold."  It  is  in  two 
parts,  and  both  to  the  tune  of  The  Oxfordshire  Tragedy.  After  four  lines  of 
exordium,  it  begins  thus  : — 

"  Near  Bristol  liv'd  a  man  of  fame, 
But  I'll  forbear  to  tell  his  name  ; 
He  had  one  son  and  daughter  bright, 
In  whom  he  took  a  great  delight,"  &c. 

Another  Garland,  called  "  The  cruel  parents,  or  the  two  faithful  lovers,"  is  to 
the  tune  of  The  Oxfordshire  Lady,  and  in  the  same  metre. 

The  tune  of  The  Oxfordshire  Tragedy  is  in  The  Cobblers'  Opera,  1729,  The 
Village  Opera,  1729,  and  Sylvia,  or  The  Country  Burial,  1731. 
Slow. 


Near  Woodstock  town,  in    Ox-ford-shire,       As  I  walk'd  forth  to   take  the    air 


To  view  the    fields  and    meadows  round,  Methoughtl    heard      a     dreadful     sound 


Down  ty  a  crystal  river  side, 

A  gallant  bower  I  espied, 

Where  a  fair  lady  made  great  moan, 

With  many  a  bitter  sigh  and  groan. 

Alas  !  quoth  she,  my  love's  unkind, 
My  sighs  and  tears  he  will  not  mind ; 
But  he  is  cruel  unto  me, 
Which  causes  all  my  misery. 

My  father  is  a  worthy  knight, 
My  mother  is  a  lady  bright, 
And  I  their  only  child  and  heir ; 
Yet  love  has  brought  me  to  despair. 

A  wealthy  squire  lived  nigh, 
Who  on  my  beauty  cast  an  eye ; 
He  courted  me,  both  day  and  night, 
To  be  his  jewel  and  delight. 


To  me  these  words  he  often  said  : 
Fair,  beauteous,  handsome,  comely  maid, 
Oh !  pity  me,  I  do  implore, 
For  it  is  you  I  do  adore. 

He  still  did  beg  me  to  be  kind, 
And  ease  his  love-tormented  mind ; 
For  if,  said  he,  you  should  deny, 
For  love  of  you  I  soon  shall  die. 

These  words  did  pierce  my  tender  heart, 
I  soon  did  yield,  to  ease  his  smart ; 
And  unto  him  made  this  reply, — 
For  love  of  me  you  shall  not  die. 

With  that  he  flew  into  my  arms, 
And  swore  I  had  a  thousand  charms ; 
He  call'd  me  angel,  saint,  and  he 
Did  swear,  for  ever  true  to  be. 


192 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Soon  after  he  had  gain'd  my  heart, 
He  cruelly  did  from  me  part ; 
Another  maid  he  does  pursue, 
And  to  his  vows  he  bids  adieu. 

Tis  he  that  makes  my  heart  lament, 
He  causes  all  my  discontent ; 
He  hath  caus'd  my  sad  despair, 
And  now  occasions  this  my  care. 

The  lady  round  the  meadow  run, 
And  gather'd  flowers  as  they  sprung ; 
Of  every  sort  she  there  did  pull, 
Until  she  got  her  apron  full. 

Now,  there's  a  flower,  she  did  say, 
Is  named  heart's-ease ;  night  and  day, 
I  wish  I  could  that  flower  find, 
For  to  ease  my  love-sick  mind. 

But  oh !  alas !  'tis  all  in  vain 
For  me  to  sigh,  and  to  complain ; 
There's  nothing  that  can  ease  my  smart, 
For  his  disdain  will  break  my  heart. 

The  green  ground  served  as  a  bed, 
And  flow'rs  a  pillow  for  her  head ; 
She  laid  her  down  and  nothing  spoke, 
Alas !  for  love  her  heart  was  broke. 

But  when  I  found  her  body  cold, 
I  went  to  her  false  love,  and  told . 
What  unto  her  had  just  befel ; 
I'm  glad,  said  he,  she  is  so  well. 

Did  she  think  I  so  fond  could  be, 
That  I  could  fancy  none  but  she  ? 
Man  was  not  made  for  one  alone ; 
I  take  delight  to  hear  her  moan. 

Oh  !  wicked  man  I  find  thou  art, 
Thus  to  break  a  lady's  heart ; 
In  Abraham's  bosom  may  she  sleep, 
While  thy  wicked  soul  doth  weep ! 

THE    ANSWER. 

A  second  part,  I  bring  you  here, 
Of  the  fair  maid  of  Oxfordshire, 
Who  lately  broke  her  heart  for  love 
Of  one,  that  did  inconstant  prove. 

A  youthful  squire,  most  unjust, 
When  he  beheld  this  lass  at  first, 
A  thousand  solemn  vows  he  made, 
And  so  her  yielding  heart  betray 'd. 

She  mourning,  broke  her  heart,  and  died, 
Feeling  the  shades  on  every  side ; 

The  third  and  fourth  parts  present 
it  is  the  lady's  cruelty  which  causes  the 


With  dying  groans  and  grievous  cries, 
As  tears  were  flowing  through  her  eyes. 

The  beauty  which  did  once  appear, 
On  her  sweet  cheeks,  so  fair  and  clear, 
Was  waxed  pale, — her  life  was  fled  ; 
He  heard,  at  length,  that  she  was  dead. 

He  was  not  sorry  in  the  least, 
But  cheerfully  resolv'd  to  feast; 
And  quite  forgot  her  beauty  bright, 
Whom  he  so  basely  ruin'd  quite. 

Now,  when,  alas !  this  youthful  maid, 
Within  her  silent  tomb  was  laid, 
The  squire  thought  that  all  was  well, 
He  should  in  peace  and  quiet  dwell. 

Soon  after  this  he  was  possest 
With  various  thoughts,  that  broke  his  rest ; 
Sometimes  he  thought  her  groans  he  heard, 
Sometimes  her  ghastly  ghost  appear'd 

With  a  sad  visage,  pale  and  grim, 
And  ghastly  looks  she  cast  on  him ; 
He  often  started  back  and  cried, 
Where  shall  I  go  myself  to  hide  ? 

Here  I  am  haunted,  night  and  day, 
Sometimes  methinks  I  hear  her  say, 
Perfidous  man !  false  and  unkind, 
Henceforth  you  shall  no  comfort  find. 

If  through  the  fields  I  chance  to  go, 
Where  she  receiv'd  her  overthrow, 
Methinks  I  see  her  in  despair ;  • 
And,  if  at  home,  I  meet  her  there. 

No  place  is  free  of  torment  now ; 
Alas !  I  broke  a  solemn  vow 
Which  once  I  made ;  but  now,  at  last, 
It  does  my  worldly  glory  blast. 

Since  my  unkindness  did  destroy 
My  dearest  love  and  only  joy, 
My  wretched  life  must  ended  be, 
Now  must  I  die  and  come  to  thee. 

His  rapier  from  his  side  he  drew, 
And  pierced  his  body  thro'  and  thro' ; 
So  he  dropt  down  in  purple  gore 
Just  where  she  did  some  time  before. 

He  buried  was  within  the  grave 
Of  his  true  love.     And  thus  you  have 
A  sad  account  of  his  hard  fate, 
Who  died  in  Oxfordshire  of  late. 

a  similar  story,  in  different  metre ;   but 
first  suicide. 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


193 


PUT  ON  THY  SMOCK  ON  MONDAY. 

This  is  mentioned  as  a  country  dance  tune  in  Heywood's  A  Woman  kill'd  with 
Kindness,  act  i.,  sc.  2 ;  and  alluded  to  in  Fletcher's  Love's  Cure,  act  ii.,  sc.  2. 
It  is  contained  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  later  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master. 
Moderate  time. 


-J  —  h    i      h 

I  j^j    K  i 

H  —  iT  J  ^| 

fTTi    f 

B:  (T  -i 

3    J  J  J 

i 

«  1  — 

—  ft—  L- 

L^  —  :  1 

r  •  J  .  i 

U  ' 

DRIVE  THE  COLD  WINTER  AWAY. 

This  is  the  burden  of  a  song  in  praise  of  Christmas,  copies  of  which  are  in  the 
Pepys  (i.  186)  and  Roxburghe  (i.  24)  Collections.  It  is  entitled  "  A  pleasant 
countrey  new  ditty:  merrily  shewing  how  to  drive  the  cold  winter  away.  To 
the  tune  of  Wtten  Phoebus  did  rest"  a  &c. ;  black-letter,  printed  by  H[enry] 
G[osson].  It  is  one  of  those  parodied  in  Andro  Hart's  Compendium  of  Gf-odly 
Songs.  "  The  wind  blawis  cald,  furious  and  bald, 

This  lang  and  mony  a  day  ; 
But,  Christ's  mercy,  we  mon  all  die, 

Or  keep  the  cald  wind  away. 
This  wind  sa  keine,  that  I  of  meine, 

It  is  the  vyce  of  auld ; 
Our  faith  is  inclusit,  and  plainely  abusit, 
This  wind  he's  blawin  too  cald,"  &c. 

Scottish  Poems  ofl&th  Century,  ii.  177,  8vo.,  1801. 

The  tune  is  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master ;  in  Musick's  Delight  on 
the  Cithren,  1666;  and  in  Walsh's  Dancing  Master:  also  in  both  editions  of 
Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  with  an  abbreviated  copy  of  the  words. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  518,  is  a  ballad  entitled  "  Hang  pinching ;  or 
The  good  fellow's  observation  'mongst  a  jovial  crew,  of  them  that  hate  flinch- 
ing, but  are  always  true  blue.  To  the  tune  of  Drive  the  cold  winter  away ;" 
commencing —  "  All  you  that  lay  claim  to  a  good  fellow's  name, 

And  yet  do  not  prove  yourselves  so, 
Give  ear  to  this  thing,  the  which  I  will  sing, 
Wherein  I  most  plainly  will  shew 


•  A  song  beginning  "When  Phoebus  addrett  his  course 
to  the  West,"  will  be  found  in  Merry  Drollery  Complete, 
Part  ii.,  1661 ;  also  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  Jovial  Poems. 
The  burden  is,  "  O  do  not,  do  not  kill  me  yet,  for  I  am 


not  prepared  to  die."  By  that  name  it  is  quoted  in  J. 
Starter's  Boertigheden,  quarto,  Amsterdam,  1634,  where 
the  tune  is  also  printed. 


194 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


With  proof  and  good  ground,  those  fellows  profound, 

That  unto  the  alewives  are  true, 
In  drinking  their  drink,  and  paying  their  chink, 

O  such  a  good  fellow's  true  blue" 

Sometimes  a  tune  named  True,  Hue  is  quoted,  and  perhaps  from  this  ballad.  It  is 
subscribed  W.  B.,  and  printed  for  Thomas  Lambert,  at  the  sign  of  the  Horse 
Shoe,  in  Smithfield.  Lambert  was  a  printer  of  the  reigns  of  James  and  Charles  I. 
In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  362,  is  another  black-letter  ballad,  entitled  "  The 
father  hath  beguil'd  the  son :  Or  a  wonderful  tragedy  which  lately  befell  in  Wilt- 
shire, as  many  men  know  full  well ;  to  the  tune  of  Drive  the  cold  winter  away  ;  " 
beginning —  "  I  often  have  known,  and  experience  hath  shown, 

That  a  spokesman  hath  wooed  for  himself, 
And  that  one  rich  neighbour  will,  underhand,  labour 

To  overthrow  another  with  pelf,"  &c. 

Other  ballads  to  the  tune  will  be  found  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection  (i.  150  and 
160,  &c.) ;  in  the  King's  Pamphlets,  and  the  Collection  of  Songs  against  the 
Rump  Parliament;  in  Wright's  Political  Songs;  in  Mock  Songs,  1675  ;  in  Evans' 
Collection,  i.  349,  &c. 

Boldly  and  not  too  fast.  ,  SONG  IN  PRAISE  OF  CHRISTMAS. 


m 


h 

-4- 


All  hail  to  the  days  that     me-rit  more  praise  Than  all  the  rest  of  the     year,     And 


^i^r^-P=Fg 


tr<i 

welcome  the  nights  that    dou-ble  delights,  As  well  for  the  poor  as  the          peer ! 


^r-tr^ 


^ 


Good  fortune  attend  each  merry  man's  friend,  That  doth  but  tbe  best  that  he      may  ;         For 

¥> 


-get- ting  old  wrongs,  with    ca  -  rols  and  songs,  To      drive  the  cold  win-ter     a-       way. 


3g 


m 


•u 


f 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


195 


Let  Misery  pack,  with  a  whip  at  his  back, 

To  the  deep  Tantalian  flood  ; 
In  Lethe  profound,  let  envy  be  drown 'd, 

That  pines  at  another  man's  good ; 
Let  Sorrow's  expanse  be  banded  from  hence, 

All  payments  of  grief  delay, 
And  wholly  consort  with  mirth  and  with  sport 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

'Tis  ill  for  a  mind  to  anger  inclin'd 

To  think  of  old  injuries  now ; 
If  wrath  be  to  seek,  do  not  lend  her  thy  cheek, 

Nor  let  her  inhabit  thy  brow. 
Cross  out  of  thy  books  malevolent  looks, 

Both  beauty  and  youth's  decay, 
And  spend  the  long  nights  in  honest  delights, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

The  court  in  all  state  now  opens  her  gate, 

And  bids  a  free  welcome  to  most; 
The  city  likewise,  tho'  somewhat  precise, 

Doth  willingly  part  with  her  cost: 
And  yet  by  report,  from  city  and  court, 

The  country  will  gain  the  day ; 
More  liquor  is  spent,  and  with  better  content, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

Our  good  gentry  there,  for  cost  do  not  spare, 

The  yeomanry  fast  not  till  Lent ; » 
The  farmers,  and  such,  think  nothing  too  much, 

If  they  keep  but  to  pay  for  their  rent. 
The  poorest  of  all  do  merrily  call, 

When  at  a  fit  place  they  can  stay, 
For  a  song  or  a  tale,  or  a  pot  of  good  ale, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

Thus  none  will  allow  of  solitude  now, 

But  merrily  greets  the  time, 
To  make  it  appear,  of  all  the  whole  year, 

That  this  is  accounted  the  prime : 
December  is  seen  apparel'd  in  green, 

And  January,  fresh  as  May, 
Comes  dancing  along,  with  a  cup  and  a  song, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

THE    SECOND    PART. 

This  time  of  the  year  is  spent  in  good  cheer, 
And  neighbours  together  do  meet, 

To  sit  by  the  fire,  with  friendly  desire, 
Each  other  in  love  to  greet; 

"  For  the  support  and  encouragement  of  the  fishing 
towns,  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays 
were  constantly  observed  as  fast  days,  or  days  of  absti- 
nence from  flesh.  This  was  by  the  advice  of  her  minister, 
Cecil;  and  by  the  vulgar  it  was  generally  called  Cecil's 
Fast.  See  Warburton's  and  Blakeway's  notes  in  Boswell's 
cdiiion  of  Shakespeare,  x.  49  and  50. 


Old  grudges  forgot,  are  put  in  the  pot, 

All  sorrows  aside  they  lay, 
The  old  and  the  young  doth  carol  his  song, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

Sisley  and  Nanny,  more  jocund  than  any, 

As  blithe  as  the  month  of  June, 
Do  carol  and  sing,  like  birds  of  the  Spring, 

(No  nightingale  sweeter  in  tune) 
To  bring  in  content,  when  summer  is  spent, 

In  pleasant  delight  and  play,  [year, 

With  mirth  and  good  cheer,  to  end  the  old 

And  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

The  shepherd  and  swain  do  highly  disdain 

To  waste  out  their  time  in  care, 
And  Clim  of  the  Cloughb  hath  plenty  enough 

If  he  but  a  penny  can  spare, 
To  spend  at  the  night  in  joy  and  delight, 

Now  after  his  labours  all  day, 
For  better  than  lands  is  the  help  of  his  hands, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

To  mask  and  to  mum  kind  neighbours  will 

With  wassails  of  nut-brown  ale,         [come 
To  drink  and  carouse  to  all  in  the  house, 

As  merry  as  bucks  in  the  dale ; 
Where  cake,  bread  and  cheese,  is  brought  for 

To  make  you  the  longer  stay ;    [your  fees, 
At  the  fire  to  warm  will  do  you  no  harm, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

When  Christmas's  tide  comes  in  like  a  bride, 

With  holly  and  ivy  clad, 
Twelve  days  in  the  year,  much  mirth  and 

In  every  household  is  had  ;      [good  cheer, 
The  country  guise  is  then  to  devise 

Some  gambols  of  Christmas  play, 
Whereat  the  young  men  do  best  that  they  can, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

When  white-bearded  frost  hath  threatened  his 

And  fallen  from  branch  and  brier,  [worst, 
Then  time  away  calls,  from  husbandry  halls 

And  from  the  good  countryman's  fire, 
Together  to  go  to  plough  and  to  sow, 

To  get  us  both  food  and  array  ; 
And  thus  with  content  the  time  we  have  spent 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away. 

b  Clim  of  the  Clough  means  Clement  of  the  Cleft.  The 
name  is  derived  from  a  noted  archer,  once  famous  in  the 
north  of  England.  See  the  old  ballad,  Adam  Bell,  Clim  of 
theClough,and  William  of  Cloudesly,  printed  by  Bp.  Percy. 
A  Clough  is  a  sloping  valley,  breach,  or  Cleft,  from  the 
side  of  a  hill,  where  trees  or  furze  usually  grow. 


196 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


UP,   TAILS  ALL. 

This  tune  is  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  and  in  TJie  Dancing  Master 
from  1650  to  1690.  It  is  alluded  to  in  Sharpham's  Fleire,  1610:  "  She  every 
day  sings  John  for  the  King,  and  at  Up,  tails  all,  she's  perfect."  Also  in  Ben 
Jonson's  Every  man  out  of  his  humour;  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Coxcomb; 
Vanbrugh's  Provoked  Wife,  &c. 

There  are  several  political  songs  of  the  Cavaliers  to  this  air,  in  the  King's 
Pamphlets  (Brit.  Mus.)  ;  in  the  Collection  of  Songs  written  against  the  Rump 
Parliament ;  in  Rats  rhimed  to  Death,  1660 ;  and  one  in  Merry  Drollery  complete, 
1670 :  but  party  feeling  was  then  so  often  expressed  with  more  virulence  than  wit, 
that  few  of  them  will  bear  republication.  In  both  the  editions  of  Pills  to  purge 
Melancholy,  1707  and  1719,  the  song  of  Up,  tails  all,  beginning  "  Fly,  merry 
news,"  is  printed  by  mistake  with  the  title  and  tune  of  The  Friar  and  the  Nun. 
Moderate  time  and  lightly. 


Fly,        mer  -  ry  news,     a  -  mong     the  crews,  That    love   to      hear      of 


J         U 


f 


jests,  &c. 


Up     tails       all ! 


EE£ 


PESCOD  TIME. 

The  tune  of  In  Pescod  Time  (i.e.,  peas-cod  time,  when  the  field  peas  are 
gathered) ,  was  extremely  popular  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is 
contained  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  and  Lady  Neville's  Virginal  Books ;  in  Anthony 
Holborne's  Citharn  Schoole  (1597)  ;  and  in  Sir  John  Hawkins'  transcripts ;  but 
so  disguised  by  point,  augmentation,  and  other  learned  contrivances,  that  it  was 
only  by  scanning  the  whole  arrangement  (by  Orlando  Gibbons)  that  this  simple 
air  could  be  extracted.  In  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  the  same  air  is 
called  The  Hunt's  up,  in  another  part  of  the  book. 

The  words  are  in  England's  Helicon,  1600  (or  reprint  in  1812,  p.  206) ;  in 
Miss  Cooper's  The  Muses'  Library,  8vo,  p.  281 ;  and  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads, 
i.  332  (ed.  of  1810). 

Two  very  important  and  popular  ballads  were  sung  to  the  tune  :  Chevy  Chace, 
and  The  Lady's  Fall. 

Chevy  Chace  had  also  a  separate  air  (see  page  199)  ;  but  the  earlier  printed 
copies  of  the  ballad  direct  it  to  be  sung  to  "In  Pescod  Time." 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH.  197 

The  "  Lamentable  ballad  of  the  Lady's  Fall,  to  the  tune  of  In  Pescod  Time" 
will  be  found  in  the  Douce,  Pepys,  and  Bagford  Collections,  and  has  been  reprinted 
by  Percy  and  Ritson.  It  commences  thus : — 

"  Mark  well  my  heavy  dolefull  tale, 

You  loyal  lovers  all ; 
And  heedfully  bear  in  yonr  breast 

A  gallant  lady's  fall." 

Among  the  ballads  to  the  tune  of  The  Lady's  Fall  are  The  Brides  Burial, 
and  The  Lady  Isabella's  Tragedy  ;  both  in  Percy's  Reliques.  The  life  and  death 
of  Queen  JElizabeth,  in  the  Grown  Q-arland  of  G-olden  Roses,  1612  (page  39  of  the 
reprint),  and  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  iii.  171.  The  Wandering  Jew,  or  the  Shoe- 
maker of  Jerusalem,  who  lived  when  our  Saviour  Christ  was  crucified,  and  appointed 
to  live  until  his  coming  again ;  two  copies  in  the  British  Museum,  and  one  in 
Mr.  Halliwell's  Collection ;  also  reprinted  by  Washbourne.  It  has  the  burden, 
"  Repent,  therefore,  0  England,"  and  is,  perhaps,  the  ballad  by  Deloney,  to  which 
Nashe  refers  in  Have  with  you  to  Saffron- Walden  (ante  page  107).  The  Cruel 
Black  •  see  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  iii.  232.  A  Warning  for  Maidens,  or  young 
Bateman;  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  501.  It  begins,  "You  dainty  dames  so  finely 
framed."  And  You  dainty  dames  is  sometimes  quoted  as  a  tune ;  also  Bateman, 
as  in  a  ballad  entitled  "  A.  Warning  for  Married  Women,  to  a  West-country  tune 
called  The  Fair  Maid  of  Bristol,  or  Bateman,  or  John  True;  Roxburghe,  i.  502. 
The  following  Carol  is  from  a  Collection,  printed  in  1642,  a  copy  of  which  is  in 
Wood's  Library,  Oxford.  I  have  not  seen  it  elsewhere. 

"  A  Carol  for  Twelfth  Day,  to  the  tune  of  The  Lady's  Fall" 

Mark  well  my  heavy  doleful  tale,  Come,  butler,  fill  a  brimmer  full, 

For  Twelfth  Day  now  is  come,  To  cheer  my  fainting  heart, 

And  now  I  must  no  longer  stay,  That  to  old  Christmas  I  may  drink 

And  say  no  word  but  mum.  Before  he  does  depart. 

For  I  perforce  must  take  my  leave  And  let  each  one  that's  in  the  room 

Of  all  my  dainty  cheer —  With  me  likewise  condole, 

Plum  porridge,  roast  beef,  and  minc'd  pies,       And  now,  to  cheer  their  spirits  sad, 

My  strong  ale  and  my  beer.  Let  each  one  drink  a  bowl. 

Kind-hearted  Christmas,  now  adieu,  And  when  the  same  it  hath  gone  round, 

For  J  with  thee  must  part ;  Then  fall  unto  your  cheer ; 

But  oh  !  to  take  my  leave  of  thee  For  you  well  know  that  Christmas  time 

Doth  grieve  me  at  the  heart.  It  comes  but  once  a  year. 

Thou  wert  an  ancient  housekeeper,  But  this  good  draught  which  I  have  drank 

And  mirth  with  meat  didst  keep ;  Hath  comforted  my  heart ; 

But  thou  art  going  out  of  town,  For  I  was  very  fearful  that 

Which  causes  me  to  weep.  My  stomach  would  depart. 

God  knoweth  whether  I  again  Thanks  to  my  master  and  my  dame, 

Thy  merry  face  shall  see ;  That  do  such  cheer  afford ; 

Which  to  good  fellows  and  the  poor  God  bless  them,  that,  each  Christmas,  they 

Was  always  frank  and  free.  May  furnish  so  their  board. 

Thou  lovest  pastime  with  thy  heart,  My  stomach  being  come  to  me, 

And  eke  good  company ;  I  mean  to  have  a  bout ; 
Pray  hold  me  up  for  fear  I  swound  [swoon],     And  now  to  eat  most  heartily, — 

For  I  am  like  to  die.  Good  friends,  I  do  not  flout. 


198  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD  MUSIC. 

Rather  slow  and  smoothly. 


i     r-  J 

S    1     1  

^          1 

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1      s 

In         Peas  -  cod  time, 

when  hound 

4-j    3  =±=w  a  ^   : 

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to  horn    Gives  ear,       till  buck     be 

•                t              jBf              r 

.  _  p-^ 

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llil-jl  SJ-  

— 

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r  —  '-  —  = 

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rV  „,,.__        Rri_J  h-1  

JVH-—  h   -n 

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j   .   J    J4 

^    ^  2    i 

M  j    J  J 

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v^"^  —  M 

7^=5XH  
1  !/'       sv    

a   :  J  —  2— 

-j  —  j—  •  — 

—  •  «  =N 

-*  *  •  —  j— 

-g       •       j           ' 

-S>^r^S-      -1                        '      P                       •        ^.      ^.                                              -J.    - 

kill'd:      And      lit  -  tie  lads,  with  pipes  of  corn,  Sat      keep-ing  beasts  a  - 

•    ^        ^~-»  m-a.  r  1  —  -m  1  1  1  , 

i^i 

field. 

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-f-f 

—?--*- 

—  J  :— 

H-  —  H- 

CHEVY   CHACE. 

Although  sometimes  sung  to  the  tunes  of  Pescod  Time  and  The  Children  in  the 
Wood,  this  is  the  air  usually  entitled  Chevy  Chace.  It  bears  that  name  in  all  the 
editions  of  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  and  in  the  ballad  operas,  such  as  The 
Beggars'  Opera,  1728,  Trick  for  Trick,  1735,  &c.  Another  name,  and  probably 
an  older,  is  Flying  Fame,  or  When  flying  Fame,  to  which  a  large  number  of 
ballads  have  been  written.  In  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  "  King  Alfred  and  the 
Shepherd's  Wife,"  which  the  old  copies  direct  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  Flying 
Fame,  is  printed  to  this  air. 

Much  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of  Chevy  Chace  ;  but  as  both  the  ballads 
are  printed  in  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry  (and  in  many  other  collec- 
tions), it  may  be  sufficient  here  to  refer  the  reader  to  that  work,  and  to  The 
British  Bibliographer  (iv.  97).  The  latter  contains  an  account  of  Richard  Sheale, 
the  minstrel  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  preservation  of  the  more  ancient 
ballad,  and  of  his  productions.  The  manuscript  containing  them  is  in  the  Ash- 
molean  Library,  Oxford  (No.  48,  4to).  His  verses  on  being  robbed  on  Duns- 
more  Heath  have  been  already  quoted  (pages  45  to  47). 

The  ballad  of  Chevy  Chace,  in  Latin  Rhymes,  by  Henry  Bold,  will  be  found  in 
Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  ii.  288.  The  translation  was  made  at  the  request  of 
Dr.  Compton,  Bishop  of  London. 

Bishop  Corbet,  in  his  Journey  into  Fraunce,  speaks  of  having  sung  Chevy 
Chace  in  his  youth ;  the  antiquated  beau  in  Davenant's  play  of  The  Wits,  also 
prides  himself  on  being  able  to  sing  it ;  and,  in  Wit's  Interpreter,  1671,  a  man, 
enumerating  the  good  qualities  of  his  wife,  cites,  after  the  beauties  of  her  mind 
and  her  patience,  "  her  curious  voice,  wherewith  she  useth  to  sing  Chevy  Chace." 
From  these,  and  many  similar  allusions,  it  is  evident  that  it  was  much  sung  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  despite  its  length. 

Among  the  many  ballads  to  the  tune  (either  as  Flijing  Fame  or  Chevy  Chare), 
the  following  require  particular  notice. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


199 


"  A  lamentable  song  of  the  Death  of  King  Lear  and  his  three  Daughters  :  to 
the  tune  of  Wien  flying  Fame"  See  Percy's  Reliques,  series  i.,  book  2. 

"  A  mournefull  dittie  on  the  death  of  Faire  Rosamond;  tune  of  Flying  Fame : " 
beginning,  "  When  as  King  Henry  rul'd  this  land ; "  and  quoted  in  Rowley's 
A  Match  at  Midnight.  See  Strange  Histories,  1607  ;  The  Garland  of  Good- 
will; and  Percy,  series  ii.,  book  2. 

"  The  noble  acts  of  Arthur  of  the  Hound  Table,  and  of  Sir  Launcelot  du  Lake : 
tune  of  Flying  Fame."  See  The  Garland  of  Good-will,  1678,  and  Percy,  series  i., 
book  2.  The  first  line  of  this  ballad  ("  When  Arthur  first  in  court  began")  is 
sung  byFalstaff  in  Part  II.  of  Shakespeare's  JBTwy  JJmry  IV.;  also  in  Marston's 
The  Malcontent,  1604,  and  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  The  Little  French  Lawyer. 

"  King  Alfred  and  the  Shepherd's  Wife  :  to  the  tune  of  Flying  Fame."  See 
Old  Ballads,  1727,  i.  43 ;  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  1719,  v.  289  ;  and  Evans' 
Old  Ballads,  1810,  ii.  11. 

"  The  Union  of  the  Red  Rose  and  the  White,  by  a  marriage  between  King 
Henry  VII.  and  Elizabeth  Plantagenet,  daughter  of  Edward  IV :  to  the  tune  of 
When  flying  Fame."  See  Grown  Garland,  1612,  and  Evans,  iii.  35. 

"  The  Battle  of  Agincourt,  between  the  Englishmen  and  the  Frenchmen :  tuner 
Flying  Fame."  (Commencing,  "  A  council  grave  our  King  did  hold.")  See 
Crown  Garland,  1659,  and  Evans,  ii.  351. 

"  The  King  and  the  Bishop :  tune  of  Chevy  Chace."     Roxburghe,  iii.  170. 

"  Strange  and  true  newes  of  an  Ocean  of  Flies  dropping  out  a  cloud,  upon  the 
town  of  Bodnam  [Bodmin?]  in  Cornwall:  tune  of  Chevy  Chace"  (dated  1647). 
See  King's  Pamphlets,  Brit.  Mus.,  vol.  v;,  and  Wright's  Political  Ballads. 

"  The  Fire  on  London  Bridge "  (from  which  the  nursery  rhyme,  "  Three 
children  sliding  on  the  ice,"  has  been  extracted),  "  to  the  tune  of  Chevy  Chace." 
Merry  Drollery  complete,  1670,  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  6,  1707,  and 
Rimbault's  Little  Book  of  Songs  and  Ballads,  12mo.,  1851.  Dr.  Rimbault  quotes 
other  copies  of  the  ballad,  and  especially  one  in  the  Pepys  Collection  (ii.  146), 
to  the  tune  of  The  Lady's  Fall ;  further  proving  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing 
between  this  tune  and  In  Pescod  Time. 


&  i 

9             A 

<%4h£- 

-f  r—  J  ft- 

3= 

3  —  r- 

r- 

—  6- 

-i  —  R£— 

l!sL>    r>     K 

1            L                    i 

• 

i 

ix 

r        HP 

3                    "           • 

God    pros   -   per  long      our     no    - 

J*  ^     *  J-     J*    J 

ble  king,     Our    lives 

and 

'[, 
safe  -  ties 

3" 

rl^ 

:  

3E 

—  F  —  :  

•V 

—  i  — 

—  i  — 

—  1  

ii 


i 


A     woe  -  ful  hunting    once  there  did     In      Che-vy-Chace  be 


200  ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

THE   CHILDREN  IN  THE  WOOD. 

In  the  Registers  of  the  Stationers'  Company,  under  the  date  of  15th  October, 
1595,  we  find,  "  Thomas  Millington  entred  for  his  copie  under  t'handes  of  bothe 
the  "Wardens,  a  ballad  intitutled  '  The  Norfolk  Gentleman,  his  Will  and  Testament, 
and  howe  he  commytted  the  keeping  of  his  children  to  his  owne  brother,  whoe  delte 
moste  wickedly  with  them,  and  howe  God  plagued  him  for  it."  This  entry  agrees, 
almost  verbatim,  with  the  title  of  the  ballad  in  the  Pepys  Collection  (i.  518), 
but  which  is  of  later  date.  Copies  will  also  be  found  in  the  Roxburghe  (i.  284), 
and  other  Collections ;  in  Old  Ballads,  1726,  i.  222 ;  and  in  Percy's  Reliques, 
series  iii.,  book  2. 

Sharon  Turner  says,  "  I  have  sometimes  fancied  that  the  popular  ballad  of 
The  Children  in  the  Wood  may  have  been  written  at  this  time,  on  Richard  [III.] 
and  his  nephews,  before  it  was  quite  safe  to  stigmatize  him  more  openly." — 
(Hist.  Eng.,  iii.  487,  4to).  This  theory  has  been  ably  advocated  by  Miss 
Halsted,  hi  the  Appendix  to  her  Richard  III.  as  Duke  of  Gloucester  and  King  of 
England.  Her  argument  is  based  chiefly  upon  internal  evidence,  there  being  no 
direct  proof  that  the  ballad  is  older  than  the  date  of  the  entry  at  Stationers'  Hall. 

In  Wager's  interlude,  The  longer  thou  livest  the  more  fool  thou  art,  Moros  says, 
"  I  can  sing  a  song  of  Robin  Redbreast ;  "  and  in  Webster's  The  White  Devil, 
Cornelia  says,  "  I'll  give  you  a  saying  which  my  grandmother  was  wont,  when 
she  heard  the  bell  toll,  to  sing  unto  her  lute : 

Call  for  the  robin-redbreast  and  the  wren, 
Since  o'er  the  shady  groves  they  hover, 
And  with  leaves  and  flowers  do  cover 
The  friendless  bodies  of  unburied  men,"  &c. 

Dodsletfs  Old  Plays,  vi.  312,  1825. 
These  may  be  in  allusion  to  the  ballad. 

In  Anthony  a  Wood's  Collection,  at  Oxford,  there  is  a  ballad  to  the  tune  of 
The  two  Children  in  the  Wood,  entitled  "  The  Devil's  Cruelty  to  Mankind,"  &c. 

The  history  of  the  tune  is  somewhat  perplexing.  In  the  ballad-operas  of 
The  Jovial  Grew,  The  Lottery,  An  old  man  taught  wisdom,  and  The  Beggars' 
Opera,  it  is  printed  under  the  title  of  Now  ponder  well,  which  are  the  first  words 
of  "  The  Children  in  the  Wood." 

The  broadsides  of  Chevy  Chace,  which  were  printed  with  music  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  last  century,  are  also  to  this  tune ;  and  in  the  ballad-opera  of 
Penelope,  1728,  a  parody  on  Chevy  Chace  to  the  same. 

In  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  1707  and  1719,  the  ballads  of  "  Henry  V.  at  the 
battle  of  Agincourt,"  "  The  Lady  Isabella's  Tragedy,"  and  a  song  by  Sir  John 
Birkenhead,  are  printed  to  it.  The  last  seems  to  be  a  parody  on  "  Some  Christian 
people  all  give  ear,"  or  "  The  Fire  on  London  Bridge." 

According  to  the  old -ballads,  The  Battle  of  Agincourt  should  be  to  the  tune  of 
Flying  Fame,  The  Lady  Isabella's  Tragedy  to  In  Pescod  Time,  and  The  Fire  on 
London  Bridge  to  Chevy  Chace.  I  suppose  the  confusion  to  have  arisen  from 
Chevy  Chace  being  sung  to  all  the  three  tunes. 

The  traditions  of  the  stage  also  give  this  as  the  air  of  the  Gravedigger's  Song 
in  Hamlet,  "  A  pick-axe  and  a  spade." 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


201 


Slowly  and  smoothly. 


Now     pon-der  well,    You       parents  dear,  These  words  which  I        shall 


,    In  time  brought  forth     to        light. 


you  shall  hear 


IN  SAD  AND  ASHY  WEEDS. 


The  four  first  stanzas  of  this  song  were  found  among  the  Howard  papers  in 
the  Heralds'  College,  in  the  handwriting  of  Anne,  Countess  of  Arundel,  widow  of 
the  Earl  who  died  in  confinement  in  the  Tower  of  London  in  1595.  They  were 
written  on  the  cover  of  a  letter.  Lodge,  who  printed  them  in  his  Illustrations  of 
British  History  (iii.  241,  8vo.,  1838),  thought  they  "  were  probably  composed" 
by  the  Countess ;  and  that  "  the  melancholy  exit  of  her  lord  was  not  unlikely  to 
have  produced  these  pathetic  effusions."  She  could  not,  however,  have  been  the 
author  of  verses,  in  her  transcript  of  which  the  rhymes  between  the  first  and  third 
lines  of  every  stanza  have  been  overlooked.*  They  were  evidently  written  from 
memory,  and  rendered  more  applicable  to  her  case  by  a  few  trifling  alterations, 
such  as  "  Not  I,  poor  I,  alone,"  instead  of  "  Now,  a  poor  lad  alone,"  at  the 
commencement  of  the  fourth  stanza. 

The  tune  is  contained  in  a  MS.  volume  of  virginal  music,  transcribed  by  Sir 
John  Hawkins ;  the  words  in  the  Crown  G-arland  of  Golden  Hoses,  edition  of 
1659  (Percy  Society  reprint,  p.  6.).  It  is  there  entitled  "  The  good  Shepherd's 
sorrow  for  the  loss  of  his  beloved  son." 

Among  the  ballads  to  the  tune  of  In  sad  and  ashy  weeds,  are  "  A  servant's 
sorrow  for  the  loss  of  his  late  royal  mistress,  Queen  Anne"  (wife  to  James  I.), 
"  who  died  at  Hampton  Court"  (May  2,  1618),  beginning — 
"  In  dole  and  deep  distress, 

Poor  soul,  I,  sighing,  make  my  moan." 

It  will  be  found  in  the  same  edition  of  the  Crown  G-arland  ;  as  well  as  an  answer 
to  In  sad  and  ashy  weeds,  entitled  "  Coridon's  Comfort :  the  second  part  of  the 
good  Shepherd  ;"  commencing,  "  Peace,  Shepherd,  cease  to  moan." 

The  tune  is  quoted  under  the  title  of  "  In  sadness,  or  Who  can  blame  my  woe," 
as  one  for  the  Psalmes  or  Songs  of  Sion,  &c.,  1642. 


»  In  the  Countess's  transcript,  as  printed  by  Lodge, 
the  first  four  lines  stand  thus — 

"In  sad  and  ashy  weeds  I  sigh, 

I  groan,  I  pine,  I  mourn ; 
My  oaten  yellow  reeds 
I  all  to  jet  and  ebon  turn ; '' 


instead  of— 

"  In  sad  and  ashy  weeds 

I  sigh,  I  groan,  I  pine,  I  mourn;" 

as  "  weeds  "  should  rhyme  with  "  reeds"  in  the  third  line, 
and  so  in  each  verse. 


202  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

Slowly  and  smoothly. 


;?-fi  —  ^-rn  —  hi    £  i  J  .  —  toad; 

| 

\ 

fr  fi    .T  |_j-  /  g    j  1  j  ;—  ^H=± 

^      j          J     : 

j 

In          sad     and  ash  -  y       weeds           I              sigh 

5- 

I     groan,      I 

—  :  P  

i*     •           • 

^  —  6  —  =i  ^  —  :  C  —  *  —  L  L 

- 

3  C       r 

i         S               J           j        k. 

1                  jr 

K_    -   S  -f—m    .  kg  :  1  S 

1 

K    i     J  Hr  J    4    d  M  :  bal    M—  i- 

S       h        —  ^-q- 

J                                                                                 "*"     * 

pine,    I  mourn;  My    oat  -  en    yel  -  low    reeds     I          all     to  jet  and       e-bon  turn. 

— 

—  i^  —  i    j   .    r    P               r  • 

p===F=f=rr=tt 

—  i 

*—        —  1  b  L 

—  g-  J    r  r 

^      1 

^        x  1 

—  I  —  N  —  ^j  J  —  i  —  h.-  r^Ti  —  ;  —  ^  r**f 

—  j  —  K*=^H  —  !s- 

—f 

-d  —  j    J  .  4  '     —  —  s  j  n  ^  ^  j- 

V-    J    •    J  *— 

P 

••                2                  J-««*                                 K3Z 

-  S    •    i       * 

My     wa  -  t'ry    eyes,    Like    winter's  skies,  My  furrow'd  cheeks 

1  :r-»  •  1  1  1  —  -m  :  

*-:-l     i 

o'er  -  flow  :          All 

1  1  1  r 

r  '     i  IJ  N  •    r-tfd 

J  .  J     r^ 

_j  U>=^  [*3^             J  • 

,  ,  ^  —  |  K    ,     |  

'  -v  '  —  J—  i 

—  t  —  I  —  -N  —  —  J^-J  —  sJ  —  =1  —  h«  —  i  — 

« 

•  d  d-              '-^  ^  "  ^i  4- 

p*  —  i-  —  .  i  

|?f-                                     £                       •         -4-      1-    •§•      -4-        -4-     •     *• 

heav'n  know  why,  Men  mourn    as      I  !     And     who    can  blame  my         woe  ? 

—  i  r—  —  P  —  p  —  '  c  r  —  i 

—   1    :    1 

In  sable  robes  of  night 

My  days  of  joy  consumed  be, 
My  sorrow  sees  no  light, 

My  lights  through  sorrow  nothing  see. 
For  now  my  sun 
His  course  hath  run, 
And  from  my  sphere  doth  go, 
To  endless  bed 
Of  folded  lead ; 
And  who  can  blame  my  woe  ? 
My  flocks  I  now  forsake, 

That  so  my  sheep  my  grief  may  know, 
The  lilies  loathe  to  take, 

That  since  his  death  presum'd  to  grow. 
I  envy  air, 


Still  breathe,  and  he  not  so; 

Hate  earth,  that  doth 

Entomb  his  youth ; 
And  who  can  blame  my  woe  ? 

Not  I,  poor  I,  alone, 

(Alone,  how  can  this  sorrow  be  ?) 
Not  only  men  make  moan, 

But  more  than  men  make  moan  with  me  : 

The  gods  of  greens, 

The  mountain  queens, 
The  fairy-circled  row, 

The  muses  nine, 

And  powers  divine, 
Do  all  condole  my  woe. 


Because  it  dare 

In  the  above  lines  I  have  chiefly  followed  the  Countess  of  Arundel's  transcript. 
There  are  three  more  verses  in  the  Grown  Garland  of  Golden  Roses,  besides  seven 
in  the  second  part. 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


203 


THE  BAILIFF'S  DAUGHTER  OF  ISLINGTON. 

Copies  of  this  ballad  are  in  the  Roxburghe,  Pepys,  and  Douce  Collections ;  it  is 
printed  by  Ritson  among  the  ancient  ballads  in  his  English  Songs,  and  by  Percy 
(ReUqueSj  series  iii.,  book  2,  No.  8). 

In  the  Roxburghe,  ii.  457,  and  Douce,  230,  it  is  entitled  "  True  love  requited, 
or  The  Bailiff's  Daughter  of  Islington :  to  a  North-country  tune,  or  I  have  a  good 
old  mother  at  home."  In  other  copies  it  is  to  "I  have  a  good  old  woman  at  home," 
and  "  I  have  a  good  wife  at  home." 

In  the  Douce,  32,  is  a  ballad  called  "  Crums  of  comfort  for  the  youngest  sister, 
&c.,  to  a  pleasant  new  West-country  tune;"  beginning — 
"  I  have  a  good  old  father  at  home, 

An  ancient  man  is  he : 
But  he  has  a  mind  that  ere  he  dies 

That  I  should  married  be." 

Dr.  Rimbault  found  the  first  tune  in  a  lute  MS.,  formerly  in  the  possession  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Gostling,  of  Canterbury,  under  the  name  of  The  jolly  Finder.  It  is 
in  the  ballad-opera  of  The  Jovial  Crew,  1731,  called  "The  Baily's  Daughter  of 
Islington." 

The  second  is  the  traditional  tune  to  which  it  is  commonly  sung  throughout  the 
country. 

Mather  slow.  FIRST  TUNE. 


ft     L,                                       1^*1                —                     |                                                                  |             |             -  

\J    I      \S 

J                     T 

•                         1 

•  r-      ' 

_Xi      rl       /  *             i 

•           J  •     *           « 

d    *     p  r 

p 

my  \'  -j  — 

*        #                       ' 

_J  i  —  jd  — 

-1  —  ?  —  t£t 

—  M 

There      was        a  youth,  and    a  well-belov'd  youth,  And  he  was  a     Squire's 

rp-C  ,  r-n  1  1  r-»  *  *  •  , 

EEptn    r 

5    E 

1  

J     «!     r 

r  r   i*  r 

|^  :  ,—  |-        .<1     1 

!**!        1 

—  i  —  •  —  i 

^  r—  —  » 

_  3  1_ 

.   .   .   • 

J  J 

-^  — 

—  1  — 

3 

J    I    i 

J  . 

1  j- 

•—  —  fe 

Vi>_*  

-^  —  * 

—  ttj  — 

-*  —  m 

—  1H  J 

—&  —  =  —  - 

*            0                                                                          •"•»»» 

son  ;         He    lov  -  ed  the    hai  -  Tiff's    daughter  dear,  That    liv  -  ed 

C^             ~                                                                                                                    1 

^-^     -d-- 

in    Is-ling  -  ton. 

•ms 

a 

B 

i 

—  1  —  S3  

H  !  —  ^ 

-J—  • 

J  . 

J- 

-J— 

-i  

Yet  she  was  coy,  and  would  not  believe 

That  he  did  love  her  so, 
No,  nor  at  any  time  would  she 

Any  countenance  to  him  show. 

But  when  his  friends  did  understand 

His  fond  and  foolish  mind, 
They  sent  him  up  to  fair  London, 

An  apprentice  for  to  bind. 

And  when  he  had  been  seven  long  years, 
And  never  his  love  could  see  : 

Many  a  tear  have  I  shed  for  her  sake, 
When  she  little  thought  of  me. 


Then  all  the  maids  of  Islington 
Went  forth  to  sport  and  play, 

All  but  the  bailiff's  daughter  dear ; 
She  secretly  stole  away. 

She  pulled  off  her  gown  of  green, 
And  put  on  ragged  attire, 

And  to  fair  London  she  would  go, 
Her  true  love  to  enquire. 

And  as  she  went  along  the  high  road, 
The  weather  being  hot  and  dry, 

She  sat  her  down  upon  a  green  bank, 
And  her  true  love  came  riding  by. 


204 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 


She  started  up  with  a  colour  so  red, 
Catching  hold  of  his  bridle-rein ; 

One  penny,  one  penny,  kind  sir,  she  said, 
Will  ease  me  of  much  pain. 

Before  I  give  you  one  penny,  sweet-heart, 
Pray  tell  me  where  you  were  born : 

At  Islington,  kind  Sir,  said  she, 
Where  I  have  had  many  a  scorn. 

I  prythee,  sweet-heart,  tell  to  me, 

O  tell  me  whether  you  know 
The  bailiff's  daughter  of  Islington  ? 

She  is  dead,  Sir,  long  ago. 

Rather  slowly  and  very  smoothly. 

^ 


If  she  be  dead,  then  take  my  horse, 

My  saddle  and  bridle  also ; 
For  I  will  into  some  far  country, 

Where  no  man  shall  me  know. 

O  stay,  O  stay,  thou  goodly  youth, 

She  standeth  by  thy  side ; 
She  is  here  alive,  she  is  not  dead, 

And  ready  to  be  thy  bride. 

O  farewell  grief,  and  welcome  joy, 

Ten  thousand  times  therefore ; 
For  now  I  have  found  mine  own  true  love, 

Whom  I  thought  I  should  never  see  more 

SECOND  TUNE.  ,      , 


There  was       a  youth,  and  a  well  -  be-lov  -  ed  youth,    And  he  was  a  squi-er's 


*=id 


S 


&£ 


m 


son;     He    lov-edthe  bai-liff's    daughter  dear,  That      liv  -  ed 


I  sling  -  ton. 


m 


IT  WAS  A  LOVER  AND  HIS  LASS. 

From  a  quarto  MS.,  which  has  successively  passed  through  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Cranston,  Dr.  John  Leyden,  and  Mr.  Heber;  and  is  now  in  the  Advocates' 
Library,  Edinburgh.  It  contains  about  thirty-four  songs  with  words,a  and  sixteen 
song  and  dance  tunes  without.  The  latter  part  of  the  manuscript,  which  bears 
the  name  of  a  former  proprietor,  William  Stirling,  and  the  date  of  May,  1639, 
consists  of  Psalm  Tunes,  evidently  in  the  same  handwriting,  and  written  about 
the  same  time  as  the  earlier  portion.  This  song  is  in  the  comedy  of  As  you 
like  it,  the  first  edition  of  which  was  printed  in  1623 ;  and  the  inaccuracies  in 
that  copy,  which  have  given  much  trouble  to  commentators  on  Shakespeare,  are 
not  to  be  found  in  this.  In  the  printed  copy,  the  last  verse  stands  in  the  place  of 
the  second :  this  was  first  observed  and  remedied  by  Dr.  Thirlby ;  and  the  words 
"  ring  time,"  there  rendered  "rang  time,"  and  by  commentators  altered  to  "rank 
time,"  were  first  restored  to  the  proper  meaning  by  Steevens,  who  explains  them 
as  signifying  the  aptest  season  for  marriage.  The  words  are  here  printed  from  the 


»  Among  these  are  Withers  song,  "  Shall  I,  wasting 
in  despair," and  "Farewell,  dear  love,"  quoted  in  Twelfth 
Night,  the  music  of  which,  by  Robert  Jones  (twelfth  from 
his  first  book,  published  in  1601)  is  reprinted  in  Musica 


Antigua :  a  Selection  of  Music  from  the  commencement  of 
the  twelfth  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  &c. 
edited  by  John  Stafford  Smith. 


ILLUSTRATING   SHAKESPEARE. 


205 


manuscript  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  (fol.  18),  and  other  variations  will  be 
found  on  comparing  them  with  the  published  copies  of  the  play. 

Moderate  time.  _«—      .  -^^ 


It     was     a      lover      and  his  lass,  With  a  hey,  with  a  ho,  with  a  hey         mm  ne 


^ 


^U^-^I 


J>  HJiJi 


That        o  er     the    green  corn 


did  pass,  In  Spring     time,   in  Spring     time,  in    Spring  time ;  The    on-ly    pretty 


ring  time,  When  birds  do  sing,  Hey    ding  a  ding  a  ding,  Hey      ding  a  ding  a  ding,  Hey 


iiii 


ding  a    ding    a    ding,  Sweet  lov  -  ers  love  the  Spring. 


Between  the  acres  of  the  rye, 

With  a  hey,  with  a  ho,  with  a  hey,  non  ne  no, 

And  a  hey  non  ne,  no  ni  no. 

These  pretty  country  fools  did  lie, 

In  Spring  time,  in  Spring  time, 

The  only  pretty  ring  time, 

When  birds  do  sing 

Hey  ding,  a  ding,  a  ding, 

Sweet  lovers  love  the  Spring. 


This  carol  they  began  that  hour, 

With  a  hey,  &c. 
How  that  life  was  but  a  flow'r, 

In  Spring  time,  &c. 

Then,  pretty  lovers,  take  the  time, 

With  a  hey,  &c., 
For  teve  is  crowned  with  the  prime, 

In  Spring  time,  &c. 


206  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD  MUSIC 

WILLOW,  WILLOW! 

The  song  of  Oh !  willow,  willow,  which  Desdemona  sings  in  the  fourth  act  of 
Othello,  is  contained  in  a  MS.  volume  of  songs,  with  accompaniment  for  the  lute, 
in  the  British  Museum  (Addit.  MSS.  15,117).  Mr.  Halliwell  considers  the 
transcript  to  have  been  made  about  the  year  1633;  Mr.  Oliphant  (who  catalogued 
the  musical  MS.)  dates  it  about  1600  ;  but  the  manuscript  undoubtedly  contains 
songs  of  an  earlier  time,  such  as — 

"  0  death  !  rock  me  asleep, 
Bring  me  to  quiet  rest,"  &c. 

attributed  to  Anne  Boleyn,  and  which  Sir  John  Hawkins  found  in  a  MS.  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  VHI. 

The  song  of  Willow,  willow,  is  also  in  the  Roxburghe  Ballads,  i.  54 ;  and  was 
printed  by  Percy  from  a  copy  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  entitled  "  A  Lover's 
Complaint,  being  forsaken  of  his  Love :  to  a  pleasant  tune." 

Willow,  willow,  was  a  favorite  burden  for  songs  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
There  is  one  by  John  Heywood,  a  favorite  dramatist  and  court  musician  of  the 
reigns  of  Henry  VHI.  and  Queen  Mary,  beginning — 

"  Alas !  by  what  mean  may  I  make  ye  to  know 
The  unkindness  for  kindness  that  to  me  doth  grow  ?  " 

which  has  for  the  burden — 

"  All  a  green  willow ;  willow,  willow,  willow ; 
All  a  green  willow,  is  my  garland." 

It  has  been  printed  by  Mr.  Halliwell,  with  others  by  Heywood,  Redford,  &c.,  for 
the  Shakespeare  Society,  in  a  volume  containing  the  moral  play  of  Wit  and 
Science. 

Another  with  the  burden — 

"  Willow,  willow,  willow ;  sing  all  of  green  willow ; 
Sing  all  of  green  willow,  shall  be  my  garland," 

will  be  found  in  A  Gorgious  Gallery  of  Gallant  Inventions  (1578).  It  commences 
thus: 

"  My  love,  what  misliking  in  me  do  you  find, 

Sing  all  of  green  willow ; 
That  on  such  a  sudden  you  alter  your  mind  ? 

Sing  willow,  willow,  willow. 
What  cause  doth  compel  you  so  fickle  to  be, 

Willow,  willow,  willow,  willow  ; 
In  heart  which  you  plighted  most  loyal  to  me  ? 

Willow,  willow,  willow,  willow." — Heliconia,  i.  32. 

In  Fletcher's  The  two  Noble  Kinsmen,  when  the  Jailer's  daughter  went  mad 
for  love,  "  She  sung  nothing  but  Willoiv,  willow,  willmv."—Act  iv.,  sc.  1. 

In  the  tragedy  of  Othello,  Desdemona  introduces  the  song  "  in  tfcis  pathetic 
and  affecting  manner : " 


ILLUSTRATING   SHAKESPEARE. 

"  My  mother  had  a  maid  call'd  Barbara ; 
She  was  in  love  ;  and  he  she  lov'd  prov'd  mad, 
And  did  forsake  her :  she  had  a  song  of  Willow  ,• 
And  old  thing  'twas,  but  it  express'd  her  fortune, 
And  she  died  singing  it.     That  song  to-night 
Will  not  go  from  my  mind ;  I  have  much  to  do, 
But  to  go  hang  my  head  all  at  one  side, 
And  sing  it  like  poor  Barbara." 


207 


y     Rather  slou 

Ptto       J      | 

XL.     «~>       i 

>  flttf/  smoothly. 

—  :  s  '  

i    .  n 

rf\ 

^p  , 

C)        /  :  -  

3         m/ 

The 

I  /-S     ft             M 

-J     :    J*    J  j  J  X—  : 
poor      soul  sat       sigh  -  ing      by   a 

1  K  1  — 

-2  —  i  —  i 

si    -  ca  -  mort 

J    J    f- 

|J   r  ' 

tree.       Sing 

I    \               m 

4      r 

•-N 

Ritard.  

KH  —  ^-1-1 

-j  ^  r  '  '     E= 

/.^  tempo,    sf 

h     r 

r 

N  :    rT  Jj 

J     J     J^]  M    J    Jd 

hi   J   f   ^ 

-g  :  J   i  * 

u.^1                                                                                ^                     *l               I 

—  i  —  0  i  — 

•  •  j  . 

VF\                                  W      *-*•-+-+ 
wil  -  low,  willow,  wil  -  low  !  With  his  hand  in     his       bo-som,  and  bis  head    up-on  his 

-f-    f-      -f-              es                                        m 

-4  —  h  1  

—  S  1  

F  

•   r  = 

—\  H- 

"^  P  

—                                1  -f—  1  1  "—         -*-*• 

F  —  l 
pp 

*     ftj  ^j    i    (^^*^ 

i 

S*       J                          T  l«_ 

H*  'M     J             J^ 

_J                                                     *       J       Ji 

—  J  —  —  *  —  ^  ^  *  *  aJ  ^ 

•4i  r;« 

*       ^       *&-        r  ^    r         -5- 

knee  ;    Oh  !    willow,  willow,  willow,    wil-low,    Oh  !    willow,  willow,  willow,   wil-  low,  Shall 

m           -           -              .i.             ft*-         m           m           m              rs 

^  0  

:  E  

_^=]  



~~1  •  

to  

•  i  

~~"l  r~ 

f              • 

• 

r 

K  i     r 

'      = 
1  -i  1  h  —  1  

1 
j 

•J- 

^^H 

±:JJ     U     .f    '^^ 

lJ        my    gar    -   land  :      Sing       all          a    green 

J       J      J     J 

1      ~       - 

IT         V 

ivil  -  low, 

wil  -  low,  willow, 

-^  f  r 

-TT 

| 

1 

—   i  1*  

LT  -f  —  ^  •— 

Ores. 

i  J  .  rr-= 

r 

—  - 

^ 
-PP 

\-  =^±v  '  r  '  '  *  :  *  * 

wil  -  low.    Ah       me  !      the  green     wil   -  low  must 

^       f  1  1      r    i  . 

be      my      gar 

-i  —  S»  9— 

-     land. 

i  .,  .    ,. 

^-^-^- 

'"i      r 

208  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC 

He  sigh'd  in  his  singing,  and  made  a  great  moan,  Sing,  &c. ; 
I  am  dead  to  all  pleasure,  my  true  love  he  is  gone,  &c. 

The  mute  bird  sat  by  him  was  made  tame  by  his  moans,  &c. ; 

The  true  tears  fell  from  him  would  have  melted  the  stones,  Sing,  &c. 

Come,  all  you  forsaken,  and  mourn  you  with  me,  Sing,  &c.  ; 
Who  speaks  of  a  false  love,  mine's  falser  than  she,  &c. 

Let  love  no  more  boast  her  in  palace  nor  bower,  Sing,  &c. ; 
It  buds,  but  it  blasteth  ere  it  be  a  flower,  &c. 

Though  fair,  and  more  false,  I  die  with  thy  wound,  Sing,  &c. ; 
Thou  hast  lost  the  truest  lover  that  goes  upon  the  ground,  &c. 

Let  nobody  chide  her,  her  scorns  I  approve  [though  I  prove]  ; 
She  was  born  to  be  false,  and  I  to  die  for  her  love,  &c. 

Take  this  for  my  farewell  and  latest  adieu,  Sing,  &c. ; 
Write  this  on  my  tomb,  that  in  love  I  was  true,  &c. 

The  above  copy  of  the  words  is  from  the  same  manuscript  as  the  music.  It 
differs  from  that  in  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry;  and  Shakespeare  has 
somewhat  varied  it  to  apply  to  a  female  character. 


WHOOP!  DO  ME  NO  HARM,  GOOD  MAN. 

This  is  twice  alluded  to  by  Shakespeare,  in  act  iv.,  sc.  3,  of  A  Winter's  Tale  ; 
and  by  Ford,  in  act  iii.,  sc.  3,  of  The  Fancies  chaste  and  noble,  where  Secco, 
applying  it  to  Morosa,  sings  "  Whoop !  do  me  no  harm,  good  woman" 

The  tune  was  transcribed  by  Dr.  Rimbault,  from  a  MS.  volume  of  virginal 
music,  in  the  possession  of  the  late  John  Holmes,  Esq.,  of  Retford.  A  song  with 
this  burden  will  be  found  in  Fry's  Ancient  Poetry,  but  it  would  not  be  desirable 
for  republication. 


Cheerfully. 


-r-"d      f.  J.JJ  d.«        *^r- 

•£f*  J          r  '      f  T    T7 


hoop  !  do  me  no  harm,  good    man. 


V      N^       ^^  ^^ 


^^-^=P=M 


ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE. 


209 


O  MISTRESS  MINE ! 

This  tune  is  contained  in  both  the  editions  of  Morley's  Consort  Lessons,  1599 
and  1611.  It  is  also  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  arranged  by  Byrd. 

As  it  is  to  be  found  in  print  in  1599,  it  proves  either  that  Shakespeare's  Twelfth 
Night  was  written  in  or  before  that  year,  or  that,  in  accordance  with  the  then  pre- 
vailing custom,  0  Mistress  mine  was  an  old  song,  introduced  into  the  play. 

Mr.  Payne  Collier  has  proved  Twelfth  Night  to  have  been  an  established 
favorite  in  February,  1602  (Annals  of  the  Stage,  i.  327),  but  we  have  no  evidence 
of  so  early  a  date  as  1599. 

In  act  ii.,  sc.  3.,  the  Clown  asks,  "Would  you  have  a  love-song,  or  a  song  of 
good  life?" 

Sir  Toby. — "  A  love-song,  a  love-song." 

Moderate  time  and  very  smoothly. 


mistress  mine,  where  are  you  roaming?    O  mistress  mine,  where  are  you  roaming  ? 


r   r  h 


rail. 


a  tempo 


O  stay  and  hear ;  your  true  love's  coming,  That  can  sing  both  high  and  low :  Trip     no    further, 


pretty  sweet-ing,     Jour  -  neys  end      in    lovers'  meeting,  Ev'  -  ry  wise  man's  son   doth  know 


=Z=ZL&rX*£&1-trm^ 


"What  is  love? — 'tis  not  hereafter  ; 
Present  mirth  hath  present  laughter  ; 

What's  to  come  is  still  unsure  : 
In  delay  there  lies  no  plenty ; 
Then  come  kiss  me,  sweet-and-twenty, 

Youth's  a  stuff  will  not  endure." 

HEART'S-EASE. 

The  tune  of  HearC s-ease  is  contained  in  a  MS.  volume  of  lute  music,  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  in  the  Public  Library,  Cambridge  (D.  d.,  ii.  11),  as  well  as  in 
The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1698.  It  belongs,  in  all  probability,  to  an 
earlier  reign  than  that  of  Elizabeth,  as  it  was  sufficiently  popular  about  the  year 
1560  to  have  a  song  written  to  it  in  the  interlude  of  Misogonus.  Shakespeare 
thus  alludes  to  it  in  Romeo  and  Juliet,  1597  (act  iv.,  sc,  5.) — 


210 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 


Peter. — "  Musicians,  O  musicians,  Hearts-ease,  hearts-ease :  0  an  you  will  have 
me  live,  play  Hearts-ease. 

1st  Mus. — Why  Hearts-ease? 

Peter. — 0  musicians,  because  my.  heart  itself  plays  My  heart  is  full  of  woe:* 
0  play  me  some  merry  dump,b  to  comfort  me." 

The  following  song  is  from  Misogonus,  by  Thomas  Rychardes ;  and,  as  Mr. 
Payne  Collier  remarks,  "  recollecting  that  it  was  written  about  the  year  1560, 
may  be  pronounced  quite  as  good  in  its  kind  as  the  drinking  song c  in  Crammer 
G-urton's  Needle." 


v       Moderate  lime.  ^^ 

3S3  r  r= 

-i  h— 

:N  —  -r- 

fo*  H  J 

Sing 

r  • 

care 

•   -* 

a  -  way     with  spo 

^—  N 

rt     and  play,    Pas  - 

a  :  L  b"  — 

^  4  —  3  •  —  i 
time        is     all        our 

1      k    ft"  1 

M         r       \ 

L          k  —  !  J/  —  1 

[JTJ    J 

-f-—  i  —  f- 

i   r 

^-^^4-: 

bfcd— 

pleasure  ; 

If        well  we  fare, 

^=1^^   J*'j  3  3   "  LC»^»-" 

For  nought  we  care,    In  mirth  con-sists  our       treasure. 

J  s*~.      -  J      -?-       m                                    ii 

'      b—-\  —  Si  —  ^ 

-»  J    .     J  — 

r  '  r 

J  ;  F— 

r  ' 

^=E=-^ 

^^Ir-l  — 

I  "     x   —  1 

H  —  1  — 

Kf         r- 

UgU^  p_ 

J    h   ! 

-1  L- 

k      .1 

1          h 

1  —  1j  3~~3     J 

3  J__J  

s  -J  — 

!s-d  J  — 

•  ^  •  x»  •  

r  j 

.  0  *    *     • 

~m  .  i 

=i=i 

H—  I" 

i~:~2  —  1~  = 

y  flT  \         r—  r  '  "  "'s  """"J 

Let        lun  -  gis  lurk,  And   drudges  work,    We    do      de-fy    their 
/.  [lankies] 

F^]^  F  *•  L 
slavery  :       He 

• 

J       f^ 

^  ^t~ 

_*^__!_-^t  f 

,  ^  •  —  J  fa_ 

i       .      i    .       —  . 

is     but  a     fool   That  goes     to  school,     All     we       de  -  light     in         bravery 


8  This  is  the  burden  of  "A  pleasant  new  Ballad  of  two 
Lovers:  to  a  pleasant  new  tune;  "  beginning — 
"  Complain  my  lute,  complain  on  him 

That  stays  so  long  away; 
He  promised  to  be  here  ere  this, 

But  still  unkind  doth  stay. 
But  now  the  proverb  true  I  find, 
Once  out  of  sight  then  out  of  mind. 
Hey,  ho  !  my  heart  is  full  of  woe,"  Sic, 


It  has  been  reprinted  by  Mr.  Andrew  Barton,  in  the  first 
volume  of  the  Shakespeare  Society's  Papers,  1844. 

b  A  dump  was  a  slow  dance.  Queen  Mary's  Dump  is 
one  of  the  tunes  in  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book,  and  My 
Lady  Carey's  Dompe  is  printed  in  Stafford  Smith's  Musica 
Antigua,  ii.  470,  from  a  manuscript  in  the  British 
Museum,  temp.  Henry  VIII. 
c  "  I  cannot  eat  but  little  meat,"  see  page  72.  ' 


ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE. 


211 


"  What  doth't  avail  far  hence  to  sail, 

And  lead  our  life  in  toiling  ? 
Or  to  what  end  should  we  here  spend 

Our  days  in  irksome  moiling  ?  [labour] 
It  is  the  best  to  live  at  rest, 

And  take't  as  God  doth  send  it  ; 
To  haunt  each  wake,  and  mirth  to  make, 

And  with  good  fellows  spend  it. 

Nothing  is  worse  than  a  full  purse 

To  niggards  and  to  pinchers ; 
They  always  spare,  and  live  in  care, 

There's  no  man  loves  such  flinchers. 
The  merry  man,  with  cup  and  can, 

Lives  longer  than  do  twenty ; 
The  miser's  wealth  doth  hurt  his  health  ;— 

Examples  we  have  plenty. 


'Tis  a  beastly  thing  to  lie  musing 

With  pensiveness  and  sorrow ; 
For  who  can  tell  that  he  shall  well 

Live  here  until  the  morrow? 
We  will,  therefore,  for  evermore, 

While  this  our  life  is  lasting, 
Eat,  drink,  and  sleep,  and  '  merry  '  keep, 

'Tis  Popery  to  use  fasting. 

In  cards  and  dice  our  comfort  lies, 

In  sporting  and  in  dancing, 
Our  minds  to  please  and  live  at  ease, 

And  sometimes  to  use  prancing. 
With  Bess  and  Nell  we  love  to  dwell 

In  kissing  and  in  '  talking ;  ' 
But  whoop !  ho  holly,  with  trolly  lolly, 

To  them  we'll  now  be  walking." 


Collier's  History  of  Early  Dramatic  Poetry,  ii.  470. 

JOG  ON,  JOG  ON. 

This  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1698,  called  Jog  on;  also  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  under  the  name  of  Hanskin.  The  words  of 
Jog  on,  of  which  the  first  verse  is  sung  by  Autolycus,  in  act  iv.,  sc.  2,  of 
Shakespeare's  A  Winter's  Tale,  are  in  The  Antidote  against  Melancholy,  1661. 
Another  name  for  the  tune  is  Sir  Francis  Drake,  or  Eighty-eight. 

The  following  is  the  song  from  The  Antidote  against  Melancholy : — 
"  Jog  on,  jog  on  the  footpath  way,  Your  paltry  money-bags  of  gold, 

And  merrily  henta  the  stile-a;  What  need  have  we  to  stare  for, 

Your  merry  heart  goes  all  the  day  ;  When  little  or  nothing  soon  is  told, 

Your  sad  tires  in  a  mile-a.  And  we  have  the  less  to  care  for. 

Cast  care  away,  let  sorrow  cease, 

A  fig  for  melancholy ; 
Let's  laugh  and  sing,  or,  if  you  please, 

We'll  frolic  with  sweet  Dolly." 

In  the  Westminster  Drollery,  3rd  edit.,  1672,  is  "  An  old  song  on  the  Spanish 
Armado,"  beginning,  "  Some  years  of  late,  in  eighty-eight ; "  and  in  MSS.  Harl., 
791,  fol.  59,  and  in  Merry  Drollery  complete,  1661,  a  different  version  of  the  same, 
commencing,  "  In  eighty-eight,  ere  I  was  born."  Both  have  been  reprinted  for 
the  Percy  Society  in  Halli well's  Naval  Ballads  of  England.  The  former  is  also 
in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  1707,  ii.  37,  and  1719,  iv.  37,  or  Ritson's  Ancient 
Songs,  1790,  p.  271. 

In  the  Collection  of  Ballads  in  the  Cheetham  Library,  Manchester,  fol.  30,  is 


»  To  hent  or  hend  is  to  hold  or  seize.  At  the  head  of 
one  of  the  chapters  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novels,  this  is 
misquoted  "bend." 

"And  in  his  hand  a  battle-axe  he  hent."— Honor  of  the 
Garter,  by  George  Peele. 


'Upon  the  sea,  till  Jhesu  Crist  him  hente. "—Chaucer, 

line  700. 
'  Till  they  the  reynes  of  his  bridel  henten."— Chaucer, 

line  90(i. 
'  Or  reave  it  out  of  the  hand  that  did  it  hend."— Spenser's 

Faery  Queen. 


212 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND    BALLAD    MUSIC 


"  The  Catholick  Ballad,  or  an  Invitation  to  Popery,  upon  considerable  grounds  and 
reasons,  to  the  tune  of  Eighty-eight"   It  is  in  black-letter,  with  a  bad  copy  of  the 
tune,  and  another  (No.  1103),  dated  1674.   It  will  also  be  found  in  Pills  to  purge 
Melancholy,  1707,  ii.  32,  or  1719,  iv.  32.     It  commences  thus  : — 
"  Since  Popery  of  late  is  so  much  in  debate, 

And  great  strivings  have  been  to  restore  it, 
I  cannot  forbear  openly  to  declare 
That  the  ballad-makers  are  for  it." 

This  song  attained  some  popularity,  because  others  are  found  to  the  tune  of 
The  Catholic  Ballad. 

The  following  are  the  two  ballads  on  the  Spanish  Armada;  the  first  (with  the 
tune)  as  in  the  Harl.  MS.,  and  the  second  from  Westminster  Drollery. 

Moderate  time. 


In 


eighty-eight,  ere         I     was  born,  As       I      can  well  re  -  mem-ber,    In 


m 


Au  -  gust    was      a        fleet  pre  -  par'd,  The     month    be   -_fore       Sep  -  tern    -    ber 


Spain,  with  Biscay  and  Portugal, 

Toledo  and  Grenada ; 
All  these  did  meet,  and  made  a  fleet, 

And  call'd  it  the  Armada. 

Where  they  had  got  provision, 
As  mustard,  pease,  and  bacon  ; 

Some  say  two  ships  were  full  of  whips, 
But  I  think  they  were  mistaken. 

There  was  a  little  man  of  Spain 

That  shot  well  in  a  gun-a, 
Don  Pedro3  hight,  [called]  as  good  a  knight 

As  the  Knight  of  the  Sun-a. 

King  Philip  made  him  admiral, 
And  charg'd  him  not  to  stay-a, 

But  to  destroy  both  man  and  boy, 
And  then  to  run  away-a. 


The  King  of  Spain  did  fret  amain, 

And  to  do  yet  more  harm-a  ; 
He  sent  along,  to  make  him  strong, 

The  famous  Prince  of  Parma. 

When  they  had  sail'd  along  the  seas, 

And  anchor'd  upon  Dover, 
Our  Englishmen  did  board  them  then, 

And  cast  the  Spaniards  over. 

Our  Queen  was  then  at  Tilbury, 
What  could  you  more  desire-a? 

For  whose  sweet  sake  Sir  Francis  Drake 
Did  set  them  all  on  fire-a. 

But  let  them  look  about  themselves, 

For  if  they  come  again-a, 
They  shall  be  serv'd  with  that  same  sauce 

As  they  were,  I  know  when-a. 


•  The  person  meant  by  Don  Pedro  was  the  Duke  of 
Medina  Sidonia,  commander  of  the  Spanish  fleet.     His 


name  was  not  Pedro,  but  Alonzo  Perez  di  Guzman. 


ILLUSTRATING   SHAKESPEARE.  213 

"  An  old  song  on  the  Spanish  Armado,"  called,  also,  in  Pills  to  purge  Melan- 
choly, "  Sir  Francis  Drake  :  or  Eighty-eight."  To  the  same  tune.  (The  words 
from  Westminster  Drollery,  1672.) 

Some  years  of  late,  in  eighty-eight,  Their  men  were  young,  munition  strong, 

As  I  do  well  remember ;  And  to  do  us  more  harm-a, 

It  was,  some  say,  the  nineteenth  of  May,  They  thought  it  meet  to  join  their  fleet, 

And  some  say  in  September.  All  with  the  Prince  of  Parma. 

The  Spanish  train,  launch'd  forth  amain,  They  coasted  round  about  our  land, 

With  many  a  fine  bravado,  And  so  came  in  to  Dover ; 

Their  (as  they  thought,  but  it  proved  not)  But  we  had  men,  set  on  them  then, 

Invincible  Armado.  And  threw  the  rascals  over. 

There  was  a  little  man  that  dwelt  in  Spain,  The  Queen  was  then  at  Tilbury, 

Who  shot  well  in  a  gun-a,  What  could  we  more  desire-a, 

Don  Pedro  hight,  as  black  a  wight  And  Sir  Francis  Drake,  for  her  sweet  sake, 

As  the  Knight  of  the  Sun-a.  Did  set  them  all  on  fire-a. 

King  Philip  made  him  admiral,  Then  straight  they  fled  by  sea  and  land, 

And  bid  him  not  to  stay-a,  That  one  man  kill'd  three  score-a; 

But  to  destroy  both  man  and  boy,  And  had  not  they  all  run  away, 

And  so  to  come  away-a.  In  truth  he  had  kill'd  more-a. 

Their  navy  was  well  victualled  Then  let  them  neither  brag  nor  boast, 
With  biscuit,  pease,  and  bacon ;  But  if  they  come  again-a, 

They  brought  two  ships  well  fraught  with  whips,  Let  them  take  heed  they  do  not  speed, 
But  I  think  they  were  mistaken.  As  they  did,  you  know  when-a. 

COME,  LIVE  WITH  ME,  AND  BE  MY  LOVE. 

This  tune,  which  was  discovered  by  Sir  John  Hawkins,  "  in  a  MS.  as  old  as 
Shakespeare's  time,"  and  printed  in  Steevens'  edition  of  Shakespeare,  is  also  con- 
tained in  "  The  Second  Booke  of  Ayres,  some  to  sing  and  play  to  the  Base-Violl 
alone:  others  to  be  sung  to  the  Lute  and  Base-Violl,"  &c.,  by  W.  Corkine, 
fol.  1612. 

In  act  iii.,  sc.  1,  of  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  1602,  Sir  Hugh  Evans  sings 
the  following  lines,  which  form  part  of  the  song  : — 
"  To  shallow  rivers,  to  whose  falls 

Melodious  birds  sing  madrigals ; 

There  will  we  make  our  beds  of  roses, 

And  a  thousand  fragrant  posies." 

In  Marlow's  tragedy,  The  Jew  of  Malta,  written  in  or  before  1591,  he  introduces 
the  first  lines  of  the  song  in  the  following  manner : — 

"  Thou,  in  whose  groves,  by  Dis  above, 

Shall  live  with  me  and  be  my  love." 

In  England's  Helicon,  1600,  it  is  printed  with  the  name  "  Chr.  Marlow"  as  the 
author.  It  is  also  attributed  to  Marlow  in  the  following  passage  from  Walton's 
Angler,  1653 : — "  It  was  a  handsome  milkmaid,  that  had  not  attained  so  much 
age  and  wisdom  as  to  load  her  mind  with  any  fears  of  many  things  that  will  never 
be,  as  too  many  men  often  do;  but  she  cast  away  all  care  and  sung  like  a  nightin- 
gale: her  voice  was  good,  and  the  ditty  fitted  for  it:  it  was  that  smooth  song 
which  was  made  by  Kit.  Marlow,  now  at  least  fifty  years  ago." 


214  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  first  printed  by  W.  Jaggard  in  "  The  passionate 
Pilgrim  and  other  sonnets  by  Mr.  William  Shakespeare,"  in  1599 ;  but  Jaggard 
is  a  very  bad  authority,  for  he  included  songs  and  sonnets  by  Griffin  and  Barnfield 
in  the  same  collection,  and  subsequently  others  by  Heywood. 

England? s  Helicon  contains,  also,  "The  Nimph's  reply  to  the  Shepheard," 
beginning —  "  If  all  the  world  and  love  were  young, 

And  truth  in  every  shepherd's  tongue;" 

which  is  there  subscribed  "  Ignoto,"  but  which  Walton  attributes  to  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  "in  his  younger  days ;"  and  "Another  of  the  same  nature  made  since," 
commencing —  "  Come,  live  with  me,  and  be  my  deere, 

And  we  will  revel  all  the  yeere," 
with  the  same  subscription. 

Dr.  Donne's  song,  entitled  "  The  Bait,"  beginning — 
"  Come,  live  with  me,  and  be  my  love, 

And  we  will  some  new  pleasures  prove, 

Of  golden  sands  and  crystal  brooks, 

With  silken  lines  and  silver  hooks,"  &c. 

which,  as  Walton  observes,  he  "  made  to  shew  the  world  that  he  could  make  soft 
and  smooth  verses,  when  he  thought  smoothness  worth  his  labour,"  is  also  in 
The  Complete  Angler ;  and  the  three  above  quoted  from  England's  Helicon,  are 
reprinted  in  Ritson's  English  Songs  and  Ancient  Songs;  and  two  in  Percy's 
Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry,  &c.,  &c. 

In  Choice,  Chance,  and  Change;  or  Conceits  in  their  colours,  4to.,  1606, 
Tidero,  being  invited  to  live  with  his  friend,  replies,  "  Why,  how  now  ?  do  you 
take  me  for  a  woman,  that  you  come  upon  me  with  a  ballad  of  Come,  live  with  me, 
and  be  my  love  f  " 

Nicholas  Breton,  in  his  Poste  with  a  packet  of  Mad  Letters,  4to.,  1637,  says, 
"  You  shall  hear  the  old  song  that  you  were  wont  to  like  well  of,  sung  by  the 
black  brows  with  the  cherry  cheek,  under  the  side  of  the  pied  cow,  Come,  live  with 
me,  and  be  my  love,  you  know  the  rest." 

Sir  Harris  Nicholas,  in  his  edition  of  Walton's  Angler,  quotes  a  song  in  imi- 
tation of  Come,  live  with  me,  by  Herrick,  commencing — 

"  Live,  live  with  me,  and  thou  shalt  see ; " 

and  Steevens  remarks  that  the  ballad  appears  to  have  furnished  Milton  with  the 
hint  for  the  last  lines  of  IS  Allegro  and  Penseroso. 

From  the  following  passage  in  The  World's  Folly,  1609,  it  appears  that  there 
may  have  been  an  older  name  for  the  tune : — "  But  there  sat  he,  hanging  his 
head,  lifting  up  the  eyes,  and  with  a  deep  sigh,  singing  the  ballad  of  Come,  live 
with  me,  and  be  my  love,  to  the  tune  of  Adew,  my  deere."  a 

In  Deloney's  Strange  Histories,  1607,  is  the  ballad  of  "  The  Imprisonment  of 
Queen  Eleanor,"  &c.,  to  the  tune  of  Come,  live  with  me,  and  be  my  love,  but  it  has 

»  A  song  in  Harl.  MSS.  2252,  of  the  early  part  of  Henry  It  is  reprinted  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs  (p.  98),  but  the 

the  Eighth's  reign,  "Upon  the  inconstancy  of  his  mis-  metre  differs  from  that  of  Come,  live  with  me,  and  with 

tress,"  begins  thus :—  out  repeating  words,  could  not  have  been  sung  to  the 

"  Mornyng,  momyng,  thus  may  I  sing,  same  air. 
Adew,  my  dere,  adew." 


ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE. 


215 


six  lines  in  each  stanza;  and  "  The  woefull  lamentation  of  Jane  Shore,"  beginning, 
"  If  Rosamond  that  was  so  fair  "  (copies  of  which  are  in  the  Pepys,  Bagford,  and 
Roxburghe  Collections),  "to  the  tune  of  Live  with  me,"  has  four  lines  and  a 
burden  of  two —  "  Then  maids  and  wives  in  time  amend, 

For  love  and  beauty  will  have  end." 

From  this  it  appears  that  either  the  half  of  the  tune  was  repeated,  or  that  there 
were  two  airs  to  which  it  was  sung.  In  Westminster  Drollery,  1671  and  1674,  a 
parody  on  Gome,  live  with  me,  is  to  the  tune  of  My  freedom  is  all  my  joy.  That 
has  also  six  lines,  and  the  last  is  repeated. 

Other  ballads,  like  "A  most  sorrowful  song,  setting  forth  the  miserable  end  of 
Banister,  who  betrayed  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  his  lord  and  master :  to  the  tune 
of  Live  with  me  ;  "  and  the  Life  and  Death  of  the  great  Duke  of  Buckingham,  who 
came  to  an  untimely  end  for  consenting  to  the  depositing  of  two  gallant  young 
princes,"  &c. :  to  the  tune  of  Shore's  Wife,  have,  like  Come,  live  with  me,  only 
four  lines  in  each  stanza.  (See  Crown  G-arland  of  Grolden  Roses,  1612 ;  and 
Evans'  Old  Ballads,  iii.  18  and  23.) 

Rather  slow. 


£ 


Come,  live  with      me,    and      be    my  love,  And  we  will      all     the     plea-sures 


m 


f  tlf  tlr  i 


iF^ 


-N 


prove  That    hills  and     val-leys,  dale  and  field,  And    all    the    crag-gy  moun-tains  yield 


R=Fr  Jir  c 


There  will  we  sit  upon  the  rocks, 
And  see  the  shepherds  feed  their  flocks, 
By  shallow  rivers,  to  whose  falls 
Melodious  birds  sing  madrigals. 

There  will  I  make  thee  beds  of  roses, 
And  twine  a  thousand  fragrant  posies  ; 
A  cap  of  flowers,  and  a  kirtle, 
Embroider'd  all  with  leaves  of  myrtle. 


A  gown  made  of  the  finest  wool, 
Which  from  our  pretty  lambs  we  pull ; 
Slippers  lined  choicely  for  the  cold, 
With  buckles  of  the  purest  gold. 

A  belt  of  straw  and  ivy  buds, 
With  coral  clasps  and  amber  studs : 
And  if  these  pleasures  may  thee  move, 
Come,  live  with  me,  and  be  my  love. 


The  shepherd  swains  shall  dance  and  sing, 
For  thy  delight,  each  May  morning ; 
If  these  delights  thy  mind  may  move, 
Then  live  with  me,  and  be  my  love. 


1  In  Sir  John  Hawkins'  copy,  this  note  is  written  an 
octave  lower,  probably  because  taken  from  a  lute  arrange- 
ment, in  which  the  note,  being  repeated,  was  to  be  played 
on  a  lower  string.  In  the  second  bar  of  the  melody,  his 


copy,  if  transposed  into  this  key,  would  be  B  A  D,  instead 
of  B  c  D  ;  which  latter  seems  right  by  the  analogy  of  that 
and  the  other  phrases,  although  the  difference  is  not  very 
material. 


16 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND  BALLAD  MUSIC 


THREE  MERRY  MEN  BE  WE. 

This  is  quoted  in  the  same  passage  in  Tivelfth  Night  as  Peg-a-Eamsey.  The  tune 
is  contained  in  a  MS.  common-place  book,  in  the  handwriting  of  John  Playford, 
the  publisher  of  The  Dancing  Master,  in  the  possession  of  the  Hon.  George 
O'Callaghan."  The  words  are  also  in  Peele's  The  Old  Wives'  Tale,  1595  (Dyce, 
i.  208),  where  it  is  sung  instead  of  the  song  proposed,  0  man  in  desperation. 

In  the  comedy  of  Laugh  and  He  down,  1605,  "  He  plaied  such  a  song  of  the 
Three  Merry  Men."  In  Fletcher's  The  Bloody  Brother,  the  Cook,  who  is  about  to 
be  hung  with  two  others,  says : 

"  Good  Master  Sheriff,  your  leave  too ; 
This  hasty  work  was  ne'er  done  well :  give  us  so  much  time 
As  but  to  sing  our  own  ballads,  for  we'll  trust  no  man, 
Nor  no  tune  but  our  own ;  'twas  done  in  ale  too, 
And  therefore  cannot  be  refus'd  in  justice  : 
Your  penny-pot  poets  are  such  pelting  thieves, 
They  ever  hang  men  twice" 
Each  then  sings  a  song,  and  they  join  in  the  chorus  of — 

"  Three  merry  boys,  and  three  merry  boys, 
And  three  merry  boys  are  we, 
As  ever  did  sing  in  a  hempen  string 
Under  the  gallow  tree." — Act  Hi.,  sc.  2, — Dyce,  x.  428. 

"  Three  merry  men  be  we "  is  also  quoted  in  Westward  Hoe,  by  Dekker  and 
Webster,  1607 ;  and  in  Ram  Alky,  1611. 

Moderate  time  and  gaily. 


-fob  —  J  Jj  J  —  PI 

H  —  f3  1 

1  /^   /]  j    | 

H  ^ 

Three  merry  men  and 

ETT^ 

three  merry  men,  And 

three  merry  m 

en  be 

we          a, 

r^rrb-TT  —  ^  

—  es  

—  ^>  , 



—  <2)  —  i   r   1 

£  S^  ^  

—  <s  

-^  3  

1   J   r   1 

KI    r^           J 

JT^    i 

i       i  -   i 

r* 

i 

i  Jj  j    j 

—3  — 

~~i~J  —  *  — 

-J- 

iU  ^ 

^ 

I    » 

—  <§j  7  1|— 

ri     J  J  '  i 

I      in  the  wood,  and     thou 

-r-  r  '  i 

on  the  ground,  And    Jack  sleeps 

in 

the 

tree. 

—  f- 

i— 

u1—  —  EJ 

4= 

-tsM- 

=M 

—  i  — 

=3= 

-^- 

i 

I  LOATHE  THAT  I  DID  LOVE. 

On  the  margin  of  a  copy  of  the  Earl  of  Surrey's  poems,  in  the  possession  of 
Sir  W.  W.  Wynne,  some  of  the  little  airs  to  which  his  favorite  songs  were  sung 
are  written  in  characters  of  the  times.  Dr.  Nott  printed  them  from  that  copy  in 
his  edition  of  Surrey's  Songs  and  Sonnets,*  4to.,  1814.  From  this  the  first  tune 
for  "  I  loathe  that  I  did  love  "  is  taken.  The  second  is  from  a  MS.  containing 
songs  to  the  lute,  in  the  British  Museum  (Addit.  4900),  but  it  is  more  like  the 
regular  composition  of  a  musician  than  the  former. 

•  The  music  was  added  after  a  portion  of  the  edition  had  been  circulated. 


ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE. 


217 


Three  stanzas  from  the  poem  are  sung  by  the  grave-digger  in  Hamlet ;  but 
they  are  much  corrupted,  and  in  all  probability  designedly,  to  suit  the  character 
of  an  illiterate  clown.  On  the  stage  the  grave-digger  now  sings  them  to  the  tune 
of  The  Children  in  the  Wood. 

In  the  Grorgious  Gallery  of  Gallant  Inventions,  1578,  "  the  lover  complaineth 
of  his  lady's  inconstancy  ;  to  the  tune  of  Ilothe  that  I  did  love"  therefore  a  tune 
was  formerly  known  by  that  name,  and  probably  one  of  the  two  here  printed. 

The  song  will  be  found  among  the  ballads  that  illustrate  Shakespeare,  in  Percy's 
Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry. 

Slow.  FIRST  TUNE. 


fe^ 


I       loathe  that    I       did       love !      In     youth  that    I    thought  sweet,  (As 


'):  <'.    r 


i     i  v  r  u 


HH- 

• 

-4- 

-J— 

—  * 

!      t 

-j- 

-r- 

J   .  aJ'  J  —  E 

-^—  v—  H  

2     • 

• 

3 

. 

• 

^     .     i 

i 

time 

• 
re-quires 

•         -9-    •            • 
for        my         behove,) 

•"^                        :«     . 

Me  -  thinks      it      is      not        meet. 

2J 

-^ 

t^4^ 

J 

f 

a 

J 

Slow. 


SECOND  TUNE. 


n                                                                             i 

r/           i 

1               IS       1          r^_ 

1                1 

I          , 

j 

xT  /  * 

P             r^ 

•         • 

—  -, 

[ml  i     J 

J     •     J      J      J 

g      .      J 

J        J 

\±\)             9 

«.     .    •      •      •  J 

eJ                                                                          ^              -ep 
I     loathe    that    I       did     love  !        In     youth  that      I  thought 

* 

sweet       (As 

t  )•/  »     f* 

*•"  

z±±  

z±j  P^  

—  ^"P  

\  /     1 

l^~l 

ss 

-^  1       i       i                                          •                                    - 

—  J  —  J  1  — 

i     i        i 

—  1  rj   j 

*  —  •  —  J  —  3— 

-^     \     \  ^£j= 

±m      d           jtj 

time     re  -  quires  for        my      be  -  hove,     for 

*  r  ^      ^  : 

my                   be  -  hove),            Me  - 

—  i  •  1- 

^  

-d  

h 

p*         ^ 

s. 

. 

d  r   "   j 

-J 

,  j  d  1 

^  — 

i   :   * 

—  d  — 

~i  •     -i—^ 

t  —  i  —  5  —  ' 

'          [        1          c 

-thinks  it        is      not      meet,       Me  -  thinks,  me  -  thinks,    it          is 

not      meet. 

Q^  ' 

BE 

r   rr 

—  7?  =  

_  M  :  ^  „*  

218  ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 

.  i 

PEG  A  RAMSEY,  OB  PEGGIE  RAMSEY. 

In  Twelfth  Night,  act  ii.,  sc.  3,  Sir  Toby  says,  "  Malvolio's  a  Peg -a- Ramsey, 
and  Three  merry  men  be  we."  There  are  two  tunes  under  the  name  of  Peg-a- 
Ramsey,  and  both  as  old  as  Shakespeare's  time.  The  first  is  called  Peg-a-Ramsey 
in  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book,  and  is  given  by  Sir  John  Hawkins  as  the  tune 
quoted  in  Twelfth  Night.  (See  Steevens'  edition  of  Shakespeare.)  He  says, 
"  Peggy  Ramsey  is  the  name  of  some  old  song ; "  but,  as  usual,  does  not  cite  his 
authority.  It  is  mentioned  as  a  dance  tune  by  Nashe  (see  the  passage  quoted  at 
p.  116),  and  in  The  Shepheard's  Holiday — 

"  Bounce  it  Mall,  I  hope  thou  will,  Spaniletto — The  Venetto ; 

For  I  know  that  thou  hast  skill ;  John  come  hiss  me — Wilson's  Fancy. 

And  I  am  sure  thou  there  shall  find          But  of  all  there's  none  so  sprightly 
Measures  store  to  please  thy  mind.  To  my  ear,  as  Touch  me  lightly" 

Koundelays — Irish  hayes ;  WiCs  Recreations,  1640. 

Cogs  and  Rongs,  and  Peggie  Ramsy ; 

"  Little  Pegge  of  Ramsie  "  *is  one  of  the  tunes  in  a  manuscript  by  Dr.  Bull,  which 
formed  a  part  of  Dr.  Pepusch's,  and  afterwards  of  Dr.  Kitchener's  library.  Ramsey, 
in  Huntingdonshire,  was  formerly  an  important  town,  and  called  "  Ramsey  the 
rich,"  before  the  destruction  of  its  abbey. 

Burton,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  says,  "  So  long  as  we  are  wooers,  we 
may  kiss  at  our  pleasure,  nothing  is  so  sweet,  we  are  in  heaven  as  we  think ;  but 
when  we  are  once  tied,  and  have  lost  our  liberty,  marriage  is  an  hell.     *  Grive  me 
my  yellow  hose  again : '  a  mouse  in  a  trap  lives  as  merrily." 
"  Give  me  my  yellow  hose  "  is  the  burden  of  a  ballad  called — 

"  A  merry  jest  of  John  Tomson,  and  Jackaman  his  wife, 
Whose  jealousy  was  justly  the  cause  of  all  their  strife ;" 
to  the  tune  of  Pegge  of  Ramsey ;  ^beginning  thus — 

"  When  I  was  a  bachelor  ,       I  cannot  do  as  I  have  done, 

I  led  a  merry  life,  Because  I  live  in  fear ; 

But  now  I  am  a  married  man  If  I  go  but  to  Islington, 

And  troubled  with  a  wife,  My  wife  is  watching  there. 

Give  me  my  yellow  again, 

Give  me  my  yellow  hose, 
For  now  my  wife  she  watcheth  me, 

See  yonder  where  she  goes." 
It  has  been  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  187  (1810.) 

In  Wit  and  Mirth,  or  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy  (1707,  iii.  219,  or  1719, 
v.  139),  there  is  a  song  called  "Bonny  Peggy  Ramsey,"  to  the  second  tune, 
which  in  earlier  copies  is  called  0  London  is  a  fine  town,  and  Watton  Town's  Mid. 
The  original  song,  "  Oh  !  London  is  a  fine  town,"  is  probably  no  longer  extant. 
A  ballad  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  was  written  on  the  occasion  of  James  the  First's 
visit  to  Cambridge,  in  March,  1614 — 


ILLUSTRATING   SHAKESPEARE.  219 

"  Cambridge  is  a  merry  town, 

And  Oxford  is  another, 
The  King  was  welcome  to  the  one, 
And  fared  well  at  the  other,"  &c. 

See  Hawkins'  Ignoramus,  xxxvi. 
A  second  with  the  burden — 

"  London  is  a  fine  town, 

Yet  I  their  cases  pity ; 
The  Mayor  and  some  few  Aldermen 

Have  clean  undone  the  city," 

will  be  found  in  the  King's  Pamphlets,  British  Museum  (fol.  broadsides,  vol.  v.). 
It  begins,  "  Why  kept  your  train-bands  such  a  stir,"  and  is  dated  Aug.  13, 1647. 
(Reprinted  in  Wright's  Political  Ballads,  for  the  Percy  Society.) 
In  Le  Prince  d>  Amour,  12m.,  1660,  is  a  third,  commencing  thus : — 
"  London  is  a  fine  town,  and  a  brave  city, 
Governed  with  scarlet  gowns  ;  give  ear  unto  my  ditty  : 
And  there  is  a  Mayor,  which  Mayor  he  is  a  Lord, 
That  governeth  the  city  by  righteous  record. 
Upon  Simon  and  Jude's  day  their  sails  then  up  they  hoist, 
And  then  he  goes  to  Westminster  with  all  the  galley  foist. 

London  is  a  fine  town,"  &c. 

A  fourth  song  beginning,  "  Oh  !  London  is  a  fine  town,"  will  be  found  in  Pills  to 
purge  Melancholy,  1707,  ii.  40,  or  1719,  iv.  40 ;  and  in  the  same  volume  another 
to  the  tune,  beginning — 

"  As  I  came  from  Tottingham,  Her  journey  was  to  London 

Upon  a  market  day,  With  buttermilk  and  whey, 

There  I  met  a  bonny  lass  To  come  down,  a  down, 

Clothed  all  in  gray.  To  come  down,  down,  a  down-a" 

The  burden  to  this  song  suggests  the  possibility  of  its  being  the  tune  of  a  snatch 
sung  by  Ophelia  in  Hamlet — 

"  You  must  sing  down,  a  down, 

An  you  call  him  a  down-a." 

One  of  D'Urfey's  "  Scotch"  Songs,  called  TJie  G-owlin,  in  his  play  of  Trick  for 
Trick,  was  also  sung  to  this  tune. 

In  The  Dancing  Master,  1665  and  after,  it  is  called  Walton  Town's  End ;  and 
in  the  second  part  of  Robin  G-oodfellow,  1628,  there  is  a  song  "  to  the  tune  of 
Watton  Town's  End"  beginning — 

"  It  was  a  country  lad, 

That  fashions  strange  would  see,"  &c. 

It  is  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  1810,  i.  200.     Another  entitled — 
"  The  common  cries  of  London  town, 
Some  go  up  street,  some  go  down," 
is  to  the  tune  of  Watton  Townes  End,  black-letter,  1662. 

Many  others  will  be  found  to  these  tunes,  under  their  various  names. 
The   following  is  a  verse  from  the  ballad  quoted  in  Burton's  Anatomy  of 
Melancholy.     It  consists  of  eighteen  stanzas,  each  of  eight  lines,  and  a  ditty  of 
four  ("  Give  me  my  yellow  hose  again,"  &c.).     See  Evans'  Old  Ballads. 


220  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC 

Moderate  time. 


s— 


When  I  was  a     Bache-lor,  I    liv'd    a     mer-ry     life,    But       now    I     am      a 


B 


IE 


mar-ried  man,  And  troubled  with    a     wife,       I         can  -  not     do     as      I    have  done,  Be  - 


—  1    1    1    1   - 

J       |"T" 

1     J 

1      1      1      1 

I              MM 

:^=F 

=&=& 

-cause  I  live  ir 

m 

i  fe 

ar,      If          I    gc 

J 
but  to 

or 

Isl 

1  —  1 

^*s 

ing-ton,  M 

o           * 

1  .  

y 

wife     is 

=} 

Wi 

itchin 

• 

g 

Hi     j    II 

there. 

-i  n 

—\  — 

• 

J  1  J  

n  j  i 

jjS^ 

» 

'—±- 

There  are  slight  differences  in  the  copies  of  the  tune  called  Watton  Town's  End 
in  The  Dancing  Master,  and  Oh  !  London  is  a  fine  town  in  Pills  to  purge  Melan- 
choly, and  in  The  Beggars'  Opera.  The  following  is  The  Beggars'  Opera  version : — 
Lively. 


fl)"ff<'  '—  J    / 

1  —  h-  h- 

J     j    J~^ 

-^^  *- 

Oh  !     Lon  -  don     is      a     fine     town, 

__*_  ^_,  ^ 

And     a     gal  -  lant    ci  -  ty  ;   'Tis 

ft  iff  (*  —  I2  —      —  ^  — 

—  1  1— 

i           i 

—  1  1  1  —  1  

U  .    Ji 

L_ 

-1  r  r  f  tj  r 

H  J     J 

J         J        ^ 

-\  J  

govern'd  by  the        scar-  let  gown,  Come    lis  -  ten 

to      my          dit  -  ty.             This 

-{^                                  ^ 
^/ 

** 

L          -    '      "fL 

1  

J    .     j     1 

l-.l}    J    ^ 

ci    -     ty    has       a         May     - 

i 

or,     This      May  -  or          is         a      Lord,            He 

—  —  I  S|  1  1^^ 

_J  ^  :5t= 

4  j  j  j  I£JH 

-^  —  L^  — 

•  —  i  —  i  1  — 

—  —  -1  B=  ^_J- 

i  —  j  ;  _^  

N-   s  a  'rN 

go  -  ver  -  netli    the         cit    -    i 

-  zens       All       by 

J  —  i  —  j  — 

his     own      ac    - 

cord. 

-H  J—  1  1  

r—  J  rf- 



_J  .  

ILLUSTRATING   SHAKESPEARE. 


221 


LIGHT  O'LOVE. 

Light  of  Love  is  so  frequently  mentioned  by  writers  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
that  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  words  of  the  original  song  are  still 
undiscovered.  When  played  slowly  and  with  expression  the  air  is  beautiful.  In 
the  collection  of  Mr.  George  Daniel,  of  Canonbury,  is  "  A  very  proper  dittie :  to 
the  tune  Lightie  Love',"  which  was  printed  in  1570.  The  original  may  not  have 
been  quite  so  "  proper,"  if  "  Light  o'Love  "  was  used  in  a  sense  in  which  it  was 
occasionally  employed,  instead  of  its  more  poetical  meaning : — 

"  One  of  your  London  Light  o' Loves,  a  right  one, 
Come  over  in  thin  pumps,  and  half  a  petticoat." 

Fletcher's  Wild  Goose  Chase,  act  iv.,  sc.  2. 

Or  in  the  passage  quoted  by  Douce :  "  There  be  wealthy  housewives  and  good 
housekeepers  that  use  no  starch,  but  fair  water ;  their  linen  is  as  white,  and  they 
look  more  Christian-like  in  small  ruffs  than  Light  of  Love  looks  in  her  great 
starched  ruffs,  look  she  never  so  high,  with  her  eye-lids  awry." — The  Crlasse  of 
Man's  Follie,  1615. 

Shakespeare  alludes  twice  to  the  tune.   Firstly  in  TJie  Two  G-enilemen  of  Verona, 
act  i.,  sc.  2 — 

"  Julia.       Some  love  of  yours  hath  writ  to  you  in  rhime. 
Lucetta.  That  I  might  sing  it,  madam,  to  a  tune : 
Owe  me  a  note : — your  ladyship  can  set. 
Jul.  As  little  by  such  toys  as  may  be  possible  : 

Best  sing  it  to  the  tune  of  Light  o'Love. 
Luc.  It  is  too  heavy  for  so  light  a  tune. 
Jul.  Heavy  ?  belike  it  hath  some  burden  then. 
Luc.  Ay ;  and  melodious  were  it  would  you  sing  it. 
Jul.  And  why  not  you  ? 
Luc.  I  cannot  reach  so  high. 
Jul.   Let's  see  your  song : — How  now,  minion  ? 
Luc.  Keep  tune  there  still,  so  you  will  sing  it  out : 

And  yet,  methinks,  I  do  not  like  this  tune. 
Jul.  You  do  not  ? 
Luc.  No,  madam ;  'tis  too  sharp. 
Jul.  You,  minion,  are  too  saucy. 
Luc.  Nay,  now  you  are  too  flat, 

And  mar  the  concord  with  too  harsh  a  descant : 
There  wanteth  but  a  mean  to  fill  your  song. 
Jul.  The  mean  is  drown'd  with  your  unruly  base." 

I  have  quoted  this  passage  in  extenso  as  bearing  upon  the  state  of  music  at  the 
time,  beyond  the  mere  mention  of  the  tune.  Firstly,  when  Lucetta  says,  "  Give 
me  a  note  [to  sing  it  to]  :  your  ladyship  can  set"  [a  song  to  music,]  it  adds  one 
more  to  the  many  proofs  of  the  superior  cultivation  of  the  science  in  those  days. 
We  should  not  now  readily  attribute  to  ladies,  even  to  those  who  are  gene- 
rally considered  to  be  well  educated  and  accomplished,  enough  knowledge  of 


222  ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 

harmony  to  enable  them  to  set  a  song  correctly  to  music,  however  agile  their 
fingers  may  be.  Secondly — 

"  It  is  too  heavy  for  so  light  a  tune, 
Heavy?  belike  it  hath  some  burden  then  ! " 

The  burden  of  a  song,  in  the  old  acceptation  of  the  word,  was  the  base,  foot,  or 
under-song.     It  was  sung  throughout,  and  not  merely  at  the  end  of  the  verse. 
Burden  is  derived  from  bourdoun,  a  drone  base  (French,  bourdon.) 
"  This  Sompnour  bare  to  him  a  stiff  burdoun, 

Was  never  trompe  of  half  so  gret  a  soun." — Chaucer. 

We  find  as  early  as  1250,  that  Somer  is  icumen  in  was  sung  with  a  foot,  or  burden, 
in  two  parts  throughout  (  "  Sing  cuckoo,  sing  cuckoo  "  )  ;  and  in  the  preceding 
century  Giraldus  had  noticed  the  peculiarity  of  the  English  hi  singing  under-parts 
to  their  songs. 

That  burden  still  bore  the  sense  of  an  under-part  or  base,  and  not  merely  of  a 
ditty ,a  see  A  Quest  of  Inquirie,  &c.,  4to.,  1595,  where  it  is  compared  to  the  music 
of  a  tabor : — "  Good  people,  beware  of  wooers'  promises,  they  are  like  the  musique 
of  a  tabor  and  pipe:  the  pipe  says  golde,  giftes,  and  many  gay  things;  but  perform- 
ance is  moralized  in  the  tabor,  which  bears  the  burden  of '  I  doubt  it,  I  doubt  it.' — 
(British  Bibliographer,  vol.  i.)  In  Fletcher's  Humorous  Lieutenant,  act  v.,  sc.  2, 
"  H  'as  made  a  thousand  rhymes,  sir,  and  plays  the  burden  to  'em  on  a  Jew's- 
trump"  (Jeugd-tromp,  the  Dutch  for  a  child's  horn).  So  in  Much  Ado  about 
Nothing,  in  the  scene  between  Hero,  Beatrice,  and  Margaret,  the  last  says,  "  Clap 
us  into  Light  o^Love,  that  goes  without  a  burden  "  [there  being  no  man  or  men 
on  the  stage  to  sing  one].  "Do  you  sing  it  and  I'll  dance  it."  Light  o'Love 
was  therefore  strictly  a  ballet,  to  be  sung  and  danced. 

In  the  interlude  of  The  Four  Elements,  about  1510,  Ignorance  says — 
"  But  if  thou  wilt  have  a  song  that  is  good, 
I  have  one  of  Kobin  Hood, 
The  best  that  ever  was  made. 
Humanity.  Then  i'  fellowship,  let  us  hear  it. 

Ign.  But  there  is  a  lordon,  thou  must  bear  it, 

Or  else  it  mill  not  be. 
Hum.  Then  begin  and  care  not  to  ... 

Downe,  downe,  downe,  &c. 
Ign.  Robin  Hood  in  Barnsdale  stood,"  &c. 

Here  Humanity  starts  with  the  burden,  giving  the  key  for  the  other  to  sing  in. 
So  in  old  manuscripts,  the  burden  is  generally  found  at  the  head  of  the  song,  and 
not  at  the  end  of  the  first  verse. 

Many  of  these  burdens  were  short  proverbial  expressions,  such  as — 

"  'Tis  merry  in  hall  when  beards  wag  all ;  " 

which  is  mentioned  as  the  "  under-song  or  holding  "  of  one  in  The  Serving-man's 
Comfort,  1598,  and  the  line  quoted  by  Adam  Davy,  in  his  Life  of  Alexander,  as 
early  as  about  1312.  Peele,  in  his  Edward  I.,  speaks  of  it  as  "the  old 

•  "  Ditties,  they  are  the  endt  of  old  ballads."— Rowley's  A  Mnlch  at  Midnight,  act  iii.,  sc.  1. 


ILLUSTRATING    SHAKESPEARE.  223 

English  proverb ;"  but  he  uses  the  word  "  proverb"  also  in  the  sense  of  song,  for 
in  his  Old  Wives'  Tale,  1595,  An  tick  says,  "  Let  us  rehearse  the  old  proverb — 
'  Three  merry  men  and  three  merry  men, 
And  three  merry  men  be  we,' "  &c. 

Shakespeare  puts  the  following  four  lines  into  the  mouth  of  Justice  Silence  when 
in  his  cups  : —  "  Be  merry,  be  merry,  my  wife  has  all, 

For  women  are  shrews,  both  short  and  tall ; 
'  Tis  merry  in  hall,  when  beards  wag  all, 

And  welcome  merry  Shrovetide." 
See  also  Ben  Jonson,  v.  235,  and  note;  and  vii.  273,  Gilford's  edit. 

Other  burdens  were  mere  nonsense  words  that  went  glibly  off  the  tongue,  giving 
the  accent  of  the  music,  such  as  hey  nonny,  nonny  no ;  hey  derry  down,  &c.    The 
"foot"  of  the  first  song  in  The  pleasant  Comedy  of  Patient  Cfrissil  is — 
"  Work  apace,  apace,  apace,  apace, 
Honest  labour  bears  a  lovely  face ; 
Then  hey  noney,  noney ;  hey  noney,  noney." 

I  am  aware  that  "  Hey  down,  down,  derry  down,"  has  been  said  to  be  "  a  modern 
version  of '  Hai  .down,  ir  deri  danno,'  the  burden  of  an  old  song  of  the  Druids, 
signifying,  *  Come,  let  us  hasten  to  the  oaken  grove'  (Jones'  Welsh  Sards,  i.  128) ; 
but  I  believe  this  to  be  mere  conjecture,  and  that  it  would  now  be  impossible  to 
prove  that  the  Druids  had  such  a  song. 

The  last  comment  I  have  to  make  upon  the  passage  from  Shakespeare  is  on  the 
word  mean.  The  mean  in  music  was  the  intermediate  part  between  the  tenor  and 
treble ;  not  the  tenor  itself,  as  explained  by  Steevens.  Descant  has  already  been 
explained  at  p.  15. 

Reverting  to  Light  o'Love  :  it  is  also  quoted  as  a  tune  by  Fletcher  in  The  Two 
Noble  Kinsmen,  The  air  was  found  by  Sir  J.  Hawkins  in  an  "  ancient  manu- 
script ; "  it  is  also  contained  in  "William  Ballet's  MS.  Lute  Book,  and  in  Musictfs 
Delight  on  the  Oithren,  1666. 

In  the  volume  of  transcripts  made  by  Sir  John  Hawkins  there  is  a  tune  entitled 
Fair  Maid  are  you  ivalking,  the  first  four  bars  of  which  are  identical  with  Light 
o'Love ;  and  in  the  Music  School,  Oxford,  one  of  the  manuscripts  presented  by 
Bishop  Fell,  with  a  date  1620,  has  Light  o'Love  under  the  name  of  Sicke  and  sicke 
and  very  sicke;  but  this  must  be  a  mistake,  as  that  ballad  could  not  be  sung  to  it. 
See  Captain  Car  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  1790,  p.  139. 

In  A  Grorgious  G-allery  of  G-allant  Inventions,  1578,  the  lover  exhorteth  his 
lady  to  be  constant :  to  the  tune  of  Attend  thee,  go  play  thee ; a  and  begins  with 
the  line,  "  Not  Light  o'Love,  lady."  The  ballad,  "  The  Banishment  of  Lord  Mal- 
travers  and  Sir  Thomas  Gurney,"  in  Deloney's  Strange  Histories,  &c.,  1607,  and  of 
"  A  song  of  the  wooing  of  Queen  Catherine  by  Owen  Tudor,  a  young  gentleman 
of  Wales"  are  also  to  the  tune  of  Light  o'Love.  See  Old  Ballads,  1727,  iii.  32 ; 
or  Evans,  ii.  356. 

The  following  is  the  ballad  by  Leonard  Gybson,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  Mr. 
George  Daniel's  Collection. 

a  "  Attend  thee,  go  play  thee,"  is  a  song  in  A  Handefull  by  Wantonness  in  the  interlude  of  The  Marriage  of  Wit 
of  Pleasant  Dfliles.  1584,  and  is  also  the  tune  of  one  sung  and  Wisdom.  See  Shakespeare  Society's  Reprint,  p.  20. 


224 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 


A   VERY   PROPER   DITTIE:   TO  THE   TUNE   OF  LIGHTIE  LOVE. 

"  Leave  lightie  love,  ladies,  for  fear  of  yll  name : 

And  true  love  embrace  ye,  to  purchase  your  fame." 
Very  slow  and  smoothly. 


By  force     I     am  fix-ed   my  fan  -cy  to  write,  In-  gra-titudewillethme  not    to      re-frain 
Thenblameme  not,  ladies,  although  1  in-dite  What  lighty  love  now    amongstyou  doth  reign 


Your    tra-ces    in  places,   to    outward  allurements,  Do    move  my  en-deavour  to    be  the  more  plain: 
Your  nicings  and  'ticings,with  sundry  procurements, To  publish  your    lightie  love    do  me  constrain. 


r     r   c 


t=3: 


Deceit  is  not  dainty,  it  comes  at  each  dish  ; 
Fraud  goes  a  fishing  with  friendly  looks ; 
Through  friendship  is  spoiled,   the  silly  poor 

fish 

That  hover  and  shower  upon  your  false  hooks, 
With  bait  you  lay  wait,  to  catch  here  and  there, 
Which  causeth  poor  fishes  their  freedom  to 

lose; 
Then  lout  ye,  and  flout  ye; — whereby  doth 

appear, 
Your  lighty  love,  ladies,   still  cloaked  with 

glose.    ' 

With  Dian  so  chaste  you  seem'd  to  compare, 
When  Helens  you  be,  and  hang  on  her  train; 
Methinks  faithful  Thisbes  be  now  very  rare, 
But  one  Cleopatra,  I  doubt,  doth  remain. 
You  wink,  and  you  twink,  until  Cupid  have 

caught, 

And  forceth  through  flames  your  lovers  to  sue : 
Your  lighty  love,  ladies,  too  dear  they  have 

bought,  [rue. 

When  nothing  will  move  you  their  causes  to 

I  speak  not  for  spite,  nor  do  I  disdain 
Your  beauty,  fair  ladies,  in  any  respect ; 
But  one's  ingratitude  doth  me  constrain, 
As  child  hurt  with  fire,  the  flame  to  neglect. 
For,  proving  in  loving,  I  find  by  good  trial, 
When  Beauty  had  brought  me  unto  her  beck, 
She  staying,  not  weighing,  but  making  denial, 
And  shewing  her  lighty  love,  gave  me  the 
check. 


*  -r 

Thus  fraud  for   friendship  did  lodge  in  her 

breast ; 

Such  are  most  women,  that  when  they  espy 
Their  lovers  inflamed,  with  sorrows  opprest, 
They  stand  then  with  Cupid  against  their  reply. 
They  taunt,  and  they  vaunt,  they  smile  when 

they  view 

How  Cupid  hath  caught  them  under  his  train  ; 
But  warned,  discerned,  the  proof  is  most  true, 
That  lighty  love,  ladies,  amongst  you  does 

reign. 

Ye  men  that  are  subject  to  Cupid  his  stroke, 
And  therein  seem  now  to  have  your  delight, 
Think,  when  you  see  bait,  there  is  hidden  a 

hook,  [bite. 

Which  surely  will  have  you,  if  that  you  do 
Such  wiles,  and  such  guiles  by  women  are 

wraught,  [prevent ; 

That  half  of  their  mischiefs  men  cannot 
When  they  are  most  pleasant,  unto  your 

thought, 
Then  nothing  but  lighty  love  is  their  intent. 

Consider  that  poison  doth  lurk  oftentime 
In  shape  of  sugar,  to  put  some  to  pain  ; 
And  fair  wordes  painted,  as  dames  can  define, 
The  old  proverb  saith,  doth  make  some  fools 

fain. 

Be  wise  and  precise,  take  warning  by  me, 
Trust  not  the  crocodile,  lest  you  do  rue ; 
To  women's  fair  words  do  never  agree, 
For  all  is  but  lighfy  love; — this  is  most  true. 


ILLUSTRATING   SHAKESPEARE. 


225 


I  touch  no  such  ladies  as  true  love  embrace, 

But  such  as  to  lighty  love  daily  apply  ; 

And  none   will  be  grieved,   in  this  kind  of 

case, 

Save  such  as  are  minded  true  love  to  deny. 
Yet  friendly  and  kindly  I  shew  you  my  mind  : 
Fair  ladies,  I  wish  you  to  use  it  no  more ; 
But  say  what  you  list,  thus  I  have  defin'd 
That  lighty  love,  ladies,  you  ought  to  abhor. 


To  trust  women's  words,  in  any  respect, 
The  danger  by  me  right  well  it  is  seen  ; 
And  Love  and  his  laws,  who  would  not  neglect, 
The  trial  whereof  hath  most  perilous  been  ? 
Pretending,  the  ending,  if  I  have  offended, 
I  crave  of  you,  ladies,  an  answer  again  : 
Amend,  and  what's  said  shall  soon  be  amended, 
If  case  that  your  light  love  no  longer  do  reign. 


WHEN  THAT  I  WAS  A  LITTLE  TINY  BOY. 

The  Fool's  song  which  forms  the  Epilogue  to  Twelfth  Night  is  still  sung  on  the 
stage  to  this  tune.  It  has  no  other  authority  than  theatrical  tradition.  A  song 
of  the  same  description,  and  with  the  same  burden,  is  sung  by  the  Fool  in  King 
Lear,  act  iii.,  sc.  2 — 

"  He  that  has  a  little  tiny  wit, 

With  a  heigh  ho !  the  wind  and  the  rain, 
Must  make  content  with  his  fortunes  fit, 

For  the  rain  it  raineth  every  day" 
The  following  is  the  song  in  Twelfth  Night : — 
In  moderate  time. 


When  that  I  was     a      little  tiny  boy,With  a  heigh  ho!  the     wind  and  the  rain,  A 


^ 


*m=* 


fool  -  ish    thing  was      but     a    toy,  For  the   rain   it     rain-eth       ev'  -  ry  day,    With  a. 


heigh  ho  !  the      wind  and  the  rain,  And  the     rain    it    rain-eth         ev' -  ry  day. 


T 


But  when  I  came  to  man's  estate,  But  when  I  came  unto  my  bed, 

With  a  heigh  ho  !  &c.,  With  a  heigh  ho !  &c., 

'Gainst  knaves  and  thieves  men  shut  their  gate,  With  toss-pots  still  I'd  drunken  head, 
For  the  rain,  &c.  For  the  rain,  &c. 


But  when  I  came,  alas !  to  wive, 

With  a  heigh  ho  !  &c., 

By  swaggering  I  could  never  thrive, 
For  the  rain,  &c. 


A  great  while  ago  the  world  begun, 

With  a  heigh  ho  !  the  wind  and  the  rain  ; 

But  that  is  all  one,  our  play  is  done, 

And  we'll  strive  to  please  you  every  day. 


226 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 


SICK,  SICK,  AND  VERY  SICK. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  Anthony  Holborne's  Oittharn  Schoole,  4to.,  1597,  and 
in  one  of  the  Lute  MSS.  in  the  Public  Library,  Cambridge.  (D.  d.  iv.  23.)  In 
Much  Ado  about  Nothing,  Hero  says,  "  Why,  how  now !  do  you  speak  in  the  sick 
tune  ?"  and  Beatrice  answers,  "  I  am  out  of  all  other  tune,  methinks."  In 
Nashe's  Summer's  last  Will  and  Testament,  Harvest  says,  "  My  mates  and  fellows, 
sing  no  more  Merry,  merry,  but  weep  out  a  lamentable  Hooky,  hooky,  and  let  your 

sickles  cry — 

Sick,  sick,  and  very  sick, 

And  sick  and  for  the  time ; 
For  Harvest,  your  master,  is 

Abus'd  without  reason  or  rhyme." 

On  24th  March,  1578,  Richard  Jones  had  licensed  to  him  "  a  ballad  intituled 
Sick,  sick,  &c.,  and  on  the  following  19th  June,  "  A  new  songe,  intituled — 
Sick,  sick,  in  grave  I  would  I  mere, 

For  grief  to  see  this  wicked  world,  that  will  not  mend,  I  fear." 
This  was  probably  a  moralization  of  the  former. 

In  the  Harleian  Miscellany,  4to,  10.  272,  is  "  A  new  ballad,  declaring  the 
dangerous  shooting  of  the  gun  at  the  court  (1578),  to  the  tune  of  Sicke  and  sicke; 
commencing — 


About  the  river  to  and  fro, 
As  much  as  they  could  make. 
Weep,  weep,  still  I  weep, 
And  shall  do  till  I  die, 
To  think  upon  the  gun  was  shot 
At  court  so  dangerously." 

The  ballad  from  which  the  tune  derives  its  name  is  probably  that  printed  in 
Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  (1793,  p.  139)  from  a  manuscript  in  the  Cotton  Library 
(Vespasian,  A  25),  and  entitled  Captain  Car.  The  event  which  gave  rise  to  it 
occurred  in  the  year  1571.  The  first  stanza  is  here  printed  to  the  tune  : — 


"  The  seventeenth  day  of  July  last, 
At  evening  toward  night, 

Our  noble  Queen  Elizabeth 
Took  barge  for  her  delight ; 

And  had  the  watermen  to  row, 
Her  pleasure  she  might  take, 


•<                                                                                                   I 

—9-$  1  1  c  —  i  1  —  •  —  1- 

—  I  — 

1    r    -l"~ 

r\\  —  B  \  IS  —  d  1  — 

^=2=3= 

=5 

—  «i  — 

1  —  E 

^     "] 

^  —  —  d  —  iP  —  ^  —  i  — 

ij  .  *  —  •  —  J— 

—  «- 

• 

It      be  -  fell       at 
Sick,          sick,    and 

Mar  -  tin-mas,  When 
ve    -  ry  sick,    And 

"  » 

weather  wax-ed 
sick  and  like    to 

^     ^ 

cold, 
die  ;          The 

L  —  (/    i  p  —  *  — 

_^j  :  *  

r« 

c            1 

~~4 

3^ 

=Rq 

-J- 

J              1 

r- 

[_                     .q 

^  -  i/    a  —  ^- 

Cap  -  tain  Car       said 
sick  -  est  night     that 

3 

to 

I 

his     men,    We      must    go      take      a 
a  -  bode,  Good  Lord,  have  mercy  on 

hold, 
me. 

t^l 

i  

-?=  =]  

c*'                e 

f= 

-fit 

ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE. 


227 


TO-MORROW  IS  ST.  VALENTINE'S  DAY. 

This  is  one  of  Ophelia's  songs  in  Hamlet.  It  is  found  in  several  of  the  ballad 
operas,  such  as  The  Cobblers'  Opera  (1729),  The  Quakers'  Opera  (1728),  &c., 
under  this  name.  In  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy  (1707,  ii.  44)  it  is  printed  to  a 
song  in  Heywood's  Rape  of  Lucrece,  beginning,  "  Arise,  arise,  my  juggy,  my 
puggy."  Other  versions  will  be  found  under  the  names  of  "  Who  list  to  lead 
a  soldier's  life,"  and  "  Lord  Thomas  and  Fair  Ellinor."  See  pages  144  and  145. 


y&ttp  I*  1 

= 

.4-^F^- 

~i  1  —  if*- 

m    \ 

p   *            — 

fl)  *  8    •* 

Good 

-^                  ,    ••     • 
mor-row,     'tis     St. 

n  j  J  J1 

Valentine's  day,     All 

++- 
in     tli 

e  morning  be  - 

-fi  —  si  

~~\ 

-J  P  

—  ^  :  

^\             * 

3  •.    r    •    - 

-   time,      And         I         a     maid   at     your     window,    To       be     your  Valen    -   tine 


f 


GREEN  SLEEVES. 

Sleeves,  or  TTAicA  nobody  can  deny,  has  been  a  favorite  tune,  from  the 
time  of  Elizabeth  to  the  present  day ;  and  is  still  frequently  to  be  heard  in  the 
streets  of  London  to  songs  with  the  old  burden,  "  Which  nobody  can  deny."  It 
will  also  be  recognised  as  the  air  of  Christmas  comes  but  once  a  year,  and  many 
another  merry  ditty. 

"And  set  our  credits  to  the  tune  of  Greene  Sleeves" — The  Loyal  Subject,  by 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

Falstqff. — "  Let  the  sky  rain  potatoes !  let  it  thunder  to  the  tune  of  Green  Sleeves, 
hail  kissing  comfits,  and  snow  eringoes,  let  there  come  a  tempest  of  provocation,  I  will 
shelter  me  here."  (Embracing  her.) — Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  act  v.,  sc.  5. 

"  Mrs.  Ford. — "  I  shall  think  the  worse  of  fat  men,  as  long  as  I  have  an  eye  to 
make  difference  of  men's  liking.  And  yet  he  would  not  swear;  praised  women's 
modesty;  and  gave  such  orderly  and  well-behaved  reproof  to  all  uncomeliness,  that 
I  would  have  sworn  his  disposition  would  have  gone  to  the  truth  of  his  words  :  but 
they  do  no  more  adhere  and  keep  pace  together,  than  the  Hundredth  Psalm  to  the 
tune  of  Green  Sleeves" — Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  act  ii.,  sc.  1. 

The  earliest  mention  of  the  ballad  of  Green  Sleeves  in  the  Registers  of  the 
Stationers'  Company  is  in  September,  1580,  when  Richard  Jones  had  licensed  to 
him,  "  A  new  Northern  Dittye  of  the  Lady  Greene  Sleeves"  The  date  of  the 
entry,  however,  is  not  always  the  date  of  the  ballad ;  and  this  had  evidently 
attained  some  popularity  before  that  time,  because  on  the  same  day  Edward 


228  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 

White  had  a  license  to  print,  "A  ballad,  being  the  Ladie  Greene  Sleeves  Ansivere 
to  Donkyn  his  frende."  Also  Edward  Guilpin  in  his  Skialethia,  or  a  Shadow  of 
Truth,  1598,  says :  "  Yet  like  th'  olde  ballad  of  tbe  Lord  of  Lome, 

Whose  last  line*  in  King  Harries  days  was  borne." 

As  the  ballad  of  TJie  Lord  of  Lome  and  the  False  Steward,  which  was  entered  on 
the  6th  October,  1580,  was  sung  to  the  tune  of  Green  Sleeves,  it  would  appear  that 
Gf-reen  Sleeves  must  be  a  tune  of  Henry's  reign.  Copies  of  The  Lord  of  Lome  are  in 
the  Pepys  Collection  (i.  494),  and  the  Roxburghe  (i.  222). 

Within  twelve  days  of  the  first  entry  of  Green  Sleeves  it  was  converted  to  a 
pious  use,  and  we  have,  "  Greene  Sieves  moralised  to  the  Scripture,  declaring  the 
manifold  benefites  and  blessings  of  God  bestowed  on  sinful  man ; "  and  on  the 
fifteenth  day  Edward  White  had  "  tollerated  unto  him  by  Mr.  Watkins,  a 
ballad  intituled  Greene  Sleeves  and  Countenance,  in  Countenance  is  Greene 
Sleeves."  By  the  expression  "  tolerated"  instead  of  "  licensed,"  we  may  infer 
it  to  have  been  of  questionable  propriety. 

Great,  therefore,  was  the  popularity  of  the  ballad  immediately  after  its  publica- 
tion, and  this  may  be  attributed  rather  to  the  merry  swing  of  the  tune,  than  to  the 
words,  which  are  neither  remarkable  for  novelty  of  subject,  nor  for  its  treatment. 

An  attempt  was  speedily  made  to  improve  upon  them,  or  to  supply  others  of 
more  attractive  character,  for  in  December  of  the  same  year,  Jones,  the  original 
publisher,  had   "  tolerated  to  him  A  merry  newe   Northern  Songe  of  Greene 
Sleeves"  beginning,  The  bonniest  lass  in  all  the  land.    This  was  probably  the  ballad 
that  excited  William  Elderton  to  write  his  "Reprehension  against  Greene  Sleeves" 
in  the  following  February,  for  there  appears  nothing  in  the  original  song  to  have 
caused  it.     The  seventh  entry  within  the  year  was  on  the  24th  of  August,  1581, 
when  Edward  White  had  licensed  "  a  ballad  intituled — 
"  Greene  Sleeves  is  worne  awaie, 
Yellow  Sleeves  come  to  decaie. 
Blacke  Sleeves  I  holde  in  despite, 
But  White  Sleeves  is  my  delight." 

Nashe,  speaking  of  Barnes'  Divine  Centurie  of  Sonets,  says  they  are  "  such 
another  device  as  the  goodly  ballet  of  John  Careless,  or  the  song  of  Green  Sleeves 
Moralized."  Fletcher  says,  "  And,  by  my  Lady  Greensleeves,  am  I  grown  so 
tame  after  all  my  triumphs  ?  "  and  Dr.  Rainoldes,  in  his  Overthrow  of  Stage 
Plays,  1599,  says,  "Now  if  this  were  lawfully  done  because  he  did  it,  then 
William,  Bishop  of  Ely,  who,  to  save  his  honour  and  wealth,  became  a  Green 
Sleeves,  going  in  women's  raiment  from  Dover  Castle  to  the  sea-side,  did  therein 
like  a  man ; — although  the  women  of  Dover,  when  they  found  it  out,  by  plucking 
down  his  muffler  and  seeing  his  new  shaven  beard,  called  him  a  monster  for  it." 

In  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  Collection,  and  in  that  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries, 
are  copies  of  "  A  Warning  to  false  Traitors,  by  example  of  fourteen ;  whereof  six 
were  executed  in  divers  places  neere  about  London,  and  two  near  Braintford,  the 

»  The  last  lines  of  the  Lord  of  Lome  are—  For  God  may  suffer  for  a  time. 

"  Let  Rebels  therefore  warned  be,  But  will  disclose  it  at  the  end." 

How  mischief  once  they  do  pretend ;  Perhaps  Guilpin  may  mean  that  this  formed  part  of  an 

older  balled. 


ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE. 


229 


28th  day  of  August,  1588 ;  also  at  Tyborne  were  executed  the  30th  day  six ; 
viz.,  five  men  and  one  woman :  to  the  tune  of  Gf-reen  Sleeves"  beginning — 
"  You  traitors  all  that  do  devise 
To  hurt  our  Qneen  in  treacherous  wise, 
And  in  your  hearts  do  still  surmise 
Which  way  to  hurt  our  England; 
Consider  what  the  end  will  be 
Of  traitors  all  in  their  degree : 
Hanging  is  still  their  destiny 

That  trouble  the  peace  of  England." 

The  conspirators  were  treated  with  very  little  consideration  by  the  ballad- 
monger  in  having  their  exit  chaunted  to  a  merry  tune,  instead  of  the  usual 
lamentation,  to  the  hanging-tune  of  Fortune  my  foe. 

Elderton's  ballad,  The  King  of  Scots  and  Andrew  Brown,  was  to  be  sung  to 
the  tune  of  Mill-field,  or  else  to  Cf-reen  Sleeves  (see  p.  185),  but  the  measure  suits 
the  former  and  not  the  latter.    However,  his  "  New  Yorkshire  Song,  intituled — 
"  Yorke,  Yorke,  for  my  monie, 
Of  all  the  cities  that  ever  I  see, 
For  merry  pastime  and  companie, 

Except  the  cittie  of  London  ;  " 

which  is  dated  "  from  Yorke,  by  W.  E.,  and  imprinted  at  London  by  Richard 
Jones,"  in  1584,  goes  so  trippingly  to  Gf-reen  Sleeves,  that,  although  no  tune  is 
mentioned  on  the  title,  I  feel  but  little  doubt  of  its  having  been  intended  for  that 
air.  It  was  written  during  the  height  of  its  popularity,  and  not  long  after  his 
own  "  Reprehension." 

The  song  of  York  for  my  money  is  on  a  match  at  archery  between  the  York- 
shire and  the  Cumberland  men,  backed  by  the  Earls  of  Essex  and  Cumberland, 
which  Elderton  went  to  see,  and  was  delighted  with  the  city  and  with  his 
reception ;  especially  by  the  hospitality  of  Alderman  Maltby  of  York. 

Copies  will  be  found  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  1,  and  Evans'  Old  Ballads, 
i.  20,.  It  begins,  "  As  I  come  thorow  the  North  countrey,"  and  is  refered  to  in 
Heywood's  King  Edward  IV.,  1600. 

In  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  Old  Ballads,  printed  for  the  Percy  Society,  there  is  one 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  at  Tilbury  Fort  (written  shortly  anterior  to  the  destruction  of 
the  Spanish  Armada)  to  the  tune  of  Triumph  and  Joy.  The  name  of  the  air  is 
probably  derived  from  a  ballad  which  was  entered  on  the  Stationers'  books  in 
1581,  of  "  The  Triumpe  shewed  before  the  Queene  and  the  French  Embassadors," 
who  preceded  the  arrival  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  for  whose  entertainment 
jousts  and  triumphs  were  held.  The  tune  for  this  ballad  is  not  named  in  the 
entry  at  Stationers'  Hall,  but  if  a  copy  should  be  found,  I  imagine  it  will  prove 
also  to  have  been  written  to  Cf-reen  Sleeves,  from  the  metre,  and  the  date 
coinciding  with  the  period  of  its  great  popularity. 

Richard  Jones,  to  whom  Green  Sleeves  was  first  licensed,  was  also  the  printer 
of  A  Handefull  of  Pleasant  D elites,  1584,  in  which  a  copy  of  the  ballad  will  be 
found.  Also  in  Ellis'  Specimens,  ii.  394,  (1803).  A  few  verses  are  subjoined, 


230 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD  MUSIC 


as  affording  an  insight  into  the  dress  and  manners  of  an  age  with  which  we  cannot 
be  too  well  acquainted. 

The  tune  is  contained  in  several  of  Dowland's  lute  manuscripts ;  in  William 
Ballet's  Lute  Book ;  in  Sir  John  Hawkins'  transcripts  of  virginal  music ;  in  The 
Dancing  Master  ;  The  Beggar's  Opera  ;  and  in  many  other  books. 

As  the  second  part  differs  in  the  oldest  copies,  from  others  of  later  date,  both 
versions  are  subjoined. 

The  first  is  from  William  .Ballet's  Lute  Book  compared  with  another  in  Sir 
John  Hawkins'  transcripts  of  virginal  music ;  both  having  the  older  second  part. 

Smoothly  and  in  moderate  time.  TUNE  OF  GREEN  SLEEVES.     OLDEST  COPY. 


f 


A    -    las !     my      love,    you     do      me    wrong,  To      cast    me       off       dis  - 


m 


^r~nr^T- 


-courteously,  And      I  have  lov  -  ed     you    so    long,  De  -  light-ing       in     your 


company. 


f^rfFr^ 


_^ 

*""">r>     i             _* 

•«l 

• 

-••*  "* 

J                   ^            ^^ 

=F 

P^— 

3 

1        S 

!  — 

*s^=:*-  9 

—  t  9  1  i 

—  • 

:  —  J—  : 

~rzai  f5  —  1  

f  9     •     m                                           m   •  ~ 
Green  -  sleeves  was     all      my    joy,  . 

</             -9-^~          "^3*      '           W         '      -V- 

.  .       Green  -  sleeves  was    my    delight, 

•                                              '     * 

m        • 

f          • 

r     •          r 

• 

•       i 

9 

r 

3S  v  

u 

-P 

—  :  C 

— 

p  . 

-  r  ^  —  -  F  — 

—  n  — 
" 

-V 

P 

-!•     '       9  —  !  — 

~N                1 

1              1 

sf 

J  Green  -  sleeves  was  my  heart    of      gold,    And  who  but  my     La    -     dy 


Greensleeves. 


r 


I  have  been  ready  at  your  hand 

To  grant  whatever  you  would  crave, 

I  have  both  waged  life  and  land, 
Your  love  and  good-will  for  to  have. 
Greensleeves  was  all  my  joy,  &c. 


r- 


I  bought  thee  kerchers  to  thy  head, 
That  were  wrought  fine  and  gallantly, 

I  kept  thee  booth  at  board  and  bed, 
Which  cost  my  purse  well  favoredly. 
Greensleeves  was  all  my  joy,  &c. 


ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE.  231 

I  bought  thee  petticoats  of  the  best,  Thy  smock  of  silk,  both  fair  and  white, 

The  cloth  so  fine  as  might  be ;  With  gold  embroidered  gargeously ; 

I  gave  thee  jewels  for  thy  chest,  Thy  petticoat  of  sendal  right,  [thin  silk] 

And  all  this  cost  I  spent  on  thee.  And  these  I  bought  thee  gladly. 

Greensleeves  was  all  my  joy,  &c.  Greensleeves  was  all  my  joy,  &c. 

He  then  describes  her  girdle  of  gold,  her  purse,  the  crimson  stockings  all  of  silk, 
the  pumps  as  white  as  milk,  the  gown  of  grassy  green,  the  satin  sleeves,  the 
gold-fringed  garters ;  all  of  which  he  gave  her,  together  with  his  gayest  gelding, 
and  his  men  decked  all  in  green  to  wait  upon  her : 

They  set  thee  up,  they  took  thee  down, 

They  serv'd  thee  with  humility ; 
Thy  foot  might  not  once  touch  the  ground, 
And  yet  thou  wouldst  not  love  me. 
Greensleeves  was  all  my  joy,  &c. 

She  could  desire  no  earthly  thing  without  being  gratified : 

Well  I  will  pray  to  God  on  high,  Greensleeves,  now  farewell !  adieu  ! 

That  thou  my  constancy  mayst  see,  God  I  pray  to  prosper  thee ! 

And  that  yet  once  before  I  die  For  I  am  still  thy  lover  true, 

Thou  wilt  vouchsafe  to  love  me.  Come  once  again  and  love  me. 

Greensleeves  was  all  my  joy,  &c.  Greensleeves  was  all  my  joy,  &c. 

At  the  Revolution  Gfreen  Sleeves  became  one  of  the  party  tunes  of  the  Cavaliers ; 
and  in  the  "  Collection  of  Loyal  Songs  written  against  the  Rump  Parliament," 
there  are  no  less  than  fourteen  to  be  sung  to  it.  It  is  sometimes  referred  to  under 
the  name  of  The  Blacksmith,  from  a  song  (in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  250) 
to  the  tune  of  Green  Sleeves,  beginning — 

"  Of  all  the  trades  that  ever  I  see 
There  is  none  with  the  blacksmith's  compared  may  be, 
For  with  so  many  several  tools  works  he, 

Which  nobody  can  deny" 

Pepys,  in  his  diary,  22nd  April,  1660,  says  that,  after  playing  at  nine-pins, 
"  my  lord  fell  to  singing  a  song  upon  the  Rump,  to  the  tune  of  The  Blacksmith" 
It  was  also  called  The  Brewer,  or  Old  Noll,  the  Brewer  of  Huntingdon,  from  a 
satirical  song  about  Oliver  Cromwell,  which  is  to  be  found  in  The  Antidote  to 
Melancholy,  1661,  entitled  "The  Brewer,  a  ballad  made  in  the  year  1657,  to  the 
tune  of  The  Blacksmith ; "  also  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  Jovial  Poems,  1661. 

In  Tlie  Dancing  Master,  1686,  the  tune  first  appears  under  the  name  of  Grreen 
Sleeves  and  Pudding  Pies ;  and  in  some  of  the  latest  editions  it  is  called  Grreen 
Sleeves  and  Yellow  Lace.  Percy  says,  "  It  is  a  received  tradition  in  Scotland  that 

%J  V          / 

G-reen  Sleeves  and  Pudding  Pies  was  designed  to  ridicule  the  Popish  clergy,"  but 
the  tradition  most  probably  refers  to  a  song  of  James  the  Second's  time  called 
At  Rome  there  is  a  terrible  rout,*  which  was  sung  to  the  tune,  and  attained  some 
popularity,  since  in  the  ballad-opera  of  Silvia,  or  The  Country  Burial,  1731, 
it  appears  under  that  name.  Boswell,  in  his  Journal,  8vo.,  785,  p.  319,  prints 
the  following  Jacobite  song : — 

a  This  is  entitled  "  Father  Peters'  Policy  discovered;  or  "In  Rome  there  is  a  most  fearful  rout ; 

the  Prince  of  Wales  proved  a  Popish  Perkin."    London:  And  what  do  you  think  it  is  about  ? 

printed  for  K.  M.,  ten  stanzas,  of  which  the  following  is  Because  the  birth  of  the  babe's  come  out, 

the  first : —  Sing  Lullaby  Baby,  by,  by,  by." 


232  ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 

"  Green  Sleeves  and  Pudding  Pies,  May  our  affairs  abroad  succeed, 

Tell  me  where  my  mistress  lies,  And  may  our  King  come  home  with  speed, 

And  I'll  be  with  her  before  she  rise,  And  all  Pretenders  shake  for  speed, 

Fiddle  and  aw  together.  And  let  his  health  go  round. 

To  all  our  injured  friends  in  need, 
This  side  and  beyond  the  Tweed, 
Let  all  Pretenders  shake  for  dread, 
And  let  his  health  go  round." 

There  is  no  apparent  connection  between  the  subject  of  the  first  and  that  of  the 
remaining  stanzas  ;  and  although  the  first  may  have  been  the  burden  of  an  older 
song,  it  bears  no  indication  of  having  refered  to  the  clergy  of  any  denomination. 

There  is  scarcely  a  collection  of  old  English  songs  in  which  at  least  one  may 
not  be  found  to  the  tune  of  Crreen  Sleeves.  In  the  West  of  England  it  is  still 
sung  at  harvest-homes  to  a  song  beginning,  "  A  pie  sat  on  a  pear-tree  top;  "  and 
at  the  Maypole  still  remaining  at  Ansty,  near  Blandford,  the  villagers  still  dance 
annually  round  it  to  this  tune. 

The  following  "  Carol  for  New  Year's  Day,  to  the  tune  of  Green  Sleeves"  is 
from  a  black-letter  collection  printed  in  1642,  of  which  the  only  copy  I  have  seen 
is  in  the  Ashmolean  Library,  Oxford. 

The  old  year  now  away  is  fled,  I  thank  m?  master  and  m?  dame' 

The  new  year  it  is  entered  ;  The  which  are  founde™  of  th«  same, 

Then  let  us  now  our  sins  down  tread,  To  eat  to  drink  now  is  no  8hame~ 


, 

And  joyfully  all  appear.  God  8eud  us  a  merry  new 

Let's  merry  be  this  holiday,  Come  lads  and  lasses  every  one, 

And  let  us  run  with  sport  and  play,  Jack,  Tom,  Dick,  Bess,  Mary,  and  Joan, 

Hang  sorrow,  let's  cast  care  away  —  Let's  cut  the  meat  unto  the  bone, 

God  send  you  a  happy  ne\v  year.  For  welcome  you  need  not  fear. 

And  here  for  good  liquor  we  shall  not  lack, 

And  now  with  new  year's  gifts  each  friend  It  win  whet  my  brains  and  8trengthen 
Unto  each  other  they  do  send  ;  ^ack 

God  grant  we  may  our  lives  amend,  This  joll'y  good  cheer  it  must  goto  wrack- 

And  that  the  truth  may  appear.  God  Bend  w  ft  merry  new  year> 

Now  like  the  snake  cast  off  your  skin 

Of  evil  thoughts  and  wicked  sin,  Come,  give  us  more  liquor  when  I  do  call, 

And  to  amend  this  new  year  begin—  I>U  drink  to  each  one  in  this  hall> 

God  send  us  a  merry  new  year.  I  h°Pe  that  80  loud  J  must  not  baw1' 

But  unto  me  lend  an  ear. 

And  now  let  all  the  company  Good  fortune  to  my  master  send, 

In  friendly  manner  all  agree,  And  to  my  dame  which  is  our  friend, 

For  we  are  here  welcome  all  may  see  God  bless  us  all,  and  so  I  end  — 

Unto  this  jolly  good  cheer.  And  God  send  us  a  happy  new  year. 

The  following  version  of  the  tune,  from  The  Beggars'  Opera,  1728,  is  that 
now  best  known.  I  have  not  found  any  lute  or  virginal  copy  which  had  this 
second  part.  The  earliest  authority  for  it  is  The  Dancing  Master,  1686,  and  it 
may  have  been  altered  to  suit  the  violin,  as  the  older  second  part  is  rather  low, 
and  less  effective,  for  the  instrument. 


ILLUSTRATING   SHAKESPEARE. 


233 


I  have  selected  a  few  lines  from  a  political  song  called  T/te  Trimmer,  to  print 
with  this  copy,  because  it  has  the  burden,  "  Which  nobody  can  deny."  It  is  one 
of  the  many  songs  to  the  tune  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy. 

TUNE  OF  GREEN  SLEEVES.     LATER  COPY. 


Pray  lend  me  your  ear,  if  you've    a  -  ny  to  spare,  You  that  love  Common-wealth  as  you 


r    c  i  r 


-m-  'iff.  -m-'- 

hate  Common  Prayer,That  can  in  a  breath  pray,  dissemble  and  swear,  "Which  nobody  can  de  -    ^ 


^m 


I'm  firston  the  wrong  side,  and  then  on  the  right,  To-day  I'm  a  Jack,  and  to  -  morrow  a  Mite,  I  for 


ei-ther  will  pray,  but  for      nei-therwill     fight,  Which    no  -  body  can    de    -    ny. 


MY  ROBIN  IS  TO  THE  GREENWOOD  GONE;  OB,  BONNY  SWEET  ROBIN. 

This  is  contained  in  Anthony  Holborne's  Cittharn  Schoole,  1597 ;  in  Queen 
Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book ;  in  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book ;  and  in  many  other 
manuscripts  and  printed  books. 

There  are  two  copies  in  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book,  and  the  second  is  entitled 
"  Robin  Hood  is  to  the  greenwood  gone;"  it  is,  therefore,  probably  the  tune  of  a 
ballad  of  Robin  Hood,  now  lost. 

Ophelia  sings  a  line  of  it  in  Hamlet — 

"  For  bonny  sweet  Robin  is  all  my  joy ; " 

and  in  Fletcher's  Two  Noble  Kinsmen,  the  jailer's  daughter,  being  mad,  says, 
"  I  can  sing  twenty  more  ...  I  can  sing  The  Broom  and  Bonny  Robin."  In 
Robinson's  Schoole  of  Musicke  (1603),  and  in  one  of  Dowland's  Lute  Manuscripts, 


234 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 


(D.  d.,  2.  11,  Cambridge),  it  is  entitled,  "Robin  is  to  the  greenwood  gone;  in 
Addit.  MSS.  17,786  (Brit.  Mus.),  "  My  Robin,"  &c. 

A  ballad  of  "  A  dolefull  adieu  to  the  last  Erie  of  Darby,  to  the  tune  of  Bonny 
sweet  Robin"  was  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall  to  John  Danter  on  the  26th  April, 
1593 ;  and  in  the  Crown  Garland  of  Golden  Roses  is  "  A  courtly  new  ballad  of 
the  princely  wooing  of  the  fair  Maid  of  London  by  King  Edward ; "  as  well  as 
"  The  fair  Maid  of  London's  answer,"  to  the  same  tune.  The  two  last  were  also 
printed  in  black-letter  by  Henry  Gosson,  and  are  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old 
Ballads,  iii.  8. 

In  "  Good  and  true,  fresh  and  new  Christmas  Carols,"  B.L.,  1642,  there  is  a 
"  Carol  for  St.  Stephen's  day :  tune  of  Bonny  sweet  Robin"  beginning — 
"  Come,  mad  boys,  be  glad,  boys,  for  Christmas  is  here, 
And  we  shall  be  feasted  with,  jolly  good  cheer,"  &c. 


-v  dlowly  and 

ml  lioiti 

-J  ' 

<»«. 

rr 

^^3  —  |  1 
—  ^       j 

I          J         1  1  JT— 

My 

Ro  -  bii 

f 

\  is 

I* 
to 

the 

&• 
g 

i—  • 

reen-wood  gone, 

•  P   "£•    3E-. 

^  •  3   J   ^      J-   1 

•_ 

tKfi     i  — 

b  w      i 

S 

• 

—  F 

—  ^  r  M 

r  —  "=  d    J* 

r 

1         U 

• 

WITH  A  FADING. 

In  act  iv.,  sc.  3,  of  Shakespeare's  Winter's  Tale,  the  servant  says  of  Autolycus, 
"  He  hath  songs  for  man  or  woman,  of  all  sizes ;  no  milliner  can  so  fit  his 
customers  with  gloves:  he  has  the  prettiest  love-songs  for  maids;  .  .  .  with  such 
delicate  burdens  of  dildos  and.  fadings  " 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  12,  there  is  a  ballad  by  L.  P.  (Laurence  Price?), 
entitled  "  The  Batchelor's  Feast ;  or — 

The  difference  betwixt  a  single  life  and  a  double ; 
Betwixt  the  batchelor's  pleasure  and  the  married  man's  trouble. 
To  a  pleasant  new  tune,  called  With  a  hie  dildo  dilL"     It  begins  thus  : — 
"  As  I  walkt  forth  of  late,  where  grass  and  flowers  spring, 
I  heard  a  batchelor  within  an  harbour  sing. 
The  tenor  of  his  song  contain'd  much  melodic  : 
It  is  a  gallant  thing  to  live  in  liberty. 

With  a  hie,  dildo,  dill, 

Hie  do,  dil  dur  lie ; 

It  is  a  delightful  thing 

To  live  at  liberty." 
There  are  six  stanzas ;  and  six  more  in  a  second  part  (at  p.  17  of  the  same 


ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE. 


235 


volume),  "printed  at  London  for  I.  W."  (either  I.  Wright  or  I.  White,  who  were 
both  ballad  printers  of  the  reigns  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I.) 

In  Choice  Drollery,  1656,  p.  31,  is  another,  which  would  require  a  different 
tune,  commencing —  "  A  story  strange  I  will  you  tell, 

But  not  so  strange  as  true, 
Of  a  woman  that  danc'd  upon  the  rope, 

And  so  did  her  husband  too. 
With  a  dildo,  dildo,  dildo, 
With  a  dildo,  dildo  dee" 

In  the  Pepys  Collection  of  Ballads,  i.  224,  is  one  by  Robert  Guy,  printed  for 
H.  Gosson,  and  with  the  following  title : — 

"  The  Merry  Forester. 

Young  men  and  maids,  in  country  or  in  city 
I  crave  your  aids  with  me  to  tune  this  ditty  ; 
Both  new  and  true  it  is,  no  harm  in  this  is, 
But  is  composed  of  the  word  call'd  kisses  ; 
Yet  meant  by  none,  abroad  loves  to  be  gadding : 
It  goes  unto  the  tune  of  With  afadding." 
The  first  line  is  "  Of  late  I  chanc'd  to  be  where  I,"  &c. 

Another  song,  which  has  the  burden  "  with  a  fading,"  will  be  found  in 
Shirley's  Bird  in  a  Cage,  act  iv.,  sc.  1  (1633).  A  third  in  Sportive  Wit,  &c., 
1656,  p.  58.  The  last  is  also  printed  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  99  (1707), 
with  the  tune,  of  which  there  are  other  copies  in  the  same  work. 

There  are  also  ballads  to  it,  under  the  name  of  An  Orange,  and  With  a 
Pudding.  See  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  16 ;  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  i.  90 
(1707),  &c. 

The  Fading  is  the  name  of  an  Irish  dance,  but  With  a  fading  (or  /adding) 
seems  to  be  used  as  a  nonsense-burden,  like  Derry  down,  Hey  nonny,  nonny  no,  &c. 


-'      trippingly  ana  in  moaerate  time. 

y  i    /-» 

/f  n  '* 

P 

K 

r*      * 

• 

fnv  ft      S 

K     J        J 

-—         •      • 

P 

J        J        F 

r 

*        • 

*                       i 

J 

B        • 

L* 

J 
The      cour  -  tiers  scorn    us 

coun-try  clowns  ;  We     coun  -  try  clowns      do 

f  \  •    p 

1  



—  1  

—  ^ft—  ]  

i  i=i 

g  —  .  

U^  : 

scorn  the  court,   For      we  are     as     mer-ry     up  -  on       the  downs  As      you       are   at 


m  ^ 


^ 


—  r* 

s^i    r^ 

1       f^        „ 

mid 

p 

-  night    with 

3EE  *r- 

f 

your    sport.  With  a 

—  f  :  

fad-ing. 

5 

il* 

\             \ 

4- 

4=— 

1 

236 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 


You  hawk,  you  hunt,  you  lie  upon  pallets, 
You  eat,  you  drink  (t"e  Lord  knows  how  !) ; 

We  sit  upon  hillocks,  and  pick  up  our  sallets, 
And  drink  up  a  syllabub  under  a  cow. 

With  a  fading. 

Your  masks  are  made  for  knights  and  lords, 

And  ladies  that  go  fine  and  gay  ; 
We  dance  to  such  music  the  bagpipe  affords, 

And  trick  up  our  lasses  as  well  as  we  may. 
With  a  fading. 


Your  clothes  are  made  of  silk  and  satin, 
And  ours  are  made  of  good  sheep's  gray; 

You  mix  your  discourse  with  pieces  of  Latin, 
We  speak  our  English  as  well  as  we  may. 
With  a  fading. 

You  dance  Corants  and  the  French  Braul, 
We  jig  the  Morris  upon  the  green, 

And  make  as  good  sport  in  a  country  hall, 
As  you  do  before  the  King  and  the  Queen. 
With  a  fading. 


HOW  SHOULD  I  YOUR  TRUE  LOVE  KNOW  ? 

The  late  W.  Linley  (an  accomplished  amateur,  and  brother  of  the  highly-gifted 
Mrs.  Sheridan)  collected  and  published  "  the  wild  and  pathetic  melodies  of 
Ophelia,  as  he  remembered  them  to  have  been  exquisitely  sung  by  Mrs.  Forster, 
when  she  was  Miss  Field,  and  belonged  to  Drury  Lane  Theatre;"  and  he  says, 
"  the  impression  remained  too  strong  on  his  mind  to  make  him  doubt  the 
correctness  of  the  airs,  agreeably  to  her  delivery  of  them."  Dr.  Arnold  also 
noted  them  down  from  the  singing  of  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  Mr.  Ayr  ton  has  followed 
that  version  in  his  Annotations  to  Knight's  Pictorial  Edition  of  Shakespeare. 
The  notes  of  this  air  are  the  same  in  both ;  but  in  the  former  it  is  in  |  time, 
in  the  latter  in  common  time.  The  melody  is  printed  in  common  time  in 
The  Beggars'  Opera  (1728)  to  "  You'll  think,  ere  many  days  ensue,"  and  in 
The  Generous  Freemason,  1731. 

Dr.  Percy  selected  some  of  the  fragments  of  ancient  ballads  which  are 
dispersed  through  Shakespeare's  plays,  and  especially  those  sung  by  Ophelia  in 
Samlet,  and  connected  them  by  a  few  supplemental  stanzas  into  his  charming 
ballad,  The  Friar  of  Orders  Gray,  the  first  line  of  which  is  taken  from  one,  sung 
by  Petruchio,  in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew. 

The  following  is  the  tune;  but  in  singing  Ophelia's  fragments,  each  line  should 
•begin  on  the  first  of  the  bar,  and  not  with  the  note  before  it.  In  the  ballad- 
operas  it  has  the  burden,  Twang,  lang,  dildo  dee  at  the  end,  with  two  additional 
bars  of  music,  the  same  as  to  The  Knight  and  Shepherd's  Daughter.  See  p.  127. 


i  i   J  J   rv 

R 

1  r 

i 

H—  ,  —  —  | 

And      how  should     I        your 
How  should     I 

;>:/*  r,  1  .  1       1 

%  :  i  J 

true  -  love  know  From 

1  ,  —      — 

many     an  -  o  -  ther 
From     an   -  o  -  ther 

_!!!_£_  t_ 

^  »i  '  *   i 

*—  $s 

1  —  C2  g^l  0  1 

F^« 

U    J    . 

k=^ 

n!  —  J  — 

^= 

—  ^ 

-2  -  \ 

one?       O 

1  —  2 

by 
By 

—  '  ^  —  SJ  

his      coc  -  kle 
his 

~p~  ~^?~  •* 

hat      and   staff,   And   by 
An 

-j         J          i        ^~ 

his   san-dal   shoon. 
d     his 

. 

F  —  Cjs- 

*  J 

g 

P 

!  

-?d  = 

^ 

He  is  dead  and  gone,  lady, 
He  is  dead  and  gone  ; 

At  his  head  a  green  grass  turf, 
At  his  heels  a  stone. 


White  his  shroud  as  mountain  snow, 
Larded  with  sweet  flowers, 

Which  bewept  to  the  grave  did  go 
With  true  love  showers. 


ILLUSTRATING    SHAKESPEARE. 


237 


A  parody  on  this  song  seems  to  be  intended  in  Rowley's  A  Match  at  Midnight, 
1633,  where  the  Welshman  sings — 

"  Did  hur  not  see  hur  true  love-a 

As  hur  come  from  London  ?  "  &c. 

AND  WILL  HE  NOT  COME  AGAIN? 

This  fragment,  sung  by  Ophelia,  was  also  noted  down  by  W.  Linley.  It 
appears  to  be  a  portion  of  the  tune  entitled  The  Merry  Milkmaids  in  The  Dancing 
Master,  1650,  and  The  Milkmaids'  Dumps  in  several  ballads.  The  following  lines 
in  Eastward  Roe,  1605,  resemble,  and  are  probably  a  parody  on,  Ophelia's  song: — 

"  His  head  as  white  as  milk, 

All  flaxen  was  his  hair ; 

But  now  he  is  dead, 

And  lain  in  his  bed, 

And  never  will  come  again." — Dodsley,  iv.,  223. 
Very  slowly  and  ad  libitum. 


And  will   he  not  come  a    -     gain,       And  will    he  not   come    a    -     gain?    No, 


^  ^**   , 

h  I  r^j]  —  i  —  ^ 

s 

,     r    >   ,-^  

pj  

no,   he  is  dead, 

J   ly-  J  *   J  —  ; 

Gone     to     his  deathbed,  H( 

*         •            • 

i 

ne  -  ver  v 

p 
•ni 

B 

-      gain. 

J 

come       a 

!•         h5 

1                       ff         a 

f          F 

—  L-JaP-- 

5  ;  k  fr- 

-r  —  :  —  *  —  :  —  • 

4  —  F 

His  beard  was  white  as  snow, 
All  flaxen  was  his  hair, 

He  is  gone,  he  is  gone, 

And  we  cast  away  moan  ; 
God  'a  mercy  on  his  soul. 

O  DEATH!  ROCK  ME  ASLEEP. 

In  the  second  part  of  Shakespeare's  King  Henry  IV.,  act  ii.,  sc.  4,  Pistol 
snatching  up  his  sword,  exclaims — 

"  What !  shall  we  have  incision  ?  shall  we  imbrue  ? 

Then  death  rock  me  asleep,  abridge  my  doleful  days ! " 

This  is  in  allusion  to  the  following  song,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  written 
by  Anne  Boleyn.  The  words  were  printed  by  Sir  John  Hawkins  in  his  History 
of  Music,  having  been  "  communicated  to  him  by  a  very  judicious  antiquary," 
then  "  lately  deceased,"  whose  opinion  was  that  they  were  written  either  by,  or  in 
the  person  of,  Anne  Boleyn;  "a  conjecture,"  he  adds,  "which  her  unfortunate 
history  renders  very  probable."  On  this  Ritson  remarks,  "  It  is,  however,  but  a 
conjecture:  any  other  state  prisoner  of  that  period  having  an  equal  claim. 


238 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 


George,  Viscount  Rochford,  brother  to  the  above  lady,  and  who  suffered  on  her 
account,  '  hath  the  fame,'  according  to  Wood,  '  of  being  the  author  of  several 
poems,  songs,  and  sonnets,  with  other  things  of  the  like  nature,'  and  to  him  he 
(Ritson)  is  willing  to  refer  them." — (Ancient  Songs,  1790,  p.  120.) 

The  first  stanza  of  the  words,  with  the  tune,  is  contained  in  a  manuscript  of 
the  latter  part  of  Henry's  reign,  formerly  in  the  possession  of  Stafford  Smith, 
and  now  in  that  of  Dr.  Rimbault.  It  is  a  single-voice  part,  in  the  diamond-headed 
note,  and  without  accompaniment.  Another  copy,  with  an  accompaniment  for  the 
lute,  will  be  found  in  Addit.  MSS.  4900,  British  Museum. 

Moderate  time,  and  like  recitative. 


r/?(.  p  J,  J  j  j  i 

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O      Death  !    O  Death,  rock    me       a  -  sleep  !   Bring       me       to      qui  -  et 

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is       no    re -me  -   dy,        no       re     -    me  -  dy,     There      is         no        re-me-dy 


3 


ILLUSTRATING  SHAKESPEARE. 


239 


My  pains  who  can  express  ? 

Alas  !  they  are  so  strong ; 
My  dolour  will  not  suffer  strength 

My  life  for  to  prolong. 
Toll  on,  &c. 

Alone  in  prison  strong 

I  wail  my  destiny ; 
Woe  worth  this  cruel  hap  that  I 

Should  taste  this  misery. 
Toll  on,  &c. 


Farewell  my  pleasures  past, 

Welcome  my  present  pain  ; 
I  feel  my  torments  so  increase, 

That  life  cannot  remain. 
Cease  now  the  passing  bell, 
Rung  is  my  doleful  knell, 
For  the  sound  my  death  doth  tell. 
Death  doth  draw  nigh, 
Sound  my  end  dolefully, 
For  now  I  die. 


CAN  YOU   NOT  HIT   IT,   MY    GOOD   MAN? 

The  following  lines  are  sung  by  Rosaline  and  Boyet  in  act  iv.,  sc.  1,  of  Love's 
Labour  Lost.  The  tune  was  transcribed  by  Dr.  Rimbault  from  one  of  the  MSS. 
presented  by  Bishop  Fell  to  the  Music  School  at  Oxford,  and  bearing  a  date  of 
1620.  Canst  thou  not  hit  it  is  mentioned  as  a  dance  in  the  play  of  Wily  Beguiled, 
written  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  In  1579,  "  a  ballat  intytuled  There  is  better 
game,  if  you  could  hit  it"  was  licensed  to  Hughe  Jaxon. 
Trippingly  and  moderately  fast. 


ROSALINE.— Thou  canst  not  hit  it,    hit    it,  hit      it,  Thou  canst  not  hit    it,      my  good  man. 


*  ^  *-    t£?~* 

r^r  f  *r 

.    can  -  not,  can  -  not,        An       I 


can  -  not,  an   -    o    -    ther  can. 


The  list  of  music  illustrating  Shakespeare  might  be  largely  increased,  by 
including  in  it  catches,  part-music,  and  the  works  of  known  composers,  which  do 
not  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  present  collection.  The  admirers  of  Shakespeare 
will  be  gratified  to  know  that  a  work  is  in  progress  which  will  include  not  only 
those,  but  also  such  of  the  original  music  to  his  dramas  as  can  still  be  found.* 

The  three  following  ballads,  with  which  I  close  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  were 
popular  in  the  time  of  Shakespeare,  but  are  not  mentioned  by  the  great  poet. 


»  This  work  (to  which  Dr.  Rimbault  has  devoted  many 
years  of  zealous  research)  will  be  entitled  "  A  Collection 
of  Ancient  Music,  illustrating  the  plays  and  poems  of 
Shakespeare."  The  first  portion  will  contain  all  that  now 
remains  of  the  original  music  to  his  dramas,  or  which,  if 
not  composed  for  the  first  representation  of  them,  was 
written  during  the  life-time  of  the  poet.  The  whole  of 


the  music  of  The  Tempest  will  be  included  in  this  part. 
Another  division  will  contain  the  old  songs,  ballads, 
catches,  &c.,  inserted,  or  alluded  to,  by  Shakespeare.  The 
dances  will  form  the  third  part.  It  was  owing  to  re- 
searches on  a  subject  so  much  akin  to  that  of  the  present 
Collection,  that  Dr.  Rimbault's  aid  lias  been  so  peculiarly 
valuable  in  this  work. 


240 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC 


BARA  FAUSTUS'  DREAM. 

In  the  instrumental  arrangements  of  this  tune  it  is  usually  entitled  Bar  a 
Faustus  (or  Barrow  Foster's)  Dream ;  and  when  found  as  a  song,  it  is  generally 
as,  "  Come,  sweet  love,  let  sorrow  cease." 

It  will  be  found  under  the  former  name  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book 
(twice);  in  Rossiter's  Lessons  for  Consort,  1609 ;  and  in  Nederlandtsche  Gedenck- 
Clanck,  1626,  under  the  latter  in  "Airs  and  Sonnets,"  MS.,  Trin.  Col.,  Dublin 
(F.  v.  13)  ;  in  the  MS.  containing  "It  was  a  lover  and  his  lass,"  described  at 
p.  204 ;  and  in  Forbes'  Cantus,  1682. 

Bara  Faustus*  Dreame  was  one  of  the  tunes  chosen  for  the  Psalmes  or  Songs 
of  Sion,  &c.,  1642. 

Smoothly,  and  with  expression. 


£=!=£ 


Come  sweet  Love,  let      sor-row  cease,       Banish  frowns,  leave    off    dis-sen-tion. 


£ 


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trJHK 


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T  i.i  rr  i-  i-          Sunshine  follows 

Love  s  war  makes  the  sweetest  peace,  Hearts  u-ni-tmg        by     contention,      .«    . 


& 


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af-ter  rain,     Sor-rows  ceas-ing,     This     is  pleasing,     All  proves  fair  a    -     gain. 

cometh  joy,  Trust  me,  prove  me,     try     me,  love  me,  This  will  care  an    -    noy. 

—  .^ 

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z« 

• 

THE  SPANISH  PAVAN. 

Dekker,  in  his  Knights  Conjuring  (1607)  thus  apostrophises  his  opponent : 
"  Thou,  most  clear-throated  singing  man,  with  thy  harp,  to  the  twinkling  of 
which  inferior  spirits  skipp'd  like  goats  over  the  Welsh  mountains,  hadst  privilege 
(because  thou  wert  a  fiddler)  to  be  saucy  ?  Inspire  me  with  thy  cunning,  and 
guide  me  in  true  fingering,  that  I  may  strike  those  tunes  which  thou  playd'st ! 
Lucifer  himself  danced  a  Lancashire  Hornpipe  whilst  thou  wert  there.  If  I  can 
but  harp  upon  thy  string,  he  shall  now,  for  my  pleasure,  tickle  up  The  Spanish 
Pavan"  The  tune  of  The  Spanish  Pavan  was  very  popular  in  the  reigns  of 
Elizabeth  and  James.  One  of  the  songs  in  Anthony  Munday's  Banquet  of 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


241 


Daintie  Conceits,  1588,  is  "to  the  note  of  The  Spanish  Pavin-,"  another  in 
part  ii.  of  Robin  Gt-oodfellow,  1628 ;  and  there  are  many  in  the  Pepys  and  Rox- 
burghe  Collections  of  Ballads. 

It  is  mentioned  as  a  dance  in  act  iv.,  sc.  2,  of  Middleton's  Blurt,  Master  Con- 
stalk,  1602  ;  and  in  act  i.,  sc.  2,  of  Ford's  'Tis  Pity,  1633.  In  the  former  the 
tune  is  played  for  Lazarillo  to  dance  The  Spanish  Pavan.  The  figure,  which 
differed  from  other  Pavans,  is  described  in  Thoinot  Arbeau's  Orchesographie,  1589; 
but  as  the  tune  there  printed  is  wholly  different  from  the  following  (which  is 
found  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book,  Sir 
J.  Hawkins'  transcripts  of  Virginal  Music,  &c.),  I  suppose  this  to  be  English, 
although  not  a  characteristic  air. 

The  ballad,  "  When  Samson  was  a  tall  young  man,"  (of  which  the  first  stanza 
is  here  printed)  is  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  32 ;  in  the  Roxburghe,  i.  366 ;  and 
in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  283  (1810). a  It  is  parodied  in  Eastward  Hoe,  the  joint 
production  of  Ben  Jonson,  Marston,  and  Chapman,  act  ii.,  sc.  1.  The  two  first 
lines  are  the  same  in  the  parody  and  the  ballad. 


-^         Moderat 

0  ,  b  

X\)   tl  i  — 

e  time. 

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—  i  — 

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(qr  < 
t/ 

When 
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Sam  -  son     was       a 

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LH    J    J  nJ  \v    <    i    *  i 
*                -T          i 

tall  young  man,  His  pow'r    and  strength  in   - 

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-creas-ed  then,  And       in  the  host    and  tribe  of  Dan, 

Hf 

The  Lord  did  bless  him      al  -  way. 

i 

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it 

T  =f 

:han-ced  so    up   • 

'  —  !-^  ^1  ' 
on     a  day,      As 

he     was      walking 

on       his     way,  He 

—  I  — 

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—  sa  1  

=5= 



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—  1  &  — 

~             a 

fel 


=F 

saw   a      maiden       fresh  and  gay,  In         Tim-nath,  in     Tim  -  nath. 


=^F 


a  The  copies  in  the  Pepys  and  Roxburghe  Collections 
differ.     The  former  has  no  printer's  name;  the  latter 


(which  is   followed    by    Evans)  was  printed    "  for  the 
assigns  of  T.  Symcocke." 


242 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND    BALLAD   MUSIC. 


WIGMOEE'S  GALLIARD. 

The  tune  from  William  Ballet's  Lute  Book.  In  Middleton's  Your  five  Gallants, 
Jack  says,  "  This  will  make  my  master  leap  out  of  the  bed  for  joy,  and  dance 
Wigmore* s  G-alliard  in  his  shirt  about  his  chamber !"  It  is  frequently  mentioned 
by  other  early  writers,  and  there  are  many  ballads  to  the  tune.  Among  them 
are  "  A  most  excellent  new  Dittie,  wherein  is  shewed  the  wise  sayings  and  wise 
sentences  of  Solomon,  wherein  each  estate  is  taught  his  dutie,  with  singular 
counsell  to  his  comfort  and  consolation  "  (a  copy  in  the  collection  of  the  late 
Mr.  W.  H.  Miller,  from  Heber's  Library).  "  A  most  famous  Dittie  of  the  joyful 
receiving  of  the  Queen's  most  excellent  Majestic  by  the  worthie  citizens  of 
London,  the  12th  day  of  November,  1584,  at  her  Grace's  coming  to  St.  James' " 
(a  copy  in  the  Collection  of  Mr.  George  Daniel).  In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  455, 
is  "A  most  excellent  Ditty  called  Collin's  Conceit,"  beginning — 

"  Conceits  of  sundry  sorts  there  are." 

Others  are  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Pepys  Collection  ;  in  the  Roxburghe  ;  in 
Anthony  Munday's  Banquet  of  Daintie  Conceits  ;  in  Deloney's  Strange  Histories, 
1607,  &c. 

The  following  stanza  is  from  the  ballad  of  "  King  Henry  the  Second  crowning 
his  son  Henry,  in  his  life-time,"  &c.,  by  Deloney.  The  entire  ballad  is  reprinted 
by  Evans  (ii.  63),  from  The  Garland  of  Delight,  but  he  omits  the  name  of  the  tune. 


V 

You      pa  -  rents,    whose       af  -  fee    -   turn      fond     Up    -     on 


your 


;):, 


— 


>    4 


m 


s 


st* 


& ~d~ 

•^ f 

chil    -    dren       doth         ap  -  pear,   Mark     well      the        sto    -    ry         now         in 


m 


—  ^  ?  — 

—  ._! 

I        |    _L,      -V       1 

n  —  i 

-9<a 
hai 

a  — 
id,W 

— 

5     -a  —  = 

(^ 

here  -  in      yo 

u 

1  1 

shall     grej 

r    i  - 

it 

h 

mat     -     ters 

hear.  . 

—  a.  

1  —  i  — 

«  =  

L 

REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


248 


GOOD  FELLOWS  MUST  GO  LEARN  TO  DANCE. 

The  following  ballad  is  from  a  copy  (probably  unique)  in  the  Collection  of 
Mr.  George  Daniel,  of  Canonbury.  It  may  be  sang  to  several  of  the  foregoing 
airs,  but  the  name  of  the  proper  tune  is  not  given  on  the  copy. 


A     NEW    BALLAD 

GOOD  FELLOWS   MUST 

Good  fellows  must  go  learn  to  dance, 

The  bridal  is  full  near- a, 
There  is  a  Braule  come  out  of  France, 

The  trick'st  you  heard  this  year-a  ; 
For  I  must  leap,  and  thou  must  hop, 

And  we  must  turn  all  three -a, 
The  fourth  must  bounce  it  like  a  top, 

And  so  we  shall  agree -a; 
I  pray  thee,  Minstrel,  make  no  stop, 

For  we  will  merry  be-a. 

The  bridegroom  would  give  20  pound 

The  marriage-day  were  past-a ; 
You  know  while  lovers  are  unbound, 

The  knot  is  slipp'ry  fast-a. 
A  better  man  may  come  in  place, 

And  take  the  bride  away-a; 
God  send  or  Wilkin  better  grace, 

Our  pretty  Tom  doth  say-a; 
Good  Vicar,  axe  the  banns  apace, 

And  haste  the  marriage-day-a. 


INTITULED 

GO  LEARN   TO  DANCE. 


A  baud  of  bells  in  bawdrick  wise 

Would  deck  us  in  our  kind-a ; 
A  shirt  after  the  Morris  guise, 

To  flounce  it  in  the  wind-a ; 
A  Whiffler  for  to  make  the  way, 

And  May  brought  in  with  all -a, 
Is  braver  than  the  sun,  I  say, 

And  passeth  Round  or  Braule-a, 
For  we  will  trip  so  trick  and  gay, 

That  we  will  pass  them  all-a. 

Draw  to  dancing,  neighbours  all, 

Good  fellows,  hip  is  best-a ; 
It  skills  not  if  we  take  a  fall, 

In  honoring  this  feast-a. 
The  bride  will  thank  us  for  our  glee, 

The  world  will  us  behold-a ; 
0  where  shall  all  this  dancing  be  ? 

In  Kent  or  in  Cotswold-a  ? 
Our  lord  doth  know,  then  axe  not  me, 

And  so  my  tale  is  told-a. 


Imprinted  at  London  in  Flete  Strete  at  the  signe  of  the  Faucon,  by  Wylliam 
Gryffith,  and  are  to  be  solde  at  his  shoppe  in  S.  Dunstones  Church  Yearde,  1569. 


244 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


REIGN    OP    JAMES    I. 


THE  most  distinguishing  feature  of  chamber  music,  in  the  reign  of  James  I., 
from  that  of  his  predecessor,  was  the  rapidly-increasing  cultivation  of  instrumental 
music,  especially  of  such  as  could  be  played  in  concert ;  and,  coevally,  the  in- 
cipient decline  of  the  more  learned,  but  less  melodious  descriptions  of  vocal  music, 
such  as  madrigals  and  motets. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  vocal  music  held  an  almost 
undivided  sway,  and  the  practice  of  instrumental  music,  in  private  life,  was 
generally  confined  to  solo  performances,  and  to  accompaniments  for  the  voice. 

The  change  of  fashion,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  trace  it,  may  be  dated  from 
1599,  in  which  year  Morley  printed  a  "  First  Booke  of  Consorte  Lessons,  made 
by  divers  exquisite  authors,"  for  six  instruments  to  play  together ;  and  Anthony 
Holborne  a  collection  of  "  Pavans,  Galliards,  Almaines,  and  other  short  airs,  both 
grave  and  light,  in  five  parts."  Morley's  publication  consisted  of  favorite 
subjects  arranged  for  the  Treble  Lute,  the  Pandora,*  the  Cittern,  the  (English) 
Flute,b  and  the  Treble  and  Bass  Viols.  Holborne's  was  for  Viols,  for  Violins,0 
or  for  wind-instruments. 

I  know  of  no  set  of  Madrigals  printed  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  which  is 
described  on  the  title-page  as  "apt  for  Viols  and  Voices" — it  was  fully  under- 
stood that  they  were  for  voices  only; — but,  from  1603,  when  James  ascended  the 
throne,  that  mode  of  describing  them,  became  so  general,  that  I  have  found  but 
two  sets  printed  without  it.d 


•  There  was  a  foreign  instrument  of  the  lute  descrip- 
tion, with  a  great  number  of  strings,  called  the  Pandura, 
but  I  imagine  the  English  Pandora  to  be  the  same  instru- 
ment as  the  .Bandora.  In  Thomas  Robinson's  "School 
of  Musicke,  the  perfect  fingering  of  the  Lute,  Pandora, 
Orpharion  and  Viol  da  Gamba"  the  music  is  noted  on  »ix 
lines,  for  an  instrument  of  six  strings  like  the  Lute.  In 
1613,  Drayton  and  Sir  William  Leighton  severally  enu- 
merated the  instruments  in  use  in  England.  Drayton 
names  the  "  Pandore"  among  instruments  strung  with 
wire.  Sir  William  Leighton  speaks  of  the  "Bandore," 
but  neither  of  both.  In  1609,  Philip  Rosseter  printed  a 
set  of  "  Lessons  for  Consort,"  like  Morley's,  and  for  the 
same  six  instruments,  if  the  Bandora  be  not  an  ex- 
ception. It  was  a  large  instrument  of  the  lute  kind, 
with  the  same  number  of  strings  (but  in  all  probability  of 
wire),  and  invented  in  1562  by  John  Rose,  citizen  of 
London,  dwelling  in  Bridewell.  It  was  much  used  in 
this  reign,  especially  with  the  Cittern,  to  which  it  formed 
the  appropriate  base. 

b  The  English  flute,  described  by  Mersenne  as  the 
Fistula  fluids,  sen  Anglica,  and  by  some  as  the  Flute 
it  bee,  has  eight  holes  for  the  fingers,  and  a  mouth-piece 
at  the  end  like  a  flageolet.  Of  the  eight  holes,  six  are  in 
a  row  in  front,  one  at  the  end  for  the  little  finger 
( added  afterwards ),  and  one  at  the  back  for  the 
thumb.  The  tone  is  soft,  rich,  and  melodious,  but  less 
brilliant  than  the  present  flute.  The  ordinary  length  is 


rather  more  than  two  feet.  I  had  three  or  four  of  differ- 
ent sizes,  the  largest  exceeding  four  feet  in  length.  The 
base  flute  must  have  been  still  longer.  The  modern 
flute  is  blown  like  the  old  fife  ;  or  as  in  the  ancient 
sculpture  of  The  Piping  Fawn. 

«  Under  the  name  of  "Violins  "  the  four  different  sizes 
of  the  instrument  are  here  comprehended.  The  word 
Violoncello  is  of  comparatively  modern  use.  In  Ben 
Jonson's  Bartholomew  Fair,  we  find,  "A  set  of  these 
Violins  I  would  buy,  too,  for  a  delicate  young  noise"  (i.e., 
company  of  young  musicians)  "I  have  in  the  country; 
they  are  every  one  a  size  le«s  than  another;— just  like  your 
fiddles." — Act  iii.,  sc.  1.  Charles  the  Second's  famous 
band  of  "  four-and-twenty  fiddlers,  all  in  a  row,"  con- 
sisted of  six  violins,  six  counter-tenors,  six  tenors, 
and  six  bases.  The  counter-tenor  violin  has  become  ob- 
solete, because  all  the  notes  of  its  scale  could  be  played 
upon  the  violin  or  tenor. 

d  The  exceptions  are  Bateson's  First  Set  of  Madrigals, 
1604,  and  Pilkington's  First  Set,  1613,  but  the  second  sets 
of  both  authors  are  described  as  ''apt  for  viols  and  voices." 
So  are  Wilbye's  Second  Set,  1609 ;  Michael  Este's  Eight  Sets, 
of  various  dates,  and  the  Madrigals  of  Orlando  Gibbons, 
Robert  Jones,  John  Ward,  Henry  Lichfield,  Walter  Porter, 
as  well  as  Byrd's  Psalmes,  Songs,  and  Sonnets,  1611 :  Peer- 
son's  Motets  or  Grave  Chamber  Music,  1630;  and  many 
lighter  kinds  of  music.  See  Rimbault's  Bibliotheca 
Madrigaliana,  8vo.,  1847. 


REIGN   OF  JAMES   I. 


245 


Between  1603  and  1609,  Dowland  printed  his  "Lacrimse,  or  Seven  Teares 
figured  in  seven  passionate  Pavans,  with  divers  other  Pavans,  Galliards,  and 
Almands."  This  work,  to  which  there  are  so  many  allusions  by  contemporary 
Dramatists,  was  in  five  parts,  for  the  Lute,  Viols,  or  Violins.  In  1609,  Rossiter 
printed  his  "  Lessons  for  Consort"  for  the  same  six  instruments  as  Morley.  In 
1611,  Morley's  work  was  reprinted,4  and  about  the  same  time  Orlando  Gibbons 
published  his  Fantasies  of  three  parts  for  Viols.11 


»  Twelve  volumes  of  Dr.  Bumey's  MS.  extracts  for  his 
History  of  Music  were  formerly  in  my  possession,  and  are 
now  in  the  British  Museum,  in  one  of  them  (Add.  MSS. 
11,587)  are  his  extracts  from  Morley's  Consort  Lessons. 
To  "O  mistress  mine  "  (which  I  have  printed  at  p.  209) 
he  appends  the  following  note: — "  If  any  melody  or  move- 
ment, besides  the  Hornpipe  (a  tune  played  by  the  Cornish 
pipe,  or  pipe  of  Cornwall),  he  truly  native,  it  seems  to  be 
this ;  which  has  the  genuine  drawl  of  our  country  clowns 
and  ballad  singers  in  sorrowful  ditties,  as  the  hornpipe  has 
the  coarse  and  vulgar  jollity  of  their  mirth  and  merri- 
ment." This  criticism  is  a  curiosity,  and  not  less  curious 
is  the  judgment  he  passes  on  the  Consort  Lessons,  after 
scoring  two  out  of  the  six  parts  (the  Treble  Viol  and 
Flute),  and  adding  his  own  base.  Morley  dedicates  them 
to  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  and  Dr.  Burney  says, 
"  Master  Morley,  supposing  that  the  harmony  which  was 
to  be  heard  through  the  clattering  of  knives,  forks,  spoons, 
and  plates,  with  the  jingling  of  glasses,  and  clamorous 
conversation  of  a  city  feast,  need  not  be  very  accurate  and 
refined,  was  not  very  nice  in  setting  parts  to  these  tunes, 
if  we  may  judge  of  the  rest  by  what  passes  between  the  viol 
and  flute"  &c.  The  whole  of  this  passage  is  transferred 
to  his  History  of  Music  (iii.  102,  Note  D,  1789),  except 
the  qualification,  "if  we  may  judge,"  &c.  It  was  not 
advisable  to  tell  the  reader  how  he  had  formed  his  opinion 
of  a  work  that  had  formerly  passed  through  two  editions. 
Among  Dr.  Burney's  other  criticisms  of  English  Music 
( for  his  H  istory  is  essentially  a  critical  one,  and  he  has  been 
commonly  quoted  as  an  authority)  are  the  following,  which 
are  also  directly  connected  with  the  subject  of  this  book : — 
In  vol.  ii.,  p.  453,  he  says,  "  It  is  related  by  Gio.  Battista 
Donado  that  the  Turks  have  a  limited  number  of  tunes,  to 
which  the  poets  of  their  country  have  continued  to  write 
for  ages ;  and  the  vocal  music  of  our  own  country  seems 
long  to  have  been  equally  circumscribed ;  for,  till  the  last 
century,  it  seems  as  if  the  number  of  our  secular  and 
popular  melodies  did  not  greatly  exceed  that  of  the  Turks." 
In  a  note  it  is  stated  that  the  tunes  of  the  Turks  were  in 
all  twenty-four;  which  were  to  depict  melancholy,  joy,  or 
fury;  to  be  mellifluous  or  amorous.  It  may  not,  I  hope, 
be  too  presumptuous  to  say  that  Dr.  Burney  knew  very 
little  of  the  subject.  In  vol.  iii.,  143,  after  criticising  a 
work  printed  in  1614,  and  saying,  "The  Violin  was  now 
hardly  known  by  the  English,  in  shape  or  name"  (although 
Ben  Jonson  describes  the  instrument,  at  that  very  time,  _ 
as  commonly  sold  with  roast  pigs  in  Bartholomew  Fair, 
and  violins  had  certainly  been  used  on  the  English 
stage  from  its  infancy.  See,  for  instance,  the  tragedy  of 
Gorboduc,  or  Ferrex  and  Porrex,  acted  by  the  gentlemen 
of  the  Inner  Temple  before  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  1561); 
he  adds,  "And  the  low  state  of  our  regal  music 
in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  1530,  may  be  gathered 
from  the  accounts  given  in  Hall  and  Hollinshed's 
Chronicles,  of  a  Masque  at  Cardinal  Wolsey's  palace, 
Whitehall,  where  the  King  was  entertained  with  'aeon- 
cert  of  drums  and  fifes.'"  He  then  says,  "  But  this  was 


soft  music  compared  with  that  of  his  heroic  daughter 
Elizabeth,  who,  according  to  Hentzner,  used  to  be  regaled 
during  dinner  "with  twelve  trumpets,  and  two  kettle- 
drums; which,  together  with  fifes,  cornets,  and  side-drums, 
made  the  hall  ring  for  half  an  hour  together."  I  find 
nothing  of  the  kind  in  Hall's  Chronicle  (there  is  a  short 
notice  of  a  similar  Masque  at  Cardinal  Wolsey's,  in  the 
tenth  year  of  Henry  VIII.,  fol.  65,  b.  1548,  but  no  drums 
and  fifes) ;  and  Hollinshed,  who  takes  the  account  from 
Cavendish's  Life  of  Wolsey,  is  speaking  not  of  a  "concert " 
at  the  Cardinal's,  but  of  the  manner  of  receiving  the  King 
and  some  of  his  nobles,  who  came  by  water  to  a  Masque; 
firstly  by  firing  off  "  divers  chambers "  (short  guns  that 
make  a  loud  report)  at  his  landing,  and  then  conducting 
him  up  into  the  chamber  "  with  such  a  noise  of  drums 
and  fleutes,  as  seldom  had  been  heard  the  like."  Caven- 
dish says,  "with  such  a  number  of  drums  and  fifes  as 
I  have  seldom  seen  together  at  one  time  in  any  masque  " 
(Singer's  edit.,  8vo.,  1825);  and,  describing  the  masques 
generally,  says,  "Then  was  there  all  kind  of  music  and 
harmony  set  forth,  with  excellent  voices  both  of  men  and 
children."  Sagudino,  the  Venetian  Ambassador,  who 
describes  a  banquet  given  by  Henry  VIII.,  in  honor  of 
the  Flemish  envoys,  on  the  7th  July,  1517,  says,  "during 
the  dinner  there  were  boys  on  a  stage  in  the  centre  of  the 
hall,  some  of  whom  sang,  and  others  played  the  flute,  re- 
beck, and  virginals,  making  the  sweetest  melody."  As  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  I  quote  Hentzner's  words  from  the  copy 
used  by  Dr.  Burney :  "  During  the  time  this  guard,  which 
consists  of  the  tallest  and  stoutest  men  that  can  be  found 
in  all  England,  were  bringing  dinner,  twelve  trumpets  and 
two  kettle-drums  made  the  hall  ring  for  half  an  hour  to- 
gether." (This  was  the  loud  music  to  give  notice  to  pre- 
pare for  dinner,  like  the  gong,  or  dinner-bell  of  the  present 
day,  but  the  fifes,  cornets,  and  side-drums,  are  of  Dr. 
Burney's  invention.)  "At  the  end  of  all  this  ceremonial 
a  number  of  unmarried  ladies  appeared,  \i\\o  with  par- 
ticular solemnity  lifted  the  meat  off  the  table,  and  conveyed 
it  into  the  Queen's  inner  and  more  private  chamber,  where, 
after  she  had  chosen  for  herself,  the  rest  goes  to  the  ladies 
of  the  Court.  The  Queen  dines  and  sups  alone,  with  very 
few  attendants,"  &c.  Hentzner  also  says,  "Without  the 
city"  (of  London)  "are  some  theatres  where  English 
actors  represent  almost  every  day  tragedies  and  comedies 
to  very  numerous  audiences:  these  are  concluded  with 
excellent  music,  variety  of  dances,  and  the  excessive 
applause  of  those  that  are  present."  The  original  words 
are  "  quas  variis  etiam  saltationibus,  suavissima  adhibit;! 
musica,  magno  cum  populi  applausu  finiresolent."  Again, 
in  summing  up  the  character  of  the  English  in  a  few 
lines,  he  says,  "  They  excel  in  dancing  and  music,  for  they 
are  active  and  lively,  though  of  a  thicker  make  than  the 
French."  Dr.  Bumey,  throughout  his  History,  writes  in 
a  similarly  disparaging  strain  about  English  music  and 
English  musicians,  for  which  I  am  unable  to  account. 

bFortherepublication  of  these,  and  many  other  works  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  world  is  in- 


246 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Viols  had  six  strings,  and  the  position  of  the  fingers  was  marked  on  the  finger- 
board by  frets,  as  in  guitars  of  the  present  day.  The  "  Chest  of  Viols  "  consisted 
of  three,  four,  five,  or  six  of  different  sizes ;  one  for  the  treble,  others  for  the  mean, 
the  counter-tenor,  the  tenor,  and  perhaps  two  for  the  base.  Old  English  musical 
instruments  were  commonly  made  of  three  or  four  different  sizes,  so  that  a  player 
might  take  any  of  the  four  parts  that  were  required  to  fill  up  the  harmony.  So 
Violins,  Lutes,  Recorders,  Flutes,  Shawms,  &c.,  have  been  described  by  some 
writers  in  a  manner  which  (to  those  unacquainted  with  this  peculiarity)  has 
appeared  irreconcileable  with  other  accounts.  Shakespeare  (in  Hamlet)  speaks  of 
the  Recorder  as  a  little  pipe,  and  says,  in  A  Midsummer  NigTifs  Dream,  "he  hath 
played  on  his  prologue  like  a  child  on  a  recorder ; "  but  in  an  engraving  of  the 
instrument,*  it  reaches  from  the  lip  to  the  knee  of  the  performer;  and  among 
those  left  by  Henry  VIII.  were  Recorders  of  box,  oak,  and  ivory,  great  and  small, 
two  base  recorders  of  walnut,  and  one  great  base  recorder.  In  the  same  catalogue 
we  find  "  flutes  called  Pilgrims'  staves,"  which  were  probably  six  feet  long. 
.  Richard  Braithwait,  a  writer  of  this  reign,  has  "  set  down  Some  Rules  for  the 
Government  of  the  House  of  an  Earl"  in  which  the  Earl  was  to  keep  "five 
musitions  skillfull  in  that  commendable  sweete  science,"  and  they  were  required 
to  teach  the  Earl's  children  to  sing,  and  to  play  upon  the  base-viol,  the  virginals, 
the  lute,  and  the  bandora,  or  cittern.  When  he  gave  "  great  feasts,"  the  musi- 
cians were  to  play,  whilst  the  service  was  going  to  the  table,  upon  Sackbuts, 
Cornets,  Shawms,  and  "such  other  instruments  going  with  wind;"b  and  upon 
"  Viols,  Violins,  or  other  broken0  musicke,"  during  the  repast. 

The  custom  of  retaining  musicians  in  the  service  of  families  continued  to  the 
time  of  the  Protectorate.  It  was  not  confined  to  men  of  high  rank  (either  in  this 
or  the  preceding  century),  but  was  general  with  the  wealthy  of  all  classes. 


debted  to  the  Musical  Antiquarian  Society.  The  Madri- 
gals of  Wilbye,  Weelkes,  Bennet,  Bateson,  and  Gibbons; 
the  Ballets  of  Morley  and  Hilton ;  the  four-part  songs  of 
Dowland,  and  four  Operas  by  Purcell ;  besides  the  first 
music  printed  for  the  Virginals,  the  four-part  Psalms  by 
Este,  and  various  Anthems,  &c.,  &c. 

•  See  "  The  Genteel  Companion  for  the  Recorder,"  by 
Humphrey  Salter,  1683.  Recorders  and  (English)  Flutes 
are  to  outward  appearance  the  same,  although  Lord  Bacon, 
in  his  Natural  History,  cent,  iii.,  sec.  221,  says  the  Re- 
corder hath  a  less  bore,  and  a  greater  above  and  below. 
The  number  of  holes  for  the  fingers  is  the  same,  and  the 
scale,  the  compass,  and  the  manner  of  playing,  the  same. 
Salter  describes  the  recorder  from  which  the  instrument 
derives  its  name,  as  situate  in  the  upper  part  of  it,  i.e., 
between  the  hole  below  the  mouth  and  the  highest  hole 
for  the  finger.  He  says,  "Of  the  kinds  of  music,  vocal 
has  always  had  the  preference  in  esteem,  and  in  con- 
sequence, the  Recorder,  as  approaching  nearest  to  th« 
tweet  delightfuluess  of  the  voice,  ought  to  have  first  place 
in  opinion,  as  we  see  by  the  universal  use  of  it  confirmed." 
The  Hautboy  is  considered  now  to  approach  most  nearly 
to  the  human  voice,  and  Mr.  Ward,  the  military  instru- 
ment manufacturer,  informs  me  that  he  has  seen  "old 
English  Flutes  "  with  a  hole  bored  through  the  side,  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  instrument,  the  holes  being  covered 
with  a  thin  piece  of  skin,  like  gold-beater's  skin.  1  sup- 
pose this  would  give  somewhat  the  effect  of  the  quill  or 


reed  in  the  Hautboy,  and  that  these  were  Recorders.  In 
the  proverbs  at  Leckingfield  (quoted  ante  Note  b,  p.  35), 
the  Recorder  is  described  as  "desiring"  the  mean  part, 
but  manifold  fingering  and  stops  bringeth  high  (notes) 
from  its  clear  tones.  This  agrees  with  Salter's  book.  He 
tells  us  the  high  notes  are  produced  by  placing  the  thumb 
AoJ/over  the  hole  at  the  back,  and  blowing  a  little  stronger. 
Recorders  were  used  for  teaching  birds  to  pipe. 

b  In  Middleton's  play,  The  Spanish  Gipsy,  act  ii.,  sc.  1, 
is  another  allusion  to  the  loud  music  while  dinner  was 
being  carried  in,  as  well  as  a  common  pun  upon  sackbuts 
and  sack. 

Alv.  "  You  must  not  look  to  have  your  dinner  served  in 
with  trumpets." 

Car.  "  No,  no,  sack-buts  shall  serve  us." 

"  "Broken  Music,"  as  is  evident  from  this  and  other 
passages,  means  what  we  now  term  "a  string  band." 
Shakespeare  plays  with  the  term  twice:  firstly  in  Troilui 
andCressida,  act  iii.,  sc.  1,  proving  that  the  musicians  then 
on  the  stage  were  performing  on  stringed  instruments; 
and  secondly  in  Henry  V.,  act  v.,  sc.  2,  where  he  says  to 
the  French  Princess  Katherine,  "  Come,  your  answer  in 
broken  music;  for  thy  voice  is  music  and  thy  English 
broken."  The  term  originated  probably  from  harps,  lutes, 
and  such  other  stringed  instruments  as  were  played  with- 
out a  bow,  not  having  the  capability  to  sustain  a  long  note 
to  its  full  duration  of  time. 


REIGN   OF  JAMES  I. 


247 


So  the  old  merchant  in  Shirley's  Love  Tricks  (licensed  1625)  says,  "  I  made  a 
ditty,  and  my  musician,  that  I  keep  in  my  house  to  teach  my  daughter,  hath  set  it 
to  a  very  good  air,  he  tells  me."  At  least  one  wealthy  merchant  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.  retained  as  many  musicians  in  his  service  as  are  prescribed  for  the 
household  of  an  Earl  in  James'  reign.  Sir  Thomas  Kytson,  citizen  and  mercer, 
built  Hengrave  Hall,  in  Suffolk,  between  the  years  1525  and  1538,  and  at  the 
death  of  his  son  (towards  the  close  of  Elizabeth's  reign)  inventories  of  all  the  fur- 
niture and  effects  were  taken,  including  those  of  "  the  chamber  where  the  musicyons 
playe,"  and  of  the  "  instruments  and  books  of  musicke"  it  contained.*  With  the 
exception  of  those  for  the  lute,  all  the  books  of  instrumental  music  were  in  sets  of 
five  (for  music  in  five  or  more  parts) ,  as  well  as  those  containing  the  vocal  music, 
described  as  "  old."  The  number  of  musicians  was  perhaps  increased  by  his  son, 
for  in  the  household  expenses  of  the  year  1574,  we  find,  "  seven  cornets  bought 
for  the  musicians ; "  and  the  viols,  violins,  and  recorders,  in  the  inventory,  are 
(like  those  of  Henry  VHI.)  in  chests  or  cases  containing  six  or  seven  of  each ; 
whilst  much  of  the  vocal  music  required  six,  and  some  seven  and  eight,  voices 
to  sing  it.  In  1575  he  lent  the  services  of  Robert  Johnson,  Mus.  Bac.,  one  of 
his  musicians,  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  on  the  occasion  of  the  pageants  at 
Kenilworth. 

Although  we  have  no  old  English  book  written  for  the  purpose  of  describing  the 
musical  instruments  in  use  in  former  days,  like  those  of  Mersenne  and  Kircher 
for  France  and  Germany,  we  find  in  our  translations  of  the  Bible  and  the 
Metrical  Psalms,  the  names  of  all  in  general  use  at  the  times  those  translations 
were  made,  for  the  Hebrew  instruments  are  all  rendered  by  the  names  of  such  as 
were  then  commonly  known.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  picture  David  play- 
ing on  the  harp,  that  we  are  not  easily  reconciled  to  the  French  version  of  the 
Psalms,  in  which,  in  translations  of  the  same  passages,  the  violin  is  the  instru- 
ment assigned  to  him  ;  and  what  we  translate  lute,  they  render  bagpipe  (musette). 
It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  upon  a  detailed  account  of  musical  instruments,1* 
but  the  curious  in  such  matters  will  fintl  in  Sir  William  Leighton's  "  Teares  or 
Lamentations  of  a  sorrowful  soule,"  a  long  catalogue  of  those  known  at  this  period. 
It  is  contained  in  "  A  thanksgiving  to  God,  with  magnifying  of  his  holy  name  upon 
all  instruments?  In  the  following  lines  from  Song  IV.  in  Drayton's  Poly-olbion, 
printed  in  the  same  year  (1613),  many  of  those  in  common  use  are  cited: — 


m  History  and  Antiquities  of  Hengrave,  by  John  Gage, 
F.S.A.,  fol.,  1822.  There  are  six  viols  in  a  chest;  six 
violins  in  a  chest  (in  1572  a  treble  violin  cost  20s.);  seven 
recorders  in  a  case;  besides  lutes,  cornets,  bandoras, 
citterns,  sackbuts,  flutes,  hautboys,  acurtall  (orshortsort 
of  bassoon),  a  lysarden  (base  cornet,  or  serpent),  a  pair  of 
little  virginals,  a  pair  of  double  virginals,  "a  wind  instru- 
ment like  a  virginal,"  and  a  pair  of  double  organs. 

b  Sir  John  Hawkins'  descriptions  of  musical  instru- 
ments are  too  much  drawn  from  foreign  sources.  English 
instruments  often  differed  materially  from  those  in  use 
abroad,  as  many  do  at  the  present  day.  I  cannot  agree 
with  his  description  of  the  Cittern  (it  has  too  many  strings) 
or  of  some  others.  The  catalogue  of  musical  instru- 
ments left  by  Henry  VIII.  (Harl.  MSS.  1419,  fol.  200) 
was  unfortunately  unknown  to  him,  or  it  would  have 
explained  many  difficulties. 


c  A  copy  with  music  in  the  British  Museum.  Among 
the  instruments  not  mentioned  by  Drayton  are  the  follow- 
ing, which  I  give  in  Sir  William  Leighton's  spelling: — 
"Regalls,  Simballs,  Timbrell,  Syrons,  Crowdes,  Clari- 
coales,  Dulsemers,  Crouncorns,  and  Simfonie."  He  men- 
tions the  Drum  after  the  Simphony,  thereby  apparently 
drawing  a  distinction  between  them,  but  according  to 
Bartholomeus  De  Proprietatibus  Rerum,  printed  by 
Wynken  de  Worde,  the  Simphony  is  "an  instrument 
of  musyke  .  .  .  made  of  an  holowe  tree,  closed  in  lether 
in  eyther  syde,  and  mystrels  betyth  it  wyth  styckes?" 
"  Crouncom"  means,  perhaps,  Krumhorn  or  Cromhorn,  a 
crooked  horn,  in  imitation  of  which  we  have  a  reed  stop  in 
old  organs  called  the  Cromhorn,  which  is  now  corrupted 
into  Cremona.  Henry  VIII.,  at  his  death,  left  several 
cases  containing  from  four  to  seven  Crumhorns  in  each. 


248  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD  MUSIC. 

"  When  now  the  British  side  scarce  finished  their  song, 
But  th*  English,  that  repin'd  to  be  delay'd  so  long, 
All  quickly  at  the  hint,  as  with  one  free  consent, 
Struck  up  at  once  and  sung,  each  to  the  instrument 
(Of  sundry  sorts  that  were,  as  the  musician  likes), 
On  which  the  practic'd  hand  with  perfect' st  fing'ring  strikes, 
Whereby  their  height  of  skill  might  liveliest  be  exprest. 
The  trembling  Lute  some  touch,  some  strain  the  Viol  best, 
In  sets  that  there  were  seen,  the  music  wondrous  choice. 
Some,  likewise,  there  affect  the  Gamba  with  the  voice, 
To  shew  that  England  could  variety  afford. 
Some  that  delight  to  touch  the  sterner  wiry  chord, 
The  Cithren,  the  Pandore,  and  the  Theorbo  strike  : 
The  Gittern  and  the  Kit  the  wand'ring  fiddlers  like. 
So  were  there  some  again,  in  this  their  learned  strife, 
Loud  instruments  that  lov'd,  the  Cornet"  and  the  Fife, 
The  Hoboy,  Sackbut  deep,  Recorder,  and  the  Flute ; 
E'en  from  the  shrillest  Shawm  unto  the  Cornamute. 
Some  blow  the  Bagpipe  up,  that  plays  the  Country-Round; 
The  Tabor  and  the  Pipe  some  take  delight  to  sound." 

The  Sundry  Musiques  of  England, 

In  consequence  of  the  almost  universal  cultivation  of  music  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  of  the  great  employment  and  encouragement  of  musicians,  so  many 
persons  embraced  music  as  a  profession,  that  England  overflowed  with  them. 
Many  travelled,  and  some  were  tempted  by  lucrative  engagements  to  settle  abroad. 
Dowland,  whose  "  touch  upon  the  lute "  was  said  to  "  ravish  human  sense," 
travelled  through  Italy,  France,  Germany,  and  the  Netherlands,  and  about  the 
year  1 600  became  lutenist  to  the  King  of  Denmark.  On  Dowland's  return  to 
England  in  1607,  Christian  IV.  begged  of  Lady  Arabella  Stuart  (through  the 
Queen  and  Prince  Henry)  to  allow  Thomas  Cutting,  another  famous  lutenist,  then 
in  her  service,  to  replace  him.  Peter  Phillips,  better  known  on  the  continent 
(where  the  greater  part  of  his  works  were  printed)  as  Pietro  Philippi,  accepted  an 
engagement  as  organist  to  the  Arch-duke  and  Duchess  of  Austria,  governors  of 
the  Low  Countries,  and  settled  there.  John  Cooper  spent  much  of  his  life  in 
Italy,  and  was  called  Coprario,  or  Cuperario.  There  were  few,  if  any,  Italian 
composers  or  singers  then  in  England,b  and  the  music  of  Italy  was  chiefly  known 
by  the  Madrigal,  for  the  sacred  music,  as  being  for  the  service  of  the  Mass,  was 
strictly  prohibited. 

•  Among  Henry  the  Eighth's  instruments  were  "Git-  voices  in  Cathedral  Service.    The  base  Cornet  was  of  a 

teron  Pipes  of  ivory  or  wood,  called  Cornets."    The  Cornet  more  serpentine  form,  and  from  four  to  five  feet  in  length ; 

described  by  Mersenne  is  of  a  bent  shape,  like  the  segment  but  Mersenne  says,  the  Serpent  (contorted  to  render  it 

of  a  large  circle,  gradually  tapering  from  the  bottom  to  more  easy  of  carriage,  as  its  length  was  six  feet  one  inch) 

the  mouth-piece,    The  cornet  was  of  a  loud  sound,  but  was  the  genuine  base  of  that  instrument, 
in  skilful  hands  could  be  modulated  so  as  to  resemble  the  b  Alfonso  Ferabosco,   the   elder,   was  born,  of  Italian 

tones  of  the  human  voice.     In  Ben  Jonson's  Masque  of  parents,  at  Greenwich.    As  he  was  brought  up  and  lived 

Neptune's  Triumph,  the  instruments  employed  were  five  in  England,  he  can  scarcely  be  considered  as  an  Italian 

Lutes  and  threeCornets.   In  several  other  Masques,  Lutes  musician.     Nicholas  Lanier  was  an  Italian  by  birth,  and 

and  Cornets  were  the  only  instruments  used.      At  the  came  to  England  as  an  engraver.     He  settled  here,  and 

Restoration,   Cornets  supplied    the    deficiency  of  boys'  became  an  eminent  musician. 


REIGN  OF  JAMES   I.  249 

Anthony  &  Wood  tells  the  following  story  of  Dr.  John  Bull: — While 
travelling  incognito  through  France  and  Germany  for  the  recovery  of  his  health, 
he  heard  of  a  famous  musician  belonging  to  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Omer,  and 
applied  to  him  to  see  his  works.  The  musician  having  conducted  Bull  to  a  vestry 
or  music-school  adjoining  the  Cathedral,  shewed  him  a  lesson  or  song  of  forty 
parts,  and  then  made  a  vaunting  challenge  to  any  person  in  the  world  to  add  one 
more  part,  supposing  it  so  complete  that  it  was  impossible  to  correct  or  add  to  it. 
Dr.  Bull  having  requested  to  be  locked  up  for  two  or  three  hours,  speedily  added 
forty  more  parts,  whereupon  the  musician  declared  that  "  he  that  added  those 
forty  parts  must  either  be  the  devil  or  Dr.  John  Bull."a  In  1613,  Bull  (to 
whom  many  offers  of  preferment  at  foreign  courts  had  been  previously  made) 
quitted  England,  and  went  to  reside  in  the  Netherlands,  where  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  Archduke. 

The  emigration  of  musicians  was  not  confined  to  a  few  of  the  most  eminent,  for 
we  hear,  indirectly,  of  many  in  the  employ  of  foreign  courts,  whose  movements 
would  not  otherwise  be  recorded.  Thus  Taylor,  the  water-poet,  who  had  just 
described  the  Lutes,  Viols,  Bandoras,  Recorders,  Sackbuts,  and  Organs,  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Graf  (or  Count)  of  Schomburg,  says,  "I  was  conducted  an  English 
mile  on  my  way  by  certain  of  my  countrymen,  my  Lord's  musicians." 

We  are  indebted  to  foreign  countries  for  the  preservation  of  many  of  the  works 
of  our  best  musicians  of  this  age,  as  well  as  of  our  popular  tunes.  Dr.  Bull's 
music  is  chiefly  to  be  found  in  foreign  manuscripts.15  Dowland  tells  us  that  "some 
part  of  his  poor  labours  "  had  been  printed  in  eight  cities  beyond  the  seas,  viz., 
Paris,  Antwerp,  Cologne,  Nuremburg,  Frankfort,  Leipzig,  Amsterdam,  and  Ham- 
burg. Much  of  the  music  printed  in  Holland  in  the  seventeenth  century  was  also 
by  English  Composers.  The  right  of  printing  music  in  England  was  a  monopoly, 
generally  in  the  hands  of  one  or  two  musicians,0  and  therefore  very  little,  and 
only  such  as  they  chose,  could  be  printed.  Hence  the  scarcity,  as  well  as  the 
frequent  imperfection,  of  these  early  works. 

In  London,  each  ward  of  the  city  had  its  musicians ;  there  was  also  the  Fins- 
bury  Music,  the  Southwark  and  the  Blackfriars  Music,  as  well  as  the  Waits  of 
London  and  Westminster.  Morley  thus  alludes  to  the  Waits,  in  the  dedication 
of  his  Consort  Lessons  to  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen :  "As  the  ancient 
custom  of  this  most  honourable  and  renowned  city  hath  been  ever  to  retain  and 
maintain  excellent  and  expert  musicians  to  adorn  your  honours'  favours,  feasts, 
and  solemn  meetings :  to  those,  your  Lordships'  Wayts,  I  recommend  the  same." 
A  "  Wayte,"  in  the  time  of  Edward  IV.,  had  to  pipe  watch  four  times  in  the 
night,  from  Michaelmas  to  Shrovetide,  and  three  in  the  summer,  as  well  as  to 

•  Such  exercises  of  learned  ingenuity  were  common  in  b  One  foreign  manuscript  volume  of  Dr.  Bull's  works 

that  day.    Tallis  wrote  a  Motet  in  forty  parts,  a  copy  of  is  now  in  my  possession,  and  another  in  that  of  Mr. 

which  is  now  before  me.    It  is  for  eight  choirs,  each  of  Richard  Clarke,  who  asserts  that  it  contains  "  God  save 

five  voices  ;  the  voices  only  coming  together  occasionally.  the  King,"  of  which  more  hereafter.     The  contents  of 

Dr.  Buniey  discredits  Dr.  Bull's  feat  as  "  impossible,"  both  are  described  in  Ward's  Livet  of  the  Graham  Pro- 

but  I  am  assured  by  Dr.  Rimbault  and  by  Mr.  Macfarren,  fessors. 

who  have  seen  this  Motet,  that  whether  the  story  be  true  c  It  was  held  by  Tallis  and  Byrd  from  1575  to  1596,  then 
or  not,  it  was  quite  possible.     In  all  cases  the  anecdote  by  Morley  and  his  assignee.     See  Introduction  to  Rim- 
may  be  taken  as  a  proof  of  the  very  high  reputation  Dr.  bault's  Bibliotltica  Madrigaliana,  8vo.,  1847. 
Bull  enjoyed. 


250 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


"make  ban  gayte"  at  every  chamber  door;  but  Morley's  Consort  Lessons,  as 
before  mentioned,  required  six  instruments  to  play  them,a  and  the  city  bands  are 
commonly  quoted  as  playing  in  six  parts.b 

After  the  act  of  the  39th  year  of  Elizabeth,  which  rendered  all  "  minstrels 
wandering  abroad "  liable  to  punishment  as  "  rogues,  vagabonds,  and  sturdy 
beggars,"  all  itinerant  musicians  were  obliged  to  wear  cloaks  and  badges,  with  the 
arms  of  some  nobleman,  gentleman,  or  corporate  body,  to  denote  in  whose  service 
they  were  engaged,  being  thereby  excepted  from  the  operation  of  the  act.  So  in 
Ram  Alley,  1611,  Sir  Oliver  says — 

"  Musicians,  on ! 

Lightly,  lightly,  and  by  my  knighthood's  spurs 

This  year  you  shall  have  my  protection, 

And  yet  not  buy  your  livery  coats  yourselves." 

And  as  late  as  1699,  we  find  in  Sistoria  Histrionica,  "  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the 
lords  in  those  days,  and  persons  of  eminent  quality,  had  their  several  gangs  of 
players,  as  some  have  now  of  fiddlers,  to  whom  they  give  cloaks  and  badges." 

Musicians  in  the  service  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen  seem  to  have  held  a 
prescriptive  right  to  go  and  perform  to  the  friends  and  acquaintances  of  their 
masters,  whenever  they  wanted  money :  such  visits  were  received  as  compliments, 
and  the  musicians  were  rewarded  in  proportion  to  the  rank  of  their  masters. 
Innumerable  instances  of  this  will  be  found  in  early  books  of  household  expen- 
diture ;  but,  in  James'  reign,  musicians  not  actually  in  employ  presumed  so  far 
upon  the  license,  that  their  intrusion  into  all  companies,  and  at  all  times,  became 
a  constant  subject  of  rebuke.  Ben  Jonson's  Club,  the  Apollo,  which  met  at  the 
Devil  tavern,  chiefly  for  conversation,  was  obliged  to  make  a  law  that  no  fiddler 
should  enter,  unless  requested.0  Nevertheless,  they  were  generally  welcome,  and 
generally  well  paid ;  more  especially,  at  merry-makings  where  their  services  were 
ever  required.  In  those  days  a  wedding  was  of  a  much  gayer  character  than 
now.  There  was  first  the  hunt's-up,  or  morning  song,  to  awake  the  bride ;  then 


»  A  few  specimens  of  the  tunes  of  the  waits  of  different 
towns  will  be  given  under  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 

b  So  in  Heywood's  The  Engliih  Traveller,  last  scene  of 
act  i.,  1633 — 

"  Bint.  Fear  not,  you  shall  have  a  full  table. 
Young  L.  What,  and  music? 
Riot.  The  best  consort  in  the  city  for  six  parts. 
Young  L.  We  shall  have  songs,  then  1 " 
c  The  rules  of  this  club,  in  Latin,  will  be  found  in  Ben 
Jonson's  Works.    The  following  translation  is  by  one  of 
his  adopted  poetical  sons : — 

"  Let  none  but  guests,  or  clubbers,  hither  come; 
Let  dunces,  fools,  sad  sordid  men,  keep  home, 
Let  learned,  civil,  merry  men  b'invited, 
And  modest,  too ;  nor  be  choice  ladies  slighted. 
Let  nothing  in  the  treat  offend  the  guests ; 
More  for  delight  than  cost,  prepare  the  feasts. 
The  cook  and  purvey'r  must  our  palates  know, 
And  none  contend  who  shall  sit  high  or  low. 
Our  waiters  must  quick-sighted  be,  and  dumb, 
And  let  the  drawers  quickly  hear  and  come. 
Let  not  our  wine  be  inix'd,  but  brisk  and  neat, 
Or  else  the  drinkers  may  the  vintners  beat. 


And  let  our  only  emulation  be, 

Not  drinking  much,  but  talking  wittily. 

Let  it  be  voted  lawful  to  stir  up 

Each  other  with  a  moderate  chirping  cup ; 

Let  not  our  company  be,  or  talk  too  much  ; 

On  serious  things,  or  sacred,  let's  not  touch 

With  sated  heads  and  bellies.    Neither  may 

Fiddlers  unask'd  obtrude  themselves  to  play. 

With  laughing,  leaping,  dancing,  jests  and  songs, 

And  whate'er  else  to  grateful  mirth  belongs, 

Let's  celebrate  our  feasts .-  and  let  us  see 

That  all  our  jests  without  reflection  be. 

Insipid  poems  let  no  man  rehearse, 

Nor  any  be  compelled  to  write  a  verse. 

All  noise  of  vain  disputes  must  be  forborn, 

And  let  no  lover  in  a  corner  mourn. 

To  fight  and  brawl,  like  Hectors,  let  none  dare, 

Glasses  or  windows  break,  or  hangings  tear. 

Whoe'er  shall  publish  what's  here  done  or  said, 

From  our  society  must  be  banished. 

Let  none  by  drinking  do  or  suffer  harm, 

And,  while  we  stay,  let  us  be  always  warm." 

Poerta  and  Songs  by  Alexander  Brome,  8vo.,  1661. 


REIGN   OF  JAMES   I.  251 

the  music  to  conduct  her  to  church  (young  maids  and  bachelors  following,  with 
garlands  in  their  hands)  ;  the  same  from  church ;  the  music  at  dinner ;  and 
singing,  dancing,  and  merry-making  throughout  the  evening.  For  those  who  had 
no  talent  to  write  a  hunt's-up,  there  were  songs  ready  printed  (like  "  The  Bride's 
Good-morrow,"  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection),  but  the  hunt's-up  was  not  confined 
to  weddings,  it  was  a  usual  compliment  to  young  ladies,  especially  upon  their 
birthdays.  The  custom  seems  now  to  be  continued  only  with  princesses,  and  on 
the  last  birthday  of  the  Princess  Royal,  the  court  newsman,  at  a  loss  how  to 
describe  this  old  English  custom,  gave  it  the  name  of  a  "  Matinale." 

As  to  music  at  weddings,  see  the  following  allusions  : — 

"  Then  was  there  a  fair  bride-cup  of  silver  and  gilt  carried  before  her  [the 
bride],  wherein  was  a  goodly  braunch  of  rosemarie  gilded  very  faire,  hung  about 
with  silken  ribbonds  of  all  colours;  next  there  was  a  noyse*  of  musitians,  that 
played  all  the  way  before  her;  after  her  came  all  the  chiefest  maydens  of  the 
countrie,  some  bearing  great  bride-cakes,  and  some  garlands  of  wheat  finely 
gilded,  and  so  she  past  unto  the  church." — Deloney's  Pleasant  History  of  John 
Winchcomb,  in  his  younger  years  called  Jacke  of  Neivberie. 

"  Come,  come,  we'll  to  church  presently.  Prythee,  Jarvis,  whilst  the  musick 
plays  just  upon  the  delicious  dose,  usher  in  the  brides." — Rowley's  A  Match  at 
Midnight,  1633. 

In  Ben  Jonson's  Tale  of  a  Tub,  Turfe,  the  constable,  "will  let  no  music  go  afore 
his  child  to  church,"  and  says  to  his  wife — 

"  Because  you  have  entertained  [musicians]  all  from  Highgate, 
To  shew  your  pomp,  you'd  have  your  daughters  and  maids 
Dance  o'er  the  fields  like  faies  to  church  this  frost. 
I'll  have  no  rondels,  I,  in  the  queen's  paths ! 
Let  them  scrape  the  gut  at  home,  where  they  have  fill'd  it." 

And  again,  where  Dame  Turfe  insists  on  having  them  to  play  at  dinner,  Clench 
adds —     "  She  is  in  the  right,  sir,  vor  your  wedding  dinner 
Is  starv'd  without  the  music." 

Even  at  funerals  musicians  were  in  request :  dirges  were  sung,  and  recorders  the 
instruments  usually  employed.  It  appears  that  the  Blue-coat  boys  sang  at  City 
Funerals  ;b  being  then  taught  music,  as  they  should  be  now.  Music  was  not  less 
esteemed  as  a  solace  for  grief,  than  as  an  excitement  to  merriment.  Peacham  says, 
"  the  physicians  will  tell  you  that  the  exercise  of  music  is  a  great  lengthener  of  life, 
by  stirring  and  reviving  the  spirits,  holding  a  secret  sympathy  with  them ;  besides 
it  is  an  enemy  to  melancholy  and  dejection  of  mind ;  yea,  a  curer  of  some  dis- 
eases." (Oompleat  G-entleman,  1622.)  And  Burton, "But  I  leave  all  declamatory 
speeches  in  praise  of  divine  music,  I  will  confine  myself  to  my  proper  subject : 
besides  that  excellent  power  it  hath  to  expel  many  other  diseases,  it  is  a  sovereign 
remedy  against  despair  and  melancholy,  and  will  drive  away  the  devil  himself." 
(Anatomy  of  Melancholy.)  So,  in  Henry  IV.,  Shakespeare  says — 

"  A  noise  of  musicians  means  a  company  of  musicians.  "having  authority  to  thrust  into  any  man's  room,  only 

It  is  an  expression  frequently  occurring  :  "  those  terrible  speaking  but  this — '  Will  you  have  any  musicke  ?'  " — 

noyses,  with  threadbare  cloakes,  that  live  by  red  lattices  Dekker's  Belman  of  London,  1608. 

and  ivy-bushes"  [that  is  by  ale-houses  and  taverns],  b  See  Brome's  City  Wit,  act  iii.  sc.  1. 


252  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

"  Let  there  be  no  noise  made,  my  gentle  friends, 
Unless  some  slow  and  favourable  hand 
Will  whisper  music  to  my  weary  spirit." 

Part  II.,  act  iv.,  sc.  9. 

Shakespeare  purchased  his  house  in  Blackfriars,  in  1612,  from  Henry  Walker, 
who  is  described  in  the  deed  as  "  Citizen  and  Minstrel,  of  London."  The  price 
paid  was  £140,a  which,  considering  the  difference  in  the  value  of  money,  is  equal 
to,  at  least,  £700  now.  Of  what  class  of  "  minstrel "  Walker  was,  we  know  not, 
but  there  were  very  few  of  any  talent  who  had  not  the  opportunity  of  saving  money, 
if  so  disposed.  Even  the  itinerant  fiddler  who  gave  "  a  fytte  of  mirth  for  a  groat," 
was  well  paid.  The  long  ballads  were  usually  divided  into  two  or  three  "fyttes," 
and  if  he  received  a  shilling  per  ballad,  it  would  purchase  as  many  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life  as  five  or  six  times  that  amount  now.  The  groat  was  so  generally  his 
remuneration,  whether  it  were  for  singing  or  for  playing  dances,  as  to  be 
commonly  called  "  fiddlers'  money,"  and  when  the  groat  was  no  longer  current, 
the  term  was  transferred  to  the  sixpence. 

It  appears  that  in  the  reign  of  James,  ballads  were  first  collected  into  little 
miscellanies,  called  Garlands,  for  we  have  none  extant  of  earlier  date.  Thomas 
Deloney  and  Richard  Johnson  (author  of  the  still  popular  boys'  book,  called  TJie 
Seven  Champions  of  Christendom)  were  the  first  who  collected  their  scattered  pro- 
ductions, and  printed  them  in  that  form. 

Deloney's  Garland  of  Good-will,  and  Johnson's  Crown  Garland  of  Golden  Roses, 
were  two  of  the  most  popular  of  the  class.  They  have  been  reprinted,  with  some 
others,  by  the  Percy  Society,  and  the  reader  will  find  some  account  of  the  authors 
prefixed  to  those  works. 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  VHI.,  "  the  most  pregnant  wits  "  were  employed 
in  compiling  ballads.b  Those  in  the  possession  of  Captain  Cox,  described  in 
Laneham's  Letter  from  Kenilwortli  (1575),  as  "  all  ancient,"  c  could  not  well  be 
of  later  date  than  Henry's  reign ;  and  at  Henry's  death  we  find,  with  the  list  of 
musical  instruments  left  in  the  charge  of  Philip  van  Wilder,  "sondrie  bookes  and 
skrottes  of  songes  and  lallattes"  In  the  reign  of  James,  however,  poets  rarely 
wrote  in  ballad  metre ;  ballad  writing  had  become  quite  a  separate  employment, 
and  (from  the  evidently  great  demand  for  ballads)  I  should  suppose  it  to  have 
been  a  profitable  one.  In  Shakespeare's  Henry  IV.,  when  Falstaff  threatens 
Prince  Henry  and  his  companions,  he  says,  "  An  I  have  not  ballads  made  on  you 
all,  and  sung  to  filthy  tunes,  let  a  cup  of  sack  be  my  poison ; "  and  after  Sir 
John  Colvile  had  surrendered,  he  thus  addresses  Prince  John :  "  I  beseech  your 
grace,  let  it  be  booked  with  the  rest  of  this  day's  deeds ;  or  by  the  Lord,  I  will 
have  it  in  a  particular  ballad  else,  with  mine  own  picture  at  the  top  of  it,  Colvile 
kissing  my  foot." 

To  conclude  this  introduction,  I  have  subjoined  a  few  quotations  to  shew  the 

•  Shakespeare's  autograph,  attached  to  the  counterpart  «  The  list  of  Captain  Cox's  ballads  has  been  so  often  re- 

of  this  deed,  was  sold  by  auction  by  Evans,  on  24th  May,  printed,  that  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  repeat  it.  The 

1S41,  for  £155.  reader  will  find  it,  with  many  others,  in  the  introduction 

fc  See  The  Nature  of  the  Four  Elements,  written  about  to  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  as  well  as  in  more  recently- 

1517.  printed  books. 


REIGN   OF   JAMES   I.  253 

universality  of  ballads,  as  well  as  their  influence  upon  the  public  mind ;  but  limit- 
ing myself  to  dramatists,  to  Shakespeare's  contemporaries,  and  to  one  passage 
from  each  author. 

In  Ben  Jonson's   Bartholomew  Fair,   when  Trash,  the  gingerbread- woman, 
quarrels  with  Leatherhead,  the  hobby-horse  seller,  she  threatens  him — 

"  111  find  a  friend  shall  right  me,  and  make  a  ballad  of  thee,  and  thy  cattle  all  over." 
In  Hey  wood's  A  Challenge  for  Beauty,  Valladaura  says — 
"  She  has  told  all ;  I  shall  be  balladed— 

Sung  up  and  down  by  minstrels." 
In  Fletcher's  Queen  of  Corinth,  Euphanes  says — 

.     "  and  whate'er  he  be 
Can  with  unthankfulness  assoil  me,  let  him 
Dig  out  mine  eyes,  and  sing  my  name  in  verse, 
In  ballad  verse,  at  every  drinking-house." 
In  Massinger's  Parliament  of  Love,  Chamont  threatens  Lamira — 

.     "  I  will  have  thee 

Pictured  as  thou  art  now,  and  thy  whole  story 
Sung  to  some  villainous  tune  in  a  lewd  ballad, 
And  make  thee  so  notorious  in  the  world, 
That  boys  in  the  streets  shall  hoot  at  thee." 
In  Chapman's  Monsieur  d?  Olive,  he  says — 

"  I  am  afraid  of  nothing  but  I  shall  be  balladed." 
In  a  play  of  Dekker's  (Dodsley,  iii.  224)  Matheo  says — 

"Sfoot,  do  yoxi  long  to  have  base  rogues,  that  maintain  a  Saint  Anthony's  fire  in 
their  noses  by  nothing  but  two-penny  ale,  make  ballads  of  you  ?  " 

In  Webster's  Devil's  Law  Case,  the  officers  are  cautioned  not  to  allow  any  to 
take  notes,  because — 

"  We  cannot  have  a  cause  of  any  fame, 
But  you  must  have  some  scurvy  pamphlets  and  lewd 
Ballads  engendered  of  it  presently." 
In  Ford's  Love's  Sacrifice,  Fiormonda  says — 

.    .    "  Better,  Duke,  thou  hadst  been  born  a  peasant ; 
Now  boys  will  sing  thy  scandal  in  the  streets, — 
Tune  ballads  to  thy  infamy." 

In  Marlow's  Edivard  II. ,  Mortimer  says  to  the  King — 
"  Libels  are  cast  against  thee  in  the  street ; 

Ballads  and  rhymes  made  of  thy  overthrow." 
In  Machin's  The  Dumb  Knight — 

"  The  slave  will  make  base  songs  on  my  disgrace." 
In  Middleton's  The  Roaring  Crirl — 

"  0,  if  men's  secret  youthful  faults  should  judge  'em, 
'Twould  be  the  general'st  execution 
That  e'er  was  seen  in  England ! 
There  would  be  few  left  to  sing  the  ballads, 
There  would  be  so  much  work." 
This  is  in  allusion  to  the  ballads  on  last  dying  speeches. 


254  ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

In  the  academic  play  of  Lingua,  Phantasies  says — 

"  O  heavens !  how  am  I  troubled  these  latter  times  with  poets — ballad-makers.  Were 
it  not  that  I  pity  the  printers,  these  sonnet-mongers  should  starve  for  conceits  for  all 
Phantastes." 


The  popular  music  of  the  time  of  Charles  I.  was  so  much  like  that  of  James, 
as  not  to  require  separate  notice.  I  have  therefore  included  many  ballads 
of  Charles'  reign  in  this  division ;  but  reserved  those  which  relate  to  the  troubles 
and  to  the  civil  war,  for  the  period  of  the  Protectorate. 


UPON  A  SUMMER'S-DAY. 

In  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1665,  and  in  MusicFs  Delight  on  the 
Cithren,  1666,  this  is  entitled  "  Upon  a  Summer's-day ; "  and  in  later  editions  of 
The  Dancing  Master,  viz.,  from  1670  to  1690,  it  is  called  "  The  Garland,  or  a 
Summer's-day." 

The  song,  "Upon  a  Summer's-day"  is  in  Merry  Drollery  Complete,  1661, 
p.  148.  "  The  Garland  "  refers,  in  all  probability,  to  a  ballad  in  the  Roxburghe 
Collection,  i.  22,  or  Pepysian,  i.  300;  which  is  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads, 
iv.  345  (1810),  beginning,  "Upon  a  Summer's  time."  It  is  more  frequently 
quoted  by  the  last  name  in  ballads.  In  the  Pepys  Collection,  vol.  i.,  is  a 
"  Discourse  between  a  Soldier  and  his  Love  ;" — 

"  Shewing  that  she  did  bear  a  faithful  mind, 
For  land  nor  sea  could  make  her  stay  behind. 

To  the  tune  of  Upon  a  Summer  time" 

It  begins,  "  My  dearest  love,  adieu."  And  at  p.  182  of  the  same  volume, 
"I  smell  a  rat:  to  the  tune  of  Upon  a  Summer  tide,  or  The  Seminary  Priest." 
It  begins,  "  I  travell'd  far  to  find." 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  vol.  i.  526,  "  The  good  fellow's  advice,"  &c.,  to 
the  tune  of  Upon  a  Summer  time  ;"  the  burden  of  which  is — 
lt  Good  fellows,  great  and  small, 

Pray  let  me  you  advise 
To  have  a  care  withall ; 

'Tis  good  to  be  merry  and  wise." 

And  at  p.  384  of  the  same  volume,  another  by  L.P.,  called  "  Seldom  cleanely,  or — 
A  merry  new  ditty,  wherein  you  may  see 
The  trick  of  a  huswife  in  every  degree  ; 
Then  lend  your  attention,  while  I  do  unfold 
As  pleasant  a  story  as  ever  was  told. 

To  the  tune  of  Upon  a  Summer's  time." 
It  begins —  "  Draw  near,  you  country  girls, 

And  listen  unto  me ; 
I'll  tell  you  here  a  new  conceit, 

Concerning  huswifry." 

I  have  chosen  a  song  which  illustrates  an  old  custom,  instead  of  the  original 
words  to  this  tune,  because  it  is  not  desirable  to  reprint  them.     In  Wit  and 


REIGN   OF   JAMES   I. 


255 


Mirth,  1707,  the  following  song,  entitled  The  Queen  of  May,  is  joined  to  an 
indifferent  composition : — 


/r    l»       p 

—  H  —  KT- 

J  o  J  J  * 

-*  —  0-*     * 

—  1  M  KT 

^B~ft—  •— 

-^  —  ^—    —  v 

—  •        •  m  

J      J       1  h- 

Up  -  on     a  time     I 

chanc'd   To   walk    a-long    a 

ETza^^ 

i 

reen 

flp-0-         *   -0- 
,  Where  pretty  lasses 

8    ^ 

^--  3 

E^^ 

t^  —  :  

Lp_Lf  

=3  :  

-^H-* 

_•_ 

""I  —  f~1  FT 

31 

I/ 

-i—  '—0  —  ^ 

=  •  3 

L    •        M 

• 

J       1           H 

*••-!•    •    -§-  -f-    -0-     -<^>-              * 

danced  In  strife,  to  choose  a          Queen.       Some  home-lydress'd,  some  handsome,  Some 

—  i  1  — 

*  •  — 

—  i  F  —  -  — 

TJ^-J^- 

•d  —  E-4-J 

P  '  r 

—  1  —  ' 

-J  ;  

1  J    .    1            1 

90* 

.^    h 

hJ-^M  —  hi 

EES 

*  — 

r  i    f* 

—  i  —  i- 

i        /r  r  /« 

pretty,  and  some    gay,     But 

j  r  j  ^  ^L  . 

ji  J  *    -J' 

who    excell'd    in 

^»  .  i  ^  •  v  *  i  -j-  "j-^-j-  " 

dancing,  Must  be  the  Queen  of    May. 

•  *  • 

1  

—  i  1  — 

tt»   *-*Q*  a— 

—  CS  5  

—  P  ^"^—  

-d  

-H  d  — 

Z3        F^i        v 

-B—  r-S  —  • 

From  morning  till  the  evening 

Their  controversy  held, 
And  I,  as  judge,  stood  gazing  on, 

To  crown  her  that  excell'd. 
At  last  when  Phoebus'  steeds 

Had  drawn  their  wain  away, 
We  found  and  crown'd  a  damsel 

To  be  the  Queen  of  May. 

Full  well  her  nature  from  her 

Face  I  did  admire; 
Her  habit  well  became  her, 

Although  in  poor  attire. 


Her  carriage  was  so  good, 

As  did  appear  that  day, 
That  she  was  justly  chosen 

To  be  the  Queen  of  May. 

Then  all  the  rest  in  sorrow, 

And  she  in  sweet  content, 
Gave  over  till  the  morrow, 

And  homewards  straight  they  went. 
But  she,  of  all  the  rest, 

Was  hinder'd  by  the  way, 
For  ev'ry  youth  that  met  her, 

Must  kiss  the  Queen  of  May. 


THE  HUNTER  IN  HIS  CAREER. 

This  is  one  of  the  songs  alluded  to  in  Walton's  Angler.  Piscator.  "I'll 
promise  you  I'll  sing  a  song  that  was  lately  made  at  my  request  by  Mr.  William 
Basse,  one  that  made  the  choice  songs  of  '  The  Hunter  in  his  career,'  and  *  Tom 
of  Bedlam,'  and  many  others  of  note."  The  tune  was  translated  from  lute 
tablature  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Graham,  of  Edinburgh.  It  is  taken  from  the  "  Straloch 
Manuscript,"  formerly  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Chalmers,  the  date  of  which  is 
given  in  the  original  MS.  from  1627  to  1629.  It  is  also  in  the  Skene  MS.,  &c. 
A  copy  of  the  song  is  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  452,  entitled  "  Maister  Basse 
his  careere,  or  The  Hunting  of  the  Hare.  To  a  new  court  tune."  Printed  for 


256 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD    MUSIC. 


E[liz.]  Aplde].  On  the  same  sheet  is  "  The  Faulconer's  Hunting;  to  the  tune 
of  Basse  his  careere"  The  words  are  also  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  Jovial  Poems, 
1682,  p.  64,  and  in  Old  Ballads,  second  edition,  1738,  iii.  196. 

Wit h  spirit. 


»        J*^        |  (BfJ- 

1  —  Ri 

ri=^ 

—  f5!" 

L< 
^TP- 

•  ;  '  *  4ft 

>ng  ere  the  morn  Ex  - 
2—  .  P-  1  

^J  J  ti  *jN-4-^ 

jects   the  re-turn  Of  Apollo  from  the  o 

—  f^\  1  — 

.  j^1^  ;    ^ 

-&- 

-  cean  queen,       Be  - 

1    l»   !   .  PJ 

_j  h_d  

"S, 

r>  •         JT 

*  *  - 

•    • 

-i—  •  —  P+1 

j  rf-W-1 

p 


fore       the    creak    Of  the    crow    and  the  break 
(croak) 


day    in  the  wel  -  kin    seen, 


i=£ 


m 


^ 


5 


Mounted  he'd  halloo,  And  cheerful  -  ly  follow  To  the  chace  with  his  bu  -  gl 


e      clear. 


Echo  doth  he  make,  And  the  moun-tains  shake.With  the  thunder  of    his      ca   -  reer. 


^f]j    rjlTI^^g 


^ 


3 


^ 


Now  bonny  bay 

In  his  foine  waxeth  gray  ; 
Dapple-grey  waxeth  bay  in  his  blood ; 

White-Lily  stops 

With  the  scent  in  her  chaps, 
And  Black-Lady  makes  it  good. 

Poor  silly  Wat, 

In  this  wretched  state, 
Forgets  these  delights  for  to  hear  ; 

Nimbly  she  bounds 

From  the  cry  of  the  hounds, 
And  the  music  of  their  career. 

Hills,  with  the  heat 

Of  the  gallopers'  sweat 
Reviving  their  frozen  tops, 

[And]  the  dale's  purple  flowers, 

That  droop  from  the  showers 
That  down  from  the  rowels  drops. 


Swains  their  repast, 

And  strangers  their  haste 
Neglect,  when  the  horns  they  do  hear ; 

To  see  a  fleet 

Pack  of  hounds  in  a  sheet, 
And  the  hunter  in  his  career. 

Thus  he  careers, 

Over  heaths,  over  meres, 
Over  deeps,  over  downs,  over  clay ; 

Till  he  hath  won 

The  noon  from  the  morn, 
And  the  evening  from  the  day. 

His  sport  then  he  ends, 

And  joyfully  wends 
Home  again  to  his  cottage,  where 

Frankly  he  feasts 

Himself  and  his  guests, 
And  carouses  in  his  career. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


257 


ONCE  I  LOVED  A  MAIDEN  FAIR. 

A  copy  of  this  ballad  is  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  350,  printed  for  the 
assigns  of  Thomas  Symcock.  The  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to 
1698  ;  in  Playford's  Introduction,  1664;  in  Musictis  Delight  on  the  Cithren,  1666; 
in  Apollo's  Banquet  for  the  Treble  Violin,  1670  ;  in  the  Pleasant  Companion  for 
the  Flageolet,  1680  ;  &c. 

The  first  song  in  Patrick  Carey's  Trivial  Poems,  written  in  1651  ("  Fair  one  ! 
if  thus  kind  you  be"),  is  to  the  tune  Once  I  lotfd  a  maiden  fair.  It  is  also 
alluded  to  in  The  Fool  turned  Critic,  1678 — "  We  have  now  such  tunes,  such 
lamentable  tunes,  that  would  make  me  forswear  all  music.  Maiden  fair  and  The 
King's  Delight  are  incomparable  to  some  of  these  we  have  now." 

The  ballad  consists  of  twelve  stanzas,  from  which  the  following  are  selected. 


<—J  —  1  1  1  —  1  1  1  1 

1  1  •  1  fe  1  1  • 

xT.fr  (»  —  J--J-J*  J  —  * 

—  ' 

H=i=n 

H-J-^-J 

-—  — 

M  —  r- 

j   j  j   j, 

Once  I  lov'd  a 

ZLj-^-L^  _^__^_^_L^_ 

maiden  fair,     But  she    did    de  -  ceive  me;   She  with  Ve-nus 
i 

'  1*            /"-1 

JV  - 

(\ 

s)  — 

a  —  J—  J 

—  <s>  

E3  —  t 

-d—  d  — 

—  J- 

3  —  t- 

-J—  • 

?3 

i  j  a 

J  .  J  *   m 

j  J~~  gj  — 

-^cv^  —  f 

—5- 

-s!  —  d  — 

-s—  - 

—  ?a  

^  t  a  — 

-R     • 

might  compare   In  my  mind,  be  -  lieve  me.     She  was  young,  And  among  Creatures  of  temp 

i           i                                                               c-^.               £      •      c% 

—  

—  p 

^~j 

m     F     ^1  

^p_^  —  s  — 

i 

—  *  —  J  1  — 

-d-    —  * 

—  j— 

r  r  H 

-1  —  1  1  — 

i    ,*  J-"H 

^      '    J-    '"  

w  •  * 

-^  —  zi— 

~d  —  -  —  2  —  • 

E 

Jr^.     J  • 

1  g 

5  fc 

-  ta 

-    tion,        Who  will  say  I 

fltef      • 

1  *  &  *       ^     b5  1    -§-    ^ 

lut    maid-ens   may         Kiss  for    re  -  ere    -    a    -    tion. 

p"    .    E  •  1  r—                                       —  H-     - 

J 

i  1  

—  1  1 

3^ 

9  

1  

i  j  ^r 

—  •  —  ' 

-^  

1 

—  ^*  —  i  —  ^ 

Three  times  I  did  make  it  known 

To  the  congregation, 
That  the  church  should  make  us  one, 

As  priest  had  made  relation. 
Married  we  straight  must  be, 

Although  we  go  a  begging ; 
Now,  alas !   'tis  like  to  prove 

A  very  hopeless  wedding. 


Happy  he  who  never  knew 

What  to  love  belonged ; 
Maidens  wavering  and  untrue 

Many  a  man  have  wronged. 
Fare  thee  well !  faithless  girl, 

I'll  not  sorrow  for  thee; 
Once  I  held  thee  dear  as  pearl, 

Now  I  do  abhor  thee. 


258 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


GATHERING  PEASCODS. 

This  beautiful  air  is  contained  in  all  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master,  from 
1650  to  1690.  The  two  first  bars  are  the  same  as  "  All  in  a  garden  green"  (see 
p.  Ill)  ;  but  the  resemblance  continues  no  further,  and  that  air  is  in  phrases  of 
eight,  and  this  of  six  bars. 

Not  having  been  able  to  discover  the  original  words,  the  following  lines  were 
written  to  it  by  the  late  Mr.  J.  A.  Wade ;  retaining  the  pastoral  character,  which 
is  indicated  by  its  name. 


v   Moderate  time,  ana  sust 

amea 

U.^J   j  | 

,  j  i  —  t=i 

rait 

1  J       J   1 

*  How   plea-sant 

-4,      -.  9  
is         it     in     the 

A 

w 

•  —  •  —  3  —  9  — 

os  -  som  of  the 

r  r  r  f  i 

-g    :    3 

year,  ""  To 

-x 

y  —  -  —  i  — 

i      i 

a  tempo.                                                          , 

^                                                      \            \        \           .          h    1        1           1        1        1 

i 

1  i  1 

J    .    J    4  —  0— 

—  j  — 

• 

J      J      J 

— 

ZB 

es 

3E 

=3-*  5p        -^   /  I      T"      •  l  "  •«     1"  T 

stray  and  find    a          nook,    Where  nought  doth    fill     the  hoi  -low       of    the    list'ning 

Zj  1  :  1     i                  i    o  1  1  1  1  1  1 

... 

^=^ 

.      -  

=E  —  i  — 

d      ^ 

rail. 


l 

J        J        J 

—  ^  —  :  —  1 

hr 

J  J  j 

i    J    1 

-      ^    J 

—  s*i  —  :  •  —  l  —  * 

ear,        Ex  -  ce 

J  .  J| 

—  ^  ^T-            k  ^.   .    ' 
)t    the     mur-m'ring  brook  ; 

1  1  1  J  ,  

wzf 
0? 

^_    0                  *-&  cr- 

bird     in  neighb'ring  grove,  That  in 

3                                               iii 

^x 

-•  i  J  D 

<d    * 

1  —  1 

^^ 

1  J     J    J  1 

a  tempo. 


3 

1  J  1  II. 

__£ 

y  —  0 

—  -i 

^S                               jt(TN^                                C^            *^-» 
"W^T"                                                                 KJ 

so    -   li  -  tude  doth     love 

s5i  —  '  —  ~^l"  —  "j~  —  <j  «^^  ^  —  '  —  ^^  ^  —  ~ 

•       :Jl       •    ^"                                »»/ 
To    breathe  his     lone    -   ly     hymn  !                Lc 

1 

—  r—          —  ^  1  ^  =—  :  

x  ^ 

st    in 

the 

L    f]  '  J  = 

rj.;j.  J  i..j  j= 

=^--i  j  J- 
ratt. 

1  f—  -i 

i  ^ 

mil 

C 

i-gledsong,  I      care-less  n 

1  J     U  i    7  p 

)am   a    -    long,            From 

^  —  rr  —  j-^ 

morn  to    twi  -  light 

|        |        1       j= 

dim. 

-v 

b=  T        1     l   ._i=: 

•M           ^  ^  

~J  J      J    -•- 

—  -—  —  —  -  — 

REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  259 

And  as  I  wander  in  the  blossom  of  the  year,  To  shed  their  balms  around! — 

By  crystal  waters'  flow,  Thus  from  the  busy,  throng, 

Flow'rs  sweet  to  gaze  on,  as  the  songs  of  birds  I  careless  roam  along, 

Spring  up  where  e'er  I  go!             [to  hear,  'Mid  perfume  and  sweet  sound. 

The  violet  agrees, 

With  the  honey-suckle  trees, 

LULL  ME  BEYOND  THEE. 

This  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1690. 
In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  372,  there  is  a  black-letter  ballad  entitled  "  The 
Northern  Turtle,  wailing  his  unhappy  fate  in  being  deprived  of  his  sweet  mate : 
to  a  new  Northern  tune,  or  A  health  to  Betty"    This  is  not  the  air  of  A  health  of 
Betty ,  and  therefore  I  suppose  it  to  be  the  "  new  Northern  tune."     The  first 
stanza  is  here  arranged  to  the  music.     The  same  ballad  is  the  Roxburghe  Collec- 
tion, i.  319,  as  the  second  part  to  one  entitled  "  The  paire  of  Northerne  Turtles : 
Whose  love  was  firm  till  cruel  death 
Depriv'd  them  both  of  life  and  breath." 

That  is  also  to  "  a  new  Northern  tune,"  and  printed  "  for  F.  Coules,  dwelling  in 
the  Old  Baily."    Coules  printed  about  1620  to  1628. 
The  following  ballads  are  also  to  the  tune : — 
Pepys,  i.  390 —    "  A  constant  wife,  a  kind  wife, 

Which  gives  content  unto  a  man's  life. 

To  the  tune  of  Lie  lulling  beyond  thee."     Printed  for  F.  C[oules].     It  begins — 
"  Young  men  and  maids,  do  lend  me  your  aids." 

Pepys  i.,  and  Roxburghe,  i.  156 — "  The  Honest  Wooer, 
His  mind  expressing,  in  plain  and  few  terms, 
By  which  to  his  mistris  his  love  he  confirms : " 
to  the  tune  of  Lulling  beyond  her,  begins — 

"  Fairest  mistris,  cease  your  moane, 

Spoil  not  your  eyes  with  weeping, 
For  certainly  if  one  be  gone, 

You  may  have  another  sweeting. 
I  will  not  compliment  with  oaths, 

Nor  speak  you  fair  to  prove  you ;  * 

But  save  your  eyes,  and  mend  your  clothes, 

For  it  is  I  that  love  you." 

Roxburghe,  i.  416 — "  The  two  fervent  Lovers,"  &c.,  "  to  the  tune  of  The  two 
loving  Sisters,  or  Lulling  beyond  thee."     Signed  L.P. 

Pepys,  i.  427 — "  A  pleasant  new  ballad  to  sing  both  even  and  morn, 

Of  the  bloody  murther  of  Sir  John  Barley-Corne. 

To  the  tune  of  Shall  I  lie  beyond  thee."   Printed  at  London  for  H[enry]  G[osson], 
It  commences  thus : — "As  I  went  through  the  North  country, 

I  heard  a  merry  greeting,"  &c. 

This   excellent  ballad  has  been  reprinted  by  Evans  (Old  Ballads,  iv.  214, 
ed.  1810),  from  a  copy  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  "  printed  for  John  Wright." 


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Li                 II 

COME,  SHEPHERDS,  DECK  YOUR  HEADS. 

This  is  also  one  of  the  songs  mentioned  by  old  Isaak  Walton. 

Milkwoman.  "  What  song  was  it,  I  pray?  was  it  'Come,  shepherds,  deck  your 
heads;'  or,  'As,  at  noon,  Dulcina  rested;'  or,  'Philida  flouts  me;'  or,  Chevy 
Chace ;»  or,  'Johnny  Armstrong ; '  or,  '  Troy  Town  ? '  "  a 

Tzaak  Walton  $is  born  in  1593,  and  married  first  Rachel  Cranmer,  niece  of 
that  distinguished  prelate,  Thomas  Cranmer,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  1624. 

The  air  is  found,  under  its  English  name,  in  Belkrophon,  of  Lust  tot  WysJied, 
Amsterdam,  1622  ;  and  in  Gesangh  der  Zeeden,  Amsterdam,  1662.b 

The  words  (which  Ritson  said  "  are  not  known  ")  will  be  found  in  the  Pepys 
Collection,  i.  366,  entitled  "The  Shepherd's  Lamentation:  to  the  tune  of 


•    All  will  be  found  in  this  collection  except  "  Johnny 
Armstrong"  of  which  (although  an  English  song,  and  of 
a  Westmoreland  man)  I  have  not  yet  found  the  tune.  The 
words  are  in  Wit  restored,  1658,  and  in  Wit  and  Drollery, 
Jm-ial  Poems,  1682,  called  "A  Northern  Ballet, " begin- 
ning— "There  dwelt  a  man  in  fair  Westmorland, 
Johnny  Armstrong  men  did  him  call; 
He  had  neither  lands  nor  rents  coming  in, 
Yet  he  kept  eight  score  men  in  his  hall." 


There  is  also  a  Scotch  ballad  about  the  same  hero. 

b  There  is  another  English  tune  under  the  same  name, 
to  be  found  in  two  other  collections,  Nederlandtsche  Ge- 
denck-Clanck,  1626,  and  Friesche  Lust-Hof,  1634.  I  printed 
it  in  National  English  Airs,  1839,  but  think  this  rather 
more  like  a  ballad-tune,  and  it  is  of  somewhat  earlier 
authority. 


KEIGNS    OF  JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


261 


The  plaine-dealing  Woman."  On  the  other  half  of  the  sheet  is  "  The  second  part 
of  The  plaine-dealing  Woman"  beginning — 

"  Ye  Sylvan  Nymphs,  come  skip  it,"  &c. 

Imprinted  at  London  for  J.  W.  Sir  Harris  Nicolas  prints  the  song,  Come, 
shepherds,  in  his  edition  of  Walton's  Angler,  from  a  MS.  formerly  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Mr.  Heher.  -  A  third  copy  will  be  found  in  MSS.  Ashmole,  No.  38, 
art.  164. 


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Come, 

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All  ye  forsaken  wooers, 

That  ever  care  oppressed, 
And  all  you  lusty  dooers, 

That  ever  love  distressed. 
That  losses  can  condole, 

And  altogether  summon ; 
Oh !  mourn  for  the  poor  soul 

Of  my  plain-dealing  woman. 

Fair  Venus  made  her  chaste, 
And  Ceres  beauty  gave  her  ; 

Pan  wept  when  she  was  lost, 
The  Satyrs  strove  to  have  her ; 


Yet  seem'd  she  to  their  view 
So  coy,  so  nice,  that  no  man 

Could  judge,  but  he  that  knew 
My  own  plain -dealing  woman. 

At  all  her  pretty  parts 

I  ne'er  enough  can  wonder ; 
She  overcame  all  hearts, 

Yet  she  all  hearts  came  under ; 
Her  inward  mind  was  sweet, 

Good  tempers  ever  common  ; 
Shepherd  shall  never  meet 

So  plain  a  dealing  woman. 


262 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


THERE  WAS  AN  OLD  FELLOW  AT  WALTHAM  CROSS. 

This  is  quoted  as  an  old  song  in  Brome's  play,  The  Jovial  Crew,  which  was 
acted  at  the  Cock-pit  in  Drury  Lane,  in  1641—"  T'other  old  song  for  that." 
It  is  also  in  the  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  1661. 

Tlie  Jovial  Grew  was  turned  into  a  ballad-opera  in  1731,  and  this  song 
retained.  The  tune  was  then  printed  under  the  name  of  Taunton  Dean; 
perhaps  from  a  song  commencing,  "  In  Taunton  Dean  I  was  born  and  bred." 

The  four  last  bars  of  the  air  are  the  prototype  of  Lilliburlero,  and  still  often 
sung  to  the  chorus, — "A  very  good  song,  and" very  well  sung ; 
Jolly  companions  every  one." 

The  first  part  resembles  Dargason  (see  p.  65),  and  an  air  of  later  date,  called 
Country  Courtship  (see  Index). 
Boldly  and  moderate  time. 


There  was     an  old  fel-low  at     Waltham  Cross,  Who     mer-ri-ly  sung  when  he 


i  \-    ?r- 
rK    fi 


. 


liv'd  by  the  loss,  He  never  was  heard  to  sigh  with  hey-ho  !  But   sent  it  out  with  a  heigh  trolly-lo  !  He 


£= 


cheer'd  up  his  heart  when  his  goods  went  to  wrack,  With  a  hem,  boys,  hem,  And  a  cup  of  old  sack. 


S3 


OLD  SIR  SIMON  THE  KING. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  Playford's  MusicKs  Recreation  on  the  Lyra  Viol, 
1652  ;  in  MusicWs  Handmaid  for  the  Virginals,  1678 ;  in  ApoUtts  Banquet  for 
the  Treble  Violin ;  in  The  Division  Violin,  1685 ;  in  180  Loyal  Songs,  1684 
and  1694 ;  and  in  the  seventh  and  all  later  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master. 

It  it  also  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy  ;  in  the  Musical  Miscellany,  1721 ;  in 
many  ballad-operas,  and  other  works  of  later  date. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES.  I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  263 

Some  of  the  ballads  written  to  the  tune  have  the  following  burden,  which 
appears  to  be  the  original : — 

"  Says  old  Simon  the  king, 
Says  old  Simon  the  king, 
With  his  ale-dropt  hose,  and  his  malmsey  nose, 

Sing,  hey  ding,  ding  a  ding,  ding." 

From  its  last  line,  Ritson  conjectured  that  the  "  Hey  ding  a  ding"  mentioned 
in  Laneham's  Letter  from  Kenilworth,  1575,  as  one  of  the  ballads  "all  ancient," 
then  in  the  possession  of  Captain  Cox,  the  Coventry  mason,  was  Old  Sir  Simon 
under  another  name.  So  far  as  internal  evidence  can  weigh,  the  tune  may  be  of 
even  much  greater  antiquity,  but  we  have  no  direct  proof. 

Mr.  Payne  Collier  is  of  opinion  that  the  ballad  entitled  Ragged  and  torn  and 
true,  was  "  first  published  while  Elizabeth  was  still  on  the  throne."  (See  Collier's 
Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  26.)  As  it  was  sung  to  the  tune  of  Old  Simon  the  King, 
the  latter  necessarily  preceded  it.  This  adds  to  the  probability  of  Ritson's  con- 
jecture. But,  although  we  have  ballads  printed  during  the  reign  of  James  I.,  to 
the  tune  of  Old  Simon,  I  have  not  succeeded  in  discovering  one  of  earlier  date. 

Sir  John  Hawkins,  in  the  additional  notes  to  his  History  of  Music,  says,  "  It  is 
conjectured  that  the  subject  of  the  song  was  Simon  Wadloe,  who  kept  the  Devil 
(and  St.  Dunstan)  Tavern,  at  the  time  when  Ben  Jonson's  Club,  called  the 
Apollo  Club;*  met  there."  The  conjecture  rests  upon  two  lines  of  the  inscription 
over  the  door  of  the  Apollo  room — 

"  Hang  up  all  the  poor  hop-drinkers, 

Cries  Old  Sym,  the  King  of  Skinkers." 

A  skinker  meaning  one  who  serves  drink.  Sir  John  quotes  the  song  in  Pills  to 
purge  Melancholy,  iii.  144.  It  has  but  one  line  of  burden, — 

"  Says  old  Simon  the  King ; " 

and  instead  of  the  Devil  tavern,  the  Crown  is  the  tavern  named  in  it.  It  appears 
to  be  of  too  late  a  date  for  the  original  song.  The  Simon  Wadloe b  whom  Ben 
Jonson  dubbed  "King  of  Skinkers,"  was  buried  in  March,  1627,°  and  more 
probably  owed  his  title  to  having  the  same  Christian  name  as  the  Simon  of  the 
earlier  song. 

As  there  are  two  tunes,  which  differ  considerably,  it  seems  desirable,  in  the 
case  of  a  song  once  so  popular,  to  print  both.  The  first  is  from  Musictfs 
Recreation  on  the  Lyra  Viol,  1652  ;  and  the  viol  was  tuned  to  what  was 
termed  the  "  bagpipe  tuning,"  to  play  it.  To  this  I  have  adapted  the  song  quoted 
by  Hawkins,  but  completing  the  burden  as  the  music  requires.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  "Old  Simon  the  King"  was  changed  to  "  Old  Sir  Simon  the  King,"  from 
the  want  of  another  syllable  to  correspond  with  accent  of  the  tune. 

•  For  the  excellent  rules  of  this  Club,  see  Note,  p.  250.     Jacob  Henry  Burn,  8vo.,1855.  From  the  same  book  we  learn 
b  A  Latin  "  Epitaph   upon  Simon  Wadloe,   vintner,     that  John  Wadlow  was  proprietor  of  the  Devil  Tavern  at 

dwelling  at  the  Signe  of  the  Devil  and  St.  Dunstan,"  will  the  Restoration.    He  is  mentioned  twice  in  Pepys'  Diary 

be  found  in  MS.  Ashmole,  No.  38  fol.,  art.  328;  and  in  (22nd  April,  1661,  and  25th  Feb.,  1664-5).    The  second 

Camden's  Remains.    It  commences  thus :—  time  as  having  made  a  fortune— gone  to  live  like  a  prince 

"  Apollo  et  cohors  Musarum  in  the  country,— there  spent  almost  all  he  had  got,  and 

Bacchus  vini  et  uvarum,"  &c.  finally  returned  to  his  old  trade  again. 

•  See  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the  Beaufoy  Tokens,  by 


2(34  ENGLISH    SONG   AND    BALLAD    MUSIC. 


FIRST  TUNE. 


p-i  —  pr-i  -J  i    i     .  i 

s  — 

«y                          T 
In  a    humour   I        was       of   late,     As 
That      best  might    suit      my  mind,  So  I 

vHfi-9  —  «  —  —  i  — 

many     good  fellows  may  be,       To 
tra  -  vell'd     up      and  down,  No 

—  p  =                                               ;  

f\    1 

•N 

_J  «  !  •  '-  

-f  *  -=  f  

=^ 

k            *^\' 

—  1  S— 

-1  s  "I 

r     i 

^T  ^  i  '  '  '1     •    *  —  i  4    :| 

,  7T.    f   no  matters    of    state,  But  to     seek  for     good  com     -     pa  -  ny.          0 
think  ot             j        could  find    Tilj   j     came  to       the    •  ht  of     the  (;rown>  .  • 

compa-     '                                                                                ° 

_J  J  !  i 

.•  My 

Says 

1 

•N 

-.  1  ^  

II,         ±                 j        -1 

1 

-V    r^  —  j  —  J  H 

h>    <^£-     -J  SS 

hostess    was 
old      [Sir] 

sick    of    the  mumps,  The       maid      was      ill         at     her     ease,      The 
Si  -  mon  the    king,   [Says       old        Sir       Si  -  mon    the    king,  With  his 

—  i  1  

•  j 

J                          |                     [ 

—  s 

—^  *  =  L  s  •  =  ±  ' 

•^           —             ^i     8^\ 

~~^^^\   \ 

*  1  — 

• 

j       j     J       j     ^^^-ttJ   •   i  « 

j    J 

f    i      ; 

was  drunk  in  his  dumps,  They  were     all           of      one 
dropt  hose,  and  his    Malm  -  sey  nose,  Sing  hey  ding  ding  a 

4  i 

dis  -  ease, 
ding,  ding.] 

1  '• 

•^v 

J  *' 

Considering  in  my  mind, 

I  thus  began  to  think  : 
If  a  man  be  full  to  the  throat, 

And  cannot  take  off  his  drink, 
If  his  drink  will  not  go  down, 

He  may  hang  up  himself  for  shame, 
So  the  tapster  at.the  Crown  ; 

Whereupon  this  reason  I  frame  : 
Drink  will  make  a  man  drunk, 

Drunk  will  make  a  man  dry, 
Dry  will  make  a  man  sick, 

And  sick  will  make  a  man  die, 
Says  Old  Simon  the  King. 

If  a  man  should  be  drunk  to-night, 
And  laid  in  his  grave  to-morrow, 

Will  you  or  any  man  say 

That  he  died  of  care  or  sorrow  ? 

Then  hang  up  all  sorrow  and  care, 
'Tis  able  to  kill  a  cat, 


And  he  that  will  drink  all  right, 

Is  never  afraid  of  that ; 
For  drinking  will  make  a  man  quaff, 

And  quaffing  will  make  a  man  sing, 
And  singing  will  make  a  man  laugh, 

And  laughing  long  life  doth  bring, 
Says  Old  Simon  the  King. 

If  a  Puritan  skinker  do  cry, 

Dear  brother,  it  is  a  sin 
To  drink  unless  you  be  dry, 

Then  straight  this  tale  I  begin  : 
A  Puritan  left  his  can, 

And  took  him  to  his  jug, 
And  there  he  played  the  man 

As  long  as  he  could  tug ; 
And  when  that  he  was  spied, 

Did  ever  he  swear  or  rail  ? 
No,  truly,  dear  brother,  he  cried, 

Indeed  all  flesh  is  frail, 

Says  Old  Simon  the  King. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  265 

The  above  song  dates  before  the  Restoration,  because  there  is  a  political  parody 
upon  it  among  the  King's  Pamphlets,  Brit.  Mus.,  dated  January  19th,  1659, 
commencing  thus : —  "  In  a  humour  of  late  I  was 

Ycleped  a  doleful  dump  ; 
Thought  I,  we're  at  a  fine  pass, 

Not  a  man  stands  up  for  the  Rump,"  &c. 

I  suppose  it  to  have  been  written  only  a  short  time  before  the  return  of  Charles, 
and  that  this  Old  Simon  the  King  is  the  same  person  alluded  to  in  one  of  the 
Catches  in  the  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  4to,  1661,  beginning — 
"  Good  Symon,  how  comes  it  your  nose  is  so  red, 
And  your  cheeks  and  your  lips  look  so  pale  ? 
Sure  the  heat  of  the  toast  your  nose  did  so  roast 

When  they  were  both  soused  in  ale,"  &c. 

And  perhaps  also  in  "  An  Epitaph  on  an  honest  citizen  and  true  friend  to  all 
claret  drinkers,"  contained  in  part  ii.  of  Playford's  Pleasant  Musical  Companion, 
4to,  1687 —  "  Here  lyeth  Simon,  cold  as  clay, 

Who  whilst  he  liv'd  cried  Tip  away,"  &c. 
At  the  end  of  this  epitaph  it  is  said — 

"  Now  although  this  same  epitaph  was  long  since  given, 

Yet  Simon's  not  dead  more  than  any  man  living." 
He  was,  perhaps,  an  old  man  whose  death  had  been  long  expected. 

The  tune  was  in  great  favour  at,  and  after,  the  Restoration.  Many  of  the 
songs  of  the  Cavaliers  were  sung  to  it;  many  by  Martin  Parker,  and  other 
ballad-writers  of  the  reigns  of  James  and  Charles ;  several  by  Wilmott,  Earl  of 
Rochester ;  and  others  of  still  later  date. 

Penkethman,  the  actor,  wrote  a  comedy  called  Love  without  Interest,  or 
The  Man  too  hard  for  the  Master  (1699),  in  which  one  of  the  characters  says 
satirically,  "  Who?  he!  why  the  newest  song  he  has  is  The  Children  in  the  Wood, 
or  The  London  Prentice,  or  some  such  like  ditty,  set  to  the  new  modish  tune  of 
Old  Sir  Simon  the  King" 

The  name  of  the  tune,  Old  Simon  the  King,  is  printed  in  much  larger  letters 
than  any  other  of  the  collection,  on  the  title-page  of  "A  Choice  Collection  of 
Lessons,  being  excellently  sett  to  the  Harpsichord,  by  the  two  great  masters, 
Dr.  John  Blow,  and  the  late  Mr.  Henry  Purcell,"  printed  by  Henry  Play  ford  in 
1705 :  it  was  evidently  thought  to  be  the  great  attraction  to  purchasers. 

Fielding,  in  his  novel  of  Tom  Jones,  makes  it  Squire  Western's  favorite  tune. 
He  tells  us,  "  It  was  Mr.  Western's  custom  every  afternoon,  as  soon  as  he  was 
drunk,  to  hear  his  daughter  play  upon  the  harpsichord.  .  .  .  He  never  relished 
any  music  but  what  was  light  and  airy ;  and,  indeed,  his  most  favorite  tunes  were 
Old  Sir  Simon  the  King,  St.  George  he  was  for  England,  and  some  others. .  .  .  The 
Squire  declared,  if  she  would  give  him  t'other  bout  of  Old  Sir  Simon,  he  would 
give  the  gamekeeper  his  deputation  the  next  morning.  Sir  Simon  was  played 
again  and  again,  till  the  charms  of  music  soothed  Mr.  Western  to  sleep." — i.  169. 
It  was  the  tune  rather  than  the  words,  that  gave  it  so  lengthened  a  popularity. 
I  have  found  the  air  commonly  quoted  under  five  other  names;  viz.,  as  Ragged 


266  ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 

and  torn,  and  true ;  as  Tlie  Golden  Age ;  as  I'll  ne'er  be  drunk  again ;  as  When 
this  old  cap  was  new ;  and  as  Eound  about  our  coal-fire.  The  first  is  from  the 
ballad  called  "  Ragged  and  torn,  and  true ;  or  The  Poor  Man's  Resolution :  to 
the  tune  of  Old  Simon  the  King"  See  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  352 ;  or  Payne 
Collier's  Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  26. 

The  second  from  "  The  Newmarket  Song,  to  the  tune  of  Old  Simon  the  King  ;  " 
and  beginning  with  the  line,  "  The  Golden  Age  is  come."  See  180  Loyal  Songs, 
4th  edition,  1694,  p.  152. 

The  third  from  a  song  called  "  The  Reformed  Drinker  ;  "  the  burden  of  which 
is,  "And  ne'er  be  drunk  again."     See  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  47,  1707,  or 
iv.  47,  1719 ;  also  Ritson's  English  Songs,  ii.  59,  1813. 
The  fourth  from  one  entitled  "  Time's  Alteration : 

"  The  old  man's  rehearsal  what  brave  things  he  knew, 

A  great  while  agone,  when  this  old  cap  was  new ; 

to  the  tune  of  He  nere  be  drunke  againe"  Pepy's  Collection,  i.  160 ;  or  Evans' 
Old  Ballads,  iii.  262.  (The  name  of  the  tune  omitted,  as  usual,  by  Evans.) 

The  fifth  is  the  name  commonly  given  to  it  in  collections  of  country  dances, 
printed  during  the  last  century. 

One  of  the  best  political  songs  to  the  tune  is  "  The  Sale  of  Rebellion's 
Household  Stun0;"  a  triumph  over  the  downfall  of  the  Rump  Parliament, 
beginning —  "  Rebellion  hath  broken  up  house, 

And  hath  left  me  old  lumber  to  sell ; 
Come  hither  and  take  your  choice, 

I'll  promise  to  use  you  well. 
Will  you  buy  the  old  Speaker's  chair, 

Which  was  warm  and  pleasant  to  sit  in  ?  "  &c. 

This  song  has  the  old  burden  at  full  length.     The  auctioneer,  finding  no  pur- 
chasers, offers,  at  the  end,  to  sell  the  whole  "  for  an  old  song."     It  has  been  re- 
printed in  Percy's  Religues  of  Ancient  Poetry. 
I  have  seen  a  song  beginning — 

"  To  old  Sir  Simon  the  King, 

And  young  Sir  Simon  the  Squire," 

but  have  mislaid  the  reference.  The  tune  is  called  "  To  old  Sir  Simon  the  King," 
in  the  first  edition  of  the  Beggars'  Opera,  1728. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  468,  one  of  the  ballads  by  Martin  Parker,  to 
the  tune  of  Ragged  and  torn,  and  true,  is  entitled  "  Well  met,  Neighbour,  or — 
"  A  dainty  discourse,  between  Nell  and  Sis, 

Of  men  that  do  use  their  wives  amiss." 

This  might  be  revived  with  some  benefit  to  the  lower  classes  at  the  present  day, 
especially  if  the  last  line  of  the  burden  could  be  impressed  upon  them — 
"  Heard  you  not  lately  of  Hugh, 

How  soundly  his  wife  he  bang'd  ? 
He  beat  her  all  black  and  blue : 

Oh  I  such  a  rogue  should  be  hang'd." 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


267 


Farquhar's  song  in  the  Beaux^s  Stratagem,  beginning — 
"  A  trifling  song  you  shall  hear, 

Begun  with  a  trifle  and  ended ; 
All  trifling  people  draw  near, 

And  I  shall  be  nobly  attended," 

was  written  to  this  tune,  and  is  printed  to  it  in  The  Musical  Companion,  or  Lady's 
Magazine,  8vo.,  1741. 

"  The  praise  of  St.  David's  day :  shewing  the  reason  why  the  Welshmen  honour 
the  leek  on  that  day."  Beginning — 

"  Who  list  to  read  the  deeds 

By  valiant  Welshmen  done,"  &c., 
is  also  to  the  tune,  under  the  name  of  When  this  old  cap  ivas  neiu. 

The  following  is  the  ballad  of  "Ragged  and  torn,  and  true;  or  The  Poor  Man's 
Resolution,"  set  to  the  tune  as  it  is  found  in  The  Dancing  Master,  and  other 
violin  copies,  but  omitting  the  variations. 

SECOND  TUNE. 

-N- 


Cheerfully. 


am      a    poor    man,    God  knows,  And     all    my  neighbours  can  tell,    I 


?=W3 


fH-a- 


want      both  money     and     clothes,  And      yet  I        live  wond'   -   rous     well 


^  ^ 


1  —  ' 

p     •     J  f^-H  r—  H 

f  •  r   •  f.f  .  — 

—  t—  d- 

I      have  a  con  -  tent  -   ed    mind,  And  a 
Then  hang     up      sor  -  row  and  care,     It 

.-    h         > 

«-4=  —  .   r  J^-   '  i 

heart      to       bear       out       all,      Though 
never  shall     make      me      rue  ;      What 

:  _T 

"    <-^  r*~^  ^  —  m    ;     ^  •                 ~ 

""?•  *  1 

w=- 

•  m 

n                                       1 

V— 

=1  —  ,  ^^_J  —  ^ 

1 

—  3  —  "v 

—  ft— 

l-^—^j        m 

H  —  r^J- 

—  f  1  ' 

-^ 

=3=3  —  J^ 

^r-        ~i- 

-^- 

for  - 

tune  being      un   -   kind     Hath 

giv'n      me     sub  - 

stance  small. 

though 

• 

my  back     goes      bare,      I'm     r 

r  -    •  • 

agged   and    torn 

and     true. 

H  — 

i           f 

-f-  f  1  ^ 

268 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND    BALLAD    MUSIC. 


I  scorn  to  live  by  the  shift, 

Or  by  any  sinister  dealing  ; 
I'll  flatter  no  man  for  a  gift, 

Nor  will  I  get  money  by  stealing. 
I'll  be  no  knight  of  the  post, 

To  sell  my  soul  for  a  bribe  ; 
Though  all  my  fortunes  be  cross'd, 

Yet  I  scorn  the  cheater's  tribe. 
Then  hang  up  sorrow  and  care, 

It  never  shall  make  me  rue ; 
What  though  my  cloak  be  threadbare, 

I'm  ragged,  and  torn,  and  true. 

A  boot  of  Spanish  leather 

I've  seen  set  fast  in  the  stocks, 
Exposed  to  wind  and  weather, 

And  foul  reproach  and  mocks ; 
While  I,  in  my  poor  rags, 

Can  pass  at  liberty  still — 
O,  fie  on  these  brawling  brags, 

When  money  is  gotten  so  ill ! 
O,  fie  on  these  pilfering  knaves ! 

I  scorn  to  be  of  that  crew ; 
They  steal  to  make  themselves  brave — 

I'm  ragged,  and  torn,  and  true. 

I've  seen  a  gallant  go  by 

With  all  his  wealth  on  his  back ; 
He  looked  as  loftily 

As  one  that  did  nothing  lack. 
And  yet  he  hath  no  means 

But  what  he  gets  by  the  sword, 
Which  he  consumes  on  queans, 

For  it  thrives  not,  take  my  word. 
O,  fie  on  these  highway  thieves ! 

The  gallows  will  be  their  due — 
Though  my  doublet  be  rent  i'  th'  sleeves, 

I'm  ragged,  and  torn,  and  true. 

Some  do  themselves  maintain 

With  playing  at  cards  and  dice ; 
O,  fie  on  that  lawless  gain, 

Got  by  such  wicked  vice ! 
They  cozen  poor  country-men 

With  their  delusions  vilde  ;  [vile] 
Yet  it  happens  now  and  then 

That  they  are  themselves  beguil'd ; 
For,  if  they  be  caught  in  a  snare, 

The  pillory  claims  its  due  ; — 
Though  my  jerkin  be  worn  and  bare, 

I'm  ragged,  and  torn,  and  true. 


I  have  seen  some  gallants  brave 

Up  Holborn  ride  in  a  cart, 
Which  sight  much  sorrow  gave 

To  every  tender  heart ;       • 
Then  have  I  said  to  myself 

What  pity  is  it,  for  this, 
That  any  man  for  pelf 

Should  do  such  a  foul  amiss. 
O,  fie  on  deceit  and  theft ! 

It  makes  men  at  the  last  rue  ; 
Though  I  have  but  little  left, 

I'm  ragged,  and  torn,  and  true. 

The  pick-pockets  in  a  throng, 

Either  at  market  or  fair, 
Will  try  whose  purse  is  strong, 

That  they  may  the  money  share ; 
But  if  they  are  caught  i'  th'  action, 

They're  carried  away  in  disgrace, 
Either  to  the  House  of  Correction, 

Or  else  to  a  worser  place. 
O,  fie  on  these  pilfering  thieves  ? 

The  gallows  will  be  their  due ; 
What  need  I  sue  for  reprieves  ? 

I'm  ragged,  and  torn,  and  true. 

The  ostler  to  maintain 

Himself  with  money  in's  purse, 
Approves  the  proverb  true, 

And  says,  Grammercy  horse ; 
He  rohs  the  travelling  beast, 

That  cannot  divulge  his  ill, 
He  steals  a  whole  handful,  at  least, 

From  every  half-peck  he  should  fill. 
O,  fie  on  these  cozening  scabs, 

That  rob  the  poor  jades  of  their  due  ! 
I  scorn  all  thieves  and  drabs — 

I'm  ragged,  and  torn,  and  true. 

'Tis  good  to  be  honest  and  just, 

Though  a  man  be  never  so  poor ; 
False  dealers  are  still  in  mistrust, 

They're  afraid  of  the  officer's  door  : 
Their  conscience  doth  them  accuse, 

And  they  quake  at  the  noise  of  a  bush  ; 
While  he  that  doth  no  man  abuse, 

For  the  law  needs  not  care  a  rush. 
Then  well  fare  the  men  that  can  say, 

I  pay  every  man  his  due  ; 
Although  I  go  poor  in  array, 

I'm  ragged,  and  torn,  and  true. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  269 

The  following  is  the  before-mentioned  song,  "  The  Reformed  Drinker,  or  I'll 
ne'er  be  drunk  again,"  also  to  the  tune  of  Old  Sir  Simon  the  King. 

Come,  my  hearts  of  gold,  When  with  good  fellows  we  meet, 

Let  us  be  merry  and  wise  ;  A  quart  among  three  or  four, 

It  is  a  proverb  of  old,  'Twill  make  us  stand  on  our  feet, 

Suspicion  hath  double  eyes.  While  others  lie  drunk  on  the  floor. 

Whatever  we  say  or  do,  Then,  drawer,  go  fill  us  a  quart, 

Let's  not  drink  to  disturb  the  brain  ;  And  let  it  be  claret  in  grain  ; 

Let's  laugh  for  an  hour  or  two,  'Twill  cherish  and  comfort  the  heart — 

And  ne'er  be  drunk  again.  But  we'll  ne'er  be  drunk  again. 

A  cup  of  old  sack  is  good  Here's  a  health  to  our  noble  King, 

To  drive  the  cold  winter  away  ;  And  to  the  Queen  of  his  heart; 

'Twill  cherish  and  comfort  the  blood  Let's  laugh  and  merrily  sing, 

Most  when  a  man's  spirits  decay :  And  he's  a  coward  that  will  start. 

But  he  that  drinks  too  much,  Here's  a  health  to  our  general, 

Of  his  head  he  will  complain  ;  And  to  those  that  were  in  Spain  ; 

Then  let's  have  a  gentle  touch,  And  to  our  colonel — 

And  ne'er  be  drunk  again.  And  we'll  ne'er  be  drunk  again. 

Good  claret  was  made  for  man,  Enough's  as  good  as  a  feast, 

But  man  was  not  made  for  it ;  If  a  man  did  but  measure  know  ; 

•       Let's  be  merry  as  we  can,  A  drunkard's  worse  than  a  beast, 

So  we  drink  not  away  our  wit ;  For  he'll  drink  till  he  cannot  go. 

Good  fellowship  is  abus'd,  If  a  man  could  time  recall, 

And  wine  will  infect  the  brain :  In  a  tavern  that's  spent  in  vain, 

But  we'll  have  it  better  us'd,  We'd  learn  to  be  sober  all, 

And  ne'er  be  drunk  again.  And  we'd  ne'er  be  drunk  again. 

THE  BEGGAR  BOY. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  Tfte  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1690. 
The  following  ballads  were  sung  to  it : — 

Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  528 — "  Trial  brings  Truth  to  light ;  or — 
The  proof  a  pudding  is  all  in  the  eating ; 
A  dainty  new  ditty  of  many  things  treating : 

to  the  tune  of  The  Beggar  Boy"  by  Martin  Parker ;  and  beginning — 
"  The  world  hath  allurements  and  flattering  shows, 

To  purchase  her  lovers'  good  estimation ; 
Her  tricks  and  devices  he's  wise  that  well  knows — 

The  learn'd  in  this  science  are  taught  by  probation,"  &c. 
The  burden  is,  "  The  proof  of  the  pudding  is  all  in  the  eating." 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  542 — "  The  Beggar  Boy  of  the  North — 
Whose  lineage  and  calling  to  the  world  is  proclaim'd, 
Which  is  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  so  nam'd ; " 
beginning —        "  From  ancient  pedigree,  by  due  descent, 

I  well  can  derive  my  generation,"  &c. ; 
and  the  burden,  "  And  cry,  Good,  your  worship,  bestow  one  token." 

In  the  Roxburghe,  i.  450,  and  Pepys,  i.  306—"  The  witty  Western  Lasse,"  &c., 
"  to  a  new  tune  called  The  Beggar  Boy : "  subscribed  Robert  Guy.  This  begins, 
"  Sweet  Lucina,  lend  me  thy  ayde ; "  and  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  310,  there  is 


270 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


a  ballad  to  the  tune  of  Lucina,  entitled  "  A  most  pleasant  Dialogue,  or  a  merry 
greeting  between  two  Lovers,"  &c. ;  beginning,  "  Good  morrow,  fair  Nancie, 
whither  so  fast ;  "  which  I  suppose  to  be  also  to  the  tune.  It  is  subscribed  C.R. 
Printed  at  London  for  H[enry  G[osson.] 

The  following  is  also  from  the  Roxburghe  Collection  (i.  462),  and  is  reprinted 
in  Collier's  Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  7. 


/p%fi  —  1     1     1  —  • 

^-5-j 

\f  \   J   M 

—  *  —      ~~i  —  ^ 

i- 

s- 

ir"  F  -J  J  f  • 

Sweet  mis-tress  Money,    I 

here  will  declare  Thy  beauty  which  ev'ry  one  adoreth.Th 

L>%"  r 

1  r  '  '    M        '  •  U  .     ' 

i  —  T~n  —  * 

—  «n 

gfe  —  , 

—  1  — 

—  N  1  K— 

[—  j  IT 

~~M  —  n 

P  ^    "P  *  '  r    ~* 

lof-  ty     gal-lant     and  beg-gar  so  bi 

-f  '—       r-C  :  ttm 

I  j  'd  J   4  i'  »-d   <  i  d  •  ii 

ire,  Some  help  and  comfort  from   thee     im-plor-eth,  For 
.      ,p       •  ,  f—  ,  „ 

—  •  —  r 

—  :  — 

H  3  £- 

-<  \  —  v- 

—  S|  :— 

<-                  •  '•'- 

1  ;  .  ,  ,  1  

—  i  —  i  "i   —  — 

-*—i  —  IEEE 

f^J  ^.J_^ 

M  1  1  —  M 

—  »  —  y  —  *— 

-^  '  ^^  .  — 

-j  —  »  d  —  d 

r  •      r  *     r  *     r  •    r  *  r            •     *  • 

thou  art     become  the  world's  sweet-heart,  While  ev'ry    one  doth  make  thee  their  honey,  And 

^         J  •      f    i      J     h   i 

^== 

I 

H  «  ;  

1  M  •  

-,                                 r-                        ^f  m 

oth  they  are  from  thee  to     de-part,  So    well  they  do  love  sweet  Mis  -  tress   Mo-ney. 


THE  BOATMAN. 

This  is  a  bagpipe  tune,  and  might  be  harmonized  with  a  drone  base.  In 
MusicKs  Recreation  on  the  Viol,  Lyra-way,  1661,  the  viol  is  strung  to  the  "  bag- 
pipe tuning,"  to  play  it.  It  is  to  be  found  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master, 
from  the  first  to  that  of  1698.  I  have  not  discovered  the  song  of  The  Boatman, 
but  have  adapted  a  stanza  from  Coryat's  Orambe,  1611,  to  the  air.  It  resembles 
Trip  and  go  (see  p.  131),  and  the  same  words  might  be  sung  to  it.  The  accent 
of  the  tune  seems  intended  to  imitate  the  turning  of  the  scull  in  boating. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  496,  is  a  ballad  entitled  "  The  wanton  wife  of 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


271 


Castle-gate,  or  The  Boatman's  Delight :  to  its  own  proper  new  tune ; "  but  it 
appears,  from  the  following,  which  is  the  first  stanza,  that  this  air  cannot  have 
been  intended. 

"  Farewell  both  hawk  and  hind,  Farewell,  my  best  beloved, 

Farewell  both  shaft  and  bow,  In  whom  I  put  my  trust  ; 

Farewell  all  merry  pastimes,  For  its  neither  grief  nor  sorrow 

And  pleasures  in  a  row :  Shall  harbour  in  my  breast." 

There  is  an  air  in  Thomson's  Orpheus  Cdledonius  called  The  Boatman,  but  wholly 
different  from  this. 


—  '     In  rowing 

tee. 

-K-,  1  

r?  —  rn 

,1     M     N 

Ye  Church-ales   and  ye 
t).     (i       ~i             1 

Mor  -  ris  -  es,  With 

__  —  _£  —  JL  0  .  j  — 

hob  -  by-horse  ad  -  van  -  cing,  Ye 

~§T         *                                ~£      '     mf         • 

-=]  —  !  F   '  >    : 

8     ^ 

_j  1  

—  N—  1  1  N  —  ,  j  *  —  J  «r  J 

J*lj  .     1 

J     J       J     '  -=3--j       J      J—  fr    -      Hr 

round  games  with  fine      Sim   and      Sis       A   -  bout       the  May 

—    '  f  ~r~* 

-pole      dan    -    cing. 

a  :  1  ,  E  :  1  — 

~  1  M  &  

S3  .  1  1  

-u  —  =i-p- 

1 

:   r 

^-B           1         J>     J         ^r~l  rV-l  ^n  

1 

-f»  «  •—      —•  i  J—      —  f*  N— 

i       k     P         i 

—  J  Q     .                —  •  —  J  —  J  —  J  — 

d  PS--+  

-Sj  r—                                          —  •  j-*-i  1  r—  >- 
Ye        nim-ble  joints,  that   with    red  points  and    rib  -  bons  deck   the     bri  -  dal,  Lock 

I                                            • 

m     .   mu 

*1             ^n         *                                                                                    C; 

_j  q?  —  ^ 

!  1  1  

1  1  

&                       h                       J     J*  J     ^ 

N       i 

—  •  —          0  —  •  —  0  —         0  0  1  %f  :  fra  r~ 

T      r       r  •  • 

up  your  pumps,  and  rest  your  stumps,  For      you    are  now  down  -  cried         all. 

~^~           *                                T^B        •                                    ~9f        *         ttj         *                ~*~ 

z3                                                   \  -           \ 

__                  __    .                     .___       _           »          !  

li  —  =1  —  i2  

SIR  LAUNCELOT  DU  LAKE. 

This  second  tune  to  the  ballad,  "  When  Arthur  first  in  court  began  "  (which 
the  black-letter  copies,  The  G-arland  of  G-ood-will,  &c.,  direct  to  be  sung  to  the 
tune  of  Flying  Fame — see  p.  199),  was  transcribed  by  Dr.  Rimbault,  from  the  fly- 
leaf of  a  rare  book  of  Lessons  for  the  Virginals,  entitled  Parthenia  Inviolata. 

The  ballad  is  quoted  by  Shakespeare,  by  Beaumout  and  Fletcher,  by  Marston, 
&c.     It  is  founded  on  the  romance  of  Sir  Launcelot  du  Lake,  than  which  none 
was  more  popular.     Chaucer,  in  "  The  Nonne  Prest  his  tale,"  says — 
'  This  story  is  al  so  trewe,  I  undertake, 
As  the  book  is  of  Launcelot  the  Lake ; " 


272 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


and  Churchard,  in  his  "  Replication  to  Camel's  objection,"  says  to  him— 
"  The  most  of  your  study  hath  been  of  Robyn  Hood  : 
And  Bevis  of  Hampton  and  Syr  Launcelet  de  Lake 
Hath  taught  you,  full  oft,  your  verses  to  make." 

The  ballad,  entitled  "  The  noble  acts  of  Arthur  of  the  Round  Table,  and  of  Sir 
Laiincelot  du  Lake,"  is  printed  in  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry. 
Boldly  and  slow. 


m 


When    Ar  -  thur  first      in     court  be-gan,  And  was  ap-pi'ov-ed   King,  By 


force      of  arms,  great     vic-t'ries  won,  And     con  -  quest  home  did     bring. 


PS 


THE   SPANISH    GIPSY. 

This  is  in  every  edition  of  2%e  Dancing  Master,  and  in  MusicKs  Delight  on 
the  Cithren,  1666. 

It  is  found  in  the  ballad-operas,  such  as  The  Bays'  Opera,  1730,  and  The 
Fashionable  Lady,  1730,  under  the  name  of  Gome,  follow,  follow  me. 

The  name  of  The  Spanish  Gipsy  is  probably  derived  from  a  gipsies'  song  in 
Rowley  and  Middleton's  play  of  that  name.  It  begins,  "  Come,  follow  your 
leader,  follow,"  and  the  metre  is  suitable  to  the  air. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  544,  is  a  black-letter  ballad,  entitled  "  The 
brave  English  Jipsie:  to  the  tune  of   The  Spanish  Jipsie.      Printed  for  John 
Trundle,"  &c.     It  consists  of  eighteen  stanzas,  and  commencing — 
"  Come,  follow,  follow  all, 

'Tis  English  Jipsies'  call." 

And  in  the  same  volume,  p.  408,  one  by  M[artin]  P[arker],  called  "  The  three 
merry  Cobblers,"  of  which  the  following  are  the  first,  eighth,  fourteenth,  and  last 
stanzas.  (Printed  at  London  for  F.  Grove.) 


Come,  follow,  follow  me, 

To  the  alehouse  we'll  march  all  three. 

Leave  awl,  last,  thread,  and  leather, 

And  let's  go  all  together. 
Our  trade  excels  most  trades  i'the  land, 
For  we  are  still  on  the  mending  hand. 

Whatever  we  do  intend, 

We  bring  to  a  perfect  end ; 

If  any  offence  be  past, 

We  make  all  well  at  last. 
We  sit  at  work  when  others  stand, 
And  still  we  are  on  the  mending  hand. 


All  day  we  merrily  sing,  « 

And  customers  to  us  do  bring 

Or  unto  us  do  send 

Their  boots  and  shoes  to  mend. 
We  have  our  money  at  first  demand  ; 
Thus  still  we  are  on  the  mending  hand. 

We  pray  for  dirty  weather, 
And  money  to  pay  for  leather, 
Which  if  we  have,  and  health, 
A  fig  for  worldly  wealth. 
Till  men  upon  their  heads  do  stand, 
We  still  shall  be  on  the  mending  hand. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHAKLES   I. 


273 


The  most  popular  song  to  this  tune  was — 

"  Come,  follow,  follow  me, 

Ye  fairy  elves  that  be,"  &c. 

It  is  the  first  in  a  tract  entitled  "  A  Description  of  the  King  and  Queene  of 
Fayries,  their  habit,  fare,  abode,  pompe,  and  state :  being  very  delightful  to  the 
sense,  and  full  of  mirth.  London :  printed  for  Richard  Harper,  and  are  to  be 
sold  at  his  shop  at  the  Hospitall  Gate,  1635 ; "  and  the  song  was  to  be  "  sung 
like  to  the  Spanish  Gripsie" 

The  first  stanza  is  here  printed  to  the  tune.     The  song  will  be  found  entire  in 
Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry,  or  Ritson's  English  Songs. 
Lightly,  and  in  moderate  time. 


Come 


1 

fol  -  low, 


fol  -  low      me,          Ye      fai  -    ry    elves    that    be,       Which 


^m 


I^j 

|    .  J       ,—  j  JH 

i  I  J  l 

n  —  PT^ 

—  n 

1 

B 

cir     -     cle    on      the 

I3  :  d  :  1 

jreen,  Come 

i  i  i 

i    J   • 

fol  -  low  M 

i  —  1  

- 

ab,  your 

queen.    .    . 

1  

IEEE 

§E5  



f—  J  ;  

-f—     —  FT- 

j  1 

•               I 

H             I      H 

J    J       r 

I        m 

J 

m  •  *    m 

K 

•    • 

.  m     ;       9      m  •  ,m 

_    1  _       H     ! 

^r            r  • 

T  "f  r^—  ^r  "5 

I            €         9 

Hand  in  hand  let's     dance     a-round,                For      this     place    is 

fai  -  ry  ground. 

r  N  N-r- 

—  c  —  ?  1  —  i 

^-i  n 

—  i 

—  J  •— 

•  p 

~F~ 

m      •           J            , 

,    i 

*  p  *  

L 

—  '  b  — 

-T  * 

• 

l-v, 

1  LJ 

^ 

—  —  1^  —  i—  t  

"*  r  u  i   • 

THE  FRIAR  IN  THE  WELL. 

In  Anthony  Munday's  Downfall  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Huntington  (written  in 
1597),  where  Little  John  expresses  his  doubts  of  the  success  of  the  play; 
saying —  "  Methinks  I  see  no  jests  of  Robin  Hood ; 

No  merry  Morrices  of  Friar  Tuck ; 
No  pleasant  skippings  up  and  down  the  wood ; 

No  hunting  songs,"  &c. 

The  Friar  answers,  that  "  merry  jests"  have  been  shewn  before,  such  as — 
"  How  the  Friar  fell  into  the  well, 

For  love  of  Jenny,  that  fair,  bonny  belle,"  &c. 
The  title  of  this  ballad  is  " The  Fryer  well  fitted;  or— 
A  pretty  jest  that  once  befell ; 
How  a  maid  put  a  Fryer  to  cool  in  a  well : 
to  a  merry  tune." 


274 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1686,  entitled  The  Maid 
peept  out  at  the  window,  or  The  Frier  in  the  Well 

The  ballad  is  in  the  Bagford  Collection ;  in  the  Roxburghe  (ii.  172)  ;  the 
Pepys  (iii.  145) ;  the  Douce  (p.  85)  ;  and  in  Wit  and  Mirth,  an  Antidote  to 
Melancholy,  8vo.,  1682.  Also,  in  an  altered  form,  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy, 
1707  i.  340 ;  or  1719,  iii.  325.  But  not  one  of  these  contains  the  line,  "  The 
maid  peept  out  of  the  window."  I  suppose,  therefore,  that  the  present  has  been 
modelled  upon  some  earlier  version  of  the  ballad,  which  I  have  not  seen.  The 
story  is  a  very  old  one,  and  one  of  the  many  against  monks  and  friars,  in  which, 
not  only  England  but  all  Europe  delighted. 

CHORUS. 


-^         Grace 

fully.                 _^ 

•7—  K  j    ^ 

^  .                                            OOLO 

As 

-i  -14>j 

I      lay    mus-mg 

all      a  -  lone,       Fa 

1  1  * 

tJJ*      *   T  ^  *~~^ 

la,            la     la    la,     A 

-P—  j8-  r  •  r  i 

^ft     n 

^s 

tzj  .  

-£  -.-^~ 
CHORUS. 

p  —  *_j_|  1  1_4 
TT«  —  if~l  —  (T 

-rt      1       r. 

pret  -  ty      j 

EE=  —  2  —  d— 
T.    iff- 

sst,      I  thought    up  - 

1  ih- 

on,    '         Fa                  la, 

(•       '           !*          • 

la          la    la. 

—  r  —  '-  —  r  — 

^            *     -• 
^  SOLO. 

[     .          '    J           J 

-f—  r  c  ^= 

~~^  —  i  —  KT~ 

3  1  

M.3  ,.   J 

iT  *  — 

m  *  ,   •    f 

-J-^-        -^ 

=?-»TP2—  t- 

/  ' 

Then    listen 

l^Ur  *  **i  *: 

a  -while,  And      I    will  tell     Of  a   Friar   that  lov'd  a      bonny  lass  well, 

,  P  .  f  •  ,  5f  f  •  r    f     •    -   .                 i  - 

U^44T— 

p  r  •]  r   ' 

-^  —  ^-^  —  E 

5  ^ 

CHORUS. 


The  story  of  the  ballad  may  be  told,  with  slight  abbreviation.     Firstly,  the 
Friar  makes  love  to  the  Maid : — 

"  But  she  denyed  his  desire, 
And  told  him  that  she  fear'd  Hell-fire. 
Tush,  quoth  the  Friar,  thou  needst  not  doubt, 
If  thou  wert  in  Hell,  I  could  sing  thee  out." 


REIGNS   OP  JAMES  I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  275 

The  Maid  pretends  to  be  persuaded  by  his  arguments,  but  stipulates  that  he  shall 
bring  her  an  angel  of  money. 

"Tush,  quoth  the  Friar,  we  shall  agree,  While  he  was  gone  (the  truth  to  tell), 

No  money  shall  part  my  love  and  me;  She  hung  a  cloth  before  the  well. 

Before  that  I  will  see  thee  lack,  The  Friar  came,  as  his  covenant  was, 

I'll  pawn  my  grey  gown  from  my  back.  With  money  to  his  bonny  lass.       [quoth  he, 

The  Maid  bethought  her  of  a  wile,  Good   morrow,  fair  Maid,  good  morrow, 

How  she  the  Friar  might  beguile;  Here  is  the  money  I  promised  thee." 

The  Maid  thanks  him,  and  takes  the  money,  but  immediately  pretends  that  her 
father  is  coming. 

"  Alas !  quoth  the  Friar,  where  shall  I  run,  Quoth  he,  for  sweet  St.  Francis'  sake, 

To  hide  myself  till  he  be  gone?  On  his  disciple  some  pity  take; 

Behind  the  cloth  run  thou,  quoth  she,  Quoth  she,  St.  Francis  never  taught 

And  there  my  father  cannot  thee  see.  His  scholars  to  tempt  young  maids  to  naught. 

Behind  the  cloth  the  Friar  crept,  The  Friar  did  entreat  her  still 

And  into  the  well  on  a  sudden  he  leapt.  That  she  would  help  him  out  of  the  well ; 

Alas!  quoth  he,  I  am  in  the  well;  She  heard  him  make  such  piteous  moan, 

No  matter,  quoth  she,  if  thou  wert  in  Hell  :  She  help'd  him  out,  and  bid  him  begone. 

Thou  sayst  thou  couldst  sing  me  out  of  Hell,  Quoth  he,  shall  I  have  my  money  again, 

Now,  prythee,  sing  thyself  out  of  the  well.  Which  from  me  thou  hast  before-hand  ta'en? 

The  Friar  sung  on  with  a  pitiful  sound,  Good  sir,  quoth  she,  there's  no  such  matter, 

0  help  me  out!  or  I  shall  be  drown'd.  I'll  make  you  pay  for  fouling  the  water. 

1  trow,  quoth  she,  your  courage  is  cool'd ;          The  Friar  went  all  along  the  street, 
Quoth  the  Friar,  I  never  was  so  fool'd;  Dropping  wet,  like  a  new-wash'd  sheep; 

I  never  was  served  so  before.         [no  more ;      Both  old  and  young  commended  the  Maid 
Then  take  heed,  quoth  she,  thou  com'st  here       That  such  a  witty  prank  had  play'd." 

SIB  EGLAMOEE. 

This  "  merry  tune  "  is  another  version  of  The  Friar  in  the  Well  (see  the  pre- 
ceding). The  ballad  of  Sir  Eglamore  is  a  satire  upon  the  narratives  of  deeds 
of  chivalry  in  old  romances.  It  is  contained  in  The  Melancholie  Knight,  by 
S[amuel]  R[owlands],  1615 ;  in  the  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  1661;  in  Merry 
Drollery  Complete,  1661 ;  in  Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  iv.  104;  in  the  Bagford 
and  Roxburghe  Collections  of  Ballads ;  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs ;  Evans'  Old 
Ballads;  &c.,  &c. 

It  appears,  with  music,  in  part  ii.  of  Playford's  Pleasant  Musical  Companion, 
1687  ;  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy ;  in  Stafford  Smith's  Musica  Antigua;  and  the 
tune,  with  other  words,  in  180  Loyal  Songs,  &c. 

The  title  of  the  ballad  is,  "  Courage  crowned  with  Conquest;  or  A  brief  rela- 
tion how  that  valiant  Knight,  and  heroic  Champion,  Sir  Eglamore,  bravely  fought 
with  and  manfully  slew  a  terrible,  huge,  great,  monstrous  Dragon.  To  a  pleasant 
new  tune."  There  are  many  variations  in  the  copies  from  different  presses. 

The  following  songs  were  sung  to  Sir  Eglamore : — 

"  Sir  Eglamore  and  the  Dragon,  or  a  relation  how  General  Monk  slew  a  most 
cruel  Dragon,  Feb.  11,  1659."  See  Loyal  Songs  written  against  the  Rinnp 
Parliament. 


27G 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 


«'  Ignoramus  Justice ;  or — 

The  English  laws  turn'd  into  a  gin, 
To  let  knaves  out  and  keep  honest  men  in  : 

to  the  tune  of  Sir  Egledemore"     London :  printed  for  Allen  Bancks,  1682. 
"  The  Jacobite  toss'd  in  a  Blanket,"  &c.  (Pepys  Coll.,  ii.  292)  ;  beginning— 
"  I  pray,  Mr.  Jacobite,  tell  me  why,  Fa  la,  &c., 
You  on  our  government  look  awry,  Fa  la,  &c. 
With  paltry  hat,  and  threadbare  coat, 
And  jaws  as  thin  as  a  Harry  groat, 
You've  brought  yourselves  and  your  cause  to  nought. 

Fa-la,  fa-la-la-la,  Fa-la,  lanky  down  dilly." 

In  Rowland's  Melancholic  Knight,  the  ballad  is  thus  prefaced  : — 
"  But  that  I  turn,  and  overturn  again, 
Old  books,  wherein  the  worm-holes  do  remain ; 
Containing  acts  of  ancient  knights  and  squires 
That  fought  with  dragons,  spitting  forth  wild  fires. 
The  history  unto  you  shall  appear, 
Even  by  myself,  verbatim,  set  down  here." 
j       Gracefully.  CHORUS. 


0«  -     .    r  .., 

**3                                  1 

/pfi    fr 

r4 

! 

E   i 

F*H=* 

J         •        J       1 

^B  —  ft  —  ^  — 

-« 

—  •  J  .  • 

—  •  — 

—  —  J  — 

—m  —  :  —  • 

—  m  •  \ 

Sir         Eg  -  la  -  more, 

that     v£ 

i-liant  knight,    Fa,      la,         lanky  down  dilly. 

7  \  r^5  ~7i 

*  /  "Ft   IJ          •] 



1        p    • 

1                        J 

8 

1—  • 

. 

.    '  1 

J    •    1 

•L             * 

*,  SOLO. 

CHORUS.         •                •            . 

^^  •  \  r  1  •  S  ,  rr 

=£= 

J         J        \^ 

1  f*—  i  t   :    '   : 

—}- 

0  

—  *l  ^  —  i  —  "~^ 

J  

1  * 

—  J—             g   •    « 

-4  4— 

He       took     his     sword,   and  we 

m    •        m    •   .J.    • 
nt    to  fight,         Fa,        la,        lanky     down  dilly. 

=j  

—  M  —  r—- 

—  j  1  

•=\  

-« 

• 

'  j    .     i  j  •  r 

3E  3  —  D 

=W 

_i  /  j  ->- 

—»  —  j  —  j  —  -K-i 

r~l  —  FH  — 

k 

r~l  —  P»  1 

And 

-*- 

as 

«  =  5.  — 

he  rode     o'er 

-t  P  *  1  -J  4—  J  — 

p            =*=ITF 

hill     and  dale,     All  arm'd    up-on     his 

shirt    of    mail, 

^     .      •&y    . 

.  ^^ 

r*\ 

Le 

1  ^^  =  Z^ 

i 

j~r     |*  =j 

.CHORUS. 


Fa         la  Ja,      fa      la  la,       Fa        la,  Ian -ky  down 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES    I.    AND    CHARLES    I.  277 

A  Dragon  came  out  of  his  den,  The  Dragon  had  a  plaguey  hide, 

Had  slain,  God  knows  how  many  men  :  And  could  the  sharpest  steel  abide; 

When  he  espied  Sir  Eglamore,  No  sword  would  enter  him  with  cuts, 

Oh !  if  you  had  but  heard  him  roar !  Which  vext  the  Knight  unto  the  guts  ; 

Then  the  trees  began  to  shake,  But,  as  in  choler  he  did  burn, 

The  Knight  did  tremble,  horse  did  quake ;  He  watched  the  Dragon  a  good  turn, 

The  birds  betake  them  all  to  peeping,  And  as  a  yawning  he  did  fall, 

It  would  have  made  you  fall  a  weeping.  He  thrust  the  sword  in,  hilt  and  all. 

But  now  it  is  vain  to  fear,  Then  like  a  coward  he  [did]  fly 

For  it  must  be  fight  dog,  fight  bear ;  Unto  his  den  that  was  hard  by, 

To  it  they  go,  and  fiercely  fight  And  there  he  lay  all  night  and  roar'd: 

A  live-long  day,  from  morn  till  night.  The  Knight  was  sorry  for  his  sword ; 

But  riding  thence,  said,  I  forsake  it, 
He  that  will  fetch  it,  let  him  take  it." 

Instead  of  the  two  last  lines,  in  many  of  the  copies,  are  the  three  following 
stanzas : — 

The  sword,  that  was  a  right  good  blade,  For  he  was  80  hot  with  tagging  w'th   *« 

As  ever  Turk  or  Spaniard  made,  Drag°n>                                              tflag011' 

I,  for  my  part,  do  forsake  it,  That  nothinS  Would  1uench  him  but  a  whole 

And  he  that  will  fetch  it,  let  him  take  it.  Now  God  preserve  our  King  and  Queen, 

And  eke  in  London  may  be  seen 

When  all  was  done,  to  the  alehouse  he  went,  As  many  knights,  and  as  many  more, 

And  by  and  by  his  two-pence  he  spent ;  And  all  so  good  as  Sir  Eglamore. 

THE  COBBLER'S  JIGG. 

This  tune  first  appears  in  The  Dancing  Master,  in  the  seventh  edition,  printed 
in  1686.  It  is  there  entitled  The  Collier's  Jiyg.  More  than  sixty  years  before 
it  had  been  published  in  Holland,  as  an  English  song-tune,  in  Belkrophon,  1622 ; 
and  in  NederlandtscJie  G-edenck-Clanck,  1626.  In  the  index  to  the  latter,  among 
the  "Engelsche  Stemmen,"  it  is  entitled  "  Cobbeler,  of:  Het  Engelsch  Lapper- 
ken."  All  the  English  airs  in  thes«  Dutch  books  have  Dutch  words  adapted  to 
them;  but  as  I  do  not  know  the  English  words  which  belong  to  this,  I  have 
adapted  an  appropriate  song  from  The  Shoemaker's  Holiday,  1600. 

In  the  Pepys  Collection  of  Ballads,  vol.  i.,  No.  227,  is  one  entitled  "  Round, 
boyes,  indeed !  or  The  Shoemaker's  Holy-day : 

Being  a  very  pleasant  new  ditty, 
To  fit  both  country,  towne,  and  cittie,  &c. 

To  a  pleasant  new  tune."  It  is  signed  L.P.  (Laurence  Price?),  and  printed 
for  J.  Wright,  who  printed  about  1620.  This  may  prove  to  be  the  ballad. 
I  noted  that  it  was  in  eighteen  stanzas,  but  omitted  to  copy  it. 

Shoemakers  called  their  trade  "  the  gentle  craft,"  from  a  tradition  that  King 
Edward  IV.,  in  one  of  his  disguises,  once  drank  with  a  party  of  shoemakers,  and 
pledged  them.  The  story  is  alluded  to  in  the  old  play,  Creorge  a  Greene,  the 
Pinner  of  WaJcefield  (1599),  when  Jenkinsays — 

"  Marry,  because  you  have  drank  with  the  King, 
And  the  King  hath  so  graciously  pledg'd  you, 
You  shall  no  more  be  called  shoemakers ; 
But  you  and  yours,  to  the  world's  end, 
Shall  be  called  the  trade  of  the  gentle  graft." 

Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  v.  iii.,  p.  45. 


278 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC. 


"Would  I  had  been  created  a  shoemaker,"  (says  the  servant  in  a  play  of  Dekker's) 
"  for  all  the  gentle  craft  are  gentlemen  every  Monday  by  their  copy,  and  scorn 
then  to  work  one  true  stitch." — Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  v.  iii.,  p.  282. 

Cobblers,  too,  were  .proverbially  a  merry  set.  In  the  opening  scene  of  Ben 
Jonson's  play,  The  case  is  altered,  Juniper,  the  cobbler,  is  discovered  sitting  at 
work  in  his  shop,  and  singing ;  and  Onion,  who  is  sent  for  him,  has  great  diffi- 
culty in  stopping  his  song.  When  told  that  he  must  slip  on  his  coat  and  go  to 
assist,  because  they  lack  waiters,  he  exclaims, "  A  pityful  hearing !  for  now  must  I, 
of  a  merry  cobbler,  become  a  mourning  creature."  (The  family  were  in  mourning). 
Juniper  is  also  represented  as  a  small  poet ;  and  when,  in  the  third  act,  Onion 
goes  to  him  again  (the  cobbler  being  in  his  shop,  and  singing,  as  usual),  and 
explains  his  distress  because  Valentine  had  not  written  the  ditty  he  ordered  of 
him,  Juniper  says,  "No  matter,  I'll  hammer  out  a  ditty  myself." 


0$.        J 

-d- 

=^=q 

d—  J— 

J       J»  1  J      J      J      J    1 

Cold's  the  wind,  and 

5b   •  *•  f 

wet's  the     rai 

^^=  f  f  -a  —  •*— 

n,       Saint  Hugh      be         our     good 
L 

f   \  »jj*                       ^-3                                     C> 

cS                    * 

i             P            r  •    P 

*       -1*  (  \  —  ^  M  

—4  

!  P           -f  P  b  

ft"     ^  1  

1  

F  E  —  1  '  ^  — 

K          i       1 

1—  1        ^^ 

1 

i    r^*-    •            i    i    , 

/-D              J 

J 

j 

g    j 

i                                        = 

-    *    -*  0  J  i  *  «  f  J—  -!3-. 

—  ^  •  r^ 

r  —  i  •  —  f—  3  —  "—rat: 

1 

speed  ;               11 

C|                        p       •         -       -       - 

1    is     the   weather  that  bringeth  no  gain,  Nor  helps  good  hearts  in  need. 

• 

—  i    Lf  r  p  -r  r  i    i   ^=: 

_/  CHORUS. 

3  —  j- 

=3= 

r~||  | 

^*«J  j  p  1  1  '  :i4-  • 
—  f»—  [   —  T*|  ;  1  -^  —      1  1  ;  r- 

~J  —  i~J 

Hey      down    a 

—t— 

—  *  — 

down, 

f     ^" 

hey  down 

J-«  J-J- 
a  down;  Hey 

der-ry     der-ry      down      a       down. 

^—=^4 
—  s~nr 

1  — 

~    I  

J       1 

J 

U  •  $  J   J  - 

Ho  !     well  done,  To 

~~-  1  1  — 

me        lei 

come,  Ring 

1  

7^    hrf1  .-"^ 

corn-pass,     gen    -    tie            joy. 
p         f         j=  E 

j.        J 

-V- 

^= 

Troll  the  bowl,  the  nut-brown  bowl, 

And  here,  kind  mate,  to  thee  ! 
Let's  sing  a  dirge  for  Saint  Hugh's  soul, 
And  down  it  merrily. 

Hey  down  a  down,  hey  down  a  down, 

Hey  derry,  derry,  down  a  down  ; 
Ho !  well  done,  to  me  let  come, 
Ring  compass,  gentle  joy. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  279 

DOWN  IN  THE  NORTH  COUNTRY. 

This  tune  was  formerly  very  popular,  and  is  to  be  found  under  a  variety  of 
names,  and  in  various  shapes.  In  the  second  vol.  of  The  Dancing  Master  it  is 
entitled  Ttie  Merry  Milkmaids.  In  The  Merry  Musician,  or  a  Cure  for  the 
Spleen,  i.  64,  it  is  printed  to  the  ballad,  "  The  Farmer's  Daughter  of  merry 
Wakefield."  That  ballad  begins  with  the  line,  "  Down  in  the  North  Country ; " 
and  the  air  is  so  entitled  in  the  ballad-opera,  A  Cure  for  a  Scold,  1738.  In 
180  Loyal  Songs,  third  and  fourth  editions,  1684  and  1694,  there  are  two  songs, 
and  the  tune  is  named  Philander.  The  first  of  the  songs  begins,  "  Ah,  cruel 
bloody  fate,"  and  the  second  is  "  to  the  tune  of  Ah,  cruel  Woody  fate ; "  by  which 
name  it  is  also  called  in  The  Grenteel  Companion  for  the  Recorder,  1683,  and 
elsewhere. 

One  of  M[artin]  P[arker's]  ballads  is  entitled  "  Take  time  while  'tis  offer'd ;  " 
"  For  Tom  has  broke  his  word  with  his  sweeting, 
And  lost  a  good  wife  for  an  hour's  meeting ; 
Another  good  fellow  has  gotten  the  lass, 
And  Tom  may  go  shake  his  long  ears  like  an  ass." 

to  the  tune  Within  the  North  Country"     (Roxburghe,  i.  396.)     It  begins  with 
the  line,  "  When  Titan's  fiery  steeds,"  and  the  last  stanza  is — 
"  Thus  Tom  hath  lost  his  lass, 
Because  he  broke  his  vow ; 
And  I  have  raised  my  fortunes  well — 

The  case  is  alter' d  now" 

There  are  many  ballads  to  the  tune  The  case  is  altered,  and  probably  this  is 
intended. 

In  the  Bagford  Collection  is  "  The  True  Lover's  lamentable  Overthrow  ;  or 
The  Damosel's  last  Farewell,"  &c. :  "to  the  tune  of  Cruel  bloody  fate;" 
commencing —  "  You  parents  all  attend 

To  what  of  late  befell ; 
It  is  to  you  I  send 

These  lines,  my  last  farewell."  &c. 

In  the  Douce  Collection,  p.  245,  "  The  West  Country  Lovers — 
See  here  the  pattern  of  true  love, 

Amongst  the  country  blades, 
Who  never  can  delighted  be, 

But  when  amongst  the  maids : 
tune  of  Philander." 

The  last  is  in  black-letter,  printed  by  J.  Bonyers,  at  the  Black  Raven  in  Duck 
Lane.  A  former  possessor  has  written  "  Cruel  bloody  fate  "  under  "  Philander," 
as  being  the  other  name  of  the  tune. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  105, — "The  Deceiver  Deceived;  or  The 
Virgin's  Revenge :  to  the  tune  of  Ah,  cruel  bloody  fate"  begins,  "  Ah,  cruel  maid, 
give  o'er." 

In  A  Cabinet  of  Choice  Jewels,  1688  (Wood's  Library,  Oxford)— a  "  Carol  for 
Innocents'  Day:  tune  of  Bloody  fate." 


280 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  song  of  Philander  is  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  252  (1707),  or 
iv.  284  (1719)  ;  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  1682 ;  and  a  black-letter  copy  in  the 
Douce  Collection,  p.  74,  entitled  "  The  Faithfull  Lover's  Downfall;  or  The 
Death  of  fair  Phillis,  who  killed  herself  for  the  loss  of  her  Philander,"  &c. :  to  a 
pleasant  new  play-house  tune,  or  0  cruel  bloody  fate"  (Printed  by  T.  Vere,  at 
the  Angel  in  Giltspur  Street.) 


-^         o 

mootniy, 

T  

ana  in  moaeraie  imie. 

~~3*  —  i  —  H~~i  — 

Ft= 

i,  ri  rr^^ 

rf>kj2j 

^2-7 

Ah, 
T-f— 

rl  J  —  &E+  '  "  *  '  *  ^  J 

cru  -  el     bloody         fate,        What     w  canst        thou      now       do 

i  —  <s  ^  rr5  *  1     ^  ^  1 

—Mr-1 

1-1"  1                1 

=  1 

h      '    1 

^T)  J   J^j 

r—j  n 

—  3  i  ^  

J    J      ^    J    1 

—  C5  *  

more  ?       Ah          me,    'tis    now   too    late,            Phi  -  Ian  -  der     to      res  -  tore, 

cs                           ^                »                   1     *i   a                                                           .  * 

\ 

>*-                                   I 

if   «   ^ 

—  - 

K" 

1        JJ 

_C  S=|  

^  ^  

-rt  =1  

—  3  '  

Why  should  the  heavenly  pow'rs  persuade  Poor  mor  -  tals   to     be   -  lieve         That  they 


1  J    J  —  j  —  j8*^-] 

i  n  J  J 

JJ-  1  *- 

guard  us    here    and  re   - 

ward  us     thei 

•e,  Yet 

all       our    joy 

a    de  - 

ceiv 

A 

t 

1  Q 

1     '            ° 

j  1  

Her  poniard  then  she  took,  and  graspt  it  in  her  hand, 

And  with  a  dying  look,  cried,  Thus  I  fate  command : 

Philander,  ah,  my  love !  I  come  to  meet  thy  shade  below  ; 

Ah,  I  come !  she  cried,  with  a  wound  so  wide,  to  need  no  second  blow. 

In  purple  waves  her  blood  ran  streaming  down  the  floor ; 

Unmov'd  she  saw  the  flood,  and  bless'd  her  dying  hour  : 

Philander,  ah  Philander,  still  the  bleeding  Phillis  cried; 

She  wept  awhile,  and  forc'd  a  smile,  then  clos'd  her  eyes  and  died. 

The  following  is  the  version  called  "  Down  in  the  North  Country,"  of  which 
there  are  also  copies  in  Halliwell's  Collection  (Cheetham  Library,  1850),  and  in 
Dr.  Burney'g  Collection,  Brit.  Mus. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


281 


-^   L   Cheerfully.     ( 

I 

t/  1  ™ 

—  4 

—  i—  —  I  — 

—  *  

*~               ^~\ 

_j  —  H-J  —  r^N^  - 

^K&  b  (  /    J 

—  •- 

J     *> 

v         * 

^ 

—  •  f  —  •  —  *„  9  —  *-^5— 

Down       in 

a 

the     North  Coun  -  try,          As            an  -  cient  re  -  ports      do 

B-H?    />    M  — 

G 

D 

O|                                     ' 

i  1  — 

1 

s 


$ 


=* 


i 


J       '       iL 

tell,       There       lies       a     fa-mous  country  town,  Some     call   it     merry  Wakeneld,    And 

^Aj    J  ^ 


i 


^ 


? 


^ 

•  1    J  J  J  J  I 

F^  r1  J   J*>^.  1 

—  i  —  d  — 

in 

J         • 
this       co 

:          ~§ 

un  -  try      town,           A 

far  -   mer      there     did       dwell,    Whose 

Jj 

s 

9 

1  

-j   j;  j   ji 

-rt-  ~ 

J  —  E 

j  j"i  1  1  j  i- 

^T— 

f  *-f  ^»   Jf."-*   ^^^    '    gL    '  "— 

'      '  *•            ^    • 

daugh-ter  would      to        mar-ket      go,     Her     trea    -    sure      for        to          sell. 

^   JJJ.   Jj    J     l    J 

w     • 

1               1 

p**j 

•     i 

p        « 

B 

1  

-P  —  F  —  i 

P  — 

-P  J  J  :  

^                       '      ' 

1  b  1  _  1  •  1  u  

-G>-     • 

The  following  is  the  version  of  the  same  tune,  which  is  entitled  The  Merry  Milk- 
maids in  the  second  volume  of  The  Dancing  Master.  It  was  formerly  the  custom 
for  milkmaids  to  dance  before  the  houses  of  their  customers  in  the  month  of  May, 
to  obtain  a  small  gratuity ;  and  probably  this  tune,  and  The  Merry  Milkmaids  in 
green,  were  especial  favorites,  and  therefore  named  after  them.  To  be  a  milkmaid 
and  to  be  merry  were  almost  synonymous  in  the  olden  time.  Sir  Thomas 
Overbury's  Character  o/  a  Milkmaid,  and  some  allusions  to  their  songs,  will  be 
found  with  the  tune  entitled  The  Merry  Milkmaids  in  green.  The  following 
quotations  relate  to  their  music  and  dancing. 

In  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  play,  The  Coxcomb,  Nan,  the  milkmaid,  says — 
"  Come,  you  shall  e'en  home  with  us,  and  be  our  fellow ; 

Our  house  is  so  honest ! 

And  we  serve  a  very  good  woman,  and  a  gentlewoman ; 

And  we  live  as  merrily,  and  dance  o'  good  days 

After  even-song.     Our  wake  shall  be  on  Sunday : 

Do  you  know  what  a  wake  is  ? — we  have  mighty  cheer  then,"  &c. 
Pepys,  in  his  Diary,  13th  Oct.,  1662,  says,  "  With  my  father  took  a  melan- 
choly walk  to  Portholme,  seeing  the  country-maids,  milking  their  cows  there, 
they  being  there  now  at  grass ;    and  to  see  with  what  mirth  they  come  all  home 
together  in  pomp  with  their  milk,  and  sometimes  they  have  music  go  before  them." 


282 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Again,  on  the  1st  May,  1667,  "  To  Westminster ;  on  the  way  meeting  many 
milkmaids  with  their  garlands  upon  their  pails,  dancing  with  a  fiddler  before 
them;  and  saw  pretty  Nelly"  [Nell  Gwynne]  "standing  at  her  lodgings'  door  in 
Drury  Lane,  in  her  smock  sleeves  and  bodice,  looking  upon  one :  she  seemed  a 
mighty  pretty  creature." 

In  a  set  of  prints,  called  Tempest's  Cryes  of  London,  one  is  called  "  The  Merry 
Milkmaid,  whose  proper  name  was  Kate  Smith.  She  is  dancing  with  her  milk- 
pail  on  her  head,  decorated  with  silver  cups,  tankards,  and  salvers,  borrowed  for 
the  purpose,  and  tied  together  with  ribbands,  and  ornamented  with  flowers.  Of 
late  years,  the  plate,  with  other  decorations,  were  placed  in  a  pyramidical  form, 
and  carried  by  two  chairmen  upon  a  wooden  horse.  The  mikmaids  walked  before 
it,  and  performed  the  dance  without  any  incumbrance.  Strutt  mentions  having 
seen  "these  superfluous  ornaments,  with  much  more  propriety,  substituted  by  a 
cow.  The  animal  had  her  horns  gilt,  and  was  nearly  covered  with  ribbands  of 
various  colours,  formed  into  bows  and  roses,  and  interspersed  with  green  oaken 
leaves  and  bunches  of  flowers."  Sports  and  Pastimes,  edited  by  Hone,  p.  358. 


XQ? 

fr/*  i 

J  J   n 

—  ^ 

=3 

J   |* 

j  

—  r 

^H—  1 

T~ 

* 

<a 





-e 

: 

1 

—  J 

^       -o 

• 

y 

-^ 

5=^ 

rKr 

7     />   S 

—  3  — 

-K 

1  c 

—  bi 

—  ^  ^ 

—  r 



— 

k- 

JJ  1 

:  —  1  1 

B 

b=^  

J 

135 

B 

Jj4Jlj-rb 


^ — ^-=ss 

^^ 


f 


^ 

-        - 

~i  —  M  — 

P 



i—  j  —  -pp 

I    I    I   I 

=3* 

0 

' 

4?  

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•  9  <S 

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^\-      \ 

h*^~i~ 

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LJ— 

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LJ  e. 

^ 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES  I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


283 


MORRIS  DANCE. 

This  is  entitled  Engelsche  Kloclte-Dans  in  three  of  the  Collections  published  in 
Holland :  viz.,  in  Bellerophon  (Amsterdam,  1622) ;  Nederlandtsche  0-edenck- 
Clanck  (Haerlem,  1626)  ;  and  Friesche  Lust-Hof  (Amsterdam,  1634.) 

As  "  klok"  signifies  "  bell,"  and  bells  were  worn  in  the  morris,  I  suppose  it  to 
have  been  a  morris-dance.  In  the  above-named  collections,  Dutch  songs  are 
adapted  to  it,  but  I  have  no  clue  to  the  English  words. 

Moderate  time. 


J3t 


m 


£ 


-A  •  —  =  — 

3  —  »     ^  —  E 

—st  — 

-^  — 

m   •          m 

.  m  •        9 

-J  —  >  —  *     *- 

-f  — 

•   O)    _      C^ 

mf                                       -           Cf         • 

—  g.         "^  ^n  —  1  «  '  ' 

11            II 

a  —  i=li 

^=r-  -^ 

J      . 

=f- 

=  —  H— 

-^-^h- 

trrr.r 


m 


=^= 


^ 


AMARILLIS  TOLD  HER  SWAIN. 


This  is  found,  under  the  name  of  Amarillis,  among  the  violin  tunes  in  TJie 
Dancing  Master  of  1665,  and  in  all  later  editions;  in  MusicKs  Delight  on  the 
Cithren,  1666  ;  in  Apollo's  Banquet,  1670  ;  in  the  Pleasant  Companion  for  the 
Flageolet,  1680  ;  &c. 

The  song,  "Amarillis  told  her  swain,"  is  in  Merry  Drollery  complete,  1670  (p.  3). 

The  air  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  "  Phillis  on  the  new-made  hay,"  from  a 


284 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


ballad  entitled  "  The  coy  Shepherdess;  or  Phillis  and  Amintas ; "  which  was  sung 
to  the  tune  of  Amarillis.  See  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  85. 

Among  the  ballads  to  the  air,  are  also  the  following : — 

"  The  Royal  Recreation  of  Jovial  Anglers  ; "  beginning — 
"Of  all  the  recreations  which 
Attend  on  human  nature,"  &c. 

Roxburghe  Collection. 

Collier's  Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  232;  and  Merry  Drollery  complete,  1661  and 
1670.  It  is  also  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy ;  but  there  set  to  the  tune  of 
My  father  was  lorn  before  me. 

"  Love  in  the  blossom ;  or  Fancy  in  the  bud :  to  the  tune  Amarillis  told  her 
swain."  Roxburghe,  ii.  315. 

"  Fancy's  Freedom ;  or  true  Lovers'  bliss :  tune  of  Amarillis,  or  Phillis  on  the 
new-made  hay."  Roxburghe,  iii.  114. 

"  The  true  Lovers'  Happiness  ;  or  Nothing  venture,  nothing  have,"  &c. :  tune 
of  Amintas  on  the  new-made  hay ;  or  The  Loyal  Lovers."  Douce  Collection,  and 
Roxburghe,  ii.  486. 

"  The  Cotsall  Shepherds :  to  the  tune  of  Amarillis  told  her  swain,"  in  Folly  in 
print,  or  a  Book  of  Rhymes,  1667. 

The  following  stanza,  set  to  the  tune,  is  the  first  of  the  above-named  ballad, 
*'  The  coy  Shepherdess ;  or  Phillis  and  Amintas  :" — 

Smoothly,  and  in  moderate  time. 


Phil  -  lis  on     the    new-made  hay,         On      a      plea  -  sant  summer  s  day, 


fr— 71- 


-•  1  «s     • 

L      C  FH  —  »  — 

oS        ^ 

j   •  1  —  I  —  1  — 

-1  •  3  

-+  l»  br-t  -kr— 

•13  ^  — 

In       're  -  clin  -  ing* 

I        I        L>     | 

pos  -  ture    lay,     And  thought  no      shep  -  herd 

nigh       her  ; 

1    J       .                J       =1 

hj—  3  nr  =f=\ 

ft       |      J      1 

--,       —                    —  ' 

•      Q4          * 

1    '       0      ~       ' 

^ 


fEEE¥f 


Till      A-min  -  tas         came  that  way,    And      threw     him   -   self   down     hy        her. 


9     J    J   J^j| 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES    I. 


285 


CHERRILY  AND  MERRILY. 

In  The  Dancing  Master  of  1652,  this  is  entitled  Mr.  Webb's  Fancy  ;  and  in 
later  editions  Cherrily  and  merrily. 

In  vol.  xi.  of  the  King's  Pamphlets,  folio,  there  is  a  copy  of  a  ballad  written  on 
the  violent  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament  by  Cromwell,  entitled  "  The  Par- 
liament routed ;  or  Here's  a  house  to  be  let : 

I  hope  that  England,  after  many  jarres, 
Shall  be  at  peace,  and  give  no  way  to  warres  : 
0  Lord,  protect  the  general!,  that  he 
May  be  the  agent  of  our  unitie : 

to  the  tune  of  Lucina,  or  Merrily  and  cherrily."  [June  3,  1653.]  It  has  been 
reprinted  in  Political  Ballads,  Percy  Society,  No.  11,  p.  126.  The  first  stanza 
is  as  folloAYS : —  "  Cheer  up,  kind  countrymen,  be  not  dismay'd, 

True  news  I  can  tell  ye  concerning  the  nation : 
Hot  spirits  are  quenched,  the  tempest  is  layd, 

And  now  we  may  hope  for  a  good  reformation." 

The  above  is  more  suited  to  the  tune  of  Lucina  (i.e.,  The  Beggar  Boy,  p.  269) 
than  to  this  air ;  I  have  therefore  adapted  a  song  from  Universal  Harmony,  1746, 
an  alteration  of  the  celebrated  one  by  George  Herbert. 


i 

Cl         . 

/k  b  fr  v    J  J  — 

^ 

~^j  -j-^- 

J—  ^    i  1  

~d  —  3= 

—  1  h  — 

Sweet 

I'- 
\ 

lay,             so 

cool,           so 

J 

i  —  e)  0  1 
calm,          so 

bright,      The 

'   \  •     L.        fl            I 

1                • 

n           m 

M  ^9                      i 

c 

* 

—  

—  CT  b  

S  5 

—  &  —  !^"4  



—  r  — 

~^  —  r  — 

^ 

1         1 

1 

^-1   I 

h  n 

i    is  n    i     . 

r 

J    J    J 

—  j  j  j 

j  •  • 

j 

*          m 

4  *  .* 

•       n€  * 

^-~ 

•  •  *    - 

M          J 

i 

r 

2            « 

H*r 

» 

-  ^ 

^        •          J 

- 

i 

/-<  —  "^     • 

bri 

^ 

-     "    •     1         1    • 

-    dal           of        the        earth     and    sky,     The        dews     shall       weep        thy 

M  1  1  1—  £}  fv»,      r^.  :  r—  •  m  • 

~S  T~ 

1  c^ 

—  ti 

—  P— 

to  -  night,  For         thou,     with 


all 


m 


thy         sweets,     must     die 

J 


f 


•^ 

Not  long  thy  fading  glories  stay, 

But  thou,  with  all  thy  sweets,  must  die. 

Sweet  love,  alone,  sweet  wedded  love, 
To  thee  no  period  is  assign'd  ; 

Thy  tender  joys  by  time  improve, 
In  death  itself  the  most  refin'd. 


Sweet  rose,  so  fragrant  and  so  brave, 
Dazzling  the  rash  beholder's  eye, 

Thy  root  is  ever  in  its  grave, 

And  thou,  with  all  thy  sweets,  must  die. 

Sweet  Spring,  so  beauteous  and  so  gay, 
Storehouse  where  sweets  unnumber'd  lie, 


£86  ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

ST.  GEORGE  FOR  ENGLAND. 

There  are  .black-letter  copies  of  this  ballad  in  the  Pepys  and  Bagford  Collec- 
tions. It  is  also  in  An  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  1661 ;  in  part  ii.  of  Merry 
Drollery  Complete,  1661  and  1670 ;  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  1682 ;  Pills  to  purge 
Melancholy,  1707  and  1719;  &c. 

It  is  one  of  those  offered  for  sale  by  the  ballad-singer  in  Ben  Jonson's 
comedy  of  Bartholomew  Fair. 

Pepys,  in  his  Diary,  tells  us  of  "  reading  a  ridiculous  ballad,  made  in  praise  of 
the  Duke  of  Albemarle,  to  the  tune  of  St.  George — the  tune  being  printed  too;" 
and  adds,  "  I  observe  that  people  have  great  encouragement  to  make  ballads  of 
him,  of  this  kind.  There  are  so  many,  that  hereafter  he  will  sound  like  Guy  of 
Warwick."  (6th  March,  1667.) 

Fielding,  in  his  novel  of  Tom  Jones,  speaks  of  St.  George  he  was  for  England 
as  one  of  Squire  Western's  favorite  tunes. 

The  ballad  in  the  Pepys  Collection  (i.  87)  is  entitled  "  Saint  George's  Com- 
mendation to  all  Souldiers ;  or  Saint  George's  Alarum  to  all  that  profess  martiall 
discipline,  with  a  memoriall  of  the  Worthies  who  have  been  borne  so  high  on  the 
wings  of  Fame  for  their  brave  adventures,  as  they  cannot  be  buried  in  the  pit  of 
oblivion :  to  a  pleasant  new  tune."  It  was  "  imprinted  at  London,  by  W.  W.,"  in 
1612,  and  is  the  copy  from  which  Percy  printed,  in  his  Religues  of  Ancient 
Poetry.  It  begins — "  Why  do  we  boast  of  Arthur  and  his  Knightes." 

In  Anthony  Wood's  Collection,  at  Oxford,  No.  401,  there  is  a  modernization 
of  this  ballad,  entitled — 

"  St.  George  for  England,  and  St.  Dennis  for  France ; 

O  hony  soite  qui  mal  y  pance : 

to  an  excellent  new  tune."  (Wood's  Ballads,  ii.  118.)  It  is  subscribed  S.  S.,  and 
"  printed  for  W.  Gilbertson,  in  Giltspur  Street ; "  from  which  it  may  be  dated 
about  1659. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  comparative  modernization,  I  give  the  first  stanza : — 
"  What  need  we  brag  or  boast  at  all  Sir  Tarquin,  that  great  giant, 

..Of  Arthur  and  his  Knights,  His  vassal  did  remain;     • 

Knowing  how  many  gallant  men  But  St.  George,  St.  George, 

They  have  subdued  in  fights.  The  Dragon  he  hath  slain. 

For  bold  Sir  Launcelot  du  Lake  St.  George  he  was  for  England, 

Was  of  the  table  round ;  St.  Dennis  was  for  France ; 

And  fighting  for  a  lady's  sake,  O  hony  soite  qui  mal  y  pance." 

His  sword  with  fame  was  crown'd  ; 

A  copy  of  the  old  ballad  in  the  Bagford  Collection  is  entitled  "  A  new  ballad 
of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon,"  but  there  is  also  another  of  St.  George  and  the 
Dragon,  which  Percy  has  printed  in  the  Reliques. 

In  180  Loyal  Songs,  1685  and  1694,  there  is  "  a  new  song  on  the  instalment  of 
Sir  John  Moor,  Lord  Mayor  of  London  :  tune,  St.  George  for  England."  And  in 
Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  iii.  20  (1707),  "A  new  ballad  of  King  Edward  and 
Jane  Shore,"  to  the  same. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


287 


As  the  ballad  is  contained  in  Percy's  Reliques,  as  well  as  a  witty  second  part, 
written  by  John  Grubb,  and  published  in  1688,  the  first  stanza  only  is  here 
printed  with  the  music. 
j  Moderate  time. 


/%V  j  J  J  J  J1 

H8-!^^ 

i  rm  n  j=i 

fr\  -17  I  j  m       i         •ZMUZIS 
Why  should  we  boast    of 

P1J    O    .J   J 

Ar-thur  and  his  knights, 

*it 

Knowing  well  how  many  men 

C^i 

»  )  'iv  /  *      ^*> 

1  ej  — 

tE  

*> 

' 

J  J  J  n 


^^ 


have  en-du-red  fights  ?  For    be -sides  King     Ar  -  thur  and  Lance-  lot   du  Lake,     Or    Sir 


Tris  -  tram  de     Li  -  o  -  nel,  that  fought  for  La -dies' sake,  Read    in  old  his  -  to  -  ries  and 


there  you  shall    see,    How  St.  George,    St.  George  the     Dragon  ma(je  to    flee.         Saint 


f  f   if!bhcij  j^ 


WH 


-» 


George  he    was    for     England, 


-<Sr 
St.     Den 


-    nia     was  for    France,  Sing 


Ho     -      -     -     ni  soit 


* 

^U1         mal 


pense. 


5 . •?  *  5     -?-*^v 


s 


288 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


THE  HEALTHS. 

This  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1690,  and  in  Musictfs 
Delight  on  the  Cithren,  1666. 

In  the  first  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master  it  is  entitled  The  Health ;  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth,  The  Healths,  or  The  Merry  Wassail. 

The  following  song,  "  Come,  faith,  since  I'm  parting,"  was  written  by  Patrick 
Carey,  a  loyal  cavalier,  on  bidding  farewell  to  his  hospitable  entertainers  at  Wick- 
ham,  in  1651.  It  is  "  to  the  tune  of  The  Healths." 


g 

Moae 

fe 

rare 

-w- 

time 

•- 

-j  1  s- 

rs  —  ^^ 

-e>  —  '      ,rj| 

t/         jnf 
Come, 

faith, 

=F 

since 

I'm      part  -ing, 

—  U-aJ  —  1      i 
cres.  *• 
And  that    God 

knows 

5EEES3 

-  I     P 

when         The 

\  }     ' 

-2 

s 

P  

—  7~ 

n 

-&  —  •-  —  p  — 

-N 

—  (— 

si 

1  — 

-& 

< 

k 

-)- 

-4  f. 

-s 

-& 

f  1  —  f 

-S  J— 

=J= 

T«? 

- 

=J= 

J- 

-f!  a 

;  

\  — 

K  J    H 

^  ^ 

walls          of    sweet    Wick 

ham 

•J 

9 

[ 

«      • 

shall     see 

cr 
a 

n*  —  *  —  =* 

gain,           Let's 

§  1  c-s  

1 

i 

«  1  .^      1 

^ 

9 

-m 

•       J 

^> 
p-' 

mt 

f 

e 

• 

'•» 

" 

3 

f^f 

X 

=ir 

-P- 

1 

E 

J 

—  i 

L- 

9- 

?- 

• 

9 

^                 J    J 

—  s 

—  i- 

+- 

—  ^ 

»- 

—G)  

=j 

^ 

-£2t- 

- 

— 

Is 

«  '•  *—=- 

e'en       hav< 

1 

a 

fro  - 

lie, 

r 

And  drink 

M 

1 
lik. 

B 

| 

tall 
bold 

men 

6 

i^             Till 
•          t* 

13 

i 

:        -31 

J           .    !  *[  Z  § 
•^                                          ^                                               -^ 

_J  

heads  with  healths 

•^ 

•      i 

g° 

h 

r< 

t 
J 

Hind, 

—  1 

Till 

heat 

is  with  heall 

hs 

g° 

round. 

-N       ^                                       ^  1  |»— 

^ 

"S 

- 

_«  :  H_ 

And  first  to  Sir  William,  I'll  take't  on  my 

knee; 

He  well  doth  deserve  that  a  brimmer  it  be  :  [he ; 
More  brave  entertainments  none  ere  gave  than 
Then  let  his  health  go  round. 

Next  to  his  chaste  lady,  who  loves  him  as  life; 
And  whilst  we  are  drinking  to  so  good  a  wife, 
The  poor  of  the  parish  will  pray  for  her  life  ; 
Be  sure  her  health  go  round. 


And  then  to  young  Will,  the  heir  of  this  place  ; 
He'll  make  a  brave  man,  you  may  see't  in  his 

face; 

I  only  could  wish  we  had  more  of  the  race  ; 
At  least  let  his  health  go  round. 

To  well-grac'd  Victoria  the  next  room  we  owe ; 
As  virtuous  she'll  prove  as  her  mother,  I  trow, 
And  somewhat  in  huswifry  more  she  will  know; 
O  let  her  health  go  round! 


REIGNS    OF  JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


289 


To  plump  Bess,  her  sister,  I  drink  down  this 
cup :  [up ; 

Birlackins,  my  masters,  each  man  must  take't 
'Tis  foul  play,  I  bar  it,  to  simper  and  sup, 
When  such  a  health  goes  round. 

And  now,  helter-skelter,  to  th'rest  of  the  house : 
The  most  are  good  fellows,  and  love  to  carouse ; 
Who's  not,  may  go  sneck-up ; a  he's  not  worth  a 

louse 
That  stops  a  health  i'  th'  round. 

To  th'  clerk,  so  he'll  learn  to  drink  in  the  morn ; 
To  Heynous,  that  stares  when  he  has  quaft  up 

his  horn ; 

To  Philip,  by  whom  good  ale  ne'er  was  forlorn  ; 
These  lads  can  drink  a  round. 

John  Chandler !  come  on,  here's  some  warm 

beer  for  you ; 

A  health  to  the  man  that  this  liquor  did  brew : 
Why  Hewet !  there's  for  thee  ;  nay  take't,  'tis 

thy  due, 
But  see  that  it  go  round. 


Hot  Coles  is  on    fire,    and  fain  would   be 

quench'd  ;  [drench 'd : 

As  well  as  his  horses,  the  groom  must  be 
Who's  else?  let  him  speak,  if  his  thirst  he'd 

have  stench'd, 
Or  have  his  health  go  round. 

And  now  to  the  women,  who  must  not  be  coy : 
A  glass,  Mistress  Gary,  you  know's  but  a  toy; 
Come,  come,  Mistress  Sculler,  no  perdonnex 

moy, 
It  must,  it  must  go  round. 

[sop; 

Dame  Nell,  so  you'll  drink,  we'll  allow  you  a 

Up  with't,  Mary  Smith,  in  your  draught  never 

stop ;  [drop, 

Law,  there  now,  Nan  German  has  left  ne'er  a 

And  so  must  all  the  round. 

Jane,  Joan,  Goody  Lee,  great  Meg,  and  the 

less, 

You  must  not  be  squeamish,  but  do  as  did  Bess : 
How  th'  others  are  nam'd,  if  I  could  but  guess, 
I'd  call  them  to  the  round. 


And  now,  for  my  farewell,  I  drink  up  this  quart, 
To  you,  lads  and  lasses,  e'en  with  all  my  heart; 
May  I  find  you  ever,  as  now  when  we  part, 
Each  health  still  going  round. 

MALL  PEATLY. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  Bellerophon,  of  Lust  tot  Wynhed,  Amsterdam,  1622 ; 
in  the  seventh  and  later  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master ;  in  Apollo's  Banquet ; 
and  in  several  of  the  ballad-operas. 

In  Bellerophon,  the  first  part  is  in  common  time,  and  the  second  in  triple,  like 
a  cushion  dance ;  but  it  is  not  so  in  any  of  the  above-named  English  copies, 
which,  however,  are  of  later  date. 

D'Urfey  wrote  to  it  a  song  entitled  Gillian  of  Croydon  (see  Pills  to  purge 
Melancholy,  ii.  46),  and  it  is  to  be  found  under  that  name  in  some  of  the  ballad- 
operas,  such  as  The  Fashionable  Lady,  or  Harlequin's  Opera,  1730 ;  Sylvia,  or 
The  Country  Burial,  1731;  The  Jealous  Clown,  1730;  &c.  There  are  also  several 
songs  to  it  in  the  Collection  of  State  Songs  sung  at  the  Mug-houses  in  London  and 
Westminster,  1716.  In  Apollo's  Banquet,  the  tune  is  entitled  The  Old  Marinett, 
or  Mall  Peatly  ;  in  Gay's  Achilles,  Moll  Peatly. 

Mall  is  the  old  abbreviation  of  Mary.     (See  Ben  Jonson's  English  Grammar.) 

In  Round  about  our  coal-fire,  or  Christmas  Entertainments  (7th  edit.,  1734),  it 
is  said,  in  allusion  to  Christmas,  "  This  time  of  year  being  cold  and  frosty, 


a  Sir  Walter  Scott  prints  this   "  sneake-up :  "   I  sup- 
pose it  should  be  "snecke-up" — a  common  expression, 


equivalent  to  "go  and  be  hanged." 


290 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


generally  speaking,  or  when  Jack-Frost  commonly  takes  us  by  the  nose,  the 
diversions  are  within  doors,  either  in  exercise  or  by  the  fire-side.  Dancing  is  one 
of  the  chief  exercises — Moll  Peatly  is  never  forgot ; — this  dance  stirs  the  blood 
and  gives  the  males  and  females  a  fellow-feeling  for  each  other's  activity,  ability, 
and  agility :  Cupid  always  sits  in  the  corner  of  the  room  where  these  diversions 
are  transacting,  and  shoots  quivers  full  of  arrows  at  the  dancers,  and  makes  his 
own  game  of  them." 
Gaily. 


o              1                 :  -1-^—1-1  M 

/ro  j    j  •  |  j    <*  j^T^^^i^T 

~rn  {    h*^^      | 

One       ho-li  -  day,     last  summer,  From  four     to   se1 
»)•-()     f—-  —  f~~-                                                   F      ,         * 

m^'  fi|  j     .     • 
fen,  by      Croy-don  chimes, 

-    0   -            P      •      

£ 

:=f^           ~fr-  ^^^           -   /-*L>  - 

"]  i  r>>  i   H 

-•  *  J  TS-\  a  1- 

J  •      •  d-  c  —  •  —  i  —  J  1  m  H-^-'    V§  —  5  t- 
•                *W~                                                                                        ~^~ 

Three  lass-es      to  -  ping  rummers  Were       set      a          pra  -  ting          of       the  times. 
-    .     -    .                                                                                                        -F              m      *• 

S-^  S  :  f  —  !  v  — 

-t  «  —  E  

•  —  :  P  —  pJ  P  F  =— 
•  —  =  U  —  -.  ^  :  

FP==fr=t=H: 

_^ 

-&i  nn  —  -=^  1—*=**  r-^-=,  — 

—  H  ^  "- 

-f*  *P'  *  J~7*^i  —  '  '  f  CLf    IT  - 

*         J               •     J       i                    t^      :  F    i 

r              r        M   1 

7  call'd  brown    Nell:      Take 

A      wife  call'd  Joan  of    the         Mill,    And  a       maid  the. 

f  —  £  —  !  —  !  —  ;  1  :  !  >  J—  *- 

••« 

•V* 

„  k_  _,  p  b  i^J  r  1_^_ 

i  ^n   k       i 

,            IP 

—  9  —  '  —  F  F  E  !  c  •  *  m  — 

off  your  glass,  said  Gillian    of  Croy-don,  A  health  to    our  Mas  -   ter      Will. 

-F-l—  F-l-4-g-    :      J      J*  u£^    t  '        .  ^    :   -iu- 

J         '         "         ^        H  

BOBBING  JOE,  OK  BOBBING  JOAN. 

The  tune  of  Sobbing  Joe  will  be  found  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master; 
in  MusicWs  Delight  on  the  Cithren,  1666 ;  &c. 

It  is  sometimes  entitled  Sobbing  Joan,  as  by  Carey  in  his  Ballades  (1651)  ;  in 
Polly,  1729 ;  in  The  Bay's  Opera,  1730 ;  The  Mad  House,  1737 ;  A  Cure  for  a 
Scold,  1738;  &c. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES  I.   AND  CHARLES  I. 


291 


"  New  Bob-in-Jo  "  is  mentioned  as  a  tune  in  No.  38  of  Mercurius  Democritus, 
or  a  True  and  Perfect  Nocturnatt,  December,  1652.  (See  King's  Pamphlets, 
Brit.  Mus.) 

The  song,  "  My  dog  and  I,"  is  to  the  tune  of  My  dog  and  I,  or  Bobbing  Joan. 
(A  copy  in  Mr.  HalliwelPs  Collection.) 

The  following  is  the  ballad  by  Patrick  Carey,  "  to  the  tune  of  Bobbing  Joane" 


I     ne'er  yet  saw     a      love  -  ly      crea-ture,  Were  she  widow,  maid,  or  wife,  But 


m 


^ 


^4^-f-E 


-fHr 


1- 

=f= 

-J- 

3E 

'  •  f   '      =>^- 

1     f  J 

BE 

-u-f 

a  — 

1- 

—  J  ^  
straight  with  -in 

my      breast 

her  feature  Was  paint  -ed,  strangely      to    the 

r  f 

r    - 

life: 

!- 

. 

?- 

-1— 

-P— 

—  [3  —  1  *j  — 



—  i  

-fi- 

3  — 

-*  —  -.  —  d-^— 

EEE 

—  f  

_x 

• 

1  1 

.. 

r-N  m 

-•      ^ 

N    J        i        i^ 

^   J  J   J*| 

\?  J       1    : 

If 

out     of    sight,  Tho'  ne'er  so  bright,     I 

—  «  —  f  —  £  -T  —  f  —  «— 

-j  —  •  —  t—  -  — 

straightway  lost    her 

-f  —  !  —  d  

tjrZ*  J—  ^ 
pic-ture  quite. 

-j  p-5f 

~N    ^    ' 

ir  —  r  '  i 

T—  T    P 

1            J  • 

-^—  s  —  M 

It  still  was  mine  and  others'  wonder 

To  see  me  court  so  eagerly ; 
Yet,  soon  as  absence  did  me  sunder 
From  those  I  lov'd,  quite  cured  was  I. 
The  reason  was, 
That  my  breast  has, 
Instead  of  heart,  a  looking-glass. 

And  as  those  forms  that  lately  shined 
I'  th'  glass,  are  easily  defac'd ; 

Those  beauties  so,  which  were  enshrined 
Within  my  breast,  are  soon  displac'd : 


Both  seem  as  they 
Would  ne'er  away ; 
Yet  last  but  while  the  lookers  stay. 

Then  let  no  woman  think  that  ever 

In  absence  I  shall  constant  prove ; 
Till  some  occasion  does  us  sever 
I  can,  as  true  as  any,  love  : 
But  when  that  we 
Once  parted  be, 
Troth,  I  shall  court  the  next  I  see. 


WHEN  THE  STORMY  WINDS  DO  BLOW. 

The  ballad,  now  known  as  You  Gentlemen  of  England,  is  an  alteration  of  one 
by  M[artin]  P[arker],  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  420;  printed 
at  London  for  C.  Wright.  It  is  in  black-letter,  and  entitled  "Saylers  for  my 
money:  a  new  ditty  composed  in  the  praise  of  Saylers  and  Sea  Affaires;  briefly 
shewing  the  nature  of  so  worthy  a  calling,  and  effects  of  their  industry :  to  the 


292  ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

tune  of  The  Joviall  Oobler."     Instead  of  "  You  gentlemen  of  England,"  it  begins, 
"  Countriemen  of  England,"  &c. 

Ritson  prints  from  a  copy  entitled  "  Neptune's  raging  fury ;  or  The  Gallant 
Seaman's  Sufferings.  Being  a  relation  of  their  perils  and  dangers,  and  of  the- 
extraordinary  hazards  they  undergo  in  their  noble  adventures:  together  with 
their  undaunted  valour  and  rare  constancy  in  all  their  extremites ;  and  the 
manner  of  their  rejoycing  on  shore,  at  their  return  home.  Tune  of  When  the 
stormy  winds  do  blow"  (the  burden  of  the  song).  A  black-letter  copy  of  this 
version  is  in  the  Bagford  Collection,  printed  by  W.  0[nley],  temp.  Charles  IE. ; 
and  in  one  of  the  volumes  of  the  Douce  Collection,  p.  168,  printed  by  C.  Brown 
and  T.  Norris,  and  sold  at  the  Looking  Glass  on  London  Bridge.  A  third  in  the 
Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  543.  "Stormy  winds"  is  also  in  the  list  of  ballads 
printed  by  W.  Thackeray,  about  1660. 

On  the  accession  of  Charles  II.,  we  have,  "  The  valiant  Seaman's  Congratu- 
lation to  his  Sacred  Majesty  King  Charles  the  Second,"  &c. :  to  the  tune  of 
Let  us  drink  and  sing,  and  merrily  troul  the  bowl,  or  The  stormy  ivinds  do  blow,  or 
Hey,  ho,  my  honey"  (Black-letter,  twelve  stanzas;  F.  Grove,  Snow  Hill.) 
It  commences  thus : — "  Great  Charles,  your  English  seamen, 

Upon  our  bended  knee, 
Present  ourselves  as  freemen 

Unto  your  Majesty. 
Beseeching  God  to  bless  you 

Where  ever  that  you  go ; 
So  we  pray,  night  and  day, 

When  the  stormy  winds  do  blow." 

Although  the  option  of  singing  it  to  three  tunes  is  given,  it  is  evident,  from  the 
two  last  lines,  that  it  was  written  to  this. 

Among  the  other  ballads  to  the  tune  are,  "  The  valiant  Virgin,  or  Philip  and 
Mary :  In  a  description  of  a  young  gentlewoman  of  Worcestershire  (a  rich  gentle- 
man's daughter)  being  in  love  with  a  farmer's  son,  which  her  father  despising, 
because  he  was  poor,  caus'd  him  to  be  press'd  for  sea :  and  how  she  disguised 
herself  in  man's  apparel  and  follow'd  him,"  &c.  "  To  the  tune  of  When  the  stormy 
winds  do  blow;"  (Roxburghe,  ii.  546)  beginning — 
"  To  every  faithful  lover 

That's  constant  to  her  dear,"  &c. 

In  Poems  by  Sen  Jonson,  junior,  8vo.,  1672,  is  "  The  Bridegroom's  Salutation: 
to  the  tune  When  the  stormy  winds  do  blow  ;  "  beginning — 
"  I  took  thee  on  a  suddain, 

In  all  thy  glories  drest,"  &c. 

In  180  Loyal  Smgs,  1686  and  1694,  a  bad  version  of  the  tune  is  printed  to 
"  You  Calvinists  of  England." 

There  are  fourteen  stanzas  in  the  copy  of  "You  gentlemen  "  printed  by  Ritson, 
in  his  English  Songs.  The  following  shorter  version  is  from  one  of  the  broadsides 
with  music,  compared  with  another  copy  in  Early  Naval  Ballads  (Percy  Society, 
JSTo.  8,  p.  34.) 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES    I. 


298 


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The       dan  -  gers      of        the     seas,           Give 
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cares          and      the         fears         When    the      storm  -  y     winds    do          blow. 

—  •  •  1  f  H  m  d  1  

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^ 

-^—  j-  1114-  fc 

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•»•  • 

The  sailor  must  have  courage, 

No  danger  he  must  shun  ; 
In  every  kind  of  weather 

His  course  he  still  must  run  ; 
Now  mounted  on  the  top-mast, 

How  dreadful  'tis  below  : 
Then  we  ride,  as  the  tide, 

When  the  stormy  winds  do  blow. 

If  enemies  oppose  us, 

And  England  is  at  war 
With  any  foreign  nation, 

We  fear  not  wound  nor  scar. 
To  humble  them,  come  on,  lads, 

Their  flags  we'll  soon  lay  low ; 
Clear  the  way  for  the  fray, 

Tho'  the  stormy  winds  do  blow. 


Sometimes  in  Neptune's  bosom 

Our  ship  is  toss'd  by  waves, 
And  every  man  expecting 

The  sea  to  be  our  graves ; 
Then  up  aloft  she's  mounted, 

And  down  again  so  low, 
In  the  waves,  on  the  seas, 

When  the  stormy  winds  do  blow. 

But  when  the  danger's  over, 

And  safe  we  come  on  shore, 
The  horrors  of  the  tempest 

We  think  of  then  no  more  ; 
The  flowing  bowl  invites  us, 

And  joyfully  we  go, 
All  the  day  drink  away, 

Tho'  the  stormy  winds  do  blow. 


294 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 


BED  BULL. 

This  tune  is  named  after  the  Red  Bull  Playhouse,  which  formerly  stood  in 
St.  John  Street,  Clerkenwell.  It  was  in  use  throughout  the  reigns  of  James  I. 
and  Charles  L,  and  perhaps  before.  At  the  Restoration,  the  King's  actors,  under 
Thomas  Killigrew,  played  there  until  they  removed  to  the  new  Theatre  in  Drury 
Lane ;  and  when  Davenant  produced  his  Playhouse  to  be  Let,  in  1663,  it  was 
entirely  abandoned.  (See  Collier's  Annals  of  the  Stage.) 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  246,  is  a  ballad  -entitled  "  A  mad  kind  of 
wooing ;  or  A  Dialogue  between  Will  the  simple,  and  Nan  the  subtle,  with  their 
loving  agreement :  to  the  tune  of  The  new  Dance  at  the  Red  Bull  Playhouse" 
It  is  black-letter,  printed  for  the  assigns  of  T.  Symcocke,  whose  patent  for 
"printing  of  paper  and  parchment  on  the  one  side"  was  granted  in  1620,  and 
assigned  in  the  same  year.  Another  copy  of  the  ballad  will  be  found  in  the 
Pepys  Collection,  i.  276,  "printed  for  H[enry]  G[osson]  on  London  Bridge. 

The  tune  is  contained  in  Apollo' 's  Banquet  for  the  Treble  Violin,  entitled  The 
Damsel?  s  Dance;  and  in  The  Dancing  Master  (1698),  Red  Bull. 


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Sweet      Nan  -  cy, 
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J1        J 

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thee   dear,  Be  -  lieve 

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I       do      love     en 

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is  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  312  (1810). 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.    AND    CHARLES   I.  295 

THE  MERRY  MILKMAIDS  IN  GREEN. 

This  is  evidently  the  same  air  as  And  will  he  not  come  again,  one  of  the  snatches 
sung  by  Ophelia  in  Hamlet,  but  in  a  different  form  (see  p.  237).  It  is  contained 
in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master.  In  the  eighteenth  edition  it  is  entitled 
" The  merry  Milkmaids  in  green"  to  distinguish  it  from  another  air  of  similar 
name. 

In  Sir  Thomas  Overbury's  Character  of  a  Milkmaid,  he  says,  "  She  dares  go 
alone,  and  unfold  her  sheep  in  the  night,  and  fears  no  manner  of  ill,  because  she 
means  none :  yet,  to  say  truth,  she  is  never  alone,  she  is  still  accompanied  with  old 
songs,  honest  thoughts,  and  prayers,  but  short  ones." 

La  the  "  Character  of  a  Ballad-monger,"  in  Whimzies,  or  a  new  Cast  of 
Characters,  12mo.,  1631,  we  find,  "  Stale  ballad  news,  cashiered  the  city,  must 
now  ride  post  for  the  country,  where  it  is  no  less  admired  than  a  giant  in  a 
pageant :  till  at  last  it  grows  so  common  there  too,  as  every  poor  milkmaid  can 
chant  and  chirp  it  under  her  cow,  which  she  useth,  as  a  harmless  charm,  to  make 
her  let  down  her  milk." 

Maudlin,  the  milkmaid,  in  Walton's  Angler,  sings  (among  others)  portions  of 
two  ballads  by  Martin  Parker,  a  well-known  ballad- writer  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
reign  of  James  L,  and  during  that  of  Charles  and  the  Protectorate,  and  both  are 

to  this  tune.     The  first  is 

"  The  Milkemaid's  Life  ;  or— 

A  pretty  new  ditty,  composed  and  pen'd 
The  praise  of  the  milking  paile  to  defend : 

to  a  curious  new  tune,  called  The  Milkemaid's  Dumps."  (Roxburghe  Coll.,  i.  244, 
or  Collier's  Roxburghe  Ballads,  243.)  Mr.  Payne  Collier  remarks  that  the  last 
stanza  but  one  proves  it  to  have  been  written  before  "  the  downfall  of  May- 
games  "  under  the  Puritans. 

You  rural  goddesses,  Their  courages  never  quail; 

That  woods  and  fields  possess,  In  wet  and  dry, 

Assist  me  with  your  skill,  Though  winds  be  high, 

That  may  direct  my  quill  And  dark's  the  sky, 

More  jocundly  to  express  They  ne'er  deny 

The  mirth  and  delight,  To  carry  the  milking  pail. 

Both  morning  and  night, 

On  mountain  or  in  dale,  Their  hearts  are  free  from  care, 

Of  those  who  choose  They  never  will  despair; 

This  trade  to  use,  Whatever  may  befall, 

And  through  cold  dews  They  bravely  bear  out  all, 

Do  never  refuse  And  Fortune's  frowns  out-dare. 

To  carry  the  milking  pail.  They  pleasantly  sing 

The  bravest  lasses  gay  To  welcome  the  Spring- 

Live  not  so  merry  as  they ;  'Gainst  heaven  they  never  rail ; 

In  honest  civil  sort  If  grass  well  grow, 

They  make  each  other  sport,  Their  thanks  they  show; 

As  they  trudge  on  their  way.  And,  frost  or  snow, 

Come  fair  or  foul  weather,  They  merrily  go 

They're  fearful  of  neither—  Along  with  the  milking  pail. 


296 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Bad  idleness  they  do  scorn ; 
They  rise  very  early  i'  th'  morn, 

And  walk  into  the  field, 

Where  pretty  birds  do  yield 
Brave  music  on  ev'ry  thorn : 

The  linnet  and  thrush 

Do  sing  on  each  bush, 
And  the  dulcet  nightingale 

Her  note  doth  strain 

In  a  jocund  vein, 

To  entertain 

That  worthy  train 
Which  carry  the  milking  pail. 

Their  labour  doth  health  preserve, 
No  doctors'  rules  they  observe  ; 

While  others,  too  nice 

In  taking  their  advice,     [starve  ; 
Look  always  as  though  they  would 

Their  meat  is  digested, 

They  ne'er  are  molested, 
No  sickness  doth  them  assail ; 

Their  time  is  spent 

In  merriment ; 

While  limbs  are  lent, 

They  are  content 
To-  carry  the  milking  pail. 

Those  lasses  nice  and  strange, 
That  keep  shops  in  the  Exchange, 

Sit  pricking  of  clouts, 

And  giving  of  flouts ; 
They  seldom  abroad  do  range  : 

Then  comes  the  green  sickness 

And  changeth  their  likeness, 
All  this  for  want  of  good  sale ; 

But  'tis  not  so, 

As  proof  doth  show, 

By  those  that  go 

In  frost  and  snow 
To  carry  the  milking  pail. 


If  they  any  sweethearts  have 
That  do  affection  crave, 

Their  privilege  is  this, 

Which  many  others  miss  : — 
They  can  give  them  welcome  brave. 

With  them  they  may  walk, 

And  pleasantly  talk, 
With  a  bottle  of  wine  or  ale; 

The  gentle  cow 

Doth  them  allow, 

As  they  know  how. 
God  speed  the  plough, 
And  bless  the  milking  pail. 

Upon  the  first  of  May, 
With  garlands  fresli  and  gay  ; 

With  mirth  and  music  sweet, 

For  such  a  season  meet, 
They  pass  their  time  away : 

They  dance  away  sorrow, 

And  all  the  day  thorow, 
Their  legs  do  never  fail ; 

They  nimblely 

Their  feet  do  ply, 

And  bravely  try 

The  victory, 
In  honour  o'  th'  milking  pail. 

If  any  think  that  I 
Do  practice  flattery, 

In  seeking  thus  to  raise 

The  merry  milkmaids'  praise, 
I'll  to  them  thus  reply  : 

It  is  their  desert 

Inviteth  my  art 
To  study  this  pleasant  tale ; 

In  their  defence, 

Whose  innocence 

And  providence 

Gets  honest  pence 
Out  of  the  milking  pail. 


There  is  another  version  of  the  above  ballad  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection 
(ii.  230),  entitled  "  The  innocent  Country  Maid's  Delight;  or  a  Description  of 
the  lives  of  the  Lasses  of  London :  set  to  an  excellent  Country  Dance"    It  com- 
mences with  the  lines  quoted  by  the  milkmaid  from  the  above  sixth  stanza  : 
"  Some  lasses  are  nice  and  strange 
That  keep  shop  in  the  Exchange." 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


297 


The  second  ballad  quoted  by  Maudlin  is  entitled  "  Keep  a  good  tongue  in  your 
head ;  or —  Here's  a  good  woman,  in  every  respect, 

But  only  her  tongue  breeds  all  her  defect : 

to  the  tune- of  The  Milkmaids"  &c.     (Roxburghe  Coll.,  i.  510,  or  Collier's  liox- 
burghe  Ballads,  237.)     From  this  I  have  selected  a  few  stanzas  to  print  with  the 
tune.     It  is  sometimes  referred  to  under  its  name,  as  in  the  following : — 
"  Hold  your  hands,  honest  men  :  for — 

Here's  a  good  wife  hath  a  husband  that  likes  her, 

In  every  respect,  but  only  he  strikes  her ; 

Then  if  you  desire  to  be  held  men  complete, 

Whatever  you  do,  your  wives  do  not  beat. 

To  the  tune  of  Keepe  a  good  tongue"  &c.  (Roxburghe,  i.  514.)  The  following 
song  by  D'Urfey,  entitled  The  Bonny  Milkmaid,  was  also  written  to  the  tune,  but 
had  afterwards  music  composed  to  it  for  his  play  of  Don  Quixote,  and  is  so  printed 
in  both  editions  of  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  and  in  The  Merry  Musician,  or 
A  Cure  for  the  Spleen,  ii.  116.  It  is  a  rifacimento  of  Martin  Parker's  song 
printed  above. 


Ye  nymphs  and^  sylvan  gods, 
That  love  green  fields  and  woods, 

Where  Spring,  newly  blown, 

Herself  does  adorn 
With  flow'rs  and  blooming  buds  : 

Come  sing  in  the  praise, 

Whilst  flocks  do  graze 
In  yonder  pleasant  vale, 

Of  those  that  choose 

Their  sleep  to  lose, 

And  in  cold  dews, 

With  clouted  shoes, 
Do  carry  the  milking  pail. 

The  goddess  of  the  morn 
With  blushes  they  adorn, 

And  take  the  fresh  air, 

Whilst  linnets  prepare 
A  concert  in  each  green  thorn. 

The  blackbird  and  thrush 

On  every  bush, 
And  charming  nightingale, 

In  merry  vein 

Their  throats  do  strain 

To  entertain 

The  jolly  train 
That  carry  the  milking  pail. 


WThen  cold  bleak  winds  do  roar 
And  flow'rs  can  spring  no  mere, 

The  fields  that  were  seen 

So  pleasant  and  green 
By  Winter  all  candied  o'er : 

Oh !  how  the  town  lass 

Looks,  with  her  white  face 
And  lips  so  deadly  pale ; 

But  it  is  not  so 

With  those  that  go 

Through  frost  and  snow, 

With  cheeks  that  glow, 
To  carry  the  milking  pail. 

The  country  lad  is  free 
From  fear  and  jealousy, 

When  upon  the  green 

He  is  often  seen 
With  a  lass  upon  his  knee ; 

WTith  kisses  most  sweet 

He  does  her  greet, 
And  swears  she'll  ne'er  grow  stale ; 

While  the  London  lass, 

In  every  place, 

With  her  brazen  face, 

Despises  the  grace 
Of  those  with  the  milking  pail. 


"  The  Merry  Milkmaid's  Delight "  was  one  of  the  ballads  printed  by 
W.  Thackeray,  in  the  time  of  Charles  II. 

The  following  stanzas  are  selected  from  the  ballad  above-mentioned,  "  Keep 
a  good  tongue  in  your  head." 


298  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC. 

Cheerfully. 


? 


I  married    a  wife      of          late,  The    more's  my  un  -  hap   -   py, 


fate;         I          took  her  for  love,  As  fan  -  cy  did  me  move,  And  not   for  her  world-ly 


FIM r   '    r  •  ir 


—  \  \~ 

y-fn 

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rrnn 

^3  1  J    r  r    T1 

J  .  J 

state.       1 
J  —  J 

'or 

•  .  • 

qual  -  ities 

•f   :  - 

rare,  Few 

•  ;  1 

with  her  com  -pare, 

J  1  *  E  '  —  E 

Let    me      do  her      no 

f  :    s  • 

3E 

r 

i  !  

_|?  —  :  —  ?  — 

F  

wrong :         I     must      con  -  fess,     Her  chief      a  -  miss        is     on  -  ly     this,       As 


' 


3EE^ 


some  wives'  is,     She   can  -  not    rule     her 


tongue,   She      can- not  rule  her     tongue 

.J  .    H  TTlg 


m 


Her  cheeks  are  red  as  the  rose 
Which  June  for  her  glory  shows ; 

Her  teeth  in  a  row 

Stand  like  a  wall  of  snow 
Between  her  round  chin  and  her  nose  ; 

Her  shoulders  are  decent, 

Her  arms  white  and  pleasant, 
Her  fingers  are  small  and  long. 

No  fault  I  find, 

But,  in  my  mind, 

Most  womenkind 

Must  come  behind : 
O  that  she  could  rule  her  tongue ! 


With  eloquence  she  will  dispute  ; 

Few  women  can  her  confute. 
She  sings  and  she  plays, 
And  she  knows  all  the  keys 

Of  the  vial  de  aambo,  or  lute. 
She'll  dance  with  a  grace, 
Her  Measures  she'll  trace 

As  doth  unto  art  belong ; 
She  is  a  girl 
Fit  for  an  earl, 
Not  for  a  churl  : 
She  were  worth  a  pearl, 

If  she  could  but  rule  her  tongue. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES  I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


299 


Her  needle  she  can  use  well, 
In  that  she  doth  most  excel ; 

She  can  spin  and  knit, 

And  every  thing  fit, 
As  all  her  neighbours  can  tell. 

Her  fingers  apace 

At  weaving  bone-lace 
She  useth  all  day  long. 

All  arts  that  be 

To  women  free, 

Of  each  degree, 

Performeth  she  : 
O  that  she  could  rule  her  tongue  ! 


For  huswifery  she  doth  exceed  ; 
She  looks  to  her  business  with  heed  ; 

She's  early  and  late 

Employ 'd,  I  dare  say't, 
To  see  all  things  well  succeed. 

She  is  very  wary 

To  look  to  her  dairy, 
As  doth  to  her  charge  belong  ; 

Her  servants  all 

Are  at  her  call, 

But  she'll  so  brawl 

That  still  I  shall 
Wish  that  she  could  hold  her  tongue. 


THE  QUEEN'S  OLD  COURTIER. 

This  ballad,  which  obtained  a  long  and  extensive  popularity,  seems  to  have 
been  first  printed  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  (by  T.  Symcocke). 

Pepys  thus  refers  to  it  in  his  Diary,  under  the  date  of  16th  of  June,  1668. 
"  Came  to  Newbery,  and  there  dined,  and  music  :  a  song  of  the  Old  Courtier  of 
Queen  Elizabeth's,  and  how  he  was  changed  upon  the  coming  in  of  the  King,  did 
please  me  mightily,  and  I  did  cause  W.  Hewer  to  write  it  out."  There  are  many 
other  versions  of  the  ballad  (sometimes  entitled  "  The  Old  and  New  Courtier"), 
and  some  are  of  greater  length  than  others.  Besides  those  in  the  great  collections, 
copies  will  be  found  in  Le  Prince  d1  Amour,  1660  ;  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  1661 ; 
Wit  and  Drollery,  1682  ;  Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  iv.,  108  (1716),  &c. 

In  Le  Prince  ff  Amour,  and  in  Merry  Drollery  Complete,  1661  and  1670,  there 
is  a  song  of  "  An  old  Soldier  of  the  Queen's  ;"  commencing — 
"  Of  an  old  Soldier  of  the  Queen's, 
With  an  old  motley  coat  and  a  malmsey  nose," 

and  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  1682,  p.  165,  one  entitled  "  Old  Soldiers;"  commencing — 
"  Of  old  soldiers  the  song  you  would  hear, 

And  we  old  fiddlers  have  forgot  who  they  were," 
and  at  p.  282,  "  The  new  Soldier"  ("  With  a  new  beard,"  &c.). 

A  ballad,  written  on  the  occasion  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Rump  Parliament, 
by  General  Monck,  and  dated  Feb.  28,  1659,  is  amongst  the  King's  Pamphlets, 
Brit.  Mus.  (folio  broadsides,  vol.  xvi.).  It  is  entitled  "  Saint  George  and  the 
Dragon,  anglice  Mercurius  Poeticus."  To  the  tune  of  "  Tlie  old  Souldier  of  the 
Queen's;"  commencing — 

"  News,  news, — here's  the  occurrences  and  a  new  Mercurins, 
A  dialogue  between  Haselrigg  the  baffled,  and  Arthur  the  furious, 
With  Ireton's  readings  upon  legitimate  and  spurious,  &c." 
It  is  reprinted  in  "Wright's  Political  Ballads  (Percy  Soc.,  No.  11). 

In  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  "  T.  Howard,  Gent.,"  wrote  and  published  "An 
old  song  of  the  Old  Courtiers  of  the  King's,  with  a  new  song  of  a  New  Courtier  of 


300 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


the  King's :  to  the  tune  of  The  Queen's  Old  Courtier."     A  copy  of  this  latter, 
"  printed  for  F.  Coles,"  is  among  the  Roxburghe  Ballads. 

Dr.  King,  in  his  "  Preface  to  the  Art  of  Cookery,  in  imitation  of  Horace's  Art 
of  Poetry,"  declares  his  love  "  to  the  old  British  Hospitality,  charity  and  valour, 
when  the  arms  of  the  family,  the  old  pikes,  muskets,  and  halberts,  hung  up  in 
the  hall  over  the  long  table,  and  Chevy  Chase,  and  The  Old  Courtier  of  the  Queen's 
were  placed  over  the  carved  mantle-piece,  and  beef  and  brown  bread  were  carried 
every  day  to  the  poor."  (Dr.  King's  Works,  vol.  iii.) 

About  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  ballad  was  revived  and  sung  by 
Mr.  Vernon  in  Shad  well's  comedy,  The  Squire  o/Alsatia,  the  burden  being  altered 
to  "  Moderation  and  Alteration,"  and,  when  comparing  the  young  courtier  to 
the  old,  to —  "  Alteration,  alteration, 

"Tis  a  wonderful  alteration." 

Finally,  it  has  been  again  revived,  with  further  "  alteration,"  in  the  present 
century,  under  the  title  of  "  The  old  English  Gentleman." 

The  ballad  is  to  be  chanted,  ad  libitum,  upon  one  note,  except  the  final  syllable 
of  each  stanza,  and  the  burden  "  Like  an  old  Courtier,"  &c. 


To  le  sung  ad.  lib.  upon  one  note. 


m 


With  an  old  song,  made  by  an  old  ancient  pate, 
Of  an  old  worshipful  gentleman,  who  had  a  great  estate, 
Which  kept  an  old  house  at  a  bountiful  rate,  .      * 

And  an  old  porter  to  relieve  the  poor  at  his     .      • 


, 


y  ., 


H^/i  5 


-^  i  —  d  — 

r—  i  —  i  —  p  —  r  —  p— 

-^  i 

H  

3  3  —  *- 

3  —  J—  6  —  Q—  : 

—  Q  ^  

—  ^  —  H  — 

9 

old       Cov 

1  

ir  -  tie 

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of      the  Queen's,  And  the    Queen's       olt 

\ 

Courtier. 

4=^ 

&          •• 

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1               P      ' 

~zd  & 

-&-             -G 

—  8  —  — 

With  an  old  lady  whose  anger  a  good  word 
assuages,  [wages, 

Who  every  quarter  pays  her  old  servants  their 

Who  never  knew  what  belonged  to  coachman, 
footmen,  nor  pages ; 

But  kept  twenty  old  fellows  with  blue  coats  and 
badges.  Like  an  old  Courtier,  &c. 


With  an  old  study  fill'd  full  of  learned  old  books, 
With  an  old  reverend  parson,  you  may  judge 
him  by  his  looks.  [hooks, 

With  an  old  buttery  hatch  worn  quite  off  the 
And   an    old  kitchen,  that  maintains  half-a- 
dozen  old  cooks.         Like  an  old,  &c. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


301 


With  an  old  hall  hung  about  with  guns,  pikes, 
and  bows,  [many  shrewd  blows, 

With  old  swords  and  bucklers  that  have  stood 

And  an  old  frieze  coat  to  cover  his  worship's 
trunk  hose, 

And  a  cup  of  old  sherry  to  comfort  his  copper 
nose.  Like  an  old,  &c. 


With  a  neat  lady  that  is  brisk  and  fair, 
That   never   knew   what  belonged   to   good 

house-keeping  or  care,  [air, 

But  buys  several  fans  to  play  with  the  wanton 
And  seventeen  or  eighteen  dressings  of  other 

women's  hair.         Like  a  young,  &c. 


With  an  old  fashion  when  Christmas  was  come, 
To  call  in  his  neighbours  with  bagpipe  and  drum ; 
And  good  cheer  enough  to  furnish  every  old 

room, 
And  old  liquor  able  to  make  a  cat  speak  and 

a  man  dumb.         Like  an  old,  &c. 

With  an  old  huntsman,  a  falconer,  and  a  kennel 

of  hounds  ;  [grounds  ; 

Which  never  hunted  nor  hawked  but  in  his  own 
Who  like  an  old  wise  man  kept  himself  within 

his  own  bounds, 
And  when  he  died,  gave  every  child  a  thousand 

old  pounds.         Like  an  old,  &c. 

But  to  his  eldest  son,  his  house  and  land  he 

assigned,  [tiful  mind, 

Charging  him  in  his  will  to  keep  the  old  boun- 
To  love  his  good  old  servants  and  to  his 

neighbours  be  kind ; 
But  in  the  ensuing  ditty  you  shall  hear  how  he 

was  inclin'd.     Like  a  young  Courtier,  &c. 

Like  a  young  gallant  newly -come  to  his  land, 
That  keeps  a   brace  of  creatures  at  his  com- 
mand, [land, 
And  takes  up  a  thousand  pound  upon  his  own 
And  lies  drunk  in  a  new  tavern,  'till  he  can 
neither  go  nor  stand.     Like  a  young,  &c. 

With  a  new  honour  bought  with  the  old  gold, 
That  many  of  his  father's  old  manors  had  sold, 
And  this  is  the  occasion  that  most  men  do  hold, 
That  good  house-keeping  is  now  grown  so  cold. 


With  a  new  hall  built  where  the  old  one  stood, 
Wherein  is  burned  neither  coal  nor  wood, 
And  a  shovelboard-table  whereon  meat  never 

stood, 
Hung  round  with  pictures  that  do  the  poor 

no  good.         Like  a  young,  &c. 


With  a  new  study  stuft  full  of  pamphlets  and 
plays  ;  [he  prays ; 

With  a  new  chaplain  that  swears  faster  than 

With  a  new  buttery  hatch  that  opens  once  in 
four  or  five  days ; 

With  a  new  French  cook  to  make  kickshaws 
and  toys.  Like  a  young,  &c. 

With  a  new  fashion  when  Christmas  is  come, 
With  a  new  journey  up  to  London  we  must 

be  gone,  [porter  John, 

And  leave  nobody  at  home  but  our  new 
Who  relieves  the  poor  with  a  thump  on  the 

back  with  a  stone.       Like  a  young,  &c. 

With  a  gentleman  usher  whose  carriage  is 
complete  ;  [meat ; 

With  a  footman,  coachman,  and  page  to  carry 

With  a  waiting-gentlewoman  whose  dressing 
is  very  neat ; 

Who,  when  the  master  has  dined,  lets  the 
servants  not  eat.  Like  a  young,  &c. 


Like  a  young,  &c. 


JOAN,  TO  THE  MAYPOLE. 

This  ballad  is  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  354,  and  Douce  Collection, 
p.  152.  It  is  entitled  "  May-day  Country  Mirth ;  or  The  young  Lads'  and 
Lasses'  innocent  Recreation,  which  is  to  be  prized  before  courtly  pomp  and  pas- 
time :  to  an  excellent  new  tune."  Dr.  Rimbault,  in  his  "  Little  Book  of  Songs  and 
Ballads,  gathered  from  Ancient  Music-books,"  prints  a  version  "  from  a  MS. 
volume  of  old  songs  and  music,  formerly  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  H.  J. 
Todd,  dated  1630."  The  same  is  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  245  (1810).  Another 
version  will  be  found  with  the  tune  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  145  (1707), 
or  iv.  145  (1719),  with  many  more  stanzas. 


302 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 


Gaily. 


V 


Joan,  to  the    Maypole  a-way   let  us      on,  The  time    is       swift,  and     will  be 


gone,  There  go  the    lass  -  es    a-way    to  the  green,  Where  their  beau-ties  may    be    seen ; 


^ 


Bess,       Moll,       Kate,        Doll,     All  the  brave    lass-eshave  lads  to  at -tend 'em,  Hodge, 


Pi 


Nick,  Tom,       Dick,  Jol  -  ly  brave  dancers,  and  who  can    a -mend 'em.     Joan   to  the 


PP 


:M 


May-pole  a-way    let  us        on,  The  time  is       swift  and    must  be      gone,    There  go  the 

.      JT3   J??a-S59   J. 


fpi 


H  J  J-j  [ 

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J  J  •—^•&    qi      * 

s  -es    a-way    to  the  Green,  Where  their 

1          -      -     f 

i) 

—  .^__ 

seen. 

! 

eau-ties    may   be 

1           ! 

3  •  

-*  —  sr3"^  — 

_*  *  -•  •'•• 

-J  

REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


303 


Joan,  shall  we  have  a  Hay  or  a  Round, 
Or  some  dance  that  is  new-found  ? 
Lately  I  was  at  a  Masque  in  the  Court, 
Where  I  saw  of  every  sort, 
Many  a  dance  made  in  France, 

Many  a  Braule,  and  many  a  Measure ; 
Gay  coats,  sweet  notes, 

Brave  wenches — O  'twas  a  treasure. 
In  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  the  above 
by  others,  such  as  the  following: — 
Did  you  not  see  the  Lord  of  the  May 
Walk  along  in  his  rich  array  ? 
There  goes  the  lass  that  is  only  his ; 
See  how  they  meet,  and  how  they  kiss ! 

Come  Will,  run  Gill, 
Or  dost  thou  list  to  lose  thy  lahour  ; 

Kit,  Crowd,  scrape  aloud, 
Tickle  up  Tom  with  a  pipe  and  tabor. 

Lately  I  went  to  a  Masque  at  the  Court, 
Where  I  saw  dances  of  every  sort ; 
There  they  did  dance  with  time  and  measure, 
But  none  like  a  country-dance  for  pleasure ; 

They  did  dance  as  in  France, 
Not  like  the  English  lofty  manner  ; 

And  every  she  must  furnished  be 
With  a  feathered  knack,  when  she's  hot  for 
to  fan  her. 

[sweat, 

But  we,  when  we  dance,  and  do  happen  to 
Have  a  napkin  in  hand  for  to  wipe  off  the  wet; 
And  we  with  our  lasses  do  jig  it  about, 
Not  like  at  Court,  where  they  often  are  out ; 

If  the  tabor  play,  we  jump  away, 
And  turn,  and  meet  our  lasses  to  kiss  'em ; 

Nay,  they  will  be  as  ready  as  we, 
That  hardly  at  any  time  can  we  miss  'em. 


But  now,  methinks,  these  courtly  toys 

Us  deprive  of  better  joys  : 

Gown  made  of  gray,  and  skin  soft  as  silk, 

Breath  sweet  as  morning  milk ; 

O,  these  more  please  ; 

[All]  these  hath  my  Joan  to  delight  me  : 

False  wiles,  court  smiles, 
None  of  these  hath  my  Joan  to  despite  me. 
second  and  third  stanzas  are  replaced 

Come,  sweet  Joan,  let  us  call  a  new  dance, 
That  we  before  'em  may  advance ; 
Let  it  be  what  you  desire  and  crave, 
And  sure  the  same  sweet  Joan  shall  have. 

She  cried,  and  replied, 
If  to  please  me  thou  wilt  endeavour, 

Sweet  Pig,  the  Wedding  Jig, 
Then,  my  dear,  I'll  love  thee  for  ever. 

There  is  not  any  that  shall  outvie 
My  litttle  pretty  Joan  and  I ; 
For  I  am  sure  I  can  dance  as  well 
As  Robin,  Jenny,  Tom,  and  Nell  : 

Last  year  we  were  here, 
When  rough  Ralph  he  played  us  a  Boree, 

And  we  merrily 
Thump'dit  about,  and  gain'd  the  glory. 

And  if  we  hold  on  as  we  begin, 
Joan,  thou  and  I  the  garland  shall  win  ; 
Nay,  if  thou  live  till  another  day, 
I'll  make  thee  Lady  of  the  May. 

Dance  about,  in  and  out, 
Turn  and  kiss,  and  then  for  greeting  ; 

Now,  Joan,  we  have  done, 
Fare  thee  well  till  next  merry  meeting. 


LOVE  WILL  FIND  OUT  THE  WAY. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  Playford's  Musictfs  Recreation  on  the  Lyra  Viol, 
1652 ;  in  Musictfs  Delight  on  the  Citnren,  1666 ;  in  the  Skene  and  several  other 
MSS. ;  also  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  vi.  86  (1719). 

The  words  are  in  Percy's  Reliques ;  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  iii.  282  (1810)  ;  and 
Rimbault's  Little  Book  of  Songs  and  Ballads,  p.  137.  All  these  versions  differ. 

Evans  prints  from  a  black-letter  copy  by  F.  Coules  (whose  ballads  occasionally 
bear  dates  which  vary  from  1620  to  1628) ;  Kimbault  from  Forbes'  Gantus,  1662, 
with  the  second  part  from  Coules'  copy ;  and  Percy  from  a  comparatively  modern 
edition. 

The  ballad  is  quoted  in  Brome's  Sparagus  G-arden,  acted  in  1635,  and  its 
popularity  was  so  great,  that  "  Love  will  find  out  the  way "  was  taken  as  the 
title  to  a  play  printed  in  1661.  Although  stated  on  the  title-page  to  be  a 
comedy  by  T.  B.,  it  was  only  Shirley's  Constant  Maid,  under  a  new  name. 


304 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  air  is  still  current,  for  in  the  summer  of  1855,  Mr.  Jennings,  Organist  of 
'All  Saints'  Church,  Maidstone,  noted  it  down  from  the  wandering  hop-pickers 
singing  a  song  to  it,  on  their  entrance  into  that  town. 

The  title  of  the  ballad,  as  printed  by  Coules,  is  "Truth's  Integrity;  or 
A  curious  Northern  ditty,  called  Love  will  find  out  the  way :  to  a  pleasant  new 
tune."  A  later  copy  in  the  Douce  Collection,  p.  232,  is  entitled  "  A  curious 
Northern  ditty,  called  Love  will  find  out  the  way" 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  436,  is  a  black-letter  ballad  of  "  Stephen  and 
Cloris ;  or  The  coy  Shepherd  and  the  kind  Shepherdess :  to  a  new  play-house 
tune,  or  Love  will  find  out  the  way." 

I  suppose  ballads  which  are  said  to  be  "  to  the  tune  of  Over  hills  and  high 
mountains"  are  also  intended  for  this  air ;  because  the  words  of  that  ballad  are 
almost  a  paraphrase  of  this,  and  in  the  same  measure.  See  the  following  stanza 
from  a  copy  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  iii.  165  : — 

"  Over  hills  and  high  mountains  Through  bushes  and  briers, 

Long  time  have  I  gone  ;  Being  void  of  all  care ; 

Ah  !  and  down  by  the  fountains,  Through  perils  and  dangers 

By  myself  all  alone  ;  For  the  loss  of  my  dear." 

There  is,  however,  an  air,  entitled  On  yonder  high  mountains,  which  may  be  in- 
tended, and  which  will  be  found  in  this  collection,  under  a  later  date. 

Another  black-letter  ballad  to  the  tune  of  Love  will  find  out  the  way,  is  entitled 
"  The  Countryman's  new  Care  away ;  "  commencing — 

"  If  there  were  employments  And  every  worthy  soldier 

For  men,  as  have  been ;  Had  truly  his  pay ; 

And  drums,  pikes,  and  muskets,  Then  might  they  be  bolder 

I'  the  field  to  be  seen ;  To  sing  Care  away." 

As  the  version  of  Love  will  find  out  the  way  printed  by  Percy  is  the  shortest, 

consisting  in  all  of  but  five  stanzas,  it  is  here  coupled  with  the  tune. 
Smoothly  and  not  too  fast. 


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REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES    I. 


305 


Where  there  is  no  place 

For  the  glow-worm  to  lie  ; 
Where  there  is  no  space 

For  receipt  of  a  fly  ; 
Where  the  midge  dares  not  venture, 

Lest  herself  fast  she  lay ; 
If  Love  come,  he  will  enter, 

And  soon  find  out  his  way. 
You  may  esteem  him 

A  child  for  his  might ; 
Or  you  may  deem  him 

A  coward  from  his  flight. 
But  if  she,  whom  Love  doth  honour, 

Be  conceal'd  from  the  day, 

Set  a  thousand  guards  upon  her, 

Love  will  find  out  the  way. 


Some  think  to  lose  him, 

By  having  him  confin'd; 
And  some  do  suppose  him, 

Poor  thing,  to  be  blind ; 
But  if  ne'er  so  close  ye  wall  him, 

Do  the  best  that  you  may, 
Blind  Love,  if  so  ye  call  him, 

Soon  will  find  out  his  way. 
You  may  train  the  eagle 

To  stoop  to  your  fist ; 
Or  you  may  inveigle 

The  phoenix  of  the  east ; 
The  lioness,  ye  may  move  her 

To  give  o'er  her  prey  ; 
But  you'll  ne'er  stop  a  lover  : 

He  will  find  out  his  way. 


STINGO,  OB  OIL  OF  BARLEY. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master,  and  in  many 
other  publications.  It  is  often  quoted  under  three,  if  not  more,  names. 

In  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1690,  it  appears  as  Stingo,  or  The  Oyle 
of  Barley. 

The  song,  "A  cup  of  old  stingo"  (i.e.,  old  strong  beer),  is  contained  in  Merry 
Drollery  Complete,  1661  and  1670,  and,  if  it  be  the  original  song,  must  be  of  a 
date  from  thirty  to  forty  (and  perhaps  more)  years  earlier  than  the  book. 

Traces  of  that  doughty  hero,  Sir  John  Barleycorn,  so  famous  in  the  days  of 
ballad-singing,  are  to  be  found  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  In 
the  Exeter  MS.  (fol.  107)  is  an  enigma  in  Anglo-Saxon  verse,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  literal  translation ; — 

"A  part  of  the  earth  is  prepared  beautifully  with  the  hardest,  and  with  the  sharpest, 
and  with  the  grimest  of  the  productions  of  men,  cut  and  ....  (sworfen),  turned  and 
dried,  bound  and  twisted,  bleached  and  awakened,  ornamented  and  poured  out,  carried 
afar  to  the  doors  of  people ;  it  is  joy  in  the  inside  of  living  creatures,  it  knocks  and 
slights  those,  of  whom  before,  while  alive,  a  long  while  it  obeys  the  will,  and  expos- 
tulateth  not ;  and  then  after  death  it  takes  upon  it  to  jxidge,  to  talk  variously.  It  is 
greatly  to  seek  by  the  wisest  man,  what  this  creature  is." — Essay  on  the  State  of 
Literature  and  Learning  under  the  Anglo-Saxons,  by  Thomas  Wright,  Esq.,  M.A., 
F.S.A.,  p.  79,  8vo.,  1839. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  214,  there  is  a  black-letter  ballad  "  to  the  tune 
of  Stinyo"  which  was  evidently  written  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  by  its 
allusions  to  "  the  King's  great  porter,"  "  Bankes'  Horse,"  &c.  It  is  entitled, 
"  The  Little  Barley-Corn : 

Whose  properties  and  vertues  here 
Shall  plainly  to  the  world  appeare ; 
To  make  yon  merry  all  the  yeere." 

As  it  has  been  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  156  (1810),  the  first  stanza 
only  is  subjoined : — 

"  Come,  and  do  not  musing  stand,  Not  of  the  earth-,  nor  of  the  air, 

If  thou  the  truth  discern ;  At  evening  or  at  morn, 

But  take  a  full  cup  in  thy  hand,  But,  jovial  boys,  your  Christmas  keep 

And  thus  begin  to  learn  :  With  the  little  barley-corn." 

The  ballad  is  divided  into  two  parts,  each  consisting  of  eight  stanzas. 

x 


306  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

A  second  name  for  the  tune  is  The  Country  Lass,  which  it  derived  from  a 
ballad  by  Martin  Parker.  Copies  of  that  ballad  are  in  the  Pepys  Collection 
(i.  268),  and  in  the  Roxburghe  (i.  52).  The  former  bears  Martin  Parker's 
initials,  but  no  printer's  name ;  the  latter  was  printed  for  the  assigns  of  Thomas 
Symcocke. 

The  copy  in  the  Pepys  Collection  is  entitled  "  The  Countrey  Lasse : 
To  a  dainty  new  note  :  which  if  you  cannot  hit, 
There's  another  tune  which  doth  as  well  fit — 
That's  The  Mother  beguild  the  Daughter" 
"Although  I  am  a  countrey  lasse,  As  those  that  with  the  choicest  wines 

A  loftie  minde  I  beare-a ;  Do  bathe  their  bodies  oft-a. 

I  thinke  myselfe  as  good  as  those  Downe,  downe  deny,  deny  downe, 

That  gay  apparrell  weare-a.  Heigh  downe,  a  downe,  a  downe-a, 

My  coat  is  made  of  comely  gray,  A  derry,  deny,  derry  downe, 

Yet  is  my  skin  as  soft-a,  Heigh  downe,  a  downe,  a  derry." 

This  is  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  41,  and  an  altered  copy  will  be  found, 
with  the  music,  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  165  (1707),  or  iv.  152  (1719). 
The  tune  is  referred  to,  under  the  above  name,  in  a  ballad  by  Laurence  Price, 
entitled  "  Good  Ale  for  my  money : 

The  good  fellowes  resolution  of  strong  ale, 
That  cures  his  nose  from  looking  pale. 
To  the  tune  of  The  Countrey  Lasse. 

Be  merry,  my  friends,  and  list  awhile          This  song  in's  head  he  always  carried, 

Unto  a  merry  jest,  When  drink  had  made  him  mellow  : 

It  may  from  you  produce  a  smile,  I  cannot  go  home,  nor  will  I  go  home, 

When  you  hear  it  exprest ;  It's  long  of  the  oyle  of  barley ; 

Of  a  young  man  lately  married,  I'll  tarry  all  night  for  my  delight, 

Which  was  a  boone  good  fellow,  And  go  home  in  the  morning  early" 

A  copy  will  be  found  hi  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  138. 

Hilton  wrought  this  tune  into  a  catch  for  three  voices,  and  published  it  in  his 
Catch  that  catch  can,  in  1652 ;  and  it  was  afterwards  reprinted  in  that  form  by 
Playford  in  his  Musical  Companion,  1667,  1673,  &c. 

The  first  line  of  the  catch  is  "  I'se  goe  with  thee,  my  sweet  Peggy,  my  honey." 
The  third  part  is  to  the  tune  of  Stingo,  with  the  following  words : — 
"  Thou  and  I  will  foot  it,  Joe, 
And  what  we  doe  neene  shall  know; 

But  taste  fas  juice  of  barley. 
We'll  sport  all  night  for  our  delight, 
And  home  in  the  morning  early" 
The  air  is  somewhat  altered  to  harmonize  with  the  other  parts. 

In  the  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master  which  were  printed  after  1690,  the 
name  is  changed  from  Stingo,  or  The  Oyle  of  Barley,  to  Cold  and  raw.  This  new 
title  was  derived  from  a  (so  called)  "New  Scotch  Song,"  written  by  Tom 
D'Urfey,  which  first  appeared  in  the  second  book  of  Comes  Amoris,  or  Tlte 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  307 

Companion  of  Love,  printed  by  John  Carr  in  1688 ; a  and,  as  frequently  the  case, 
the  air  was  a  little  altered  for  the  words. 

Of  this  song  Sir  John  Hawkins  relates  the  following  anecdote  in  his  History  of 
Music  (8vo.,  ii.  564)  : — 

"  This  tune  was  greatly  admired  by  Queen  Mary,  the  consort  of  King  William ; 
and  she  once  affronted  Purcell  by  requesting  to  have  it  sung  to  her,  he  being  present. 
The  story  is  as  follows :  The  Queen  having  a  mind  one  afternoon  to  be  entertained 
with  music,  sent  to  Mr.  Gosling,  then  one  of  her  Chapel,  and  afterwards  Sub- Dean  of 
St.  Paul's,  to  Henry  Purcell,  and  to  Mrs.  Arabella  Hunt,  who  had  a  very  fine  voice, 
and  an  admirable  hand  on  the  lute,  with  a  request  to  attend  her ;  they  obeyed  her 
commands;  Mr.  Gosling  and  Mrs.  Hunt  sung  several  compositions  of  Purcell,  who 
accompanied  them  upon  the  harpsichord;  at  length,  the  Queen  beginning  to  grow 
tired,  asked  Mrs.  Hunt  if  she  could  not  sing  the  ballad  of  '  Cold  and  raw ;' b  Mrs. 
Hunt  answered,  Yes,  and  sung  it  to  her  lute.  Purcell  was  all  the  while  sitting  at  the 
harpsichord  unemployed,  and  not  a  little  nettled  at  the  Queen's  preference  of  a  vulgar 
ballad  to  his  music ;  but  seeing  Her  Majesty  delighted  with  this  tune,  he  determined 
that  she  should  hear  it  upon  another  occasion;  and,  accordingly,  in  the  next  birth- 
day song,  viz.,  that  for  the  year  1692,  he  composed  an  air  to  the  words, '  May  her 
bright  example  chace  vice  in  troops  out  of  the  land,'  the  bass  whereof  is  the  tune  to 
'  Cold  and  raw.' " 

In  Anthony  &  Wood's  collection  of  broadsides  (Ashmolean  Library,  vol.  417) 
there  are  two  ballads  with  music,  bearing  the  date  of  December,  1688,  and 
printed  to  this  tune.  The  first  is  "  The  Irish  Lasses  Letter ;  or  her  earnest 
request  to  Teague,  her  dear  joy :  to  an  excellent  new  tune"  The  second  is  the 
famous  song  of  Lilliburlero. 

In  the  Douce  Collection  is  a  ballad  called  "  The  lusty  Friar  of  Flanders :  to 
the  tune  of  Gold  and  raw" 

Horace  Walpole  mentions  it  under  the  same  name  in  a  letter  to  Richard  West, 
Esq.,  dated  from  Florence  (Feb.  27,  1740),  where,  in  speaking  of  the  Carnival, 
he  says,  "  The  Italians  are  fond  to  a  degree  of  our  Country  Dances.*5  Gold  and 
raw  they  only  know  by  the  tune;  Blowzylella  is  almost  Italian,  and  Buttered 
Peas  is  Pizelli  al  buro."  (Letters  of  Walpole,  in  vi.  vols,  1840 ;  vol.  i.  p.  32.) 

The  following  is  the  song  of  "  A  cup  of  old  stingo,"  from  Merry  Drollery 
Complete,  with  the  tune  from  The  Dancing  Master  of  1650. 

»  A  few  pages  further  In  the  same  book  there  is  another  O'er  the  hills  and,  far  away ;  By  moonlight  on  the  green ; 

"new  Scotch  song,"  set  by  Mr.  Akeroyd.  What's  that  to  you  1  and  several  others,  which  he  has 

Ritson,  in  his  Historical  Essay  on  Scotish  Song,  1794,  been  probably  used  to  consider  as  genuine  specimens  of 

says,  "An  inundation  of  Scotch  songs,  so  called,  appears  Scotish  song;    as,  indeed,  most  of  them  are  regarded 

to  have  been  poured  upon  the  town  by  Tom  D'Urfey  and  even  in  Scotland."    Ritson's  list  might  be  very  greatly 

his  Grub-street  brethren,  toward  the  end  of  the  seven-  extended. 

teenth  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century;  of  b  Sir  John  Hawkins,  who  relates  the  anecdote  tradition- 
which  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  wretchedness  of  poetry,  ally,  and  who  had  evidently  seen  no  older  copy  of  the  tune 
ignorance  of  the  Scotish  dialect,  or  nastiness  of  ideas,  is  than  that  contained  in  the  Catch  (as  he  elsewhere  men- 
most  evident,   or  most  despicable.    In  the  number  of  tions  Hilton's  Catches  as  Play  ford's  first  publication)  calls 
these  miserable  caricatures,  the  reader  may  be  a  little  sur-  it  "  the  old  Scot's  ballad,"  but  from  the  allusion  to  "  the 
prised  to  find  the  favorite  songs  of  De'ill  take  the  Wars  next  birth-day  song,"  it  must  have  happened  within  four 
that  hurry 'd  Willy  from  me;  0  Jenny,  Jenny,  where  hast  thou  years  of  the  first  publication.     The  term  "old,"  could 
been?    Young  Philander  wooed  me  lang ;   Farewell,  my  therefore  only  be  applied,  with  propriety,  to  the  music. 
bonny,  witty,  pretty  Moggy ;  In  January  last ;  She  rose  and  "This  agrees  with  what  I  have  been  told  about  the  book 
let  me  in ;  Pretty  Kate  of  Edinburgh ;  As  I  sat  at  my  tpin-  entitled  The  Dancing  Master  (the  early  editions  c 
ning  wheel ;  Fife,  and  a'  the  lands  about  it;  Bonny  lad,  are  extremely  scarce  in  England),  viz.,  that  it  is  very  well 
prithee  lay  thy  pipe  down;    The  bonny  grey -ey'd  morn;  known  to  the  dealers  in  Italy,  and  that  it  may  be  prod 
'Twos  within  a  furlong  of  Edinburgh  town;  Bonny  Dundee;  there  with  comparatively  little  trouble. 


308 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Jovially. 


There's    a     lus   -  ty       li-quor    which    Good     fel  -  lows  use      to       take  - 


i 


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is    distill'd  with  Nard  most  rich,  And   wa  -  ter  of    the    lake  -  a ;        Of    Hop    a    lit  -  tie 


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~w~ 

'Twill  make  a  man  indentures  make, 

'Twill  make  a  fool  seem  wise, 
'Twill  make  a  Puritan  sociate, 

And  leave  to  be  precise : 
'Twill  make  him  dance  about  a  cross, 

And  eke  to  run  the  ring  too, 
Or  anything  he  once  thought  gross, 

Such  virtue  hath  old  stingo. 
'Twill  make  a  constable  oversee 

Sometimes  to  serve  a  warrant, 
'Twill  make  a  bailiff  lose  his  fee, 

Though  he  be  a  knave-arrant; 
'Twill  make  a  lawyer,  though  that  he 

To  ruin  oft  men  brings,  too, 
Sometimes  forget  to  take  his  fee, 

If  his  head  be  lin'd  with  stingo. 
'Twill  make  a  parson  not  to  flinch, 

Though  he  seem  wondrous  holy, 
And  for  to  kiss  a  pretty  wench, 

And  think  it  is  no  folly  ; 
'Twill  make  him  learn  for  to  decline 

The  verb  that's  called  Mingo, 
'Twill  make  his  nose  like  copper  shine 

If  his  head  be  lin'd  with  stingo. 


'Twill  make  a  weaver  break  his  yarn, 

That  works  with  right  and  left  foot, 
But  he  hath  a  trick  to  save  himself, 

He'll  say  there  wanteth  woof  to't; 
'Twill  make  a  tailor  break  his  thread, 

And  eke  his  thimble  ring  too, 
'Twill  make  him  not  to  care  for  bread, 

If  his  head  be  lin'd  with  stingo. 

'Twill  make  a  baker  quite  forget 

That  ever  corn  was  cheap, 
'Twill  make  a  butcher  have  a  fit 

Sometimes  to  dance  and  leap ; 
'Twill  make  a  miller  keep  his  room, 

A  health  for  to  begin,  too, 
'Twill  make  him  shew  his  golden  thumb, 

If  his  head  be  lin'd  with  stingo. 
'Twill  make  an  hostess  free  of  heart, 

And  leave  her  measures  pinching, 
'Twill  make  an  host  with  liquor  part 

And  bid  him  hang  all  flinching  ; 
It's  so  belov'd,  I  dare  protest, 

Men  cannot  live  without  it, 
And  where  they  find  there  is  the  best, 

The  most  will  flock  about  it. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


309 


And,  finally,  the  beggar  poor,  Now  to  conclude,  here  is  a  health 

That  walks  till  he  be  weary,  Unto  the  lad  that  spendeth, 

Craving  along  from  door  to  door,  Let  every  man  drink  off  his  can, 

With  pre-commiserere ;  '  And  so  my  ditty  endeth  ; 

If  he  do  chance  to  catch  a  touch,  .  I  willing  am  my  friend  to  pledge, 

Although  his  clothes  be  thin,  too,  For  he  will  meet  me  one  day ; 

Though  he  be  lame,  he'll  prove  his  crutch,         Let's  drink  the  barrel  to  the  dregs, 

If  his  head  be  lin'd  with  stingo.  For  the  malt-man  comes  a  Monday. 

The  last  line  has  furnished  the  subject  for  a  Scotch  song. 

The  following  is  a  later  version  of  the  tune.  The  copies  in  The  Beggars' 
Opera,  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  The  Dancing  Master,  and  Midas  (1764),  have 
all  slight  differences,  such  as  would  occur  from  writing  down  a  familiar  tune  from 
memory.  The  words  are  Tom  D'Urfey's  "last  new  Scotch  song."  (See 
Comes  Amoris,  or  The  Companion  of  Love,  ii.  16,  fol.  1688.) 
Gracefully. 


Cold    and  raw     the        north  did  blow  Bleak   in     the   morn-ing   .  ear  -  ly 


£ 


ft 


All      the  trees   were         hid     with  snow ;  Dag-gled     in      win-ter's    year  -  ly :         As 


m 


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—  I 

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_,  —  *  — 

9  £  

§  •     —  •  — 

I     came    ri    -    ding      on      the     slough,  I       met       a       far  -  mer's  daughter,  With 
c^              .                           -^-              '                          •*-•*-.--                    m     . 

1 

1          •            1           1 

P  •  

<q       ,         ...    ...    .....  . 

^^u 

i     ' 

"X 

•  '  —  i  '  " 

ro  -  sy  cheeks  and    bon  -  ny     brow,  Good      faith,  made 


mouth  wa   -    ter. 


Down  I  veil'd  my  bonnet  low, 
Thinking  to  show  my  breeding ; 

She  returned  a  graceful  bow — 
A  village  far  exceeding. 

1  However  unobjectionable  this  song  may  have  been  in 
Queen  Mary's  time,  the  three  remaining  stanzas  would 


I  ask'd  her  where  she  went  so  soon, 

I  long'd  to  begin  a  parley, 
She  told  me  to  the  next  market  town 

On  purpose  to  sell  her  barley." 

not   be  very  courteously  received  in  Queen  Victoria's 
Tempora  mutantur. 


310  ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 

WHAT  IF  A  DAY,  OR  A  MONTH,  OR  A  YEAR? 

Copies  of  this  song  are  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  116  and  ii.  182,  and 
in  The  Golden  G-arland  of  Princely  Delights,  third  edition,  1620.  In  the 
Roxburghe  Ballads  it  is  entitled  "  A  Friend's  Advice,  in  an  excellent  ditty, 
concerning  the  variable  changes  in  this  world  "  (printed  by  the  assigns  of  Thomas 
Symcocke)  ;  in  The  Golden  Garland,  "  The  inconstancy  of  the  world." 

The  music  is  in  a  volume  of  transcripts  of  virginal  music,  by  Sir  John  Hawkins ; 
in  Logonomia  Anglica,  by  Alexander  Gil,  1619 ;  in  Friesche  Lust-Hof,  1634 ;  in 
D.  R.  Camphuysen's  Stichtelycke  Hymen,  4to.,  Amsterdam,  1647  ;  in  the  Skene 
MS. ;  in  Forbes'  Cantus  ;  &c.  The  same  words  are  differently  set  by  Richard 
Allison,  in  his  Howre's  Recreation  in  Musicke,  1608. 

Gil  (or  Gill),  who  was  Master  of  St.  Paul's  School,  refers  to  the  song  twice  in  his 
Logonomia.  Firstly,  "  Hemistichium  est,  duobus  constans  dactylis,  et  choriambo ;" 
and  secondly,  "  Ut  in  illo  perbello  cantico  Tho.  Campaiani,  cujus  mensuram,  ut 
rectius  agnoscas,  exhibeo  cum  notis." 

Thomas  Campian,  or  Campion,  to  whom  the  poetry,  and  perhaps  also  the 
music,  is  here  ascribed,  was  by  profession  a  physician ;  but  he  was  also  an  emi- 
nent poet  and  admirable  musician.  He  flourished  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth  and  the  greater  portion  of  that  of  James  I.  Neither  the  words 
nor  music  are,  however,  to  be  found  in  his  printed  collections. 

According  to  the  registers  of  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  West,  "  Thomas  Campion, 
Doctor  of  Physicke,"  was  buried  there  on  the  1st  of  March,  1619.a 

In  Camphuysen's  Stichtelycke  Hymen  the  song  is  entitled  "  Essex's  Lamentation, 
or  What  if  a  day." 

Ritson,  in  a  note  to  his  Historical  Essay  on  Scotish  Song,  p.  57,  says,  "  In  a 
curious  dramatic  piece,  entitled  Philotus,  printed  at  Edinburgh  in  1603,  by  way 
of  finale,  is  Ane  sang  of  the  foure  lufearis  (lovers) ,  though  little  deserving  that 
title.  It  is  followed  by  the  old  English  song,  beginning,  '  What  if  a  day,  or 
a  month,  or  a  year?'  alluded  to  in  Hudibras,  which  appears  to  have  been  sung  at 
the  end  of  the  play,  and  was  probably,  at  that  time,  new  and  fashionable." 

Mr.  Halliwell,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  in  Dec.,  1840, 
says,  "  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  one  of  the  songs  in  Ryman's  well-known  collection 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  in  the  Cambridge  Public  Library,  commences — 
'  What  yf  a  daye,  or  nyghte,  or  howre, 
Crowne  my  desyres  wythe  every  delyglite ; ' 

and  that  in  Sanderson's  Diary  in  the  British  Museum,  MSS.  Lansdowne  241, 
fol.  49,  temp.  Elizabeth,  are  the  two  first  stanzas  of  the  song,  more  like  the  copy 
in  Ryman,  and  differing  in  its  minor  arrangements  from  the  later  version. 
Moreover,  that  the  tune  in  Dowland's  Musical  Collection,  in  the  Public  Library, 
Cambridge,  is  entitled  '  What  if  a  day,  or  a  night,  or  an  hour  ?'  agreeing  with 
Sanderson's  copy."  Mr.  Halliwell  has  reverted  to  the  subject  in  Reliquce  Antiques, 
i.  323,  and  ii.  123. 

•  Haslewood  supposed  him  to  have  died  in  1621.    It  does  not  notice  his  four  books  of  "Ayres,"  printed  in 

is  strange  that  the  name  of  so  eminent  a  man  should  1610  and  1612,  which,  with  some  others,  are  described  in 

have  been  omitted  in  the  usual  Biographical  Dictionaries  Rimhault's  Bibliothica  Madrigaliana.    He  composed  the 

and  Universal  Biographies.    A  short  account  of  him  is  Psalm  tune,  called  "  Babylon's  streams,"  which  is  still 

given,  with  the  reprint  of  his  "  Observations  in  the  art  in  use.    His  Art  of  Descant  is  contained  in  Playford's 

f  English   Poetry,"  in   Haslewood's  "Ancient  Critical  Introduction. 
Essays  upon    English  Poets  and  PoEsy."      Haslewood 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


311 


"  What  if  a  day,  or  a  month,  or  a  year  ?  "  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  tunes  for 
Psalms  and  Songs  of  Sion,  by  W[illiam]  SQatyer],  1642.     See  p.  319. 

Rather  slow. 

>tt        ?  - 


t* 


What      if     a     day,      or    a  month,    or      a    year,     Crown  thy  de-lights  with  a 
May     not  the  change  of   a    night     or    an  hour,     Cross    thy  de-lights  with  as 

-* • C2. 0 


0  -  a 

thousand  sweet  con-tentings,    a    thousand  sweet  con  -  ten  -  tings,       „  , 

ma  -  ny    sad    tor-mentings,  as    ma  -  ny    sad    tor  -  men  -  tings,  "         '       "  nour> 


J       |J         J    + 


1 


m 


^    n 

i  1    J"  e    C    i 

t=\ 

!ujiu 

beau  -  ty, 

you! 

k, 

Are     but  blossoms 

If              1 

dy     -     in 

1 

1  ' 

11 

QJ  ™  a  
Wan  -  ton  pleasures, 

C                                ] 

, 

i          i 

-^  

S 

. 

=J= 

—0— 

—  r— 

5  1  —  £E 

K                                i         is    i       1                              ^                i 

i        ^^        , 

J      m        m 

n 

J        ^^ 

0     '     •  !  — 

—  &  &(  

J   .    J    d  

^  0  1    ud  

—  9  ^  

-ft—8  —  •— 

-q-       x^*  $P                                                               W                             VP 
do   -    ting  love,             Are       but    sha  -  dows      fly     -     ing.            All      our    joys 

I 

- 

T-^  

_S^  1  

—\  —  pL-d  —  r> 

dL  '  *  #2.  — 

i-r-d  —  •!  d^d- 

—  d  rH  d  1    d    '    *  —  ^?5  

are     but  toys,                I  -  die  thoughts  de      -      ceiv     -    ing  ;             None  hath  pow'r 
i                                      .                                            1                  J 

—  1  1  — 

gj 

o 

• 

\-ri  —  d  

—  <a  F  0-m- 

& 

^ 

a           '    '        T        "    LI  ^       = 

i 


of        an     hour  Of       his    life's        be      -      reav     -     ing. 


•r 


312  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

Th'  earth's  but  a  point  of  the  world,  and  a  man  What  if  the  world,  with  a  lure  of  its  wealth, 

Is  but  a  point  of  the  earth's  compared  centre :  Raise  thy  degree  to  great  place  of  h,gh  ad- 
Shall  then  the  point  of  a  point  be  so  vain,  vancing; 

As  to  triumph  in*  silly  point's  adventure  ?  May  not  the  world,  by  a  check  of  that  wealth, 

All  is  hazard  that  we  have,  BrinS  thee  aSam  to  as  low  desPlsed  chang™§  ? 
Here  is  nothing  biding ;  While  the  sun  of  wealth  doth  shine 

Days  of  pleasure  are  as  streams  Thou  shalt  have  fnends  Plenty  ' 

Through  fair  meadows  gliding.  But>  come  want>  they  rePine> 

Weal  or  woe,  time  doth  go,  Not  cne  abldes  of  twentv' 

Time  hath  no  returning  ;  Wealth  <and  f^^)>  holds  and  ends, 

Secret  Fates  guide  our  states  As  thy  fortunes  rise  and  fal1 : 

Both  in  mirth  and  mourning.  UP  and  down>  smile  and  frown> 

Certain  is  no  state  at  all. 

What  if  a  smile,  or  a  beck,  or  a  look,  What  if  a  grip,  or  a  strain,  or  a  fit,  [sickness  : 

Feed  thy  fond  thoughts  with  many  vain  con-  Pinch  thee  with  pain  of  the  feeling  pangs  of 

ceivings  :  May  not  that  grip,  or  that  strain,  or  that  fit, 

May  not  that  smile,  or  that  beck,  or  that  look,    Shew  thee  the  form  of  thine  own  true  perfect 

Tell  thee  as  well  they  are  all  but  false  deceivings  ?         likeness  ? 

Why  should  beauty  be  so  proud,  Health  is  but  a  glance  of  joy, 

In  things  of  no  surmounting?  Subject  to  all  changes; 

All  her  wealth  is  but  a  shroud,  Mirth  is  but  a  silly  toy, 

Nothing  of  accounting.  Which  mishap  estranges. 

Then  in  this  there's  no  bliss,  Tell  me,  then,  silly  man, 

Which  is  vain  and  idle,  Why  art  thou  so  weak  of  wit, 

Beauty's  flow'rs  have  their  hours,  As  to  be  in  jeopardy, 

Time  doth  hold  the  bridle.  When  thou  mayst  in  quiet  sit  ? 

THE  HEMP-DRESSEB,  OB  THE  LONDON  GENTLEWOMAN. 

This  tune  has  attained  a  long-enduring  popularity.  It  is  to  be  found  in  every 
edition  of  The  Dancing  Master,  as  well  as  in  many  other  publications,  and  is 
commonly  known  at  the  present  day. 

The  name  of  TJie  Hemp-dresser,  or  The  London  Gentlewoman,  is  derived  from 
an  old  song  which  was  translated  into  Latin  (together  with  Chtvy  Chace  and  many 
others)  by  Henry  Bold,  and  published,  after  his  death,  in  "  Latine  Songs  with 
their  English,"  1685. 

One  of  D'Urfey's  songs,  commencing,  "  The  sun  had  loos'd  his  weary  team," 
was  written  to  this  air.  It  is  printed,  with  music,  in  his  third  book  of  songs, 
1685 ;  in  Playford's  third  book  of  "  Choice  Ayres  and  Songs ;  "  and  in  vol.  i. 
of  all  the  editions  of  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy.  In  the  first,  it  is  entitled  "A  new 
song  set  to  a  pretty  country  dance,  called  The  Hemp-dresser : "  in  the  second,  it 
has  the  further  prefix  of  "  The  Winchester  .Christening ;  The  Sequel  of  the 
Winchester  Wedding.  A  new  song,"  &c. 

In  TJie  Beggars'  Opera,  1728  ;  The  Court  Legacy,  1733  ;  The  Sturdy  Beggars, 
1733 ;  and  The  Rival  Milliners,  1737,  the  tune  is  named  "  The  sun  had  loos'd 
his  weary  team,"  from  D'Urfey's  song.  In  other  ballad-operas,  such  as  Penelope, 
1728 ;  and  Love  and  Eevenge,  or  The  Vintner  outwitted,  n.d.,  it  takes  the  name 
of  one  beginning,  "  Jone  stoop'd  down."  Burns  also  wrote  a  song  to  it — "  The 
Deil's  awa  wi'  the  Exciseman." 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


313 


In  the  "  History  of  Robert  Powel,  the  puppet-showman,"  8vo.,  1715,  Tlie 
Duke  of  York's  Delight ;  Welcome  home.  Old  Rowley  ;  TJie  Knot ;  and  The  .Hemp- 
dressers,  are  mentioned  as  favorite  tunes  called  for  by  the  company. 

The  song  of  The  Hemp-dresser  consists  of  four  stanzas,  of  which  the  two  first 
are  as  follows : — 

There  was  a  London  gentlewoman  This  man  he  was  a  hemp-dresser, 

That  lov'd  a  country  man-a;  And  dressing  was  his  trade-a; 

And  she  did  desire  his  company  And  he  did  kiss  the  mistress,  sir, 

A  little  now  and  then-a.  And  now  and  then  the  maid-a. 

Fa  la,  &c.  Fa  la,  &c. 

The  first  verse  of  D'Urfey's  song  is  here  printed  with  the  music. 


~s     Gracefully.         ^     ""^               ,               ^t** 

i 

—  It- 

rH  J- 

bO  -M  J   J  I  '-T-*I  *   J  J5=» 

i|  1      j*  J 

=F 

tm^- 

—  ~^ 

<sfl    ft     •>  *  1  i—  :  S  E 

•  -•i  —  •  —  ^~ 

—  9— 

j                  r    r           r  •   •  • 

The     sun  had   loos'd  his  wea  -  ry  team,  And  turn'd  his  steeds  a     graz  -  ing 

5   *                     L       _L 

Ten 

—  H  E 

1      8            i            J                J    •      ^ 

--H  :  d- 

• 

hh~t 

*1 

"N 

i 

1  •    •  —  m- 

K     h  I™*       is  r**rl    i 

—  —  j  •  4  •  -j  —  =P  —  r  j  j  —  j  — 

-K  1  PL- 

3  — 

g| 

J  

—  J  —                                             —  •  c  —  •  —  ' 

J—  J  —  4-4^ 

i=^ 

fa  -  thorn  deep     in    Neptune's  stream  His  The  -  tis   was      em  -  bra    - 

cing  ;      The 

-f  —  •-  —  &f  —  =  4ll—i  —  P-      -i*  —  - 

] 

—  r-  1- 

*i 

__j  ^  1  f.  — 

-J—  1- 

i 

'•s                                                                 ' 

1 

h 

r*      r                                k. 

s    i      r* 

j 

j 

J        J       tsd    J        J         n       i         k.         i 

!                       J 

•      J'   •    '         *        j                  ^ 

J       J          B 

S 

•                  m        m       J 

• 

r   •    r   •              J    J     J       r 

stars  tripp'd  in      the        fir  -  ma  -  ment,  Like   milk-maids    on       a 

May  -  day, 

Or 

—  i  1  •-.  j— 

__i  

K 

J 

.     j 

H  — 

-/.  i     k    **^*\ 

1   • 

1 

——*  — 

N    pn                  t 

\              r 

_J  J  J    J     J  fS  1  N  1  

^-d  J  — 

-J- 

—7*  ^—  '                                 —  J— 

-d  —  *— 

—  i  — 

I           .            ^         .                    *                            •             J           ^.                       ^ 

coun  -  try   lass-es    a      mumming  sent,     Or    schoolboys     on       a 

play 

-   day. 

'**•                "                       P 

• 

-r  '   r  '    -^  i= 

-d- 

SINCE  FIRST  I  SAW  YOUR  FACE. 

The  following  tune  is  by  Thomas  Ford,  one  of  the  musicians  in  the  suite  of 
Prince  Henry,  the  eldest  son  of  James  I.  It  is  a  song  for  one  voice  to  the  lute, 
or  for  four  without  accompaniment,  and  contained  in  his  Musicke  of  sundrie 
Kindes  (fol.  1607.)  The  second  part  of  a  popular  tune  called  Jamaica,  or  My 
father  was  born  before  me,  bears  a  resemblance  to  the  second  part  of  this. 

In  the  G-olden  Garland  of  Princely  Delight,  third  edition,  1620,  the  song  is 
entitled,  "  Love's  Constancy."  .*• 


314 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Ford  was  not  a  great  harmonist,  but  this  song  (now  miscalled  a  madrigal)  has 
survived  the  works  of  many  more  learned  composers,  and  is  probably  as  popular 
at  the  present  day  as  when  first  written.  The  harmony  of  the  modern  copies  is 

not  by  Ford. 
j  Slow. 


'  -   /»  1  — 

3  jr-j  

i  J      r>—  i  —  ; 

i  — 

rj  —  J*  J  j  i 

Since 

first        I     saw    your 

i  n     .       -H 

face      I     resolv 

'd  To 

ho  -  nour  and   re  - 

-"  =H 

-s 

•            i 

L^  • 

1  

i  — 

H     r  M 

fn  —  :  1 

1  1   h  j  j  i 

J.^^ 

1 

H  —  f—\  —  T—| 

-nown       you,       If    i 

J  •  f  t=5= 

low      I      be      dis  - 

—  £l 

dain'd     I 

wish     M 

y 

heart  had    ne  -  ver 

-^—h^ 

r*  —  •  i 

—  ]  

1  

|  1 

If  r  r  r  l 

h   •    r  ' 

eJ 

E 

LJ  „—  j,-! 

—  1  — 

=3  — 

m    •  .f 

-i^—          « 

•  S        ^4- 

b—  1*  »— 

-^  J  — 

—  ;  — 

—  •'  

-^  —  d  —  -i 

t—     —4—         Hr 

—  M«  —  p  — 

known      you.     What  ! 

J       J 

I      that 

§ 

lov'd,  and      you  that  lik'd,  Shall      we 

be-gm      to 

L 

i         i      i 

B 

a                  ^ 

a  *  J  

i  j  J  — 

—r— 

1  _  

a  c- 

Kl       —    -m- 
^                     PP  i     ores. 

\ 

mf\        \        N     i 

j  .  r  j  —  K- 

—  *— 

—  J  d  zF  —  

i 

R§        ^ 

j  **  .  j 

.J  •  JN~ 

—  ^  ^   .   4  —  *  —  j 

-J  1  

H     i     i 

wran  -  gle  ?      No,  no,  no,  my 
L. 

r  r  g 

heart    is  fast, 

J    1      f  1 

And    can  -  not  dis  -  en 

;  —  *-&  J  —  "• 
-    tan  -  gle. 

J          J 

T  •  • 

P   '    . 

—  P  m- 

—  f  ^^  — 

1     J  —  &  

=t==t 

="H 

r  P  r 

E8  —  ^^    —  f  —  r 

—  -f  f  r 

If  I  admire  or  praise  you  too  much, 

That  fault  you  may  forgive  me  ; 
Or  if  my  hands  had  stray'd  to  touch, 

Then  justly  might  you  leave  me. 
I  ask'd  you  leave,  you  bade  me  love, 

Is't  now  a  time  to  chide  me  ? 
No,  no,  no,  I'll  love  you  still, 

What  fortune  e'er  betide  me. 

The  sun,  whose  beams  most  glorious  are, 

Rejecteth  no  beholder; 
And  your  sweet  beauty,  past  compare, 

Made  my  poor  eyes  the  bolder. 
I  have  only  found  the  last  stanza 
third  edition,  8vo.,  1671. 


When  beauty  moves,  and  wit  delights, 
And  signs  of  kindness  bind  me, 

There,  O  there,  where'er  I  go, 
I'll  leave  my  heart  behind  me. 

[If  I  have  wronged  you,  tell  me  wherein, 

And  I  will  soon  amend  it ; 
In  recompense  of  such  a  sin, 

Here  is  my  heart,  I'll  send  it. 
If  that  will  not  your  mercy  move, 

Then,  for  my  life  I  care  not ; 
Then,  O  then,  torment  me  still, 

And  take  my  life,  and  spare  not.] 

in  late  copies,  such  as  Wifs  Interpreter, 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  315 

WHAT  CARE  I  HOW  FAIR  SHE  BE? 

A  copy  of  this  song  is  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  230,  entitled  "A  new  song  of 
a  young  man's  opinion  of  the  difference  between  good  and  bad  women.  To  a 
pleasant  new  tune."  (Printed  at  London  for  W.  I.)  It  is  also  in  the  second  part 
of  The  Golden  Garland  of  Princely  Delights,  third  edition,  1620,  entitled  "  The 
Shepherd's  Resolution.  To  the  tune  of  The  Young  Man's  Opinion."  As  the 
name  of  the  tune  is  here  derived  from  the  title  of  the  ballad,  it  must  have  been 
printed  in  ballad  form  before  1620,  when  it  was  published  among  The  Workes  of 
Master  George  Wither. 

The  tune  is  in  Heber's  Manuscript  (described  at  p.  204),  but,  except  for  the 
popularity  of  the  words,  it  would  scarcely  be  worth  preserving.  They  were  after- 
wards reset  by  Mr.  King,  and  are  printed  to  his  tune  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy. 

The  first  line  of  the  copy  in  the  Pepys  Collection  (unlike  that  in  The  Golden 
Garland)  is,  "  Shall  I  wrestling  in  dispaire."  In  the  same  volume  are  the 
following : — 

Page  200. — "The  unfortunate  Gallant  gull'd  at  London.  To  the  tune  of 
Shall  I  wrastle  in  despair"  (Printed  for  T.  L.)  Beginning — 

"  From  Cornwall  Mount  to  London  fair." 

Page  316. — "  This  maid  would  give  tenne  shillings  for  a  kisse.  To  the  tune 
of  Shall  I  wrassle  in  despair."  (Printed  at  London  by  I.  White.)  Beginning — 

"  You  young  men  all,  take  pity  on  me." 

Page  236. — "  Jone  is  as  good  as  my  lady.  To  the  tune  of  What  care  I  how 
fair  she  be ?"  (Printed  at  London  for  A.  M[ilbourn].)  Beginning — 

"  Shall  I  here  rehearse  the  story." 

The  following  (which  has  been  attributed,  upon  insufficient  evidence,  to  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh)  is  in  the  same  metre,  and  has  the  same  burden  as  George 
Wither's  song : — 

Shall  I,  like  an  hermit,  dwell  Were  her  hands  as  rich  a  prize 

On  a  rock  or  in  a  cell  ?  As  her  hairs  or  precious  eyes ; 

Calling  home  the  smallest  part  If  she  lay  them  out  to  take 

That  is  missing  of  my  heart,  Kisses,  for  good  manners  sake ; 

To  bestow  it  where  I  may  And  let  every  lover  skip 

Meet  a  rival  every  day  ?  From  her  hand  unto  her  lip ; 
If  she  undervalues  me,  If  she  seem  not  chaste  to  me, 

What  care  I  how  fair  she  be.  What  care  I  how  chaste  she  be. 

Were  her  tresses  angel-gold ;  No,  she  must  be  perfect  snow, 

If  a  stranger  may  be  bold,  In  effect  as  well  as  show, 

Unrebuked,  unafraid,  Warming  but  as  snow-balls  do, 

To  convert  them  to  a  braid,  Not,  like  fire,  by  burning  too ; 

And,  with  little  more  ado,  But  when  she  by  chance  hath  got 

Work  them  into  bracelets  too ;  To  her  heart  a  second  lot  ; 
If  the  mine  be  grown  so  free,  Then,  if  others  share  with  me, 

What  care  I  how  rich  it  be.  Farewell  her,  whate'er  she  be. 


316  ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

/  Moderate  time. 


Shall      I,  wast -ing         in         des  -  pair,       Die     because   a      woman's  fair? 

-*—.--•- 


m 


-f 

—  s-i  —  a 

1  1  j 

=Fq 

h  J  —  1      i>  —  |  1  —  I 

j   •    •          —J—  -d—                      '  «^^«-^--— 

-5-i  jjg.      1        4      *     $L:         ^           TJF* 

Or    my  cheeks  make  pale   with    care,    Be  -  cause     an    -    o  -  ther's 

=|  —  r=^r  r    P—  3  —  i  ,    .    ,-d  —  n 

ro   -   sy    are  ? 

-f  —  r^  — 

i 

—  1  

H  tr-=  —  *— 

1    J    " 

3 

~f~^~^  i  

—  J  • 

^3 

"^r^~3~ 

—  1  

i  —  &  — 

1 

Be 

she     fair  -  er 

1  PTi 

4t-  1 

than    tin 

H  ^ 

j  day 

f 

0? 

rr**  —  3F1 

the    flow*  -ry     n 

N  f  1 

leads     in 

-  —  ^&-  — 

May; 

—  1  1 

P~f  

~f  —  r 

f^, 

•bJ 

:  J 

f 

•    # 

FJ 

J 

•      j        " 

j       P 

i      » 

«  J  —  *  ^^J  =^  

—  *  J  2 

-J  —     H  •  J 

-+-.  —  ^*— 

-a  —  «  —  A  •  * 

f  .  *  n  — 

•           -"        «                           •                                    •              ^_  •             .5.  • 
If        she         be        not        so        to      me,       What  care     I       how    fair     she  be. 

I                                                                   itffl^ 

i      i*fci 

—  -A  1  FT- 

3  P^^  — 

-*  h- 

Shall  my  foolish  heart  be  pin'd, 
'Cause  I  see  a  woman  kind  ? 
Or  a  well-disposed  nature, 
Joined  with  a  lovely  feature  ? 
Be  she  kind,  or  meeker  than 
Turtle-dove  or  pelican ; 
If  she  be  not  so  to  me, 
What  care  I  how  kind  she  be. 

Shall  a  woman's  virtues  move 
Me  to  perish  for  her  love  ? 
Or,  her  well-deservings  known, 
Make  me  quite  forget  mine  own  ? 
Be  she  with  that  goodness  blest, 
Which  may  gain  her  name  of  Best ; 
If  she  be  not  so  to  me, 
What  care  I  how  good  she  be. 


'Cause  her  fortune  seems  too  high, 
Shall  I  play  the  fool,  and  die  ? 
He  that  bears  a  noble  mind 
If  no  outward  help  he  find, 
Think  what  with  them  he  would  do, 
That  without  them  dares  to  woo  : 
And,  unless  that  mind  I  see, 
What  care  I  how  great  she  be. 

Great,  or  good,  or  kind,  or  fair, 
I  will  ne'er  the  more  despair  : 
If  she  love  me,  this  believe, 
I  will  die  ere  she  shall  grieve. 
If  she  slight  me  when  I  woo, 
I  can  slight  and  let  her  go  : 
If  she  be  not  fit  for  me, 
What  care  I  for  whom  she  be. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  317 

THE  NEW  ROYAL  EXCHANGE. 

In  The  Dancing  Master  of  1665  there  are  two  tunes  under  very  similar  titles. 
The  first  is  The  New  Exchange ;  the  second,  The  New  New-Exchange.  The  first 
is  sometimes  called  Durham  Stable;*  the  second,  which  was  more  frequently 
used  as  a  ballad  tune,  is,  in  other  editions,  named  The  New  Royal  Exchange. 

In  Wit  and  Drollery,  1656,  p.  110,  is  a  song  to  this  tune — "  On  the  Souldiers 
walking  in  the  new  Exchange  to  affront  the  Ladies."  It  consists  of  four  stanzas, 
the  first  of  which  is  here  printed  with  the  music. 

In  the  same  book,  at  p.  60,  is  another  song  of  six  stanzas  beginning — 
"  We'll  go  no  more  to  Tunbridge  Wells,       And  we  will  have  them  henceforth  call'd 

The  journey  is  too  far  ;  The  Kentish  new-found  Spa. 

Nor  ride  in  Epsom  waggon,  where  Then  go,  lords  and  ladies,  whate'er  you 

Our  bodies  jumbled  are.  Go  thither  all  that  pleases ;  [ail ; 

But  we  will  all  to  the  westward  waters  go,     For  it  will  cure  you,  without  fail, 

The  best  that  e'er  you  saw,  Of  old  and  new  diseases." 

In  Westminster  Drollery,  part  ii,  1671,  is  a  third  song,  "  to  the  tune  of  Til  go 
no  more  to  the  New  Exchange ;  "  beginning — 
"  Never  will  I  wed  a  girl  that's  coy,  For,  if  too  coy,  then  I  must  court 

Nor  one  that  is  too  free ;  For  a  kiss  as  well  as  any  ; 

But  she  alone  shall  be  my  joy  And  if  too  free,  I  fear  o'  th'  sport 

That  keeps  a  meanb  to  me.  I  then  may  have  too  many,"  &c. 

In  Wit  Restored,  in  sever  all  select  Poems,  not  formerly  publisht,  1658,  there  are 
two  songs,  The  Burse  of  Reformation,  and  The  Answer.  The  first  commencing — 
"  We  will  go  no  more  to  the  Old  Exchange,  And  we  have  it  henceforth  call'd 

There's  no  good  ware  at  all ;  The  Burse  of  Reformation. 

Their  bodkins,  and  their  thimbles,  too,        Come,  lads  and  lasses,  what  do  you  lack  ? 

Went  long  since  to  Guildhall.  Here  is  ware  of  all  prices  ; 

But  we  will  go  to  the  New  Exchange,        Here's  long  and  short,  here's  wide  and 
Where  all  things  are  in  fashion  ;  Here  are  things  of  all  sizes,     [straight; 

and  the  Answer — 
"  We  will  go  no  more  to  the  New  Exchange,  Gold  chaines  and  ruffes  shalt  beare  the  bell, 

Their  credit's  like  to  fall,  For  all  your  reformation. 

Their  money  and  their  loyalty  Look  on  our  walls,  and  pillars  too, 

Is  gone  to  Goldsmiths'  Hall.c  You'll  find  us  much  the  sounder  : 

But  we  will  keep  our  Old  Exchange,  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  stands  upright, 

Where  wealth  is  still  in  fashion,  But  Crook-back  was  your  founder." 

These  have  been  reprinted  in  "  Satirical  Songs  and  Poems  on  Costume,"  for  the 
Percy  Society,  by  F.  W.  Fairholt,  F.S.A.     Another  equally  curious  song  for  the 

a  Strype,  in  his  edition  of  Stow'sZowdow.book  vi.,  p.  75,  things;    where  we  saw  some  new-fashion  pettycoats  of 

says  "  In  the  place  where  certain  old  stablts  stood,  belong-  sarcenet,  with  ablack  broad  lace  printed  round  the  bottom 

ing  to  this  house  [Durham  House],  is  the  New  Exchange;  and  before  j  very  handsome,  and  my  wife  had  a  mind  to 

being  furnished  with  shops  on  both  sides  the  walls,  both  one  of  them." 

below  and  above  stairs,  for  milliners,  sempstresses,  and  b  Mean,  i.e.,  a  middle  course;  the  mean  being  the  inter- 
other  trades,  and  is  a  place  of  great  resort  and  trade  for  mediate  part,  or  parts,  between  the  treble  and  tenor.    If 
the  nobility  and  gentry,  and  such  as  have  occasion  for  there  were  two  means,  as  in  the  lute,  the  lower  was  called 
such  commodities."    It  was  opened  April  llth,  1609,  in  the  greater:  the  upper,  the  lesser  mean, 
the  presence  of  James  I.  and  his  Queen,  and  taken  down  c  The  place  appointed  for  the  reception  of  fines  imposed 
in  1737.     Coutts'  Banking  House  now  stands  upon  the  upon  the  Royalists ;  and  for  loans,  etc.,  to  the  Puritanic 
site.     Pepys,  in  his  Diary,  15th  April,  1662,  says,  "With  party, 
my  wife  by  coach  to  the  New  Exchange,  to  buy  her  some 


318 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


manners  and  fashions  of  the  day,  is  "  The  New  Exchange,"  in  Merry  Drollery 
Complete,  1670,  p.  134 ;  commencing — 
"I'll  go  no  more  to  the  Old  Exchange,          For  men  and  maids,  for  girls  and  boys, 

There's  no  good  ware  at  all ;  And  traps  to  catch  the  fleas. 

But  I  will  go  to  the  New  Exchange, 

Call'd  Haberdashers'  Hall :  There  you  may  buy  a  Holland  smock, 

For  there  are  choice  of  knacks  and  toys,         That's  made  without  a  gore,"  &c. 
The  fancy  for  to  please ; 


^^—  1  —  r- 

F^T&J  —  ^ 

-£H  —  j 

—  n 

IP        2 

1 

'11     go  no  more  to  the 

New     Ex-change, 

—  CT  1*  % 

There 

—  ^—  j  —  j  .ju 
"?     ~r~ 

is        no     room     at 

^x 

1  

i 


53 


~!3 ' — *          C  C5 

all,        It         is      so  throng'd  and   crowded      by      the      gallants      of    White  -  hall. 


l» 

1  —       c1 

—  ,-, 

1 

—  c~i  c^ 

1  1 

—  £}  

D 

l_^                      1 

|      ^      |  j  ^ 

1    r-1  J      1 

=^ 

Fd=d^ 

—  i  ^      •    h"1 

3           ' 

But      I'll      go      to  the 

,rj  j  —  j 

Old    Exchang 

e,  Where     old  things  ar 

C 
3        in    fash 

'      f»  
on  ;  For 

•v 

—  I  

b=4J 

f^~ 

-J- 

=4=N 

r—  i  jr—<  1    v-f 

M= 

=)= 

N- 

now 

c> 

the 

Kew's    be  - 

come     the  shop  Of  this    bless 

0,                             C?> 

-    ed 

2 

-    for 

-    mation. 

jo 

a                                      ' 

—  ^ 

^j 

E3 

^  d  -S3  

—  h 

G^>  

Come,  my  new  Courtiers,      what     d'ye  lack?     Good      con  -  scien  -  ces  ?   if   you  do,  Here's 


^m 


^ 


=Tr       1        '  1      "^| ' 

long    and    wide,     the      on  -    ly     wear,    The  straight  will    trou    -    ble  you. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


319 


THE  FAIREST  NYMPH  THE  VALLEYS. 

This,  like  In  sad  and  ashy  weeds  (p.  202),  or  like  Fear  no  more  the  heat  of  the 
sun,  in  Shakespeare's  Cymbeline,  is  a  sort  of  dirge,  a  mourning  or  funeral  song. 
The  copy  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  330,  is  entitled  "  The  Obsequy  of 
Faire  Phillida :  with  the  Shepherds'  and  Nymphs'  Lamentation  for  her  losse. 
To  a  neio  court  tune."  The  music  is  contained  in  a  MS.  volume  of  virginal 
music  transcribed  by  Sir  John  Hawkins,  and  in  Starter's  Friesche  Lust-Hof, 
1634,  under  its  English  name.  In  the  library  of  the  British  Museum  there  is  a 
copy  of  "  Psalmes  or  Songs  of  Sion,  turned  into  the  language  and  set  to  the  tunes 
of  a  Strange  Land,  by  W[illiam]  S[latyer],  intended  for  Christmas  Carols,  and 
fitted  to  divers  of  the  most  noted  and  common,  but  solemne  tunes,  every  where 
in  this  land  familiarly  used  and  knowne."  1642.  Upon  this  copy  a  former 
possessor  had  written  the  names  of  the  tunes  to  which  they  were  designed  to  be 
sung.  These  are,  The  fairest  Nymph  the  valleys  ;  All  in  a  garden  green ;  Bara 
Faustus*  Dreame ;  Crimson  velvet ;  What  if  a  day,  or  a  month,  or  a  year  ?  Fair 
Angel  of  England ;  Dulcina  ;  Walsingham  ;  and  Jane  Shore.* 
H  it/i  expression. 


The     fair-est  nymph  the    val  -  leys 
On  whom  they  oft    have  tend  -  ed 


Or  mountains     e  -  ver    bred,         The 
And      ca-rol'd  in    the    plains,       And 


shepherd's  joy,  So    beau-ti-ful  and  coy,     Fair     Phi-  li  -  da    is     dead! 
for    her  sake,  Sweet  Rounde- lays  did  make,  Ad  -  mir'd    by  youthful  swains. 


But 


,  ^  , 

cruel  fate,  the  beau- ties     en- vying       Of   this  blooming  rose,        So       ready    to     dis  - 

«f-— 


^/ 

•  P 

*  ^  i  —  »- 

j  i  ']  r*^~i 

1  ,  ,  

H  

-2-  p_|  •—•  —  p  —  5  •    ?    .4 

o             1     1     1     1     ^J 
close,        With  a  frost  un-kind-ly  Nipt  the  bud  untime-ly, 

—  P.  —  ^^  —  ,  —  p    r   1== 

So   a-  way  her  glo-ry  goes. 

*i                      —  1  —  LJ  — 

ppr^ 

-« 

=  —  i  — 

j 

—  -*  

^ 

:  .  —  j-^  

All  the  tunes  here  named  will  be  found  in  this  Collection. 


320 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  sheep  for  woe  go  bleating, 
That  they  their  goddess  miss, 

And  sable  ewes, 

By  their  mourning,  shew 
Her  absence,  cause  of  this. 
The  nymphs  leave  off  their  dancing, 
Pan's  pipe  of  joy  is  cleft, 

For  great  his  grief, 

He  shunneth  all  relief, 
Since  she  from  him  is  reft. 
Come,  fatal  sisters,  leave  your  spools,' 
Leave  'weaving'  altogether, 
That  made  this  flower  to  wither. 

Let  envy,  that  foul  vipress, 

Put  on  a  wreath  of  cypress, 
Sing  sad  dirges  altogether. 

Diana  was  chief  mourner 
At  these  sad  obsequies, 
Who  with  her  train 
Went  tripping  o'er  the  plain, 
Singing  doleful  elegies. 
Menalchus  and  Amintas, 
And  many  shepherds  moe,h 


With  mournful  verse, 
Did  all  attend  her  hearse, 

And  in  sable  saddles  go. 
Flora,  the  goddess  that  us'd  to  beautify 

Fair  Phillis'  lovely  bowers 

With  sweet  fragrant  flowers, 
Now  her  grave  adorned, 
And  with  flowers  mourned, 

Tears  thereon  in  vain  she  pours. 

Venus  alone  triumphed 
To  see  this  dismal  day, 
Who  did  despair 
That  Phillida  the  fair 
Her  laws  would  ne'er  obey. 
The  blinded  boy  his  arrows 
And  darts  were  vainly  spent ; 
Her  heart,  alas, 
Impenetrable  was, 
And  to  love  would  ne'er  assent. 
At  which  affront,  Citharea  repining, 
Caus'd  Death  with  his  dart 
To  pierce  her  tender  heart ; 
But  her  noble  spirit 
Doth  such  joys  inherit, 
'As'  from  her  shall  ne'er  depart. 


HUNTING  THE  HARE. 

"  Of  prikyng  and  of  hunting  for  the  Hare 
Was  al  his  lust,  for  no  cost  wolde  he  spare." 

Chaucer's  Description  of  a  Monk.     ,    • 

Hunting  has  always  been  so  favorite  an  amusement  with  the  English,  that  the 
great  variety  of  songs  upon  the  subject  will  excite  no  surprise.  Those  I  have 
printed,  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  relate  either  to  deer  or  fox-hunting;  but 
Henry  was  no  less  careful  of  the  minor  sport,  as  may  be  seen  by  an  act  of 
Parliament  (passed  anno  14-15  of  his  reign),  entitled  "An  Act  concerning 
the  Hunting  of  the  Hare."  It  recites  that,  "  For  as  muche  as  oure  Soveraigne 
Lorde  the  Kinge,  and  other  noblemen  of  this  realme,  before  this  time  hath 
used  and  exercised  the  game  of  huntynge  the  hare,  for  their  disporte  and 
pleasure,  which  game  is  now  decayed  and  almost  utterly  dystroied  for  that 
divers  parties  of  this  realme,  by  reason  of  the  trasinge  in  the  snow,  have  killed 
and  destroied,  and  dayly  do  kille  and  distroy  the  same  hares,  by  fourteen  or  six- 
teen upon  a  daye,  to  the  dyspleasure  of  our  Soveraigne  Lorde  the  Kinge  and 
other  noblemen,"  &c. ;  therefore  the  act  fixes  a  penalty  of  six  shillings  and  eight- 
pence  (a  large  sum  in  comparison  with  the  value  of  the  hares  in  those  days)  for 
every  one  so  killed.  Henry  seems,  also,  to  have  considered  the  sale  of  hunting- 


»  A  spool  to  wind  yarn  upon. 


More. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  321 

horns  of  sufficient  importance,  as  a  source  of  revenue,  to  affix  an  export  duty  of 
four  shillings  per  dozen  upon  them.* 

"A  Songe  of  the  huntinge  and  killinge  of  the  Hare"  was  entered  on  the 
registers  of  the  Stationers'  Company,  to  Richard  Jones,  on  June  1, 1577,  but  the 
entry  contains  no  clue  to  the  words,  or  to  the  air. 

The  tune  of  the  present  song  may  be  traced  back  to  the  reign  of  James  I. ; 
but,  both  in  his  reign,  and  in  that  of  his  predecessor,  hunting  was  so  favorite  a 
sport,  and  hunting  songs  so  generally  popular,  that  the  introduction  of  either  on 
the  stage  was  thought  a  good  means  of  assisting  the  success  of  a  play. 

Wood  tells  us  that  in  Richard  Edwardes'  comedy  of  Palcemon  and  Arcyte 
(which  was  performed  before  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  Christ  Church  Hall,  Oxford,  on 
the  2nd  and  3rd  September,  1566)  "  A  cry  of  hounds  was  acted  in  the  quadrant 
upon  the  train  of  a  fox,  in  the  hunting  of  Theseus;  with  which  the  young 
scholars,  who  stood  in  the  remoter  part  of  the  stage  and  windows,  were  so  much 
taken  and  surprised,  supposing  it  to  be  real,  that  they  cried  out,  *  There,  there 
— he's  caught,  he's  caught ! '  All  which  the  Queen,  merrily  beholding,  said, 
1  Oh,  excellent !  These  boys,  in  very  truth,  are  ready  to  leap  out  of  the  windows 
to  follow  the  hounds.' ': 

James  was  passionately  fond  of  hunting ;  and  Anthony  Monday,  in  his  play, 
The  Downfall  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Huntington,  thus  deprecates  his  displeasure  and 
that  of  the  audience  for  not  having  introduced  hunting  songs,  or  resorted  to  the 
other  usual  expedients  to  ensure  applause.     In  act  iv.,  sc.  2,  Little  John  says — 
"  Methinks  I  see  no  jests  of  Robin  Hood ; 

No  merry  Morrices  of  Friar  Tuck ; 
No  pleasant  skippings  up  and  down  the  wood ; 
No  hunting  songs ;  no  coursing  of  the  buck. 
Pray  God  this  play  of  ours  may  have  good  luck, 
And  the  King's  Majesty  mislike  it  not." 

I  have  printed  one  song  on  hare-hunting,  of  James'  reign  (Master  Basse  his 
Careere,  or  The  New  Hunting  of  the  Hare),  at  p.  256.     Another  song,  entitled 
"  The  Hunting  of  the  Hare,  with  her  last  will  and  testament, 
As  it  was  performed  on  Bamstead  Downs, 
By  coney- catchers  and  their  hounds," 

was  printed  by  Coles,  Vere,  and  Wright,  and  will  be  found  in  Anthony  £t  Wood's 
Collection.     It  commences  thus — 

"  Of  all  delights  that  earth  doth  yield, 
Give  me  a  pack  of  hounds  in  field, 
Whose  echo  shall,  throughout  the  sky, 
Make  Jove  admire  our  harmony, 
And  wish  that  he  a  mortal  were, 
To  share  the  pastime  we  have  here." 
No  tune  is  indicated  in  the  copy,  and  it  could  not  have  been  sung  to  this  air, 

•  This  will  be  found  in  "The  Rates  of  the  Custome  " Clarycordes,  the  payre,  2s.;  Harpe  Strynges,  the  boxe, 

House,    both    inwarde   and   outwarde,   very   neceesarye  10s.;    Lute  Strynges,  called  Myiiikins,  the  groce,  22d. ; 

for  all  Merchantes  to  knowe.     Imprinted  at  London,  by  Orgons,  the  payre,  ut  lint  in  valors;    Wyer  for  Clary- 

me,  Rycharde  Kele,  dwellynge  at  the  longe  shoppe  in  the  cordes,  the  pound,  4d.;    Virginales,  the  payre,  3s.  4d.j 

Poultrye,  under  Saynt  Myldreds  Churche."  1545.  Among  Whisteling  Bellowes,  the  groc.  8s. 
the  import  duties  relating  to  music,   will    be  found — 


322  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

In  Wit  and  Drollery,  and  in  several  other  publications,  is  a  song,  entitled 
The  Hunt,  commencing — 

"  Clear  is  the  air,  and  the  morning  is  fair, 

Fellow  huntsmen,  come  wind  me  your  horn ; 
Sweet  is  the  breath,  and  fresh  is  the  earth 
That  melteth  the  rime  from  the  thorn." 

Hunting  the  Hare  is  also  in  the  list  of  the  songs  and  ballads  printed  by  William 
Thackeray,  at  the  Angel  in  Duck  Lane,  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.,  and  it  is,  in  all  probability,  the  song  to  this  tune  (commencing — 

"  Songs  of  shepherds,  and  rustical  roundelays  "), 

because  the  tune  was  then  popular,  and  the  words  are  to  be  found  near  that  time 
in  Westminster  Drollery,  part  ii.  (1672);  as  well  as  afterwards  in  Wit  and 
Drollery,  1682;  in  the  Collection  of  Old  Ballads,  8vo.,  1727;  in  Miscellany 
Poems,  edited  by  Dryden,  iii.  309  (1716) ;  in  Bitson's,  Dale's,  and  other 
Collections  of  English  Songs. 

The  first  copy  of  the  tune  that  I  have  discovered  is  in  Playford's  Musictfs 
Recreation  on  the  Lyra  Viol,  1652 ;  the  second  is  in  MusicKs  Recreation  on  the 
Viol,  Lyra-way,  1661.  In  both  publications  it  is  entitled  Room  for  Cuckolds. 

Pennant  speaking  of  Rychard  Middleton  (father  of  Sir  Hugh  Middleton),  says, 
"  Thomas,  the  fourth  son,  became  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  was  the  founder  of 
the  family  of  Chirk  Castle.  It  is  recorded  that  having  married  a  young  wife  in 
his  old  age,  the  famous  song  of  Room  for  Cuckolds,  here  comes  my  Lord  Mayor  ! 
was  invented  on  the  occasion." — Pennant's  Tours  in  Wales,  ii.  152  (1810). 
Thomas  Middleton  was  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  1614.  Pennant  gives  the 
Sebright  MSS.  as  his  authority  for  the  anecdote. 

In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  60,  will  be  found,  "  A  Scourge  for  the  Pope ; 
satyrically  scourging  the  itching  sides  of  this  obstinate  brood  in  England.  To 
the  tune  of  Room  for  Cuckolds.""  It  is  one  of  Martin  Parker's  early  songs: 
"  Printed  by  John  Trundle,  at  his  shop  in  Smithfield,"  and  signed,  "  Per  me, 
Martin  Parker."  Another  song,  which  bears  this  title  of  the  tune,  is  contained 
in  vol.  xvi.  of  the  King's  Pamphlets  Brit.  Mus.,  and  dated  in  MS.,  1659.  It  is 
also  quoted,  by  the  same  name,  in  Folly  in  print,  or  A  Book  of  Rhymes,  1667,  in 
the  song,  "  Away  from  Romford,  away,  away." 

A  third,  and  perhaps  the  earliest  name  for  the  air,  is  Room  for  Company ; 
apparently  derived  from  a  ballad  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  168,  entitled  and 
commencing,  "  Room  for  Company,  here  comes  good  fellowes.  To  a  pleasant  new 
tune"  Imprinted  at  London  for  E.  W.  This  was  perhaps  Edward  White,  a 
ballad-printer  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  and  of  the  earliest  part  of  that  of  James  I. 

In  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  vi.  136,  there  is  a  song  about  the  twelve  great 
Companies  of  the  city  of  London,  printed  to  this  tune,  and  commencing — 
"  Room  for  gentlemen,  here  comes  my  Lord  Mayor." 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  538,  is,  "  The  fetching  home  of  May ;  or — 
"  A  pretty  new  ditty,  wherein  is  made  known, 

How  each  lass  doth  strive  for  to  have  a  green  gown. 
To  the  tune  of  Room  for  Company,"      Printed  for  J.  Wright,  jun.,  dwelling 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


323 


at  the  upper  end  of  the  Old  Bailey  (about  1663).  It  is  also  contained  in  the 
Antidote  to  Melancholy,  1661;  and  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  26  (1707), 
or  iv.  26  (1719). 

The  first  stanza  is  subjoined,  with  the  earlier  version  of  the  tune. 
Smoothly,  and  in  moderate  time. 


Pan,  leave  piping,  The  Gods  have  done  feasting,  There's  never  a     Goddess    a 
f     •  J      • 


hunting  to-day  ;  Mor  -  tals  marvel  at    Co  -  ri-don's  jesting,  That  gives  them  assistance  to 


r     r-    |Tj^ 


en  -  ter-tain  May.  The  lads  and  the  lass  -  es,  With  scarves  on  their    fa  -  ces,    So 


S 


SE 


lively     time  pass  -  es,  Trip       o  -  ver   the  downs  :         Much  mirth  and  sport  they  make, 


Run-ning    at    Barley-break,  Good  lack,  what  pains  they  take     For    a    green  gown 


^ — il~m= 


2 


In  the  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  and  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  the  above  song 
is  printed  under  the  title  of  TJie  Green  Grown,  a  name  derived  from  the  last  line  or 
each  stanza  of  the  sons-  In  Musick  a-la-Mode  ;  or  The  young  Maid's  Delight ; 


324 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 


containing  five  excellent  new  songs  sung  at  the  Drolls  in  Bartholomew  Fair,  1691, 
there  is  another  song,  under  the  name  of  The  Gbreen  Crown,  "  to  an  excellent  play- 
house tune." 

The  tune  of  Hunting  the  Hare  is  now  in  common  use  for  comic  songs,  or  for 
such  as  require  great  rapidity  of  utterance ;  but  it  has  also  been  employed  as  a 
slow  air.  For  instance,  in  Gay's  ballad-opera  of  Achilles,  1733,  it  is  printed 
in  |  time,  and  entitled  "  A  Minuet." 

Fast.  HUNTING  THE  HARE. 


hist 


Songs    of  shepherds  and  rus-ti-cal  roundelays,   Form'd  of  fancies,  and  whistled  on  reeds, 


*):  0     „     . 

_^U^  *_;  



_^  1  

=  

1  1  

n     ^1  1 

\  —  2  —  J  —  d  — 

—  (-1 

\-\  t^f^i 

i  nr]  j  .  ii 

U  j^ 

Sung    to  solace  young 

"•   -"* 

nymphs  up-on    ho  -  li 

-  days, 

3     hgTJ  J 
^    * 

Are  too  un-worthy  for 

-i  .  • 

wonderful  deeds. 

1           f^  ' 

j     •                  J     •  , 

__J  »  

q 

C">            • 

C) 

-v_|:     ^                         ^   \ 

-^     -—                       ^ 

^)  cr^s. 

Sot-tish  Si  -  le-nus  To  Phoebus  the  genius  Was  sent    by  dame  Ve-nus   a     song  to  prepare, 


-^  1  



p       .                        •       . 

—  —  m 

—  

phrase  nicely  coin'd,  And  in  verse  quite  refin 


hunted  the  hare. 


P 


m 


- 


Stars  quite  tir'cl  with  pastimes  Olympical, 

Stars  and  planets  which  beautiful  shone, 
Could  no  longer  endure  that  men  only  shall 
Swim  in  pleasures,  and  they  but  look  on ; 

Round  about  horned 

Lucina  they  swarmed, 
And  her  informed  how  minded  they  were, 

Each  god  and  goddess, 

To  take  human  bodies, 
As  lords  and  ladies,  to  follow  the  hare. 


Chaste  Diana  applauded  the  motion, 

While  pale  Proserpina  sat  in  her  place, 
To  light  the  welkin,  and  govern  the  ocean, 
While  she  conducted  her  nephews  in  chase  : 

By  her  example, 

Their  father  to  trample, 
The  earth  old  and  ample,  they  soon  leave  the  air  ; 

Neptune  the  water, 

And  wine  Liber  Pater, 
And  Mars  the  slaughter,  to  follow  the  hare. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  325 

Light  god  Cupid  was  mounted  on  Pegasus,  Hymen  ushers  the  lady  Astraea, 

Lent  by  the  Muses,  by  kisses  and  pray'rs ;  The  jest  took  hold  of  Latona  the  cold  ; 

Strong  Alcides,  upon  cloudy  Caucasus,  Ceres  the  brown,  with  bright  Cytherea ; 

Mounts  a  centaur,  which  proudly  him  bears;  Thetis  the  wanton,  Bellona  the  bold; 

Postilion  of  the  sky,  Shame-fac'd  Aurora, 

Light-heeled  Mercury  With  witty  Pandora, 

Soon  made  his  courser  fly,  fleet  as  the  air;  And  Maia  with  Flora  did  company  bear  ; 

Tuneful  Apollo,  But  Juno  was  stated 

The  kennel  did  follow,  Too  high  to  be  mated, 

And  whoop  and  halloo,  boys,  after  the  hare.  Although  she  hated  not  hunting  the  hare. 

Drown'd  Narcissus  from  his  metamorphosis,  Three  brown  bowls  to  th'  Olympical  rector, 

Rous'd  by  Echo,  new  manhood  did  take ;  The  Troy-born  boy  presents  on  his  knee ; 

Snoring  Somnus  upstarted  from  Cimmeris,  Jove  to  Phoebus  carouses  in  nectar, 

Before,  for  a  thousand  years,  he  did  not  And  Phoabus  to  Hermes,  and  Hermes  to 

There  was  club-footed               [wake ;  Wherewith  infused,                        [me ; 

Mulciber  booted,  I  piped  and  I  mused, 

And  Pan  promoted  on  Corydon's  mare ;  In  language  unused,  their  sports  to  declare : 

Proud  Pallas  pouted,  Till  the  house  of  Jove 

Loud  ./Bolus  shouted,  Like  the  spheres  did  move  : — 

And  Momus  flouted,  yet  followed  the  hare.  Health  to  those  who  love  hunting  the  hare ! 

THE  CROSSED  COUPLE. 

This  tune  is  referred  to  under  three  names,  viz.,  The  Crossed  Couple,  Hyde 
Park,  and  Tantara  rara  tantivee. 

The  ballad  of  "  The  Crost  Couple :  to  a  new  Northern  tune  much  in  fashion," 
is  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  94.  In  the  same  volume,  at  p.  379,  is  "  News 
from  Hide  Park,"  &c.,  "  to  the  tune  of  The  Crost  Couple" 

The  burden  of  "  News  from  Hide  Park  "  (as  will  be  seen  by  the  verse  printed 
below  with  the  music)  is  Tantara  rara  iantivee;  and  in  the  Bagford  Collection 
(p.  170),  the  tune  is  quoted  under  that  name,  in  "A  pleasant  Dialogue  betwixt 
two  wanton  Ladies  of  Pleasure ;  or,  The  Duchess  of  Portsmouth's  woful  farewell 
to  her  former  felicity."  This  ballad  is  a  supposed  conversation  between  Nell 
Gwyn  and  Louise  Renee  de  Penencourt  de  Querouaille  (vulgarly,  Madame 
Carwell),  whom  Charles  II.  created  Duchess  of  Portsmouth. 

Nell  Gwynn  was  as  popular  with  the  ballad-singers,  from  her  many  redeeming 
qualities,  as  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth  (being  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  supposed 
to  send  large  sums  of  money  to  her  relations  in  France)  was  out  of  favour  with 
them.*  The  ballad  commences  thus : — 

"  Brave  gallants,  now  listen,  and  I  will  you  tell, 

With  a  fa  la  la,  la  fa,  la  la, 

Of  a  pleasant  discourse  that  I  heard  at  Pell-Mell, 
With  a  fa  la  la,  la  fa,  la  la,  &c. 

»  On  the  following  page,  in  the  same  collection,  there  It  commences  thus  :— 

is  another  Dialogue  between  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth  "  I  prithee,  Portsmouth,  tell  me  plain, 

and  Nell  Gwyn,  on  the  supposed  intention  of  the  former  Without  dissimulation, 

to  retire  to  France  with  the  money  she  had  acquired.    It  When  dost  thou  home  return  again, 

is  entitled,  "  Portsmouth's  Lamentation:  Or  a  Dialogue  And  leave  this  English  nation  ! 

between  two  amorous  Ladies,  E.  G.  and  D.  P.  Your  youthful  days  are  past  and  gone, 

"  Dame  Portsmouth  was  design'd  for  France  You  plainly  may  perceive  it, 

But  therein  was  prevented ;  Winter  of  age  is  coming  on, 

Who  mourns  at  this  unhappy  chance,  "Tis  true— you  may  believe  it." 

And  sadly  doth  lament  it.  Nine  stanzas,  "  Printed  for  C.  Dennisson,  at  the  Stationers 

To  the  tune  of  Tom  the  Taylor,  or  Titus  Oales."  Arms,  within  Aldgate." 


326 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  ballad  of  News  from  Hide  Park  is  also  printed,  with  the  tune,  in  Pills  to 
purge  Melancholy,  ii.  138  (1700  and  1707).  Cunningham,  in  his  Hand-book  of 
London,  says  of  Hyde  Park  : — "  In  1550,  the  French  Ambassador  hunted  there 
with  the  King  •  in  1578,  the  Duke  Casimer  '  killed  a  barren  doe  with  his  piece, 
in  Hyde  Park,  from  amongst  300  other  deer.'  In  Charles  the  First's  reign,  it 
became  celebrated  for  its  foot  and  horse  races  round  the  Ring ;  in  Cromwell's 
time,  for  its  musters  and  coach  races ;  in  Charles  the  Second's  reign,  for  its  drives 
and  promenades — a  reputation  which  it  still  retains."  (Edit.  1850,  p.  241.) 
This  ballad  was  printed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  The  following  are  the  three 

first  stanzas. 
Gaily. 


~  I 

One     ev'-ning   a    lit -tie     be  -  fore    it     was  dark,  Sing  tan-ta-ra,  ra  -  ra,  tan  - 
I      call'd  for  my  gelding,  and    rode  to  Hyde  Park,  Sing  tan-ta-ra,  ra  -  ra,  tan - 


3:3 


.n  t|ie  merry  montn  of  May,  When  meadows  and  fields  were  gaudy  and  gay,  And 


flowers  apparrell'd  as  bright  as    the  day,      I 


^T 

got      up-on  my   tan  -  ti  -  vee. 


r  •  J  •  If 


f 


The  Park  shone  brighter  than  the  skies, 

Sing  tantara  rara  tantivee, 
With  jewels,  and  gold,  and  ladies'  eyes, 

That  sparkled  and  cried,  "  Come  see  me  ;  " 
Of  all  parts  of  England  Hyde  Park  hath  the 

[name 

For  coaches,  and  horses,  and  persons  of  fame ; 
Itlook'd,  at  first  sight,  like  a  field  full  of  flame, 


There  hath  not  been  such  a  sight  since  Adam's, 

For  perriwig,  ribbon,  and  feather ; 
Hyde  Park  may  be  termed  the  market  for 
Or  lady-fair,  choose  you  whether,    [madams, 
Their  gowns  were  a  yard  too  long  for  their  legs, 
They  show'd  like  the  rainbow  cut  into 
A  garden  of  flowers,  or  navy  of  flags, 
When  they  did  all  mingle  together. 


•IT™  •  i         j  . ,  .. 

Which  made  me  ride  up  tantivee. 

Another  tune  called  Hide  Park  is  to  be  found  in  the  earliest  editions  of  TJie 
Dancing  Master,  and  there  are  ballads  in  a  different  metre,  such  as  "A  new  ditty 
of  a  Lover,  tost  hither  and  thither,  that  cannot  speak  his  mind  when  they  are 
together,"  by  Peter  Lowberry  (Roxburghe,  i.  290)  ;  commencing  thus : — 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES  I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


327 


"  Alas *  I  am  in  love,  She  doth  so  far  excel 

And  cannot  speak  it;  All  and  each  other, 

My  mind  I  dare  not  move,  My  mind  I  cannot  tell, 

Nor  ne'er  can  break  it.  When  we're  together." 

In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  197,  is  a  ballad,  "  The  Defence  of  Hide  Parke  from 
some  aspersions  cast  upon  her,  tending  to  her  great  dishonour :  To  a  curious  new 
Court  tune"  It  is  in  ten-line  stanzas,  and  commences, "  When  glistering  Phoebus." 
"  Printed  at  London  for  H[enry]  G[osson]."  Also,  at  i.  188,  "  The  praise  of 
London  :  or,  A  delicate  new  Ditty,  which  doth  invite  you  to  faire  London  City. 
To  the  tune  of  the  second  part  of  Hide  Parke" 

In  Westminster  Drollery,  1671,  there  is  another  song  called  " Hide  Park:  the 
tune,  Honour  invites  you  to  delights — Come  to  the  Court,  and  be  all  made  Knights; " 
commencing —  "  Come,  all  you  noble, 

You  that  are  neat  ones,"  &c. 

A  copy  of  the  ballad,  Come  to  the  Court,  and  be  all  made  Knights,  will  be  found  in 
Addit.  MSS.,  Brit.  Mm,  No.  5,832,  fbl.  205,  entitled  "Verses  upon  the  Order 
for  making  Knights  of  such  persons  who  had  40£.  per  annum,  in  King  James 
the  First's  time."  Both  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  resorted  to  this  obnoxious  ex- 
pedient for  raising  money.  According  to  John  Philipot,  Somerset  Herald,  in  his 
Perfect  Collection  or  Catalogue  of  all  Knights  Batchelours  made  by  King  James, 
since  his  coming  to  the  Crown  of  England,  1660,  James  I.  created  2,323  Knights, 
of  whom  900  were  made  the  first  year  of  his  reign. 

Shepherds,  leave  singing  your  pastoral  sonnets, 


"  Come  all  you  farmers  out  of  the  country, 

Carters,  ploughmen,  hedgers,  and  all ; 
Tom,    Dick,    and  Will,  Ralph,    Roger,    and 

[Humphrey, 

Leave  off  your  gestures  rusticall. 
Bid  all  your  home-spun  russets  adieu, 
And  suit  yourselves  in  fashions  new ; 
Honour  invites  you  to  delights — 
Come  all  to  Court,  and  be  made  Knights. 

He  that  hath  forty  pounds  per  annum 
Shall  be  promoted  from  the  plough  ; 

His  wife  shall  take  the  wall  of  her  grannum, 
Honour  is  sold  so  dog-cheap  now.         [ing» 

Though  thou  hast  neither  good  birth  nor  breed- 

If  thou  hast  money  thou'rt  sure  of  speeding. 
Honour  invites  you,  &c. 

Knighthood,   in   old   time,   was    counted   an 

[honour, 

Which  the  blest  spirits  did  not  disdain  ; 
But  now  it  is  used  in  so  base  a  manner, 

That  it's  no  credit,  but  rather  a  stain. 
Tush,  it's  no  matter  what  people  do  say, 
The  name  of  a  Knight  a  whole  village  will 

Honour  invites  you,  &c.  [sway. 


And  to  learn  compliments  shew  your  en- 

[deavours ; 

Cast  off  for  ever  your  two  shilling  bonnets, 
Cover   your   coxcombs   with    three   pound 

[beavers. 

Sell  cart  and  tar-box,  new  coaches  to  buy, 
Then,  'Good,  your  worship,'  the  vulgar  will 
Honour  invites  you,  &c.  [cry- 

And  thus  unto  worship  being  advanced, 
Keep  all  your  tenants  in   awe   with  your 

[frowns, 
And  let  your  rents  be  yearly  enhanced, 

To   buy  your   new-moulded  madams   new 

[gowns. 

Joan,  Siss,  and  Nell,  shall  all  be  ladyfied, 
Instead  of  hay-carts,  in  coaches  shall  ride. 
Honour  invites  you,  &c. 

Whatever  you  do,  have  a  care  of  expences ; 

In  hospitality  do  not  exceed  ; 
Greatness  of  followers  belongeth  to  princes, 
A  coachman  and  footman  are  all  that  you 

[need. 

And  still  observe  this — Let  your  servants  meat 

[lack, 

To  keep  brave  apparel  upon  your  wife's  back. 
Honour  invites  you,"  &c. 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD    MUSIC. 

Another  version  of  this  ballad  is  printed  in  the  Rev.  Joseph  Hunter's  History 
of  Sheffield  (p.  104),  from  "  a  small  volume  of  old  poetry  in  the  Wilson  Collec- 
tions." It  is  there  entitled,  "  Verses  on  account  of  King  Charles  the  First  raising 
money  by  Knighthood,  1630."  Shepherds  are  said  to  wear  ten-penny,  instead  of 
"  two  shilling,"  bonnets  in  that  version ;  and  it  has  the  following  concluding 
stanza  : —  "  Now  to  conclude  and  shut  up  my  sonnet, 

Leave  off  the  cart,  whip,  hedge-bill,  and  flail ; 
This  is  my  counsel,  think  well  upon  it, 

Knighthood  and  honour  are  now  put  to  sale. 
Then  make  haste  quickly,  and  let  out  your  farms, 
And  take  my  advice  in  blazing  your  arms. 

Honour  incites  you"  &c. 
The  above  would  suit  the  tune  of  Hunting  the  Hare. 

NEW  MAD  TOM  OF  BEDLAM,  OR  MAD  TOM. 

The  earliest  printed  copy  hitherto  discovered  of  the  music  of  this  celebrated 
song,  which  retains  undiminished  popularity  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  two  cen- 
turies, is  to  be  found  in  the  first  edition  of  The  English  Dancing  Master,  1650-51. 
This  is  one  of  the  earliest  known  publications  by  Playford,  before  whose  time  music 
was  sparingly  printed,  and  small  pieces,  such  as  songs,  ballad  and  dance  tunes,  or 
lessons  for  the  virginals,  were  chiefly  to  be  bought  in  manuscript,  as  they  are  in 
many  parts  of  Italy  at  the  present  time.  In  the  first  edition  of  The  Dancing 
Master  the  tune  is  called  G-ray's-Inne  Maske,  and  in  later  editions  (for  instance, 
the  fourth,  printed  in  1670)  Gray 's-Inne  Maske ;  or,  Mad  Tom.  The  black- 
letter  copies  of  the  ballad,  in  the  Pepys  Collection  (i.  502)  ;  in  the  Bagford 
(643,  m.  9,  p.  52) ;  and  the  Roxburghe  (i.  299),  are  entitled  New  Mad  Tom  of 
Bedlam;  or, —  " The  Man  in  the  Moone  drinks  claret,a 

With  powder'd  beef,  turnip,  and  carret,"  <fcc. 

"  The  tune  is  Gray's-Inn  Maske" 

It  was  formerly  the  custom  of  gentlemen  of  the  Inns  of  Court  to  hold  revels 
four  times  a  year,b  and  to  represent  masks  and  plays  in  their  own  Halls,  or  else- 

»  The  ballad  is  usually  printed  with  another,  which  is  also  It  makes  an  old  man  lusty, 

entitled  "The  New  Mad  Tom;  or,  The  Man  in  the  Moon  The  young  to  brawl, 

drinks  Claret,  as  it  was  lately  sung  at  the  Curtain,  Holy-  And  the  drawers  up  call, 

well,  to  the  same  tune."  The  Curtain  Theatre  (according  Before  being  too  much  musty, 

to  Malone  and  Collier)  was  in  disuse  at  the  commence-  Whether  you  drink  all  or  little, 

ment  of  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  (1625).    This  ballad  has  Pot  it  so  yourselves  to  wittle; 

three  long  verses,  in  the  same  measure,  and  evidently  in-  Then  though  twelve 

tended  to  be  sung  to  the  same  music.     The  first  is  as  A  clock  it  be, 

follows:—  Yet  all  the  way  go  roaring. 

"  Bacchus,  the  father  of  drunken  nowls,  If  the  band 

Full  mazers,  beakers,  glasses,  bowls,  Of  bills  cry  stand, 

Greezie  flap-dragons,  Flemish  upsie  freeze,  Swear  that  you  must  a 

With  health  stab'd  in  arms  upon  naked  knees ;  Such  gambols,  such  tricks,  such  fegaries, 

Of  all  his  wines  he  makes  you  tasters,  We  fetch  though  we  touch  no  canaries  ; 

So  you  tipple  like  bumbasters;  Drink  wine  till  the  welkin  roars, 

Drink  till  you  reel,  a  welcome  he  doth  give ;  And  cry  out  a  — —  of  your  scores." 

O  how  the  boon  claret  makes  you  live ;  b  Another  curious  custom,  of  obliging  lawyers  to  dance 

Not  a  painter  purer  colours  shows  four  times  a  year,  is  quoted  from  Dugdale  by  Sir  John 

Then  what's  laid  on  by  claret.  Hawkins.   (History  of  Music,  vol.  ii.,  p.  137.)    "It  is  not 

Pearl  and  ruby  doth  set  out  the  nose,  many  years  since  the  judges,  in  compliance  with  ancient 

When  thin  small  beer  doth  mar  it ;  Custom,  danced  annually  on  Candlemas-day.     And,  that 

Rich  wine  is  good,  nothing  might  be  wanting  for  their  encouragement  in  this 

It  heats  the  blood,  excellent  study  (the  law),  they  have  very  anciently  had 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  329 

where.  A  curious  letter  on  the  subject  of  a  mask,  which  for  some  unexplained 
reason  did  not,  take  place,  may  be  seen  in  Collier's  History  of  Early  Dramatic 
Poetry  and  Annals  of  the  Stage,  vol.  i.,  p.  268.  It  is  addressed  to  Lord 
Burghley,  by  "  Mr.  Frauncis  Bacon  "  (afterwards  Lord  Bacon),  who  in  1588  dis- 
charged the  office  of  Reader  of  Gray's  Inn.  Many  other  curious  particulars  of 
their  masks  may  be  found  in  the  same  work,  and  some  in  Sir  J.  Hawkins'  History 
of  Music.  For  the  Christmas  Revels  of  the  bar,  see  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  note  to 
Dodsley's  Old  Plays,  vol.  vii.,  p.  311.  Lawyers  are  now,  generally  speaking,  a 
music-loving  class.  The  enjoyment  of  sweet  sounds  is  to  many  the  most  accept- 
able recreation  after  long  study.  They  were  also  famous  in  former  days  for 
songs  and  squibs.  Some,  too,  were  tolerable  composers,  for  every  one  claiming  to 
be  a  gentleman  learnt  music.  As  their  compositions  are  rather  out  of  my  present 
subject,  I  will  refer  only  to  their  rhyming  propensities ;  and,  although  much  more 
ample  illustration  might  be  given,  two  passages  from  letters  of  John  Chamberlain 
to  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  printed  in  The  Court  of  James  I.  (1849),  will  probably 
suffice.  On  May  20, 1615,  Chamberlain  says,  "  On  Saturday  last  the  King  went 
again  to  Cambridge  to  see  the  play,  Ignoramus,  which  hath  so  nettled  the  lawyers, 
that  they  are  almost  out  of  all  patience ;  and  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  [Sir  E. 
Coke]  both  openly  at  the  King's  Bench,  and  divers  other  places,  hath  galled  and 
glanced  at  scholars  with  much  bitterness ;  and  there  be  divers  Inns  at  Court  have 
made  rhymes  and  ballads  against  them,  which  they  have  answered  sharply  enough." 
(i.  363.)  Again  in  the  letter  of  Nov.  23,  1616,  "  Here  is  a  bold  rhyme  of 
our  young  gallants  of  Inns  of  Court  against  their  old  benchers,  and  a  pretty 
epigram  upon  the  Lord  Coke,  and  no  doubt  more  will  follow ;  for  when  men  are 
down,  the  very  drunkards  make  rhymes  and  songs  upon  them."  (i.  444.) 

The  authorship  of  the  music  of  this  song  has  been  a  subject  of  contention ;  and 
so  little  have  dates  been  regarded,  that  it  has  long  passed  as  the  composition  of 
Henry  Purcell,  and  is  still  published  with  his  name.  Walsh  paved  the  way  to 
this  error  (in  which  Ritson  and  many  others  followed),  by  including  it  in 
a  collection  of  "  Mr.  Henry  Purcell's  Favourite  Songs,  out  of  his  most  cele- 
brated Orpheus  Britannicus,  and  the  rest  of  his  works."  It  is  not  contained  in 
the  Orpheus  Britannicus  (which  was  published  by  Purcell's  widow),  and  the  music 
may  still  be  seen  as  printed  eight  years  before  Purcell's  birth. 

In  a  note  upon  the  passage  before  quoted  from  Walton's  Angler,  Sir  J. 
Hawkins  adds,  "  This  song,  beginning,  '  Forth  from  my  dark  and  dismal  cell,' 
with  the  music  to  it,  set  by  Henry  Laives,  is  printed  in  a  book,  entitled  Choice 
Ayres,  Songs,  and  Dialogues  to  sing  to  the  Theorbo-Lute  and  Bass  Viol,  fol.  1675 ; 
and  in  Playford's  Antidote  against  Melancholy,  8vo.,  1669." 


there  should  be  four  Revels  that  year,  and  no  more,"  &c.  Candlemas-day  preceding,  according  to  the  ancient  order 

And  again  he  says,  "  Nor  were  these  exercises  of  dancing  of  this  society,  when  the  judges  were  present ;  with  this, 

merely  permitted,  but  thought  very  necessary,  as  it  seems,  that  if  the  like  fault  were  afterwards  committed,  they 

and  much  conducing  to  the  making  of  gentlemen  more  fit  should  be  fined  or  disbarred." 
for  their  books  at  other  times  ;  for,  by  an  order  made  6th 


330 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Sir  John  Hawkins  must  have  had  some  reason,  which  he  does  not  assign,  for 
attributing  the  composition  to  Henry  Lawes.  It  is  not  contained  in  either  of  the 
printed  collections  of  Lawes'  songs,  nor  have  I  been  able  to  find  any  copy  with  his 
name  attached  to  it.  Sir  John  seems  to  be  mistaken,  because  Lawes  did  not 
enter  the  Chapel  Royal  until  1626,  and  the  Curtain  Theatre,  at  which  one  of  the 
songs  to  the  tune  were  sung*  was  in  disuse  at  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.  (1625).  We  must  therefore  look  to  an  earlier  composer. 

One  of  the  Addit.  MSS.,  Brit.  Mus.  (No.  10,444)  is  a  collection  of  Mask- 
tunes,  and  there  are  several  in  that  collection  entitled  "  Gray's  Inn."  See 
Nos.  50,  51,  91,  99,  &c.  If  Nos.  50  and  99  are  from  the  same  Mask  (which  is 
not  improbable),  Mad  Tom  may  be  the  composition  of  Lawes'  master,  John 
Cooper,  called  "  Cuperario "  after  his  visit  to  Italy.  No.  50,  the  first  of  the 
above  tunes,  is  there  called  "Cuperaree,  or  Gray's  Inn;"  No.  51,  "Gray's  In 
Anticke  Masque;"  and  No.  99  (the  tune  in  question),  "Gray's  Inne  Masque." 

There  is  an  equal  uncertainty  about  the  authorship  of  the  words.  In  Walton's 
Angler,  1653,  Piscator  says,  "  I'll  promise  you  I'll  sing  a  song  that  was  lately 
made  at  my  request  by  Mr.  William  Basse,  one  that  made  the  choice  songs  of 
The  Hunter  in  his  career,  and  Tom  of  Bedlam,  and  many  others  of  note."  There 
are,  however,  so  many  Toms  of  Bedlam,  that  it  is  impossible  to  determine,  from 
this  passage,  to  which  of  them  Isaak  Walton  refers. 

In  addition  to  the  broadsides,  and  a  copy  in  Le  Prince  d9  Amour,  1660,  there  is 
in  MSS.  Harl.,  No.  7,332,  a  version  in  the  handwriting  of  "  Fearegod  Barebone,  of 
Daventry,  in  the  county  of  Northampton,"  who,  "  beinge  at  many  times  idle,  and 
wanting  imployment,  bestoed  his  time  with  his  penn  and  incke  wrighting  thease 
sonnets,  songes,  and  epigrames,  thinkinge  that  it  weare  bettar  so  to  doe  for  the 
mendinge  of  his  hand  in  wrighting,  then  worse  to  bestow  his  time."  Master 
Fearegod  Barebone  was,  no  doubt,  a  puritanical  hypocrite ;  and  wrote  this  excuse 
about  improving  his  handwriting,  to  be  prepared  in  case  the  book  should  fall  into 
"  ungodly  hands."  No  other  inference  can  be  drawn  from  his  selection  of  some 
of  the  songs  in  the  manuscript.  Mad  Tom,  however,  is  not  one  of  those  objection- 
able ditties,  and,  as  being  the  oldest  copy,  I  have  here  followed  his  manuscript. 
The  tune  is  from  The  Dancing  Master,  and  differs  somewhat  from  later  versions. 

Mad  Tom  was  employed  as  a  ballad  tune  in  Penelope,  1728 ;  and  The  Bay's 
Opera,  1730. 

Majestically. 


ffitV  j  n  J~TI 

^^n 

1            f 

t-r— 

-r-=t=  

Forth  from  my  sad  and  darksome  cell. 
Fear  and  despair  pur  -  sue  my  soul, 

rrvsHt  P  ?  *   "T   9   i    f  -ra 

Tt-S*  /  i  —  i  1  —  F  b—  -m  CT  

-j   fl'   J    4  j.  j.     h 

From  the  deep    a    -    byss    of     hell,  Mad 
Hark,  how  the  angry      fu  -  ries  howl,  Plu- 

-j       .  >  P       m  .  1  1  

tt  \<    .     l*~  i- 

+~\  : 

*^ 

^""^      n 

•  Mr.  Payne  Collier,  in  a  note  to  Heber's  Catalogue, 
Part  iv.,  p.  92,  says  that  this  song  was  sung  at  the  Curtain 
Theatre,  about  1G10.  In  Choice  Ayres,  2nd  edition,  fol., 


1675,  the  composer's  name  is  not  given,  and  it  is  printed 
without  any  base. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


331 


—  ' 

•rt* 

*\   \    r^ 

~i  —  R  —  r~ 

fc- 

=1=^= 

1=q= 

-^3^ 

C  il'  

f  —  i  —  a 

•I 

Tom  is  come    to  view  the  world  a-gain,  To   see  if  '  he  can  ease  h 
-to  doth  laugh,  and  Pros-er  -  pine  is  glad     To  see  poor  naked  Tom  o 

i 

^j                'Sj                   C5                 :                                -—                    —  z  —  d  • 

1  c 

s  dis  -  t 

f            ] 

emper'd  bra 
5ed-lam  ma 

••  •  —  & 

. 

in..//; 
d. 

^t-H- 

tT"  J~~  m^ 

'4    • 

rjjj  ,. 

• 

•i 

•    -9 

\= 

—  0  — 

^F^ 

-i  — 
r-^ 

M  J    rJ 

\nt 

i.     ||        2da. 

'I                    r—^-—  "     ft    ^^-^-W^.-^^-^L 

Through  the  woods  I  wander  night  and  day,      To    find  my  straggling  senses,  ://:              When 
In       an    an-grymoodl      met  old  Time  With  a  whip  for  my    of    -        -        fences; 

*  i 

1  i.y  r 

K  1 

^ 

1-  -i 

1 

J.-1-J 

g 

•j 

\      \ 

\== 

— 

h'  1 

*  i     j 

-±  J  — 

i*  '  i 

--f  —  i- 

V- 

•  J  J 

J  

~s^  i 

J    J 

•  :  -  J- 

*  tw  J  i 

-^-rr^ 

r  •  1* 

-  -i  F- 

F^ 

f  r  r  ' 

5E3 

-Mr 

IM  ' 

i    • 

he  me  spies,  a  -  way  he  flies,  For  Time  will  stay  for    no  man  ;  With 
hideous  cries  I  rend  the  skies,  How  pi  -  ty    is    not                            common. 

..                 ~            -P---P-             «L_±               -P--P-                 -*•  +• 

/  Cold"^" 
'  Help, 

and 
oh 

KS 

^H 

> 

•          1 

• 

-*—  ^  ^t- 

I 

i      r 

: 

1  L_  1  :.. 

1      - 

^    

j-  - 

'  k 

1  

-H  

_    . 

-•r-rd  —  i 

—  f  - 

-^. 

'     0 

• 

==_!»»«. 

2da. 

A  tf 

—  1  —  h^3 

»7rr|=r^ 

•  —4  

rtalfi~ 

—  p  —  m  — 

f— 

•  f  -f 

""~i  —  S 

-^f-- 

to*-  J  -i 

•  Ho-  -;  — 

a=s 

r  r  H 

-\  

1  C~T 

—  p  —  I 

tt 

comfort  -  less 
help!  or  else 

I        lie, 
I 

hark  !  I  hear  A  - 
die.  Now^^Chaste  Di  a  -  na  b 

'  *~  i  i 

polio's  team,  The  car  -  man  'gins  to 
3nds  her  bow.The  boar   be  -  gins  to 

1 

U  JF" 

_,  pL_ 

-^  —    f—-m 

^—( 

,  J 

S  •'  " 

— 

—  H^ 

r  r  1  1 

.^e- 

K    1        1        N 

i 

i 

-  i 

\      Ima.    |    i 

3,da. 

—  m—m  -•  ~ai 

J    ^          • 

6  ± 

—  J- 

-0- 

*               : 

-i  frH  1  —  P-d-- 

~f~s  — 

3BSEi 

4-* 

^— 

3 

3E 

—  1  

J    J-^=*=: 

whistle;        br.stlc<  Come, 

Vulcan, 

gl  '  O  '  G>  —  0  —  "  —  0  —  :  —  ™  •- 
with  tools  and  with  tac-kles,  And  knock  off  my  troublesome 

J        "  ' 

J  - 

A 

CJ    .  .  cj  :  

^ 

«        H 

+ 

1  

->  

—  r 

-r— 

-1  

} 

fj  •  &     J  ' 
shackles,  Bid 

Charles  make  rea  -  dy  his      wain 

n  '      P     I/    1  -  —  S- 

•  3  •  '  F  M  H 

To    fetch    my  five  senses 

-^     ^               1      W- 

a    -    gain. 

^  —  '.  L 

-t  -A  L 

—  ]  ol  '  ' 

^_ 

i 

• 

332  ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

Last  night  I  heard  the  dog-star  bark ;  But  I  could  get  no  cider ; 

Mars  met  Venus  in  the  dark ;  He  drank  whole  buts, 

Limping  Vulcan  het  an  iron  bar,  Till  he  brake  his  guts, 

And  furiously  he  ran  at  the  god  of  war.  But  mine  be  never  the  wider. 

Mars  with  his  weapons  beset  him  about,  Poor  Tom  is  very  dry  : 

But  Vulcan's  temples  had  the  gout,  A  little  drink  for  charity  ! 

And  his  horns  did  hang  so  in  his  light,  Now,  hark !  I  hear  Actaeon's  hounds, 

He  could  not  see  to  aim  his  blows  aright.  The  huntsman  whoops  and  halloos  ; 

Mercury,  the  nimble  post  of  heaven,  Ringwood,  Roister,  Bowman,  Jowler, 

Came  to  see  the  quarrel ;  And  all  the  troop  do  follow. 

Gor-bellied  Bacchus,  giant-like,  The  Man  in  the  Moon  drinks  claret, 

Bestrid  a  strong-beer  barrel.  Eats  powder'd  beef,  turnip,  and  carrot, 

To  me  he  drank,  But  a  cup  of  old  Malaga  sack 

I  did  him  thank,  Will  fire  the  bush  at  his  back. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  second  verse  of  the  above  is  not  now  sung. 
Another  Mad  Tom,  composed  by  George  Hayden,  and  commencing,  "In  my 
triumphant  chariot  hurl'd,"  has  been  added  to  the  first,  to  make  a  bravura.  There 
are  even  different  copies  of  George  Hayden's  song,  some  having  a  |  movement  at 
the  close,  which  others  have  not.  Hayden  was  the  author  of  the  still  favorite 
duet,  "  As  I  saw  fair  Clora."  He  flourished  in  the  early  part  of  last  century. 

TOM  A  BEDLAM. 

In  Le  Prince  d' Amour,  1660,  there  are  no  less  than  three  songs  entitled 
Tom  of  Bedlam  ;  also  Bishop  Corbet's  song,  TJie  distracted  Puritan,  which  is  to 
the  tune  of  Tom  of  Bedlam. 

The  first  song  (at  p.  164)  consists  of  eight  stanzas,  and  commences  thus : — 
"  From  the  top  of  high  Caucasus,  And  them  I  bore  twelve  leagues  and  more, 

To  Paul's  Wharf  near  the  Tower,  In  spite  of  Turks  and  soldiers,     [merry; 

In  no  great  haste,  I  easily  pass'd  Sing,  sing,  and  sob  ;  sing,  sigh,  and  be 

In  less  than  half  an  hour.  Sighing,  singing,  and  sobbing; 

The  gates  of  old  Byzantium  Thus  naked  Tom  away  doth  run, 

I  took  upon  my  shoulders,  And  fears  no  cold  nor  robbing. 

The  second  is  at  p.  167,  and  consists  also  of  eight  stanzas,  of  which  the  two 
first  are  as  follows : — 
"  From  the  hag  and  hungry  goblin,  Of  thirty  bare  years  have  I 

That  into  rags  would  rend  you,     [man         Twice  twenty  been  enraged ; 
And  the  spirits,  that  stand  by  the  naked     And,  of  forty,  been  three  times  fifteen 

In  the  book  of  moons,  defend  you  ;  In  durance  soundly  caged ; 

That  of  your  five  sound  senses  On  the  lordly  lofts  of  Bedlam, 

You  never  be  forsaken,  With  stubble  soft  and  dainty,       [dong, 

Nor  travel  from  yourselves  with  Tom  Brave  bracelets  strong,  and  whips,  ding- 

Abroad  to  beg  your  bacon.  And  wholesome  hunger  plenty. 

While  I  do  sing,  'Any food,  any  feeding,     Yet  did  I  sing,  '  Any  food,  any  feeding, 

feeding,  drink,  or  clothing !  Feeding,  drink,  or  clothing ! 

Come,  dame  or  maid,  be  not  afraid,  Come,  dame  or  maid,  be  not  afraid, 

Poor  Tom  will  injure  nothing.'  Poor  Tom  will  injure  nothing.' " 

Ritson,  who  has  reprinted  the  above  two  songs,  supposes  them  "  to  have  been 
written  by  way  of  burlesque  on  such  sort  of  things."  (Ancient  Songs,  p.  261, 1790.) 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  333 

The  third  song  (p.  169)  is  now  commonly  known  as  Mad  Tom.     It  is  in 
another  metre,  and  has  a  separate  tune.     (Ante  p.  330.) 

The  fourth,  commencing,  "  Am  I  mad,  0  noble  Festus,"  (p.  171),  is  here 
printed  to  this  tune. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  42,  there  is  a  song  on  the  tricks  and  disguises 
of  beggars,  entitled  "  The  cunning  Nor  theme  Begger  : 

Who  all  the  bystanders  doth  earnestly  pray, 
To  bestow  a  penny  upon  him  to-day : 

to  the  tune  of  Tom  of  Bedlam"     The  first  stanza  is  as  follows : — 
"  I  am  a  lusty  begger,  Yet,  though  I'm  bare, 

And  live  by  others  giving ;  I'm  free  from  care, 

I  scorne  to  worke,  A  fig  for  high  preferments,     [good  sir, 

But  by  the  highway  lurke,  But  still  will  I  cry,  '  Good,  your  worship, 

And  beg  to  get  my  living.  Bestow  one  poor  denier,  sir ; 

I'll  i'  th'  wind  and  weather,  Which,  when  I've  got, 

And  weare  all  ragged  garments !  At  the  pipe  and  the  pot, 

I  soon  will  it  cashier,  sir' " 

This  copy  of  the  ballad  was  printed  "at  London"  for  F.  Coules,  and  may  be 
dated  as  of  the  reign  of  Charles,  or  James  I. 

In  Wit  and  Drollery,  1656  (p.  126),  there  is  yet  another  Tom  of  Bedlam, 
beginning —    "  Forth  from  the  Elysian  fields,  a  place  of  restless  souls, 

Mad  Maudlin  is  come  to  seek  her  naked  Tom, 
Hell's  fury  she  controls,"  &c. 

This  is  printed  in  an  altered  form,  and  with  an  imperfect  copy  of  the  tune,  in 
Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  192  (1700  and  1707),  under  the  title  of  "Mad 
Maudlin  to  find  out  Tom  of  Bedlam :  " 

"  To  find  my  Tom  of  Bedlam,  ten  thousand  years  I'll  travel; 
Mad  Maudlin  goes,  with  dirty  toes,  to  save  her  shoes  from  gravel. 
Yet  will  I  sing,  Bonny  boys,  bonny  mad  boys,  Bedlam  boys  are  bonny ; 
They  still  go  bare,  and  live  by  the  air,  and  want  no  drink  nor  money." 
The  tune  is  again  printed  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  iii.  13  (1707),  to  a  song 
"On  Dr.  G[ill?],  formerly  master  of  St.  Paul's  School,"  commencing — 
"  In  Paul's  Churchyard  in  London, 
There  dwells  a  noble  firker, 
Take  heed,  you  that  pass, 
Lest  you  taste  of  his  lash, 
For  I  have  found  him  a  jerker : 

Still  doth  he  cry,  talte  him  up,  take  him  up,  sir, 

Untruss  with  expedition ; 
0  the  birchen  tool 
Which  he  winds  in  the  school 

Frights  morse  than  the  Inquisition." 

In  Loyal  Songs  written  against  the  Riimp  Parliament,  1731,  ii.  272,  we  have 
"  The  cock-crowing  at  the  approach  of  a  Free  Parliament ;  or — 

Good  news  in  a  ballat  A  country  wit  made  it, 

More  sweet  to  your  pallat  Who  ne'er  got  the  trade  yet, 

Than  fig,  raisin,  or  stewed  prune  is  :  And  Mad  Tom  of  Bedlam  the  tune  is." 


334  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC. 

Among  the  King's  Pamphlets  in  the  British  Museum  there  are  two  songs  to 
this  tune.  The  first  (by  a  loyal  Cavalier)  is  "  Mad  Tom  a  Bedlam's  desires  of 
Peace:  Or  his  Benedicities  for  distracted  England's  Restauration  to  her  wits 
again.  By  a  constant  though  unjust  sufferer  (now  in  prison)  for  His  Majesties 
just  Regality  and  his  Country's  Liberty.  S.F.W.B."  (Sir  Francis  Wortley, 
Bart.)  This  is  in  the  sixth  vol.  of  folio  broadsides,  and  dated  June  27,  1648. 
"  Poor  Tom  hath  been  imprison'd,  Yet  still  he  cries  for  the  King,  for  the  good 

With  strange  oppressions  vexed  ;  Tom  loves  brave  confessors ;         [King ; 

He  dares  boldly  say,  they  try'd  each  way  But  he  curses  those  that  dare  their  King  de- 

Wherewith  Job  was  perplexed.  Committees  and  oppressors."  &c.    [pose, 

This  has  been  reprinted  in  Wright's  Political  Ballads,  for  the  Percy  Society, 
p.  102 ;  and  in  the  same  volume,  p.  183,  is  another,  taken  from  the  fifteenth  vol. 
of  broadsides,  entitled  "A  new  Ballade,  to  an  old  tune, — Tom  of  Bedlam"  dated 
January  17,  1659,  and  commencing,  "  Make  room  for  an  honest  red-coat." 

Besides  these,  we  have,  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  1682,  p.  184,  Loving  Mad  Tom, 
commencing,  "  I'll  bark  against  the  dog-star;"  and  many  other  mad-songs  in  the 
Roxburghe  Collection,  such  as  "  The  Mad  Man's  Morrice;"  "  Love's  Lunacie,  or 
Mad  Bess  Js  Vagary;"  &c.,  &c. 

Bishop  Percy  has  remarked  that  "  the  English  have  more  songs  on  the  subject 
of  madness,  than  any  of  their  neighbours."  For  this  the  following  reason  has 
been  assigned  by  Mr.  Payne  Collier,  in  a  note  to  Dodsley's  Collection  of  Old 
Plays,  ii.  4  :— 

"  After  the  dissolution  of  the  religious  houses,  where  the  poor  of  every  denomination 
were  provided  for,  there  was  for  many  years  no  settled  or  fixed  provision  made  to 
supply  the  want  of  that  care  which  those  bodies  appear  always  to  have  taken  of  their 
distressed  brethren.      In  consequence  of  this  neglect,    the  idle  and  dissolute  were 
suffered  to  wander  about  the  country,  assuming  such  characters  as  they  imagined  were 
most  likely  to  insure  success  to  their  frauds,  and  security  from  detection.     Among 
other  disguises,   many  affected  madness,  and  were   distinguished   by  the  name  of 
Bedlam  Beggars.     These  are  mentioned  by  Edgar,  in  King  Lear: 
"  The  country  gives  me  proof  and  precedent, 
Of  Bedlam  beggars,  who,  with  roaring  voices, 
Stick  in  their  numb'd  and  mortify'd  bare  arms 
Pins,  wooden  pricks,  nails,  sprigs  of  rosemary ; 
And,  with  this  horrible  object,  from  low  farms, 
Poor  pelting  villages,  sheep-cotes,  and  mills, 
Sometime  with  lunatic  bans,  sometime  with  prayer, 
Inforce  their  charity." 

In  Dekker'a  Bellman  of  London,  1616,  all  the  different  species  of  beggars  are 
enumerated.  Amongst  the  rest  are  mentioned  Tom  of  Bedlam's  band  of  mad  caps, 
otherwise  called  Poor  Tom's  flock  of  wild  geese  (whom  here  thou  seest  by  his  black 
and  blue  naked  arms  to  be  a  man  beaten  to  the  world),  and  those  wild  geese,  or  hair 
brains,  are  called  Abraham  men.  An  Abraham  man  is  afterwards  described  in  this 
manner :  '  Of  all  the  mad  rascals  (that  are  of  this  wing)  the  Abraham  man  is  the 
most  fantastick.  The  fellow  (quoth  this  old  Lady  of  the  Lake  unto  me)  that  sate 
naif  naked  (at  table  to-day)  from  the  girdle  upward,  is  the  best  Abraham  man  that 
ever  came  to  my  house,  and  the  notablest  villain  :  he  swears  he  hath  been  in  Bedlam, 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


335 


and  will  talk  frantickly  of  purpose :  you  see  pins  stuck  in  sundry  places  of  his  naked 
flesh,  especially  in  his  arms,  which  pain  he  gladly  puts  himself  to  (being,  indeed,  no 
torment  at  all,  his  skin  is  either  so  dead  with  some  foul  disease,  or  so  hardened  with 
weather,  only  to  make  you  believe  he  is  out  of  his  wits) :  he  calls  himself  by  the  name 
of  Poor  Tom,  and  coming  near  any  body,  cries  out,  Poor  Tom  is  a  cold.  Of  these 
Abraham  men,  some  be  exceeding  merry,  and  do  nothing  but  sing  songs,  fashioned 
out  of  their  own  brains,  some  will  dance ;  others  will  do  nothing  but  either  laugh  or 
weep ;  others  are  dogged,  and  are  sullen  both  in  look  and  speech,  that,  spying  but  a 
small  company  in  a  house,  they  boldly  and  bluntly  enter,  compelling  the  servants 
through  fear  to  give  them  what  they  demand,  which  is  commonly  Bacon,  or  some- 
thing that  will  yield  ready  money.'  " 

The  song  of  Tom  of  Bedlam  is  alluded  to  in  Ben  Jonson's  The  Devil  is  an  Ass, 
1616,  act  v.,  sc.  2.  When  Pug  wishes  to  be  thought  mad,  he  says,  "  Your  best 
song's  Thorn  o'Bet'lem." 

The  following  copy  of  the  tune  is  from  a  manuscript  volume  of  virginal  music, 
formerly  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Windsor,  of  Bath,  and  now  in  that  of 
Dr.  Rimbault.  It  is  entitled  Tom  a  Bedlam.  The  words  are  from  Bishop 
Corbet's  song,  The  distracted  Puritan,  which  is  printed  entire  in  Percy's  Reliques 
of  Ancient  Poetry. 


•*     Fompously. 

rJ.-M    i 

r-r- 

!<• 

£  1 

ores. 

Am    I    mad,    O  no  -  ble 

i 

Festu 

5,      Wh 

en 

zeal  and  god-ly 

knowledge  Have 

, 

*    *  /  *     f* 

—  • 

c^           — 

—  z:  :  h- 

— 



-rl  =  

1  — 

J                   f 

1          1           P           i    1*      4           J 

_!                                 J              -I 

m                     *          J 

i        Lj      •        • 

•     trj          (        1 

•        J                 n         L 

F                  H      a 

»•                                  •  1 

*                '        '                                -or              •*     * 
put    me  in  hope    To     deal  with  the  Pope     As  well  as  the  best      in        Col  -  lege  ? 

1  •—  •  m  ^  1  1  m- 

~P~~               ~f  ?— 

—  1  —  

cs  —  =  8; 

—  —  •  —  E  —  F  — 

1  _^a  

J  J  r- 

1  1  1  — 

^1      1                * 

1  ^^  1  ^  —  I 

-i  ^1      1  i—r- 

1^—  

1                    1            fl 

Sa     fl 

I                           M 

•        m      m        m 

g   *  3  —       -• 

gj           !        J                              j                  | 

Bold-ly    I  preach,  hate  a  cross,  hate  a   sur-plice,      Mi 

-•  *  -1   T  ;j. 

-  tres,  copes  and    roch  -  ets. 

—  1  —  p  ^  =*- 

i~j  

~~J  —  1  1  

~N 

H  j  j  u  — 

r-^r^^-i-^= 

}  —  1  —  i  1  E5  1 

gas  —  3-  J  5—'—^—^-  j  *   •  g^    |  |      * 

Come,  hear  me    pray    nine  times    a     day,  And    fill  your  heads  with      crotchets. 

—  j  —  ]  ,  1  £:  1  —  ^^  -i  h-*—  II 

-^  ^—  »d      -r 

—  —  —  TL  0      '  -t—L*£  

j  j  —  j—  j  —  U 

336 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


In  the  house  of  pure  Emanuel* 
I  had  my  education, 

Where  my  friends  surmise 

I  dazzled  my  eyes 
With  the  sight  of  revelation. 

Boldly  I  preach,  &c. 

They  bound  me  like  a  bedlam, 
They  lash'd  my  four  poor  quarters ; 

Whilst  this  I  endure, 

Faith  makes  me  sure 
To  be  one  of  Fox's  martyrs. 

Boldly  I  preach,  &c. 

These  injuries  I  suffer 
Through  antichrist's  persuasion  : 

Take  off  this  chain, 

Neither  Rome  nor  Spain 
Can  resist  my  strong  invasion. 
Boldly  I  preach,  &c. 

Of  the  beast's  ten  horns  (God  bless  \is!) 
I  have  knock'd  off  three  already  ; 

If  they  let  me  alone 

I'll  leave  him  none  : 
But  they  say  I  am  too  heady. 

Boldly  I  preach,  &c. 


When  I  sack'd  the  seven  hill'd  city, 
I  met  the  great  red  dragon  ; 

I  kept  him  aloof 

With  the  armour  of  proof, 
Though  here  I  have  never  a  rag  on. 
Boldly  I  preach,  &c. 

With  a  fiery  sword  and  target, 
There  fought  I  with  this  monster : 

But  the  sons  of  pride 

My  zeal  deride, 
And  all  my  deeds  misconster. 

Boldly  I  preach,  &c. 

I  un-hors'd  the  Whore  of  Babel, 
With  the  lance  of  Inspiration  ; 

I  made  her  stink, 

And  spill  the  drink 
In  her  cup  of  abomination. 

Boldly  I  preach,  &c. 

I  appear'd  before  the  archbishop, 
And  all  the  high  commission  ; 
I  gave  him  no  grace, 
But  told  him  to  his  face, 
That  he  favour'd  superstition. 

Boldly  I  preach,  &c. 


THOMAS,  YOU  CANNOT. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  Sir  John  Hawkins'  Transcripts  of  Virginal  Music ;  in 
the  fourth  and  later  editions  of  The  Dancing  Master;  in  The  Beggars'  Opera; 
The  Mock  Doctor ;  An  Old  Man  taught  Wisdom  ;  The  Oxford  Act ;  and  other 
ballad-operas. 

In  some  of  the  earlier  editions  of  TJie  Dancing  Master ;  it  is  entitled  Thomas, 
you  cannot ;  in  others,  Tumas,  I  cannot,  or  Tom  Trusty ;  in  some  of  the  ballad- 
operas  (for  instance,  The  G-enerous  Freemason,  and  The  Lover  his  own  Rival'),' 
Sir  Thomas,  I  cannot. 

In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  62,  is  a  black-letter  ballad  (one  of  the  many  written 
against  the  Roman  Catholics  after  the  discovery  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  in  1605), 
entitled  "  A  New-yeeres-Gift  for  the  Pope ;  0  come  see  the  difference  plainly 
decided  between  Truth  and  Falsehood  : 

Not  all  the  Pope's  trinkets,  which  here  are  brought  forth, 
Can  balance  the  bible,  for  weight,  or  for  worth,"  &c. 
"  To  the  tune  of  Thomas  you  cannot"     It  commences  thus  : — 
"  All  you  that  desirous  are  to  behold 

The  difference  'twixt  falsehood  and  faith,"  &c. 

In  Grammatical  Drollery,  by  W.  H.  (Captain  Hicks),  1682,  p.  75,  is  a  song 
commencing,  "Come,  my  Molly,  let  us  be  jolly:"  to  the  tune  of  Thomas, 
I  cannot;  and  in  Chetwood's  History  of  the  Stage,  8vo.,  1749,  a  song  on  a 
theatrical  anecdote,  by  Mr.  John  Leigh  (an  actor,  who  died  in  1726) ,  of  which 
the  following  is  the  first  stanza : — 

a  Emamiel  College,  Cambridge,  was  originally  a  seminary  of  Puritans. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


337 


A  >  {jrauy-           _^i                              i          is     i 

$)    "ft  —  ^~ 

-f-j-J  ^  J- 

•  4    J— 

-^—  j~             -K 

My  scandalous  neighbours    of    Portu  -  gal  Street,  Come  list-  en     a-whiletomy 
I'll  sing  you  a  song  though  my  voice  be  not  sweet,    And  that  you  will  say  is      a 

-m  0  •  

P           P                  m 

F  :  

• 

—  53  "i 

"           1                     \J 

3  

k                   '*^*~ 

J^J  :M  f  i  J=^ 


5^^ 


^'^^-^As    merry  a    sonnet  as    times  can     af- ford,  Of   Eglington,  Walker,  Jack 
pi    -     ty. 


II 

r^^r- 


^ 


=^ 


Hall   and  my  Lord ;  If  you  doubt  >vhat      I    say,    to     con  -  firm    ev' -  ry  word,        I'll 


-'                                                ™        _5 

! 

-  —  , 

—  N- 

j        j  • 

....•'      m 

-J  J  J  J  f" 

—  l*-T- 

call    as      a  witness  Will  Thomas,  Will  Thomas,  I'll 

=t—        —  •  —  P--1  ft-r  *- 

call  as  a  witness  Will 

,--  p  -j  p  :  1 

Thomas. 
-J  :  f~- 

•  —      —  ^  —  i  x—  ^ 

I  :  

• 

^=^ 

I  have  not  been  successful  in  finding  the  song  of  Tliomas,  you  cannot,  from 
which  the  tune  derives  its  name.  In  some  copies  (when  there  are  no  words),  the 
second  part  of  the  tune  consists  only  of  eight  bars,  instead  of  ten.  See  the 
following  from  Sir  J.  Hawkins'  Transcripts  of  Virginal  Music. 


338 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC. 


WHEN  DAPHNE  DID  FROM  PHCEBUS  FLY. 

This  tune  is  to  be  found  in  Nederlandtsche  G-edenck-Clanck,  1626 ;  in  Friesche 
Lust-Hof,  1634;  and  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1690. 

In  the  first  named  it  is  entitled  Prins  Daphne;  in  the  second,  WJien  Daphne 
did  from  Phcebusfly  ;  and  in  the  last,  Daphne,  or  The  Shepherdess. 

A  copy  of  the  words  will  be  found  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  388,  entitled 
"  A  pleasant  new  Ballad  of  Daphne  :  To  a  new  tune."  Printed  by  the  assignees 
of  Thomas  Symcocke.  It  is  on  the  old  mythological  story  of  Daphne  turned  into 

a  laurel. 

Gracefully,  and  not  too  slow. 


P0          —,  r—  ,  1  r—  1  M  r—  \  ^-r-\  ,  . 

3  1- 

3  4- 

Q«j   '    »|     J 

3  —  =i-*- 

^ 

When  Daph  -ne      from      fair      Phoebus  did       fly,        The  west  wind  most 
Her     silk  -  en      scarf  scarce  shadow'd  her      eyes,      The  God  cried,    O 

rH-b-3~r  — 

=3  1  — 

cv  ~j  — 

—  i  

1  —r 

1 

I               • 

1  -  

\\ 



_JJlA  1  1__,  --^  =  ,-_^  ,j.     0  .  . 

^/ 

—  ^ 

, 

• 

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| 

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1 

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1 

.  •    i 

—+  4 

1  

1  «  ll  

r 

•- 

r~® 

i  —  i  — 

• 

P 
IQ                 9 

sweet  -ly     did 
pi    -  ty  !    and 

blow  in  her 
held  her  in 

J 

face,       ^^^  Stay,  Nymph, 
chace.  ^"^        Lion      nor 

-««-         -^ 

stay,  Nymph,   cries         A    - 
ti   -   ger        doth      thee 

c>>          •         ~ 

1            r 

• 

. 

i            i 

h''  1 

f 

1    f 

r 

.  K 

T-*TT— 

j  —  h  f]  i 

~H  —  d~ 

J    .    ^ 

j  .  j'j 

M^t- 

1  —  r 

j  ^ 

—  t 

J  .  j  J  * 

-  pol  -  lo,        Tar  - 
fol  -  low,     Turn 

Q 

ry,  and 
thy  fair 

•^  -  *.  •  ^j^  •>  •  ° 

turn      thee,      Sweet  Nymph,  stay, 
eyes,      and         look     this        way. 

J            J            J 

-^j  -F  ^  &  —  7 

O 

i    r 

turn,  O   pretty 

r  •  P  p^f_ 

1  

\ 

1  E 

=f= 

\  • 

"fc^ 

=t 

—  \/  '\^ 

-J^. 

d  —  /  ,   «_| 

fr  — 

— 

N~~i  — 

V 

1  J"^J^  J   1 

— 



—  J 

— 

U-—  ^-J 

t±^ 

^~ 

3 

9  

B 

— 

U^J 

sweet, 

And 

let.  our  red  lips 

—  f~i*~ 

meet  :       O 

N 

g 

-  ty  n 

J==J 

ie, 

h-1 

Daph  -  ne  ! 

—  S  £  — 

pi      -     ty 

H 



1            U: 

t±j  —  !  —  j 

^  

f-rt- 

^1                !      1 

^ 

1  

f^ 

r~t 

]  

i  

me 

^              < 



[) 

•a 
P1 

-   ty      m< 

'»_ 

Daph    -     ne, 

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1 

REIGNS    OF  JAMES    I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  339 

She  gave  no  ear  unto  his  cry,              [moan  ;  Let  the  earth  a  virgin  bear  me; 

But  still  did  neglect  him  the  more  he  did  Or  devour  me  quick  a  maid. 

Though  he  did  entreat,  she  still  did  deny,  Diana  heard  her  pray, 

And  earnestly  pray  him  to  leave  her  alone.  And  turn'd  her  to  a  Bay. 

Never,  never,  cries  Apollo,  Pity,  0  Daphne,  pity  me,  &c. 

Unless  to  love  thou  wilt  consent,  j    ,  „     .,  rj    .  ,, 

Amazed  stood  Apollo  then,  [desir  d, 

But  still,  with  my  voice  so  hollow,  -IIM.M     i.     u  i.  u    r»     v.  >j  i 

J  While  he  beheld   Daphne  turn  d   as  she 

I'll  cry  to  thee,  while  life  be  spent.  Accurs'd  am  I,  above  gods  and  men, 

But  if  thou  turn  to  me,  With  griefs  and  lamentg  my  senses  are  th.,d 

'Twill  prove  thy  felicity.  Vanvell !  false  Daphne,  most  unkind, 

Pity,  0  Daphne,  pity  me,  &c.  My  loye  lies  buried  in  thy  grave> 

Away,  like  Venus's  dove  she  flies,  Long  sought  I  love,  yet  love  could  not  find, 

The  red  bloodher  buskins  did  run  alladown,  Therefore  is  this  thy  epitaph  : 

His  plaintive  love  she  still  denies,     [renown.  "  This  tree  doth  Daphne  cover, 

Crying,  Help,  help,  Diana,  and  save  my  That  never  pitied  Lover."             [me, 

Wanton,  wanton  lust  is  near  me,  Farewell,  false  Daphne,  that  would  not  pity 

Cold  and  chaste  Diana,  aid  !  Although  not  my  love,  yet  art  thou  my  Tree. 

COME  YOU  NOT  FROM  NEWCASTLE? 

This  beautiful  and  very  expressive  melody  is  to  be  found  in  The  Dancing 
Master,  from  1650  to  1690,  under  the  title  of  Newcastle.  In  The  Grub  Street 
Opera,  1731,  it  is  named  Why  should  I  not  love  my  love  ?  from  the  burden  of  the 
song.  The  following  fragment  of  the  first  stanza  is  contained  in  the  folio  manu- 
script formerly  in  the  possession  of  Bishop  Percy,  p.  95.  See  Dr.  Dibdin's 
Decameron,  vol.  3. 

"  Come  you  not  from  Newcastle  ?  Why  should  I  not  love  my  love  ? 

Come  you  not  there  away  ?  Why  should  not  my  love  love  me  ? 

0  met  you  not  my  true  love,  ##*##* 

Eyding  on  a  bonny  bay  ? 

It  is  quoted  in  a  little  black-letter  volume,  called  "  The  famous  Historic  of 
Fryer  Bacon :  containing  the  wonderfull  things  that  he  did  in  his  life ;  also  the 
manner  of  his  death ;  with  the  lives  and  deaths  of  the  two  Conjurers,  Bungye 
and  Vandermast.  Very  pleasant  and  delightfull  to  be  read."  4to.,w.d.  "Printed 
at  London  by  A.  E.,  for  Francis  Grove,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  at  the 
upper-end  of  Snow  Hill,  against  the  Sarazen's  Head:  " — 

"  The  second  time,  Fryer  Bungy  and  he  went  to  sleepe,  and  Miles  alone  to  watch 
the  brazen  head ;  Miles,  to  keepe  him  from  sleeping,  got  a  tabor  and  pipe,  and  being 
merry  disposed,  sung  this  song  to  a  Northern  tune  of  C'am'st  thou  not  from  New- 
Castle — 

"  To  couple  is  a  custome,  If  my  love  prove  untrue, 

All  things  thereto  agree ;  With  that  I  can  get  more. 

Why  should  not  I  then  love  ?  The  faire  is  oft  unc0nstant, 

Since  love  to  all  is  free.  The  ^lacke  is  often  proud; 

Bnt  lie  have  one  that's  pretty,  He  chuse  a  lovely  browne ; 

Her  cheekes  of  scarlet  dye,  Come,  fidler,  scrape  thy  crowd. 

For  to  breed  my  delight,  Comej  fidiei>)  gcrape  thy  crowd, 

When  that  I  ligge  her  by.  por  Peggie  the  browne  is  she 

Though  vertue  be  a  dowry,  Must  be  my  bride ;  God  guide 

Yet  He  chuse  money  store  :  That  Peggie  and  I  agree." 


840 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


I  have  been  favored  by  Mr.  Barrett  with  a  song,  "  0  come  ye  from  Newcastle?  " 
as  still  current  in  the  North  of  England ;  but,  doubting  its  antiquity,  I  have  not 
thought  it  desirable  to  print  it  in  this  collection. 

Rather  slow,  and  with  expression. 


^ 


-9-  -m-        -_^  -9- 

O     come  you  from  New  -  cas  -    tie,  Come   you  not  there  a  -  way  ? 

I-  I  ,'  |_| 


O 


^&fc^ 

-f-f- 

•  ft* 

1      r  ' 

^  —  ^  — 

-r-$- 

i^ 


H  .TTU 


^ 


met 


you      not    my       true  love,      Riding       on      a     bon  -  ny      bay  ? 

I        i 


Why 


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Pj>J 

j—  | 

\  a 

i  ,  

—  ;  s  

S^H 

1  J    'JJL 

4 
sh 

—  * 

ould     not      I 

c 

love 
•j 

hi     '     J    '  J  ^-j 

tti 
my  love,    Why  should  not  my      i 

<^>                                 <?* 

ove      love 

me?»       [Why 

1                1    °l 

V 

a 

1                P       1 

3  

\  H-h- 

B 



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q  — 

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^=*  —  *t  —  m  

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—  • 

—  d  — 

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^— 

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should     not      I 

c 

speed 

k 

af 

-  ter  him,  Since     love      to       all 

is     free?] 
1 

& 

\  

c 

^ 

rg  —  ^  —  u  

^1 

-1  

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,  

F     p 

H     ,    = 

rx 

r    •  j-  'i 

CUCKOLDS  ALL  A  ROW. 

This  tune  is  to  be  found  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master.  Pepys 
mentions  it  in  the  following  account  of  a  court  ball,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. : — 

"  31  Dec.,  1662.  By  and  bye  comes  the  King  and  Queene,  the  Duke  and 
Duchess,  and  all  the  great  ones ;  and  after  seating  themselves,  the  King  takes  out  the 
Duchesse  of  York;  and  the  Duke,  the  Duchesse  of  Buckingham;  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth,  my  Lady  Castlemaine;  and  so  on,  other  lords  other  ladies;  and  they 
danced  the  Bransle.  After  that,  the  King  led  a  lady  a  single  Coranto  :  and  then  the 
rest  of  the  lords,  one  after  another,  other  ladies  :  very  noble  it  was,  and  great  pleasure 
to  see.  Then  to  Country-dances ;  the  King  leading  the  first,  which  he  called  for, 
which  was  Cuckolds  all  a  row,  the  old  dance  of  England." 

It  became  a  party  tune  of  the  Cavaliers,  who  sang  the  songs  of  Hey,  boys,  tip 

•  The  two  last  lines  are  supplied  from  a  song  written  to  complete  the  fragment,  by  the  late  Mr.  George  Macfarren. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


341 


go  we,  and  London' 's  trite  character,  to  it.  The  latter,  abusing  the  Londoners  for 
taking  part  against  the  King,  and  commencing,  "  You  coward-hearted  citizens," 
is  contained  in  Hats  rhimed  to  death,  or  The  Rump  Parliament  hanged  in  the 
Shambles,  1660 ;  and  in  both  editions  of  Loyal  8ongs  written  against  the  Rump 
Parliament. 

The  tune  is  mentioned  in  the  old  song,  0  London  is  a  fine  town ;  and  one  with 
the  burden  is  contained  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  1661.  The  latter  is  reprinted  (to 
the  tune  of  London  is  a  fine  town)  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  77,  1700,  and 
iv.  77, 1719. 

The  following,  on  the  miseries  of  married  life,  is  from  a  black-letter  ballad, 
"  printed  by  M.P.  for  Henry  Gosson,  on  London  Bridge,  neere  the  gate,"  and 
signed  Arthur  Halliarg.  A  copy  is  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  28 ;  and 
it  is  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,!.  170  (1810).  I  have  omitted  four  stanzas, 
the  remainder  being  sufficient  to  tell  'the  story.  "  The  cruel  Shrew ;  or  The 
Patient  Man's  Woe :  Declaring  the  misery  and  great  pain, 

By  his  unquiet  wife,  he  doth  daily  sustain." 
To  the  tune  of  Cuckolds  all  a  row. 


_s  Moderate  time. 

r\           fc        1        N    1         N        i 

hi                 •             '  —  * 

Jf_  Q     J 

3  —  •—  *  —  t 

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—  —  n  j-vH   j  — 

—0— 

14   ±  i   *  • 

i       i    L 

J                        I                               ^ 

-       Hr       r    '        -_-    - 

Come  ba-che-lors  and    mar-riedmen,  And     lis  -  ten    to         my        song,      And 

f  J  .     ^  .  ^ 

P.    •              -p-  . 

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F^^ 

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£ 

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H    •    * 

K— 

; 

:  J— 

•           • 

*   •  •     * 

—  1  —  -.  —  "  1^- 

«j  •        r  .  r  '     ••—  •  • 

will  shew  you      plain  -  ly  then,   The       in  -  ju  -  ry         and       wrong           That 
!        J*    J      .          *-     '        •*-      '               .           £•_• 

S 

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—  "       J  *  —  d  

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con  -  stant  - 
^-^  , 

ly      i 

do        sus  -  tain  Through  my  un  -  happy             life,             The 

r-    -                                                         „                      1  r-H  1  r- 

— 

:  —  :  T 

-^-  p~ 

*  r     P- 

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,                 1 

Li  1  , 

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1 

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—  r-       —  TT— 

s  —  —  .  —             n 

j-rs  J   J-^t-j  h  —  h 

—  H  — 

i-7-1 

which  does      put      me      to    great 

-^         • 

T  '    f  '  i  r^T 

pain,    By      my      un  -  qui  -  et 

—  *  —  h~p  —  ci  —  «    *" 

T  •   J 

wife. 

i 

.    '           * 

342 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


She  never  lins  her  bawling, 

Her  tongue  it  is  so  loud, 
But  always  she'll  be  railing, 

And  will  not  be  controll'd : 
For  she  the  breeches  still  will  wear, 

Although  it  breeds  my  strife ; 
If  I  were  now  a  bachelor, 

I'd  never  have  a  wife. 

Sometimes  I  go  in  the  morning 

About  my  daily  work, 
My  wife  she  will  be  snorting, 

And  in  her  bed  she'll  lurk, 
Until  the  chimes  do  go  at  eight, 

Then  she'll  begin  to  wake, 
Her  morning's  draught  well  spiced  straight 

To  clear  her  eyea  she'll  take. 

As  soon  as  she  is  out  of  bed, 

Her  looking-glass  she  takes, 
(So  vainly  is  she  daily  led), 

Her  morning's  work  she  makes 
In  putting  on  her  brave  attire, 

That  fine  and  costly  be ; 
While  I  work  hard  in  dirt  and  mire  : 

Alack  what  remedy  ? 

Then  she  goes  forth  a  gossiping 

Amongst  her  own  comrades; 
And  then  she  falls  a  boosing 

With  all  her  merry  blades ; 
When  I  come  from  my  labour  hard, 

Then  she'll  begin  to  scold, 
And  call  me  rogue  without  regard  ; 

Which  makes  my  heart  full  cold. 

When  I,  for  quiet's  sake,  desire 

My  wife  for  to  be  still, 
She  will  not  grant  what  I  require, 

But  swears  she'll  have  her  will ; 
Then  if  I  chance  to  heave  my  hand, 

Straightway  she'll  murder  cry  ; 
Then  judge  all  men  that  here  do  stand, 

In  what  a  case  am  I. 


And  if  a  friend  by  chance  me  call 

To  drink  a  pot  of  beer, 
Then  she'll  begin  to  curse  and  brawl, 

And  fight,  and  scratch,  and  tear ; 
And  swears  unto  my  work  she'll  send 

Me  straight  without  delay ; 
Or  else  with  the  same  cudgel's  end, 

She  will  me  soundly  pay. 

Then  is  not  this  a  piteous  cause, 

Let  all  men  now  it  try, 
And  give  their  verdicts,  by  the  laws, 

Between  my  wife  and  I ; 
And  judge  the  cause,  who  is  to  blame, 

I'll  to  their  judgment  stand, 
And  be  contented  with  the  same, 

And  put  thereto  my  hand. 

If  I  abroad  go  anywhere, 

My  business  for  to  do, 
Then  will  my  wife  anon  be  there 

For  to  increase  my  woe  ; 
Straightway  she  such  a  noise  will  make 

With  her  most  wicked  tongue, 
That  all  her  mates,  her  part  to  take, 

About  me  soon  will  throng. 

Thus  am  I  now  tormented  still 

With  my  most  wretched  wife ; 
All  through  her  wicked  tongue  so  ill, 

I  am  weary  of  my  life  : 
I  know  not  truly  what  to  do, 

Nor  how  myself  to  mend, 
This  lingering  life  doth  breed  my  woe, 

I  would  'twere  at  an  end. 

O  that  some  harmless  honest  man, 

Whom  death  did  so  befriend, 
To  take  his  wife  from  off  his  hand, 

His  sorrows  for  to  end, 
Would  change  with  me  to  rid  my  care, 

And  take  my  wife  alive, 
For  his  dead  wife,  unto  his  share  ! 

Then  I  would  hope  to  thrive. 


THE  BUFF  COAT  HAS  NO  FELLOW. 

In  Fletcher's  play,  The  Knight  of  Malta,  act  iii.,  sc.  1,  there  is  a  "  Song  by 
the  Watch,"  commencing  thus  : — 

"  Sit,  soldiers,  sit  and  sing,  the  round  is  clear, 
And  cock-a-loodle-loo  tells  us  the  day  is  near ; 
Each  toss  his  can  until  his  throat  be  mellow, 
Drink,  laugh,  and  sing  TJie  soldier  has  no  fellow" 

The  last  line  is  repeated  in  three  out  of  the  four  verses  or  parts,  and  I  suppose 
The  soldier  has  no  fellow  to  have  been  then  a  well-known  song. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES    I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  343 

Various  ballads  were  written  to  a  tune  called  The  buff  coat  has  no  fellow  (see, 
for  instance,  Pepys  Coll.,  iii.  150;  Roxburghe,  i.  536;  &c.),  and  as  the  buff 
coat  was  a  distinguishing  mark  of  the  soldier  of  the  seventeenth  century,  if  the 
words  could  be  recovered,  it  might  prove  to  be  the  song  in  question. 

"  In  the  reign  of  King  James  I.,"  says  Grose,  "  no  great  alterations  were  made 
in  the  article  of  defensive  armour  except  that  the  buff  coat,  or  jerkin,  which  was 
originally  worn  under  the  cuirass,  now  became  frequently  a  substitute  for  it,  it 
having  been  found  that  a  good  luff  leather  would  of  itself  resist  the  stroke  of  a 
sword  ;  this,  however,  only  occasionally  took  place  among  the  light-armed  cavalry 
and  infantry,  complete  suits  of  armour  being  still  used  among  the  heavy  horse." — 
Military  Antiquities,  1801,  4to.,  ii.,  323.  I  have  been  favored  with  the  follow- 
ing note  on  the  same  subject  by  F.  W.  Fairholt,  F.S.A. : — "  The  buff  coat  was 
peculiarly  indicative  of  the  soldier.  It  first  came  into  use  in  the  early  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  heavier  defensive  armour  of  plate  was  dis- 
carded by  all  but  cavalry  regiments.  The  infantry,  during  the  great  civil  wars 
of  England,  were  all  arrayed  in  buff  coats ;  and  in  Rochester  Cathedral  are 
still  preserved  some  of  these  defensive  coverings,  as  worn  by  Oliver's  soldiers 
in  their  unwelcome  visits  there  ;  as  well  as  the  bandoleers  worn  over  them,  to  hold 
the  charges  for  muskets.  The  officers  and  cavalry  at  this  time  only  added  the 
cuirass ;  the  leather  coat  was  frequently  very  thick  and  tough,  and  a  defence 
against  a  sword  cut.  The  foreign,  as  well  as  the  English  armies,  about  this  time, 
discarded  heavier  armour ;  and  the  prints  by  Gheyn,  of  Low-Country  troopers,  as 
well  as  those  by  Ciartes,  of  the  soldiers  of  the  French  King,  are  all  habited  in 
the  buff  coat,  which  displays,  in  the  rigidity  of  its  form,  its  innate  strength." 
Grose  gives  an  engraving  of  those  that  were  worn  over  corslets,  from  one  that 
belonged  to  Sir  Francis  Rhodes,  Bart.,  of  Balbrough  Hall,  Derbyshire,  in  the 
time  of  Charles  I. 

The  tune,  The  luff  coat  has  no  fellow,  is  to  be  found  in  the  fourth  and  every 
subsequent  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master  ;a  in  the  earlier  editions  as  Buff  coat, 
and  afterwards  as  Buff  coat,  or  Excuse  me.  The  following  list  of  ballad-operas,  in 
all  of  which  songs  may  be  found  that  were  written  to  the  tune,  sufficiently  proves 
its  former  popularity : — Polly  ;  The  Lottery  ;  An  Old  Man  taught  Wisdom  ;  TJie 
Intriguing  Chambermaid;  The  Lovers'  Opera;  The  Bay's  Opera;  The  Lover  his 
own  Rival;  The  G-rub  Street  Opera  ;  The  Devil  of  a  Duke,  or  Trapolin's  Vagaries; 
The  Fashionable  Lady,  or  Harlequin's  Opera;  The  Generous  Freemason;  and 
The  Footman. 

This  popularity  extended  to  Ireland  and  Scotland ;  and  although,  in  its  old 
form,  purely  English  in  character,  the  air  has  been  claimed  both  as  Irish  and  as 
Scotch.  T.  Moore  appropriated  it,  under  the  name  of  My  husband's  a  journey  to 
Portugal  gone,  although  in  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Crotch,  Mr.  Wade,  and  others,  "  it  is 

«  Mr.  Stenhouse,  in  his  notes  to  Johnson's  Scol't  Musical  is  to  he  found  in  it.    Mr.  Stenhouse  had  before  him  one 

Museum,  asserts  that  this  air  is  to  he  found  in  Playford's  of  the  last  editions  of  vol.  i.  of   The  Dancing  Master, 

Dancing  Master  of  1657,  a  book  which  he  quotes  con-  printed  by  Pearson  and  Young,  between  1713  and  1725, 

stantly,  and  which,  I  am  convinced,  he  never  saw.  Having  and  consisting  of  358  pages,  to  which  only  can  all  of  his 

tested  all  his  references  to  that  work,  I  have  no  hesi-  quotations  be  referred, 
tation  in  saying  that  not  even  one  of  the  airs  he  mentions 


344 


ENGLISH    SONG    AND    BALLAD    MUSIC. 


not  at  all  like  an  Irish  tune."  In  Scotland  it  has  been  claimed  as  The  Deuk's 
dang  o'er  my  Daddie,  and  again  disclaimed  by  Mr.  George  Farquhar  Graham, 
editor  of  Wood's  Songs  of  Scotland,  who  "  freely  confesses  his  belief  that  the  air 
is  not  of  Scottish  origin."  iii.  165. 

All  the  oldest  copies  of  Buff  coat  begin  with  three  long  notes,  which  seem  to 
require  corresponding  monosyllables  for  the  commencement  of  the  words.     The 
line  I  have  quoted  from  The  Knight  of  Malta  suggests  a  commencement  some- 
what in  the  following  manner  : — 
Boldly. 


-trnczi  —  

(fol?  %    •      1      |      1 

-  —  «f~i 

J—  j^3  1  >    hi    J  H      pHff 

S}  ^i  —  r=  %  —  5—*-    '  '  '  '  J.'  '  -'  4 

Drink,    laugh,          sing,      boys,  For  the       sol-dier  has    no      fel-low. 

Jm              i 

H4-b-fi  1  ^—  *  =j  

f—  ^=f 

P-^r^-^  rff 

J  .  3  —  r"T^  1  • 

H 

>  pnrWl'^  .  -ff 

'       •    J    *    '  \  | 

F                   ft                        "?" 

f 

f           "I1                  "F   •  '"T   * 

i                    I                         • 

L 

r             i                        i 

H*  E3  VH«- 

—  H 

v  -P—  v-J  =1  —  1  !  

r  •  i*  r     •     i*     i 

m    .     ^    m                        j^^e*^ 

J       r 

k.           r*  • 

_r      r 

K                 M 

w       \ 

K 

n          ' 

i           J^^ 

• 

r* 

l*^*                                                                                                            •       +           •    -j- 

m                   -1                         -F-                  -fi-                 ^       •         fc       i 

—  C  *  —  r 

H  — 

i 

k       ^    T          ^ 

r  —  "i     

—  I  —  -S-  —  • 

—  0  

—  •  — 

^a 

*  '  1  —  «^i 

I  should  add,  that  in  some  copies  of  The  Dancing  Master 

the  tune  is  in  commoi 

time. 

In  later  versions,  where  the  long  notes  at  the  commencement  are  split  into 
quavers  (as  in  many  of  the  ballad-operas),  the  bold  character  of  the  tune  is  lost, 
and  it  becomes  rather  a  pretty  than  a  spirited  air.  This  change  seems  to  be 
owing  to  the  monosyllabic  commencement  having  been  discarded  in  the  ballads 
which  were  written  to  it :  as,  for  instance,  in  the  following,  from  the  Roxburghe 
Collection,  i.  536 : — "  The  merry  Hostess ;  or — 

A  pretty  new  ditty,  compos'd  on  an  hostess  that  lives  in  the  city. 
To  wrong  such  an  hostess  it  were  a  great  pity, 
By  reason  she  caused  this  pretty  new  ditty. 
To  the  tune  of  Buff  coat  has  no  fellow" 
"  Come  all  that  love  good  company,  Who  sells  good  ale,  nappy  and  stale, 

And  hearken  to  my  ditty ;  And  always  thus  sings  she  : 

Tis  of  a  lovely  hostess  fine,  My  ale  was  tunn'd  when  I  was  young, 

That  lives  in  London  city;  And  but  little  above  my  knee,"  &c. 

The  above  is  printed  in  Evans'  Collection,  i.  150  (1810). 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


345 


In  several  of  the  ballad-operas,  the  tune,  whether  under  the  name  of  Buff 
coat,  or  Excuse  me,  commences  thus  (see,  for  instance,  The  Generous  Free- 
mason, 1731) : — 


And  in  some  more  modern  versions,  thus : — 


When  the  key-note  is  heard  three  times  in  equal  succession  at  the  end  of  a  tune, 
it  is  considered  to  be  characteristic  of  Irish  music ;  but  that  peculiarity  often  arises, 
as  in  the  last  example,  from  too  many  syllables  in  the  words  adapted  to  the  air. 

A  BEGGING  WE  WILL  GO. 

In  the  Bagford  Collection,  a  copy  of  this  song,  in  black-letter,  is  entitled  "  The 
Beggars'  Chorus  in  The  Jovial  Crew,  to  an  excellent  new  tune."  Brome's  comedy, 

'  J  f 

The  Jovial  Crew,  or  Tlie  Merry  Beggars,  was  acted  at  the  Cockpit  in  Drury 
Lane,  in  1641,  and  I  suppose  the  song  to  have  been  introduced,  as  it  is 
not  contained  in  the  printed  copy  of  the  play.  One  of  the  Cavaliers'  ditties, 
"  Col.  John  Okie's  Lamentation,  or  a  Rumper  cashiered,"  is  to  the  tune  of 
A  legging  we  will  go.  This  was  published  on  the  28th  March,  1660,  and  a  copy 
may  be  seen  among  the  King's  Pamphlets,  Brit.  Mus. 

A  begging  we  will  go  is  printed,  with  the  music,  in  book  v.  of  Choice  Ayres 
and  Songs  to  sing  to  the  Theorbo  or  Bass  Viol,  fol.  1684 ;  in  180  Loyal  Songs, 
3rd  edit.,  1685;  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy;  &c.  It  is  sometimes  entitled 
The  Jovial  Beggars. 

"  There  was  a  jovial  beggar, 

He  had  a  wooden  leg, 
Lame  from  his  cradle, 

And  forced  for  to  beg. 
And  a  begging  we  will  go,  we'll  go,  we'll  go, 
And  a  begging  we  will  go ! 


I  begg'd  for  my  master, 
And  got  him  store  of  pelf; 

But  now,  Jove  be  praised, 
I'm  begging  for  myself,  &c. 


A  bag  for  his  oatmeal, 

Another  for  his  salt; 
And  a  pair  of  crutches 

To  show  that  he  can  halt ; 

And  a  begging,  &c. 

A  bag  for  his  wheat, 

Another  for  his  rye ; 
A  little  bottle  by  his  side 

To  drink  when  he's  a  dry,  &c. 

Seven  years  I  begg'd 

For  my  old  master  Wild, 

He  taught  me  to  beg 

When  I  was  but  a  child,  &c. 


In  a  hollow  tree 

I  live,  and  pay  no  rent ; 
Providence  provides  for  me, 

And  I  am  well  content,  &c. 


Of  all  the  occupations, 
A  beggar's  life's  the  best ; 

For  whene'er  he's  weary, 

He'll  lay  him  down  and  rest,  &c. 

I  fear  no  plots  against  me, 

I  live  in  open  cell; 
Then  who  woiild  be  a  king 

When  beggars  live  so  well. 
And  a  begging  we  will  go,  we'll  go,  we'll  go, 
And  a  begging  we  will  go ! " 


346 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD  MUSIC. 


The  tune  was  introduced  into  the  ballad-operas  of  Polly,  The  Lovers,  TJie 
Quakers'  Opera,  Don  Quixote  in  England,  The  Court  Legacy,  The  Rape  of  Helen, 
The  Humours  of  the  Court,  The  Oxford  Act,  The  Sturdy  Beggars,  &c. ;  and  the 
song  is  the  prototype  of  many  others,  such  as,  "  A  bowling  we  will  go,"  "A  fish- 
ing we  will  go,"  "A  hawking  we  will  go,"  and  "A  hunting  we  will  go."  The 
last-named  is  printed  in  the  sixth  vol.  of  The  Musical  Miscellany,  8vo.,  1731. 
It  is  still  popular  with  those  who  take  delight  in  hunting ;  and  as  the  air  is  now 
scarcely  known  by  any  other  title*  I  have  printed  the  words  to  the  tune.  In 
The  Musical  Miscellany  it  is  entitled  The  Stag  Chace,  and  there  are  twenty-nine 
verses;  twelve  are  here  omitted,  being  principally  a  description  of  the  dogs, 
and  a  catalogue  of  their  names ;  indeed,  it  is  presum'd  that  seventeen  stanzas 
will  suffice. 


I          am     a     jol  -  ly      hunts-man,  My   voice  is  shrill  and    clear,       Well 


-s 

—  r  r"  i  —  \ 

r~l     l  J   j    i 

CHORUS.              |^ 

f^n 

•  9  1  4 

—  .^  —  __  j  — 

-*  —  "  •— 

'  f~f~ 

—      •  —  i" 

h^- 

^H 

C—  *i      v                               W    ~ 

i 

•Ed 

^—         ''^                                .    J 

1 

known  to  drive  the  stag,   And  the    drooping  dogs   to  cheer.  And  a      hunt-  ing   we 

•«r 

will 

n 

i 

l 

i 

< 

-J 

go,  will     go,  will      go,        And    a        hunt  -  ing        we       will 


go. 


I  leave  my  bed  hetimes, 

Before  the  morning's  grey  ; 
Let  loose  my  dogs,  and  mount  my  horse, 

And  halloo  "  come  away  !  "  &c. 

The  game's  no  sooner  rous'd, 

But  in  rush  the  cheerful  cry, 
Thro'  bush  and  brake,  o'er  hedge  and  stake, 

The  noble  beast  does  fly,  &c. 

In  vain  he  flies  to  covert, 

A  num'rous  pack  pursue, 
That  never  cease  to  trace  his  steps, 

Even  tho'  they've  lost  the  view,  &c. 


Now  sweetly  in  full  cry 

Their  various  notes  they  join  ; 

Gods  !  what  a  concert's  here,  my  lads  ! 
'Tis  more  than  half  divine,  &c. 

The  woods,  the  rocks,  and  mountains, 

Delighted  with  the  sound, 
To  neighb'ring  dales  and  fountains 

Repeating,  deal  it  round,  &c. 

A  glorious  chace  it  is, 

We  drive  him  many  a  mile, 
O'er  hedge  and  ditch,  we  go  thro'  stitch, 

And  hit  off  many  a  foil,  &c. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  847 

And  yet  he  runs  it  stoutly,  He  scarce  has  touch'd  the  bank, 
How  wide,  how  swift  he  strains!  The  cry  bounce  finely  in, 

With  what  a  skip  he  took  that  leap,  And  swiftly  swim  across  the  stream, 
And  scours  o'er  the  plains  !  &c.  And  raise  a  glorious  din,  &c. 

See  how  our  horses  foam  !  His  legs  begin  to  fail, 

The  dogs  begin  to  droop ;  His  wind  and  speed  are  gone, 

With  winding  horn,  on  shoulder  borne,  He  stands  at  bay,  and  gives  'em  play, 
Tis  time  to  cheer  them  up,  &c.  He  can  no  longer  run,  &c. 

Hark !  Leader,  Countess,  Bouncer!  But  vain  are  heels  and  antlers, 
Cheer  up  my  good  dogs  all ;  With  such  a  pack  set  round, 

To  Tatler,  hark !  he  holds  it  smart,  Spite  of  his  heart,  they  seize  each  part, 
And  answers  ev'ry  call,  &c.  And  pull  him  fearless  down,  &c. 

Up  yonder  steep  I'll  follow,  Ha!  dead,  'ware  dead!  whip  off, 

Beset  with  craggy  stones ;  And  take  a  special  care ; 

My  lord  cries,  "  Jack,  you  dog,  come  back,  Dismount  with  speed,  and  pray  take  heed, 

Or  else  you'll  break  your  bones !  "  &c.  Lest  they  his  haunches  tear!  &c. 

See,  now  he  takes  the  moors,  The  sport  is  ended  now, 

And  strains  to  reach  the  stream  !  We're  laden  with  the  spoil ; 

He  leaps  the  flood,  to  cool  his  blood,  As  home  we  pass,  we  talk  o'  th'  chace, 

And  quench  his  thirsty  flame,  &c.  O'erpaid  for  all  our  toil,  &c. 

Many  songs  to  the  tune  will  be  found  in  the  publications  enumerated  above. 
Others  in  the  Songs  sung  at  the  Mug-houses  in  London  and  Westminster,  1716  ;  in 
120  Loyal  Songs,  1684  ;  and  in  the  various  collections  of  ballads.  "  The  Church 
Scuffle,  or  News  from  St.  Andrew's  "  is  one  of  these ;  and  contained  in  the  collec- 
tion given  to  the  Cheetham  Library  by  Mr.  Halliwell  (No.  366). 

THE  NOBLE  SHIRVE. 

This  tune  is  taken  from  a  manuscript  volume  of  virginal  music,  formerly  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Windsor,  of  Bath,  and  now  in  that  of  Dr.  Rimbault. 

Although  the  transcript  is  of  the  seventeenth,  the  tunes  are  generally  traceable 
to  the  sixteenth  century,  and  perhaps  the  latest  are  of  the  reign  of  James  I. 

I  regret  very  much  not  having  been  able  to  find  the  ballad  from  which  it 
derives  its  name,  for  I  imagine  it  would  prove  an  interesting,  and,  probably,  a 
very  early  one. 

"Shirve"  is  a  very  old  form  of  "Shire-reeve,"  or  Sheriff;  and  I  have  not 
been  able  to  trace  any  other  instance  of  its"  use  so  late  as  the  seventeenth  century. 
It  was  then,  almost  universally,  written  "  Shrieve."  The  tune  is  one  that — 
like  The  Three  Ravens  (ante  p.  59),  and  The  Friar  in  the  Well  (p.  274) — 
requires  a  burden  at  the  end  of  the  first  and  second  lines  of  words,  as  well  as  at 
the  end.  The  third  and  fourth  bars  of  music  seem  almost  to  speak  the  words 
"  down-a-down,"  and  "  hey  down-a-down "  (or  some  similar  burden) ;  and  the 
seventh  and  eighth,  "  d5wn,  a-down,  a-d5wn-a." 

These  repeated  burdens  were  more  common  in  the  sixteenth  than  in  the 
seventeenth  century. 

As  every  ballad-tune  sounds  the  better  for  having  words  to  it,  I  have  taken  one 
of  the  snatches  of  old  songs  sung  by  Moros,  the  fool,  or  jester,  in  Wager's 


348 


ENGLISH    SONG    AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


interlude,  The  longer  tnou  livest  the  more  fool  thou  art,  1568.  It  is  not  in  the 
precise  measure — there  should  be  two  long  syllables,  instead  of  "  out  of  Kent," 
in  the  second  bar,  &c. — but  I  cannot  find  any  old  ballad,  with  similar  burdens, 
that  corresponds  exactly. 

sModerate  time,  and  smoothly.  Down    a-down,Heydowna-down. 


pttr  jg 

ri  —  "^  —  ^i 

r  J     A- 

p& 

i  I   J"  i   ..i 

Cxy)  —  Hr  =**- 
tj 
There 

was       a    maid  came  out  of  Kent, 

_sa  =  H  1  

Dain  -  ty 

FfiTJ-j-g^ 

love,    Dain-ty  love,  There 

si  _«       •      r       *i 

-'   4   1 

g  

Ef  !  —  JU 

T       '     '    ' 

Down         a  -  down,        a   -    down    -    a, 


f^- 

1  ^~~J 

T-] 

1   J~^J  —  =] 

.  

i  1       1             K 

it-  —  -  i  n 

•'    0                      1 

E5 

r.     «  *    

"T      '    «i       ^ 

ri.  j.  —  " 

was      a     maid  came 

—  f  B*  '-  

out  of  Kent, 

c^ 

Dan      -      -    ger    -     ous 

i 

,  

=i 

:  F  
i  ' 

.        .      It 

-J^- 

-P  ^—  P  E 

-S—  ^-P  ^ 

=S—  P— 

r    •    g  .    i 

r     *    \     ~     r    *              r    ** 

h  [  r  '  r  •  * 

There    was       a    maid  came  out     of  Kent,  Fair,    pro-per,  small  and         gent             As 

-f-'^^^P-       m       •p-^-^T'-P-        «        -P-     •%-    ^ 

^    r    - 

Hr  ;  -b  P— 

•  —  L  — 

E  —  :    ^-3  — 

1 

'  \f— 

*                 ^ 

:  —  1~ 

r 

-^               ' 

/  —  i__j  1 

—  «  :  1  T 

—  »  4-  * 

3  —  El  —  •— 

-J  —  ^d  — 

i  —  *  — 

—^  7*  •— 

-f  —  •—  »  1  — 

i  —  =  —  «K 

e-ver     on     the             ground     went         For             so       should  it          be.     .     . 

CT  ~  

—  m  •  m  •  

>   . 

DERRY  DOWN. 

This  tune  is  referred  to  as  The  Abbot  of  Canterbury;  as  Derry  doivn;   as 
A  Cobbler  there  was ;  and  as  Death  and  the  Cebbler. 

Henry  Carey,  in  his  Musical  Century,  1740,  i.  53,  gives  a  song  commencing — 
"  King  George  he  was  born  in  the  month  of  October — 

'Tis  a  sin  for  a  subject  that  month  to  be  sober ; " 

which  is  to  this  tune ;  and  he  says,  "  The  melody  stolen  from  an  old  ballad, 
called  Death  and  the  Cobbler." 

In  Watts'  Musical  Miscellany,  1729,  i.  94,  is  "  A  ballad  to  the  old  tune,  The 

Abbot  of  Canterbury;"    and,  in  the   second  volume   of  the   same   collection, 

"A  Cobbler  there  was,  set  by  Mr.  Leveridge,"  who  was  then  living.     The  tunes 

are  essentially  the  same,  but  Leveridge  altered  a  few  notes  in  the  second  part. 

Dr.  Percy  remarks  that  "  the  common  popular  ballad  of  King  John  and  the 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES  I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  349 

Abbot  of  Canterbury  seems  to  have  been  abridged  and  modernized  about  the  time 
of  King  James  I.,  from  one  much  older,  entitled  King  John  and  the  Bishop  of 
Canterbury."  He  adds  that  "  the  archness  of  the  questions  and  answers  hath 
been  much  admired  by  our  old  ballad-makers ;  for,  besides  the  two  copies  above 
mentioned,  there  is  extant  another  ballad  on  the  same  subject,  entitled  King 
Olfrey  and  the  Abbot."  "  Lastly,  about  the  time  of  the  civil  wars,  when  the  cry 
ran  against  the  bishops,  some  Puritan  worked  up  the  same  story  into  a  very 
doleful  ditty  to  a  solemn  tune,  concerning  King  Henry  and  a  Bishop,  with  this 
stinging  moral " — 

"  Unlearned  men  hard  matters  out  can  find, 

When  learned  bishops  princes'  eyes  do  blind." 

A  copy  of  the  last  is  in  the  Douce  Collection,  fol.  110,  entitled  The  King  and 
the  Bishop  ;  another  in  the  Pepys,  i.  472  ;  and  a  third  in  the  Roxburghe,  iii.  170. 
It  commences  thus : — "  In  Popish  times,  when  bishops  proud 

In  England  did  bear  sway, 
Their  lordships  did  like  princes  live, 

And  kept  all  at  obey." 

The  ballad  of  The  old  Abbot  and  King  Olfrey  is  in  the  Douce  Collection,  fol.  169. 
Olfrey  is  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of  Alfred. 

Mr.  Payne  Collier,  in  his  Extracts  from  the  Registers  of  the  Stationers' 
Company,  i.  90,  prints  a  ballad  entitled  The  praise  of  Milkemaydes,  from 
a  manuscript  of  the  time  of  James  I.,  now  in  his  possession.  It  is  evidently  the 
same  as  A  defence  for  Mylkemaydes  against  the  terme  of  Maivken,  which  was 
entered  on  the  Registers  in  1563-4.  Unfortunately  neither  the  entry,  nor  Mr. 
Collier's  manuscript,  gives  the  name  of  the  tune  to  which  that  ballad  was  sung. 
I  have  a  strong  persuasion  that  it  was  to  this  air,  for  it  has  all  the  character  of 
antiquity,  and  I  can  find  no  other  that  would  suit  the  words.  The  ballad 
commences  thus : — 

"  Passe  not  for  rybaldes  which  mylkemaydes  defame, 
And  call  them  but  Malkins,  poore  Malkins  by  name ; 
Their  trade  is  as  good  as  anie  we  knowe, 
And  that  it  is  so  I  will  presently  showe. 

Downe,  a-downe,  &c." 

If,  instead  of  "  downe,  a-downe,  £c."  we  had  the  burden  complete,  "  downe, 
a-downe,  downe,  hey  derry  down,"  I  should  feel  no  doubt  of  its  being  the  air ; 
but  the  burden  is  not  given  at  length  in  the  manuscript.  The  second  and  sixth 
stanzas  allude  to  the  singing  of  milkmaids — 

"  They  rise  in  the  morning  to  heare  the  larke  sing, 
And  welcome  with  ballettes  the  summer's  camming  ; 
They  goe  to  their  kine,  and  their  milking  is  done 
Before  that  some  sluggardes  have  lookt  at  the  sunne. 

Downe,  a-downe,  &c. 

In  going  to  milking,  or  comming  awaie, 
They  sing  mery  ballettes,  or  storyes  they  saye ; 
Their  mirth  is  as  ptire  and  as  white  as  their  milke ; 
You  cannot  say  that  of  your  velvett  and  silke. 

Do\vne,  a-downe,"  &c. 


ENGLISH    SONG    AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


There  are  numberless  songs  and  ballads  to  the  tune,  under  one  or  other  of  its 
names.  Political  songs  will  be  found  in  the  collections  written  against  the  Rump 
Parliament;  in  those  of  the  time  of  James  II. ;  and  again  in  "A  Collection  of 
State  Songs,  &c.,  that  have^  been  published  since  the  Rebellion,  and  sung  in  the 
several  mug-houses  in  the  cities  of  London  and  Westminster"  (1716).  One  of 
Shenstone's  ballads,  The  Gossiping,  is  to  the  tune  of  King  John  and  the  Abbot  of 
Canterbury,  and  is  printed  in  his  works,  Oxford,  1737.  Again,  in  TJie  Asylum 
for  Fugitive  Pieces,  1789,  there  are  several;  and  the  tune  is  in  common  use  at 
the  present  day. 

Dr.  Rimbault,  in  his  Musical  Illustrations  to  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient 
Poetry,  prints  from  a  MS.  of  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  which 
agrees  with  the  copy  in  Watts'  Musical  Miscellany.  Other  copies  will  be  found 
in  The  Beggars'  Opera,  third  edit.,  1729;  The  Village  Opera,  1729;  Penelope, 
1728;  The  Fashionable  Lady,  1730;  The  Lover  his  own  Rival,  1736;  The 
Boarding-School,  or  The  Sham  Captain,  1733 ;  The  Devil  to  pay,  1731 ;  The 
Oxford  Act;  The  Sturdy  Beggars  ;  Love  and  Revenge;  The  Jew  decoy' d;  &c. 

I  have  printed  two  copies  of  the  tune  ;  the  first  being  the  commonly  received 
version,  and  the  second  taken  from  Watts'  Musical  Miscellany.  These  differ 
materially,  but  intermediate  versions  will  be  found  in  TJie  Beggars'  Opera,  and 
some  other  of  the  above-mentioned  works. 

Both  The  King  and  the  Abbot,  and  The  King  and  the  Bishop,  are  in  the 
catalogue  of  ballads,  printed  by  Thackeray,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  The 
copy  of  the  former  in  the  Bagford  Collection  is  entitled  "  King  John  and  the 
Abbot  of  Canterbury,  to  the  tune  of  The  King  and  Lord  Abbot"  The  story, 
upon  which  these  ballads  are  founded,  can  be  traced  back  to  the  fifteenth 
century. 

Moderate  time. 


An          an-cient  sto-ry  I'll  tell  you  a-non,  Of  a    no  -  ta  -  ble  prince  that  was 


^ 


call- ed  King  John  ;   And  he    rul'd   o  -  ver  Eng-land  with    main   and  with  might,    For 


he    did  great  wrong,  And  maintain 'd  lit-  tie  right,  Derry  down,  down,     hey,  der-ry  down. 


REIGNS   OP   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


351 


And  I'll  tell  you  a  story,  a  story  so  merry, 
Concerning  the  Abbot  of  Canterbury  ; 
How  for  his  housekeeping,  and  high  renown, 
The  king  he  sent  for  him  to  fair  London  town. 

An  hundred  men,  the  king  did  hear  say, 
The  abbot  did  keep  in  his  house  every  day  ; 
And  fifty  gold  chains,  without  any  doubt, 
In  velvet  coats  waited  the  lord  abbot  about. 

How  now,  father  abbot,  I  hear  it  of  thee, 
Thou  keepest  a  far  better  house  than  me; 
And  from  thy  housekeeping  and  high  renown, 
I  fear  thou  work'st  treason  against  my  crown. 

My  liege,  quo'  the  abbot,  I  would  it  were  known, 
I  never  spend  nothing  but  what  is  my  own  ; 
And  I  trust  that  your  grace  will  do  me  no  dere, 
For  spending  of  my  own  true-gotten  gear. 

Yes,  yes,  father  abbot,  thy  fault  it  is  high, 
And  now  for  the  same  thou  needest  must  die ; 
For,  except  thou  canst  answer  me   questions 

three, 
Thy  head  shall  be  smitten  from  off  thy  body. 

And  first,  quo'  the  king,  when  I'm  in  this  stead, 
With  my  crown  of  gold  so  fair  on  my  head, 
Among  all  my  liegemen  so  noble  of  birth, 
Thou  must  tell  me  to  one  penny  what  I  am  worth. 

And,  secondly,  tell  me,  without  any  doubt, 
How  soon  I  may  ride  the  whole  world  about. 
And  at  the  third  question  thou  must  not  shrink, 
But  tell  me  here  truly  what  I  do  think. 

O,  these  are  hard  questions  for  my  shallow  wit, 
And  I  cannot  answer  your  graee  as  yet : 
But  if  you  will  give  me  but  three  weeks  space, 
I'll  do  my  endeavour  to  answer  your  grace. 

Now  three  weeks'  space  to  thee  will  I  give, 
And  that  is  the  longest  time  thou  hast  to  live; 
For  if  thou  dost  not  answer  my  questions  three, 
Thy  lands  and  thy  livings  are  forfeit  to  me. 

Away  rode  the  abbot  all  sad  at  that  word, 
And  he  rode  to  Cambridge  and  Oxenford ; 
But  never  a  doctor  there  was  so  wise,. 
That  could  with  his  learning  an  answer  devise. 

Then  home  rode  the  abbot  of  comfort  so  cold, 
And  he  met  his  shepherd  a  going  to  fold  : 
"  How  now,  my  lord  abbot,  you  are  welcome 
home,  [John?" 

What  news  do  you  bring  us  from  good  King 

"Sad  news,  sad  news,  shepherd,  I  must  give; 
That  I  have  but  three  days  longer  to  live ; 
For  if  I  do  not  answer  him  questions  three, 
My  head  will  be  smitten  from  off  my  body. 


The  first  is  to  tell  him  there  in  that  stead, 
With  his  crown  of  gold  so  fair  on  his  head, 
Among  all  his  liegemen  so  noble  of  birth, 
To  within  one  penny  of  what  he  is  worth. 

The  second,  to  tell  him,  without  any  doubt, 
How  soon  he  may  ride  this  whole  world  about : 
And  at  the  third  question  I  must  not  shrink, 
But  tell  him  there  truly  what  he  does  think." 

"  Now  cheer  up,  sire  abbot,  did  you  never  hear 

yet, 

That  a  fool  he  may  learn  a  wise  man  wit  ? 
Lend  me  horse,  and  serving  men,  and  your 

apparel, 
And  I'll  ride  to  London  to  answer  your  quarrel. 

Nay  frown  not,  if  it  hath  been  told  unto  me 
I  am  like  your  lof  dship,  as  ever  may  be ; 
And  if  you  will  only  but  lend  me  your  gown, 
There's  none  that  shall  know  us  at  fair  London 
town." 

"Now horses  and  serving-men  thou  shalt  have, 
With  sumptuous  array  most  gallant  and  brave ; 
With  crozier,  and  mitre,  and  rochet,  and  cope, 
Fit  to  appear  'fore  our  father  the  pope." 

"  Now  welcome,  sire  abbot,  the  king  he  did  say, 
'Tis  well  thou'rt  come  back  to  keep  to  thy  day ; 
For  and  if  thou  canst  answer  my  questions 

three, 
Thy  life  and  thy  living  both  saved  shall  be. 

And  first,  when  thou  seest  me  here  in  this  stead, 
With  my  crown  of  gold  so  fair  on  my  head, 
Among  all  my  liegemen  so  noble  of  birth, 
Tell  me  to  one  penny  what  I  am  worth." 

"For  thirty  pence  our  Saviour  was  sold 
Among  the  false  Jews,  as  I  have  been  told ; 
And  twenty-nine  is  the  worth  of  thee, 
For  I  think  thou  art  one  penny  worserthanhe." 

The  king  he  laughed,  and  swore  by  St.  Bittel, 
"  I  did  not  think  I  had  been  worth  so  little ! 
— Now,  secondly  tell  me,  without  any  doubt, 
How  soon  I  may  ride  this  whole  world  about." 

"  You  must  rise  with  the  sun,  and  ride  with 

the  same, 

Until  the  next  morning  he  riseth  again  ; 
And  then  your  grace  need  not  make  any  doubt, 
But  in  twenty-four  hours  you'll  ride  it  about." 

The  king  he  laughed,  and  swore  by  St.  Jone, 
"I  did  not  think  it  could  be  gone  so  soon  ! 
— Now  from  the  third  question  thou  must  not 

shrink, 
But  tell  me  here  truly  what  I  do  think." 


352 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


"  Yea,  that  shall  I  do,  and  make  your  grace  "  Now  nay,  my  liege,  be  not  in  such  speed, 

merry.  For,  alack,  I  can  neither  write  ne  read." 
You  think  I'm  the  Abbot  of  Canterbury ;  [see, 

But  I'm  his  poor  shepherd,  as  plain  you  may  "  Four  nobles  a  week>  then>  T  wil1  Sive  thee' 

That  am  come  to  beg  pardon  for  him  and  for     For  this  merry  Jest  thou  hast  shown  unto  me  5 
me  1 1  And  tell  the  old  abbot,  when  thou  comest  home, 

Thou  hast  brought  him  a  pardon  from  good 
The  king  he  laughed,  and  swore  by  the  mass,  „.       j  ,      ,, 

"I'll  make  thee  lord  abbot  this  day  in  his  place." 

The  following  is  a  very  different  version  of  the  tune,  as  printed  in  Watts' 
Musical  Miscellany. 
Moderate  time. 


An        an- cient  sto-rv  I'll     tell   you    a  -  non,    Of  a      no -ta-ble  prince  that  was 

--"T-; 


± 


I  •  H  — 

-9—  H  r*— 

1         1         1  

1  —  r"n  —  ' 

—  I     i     i  —  3  J  — 

s    •        j      j 

1    •  -1         1 

J 

J                     9               * 

v^,f                                                 9                 9         -         9         9         ~            9                9         -  '  -       9 

cal  -  led  King  John.    He         rul'd  o  -  ver   England   with     main  and  with  might,   For 

V                • 

m         •             S 

; 

Er 

^v-y?  :  f  

1  —  L  — 

==  1  b—  » 

he  did  great wronp,  and  maintain'dlit-tle  right,    Derry  down,  down,     hey  derry    down. 

-, — •*T"3- 


i 


I   .  t  f  J  .  n 

^J=^ 


The  following  punning  prototype  of  the  late  T.  Hood's  comic  songs,  should  not 
be  omitted.     It  is  entitled  The  Cobbler's  End : — 

A  cobbler  there  was,  and  he  liv'd  in  a  stall,        But  love  the  disturber  of  high  and  of  low> 
Which  serv'd  him  for  parlour,  for  kitchen,  and  That  shootg  at  the  peasant  as  well  as  the  beau> 

'  _  He  shot  the  poor  cobbler  quite  thorough  the 
No  coin  in  his  pocket,  nor  care  in  his  pate,  heart  • 

No  ambition  had  he,  nor  duns  at  his  gate.  l  wish  he  had  hit  some  more  ignoble  part. 
Derry  down,  down,  down,  derry  down.  Derry  down>  dowilj  &c 

Contented  he  work'd,  and  he  thought  himself 

happy,  [nappy ;  ^  was  ^rom  a  ce^ar  tms  archer  did  play, 

If  at  night  he  could  purchase  a  jug  of  brown  Where  a  buxom  young  damsel  continually  lay ; 
How  he'd  laugh  then,  and  whistle,  and  sing,   Her  eyes  shone  so  briSht  when  she  rose  ev'ry 

too,  most  sweet,  day»  [way, 

Saying  just  to  a  hair  I  have  made  both  ends  That  she  shot  the  Poor  cobbler  quite  over  the 

meet.  Derry  down,  down,  &c.  Den7  down»  down>  &c- 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES    I.   AND   CHARLES  I. 


353 


He  sang  her  love  songs  as  he  sat  at  his  work  : 
But  she  was  as  hard  as  a  Jew  or  a  Turk ; 
Whenever  he  spake,  she  would  flounce  and 

would  fleer, 

Which  put  the  poor  cobbler  quite  into  despair. 
Derry  down,  down,  &c. 

He  took  up  his  awl  that  he  had  in  the  world, 
And  to  make  away  with  himself  was  resolv'd ; 


Hepierc'd  through  his  body  instead  of  his  sole, 
So  the  cobbler  he  died,  and  the  bell  it  did  toll. 
Derry  dcrwn,  down,  &c. 

And  now  in  good-will  I  advise  as  a  friend, 
All  cobblers  take  warning   by  this  cobbler's 
end ;  [what's  past, 

Keep  your  hearts  out  of  love,  for  we  find  by 
That  love  brings  us  all  to  an  end  at  the  last. 
Derry  down,  down,  &c. 


TOM  TINKER'S  MY  TRUE-LOVE. 

The  tune  of  Tom  Tinker's  my  true  love  is  mentioned  in  a  black-letter  tract, 
called  The  World's  Folly,  which  was  reprinted  in  The  British  Bibliographer, 
edited  by  Sir  Egerton  Brydges : — "  A  pot  of  strong  ale,  which  was  often  at  his  nose, 
kept  his  face  in  so  good  a  coulour,  and  his  braine  in  so  kinde  a  heate,  as,  forgetting 
part  of  his  forepassed  pride,  (in  the  good  humour  of  grieving  patience,)  made  him, 
with  a  hemming  sigh,  ilfavourdly  singe  the  ballad  of  Whilom  I  was,  to  the  tune  of 
Tom  Tinker."  (ii.  559).  The  tune  is  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to 
1698.  About  the  latter  period  it  seems  to  have  been  rejected  for  another  air 
(under  the  same  name),  which  is  printed  with  the  words  in  Pills  to  purge 
Melancholy,  vi.  265 ;  and  was  introduced  in  The  Beggars'  Opera  for  the  song 
Which  way  shall  I  turn  me  ? 

The  following  tune  is  from  The  Dancing  Master : — 


-^       moderate 

time. 

J      J        1 

&=^=^\ 

H  —  i  —  1 

-i 

F£= 

-f&n 

tj 
Tom 
For  of 

NvJ|',     I" 

Tin-ker's  my    true  love,  And 
all   the  young     men          he 

1      am    his     dear,  An 
has    the  best  way  ;  All 

m    •    m  *  -,- 

*\    r 

d      I      will  go 
the  day        he  wil 

a      • 

r 

•       c^ 

vz          m 

Q 

_ 

r- 

\ 

i             L 

r      i 

m 

W 

i 

n 

L      ^ 

• 

i 

F       n     • 

-  ~ 

1 

1 

i"'  1 

i                                                     •                ' 

3 

- 

i     • 

i 

i 

i 

—  J  — 

—^  —  —  t 

—  1  —  j 

si  J  — 

rj 

-Fl- 

3  —  —  EH 

0  — 

—  *— 

—  a,  —  =• 

—  J  — 

•  —  •  — 

—  ^  J  ^ 

-^  —  J— 

S               ^       *-     .         •           T*                                «|      •                  -|          y        f      -ej-     - 
with  him,  his     bud  -  get     to       bear,            This      way,   that       way,    which  -  e  -  ver    you 

fid  -  die,  at     night  he    will     play. 

C5 

• 

C3       • 

-r  —  9  

i  F  

-p—  ^ 

—  h-  f 

—  F  — 

c 



•  — 

L     H 

L^ 

-|  h-      -~ 

1  —  r  i  •-  - 

r-S 

r-j  f^T    ) 

\ 

i 

[-J  .  «N  ^  | 

—9  

—  i  — 

1 

wi' 

t  —  ^ 
i,    ri 

1  —  f 

n 

^j              F   .  __ 
sure         I     say 

~~^~     ~tr~ 

no  -  thir 

ig   that 

^ 

yc 

T    ' 

u    car 

V 

i     tal 

ie 

il 

1 

- 
. 



k^ 

r—  f 

M  — 

k 

1  

* 



2  A 


854 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  Tom  Tinker  of  The  Beggars'  Opera,  and  to  which  D'Urfey  prints  the 
above  words,  is  subjoined. 


Moderate  time,  and  Smoothly. 


m 


5 


^iy. 


34- 


NORTHERN  NANCY. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  every  edition  of  TJie  Dancing  Master,  after  1665. 
It  is  evidently  only  another  version  of  With  my  flock  as  walked  I  (ante  p.  157).8 
"  Then  plump  Bobbing  Joan  straight  call'd  for  her  own, 

And  thought  she  frisk'd  better  than  any, 
Till  Sisly,  with  pride,  took  the  fiddler  aside, 
And  bade  him  strike  up  Northern  Nanny" 

Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  232,  1719. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  252,  is  a  black-letter  ballad,  entitled  "  The 
Map  of  Mock-Begger  Hall,  with  his  scituation  in  the  spacious  countrey  called 
ANYWHERE.  To  the  tune  of  It  is  not  your  Northern  Nanny ;  or  Sweet  is  the 
lass  that  loves  me."  It  commences  thus : 

"  I  read  in  ancient  times  of  yore  And  few  men  seek  them  to  repair, 

That  men  of  worthy  calling  Nor  is  there  one  among  twenty 

Built  alms-houses  and  spittles  store,         That  for  good  deeds  will  take  any  care, 

Which  now  are  all  down  falling ;  While  Mock- Beggar  Hall  stands  empty  " 

It  consists  of  twelve  stanzas,  and  "  Printed  at  London  for  Richard  Harper,  neere 
to  the  Hospitall  Gate  in  Smithfield." 

In  the  same  Collection,  iii.  218,  is  another  version  of  the  same  ballad,  issued 
by  the  same  printer,  but  with  variations  in  the  imprint,  in  the  number  of  stanzas, 
and  in  the  woodcut. 

The  first  has  a  woodcut  of  a  country  mansion ;  the  second  of  a  castle.  The 
second  has  three  additional  stanzas,  and  variations  in  the  remaining  twelve. 
The  title  commences,  "  Mock-Begger's-Hall,"  instead  of  "  The  Map  of; "  and 


•  I  had  not  observed  the  identity  of  these  tunes  when 
the  former  sheet  went  to  press  ;  otherwise  I  should  have 
compressed  the  account  of  them  under  one  head.  The 


difference  is  chiefly  in  the  two  first  hars,  but  even  that 
variation  is  diminished  in  the  copy  called  The  faithful 
Brothers,  to  which  I  have  referred  at  the  former  page. 


EEIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


355 


at  the  end,  "  London :  Printed  for  Richard  Harper,  at  the  Bible  and  Harp  in 
Smithfield." 

Mr.  Payne  Collier,  who  has  reprinted  the  latter  in  his  Roxburghe  Ballads,  is  of 
opinion  that,  although  Richard  Harper  printed  during  the  Commonwealth,  the 
ballad  itself  is  of  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  (It  contains  the 
same  complaints  of  the  decay  of  hospitality  that  are  to  be  found  in  The  Queen's 
Old  Courtier.)  The  first  stanza  of  the  second  ballad  is  here  printed  to  the  tune. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  390,  is  another  ballad,  called  The  ruined 
Lover,  &c.,  "  to  the  tune  of  Mock-Begger*  s  Hall  stands  empty"  beginning — 
"  Mars  shall  to  Cupid  now  submit,  For  it  is  new,  'tis  strange  and  true, 

For  he  hath  gain'd  the  glory ;  As  ever  age  afforded ; 

You  that  in  love  were  never  yet,  A  tale  more  sad  you  never  had 

Attend  unto  my  story ;  In  any  books  recorded." 

This  was  printed  by  W.  Thackeray,  temp.  Charles  II. 

Northern  Nancy  is  one  of  the  tunes  called  for  by  "  the  hob-nailed  fellows  "  in 
The  Second  Tale  of  a  Tub,  8vo.,  1715. 

-  Rather  slowly. 


In         an-cient  times  when  as  plain  dealing  Was  most  of  all    in      fashion,  There 


was    not  then    half     so  much  stealing,  Nor      men    so  giv'n     to      pas   -    sion :  But 


J|J       •       J: 


•1  ~**^-                               01     ,    ^    1 

m          ^       H         J 

d  '   •               i         m 

J                I 

—3  •  —  •       f 

•  flj  —  •— 

-*  —  «3 

*1  :  4  —  f_ 

now  -  a  -  days,  truth 

so       de-cays,  And 

—  d  —  1  —  ' 

false  knaves  there  are 

1 

^S-.-J. 

plen  -  ty,     So 

f                   .              m 

I  9 

N 

• 

-+  ^—  r  E— 

-f  —  r   f   '- 

-|-       -£-J- 

-b- 

pride      ex  -  ceeds     all          o  -  ther  deeds,  And  Mock-beggar  Hall  stands     emp  -  ty. 


' 


i *~f- 


356  ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

I  HAVE  BUT  A  MARK  A  YEAR. 

This  tune  is  to  be  found  in  Pills  io  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  116,  1700  and  1707 ; 
or  iv.  116,  1719.  The  ballad  is  by  Martin  Parker,  and  a  copy  is  contained  in 
the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  122.  In  the  preface  to  the  Pills,  Playford  tells  us 
that  the  words  of  the  songs  "  which  are  old  have  their  rust  generally  filed  from 
them,  which  cannot  but  make  them  very  agreeable."  This  is  one  that  has 
undergone  the  process  of  " filing; "  it  is  abbreviated,  but  certainly  not  improved, 
by  the  operation.  The  copy  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection  is  entitled  "  A  fair 
portion  for  a  fair  Maid ;  or — 

The  thrifty  maid  of  Worcestershire,  This  mark  was  her  old  mother's  gift, 

Who  lives  at  London  for  a  mark  a  year;         She  teaches  all  maids  how  to  thrift. 
To  the  tune  of  Grammercy,  Penny"     (The  first  stanza  is  here  printed  with  the 
music.)     G-rammercy  (or  God-a-mercy) ,  Penny,  derives  its  name  from  the  burden 
of  another  ballad,  also  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection  (i.  400),  entitled  "There's 
nothing  to  be  had  without  money ;  or — 

He  that  brings  money  in  his  hand,  His  fortune  is  a  great  deal  worse ; 

Is  sure  to  speed  by  sea  and  land ;  Then  happy  are  they  that  always  have 

But  he  that  hath  no  coin  in's  purse,  A  penny  in  purse,  their  credit  to  save. 

To  a  new  Northern  tune,  or  Ttie  mother  beguiVd  the  daughter"   It  commences  thus : 
"  You  gallants  and  you  swagg'ring  blades,      I  always  lov'd  to  wear  good  clothes, 

Give  ear  unto  my  ditty ;  And  ever  scorned  to  take  blows; 

I  am  a  boon-companion  known  I  am  belov'd  of  all  me  knows, 

In  country,  town,  and  city;  But  God-a-mercy penny" 

This  was  "printed  at  London  for  H[enry]  G[osson]."  Six  stanzas  in  the 
first,  and  eight  in  the  second  part. 

Another  ballad,  from  the  same  press,  is  "  The  Praise  of  Nothing  :  to  the  tune 
of  Though  I  have  but  a  marke  a  yeare,  &c."  A  copy  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection, 
i.  328,  and  reprinted  in  Payne  Collier's  Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  147.  The 
following  lines  are  added  to  the  title  of  the  ballad : — 

"  Though  some  do  wonder  why  I  write  the  praise 
Of  Nothing  in  these  lamentable  days, 
When  they  have  read,  and  will  my  counsel  take, 
I  hope  of  Nothing  they  will  Something  make ! " 
The  above  contains  much  excellent  advice. 

Having  traced  the  tune  from  I  have  but  a  mark  a  year  to  G-od-a-mercy,  Penny, 
and  from  the  latter  to  "  a  new  Northern  tune,  or  The  mother  beguiPd  the  daughter," 
the  following  ballads  may  also  be  referred  to  it : — 

Roxburghe,  i.  238 — "  The  merry  careless  lover :  Or  a  pleasant  new  ditty,  called 
I  love  a  lass  since  yesterday,  and  yet  I  cannot  get  her.     To  the  tune  of  The 
mother  beguilde  the  daughter" 
"  Oft  have  I  heard  of  many  men  I  have  lov'd  a  lass  since  yesterday, 

Whom  love  hath  sore  tormented,  And  yet  I  cannot  get  her. 

With  grief  of  heart,  and  bitter  smart,  But  let  her  choose — if  she  refuse, 

And  minds  much  discontented;  And  go  to  take  another, 

Such,  love  to  me  shall  never  be,  I  will  not  grieve,  but  still  will  be 

Distasteful,  grievous,  bitter!  The  merry  careless  lover"  &c. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


357 


Signed  Robert  Guy.     Twelve  stanzas.     Printed  at  London  for  F.  Coules,  and 
reprinted  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  i.  176,  1810. 
Roxburghe,  i.  314,  "  A  Peerless  Paragon ;  or — 

Few  so  chaste,  so  beauteous,  or  so  fair ; 
For  with  my  love  I  think  none  can  compare. 
To  the  tune  of  Ttie  mother  beguild  the  daughter." 
"  In  times  of  yore  sure  men  did  doat,  For,  read  of  all  the  faces  then 

And  beauty  never  knew,  That  did  most  brightly  shine, 

Else  women  were  not  of  that  note,  Be  judg'd  by  all  true-judging  men, 

As  daily  come  to  view :  They  were  not  like  to  mine." 

This  has  no  burden.     It  consists  of  thirteen  stanzas.     "  Printed  at  London  for 
Thomas  Lambert." 

Martin  Parker's  ballad,  "  The  Countrey  Lasse,"  to  the  tune  of  The  mother 
beguild  the  daughter,  has  been  quoted  at  p.  306,  but  it  appears  also  to  have  had  a 
separate  tune,  which  will  be  given  hereafter. 


I- 

—  J-j  f- 

N- 

i 

~rTj~ 

Now 

all  my   friends    are 

-ij!  'J  _•[  •  ^  j    j 

dead      and    gone,     A  -las!   what 

jj  ^ 

will   be     - 

'  >"tl 

1 

n3cn    j- 

1 

C^L                                                                                                   Cj 

3  1  

-—  H  1 

fZi 

—fj  

1 

n 

r    j    j    w 

j 

'1           I 

•          r 

1 

-4 

nS  —  •  —  iS 

J  J  *  —  * 

'    J      J  J— 

•  —  J-J— 

i*  —  c*~^ 

—  is  —  r  *  h  w^'  —  53  •—  c 
r       -^r  ^    ^-      i        " 

—  4—        '    » 

-tide  me,        For       I, 

poor  maid,  am      left    a-lone,  With  -  out    a  house  to     hide  me. 

1£  1     J      '•>     :  i 

—^  

—  f 

1  

e>  
«>.   ...  ^ 

—  H 

1            J-J 

=  —  a 

-•-.\  J  ^JJ  i  J  Ji  J-J  ^Ji 

-T^^>.   i  i 

|  j   J   rp^_| 

1  ^  ^  ^  K  0  J  m  — 
—  ^  L-  i                                              i—  —                                   !•-  Q(         ,,.-,.-.—.-,          ,           0 

Yet     still     I'll  be  of   merry      cheer,      And  have  kind  welcome  ev'-ry 

-      m     -f-p  m  f-   f    *      CV~N                                              -^ 

-  where,    Thougl 

-rf  f  LfC  T;±£-H-r-r-: 

—  §  ^  

—  ^f  

n  t  f 

-,  —  h-^—  - 

I      have  but      a        mark     a      year,   And 

3  —  ^      C\      f=>- 

that       my       mo-ther  gave     me. 

:  ^             —  5.             '           " 

S      i  -14     rF 

_=,  =j  

_j  —  __^  — 

358  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD  MUSIC. 

I  TELL  THEE,  DICK,  WHERE  I  HAVE  BEEN. 

This  celebrated  ballad,  by  Sir  John  Suckling,  was  occasioned  by  the  marriage 
of  Roger  Boyle,  the  first  Earl  of  Orrery  (then  Lord  Broghill),  with  Lady 
Margaret  Howard,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Suffolk.  The  words  are  in  the  first 
edition  of  Sir  John  Suckling's  works,  1646 ;  in  Wit's  Recreation,  1654 ;  in 
Merry  Drollery  Complete,  1661 ;  Antidote  to  Melancholy,  1661 ;  in  The  Convivial 
Songster,  1782 ;  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  p.  223  ;  and  Ellis'  Specimens  of  Early 
English  Poets,  iii.  248. 

The  tune  is  in  A  Choice  Collection  of  180  Loyal  Songs,  third  edit.,  1685  ;  in 
Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  vol.  L,  1699  and  1707 ;  in  The  Convivial  Songster, 
1782,  &c. 

The  following  were  written  to  the  tune : — 

1.  The  Cavalier's  Complaint.    A  copy  in  the  Bagford  Collection  (643,  m.  11, 
p.  23)  dated  1660 ;  and  one  in  the  King's  Pamphlets,  No.  19,  fol.,  1661 ;  others 
in  Antidote  to  Melancholy;  Merry  Drollery,  1670;  The  New  Academy  of  Com- 
pliments, 1694  and  1713 ;  and  Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  vi.  352 ;  &c. 

"  Come,  Jack,  let's  drink  a  pot  of  ale,  And  I  suppose  the  place  can  shew 

And  I  will  tell  thee  such  a  tale,  As  few  of  those  whom  thou  didst  know 

Shall  make  thine  ears  to  ring ;  At  York,  or  Marston-Moor. 

My  coin  is  spent,  my  time  is  lost,  But>  truly>  there  flre  Bwarmg  of  tho8e 

And  I  this  only  fruit  can  boast—  Whoge  ching  are  beardle88)  yet  their  hose 

That  once  I  saw  my  King.  And  buttocks  stin  wear  muffs . 

But  this  doth  most  afflict  my  mind —  Whilst  the  old  rusty  Cavalier 

I  went  to  court  in  hope  to  find  Retires,  or  dares  not  once  appear, 

Some  of  my  friends  in  place ;  For  want  of  coin  and  cuffs. 

And,  walking  there,  I  had  a  sight  When  none  of  these  j  CQuld  degcryj 

Of  all  the  crew— but,  by  this  light,  (who  better  far  deserVd  than  I>} 

I  hardly  knew  one  face  I  Calmly  did  l  reflect . 

S'life,  of  so  many  noble  sparks,  Old  services,  by  rule  of  state, 

"Who  on  their  bodies  bear  the  marks  Like  almanacks,  grow  out  of  date ; 

Of  their  integrity,  What  then  can  I  expect  ? 

And  suffer'd  ruin  of  estate,  Trotll)  in  ^tempt  of  fortune's  frown, 

It  was  my  damn'd  unhappy  fate  ru  ge(.  me  fairly  out  of  town> 

That  I  not  one  could  see.  And  in  a  cloister  pray 

Not  one,  upon  my  life,  among  That  since  the  stars  are  yet  unkind 

My  old  acquaintance,  all  along  To  Royalists,  the  King  may  find 

At  Truro,  and  before ;  More  faithful  friends  than  they." 

2.  An  Echo  to  the  Cavalier's  Complaint.    Copies  in  The  Antidote  to  Melancholy, 
1661;  Merry  Drollery  Complete,  1670 ;  New  Academy  of  Compliments  ;  &c. 

"  I  marvel,  Dick,  that  having  been  Are  we  to  learn  what  is  a  court  ? 

So  long  abroad,  and  having  seen  A  pageant  made  for  Fortune's  sport, 

The  world,  as  thou  hast  done,  Where  merits  scarce  appear ; 

Thou  shouldst  acquaint  me  with  a  tale  For  bashful  merit  only  dwells 

As  old  as  Nestor,  and  as  stale  In  camps,  in  villages,  and  cells ; 

As  that  of  priest  and  nun.  Alas  !  it  dwells  not  there. 


REIGNS   OP  JAMES  I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  359 

Desert  is  nice  in  its  address,  And  courtiers  find't  their  interest 

And  merit  oft-times  doth  oppress,  In  time  to  feather  well  their  nest, 

Beyond  what  guilt  would  do ;  Providing  for  their  fall. 

But  they  are  sure  of  their  demands  Our  comfort  doth  Qn  timfl  d        d 

That  come  to  court  with  golden  hands,  Thing8)  when  they  are  ftt 

And  brazen  faces  too.  And  lefc  U8  but  reflec(. 

The  King,  they  say,  doth  still  profess  On  our  condition  th'other  day, 

To  give  his  party  some  redress,  When  none  but  tyrants  bore  the  sway, 

And  cherish  honesty ;  What,  then,  did  we  expect  ? 

But  his  good  wishes  prove  in  vain,  Meanwhile,  a  calm  retreat  is  best  • 

Whose  service  with  his  servant's  gain  But  di8COntent>  if  not  supprest, 

Not  always  doth  agree.  wiu  breed  di8loyalty. 

All  princes,  be  they  ne'er  so  wise,  This  is  the  constant  note  I  sing, — 

Are  fain  to  see  with  others'  eyes,  I  have  been  faithful  to  my  king, 

But  seldom  hear  at  all ;  And  so  shall  ever  be. 

3.   Upon  Sir  John  Suckling's  100  Horse.    Contained  in  Le  Prince  d*  Amour,  or 
The  Prince  of  Love,  1660,  p.  148.     Sir  John  raised  a  magnificent  regiment  of 
cavalry  at  his  own  expense  (12,000/.),  in  the  beginning  of  our  civil  wars,  which 
became  equally  conspicuous  for  cowardice  and  finery.     They  rendered  him  the 
subject  of  much  ridicule ;  and  although  he  had  previously  served  in  a  campaign 
under  Gustavus  Adolphus — during  which  he  was  present  at  three  battles,  five 
sieges,  and  as  many  skirmishes — his  military  reputation  did  not  escape. 
"  I  tell  thee,  Jack,  thou  gav'st  the  King        For  ev'ry  horse  shall  have  on's  back 
So  rare  a  present,  that  nothing  A  man  as  valiant  as  Sir  Jack, 

Could  welcomer  have  been ;  Although  not  half  so  witty : 

A  hundred  horse  !  beshrew  my  heart,          Yet  I  did  hear  the  other  day 
It  was  a  brave  heroic  part,  Two  tailors  made  seven  run  away, 

The  like  will  scarce  be  seen.  Good  faith,  the  more's  the  pity."  &c. 

There  are  seven  stanzas,  and  then  "  An  Answer  "  to  it.a 

4  and  5.  A  ballad  on  a  Friend's  Wedding,  and  Three  Merry  Boys  of  Kent, 
in  Folly  in  Print,  or  a  Book  of  Rhymes,  1667. 

6.  A  new  ballad,  called  The  Chequers  Inn,  in  Poems  on  State  Affairs,  iii.  57, 
1704,     It  begins  : — "  I  tell  thee,  Dick,  where  I  have  been, 

Where  I  the  Parliament  have  seen,"  &c. 

7.  A  Christmas  Song,  when  the  Rump  Parliament  was  first  dissolved,  Loyal 
Songs,  ii.  99,  1731. 

Besides  these,  there  is  one  in  Carey's  Trivial  Poems,  1651 ;  three  in  180  Loyal 
Songs,  1685  ;  &c. 

"  The  grace  and  elegance  of  Sir  John  Suckling's  songs  and  ballads  are  in- 
imitable." "  They  have  a  touch,"  says  Phillips,  "  of  a  gentle  spirit,  and  seem 

»  These  were  not  the  only  satires  Sir  John  Suckling  With  a  hundred  horse,  without  remorse, 

had  to  bear.    There  were,  at  least,  two  others.  One,  to                    To  keep  ye  from  the  foe; 

the  tune  of  John  Dory,  begins—  No  carpet  knight  ever  went  to  fight 

"Sir  John  got  on  a  bonny  brown  beast,  With  half  so  much  bravado ;                     [the  book, 

To  Scotland  for  to  ride-a;  Had  you  seen  but  his  look,  you  would  sweare  by 

A  brave  buff  coat  upon  his  back,  He'd  ha'  conquer'd  the  whole  Armado." 

And  a  short  sword  by  his  side-a."  There  are  also  two  other  versions  of  the  latter;  the  one 

The  other—  beginning,  "Then  as  it  fell  out  on  a  holiday,"  (see  "  Cen- 

"  Sir  John  got  him  an  ambling  nag,  sura  Literaria,"  vol.  vi.,  p.  269)  and  the  other  in  Percy's 

To  Scotland  for  to  go,  Reliqites  of  Ancient  Poetry,  vol.  ii.,  p.  326. 


360 


ENGLISH    SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


to  savour  more  of  the  grape  than  the  lamp."     The  author  of  the  song  above 
quoted  from  Folly  in  Print,  says — 

"  I  do  not  write  to  get  a  name,  And  Snckling  hath  shut  up  that  door, 

At  best  this  is  but  ballad-fame ;  To  all  hereafter,  as  before." 

Sir  John  died  in  1641,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight.     The  ballad  is  a 
countryman's  description  of  a  wedding. 
Smoothly. 


'11   tell  thee,  Dick,  where  I    have  been,  Where  I     the          ra  -  rest  things  have 

±= 


3 


i 


m 


jT 

,  J-  ,—  I  r^=r  ,  . 

•  

~& 

1  '  '     1     — 

r  ;  ^  .  f 

—  —  ^  —  01  —  j  — 

1  —  i  

—  &        f          4    •    *      w      4 

\  —  0  —  :  §  1 

«                 r 

seen,     Oh  !  things    beyond  corn-pare.  Such  sights  a  -  gain  can-not  be  found     In  a-ny 

—  ^t  r—  -m  m  1  1  IPI  1  •—  r-t  .  •—  •  1  , 

'  P  

— 

-  —  i  —  r  — 

rj  i     . 

—  »H  

1  

i    «i  — 



—  d  

^N 

r^ 

-i 

.  ^  J- 

i             J    i 

J 

place       on     En-glish     ground,             Be 

it          at    Wake    or 

Fair. 

1 

1                    i 

f 

A 

d                   * 

9                           t 

"At  Charing  Cross,  hard  by  the  way  And  there  did  I  see,  coming  down, 

Where  we,  thou  know'st,  do  sell  our  hay,          Such  folk  as  are  not  in  our  town, 

There  is  a  house  with  stairs;  Forty,  at  least,  in  pairs." 

There  are  twenty-two  stanzas,  but  some  lines  of  the  ballad  might  now  be 
considered  objectionable.  I  have,  therefore,  extracted  the  following — a  part  of 
the  description  of  the  bride : — 

The  maid — and  thereby  hangs  a  tale — 
For  such  a  maid  no  Whitsun-ale 

Could  ever  yet  produce  : 
No  grape  that's  kindly  ripe  could  be 

Her  cheeks  so  rare  a  white  was  on, 
No  daisy  makes  comparison  ; 

(Who  sees  them  is  undone;) 
For  streaks  of  red  were  mingled  there, 
Such  as  are  on  a  Kath'rine  pear, 


But,  oh !  she  dances  such  a  way, 
No  sun  upon  an  Easter-day 
Is  half  so  fine  a  sight. 


So  round,  so  plump,  so  soft  as  she, 
Nor  half  so  full  of  juice. 


Her  finger  was  so  small,  the  ring 
Would  not  stay  on  which  they  did  bring, 

It  was  too  wide  a  peck  : 
And,  to  say  truth,  (for  out  it  must,) 
It  lookt  like  the  great  collar  (just) 

About  our  young  colt's  neck. 

Her  feet  beneath  her  petticoat, 

Like  little  mice  stole  in  and  out, 

As  if  they  fear'd  the  light; 


The  side  that's  next  the  sun. 

Her  lips  were  red,  and  one  was  thin, 
Compar'd  to  that  was  next  her  chin  ; 

Some  bee  had  stung  it  newly  : 
But,  Dick,  her  eyes  so  guard  her  face, 
I  durst  no  more  upon  them  gaze. 

Than  on  the  sun  in  July. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


361 


THE  COURT  LADY. 

The  first  ballad  in  the  Collection  of  Old  Ballads,  8vo.,  1727,  vol.  i.,  is  "The 
unfortunate  Concubine,  or  Rosamond's  Overthrow ;  occasioned  by  her  brother's 
praising  her  beauty  to  two  young  knights  of  Salisbury,  as  they  rid  on  the  road. 
To  the  tune  of  The  Court  Lady."  I  have  not  found  the  ballad  of  The  Court  Lady, 
but  the  tune  is  contained  in  The  Dancing  Master,  from  1650  to  1698,  under  the 
name  of  Confess,  or  The  Court  Lady. 

This  ballad  of  Fair  Rosamond  is  so  exceedingly  long  (twenty-six  stanzas  of 
eight  lines,  and  occupying  ten  pages  in  vol.  ii.  of  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  where  it  is 
reprinted) ,  that  the  first,  third,  and  fourth  stanzas  only,  are  here  subjoined. 


•^     Moderat 

/kb  "     fe 

e  tfzme. 

K—  1  f*- 

i   J   1 

F^  

1—  h 

,  j    ,M  — 

fly7  8  ^  -j  j  •  ^  •- 

Sweet,  youthful,  charming 

;):Ln  J»|  J    .    .==! 

a 
i! 

H^  =*='=!""= 

-  dies  fair,     Fram'd     of    the 

rp  i  j  ' 

pu  -  rest  mould,  With 

ir  •  r  J*' 

—  i?  8  —  I  — 

"N             -*- 

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~~F>  —  I  —  F*~ 

I      h 

rd  ' 

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rJ     ^J     i 

S-, 

—~9 
rc 

^-^ 

-    sy  cheeks  and 

1     i   J    —I 

I 

'TI 

si! 

^     i 

k  -  en     hair, 

-8—^  —  ^  •  j         -^j  —  «  — 

Which   shine     like   threads     of   gold  ;  Soft 

i  r  •  r  •    if  '    r  •  i 

—  \_^_ 

1      • 

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M  E 

i 

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r  J     r» 

^         I                   \^~h 

S^N 

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n        • 

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P      \               r* 

^ 

—  *  —  J  •  — 

—  *  J  &«— 

9 

i 

IT-)  a 

.  JI^J  J__J_ 

f  

—  *  —  m— 

tears     of    pi    -  ty       here    be       -       stow,           On 

fr    -2     Bp-   : 

the      un    -  hap-py    fate  Of 

\                   r* 

1  *  -.  

=J  —  -.  —  ^--f*- 

-n  J  

i—  '                    p—^..—^          K      .                                   IS                N                           1 

—  |  -^    J~  g  '~J 

j  j   j  . 

—\  0-^ft  j— 

—  ji»    *i  — 

Ro  -  sa   -   mond,  who 

hi  d    j  .  ' 

long  a    -    go, 

I  ;       •    i  \m  •  —  i  —  u__^ 

Proved   most      un  -  for  -  tu  -  nate. 

U  '    r~~^ 

—  P  *  a  ;  

~F  —  '  —  r  —  r~ 

=^= 

1       ' 

1  1  1 

—  ^~ 

L^  —  :  ,_! 

As  three  young  knights  of  Salisbury 

Were  riding  on  the  way, 
One  boasted  of  a  fair  lady, 

Within  her  bower  so  gay  : 
I  have  a  sister,  Clifford  swears, 

But  few  men  do  her  know  ; 
Upon  her  face  the  skin  appears 

Like  drops  of  blood  on  snow. 


My  sister's  locks  of  curled  hair 

Outshine  the  golden  ore; 
Her  skin  for  whiteness  may  compare 

With  the  fine  lily  flow'r; 
Her  breasts  are  lovely  to  behold, 

Like  to  the  driven  snow ; 
I  would  not,  for  her  weight  in  gold, 

King  Henry  should  her  know,  &c. 


362 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


GATHER  YOUR  ROSEBUDS  WHILE  YOU  MAY. 

This  song  is  in  Playford's  Ayres  and  Dialogues,  1659,  p.  101 ;  in  Playford's 
Introduction  to  Music,  third  edit.,  1660 ;  in  Musictfs  Delight  on  the  Cithren,  1666; 
and  in  The  Musical  Companion,  1667.  The  music  is  the  composition  of  William 
Lawes ;  the  poetry  by  Herrick.  It  became  popular  in  ballad-form,  and  is  in  the 
list  of  those  printed  by  W.  Thackeray,  at  the  Angel  in  Duck  Lane,  as  well  as 
in  Merry  Drollery  Complete,  1670.  It  has  been  reprinted  (from  a  defective 
copy)  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  iii.  287,  1810.  Herrick  addresses  it  "To  the 
Virgins,  to  make  much  of  time."  Hesperides,  i.  110,  1846. 


Gather    ye  rose-buds  while     ye   may,  Old  Time  is    still     a     fly  -  ing ; 


And  this  same  flow'r  that  smiles  to-day,     To-mor-row    will      be         dy-ing 


s 


£ 


The  glorious  lamp  of  heaven,  the  sun, 

The  higher  he  is  getting, 
The  sooner  will  his  race  be  run, 

And  nearer  he's  to  setting. 

That  age  is  best  which  is  the  first, 
When  youth  and  blood  are  warmer ; 


But  being  spent,  the  worse  and  worst 
Times  still  succeed  the  former. 

Then  be  not  coy,  but  use  your  time, 
And,  while  ye  may,  go  marry ; 

For  having  once  but  lost  your  prime, 
You  may  for  ever  tarry. 


THREE  MERRY  BOYS  ARE  WE. 

This  is  properly  a  round,  and  composed  by  William  Lawes,  who  was  appointed 
Gentleman  of  the  Chapel  Koyal  in  1602.  He  became  afterwards  one  of  Charles 
the  First's  Chamber  Musicians,  and  was  killed  fighting  for  his  cause  in  1645. 

It  is  to  be  found  in  Hilton's  Catch  that  catch  can,  1652  ;  in  Playford's  Musical 
Companion;  in  Musick's  Delight  on  the  Cithren ;  &c.  The  words  have  been 
adduced  by  Sir  John  Hawkins  to  illustrate  the  Three  merry  men  are  we  quoted 
by  Shakespeare,  See  note  to  Twelfth  Night,  act  ii.,  sc.  3. 

In  Merry  Drollery  Complete,  1670,  is  a  parody  on  this,  entitled  "  The  Cam- 
bridge Droll  "— 

"  The  'proctors  are  two  and  no  more,          I  wish  they  were  more  for  me  : 
Then  hang  them,  that  makes  them  three  ;  For  three  merry  boys,  and  three  merry  boys, 

The  taverns  are  but  four,  And  three  merry  boys  are  we." 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


363 


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do>  — 

The  virtues  they  were  seven, 
And  three  the  greater  be  ; 
The  Caesars  they  were  twelve, 

Another  Three  merry  loys  are  we 


And  the  fatal  sisters  three. 
And  three  merry  girls,  and  three  merry  girls, 
And  three  merry  girls  are  we. 

been  already  quoted  (ante  p.  216). 


CUPID'S  COURTESY. 

Copies  of  this  ballad  are  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  58  ;  and  in  the  Douce 
Collection,  p.  27.  It  is  also  printed  entire,  with  the  tune,  in  Pills  to  purge 
Melancholy,  vi.  43. 

The  copy  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection  may  be  dated  as  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.,  being  "  printed  by  and  for  W.  0[nley],  for  Alexander]  Melbourne], 
and  sold  by  the  booksellers ; "  but  Mr.  Payne  Collier,  who  reprints  it  in  his  Book 
of  Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  80,  mentions  "  a  manuscript  copy,  dated  1595,"  as  still 
extant.  The  words  are  in  the  same  metre  as  Phillida  flouts  me,  and  Lady  lie  near 
me  (ante  pages  183  and  185),  but  the  stanzas  are  shorter,  being  of  eight  instead 
of  twelve  lines.  The  ballad  is  entitled  "  Cupid's  Courtesie ;  or  The  young  Gallant 
foil'd  at  his  own  weapon.  To  a  most  pleasant  Northern  tune.''"' 

In  another  volume  of  the  Douce  Collection  (p.  264)  is  "  The  Young  Man's 
Vindication  against  The  Virgin's  Complaint.  Tune  of  The  Virgin's  Complaint, 
or  Cupid's  Courtesie  ;  "  commencing — 

"  Sweet  virgin,  hath  disdain  Ne'er  to  love  man  again, 

Mov'd  you  to  passion, —  But  for  the  fashion  ?  "  &c. 


364 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


This  is  also  in  eight-line  stanzas  (black-letter)  ;  and  a  former  possessor  has 
pencill'd  against  the  name  of  the  tune,  "  I  am  so  deep  in  love."  I  have  referred 
to  I  am  so  deep  in  love  (ante  p.  183)  as  probably  another  name  for  Phillida  flouts 
me,  but  on  this  authority  it  should  rather  be  to  Cupid's  Courtesy. 

Smoothly. 


ttrf- 

/T  b  '    8 

£ 

H  n 

r— 

—  ^-p-  1  f 

i.  j.j  i 

Through  the 

cool     sha 

-  dy  woods 

—  1— 

As 

—  h  k-*--^  —    —+ 

Cj 

I      was      ran     -     gin 

1  3     J  il^-l 

g,     I     heard  the 

i                m     " 

_/ 

|&U= 
J    .    » 

TT 

4 

-P- 

rv 

—  4— 

-*- 
/• 

i  r    c-   e  r 

-id     M 

S  f  —  §  —  ,  —  ^— 

p  '  r  '[•  '  ^ 

pret  -  ty     birds  Notes  sweet  -  ly 

chan 

=f1"f  P  Ml1  "^ 

-  ging.  Down    by      the     mea  -  dow's     side 

="  r.  ,  ,  . 

h     j  -i 

-^ 

i  — 

-J  \— 

-i  —  H  —  a  — 

J 

•x 

-^- 

-*  —  J  —  ^—  L 

=t  

There  runs     a         ri  -  ver ;         A     lit  -  tie      boy     I  spied  With  bow     and      qui  -  ver 


m 


^ 


"  Little  boy,  tell  me  why  thou  art  here  diving ; 
Art  thou  some  runaway,  and  hast  no  biding  ?  " 
"  I  am  no  runaway  ;  Venus,  my  mother, 
She  gave  me  leave  to  play,  when  I  came  hither." 

"  Little  boy,  go  with  me,  and  be  my  servant ; 
I  will  take  care  to  see  for  thy  preferment."  [me, 
"If  I  with  thee  should  go,  Venus  would  chide 
And  take  away  my  bow,  and  never  abide  me." 

"  Little  boy,  let  me  know  what's  thy  name 

termed, 
That  thou  dost   wear  a  bow,   and  go'st  so 

armed?"  [changing, 

"You    may   perceive    the    same  with   often 
Cupid  it  is  my  name ;  1  live  by  ranging." 

"  If  Cupid  be  thy  name,  that  shoots  at  rovers, 
I  have  heard  of  thy  fame,  by  wounded  lovers  : 
Should  any  languish  that  are  set  on  fire 
By  such  a  naked  brat,  I  much  admire." 


"  If  thou  dost  but  the  least  at  my  laws  grumble, 
I'll  pierce  thy  stubborn  breast,  and  make  thee 

humble : 

If  I  with  golden  dart  wound  thee  but  surely, 
There's  no  physician's  art  that  e'er  can  cure 
thee." 

"  Little   boy,    with   thy  bow  why  dost   thou 

threaten  ? 

It  is  not  long  ago  since  thou  wast  beaten. 
Thy  wanton  mother,   fair  Venus,   will    chide 

thee: 

When  all  thy  arrows  are  gone,  thou  may'st  go 
hide  thee." 

"  Of  powerful  shafts,  you  see,  I  am  well  stored, 
Which  makes  my  deity  so  much  adored : 
With  one  poor  arrow  now  I'll  make  thee  shiver, 
And  bend  unto  my  bow,  and  fear  my  quiver." 


REIGNS   OP  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  365 

"  Dear  little  Cupid,  be  courteous  and  kindly  :  For  Cupid  with  his  craft  quickly  had  chosen, 

I   know    thou   canst    not   hit,    but    shootest  And  with  a  leaden  shaft  her  heart  had  frozen ; 

blindly."  [thee,  Which    caus'd    this     lover    more     sadly    to 

"Although  thou  call'st  me  blind,  surely  I'll  hit  languish, 

That  thou  shalt  quickly  find  ;   I'll  not  forget  And  Cupid's  aid  implore  to  heal  his  anguish. 

thee." 

Then  little  Cupid  caught  his  bow  so  nimble,  He  humbly  pardon  crav'd  for  his  offence  past, 

And  shot  a  fatal  shaft  which  made  me  tremble.  ~  V°W>d  himself  a  slave'  and  to  love  sted' 

jo  gf 

"  Go,  tell  thy  mistress  dear  thou  canst  discover     „. 

What  all  the  passions  are  of  a  dying  lover."        HlS  pray/S  S°  ardent  were>  whilst  his  heart 

panted, 

And  now  his  gallant  heart  sorely  was  bleeding,  That  Cupid  lent  an  ear,  and  his  suit  granted. 

And  felt  the  greatest  smart  from  love  proceed- 
ing :    '  For  by  his  present  plaint  he  was  regarded, 

He  did  her  help  implore  whom  he  affected,  And  his  adored  saint  his  love  rewarded. 

But  found  that  more  and  more  him  she  re-  And  now  they  live  in  joy,  sweetly  embracing, 

jected.  And  left  the  little  boy  in  the  woods  chasing. 

HAVE  AT  THY  COAT,  OLD  WOMAN. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master,  and  in  Musictfs 
Delight  on  the  Oithren,  1666. 

A  copy  of  the  ballad  from  which  it  derives  the  above  name  is  in  the  Pepys 
Collection,  i.  284.  It  is — 

"  A  merry  new  song  of  a  rich  widow's  wooing, 

Who  married  a  young  man  to  her  own  undoing. 

To  the  tune  of  Stand  thy  ground,  old  Harry"     It  is  a  long  ballad,  in  black- 
letter,  "  printed  at  London  for  T.  Langley,"  and  commences  thus : — 
"  I  am  so  sick  for  love,  Have  at  thy  coat,  old  woman, 

As  like  was  never  no  man,        [sigh,         Have  at  thy  coat,  old  woman, 
Which  makes  me  cry,  with  a  love -sick         Here  and  there,  and  everywhere, 
Have  at  thy  coat,  old  woman.  Have  at  thy  coat,  old  woman." 

I  have  not  found  the  ballad,  Stand  thy  ground,  old  Harry ;  but  there  is  another 
to  the  tune,  under  that  name,  in  the  same  volume,  i.  282 — "  A  very  pleasant 
new  ditty,  to  the  tune  of  Stand  thy  ground,  old  Harry ;  commencing,  "  Come, 
hostess,  fill  the  pot."  Printed  at  London  for  H.  Gosson. 

A  song,  commencing,  "  My  name  is  honest  Harry,"  to  the  tune  of  Robin 
Rowser,  which  is  in  the  same  metre,  is  contained  in  Westminster  Drollery,  1671 
and  1674  ;  and  in  Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  iv.  119.  I  imagine  that  Stand 
thy  ground,  old  Harry,  and  My  name  is  honest  Harry,  are  to  the  same  tune, 
although  I  cannot  prove  it.  The  words  of  the  latter  suit  the  air  so  exactly,  that 
I  have  here  printed  them  with  the  music. 

Whitlock,  in  his  Zootomia ;  or  Observations  on  the  Present  Manners  of  the 
English,  12mo.,  1654,  p.  45,  commences  his  character  of  a  female  quack,  with 
the  line,  "And  have  at  thy  coat,  old  woman"  In  Vox  Borealis,  4to.,  1641,  we 
find,  "  But  all  this  sport  was  little  to  the  court-ladies,  who  began  to  be  very 
melancholy  for  lack  of  company,  till  at  last  some  young  gentlemen  revived  an  old 
game,  called  Have  at  thy  coat,  old  woman" 


366 


Merrily. 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 

=d= 


My    name     is    ho  -  nest     Har  -  ry, 


And        I        love    lit  -  tie 


^    ^    K|         I==Sf:: 
-  ry ;       In      spite    of    Cis, 


Ma 


or        jealous  Bess,  I'll  have  myownva-ga  -  ry. 


f 

Her  stockings  of  a  Bow-dyed  hue, 
And  her  shoes  of  Spanish  leather. 

Her  smock  o'  th'  finest  holland, 

And  lac'd  in  every  quarter ; 
Side  and  wide,  and  long  enough, 

To  hang  below  her  garter. 

Then  to  the  church  I'll  have  her, 
Where  we  will  wed  together ; 

And  so  come  home  when  we  have  done, 
In  spite  of  wind  and  weather. 

The  fiddlers  shall  attend  us, 

And  first  play  John  come  kiss  me  ; 

And  when  that  we  have  danc'd  a  round, 
They  shall  play  Hit  or  miss  me. 

Then  hey  for  little  Mary, 

Tis  she  I  love  alone,  sir ; 
Let  any  man  do  what  he  can, 

I  will  have  her  or  none,  sir. 


My  love  is  blithe  and  buxom, 
And  sweet  and  fine  as  can  be, 

Fresh  and  gay  as  the  flowers  in  May, 
And  looks  like  Jack-a-dandy. 

And  if  she  will  not  have  me, 

That  am  so  true  a  lover, 
I'll  drink  my  wine,  and  ne'er  repine, 

And  down  the  stairs  I'll  shove  her. 

But  if  that  she  will  love  me, 
I'll  be  as  kind  as  may  be ; 

I'll  give  her  rings  and  pretty  things, 
And  deck  her  like  a  lady. 

Her  petticoat  of  satin, 
Her  gown  of  crimson  tabby, 

Lac'd  up  before,  and  spangled  o'er, 
Just  like  a  Bart'lemew  baby. 

Her  waistcoat  shall  be  scarlet, 
With  ribbons  tied  together ; 


A  HEALTH  TO  BETTY. 

This  tune  is  contained  in  every  edition  of  The  Dancing  Master,  and  in  MusicVs 
Delight  on  the  Cithren. 

D'Urfey  prints  "The  Female  Quarrel:  Or  a  Lampoon  upon  Phillida  and 
Chloris,  to  the  tune  of  a  country  dance,  call'd  A  health  to  Betty"  Pills 
ii.  110, 1719. 

In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  274,  is  a  ballad — "  Four-pence-half-penny-farthing ; 
or  A  woman  will  have  the  oddes;"  signed  M[artin]  P[arker].  "Printed  at 
London  for  C.  W.  To  the  tune  of  Bessy  Bell  [she  doth  excett],  or  A  health  to 
Betty"  The  first  verse  is  here  printed  to  the  tune. 

In  the  same  Collection,  ii.  372,  is  "  The  Northern  Turtle : 
Wayling  his  unhappy  fate, 
In  being  deprived  of  his  sweet  mate. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I. 


367 


To  a  new  Northern  tune,  or  A  health  to  Betty."     Printed  at  London  for  J.  H., 
and  beginning —        "  As  I  was  walking  all  alone." 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  318,  "  The  pair  of  Northern  Turtles — 
Whose  love  was  firm,  till  cruel  death 
Deprived  them  both  of  life  and  breath." 

This  is  also  "  to  a  new  Northern  tune,  or  A  health  to  Betty"  and  commences — 
"  Farewell,  farewell,  my  dearest  dear, 
All  happiness  wait  on  thee." 


-/       Gracefu 

%• 

—  rd  1   f\  ^ 

—  •  —  J  T- 

r"K 

m 

y  A  J* 

One 
It 

J  •  j  J  fl*  —  -P-  i    :    fl|  fl,-~  -    —  *  —  f--^—^ 

morn-ing  bright,  for    my  de-light,  In     -     to      the  fields  1     walked 
seem'd  to  me  they  could  not  agree  A    -    bout  some  pret-ty    bargain 

J         .         _     .                                             •                                     i 

• 

There 
,  He 

-^-):  J7-f]  —  =— 

I  —  :  • 

~:  1  5i  — 

~~f  F^ 

g  — 

-N- 

^ 

—  P   ft     ' 

\  p. 

J  E2  —  !  — 

T—  f^ 

1  •— 

i 

-J- 
=J*-1-  —  1*  3-3  — 

H  :  : 

^=1 

did       I         see        a      lad, 
offer'd  a      groat,    but    still 

1 

and    he               With    a  fair    maid  -  en       talk  -  ed. 
her  note  Was        four  -  pence  -  half-penny  -far  -thing. 

t                    J 

—  1 

J  :  M  :  

• 

H—  *  —  r- 

•-J— 

—  •  p  

P 

t=:i 

• 

-N 

1 

T  —  —  ' 

»—  i  — 

_ 

SHACKLEY-HAY. 

The  only  copy  I  have  found  of  this  tune  is  in  the  Skene  Manuscript,  temp. 
Charles  I. 

It  seems  to  derive  its  name  from  "  A  most  excellent  song  of  the  love  of  young 
Palmus  and  faire  Sheldra,  with  their  unfortunate  love."  Copies  of  this,  "  to  the 
tune  of  Shackley-hay,"  are  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  350 ;  in  the  Roxburgh^, 
i.  436  and  472;  the  Bagford,  fol.  75;  and  it  is  reprinted  in  Evans'  Old 
Ballads ,  i.  50. 

In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  344,  is  a  ballad  of  "  Leander's  love  to  Hero.  To 
the  tune  of  Shackley-hay"  beginning — 

"  Two  famovis  lovers  once  there  was." 

In  Westminster  Drollery,  1671  and  1674,  "  A  Song  of  the  Declensions.  The 
tune  is  Shackle  de  hay,"  and  the  same,  with  two  others,  in  Grammatical  Drollery, 
by  W.  H.  (Captain  Hicks),  1682. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  244,  and  the  Douce  Collection,  p.  109,  is 
"  The  Knitter's  Job :  Or  the  earnest  suitor  of  Walton  town  to  a  fair  maid,  with 
her  modest  answers,  and  conclusion  of  their  intents.     To  the  tune  of  ShacUey- 
hey"     It  commences  thus : — 
"  Within  the  town  of  Walton  fair,  This  maid  she  many  suitors  had, 

A  lovely  lass  did  dwell ;  And  some  were  good,  and  some  were  bad. 

Both  carding,  spinning,  knitting  yarn,  Fa,  la  la  la  la,  &c. 

She  could  do  all  full  well. 


368 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  Canaries  (a  dance  "with  sprightly  fire  and  motion,"  alluded  to  by 
Shakespeare,  and  which,  under  that  name,  seems  always  to  have  had  the  same 
tune)  is  called  "  The  Canaries,  or  The  Hay"  in  MusicVs  Handmaid,  1678. 
The  figure  of  The  Hay  was  also  frequently  danced  in  country-dances ;  but 
Shackley-hay  is  the  name  of  a  place  in  the  ballad.  It  is  very  long — twenty-four 
stanzas  of  eight  lines — I  have,  therefore,  selected  nine  from  the  first  part.  The 
second  recounts  young  Palmus's  going  to  sea  in  an  open  boat,  through  fair 
Sheldra's  disdain ;  his  being  wrecked  and  drowned,  and  the  sea-nymphs  falling  in 
love  with  him. 


Smoothly, 


Young   Pal-mus   was    a    Fer- ry  -  man,  Whom   Shel-dra        fair   did  love,  At 


J    .hJ  •    J  -|J.J^ 


-4..X. W._ 

HE 


f-j  JiJ  Mfrti 


Shackley,  where  her     sheep   did     graze,      She       there     his      thoughts  did  prove :  But 


1-   J     J  I  J 


KJ     r   J     j»  .    I  —  pea  —  h-r-i  :  r- 

—  r  —  i  M" 

^s    J          J  J     ^    J     H  —  d—  ^h-;  —  f*-  3 

/  ,  ^  - 

—  i  :  1  K  «_  ^  1_^  0  i|  j|      '    j  •  •- 

v        -r  &3i  # 

he      un  -  kind  -  ly       stole        a  -  way,  And      left      his   love      at  Shackley  -  hay,  So 

N  S  1  5j  fi  !  9  -T—  }          —f*  9  -•  9  =  

^J  /  J  j---^  n  r  ^_j:  ^  <  j-=^ 

r  -^ 

~*    !^^*^                          ^           ^""                1  ty  '$  ^        f^^^^                         ^  ' 

J     J^**^  1  •]      za—^iip  —  i  —  -f—  J     J^*^    J  E: 

d  •  •  •    |[ 

loud       at  Shack-ley           did"    she  cry,     The       words     resound     at 

•*:±:  v  — 

Shackley-hay. 

•  *)  J  H  — 

^^^1 

1  *  1 

But  all  in  vain  she  did  complain, 

For  nothing  could  him  move, 
Till  wind  did  turn  him  back  again, 

And  brought  him  to  his  love. 
When  she  saw  him  thus  turn'd  by  fate, 
She  turn'd  her  love  to  mortal  hate ; 
Then  weeping,  to  her  he  did  say, 
I'll  live  with  thee  at  Shackley-hay. 


No,  no,  quoth  she,  I  thee  deny, 
My  love  thou  once  did  scorn, 
And  my  prayers  wouldst  not  hear, 

But  left  me  here  forlorn. 
And  now,  being  turn'd  by  fate  of  wind, 
Thou  thinkst  to  win  me  to  thy  mind ; 
Go,  go,  farewell !  I  thee  deny, 
Thou  shalt  not  live  at  Shackley-hay. 


EEIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


369 


If  that  thou  dost  my  love  disdain, 

Because  I  live  on  seas ; 
Or  that  I  am  a  ferry-man 

My  Sheldra  doth  displease, 
I  will  no  more  in  that  estate 
Be  servile  unto  wind  and  fate, 
But  quite  forsake  boats,  oars,  and  sea, 
And  live  with  thee  at  Shackley-hay. 
•         •         *         •         * 

To  strew  my  boat,  for  thy  avail, 

I'll  rob  the  flowery  shores; 
And  whilst  thou  guid'st  the  silken  sail, 

I'll  row  with  silv'ry  oars ; 
And  as  upon  the  streams  we  float, 
'  A  thousand  swans  shall  guide  our  boat; 
And  to  the  shore  still  will  I  cry, 
My  Sheldra  comes  to  Shackley-hay. 

***** 
And,  walking  lazily  to  the  strand, 

We'll  angle  in  the  brook, 
And  fish  with  thy  white  lily  hand, 

Thou  need'st  no  other  hook ; 
To  which  the  fish  shall  soon  be  brought, 
And  strive  which  shall  the  first  be  caught ; 
A  thousand  pleasures  will  we  try, 
As  we  do  row  to  Shackley-hay. 


And  if  we  be  opprest  with  heat, 

In  mid-time  of  the  day, 
Under  the  willows  tall  and  great 

Shall  be  our  quiet  bay ; 
Where  I  will  make  thee  fans  of  boughs, 
From  Phoebus'  beams  to  shade  thy  brows ; 
And  cause  them  at  the  ferry  cry, 
A  boat,  a  boat,  to  Shackley-hay ! 

A  troop  of  dainty  neighbouring  girls 

Shall  dance  along  the  strand, 
Upon  the  gravel  all  of  pearls, 

To  wait  when  thou  shalt  land ; 
And  cast  themselves  about  thee  round, 
Whilst  thou  with  garlands  shalt  be  crown'd; 
And  all  the  shepherds  with  joy  shall  cry, 
O  Sheldra,  come  to  Shackley-hay ! 

Although  I  did  myself  absent, 

'Twas  but  to  try  thy  mind  ; 
And  now  thou  may'st  thyself  repent, 

For  being  so  unkind. — 
No !  now  thou  art  turn'd  by  wind  and  fate, 
Instead  of  love  thou  hast  purchas'd  hate, 
Therefore  return  thee  to  the  sea, 
And  bid  farewell  to  Shackley-hay. 


FRANKLIN  IS  FLED  AWAY. 

Copies  of  this  ballad  are  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  ii.  76;  the  Koxburghe, 
ii.  348 ;  the  Bagford,  643,  m.  10,  p.  69 ;  and  the  Douce,  fol.  222. 

In  the  same  volume  of  the  Bagford  Collection,  p.  139,  is  "The  two  faithful 
Lovers.  To  the  tune  of  Franklin  is  fled  away  ;"  commencing — 

"  Farewell,  my  heart's  delight,  I  must  now  take  my  flight, 

Ladies,  adieu !  Whate'er  ensue." 

.  'The  tune  is  contained  in  Apollo's  Banquet  for  the  Treble  Violin,  1669 ;  in 
180  Loyal  Songs,  1685  and  1694 ;  and  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  iii.  208,  1707  ; 
sometimes  under  the  name  of  Franklin  is  fled  away,  and  at  others  as  0  hone, 
0  hone,  the  burden  of  the  ballad.  This  burden  is  derived  from  the  Irish  lamen- 
tation, to  which  there  were  many  allusions  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  as  in  Marston's  Eastward  Hoe,  act  v.,  sc.  1 ;  or  in  Gayton's  Festivous 
Notes  upon  Don  Quixote,  1654,  p.  57, — "  Who  this  night  is  to  be  rail'd  upon  by 
the  black-skins,  in  as  lamentable  noyse  as  the  wild  Irish  make  their  0  hones." 
A  different  version  of  the  tune  will  be  found  in  the  ballad  opera  of  The  Jovial 
Crew,  1731,  under  the  name  of  You  gallant  ladies  all. 

A  variety  of  songs  and  ballads,  which  were  sung  to  it,  will  be  found  in  the 
above-named  collections  of  ballads ;  in  the  180  Loyal  Songs  ;  in  Patrick  Carey's 
Trivial  Poems,  1651 ;  and  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy. 

The  tune  is  one  of  the  many  from  which  Grod  save  the  King  has  been  said  to  be 
derived. 

2B 


370 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


The  title  of  the  original  ballad  is  "A  mournful  Caral :  Or  an  Elegy  lamenting 
the  tragical  ends  of  two  unfortunate  faithful  Lovers,  Franklin  and  Cordeliws ;  he 
being  slam,  she  slew  herself  with  her  dagger.  To  a  new  tune  called  Franklin  is 
fled  away" 

Moderate  time.  \ 


5 


^=t 


Franklin,    my       loy  -  al  friend,      O    hone,  O        hone !          In  whom    my 


ay        loy  -  al  J 

I-X^ 


±^-H 


joys     do  end,       O  hone!  O      hone! 


in,  my    heart's     delight,  Since  last     he 


r  r  ru.iiT  r  MI 


f^ 


~d  —  ^  — 

'       *    ; 

•ft        fl       *        m 

I  ;  

•  •  j    j 

-  •       P 

:•     i    •    • 

23 

CJ|                  •*  •  •*-     -d-  • 

took    his  flight,     Bids     now    the    world  good  night.     O     hone,        O        hone  ! 

j    r  j     i    i    i 

*  •  •  J  — 

-f  5  *— 

"1  h  —  i  — 

52 

• 

zq  

±  —  F  —  r— 

^    •    ^  —  J  —  r 

-«  

Franklin  is  fled  and  gone,  O  hone,  O  hone ! 
And  left  me  here  alone,  O  hone,  O  hone  ! 

Franklin  is  fled  away, 

The  glory  of  the  May ; 
Who  can  but  mourn  and  say,  O  hone,  O  hone ! 

There  are  six  stanzas  in  the  first,  and  eight  in  the  second  part.     Black-letter. 
Printed  for  M.  Coles,  W.  Thackeray,  &c. 

QUEEN  DIDO,  OE  TEOY  TOWN. 

"  A  ballett  intituled  The  Wanderynge  Prince "  was  entered  on  the  Registers 
of  the  Stationers'  Company  in  1564-5.  This  was,  no  doubt,  the  "  Proper  new 
ballad,  intituled  The  Wandering  Prince  of  Troy :  to  the  tune  of  Queen  Dido,"  of 
which  there  are  two  copies  in  the  Pepys  Collection  (i.  84  and  548).  Of  these 
copies,  the  first,  being  printed  by  John  Wright,  is  probably  not  of  earlier  date 
than  1620  ;  and  the  second,  by  Clarke,  Thackeray,  and  Passinger,  after  1660. 

The  ballad  has  been  reprinted  in  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry,  iii.  192, 
1765 ;  and  in  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs,  ii.  141,  1829.  Its  extensive  popularity 
will  be  best  shown  by  the  following  quotations : — "  You  ale-knights,  you  that 
devour  the  marrow  of  the  malt,  and  drink  whole  ale-tubs  into  consumptions ;  that 


REIGNS  OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  371 

sing  Queen  Dido  over  a  cup,  and  tell  strange  news  over  an  ale-pot . . .  you  shall  be 
awarded  with  this  punishment,  that  the  rot  shall  infect  your  purses,  and  eat  out 
the  bottom  before  you  are  aware." — The  Penniless  Parliament  of  threadbare 
Poets,  1608.     (Percy  Soc.  reprint,  p.  44.) 
Frank. — "  These  are  your  eyea ! 

Where  were  they,  Clora,  when  you  fell  in  love 
With  the  old  footman  for  singing  Queen  Dido  ?  " 

Fletcher's  The  Captain,  act  iii.,  sc.  3. 

Fletcher  again  mentions  it  in  act  i.,  sc.  2,  of  Bonduca,  where  Petillius  says  of 
Junius  that  he  is  "  in  love,  indeed  in  love,  most  lamentably  loving, — to  the  tune 
of  Queen  Dido"  At  a  later  date,  Sir  Robert  Howard  (speaking  of  himself) 
^  says,  "  In  my  younger  time  I  have  been  delighted  with  a  ballad  for  its  sake ; 
and  'twas  ten  to  one  but  my  muse  and  I  had  so  set  up  first :  nay,  I  had  almost 
thought  that  Queen  Dido,  sung  that  way,  was  some  ornament  to  the  pen  of  Virgil. 
I  was  then  a  trifler  with  the  lute  and  fiddle,  and  perhaps,  being  musical,  might 
have  been  willing  that  words  should  have  their  tones,  unisons,  concords,  and 
diapasons,  in  order  to  a  poetical  gamuth." — Poems  and  ^Essays,  8vo.,  1673. 

A  great  number  of  ballads  were  sung  to  the  tune,  either  under  the  name  of 
Queen  Dido  or  of  Troy  Town.     Of  these  I  will  only  cite  the  following : — 

"  The  most  excellent  History  of  the  Duchess  of  Suffolk's  Calamity.     To  the 
tune  of  Queen  Dido ; "  commencing — 

"  When  God  had  taken  for  our  sin 

That  prudent  prince,  King  Edward,  away." 

Contained  in  Strange  Histories,  or  Songes  and  Sonets,  &c.,  1607;  in  the  Crown 
G-arland  of  Q-olden  Roses,  1659 ;  in  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  544 ;  and  reprinted 
in  Evans'  Old  Ballads,  iii.  135. 

"Of  the  Inconveniences  by  Marriage.     To  the  tune  of  When  Troy  towne;" 
beginning —  "  Fond,  wanton  youth  makes  love  a  god." 

Contained  in  The  Crolden  Garland  of  Princely  Delights,  third  edit.,  1620 ;  also 
set  to  music  by  Robert  Jones,  and  printed  in  his  First  Booke  of  Ayres,  fol.,  1601. 
"  The  lamentable  song  of  the  Lord  Wigmore,  Governor  of  Warwick  Castle, 
and  the  fayre  Maid  of  Dunsmoore,"  &c. ;  beginning— 

"  In  Warwickshire  there  stands  a  downe, 

And  Dunsmoore-heath  it  hath  to  name ; " 

which,  in  the  Grown  G-arland  of  G-olden  Hoses,  1612,  is  to  the  tune  of  Diana  [and 
her  darlings  dear]  ;  but  in  the  copy  in  the  Bagford  Collection  is  to  the  tune  of 
Troy  Town.  (Reprinted  by  Evans,  iii.  226.) 

"The  Spanish  Tragedy:  containing  the  lamentable  murder  of  Horatio  and 
Belimperia;  with  the  pitiful  death  of  old  Hieronimo.     To  the  tune  of  Queen 
Dido ;  beginning —     "  You  that  have  lost  your  former  joys." 
Printed  at  the  end  of  the  play  of  The  Spanish  Tragedy,  in  Dodsley's  Old  Plays, 
iii.  203,  1825  ;  and  by  Evans,  iii.  288. 

"  A  Looking-glass  for  Ladies ;  or  a  Mirror  for  Married  Women.     Tune,  Queen 
Dido,  or  Troy  Town ; "  commencing — 

"  When  Greeks  and  Trojans  fell  at  strife." 


872 


ENGLISH   SONG   AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Reprinted  by  Percy,  under  the  name  of  Constant  Penelope,  from  a  copy  in  the 
Pepys  Collection. 

"  The  Pattern  of  True  Love ;  or  Bowes'  Tragedy,"  written  in  1717,  and  printed 
in  Ritson's  Yorkshire  Garland. 

The  last  shows  its  popularity  at  a  late  period. 

The  only  tune  I  can  find  for  the  ballad,  The  Wandering  Prince  of  Troy,  is  the 
composition  of  Dr.  Wilson.  It  is  adopted  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  iii.  15, 
1707,  and  iv.  266,  1719 ;  and  is  the  Troy  Town  of  the  ballad-operas,  such  as 
Polly,  1729,  &c.  The  ballad  was  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall  before  Dr.  Wilson 
was  born ;  therefore  this  cannot  be  the  original  tune, — unless  he  merely  arranged 
it  for  three  voices,  which  we  have  no  reason  for  supposing.  It  is  printed  in  his 
"  Cheerful  Ayres  or  Ballads,  first  composed  for  one  single  voice,  and  since  set 
for  three  voices,"  Oxford,  1660.  Dr.  Rimbault  has  recently  identified  Dr. 
Wilson  with  the  "  Jack  Wilson  "  who  was  a  singer  on  the  stage  in  Shakespeare's 
tune.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  he  may  have  sung  the  ballad  on  the  stage, 
according  to  the  custom  of  those  days.  Wilson  was  created  Doctor,  at  Oxford, 
in  1644,  and  died  in  his  seventy-ninth  year,  A.D.  1673. 

•There  is  also  a  song  of  Queen  Dido,  but,  being  in  a  different  metre,  it  could 
not  be  sung  to  the  same  air.  (See  Index.)  In  the  following,  I  have  adopted 
Dr.  Percy's  copy  of  the  ballad,  after  the  first  stanza,  which  is  printed  with  the 
tune.  It  consists  of  twenty-three  verses,  of  which  eleven  are  subjoined ;  ending 
with  the  first  climax — Dido's  death. 


"       moderate  ume. 

i  i  j    i  i 

,    J       1     !      f 

yK  "  l\  1  —    —  1  1  N    1 

~4  —  i  —  *— 

~H  —  i  — 

d  —  5~ 

—  —  ffi^  —  *3  — 

f?l~\      '  y       gl         01         •     °      •>      1     ' 

i=3  1  — 

-3  —  1  — 

*  —  f— 

Q                ^2 

tx             "»"•"•"                                          ^ 
When  Troy  town  for     ten  years'  wars  Withstood  the  Greeks  in      manful  wise  ; 

,1               m         •*-     -p-    -f*-       i        ~ 

H^S-n  —  F  f  CT— 

—  d  1  —  1  

~f  —  r  — 

•  4— 

S 

<'  r  r  s  —  g 

-?L^  

I  1     1 

•  — 

—  —  3  — 

m& 


Yet    did  their  foes    in-creas 


et    did  their  foes    in-crease       so         fast,  That       to      re-sist  none  could  suf- fice 


m 


m 


Waste  lie  those  walls  that     were     so    good,  And     corn  now  grows  where  Troy  town  stood. 


«=F=ff: 


m 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES   I.    AND    CHAELES    I. 


373 


jEneas,  wandering  prince  of  Troy, 

When  he  for  land  long  time  had  sought, 

At  length  arriving  with  great  joy, 

To  mighty  Carthage  walls  was  brought  ; 

Where  Dido  queen,  with  sumptuous  feast, 

Did  entertain  that  wandering  guest. 

And,  as  in  hall  at  meat  they  sate, 
The  queen,  desirous  news  to  hear, 

Says,  'Of  thy  Troy's  unhappy  fate 
Declare  to  me,  thou  Trojan  dear  : 

The  heavy  hap  and  chance  so  bad, 

That  thou,  poor  wandering  prince,  hast  had." 

And  then  anon  this  comely  knight, 
With  words  demure,  as  he  could  well, 

Of  his  unhappy  ten  years'  fight, 
So  true  a  tale  began  to  tell, 

With  words  so  sweet,  and  sighs  so  deep, 

That  oft  he  made  them  all  to  weep. 

And  then  a  thousand  sighs  he  fet, 
And  every  sigh  brought  tears  amain; 

That  where  he  sate  the  place  was  wet, 
As  though  he  had  seen  those  wars  again : 

So  that  the  queen,  with  ruth  therefore, 

Said,  worthy  prince,  enough,  no  more. 

And  then  the  darksome  night  drew  on, 
And  twinkling  stars  the  sky  bespread ; 

When  he  his  doleful  tale  had  done, 
And  every  one  was  laid  in  bed  : 

Where  they  full  sweetly  took  their  rest, 

Save  only  Dido's  boiling  breast. 


This  silly  woman  never  slept, 

But  in  her  chamber,  all  alone, 
As  one  unhappy,  always  wept, 

And  to  the  walls  she  made  her  moan  ; 
That  she  ^should  still  desire  in  vain 
The  thing  she  never  must  obtain. 

And  thus  in  grief  she  spent  the  night, 
Till  twinkling  stars  the  sky  were  fled, 

And  Phoebus,  with  his  glistering  light, 
Through  misty  clouds  appeared  red ; 

Then  tidings  came  to  her  anon, 

That  all  the  Trojan  ships  were  gone. 

And  then  the  queen,  with  bloody  knife, 
Did  arm  her  heart  as  hard  as  stone, 

Yet,  something  loth  to  loose  her  life, 
In  woful  wise  she  made  her  moan  ; 

And,  rolling  on  her  careful  bed, 

With  sighs  and  sobs  these  words  she  said  : 

O  wretched  Dido,  queen !  quoth  she, 
I  see  thy  end  approacheth  near ; 

For  he  is  fled  away  from  thee, 

Whom  thou  didst  love  and  hold  so  dear : 

What !  is  he  gone,  and  passed  by  ? 

O  heart,  prepare  thyself  to  die. 

Though  reason  says,  thou  shouldst  forbear, 
And  stay  thy  hand  from  bloody  stroke, 

Yet  fancy  bids  thee  not  to  fear, 

Which  fetter'd  thee  in  Cupid's  yoke. 

Come  death,  quoth  she,  resolve  thy  smart ! 

And  with  those  words  she  pierced  her  heart. 


REMEMBER,  O  THOU  MAN. 

This  Christmas  Carol  is  the  last  of  the  "  Country  Pastimes  "  in  "  Melismata : 
Musicall  Phansies  fitting  the  Court,  Citie,  and  Countrey  Humours,"  edited  by 
Ravenscroft,  4to.,  1611.  It  is  paraphrased  in  "  Ane  compendious  booke  of 
Godly  and  Spirituall  Songs  . .  with  sundrie  . .  ballates  changed  out  of  prophaine 
Sanges,"  &c.,  printed  by  Andro  Hart,  in  Edinburgh,  in  1621. 

"  Remember,  man,  remember,  man,  And  hes  done  for  thee  what  I  can, 

That  I  thy  saull  from  Sathan  wan,  Thow  art  full  deir  to  me,"  &c. 

Scottish  Poems  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  ii.  188,  1801. 

From  Melismata  the  carol  was  copied  into  Forbes'  Cantus,  and  taught  in  the 
Music  School  at  Aberdeen.  Some  years  ago,  the  latter  work  was  sold  for  a 
comparatively  high  price  at  public  auctions  in  London  (about  10/.),  and  chiefly 
on  the  reputation  of  containing,  in  this  carol,  the  original  of  Grod  save  the  King. 
The  report  originated  with  Mr.  Pinkerton,  who  asserted  in  his  Recollections  of 
Paris,  ii.  4,  that  "  the  supposed  national  air  is  a  mere  transcript  of  a  Scottish 
Anthem  "  contained  in  a  collection  printed  in  1682.  Forbes'  Cantus  is  compara- 
tively useless  to  a  musician,  since  it  contains  only  the  "cantus,"  or  treble  voice 


374 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD  MUSIC. 


part  of  English  compositions,  which  were  written,  and  should  be,  in  three,  four, 
or  five  parts.  There  are,  also,  a  few  ballad  tunes,  such  as  "  Satan,  my  foe,"  to 
Fortune,  my  foe  ;  "  Shepherd,  saw  thou  not,"  to  Crimson  Velvet,  &c. ;  and,  in  the 
last  edition,  1682,  some  Italian  songs,  and  "  new  English  Ayres,"  in  three  parts 
complete.  The  two  former  editions  were  printed  at  Aberdeen,  in  1662  and  1666. 

Moderate  time. 


Re-mem-ber,      O     thou  man,    O      thou  man,       O        thou  man,  Re-mem-ber, 


^JK'r  M-ri-^ 


M-^irH-1 

id    J    J 

U     :       II  Hi     ]  =3= 

4 

i  :  3  1  I 

0       •  *  •        9           "'Ij-                     A.         •"  _L                             '"  •           •           •              • 

"C"*"                  * 

O       thou  man,     thy     time      is         spent.                     Re  -  mem  -  ber,       O 
Ik                                                             i        ,                     •         •           « 

• 

thou  man, 

N 

1 

r    i* 

•I  •  /  J 

h- 

'  J     J 

-J  P—  F— 

_3_3 

_j  •  ;  _^A  - 

i  ,rj   ,-! 

id  —  HE 

—  *'  —  •  —  *  —  rr*l  — 

~±^-\\ 

9        9 

J    .    •   its 

^  tin   ^ 

•K*  •  • 

°l        1 

•  "•  -9-  >  r   r   r  r  "•    -&  • 

how  thou  art      dead    and  gone,    And      I     did    what      I  can,   there-fore     re  -  pent. 

•  •  1     "T"      —  m  ^P  1  •  1-  1  1  1  1  .—  r*  —  7  n 



±±  i 

1  9  —  F~ 

—  —  

I      i 

1  d  — 

—  f- 

1          1 

^  

3  —  T-r- 

J  J   J 

-J-^  = 

—  1  

Remember  Adam's  fall,  O  thou  man,  &c., 
Remember  Adam's  fall,  from  heaven  to  hell; 

Remember  Adam's  fall,  how  we   were  con- 
demned all 
In  hell  perpetual  there  for  to  dwell. 

Remember  God's  goodness,  O  thou  man,  &c., 

Remember  God's  goodness  and  his  promise 

made;  [Son,  doubtless, 

Remember  God's  goodness,  how  he  sent  his 
Our  sins  for  to  redress ; — Be  not  afraid. 

The  angels  all  did  sing,  O  thou  man,  &c., 
The  angels  all  did  sing  upon  the  shepherd's 
hill ;  [King, 

The  angels  all  did  sing  praises  to  our  heavenly 
And  peace  to  man  living,  with  a  good  will. 

The  shepherds  amazed  were,  O  thou  man,  &c., 

The   shepherds   amazed  were,  to  hear  the 

angels  sing ;  [come  to  pass 

The  shepherds  amazed  were,  how  it  should 

That  Christ,    our  Messias,   should   be   our 

King. 


To  Bethlem  they  did  go,  O  thou  man,  &c., 
To   Bethlem   they   did  go,    the   shepherds 
three ;  [so  or  no, 

To  Bethlem  they  did  go,  to  see  wh'er  it  were 
Whether  Christ  were  born  or  no,  to  set  man 
free. 

As  the  angels  before  did  say,  O  thou  man,  &c., 

As  the  angels  before  did  say,  so  it  came 

to  pass ;  [babe  where  it  lay, 

As  the  angels  before  did  say,  they  found  a 
In  a  manger,  wrapt  in  hay,  so  poor  he  was. 

In  Bethlem  he  was  born,  O  thou  man,  &c., 
In  Bethlem  he  was  born  for  mankind's  sake; 

In  Bethlem  he  was  born,  for  us  that   were 

forlorn,  [take. 

And   therefore  took  no  scorn  our  flesh  to 

Give  thanks  to  God  always,  O  thou  man,  &c., 

Give  thanks  to  God  always  with  heart  most 

joyfully ;  [day — 

Give  thanks  to  God  alway,  for  this  our  happy 
Let  all  men  sing  and  say,  Holy,  holy. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES  I.  375 

THE  COUNTRY  LASS. 

This  is  the  tune  to  which,  with  slight  alteration,  Sally  in  our  Alley  is  now  sung. 
Henry  Carey,  the  author  of  that  song,  composed  other  music  for  it,  which  ia 
introduced  four  times  in  his  Musical  Century.  Carey's  tune  is  the  Sally  in  our 
Alley  of  the  ballad-operas  that  were  printed  from  1728  to  1760 ;  but  from  the 
latter  period  its  popularity  seems  to  have  waned,  and,  at  length,  his  music  was 
entirely  superseded  by  this  older  ballad-tune. 

The  Oountrey  Lasse,  from  which  it  derives  its  name,  was  to  be  sung  to  "  a  dainty 
new  note ; "  but,  if  unacquainted  with  that,  the  singer  had  the  option  of  another 
tune — The  mother  beguil'd  the  daughter.  In  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  ii.  165, 
1700  and  1707,  it  is  printed  (in  an  abbreviated  form)  to  the  one ;  and  in  The 
Merry  Musician,  or  a  Cure  for  the  Spleen,*  iii.  9,  to  the  other. 

In  The  Devil  to  pay,  8vo.,  1731,  where  Carey's  tune  is  printed  at  p.  35,  as 
Charming  Sally,  this  will  be  found,  as  What  tho*  I  am  a  Country  Lass,  at  p.  50. 
Being  unfit  for  dancing,  the  air  is  not  contained  in  The  Dancing  Master. 

I  have  quoted  the  full  title  of  the  ballad  of  The  Country  Lass  at  p.  306.  The 
copy  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  52,  being  printed  by  the  assigns  of  Thomas 
Symcocke,  would  date  in  or  after  1620,  the  year  of  that  assignment.  The  copy  in 
the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  268,  is,  perhaps,  an  original  copy.  It  bears  the  initials 
of  Martin  Parker,  the  famous  ballad-writer,  and  is  evidently  more  correctly 
printed. 

The  versions  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  and  in  The  Merry  Musician,  have  each 
had  "  the  rust  of  antiquity  filed  from  them,"  and,  as  usual,  without  any  improve- 
ment. The  two  first  stanzas  are  nearly  the  same  as  in  the  old  ballad ;  but  the 
three  remaining  have  been  re-written.  The  older  ballad  is  reprinted  by  Evans, 
i.  41,  from  the  Roxburghe  copy. 

The  "a"  at  the  end  of  each  alternate  line  is  a  very  old  expedient  of  the 
ballad-maker  for  fitting  his  words  to  music,  when  an  extra  syllable  was  required. 
The  reader  may  have  observed  it  already  in  John  Dory,  Jog  on  the  footpath  way, 
G-ood  fellows  must  go  learn  to  dance,  and  others.  The  custom  is  thus  reproved  in 
" A  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie,  by  William  Vfebbe,  graduate,"  1586 :— "  If 
I  let  passe  the  un-countable  rabble  of  ryming  bcMet-makers,  r.r.d  ccmpylers  of 
sencelesse  sonets  (who  be  most  busy  to  stuffe  every  stall  full  of  grcsse  devises 
and  unlearned  pamphlets),  I  trust  I  shall,  with  the  best  sort,  be  held  excused. 
For  though  many  such  can  frame  an  alehouse  song  of  £ve  or  six  score  verses, 
hobbling  uppon  some  tune  of  a  Northern  Jygge,  cr  llobyn  Hoode,  or  La 
Lubber,  &c.  :  and  perhappes  observe  just  number  of  sillables,  eight  in  one 
line,  sixe  in  an  other,  and  therewithall  an  '  a '  to  make  a  jercke  in  the  ende :  yet 
if  these  might  be  accounted  poets  (as  it  is  sayde  some  of  them  make  meanes  to 
be  promoted  to  the  Lawrell),  surely  we  shall  shortly  have  whole  swarmes  of 
poets;  and  every  one  that  can  frame  a  booke  in  ryme,  though,  for  want  of 
matter,  it  be  but  in  commendations  of  copper  noses  or  bottle  ale,  wyll  catch  at 
the  garlande  due  to  poets — whose  potticall  (poeticall,  I  should  say)  heades, 

»  The  first  volume  of  The  Merry  Musician  is  dated        not  set  up  in  type  like  the  first,  htar  no  dates. 
1716  ;  but  the  second,  third,  and  fourth,  being  engraved, 


376 


ENGLISH    SONG  AND  BALLAD   MUSIC. 


I  would  wyshe,  at  their  worshipfull  commencements,  might,  in  steede  of  lawrell, 
be  gorgiously  garnished  with  fayre  greene  barley,  in  token  of  their  good  affection 
to  our  Englishe  malt." 

The  following  verses  are  selected  from  the  older  copy  of  the  ballad.  In  the 
Pills,  and  Merry  Musician,  the  burden,  which  requires  the  repetition  of  the  first 
part  of  the  tune,  is  omitted  : — 


|~<  Gracefully.  ^^ 

J^i  r^  i 

TR-  k  0  •  i  —  ^— 

Although,  I    am       a        country  lass, 
Down,  down,  derry,   der-ry  down, 

-•  —  J  J  J  .  j-  -£  —  s=*±= 

f         f"F       f    ' 
A      lof  -  ty  mind     I     bear  -  a,            I 

Hey  down  a  down,    a    down-a,             a 

1     f        m      —          i                                i* 

U4    '  * 

*  '_^.i..^  |.     j 

»              ' 

-it 

1           FINE. 

^J---^:-M 

K^   j  —  ;fV^==3 

i  J.t»  r 

-^  F==, 

:  '  ;  .  j   f  -  j   ~    '  '  i  j    £ 

f-          f-    T         % 
think  my  -  self     as     good     as   those  That   gay     ap  -  pa  -  rel       wear  -  a  ; 
der  -  ry,    der  -  ry  derry,  derry  down,  Hey  down  -  a,  down  -  a           der  -  ry. 

—  I  F  1  1  1  \-r  —  M  —  =  1  1  — 

-fed 

My 

[-*—     -J  J  —  I-J  

1  I_«B 

*J  f  —  J  L^- 

—  -±  —  ' 



tLf^      j  Jr-i 

n  J  ^| 

1  J^3  J  j*-. 

i  J*  J  .  - 

—  -M 

coat    is  made      of 

"i  r 

come-ly  gray,  Yet 

i  F  1 

h       r   ' 

is    my   skin         as 

J                    J- 

soft  -  a, 

ft 

—  J  —  1 

As 

-S  p  

—  c*l  ^  

-f  •    r  r  — 

-t  h-P 

r^  —  }— 

»- 

• 

••-      m 

f 

•      • 

*T_ 

-^  —  J  .,,  J... 

1  

-i  — 

• 

-f  — 

-F  

-g- 

-d- 

~^'«  — 

r      J 

those  that  with 

:  J- 

^          J.              •' 
the       choicest  wines 

^     r 

Do  bathe  their 

p— 

i 

-P- 

T      ^ 

-  i  dies     oft 
|         1    J 

^—  *T 

-  a. 

l^—f- 

-r  '  r 

-F  F  — 

— 

J             * 

—  t- 

3,  ,. 

What,  though  I  keep  my  father's  sheep 

A  thing  that  must  be  done-a, 
A  garland  of  the  fairest  flow'rs 

Shall  shroud  me  from 'the  sun-a  ; 
And  when  I  see  them  feeding  by, 

Where  grass  and  flowers  spring-a, 
Close  by  a  crystal  fountain  side, 

I  sit  me  down  and  sing-a. 

Dame  Nature  crowns  us  with  delight 

Surpassing  court  or  city, 
We  pleasures  take,  from  morn  to  night, 

In  sports  and  pastimes  pretty  : 
Your  city  dames  in  coaches  ride 

Abroad  for  recreation, 
We  country  lasses  hate  their  pride, 

And  keep  the  country  fashion. 


I  care  not  for  the  fan  or  mask, 

When  Titan's  heat  reflecteth, 
A  homely  hat  is  all  I  ask, 

Which  well  my  face  protecteth  ; 
Yet  am  I,  in  my  country  guise, 

Esteem'd  a  lass  as  pretty, 
As  those  that  every  day  devise 

New  shapes  in  court  or  city. 

Then  do  not  scorn  the  country  lass, 

Though  she  go  plain  and  meanly  ; 
Who  takes  a  country  wench  to  wife 

(That  goeth  neat  and  cleanly), 
Is  better  sped,  than  if  he  wed 

A  fine  one  from  the  city, 
For  there  they  are  so  nicely  bred, 

They  must  not  work  for  pity. 


REIGNS   OF   JAMES  I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


377 


MAYING-TIME. 

In  The  Golden  G-arland  of  Princely  Delights,  3rd  edit.,  1620,  this  is  entitled 
"  The  Shepherd's  Dialogue  of  Love  between  Willy  and  Cuddy :  To  the  tune  of 
Maying-time"  It  is  also  in  Dryden's  Miscellany  Poems,  vi.  337,  and  in  Percy's 
Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry.  Percy  entitles  it  "  The  Willow  Tree :  a  Pastoral 
Dialogue." 

The  tune  is  in  a  manuscript  dated  1639,  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh; 
in  the  Skene  MS. ;  and  in  all  the  editions  of  Forbes'  Cantus. 
WILLY. 


r~i  —  K  — 

r~  N  i  i  ! 

J*      1  1 

iflf-u  -1—  •—  4  —  I  '  '   q  : 
3         ^        •*  V     -*•         T? 

How  now,  Shepherd,  what  means  that?    Wh 
°l              0                                                   "^ 

H-H-j-kf 

r  that  wil  -low  in 

5r  •  - 

thy  hat? 

tf*rrH  F-*- 

—  ^  n 

i  — 

—  j  j  —  p  — 

^  

rj  «N  i 

Jill 

1  1    J    J    J  I 

hj   J    J   J   || 

-flCT  J  -•  

-tM  *  4  » 

4     3     «     3 

~*tL  1  

Wh 

y  thy  scarfs  of      red   and      y  el  -  low  Turn  'd    to       branches         of  green  wil  -  low  ? 

^ 

15  

~~ 

-f  —  F  —  r  —  t  — 

^*i            l 

-^  F-F- 

4—^  —  t—  !— 

-1  —f- 

-*  ^  J  1  

J    .    •  & 

J    .    J  —  ?= 

3  ^P—  » 

-*-=  = 



~c  —  —  •  — 

~ir~-  —  -  —  ^~ 

They  are  chang'd,  and 

I 

so      am      I 

! 

*            s 

Sor  -  rows  live,    but 

i  1  :  1 

5}                  O 
plea  -  sures    die  : 

'1         ^ 

•  2         ,   , 

H           J          1 

-J  H  — 

—  1  f*~~j  —  s  — 

d    j     J     J 

-d  —  — 

J  .  >    I 




Phil  -  lis   hath     for   - 

1  j     J          *    i  3     3    j.    j.   i 

sa  -  ken     me,  Which  makes   me  wear     the 

1            ,    f  ;f    f    r    > 

'i  J4  * 

wil  -  low  tree. 

Lrt        J-   J- 

L-»  —  A  —  J  ' 

1          i 

'—  1  

WILLY. 

Phillis  !  she  that  lov'd  thee  long  ? 
Is  she  the  lass  hath  done  thee  wrong  ? 
She  that  lov'd  thee  long  and  best, 
Is  her  love  turned  to  a  jest? 

•     CUDDY. 

She  that  long  true  love  profest, 
She  hath  robb'd  my  heart  of  rest : 
For  she  a  new  love  loves,  not  me  ; 
Which  makes  we  wear  the  willow-tree. 

WILLY. 

Come  then,  shepherd,  let  us  join, 
Since  thy  hap  is  like  to  mine  : 
For  the  maid  I  thought  most  true 
Me  hath  also  bid  adieu. 


CUDDY. 

Thy  hard  hap  doth  mine  appease, 
Company  doth  sorrow  ease  : 
Yet,  Phillis,  still  I  pine  for  thee, 
And  still  must  wear  the  willow-tree. 

WILLY. 

Shepherd,  be  advis'd  by  me, 
Cast  off  grief  and  willow-tree  : 
For  thy  grief  brings  her  content, 
She  is  pleas'd  if  thou  lament. 

CUDDY. 

Herdsman,  I'll  be  rul'd  by  thee, 
There  lies  grief  and  willow-tree  : 
Henceforth  I  will  do  as  they, 
And  love  a  new  love  every  day. 


378  ENGLISH   SONG  AND  BALLAD  MUSIC. 

NEVER  LOVE  THEE  MORE. 

This  song,  commencing,  "  My  dear  and  only  love,  take  heed,"  is  contained  in  a 
manuscript  volume  of  songs  and  ballads,  with  music,  dated  1659,  in  the  hand- 
writing of  John  Gamble,  the  composer.  The  MS.  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
Dr.  Eimbault. 

Gamble  published  some  of  his  own  works  in  1657  and  1659,  but  this  seems  to 
have  been  his  common-place  book.  It  contains  the  songs  Dr.  Wilson  composed 
for  Brome's  play,  The  Northern  Lass,  and  many  compositions  of  H.  and  W. 
Lawes,  as  well  as  common  songs  and  ballads.  The  last  are  usually  noted  down 
without  bases ;  but,  in  some  instances,  the  space  intended  for  the  tune  is  unfilled. 

In  the  Pepys  Collection,  i.  256,  is  "The  Faythfull  Lover's  Resolution;  being 
forsaken  of  a  coy  and  faythless  dame.  To  the  tune  of  My  dear  and  only  love,  take 
heed;"  commencing,  "Though  booteles  I  must  needs  complain."  "Printed 
at  London  for  P.  Birch." 

In  the  same  volume,  i.  280 — "  Good  sir,  you  wrong  your  Britches ; — pleasantly 
discoursed  by  a  witty  youth  and  a  wily  wench.  To  the  tune  of  0  no,  no,  no,  not 
yet,  or  He  never  love  thee  more ;  "  commencing,  "  A  young  man  and  a  lasse  of 
late."  "  Printed  at  London  for  J[ohn]  T[rundle]." 

At  p.  378 — "  Anything  for  a  quiet  life ;  or  The  Married  Man's  Bondage,"  &c. 
" To  the  tune  of  0  no,  no,  no,  not  yet,  or  He  never  love  thee  more"  Printed  at 
London  by  G.  P. 

And  at  p.  394 — "  'Tis  not  otherwise :  Or  The  Praise  of  a  Married  Life.  To 
the  tune  of  He  never  love  thee  more;"  commencing,  "A  young  man  lately  did 
complaine."  Printed  at  London  by  G.  B. 

The  above  quotations  tend  to  prove  the  tune  to  be  of  the  time  of  James  I. 
Philip  Birch,  the  publisher  of  the  first  ballad,  had  a  "  shop  at  the  Guyldhall " 
in  1618,  when  he  published  "  Sir  Walter  Rauleigh  his  Lamentation,"  to  which 
I  have  referred  at  p.  175.  John  Trundle,  the  publisher  of  the  second,  was  dead 
in  1628;  the  ballads  were  then  printed  by  "M.  T.,  widdow."  Trundle  is 
mentioned  as  a  ballad-printer  in  Ben  Jonson's  Every  man  in  his  humour,  1598. 

In  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  ii.  574,  is  "  A  proper  new  ballad,  being  the 

regrate  [regret]  of  a  true  Lover  for  his  Mistris  unkindness.     To  a  new  tune,  lie 

ever  love  thee  more"     The  rude  orthography  of  this  seems  to  mark  it  as  an  early 

ballad ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  printer's  name  is  cut  away.    It  commences  thus : 

"  I  wish  I  were  those  gloves,  dear  heart,       Then  should  no  sorrow,  grief,  or  smart, 

Which  could  thy  hands  inshrine ;  Molest  this  heart  of  mine,"  &c. ; 

and  consists  of  twenty-one  stanzas  of  eight  lines ;  thirteen  in  the  first  part,  and 
eight  in  the  second. 

In  the  same  collection,  and  in  Mr.  Payne  Collier's  Roxburghe  Ballads,  p.  227,  is 
"  The  Tragedy  of  Hero  and  Leander.  To  a  pleasant  new  tune,  or  I  will  never  love 
thee  more"  The  last  was  " printed  for  R.  Burton,  at  the  Horse-shoe  in  West- 
Smithfield,  neer  the  Hospital-gate ; "  and  the  copy  would,  therefore,  date  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  I.,  or  during  the  Commonwealth. 


REIGNS   OF  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I.  379 

James   Graham,  Marquis  of  Montrose,  also  wrote  "Lines"  to  this  tune, 
retaining  a  part  of  the  first  line,  and  the  burden  of  each  verse,  "  I'll  never  love 
thee  more."     It  is  "  An  Address  to  his  Mistress,"  and  commences — 
"  My  dear  and  only  love,  1  pray 
This  noble  world  of  thee,  &c. 

Like  "  My  dear  and  only  love,  take  heed,"  it  consists  of  five  stanzas ;  and  must 
have  been  written  after  the  establishment  of  the  Committees  and  the  Synod  of 
Divines  at  Westminster  (1643),  because  he  refers  to  both  in  the  song. 

Watson  in  his  Collection  of  Scotch  Poems,  part  iii.,  1711,  printed  one  of  the 
extended  versions  of  "  My  dear  and  only  love,  take  heed"  as  a  " second  part "  to 
the  Marquis  of  Montrose' s  song ;  but  it  cannot  have  been  written  by  him,  as  he 
was  only  born  in  1612.  Neither  Ritson,  Robert  Chambers,  nor  Peter  Cunningham, 
have  followed  this  error ;  but  it  has  been  reproduced  in  Memoirs  of  Montrose, 
Edinburgh,  1819. 

It  was,  no  doubt,  the  Marquis  of  Montrose's  song  that  made  the  tune  popular 
in  Scotland.  It  is  found,  under  the  name  of  Montrose  Lyns,  in  a  manuscript  of 
lyra-viol  music,  dated  1695,  recently  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  A.  Blaikie.  The 
tune  has,  therefore,  been  included  in  collections  of  Scottish  music ;  but  "  My  dear 
and  only  love,  take  heed"  continued  to  be  the  popular  song  in  England,  and  from 
that  it  derives  its  name.  In  English  ballads  it  is  called  "A  rare  Northern 
tune,"a  and  I  have  never  yet  found  that  term  applied  to  a  Scotch  air.  Besides 
Gamble's  manuscript,  which  contains  both  the  words  and  air,  the  words  will  be 
found  in  the  first  and  second  editions  of  Wit  and  Drollery,  1656  and  1661, 
(there  entitled  "A  Song  ")  ;  in  Pills  to  purge  Melancholy,  1700, 1707,  and  1719. 
The  tune  was  first  added  to  The  Dancing  Master  in  1686,  and  is  contained  in 
every  subsequent  edition,  in  a  form  more  appropriate  to  dancing  than  the 
earlier  copy. 

Some  of  the  ballads  are  of  a  later  date  than  the  Marquis  of  Montrose's 
song,  such  as  "  Teach  me,  Belissa,  what  to  do : "  to  the  tune  of  "  My  dear  and 
only  love,  take  heed,"  in  Polly  in  print,  1667 ;  "  A  Dialogue  between  Tom  and 
Dick,"  in  Eats  rhimed  to  death,  1660  ;  "  The  Swimming  Lady,"  in  the  Bagford, 
others  in  Roxburghe  and  Pepys  Collections ;  but  I  have  already  cited  enough  to 
prove  that  it  was  a  very  popular  air,  and  popular  before  the  Marquis  of  Montrose's 
song  can  have  been  written. 

A  copy  of  the  ballad,  consisting  of  four  verses  in  the  first,  and  five  in  the 

•  In  ballad-phrase,  the  terms  "  Northern  "  and  "  North-  men,  or  of  their  best  clarkes,  all  is  a  matter),  nor  in  effect 

country"  were  often  .applied  to  places  within  a  hundred  any  speach  used  beyond  the  river  of  Trent:  though  no  man 

miles  of  London.     Percy  describes  the  old  ballad  of  Chevy  can  deny  but  theirs  is  the  purer  English  Saxon  at  this  day, 

Chace  as  written  in  "  the  coarsest  and  broadest  Northern  yet  it  is  not  so  courtly  nor  so  current  as  our  Southerne 

dialect,"  although  Richard  Sheale,  the  author  of  that  ver-  English  is,  no  more  is  the  far  Western  man's  speach: 

sion,  was  a  minstrel  residing  in  Tamworth,  and  in  the  ye  shall  therefore  take  the  usuall  speach  of  the  Court, 

service  of  the  Earl  of  Derby.      Puttenham  thus  notices  and  that  of  London  and  the  shires  lying  about  London, 

the  difference  of  speech  prevailing  in  his  time  beyond  the  within  sixty  miles,    and   not  much  above."    (Arte  of 

Trent:— "Our  [writer]  therefore  at  these  days  shall  not  English  PoesieJ    Many  of  the  characters  in  plays  of  the- 

follow  Piers  Plowman,  nor  Gower,  nor  Lydgate,  nor  yet  seventeenth  century,   such  as  Brome's   Northern  Last, 

Chaucer,  for  their  language  is  now  out  of  use  with  us :  speak  in  a  dialect  which  might  often  pass  for  Scotch  with 

neither  shall  he  take  the  terms  of  North-men,  such  as  they  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  language  of  the 

use  in  dayly  talke  (whether  they  be  noble  men  or  gentle-  time. 


380 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


second  part,  is  contained  in  the  Douce  Collection,  p.  102,  entitled  "  He  never  love 
thee  more :  Being  the  Forsaken  Lover's  Farewell  to  his  fickle  Mistress.  To  a  rare 
Northern  tune,  or  lie  never  love  thee  more."  It  commences,  "  My  dear  and  only 
joy,  take  heed ; "  and  the  second  part,  "  lie  lock  myself  within  a  cell."  Having 
been  "  Printed  for  W.  Whitwood,  at  the  Golden  Lyon  in  Duck  Lane,"  this  copy 
may  he  dated  about  1670.  It  is  also  in  the  list  of  those  printed  by  W. 
Thackeray  at  the  same  period.  The  copies  in  Wit  and  Drollery,  and  in  Gamble's 
MS.,  consist  only  of  five  stanzas. 

The  following  copy  of  the  tune  is  taken  from  Gamble's  MS. ;  the  words  are  the 
first,  second,  and  fourth  stanzas,  in  the  order  in  which  they  stand  in  Wit  and 
Drollery  ;  or  first,  third,  and  fourth,  in  the  MS.  All  the  old  copies  above  cited 
have  verbal  differences,  as  well  as  differences  of  arrangement. 


-S    Rather  slowly  and  smoothly. 
0$  *  1  1  Nn  —  1- 

—  N  H 

N   .       s.  , 

/f      "      k. 

m)  $    h 

—  1  1*  —  J  —  *~ 

=3 

J      1       M 

—  * 

J  J  J 

-terl  —  h- 

My    dear  and    on  -  ly    love,  take  heed  How  tho 

:  J.    S  '•  •  •    ^ 

a     thyself   ex  -  pose,       By 

.Kflfi    n 

-§  —  ;  



—  •  —  r~r~ 

p  •  p  —  p— 

x-J           • 

.  

.  L  i» 

K  •  >  —  L- 

^                1 

r      i   *  '  ^'   P 

p^ 

1          N 

1          h 

H  —  -f+-\  —  i 

— 

Y      x 

t=t 

J*    J        / 

M    J    i    =fi=q 

-J  —  J  —  J  — 

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—  ¥  

1 

-  ting  long  -  ing 

L_^  ^  ^  1 

lov  -  ers  feed     Up  - 

on    such  looks     as 

i 

those. 

I'll 

C!1 

. 

_.  —  .  —  i  —  ;  — 

i    :  1  —  ^~ 

r                 r 

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r        r    = 

1"              f 

3 

ku 

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r       •    J 

i          i         &_ 

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5      p    r      L 

U         r      ^        J 

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p           i       w 

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—*                                 •  \         f               ],          \           r     4.       *                           .9 
mar  -  ble  -  wall    thee    round    a  -  bout,  And     build     with-out      a           door  ;  '        But 

1    ? 

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if     thy  heart    do          once  break  out,     I'll      ne-ver      love    thee        more 


H=N=I  ' 


REIGNS   OP  JAMES   I.    AND   CHARLES   I.  381 

Let  not  their  oaths,  by  volleys  shot,  Then  if  by  fraud  or  by  consent, 

Make  any  breach  at  all,  To  ruin  thou  shouldst  come, 

Nor  smoothness  of  their  language  plot  I'll  sound  no  trumpet  as  of  wont, 

A  way  to  scale  the  wall ;  Nor  march  by  beat  of  drum ; 

No  balls  of  wild-fire-love  consume  But  fold  my  arms,  like  ensigns,  up, 

The  shrine  which  I  adore  ;  Thy  falsehood  to  deplore, 

For,  if  such  smoke  about  it  fume,  And,  after  such  a  bitter  cup, 

I'll  never  love  thee  more.  I'll  never  love  thee  more. 

THE  MERCHANTMAN. 

The  ballad  of  the  Merchantman  and  the  Fiddler's  Wife  is  in  the  list  of  those 
printed  by  Thackeray,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  It  is  also  printed  in  Pills  to 
purge  Melancholy,  iii.  153,  1707,  to  the  following  "  pleasant  Northern  tune." 

It  commences  with  the  line,  "  It  was  a  rich  Merchantman,"  and  the  ballad  of 
"  George  Barnwell "  was  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  The  rich  Merchantman.  (See 
Roxburghe  Collection,  iii.  26.)  Percy  prints  it  from  another  copy  in  the  Ash- 
mole  Collection,  where  the  tune  is  entitled  "  The  Merchant" 

There  must  either  be  another  tune  called  A  rich  Merchantman,  or  else  only 
half  the  air  is  printed  in  Pitts  to  purge  Melancholy ;  for,  although  eight  bars  of 
music  suffice  for  the  above-named,  which  are  in  short  stanzas  of  four  lines, 
sixteen,  at  least,  are  required  for  other  ballads,  which  are  in  stanzas  of  eight, 
and  have  occasionally  a  burden  of  four  more.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  only 
the  half  of  a  tune  printed  in  the  Pills  (see,  for  instance,  Tom  of  Bedlam,  Q-reen 
Sleeves,  &c.) ,  but  I  know  of  no  other  version  of  this  tune,  and  therefore  have  not 
the  means  of  testing  it. 

"  A  song  of  the  strange  Lives  of  two  young  Princes  of  England,  who  became 
shepherds  on  Salisbury  Plain,  and  were  afterwards  restored  to  their  former 
estates  :  To  the  tune  of  TJie  Merchant  Man" — is  contained  in  TJie  Golden  G-arland 
of  Princely  Delights,  3rd  edit.,  1620,  as  well  as  in  Old  Ballads,  2nd  edit., 
iii.  5,  1738.  It  is  in  stanzas  of  eight  lines  (commencing,  "  In  kingly  Stephen's 
reign"),  and  reprinted,  omitting  the  name  of  the  tune,  in  Evans'  Old  Ballads, 
ii.  53,  1810. 

"A  most  sweet  song  of  an  English  Merchant,  born  at  Chichester:  To  an 
excellent  new  tune  " — has  the  additional  burden  of  four  lines,  and  is  probably 
the  earliest.  It  commences  thus : — 

"  A  rich  merchant  man  there  was,  And  for  this  fact  the  merchant  man 

That  was  both  grave  and  wise,  Waa  judg'd  to  lose  his  head. 

Did  kill  a  man  at  Embden  towne  A  srveet  thing  is  love, 

Through  quarrels  that  did  rise.  It  rules  both  heart  and  mind, 

Through  quarrels  that  did  rise,  There  is  no  comfort  in  this  world 

The  German  he  was  dead,  < Like'  women  that  are  bind" 

Of  this  various  copies  are  extant,  and  all  apparently  very  corrupt.  One  in  the 
Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  104,  is  "  Printed  at  London  for  Francis  Coules ; " 
a  second,  in  the  Bagford  Collection,  printed  for  A.  P. ;  a  third,  in  the  Pepys 
Collection,  by  Clarke,  Thackeray,  and  Passinger.  Evans  reprints  from  the  last. 


382 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


(See  Old  Ballads,  i.  28,  1810.)     It  is  parodied  in  act  iii.  of  Rowley's  comedy, 
A  new  Wonder,  a  Woman  never  vext,  1632;  and  quoted  in   The    Triumphant 
Widow,  1677  :— 
"  There  was  a  rich  merchant  man,  He  kill'd  a  man  in  Athens  town, 

That  was  both  great  and  wise,  Great  quarrels  there  did  arise,"  &c. 

A  rich  Merchantman  is  one  of  the  tunes  to  a  song  in  The  Famous  Historic  of 
Fryer  Bacon,  B.L.,  4to,  n.d. ;  and  There  was  a  rich  Merchantman  to  a  ballad  in 
the  Pepys  Collection,  ii.  190.  Others  (under  the  one  name  or  the  other)  will 
be  found  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection,  i.  286  and  444,  ii.  242,  &c. 


•<      w    ("*^r            is      i-  —  -i          _^                       is 

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1                  1         J 

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There  was  a  rich  merchant 

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-    man,    That 

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wise,         He 

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kill'd      a      man    in     Athens    town,    Great     quarrels  there  did        a     -     rise. 


-r      r 

FAIR  MARGARET  AND  SWEET  WILLIAM. 

Copies  of  this  ballad  are  in  the  Douce  Collection,  fol.  72,  and  in  the  Col- 
lection of  Mr.  George  Daniel ;  also  in  Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry. 

Percy  says,  "  This  seems  to  be  the  old  song  quoted  in  Fletcher's  Knight  of  the 
Burning  Pestle,  acts  ii.  and  iii. ;  although  the  six  lines  there  preserved  are  some- 
what different  from  those  in  the  ballad  as  it  stands  at  present.  The  lines  preserved 
in  the  play  are  this  distich : — 

"You  are  no  love  for  me,  Margaret, 

I  am  no  love  for  you ; " 
and  the  following  stanza : — 
"  When  all  was  grown  to  dark  midnight,  In  came  Margaret's  grimly  ghost, 

And  all  were  fast  asleep,  And  stood  at  William's  feet." 

Percy  adds  that  "  these  lines  have  acquired  an  importance  by  giving  birth  to  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  ballads  in  our  own  or  any  other  language  " — "  Margaret's 
Ghost "  by  Mallet. 

Mallet's  ballad  attained  deserved  popularity.  It  was  printed  in  various  forms 
0n  half-sheets  with  music,  and  in  Watts'  Musical  Miscellany,  ii.  84,  1729.  The 
air  became  known  by  its  name,  and  is  so  published  in  The  Village  Opera,  1729, 
and  in  TJie  Devil  to  pay,  1731. 

It  was  not,  however,  printed  exclusively  to  this  tune.     Thomson  published  it 


REIGNS   OP  JAMES   I.   AND   CHARLES   I. 


383 


in  his  Orpheus  Caledonius,  and  described  it,  with  his  usual  inaccuracy,  as  "  an 
old  Scotch  ballad,  with  the  original  Scotch  tune ; " — "  old,"  although  (on  the 
authority  of  Dr.  Johnson)  it  was  first  printed  in  Aaron  Hill's  Plain  Dealer, 
No.  36,  July  24,  1724,  and  Thomson's  Orpheus  was  published  within  six  months 
of  that  time — viz.,  on  January  5, 1725.  The  "  original  Scotch  tune"  of  Thomson 
is  a  version  of  "  Montrose's  lines,"  or  Never  love  thee  more. 

Another  point  deserving  notice  in  the  old  ballad,  is  that  one  part  of  it  has 
furnished  the  principal  subject  of  the  modern  burlesque  ballad,  "  Lord  Lovel,"an  d 
another  that  of  T.  Hood's  song,  "  Mary's  Ghost." 

The  copy  in  the  Douce  Collection  is  entitled  "  Fair  Margaret's  Misfortune ;  or 
Sweet  William's  frightful  dreams  on  his  wedding  night :  With  the  sudden  death 
and  burial  of  those  noble  lovers.  To  an  excellent  new  tune." 

The  following  version  of  the  words  is  from  Percy's  Religues  of  Ancient 
Poetry : — 


J 

PI     iff 

3  ~~*~ 

1  1  

1  1  — 

1  —m  

—  i 

•  1  - 

~~n 

i  a  

As        it        fell        out      on         a        long     sum  -  mer's       day,         Two 

^         r_  '               '          !      J 

H  P  P  

J  

b  4                       ' 

1    r   id 

P 


' 

Us 

F 

c 

—  *  "  •  — 

^      ...      P 

i  J     0  J.T^ 

U—  ^ 

1  >*~^     J    1 

i  j  :  *  i 

1       ^          f~     -»•     -*     -«r      '  *     •*     1 

lo  -  vers   they      sat         on        a            hill  ;    They          sat              to    -    ge  -  ther  that 

1                                                                                                          •___•- 

, 

r           r 

=*- 

_J  1  J  

3  —  f— 

-*  —  P— 

4  —  1  —  P- 

-1 



-]  f  —  i  fcrH  1  —  1  J  :  1— 

—  'f  —  ^  —  =^^  —  1 

0 

^J- 

-ih-i^4- 

Ion 

-P- 

'    '    •  *  —  L-N  i  —  ^-^s  -A*    '  eJ  -•  "  
i                               1          **"  . 
g  sum-mer's          day,       And         could         not         talk           their        fill. 

f-      fr-          -^                           -                  - 

-H  T— 

—  ^j  1  

— 

—  P  — 

~^ 

•N 

1  

1  1 

—  1  —  !•  —  ' 

L 

I  see  no  harm  by  you,  Margaret, 

And  you  see  none  by  me  ; 
Before  to-morrow  at  eight  o'  the  clock 

A  rich  wedding  you  shall  see. 

Fair  Margaret  sat  in  her  bower-window, 

Combing  her  yellow  hair  ; 
There  she  spied  sweet  William  and  his  bride, 

As  they  were  a  riding  near. 


Then  down  she  laid  her  ivory  comb, 
And  braided  her  hair  in  twain  ; 

She  went  alive  out  of  her  bower, 
But  ne'er  came  alive  in't  again. 

When  day  was  gone,  and  night  was  come, 

And  all  men  fast  asleep, 
Then  came  the  spirit  of  fair  Marg'ret, 

And  stood  at  William's  feet. 


384 


ENGLISH   SONG  AND   BALLAD   MUSIC. 


Are  you  awake,  sweet  William?  she  said, 
Or,  sweet  William,  are  you  asleep  ? 

God  give  you  joy  of  your  gay  bride-bed, 
And  me  of  my  winding-sheet. 

When  day  was  come,  and  night  was  gone, 
And  all  men  wak'd  from  sleep, 

Sweet  William  to  his  lady  said, 
My  dear,  I  have  cause  to  weep, 

I  dreamt  a  dream,  my  dear  lady, 

Such  dreams  are  never  good  ; 
I  dreamt  my  bower  was  full  of  red  wine, 

And  my  bride-bed  full  of  blood. 

Such  dreams,  such  dreams,  my  honoured  Sir, 

They  never  do  prove  good ; 
To  dream  thy  bower  was  full  of  red  wine, 

And  thy  bride-bed  full  of  blood. 

He  called  up  his  merry  men  all, 

By  one,  by  two,  and  by  three ; 
Saying,  I'll  away  to  fair  Marg'ret's  bower, 

By  leave  of  my  lady. 

And  when  he  came  to  fair  Marg'ret's  bower, 

He  knocked  at  the  ring  ; 
And  who  so  ready  as  her  seven  brethren 

To  let  sweet  William  in. 

Then  he  turned  up  the  covering  sheet, 

Pray  let  me  see  the  dead ; 
Methinks  she  looks  all  pale  and  wan, 

She  hath  lost  her  cherry  red. 

I'll  do  more  for  thee,  Margaret, 
Than  any  of  thy  kin ; 


For  I  will  kiss  thy  pale  wan  lips, 
Though  a  smile  I  cannot  win. 

With  that  bespake  the  seven  brethren, 

Making  most  piteous  moan  : 
You  may  go  kiss  your  jolly  brown  bride, 

And  let  our  sister  alone. 

If  I  do  kiss  my  jolly  brown  bride, 

I  do  but  what  is  right ; 
I  ne'er  made  a  vow  to  yonder  poor  corpse 

By  day,  nor  yet  by  night. 

Deal  on,  deal  on,  my  merry  men  all, 
Deal  on  your  cake  and  your  wine  ; 

For  whatever  is  dealt  at  her  funeral  to-day, 
Shall  be  dealt  to-morrow  at  mine. 

Fair  Margaret  died  to-day,  to-day, 
Sweet  William  died  the  morrow  ; 

Fair  Margaret  died  for  pure  true  love, 
Sweet  William  died  for  sorrow. 

Margaret  was  buried  in  the  lower  chancel, 

And  William  in  the  higher  ; 
Out  of  her  breast  there  sprang  a  rose, 

And  out  of  his  a  brier. 

They  grew  till  they  grew  unto  the  church-top, 
And  then  they  could  grow  no  higher  ; 

And  there  they  tied  in  a  true  lover's  knot, 
Which  made  all  the  people  admire. 

Then"  came  the  clerk  of  the  parish, 

As  you  the  truth  shall  hear, 
And  by  misfortune  cut  them  down, 

Or  they  now  had  been  there. 


END  OF  VOLUME  THE  FIRST. 


BINDING  SECT.       JUL  18877. 


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Music 


Chappell,  William 

Popular  music  of  the  olden 
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