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diff --git a/old/60454-0.txt b/old/60454-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9d347c8..0000000 --- a/old/60454-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,15573 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Choyce Drollery: Songs and Sonnets, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Choyce Drollery: Songs and Sonnets - Being A Collection of Divers Excellent Pieces of Poetry, - of Several Eminent Authors. - -Author: Various - -Editor: J. Woodfall Ebsworth - -Release Date: October 8, 2019 [EBook #60454] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHOYCE DROLLERY: SONGS AND SONNETS *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: Upright text within italic passages is indicated -~like this~. See end for a fuller note. - - - - - -Choyce Drollery. - - - - -[Illustration: _1661. Vide p. 107._ - -_J. W. Ebsworth sc. 1876_] - - - - - Choyce - DROLLERY: - SONGS & SONNETS. - - BEING - - _A Collection of Divers Excellent - Pieces of Poetry_, - - OF SEVERAL EMINENT AUTHORS. - - _Now First Reprinted from the Edition of 1656._ - - TO WHICH ARE ADDED THE EXTRA SONGS OF - MERRY DROLLERY, 1661, - AND AN - ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY, 1661: - - EDITED, - - _With Special Introductions, and Appendices of Notes, - Illustrations, Emendations of Text, &c._, - - BY J. WOODFALL EBSWORTH, M.A., CANTAB. - - BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE: - Printed by _Robert Roberts_, Strait Bar-Gate. - M,DCCCLXXVI. - - - - - TO THOSE - - STUDENTS OF ART, - - AMONG WHOM HE FOUND - - Friendship and Enthusiasm; - - BEFORE HE LEFT THEM, - - WINNERS OF UNSULLIED FAME, - - AND SOUGHT IN A QUIET NOOK - - CONTENT, INSTEAD OF RENOWN: - - THESE - - “DROLLERIES OF THE RESTORATION” - - ARE BY THE EDITOR - - DEDICATED. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - DEDICATION v - - PRELUDE ix - - INTRODUCTION TO “CHOICE DROLLERY, 1656” xi - - § 1. HOW CHOICE DROLLERY WAS INHIBITED xi - - 2. THE TWO COURTS IN 1656 xix - - 3. SONGS OF LOVE AND WAR xxvi - - 4. CONCLUSION: THE PASTORALS xxxiii - - ORIGINAL “ADDRESS TO THE READER,” 1856 - - “CHOYCE DROLLERY,” 1656 1 - - TABLE OF FIRST LINES TO DITTO 101 - - INTRODUCTION TO “ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY,” 1661 - - § 1. REPRINT OF “ANTIDOTE” 105 - - 2. INGREDIENTS OF “AN ANTIDOTE” 108 - - ORIGINAL ADDRESS “TO THE READER,” 1661 111 - - ” CONTENTS (ENLARGED) 112 - - “ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY,” 1661 113 - - EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT TO DITTO: § 1. ON THE “AUTHOR” OF THE - ANTIDOTE. 2. ARTHUR O’BRADLEY 161 - - “WESTMINSTER DROLLERIES,” EDITION 1674: EXTRA SONGS 177 - - “MERRY DROLLERY,” 1661: - - PART 1. EXTRA SONGS 195 - - ” 2. DITTO 233 - - APPENDIX OF NOTES, &c., ARRANGED IN FOUR PARTS: - - 1. “CHOICE DROLLERY” 259 - - 2. “ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY” 305 - - 3. “WESTMINSTER DROLLERY,” 1671-4 333 - - 4. § 1. “MERRY DROLLERY,” 1661 345 - - 2. ADDITIONAL NOTES TO “M. D.,” 1670 371 - - 3. SESSIONS OF POETS 405 - - 4. TABLES OF FIRST LINES 411 - - FINALE 423 - - - - -PRELUDE. - - - Not dim and shadowy, like a world of dreams, - We summon back the past Cromwellian time, - Raised from the dead by invocative rhyme, - Albeit this no Booke of Magick seems: - - Now,—while few questions of the fleeting hour - Cease to perplex, or task th’ unwilling mind,— - Lest party-strife our better-Reason blind - To the dread evils waiting still on Power. - - We see Old England torn by civil wars, - Oppress’d by gloomy zealots—men whose chain - More galled because of Regicidal stain, - Hiding from view all honourable scars: - - We see how those who raved for Liberty, - Claiming the Law’s protection ’gainst the King, - Trampled themselves on Law, and strove to bring - On their own nation tenfold Slavery. - - So that with iron hand, with eagle eye, - Stout Oliver Protector scarce could keep - The troubled land in awe; while mutterings deep - Threatened to swell the later rallying cry. - - Well had he probed the hollow friends who stood - Distrustful of him, though their tongues spoke praise; - Well read their fears, that interposed delays - To rob him of his meed for toil and blood. - - A few brief years of such uneasy strife, - While foreign shores and ocean own his sway; - Then fades the lonely Conqueror away, - Amid success, weary betimes of life. - - So passing, kingly in his soul, uncrown’d, - With dark forebodings of th’ approaching storm, - He leaves the spoil at mercy of the swarm - Of beasts unclean and vultures gathering round. - - For soon from grasp of Richard Cromwell slips - Semblance of power he ne’er had strength to hold; - And wolves each other tear, who tore the fold, - While lurid twilight mocks the State’s eclipse. - - Then, from divided counsels, bitter snarls, - Deceit and broken fealty, selfish aim— - Where promptitude and courage win the game,— - Self-scattered fall they; and up mounts - KING CHARLES. - - J. W. E. - -_June 1st, 1876._ - - - - -EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION TO CHOICE DROLLERY: 1656. - - _Charles._—“They say he is already in the forest of Arden, and - a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old - Robin Hood of England. They say many young gentlemen flock to - him every day, and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in - the golden world.” - - (_As You Like It_, Act i. sc. 1.) - - -§ 1. _CHOYCE DROLLERY INHIBITED._ - -We may be sure the memory of many a Cavalier went back to that sweetest -of all Pastorals, Shakespeare’s Comedy of “As You Like It,” while he -clutched to his breast the precious little volume of _Choyce Drollery, -Songs and Sonnets_, which was newly published in the year 1656. He sought -a covert amid the yellowing fronds of fern, in some old park that had -not yet been wholly confiscated by the usurping Commonwealth; where, -under the broad shadow of a beech-tree, with the squirrel watching him -curiously from above, and timid fawns sniffing at him suspiciously a few -yards distant, he might again yield himself to the enjoyment of reading -“heroick Drayton’s” _Dowsabell_, the love-tale beginning with the magic -words “Farre in the Forest of Arden”—an invocative name which summoned -to his view the Rosalind whose praise was carved on many a tree. He -also, be it remembered, had “a banished Lord;” even then remote from his -native Court, associating with “co-mates and brothers in exile”—somewhat -different in mood from Amiens or the melancholy Jacques; and, alas! not -devoid of feminine companions. Enough resemblance was in the situation -for a fanciful enthusiasm to lend enchantment to the name of Arden (p. -73), and recall scenes of shepherd-life with Celia, the songs that echoed -“Under the greenwood-tree;” without needing the additional spell of -seeing “Ingenious Shakespeare” mentioned among “the Time-Poets” on the -fifth page of _Choyce Drollery_. - -Not easily was the book obtained; every copy at that time being hunted -after, and destroyed when found, by ruthless minions of the Commonwealth. -A Parliamentary injunction had been passed against it. Commands were -given for it to be burnt by the hangman. Few copies escaped, when spies -and informers were numerous, and fines were levied upon those who -had secreted it. Greedy eyes, active fingers, were after the _Choyce -Drollery_. Any fortunate possessor, even in those early days, knew well -that he grasped a treasure which few persons save himself could boast. -Therefore it is not strange, two hundred and twenty years having rolled -away since then, that the book has grown to be among the rarest of the -_Drolleries_. Probably not six perfect copies remain in the world. The -British Museum holds not one. We congratulate ourselves on restoring it -now to students, for many parts of it possess historical value, besides -poetic grace; and the whole work forms an interesting relic of those -troubled times. - -Unlike our other _Drolleries_, reproduced _verbatim et literatim_ in this -series, we here find little describing the last days of Cromwell and the -Commonwealth; except one graphic picture of a despoiled West-Countryman -(p. 57), complaining against both Roundheads and “Cabbaleroes.” The -poems were not only composed before hopes revived of speedy Restoration -for the fugitive from Worcester-fight and Boscobel; they were, in great -part, written before the Civil Wars began. Few of them, perhaps, were -previously in print (the title-page asserts that _none_ had been so, but -we know this to be false). Publishers made such statements audaciously, -then as now, and forced truth to limp behind them without chance of -overtaking. By far the greater number belonged to an early date in the -reign of the murdered King, chiefly about the year 1637; two, at the -least, were written in the time of James I. (viz., p. 40, a contemporary -poem on the Gunpowder Plot of 1605; and, p. 10, the Ballad on King James -I.), if not also the still earlier one, on the Defeat of the Scots at -Muscleborough Field; which is probably corrupted from an original so -remote as the reign of Edward VI. “Dowsabell” was certainly among the -_Pastorals_ of 1593, and “Down lay the Shepherd’s swain” (p. 65) bears -token of belonging to an age when the Virgin Queen held sway. These -facts guide to an understanding of the charm held by _Choyce Drollery_ -for adherents of the Monarchy; and of its obnoxiousness in the sight -of the Parliament that had slain their King. It was not because of -any exceptional immorality in this _Choyce Drollery_ that it became -denounced; although such might be declared in proclamations. Other books -of the same year offended worse against morals: for example, the earliest -edition known to us of _Wit and Drollery_, with the extremely “free” -_facetiæ_ of _Sportive Wit, or Lusty Drollery_ (both works issued in -1656), held infinitely more to shock proprieties and call for repression. -The _Musarum Deliciæ_ of Sir J[ohn] M[ennis] and Dr. J[ames] S[mith], -in the same year, 1656, cannot be held blameless. Yet the hatred -shewn towards _Choyce Drollery_ far exceeded all the rancour against -these bolder sinners, or the previous year’s delightful miscellany of -merriment and true poetry, the _Wit’s Interpreter_ of industrious J[ohn] -C[otgrave]; to whom, despite multitudinous typographical errors, we owe -thanks, both for _Wit’s Interpreter_ and for the wilderness of dramatic -beauties, his _Wit’s Treasury_: bearing the same date of 1655. - -It was not because of sins against taste and public or private morals, -(although, we admit, it has some few of these, sufficient to afford -a pretext for persecutors, who would have been equally bitter had -it possessed virginal purity:) but in consequence of other and more -dangerous ingredients, that _Choyce Drollery_ aroused such a storm. Not -disgust, but fear of its influence in reviving loyalty, prompted the -order of its extermination. Readers at this later day, might easily fail -to notice all that stirred the loyal sentiments of chivalric devotion, -and consequently made the fierce Fifth-Monarchy men hate the small volume -worse than the _Apocrypha_ or _Ikon Basilike_. Herein was to be found -the clever “Jack of Lent’s” account of loyal preparations made in London -to receive the newly-wedded Queen, Henrietta Maria, when she came from -France, in 1625, escorted by the Duke of Buckingham, who compromised her -sister by his rash attentions: Buckingham, whom King Charles loved so -well that the favouritism shook his throne, even after Felton’s dagger -in 1628 had rid the land of the despotic courtier. Here, also, a more -grievous offence to the Regicides, was still recorded in austere grandeur -of verse, from no common hireling pen, but of some scholar like unto -Henry King, of Chichester, the loyal “New-Year’s Wish” (p. 48) presented -to King Charles at the beginning of 1638, when the North was already -in rebellion: wherein men read, what at that time had not been deemed -profanity or blasphemy, the praise and faithful service of some hearts -who held their monarch only second to their Saviour. Referring to their -hope that the personal approach of the King might cure the evils of the -disturbed realm, it is written:— - - “You, like our sacred and indulgent Lord, - When the too-stout Apostle drew his sword, - When he mistooke some secrets of the cause, - And in his furious zeale disdained the Lawes, - Forgetting true Religion doth lye - On prayers, not swords against authority: - You, like our substitute of horrid fate, - That are next Him we most should imitate, - Shall like to Him rebuke with wiser breath, - Such furious zeale, but not reveng’d with death. - Like him, the wound that’s giv’n you strait shall heal - Then calm by precept such mistaking zeal.” - -Here was a sincere, unflinching recognition of Divine Right, such as the -faction in power could not possibly abide. Even the culpable weakness -and ingratitude of Charles, in abandoning Strafford, Laud, and other -champions to their unscrupulous destroyers, had not made true-hearted -Cavaliers falter in their faith to him. As the best of moralists -declares:— - - “Love is not love - Which alters when it alteration finds, - Or bends with the remover to remove.” - -These loyal sentiments being embodied in print within our _Choyce -Drollery_, suitable to sustain the fealty of the defeated Cavaliers to -the successor of the “Royal Martyr,” it was evident that the Restoration -must be merely a question of time. “If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it -be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, _yet it will come: the -readiness is all_!” - -To more than one of those who had sat in the ill-constituted and -miscalled High Court of Justice, during the closing days of 1648-9, there -must have been, ever and anon, as the years rolled by, a shuddering -recollection of the words written anew upon the wall in characters of -living fire. They had shown themselves familiar, in one sense much too -familiar, with the phraseology but not the teaching of Scripture. To -them the _Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin_ needed no Daniel come to judgment -for interpretation. The Banquet was not yet over; the subjugated people, -whom they had seduced from their allegiance by a dream of winning freedom -from exactions, were still sullenly submissive; the desecrated cups and -challices of the Church they had despoiled, believing it overthrown for -ever, had been, in many cases, melted down for plunder,—in others, sold -as common merchandize: and yet no thunder heard. But, however defiantly -they might bear themselves, however resolute to crush down every -attempt at revolt against their own authority, the men in power could -not disguise from one another that there were heavings of the earth on -which they trod, coming from no reverberations of their footsteps, but -telling of hollowness and insecurity below. They were already suspicious -among themselves, no longer hiding personal spites and jealousies, the -separate ambition of uncongenial factions, which had only united for -a season against the monarchy and hierarchy, but now began to fall -asunder, mutually envenomed and intolerant. Presbyterian, Independent, -and Nondescript-Enthusiast, while combined together of late, had been -acknowledged as a power invincible, a Three-fold Cord that bound the -helpless Victim to an already bloody altar. The strands of it were now -unwinding, and there scarcely needed much prophetic wisdom to discern -that one by one they could soon be broken. - -To us, from these considerations, there is intense attraction in the -_Choyce Drollery_, since it so narrowly escaped from flames to which it -had been judicially condemned. - - -§ 2.—THE TWO COURTS, IN 1656. - -At this date many a banished or self-exiled Royalist, dwelling in the -Low Countries, but whose heart remained in England, drew a melancholy -contrast between the remembered past of Whitehall and the gloomy present. -With honest Touchstone, he could say, “Now am I in Arden! the more fool -I. When I was at home I was in a better place; but travellers must be -content.” - -Meanwhile, in the beloved Warwickshire glades, herds of swine were -routing noisily for acorns, dropped amid withered leaves under branches -of the Royal Oaks. They were watched by boys, whose chins would not be -past the first callow down of promissory beards when Restoration-day -should come with shouts of welcome throughout the land. - -In 1656 our Charles Stuart was at Bruges, now and then making a visit to -Cologne, often getting into difficulties through the misconduct of his -unruly followers, and already quite enslaved by Dalilahs, syrens against -whom his own shrewd sense was powerless to defend him. For amusement -he read his favourite French or Italian authors, not seldom took long -walks, and indulged himself in field sports: - - “_A merry monarch, scandalous and poor_.” - -For he was only scantily supplied with money, which chiefly came from -France, but if he had possessed the purse of Fortunatus it could barely -have sufficed to meet demands from those who lived upon him. A year -before, the Lady Byron had been spoken of as being his seventeenth -Mistress abroad, and there was no deficiency of candidates for any vacant -place within his heart. Sooth to say, the place was never vacant, for it -yielded at all times unlimited accommodation to every beauty. Music and -dances absorbed much of his attention. So long as the faces around him -showed signs of happiness, he did not seriously afflict himself because -he was in exile, and a little out at elbows. - -Such was the “Banished Duke” in his Belgian Court; poor substitute for -the Forest of Ardennes, not far distant. By all accounts, he felt “the -penalty of Adam, the season’s difference,” and in no way relished the -discomfort. He did not smile and say, - - “This is no flattery: these are counsellors - That feelingly persuade me what I am.” - -For, in truth, he much preferred avoiding such counsel, and relished -flattery too well to part with it on cheap terms. He never considered -the “rural life more sweet than that of painted pomp,” and, if all tales -of Cromwell’s machinations be held true, Charles by no means found the -home of exile “more free from peril than the envious court.” On the -other hand, his own proclamation, dated 3rd May, 1654, offering an -annuity of five hundred pounds, a Colonelcy and Knighthood, to any person -who should destroy the Usurper (“a certain mechanic fellow, by name -Oliver Cromwell!”), took from him all moral right of complaint against -reprisals: unless, as we half-believe, this proclamation were one of the -many forgeries. As to any sweetness in “the uses of Adversity,” Charles -might have pleaded, with a laugh, that he had known sufficient of them -already to be cloyed with it. - -The men around him were of similar opinion. A few, indeed, like Cowley -and Crashaw, were loyal hearts, whose devotion was best shown in times -of difficulty. Not many proved of such sound metal, but there lived some -“faithful found among the faithless”; and - - “He that can endure - To follow with allegiance a fallen lord, - Does conquer him that did his master conquer, - And earns a place in the story.” - -The Ladies of the party scarcely cared for anything beyond -self-adornment, rivalry, languid day-dreams of future greatness, and the -encouragement of gallantry. - -There was not one among them who for a moment can bear comparison with -the Protector’s daughter, Elizabeth Claypole—perhaps the loveliest female -character of all recorded in those years. Everything concerning her -speaks in praise. She was the good angel of the house. Her father loved -her, with something approaching reverence, and feared to forfeit her -conscientious approval more than the support of his companions in arms. -In worship she shrank from the profane familiarity of the Sectaries, -and devotedly held by the Church of England. She is recorded to have -always used her powerful influence in behalf of the defeated Cavaliers, -to obtain mercy and forbearance. Her name was whispered, with blessing -implored upon it, in the prayers of many whom she alone had saved from -death.[1] No personal ambition, no foolish pride and ostentation marked -her short career. The searching glare of Court publicity could betray -no flaw in her conduct or disposition; for the heart was sound within, -her religion was devoid of all hypocrisy. Her Christian purity was -too clearly stainless for detraction to dare raise one murmur. She is -said to have warmly pleaded in behalf of Doctor Hewit, who died upon -the scaffold with his Royalist companion, Sir Harry Slingsby, the 8th -of June, 1658 (although she rejoiced in the defeat of their plot, as -her extant letter proves). Cromwell resisted her solicitations, urged -to obduracy by his more ruthless Ironsides, who called for terror to -be stricken into the minds of all reactionists by wholesale slaughter -of conspirators. Soon after this she faded. It was currently reported -and believed that on her death-bed, amid the agonies and fever-fits, -she bemoaned the blood that had been shed, and spoke reproaches to -the father whom she loved, so that his conscience smote him, and the -remembrance stayed with him for ever.[2] She was only twenty-nine when -at Hampton Court she died, on the 6th of August, 1658. Less than a month -afterwards stout Oliver’s heart broke. Something had gone from him, -which no amount of power and authority could counter-balance. He was -not a man to breathe his deeper sorrows into the ear of those political -adventurers or sanctified enthusiasts whose glib tongues could rattle off -the words of consolation. While she was slowly dying he had still tried -to grapple with his serious duties, as though undisturbed. Her prayers -and her remonstrances had been powerless of late to make him swerve. But -now, when she was gone, the hollow mockery of what power remained stood -revealed to him plainly; and the Rest that was so near is not unlikely to -have been the boon he most desired. It came to him upon his fatal day, -his anniversary of still recurring success and happy fortune; came, as -is well known, on September 3rd, 1658. The Destinies had nothing better -left to give him, so they brought him death. What could be more welcome? -Very few of these who reach the summit of ambition, as of those other who -most lamentably failed, and became bankrupt of every hope, can feel much -sadness when the messenger is seen who comes to lead them hence,—from a -world wherein the jugglers’ tricks have all grown wearisome, and where -the tawdry pomp or glare cannot disguise the sadness of Life’s masquerade. - - “Naught’s had—all’s spent, - When our desire is got without content: - ’Tis safer to be that which we destroy, - Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” - - -§ 3.—SONGS OF LOVE AND WAR. - -It was still 1656, of which we write (the year of _Choyce Drollery_ and -_Parnassus Biceps_, of _Wit and Drollery_ and of _Sportive Wit_); not -1658: but shadows of the coming end were to be seen. Already it was -evident that Cromwell sate not firmly on the throne, uncrowned, indeed, -but holding power of sovereignty. His health was no longer what it had -been of old. The iron constitution was breaking up. Yet was he only nine -months older than the century. In September his new Parliament met; if -it can be called a Parliament in any sense, restricted and coerced alike -from a free choice and from free speech, pledged beforehand to be servile -to him, and holding a brief tenure of mock authority under his favour. -They might declare his person sacred, and prohibit mention of Charles -Stuart, whose regal title they denounced. But few cared what was said or -done by such a knot of praters. More important was the renewed quarrel -with Spain; and all parties rejoiced when gallant Blake and Montague fell -in with eight Spanish ships off Cadiz, captured two of them and stranded -others. There had been no love for that rival fleet since the Invincible -Armada made its boast in 1588; but what had happened in “Bloody Mary’s” -reign, after her union with Philip, and the later cruelties wrought under -Alva against the patriots of the Netherlands, increased the national -hatred. We see one trace of this renewed desire for naval warfare in the -appearance of the Armada Ballad, “In eighty-eight ere I was born,” on -page 38 of our _Choyce Drollery_: the earliest copy of it we have met in -print. Some supposed connection of Spanish priestcraft with the Gunpowder -Plot of 1605 (Guido Faux and several of the Jesuits being so accredited -from the Low Country wars), may have caused the early poem on this -subject to be placed immediately following. - -But the chief interest of the book, for its admirers, lay not in -temporary allusions to the current politics and gossip. Furnishing these -were numerous pamphlets, more or less venomous, circulating stealthily, -despite all watchfulness and penalties. Next year, 1657, “Killing no -Murder” would come down, as if showered from the skies; but although -hundreds wished that somebody else might act on the suggestions, already -urged before this seditious tract appeared, not one volunteer felt called -upon to immolate himself to certain death on the instant by standing -forward as the required assassin. Cautious thinkers held it better to -bide their time, and await the natural progress of events, allowing all -the enemies of Charles and Monarchy to quarrel and consume each other. -Probably the bulk of country farmers and their labourers cared not one -jot how things fell out, so long as they were left without exorbitant -oppression; always excepting those who dwelt where recently the hoof -of war-horse trod, and whose fields and villages bore still the trace -of havoc. Otherwise, the interference with the Maypole dance, and such -innocent rural sports, by the grim enemies to social revelry, was felt to -be a heavier sorrow than the slaughter of their King.[3] So long as wares -were sold, and profits gained, Town-traders held few sentiments of favour -towards either camp. It was (owing to the parsimony of Parliament, and -his continual need of supplies to be obtained without their sanction,) -the frequency of his exactions, the ship-money, the forced loans, and the -uncertainty of ever gaining a repayment, which had turned many hearts -against King Charles I., in his long years of difficulty, before shouts -arose of “Privilege.” But for the cost of wasteful revels at Court, with -gifts to favourites, the expense of foreign or domestic wars, there would -have been no popular complaint against tyranny. Citizens care little -about questions of Divine Right and Supremacy, _pro_ or _con_, so long -as they are left unfettered from growing rich, and are not called on to -disgorge the wealth they swallowed ravenously, perhaps also dishonestly. -Some remembrance of this fact possessed the Cavaliers, even before George -Monk came to burst the city gates and chains. The Restoration confirmed -the same opinion, and the later comedies spoke manifold contempt against -time-serving traders; who cheated gallant men of money and land, but in -requital were treated like Acteon. - -Although, in 1656, disquiet was general, amid contemporary records we may -seek far before we meet a franker and more manly statement of the honest -Englishman’s opinion, despising every phase of trickery in word, deed, or -visage, than the poem found in _Choyce Drollery_, p. 85,—“The Doctor’s -Touchstone.” There were, doubtless, many whose creed it stated rightly. A -nation that could feel thus, would not long delay to pluck the mask from -sanctimonious hypocrites, and drag “The Gang” from out their saddle. - -Here, too, are the love-songs of a race of Poets who had known the -glories of Whitehall before its desecration. Here are the courtly praises -of such beauties as the Lady Elizabeth Dormer, 1st Countess of Carnarvon, -who, while she held her infant in her arms, in 1642, was no less -fascinating than she had been in her virgin bloom. The airy trifling, -dallying with conceits in verse, that spoke of a refinement and graceful -idlesse more than passionate warmth, gave us these relics of such men as -Thomas Carew, who died in 1638, before the Court dissolved into a Camp. -Some of them recal the strains of dramatists, whose only actresses had -been Ladies of high birth, condescending to adorn the Masques in palaces, -winning applause from royal hands and voices. These, moreover, were -“Songs and Sonnets” which the best musicians had laboured skilfully to -clothe anew with melody: Poems already breathing their own music, as they -do still, when lutes and virginals are broken, and the composer’s score -has long been turned into gun-wadding. - -What sweetness and true pathos are found among them, readers can study -once more. The opening poem, by Davenant, is especially beautiful, where -a Lover comforts himself with a thought of dying in his Lady’s presence, -and being mourned thereafter by her, so that she shall deck his grave -with tears, and, loving it, must come and join him there:— - - “Yet we hereafter shall be found - By Destiny’s right placing, - Making, like Flowers, Love under ground, - Whose roots are still embracing.”[4] - -Seeing, alongside of these tender pleadings from the worshipper of -Beauty, some few pieces where the taint of foulness now awakens our -disgust, we might feel wonder at the contrast in the same volume, and the -taste of the original collector, were not such feeling of wonder long ago -exhausted. Queen Elizabeth sate out the performance of _Love’s Labour’s -Lost_ (if tradition is to be believed), and was not shocked at some free -expressions in that otherwise delightful play;—words and inuendoes, -let us own, which were a little unsuited to a Virgin Queen. Again, if -another tradition be trustworthy, she herself commissioned the comedy -of _Merry Wives of Windsor_ to be written and acted, in order that she -might see Falstaffe in love: but after that Eastcheap Boar’s-Head Tavern -scene, with rollicking Doll Tear-sheet, in the Second Part of _Henry -IV._, surely her sedate Majesty might have been prepared to look for -something very different from the proprieties of “Religious Courtship” or -the refinements of Platonic affection in the Knight, who, having “more -flesh than other men,” pleads this as an excuse for his also having more -frailty. - -Suppose we own at once, that there is a great deal of falsehood and -mock-modesty in the talk which ever anon meets us, the Puritanical -squeamishness of each extremely moral (undetected) Tartuffe, acting as -Aristarchus; who cannot, one might think, be quite ignorant of what -is current in the newspaper-literature of our own time.[5] The fact -is this, people now-a-days keep their dishes of spiced meat and their -Barmecide show-fasts separate. They sip the limpid spring before company, -and keep hidden behind a curtain the forbidden wine of Xeres, quietly -iced, for private drinking. Our ancestors took a taste of both together, -and without blushing. Their cup of nectar had some “allaying Tyber” to -abate “the thirst complaint.” They did not label their books “Moral -and Theological, for the public Ken,” or “Vice, _sub rosa_, for our -locked-cabinet!” _Parlons d’autres choses, Messieurs, s’il vous plâit._ - - -§ 4.—ON THE PASTORALS. - -There were good reasons for Court and country being associated ideas, -if only in contrast. Thus Touchstone states, when drolling with Colin, -as to a Pastoral employment:—“Truly, shepherd in respect of itself it -is a good life; but in respect it is not in the Court, it is tedious.” -The large proportion of pastoral songs and poems in _Choyce Drollery_ -is one other noticeable characteristic. Even as Utopian schemes, with -dreams of an unrealized Republic where laws may be equally administered, -and cultivation given to all highest arts or sciences, are found to be -most popular in times of discontent and tyranny, when no encouragement -for hope appears in what the acting government is doing; even so, amid -luxurious times, with artificial tastes predominant, there is always a -tendency to dream of pastoral simplicity, and to sing or paint the joys -of rural life. In the voluptuous languor of Miladi’s own _boudoir_, amid -scented fumes of pastiles and flowers, hung round with curtains brought -from Eastern palaces, Watteau, Greuze, Boucher, and Bachelier were -employed to paint delicious panels of bare-feeted shepherdesses, herding -their flocks with ribbon-knotted crooks and bursting bodices; while -goatherd-swains, in satin breeches and rosetted pumps, languish at their -side, and tell of tender passion through a rustic pipe. The contrast of -a wimpling brook, birds twittering on the spray, and daintiest hint of -hay-forks or of reaping-hooks, enhanced with piquancy, no doubt, the -every-day delights of fashionable wantonness. And as it was in such later -times with courtiers of _La belle France_ surrounding Louis XV., so in -the reign of either Charles of England—the Revolution Furies crept nearer -unperceived. - -Recurrence to Pastorals in _Choyce Drollery_ is simply in accordance -with a natural tendency of baffled Cavaliers, to look back again to all -that had distinguished the earlier days of their dead monarch, before -Puritanism had become rampant. Even Milton, in his youthful “Lycidas,” -1637, showed love for such Idyllic transformation of actual life into a -Pastoral Eclogue. (A bitter spring of hatred against the Church was even -then allowed to pollute the clear rill of Helicon: in him thereafter -that Marah never turned to sweetness.) Some of these Pastorals remain -undiscovered elsewhere. But there can be no mistaking the impression left -upon them by the opening years of the seventeenth, if not more truly the -close of the sixteenth, century. Dull, plodding critics have sneered at -Pastorals, and wielded their sledge-hammers against the Dresden-china -Shepherdesses, as though they struck down Dagon from his pedestal. What -then? Are we forbidden to enjoy, because their taste is not consulted?—— - - “Fools from their folly ’tis hopeless to stay! - Mules will be mules, by the law of their mulishness; - Then be advised, and leave fools to their foolishness, - What from an ass can be got but a bray?” - -Always will there be some smiling _virtuosi_, here or elsewhere, who can -prize the unreal toys, and thank us for retrieving from dusty oblivion a -few more of these early Pastorals. When too discordantly the factions jar -around us, and denounce every one of moderate opinions or quiet habits, -because he is unwilling to become enslaved as a partisan, and fight -under the banner that he deems disgraced by falsehood and intolerance, -despite its ostentatious blazon of “Liberation” or “Equality,” it is -not easy, even for such as “the melancholy Cowley,” to escape into his -solitude without a slanderous mockery from those who hunger for division -of the spoil. Recluse philosophers of science or of literature, men like -Sir Thomas Browne, pursue their labour unremittingly, and keep apart -from politics; but even for this abstinence harsh measure is dealt to -them by contemporaries and posterity whom they labour to enrich. It -is well, no doubt, that we should be convinced as to which side the -truth is on, and fight for that unto the death. Woe to the recreant who -shrinks from hazarding everything in life, and life itself, defending -what he holds to be the Right. Yet there are times when, as in 1656, the -fight has gone against our cause, and no further gain seems promised -by waging single-handedly a warfare against the triumphant multitude. -Patience, my child, and wait the inevitable turn of the already quivering -balance!—such is Wisdom’s counsel. Butler knew the truth of Cavalier -loyalty:— - - “For though out-numbered, overthrown, - And by the fate of war run down, - Their Duty never was defeated, - Nor from their oaths and faith retreated: - For Loyalty is still the same - Whether it lose or win the game; - True as the dial to the sun, - Although it be not shone upon.” - -Some partizans may find a paltry pleasure in dealing stealthy stabs, -or buffoons’ sarcasms, against the foes they could not fairly conquer. -Some hold a silent dignified reserve, and give no sign of what they -hope or fear. But for another, and large class, there will be solace -in the dreams of earlier days, such as the Poets loved to sing about a -Golden Pastoral Age. Those who best learnt to tell its beauty were men -unto whom Fortune seldom offered gifts, as though it were she envied -them for having better treasure in their birthright of imagination. The -dull, harsh, and uncongenial time intensified their visions: even as -Hogarth’s “Distressed Poet”—amid the squalour of his garret, with his -gentle uncomplaining wife dunned for a milk-score—revels in description -of Potosi’s mines, and, while he writes in poverty, can feign himself -possessor of uncounted riches. Such power of self-forgetfulness was -grasped by the “Time-Poets,” of whom our little book keeps memorable -record. - -So be it, Cavaliers of 1656. Though Oliver’s troopers and a hated -Parliament are still in the ascendant, let your thoughts find repose -awhile, your hopes regain bright colouring, remembering the plaints -of one despairing shepherd, from whom his _Chloris_ fled; or of that -other, “sober and demure,” whose mistress had herself to blame, through -freedoms being borne too far. We, also, love to seek a refuge from the -exorbitant demands of myriad-handed interference with Church and State; -so we come back to you, as you sit awhile in peace under the aged trees, -remote from revellers and spies, “Farre in the Forest of Arden”—O take us -thither!—reading of happy lovers in the pages of _Choyce Drollery_. Since -their latest words are of our favourite Fletcher, let our invocation also -be from him, in his own melodious verse:— - - “How sweet these solitary places are! how wantonly - The wind blows through the leaves, and courts and plays with ’em! - Will you sit down, and sleep? The heat invites you. - Hark, how yon purling stream dances and murmurs; - The birds sing softly too. Pray take your rest, Sir.” - - J. W. E. - -_September 2nd, 1875._ - - - - -Choyce Drollery: Songs & Sonnets. - - - - - _Choyce_ - DROLLERY: - SONGS & SONNETS. - - _BEING_ - A Collection of divers excellent - pieces of Poetry, - - _OF_ - Severall eminent Authors. - - _Never before printed._ - - [Illustration] - - _LONDON_, - - Printed by _J. G._ for _Robert Pollard_, at the - _Ben. Johnson’s_ head behind the Exchange, - and _John Sweeting_, at the - _Angel_ in Popes-Head Alley. - - 1656. - - - - -To the READER. - - -Courteous Reader, - -_Thy grateful reception of our first Collection hath induced us to a -second essay of the same nature; which, as we are confident, it is not -inferioure to the former in worth, so we assure our selves, upon thy -already experimented Candor, that it shall at least equall it in its -fortunate acceptation. We serve up these Delicates by frugall Messes, as -aiming at thy Satisfaction, not Saciety. But our designe being more upon -thy judgement, than patience, more to delight thee, to detain thee in -the portall of a tedious, seldome-read Epistle; we draw this displeasing -Curtain, that intercepts thy (by this time) gravid, and almost teeming -fancy, and subscribe,_ - - _R. P._ - - - - -_Choice_ - -DROLLERY: - -SONGS - -_AND_ - -SONNETS. - - - - -_The broken Heart._ - - - 1. - - Deare Love let me this evening dye, - Oh smile not to prevent it, - But use this opportunity, - Or we shall both repent it: - Frown quickly then, and break my heart, - That so my way of dying - May, though my life were full of smart, - Be worth the worlds envying. - - 2. - - Some striving knowledge to refine, - Consume themselves with thinking, - And some who friendship seale in wine - Are kindly kill’d with drinking: - And some are rackt on th’ Indian coast, - Thither by gain invited, - Some are in smoke of battailes lost, - Whom Drummes not Lutes delighted. - - 3. - - Alas how poorely these depart, - Their graves still unattended, - Who dies not of a broken heart, - Is not in death commended. - His memory is ever sweet, - All praise and pity moving, - Who kindly at his Mistresse feet - Doth dye with over-loving. - - 4. - - And now thou frown’st, and now I dye, - My corps by Lovers follow’d, - Which streight shall by dead lovers lye, - For that ground’s onely hollow’d: [hallow’d] - If Priest take’t ill I have a grave, - My death not well approving, - The Poets my estate shall have - To teach them th’ art of loving. - - 5. - - And now let Lovers ring their bells, - For thy poore youth departed; - Which every Lover els excels, - That is not broken hearted. - My grave with flowers let virgins strow, - For if thy teares fall neare them, - They’l so excell in scent and shew, - Thy selfe wilt shortly weare them. - - 6. - - Such Flowers how much will _Flora_ prise, - That’s on a Lover growing, - And watred with his Mistris eyes, - With pity overflowing? - A grave so deckt, well, though thou art [? will] - Yet fearfull to come nigh me, - Provoke thee straight to break thy heart, - And lie down boldly by me. - - 7. - - Then every where shall all bells ring, - Whilst all to blacknesse turning, - All torches burn, and all quires sing, - As Nature’s self were mourning. - Yet we hereafter shall be found - By Destiny’s right placing, - Making like Flowers, Love under ground, - Whose Roots are still embracing. - - - - -_Of a Woman that died for love of a Man._ - - - Nor Love nor Fate dare I accuse, - Because my Love did me refuse: - But oh! mine own unworthinesse, - That durst presume so mickle blisse; - Too mickle ’twere for me to love - A thing so like the God above, - An Angels face, a Saint-like voice, - Were too divine for humane choyce. - - Oh had I wisely given my heart, - For to have lov’d him, but in part, - Save onely to have lov’d his face - For any one peculiar grace, - A foot, or leg, or lip, or eye, - I might have liv’d, where now I dye. - But I that striv’d all these to chuse, - Am now condemned all to lose. - - You rurall Gods that guard the plains, - And chast’neth unjust disdains; - Oh do not censure him for this, - It was my error, and not his. - This onely boon of thee I crave, - To fix these lines upon my grave, - With _Icarus_ I soare[d] too high, - For which (alas) I fall and dye. - - - - -On the _TIME-POETS_. - - - One night the great _Apollo_ pleas’d with _Ben_, - Made the odde number of the Muses ten; - The fluent _Fletcher_, _Beaumont_ rich in sense, - In Complement and Courtships quintessence; - Ingenious _Shakespeare_, _Massinger_ that knowes - The strength of Plot to write in verse and prose: - Whose easie Pegassus will amble ore - Some threescore miles of Fancy in an houre; - Cloud-grapling _Chapman_, whose Aerial minde - Soares at Philosophy, and strikes it blinde; - _Danbourn_ [_Dabourn_] I had forgot, and let it be, - He dy’d Amphibion by the Ministry; - _Silvester_, _Bartas_, whose translatique part - Twinn’d, or was elder to our Laureat: - Divine composing _Quarles_, whose lines aspire - The April of all Poesy in May, [_Tho. May._] - Who makes our English speak _Pharsalia_; - _Sands_ metamorphos’d so into another [_Sandys_] - We know not _Sands_ and _Ovid_ from each other; - He that so well on _Scotus_ play’d the Man, - The famous _Diggs_, or _Leonard Claudian_; - The pithy _Daniel_, whose salt lines afford - A weighty sentence in each little word; - Heroick _Draiton_, _Withers_, smart in Rime, - The very Poet-Beadles of the Time: - Panns pastoral _Brown_, whose infant Muse did squeak - At eighteen yeares, better than others speak: - _Shirley_ the morning-child, the Muses bred, - And sent him born with bayes upon his head: - Deep in a dump _Iohn Ford_ alone was got - With folded armes and melancholly hat; - The squibbing _Middleton_, and _Haywood_ sage, - Th’ Apologetick Atlas of the Stage; - Well of the Golden age he could intreat, - But little of the Mettal he could get; - Three-score sweet Babes he fashion’d from the lump, - For he was Christ’ned in _Parnassus_ pump; - The Muses Gossip to _Aurora’s_ bed, - And ever since that time his face was red. - Thus through the horrour of infernall deeps, - With equal pace each of them softly creeps, - And being dark they had _Alectors_ torch, [_Alecto’s_] - And that made _Churchyard_ follow from his Porch, - Poor, ragged, torn, & tackt, alack, alack - You’d think his clothes were pinn’d upon his back. - The whole frame hung with pins, to mend which clothes, - In mirth they sent him to old Father Prose; - Of these sad Poets this way ran the stream, - And _Decker_ followed after in a dream; - _Rounce_, _Robble_, _Hobble_, he that writ so high big[;] - Basse for a Ballad, _John Shank_ for a Jig: [_Wm. Basse._] - Sent by _Ben Jonson_, as some Authors say, - _Broom_ went before and kindly swept the way: - Old _Chaucer_ welcomes them unto the Green, - And _Spencer_ brings them to the fairy Queen; - The finger they present, and she in grace - Transform’d it to a May-pole, ’bout which trace - Her skipping servants, that do nightly sing, - And dance about the same a Fayrie Ring. - - - - -_The Vow-breaker._ - - - When first the Magick of thine eye - Usurpt upon my liberty, - Triumphing in my hearts spoyle, thou - Didst lock up thine in such a vow: - When I prove false, may the bright day - Be govern’d by the Moones pale ray, - (As I too well remember) this - Thou saidst, and seald’st it with a kisse. - - Oh heavens! and could so soon that tye - Relent in sad apostacy? - Could all thy Oaths and mortgag’d trust, - Banish like Letters form’d in dust, [? vanish] - Which the next wind scatters? take heed, - Take heed Revolter; know this deed - Hath wrong’d the world, which will fare worse - By thy example, than thy curse. - - Hide that false brow in mists; thy shame - Ne’re see light more, but the dimme flame - Of Funerall-lamps; thus sit and moane, - And learn to keep thy guilt at home; - Give it no vent, for if agen - Thy love or vowes betray more men, - At length I feare thy perjur’d breath - Will blow out day, and waken death. - - - - -_The Sympathie._ - - - If at this time I am derided, - And you please to laugh at me, - Know I am not unprovided - Every way to answer thee, - Love, or hate, what ere it be, - - Never Twinns so nearly met - As thou and I in our affection, - When thou weepst my eyes are wet, - That thou lik’st is my election, - I am in the same subjection. - - In one center we are both, - Both our lives the same way tending, - Do thou refuse, and I shall loath, - As thy eyes, so mine are bending, - Either storm or calm portending. - - I am carelesse if despised, - For I can contemn again; - How can I be then surprised, - Or with sorrow, or with pain, - When I can both love & disdain? - - - - -_The Red Head and the White._ - - - 1. - - Come my White head, let our Muses - Vent no spleen against abuses, - Nor scoffe at monstrous signes i’ th’ nose, - Signes in the Teeth, or in the Toes, - Nor what now delights us most, - The sign of signes upon the post. - For other matter we are sped, - And our signe shall be i’ th’ head. - - 2. [White Head’s ANSWER.] - - Oh! _Will: Rufus_, who would passe, - Unlesse he were a captious Asse; - The Head of all the parts is best, - And hath more senses then the rest. - This subject then in our defence - Will clear our Poem of non-sense. - Besides, you know, what ere we read, - We use to bring it to a head. - - Why there’s no other part we can - Stile Monarch o’re this Isle of man: - ’Tis that that weareth Nature’s crown, - ’Tis this doth smile, ’tis this doth frown, - O what a prize and triumph ’twere, - To make this King our Subject here: - Believ’t, tis true what we have sed, - In this we hit the naile o’ th’ head. - - 2. [W. H.’s ANSWER.] - - Your nails upon my head Sir, Why? - How do you thus to villifie - The King of Parts, ’mongst all the rest, - Or if no king, methinks at least, - To mine you should give no offence, - That weares the badge of Innocence; - Those blowes would far more justly light - On thy red scull, for mine is white. - - 1. - - Come on yfaith, that was well sed, - A pretty boy, hold up thy head, - Or hang it down, and blush apace, - And make it like mines native grace. - There’s ne’re a Bung-hole in the town - But in the working puts thine down, - A byle that’s drawing to a head - Looks white like thine, but mine is red. - - 2. [W. H.’s ANSWER.] - - Poore foole, ’twas shame did first invent - The colour of thy Ornament, - And therefore thou art much too blame - To boast of that which is thy shame; - The Roman Prince that Poppeys topt, - Did shew such Red heads should be cropt: - And still the Turks for poyson smite - Such Ruddy skulls, but mine is white. - - 1. - - The Indians paint their Devils so, - And ’tis a hated mark we know, - For never any aim aright - That do not strive to hit the white: - The Eagle threw her shell-fish down, - To crack in pieces such a crown: - Alas, a stinking onions head - Is white like thine, but mine is red. - - 2. [White’s] - - Red like to a blood-shot eye, - Provoking all that see ’t to cry: - For shame nere vaunt thy colours thus - Since ’tis an eye-sore unto us; - Those locks I’d swear, did I not know’t, - Were threds of some red petticoat; - No Bedlams oaker’d armes afright - So much as thine, but mine is white. - - 1. - - Now if thou’lt blaze thy armes Ile shew’t, - My head doth love no petticoat, - My face on one side is as faire - As on the other is my haire, - So that I bear by Herauld’s rules, - Party per pale Argent and Gules. - Then laugh not ’cause my hair is red, - Ile swear that mine’s a noble head. - - 1. [2. White Head’s Reply.] - - The Scutcheon of my field doth beare - One onely field, and that is rare, - For then methinks that thine should yeild, - Since mine long since hath won the field; - Besides, all the notes that be, - White is the note of Chastity, - So that without all feare or dread, - Ile swear that mine’s a maidenhead. - - 1. - - There’s no Camelion red like me, - Nor white, perhaps, thou’lt say, like thee; - Why then that mine is farre above - Thy haire, by statute I can prove; - What ever there doth seem divine - Is added to a Rubrick line, - Which whosoever hath but read, - Will grant that mine’s a lawful head. - - 2. [White Head.] - - Yet adde what thou maist, which by yeares, - Crosses, troubles, cares and feares; - For that kind nature gave to me - In youth a white head, as you see, - At which, though age it selfe repine, - It ne’re shall change a haire of mine; - And all shall say when I am dead, - I onely had a constant head. - - 1. - - Yes faith, in that Ile condescend, - That our dissention here may end, - Though heads be alwaies by the eares, - Yet ours shall be more noble peeres: - For I avouch since I began, - Under a colour all was done. - Then let us mix the White and Red, - And both shall make a beauteous head. - - 1. - - We mind our heads man all this time[,] - And beat them both about this rime; - And I confesse what gave offence - Was but a haires difference. - And that went too as I dare sweare - In both of us against the haire; - Then joyntly now for what is said - Lets crave a pardon from our head. - - - - -_SONNET._ - - - Shall I think because some clouds - The beauty of my Mistris shrouds, - To look after another Star? - Those to _Cynthia_ servants are; - May the stars when I doe sue, - In their anger shoot me through; - Shall I shrink at stormes of rain, - Or be driven back again, - Or ignoble like a worm, - Be a slave unto a storm? - Pity he should ever tast - The Spring that feareth Winters blast; - Fortune and Malice then combine, - Spight of either I am thine; - And to be sure keep thou my heart, - And let them wound my worser part, - Which could they kill, yet should I bee - Alive again, when pleaseth thee. - - - - -_On the Flower-de-luce in ~Oxford~._ - - - A Stranger coming to the town, - Went to the _Flower-de-luce_, - A place that seem’d in outward shew - For honest men to use; - - And finding all things common there, - That tended to delight, - By chance upon the French disease - It was his hap to light. - - And lest that other men should fare - As he had done before, - As he went forth he wrote this down - Upon the utmost doore. - - All you that hither chance to come, - Mark well ere you be in, - The _Frenchmens_ arms are signs without - Of _Frenchmens_ harms within. - - - - -_ALDOBRANDINO, a fat Cardinal._ - - - Never was humane soule so overgrown, - With an unreasonable Cargazon - Of flesh, as _Aldobrandine_, whom to pack, - No girdle serv’d lesse than the zodiack: - So thick a Giant, that he now was come - To be accounted an eighth hill in _Rome_, - And as the learn’d _Tostatus_ kept his age, - Writing for every day he liv’d a page; - So he no lesse voluminous then that - Added each day a leaf, but ’twas of fat. - The choicest beauty that had been devis’d - By Nature, was by her parents sacrific’d - Up to this Monster, upon whom to try, - If as increase, he could, too, multiply. - Oh how I tremble lest the tender maid - Should dye like a young infant over-laid! - For when this Chaos would pretend to move - And arch his back for the strong act of Love, - He fals as soon orethrown with his own weight, - And with his ruines doth the Princesse fright. - She lovely Martyr there lyes stew’d and prest, - Like flesh under the tarr’d saddle drest, - And seemes to those that look on them in bed, - Larded with him, rather than married. - Oft did he cry, but still in vain[,] to force - His fatnesse[,] powerfuller then a divorce: - No herbs, no midwives profit here, nor can - Of his great belly free the teeming man. - What though he drink the vinegars most fine, - They do not wast his fleshy Apennine; - His paunch like some huge Istmos runs between - The amarous Seas, and lets them not be seen; - Yet a new _Dedalus_ invented how - This Bull with his _Pasiphae_ might plow. - Have you those artificial torments known, - With which long sunken Galeos are thrown - Again on Sea, or the dead Galia - Was rais’d that once behinde St. _Peters_ lay: - By the same rules he this same engine made, - With silken cords in nimble pullies laid; - And when his Genius prompteth his slow part - To works of Nature, which he helps with Art: - First he intangles in those woven bands, - His groveling weight, and ready to commands, - The sworn Prinadas of his bed, the Aids - Of Loves Camp, necessary Chambermaids; - Each runs to her known tackling, hasts to hoyse, - And in just distance of the urging voyce, - Exhorts the labour till he smiling rise - To the beds roof, and wonders how he flies. - Thence as the eager Falcon having spy’d - Fowl at the brook, or by the Rivers side, - Hangs in the middle Region of the aire, - So hovers he, and plains above his faire: - Blest _Icarus_ first melted at those beames, - That he might after fall into those streames, - And there allaying his delicious flame, - In that sweet Ocean propogate his name. - Unable longer to delay, he calls - To be let down, and in short measure falls - Toward his Mistresse, that without her smock - Lies naked as _Andromeda_ at the Rock, - And through the Skies see her wing’d _Perseus_ strike - Though for his bulk, more that sea-monster like. - Mean time the Nurse, who as the most discreet, - Stood governing the motions at the feet, - And ballanc’d his descent, lest that amisse - He fell too fast, or that way more than this; - Steeres the Prow of the pensile Gallease, - Right on Loves Harbour the Nymph lets him pass - Over the Chains, & ’tween the double Fort - Of her incastled knees, which guard the Port. - The Burs as she had learnt still diligent, - Now girt him backwards, now him forwards bent; - Like those that levell’d in tough Cordage, teach - The mural Ram, and guide it to the Breach. - - - - -_Jack of Lent’s Ballat._ - -[On the welcoming of Queen Henrietta Maria, 1625]. - - - 1. - - List you Nobles, and attend, - For here’s a Ballat newly penn’d - I took it up in _Kent_, - If any ask who made the same, - To him I say the authors name - Is honest _Jack of Lent_. - - 2. - - But ere I farther passe along, - Or let you know more of my Song, - I wish the doores were lockt, - For if there be so base a Groom, - As one informes me in this room, - The Fidlers may be knockt. - - 3. - - Tis true, he had, I dare protest, - No kind of malice in his brest, - But Knaves are dangerous things; - And they of late are grown so bold, - They dare appeare in cloth of Gold, - Even in the roomes of Kings. - - 4. - - But hit or misse I will declare - The speeches at London and elsewhere, - Concerning this design, - Amongst the Drunkards it is said, - They hope her dowry shall be paid - In nought but Clarret wine. - - 5. - - The Country Clowns when they repaire - Either to Market or to Faire, - No sooner get their pots, - But straight they swear the time is come - That England must be over-run - Betwixt the French and Scots. - - 6. - - The Puritans that never fayle - ’Gainst Kings and Magistrates to rayle, - With impudence aver, - That verily, and in good sooth, - Some Antichrist, or pretty youth, - Shall doubtlesse get of her. - - 7. - - A holy Sister having hemm’d - And blown her nose, will say she dream’d, - Or else a Spirit told her, - That they and all these holy seed, - To Amsterdam must go to breed, - Ere they were twelve months older. - - 8. - - And might but _Jack Alent_ advise, - Those dreams of theirs should not prove lies, - For as he greatly feares, - They will be prating night and day, - Till verily, by yea, and nay, - They set’s together by th’ ears. - - 9. - - The Romish Catholiques proclaim, - That _Gundemore_, though he be lame, - Yet can he do some tricks; - At _Paris_, he the King shall show - A pre-contract made, as I know, - Five hundred twenty six. - - 10. - - But sure the State of _France_ is wise, - And knowes that _Spain_ vents naught but lies, - For such is their Religion; - The Jesuits can with ease disgorge - From that their damn’d and hellish forge, - Foule falshood by the Legion. - - 11. - - But be it so, we will admit, - The State of _Spain_ hath no more wit, - Then to invent such tales, - Yet as great _Alexander_ drew, - And cut the Gorgon Knot in two, - So shall the Prince of Wales. - - 12. - - The reverend Bishops whisper too, - That now they shall have much adoe - With Friers and with Monks, - And eke their wives do greatly feare - Those bald pate knaves will mak’t appeare - They are Canonical punks. - - 13. - - At _Cambridge_ and at _Oxford_ eke, - They of this match like Schollers speak - By figures and by tropes, - But as for the Supremacy, - The Body may King _James’s_ be, - But sure the Head’s the _Pope’s_. - - 14. - - A Puritan stept up and cries, - That he the major part denies, - And though he Logick scorns, - Yet he by revelation knows - The Pope no part o’ th’ head-piece ows - Except it be the horns. - - 15. - - The learned in Astrologie, - That wander up and down the sky, - And their discourse with stars, [there] - Foresee that some of this brave rout - That now goes faire and soundly out, - Shall back return with scars. - - 16. - - Professors of Astronomy, - That all the world knows, dare not lie - With the Mathematicians, - Prognosticate this Somer shall - Bring with the pox the Devil and all, - To Surgeons and Physitians. - - 17. - - The Civil Lawyer laughs in’s sleeve, - For he doth verily believe - That after all these sports, - The Cit[i]zens will horn and grow, - And their ill-gotten goods will throw - About their bawdy Courts. - - 18. - - And those that do _Apollo_ court, - And with the wanton Muses sport, - Believe the time is come, - That Gallants will themselves addresse - To Masques & Playes, & Wantonnesse, - More than to fife and drum. - - 19. - - Such as in musique spend their dayes, - And study Songs and Roundelayes, - Begin to cleare their throats, - For by some signes they do presage, - That this will prove a fidling age - Fit for men of their coats. - - 20. - - But leaving Colleges and Schools, - To all those Clerks and learned Fools, - Lets through the city range, - For there are Sconces made of Horn, - Foresee things long ere they be born, - Which you’l perhaps think strange. - - 21. - - The Major and Aldermen being met, [Mayor] - And at a Custard closely set - Each in their rank and order, - The Major a question doth propound, - And that unanswer’d must go round, - Till it comes to th’ Recorder. - - 22. - - For he’s the Citys Oracle, - And which you’l think a Miracle, - He hath their brains in keeping, - For when a Cause should be decreed, - He cries the bench are all agreed, - When most of them are sleeping. - - 23. - - A Sheriff at lower end o’ th’ board - Cries Masters all hear me a word, - A bolt Ile onely shoot, - We shall have Executions store - Against some gallants now gone o’re, - Wherefore good brethren look to’t. - - 24. - - The rascall Sergeants fleering stand, - Wishing their Charter reacht the Strand, - That they might there intrude; - But since they are not yet content, - I wish that it to Tyburn went, - So they might there conclude. - - 25. - - An Alderman both grave and wise - Cries brethren all let me advise, - Whilst wit is to be had, - That like good husbands we provide - Some speeches for the Lady bride, - Before all men go mad. - - 26. - - For by my faith if we may guesse - Of greater mischiefs by the lesse, - I pray let this suffice, - If we but on men’s backs do look, - And look into each tradesmans book - You’l swear few men are wise. - - 27. - - Some thred-bare Poet we will presse, - And for that day we will him dresse, - At least in beaten Sattin, - And he shall tell her from this bench, - That though we understand no French, - At _Pauls_ she may hear Lattin. - - 28. - - But on this point they all demurre, - And each takes counsell of his furre - That smells of Fox and Cony, - At last a Mayor in high disdain, - Swears he much scorns that in his reign - Wit should be bought for mony. - - 29. - - For by this Sack I mean to drink, - I would not have my Soveraign think - for twenty thousand Crownes, - That I his Lord Lieutenant here, - And you my brethren should appear - Such errant witlesse Clownes. - - 30. - - No, no, I have it in my head, - Devises that shall strike it dead, - And make proud _Paris_ say - That little _London_ hath a Mayor - Can entertain their Lady faire, - As well as ere did they. - - 31. - - S. _Georges_ Church shall be the place - Where first I mean to meet her grace, - And there St. George shall be - Mounted upon a dapple gray, - And gaping wide shall seem to say, - Welcome St. _Dennis_ to me. - - 32. - - From thence in order two by two - As we to _Pauls_ are us’d to goe, - To th’ Bridge we will convey her, - And there upon the top o’ th’ gate, - Where now stands many a Rascal’s pate, - I mean to place a player. - - 33. - - And to the Princess he shall cry, - May’t please your Grace, cast up your eye - And see these heads of Traytors; - Thus will the city serve all those - That to your Highnesse shall prove foes, - For they to Knaves are haters. - - 34. - - Down Fishstreet hill a Whale shall shoot, - And meet her at the Bridges foot, - And forth of his mouth so wide a - Shall _Jonas_ peep, and say, for fish, - As good as your sweet-heart can wish, - You shall have hence each Friday. - - 35. - - At Grace-church corner there shall stand - A troop of Graces hand in hand, - And they to her shall say, - Your Grace of _France_ is welcome hither, - ’Tis merry when Graces meet together, - I pray keep on your way. - - 36. - - At the Exchange shall placed be, - In ugly shapes those sisters three - That give to each their fate, - And _Spaine’s Infanta_ shall stand by - Wringing their hands, and thus shall cry, - I do repent too late. - - 37. - - There we a paire of gloves will give, - And pray her Highnesse long may live - On her white hands to wear them; - And though they have a _Spanish_ scent, - The givers have no ill intent, - Wherefore she need not feare them. - - 38. - - Nor shall the Conduits now run Claret, - Perhaps the _Frenchman_ cares not for it, - They have at home so much, - No, I will make the boy to pisse - No worse then purest Hypocris, - Her Grace ne’re tasted such. - - 39. - - About the Standard I think fit - Your wives, my brethren, all should sit, - And eke our Lady Mayris, - Who shall present a cup of gold, - And say if we might be bold, - We’l drink to all in _Paris._ - - 40. - - In _Pauls_ Church-yard we breath may take, - For they such huge long speeches make, - Would tire any horse; - But there I’le put her grace in minde, - To cast her Princely head behind - And view S. _Paul’s_ Crosse. - - 41. - - Our Sergeants they shall go their way, - And for us at the Devil stay, - I mean at Temple-barre, - And there of her we leave will take, - And say ’twas for King _Charls_ his sake - We went with her so farre. - - 42. - - But fearing I have tir’d the eares, - Both of the Duke and all these Peeres, - Ile be no more uncivill, - Ile leave the Mayor with both the Sheriffs, - With Sergeants, hanging at their sleeves, - For this time at the Devill. - - - - -_A SONG._ - - - A Story strange I will you tell, - But not so strange as true, - Of a woman that danc’d upon the ropes, - And so did her husband too. - _With a dildo, dildo, dildo,_ - _With a dildo, dildo, dee,_ - _Some say ’twas a man, but it was a woman_ - _As plain report may see._ - - She first climb’d up the Ladder - For to deceive men’s hopes, - And with a long thing in her hand - She tickled it on the ropes. - _With a dildo, dildo, dildo,_ - _With a dildo, dildo, dee,_ - _And to her came Knights and Gentlemen_ - _Of low and high degree._ - - She jerk’d them backward and foreward - With a long thing in her hand, - And all the people that were in the yard, - She made them for to stand. - _With a dildo, &c._ - - They cast up fleering eyes - All under-neath her cloaths, - But they could see no thing, - For she wore linnen hose. - _With a dildo, &c._ - - The Cuckold her husband caper’d - When his head in the sack was in, - But grant that we may never fall - When we dance in the sack of sin. - _With a dildo, &c._ - - And as they ever danc’t - In faire or rainy weather, - I wish they may be hang’d i’ th’ rope of Love, - And so be cut down together. - _With a dildo, &c._ - - - - -_Upon a House of Office over a River, set on fire by a coale of TOBACCO._ - - - Oh fire, fire, fire, where? - The usefull house o’re Water cleare, - The most convenient in a shire, - _Which no body can deny,_ - - The house of Office that old true blue - Sir-reverence so many knew[,] - You now may see turn’d fine new. [? fire] - _Which no body, &c._ - - And to our great astonishment - Though burnt, yet stands to represent - Both mourner and the monument, - _Which no body, &c._ - - _Ben Johnson’s_ Vulcan would doe well, - Or the merry Blades who knacks did tell, - At firing _London Bridge_ befell. - _Which no body, &c._ - - They’l say if I of thee should chant, - The matter smells, now out upon’t; - But they shall have a fit of fie on’t. - _Which no body_, &c. - - And why not say a word or two - Of she that’s just? witness all who - Have ever been at thy Ho go,[6] - _Which no body_, &c. - - Earth, Aire, and Water, she could not - Affront, till chollerick fire got - Predominant, then thou grew’st hot, - _Which no body_, &c. - - The present cause of all our wo, - But from Tobacco ashes, oh! - ’Twas s...n luck to perish so, - _Which no body_, &c. - - ’Tis fatall to be built on lakes, - As Sodom’s fall example makes; - But pity to the innocent jakes, - _Which no body_, &c. - - Whose genius if I hit aright, - May be conceiv’d Hermophrodite, - To both sex common when they sh... - _Which no body_, &c. - - Of severall uses it hath store, - As Midwifes some do it implore, - But the issue comes at Postern door: - _Which no body_, &c. - - Retired mortalls out of feare, - Privily, even to a haire, - Did often do their business there, - _Which no body_, &c. - - For mens and womens secrets fit - No tale-teller, though privy to it, - And yet they went to’t without feare or wit, - _Which no body_, &c. - - A Privy Chamber or prison’d roome, - And all that ever therein come - Uncover must, or bide the doome, - _Which no body_, &c. - - A Cabinet for richest geare - The choicest of the Ladys ware, - And pretious stones full many there. - _Which no body_, &c. - - And where in State sits noble duck, - Many esteem that use of nock, - The highest pleasure next to oc- - _Which no body_, &c. - - And yet the hose there down did goe, - The yielding smock came up also, - But still no Bawdy house I trow, - _Which no body_, &c. - - There nicest maid with naked r..., - When straining hard had made her mump, - Did sit at ease and heare it p..., - _Which no body_, &c. - - Like the Dutch Skipper now may skit, - When in his sleeve he did do it, - She may skit free, but now plimp niet, - _Which no body_, &c. - - Those female folk that there did haunt, - To make their filled bellies gaunt, - And with that same the brook did launt, - _Which no body_, &c. - - Are driven now to do’t on grasse, - And make a sallet for their A... - The world is come to a sweet passe, - _Which no body_, &c. - - Now farewell friend we held so deare, - Although thou help’st away with our cheare, - An open house-keeper all the yeare, - _Which no body_, &c. - - The Phœnix in her perfumed flame, - Was so consum’d, and thou the same, - But the Aromaticks were to blame, - _Which no body_, &c. - - That Phœnix is but one thing twice, - Thy Patron nobler then may rise, - For who can tell what he’l devise? - _Which no body_, &c. - - _Diana’s_ Temple was not free, - Nor that world _Rome_, her Majesty - Smelt of the smoke, as well as thee, - _Which no body_, &c. - - And learned Clerks whom we admire, - Do say the world shall so expire, - Then when you sh... remember fire. - _Which no body_, &c. - - Beware of fire when you scumber, - Though to sh... fire were a wonder, - Yet lightning oft succeeds the thunder, - _Which no body_, &c. - - We must submit to what fate sends, - ’Tis wholsome counsel to our friends, - Take heed of smoking at both ends, - _Which no body can deny._ - - - - -_Upon the Spanish Invasion in Eighty eight._ - - - 1. - - In _Eighty eight_, ere I was born, - As I do well remember a, - In _August_ was a Fleet prepar’d - The month before _September_ a. - - 2. - - _Lisbone_, _Cales_ and _Portugall_ [_Cales_, i.e. _Cadiz_.] - _Toledo_ and _Grenada_; - They all did meet, & made a Fleet, - And call’d it their _Armada_. - - 3. - - There dwelt a little man in _Spain_ - That shot well in a gun a; - _Don Pedro_ hight, as black a wight - As the Knight of the Sun a. - - 4. - - King _Philip_ made him Admirall, - And charg’d him not to stay a, - But to destroy both man and boy, - And then to come his way a. - - 5. - - He had thirty thousand of his own, - But to do us more harm a, - He charg’d him not to fight alone, - But to joyn with the Prince of _Parma_. - - 6. - - They say they brought provision much - As Biskets, Beans and Bacon, - Besides, two ships were laden with whips, - But I think they were mistaken. - - 7. - - When they had sailed all along, - And anchored before _Dover_, - The English men did board them then, - And heav’d the Rascalls over. - - 8. - - The queen she was at _Tilbury_, - What could you more desire a? - For whose sweet sake Sir _Francis Drake_ - Did set the ships on fire a. - - 9. - - Then let them neither brag nor boast, - For if they come again a, - Let them take heed they do not speed - As they did they know when a. - - - - -_Upon the Gun-powder Plot._ - - - 1. - - And will this wicked world never prove good? - Will Priests and Catholiques never prove true? - Shall _Catesby_, _Piercy_ and _Rookwood_ - Make all this famous Land to rue? - With putting us in such a feare, - _With huffing and snuffing and guni-powder,_ - _With a Ohone hononoreera tarrareera, tarrareero hone._ - - 2. - - ’Gainst the fifth of _November_, Tuesday by name, - _Peircy_ and _Catesby_ a Plot did frame, - _Anno_ one thousand six hundred and five, - In which long time no man alive - Did ever know, or heare the like, - Which to declare my heart growes sike. - _With a O hone_, &c. - - 3. - - Under the Parliament-house men say - Great store of Powder they did lay, - Thirty six barrels, as is reported, - With many faggots ill consorted, - With barres of iron upon them all, - To bring us to a deadly fall. - _With a O hone_, &c. - - 4. - - And then came forth Sir _Thomas Knyvet_, - You filthy Rogue come out o’ th’ doore, - Or else I sweare by Gods trivet - Ile lay thee flatlong on the floore, - For putting us all in such a feare, - _With huffing and snuffing_, &c. - - 5. - - Then _Faux_ out of the vault was taken - And carried before Sir _Francis Bacon_, - And was examined of the Act, - And strongly did confesse the Fact, - And swore he would put us in such a feare. - _With huffing_, &c. - - 6. - - Now see it is a miraculous thing, - To see how God hath preserv’d our King, - The Queen, the Prince, and his Sister dear, - And all the Lords, and every Peere, - And all the Land, and every shire, - _From huffing_, &c. - - 7. - - Now God preserve the Council wise, - That first found out this enterprise; - Not they, but my Lord _Monteagle_, - His Lady and her little Beagle, - His Ape, his Ass, and his great Beare, - _From huffing, and snuffing, and gunni-powder._ - - [8.] - - Other newes I heard moreover, - If all was true that’s told to me, - Three Spanish ships landed at _Dover_, - Where they made great melody, - But the Hollanders drove them here and there, - _With huffing_, &c. - - - - -_A CATCH._ - - Drink boyes, drink boyes, drink and doe not spare, - Troule away the bowl, and take no care. - So that we have meat and drink, and money and clothes - What care we, what care we how the world goes. - - - - -_A pitiful Lamentation._ - - - My Mother hath sold away her Cock - And all her brood of Chickins, - And hath bought her a new canvasse smock - And righted up the Kitchin. - And has brought me a Lockeram bond - With a v’lopping paire of breeches, - Thinking that _Jone_ would have lov’d me alone, - But she hath serv’d me such yfiches. - Ise take a rope and drowne my selfe, - Ere Ist indure these losses: - Ise take a hatchet and hang my selfe - Ere Ist indure these crosses. - Or else Ile go to some beacon high, - Made of some good dry’d furzon[,] - And there Ile seeme in love to fry - Sing hoodle a doodle Cuddon. - - - - -_A Woman with Child that desired a Son, which might prove a Preacher._ - - - A maiden of the _pure Society_, - Pray’d with a passing piety - That since a learned man had o’re-reacht her, - The child she went withall should prove [a] Preacher. - The time being come, and all the dangers past, - The Goodwife askt the Midwife - What God had sent at last. - Who answer’d her half in a laughter, - Quoth she the Son is prov’d a Daughter. - But be content, if God doth blesse the Baby, - She has a _Pulpit_ where a _Preacher_ may be. - - - - -_The Maid of ~Tottenham~._ - - - 1. - - As I went to _Totnam_ - Upon a Market-day, - There met I with a faire maid - Cloathed all in gray, - Her journey was to _London_ - With Buttermilk and Whay, - _To fall down, down, derry down,_ - _down, down, derry down,_ - _derry, derry dina_. - - 2. - - God speed faire maid, quoth one, - You are well over-took; - With that she cast her head aside, - And gave to him a look. - She was as full of Leachery - As letters in a book. - _To fall down_, &c. - - 3. - - And as they walk’d together, - Even side by side, - The young man was aware - That her garter was unty’d, - For feare that she should lose it, - Aha, alack he cry’d, - Oh your garter that hangs down! - _Down, down, derry down_, &c. - - 4. - - Quoth she[,] I do intreat you - For to take the pain - To do so much for me, - As to tye it up again. - That will I do sweet-heart, quoth he, - When I come on yonder plain. - _With a down, down, derry down_, &c. - - 5. - - And when they came upon the plain - Upon a pleasant green, - The fair maid spread her l...s abroad, - The young man fell between, - Such tying of a Garter - I think was never seen. - _To fall down_, &c. - - 6. - - When they had done their businesse, - And quickly done the deed, - He gave her kisses plenty, - And took her up with speed. - But what they did I know not, - But they were both agreed - _To fall down together, down_ - _Down, down, derry down,_ - _Down, down, derry dina_. - - 7. - - She made to him low curtsies - And thankt him for his paine, - The young man is to High-gate gone[,] - The maid to _London_ came - To sell off her commodity - She thought it for no shame. - _To fall downe_, &c. - - 8. - - When she had done her market, - And all her money told - To think upon the matter - It made her heart full cold[:] - But that which will away, quoth she, - Is very hard to hold. - _To fall down_, &c. - - 9. - - This tying of the Garter - Cost her her Maidenhead, - Quoth she it is no matter, - It stood me in small stead, - But often times it troubled me - As I lay in my bed. - _To fall down_, &c. - - - - -_To the King on New-yeares day, 1638._ - - - This day inlarges every narrow mind, - Makes the Poor bounteous, and the Miser kind; - Poets that have not wealth in wisht excesse, - I hope may give like Priests, which is to blesse. - And sure in elder times the Poets were - Those Priests that told men how to hope and feare, - Though they most sensually did write and live, - Yet taught those blessings, which the Gods did give, - But you (my King) have purify’d our flame, - Made wit our virtue which was once our shame; - For by your own quick fires you made ours last, - Reform’d our numbers till our songs grew chast. - Farre more thou fam’d _Augustus_ ere could doe - With’s wisdome, (though it long continued too) - You have perform’d even in your Moon of age; - Refin’d to Lectures, Playes, to Schooles a stage. - Such vertue got[,] why is your Poet lesse - A Priest then his who had a power to blesse? - So hopefull is my rage that I begin - To shew that feare which strives to keep it in: - And what was meant a blessing soars so high - That it is now become a Prophesie. - Your selfe (our _Plannet_ which renewes our year) - Shall so inlighten all, and every where, - That through the Mists of error men shall spy - In the dark North the way to Loyalty; - Whilst with your intellectuall beames, you show - The knowing what they are that seeme to know. - You like our Sacred and indulgent Lord, - When the too-stout Apostle drew his sword, - When he mistooke some secrets of the cause, - And in his furious zeale disdain’d the Lawes, - Forgetting true Religion doth lye - On prayers, not swords against authority. - You like our substitute of horrid fate - That are next him we most should imitate, - Shall like to him rebuke with wiser breath, - Such furious zeale, but not reveng’d with death. - Like him the wound that’s giv’n you strait shall heal, - Then calm by precept such mistaking zeal. - - - - -_In praise of a deformed woman._ - - - 1. - - I love thee for thy curled haire, - As red as any Fox, - Our forefathers did still commend - The lovely golden locks. - _Venus her self might comelier be,_ - _Yet hath no such variety._ - - 2. - - I love thee for thy squinting eyes, - It breeds no jealousie, - For when thou do’st on others look, - Methinks thou look’st on me, - _Venus her self_, &c. - - 3. - - I love thee for thy copper nose, - Thy fortune’s ne’re the worse, - It shews the mettal in thy face - Thou should’st have in thy purse, - _Venus her self_, &c. - - 4. - - I love thee for thy Chessenut skin, - Thy inside’s white to me, - That colour should be most approv’d, - That will least changed be. - _Venus her self_, &c. - - 5. - - I love thee for thy splay mouth, - For on that amarous close - There’s room on either side to kisse, - And ne’re offend the nose. - _Venus her self_, &c. - - 6. - - I love thee for thy rotten gummes, - In good time it may hap, - When other wives are costly fed, - Ile keep thy chaps on pap. - _Venus her self_, &c. - - 7. - - I love thee for thy blobber lips, - Tis good thrift I suppose, - They’re dripping-pans unto thy eyes, - And save-alls to thy nose. - _Venus her self_, &c. - - 8. - - I love thee for thy huncht back, - ’Tis bow’d although not broken, - For I believe the Gods did send - Me to Thee for a Token. - _Venus her self_, &c. - - 9. - - I love thee for thy pudding wast, - If a Taylor thou do’st lack, - Thou need’st not send to _France_ for one, - Ile fit thee with a sack. - _Venus her self_, &c. - - 10. - - I love thee for thy lusty thighes - For tressels thou maist boast, - Sweet-heart thou hast a water-mill, - And these are the mill-posts. - _Venus her self_, &c. - - [11.] 10. - - I love thee for thy splay feet, - They’re fooles that thee deride, - Women are alwaies most esteem’d, - When their feet are most wide. - _Venus her self may comelier be_, &c. - - - - -_On a TINKER._ - - - He that a Tinker, a Tinker, a Tinker will be, - Let him leave other Loves, and come follow me. - Though he travells all the day, - Yet he comes home still at night, - And dallies, dallies with his Doxie, - And dreames of delight. - His pot and his tost in the morning he takes, - And all the day long good musick he makes; - He wanders up and down to Wakes & to Fairs, - He casts his cap, and casts his cap at the Court and its cares; - And when to the town the Tinker doth come, - Oh, how the wanton wenches run, - Some bring him basons, and some bring him bowles, - All maids desire him to stop up their holes. - _Prinkum Prankum_ is a fine dance, strong Ale is good in the winter, - And he that thrumms a wench upon a brass pot, - The child may prove a Tinker. - With tink goes the hammer, the skellit and the scummer, - Come bring me thy copper kettle, - For the Tinker, the Tinker, the merry merry Tinker - Oh, he’s the man of mettle. - - - - -_Upon his Mistris’s black Eye-browes._ - - - Hide, oh hide those lovely Browes, - _Cupid_ takes them for his bowes, - And from thence with winged dart - He lies pelting at my heart, - Nay, unheard-of wounds doth give, - Wounded in the heart I live; - From their colour I descry, - Loves bowes are made of Ebony; - Or their Sable seemes to say - They mourn for those their glances slay; - Or their blacknesse doth arise - From the Sun-beams of your eyes, - Where _Apollo_ seemes to sit, - As he’s God of Day and Wit; - Your piercing Rayes, so bright, and cleare, - Shewes his beamy Chariots there. - Then the black upon your brow, - Sayest wisdomes sable hue, [? sagest] - Tells to every obvious eye, - There’s his other Deity. - This too shewes him deeply wise, - To dwell there he left the skies; - So pure a black could _Phœbus_ burn, - He himself would _Negro_ turn, - And for such a dresse would slight - His gorgeous attire of light; - Eclipses he would count a blisse, - Were there such a black as this: - Were Night’s dusky mantle made - Of so glorious a shade, - The ruffling day she would out-vie - In costly dresse, and gallantry: - Were Hell’s darknesse such a black, - For it the Saints would Heaven forsake; - So pure a black, that white from hence - Loses its name of innocence; - And the most spotlesse Ivory is - A very stain and blot to this: - So pure a black, that hence I guesse, - Black first became a holy dresse. - The Gods foreseeing this, did make - Their Priests array themselves in Black. - - - - -_To my Lady of ~Carnarvon~, January 1._ - - - Idol of our Sex! Envy of thine own! - Whom not t’ have seen, is never to have known, - What eyes are good for; to have seen, not lov’d, - Is to be more, or lesse then man, unmov’d; - Deigne to accept, what I i’ th’ name of all - Thy Servants pay to this dayes Festival, - Thanks for the old yeare, prayers for the new, - So may thy many dayes to come seeme few, - So may fresh springs in thy blew rivolets flow, - To make thy roses, and thy lillies grow. - So may all dressings still become thy face, - As if they grew there, or stole thence their grace. - So may thy bright eyes comfort with their rayes - Th’ humble, and dazle those that boldly gaze: - So may thy sprightly motion, beauties best part, - Shew there is stock enough of life at heart. - So may thy warm snow never grow more cold, - So may they live to be, but not seem old. - So may thy Lord pay all, yet rest thy debtor, - And love no other, till he sees a better: - So may the new year crown the old yeares joy, - By giving us a Girle unto our Boy; - I’ th’ one the Fathers wit, and in the other - Let us admire the beauty of the Mother, - That so we may their severall pictures see, - Which now in one fair Medall joyned be: - Till then grow thus together, and howe’re - You grow old in your selves, grow stil young here; - And let him, though he may resemble either, - Seem to be both in one, and singly neither. - Let Ladies wagers lay, whose chin is this, - Whose forehead that, whose lip, whose eye, then kiss - Away the difference, whilst he smiling lies, - To see his own shape dance in both your eyes. - Sweet Babe! my prayer shall end with thee, - (Oh may it prove a Prophecy!) - May all the channels in thy veynes - Expresse the severall noble straines, - From whence they flow; sweet _Sydney’s_ wit, - But not the sad, sweet fate of it; - The last great _Pembroke’s_ learning, sage - _Burleigh’s_ both wisdome and his age; - Thy Grandsires honest heart expresse - The _Veres_ untainted noblenesse. - To these (if any thing there lacks) - Adde _Dormer_ too, and _Molenax_. - Lastly, if for thee I can woo - Gods, and thy Godfathers grace too, - Together with thy Fathers Thrift: - Be thou thy Mothers New-years gift. - - - - -_The Western Husband-man’s Complaint in the late Wars._ - - - Uds bodykins! Chill work no more: - Dost think chill labour to be poor? - No ich have more a do: - If of the world this be the trade, - That ich must break zo knaves be made, - Ich will a blundering too. [plundering] - - Chill zel my cart and eke my plow, - And get a zword if ich know how, - For ich mean to be right: - Chill learn to zwear, and drink, and roar, - And (Gallant leek) chill keep a whore, [like] - No matter who can vight. - - God bless us! What a world is here, - It can ne’re last another year, - Vor ich can’t be able to zoe: - Dost think that ever chad the art, - To plow the ground up with my cart, - My beasts be all a go. - - But vurst a Warrant ich will get - From Master Captaine, that a vet - Chill make a shrewd a do: - Vor then chave power in any place, - To steal a Horse without disgrace, - And beat the owner too. - - Ich had zix oxen tother day, - And them the Roundheads vetcht away, - A mischiefe be their speed: - And chad zix horses left me whole, - And them the Cabbaleroes stole: - Chee voor men be agreed. - - Here ich doe labour, toyl and zweat, - And dure the cold, with dry and heat, - And what dost think ich get? - Vaith just my labour vor my pains, - The garrisons have all the gains, - Vor thither all’s avet. - - There goes my corne and beanes, and pease, - Ich doe not dare them to displease, - They doe zo zwear and vapour: - When to the Governour ich doe come, - And pray him to discharge my zum, - Chave nothing but a paper. - - U’ds nigs dost think that paper will - Keep warme my back and belly fill? - No, no, goe vange thy note: - If that another year my vield - No profit doe unto me yield, - Ich may goe cut my throat. - - When any money chove in store, - Then straight a warrant comes therefore, - Or ich must blundred be: - And when chave shuffled out one pay, - Then comes another without delay, - Was ever the leek azee? [like] - - If all this be not grief enow, - They have a thing cald quarter too, - O’ts a vengeance waster: - A pox upon’t they call it vree, [“free quarters”] - Cham zure they make us zlaves to be, - And every rogue our master. - - - - -_The High-way man’s Song._ - - - I keep my Horse, I keep my Whore, - I take no Rents, yet am not poore, - I traverse all the land about, - And yet was born to never a foot; - With Partridge plump, and Woodcock fine, - I do at mid-night often dine; - And if my whore be not in case, - My Hostess daughter has her place. - The maids sit up, and watch their turnes, - If I stay long the Tapster mourns; - The Cook-maid has no mind to sin, - Though tempted by the Chamberlin; - But when I knock, O how they bustle; - The hostler yawns, the geldings justle; - If maid be sleep, oh how they curse her! - And all this comes of, _Deliver your purse sir_. - - - - -_Against Fruition_, &c. - - - There is not half so warme a fire - In the Fruition, as Desire. - When I have got the fruit of pain, - Possession makes me poore again, - Expected formes and shapes unknown, - Whet and make sharp tentation; - Sense is too niggardly for Bliss, - And payes me dully with what is; - But fancy’s liberall, and gives all - That can within her vastnesse fall; - Vaile therefore still, while I divine - The Treasure of this hidden Mine, - And make Imagination tell - What wonders doth in Beauty dwell. - - - - -_Upon Mr. ~Fullers~ Booke, called ~Pisgah-sight~._ - - - Fuller of wish, than hope, methinks it is, - For me to expect a fuller work than this, - Fuller of matter, fuller of rich sense, - Fuller of Art[,] fuller of Eloquence; - Yet dare I not be bold, to intitle this - The fullest work; the Author fuller is, - Who, though he empty not himself, can fill - Another fuller, yet continue still - Fuller himself, and so the Reader be - Alwayes in hope a fuller work to see. - - - - -_On a Sheepherd that died for Love._ - - - 1. - - _Cloris_, now thou art fled away, - _Aminta’s_ Sheep are gone astray, - And all the joyes he took to see - His pretty Lambs run after thee. - _Shee’s gone, shee’s gone, and he alway,_ - _Sings nothing now but welladay._ - - 2. - - His Oaten pipe that in thy praise, - Was wont to play such roundelayes, - Is thrown away, and not a Swaine - Dares pipe or sing within this Plaine. - _’Tis death for any now to say_ - _One word to him, but welladay._ - - 3. - - The May-pole where thy little feet - So roundly did in measure meet, - Is broken down, and no content - Came near _Amintas_ since you went. - _All that ere I heard him say,_ - _Was ~Cloris~, ~Cloris~, welladay._ - - 4. - - Upon those banks you us’d to tread, - He ever since hath laid his head, - And whisper’d there such pining wo, - That not one blade of grasse will grow. - _Oh ~Cloris~, ~Cloris~, come away,_ - _And hear ~Aminta’s~ welladay._ - - 5. - - The embroyder’d scrip he us’d to weare - Neglected hangs, so does his haire. - His Crook is broke, Dog pining lyes, - And he himself nought doth but cryes, - _Oh ~Cloris~, ~Cloris~, come away,_ - _And hear_, &c. - - 6. - - His gray coat, and his slops of green, - When worn by him, were comely seen, - His tar-box too is thrown away, - There’s no delight neer him must stay, - _But cries, oh ~Cloris~ come away,_ - _~Aminta’s~ dying, welladay_. - - - - -_The Shepheards lamentation for the losse of his Love._ - - - 1. - - Down lay the Shepheards Swain, - So sober and demure, - Wishing for his wench again, - So bonny and so pure. - With his head on hillock low, - And his armes on kembow; - And all for the losse of her Hy nonny nonny no. - - 2. - - His teares fell as thin, - As water from a Still, - His haire upon his chin, - Grew like tyme upon a hill: - His cherry cheeks were pale as snow, - Testifying his mickle woe; - And all was for the loss of her hy nonny nonny no. - - 3. - - Sweet she was, as fond of love, - As ever fettred Swaine; - Never such a bonny one - Shall I enjoy again. - Set ten thousand on a row, - Ile forbid that any show - Ever the like of her, hy nonny nonny no. - - 4. - - Fac’d she was of Filbard hew, - And bosom’d like a Swanne: - Back’t she was of bended yew, - And wasted by a span. - Haire she had as black as Crow, - From the head unto the toe, - Down down, all over, hy nonny nonny no. - - 5. - - With her Mantle tuck’t up high, - She foddered her Flocke, - So buckesome and alluringly, - Her knee upheld her smock; - So nimbly did she use to goe, - So smooth she danc’d on tip-toe, - That all men were fond of her, hy nonny nonny no. - - 6. - - She simpred like a Holy-day, - And smiled like a Spring, - She pratled like a Popinjay, - And like a Swallow sing. - She tript it like a barren Doe, - And strutted like a Gar-crowe: - Which made me so fond of her, hy, &c. - - 7. - - To trip it on the merry Down, - To dance the lively Hay, - To wrastle for a green Gown, - In heat of all the day, - Never would she say me no. - Yet me thought she had though - Never enough of her, hy, &c. - - 8. - - But gone she is[,] the blithest Lasse - That ever trod on Plain. - What ever hath betided her, - Blame not the Shepheard Swain. - For why, she was her own foe, - And gave her selfe the overthrowe, - By being too franke of her hy nonny nonny no. - - - - -_A Ballad on Queen ~Elizabeth~; to the tune of Sallengers round._ - - - I tell you all both great and small, - And I tell you it truely, - That we have a very great cause, - Both to lament and crie, - Oh fie, oh fie, oh fie, oh fie, - Oh fie on cruell death; - For he hath taken away from us - Our Queen _Elizabeth_. - - He might have taken other folk, - That better might have been mist, - And let our gratious Queen alone, - That lov’d not a Popish Priest. - She rul’d this Land alone of her self, - And was beholding to no man. - She bare the waight of all affaires, - And yet she was but a woman. - - A woman said I? nay that is more - Nor any man can tell, - So chaste she was, so pure she was, - That no man knew it well. - For whilst that she liv’d till cruel death - Exposed her to all. - Wherefore I say lament, lament, - Lament both great and small. - - She never did any wicked thing, - Might make her conscience prick her, - And scorn’d for to submit her self to him - That calls himself Christ’s Vicker: - But rather chose couragiously - To fight under Christ’s Banner, - Gainst Turk and Pope, I and King of _Spain_, - And all that durst withstand her. - - She was as Chaste and Beautifull, - And Faire as ere was any; - And had from forain Countreys sent - Her Suters very many. - Though _Mounsieur_ came himself from _France_, - A purpose for to woe her, - Yet still she liv’d and dy’d a Maid, - Doe what they could unto her. - - And if that I had _Argus_ eyes, - They were too few to weep, - For our sweet Queen _Elizabeth_, - Who now doth lye asleep: - Asleep I say she now doth lye, - Untill the day of Doome: - But then shall awake unto the disgrace - Of the proud Pope of _Rome_. - - - - -_A Ballad on King ~James~; to the tune of When ~Arthur~ first in Court -began._ - - - When _James_ in _Scotland_ first began, - And there was crowned King, - He was not much more than a span, - All in his clouts swadling. - - But when he waxed into yeares, - And grew to be somewhat tall, - And told his Lords, a Parliament - He purposed to call. - - That’s over-much[,] quoth _Douglas_ though, - For thee to doe[,] I feare, - For I am Lord Protector yet, - And will be one halfe yeare. - - It pleaseth me well, quoth the King, - What thou hast said to me, - But since thou standest on such tearmes, - Ile prove as strict to thee. - - And well he rul’d and well he curb’d - Both _Douglas_ and the rest; - Till Heaven with better Fortune and Power, - Had him to _England_ blest. - - Then into _England_ straight he came - As fast as he was able, - Where he made many a Carpet Knight, - Though none of the Round Table. - - And when he entered _Barwicke_ Town, - Where all in peace he found: - But when that roaring Megge went off, - His Grace was like to swound. - - Then up to _London_ straight he came, - Where he made no long stay, - But soon returned back again, - To meet his Queen by th’ way. - - And when they met, such tilting was, - The like was never seen; - The Lords at each others did run, - And neer a tilt between. - - Their Horses backs were under them, - And that was no great wonder, - The wonder was to see them run, - And break no Staves in sunder. - - They ran full swift and coucht their Speares, - O ho quoth the Ladies then, - They run for shew, quoth the people though, - And not to hurt the men. - - They smote full hard at Barriers too, - You might have heard the sound, - As far as any man can goe, - When both his legges are bound. - - - - -_Upon the death of a ~Chandler~._ - - - The Chandler grew neer his end, - Pale Death would not stand his friend; - But tooke it in foul snuff, - As having tarryed long enough: - Yet left this not to be forgotten, - Death and the Chandler could not Cotton. - - - - - 1. - - Farre in the Forrest of _Arden_, - There dwelt a Knight hight _Cassimen_, - As bold as _Isenbras_: - Fell he was and eager bent - In battaile and in Turnament, - As was the good Sr. _Topas_. - - 2. - - He had (as Antique stories tell) - A daughter cleped _Dowsabell_, - A Maiden faire and free, - Who, cause she was her fathers heire, - Full well she was y-tought the leire - Of mickle courtesie. - - 3. - - The Silke well could she twist and twine, - And make the fine Marchpine, - And with the needle work. - And she could help the Priest to say - His Mattins on a Holy-day, - And sing a Psalme in Kirk. - - 4. - - Her Frocke was of the frolique Green, - (Mought well become a Mayden Queen) - Which seemely was to see: - Her Hood to it was neat and fine, - In colour like the Columbine, - y-wrought full featuously. - - 5. - - This Maiden in a morne betime, - Went forth when _May_ was in her prime, - To get sweet Scettuall, - The Honysuckle, the Horelock, - The Lilly, and the Ladies-Smock, - To dight her summer Hall. - - 6. - - And as she romed here, and there, - Y-picking of the bloomed brier, - She chanced to espie - A Shepheard sitting on a bank, - Like Chanticleere—he crowed crank, - And piped with merry glee. - - 7. - - He leerd his Sheep as he him list, - When he would whistle in his fist, - To feed about him round, - Whilst he full many a Caroll sung, - That all the fields, and meadowes rung, - And made the woods resound. - - 8. - - In favour this same Shepheard Swaine - Was like the Bedlam Tamerlaine, - That kept proud Kings in awe. - But meek he was as meek mought be, - Yea like the gentle _Abell_, he - Whom his lewd brother slew. - - 9. - - This Shepheard ware a freeze-gray Cloake, - The which was of the finest locke, - That could be cut with Sheere: - His Aule and Lingell in a Thong, - His Tar-box by a broad belt hung, - His Cap of Minivere. - - 10. - - His Mittens were of Bausons skin, - His Cockers were of Cordowin, - His Breech of country blew: - All curle, and crisped were his Locks, - His brow more white then _Albion_ Rocks: - So like a Lover true. - - 11. - - And piping he did spend the day, - As merry as a Popinjay, - Which lik’d faire _Dowsabell_, - That wod she ought, or wod she nought, - The Shepheard would not from her thought, - In love she longing fell: - - 12. - - With that she tucked up her Frock, - (White as the Lilly was her Smock,) - And drew the Shepheard nigh, - But then the Shepheard pip’d a good, - That all his Sheep forsook their food, - To heare his melody. - - 13. - - Thy Sheep (quoth she) cannot be lean, - That have so faire a Shepheard Swain, - That can his Pipe so well: - I but (quoth he) the Shepheard may, - If Piping thus he pine away, - For love of _Dowsabell_. - - 14. - - Of love (fond boy) take thou no keep, - Look well (quoth she) unto thy Sheep; - Lest they should chance to stray. - So had I done (quoth he) full well, - Had I not seen faire _Dowsabell_, - Come forth to gather May. - - 15. - - I cannot stay (quoth she) till night, - And leave my Summer Hall undight, - And all for love of men. - Yet are you, quoth he, too unkind, - If in your heart you cannot find, - To love us now and then. - - 16. - - And I will be to thee as kind, - As _Collin_ was to _Rosalinde_, - Of courtesie the flower. - And I will be as true (quoth she) - As ever Lover yet mought be, - Unto her Paramour. - - 17. - - With that the Maiden bent her knee, - Down by the Shepheard kneeled she, - And sweetly she him kist. - But then the Shepheard whoop’d for joy, - (Quoth he) was never Shepheards boy, - That ever was so blist. - - - - -_Upon the ~Scots~ being beaten at ~Muscleborough~ field._ - - - On the twelfth day of _December_, - In the fourth year of King _Edwards_ reign[,] - Two mighty Hosts (as I remember) - At _Muscleborough_ did pitch on a Plain. - For a down, down, derry derry down, Hey down a, - Down, down, down a down derry. - - All night our English men they lodged there, - So did the Scots both stout and stubborn, - But well-away was all their cheere, - For we have served them in their own turn. - For a downe, &c. - - All night they carded for our _English_ mens Coats, - (They fished before their Nets were spun) - A white for Six-pence, a red for two Groats; - Wisdome would have stayd till they had been won. - For a down, &c. - - On the twelfth day all in the morn, - They made a fere as if they would fight; - But many a proud _Scot_ that day was down born, - And many a rank Coward was put to his flight. - For a down, &c. - - And the Lord _Huntley_, we hadden him there, - With him he brought ten thousand men: - But God be thanked, we gave him such a Banquet, - He carryed but few of them home agen. - For a down, &c. - - For when he heard our great Guns crack, - Then did his heart fall untill his hose, - He threw down his Weapons, he turned his back, - He ran so fast that he fell on his nose. - For a down, &c. - - We beat them back till _Edenbrough_, - (There’s men alive can witnesse this) - But when we lookt our English men through, - Two hundred good fellowes we did not misse. - For a down, &c. - - Now God preserve _Edward_ our King, - With his two Nuncles and Nobles all, - And send us Heaven at our ending: - For we have given _Scots_ a lusty fall. - For a down, down, derry derry down, Hey, - Down a down down, down a down derry. - - - - -_Lipps and Eyes._ - - - In _Celia_ a question did arise, - Which were more beautifull her Lippes or Eyes. - We, said the Eyes, send forth those pointed darts, - Which pierce the hardest Adamantine hearts. - From us, (reply’d the Lipps) proceed the blisses - Which Lovers reape by kind words and sweet kisses. - Then wept the Eyes, and from their Springs did powre - Of liquid Orientall Pearle a showre: - Whereat the Lippes mov’d with delight and pleasure, - Through a sweet smile unlockt their pearly Treasure: - And bad Love judge, whether did adde more grace, - Weeping or smiling Pearles in _Celia’s_ face. - - - - -_On black Eyes._ - - - Black Eyes; in your dark Orbs do lye, - My ill or happy destiny, - If with cleer looks you me behold, - You give me Mines and Mounts of Gold; - If you dart forth disdainfull rayes, - To your own dy, you turn my dayes. - Black Eyes, in your dark Orbes by changes dwell. - My bane or blisse, my Paradise or Hell. - - That Lamp which all the Starres doth blind, - Yeelds to your lustre in some kind, - Though you do weare, to make you bright, - No other dresse but that of night: - He glitters only in the day. - You in the dark your Beames display. - Black Eyes, &c. - - The cunning Theif that lurkes for prize, - At some dark corner watching lyes; - So that heart-robbing God doth stand - In the dark Lobbies, shaft in hand, - To rifle me of what I hold - More pretious farre then _Indian_ Gold. - Black Eyes, &c. - - Oh powerful Negromantick Eyes, - Who in your circles strictly pries, - Will find that _Cupid_ with his dart, - In you doth practice the blacke Art: - And by th’ Inchantment I’me possest, - Tryes his conclusion in my brest. - Black Eyes, &c. - - Look on me though in frowning wise, - Some kind of frowns become black eyes, - As pointed Diamonds being set, - Cast greater lustre out of Jet. - Those pieces we esteem most rare, - Which in night shadowes postur’d are. - Darknesse in Churches congregates the sight, - Devotion strayes in glaring light. - Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell, - My bane, or blisse, my Paradise or Hell. - - - - -_CRVELTY._ - - - We read of Kings, and Gods that kindly took - A Pitcher fill’d with Water from the Brook. - But I have dayly tendred without thanks, - Rivers of tears that overflow their banks. - A slaughtred Bull will appease angry Jove, - A Horse the Sun, a Lamb the God of Love. - But she disdains the spotlesse sacrifice - Of a pure heart that at her Altar lyes: - Vesta [i]’s not displeas’d if her chaste Urn - Doe with repaired fuell ever burn; - But my Saint frowns, though to her honoured name - I consecrate a never dying flame: - Th’ _Assyrian_ King did none i th’ furnace throw, - But those that to his Image did not bow: - With bended knees I dayly worship her, - Yet she consumes her own Idolater. - Of such a Goddesse no times leave record, - That burnt the Temple where she was ador’d. - - - - -_A Sonnet._ - - - What ill luck had I, silly Maid that I am, - To be ty’d to a lasting vow; - Or ere to be laid by the side of a man, - That woo’d, and cannot tell how; - Down didle down, down didle me. - Oh that I had a Clown that he might down diddle me, - With a courage to take mine down. - - What punishment is that man worthy to have, - That thus will presume to wedde, - He deserves to be layd alive in his grave, - That woo’d and cannot in bed; - Down didle down[,] down didle me. - Oh that I had a Lad that he might down didle me, - For I feare I shall run mad. - - - - -_The ~Doctors~ Touchstone._ - - - I never did hold, all that glisters is Gold, - Unless by the Touch it be try’d; - Nor ever could find, that it was a true signe, - To judge a man by the outside. - A poor flash of wit, for a time may be fit - To wrangle a question in Schools. - Good dressing, fine cloathes, with other fine shews, - May serve to make painted fools. - - That man will beguile, in your face that will smile, - And court you with Cap and with knee: - And while you’re in health, or swimming in wealth, - Will vow that your Servant hee’l be. - That man Ile commend, and would have to my friend - If I could tell where to choose him, - That wil help me at need, and stand me in stead, - When I have occasion to use him. - - I doe not him fear, that wil swagger & sweare, - And draw upon every cross word, - And forthwith again if you be rough & plain, - Be contented to put up his sword. - Him valiant I deem, that patient can seem, - And fights not in every place, - But on good occasion, without seeking evasion[,] - Durst look his proud Foe in the face. - - That Physician shal pass that is all for his glass - And no other sign can scan, - Who to practice did hop, from ‘Apothecaries’ shop, - Or some old Physitians man. - He Physick shal give to me whilst I live, - That hath more strings to his Bow, - Experience and learning, with due deserving, - And will talk on no more then he know. - - That Lawyer I hate, that wil wrangle & prate, - In a matter not worth the hearing: - And if fees do not come, can be silent & dumb, - Though the cause deserves but the clearing. - That Lawyers for me, that’s not all for his fee, - But will do his utmost endeavour - To stand for the right, and tug against might, - And lift the truth as with a Leaver. - - The Shark I do scorn, that’s only well born, - And brags of his antient house, - Yet his birth cannot fit, with money nor wit, - But feeds on his friends like a Louse, - That man I more prize, that by vertue doth rise - Unto some worthy degree, - That by breeding hath got, what by birth he had not, - A carriage that’s noble and free. - - I care not for him, that in riches doth swimme, - And flants it in every fashion, - That brags of his Grounds and prates of his Hounds, - And his businesse is all recreation. - For him I will stand, that hath wit with his Land, - And will sweat for his Countreys good, - That will stick to the Lawes, and in a good cause - Will adventure to spend his heart-blood. - - That man I despise, that thinks himself wise, - Because he can talk at Table, - And at a rich feast break forth a poor jest, - To the laughter of others more able. - No, he hath more wit, that silent can sit, - Yet knowes well enough how to do it, - That speaks with reason, & laughs in due seaso[n,] - And when he is mov’d unto it. - - I care not a fly, for a house that’s built high, - And yeelds not a cup of good beer, - Where scraps you may find, while Venison’s in kind - For a week or two in a yeare. - He a better house keeps, that every night sleeps - Under a Covert of thatch, - Where’s good Beef from the Stall, and a fire in the Hall, - Where you need not to scramble nor snatch. - - Then lend me your Touch, for dissembling there’s much, - Ile try them before I do trust. - For a base needy Slave, in shew may be brave, - And a sliding Companion seem just. - The man that’s down right, in heart & in sight, - Whose life and whose looks doth agree, - That speaks what he thinks, and sleeps when he winks, - O that’s the companion for me. - - - - -_A copy of Verses of a mon[e]y Marriage._ - - - 1. - - No Gypsie nor no Blackamore, - No Bloomesbery, nor Turnbald whore, - Can halfe so black, so foule appeare, - As she I chose to be my Deare. - She’s wrinkled, old, she’s dry, she’s tough, - Yet money makes her faire enough. - - 2. - - Nature’s hand shaking did dispose, - Her cheeks faire red unto her nose, - Which shined like that wanton light, - Misguideth wanderers in the night. - Yet for all this I do not care, - Though she be foul, her money’s faire. - - 3. - - Her tangled Locks do show to sight, - Like Horses manes, whom haggs affright. - Her Bosome through her vaile of Lawne, - Shews more like Pork, her Neck like Brawn. - Yet for all this I do not care, - Though she be foul, her money’s faire. - - 4. - - Her teeth, to boast the Barbers fame, - Hang all up in his wooden frame. - Her lips are hairy, like the skin - Upon her browes, as lank as thin. - Yet for all this I do not care, - Though she be foul, her money’s faire. - - 5. - - Those that her company do keep, - Are rough hoarse coughs, to break my sleep. - The Palsie, Gout, and Plurisie, - And Issue in her legge and thigh. - Yet me it grieves not, who am sure - That Gold can all diseases cure. - - 6. - - Then young men do not jeere my lot, - That beauty left, and money got: - For I have all things having Gold, - And beauty too, since beautie’s sold. - For Gold by day shall please my sight, - When all her faults lye hid at night. - - - - -_The baseness of Whores._ - - - Trust no more, a wanton Whore, - If thou lov’st health and freedom, - They are so base in every place, - It’s pity that bread should feed ’um. - All their sence is impudence, - Which some call good conditions. - Stink they do, above ground too, - Of Chirurgions and Physitians. - - If you are nice, they have their spice, - On which they’le chew to flout you, - And if you not discern the plot, - You have no Nose about you. - Furthermore, they have in store, - For which I deadly hate ’um, - Perfum’d geare, to stuffe each eare, - And for their cheeks Pomatum. - - Liquorish Sluts, they feast their guts, - At Chuffs cost, like Princes, - Amber Plumes, and Mackarumes, - And costly candy’d Quinces. - Potato plump, supports the Rump, - Eringo strengthens Nature. - Viper Wine, so heats the chine, - They’le gender with a Satyr. - - Names they own were never known - Throughout their generation, - Noblemen are kind to them, - At least by approbation: - Many dote on one gay Coat, - But mark what there is stampt on ’t, - A stone Horse wild, with toole defil’d, - Two Goats, a Lyon rampant. - - Truth to say, Paint and Array, - Makes them so highly prized. - Yet not one well, of ten can tell, - If ever they were baptized. - And if not, then tis a blot - Past cure of Spunge or Laver: - And we may sans question say - The Divel was their God-father. - - Now to leave them, he receive them, - Whom they most confide in, - Whom that is, aske _Tib_ or _Sis_, - Or any whom next you ride in. - If in sooth, she speaks the truth, - She sayes excuse I pray you, - The beast you ride, where I confide, - Will in due time convey you. - - - - -_A Lover disclosing his love to his ~Mistris~._ - - - Let not sweet _St._ let not these eyes offend you, - Nor yet the message, that these lines impart, - The message my unfeined love doth send you, - Love that your self hath planted in my heart. - - For being charm’d by the bewitching art - Of those inveigling graces that attend you: - Love’s holy fire kindled hath in part - These never-dying flames, my breast doth send you. - - Now if my lines offend, let love be blam’d, - And if my love displease, accuse my eyes, - And if mine eyes sin, their sins cause only lyes - On your bright eyes, that hath my heart inflam’d. - - Since eyes[,] love, lines erre, then by your direction, - Excuse my eyes, my lines, and my affection. - - - - -_The contented Prisoner his praise of ~Sack~._ - - - How happy’s that Prisoner - That conquers his fates, - With silence, and ne’re - On bad fortune complaines, - But carelessely playes - With his Keyes on the Grates, - And makes a sweet consort - With them and his chayns. - He drowns care with Sack, - When his thoughts are opprest, - And makes his heart float, - Like a Cork in his Breast. - - _The Chorus._ - - Then, - Since we are all slaves, - That Islanders be, - And our Land’s a large prison, - Inclos’d with the Sea: - Wee’l drink up the Ocean, - To set our selves free, - For man is the World’s Epitome. - - Let Pirates weare Purple, - Deep dy’d in the blood - Of those they have slain, - The scepter to sway. - If our conscience be cleere, - And our title be good, - With the rags we have on us, - We are richer then they. - We drink down at night, - What we beg or can borrow, - And sleep without plotting - For more the next morrow. - - Since we, &c. - - Let the Usurer watch - Ore his bags and his house, - To keep that from Robbers, - He hath rackt from his debtors, - Each midnight cries Theeves, - At the noyse of a mouse, - Then see that his Trunks - Be fast bound in their Fetters. - When once he’s grown rich enough - For a State plot, - Buff in an hower plunders - What threescore years got. - - Since we, &c. - - Come Drawer fill each man - A peck of Canary - This Brimmer shall bid - All our senses good-night. - When old _Aristotle_ - Was frolick and merry, - By the juice of the Grape, - He turn’d Stagarite. - _Copernicus_ once - In a drunken fit found, - By the coruse [course] of his brains, - That the world turn’d round. - - Since we, &c. - - Tis Sack makes our faces - Like Comets to shine, - And gives beauty beyond - The Complexion mask, - _Diogenes_ fell so - In love with this Wine, - That when ’twas all out, - He dwelt in the Cask. - He liv’d by the s[c]ent - Of his Wainscoated Room; - And dying desir’d - The Tub for his Tombe. - - Since we, &c. - - - - -_Of DESIRE._ - - - Fire, Fire! - O how I burn in my desire. - For all the teares that I can strain - Out of my empty love-sick brain, - Cannot asswage my scorching pain. - Come Humber, Trent, and silver Thames, - The dread Ocean haste with all thy streames, - And if thou can’st not quench my fire, - Then drown both me and my Desire. - - Fire, Fire! - Oh there’s no hell to my desire. - See how the Rivers backward lye, - The Ocean doth his tide deny, - For fear my flames should drink them drye. - Come heav’nly showers, come pouring down, - You all that once the world did drown. - You then sav’d some, and now save all, - Which else would burn, and with me fall. - - - - -_Upon kinde and true Love._ - - - ’Tis not how witty, nor how free, - Nor yet how beautifull she be, - But how much kinde and true to me. - Freedome and Wit none can confine, - And Beauty like the Sun doth shine, - But kinde and true are onely mine. - - Let others with attention sit, - To listen, and admire her wit, - That is a rock where Ile not split. - Let others dote upon her eyes, - And burn their hearts for sacrifice, - Beauty’s a calm where danger lyes. - - But Kinde and True have been long try’d, - And harbour where we may confide, [? An] - And safely there at anchor ride. - From change of winds there we are free, - And need not fear Storme’s tyrannie, - Nor Pirat, though a Prince he be. - - - - -_Upon his Constant Mistresse._ - - - She’s not the fairest of her name, - But yet she conquers more than all the race, - For she hath other motives to inflame, - Besides a lovely face. - There’s Wit and Constancy - And Charms, that strike the soule more than the Eye. - ’Tis no easie lover knowes how to discover - Such Divinity. - - And yet she is an easie book, - Written in plain language for the meaner wit, - A stately garb, and [yet] a gracious look, - With all things justly fit. - But age will undermine - This glorious outside, that appeares so fine, - When the common Lover - Shrinks and gives her over, - Then she’s onely mine. - - To the Platonick that applies - His clear addresses onely to the mind; - The body but a Temple signifies, - Wherein the Saints inshrin’d, - To him it is all one, - Whether the walls be marble, or rough stone; - Nay, in holy places, which old time defaces, - More devotion’s shown. - - - - -_The Ghost-Song._ - - - ’Tis late and cold, stir up the fire, - Sit close, and draw the table nigher, - Be merry, and drink wine that’s old, - A hearty medicine ’gainst the cold; - Your bed[’s] of wanton down the best, - Where you may tumble to your rest: - I could well wish you wenches too, - But I am dead, and cannot do. - Call for the best, the house will ring, - Sack, White and Claret, let them bring, - And drink apace, whilst breath you have, - You’l find but cold drinking in the grave; - Partridge, Plover for your dinner, - And a Capon for the sinner, - You shall finde ready when you are up, - And your horse shall have his sup. - Welcome, welcome, shall flie round, - And I shall smile, though under ground. - - _You that delight in Trulls and Minions,_ - _Come buy my four ropes of St. ~Omers~ Onions._ - - -_FINIS._ - - - - -Table of First Lines - -_To the Songs and Poems in_ - -CHOICE DROLLERY, 1656. - -(NOW FIRST ADDED.) - - - page. - - _A Maiden of the Pure Society_ 44 - - _A story strange I will you tell_ 31 - - _A Stranger coming to the town_ 16 - - _And will this wicked world never prove good?_ 40 - - _As I went to ~Totnam~_ 45 - - _Blacke eyes, in your dark orbs do lye_ 81 - - _~Cloris~, now thou art fled away_ 63 - - _Come, my White-head, let our Muses_ 10 - - _Deare Love, let me this evening dye_ 1 - - _Down lay the Shepheards Swain_ 65 - - _Drink boyes, drink boyes, drink and doe not spare_ 42 - - _Farre in the Forrest of ~Arden~_ 73 - - _Fire! Fire! O, how I burn_ 97 - - _Fuller of wish, than hope, methinks it is_ 62 - - _He that a Tinker, a Tinker, a Tinker will be_ 52 - - _Hide, oh hide those lovely Browes_ 53 - - _How happy’s that Prisoner that conquers, &c._ 93 - - _I keep my horse, I keep my W_ 60 - - _I love thee for thy curled hair_ 49 - - _I never did hold, all that glisters is gold_ 85 - - _I tell you all, both great and small_ 68 - - _Idol of our sex! Envy of thine own!_ 55 - - _If at this time I am derided_ 9 - - _In ~Celia~ a question did arise_ 80 - - _In Eighty-eight, ere I was born_ 38 - - _Let not, sweet saint, let not these eyes offend you_ 92 - - _List, you Nobles, and attend_ 20 - - _My Mother hath sold away her Cock_ 43 - - _Never was humane soule so overgrown_ 17 - - _No Gypsie nor no Blackamore_ 88 - - _Nor Love, nor Fate dare I accuse_ 4 - - _Oh fire, fire, fire, where?_ 33 - - _On the twelfth day of December_ 78 - - _One night the great ~Apollo~, pleas’d with ~Ben~_ 5 - - _Shall I think, because some clouds_ 15 - - _She’s not the fairest of her name_ 99 - - _The Chandler grew neer his end_ 72 - - _There is not halfe so warme a fire_ 61 - - _This day inlarges every narrow mind_ 48 - - _’Tis late and cold, stir up the fire_ 100 - - _’Tis not how witty, nor how free_ 98 - - _Trust no more a wanton Wh—_ 90 - - _Uds bodykins, Chill work no more_ 57 - - _We read of Kings, and Gods that kindly took_ 83 - - _What ill luck had I, silly maid that I am_ 84 - - _When first the magick of thine eye_ 8 - - _When ~James~ in Scotland first began_ 70 - - - - - AN - ANTIDOTE - AGAINST - MELANCHOLY: - - Made up in PILLS. - - Compounded of _Witty Ballads_, _Jovial - Songs_, and _Merry Catches_. - - _These witty Poems though some time [they] may seem to halt on crutches,_ - _Yet they’l all merrily please you for your Charge, which not much is._ - - Printed by _Mer. Melancholicus_, to be sold in _London_ - and _Westminster_, 1661. - - [Aprill, 18.] - - - - -EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION TO THE ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY, 1661. - - - _Adalmar._—“An Antidote! - Restore him whom thy poisons have laid low.” ... - - _Isbrand._—“A very good and thirsty melody; - What say you to it, my Court Poet?” - - _Wolfram._—“Good melody! When I am sick o’ mornings, - With a horn-spoon tinkling my porridge pot, - ’Tis a brave ballad.” - - (_T. L. Beddoes: Death’s Jest Book, Acts_ iv. & v.) - - -§ 1. REPRINT OF AN ANTIDOTE. - -Having found that sixty-five of our previous pages, in the second -volume of the _Drolleries Reprint_, were filled with songs and poems -that also appear in the _Antidote against Melancholy_, 1661; and that -all the remaining songs and poems of the _Antidote_ (several being only -obtainable therein) exceed not the compass of three additional sheets, -or forty-eight pages, the Editor determined to include this valuable -book. Thus in our three volumes are given four entire works, to exemplify -this particular class of literature, the Cavalier Drolleries of the -Restoration.[7] - -To that portion of our present Appendix which is devoted to _Notes to -the Antidote against Melancholy_, 1661, we refer the reader for the -admirable brief Introduction written by John Payne Collier, Esq.; to -whose handsome Reprint of the work we owe our first acquaintance with its -pages. His knowledge of our old literature extends over nearly a century; -his opportunities for inspecting private and public libraries have been -peculiarly great; and he has always been most generous in communicating -his knowledge to other students, showing throughout a freedom from -jealousy and exclusiveness reminding us of the genial Sir Walter -Scott. He states:—“We have never seen a copy of an ‘_Antidote against -Melancholy_’ that was not either imperfect, or in some places illegible -from dirt and rough usage, excepting the one we have employed: our -single exemplar is as fresh as on the day it was issued from the press. -There is an excellent and highly finished engraving on the title-page, -of gentlemen and boors carousing; but as the repetition of it for our -purpose would cost more than double every other expense attending our -reprint, we have necessarily omitted it. The same plate was afterwards -used for one of Brathwayte’s pieces; and we have seen a much worn -impression of it on a Drollery near the end of the seventeenth century. -It does not at all add to our knowledge of the subject of our reprint. J. -P. C.” - -Nevertheless, the copper-plate illustration is so good, and connects -so well with the Bacchanalian and sportive character of the “_Antidote -against Melancholy_,” and other _Drolleries_, that the present Editor not -unwillingly takes up the graver to reproduce this frontispiece for the -adornment of the volume and the service of subscribers. Our own Reprint -and our engraving are made from the _perfect_ specimen contained in the -Thomason Collection, and dated 1661 (with “Aprill 18” in MS.; see p. -161). We make a rule always to go to the fountain-head for our draughts, -howsoever long and steep may be the ascent. Flowers and rare fossils -reward us as we clamber up, and in good time other students learn to -trust us, as being pains-taking and conscientiously exact. The first duty -of one who aspires to be honoured as the Editor of early literature is to -faithfully reproduce his text, unmutilated and undisguised. To amend it, -and elucidate it, so far as lies in his power, can be done befittingly -in his notes and comments, while he gives his readers a representation of -the original, so nearly in _fac-simile_ as is compatible with additional -beauty of typography. Throughout our labours we have held this principle -steadily in view; and, whatever nobler work we may hereafter attempt, the -same determination must guide us. There may be debate as to our wisdom -in reproducing some questionable _facetiæ_, but there shall be none -regarding our fidelity to the original text. - - -§ 2. INGREDIENTS OF AN “ANTIDOTE.” - -A pleasant book it appeared to Cavaliers and all who were not quite -strait-laced. It is almost unobjectionable, except for a few ugly words, -and bears comparison honourably with “_Merry Drollery_” or “_Wit and -Drollery_,” both of the same date, 1661. Unlike the former, it is almost -uninfected with political rancour or impurity. It is a jovial book, -that roysters and revellers loved to sing their Catches from; nay, if -some laughing nymphs did not drop their eyes over its pages we are no -conjurors. A vulgar phrase or two did not frighten them. Lucy Hutchinson -herself, the Colonel’s Puritan wife, fires many a volley of coarse -epithets without blushing; and, indeed, the Saintly Crew occasionally -indulged in foul language as freely as the Malignants, though it was -condoned as being theologic zeal and controversial phraseology. - -In “The Ex-Ale-tation of Ale” we forgive the verbosity, for the sake of -one verse on the noted Ballad-writer (see note in Appendix):— - - “For _ballads_ ELDERTON never had peer; - How went his wit in them, with how merry a gale, - And with all the sails up, had he been at the Cup, - And washed his beard with a _pot of good ale_.” - -We find the character of the songs to be eminently festive: almost every -one could be chanted over a cup of burnt Sack, and there was not entire -forgetfulness of eating: witness “The Cold Chyne,” on page 55 (our p. -148). The Love-making is seldom visible. Such glimpses as we gain of -Puritans (Bishop Corbet’s Hot-headed Zealot, Cleveland’s “Rotundos rot,”) -are only suggestive of playful ridicule. The Sectaries, being no longer -dangerous, are here laughed at, not calumniated. The odd jumble of -nations brought together in those disturbed times is seen in the crowd of -lovers around the “blith Lass of Falkland town” (p. 133) who is constant -in her love of a Scottish blue bonnet:—“_If ever I have a man, blew-Cap -for me!_” But, sitting at ease once more, not hunted into bye-ways or -exile, and with enough of ready cash to wipe off tavern scores, or pay -for braver garments than were lately flapping in the wind, the Cavaliers -recall the exploits of their patron-saint, “St. George for England,” -the gay wedding of Lord Broghill, as described by Sir John Suckling in -1641, the still noisier marriage of Arthur o’ Bradley, or that imaginary -banquet afforded to the Devil, by Ben Jonson’s Cook Lorrell, in the Peak -of Derbyshire. Early contrasts, drawn by their own grandsires, between -the Old Courtier of Queen Elizabeth and the New Courtier of King James, -are welcomed to remembrance. They forgive “Old Noll,” while ridiculing -his image as “The Brewer,” and they repeat the earlier Ulysses song of -the “Blacksmith,” by Dr. James Smith, if only for its chorus, “Which no -body can deny.” The grave solemnity wherewith Dr. Wilde’s “Combat of -Cocks” was told; the light-hearted buffoonery of “Sir Eglamore’s Fight -with the Dragon;” the spluttering grimaces of Ben Jonson’s “Welchman’s -praise of Wales;” and the sustained humour as well as enthusiasm of Dr. -Henry Edwards’s “On the Vertue of Sack” (“Fetch me Ben Jonson’s scull,” -&c.), are all crowned by the musical outburst of “The Green Gown:”— - - “Pan leave piping, the Gods have done feasting, - There’s never a goddess a hunting to-day,” &c. - -(see Appendix to _Westminster Drollery_, p. liv.) Our readers may thus -additionally enjoy a full-flavoured bumper of the “_Antidote against -Melancholy_.” - - J. W. E. - -August, 1875. - - - - -_To the Reader._ - - - There’s no Purge ’gainst _Melancholly_, - But with _Bacchus_ to be jolly: - All else are but Dreggs of Folly. - - _Paracelsus_ wanted skill - When he sought to cure that Ill: - No _Pectorals_ like the _Poets_ quill. - - Here are _Pills_ of every sort, - For the _Country_, _City_, _Court_, - Compounded and made up of sport. - - If ’gainst _Sleep_ and _Fumes_ impure, - Thou, thy _Senses_ would’st secure; - Take this, Coffee’s not half so sure. - - Want’st thou _Stomack_ to thy Meat, - And would’st fain restore the heat, - This does it more than _Choccolet_. - - Cures the _Spleen_[,] Revives the _blood_[,] - Puts thee in a _Merry_ Mood: - Who can deny such _Physick_ good? - - Nothing like to Harmeles _Mirth_, - ’Tis a Cordiall On earth - That gives _Society_ a Birth. - - Then be wise, and buy, not borrow, - Keep an _Ounce_ still for to Morrow, - Better than a _pound_ of _Sorrow_. - - N. D. - - - - -_Ballads, Songs, and Catches in this Book._ - - - Original: Our - page. vols, page - - 1. The Exaltation of a _Pot of Good Ale_, 1 iii. 113 - - 2. The Song of _Cook-Lawrel_, by Ben Johnson 9 ii. 214 - - 3. The Ballad of _The Black-smith_, 11 225 - - 4. The Ballad of _Old Courtier and the New_ 14 iii. 125 - - 5. The Ballad of the Wedding of _Arthur of Bradley_, 16 ii. 312 - - 6. The Ballad of the _Green Gown_, 20 i. Ap. 54 - - 7. The Ballad of the _Gelding of the Devil_, 21 ii. 200 - - 8. The Ballad of _Sir Eglamore_, 25 257 - - 9. The Ballad of _St. George for England_, 26 iii. 129 - - 10. The Ballad of _Blew Cap for me_, 29 133 - - 11. The Ballad of the _Several Caps_, 31 135 - - 12. The Ballad of the _Noses_, 33 ii. 143 - - 13. The Song of the _Hot-headed Zealot_, 35 234 - - 14. The Song of the _Schismatick Rotundos_, 37 iii. 139 - - 15. A Glee in praise of _Wine_ [_Let souldiers_], 39 ii. 218 - - 16. Sir John Sucklin’s Ballad of the _Ld. L. Wedding_. 40 101 - - 17. The _Combat of Cocks_, 44 242 - - 18. The _Welchman’s prayse of Wales_, 47 iii. 141 - - 19. The _Cavaleer’s Complaint_ [and _Answer_], 49 ii. 52 - - 20. Three several Songs in praise of _Sack_ - [: _Old Poets Hipocrin_, &c. 52 iii. 143 - _Hang the Presbyter’s Gill_, 53 144 - _’Tis Wine that inspires_, 54 145 - [A Glee to the Vicar, W.D. Int. - [On a Cold Chyne of Beef, 55 iii. 146 - [A Song of _Cupid_ Scorned, 56 147 - - 21. On the _Vertue of Sack_, by Dr. Hen. Edwards 57 ii. 293 - - 22. The _Medly of Nations_, to several tunes, 59 127 - - 23. The Ballad of the Brewer, 62 221 - - 24. A Collection of 40 [34] more Merry - Catches and Songs. 65-76 iii. 149 - [Of these 34, ten are given in Merry - Drollery, Complete, on pages 296, 304, - 308, 232, 337, 300, 280, 318, 348, and 341. - The others are added in this volume iii. 52 - - - - -Pills to Purge Melancholly. - - - - -[p. 1.] - -_The Ex-Ale-tation of ALE._ - - - Not drunken, nor sober, but neighbour to both, - I met with a friend in _Ales-bury_ Vale; - He saw by my Face, that I was in the Case - To speak no great harm of a _Pot of good Ale_. - - Then did he me greet, and said, since we meet - (And he put me in mind of the name of the Dale) - For _Ales-burys_ sake some pains I would take, - And not _bury_ the praise of a _Pot of good Ale_. - - The more to procure me, then he did adjure me - If the _Ale_ I drank last were nappy and stale, - To do it its right, and stir up my sprite, - And fall to commend a _pot_ [_of good ale_]. [_passim._] - - Quoth I, To commend it I dare not begin, - Lest therein my Credit might happen to fail; - For, many men now do count it a sin, - But once to look toward a _pot of good ale_. - - Yet I care not a pin, For I see no such sin, - Nor any thing else my courage to quail: - For, this we do find, that take it in kind, - Much vertue there is in a _pot of good ale_. - - And I mean not to taste, though thereby much grac’t, - Nor the _Merry-go-down_ without pull or hale, - Perfuming the throat, when the stomack’s afloat, - With the Fragrant sweet scent of a _pot of good ale_. - - Nor yet the delight that comes to the _Sight_ - To see how it flowers and mantles in graile, - As green as a _Leeke_, with a smile in the cheek, - The true Orient colour of a _pot of good ale_. - - But I mean the _Mind_, and the good it doth find, - Not onely the _Body_ so feeble and fraile; - For, _Body_ and _Soul_ may blesse the _black bowle_, - Since both are beholden to a _Pot of good ale_. - - For, when _heavinesse_ the mind doth oppresse, - And _sorrow_ and _grief_ the heart do assaile, - No remedy quicker than to take off your Liquor, - And to wash away _cares_ with a _pot of good ale_. - - The _Widow_ that buried her Husband of late, - Will soon have forgotten to weep and to waile, - And think every day twain, till she marry again, - If she read the contents of a _pot of good ale_. - - It is like a _belly-blast_ to a _cold heart_, - And warms and engenders the _spirits vitale_: - To keep them from domage all sp’rits owe their homage - To the _Sp’rite of the buttery_, a _pot of good ale_. - - And down to the _legs_ the vertue doth go, - And to a bad _Foot-man_ is as good as a _saile_: - When it fill the Veins, and makes light the Brains, - No _Lackey_ so nimble as a _pot of good ale_. - - The naked complains not for want of a coat, - Nor on the cold weather will once turn his taile; - All the way as he goes, he cuts the wind with his Nose, - If he be but well wrapt in a _pot of good ale_. - - The hungry man takes no thought for his meat, - Though his stomack would brook a _ten-penny_ naile; - He quite forgets hunger, thinks on it no longer, - If he touch but the sparks of a _pot of good ale_. - - The _Poor man_ will praise it, so hath he good cause, - That all the year eats neither _Partridge_ nor _Quaile_, - But sets up his rest, and makes up his Feast, - With a crust of _brown bread_, and a _pot of good ale_. - - The _Shepherd_, the _Sower_, the _Thresher_, the _Mower_, - The one with his _Scythe_, the other with his _Flaile_, - Take them out by the poll, on the peril of my soll, - All will hold up their hands to a _pot of good ale_. - - The _Black-Smith_, whose bellows all Summer do blow, - With the fire in his Face still, without e’re a vaile, - Though his throat be full dry, he will tell you no lye, - But where you may be sure of a _pot of good ale_. - - Who ever denies it, the Pris’ners will prayse it, - That beg at [the] Grate, and lye in the _Goale_, - For, even in their _fetters_ they thinke themselves better, - May they get but a two-penny black _pot of Ale_. - - The begger, whose portion is alwayes his prayers, - Not having a tatter to hang on his taile, - Is rich in his rags, as the churle in his bags, - If he once but shakes hands with a _pot of good ale_. - - It drives his poverty clean out of mind, - Forgetting his _brown bread_, his _wallet_, and _maile_; - He walks in the house like a _six footed Louse_, - If he once be inricht with a _pot of good ale_. - - And he that doth _dig_ in the _ditches_ all day, - And wearies himself quite at the _plough-taile_, - Will speak no less things than of _Queens_ and of _Kings_, - If he touch but the top of a _pot of good ale_. - - ’Tis like a Whetstone to a _blunt wit_, - And makes a supply where Nature doth fail: - The dullest wit soon will look quite through the Moon, - If his temples be wet with a _pot of good ale_. - - Then DICK to his _Dearling_, full boldly dares speak, - Though before (silly Fellow) his courage did quaile, - He gives her the _smouch_, with his hand on his pouch, - If he meet by the way with a _pot of good ale_. - - And it makes the _Carter_ a _Courtier_ straight-way; - With Rhetorical termes he will tell his tale; - With _courtesies_ great store, and his Cap up before, - Being school’d but a little with a _pot of good ale_. - - The _Old man_, whose tongue wags faster than his teeth, - (For old age by Nature doth drivel and drale) - Will frig and will fling, like a Dog in a string, - If he warm his cold blood with a _pot of good ale_. - - And the good _Old Clarke_, whose sight waxeth dark, - And ever he thinks the Print is to[o] small, - He will see every Letter, and say Service better, - If he glaze but his eyes with a _pot of good ale_. - - The _cheekes_ and the _jawes_ to commend it have cause; - For where they were late but even wan and pale, - They will get them a colour, no _crimson_ is fuller, - By the true die and tincture of a _pot of good ale_. - - Mark her Enemies, though they think themselves wise, - How _meager_ they look, with how low a waile, - How their cheeks do fall, without sp’rits at all, - That alien their minds from a _pot of good ale_. - - And now that the grains do work in my brains, - Me thinks I were able to give by retaile - Commodities store, a dozen and more, - That flow to Mankind from a _pot of good ale_. - - The MUSES would muse any should it misuse: - For it makes them to sing like a _Nightingale_, - With a lofty trim note, having washed their throat - With the _Caballine_ Spring of a _pot of good ale_. [? Castalian] - - And the _Musician_ of any condition, - It will make him reach to the top of his _Scale_: - It will clear his pipes, and moisten his lights, - If he drink _alternatim_ a _pot of good ale_. - - The _Poet_ Divine, that cannot reach Wine, - Because that his money doth many times faile, - Will hit on the vein to make a good strain, - If he be but _inspir’d_ with a _pot of good ale_. - - For _ballads_ ELDERTON never had Peer; - How went his wit in them, with how merry a Gale, - And with all the Sails up, had he been at the Cup, - And washed his beard with a _pot of good ale_. - - And the power of it showes, no whit less in _Prose_, - It will file one’s Phrase, and set forth his Tale: - Fill him but a Bowle, it will make his Tongue troul, - For _flowing speech_ flows from a _pot of good ale_. - - And _Master Philosopher_, if he drink his part, - Will not trifle his time in the _huske_ or the _shale_, - But go to the _kernell_ by the depth of his Art, - To be found in the bottom of a _pot of good ale_. - - Give a _Scholar_ of OXFORD a pot of _Sixteen_, - And put him to prove that an _Ape_ hath no _taile_, - And sixteen times better his wit will be seen, - If you fetch him from _Botley_ a _pot of good ale_. - - Thus it helps _Speech_ and _Wit_: and it hurts not a whit, - But rather doth further the _Virtues Morale_; - Then think it not much if a little I touch - The good moral parts of a _pot of good ale_. - - To the _Church_ and _Religion_ it is a good Friend, - Or else our Fore-Fathers their wisedome did faile, - That at every mile, next to the _Church_ stile, - Set a _consecrate house_ to a _pot of good ale_. - - But now, as they say, _Beer_ bears it away; - The more is the pity, if right might prevaile: - For, with this same _Beer_, came up _Heresie_ here, - The old _Catholicke drink_ is a _pot of good ale_. - - The _Churches_ much ow[e], as we all do know, - For when they be drooping and ready to fall, - By a _Whitson_ or _Church-ale_, up again they shall go, - And owe their _repairing_ to a _pot of good ale_. - - _Truth_ will do it right, it brings _Truth_ to light, - And many bad matters it helps to reveal: - For, they that will drink, will speak what they think: - TOM _tell-troth_ lies hid in a _pot of good ale_. - - It is _Justices_ Friend, she will it commend, - For all is here served by _measure_ and _tale_; - Now, _true-tale_ and _good measure_ are _Justices_ treasure, - And much to the praise of a _pot of good ale_. - - And next I alledge, it is _Fortitudes_ edge[,] - For a very Cow-heard, that shrinks like a Snaile, - Will swear and will swagger, and out goes his Dagger, - If he be but arm’d with a _pot of good ale_. - - Yea, ALE hath her _Knights_ and _Squires_ of Degree, - That never wore Corslet, nor yet shirts of Maile, - But have fought their fights all, twixt the pot and the wall, - When once they were dub’d with a _pot of good ale_. - - And sure it will make a man suddenly _wise_, - Er’e-while was scarce able to tell a right tale: - It will open his jaw, he will tell you the _Law_, - As make a right _Bencher_ of a _pot of good ale_. - - Or he that will make a _bargain_ to gain, - In _buying_ or _setting_ his goods forth to _sale_, - Must not plod in the mire, but sit by the fire, - And seale up his Match with a _pot of good ale_. - - But for _Soberness_, needs must I confess, - The matter goes hard; and few do prevaile - Not to go too deep, but _temper_ to keep, - Such is the _Attractive_ of a _pot of good ale_. - - But here’s an amends, which will make all Friends, - And ever doth tend to the best availe: - If you take it too deep, it will make you but sleep; - So comes no great harm of a _pot of good ale_. - - If (reeling) they happen to fall to the ground, - The fall is not great, they may hold by the Raile: - If into the water, they cannot be drown’d, - For that gift is given to a _pot of good ale_. - - If drinking about they chance to fall out, - Fear not that _Alarm_, though flesh be but fraile; - It will prove but some blowes, or at most a bloody nose, - And Friends again straight with a _pot of good ale_. - - And _Physic_ will favour ALE, as it is bound, - And be against _Beere_ both tooth and naile; - They send up and down, all over the town - To get for their Patients a _pot of good ale_. - - Their _Ale-berries_, _cawdles_, and _Possets_ each one, - And _Syllabubs_ made at the Milking-pale, - Although they be many, _Beere_ comes not in any, - But all are composed with a _pot of good ale_. - - And in very deed the _Hop’s_ but a Weed, - Brought o’re against Law, and here set to sale: - Would the Law were renew’d, and no more _Beer_ brew’d, - But all men betake them to a _Pot of good ale_. - - The _Law_ that will take it under his wing, - For, at every _Law-day_, or _Moot of the hale_, - One is sworn to serve our _Soveraigne_ the KING, - In the ancient _Office_ of a CONNER of ALE. - - There’s never a Lord of _Mannor_ or of a Town, - By strand or by land, by hill or by dale, - But thinks it a _Franchise_, and a _Flow’r_ of the CROWN, - To hold the _Assize_ of a _pot of good ale_. - - And though there lie _Writs_ from the _Courts Paramount_, - To stay the proceedings of _Courts Paravaile_; - _Law_ favours it so, you may come, you may go, - There lies no _Prohibition_ to a _pot of good ale_. - - They talk much of _State_, both early and late, - But if _Gascoign_ and _Spain_ their _Wine_ should but faile, - No remedy then, with us _Englishmen_, - But the _State_ it must stand by a _pot of good ale_. - - And they that sit by it are good men and quiet, - No dangerous _Plotters_ in the Common-weale - Of _Treason_ and _Murder_: For they never go further - Than to call for, and pay for a _pot of good ale_. - - To the praise of GAMBRIVIUS that good _Brittish King_ - That devis’d for his Nation (by the _Welshmen’s_ tale) - Seventeen hundred years before CHRIST did spring, - The happy invention of a _pot of good ale_. - - The _North_ they will praise it, and praise with passion, - Where every _River_ gives name to a _Dale_: - There men are yet living that are of th’ old fashion, - No _Nectar_ they know but a _pot of good ale_. - - The PICTS and the SCOTS for ALE were at lots, - So high was the skill, and so kept under seale; - The PICTS were undone, slain each mothers son, - For not teaching the SCOTS to make _Hether Eale_. - - But hither or thither, it skils not much whether: - For Drink must be had, men live not by _Keale_, - Not by _Havor-bannocks_ nor by _Havor-jannocks_, - The thing the SCOTS live on is a _pot of good ale_. - - Now, if ye will say it, I will not denay it, - That many a man it brings to his bale: - Yet what fairer end can one wish to his Friend, - Th an to dye by the part of a _pot of good ale_. - - Yet let not the innocent bear any blame, - It is their own doings to break o’re the pale: - And neither the _Malt_, nor the good wife in fault, - If any be potted with a _pot of good ale_. - - They tell whom it kills, but say not a word, - How many a man liveth both sound and hale, - Though he drink no _Beer_ any day in the year, - By the _Radical humour_ of a _pot of good ale_. - - But to speak of _Killing_, that am I not willing, - For that in a manner were but to raile: - But _Beer_ hath its name, ’cause it brings to the _Biere_, - Therefore well-fare, say I, to a _pot of good ale_. - - Too many (I wis) with their deaths proved this, - And, therefore (if ancient Records do not faile), - He that first brew’d the _Hop_ was rewarded with a _rope_, - And found his _Beer_ far more _bitter_ than ALE. - - O ALE[!] _ab alendo_, the _Liquor_ of LIFE, - That I had but a mouth as big as a _Whale_! - For mine is too little to touch the least tittle - That belongs to the praise of a _pot of good ale_. - - Thus (I trow) some _Vertues_ I have mark’d you out, - And never a _Vice_ in all this long traile, - But that after the _Pot_ there cometh the _Shot_, - And that’s th’ onely _blot_ of a _pot of good ale_.— - - With that my Friend said, that _blot_ will I bear, - You have done very well, it is time to strike saile, - Wee’l have six pots more, though I dye on the score, - To make all this good of a _Pot of good ALE_. - - - - -[Followed by Ben Jonson’s Cook Lorrel, and by The Blacksmith: for which -see _Merry Drollery, Complete_, pp. 214-17, 225-30.] - - - - -[p. 14.] - -_An Old Song of an Old Courtier and a New._ - - - With an Old Song made by an Old Ancient pate, - Of an Old worshipful Gentleman who had a great Estate; - Who kept an old house at a bountiful rate, - And an old Porter to relieve the Poore at his Gate, - _Like an old Courtier of the Queens_. - - With an old Lady whose anger and [? one] good word asswages, - Who every quarter payes her old Servants their wages, - Who never knew what belongs to Coachmen, Footmen, & Pages, - But kept twenty thrifty old Fellows, with blew-coats and badges, - _Like an old Courtier of the Queens_. - - With an old Study fill’d full of Learned books, - With an old Reverent Parson, you may judge him by his looks, - With an old Buttery hatch worn quite off the old hooks, - And an old Kitching, which maintains half a dozen old cooks; - _Like an old Courtier of the Queens_. - - With an old Hall hung round about with Guns, Pikes, and Bowes, - With old swords & bucklers, which hath born[e] many shrew’d blows, - And an old Frysadoe coat to cover his Worships trunk hose, - And a cup of old Sherry to comfort his Copper Nose; - _Like an old Courtier of the Queens_. - - With an old Fashion, when _Christmas_ is come, - To call in his Neighbours with Bag-pipe and Drum, - And good chear enough to furnish every old Room, - And old liquor able to make a cat speak, and a wise man dumb; - _like an Old_ [_Courtier of the Queens_.] - - With an old Hunts-man, a Falkoner, and a Kennel of Hounds; - Which never Hunted, nor Hawked but in his own Grounds; - 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_ [_Courtier of the Queens_.] - - But to his eldest Son his house and land he assign’d, - Charging him in his Will to keep the same bountiful mind, - To be good to his Servants, and to his Neighbours kind, - But in th’ ensuing Ditty you shall hear how he was enclin’d; - _like a young Courtier of the Kings_. - -[Part Second.] - - Like a young Gallant newly come to his Land, - That keeps a brace of Creatures at’s own command, - And takes up a thousand pounds upon’s own Band, - And lieth drunk in a new Tavern, till he can neither go nor stand; - _like a young_ [_Courtier of the Kings_]. - - With a neat Lady that is fresh and fair, - Who never knew what belong’d to good housekeeping or care, - But buyes several Fans to play with the wanton ayre, - And seventeen or eighteen dressings of other womens haire; - _like a young_ [_Courtier of the Kings_]. - - With a new Hall built where the old one stood, - Wherein is burned neither coale nor wood, - And a new Shuffel-board-table where never meat stood, - Hung Round with Pictures, which doth the poor little good. - _like a young_ [_Courtier of the Kings_]. - - With a new study stuff’t full of Pamphlets and playes, - With a new Chaplin, that swears faster then he prayes, - With a new Buttery hatch that opens once in four or five dayes, - With a new _French-Cook_ to make Kickshawes and Tayes; - _like a young Courtier of the Kings_. - - With a new Fashion, when _Christmasse_ is come, - With a journey up to _London_ we must be gone, - And leave no body at home but our new Porter _John_, - Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone; - _Like a young_ [_Courtier of the Kings_]. - - With a Gentleman-Vsher whose carriage is compleat, - With a Footman, a Coachman, a Page to carry meat, - With a waiting Gentlewoman, whose dressing is very neat, - Who when the master hath dyn’d gives the servants litle meat; - _Like a young_ [_Courtier of the Kings_]. - - With a new honour bought with his Fathers Old Gold, - That many of his Fathers Old Manors hath sold, - And this is the occasion that most men do hold, - That good Hous[e]-keeping is now-a-dayes grown so cold; - _Like a young Courtier of the Kings_. - - - - -[Here follow, Arthur of Bradley (see _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, p. 312); -The Green Gown: “Pan leave piping,” (see _Westm. Droll._, Appendix, p. -54); Gelding of the Devil: “Now listen a while, and I will you tell” (see -_Merry D., C._, p. 200); Sir Egle More (_ibid_, p. 257); and St. George -for England (_ibid_, p. 309). But, as the variations are great, in the -last of these, it is here given from the _Antidote ag. Mel._, p. 26.] - - - - -[p. 26.] - -_The Ballad of St. George for England._ - - - Why should we boast of _Arthur_ and his Knights? - Know[ing] how many men have perform’d fights; - Or why should we speak of Sir _Lancelot du Lake_, - Or Sir _Trestram du Leon_, that fought for the Lady’s sake; - Read old storyes, and there you’l see - How St. _George_, St. _George_, did make the Dragon flee: - St. _George_ he was for _England_, St. _Denis_ was for _France_, - Sing _Hony soitt qui Mal y pense_. - - To speak of the Monarchy, it were two Long to tell; - And likewise of the _Romans_, how far they did excel, - _Hannibal_ and _Scipio_, they many a field did fight; - _Orlando Furioso_ he was a valiant Knight; - _Romulus_ and _Rhemus_ were those that ROME did build, - But St. _George_, St. _George_, the Dragon he hath kill’d; - St. _George_ he was, _&c._ - - _Jephtha_ and _Gidion_ they led their men to fight - The _Gibeonites_ and _Amonites_, they put them all to flight; - Hercul’es Labour was in the Vale of Brass, - And _Sampson_ slew a thousand with the Jaw-bone of an Asse, - And when he was blind pull’d the Temple to the ground: - But St. _George_, St. _George_, the Dragon did confound. - St. _George_ he was, _&c._ - - _Valentine_ and _Orson_ they came of _Pipins_ blood, - _Alphred_ and _Aldrecus_ they were brave Knights and good, - The four sons of _Amnon_ that fought with _Charlemaine_, - Sir _Hugh de Burdeaux_ and _Godfray_ of _Bolaigne_, - These were all _French_ Knights the _Pagans_ did Convert, - But St. _George_, St. _George_, pull’d forth the Dragon’s heart: - St. _George_ he was, _&c._ - - _Henry_ the fifth he Conquered all _France_, - He quartered their Armes, his Honour to advance, - He razed their Walls, and pull’d their Cities down, - And garnished his Head with a double treble Crown; - He thumbed the _French_, and after home he came! - But St. _George_, St. _George_, he made the Dragon _tame_: - St. _George_ he was, _&c._ - - St. _David_ you know, loves _Leeks_ and tosted _Cheese_, - And _Jason_ was the Man, brought home the _Golden_ Fleece; - St. _Patrick_ you know he was St. _Georges_ Boy, - Seven years he kept his Horse, and then stole him away, - For which Knavish act, a slave he doth remain; - But St. _George_, St. _George_, he hath the Dragon slain: - St. _George_ he was, &c. - - _Tamberline_, the Emperour, in Iron Cage did Crown, - With his bloody Flag’s display’d before the Town; - _Scanderbag_ magnanimous _Mahomets Bashaw_ did dread, - Whose Victorious Bones were worn when he was dead; - His _Bedlerbegs_, his Corn like drags, _George Castriot_ was he call’d, - But St. _George_, St. _George_, the Dragon he hath maul’d: - St. _George_ he was for _England_, St. _Denis_ was for _France_, - Sing _Hony soit qui mal y pense_. - - _Ottoman_, the _Tartar_, _Cham_ of _Persia’s_ race, - The great _Mogul_, with his Chests so full of all his Cloves and Mace, - The _Grecian_ youth _Bucephalus_ he manly did bestride, - But those with all their Worthies Nine, St. _George_ did them deride, - _Gustavus Adolphus_ was _Swedelands_ Warlike King, - But St. _George_, St. _George_, pull’d forth the Dragon’s sting. - St. _George_ he was for _England_, St. _Dennis_ was for _France_, - Sing _Hony soit qui mal y pense_. - - _Pendragon_ and _Cadwallader_ of _British_ blood doe boast, - Though _John_ of _Gant_ his foes did daunt, St. _George_ shal rule the - roast; - _Agamemnon_ and _Cleomedon_ and _Macedon_ did feats, - But, compared to our Champion, they were but merely cheats; - Brave _Malta_ Knights in _Turkish_ fights, their brandisht swords - out-drew, - But St. _George_ met the Dragon, and ran him through and through: - St. _George_ he was, &c. - - _Bidea_, the Amazon, _Photius_ overthrew, - As fierce as either _Vandal_, _Goth_, _Saracen_, or _Jew_; - The potent _Holophernes_, as he lay in his bed, - In came wise _Judith_ and subtly stool[e] his head; - Brave _Cyclops_ stout, with _Jove_ he fought, Although he showr’d down - Thunder; - But St. _George_ kill’d the Dragon, and was not that a wonder: - St. _George_ he was, &c. - - _Mark Anthony_, Ile warrant you Plaid feats with _Egypts_ Queen, - Sir _Egla More_ that valiant Knight, the like was never seen, - Grim _Gorgons_ might, was known in fight, old _Bevis_ most men frighted, - The _Myrmidons_ & _Presbyter John_, why were not those men knighted? - Brave _Spinola_ took in _Breda_, _Nasaw_ did it recover, - But St. _George_, St. _George_, he turn’d the Dragon over and over: - St. _George_ he was for _England_, St. _Denis_ was for _France_, - Sing, _Hony soit qui mal y pense_. - - - - -_A Ballad ~call’d~ Blew Cap for me._ - - - Come hither thou merriest of all the Nine, [p. 29.] - Come, sit you down by me, and let us be jolly; - And with a full Cup of _Apollo’s_ wine, - Wee’l dare our Enemy mad Melancholly; - And when we have done, wee’l between us devise - A pleasant new Dity by Art to comprise: - And of this new Dity the matter shall be, - _If ever I have a man, blew cap for me_. - - There dwells a blith Lass in _Falkland_ Town - And she hath Suitors I know not how many, - And her resolution she had set down - That she’l have a _Blew Cap_, if ever she have any. - An _Englishman_ when our geod Knight was there, - Came often unto her, and loved her dear, - Yet still she replyed, Geod Sir, La be, - _If ever I have a man, blew cap for me_. - - A _Welchman_ that had a long Sword by his side, - Red Doublet, red Breech, and red Coat, and red Peard, - Was made a great shew of a great deal of pride, - Was tell her strange tales te like never heard; - Was recon her pedegree long pefore _Prute_[,] - No body was near that could her Confute; - But still she reply’d, Geod Sir la be, - _If ever I have a man, blew Cap for me_. - - A _Frenchman_ that largely was booted and spurr’d, - Long Lock with a ribbon, long points and long preeshes, - Was ready to kisse her at every word, - And for the other exercises his fingers itches; - You be prety wench _a Metrel, par ma Foy_, - Dear me do love you, be not so coy; - Yet still replyed, Geod Sir, la be; - _If ever I have a man, blew Cap for me_. - - An _Irishman_, with a long skeen in his Hose, - Did think to obtain her, it was no great matter, - Up stairs to the chamber so lightly he goes, - That she never heard him until he came at her, - Quoth he, I do love thee, by Fait and by Trot, - And if thou wilt know it, experience shall sho’t, - Yet still she reply’d, Geod sir, la be, - _If ever I have a man, blew Cap for me_. - - A _Netherland_ Mariner came there by chance, - Whose cheekes did resemble two rosting pome-watters, - And to this Blith lasse this sute did advance; - Experience had taught him to cog, lie, and flatter; - Quoth he, I will make thee sole Lady of the sea, - Both _Spanyard_ and _English_ man shall thee obey: - Yet still she replyed, [Geod sir, La be, - _If ever I have a man, blew cap for me_]. - - At last came a _Scotchman_ with a _blew Cap_, - And that was the man for whom she had tarryed, - To get this Blyth lass it was his Giud hap, - They gan to _Kirk_ and were presently married; - She car’d not whether he were Lord or Leard, - She call’d him sick a like name as I ne’r heard, - To get him from aw she did well agree, - And still she cryed, _blew Cap_ thou art welcome to mee. - - - - -[p. 30.] - -_The Ballad of the Caps._ - - - The Wit hath long beholding been - Unto the Cap to keep it in; - But now the wits fly out amain, - In prayse to quit the Cap again; - The Cap that keeps the highest part - Obtains the place by due desert: - _For any Cap, &c._ [_what ere it bee,_ - _Is still the signe of some degree._] - - The _Monmouth_ Cap, the Saylors thrumbe, - And that wherein the Tradesmen come, - The Physick Cap, the Cap Divine, - And that which Crownes the Muses nine, - The Cap that fooles do Countenance, - The goodly Cap of Maintenance. - _For any Cap, &c._ - - The sickly Cap both plain and wrought, - The Fudling cap, how ever bought, - The worsted, Furr’d, the Velvet, Sattin, - For which so many pates learn Latin; - The Cruel cap, the Fustian Pate, - The Perewig, a Cap of late: - _For any Cap, &c._ - - The Souldiers that the _Monmoth_ wear, - On Castles tops their Ensigns rear; - The Sea-man with his Thrumb doth stand - On higher parts then all the Land; - The Tradesmans Cap aloft is born, - By vantage of a stately horn. - _For any Cap, &c._ - - The Physick Cap to dust can bring - Without controul the greatest King: - The Lawyers Cap hath Heavenly might - To make a crooked action straight; - And if you’l line him in the fist, - The Cause hee’l warrant as he list. - _For any Cap, &c._ - - Both East and West, and North and South, - Where ere the Gospel hath a mouth - The Cap Divine doth thither look: - Tis Square like Scholars and their Books: - The rest are Round, but this is Square - To shew their Wits more stable are: - _For any Cap, &c._ - - The Jester he a Cap doth wear, - Which makes him Fellow for a Peer, - And ’tis no slender piece of Wit - To act the Fool, where great Men sit, - But O, the Cap of _London_ Town! - I wis, ’tis like a goodly Crown. - _For any Cap, &c._ - - The sickly Cap[,] though wrought with silk, - Is like repentance, white as milk; - When Caps drop off at health apace, - The Cap doth then your head uncase, - The sick mans Cap (if wrought can tell) - Though he be sick, his cap is well. - _For any Cap, &c._ - - The fudling Cap by _Bacchus_ Might, - Turns night to day, and day to night; - We know it makes proud heads to bend, - The Lowly feet for to Ascend: - It makes men richer then before, - By seeing doubly all their score. - _For any Cap, &c._ - - The furr’d and quilted Cap of age - Can make a mouldy proverb sage, - The Satin and the Velvet hive - Into a Bishoprick may thrive, - The Triple Cap may raise some hope, - If fortune serve, to be a Pope; - _For any Cap, &c._ - - The Perewig, O, this declares - The rise of flesh, though fall of haires, - And none but Grandsiers can proceed - So far in sin, till they this need, - Before the King who covered are, - And only to themselves stand bare. - _For any Cap, what ere it bee,_ - _Is still the signe of some degree._ - - - - -[Next follow A Ballad of the Nose (see _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, p. -143), and A Song of the Hot-headed Zealot: _to the tune of “~Tom a -Bedlam~”_ (Dr. Richard Corbet’s, _Ibid_, p. 234).] - - - - -[p. 37.] - -_A Song On the Schismatick Rotundos._ - - - Once I a curious Eye did fix, - To observe the tricks - Of the _schismatics_ of the Times, - To find out which of them - Was the merriest Theme, - And best would befit my Rimes. - _Arminius_ I found solid, - _Socinians_ were not stolid, - Much Learning for Papists did stickle. - _But ah, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ~Rotundos~ rot,_ - _Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ~Rotundos~ rot,_ - _’Tis you that my spleen doth tickle._ - - And first to tell must not be forgot, - How I once did trot - With a great Zealot to a Lecture, - Where I a Tub did view, - Hung with apron blew: - ’Twas the Preachers, as I conjecture. - His life and his Doctrine too - Were of no other hue, - Though he spake in a tone most mickle; - _But ah, ha, ha, ha, &c._ - - He taught amongst other prety things - That the Book of _Kings_ - Small benefit brings to the godly, - Beside he had some grudges - At the Book of _Judges_, - And talkt of _Leviticus_ odly. - _Wisedome_ most of all - He declares _Apocryphal_, - Beat _Bell_ and the _Dragon_ like _Michel_: - _But, ah, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, &c._ - - Gainst Humaine Learning next he enveyes - and most boldly say’s, - ’Tis that which destroyes Inspiration: - Let superstitious sence - And wit be banished hence, - With Popish Predomination: - Cut _Bishops_ down in hast, - And _Cathedrals_ as fast - As corn that’s fit for the sickle: - _But ah, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ~Rotundos~, rot,_ - _ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ~Rotundos~ rot,_ - _’Tis you that my spleen doth tickle._ - - - - -[The three next in the _Antidote_, respectively by Aurelian Townshend -(?), Sir John Suckling, and “by T. R.” (or Dr. Thomas Wild?), are to be -found also in our _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, pp. 218, 101, and 242. See -Appendix Notes.] - - - - -[p. 47.] - -_The Welshmans Song, in praise of Wales._ - - - I’s not come here to tauke of _Prut_, - From whence the _Welse_ dos take hur root; - Nor tell long Pedegree of Prince _Camber_, - Whose linage would fill full a Chamber, - Nor sing the deeds of ould Saint _Davie_, - The Ursip of which would fill a Navie, - But hark me now for a liddell tales - Sall make a great deal to the creddit of _Wales_: - For her will tudge your eares, - With the praise of hur thirteen Seers, - And make you as clad and merry, - As fourteen pot of Perry. - - ’Tis true, was wear him Sherkin freize, - But what is that? we have store of seize, [_i.e._ cheese,] - And Got is plenty of Goats milk - That[,] sell him well[,] will buy him silk - Inough, to make him fine to quarrell - At _Herford_ Sizes in new apparrell; - And get him as much green Melmet perhap, - Sall give it a face to his Monmouth Cap. - But then the ore of _Lemster_; - Py Cot is uver a Sempster; - That when he is spun, or did[,] - Yet match him with hir thrid. - - Aull this the backs now, let us tell yee, - Of some provision for the belly: - As Kid and Goat, and great Goats Mother, - And Runt and Cow, and good Cows uther. - And once but tast on the Welse Mutton, - Your _Englis_ Seeps not worth a button. - And then for your Fisse, shall choose it your disse, - Look but about, and there is a Trout, - A Salmon, Cot, or Chevin, - Will feed you six or seven, - As taull man as ever swagger - With _Welse_ Club, and long dagger. - - But all this while, was never think - A word in praise of our _Welse_ drink: - And yet for aull that, is a Cup of _Bragat_, - Aull _England_ Seer may cast his Cap at. - And what say you to Ale of _Webly_[?], - Toudge him as well, you’ll praise him trebly, - As well as _Metheglin_, or _Syder_, or _Meath_, - Sall sake it your dagger quite out o’ th seath. - And Oat-Cake of _Guarthenion_, - With a goodly Leek or Onion, - To give as sweet a rellis - As e’r did Harper _Ellis_. - - And yet is nothing now all this, - If our Musicks we do misse; - Both Harps, and Pipes too; and the Crowd - Must aull come in, and tauk aloud, - As lowd as _Bangu_, _Davies_ Bell, - Of which is no doubt you have hear tell: - As well as our lowder _Wrexam_ Organ, - And rumbling Rocks in the Seer of _Glamorgan_; - Where look but in the ground there, - And you sall see a sound there: - That put her all to gedder, - Is sweet as measure pedder. - - - - -[Followed, in _An Antidote_, by the excellent poems, The Cavalier’s -Complaint; to the tune of (Suckling’s) _I’le tell thee, Dick, &c._, with -The Answer. For these, see _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, pp. 52-56, and -367.]: - - - - -[p. 52.] - -_On a Pint of SACK._ - - - Old poets Hipocrin admire, - And pray to water to inspire - Their wit and Muse with heavenly fire; - Had they this Heav’nly Fountain seen, - Sack both their Well and Muse had been, - And this Pint-pot their Hipocrin. - - Had they truly discovered it - They had like me thought it unfit - To pray to water for their wit. - And had adored Sack as divine, - And made a Poet God of Wine, - And this pint-pot had been a shrine. - - Sack unto them had been in stead - Of Nectar, and their heav’nly bread, - And ev’ry boy a Ganimed; - Or had they made a God of it, - Or stil’d it patron of their wit, - This pot had been a temple fit. - - Well then Companions is’t not fit, - Since to this Jemme we ow[e] our wit, - That we should praise the Cabonet, - And drink a health to this divine, - And bounteous pallace of our wine[?]: - Die he with thirst that doth repine! - - - - -[p. 53.] - -_A Song in Praise of SACK._ - - - Hang the _Presbyters_ Gill, bring a pint of Sack, _Will_, - More _Orthodox_ of the two, - Though a slender dispute, will strike the Elf mute, - Here’s one of the honester Crew. - - In a pint there’s small heart, Sirrah, bring a Quart; - There is substance and vigour met, - ’Twill hold us in play, some part of the day, - But wee’l sink him before Sun-set: - - The daring old Pottle, does now bid us battle, - Let us try what our strength can do; - Keep your ranks and your files, and for all his wiles, - Wee’l tumble him down stayrs too. - - Then summon a Gallon, a stout Foe and a tall one, - And likely to hold us to’t; - Keep but Coyn in your purse, the word is Disburse, - Ile warrant he’le sleep at your foot. - - Let’s drain the whole Celler, Pipes, Buts, and the Dweller, - If the Wine floats not the faster; - _Will_, when thou dost slack us, by warrant from _Bacchus_, - We will cane thy tun-belli’d Master. - - - - -[p. 54.] - -_In the praise of WINE._ - - - ’Tis Wine that inspires, - And quencheth Loves fires, - Teaches fools how to rule a S[t]ate: - Mayds ne’re did approve it - Because those that doe love it, - Despise and laugh at their hate. - - The drinkers of beer - Did ne’re yet appear - In matters of any waight; - ’Tis he whose designe - Is quickn’d by wine - That raises things to their height. - - We then should it prize - For never black eyes - Made wounds which this could not heale, - Who then doth refuse, - To drink of this Juice - Is a foe to the Comon weale. - - - - -[Followed by A Glee to the Vicar, beginning, “Let the bells ring, and the -boys sing:” for which see the Introduction to our edition of _Westminster -Drollery_, pp. xxxvii-viii.] - - - - -[p. 55.] - -_On a Cold Chyne of BEEF._ - - - Bring out the Old Chyne, the Cold Chyne to me, - And how Ile charge him come and see, - Brawn tusked, Brawn well sowst and fine, - With a precious cup of Muscadine: - - CHORUS. - - _How shall I sing, how shall I look,_ - _In honour of the Master-Cook?_ - - The Pig shall turn round and answer me, - Canst thou spare me a shoulder[?], a wy, a wy. - The Duck, Goose and Capon, good fellows all three - Shall dance thee an antick[,] so shall the turkey; - But O! the cold Chyne, the cold Chyne for me: - - CHORUS. - - _How shall I sing, how shall I look,_ - _In honour of the Master-Cook?_ - - With brewis Ile noynt thee from head to th’ heel, - Shal make thee run nimbler then the new oyld wheel[;] - With Pye-crust wee’l make thee - The eighth wise man to be; - But O! the cold Chyne, the cold Chyne for me: - - CHORUS. - - _How shall I sing, how shall I look,_ - _In honour of the Master-Cook?_ - - - - -[p. 56.] - -_A Song of Cupid Scorn’d._ - - - In love[?] away, you do me wrong, - I hope I ha’ not liv’d so long - Free from the Treachery of your eyes, - Now to be caught and made a prize, - No, Lady, ’tis not all your art, - Can make me and my freedome part. - - CHORUS. - - _Come, fill’s a cup of sherry, and let us be merry,_ - _There shall nought but pure wine_ - _Make us love-sick or pine,_ - _Wee’l hug the cup and kisse it, we’l sigh when ere we misse it;_ - _For tis that, that makes us jolly,_ - _And sing hy trololey lolly._ - - In love, ’tis true, with _Spanish_ wine, - Or the _French_ juice _Incarnadine_; - But truly not with your sweet Face, - This dimple, or that hidden grace, - Ther’s far more sweetnesse in pure Wine, - Then in those Lips or Eyes of thine. - - CHORUS (_Come, fill’s a cup of sherry, &c._ - - Your god[,] you say, can shoot so right, - Hee’l wound a heart ith darkest night: - Pray let him throw away a dart, - And try if he can hit my heart. - No _Cupid_, if I shall be thine, - Turn _Ganimed_ and fill us Wine. - - CHORUS (_Come, fill’s a cup of sherry, &c._ - - - - -[The three next are common to the _Antidote_ and _Merry Drollery, -Compleat_, with a few verbal differences: On the Vertue of Sack, by Dr. -Henry Edwards; The Medley of the Nations; and The Brewer, A Ballad made -in the Year 1657, To the Tune of _The Blacksmith_. For them, see _M. D., -C._, pp. 293, 127, 221. These three poems are followed by “A Collection -of Merry Catches,” thirty-four in number, of which only ten are found -in _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, (viz., 3. “Now that the Spring;” 5. -“Call _George_ again;” 9. “She that will eat;” 13. “The Wise-men were -but Seven;” 14. “Shew a room!” 15. “O! the wily wily Fox;” 17. “Now I -am married;” 19. “There was three Cooks in Colebrook;” 22. “If any so -wise is;” and 29. “What fortune had I,”) on pp. 296, 304, 308, 232, 337, -300, 280, 318, 348, and 341, respectively. See notes on them, also, in -Appendix to _M. D., C._ One other, first in the _Antidote_, had appeared -earlier in _Choice Drollery_, p. 52: “He that a Tinker,” &c., _q.v._] - - - - -[p. 65.] - -A CATCH. - - - 2. You merry Poets[,] old Boyes - Of _Aganippes_ Well, - Full many tales have told boyes - Whose liquor doth excell, - And how that place was haunted - By those that love good wine; - Who tipled there, and chaunted - Among the _Muses_ nine: - Where still they cry’d[,] drink clear, boyes, - And you shall quickly know it, - That ’tis not lowzy Beer, boyes, - But wine, that makes a Poet. - - - - -[p. 66.] - -A CATCH. - - - 4. Mong’st all the precious Juices - Afforded for our uses, - Ther’s none to be compar’d with Sack: - For the body or the mind, - No such Physick you shall find, - Therefore boy see we do not lack. - - Would’st thou hit a lofty strain, - With this Liquor warm thy brain, - And thou Swain shalt sing as sweet as _Sidney_; - Or would’st thou laugh and be fat, - Ther’s not any like to that - To make _Jack Sprat_ a man of kidney. - - [It] Is the soul of mirth - To poor Mortals upon Earth; - It would make a coward bold as _Hector_, - Nay I wager durst a Peece, - That those merry Gods of _Greece_ - Drank old Sack and _Nector_. - - - - -[p. 67.] - -A CATCH. - - - 6. Come, come away to the Tavern I say, - For now at home ’tis washing day: - Leave your prittle prattle, and fill us a pottle[;] - You are not so wise as _Aristotle_: - Drawer come away, let’s make it Holy day. - Anon, Anon, Anon, Sir: what is’t you say[?] - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 7. There was an old man at _Walton_ cross, [Waltham] - Who merrily sung when he liv’d by the loss; - _Hey tro-ly loly lo_. - He never was heard to sigh a hey ho, - But he sent it out with _Hey troly loly lo_. - He chear’d up his heart, - When his goods went to wrack[,] - With a hem, boy, Hem! - And a cup of old Sack; - Sing, _hey troly loly lo_. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 8. Come, let us cast _Dice_ who shall drink, - Mine is _twelve_, and his _sice sink_, - _Six_ and _Fowr_ is thine, and he threw _nine_. - Come away, _Sink tray_; _Size ace_, fair play; - _Quater-duce_ is your throw Sir; [p. 68.] - _Quater-ace_, they run low, sir: - _Two Dewces_, I see; _Dewce ace_ is but three: - Oh! where is the Wine? Come, fill up his glasse, - For here is the man has thrown _Ams-ace_. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 10. Never let a man take heavily the clamor of his wife, - But be rul’d by me, and lead a merry life; - Let her have her will in every thing, - If she scolds, then laugh and sing, - _Hey derry, derry, ding_. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 11. Let’s cast away care, and merrily sing, - There is a time for every thing; - He that playes at work, and works at his play, - Neither keeps working, nor yet Holy day: - Set business aside, and let us be merry, - And drown our dull thoughts in Canary and Sherry. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 12. Hang sorrow, and cast away care, - And let us drink up our Sack: - They say ’tis good to cherish the blood, - And for to strengthen the back: - Tis Wine that makes the thoughts aspire, - And fills the body with heat; - Besides ’tis good, if well understood [p. 69.] - To fit a man for the feat; - _Then call, and drink up all,_ - _The drawer is ready to fill:_ - _Pox take care, what need we to spare,_ - _My Father has made his will._ - - - - -[p. 70.] - -A CATCH. - - - 16. My lady and her Maid, upon a merry pin, - They made a match at F—ting, who should the wager win. - _Jone_ lights three candles then, and sets them bolt upright; - With the first f—— she blew them out, - With the next she gave them light: - In comes my Lady then, with all her might and main, - And blew them out, and in and out, and out and in again. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 18. An old house end, an old house end, - And many a good fellow wants mon[e]y to spend. - If thou wilt borrow - Come hither to morrow - I dare not part so soon with my friend[.] - But let us be merry, and drink of our sherry, - But to part with my mon[e]y I do not intend[.] - Then a t—d in thy teeth, and an old house end. - - - - -[p. 71.] - -A CATCH. - - - 20. Wilt thou lend me thy Mare to ride a mile - No; she’s lame going over a stile, - But if thou wilt her to me spare - Thou shalt have mony for thy mare: - Oh say you so, say you so, - Mon[e]y will make my mare to go. - - - - -THE ANSWER. - - - 21. Your mare is lame; she halts downe right, - Then shall we not get to _London_ to night: - You cry’d ho, ho, mon[e]y made her go, - But now I well perceive it is not so[.] - You must spur her up, and put her to’t - Though mon[e]y will not make her goe, your spurs will do’t. - - - - -[p. 72.] - -A CATCH. - - - 23. Good _Symon_, how comes it your Nose looks so red, - And your cheeks and lips look so pale? - Sure the heat of the tost your Nose did so rost, - When they were both sous’t in Ale. - It showes like the Spire of _Pauls_ steeple on fire, - Each Ruby darts forth (such lightning) Flashes, - While your face looks as dead, as if it were Lead - And cover’d all over with ashes. - Now to heighten his colour, yet fill his pot fuller - And nick it not so with froth, - Gra-mercy, mine Host! it shall save the[e] a Toast - Sup _Simon_, for here is good broth. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 24. Wilt thou be Fatt, Ile tell thee how, - Thou shalt quickly do the Feat; - And that so plump a thing as thou - Was never yet made up of meat: - Drink off thy Sack, twas onely that - Made _Bacchus_ and _Jack Falstafe_, Fatt. - - Now, every Fat man I advise, - That scarce can peep out of his eyes, - Which being set, can hardly rise; [p. 73.] - Drink off his Sack, and freely quaff: - ’Twil make him lean, but me [to] laugh - To tell him how —— ’tis on a staff. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 25. Of all the _Birds_ that ever I see, - The _Owle_ is the fairest in her degree; - For all the day long she sits in a tree, - And when the night comes, away flies she; - To whit, to whow, to whom drink[’st] thou, - Sir Knave to thou; - - This song is well sung, I make you a vow, [p. 73.] - And he is a knave that drinketh now; - Nose, Nose, Nose, and who gave thee that jolly red Nose? - [Cinnamon and gin-ger,] - Nutmegs and Cloves, and that gave thee thy jolly red Nose. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 26. This Ale, my bonny Lads, is as brown as a berry, - Then let us be merry here an houre, - And drink it ere its sowre - Here’s to the[e], lad, - Come to me, lad; - Let it come Boy, To my Thumb boy. - Drink it off Sir; ’tis enough Sir; - Fill mine Host, _Tom’s_ Pot and Toast. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 27. What! are we met? come, let’s see - If here’s enough to sing this Glee. - Look about, count your number, - Singing will keep us from crazy slumber; - 1, 2, and 3, so many there be that can sing, - The rest for wine may ring: - Here is _Tom_, _Jack_ and _Harry_; - Sing away and doe not tarry, - Merrily now let’s sing, carouse, and tiple, - Here’s _Bristow_ milk, come suck this niple, - There’s a fault sir, never halt Sir, before a criple. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 28. Jog on, jog on the Foot path-way, - And merrily hen’t the stile-a; - Your merry heart go’es all the day, - Your sad tires in a mile-a. - Your paltry mony bags of Gold, - What need have we to stare-for, - When little or nothing soon is told, - And we have the less to care-for? - Cast care away, let sorrow cease, [p. 74.] - A Figg for Melancholly; - Let’s laugh and sing, or if you please, - We’l frolick with sweet _Dolly_. - - - - -A SONG. - -_Translated out of Greek._ - - - 30. The parcht _Earth_ drinks the _Rain_, - _Trees_ drink it up again; - The _Sea_ the _Ayre_ doth quaff, - _Sol_ drinks the _Ocean_ off; - And when that Health is done, - Pale _Cinthia_ drinks the sun: - Why, then, d’ye stem my drinking Tyde, - Striving to make me sad, I will, I will be mad. - - - - -[p. 75.] - -A CATCH. - - - 31. Fly, Boy, Fly, Boy, to the Cellars bottom: - View well your Quills and Bung, Sir. - Draw Wine to preserve the Lungs Sir; - Not rascally Wine to Rot u’m. - If the Quill runs foul, - Be a trusty soul, and cane it; - For the Health is such - An ill drop will much profane it. - - - - -UPON A WELCHMAN. - - - 32. A Man of _Wales_, a litle before _Easter_ - Ran on his Hostes score for Cheese a teaster: - His Hostes chalkt it up behind the doore, - And said, For Cheese (good Sir) Come pay the score: - Cod’s _Pluternails_ (quoth he) what meaneth these? - What dost thou think her knows not Chalk from Cheese? - - - - -A SONG. - - - 33. Drink, drink, all you that think - To cure your souls of sadnesse; - Take up your Sack, ’tis all you lack, - All worldly care is madness. - Let Lawyers plead, and Schollars read, - And Sectaries still conjecture, - Yet we can be as merry as they, - With a Cup of _Apollo’s_ nectar. - - Let gluttons feed, and souldiers bleed, - And fight for reputation, - Physicians be fools to fill up close stools, - And cure men by purgation: - Yet we have a way far better than they, - Which _Galen_ could never conjecture, - To cure the head, nay quicken the dead, - With a cup of _Apollo’s_ Nectar. - - We do forget we are in debt - When we with liquor are warmed; - We dare out-face the Sergeant’s Mace, [p. 76.] - And Martiall Troops though armed. - The _Swedish_ King much honour did win, - And valiant was as _Hector_; - Yet we can be as valiant as he, - With a cup of _Apollo’s_ Nectar. - - Let the worlds slave his comfort have, - And hug his hoards of treasure, - Till he and his wish meet both in a dish, - So dies a miser in pleasure. - ’Tis not a fat farm our wishes can charm, - We scorn this greedy conjecture; - ’Tis a health to our friend, to whom we commend - This cup of _Apollo’s_ Nectar. - - The Pipe and the Pot, are our common shot, - Wherewith we keep a quarter; - Enough for to choak with fire and smoak - The Great _Turk_ and the _Tartar_. - Our faces red, our ensignes spread, - _Apollo_ is our Protector: - To rear up the Scout, to run in and out, - And drink up this cup of Nectar. - - - - -A CATCH. - - - 34. Welcome, welcome again to thy wits, - This is a Holy day: - I’le have no plots nor melancholly fits, - But merrily passe the time away: - They are mad that are sad; - Be rul’d, by me, - And none shall be so merry as we; - The Kitchin shall catch cold no more, - And we’l have no key to the Buttery dore, - The fidlers shall sing, - And the house shall ring, - And the world shall see - What a merry couple, - Merry couple, - We will be. - - -_FINIS._ - - - - -EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT: 1.—ON THE “AUTHOR” OF _AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST -MELANCHOLY_, 1661. - - -Thanks be to the worthy bookseller, George Thomason,[8] for prudence in -laying aside the “tall copy” of this amusing book, from which we make -our transcript of text and engraving. Probably it did not exceed two -shillings, in price; (at least, we have seen that Anthony à Wood’s -uncropt copy of “_Merry Drollery_,” 1661, is marked in contemporary -manuscript at “1s. 3d.,” each part). The title says:— - - _These witty Poems, though sometime [they]_ - _may seem to halt on crutches,_ - _Yet they’l all merrily please you_ - _for your charge, which not much is._ - -Who was the “N. D.” to whose light labours we are indebted for the -compounding of these “Witty Ballads, jovial Songs, and merry Catches” in -Pills warranted to cure the ills of Melancholy, had not hitherto been -ascertained[9]; or whether he wrote anything beside the above couplet, -and the humorous address To the Reader, beginning, - - _There’s no Purge ’gainst ~Melancholy~,_ - _But with ~Bacchus~ to be jolly:_ - _All else are but dreggs of Folly, &c._ (p. 111.) - -As we suspected (flowing though his verse might be), he was more of -bookseller than ballad-maker. His injunctions for us to “be wise and -_buy_, not _borrow_,” had a terribly tradesman-like sound. Yet he was -right. Book-borrowing is an evil practice; and book-lending is not much -better. Woeful chasms, in what should be the serried ranks of our Library -companions, remind us pathetically, in too many cases (book-cases, -especially,) of some Coleridge-like “lifter” of Lambs, who made a raid -upon our borders, and carried off plunder, sometimes an unique quarto, -on other days an irrecoverable duodecimo: With Schiller, we bewail the -departed,— - - “_The beautiful is vanished, and returns not._” - -The title of “_Pills to Purge Melancholy_” was by Playford and Tom -D’Urfey afterwards employed, and kept alive before the public, in many a -volume from before 1684 until 1720, if not later. Whether “N. D.” himself -were the “Mer[cury] Melancholicus” whose name appears as printer, for -the book to be “sold in London and Westminster,” is to us not doubtful. -By April 18, 1661,[10] Thomason had secured his copy, and there need -be no question that it was for sport, and not through any fear of rigid -censorship or malicious pettifogging interference by the law, that, -instead of printer’s name, this pseudonym or nickname was adopted. - -We believe that the mystery shrouding the personality of “N. D.” can be -dispelled. The discovery helps us in more ways than one, and connects -the _Antidote against Melancholy_, of 1661, in an intelligible and -legitimate manner, with much jocular literature of later date. To us -it seems clear that N. D. was no other than [HE]N[RY] [PLAYFOR]D. The -triplets addressed in 1661 To the Reader, beginning “There’s no purge -’gainst Melancholy,” are repeated at commencement of the 1684 edition of -“_Wit and Mirth; or, an Antidote to Melancholy_” (the third edition of -“_Pills to Purge Melancholy_”) where they are entitled “The Stationer to -the Reader,” and signed, not “N. D.,” but “H. P.;” for Henry Playford, -whose name appears in full as publisher “near the Temple Church.” Thus, -the repetition or alteration of the original title, “_An Antidote against -Melancholy, made up in Pills_,” or, as the head-line puts it, “_Pills to -Purge Melancholy_,” was, in all probability, a perfectly business-like -reproduction of what Playford had himself originated. What relation -Henry Playford was to John Playford, the publisher of “_Select Ayres_,” -“_Choice Ayres_,” 1652, &c., we are not yet certain. Thirteen of the -longest and most important poems from the 1661 _Antidote_[11] re-appear -in that of 1684, beside four of the Catches. Indeed, the transmission of -many of these Lyrics (by the editions of 1699, 1700, 1706, 1707) to the -six volume edition, superintended by Tom D’Urfey in 1719-20, is unbroken; -though we have still to find the edition published between 1661 and 1684. - -But even the 1661 _Antidote_ is not entitled to bear the credit of -originating the phrase: _Pills to purge Melancholy_. So far as we know, -by personal search, this belongs to Robert Hayman, thirty years earlier. -Among his _Quodlibets_, 1628, on p. 74, we find the following epigram:— - - “To one of the elders of the Sanctified Parlour of Amsterdam. - - _Though thou maist call my merriments, my folly,_ - _They are my Pills to purge my melancholy;_ - _They would purge thine too, wert thou not foole-holy._” - - - - -EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT: 2.—ARTHUR O’ BRADLEY. - -(_Merry Drollery, Compleat_, p. 312, 395; _Antidote ag. Mel._, p. 16.) - - “Before we came in we heard a great shouting, - And all that were in it look’d madly; - But some were on Bull-back, some dancing a morris, - And some singing Arthur-a-Bradley.” - - —(ROBIN HOOD’S BIRTH, &c. Printed by Wm. Onlen, about 1650. - In _Roxburghe Collection of Black-Letter Ballads_, i., 360.) - - -So long ago as the Editor can remember, the words and music of -“Arthur o’ Bradley’s Wedding” rang pleasantly in his ears. The jovial -rollicking strain prepared him to feel interest in the bridal attire of -Shakespeare’s Petruchio; who, not improbably, when about to be married -unto “Kate the Curst,” borrowed the details of costume and demeanour -from this popular hero of song. Or _vice versa_. To this day, the -_lilt_ of the tune holds a fascination, and we sometimes behold, under -favourable planetary aspects, the long procession of dancing couples who -have, during three centuries, footed the grass, the rashes, or chalked -floor, to that jig-melody, accompanied by the bagpipes or fiddle of -some rustic Crowdero. Can it be possible? Yes, the line is headed by the -venerable Queen Elizabeth, holding up her fardingale with tips of taper -fingers, and looking preternaturally grim, to show that dancing is a -serious undertaking for a virgin sovereign (especially when the Spanish -Ambassador watches her, with comments of wonder that the Head of the -Church can dance at all). Yet is there a sly under-glance that tells -of fun, to those who are her Majesty’s familiars. Her “Cousin James” -is not the neatest figure as a partner (which accounts for her having -chosen Leicester instead, let alone chronology); but we see him, close -behind, with Anne of Denmark, twirling his crooked little legs about in -obedience to the music, until his round hose swell like hemispheres on -school-maps. “Baby Charles and Steenie,” half mockingly, follow after -with the Infanta. We did once catch a glimpse of handsome Carr and -his wicked paramour, Frances Howard, trying to join the Terpsichorean -revellers; but, beautiful as they both were, it was felt necessary to -exclude them, “for the honour of Arthur o’ Bradley,” since they possessed -none of their own. What a gallant assemblage of poets and dramatists -covered the buckle and snapped their fingers gleefully to the merry -notes! Foremost among them was rare Ben Jonson (unable to resist clothing -Adam Overdo in Arthur’s own mantle); and honest Thomas Dekker “followed -after in a dream” (as had been memorably printed on our seventh page -of _Choyce Drollery_), thinking of Bellafront’s repentance, and her -quotation of the well-known burden, “O brave Arthur o’ Bradley, then!” A -score of poets are junketting with merry milkmaids and Wives of Windsor. -Richard Brathwaite (the creator of Drunken Barnaby) is not absent from -among them; although he sees, outside the circle that for a moment has -formed around a Maypole, an angry crowd of schismatic Puritans, who are -scowling at them with malignant eyes, and denunciations misquoted from -Scripture. Many a fair Precisian, nevertheless, yields to the honeyed -pleading of a be-love-locked Cavalier, and the irresistible charms of -“Arthur o’ Bradley, ho!” showing the prettiest pair of ankles, and the -most delightful mixture of bashfulness and enjoyment; until the Roundhead -Buff-coats prove too numerous, and whisk her off to a conventicle, where, -the sexes sitting widely apart, for aught we know, the crop-eared rout -sing unpoetic versions of the Psalmist to the tune of Arthur o’ Bradley, -“godlified” and eke expurgated. - -Cromwell, we know, loved music, withal, and it is not unlikely that those -two ladies are his daughters, whom we behold dancing somewhat stiffly -in John Hingston’s music-chamber; Mrs. Claypole and her sister, Mrs -Rich: there are L’Estrange, who fiddles to them, and Old Noll, smiling -pleasantly, though the tune be Arthur o’ Bradley. Our Second Charles -(not yet “Restored”) is also dancing to it, at the Hague (as we see -in Janssen’s Windsor picture), with the Princess Palatine Elizabeth, -and such a bevy of bright faces round them, that we lose our heart -entirely. Can we not see him again—crowned now, and self-acknowledged as -“Old Rowley”—at one of the many balls in Whitehall recorded by Samuel -Pepys,[12] entering gaily into all the mirth with that grave, swarthy -face of his; not noticing the pouts of Catherine, who sits neglected -while The Castlemaine laughs loudly, the fair Stewart simpers, and -the little spaniels bark or caper through the palace, snapping at the -dancers’ heels? Be sure that pretty Nelly and saucy Knipp were also well -acquainted with the music of “rare Arthur o’ Bradley,” as indeed were -thousands of the play-goers to whom the former once sold oranges. - -And lower ranks delighted in it. Pierce, the Bagpiper, is himself the -central figure, when we look again, “with cheeks as big as a mitre,” such -time as that table-full of Restoration revellers (whom we catch sight of -in our frontispiece to the _Antidote_, 1661) are beginning to shake a toe -in honour of the music. - -So it continues for two centuries more, with all varieties of costume -and feature. Certain are we that plump Sir Richard Steele whistled -the tune, and Dean Swift gave the Dublin ballad-singer a couple of -thirteens for singing it. Dr. Johnson grunted an accompaniment whenever -he heard the melody, and James Boswell insisted on dancing to it, though -a little “overtaken,” and got his sword entangled betwixt his legs, -which cost him a fall and a plastered head-piece, by no means for the -only time on record. It is reported that good old George the Third -was seen endeavouring to persuade Queen Charlotte to accompany him -on the Spinnet, while he set their numerous olive-branches jigging it -delightedly “_for the honour of ~Arthur~ o’ ~Bradley~_.” But whenever -Dr. John Wolcot was reported to be prowling near at hand, with Peter -Pindaresque eyes, the motion ceased. Well was it loved by honest Joseph -Ritson, _impiger, iracundus inexorabilis, acer_—better than vegetable -diet and eccentric spelling, or the flagellation of inexact antiquarian -Bishops. We ourselves may have beheld him in high glee perusing the -black-letter ballad, and rectifying its corrupt text by the _Antidote -against Melancholy’s_. How lustily he skipped, shouting meanwhile the -burden of “_brave ~Arthur~ o’ ~Bradley~!_” so that unconsciously he -joined the ten-mile train of dancers. They are still winding around us, -some in a Nineteenth-Century garb (a little tattered, but it adds to the -picturesqueness), blithe Hop-pickers of West-Bridge Deanery. There are a -few New Zealanders, we understand, waiting to join the throng, (including -Macaulay’s own particular circumnavigating meditator, yet unborn); so -that as long as the world wags no welcome may be lacking to the mirth and -melody, jigging and joustling, - - “_For the honour of ~Arthur~ o’ ~Bradley~,_ - _O rare ~Arthur~ o’ ~Bradley~,_ - _O brave ~Arthur~ o’ ~Bradley~,_ - _~Arthur~ o’ ~Bradley~. O!_” - -Having relieved our feelings, for once, we resume the sober duties of -Annotation in a chastened spirit:— - -In _Merry Drollery Compleat_, Reprint (Appendix, p. 401), we gave the -full quotation from a Sixteenth Century Interlude, _The Contract of -Marriage between Wit and Wisdom_, the point being this:— - - “_For the honour of ~Artrebradley~,_ - _This age would make me swear madly_!” - -Arthur o’ Bradley is mentioned by Thomas Dekker, near the end of the -first part of his _Honest Whore_, 1604; when Bellafront, assuming to be -mad, hears that Mattheo is to marry her, she exclaims— - - “_Shall he? O brave ~Arthur~ of ~Bradley~, then?_” - -In Ben Jonson’s _Bartholomew Fair_, 1614, (which covers the Puritans -with ridicule, for the delight of James 1st.), Act ii. Scene 1, when -Adam Overdo, the Sectary, is disguised in a “garded coat” as Arthur o’ -Bradley, to gesticulate outside a booth, Mooncalf salutes him thus:—“O -Lord! do you not know him, Mistress? _’tis mad ~Arthur~ of ~Bradley~ that -makes the orations_.—Brave master, old Arthur of Bradley, how do you -do? Welcome to the Fair! When shall we hear you again, to handle your -matters, _with your back against a booth_, ha?” - -In Richard Brathwaite’s _Strappado for the Diuell_, 1615, p. 225 (in -a long poem, containing notices of Wakefield, Bradford, and Kendall, -addressed “to all true-bred Northerne Sparks, of the generous Society of -the Cottoneers,” &c.) is the following reference to this tune, and to -other two, viz. “Wilson’s Delight,” and “Mal Dixon’s Round:” - - “_So each (through peace of conscience) rapt with pleasure_ - _Shall ioifully begin to dance his measure._ - _One footing actiuely ~Wilson’s~ delight, ..._ - _The fourth is chanting of his Notes so gladly,_ - _Keeping the tune for th’ honour of ~Arthura Bradly~;_ - _The ~5[th]~ so pranke he scarce can stand on ground,_ - _Asking who’le sing with him ~Mal Dixon’s~ round._” - -(By the way: The same author, Richard Brathwaite, in his amusing -_Shepherds Tales_, 1621, p. 211, mentions as other Dance-tunes, - - _Roundelayes_, || _~Irish~-hayes,_ - _Cogs and rongs and ~Peggie Ramsie~,_ - _Spaniletto_ || _The Venetto,_ - _~John~ come kisse me, ~Wilson’s~ Fancie._) - -Again, Thomas Gayton writes concerning the hero:—“’Tis not alwaies sure -that _’tis merry in hall when beards Wag all_, for these men’s beards -wagg’d as fast as they could tag ’em, but mov’d no mirth at all: They -were verifying that song of— - - _Heigh, brave ~Arthur~ o’ ~Bradley~,_ - _A beard without hair looks madly._” - - (_Festivous Notes on Don Quixot_, 1654, p. 141.) - -On pp. 540, 604, of William Chappell’s excellent work, _The Popular Music -of the Olden Time_, are given two tunes, one for the _Antidote_ version, -and the other for the modern, as sung by Taylor, “Come neighbours, and -listen a while.” He quotes the two lines from Gayton, and also this from -Wm. Wycherley’s _Gentleman Dancing Master_, 1673, Act i, Sc. 2, where -Gerrard says:—“Sing him ‘_Arthur of Bradley_,’ or ‘_I am the Duke of -Norfolk_.’” - -It is quite evident, from such passages, that during a long time a -proverbial and popular character attached to this noisy personage: such -has not yet passed away. The earliest complete imprint of “Arthur o’ -Bradley” as a Song, (from a printed original, of 1656, beginning “_All -you that desire to merry be_,”) in our present APPENDIX, Part iv. Quite -distinct from this hitherto unnoticed examplar, not already reprinted, is -“_Saw you not ~Pierce~, the piper_,” &c., the ballad reproduced by us, -from _Merry Drollery_, 1661, Part 2nd., p. 124, (and ditto, _Compleat_ -1670, 1691, p. 312); which agrees with the _Antidote against Melancholy_, -same date, 1661, p. 16. More than a Century later, an inferior rendering -was common, printed on broadsheets. It was mentioned, in 1797, by -Joseph Ritson, as being a “much more modern ballad [than the _Antidote_ -version] upon this popular subject, in the same measure intitled _Arthur -o’ Bradley_, and beginning ‘All in the merry month of May.’” (_Robin -Hood_, 1797, ii. 211.) Of this we already gave two verses, (in Appendix -to _M. Drollery C._, p. 400), but as we believe the ballad has not been -reprinted in this century, we may give all that is extant, from the only -copy within reach, of ARTHUR O’ BRADLEY:— - - “_All in the merry month of May,_ - _The maids [they will be gay,_ - _For] a May-pole they will have, &c._” - - (See the present Appendix, Part iv.) - -In this, doubtless, we detect two versions, garbed together. What is -now the final verse is merely a variation of the sixth: probably the -broadsheet-printer could not meet with a genuine eighth verse. Robert -Bell denounced the whole as “a miserable composition” (even as he had -declared against the amatory Lyrics of Charles the Second’s time): but -then, he might have added, with Goldsmith, “My Bear dances to none but -the werry genteelest of tunes.” - -Far superior to this was the “Arthur o’ Bradley’s Wedding: - -“_Come, neighbours, and listen awhile, If ever you wished to smile_,” -&c., which was sung by ... Taylor, a comic actor, about the beginning of -this century. It is not improbable that he wrote or adapted it, availing -himself of such traditional scraps as he could meet with. Two copies of -it, duplicate, on broadsheets, are in the Douce Collection at Oxford, -vol. iv. pp. 18, 19. A copy, also, in J. H. Dixon’s _Bds. and Sgs. of the -Peasantry_, Percy Soc., 1845, vol. xvii. (and in R. B.’s _Annotated Ed. -B. P._, p. 138.) - -There is still another “Arthur o’ Bradley,” but not much can, or need, be -said in its favour; except that it contains only three verses. Yet even -these are more than two which can be spared. Its only tolerable lines are -borrowed from the Roxburghe Ballad. It is the _nadir_ of Bradleyism, and -has not even a title, beyond the burden “_O rare ~Arthur~ o’ ~Bradley~, -O!_” Let us, briefly, be in at the death: although Arthur makes not a -Swan-like end, with the help of his Catnach poet. It begins thus: - - _’Twas in the sweet month of May, I walked out to take the air,_ - _My Father he died one day, and he left me his son and heir;_ - _He left me a good warm house, that wanted only a thatch,_ - _A strong oak door to my chamber, that only wanted a latch;_ - _He left me a rare old cow, I wish he’d have left me a sow,_ - _A cock that in fighting was shy, and a horse with a sharp wall eye, &c._ - - (_Universal Songster_, 1826, i. 368.) - -Even Ophelia could not ask, after Arthur sinking so low, “And will he not -come again?” - - J. W. E. - -_September, 1875._ - - - - -[So far as possible, to give completeness to our Reprint of _Westminster -Drollery_ of 1671-2, and _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, 1670-1691, we now -add the Extra Songs belonging to the former work, edition 1674; and -to the latter, in its earlier edition, 1661: with their respective -title-pages.] - - - - - _Westminster-Drollery._ - - Or, A Choice - COLLECTION - of the Newest - SONGS & POEMS - BOTH AT - Court and Theaters. - - BY - A Person of Quality. - - _The third Edition, with many more - Additions._ - - LONDON, - Printed for _H. Brome_, at the _Gun_ in St. _Paul’s_ - Church Yard, near the West End. - MDCLXXIV. - - - - -_ADDITIONAL SONGS_ - -FROM THE - -WESTMINSTER-DROLLERY: - -Edition 1674. - - - - -[p. 111.] - -_A Song._ - - - 1. So wretched are the sick of Love, - No Herb has vertue to remove - The growing ill: - But still, - The more we Remedies oppose - The Feaver more malignant grows. - Doubts do but add unto desire, - Like Oyl that’s thrown upon the fire, - Which serves to make the flame aspire; - And not t’ extinguish it: - Love has its trembling, and its burning fit. - - 2. Fruition which the sick propose [p. 112.] - To end, and recompence their woes, - But turns them o’re - To more. - And curing one, does but prepare - A new, perhaps a greater care. - Enjoyment even in the chaste, - Pleases, not satisfies the taste, - And licens’d Love the worst can fast. - Such is the Lovers state, - Pining and pleas’d, alike unfortunate. - - 3. _Sabina_ and _Camilla_ share - An equal interest in care, - Fear hath each brest - Possest. - In different Fortunes, one pure flame - Makes their unhappiness the same. - Love begets fear, fear grief creates, - Passion still passion animates, - Love will be love in all estates: - His power still is one - Whether in hope or in possession. - - - - -[p. 113.] - -_A Song._ - - - 1. To Arms! to Arms! the Heroes cry, - A glorious Death, or Victory. - Beauty and Love, although combin’d, - And each so powerful alone, - Cannot prevail against a mind - Bound up in resolution. - Tears their weak influence vainly prove, - Nothing the daring breast can move - Honour is blind, and deaf, ev’n deaf to Love. - - 2. The Field! the Field! where Valour bleeds, - Spurn’d into dust by barbed steeds, - Instead of wanton Beds of Down - Is now the Scene where they must try, - To overthrow, or be o’rethrown; - Bravely to overcome, or dye. - Honour in her interest sits above - What Beauty, Prayers, or tears can move: - Were there no Honour, there would be no Love. - - - - -[p. 114.] - -_A Song._ - - - 1. Beauty that it self can kill, - Through the finest temper’d steel, - Can those wounds she makes endure, - And insult it o’re the brave, - Since she knows a certain cure, - When she is dispos’d to save: - But when a Lover bleeding lies, - Wounded by other Arms, - And that she sees those harms, - For which she knows no remedies; - Then Beauty Sorrows livery wears, - And whilst she melts away in tears, - Drooping in Sorrow shews - Like Roses overcharg’d with morning dews. - - 2. Nor do women, though they wear - The most tender character, - Suffer in this case alone: - Hearts enclos’d with Iron Walls, - In humanity must groan - When a noble Hero falls. - Pitiless courage would not be [p. 115.] - An honour, but a shame; - Nor bear the noble name - Of valour, but barbarity; - The generous even in success - Lament their enemies distress: - And scorn it should appear - Who are the Conquer’d, with the Conqueror. - - - - -_A Song._ - - - 1. The young, the fair, the chaste, the good, - The sweet _Camilla_, in a flood - Of her own Crimson lies - A bloody, bloody sacrifice - To Death and man’s inhumane cruelties. - Weep Virgins till your sorrow swells - In tears above the Ivory Cells - That guard those Globes of light; - Drown, drown those beauties of your eyes. - Beauty should mourn, when beauty dies; - And make a general night, - To pay her innocence its Funeral rite. - - 2. Death since his Empire first begun, [p. 116.] - So foul a conquest never won, - Nor yet so fair a prize: - And had he had a heart, or eyes, - Her beauties would have charm’d his cruelties. - Even Savage Beasts will Beauty spare, - Chaft Lions fawn upon the fair; [Fierce lions] - Nor dare offend the chaste: - But vitious man, that sees and knows - The mischiefs his wild fury does, - Humours his passions haste, - To prove ungovern’d man the greatest beast. - - - - -_A Song._ - - - 1. How frailty makes us to our wrong - Fear, and be loth to dye, - When Life is only dying long - And Death the remedy! - We shun eternity, - And still would gravel her beneath, [_Scil._, grovel] - Though still in woe and strife, - When Life’s the path that leads to Death, - And Death the door to Life. - - 2. The Fear of Death is the disease [p. 117.] - Makes the poor patient smart; - Vain apprehensions often freeze - The vitals in the heart, - Without the dreaded Dart. - When fury rides on pointed steel - Death’s fear the heart doth seize, - Whilst in that very fear we feel - A greater sting than his. - - 3. But chaste _Camilla’s_ vertuous fear - Was of a noble kind, - Not of her end approaching near - But to be left behind, - From her dear Love disjoyn’d; - When Death in courtesie decreed, - To make the fair his prize, - And by one cruelty her freed - From humane cruelties. - - CHORUS. - - Thus heav’n does his will disguise, - To scourge our curiosities, - When too inquisitive we grow - Of what we are forbid to know. - Fond humane nature that will try [p. 118.] - To sound th’ Abiss of Destiny! - Alas! what profit can arise - From those forbidden scrutinies, - When Oracles what they foretel - In such Ænigma’s still conceal, - That self indulging man still makes - Of deepest truths most sad mistakes! - Or could our frailty comprehend - The reach those riddles do intend: - What boots it us when we have done, - To foresee ills we cannot shun? - But ’tis in man a vain pretence, - To know or prophesie events, - Which only execute, and move, - By a dependence from above. - ’Tis all imposture to deceive - The foolish and inquisitive, - Since none foresee what shall befal, - But providence that governs all. - Reason wherewith kind Heav’n has blest - His creature man above the rest, - Will teach humanity to know - All that it should aspire unto; - And whatsoever fool relies - On false deceiving prophesies, - Striving by conduct to evade - The harms they threaten, or perswade, - Too frequently himself does run [p. 119.] - Into the danger he would shun, - And pulls upon himself the woe - Fate meant he should much later know. - By such delusions vertue strays - Out of those honourable ways - That lead unto that glorious end, - To which the noble ever bend. - Whereas if vertue were the guide, - Mens minds would then be fortified - With constancy, that would declare - Against supineness, and despair. - We should events with patience wait, - And not despise, nor fear our Fate. - - - - -[p. 120.] - -_WICKHAM WAKENED_, - -OR - -_The Quakers Madrigall In Rime Dogrell_. - - - The Quaker and his Brats, - Are born with their Hats, - Which a point with two Taggs, - Ty’s fast to their Craggs, - Nor King nor Kesar, - To such Knaves as these are, - Do signifie more than a Tinker. - His rudeness and pride - So puffs up his hide - That He’s drunk though he be no drinker. - - _Chorus._ - - _Now since Mayor and Justice_ - _Are assured that thus ’tis_ - _To abate their encrease and redundance_ - _Let us send them to WICKHAM_ - _For there’s one will kick ’um_ - _Into much better manners by abundance._ - - Once the Clown at his entry [p. 121.] - Kist his golls to the Gentry: - When the Lady took upon her, - ’Twas God save your Honor: - But now Lord and Pesant, - Do make but one messe on’t - Then farewel distinction ’twixt Plowman and Knight. - If the world be thus tost - The old Proverb is crost, - For Joan’s as good as my Lady in th’ Light. - - _Chorus._ - - _Now since Mayor and Justice, &c._ - - ’Tis the Gentry that Lulls ’um - While the Quaker begulls ’um: - They dandle ’um in their Lapps, - Who should strike of[f] their Capps; - And make ’um stand bare - Both to Justice and Mayor, - Till when ’twill nere be faire weather; - For now the proud Devel - Hath brought forth this Level - None Knows who and who is together. - - _Now since Mayor and Justice, &c._ - - Now silence and listen [p. 122.] - Thou shalt hear how they Christen: - Mother Midnight comes out - With the Babe in a Clout, - Tis Rachell you must know tis, - Good friends all take notice, - Tis a name from the Scripture arising. - And thus the dry dipper - (Twere a good deed to whip her) - Makes a Christning without a Baptizing. - - _Now since Mayor and Justice, &c._ - - Their wedlocks are many, - But Marriages not any, - For they and their dull Sows, - Like the Bulls and the mull Cows, - Do couple in brutify’d fashion: - But still the Official, - Declares that it is all - Matrimoniall Fornication. - - _Now since Mayor and Justice, &c._ - - Their Lands and their Houses - W’ont fall to their Spouses: - They cannot appoint her - One Turff for a Joynter. - His son and his daughter, [p. 123.] - Will repent it hereafter; - For when the Estate is divided; - For the Parents demerit - Some Kinsman will inherit; - Why then let them marry as I did. - - _But since Mayor and Justice, &c._ - - Now since these mad Nations - Do cheat their relations, - Pray what better hap then - Can we that are Chap men, - Expect from their Canting, - The sighing and panting? - We are they use the house with a steeple, - And then they may Cozen - All us by the Dozen; - For Israel may spoyle Pharaohs people. - - _Now since Mayor and Justice, &c._ - - The Quaker who before - Did rant and did roare; - Great thrift will now tell yee on. - But it tends to Rebellion: - For his tipling being don, - He hath bought him a gun - Which hee saves from his former vain spending. - O be drunk agen _Quaker_, [p. 124.] - Take thy Canniken and shake her, - For thou art the worse for the mending. - - _Now since Mayor and Justice, &c._ - - Then looke we about, - And give them a Rout, - Before they Encumber - The Land with their number: - There can be no peace in - These Vermins encreasing; - For tis plaine to all prudent beholders, - That while we neglect, - They do but expect - A new head to their old mans Shoulders. - - _Now since Mayor and Justice_ - _Are assured that thus ’tis:_ - _To abate their encrease and redundance_ - _Let us send them to WICKHAM_ - _For there’s one will Kick ’um_ - _Into much better manners by abundance._ - - - - -[Here ends the 1674 edition; for account of which, and the 1661 _Merry -Drollery_, see our present _Appendix_, Parts Third and Fourth.] - - - - - MERRY - DROLLERY, - - OR, - A COLLECTION - - { Jovial Poems, - Of { Merry Songs, - { Witty Drolleries. - - Intermixed with Pleasant - CATCHES. - - The First Part. - - Collected by - _W.N._ _C.B._ _R.S._ _J.G._ - Lovers of Wit. - - [1s. 3d.] - - LONDON, - Printed by _J. W._ for _P. H._ and are to - be Sold at the _New Exchange, Westminster_-Hall, - Fleet Street, and _Pauls_ - Church-Yard. [May - 1661.] - - - - -EXTRA SONGS & POEMS, - -IN - -Merry Drollery, 1661: - -(_Omitted from the Editions of 1670, 1691, when New Songs were -substituted for them._) - -I.—IN PART FIRST. - - - - -[fol. 2.] - -_A Puritan._ - - - A Puritan of late, - And eke a holy Sister, - A Catechizing sate, - And fain he would have kist her - For his Mate. - - But she a Babe of grace, - A Child of reformation, - Thought kissing a disgrace, - A Limbe of prophanation - In that place. - - He swore by yea and nay [fol. 2b.] - He would have no denial, - The Spirit would it so, - She should endure a tryal - Ere she go. - - Why swear you so, quoth she? - Indeed, my holy Brother, - You might have forsworn be - Had it been to another[,] - Not to me. - - He laid her on the ground, - His Spirits fell a ferking, - Her Zeal was in a sound, [i.e. swoon,] - He edified her Merkin - Upside down. - - And when their leave they took, - And parted were asunder, - My Muse did then awake, - And I turn’d Ballad-monger - For their sake. - - - - -[page 11.] - -_Loves Dream._ - - - I dreamt my Love lay in her bed, - It was my chance to take her, - Her arms and leggs abroad were spread, - She slept, I durst not wake her; - O pitty it were, that one so rare - Should crown her head with willow: - The Tresses of her golden hair - Did crown her lovely Pillow. [_al. lect._, Did kisse] - - Me thought her belly was a hill - Much like a mount of pleasure, - At foot thereof there springs a well, - The depth no man can measure; - About the pleasant Mountain head - There grows a lofty thicket, - Whither two beagles travelled - To rouze a lively Pricket. - - They hunted him with chearful cry - About that pleasant Mountain, - Till he with heat was forc’d to fly - And slip into that Fountain; - The Dogs they follow’d to the brink, - And there at him they baited: - They plunged about and would not sink, [p. 12.] - His coming out they waited. - - Then forth he came as one half lame, - All very faint and tired, - Betwixt her legs he hung his head, - As heavy heart desired; - My dogs then being refresht again, - And she of sleep bereaved, - She dreamt she had me in her arms, - And she was not deceived. - - - - -_The good Old Cause._ - - - Now _Lambert’s_ sunk, and valiant M—— [_Monk_] - Does ape his General _Cromwel_, - And _Arthur’s_ Court, cause time is short, - Does rage like devils from hell; - Let’s mark the fate and course of State, - Who rises when t’other is sinking, - And believe when this is past - ’Twill be our turn at last - To bring the Good Old Cause by drinking. - - First, red nos’d _Nol_ he swallowed all, - His colour shew’d he lov’d it: - But _Dick_ his Son, as he were none, - Gav’t off, and hath reprov’d it; - But that his foes made bridge of’s nose, - And cry’d him down for a Protector, - Proving him to be a fool that would undertake to rule - And not drink and fight like _Hector_. - - The Grecian lad he drank like mad, [p. 13.] - Minding no work above it; - And _Sans question_ kill’d _Ephestion_ - Because he’d not approve it; - He got command where God had land, - And like a _Maudlin_ Yonker, - When he tippled all and wept, he laid him down to sleep, - Having no more Worlds to conquer. - - Rump-Parliament would needs invent - An Oath of abjuration, - But Obedience and Allegiance are now come into fashion: - Then here’s a boul with heart and soul - To _Charles_, and let all say Amen to ’t; - Though they brought the Father down - From a triple Kingdom Crown, - We’ll drink the Son up again to ’t. - - - - -[p. 14.] - -_A Song._ - - - Riding to _London_, on _Dunstable_ way - I met with a Maid on _Midsummer_ day, - Her Eyes they did sparkle like Stars in the sky, - Her face it was fair, and her forehead was high: - The more I came to her, the more I did view her, - The better I lik’d her pretty sweet face, [p. 15.] - I could not forbear her, but still I drew near her, - And then I began to tell her my case: - - Whither walk’st thou, my pretty sweet soul? - She modestly answer’d to _Hockley-i’th’-hole_. - I ask’d her her business; she had a red cheek, - She told me, she went a poor service to seek; - I said, it was pitty she should leave the City, - And settle her self in a Country Town; - She said it was certain it was her hard fortune - To go up a maiden, and so to come down. - - With that I alighted, and to her I stept, - I took her by th’ hand, and this pretty maid wept; - Sweet[,] weep not, quoth I: I kist her soft lip; - I wrung her by th’ hand, and my finger she nipt; - So long there I woo’d her, such reasons I shew’d her, - That she my speeches could not controul, - But cursied finely, and got up behind me, - And back she rode with me to _Hockley-i’-th’-hole_. - - When I came to _Hockley_ at the sign of the Cock, - By [a]lighting I chanced to see her white smock, - It lay so alluring upon her round knee, - I call’d for a Chamber immediately; - I hugg’d her, I tugg’d her, I kist her, I smugg’d her, - And gently I laid her down on a bed, - With nodding and pinking, with sighing & winking, - She told me a tale of her Maidenhead. - - While she to me this story did tell, - I could not forbear, but on her I fell; - I tasted the pleasure of sweetest delight, [p. 16.] - We took up our lodging, and lay there all night; - With soft arms she roul’d me, and oft times told me, - She loved me deerly, even as her own soul: - But on the next morrow we parted with sorrow, - And so I lay with her at _Hockley-i’th’-hole_. - - - - -[p. 27.] - -_Maidens delight._ - - - A Young man of late, that lackt a mate, - And courting came unto her, - With Cap, and Kiss, and sweet Mistris, - But little could he do her; - Quoth she, my friend, let kissing end, - Where with you do me smother, - And run at Ring with t’other thing: - A little o’ th’ t’on with t’other. - - Too much of ought is good for nought, - Then leave this idle kissing; - Your barren suit will yield no fruit - If the other thing be missing: - As much as this a man may kiss - His sister or his mother; - He that will speed must give with need - A little o’ th’ t’on with t’other. - - Who bids a Guest unto a feast, - To sit by divers dishes, - They please their mind untill they find - Change, please each Creatures wishes; - With beak and bill I have my fill, - With measure running over; - The Lovers dish now do I wish, - A little o’ th’ t’on with t’other. - - To gull me thus, like _Tantalus_, - To make me pine with plenty, - With shadows store, and nothing more, [p. 28.] - Your substance is so dainty; - A fruitless tree is like to thee, - Being but a kissing lover, - With leaves joyn fruit, or else be mute; - A little o’ th’ t’on with t’other. - - Sharp joyn’d with flat, no mirth to that; - A low note and a higher, - Where Mean and Base keeps time and place, - Such musick maids desire: - All of one string doth loathing bring, - Change, is true Musicks Mother, - Then leave my face, and sound the base, - A little o’ th’ t’on with t’other. - - The golden mine lies just between [? golden mean] - The high way and the lower; - He that wants wit that way to hit - Alas[!] hath little power; - You’l miss the clout if that you shoot - Much higher, or much lower: - Shoot just between, your arrows keen, - A little o’ th’ t’on with t’other. - - No smoake desire without a fire, - No wax without a Writing: - If right you deal give Deeds to Seal, - And straight fall to inditing; - Thus do I take these lines I make, - As to a faithful Lover, - In order he’ll first write, then seal, - A little o’ th’ t’on with t’other. - - Thus while she staid the young man plaid [p. 29.] - Not high, but low defending; [? descending;] - Each stroak he strook so well she took, - She swore it was past mending; - Let swaggering boys that think by toyes - Their Lovers to fetch over, - Lip-labour save, for the maids must have - A little o’ th’ t’on with t’other. - - - - -[p. 32.] - -_A Song._ - - - A Young man walking all alone - Abroad to take the air, - It was his chance to meet a maid - Of beauty passing fair: - Desiring her of curtesie - Down by him for to sit; - She answered him most modestly, - O nay, O nay not yet. - - Forty Crowns I will give thee, - Sweet heart, in good red Gold, - If that thy favour I may win - With thee for to be bold: - She answered him with modesty, - And with a fervent wit, - Think’st thou I’ll stain my honesty? - O nay, O nay not yet. - - Gold and silver is but dross, [p. 33.] - And worldly vanity; - There’s nothing I esteem so much - As my Virginity; - What do you think I am so loose, [_al. lect._, mad] - And of so little wit, - As for to lose my maidenhead? - O nay, O nay not yet. - - Although our Sex be counted base, - And easie to be won, - You see that I can find a check - Dame Natures Games to shun; - Except it be in modesty, - That may become me fit, - Think’st I am weary of my honesty? - O nay, O nay not yet. - - The young man stood in such a dump, - Not giving no more words, - He gave her that in quietness - Which love to maids affords: - The maid was ta’n as in a trance, - And such a sudden fit, - As she had almost quite forgot - Her nay, O nay not yet. - - The way to win a womans love - Is only to be brief, - And give her that in quietness - Will ease her of her grief: - For kindness they will not refuse - When young men proffer it, - Although their common speeches be - O nay, O nay not yet. - - - - -[p. 56.] - -_Admiral ~Deans~ Funeral._ - - - 1. - - _Nick Culpepper_, and _William Lilly_, - Though you were pleas’d to say they were silly, - Yet something these prophesi’d true, I tell you, [? ye,] - Which no body can deny. - - 2. - - In the month of _May_, I tell you truly, - Which neither was in _June_ nor _July_, - The Dutch began to be unruly, - Which no body can deny. - - 3. - - Betwixt our _England_ and their _Holland_, - Which neither was in _France_ nor _Poland_, - But on the Sea, where there was no Land, - Which no body can deny. - - 4. - - They joyn’d the Dutch, and the English Fleet, - [In] Our Authors opinion then they did meet, - Some saw’t that never more shall see’t, - Which no body can deny. - - 5. - - There were many mens hearts as heavy as lead, [p. 57.] - Yet would not believe _Dick Dean_ to be dead, - Till they saw his Body take leave of his head, - Which no body can deny. - - 6. - - Then after the sad departure of him, - There was many a man lost a Leg or a Lim, - And many were drown’d ’cause they could not swim, - Which no body can deny. - - 7. - - One cries, lend me thy hand[,] good friend, - Although he knew it was to no end, - I think, quoth he, I am going to the Fiend, - Which no body can deny. - - 8. - - Some, ’twas reported, were kill’d with a Gun, - And some stood that knew not whether to run, - There was old taking leave of Father and Son, - Which no body can deny. - - 9. - - There’s a rumour also, if we may believe, - We have many gay Widdows now given to grieve, - ’Cause unmannerly Husbands ne’er came to take leave, - Which no body can deny. - - 10. - - The Ditty is sad of our _Deane_ to sing; - To say truth, it was a pittiful thing - To take off his head and not leave him a ring, - Which no body can deny. - - 11. - - From _Greenwich_ toward the Bear at Bridge foot - He was wafted with wind that had water to’t, - But I think they brought the devil to boot, - Which no body can deny. - - 12. - - The heads on _London_ Bridge upon Poles, [p. 58.] - That once had bodies, and honester soules - Than hath the Master of the Roules, - Which no body can deny, - - 13. - - They grieved for this great man of command, - Yet would not his head amongst theirs should stand; - He dy’d on the Water, and they on the Land, - Which no body can deny. - - 14. - - I cannot say, they look’d wisely upon him, - Because people cursed that parcel was on him; - He has fed fish and worms, if they do not wrong him, - Which no body can deny. - - 15. - - The Old Swan, as he passed by, - Said, she would sing him a dirge, and lye down & die: - Wilt thou sing to a bit of a body, quoth I? - Which no body can deny. - - 16. - - The Globe on the bank, I mean, on the Ferry, - Where Gentle and simple might come & be merry, - Admired at the change from a Ship to a Wherry, - Which no body can deny. - - 17. - - _Tom Godfreys_ Bears began for to roare, - Hearing such moans one side of the shore, - They knew they should never see _Dean_ any more, - Which no body can deny. - - 18. - - Queenhithe, _Pauls_-Wharf, and the Fryers also, - Where now the Players have little to do, - Let him pass without any tokens of woe, - Which no body can deny. - - 19. [p. 59.] - - Quoth th’ Students o’th’ Temple, I know not their names, - Looking out of their Chambers into the Thames, - The Barge fits him better than did the great _James_, - Which no body can deny. - - 20. - - _Essex_ House, late called Cuckold’s Hall, - The Folk in the Garden staring over the wall, - Said, they knew that once _Pride_ would have a fall, - Which no body can deny. - - 21. - - At Strand Gate, a little farther then, - Were mighty Guns numbred to sixty and ten, - Which neither hurt Children, Women, nor Men, - Which no body can deny. - - 22. - - They were shot over times one, two, three, or four, - ’Tis thought one might ’heard th’ bounce to th’ Tower, - Folk report, the din made the Buttermilk sower, - Which no body can deny. - - 23. - - Had old Goodman _Lenthal_ or _Allen_ but heard ’um, - The noise worse than _Olivers_ voice would ’fear’d ’um, - And out of their small wits would have scar’d ’um. - Which no body can deny. - - 24. - - Sommerset House, where once did the Queen lye, - And afterwards _Ireton_ in black, and not green, by, - The Canon clattered the Windows really, - Which no body can deny. - - 25. - - The _Savoys_ mortified spittled Crew, - If I lye, as _Falstaffe_ saies, I am a Jew, - Gave the Hearse such a look it would make a man spew, - Which no body can deny. - - 26. - - The House of S—— that Fool and Knave, [p. 60.] - Had so much wit left lamentation to save - From accompanying a traytorly Rogue to his grave, - Which no body can deny. - - 27. - - The Exchange, and the ruines of _Durham_ House eke, - Wish’d such sights might be seen each day i’ th’ week, - A Generals Carkass without a Cheek, - Which no body can deny. - - 28. - - The House that lately Great _Buckinghams_ was, - Which now Sir _Thomas Fairfax_ has, - Wish’d it might be Sir _Thomas’s_ fate so to pass, - Which no body can deny. - - 29. - - _Howards_ House, _Suffolks_ great Duke of Yore, - Sent him one single sad wish, and no more, - He might flote by _Whitehall_ in purple gore, - Which no body can deny. - - 30. - - Something I should of _Whitehall_ say, - But the Story is so sad, and so bad, by my fay, - That it turns my wits another way, - Which no body can deny. - - 31. - - To _Westminster_, to the Bridge of the Kings, - The water the Barge, and the Barge-men[,] brings - The small remain of the worst of things, - Which no body can deny. - - 32. - - They interr’d him in triumph, like _Lewis_ the eleven, - In the famous Chappel of _Henry_ the seven, - But his soul is scarce gone the right way to heaven, - Which no body can deny. - - - - -[p. 64.] - -_A merrie Journey to ~France~._ - - - I went from _England_ into _France_, - Not for to learn to sing nor dance, - To ride, nor yet to fence, - But for to see strange sights, as those - That have return’d without a nose - They carried away from hence. - - As I to _Paris_ rode along, - Like to _John Dory_ in the Song, - Upon a holy Tyde, - Where I an ambling Nag did get, - I hope he is not paid for yet, - I spurr’d him on each side. - - First, to Saint _Dennis_ then I came, - To see the sights at _Nostredame_, - The man that shews them snaffles: - That who so list, may there believe - To see the Virgin _Maries_ Sleeve, - And eke her odd Pantafles. [? old] - - The breast-milk, and the very Gown - That she did wear in _Bethlehem_ Town, - When in the Barn she lay: - But men may think that is a Fable, [p. 65.] - For such good cloaths ne’er came in Stable - Upon a lock of hay. - - No Carpenter can by his trade - Have so much Coin as to have made - A gown of such rich Stuff: - But the poor fools must, for their credit, - Believe, and swear old _Joseph_ did it, - ’Cause he received enough. [_al. lect._, deserv’d] - - There is the Lanthorn which the Jews, - When _Judas_ led them forth, did use, - It weighs my weight down-right; - And then you must suppose and think - The Jews therein did put a Link, - And then ’t was wondrous bright. [? light] - - There is one Saint has lost his nose, - Another his head, but not his toes, - An elbow, and a thumb; - When we had seen those holy rags, - We went to the Inne and took our Nags, - And so away we come. - - We came to _Paris_, on the _Seine_, - ’Tis wondrous fair, but little clean, - ’Tis _Europes_ greatest Town: - How strong it is I need not tell it, - For every one may easily smell it - As they ride up and down. - - There’s many rare sights for to see, - The Palace, the great Gallery, - Place-Royal doth excell; - The Newbridge, and the Statute stairs, [p. 66.] - At _Rotterdam_, Saint _Christophers_, [? _Nostre Dame_] - The Steeple bears the Bell. - - For Arts, the University, - And for old Cloaths, the Frippery, - The Queen the same did build; - Saint _Innocent[s’]_, whose earth devours - Dead Corps in four and twenty hours, - And there the King was kill’d. - - The _Bastile_, and Saint _Dennis_ street, - The _Chastelet_, like _London_ Fleet; - The Arsenal is no toy; - But if you will see the pretty thing, - Oh go to Court and see the King, - Oh he is a hopeful boy. - - He is of all [his] Dukes and Peers - Reverenc’d for wit as well as years; - Nor must you think it much - That he with little switches play, - And can make fine dirt-pies of Clay, - O never King made such. - - Birds round about his Chamber stands, - The which he feeds with his own hands, - ’Tis his humility: - And if they want [for] any thing, - They may but whistle to their King - And he comes presently. - - A bird that can but catch a Fly, - Or prate to please his Majesty, [_al. lect._, doth please] - It’s known to every one; - The Duke _De Guise_ gave him a Parrot, [p. 67.] - And he had twenty Cannons for it - For his great Gallion. - - O that it e’er might be my hap - To catch the bird that in the Map - They call the Indian Chuck, - I’d give it him, and hope to be - As great and wise a man as he, - Or else I had ill luck. - - Besides, he hath a pretty firk, - Taught him by Nature, for to work - In Iron with much ease: - And then unto the Forge he goes, - There he knocks, and there he blows, - And makes both locks and Keys. - - Which puts a doubt in every one - Whether he be _Mars_ or _Vulcans_ Son, - For few believe his Mother: - For his Incestuous House could not - Have any Children, unless got - By Uncle, or by Brother. - - Now for these virtues needs he must - Intituled be _Lewis_ the Just, - _Heneries_ Great Heir; - Where to his Stile we add more words, - Better to call him King of Birds - Than of the Great _Navar_. - - His Queen, she is a little Wench, - Was born in _Spain_, speaks little French, - Ne’er like to be a Mother: - But let them all say what they will, [p. 68.] - I do beleeve, and shall do still, - As soon the one as t’other. - - Then why should _Lewis_ be so just, - Contented be to take his lust [? he] - With his lascivious Mate, - Or suffer this his little Queen, - From all her Sex that e’er had been, - Thus to degenerate? - - ’Twere charity to have it known, - Love other Children as his own - To him it were no shame: - For why should he near greater be - Than was his Father _Henery_, - Who, some say, did the same? - - - - -[p. 85.] - -_Englands Woe._ - - - I mean to speak of _Englands_ sad fate, - To help in mean time the King, and his Mate, - That’s ruled by an Antipodian State, - Which no body can deny. - - But had these seditious times been when - We had the life of wise Poet _Ben_, - Parsons had never been Parliament men, - Which no body can deny. - - Had Statesmen read the Bible throughout, - And not gone by the Bible so round about, - They would have ruled themselves without doubt, - Which no body can deny. - - But Puritans now bear all the sway, - They’ll have no Bishops as most men say, - But God send them better another day, - Which no body can deny. - - Zealous _Pryn_ has threatned a great downfall, - To cut off long locks that is bushy and small, - But I hope he will not take ears and all, - Which no body can deny. - - _Prin_, [and] _Burton_, saies women that’s leud and loose, - Shall wear no stallion locks for a bush, [_Italian_ ... abuse] - They’ll only have private boyes for their use, [_al. lect._, Keyes] - Which no body can deny. - - They’ll not allow what pride it brings, [p. 86.] - Nor favours in hats, nor no such things, - They’l convert all ribbands to Bible strings, - Which no body can deny. - - God bless our King and Parliament, - And send he may make such K—— repent [Knaves] - That breed our Land such discontent, - Which no body can deny. - - And bless our Queen and Prince also, - And all true Subjects both high and low, - The brownings can pray for themselves you know, - Which no body can deny. - - - - -[p. 88.] - -_Ladies Delight._ - - - Hang Chastity[!] it is for the milking pail, - Ladies ought to be more valiant: - Not to be confin’d in body and mind - Is the temper of a right she Gallant; - Hither all you Amazons that are true - To this famous Dildoe profession, - She is no bonny Lass that fears to transgress - The Act against Fornication. - - The Country Dame, that loves the old sport, - Or delights in a new invention, - May be fitted here, if they please to repair - To this high ranting Convention; - If you are weary of your Coyn, - Or of your Chastity, - Here is costly toyes, or hot-metled boyes, - That will ease you presently. - - Both curious heads and wanton tailes - May here have satisfaction; - Here is all kind of ware, that useful are - For pride or provocation; - Here’s Drugs to paint, or Powder to perfume, - Or Ribbon of the best fashion; - Here’s dainty meat will fit you for the feat - Beyond all expectation. - - Here’s curious patches to set out your faces, [p. 89.] - And make you resemble the sky; - Or here’s looking-glasses to shew the poor Asses, - Your Husbands, their destiny; - Here’s bawbles too to play withall, - And some to stand in stead; - This place doth afford both for your brow, - And stallions for your head. - - Old Ladies here may be reliev’d, - If Ushers they do lack, - Or if they’ll not discharge their husbands at large, - But grow foundred in the back; - Green visag’d Damsels, that are sick - Of a troubled Maidenhead, - May here, if they please, be cur’d of the disease - And their green colours turn’d to red. - - - - -[p. 95.] - -_The Tyrannical Wife._ - - - It was a man, and a jolly old man, - Come love me whereas I lay, - And he would marry a fair young wife - The clean contrary way. - - He woo’d her for to wed, to wed, - Come love me whereas I lay, - And even she kickt him out of the bed - The clean contrary way. - - Then for her dinner she looked due, - Come love me whereas I lay, - Or else would make her husband rue - The clean contrary way. - - She made him wash both dish and spoon, - Come love me whereas I lay, - He had better a gone on his head to _Rome_ - The clean contrary way. - - She proved a gallant huswife soon, - Come love me whereas I lay, - She was every morning up by noon - The clean contrary way, - - She made him go to wash and wring, [p. 96.] - Come love me whereas I lay, - And every day to dance and sing - The clean contrary way. - - She made him do a worse thing than this, - Come love me whereas I lay, - To father a child was none of his, - The clean contrary way. - - Hard by a bush, and under a brier, - Come love me whereas I lay, - I saw a holy Nun lye under a Frier - The clean contrary way. - - To end my Song I think it long, - Come love me whereas I lay, - Come give me some drink and I’ll be gone - The clean contrary way. - - - - -[p. 134.] - -_The Tinker._ - -[Some of these verses are evidently misplaced: We keep them unchanged, -but add side-notes to rectify.] - - - There was a Lady in this Land - That lov’d a Gentleman, - And could not have him secretly, - As she would now and then, - Till she devis’d to dress him like - A Tinker in Vocation: - And thus, disguis’d, she bid him say, - He came to clout her Cauldron. - - His face full fair she smother’s black [2.] - That he might not be known, - A leather Jerkin on his back, [p. 135.] - His breeches rent and torn; - With speed he passed to the place, - To knock he did not spare: - Who’s that, quoth the lady[’s Porter] then, - That raps so rashly there. - - I am a Tinker, then quoth he, [3.] - That worketh for my Fee, - If you have Vessels for to mend, - Then bring them unto me: - For I have brass within my bag, - And target in my Apron, - And with my skill I can well clout, - And mend a broken Cauldron. - - Quoth she, our Cauldron hath most need, [? verse 7.] - At it we will begin, - For it will hold you half an hour - To trim it out and in: - But first give me a glass of drink, - The best that we do use, - For why[,] it is a Tinkers guise - No good drink to refuse. - - Then to the Brew-house hyed they fast, [? verse 8.] - This broken piece to mend, - He said he would no company, - His Craft should not be kend, - But only to your self, he said, - That must pay me my Fee: - I am no common Tinker, - But work most curiously. - - And I also have made a Vow, [? verse 9. p. 136.] - I’ll keep it if I may, - There shall no mankind see my work, - That I may stop or stay: - Then barred he the Brew-house door, - The place was very dark, - He cast his Budget from his back, - And frankly fell to work. - - And whilst he play’d and made her sport, [? verse 10.] - Their craft the more to hide, - She with his hammer stroke full hard - Against the Cauldron side: - Which made them all to think, and say, - The Tinker wrought apace, - And so be sure he did indeed, - But in another place. - - The Porter went into the house, [? verse 4.] - Where Servants us’d to dine, - Telling his Lady, at the Gate - There staid a Tinker fine: - Quoth he, much Brass he wears about, - And Target in his Apron, - Saying, that he hath perfect skill - To mend your broken Cauldron. - - Quoth she, of him we have great need, [? verse 5.] - Go Porter, let him in, - If he be cunning in his Craft - He shall much money win: - But wisely wist she who he was, - Though nothing she did say, - For in that sort she pointed him - To come that very day. - - When he before the Lady came, [? verse 6. p. 137.] - Disguised stood he there, - He blinked blithly, and did say, - God save you Mistris fair; - Thou’rt welcome, Tinker, unto me, - Thou seem’st a man of skill, - All broken Vessels for to mend, - Though they be ne’er so ill; - I am the best man of my Trade, - Quoth he, in all this Town, - For any Kettle, Pot, or Pan, - Or clouting of a Cauldron. - - Quoth he, fair Lady, unto her, [verse 11.] - My business I have ended, - Go quickly now, and tell your Lord - The Cauldron I have mended: - As for the Price, that I refer - Whatsoever he do say, - Then come again with diligence, - I would I were away. - - The Lady went unto her Lord, [12.] - Where he walkt up and down, - Sir, I have with the Tinker been, - The best in all the Town: - His work he doth exceeding well, - Though he be wondrous dear, - He asks no less than half a Mark - For that he hath done here. - - Quoth he, that Target is full dear, [13.] - I swear by Gods good Mother: - Quoth she, my Lord, I dare protest, - ’Tis worth five hundred other; - He strook it in the special place, [p. 138.] - Where greatest need was found, - Spending his brass and target both, - To make it safe and sound. - - Before all Tinkers in the Land, - That travels up and down, - Ere they should earn a Groat of mine, - This man should earn a Crown: - Or were you of his Craft so good, - And none but I it kend, - Then would it save me many a Mark, - Which I am fain to spend. - - The Lady to her Coffer went, - And took a hundred Mark, - And gave the Tinker for his pains, - That did so well his work; - Tinker, said she, take here thy fee, - Sith here you’ll not remain, - But I must have my Cauldron now - Once scoured o’er again. - - Then to the former work they went, - No man could them deny; - The Lady said, good Tinker call - The next time thou com’st by: - For why[,] thou dost thy work so well, - And with so good invention, - If still thou hold thy hand alike, - Take here a yearly Pension. - - And ev’ry quarter of the year - Our Cauldron thou shalt view; - Nay, by my faith, her Lord gan say, [p. 139.] - I’d rather buy a new; - Then did the Tinker take his leave - Both of the Lord and Lady, - And said, such work as I can do, - To you I will be ready. - From all such Tinkers of the trade - God keep my Wife, I pray, - That comes to clout her Cauldron so, - I’ll swinge him if I may. - - - - -[A song follows, beginning “There were three birds that built very low.” -With other four, commencing respectively on pp. 146, 153, 161, and 168, -it is degraded from position here; for substantial reasons; and (with a -few others, afterwards to be specified,) given separately. Nothing but -the absolute necessity of making this a genuine Antiquarian Reprint, -worthy of the confidence of all mature students of our Early Literature, -compels the Editor to admit such prurient and imbecile pieces at all. -They are tokens of a debased taste that would be inconceivable, did -we not remember that, not more than twenty years ago, crowds of MP.s, -Lawyers, and Baronets listened with applause, and encored tumultuously, -songs far more objectionable than these (if possible) in London Music -Halls, and Supper Rooms. Those who recollect what R...s sang (such as -“The Lock of Hair,” “My name it is Sam Hall, Chimbley Sweep,” &c.), -and what “Judge N——” said at his Jury Court, need not be astonished at -anything which was sung or written in the days of the Commonwealth and at -the Restoration. A few words we suppress into dots in _Supplement_, &c.] - - - - -[p. 148.] - -_The Maid a bathing._ - - - Upon a Summers day, - ’Bout middle of the morn, - I spy’d a Lass that lay - Stark nak’d as she was born; - ’Twas by a running Pool, - Within a meddow green, - And there she lay to cool, - Not thinking to be seen. - - Then did she by degrees - Wash every part in rank, - Her Arms, her breasts, her thighs, - Her Belly, and her Flank; - Her legs she opened wide, - My eyes I let down steal, - Untill that I espy’d - Dame natures privy Seal. - - I stript me to the skin, - And boldly stept unto her, - Thinking her love to win, - I thus began to wooe her: - Sweet heart be not so coy, - Time’s sweet in pleasure spent, - She frown’d, and cry’d, away, - Yet, smiling, gave consent. - - Then blushing, down she slid, [p. 149.] - Seeming to be amazed, - But heaving up her head, - Again she on me gazed; - I seeing that, lay down, - And boldly ’gan to kiss, - And she did smile, and frown, - And so fell to our bliss. - - Then lay she on the ground - As though she had been sped, - As women in a swoon, - Yield up, and yet not dead: - So did this lively maid, - When hot bloud fill’d her vein, - And coming to her self she said, - I thank you for your pain. - - - - -[Part First, 1661, ends on pages 171-175, with _The new Medley of the -Country man, Citizen, and Souldier_ (which in the 1670 and 1691 editions -are on pp. 182-187). The 1661 edition of SECOND PART has a complete -title-page of its own, in black and red, exactly agreeing with its own -First Part, except that the words are prefixed “THE || Second Part || -OF.” A contemporary MS. note in Ant. à Wood’s copy, says, of each part, -“1s. 3d.” as the original price. There is also, in the 1661 edition (and -in that only), another address, here, which runs as follows:— - - “To the Reader: - - “Courteous Reader, - - “_We do here present thee with the Second part of ~Merry - Drollery~, not doubting but it will find good Reception with - the more Ingenious; The deficiency of this shall be supplied in - a third, when time shall serve: In the mean time_ - - Farewel.” - -The _Third Part_, mentioned above, never appeared. - -The woodcut Initial W represents Salome, the daughter of Herodias, -receiving from the Roman-like _Stratiotes_ the head of John the Baptist -(whose body lies at their feet), she holding her charger. The Editor -hopes to engrave it for the Introduction to this present volume. - -The pagination commences afresh in the 1661 Second Part; but continues in -the 1670, and the 1691 editions.] - - - - -Merry Drollery, 1661: - -EXTRA SONGS IN PART SECOND. - -(_Omitted in 1670 and 1691 Editions._) - - - - -[Part 2nd., p. 21.] - -_The Force of Opportunity._ - - - You gods that rule upon the Plains, - Where nothing but delight remains; - You Nymphs that haunt the Fairy Bowers, - Exceeding _Flora_ with her flowers; - The fairest woman that earth can have - Sometimes forbidden fruit will crave, - For any woman, whatsoe’r she be, - Will yield to Opportunity. - - Your Courtly Ladies that attends, - May sometimes dally with their friends; - And she that marries with a Knight - May let his Lodging for a night; - And she that’s only Worshipful - Perhaps another friend may gull: - For any woman, _&c._ - - The Chamber-maid that’s newly married - Perhaps another man hath carried; - Your City Wives will not be alone, - Although their husbands be from home; - The fairest maid in all the town - For green will change a russet Gown; - For any woman, _&c._ - - And she that loves a Zealous brother, - May change her Pulpit for another; - Physitians study for their skill, [p. 22.] - Whiles wives their Urinals do fill; - The Lawyers wife may take her pride - Whilst he their Causes doth decide; - For every woman, _&c._ - - The Country maid, that milks the Cow, - And takes great pains to work and do, - I’th’ fields may meet her friend or brother, - And save her soul to get another; - And she that to the Market[’]s gone - May horn her man ere she come home; - For any woman, _&c._ - - You Goddesses and Nymphs so bright, - The greater Star, the lesser light; - To Lords, as well as mean estates, - Belongeth husbands horned baites, [? pates.] - Then give your Ladies leave to prove - The things the which your selves do love; - For any woman, what ere she be, - Will yield to Opportunity. - - - - -[p. 22.] - -_Lusty Tobacco._ - - - You that in love do mean to sport, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - First take a wench of a meaner sort, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - But let her have a comely grace, - Like one that came from _Venus_ race, - Then take occasion, time, and place, - To give her some Tobacco. - - You —— gamesters must be bound, [p. 23.] - Tobacco, Tobacco, - Their bullets must be plump and round, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - Your Stopper must be stiff and strong, - Your Pipe it must be large and long, - Or else she’ll say you do her wrong, - She’ll scorn your weak Tobacco. - - And if that you do please her well, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - All others then she will expell, - Tobacco, Tobacco. - She will be ready at your call - To take Tobacco, Pipe, and all, - So willing she will be to fall - To take your strong Tobacco. - - And when you have her favour won, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - You must hold out as you begun, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - Or else she’ll quickly change her mind, - And seek some other Friend to find, - That better may content her mind - In giving her Tobacco. - - And if you do not do her right, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - She’ll take a course to burn your Pipe, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - And if you ask what she doth mean, - She’ll say she doth’t to make it clean, - Then take you heed of such a Quean - For spoyling your Tobacco, - - As I my self dare boldly speak, [p. 24.] - Tobacco, Tobacco, - Which makes my very heart to break, - Tobacco, Tobacco, - For she that I take for my friend, - Hath my Tobacco quite consum’d, - She hath spoil’d my Pipe, and there’s an end - Of all my good Tobacco. - - - - -[p. 29.] - -_On the Goldsmiths-Committee._ - - - Come Drawer, some wine, - Or we’ll pull down the Sign, - For we are all jovial Compounders: - We’ll make the house ring, - With healths to the KING, - And confusion light on his Confounders. - - Since Goldsmiths Committee - Affords us no pitty, - Our sorrows in wine we will steep ’um, - They force us to take - Two Oaths, but we’ll make - A third, that we ne’r mean to keep ’um. - - And next, who e’r sees, - We drink on our knees, - To the King, may he thirst that repines. - A fig for those traitors - That look to our waters, - They have nothing to do with our wines. - - And next here’s a Cup - To the Queen, fill it up, - Were it poyson, we would make an end o’nt: - May _Charles_ and She meet, - And tread under feet - Both Presbyter and Independent. - - To the Prince, and all others, - His Sisters and Brothers, - As low in condition as high born, - We’ll drink this, and pray, [p. 30.] - That shortly they may, - See all them that wrongs them at _Tyburn_. - - And next here’s three bowls - To all gallant souls, - That for the King did, and will venter, - May they flourish when those - That are his, and their foes - Are hang’d and ram’d down to the Center. - - And next let a Glass - To our undoers pass, - Attended with two or three curses: - May plagues sent from hell - Stuff their bodies as well, - As the Cavaliers Coyn doth their purses. - - May the _Cannibals_ of _Pym_ - Eat them up limb by limb, - Or a hot Fever scorch ’um to embers, - Pox keep ’um in bed - Untill they are dead, - And repent for the loss of their Members. - - And may they be found - In all to abound, - Both with heaven and the countries anger, - May they never want Fractions, - Doubts, Fears, and Distractions, - Till the Gallow-tree choaks them from danger. - - - - -[p. 31.] - -_Insatiate Desire._ - - - O That I could by any Chymick Art - To sperme, convert my spirit and my heart, - That at one thrust I might my soul translate, - And in her w... my self degenerate, - There steep’d in lust nine months I would remain, - Then boldly —— my passage back again. - - - - -[p. 32.] - -_The Horn exalted._ - - - Listen Lordings to my Story, - I will sing of Cuckolds glory, - And thereat let none be vext, - None doth know whose turn is next; - And seeing it is in most mens scorn, - ’Tis Charity to advance the _Horn_. - - _Diana_ was a Virgin pure, - Amongst the rest chaste and demure; - Yet you know well, I am sure, - What _Acteon_ did endure, - If men have _Horns_ for [such] as she, [p. 33.] - I pray thee tell me what are we? - - Let thy friend enjoy his rest, - What though he wear _Acteons_ creast? - Malice nor Venome at him spit, - He wears but what the gods thinks fit; - Confess he is by times Recorder - Knight of great _Diana’s_ Order. - - _Luna_ was no venial sinner, - Yet she hath a man within her, - And to cut off Cuckolds scorns, - She decks her head with Silver horns - And if the moon in heaven[’]s thus drest, - The men on earth like it are blest. - - - - -[_A Droll of a Louse_ (p. 33.), seven verses of seven lines each, -beginning “Discoveries of late have been made by adventures,” is -reserved. _Vide ante_ p. 230.] - - - - -[p. 38.] - -_A Letany._ - - - From _Essex_ Anabaptist Laws, - And from _Norfolk_ Plough-tail Laws, [? taws] - From _Abigails_ pure tender Zeal, - Whiter than a _Brownists_ veal, - From a Serjeants Temple pickle, - And the Brethrens _Conventicle_, - From roguish meetings, or Cutpurse hall, - And _New-England_, worst of all, - _Libera nos Domine_. - - From the cry of _Ludgate_ debters, [p. 39.] - And the noise of Prisoners Fetters, - From groans of them that have the Pox, - And coyl of Beggars in the Stocks, - From roar o’ th’ _Bridge_, and _Bedlam_ prate, - And with Wives met at _Billingsgate_, - From scritch-owles, and dogs night-howling, - From Sailers cry at their main bowling, - _Libera nos Domine_. - - From _Frank Wilsons_ trick of _mopping_, - And her ulcered h... with _popping_, - From Knights o’ th’ post, and from decoys, - From _Whores_, _Bawds_, and roaring _Boys_, - From a _Bulker_ in the dark, - And _Hannah_ with St. _Tantlins_ Clark, - From Biskets Bawds have rubb’d their gums, - And from purging-Comfit plums, - _Libera nos Domine_. - - From _Sue Prats_ Son, the fair and witty, - The Lord of _Portsmouth_, sweet and pretty, - From her that creeps up _Holbourne_ hill, - And _Moll_ that cries, _God-dam-me_ still, - From backwards-ringing of the Bells, - From both the Counters and Bridewells, - From blind _Robbin_ and his _Bess_, - And from a Purse that’s penniless, - _Libera nos Domine_. - - From gold-finders, and night-weddings, - From _Womens_ eyes false liquid sheddings, - From _Rocks_, _Sands_, and _Cannon-shot_, - And from a stinking Chamber-pot, - From a hundred years old sinner, [p. 40.] - And Duke _Humphreys_ hungry dinner, - From stinking breath of an old Aunt[,] - From Parritors and Pursevants[,] - _Libera nos Domine_. - - From a Dutchmans snick and sneeing, - From a nasty Irish being[,] - From a _Welchmans_ lofty bragging, - And a Monsieur loves not drabbing, - - From begging Scotchmen and their pride, - From striving ’gainst both wind and tide, - From too much strong Wine and Beer, - Enforcing us to domineer, - _Libera nos Domine_. - - - - -[Following the above comes a group of more than usually objectionable -Songs, viz., _John_ and _Joan_, beginning “If you will give ear” (p. 46); -“Full forty times over I have strived to win,” same title (p. 61); The -Answer to it, “He is a fond Lover that doateth on scorn” (p. 62); Love’s -Tenement, “If any one do want a house” (p. 64); and A New Year’s Gift, -“Fair Lady, for your New Year’s Gift” (p. 81). These are all reserved for -the Chamber of Horrors. _Vide ante_, p. 230.] - - - - -[p. 103.] - -_New ~England~ described._ - - - Among the purifidian Sect, - I mean the counterfeit Elect: - Zealous bankrupts, Punks devout, - Preachers suspended, rabble rout, - Let them sell all, and out of hand - Prepare to go to _New England_, - To build new _Babel_ strong and sure, - Now call’d a Church unspotted pure. - - There Milk from Springs, like Rivers, flows, - And Honey upon hawthorn grows; - Hemp, Wool, and Flax, there grows on trees, - The mould is fat, it cuts like cheese; - All fruits and herbs spring in the fields, - Tobacco it good plenty yields; - And there shall be a Church most pure, - Where you may find salvation sure. - - There’s Venison of all sorts great store, - Both Stag, and buck, wild Goat, and Boar, - And all so tame, that you with ease - May take your fill, eat what you please; - There’s Beavers plenty, yea, so many, - That you may buy two skins a penny, - Above all this, a Church most pure, - Where to be saved you may be sure. - - There’s flight of Fowl do cloud the skie, - Great Turkies of threescore pound weight, - As big as Estriges, there Geese, [p. 104.] - With thanks, are sold for pence a piece; - Of Duck and Mallard, Widgeon, Teale, - Twenty for two-pence make a meale; - Yea, and a Church unspotted pure, - Within whose bosome all are sure. - - Loe, there in shoals all sorts of fish, - Of the salt seas, and water fresh: - Ling, Cod, Poor-John, and Haberdine, - Are taken with the Rod and Line; - A painful fisher on the shore - May take at least twenty an houre; - Besides all this a Church most pure, - Where you may live and dye secure. - - There twice a year all sorts of Grain - Doth down from heaven, like hailstones, rain; - You ne’r shall need to sow nor plough, - There’s plenty of all things enough: - Wine sweet and wholsome drops from trees, - As clear as chrystal, without lees; - Yea, and a Church unspotted, pure, - From dregs of Papistry secure. - - No Feasts nor festival set daies - Are here observed, the Lord be prais’d, - Though not in Churches rich and strong, - Yet where no Mass was ever Sung, - The Bulls of _Bashan_ ne’r met there[;] - _Surplice_ and _Cope_ durst not appear; - Old Orders all they will abjure, - This Church hath all things new and pure. - - No discipline shall there be used, [p. 105.] - The Law of Nature they have chused[;] - All that the spirit seems to move - Each man may choose and so approve, - There’s Government without command, - There’s unity without a band; - A Synagogue unspotted pure, - Where lust and pleasure dwells secure. - - Loe in this Church all shall be free - To Enjoy their Christian liberty; - All things made common, void of strife, - Each man may take anothers wife, - And keep a hundred maids, if need, - To multiply, increase, and breed, - Then is not this Foundation sure, - To build a Church unspotted, pure? - - The native People, though yet wild, - Are altogether kind and mild, - And apt already, by report, - To live in this religious sort; - Soon to conversion they’l be brought - When _Warrens Mariery_ have wrought, - Who being sanctified and pure, - May by the Spirit them alure. - - Let _Amsterdam_ send forth her Brats, - Her Fugitives and Runnagates: - Let Bedlam, Newgate, and the Clink - Disgorge themselves into this sink; - Let Bridewell and the stews be kept, - And all sent thither to be swept; - So may our Church be cleans’d and pure, - Keep both it self and state secure. - - - - -[p. 106.] - -_The insatiate Lover._ - - - Come hither my own sweet duck, - And sit upon my knee, - That thou and I may truck - For thy Commodity, - If thou wilt be my honey, - Then I will be thine own, - Thou shall not want for money - If thou wilt make it known; - With hey ho my honey, - My heart shall never rue, - For I have been spending money - And amongst the jovial Crew. - - I prethee leave thy scorning, - Which our true love beguiles, - Thy eyes are bright as morning, - The Sun shines in thy smiles, - Thy gesture is so prudent, - Thy language is so free, - That he is the best Student - Which can study thee; - With hey ho, _&c._ - - The Merchant would refuse - His Indies and his Gold - If he thy love might chuse, - And have thy love in hold: - Thy beauty yields more pleasure - Than rich men keep in store, - And he that hath such treasure [p. 107.] - Never can be poor; - With hey ho, _&c._ - - The Lawyer would forsake - His wit and pleading strong: - The Ruler and Judge would take - Thy part wer’t right or wrong; - Should men thy beauty see - Amongst the learned throngs, - Thy very eyes would be - Too hard for all their tongues; - With hey ho, _&c._ - - Thy kisses to thy friend - The Surgeons skill out-strips, - For nothing can transcend - The balsome of thy Lips, - There is such vital power - Contained in thy breath, - That at the latter hour - ’Twould raise a man from death; - With hey, ho, _&c._ - - Astronomers would not - Lye gazing in the skies - Had they thy beauty got, - No Stars shine like thine eyes: - For he that may importune - Thy love to an embrace, - Can read no better fortune - Then what is in thy face. - With hey ho, _&c._ - - The Souldier would throw down [p. 108.] - His Pistols and Carbine, - And freely would be bound - To wear no arms but thine: - If thou wert but engaged - To meet him in the field, - Though never so much inraged - Thou couldest make him yield, - With hey ho, _&c._ - - The seamen would reject [Seaman] - To sayl upon the Sea, - And his good ship neglect - To be aboard of thee: - When thou liest on thy pillows - He surely could not fail - To make thy brest his billows, - And to hoyst up sayl; - With hey ho, _&c._ - - The greatest Kings alive - Would wish thou wert their own, - And every one would strive - To make thy Lap their Throne, - For thou hast all the merit - That love and liking brings; - Besides a noble spirit, - Which may conquer Kings; - With hey ho, _&c._ - - Were _Rosamond_ on earth - I surely would abhor her, - Though ne’r so great by birth - I should not change thee for her; - Though Kings and Queens are gallant, [p. 109.] - And bear a royal sway, - The poor man hath his Talent, - And loves as well as they, - With hey ho, _&c._ - - Then prethee come and kiss me, - And say thou art mine own, - I vow I would not miss thee - Not for a Princes Throne; - Let love and I perswade thee - My gentle suit to hear: - If thou wilt be my Lady, - Then I will be thy dear; - With hey ho, _&c._ - - I never will deceive thee, - But ever will be true, - Till death I shall not leave thee, - Or change thee for a new; - We’ll live as mild as may be, - If thou wilt but agree, - And get a pretty baby - With a face like thee, - With hey ho, _&c._ - - Let these perswasions move thee - Kindly to comply, - There’s no man that can love thee - With so much zeal as I; - Do thou but yield me pleasure, - And take from me this pain, - I’ll give thee all the Treasure - Horse and man can gain; - With hey ho, _&c._ - - I’ll fight in forty duels [p. 110.] - To obtain thy grace, - I’ll give thee precious jewels - Shall adorn thy face; - E’r thou for want of money - Be to destruction hurl’d, - For to support my honey - I’ll plunder all the world; - With hey ho, _&c._ - - That smile doth show consenting, - Then prethee let’s be gone, - There shall be no repenting - When the deed is done; - My bloud and my affection, - My spirits strongly move, - Then let us for this action - Fly to yonder grove, - With hey ho, _&c._ - - Let us lye down by those bushes - That are grown so high, - Where I will hide thy blushes; - Here’s no standers by - This seventh day of _July_, - Upon this bank we’ll lye, - Would all were, that love truly, - As close as thou and I; - With hey ho[,] my honey, - My heart shall never rue, - For I have been spending money - Amongst the jovial Crew. - - - - -[Followed, in 1661 edition by “Now that the Spring,” &c., and the three -other pieces which are to be found in succession, already printed in our -_Merry Drollery, Compleat_ of 1670, 1691, pp. 296-301: The last of these -being the Song, “She lay all naked in her bed.” This begins on p. 115, -of Part 2nd, 1661; p. 300, 1691. In the former edition it is followed by -“The Answer,” beginning “She lay up to,” &c., which, like other extremely -objectionable pieces, is kept apart. Next follow, in 1661 edition, The -Louse, and the Concealment.] - - - - -[p. 149.] - -_The Louse._ - - - If that you will hear of a Ditty - That’s framed by a six-footed Creature, - She lives both in Town and in City, - She is very loving by nature; - She’l offer her service to any, - She’l stick close but she’l prevail, - She’s entertained by too many - Till death, she no man will fail. - - _Fenner_ once in a Play did describe her, - How she had her beginning first, - How she sprung from the loyns of great _Pharaoh_, - And how by a King she was nurs’d: - How she fell on the Carkass of _Herod_, - A companion for any brave fighter, - And there’s no fault to be found with her, - But that she’s a devillish backbiter. - - With Souldiers she’s often comraded - And often does them much good, - She’l save them the charge of a Surgeon - In sickness for letting them blood; - Corruption she draws like a horse-leech, [p. 150.] - Growing she’ll prove a great breeder, - At night she will creep in her cottage, - By day she’s a damnable feeder. - - She’l venture as much in a battel - As any Commander may go, - But then she’l play Jack on both sides, - She cares not a fart for her Foe: - She knows that alwaies she’s shot-free, - To kill her no sword will prevaile, - But if she’s taken prisoner, - She’s prest to death by the naile. - - She doth not esteem of your rich men, - But alwaies sticks close to the poor; - Nor she cares not for your clean shifters, - Nor for such as brave cloaths wear; - She loves all such as are non-suited, - Or any brave fellow that lacks; - She’s as true a friend to poor Souldiers, - As the shirt that sticks close to their backs. - - She cannot abide your clean Laundress, - Nor those that do set her on work, - Her delight is all in foul linnen, - Where in narraw seams she may lurk: - From her and her breed God defend me, - For I have had their company store, - Pray take her among you[,] Gentry, - Let her trouble poor souldiers no more. - - - - -[As already mentioned, this is followed, in the 1661 Part Second, page -151, by The Concealment, beginning “I loved a maid, she loved not me,” -which is the last of the songs or poems peculiar to that edition. See -the end of our Supplement: so paged that it may be either omitted -or included, leaving no _hiatus_. We add, after the Supplement, the -title-page of the 1670 edition of _Merry Drollery, Compleat_; when -reissued in 1691, the _same sheets_ held the fresh title-page prefixed, -such as we gave in second Volume. Readers now possess the entire work, -all three editions, comprehended in our Reprint: which is the Fourth -Edition, but the first Annotated. J. W. E.] - - - - -Appendix. - - - - -APPENDIX. - -_Notes, Illustrations, Various Readings, and Emendations of Text._ - -(NOW FIRST ADDED.) - -Arranged in Four Parts:— - - 1.—_Choyce Drollery_, 1656. - - 2.—_Antidote against Melancholy_, 1661. - - 3.—_Westminster-Drollery_, 1674. - - 4.—_Merry Drollery_, 1661; and Additional Notes to 1670-1691 - editions: with Index. - - -Readers, who have accompanied the Editor both in text and comment -throughout these three volumes of Reprints from the _Drolleries of the -Restoration_, can scarcely have failed to see that he has desired to -present the work for their study with such advantages as lay within his -reach. Certainly, he never could have desired to assist in bringing these -rare volumes into the hands of a fresh generation, if he believed not -that their few faults were far outweighed by their merits; and that much -may be learnt from both of these. Every antiquary is well aware that -during the troubled days of the Civil War, and for the remaining years -of the seventeenth century, books were printed with such an abundance -of typographical errors that a pure text of any author cannot easily be -recovered. In the case of all unlicensed publications, such as anonymous -pamphlets, _facetiæ_, broad-sheet Ballads, and the more portable -_Drolleries_, these imperfections were innumerable. Dropt lines and -omitted verses, corrupt readings and perversions of meaning, sometimes -amounting to a total destruction of intelligibility, might drive an -Editor to despair. - -In regard to the _Drolleries_-literature, especially, if we remember, as -we ought to do, the difficulties and dangers attendant on the printing of -these political squibs and pasquinades, we shall be less inclined to rail -at the original collector, or “author,” and printers. If we ourselves, as -Editor, do our best to examine such other printed books and manuscripts -of the time, as may assist in restoring what for awhile was corrupted -or lost from the text (_keeping these corrections and additions clearly -distinguished, within square brackets, or in Appendix Notes_ to each -successive volume), we shall find ourselves more usefully employed than -in flinging stones at the Cavaliers of the Restoration, because they left -behind them many a doubtful reading or an empty flaggon. - -We have given back, to all who desire to study these invaluable -records of a memorable time, four complete unmutilated works (except -twenty-seven necessarily dotted words): and we could gladly have -furnished additional information regarding each and all of these, if -further delay or increased bulk had not been equally inexpedient. - -1.—In _Choyce Drollery_, 1656, are seen such fugitive pieces of poetry as -belong chiefly to the reign of Charles 1st., and to the eight years after -he had been judicially murdered. - -2.—In _Merry Drollery_, 1661, and in the _Antidote against Melancholy_ -of the same date, we receive an abundant supply of such Cavalier songs, -ballads, lampoons or pasquinades, social and political, as may serve to -bring before us a clear knowledge of what was being thought, said, and -done during the first year of the Restoration; and, indeed, a reflection -of much that had gone recently before, as a preparation for it. - -3.—In such _additional_ matter as came to view in the _Merry Drollery, -Compleat_, of 1670 (N.B., precisely the same work as what we have -reprinted, from the 1691 edition, in our second volume); and still more -in the delightful _Westminster-Drolleries_ of 1671, 1672, and 1674, we -enjoy the humours of the Cavaliers at a later date: Songs from theatres -as well as those in favour at Court, and more than a few choice pastorals -and ditties of much earlier date, lend variety to the collection. - -We could easily have added another volume; but enough has surely been -done in this series to show how rich are the materials. Let us increase -the value of all, before entering in detail on our third series of -Appendix Notes, by giving entirely the deeply-interesting Address to -the Reader, written and published in 1656 (exactly contemporary with -our _Choyce Drollery_), by Abraham Wright, for his rare collection of -University Poems, known as “_Parnassus Biceps_.” - - It is “An Epistle in the behalfe of those now doubly-secluded - and sequestered Members, by one who himselfe is none.” - - [Sheet sig. A 2.] - - “To the Ingenuous - READER. - - SIR, - - These leaves present you with some few drops of that Ocean - of Wit, which flowed from those two brests of this Nation, - the _Universities_; and doth now (the sluces being puld up) - overflow the whole Land: or rather like those Springs of - Paradice, doth water and enrich the whole world; whilst the - Fountains themselues are dryed up, and that Twin-Paradise - become desart. For then were these Verses Composed, when - _Oxford_ and _Camebridge_ were Universities, and a Colledge [A - 2, _reverso_] more learned then a Town-Hall, when the Buttery - and Kitchin could speak Latine, though not Preach; and the very - irrational Turnspits had so much knowing modesty, as not to - dare to come into a Chappel, or to mount any Pulpits but their - own. Then were these Poems writ, when peace and plenty were - the best Patriots and Mæcenasses to great Wits; when we could - sit and make Verses under our own Figtrees, and be inspired - from the juice of our own Vines: then, when it was held no - sin for the same man to be both a Poet, and a Prophet; and to - draw predictions no lesse from his Verse then his Text. Thus - you shall meet here St. _Pauls_ Rapture in a Poem, and the - fancy as high and as clear as the third Heaven, into which - [A. 3] that Apostle was caught up: and this not onely in the - ravishing expressions and extasies of amorous Composures and - Love Songs; but in the more grave Dorick strains of sollid - Divinity: Anthems that might have become _Davids_ Harpe, and - _Asaphs_ Quire, to be sung, as they were made, with the Spirit - of that chief Musitian. Againe, In this small Glasse you may - behold your owne face, fit your own humors, however wound up - and tuned; whether to the sad note, and melancholy look of a - disconsolate Elegy, or those more sprightly jovial Aires of an - Epithalamium, or Epinichion. Further, would you see a Mistresse - of any age, or face, in her created, or uncreated complexion: - this mirrour presents you with more shapes then a Conjurers - [_verso_] Glasse, or a Limner’s Pencil. It will also teach - you how to court that Mistresse, when her very washings and - pargettings cannot flatter her; how to raise a beauty out of - wrinkles fourscore years old, and to fall in love even with - deformity and uglinesse. From your Mistresse it brings you to - your God; and (as it were some new Master of the Ceremonies) - instructs you how to woe, and court him likewise; but with - approaches and distances, with gestures and expressions - suitable to a Diety [Deity]; addresses clothed with such a - sacred filial horror and reverence, as may invite and embolden - the most despairing condition of the saddest gloomy Sinner; - and withall dash out of countenance the greatest confidence - of the most glorious Saint: and not with that blasphemous - familiarity [A. 4] of our new enlightened and inspired men, - who are as bold with the Majesty and glory of that Light - that is unapproachable, as with their own _ignes fatui_; and - account of the third Person in the blessed Trinity for no more - then their Fellow-Ghost; thinking him as much bound to them - for their vertiginous blasts and whi[r]le-winds, as they to - him for his own most holy Spirit. Your Authors then of these - few sheets are Priests, as well as Poets; who can teach you - to pray in verse, and (if there were not already too much - phantasticknes in that Trade) to Preach likewise: while they - turn Scripture-chapters into Odes, and both the Testaments - into one book of Psalmes: making _Parnassus_ as sacred as - Mount _Olivet_, and the nine Muses no lesse religious then a - Cloyster of Nuns. [_verso_.] But yet for all this I would not - have thee, _Courteous Reader_, pass thy censure upon those - two Fountains of Religion and Learning, the _Universities_, - from these few small drops of wit, as hardly as some have done - upon the late _Assemblies_ three-half-penny Catechisme: as if - all their publick and private Libraries, all their morning - and evening watchings, all those pangs and throwes of their - Studies, were now at length delivered but of a Verse, and - brought to bed onely of five feet, and a Conceit. For although - the judicious modesty of these men dares not look the world - in the face with any of _Theorau Johns_ Revelations, or those - glaring New-lights that have muffled the Times and Nation with - a greater confusion and darknes, then ever benighted [A. 5] - the world since the first Chaos: yet would they please but to - instruct this ignorant Age with those exact elaborate Pieces, - which might reform Philosophy without a Civil War, and new - modell even Divinity its selfe without the ruine of either - Church, or State; probably that most prudent and learned Order - of the Church of _Rome_, the _Jesuite_, should not boast - more sollid, though more numerous Volum[e]s in this kind. - And of this truth that Order was very sensible, when it felt - the rational Divinity of one single _Chillingworth_ to be an - unanswerable twelve-years-task for all their English Colledges - in Chrisendome. And therefore that _Society_ did like its - selfe, when it sent us over a War instead of an Answer, and - proved us Hereticks by the Sword: which [_verso_] in the first - place was to Rout the _Universities_, and to teach our two - Fountains of Learning better manners, then for ever heareafter - to bubble and swell against the _Apostolick Sea_. And yet I - know not whether the depth of their Politicks might not have - advised to have kept those Fountains within their own banks, - and there to have dammd them and choakd them up with the mud - of the Times, rather then to have let those Protestant Streams - run, which perchance may effect that now by the spreading - Riverets, which they could never have done through the inclosed - Spring: as it had been a deeper State-piece and Reach in that - Sanedrim, the great Councell of the Jewish Nation, to have - confined the Apostles to _Jerusalem_, and there to have muzzeld - them [A 6] with Oaths, and Orders; rather then by a fruitful - Persecution to scatter a few Gospel Seeds, that would spring - up the Religion of the whole world: which had it been Coopd - within the walls of that City, might (for all they knew) in - few years have expired and given up the ghost upon the same - _Golgotha_ with its Master. And as then every Pair of Fishermen - made a Church and caught the sixt part of the world in their - Nets; so now every Pair of Ce[o]lledge-fellows make as many - several Universityes; which are truly so call’d, in that they - are Catholick, and spread over the face of the whole earth; - which stand amazed, to see not onely Religion, but Learning - also to come from beyond the _Alpes_; and that a poor despised - Canton and nook of the world should contain as much of each - [_verso_] as all the other Parts besides. But then, as when our - single Jesus was made an universall Saviour, and his particular - Gospel the Catholick Religion; though that Jesus and this - Gospel did both take their rise from the holy City; yet now no - City is more unholy and infidel then that; insomuch that there - is at this day scarce any thing to be heard of a Christ at - _Jerusalem_, more then that such a one was sometimes there, nor - any thing to be seen of his Gospel, more then a Sepulcher: just - so it is here with us; where though both Religion and Learning - do owe their growth, as well as birth, to those Nurseryes of - both, the Universityes; yet, since the Siens of those Nurseryes - have been transplanted, there’s little remaines in them now - (if they are not belyed) either of the old [A 7] Religion - and Divinity, more then its empty Chair & Pulpit, or of the - antient Learning & Arts, except bare Schools, and their gilded - Superscriptions: so far have we beggard our selves to enrich - the whole world. And thus, _Ingenuous Sir_, have I given you - the State and Condition of this _Poetick Miscellany_, as also - of the _Authors_; it being no more then some few slips of the - best Florists made up into a slender Garland, to crown them - in their Pilgrimage, and refresh thee in thine: if yet their - very Pilgrimage be not its selfe a Crown equall to that of - Confessors, and their Academicall Dissolution a Resurrection to - the greatest temporall glory: when they shall be approved of by - men and Angels for a chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood, a - peculiar People. In the interim let this [_verso_] comfort be - held out to you, _our secluded University members_, by him that - is none; (and therefore what hath been here spoken must not be - interpreted as out of passion to my self, but meer zeal to my - Mother) that according to the generally received Principles - and Axioms of Policy, and the soundest Judgment of the most - prudential Statesmen upon those Principles, the date of your - sad Ostracisme is expiring, and at an end; but yet such an end, - as some of you will not embrace when it shall be offered; but - will chuse rather to continue Peripateticks through the whole - world, then to return, and be so in your own Colledges. For - as that great Councell of _Trent_ had a Form and Conclusion - altogether contrary to the expectation and desires of them that - procured it; so our great Councels of _England_ [A 8] (our - late Parliament) will have such a result, and Catastrophe, as - shall no ways answer the Fasts and Prayers, the Humiliations, - and Thanksgivings of their Plotters and Contrivers: such a - result I say, that will strike a palsie through Mr. _Pims_ - ashes, make his cold Marble sweat; and put all those several - Partyes, and Actors, that have as yet appeard upon our tragical - bloudy Stage, to an amazed stand and gaze: when they shall - confess themselves (but too late) to be those improvident axes - and hammers in the hand of a subtle _Workman_; whereby he was - enabled to beat down, and square out our Church and State - into a Conformity with his own. And then it will appeare that - the great Worke, and the holy Cause, and the naked Arme, so - much talked of for [_verso_] these fifteen years, were but - the work, and the cause, and the arme of that _Hand_, which - hath all this while reached us over the _Alpes_; dividing, - and composing, winding us up, and letting us down, untill our - very discords have set and tuned us to such notes, both in our - Ecclesiastical, and Civill Government; as may soonest conduce - to that most necessary Catholick Unison and Harmony, which - is an essential part of Christs Church here upon Earth, and - the very Church its selfe in Heaven. And thus far, _Ingenuous - Reader_, suffer him to be a Poet in his Prediction, though not - in his Verse; who desires to be known so far to thee, as that - he is a friend to persecuted Truth and Peace; and thy most - affectionate Christian Servant, - - _Ab: Wright_.” - - (From _Parnassus Biceps: or, Severall Choice Pieces of POETRY, - composed by the best WITS that were in both the Universities - before their DISSOLUTION_. London: Printed for _George - Eversden_ at the Signe of the _Maidenhead_ in St. _Pauls_ - Church-yard, 1656.) - - -1.—CHOYCE DROLLERY, 1656. - -Note, on _The Address to the Reader_, &c. - -The subscribed initials, “R. P.” are those of Robert Pollard; whose name -appears on the title-page (which we reproduce), preceding his address. -Excepting that he was a bookseller, dwelling and trading at the “Ben -Jonson’s Head, behind the Exchange,” in business-connection with John -Sweeting, of the Angel, in Pope’s Head Alley, in 1656; and that he had -previously issued a somewhat similar Collection of Poems to the _Choyce -Drollery_ (successful, but not yet identified), we know nothing more of -Robert Pollard. The books of that date, and of that special class, are -extremely rare, and the few existing copies are so difficult of access -(for the most part in private possession, almost totally inaccessible -except to those who know not how to use them), that information can only -be acquired piecemeal and laboriously. Five years hence, if the Editor -be still alive, he may be able to tell much more concerning the authors -and the compilers of the _Restoration Drolleries_. - -We are told that there is an extra leaf to _Choyce Drollery_, “only found -in a few copies, containing ten lines of verse, beginning _Fame’s windy -trump_, &c. This leaf occurs in one or two extant copies of _England’s -Parnassus_, 1600. Many of the pieces found here are much older than -the date of the book [viz., 1656]. It contains notices of many of our -early poets, and, unlike some of its successors, is of intrinsic value. -Only two or three copies have occurred.” (_W. C. H.’s Handb. Pop. Lit. -G. B._, 1867, p. 168.) “Cromwell’s Government ordered this book to be -burned.” (_Ibid._) On this last item see our Introduction, section -first. J. P. Collier, who prepared the Catalogue of Richard Heber’s -Collection, _Bibliotheca Heberiana_, Pt. iv., 1834 (a rich storehouse -for bibliographical students, but not often gratefully acknowledged -by them), thus writes of _Choyce Drollery_:—“This is one of the most -intrinsically valuable of the _Drolleries_, if only for the sake of the -very interesting poem in which characters are given of all the following -Poets: Shakespeare, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, Chapman, -Daborne, Sylvester, Quarles, May, Sands, Digges, Daniel, Drayton, -Withers, Brown, Shirley, Ford, Middleton, Heywood, Churchyard, Dekker, -Brome, Chaucer, Spencer, Basse, and finally John Shank, the Actor, who is -said to have been famous for a jig. Other pieces are much older, and are -here reprinted from previous collections” [mostly lost]. P. 90. - -It is also known to J. O. Halliwell-Phillips; (but, truly, what is _not_ -known to him?) See _Shakespeare Society’s Papers_, iii. 172, 1847. - -In our copy of _England’s Parnassus_ (unindexed, save subjects), 1600, we -sought to find “_Fame’s windy trump_.” [We hear that the leaf was in _E. -P._ at Tite’s sale, 1874.] - -As we have never seen a copy of _Choyce Drollery_ containing the passage -of “ten lines,” described as beginning “Fame’s Windy Trump,” we cannot be -quite certain of the following, from _England’s Parnassus_, 1600, being -the one in question, but believe that it is so. Perhaps it ran, “_Fame’s -Windy Trump, whatever sound out-flies_,” &c. There are twenty-seven lines -in all. We distinguish the probable portion of “ten lines” by enclosing -the other two parts in brackets:— - -FAME. - - [_A Monster swifter none is under sunne;_ - _Encreasing, as in waters we descrie_ - _The circles small, of nothing that begun,_ - _Which, at the length, unto such breadth do come,_ - _That of a drop, which from the skies doth fall,_ - _The circles spread, and hide the waters all:_ - _So Fame, in flight encreasing more and more;_ - _For, at the first, she is not scarcely knowne,_ - _But by and by she fleets from shore to shore,_ - _To clouds from th’ earth her stature straight is growne._ - _There whatsoever by her trumpe is blowne,_] - - _The sound, that both by sea and land out-flies,_ - _Rebounds againe, and verberates the skies._ - _They say, the earth that first the giants bred,_ - _For anger that the gods did them dispatch,_ - _Brought forth this sister of those monsters dead,_ - _Full light of foote, swift wings the winds to catch:_ - _Such monsters erst did nature never hatch._ - _As many plumes she hath from top to toe,_ - _So many eyes them underwatch or moe;_ - _And tongues do speake: so many eares do harke._ - - [_By night ’tweene heaven she flies and earthly shade,_ - _And, shreaking, takes no quiet sleepe by darke:_ - _On houses roofes, on towers, as keeper made,_ - _She sits by day, and cities threates t’ invade;_ - _And as she tells what things she sees by view,_ - _She rather shewes that’s fained false, then true._] - - [Legend of Albanact.] I. H., _Mirror of Magist_. - - -Page 1. _Deare Love, let me this evening dye._ - -This beautiful little love-poem re-appears, as Song 77, in _Windsor -Drollery_, 1672, p. 63. (There had been a previous edition of that work, -in 1671, which we have examined: it is not noted by bibliographers, and -is quite distinct.) A few variations occur. Verse 2. are _wrack’d_; 3. -In _love_ is not commended; _only_ sweet, All praise, _no_ pity; who -_fondly_; 4. _Shall shortly_ by dead Lovers lie; _hallow’d_; 5. _He_ -which _all others_ els excels, That _are_; 6. _Will_, though thou; 7. -_the_ Bells _shall_ ring; _While_ all to _black is_; (last line but two -in parenthesis;) Making, like Flowers, &c. - - -Page 4. _Nor Love nor Fate dare I accuse._ - -By RICHARD BROME, in his “_Northerne Lasse_,” 1632, Act ii., sc. 6. It -is also given in _Westminster-Drollery_, 1671, i. 83 (the only song in -common). But compare with it the less musical and tender, “_Nor Love, -nor Fate can I accuse of hate_,” in same vol. ii. 90, with Appendix Note -thereunto, p. lxiii. - - -Page 5. _One night the great ~Apollo~, pleased with ~Ben~._ - -This remarkable and little-known account of “THE TIME-POETS” is doubly -interesting, as being a contemporary document, full of life-like -portraiture of men whom no lapse of years can banish from us; welcome -friends, whom we grow increasingly desirous of beholding intimately. -Glad are we to give it back thus to the world; our chief gem, in its -rough Drollery-setting: lifted once more into the light of day, from -out the cobwebbed nooks where it so long-time had lain hidden. Our joy -would have been greater, could we have restored authoritatively the lost -sixteenth-line, by any genuine discovery among early manuscripts; or told -something conclusive about the author of the poem, who has laid us under -obligation for these vivid portraits of John Ford, Thomas Heywood, poor -old Thomas Churchyard, and Ben’s courageous foeman, worthy of his steel, -that Thomas Dekker who “followed after in a dream.” - -In deep humility we must confess that nothing is yet learnt as to the -authorship. Here, in the year 1656, almost at fore-front of _Choyce -Drollery_, the very strength of its van-guard, appeared the memorable -poem. Whether it were then and there for the first time in print, or -borrowed from some still more rare and now-lost volume, none of us can -prove. Even at this hour, a possibility remains that our resuscitation -of _Choyce Drollery_ may help to bring the unearthing of explanatory -facts from zealous students. We scarcely dare to cherish hope of this. -Certainly we may not trust to it. For Gerard Langbaine knew the poem -well, and quoted oft and largely from it in his 1691 _Account of the -English Dramatick Poets_. But he met with it nowhere save in _Choyce -Drollery_, and writes of it continually in language that proves how -ignorant he was of whom we are to deem the author. Yet he wrote within -five-and-thirty years behind the date of its appearance; and might easily -have learnt, from men still far from aged, who had read the _Drollery_ on -its first publication, whatever they could tell of “The Time-Poets:” if, -indeed, they could tell anything. Five years earlier, William Winstanley -had given forth his _Lives of the most famous English Poets_, in June, -1686; but he quotes not from it, and leaves us without an _Open Sesame_. -Even Oldys could not tell; or Thomas Hearne, who often had remembered -whatever Time forgot. - -As to the date: we believe it was certainly written between 1620 -(inclusive) and 1636; nearer the former year. - -We reconcile ourselves for the failure, by turning to such other -and similar poetic groupings as survive. We listen unto Richard -Barnfield, when he sings sweetly his “Remembrance of some English -Poets,” in 1598. We cling delightedly to the words of our noble Michael -Drayton—whose descriptive map of native England, _Polyolbion_, glitters -with varie-coloured light, as though it were a mediæval missal: to -whom, enditing his Epistle to friend Henry Reynolds—“A Censure of the -Poets”—the Muses brought each bard by turn, so that the picture might be -faithful: even as William Blake, idealist and spiritual Seer, believed of -spirit-likenesses in his own experience. And, not without deep feeling -(marvelling, meanwhile, that still the task of printing them with -Editorial care is unattempted), we peruse the folio manuscripts of that -fair-haired minstrel of the Cavaliers, George Daniel of Beswick, while -he also, in his “Vindication of Poesie,” sings in praise of those whose -earlier lays are echoing now and always “through the corridors of Time:”— - - _Truth speaks of old, the power of Poesie;_ - _~Amphion~, ~Orpheus~, stones and trees could move;_ - _Men, first by verse, were taught Civilitie;_ - _’Tis known and granted; yet would it behove_ - _Mee, with the Ancient Singers, here to crowne_ - _Some later Quills, some Makers of our owne._ - -Nor should we fail to thank the younger Evelyn, for such graphic sketches -as he gives of Restoration-Dramatists, of Cowley, Dryden, Wycherley, -“Sedley and easy Etherege;” a new world of wits, all of whose works we -prize, without neglecting for their sakes the older Masters who “so did -take Eliza, and our James.” - -Something that we could gladly say, will come in befittingly on -after-pages of this volume, in the “Additional Note on Sir John -Suckling’s ‘Sessions of the Poets,’” as printed in our _Merry Drollery, -Compleat_, page 72. - - * * * * * - -Are we stumbling at the threshold, _absit omen!_ even amid our delight in -perusing “the Time-Poets,” when we wonder at the precise meaning of the -statement in our opening couplet? - - _One night the great ~Apollo~, pleas’d with ~Ben~,_ - _Made the odd number of the Muses ten._ - -By whom additional? Who is the lady, thus elevated? We see only one -solution: namely, that furnished by the conclusion of the poem. It was -the _Faerie Queene_ herself whom the God lifted thus, in honour of her -English Poets, to rank as the Tenth Muse, an equal with Urania, Clio, -Euterpe, and their sisterhood. Yet something seems wanting, next -to it; for we never reach a full-stop until the end of the 39th (or -_query_, the 40th) line; and all the confluent nominatives lack a common -verbal-action. Our mind, it is true, accepts intelligibly the onward -rush of each and all (but later, “with equal pace each of them softly -creeps”). It may be only grammatical pedantry which craves some such -phrase, absent from the text, as— - - [_While throng’d around his comrades and his peers,_ - _To list the ’sounding Music of the Spheres_:] - -But, since a momentary rashness prompts us here to dare so much, as to -imagine the _hiatus_ filled, let us suppose that the lost sixteenth-line -ran someway thus (each reader being free to try experiments himself, with -chance of more success):— - - _Divine-composing ~Quarles~, whose lines aspire_ - [_And glow, as doth with like etherial fire_] 16th. - _The April of all Poesy in ~May~,_ - _Who makes our English speak ~Pharsalia~;_ - -It is with some timidity we let this stand: but, as the text is left -intact, our friends will pardon us; and foes we never quail to meet. As -to BEN JONSON, see our “Sessions,” in Part iv. Of BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, -we write in the note on final page of _Choyce Drollery_, p. 100. Of -“Ingenious SHAKESPEARE” we need say no more than give the lines of -Richard Barnfield in his honour, from the _Poems in diuers humors_, 1598:— - -A REMEMBRANCE OF SOME ENGLISH POETS. - - _Liue ~Spenser~ euer, in thy ~Fairy Queene~:_ - _Whose like (for deepe Conceit) was neuer seene._ - _Crownd mayst thou bee, vnto thy more renowne,_ - _(As King of Poets) with a Lawrell Crowne._ - - _And ~Daniell~, praised for thy sweet-chast Verse:_ - _Whose Fame is grav’d in ~Rosamonds~ blacke Herse._ - _Still mayst thou liue: and still be honored,_ - _For that rare Worke, ~The White Rose and the Red~._ - - _And ~Drayton~, whose wel-written Tragedies_ - _And sweet Epistles, soare thy fame to skies._ - _Thy learned Name, is æquall with the rest;_ - _Whose stately Numbers are so well addrest._ - - _And ~Shakespeare~ thou, whose hony-flowing Vaine,_ - _(Pleasing the World) thy Praises doth obtaine._ - _Whose ~Venus~, and whose ~Lucrece~ (sweete and chaste)_ - _Thy Name in fames immortall Booke hath plac’t._ - _Liue euer you, at least in Fame liue euer:_ - _Well may the Bodye dye, but Fame dies neuer._ - -The praise of MASSINGER will not seem overstrained; although he never -affects us with the sense of supreme genius, as does Marlowe. The -recognition of GEORGE CHAPMAN’S grandeur, and the power with which this -recognition is expressed, show how tame is the influence of Massinger in -comparison. There need be little question that it was to Dekker’s mind -and pen we owe the nobler portion of the Virgin Martyr. Massinger, when -alongside of Marlow, Webster, and Dekker, is like Euripides contrasted -with Æschylus and Sophocles. We think of him as a Playwright, and -successful; but these others were Poets of Apollo’s own body-guard. -Drayton sings: - - _Next MARLOW, bathed in the ~Thespian~ springs,_ - _Had in him those brave translunary things_ - _That the first poets had, his raptures were_ - _All air and fire, which made his verses clear;_ - _For that fine madness still he did retain,_ - _Which rightly should possess a poet’s brain._ - -ROBERT DABORNE is chiefly interesting to us from his connection in -misfortunes and dramatic labours with Massinger and Nat Field; and -as joining them in the supplication for advance of money from Philip -Henslow, while they lay in prison. The reference to Daborne’s clerical, -as well as to his dramatic vocation, and to his having died (in Ireland, -we believe, leaving behind him sermons,) “Amphibion by the Ministry,” -confirms the general belief. - -JO: SYLVESTER’S translation of Du Bartas, 1621; THOMAS MAY’S of Lucan’s -Pharsalia, GEORGE SANDYS’ of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, need little comment -here; some being referred to, near the end of our volume. - -DUDLEY DIGGES (1612-43), born at Chilham Castle, near Canterbury (now the -seat of Charles S. Hardy, Esq.); son of Sir Dudley Digges, Master of the -Rolls, wrote a reverent Elegy for _Jonsonus Virbius_, 1638. L[eonard] -Digges had, fifteen years earlier, written the memorial lines beginning -“Shake-speare, at length thy pious fellows give || The World thy Workes:” -which appear at beginning of the first folio _Shakespeare_, 1623. - -To SAMUEL DANIEL’S high merits we have only lately awakened: his -“Complaint of Rosamond” has a sustained dignity and pathos that deserve -all Barnfield’s praise; the “Sonnets to Delia” are graceful and -impressive in their purity; his “Civil Wars” may seem heavy, but the -fault lies in ourselves, if unsteady readers, not the poet: thus we -suspect, when we remember the true poetic fervour of his Pastoral, - - _O happy Golden Age!_ - -and his Description of Beauty, from Marino. - -Of “Heroick DRAYTON” we write more hereafter: He grows dearer to us -with every year. His “Dowsabell” is on p. 73. Was his being coupled as -a “Poet-Beadle,” in allusion to his numerous verse-epistles, showing an -acquaintance with all the worthies of his day, even as his _Polyolbion_ -gives a roll-call of the men, and a gazetteer of the England they made -illustrious? For, as shown in the _Apophthegmmes of Erasmus_, 1564, Booke -2nd, (p. 296 of the Boston Reprint,) it is “the proper office and dutie -of soche biddelles (who were called in latin _Nomenclators_) to have -perfecte knowlege and remembrance of the names, of the surnames, and of -the titles of dignitees of all persones, to the ende that thei maie helpe -the remembraunce of their maisters in the same when neede is.” To our day -the office of an Esquire Beddell is esteemed in Cambridge University. -But, we imagine, George Wither is styled a “Poets Beadle” with a very -different significance. It was the Bridewell-Beadles’ whip which he -wielded vigorously, in flagellation of offenders, that may have earned -him the title. See his “_Abuses Stript and Whipt_,” 1613, and turn to the -rough wood-cut of cart’s-tail punishment shown in the frontispiece to -_A Caueat or Warening for Common Cursetors, vulgarly called Vagabones_, -set forth by Thomas Harman, Esquier for the utilitie and profit of his -naturall country, &c., 1566, and later (Reprinted by E. E. Text Soc., and -in _O. B. Coll. Misc._, i. No. 4, 1871). - -GEORGE WITHER was his own worst foe, when he descended to satiric -invective and pious verbiage. True poet was he; as his description of the -Muse in her visit to him while imprisoned in the Marshalsea, with almost -the whole of his “Shepherd’s Hunting” and “Mistress of Phil’arete,” prove -incontestibly. He is to be loved and pitied: although perversely he will -argue as a schismatick, always wrong-headed and in trouble, whichever -party reigns. To him, in his sectarian zeal or sermonizing platitudes—all -for our good, alas!—we can but answer with the melancholy Jacques: “I do -not desire you to please me. I do desire you to _sing_!” - -“Pan’s Pastoral _Brown_” is, of course, WM. BROWNE, author of -“Britannia’s Pastorals.” Like JAMES SHIRLEY, last in the group of early -Dramatists, his precocious genius is remembered in the text. Regretting -that no painted or sculptured portrait of JOHN FORDE survives, we are -thankful for this striking picture of him in his sombre meditation. We -could part, willingly, with half of our dramatic possessions since the -nineteenth century began, to recover one of the lost plays by Ford. No -writer holds us more entirely captive to the tenderness of sorrow; no -one’s hand more lightly, yet more powerfully, stirs the affections, while -admitting the sadness, than he who gave us “The Broken Heart,” and “’Tis -pity she’s a whore.” - -Not unhappily chosen is the epithet “The Squibbing MIDDLETON,” for he -almost always fails to impress us fully by his great powers. He warms -not, he enlightens not, with steady glow, but gives us fireworks instead -of stars or altar-burnings. We except from this rebuke his “Faire -Quarrel,” 1622, which shows a much firmer grasp and purpose, fascinating -us the while we read. Perhaps, with added knowledge of him will come -higher esteem. - -Of THOMAS HEYWOOD the portrait is complete, every word developing a -feature: his fertility, his choice of subjects, and rubicund appearance. - -Nor is the humourous sadness, of the figure shewn by the aged THOMAS -CHURCHYARD, less touching because it is dashed in with burlesque. -“Poverty and Poetry his Tomb doth enclose” (_Camden’s Remains_). His -writings extend from the time of Edward VI. to early in the reign of -James I. (he died in 1604); some of the poems in _Tottel’s Miscellany_, -1557, were claimed by him, but are not identified, and J. P. Collier -thought him not unlikely to have partly edited the work, His “Tragedie -of Shore’s Wife,” (best edit. 1698), in the _Mirror for Magistrates_, -surpasses most of his other poems; yet are there biographical details -in _Churchyard’s Chips_, 1575, that reward our perusal. Gascoigne and -several other poets added _Tam Marti quàm Mercurio_ after their names; -but Churchyard could boast thus with more truth as a Soldier. He says:— - - _Full thirty yeers, both Court and Warres I tryed,_ - _And still I sought acquaintaunce with the best,_ - _And served the Staet, and did such hap abyed_ - _As might befall, and Fortune sent the rest:_ - _When drom did sound, a souldier was I prest,_ - _To sea or lande, as Princes quarrell stoed,_ - _And for the saem, full oft I lost my blood._ - -But, throughout, misfortune dogged him:— - - _... To serve my torn [~i.e., turn~] in service of the Queen:_ - _But God he knoes, my gayn was small, I ween,_ - _For though I did my credit still encreace,_ - _I got no welth, by warres, ne yet by peace._ - - (C.’s Chips: _A Tragicall Discourse of the - unhappy man’s Life_; verses 9, 26.) - -Of THOMAS DEKKER, or Decker (about 1575-1638), “_A priest in Apollo’s -Temple, many yeares_,” with his “Old Fortunatus,” both parts of his -“Honest Whore,” his “Satiromastix,” and “Gull’s Hornbook,” &c.,—which -take us back to all the mirth and squabbling of the day—we need add -no word but praise. We believe that a valuable clue is afforded by -the allusion in our text to the pamphlet “Dekker his Dreame,” 1620, -(reprinted by J. O. Halliwell, 1860.) We may be certain that “The -Time-Poets” was not written earlier than 1620, or any later than 1636 (or -probably than 1632), and before Jonson’s death. - - -Page 7. “_Rounce, Robble, Hobble, he that writ so big._” - -In this 50th line the word “high” is evidently redundant (probably an -error in printer’s MS., not erased when the true word “big” was added): -we retain it, of course, though in smaller type; as in similar cases of -excess. But who was “_Rounce, Robble, Hobble_?” Most certainly it was -no other than RICHARD STANYHURST (1547-1618), whose varied adventures, -erudition, and eccentricities of verse combined to make him memorable. -His Hexameter translation of the _Æneis_ Books i-iv, appeared in 1583; -not followed by any more during the thirty-five years succeeding. Gabriel -Harvey praised him, in his “_Foure Letters_,” &c., although Thomas Nashe, -in 1592, declares that “Master Stanyhurst (though otherwise learned) -trod a foule, lumbring, boystrous, wallowing measure in his translation -of Virgil. He had never been praised by Gabriel [Harvey] for his labour, -if therein he had not been so famously absurd.” (_Strange Newes._) This -_Æneid_ had a limited reprint in 1839. Warton in _Hist. Eng. Poetry_ -gives examples (misnaming him Robert) but Camden says “_Eruditissimus -ille nobilis Richardus Stanihurstus_.” In his preface to Greene’s -_Arcadia_, Nash quotes Stanyhurst’s description of a Tempest:— - - _Then did he make heauens vault to rebound_ - _With rounce robble bobble,_ [N.B.] - _Of ruffe raffe roaring,_ - _With thicke thwacke thurly bouncing_: - -and indicates his opinion of the poet, “as of some thrasonical -huffe-snuffe,” indulging in “that quarrelling kind of verse.” One more -specimen, to justify our text, regarding “he that writ so big:” in the -address to the winds, _Æn._, Bk. i., Neptune thus rails:— - - _Dare ye, lo, curst baretours, in this my Seignorie regal,_ - _Too raise such racks iacks on seas and danger unorder’d?_ - -The recent death of Stanyhurst, 1618, strengthens our belief that _the -Time-Poets_ was not later than 1620-32. - -To WILLIAM BASSE we owe the beautiful epitaph on Shakespeare, printed -in 1633, “_Renowned ~Spencer~, lye a thought more nigh To learned -~Chaucer~_,” _etc._, and at least two songs (beside “Great Brittaine’s -Sunnes-set,” 1613), viz., the Hunter in his Career, beginning “Long ere -the Morn,” and one of the best Tom o’ Bedlam’s; probably, “Forth from my -sad and darksome cell.” - -The name of JOHN SHANKE, here suggestively famous “for a jigg,” occurs in -divers lists of players (see J. P. C.’s _Annals of the Stage_, _passim_), -he having been one of Prince Henry’s Company in 1603. That he was also -a singer, we have this verse in proof, written in the reign of James I. -(_Bibliog. Acc._ i. 163):— - - _That’s the fat foole of the ~Curtin~,_ - _And the lean fool of the ~Bull~:_ - _Since ~Shanke~ did leave to sing his rimes_ - _He is counted but a gull._ - _The Players on the ~Banckeside~,_ - _The round ~Globe~ and the ~Swan~,_ - _Will teach you idle tricks of love,_ - _But the ~Bull~ will play the man._ - - (W. Turner’s _Common Cries of London Town_, 1662.) - -“Broom” is RICHARD BROME (died 1652), whose racy comedies have been, like -Dekker’s, lately reprinted. The insinuation that Ben Jonson had “sent him -before to sweep the way,” alludes, no doubt, to the fact of Brome having -earlier been Jonson’s servant, and learning from his personal discourse -much of dramatic art. Neither was it meant nor accepted as an insult, -when, (printed 1632,) Jonson wrote (“according to Ben’s own nature and -custom, magisterial enough,” as their true friend Alexander Brome admits), - - _I had you for a Servant once, ~Dick Brome~;_ - _And you perform’d a Servant’s faithful parts:_ - _Now, you are got into a nearer room_ - _Of ~Fellowship~, professing my old Arts._ - _And you do doe them well, with good applause,_ - _Which you have justly gained from the Stage_, &c. - -It is amusing to mark the survival of the old joke in our text, about -sweeping (it came often enough, in _Figaro in London_, &c., at the -time of the 1832 Reform Bill, as to Henry Brougham and Vaux); when we -see it repeated, almost literally, in reference to Alexander Pope’s -fellow-labourer on the Odyssey translation, the Rev. William Broome, of -our St. John’s College, Cambridge:— - - _~Pope~ came off clean with ~Homer~, but they say,_ - _~Broome~ went before, and kindly swept the way._ - -Leaving a few words on the matchless BEN himself for the “Sessions of the -Poets” Additional Note, we end this commentary on our book’s chief poem -with a few more stanzas from the Beswick Manuscript, by George Daniel, -(written in great part before, part after, 1647,) in honour of Ben -Jonson, but preceded by others relating to Sir Philip Sidney, Spenser, -Daniel, Drayton, Shakespeare, Beaumont, and Donne:— - - _I am not bound to honour antique names,_ [8th verse] - _Nor am I led by other men to chuse_ - _Any thing worthy, which my judgment blames;_ - _Heare better straines, though by a later Muse;_ - _The sweet ~Arcadian~ singer first did raise_ - _Our Language current, and deserv’d his Baies._ - - _That Lord of ~Penhurst~, ~Penhurst~ whose sad walls_ - _Yet mourne their master, in the ~Belgicke~ fray_ - _Untimely lost; to whose dear funeralls_ - _The ~Medwaie~ doth its constant tribute paye;_ - _But glorious ~Penhurst~, ~Medwaies~ waters once_ - _With ~Mincius~ shall, and ~Mergeline~ advance;_ - - _The ~Shepherds Boy~; best knowen by that name_ - _~Colin~: upon his homely Oaten Reed._ - _With ~Roman Tityrus~ may share in ffame;_ - _But when a higher path hee strains to tread,_ - _This is my wonder: for who yet has seene_ - _Soe cleare a Poeme as his ~Faierie Queene~?_ - - _The sweetest ~Swan of Avon~; to the faire_ - _And cruel ~Delia~, passionatelie sings:_ - _Other mens weaknesses and follies are_ - _Honour and Wit in him; each Accent brings_ - _A sprig to crowne him Poet; and contrive_ - _A Monument, in his owne worke to live._ - - _~Draiton~ is sweet and smooth: though not exact,_ - _Perhaps to stricter Eyes; yet he shall live_ - _Beyond their Malice: to the Scene and Act,_ - _Read Comicke ~Shakespeare~; or if you would give_ - _Praise to a just Desert, crowning the Stage,_ - _See ~Beaumont~, once the honour of his Age._ - - _The reverent ~Donne~; whose quill God purely fil’d,_ - _Liveth to his Character: so though he claim’d_ - _A greater glory, may not be exil’d_ - _This Commonwealth_, &c. - - _Here pause a little; for I would not cloy_ [verse 15] - _The curious Eare, with recitations;_ - _And meerily looke at names; attend with joy,_ - _Unto an ~English~ Quill, who rivall’d once_ - _~Rome~, not to make her blush; and knowne of late_ - _Unenvied (’cause unequall’d) Laureate._ - - _This, this was JONSON; who in his own name_ - _Carries his praise; and may he shine alone;_ - _I am not tyed to any generall ffame,_ - _Nor fixed by the Approbation_ - _Of great ones: But I speake without pretence_ - _Hee was of ~English~ Dramatiskes, the Prince._ - - -Page 10. _Come, my White-head, let our Muses._ - -This was written by SIR SIMEON STEWARD, or Stewart. The numbers 1 and -2 of our text are twice incorrect in original, viz. the 10th and 14th -verses, each assigned to 1 (Red-head), whereas they certainly belong -to 2 (White-head). From third verse the figure “1” has unfortunately -dropt in printing. By aid of Addit. MS. No. 11, 811, p. 36, we are -enabled to correct a few other errors, some being gross corruptions of -sense; although, as a general rule, regarding poems that had appeared in -print, the private MS. versions abound with blunders of the transcriber, -additional to those of the original printer. It is, in the MS., entitled -“A Dialogue between _Pyrrotrichus_ and _Leucothrix_,” the latter taking -verses 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and the final verse, 14 (marked _Leuc_). His -earliest verse reads, in the MS., “_And higher, Rufus_, who would pass; -were _some_; 3rd. v. ’Tis _this_ that; 6th. The Roman _King who_; be -_lopt_; Ruddy _pates_; 8th v. Red like _unto_; _colour_; 9th. _Nay_ if; -doth _beare_ no; side _looks_ as fair; other _doth_ my; bear _my_ [?]; -10th. _Therefore_, methinks; Besides, _of_ all the; 12th. N.B.—Yet _what -thy head must buy with_ yeares, Crosses; That _hath_ nature _giv’n_; -13th, be _two_ friendly peeres; let us _joyn_; make _one_ beauteous; -14th, [_Leucothrix_.] We _joyn’d_ our heads; beat them _to heart_ [i.e. -to boot]; Was _just_ but; _of_ our head.” In the Reresby Memoirs, we -believe, is mention of an ancestress, who, about 1619, married this (?) -“Sir Simeon Steward.” - - -Page 15. _A Stranger coming to the town._ - -In Wm. Hickes his _Oxford Drollery_, 1671, in Part 3rd, (“Poems made at -Oxford, long since”), p. 157, this Epigram appears, with variations. The -second verse reads: _But being there a little while,_ || _He met with -one so right_ || _That upon the ~French~ Disease_ || _It was his chance -to light._ The final couplet is:—_The ~French-man’s~ Arms are the sign -without,_ || _But the ~French-man’s~ harms are within._ - -Throughout the first half of the Seventeenth century the abundance of -Epigrams produced is enormous; whole volumes of them, divided into Books, -like J. Heywood’s, being issued by poets of whom nothing else is known, -except the name, unless Anthony à Wood has fortunately preserved some -record. These have not been systematically examined, as they deserve to -be. Amid much rubbish good things lie hid. Perhaps the Editor may have -more to say on them hereafter. Meanwhile, take this, by Robert Hayman, as -alike a specimen and a summary:— - - To the Reader: - - Sermons and Epigrams have a like end, - To improve, to reprove, and to amend: - Some passe without this vse, ’cause they are witty; - And so doe many Sermons, more’s the pitty. - - (_Quodlibets_, 1628, Book IV., p. 59.) - - -Page 20. _List, your Nobles, and attend._ - -This was (perhaps, by JOHN ELIOT,) certainly written in anticipatory -celebration of the event described, the Reception of Queen Henrietta -Maria by the citizens of London, 1625. The full title is this:—“The -Author intending to write upon the Duke of _Buckingham_, when he went -to fetch the Queen, prepared a new Ballad for the Fidlers, as might -hold them to sing between _Dover_ and _Callice_.” It is thus the poem -reappears, with some variations (beginning “_Now list, you Lordlings, -and attend_, || _Unto a Ballad newly penned_,” &c.,) among the “_Choyce -Poems, being Songs, Sonnets, Satyrs, and Elegies_. By the Wits of both -Universities, London,” &c., 1661, p. 83. This was merely the earlier -edition (of June, 1658), reissued with an irregular extra sheet at -beginning. The original title-page (two issued in 1658) was “_Poems or -Epigrams, Satyrs, Elegies, Songs and Sonnets, upon several persons and -occasions_. By no body must know whom, to be had every body knows where, -and for any body knows what. [MS. The Author John Eliot.] London, Printed -for Henry Brome, at the _Gun_ in Ivie Lane, 1658.” It is mentioned that -“These poems were given me neer sixteen years since [therefore about -1642] by a Friend of the Authors, with a desire they might be printed, -but I conceived the Age then too squeemish to endure the freedom which -the Author useth, and therefore I have hitherto smothered them, but being -desirous they should not perish, and the world be deprived of so much -clean Wit and Fancy, I have adventured to expose them to thy view; ... -The Author writes not pedantically, but like a gentleman; and if thou art -a gentleman of thy own making thou wilt not mislike it.” - -Verse 9th. _Gondomar_ was the Spanish Ambassador at the Court of James -I., to whom, with his “one word” of “Pyrates, Pyrates, Pyrates,” we in -great part owe the slaughter of Raleigh. Of course, the date ’526, four -lines lower, is a blunder. The rash visit to Madrid was in March, 1623. - -Title, and verse 8th. A _Jack-a-Lent_ was a stuffed puppet, set up to be -thrown at, during Lent. Perhaps it was a substitute for a live Cock; or -else the Cock-throwing may have been a later “improvement:” See Hone’s -_Every Day Book_, for an illustrated account, i. 249. Trace of the habit -survives in our modern “Old Aunt Sally,” by which yokels lose money -at Races (although Dorset Rectors try to abolish Country Fairs, while -encouragement is given to gambling at Chapel Bazaars with raffles for -pious purposes). In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, Act iii. sc. 3, Mrs. -Page says to the boy, “You little _Jack-a-Lent_, have you been true to -us?” Quarles alludes to the practice:— - - _How like a ~Jack-a-Lent~_ - _He stands, for boys to spend their Shrove-tide throws,_ - _Or like a puppet made to frighten crows._ - - (J. O. Halliwell’s _M. W. of W._, Tallis ed., p. 127.) - -John Taylor (the Water-Poet) wrote a whim-wham entitled “_Jack a Lent: -his Beginning and Entertainment_,” about 1619, printed 1630; as “of -the Jack of Jacks, great Jack a Lent.” And Cleveland devoted thus a -Cavalier’s worn suit: “Thou shalt make _Jack-a-Lents_ and Babies first.” -(_Poems_, 1662, p. 56.) - -Martin Llewellyn’s Song on Cock-throwing begins “Cock a doodle doe, ’tis -the bravest game;” in his _Men-Miracles_, &c., 1646, p. 61. - - -Page 31. _A Story strange I will you tell._ - -As to the burden (since some folks are inquisitive about the etymology of -Down derry down, or Ran-dan, &c.), we may note that in a queer book, _The -Loves of Hero and Leander_, 1651, p. 3, is a six-line verse ending thus: - - “_Oh, ~Hero~, ~Hero~, pitty me,_ - _With a dildo, dildo, dildo dee._” - -By which we may guess that the Rope-dancer’s Song, in our text, was -probably written about, or even before, 1651. Some among us (the Editor -for one) saw Madame Sacchi in 1855 mount the rope, although she was -seventy years old, as nimbly as when the first Napoleon had been her -chief spectator. During the Commonwealth, rope-dancing and tumbling -were tolerated at the Red-Bull Theatre, while plays were prohibited. -See (Note to p. 210) our Introduction to _Westminster Drollery_, pp. -xv.-xx, and the Frontispiece reproduced from Kirkman’s “_Wits_,” 1673, -representing sundry characters from different “Drolls,” grouped together, -viz.: Falstaff and Dame Quickly, from “the Bouncing Knight;” the French -Dancing-Master, from the Duke of Newcastle’s “Variety,” Clause, from -Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Beggar’s Bush,” Tom Greene as Bubble the Clown -uttering “Tu Quoque” from John Cooke’s “City Gallant” (peeping through -the chief-entrance, reserved for dignitaries); also Simpleton the Smith, -and the Changeling, from two of Robert Cox’s favourite Drolls. We add -now, illustrative of practical suppression under the Commonwealth, a -contemporary record:— - -A SONG. - - 1. - - _The fourteenth of ~September~_ - _I very well remember,_ - _When people had eaten and fed well,_ - _Many men, they say,_ - _Would needs go see a Play,_ - _But they saw a great rout at the ~red Bull~._ - - 2. - - _The Soldiers they came,_ - _(The blind and the lame)_ - _To visit and undo the Players;_ - _And women without Gowns,_ - _They said they would have Crowns;_ - _But they were no good Sooth-sayers._ - - 3. - - _Then ~Jo: Wright~ they met,_ - _Yet nothing could get,_ - _And ~Tom Jay~ i’ th’ same condition:_ - _The fire men they_ - _Would ha’ made ’em a prey,_ - _But they scorn’d to make a petition._ - - 4. [p. 89.] - - _The Minstrills they_ - _Had the hap that day,_ - _(Well fare a very good token)_ - _To keep (from the chase)_ - _The fiddle and the case,_ - _For the instruments scap’d unbroken._ - - 5. - - _The poor and the rich,_ - _The wh... and the b...,_ - _Were every one at a losse,_ - _But the Players were all_ - _Turn’d (as weakest) to the wall,_ - _And ’tis thought had the greatest losse._ [? _cross._] - - (_Wit’s Merriment, or Lusty Drollery_, 1656, p. 88.) - -One such raid on the poor actors (and probably at this very theatre, -the Red Bull, St. John’s Street, Clerkenwell) is recorded, as of 20th -December, 1649:—“Some Stage-players in St. John’s-Street were apprehended -by troopers, their clothes taken away, and themselves carried to prison” -(Whitelocke’s _Memorials_, 435, edit. 1733, cited by J. P. C., _Annals_, -ii. 118). It was a serious business, as we see from the Ordinance of -11 Feb., 1647-8; the demolishing of seats and boxes, the actors “to be -apprehended and openly and publicly whipt in some market town ... to -enter into recognizances with two sufficient sureties, never to act or -play any Play or Interlude any more,” &c. - -As for the Light-skirts, so elegantly referred to in the Song now -reprinted (as far as we are aware, for the first time), they were -certainly not actresses, but courtezans frequenting the place to ensnare -visitors. Although English women did not _publicly_ perform until after -the Restoration, except on one occasion (of course, at Court Masques -and private mansions, the Queen herself and her ladies had impersonated -characters), yet so early as 8th November, 1629, some French professional -actresses vainly attempted to get a hearing at Blackfriars Theatre, and -a fortnight later at the Red Bull itself, as three weeks afterwards at -the Fortune. Evidently, they were unsuccessful throughout. We hear a good -deal about the far-more objectionable “Ladies of Pleasure,” who beset -all places of amusement. Thomas Cranley, addressing one such, in his -_Amanda_, 1635, describes her several alluring disguises and habits:— - - _The places thou dost usually frequent_ - _Is to some playhouse in an afternoon,_ - _And for no other meaning and intent_ - _But to get company to sup with soon;_ - _More changeable and wavering than the moon._ - _And with thy wanton looks attracting to thee_ - _The amorous spectators for to woo thee._ - - _Thither thou com’st in several forms and shapes_ - _To make thee still a stranger to the place,_ - _And train new lovers, like young birds, to scrapes,_ - _And by thy habit so to change thy face;_ - _At this time plain, to-morrow all in lace:_ - _Now in the richest colours to be had;_ - _The next day all in mourning, black and sad._ &c. - - -Page 33. _Oh fire, fire, fire, where?_ - -Despite our repugnance to mutilate a text (see Introduction to -_Westminster Drollery_, p. 6; ditto to _Merry Drollery Compleat_, pp. -38, 39, 40; and that to our present volume, foot-note in section third), -a few letters have been necessarily suppressed in this piece of coarse -humour. Verse fourth, on p. 33, refers to Ben Jonson’s loss of valuable -manuscripts by fire, and his consequent “Execration upon Vulcan,” before -June, 1629; an event deeply to be regretted: also to the whimsical -account of the fire on London Bridge (see _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, pp. -87, 369, and Additional Note in present volume, tracing the poem to 1651, -and the event to 1633). - -An amusing poem was written, by Thomas Randolph, on the destruction of -the Mitre Tavern at Cambridge, about 1630; it begins, “Lament, lament, -you scholars all.” (See _A Crew of kind London Gossips_, 1663, p. 72). - - -Page 38. _In Eighty Eight, ere I was born._ - -Also given later, in _Merry Drollery_, 1661, p. 77, and _Ditto, -Compleat_, p. 82 and 369. Compare the Harleian MS. version, No. 791, -fol. 59, given in our Appendix to _Westminster Drollery_, p. 38, with -note. The romance of _the Knight of the Sun_ is mentioned by Sir Tho. -Overbury in his _Characters_, as fascinating a Chambermaid, and tempting -her to turn lady-errant. “The book is better known under the title of -_The Mirror of Princely Deedes and Knighthood_, wherein is shewed the -worthinesse of The Knight of the Sunne, &c. It consists of nine parts, -which appear to have been published at intervals between 1585, and 1601.” -(_Lucasta_, &c., edit. 1864, p. 13.) - - -Page 40. _And will this Wicked World_, &c. - -We never met this elsewhere: it was probably written either in 1605, or -almost immediately afterwards. Among Robert Hayman’s _Quodlibets_, 1628, -in Book Second, No. 49, is an Epigram (p. 27):— - -Of the Gunpowder Holly-day, the 5th of November. - - _The ~Powder-Traytors~, ~Guy Vaux~, and his mates,_ - _Who by a Hellish plot sought Saints estates,_ - _Haue in our Kalendar vnto their shame,_ - _A ioyful ~Holy-day~ cald by their Name._ - -Jeremiah Wells has among his _Poems on Several Occasions_, 1667, one, -at p. 9, “On Gunpowder Treason,” beginning “_Hence dull pretenders unto -villany_,” which solemnly conjures up a picture of what might have ensued -if (what even Baillie Nicol Jarvie would call) the “awfu’ bleeze” had -taken place. [The same rare volume is interesting, as containing a Poem -on the Rebuilding of London, after the fire of 1666, p. 112, beginning -“What a Devouring Fire but t’other day!”] - -With Charles Lamb, we have always regretted the failure of the Gunpowder -Plot. It would have been a magnificent event, fully equal to Firmillian’s -blowing up the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, at Badajoz; and the loss of -life to all the Parliament Members would have been a cheap price, if -paid, for such a remembrance. The worst of all is, that, having been -attempted, there is no likelihood of any subsequent repetition meeting -with better success. _Hinc illæ lachrymæ!_ Faux, Vaux, or Fawkes must -have been a noble, though slightly misguided, enthusiast; for he had -intended to perish, like Samson, with his victims. All good Protestants -now admire the Nazarite, although they bon-fire-raise poor Guido. But -then he failed in his work, while the other slayer of Philistines -attained success: which perhaps accounts for the different apotheosis. As -Lady Macbeth puts it: “The attempt, _and not the deed_, confounds us!” - - -Page 44. _A Maiden of the Pure Society._ - -A version of this epigram is among the MSS. at end of a volume of -“Various Poems,” in the British Museum: Press-mark, Case 39. a. These -have been printed by Fred. J. Furnival, Esq., for the Ballad Society, -as “Love Poems and Humorous Ones,” 1874. “A Puritane with one of hir -societie,” is No. 26, p. 22. - - -Page 52. _He that a Tinker_, &c. - -This re-appears in the _Antidote against Melancholy_, 1661 p. 65; and, -with music, in the 1719 _Pills to p. Mel._, iii. 52 - - -Page 55. _Idol of our Sex!_ &c. - -This Lady Carnarvon was the wife of Robert Dormer, second Baron Dormer, -created Visc. Ascott, or Herld, and Earl of Carnarvon, 2d Aug., 1628. -Obiit 1643. He fell at the Battle of Newbury, 20th Sept. (See Clarendon’s -_History of the Rebellion_, Book vii. p. 350, edit. 1720, where his -merits are recognized.) Her name was Anna-Sophia, daughter of Philip, -Earl of Pembroke. The child mentioned in the poem was their son, Charles -Dormer, who died in 1709, when the Viscounty and Earldom became extinct. -The poem was written at his birth, on January 1st. - - -Page 57. _Uds bodykins! Chill work no more._ - -We find this, a year earlier, (an inferior version, lacking third verse, -but longer,) as _Cockbodykins, chill_, &c., in _Wit’s Interpreter_, -p. 143, 1655; and p. 247, 1671. It is a valuable, because trustworthy -and graphic, record of the troubles falling upon those who tried to -labour on, despite the stir of civil war. 4th verse, “that a vet,” seems -corruption of that is fetched; horses _in a hole_ (_W. Int._); vange thy -note, is _take thy note_. (_do_). Prob. date, 1647. - -THE SECOND PART. - - _Then straight came ruffling to my dore,_ - _Some dozens of these rogues, or more;_ - _So zausie they be grown._ - _Facks[,] if they come, down they sit,_ - _They’l never ask me leave one whit,_ - _They’l take all for their own._ - - _Then ich provision straight must make,_ - _And from my Chymney needs must take,_ - _And vlitch both pure and good._ [a flitch] - _Oh! ’twould melt a Christians heart to see,_ - _That such good Bacon spoil’d should be,_ - _’Twas as red as any blood._ - - _But in it would, whether chud or not,_ - _Together with Beans into the pot,_ - _As sweet as any viggs._ - _And when chave done all that I am able,_ - _They’l slat it down all under table,_ - _And zwear they be no Pigs._ - - _Then Ize did intreat their worships to be quiet,_ - _And ich would strive to mend their diet,_ - _And they shall have finer feeding,_ - _They zwear goddam thee for a boor,_ - _Wee’l gick thee raskal out a door,_ - _And teach thee better breeding._ - - _Then on the fire they [do] put on_ - _A piece of beef, or else good mutton,_ - _No, no, this is no meat._ - _Forsooth they must have finer food,_ - _A good vat hen with all her brood;_ - _And then perhaps they’l eat._ - - _But of late ich had a crew together,_ - _They were meer devils, ich ask’d them whether_ - _That they were not of our nation._ - _Good Lord defend us from all zuch,_ - _They zaid they were wild ~Irish~, or else ~Dutch~,_ - _They were of the Devils generation._ - - _And when these raskals went away,_ - _What e’re you thing they did me repay_ - _Ich will not you deceive._ - _Facks[,] just as folks go to a vaire,_ - _They vaidled up my goods and ware,_ - _And so they took their leave._ - - _O what a clutter they did make_ - _Our house for ~Babel~ they did take,_ - _We could not understand a jot._ - _Yet they did know what did belong_ - _To drink and zwear in our own tongue,_ - _Such language they had a got._ - - _Nor home ich any zafe aboad,_ - _If that Ise chance to go abroad,_ - _These rogues will come to spy me;_ - _Then zurrah, zurrah, quoth they, tarry,_ - _We know false letters you do carry,_ - _And so they come to try me._ - - _For as swift as any lightning goes_ - _Straight all their hand into my hose,_ - _There out they pull my purse._ - _O zurrah, zurrah, this is it,_ - _Your Letters are in silver writ;_ - _You may go take your course._ - - _A Trouper t’other day did greet me,_ - [ ... Lost line.] - _But could you guesse the reason,_ - _Thou art, quoth he, a rebel, Knave,_ - _And zo thou dost thy zelf behave,_ - _For thou doest whistle treason._ - - _Nor was this raskal much to blame,_ - _For all his mates zwore just the zame,_ - _That ich was fain to do._ - _Ich humble pardon of him sought,_ - _And gave him money for my fault,_ - _And glad I could scape so too._ - - (_Wits Interpreter_, 250, 1671 ed.) - -This is, veritably, a “document in madness” of such civil wars and -military licence. It reads like the genuine narratives of Prussian -brutality and outrage during the occupation of Alsace and Lorraine: which -is hereafter to be bitterly avenged. - - -Page 60. _I keep my horse, I keep_, &c. - -This lively ditty is sung by Latrocinio in the comedy of “The Widow,” -Act iii. sc. 1, produced about 1616, and written by JOHN FLETCHER, Ben -Jonson, and Thomas Middleton. The song bears trace of Fletcher’s hand -(more, we believe, than of Jonson’s). It has a rollicking freedom that -made it a favourite. We meet it in _Wit’s Interpreter_, 1655, p. 69; -1671, p. 175; and elsewhere. See Dyce’s _Middleton_, iii. 383, and -_Dodsley’s Old Plays_, 1744, vi. 34. - - -Page 61. _There is not halfe so warm a fire._ - -This re-appears, with variations and twelve additional lines (inferior), -in _Westminster-Drollery_, 1671, i. 102; where is the corrupt text “_and -~daily~ pays us with what is_.” Our present text gives us the true word, -“_dully_.” - - -Page 62. Fuller _of wish, than hope_, &c. - -Fuller’s book, “A _Pisgah sight of Palestine_,” was published about 1649. -The epitaph “Here lies Fuller’s earth,” is well known. He died in 1661. - - -Page 63. Cloris, _now thou art fled away_. - -The author of this song was DR. HENRY HUGHES. Henry Lawes gives the music -to it, in his “_Ayres_,” 1669, Bk. iii. p. 10. It is also in J. P.’s -_Sportive Wit_, 1656, p. 15; the _Loyal Garland_ (Percy Soc. Reprint -of 1686 edit, xxix. 67); _Pills to p. Mel._, 1719, iii. 331. Sometimes -attributed to Sir R[obert] A[ytoun]. - -In _Sportive Wit_ there are variations as well as an Answer, which -we here give. The different title seems consequent on the Answer -presupposing that _Amintas_ has not died, merely disappeared. It is -“A Shepherd fallen in Love: A Pastoral.” The readings are: _Lambkins -follow_; _They’re gone, they’re_; Dog _howling_ lyes, _While_ he _laments -with woful_ cryes; Oh _Cloris, Cloris, I decay_, And _forced am to cry -well_, _&c._ Sixth verse there omitted. It has, however, on p. 16:— - -_The Answer._ - -[1656.] - - _~Cloris~, since thou art gone astray,_ - _~Amyntas~ Shepherd’s fled away;_ - _And all the joys he wont to spye_ - _I’ th’ pretty babies of thine eye,_ - _Are gone; and she hath none to say_ - _But who can help what ~will away, will away~?_ - - _The Green on which it was her [? his] chance_ - _To have her hand first in a dance,_ - _Among the merry Maiden-crue,_ - _Now making her nought but sigh and rue_ - _The time she ere had cause to say_ [p. 17.] - _Ah, who can help what ~will away, will away~?_ - - _The Lawn with which she wont to deck_ - _And circle in her whiter neck;_ - _Her Apron lies behinde the door;_ - _The strings won’t reach now as before:_ - _Which makes her oft cry ~well-a-day~:_ - _But who can help what ~will away~?_ - - _He often swore that he would leave me,_ - _Ere of my heart he could bereave me:_ - _But when the Signe was in the tail,_ - _He knew poor Maiden-flesh was frail;_ - _And laughs now I have nought to say,_ - _But who can help what ~will away~._ - - _But let the blame upon me lie,_ - _I had no heart him to denie:_ - _Had I another Maidenhead,_ - _I’d lose it ere I went to bed:_ - _For what can all the world more say,_ - _Than who can help what ~will away~?_ - - (_Sportive Wit_; or, _The Muses’ Merriment_.) - - -Page 68. _I tell you all, both great and small._ - -Also in Captain William Hickes’ _London Drollery_, 1673, p. 179, where -it is entitled “Queen Elizabeth’s Song.” The dance tune _Sallanger’s_ -(or more commonly _Sellenger’s_) _Round_ is given in Chappell’s Pop. -Music, O. T., p. 69. The name is corrupted from _St. Leger’s Round_; as -in Yorkshire the Doncaster race is called the Sillinger, or Sellenger, to -this day. - - -Page 70. _When ~James~ in ~Scotland~ first began._ - -Not yet found elsewhere, in MS. or print. The sixth verse refers to King -James the First making so many Knights, on insufficient ground, that he -incurred ridicule. Allusions are not infrequent in dramas and ballads. -Here is the most noteworthy of the latter. It is in Additional MS. No. -5,832, fol. 205, British Museum. - - Verses upon the order for making Knights of such persons who - had £46 _per annum_ in King _James_ I.’s time. - - _Come all you farmers out of the country,_ - _Carters, plowmen, hedgers and all,_ - _~Tom~, ~Dick~ and ~Will~, ~Ralph~, ~Roger~ and ~Humfrey~,_ - _Leave off your gestures rusticall._ - _Bidd all your home-sponne russetts adue,_ - _And sute your selves in fashions new;_ - _Honour invites you to delights:_ - _Come all to Court and be made Knights_. - - 2. - - _He that hath fortie pounds ~per annum~_ - _Shalbe promoted from the plowe:_ - _His wife shall take the wall of her grannum,_ - _Honour is sould soe dog-cheap now._ - _Though thow hast neither good birth nor breeding,_ - _If thou hast money, thow art sure of speeding._ - - 3. - - _Knighthood in old time was counted an honour,_ - _Which the best spiritts did not disdayne;_ - _But now it is us’d in so base a manner,_ - _That it’s noe creditt, but rather a staine:_ - _Tush, it’s noe matter what people doe say,_ - _The name of a Knight a whole village will sway._ - - 4. - - _Shepheards, leave singing your pastorall sonnetts,_ - _And to learne complements shew your endeavours:_ - _Cast of[f] for ever your two shillinge bonnetts,_ - _Cover your coxcombs with three pound beavers._ - _Sell carte and tarrboxe new coaches to buy,_ - _Then, “Good your Worship,” the vulgar will cry._ - - 5. - - _And thus unto worshipp being advanced,_ - _Keepe all your tenants in awe with your frownes;_ - _And let your rents be yearly inhaunced,_ - _To buy your new-moulded maddams new gowns._ - _~Joan~, ~Sisse~, and ~Nell~ shalbe all ladified,_ - _Instead of hay-carts, in coaches shall ryde._ - - 6. - - _Whatever you doe, have a care of expenses,_ - _In hospitality doe not exceed:_ - _Greatnes of followers belongeth to princes:_ - _A Coachman and footmen are all that you need:_ - _And still observe this, let your servants meate lacke,_ - _To keep brave apparel upon your wives backe._ - -[Additional stanza from Mr. Hunter’s MS.] - - 7. - - _Now to conclude, and shutt up my sonnett,_ - _Leave of the Cart-whip, hedge-bill and flaile,_ - _This is my counsell, think well upon it,_ - _Knighthood and honour are now put to saile._ - _Then make haste quickly, and lett out your farmes,_ - _And take my advice in blazing your armes._ - _Honor invites, &c._ - -(Shakespeare Soc., 1846, pp. 145-6, J. O. Halliwell’s Commentary on Merry -Wives of Windsor, Act. ii. sc. 1, “These Knights will hack.” Also his -notes in Tallis’s edit., of the same, n. d., pp. 122-3. William Chappell, -in _Pop. Music O. T._, p. 327, gives the tune.) - - -Page 72. _The Chandler drew near his end._ - -Another tolerable Epigram on a Chandler meets us, beginning “How might -his days end that made weeks [wicks]?” among the Epitaphs of _Wits -Recreations_, 1640-5 (Reprint, p. 271). - - -Page 73. _Farre in the Forrest of Arden._ - -This is one of MICHAEL DRAYTON’S Pastorals, printed in 1593, in the -Third Eclogue, and entitled _Dowsabell_. See _Percy’s Reliques_, vol. i. -bk. 3, No. 8, 2nd edit. 1767, for remarks on variations, amounting to a -remodelling, of this charming poem. We are glad to know that Mr. James -Russell Smith is preparing a new edition of Michael Drayton’s voluminous -works, to be included in the _Library of Old Authors_. Drayton suppressed -his couplet poem of “Endimion and Phœbe:” _Ideas Latmvs_. It has no date, -but was cited by Lodge in 1595, and has been reprinted by J. P. Collier; -one of his handsome and carefully printed quartos, a welcome boon. - - -Page 78. _On the twelfth day of ~December~._ - -This ballad, a very early example of the _Down down derry_ burden, is not -yet found elsewhere. It refers to the expedition against Scotland (then -in alliance with Henry II. of France) made by the Protector, Edward, Duke -of Somerset, in 1547, the first (not “fourth”) year of Edward VIth’s -reign. The battle was fought on the “Black Saturday,” as it was long -remembered, the tenth day of September (not of “December,” as the ballad -mis-states it to have been). Terrible and remorseless was the slaughter -of the ill-armed Scots, after they had imprudently abandoned their -excellent hilly position, by the well-appointed English horsemen. The -prisoners taken amounted to about fifteen hundred (“we found above twenty -of their villains to one of their gentlemen,” says Patten), among whom -was the Earl of Huntley, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, who on the previous -day had sent a personal challenge to Somerset, asking to decide the -contest by single combat: an offer which was not unreasonably declined, -the Protector declaring that he desired no peace but such as he might -win by his sword. “And thou, trumpet,” he told Huntley’s herald, “say to -thy master, he seemeth to lack wit to make this challenge to me, being -of such estate by the sufferance of God as to have so weighty a charge -of so precious a jewel, the government of a King’s person, and then the -protection of all his realms.” We learn that the Scots slain were tenfold -the number of the prisoners taken. This battle of “Muskleburgh Field” -(nearly the same locality as the battle of Prestonpans, wherein Prince -Charles Edward in 1745 defeated Colonel Gardiner and his English troops), -known also as of Fawside Brae, or of Pinkie, is described with unusual -precision by an eye-witness: See _The Expedition into Scotland of the -most worthily-fortunate Prince Edward Duke of Somerset_, uncle to our -most noble Sovereign Lord the King’s Majesty Edward the VI., &c., made -in the first year of his Majesty’s most prosperous reign, and set out by -way of Diary, by W. Patten, Londoner. First published in 1548, this was -reprinted in Dalyell’s _Fragments of Scottish History_, Edinburgh, 1798. -This old ballad is not included by Dalyell, who probably knew not of its -existence. - - -Page 80. _In ~Celia~[’s face] a question did arise._ - -By THOMAS CAREW, written before 1638. In Addit. MSS. No. 11,811, fol. 10; -No. 22,118, fol. 43; also in _Wits Recreations_ (Repr., p. 19); Roxb. -Libr. Carew, p. 6, &c. - - -Page 81. _Blacke Eyes, in your dark Orbs doe lye._ - -By JAMES HOWELL, Historiographer to Charles II., and author of the -celebrated _Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ_, 1645, 1647, 1650, and 1655. He died in -November, 1666; according to Anthony à Wood, (whose account of him in -the _Athenæ Oxonienses_, iii. 744, edit. 1817, is given by Edward Arber -in his excellent _English Reprints_, vol. viii, 1869, with a welcome -promise of editing the said _Epistolæ_). This poem of “Black eyes,” &c., -occurs among Howell’s poems collected by Sergeant-Major Peter Fisher, p. -68, 1663; again re-issued (the same sheets) as _Mr. Howell’s Poems upon -divers Emergent Occasions_; Printed by James Cottrel, and dated 1664.” It -is also found in C. F.’s “_Wit at a Venture; or, ~Clio’s~ Privy Garden_, -containing Songs and Poems on Several Occasions, Never before in Print” -(which statement is incorrect, as usual). Our text is the earliest we -know in type. The only variations, in _Howell’s Poems_, are: 1st line, -_doth_ lie; 4th verse, And by _those spells I am_ possest. - - -Page 83. _We read of Kings, and Gods, &c._ - -This is another of the charming poems by THOMAS CAREW, always a favourite -with his own generation (few MS. or printed Collections being without -many of them), and deserving of far more affectionate perusal in our own -time than he generally meets. It is in Addit. MS. No. 11, 811, fol. 6b., -entitled there “His Love Neglected.” Elsewhere, as “A Cruel Mistress.” - - -Page 84. _What ill luck had I, Silly Maid_, &c. - -Although closely resembling the Catch “_What Fortune had I, poor Maid as -I am_,” of 1661 _Antidote ag. Melancholy_, p, 74, and _Merry Drollery_ -ii. 152 (equal to p. 341 of editions 1670 and 1691), this song is -virtually distinct, and probably was the earlier version in date. One has -been evidently borrowed or adapted from the other. - - -Page 85. _I never did hold all that glisters_, &c. - -This vigorous expression of opinion from a robust nature, uncorrupted -amid a conventionalized, treacherous, and selfishly-cruel community, is -a valuable record of the true Cavalier “all of the olden time.” We have -never met it elsewhere. He has no half-likings, no undefined suspicions, -and admits of no paltering with the truth, or shirking of one’s duty. As -we read we behold the honest man before us, and remember that it was such -as he who made our England what she is:— - - _Pride in their port, defiance in their eye,_ - _I see the Lords of human kind pass by._ - -The contemplation of such brave spirits may help to nerve fresh readers -to emulate their virtues, despite the sickly fancies or grovelling -politics and social theories of degenerate days. The singer may be -somewhat overbearing in announcement of his preferences: - - ——_Just this_ - _Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,_ - _Or there exceed the mark_,— - -But, if he errs at all, it is on the safe side. - - -Page 88. _No Gypsie nor no Blackamore._ - -Composers and arrangers of such collections as this Drollery seem to have -often chosen pieces simply for contrast. Thus, after the manly directness -of “The Doctor’s Touchstone,” we find the vilely mercenary husband -here exhibited, and followed by the truthful description (justifiable, -although coarsely outspoken) of “The baseness of Whores.” Such were they -of old: such are they ever. - - -Page 92. _Let not Sweet Saint_, &c. - -Like the three preceding poems, not yet found elsewhere, but worthy of -preservation. - - -Page 93. _How happy’s that Prisoner._ - -Written “by a Person of Quality:” whom we suspect to have been SIR -FRANCIS WORTLEY, but without evidence to substantiate the guess. This is -the earliest appearance in print, known to us, of this characteristic -outburst of Cavalier vivacity, which re-appears as the Musician’s Song, -in “_Cromwell’s Conspiracy_,” 1660, Act iii. sc. 2; and _Merry Drollery_, -1661, p. 101. (See also _M. D. C._, pp. 107, 373). As to the introduction -of the several ancient philosophers (referred to in former Appendix, p. -373), compare the delightful _Chanson a Boire_, - - _Je cherche en vin la vérité,_ - _Si le vin n’aide à ma foiblesse,_ - _Toute la docte antiquité_ - _Dans le vin puisa la sagesse,_ - _Oui c’est par le bon vin que le bon sens éclate,_ - _J’en atteste_ Hypocrate, - Qui dit qu’il fait a chaque mois - Du moins s’enivrer une fois, _&c._ - -(The other twelve verses are given complete in “_Brallaghan; or, the -Deipnosophists_,” 1845, pp. 198-203, with a clever verse-translation, -by the foremost of linguistic scholars now alive—the friend of Talfourd -and of Dr. W. Maginn—at whom many nowadays presume to scoff, and whom -Benchers defame and banish themselves from.) - - -Page 97. _Fire! Fire! O how I burn, &c._ - -Also in _Windsor Drollery_, 1672, p. 126, as “Fire! Fire! _lo here_ I -burn in my desire,” &c. And in Henry Bold’s _Latine Songs_, 1685, p. 139, -where it is inserted, to be alongside of this parody on it by him, song -xlvii., or a - -MOCK. - - 1. - - _Fire, Fire,_ - _Is there no help for thy desire?_ - _Are tears all spent? Is ~Humber~ low?_ - _Doth ~Trent~ stand still? Doth ~Thames~ not flow?_ - _Though all these can’t thy Feaver cure,_ - _Yet ~Tyburn~ is a Cooler lure,_ - _And since thou can’st not quench thy Fire,_ - _Go hang thy self, and thy desire!_ - - 2. - - _Fire, fire,_ - _Here’s one [still] left for thy desire,_ - _Since that the Rainbow in the skye,_ - _Is bent a deluge to deny,_ - _As loth for thee a God should Lye._ - _Let gentle Rope come dangling down,_ - _One born to hang shall never drown,_ - _And since thou can’st not quench the Fire,_ - _Go hang thy self, and thy desire!_ - - (_Latine Songs_, 1685, p. 140.) - - -Page 98. _’Tis not how witty, nor how free._ - -A year earlier, this had appeared in _Wit’s Interpreter_, 1655, p. 4 -(1671, p. 108), entitled “What is most to be liked in a Mistress.” Robt. -Jamieson quotes it, from _Choyce Drollery_, in his _Pop. Bds._, 1806, ii. -309. We believe it to be by the same author as the poem next following, -and regret that they remain anonymous. Both are of a stately beauty, and -recall to us those Cavalier Ladies with whose portraits Vandyck adorned -many family mansions. - - -Page 99. _She’s not the fairest of her name._ - -One clue, that may hereafter guide us to the authorship, we know the -lady’s name. It was FREEMAN. This poem also had appeared a year earlier, -at least, in _Wit’s Interpreter_, 1655, p. 55 (; 1671 ed., p. 161). Also -in _Wit and Drollery_, 1661, p. 162; in _Oxford Drollery_, part ii. 1671, -p. 87; and in _Loyal Garland_, 1686, as “The Platonick Lover” (reprinted -by Percy Soc., xxix. 64). There should be a comma in fifth line, after -the word Constancy. Various readings:—Verse 2, _meanest_ wit; and _yet_ -a; 3, His _dear_ addresses; walls be _brick_ or stone. - - -Page 100. _’Tis late and cold, stir up the fire._ - -This Song, by JOHN FLETCHER, in his _Lover’s Progress_, Act iii. sc. 1., -before 1625. The music is found in Additional MS. No. 11,608 (written -about 1656), fol. 20; there called “Myne Ost’s Song, sung in _ye Mad -Lover_ [wrong: a different play], set by Robt. Johnson.” It re-appears in -_Wit and Drollery_ 1661, p. 212; in the _Academy of Complements_, 1670, -p. 175, &c. It is the Song of the Dead Host, whose return to wait upon -his guests and ask their aid to have his body laid in consecrated ground, -is so humorously described. His forewarnings of death to Cleander are, -to our mind, of thrilling interest. These scenes were Sir Walter Scott’s -favourites; but Leigh Hunt, perversely, could see no merit in them. We -believe that the tinge of sepulchral dullness in Mine Host enhances the -vividness of the incidents, like the taciturnity of Don Guzman’s stony -statue in Shadwell’s “Libertine.” - -Thus the hundred-paged volume of _Choyce Drollery_, 1656,—“Delicates -served up by frugall Messes, as aiming at thy satisfaction not -saciety,”—comes to an end, with Beaumont and Fletcher. On them -remembrance loves to rest, as the fitting representatives of that class -of courtly gentlemen, poets, wits, and scholars, who were, to a great -extent, even then, fading away from English society. To them had been -visible no phase of the Rebellion, and they probably never conceived -that it was near. Beaumont, with his statelier reserve, and his tendency -to quiet musing, fostered “under the shade of melancholy boughs” at -Grace-Dieu, had early passed away, honoured and lamented; a month before -his friend Shakespeare went to rest: Shakespeare, who, having known half -a century of busy life, felt contented, doubtless, to fulfil the wish -that he had long before expressed, himself, almost prophetically:— - - _“Let me not live,”—_ - _Thus his good melancholy oft began, ..._ - _“After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff_ - _Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses_ - _All but new things disdain; whose judgments are_ - _Mere fathers of their garments; whose constancies_ - _Expire before their fashions:”—this he wished._ - -Fletcher survived nine years, and battled on with somewhat of spasmodic -action; at once widowed and orphaned by the death of his close friend -and work-fellow; winning fresh triumphs, it is true, and leaving many -a trace of his bright genius like a gleam of heaven’s own light across -the sadness and corruption of an imaginary world, that was not at all -unreal in heroism or in wickedness. He also passed away while young; a -few months later than the time when Charles the First came to the throne, -suddenly elevated by the death of his father James, bringing abruptly to -a consummation that marriage with the French Princess which did so much -to lead him and his country into ruin. The year 1625 was the separating -date between the autumnal ripeness and the chill of fruitless winter. A -sunny glow remains on Fletcher to the last. With him it fades, and the -world that he had known is changed. - - -[End of Notes to _Choyce Drollery_.] - - - - -APPENDIX. PART 2. - -ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY. 1661. - - _Gratiano._—“Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, - Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice - By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio,— - I love thee, and it is my love that speaks;— - There are a sort of men, whose visages - Do cream and mantle like a standing pond, - And do a wilful stillness entertain, - With purpose to be dress’d in an opinion - Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit; - As who should say, ‘I am Sir Oracle, - And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!’” - - (_Merchant of Venice_, Act i. sc. 1.) - - -We have already, in a brief Introduction, (pp. 105-110), explained our -reason for adding all that was necessary to complete this work; a large -portion having been anticipated in _Merry Drollery_ of the same year, -1661. In the Postscript (pp. 161-165), we endeavoured to trace the -authorship of the entire collection; leaving to these following notes, -and those attached to _M. Drollery, Compleat_, the search for separate -poems or songs. Also, on pp. 166-175, we traced the history of “Arthur o’ -Bradley,” delaying the important song of his Wedding (from an original of -the date 1656), unto Part IV. of our _Appendix_. - -To no other living writer are we lovers of old literature more deeply -indebted than to the veteran John Payne Collier, who is now far -advanced in his eighty-seventh year, and whose intellect and industry -remain vigorously employed at this great age: one proof of the fact -being his new edition of Shakespeare (each play in a separate quarto, -issued to private subscribers), begun in January, 1875, and already -the Comedies are finished, in the third volume. Among his numerous -choice reprints of rare originals, his series of the more than “_Seven -Early Poetical Miscellanies_” was a work of greatest value. To these, -with his new “_Shakespeare_,” the interesting “_Old Man’s Diary_,” his -“_Bibliographical and Critical Account of the Rarest Books in the English -Language_,” his “_Annals of the Stage_,” “_The Poetical Decameron_,” -his charming “_Book of Roxburghe Ballads_,” 1847, his “_Broadside -Black-Letter-Ballads_,” 1868, and other labours, no less than to his -warmth of heart and friendly encouragement by letters, the present Editor -owes many happy hours, and for them makes grateful acknowledgment. - -About the year 1870, J. P. Collier issued to private subscribers his -very limited and elegant Reprint, in quarto, of “_An Antidote against -Melancholy_,” 1661. This is already nearly as unattainable as the -original. - -J. P. Collier gave no notes to his Reprint of the “Antidote,” but, in the -brief Introduction thereunto, he mentioned that:—“This poetical tract has -been selected for our reprint on account of its rarity, the excellence -of the greater part of its contents, the high antiquity of some of -them, and from the fact that many of the ballads and humorous pieces of -versification are either not met with elsewhere, or have been strangely -corrupted in repetition through the press. Two or three of them are used -by Shakespeare, and the word ‘incarnadine’ [see our p. 148] is only found -in ‘Macbeth’ (A. ii., sc. 2), in Carew’s poems, and in this tract: here -we have it as the name of a red wine; and nobody hitherto has noticed it -in that sense. - -“When Ritson published his ‘Robin Hood’ in 1795, he relied chiefly upon -the text of the famous ballad of ‘Arthur o’ Bradley,’ as he discovered -it in the miscellany before us [See our _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, pp. -312, 399; also, in present volume, p. 166, and Additional Note]; but, -learned in such matters as he undoubtedly was, he was not aware of the -very early period at which ‘Arthur o’ Bradley’ was so popular as to be -quoted in one of our Old Moralities, which may have been in existence in -the reigns of Henry VI. or Henry VII., which was acted while Henry VIII. -or Edward VI. were on the throne, and which is contained in a manuscript -bearing the date of 1579. - -“The few known copies of ‘An Antidote against Melancholy’ are dated 1661, -the year after the Restoration, when lawless licence was allowed both to -the press and in social intercourse; and, if we permitted ourselves to -mutilate our originals, we might not have reproduced such coarseness; -but still no words will be found which, even a century afterwards, were -not sometimes used in private conversation, and which did not even -make their appearance at full length in print. Mere words may be said -to be comparatively harmless; but when, as in the time of Charles II, -they were employed as incentives to vice and laxity of manners, they -become dangerous. The repetition of them in our day, in a small number -of reprints, can hardly be offensive to decorum, and unquestionably -cannot be injurious to public morals. We always address ourselves to the -students of our language and habits of life.” - - -Page 113 (original, p. 1). _Not drunken, nor sober, &c._ - -Joseph Ritson gave this Bacchanalian chant in the second volume of his -“English Songs,” p. 58, 1783. Forty-six verses, out of the seventy, had -been repeated in the “Collection of Old Ballads,” 1723-25, (which Ambrose -Philips and David Mallet may have edited,) “The Ex-Ale-tation of Ale” is -in vol. iii. p. 166. Part, if not all, must have been in existence fully -ten years before it appeared in the “Antidote,” as we find “O Ale _ab -alendo_, thou Liquor of life!” with music by John Hilton, in his “Catch -that Catch Can,” p. 5, 1652. It is also in _Wit’s Merriment; or, Lusty -Drollery_, 1656, p. 118; eight verses only. These are: 1. Not drunken; -2. But yet to commend it; 3. But yet, by your leave; 4. It makes a man -merry; 5. The old wife whose teeth; 6. The Ploughman, the Lab’rer; 7. The -man that hath a black blous to his wife; 8. With that my friend said, -&c. Still earlier, the poem had appeared, imperfectly, in a four-paged -quarto pamphlet, dated 1642 (along with “The Battle fought between the -Norfolk Cock and the Wisbeach Cock,” see _M. D. C._, p. 242) as by THOMAS -RANDALL, i.e. RANDOLPH. Accordingly, it has been included (34 verses -only) in the 1875 edition of his Works, p. 662. We personally attach -no weight to the pamphlet’s ascription of it to Randolph, (who died in -March, 1634-5). It is far more likely to have been the work of SAMUEL -ROWLANDS, in whose _Crew of Kind London Gossips_, 1663, we meet it, p. -129-141, and whose style it more closely resembles. Some poems duly -assigned to Randolph are in the same volume, but the “Exaltation of Ale” -is _not_ thus distinguished. There are seventy-two verses given, and the -motto is _Tempus edax rerum, &c._ We have not been able to consult an -earlier edition of S. Rowland’s “_Crew_,” &c., about 1650. - -So long afterwards as 1788, we find an abbreviated copy of the song, six -verses, in Lackington’s “British Songster,” p. 202, entitled “A Tankard -of Ale.” The first verse runs thus:— - - “_Not drunk, nor yet sober, but brother to both,_ - _I met with a man upon Aylesbury Vale,_ - _I saw in his face that he was in good case_ - _To go and take part of a tankard of ale._” - -Omitting all sequence of narrative, the other verses are adapted from the -_Antidote’s_ 21st, 19th, 10th, 26th, and 50th; concerning the hedger, -beggar, widow, clerk, and amicable conclusion over a tankard of ale. In a -_Convivial Songster_, of 1807, by Tegg, London, these six are given with -addition of another as fifth:— - - _The old parish Vicar, when he’s in his liquor,_ - _Will merrily at his parishioners rail,_ - _“Come, pay all your tithes, or I’ll kiss all your wives,”_ - _When once he shakes hands with a tankard of ale._ - -It had appeared in a Chap-book (circa 1794, according to Wm. Logan; see -his amusing “Pedlar’s Pack,” pp. 224-6), with other five verses inserted -before the Finale. We give them to complete the tale:— - - _There’s the blacksmith by trade, a jolly brisk blade,_ - _Cries, “Fill up the bumper, dear host, from the pail;”_ - _So cheerful he’ll sing, and make the house ring,_ - _When once he shakes hands with a tankard of ale._ - _Laru la re, laru, &c. So cheerful, &c._ - - _There’s the tinker, ye ken, cries “old kettles to mend,”_ - _With his budget and hammer to drive in the nail;_ - _Will spend a whole crown, at one sitting down,_ - _When once he shakes hands with a tankard of ale._ - _Laru, &c._ - - _There’s the mason, brave ~John~, the carver of stone,_ - _The Master’s grand secret he’ll never reveal;_ - _Yet how merry is he with his lass on his knee,_ - _When once he shakes hands with a tankard of ale._ - _Laru, &c._ - - _You maids who feel shame, pray me do not blame,_ - _Though your private ongoings in public I tell;_ - _Young ~Bridget~ and ~Nell~ to kiss will not fail_ - _When once they shake hands with a tankard of ale._ - _Laru, &c._ - - _There’s some jolly wives, love drink as their lives,_ - _Dear neighbours but mind the sad thread of my tale;_ - _Their husbands they’ll scorn, as sure’s they were born,_ - _If once they shake hands with a tankard of ale._ - _Laru, &c._ - - _From wrangling or jangling, and ev’ry such strife,_ - _Or anything else that may happen to fall;_ - _From words come to blows, and sharp bloody nose,_ - _But friends again over a tankard of ale._ - _Laru, &c._ - -Notice the characteristic mention of William Elderton, the Ballad-writer -(who died before 1592), in the thirty-third verse (our p. 119):— - - _For ballads Elderton never had peer;_ - _How went his wit in them, with how merry a gale,_ - _And with all the sails up, had he been at the cup,_ - _And washed his beard with a pot of good ale._ - -William Elderton’s “New Yorkshire Song, intituled _Yorke, Yorke, for my -Monie_,” (entered at Stationers’ Hall, 16 November, 1582, and afterwards -“Imprinted at London by Richard Iones; dwelling neere Holbourne Bridge: -1584),” has the place of honour in the Roxburghe Collection, being the -first ballad in the first volume. It consequently takes the lead in the -valuable “Roxburghe Bds.” of the Ballad Society, 1869, so ably edited -by William Chappell, Esq., F.S.A. It also formed the commencement of -Ritson’s _Yorkshire Garland_: York, 1788. It is believed that Elderton -wrote the “excellent Ballad intituled The Constancy of Susanna” (Roxb. -Coll., i. 60; Bagford, ii. 6; Pepys, i. 33, 496). A list of others was -first given by Ritson; since, by W. C. Hazlitt, in his _Handbook_, p. -177. Elderton’s “Lenton Stuff ys come to the town” was reprinted by -J. O. Halliwell, for the Shakespeare Society, in 1846 (p. 105). He -gives Drayton’s allusion to Elderton in Notes to Mr. Hy. Huth’s “79 -Black-Letter Ballads,” 1870, 274 (the “Praise of my Ladie Marquess,” -by W. E., being on pp. 14-16). Elderton had been an actor in 1552; his -earliest dated ballad is of 1559, and he had ceased to live by 1592. -Camden gives an epitaph, which corroborates our text, in regard to the -“thirst complaint” of the balladist:— - - _Hic situs est sitiens, atque ebrius Eldertonus—_ - _Quid dico—Hic situs est? his potius sitis est._ - -Thus freely rendered by Oldys:— - - _Dead drunk here Elderton doth lie;_ - _Dead as he is, he still is dry;_ - _So of him it may well be said,_ - _Here he, but not his thirst, is laid._ - -A MS., time of James I., possessed by J. P. Collier, mentions, in further -confirmation: - - _~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._ - -(See Wm. Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time, pp. 107, 815; and -J. P. Collier’s Extracts from Reg. Stat. Comp., _passim_, Indices, art. -Elderton; and his Bk. of Roxb. Bds., p. 139.) - - -Page 125 (orig. 14). _With an old Song, made by, &c._ - -The fashion of disparaging the present, by praising the customs and -people of days that have passed away, is almost as old as the Deluge, if -not older. Homer speaks of the degeneracy in his time, and aged Israel -had long earlier lamented the few and evil days to which his own life -extended, in comparison with those patriarchs who had gone before him. -Even as we know not the full value of the Mistress or the friend whose -affection had been given unto us, until separated from them, for ever, by -estrangement or the grave, so does it seem to be with many customs and -things. Robert Browning touchingly declares:— - - _And she is gone; sweet human love is gone!_ - _’Tis only when they spring to heaven that angels_ - _Reveal themselves to you; they sit all day_ - _Beside you, and lie down at night by you_ - _Who care not for their presence, muse or sleep,_ - _And all at once they leave you, and you know them!_ - -Modified in succeeding reigns, the ballad of “The Queen [Elizabeth]’s -Old Courtier, and A New Courtier of the King [James]” has already known -two hundred and fifty years’ popularity. The earliest printed copy was -probably issued by T. Symcocke, by or after 1626. We find it in several -books about the time of the Restoration, when parodies became frequent. -It is in _Le Prince d’Amour_, 1660, p. 161; _Wit and Drollery_, 1682 -(not in 1656, 1661 edits.), p. 278, “With an old Song,” _&c._; _Wit -and Mirth_, 1684, p. 43; _Dryden’s Misc. Poems_ (ed. 1716, iv. 108); -with the Music, in _Pills_, iii. 271; in _Philomel_, 130, 1744; Percy’s -_Reliques_, ii. Bk. 3, No. 8, 1767; Ritson’s _English Sgs._, ii. 140, and -Chappell’s _Pop. Music_, p. 300, to which refer for a good introduction, -with extract from Pepys Diary of 16th June, 1668. Accompanying a Parody -by T. Howard, Gent. (beginning similarly, “An Old Song made of an old -aged pate”), it meets us in the Roxburghe Coll., iii. 72, printed for F. -Coles (1646-74). - -Among other parodies may be mentioned one entitled “An Old Souldier -of the Queen’s” (in _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, 31, and in _Wit and -Drollery_, 248, 1661); another, “The New Souldier” (_Wit and Drollery_, -282, 1682), beginning:— - - _With a new Beard but lately trimmed,_ - _With a new love-lock neatly kemm’d,_ - _With a new favour snatch’d or nimm’d,_ - _With a new doublet, French-like trimm’d;_ - _And a new gate, as if he swimm’d;_ - Like a new Souldier of the King’s, - And the King’s new Souldier. - - _With a new feather in his Cap;_ - _With new white bootes, without a strap_; &c. - -In the same edition of _Wit and Drollery_, p. 165, is yet another parody, -headed “_Old Souldiers_,” which runs thus (see _Westminster-Drollery_, -ii. 24, 1672,):— - - _Of Old Souldiers the song you would hear,_ - _And we old fiddlers have forgot who they were._ - -John Cleveland had a parody on the Queen’s Courtier, about 1648, entitled -The Puritan, beginning “With face and fashion to be known, For one -of sure election.” Another, called The Tub-Preacher, is doubtfully -attributed to Samuel Butler, and begins similarly, “With face and fashion -to be known: With eyes all white, and many a groan” (in his _Posthumous -Works_, p. 44, 3rd edit., 1730). The political parody, entitled “Saint -George and the Dragon, _anglicé Mercurius Poeticus_,” to the same tune -of “The Old Courtier,” is in the Kings Pamphlets, XVI., and has been -reprinted by T. Wright for the Percy Soc., iii. 205. It bears Thomason’s -date, 28 Feb., 1659-[60], and is on the overthrow of the Rump, by General -Monk. It begins thus:— - - _News! news! here’s the occurrences and a new Mercurius,_ - _A dialogue between Haselrigg the baffled and Arthur the furious;_ - _With Ireton’s readings upon legitimate and spurious,_ - _Proving that a Saint may be the Son of a Wh——, for the satisfaction - of the curious._ - _From a Rump insatiate as the Sea,_ - Libera nos, Domine, _&c._ - -Old songs have rarely, if ever, been modernized so successfully as “The -Queen’s Old Courtier,” of which “The Fine Old English Gentleman” is no -unworthy representative. Popular though it was, thirty or forty years -ago, it is not easily met with now; thus we may be excused for adding it -here:— - -_THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN._ - - _I’ll sing you a good old song, made by a good old pate,_ - _Of a fine old English gentleman, who had an old estate,_ - _And who kept up his old mansion, at a bountiful old rate;_ - _With a good old porter to relieve the old poor at his gate._ - _Like a fine old English gentleman, all of the olden time._ - - _His hall so old was hung around with pikes, and guns, and bows,_ - _And swords, and good old bucklers, that had stood against old foes;_ - _’Twas there “his worship” held his state in doublet and trunk hose,_ - _And quaff’d his cup of good old Sack, to warm, his good old nose:_ - _Like a fine old English gentleman, &c._ - - _When Winter’s cold brought frost and snow, he open’d house to all;_ - _And though threescore and ten his years, he featly led the ball;_ - _Nor was the houseless wanderer e’er driven from his hall,_ - _For, while he feasted all the great, he ne’er forgot the small:_ - _Like a fine old English gentleman, &c._ - - _But time, though sweet, is strong in flight, and years roll swiftly by;_ - _And autum’s falling leaves proclaimed, the old man—he must die!_ - _He laid him down right tranquilly, gave up life’s latest sigh;_ - _While a heavy stillness reign’d around, and tears dimm’d every eye._ - _For this good old English gentleman, &c._ - - _Now surely this is better far than all the new parade_ - _Of theatres and fancy balls, “At Home,” and masquerade;_ - _And much more economical, when all the bills are paid:_ - _Then leave your new vagaries off, and take up the old trade_ - _Of a fine old English gentleman, &c._ - -A series of eight Essays, each illustrated with a design by R. W. Buss, -was devoted to “The Old and Young Courtier” in the _Penny Magazine_ of -the Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in 1842. - -Charles Matthews used to sing (was it in “Patter _versus_ Clatter”?) an -amusing version of “The Fine Young English Gentleman,” of whom it was -reported that, - - _He kept up his vagaries at a most astounding rate,_ - _And likewise his old Landlady,—by staying out so late,_ - _Like a fine young English gentleman, one of the present time, &c._ - -T. R. Planché wrote a parody to the same tune, in his “Golden Fleece,” on -the “Fine Young Grecian Gentleman,” Iason, as described by his deserted -wife Medea: it begins, “I’ll tell you a sad tale of the life I’ve been -led of late.” In Dinny Blake’s “_Sprig of Shillelah_,” p. 3, is found -“The Rale Ould Irish Gintleman,” (5 verses) beginning, “I’ll sing you a -dacent song, that was made by a Paddy’s pate,” and ending thus:— - - _Each Irish boy then took a pride to prove himself a man,_ - _To serve a friend, and beat a foe it always was the plan_ - _Of a rale ould Irish Gintleman, the boy of the olden time._ - -(Or, as Wm. Hy. Murray, of Edinburgh, used to say, in his unequalled “Old -Country Squire,” “A smile for a friend, a frown for a foe, and a full -front for every one!”) - -At the beginning of the Crimean War appeared another parody, ridiculing -the Emperor Nicholas, as “The Fine Old Russian Gentleman” (it is in -Berger’s _Red, White, and Blue_, 467); and clever Robert B. Brough, -in one of his more bitter moods against “The Governing Classes,” -misrepresented the “Fine Old English Gentleman” (_Ibid._, p. 733), as -splenetically as Charles Dickens did in _Barnaby Rudge_, chapter 47. - - -Page 20 (original). Pan _leave piping, &c._ - -Given already, in our Appendix to the _Westminster Drollery_, p. liv., -with note of tune and locality. See Additional Note in Part 3 of present -Appendix. - - -Page 129 (orig. 26). _Why should we boast of ~Arthur~, &c._ - -There are so many differences in the version printed in the _Antidote -agt. Melancholy_ from that already given in _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, -p. 309, (cp. Note, p. 399), that we give the former uncurtailed. - -Along with the music in _Pills to p. Mel._, iii. 116, 1719, are the -extra verses (also in _Wit and Mirth_, 1684, p. 29?) agreeing with the -_Antidote_; as does the version in _Old Bds._, i. 24, 1723. - -Another old ballad, in the last-named collection, p. 153, is upon “King -Edward and Jane Shore; in Imitation, and to the Tune of, St. _George_ and -the _Dragon_.” It begins (in better version):— - - _Why should we boast of ~Lais~ and her knights,_ - _Knowing such Champions entrapt by Whorish Lights?_ - _Or why should we speak of ~Thais~ curled Locks,_ - _Or ~Rhodope~, &c._ - -Roxb. Coll., iii. 258, printed in 1671. Also in _Pills_, with music, iv. -272. The authorship of it is ascribed to SAMUEL BUTLER, in the volume -assuming to be his “Posthumous Works” (p. iii., 3rd edition, 1730); but -this ascription is of no weight in general. - -In Edm. Gayton’s _Festivous Notes upon Don Quixot_, 1654, p. 231, we -read:—“’Twas very proper for these Saints to alight at the sign of St. -_George_, who slew the Dragon which was to prey upon the Virgin: The -truth of which story hath been abus’d by his own country-men, who almost -deny all the particulars of it, as I have read in a scurrilous Epigram, -very much impairing the credit and Legend of St. _George_; As followeth, - - _They say there is no ~Dragon~,_ - _Nor no Saint ~George~ ’tis said._ - _Saint ~George~ and ~Dragon~ lost,_ - _Pray Heaven there be a Maid!_ - -But it was smartly return’d to, in this manner, - - _Saint ~George~ indeed is dead,_ - _And the fell ~Dragon~ slaine;_ - _The ~Maid~ liv’d so and dyed,—_ - _She’ll ne’r do so againe._” - -Somewhat different is the earlier version, in _Wit’s Recreations_, -1640-45. (Reprint, p. 194, which see, “To save a maid,” &c.) The Answer -to it is probably Gayton’s own. - - -Page 133 (orig. 29). _Come hither, thou merriest, &c._ - -Issued as a popular broadsheet, printed at London for Thomas Lambert, -probably during the lifetime of Charles I., we find this lively ditty of -“Blew Cap for Me!” in the Roxburghe Coll., i. 20, and in the Bd. Soc. -Reprint, vol. i. pp. 74-9. Mr. Chappell mentions that the tune thus named -“is included in the various editions of _The Dancing Master_ from 1650 -to 1690; and says, the reference to ‘when our good king was in Falkland -town,’ [in the _Antidote_ it reads “our good _knight_,” line 13] may -supply an approximate date to the composition.” We believe that it must -certainly have been before the Scots sold their king for the base bribe -of money from the Parliamentarians, in 1648, when “Blew caps” became -hateful to all true Cavaliers. The visit to Falkland was in 1633, so the -date is narrowed in compass. From the Black-letter ballad we gain a few -corrections: _drowne_, for dare, in 4th line; long _lock’d_, 26th line; -for _further_ exercises, 28th; _Mistris_ (so we should read _Maitresse_, -not _a metrel_), 29th; _Pe gar_ me do love you (not “Dear”), 30th; _she_ -replide. The First Part ends with the Irishman. The Second Part begins -with two verses not in the _Antidote_:— - - _A Dainty spruce Spanyard, with haire black as jett,_ - _long cloak with round cape, a long Rapier and Ponyard;_ - _Hee told her if that she could Scotland forget,_ - _hee’d shew her the Vines as they grow in the Vineyard._ - _“If thou wilt abandon_ - _this Country so cold,_ - _I’ll show thee faire Spaine,_ - _and much Indian gold.”_ - _But stil she replide, “Sir,_ - _I pray let me be;_ - Gif ever I have a man, - Blew-cap for me.” - - _A haughty high German of Hamborough towne,_ - _a proper tall gallant, with mighty mustachoes;_ - _He weepes if the Lasse vpon him doe but frowne,_ - _yet he’s a great Fencer that comes to ore-match vs._ - _But yet all his fine fencing_ - _Could not get the Lasse;_ - _She deny’d him so oft,_ - _that he wearyed was;_ - _For still she replide, “Sir,_ - _I pray let me be;_ - Gif ever I have a man, - Blew-cap for me.” - -In the Netherland Mariner’s Speech we find for the fifth line of verse, -“_Isk_ will make thee,” _said_ he, “sole Lady,” &c. Another verse follows -it, before the conclusion:— - - _These sundry Sutors, of seuerall Lands,_ [4] - _did daily solicite this Lasse for her fauour;_ - _And euery one of them alike vnderstands_ - _that to win the prize they in vaine did endeauour:_ - _For she had resolued_ - _(as I before said)_ - _To haue bonny Blew-cap,_ - _or else bee a maid._ - _Vnto all her suppliants_ - _still replyde she,_ - “Gif ever I have a man, - Blew-cap for me.” - - _At last came a Scottish-man (with a blew-cap),_ - _and he was the party for whom she had tarry’d;_ - _To get this blithe bonny Lasse ’twas his gude hap,—_ - _they gang’d to the Kirk, & were presently marry’d._ - _I ken not weele whether_ - _it were Lord or Leard;_ [Laird] - _They caude him some sike_ - _a like name as I heard;_ - _To chuse him from au_ - _She did gladly agree,—_ - _And still she cride_, “Blew-cap, - th’art welcome to mee.” - -The song is also reprinted for the Percy Society, (Fairholt’s _Costume_), -xxvii. 130, as well as in Evans’ _O. Bds._, iii. 245. Compare John -Cleavland’s “Square Cap,”—“Come hither, _Apollo’s_ bouncing girl.” - - -Page 135 (orig. 30). _The Wit hath long beholden been._ - -In Harleian MS. No. 6931, where it is signed as by DR. W. STRODE. - -The tune of this is “The Shaking of the Sheets,” according to a broadside -printed for John Trundle (1605-24, before 1628, as by that date we -believe his widow’s name would have been substituted). We find it -reprinted by J. P. Collier in his _Book of Roxburghe Ballads_, p. 172, -1847, as “The Song of the Caps.” In an introductory note, we gather that -“This spirited and humorous song seems to have been founded, in some of -its points, upon the ‘Pleasant Dialogue or Disputation between the Cap -and the Head,’ which prose satire went through two editions, in 1564 -and 1565: (see the Bridgewater Catalogue, p. 46.) It is, however, more -modern, and certainly cannot be placed earlier than the end of the reign -of Elizabeth. It may be suspected that it underwent some changes, to -adapt it to the times, when it was afterwards reprinted; and we finally -meet with it, but in a rather corrupted state, in a work published in -1656, called ‘Sportive Wit: the Muses Merriment, a new Spring of Lusty -Drollery,’ &c.” [p. 23.] It appears, with the music, in _Pills_, iv. 157; -in Percy Society’s “Costume,” 1849, 115, with woodcuts of several of the -caps mentioned. - -In _Sportive Wit_, 1656, p. 23, is a second verse (coming before “The -Monmouth Cap,” &c.):— - - 2.—_The Cap doth stand, each man can show,_ - _Above a Crown, but Kings below:_ - _The Cap is nearer heav’n than we;_ - _A greater sign of Majestie:_ - _When off the Cap we chance to take,_ - _Both head and feet obeysance make;_ - For any Cap, &c. - -In our 3rd verse, it reads:—ever _brought_, The _quilted_, Furr’d; -_crewel_; 4th verse, line 6, of (_some say_) a horn. 5th verse, crooked -_cause aright; Which, being round and endless, knows_ || _To make as -endless any cause_ [A better version]. 6th, _findes_ a mouth; 7th, The -_Motley Man_ a Cap; [for lines 3, 4, compare Shakespeare, as to it taking -a wise man to play the fool,] like _the Gyant’s_ Crown. 8th, Sick-_mans_; -When _hats in Church_ drop off apace, _This_ Cap _ne’er leaves the_ head -_uncas’d_, Though he be _ill_; [two next verses are expanded into three, -in _Sp. Wit_.] 11th, none but _Graduats_ [N.B.]; _none_ covered are; _But -those that_ to; _go_ bare. _This_ Cap, _of all the Caps that be_, Is -_now_; _high_ degree. - - -Page 139 (orig. 37). _Once I a curious eye did fix._ - -This is in THOMAS WEAVER’S _Songs and Poems of Love and Drollery_, p. -16, 1654. Elsewhere attributed to JOHN CLEVELAND (who died in 1658), -and printed among his Poems “_J. Cleavland Revived_” (p. 106, 3rd edit. -1662), as “The Schismatick,” with a trashy fifth verse (not found -elsewhere):— - - _I heard of one did touch,_ - _He did tell as much,_ - _Of one that would not crouch_ - _At ~Communion~;_ - _Who thrusting up his hand_ - _Never made a stand_ - _Till he came where her f—— had union;_ - _She without all terrour,_ - _Thought it no errour,_ - _But did laugh till the tears down did trickle,_ - _Ha, ha, ha, ~Rotundus~, ~Rotundus~, ’tis you that my spleen - doth tickle._ - -It is likewise in the _Rump_ collection, i. 223, 1662; _Loyal Sgs._, i. -131, 1731. - - -Page 139 (orig. 47). _I’s not come here to tauk of ~Prut~._ - -By BEN JONSON. This is the song of the Welshmen, Evan, Howell, and -Rheese, alternately, in Praise of Wales, sung in an Anti-Masque -“For the Honour of Wales,” performed before King James I. on Shrove -Tuesday, 1618-19. The final verse is omitted from the _Antidote against -Melancholy_. It is this (sung by Rheese):— - - _Au, but what say yow should it shance too,_ - _That we should leap it in a dance too,_ - _And make it you as great a pleasure,_ - _If but your eyes be now at leisure;_ - _As in your ears s’all leave a laughter,_ - _To last upon you six days after?_ - _Ha! well-a-go to, let us try to do,_ - _As your old ~Britton~, things to be writ on._ - - CHORUS.—_Come, put on other looks now,_ - _And lay away your hooks now;_ - _And though yet yow ha’ no pump, sirs,_ - _Let ’em hear that yow can jump, sirs,_ - _Still, still, we’ll toudge your ears,_ - _With the praise of her thirteen s’eeres._ - -(See Col. F. Cunningham’s “Mermaid” Ben Jonson, iii. 130-2, for Gifford’s -Notes.) With a quaint old woodcut of a strutting Welshman, in cap and -feather, the song reappears in “_Recreations for Ingenious Head-pieces_,” -1645 (_Wits Recreations_, Reprint, p. 387). - - -Page 143. _Old Poets Hipocrin admire._ - -This is attributed to THOMAS RANDALL, or RANDOLPH (died 1634-5), in _Wit -and Mirth_, 1684. p. 101: But to N. N., along with music by Hy. Lawes, -in his _Ayres_, Book ii. p. 29, 1655. It is also in _Parnassus Biceps_, -1656, p. 158, “_All_ Poets,” &c., and in _Sportive Wit_, p. 60. - - -Page 144. _Hang the Presbyter’s Gill._ - -With music in _Pills_, vi. 182; title, “The Presbyter’s Gill:” where we -find three other verses, as 4th, 5th, and 7th:— - - 4. - - _The stout-brested ~Lombard~, His brains ne’er incumbred,_ - _With drinking of Gallons three;_ - _~Trycongius~ was named, And by ~Cæsar~ famed,_ - _Who dubb’d him Knight Cap-a-pee._ - - 5. - - _If then Honour be in’t, Why a Pox should we stint_ - _Ourselves of the fulness it bears?_ - _H’ has less Wit than an Ape, In the blood of a Grape,_ - _Will not plunge himself o’er Head and Ears._ - - 7. - - _See the bold Foe appears, May he fall that him Fears,_ - _Keep you but close order, and then_ - _We will give him the Rout, Be he never so stout[,]_ - _And prepare for his Rallying agen._ - - 8 (Final). - - _Let’s drain the whole Cellar, &c._ - -The accumulative progression, humourously exaggerated, is to be seen -employed in other Drinking Songs; notably in “Here’s a Health to the -Barley-Mow, my brave boys!” (still heard at rural festivals in East -Yorkshire, and printed in J. H. Dixon’s _Bds. & Sgs. of the Peasantry_, -Bell’s annotated edit., p. 159) and “Bacchus Overcome,” beginning “My -Friend and I, we drank,” &c. (in _Coll. Old Bds._, iii. 145, 1725.) - - -Page 145. _’Tis Wine that inspires._ - -With music by Henry Lawes, in his Select Ayres, i. 32, 1653, entitled -“The Excellency of Wine:” the author was “LORD BROUGHALL” [query, -Broghill?]. - - -(Page, in original, 55.) _Let the bells ring._ - -See Introduction to our _Westminster-Drollery_ Reprint, pp. xxxvii-viii. -Although not printed in the first edition of his “Spanish Curate,” it is -so entirely in the spirit of JOHN FLETCHER that we need not hesitate to -assign it to him: and he died in 1625. - - -Page 146. _Bring out the [c]old Chyne._ - -With music, by Dr. John Wilson, in John Playford’s _Select Ayres_, 1659, -p. 86, entitled Glee to the Cook. A poem attributed to Thomas Flatman, -1655, begins, “A Chine of Beef, God save us all!” - - -Page 147. _In Love? away! you do me wrong._ - -Given, with music by Henry Lawes, in his _Select Ayres_, Book iii. p. 5, -1669. The author of the words was Dr. HENRY HUGHES. We do not find the -burden, “Come, fill’s a Cup,” along with the music. - - -(Page 65, orig.) _He that a Tinker, a Tinker &c._ - -See _Choyce Drollery_, 52, and note on p. 289. - - -Page 149, line 8th, _Now that the Spring, &c._ - -This was written by WILLM. BROWNE, author of “Britannia’s Pastorals,” and -therefore dates before 1645. See Additional Note, late in Part IV., on p. -296 of _M. D. C._ - - -Page 149. _You Merry Poets, old boys._ - -Given, with music by John Hilton, in his _Catch that Catch Can_, 1652, p. -7. Also in Walsh’s _Catch-Club_, ii. 13, No. 24. - - -Page 150. _Come, come away, to the Tavern, I say._ - -By Sir JOHN SUCKLING, in his unfinished tragedy “The Sad One,” Act iv. -sc. 4, where it is sung by Signior Multecarni the Poet, and two of the -actors; but without the final couplet, which recalls to memory Francis’s -rejoinder in Henry IV., pt. i. Suckling was accustomed to introduce -Shakesperian phrases into his plays, and we believe these two lines are -genuine. We find the Catch, with music by John Hilton in that composer’s -_Catch that Catch Can_, 1652, p. 15. (Also in Playford’s _Musical -Companion_, 1673, p. 24.) - -Captain William Hicks has a dialogue of Two Parliamentary Troopers, -beginning with the same first line, in _Oxford Drollery_, i. 21, 1671. -Written before 1659, thus: - - _Come, come away, to the Tavern, I say,_ - _Whilst we have time and leisure for to think;_ - _I find our State lyes tottering of late,_ - _And that e’re long we sha’n’t have time to drink._ - Then here’s a health to thee, to thee and me, - To me and thee, to thee and me, _&c._ - - -Page 151. _There was an Old Man at ~Walton~ Cross._ - -This should read “_Waltham_ Cross.” By RICHARD BROME, in his comedy -of “The Jovial Crew,” Act ii., 1641, wherein it is sung by Hearty, as -“t’other old song for that” [the uselessness of sighing for a lass]; to -the tune of “Taunton Dean,” (see Dodsley’s _Old Plays_, 1st edit., 1744, -vi. 333). With music by John Hilton, it is given in J. H.’s _Catch that -Catch Can_, 1652, p. 31. It is also in Walsh’s _Catch Club_ (about 1705) -ii. 17, No. 43. - - -Page 151. _Come, let us cast dice, who shall drink._ - -In J. Hilton’s _Catch that Catch Can_, 1652, p. 55, with music by William -Lawes; and in John Playford’s _Musical Companion_, 1673, p. 24. - - -Page 151. _Never let a man take heavily, &c._ - -With music by William Lawes, in Hilton’s _Catch that Catch Can_, 1652, p. -38. - - -Page 152. _Let’s cast away care, and merrily sing._ - -With music by William Lawes, in Hilton’s _Catch that Catch Can_, 1652, -p. 37. Wm. Chappell gives the words of four lines, omitting fifth and -sixth, to accompany the music of Ben Jonson’s “Cock Lorrell,” in _Pop. -Mus. of O. T._, 161 (where date of the _Antidote_ is accidentally -misprinted 1651, for 1661). - - -Page 152. _Hang sorrow, and cast away care._ - -With music by William Lawes, in Hilton’s _Catch that Catch Can_, 1652, p. -39. The words alone in _Windsor Drollery_, 140, 1672. Richard Climsall, -or Climsell, has a long ballad, entitled “Joy and Sorrow Mixt Together,” -which begins, - - _Hang Sorrow! let’s cast away care,_ - _for now I do mean to be merry;_ - _Wee’l drink some good Ale and strong Beere,_ - _With Sugar, and Clarret, and Sherry._ - _Now Ile have a wife of mine own:_ - _I shall have no need for to borrow;_ - _I would have it for to be known_ - _that I shall be married to morrow._ - Here’s a health to my Bride that shall be! - come, pledge it, you coon merry blades; - The day I much long for to see, - we will be as merry as the Maides. - -Poor fellow! he soon changes his tune, after marriage, although singing -to the music of “Such a Rogue would be hang’d,”—better known as “Old -Sir Simon the King.” Printed by John Wright the younger (1641-83), it -survives in the Roxburghe Collection, i. 172, and is reprinted for the -Bd. Soc., i. 515. As may be seen, it is totally different from the -Catch in Hilton’s volume and the _Antidote_; which is also in _Oxford -Drollery_, Pt. 3, p. 136, there entitled “A Cup of Sack:—“_Hang Sorrow, -cast_,” &c. - -It there has two more verses:— - - 2. - - _Come Ladd, here’s a health to thy Love,_ [p. 136.] - _Do thou drink another to mine,_ - _I’le never be strange, for if thou wilt change_ - _I’le barter my Lady for thine:_ - _She is as free, and willing to be_ - _To any thing I command,_ - _I vow like a friend, I never intend_ - _To put a bad thing in thy hand:_ - _Then be as frollick and free_ [p. 137.] - _With her as thou woul’st with thine own,_ - _But let her not lack good Claret and Sack,_ - _To make her come off and come on._ - - 3. - - _Come drink, we cannot want Chink,_ - _Observe how my pockets do gingle,_ - _And he that takes his Liquor all off_ - _I here do adopt him mine ningle:_ - _Then range a health to our King,_ - _I mean the King of ~October~,_ - _For ~Bacchus~ is he that will not agree_ - _A man should go to bed sober:_ - _’Tis wine, both neat and fine,_ - _That is the faces adorning,_ - _No Doctor can cure, with his Physick more sure,_ - _Than a Cup of small Beer in the morning._ - -This shows how a great man’s gifts are undervalued. Christopher Sly was -truly wise (yet accounted a Sot and even a Rogue, though “the Slys are -no rogues: look in the chronicles! We came in with Richard Conqueror!”) -when, with all the wealth and luxury of the Duke at command, he demanded -nothing so much as “a pot o’ the smallest ale.” He had good need of it. - - -Page 152. _My Lady and her Maid, upon a merry pin._ - -This meets us earlier, in Hilton’s _Catch that Catch Can_, 1651, p. 64, -with music by William Ellis. The missing first verse reappears (if, -indeed, not a later addition) in _Oxford Drollery_, 1674, Part iii. p. -163, as “made at Oxford many years since”:— - - _My Lady and her Maid_ - _Were late at Course-a-Park:_ - _The wind blew out the candle, and_ - _She went to bed in the dark,_ - - _My Lady, &c._ [as in _Antidote ag. Mel._] - -It was popular before December, 1659; allusions to it are in the _Rump_, -1662, i. 369; ii. 62, 97. - - -Page 153. _An old house end._ - -Also in _Windsor Drollery_, 1672, p. 30. - - -Same p. 153. _Wilt thou lend me thy Mare._ - -With music by Edmund Nelham, in John Hilton’s _Catch that Catch can_, -1652, p. 78. The Answer, here beginning “Your Mare is lame,” &c., we -have not met elsewhere. The Catch itself has always been a favourite. -In a world wherein, amid much neighbourly kindness, there is more than -a little of imposition, the sly cynicism of the verse could not fail -to please. Folks do not object to doing a good turn, but dislike being -deemed silly enough to have been taken at a disadvantage. So we laugh -at the Catch, say something wise, and straightway let ourselves do -good-natured things again with a clear conscience. - - -Page 154. _Good ~Symon~, how comes it, &c._ - -With music by William Howes, in Hilton’s _Catch that Catch can_, 1652, -p. 84. Also in Walsh’s _Catch-Club_, ii. 77. We are told that the -_Symon_ here addressed, regarding his Bardolphian nose, was worthy Symon -Wadloe,—“Old _Sym_, the King of Skinkers,” or Drawers. Possibly some -jocular allusion to the same reveller animates the choice ditty (for -which see the _Percy Folio MS._, iv. 124, and _Pills_, iii. 143), - - _Old Sir ~Simon~ the King!_ - _With his ale-dropt hose,_ - _And his malmesy nose,_ - _Sing hey ding, ding a ding ding._ - -We scarcely believe the ascription to be correct, and that “Old Symon -the King” originally referred to Simon Wadloe, who kept the “Devil and -St. Dunstan” Tavern, whereat Ben Jonson and his comrades held their -meetings as The Apollo Club; for which the _Leges Conviviales_ were -written. Seeing that Wadloe died in 1626, or ’27, and there being a clear -trace of “Old Simon the King” in 1575, in Laneham’s _Kenilworth Letter_ -(Reprinted for Ballad Society, 1871, p. cxxxi.), the song appears of too -early a date to suit the theory. _Tant pis pour les faits._ But consult -Chappell’s _Pop. Mus._, 263-5, 776-7. - - -Same p. 154. _Wilt thou be fatt? &c._ - -In 1865 (see his _Bibliog. Account_, i. 25), J. P. Collier drew attention -to the mention of Falstaff’s name in this Catch; also to the other -_Shakesperiana_, viz., the complete song of “Jog on, jog on the footpath -way,” (p. 156), and the burden of “Three merry boys,” to “The Wise-men -were but Seven” (_M. D. C._, p. 232), which is connected with Sir Toby -Belch’s joviality in _Twelfth Night_, Act ii. 3. - - -Page 155. _Of all the birds that ever I see._ - -With the music, in Chappell’s _Pop. Mus. O. T._, p. 75. This favourite of -our own day dates back so early, at least, as 1609, when it appeared in -(Thomas Ravenscroft’s?) _Deuteromelia; or, the Second Part of Musick’s -Melodie, &c._, p. 7. We therein find (what has dropped out, to the damage -of our _Antidote_ version), as the final couplet:— - - _Sinamont and ginger, nutmegs and cloves,_ - _And that gave me my jolly red nose._ - -Of course, it was the spice deserved blame, not the liquor (as Sam Weller -observed, on a similar occasion, “Somehow it always _is_ the salmon”). -Those who remember (at the Johnson in Fleet Street, or among the -Harmonist Society of Edinburgh) the suggestive lingering over the first -syllable of the word “gin-ger,” when “this song is well sung,” cannot -willingly relinquish the half-line. It is a genuine relic, for it also -occurs in Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Knight of the Burning Pestle,” about -1613, Act i. sc. 3; where chirping Old Merrythought, “who sings with -never a penny in his purse,” gives it thus, while “singing and hoiting” -[i.e., skipping]:— - - _Nose, nose, jolly red nose,_ - _And who gave thee this jolly red nose?_ - Cinnamon and ginger, nutmegs and cloves, - _And they gave me this jolly red nose_. - -And we know, by _A Booke of Merrie Riddles_, 1630, and 1631, that it was -much sung: - - —_then Ale-Knights should_ - _To sing this song not be so bold,_ - Nutmegs, Ginger, Cinamon and Cloves, - They gave us this jolly red nose. - - -Same p. 155. _This Ale, my bonny lads, &c._ - -Like Nos. 4, 21, 24, 31, &c., not yet found elsewhere. - - -Page 156. _What! are we met? Come. &c._ - -With music by Thomas Holmes, in Hilton’s _Catch that Catch can_, 1652, p. -46. - - -Same p. 156. _Jog on, jog on the foot path-way._ - -The four earliest lines of this ditty are sung by Autolycus the Pedlar, -and “picker up of unconsidered trifles,” in Shakespeare’s _Winter’s Tale_ -(about 1610), Act iv. sc. 2. Whether the latter portion of the song was -also by him (nay, more, whether he actually wrote, or merely quoted even -the four opening lines), cannot be determined. We prefer to believe -that from his hand alone came the fragment, at least—this lively snatch -of melody, with good philosophy, such as the Ascetics reject, to their -own damage. No wrong is done in accepting the remainder of the song as -genuine. The final verse is orthodox, according to the Autolycusian rule -of faith. It is in _Windsor Drollery_, p. 30; and our Introduction to -_Westminster-Drollery_, p. xxxv. - - -Page 157. _The parcht earth drinks_, &c. - -Compare, with this lame paraphrase of Anacreon’s racy Ode, the more -poetic version by Abraham Cowley, printed in _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, -p. 22 (not in 1661 ed. _Merry D._) All of Cowley’s Anacreontiques are -graceful and melodious. He and Thomas Stanley fully entered into the -spirit of them, _arcades ambo_. - - -Same p. 157. _A Man of Wales_, &c. - -We meet this, six years earlier, in _Wits Interpreter_, 1655 edit., p. -285; 1671, p. 290. Our text is the superior. - - -Page 158. _Drink, drink, all you that think._ - -Also found in _Wit and Mirth_, 1684, p. 113. - - -Page 159. _Welcome, welcome, again to thy wits._ - -By JAMES SHIRLEY, (1590-1666) in his comedy, “The Example,” 1637, Act v. -sc. 3, where it is the Song of Sir Solitary Plot and Lady Plot. Repeated -in the _Academy of Complements_, 1670, p. 209. Until after that date, for -nearly a century, almost all the best songs had been written for stage -plays. It forms an appropriate finale, from the last Dramatist of the old -school, to the Restoration merriment, the _Antidote against Melancholy_, -of 1661. - -In one of the later “Sessions of the Poets” (_vide postea_ Part 4, § -2)—probably, of 1664-5,—Shirley is referred to, ungenerously. He was then -aged nearly seventy:— - - _Old ~Shirley~ stood up, and made an Excuse,_ - _Because many Men before him had got;_ - _He vow’d he had switch’d and spur-gall’d his Muse,_ - _But still the dull Jade kept to her old trot._ - -He is also mentioned, with more reverence implied, by George Daniel of -Beswick; and we may well conclude this second part of our Appendix with -the final verses from the Beswick MS. (1636-53); insomuch as many Poets -are therein mentioned, to whom we return in Section Fourth:— - - _The noble ~Overburies~ Quill has left_ [verse 20] - _A better Wife then he could ever find:_ - _I will not search too deep, lest I should lift_ - _Dust from the dead: Strange power, of womankind,_ - _To raise and ruine; for all he will claime,_ - _As from that sex; his Birth, his Death, his Fame._ - - _But I spin out too long: let me draw up_ - _My thred, to honour names, of my owne time_ - _Without their Eulogies, for it may stop_ - _With Circumstantiall Termes, a wearie Rhime:_ - _Suffice it if I name ’em; that for me_ - _Shall stand, not to refuse their Eulogie._ - - _The noble ~Falkland~, ~Digbie~, ~Carew~, ~Maine~,_ - _~Beaumond~, ~Sands~, ~Randolph~, ~Allen~, ~Rutter~, ~May~,_[13] - _The devine ~Herbert~, and the ~Fletchers~ twaine_, - _~Habinton~, ~Shirley~, ~Stapilton~; I stay_ [N.B.] - _Too much on names; yet may I not forget_ - _~Davenant~, and ~Suckling~, eminent in witt._ - - _~Waller~, not wants, the glory of his verse;_ - _And meets, a noble praise in every line;_ - _What should I adde in honour? to reherse,_ - _Admired ~Cleveland~? by a verse of mine?_ - _Or give ye glorious Muse of ~Denham~ praise?_ - _Soe withering Brambles stand, to liveing Bayes._ - - _These may suffice; not only to advance_ - _Our ~English~ honour, but for ever crowne_ - _Poesie, ’bove the reach of Ignorance;_ - _Our dull fooles unmov’d, admire their owne_ - _Stupiditie; and all beyond their sphere_ - _As Madnes, and but tingling in the Eare._ - - [Final Verse.] - - _Great Flame! whose raies at once have power to peirce_ - _The frosted skull of Ignorance, and close_ - _The mouth of Envie; if I bring a verse_ - _Unapt to move; my admiration flowes_ - _With humble Love and Zeale in the intent_ - _To a cleare Rapture, from the Argument._ - - (G. D.’s “_A Vindication of Poesie_.”) - - -End of Notes to _Antidote_. - - - - -APPENDIX. PART 3. - - -§ 1.—EXTRA SONGS IN THE WESTMINSTER-DROLLERY, 1674. - - “A living Drollery!” (Shakespeare’s _Tempest_, Act iii. sc. 3.) - -Before concluding our present series, _The Drolleries of the -Restoration_, we have gladly given in this volume the fourteen pages of -Extra Songs contained in the 1674 edition of _Westminster-Drollery_, Part -1st. Sometimes reported as amounting to “nearly forty” (but, perhaps, -this statement referred to the Second Part inclusive), it is satisfactory -to have joined these six to their predecessors; especially insomuch that -our readers do not, like the original purchasers, have to pay such a -heavy price as losing an equal number of pages filled with far superior -songs. For, the 1671 Part First contained exactly 124 pages, and the -1674 edition has precisely the same number, neither more nor less. The -omissions are not immediately consecutive, (as are the additions, which -are gathered in one group in the final sheet, pp. 111-124.) They were -selected, with unwise discrimination, throughout the volume. Not fourteen -pages of objectionable and relinquishable _facetiæ_; but ten songs, from -among the choicest of the poems. Our own readers are in better case, -therefore: they gain the additions, without yielding any treasures of -verse in exchange. - -We add a list of what are thus relinquished from the 1674 edition, noting -the pages of our _Westm. D._ on which they are to be found:— - - P. 5. Wm. Wycherley’s, _A Wife I do hate_ 1671 - — 10. Dryden’s, _Phillis ~Unkind~: Wherever I am_ do. - — 15. Unknown, _O you powerful gods_, ? do. - — 28. T. Shadwell’s, _Thus all our life long_, 1669 - — 30. Dryden’s, Cellamina, _of my heart_, 1671 - — 31. Ditto, _Beneath a myrtle shade_, do. - — 116. Ditto, Ditto (almost duplicate), do. - — 47. Ditto, _Make ready, fair Lady_, 1668 - — —. Etherege’s, _To little or no purpose_, do. - — 91. T. Carew’s, _O my dearest, I shall_, &c., bef. 1638 - — 100. Ditto, or Cary’s, _Farewell, fair Saint_, bef. 1652 - -Thus we see that most of these were quite new when the -_Westminster-Drollery_ first printed them (in four cases, at least, -before the plays had appeared as books): they were rejected three years -later for fresh novelties. But the removal of Carew’s tender poems was a -worse offence against taste. - -Except the odd Quakers’ Madrigall of “Wickham Wakened” (on p. 120; our -p. 188), which is not improbably by Joe Haynes, we believe the whole -of the other five new songs of 1674 came from one work. We are unable -at once to state the name and author of the drama in which they occur. -The five are given (severely mutilated, in two instances) in _Wit at a -Venture; or, ~Clio’s~ Privy-Garden_, of the same date, 1674. Here, also, -they form a group, pp. 33-42; with a few others that probably belong to -the same play, viz., “Too weak are human eyes to pry;” “Oh that I ne’er -had known the power of Love;” “Must I be silent? no, and yet forbear;” -“Cease, wandering thought, and let her brain” (this is Shirley’s, in the -“Triumph of Beauty,” 1645); “How the vain world ambitiously aspires;” -“Heaven guard my fair _Dorinda_:” and, perhaps, “Rise, golden Fame, and -give thy name or birth.” Titles are added to most of these. - -Page 179. _So wretched are the sick of Love_, is, on p. 37 of _Wit at a -Venture_, entitled Distempered Love. The third verse is omitted. - -Page 181. _To Arms! To Arms! &c._, on p. 39, entitled The Souldier’s -Song; 13th line reads “Where _we_ must try.” - -Page 182. _Beauty that it self can kill_, on p. 35; reading, in 20th -line, “When the fame and virtue falls || Careless courage,” &c. - -Page 183. _The young, the fair, &c._, on p. 33, is entitled _The Murdered -Enemy_; reading _Clarissa_ for _Camilla_; and giving lines 17th and 19th, -“Her beauties” and “Fierce Lions,” &c. Line 23rd is “And not to check it -in the least.” - - -Page 184. _How frailty makes us to our wrong._ - -Called A Moral Song in _Wit at a Venture_, p. 41, which rightly reads -“grovel,” not “gravel,” in line 6; but omits third verse, and all the -Chorus. - - -Page 188. _The Quaker and his Brats._ - -We have not seen this elsewhere. Attributed to “the famous actor, JOSEPH -HAINES,” or “Joe Haynes,” - - _Who, while alive, in playing took great pains,_ - _Performing all his acts with curious art,_ - _Till Death appear’d, and smote him with his dart._ - -His portrait, as when riding on a Jack-ass, in 1697, is extant. He died -4th April, 1701, and was mourned by the Smithfield muses. - - -§ 2.—ADDITIONAL NOTES - -To the 1671-72 Editions of - -WESTMINSTER-DROLLERY. - - -Page 81. _Is she gone? let her go._ - -This is a parody or mock on a black-letter ballad in the Roxburghe -Collection, ii. 102, entitled “The Deluded Lasses Lamentation: or, the -False Youth’s Unkindness to his Beloved Mistress.” Its own tune. Printed -for P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, J. Black. In four-line verses, -beginning:— - - _Is she gone? let her go, I do not care,_ - _Though she has a dainty thing, I had my share:_ - _She has more land than I by one whole Acre,_ - _I have plowed in her field, who will may take her._ - - -Part I., p. 105. _Hic jacet, ~John Shorthose~._ - -The music to this is in Jn. Playford’s _Musical Companion_, 1673, p. 34 -(as also to “Here lyes a woman,” &c. See Appendix to _Westm. Droll_., p. -lviii). - - -Part I., p. 106. _There is not half so warm, &c._ - -See _Choyce Drollery_, 1656, p. 61, _ante_; and p. 293, for note -correcting “daily” to “dully” in ninth line. - - -Part II., p. 74 (App. p. lv.) _As ~Moss~ caught his Mare._ - -Not having had space at command, when giving a short Addit. Note on p. -408 of _M. D. C._, we now add a nursery rhyme (we should gladly have -given another, which mentions catching the mare “Napping up a tree”). -Perhaps the following may be the song reported as being sung in South -Devon:— - - _~Moss~ was a little man, and a little mare did buy,_ - _For kicking and for sprawling none her could come nigh;_ - _She could trot, she could amble, and could canter here and there,_ - _But one night she strayed away—so ~Moss~ lost his Mare._ - - _~Moss~ got up next morning to catch her fast asleep,_ - _And round about the frosty fields so nimbly he did creep._ - _Dead in a ditch he found her, and glad to find her there,_ - _So I’ll tell you by and bye, how ~Moss~ caught his mare._ - - _Rise! stupid, rise! he thus to her did say,_ - _Arise you beast, you drowsy beast, get up without delay,_ - _For I must ride you to the town, so don’t lie sleeping there,_ - _He put the halter round her neck—so ~Moss~ caught his mare._ - -As that prematurely wise young sceptic Paul Dombey declared, when a -modern-antique Legend was proffered to him, “I don’t believe that story!” -It is frightfully devoid of _ærugo_, even of _æruca_. It may do for South -Devon, and for Aylesbury farmers over their “beer and bacca,” but not for -us. The true Mosse found his genuine mare veritably “napping” (not dead), -up a real tree. - -In John Taylor’s “_A Swarme of Sectaries and Schismatiqves_,” 1641, his -motto is (concerning Sam Howe lecturing from a tub), - - _The Cobler preaches and his Audience are_ - _As wise as ~Mosse~ was, when he caught his Mare._ - - -Part II., page 89. _Cheer up, my mates, &c._ - -(See Appendix to _Westm. Droll_., p. lxii.) The author of this -frollicsome ditty was no other than ABRAHAM COWLEY (1618-67), dear to all -who know his choice “Essays in Prose and Verse,” his unlaboured letters, -the best of his smaller poems, or the story of his stainless life and -gentleness. It is that noble thinker and poet, Walter Savage Landor, who -writes, and in his finest mood:— - - _Time has been_ - _When ~Cowley~ shone near ~Milton~, nay, above!_ - _An age roll’d on before a keener sight_ - _Could separate and see them far apart._ - - (_Hellenics_, edit. 1859, p. 258.) - -Yet while we yield unquestioningly the higher rank as Poet to John -Milton, we hold the generous nature of his rival, Cowley, in more loving -regard. He was not of the massive build in mind, or stern unflinching -resolution needed for such times as those wherein his lot was cast. -When the weakest goes to the wall, amid universal disturbance and -selfish warring for supremacy, his was not the strong arm to beat back -encroachment. Gentle, affectionate, and truthful, exceptionally pure and -single-minded, although living as Queen Henrietta’s secretary in her -French Court, where impurity of thought and lightness of conduct were -scarcely visited with censure, the uncongenial scenes and company around -him help to enhance the charm of his mild disposition. Heartless wits -might lampoon him, stealthy foes defame him, lest he should gain one -favour or reward that they were hankering after. To us he remains the -lover of the “Old Patrician trees,” the friend of Crashaw and of Evelyn, -the writer of the most delightful essays and familiar letters: alas! too -few. - -The “Song” in _Westminster-Drollery_, ii. 89, set by Pelham Humphrey, is -the opening verse of Cowley’s “ODE: Sitting and Drinking in the Chair -made out of the Reliques of Sir Francis Drake’s Ship.” [The chair was -presented to the University Library, Oxford.] - -Corrections: _dull men_ are those _who_ tarry; and spy _too_. Three -verses follow. Of these we add the earliest, leaving uncopied the others, -of 21 and 18 lines. They are to be found on p. 9 of Cowley’s “Verses -written on Several Occasions,” folio ed., 1668. The idea of the shipwreck -“in the wide Sea of Drink” had been early welcomed by him, and treated -largely, Feb. 1638-9, in his _Naufragium Joculare_. - - 2. - - _What do I mean: What thoughts do me misguide?_ - _As well upon a staff may Witches ride_ - _Their fancy’d Journies in the Ayr,_ - _As I sail round the Ocean in this Chair:_ - _’Tis true; but yet this Chair which here you see,_ - _For all its quiet now and gravitie,_ - _Has wandred, and has travail’d more_ - _Than ever Beast, or Fish, or Bird, or ever Tree before._ - _In every Ayr, and every Sea ’t has been,_ - _’T has compos’d all the Earth, and all the Heavens ’t has seen._ - _Let not the Pope’s it self with this compare,_ - _This is the only Universal Chair._ - -It must have been written before 1661, as it appears among the “_Choyce -Poems, being Songs, Sonnets, &c._”, printed for Henry Brome, (who ten -years afterwards published _Westm. Droll._) at the Gun in Ivie Lane, in -that year. It is in the additional opening sheet, p. 13; not found in the -1658 editions of _Choyce Poems_. - - -_Westminster-Drollery_ Appendix, p. liv. “_The Green Gown_,” Pan, _leave -piping, &c._ - -Under the title “The Fetching Home of May,” we meet an early ballad-form -copy in the Roxburghe Collection, i. 535, printed for J. Wright, junior, -dwelling at the upper end of the Old Bailey. It begins “Now _Pan_ leaves -piping,” and is in two parts, each containing five verses. Three of -these are not represented in the _Antidote_ of 1661. Wm. Chappell, the -safest of all guides in such matters, notes that “the publisher [of -the broadside] flourished in and after 1635. No clue remains to the -authorship.” (_Bd. Soc._ reprint, iii. 311, 1875.) - -As in the case of the companion-ditty, “Come, Lasses and Lads” (_Westm. -Droll._, ii. 80), we may feel satisfied that this lively song was written -before the year 1642. No hint of the Puritanic suppression of Maypoles -can be discerned in either of them. Such sports were soon afterwards -prohibited, and if ballads celebrating their past delights had then -been newly written, the author must have yielded to the temptation to -gird at the hypocrites and despots who desolated each village green. We -cannot regard the _Roxburghe Ballad_ as being superior to the _Antidote_ -version: But they mutually help one another in corrections. We note the -chief: first verse, So lively _it_ passes; _Good lack_, what paines; 2, -_Thus_ they so much; 3 (our 4), Came very _lazily_. It is after the five -verses that differences are greatest. Our 6th verse is absent, and our -7th appears as the 8th; with new 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th, which we here -give, but print them to match our others: - -THE FETCHING HOME OF MAY. - -(_The Second Part._) - - 6. - - This Maying so pleased || Most of the fine lasses, - That they much desired to fetch in May flowers, - For to strew the windows and such like places, - Besides they’l have May bows, fit for shady bowers. - But most of all they goe || To find where Love doth growe, - Each young man knowes ’tis so, || Else hee’s a clowne: - For ’tis an old saying, || “There is great joying, - When maids go a Maying,” || _They’ll have a greene gowne_. - - 7. - - Maidens and young men goe, || As ’tis an order old, - For to drink merrily and eat spiced cakes; - The lads and the lasses their customs wil hold, - For they wil goe walk i’ th’ fields, like loving mates: - _Em_ calls for _Mary_, || And _Ruth_ calls for _Sarah_, - _Iddy_ calls for _Har[r]y_ || To man them along: - _Martin_ calls _Marcy_, || _Dick_ calls for _Debary_, - Then they goe lovingly || _All in a throng_. - - 8. (_Westm. Droll._, 7.) - - The bright _Apollo_ || Was all the while peeping - To see if his _Daphne_ had bin in the throng, - And, missing her, hastily downward was creeping, - For [_Thetis_] imagined [he] they tarri’d too long. - Then all the troope mourned || And homeward returned, - For _Cynthia_ scorned || To smile or to frowne: - Thus did they gather May || All the long summer’s day, - And went at night away, || _With a green gowne_. - - 9. - - Bright _Venus_ still glisters, Out-shining of _Luna_; - _Saturne_ was present, as right did require; - And he called _Jupiter_ with his Queen _Juno_, - To see how Dame _Venus_ did burn in desire: - Now _Jove_ sent _Mercury_ || To _Vulcan_ hastily, - Because he should descry [decoy] Dame _Venus_ down: - _Vulkan_ came running, On _Mars_ he stood frowning, - Yet for all his cunning, || _Venus had a greene gowne_. - - 10. - - Cupid shootes arrowes At _Venus_ her darlings, - For they are nearest unto him by kind: - _Diana_ he hits not, nor can he pierce worldlings, - For they have strong armour his darts to defend: - The one hath chastity, And _Cupid_ doth defie; - The others cruelty || makes him a clowne: - But leaving this I see, From _Cupid_ few are free, - And ther’s much courtesie _In a greene gowne_. - - FINIS. - -We have a firm conviction that these verses (not including “The bright -Apollo”) were unauthorized additions by an inferior hand, of a mere -ballad-monger. We hold by the _Antidote_. - - -Part II., 100, Appendix, p. lxviii. - -Here is the old ballad mentioned, from our own black-letter copy. Compare -it with _W. D._:— - - The Devonshire Damsels’ Frollick. - - Being an Account of nine or ten fair Maidens, who went one - Evening lately, to wash themselves in a pleasant River, where - they were discovered by several Young Men being their familiar - Acquaintances, who took away their Gowns and Petticoats, with - their Smocks and Wine and good Chear; leaving them a while in - a most melancholly condition. - - To a pleasant New Play-house Tune [music is given]: Or, Where’s - my Shepherd? - - This may be Printed. R[obt]. P[ocock, 1685-8]. - - _~Tom~ and ~William~ with ~Ned~ and ~Ben~,_ - _In all they were about nine or ten;_ - _Near a trickling River endeavour to see_ - _a most delicate sight for men;_ - _Nine young maidens they knew it full well,_ - _~Sarah~, ~Susan~, with bonny ~Nell~,_ - _and all those others whose names are not here,_ - _intended to wash in a River clear._ - - _~Simon~ gave out the report_ - _the rest resolving to see the sport[,]_ - _The Young freely repairing declaring_ - _that this is the humours of ~Venus~ Court[,]_ - _In a Bower those Gallants remaine_ - _seeing the Maidens trip o’re the plain[:]_ - _They thought no Body did know their intent_ - _as merrily over the Fields they went._ - - _~Nell~ a Bottle of Wine did bring_ - _with many a delicate dainty thing[,]_ - _Their Fainting Spirits to nourish and cherish_ - _when they had been dabbling in the Spring[:]_ - _They supposing no Creature did know_ - _to the River they merrily goe,_ - _When they came thither and seeing none near[,]_ - _Then under the bushes they hid their chear._ - - _Then they stripping of all their Cloaths_ - _their Gowns their Petticoats Shooes & Hose[,]_ - _Their fine white smickits then stripping & skipping[,]_ - _no Body seeing them they suppose[,]_ - _~Sarah~ enter’d the River so clear_ - _and bid them follow they need not fear[,]_ - _For why the Water is warm they replyed[,]_ - _then into the River they sweetly glide._ - - _Finely bathing themselves they lay_ - _like pretty Fishes they sport and play[,]_ - _Then let’s be merry[,] said ~Nancy~, I fancy,_ - _it’s seldom that any one walks this way[.]_ - _Thus those Females were all in a Quill_ - _and following on their Pastime still[,]_ - _All naked in a most dainty trim_ - _those Maidens like beautifull Swans did swim._ - - _Whilst they followed on their Game[,]_ - _out came sweet ~William~ and ~Tom~ by name._ - _They took all their Clothing and left nothing [t’ ’em:]_ - _Maids was they not Villains and much to blame[?]_ - _Likewise taking their Bottle of Wine[,]_ - _with all their delicate Dainties fine[:]_ - _Thus they were rifled of all their store,_ - _was ever poor Maidens so serv’d before._ - - _From the River those Maidens fair_ - _Return’d with sorrow and deep despair[;]_ - _When they seeing, brooding[,] concluding_ - _that somebody certainly had been there[,]_ - _With all their Treasure away they run[,]_ - _Alas[!] said ~Nelle~[,] we are undone,_ - _Those Villains I wish they were in the Stocks,_ - _that took our Petticoats Gowns and Smocks._ - - _Then Sweet ~Sarah~ with modest ~Prue~_ - _they all was in a most fearful Hue[,]_ - _Every Maiden replying and crying_ - _they did not know what in the world to do[.]_ - _But what laughing was there with the men_ - _in bringing their Gowns and Smocks again[,]_ - _The Maidens were modest & mighty mute[,]_ - _and gave them fine curtsies and thanks to boot._ - - Printed for P. Brooksby at the Golden Ball in Pye Corner [1672-95.] - - -Part II., pp. 120, 123 (App. p. lxxii.) - -_O Love if e’er, &c._ There is a parody or “Mock” to this, beginning “O -_Mars_, if e’er thoult ease a blade,” and entitled “The Martial Lad,” in -Wm. Hicks’ _London Drollery_, 1673, p. 116. - - -End of Notes to _Westminster-Drollery_. - - - - -APPENDIX. PART 4. - - -§ 1.—EXTRA SONGS IN THE MERRY DROLLERY, 1661. - -(_Not repeated in the 1670 and 1691 Editions._) - - _Falstaff._—“If Sack and Sugar be a fault, Heaven help the wicked.” - - (_Henry_ IV., Pt. 1, Act ii. Sc. 4.) - -Collections of Songs, depending chiefly on the popularity of such as are -already in vogue, or of others that promise fairly to please the reader, -are necessarily of all books the most liable to receive alterations -when re-issued. Thus we ourselves possess half-a-dozen editions of _the -Roundelay_, and also of the _Bullfinch_, both undated eighteenth-century -songsters; each copy containing a dozen or more of Songs not to be found -in the others. Our _Merry Drollery_ is a case in point. As already -mentioned, there is absolutely no difference between the edition of 1670 -and 1691 of _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, except the title-page. It was a -well-understood trade stratagem, to re-issue the unsold sheets, those -of 1670, with a freshly-dated title-page, as in 1691; so to catch the -seekers after novelty by their most tempting lure. Even the two pages of -“List of New Books” (reprinted conscientiously by ourselves in _M. D., -C._, pp. 358, 359) are identical in both! - -We take credit beforehand for the readers’ satisfaction at our providing -such a _Table of First Lines_, as we hereafter give, that may enable -him easily and convincedly to understand the alterations made from the -1661 edition of _Merry Drollery_, both parts, when it was re-issued -in a single volume, paged consecutively, in 1670 and 1691. It is more -difficult to understand _why_ the changes were made, than thus to see -what they were. 1. It could not have been from modesty: although some -objectionable pieces were omitted, others, quite as open to censure, were -newly admitted instead. 2. Scarcely could it have been that as political -satires they were out of date (except in the case of the Triumph over The -Gang—England’s Woe—and Admiral Dean’s Funeral: our pp. 198, 218, 206); -for in the later volume are found other songs on events contemporary -with these, which, being rightly considered to be of abiding interest, -were retained. 3. It was not that the songs rejected were too common, -and easily attainable; for they are almost all of extreme rarity, and -now-a-days not procurable elsewhere. 4. It must have been a whim that -ostracised them, and accepted novelties instead! At any rate, here they -are! As in the case of the sheet from _Westminster-Drollery_, 1674 (see -p. 177), readers possess the Extra Songs of both early and late editions, -along with all that are common to both, and this without confusion. - -Almost all of these _Merry Drollery_ Extra Songs were written before the -Restoration; of a few we know the precise date, as of 1653, 1650, 1623, -&c. These are chiefly on political events, viz. the Funeral of Admiral -Dean, so blithely commented on, with forgetfulness of the man’s courage -and skill while remembering him only as an associate of rebels; the -story of England’s Woe (certainly published before the close of 1648), -with scorn against the cant of Prynne and Burton; the noisy, insensate -revel of the song on the Goldsmith’s Committee (1647, p. 237), where -we can see in the singers such unruly cavaliers as those who brought -discredit and ruin; as also in the coarser “Letany” (on our page 241); -and in the still earlier description of New England (before 1643), which -forms a most important addition to the already rich material gathered -from these contemporary records, shewing the views entertained of the -nonconforming and irreconcileable zealots who held close connection with -the discontented Dutchmen. Although caricatured and maliciously derisive, -it is impossible to doubt that we have here a group of portraits -sufficiently life-like to satisfy those who beheld the originals. As -to the miscellaneous pieces, the Sham-Tinker, who comes to “Clout the -Cauldron,” has genuine mirth to redeem the naughtiness. Dr. Corbet’s(?) -“Merrie Journey into France” is crammed full of pleasantry, and while -giving a record of sights that met the traveller, enlivens it with airy -gaiety that makes us willing companions. This, with variations, may -be met with elsewhere in print; but not so the delightfully sportive -invitation of The Insatiate Lover to his Sweetheart, “Come hither, my -own Sweet Duck” (p. 247). To us it appears among the best of these -thirty-five additions: musical and fervent, without coarseness, the song -of an ardent lover, who fears nothing, and is ripe for any adventure -that war may offer. One of Rupert’s reckless Cavaliers may have sung -this to his Mistress. Of course it would be unfair to blame him for not -being awake to the higher beauty of such a sentiment as Montrose felt and -inspired:— - - But if thou wilt prove faithful, then, - And constant of thy word, - I’ll make thee glorious by my pen, - And famous by my sword: - I’ll serve thee in such noble ways - Was never heard before; - I’ll crown and deck thee all with bays, - And love thee more and more. - -Or, as Lovelace nobly sings:— - - Tell me not, sweet, I am unkinde, - That from the nunnerie - Of thy chaste breast and quiet minde - To warre and armes I flie. - - True: a new Mistresse now I chase, - The first foe in the field; - And with a stronger faith embrace - A sword, a horse, a shield. - - Yet this inconstancy is such - As you too shall adore; - I could not love thee, dear, so much, - Lov’d I not Honour more. - -_C’est magnifique! mais ce n’est pas—L’amour._ At least, and we imply -no more, Lovelace and those who act on such high principles, find their -_Lux Casta_ marrying some neighbouring rival. But we may be sure that -the singer of our _Merry Drollery_ ditty won _his_ Lass, literally in a -canter. - - -Part I., p. 2 [our p. 195.] _A Puritan of late._ - -Compare John Cleveland’s “Zealous Discourse between the -Independent-Parson and Tabitha,” “Hail Sister,” &c. (_J. C. Revived_, -1662, p. 108); and also the superior piece of humour, beginning, “I came -unto a Puritan to wooe,” _M. D., C._, p. 77. The following description of -the earlier sort of Precisian, ridiculous but not yet dangerous, is by -Richard Brathwaite, and was printed in 1615:— - -_To the Precisian._ - - _For the Precisian that dares hardly looke,_ - _(Because th’ art pure, forsooth) on any booke,_ - _Save Homilies, and such as tend to th’ good_ - _Of thee and of thy zealous brother-hood:_ - _Know my Time-noting lines ayme not at thee,_ - _For thou art too too curious for mee._ - _I will not taxe that man that’s wont to slay_ - “His Cat for killing mise on th’ Sabbath day:[”] - _No; know my resolution it is thus,_ - _I’de rather be thy foe then be thy pus:_ - _And more should I gaine by’t: for I see,_ - _The daily fruits of thy fraternity:_ - _Yea, I perceiue why thou my booke should shun,_ - _“Because there’s many faultes th’ art guiltie on:”_ - _Therefore with-drawe, by me thou art not call’d,_ - _Yet do not winch (good iade) when thou art gall’d,_ - _I to the better sort my lines display,_ - _I pray thee then keep thou thy selfe away._ - - (_A Strappado for the Diuell_, 1615.) - -The sixth line offers another illustration of what has been ably -demonstrated by J. O. Halliwell, commenting on the “_too-too_ solid -flesh” of _Hamlet_, Act i. sc. 2, in Shakespeare Soc. Papers, i. 39-43, -1844. - -By it being printed within double quotational commas, we see that the -reference to a Puritan hanging his cat on a Monday, for having profanely -caught a mouse on the Sabbath-Sunday, was already an old and familiar -joke in 1615. James Hogg garbled a ballad in his _Jacobite Relics_, -1819, i. 37, as “_There was a ~Cameronian~ Cat, Was hunting for a -prey_,” &c., but we have a printed copy of it, dated 1749, beginning -“_A ~Presbyterian~ Cat sat watching of her prey_.” Also, in a poem “On -Lute-strings, Cat-eaten,” we read:— - - _Puss, I will curse thee, maist thou dwell_ - _With some dry Hermit in a Cel,_ - _Where Rat ne’re peep’d, where Mouse ne’er fed,_ - _And Flies go supperlesse to bed:_ - _Or with some close par’d Brother, where_ - _Thou’lt fast each Sabbath in the yeare,_ - _Or else, profane, be hang’d on Monday,_ - _For butchering a Mouse on Sunday_, &c. - - (_Musarum Deliciæ_, 1656, _p._ 53.) - -John Taylor, the Water-Poet, so early as 1620, writes of a Brownist:— - - _The Spirit still directs him how to pray,_ - _Nor will he dress his meat the Sabbath day,_ - _Which doth a mighty mystery unfold;_ - _His zeale is hot, although his meat be cold._ - _Suppose his Cat on Sunday kill’d a rat,_ - _She on the Monday must be hang’d for that._ - - (J. P. C.’s _Bibl. Acc._, ii. 418.) - - -Page 11 [our 197]. _I dreamt my Love, &c._ - -In the _Percy Folio MS._ (about 1650) p. 480; E. E. T. S., iv. 102, with -a few variations, one of which we have noted in margin of p. 181. The -industrious editors of the printed text of the _Percy Folio MS._ were -not aware of the fact that many of the shorter pieces were already to -be found in print; but this is no wonder. They are not easy to discover -(see next p. 352), and although we ourselves note occasionally “not found -elsewhere,” it is with the remembrance that a happy “find” may yet reward -a continuous search hereafter. We do not despair of recovering even the -lost line of “The Time-Poets.” - - -Page 12 [our 198]. _Now ~Lambert’s~ sunk, &c._ - -In the 1662 edit. of the _Rump_, i. 330, and in _Loyal Sgs._, 1731, -i. 219. It may have been written so early as Jan. 15th, 1659-60, when -Col. Lambert had submitted to the Parliament, on finding the troops -disinclined to support him unanimously. Another ballad made this inuendo:— - - _~John Lambert~ at ~Oliver’s~ Chair did roare,_ - _And thinks it but reason upon this score,_ - _That ~Cromwell~ had sitten in his before;_ - _Still blessed Reformation._ - - (_Rump_, ii. 99.) - -Fairfax had returned to his house, and to Monk were given the thanks of -the rescued Parliament. As M. de Bordeaux writes of him to Card. Mazarin, -at this exact date, “he is now the most powerful subject in the whole -nation. Fleetwood, Desborough, and all the others of the same faction are -entirely out of employment” (Guizot’s _Monk_, 1851, p. 156). Although no -mention or definite allusion seems made in the ballad to Monk’s attack on -the London defences, Feb. 9th, we incline to think this may be nearer to -the true date: if it refers to the oath of abjuration, of Feb. 4th, which -was offered to Monk, as on March 1st. “Arthur’s Court” is an allusion to -Sir Arthur Haselrig, “a rapacious, head-strong, and conceited agitator” -(_Ibid._, p. 37). Monk had not publicly declared himself for the King -until May; but he was seen to be opposed to the Rump by 11th Feb., when -its effigies were enthusiastically burnt. Richard Cromwell’s abdication -had been, virtually, April 22nd, 1659. - - -Page 32 [204]. _A young man walking all alone._ - -This is another of the songs contained in the _Percy Folio MS_. (p. 460; -iv. 92 of print); wrongly supposed to be otherwise lost, but imperfect -there, our fourth and fifth verses being absent. We cannot accept “_if -that I may thy favour haue, thy bewtye to behold_,” as the true reading; -while we find “_If that thy favour I may win With thee for to be bold_:” -which is much more in the Lover’s line of advance. Yet we avail ourselves -of the “I am so _mad_” in 3rd verse, because it rhymes with “maidenhead,” -in _M. D._, though not suiting with the “honestye” of the _P. F. MS._ The -final half-verse is different. - - -Page 56 [206]. _~Nick Culpepper~ and ~Wm. Lilly~._ - -Also in 1662 edition of the _Rump_, i. 308; and _Loyal Songs_, 1731, i. -192. The event referred to happened in June, 1653, the engagement between -the English and Dutch fleets commencing on the 2nd, renewed the next day. -Six of the Dutch ships were sunk, and twelve taken, with thirteen hundred -prisoners. _Blake_, _Monk_, and _Dean_ were the English commanders, until -_Dean_ was killed, the first day. Monk took the sole command on the next. -Clarendon gives an account of the battle, and says: “_Dean_, one of the -_English_ Admirals, was killed by a cannon-shot from the Rear-Admiral of -the _Dutch_,” before night parted them. “The loss of the _English_ was -greatest in their General _Dean_. There was, beside him, but one Captain, -and about two hundred Common Sea-men killed: the number of the wounded -was greater; nor did they lose one Ship, nor were they so disabled but -that they followed with the whole fleet to the coast of _Holland_, -whither the other fled; and being got into the _Flie_ and the _Texel_, -the English for some time blocked them up in their own Harbors, taking -all such Ships as came bound for those parts.” (_His. Reb._, B. iii. p. -487, ed. 1720.) - -Verse 1. Nicholas Culpeper, of Spittle Fields, near London, published his -_New Method of Physick_, and Alchemy, in 1654. - -As to William Lilly, “the famous astrologer of those times, who in his -yearly almanacks foretold victories for the Parliament with so much -certainty as the preachers did in their sermons,” consult his letter -written to Elias Ashmole, and the notes of Dr. Zachary Gray to Butler’s -_Hudibras_, Part ii. Canto 3. “He lived to the year 1681, being then near -eighty years of age, and published predicting almanacks to his death.” -He was one of the close committee to consult about the King’s execution -(_Echard_). He lost much of his repute in 1652; in 1655 he was indicted -at Hickes Hall, but acquitted. He dwelt at Hersham, Walton-on-Thames, -and elsewhere. Henry Coley followed him in almanack-making, and John -Partridge next. In the Honble. Robt. Howard’s Comedy, “The Committee,” -1665, we find poor Teague has been consulting Lilly:— - - “_I will get a good Master, if any good Master wou’d_ - _Get me; I cannot tell what to do else, by my soul, that_ - _I cannot; for I have went and gone to one LILLY’S;_ - _He lives at that house, at the end of another house,_ - _By the ~May-pole~ house; and tells every body by one_ - _Star, and t’other Star, what good luck they shall have._ - _But he cou’d not tell nothing for poor ~Teg~._” - - (_The Committee_, Act i.) - -Verse 12. The Master of the Rolls. This was Sir Dudley Digges, builder -of Chilham Castle, near Canterbury, Kent, who had in 1627 moved the -impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham, and been rewarded with this -Mastership. - -Verse 18. Alludes to the rigorous suppression of the Play-houses (_vide -ante_ p. 285, for a descriptive Song); and as we see from verse 17, -the Bear-garden, like Rope-dancers and Tumblers, met more tolerance -than actors (except from Colonel Pride). Not heels were feared, but -heads and hands. Bears, moreover, could not stir up men to loyalty, but -tragedy-speeches might. One Joshua Gisling, a Roundhead, kept bears at -Paris Garden, Southwark. - -23. “Goodman _Lenthall_,” “neither wise nor witty,” (“that creeps to the -house by a backdoor,” _Rump_, ii. 185,) the Speaker of the Commons from -1640 to 1653; Alderman _Allen_, the dishonest and bankrupt goldsmith, -both rebuked by _Cromwell_, when he forcibly expelled the Rump. (See the -ballad on pp. 62-5 of _M. D., C._, verses 9 and 10, telling how “_Allen_ -the coppersmith was in great fear. He had done as [i.e. _us_] much hurt,” -&c.; also 2, 15, for the dumb-foundered “Speaker without his Mace.”) This -Downfall of the Rump had been on April 20th, 1653, not quite three months -before the funeral of _Dean_. Whoever may have been the writer of this -spirited ballad, we believe, wrote the other one also: judging solely by -internal evidence. - -24. _Henry Ireton_, who married Bridget Cromwell in January, 1646-7, -and escaped from the Royalists after having been captured at Naseby, -proved the worst foe of Charles, insatiably demanding his death, died -in Ireland of the plague, 15th November, 1651. His body was brought to -Bristol in December, and lay in state at Somerset House. Over the gate -hung the “hatchment” with “_Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori_”—which -one of the Cavaliers delightedly translated, “Good it is for his country -that he is dead.” Like Dean’s, two years later, Ireton’s body was buried -with ostentatious pomp in Henry VII.’s Chapel, (Feb. 6 or 7;) to be -ignominiously treated at Tyburn after the Restoration. The choice of so -royal a resting-place brought late insult on many another corpse. His -widow was speedily married to Charles Fleetwood, before June, 1652. - -In verse 26, we cannot with absolute certainty fill the blank. Yet, in -the absence of disproof, we can scarcely doubt that the name suppressed -was neither _Sexby_, “an active agitator,” who, in 1658, employed against -Cromwell “all that restless industry which had formerly been exerted in -his favour” (Hume’s _Hist. Engd._, cap. lxi.); nor “Doomsday Sedgwick;” -not _Sidney_, staunch Republican, Algernon Sidney, whose condemnation was -in 1687 secured most iniquitously, and whose death more disgracefully -stains the time than the slaughter of Russell, although sentimentalism -chooses the latter, on account of his wife. Sidney was “but a young -member” at the Dissolution of 20th April, 1653. Probably the word was -_Say_, the notorious “Say and Seale,” “Crafty Say,” of whom we read:— - - _There’s half-witted ~Will Say~ too,_ - _A right Fool in the Play too,_ - _That would make a perfect Ass,_ - _If he could learn to Bray too._ - - (“Chips of the Old Block,” 1659; _Rump_, ii. 17.) - - -Page 64 [213]. _I went from ~England~, &c._ - -A MS. assertion gives the date of this _Cantilena de Gallico itinere_ as -1623. There seems to us no good reason for doubting that the author was -DR. RICHARD CORBET (1582-1635), Bishop of Oxford, afterwards of Norwich. -It is signed Rich. Corbett in Harl. MS. No. 6931, fol. 32, _reverso_, -and appears among his printed poems, 3rd edit. 1672, p. 129. In _Wit and -Mirth_, 1684, p. 76, it is entitled “Dr. Corbet’s Journey,” &c. But it -is fair to mention that we have found it assigned to R. GOODWIN, by the -epistolary gossip of inaccurate old Aubrey (see Col. Franc. Cunningham’s -_“Mermaid edit.” of Ben Jonson_, i. Memoirs, p. lvii. first note). In -a recent edition of Sir John Suckling’s Works, 1874, it is printed as -if by him (“There is little doubt that it is his”), i. 102, without any -satisfactory external evidence being adduced in favour of Suckling. In -fact, the external evidence goes wholly against the theory. The very MS. -Harl. 367, which is used as authority, is both imperfect and corrupt -throughout, as well as anonymous (_ex. gratiæ_, misreading the _Bastern_, -for Bastile), and the date on it, 1623, will not suit Suckling at all: -though Sir Hy. Ellis is guessed (by his supposed handwriting,) to -have attributed it to him. Could it be possible that he was otherwise -unacquainted with the poem? - -At earlier date than our own copy we find it, by Aug. 30th, 1656, in -_Musarum Deliciæ_, p. 17, and in _Parnassus Biceps_, also 1656, p. 24. -From this (as well as Harl. MS. 367) we gain corrections printed as our -_marginalia_, pp. 214-6: _deserv’d_, for received; _statue_ stairs, At -_Nôtre Dame_; prate, _doth_ please, &c. Harl. MS. 367 reads “The Indian -_Roc_” [probably it is correct]; and “As great and wise as Luisuè” -[Luines, who died 1622]. _Parnassus Biceps_ has an extra verse, preceding -the one beginning “His Queen,” (and Harl. 367 has it, but inferior):— - - _The people don’t dislike the youth,_ - _Alleging reasons. For in truth_ - _Mothers should honoured be._ - _Yet others say, he loves her rather_ - _As well as ere she loved his father,_ - _And that’s notoriously._ - -(A similar scandal meets us in other early French reigns: Diana de -Poictiers had relations with Henry II., as well as with his father, -Francis I., &c.) Compare _West. Droll._, i. 87, and its Appendix, pp. -xxv-vi. - -It may be a matter of personal taste, but we cannot recognize the genial -Bishop in the “R. C., Gent.,” who wrote “The Times Whistle.” A reperusal -of the E. E. T., 1871, almost _convinces_ us that they were not the same -person. We must look elsewhere for the author. - -In MS., on fly leaf, prefixed to 1672 edition of Dr. Corbet’s poems, in -the Brit. Mus. (press mark, 238, b. 56), we read:— - - _If flowing wit, if Verses wrote with ease,_ - _If learning void of pedantry can please,_ - _If much good humour, join’d to solid sense,_ - _And mirth accompanied by Innocence,_ - _Can give a Poet a just right to fame,_ - _Then CORBET may immortal honour claim._ - _For he these virtues had, & in his lines_ - _Poetick and Heroick spirit shines._ - _Tho’ bright yet solid, pleasant but not rude,_ - _With wit and wisdom equally endued._ - _Be silent Muse, thy praises are too faint,_ - _Thou want’st a power this prodigy to paint,_ - _At once a Poet, Prelate, and a Saint._ - - Signed, John Campbell. - - -Page 85 [218]. _I mean to speak of ~England’s~_, &c. - -In the 1662 _Rump_, i. 39; and in _Loyal Songs_, 1731, i. 12. It is also -in _Parnassus Biceps_ so early as 1656, p. 159, where we obtain a few -peculiar readings; even in the first line, which has “of England’s fate;” -“Prin _and_ Burton;” “_wear ~Italian~ locks for their abuse_ (instead -of “Stallion locks for a bush”); They’ll only have private _keyes_ for -their use,” &c. We are inclined to accept these as correct readings, -although our text (agreeing with the _Rump_) holds an intelligible -meaning. But those who have inspected the curiosities preserved in the -Hôtel de Cluny, at Paris, can scarcely have forgotten “the Italian -[pad-] Locks” which jealous husbands imposed upon their wives, as a -preservative of chastity, whenever they themselves were obliged to leave -their fair helpmates at home; and the insinuation that Prynne and Burton -intended to introduce such rigorous precautions, nevertheless retaining -“private keyes” for their own use, has a covert satire not improbable -to have been intentional. Still, remembering the persistent war waged -by these intolerant Puritans against “the unloveliness of love-locks,” -there are sufficient claims for the text-reading: in their denunciation -of curled ringlets “as Stallion locks” hung out “for a bush,” or sign -of attraction, such as then dangled over the wine-shop door (and may -still be seen throughout Italy), although “good wine needs no bush” to -advertise it. Instead of “The brownings,” (i.e. _The Brownists_, a sect -that arose in the reign of Elizabeth, founded by Robt. Browne), in final -verse, _Parnassus Biceps_ reads “The Roundheads.” The poem was evidently -written between 1632 and 1642. Strengthening the probability of “Italian -locks” being the correct reading, we may mention in one of the _Rump_ -ballads, dated 26 January, 1660-1, we find “The Honest Mens Resolution” -is to adopt this very expedient:— - - “_But what shall we do with our Wives_ - _That frisk up and down the Town, ..._ - _For such a Bell-dam,_ - _Sayes ~Sylas~ and ~Sam~,_ - _Let’s have an ~Italian~ Lock!_” - - (_Rump_ Coll., 1662, ii. 199.) - - -Page 88 [220]. _Hang Chastity, &c._ - -Probably refers to the New Exchange, at Durham House stables (see -Additional Note to page 134 of _M. D., C._). Certainly written before -1656. Lines 15 and 32 lend some countenance, by similarity, to the -received version in the previous song’s sixth verse. - - -Page 95 [222]. _It was a man, and a jolly, &c._ - -With some trifling variations, this re-appears as “The Old Man and Young -Wife,” beginning “_There was an old man, and a jolly old man, come love -me_,” &c., in _Wit and Mirth_, 1684, p. 17. The tune and burden of “The -Clean Contrary Way” held public favour for many years. See _Pop. Mus. O. -T._, pp. 425, 426, 781. In the 1658 and 1661 editions of _Choyce Poems_ -[by John Eliot, and others], pp. 81, are a few lines of verse upon “The -Fidler’s” that were committed for singing a song called, “_The Clean -Contrary Way_”:— - - _The Fidlers must be whipt the people say,_ - _Because they sung ~the clean contrary way~;_ - _Which if they be, a Crown I dare to lay_ - _They then will sing ~the clean contrary way~._ - _And he that did these merry Knaves betray,_ - _Wise men will praise, ~the clean contrary way~:_ - _For whipping them no envy can allay,_ [p. 82.] - _Unlesse it be ~the clean contrary way~._ - _Then if they went the Peoples tongues to stay,_ - _Doubtless they went ~the clean contrary way~._ - - -Page 134 [223]. _There was a Lady in this Land._ - -Re-appears in _Wit and Drollery_, 1682, p. 291 (not in the 1656 and -1661 editions), as “The Jovial Tinker,” but with variations throughout, -so numerous as to amount to absolute re-casting, not by any means an -improvement: generally the contrary. Here are the second and following -verses, of _Wit and Drollery_ version:— - - _But she writ a letter to him,_ - _And seal’d it with her hand,_ - _And bid him become a Tinker_ - _To clout both pot and pan._ - - _And when he had the Letter,_ - _Full well he could it read;_ - _His Brass and eke his Budget,_ [p. 292.] - _He streight way did provide,_ - - _His Hammer and his Pincers_ - _And well they did agree_ - _With a long Club on his Back_ - _And orderly came he._ - - _And when he came to the Lady’s Gates_ - _He knock’d most lustily,_ - _Then who is there the Porter said,_ - _That knock’st thus ruggedly?_ - - _I am a Jovial Tinker, &c._ - -The words of a later Scottish version of “Clout the Cauldron,” beginning -“Hae ye ony pots or pans, Or ony broken Chandlers?” (attributed by -Allan Cunningham to one Gordon) retouched by Allan Ramsay, are in his -_Tea-Table Miscellany_, 1724, Pt. i. (p. 96 of 17th edit., 1788.) Burns -mentions a tradition that the song “was composed on one of the Kenmure -family in the Cavalier time.” But the disguised wooer of the later -version is repulsed by the lady. Ours is undoubtedly the earlier. - - -Page 148 [230]. _Upon a Summer’s day._ - -The music to this is given in Chappell’s _Pop. Music of Olden Time_ -[1855], p. 255, from the _Dancing Master_, 1650-65, and _Musick’s -Delight on the Cithern_, 1666, where the tune bears the title “Upon a -Summer’s day.” In Pepy’s Collection, vol. i. are two other songs to the -same tune. - - -Page 153 [Suppl. 3]. _Mine own sweet honey, &c._ - -Evidently a parody, or “Mock” of “Come hither, my own,” &c., for which, -and note, see pp. 247, 367. - - -Second Part of _Merry Drollery_, 1661. - - -Page 22 [235]. _You that in love, &c._ - -A different version of this same song, only half its length, in four-line -stanzas, had appeared in J. Cotgrave’s _Wit’s Interpreter_, 1655, p. 124. -It is also in the 1671 edition, p. 229; and in _Wit and Drollery_, 1682 -edit., 287, entitled “The Tobacconist.” We prefer the briefer version, -although bound to print the longer one; bad enough, but not nearly so -gross as another On Tobacco, in _Jovial Drollery_, 1656, beginning “When -I do smoak my nose with a pipe of Tobacco.” - -In the Collection of Songs by the Wits of the Age, appended to _Le -Prince d’Amour_, 1660, (but on broadsheet, 1641) we find the following -far-superior lyric on - -TOBACCO. - - _To feed on Flesh is Gluttony,_ - _It maketh men fat like swine._ - _But is not he a frugal Man_ - _That on a leaf can dine!_ - - _He needs no linnen for to foul,_ - _His fingers ends to wipe,_ - _That hath his Kitchin in a Box,_ - _And roast meat in a Pipe._ - - _The cause wherefore few rich mens sons_ - _Prove disputants in Schools,_ - _Is that their fathers fed on flesh,_ - _And they begat fat fools._ - - _This fulsome feeding cloggs the brain,_ - _And doth the stomack cloak;_ - _But he’s a brave spark that can dine_ - _With one light dish of smoak._ - -_Audi alterem partem!_ Five years earlier (May 28th, 1655), William -Winstanley had published “A Farewell to Tobacco,” beginning:— - - _Farewell thou Indian smoake, Barbarian vapour,_ - _Enemy unto life, foe to waste paper,_ - _Thou dost diseases in thy body breed,_ - _And like a Vultur on the purse doth feed._ - _Changing sweet breaths into a stinking loathing,_ - _And with 3 pipes turnes two pence into nothing;_ - _Grim ~Pluto~ first invented it, I think,_ - _To poison all the world with hellish stink_, &c. - - (18 lines more. _The Muses’ Cabinet_, 1655, p. 13.) - -The three pipes for two-pence was a cheapening of Tobacco since the days, -not a century before, when for price it was weighed equally against gold. -Our early friend Arthur Tennyson wrote in one of our (extant) Florentine -sketch-books the following _impromptu_ of his own:— - - _I walk’d by myself on the highest of hills,_ - _And ’twas sweet, I with rapture did own;_ - _As fish-like I opened unto it my gills_ - _And gulp’d it in ecstasy down;_ - _To feel it breathe over my bacca-boiled tongue,_ - _That so much of its fragrance did need,_ - _And brace up completely a system unstrung_ - _For months with this ~Devil’s own Weed~._ - -But even so early as 1639, Thomas Bancroft had printed, (written thirteen -years before) in his _First Booke of Epigrammes_, the following, - -ON TOBACCO TAKING. - - _The Old Germans, that their Divinations made_ - _From Asses heads upon hot embers laid,_ - _Saw they but now what frequent fumes arise_ - _From such dull heads, what could they prophetize_ - _But speedy firing of this worldly frame,_ - _That seemes to stinke for feare of such a flame._ - - (_Two Bookes of Epigrammes_, No. 183, sign. E 3.) - -We need merely refer to other Epigrams On Tobacco, as “Time’s great -consumer, cause of idlenesse,” and “Nature’s Idea,” &c., in _Wit’s -Recreations_, 1640-5, because they are accessible in the recent Reprint -(would that it, _Wit Restored_ and _Musarum Deliciæ_ had been carefully -edited, as they deserved and needed to be; but even the literal reprint -of different issues jumbled together pell-mell is of temporary service): -see vol. ii., pp. 45, 38; and 96, 97, 139, 161, 227, 271. Also p. -430, for the “Tryumph of Tobacco over Sack and Ale,” attributed to F. -Beaumont, (if so, then before 1616) telling - - _Of the Gods and their symposia;_ - _But Tobacco alone,_ - _Had they known it, had gone_ - _For their Nectar and Ambrosia;_ - -and vol. i. p. 195, on “A Scholler that sold his Cussion” to buy tobacco. -It is but an imperfect version on ii. 96, headed “A Tobacconist” (eight -lines), of what we gave from _Le Prince d’Amour_: it begins “All dainty -meats I doe defie, || Which feed men fat as swine.” Answered by No. 317, -“On the Tobacconist,” p. 97. By the way: “Verrinus” in _M. D., C._, pp. -10, 364, consult _History of Signboards_, p. 354—“_Puyk van Verinas en -Virginia Tabac_;” Englished, “Tip-Top Varinas,” &c. - - -Page 27 [237]. _Come Drawer, some Wine._ - -Probably written by THOMAS WEAVER, and about 1646-8. It is in his -collection entitled _Love and Drollery_, 1654, p. 13. Also in the 1662 -_Rump_, i. 235; and the _Loyal Garland_, 1686 (Percy Soc. Reprint, xxix. -31). Compare a similar Song (probably founded on this one) by Sir Robt. -Howard, in his Comedy, “The Committee,” Act iv., “Come, Drawer, some -Wine, Let it sparkle and shine,”—or, the true beginning, “Now the Veil -is thrown off,” &c. The Committee of Sequestration of Estates belonging -to the Cavaliers sat at Goldsmith’s Hall, while Charles was imprisoned -at Carisbrook, in 1647. A ballad of that year, entitled “Prattle your -pleasure under the Rose,” has this verse:— - - _Under the rose be it spoken, there’s a damn’d ~Committee~,_ - _Sits in hell (~Goldsmith’s Hall~) in the midst of the City,_ - _Only to sequester the poor Cavaliers,—_ - _The Devil take their souls, and the hangmen their ears._ - -(As Hamlet says, “You pray not well!”—but such provocation transfers the -blame to those who caused the anger.) - -Again, in another Ballad, “I thank you twice,” dated 21st August, same -year, 1647:— - - _The gentry are sequestered all;_ - _Our wives we find at ~Goldsmith’s Hall~,_ - _For there they meet with the devil and all,_ - _Still, God a-mercy, Parliament!_ - -On our p. 239, it is amusing to find reference to “the Cannibals of Pym,” -remembering how Lilburn and others of that party indulged in similar -accusations of cannibalism, with specific details against “Bloody Bones, -or Lunsford” (_Hudibras_, Pt. iii. canto 2), who was killed in 1644. -Thus, “From _Lunsford_ eke deliver us, || That eateth up children” (Rump -i. 65); and Cleveland writes, “He swore he saw, when _Lunsford_ fell, || -A child’s arm in his pocket” (J. C. _Revived, Poems_, 1662, p. 110). - - -Page 32 [240]. _Listen, Lordings, to my story._ - -With the music, this reappears in _Pills to p. Mel_., 1719, iv. 84, -entitled “The Glory of all Cuckolds.” Variations few, and unimportant: -“The Man in Heaven’s” being a very doubtful reading. In the Douce -Collection, iv. 41, 42, are two broadsides, A New Summons to Horn Fair, -beginning “You horned fumbling Cuckolds, In City, court, or Town,” -and (To the women) “Come, all you merry jades, who love to play the -game,” with capital wood-cuts: Jn Pitts, printer. They recal Butler’s -description of the Skrimmington. The joke was much relished. Thus, in -_Lusty Drollery_, 1656, p. 106, is a Pastorall Song, beginning:— - - _A silly poor sheepherd was folding his sheep,_ - _He walked so long he got cold in his feet,_ - _He laid on his coales by two and by three,_ - _The more he laid on_ - _The Cu-colder was he._ - -Three verses more, with the recurring witticism; repeated finally by his -wife. - - -Page 33 [Supp. 6]. _Discourses of late, &c._ - -Also, earlier in _Musarum Deliciæ_, 1656, (Reprint, p. 48) as “The -Louse’s Peregrinations,” but without the sixth verse. _Breda_, in the -Netherlands, was beseiged by Spinola for ten months, and taken in 1625. -_Bergen_, in our text, is a corrupt reading. - - -Page 38 [241]. _From ~Essex~-Anabaptist Lawes._ - -We do not understand whence it cometh that the most bitter non-conformity -and un-Christian crazes of enthusiasm seem always to have thriven in -Essex and the adjacent Eastern coast-counties, so far as Lincolnshire, -but the fact is undeniable. Whether (before draining the fens, see “The -Upland people are full of thoughts,” in _A Crew of kind London Gossips_, -1663, p. 65) this proceeded from their being low-lying, damp, dreary, and -dismal, with agues prevalent, and hypochondria welcome as an amusement, -we leave others to determine. Cabanis declared that Calvinism is a -product of the small intestines; and persons with weak circulation and -slow digestion are seldom orthodox, but incline towards fanaticism and -uncompromising dissent. Your lean Cassius is a pre-ordained conspirator. -Plain people, whether of features or dwelling-place, think too much -of themselves. Mountaineers may often hold superstitions, but of the -elemental forces and higher worship. They possess moreover a patriotic -love of their native hills, which makes them loth to quit, and eager to -revisit them, with all their guardian powers: the _nostalgia_ and _amor -patriæ_ are strongest in Highlanders, Switzers, Spanish muleteers, and -even Welsh milkmaids. It was from flat-coasted Essex that most of the -“peevish Puritans” emigrated to Holland, and thence to America, when -discontented with every thing at home. - -The form of a Le’tanty or Litany, for such mock-petitions as those in -our text (not found elsewhere), and in _M. D., C._, p. 174, continued in -favour from the uprise of the Independents (simply because they hated -Liturgies), for more than a century. In the King’s Pamphlets, in the -various collections of _Loyal Songs_, _Songs on affairs of State_, the -_Mughouse Diversions_, _Pills to purge State Melancholly_, _Tory Pills_, -&c., we possess them beyond counting, a few being attributed to Cleveland -and to Butler. One, so early as 1600, “Good Mercury, defend us!” is the -work of Ben Johnson. - -Verse 1.—The “Brownist’s Veal” refers to Essex calves, and the scandal of -one Green, who is said to have been a Brownist. 4.—“From her that creeps -up Holbourne hill:” the cart journey from Newgate to the “tree with three -corners” at Tyburn. _Sic itur ad astra._ When, Oct. 1654, Cromwell was -thrown from the coach-box in driving through Hyde park, a ballad on “The -Jolt on Michaelmas Day, 1654,” took care to point the moral:— - - _Not a day nor an hour_ - _But we felt his power,_ - _And now he would show us his art;_ - _His first reproach_ - _Is a fall from a coach,_ - And his last will be from a cart. - - (_Rump_ Coll. i. 362.) - -Thus also in _M. D., C._ p. 255: - - Then _Oliver, Oliver_, get up and ride, ... - Till thou plod’st along to the _Paddington tree_. - -5.—“Duke Humphrey’s hungry dinner” refers to the tomb popularly supposed -to be of “the good Duke” Humphrey of Gloucester (murdered 1447), but -probably of Sir John Beauchamp (Guy of Warwick’s son), in Paul’s Walk, -where loungers whiled away the dinner-hour if lacking money for an -Ordinary, and “dined with Duke Humphrey.” See Dekker’s _Gulls Horn Book_, -1609, cap. iv. And Robt. Hayman writes:— - - _Though a little coin thy purseless pockets line,_ - _Yet with great company thou’rt taken up;_ - _For often with Duke ~Humfray~ thou dost dine,_ - _And often with Sir ~Thomas Gresham~ sup._ - - (R. H.’s _Quodlibets_, 1628.) - -“An old Aunt”—this term used by Autolycus, had temporary significance -apart from kinship, implying loose behaviour; even as “nunkle” or uncle, -hails a mirthful companion. In Roxb. Coll., i. 384, by L[aur.] P[rice], -printed 1641-83, is a description of three Aunts, “seldom cleanly,” but -they were genuine relations, though “the best of all the three” seems -well fitted by the _Letany_ description: which _may_ refer to her. - - -Page 46 [Supp. p. 7]. _If you will give ear._ - -A version of this, slightly differing, is given with the music in _Pills -to p. Mell._, iv. 191. It has the final couplet; which we borrow and add -in square brackets. - - -Page 61 [Supp. 9]. _Full forty times over._ - -Earlier by six years, but without the Answer, this had appeared in _Wit -and Drollery_, 1656, p. 58; 1661, p. 60. It is also, as “written at -Oxford,” in second part of _Oxford Drollery_, 1671, p. 97. - - -Page 62 [Supp. 11]. _He is a fond Lover_, &c. - -This, and the preceding, being superior to the other reserved songs might -have been retained in the text but for the need to fill a separate sheet. -This Answer is in _Love and Mirth_ (i.e. _Sportive Wit_) 1650, p. 51. - - -Page 64 [Supp. 12]. _If any one do want a House._ - -Virtually the same (from the second verse onward) as “A Tenement to Let,” -beginning “I have a Tenement,” &c., in _Pills to p. Mel._, 1720, vi. 355; -and _The Merry Musician_ (n. d. but about 1716), i. 43. Music in both. - - -Page 81 [Supp. 13]. _Fair Lady, for your New, &c._ - -Resembling this is “_Ladies, here I do present you, With a dainty dish of -fruit_,” in _Wit and Drollery_, 1656, p. 103. - - -Page 103 [244]. _Among the Purifidian Sect._ - -In Harl. MS. No. 6057, fol. 47. There it is entitled “The Puritans of New -England.” - - -Page 106 [248]. _Come hither, my own sweet Duck._ - -We come delightedly, as a relief, upon this racy and jovial Love-song, -which redeems the close of the volume. It has the gaiety and _abandon_ of -John Fletcher’s and Richard Brome’s. We have never yet met it elsewhere. -It was probably written about 1642. The reserved song in Part i., p. -153 (Supplement, p. 3), seems to be a vile parody on it, in the coarse -fashion of those persons who disgraced the cause of the Cavaliers. The -rank and file were often base, and their brutality is evidenced in the -songs which we have been obliged to degrade to the Supplement. - -It was certainly popular before 1659, for we find it quoted as furnishing -the tune to “A proper new ballad (25 verses) on the Old Parliament,” -beginning “Good Morrow, my neighbours all,” with a varying burden:— - - _Hei ho, my hony,_ - _My heart shall never rue,_ - _Four and twenty now for your Mony,_ - _And yet a hard penny worth too._ - - (_Rump_, 1662 ii, 26.) - -The music is in Playford’s _English Dancing Master_, 1686. - - -Page 116 [Supp. 14]. _She lay up to, &c._ - -Five years earlier, in _Wit and Drollery_, 1656, p. 56; 1661, p. 58. With -the original, in _M. D., C._, p. 300, compare the similar disappointment, -by Cleveland, “The Myrtle-Grove” (_Poems_, p. 160, edit. 1661.) - - -Page 149 [253]. _If that you will hear, &c._ - -This is the same, except a few variations, as “Will you please to hear -a new ditty?” in our _Westminster-Drollery_, 1671, i. 88; Appendix to -ditto, pp. xxxvi-vii (compare the coarser verses, p. 368 in present -volume, and “Upon the biting of Fleas,” in _Musarum Deliciæ_, 1656; -Reprint, p. 64.) - - -[We here close our Notes to the “Extra Songs” of _Merry Drollery_, -1661. But we have still some Additional Notes, on what is common to the -editions of 1661, 1670, and 1691 (as promised in _M. D., C._, p. 363).] - - -§ 2.—ADDITIONAL NOTES TO THE MERRY DROLLERY, COMPLEAT. - -(_Common to all editions, 1661, ’70, ’91, and 1875._) - - “A pretty slight Drollery.” - - (_Henry IV._, pt. 2. Act ii. Sc. 1.) - - - MERRY - DROLLERY, - Complete. - - OR, - A COLLECTION - - { Jovial POEMS, - Of { Merry SONGS, - { Witty DROLLERIES, - - Intermixed with Pleasant _Catches_. - - The First Part. - - Collected by - _W.N._ _C.B._ _R.S._ _J.G._ - LOVERS of WIT. - - LONDON, - Printed for _Simon Miller_, at the Star, at - the West End of St. _Pauls_, 1670. - - -_Title-page to 1670 Edition._ - -We here give the title-page of the 1670 Edition of _Merry Drollery, -Compleat_, Part 1st. As mentioned on our p. 231, the 1670 edition was -reissued as a new edition in 1691, but with no alteration except the -fresh title-page, with its date and statement of William Miller’s stock -in trade. - -Of the four “Lovers of Wit,” 1661, we believe we have unearthed one, viz. -“R. S.,” in RALPH SLEIGH, who wrote a song beginning, “_Cupid, Cupid_, -makes men stupid; I’ll no more of such boys’ play;” (_Sportive Wit_,) -_Jovial Drollery_, 1656, p. 22. - - -_M. D., C._, p. 11 [13]. - -Verse 6. “Mahomet’s pidgeon,” that was taught to pick seeds from out his -ear, so that it might be thought to whisper to him. The “mad fellow clad -alwaies in yellow,” i.e., in his military Buff-coat—“And somewhat his -nose is blew, boys,” certainly alludes to Oliver Cromwell: His being -“King and no King,” to his refusing the Crown offered by the notables -whom he had summoned in 1657. As the “New Peers,” his sons Henry and -Richard among them, insulted and contemned by the later and mixed -Parliament of January 20th, 1658, were “turned out” along with their -foes the recalcitrant Commons, on Feb. 4th, we have the date of this -ballad established closely. - - -Page 29. _Nonsense. Now Gentlemen, if, &c._ - -Two other “Messes of Nonsense” may be found in _Recreations for Ingenious -Headpieces_, 1645 (Reprint, _Wit’s Recreations_, pp. 400, 401); beginning -“When _Neptune’s_ blasts,” and “Like to the tone of unspoke speeches.” -The latter we believe to have been written by Bishop Corbet. In _Wit’s -Merriment_ (i.e. _Sportive Wit_), 1656, is the following: A FANCY:— - - _When Py crust first began to reign,_ - _Cheese parings went to warre._ - _Red Herrings lookt both blew and wan,_ - _Green leeks and Puddings jarre._ - _Blind Hugh went out to see_ - _Two Cripples run a race,_ - _The Ox fought with the Humble Bee,_ - _And claw’d him by the face._ - - -Page 36, lines 21, 22. _“Honest Dick;” and “L.”_ - -These lines furnish a clue to the date of this ballad, (and its -“Answer” quickly followed): “Honest Dick” being Richard Cromwell, whose -Protectorate lasted only eight months, beginning in September, 1658. -“The name with an L—” refers to his unscrupulous rival Lambert; with his -spasmodic attempts at supremacy, urged on by his own ambition and that -of his wife (accustomed too long to rule Oliver himself, during a close -intimacy, not without exciting scandal, while she insisted on displacing -Lady Dysart). For an account of Lambert’s twenty-one years of captivity, -first at Guernsey and later at Plymouth, see _Choice Notes on History, -from N. and Q._, 1858, pp. 155-163. Lambert played a selfish game, lost -it, and needs no pity for having had to pay the stakes. But for “Honest -Dick,” “Tumble down Dick,” who had warmly pleaded with his father to save -the king’s life in the fatal January of 1649, we keep a hearty liking. -Carlyle stigmatizes him as “poor, idle, trivial,” &c., but let that pass. -Had Richard been crafty or cruel, like those who removed him from power, -his reign might have been prolonged. But “what a wounded name” he would -have then left behind, compared with his now stainless character: and, in -any case, his ultimate fall was certain. - - -Page 43, line 16th, “_Call for a constable blurt._” - -An allusion to Middleton’s Comedy, “Blurt, Master Constable,” 1602. - - -Page 62, 368. _Will you hear a strange thing._ - -The important event here described took place April 20th, 1653, and the -ballad immediately followed. (Compare “Cheer up, kind country men,” by -S. S., “Rebellion hath broken up house,” and “This Christmas time,” -in the Percy Soc. Pol. Bds., iii. 126; 180 _Loyal Songs_, 149, 1694; -_Rump_, ii. 52.) At this date the strife between the fag-end of the Rump -and Oliver, who was supported by his council of officers, came to open -violence. Fearing his increased power, it was proposed to strengthen -the Parliamentarians by admitting a body of “neutrals,” Presbyterians, -to act in direct opposition against the army-leaders. With a pretence -of dissolving themselves there would have ensued a virtual extension of -rule. Anxious and lengthy meetings had been held by Cromwell’s adherents -at Whitehall, one notably on the 19th, and continued throughout the -night. Despite a promise, or half promise, of delay made to him, the Rump -was meantime hurrying onward the objectionable measure, clearly with -intention of limiting his influence: among the leaders being Sir Hy. -Vane, Harry Marten, and Algernon Sidney. They knew it to be a struggle -for life or death. From the beginning, this Long Parliament cherished the -mistaken idea that they were everything supreme: providence, strength, -virtue, and wisdom, etc., etc. If mere empty talk could be all this, -such representative wind-bags might deserve some credit. Their doom was -sealed; not alone for their incompetence, but also for proved malignity, -and the attempt to perpetuate their own mischief, destroying the only -power that seemed able to bring order out of chaos. - -Cromwell received intelligence, from his adherents within the house, -of the efforts being made to hurry the measure for settling the new -representation, and then to dissolve for re-election. Major Harrison -talked against time; until Cromwell could arrive after breaking up the -Whitehall meeting. Ingoldsby, as the second or third messenger, had -shown to him the urgent need of action. Followed by Lambert and some -half-dozen officers, the General took with him a party of soldiers, -reached the house, and found himself not too soon. Surrounding the -chamber, and guarding the doors, the troopers remained outside. Clad -in plain black, unattended and resolute, Oliver entered, stood looking -on his discomfitted foes, and then sat down, speaking to no one except -“dusky tough St. John, whose abstruse fanaticisms, crabbed logics, and -dark ambitions issue all, as was natural, in decided avarice” (Carlyle’s -_Cromwell_, iii. 168, 1671 edit.). Vane must have felt the peril, but -held on unflinchingly, imploring the house to dispense with everything -that might delay the measure, such as engrossing. The Speaker had risen -at last to put the question, before the General started up, uncovered, -and began his address. Something of stately commendation for past work -he gave them. Perhaps at first his words were uttered solely to obtain a -momentary pause, the whilst he gathered up his strength, and measured all -the chances, before he broke with them for ever. Soon the tone changed -into that of anger and contempt. He heaped reproaches on them: Ludlow -says: “He spoke with so much passion and discomposure of mind, as if he -had been distracted.” “Your time is come!” he told them: “The Lord has -done with you. He has chosen other instruments for the carrying on his -work, that are more worthy.” - -Vane, Marten, and Sir Peter Wentworth tried to interrupt him, but it was -almost beyond their power. Wentworth could but irritate him by indignant -censure. He crushed his hat on, sprang from his place, shouting that -he would put an end to their prating, and, while he strode noisily -along the room, railed at them to their face, not naming them, but with -gestures giving point to his invectives. He told them to begone: “I say -you are no Parliament! I’ll put an end to your sitting. Begone! Give way -to honester men.” A stamp of his foot followed, as a signal; the door -flies open, “five or six files of musqueteers” are seen with weapons -ready. Resistance (so prompt, with less provocation, in 1642) is felt -to be useless, and, except mere feminine scolding, none is attempted. -Not one dares to struggle. Afraid of violence, their swords hang idly -at their side. As they pass out in turn, they meet the scathing of -Oliver’s rebuke. His control of himself is gone. Their crimes are not -forgotten. He denounces Challoner as a drunkard, Wentworth for his -adultery, Alderman Allen for his embezzlement of public military money, -and Bulstrode Whitelock of injustice. Harry Marten is asked whether -a whore-master is fit to sit and govern. Vane is unable to resist a -feeble protest, availing nothing—“This is not honest: Yea! it is against -morality and honesty.” In the absence of such crimes or flagrant sins -of his companions, as his own frozen nature made him incapable of -committing, there are remembered against him his interminable harangues, -his hair-splitting, his self-sufficiency; and all that early deliberate -treachery in ransacking his father’s papers, which he employed to cause -the death of Strafford. To all posterity recorded, came the ejaculation -of Cromwell: “Sir Harry Vane, Sir Harry Vane—the Lord deliver me from Sir -Harry Vane!” And, excepting a few dissentient voices, the said posterity -echoes the words approvingly. The “bauble” mace had been borne off -ignominiously, the documents were seized, including that of the unpassed -measure, the room was cleared, the doors were locked, and all was over. -The Long Parliament thus fell, unlamented. - - -Page 66. _I’le sing you a Sonnet._ - -Written and published in 1659; as we see by the references to “_Dick_ -(_Oliver’s_ Heir) that pitiful slow-thing, Who was once invested with -purple clothing,”—his retirement being in April, 1659. Bradshaw, the -bitter Regicide (whose harsh vindictiveness to Charles I. during the -trial has left his memory exceptionally hateful), died 22nd November, -1659. Hewson the Cobbler was one of Oliver’s new peers, summoned in -January, 1658. - - -Pages 69, 368. _Be not thou so foolish nice._ - -The music to this, by Dr. John Wilson, is in his _Chearfull Ayres_, -1659-60, p. 126. - - -Pages 70, 369. _Aske me no more._ - -Gule is misprint for “Goal,” and refers to the Bishops who, having been -molested and hindered from attending to vote among the peers, were, on -30th December, 1642, committed to the Tower for publishing their protest -against Acts passed during their unwilling absence. Finch, Lord Keeper; -who, to save his life, fled beyond sea, and did not return until after -the Restoration. - - -Pages 72, 369. _A Sessions was held, &c._ - -To avoid a too-long interruption, our Additional Note to the “Sessions of -the Poets” is slightly displaced from here, and follows later as Section -Third. - - -Pages 87, 369. _Some Christian people all, &c._ - -We have traced this burlesque narrative of the Fire on London Bridge ten -years earlier than _Merry Drollery_, 1661, p. 81. It appeared (probably -for the first time in print) on April 28th, 1651, at the end of a volume -of _facetiæ_, entitled _The Loves of Hero and Leander_ (in the 1677 -edition, following _Ovid de Arte Amandi_, it is on p. 142). The event -referred to, we suspect, was a destructive fire which broke out on London -Bridge, 13th Feb. 1632-3. It is thus described:—“At the latter end of the -year 1632, viz., on the 13th Feb., between eleven and twelve at night, -there happened in the house of one Briggs, a needle-maker, near St. -Magnus Church, at the north end of the bridge, by the carelessness of a -maid-servant, setting a tub of hot sea-coal ashes under a pair of stairs, -a sad and lamentable fire, which consumed all the buildings before eight -of the clock the next morning, from the north end of the bridge, to the -first vacancy on both sides, containing forty-two houses; _water being -then very scarce, the Thames being almost frozen over_. Beneath, in -the vaults and cellars, the fire remained burning and glowing a whole -week after. After which fire, the north end of the bridge lay unbuilt -for many years; only deal boards were set up on both sides, to prevent -people’s falling into the Thames, many of which deals were, by high -winds, blown down, which made it very dangerous in the nights, although -there were lanthorns and candles hung upon all the cross-beams that held -the pales together.” (Tho. Allen’s _Hist. and Antiq. of London_, vol. -ii. p. 468, 1828.) Details and list of houses burnt are given (as in -_Gent. Mag._ Nov. 1824), from the MS. _Record of the Mercies of God; or, -a Thankfull Remembrance_, 1618-1635 (since printed), kept by the Puritan -Nehemiah Wallington, citizen and turner, of London, a friend of Prynn and -Bastwick. He gives the date as Monday, 11th February, 1633. Our ballad -mentions the river being frozen over, and “all on the tenth of January;” -but nothing is more common than a traditional blunder of the month, -so long as the rhythm is kept. (Compare _Choyce Drollery_, p. 78, and -Appendix p. 297). - -Another Fire-ballad (in addition to the coarse squib in present vol., pp. -33-7,) is “Zeal over-heated;” telling of a fire at Oxford, 1642; tune, -Chivey Chace; and beginning, “Attend, you brethren every one.” It is not -improbably by Thomas Weaver, being in his _Love and Drollery_, 1654, p. -21. - - -Page 92, 370. _Cast your caps and cares away._ - -Of this song, from Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Beggar’s Bush,” bef. 1625, -the music set by Dr. John Wilson is in his _Cheerfull Ayres_, 1659-60, p. -22. - - -Pages 97, 371. _Come, let us drink._ - -“Mahomet’s Pigeon,” a frequent allusion: compare _M. D. C._, pp. 11, 192; -and present appendix, p. 356. - - -Pages 100, 108 (App.) 371. _Satires on Gondibert._ - -See Additional Note in this vol. § 3, _post_, for a few words on -D’Avenant. Since printing _M. D. C._, we have been enabled (thanks to W. -F. Fowle, Esq., possessor of) to consult the very rare Second Satire, -1655, mentioned on p. 371. It is entitled, “The Incomparable Poem -GONDIBERT VINDICATED from the Wit-Combats of Four ESQUIRES, _Clinias_, -_Dametas_, _Sancho_, and _Jack Pudding_.” [With this three-fold motto:—] - - Χοτέει καὶ ἀοίδ τω ἀοίδω. - _Vatum quoque gratia rara est._ - Anglicè, - _One Wit-Brother_ || _Envies another_. - -Printed in the year 1655.” It begins on p. 3, with a poetical address to -Sir Willm. Davenant, asking pardon beforehand in case his “yet-unhurt -Reputation” should suffer more through the champion than from the -attack made by the four “Cyclops, or Wit-Centaurs,” two of whom he -unhesitatingly names as “Denham and Jack Donne,” or “Jack Straw.” But -even thus early we notice the sarcasm against D’Avenant himself: when -in reference to the never-forgotten “flaws” in his face, the Defender -writes:— - - Will _shew thy face_ (be’t what it will), - _We’l push ’um yet a quill for quill_. - -The third poem, p. 8, again to the Poet, mocks him as well as his -assailants’ lines (our _M. D. C._, p. 108) with twenty triplets:— - - _After so many poorer scraps_ - _Of Playes which nere had the mishaps_ - _To passe the stage without their claps, &c._ - -Next comes a poem “Upon the continuation of Gondibert,” “Ovid to Patmos -pris’ner sent.” (Later, we extract the chief lines for the “Sessions” -Add. Note.) He is told, - - _Wash thee in ~Avon~, if thou flie,_ - _My wary ~Davenant~ so high,_ - _Yet ~Hypernaso~ now you shall_ - _Ore fly this Goose so Capitall._ (p. 14.) - -After five others, came one Upon the Author, beginning, - - _~Daphne~, secure of the buff,_ - _Prethee laugh,_ - _Yet at these four and their riff raff;_ - _Who can hold_ - _When so bold?_ - _And the trim wit of ~Coopers~ green hill_, ... - -Ending thus:— - - _~Denham~, thou’lt be shrewdly shent_ - _To invent_ - _Such Drawlery for merriment, &c...._ - _A Drawing ~Donne~ out of the mire._ - -A burlesque of Gondibert on same p. 18, as “Canto the Second, or rather -Cento the first;” begins “_All in the Land of ~Bembo~ and of ~Bubb~_.” -One stanza partly anticipates Sam. Butler:— - - _The Sun was sunk into the watery lap_ - _Of her commands the waves, and weary there,_ - _Of his long journey, took a pleasing nap_ - _To ease his each daies travels all the year._ - -P. 23 gives “To _Daphne_ on his incomparable (and by the Critick -incomprehended) Poem, _Gondibert_,” this consolation: “Chear up, dear -friend, a _Laureat_ thou must be,” &c. Hobbes comes in for notice, on p. -24, and Denham with his Cooper’s Hill has another slap. The final poem, -on p. 27, is “Upon the Author’s writing his name, as in the Title of his -Booke, D’Avenant:”— - - 1. - - “_Your Wits have further than you rode,_ - _You needed not to have gone abroad._ - _~D’avenant~ from ~Avon~ comes,_ - _Rivers are still the Muses Rooms._ - _~Dort~, knows our name, no more Durt on’t;_ - _An’t be but for that ~D’avenant~._ - - 2. - - _And when such people are restor’d_ - _(A thing belov’d by none that whor’d)_ - _My noches then may not appeare,_ - _The gift of healing will be near._ - _Meane while Ile seeke some ~Panax~ (salve of clowns)_ - _Shall heal the wanton Issues and crackt Crowns._ - _I will conclude, Farewell Wit Squirty ~Fegos~_ - _And drolling gasmen ~Wal-Den-De-Donne-Dego~._ - - (Finis.)” - -Here, finally, are Waller, Denham, [Bro]de[rick], and Donne clearly -indicated. They receive harder measure, on the whole, than D’avenant -himself; so that the Second Volume of Satires, 1655, is neither by the -author of “Gondibert,” nor by those who penned the “Certain Verses” of -1653. Q. E. D. - - -Pages 101, 372. _I’ll tell thee, Dick, &c._ - -As already mentioned, the popularity of Suckling’s “Ballad on a Wedding” -(probably written in 1642) caused innumerable imitations. Some of these -we have indicated. In _Folly in Print_, 1667, is another, “On a Friend’s -Wedding,” to the same tune, beginning, “Now _Tom_, if _Suckling_ were -alive, And knew who _Harry_ were to wive.” In D’Urfey’s _Pills to Purge -Melancholy_, 1699, p. 81: ed. 1719, iii, 65, is a different “New Ballad -upon a Wedding” [at Lambeth], with the music, to same tune and model, -beginning, “The sleeping _Thames_ one morn I cross’d, By two contending -_Charons_ tost.” Like Cleveland’s poem, as an imitation it possesses -merit, each having some good verses. - - -Pages 111, 112. _The Proctors are two._ - -Among the references herein to Cambridge Taverns is one (3rd verse) to -the Myter: part of which fell down before 1635, and was celebrated in -verse by that “darling of the Muses,” Thomas Randolph. His lines begin -“Lament, lament, ye scholars all!” He mentions other Taverns and the -Mitre-landlord, Sam:— - - _Let the ~Rose~ with the ~Falcon~ moult,_ - _While ~Sam~ enjoys his wishes;_ - _The ~Dolphin~, too, must cast her crown:_ - _Wine was not made for fishes._ - - -Pages 115, 374. _’Tis not the silver, &c._ - -The mention, on pp. 116, of “our bold Army” turning out the “black -Synod,” refers less probably to Colonel “_Pride’s Purge_” of the -Presbyterians, on 6th December, 1648, than to the events of April 20, -1653; and helps to fix the date to the same year. In 6th verse the blanks -are to be thus filled, “Arms of the _Rump_ or the _King_;” “C. R., or O. -P.;” the joke of “the breeches” being a supposed misunderstanding of the -Commonwealth-Arms on current coin (viz., the joined shields of England -and Ireland) for the impression made by Noll’s posteriors. Compare “Saw -you the States-Money,” in _Rump_ Coll., i. 289. On one side they marked -“God with us!” - - “_~Common-wealth~ on the other, by which we may guess_ - _~God~ and the ~States~ were not both of a side._” - - -Pages 121, 375. _Come, let’s purge our brains._ - -This song is almost certainly by THOMAS JORDAN, the City-Poet. With many -differences he reprints it later in his _London in Luster_, as sung at -the Banquet given by the Drapers Company, October 29th, 1679; where it -is entitled “The Coronation of Canary,” and thus begins (in place of our -first verse):— - - _Drink your wine away,_ - _’Tis my Lord Mayor’s day,_ - _Let our Cups and Cash be free._ - _Beer and Ale are both || But the sons of froth,_ - _Let us then in wine agree._ - _To taste a Quart || Of every sort,_ - _The thinner and the thicker;_ - _That spight of Chance || We may advance,_ - _The Nobler and the Quicker._ - _Who shall by Vote of every Throat_ - _Be crown’d the King of Liquor._ - - 2. - - _~Muscadel~ Avant, Bloody ~Alicant~,_ - _Shall have no free vote of mine;_ - _~Claret~ is a Prince, And he did long since_ - _In the Royal order shine._ - _His face, &c._, (as in _M. D. C._ p. 112.) - -In sixth verse, “_If a ~Cooper~ we With a red nose see_,” refers to -Oliver Cromwell; and proves it to have been written before September, -1658. - - -Pages 125, 315. _Lay by, &c., Law lies a-bleeding._ - -The date of this ballad seems to have been 1656, rather than 1658. The -despotism of the sword here so powerfully described, was under those -persons who are on p. 254 of _M. D. C._ designated “Oliver’s myrmidons,” -meaning, probably, chiefly the major-generals of the military districts, -into which the country was divided after Penruddock’s downfall in 1655. -They were Desborough, Whalley, Goffe, Fleetwood, “downright” Skippon, -Kelsey, Butler, Worseley, and Berry; to these ten were added Barkstead. -Compare Hallam’s account:—“These were eleven in number, men bitterly -hostile to the royalist party, and insolent to all civil authority. They -were employed to secure the payment of a tax of ten per cent., imposed -by Cromwell’s arbitrary will on those who had ever sided with the King -during the late wars, where their estates exceeded £100 per annum. The -major-generals, in their correspondence printed among Thurloe’s papers, -display a rapacity and oppression greater than their master’s. They -complain that the number of those exempted is too great; they press -for harsher measures; they incline to the unfavourable construction in -every doubtful case; they dwell on the growth of malignancy and the -general disaffection. It was not indeed likely to be mitigated by this -unparalleled tyranny. All illusion was now gone as to the pretended -benefits of the civil war. It had ended in a despotism, compared to which -all the illegal practices of former kings, all that had cost Charles his -life and crown, appeared as dust in the balance. For what was Ship-money, -a general burthen, by the side of the present decimation of a single -class, whose offence had long been expiated by a composition and effaced -by an act of indemnity? or were the excessive punishments of the Star -Chamber so odious as the capital executions inflicted without trial by -peers, whenever it suited the usurper to erect his high court of justice -[by which Gerard and Vowel in 1654, Slingsby and Dr. Hewit in 1658 fell]? -A sense of present evils not only excited a burning desire to live again -under the ancient monarchy, but obliterated, especially in the new -generation, that had no distinct remembrance of them, the apprehension of -its former abuses.” (_Constitutional Hist. England_, cap. x. vol. ii. p. -252, edit. 1872.) This from a writer unprejudiced and discriminating. - - -Pages 131, 376. _I’ll tell you a story._ - -TOWER HILL AND TYBURN. The date of this ferocious ballad is not likely to -have been long before the execution of the regicides Harrison, Hacker, -Cook, and Hew Peters, in October, 1660; some on the 13th, others on the -16th. Probably, shortly before the trial of Harry Marten, on the 10th -of the same month. The second verse indicates a considerable lapse of -time since Monk’s arrival and the downfall of the Rump (burnt in effigy, -Febr. 11, 1659-60); so we may be certain that it was written late, about -September, if not actually at beginning of October. - -Sir Robert TICHBOURNE, Commissioner for sale of State-lands, Alderman, -Regulator of Customs, and Lord Mayor in 1658, was named in the King’s -Proclamation, 6th June, 1660, as one of those who had fled, and who were -summoned to appear within fourteen days, on penalty of being exempted -from any pardon. His name occurs again, among the exceptions to the -Act of Indemnity; along with those of Thos. Harrison, Hy. Marten, John -Hewson, Jn. Cook, Hew Peters, Francis Hacker, and other forty-five. -Nineteen of these fifty-one surrendered themselves: Tichbourne and Marten -among them. None of them were executed; although Scoop was, who also had -yielded. The trial of the regicides commenced on 9th October, at Hick’s -Hall, Clerkenwell. - -HUGH PETERS suffered, along with JOHN COOK (the Counsel against Charles -I.) “that read the King’s charge,” on the 16th October. He was depressed -in spirits at the last, but there was dignity in his reply to one who -insulted him in passing—“Friend, you do not well to trample on a dying -man;” and his sending a token to his daughter awakens pity. Physically -he had failed in courage, and no wonder, to face all that was arrayed -to terrify him: or he might have justified anticipations and “made a -pulpit of the place.” His last sermon at Newgate is said to have been -“incoherent.” - -HARRY MARTEN’S private life is so generally declared to have been -licentious (dozens of ballads referring to his “harem,” “Marten’s girl -that was neither sweet nor sound,” “Marten, back and leave your wench,” -&c.), and his old friend Cromwell when become a foe openly taxing him as -a “whoremaster,” that it is better for us to think of him with reference -to his unswerving faithfulness in Republican opinions; his gay spirit -(more resembling the reckless indifference of Cavaliers than his own -associates can have esteemed befitting); his successful exertions on -many occasions to save the shedding of blood; and his gallant bearing in -the final hours of trial. The living death to which he was condemned, -of his twenty years imprisonment at Chepstow Castle, has been recorded -(mistakenly as _thirty_) by that devoted student Robert Southey, _clarum -et venerabilem nomen!_ in a poem which can never pass into oblivion, -although cleverly mocked by Canning in the Anti-Jacobin, Nov. 20, 1797:— - - For twenty years secluded from mankind - Here MARTEN lingered. Often have these walls - Echo’d his footsteps, as with even tread - He paced around his prison; not to him - Did Nature’s fair varieties exist: - He never saw the sun’s delightful beams - Save when through yon high bars it pour’d a sad - And broken splendour. Dost thou ask his crime? - He had rebelled against his King, and sat - In judgment on him: _&c._ - -John Forster has written his memoir, and, in one of his best moments, -Wallis painted him. Here are his own last words, sad yet firm, the old -humour still apparent, if only in the choice of verse, it being the -anagram of his name:— - - Here, or elsewhere (all’s one to you—to me!) - Earth, air, or water, gripes my ghostless dust, - None knowing when brave fire shall set it free. - Reader, if you an oft-tried rule will trust, - You’ll gladly do and suffer what you must. - - My life was worn with serving you and you, - And death is my reward, and welcome too: - Revenge destroying but itself. While I - To birds of prey leave my old cage and fly. - Examples preach to th’ eye—care, then, mine says, - Not how you end, but how you spend your days. - - (_Athenæ Oxonienses_, iii. 1243.) - -As to Thomas HARRISON, fifth-monarchy enthusiast, firm to the end in -his adversity, he who had been ruthless in prosperity, we have already -briefly referred to his closing hours in our Introduction to _Merry -Drollery, Compleat_, p. xxix. - -JOHN HEWSON, Cobbler and Colonel, who had sat in the illegal mockery -of Judgment on King Charles, was for the after years ridiculed by -ballad-singers as a one-eyed spoiler of good leather. He escaped the doom -of Tyburn by flight to Amsterdam, where he died in 1662. In default of -his person, his picture was hung on a gibbet in Cheapside, 25th January, -1660-61. (See _Pepys’ Diary_ of that date.) His appearance was not -undignified. One ballad specially devoted to him, at his flight, is “A -Hymne to the Gentle Craft; or, _Hewson’s_ Lamentation”:— - - Listen a while to what I shall say - Of a blind cobbler that’s gone astray - Out of the Parliament’s High-way, - Good people, pity the blind! - - [verse 17.] - - And now he has gone to the Lord knows whether, - He and this winter go together, - If he be caught he will lose his leather, - Good people, pity the blind! - - (_Rump_, Coll. 1662 edit., ii. 151-4.) - -Verse 14. Dr. John HEWIT with Sir Harry Slingsby had been executed for -conspiracy against Cromwell, 8th June, 1658. The Earl of Strafford’s -death was May 12th, 1641; and that of Laud, January 10th, 1644. - -Verse 15. DUN was the name of the Hangman at this time, frequently -mentioned in the _Rump_ ballads. Jack Ketch was his successor: Gregory -had been Hangman in 1652. - - -Pages 134, 376. _I’ll go no more to the Old Exchange._ - -The _first_ Royal Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham’s Bourse, was opened by -Queen Elizabeth, January 23rd, 1570, and destroyed in the Great Fire of -1666. The _second_ was commenced on May 6th, 1667, and burnt on January -10th, 1838. The present building, the _third_, was opened by Queen -Victoria Oct., 28th, 1844. The “Old Exchange,” often referred to in -ballads, was Gresham’s. But the “New Exchange” was one, erected where -the stables of Durham House in the Strand had stood: opened April 11th, -1609, and removed in 1737. King James I. had named it “Britain’s Bourse.” -Built on the model of the established Royal Exchange, it had “cellars, -a walk, and a row of shops, filled with milliners, seamstresses, and -those of similar occupations; and was a place of fashionable resort. -What, however, was intended to rival the Royal Exchange, dwindled into -frivolity and ruin, and the site is at present [1829] occupied by a range -of handsome houses facing the Strand” (T. Allen’s _Hist. and Antiq. of -London_, iv. 254). In the ballad it is sung of as “Haberdashers’ Hall.” -Cp. Roxb. Coll., ii., 230. - - -Pages 152, 378. _There is a certain, &c._ - -This is an imperfect version of “A Woman’s Birth,” merely the beginning, -four stanzas. The whole fifteen (eleven following ours) are reprinted by -Wm. Chappell, in the Ballad Society’s _Roxburghe Bds._, iii. 94, 1875, -from a broadside in Roxb. Coll., i. 466, originally printed for Francis -Grove [1620-55]. 2nd verse reads:—Her husband _Hymen_; 4th. _Wandring -~eye~; insatiate_. The gifts of Juno, Flora, and Diana follow; with -woman’s employment of them. - - -Page 172. _Blind Fortune, if thou, &c._ - -We find this in MS. Harleian, No. 6396, fol. 13. Also two printed copies, -in _Parnassus Biceps_, 1656, 124; and in _Sportive Wit_, same year, p. -39. We gained the corrections, which we inserted as _marginalia_, from -the MS.; “_Ceres_ in _hir_ Garland” having been corrupted into “_Cealus_ -in _his_.” “_Aglaura_,” Sir John Suckling’s play, (printed originally in -4to. 1639, with a broad margin of blank, on which the wits made merry -with epigrammes, “By this wide margent,” &c.), appeared on April 18th, -1638, and is here referred to. Probably the date of the poem is nearly as -early. On p. 175 the “Pilgrimage up _Holborn_ Hill” refers to a journey -from Newgate to Tyburn. (See p. 365). - - -Pages 180, 379. _Heard you not lately of a man._ - -The Mad-Man’s Morrice; written by HUMFREY CROUCH: For the second part -of the broad-sheet version we must refer readers to vol. ii. page 153, -of the Ballad Society’s reprint of the _Roxburghe Ballads_ (now happily -arrived at completion of the first massive folio vol. of Major Pearson’s -original pair; the bulky third and slim fourth vols. being afterwards -added). We promised to give it, and gladly would have done so, if we had -space: for it is a trustworthy picture of a Bedlamite’s sufferings, under -the harsh treatment of former days. Date about 1635-42. - -To our enumeration of mad songs (_Westm. Droll._ App. p. 9) we may add -Thomas Jordan’s “I am the woefullest madman.” - - -_M. D., C._, p. 198, lines 22, 23. _True Hearts._ - -“I’ll drink to thee a brace of quarts || Whose Anagram is called _True -Hearts_.” The Anagram of True Hearts gives us “Stuart here!” which, like -drinking “to the King—_over the water_!” in later days by the Jacobites, -would be well understood by suspected cavaliers. - -In March 1659-60 appeared the anagram “Charles Stuart: Arts Chast Rule.” -Later: Awld fool, Rob the Jews’ Shop. - - -Pages 255, 287. _When I do travel in the night._ - -Like “How happy’s the prisoner,” _Ibid._ p. 107, we trace this so early -as 1656. It is in _Sportive Wit_, p. 12, as “When I go to revel in the -night,” The Drunkard’s Song. - - -Pages 153 (and Introduction, ix). _The best of Poets, &c._ - -THE BOW GOOSE. We have found this, (15 verses of our 18,) five years -earlier, in _Sportive Wit_, 1656, p. 35. It there begins, “The best of -Poets write of Hogs, And of _Ulysses_ barking Dogs; Others of Sparrows, -Flies, and Hogs.” Our text, though later, seems to be the better, and -has three more verses: “Frogs,” in connection with “the Best of Poets,” -referring to Homer and to _Batrachomyomachia_; supposed to be his, and -translated by George Chapman, about 1623 (of whom A. C. Swinburne has -recently written so glowing a eulogium, coupling with it the noblest -praise of Marlowe). - - -_M. D., C._, pp. 166, 376. _Now, thanks to, &c._ - -Of course, the words displayed by dashes are _Crown_, _Bishop_, _King_. -To this same tune are later songs (1659-60) in the Rump, ii. 193-200, -“What a reprobate crew is here,” &c. Wilkins prints an inferior version -of 7th line in 3rd verse, as “Take _Prynne_ and his clubs, or _Say_ and -his tubs,” referring to William, Viscount “Say and Seal.” Ours reads -“club, or _Smec_ and his tub,” the allusion being to _Smectymnuus_, a -name compounded, like the word _Cabal_ in Charles II.’s time, of the -initials of five personal names: Ste. Marshall, Edm. Calamy, Thos. Young, -Matth. Newcomen, and Willm. Spurstow; all preachers, who united in a -book against Episcopacy and the Liturgy. Milton, in 1641 published his -_Animadversions upon the Remonstrants Defence against Smectymnuus_; and -in 1642, _An Apology for Smectymnuus_. John Cleveland devotes a poem to -“The Club Divines,” beginning “Smectymnuus! the Goblin makes me start.” -(_Poems_, p. 38, 1661; also in the _Rump_ Coll., i. 57.) - - -Pages 200, 382. _A Story strange, &c._ - -Correction:—Instead of the words “_Choyce Drollery_, p. 31,” in first -line of note (M. D., C., p. 382), read “_Jovial Drollery_ (i.e., -_Sportive Wit_), p. 59.” The same date, viz. 1656. - - -Pages 210-11, 384. “_To ~Virginia~ for Planters._” - -The reference here is to the proposed expedition of disheartened -Cavaliers (among whom was Wm. D’Avenant) from France and England to the -Virginian plantations. It was defeated in 1650, the vessels having been -intercepted in the channel by the Commonwealth’s fleet. By the way, the -infamous sale into slavery of the royalist prisoners during the war -in previous years by the intolerant Parliament, deserves the sternest -reprobation. - - -Page 226. “_Sea-coal Lane._” - -An appropriate dower, as Sea-coal Lane in the Old Bailey bore a similar -evil repute to Turnball Street, Drury Lane, and Kent Street, for the -_bona-roba_ tribe: as “the suburbs” always did. - - -Pages 232, 390. _How poor is his spirit._ - -Written when Oliver rejected the title of King, 8th May, 1657. (See next -note, on p. 254.) - - -Pages 254, 393. Oliver, Oliver, _take up thy Crown_. - -After Cromwell’s designating the Battle of Worcester, 3rd September, -1651, his “crowning victory” many of his more uncompromising Republicans -kept a stealthy eye upon him. Our ballad evidently refers itself to the -date of the “purified” Parliament’s “Petition and Advice,” March 26, -1656, when Cromwell hesitated before accepting or declining the offered -title of King; thinking (mistakenly, as we deem probable) that his -position would become more unsafe, from the jealousy and prejudices of -the army, than if he seemed contented with the name of Protector to the -Commonwealth, while holding the actual power of sovereignty. His refusal -was in April, 1657. Hallam thinks it was not until after Worcester fight -that “he began to fix his thoughts, if not on the dignity of royalty, -yet on an equivalent right of command. Two remarkable conversations, in -which Whitelock bore a part, seem to place beyond controversy the nature -of his designs. About the end of 1651, Whitelock himself, St. John, -Widdrington, Lenthall, Harrison, Desborough, Fleetwood, and Whalley met -Cromwell, at his own request to consider the settlement of the nation,” -&c. (_Constit. Hist. England_, cap. x. p. 237, edit. 1872.) “Twelve -months after this time in a more confidential discourse with Whitelock -alone, the general took occasion to complain both of the chief officers -of the army and of the parliament,” &c. (_Ibid._ p. 238). The conference -not being satisfactory to Cromwell, on each occasion ended abruptly; and -Whitelock (if we may trust his own account, which perhaps is asking too -much) was little consulted afterwards. When they had conferred the title -of Lord Protector, the right of appointing his successor was added on -22nd May. - - -Pages 255, 393. _When I do travel, &c._ - -“With upsie freeze I line my head,” of our text, is in the play -“Cromwell’s Coronation” printed “With _tipsy_ frenzie.” But we often -find the other phrase; sometimes, as in the ballad of “The Good Fellow’s -Best Beloved” (i.e. strong drink) varied thus, “With good _ipse he_,” -(about 1633). See Bd. Soc. _Roxb. Bds._ iii. 248, where is W. Chappell’s -note, quoting Nares:—“It has been said that _op-zee_, in Dutch, means -‘over sea,’ which cones near to another English phrase for drunkenness, -being ‘half-seas over.’ But _op-zyn-fries_ means, ‘in the Dutch fashion,’ -or _à la mode de Frise_, which perhaps is the best interpretation of -the phrase.” In Massinger and Decker’s “Virgin Martyr,” 1622, Act ii. -sc. 1, we find the vile Spungius saying, “_Bacchus_, the God of brewed -wine and sugar, grand patron of rob-pots, _upsie freesie_ tipplers, and -_super-naculum_ takers,” &c. Probably Badham’s conjecture is right, and -in Hamlet, i. 4, we should read not “up-spring,” but - - “_Keeps wassail, and the swaggering ~upsy freeze~._” - -(_Cambr. Essays_, 1656; _Cambr. Shakesp._ viii. 30). T. Caldecott had -so early as 1620 (in _Spec. new edit. Shakesp._ Hamlet) anticipated -the guess, but not boldly. He brings forward from T. Lodge’s _Wit’s -Miserie_, 4to, 1596, p. 20, “Dance, leap, sing, drink, _upsefrize_.” And -again:— - - _For ~Upsefreeze~ he drunke from four to nine,_ - _So as each sense was steeped well in wine:_ - _Yet still he kept his ~rouse~, till he in fine_ - _Grew extreame sicke with hugging ~Bacchus~ shrine._ - - [_The Shrift._] - -A new Spring shadowed in sundrie pithie Poems by _Musophilus_, 4to. -1619, signat. l. b., where “_Upsefreese_” is the name of the frier. Like -“Wassael” and “Trinkael,” the phrase upsie-friese, or vrijster, seems to -have been used as a toast, perhaps for “To your sweetheart.” - - -Pages 259, 354. _If none be offended._ - -The exact date of this ballad’s publication was 31st December, 1659: in -_Thomason Collection_, Numero xxii., folio, Brit. Mus. - - -Page 270. _Pray why should any, &c._ - -Probably written in 1659-60, when Monk was bridling the Commons. “Cooks” -alludes to John Cook, the Solicitor for the Commonwealth, who at the -trial of Charles Ist. exhibited the charge of high treason. After the -Restoration, Cook was executed along with Hugh Peters, 16th Oct., 1660, -at Charing Cross. - - -Pages 283 (line 22), 395. _I have the finest Nonperel._ - -“_Hyrens_” (as earlier printed in _Wit and Drollery_, 1656, p. 26), -instead of “Syrens” of our text, is probably correct. Ancient Pistol -twice asks “Have we not _Hirens_ here?” (_Henry_ IV., Part 2nd, Act ii. -sc. 4). George Peele had a play, now lost, on “The Turkish Mahomet and -Hiren the fair Greek” [1594?] In the _Spiritual Navigator_, 1615, we -learn, is a passage, “There be Syrens in the sea of the world. _Syrens?_ -_Hirens_, as they are now called. What a number of these syrens, hirens, -cockatrices, courteghians—in plain English, harlots—swimme amongst us!” - - -Page 287. Title, “_Oxford Feasts._” - -An unfortunate misprint crept in, detected too late: for “_Feasts_” read -properly “_Jeasts_:” the old fashioned initial _J_ being barred across -like _F_. - - -Page 293, line 11. “_Heresie in hops._” - -This must have been an established jest. Compare Introd. to _M. D., C._, -pp. xxxi-ii. and T. Randolph’s “Fall of the Mitre Tavern,” Cambridge, -before 1635, - - “_The zealous students of that place_ - _Change of religion bear:_ - _That this mischance may soon bring in_ || _A heresy of beer._” - - -Page 295, line 24. “_A hundred horse._” - -“He that gave the King a hundred horse,” refers, no doubt, to Sir John -Suckling and his loyal service in 1642. See introduction to _M. D., -C._, pp. xix. xx. The Answer to “I tell thee, Jack, thou gavest the -King,” there mentioned, and probably referring to Sir John Mennis, a -carping rival although a Cavalier, has a smack of Cleveland about it (it -certainly is not Suckling’s):— - - _I tell thee, fool, who ere thou be,_ - _That made this fine sing-song of me,_ - _Thou art a riming sot:_ - _These very lines do thee betray,_ - _This barren wit makes all men say_ - _’Twas some rebellious Scot._ - - _But it’s no wonder if you sing_ - _Such songs of me, who am no King,_ - _When every blew-cap swears_ - _Hee’l not obey King ~James~ his Barn,_ - _That huggs a Bishop under’s Arme,_ - _And hangs them in his ears._ - - _Had I been of your Covenant,_ - _You’d call me th’ son of ~John~ of ~Gaunt~,_ - _And give me t’ great renown;_ - _But now I am ~John~ [f]or the King,_ - _You say I am but poor ~Suckling~,_ - _And thus you cry me down._ - - _Well, it’s no matter what you say_ - _Of me or mine that run away:_ - _I hold it no good fashion_ - _A Loyal subjects blood to spill,_ - _When we have knaves enough to kill_ - _By force of Proclamation._ - - _Commend me unto ~Lesley~ stout,_ - _And his Pedlers him about,_ - _Tell them without remorse_ [p. 151.] - _That I will plunder all their packs_ - _Which they have got with their stoln knick knacks,_ - _With these my hundred horse._ - - _This holy War, this zealous firke_ - _Against the Bishops and the Kirk_ - _Is a pretended bravery;_ - _Religion, all the world can tell,_ - _Amongst Highlanders nere did dwell,_ - _Its but to cloak your knavery._ - - _Such desperate Gamesters as you be,_ - _I cannot blame for tutoring me,_ - _Since all you have is down,_ - _And every Boor forsakes his Plow,_ - _And swears that he’l turn Gamester now_ - _To venture for a Crown._ - - (_Le Prince d’Amour_, 1660, pp. 150, 151.) - - -Pages 296, 398 (Cp. this vol. p. 149, line 8). _Now that the Spring._ - -This is by WILLM. BROWNE, author of “Britannia’s Pastorals.” The date -is probably about fifteen years before 1645. It is one among the “Odes, -Songs, and Sonnets of Wm. Browne,” in the Lansdowne MS. 777, fol. 4 -_reverso_ and 5, with extra verses not used in the Catch. - - _A Rounde._ [1st verse sung by] All. - - _Now that the Spring hath fill’d our veynes_ - _With kinde and actiue fire,_ - _And made green Liu’ryes for the playnes,_ - _and euery grove a Quire,_ - _Sing we a Song of merry glee_ - _and ~Bacchus~ fill the bowle:_ - _1. Then heres to thee; 2. And thou to mee_ - _and euery thirsty soule._ - - _Nor Care nor Sorrow ere pay’d debt_ - _nor never shall doe myne;_ - _I haue no Cradle goeing yet,_ - _[?2.] nor I, by this good wyne._ - _No wyfe at home to send for me,_ - _noe hoggs are in my grounde,_ - _Noe suit at Law to pay a fee,_ - _Then round, old Jockey, round._ - - All. - - _Sheare sheepe that haue them, cry we still,_ - _But see that noe man scape_ - _To drink of the Sherry_ - _That makes us so merry_ - _and plumpe as the lusty Grape._ - - (_Lansdowne MS._, No. 777.) - -“Noe hoggs are in my grounds” may refer to the Catch (if it be equally -old):— - - _Whose three Hogs are these, and whose three Hoggs are these,_ - _They are ~John Cook’s~, I know by their look, for I found them in my - pease._ - _Oh! pound them: oh pound them! But I dare not, for my life;_ - _For if I should pound ~John Cook’s~ Hoggs, I should never kiss ~John - Cook’s~ wife, &c._ - - (_Catch Club_, 1705, iii. 46.) - - -Pages 293, 358. _Fetch me ~Ben Jonson’s~ scull._ - -In 1641 this was printed separately and anonymously as “_A Preparative -to Studie; or, the Vertue of Sack_,” 4to. Ben Jonson had died in August, -1637. Line 9 reads: dull _Hynde_; 21, Genius-making; 28, Welcome, by; -after the word “scapes” these additional lines:— - - _I would not leave thee, Sack, to be with ~Jove~,_ - _His Nectar is but faign’d, but I doe prove_ - _Thy more essentiall worth; I am (methinks), &c._ - -Line 46, instead of “long since,” reads “_of late_” (referring to whom?); -38, tempt a _Saint_; 44, _farther_ bliss; 53, against thy _foes_ (N.B.); -That _would_; and, additional, after “horse,” in line 56, this historical -allusion to David Lesley, of the Scotch rebellion:— - - _I’me in the North already, ~Lasley’s~ dead,_ - _He that would rise, carry the King his head,_ - _And tell him (if he aske, who kill’d the Scot)_ - _I knock’t his Braines out with a pottle pot._ - _Out ye Rebellious vipers; I’me come back_ - _From them againe, because there’s no good Sack,_ - _T’other odd cup, &c._ - -By this we are guided to the true date: between May, 1639, and August, -1640. - - -Pages 309, 399. _Why should we boast._ - -Compare pp. 129, 315, of present volume, for the _Antidote_ version -and note upon it. Brief references must suffice for annotation here. -See Mallory’s “_Morte d’Arthur_,” the French _Lancelot du Lac_, and -_Sir Tristram_. Three MSS., the Auchinlech, Cambridge University, and -Caius College, preserve the romance of _Sir Bevis of Hamptoun_, with -his slaying the wild boar; his sword _Morglay_ is often mentioned, like -Arthur’s _Excalibur_: Ascapard, the thirty-feet-long giant, who after a -fierce battle becomes page to Sir Bevis. Caius Coll. MS. and others have -the story _Richard Cœur de Leon_, but the street-ballad served equally to -keep alive his fame among the populace, _Coll. Old. Bds._ iii. 17. Wm. -Ellis gives abstracts of romances on Arthur, Guy of Warwick, Sir Bevis, -Richard Lion-heart, Sir Eglamour of Artoys, Sir Isumbras, the Seven -Wise Masters, Charlemagne and Roland, &c., in his _Spec. Early English -Metrical Romances_; of which J. O. Halliwell writes, in 1848:—“Ellis did -for ancient romance what Percy had previously accomplished for early -poetry.” In passing, we must not neglect to express the debt of gratitude -due to the managers of the _E. E. Text Soc._, for giving scholarly and -trustworthy prints of so many MSS., hitherto almost beyond reach. For -_Orlando Inamorato_ and _Orlando Furioso_ we must go to Boiardo and -Ariosto, or the translators, Sir John Harrington and W. Stewart Rose. -Dunlop’s _Hist. of Fiction_ gives a slight notice of some of this -ballad’s heroes, including _Huon_ of Bordeaux, the French _Livre de -Jason_, Prince of the Myrmidons, the _Vie de Hercule_, the _Cléopâtre_, -&c. Valentine and Orson is said to have been written in the reign of -Charles VIII., and first printed at Lyons in 1495. SS. David, James, and -Patrick, with the rest of the Seven Champions, like the Four Sons of -Aymon, are of easy access. Cp. Warton. - - -ARTHUR O’BRADLEY. - -(_Merry Droll., Com._, pp. 312, 395; _Antidote ag. Mel._, 16). - -Here is the five years’ earlier Song of “Arthur o’ Bradley,” (_vide -ante_, pp. 166-175) never before reprinted, we believe, and not mentioned -by J. P. Collier, W. Chappell, &c., when they referred to “Saw ye not -Pierce the Piper” of _Antidote_ and _M. D., C._, 1661. But ours is the -earliest-known complete version [before 1642?]:— - -A SONG. [p. 81.] - - All you that desire to merry be, - Come listen unto me, - And a story I shall tell, - Which of a Wedding befell, - Between _Arthur_ of _Bradley_ - And _Winifred_ of _Madly_. - As _Arthur_ upon a day - Met _Winifred_ on the way, - He took her by the hand, - Desiring her to stand, - Saying I must to thee recite - A matter of [great] weight, - Of Love, that conquers Kings, - In grieved hearts so rings, - And if thou dost love thy Mother, - Love him that can love no other. - _Which is oh brave ~Arthur~_, &c. - - For in the month of May, - Maidens they will say, - A May-pole we must have, [∴ date before 1642.] - Your helping hand we crave. - And when it is set in the earth, - The maids bring Sullybubs forth; [Syllabubs] - Not one will touch a sup, - Till I begin a cup. - For I am the end of all - Of them, both great and small. - Then tell me yea, or nay, - For I can no longer stay. - _With oh brave ~Arthur~_, &c. - - Why truly _Arthur_[,] quoth she, - If you so minded be, - My good will I grant to you, - Or anything I can do. - One thing I will compell, - So ask my mothers good will. - Then from thee I never will flye, - Unto the day I do dye. - Then homeward they went with speed, - Where the mother they met indeed. - Well met fair Dame, quoth _Arthur_, - To move you I am come hither, - For I am come to crave, [p. 83.] - Your daughter for to have, - For I mean to make her my wife, - And to live with her all my life. - _With oh brave ~Arthur~_, &c. - - The old woman shreek’d and cry’d, - And took her daughter aside, - How now daughter, quoth she, - Are you so forward indeed, - As for to marry he, - Without consent of me? - Thou never saw’st thirteen year, - Nor art not able I fear, - To take any over-sight, - To rule a mans house aright: - Why truly mother, quoth she, - You are mistaken in me; - If time do not decrease, - I am fifteen yeares at least. - _With oh brave ~Arthur~_, &c. - - Then _Arthur_ to them did walk, - And broke them of their talk. - I tell you Dame, quoth he, - I can have as good as thee; - For when death my father did call, - He then did leave me all - His barrels and his brooms, - And a dozen of wo[o]den spoones, - Dishes six or seven, - Besides an old spade, even - A brasse pot and whimble, - A pack-needle and thimble, - A pudding prick and reele, - And my mothers own sitting wheele; - And also there fell to my lot - A goodly mustard pot. - _With O brave_ Arthur, &c. - - The old woman made a reply, - With courteous modesty, - If needs it must so be, - To the match I will agree. - For [when] death doth me call, - I then will leave her all; - For I have an earthen flaggon, - Besides a three-quart noggin, - With spickets and fossets five, - Besides an old bee-hive; - A wooden ladle and maile, - And a goodly old clouting paile; - Of a chaff bed I am well sped, - And there the Bride shall be wed, - And every night shall wear - A bolster stufft with haire, - A blanket for the Bride, - And a winding sheet beside, - And hemp, if he will it break, [p. 85.] - New curtaines for to make. - To make all [well] too, I have - Stories gay and brave. - Of all the world so fine, - With oh brave eyes of mine, - _With oh brave ~Arthur~_, &c. - - When _Arthur_ his wench obtained, - And all his suits had gained, - A joyfull man was he, - As any that you could see. - Then homeward he went with speed, - Till he met with her indeed. - Two neighbours then did take - To bid guests for his sake; - For dishes and all such ware, - You need not take any care. - _With oh brave ~Arthur~_, &c. - - To the Church they went apace, - And wisht they might have grace, - After the Parson to say, - And not stumble by the way; - For that was all their doubt, - That either of them should be out. - And when that they were wed, - And each of them well sped, - The Bridegroom home he ran, - And after him his man, [p. 86.] - And after him the Bride, - Full joyfull at the tyde, - As she was plac’d betwixt - Two yeomen of the Guests, - And he was neat and fine, - For he thought him at that time - Sufficient in every thing, - To wait upon a King. - But at the doore he did not miss - To give her a smacking kiss. - _With oh brave ~Arthur~_, &c. - - To dinner they quickly gat, - The Bride betwixt them sat, - The Cook to the Dresser did call, - The young men then run all, - And thought great dignity - To carry up Furmety. - Then came leaping _Lewis_, - And he call’d hard for Brewis; - Stay, quoth _Davy Rudding_, - Thou go’st too fast with th’ pudding. - Then came _Sampson Seal_, - And he carry’d Mutton and Veal; - The old woman scolds full fast, - To the Cook she makes great hast, - And him she did controul, - And swore that the Porridge was cold. - _With oh brave_, &c. - - My Masters a while be brief, - Who taketh up the Beef? - Then came _William Dickins_, [p. 87.] - And carries the Snipes & Chickens. - _Bartholomew_ brought up the Mustard, - _Caster_ he carry’d the Custard. - In comes _Roger Boore_, - He carry’d up Rabbets before: - Quoth _Roger_, I’le give thee a Cake, - If thou wilt carry the Drake. - [1] Speak not more nor less, - Nor of the greatest mess, - Nor how the Bride did carve, - Nor how the Groom did serve - _With oh brave ~Arthur~_, &c. - - But when that they had din’d, - Then every man had wine; - The maids they stood aloof, - While the young men made a proof. - Who had the nimblest heele, - Or who could dance so well, - Till _Hob_ of the hill fell over, [? oe’r] - And over him three or four. - Up he got at last, - And forward about he past; - At _Rowland_ he kicks and grins, - And he [? hit] _William_ ore the shins; - He takes not any offence, - But fleeres upon his wench. - The Piper he play’d [a] Fadding, - And they ran all a gadding. - _With oh brave ~Arthur [o’ Bradley]~_, &c. - - (“_Wits Merriment_,” 1656, pp. 81-7.) - -The often mentioned “Arthur o’ Bradley’s Wedding,” a modern version -attributed to Mr. Taylor, the actor and singer, is given, not only in -_Songs and Ballads of the Peasantry_, &c., (p. 139 of R. Bell’s Annot. -ed.), collected by J. H. Dixon; but also in Berger’s _Red, White, and -Blue Monster Songbook_, p. 394, where the music arranged by S. Hale is -stated to be “at Walker’s.” - - -Pages 326, 402. _Why should we not laugh?_ - -The reference to “Goldsmith’s Hall” (see p. 363), where a Roundhead -Committee sate in 1647, and later, for the spoliation of Royalists’ -estates, levying of fines and acceptance of “Compounders” money, dates -the song. - - -Pages 328, 402. _Now we are met._ - -If we are to reckon the “twelve years together by the ears” from January -4, 1641-2, the abortive attempt of Charles I. to arrest at the House “the -Five Members” (Pym, Hampden, Haslerig, Denzil Holles, and Strode), we -may guess the date of this ballad to be 1653-4. Verse 14 mentions Oliver -breaking the Long Parliament (20th April, 1653); and verses 15, 16 refer -to the Little, or “Barebones Parliament” July 4, to 2nd December, 1653, -(when power was resigned into the hands of Cromwell). Shortly after this, -but certainly before Sept. 3rd, 1654 (when the next Parliament, more -impracticable and persecuting, met), must be the true date of the ballad. -“_Robin_ the Fool” is “Robin Wisdom,” Robert Andrews. “_Fair_” is Thomas -Lord Fairfax the “Croysado-General.” “Cowardly W——” is probably Philip, -Lord Wharton, a Puritan, and Derby-House committee-man; of inferior -renown to Atkins in unsavoury matters; but whose own regiment ran away -at Edgehill: Wharton then took refuge in a saw-pit. President _Bradshaw_ -died 22nd Nov., 1659. Dr. Isaac DORISLAUS, Professor of History at -Cambridge, and of Gresham College, apostatized from Charles I., and was -sent as agent by the Commons to the Hague, where he was in June, 1649, -assassinated by some cavaliers, falsely reported to be commissioned by -the gallant Montrose (see the ballad “What though lamented, curst,” &c., -in King’s Pamphlets, Brit. Mus.). - -“_Askew_,” is “one Ascham a Scholar, who had been concerned in drawing -up the King’s Tryal, and had written a book,” &c., (Clarendon, iii. 369, -1720). This Anthony Ascham, sent as Envoy to Spain from the Parliament in -1649, was slain at Madrid by some Irish officers, (Rapin:) of whom only -one, a Protestant, was executed. See _Harl. Misc._ vi. 236-47. All which -helped to cause the war with Spain in 1656. - -Harry Marten’s evil repute as to women, and lawyer Oliver St. John’s -building his house with stones plundered from Peterborough Cathedral, -were common topics. “The women’s war,” often referred to as the “bodkin -and thimble army,” of 1647, was so called because the “Silly women,” -influenced by those who “crept into their houses,” gave up their rings, -silver bodkins, spoons and thimbles for support of Parliamentary troops. - - -Page 332, line 2. - -We should for _Our_ read _Only_. - - -Page 348, line 10. “Old Lilly.” - -An allusion to William Lilly’s predictive almanacks, shewing that this -Catch was not much earlier in date than Hilton’s book, 1652. Lilly was -the original of Butler’s “Cunning man, hight Sidrophel” in _Hudibras_, -Part 2nd, Canto 3. Compare note, p. 353. - - -Page 361 (Appendix), line 5. - -For misprint _alterem_, read _alteram_. - - -Page 394 (Appendix), _New England, &c._ - -References should be added to the _Rump_ Coll., 1662, i. 95, and _Loyal -Songs_, 1731, i. 92. “Isaack,” is probably Isaac Pennington. Hampden and -others were meditating this _journey to New England_, until stopped, most -injudiciously, by an order in Council, dated April 6, 1638. - - -We here give our additional Note, on the “Sessions of the Poets,” -reserved from p. 376. - - -§ 3.—SESSIONS OF POETS. - -We believe that Sir John Suckling’s Poem, sometimes called “A Sessions -of Wit,” was written in 1636-7; almost certainly before the death of -Ben Jonson (6th August, 1637). Among its predecessors were Richard -Barnfield’s “Remembrance of some English Poets,” 1598 (given in present -volume, p. 273); and Michael Drayton’s “Censure of the Poets,” being -a Letter in couplets, addressed to his friend Henry Reynolds; and the -striking lines, “On the Time-Poets,” pp. 5-7 of _Choyce Drollery_, 1656. -The latter we have seen to be anonymous; but they were not impossibly by -that very Henry Reynolds, friend of Drayton; although of this authorship -no evidence has yet arisen. Of George Daniel’s unprinted “Vindication of -Poesie,” 1636-47, we have given specimens on pp. 272, 280-1, and 331-2. -Later than Suckling (who died in 1642), another author gave in print -“The Great Assizes Holden in Parnassus by Apollo and his Assessors:” -at which Sessions are arraigned Mercurius Britannicus, &c., Feb. 11th, -1644-5. This has been attributed to George Wither; most erroneously, as -we believe. The mis-appropriation has arisen, probably, from the fact of -Wither’s name being earliest on the roll of Jurymen summoned: - - “_Hee, who was called first in all the List,_ - _~George Withers~ hight, entitled Satyrist;_ - _Then ~Cary~, ~May~, and ~Davenant~ were called forth,_ - _Renowned Poets all, and men of worth,_ - _If wit may passe for worth: Then ~Sylvester~,_ - _~Sands~, ~Drayton~, ~Beaumont~, ~Fletcher~, ~Massinger~,_ - _~Shakespeare~, and ~Heywood~, Poets good and free,_ - _Dramatick writers all, but the first three:_ - _These were empanell’d all, and being sworne_ - _A just and perfect verdict to return_,” _&c._ (p. 9.) - -George Wither was quite capable of placing himself first on the list, in -such a manner, we admit; but it is incredible to us that, if he had been -the author, he could have described himself so insultingly as we find in -the following lines, and elsewhere:— - - “_he did protest_ - _That ~Wither~ was a cruell Satyrist;_ - _And guilty of the same offence and crime,_ - _Whereof he was accused at this time:_ - _Therefore for him hee thought it fitter farre,_ - _To stand as a Delinquent at the barre,_ - _Then to bee now empanell’d in a Jury._ - _~George Withers~ then, with a Poetick fury,_ - _Began to bluster, but ~Apollo’s~ frowne_ - _Made him forbeare, and lay his choler downe._” - - (_Ibid_, p. 11.) - -Two much more sparkling and interesting “Sessions of Poets” afterwards -appeared, to the tune of Ben Jonson’s “Cook Laurel.” The first of these -begins:— - - “_~Apollo~, concern’d to see the Transgressions_ - _Our paltry Poets do daily commit,_ - _Gave orders once more to summon a Sessions,_ - _Severely to punish th’ Abuses of Wit._ - - _~Will d’Avenant~ would fain have been Steward o’ the Court,_ - _To have fin’d and amerc’d each man at his will;_ - _But ~Apollo~, it seems, had heard a Report,_ - _That his choice of new Plays did show h’ had no skill._ - - _Besides, some Criticks had ow’d him a spite,_ - _And a little before had made the God fret,_ - _By letting him know the Laureat did write_ - _That damnable Farce, ‘~The House to be Let~.’_ - - _Intelligence was brought, the Court being set_ - _That a Play Tripartite was very near made;_ - _Where malicious ~Matt. Clifford~, and spirituall ~Spratt~,_ - _Were join’d with their Duke, a Peer of the Trade,” &c._ - -The author did not avow himself. It must have been written, we hold, -in 1664-5. The second is variously attributed to John Wilmot, Earl of -Rochester, and to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, being printed in -the works of both. It begins:— - - “_Since the Sons of the Muses grew num’rous and loud,_ - _For th’ appeasing so factious and clam’rous a crowd,_ - _~Apollo~ thought fit in so weighty a cause,_ - _T’ establish a government, leader, and laws,” &c._ - -Assembled near Parnassus, Dryden, Etherege, Wycherley, Shadwell, Nat -Lee, Settle, Otway, Crowne, Mrs. Aphra Behn, Rawlins, Tom D’Urfey, and -Betterton, are in the other verses sketched with point and vivacity; but -in malicious satire. It was probably written in 1677. Clever as are these -two later “Sessions,” they do not equal Suckling’s, in genial spirit and -unforced cheerfulness. - -We need not here linger over the whimsical Trial of Tom D’Urfey and -Tom Brown (who squabbled between themselves, by the bye), in a still -later “Sessions of the Poets Holden at the foot of Parnassus Hill, -July the 9th, 1696: London, printed for E. Whitlock, near Stationers’ -Hall, 1696”:—a mirthful squib, which does not lay claim to be called -poetry. Nor need we do more than mention “A Trip to _Parnassus_; or, the -Judgment of _Apollo_ on Dramatic Authors and Performers. A Poem. London, -1788”—which deals with the two George Colmans, Macklin, Macnally, Lewis, -&c. Coming to our own century, it is enough to particularize Leigh Hunt’s -“Feast of the Poets;” printed in his “Reflector,” December, 1811, and -afterwards much altered, generally with improvement (especially in the -exclusion of the spiteful attack on Walter Scott). It begins—_“’Tother -day as Apollo sat pitching his darts,” &c._ In 1837 Leigh Hunt wrote -another such versical review, viz., “Blue-Stocking Revels; or, The Feast -of the Violets.” This was on the numerous “poetesses,” but it cannot -be deemed successful. Far superior to it is the clever and interesting -“Fable for Critics,” since written by James Russell Lowell in America. - -Both as regards its own merit, and as being the parent of many others -(none of which has surpassed, or even equalled it), Sir John Suckling’s -“Sessions of Poets” must always remain famous. We have not space -remaining at command to annotate it with the fulness it deserves. - - -ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. - -The type-ornaments in _Choyce Drollery_ reprint are merely substitutes -for the ruder originals, and are not in _fac-simile_, as were the Initial -Letters on pages 5 and 7 of our _Merry Drollery, Compleat_ reprint. - -Page 42, line 6, “a Lockeram Band:” Lockram, a cheap sort of linen, see -J. O. Halliwell’s valuable _Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words_, -p. 525, edit. 1874. To this, and to the same author’s 1876 edition of -Archdeacon _Nares Glossary_, we refer readers for other words. - -Page 73-77, 297, _Marchpine_, or _Marchpane_, biscuits often made -in fantastic figures of birds or flowers, of sweetened almonds, &c. -_Scettuall_, or _Setiwall_, the Garden Valerian. _Bausons_, i.e. badgers. -_Cockers_; boots. Verse fifth omitted from _Choyce Drollery_, runs:— - - “Her features all as fresh above, - As is the grass that grows by _Dove_, - And lythe as lass of _Kent_; - Her skin as soft as _Lemster_ wool, - As white as snow on _Peakish Hull_, - Or Swan that swims in _Trent_.” - -A few typographical errors crept into sheet G (owing to an accident -in the Editor’s final collation with original). P. 81, line 2, read -_Blacke_; line 20, Shaft; p. 85, line 3, Unlesse; p. 86, line 5, -Physitian; line 17, that Lawyer’s; p. 87, line 9, That wil stick to -the Laws; p. 88, line 8, O that’s a companion; p. 90, first line, -_basenesse_; line 23, nature; p. 91, line 13, add a comma after the word -blot; p. 94, line 13, Scepter; p. 96, line 10, Of this; p. 97, line 15, -For feare; p. 99, line 6, add a comma; p. 100, line 13, finde. These are -all _single-letter_ misprints. - -Page 269, line 14, for _encreasing_, read _encreaseth_; and end line 28 -with a comma. - -I. H. in line 35, are the initials of the author, “Iohn Higins.” - -Page 270, line 9, add the words—“It is by Sir Wm. Davenant, and entitled -‘The Dying Lover.’” - -Page 275, penultimate line, read _Poet-Beadle_. P. 277, l. 17, for 1698 -read 1598. - -Page 281, line 20, for _liveth_, read _lives_; _claime_. - -Page 289, after line 35, add—“Page 45, ‘_As I went to_ Totnam.’ This is -given with the music, in Tom D’Urfey’s _Pills to purge Melancholy_, p. -180, of 1700 and 1719 (vol. iv.) editions; beginning ‘As I came from -_Tottingham_.’ The tune is named ‘Abroad as I was walking.’ Page 52, _He -that a Tinker_; Music by Dr. Jn. Wilson.” - -Page 330, after line 10, add—“_Fly, boy, fly_: Music by Simon Ives, in -Playford’s _Select Ayres_, 1659, p. 90.” - -The date of “The Zealous Puritan,” _M. D. C._, p. 95, was 1639. “He that -intends,” &c., _Ibid._, p. 342, is the _Vituperium Uxoris_, by John -Cleveland, written before 1658 (_Poems_, 1661, p. 169). - -“Love should take no wrong,” in _Westminster-Drollery_, 1671, i. 90, -dates back seventy years, to 1601: with music by Robert Jones, in his -Second Book of Songs, Song 5. - -Introduction to Merry Drollery (our second volume) p. xxii. lines 20, -21. Since writing the above, we have had the pleasure of reading the -excellent “Memoir of Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland,” and the “Althorp -Memoirs,” by G. Steinman Steinman, Esq., F. S. A., (printed for Private -Circulation, 1871, 1869); by the former work, p. 22, we are led to -discredit Mrs. Jameson’s assertion that the night of May 29, 1660, was -spent by Charles II. in the house of Sir Samuel Morland at Vauxhall. -“This knight and friend of the King’s _may_ have had a residence in -the parish of Lambeth before the Restoration, but as he was an Under -Secretary of State at the time, it is more probable that he lived in -London; and _as he did not obtain from the Crown a lease of Vauxhall -mansion and grounds until April 19, 1675_, the foundations of a very -improbable story, whoever originated it, are considerably shaken.” Mr. -Steinman inclines to believe the real place of meeting was Whitehall. He -has given a list of Charles II.’s male companions in the Court at Bruges, -with short biographies, in the _Archæologia_, xxxv. pp. 335-349. We knew -not of this list when writing our Introduction to _Choyce Drollery_. - -[Illustration: The Phœnix (emblematical of the Restoration) is adapted -from Spenser’s Works, 1611.] - - - - -TABLE OF FIRST LINES - -In “Merry Drollery,” 1661, 1670, 1691 - -(_Now first added._) - - -[The Songs and Poems _peculiar to the first edition_, 1661 (having been -afterwards omitted), are here distinguished by being printed in Roman -type. They are all contained _in the present volume_. Those that were -added, in the later editions only, have no number attached to them in -our first column of pages, viz. for 1661. The third edition, in 1691, -was no more than a re-issue of the 1670 edition, with a fresh title-page -to disguise it, in pretence of novelty (see p. 345, _ante_). The outside -column refers to our Reprint of the “Drolleries;” but where the middle -column is blank, as shewing the song was not repeated in 1670 and 1691, -our Reprint-page belongs to the _present volume_. The “Reserved Pieces,” -given only in Supplement, bear the letter “R” (for the extra sheet, -signed R*).—ED.] - - FIRST LINES. [In Editions] 1661 1670 1875 - - _A Brewer may be a Burgess_ ii. 70 252 252 - - _A fig for Care, why should we_ 217 217 - - _A Fox, a Fox, up gallants_ 29 38 38 - - _A Maiden of late, whose name_ 160 170 170 - - _A Pox on the Jaylor, and on his_ 289 289 - - A Puritan of late 2 195 - - _A Session was held the other day_ 68 72 72 - - _A Story strange I will you tell_ ii. 12 200 200 - - A young man of late 27 201 - - _A young man that’s in love_ 34 42 42 - - A young man walking all alone 32 204 - - _After so many sad mishaps_ 112 118 118 - - _After the pains of a desperate Lover_ 171 171 - - _Ah, ah, come see what’s_ 30 40 40 - - _All in the Land of ~Essex~_ 48 56 56 - - _Am I mad, O noble ~Festus~?_ ii. 50 234 234 - - _~Amarillis~ told her swain_ 8 10 - - Among the Purifidian sect ii. 103 243 - - _Are you grown so melancholy?_ ii. 101 286 286 - - _Aske me no more why there appears_ 62 70 70 - - _~Bacchus~ I am, come from_ 61 69 69 - - _Be merry in sorrow_ 1^b 6 8 - - _Be not thou so foolish nice_ 61 69 69 - - _Blind Fortune, if thou want’st_ 163 172 172 - - _Bring forth your Cunny-skins_ ii. 8 196 196 - - _But since it was lately enacted_ ii. 24 212 212 - - _Call for the Master, oh, this_ 9 11 - - _Call ~George~ again, boy_ ii. 118 304 304 - - _Calm was the evening, and clear_ 220 220 - - _Calm was the evening, and clear_ 292 292 - - _Cast your caps and cares aside_ 87 92 92 - - _Come, Drawer, and fill us about_ ii. 80 263 263 - - Come, Drawer, some wine ii. 29 237 - - _Come, Drawer, turn about the b._ ii. 86 268 268 - - _Come, Drawer, come, fill us_ ii. 3 190 190 - - _Come, faith, let’s frolick_ ii. 65 246 246 - - Come, hither, my own sweet ii. 106 247 - - _Come, Imp Royal, come away_ ii. 45 231 231 - - _Come, ~Jack~, let’s drink a pot of Ale_ 45 52 52 - - _Come, let us drink, the time invites_ 93 97 97 - - _Come, let’s purge our brains_ 114 121 121 - - _Come, my dainty Doxies, my Dove_ ii. 44 230 230 - - _Come, my ~Daphne~, come away_ 86 91 91 - - _Come, my delicate, bonny sweet_ 23 34 34 - - _Cook ~Laurel~ would needs have_ ii. 26 214 14 - - Discoveries of late have been ii. 33 R^f - - _Doctors, lay by your irkesome_ 41 48 48 - - Fair Lady, for your New Year’s ii. 81 R^n - - _Fetch me ~Ben Johnson’s~ scull_ 293 293 - - From _Essex_ Anabaptist Laws ii. 38 241 - - _From hunger and cold, who lives_ ii. 9 197 197 - - _From ~Mahomet~ and Paganisme_ 164 174 174 - - _From the fair ~Lavinian~ shore_ 291 291 - - _From what you call’t Town_ 191 182 182 - - Full forty times over I have, &c. ii. 61 R^i - - _Gather your rosebuds while_ ii. 11 199 199 - - _Go, you tame Gallants_ ii. 57 242 242 - - _God bless my good Lord Bishop_ 166 176 176 - - _Good Lord, what a pass is this_ 75 79 79 - - _Had she not care enough_ 211 211 - - _Hang Chastity! it is_ 88 220 - - _Have you observed the Wench_ ii. 141 332 332 - - He is a fond Lover, that doateth ii. 62 R^l - - _He that a happy life would lead_ ii. 147 339 339 - - _He that intends to take a wife_ ii. 153 342 342 - - _Heard you not lately of a man_ 169 180 180 - - _Here’s a health unto his Majesty_ 212 212 - - Hey, ho, have at all! 168 R^e - - _Hold, quaff no more_ ii. 19 210 210 - - _How happy is the Prisoner_ 101 107 107 - - _How poor is his spirit_ ii. 48 232 232 - - _I am a bonny ~Scot~, Sir_ 119 127 127 - - _I am a Rogue, and a stout one_ ii. 16 204 204 - - _I came unto a Puritan to woo_ 73 77 77 - - _I doat, I doat, but am a sot_ ii. 53 237 237 - - I dreamt my Love lay in her bed 11 197 - - _I have reason to fly thee_ ii. 97 281 281 - - _I have the fairest Non-perel_ ii. 99 283 283 - - I loved a maid—she loved not me ii. 151 R^p - - _I marvel, ~Dick~, that having been_ 46 54 54 - - I mean to speak of _England’s_ 85 218 - - _I met with the Divel in the shape_ 103 109 109 - - _I pray thee, Drunkard, get thee_ ii. 119 306 306 - - _I tell thee, ~Kit~, where I have been_ 317 317 - - I went from _England_ into _France_ 64 213 - - If any one do want a House ii. 64 R^m - - _If any so wise is, that Sack_ ii. 157 348 348 - - _If every woman were served in her_ 80 85 85 - - _If none be offended with the scent_ ii. 77 259 259 - - If that you will hear of a ditty ii. 149 253 - - _If thou wilt know how to chuse_ 21 32 32 - - If you will give ear ii. 46 R^g - - _I’ll go no more to the Old Exchange_ 126 134 134 - - _I’ll sing you a sonnet, that ne’er_ 66 66 - - _I’ll tell thee, ~Dick~, where I have_ 97 101 101 - - _I’ll tell you a story, that never w. t._ 123 131 131 - - _In Eighty-eight, e’er I was born_ 77 82 82 - - _In the merry month of ~May~_ 99 99 - - _It chanced not long ago, as I was_ ii. 82 264 264 - - It was a man, and a jolly old man 95 222 - - _Ladies, I do here present you_ ii. 55 240 240 - - _Lay by your pleading, Law_ 118 125 125 - - _Lay by your pleading, Love lies a_ ii. 4 191 191 - - _Let dogs and divels die_ 31 41 41 - - _Let Souldiers fight for praise_ ii. 31 218 218 - - _Let the Trumpet sound_ ii. 142 333 333 - - _Let’s call, and drink the cellar dry_ 130 138 138 - - Listen, lordings, to my story ii. 32 240 - - Mine own sweet honey bird 153 R^c - - _My bretheren all attend_ 91 95 95 - - _My Lodging is on the cold ground_ 290 290 - - _My Masters, give audience_ ii. 91 275 275 - - _My Mistris is a shittle-cock_ 51 60 60 - - _My Mistris is in Musick_ 154 163 163 - - _My Mistris, whom in heart_ 107 113 113 - - _Nay, out upon this fooling_ 79 84 84 - - _Nay, prithee, don’t fly me_ 25 36 36 - - _Ne’er trouble thy self at the times_ 219 219 - - _Nick Culpepper_ and _William Lilly_ 56 190 - - _No man Love’s fiery passion_ ii. 1 187 187 - - _No sooner were the doubtful people_ ii. 58 243 243 - - _Now, gentlemen, if you will hear_ 18 29 29 - - _Now I am married, Sir ~John~_ ii. 96 280 280 - - _Now, I confess, I am in love_ 1 5 7 - - Now _Lambert’s_ sunk, and gallant 12 198 - - _Now thanks to the Powers below_ 156 166 166 - - _Now that the Spring has filled_ ii. 110 296 296 - - _Now we are met in a knot_ ii. 138 328 328 - - O that I could by any Chymick ii. 31 239 - - _O the wily, wily Fox_ ii. 114 300 300 - - _Of all the Crafts that I do know_ 7 17 17 - - _Of all the rare juices_ 178 178 - - _Of all the Recreations, which_ 146 146 - - _Of all the Sciences beneath the Sun_ ii. 129 319 319 - - _Of all the Sports the world doth_ ii. 111 296 296 - - _Of all the Trades that ever I see_ ii. 40 225 225 - - _Of an old Souldier of the Queen’s_ 20 31 31 - - _~Oliver~, ~Oliver~, take up thy Crown_ ii. 72 254 254 - - _Once was I sad, till I grew to be_ 2^b 10 12 - - _Pox take you, Mistris, I’ll be gone_ ii. 118 304 304 - - _Pray, why should any man_ ii. 87 270 270 - - Riding to _London_, in _Dunstable_ 14 200 - - _Room for a Gamester_ ii. 10 197 197 - - _Room for the best Poets heroick!_ 96 100 100 - - _Saw you not ~Pierce~ the piper_ ii. 124 312 312 - - _She lay all naked in her bed_ ii. 115 300 300 - - She lay up to the navel bare ii. 116 R^o - - _She that will eat her breakfast_ ii. 120 308 308 - - _Shew a room, shew a room_ ii. 145 337 337 - - _Sir ~Eglamore~, that valiant knight_ ii. 75 257 257 - - _Some Christian people all give ear_ 81 87 87 - - _Some wives are good, and some_ 302 302 - - _Stay, shut the gate!_ ii. 18 207 207 - - _Sublimest discretions have club’d_ 287 287 - - _The Aphorisms of ~Galen~_ ii. 94 277 277 - - _The best of Poets write of F._ 141 153 153 - - _The Hunt is up, the Hunt is up_ 20 30 30 - - _The Proctors are two, and no more_ 105 111 111 - - _The Spring is coming on_ 40 47 47 - - _The thirsty Earth drinks up_ 22 22 - - _The ~Turk~ in linnen wraps_ 13 25 25 - - _The Wise Men were but seven_ 232 232 - - _The World’s a bubble, and the life_ 104 110 110 - - _There dwelt a Maid in the C. g._ 37 46 46 - - _There is a certain idle kind of cr._ 140 152 152 - - _There was a jovial Tinker_ 17 27 27 - - There was a Lady in this land 134 223 - - _There was an old man had an acre_ 44 52 52 - - There was three birds that built 139 R^a - - _There was three Cooks in C_ ii. 129 318 318 - - _There’s a lusty liquor which_ 132 140 140 - - _There’s many a blinking verse_ ii. 35 221 221 - - _Three merry Boys came out_ 220 220 - - _Three merry Lads met at the Rose_ 143 143 - - _’Tis not the Silver nor Gold_ 109 115 115 - - _To friend and to foe_ 38 23 23 - - _Tobacco that is wither’d quite_ 16 26 26 - - _~Tom~ and ~Will~ were Shepherd_ 149 149 - - Upon a certain time 146 R^b - - Upon a Summer’s day 148 230 - - _Wake all you Dead, what ho!_ 151 151 - - _Walking abroad in the m._ 76 81 81 - - _We Seamen are the honest boys_ 152 162 162 - - _What an Ass is he, Waits, &c._ ii. 90 273 273 - - _What Fortune had I, poor Maid_ ii. 152 341 341 - - _What is that you call a Maid._ ii. 68 249 249 - - _What though the ill times do run_ 116 124 124 - - What though the times produce 161 R^d - - _When blind god ~Cupid~, all in an_ ii. 2 188 188 - - _When first ~Mardike~ was made_ 4 12 12 - - _When first the ~Scottish~war_ 89 93 93 - - _When I a Lady do intend to flatter_ ii. 158 348 348 - - _When I do travel in the night_ ii. 73 255 255 - - _When I’se came first to ~London~_ ii. 133 323 323 - - _When ~Phœbus~ had drest_ ii. 69 250 250 - - _When the chill ~Charokoe~ blows_ 155 164 164 - - _White bears have lately come_ 149 159 159 - - _Why should a man care_ ii. 146 337 337 - - _Why should we boast of_ Arthur ii. 122 309 309 - - _Why should we not laugh_ ii. 136 326 326 - - _Will you hear a strange thing_ 53 62 62 - - You Gods, that rule upon ii. 21 233 - - _You talk of ~New England~_ ii. 84 266 266 - - You that in love do mean to sport ii. 22 235 - - -First Lines of the “Antidote” Songs: - -GIVEN IN THIS VOLUME (AND NOT IN _M. D. C._). - - - [Present Reprint,] Page - - _A Man of ~Wales~, a little before ~Easter~_ 157 - - _An old house end_ 153 - - _Bring out the [c]old Chyne_ 146 - - _Come, come away to the Tavern, I say_ 150 - - _Come hither, thou merriest of all the Nine_ 133 - - _Come, let us cast dice who shall drink_ 151 - - _Drink, drink, all you that think_ 158 - - _Fly boy, fly boy, to the cellar’s bottom_ 157 - - _Good ~Symon~, how comes it_ 154 - - _Hang Sorrow, and cast away Care_ 152 - - _Hang the ~Presbyter’s~ Gill_ 144 - - _He that a Tinker, a tinker will be_ 52 - - _In love? away! you do me wrong_ 147 - - _I’s not come here to tauke of ~Prut~_ 141 - - _Jog on, jog on the foot-path-way_ 156 - - _Let’s cast away Care_ 152 - - _Mongst all the pleasant juices_ 150 - - _My Lady and her Maid_ 152 - - _Never let a man take heavily_ 151 - - _Not drunken nor sober_ 113 - - _Of all the birds that ever I see_ 155 - - _Old Poets ~Hypocrin~ admire_ 143 - - _Once I a curious eye did fix_ 139 - - _The parcht earth drinks the rain_ 157 - - _The wit hath long beholden been_ 135 - - _There was an old man at ~Walton~ Cross_ 151 - - _This Ale, my bonny lads_ 155 - - _’Tis Wine that inspires_ 145 - - _Welcome, welcome, again to thy wit_ 159 - - _What are we met? Come, let’s see_ 156 - - _Why should we boast of ~Arthur~_ 129 - - _Wilt thou be fat? I’ll tell thee how_ 154 - - _Wilt thou lend me thy mare_ 153 - - _With an old song made by an old a. p._ 125 - - _You merry Poets, old boyes_ 149 - - _Your mare is lame, she halts outright_ 153 - - -Here the Editor closes his willing toil, (after having added a _Table -of First Lines_, and a _Finale_,) and offers a completed work to the -friendly acceptance of Readers. They are no vague abstractions to him, -but a crowd of well-distinguished faces, many among them being renowned -scholars and genial critics. To approach them at all might be deemed -temerity, were it not that such men are the least to be feared by an -honest worker. On the other hand, it were easy for ill-natured persons -to insinuate accusations against any one who meddles with Re-prints of -_Facetiæ_. Blots and stains are upon such old books, which he has made no -attempt to disguise or palliate. Let them bear their own blame. There are -dullards and bigots in the world, nevertheless, who decry all antiquarian -and historical research. A defence is unnecessary: “Let them rave!” - - _Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa,_ - _Misericordia e giustizia gli sdegna,_ - _Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa._ - -He thanks those who heartily welcomed the earlier Volumes, and trusts -that no unworthy successor is to be found in the present Conclusion, -which holds many rare verses. Hereafter may ensue another meeting. Our -olden Dramatists and Poets open their cellars, full of such vintage as -Dan Phœbus had warmed. Leaving these “_Drolleries of the Restoration_” -behind him, as a Nest-Egg, the Editor bids his Readers cheerfully - -_FAREWELL!_ - - - - -FINALE. - - -_“Laudator temporis acti” cantat_:— - - 1. - - Closed now the book, untrimmed the lamp, - Flung wide the lattice-shutter; - The night-breeze strikes in, chill and damp, - The fir-trees moan and mutter: - Lo, dawn is near! pale Student, thou - No count of time hast reckon’d; - Go, seek a rest for weary brow - From dreams of Charles the Second. - - 2. - - Sad grows the world: those hours are past - When, jovially convivial, - Choice Spirits met, and round them cast - Such glow as made cares trivial; - When nights prolonged through following days - Found night still closing o’er us, - While Youth and Age exchanged their lays, - Or intertwined in chorus. - - 3. - - Our gravest Pundits of the Bench, - Most reverend Sirs of Pulpit, - Smiled at the praise of some coy wench, - Or—if too warm—could gulp it. - Loyal to King, faithful to Church, - And firm to Constitution, - No friend, no foe they left in lurch, - Or sneaked to Revolution. - - 4. - - There, many a sage Physician told - Fresh facts of healing knowledge; - There, the dazed Bookworm could grow bold, - And speak of pranks at College: - There, weary Pamphleteers forgot - Faction, debates, and readers, - But helped to drain the clinking-pot - With punning Special-pleaders. - - 5. - - How oft some warrior, famed abroad - For valour in campaigning, - Exchanged the thrust with foes he awed - For hob-a-nob Champaigning! - While some Old Salt, an Admiral - And Circumnavigator, - Joined in the revel at our call, - Nor sheer’d-off three days later. - - 6. - - Who lives to thrill with jest and song, - Like those whose memories haunt us?— - Who never knew a night too long, - Or head-ache that could daunt us. - The weaklings of a later day - Win neither Mirth nor Thinking; - They mix, and spoil, both work and play: - They’ve lost the art of Drinking! - - 7. - - For me, I lonely grow, and shy, - No one seems worth my courting; - Though girls have still a laughing eye, - And tempt to May-day sporting: - For sillier youth, or richer Lord, - Or some staid prig, and colder, - “Neat-handed Phillis” spreads the board, - And Chloe bares her shoulder. - - 8. - - In days gone by, light grew the task, - For holidays were glorious; - It was the _talk_ sublimed the flask, - That now is deemed uproarious. - We’ve so much Methodistic cant, - Abstainers’ Total drivel, - And, worse, Utilitarian rant— - One scarcely can keep civil. - - 9. - - Our politics are insincere, - For Statesmen cog and shuffle; - They hit not from the shoulder clear, - But dodge, and spar with muffle. - How Bench and Bar sink steeped in mire, - Avails not here recording: - While Prelates cannot now look higher - Than to mere self-rewarding. - - 10. - - Friends of old days, ’tis well you died - Before, like me, you sickened - Amid the rottenness and pride - That in this world have quickened: - You passed, ere yet your hopes grew dim, - While Love and Friendship warmed you: - I look but to th’ horizon’s rim, - For all that erst had charmed you. - - 11. - - Not here, amid a lower crew, - I seek to fill your places; - For men no more have hearts as true, - Nor maids,—though fair their faces. - My thoughts flit back to earlier days, - Where Pleasure’s finger beckon’d, - Cheered with the Beauty, Love, and Lays - That warmed our Charles the Second. - - J. W. E. - -_Biblioth. Ashmol., Cantium_, 1876. - - -[End of “The ‘Drolleries’ of the Restoration.”] - - - - -Drollery Reprints. - - -_Uniform with “Choice Drollery.”_ - -Published at 10s. 6d. to Subscribers, _now raised_ to 21s; large paper, -published at £1 1s, _now raised_ to £2 2s. - - -A RE-PRINT - -OF THE - -Westminster Drollery, - -1671, 1672. - -To those who are already acquainted with the two parts of the -_Westminster Drollery_, published in 1671 and 1672, it must have appeared -strange that no attempt has hitherto been made to bring these delightful -volumes within reach of the students of our early literature. The -originals are of extreme rarity, a perfect copy seldom being attainable -at any public sale, and then fetching a price that makes a book-hunter -almost despair of its acquisition. So great a favourite was it in the -Cavalier times, that most copies have been literally worn to pieces in -the hands of its many admirers, as they chanted forth a merry stave -from the pages. _There is no collection of songs surpassing it in the -language_, and as representative of the lyrics of the first twelve years -after the Restoration it is unequalled: by far the greater number are -elsewhere unattainable. - -The WESTMINSTER DROLLERIES are reprinted with the utmost fidelity, page -for page, and line for line, not a word being altered, or a single letter -departing from the original spelling. - - -DROLLERY RE-PRINTS. - -NOW READY. - -“_Merry Drollery, Complete_,” - -1661, 1691. - -MERRY DROLLERY, COMPLETE is not only amusing, but as an historical -document is of great value. It is here reproduced, with the utmost -exactitude, for students of our old literature, from the edition of -1691. The few rectifications of a corrupt text are invariably held -within square brackets, when not reserved for the Appendix of Notes, -Illustrations, and Emendations. Thirty-four Songs, additional, that -appeared only in the 1661 edition, will be given separately; the -intermediate edition of 1670 being also collated. A special Introduction -has been prefixed, drawing attention to the political events of the time -referred to, and some account of the authors of the Songs in this _Merry -Drollery_. - -The work is quite distinct in character from the _Westminster -Drolleries_, 1671-72, but forms an indispensable companion to that -ten-years-later volume. Twenty-five songs and poems, that had not -appeared in the 1661 edition, were added to the after editions of -_Merry Drollery_; but without important change to the book. It was -essentially an offspring of the Restoration, the year 1660-61, and it -thus gives us a genuine record of the Cavaliers in their festivity. -Whatever is offensive, therefore, is still of historical importance. -Even the bitterness of sarcasm against the Rump Parliament, under whose -rule so many families had long groaned; the personal invective, and -unsparing ridicule of leading Republicans and Puritans; were such as not -unnaturally had found favour during the recent Civil War and Usurpation. -The preponderance of Songs in praise of Sack and loose revelry is not -without significance. A few pieces of coarse humour, _double entendre_, -and breaches of decorum attest the fact that already among the Cavaliers -were spread immorality and licentiousness. The fault of an impaired -discipline had home evil fruit, beyond defeat in the field and exile from -positions of power. Mockery and impurity had been welcomed as allies, -during the warfare against bigotry, hypocrisy, and selfish ambition. -We find, it is true, few of the sweeter graces of poetry in _Choice -Drollery_ and in _Merry Drollery_; but, instead, much that helps us to -a sounder understanding of the social, military, and political life of -those disturbed times immediately preceding the Restoration. - -Of the more than two hundred pieces, contained in _Merry Drollery_, -fully a third are elsewhere unattainable, and the rest are scarce. Among -the numerous attractions we may mention the rare Song of “Love lies a -bleeding” (p. 191), an earnest protest against the evils of the day; the -revelations of intolerant military violence, such as The Power of the -Sword (125), Mardyke (12), Pym’s Anarchy (70), The Scotch War (93), The -New Medley of the Country-man, Citizen, and Soldier (182), The Rebel -Red-Coat (190), and “Cromwell’s Coronation” (254), with the masterly -description of Oliver’s Routing the Rump (62). Several Anti-Puritan Songs -about New England are here, and provincial descriptions of London (95, -275, 323). Rollicking staves meet us, as from the Vagabond (204), The -Tinker of Turvey (27), The Jovial Loyallist, with the Answer to it, in a -nobler strain, by one who sees the ruinous vileness of debauchery (pp. -207, 209); and a multitude of Bacchanalian Catches. The two songs on -the Blacksmith (225, 319), and both of those on The Brewer (221, 252), -referring to Cromwell, are here; as well as the ferocious exultation over -the Regicides in a dialogue betwixt Tower-hill and Tyburn (131). More -than a few of the spirited Mad-songs were favourites. Nor are absent -such ditties as tell of gallantry, though few are of refined affection -and exalted heroism. The absurd impossibilities of a Medicine for the -Quartan Ague (277, cf. 170), the sly humour of the delightful “How -to woo a Zealous Lady” (77), the stately description of a Cock-fight -(242), the Praise of Chocolate (48), the Power of Money (115), and -the innocent merriment of rare Arthur o’ Bradley’s Wedding (312), are -certain to please. Added, are some of the choicest poems by Suckling, -Cartwright, Ben Jonson, Alexander Brome, Fletcher, D’Avenant, Dryden, -Bishop Corbet, and others. “The Cavalier’s Complaint,” with the Answer -to it, has true dramatic force. The character of a Mistress (60), shows -one of the seductive Dalilahs who were ever ready to betray. The lampoons -on D’Avenant’s “Gondibert” (100, 118) are memorials of unscrupulous -ridicule from malicious wits. “News, that’s No News” (159), with the -grave buffoonery of “The Bow Goose” (153), and the account of a Fire on -London Bridge (87), in the manner of pious ballad-mongers (the original -of our modern “Three Children Sliding on the Ice”), are enough to make -Heraclitus laugh. Some of the dialogues, such as “Resolved not to Part” -(113), “The Bull’s Feather” (i.e. the Horn, p. 264), and that between -a Hare and the hounds that are chasing him (296), lend variety to the -volume; which contains, moreover, some whimsical stories in verse, -(one being “A Merry Song” of a Husbandman whose wife gets him off a -bad bargain, p. 17: compare p. 200), told in a manner that would have -delighted Mat Prior in later days. - -It is printed on Ribbed Toned paper, and the Impression is limited to 400 -copies, fcap. 8vo. 10s. 6d.; and 50 copies large paper, demy 8vo. 21s. -Subscribers’ names should be sent at once to the Publisher, - - ROBERT ROBERTS, BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE. - - _Every copy is numbered and sent out in the order - of Subscription._ - -☞ This series of Re-prints from the rare _Drolleries_ is now completed -in Three Volumes (of which the first published was the _Westminster -Drollery_): that number being sufficient to afford a correct picture -of the times preceding and following the Restoration 1660, without -repetition. The third volume contains “_Choice Drollery_,” 1656, and -all of the “_Antidote against Melancholy_,” 1661, which has not been -already included in the two previous volumes; with separate Notes, and -Illustrations drawn from other contemporary Drolleries. - - -_OPINIONS OF THE PRESS, &c._ - - “Strafford Lodge, Oatlands Park, - Surrey, Feb. 4, 1875. - -DEAR SIR, - -I received the “Westminster Drolleries” yesterday evening. I have spent -nearly the whole of this day in reading it. I can but give unqualified -praise to the editor, both for his extensive knowledge and for his -admirable style. The printing and the paper do great credit to your -press.... I enclose a post-office order to pay for my copy. - - Yours truly, - - WM. CHAPPELL.” - -Mr. Robert Roberts. - - * * * * * - -_From J. O. Halliwell, Esqre._ - - “No. 11, Tregunter Road, West Brompton, - London, S. W., - 25th Feby. 1875. - -DEAR SIR, - -I am charmed with the edition of the “Westminster Drollery.” One half -of the reprints of the present day are rendered nearly useless to exact -students either by alterations or omissions, or by attempts to make -eclectic texts out of more than one edition. By all means let us have -introductions and notes, especially when as good as Mr. Ebsworth’s, but -it is essential for objects of reference that one edition only of the old -text be accurately reproduced. The book is certainly admirably edited. - - Yours truly, - - J. O. PHILLIPPS.” - -To Mr. R. Roberts. - - * * * * * - -_From F. J. Furnivall, Esq._ - - “3, St. George’s Square, Primrose Hill, London, N.W., - 2nd February, 1875. - -MY DEAR SIR, - -I have received the handsome large paper copy of your “Westminster -Drolleries.” I am very glad to see that the book is really _edited_, and -that well, by a man so thoroughly up in the subject as Mr. Ebsworth. - - Truly yours, - - F. J. F.” - - * * * * * - -_From the Editor of the “Fuller’s Worthies Library,” “Wordsworth’s Prose -Works,” &c._ - - “Park View, Blackburn, - Lancashire, 13th July, 1875. - -DEAR SIR, - -I got the “Westminster Drolleries” _at once_, and I will see after the -“Merry Drollery” when published. - -Go on and prosper. Mr. Ebsworth is a splendid fellow, evidently. - - Yours, - - A. B. GROSART.” - - * * * * * - -J. P. COLLIER, Esqre., has also written warmly commending the work, in -private letters to the Editor, which he holds in especial honour. - - * * * * * - -_From the “Academy” July 10th, 1875._ - -“It would be a curious though perhaps an unprofitable speculation, how -far the ‘Conservative reaction’ has been reflected in our literature.... -Reprints are an important part of modern literature, and in them there is -a perceptible relaxation of severity. Their interest is no longer mainly -philological. Of late, the Restoration has been the favourite period for -revival. Its dramatists are marching down upon us from Edinburgh, and the -invasion is seconded by a royalist movement in Lincolnshire. A Boston -publisher has begun a series of drolleries—intended, not for the general -public, but for those students who can afford to pay handsomely for their -predilection for the byways of letters. - -“The Introduction is delightful reading, with quaint fancies here -and there, as in the ‘imagined limbo of unfinished books.’ ... There -is truth and pathos in his excuses for the royalist versifiers who -‘snatched hastily, recklessly, at such pleasures as came within their -reach, heedless of price or consequences.’ We may not admit that they -were ‘outcasts without degradation,’ but we can hardly help allowing -that ‘there is a manhood visible in their failures, a generosity in -their profusion and unrest. They are not stainless, but they affect no -concealment of faults. Our heart goes to the losing side, even when the -loss has been in great part deserved.’ ... The fact is, that in his -contemplation of the follies and vices of ‘that very distant time’ he -loses all apprehension of their grosser elements, and retains only an -appreciation of their wit, their elegance, and their vivacity. Without -offence be it said, in Lancelot’s phrase, ‘he does something smack, -something grow to; he has a kind of taste,’—and so have we too, as we -read him. These trite and ticklish themes he touches with so charming -a liberality that his generous allowance is contagious. We feel in -thoroughly honest company, and are ready to be heartily charitable along -with him. For his is no unworthy tolerance of vice, still less any desire -to polish its hardness into such factitious brilliancy as glistens in -Grammont. It is a manly pity for human weakness, and an unwillingness -to see, much less to pry into, human depravity. ‘It would have been a -joy for us to know that these songs were wholly speck must go hungry -through many an orchard, even unobjectionable; but he who waits to eat -of fruit without past the apples of the Hesperides.’ ... The little book -is well worth the attention of any one desirous to have a bird’s-eye -view of the Restoration ‘Society.’ Its scope is far wider than its -title would indicate. The ‘Drolleries’ include not only the rollicking -rouse of the staggering blades who ‘love their humour well, boys,’ the -burlesque of the Olympian revels in ‘Hunting the Hare,’ the wild vagary -of Tom of Bedlam, and the gibes of the Benedicks of that day against the -holy estate, but lays of a delicate and airy beauty, a dirge or two of -exquisite pathos, homely ditties awaking patriotic memories of the Armada -and the Low Country wars, and ‘loyal cantons’ sung to the praise and -glory of King Charles. The ‘late and true story of a furious scold’ might -have enriched the budget of Autolycus, and Feste would have found here a -store of ‘love-songs,’ and a few ‘songs of good life.’ The collection is -of course highly miscellaneous. After the stately measure may come a jig -with homely ‘duck and nod,’ or even a dissonant strain from the ‘riot and -ill-managed merriment’ of Comus, - - ‘Midnight shout, and revelry, - Tipsy dance, and jollity.’” - - -_From the “Bookseller,” March, 1875._ - -“If we wish to read the history of public opinion we must read the songs -of the times: and those who help us to do this confer a real favour. Mr. -Thomas Wright has done enormous service in this way by his collections of -political songs. Mr. Chappell has done better by giving us the music with -them; but much remains to be done. On examining the volume before us, we -are surprised to find so many really beautiful pieces, and so few of the -coarse and vulgar. Even the latter will compare favourably with the songs -in vogue amongst the fast men in the early part of the present century. - -The “_Westminster Drolleries_” consist of two collections of poems -and songs sung at Court and theatres, the first published in 1671, -and the second in 1672. Now for the first time reprinted. The editor, -Mr. J. Woodfall Ebsworth, has prefaced the volume with an interesting -introduction ... and, in an appendix of nearly eighty pages at the end, -has collected a considerable amount of bibliographical and anecdotical -literature. Altogether, _we think this may be pronounced the best edited -of all the reprints of old literature_, which are now pretty numerous. A -word of commendation must also be given to Mr. Roberts, of Boston, the -publisher and printer—the volume is a credit to his press, and could have -been produced in its all but perfect condition only by the most careful -attention and watchful oversight.” - - -_From the “Athenæum,” April 10th, 1875._ - -“Mr. Ebsworth has, we think, made out a fair case in his Introduction -for reprinting the volume without excision. The book is not intended -_virginibus puerisque_, but to convey to grown men a sufficient idea -of the manners and ideas which pervaded all classes in society at the -time of the reaction from the Puritan domination.... Mr. Ebsworth’s -Introduction is well written. He speaks with zest of the pleasant aspects -of the Restoration period, and has some words of praise to bestow upon -the ‘Merry Monarch’ himself.... Let us add that his own “Prelude,” “Entr’ -Acte,” and “Finale” are fair specimens of versification.” - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] ELIZABETH CROMWELL.—A contemporary writes, “How many of the -Royalist prisoners got she not freed? How many did she not save -from death whom the Laws had condemned? How many persecuted -Christians hath she not snatched out of the hands of the -tormentors; quite contrary unto that [daughter of] Herodias who -could do anything with her [step] father? She imployed her Prayers -even with Tears to spare such men whose ill fortune had designed -them to suffer,” &c. (S. Carrington’s _History of the Life and -Death of His most Serene Highness OLIVER, Late Lord Protector_. -1659. p. 264.) - -Elizabeth Cromwell, here contrasted with Salome, more resembled the -Celia of _As you Like It_, in that she, through prizing truth and -justice, showed loving care of those whom her father treated as -enemies. - -By the way, our initial-letter W. on opening page 11 (representing -Salome receiving from the Σπεκουλάτωρ, sent by Herod, the head -of S. John the Baptist)—is copied from the Address to the Reader -prefixed to Part II. of _Merry Drollery_, 1661. _Vide postea_, p. -232. - -Our initial letters in M. D., C., pp. 3, 5, are in _fac simile_ of -the original. - -[2] Cromwell “seemed much afflicted at the death of his Friend -the Earl of _Warwick_; with whom he had a fast friendship, though -neither their humours, nor their natures, were like. And the Heir -of that House, who had married his youngest Daughter [Frances], -died about the same time [or, rather, two months earlier]; so that -all his relation to, or confidence in that Family was at an end; -the other branches of it abhorring his Alliance. His domestick -delights were lessened every day; he plainly discovered that his -son [in-law, who had married Mary Cromwell,] Falconbridge’s heart -was set upon an Interest destructive to his, and grew to hate him -perfectly. _But that which chiefly broke his Peace was the death -of his daughter [Elizabeth] Claypole_; who had been always his -greatest joy, and who, in her sickness, which was of a nature the -Physicians knew not how to deal with, had several Conferences -with him, which exceedingly perplexed him. Though no body was -near enough to hear the particulars, yet her often mentioning, -in the pains she endured, the blood her Father had spilt, made -people conclude, that she had presented his worst Actions to his -consideration. And though he never made the least show of remorse -for any of those Actions, it is very certain, that _either what she -said, or her death_, affected him wonderfully.” (Clarendon’s _Hist. -of the Rebellion_. Book xv., p. 647, edit. 1720.) - -[3] John Cleveland wrote a satirical address to Mr. Hammond, -the Puritan preacher of Beudley, who had exerted himself “for -the Pulling down of the Maypole.” It begins, in mock praise, -“The mighty zeal which thou hast put on,” &c.; and is printed in -_Parnassus Biceps_, 1656, p. 18; and among “_J. Cleveland Revived: -Poems_,” 1662, p. 96. - -[4] Here the thought is enveloped amid tender fancies. Compare the -more passionate and solemn earnestness of the loyal churchman, -Henry King, Bishop of Chichester, in his poem of _The Exequy_, -addressed “To his never-to-be-forgotten Friend,” wherein he says:— - - “Sleep on, my Love, in thy cold bed, - Never to be disquieted! - My last good-night! Thou wilt not wake, - Till I thy fate shall overtake; - Till age, or grief, or sickness, must - Marry my body to that dust - It so much loves; and fill the room - My heart keeps empty in thy Tomb. - _Stay for me there; I will not faile_ - _To meet thee in that hollow Vale._ - And think not much of my delay; - I am already on the way, - And follow thee with all the speed - Desire can make, or sorrows breed,” &c. - -[5] For special reasons, the Editor felt it nearly impossible -to avoid the omission of a few letters in one of the most -objectionable of these pieces, the twelfth in order, of _Choyce -Drollery_. He mentions this at once, because he holds to his -confirmed opinion that in Reprints of scarce and valuable -historical memorials _no tampering with the original is -permissible_. (But see Appendix, Part IV. and pp. 230, 288.) He -incurs blame from judicious antiquaries by even this small and -acknowledged violation of exactitude. Probably, he might have -given pleasure to the general public if he had omitted much more, -not thirty letters only, but entire poems or songs; as the books -deserved in punishment. But he leaves others to produce expurgated -editions, suitable for unlearned triflers. Any reader can here -erase from the Reprint what offends his individual taste (as we -know that Ann, Countess of Strafford, cut out the poem of “Woman” -from our copy of Dryden’s _Miscellany Poems_, Pt. 6, 1709). _No -Editor has any business to thus mutilate every printed copy._ - -[6] _H_aut _goust._ - -[7] Prefixed to “The Ex-Ale-tation of Ale” is given a Table of -Contents (on page 112), enlarged from the one in the original -“_Antidote against Melancholy, made up in Pills_,” 1661, by -references to such pages of “_Merry Drollery, Compleat_,” 1670, -1691, as bear songs or poems in common with the “_Antidote_.” - -[8] _George Thomason._ It was in 1640 that this bookseller -commenced systematically to preserve a copy of every pamphlet, -broadside, and printed book connected with the political -disturbances. Until after the Restoration in 1660, he continued his -valuable collection, so far as possible without omission, but not -without danger and interruption. In his will he speaks of it as -“not to be paralleled,” and it was intact at Oxford when he died -in 1666. Charles II. had too many feminine claimants on his money -and time to allow him to purchase the invaluable series of printed -documents, as it had been desired that he should do. The sum of -£4,000 was refused for this collection of 30,000 pamphlets, bound -in 2,000 volumes; but, after several changes of ownership, they -were ultimately purchased by King George the Third, for only three -or four hundred pounds, and were presented by him to the nation. -They are in the British Museum, known as the King’s Pamphlets, and -the _Antidote against Melancholy_ is among the small quartos. See -Isaac D’Israeli’s _Amenities of Literature_, for an interesting -account of the difficulties and perils attending their collection: -article _Pamphlets_, pp. 685-691, edition 1868. - -[9] J. P. Collier, in his invaluable “_Bibliographical and Critical -Account of the Rarest Books in the English Language_,” 1865, -acknowledges, in reference to “_An Antidote against Melancholy_,” -that “We are without information by whom this collection of Poems, -Ballads, Songs, and Catches was made; but Thomas Durfey, about -sixty years afterwards, imitated the title, when he called his six -volumes ‘_Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy_,’ 8vo., -1719-20.” (_Bibliog. & Crit. Account_, vol. i. p. 26.) Again, -“If N. D., whose initials are at the end of the rhyming address -‘to the Reader,’ were the person who made the selection, we are -without any other clue to his name. There is no ground for imputing -it to Thomas Jordan, excepting that he was accustomed to deal in -productions of this class; but the songs and ballads he printed -were usually of his own composition, and not the works of anterior -versifyers.” (_Ibid._, i. 27.) - -[10] It was a week of supreme rejoicing and frollic, being five -days before the Coronation of Charles II. in Westminster Abbey, -April 23rd. On the 19th were the ceremonies of the Knights of the -Bath, at the Painted Chamber, and in the Chapel at Whitehall. -On the 22nd, Charles went from the Tower to Whitehall, through -well-built triumphal arches, and amid enthusiasm. - -[11] These are the Blacksmith, the Brewer, Suckling’s Parley -between two West Countrymen concerning a Wedding, St. George and -the Dragon, the Gelding of the Devil, the Old and Young Courtier, -the Welchman’s Praise of Wales, Ben Jonson’s Cook Lorrel, “Fetch me -Ben Jonson’s scull,” a Combat of Cocks, “Am I mad, O noble Festus?” -“Old Poets Hypocrin admire,” and “’Tis Wine that inspires.” The -Catches are “Drink, drink, all you that think;” “If any so wise -is,” “What are we met?” and “The thirsty earth drinks up the rain.” - -[12] _Ball at Court._—“31st. [December, 1662.] Mr. Povy and I to -White Hall; he taking me thither on purpose to carry me into the -ball this night before the King. He brought me first to the Duke -[of York]’s chamber, where I saw him and the Duchesse at supper; -and thence into the room where the ball was to be; crammed with -fine ladies, the greatest of the Court. By and by, comes the King -and Queene, the Duke and Duchesse, 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 other lords other ladies: and they danced -the Brantle [? _Braule_]. 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, says he, ‘Cuckolds all awry [a-row],’ the old dance -of England. Of the ladies that danced, the Duke of Monmouth’s -mistress, and my Lady Castlemaine, and a daughter of Sir Harry -de Vicke’s, were the best. The manner was, when the King dances, -all the ladies in the room, and the Queene herself, stand up: and -indeed he dances rarely, and much better than the Duke of York. -Having staid here as long as I thought fit, to my infinite content, -it being the greatest pleasure I could wish now to see at Court, I -went home, leaving them dancing.”—(_Diary of Samuel Pepys, Esq., -F.R.S., Secretary to the Admiralty, &c._) - -[13] [In margin, a later-inserted line reads: - - “_~Godolphin~, ~Cartwright~, ~Beaumont~, ~Montague~._”] - - - - -Transcriber’s Note - - -In a book of this kind, it can be hard to tell when something is a -misprint or misspelling, and for the most part this e-text errs on -the side of caution and preserves the original printing with all its -inconsistencies. Only the following probable errors have been corrected. - -We do not have the _Supplement_ containing the songs the editor thought -too immodest to include. - - Page 4, duplicate word “him” removed (Oh do not censure him for - this) - - Page 14, duplicate word “am” removed (And all shall say when I - am dead) - - Page 40, stanza number “3.” added - - Page 46, “Aed” changed to “And” (And took her up with speed) - - Page 79, “tewelfth” changed to “twelfth” (On the twelfth day - all in the morn) - - Page 101, “keeep” changed to “keep” (I keep my horse) - - Page 102, “Gysie” changed to “Gypsie” (No Gypsie nor no - Blackamore) - - Page 108, “befitingly” changed to “befittingly” (befittingly in - his notes and comments) - - Page 125, “and” changed to “an” (With an old Lady whose anger) - - Page 168, “stifly” changed to “stiffly” (dancing somewhat - stiffly) - - Page 189, the original page number [p. 121] has been added in - what seems closest to the correct place. - - Pages 240 and 243, reference to “p. 213” changed to “p. 230”, - where the matter referenced will actually be found; it is the - paragraph starting “[A song follows, beginning” - - Page 241, “domine” changed to “Domine” in second verse (Libera - nos Domine) - - Page 244, duplicate word “as” removed (As big as Estriges) - - Page 284, “8th.” changed to “9th.” (Verse 9th. _Gondomar_ was) - - Page 330, “encouragment” changed to “encouragement” - (encouragement is given to gambling) - - Page 360, “Collectiom” changed to “Collection” (In Pepy’s - Collection, vol. i.) - - Page 364, “sheephcrd” changed to “sheepherd” (A silly poor - sheepherd was folding his sheep) - - Page 384, “fify” changed to “fifty” (Nineteen of these - fifty-one surrendered) - - Page 384, “refering” changed to “referring” (dozens of ballads - referring to) - - Page 387, “Viotcria” changed to “Victoria” (was opened by Queen - Victoria) - - Page 397, “trustworty” changed to “trustworthy” (trustworthy - prints of so many MSS.) - -Evident errors such as u for n were changed without further note. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Choyce Drollery: Songs and Sonnets, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHOYCE DROLLERY: SONGS AND SONNETS *** - -***** This file should be named 60454-0.txt or 60454-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/4/5/60454/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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