APPENDIX.Part 3.

Old SirSimonthe King!With his ale-dropt hose,And his malmesy nose,Sing hey ding, ding a ding ding.

Old SirSimonthe 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 theLeges Convivialeswere written. Seeing that Wadloe died in 1626, or ’27, and there being a clear trace of “Old Simon the King” in 1575, in Laneham’sKenilworth 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’sPop. Mus., 263-5, 776-7.

In 1865 (see hisBibliog. Account, i. 25), J. P. Collier drew attention to the mention of Falstaff’s name in this Catch; also to the otherShakesperiana, 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 inTwelfth Night, Act ii. 3.

With the music, in Chappell’sPop. 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 ourAntidoteversion), as the final couplet:—

Sinamont and ginger, nutmegs and cloves,And that gave me my jolly red nose.

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 alwaysisthe 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 iswell 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.

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, byA Booke of Merrie Riddles, 1630, and 1631, that it was much sung:

—then Ale-Knights shouldTo sing this song not be so bold,Nutmegs, Ginger, Cinamon and Cloves,They gave us this jolly red nose.

—then Ale-Knights should

To sing this song not be so bold,

Nutmegs, Ginger, Cinamon and Cloves,

They gave us this jolly red nose.

Like Nos. 4, 21, 24, 31, &c., not yet found elsewhere.

With music by Thomas Holmes, in Hilton’sCatch that Catch can, 1652, p. 46.

The four earliest lines of this ditty are sung by Autolycus the Pedlar, and “picker up of unconsidered trifles,” in Shakespeare’sWinter’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 inWindsor Drollery, p. 30; and our Introduction toWestminster-Drollery, p. xxxv.

Compare, with this lame paraphrase of Anacreon’s racy Ode, the more poetic version by Abraham Cowley, printed inMerry 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.

We meet this, six years earlier, inWits Interpreter, 1655 edit., p. 285; 1671, p. 290. Our text is the superior.

Also found inWit and Mirth, 1684, p. 113.

ByJames 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 theAcademy 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, theAntidote against Melancholy, of 1661.

In one of the later “Sessions of the Poets” (vide posteaPart 4, § 2)—probably, of 1664-5,—Shirley is referred to, ungenerously. He was then aged nearly seventy:—

OldShirleystood 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.

OldShirleystood 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 nobleOverburiesQuill has left[verse 20]A better Wife then he could ever find:I will not search too deep, lest I should liftDust 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 upMy thred, to honour names, of my owne timeWithout their Eulogies, for it may stopWith Circumstantiall Termes, a wearie Rhime:Suffice it if I name ’em; that for meShall stand, not to refuse their Eulogie.The nobleFalkland,Digbie,Carew,Maine,Beaumond,Sands,Randolph,Allen,Rutter,May,[13]The devineHerbert, and theFletcherstwaine,Habinton,Shirley,Stapilton; I stay[N.B.]Too much on names; yet may I not forgetDavenant, andSuckling, 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,AdmiredCleveland? by a verse of mine?Or give ye glorious Muse ofDenhampraise?Soe withering Brambles stand, to liveing Bayes.These may suffice; not only to advanceOurEnglishhonour, but for ever crownePoesie, ’bove the reach of Ignorance;Our dull fooles unmov’d, admire their owneStupiditie; and all beyond their sphereAs Madnes, and but tingling in the Eare.[Final Verse.]Great Flame! whose raies at once have power to peirceThe frosted skull of Ignorance, and closeThe mouth of Envie; if I bring a verseUnapt to move; my admiration flowesWith humble Love and Zeale in the intentTo a cleare Rapture, from the Argument.(G. D.’s “A Vindication of Poesie.”)

The nobleOverburiesQuill 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 upMy thred, to honour names, of my owne timeWithout their Eulogies, for it may stopWith Circumstantiall Termes, a wearie Rhime:Suffice it if I name ’em; that for meShall stand, not to refuse their Eulogie.

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 nobleFalkland,Digbie,Carew,Maine,Beaumond,Sands,Randolph,Allen,Rutter,May,[13]The devineHerbert, and theFletcherstwaine,Habinton,Shirley,Stapilton; I stay[N.B.]Too much on names; yet may I not forgetDavenant, andSuckling, eminent in witt.

The nobleFalkland,Digbie,Carew,Maine,

Beaumond,Sands,Randolph,Allen,Rutter,May,[13]

The devineHerbert, and theFletcherstwaine,

Habinton,Shirley,Stapilton; I stay[N.B.]

Too much on names; yet may I not forget

Davenant, andSuckling, 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,AdmiredCleveland? by a verse of mine?Or give ye glorious Muse ofDenhampraise?Soe withering Brambles stand, to liveing Bayes.

Waller, not wants, the glory of his verse;

And meets, a noble praise in every line;

What should I adde in honour? to reherse,

AdmiredCleveland? by a verse of mine?

Or give ye glorious Muse ofDenhampraise?

Soe withering Brambles stand, to liveing Bayes.

These may suffice; not only to advanceOurEnglishhonour, but for ever crownePoesie, ’bove the reach of Ignorance;Our dull fooles unmov’d, admire their owneStupiditie; and all beyond their sphereAs Madnes, and but tingling in the Eare.

These may suffice; not only to advance

OurEnglishhonour, 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 peirceThe frosted skull of Ignorance, and closeThe mouth of Envie; if I bring a verseUnapt to move; my admiration flowesWith humble Love and Zeale in the intentTo a cleare Rapture, from the Argument.

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 toAntidote.

“A living Drollery!” (Shakespeare’sTempest, 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 ofWestminster-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 relinquishablefacetiæ; 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 ourWestm. D.on which they are to be found:—

Thus we see that most of these were quite new when theWestminster-Drolleryfirst 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; ourp. 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) inWit at a Venture; or,Clio’sPrivy-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, inthe “Triumph of Beauty,” 1645); “How the vain world ambitiously aspires;” “Heaven guard my fairDorinda:” 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 ofWit 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 “Wherewemust 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 entitledThe Murdered Enemy; readingClarissaforCamilla; and giving lines 17th and 19th, “Her beauties” and “Fierce Lions,” &c. Line 23rd is “And not to check it in the least.”

Called A Moral Song inWit at a Venture, p. 41, which rightly reads “grovel,” not “gravel,” in line 6; but omits third verse, and all the Chorus.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The music to this is in Jn. Playford’sMusical Companion, 1673, p. 34 (as also to “Here lyes a woman,” &c. See Appendix toWestm. Droll., p. lviii).

SeeChoyce Drollery, 1656,p. 61,ante; andp. 293, for note correcting “daily” to “dully” in ninth line.

Not having had space at command, when giving a short Addit. Note on p. 408 ofM. 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:—

Mosswas 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—soMosslost his Mare.Mossgot 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, howMosscaught 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—soMosscaught his mare.

Mosswas 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—soMosslost his Mare.

Mossgot 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, howMosscaught his mare.

Mossgot 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, howMosscaught 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—soMosscaught 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—soMosscaught 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 ofærugo, even ofæruca. 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 areAs wise asMossewas, when he caught his Mare.

The Cobler preaches and his Audience are

As wise asMossewas, when he caught his Mare.

(See Appendix toWestm. Droll., p. lxii.) The author of this frollicsome ditty was no other thanAbraham 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 beenWhenCowleyshone nearMilton, nay, above!An age roll’d on before a keener sightCould separate and see them far apart.(Hellenics, edit. 1859, p. 258.)

Time has beenWhenCowleyshone nearMilton, nay, above!An age roll’d on before a keener sightCould separate and see them far apart.

Time has been

WhenCowleyshone nearMilton, 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” inWestminster-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 menare thosewhotarry; and spytoo. 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 hisNaufragium Joculare.

2.What do I mean: What thoughts do me misguide?As well upon a staff may Witches rideTheir 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 moreThan 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.

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 publishedWestm. 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 ofChoyce Poems.

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 “NowPanleaves piping,” and is in two parts, each containing five verses. Three of these are not represented in theAntidoteof 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 soonafterwards 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 theRoxburghe Balladas being superior to theAntidoteversion: But they mutually help one another in corrections. We note the chief: first verse, So livelyitpasses;Good lack, what paines; 2,Thusthey so much; 3 (our 4), Came verylazily. 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:Emcalls forMary, || AndRuthcalls forSarah,Iddycalls forHar[r]y|| To man them along:MartincallsMarcy, ||Dickcalls forDebary,Then they goe lovingly ||All in a throng.8. (Westm. Droll., 7.)The brightApollo|| Was all the while peepingTo see if hisDaphnehad 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,ForCynthiascorned || 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.BrightVenusstill glisters, Out-shining ofLuna;Saturnewas present, as right did require;And he calledJupiterwith his QueenJuno,To see how DameVenusdid burn in desire:NowJovesentMercury|| ToVulcanhastily,Because he should descry [decoy] DameVenusdown:Vulkancame running, OnMarshe stood frowning,Yet for all his cunning, ||Venus had a greene gowne.10.Cupid shootes arrowes AtVenusher darlings,For they are nearest unto him by kind:Dianahe hits not, nor can he pierce worldlings,For they have strong armour his darts to defend:The one hath chastity, AndCupiddoth defie;The others cruelty || makes him a clowne:But leaving this I see, FromCupidfew are free,And ther’s much courtesieIn a greene gowne.FINIS.

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.

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:Emcalls forMary, || AndRuthcalls forSarah,Iddycalls forHar[r]y|| To man them along:MartincallsMarcy, ||Dickcalls forDebary,Then they goe lovingly ||All in a throng.

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:

Emcalls forMary, || AndRuthcalls forSarah,

Iddycalls forHar[r]y|| To man them along:

MartincallsMarcy, ||Dickcalls forDebary,

Then they goe lovingly ||All in a throng.

8. (Westm. Droll., 7.)The brightApollo|| Was all the while peepingTo see if hisDaphnehad 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,ForCynthiascorned || 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.

8. (Westm. Droll., 7.)

The brightApollo|| Was all the while peeping

To see if hisDaphnehad 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,

ForCynthiascorned || 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.BrightVenusstill glisters, Out-shining ofLuna;Saturnewas present, as right did require;And he calledJupiterwith his QueenJuno,To see how DameVenusdid burn in desire:NowJovesentMercury|| ToVulcanhastily,Because he should descry [decoy] DameVenusdown:Vulkancame running, OnMarshe stood frowning,Yet for all his cunning, ||Venus had a greene gowne.

BrightVenusstill glisters, Out-shining ofLuna;

Saturnewas present, as right did require;

And he calledJupiterwith his QueenJuno,

To see how DameVenusdid burn in desire:

NowJovesentMercury|| ToVulcanhastily,

Because he should descry [decoy] DameVenusdown:

Vulkancame running, OnMarshe stood frowning,

Yet for all his cunning, ||Venus had a greene gowne.

10.Cupid shootes arrowes AtVenusher darlings,For they are nearest unto him by kind:Dianahe hits not, nor can he pierce worldlings,For they have strong armour his darts to defend:The one hath chastity, AndCupiddoth defie;The others cruelty || makes him a clowne:But leaving this I see, FromCupidfew are free,And ther’s much courtesieIn a greene gowne.

10.

Cupid shootes arrowes AtVenusher darlings,

For they are nearest unto him by kind:

Dianahe hits not, nor can he pierce worldlings,

For they have strong armour his darts to defend:

The one hath chastity, AndCupiddoth defie;

The others cruelty || makes him a clowne:

But leaving this I see, FromCupidfew are free,

And ther’s much courtesieIn 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 theAntidote.

Here is the old ballad mentioned, from our own black-letter copy. Compare it withW. 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].TomandWilliamwithNedandBen,In all they were about nine or ten;Near a trickling River endeavour to seea most delicate sight for men;Nine young maidens they knew it full well,Sarah,Susan, with bonnyNell,and all those others whose names are not here,intended to wash in a River clear.Simongave out the reportthe rest resolving to see the sport[,]The Young freely repairing declaringthat this is the humours ofVenusCourt[,]In a Bower those Gallants remaineseeing the Maidens trip o’re the plain[:]They thought no Body did know their intentas merrily over the Fields they went.Nella Bottle of Wine did bringwith many a delicate dainty thing[,]Their Fainting Spirits to nourish and cherishwhen they had been dabbling in the Spring[:]They supposing no Creature did knowto 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 Cloathstheir Gowns their Petticoats Shooes & Hose[,]Their fine white smickits then stripping & skipping[,]no Body seeing them they suppose[,]Sarahenter’d the River so clearand 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 laylike pretty Fishes they sport and play[,]Then let’s be merry[,] saidNancy, I fancy,it’s seldom that any one walks this way[.]Thus those Females were all in a Quilland following on their Pastime still[,]All naked in a most dainty trimthose Maidens like beautifull Swans did swim.Whilst they followed on their Game[,]out came sweetWilliamandTomby 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 fairReturn’d with sorrow and deep despair[;]When they seeing, brooding[,] concludingthat somebody certainly had been there[,]With all their Treasure away they run[,]Alas[!] saidNelle[,] we are undone,Those Villains I wish they were in the Stocks,that took our Petticoats Gowns and Smocks.Then SweetSarahwith modestPruethey all was in a most fearful Hue[,]Every Maiden replying and cryingthey did not know what in the world to do[.]But what laughing was there with the menin 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.]

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].

TomandWilliamwithNedandBen,In all they were about nine or ten;Near a trickling River endeavour to seea most delicate sight for men;Nine young maidens they knew it full well,Sarah,Susan, with bonnyNell,and all those others whose names are not here,intended to wash in a River clear.Simongave out the reportthe rest resolving to see the sport[,]The Young freely repairing declaringthat this is the humours ofVenusCourt[,]In a Bower those Gallants remaineseeing the Maidens trip o’re the plain[:]They thought no Body did know their intentas merrily over the Fields they went.Nella Bottle of Wine did bringwith many a delicate dainty thing[,]Their Fainting Spirits to nourish and cherishwhen they had been dabbling in the Spring[:]They supposing no Creature did knowto 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 Cloathstheir Gowns their Petticoats Shooes & Hose[,]Their fine white smickits then stripping & skipping[,]no Body seeing them they suppose[,]Sarahenter’d the River so clearand 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 laylike pretty Fishes they sport and play[,]Then let’s be merry[,] saidNancy, I fancy,it’s seldom that any one walks this way[.]Thus those Females were all in a Quilland following on their Pastime still[,]All naked in a most dainty trimthose Maidens like beautifull Swans did swim.Whilst they followed on their Game[,]out came sweetWilliamandTomby 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 fairReturn’d with sorrow and deep despair[;]When they seeing, brooding[,] concludingthat somebody certainly had been there[,]With all their Treasure away they run[,]Alas[!] saidNelle[,] we are undone,Those Villains I wish they were in the Stocks,that took our Petticoats Gowns and Smocks.Then SweetSarahwith modestPruethey all was in a most fearful Hue[,]Every Maiden replying and cryingthey did not know what in the world to do[.]But what laughing was there with the menin bringing their Gowns and Smocks again[,]The Maidens were modest & mighty mute[,]and gave them fine curtsies and thanks to boot.

TomandWilliamwithNedandBen,

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 bonnyNell,

and all those others whose names are not here,

intended to wash in a River clear.

Simongave out the reportthe rest resolving to see the sport[,]The Young freely repairing declaringthat this is the humours ofVenusCourt[,]In a Bower those Gallants remaineseeing the Maidens trip o’re the plain[:]They thought no Body did know their intentas merrily over the Fields they went.

Simongave out the report

the rest resolving to see the sport[,]

The Young freely repairing declaring

that this is the humours ofVenusCourt[,]

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.

Nella Bottle of Wine did bringwith many a delicate dainty thing[,]Their Fainting Spirits to nourish and cherishwhen they had been dabbling in the Spring[:]They supposing no Creature did knowto the River they merrily goe,When they came thither and seeing none near[,]Then under the bushes they hid their chear.

Nella 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 Cloathstheir Gowns their Petticoats Shooes & Hose[,]Their fine white smickits then stripping & skipping[,]no Body seeing them they suppose[,]Sarahenter’d the River so clearand bid them follow they need not fear[,]For why the Water is warm they replyed[,]then into the River they sweetly glide.

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[,]

Sarahenter’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 laylike pretty Fishes they sport and play[,]Then let’s be merry[,] saidNancy, I fancy,it’s seldom that any one walks this way[.]Thus those Females were all in a Quilland following on their Pastime still[,]All naked in a most dainty trimthose Maidens like beautifull Swans did swim.

Finely bathing themselves they lay

like pretty Fishes they sport and play[,]

Then let’s be merry[,] saidNancy, 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 sweetWilliamandTomby 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.

Whilst they followed on their Game[,]

out came sweetWilliamandTomby 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 fairReturn’d with sorrow and deep despair[;]When they seeing, brooding[,] concludingthat somebody certainly had been there[,]With all their Treasure away they run[,]Alas[!] saidNelle[,] we are undone,Those Villains I wish they were in the Stocks,that took our Petticoats Gowns and Smocks.

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[!] saidNelle[,] we are undone,

Those Villains I wish they were in the Stocks,

that took our Petticoats Gowns and Smocks.

Then SweetSarahwith modestPruethey all was in a most fearful Hue[,]Every Maiden replying and cryingthey did not know what in the world to do[.]But what laughing was there with the menin bringing their Gowns and Smocks again[,]The Maidens were modest & mighty mute[,]and gave them fine curtsies and thanks to boot.

Then SweetSarahwith modestPrue

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.]

O Love if e’er, &c.There is a parody or “Mock” to this, beginning “OMars, if e’er thoult ease a blade,” and entitled “The Martial Lad,” in Wm. Hicks’London Drollery, 1673, p. 116.

End of Notes toWestminster-Drollery.

(Not repeated in the 1670 and 1691 Editions.)

Falstaff.—“If Sack and Sugar be a fault, Heaven help the wicked.”(HenryIV., Pt. 1, Act ii. Sc. 4.)

Falstaff.—“If Sack and Sugar be a fault, Heaven help the wicked.”

(HenryIV., 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 ofthe Roundelay, and also of theBullfinch, both undated eighteenth-century songsters; each copy containing a dozen or more of Songs not to be found in the others. OurMerry Drolleryis a case in point. As already mentioned, there is absolutely no difference between the edition of 1670 and 1691 ofMerry 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 inM. D., C., pp. 358, 359) are identical in both!

We take credit beforehand for the readers’ satisfaction at our providing such aTable of First Lines, as we hereafter give, that may enable him easily and convincedly to understand the alterations made from the 1661 edition ofMerry Drollery, both parts, when it was re-issued in a single volume, paged consecutively, in 1670 and 1691. It is more difficult to understandwhythe 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 fromWestminster-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 theseMerry DrolleryExtra 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 ourpage 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 sightsthat 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:—

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