Chapter 13

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.

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, intituledYorke, 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’sYorkshire 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 hisHandbook, 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.

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.

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’sred 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.

Will Elderton’sred 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.)

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 angelsReveal themselves to you; they sit all dayBeside you, and lie down at night by youWho care not for their presence, muse or sleep,And all at once they leave you, and you know them!

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 andfifty 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 inLe 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, inPills, iii. 271; inPhilomel, 130, 1744; Percy’sReliques, ii. Bk. 3, No. 8, 1767; Ritson’sEnglish Sgs., ii. 140, and Chappell’sPop. 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” (inMerry Drollery, Compleat, 31, and inWit 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.

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.

With a new feather in his Cap;

With new white bootes, without a strap; &c.

In the same edition ofWit and Drollery, p. 165, is yet another parody, headed “Old Souldiers,” which runs thus (seeWestminster-Drollery, ii. 24, 1672,):—

Of Old Souldiers the song you would hear,And we old fiddlers have forgot who they were.

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 hisPosthumous 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.

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 paradeOf 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 tradeOf a fine old English gentleman, &c.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 paradeOf 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 tradeOf a fine 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 thePenny Magazineof the Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in 1842.

Charles Matthews used to sing (was it in “PatterversusClatter”?) 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.

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 planOf a rale ould Irish Gintleman, the boy of the olden time.

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’sRed, 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 inBarnaby Rudge, chapter 47.

Given already, in our Appendix to theWestminster Drollery, p. liv., with note of tune and locality.See Additional Note in Part 3 of present Appendix.

There are so many differences in the version printed in theAntidote agt. Melancholyfrom that already given inMerry Drollery, Compleat, p. 309, (cp. Note, p. 399), that we give the former uncurtailed.

Along with the music inPills to p. Mel., iii. 116, 1719, are the extra verses (also inWit and Mirth, 1684, p. 29?) agreeing with theAntidote; as does the version inOld 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.Georgeand theDragon.” It begins (in better version):—

Why should we boast ofLaisand her knights,Knowing such Champions entrapt by Whorish Lights?Or why should we speak ofThaiscurled Locks,OrRhodope, &c.

Why should we boast ofLaisand her knights,

Knowing such Champions entrapt by Whorish Lights?

Or why should we speak ofThaiscurled Locks,

OrRhodope, &c.

Roxb. Coll., iii. 258, printed in 1671. Also inPills, with music, iv. 272. The authorship of it is ascribed toSamuel 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’sFestivous 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 noDragon,Nor no SaintGeorge’tis said.SaintGeorgeandDragonlost,Pray Heaven there be a Maid!

They say there is noDragon,

Nor no SaintGeorge’tis said.

SaintGeorgeandDragonlost,

Pray Heaven there be a Maid!

But it was smartly return’d to, in this manner,

SaintGeorgeindeed is dead,And the fellDragonslaine;TheMaidliv’d so and dyed,—She’ll ne’r do so againe.”

SaintGeorgeindeed is dead,

And the fellDragonslaine;

TheMaidliv’d so and dyed,—

She’ll ne’r do so againe.”

Somewhat different is the earlier version, inWit’s Recreations, 1640-45. (Reprint, p. 194, which see, “To save a maid,” &c.) The Answer to it is probably Gayton’s own.

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 ofThe Dancing Masterfrom 1650 to 1690; and says, the reference to ‘when our good king was in Falkland town,’ [in theAntidoteit reads “our goodknight,” 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; longlock’d, 26th line; forfurtherexercises, 28th;Mistris(so we should readMaitresse, nota metrel), 29th;Pe garme do love you (not “Dear”), 30th;shereplide. The First Part ends with the Irishman. The Second Part begins with two verses not in theAntidote:—

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 abandonthis 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 fencingCould 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.”

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 fencingCould 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.”

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, “Iskwill make thee,”saidhe, “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 vnderstandsthat 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 suppliantsstill 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 whetherit were Lord or Leard;[Laird]They caude him some sikea like name as I heard;To chuse him from auShe did gladly agree,—And still she cride, “Blew-cap,th’art welcome to mee.”

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 whetherit were Lord or Leard;[Laird]They caude him some sikea like name as I heard;To chuse him from auShe did gladly agree,—And still she cride, “Blew-cap,th’art welcome to mee.”

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’sCostume), xxvii. 130, as well as in Evans’O. Bds., iii. 245. Compare John Cleavland’s “Square Cap,”—“Come hither,Apollo’sbouncing girl.”

In Harleian MS. No. 6931, where it is signed as byDr. 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 hisBook 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, inPills, iv. 157; in Percy Society’s “Costume,” 1849, 115, with woodcuts of several of the caps mentioned.

InSportive 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.

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:—everbrought, Thequilted, Furr’d;crewel; 4th verse, line 6, of (some say) a horn. 5th verse, crookedcause aright; Which, being round and endless, knows||To make as endless any cause[A better version]. 6th,findesa mouth; 7th, TheMotley Mana Cap; [for lines 3, 4, compare Shakespeare, as to it taking a wise man to play the fool,] likethe Gyant’sCrown. 8th, Sick-mans; Whenhats in Churchdrop off apace,ThisCapne’er leaves theheaduncas’d, Though he beill; [two next verses are expanded into three, inSp. Wit.] 11th, none butGraduats[N.B.];nonecovered are;But those thatto;gobare.ThisCap,of all the Caps that be, Isnow;highdegree.

This is inThomas Weaver’sSongs and Poems of Love and Drollery, p. 16, 1654. Elsewhere attributed toJohn 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 crouchAtCommunion;Who thrusting up his handNever made a standTill 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.

I heard of one did touch,

He did tell as much,

Of one that would not crouch

AtCommunion;

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 theRumpcollection, i. 223, 1662;Loyal Sgs., i. 131, 1731.

ByBen 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 theAntidote 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 oldBritton, 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.

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 oldBritton, 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.

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).

This is attributed toThomas Randall, orRandolph(died 1634-5), inWit and Mirth, 1684. p. 101: But to N. N., along with music by Hy. Lawes, in hisAyres, Book ii. p. 29, 1655. It is also inParnassus Biceps, 1656, p. 158, “AllPoets,” &c., and inSportive Wit, p. 60.

With music inPills, vi. 182; title, “The Presbyter’s Gill:” where we find three other verses, as 4th, 5th, and 7th:—

4.The stout-brestedLombard, His brains ne’er incumbred,With drinking of Gallons three;Trycongiuswas named, And byCæsarfamed,Who dubb’d him Knight Cap-a-pee.5.If then Honour be in’t, Why a Pox should we stintOurselves 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 thenWe 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.

4.The stout-brestedLombard, His brains ne’er incumbred,With drinking of Gallons three;Trycongiuswas named, And byCæsarfamed,Who dubb’d him Knight Cap-a-pee.

The stout-brestedLombard, His brains ne’er incumbred,

With drinking of Gallons three;

Trycongiuswas named, And byCæsarfamed,

Who dubb’d him Knight Cap-a-pee.

5.If then Honour be in’t, Why a Pox should we stintOurselves 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.

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 thenWe will give him the Rout, Be he never so stout[,]And prepare for his Rallying agen.

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.

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’sBds. & Sgs. of the Peasantry, Bell’s annotated edit., p. 159) and “Bacchus Overcome,” beginning “My Friend and I, we drank,” &c. (inColl. Old Bds., iii. 145, 1725.)

With music by Henry Lawes, in his Select Ayres, i. 32, 1653, entitled “The Excellency of Wine:” the author was “Lord Broughall” [query, Broghill?].

See Introduction to ourWestminster-DrolleryReprint, pp. xxxvii-viii. Although not printed in the first editionof his “Spanish Curate,” it is so entirely in the spirit ofJohn Fletcherthat we need not hesitate to assign it to him: and he died in 1625.

With music, by Dr. John Wilson, in John Playford’sSelect 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!”

Given, with music by Henry Lawes, in hisSelect 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.

SeeChoyce Drollery, 52, and note on p. 289.

This was written byWillm. Browne, author of “Britannia’s Pastorals,” and therefore dates before 1645. See Additional Note, late in Part IV., on p. 296 ofM. D. C.

Given, with music by John Hilton, in hisCatch that Catch Can, 1652, p. 7. Also in Walsh’sCatch-Club, ii. 13, No. 24.

By SirJohn 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 tointroduce 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’sCatch that Catch Can, 1652, p. 15. (Also in Playford’sMusical Companion, 1673, p. 24.)

Captain William Hicks has a dialogue of Two Parliamentary Troopers, beginning with the same first line, inOxford 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.

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.

This should read “WalthamCross.” ByRichard 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’sOld Plays, 1st edit., 1744, vi. 333). With music by John Hilton, it is given in J. H.’sCatch that Catch Can, 1652, p. 31. It is also in Walsh’sCatch Club(about 1705) ii. 17, No. 43.

In J. Hilton’sCatch that Catch Can, 1652, p. 55, with music by William Lawes; and in John Playford’sMusical Companion, 1673, p. 24.

With music by William Lawes, in Hilton’sCatch that Catch Can, 1652, p. 38.

With music by William Lawes, in Hilton’sCatch thatCatch 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,” inPop. Mus. of O. T., 161 (where date of theAntidoteis accidentally misprinted 1651, for 1661).

With music by William Lawes, in Hilton’sCatch that Catch Can, 1652, p. 39. The words alone inWindsor 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 knownthat 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.

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 theAntidote; which is also inOxford 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 changeI’le barter my Lady for thine:She is as free, and willing to beTo any thing I command,I vow like a friend, I never intendTo 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 offI here do adopt him mine ningle:Then range a health to our King,I mean the King ofOctober,ForBacchusis he that will not agreeA 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.

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 offI here do adopt him mine ningle:Then range a health to our King,I mean the King ofOctober,ForBacchusis he that will not agreeA 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.

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 ofOctober,

ForBacchusis 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.

This meets us earlier, in Hilton’sCatch that Catch Can, 1651, p. 64, with music by William Ellis. The missing first verse reappears (if, indeed, not a later addition) inOxford Drollery, 1674, Part iii. p. 163, as “made at Oxford many years since”:—

My Lady and her MaidWere late at Course-a-Park:The wind blew out the candle, andShe went to bed in the dark,My Lady, &c.[as inAntidote ag. Mel.]

My Lady and her MaidWere late at Course-a-Park:The wind blew out the candle, andShe went to bed in the dark,

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 inAntidote ag. Mel.]

It was popular before December, 1659; allusions to it are in theRump, 1662, i. 369; ii. 62, 97.

Also inWindsor Drollery, 1672, p. 30.

With music by Edmund Nelham, in John Hilton’sCatch 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.

With music by William Howes, in Hilton’sCatch that Catch can, 1652, p. 84. Also in Walsh’sCatch-Club, ii. 77. We are told that theSymonhere addressed, regarding his Bardolphian nose, was worthy Symon Wadloe,—“OldSym, the King of Skinkers,” or Drawers. Possibly some jocular allusion to the same reveller animates the choice ditty (for which see thePercy Folio MS., iv. 124, andPills, iii. 143),

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