Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive
in 2007 witii funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
littp://www.arcliive.org/details/clioycedrollerysoOOebswricli
Choyce Drollery.
JWEUwoTik^.i?;ir
f Choyce
DROLLERY:
SONGS & SONNETS.
BEING
^ Colle6lion of Divers Excellent
Pieces of Poetry,
OF SEVERA.L EMINENT AUTHORS.
Noiv First Reprinted from the Edition 0/16^6,
TO WHICH ARE ADDED THE EXTRA SONGS OF
MERRY DROLLERY, 1661,
AND AN
ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY, 166 1:
EDITED,
With Special Introductions, and Appendices of Notes,
Illustrations, Emendations of Text, &c..
By J. WooDFALL Ebswor'ch, M.A., Cantab.
BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE :
Printed by Roderl RobeiU, Strait Bar-Gate.
M,DCCCLXXVL
if
3OI
TO THOSE
STUDENTS OF ART,
AMONG WHOM HE FOUND
iFn'enli0^tp anti (l£nt!)U0ia0mi
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.
559307
vu.
CONTENTS.
DEDICATION
PRELUDE .
PAGE
V
INTRODUCTION TO "CHOICE DROLLERY, 1656 " . xi
§ I. 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," 1 656 . . . . . I
TABLE OF FIRST LINES TO DITTO .... lOI
INTRODUCTION TO "ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELAN-
CHOLY," 1661
§ I. REPRINT OF "antidote" .... I05
2. INGREDIENTS OF "AN ANTIDOTE'' . . Ig8
original ADDRESS "TO THE JIEADER," 1661 . . Ill
„ CONTENTS (enlarged} ' .' '.' .**'.n:i'
"ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY," 1661 . . II3
Vlll.
EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT TO DITTO: § I. ON THE
"author" of the antidote. 2. ARTHUR
O' BRADLEY . . . . . . . l6l
"WESTMINSTER DROLLERIES," EDITION 1674 :
EXTRA SONGS. 1 77
"MERRY DROLLERY," 1661 :
PART I. EXTRA SONGS
,, 2. DITTO .
• 233
APPENDIX OF NOTES, &C., ARRANGED IN FOUR
PARTS :
1. "CHOICE drollery" ....
2. "ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY" .
3. '^WESTMINSTER DROLLERY," 167I-4 .
4. § I. "merry drollery," 1661 .
2. ADDITIONAL NOTES TO " M. D.," 167O
3. SESSIONS OF POETS
4. TABLES OF FIRST LINES
333
345
371
405
411
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.
June 1st, 1876. J.W. E.
XI.
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.'* CAs You Like It, Act i. sc. i.)
I. CHO YCE DROLLER Y Inhibited.
E may be sure the memory
of many a Cavalier went
back to that sweetest of
all Pastorals, Shakespeare's
Cbmedy 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
w
Km
~ii*L2^»^^'
INTRODUCTION.
watching him curiously from above, and timid i
fawns sniffing at him suspiciously a few yards distant^ J
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 en-
chantment to the name of Arden (p. 73), and recall
scenes of shepherd-life with Celia, the songs that
echoed "Under the greenwood-tree;" without need-
ing the additional spell of seeing " Ingenious Shake-
speare " 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 in-
formers were numerous, and fines were levied upon
INTRODUCTION. XIU.
those who had secreted it. Greedy eyes, active fin-
gers, 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 " CabbaJeroes." 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 pre-
viously in print (the title-page asserts that none had
been so, but we know this to be false). PubHshers
made such statements audaciously, then as now, and
forced truth to limp behind them without chance of
XIV. INTRODUCTION.
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 con-
temporary 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? 3,nd "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 under-
standing 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 im-
morality in this Choyce Drollery that it became de-
nounced; although such might be declared in pro-
clamations. 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 " facetted of Sportive Wit, or Lusty
Drollery (both works issued in 1656), held infinitely
more to shock proprieties and call for repression.
T\\^ Musarum Delicice of Sir J[ohn] M[ennis] and
Dr. J[ames S[mith], in the same year, 1656, cannot
INTRODUCTION. XV.
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 Wifs
Interpreter of industrious J[ohn] C[otgrave]; to
whom, despite multitudinous typographical errors, we
owe thanks, both for Wifs Interpreter and for the
wilderness of dramatic beauties, his Wifs 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 extermi-
nation. 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 : Buck-
XVI. INTRODUCTION.
ingham, 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 cour-
tier. 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 blas-
phemy, 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."
INTRODUCTION. XVU.
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 P^
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 shud-
dering 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
b
XVIH. INTRODUCTION.
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 au-
thority, 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 them-
selves, 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, Indepen-
dent, 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.
INTRODUCTION. XIX.
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 re-
mained in England, drew a melancholy contrast be-
tween 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 fol-
lowers, and already quite enslaved by Dalilahs, syrens
against whom his own shrewd sense was powerless to
defend him. For amusement he read his favourite
XX. INTRODUCTION.
French or Italian authors, not seldom took long walks,
and indulged himself in field sports :
"A merry monarch, scandalous and poor P
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 coun-
INTRODUCTION. XXL
sel, 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 faith-
less"; 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."
XXll. INTRODUCTION.
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 some-
thing 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 for-
bearance. Her name was whispered, with blessing
implored upon it, in the prayers of many whom she
alone had saved from death.* 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
* 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
INTRODUCTION. • XXIII.
heart was sound within, her religion was devoid of all
hypocrisy. Her Christian purity was too clearly stain-
less 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
imployed her Prayers even with Tears to spare such men whose
ill fortune had designed them to suflPer," &c. (S. Carrington's
History of the Life and Death of His most Serene Highness
OLIFER, Late Lord Protector. 1659. p. 264.)
Elizabeth Cromwell, here contrasted with Salome, more re-
sembled 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 1 1 (repre-
senting Salome receiving from the STrcxovXarwp, 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. Fide
postea, p. 232.
Our initial letters in M.D., C, pp. 3, 5, are in fac simile of the
original.
XXIV. INTRODUCTION.
the father whom she loved, so that his conscience
smote him, and the remembrance stayed with him for
ever.* 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 con-
* 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 [^Elizaheth] C I ay pole ; 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 saidf or her death, affected him wonderfully." (Clarendon's
Hist, of the Rebellion, Book xv., p. 647, edit. 1720.)
INTRODUCTION. XXV*
solation. 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."
xxvi. introduction.
§ 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 co-
erced 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 cruel-
ties wrought under Alva against the patriots of the
INTRODUCTION. XXVII.
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 pam-
phlets, 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 sug-
gestions, already urged before this seditious tract
appeared, not one volunteer felt called upon to im-
molate 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
XXVllL INTRODUCTION.
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.* 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 repay-
ment, 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
* 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:
PoemSf^^ 1662, p. 96.
INTRODUCTION. XXIX.
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 sancti-
monious 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, ist 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
XXX. INTRODUCTION.
with conceits in verse, that spoke of a refinement and
graceful idlesse more than passionate warmth, gave us
these reHcs 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, con-
descending to adorn the Masques in palaces, winning
applause from royal hands and voices. These, more-
over, were " Songs and Sonnets " which the best mu-
sicians had laboured skilfully to clothe anew with
melody : Poems already breathing their o\mi 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."*
* Here the thought is enveloped amid tender fancies. Compare
the more passionate and solemn earnestness of the loyal church-
INTRODUCTION. XXXI.
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 feel-
ing of wonder long ago exhausted. Queen Elizabeth
sate out the performance of Lov^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 Falstaife in
man, Henry King, Bishop of Chichester, in his poem of The
Exequy, addressed " To his never-to-be-forgotten Friend," whereiu
he says : —
" Sleep on, my Love, in thy cold bed,
Never to be disquieted I
My last good-night I 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 notfaile
To meet thee in that hollow Fale.
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.
XXXll. INTRODUCTION.
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 dif-
ferent 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.* The fact is this, people now-a-
days keep their dishes of spiced meat and their Bar-
mecide show-fasts separate. They sip the limpid
spring before company, and keep hidden behind a
* 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 men-
tions 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 anti-
quaries by even this small and acknowledged violation of exacti-
tude. 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.
INTRODUCTION. XXXlll.
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 com-
plaint." They did not label their books " Moral and
Theological, for the public Ken," or " Vice, sub rosa,
for our locked-cabinet 1" Parlous (Tautres choses.
Messieurs, s^il vous plait,
§ 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 pas-
toral 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 en-
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 f Pt. 6, 1709). No Editor has any
business to thus mutilate every printed copy*
XXXIV. INTRODUCTION.
couragement 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 Cava-
liers, to look back again to all that had distinguished
the earlier days of their dead monarch, before Puri-
tanism had become rampant Even Milton, in his
INTRODUCTION. XXXV.
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 re-
main 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 Shepherd-
esses, 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 un-
willing to become enslaved as a partisan, and fight
under the banner that he deems disgraced by false-
XXXVl. INTRODUCTION.
hood 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 phi-
losophers of science or of literature, men like Sir
Thomas Browne, pursue their labour unremittingly,
and keep apart from politics ; but even for this ab-
stinence harsh measure is dealt to them by contem-
poraries 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, de-
fending 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 tri-
umphant 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 ;
INTRODUCTION. XXXVU.
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 him-
self 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,"
XXXVlll. INTRODUCTION.
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 in-
terference 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 excel-
lent pieces of Poetry,
OF
Severall eminent Authors.
Never before printed.
LONDON,
Printed by y. G, for Robert Pollard, at the
Ben, yohnsof^s head behind the Ex-
change, and yohn Sweeting, at the
Angel in Popes-Head Alley.
1656.
To the READER.
Courteous Reader,
\Hy 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 e-
quall it in its fortunate accepta-
tion. We serve up these Deli-
A 2 cates
[To the Reader : 1656.]
cates by frugall Messes, as ai-
ming at thy Satisfaction, not
Saciety. But our designe being
more upon thy judgement, than
patience, more to delight thee,
than to detain thee in theportall
of a tedious, and seldome-read
Epistle ; we draw this displea-
sing Curtain, that intercepts thy
(by this time) gravid, and al-
most teeming fancy, and sub-
scribe,
R.P.
Choice
DROLLERY:
SONGS
AJSID
Sonnets,
The broken Heart,
^jlMAt
f^yyt^^-
a^"
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.
B Some
Choice Drollery y
Some striving knowledge to refine,
Consume themselves with thinking,
And some who friendship seale in wine
Are kindly kilFd 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.
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 followed.
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.
And
So7igs and So7inets, 3
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 fearfuU to come nigh me.
Provoke thee straight to break thy heart.
And lie down boldly by me.
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.
B 2 Of
4 Choice Drollery^
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,
U \ 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 plams,
And chast'neth unjust disdains ;
Oh do not censure him 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
Songs and Sonnets,
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 ;
Danhourn [Dadourn] I had forgot, and let it be,
He dy'd Amphibion by the Ministry ;
Silvester, Bartas, whose translatique part
Twinned, or was elder to our Laureat :
Divine composing Quarks, whose lines aspire
The April of all Poesy in May, [r/io. Ma?/.]
Who
B3
6 Choice Drollery,
Who makes our English speak Pharsalia;
Sands metamorphosed 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 Draifon, 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 John 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 AurorcHs bed.
And ever since that time his face was red.
Thus through the horrour of infemall deeps,
With equal pace each of them softly creeps,
And being dark they had A lectors torch, [Alectohl
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.
Songs and Sonnets, 7
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^ Robbie^ Hobble^ he that writ so high big [;]
Basse for a Ballad, yohn Shank for a Jig : \}Vm, Basse^l
Sent by Ben J^onson, 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
Transformed it to a May-pole, 'bout which trace
Her skipping servants, that do nightly sing.
And dance about the same a Fayrie Ring.
B 4 The
Choice Drollery^
The Vow-breaker,
WHen first the Magick of thine eye
Usurpt upon my Hberty, '^
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 mortgaged trust,
Banish like Letters form'd in dust, P 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.
TJie
Songs and Sonnets,
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
f lO
Choice Drollery^
TJu Red Head and the White,
I.
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
Songs and Sonnets. 1 1
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 arid 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.
I.
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.
Poore
lo [12] Choice Drollery,
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.
I.
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.
Now
Songs and Sonnets, 1 3
Now if thou'lt blaze thy armes He 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,
He swear that mine's a noble head.
I. [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.
He swear that mine's a maidenhead.
I.
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.
Yet
14 Choice Drollery,
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 am dead,
I onely had a constant head.
I.
Yes faith, in that He 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.
I.
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.
Son-
Songs a7td Softnefs. 15
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
1 6 Choice Drollery^
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,] Jack
Songs and Sonnets. 17
ALDOBRANDINO, a fat Cardinal,
NEver was humane soule so overgrown,
With an unreasonable Cargazon
Of flesh, as Aldobrandme, 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 leam'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 sacrificed
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,
Hje^fals as soon orethrown with his own weight,
And with his mines 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.
c Oft
1 8 Choice Drollery,
Oft did he cry, but still in vain [J 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 puUies laid ;
And when his Genius prompteth his slow part
To works of Nature, which he helps with Art :
First he mtangles 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
Songs and Sonnets, 19
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 winged 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 levelled in tough Cordage, teach
The mural Ram, and guide it to the Breach.
c 2 Jack
$'
20 Choice Drollery y
\
i
yack of Lenfs Ballat.
[On the welcoming of Queen Henrietta Maria, 1625].
I.
List you Nobles, and attend,
For here's a Ballat newly penned
I took it up in Kent^
If any ask who made the same,
To him I say the authors name
Is honest yack 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.
But
Songs and Sonnets, 2 1
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, f\
That verily, and in good sooth,
Some Antichrist, or pretty youth,
Shall doubtlesse get of her.
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.
c 3 And
22 Choice Drollery,
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 Parts, 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.
II.
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.
The
Songs and Sonnets, 23
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.
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 yames^s be.
But sure the Head's the Papers.
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.
c 4 Profess-
24 Choice Drollery ^
1 6.
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.
Songs and Sonnet\s\ 25
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 unanswered 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 He onely shoot,
We shall have Executions store
Against some gallants now gone o're.
Wherefore good brethren look to't.
The
26 Choice Drollery ,
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.
But
Songs and Sonnets. 27
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 Farts 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,
From
28 Choice Drollery^
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 RascaPs 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 jFonas peep, and say, for fish.
As good as your sweet-heart can wish,
You shall have hence each Friday.
35.
At Grace-church comer 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.
At
Songs and Sonnets, 29
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.
In
30 Choice Drollery^
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. PauVs 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,
He be no more uncivill,
He leave the Mayor with both the Sheriffs,
With Sergeants, hanging at their sleeves,
For this time at the Devill.
Soitgs and Sonnets, 3 1
A SONG
0(W''?
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, dtldo, dildo,
With a dildo, dildo, dee,
Some say Hwas 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 fore ward
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
J2 Choice Drollery,
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
Songs and Sonnets.
33
fflffffffffffffff'^'ffff'ffi
Upo7i a Ho^tse of Office over a
River, set on fire by a
coale of TOBACCO,
OH fire, fire, fire, where?
The usefiill 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 tum'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 yohnson^s Vulcan would doe well,
Or the merry Blades who knacks did tell.
At firing London Bridge befell.
Which no body, &c.
D They
34 Choice Drollery^
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,* *Haut gousu
Which no body, &c.
Earth, Aire, and Water, she could not
Affront, till choUerick fire got
Predominant, then thou greVst 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, Sic
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 conceived Hermophrodite,
To both sex common when they sh . . .
Which no body, &c.
#
Of
Songs and Sonnets, 35
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, &a
A Privy Chamber or prisoned 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.
P 2 And
36 Choice Drollery ^
And yet the hose there down did goe,
The yielding smock came up also,
But still no Bawdy house I trow,
Which no body, &a
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
Songs and Sonnets, 37
The Phoenix in her perfumed flame,
Was so consumed, and thou the same,
But the Aromaticks were to blame.
Which no body, &c.
That Phoenix 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 fw body can deny.
Upon
1^3
38 Choice Drollery ^
Upon the Spanish Invasion
in Eighty eight.
I,
IN Eighty eighty ere I was born,
As I do well remember a,
In August was a Fleet prepared
The month before September a.
2.
Lisbone, Cales and Portugall [Caks, i.e. Cadiz,]
Toledo and Grenada;
They all did meet, & made a Fleet,
And caird 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 charged him not to stay a.
But to destroy both man and boy,
And then to come his way a.
He
Songs and Sonnets, 39
5-
He had thirty thousand of his own,
But to do us more harm a,
He charged him not to fight alone,
But to joyn with the Prince of Parma.
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
D 4
40 Choice Drollery^
Upon the Gun-powder Plot.
I.
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 gum-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.
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.
And
Songs and Sonnets. 41
4.
And then came forth Sir Thomas Knyvet,
You filthy Rogue come out o' th' doore,
Or else I sweare by Gods trivet
He 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 preserved 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-ponuder.
Other
42 Choice Drollery^
[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
Songs and Sonnets, 43
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 vlopping paire of breeches,
Thinking that yone would have lov'd me alone,
But she hath serv'd me such yfiches.
Ise take a rope and drowne my selfe.
Ere 1st indure these losses :
Ise take a hatchet and hang my selfe
Ere 1st indure these crosses.
Or else He go to some beacon high,
Made of some good dry'd furzon [,]
And there He seeme in love to fry
Sing hoodie a doodle Cuddon.
44
Choice Drollery y
-yA^ ^ A Woman with Child that de-
\ sired a Son, which might
.. / prove a Preacher,
\^
'J'
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 answered her half in a laughter,
Quoth she the Son is proved a Daughter.
But be content, if God doth blesse the Baby,
She has a Pulpit where a Preacher may be.
The
Songs and Sonnets, 45
The Maid of Tottenham.
I.
AS I went to Totnam
Upon a Market-day,
There met 1 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 cr/d.
Oh your garter that hangs down !
Down, down, derry down, &c.
Quoth
46 Choice Drollery,
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 1.. . 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,
Aed 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.
• She
Songs and Sonnets, 47
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
48
Choice Drollery^
To the King on Ne^v-yeares
day, 162,8,
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 Hke 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
Songs and Sonnets. 49
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. C^^J
I Love thee for thy curled hairef^/^-^tx^f
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.
E I
so Choice Drollery^
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 approved,
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.
He keep thy chaps on pap.
Venus her self, &c.
Songs and Sonnets, 5 1
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.
He 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.
I II.] 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.
E 2 On
52 Choice Drollery.
3.. ^ On a TINKER.
HE that a Tinker, a Tinker, a Tinker will be,
Let him leave other Loves, and come fol-
low 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
Songs and Sonnets, 5 3
Upon his Mistriss 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 ;
E 3 So
54 Choice Drollery,
So pure a black could Phoebus 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 HelFs 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.
7o
Songs and Sonnets. 55
To my Lady of Carnarvon,
'yanuary i.
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 :
E 4 So
5 6 Choice Drollery^
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 1)
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
Songs and Sonnets,
57
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
58 Choice Drollery,
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 come and beanes, and pease,
I<^h doe not dare them to displease.
They doe zo zwear and vapour :
When to the Govemour ich doe come.
And pray him to discharge my zum,
Chave nothing but a paper.
Uds
Songs and Sonnets, 59
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 ? Dike]
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
m^^'^'
r-A-
60 ^ ' -# ■--'' Choice Drollery y
^ffffWfffffffffff^ffffff'^WI
^ The High-way matHs Song,
Keep my Horse, I keep my Whore,
take no Rents, yet am not poore.
n
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 tumes,
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
Songs and Sonnets,
6i
Against Fruition, &c. f VM-i;^.^.^-^^ ^-
THere is not half so warme a fire -IJ^L
In the Fruition, as Desire. U \
When I have got the fruit of pain, f ^^ ^ ^; n
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
62
Choice Drollery,
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
Songs and Sonnets, 63
On a Sheepherd that died
for Love, a . -/<v-
CLoris^ now thou art fled away, 1^.^^,..^"^^
Aminta^s Sheep are gone astray, ^^^^
And all the joyes he took to see
His pretty Lambs run after thee.
Sheis gone, she^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 noiv 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, ivelladay.
Upon
64 Choice Drollery^
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]
Songs and Sonnets,
65
The Shepheards lamentation
for the losse of his Love.
J
DOwn lay the Shepheards Swain, ^ I
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 ; (no.
And all was for the loss of her hy nonny nonny
Sweet
66 Choice Drollery ^
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,
He 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.
She
Songs and Sonnets. ^7
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.
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
F 2
6S
Choice Drollery y
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
Songs and Sonnets. 69
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.
F3
70 Choice Drollery,
A Ballad on King James ; to the tune of
When hxikiMx first in Court began.
WHen yames 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, j
He prove as strict to thee.
And well he rul'd and well he curbed
Both Douglas and the rest ;
Till Heaven with better Fortune and Power,
Had him to England blest.
Then
Songs and Sonnets, 71
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 oft,
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
F4
72 Choice Drollery ,
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.
Farre
Songs and Sonnets.
73
X
FArre in the Forrest oiArden,
There dwelt a Knight hight Casstmen,
As bold as Isenhras :
Fell he was and eager bent
In battaile and in Tumament,
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.
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.
Her
74 Choice Drollery ^
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 mome 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
Songs and Sonnets, 7 5
Whilst he full many a CaroU 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 curie, and crisped were his Locks,
His brow more white then Albion Rocks :
So like a Lover true.
And
^6 Choice Drolleryy
II.
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 :
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 DowsdbelL
14.
Of love (fond boy) take thou no keep,
Look well (quoth she) unto thy Sheep ;
Lest they should chance to stray.
So
Songs and Sonnets, yy
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.
i6.
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
yS Choice Drollery,
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, deny deny down. Hey down a,
Down, down, down a down deny.
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.j
All night they carded for our English mens Coats,
(They fished before their Nets were spun)
A
Songs and Sonnets. 79
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 tewelfth day all in the mom,
They made a fere as if they would fight ;
But many a proud Scot that day was down bom.
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 tumed 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
8o Choice Drollery,
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, deny derry down. Hey,
Down a down down, down a down derry.
Lipps and Eyes,
Q^ T N Celta a question did arise,
X Which were more beautifuU her Lippes or Eyes, j
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 Celiacs face.
On
Songs and Sonnets, 8i
On black Eyes, /^r^^'" "
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 comer watching lyes ;
So that heart-robbing God doth stand
In the dark Lobbies, shaft in hand,
G To
82 Choice Drollery^
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 postured 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.
CRV-
Songs and Sonnets, 83
CRVELTY, /iA^
WE read of Kings, and Gods that kindly took
A Pitcher filFd with Water from the Brook.
But I have dayly tendred without thanks,
Rivers of tears that overflow their banks.
!\. slaughtred Bull will appease angry Jove,
^ Horse the Sun, a Lamb the God of Love.
But she disdains the spotlesse sacrifice
3f a pure heart that at her Altar lyes :
^esta [i]'s not displeas'd if her chaste Urn
Doe with repaired fuell ever burn ;
But my Saint frowns, though to her honoured name
L consecrate a never dying flame :
rh' Assyrian King did none i th' furnace throw,
3ut those that to his Image did not bow :
/Vith bended knees I dayly worship her,
iTet she consumes her own Idolater.
)f such a Goddesse no times leave record,
That burnt the Temple where she was ador'd.
G 2 A
84
Choice Drollery,
^wm
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. (me,
Oh that I had a Lad that he might down didle
For I feare I shall run mad.
The
Songs and Sonnets. 85
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 He 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.
G 3 Him
86 ' Choice Drollery y
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 bom,
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
Songs and Sonnets, Zy
That by breeding hath got, what by birth he had not,
A carriage thaf 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, r""^
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 2are not a fly, for a house that's built high.
And yeelds not a cup of good beer,
Wiere scraps you may find, while Venison's in kind
For a week or two in a yeare.
Hi a better house keeps, that every night sleeps
Under a Covert of thatch,
Wiere's good Beef from the Stall, and a fire in the Hall,
iVhere you need not to scramble nor snatch.
G 4 Then
r
Choice Drollery,
Then lend me your Touch, for dissembling there's
He try them before I do trust. (much,
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.
/vn A copy of Verses of a inon\_e\y
Marriage,
I.
^^' IV T O Gypsie nor no Blackamore,
1 \l No Bloomesbery, nor Tumbald 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.
Her
Songs and Sonnets, ^ 89
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
90 Choice Drollery,
y
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
Songs and Sonnets, 91
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 defiFd,
Two Goats, a Lyon rampant
Truth to say. Paint and Array,
Makes them so highly prized.
Yet not one well, often 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.
92
Choice Drollery^
cy^-^
^
'/-(T
A Lover disclosi7ig 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 charmed 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, Hnes erre, then by your direction,
Excuse my eyes, my lines, and my affection.
The
Songs and Softfzets.
93
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
94 Choice Drollery ^
The Chorus,
Then,
gince 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
Songs and Sonnets, 95
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 higT)rains,
That the world tum'd round.
Since we, &c.
'Tis
9^ Choice Drollery,
Tis Sackv 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.
I0f\
Songs and Sonnets.
97
Of DESIRE.
Fire, Fire !
O how I bum 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 bum, and with me fall.
Upon
Choice Drollery^
ri2\
' ^(^ Upon ktnae, and tr74;e Love.
"TT^Is not how witty, nor how free,
X 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 He not split.
Let others dote upon her eyes.
And bum 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
Songs and Sonnets. /,^^ 99
Upon his Constant Mis tr esse.
J.
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 (the Eye.
And Charms, that strike the soule more than
'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
Lh2]
The Ghost-Song,
''^ I ^Is late and cold, stir up the fire,
X 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. Omeis Onions,
FINIS.
Table
lOI
Table of First Lines
To the Songs and Poems in
Choice Drollery, 1656.
(Now FIRST ADDED.)
A Maiden of the Pure Society
^^ A story strange I will you tell
A Stranger coming to the town
And will this wicked world never prove good 1
As I went to Totnam
Blacke eyes, in your dark orbs do lye
Cloris, now thou art fled away
Come, my White-head, let our Muses
Deare Love, let me this evening dye
Down lay the Shepheards Swain
Drink boyes, drink boyes, drink and doe not span
Farre in the Forrest of Arden
Fire I Fire ! O, how I burn
Fuller of wish, than hope, methinks it is
He that a Tinker, a Tinker, a Tinker will be
Hide, oh hide those lovely Browes
How happy s that Prisoner that conquers, &^c
I keeep my horse, I keep my W
/ love thee for thy curled hair
/ never did hold, all that glisters is gold
I tell you all, both great and small
page.
44
31
16
40
45
81
63
10
I
65
42
73
97
62
52
53
93
60
49
85
Idol
TC2 TABLE OF FIRST LINES.
Idol of our sex I 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 horn ... 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 souk so overgrown 17
No Gysienorno Blackamore 88
Nor Love, nor Eate dare I accuse ... 4
Oh fire, fire, fire, where 7 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
Sh^s not the fairest of her name 99
The Chandler grew neer his end 72
There is not halfe so warme afire ,. 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 ... Zt,
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
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' I all merrily please you for your
Charge, wMch not much is.
Printed by Mer. Melancholicus, to be sold in Lotidon
and Westminster, 1661.
[Aprill, 18.]
105
EDITORIAL
INTRODUCTION
TO THE
ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY,
1661.
Adalmar, — " An Antidote 1
Restore him whom thy poisons have laid low.'* ....
Ishrand. — " A very good and thirsty melody ;
What say you to it, my Court Poet ?
Wolfram. — " Good melody I 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. & \.J
§ I. Reprint of an Antidote.
RAVING 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^
1 66 1 ; 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
I06 INTRODUCTION TO
book. Thus in our three volumes are given four
entire works, to exemplify this particular class of
literature, the Cavalier Drolleries of the Restoration.*
To that portion of our present Appendix which is
devoted to Notes to the Antidote against Melancholy^
1 66 1, we refer the reader for the admirable brief In-
troduction 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 op-
portunities 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 em-
ployed : 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
* Prefixed to " The Ex-Ale-tation of A.le'* is given a Table of
Contents (on page 112), enlarged from the one in the original
" Antidote against Melancholy^ made up in Pillsy 1661, by refer-
ences to such pages of " Merry Drollery, Compleat, 1670, 1691,
as bear songs or poems in common with the " Antidate^
of
ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY. 10/
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 after-
wards 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 Melan-
choly^'' 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 con-
tained 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
befitingly
I08 INTRODUCTION TO
befitingly in his notes and comments, while he gives
his readers a representation of the original, so nearly
m. facsimile 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 determi-
nation must guide us. There may be debate as to
our wisdom in reproducing some questionable faceticB, \
but there shall be none regarding our fidelity to the
original text.
§ II. Ingredients of an "Antidote."
A pleasant book it appeared to Cavaliers and all
who were not quite strait-laced. It is almost unob-
jectionable, 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 her-
self, 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
I
ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY. I09
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
'estive : almost every one could be chanted over a
:up of burnt Sack, and there was not entire forget-
'ulness 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
Dnly suggestive of playful ridicule. The Sectaries,
Deing no longer dangerous, are here laughed at, not
:alumniated. The odd jumble of nations brought to-
;ether in those disturbed times is seen in the crowd of
[overs 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
vdpe 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. Georgd'
for England," the gay wedding of Lord Broghill, as
described
no INTRODUCTION, ETC.
described by Sir John Suckling in 1641, the still'
noisier marriage of Arthur o' Bradley, or that imagi- '
nary 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 Cour- ■
tier 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 splut-
tering grimaces of Ben Jonson's " Welchman's praise
of Wales ;" and the sustained humour as well as en-
thusiasm 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 pipings 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''
August, 1875. J. W. E.
To
To the Reader. ^^^
T Here'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 111 :
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 Spleene[^ Revives the blood [,]
Puts thee in a Merty 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 z, pound of Sorrow,
N. D.
1 1 2 Ballads y Songs ^ and Catches in this Book.
Original: Our
page, vols, page
1. The Exaltation of a Pot of Good Ale, . i iii. 113 ;
2. TheSongoi Cook- Lazur el, hy 'Ben ]o\\r\sor\ 9 ii. 214;
3. The Ballad of The Black-smith, . .11 .. 225
4. TheBsAXdidoi the Old Courtier and the Ne'w i/\. iii. 125
5. The Ballad of the Wedding of Arthur of
Bradley, 16 ii. 312
6. The Ballad of the Green Goivn, . . 20 i.Ap.54
7. The Ballad of the Gelding of the De'vil, .21 ii. 200
8. The Ballad of Sir Eglamore, . . . 25 .. 257
9. The Ballad of St. George for England, . 26 iii. 129
ID. The Ballad of Bleiv Cap for me, . .29 ..133
11. The Ballad of the iS'^T/^r^/ 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 .. loi
17. The Combat of Cocks, . . . . 44 .. 242
18. The Welchman^s prayse of Wales, . . 47 iii. 141
19. 'YheCa'valeer^s Complaint \2LX\&Ans'wer'\, 49 ii, 59
20. Three several Songs in praise of Sack
[: Old Poets Hipocrin, &c. . . 52 iii. 143
Hang the Presbyter's Gill,. . .53 ..144
'TisWine 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. Ed-
wards 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
113
i^ill0 to j^urge 5©elanc|)oUp.
The Ex-Ale4ation of ALE. [p. i.]
Not drunken, nor sober, but neighbour to both, ^ ^W
I met with a friend in Ales-huryNA^ ; ^ "%,
He saw by my Face, that I was in the Case ^^j£u\k.
To speak no great harm of a Pot of good Ale, u fX * ^
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 d^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 Sipot 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 z,pot of good ale.
And
1 14 Antidote against Melancholy,
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 oi 2l 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/^/ 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 2ipot 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 dipot 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 hom-
To the Sp'rite of the buttery, d^pot of good ale, [age
And
I
Made icp into Pills. i66i. 115
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 d^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 2ipot 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/^/ 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 2ipot 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 soil.
All will hold up their hands to 2^ 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 2^ pot of good ale.
Who
H 2
1 16 Antidote against Melancholy,
Who ever denies it, the Prisoners will prayse it,
That beg at [the] Grate, and lye in the Goale,
For, even in \h.€\r fetters they thinke themselves better,
May they get but a two-penny black /^/ 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 z.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 dipot of good ale.
And he that doth dig in the ditches all day,
And wearies himself quite at \ht plough-taile,
Will speak no less things than of Queens and of Kings,
If he touch but the top of 3. pot of good ale,
'Ti-s 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 ^.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 dipot of good ale.
And
Made up into Pills, 1661. 117
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 2i 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 dipot 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 Xh^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 2, 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 2, 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 2, pot of good ale.
The
H3
1 1 8 A ntidote against Melancholy^
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 Cahalline Spring of a/^/ 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 inspired with 2ipot 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 Bowie, it will make his Tongue troul,
Y ox flowing speech flows from z. 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
Made up into Pills, 1661. 119
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 2, 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 2. 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 2ipot 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/^/ 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 z.pot of good ale.
It
H4
1 20 A ntidote against Melancholy,
It is justices Friend, she will it commend,
For all is here served by measure and tale;
Now, true-tale and good measure are yustices 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 z.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 2, 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 z.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 d.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 oid^pot of good ale.
But
Made up into Pills, 1 66 1 . 121
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 z.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/^/ 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 2ipot 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 dipot 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 2Lpot 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 renewed, and no more Beer brew'd,
But all men betake them to a Pot of good ale.
The
122 Antidote against Melancholy,
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 Manno?' 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 0^2. 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 z.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 z.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 z,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 dipot of good ale.
The
Made up into Pills. 1661. 123
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 2. 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 Pjcts 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/^/ 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,
Than to dye by the part of 2. 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 2. 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 2. pot of good ale.
But
124 Antidote against Melancholy,
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 2upot 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 [!] ah 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 ^.pot of good ale.
Thus (I trow) some Vertues I have marked 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 oidipot 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 Fot of good ALE,
[Followed by Ben Jonson*s Cook Lorrel, and by The Black-
smith: for which see Merry Drollery y Complete, pp. 214-17,
225-30.] ^
An
Made up into Pills. 1661. 125 ,, ,
An Old Song of an Old Courtier [p. 14.]
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 and 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 fiU'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 Qiiee?is,
With an old Hall hung round about with Guns, Pikes,
and Bowes,
With
126 Antidote against Melancholy y
With old swords & bucklers, which hath born[e]
many shrew'd blows, (hose,
And an old Frysadoe coat to cover his Worships trunk
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 assigned,
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
encHn'd ;
like a young Courtier of the Kings,
[Part
Made up into Pills, 1661. 127
[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 belonged to good house-
keeping 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
128 Antidote against Melancholy^
With a new French-Cook to make Kickshawes and
Tayes ;
like a young Courtier of the Kings,
With a new Fashion, when Chi'istmasse is come,
With a journey up to London we must be gone,
And leave no body at home but our new Vorttx John,
Who reheves 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
Made up into Pills, 1 66 1 . 1 29
[Here follow, Arthur of Bradley (see Merry Drollery , Compleat,
p. 312) ; The Green Gown: "Pan leave piping," (see ^e^im.
Droll., Appendix, p. 54) ; Gelding of the Devil : ** Now listen a
while, and I will you tell" (see Merry Z)., 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.]
The Ballad of St George for Englknd. [p. 26.]
WHy should we boast oi Arthur and his Knights ?
Know[ing] how many men have perform'd
fights j
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. Dents was for
Sing Hony soitt qui Mai y pense. {France,
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, 6^^.
J^ephtha and Gidion they led their men to fight
The Gibeonites and Amonites, they put them all to
flight ; HercuPes
130 A utidote against Melancholy^
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 puU'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,
Alphredzxid. 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
St. George he was, o^c. (heart :
Henry the fifth he Conquered all France,
He quartered their Armes, his Honour to advance.
He razed their Walls, and pulFd 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
St. Patrick you know he was St. Georges Boy, (Fleece;
Seven years he kept his Horse, and then stole him away.
For which Knavish act, a slave he doth remain ;
But
Made up into Pills, 1 66 1 . 131
But St. George, St. Geo7'ge, 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 ;
*S(r^/^^^r/^<^^ magnanimous Mahomeis Bashaw did dread,
Whose Victorious Bones were worn when he was dead j
His BedlerbegSy his Com like drags, George Castriot
was he caird,
But St. George, St. George, the Dragon he hath maul'd :
St. George he was for England, St. Denis was for
Sing Hony soit qui mal y pense. {France^
Ottoman, the Tartar, Cham of Persians 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, puU'd forth the Dragon's
sting.
St. George he was for England, St. Dennis was for
Sing Hony soit qui mal y pense, (France,
Pendragon and Cadwallader oi British blood doe boast,
Though yohn of Gant his foes did daunt, St. George
shal rule the roast ;
K 2 Agamemnon
132 A ntidote against Melancholy y
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 yew ;
The potent Holophernes^ as he lay in his bed,
In came wise yudith and subtly stool[e] his head ;
Brave Cyclops stout, with Jove he fought. Although he
showed down Thunder ;
But St. George kilFd the Dragon, and was not that a
wonder :
St. George he was, &c.
Mark Anthony^ He 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
Made up into Pills, 1 66 1 . 133
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
Sing, Hony soit qui mal y pense, (France,
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 Apollds 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
K 3
134 Antidote against Melancholy,
A Welchman that had a long Sword by his side,
Red Doublet, red Breech, and red Coat, and red
Was made a great shew of a great deal of pride, (Peard,
Was tell her strange tales te Hke 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 spurred,
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 m£.
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
Made up into Pills, 1 66 1 . 135
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, He, 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.
y 5 A^ ^
The Ballad of the Caps, [p. 30.]
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
K4
1 36 Antidote against Melancholy^
The Cap that keeps the highest part
Obtains the place by due desert :
For any Cap, 6^^. \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, 6^^.
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 bom.
By vantage of a stately horn.
For any Cap, ^'c.
The
Made up into Pills, 1 66 1 . 137
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, d^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
138 A ntidote against Melancholy y
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, 6^*^.
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, d^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
i
Made up into Pills. 1 66 1 . 139
[Next follow A Ballad of the Nose (see Merry Drollery j Com-
pleatf p. 143), and A Song of the Hot-headed Zealot : to the tune
0/" Tom a Bedlam" (Dr. Richard Corbet's, Ibid, p. 234).]
A Song On the Schismatick Rot undo s. [p. 37.]
ONce I a curious Eye did fix, wiA^*"^"^^
To observe the tricks "f|.r^-*'"' ^.'
Of the schismatics of the Times, 4
To find out which of them Wi'-^ "
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 i^ot,
^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, d^c. He
140 Antidote against Melancholy,
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 fudges,
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, o^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 com that's fit for the sickle :
But ah, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, Rotundos, rofi
ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha Rotundos rot,
Tis you that my spleen doth tickle.
[The three next in the Antidote, respectively by Aurelian Towns- '
hend (?), Sir John Suckling, and " by T. R." (or Dr. Thomas
Wild ?), are to be found also in our Merry Drollery, Compleatj
pp. 218, 1 01, and 242. See Appendix Notes.]
The
Made up into Pills, 1601. 141
The Welshmans Song, in praise of
Wales, [p. 47.]
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
Sail 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, [z.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,
Sail 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
142 Antidote against Melancholy.
AuU 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 auU 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,
Sail 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
Made up into Pills. 1661. 143
Both Harps, and Pipes too \ and the Crowd
Must auU 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 sail see a sound there ;
That put her all to gedder.
Is sweet as measure pedder.
[Followed, in An Antidote^ by the excellent poems, The Caval-
ier's Complaint; to the tune of (Suckling's) Vie tell thee^ Dickf
fife, with The Answer. For these, see Merry Drollery ^ Com-
j5Zea«, pp. 52-56, and 367.];
'^- ''\\J^^
On a Pint of Sack.
OLd poets Hipocrin admire, ^s ^^^;\ *^ .^.
And pray to water to inspire Q<^<^^^ '
Their wit and Muse with heavenly fire ;
Had they this Heavenly 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
1 44 A ntidote against Melancholy,
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'r)^ 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 !
A Song in Praise of Sack. [p. 53.]
HAng the Presbyters Gill, bring a pint of Sack,
More Orthodox of the two, ( Will,
Though a slender dispute, will strike the Elf mute.
Here's one of the honester Crew.
In
Made up into Pills. 1661. 145
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,
He warrant he'le sleep at your foot.
Let's drain the whole Celler, Pipes, Buts, and the
If the Wine floats not the faster ; (Dweller,
Will, when thou dost slack us, by warrant from Bacchus,
We will cane thy tun-belli'd Master.
•%
In the praise of WINE. [p. 54.] ^
'npis Wine that inspires, /J^6aA*^^ ^
JL And quencheth Loves fires, .
Teaches fools how to rule a S[t]ate : / . Ai^''
Mayds ne're did approve it '7
Because those that doe love it,
Despise and laugh at their hate.
The
L
^t^
1 46 A ntidote against Melancholy,
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 eye&
Made wounds which this could not heale,
Who then doth refuse,
To drink of this Juice
Is a foe to the Comon weaJe.
[Followed by A Glee to the Vicar, beginning, " Let the bells
ring, and the boys sing i" for which see the Introduction to our
edition of Westminster Drollery, pp. xxxvii-viii.]
On a Cold Chyne of BEER [p. 55.]
BRing out the Old Chyne, the Cold Chyne to me.
And how He charge him come and see,
Brawn tusked, Brawn well sowst and fine.
With a precious cup of Muscadine :
Chorus.
How shall I singy how shall I look,
In honour of the Master- Cook ^
The
Made tip into Pills. 1661. 147
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 He 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 ?
X
A Song of Cupid Scorri d, \^ [P- 5^]
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,
L 2
148 Antidote against Melancholy,
No, Lady, 'tis not all your art,
Can make me and my freedome part.
Chorus.
Come^filVs a cup of sherry, and let us he merry,
There shall nought hut pure imne
Make us love-sick or pine,
Weil hug the cup and kisse it, wil 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,fiirs 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 Ganimed2irA fill us Wine.
Chorus (Come,fiirs a cup of sherry, ^c.
[The
Made up into Pills, 1661. 149
[The three next are common to the Antidote and Merry Drol-
leryy Compleatj with a few verbal differences : O n th e Vertue^^ ^-c,
S|^, by Dr. Henry Edwards ; The Medley of the Nations7~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 j„ (
Merry Drollery ^ Compleaty (viz., 3. ** Now th aLthe Springj^,^,^
i 'tC^W r?parg-p again;" 9. '' She that wlUlatT M^T^^^^ ^^^
^s men were >f\\* Spvpn ^" 14. ^Shew a room I^'^ 15. **0! the wily /*
wily Fo^;" 17. "Now I am married;" 19. "There was three ^
_Cook,s in CnVhronK;'' 22. " If any so wise is ;" and 29. "Whaf^. ^
^ 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.f C. One other, first in the Antidotey had appeared
earlier in Choice Drollery y p. 52 : " He that a Tinker ," &c., q,vJ\
^3:^ ^- f 7
CATCH. [p. 65.]
Poets[,] ok
Of Aganippes Well,
2. IL T^Ou merry Poets[,] old Boyes
Full many tales have told boyes ^
Whose liquor doth excell, ^\ r ^
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.
A
L3
1 50 Antidote against Melanchoiy,
A CATCH. [p. 66,]
4. TV yr Ong'st all the precious Juices
iVA 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.
"^ tr 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.
A CATCH. [p. 67.]
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 [?]
Made up into Pills. 1 66 1 . 151
A CATCH. ^^^'^^ ^^
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[J
With a hem, boy. Hem !
And a cup of old Sack ;
Sing, hey trvly loly lo.
A CATCH. |. \|Jtl^
8. /^"^Ome, let us cast Dice who shall drink,
V ' Mine is timlve^ and his sice sink,
Six and Fmur 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 JDewces, 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. -^
(wife,
Ever let a man take heavily the clamor of his
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, , v, "i^
Hey derry, derry, ding, ^ A
-N
ilk
152 A ntidote against Melancholy,
A Catch.
1 1. T Et's cast away care, and merrily sing,
I ^ 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.
C^ A CATCH.
1 2. T T Ang sorrow, and cast away care,
A i 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.
^.>* A CATCH, [p. 70.]
16. TV yr Y lady and her Maid, upon a merry pin,
iVA They made a match at F . . ting, who
should the wager win. (upright ;
Jone lights three candles then, and sets them bolt
With
Made tip into Pills, 1 66 1 . 153
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. ^^^ ,,,j
AN old house end, an old house end,
And many a good fellow wants mon[e]y to
If thou wilt borrow (spend.
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.
A CATCH. [p. 71.]
20. T )\ T"-^^^ ^^^^ \^r\A. me thy Mare to ride a mile
V V 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. >;' , .
Our mare is lame ; she halts downe right,
Then shall we not get to London to night :
You
,..Y
1 54 Antidote against Melancholy ,
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.
A CATCH [p. 72.]
23. /^^ Ood Symo?i, how comes it your Nose looks
Y \ V_T so red,
^f^^ 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 covered 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. ^ ^ 7 lit thou be Fatt, He tell thee how,
V V 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 J^ack Falstafe, Fatt.
Now,
Made tip into Pills. 1 66 1 . 155
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. ^ ^
OF all the Birds that ever I see, ,£^i±:f ~^ T
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, f
Sir Knave to thou ;
This song is well sung, I make you a vow, [p. 73]
And he is a knave that drinketh now ; (red Nose ?
Nose, Nose, Nose, and who gave thee that jolly
[Cinnamon and gin-ger,] (red Nose.
Nutmegs and Cloves, and that gave thee thy jolly
A CATCH.
26. 'nr^His Ale, my bonny Lads, is as brown as a berry,
X 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
■?■
1 56 Antidote against Melancholy ^
A CATCH.
27. T T 7 Hat ! are we met ? come, let's see
V V If here's enough to sing this Glee.
Look about, count your number.
Singing will keep us from crazy slumber ;
I, 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.
Og 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 MelanchoUy ;
Let's laugh and sing, or if you please,
We'l frolick with sweet Dolly.
A
Made up into Pills, 1661. 157
A SONG. ^
Translated out of Greek. (p'^'
THe parcht jSartA drinks the J^ain,
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.
A CATCH. ^^""^[p. 75-1
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.
A Man of WaleSy a litle before Easter
Ran on his Hostes score for Cheese a teaster :
His Hostes chalkt it up behind the doore, (score :
And said, For Cheese (good Sir) Come pay the
Cod's Pluternails (quoth he) what meaneth these ?
What dost thou think her knows not Chalk from
(Cheese ?
1 5 8 A ntidote against Melancholy y
A SONG.
33. T~ARink, drink, all you that think
1 J 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 Apollds Nectar.
Let
Made up into Pills, 1 66 1 . 159
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 ; (commend
Tis a health to our friend, to whom we
This cup of Apollds 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.
ri^^i^<^-*^J^ JUatJjUj
A CATCH. ^ /
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 mrd, by me.
And none shall be so merry as we ;
The
1 6o A ntidote against Melancholy,
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
i6i
EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT :
T. — ON THE "author" OF
AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY,
1661.
THANKS be to the worthy bookseller, George
Thomason,* 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
* George Thomason. It was in 1640 that this bookseller com-
menced systematically to preserve a copy of every pamphlet,
broadside, and printed book connected with the political distur-
bances. 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 pre-
sented by him to the nation. They are in the British Museum,
known as the King's Pamphlets, and the Antidote against Melan-
choly is among- the small quartos. See Isaac D'Israeli's AmenU
ties of Literature, for an interesting account of the difficulties
and perils attending their collection : article Pamphlets, pp. 685-
691. edition 1868.
M
1 62 On the A tUhor of
that Anthony k Wood's uncropt copy of '''Merry Drol-
lery^' i66t, is marked in contemporary manuscript
at " IS. 3d.," each part). The title says : —
These ivitty Poems, though sometime [they']
may seem to halt on crutches.
Yet theyH all merrily please you
for your charge, ivhich not much is.
Who was the "N. D." to whose hght 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 riot hitherto been
ascertained* ; or whether he wrote anything beside the
above couplet, and the humorous address To the
Reader, beginning,
There^s no Purge Against Melancholy,
But ivith Bacchus to be jolly :
All else are but dreggs of Folly, &c. (p. ill.)
* J. P. Collier, in his invaluable " Bibliographical and Critical
Account of the Rarest Books in the English Language,** 1865, ac-
knowledges, in reference to " An Antidote against Melancholy,''*
that "We are without information by whom this collection of
Poems, Ballads, Song-s, 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 Melan-
choly,^ 8vo., 1 719 — 20.' CBihliog. ^ 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 accus-
tomed 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." {Ihidf i. 27.)
A 11 A 11 tidote against Melancholy^ 1 66 1 . 1 63
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, es-
pecially,) 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 notP
The title of " Pills to Purge Melancholy was by
Playford and Tom D'Urfey afterwards employed, and
kept ahve before the public, in many a volume from
before 1684 until 1720, if not later. Whether " N.
D." himself were the " Mer[cury] MelanchoHcus "
whose name appears as printer, for the book to be
" sold in London and Westminster," is to us not doubt-
ful. By April 18, 1661,* Thomason had secured his
* It was a week of supreme rejoicing and froUic, 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 White-
hall. On the 22nd, Charles went from the Tower to Whitehall,
through well-built triumphal arches, and amid enthusiasm.
M 2.
164 On the Author of
copy, and there need be no question that it was for
sport, and not through any fear of rigid censorship or
maHcious pettifogging interference by the law, that,
instead of printer's name, this pseudonym or nick-
name was adopted.
We beheve that the mystery shrouding the per-
sonality of " N. D." can be dispelled. The discovery
helps us in more ways than one, and connects the
Antidote against Melancholy^ of 166 1, 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] [PlayforJd. The triplets ad-
dressed in 1 66 1 To the Reader, beginning "There's
no purge 'gainst Melancholy," are repeated at com-
mencement 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, " ^;/ 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 him-
self originated. What relation Henry Playford was
to John Playford, the publisher of '''Select Ayres^'
An Antidote against Melancholy^ 1661. 165
" Choice Ayres,'' 1652, &c., we are not yet certain.
Thirteen of the longest and most important poems
from the 1661 Antidote* 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, super-
intended 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 ivould purge thine too, ivert thou not foole-holy ,^^
* These are the Blacksmith, the Brewer, Suckling's Parley be-
tween 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."
M 3
i66
W W ^# ^3 W W W W W W W W W W W O W O W W V w
EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT :
2.— ARTHUR O' BRADLEY.
C Merry Drollery ^ Compleat, p. 312, 395; Antidote ag. Mel., p. 16 J
" 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 Roxhurghe Collection of Black-Letter Bal-
ladSf i., 360.)
SO long ago as the Editor can remember, the
words and music of " Arthur o' Bradley's Wed-
ding " rang pleasantly in his ears. The jovial rollick-
ing 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 //// 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 rushes, or
chalked floor, to that jig-melody, accompanied by the
Arthur d Bradley. 167
bagpipes or fiddle of some rustic Crowdero. Can it
be possible? Yes, the line is headed by the vener-
able 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 Ambas-
sador 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 Den-
mark, twirling his crooked little legs about in obedi-
ence 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 I Foremost
among them was rare Ben Jonson (unable to resist
clothing Adam Overdo in Arthur's own mantle) ; and
M 4
1 68 Arthur d Bradley.
honest Thomas Dekker "followed after in a dream"
(as had been memorably printed on our seventh page
of Choyce Drollery)^ thinking of Bellafront's repen-
tance, 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 schis-
matic Puritans, who are scowling at them with malig-
nant eyes, and denunciations misquoted from Scrip-
ture. 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 de-
lightful 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 stifly in John
Kingston's music-chamber ; Mrs. Claypole and her
sister, Mrs Rich : there are L'Estrange, who fiddles
Arthur d Bradley. 169
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,* enter-
^ 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 Castle-
maine, 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 Gtueene 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.'* — 'fDiary of Samuel PepySf Esq.y F.R.S.f
Secretary to the Admiralty f &c.)
I/O A rthur d Bradley,
ing 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 Bag-
piper, 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 thir-
teens for singing it. Dr. Johnson grunted an accom-
paniment 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 re-
ported that good old George the Third was seen en-
deavouring to persuade Queen Charlotte to accom-
A rtJmr d Bradley. 171
pany him on the Spinnet, while he set their numerous
oHve-branches jigging it delightedly ""for the honour of
Arthur 0' 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, i?npiger, iracundus
inexorabilis, acer — better than vegetable diet and
eccentric spelling, or the flagellation of inexact anti-
quarian 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 mean-
while the burden of "^ brave Arthur d 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 Zea-
landers, 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 ^/Arthur o' Bradley,
O rare Arthur o' Bradley,
O brave Arthur o' Bradley,
Arthur 0' Bradley. O ! "
1/2 Arthur d Bradley.
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 hetiveen Wit and
Wisdom, the point being this : —
" For the honour of Artrebradley,
This age ivould make me srwear madly 1 "
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 hra-ve Arthur 6?/ Bradley, then f"
In Ben Jonson's Bartholomeuu Fair, 1614, (which covers
the Puritans with ridicule, for the delight of James 1st.),
Act ii. Scene i, when Adam Overdo, the Sectary, is dis-
guised 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 ? Vis mad
Arthur of Bradley that makes the orations. — Brave
master, old Arthur of Bradley, how do you do? Wel-
come to the Fair ! When shall we hear you again, to
handle your matters, ivith your hack against a booth, ha?"
In Richard ^r^.\kv^2^X.^^ s Strappado for the Diuell, 161 5,
p. 225 (in a long poem, containing notices of Wakefield,
Bradford, and Kendall, addressed " to all true-bred Nor-
therne 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 Mai Dixon's Round :"
** So each (through peace of conscience) rapt ivith pleasure
Shall ioifully begin to dance his measure.
One footing aSiiuely Wilson's delight, ....
A rthtir d Bradley. 173
The fourth is chanting of his Notes so gladly.
Keeping the tune for th^ honour (?/ Arthura Bradly ;
The 5[th] so pranke he scarce can stand on ground.
Asking ivhd^le sing ivith him Mai 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-^^^5,
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 ivhen 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, hrave Arthur 6>' Bradley,
A heard ivithout hair looks madly. ''^
( Festiuous 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
174 Arthur d Bradley.
you that desire to merry be,^^) in our present Appendix,
Part iv. Quite distinct from this hitherto unnoticed ex-
amplar, not already reprinted, is *'Saiv 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 com-
mon, 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 <?' Bradley, and begin-
ning '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 ivill be gay.
For ] a May-pole they ivill have, ^c.
(See the present Appendix, Part iv.)
In this, doubtless, we detect two versions, garbed to-
gether. 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 aivhile,
If ever you ivished to smile, ^^ &c..
Arthur d Bradley. .175
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 Eds. 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 d" 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 ;
' Tivas in the siveet month of May, I ivalked out to take
the air.
My Father he died one day, and he left me his son and heir ;
He left me a good ivarm house, that ivanted only a
thatch,
A strong oak door to my chamber, that only ivanted a
latch ;
He left me a rare old cozu, I ivish he^d ha'ue left me a sozu,
A cock that infighting ivas shy, and a horse ivith a sharp
ivall eye, ^c.
{Uni'versal Songster, 1826, i. 368.)
Even Ophelia could not ask, after Arthur sinking so low,
"And will he not come again ?"
September, 1875. J. W. E.
176
[So far as possible, to give completeness to our Reprint of West-
minster Drollery of 167 1-2, and Merry Drollery, Compleat, 1670-
169 1, 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
Wejlminjier-Drollery.
Or, A Choice
COLLECTION
of the Newest
SONGS & POEMS
BOTH AT
Cmi):t anil Cfieatersf*
BY
A Person of Quality.
The third Edition, with many more
Additions,
LONDON,
Printed {oxH.Brome, at the Gun in St P aid's
Church Yard, near the West End.
MDCLXXIV.
179
ADDITIONAL SONGS
FROM THE
Westminster-Drollery
Edition 1674.
A Song, [p. III.]
I. ^ O wretched are the sick of Love,
v3 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.
N 2
.2. .
i8o Additional Songs , from the
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 licensed Love the worst can fast.
Such is the Lovers state,
Pining and pleas'd, aUke unfortunate.
3. Sahina and Camilla share
An equal interest \n 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.
A
Westminster 'Drollery, 1674 181
A Song. [p. 113.]
I. 'nr^O Arms ! to Arms ! the Heroes cry,
X 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.
N 3
1 82 Additional Songs, from the
[p. 114.] A Song.
1. T) Eauty that it self can kill,
±_J 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 enclosed with Iron Walls,
In humanity must groan
When a noble Hero falls.
Pitiless
Westminster- Drollery, 1674 183
Pitiless courage would not be [p. 115J
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. y
I. 'THHe young, the fair, the chaste, th)e good,
A 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.
N 4 2. De^th
184 Additional Songs, from the
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 doyes.
Humours his passions haste.
To prove ungovem'd man the greatest beast.
A Song.
I. T T Ow frailty makes us to our wrong
X A Fear, and be loth to dye.
When Life is only dying long
And Death the remedy !
We shun eternity,
A nd still would gravel her beneath, [Sdi.y grovel]
Though still in woe and strife,
When Life's the path that leads to Death,
And Death the door to Life.
2. The
Westminster-Drollery, 16^4. 185
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 CamillaJs 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
1 86 Additional Songs, from the
Fond humane nature that will try [p. ii8.]
To sound th' Abiss of Destiny !
Alas ! what profit can arise
From those forbidden scrutinies,
When Oracles what they foretel
In such Enigma'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 Heaven 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
Westminster-Drollery, 1674. 187
Too frequently himself does run [ p. 1 19.]
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.
WICK-
1 88 Additional SongSy from the
[P. 1 20.]
w I CKHAM Wakened,
OR
The Quakers Madrigall In Rime
']jM- %»x.^^<^ 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 WI CKHA M
For there's one will kick 'urn
Into much better manners by abundance.
«
Once
Westminster-Drollery. 1674. 189
Once the Clown at his entry
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 J^ustice^ &"€.
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 J^ustice^ ^^c.
Now
1 90 Additional So7zgSy from the
Now silence and listen
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, d-^.
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
Wont fall to their Spouses :
They cannot appoint her
One Turif for a Joynter.
His
Westminster-Drollery y 1674. 191
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 yustice^ d^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
192 Westminster-Drollery y 16^4.
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, d^^.
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 His :
To abate their encrease and redundance
Let us send them \.o WICKHAM
For theris one will Kick ^um
Into much better manners by abundance.
[Here ends the 1674 edition; for account of which, and the
1 66 1 Merry Drollet-y, see our present Appendix ^ Parts Third
and Fourth.]
MERRY
MERRY
DROLLERY,
OR,
A COLLECTION
{Jovial Poems,
Merry Songs,
Witty Drolleries.
Intermixed with Pleasant
Catches.
The First Part
Collected by
W.N. C.B. RS. y,G.
Lovers of Wit.
__^ [is. 3ci.]
LONDON,
Printed by y. W, for P, H. and are to
be Sold at the New Exchange, Westminster-
Hall, Fleet Street, and Pauls
Chivrch-Yard. [May
1661.]
195
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
EXTRA SONGS & POEMS,
IN
Merry Drollery , 1661 :
(Omitted from the Editions of i6yOy i6gi^ when
New Songs were substituted for them.)
L— IN PART FIRST.
A Puritan. [fol. 2.]
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
o 2
196 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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.
Loves
I
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 197
Loves Dream. [page u.]
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
jL)id crown her lovely Pillow. W- l^a-i 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
I 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 foUow'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
o 3
198 Merry Drolleries 1661.
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 Lamberfs sunk, and valiant M- — \MQnk'\
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
Merry DrolleriCy 1661. 199
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 kilFd 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
Having no more Worlds to conquer. (sleep,
Rump-Parliament would needs invent
An Oath of abjuration, (fashion :
But Obedience and Allegiance are now come into
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.
04
200 Merry Drollerie, 1661. /
A Song, [p. 14.]
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 Hockley4'th!-kole.
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 shewed her,
That she my speeches could not controul.
But cursied finely, and got up behind me,
And back she rode with me to Hockley-^-tK-hole,
When
Merry DroUerie, 1661. 201
When I came to Hockley at the sign of the Cock,
By [ajlighting I chanced to see her white smock,
It lay so alluring upon her round knee,
I caird 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 rouFd 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-VW-hole,
Maidens delight. [p. 27.]
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
A
202 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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 ;
, Merry Drollerie^ 1661, 203
A fruitless tree is like to thee,
Being but a kissing lover,
With leaves jo)ni 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' fon with t'other.
The golden mine lies just between P golden mean]
The high way and the lower ;
He that wants wit that way to hit
Alas [!] hath little power ;
Youl 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 3
Thus
204 Merry Drollerie^ 1661.
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.
A
A Song. [p. 32-]
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
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 205
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- Z^^
And worldly vanity ;
There's nothing I esteem so much
As my Virginity ;
What do you think I am so loose, [«^- ^^c^, 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
2o6 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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.
Admiral Deans Funeral. [p. 56.]
I.
Nick Culpepper, and William Lilly,
Though you were pleased to say they were silly,
Yet something these prophesied true, I tell you, [? ye,]
Which no body can deny.
2.
Merry Dr oiler ie, 1661. 207
2.
In the month of May^ I tell you truly,
Which neither was in yum nor July^
The Dutch began to be unruly,
Which no body can deny.
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. One
2o8 Merry D r oiler ie, 1661.
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 kilPd 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
Which no body can deny. (leave,
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.
II.
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. • The
Merry Drolleriey 1661. 209
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.
p
2IO Merry Drolleries 1661.
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, PaulsW^dcd, 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.
[p- h^^
19. (names.
Quoth th' Students o'th' Temple, I know not their
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.
Merry J Drollerie 1661. 211
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 Year'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.
The Savoys mortified spittled Crew,
If I lye, as Falstaffe saies, I am a Jew, (spew.
Gave the Hearse such a look it would make a man
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.
212 Merry D r oiler ie, i66i.
27.
The Exchange, and the mines 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,
Wished it might be Sir Thomases 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 fiote 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.
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.
Merry Drollerie^ 1661. 213
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.
I
A merrie Journey to France. [p- 64.]
Went from Endand into France,
r
Not for to learn to sing nor dance,
To ride, nor yet to fence, . \ju\
But for to see strange sights, as those //^l
That have returned 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]
P 3 The
T^-?
214 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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. Ip-i- lect., deservM]
There is the Lanthom which the Jews,
AVhen 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
Merry Drolleriey 1661. 215
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, [? ^ostre Dame\
The Steeple bears the Bell.
For Arts, the University,
And for old Cloaths, the Frippery,
The Queen the same did build ;
Saint Innocent\/\ whose earth devours
Dead Corps in four and twenty hours,
And there the King was kilFd.
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
F4
2i6 Merry Drolleries 1661.
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. Uct,, 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
Merry DrolleriCy 1661. 217
Besides, he hath a pretty firk,
Taught him by Nature, for to work
In Iron with much ease :
And then uuto 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
2i8 Merry Dr oiler ie, 1661.
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 ?
Englands Woe. [p. 85.]
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
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 219
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 lend and loose,
Shall wear no stallion locks for a bush, [Italian . . . abuse]
They'll only have private boyes for their use, [ai /ec^,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
220 Merry D r oiler ie^ 1661.
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.
y
'^ Ladies Delight. [p. 88.]
HAng Chastity [!] it is for the milking pail,
Ladies ought to be more valiant :
Not to be confined 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
Merry Drolleriey 1661. 221
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.
TAe
222 Merry Dr oiler ie^ 1661.
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 1 lay,
She was every morning up by noon
The clean contrary way.
She
Merry Drolleries 1661. 221
She made him go to wash and wring, [p- 9^-]
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.
Y The Tinker. [p. 154.]
[ 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
224 Merry Drolleries 1661.
Till she devis'd to dress him like
A Tinker in Vocation :
And thus, disguised, 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, P verse 7.]
At it we will begin,
For it will hold you half an hour
To trim it out and in :
But
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 225
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
226 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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 r
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> P verse 6. p. 137.]
Disguised stood he there.
He blinked blithly, and did say,
God save you Mistris fair ;
Thou'rt
Merry Drollerie^ 1661, 227
'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 n-l ^
My business I have endedy
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
Q2
228 Merry Drollerie^ 1661.
Quoth he, that Target is full dear, [13]
I swear by Gods good Mother :
Quoth she, my Lord, I dare protest,
'Tis worth ^n^ 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
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 229
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 eVry 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 sub-
stantial 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
Q3
230 Merry Drolleries 1661.
admit such prurient and imbecile pieces at all. They are tokens
of a debased taste that would be inconceivable, did we not re-
member that, not more than twenty years ago, crowds of MP.s,
Lawyers, and Baronets listened with applause, and encored tu-
multuously, songs far more objectionable than these (if possible)
in London Music Halls, and Supper Rooms. Those who recol-
lect whatR . . 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 \i\ SuppUmetit^^z^
The Maid a bathing, [p. 148.]
UPon a Summers day,
'Bout middle of the mom,
I spy'd a Lass that lay
Stark nak'd as she was bom ;
'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
/
I
Merry Dr oiler ie, r66i. 231
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, fe- 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 filFd her vein,
And coming to herself she said,
I thank you for your pain.
fPart
Q4
232 Merry D r oiler ie^ 1661.
[Part First, 1661, ends on pages 1 71-175, with The new Med-
ley 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 1| of." A contemporary
MS. note in Ant. a Wood's copy, says, of each part, ** is. 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,
** T Tl TE do here present thee with the
V V 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 Hero-
dias, receiving from the Roman-like /S'^ra^zoie^ 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
233
Merry Drollery, 1661 :
Extra Songs in Part Second.
(Omitted in 1670 and 1691 Editions.)
>^ The Force of Opportunity. [Part 2nd., p. 21.]
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, 6^^.
The
234 Merry Drollerie^ 1661.
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, s [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 homed baites, P pates.] Then
Merry D r oiler ie^ 1661. Second Part 235
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.
Lusty Tobacco, [ p. 22.]
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 shell say you do her wrong.
She'll scorn your weak Tobacco.
And if that you do please her well,
Tobacco, Tobacco, All
236 Merry Drolleriey 1661.
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 TobaccOi.
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
Merry Drollerie, 1661. Second Part. 237
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 spoird my Pipe, and there's an end
Of all my good Tobacco.
On the Goldsmiths- Committee, [p 2^.]
COme Drawer, some wine, I ^^ '
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
238 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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 d*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 bom.
We'll drink this, and pray, [p .30J
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
Merry Drollerie, 1661, Second Part 239
May plagues sent from hell
Stuff their bodies as well,
As the Cavaliers Coyn doth their purses.
May the Cannibals of Fym
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.
^ ^. 7
y Insatiate Desire, --^'"^^^''[p. 31.]
OThat 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 steeped in lust nine months I would remain.
Then boldly my passage back again.
The
240 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
The Horn exalted. (p- 32.)
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. ii-]
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 p]s thus drest.
The men on earth like it are blest. A
Merry Drollerie, i66i, 241
\A Droll of a Louse (p. ^^, seven verses of seven lines each,
beginning ** Discoveries of late have been made by adventures," is
reserved. Fide ante p. 213.]
A Letany, [p-38.]
FRom Essex Anabaptist Laws,
And from Norfolk Plough-tail Laws, P 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.
Arid New-Engla?2d, 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,
P'rom Sailers cry at their main bowling.
Libera nos domine.
From Frank Wilsons trick of mopping,
And her ulcered h . . . with popping, From
R
242 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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
Merry DrolleriCy 1661. 243
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 ob-
jectionable 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, ^irfeawie, p. 213].
New England described, [p. 103.]
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 caird a Church unspotted pure.
There
R 2
244 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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 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,
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 245
Ling, Cod, Poor-John, and Haberdine,
Are taken with the Rod and Line j
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 dales
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
R 3
246 Merry Drolleries 1661.
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
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 247
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.
\^- The insatiate Lover. [p. 106]
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 shalt 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
R 4
248 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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, 6^r.
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,
Por
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 249
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, 6^^.
The
250 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
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, &>€.
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
Merry Drollerie^ \66\. 251
The poor man hath his Talent,
And loves as well as they,
With hey ho, &"€.
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, t^
And get a pretty baby
With a face like thee,
With hey ho, 6^^.
Let these perswasions move thee
Kindly to comply.
There's no man that can love thee
With so much zeal as I;
i Do
252 Merry Drollericy 1661.
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, 6^r.
1^11 fight in forty duels [p. 1 10.]
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, &*€.
Let us lye down by those bushes
That are grown so high,
Where
Merry Drollerie, 1661. 253
Where I will hide thy blushes ;
Here's no standers by
This seventh day of /u/y,
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 j 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.]
TAe Louse. [p. 149.]
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 oifer 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.
Fen?ier
254 Merry Drollerie, 1661.
Fenner once in a Play did describe her,
How she had her beginning first,
How she sprung from the loyns of great Pharaohy
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, [i>. 150 1
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,
Sj^e's prest to death by the naile.
She
Merry D r oiler ie, 1661. 255
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 Drol-
lery j 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, compre-
hended in our Reprint : which is the Fourth Edition, but the first
Annotated. J. W. E.]
Appendix.
APPENDIX.
NoteSy Illustrations y Various Readings^ and
Emendations of Text.
(now first added »)
Arranged in Four Parts : —
I. — 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 de^red to assist in bringing these
rare volumes into the hands of a fresh generation, if
he believed not that their few faults were far out-
weighed 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,
s 2
26o Appendix,
books were printed with such an abundance of typo-
graphical errors that a pure text of any author cannot
easily be recovered. In the case of all unlicensed
publications, such as anonymous pamphlets, face-
ti(B, broad-sheet Ballads, and the more portable Drol-
leneSy these imperfections were innumerable. Dropt
lines and omitted verses, corrupt readings and perver-
sions of meaning, sometimes amounting to a total de-
struction of intelligibility, might drive an Editor to
despair.
In regard to the DrollertesAiiQrdXuxe, 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 cor-
rupted or lost from the text (keeping these corrections
and additions clearly distinguished ^ within square brack-
ets^ or in Appendix Notes to each successive volume),
we shall find ourselves more usefully employed than in
flinging stones at the CavaHers of the Restoration, be-
cause 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
Choyce Drollery^ 1656. 261
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.
I. — 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, lam-
poons 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
1 69 1 edition, in our second volume) ; and still more
in the delightful Westminster-Drolleries ofi67i, 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.
S3
262 Appendix,
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-inter-
esting Address to the Reader, written and published
in 1656 (exactly contemporary with our Choyce Drol-
lery)^ by Abraham Wright, for his rare collection of
University Poems, known as ^^ Parnassus Biceps J^
It is "An Epistle in the behalfe of those now doubly-
secluded and sequestered Members, by one who himselfe
is none."
'*To the Ingenuous [Sheet sig. A 2.]
SIR,
READER.
.Hese leaves present you with some few
drops of that Ocean of Wit, which flowed
from those two brests of this Nation, the
Uni'versities ; 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 Foun-
tains themselues are dryed up, and that Twin-Paradise
become desart. For then were these Verses Composed,
when Oxford and Camebridge were Universities, and a
CoUedge [A 2, re'verso'\ more learned then a Town-Hall,
when the Buttery and Kitchin could speak Latin e,
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 Maecenasses 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.
Choyce Drollery^ 1656. 263
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 ravish-
ing expressions and extasies of amorous Composures and
Love Songs ; but in the more grave Dorick strains of
sollid Divinity ; Anthems that might have become Dwvids
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 owneface, 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 Con-
jurers [yerso'] 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 Sin-
ner ; 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
S4
264 Appendix.
are Priests, as well as Poets ; who can teach you to pray
in verse, and (if there were not already too much phan-
tasticknes in that Trade) to Preach likewise : while they
turn Scripture-chapters into Odes, and both the Testa-
ments into one book of Psalmes : making Parnassus as
sacred as Mount Oli'vet, and the nine Muses no lesse re-
ligious then a Cloyster of Nuns. \yerso.'\ But yet for all
this I would not have thee. Courteous Reader, pass thy
censure upon those two Fountains of Religion and Learn-
ing, the Unizrersities, 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 watch-
ings, 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 Philo-
sophy 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
soUid, 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 Chilling'worth to
be an unanswerable twelve-years-task for all their Eng-
lish Colledges in Chrisendome. And therefore that
Society did like its selfe, when it sent us over a War in-
stead of an Answer, and proved us Hereticks by the
Sword : which \yerso'\ in the first place was to Rout the
Uni'uersities, 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 ad-
vised to have kept those Fountains within their own
Choyce Drollery ^ 1656. 265
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] Hedge-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 be-
sides. But then, as when our single Jesus was made an
universall Saviour, and his particular Gospel the Catho-
lick 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
yerusalem, 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 & Pul-
pit, or of the antient Learning & Arts, except bare
Schools, and their gildgd Superscriptions : so far have we
266 Appendix,
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 great-
est temporall glory : when they shall be approved of by
men and Angels for a chosen Generation, a Royal Priest-
hood, a peculiar People. In the interim let this [t/^t-^o]
comfort be held out to you, our secluded Uni'versity mem-
hers, 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 States-
men upon those Principles, the date of your sad Ostra-
cisme 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 Col-
ledges. 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 re-
sult, 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. Pirns 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
\yerso'\ these fifteen years, were but the work, and the
Choyce Drollery ^ 1656. 26/
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 dis-
cords 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 perse-
cuted Truth and Peace ; and thy most affectionate Chris-
tian Servant,
Ab: Wright:'
(From Parnassus Biceps : or, Se'verall Choice Pieces of
Poetry, composed by the best Wits that ivere in both the
Uni'versities before their Dissolution. London : Printed
for George E'versden at the Signe of the Maidenhead in
St. Pauls Church-yard, 1656.)
I.— 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 Jon-
son's Head, behind the Exchange,'* in business-con-
nection 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 themost 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
268 Appendix.
years hence, if the Editor be still alive, he may be able to
tell nmch more concerning the authors and the compilers
of the Restoration Drolleries,
We are told that there is an extra leaf to Choyce Drol-
lery, "only found in a few copies, containing ten lines of
verse, beginning Fame's ivindy trump, &c. This leaf
occurs in one or two extant copies of England's Par-
nassus, 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. il.'s Handb, Pop,
Lit. G. B., 1867, p. 168.J "Cromwell's Government or-
dered this book to be burned." (Ibid.) On this last item
see our Introduction, section first. J. P. Collier, who
prepared the Catalogue of Richard fleber's Collection,
Bibliotheca Heberiana, Pt. iv., 1834 (a rich storehouse for
bibliographical students, but not often gratefully acknow-
ledged 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 : Shake-
speare, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger, Chap-
man, Daborne, Sylvester, Quarles, May, Sands, Digges,
Daniel, Drayton, Withers, Brown, Shirley, Ford, Mid-
dleton, 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 col-
lections" [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, m. 172, 1847.
In our copy of England's Parnassus (unindexed, save
subjects), 1600, we sought to find "Fame's ivindy
trump." [We hear that the leaf was in E. P. at Tite's •
sale, 1874.J I
As we have never seen a copy of Choyce Drollery con-
taining the passage of "ten lines," described as beginning
" Fame's Windy Trump," we cannot be quite certain of
Choyce Drollery^ 1656. 269
the following, from England* s Parnassus, 1600, being the
one in question, but believe that it is so. Perhaps it ran,
"Fatness Windy Trump, ivhatcver 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 sivifter none is under sunne ;
•^^ Encreasing, as in ivaters ive descrie
The circles small, of nothing that begun,
Which, at the length, unto such breadth do come.
That of a drop, ivhichfrom the skies doth fall.
The circles spread, and hide the ivaters all :
So Fame, inflight encreasing more and more ;
For, at the first, she is not scarcely knoivne.
But by and by she fleets from shore to shore.
To clouds from th* earth her stature straight is groivne.
There ivhatsoever by her trumpe is bloivne,'\
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 offoote, sivift ivings the ivinds to catch :
Such monsters erst did nature never hatch.
As many plumes she hath from top to toe.
So many eyes them undenvatch or moe ;
And tongues do speake : so many cares do harke,
[By night *t*weene heaven she flies and earthly shade.
And, shreaking, takes no quiet sleepe by darke :
On houses roofes, on tovuers, as keeper made.
She sits by day, and cities threates t' invade ;
And as she tells vuhat things she sees by view.
She rather shelves that* s fained false, then true.'\
[Legend of Albanact.] I. H., Mirror of Magist*
Page I . 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
2/0 Appendix.
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. aseivrack^d;
3. In love is not commended ; only sweet. All praise, no
pity ; who fondly ; 4. Shall shortly by dead Lovers
lie; hallouu'd'y 5. He which ^ar// ^^]^^r5 els excels. That
are ; 6. Will, though thou ; 'j. the Bells shall ring ;
While all to black is; (last line but two in parenthesis;)
Making, like Flowers, &c.
Page 4. Nor Lo've nor Fate dare I accuse.
By Richard Brome, in his " Northerne Lasse,^^ 1632,
Act ii., sc. 6. It is also given in Westminster- Drollery,
167 1, i. 83 (the only song in common). But compare
with it the less musical and tender, " Nor Lo've, nor Fate
can I accuse of hate,'** in same vol. ii. 90, with Appendix
Note thereunto, p. Ixiii.
Page 5. One night the great Apollo, pleased ivith Ben.
This remarkable and little-known account of "The
Time-Poets" is doubly interesting, as being a contem-
porary 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 be-
holding 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 cob-
webbed nooks where it so long-time had lain hidden.
Our joy would have been greater, could we have re-
stored 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 Church-
yard, 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,
Choyce Drollery, 1656. 271
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 pos-
sibility 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 Dra-
matick 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 be-
hind 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 any-
thing. Five years earlier, William Winstanley had
given forth his Li'ves 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 be-
tween 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 Dray-
ton — whose descriptive map of native England, Poly^
olbion, glitters with varie-coloured light, as though it
were a mediaeval 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 ex-
perience. And, not without deep feeling (marvelling.
2/2 Appendix.
meanwhile, that still the task of printing them with Edi-
torial care is unattempted), we peruse the folio manu-
scripts 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 poiver of Poesie :
Amphion, Orpheus, stones and trees could mo've ;
Men, first by -verse, ivere taught Ci'vilitie ;
' Tis knozun and granted ; yet ivould it behove
Mee, ivith the Ancient Singers, here to croivne
Some later Quills, some Makers of our otvne.
Nor should we fail to thank the younger Evelyn, for
such graphic sketches as he gives of Restoration- Dra-
matists, 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 be-
fittingly on after-pages of this volume, in the " Addi-
tional 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, pleased ivith 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 her-
self 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
Choyce Drollery , 1656. 273
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 sup-
pose that the lost sixteenth-line ran someway thus (each
reader being free to try experiments himself, with chance
of more success) : —
Divine-composing Quarles, ivhose lines aspire
\_And gloiv, as doth ivith like etherial jire\ i6th.
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 " Ses-
sions," 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) ivas neuer seene,
Croivnd mayst thou bee, 'vnto thy more renoivne,
(As King of Poets) ivith a Laivrell Croivne.
And Daniell, praised for thy srweet-chast Verse :
Whose Fame is graved in Rosamonds blacke Herse.
Still mayst thou liue ; and still be honored.
For that rare Worke, The White Rose and the Red.
274 Appendix,
And Drayton, ivhose iveUivritfen Tragedies
And stveet Epistles, so are thy fame to skies.
Thy learned Name, is tequall ivith the rest ;
Whose stately Numbers are so luell addrest.
And Shakespeare thou, ivhose hony-floiving Vaine,
(Pleasing the World) thy Praises doth ohtaine.
Whose Venus, and ivhose Lucrece (siveete and chaste) -
Thy Name in fames immortall Booke hath placet,
Liue euer'you, at least in Fame Hue euer :
Well may the Bodye dye, but Fame dies neuer.
The praise of Massinger will not seem overstrained ; al-
though 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 re-
cognition 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 along-
side of Marlow, Webster, and Dekker, is like Euripides
contrasted with JEschyXxis 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 ^^^ Thespian springs.
Had in him those braue translunary things
That the first poets had, his raptures ivere
All air and fire, ivhich made his uerses clear 2
For that fine madness still he did retain.
Which rightly should possess a poefs brain,
Robert Dabqrne is chiefly interesting to us from his
connection in misfortunes and dramatic labours with Mas-
singer and Nat Field ; and as joining them in the suppli-
cation 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.
Choyce Drollery , 1656. 275
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 Virhius, 1638. L[eonard]
Digges had, fifteen years earlier, written the memorial
lines beginning " Shake-speare, at length thy pious fel-
lows give II 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 sus-
tained dignity and pathos that deserve all Barnfield's
praise ; the " Sonnets to Delia " are graceful and impres-
sive 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 " Dowsa-
bell " is on p. 73. Was his being coupled, as a " Poet-
Beadle," in allusion tohis numerous verse-episties, show-
ing 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 Apophthegnimes 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 re-
membrance of the names, of the surnames, and of the
titles of dignitees of all persones, to the ende that thei
male 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
T 2
276 Appe7idix,
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
Cursetorsy 'vulgarly called Vagabones, set forth by Thomas
Harman, Esquier for the utilitie and profit of his na-
turall 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 de-
scended 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 al-
most the whole of his " Shepherd's Hunting " and "Mis-
tress 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, which-
ever party reigns. To him, in his sectarian zeal or ser-
monizing 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 Broivn " 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
Choyce Drollery^ 1656. 277
"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 sub-
jects, and rubicund appearance.
Nor is the humourous sadness, of the figure shewn by
the aged Thomas Churchyard, less touching be-
cause 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 Totters 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. i698),in the Mirror for Ma-
gistrates, surpasses most of his other poems ; yet are there
biographical details in Churchyard^ s Chips, 1575, that re-
ward our perusal. Gascoigne and several other poets
added Tarn Marti quam 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 ivith the best.
And ser'ved the Staet, and did such hap abyed
As might befall, and Fortune sent the rest :
When drom did sound, a souldier ivas I prest.
To sea or lande, as Princes quarrel I stoed,
And for the saem, full oft I lost my blood.
But, throughout, misfortune dogged him : —
. . . To ser've my torn [i.e., turn] in service of the Queen :
But God he knoes, my gayn ivas small, Iiveen,
For though 1 did my credit still encreace,
I got no ivelth, by ivarres, ne yet by peaee.
(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 year esy* with his " Old
2/8 Appendix.
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, i860.) 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, Robbie, Hobble^ he that ivrit 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, Robbie, 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 j^neis 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 Ne'wes.) This
^ne'id had a limited reprint in 1839. Warton in Hist.
Eng. Poetry gives examples (misnaming him Robert,
but Camden says " Eruditissimus tile 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 thivacke thurly bouncing :
and indicates his opinion of the poet, " as of some thra-
Choyce Drollery, 1656. 279
sonical huffe-snuffe," indulging in " that quarrelling kind
of verse." One more specimen, to justify our text, re-
garding "he that writ so big:" in the address to the
winds, Mn,. Bk. i., Neptune thus rails : —
Dare ye, lo, curst baretours, in this my Seignorie regal.
Too raise such racks lacks on seas and danger unordered ?
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, " Renoivned 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. Ace. i. 163) ; —
Thafs the fat foole of the Curtin,
And the lean fool of the Bull :
Since Shanke did league to sing his rimes
He is counted hut a gull.
The Players on the Banckeside,
The round Globe and the Swan,
Will teach you idle tricks of lo'ue.
But the Bull ivill play the Tnan,
(W. Turner's Common Cries of London Toivn, 1662.J
" Broom" is Richard Brome (died 1652), whose racy
comedies have been, Hke 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
1 632,) Jonson wrote ("according to Ben's own nature and
28o Appendix,
custom, magisterial enough," as their true friend Alex-
ander Brome admits),
/ had you for a Servant once^ Dick Brome ;
And you perform'' d a Ser^vanf s faithful parts :
NouUy you are got into a nearer room
Of Fellowship, professing my old Arts.
And you do doe them ivell, ivith 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 ivith Homer, but they say,
Broome ivent before, and kindly sivept the ivay.
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, hy George Daniel,
(written in great part before, part after, 1647,) i" honour
of Ben Jonson, but preceded by others relating to Sir
Philip Sidney, Spenser, Daniel, Drayton, Shakespeare,
Beaumont, and Donne : —
/ am not bound to honour antique names, [8th verse]
Nor am I led by other men to chuse
Any thing ivorthy, ivhich my judgment blames ;
Heare better straines, though by a later Muse ;
The svueet Arcadian singer first did raise
Our Language current, and deserved his Baies,
That Lord of Penhurst, Penhurst ivhose sad ivalls
Yet mourne their master, in the Belgicke^^
Untimely lost ; to ivhose dear funeral Is
The Medwaie doth its constant tribute paye ;
But glorious Penhurst, Medwaies ivaters once
With Mincius shall, and Mergeline advance ;
Choyce Drollery, 1656. 281
The Shepherds Boy; best knoiven by that name
Colin : upon his homely Oaten Reed.
With Roman Tityrus may share in ffame ;
But ivhen a higher path hee strains to tread.
This is my ivonder : for ivho yet has seene
Soe cleare a Poeme as his Faierie Queene ?
The siveetest Swan of Avon ; to the fair e
And cruel Delia, passionatelie sings :
Other mens iveaknesses and follies are
Honour and Wit in him ; each Accent brings
A sprig to croivne him Poet j and contri've
A Monument, in his oivne ivorke to li'ue,
Draiton is siveet and smooth : though not exact.
Perhaps to stricter Eyes ; yet he shall Vfue
Beyond their Malice : to the Scene and Act,
Read Comicke Shakespeare ; or if you uuould give
Praise to a just Desert, croivning the Stage,
See Beaumont, once the honour of his Age,
The reverent Donne ; ivhose quill God purely fiVd,
Liveth to his Character : so though he claimed
A greater glory, may not be exil'd
This Commonivealth, &c.
Here pause a Utile: for I ivould not cloy [verse 15]
The curious Bare, ivith recitations ;
And meerily looke at names ; attend ivith joy,
Unto an English Quill, ivho rivalled once
Rome, not to make her blush ; and knoivne of late
Unenvied C cause unequalled) Laureate,
This, this ivas Jons ON; ivho in his oivn name
Carries his praise ; and may he shine alone ;
/ am not tyed to any gener all ffame.
Nor fixed by the Approbation
Of great ones : But I speake ivithout pretence
j Hee ivas <?/ English Dramatis kes, the Prince,
Page 10. Come, my White-head, let our Muses,
This was written by Sir Simeon Steward, or Stewart.
iThe numbers i and 2 of our text are twice incorrect in
282 Appendix.
original, viz. the loth and 14th verses, each assigned to i
I (Red-head), whereas they certainly belong to 2 (White-
head). From third verse the figure " i " has unfortu-
nately dropt in printing. By aid of Addit. MS. No. 1 1,
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 Pyrro-
trichus 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 ivho s be lopt ; Ruddy pates j 8th v. Red
like unto J colour; 9th. iV^ if ; do\h beare no -, s\de looks
as fair; other doth my; bear my [?] ; loth. Therefore,
methinks ; Besides, ^ ail the; 12th. N.B. — Yet ivhat
thy head must buy ivith yeares. Crosses ; That hath na-
ture ^i-z^'/z y 13th, be tivo friendly peeres; let us joy n j
make one beauteous ; 14th, [Leucothrix.'] We joyn'd our
heads; beat them to heart [I.e. to boot] ; V^disjust 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 totvn.
In Wm. Hickes his Oxford Drollery, 1 671, in Part 3rd,
("Poems made at Oxford, long since"), p. 157, this Epi-
gram appears, with variations. The second verse reads :
But being there a little uuhile, \\ He met ivith one so right
II That upon the French Disease |i It ivas his chance to
light. The final couplet is : — The French-man's Arms are
the sign ivithout, |j But the French-man's harrns are
ivithin.
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.
Choyce Drollery^ 1656. 283
except the name, unless Anthony a Wood has fortunately
preserved some record. These have not been system-
atically 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 sum-
mary : —
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 Re-
ception of Queen Henrietta Maria by the citizens of Lon-
don, 1625. The full title is this : — "The Author intend-
ing 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 Dcuer and
Callice.^^ It is thus the poem reappears, with some vari-
ations (beginning " Noiv list, you Lordlings, and attend,\\
Unto a Ballad ne'wly 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), re-
issued 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 se'v~
eral 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.j
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
284 Appendix.
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 8th. 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 pup-
pet, set up to be thrown at, during Lent. Perhaps it
was a substitute for a live Cock ; or else the Cock- throw-
ing 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 encouragment
is given to gambling at Chapel Bazaars with raffles for
pious purposes). In the Merry Wi'ves 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 : —
HoTu like a Jack-a-Lent
He stands, for hoys to spend their Shrove-tide throivs.
Or like a puppet made to frighten croivs.
(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 Entertain-
ment,^^ 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 Jaek-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.
Choyce Drollery y 1656. 285
Page 31. A Story strange Iivill you tell.
As to the burden (since some folks are inquisitive about
the etymology of Down derry down, or Ran-dan, &c.)j
we may note that in a queer book. The Lo'ves 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-dan-
cing 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 dif-
ferent " 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 " Beg-
gar'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, illus-
trative of practical suppression under the Commonwealth,
a contemporary record : —
A Song.
I.
The fourteenth ^/September
/ 'very ivell remember.
When people had eaten and fed ivell.
Many men, they say.
Would needs go see a Play,
But they saiv a great rout at the red Bull.
2S6 Appendix,
2.
The Soldiers they camey
(The blind and the lame)
To 'visit and undo the Players ;
And ivomen ivithotct Goivns,
They said they ivould ha've Croivns j
But they ivere no good Soothsayers.
3.
Then Jo : Wright they mety
Yet nothing could gety
And Tom Jay i' /A' same condition :
The fire men they
Would ha' made 'em a prey.
But they scorned 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 ivh . . . and the b .. . . ..,
Were e'very one at a losse^
But the Players 'were all
Turned (as iveakest) to the 'wall.
And 'tis thought had the greatest losse. \? cross^
(Wit's Merriment, or Lusty Drollery, 1 656, p. 88.)
One such raid on the poor actors (and probably at this
very theatre, the Red Bull, St. John's Street, Clerk-
enwell)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 appre-
Choyce Drollery, 1656. 287
hended 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 perfarm 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, ad-
dressing 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 ivith soon 2
More changeable and iva'vering than the moon.
And ivith thy ivanton looks attracting to thee
The amorous spectators for to ivoo thee.
Thither thou com^st in sei/eral forms and shapes
To make thee still a stranger to the place.
And train neiv lo'uers, like young birds, to scrapes.
And by thy habit so to change thy face ;
At this time plain, to-morroiv all in lace :
N01V in the richest colours to be had ;
The next day all in mourning, black and sad. &C.
Page 33 . Oh fire, fire, fire, uuhere ?
Despite our repugnance to mutilate a text (see Introduc-
tion to Westminster Drollery, p. 6 ; ditto to Merry Drol-
288 Appendix,
lery 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 " Exe-
cration upon Vulcan," before June, 1629 ; an event
deeply to be regretted : also to the whimsical account of
the fire on London Bridge (see Merrv Drollery, Compleat,
pp. 87, 369, and Additional Note in present volume, tra-
cing 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 Creuu of kind London Gossips, 1663, p. 72).
Page 38. In Eighty Eight, ere I ivas 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. Over-
bury in his Characters, as fascinating a Chambermaid,
and tempting her to turn lady-errant. " The book is bet-
ter 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 ivill 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.
Choyce Drollery y 1656, 289
Haue in our Kalendar 'vnto their shame,
A ioyful Holy-day cald by their Name,
Jeremiah Wells has among his Poems on Se'veral Occa-
sions, i66j, one, at p. 9, "On Gunpowder Treason," be-
gianing "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 vol-
ume is interesting, as containing a Poem on the Rebuild-
ing 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 illcs lachrymte 1 Faux, Vaux, or
Fawkes must have been a noble, though slightly mis-
guided, enthusiast; for he had intended to perish, like
Samson, with his victims. All good Protestants now ad-
mire 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 ac-
counts 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 top, Mel., iii. 52
U
290 Appendix,
P^-ge 55. Idol of our Sex ! &c.
This Lady Carnarvon was the wife of Robert Dormer,
second Baron Dormer, created Vise. Ascott, or Herld,
and Earl of Carnarvon, 2d Aug., 1628. Obiit 1643. He
fell at the Battle of Newbury, 20th Sept. (See Claren-
don'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 be- ■
came extinct. The poem was written at his birth, on I
January ist.
Page 57. Uds body kins I Chill ivork no more.
We find this, a year earlier, (an inferior version, lacking
third verse, but longer,) as Cockbodykins, chill, &c., in
Wifs Interpreter, p. 143, 1655; ^^^ p. 247, 167 1. 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 cor-
ruption of that is fetched ; horses in a hole (W. Int.) ;
vange thy note, is take thy note. (do). Prob. date, 1647.
The Second Part. i
THen straight came ruffling to my dore, \
Some dozens of these rogues, or more ;
So zausie they be gronvn.
Facks\_^ if they come, doivn they sit,
TheyH neuer ask me lea've one ivhit.
They' I take all for their oivn.
Then ich provision straight must make.
And from my Chymney needs must take.
And zflitch both pure and good, [a flitch]
Oh ! 'tuuould melt a Christians heart to see.
That such good Bacon spoiled should be,
'Tivas as red as any blood.
But in it ivould, luhether chud or not.
Together ivith Beans into the pot.
As siveet as any ifiggs.
Choyce Drollery, 1656. 291
And ivhen chwue done all that I am able,
They^l slat it doivn all under table.
And zivear they be no Pigs,
Then Ize did intreat their ivorships to be quiet y
And ich ivould strive to mend their diet.
And they shall ha've finer feeding.
They zivear 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 ivith all her brood _;
And then perhaps theyH eat.
But of late ich had a creiv together.
They ivere meer deuils, ich ask^d them ivhether
That they ivere not of our nation.
Good Lord defend us from all zuch.
They zaid they ivere ivild Irish, or else Dutch,
They ivere of the Deuils generation.
And uuhen these raskals ivent aivay.
What e*re you thing they did me repay
Ich ivill not you deceive.
Facks[f\ just as folks go to a vaire.
They uaidled up my goods and ivare.
And so they took their leave,
ivhat a clutter they did make
Our house for Babel they did take.
We could not understand a jot.
Yet they did knoiv ivhat did belong
To drink and zivear in our oivn tongue.
Such language they had a got.
Nor home ich any zafe aboad.
If that Ise chance to go abroad.
These rogues ivill come to spy me ;
U 2
292 Appendix,
Then zurrah, zurrah, quoth they, tarry.
We knotv false letters you do carry,
And so they come to try me.
For as sivift 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 sil'ver ivrit ;
You may go take your course.
A Trouper toother day did greet me,
[..... Lost line.]
But could you guesse the reason.
Thou art, quoth he, a rebel, Kna'ue,
And zo thou dost thy zelfheha've.
For thou doest uuhistle treason 4
Nor 'was this raskal much to blame.
For all his mates zivore just the zame,
Thatich iv as 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, 167 1 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. / keep my horse, I keep, &c.
This lively ditty is sung by Latrocinio in the comedy of
"The Widow," A61 iii. sc. i, 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 Wifs
Interpreter, 1655, p. 69; 167 1, p. 175; and elsewhere.
See Dyce's Middleton, iii. 383, and Dodsley's Old Plays,
1744, vi. 34.
Choyce Drollery^ 1656. 293
Page 61. There is not halfe so ivarm 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 ivith ivhat
is.'' Our present text gives us the true word, "dully.''
Page 62. Fuller ofivish, than hope, &c.
Fuller's book, "A Pisgah sight of Palestine," was pub-
lished about 1649. The epitaph " Here lies Fuller's
earth," is well known. He died in 1661.
Page 63. Cloris, noiv thou art fled aivay.
The author of this song was Dr. Henry Hughes.
Henry Lawes gives the music to it, in his "Ay res," 1669,
Bk. iii. p. 10. It is also in J. P.'s Sporti've 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 Sporti've Wit there are variations as well as an
Answer, which we here give. The different title seems
consequent on the Answer presupposing that Aniintas has
not died, merely disappeared. It is " A Shepherd fallen
in Love : A Pastoral." The readings are ; Lambkins
folloiv ; They're gone, they're ; Dog hoiuling lyes. While
he laments ivith ivoful cryes ; Oh Cloris, Cloris, I decay.
And forced am to cry ivell, ^c. Sixth verse there
omitted. It has, however, on p. 16 : —
The Ansiver,
[1656.]
CLoris, since thou art gone astray,
Amyntas Shepherd's fled aivay j
And all the joys he ivont to spye
I' th' pretty babies of thine eye.
Are gone ; and she hath none to say
But ivho can help ivhat will away, will away I
U3
294 Appe7idix,
The Green on ivhich it ivas her [ ? his'\ chance
To ha've 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, ivho can help ivhat will away, will away ?
The Laivn ivith ivhich sheivont to deck
And circle in her ivhiter neck ;
Her Apron lies hehinde the door :
The strings ivon^t reach noiv as before :
Which makes her oft cry well-a-day :
But ivho can help ivhat will 3cw2iy t
He often sivore that he ivould leave me.
Ere of my heart he could bereaue me:
But ivhen the Signe ivas in the tail.
He kneiv poor Maiden-flesh ivas frail ;
And laughs noiv I hai^e nought to say.
But ivho can help ivhat 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 ivent to bed :
For ivhat can all the ivorld more say.
Than ivho can help ivhat will away ?
(Sportiife Wit j or. The Muses* Merriment.)
Page 68. / 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 Sellen-
ger'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 ^r^^ began.
Not yet found elsewhere, in MS. or print. The sixth
Choyce Drollery^ 1656. 295
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 per-
sons who had ^^6 per annum in King James I.'s time.
COme all you farmers out of the country^
Carters, ploivmen, hedgers and all,
Tom, Dick and Will, Ralph, Roger and Humfrey,
Lea've off your gestures rusticall.
Bidd all your home-sponne russetts adue.
And sute your sel'ves in fashions neiv ;
Honour in'vites you to delights :
Come all to Court and be made Knights,
He that hath fortie pounds per annum
Shalbe promoted from the ploive :
His zuife shall take the ivall of her gr annum.
Honour is sould soe dog-cheap noiv.
Though thoiv hast neither good birth nor breedings
If thou hast money, thoiv art sure of speeding.
3.
Knighthood in old time ivas counted an honour.
Which the best spiritts did not disdayne :
But noiv it is us^d in so base a manner.
That it's noe creditt, but rather a staine :
Tush, ifs noe matter ivhat people doe say.
The name of a Knight a ivhole village ivill sivay^
4.
Shepheards, leave singing your pastor all sonnetts.
And to learne complem,ents sheiv your endeavours i
Cast of\_f]for ever your tvuo shillinge bonnetts^
Cover your coxcombs ivith three pound beavers.
Sell carte and tarrboxe nezv coaches to buy.
Then, "Good your Worship,^' the vulgar ivill cry,
V 4
296 Appendix^
5.
And thus unto ivorshipp being ad'vanced,
Keepe all your tenants in aive ivith your fro^unes ; ]
And let your rents be yearly inhaunced.
To buy your neiv-moulded maddams netv goiuns.
Joan, Sisse, and Nell shalbe all ladified.
Instead of hay ^carts, in coaches shall ryde^
6.
Whate'ver you doe, ha've a care of expenses y
In hospitality doe not exceed :
Greatnes offolloivers belongeth to princes :
A Coachman and footmen are all that you need :
And still obseri/e this, let your servants meate lacke.
To keep bra've apparel upon your ivi'ves backe.
[Additional stanza from Mr. Hunter's MS J
7.
Nouu to conclude, and shutt up my sonnett,
Lea've of the Cart-ivhip, hedge-bill andfiaile.
This is my counsell, think ivell upon it.
Knighthood and honour are noiv put to saile.
Then make haste quickly, and lett out your far mes.
And take my aduice in blazing your armes^
Honor in'uites, ^c,
(Shakespeare Soc, 1846, pp. 145-6, J. O. Halfiwell's
Commentary on Merry Wives of Windsor, Act. ii. sc. i,
" 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 y2. The Chandler dreuu near his end.
Another tolerable Epigram on a Chandler meets us, be-
ginning *' How might his days end that made weeks
[wicks]?" among the Epitaphs of Wits Recreations,
1640-5. ( Reprint, p . 2 7 1 ) .
Choyce Drollery ^ 1656. 297
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 Doivsabell,
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 Phoebe :" Ideas Latm'vs.
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 tivelfth day of December.
This ballad, a very early example of the Boivn doivn
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 Ed-
ward Vlth'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 impru-
dently 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 gov-
298 Appendix.
ernment of a King's person, and then the protection of
all his realms." We learn that the Scots slain were ten-
fold 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 Ex-
pedition into Scotland of the most ivorthily -fortunate Prince
Edivard 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, Lon-
doner. 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/^c^] 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 {'R.e^v., ^. ig)', Roxb. Libn Carew, p.
6, &c.
Page 81. Blacke Eyes, in your dark Oris doe lye.
By James Howell, Historiographer to Charles II.,
and author of the celebrated Epistolce Ho-Eliams, 1645,
1647, 1650, and 1655. He died in November, 1666;
according to Anthony a Wood, (whose account of him in
the AthencB 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 Epis-
tolal). This poem of " Black eyes," &c., occurs among
Howell's poems collected by Serjeant- Major Peter
Fisher, p. 68, 1663; again re-issued (the same sheets) as
^^Mr. Hoivell*s Poems upon diuers Emergent Occasions ;
Printed by James Cottrel, and dated 1664. It is also
found in C. F.'s Wit at a Venture ; or, Clio's Prwy Gar-
den, -containing Songs and Poems on Several Occasions,
Choyce Drollery, 1656. 299
Never before in Print" (which statement is incorrect,
as usual). Our text is the earliest we know in type. The
only variations, in HoiveWs Poems, are : ist 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.
II, 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. Melan^
choly, 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. / 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 sus-
picions, 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 nervG
fresh readers to emulate their virtues, despite the sickly^r
300 Appendix.
fancies or grovelling politics and social theories of degen-
erate 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 Drol-
lery seem to have often chosen pieces simply for contrast.
Thus, after the manly directness of "The Doctor's Touch-
stone," we find the vilely mercenary husband here ex-
hibited, and followed by the truthful description (justifi-
able, although coarsely outspoken) of "The baseness of
Whores." Such were they of old : such are they ever.
Page 92. Let not Siveet Saint, &c.
Like the three preceding poems, not yet found elsewhere,
but worthy of preservation.
Page 93. Hoiv 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 appear-
ance in print, known to us, of this characteristic outburst
of Cavalier vivacity, which re-appears as the Musician's
Song, in "CromivelPs Conspiracy, ^^ 1660, Act iii. sc. 2;
and Merry Drollery, 1661, p. loi. (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 uin la 'verite.
Si le 'vin n'aide a ma foihlesse,
Toute la docte antiquite
Dans le 'vin puisa la sagesse,
Choyce Drollery y 16^6. 30 1
Oui c'est par le hon 'vin que le hon sens eclate,
jf^en atteste Hypocrate,
Oui dit qu'il fait a chaque mois
)u moins s'enivrer une fois, ^c.
(The other twelve verses are given complete in "Brallag-
han ; 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 I O hoiv I hum, ^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.
I.
Ire, Fire,
Is there no help for thy desire ?
Are tears all spent ? Is Humber loiv ?
Doth Trent stand still ? Doth Thames notfloiv?
Though all these can^t thy Fewver 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 [stilf] left for thy desire.
Since that the Rainboiv in the skye.
Is bent a deluge to deny.
As loth for thee a God should Lye.
Let gentle Rope come dangling doivn.
One born to hang shall ne'ver drouun.
And since thou can^st not quench the Fire,
Go hang thy self, and thy desire 1
{Latine Songs, 1685, p. 140.)
F^
302 Appendix,
Page 98. ^Tis not hoiv ivitiy, nor hoivfree,
A year earlier, this had appeared in Wifs 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 be-
lieve it to be by the same author as the poem next follow-
ing, 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 Wifs Inter-
preter, 1655, p. 55 ( ; 1 67 1 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 i — Verse 2, meanest wit; a-nd yet a; 3,
His dear addresses ; walls be Mck or stone.
Page 100. 'Tis late and cold, stir up the fire.
This Song, by John Fletcher, in his Lo'ver^s Progress,
Act iii. sc. I., before 1625. The music is found in Addi-
tional 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, 1 670, 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 conse-
crated ground, is so humorously described. His fore-
warnings of death to Cleander are, to our mind, of thrilling
interest. These scenes were Sir Walter Scott's favour-
ites ; but Leigh Hunt, perversely, could see no merit in
them. We believe that the tinge of sepulchral dullness
Choyce Drollery^ 1656. 303
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 Re-
bellion, and they probably never conceived that it was
near. Beaumont, with his statelier reserve, and his ten-
dency 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, doubt-
less, to fulfil the wish that he had long before expressed,
himself, almost prophetically: —
" Let me not Vwe^^ —
Thus his good melancholy oft began, . , . .
'^ After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff
Of younger spirits, ivhose apprehensi've senses
All but neiv things disdain ; ivhose judgments are
Mere fathers of their garments ; ivhose constancies
Expire before their fashions :^' — this he ivished,
Fletcher survived nine years, and battled on with some-
what 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
304 Appendix,
French Princess which did so much to lead him and his j
country into ruin. The year 1625 was the separating I
date between the autumnal ripeness and the chill of fruit- )
less winter. A sunny glow remains on Fletcher to the j
last. With him it fades, and the world that he had
known is changed.
[End of Notes to Choyce Drollery. 1
APPENDIX
305
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 dressM 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. i.)
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 sep-
arate 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,
X
3o6 Appendix,
To no other living writer are we lovers of old litera-
ture 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 re-
prints of rare originals, his series of the more than
*'Se'ven Early Poetical Miscellanies'' was a work of great-
est 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 Lan-
guage," his "Annals of the Stage," "The Poetical Decani^
eron" his charming "Book oj 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
erf 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 th^ 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
Antidote against Melancholy, z66i. ^^7
^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 Melan-
choly' 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 mu-
tilate 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 appear-
ance 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 repeti-
tion 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. i). Nat 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
X 2
3o8 Appendix,
that Catch Can/' p. 5, 1652. It is also in Wit^s Merri-
ment ; or. Lusty Drollery, 1656, p. 118; eight verses only.
These are : i. 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 La-
b'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. Accord-
ingly, 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 Creiv 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 "Crezu," &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 bothy
I met ivith a man upon Aylesbury Vale,
I saiv in his face that he ivas 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, loth, 26th, and
50th ; concerning the hedger, beggar, widow, clerk, and
amicable conclusion over a tankard of ale. In a Conui'vial
Songster, of 1807, by Tegg, London, these six are given
with addition of another as fifth : —
The old parish Vicar, ivhen he^s in his liquor.
Will merrily at his parishioners rail.
Antidote against Melancholy. 1661. 309
** Comeypay all your tithes, or Vll kiss all your ivi'veSy*
When once he shakes hands ivith 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 j^^
So cheerful he^ll sing, and make the house ring.
When once he shakes hands ivith 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 driue in the nail ;
Will spend a ivhole croivn, at one sitting douun.
When once he shakes hands ivith a tankard of ale,
Laru, ^c.
There* s the mason, brave John, the caruer of stone.
The Master's grand secret he'll never reveal ;
Yet hoiv merry is he ivith his lass on his knee.
When once he shakes hands ivith a tankard of ale,
Laru, ^c.
You maids ivho feel shame, pray me do not blame.
Though your private ongoings in public I tell ;
Young Bridget and Nell to kiss ivill not fail
When once they shake hands ivith a tankard of ale.
Laru, ^c.
There's some jolly ivives, love drink as their lives.
Dear neighbours but mind the sad thread of my tale ;
Their husbands they'll scorn, as sure's they ivere born.
If once they shake hands ivith a tankard of ale,
Laru, ^c.
From ivr angling or jangling, and ev'ry such strife.
Or anything else that may happen to fall ;
From ivords come to bloivs, and sharp bloody nose.
But friends again over a tankard of ale,
Laru, ^c.
3IO Appendix,
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 ne'ver had peer ;
H(nv ivent his ivit in them^ ivith hcnv merry a gale.
And ivith all the sails up, had he been at the cup.
And ivashed his beard ivith 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 lones; dwelling neere Holbourne
Bridge : 1584)," has the place of honour in the Rox-
burghe 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. Haz-
litt, 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 : —
Hie situs est sitiens, atque ebrius Eldertonus —
Quid dico — Hie situs est ? hie 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 ivell be said.
Here he, but not his thirst, is laid.
Antidote against Melancholy. 1661. 311
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 shoivs it cost him very dear j
In ale, and toast, and spice, he spent good store of coin.
You need not ask him tivice to take a cup ofivine,
. But though his nose ivas red, his hand ivas very ivhite.
In ivork it never sped, nor took in it delight ;
No marvel therefore ''tis, that ivhite should he his hand.
That ballets ivrit a score, as you zuell understand,
(See Wm. Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time,
pp. 107, 815; and J. P. Collier's Extracts from Reg. Stat.
Qoxxv^., passim. Indices, art, Eiderton; 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 : svueet human love is gone J
' Tis only ^when they spring to heaven that angels
Reveal themselves to you ; they sit all day
Beside you, and lie dovun at night by you
Who care not for their presence, muse or sleep^
And all at once they leave you, and you knovu themi
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
X4
312 Appendix,
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. 17 16,
IV. 108) ; with the Music, in Pills, iii. 271 ; in Philomel,
130, 1744; Percy's Reliques, ii. Bk. 3, No. 8, 1767; Rit-
son'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 i6th 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 neiv Beard but lately trimmed.
With a netv lo've-lock neatly kemm^d.
With a neuj fa'vour snatched or nimm^d.
With a neuu doublet, Yv&nch-like trimmed ;
And a neuu gate, as if he sivimm^d ;
Like a new Souldier of the King's,
And the King's new Souldier.
With a neuu feather in his Cap ;
With netv ivhite bootes, ivithout a strap ; &c.
In the same edition of Wit and Drollery, p. 165, is yet
another parody, headed ^^Old Souldier s,^^ which runs
thus (see Westminster-Drollery , ii. 24, 1672,) : —
Of Old Souldiers the song you ivould hear.
And ive old fiddlers ha've forgot ivho they ivere,
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."
Antidote against Melancholy. 1661. 313
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, anglice 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., i659-[6o],
and is on the overthrow of the Rump, by General Monk.
It begins thus : —
Neuus ! neuus I here's the occurrences and a ne%v
Mercurius,
A dialogue betiveen Haselrigg the baffled and
Arthur the furious ;
With Ireton's readings upon legitimate and spurious,
Pro'ving that a Saint may he 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 suc-
cessfully as " The Queen's Old Courtier," of which "The
Fine Old English Gentleman " is no unworthy represen-
tative. Popular though it was, thirty or forty years
ago, it is not easily met with now ; thus we may be ex-
cused for adding it here : —
THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN.
/^LL sing you a good old song, made by a good old pate.
Of a fine old English gentleman, ivho had an old
estate.
And ivho kept up his old mansion, at a bountiful old
rate ;
With a good old porter to relie^ve the old poor at his gate.
Like a fine old English gentleman, all of the olden time.
His hall so old ivas hung around ivith pikes, and guns,
and bouus.
And suuords, and good old bucklers, that had stood
against old foes j
3 14 Appendix,
' Tivas there ^^his 'worship " held his state in doublet and
trunk hose^
And quaffed his cup of good old Sack, to ivarm his good
old nose :
Like a fine old English gentleman, ^c.
When Winter* s cold brought frost and snoiv, he opened
house to all ;
And though threescore and ten his years, he Jeatly led
the ball ^
Nor IV as the houseless ivanderer e* er dri'venfrom his hall.
For, ivhile he feasted all the great, he ne^er forgot the
small :
Like a fine old English gentleman, ^c.
But time, though siveet, is strong in flight, and years
' roll snviftiy by ;
And autum* s falling leaves proclaim^ d, the old man —
he must die I
He laid him doivn right tranquilly, gave up lif^s latest
sigh ;
While a heavy stillness reigned around, and tears
dimmed every eye.
For this good old English gentleman, ^c.
Novo surely this is better far than all the nevu parade
Of theatres and fancy balls, "At Home," and masquer^
ade J
And much more economical, ivhen all the bills are paid :
Then leave your nevu 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.
Antidote against Melancholy, 1661. 315
He kept up his 'vagaries at a most astounding rate.
And likezuise his old Landlady, — by staying out so late.
Like a fine young English gentleman, one of the
present time, ^c.
T. R. Planche wrote a parody to the same tune, in his
" Golden Fleece," on the " Fine Young Grecian Gentle-
man," lason, 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) be-
ginning, "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 pro've himself a man.
To ser've a friend, and beat a foe it alivays ivas 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 lea've piping, ^c.
Given already, in our Appendix to the Westminster DroU
lery, p. liv., with note of tune and locality. See Addi-
tional Note in Part 3 of present Appendix.
Page 129 (orig. 26). Why should ive boast (j/ 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.
3i6 Appendix.
Along with the music in Pills to p. Mel., iii. ii6, 17 19,
are the extra verses (also in Wit and Mirth, 1684, p. 29?)
agreeing with the Antidote ; as does the version in Old
Eds,, i. 24, 1723.
Another old ballad, in the last-named collection, p.
153, is upon " King Edward and Jane Shore ; in Imita-
tion, and to the Tune of, St. George and the Dragon.^*
It begins (in better version) : —
Why should ive boast (j/Lais and her knights,
Knoiving such Champions entrapt by Whorish Lights ?
Or ivhy should ive speak ^ 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. Gay ton's Festiuous 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 foUoweth,
^^Hey 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 li'v'd so and dyed, —
SheHl ne'r do so againe.""
Somewhat different is the earlier version, in Wit's Recre-
ations, 1640-45. (Reprint, p. 194, which see, "To save
a maid," &c.) The Answer to it is probably Gay ton's
own.
Antidote against Melancholy, 1661. 317
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 L, 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 Par-
liamentarians, in 1648, when "Blew caps" became hate-
ful 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 : droivne,
for dare, in 4th line ; long locked, 26th line ; for further
exercises, 28th ; Mistris (so we should read Maitresse, not
a metrel) , 2gt\\ ', Pe gar me do love you (not "Dear"),
30th; 5^^ replide. The First Part ends with the Irish-
man. The Second Part begins with two verses not in
the Antidote : —
A Dainty spruce Spanyard, ivith haire black asjett,
long cloak ivith round cape, a long Rapier and Pon-
yard:
Hee told her if that she could Scotland forget,
hee^ d sheiv her the Vines as they groiv in the Vineyard.
" If thou ivilt abandon
this Country so cold,
Pll shoiv thee fair e Spaine,
and much Indian gold.^^
But stil she replide, " Sir,
I pray let me be j
Gif ever I have a man,
Blew-cap for me."
A haughty high German of Hamborough toivne,
a proper tall gallant, ivith mighty mustachoes ;
3i8 Appendix.
He iveepes if the Lasse 'vpon him doe but froivne,
yet he's a great Fencer that comes to ore^match zfs.
But yet all his fine fencing
Could not get the Lasse :
She deny'd him so oft,
that he ivearyed ivas ;
For still she replide, " Sir^
I pray let me be j
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 SutorSy of seuerall Lands, [4]
did daily solicit e this Lasse for her fauour ;
And euery one of them alike imderstands
that to ivin the prize they in iKiine did endeauour t
For she had resolued
(as I before said)
To haue bonny Bleiv-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 (ivith a hleuu^cap),
and he ivas the party for ivhom she had tarry* d :
To get this blithe bonny Lasse ^tuuas his gude hap, —
they gan^d to the Kirk, Sf ivere presently marry^d,
I ken not iveele ivhether
it ivere 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."
Antidote against Melancholy. 1661. 319
The song is also reprinted for the Percy Society, (Fair-
holt'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," ac-
cording 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 j
in Percy Society's "Costume," 1849, 115, with woodcuts
of several of the caps mentioned.
In Sporti've Wit, 1656, p. 23, is a second verse (coming
before " The Monmouth Cap," &c.) : —
2. — The Cap doth stand, each man can shoiv,
Abo've a Croivn, but Kings beloiv :
The Cap is nearer heai/n than ive ;
A greater sign of Majestic :
When off the Cap ive chance to take.
Both head and feet obeysance make ;.
For any Cap, &:c.
320 Appendix,
In our 3rd verse, it reads : — ever brought. The quilted^
Furr'd; creivel; 4th verse, line 6, of (some say) a horn.
5th verse, crooked cause aright ; Which, being round and
endless, knoivs || To make as endless any cause [A better
versiori]. (^\S\,jindes 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 Gyanfs Crown. 8th,
Sick-w^;z5 ; When hats in Church drop off apace. This
Cap ne'er lea'ves the head uncased. Though he be ill ;
[two next verses are expanded into three, in Sp. WitJ\
nth, none but Graduats [N.B.] ; none covered are; But
those that to ; go bare. This Cap, of all the Caps that be,
Is nozv ; high degree.
Page 139 (orig. 37). Once la curious eye did fix.
This is in Thomas Weaver's Songs and Poems of Lo've
and Drollery, p. 16, 1654. Elsewhere attributed to John
Cleveland (who died in 1658), and printed among his
Poems "J. Clea'vland Re'vi'ved" p. 106, 3rd edit. 1662),
as " The Schismatick," with a trashy fifth verse (not
found elsewhere) : —
/ heard of one did touch.
He did tell as much.
Of one that ivould not crouch
At Communion ;
Who thrusting up his hand
Ne'ver made a stand
Till he came ivhere her f had union ;
She ivithout all terrour.
Thought it no errour.
But did laugh till the tears doivn 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
6'^s.,i. 131, 1731.
Page 139 (orig. 47), Vs not come hereto tauk ofVwX.
/By Ben Jonson. This is the song of the Welshmen,
Antidote against Melancholy, 1661. 321
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,
161 8- 19. The final verse is omitted from the Antidote
against Melancholy, It is this (sung by Rheese) : —
Au, hut ivhat say yoiv should it shance too.
That ive should leap it in a dance too.
And make it you as great a pleasure.
If but your eyes be notv at leisure j . *
As in your ears s'all league a laughter.
To last upon you six days after f
Ha I ivell-a-go to, let us try to do.
As your old Britton, things to be ivrit on.
Chorus. — Come, put on other looks noiv,
And lay aivay your hooks noiv ;
And though yet yoiv ha^ no pump, sirs.
Let 'em hear that yoiv can jump, sirs.
Still, still, ive' II toudge your ears.
With the praise of her thirteen s'eeres,
(See Col. F. Cunningham's "Mermaid" Ben Jonson, iii.
130-2, for Gilford's Notes.) With a quaint old woodcut
of a strutting Welshman, in cap and feather, the song re-
appears 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. loi : 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 Sportiue 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 :—
Y
322 Appendix,
4.
The stout-brested Lombard, His brains ne^er incumbred,
With drinking of Gallons three j
Trycongius ivas named. And by Q^S2X famed y
Who dubbed him Knight Cap-a-pee.
5.
If then Honour be in^t. Why a Pox should ive stint
Oursel'ves 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 ivill giue him the Rout, Be he ne^er so stout\f\
And prepare for his Rallying agen,
8 (Final).
Lefs drain the ivhole 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 Peasan-
try, Bell's annotated edit., p. 159) and "Bacchus Over-
come," 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
Antidote against Melancholy. 1661. 323
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 Ay res, 1659, P- §6, entitled Glee to the Cook. A
poem attributed to Thomas Flatman, 1655, begins, "A
Chine of Beef, God save us all !"
Page 147. In Lo'ue ? auuay 1 you do me ivrong.
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, Noiv that the Spring, &c.
This was written by Willm. Browne, author of "Britan-
nia'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 aivay, to the Ta'vern, 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 re-
joinder in Henry IV., pt. i. Suckling was accustomed to
Y 2
324 Appendix.
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 Parlia-
mentary Troopers, beginning with the same first line, in
Oxford Drollery, i. 21, 1671! Written before 1659, thus :
Come, come aivay, to the Ta'vern, I say.
Whilst ive ha've time and leisure for to think ;
I find our State lyes tottering of late.
And that e^re long ive sha^nU ha've 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 ivas 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, ist
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, ivho shall drink.
In J. Hilton's Catch that Catch Can, 1652, p. 55, with
music by William Lawes ; and in John Playford's Mu-
sical Companion, 1673, p. 24.
Page 151. Ne'ver let a man take heavily, &fr.
With music by William Lawes, in Hilton's Catch that
Catch Can, 1652, p. 38.
Page 152. Lefs cast aivay care, and merrily sing.
With music by William Lawes, in Hilton's Catch that
Antidote against Melancholy, 1661. 325
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 sorroiv, and cast aivay 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, entided " Joy and Sorrow Mixt Together,"
which begins,
TTAng Sorroiv ! lefs cast aivay care,
J- -^ for noiv I do mean to he merry ;
Wee* I drink some good Ale and strong Beere,
With Sugar, and Clarret, and Sherry,
Noiv He haite a ivife of mine oivn :
I shall haue no need for to horroiv ;
Iivould haue it for to be knoivn
that I shall he married to morroiv.
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 sur-
vives 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 Anti^
dote ; which is also in Oxford Drollery, Pt. 3, p. 136,
there entitled " A Cup of Sack : — " Hang Sorroiv, 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,
Y3
326 Appendix,
rie ne*ver be strange, for if thou ivilt change
Pie barter my Lady for thine :
She is as free, and ivilling to be
To any thing I command,
I voiv like a friend, I ne'ver intend
To put a bad thing in thy hand :
Then be as frollick and free [p. 137.]
With her as thou ivouPst ivith thine oivn,
But let her not lack good Claret and Sack,
To make her come off and come on*
Come drink, ive cannot ivant Chink,
Obser'ue hoiv 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 ofOoXoh^,
For Bacchus is he that ivill not agree
A man should go to bed sober :
' Tis ivine, both neat and fine.
That is the faces adorning.
No Doctor can cure, ivith 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 com-
mand, 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, 1 674, Part iii. p. 163, as "made at
Oxford many years since.: —
Antidote against Melancholy. 1661. 327
My Lady and her Maid
Were late at Course-a-Park :
The ivind bleiv out the candle, and
She ivent 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, hoiv 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, regard-
ing 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.
Y4
328 Appendix,
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 meet-
ings as The Apollo Club ; for which the Leges Cori'vi'vi'
ales 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 Kenilzuorth Letter {Ke-
printed for Ballad Society, 187 1, p. cxxxi.), the song ap-
pears 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 hefatt? ^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" (AT. D. C, p. 232), which is connected
with Sir Toby Belch's joviality in Tivelfth Night, A61 ii. 3.
Page 155. Of all the birds that e'ver 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 Ravens-
croft's ?) Deuteromelia ; or, the Second Part of Music k^s
Melodic, &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 clones.
And that ga've me my jolly red nose.
Of course, it was the spice deserved blame, not the liquor
(as Sam Weller observed, on a similar occasion, " Some-
how 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
Antidote against Melancholy, 1661. 329
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 161 3,
Adl 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 ivho gwue thee this jolly red nose ?
Cinnamon and ginger, nutmegs and cloves.
And they gwve me this jolly red nose.
And we know, by A Booke of Merrie Riddles, 1630, and
1 63 1, 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 J are ive 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 pat h-ivay ,
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), A61 iv. sc.
2. Whether the latter portion of the song was also by
him (nay, more, whether he a6lually 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.
330 Appendix,
according to the Autolycusian rule of faith. It is in
Windsor Drollery, p. 30; and our Introduction to West-
minster -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 ; 167 1, 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, ivelcome, again to thy zuits.
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 Restora-
tion merriment, the Antidote against Melancholy , oi 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 'vou/d he had sivitch^d and spur-galPd his Muse,
But still the dull Jade kept to her old trot.
Antidote against Melancholy. 1661. 331
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 Sec-
tion Fourth : —
The noble Overburies Quill has left [verse 20]
A better Wife then he could e'uer find :
I ivill not search too deep, lest I should lift
Dust from the dead : Strange poiver, of ivomankind.
To raise and ruine j for all he ivill claime,
As from that sex; his Birth, his Death, his Fame.
But I spin out too long : let me draiv up
My thred, to honour names, of my oivne time
Without their Eulogies, for it may stop
With Circumstantiall Termes, a ivearie 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,*
The devine Herbert, and the Fletchers tivaine,
Habinton, Shirley, Stapilton ; / stay [N.B.]
Too much on names : yet may I not forget
Davenant, and Suckling, eminent in ivitt.
Waller, not ivants, the glory of his ijerse ;
And meets, a noble praise in e'very line ;
What should I adde in honour ? to reherse.
Admired Cleveland 1 by a uerse of mine?
Or giue y^ glorious Muse of Denham praise ?
Soe ^withering Brambles stand, to li'veing Bayes.
These may suffice ; not only to ad'vance
Our English honour, but for ever cr oivne
* [In margin, a later-inserted line reads :
** Godolphin, Cartwright, Beaumont, Montague.'*]
332 Appendix,
Poesie, Who've the reach of Ignorance ;
Our dull fooles unmo'v^d, admire their oivne
Stupiditie ; and all beyond their sphere
As Madnes, and but tingling in the Eare,
[Final Verse.]
Great Flame! ivhose raies at once ha've poiver to peirce
The frosted skull of Ignorance, and close
The mouth of En'vie : if I bring a 'verse
Unapt to mx)'ve ; my admiration floives
With humble Loz>e and Zeale in the intent
To a clear e Rapture, from the Argument,
(G. D.'s "^ Vindication of Poesie, ^^^
End of Notes to Antidote,
333
APPENDIX. Part 3.
§ I. — EXTRA SONGS IN THE
WESTMINSTER-DROLLERY. 1674.
" A living Drollery I" (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-Drol-
lery, Part I St. 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 inso-
much that our readers do not, like the original pur-
chasers, 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 imme-
diately 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 ob-
jectionable and relinquishablej^^^//^^ but ten songs,
334 Appendix,
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, ^ Wife I do hate - 1671
— 10. Dryden's, Phillis Unkind: Wherever I am do.
— • 15. Unknown, O you poiverful gods, - - ? do.
— 28. T. Shadwell's, Thus all our life long, - 1669
— 30. Dryden's, Cellamina, of my heart, - - 167 1
— 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 Gary's, Fareivell,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 improb-
ably 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 Pri'vy^
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 hurpan eyes to
pry ;" " Oh that I ne'er had known the power of Love;"
** Must I be silent ? no, and yet forbear;" " Cease, wan-
dering thought, and let her brain " (this is Shirley's, in
Westminster-Drollery y 16^4, 335
the " Triumph of Beauty," 1645) j " 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 ivretched are the sick of Lo've, 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, en-
titled The Souldier's Song; 13th line reads "Where ive
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 en-
titled The Murdered Enemy ; reading Clarissa for Ca-
milla ; 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. H01V frailty makes us to our ivrong.
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, ivhile ali've, in playing took great pains.
Performing all his acts ivith curious art.
Till Death appeared, and smote him ivith 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.
336
§ 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, beginnmg : —
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 ivhole Acre,
I have plovued in her field, ivho ivill may take her.
Part I., p. 105. Hicjacet, 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. Iviii).
Part I., p. 106. There is not half so ivarm, ^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. Iv.) 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 men-
tions catching the mare " Napping up a tree "). Perhaps
the following may be the song reported as being sung in ,
South Devon : —
J
Westminster-Drollery^ i6y4. 337
MOSS tuas a little man, and a little mare did buy.
For kicking and for spraivling none her could
come nigh ;
She could trot, she could amble, and could canter here
and there.
But one night she strayed aivay — 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 ril tell you by and bye, hoiv Moss caught his mare.
Rise ! stupid, rise ! he thus to her did say.
Arise you beast, you droivsy beast, get up ivithout delay.
For I must ride you to the toivn, 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 aerugo, even of ceruca. It may do for South
Devon, and for Aylesbury farmers over their " beer and
hsicca.,'' but not for us. The true Mosse found his gen-
uine mare veritably " napping " (not dead), up a real tree.
In John Taylor's "A Sivarme of Sectaries and Schis-
matiq'ves,^^ 1641, his motto is (concerning Sam Howe
lecturing from a tub).
The Cobler preaches and his Audience are
As ivise as Mosse ivas, ivhen he caught his Mare.
Part II., page 89. Cheer up, my mates, ^c.
(See Appendix to Westm. Droll., p. Ixii.) The author of
this froUicsome ditty was no other than Abraham Cow-
ley (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 gentle-
ness. It is that noble thinker and poet, Walter Savage
Landor, who writes, and in his finest mood : —
33B Appendix,
Time has been
When Cowley shone near Milton, nay, above !
An age rolled on before a keener sight
Could separate and see them far apart.
(HellenicSy 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 dis-
turbance 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 hanker-
ing after. To us he remains the lover of the " Old Pa-
trician 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 ivho 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,
Westminster-Drollery y 1674. 339
What do I Tnean : What thoughts do me misguide ?
As ivell 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 ivhich here you see^
For all its quiet noiv and gra^vitie.
Has ivandred, and has tra'vail'd more
Than ever Beast, or Fish, or Bird, or e'ver Tree before.
In every Ayr, and e'very Sea '/ has been,
^T has compas'd all the Exirth, and all the Heavens
V has seen.
Let not the Pope's it selfivith 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 pub-
lished Westm, Droll.) a.t 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
Goivn,^' Pan, leave piping, ^c.
Under the title " The Fetching Home of May," we
meet an early ballad-form copy in the Roxburghe Col-
lection, 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 Anti-
dote oi 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
Z 2
340 . Appendix,
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 hypo-
crites 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 loth, which we here give, but print them to
match our others :
THE FETCHING HOME OF MAY.
(The Second Part.)
6.
J His 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' II haz/e a greene gozvne ^
7.
Maidens and young men goe, |1 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 Dehary,
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.
Westminster-Drollery, 1674. 341
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 goivne.
9-
Bright Venus still glisters. Out-shining of Luna j
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 Jo've sent Mercury |1 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 goivne.
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 goivne.
We have a firm conviction that these verses (not in-
cluding "The bright Apollo") were unauthorized addi-
tions by an inferior hand, of a mere ballad-monger. We
hold by the Antidote. '
Part II., 100, Appendix, p. Ixviii. Here is the old
ballad mentioned, from our own black-letter copy. Com-
pare it with W. B.'. —
Z3
342 Appendix.
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 melan-
cholly 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 ivith Ned and Ben,
In all they uuere about nine or ten ;
Near a trickling Ri'ver endea'vour to see
a most delicate sight for men ;
Nine young maidens they kneiv it full ivell,
Sarah, Susan, ivith bonny Nell,
and all those others uuhose names are not here,
intended to ivash in a Ri'ver clear,
Simon ga've out the report
the rest resol'ving to see the sport [,]
The Young freely repairing declaring
that this is the humours <?/ Venus Court [,]
In a Boiver those Gallants remaine
seeing the Maidens trip o^re the plain [;]
They thought no Body did knoiv their intent
as merrily o'ver the Fields they ivent
Nell a Bottle of Wine did bring
ivith many a delicate dainty thing [,]
Their Fainting Spirits to nourish and cherish
ivhen they had been dabbling in the Spring [:]
They supposing no Creature did knoiv
to the Filler they merrily goe^
When they came thither and seeing none near [,]
Then under the bushes they hid their chear.
Westminster-Drollery, 1674. 343
Then they stripping of all their Cloaths
their Goivns their Petticoats Shooes &f Hose [,]
Their fine ivhite smickits then stripping ^ skipping]^,]
no Body seeing them they suppose [,]
Sarah entered the Ri'ver so clear
and hid them follotv they need not fear [,]
For ivhy the Water is ivarm they replyed [,]
then into the River they siveetly glide.
Finely bathing themsel'ves they lay
like pretty Fishes they sport and play [,]
Then lefs he merry \_,'] said Nancy, I fancy,
it's seldom that any one ivalks this ivay [.]
Thus those Females luere all in a Quill
and folloiving on their Pastime still [,]
All naked in a most dainty trim
those Maidens like heautifull Sivans did sivim.
Whilst they folloiAjed on their Game [,]
out came siveet William and Tom by name.
They took all their Clothing and left nothing \f ''em .-]
Maids ivas they not Villains and much to hlame\f\
Likeivise taking their Bottle of Wine [,]
ivith all their delicate Dainties fine [:]
Thus they ivere rifled of all their store,
ivas e'ver poor Maidens so ser'v'd before.
From the Ri'ver those Maidens fair
Returned ivith sorroiv and deep despair [;]
When they seeing^ hrooding\_,'\ concluding
that somebody certainly had been there [,]
With all their Treasure aivay they run [,]
Alas [/] said Nelle[,] ive are undone.
Those Villains I ivish they ivere in the Stocks,
that took our Petticoats Goivns and Smocks,
Then Siveet Sarah ivith modest Prue
they all ivas in a most fearful Hue [,]
Ei^ery Maiden replying and crying
they did not knoiv ivhat in the ivorld to do [.]
Z4
344 Appendix.
But ivhat laughing ivas there ivith the men
in bringing their Gotvns and Smocks again [,]
The Maidens uuere modest ^ mighty mute [,]
and gaz>e them fine curtsies and thanks to hoot.
Printed for P. Brooksby at the Golden Ball in Pye Corner
[1672-95.]
Part II., pp, 120, 123 (App. p. Ixxii.) O Lo've 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.
345
APPENDIX. Part 4.
§ I. — EXTRA SONGS IN THE
MERRY DROLLERY, 1661.
(Not repeated in the 1670 and 169 1 Editions.)
Falstaff. — ** If Sack and Sugar be a fault, Heaven help the
wicked." {Henry IV., Pt. i, 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
diiference 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 1 691; 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!
34^ Appendix,
We take credit beforehand for the readers' satisfac-
tion at our providing such a Table of First Lines, as we
hereafter give, that may enable him easily and con-
vincedly to understand the alterations made from the
1 66 1 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. i. 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 re-
tained. 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 ostra-
cised 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 pos-
sess the Extra Songs of both early and late editions,
along with all that are common to both, and this with-
out confusion.
Merry Drollery, 1661. 347
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 poHtical events, viz. the Funeral of
Admiral Dean, so blithely commented on, with forget-
fulness of the man's courage and skill while remem-
bering 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 earher
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 carica-
tured and maliciously derisive, it is impossible to
doubt that we have here a group of portraits suffi-
ciently life-like to satisfy those who beheld the origi-
nals. As to the miscellaneous pieces, the Sham-
Tinker, who comes to " Clout the Cauldron," has
genuine mirth to redeem the naughtiness. Dr. Cor-
bet's (?) " Merrie Journey into France " is crammed
full of pleasantry, and while giving a record of sights
34^ Appendix,
that met the traveller, enlivens it with airy gaiety
that makes us willing companions. This, with varia-
tions, 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 fer
vent, 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.
Merry Drollery ^ 1661. 349
Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shall adore ;
I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Lov'd I not Honour more.
Oest magnifique! mats ce fUest 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. Re'vi'ved, 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 dan-
gerous, is by Richard Brathwaite, and was printed in
1615 :—
To the Precisian.
T^Or the Precisian that dares hardly looke,
■^ (Because th^ art pure, forsooth) on any booke,
Sa've Homilies, and such as tend to th^ good
Of thee and of thy zealous brother-hood:
Knoiv my Time-noting lines ayme not at thee.
For thou art too too curious for mee.
I ivill not taxe that man thafs ivont to slay
" His Cat for killing mise on th' Sabbath day: ["]
No ; knoiv my resolution it is thus,
Vde rather be thy foe then be thy pus :
And more should I gain e by^t : for I see.
The daily fruits of thy fraternity :
Yea, I perceiue ivhy thou my booke should shun,
" Because there^s many fault es th^ art guiltie on :^^
3 so Appendix,
Therefore ivith-draive, by me thou art not calPd,
Yet do not ivinch (good iade) ivhen thou art galPd,
I to the better sort my lines display,
I pray thee then keefyhou thy selfe aivay,
( A Strappado for the Diuell, 1 6 1 5 . )
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 Shake-
speare 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 ivas a Cameronian Cat,
Was hunti?2g for a prey,^' &c., but we have a printed copy
of it, dated 1749, beginning "A Presbyterian Cat sat
ivatching of her prey ^ Also, in a poem " On Lute-
strings, Cat-eaten," we read : —
Puss, I ivill curse thee, maist thou divell
With some dry Hermit in a Cel,
Where Rat neWe peeped, ivhere Mouse ne^er fed,
And Flies go supperlesse to bed:
Or ivith some close par'^d Brother, ivhere
ThouUt fast each Sabbath in the year e.
Or else, profane, be hanged on Monday,
For butchering a Mouse on Sunday, &c.
{Musarum Delicice, 1656, p. 53.)
John Taylor, the Water- Poet, so early as 1620, writes
of a Brownist : —
The Spirit still directs him hoiv to pray.
Nor ivill 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 killed a rat.
She on the Monday must be hanged for that,
(J. P. C.'s BibL Ace, ii. 418.)
Merry Drollery, 1661. 351
Page II [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 dis-
cover (see next p. 352), and although we ourselves note
occasionally " not found elsewhere," it is with the remem-
brance 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]. Nozv 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 ist. "Arthur's Court" is an allusion to Sir
Arthur Haselrig, "a rapacious, head-strong, and con-
ceited agitator" {Ibid, p. 37). Monk had not publicly
352 Appendix.
declared himself for the King until May ; but he was
seen to be opposed to the Rump by nth Feb., when its
effigies were enthusiastically burnt. Richard Cromwell's
abdication had been, virtually, April 22nd, 1659.
Page 32 [204]. A young man ivalking 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 ^Hfthat I may
thy fa'vour haue, thy beivtye to behold,'^ as the true read-
ing; while we find " If that thy fa'vour I may ivin With
thee for to he 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 "maiden-
head," in M. D.y 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 can-
non-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
Merry Drollery, 1661. 353
up in their own Harbors, taking all such Ships as came
bound for those parts. {His. Reb,, B. iii, p. 487, ed. 1720.)
Verse i. Nicholas Culpeper, of Spittle Fields, near
London, published his Neiv 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 pre-
dicting 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 in-
dicted at Hickes Hall, but acquitted. He dwelt at Her-
sham, 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 con-
sulting Lilly : —
'*/ ivill get a good Master, if any good Master ivou^d
Get me; I cannot tell ivhat to do else, by my soul, that
I cannot ; for I ha've ivent and gone to one Lilly's ;
He li'ues at that house, at the end of another house,
By the May-pole house ; and tells e'very body by one
Star, and f other Star, ivhat 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 Canter-
bury, 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
354 Appendix,
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, South-
vvark.
23. "Goodman Lenthally*^ "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 Cromivell, 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. Who-
ever may have been the writer of this spirited ballad, we
believe, wrote the other one also : judging solely by in-
ternal 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 Som-
erset 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 Crom-
well "all that restless industry which had formerly been
exerted in his favour" (Hume's Hist, Engd., cap. Ixi.);
Merry Drollery, 1661. 355
nor " Doomsday Sedgwick ;" not Sidney, staunch Re-
publican, Algernon Sidney, whose condemnation was in
1687 secured most iniquitously, and whose death more
disgracefully stains the time than the slaughter of Rus-
sell, although sentimentalism chooses the latter, on ac-
count 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 Scale," " Crafty
Say," of whom we read : —
There's half-ivitted Will Say too,
A right Fool in the Play too.
That ivould make a perfect Ass,
If he could learn to Bray too,
("Chips of the Old Block," 1659; Rump, ii. 17.)
Page 64 [213]. I ivent from England, ^c,
A MS. assertion gives the date of this "Cantilena de
Gallico itinere as 1623. There seems to us no good rea-
son 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, re'verso, 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. Ivii. first note). In a re-
cent 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 exter-
nal evidence goes wholly against the theory. The very
MS. Harl. 367, which is used as authority, is both imper-
fect and corrupt throughout, as well as anonymous {ex,
gratiiB, 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
A A 2
35^ Appendix.
have attributed it to him. Could it be possible that he
was otherwise unacquainted with the poem ?
At eariier date than our own copy we find it, by
Aug. 30th, 1656, in Musarum Delicice, p. 17, and in
Parnassus Biceps, also 1 656, p. 24. From this (as well
as Had. MS. 367 ) we gain corrections printed as
our marginalia, pp. 214-6 : deser-v^d, for received ;
statue stairs, At Notre Dame ; prate, doth please,
&c. Harl. MS. 367 reads "The Indian Roc [probably
it is correct] ; and " As great and wise as Luisue "
[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 lo'ves her rather
As ivell as ere she loved his father.
And thafs 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 : —
TF floiving ivit, if Verses ivrote ivith ease,
J- If learning void of pedantry can please.
If much good humour, joined 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, fef in his lines
Poetick and Heroick spirit shines.
Merry Drollery, 1661. 357
Thd* bright yet solid, pleasant hut not rude.
With ivit and ivisdom equally endued.
Be silent Muse, thy praises are too faint.
Thou ivanfst a poiver this prodigy to paint.
At once a Poet, Prelate, and a Saint.
Signed, John Campbell.
Page 85 [218]. / mean to speak ^t/ England's, ftfc.
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 ;" " ijuear 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 Hotel 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 in-
tended to introduce such rigorous precautions, neverthe-
less 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 in-
tolerant 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
Bro'wnists, a sect that arose in the reign of Elizabeth,
founded by Robt. Browne), in final verse, Parnassus
Biveps reads "The Roundheads." The poem was evi-
dently written between 1632 and 1642.
AA3
3SS Appendix,
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 ivhat shall ive do ivith our Wives
That frisk up and doivn the Toivn, . . .
For such a Bell -dam,
Sayes Sylas and Sam,
Lefs ha've an Italian Lock I
{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. Z)., 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 ivas a man, and a jolly, &c.
With some trifling variations, this re-appears as "The
Old Man and Young Wife, beginning '^ There ivas an old
man, and a jolly old man, come lo've 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 " :—
'T^He Fidlers must be tvhipt the people say,
-*■ Because they sung the clean contrary way ;
Which if they be, a Croivn I dare to lay
They then ivill sing the clean contrary way.
And he that did these merry Knaz>es betray.
Wise men ivill praise, the clean contrary way :
For ivhipping them no envy can allay, [p. 82.]
Unlesse it be the clean contrary way.
Then if they ivent the Peoples tongues to stay.
Doubtless they ivent the clean contrary way.
Merry Drollery^ 1661. 359
Page 134 [223]. There tuas 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 follow-
ing verses, of Wit and Drollery version : —
But she ivrit a letter to him.
And sealed it ivith her hand.
And bid him become a Tinker
To clout both pot and pan.
And ivhen he had the Letter,
Full ivell he could it read ;
His Brass and eke his Budget, [p. 292.]
He str eight yuay did pro'vide.
His Hammer and his Pincers
And ivell they did agree
With a long Club on his Back
And orderly came he.
And ivhen he came to the Lady^s Gates
He knocked most lustily.
Then ivho 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 Caul^
dron," 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,
A A 4
360 Appendix.
1650-65, and MusicVs Delight on the Cithern, 1666, where
the tune bears the title " Upon a Summer's day." In
Pepy's Collectiom, vol. i. are two other songs to the same
tune.
Page 153 [Suppl. 3]. Mine oivn siveet honey, ^c.
Evidently a parody, or " Mock " of " Come hither, my
own," &c., for which, and note, see pp. 247, 367.
Second Part oi Merry Drollery^ 1661.
Page 22 [235]. You that in Icve, ^c.
A different version of this same song, only half its length,
in four-line stanzas, had appeared in J. Cotgrave's Wifs
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 Jo'vial
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.
nf^O feed on Flesh is Gluttony,
•J- It maketh men fat like szuine.
But is not he a frugal Man
That on a leaf can dine 1
He needs no linnen for to foul.
His fingers ends to ivipe.
That hath his Kitchin in a Box,
And roast meat in a Pipe.
The cause ivherefore feiv rich mens sons
Pro've disputants in Schools,
Is that their fathers fed on flesh.
And they begat fat fools.
Merry Drollery^ 1661. 361
This fulsome feeding cloggs the brain.
And doth the stomack cloak j
But he^s a hra've spark thai 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 : —
TpAreivell thou Indian smoake. Barbarian 'vapour,
-^ Enemy unto life, foe to uuaste paper.
Thou dost diseases in thy body breed.
And like a Vultur on the purse doth feed.
Changing siveet breaths into a stinking loathing.
And ivith 3 pipes turnes tuuo pence into nothing ;
Grim Flutofrst in'vented it, I think.
To poison all the ivorld ivith hellish stink, Sfc.
(18 lines more. The Muses* Cabinet, 1655, p. 13.)
The three pipes for two-pence was a cheapening of To-
bacco 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 : —
/Walked by myself on the highest of hills.
And *Pwas siveet, I ivith rapture did oivn ;
As fish-like I opened unto it my gills
And gulp* d it in ecstasy doivn ;
To feel it breathe ouer my bacca-boiled tongue.
That so much of its fragrance did need.
And brace up completely a system unstrung
For months ivith this Devil's own Weed.
But even so early as 1639, Thomas Bancroft had printed,
(written thirteen years before) in his First Booke of Epi^
grammes, the following,
ON TOBACCO TAKING.
^T^He Old Germans, that their Diuinations made
-^ From Asses heads upon hot embers laid,
Saiv they but noiv ivhat frequent fumes arise
From such dull heads, ivhat could they prophetize
362 Appendix,
But speedy firing of this ivorldly frame,
That seemes to stinke for fear e of such a fame,
[Tivo 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 Wifs Recreations, 1640-5, be-
cause they are accessible in the recent Reprint (would
that it. Wit Restored and Musarum Delicice had been
carefully edited, as they deserved and needed to be ; but
even the literal reprint of different issues jumbled to-
gether 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," attrib-
uted to F. Beaumont, (if so, then before 1616) telling
Of the Gods and their symposia ;
But Tobacco alone.
Had they knoivn it, had gone
For their Nectar and Ambrosia j
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 Draiver, some Wine,
Probably written by Thomas Weaver, and about
1646-8. It is in his collection entitled Lo've 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
Merry Drollery ^ 1661. 363
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 damned Committee,
Sits in hell (Goldsmith's Hall) in the midst of the City,
Only to sequester the poor Cwvaliers, —
The Dez>il take their souls, and the hangmen their ears,
(As Hamlet says, "You pray not well ! " — but such pro-
vocation transfers the blame to those who caused the
anger.)
Again, In another Ballad, " I thank you twice," dated
2 1 St August, same year, 1647 • —
The gentry are sequestered all j
Our ivi'ues ive find at Goldsmith's Hall,
For there they meet ivith the de'vil 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 cannibal-
ism, with specific details against " Bloody Bones, or
Lunsford " {Hudibras, Ft. 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, |1 A child's arm
in his pocket" (J. C. Re'uived, Poems, 1662, p. no).
Fage 32 [240]. Listen, Lor dings, to my story.
With the music, this reappears In Pills to p. Mel., 17 19,
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
Tierry jades, who love to play the game," with capital
364 Appendix.
wood-cuts: Jn Pitts, printer. They recal Butler's des-
cription of the Skrimmington. The joke was much
reHshed. Thus, in Lusty Drollery, 1656, p. 106, is a
Pastorall Song, beginning: —
A silly poor sheephcrd ivas folding his sheep,
Heujalked so long he got cold in his feet.
He laid on his coales by tuuo and by three.
The more he laid on
The Cu-colder ivas 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 Delicice, 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 Laives,
We do not understand whence it cometh that the most
bitter non-conformity and un-Christian crazes of enthu-
siasm 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 i
A Creiv of kind London Gossips, 1663, p. 65) this pro- |
ceeded 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 intes-
tines ; and persons with weak circulation and slow diges-
tion 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
Merry Drollery y 1661. 365
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 patriae
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.fC, 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 Di'versions, 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 i. — 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 Hol-
bourne hill :" the cart journey from Newgate to the " tree
with three corners" at Tyburn. Sicitur 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 ivefelt his poiver.
And notu he ivould shoiv 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 Oli'ver, Oli'ver, 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"
366 Appendix,
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 ivith great company thouWt taken up j
For often ivith Duke Humfray thou dost dine.
And often ivith Sir Thomas Gresham sup.
(R. H.'s Quodlibets, 1628.)
" An old Aunt'* — this term used by Autolycus, had tem-
porary 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 ivill giue ear.
A version of this, slightly differing, is given with the
music in Pills to p. MelL, iv. 191. It has the final coup-
let ; which w^orrow and add in square brackets.
Page 61 [Supp. 9]. Full forty times oi^er.
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 Ox-
ford Drollery , 167 1, p. 97.
Page 62 [Supp. 11]. He is a fond Lover, &c.
This, and the preceding, being superior to the other re-
served songs might have been retained in the text but for
the need to fill a separate sheet. This Answer is in
Lo've and Mirth (i.e. Sportive Wit) 1650, p. 51.
Merry Drollery^ i66i. 367
Page 64 [Supp. 12]. If any one do ivant 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 17 16), i. 43. Music in both.
Page 81 [Supp, 13]. Fair Lady, for your Neiv, ^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 Purifdian Sect,
In Harl. MS. No. 6057, fol. 47. There it is entitled
" The Puritans of New England."
Page 106 [248]. Come hither, my otvn siveet 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 Sup-
plement.
It was certainly popular before 1659, ^^^ "^^ ^^^ ^t
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 ne'ver rue.
Four and twenty noiv for your Mony,
And yet a hard penny ivorth too.
{Rump, 1662 ii, 26.)
The music is in Playford's English Dancing Master, 1686.
368 Appendix, ^
Page li6 [Supp. 14]. She lay up to, ^c.
Five years earlier, in Wit and Drollery, 1656, p. 56;
1 66 1, 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 ivill 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 Delicite, 1656; Reprint,
p. 64.)
[We here close our Notes to the " Extra Songs " of Merry
Drollery t 1661. But we have still some Additional Notes, on
what is common to the editions ofi66i, 1670, and 1691 (as
promised in M. D,, C, p. 363).]
MERRY
MERRY
DROLLERY,
Complete.
OR,
A COLLECTION
r Jovial POEMS,
Of j MerrysONGS,
( Witty DROLLERIES,
Intermixed with Pleasant Catches.
The FIrft Part.
Colle6led by
IV, N. C.B. R.S. y.G.
LOVERS of WIT.
LONDON,
Printed for Simon Miller, at the Star, at
the West End of St. Pauls, 1670.
B B
3;i
APPENDIX. Part 4.
§ 2. — ^ADDITIONAL NOTES TO THE
MERRY DROLLERY, COMPLEAT.
(Common to all editions, 1661, '70, '91, and 1875.^
"A pretty slight Drollery."
{Henry //^., pt. 2. Act ii. Sc. 1.)
Title-page to 1670 Edition.
WE here give the title-page of the 1670 Edition
of Merry Drollery^ Compleat, Part ist. As
mentioned on our p. 231, the 1670 edition was re-
issued 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," 1 661, 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 ;" (Sport-
ive Wit,) yovial Drollery, 1656, p. 22.
M, D.y C, p. II [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
B B 2
3/2 Appendix,
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. Notv Gentlemen, if, &c.
Two other " Messes of Nonsense " may be found in Re^
creations for Ingenious Headpieces, 1645 (Reprint, Wifs
Recreations,'^'^. \0Q, \o\)', beginning " \\fhen Neptune' s
blasts," and ** Like to the tone of unspoke speeches."
The latter we believe to have been written by Bishop
Corbet. In Wifs Merriment (i.e. Sportive Wit), 1656, is
the following : A FANCY:—
1 J 7 Hen Py crust first began to reign,
''^ Cheese parings ivent to ivarre.
Red Herrings lookt both blew and ivan.
Green leeks and Puddings jarre.
Blind Hugh ivent out to see
Tivo Cripples run a race.
The Ox fought ivith the Humble Bee,
And claiv'd him by the face.
Page 36, lines 21, 22. ^^ Honest Dick;'' and "X."
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 twentv-one
Merry Drollery, 1670. 373
years of captivity, first at Guernsey and later at Ply-
mouth, 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 stig-
matizes 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 i6th, '^ 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 Crom-
well'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
BB3,
374 Appendix,
the leaders being Sir Hy. Vane, Harry Marten, and Al-
gernon Sidney. They knew it to be a struggle for life or
death. From the beginning, this Long Parliament cher-
ished the mistaken idea that they were everything su-
preme : providence, strength, virtue, and wisdom, etc.,
etc. If mere empty talk could be all this, such represen-
tative 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 ava-
rice" (Carlyle's Cromivell, m. i68, 1671 edit). Vane
must have felt the peril, but held on unflinchingly, im-
ploring 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. Some-
thing 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 dis-
Merry Drollery, 1670. 375
composure 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 inter-
rupt him, but it was almost beyond their power. Went-
worth 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 in-
vectives. He told them to begone : " I say you are no
Parliament! Til put an end to your sitting. Begone!
Give way to honester men," A stamp of his foot fol-
lowed, as a signal; the door flies open, " five or six files
of musqueteers" are seen with weapons ready. Resist-
ance (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 vio-
lence, 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 for-
gotten. He denounces Challoner as a drunkard, Went-
worth for his adultery. Alderman Allen for his embezzle-
ment 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 ab-
sence 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 Straf-
ford. 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
B B 4
376 Appendix,
borne off ignominiously, the documents were seized, in-
cluding that of the unpassed measure, the room was
cleared, the doors were locked, and all was over. The
Long Parliament thus fell, unlamented
Pag^ 66. Vie sing you a Sonnet,
Written and published in 1659; as we see by the refer-
ences to '^Dick {Oliver^ s Heir) that pitiful slow-thing.
Who was once invested with purple clothing," — his re-
tirement 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
Ay res, 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 ivas 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
Merry Drollery^ 1670. 377
print) on April 28th, 1651, at the end of a volume of fa-
cetice, entitled The Loz>es of Hero and Leander{\r\ the 1677
edition, following O'vid 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 build-
ings 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 ; ivater being then 'very
scarce^ the Thames being almost frozen o'uer. 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 to-
gether." (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 Than kfull 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, nth
February, 1633. Our ballad mentions the river being
frozen over, and "all on the tenth of January;" but no-
thing 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 be-
ginning, " Attend, you brethren every one." It is not
378 Appendix.
improbably by Thomas Weaver, being in his Love and
Drollery, 1654, p. 21.
Page 92, 370. Cast your caps and cares aivay.
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.y pp. II, 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
EsGUiRES, Clinias, Dametas, Sancho, and Jack Pud-
ding." [With this three-fold motto : — ]
AoTcei /cat aoto to) aotOo).
Vatum quoque gratia rara est.
Anglice,
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 she'w thy face (be't what it will).
We' I push 'um yet a quill for quill.
Merry Drollery, 1670. 379
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 ivhich nere had the mishaps
To passe the stage ivithout their claps, ^c.
Next comes a poem " Upon the continuation of Gondi-
bert," " Ovid to Patmos prisoner sent." (Later, we ex-
tract the chief lines for the "Sessions" Add. Note.)
He is told.
Wash thee in Avon, if thou flie.
My ivary Davenant so high.
Yet Hypernaso nouu 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 hold ?
And the trim ivit ofCooipers green hill, . . •
Ending thus : —
Denham, though he shretvdly shent
To in'vent
Such Draivlery for merriment, ^c. . . .
A Draiving 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 ivas sunk into the ivatery lap
Of her commands the uua'ues, and iveary there.
Of his long journey, took a pleasing nap
To ease his each daies tra'vels all the year,
P. 23 gives "To Daphne on his incomparable (and by the
Critick incomprehended) Poem, Gondihertj" this conso-
38o Appendix,
lation : " 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 :" —
I.
** Your Wits ha-ve further than you rode^
You needed not to ha've gone abroad.
D'avenant from Avon conies,
Ri'vers are still the Muses Rooms.
Dort, knouus our name, no more Durt on^t ;
An^t be but for that D'avenant.
2.
And ivhen such people are restored
(A thing beloi/d by none that ivhor^d)
My noches then may not appear e.
The gift of healing ivill be near. {cloivns)
Meane ivhile lie seeke some Panax (sal'vc of
Shall heal the ivanton Issues and crackt Croivns.
I ivill conclnde, Fareivell 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 loi, 372. /'// 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. 1 7 19, iii, 65, is a different " New Ballad
Merry Drollery, 1 670. 381
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 III, 112. The Proctors are tivo.
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 " dar-
ling of the Muses," Thomas Randolph. His lines be-
gin " Lament, lament, ye scholars all ! " He mentions
other Taverns and the Mitre-landlord, Sam : —
Let the Rose ivith the Falcon moult.
While Sam enjoys his ivishes ;
The Dolphin, too, must cast her croivn :
Wine ivas not made for fishes.
Pages 115, 374. ^Tis not the sil'ver, ^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 ive may guess
God and the States ivere 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
382 Appendix.
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 be-
gins (in place of our first verse) : —
ir\ Rink your ivine aivay,
■*-^ ' Tis my Lord Mayor'' s day.
Let our Cups and Cash be free.
Beer and Ale are both |j, But the sons of froth.
Let us then in ivine agree.
To taste a Quart || Of euery sort.
The thinner and the thicker :-
That spight of Chance \ We may advance,
The Nobler and the Quicker.
Who shall by Vote of e'very Throat
Be croivn'd the King of Liquor,
2.
Muscadel A-vant, Bloody Alicant,
Shall hai^e no free vote of mine ;
Claret is a Prince, And he did long siTice
In the Royal order shine.
His face, ^c, (as in M. D. C^ p. 112.)
In sixth verse, " If a Cooper zve With a red nose see,^^ re-
fers to Oliver Cromwell ; and proves it to have been
written before September, 1658.
Pages 125, 315. Lay by, ^c, Laiv lies a-bleeding.
The date of this ballad seems to have been 1656, rather
than 1658. The despotism of the sword here so power-
fully 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 Des-
borough, 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.
Merry Drollery, 1670. 383
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 oppres-
sion 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 in-
flicted 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. /'// 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 1 6th. Probably, shortly before the trial of Harry
384 Appendix.
Marten, on the loth 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 begin-
ning 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, ^nd 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 Indem-
nity ; along with those of Thos. Harrison, Hy. Marten,
John Hewson, Jn. Cook, Hew Peters, Francis Hacker,
and other forty-five. Nineteen of these fify-one surren-
dered 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 i6th 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 antici-
pations 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 refering 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 faithful-
ness in Republican opinions; his gay spirit (more resem-
bling the reckless indifference of Cavaliers than his own
Merry Drollery, 1670. 385
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 *venerahilem nomen I 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 nre 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.
(Athen^e Oxonienses, iii. 1243.)
As to Thomas Harrison, fifth-monarchy enthusiast, firm
to the end in his adversity, he who had been ruthless in
CC
386 Appendix.
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 gib-
bet 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, Hezuson^s Lamenta-
tion : —
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 loth, 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. Vll 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 loth, 1838. The present building, the third.
Merry Drollery ^ 1670. 387
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 nth, 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 in-
tended 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 Roxhurghe Bds., iii. 94, 1875, from
a broadside in Roxb. Coll., i. 466, originally printed for
Francis Grove [1620-55]. 2nd verse reads: — Her hus-
band Hymen j 4th. Wandring eye ; insatiate. The gifts
of Juno, Flora, and Diana follow ; with woman's employ-
ment 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 Sporti've Wit, same year, p. 39. We gained the cor-
rections, 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 i8th,
C C 2
388 Appendix,
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 Pear-
son'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 — o*ver the ivater ! " 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," Ihid. p. 107, we trace
this so early as 1656. It is in Sporti've 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
Merry Drollery ^ 1670. 389
our 18,) five years earlier, in Sporti've Wit, 1656, p. 35. It
there begins, " The best of Poets write of Hogs, And of
Ulysses barking Dogs ; Others of Sparrows, FHes, 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 Batrach-
omyomachia ; 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. Ncnv, thanks to, ^c.
Of course, the words displayed by dashes are Crcnvn,
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 Animad-
^versions upon the Remonstrants Defence against Smectym^
nuus', and in 1642, An Apology for Smectymnuus. John
Cleveland devotes a poem to " The Club Divines," be-
ginning "Smectymnuus 1 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
" Jo'vial Drollery (i.e., Sporti've Wit), p. 59." The same
date, viz. 1656.
Pages 2 10- 1 1, 384. "To Virginia ^^r Planters.'*
The reference here is to the proposed expedition of dis-
CC3
390 Appendix.
heartened Cavaliers (among whom was Wm. D'Avenant)
from France and England to the Virginian plantations.
It was defeated in 1650, the vessels having been inter-
cepted 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 intole-
rant 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. H(nv 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 Croivn.
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 165 1, Whitelock himself.
Merry Drollery, 1670. 391
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 suc-
cessor 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 ; some-
times, as in the ballad of " The Good Fellow's Best Be-
loved " (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-z'^e, in Dutch, means ' over sea,' which
comes near to another English phrase for drunkenness,
being 'half-seas over.' But op-zyn-fries means, ' in the
Dutch fashion,' or a la mode de Frise, which perhaps is
the best interpretation of the phrase." In Massinger and
Dekker's " Virgin Martyr," 1622, Act ii. sc. i, 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 ivassail, and the sivaggering upsy freeze."
(Cambr. Essays, 1656; Cambr, Shakesp. viii. 30). T.
Caldecott had so early as 1620 (in Spec, neiv edit.
Shakesp. YidiVcAoX) anticipated the guess, but no{ boldly.
C C 4
392 Appendix,
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 niney
So as each sense ivas steeped ivell in ivine :
Yet still he kept his rouse, till he in fine
Grew extreame sicke ivith hugging Bacchus shrine.
[The Shrift. 1
A new Spring shadowed in sundrie pithie Poems by
Musophilus, 4to. 161 9, signat. 1. b., where " Upsefreese
is the name of the frier. Like "Wassael" and " Trin-
kael," 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 De-
cember, 1659 : in Thomason Collection, Numero xxii.,
folio, Brit. Mus.
Page 270. Pray ivhy 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 1st. exhibited the charge of high treason. After
the Restoration, Cook was executed along with Hugh
Peters, i6th 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 " [i594?] In the Spiritual
Na'vigator, 1 6 15, we learn, is a passage, "There be
Syrens in the sea of the world. Syrens? Hirens, as
Merry Drollery^ 1670. 395
they are now called. What a number of these syrens,
hirens, cockatrices, courteghians — in plain English, har-
lots — swimme amongst us ! "
Page 287. Title, " Oxford Jeastsr
An unfortunate misprint crept in, detected too late : for
''Feasts^' read properly "feasts:" the old fashioned
initial ^ being barred across like F.
Page 293, line 11. " Heresie in hops^
This must have been an established jest. (Compare In-
trod. 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 hear :
That this mischance may soon bring in \^A heresy ofheer^
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. Z)., C, pp. xix. xx. The Answer
to " I tell thee. Jack, thou gavest the King," there men-
tioned, and probably referring to Sir John Mennis, a
carping rival although a Cavalier, has a smack of Cleve-
land about it (it certainly is not Suckling's) : —
T Tell thee, fool, ivhp ere thou be,
■»• Thai made this fine sing-song of me.
Thou art a riming sot :
These 'very lines do thee betray.
This barren ivit makes all men say
' Tivas some rebellious Scot.
But it's no ivonder if you sing
Such songs of me, ivho am no King, ,
When e'very bleiv-cap sivears
HeeH not obey King James his Bam,
That huggs a Bishop under' s Arme,
And hangs them in his ears.
394 Appendix,
Had I been of your Covenant,
You^d call me th^ son i?/ John ^/ Gaunt,
And give me t great renoivn j
But novu I am John \^f^or the King,
You say I am but poor Suckling, $
And thus you cry me doivn.
Well, it's no matter ivhat you say
Of me or mine that run aivay ;
I hold it no good fashion
A Loyal subjects blood to spill.
When %ve have knaves enough to kill
By force of Proclamation,
Commend me unto Lesley stout.
And his Pedlers him about.
Tell them ivithout remorse [p. 1 5 1.]
That I vuill plunder all their packs
Which they have got ivith 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 j
Religion, all the ivorld can tell.
Amongst Highlanders nere did dvuell.
Its but to cloak your knavery.
Such desperate Gamesters as you be,
I cannot blame for tutoring me.
Since all you have is dovun.
And every Boor forsakes his Ploiv,
And svuears that he* I turn Gamester noiv
To venture for a Croivn,
(Le Prince d' Amour, 1660, pp. 150, 151.)
Pages 296, 398 (Cp. this vol. p. 149, line 8). Novu 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
Merry Drollery^ IQ/O- 395
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.
T^ Chv that the Spring hathJilPd our njeynes
-'-^ With kinde and actiue fire.
And made green Liu^ ryes for the playnes,
and euery gro've a Quire,
Sing ive a Song of merry glee
and Bacchus 7?// the boivle :
I. Then heres to thee ; 2. And thou to mee
and euery thirsty soule.
Nor Care nor Sorroiv ere pay^d debt
nor ne'ver shall doe myne ;
I haue no Cradle goeing yet,
[? 2.] nor I, by this good ivyne.
No ivyfe at home to send for me,
noe hoggs are in my grounde,
Noe suit at Laiv to pay a fee.
Then round, old Jockey, round.
All.
Sheare sheepe that haue them, cry ive still.
But see that noe man scape
To drink of the Sherry
That makes us so merry
and plumpe as the lusty Grape,.
(Lansdoujne 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 ivhose three Hoggs
are these.
They are John Cook's, / knoiv by their look, for I found
them in my pease.
Oh ! pound them : oh pound them ! But I dare not, for my
life J
For if I should pound John Cook's Hoggs, 1 should never
kiss John Cook's ivife, ^c.
(Catch Club, 1705, iii. 46.)
39^ Appendix,
Pages 293, 358. Fetch me Ben Jonson's scull.
In 1 641 this was printed separately and anonymously as
" A Preparati've to Studie ; or, the Vertue of Sack,'' 4to.
Ben Jonson had died in August, 1637. Line 9 reads :
dull Hyndc ; 21, Genius-making; 28, Welcome, by;
after the word " scapes " these additional lines : —
/ ivould not lea've thee. Sack, to he ivith Jove,
His Nectar is but faign' d, hut I doe pro've
Thy more essentiall ivorth ; I am (methinks), ^c.
Line 46, instead of "long since," reads ''of late " (re-
ferring to whom ?) ; 38, tempt a Saint ; 44, farther bliss ;
53, against thy foes (N.B.) ; ThdX -would ; and, addi-
tional, after " horse," in line 56, this historical allusion to
David Lesley, of the Scotch rebellion : —
Pme in the North already, Lasley's dead.
He that ivould rise, carry the King his head.
And tell him {if he aske, ivho killed the Scot)
/ knock' t his Braines out -with a pottle pot.
Out ye Rehellious 'vipers j 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, ^"d August, 1640.
Pages 309, 399. Why should ive boast.
Compare pp. 129, 315, of present volume, for the Anti-
dote 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 Bez/is
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
batde becomes page to Sir Bevis. Caius Coll. MS. and
others have the story Richard Coeur de Leon, but thai
street-ballad served equally to keep alive his fame among
Merry Drollery ^ 1670. 397
the populace. Coll. Old Eds. 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 Ro-
mances -, of which J. O. Halliwell writes, in 1848: —
" Ellis did for ancient romance what Percy had pre-
viously 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 trustworty prints of so many MSS., hitherto almost
beyond reach. For Orlando Inamorato and Orlando
Furioso we must go to Boiardo and Ariosto, or the trans-
lators. 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 Li'vre de J-ason, Prince of the Myrmidons, the
Vie de Hercule, the Cleopdtre, &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 Broil., 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 reprin-
ted, 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.]
A LL you that desire to merry be,
-^"^ Come listen unto me.
And a story I shall tell.
Which of a Wedding befell.
398 ' Appendix.
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. I
Which is oh bra-ve 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 bra've 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 fliye.
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.
Merry Drollery , 1680. 399
For I am come to crave, [p. 83.]
Your daughter for to have.
For I mean to make her my wife.
And to hve with her all my life.
With oh brwue 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 hrwue 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 brwve Arthur, &c.
The old woman made a reply.
With courteous modesty.
40O Appendix.
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 joy full 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.
Merry Drollery, 1670. 401
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 joyfuU 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 brwue 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 Leivis,
And he call'd hard for Brewis;
Stay, quoth Dwvy 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 hra've, &c.
My Masters a while be brief.
Who taketh up the Beef >
Then came William Dickins, [p g^ i
And carries the Snipes & Chickens.
Bartholomeiv brought up the Mustard,
Caster he carry'd the Custard.
D D
402 Appendix,
In comes Roger Boore,
He carry M up Rabbets before :
Quoth Roger, Pie give thee a Cake,
It thou wilt carry the Drake^
[l] 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, &x:.
But when that they had dinM,
Then every man had wine ;
The maids they stood aloof.
While the young men made a procrf',.
Who had the nimblest heele.
Or who could dance so well.
Till Hob of the hill fell over, [?oe'i]
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] Padding,
And they ran all a gadding.
With oh brave Arthur [o* Bradley], &c.
(" Wits Merriment,** L65.6, pp. 8i«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 ive not laugh.?
The reference to "Goldsmith's HaH" (see p. 363), where
Merry. Drollery, 1 670. 403
a Roundhead Committee sate in 1647, ^^^ later, for
the spoliation of Royalists' estates, levying of fines and
acceptance of " Compounders " money, dates the song.
Pages 328, 402. N01V ive 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 Holies, 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 Bradshaiv 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 be 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).
" Askeiv/' 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 Par-
liament 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.
D D 2
404 Appendix.
Harry Marten's evil repute as to women, and lawyer
Oliver St. John's building his house with stones plun-
dered 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 Oz^r 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 Hudi^
bras. Part 2nd, Canto 3. Compare note, p. 353.
Page 361 (Appendix), line 5. For misprint a//^r^w,
read alteram.
Page 394 ( Appendix), Netu 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 Neiv 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.
405
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
VP^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^<^ ^ ^ *^ ^ ^ ^ '<^^ '<^ '^^ ^ *<^ "^ ^ ^
§ 3— SESSIONS OF POETS.
We believe that Sir John SuckHng'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. nth, 1644-5.
This has been attributed to George Wither; most erro-
neously, 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, ivho tuas called first in all the List,
George Withers hight, entitled Satyrist ;
Then Gary, May, and Davenant luere called forth,
Renoivned Poets all, and men ofivorth,
Ifivit may passe for ivorth : Then Sylvester,
Sands, Drayton, Beaumont, Fletcher, Massinger,
Shakespeare, and Hevwood, Poets good and Jree,
Dramatick ivr iters alt, but the first three:
These ivere empanelV d all, and being sivorne
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
D D 3
406 Appendix.
have described himself so insultingly as we find in the
following lines, and elsewhere : —
" he did protest
That Wither ivas a cruell Satyrist ;
And guilty of the same offence and crime.
Whereof he ivas accused at this time :
Therefore for him hee thought it fitter farre.
To stand as a Delinquent at the barre.
Then to bee nouu empanelVd in a Jury.
George Withers then, ivith a Poetick fury.
Began to bluster, but A^oWd'sfroivne
Made him forbear e, and lay his choler do%une.")
{Ibid, p. II.
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, concerned to see the Transgressions
Our paltry Poets do daily commit,
Ga've orders once more to summon a Sessions,
Severely to punish th' Abuses of Wit.
Will d' Avenant ivould fain have been Stevuard d* the
Court,
To havefin^d and amerced each m.an at his ivill ;
But Apollo, it seems, had heard a Report,
That his choice ofncvu Plays did shoiv A' had no skill.
Besides, some Critic ks had O'u/d him a spite.
And a little before had made the God fret.
By letting him knoiv the Laureat did vurite
That damnable Farce, * The House to be Let.*
Intelligence ivas brought, the Court being set
That a Play Tripartite ivas very near made 2
Where malicious Matt. Clifford, and spirituall Spratt,
Were joined ivith 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 : —
Merry Drollery, 1670. 407
'^ Since the Sons of the Muses gretu numerous aud loudy
For th^ appeasing so factious and clamorous a croivd,
Apollo thought ft in so ^weighty a cause ^
7" establish a government, leader, and laivs,^^ &c.
Assembled near Parnassus, Dryden, Etherege, Wycher-
ley, 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 cheerful-
ness.
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 Hoi den 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, 181 1, 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 J 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 re-
maining at command to annotate it with the fulness it
deserves.
D D 4
403
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.
The type-ornaments in Choyce Drollery reprint are
merely substitutes for the ruder originals, and are not in
faC'Simikj 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. Halli well's valuable Dic^
tionary of Archaic and Pro'vincial 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. Scettziall, or Setitvall, 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 ti*
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 9j 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; {..
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 j and
end line 28 with a comma.
L H. in line 35, are the initials of the author, "lohn
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,
1. 17, for 1698 read 1598.
Merry Drollery ^ 1670. 409
Page 281, line 20, for li'ueih, read li'ves ; claime.
Page 289, after line 35, add—" Page 45, * As I ivent to
Totnam.' This is given with the music, in Tom D'Ur-
fey's Pills to purge Melancholy , p. 180, of 1700 and
1719 (vol. iv.) editions; beginning "As I came from
TottinghamJ* 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, hoy, 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
Vituperiuni Uxoris, by John Cleveland, written before
1658 {Poems, 1661, p. 169).
" Love should take no wrong," in Westminster^
Drollery, 167 1, 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 Vaux-
hall. " This knight and friend of the King's mayha^wo.
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 Croivn a lease of Vaux-
hall 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 Archiso-
logia, XXXV. pp. 335-349. We knew not of this list when
writing our Introduction to Choyce Drollery,
4IO
The Phoenix (emblematical of the Restoration) is adapted
from Spenser's Works, 1611.
411
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 dis-
tinguished 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 pre-
tence 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 re-
peated 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
A Brewer may he a Burgess ... ii.
'^ A fig for Care, why should we
A Fox, a Fox, up gallants
A Maiden of late, whose name ...
A Pox on the Jay lor, and on his
A Puritan of late ...
A Session was held the other day
A Story strange I will you tell ... ii.
A young man of late
661
1670
1875
70
252
252
217
217
29
38
Z^
60
170
170
289
289
2
195
6?>
72
72
12
200
200
27
201
412 Table of First L ines.
A young man thafs in love
A young man walking all alone
After so many sad mishaps
After the pains of a desperate Lover
Ah, ah, come see whafs ... ...
All in the Land of Essex
Am I mad, O noble Festus?
Amarillis told her swain
Among the Purifidian sect
Are you grown so melancholy f ,..
Aske me no more why there appears
"DACCHUS I am, come from .,
•*^ Be merry in sorrow
Be not thou so foolish nice
Blind Fortune, if thou wanVst ..
Bring forth your Cunny-skins ..
But since it was lately enacted . .
/^ all for the Master, oh, this ..
^^ Call George again, boy
Calm was the evening, and clear
Calm was the evening, and clear
Cast your caps and cares aside .
Come, Drawer, and fill us about
Come, Drawer, some wine
Come, Drawer, turn about the b.
Come, Drawer, come, fill us
Come, faith, lefsfrolick
Come, hither, my own sweet . .
Come, Imp Royal, come away ..
Come, Jack, lefs drink a pot of Ale
ComCy let us drink, the time invites
34
42
32
112
118
171
3°
40
48
56
ii.
50
234
8
ii.
103
ii.
lOI
286
62
70
61
69
!»
6
61
69
163
172
iL
8
196
ii.
24
212
9
ii
118
304
220
292
87
92
ii.
80
263
ii.
29
il
86
268
il
3
190
il
65
246
ii.
106
iL
4S
231
9
45
52
93
97
Table of First Lines, 41 3
Come, lefs purge our brains
Come, my dainty Doxies, my Dove ii.
Come, my Daphne, come away ...
Come, my delicate, bonny sweet . . .
Cook Laurel would needs have ...
pviscoveries of late have been
^^ Doctors, lay by your irkesome
T^air Lady, for your New Year's
Fetch me Ben Johnson's scull
From Essex Anabaptist Laws . . .
From hunger and cold, who lives
From Mahomet and Paganisme
From the fair Lavinian shore ...
From what you calVt Town
Full forty times over I have, &c.
r^ ather your rosebuds while . , .
^-^ Go, you tame Gallants,
God bless my good Lord Bishop, . .
Good Lord, what a pass is this . . .
TTad she not care enough
"*■ Hang Chastity I it is
Have you observed the Wench . . .
He is a fond Lover, that doateth
He that a happy life would lead
He that intends to take a wife . . .
Heard you not lately of a man ...
Heris a health unto his Majesty
Hey, ho, have at all !
Hold, quaff no more
How happy is the Prisoner
How poor is his spirit
114
121
121
ii.
44
230
230
86
91
91
23
34
34
ii.
26
214
214
ii.
33
Rf
41
48
48
ii.
81
R^
293
293
ii.
38
241
ii.
9
197
197
164
174
174
291
291
191
182
182
ii.
61
R»
XL
n
199
199
il
57
242
242
166
176
176
75
79
79
211
211
88
220
ii.
141
332
332
ii.
62
r1
ii.
147
339
339
ii.
153
342
342
169
180
180
212
212
168
R«
ii.
19
210
210
lOI
107
107
ii.
48
232
232
414 Table of First L ines,
J am a bonny ^cot, 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 doaf, I doaty 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 2%^^
I loved a maid — she loved not me ii. 151 rp
I marvely Dioky that having been 46 54 54
I mean to speak oi England's ... 85 218
I met with the Divel in the shape 103 109 109
I pray thee, Drunkard y get thee.., ii. 119 306 306
/ 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"^
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 il 46 rs
F II go no more to the Old Exchange 126 134 134
Fll sing you a sonnet, that n^er 66 66
Fll tell thee, Dick, where I have 97 loi loi
Fll tell you a story, that never w.t. 123 131 131
In Eighty-eight, ^er I was born 77 82 82
In the merry month of Msc^ ... 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
T adies, I do here present you ... ii. 55 240 240
^* Lay by your pleading. Law... 118 125 125
Table of First Lines.
41S
Lay by your pleading, Love lies a
Let dogs and divels die
Let Souldiers fight for praise
Let the Trumpet sound
Lefs call, and drink the cellar dry
Listen, lordings, to my story
Tiyjine own sweet honey bird
My bretheren all attend
My Lodging is on the cold ground
My Masters, give audience
My Mistris is a shittle-coclz
My Mistris is in Musick
My Mistris, whom in heart
'^^e^y, out upon this fooling
^^ Nay, prithee, doritfly me ..
Nier trouble thy self at the times
Nick Culpepper 2CcA William Lilly
No man Love^ s fiery passion
No sooner were the doubtful people
Now, gentlemen, if you will hear
Now I am married. Sir John . . .
Now, I confess, L am in love
Now Lambert^ s sunk, and gallant
Now thanks to the Powers below
Now that the Spring has filled ...
Now we are met in a knot
r\ that I could by any Chymick
^^ O the wily, wily Fox
Of all the Crafts that I do know
Of all the rare juices
Of all the Recreations, which . . .
u. 4
ii. 31
ii. 142
130
ii. 32
153
91
ii. 91
107
79
25
56
ii. I
ii. 58
18
ii. 96
I
12
156
ii. no
ii. 138
ii. 31
ii. 114
7
191 191
41 41
218 218
333 333
138 138
240
95 95
290 290
275 275
60 60
163 163
113 113
84 84
36 36
219 219
190
187 187
243 243
29 29
280 280
5 7
198
166 166
296 296
328 328
239
300 300
17 17
178 178
146 146
p
s
416 Table of First L ines.
Of all the Sciences beneath the Sun \\. 12^ 319 319
Of all the Sports the world doth iiiii 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 iL 72 254 254
Once was I sad, till I grew to be 2^ lo 12
oxtakeyou,Mistris,rilbegoneii,iiZ 304 304
Fray, why should any man,., ii. 87 ^70 270
T^ iding to London, in Dunstable 14 200
Room for a Gamester,,, ... ii 10 197 197
Room for the best Foets heroickl 96 100 100
aw you not Yieict the piper ... ii. 124 312 312
She lay all naked in her bed,., il 115 300 300
She lay up to the navel bare ... ii. 116 r^
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 I ii. 18 207 207
Sub limes t discretions have clul/d, . . 287 287
'Tp he Aphorisms of Galen ... ii. 94 277 277
^ The best of Foets write ofF, 141 153 153
The Hunt is up, the Hunt is up 20 30 30
The Froctors are two, and no more 105 iii iii
The Spring is coming on 40 47 47
The thirsty Earth drinks up ... 22 22
The Hmk in linnen wraps 13 25 25
The Wise Men were but seven ... 232 232
The WorWs a bubble, and the life 104 no no
There dwelt a Maid in the C. g. 37 46 46
Table of First L ines, 417
There is a certain idle kind of cr
There was a jovial Tinker
There was a Lady in this land . . .
There was an old man had an acre
There was three birds that built
There was three Cooks in C
Theris a lusty liquor which
Theris many a blinking verse . . .
Three merry Boys came out
Three merry Lads met at the Rose
^Tis not the Silver nor Gold
To friend and to foe
Tobacco that is withered quite . . .
Tom and Will were Shepherd . . .
T Tpon a certain time 146 r^ "N
^^ Upon a Summer's day
WJ^^^ (^//^^^ Dead^ what ho I
^ ^ Walking abroad in the m.
We Seamen are the honest boys . . .
What an Ass is he, Waits, 6^r. . . .
What Fortune had /, poor Maid
What is that you call a Maid. ...
What though the ill times do run
What though the times produce
When blind god Cupid, all in an
When first Mardike was made ...
When first the Scottish war
When I a Lady do intend to flatter ii. 158
When I do travel in the night . .
When L^se came first to London
When '^\iC^'\\.^ had drest
£ £
140
152
152
17
27
27
134
223
44
52
52
139
R^
ii.
129
318
318
132
140
140
h.
35
221
221
220
220
143
143
109
115
115
38
23
23
16
26
26
149
149
146
Rl
148
230
151
151
76
81
8i
152
162
162
ii.
90
273
273
ii.
152
341
341
ii.
68
249
249
116
124
124
161
R<
ii.
2
188
188
4
12
12
89
93
93
ii.
158
348
348
ii.
73
255
255
ii.
133
323
323
ii.
69
250
250
4i8
Table of First Lines.
When the chill Chaxokoe blows, .
White bears have lately come
Why should a man care
Why should we boast <?/" Arthur
Why should we not laugh
Will you hear a strange thing ..
V^ou Gods, that rule upon
You talk of New England . .
You. that in love do mean ta sport ii.
155
164
164
149
159
159
ii. 146
337
337
ii. 122
309
309
ii. 136
326
326
53
62
62
ii. 21
233
ii. 84
266
266
ii. 22.
235
419
First Lines of the ''Antidote'' Songs:
Given in this Volume (and not in M, D, C,J.
[Present Reprint,
A Man ^ Wales, a little before Easter
An old house end ...
Bring out the \_c\old Chyne
Come, come away to the Tavern^ I say ,
Come hither, thou merriest of all the Nine
Come, let us cast dice who shall drink
Drink, drink, all you that think ...
Fly hoy, fly boy, to the cellar^ s bottom
Good Symon, how comes it
Hang Sorrow, and cast away Care
Hang the Presbyter's Gill
He that a Tinker, a tinker will be
In love ? away I you do me wrong
Ts not come here to tauke of Prut
Jog on, jog on the foot-path-way
Lefs cast away Care
^Mongst all the pleasant juices
My Lady and her Maid . . .
Never let a man take heavily
Not drunken nor sober
Of all the birds that ever I see
E E 2
]Page
146
144
52
147
141
152
113
420
Table of First Lines,
Old Poets Hypocrin admire
Once I a curious eye did fix
Theparcht earth drinks the rain . . .
The wit hath long beholden been . . .
There was an old man at Walton Cross
This Ale^ my bonny lads ...
^Tis Wine that inspires ...
Welcome^ welcome, again to thy wit
What are we met ? Come, lefs see
Why should we boast of Arthur . . .
Wilt thou be fat ? Tie tell thee how
Wilt thou lend me thy mare
With an old song made by an old a,p.
You merry Poets, old boyes
Your mare is lame, she halts outright
421
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 abstrac-
tions 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 accusa-
tions against any one who meddles with Re-prints of
Facetice, Blots and stains are upon such old books,
which he has made no attempt to disguise or palHate.
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 un-
necessary : " 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
EE3
422 Drolleries of the Restoration,
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 Phoebus had warmed.
Leaving these ^^ Drolleries of the Restoration " behind
him, as a Nest-Egg, the Editor bids his Readers
cheerfully
JFAREWELL!
FINALE.
423
FINALE.
" Laudator temporis acti^ cant at : —
I.
(^ LOSED now the book, untrimmed the lamp,
Flung wide the lattice-shutter ;
The night-breeze strikes in, chill and damp.
The fir-trees moan and mutters
Lo, dawn is near ! pale Student, thou
No count of time hast reckoned ^
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 nret, 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 iays.
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.
424 Drolleries of the Restoration,
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.
£ £4
Drolleries of the Restoration, 42 [
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 Chlpe bares her shoulder.
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.
426 Drolleries of the Restoration.
How Bench and Bar sink steeped in mire.
Avails not here recording :
While Prelates cannot now look higher
Than to mere self-rewarding.
lo.
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.
II.
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 r
Published at los. 6d. to Subscribers, now raised to
2 is; large paper, published at ;^i is, 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 1 67 1 and 1672, it must have appeared strange that
no attempt has hitherto been made to bring these de-
lightful 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 sur-
passing 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 else-
where 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.
|erry 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 1 66 1 edition, will be given separately; the interme-
diate 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 indis-
pensable 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.
DROLLERY RE-PRINTS.
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 borne 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 unattain-
able, 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),
DROLLERY RE-PRINTS.
and "CromwelPs 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 LoyaUist, 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 Regi-
cides 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'Av-
enant's "Gondibert" (100, 118) are memorials of
unscrupulous ridicule from malicious wits. "News,
DROLLERY RE-PRINTS.
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 modem "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 ofif a bad bargain, p. 1 7 : 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 Impres-
sion is limited to 400 copies, fcap. 8vo. los. 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,
1^" 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 con-
tains " 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 contempo-
rary Drolleries.
DROLLERY RE-PRINTS.
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 admi-
rable 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,
Mr. Robert Roberts. Wm. Chappell."
From J, O. Halliivell, Esqre,
*'No. II, Tregunter Road, West Brompton,
Lx)ndon, S. W.,
Dear Sir, 25th Feby.. 1875.
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.
To Mr. R. Roberts. J. O. Phillipps."
From F. J, Furni'vall, 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."
DROLLERY RE-PRINTS.
From the Editor of the ''Fuller* s Worthies Library, ^^
"Wordsivorth^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 com-
mending the work, in private letters to the Editor, which
he holds in especial honour.
From the ''Academy,** July loth, 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 impor-
tant 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 — in-
tended, 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 un-
finished 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
DROLLERY RE-PRINTS.
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 facti-
tious 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 eibes 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 collec-
tion 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.'"
DROLLERY RE-PRINTS.
From the "Bookseller '^ March, 1875.
" If we wish to read the history of pubHc 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 favour-
ably 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 167 1, 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,
ive think this may he prondunced 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 atten-
tion and watchful oversight."
From the " Athemsum,'' April loth, 1875.
" Mr. Ebsworth has, we think, made out a fair case in
his Introduction for reprinting the volume without exci-
sion. 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 speci-
mens of versification."
7
C^^
i
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.
AUG 121940
OCT 2 1940
^%s
^m 12 194L
Jill ^^ 1945
,i..ar'5SR£ DiX I'^'Bg-l Nl
RLC I &SVEP
e^
j^
. ^ iv,' 'I ^
u qAh pei*t .
vr*p-^^r5 uD
p et t? ^^
It
SEP Qc 1987
,.-^^-^4-198^
YB 74966
GENERAL UBBABY-U.C. BERKELEY
8000s?5b33
.7/ ?/^
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY