A Little Book of Songs and Ballads
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**5 ;"* it. , •- .»» ^- :w- • -.-V^v • • \- V- '^Tv-'i*-'!':';'.' ;,'^^'-; /^// n 3^ L- A Little Book of Songs and Ballads. A/ \ •J-}^^=H-?- Printed by Arliss and Tuckeh,. 15, Frith Street, Snho. 'H^#^4^- A 9i Eittle iSoofe of g^ongs anti BallaDfi, gatljereti '^ " from Ancient JMustcft Bnofts. , A^ 3 J > J » J ilE^. anti Prtntctr. By E. F. RIMBAULT, LL.B. 8fc. Antique Ballads, sung to crowds of old, Now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold." jf^ London : Printed for JOHN EUSSELL SMITH, 4, Old Compton Street, Soho Square. ft M. DCCC. LI. TO THE PRESIDENT AND EELLOWS OF EJ)« Societg of Sntiquarits of ScotlantJ THIS TRIFLE IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, AS A SMALL ACKNOTVLEDGMENT OF THE HONOUR CONFERRED UPON THE EDITOR BY ELECTING HIM A CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THEIR LEARNED BODY. PS42044: THE CONTENTS. ^¥i'^^^- TAGS ^ Introduction 1 I I. Song in Praise of Arthur, Prince of Wales, a.d. 1501 21 II. This gentm Day dawes, MTitten in compUment to Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV . 24 III. Ballad on the Marriage of Margaret Tudor . 27 IV. Margaret Meke 29 V. Satirical Song on the Flemings . 31 VI. King Henry Ylllth's Expedition to France . 33 VII. Satirical Song on Friar Gastkyn .... 35 VIII. The Kynges BaUade 37 IX. Song from the Interlude of the iiij Elements . 39 X. Jhoone is sike and ill at ease 40 XI. I had both Monie and a Frende .... 42 Vlll THE CONTENTS. PAGE XII. A Caveat against Idle Rumours 44 XIII . The Complaynte of a Lover 47 XIV. Kytt hath lost hur Key 49 XV. Another Version of the same 51 XVI. By a Banke as I lay 53 XVII. Another Version of the same 55 XVIII. The lytyll prety Nyghtyngale 57 ^ ( XIX. I have been a Foster long 59 XX. I cannot come every day to woo • 60 XXI. A "Wooing Song of a Yeoman of Kent's Son 62 XXII. Death, rocke me asleepe . 65 XXIII. The Hunt is up 67 XXIV. Come over the Biu*ne, Bessy, to me 71 I XXV. Ancient Lullaby Song .... 77 XXVI. A Christmas Caroll 79 XXVII. ^\Tio hveth so merry in all this Land 83 I XXVIII. We be Souldiers three 86 I ) I XXIX. The Marriage of the Frogge and the Mouse 87 THE CONTENTS. IX ^^89 Frog's Wedding > I XXX. The ; ) XXXI. There was a Froggie 92 ^ ) XXXII. The ^Yedding of the Five 95 ^ ; XXXIII. Like Hermit poor 98 ^ XXXIV. With my Flockes as walked I . 101 > > ' XXXV. The Rose of England 103 XXXVI. SirEglamore 106 XXXVII. Trole the Cannikin 109 > XXXVIII. The Cuckoo's Song I ^ ! XXXIX. The Hunter's Ballade 112 j XL. Martin said to his Man 115 i XLI. The Ballad of the Fox 118 S XLII. Sing, Gentle Butler, Balla Moy . .120 XLIII. A West-Country Ballad 122 I XLIV. The Fayries' Daunce 125 XLV. The Satyres' Daunce <^ ..... 126 J < > XLVI. The Urchms' Daunce 127 ? I > XLVII. Tosse the Pot 128 i THE CONTENTS. PAGE XLVIII. Methinkes one Tooth is drj- 130 XLIX. The Morris Dancers 132 L. The Manner of the World now a days . .134 LI. The Ape, the Monkey, and Baboone . 135 > LII. Kemp's Journey into France . 136 ^ LIII. Love will find out the Way . 137 LIV. A May-Day BaUad 144 LV. The Rural Daunce about the May-pole . 146 LVI. The North-Countrj-man's Song on his View of Lon- ^ don Sights 151 ^ c < LVII. A Song for Autolycus 156 < LVm. BaUad on S^^non Wadloe 158 ( LIX. The Humours of Bartholomew Fair . 160 ^ LX. The New Humours of Bartholomew Fau* . 162 ^ LXL A Song on Bartholomew Fah' . 163 LXII. The CountrjTuan's Ramble through Bartholomew Fair 166 LXIII. Tobacco is an Indian Weed . 170 > THE CONTENTS. XI i PAGE : LXIV. The Praise of Trinidado 173 \ > LXV. Tobacco's a Musician 175 LXVI. Ale and Tobacco 178 LXVII. The Triumph of Tobacco . 179 LXVIII. Old England tum'd Ne\\ 183 LXIX. The Lamentation of a Bad Market 187 LXX. London's Ordinary; or, Every Man in his Humour 193 LXXI. A Tom-a-Bedlam Song 200 LXXIL The Plain-Deahng Man 206 LXXIII. The Plain-Deahng Woman; or, Come Shepherds, Deck your Heads 212 LXXIV. The Praise of Christmas 215 L'Envoy 221 Additional Notes and Illustrations 223 fc^ MS%^ 1 > 1 ' >^' )^ ^ -C^ 'X ^\ ' J > > » » • »?• >,»» » > > » 9[ iltttle Boolfe of ^ongs INTRODUCTION. HE Little Book of Songs AND Ballads, now oflPered to the public, is a gathering from various sources, and I may be Hkened unto the \ wallet of one of those minstrels of the olden time, who " Walken fer and wyde, Here, and ther, in every syde, In many a diverse londe." It does not indeed contain the "lay of chi- valry,'' or the "romance of price;" but in it may be found rhymes adapted to the old tavern-min- / 2 INTRODUCTION. ' * ' • » » t } » » ' • • .' " • harpers, who gave a fit of mirth : :^: a] rstrclsy used by ;" " ;" " (, for a groat Carols for Christmas Poems for Ales/' as Puttenham, the arch-critic of i Bride " < Elizabeth's reign, has it ; and diverse small rimes," " Sum of love, and sum of wo, Sum of joie, and mirtlie also," The productions of the minstrels were of various kinds. The romance of chivahy seems principally to have been composed for the gratification of knights and nobles. Thus \ \ they frequently commence with an invitation " to the Lords," to listen and attend ; whilst, I on the other hand, it is probable that those \ < in the lower class of life were amused mth \ lays of a nature more readily addressed to their I \ feelings and occupations, and which were oc- ^ '< casionally satirical, and generally ludicrous. < ~ i ^ See the Introduction to Utterson's Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry. ^ — Of these the quaint and merry Skelton thus sings : " Thougli my rime be ragged, Tattered and jagged, Eudely rain-beaten, Kusty, moth-eaten, If ye take well therewith, It hath in it some pith." Concerning this wandering class of men, the minstrels, much has been written ; but perhaps after all Bishop Percy was not far wrong when he designated them as " an order of men in the middle ages, who united the arts of poetry and music, and sung verses to the harp, of their own ^ \ comjposing!' \ The monastic education of the minstrels, and \ their intimate connection with the musical ser- > \ vice of the chmxh, has not, we think, been pro- perly investigated, or the qualifications which \ " 4i INTRODUCTION. the learned bishop has awarded them would hardly have been disputed.^ "In all countries and in all ages the first and principal application of music has been uniformly to the purposes of religious worship ; and in order to provide a competent succession of per- sons capable of singing the different portions in the church service, and to guard it from corrup- tions, in consequence of the ignorance of those by whom it was sung, it was found necessary that music should form a part of the clerical education. It was therefore taught in the schools belonging to the monasteries, to such of i the children of the neighbourhood as were sent thither for education ; the system of instruction in which appears to have consisted of learning the psalms, probably by heart, and acquiring the I > 3 Pqj. an impartial re\iew of the well-known dispute between Bishop > Percy and " Mister " Ritson, see the Introductoiy Essay prefixed > to the last edition of Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish ] Border. > principles of music, singing, arithmetic, and grammar. By this method, boys were, from time to time, procured for the service of the choir, and a succession of singers secured to fill up such vacancies as might be occasioned by I ! deaths ; for some of these boys, when their voices broke, perhaps betook themselves to the church I I as their profession, embraced the monastic habit I and rule, and became ecclesiastical members of the foundation where they had been educated, i Others, on the contrary, disliking the monastic i restraint, and availing themselves of their musical J 5 education, applied to music as their profession, ^ and were occasionally employed in the monas- I I teries, to assist in the choir on Saints' days and I hio;h festivals, wlien a more solemn service was \ I performed, and a greater number of performers required. " In the intermediate space, these laymen sub- sisted by travelling about from the court or palace \ 6 INTRODUCTION. > of one prince or nobleman to that of another, to \ entertain the lord and his guests in the character < of a minstrel, by singing legends of the saints in I verse, historical ballads, romances in verse, and other vocal compositions, loritten and set to music ] by themselves, and which they also smig, accom- panying themselves at the same time on some musical instrument. " ' Between the common violar ' and the cha- racter of the minstrel there existed this wide difference, that, while the former might be justly \ ranked with the lowest order of the people, the latter had the benefit of such a regular \ education, as would have qualified him for a profession of comparative learning and elegance.'^ In the \ schools of the monasteries, the minstrel had \ learnt something of the theoretical principles of •* I We read in the old romance of Launfel, " They had menstralles of moche honour, \ Fydelers, S5i;ol}TS, and trompeters." Thus clearly showing the cUstinction between the educated minstrel and ilhterate perfonners upon instruments. INTRODUCTION. music, the practical part of singing, and the elements of grammar; including also, perhaps as much knowledge of poetry as was sufficient for the composition of a song or ballad.