Part 3

of present Appendix.

Page 129 (orig. 26). _Why should we boast of ~Arthur~, &c._

There are so many differences in the version printed in the _Antidote agt. Melancholy_ from that already given in _Merry Drollery, Compleat_, p. 309, (cp. Note, p. 399), that we give the former uncurtailed.

Along with the music in _Pills to p. Mel._, iii. 116, 1719, are the extra verses (also in _Wit and Mirth_, 1684, p. 29?) agreeing with the _Antidote_; as does the version in _Old Bds._, i. 24, 1723.

Another old ballad, in the last-named collection, p. 153, is upon “King Edward and Jane Shore; in Imitation, and to the Tune of, St. _George_ and the _Dragon_.” It begins (in better version):—

_Why should we boast of ~Lais~ and her knights,_ _Knowing such Champions entrapt by Whorish Lights?_ _Or why should we speak of ~Thais~ curled Locks,_ _Or ~Rhodope~, &c._

Roxb. Coll., iii. 258, printed in 1671. Also in _Pills_, with music, iv. 272. The authorship of it is ascribed to SAMUEL BUTLER, in the volume assuming to be his “Posthumous Works” (p. iii., 3rd edition, 1730); but this ascription is of no weight in general.

In Edm. Gayton’s _Festivous Notes upon Don Quixot_, 1654, p. 231, we read:—“’Twas very proper for these Saints to alight at the sign of St. _George_, who slew the Dragon which was to prey upon the Virgin: The truth of which story hath been abus’d by his own country-men, who almost deny all the particulars of it, as I have read in a scurrilous Epigram, very much impairing the credit and Legend of St. _George_; As followeth,

_They say there is no ~Dragon~,_ _Nor no Saint ~George~ ’tis said._ _Saint ~George~ and ~Dragon~ lost,_ _Pray Heaven there be a Maid!_

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

_Saint ~George~ indeed is dead,_ _And the fell ~Dragon~ slaine;_ _The ~Maid~ liv’d so and dyed,—_ _She’ll ne’r do so againe._”

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

Page 133 (orig. 29). _Come hither, thou merriest, &c._

Issued as a popular broadsheet, printed at London for Thomas Lambert, probably during the lifetime of Charles I., we find this lively ditty of “Blew Cap for Me!” in the Roxburghe Coll., i. 20, and in the Bd. Soc. Reprint, vol. i. pp. 74-9. Mr. Chappell mentions that the tune thus named “is included in the various editions of _The Dancing Master_ from 1650 to 1690; and says, the reference to ‘when our good king was in Falkland town,’ [in the _Antidote_ it reads “our good _knight_,” line 13] may supply an approximate date to the composition.” We believe that it must certainly have been before the Scots sold their king for the base bribe of money from the Parliamentarians, in 1648, when “Blew caps” became hateful to all true Cavaliers. The visit to Falkland was in 1633, so the date is narrowed in compass. From the Black-letter ballad we gain a few corrections: _drowne_, for dare, in 4th line; long _lock’d_, 26th line; for _further_ exercises, 28th; _Mistris_ (so we should read _Maitresse_, not _a metrel_), 29th; _Pe gar_ me do love you (not “Dear”), 30th; _she_ replide. The First Part ends with the Irishman. The Second Part begins with two verses not in the _Antidote_:—

_A Dainty spruce Spanyard, with haire black as jett,_ _long cloak with round cape, a long Rapier and Ponyard;_ _Hee told her if that she could Scotland forget,_ _hee’d shew her the Vines as they grow in the Vineyard._ _“If thou wilt abandon_ _this Country so cold,_ _I’ll show thee faire Spaine,_ _and much Indian gold.”_ _But stil she replide, “Sir,_ _I pray let me be;_ Gif ever I have a man, Blew-cap for me.”

_A haughty high German of Hamborough towne,_ _a proper tall gallant, with mighty mustachoes;_ _He weepes if the Lasse vpon him doe but frowne,_ _yet he’s a great Fencer that comes to ore-match vs._ _But yet all his fine fencing_ _Could not get the Lasse;_ _She deny’d him so oft,_ _that he wearyed was;_ _For still she replide, “Sir,_ _I pray let me be;_ Gif ever I have a man, Blew-cap for me.”

In the Netherland Mariner’s Speech we find for the fifth line of verse, “_Isk_ will make thee,” _said_ he, “sole Lady,” &c. Another verse follows it, before the conclusion:—

_These sundry Sutors, of seuerall Lands,_ [4] _did daily solicite this Lasse for her fauour;_ _And euery one of them alike vnderstands_ _that to win the prize they in vaine did endeauour:_ _For she had resolued_ _(as I before said)_ _To haue bonny Blew-cap,_ _or else bee a maid._ _Vnto all her suppliants_ _still replyde she,_ “Gif ever I have a man, Blew-cap for me.”

_At last came a Scottish-man (with a blew-cap),_ _and he was the party for whom she had tarry’d;_ _To get this blithe bonny Lasse ’twas his gude hap,—_ _they gang’d to the Kirk, & were presently marry’d._ _I ken not weele whether_ _it were Lord or Leard;_ [Laird] _They caude him some sike_ _a like name as I heard;_ _To chuse him from au_ _She did gladly agree,—_ _And still she cride_, “Blew-cap, th’art welcome to mee.”

The song is also reprinted for the Percy Society, (Fairholt’s _Costume_), xxvii. 130, as well as in Evans’ _O. Bds._, iii. 245. Compare John Cleavland’s “Square Cap,”—“Come hither, _Apollo’s_ bouncing girl.”

Page 135 (orig. 30). _The Wit hath long beholden been._

In Harleian MS. No. 6931, where it is signed as by DR. W. STRODE.

The tune of this is “The Shaking of the Sheets,” according to a broadside printed for John Trundle (1605-24, before 1628, as by that date we believe his widow’s name would have been substituted). We find it reprinted by J. P. Collier in his _Book of Roxburghe Ballads_, p. 172, 1847, as “The Song of the Caps.” In an introductory note, we gather that “This spirited and humorous song seems to have been founded, in some of its points, upon the ‘Pleasant Dialogue or Disputation between the Cap and the Head,’ which prose satire went through two editions, in 1564 and 1565: (see the Bridgewater Catalogue, p. 46.) It is, however, more modern, and certainly cannot be placed earlier than the end of the reign of Elizabeth. It may be suspected that it underwent some changes, to adapt it to the times, when it was afterwards reprinted; and we finally meet with it, but in a rather corrupted state, in a work published in 1656, called ‘Sportive Wit: the Muses Merriment, a new Spring of Lusty Drollery,’ &c.” [p. 23.] It appears, with the music, in _Pills_, iv. 157; in Percy Society’s “Costume,” 1849, 115, with woodcuts of several of the caps mentioned.

In _Sportive Wit_, 1656, p. 23, is a second verse (coming before “The Monmouth Cap,” &c.):—

2.—_The Cap doth stand, each man can show,_ _Above a Crown, but Kings below:_ _The Cap is nearer heav’n than we;_ _A greater sign of Majestie:_ _When off the Cap we chance to take,_ _Both head and feet obeysance make;_ For any Cap, &c.

In our 3rd verse, it reads:—ever _brought_, The _quilted_, Furr’d; _crewel_; 4th verse, line 6, of (_some say_) a horn. 5th verse, crooked _cause aright; Which, being round and endless, knows_ || _To make as endless any cause_ [A better version]. 6th, _findes_ a mouth; 7th, The _Motley Man_ a Cap; [for lines 3, 4, compare Shakespeare, as to it taking a wise man to play the fool,] like _the Gyant’s_ Crown. 8th, Sick-_mans_; When _hats in Church_ drop off apace, _This_ Cap _ne’er leaves the_ head _uncas’d_, Though he be _ill_; [two next verses are expanded into three, in _Sp. Wit_.] 11th, none but _Graduats_ [N.B.]; _none_ covered are; _But those that_ to; _go_ bare. _This_ Cap, _of all the Caps that be_, Is _now_; _high_ degree.

Page 139 (orig. 37). _Once I a curious eye did fix._

This is in THOMAS WEAVER’S _Songs and Poems of Love and Drollery_, p. 16, 1654. Elsewhere attributed to JOHN CLEVELAND (who died in 1658), and printed among his Poems “_J. Cleavland Revived_” (p. 106, 3rd edit. 1662), as “The Schismatick,” with a trashy fifth verse (not found elsewhere):—

_I heard of one did touch,_ _He did tell as much,_ _Of one that would not crouch_ _At ~Communion~;_ _Who thrusting up his hand_ _Never made a stand_ _Till he came where her f—— had union;_ _She without all terrour,_ _Thought it no errour,_ _But did laugh till the tears down did trickle,_ _Ha, ha, ha, ~Rotundus~, ~Rotundus~, ’tis you that my spleen doth tickle._

It is likewise in the _Rump_ collection, i. 223, 1662; _Loyal Sgs._, i. 131, 1731.

Page 139 (orig. 47). _I’s not come here to tauk of ~Prut~._

By BEN JONSON. This is the song of the Welshmen, Evan, Howell, and Rheese, alternately, in Praise of Wales, sung in an Anti-Masque “For the Honour of Wales,” performed before King James I. on Shrove Tuesday, 1618-19. The final verse is omitted from the _Antidote against Melancholy_. It is this (sung by Rheese):—

_Au, but what say yow should it shance too,_ _That we should leap it in a dance too,_ _And make it you as great a pleasure,_ _If but your eyes be now at leisure;_ _As in your ears s’all leave a laughter,_ _To last upon you six days after?_ _Ha! well-a-go to, let us try to do,_ _As your old ~Britton~, things to be writ on._

CHORUS.—_Come, put on other looks now,_ _And lay away your hooks now;_ _And though yet yow ha’ no pump, sirs,_ _Let ’em hear that yow can jump, sirs,_ _Still, still, we’ll toudge your ears,_ _With the praise of her thirteen s’eeres._

(See Col. F. Cunningham’s “Mermaid” Ben Jonson, iii. 130-2, for Gifford’s Notes.) With a quaint old woodcut of a strutting Welshman, in cap and feather, the song reappears in “_Recreations for Ingenious Head-pieces_,” 1645 (_Wits Recreations_, Reprint, p. 387).

Page 143. _Old Poets Hipocrin admire._

This is attributed to THOMAS RANDALL, or RANDOLPH (died 1634-5), in _Wit and Mirth_, 1684. p. 101: But to N. N., along with music by Hy. Lawes, in his _Ayres_,