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. Revived_, 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 dangerous, is by Richard Brathwaite, and was printed in 1615:—

_To the Precisian._

_For the Precisian that dares hardly looke,_ _(Because th’ art pure, forsooth) on any booke,_ _Save Homilies, and such as tend to th’ good_ _Of thee and of thy zealous brother-hood:_ _Know my Time-noting lines ayme not at thee,_ _For thou art too too curious for mee._ _I will not taxe that man that’s wont to slay_ “His Cat for killing mise on th’ Sabbath day:[”] _No; know my resolution it is thus,_ _I’de rather be thy foe then be thy pus:_ _And more should I gaine by’t: for I see,_ _The daily fruits of thy fraternity:_ _Yea, I perceiue why thou my booke should shun,_ _“Because there’s many faultes th’ art guiltie on:”_ _Therefore with-drawe, by me thou art not call’d,_ _Yet do not winch (good iade) when thou art gall’d,_ _I to the better sort my lines display,_ _I pray thee then keep thou thy selfe away._

(_A Strappado for the Diuell_, 1615.)

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 Shakespeare 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 was a ~Cameronian~ Cat, Was hunting for a prey_,” &c., but we have a printed copy of it, dated 1749, beginning “_A ~Presbyterian~ Cat sat watching of her prey_.” Also, in a poem “On Lute-strings, Cat-eaten,” we read:—

_Puss, I will curse thee, maist thou dwell_ _With some dry Hermit in a Cel,_ _Where Rat ne’re peep’d, where Mouse ne’er fed,_ _And Flies go supperlesse to bed:_ _Or with some close par’d Brother, where_ _Thou’lt fast each Sabbath in the yeare,_ _Or else, profane, be hang’d on Monday,_ _For butchering a Mouse on Sunday_, &c.

(_Musarum Deliciæ_, 1656, _p._ 53.)

John Taylor, the Water-Poet, so early as 1620, writes of a Brownist:—

_The Spirit still directs him how to pray,_ _Nor will 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 kill’d a rat,_ _She on the Monday must be hang’d for that._

(J. P. C.’s _Bibl. Acc._, ii. 418.)

Page 11 [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 discover (see next p. 352), and although we ourselves note occasionally “not found elsewhere,” it is with the remembrance 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]. _Now ~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 1st. “Arthur’s Court” is an allusion to Sir Arthur Haselrig, “a rapacious, head-strong, and conceited agitator” (_Ibid._, p. 37). Monk had not publicly declared himself for the King until May; but he was seen to be opposed to the Rump by 11th Feb., when its effigies were enthusiastically burnt. Richard Cromwell’s abdication had been, virtually, April 22nd, 1659.

Page 32 [204]. _A young man walking 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 “_if that I may thy favour haue, thy bewtye to behold_,” as the true reading; while we find “_If that thy favour I may win With thee for to be 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 “maidenhead,” in _M. D._, 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 cannon-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 up in their own Harbors, taking all such Ships as came bound for those parts.” (_His. Reb._, B. iii. p. 487, ed. 1720.)

Verse 1. Nicholas Culpeper, of Spittle Fields, near London, published his _New 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_,