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■ ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC. |
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Quoth he, " Most lovely maid, No sooner night is not, My troth shall aye endure; But he returns alway,
And be not thou afraid, And shines as bright and hot But rest thee still secure, As on this gladsome day.
That I will love thee long He is no older now
As life in me shall last; Than when he first was born ;
Now I am strong and young, Age cannot make him bow,
And when my youth is past. He laughs old Time to scorn.
When I am gray and old, My love shall be the same, And then must stoop to age, It never shall decay,
I'll love thee twenty-fold, But shine without all blame, My troth I here engage." Though body turn to clay."
She heard with joy the youth, She listed to his song,
When he thus far had gone; And heard it with"a smile,
She trusted in his truth, And, innocent as young,
And, loving, he went on : She dreamed not of guile.
" Yonder thou seest the sun No guile he meant, I ween,
Shine in the sky so bright, For he was true as steel,
And when this day is done, As was thereafter seen
And cometh the dark night, When she made him her weal.
Full soon both two were wed,
And these most faithful lovers May serve at board at bed,
Example to all others.
ROW WELL, YE MAEINEES.
From the Registers of the Stationers' Company, we find that in 1565-6, William Pickering had a license to print a ballet entitled, Mow well, ye mariners, and in the following year, " Row well, ye mariners, moralized." In 1566-7, John Allde had a license to print " Stand fast, ye mariners," which was, in all probability, another moralization; and in the following year, two others; the one, " Row well, ye mariners, moralized, with the story of Jonas," the other, " Row well, Christ's mariners." In 1567-8, Alexander Lacy took a license to print " Row. well, God's mariners," and in 1569-70, John Sampson to print " Row well, ye mariners, for those that look big." These numerous entries sufficiently prove the popularity of the original, and I regret the not having succeeded in finding a copy of any of these ballads.
Three others, to the tune of Mow well, ye mariners, have been reprinted by Mr. Payne Collier, in his Old Ballads, for the Percy Society. The first (dated 1570)— " A lamentation from Rome, how the Pope doth bewail
That the rebels in England cannot prevail." The second, "The end and confession of John Felton, who suffred in Paules Churcheyarde, in London, the 8th August [1570], for high treason." Felton placed the Bull of Pope Pius V., excommunicating Elizabeth, on the gate of the palace of the Bishop of London, and was hung on a gallows set up expressly before that spot. The third, " A warning to London by the fall of Antwerp." |
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