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REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I. |
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The second ballad quoted by Maudlin is entitled " Keep a good tongue in your head ; or— Here's a good woman, in every respect,
But only her tongue breeds all her defect: to the tune.of The Milkmaids" &c. (Roxburghe Coll., i. 510, or Collier's Rox-hurghe Ballads, 237.) From this I have selected a few stanzas to print with the tune. It is sometimes referred to under its name, as in the following:— " Hold your hands, honest men: for—
Here's a good wife hath a husband that likes her,
In every respect, but only he strikes her;
Then if you desire to be held men complete,
Whatever you do, your wives do not beat. To the tune of Keepe a good tongue," &c. (Roxburghe, i. 514.) The following song by D'Urfey, entitled The Bonny Milkmaid, was also written to the tune, but had afterwards music composed to it for his play of Don Quixote, and is so printed in both editions of Pills to purge Melancholy, and in The Merry Musician, or A Cure for the Spleen, ii. 116. It is a rifacimento of Martin Parker's song printed above. |
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Ye nymphs and# sylvan gods, That love green fields and woods,
Where Spring, newly blown,
Herself does adorn With flow'rs and blooming buds :
Come sing in the praise,
Whilst flocks do graze In yonder pleasant vale,
Of those that choose
Their sleep to lose,
And in cold dews,
With clouted shoes, Do carry the milking pail.
The goddess of the morn With blushes they adorn,
And take the fresh air,
Whilst linnets prepare A concert in each green thorn.
The blackbird and thrush
On every bush, And charming nightingale,
In merry vein
Their throats do strain
To entertain
The jolly train |
When cold bleak winds do roar And flow'rs can spring no more,
The fields that were seen
So pleasant and green By Winter all candied o'er :
Oh 1 how the town lass
Looks, with her white face And lips so deadly pale j
But it is not so
With those that go
Through frost and snow,
With cheeks that glow, To carry the milking pail.
The country lad is free From fear and jealousy,
When upon the green
He is often seen With a lass upon his knee;
With kisses most sweet
He does her greet, And swears she'll ne'er grow stale;
While the London lass,
In every place,
With her brazen face,
Despises the grace Of those with the milking pail. |
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That carry the milking pail. |
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"The Merry Milkmaid's Delight-" |
was one |
of the ballads printed by |
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W. Thackeray, in the time of Charles II.
The following stanzas are selected from the ballad above-mentioned, a good tongue in your head." |
Keep |
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