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358 . ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC. |
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I TELL THEE, DICK, WHERE I HAVE BEEN.
This celebrated ballad, by Sir John Suckling, was occasioned by the marriage of Roger Boyle, the first Earl of Orrery (then Lord Broghill), with Lady Margaret Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk. The words are in the first edition of Sir John Suckling's works, 1646; in Wit's Recreation, 1654; in Merry Drollery Complete, 1661; Antidote to Melancholy, 1661; in The Convivial Songster, 1782; in Ritson's Ancient Songs, p. 223; and Ellis' Specimens of Early English Poets, iii. 248.
The tune is in A Choice Collection of 180 Loyal Songs, third edit., 1685; in Pills to purge Melancholy, vol. i., 1699 and 1707; in The Convivial Songster, 1782, &c.
The following were written to the tune:—
1. The Cavalier's Complaint. A copy in the Bagford Collection (643, m. 11, p. 23) dated 1660; and one in the King's Pamphlets, No. 19, fol., 1661; others in Antidote to Melancholy; Merry Drollery, 1670; The New Academy of Compliments, 1694 and 1713; and Dryden's Miscellany Poems, vi. 352; &c.
" Come, Jack, let's drink a pot of ale, And I suppose the place can shew
And I will tell thee such a tale, As few of those whom thou didst know
Shall make thine ears to ring; At York, or Marston-Moor.
My coin is spent, my time is lost, But> truly> there are swarms of thoge
And I this only frmt can boast- moge cUng are beardless> yet their hose
That once I saw my King. And buttockg still wear muffs.
But this doth most afflict my mind— Whilst the old rusty Cavalier
I went to court in hope to find Retires, or dares not once appear,
Some of my friends in place; For want of coin and cuffs.
And, walking there, I had a sight ' when none of thege T C0lud descry, Of all the crew—but, by this light, (Who better far deseryd than I,)
I hardly knew one face I 0almly did j- reflect.
S'life, of so many noble sparks, Old services, by rule of state,
Who on their bodies bear the marks Like almanacks, grow out of date;
Of their integrity, What then can I expect ?
And suffer'd ruin of estate, Troth; in contempt of f0rtune'8 frown,
It was my damn'd unhappy fate ru get me fairly out of town>
That I not one could see. And in a cloigter pray
Not one, upon my life, among That since the stars are yet unkind
My old acquaintance, all along To Royalists, the King may find
At Truro, and before; More faithful friends than they."
2. An Echo to the Cavalier's Complaint. Copies in Tlie Antidote to Melancholy, 1661; Merry Drollery Complete, 1670; New Academy of Compliments; &c.
" I marvel, Dick, that having been Are we to learn what is a court ?
So long abroad, and having seen A pageant made for Fortune's sport,
The world, as thou hast done, WTiere merits scarce appear;
Thou shouldst acquaint me with a tale For bashful merit only dwells
As old as Nestor, and as stale In camps, in villages, and cells;
As that of priest and nun. Alas ! it dwells not there. |
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