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REIGN OF CHARLES II.' 503 |
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THE LASS OF CUMBERLAND.
The copies of this ballad and tune are still numerous. The tune is in a manuscript in the Music School, Oxford, dated 1670,—in 180 Loyal Songs, 1685 and 1694,—in Youth's Delight on the Flagelet,—in several of the editions of Apollo's Banquet,—and in every edition of Pills to purge Melaneholy.
In 180 Loyal Songs, p. 219, is " The Creditors' Complaint against the Bankers; or, The Iron Chest the best Security:-—
Since bankers are grown bo brittle of late,
That money and bankers together are flown, I'll chest up my money ; and then, 'spite of fate, Let 'em all break their necks—my money's my own. To the tune of There was a Lass of Cumberland." It consists of ten stanzas; and commences:—
" Bankers are now such brittle ware, An iron chest is still the best, [they,
They break just like a Venice glass ; 'Twill keep your coin more safe than If you trust them, then have a care, For, when they've feather'd well their nest, ' Lest your coin to foreign lands do pass. Then the roohs will fly away."
In the same collection are two on James IL, then Duke of York. The first, p. 176, " The honour of great York and Albany. To a new tune." The second, p. 177, " Loyalty respected, and Faction confounded. To an excellent new tune." The music of There was a Lass of Cumberland is printed as the tune in question. The last commences with the line,—
" Let the cannons roar from sea to shore."
In the Roxburghe Collection, ii. 368, is " The Northern Lad; or, The Fair Maid's Choice, who refused all for a Plowman, counting herself therein most happy, &c. To the tune of There was a Lass in Oumberland." The printer's name is cut off this copy, which is a version of the ballad differing from that in the Pills and in the Douce Collection. It commences :— "lama lass o' th' North Countrey, But to bed to me, to bed to me,
And I was born and bred a-whome ; The lad that gangs to bed with me,
Many a lad has courted me, A jovial plowman must he be,
And swore that they to woo me come. The lad that comes to heel to me." The Douce copy, p. 43, is entitled " Cumberland Nelly; or, The North Country Lovers, &c. Tune of The Lass that comes to bed to me." It commences: " There was a lass of Cumberland, A bonny lass of high degree : There was a lass, her name was Nell, The blithest lass that e'er you see.
Oh ! to bed to me, to bed to me," &c. In the same collection, p. 44, is " Cumberland Laddy; or, Willy and Nelly of the North;" to the same tune. The first printed by J. Conyers, at the Black Raven in Duck Lane,—the second by Coles, Vere, Wright, and Clarke.
In Youth's Belight on the Flagelet, the tune is entitled To bed to me ; or, The Northern Lass:—in Apollo's Banquet, To bed we'll go. |
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