Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
||||
REIGN OF CHARLES II. |
543 |
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Oiir music ia a little pipe,
That can so sweetly play ; We hire Old Hal from Whitsuntide,
Till latter Lammas-day ; . On sabbath days and holy-days,
After ev'ning prayer comes he ;a And then do we skip it, caper and trip it,
Under the green-wood tree.
In summer time, &c.
Come, play us Adam and Eve, says Dick ;
What's that ? says little Pipe ; The Beginning of the fVorld,b quoth Dick ;
For we are dancing-ripe ; Is t that you call ? then have at all—
He play'd with merry glee; O then did we skip it, caper and trip it,
Under the green-wood tree.
In summer time, &c.
O er hills and dales, to Whitsun-ales,
We dance a merry fytte ; When Susan sweet with John doth meet,
She gives him Hit for Hit— From head to foot she holds him to 't,
And jumps as high as he ; Oil how they spring it, flounce and fling it,
Under the green-wood tree.
In summer time, &c.
My lord's son must not be forgot,
So full of merry jest; Ho laughs to see the girls so hot,
And jumps it with the rest.
m Bishop Eaile, in his Microcosmographie, describing a " P;ain countryfellow, or downright clown," says, " Sun lay he esteems a day to make merry in, and thinks a bag-pipe as essentia] to it as evening prayer. He w Uks very solemnly after service, with his hands couplrd behind him, and censures " (i. «., criticises) " the dancing of his parish." Burton, in his |
No time is spent with more content,
In camp, in court, or city, So long as we skip it, frisk it and trip it,
Under the green-wood tree.
In summer time, &c. .
We oft go to Sir William's ground,
And a rich old cub is he ; And there we dance around, around,
But never a penny we see. From thence we get to Somerset,
Where men are frolic and free, And there do we skip it, frisk it and trip it,
Under the green-wood tree.
In summer time, &c.
We fear no plots ,of Jews or Scots, .
For we are jolly swains : With plow and cow, and barley-mow,
We busy all our brains ; No city cares, nor merchant's fears
Of wreck or piracy ;• Therefore we skip it, frisk it. and trip it,
Under the green-wood tree.
In summer time, &c.
On meads and lawns we trip like fauns,
Like fillies, kids and lambs ; We have no twinge to make us cringe,
Or crinkle in the hams ; When the day is spent, with one consent, ' Again we all agree, To caper it and skip it, trample and trip it,
Under the green-wood tree.
In summer time, &c.
Anatomy of Melancholy, says: " Young lasses are never better pleased, than when, as upon a holiday, after evensong, they may meet their sweet-hearts, and dance about a May-pole, or in a Town-green, under a shady elm." b For The Beginning 0/the World, or Sellenger'i Round, see ante vol. i., p. 69. |
|||
|
||||