Popular Music Of The Olden Time Vol 2

Ancient Songs, Ballads, & Dance Tunes, Sheet Music & Lyrics - online book

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REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE TO GEORGE II.
649
Why does myloveWillyprove false andunkind, But if she believe him, the false-hearted swain
0  why does he change like the wavering wind, Will leave her, and then she with me may com-From one that is loyal in every degree?               plain :
Ah! why does he change to another from me? For naught is more certain, believe, silly Sue,
1 n the meadows as we were a making of hay, Who once has been faithless can never be true. Oh there did we pass the soft minutes away j ghe finished hfir gongj anfl roge up ^ fce " And then was I kiss'd and set down on his knee, when oyer th(j meadow came joUy young johni No man in the world was so loving as he.         who toM her that she was A- joy rf h[a ^
But now he has left me, and Fanny the fair And if she'd consent, he would make her his Employs all his wishes, his thoughts and his wife :                                                      [went,
care;                                                                She could not refuse hiin, to church so they
He kisses her lip as she sits on his knee,           YoungWilly'sforgot,andyoungSusan'scontent.
And says all the sweet things he once said to Most men are like Willy, most women like Sue,
me :                                                                  If men will be false, why should women be true ?
O MOTHER. A HOOP ! To this tune Cibber wrote the song " What woman could do, I have tried, to be free," for his ballad-opera of Love in a Middle, 1729. It is also printed in The Merry Musician, ii. 7.
In The Livery Bake, 1733, the air takes the name of Cibber's song; but in Damon and Phillida, 1734, it is entitled 0 Mother, a hoop !
There are two versions of " 0 Mother, a hoop! " the one as a song, the other " A Dialogue between Miss Molly and her Mother about a hoop." A copy of the latter will be found in one of the collections in the British Museum (H. 1601, p. 532). It consists of ten stanzas, commencing thus:— Daughter.—"What a fine thing have I seen to-day, 0 Mother, a hoop : I pray let me have one, and do not say nay, 0 Mother, a hoop." Mother.—" You must not have one, dear Moll, to be sure,
For hoops do men's eyes and men's hearts so allure, No, Molly, no hoop, no hoop, No, Molly, no hoop." Daughter.—" Dear Mother, let women wear what, they will, 0, &c.
Men's eyes and men's hearts will be roving still; 0, &c. Whether decently clothed or sluttishly dress'd, Some men prefer these and others the rest. 0, &c.
Men wear lac'd hats and ladies lae'd shoes,
Men with canvas and whalebone do stiffen their clothes,
Then why should the men the ladies abuse
For applying the same things, and to the same use.
Pray hear me, dear Mother, what I have been taught— Nine men and nine women o'erset in a boat, The men were all drown'd, but the women did float, And by help of their hoops they all safely got out," &c. In some of the broadsides with music, the tune is attributed to Mr. Brailford. The following is the first stanza of the song:—