Popular Music Of The Olden Time Vol 1

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	274	ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC.

	The tune is in The Dancing Master, from 1650 to 1686, entitled The Maid peept out at the window, or The Frier in the Well. The ballad is in the Bagford Collection; in the Roxburghe (ii. 172) ; the Pepys (iii. 145); the Douce (p. 85); and in Wit and Mirth, an Antidote to Melancholy, 8vo., 1682. Also, in an altered form, in Pills to purge Melancholy, 1707 i. 340; or 1719, iii. 325. But not one of these contains the line, " The maid peept out of the window." I suppose, therefore, that the present has been modelled upon some earlier version of the ballad, which I have not seen. The story is a very old one, and one of the many against monks and friars, in ■which, not only England but all Europe delighted. *r_____**


	The story of the ballad may be told, with slight abbreviation. Firstly, the Friar makes love to the Maid:— " But she denyed his desire, And told him that she fear'd Hell-fire. Tush, quoth the Friar, thou needst not douht, If thou wert in Hell, I could sing thee out."