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REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I. 301 |
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With an old hall hung about with guns, pikes, and hows, [many shrewd blows,
With old swords and bucklers that have stood
And an old frieze coat to coyer his worship's trunk hose,
And a cup of old sherry to comfort his copper nose. Like an old, &c. |
With a neat lady that is brisk and fair, That never knew what belonged to good
house-keeping or care, [air,
But buys several fans to play with the wanton And seventeen or eighteen dressings of other
women's hair. Like a young, &c. |
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With a new hall built where the old one stood, Wherein is burned neither coal nor wood, And a shovelboard-table whereon meat never
stood, Hung round with "pictures that do the poor
no good. Like a young, &c. |
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With an old fashion when Christmas was come, To call in his neighbours with bagpipe and drum; And good cheer enough to furnish every old
room, And old liquor able to make a cat speak and |
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a man dumb. Like an old, &c. |
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With an old huntsman, a falconer, and a kennel
of hounds; [grounds;
Which never hunted nor hawked but in his own Who like an old wise man kept himself within
his own bounds, And when he died, gave every child a thousand
old pounds. Like an old, &c.
But to his eldest son, his house and land he
assigned, [tiful mind,
Charging him in his will to keep the old boun-To love his good old servants and to his
neighbours be kind; But in the ensuing ditty you shall hear how he
was inclin'd. Like a young Courtier, &c.
Like a young gallant newly-come to his land, That keeps a brace of creatures at his command, [land, And takes up a thousand pound upon his own And lies drunk in a new tavern, 'till he can neither go nor stand. Like a young, &c. |
With a new study stuft full of pamphlets and plays ; [he prays ;
With a new chaplain that swears faster than
With a new buttery hatch that opens once in four or five days;
With a new French cook to make kickshaws and toys. Like a young, &c.
With a new fashion when Christmas is come, With a new journey up to London we must
be gone, ■ [porter John,
And leave nobody at home but our new Who relieves the poor with a thump on the
back with a stone. Like a young, &c.
With a gentleman usher whose carriage is complete; [meat;
With a footman, coachman, and page to carry
With a waiting-gentlewoman whose dressing is very neat;
Who, when the master has dined, lets the servants not eat. Like a young, &c. |
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With a new honour bought with the old gold, That many of his father's old manors had sold, And. this is the occasion that most men do hold That good house-keeping is now grown so cold. |
Like a young, &c. |
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JOAN, TO THE MAYPOLE.
This ballad is in the Roxburghe Collection, ii.- 354, and Douce Collection, p. 152. It is entitled " May-day Country Mirth; or The young Lads' and Lasses' innocent Recreation, which is to be prized before courtly pomp and pastime : to an excellent new tune." Dr. Rimbault, in his " Little Book of Songs and Ballads, gathered from Ancient Music-books," prints a version " from a MS. volume of old songs and music, formerly in the possession of the Rev. H. J. Todd, dated 1630." The same is in Evans' Old Ballads, i. 245 (1810). Another version will be found with the tune in Pills to purge Melancholy, ii. 145 (1707), or iv. 145 (1719), with many more stanzas. |
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