English Songs and Ballads Part 18

Lay thy bow of pearl apart, And thy crystal-s.h.i.+ning quiver, Give unto the flying hart s.p.a.ce to breathe how short soever; Thou that mak'st a day of night, G.o.ddess excellently bright!

THE SWEET NEGLECT

Still to be neat, still to be drest, As you were going to a feast: Still to be poud'red, still perfum'd: Lady, it is to be presum'd, Though art's hid causes are not found, All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Give me a looke, give me a face, That makes simplicitie a grace; Robes loosely flowing, haire as free: Such sweet neglect more taketh me, Than all th' adulteries of art, That strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

THE WEAVER'S SONG

ANONYMOUS

When Hercules did use to spin, And Pallas wrought upon the loom, Our trade to flourish did begin, While conscience went not selling broom; Then love and friends.h.i.+p did agree To keep the bands of amity.

When princes' sons kept sheep in field, And queens made cakes of wheated flour, The men to lucre did not yield, Which brought good cheer in every bower; Then love and friends.h.i.+p ...

But when the Gyants huge and high, Did fight with spears like weavers' beams, Then they in iron beds did lye, And brought poor men to hard extreams; Yet love and friends.h.i.+p ...

Then David took his sling and stone, Not fearing great Goliah's strength, He pierc't his brains, and broke the bone, Though he were fifty foot of length; For love and friends.h.i.+p ...

But while the Greeks besieged Troy, Penelope apace did spin; And weavers wrought with mickle joy, Though little gains were coming in; For love and friends.h.i.+p ...

Had Helen then sate carding wooll, (Whose beauteous face did breed such strife), She had not been Sir Paris' trull, Nor caused so many to lose their life; Yet we by love did still agree To hold the bands of amity.

Or had King Priam's wanton son Been making quills with sweet content, He had not then his friends undone, When he to Greece a-gadding went; For love and friends.h.i.+p ...

The cedar-trees endure more storms Then little shrubs that sprout on high; The weavers live more void of harms Then princes of great dignity; While love and friends.h.i.+p doth agree ...

The shepherd sitting in the field Doth tune his pipe with heart's delight; When princes watch with spear and s.h.i.+eld, The poor man soundly sleeps all night; While love and friends.h.i.+p doth agree ...

Yet this by proof is daily try'd, For G.o.d's good gifts we are ingrate, And no man through the world so wide Lives well contented with his state; No love and friends.h.i.+p we can see To hold the bands of amity.

THE HONEST FELLOW

Hang fear, cast away care, The parish is bound to find us Thou and I, and all must die, And leave this world behind us.

The bells shall ring, the clerk shall sing, And the good old wife shall winde us; And the s.e.xton shall lay our bodies in the clay, Where n.o.body shall find us.

ROBIN GOODFELLOW

From Oberon, in fairy land, The king of ghosts and shadows there, Mad Robin I, at his command, Am sent to view the night-sports here.

What revel rout Is kept about, In every corner where I go, I will o'ersee, And merry be, And make good sport, with ho, ho, ho!

More swift than lightning can I fly About this airy welkin soon, And, in a minute's s.p.a.ce, descry Each thing that's done below the moon.

There's not a hag Or ghost shall wag, Or cry, 'ware goblins! where I go; But Robin I Their feats will spy, And send them home with ho, ho, ho!

Whene'er such wanderers I meet, As from their night-sports they trudge home, With counterfeiting voice I greet, And call them on with me to roam: Through woods, through lakes; Through bogs, through brakes; Or else, unseen, with them I go, All in the nick, To play some trick, And frolic it, with ho, ho, ho!

Sometimes I meet them like a man, Sometimes an ox, sometimes a hound; And to a horse I turn me can, To trip and trot about them round.

But if to ride My back they stride, More swift than wind away I go, O'er hedge and lands, Through pools and ponds, I hurry, laughing, ho, ho, ho!

When lads and la.s.ses merry be, With possets and with junkets fine; Unseen of all the company, I eat their cakes and sip their wine!

And, to make sport, I puff and snort: And out the candles I do blow: The maids I kiss, They shriek--Who's this?

I answer nought but ho, ho, ho!

Yet now and then, the maids to please, At midnight I card up their wool; And, while they sleep and take their ease, With wheel to threads their flax I pull.

I grind at mill Their malt up still; I dress their hemp; I spin their tow; If any wake, And would me take, I wend me, laughing, ho, ho, ho!

When any need to borrow aught, We lend them what they do require: And, for the use demand we nought; Our own is all we do desire.

If to repay They do delay, Abroad amongst them then I go, And night by night, I them affright, With pinchings, dreams, and ho, ho, ho!

When lazy queans have nought to do, But study how to cog and lie: To make debate and mischief too, 'Twixt one another secretly: I mark their gloze, And it disclose To them whom they have wronged so: When I have done, I get me gone, And leave them scolding, ho, ho, ho!

When men do traps and engines set In loop-holes, where the vermin creep, Who from their folds and houses get Their ducks and geese, and lambs and sheep; I spy the gin, And enter in, And seem a vermin taken so; But when they there Approach me near, I leap out laughing, ho, ho, ho!

By wells and rills, in meadows green, We nightly dance our heyday guise; And to our fairy king and queen, We chant our moonlight minstrelsies.

When larks 'gin sing, Away we fling; And babes new born steal as we go; And elf in bed We leave in stead, And wend us laughing, ho, ho, ho!

From hag-bred Merlin's time, have I Thus nightly revelled to and fro; And for my pranks men call me by The name of Robin Good-fellow.

Fiends, ghosts, and sprites, Who haunt the nights, The hags and goblins do me know; And beldames old My feats have told, So vale, vale; ho, ho, ho!

TIME'S ALTERATION

When this old cap was new, 'Tis since two hundred year; No malice then we knew, But all things plenty were: All friends.h.i.+p now decays (Believe me, this is true); Which was not in those days, When this old cap was new.

The n.o.bles of our land Were much delighted then, To have at their command A crew of l.u.s.ty men, Which by their coats were known, Of tawny, red, or blue, With crests on their sleeves shewn, When this old cap was new.

Now pride hath banished all, Unto our land's reproach, When he whose means is small, Maintains both horse and coach: Instead of a hundred men, The coach allows but two; This was not thought on then, When this old cap was new.