author's mistress, whose name was Alysoun;" this is inserted in his first class, comprehending the reigns of Henry III. Edward I. II. and III. and Richard II. It opens thus: Bytuene Mersh ant Averil When spray biginneth to springe Icham in hire brandoun.§ He further speaks of― Hire browe broune, hire eyhe blake. With lossum** chere [s]he on me loh ;tt And in another place, Hire swyre++ is whittore then the swon. The same MS. has preserved another song in which the author describes "his beautiful, but unrelenting mistress :" That sweting is ant ever wes. "I would place it," says Warton, "before or about the year 1200;" this is one of the verses: Blow northerne wynd Sent thou me my suetyng Blow northerne wynd, blou, blou, blou. Another of our old writers has praised his mistress as the fairest maid" betweene Lyncolne ant Lyndesey, Northampton ant Lounde," [i. e. London] in five stanzas, beginning in this very pleasing way: When the nyhtegale singes the wodes waxen green, * She. + Pink. + Sunflower. § Hurt or distress myself. These "auncient ditties," are supposed to have been written anterior to Chaucer, "Whose light those clouds and mists dissolv'd Which our dark nation long involv'd;" the father of our poetry had in his day written many a song and goodly ballad; like his "yonge squier," "He coude songes make and well indite," if he could not "singe and plaien on a rote," like the wanton "frere." These valuable pieces of ancient minstrelsy, time, the greatest of thieves, has robbed us of. As Ritson says, "Chaucer's ballads have been sung, but they are certainly no songs." To illustrate the history of song during the reigns of the kings immediately following Chaucer's master, Edward III., our many public libraries afford little or nothing. Gower and Occleve adorned our literature, or rather improved the ruggedness of our language; and Lydgate, a monk, wrote as many works as would satisfy the burning thirst for writing, of half a dozen of the voluminous authors of the nineteenth century. Though Henry V. ordered that no songs should be recited to celebrate the victory of Agincourt, some poet laureate of those days has wedded it to immortal rhyme, even the music of it has been preserved.* Charles Duke * See Percy's Reliques, vol. ii. p. 26. Ed. 1811. of Orleans, while prisoner in England during this reign, wrote a volume of Love poems, still preserved among the Harleian Papers, [682]. The Editor looked for a better specimen than the one given by Ritson, beginning, Lend me youre praty mouth madame, See how y kneele here at yowre feet, &c. &c. but it was a vain search. To the reign of his son, Henry VI. is given the old ballads of Chevy Chace and the battle of Otterbourne, ballads admired by old and young. Of this time also, is a Song on an Inconstant Mistress," a theme prevalent in all ages. Who so lyst to love, God send hym right good spede. A goodlyer ther myght none be, Unto the tyme, upon a day, To sone ther fill a gret affray, She badde me walke forth on my way, On me she gatt none hede. Woso lyst, &c. I asked the cause why and wherfor, Woso lyst, &c. For if y hadde hur displeased In worde or dede, or hir greved, Than if she hadde before meved,* Woso lyst, &c. * Departed. But well y wote y hadde nat done, Some tyme she wold to me complayne, Wo so lyst, &c. Shall I leve of, and let hur go? Yet though unkyndnesse do me wo, Wo so lyst, &c. Some hope that when she knowith the case, In the reign of Edward IV. we have a 'balet' by Anthony Woodvyle, Earl Rivers, written during his imprisonment in Pontefract castle, in the year 1483, * From MSS. More, F. f. 1. 6. Ritson's Ancient Songs, p. 72. Among the Harleian MSS. [641] written in Henry VIth's time, there is an old song beginning: Bryng us home good ale, sir, bryng us home good ale, Its value is hurt by its indelicacy, and the introduction of our Saviour's curse and mine.' Dr. Johnson has said of it-that the merriment is very gross, and the sentiments very worthless. |