Now horses, and serving-men thou shalt have, Now welcome, sire abbot, the king he did say, And first, when thou seest me here in this stead, "For thirty pence our Saviour was sold For I thinke thou art one penny worser than hee." The king he laughed, and swore by St. Bittel,' "You must rise with the sun, and ride with the same, The king he laughed, and swore by St. Jone, "Yea, that shall I do, and make your grace merry: The king he laughed, and swore by the masse, i Four nobles a weeke then I will give thee, For this merry jest thou hast showne unto mee; YOU MEANER BEAUTIES. FROM the "Reliquiæ Wottoniana" (1651), with some corrections from You meaner beauties of the night, More by your number than your light; Ye violets that first appeare, By your pure purple mantles known, Ye curious chaunters of the wood, That warble forth dame Nature's layes, By your weak accents: what's your praise, So when my Mistris shal be seene In sweetnesse of her looks and minde; Th' eclypse and glory of her kind? 1 Two additional stanzas are printed, in a note, by Mr. Hannah : You rubies, that do gems adorne, And sapphires with your azure hue, The rose, the violet, all the spring THE OLD AND YOUNG COURTIER. THIS excellent old song, the subject of which is a comparison between the manners of the old gentry, as still subsisting in the times of Elizabeth, and the modern refinements affected by their sons in the reigns of her successors, is given, with corrections, from an ancient blackletter copy in the Pepys collection, compared with another printed among some miscellaneous "* poems and songs " in a book entitled, "Le Prince d'Amour," 1660. Pepys writes in his Diary, June 16, 1668," Come to Newbery, and there dined-and musick: a song of the 'Old Courtier of Queen Elizabeth,' and how he was changed upon the coming in of the King, did please me mightily, and I did cause W. Hewer to write it out." The copy of the ballad, among the "Ashmolean MSS.," begins, "With an old song made by an old aged pate." In former times, "Chevy Chace" and the "Old Courtier" were ornaments of the mantel-piece. This Ballad seems to have been first printed in the reign of James I. AN old song made by an aged old pate, Of an old worshipful gentleman, who had a greate estate, And the queen's old courtier. With an old lady, whose anger one word asswages; But kept twenty old fellows with blue coats and badges; With an old study fill'd full of learned old books, With an old buttery hatch worn quite off the hooks, With an old hall, hung about with pikes, guns, and bows, With old swords, and bucklers, that had borne many shrewde blows, And an old frize coat, to cover his worship's trunk hose, With a good old fashion, when Christmasse was come. ༢༡ With an old falconer, huntsman, and a kennel of hounds, That never hawked, nor hunted, but in his own grounds, Who, like a wise man, kept himself within his own bounds, And when he dyed gave every child a thousand good pounds; But to his eldest son his house and land he assign'd, Charging him in his will to keep the old bountifull mind, To be good to his old tenants, and to his neighbours be kind: But in the ensuing ditty you shall hear how he was inclin'd; Like a young courtier of the king's, And the king's young courtier. Like a flourishing young gallant, newly come to his land, Who keeps a brace of painted madams at his command, And takes up a thousand pound upon his father's land, And gets drunk in a tavern, till he can neither go nor stand. With a new-fangled lady, that is dainty, nice, and spare, Who never knew what belong'd to good house-keeping, or care, Who buyes gaudy-color'd fans to play with wanton air, And seven or eight different dressings of other women's hair. With a new-fashion'd hall, built where the old one stood, Hung round with new pictures, that do the poor no good, With a fine marble chimney, wherein burns neither coal nor wood, And a new smooth shovelboard, whereon no victuals ne'er stood. With a new study, stuft full of pamphlets, and plays, days, And a new French cook, to devise fine kickshaws and toys. With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on, stone. With a new gentleman-usher, whose carriage is compleat, With a new coachman, footmen, and pages to carry up the meat, With a waiting-gentlewoman, whose dressing is very neat, With new titles of honour bought with his father's old gold, Among the young courtiers of the king, SIR JOHN SUCKLING'S CAMPAIGNE. THIS lively Pasquil is thought to have been written by Suckling himself [b. 1608, d. 1641], as a banter upon his own disgrace. When the Scottish Covenanters advanced to the English borders, in 1639, Sir John raised a troop of horse which cost him 12,000l., and behaved with Some of his contemporaries, however, great cowardice in the field. attributed the verses to Sir John Mennis, a Poet of those times. SIR John he got him an ambling nag, To Scotland for to ride-a, With a hundred horse more, all his own he swore, To guard him on every side-a. No Errant-knight ever went to fight With halfe so gay a bravada, Had you seen but his look, you'ld have sworn on a book, The ladies ran all to the windows to see But he, like a cruel knight, spurr'd on ; For, till he came there, what had he to fear? |