II. THE AGED LOVER RENOUNCETH LOVE

The grave-digger's song in Hamlet, act v. is taken from three stanzas of the following poem, though greatly altered and disguised, as the same were corrupted by the ballad-singers of Shakspeare's time; or perhaps so designed by the poet himself, the better to suit the character of an illiterate clown. The original is preserved among Surrey's Poems, and is attributed to Lord Vaux, by George Gascoigne, who tells us, it "was thought by some to be made on his death-bed; a popular error which he laughs at. (See his Epist. to Yong Gent. prefixed to his Posies, 1575, 4to.) It is also ascribed to Lord Vaux in a manuscript copy preserved in the British Museum.1 This lord was remarkable for his skill in drawing feigned manners, &c. for so I understand an ancient writer. "The Lord Vaux his commendation lyeth chiefly in the facilitie of his meetre, and the aptnesse of his descriptions such as he taketh upon him to make, namely in sundry of his songs, wherein he showeth the counterfait action very lively and pleasantly." Arte of Eng. Poesie, 1589, p. 51. See another song by this poet in Series II. Book i. No. 8.

I LOTH that I did love,

In youth that I thought swete,
As time requires: for my behove
Me thinkes they are not mete.

My lustes they do me leave,
My fansies all are 2 fled;

And tract of time begins to weave
Gray heares upon my hed.

For Age with steling steps

Hath clawde me with his crowch,3

4

And lusty 'Youthe' awaye he leapes,

As there had bene none such.

My muse doth not delight

Me, as she did before :

My hand and pen are not in plight,

As they have bene of yore.

1 Harl. MSS. Num. 1703, § 25. The readings gathered from that copy are dis tinguished here by inverted commas. The text is printed from the Songs, &c. of the Earl of Surrey and others, 1557, 4to.

2" Be." PC. [printed copy in 1557.1

3 "Crowch" perhaps should be "clouch," clutch, grasp.

4 "Life away she." PC.

1 "This."

For Reason me denies,

'All'1 youthly idle rime;

And day by day to me she cries,

Leave off these toyes in tyme.

The wrinkles in my brow,

The furrowes in my face,

Say, Limping age will 'lodge'2 him now,
Where youth must geve him place.

The harbenger of death,

To me I se him ride,

The cough, the ccid, the gasping breath,
Doth bid me to provide

A pikeax and a spade,

And eke a shrowding shete,3
A house of clay for to be made
For such a guest most mete.

Me thinkes I heare the clarke,
That knoles the carefull knell; 4

And bids me leave my 'wearye '5 warke,
Ere nature me compell.

6

My kepers knit the knot,

That youth doth laugh to scorne,
Of me that 'shall bee cleane's forgot,
As I had 'ne'er' 9 bene borne.

Thus must I youth geve up,
Whose badge I long did weare:
To them I yeld the wanton cup,
That better may it beare.

Lo here the bared skull; 10

By whose balde signe I know,
That stouping age away shall pull
'What
11 youthful yeres did sow.

PC.

3 So. ed. 1583: it is "hedge" in ed. 1557. "Hath caught him." MS.

8" Wyndynge-sheete." MS.

8 "Wofull." PC.

7 "Did." PC.

"Not." PC.

11 "Which." PC. "That." MS.

4 "Bell." MS.

6 "Alluding perhaps to Eccles. xii. 3. 8" Clene shal be." PC.

10" Bare-hedde." MS. and some PCC

"What" is conjectural.

For Beautie with her band,

These croked cares had wrought,
And shipped me into the land,
From whence I first was brought.
And ye that bide behinde,

III. JEPHTHAH JUDGE OF ISRAEL

In Shakspeare's "Hamlet," act ii. the hero of the play takes occasion to banter Polonius with some scraps of an old ballad, which has never yet appeared in any collection: for which reason, as it is but short, it will not perhaps be unacceptable to the reader; who will also be diverted with the pleasant absurdities of the composition. It was retrieved from utter oblivion by a lady, who wrote it down from memory as she had formerly heard it sung by her father. I am indebted for it to the friendship of Mr. Steevens.

It has been said, that the original ballad, in black-letter, is among Anthony & Wood's Collections in the Ashmolean Museum. But, upon application lately made, the volume which contained this song was missing, so that it can only now be given as in the former edition.

The banter of Hamlet is as follows:

HAMLET. O Jeptha, Judge of Israel, what a treasure hadst thou !
POLONIUS. What a treasure had he, my Lord?

HAM. Why, One faire daughter and no more,

The which he loved passing well.

POLON. Still on my daughter.

HAM. Am not I i' th' right, old Jeptha?

POLON. If you call me Jeptha, my lord, I have a daughter, that I love passing well. HAM. Nay, that follows not.

POLON. What follows then, my lord?

HAM. Why, As by lot, God wot: and then you know, It came to passe, As most like it was. The first row of the pious chanson will shew you more.

Edit. 1793, vol. xv. p. 133

HAVE you not heard these many years ago,
Jeptha was judge of Israel?

He had one only daughter and no mo,
The which he loved passing well:
And, as by lott,

God wot,

It so came to pass,

As Gods will was,

That great wars there should be,

And none should be chosen chief but he.

1"Wast." PC.

And when he was appointed judge,
And chieftain of the company,
A solemn vow to God he made;
If he returned with victory,
At his return

That should meet with him then,

Off his house, when he should return agen.

It came to pass, the wars was o'er,
And he returned with victory;
His dear and only daughter first of all
Came to meet her father foremostly:
And all the way,

She did play

On tabret and pipe,

Full many a stripe,

With note so high,

For joy that her father is come so nigh.

But when he saw his daughter dear
Coming on most foremostly,

He wrung his hands, and tore his hair,
And cryed out most piteously;

Oh! it's thou, said he,

That have brought me
Low,

And troubled me so,

That I know not what to do.

For I have made a vow, he sed,
The which must be replenished:

But, dear father, grant me one request,

That I may go to the wilderness,
Three months there with my friends to stay ;
There to bewail my virginity;

And let there be,

Said she,

Some two or three

Young maids with me."

So he sent her away,

For to mourn, for to mourn, till her dying day.

IV. A ROBYN JOLLY ROBYN

In his "Twelfth Night," Shakspeare introduces the Clown singing part of the two first stanzas of the following song; which has been recovered from an ancient manuscript of Dr. Harrington's at Bath, preserved among the many literary treasures transmitted to the ingenious and worthy possessor by a long line of most respectable ancestors. Of these only a small part hath been printed in the "Nuga Antiquæ,' 3 vols. 12mo.; a work which the public impatiently wishes to see continued.

The song is thus given by Shakspeare, act iv. sc. 2. (Malone's edit. iv. 93.)

CLOWN. Hey Robin, jolly Robin, [singing.]

Tell me how thy lady does.

MALVOLIO. Fool.

CLOWN. My lady is unkind, perdy.

MALVOLIO. Fool.

CLOWN. Alas, why is she so?

MALVOLIO. Fool, I say.

CLOWN. She loves another.-Who calls, ha?

Dr. Farmer has conjectured that the song should begin thus:

Hey, jolly Robin, tell to me

How does thy lady do?
My lady is unkind perdy-
Alas, why is she so?

But this ingenious emendation is now superseded by the proper readings of the old song itself, which is here printed from what appears the most ancient of Dr. Harrington's poetical manuscripts, and which has, therefore, been marked No. I. (scil. p. 68.) That volume seems to have been written in the reign of King Henry VIII. and, as it contains many of the poems of Sir Thomas Wyat, hath had almost all the contents attributed to him by marginal directions written with an old but later hand, and not always rightly, as, I think, might be made appear by other good authorities. Among the rest, this song is there attributed to Sir Thomas Wyat, also; but the discerning reader will probably judge it to belong to a more obsolete writer.