But that his bellye it is soe bigg,
His girdle goes wonderous hie:
And let him, I pray you, Childe Watèrs,
Goe into the chamber with mee.

[It is not fit for a little foot-page,

That has run throughe mosse and myre,
To go into the chamber with any ladye,
That weares soe riche attyre.]

It is more meete for a litle foot-page,
That has run throughe mosse and myre.

To take his supper upon his knee,

And sitt downe by the kitchen fyer.

But when they had supped every one,
To bedd they tooke theyr waye :
He sayd, come hither, my
little foot-page,

And hearken what I saye.

Goe thee downe into yonder towne,
And low into the street;

The fayrest ladye that thou can finde,
Hyer her in mine armes to sleepe,
And take her up in thine armes twaine,
For filinge of her feete.

Ellen is gone into the towne,

And low into the streete :

The fairest ladye that shee cold find,
Shee hyred in his armes to sleepe;

120

125

[Ver. 103. and ever I pray. MS. V. 104. let him goe. After V. 112 the two lines

then goe

into the chamber with any ladye

that weares soe. . . . attyre

occur in the MS. V. 114. they waye. V. 116. hearken what I doe say. V. 117. and goe thy. V. 121. arnes 2. MS.]

* i.e. defiling. See Warton's Observ. vol. ii. p. 158.

And tooke her up in her armes twayne,
For filing of her feete.

I praye you nowe, good Childe Watèrs,
Let mee lye at your bedds feete :
For there is noe place about this house,
Where I may 'saye a slepe*.

[He gave her leave, and faire Ellèn
Down at his beds feet laye :]
This done the nighte drove on apace,
And when it was neare the daye,

Hee sayd, Rise up, my litle foot-page,
Give my steede corne and haye;,
And soe doe thou the good black oats,
To carry mee better awaye.

Up then rose the faire Ellèn

And gave his steede corne and hay:
And soe shee did the good blacke oates,
To carry him the better away.

Shee leaned her backe to the manger side,
And grievouslye did groane:

[Shee leaned her back to the manger side,
And there shee made her moane.]

And that beheard his mother deere,

Shee heard her there monand.

Shee sayd, Rise up, thou Child Waters,

I think thee a cursed man.

130

135

140

145

150

[V. 127. and tooke her in her armes 2. V. 130. that I may creape in att. V. 135-6.

this and itt drove now afterward

till itt was neere the day.

V. 138. and give. V. 140. that he may carry me the better away. V. 141. and up then rose the. V. 143. V. 144. did on. that he might carry him. V. 145. she layned. V. 150. and heard her make her moane. V. 152. I think thou art a. MS.]

*Ver. 132. i.e. essay, attempt,

For in thy stable is a ghost.

That grievouslye doth grone.

Or else some woman laboures of childe,
She is soe woe-begone.

Up then rose Childe Waters soon.
And did on his shirte of silke;
And then he put on his other clothes,
On his body as white as milke.

And when he came to the stable dore,
Full still there hee did stand,

That hee mighte heare his fayre Ellèn,
Howe shee made her monànd*.

155

160

She sayd, Lullabye, mine owne deere child, 165
Lullabye, dere child, dere:

I wold thy father were a king,

Thy mother layd on a biere.

Peace now, hee said, good faire Ellèn.
Be of good cheere, I praye;

And the bridal and the churching both
Shall bee upon one day.

V. 170.

[Ver. 153. for yonder is a ghost in thy stable. V. 157. but up then rose Childe Waters. V. 159. and not in MS. V. 162. full stil hat. V. 163. heare now faire. V. 165. my ewne. and be of good cheere I thee pray. V. 172. they shall, MS.] *sic in MS., i.e. moaning, bemeaning, &c.

F

X.

PHILLIDA AND CORYDON.

HIS Sonnet is given from a small quarto MS. in the Editor's possession, written in the time of Q. Elizabeth. Another Copy of it containing some variations, is reprinted in the Muses' Library, p. 295, from an ancient miscellany, intitled England's Helicon, 1600, 4to. The author was Nicholas Breton, a writer of some fame in the reign of Elizabeth; who also published an interlude intitled An old man's lesson and a young man's love, 4to., and many other little pieces in prose and verse, the titles of which may be seen in Winstanley, Ames' Typog. and Osborne's Harl. Catalog. &c.—He is mentioned with great respect by Meres, in his 2d pt. of Wit's Common-wealth, 1598, f. 283, and is alluded to in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady, act ii., and again in Wit without Money, act iii.—See Whalley's Ben Jonson, vol. iii. p. 103.

The present Edition is improved by a copy in England's Helicon, edit. 1614, 8vo.

This little Pastoral is one of the Songs in "The Honourable Entertainment gieven to the Queenes Majestie in Progresse at Elvetham in Hampshire, by the R. H. the Earle of Hertford, 1591, 4to." (Printed by Wolfe. No name of author.) See in that pamphlet,

"The thirde daies Entertainment.

"On Wednesday morning about 9 o'clock, as her Majestie opened a casement of her gallerie window, ther were 3 excellent musitians, who being disguised in auncient country attire, did greet her with a pleasant song of Corydon and Phillida, made in 3 parts of purpose. The song, as well for the worth of the dittie as the aptnesse of the note thereto applied, it pleased her Highnesse after it had been once sung to command it againe, and highly to grace it with her cheerefull acceptance and commendation.

THE PLOWMAN'S SONG.

In the merrie month of May, &c."

The splendour and magnificence of Elizabeth's reign is nowhere more strongly painted than in these little diaries of some of her summer excursions to the houses of her nobility; nor could a

more acceptable present be given to the world, than a republication of a select number of such details as this of the entertainment at Elvetham, that at Killingworth, &c., &c., which so strongly mark the spirit of the times, and present us with scenes so very remote from modern manners.

Since the above was written, the public hath been gratified with a most compleat work on the foregoing subject, intitled, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, &c. By John Nichols, F.A.S., Edinb. and Perth, 1788, 2 vols. 4to.

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[The author of this elegant little poem was a most voluminous author, and "is supposed to be the same Capt. Nicholas Breton, who was of Norton in Northamptonshire, and dying there June 22, 1624, has a monument in that church."* Dr. Rimbault (Musical Illustrations of Percy's Reliques) writes as follows of the music "We have here two settings of this beautiful pastoral, the first as it was sung by the three excellent musitians' before Queen Elizabeth in 1591; the second as it was reset in the following century. The first is extracted from Madrigals to 3, 4, and 5 parts, apt for viols and voices, newly composed by Michael Este, 1604; the second from Cheerfull Ayres or Ballads, set for three voyces, by Dr. John Wilson, Oxford, 1660. The latter became extremely popular, and is included in D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1719, and several other musical miscellanies of subsequent date."]

N the merrie moneth of Maye,

In a morne by break of daye,

With a troope of damselles playing
Forthe " I yode" forsooth a maying:

When anon by a wood side,

Where as Maye was in his pride,
I espied all alone

Phillida and Corydon.

Much adoe there was, god wot;
He wold love, and she wold not.
She sayde, never man was trewe;
He sayes, none was false to you.

Ver. 4. the wode, MS.

[* England's Helicon (Brydges' British Bibliographer, vol. iii.)]

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