The Banter of Hamlet is as follows? "HAMLET. "O Jeptha, Fudge of Ifrael," 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 paffing well" "POLON. Still on my daughter. "HAM. Am not Iith' right, old Feptha? "POLON. If you call me feptha, my Lord, I have a "daughter, that I love paffing 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 paffe, As moft like it was.' The "first row of the pious chanfon will fhew you more." Edit. 1793, Vol. XV. p. 133. HA AVE you not heard these many years ago, He had one only daughter and no mo, The which he loved paffing well: God wot, It fo came to pass, As Gods will was, That should meet with him then, Off his houfe, when he fhould return agen. It came to pass, the wars was oer, And he returned with victory; His dear and only daughter first of all And all the way She did play On tabret and pipe, Full many a stripe, With note fo high, 25. For joy that her father is come fo nigh. 30 But when he faw his daughter dear He wrung his hands, and tore his hair, And cryed out most piteously; Oh! it's thou, faid he, That have brought me Low And And troubled me fo, That I know not what to do. For I have made a row, he fed, * * * * * * * * Do not revoke: What thou haft said, Be not affraid; Altho' it be I; Keep promises to God on high. But, dear father, grant me one request, That I may go to the wilderness, 40 45 Three months there with my friends to stay; 5° There to bewail my virginity; And let there be, Said he, Some two or three Young maids with me." So he fent her away, For to mourn, for to mourn, till her dying day. 55 IV. A ROBYN JOLLY ROBYN. In his TWELFTH NIGHT, Shakespeare introduces the Clown finging part of the two first stanzas of the following Song; which has been recovered from an antient MS. of Dr. Harrington's at Bath, preferved among the many literary treasures tranfmitted to the ingenious and worthy pofSeffor by a long line of most respectable ancestors. Of these only a small part hath been printed in the NUGA ANTIQUE, 3 vols. 12mo; a work which the Publick impatiently wishes to fee continued. The Song is thus given by Shakespeare, A& IV. Sc. 2. (Malone's edit. IV. 93.) CLOWN. "Hey Robin, jolly Robin." [finging.] MALVOLIO. Fool. CLOWN. "My lady is unkind, perdy.” MALVOLIO. Fool. CLOWN. "Alas, why is fhe fo?" MALVOLIO. Fool, Ifay. CLOWN. "She loves another."-Who calls, ba? Dr. FARMER bas conjectured that the Song Should begin thus: VOL. I. "Hey, jolly Robin, tell to me But But this ingenious emendation is now fuperfeded by the proper readings of the old Song itself, which is here printed from what appears the most ancient of Dr. Harrington's poetical MSS, and which has, therefore, been marked No. I. (Feil. p. 68 j That volume feems 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 alfo; but the difcerning Reader will probably judge it to belong to a more obfolete writer. In the old MS. to the 3d and 5th fianzas is prefixed this title. Responce, and to the ath and 6th, Le Plaintif; but in the last infance fo evidently wrong, that it was thought better to omit thefe titles, and to mark the changes of the Dialogue by inverted commas. In other respects the MS. is firictly followed, except where noted in the margin-Yet the first flanza appears to be defective, and it should feem that a line is wanting, unless the four fifi words were lengthened the tune. |