Itt's not for a man with a woman to threape, As wee began wee now mun leave, And Ile take mine old cloake about mee. VIII. Willow, Willow, Willow. It is from the following stanzas that Shakspeare has taken his song of the Willow, in his Othello, act iv. sc. 3, though somewhat varied, and applied by him to a female character. He makes Desdemona introduce it in this pathetic and affecting manner: "My mother had a maid call'd Barbara: She was in love; and he she lov'd prov'd mad, To a This is given from a black-letter copy in the Pepys Collection, thus entitled, "A Lovers Complaint, being forsaken of his Loce. pleasant tune." A POORE Soule sat sighing under a sicamore tree; With his hand on his bosom, his head on his knee : O willow, willow, willow! O willow, willow, willow! Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland. He sigh'd in his singing, and after each grone, 5 Come willow, &c. "I am dead to all pleasure, my true love is gone. O willow, &c. 10 Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garlànd. "My love she is turned; untrue she doth prove; O willow, &c. She renders me nothing but hate for my love. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. 15 "O pitty me" (cried he), "ye lovers, each one; O willow, &c. Her heart's hard as marble; she rues not my mone. Sing, O the greene willow, &c." The cold streams ran by him, his eyes wept apace, 20 O willow, &c. The salt tears fell from him, which drowned his face. 25 Sing, O the greene willow, &c. The mute birds sate by him, made tame by his mones; The salt tears fell from him, which softened the stones. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland! "Let nobody blame me, her scornes I do prove ; She was borne to be faire; I, to die for her love. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. 66 “O that beauty should harbour a heart that's so hard! Sing willow, &c. My true love rejecting without all regard. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. "Let love no more boast him in palace, or bower; O willow, &c. For women are trothles, and flote in an houre. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. "But what helps complaining? In vaine I complaine: O willow, &c. I must patiently suffer her scorne and disdaine, O willowe, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. 45 50 Come, all you forsaken, and sit down by me, O willow, &c. He that 'plaines of his false love, mine's falser than she. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. "The willow wreath weare I, since my love did fleet; O willow, &c, A garland for lovers forsaken most meete. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland! PART THE SECOND. "LowE lay'd by my sorrow, begot by disdaine, Against her too cruell, still, still I complaine. O willow, willow, willow! 55 60 Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland! "O love too injurious, to wound my poore heart, O willow, &c. To suffer the triumph, and joy in my smart! O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. 10 "O willow, willow, willow! the willow garland, O willow, &c. A sign of her falsenesse before me doth stand. 15 Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garlànd. "As here it doth bid to despair and to dye, O willow, &c. So hang it, friends, ore me in grave where I lye. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. where I rest mee, hang this to the view, O willow, &c. Of all that doe knowe her, to blaze her untrue. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. 20 25 "With these words engraven, as epitaph meet, O willow, &c. 'Here lyes one, drank poyson for potion most sweet.' O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. "Though she thus unkindly hath scorned my love, O willow, &c. And carelesly smiles at the sorrowes I prove; O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. O willow, &c. O willow, &c. "I cannot against her unkindly exclaim, Cause once well I loved her, and honoured her name. 40 Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland. “The name of her sounded so sweete in mine eare, O willow, &c. It rays'd my heart lightly, the name of my deare ; 45 Sing, O the greene willow, &c. "As then 'twas my comfort, it now is my griefe; O willow, &c. It now brings me anguish; then brought me reliefe. O willow, &c. Sing, O the greene willow, &c. 50 Farewell, faire false-hearted, plaints end with my breath O willow, willow, willow! Thou dost loath me, I love thee, though cause of my death. O willow, willow, willow! O willow, willow, willow! Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland." 55 VOL. I. 1X. Sir Lancelot du Lake.1 This ballad is quoted in Shakspeare's Second Part of Henry IV. act ii sc. 4. The subject of it is taken from the ancient romance of King Arthur (commonly called Morte Arthur), being a poetical translation of chap. cviii. cix. cx. in Part 1st, as they stand in ed. 1634, 4to. In the older editions the chapters are differently numbered. This song is given from a printed copy, corrected in part by folio MS. In the same Play of 2 Henry IV., Silence hums a scrap of one of the old ballads of Robin Hood. It is taken from the following stanza of Robin Hood and the Pindar of Wakefield. "All this beheard three wighty yeomen, 'Twas Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John: With that they espyd the jolly Pindàr As he sate under a thorne." That ballad may be found on every stall, and therefore is not here reprinted. WHEN Arthur first in court began, And was approved king, By force of armes great victorys wonne, 1 The folio MS. copy of this ballad is so mutilated that we owe more than half the present version to the ingenuity of Percy.-Editor. |