Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of England | Page 3

Of special interest, too,
are the songs which relate to festival and customs; such as the Sword
Dancer's Song and Interlude, the Swearing-in Song, or Rhyme, at
Highgate, the Cornish Midsummer Bonfire Song, and the Fairlop Fair
Song.
In the arrangement of so multifarious an anthology, gathered from
nearly all parts of the kingdom, the observance of chronological order,
for obvious reasons, has not been attempted; but pieces which possess
any kind of affinity to each other have been kept together as nearly as
other considerations would permit.
The value of this volume consists in the genuineness of its contents,
and the healthiness of its tone. While fashionable life was
masquerading in imaginary Arcadias, and deluging theatres and concert
rooms with shams, the English peasant remained true to the realities of
his own experience, and produced and sang songs which faithfully
reflected the actual life around him. Whatever these songs describe is
true to that life. There are no fictitious raptures in them. Love here
never dresses its emotions in
artificial images, nor disguises itself in
the mask of a Strephon or a Daphne. It is in this particular aspect that
the poetry of the country possesses a permanent and moral interest.
R. B.
ANCIENT POEMS, BALLADS, AND SONGS OF THE
PEASANTRY.
Contents
Poems:
The plain-dealing man.
The vanities of life.
The life and age of man.

The young man's wish.
The midnight messenger; or, a sudden call
from an earthly glory to the cold grave.
A dialogue betwixt an
exciseman and death.
The messenger of mortality; or life and death

contrasted in a dialogue betwixt death and a lady.
England's alarm; or
the pious christian's speedy call to repentance Smoking spiritualized.

The masonic hymn.
God speed the plow, and bless the corn-mow. A
dialogue between the husbandman and servingman.
A dialogue
between the husbandman and the servingman.
The Catholick.
The
three knights.
The blind beggar of Bednall Green.
Ballads:
The bold pedlar and Robin Hood.
The outlandish knight.
Lord
Delaware.
Lord Bateman.
The golden glove; or, the squire of
tamworth.
King James I. And the tinkler.
The Keach i' the Creel.

The Merry Broomfield; or, the west country wager.
Sir John
Barleycorn.
Blow the winds, i-ho!
The beautiful lady of Kent; or,
the seaman of Dover.
The Berkshire lady's garland.
The nobleman's
generous kindness.
The drunkard's legacy.
The Bowes tragedy.

The crafty lover; or, the lawyer outwitted.
The death of Queen Jane.

The wandering young gentlewoman; or, Catskin.
The brave Earl
Brand and the King of England's Daughter.
The Jovial Hunter of
Bromsgrove; or, the old man and his three sons.
Lady Alice.
The
felon sewe of rokeby and the freeres of Richmond.
Arthur o'Bradley's
wedding.
The painful plough.
The useful plow; or, the plough's
praise.
The farmer's son.
The farmer's boy.
Richard of Taunton
Dean; or, dumble dum deary.
Wooing song of a yeoman of Kent's
sonne.
The clown's courtship.
Harry's courtship.
Harvest-home
song.
Harvest-home.
The mow.

The barley-mow song.
The
barley-mow song. (Suffolk version.)
The craven churn-supper song.

The rural dance about the may-pole.
The Hitchin may-day song.

The Helstone furry-day song.
Cornish midsummer bonfire song.

Suffolk harvest-home song.
The haymaker's song.
The
sword-dancers' song.
The sword-dancers' song and interlude.
The
maskers' song.
Gloucestershire wassailers' song.
The mummers'
song; or, the poor old horse.
Fragment of the hagmena song.
The

greenside wakes song.
The swearing-in song or rhyme.
Fairlop fair
song.
As Tom was a-walking.
The miller and his sons.
Jack and
Tom.
Joan's ale was new.
George Ridler's oven.
The carrion crow.

The leathern bottel.
The farmer's old wife.
Old Wichet and his
wife.
The Jolly Waggoner.
The Yorkshire horse-dealer.
The King
and the countryman.
Jone o' Greenfield's ramble.
Thornehagh-moor
woods.
The Lincolnshire poacher.
Somersetshire hunting song.

The trotting horse.
The seeds of love.
The garden-gate.
The
new-mown hay.
The praise of a dairy.
The milk-maid's life.
The
milking-pail.
The summer's morning.
Old Adam.
Tobacco.
The
Spanish Ladies.
Harry the Tailor.
Sir Arthur and Charming Mollee.

There was an old man came over the lea.
Why should we quarrel
for riches.
The merry fellows; or, he that will not merry, merry be.

The old man's song.
Robin Hood's hill.
Begone dull care.
Full
merrily sings the cuckoo.
Jockey to the fair.
Long Preston Peg.

The sweet nightingale; or, down in those valleys below.
The old man
and his three sons.
A begging we will go.
Poem: THE PLAIN-DEALING MAN.
[The oldest copy of the Plain Dealing Man with which we have been
able to meet is in black letter, printed by T. Vere at the sign 'Of the
Angel without Newgate.' Vere was living in 1609.]
A crotchet comes into my mind
Concerning a proverb of old,
Plain
dealing's a jewel most rare,
And more precious than silver or gold:

And therefore with patience give ear,
And listen to what here is
penned,
These verses were written on purpose
The honest man's
cause to defend.
For this I will make it appear,
And prove by
experience I can,
'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world
To be a
plain-dealing man.
Yet some are so impudent grown,
They'll domineer, vapour, and
swagger,
And say that the plain-dealing man
Was born to die a

beggar:
But men that are honestly given
Do such evil actions detest,

And every one that is well-minded
Will say that plain dealing is
best.
For this I will make it appear,
And prove by experience I can,

'Tis the excellen'st thing in the world
To be a plain-dealing man.
For my part I am a poor man,
And sometimes scarce muster a shilling,

Yet to live