For if my man must praises have, What then must I who keep the knave? Tho' the pale moon the eye doth please, Because from him doth come her light. What then must I who keep the knave? Round. These lines will be found in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, where they are sung by Damotas, on the occasion of his loved life Pamela being rescued from a bear by the intrepidity of his serving-man Dorus. CCLXXIII. Sing we now merrily, Our purses be empty-hey ho! Let them take care That list to spare, For I will not do so. Who can sing so merry a note As he who cannot change a groat? M Round. 66 DEUTEROMELIA, "Or the second part of Music's Melodie, or melodious "music of pleasant roundelays; K. H. mirth, or Freemen's songs, and such delightful catches. Qui canere potest, "canat. Catch that catch can. Ut mel os, sic cor melos "afficit et reficit. London: printed for Thomas Adams, "dwelling in Paul's Church-yard, at the sign of the White Lion, 1609. 66 66 66 "Mirth and music to the cunning catcher, "Derth and physic to the coney-catcher." "Secundæ cogitationes are ever, they say, meliores, and 'why may not then secunda cantiones as well be dulciores? I presume they are so; and that makes me resume this "vein, with hope that I shall not consume in vain my la"bour therein. For, first, the kind acceptation of the former impression, is as a new invitation to this latter edi"tion; though not of the same things, yet of things of the "same condition: full of the same delectation, made to "please as the other were; made truly musical with art by my correction, and yet plain and capable with ease by my direction. 66 "Neither can he that is the most able musician say, but "that of these most men, almost all men are capable, that 66 are not altogether unmusical; neither can he that is most "spiteful say, but they are very delightful, aye, and someway gainful too (yet more painful to me, I am sure, than gainful); but tho' there be but little to be gotten by them, yet pity were it such mirth should be forgotten of us: "and therefore, to make an end, I say no more, but "............ Si quid novisti dulcius istis, "either commend me or come mend me, and so I end me, 66 as resolute as thou art dissolute." From the foregoing preface it is, I think, quite clear that Deuteromelia is a second publication by the editor of Pammelia. The terms K. H. mirth and Freemen's songs have given rise to considerable discussion. It is supposed that the former stands for King Henry's mirth; that is, songs or catches of a merry nature, which were favourites with that jovial prince. I think it likely to be so, but am not aware of any thing either for or against the matter, except conjecture. How the meaning of Freemen's songs could ever appear doubtful, I know not, nor can I imagine how Warren could be guilty of such a stupid mistake as to suppose that Freeman was the name of a composer; for in his collection is inserted Of all the birds that ever I see, (which is one of the three part Freemen's songs in Deuteromelia,) with the name prefixed of Nicholas Freeman, 1667! nearly sixty years after the original publication. Ritson has some absurd notion of Freemen being a mistake for Three-men, because Shakspeare speaks of Three-men-song men, that is, men who could sing songs of three parts: but if he ever saw the book of which I am now writing, he must there have found also Freemen's songs to four voices, which sets that matter at rest. Drayton, in his "Legend of Thomas "Cromwell, Earl of Essex," puts the following verses in that nobleman's mouth: "Of Freemen's Catches to the Pope I sing, "Which wan much license to my countrymen ; "Thither the which I was the first to bring, "That were unknown in Italy till then." He went to Italy in the year 1510. CCLXXIV. We be soldiers three; Pardona moy je vous an pree: Here, good fellow, I drink to thee; And he that will not pledge me this, Pays for the shot whatever it is, Charge it again, boy, charge it again, This may possibly have been written during the war in the Low Countries, where Sir Philip Sidney lost his life, A.D. 1586. I have retained the original orthography of the French line. CCLXXV. We be three poor mariners, Shall we go dance the round, the round, Shall we go dance the round? Come pledge me on the ground. We care not for those martial men, To them we dance this round, around, And he that is a bully boy, Come pledge me on the ground. A bully does not here mean a braggart, but a jolly fellow, a leader in all manner of fun and frolic. "What say'st thou, bully Bottom?" Midsummer Night's Dream. CCLXXVI. Of all the birds that ever I see, The owl is the fairest in her degree; For all the day long she sits in a tree, And when the night comes, away flies she; Sir knave, to you. This you a vow, song is well sung, I make |