Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/372

 302 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2S.vm.Apim, 16,1021. Although the swing which pervades this ballad is not found in any of Swift's acknowledged pieces, the ballad was attri- buted to him by Sir Walter Scott, and has been since included, in its finally revised form, in Swift's verse. That Scott was wrong cannot now be questioned. Lady Cowper had evidently personal acquaintance with Congreve, of whom she tells ivs she said to the Prince all the good which she thought he truly deserved, and her testimony to the authorship of the ballad cannot be impeached. If corroboration was needed it is, however, forthcoming in the opera of of Iris verses not only in the same measure, but also with a similar swing. Thither Flora the fair With her train must repair, Her amorous Zephyr attending ; All her sweets she must bring To continue the spring, Which never must then know an ending. Bright Aurora, 'tis said, From her old lover's bed No more the grey Orient adorning, For the future must rise From fair Stmele's eyes, And wait 'till she wakes for the morning.* According to Oldys one of Congreve's diversions was collecting old ballads,! and this pursuit was in all probability not un- connected with ballad -making. In ' Love for Love ' he has given us the ballad of A sjldier and a sailor A tinker and a tailor, J and there is every reason to believe that his first or last attempt to commemorate the great events of his day in a popular style. In no fewer than six ballads, which I have found, the similarity to the ' Lamentation ' is very striking, and it is difficult to believe that they did not emanate from the same bra'n. The first of these ballads was occasioned by Marlborough's victories and the projected descent under Earl Rivers in the year 1706. Of its ten verses the following are the fifth and sixth : Thus brave Marlborow, Has completed the blow, ' As Hochsted can tell and Ramelies ; So that Monsieur no more, Nor his Maintenon-whore, Will pretend to oppose the great Allies. They know not what's meant By a mighty descent, Nor in what part of France it will fall, Dunkirk, or Tholoun, Or in what sun or moon 'Till at last there's no need on't at all.* The second of these ballads was occasioned I by the failure of the Pretender's expedition i following is the second : Would my count rym en know How this comes to be so, And how he and his slaves are so hearty ; Be ye commons or lords, In a few honest words, 'Tis explained they are all of a party ; And tho' poor as rats, Without coin or estates, Only what the Most-Christian will spare, They unite against the foe, Oh ! let us but do so, Ye jolly bold Britains then then Then let them come if they dare.f The third of the ballads is, like the 'Lamenta- tion,' on the Battle of Oudenarde and evidently a by-product of the ' Lamentation's ' author. Of its twelve verses the following is the sixth: 'Twas an hundred to one On the swift-heel'd Bourbon, And Berry that is so slender, By Hanover pres't, Outstretch' d all the rest, Save only the nimble Pretender.:}: The fourth of the ballads is one that was added as well as the * Lamentation ' to Swift's verse by Sir Walter Scott. On the ground that it was found " in manuscript in the Dean's handwriting," Scott entertained no j doubt that Swift was the author, but he ! did not place his reliance on a firm founda- tion, for research has shown cases where Swift made copies of verses in the compo- sition of which he had no part. It is also possible, from an instance of the kind in the course of Swift's friendship with Prior, that Swift may have supplied the theme and Congreve the verse. The ballad con- cerns the actions and opinions of the ex- treme section of the Whigs, and must have been written in the year 1710. Of its I thirteen verses the following is the fourth : For no soil can suit With every fruit Even so, Sir, it is with religion ; The best Church by far Is what grows where you are, Were it Mahomet's ass or his pigeon. t ' Life of Congreve,' by Edmund Gosse, p. 179. J Congreve's ' Works,' i. 427. t ' Wit and Mirth or Pills to Purge Melan- choly,' i. (Lond., 1719) 224. It is also to be found in ' The Whimsical Medley,' where it is said to be " to an old tune, viz., Let the trustees be damned with their gains." J Brit. Aius., 1876f. 1 (43). Swift's ' Poems,' ed. W. Browning, ii. 144.
 * Semele,' where Congreve puts into the mouth
 * Jack Frenchman's Lamentation ' was not
 * in the spring of 1708. Of its three verses the
 * Congreve's ' Works,' Lond., 1710, ii. 806.
 * Brit. Mus., 839 m. 23 (3).