Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/294

 286

NOTES AND QUERIES.

VIIL OCT. 5, 1901.

ing the first lesson, cracked it three times in the church porch, then folded it neatly up, and retired to a seat. At the commencement of the second lesson he approached the minister, and kneeling opposite to him waved the whip thrice over his head. It had a leathern purse tied at the end of it, which ought to have contained thirty pieces of silver, said to represent the " price of blood." Four pieces of wych-elm, of different lengths, were affixed to the stock, denoting the different Gospels of the Evan- gelists. The three cracks were typical of JSt. Peter's denial, and the waving of it over the minister's head an intended homage to the Trinity. The whip was not an ordinary one, but of rude workmanship, and made in a peculiar manner for the occasion. The handle was ash, bound round with white leather to within 8^ in. of the butt, and the whip, which tapered off somewhat obtusely at the lower end, was 5ft. 8 in. long. The lash was of white leather, probably cow- hide, and was 7 ft. 9 in. long, the upper part for 30 in. not being braided. A. R. C.

[See I 8t S. iv. 406 ; 2" d S. xi. 246 ; 3 rd S. vii. 354, 388 ; 5 th S. i. 506.]

AN ANCIENT IDYL.

(9 th S. vi. 105.)

IT was not only a doubt, but also an absolute mistake on the part of a contributor, J. H. J., who imagined that an ancestor of his own might have been the author instead of merely the inaccurate transcriber of the manuscript ballad found on the fly-leaves of * A Diary Astronomical and Astrological for the Year of our Lord 1680.' We are always glad to recover any of these old ballads, many of which we have disinterred and brought back into the world that had forgotten them, some of great historical value as no one has better done justice to than dear generous JN. & Q. under its present Editor. Even now, when we are busy with what remains to be done to the otherwise completed nine volumes of 4 The Roxburghe Ballads,' by con- structing the requisite 'Alphabetical Index of Historical Names and Events/ there is much that it were well to give for the benefit of posterity, the thankless Mumbo- Jumbo

/Tr lc t n - yson ^trusted, and with reason ( In Memonam, Ixxvii.) :

What hope is here for modern rhyme To him who turns a musing eye On songs and deeds, and lives, that lie foreshortened in the track of time? The real author of the genuine ballad of

sixteen four-line stanzas was named Tobias Bowne; his initials T. B. are attached to it on the three extant black-letter broadsides, one of them being in the British Museum, " Printed for J. Wright, J. Clark, W. Thacke- ray, and T. Passinger, circa 1680-86, 'With Allowance.' " Its title is ' The Two Faithful Lovers ; or, A Merry Song in Praise of Betty,' with a motto-argument, such as was popular advertisement in those days :

Young men and maids, I do intend To sing a song that 's newly pen'd ; And if you please to have it out, 'Twill please your fancies without doubt.

The tune to which it was sung took its name from the first line of a naval ditty entitled ' The Constant Maiden's Resolution ; or, The Damsel's Love for a Seaman': "An amorous damsel of Bristol city " (see ' Rox- burghe Ballads,' vol. vii. p. 539). In the same series, vol. vi. pp. 159, 160, part xvi., in a ' Group of One Hundred True - Love Ballads,' is reprinted the 'Praise of Betty'; also another ballad by the same author and to the same tune, with a winning title, ' The Fair Lady of the West, and The Fortunate Farmer's Son.'

The transcriber of 'The Two Faithful Lovers ' into his diary was as careless and inaccurate with his pen as were the " rude mechanicals, that work for bread upon Athenian stalls," with their " speaking all their part at once, cues and all." He runs on or breaks his metre with effrontery. And he totally omits one stanza after "Sweet Betty, be thou kind and loving " ; also ' The Maid's Answer,' three stanzas ; and finally ' The Man's Answer,' three more stanzas. Here they are, restored to view :

" Grant but to me thy Love and Favour, Both day and night I hard will labour ; If that I have but health, my honey, Thou shalt not want for Meat nor Money."

THE MAID'S ANSWER.

" Young men have such a way in wooing To vow and swear they 3 1 still be loving ; Yet in one year there is small regarding, Which makes some Maids repent their bargain. Yet if I thought your love was constant, Which you pretend now at this instant, Methinks, I cannot well deny thee, Because with words you satisfie me. For what you said I do commend you, And in this cause I will befriend you ; Ask but the good-will of my Father, And you and I will joyn together."

THE MAN'S ANSWER.

" Oh ! now thy words it doth revive me, For I did fear'thou would'st deny me : While life doth last I 'le ne'er forsake thee, Since for my wife I mean to take thee.