Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ from comparatively modern broadsides, for want of time to consult earlier editions. In the interval which has since elapsed, all these defects and short-comings have been remedied. Several pieces, which had no legitimate claims to the places they occupied, have been removed; others have been collated with more ancient copies than the editor had had access to previously; and the whole work has been considerably enlarged. In its present form it is strictly what its title-page implies—a collection of poems, ballads, and songs preserved by tradition, and in actual circulation, amongst the peasantry.

      Bex, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland.

      The present volume differs in many important particulars from the former, of the deficiencies of which Mr. Dixon makes so frank an avowal. It has not only undergone a careful revision, but has received additions to an extent which renders it almost a new work. Many of there accessions are taken from extremely rare originals, and others are here printed for the first time, including amongst the latter the ballad of Earl Brand, a traditional lyric of great antiquity, long familiar to the dales of the North of England; and the Death of Queen Jane, a relic of more than ordinary intesest. Nearly forty songs, noted down from recitation, or gathered from sources not generally accessible, have been added to the former collection, illustrative, for the most part, of historical events, country pastimes, and local customs. Not the least suggestive feature in this department are the political songs it contains, which have long outlived the occasions that gave them birth, and which still retain their popularity, although their allusions are no longer understood. Amongst this class of songs may be specially indicated Jack and Tom, Joan’s Ale was New, George Ridler’s Oven, and The Carrion Crow. The songs of a strictly rural character, having reference to the occupations and intercourse of the people, possess an interest which cannot be adequately measured by their poetical pretensions. The very defects of art with which they are chargeable, constitute their highest claim to consideration as authentic specimens of country lore. The songs in praise of the dairy, or the plough; or in celebration of the harvest-home, or the churn-supper; or descriptive of the pleasures of the milk-maid, or the courtship in the farm-house; or those that give us glimpses of the ways of life of the waggoner, the poacher, the horse-dealer, and the boon companion of the road-side hostelrie, are no less curious for their idiomatic and primitive forms of expression, than for their pictures of rustic modes and manners. 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.

Poems.

       Table of Contents

THE PLAIN-DEALING MAN.

       Table of Contents

      [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 upright in the world,

       Heaven knows I am wondrous willing.

       Although that my clothes be threadbare,

       And my calling be simple and poor,

       Yet will I endeavour myself

       To keep off the wolf from the door.

       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.

      And now, to be brief in discourse,

       In plain terms I’ll tell you my mind;

       My qualities you shall all know,

       And to what my humour’s inclined:

       I hate all dissembling base knaves

       And pickthanks whoever they be,

       And for painted-faced drabs, and such like,

       They shall never get penny of me.

       For this I will make it appear,

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