SONGS OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND. JOLLY GOOD ALE. BISHOP STILL. I can not eat, but little meat, But sure I thinke, that I can drinke I stuffe my skin so full within, Backe and side go bare, go bare, Booth foot and hand go cold: But belly, God send thee good ale ynoughe, I love no rost, but a nut-browne toste, A little bread shall do me stead, Much bread I not desire No froste nor snow, nor winde, I trow, I am so wrapt, and throwly lapt And Tib my wife, that as her life And saith, sweet heart, I took my part Back and side go bare, &c. Now let them drink, till they nod and wink, Even as good fellows should do, They shall not misse to have the blisse Good ale doth bring men to: And all poor souls that have scowred boules, God save the lives of them and their wives Back and side go bare, &c. [From "A ryght pithy, plesaunt and merie comedie: Intytuled Gammer Gurtons Nedle, imprinted by Thomas Colwell, 1575." Warton and Ritson tell us that it is the first drinking ballad of any merit in our language. "It has," writes Warton, "a vein of ease and humour, which we should not expect to have been inspired by the simple beverage of those times." Hist. of Eng. Poet. Ed. 1824, vol. 4, p. 30. Still was Bishop of Bath and Wells.] THE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE. CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. Born 1565-Killed 1593. Come, live with me and be my love, Pleas'd will I make thee beds of roses A belt of straw, and ivy-buds If these, these pleasures can thee move [This beautiful song is the composition of Christopher Marlowe, a dramatic writer of Queen Elizabeth's time. It has commonly been attributed to Shakspeare, and part of it, even in the great poet's day, was published with his name attached to it, in "The Passionate Pilgrime, and Sonnets to sundry Notes of Musicke, by Mr. William Shakespeare, London, Printed for W. Jaggard, 1599." In the Poetical Miscellany published in 1600, called "England's Helicon," it is given with Marlowe's name-and Isaak Walton in his Angler attributes it to him. Shakspeare makes Parson Evans sing some of the lines when he is waiting to fight Doctor Caius. Marlowe in his "Jew of Malta," 1591, quotes a verse of it. At the end of the volume will be found numerous variations as given in England's Helicon, the versions of Percy, Ritson, and Ellis, with that of Isaak Walton in his Angler. The reader will select the most poetical.] THE NYMPH'S REPLY. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Born 1552-Beheaded 1618. If all the world and love were young, But fading flowers in every field, Thy gown, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, But could Youth last, could Love still breed; Then those delights my mind might move, [Written, Isaak Walton informs us by Raleigh, "in his younger days," and adds, alluding also to Marlowe's song, that it is "old fashioned poetry but choicely good." This copy is given from Sir Egerton Brydges' Edition of Raleigh's Poems-the earliest copy I believe known to exist is that in "England's Helicon," which the reader will find at the end of this volume. The signature" Ignoto," found often in that curious and valuable miscellany, is supposed to be Raleigh's.] THE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE. [ANOTHER of the same nature made since.] SIR WALTER RALEIGH. Come live with me, and be my dear, In plains and groves, on hills and dales, There shall you have the beauteous pine, |