Tiverton, and famous Totnes,1 Stout Lads brisk and airy, for noble true souls came flocking amain, illiam and Mary, they'll valiantly fight their rights to maintain. Exeter too I ever will own, freely will fight black Rome to destroy, Stout Lads brisk and airy, for William and Mary, Madbury boys of Courage so bold, with these expressions daily advance, Why should this Kingdom e'er be controul'd, Live or dye, they vow to venter, 'tis not Grim death their Courage can stain, Stout Lads brisk and airy, for William and Mary, they'll valiantly fight their rights to maintain. 66 1 Devonshire Tiverton, in our own days, has been more famous for its connexion with " Plucky Pam"; the hearty, ready, and resolute Cupid," whom we could ill spare. Totness had always shown dissenting proclivities, even before the date of this ballad. 2 Exeter's praise for a joyful reception of William we have seen to be exagge rated. Those of the clergy who fled not, as from contamination, showed decided repugnance to one who speedily gave proof how little love he bore to the Church of England. Exeter's bishop, Dr. Lamplugh, had never descended to the persecution of Curates, or litigation for destruction of a Reredos. But neither had he joined in free-thinking publications for discrediting the Scriptures. Other men, other measures. 3 There can be little doubt that, through a long-cherished hatred and fear of France, animating Englishmen at the time, James defeated his own chances by accepting the aid of troops from Lewis XIV. We have seen this in the case of the naval officers, with whom as Duke of York he had been highly esteemed. William's horde of Dutchmen soon excited disgust and anger. In Ireland, their oppression and greed exceeded that of the Rapparees. But so soon as James offered even the semblance of a foreign invasion, an indignant unanimity of opposition was offered to him, by men who might otherwise have welcomed the return of their lawful king. In those days the sentiment was the same as that afterwards expressed by Byron :— "Trust not for freedom to the Franks, They have a king who buys and sells : The only hope of courage dwells." Now the great Town of Plimouth also, that they may purchase honour and fame, whom they do wish a prosperous Reign, Bar[n]stable, Biddinford and Torrington,1 with the whole Army over the main, No fear they lye under, but like Sons of thunder, All the whole Army valiantly went, and at Westchester there they did meet, that Ireland they now might regain, Printed for J. Deacon, at the Angel in G[uilt-spur-st]reet. 80 84 88 [In Black-letter, with Roman type for burden, and proper names in Italics. As usual, we represent the Roman by italics; and the special Italics of original, in burden here, by Black-letter. Date, probably about September, 1690.] 1 Barstable, as in text, is the spelling frequently employed for this ancient Devonshire market-town. Sea-port Bideford was celebrated, "Westward Ho," for the courage of its mariners. At home they indulged in wrecking, like the Cornish fishers; but this, being "square fun," did not meet with reprobation. The Reading Skirmish. "Old England, your taunts on our country forbear; We have generous hearts to give that bottle more." Old Irish Song, before 1786. THE Pepys Collection holds another copy of this ballad, ii. 345. The tune, "Lilli burlero," has been already mentioned, on our pages 303, 304. That the music was composed by Henry Purcell there can no longer be any reason to doubt. It was an English quick march, of Henry Purcell's composition, and in print before 1686.1 In "The Delightful Companion; or, Choice new Lessons for the Recorder or Flute," &c., "The Second Edition, corrected;" London, Printed for John Playford, at his shop near the Temple Church; & for John Carr, at his shop at the Middle Temple Gate, 1686. This is from engraved plates, and being dated 1686, the 2nd edition, we have the certainty of the tune having appeared even still earlier. For it is (at page-sign. F) a "March," three lines of music, followed by the quick movement on the lower half of the page. No author's name appears throughout the book, but there are other well-known tunes by Henry Purcell given. Mr. Chappell found this Lilli burlero March, with Purcell's name attached to it,' in Musick's Handmaid, New Lessons and Instructions for the Virginals, 1678, &c. It is quite as well to settle this point, if possible. We have consulted Mr. Wm. Chappell, than whom no higher authority could be desired: one whose patient investigation of all matters connected with music, and clear statement of results, leave little to be gleaned by after-inquirers; even when they, like himself, habitually go to the fountain-head for information, and take nothing upon hearsay. 2 We know not what the late Dr. Rimbault could have been thinking, when he told T. C. Croker (unless Croker altogether misunderstood and misreported him, and this too within quotational commas) the following: "The air of Lilli burlero is generally considered to be the composition of the celebrated Henry Purcell; but that it could not have been his composition is evident from the fact of its being contained in An Antidote against Melancholy,' printed in the year 1661, when Purcell was only three years old. The air is there given (with some trifling differences in the latter part) to the following words. [We here correct the text, given inaccurately by T. C. C.]: There was an old man at Walton Cross, [Hey troly loly lo.] He never was heard to sigh a hey ho, But he sent it out with [a] Hey troly lo. Lilli burlero is so closely connected with the other ballads of this time (it meets us again, as a tune, in Bagford Coll., ii. 116), that we shall find advantage in giving it here entire, from the earliest dated copy in our possession, 1689. A NEW SONG [: LILLI BURLERO]. [O! Brother Teague, dost hear de Decree, Dat we shall have a new Debittie, [Deputy] Lilli Bur-le-ro Bullen a-la. Le-ro, Le-ro, Lero, Lero, Li-li Bur-le-ro, Bullen a-la, Again, he declares of the tune, with Purcell's name to it, appearing in Musick's Handmaid, "Where it is called Lilli burlero, or Old Woman, whither so high; but Purcell's name attached to it merely signifies that he arranged it."-See Percy Society, Part iii. pp. 5, 6, 1841. This, at first sight, might appear to be decisive as to the authorship. But it is a mis-statement of premises, and the conclusion is inadmissible. 1. "There was an old man at Walton Cross" [i.e. Waltham] is Hearty's song, in Richard Brome's comedy "A Jovial Crew," Act ii. 1641. The words, it is true, are contained in the Antidote against Melancholy, 1661, p. 67. (J. P. Collier issued a limited reprint of this valuable Drollery, in his 50 copy 4to. series; and the present editor, in 1876, virtually reproduced the whole, from the original in the King's Pamphlets, British Museum, including the engraved frontispiece.) 2. Dr. Rimbault has mixed together two entirely different works, both bearing the title of An Antidote against Melancholy (we have shown elsewhere, "Drolleries," iii. 165, that the phrase," Pills to Purge Melancholy," was used so early as 1628, by Robert Hayman, in his " Quodlibets," p. 74). The Restoration Facetiæ, of 1661, gives not one note of music! It is the 1749, "An Antidote against Melancholy being a Collection of Four-score merry Songs," which alone gives a musical accompaniment: viz. "The Music of them all entirely new, and several of the Songs never before set to Music." We possess both works. "There was an Old man," or "Old woman whither so high," or "Lilli burlero," is not contained in the 1749 Antidote; and, as shown already, in the totally-distinct Antidote of 1661 no music whatever appears. D'Urfey's Pills are quite dissimilar, whatever be their dates. So the reasoning as to Purcell's age being only three years in 1661 is absolutely irrelevant. And the good T-t is made a Lord, And we shall have Commissions gillore. And he dat will not go to M—————ss, Shall [be] turn out and look like an Ass. Now, now de Hereticks all go down, By Chreist and St. Patrick the Nation's our own,2 AN IRISH PROPHECY. HERE was a Prophecy lately found in a Bogg, [Talbot] [heir] [Tyrconnel] [the Mass] That Wes and should be ruin'd by an Ass and a Dog: This Prophecy's true, and now come to pass, THE SECOND PART OF LILLI BURLERO. BY Chreist my dear Morish, vat makes de sho' shad? The Heritticks jear us and make me Mad. Vat if Dush should come as dey hope, 1 See p. 295, ante, and the “ Ballad to the tune of Couragio" :— Come, come, great Orange, come away On thy August Voyagio: The Church and State admit no stay, Stand East, dear Wind, till they arrive And let each Noble Soul alive Cry aloud, Qu'il Prince d'Aurange vive! [the Dutch] Collection of the Newest Songs against Popery, 1689, Part i. p. 12. 2 Ibid. p. 9. ... 3 A Second Collection of the Newest... Songs, &c., against Popery and Tyranny, 1689, p. 26. This proves the inaccuracy of the (later, and corrupt) version, wrongly adopted by Bishop Percy, "For Talbot's de dog, and JA . . s is de Ass." This prophecy is sometimes mixed with Lilli burlero, First Part, but is distinct. The omitted names are Talbot and Tyrconnel. We have four distinct Collections, beside the Royal Garland of Protestant Delight, all dated 1689. |