* * * * *
"THE MILLER'S MELODY," AN OLD BALLAD.
(Vol. v., p. 316.)
The original ballad of "The Miller's Melody" is the production of no less a
person than a "Doctor in Divinity," of whom the following are a few brief
particulars.
James Smith was born about 1604, educated at Christ Church and Lincoln
Colleges, in Oxford; afterwards naval and military chaplain to the Earl of
Holland, and domestic chaplain to Thomas Earl of Cleveland. On the
Restoration of Charles II. he held several Church preferments, and
ultimately became canon and "chauntor" in Exeter Cathedral. He was created
D.D. in 1661, and quitted this life in 1667. Wood informs us he was much in
esteem "with the poetical wits of that time, particularly with Philip
Massinger, who call'd him his son."
I have an old "broadside" copy of the ballad in question, "Printed for
Francis Grove, 1656," which is here transcribed, _verbatim et literatim_,
for the especial benefit of your numerous readers. It may also be found in
a rare poetical volume, entitled _Wit Restored_, 1658, and in Dryden's
_Miscellany Poems_ (second edition, which differs materially from the
first).
"THE MILLER AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER.
_By Mr. Smith._
"There were two sisters they went playing,
With a hie downe, downe, a downe-a,
To see their father's ships come sayling in,
With a hy downe, downe, a downe-a.
"And when they came unto the sea-brym,
With, &c.
The elder did push the younger in;
With, &c.
"O sister, O sister, take me by the gowne,
With, &c.
And drawe me up upon the dry ground,
With, &c.
"O sister, O sister, that may not bee,
With, &c.
Till salt and oatmeale grow both of a tree,
With, &c.
"Sometymes she sanke, sometymes she swam,
With, &c.
Until she came unto the mill-dam;
With, &c.
"The miller runne hastily downe the cliffe,
With, &c.
And up he betook her withouten her life,
With, &c.
"What did he doe with her brest bone?
With, &c.
He made him a violl to play thereupon,
With, &c.
"What did he doe with her fingers so small?
With, &c.
He made him peggs to his violl withal;
With, &c.
"What did he doe with her nose-ridge?
With, &c.
Unto his violl he made him a bridge,
With, &c.
"What did he doe with her veynes so blew?
With, &c.
He made him strings to his violl thereto;
With, &c.
"What did he doe with her eyes so bright?
With, &c.
Upon his violl he played at first sight:
With, &c.
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"What did he doe with her tongue so rough?
With, &c.
Unto the violl it spake enough;
With, &c.
"What did he doe with her two shinnes?
With, &c.
Unto the violl they danc'd _Moll Syms_;
With, &c.
"Then bespake the treble string,
With, &c.
O yonder is my father the king;
With, &c.
"Then bespake the second string,
With, &c.
O yonder sitts my mother the queen;
With, &c.
"And then bespake the strings all three;
With, &c.
O yonder is my sister that drowned mee.
With, &c.
"Now pay the miller for his payne,
With &c.
And let him bee gone in the divel's name.
With, &c."
As this old ditty turns upon the making "a viol," it may be as well to add
that this instrument was the precursor of the violin: but while the viol
was the instrument of the higher classes of society, the "fiddle" served
only for the amusement of the lower. The viol was entirely out of use at
the beginning of the last century.
Moll (or Mall) Symms (mentioned in the thirteenth stanza) was a celebrated
dance tune of the sixteenth century. The musical notes may be found in
_Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book_, in the Fitzwillian Museum, Cambridge;
and in the curious Dutch collection, _Neder Lantsche Gedenck clank_,
Haerlem, 1626.