'Oh heavenly gift, that turnes the minde,
Like as the sterne doth rule the ship,
Of musick whom the Gods assignde,
To comfort man whom cares would nip;
Sith thou both man and beast doest move,
What wise man then will thee reprove.'
'Green Sleeves' [Appendix].
_Wiv._ II, i, 60.
_Mrs Ford._ ... I would have sworn his disposition
[Falstaff's] would have gone to the truth of his words; but
they do _no more adhere_ and _keep place_ together, than the
_Hundredth Psalm_ to the _tune of 'Green Sleeves_.'
Also see _Wiv._ V, v, 20. The tune is given in its most complete form
by Chappell, and is probably of Henry VIII.'s time. The ballad was
published in 1580, with title, 'A new Northerne dittye of the Ladye
Greene Sleeves.' Verse 1 is as follows:--
"Alas my love, you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously,
And I have lovèd you so long,
Delighting in your company.
Greensleeves was all my joy,
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
And who but my Lady Greensleeves."
The 'Hundredth Psalm' (All people that on earth do dwell) will only
adhere and keep place with the tune of Green Sleeves to a certain
extent. If the reader will try to sing it to the tune in the Appendix,
he will find that in the first half he is led into several false
accents; while the second half is quite unmanageable without altering
the notes. There is, however, a form of the tune in Hawkins which is
much further off 'the truth of the words,' for it has exactly the
right quantity of _notes_, but the _accents_ are all as wrong as
possible, thus--
[Transcriber's Note: In the passage below, "u" represents a breve and
"-" a macron.]
- u - u - u -
_All_ peo-_ple_ that _on_ earth _do_
u u u u u u - u -
_Dwell_ sing to _the_ Lord with _cheer_ful _voice_.
It may be that this form of 'Green Sleeves' was known better than the
older one in Shakespeare's day.
'Carman's whistle' [Appendix].
_H. 4. B._ III, ii, 320. Falstaff soliloquises on Shallow's lies
concerning his wild youth.
_Fal._ He (Shallow) came ever in the rearward of the
fashion, and _sung those tunes_ ... that he heard the
_carmen whistle_, and sware--they were his _fancies_, or his
_goodnights_.... The _case of a treble hautboy_ was a
mansion for him, a court.
The Carman's Whistle was a popular Elizabethan tune, and was arranged
as a virginal lesson by Byrd. This arrangement can be had most readily
in Litolff's publication, 'Les maîtres du Clavecin.'
The 'fancies' referred to above are the 'Fantazies' already remarked
on (chest of viols); and the 'Goodnights' are songs _in memoriam_, or
dirges.
'Fortune my foe.' [Appendix]. _Merry Wives_ III, iii, 62. _Falstaff_
(to Mrs Ford). 'I see what thou wert, if _Fortune thy foe_ were not,
Nature thy friend.' This old tune is at latest of Elizabeth's time,
and was sung to the ancient ballad of "Titus Andronicus." The first
verse of 'Fortune my foe' is as follows:--
"Fortune my foe, why dost thou frown on me?
And will thy favour never better be?
Wilt thou, I say, for ever breed my pain,
And wilt thou not restore my joyes again?"
'Ophelia's Songs.' _Hamlet_ IV, v. [Appendix]. 'How should I your
true love know'; 'Good morrow, 'tis St Valentine's day'; 'They bore
him barefaste'; 'Bonny sweet Robin'; 'And will he not come again.'
The one line of 'Bonny sweet Robin' is all that remains of the song,
except the title, which is also the first line--viz., 'My Robin is to
the greenwood gone.' The line Shakespeare gives would be the last. One
tune to it is at any rate older than 1597.
Lastly, there are the old catches, 'Hold thy peace,' sung by Toby, Sir
Andrew, and Feste in _Twelfth Night_ II, iii; 'Jack boy, ho boy, news,
The cat is in the well,' etc., referred to by Grumio in _Shrew_ IV, i,
42; besides 'Flout 'em and scout em,' sung by Stephano, Trinculo, and
Caliban in _Tempest_ III, ii; and 'What shall he have that killed the
deer,' for the foresters in _As You Like It_ IV, ii, 5. The original
music of the first two, probably much earlier than Shakespeare, is in
the Appendix. A Round for four voices by John Hilton (flourished 1600)
to 'What shall he have,' is probably the first setting, and may be
seen in Rimbault, p. 19. Purcell (1675) set 'Flout 'em' as a catch for
three voices, which is in Caulfield's Collection of Shakespeare Vocal
Music, 1864. These last two are poor specimens of Catches, so they are
not printed here. [The proper reading of 'Flout 'em,' in the 4tos and
1st Fol. is 'Flout 'em and _cout_ 'em! and _skowt_ 'em, and flout
'em! Thought is free.']
The following passage contains a large quantity of the history of
songs in the 16th century, and is one of the most important to be
found in Shakespeare. Autolycus sells ballads 'of all sizes' among his
wares; the country folk, Mopsa, Dorcas, and the Clown, buy them, and
afterwards sing them; and the rustic servant distinctly prefers the
pedlar's vocalisation to their accustomed 'tabor and pipe,' or even to
the 'bagpipe.'
_Winter's Tale_ IV, iii, 181.
_Servant._ O master! if you did but hear the _pedlar_ at the
door, you would _never dance again after a tabor and pipe_;
no, the _bagpipe_ could not move you. He _sings several
tunes_ faster than you'll tell money; he utters them as he
had _eaten ballads_, and all men's ears grew to his tunes.
_Clown._ He could never come better: he shall come in. _I
love a ballad_ but even too well; if it be doleful matter,
merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing indeed, and sung
lamentably.
_Serv._ He hath _songs_, for man or woman, _of all
sizes_.... He has the prettiest _love-songs_ for maids; so
without bawdry, which is strange; with such _delicate
burdens_ of "dildos" and "fadings," "jump her and thump
her"; ... "_Whoop, do me no harm, good man._"