'Jack, boy, ho! boy, news;
The cat is in the well,
Let us ring now for her knell,
Ding, dong, ding, dong, bell.'
The music [see Appendix], like that of so many other catches, is
anonymous, and is of some date long before Shakespeare.
_As You_ V, iii, 7.
_Touchstone._ By my troth, well met. Come, sit, sit, and a
_song_.
_2 Page._ We are for you; sit i' the middle.
_1 Page._ Shall we _clap into 't roundly, without hawking,
or spitting_, or _saying we are hoarse_, which are the _only
prologues to a bad voice_?
_2 Page._ I' faith, i' faith; and _both in a tune_, like two
gipsies on a horse.
[Song follows, 'It was a lover.' Could be sung as a _two_-part
madrigal quite easily. See Bridge's 'Shakespeare Songs,' for Morley's
original setting.]
_Touch._ Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great
matter in the ditty, yet the _note_ was very _untuneable_.
_1 Page._ You are deceived, sir; _we kept time_; we _lost
not our time_.
_Touch._ By my troth, _yes_; I count it but _time lost_ to
hear such a foolish song. God be wi' you; and _God mend your
voices_. Come, Audrey.
The First Page's speech at l. 9. is most humorously appropriate. 'Both
in a tune, like two gipsies on a horse,' is a quaint description of a
duet. There is yet another pun on 'lost time' in ll. 36-8.
Jaques' cynicism comes out even in his limited dealings with music.
_As You_ IV, ii, 5.
_Jaques._ Have you no _song_, forester, for this purpose?
_2 Lord._ Yes, sir.
_Jaq._ Sing it; _'tis no matter how it be in tune, so it
make noise enough_.
Song follows, 'What shall he have, that kill'd the deer,' Rimbault, p.
19. Music by Hilton, date about 1600, probably the original setting, a
Round for four foresters.
This section will conclude with two quotations about singing of a more
serious turn.
_Tw._ II, iv, 1.
_Duke._ _Give me some music._--Now, good morrow, friends.
Now, good Cesario, but that _piece of song_,
That _old and antique song_, we heard last night;
Methought, it did relieve my passion much,
More than _light airs_, ...
Come; but _one verse_.
_Curio._ He is not here, so please your lordship, that
should sing it.
_Duke._ Who was it?
_Cur._ Feste, the jester, my lord: ...
_Duke._ Seek him out, and _play the tune the while_.