[Bagford Collection, II. 154; Pepys, ii. 11.]

Time's Darling :

Dr, A Love worth liking.

Being a fit Companion for all Men, abroad and at home, at bed and at board, that lacketh good Company.

TUNE OF, If you love me tell me so; OR, Loves tide.

You Love near and listen unto me,
Ou Lovers all, where e're you be,
Draw

Here in this Song you may behold,
That which I more esteem than Gold:
No fond delight, nor fictions strange,
Shall make my constant heart to range;
Search through the world, & you shall find
No love like a contented mind.

Perhaps you'l ask where you may see
One in these times content to be?
Or where that treasure may be found,
Now in this Age on English ground?

4

8

12

Yet by experience I can tell,

Where a contented mind doth dwell:
Read but these lines, and you shall find
No love like a contented mind.

16

20

If thou art Rich, then be content,
Forget not thou from whom 'twas sent;
If God hath lent thee treasure store,
Thou art but the Steward for the Poor,
One day, be sure, thou must appear,
To give account what thou didst here:
And when these lines thou true shalt find, [Sc. And then]
No Wealth like a contented mind.

If thine Estate be took from thee,
And thou art brought to Poverty,
By Crosses or Afflictions strong,
Murmur nor grieve at any wrong;
'Tis God that hath a hand o're all,
To raise thee up, or let thee fall;
Perhaps the Lord would try to find,
If thou hadst Jobs contented mind.

If honours or preferments great,
Shall raise thee up to Justice Seat,
Or that by place or Dignity,
A Judge of Causes thou must be,
Think that Heavens Court of justice high
O're all your Actions cast an eye;

That mighty Judge be sure can find,

24

The secrets of your heart and mind.

If that Gods Laws thou break, be sure,
Or by oppression wrong the Poor,
Or if of Men thou stand'st in fear,
To do what they wou'd have thee here;
Or let the mighty bear the sway,
And turn the poor man's Cause away;
He that doth this, be sure will find,
A troubled discontented mind.

40

44

48

IF

[F otherwise thou seem'st to be,
A judge of Right and Equity,
And will the poor mans cause defend,
As well as his that hath means to spend,
And right the wrongs of the Fatherless,
Likewise the Widdow in distress:

A reward in Heaven thou then shalt find,
And on earth a sweet contented mind.

If thou art Rich, thou poor may'st be,
If thou art poor, wealth mayst thou see;
If thou to honour rise or fall,
Be sure thou be content withal:
This World is subject still to change,
Then let not thine affections range;
Nothing on earth be sure thou'lt find,
Compar'd to a contented mind.

If God hath sent thee Children store,
And yet perhaps thou art but poor,
Dispair not, but contented be,
He will provide for them and thee:
To every mouth he bread will send,
And still will stand the poor man's friend;
Relief from him thou sure shalt find,
If thou hast a contented mind.

What if this World doth frown on thee,
For thy Faith and Fidelity;

Or that thou beest in Prison cast.
The Lord may bring thee out at last?
If not, thou hadst better there to dye,
Than from the true Religion flye:
Keep but thy Faith, and thou shalt find,
In Prison a sweet contented mind.

If that thy Conscience tells to thee
Thy Cause is just, be rul'd by me;
Let not the Thrones of mighty Men
Take thy good Conscience from thee then;
They of thy body shall have power,
Be sure thy Soul they can't devour;
In a quiet conscience thou shalt find
A continual feast to please thy mind.
If that thou think a God there be,

That rules the heaven and earth we see,
Then think he hath a hand o're all,
To raise men up, or let them fall:
All Rulers great by Sea and Land,
Must stoop, if once he gives command;
He must protect you, else you'l find,
A sad and discontented mind.
Content is a jewel, and a Feast,

Content is a rich and welcome Guest,
Content is of such a high Renown,
'Tis better than an earthly Crown:
Content is of such a precious store
That he that hath it need no more;
If you gain it, you sure shall find
No joys like a contented mind.
But if Content you needs will gain
I'le tell you where it doth remain;

Inquire where Conscience keeps his Court,

And where Plain-dealing doth resort;

108

Then truth will lead you by the hand,

And bring you where Content doth stand:
Imbrace him then, and you shall find
No Wealth to a Contented mind.

Printed for J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger.

[In Black-letter. Date, probably, before 1682.]

112

The Unfortunate Miller.

Autolycus, "This is a merry ballad, but a very pretty one.

Mopsa. Let's have some merry ones."-A Winter's Tale, Act iv. sc. 4.

MILLERS bore a traditional bad character in ballads and prose

romances, their rogueries in taking toll from the meal-sack being accompanied by peccadilloes of an amatory nature; so that when "The old wife she sent to the Miller her daughter, To grind her grist quickly, and so return back," the consequences were usually serious, as detailed in more than one early song. Sometimes, as told by Tom D'Urfey, three sisters were successively made the guardians of corn requiring to be ground, and, the handsome young miller proving to be a a "gallant gay Lothario," they were fascinated and deceived. To the inquiry, "Were ever three maidens so lericompooped?" sedate History replies, "Certainly, lots of them!"

But roguish millers, not strictly virtuous in their affections, occasionally found themselves punished by ridicule and more severe penalties. One instance of such retribution is detailed in the following ballad. A similar event is described in the case of "The Wanton Vintner," mentioned on our pages 408, 409; and also in the "Westminster Frollick; or, A Cuckold of his own procuring," Roxb. Coll., ii. 543, beginning "A frollic strange I'll to you tell." In each of these ballads the wife takes the place of the desired damsel; the seducer then encourages another man to be his substitute and meet her, and at last discovers that he has thus betrayed himself to be disgraced and scorned. This exchange of beds, and subsequent adventures, may be traced far back in prose fiction. Cf. Decameron, Nov. 25.

As to the millers' larcenies, we need do no more than refer briefly to the best and broadest of such jests, one told by Oswalde the Reve, the Pilgrim, among Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It is still remembered "At Trumpyngton, nat fer fro Cantebrigge." This is the story of Symkyn the Miller, his buxom wife and no less buxom daughter, with the " yonge poure clerkes two," who go to the mill, "and seen hir corn ygrounde:

And hardily they dorste leye hir nekke

The Millere shold nat stele hem half a pekke

Of corn by sleighte, ne by force hem reue."

How the miller cheats them, and secures an opportunity of

1 It is a ditty sung by Mary the Buxom, in the third part of Tom D'Urfey's Comical History of Don Quixote, Act iii. 1696. Compare Roxb. Coll., ii. 329.