When all things shall be right and square,
And Sack be turned into Clarret,

When Horses breed without a Mare,
O then my Love and Ile be married.

M

When blindmen do stargazers turn,
And fish forsake the brackish Ocean,
When Cookes and Smiths no fire do burn,
And young men shall despise a Portion;
When whores and Baudes all honest grow,
and nothing more shall be miscarried,
When Strawberries on Oaks do grow,
O then my Love and Ile be married.

When Tinkers quite forsake their Trulls,
And by themselves the Countrey travel,
When watermen shall use no Skulls,
And hen-peck'd men not carry gravel.
When scolding wives all quiet be,
And silence is by them preferred,
When Guinnies grow on every tree,
O then, &c.

When Pismires swallow mighty Whales,
And Oaken trees creep under ground too,
When wantons play not with their tails,
And Pocky whores shall all be sound too.

16

When Brokers they shall Conscience use,
And Porters shall no burthens carry,
When Tally-men profit refuse,

O then, &c.

When Coaches no more run on wheeles,
And Carriers quite leave their waggons,
When Cooks make Apple pies of Eeles,
And drunken sots deny their flaggons;
When hungry men shall meat refuse,
And Gentry water Tankards carry,
When maids wear Boots instead of shooes,
O then my Love and I will marry.
When Brewers they shall use no Mault,
Nor Brasiers make no Pans nor Kettles,
When Cripples they no more shall hault,
And men grow fat that eat no victuals,
When Usurers shall Gold despise,
And men on backs their horses carry,
When Changling fools be counted wise,
O then my Love and I will marry.

When Thieves their pilfring all give ore,
And vow that they will honest grow too,
When ships shall sail upon the shore,
It will be very strange you know too.
When all the world shall be content,
And womens minds shall never vary,
When Pearls grow on the Monument,
O then, &c.

When Lyars nothing speak but truth,
And Robbers they use Tripe for Leather,
When wantonness is left by youth,
And June shall fall in Frosty weather:
When birds shall fly that have no wings,
And hasty folk with patience tarry,
When Muskadine runs out of Springs,
O then, &c.

When all these things shall come to pass
Then will I alter my condition,
For I see many a handsome Lass

Whose tears in eye, show'd their condition.

Wishing ten thousand times in vain
That single they had longer tarried,
Perhaps like them I may complain,
Though I no hast[e] have to be married.

Printed for I[onah] Blare at the Looking-glass on London Bridge. [In Black-letter. Date, about 1684, perhaps earlier, but after 1677.]

THE

66

The Unconstant Lover's Cruelty.

"Lay a Garland on my bearse of the dismal Yew;
Maidens, willow-branches bear; say I died true:

My Love was false, but I was firm from my hour of birth;
Upon my buried body lie lightly, gentle Earth."

Beaumont and Fletcher: The Maid's Tragedy, Act ii. sc. 1. 1610.

HE tune to which our "Unconstant Lover's Cruelty" was directed to be sung is "Black and sullen hour." This name refers to a song by Tom D'Urfey, in the first act of his Banditti," 1686. It is found in the Loyal Garland of that year, fifth edition; but omitted, with ten others, through some fastidious squeamishness, from the Percy Society's reprint, Sept. 1850. Here it is :

The music of this is in Pills to P. Mel., iv. 255. We have no patience with the punctilious prudery which considers such a song "shockingly indelicate," and would yet accept without scruple the subtle innuendoes of later versifiers, or the deliberate offensiveness of many recent novelists.

The incidental suicide of the neglected lady is similar to that described in the "Philander" ballad, which we give on p. 542; and the woodcut on p. 539, Left, is common to both.

TO THE TUNE OF, [There is one] Black and Sullen Hour.

[In the original are three cuts: the central one is printed on p. 533. That to the right is a copy from the Obsequies of Faire Phillida, Roxb. Coll., i. 330.]

SI walk'd forth one morning fair,

AS

to view what Nature did compleat,
Where little Hills enammell'd were,
with Lillies and fair Violets sweet;
And while I in my Pleasures did remain,
I heard a Damsel thus complain,

Farewel, thou most unconstant Swain,
Farewel, thou most unconstant swain.
Then to a most convenient place,
I being then resolv'd to go,

Where I remained for a space,

to know the cause of all her woe,

4

8

12

17

With sighs and sobs she sounded forth her moan,

As she lay languishing alone,

as she lay, &c.

consent to any terms of Love,

But at the length, your life to save,
my heart you did with pitty move;
Protesting that you ever would prove true,
And thus my heart you did subdue,

when of this World I take my leave:

39

While tears did trickle down, she thus did cry,

Why do I here in sorrow lye,

why do I, &c.

Then did she lay her Lute aside,
casting her self upon the ground:

Here must I end my days, so hard's my fate,
My grief and sorrows are so great,

my grief, &c.

No Tongue nor Pen can well relate, no tongue, &c.