[Bagford Collection, II. 171.] Portsmouths Lamentation; Or, A Dialogue between Two Amorous Ladies, E. G. and D. P. Dame Portsmouth was design'd for France, Who Mourns at this Unhappy Chance, And sadly doth lament it. TO THE TUNE OF, Tom the Taylor, OR, Titus Oats. O'twas a sad and fatal hour, as e're could come unto me, Thy loss was much, I must confess, Fye, Nell, this news is worse and worse, That I must now unstring my purse, doth make my sorrow double, From hence I thought for to convey what in this Land I gained, But I am here confin'd to stay, Pish, lightly come, and lightly go, With care and grief I am opprest, and I am discontented, Sorrow is lodged in my Breast, my youthful life lamented: How did I vainly spend my time, tho' Riches still increased; And play'd the Wanton in my prime, but now my comfort's ceased. Pityless is here evidently used instead of unpitied. 28 32 36 40 44 48 Madam, I fear it will grow worse, with patience strive to bear it, And since you must unstring your purse, Your debts in England must be paid, believe me what I tell ye, And thereat be not [you] dismaid, but be advis'd by Nelly. FIRIS. 68 Printed for C. Dennisson at the Stationers-Arms, within Aldgate. [In Black-letter. Date, the same as previous ballad, March, 1685 ] To The Protestants' Joy. "Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glammis, all, Macbeth, Act iii. sc. 1. O the companion ballad on the Coronation of James II. and his Queen, issued three years earlier by the same publisher Jonah Deacon, readers are referred for a few words on the subject of time-serving sycophants. More important personages than our ballad-writers found it expedient to turn their coats in those days. The tunes named are "Grim king of the Ghosts," and "Hail to the myrtle shade." The former title (see Popular Music, p. 294) refers to Bagford Coll., i. 53 (also in Roxb. Coll., ii. 317), which was sung to its own tune, known afterwards as accompanying Rowe's "Colin's Complaint," and Gay's "Can Love be controull'd by advice." It begins, Grim king of the Ghosts, make haste, And bring hither all your train: See how the pale moon does waste, And just now is in the wane. Come, you night-hags, with all your Charms, And hug me close in your arms: The words are in Ritson's English Songs, i. 67; the Hive, ii. 247; and Percy's Reliques. The other tune belongs to a song by Nat. Lee, in his "Theodosius," Act iii. sc. 2, 1680, which is given, with music but no composer's name, in Playford's Choice Ayres, iii. 22, 1681. It is also in Pills, iii. 185, and Vocal Music, iii. 148. Thus commencing, Hail to the myrtle shade, All hail to the nymphs of the fields. Kings would not here invade, Beauty here opens her arms, To soften the languishing mind; Ah, Phillis! ah, why so kind? To the same tunes was written another ballad on almost the same subject, in Roxb. Coll., ii. 272, 437, "The subject's satisfaction: the proclaiming of King William and Queen Mary." It was issued in February, two months before our Bagford, and begins "King William is come to the throne." Like ours, it was printed by J. Deacon at the Angel. Another copy is in Wood's Coll., E 25, fol. 114, dated in contemporary MS. "Feb. 1688:" N.S. 1689. The coronation of William and Mary took place on April 11, 1689. The Archbishop of Canterbury and many of the Bishops conscientiously declined to officiate or to be present. Evelyn went to see the procession and the great feast, and heard the newly-made Bishop of Sarum, the irrepressible Gilbert Burnet. He does not seem to have been highly gratified, and writes, "Much of the splendour of the proceeding was abated by the absence of divers who should have contributed to it, there being but five Bishops, foure Judges (no more being yet sworn), and severall noblemen and greate ladys wanting: the feast however was magnificent." Although himself a grave man, he had early noted (29 January, 1688-9) "the morose temper of the Prince of Orange, who shew'd little countenance to the Noblemen and others, who expected a more gracious and cherefull reception when they made their Court." He also, a few days later, had written his condemnation of Mary's indecent exhibition of rejoicing on arriving at the palace, whence her father had been driven out. "She came into Whitehall laughing and jolly, as to a wedding, so as to seem quite transported. She rose early the next morning, and in her undresse, as it was reported, before her women were up, went about from roome to roome to see the convenience of Whitehall; lay in the same bed and apartment where the late Queene lay, and within a night or two sate down to play at basset, as the Queene her predecessor used to, do. . . . This carriage was censured by many."-Evelyn's Diary, February, 1688-9. The Archbishop was Sancroft, who had performed the ceremony for James II., and had since done much in resistance of Popery. He refused to take the oaths to William, and was deprived of his office on the following February 1, 1690, by an Act of Parliament. It was a scandalous exercise of tyranny, which ought to have opened men's eyes to the almost Mezentian union of Church and State. While the Church of England possesses from a slippery government its "protection" (so called), it must often have to groan under the interference of sordid politicians or an irreligious troop of ecclesiastical lawyers. Archbishop Sancroft died on November 24th, 1693. 2 Mary's unfilial exultation at supplanting her father extorts the comment of Lord Macaulay, whose partizanship against James is indisputable. It is true that, from political bias, he admits in extenuation of her conduct the special pleading and unsupported statements of Gilbert Burnet. The Bishop vouches for Mary, but who will have the hardihood to vouch for the Bishop? "She was received [early in February, 1688-9] with many signs of joy and |