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ROBIN GOODFELLOW.

When I have done,

I get me gone,

And leave them scolding, ho, ho, ho!

By wells and rills, in meadows green,
We nightly dance our heyday guise;
And to our fairy king and queen

We chant our moonlight minstrelsies.
When larks 'gin sing,

Away we fling;

And babes new-born steal as we go;

And elf in bed

We leave in stead,

And wend us laughing, ho, ho, ho!

From hag-bred Merlin's time, have I

Thus nightly revelled to and fro;
And for my pranks men call me by
The name of Robin Goodfellow.

Fiends, ghosts, and spirites,
Who haunt the nights,

The hags and goblins do me know;

And beldames old

My feats have told,

So vale, vale; ho, ho, ho!

181

THE OLD AND YOUNG COURTIER.

ANONYMOUS.

AN old song made by an aged old pate,

Of an old worshipful gentleman, who had a great estate,

That kept a brave old house at a bountiful rate,
And an old porter to relieve the poor at his gate;
Like an old courtier of the queen's,

And the queen's old courtier.

With an old lady, whose anger one word assuages;

They every quarter paid their old servants their wages,

And never knew what belong'd to coachmen, footmen, nor pages, But kept twenty old fellows with blue coats and badges;

Like an old courtier, &c.

With an old study fill'd full of learned old books,

With an old reverend chaplain, you might know him by his looks,

With an old buttery hatch worn quite off the hooks,

And an old kitchen, that maintain'd half a dozen old cooks;

Like an old courtier, &c.

With an old hall, hung about with pikes, guns, and bows,

With old swords and bucklers, that had borne many shrewd blows,

And an old frieze coat, to cover his worship's trunk hose,

And a cup of old sherry, to comfort his copper nose;

Like an old courtier, &c.

[graphic]

"THAT KEPT A BRAVE OLD HOUSE AT A BOUNTIFUL RATE.

With a good old fashion, when Christmas was come,
To call in all his old neighbours with bagpipe and drum,
With good cheer enough to furnish every old room,
And old liquor able to make a cat speak, and man dumb;
Like an old courtier, &c.

With an old falconer, huntsmen, and a kennel of hounds,
That never hawk'd, nor hunted, but in his own grounds;
Who, like a wise man, kept himself within his own bounds,
And when he died, gave every child a thousand good pounds ;
Like an old courtier, &c.

But to his eldest son his house and lands he assign'd,
Charging him in his will to keep the old bountiful mind,

To be good to his old tenants, and to his neighbours be kind:
But in the ensuing ditty you shall hear how he was inclined;
Like a young courtier of the king's,

And the king's young courtier.

Like a flourishing young gallant, newly come to his land,
Who keeps a brace of painted madams at his command,
And takes up a thousand pounds upon his father's land,
And gets drunk in a tavern till he can neither go nor stand :
Like a young courtier, &c.

With a newfangled lady, that is dainty, nice, and spare,
Who never knew what belong'd to good housekeeping or care,
Who buys gaudy-colour'd fans to play with wanton air,
And seven or eight different dressings of other women's hair :

Like a young courtier, &c.

THE OLD AND YOUNG COURTIER.

185

With a new-fashion'd hall, built where the old one stood,
Hung round with new pictures that do the poor no good,

With a fine marble chimney, wherein burns neither coal nor wood,
And a new smooth shovel board, whereon no victuals e'er stood:

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new study, stuff'd full of pamphlets and plays,

And a new chaplain, that swears faster than he prays,

With a new buttery hatch, that opens once in four or five days, And a new French cook, to devise fine kickshaws and toys:

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on,

On a new journey to London straight we all must begone,
And leave none to keep house, but our new porter John,

Who relieves the poor with a thump on the back with a stone;

Like a young courtier, &c.

With a new gentleman usher, whose carriage is complete,

With a new coachman, footmen, and pages to carry up the meat,
With a waiting gentlewoman, whose dressing is very neat,
Who, when her lady has dined, lets the servants not eat;

Like a young courtier, &c.

With new titles of honour, bought with his father's old gold,
For which sundry of his ancestors' old manors are sold;
And this is the course most of our new gallants hold,
Which makes that good housekeeping is now grown so cold
Among the young courtiers of the king,

Or the king's young courtiers.

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