The words of this catch, which takes four voices, are—
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'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.