[Transcriber's Note: You can play this music (MIDI file) by clicking [here].]
The louse made off unhappy and wet—
A-humm, A-humm, A-hee—
He's looking for us, the little pet;
So haste, for her chin's to tie up yet,
And let us be gone with what we can get—
Her ring for thee, her gown for Bet,
Her pocket turned out for me ... me....
This represents the extension of the melody used for the final stanza of the song: it can be adapted to the forms of the first and second stanzas by the omission of the sections A-C and B-C respectively. The Coda is intended for use with the final stanza only.
First performed in London on 19 May 1916 at His Majesty's Theatre, under the direction of Miss Viola Tree.
| Lear | Mr. Murray Carrington. |
| Hygd | Lady Tree. |
| Goneril | Miss Viola Tree. |
| Cordeil | Miss Odette Goimbault. |
| Gormflaith | Miss Julia James. |
| Merryn | Miss Beatrice Wilson. |
| Physician | Mr. H. A. Saintsbury. |
| {Miss Ada King | |
| Two Elderly Women | {Miss Bertha Fordyce. |
Play produced by Mr. John Drinkwater, and mounted by Mr. Purcell Jones: music by Mr. Ivor Novello.
SONGS
For the London performance of "King Lear's Wife."
I ([p. 43])
Mother, it is my wedding morn,
Come, bring the linen fine,
And wash my face with milk so warm
Drawn from the young white kine.
The blackbird in the apple-tree
Was waking ere the day;
But I was ready sooner than he,
For I watched the night away.
II ([p. 44])