two of the most popular little madrigals at the close of the sixteenth century, entitled The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, and The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd; the first written by Christopher Marlow, and the second by Sir Walter Raleigh. These had been attributed, however, to Shakspeare, in consequence of their being included in a copy of his smaller poems printed by William Jaggard in 1599. This edition being published during the life-time of the poet, gave currency to the ascription; but in the year following Marlow's poem appeared in England's Helicon, with his name annexed, and Raleigh's with his usual signature of Ignoto[578:A]; and Isaac Walton, in the first edition of his Compleat Angler, printed in 1653, has attributed these pieces to the same authors, describing them as "that smooth song, which was made by Kit Marlow, now at least fifty years ago; and—an Answer to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days—old fashioned poetry," he adds, "but choicely good; I think much better then the strong lines that are now in fashion in this critical age."[578:B] Had Marlow written nothing but this beautiful song, he would yet have descended to posterity as an excellent poet; the imitations of it have been numerous.
The Twelfth Night presents us with a variety of fragments of ballads, songs, and catches; Sir Andrew Ague-cheek calls for the catch of Thou Knave, of which the words and musical notes are given by Sir J. Hawkins[578:C]; Sir Toby compares Olivia to Peg-a Ramsay, a licentious song mentioned by Nash among several other ballads, such as Rogero, Basilino, Turkelony, All the Flowers of the Broom, Pepper is black, Green Sleeves, Peggie Ramsie; and immediately afterwards this jovial knight quotes several detached lines from as many separate ballads, for instance, Three merry men be we; There dwelt a man in Babylon, lady, lady; O the twelfth day of December;
Farewell, dear heart, since I must needs be gone.[579:A] Of these the first was a burden common to many ancient songs, and is called in The Old Wives Tale, by George Peele, 1595, an Old Proverb, and is thus given:—
"Three merrie men, and three merrie men,
And three merrie men be wee;
I in the wood, and thou on the ground,
And Jack sleepes in the tree:"[579:B]
an association which acquired such notoriety as to become the frequent sign of an ale-house, under the appellation of The Three Merry Boys. The second is the first line and the burden of a ballad which was licensed by T. Colwell, in 1562, under the title of The goodly and constant Wyfe Susanna. It is preserved in the Pepysian collection, and the first stanza of it has been quoted by Dr. Percy in his Reliques[579:C]; the burden lady, lady, is again alluded to by Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, act ii. sc. 4. The third has not been traced to its source, but the fourth, and the subsequent lines, are taken, with a little variation, from Corydon's Farewell To Phillis, published in a little black letter miscellany, called "The Golden Garland of Princely Delights," and reprinted entire by Dr. Percy.[579:D]
In act iv. sc. 2. the clown is introduced singing part of the first two stanzas of a song which has been discovered among the ancient MSS. of Dr. Harrington of Bath, and there ascribed, though perhaps not correctly, to Sir Thomas Wyat. It is evident that Shakspeare trusted to his memory in the quotation of these popular pieces, for most of them deviate, in some degree, from the originals; in the present instance, the first two lines, as given by the clown,
"Hey Robin, jolly Robin,