"Ding dong, the parson's bell,
Very well my mother.
I shall be buried in the old churchyard,
By the side of my dear brother.
My coffin shall be black,
Two little angels at my back,
Two to watch, and two to pray,
And two to carry my soul away.
When I am dead and in my grave,
And all my bones are rotten,
Jesus Christ will come again
When I am quite forgotten."
The boy was taught this by his aunt.
In the "Townley Mysteries," p. 91, the shepherds watching their flocks by night repeat a form of this prayer. See also Ady's "Candle in the Dark," London, 1650, p. 58; also a paper in the Archæologia, xxvii. p. 253, by the Rev. Lancelot Sharpe; and Halliwell's "Nursery Rhymes," No. ccxl.
Songs in the first edition omitted from this are—
- Fathom the Bowl.
- The Squire and the Fair Maid.
- My Lady's Coach.
- An Evening so Clear.
- The Warson Hunt.
- The Rout is Out.
- Why should we be dullards sad?
- Nancy.
- Farewell to Kingsbridge.
- Something Lacking.
- The Wrestling Match.
- Broadbury Gibbet.
- The Orchestra.
- "Fair girl, mind this when you marry."
- Cupid, the Ploughboy.
- "Come, my Lads, let us be jolly."
- A Single and a Married Life.
- The Saucy Ploughboy.
- The Everlasting Circle.
- Hunting the Hare.
- Dead Maid's Land.
- Shower and Sunshine.
The first edition is still kept in stock, so that such persons as desire these ballads, and such others as are retained in this, but treated differently, as duets and quartettes, can obtain them from the publishers.
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