She. “Jenny is washing, washing, washing, Jan.
Jenny is washing, Jan, you can’t see her now.”
Then all say:—
“Morning, ladies and gentlemen, too!
Morning, ladies and gentlemen, too!
Come to see Jenny, Jan? Jenny, Jan? Jenny, Jan?
Come to see Jenny, and can’t see her now.”
Next the youth is informed that Jenny is married, then that she is dead, then that she is buried, and lastly that her grave is green. “Jenny’s grave is green with the tears that flow.” The principal performer has to simulate various emotions at the information given to him.
Now the first of these trifles is certainly derived from the old prose romance of Friar Rush, the earliest English printed copy of which is dated 1620, but which was taken from the German, and this was printed at Strasburg in 1515. The story, however, dates, in all probability, from a much earlier period.
The second is remarkable because the music is almost note for note as sung not very many years ago, with the air to the same words as given in Queen Elizabeth’s Virginal Book. That Jenny-Jan must have been common all over England seems to be implied by the fact of its existing in Devon as well as in Scotland, though to different melodies.