Here lads and gay lasses in couples resort,
For sweet rural pastime and innocent sport;
Sure pleasures ne’er flowed from gay nature or skill,
Like those that are found on sweet ‘Robin Hood’s Hill.’
Had I all the riches of matchless Peru,
To revel in splendour as emperors do,
I’d forfeit the whole with a hearty good will,
To dwell in a cottage on ‘Robin Hood’s Hill.’
Then, poets, record my loved theme in your lays:
First view;—then you’ll own that ’tis worthy of praise;
Nay, Envy herself must acknowledge it still,
That no spot’s so delightful as ‘Robin Hood’s Hill.’
BEGONE DULL CARE.
(TRADITIONAL.)
[We cannot trace this popular ditty beyond the reign of James II, but we believe it to be older. The origin is to be found in an early French chanson. The present version has been taken down from the singing of an old Yorkshire yeoman. The third verse we have never seen in print, but it is always sung in the west of Yorkshire.]
Begone, dull care!
I prithee begone from me;
Begone, dull care!
Thou and I can never agree.
Long while thou hast been tarrying here,
And fain thou wouldst me kill;
But i’ faith, dull care,
Thou never shalt have thy will.
Too much care
Will make a young man grey;
Too much care
Will turn an old man to clay.
My wife shall dance, and I shall sing,
So merrily pass the day;
For I hold it is the wisest thing,
To drive dull care away.
Hence, dull care,
I’ll none of thy company;
Hence, dull care,
Thou art no pair [243] for me.
We’ll hunt the wild boar through the wold,
So merrily pass the day;
And then at night, o’er a cheerful bowl,
We’ll drive dull care away.