Or there exceed the mark,—
But, if he errs at all, it is on the safe side.
[Page 88.] No Gypsie nor no Blackamore.
Composers and arrangers of such collections as this Drollery seem to have often chosen pieces simply for contrast. Thus, after the manly directness of “The Doctor’s Touchstone,” we find the vilely mercenary husband here exhibited, and followed by the truthful description (justifiable, although coarsely outspoken) of “The baseness of Whores.” Such were they of old: such are they ever.
[Page 92.] Let not Sweet Saint, &c.
Like the three preceding poems, not yet found elsewhere, but worthy of preservation.
[Page 93.] How happy’s that Prisoner.
Written “by a Person of Quality:” whom we suspect to have been Sir Francis Wortley, but without evidence to substantiate the guess. This is the earliest appearance in print, known to us, of this characteristic outburst of Cavalier vivacity, which re-appears as the Musician’s Song, in “Cromwell’s Conspiracy,” 1660, Act iii. sc. 2; and Merry Drollery, 1661, p. 101. (See also M. D. C., pp. 107, 373). As to the introduction of the several ancient philosophers (referred to in former Appendix, p. 373), compare the delightful Chanson a Boire,
Je cherche en vin la vérité,
Si le vin n’aide à ma foiblesse,