David Herd printed a fragment of a Scotch song that was founded on the English song:—
“I hae layen three herring a’ sa’t,
Bonny lass, gin ze’ll take me, tell me now,
And I hae brew’n three pickles o’ ma’t
And I cannae cum ilka day to woo.
To woo, to woo, to lilt and to woo,
And I cannae cum ilka day to woo.
I hae a wee ca’f that wad fain be a cow,
Bonny lassie, gin ye’ll take me, tell me now,
I hae a wee gryce that wad fain be a sow,
And I cannae cum ilka day to woo.
To woo, to woo, to lilt and to woo,
And I cannae cum ilka day to woo.”
Page [43]. “I joy not in no earthly bliss.”—These stanzas are usually printed with “My mind to me a kingdom is” (p. 78), and the whole poem has been attributed to Sir Edward Dyer.
Page [47]. “I weigh not Fortune’s frown nor smile.”—These lines (which seem to have been modelled on “I joy not in no earthly bliss”) are by Joshua Sylvester.
In the second stanza, “I sound not at the news of wreck,” sound is an old form of swoon.
Page [52]. “If women could be fair.”—This poem is ascribed to Edward, Earl of Oxford, in Rawlinson, MS. 85, fol. 16.
Page [53]. “In darkness let me dwell.”—These lines are also found in Robert Dowland’s “Musical Banquet,” 1610, set to music by John Dowland.
Page [57]. “In the merry month of May.”—First printed in “The Honorable Entertainment given to the Queen’s Majesty in Progress at Elvetham in Hampshire, by the Right Honorable the Earl of Hertford,” 1591, under the title of “The Ploughman’s Song.”
Page [60]. “It was the frog in the well.”—There are several versions of this old ditty: the following is from Kirkpatrick Sharpe’s “Ballad Book,” 1824:—