I’ve loved the jolly tankard,
Full seven winters and more;
I loved it so long
That I went upon the score.
Who loveth not the tankard,
He is no honest man;
And he is no right soldier,
That loveth not the can.
Tap the cannikin, troll the cannikin,
Toss the cannikin, turn the cannikin!
Hold now, good son, and fill us a fresh can,
That we may quaff it round from man to man.”
Good honest verse, but ill-suited to these degenerate, tea-drinking days.
Page [85]. “Now I see thy looks were feignèd.”—First printed in “The Phœnix Nest,” 1593, subscribed “T. L. Gent,” i.e. Thomas Lodge, one of the most brilliant of Elizabethan lyrists.
Page [87]. “Shall we play barley-break.”—The fullest description of the rustic game of barley-break is to be found in the first book of Sidney’s “Arcadia.”
Page [87]. “Now let her change.” This song is also set to Music in Robert Jones’ “Ultimum Vale” (1608).
Page [89]. “Now what is love” &c.—This poem originally appeared in “The Phœnix Nest,” 1593; it is also printed (in form of a dialogue) in “England’s Helicon,” 1600, and Davison’s “Poetical Rhapsody,” 1602. It is ascribed to Raleigh in a MS. list of Davison’s. See Canon Hannah’s edition of Raleigh’s poems.
Page [93]. “Oft have I mused.”—This poem was printed in Davison’s “Poetical Rhapsody,” 1602.
Page [96]. “Our country-swains in the morris-dance.”—In Morley’s “Madrigals to Four Voices,” 1594, there is a lively description of the morris-dance:—