The Bells shall ring, the Clerk shall sing,
And the good old wife shall winde us,
And John shall lay our bones in clay
Where the Devil ne’er shall find us.
A later version is in Playford’s ‘Musical Companion,’ 1673. There is also a Roxburghe ballad beginning similarly, but quite distinct from these two songs. It is entitled, “Joy and Sorrow mixt together. To the tune of, Such a Rogue should be hang’d.” Which is the same tune as ‘Old Sir Simon the King.’ Here is the first of the fourteen stanzas for comparison. The ballad is preserved in the Roxburghe Collection (vol. 1. fol. 170), and has been reprinted in the Ballad Society’s publication, vol. 1 p. 509:—
Hang sorrow, let’s cast away care,
for now I do mean to be merry,
Wee’l drink some good Ale and strong Beere,
With sugar, and clarret, and sherry.
Now I’le have a wife of mine own,