[404] [V. 23. soe to me, MS.]
[405] [V. 25-32. this stanza is not in the MS.]
XXII.
QUEEN DIDO.
Such is the title given in the editor's folio MS.[406] to this excellent old ballad, which, in the common printed copies, is inscribed, Eneas, wandering Prince of Troy. It is here given from that MS. collated with two different printed copies, both in black-letter, in the Pepys Collection.
The reader will smile to observe with what natural and affecting simplicity, our ancient ballad-maker has engrafted a Gothic conclusion on the classic story of Virgil, from whom, however, it is probable he had it not. Nor can it be denied, but he has dealt out his poetical justice with a more impartial hand, than that celebrated poet.
[This once popular ballad was entered on the Registers of the Stationers Company in 1564-5 as "a ballett intituled The Wanderynge Prince." Its great popularity is evidenced by the frequent references in literature and the large number of ballads sung to the tune of Queen Dido or Troy towne. In The Penniless Parliament of Threadbare Poets, 1608, ale-knights are said to "sing Queen Dido over a cup and tell strange news over an ale-pot," and the same song is referred to in Fletcher's Captain (act iii. sc. 3) and his Bonduca, act i. sc. 2.
The only tune that Mr. Chappell could find for the ballad was one by Dr. John Wilson (the Jack Wilson of Shakspere's stage according to Dr. Rimbault), which is printed in his Cheerful Ayres or Ballads, Oxford, 1660.]