(Vol. v., p. 316.)
The original ballad of "The Miller's Melody" is the production of no less a person than a "Doctor in Divinity," of whom the following are a few brief particulars.
James Smith was born about 1604, educated at Christ Church and Lincoln Colleges, in Oxford; afterwards naval and military chaplain to the Earl of Holland, and domestic chaplain to Thomas Earl of Cleveland. On the Restoration of Charles II. he held several Church preferments, and ultimately became canon and "chauntor" in Exeter Cathedral. He was created D.D. in 1661, and quitted this life in 1667. Wood informs us he was much in esteem "with the poetical wits of that time, particularly with Philip Massinger, who call'd him his son."
I have an old "broadside" copy of the ballad in question, "Printed for Francis Grove, 1656," which is here transcribed, verbatim et literatim, for the especial benefit of your numerous readers. It may also be found in a rare poetical volume, entitled Wit Restored, 1658, and in Dryden's Miscellany Poems (second edition, which differs materially from the first).
"THE MILLER AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER.
By Mr. Smith.
"There were two sisters they went playing,
With a hie downe, downe, a downe-a,
To see their father's ships come sayling in,
With a hy downe, downe, a downe-a.