Songs from the dramatists

Introduction

For half a century now the collection of Songs fj'om the Dramatists^ ecTited by Robert Bell, has been a favourite book with all lovers of the English lyric. It has been reprinted in the United States twice at least, — once with exquisite illustrations by Mr. John La Farge. It contains a careful selection of the best songs, scattered here and there in the plays of the British dramatists, from the Ralph Roister Doister of Nicholas Udall to the School for Scandal of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. As the editor said in his Advertisement, " the want of such a collection has long been felt, and that it has never been supplied before must occasion surprise to all readers who are acquainted with the riches we possess in this branch of poetry."

The richness of English literature in this branch of poetr}' is indeed indisputable ; and one may even go further and declare that it is incomparable. In no other literature, not even in Greek, is there the wealth of lyric which we find in profusion in the poetry of our own tongue. In fact, this lyrical abundance is evidence in behalf of the assertion

iii

IV INTR OD UCTION.

that we who speak English belong to a race highly endowed with emotion, with energy, with imagination, and that it is in poetry we have done best rather than in prose. In spite of the fact that we are generally held to be a practical and hard-headed people, English prose as a whole is emphatically inferior to English poetry as a whole, — just as French poetry as a whole is emphatically inferior to French prose as a whole.

This possession of the poetic temperament is one reason why there are so many songs besprinkled through the pages of the English drama ; but there is also another reason quite commonplace, and perhaps on that account not mentioned by Bell. In Tudor times the companies of actors were often recruited from choir-boys, who brought to the aid of the theatre their acquaintance with the art of song. Now, a writer of plays is prompt to utilize every advantage at his command ; and the Elizabethan dramatist had not only the lyric gift of his race, he had also ready to his service actors trained to sing. No wonder is it, therefore, that the playwrights delighted to drop into song whenever the occasion came, certain that full justice would be done to their lilting lines. Thus they established a tradition which has endured almost down to the dawn of the twentieth century, — a tradition which had authority even for the writers of the closet-drama, Browning and Tennyson and Swinburne. In the

INTR OD UC TION. V

French drama we find nothing of the sort, partly because the French poets are not so naturally lyric, and partly because a musical training had not been given to the French actors in the remote beginnings when Hardy was setting the pattern for the later and more literary drama. Even when a French dramatist is obviously lyrical, as Corneille is seen to be sometimes and Victor Hugo often, his lyricism takes the form not of the song, but of the set speech, the tirade.

Ralph Roister Doister and Ga7?tmer Gurton^s Needle, the first fruits of English comedy in which we see the grafting of the classic tradition upon the hardy native stock, were written by scholars to be acted by students. Ralph Roister Doister may, indeed, be considered as the earliest college play ; and it has many points of likeness to the rollicking college plays of our own time, with their robust and boisterous humour, their bold horse-play, their frank practical joking, and their jingling lyrics lending themselves to the vigorous singing of youthful, high spirits. Lyly's comedies were written, most of them at least, to be performed by the "children of Paul's," choir-boys trained already in the vocal art.

Shakespeare's Midsummer Nighfs Dream, although styled a comedy, is in fact a comic opera, of a rather modern type, in that it commingles a sentimental and semi-romantic upper-plot with the riotous fun-making of Bottom and his fellows. In vi INTRODUCTION.

this play, as in so many others, Shakespeare reveals his versatility, his mastery of many forms of the drama, — a versatility in which his only rival is Moliere, who has also left us more than one specimen of comic opera. In Othello Shakespeare gives us the purest type of tragedy, sweeping forward massively to its inevitable doom. In Henry V. he has preferred the looser form of the history, the mere chronicle-play of a single hero's achievements, a splendid panorama of one man's career. In the Comedy of Er7'ors he wrought the ingenious imbroglio of farce, dependent for its effect, not on character, but solely on the artfully contrived situations. In the Merchant of Venice and in Much Ado about Nothing he presents us with romantic comedies, in which the humorous theme, which is here his main concern, is sustained by an underplot of almost tragic import. And in the later scenes of the Merry Wives of Windsor, as in the Midsum^ner Nighfs Drea7n, he descends with ease to the lower level of comic opera, with its fantastic plot and its graceful lyrics. His songs are to be found also in his graver plays, not introduced by chance or for their own sake only, but with a subtle understanding of dramaturgic effect. The appealing pathos of the pale figures of Ophelia and Desdemona is heightened by the simple songs we hear them sing.

It is unfortunate for the English drama that the

chief English poets of the nineteenth century sought to model their pla3's upon Shakespeare's, not understanding that the circumstances of theatrical performance had greatly changed since the spacious days of Elizabeth, and that, therefore, the structure of Shakespeare's dramas, adroitly adjusted to the semi-mediaeval conditions of the Elizabethan playhouse, was no longer a satisfactory model for the playwrights of the Victorian period. The plays they wrote were not fitted for the stage of their own time, — however well they might have been performed at the Fortune or the Globe two centuries before they were written. It is this initial mistake which has helped to deprive the modern theatre of the services of the chief poets of our tongue, — this, and the added fact that these poets were essentially lyrists and not dramatists. Browning alone was of the stuff out of which dramatists are made. Tennyson and Swinburne and Longfellow, each in his own degree, was rather a singer of songs than a portrayer of conflicting passions.

That we find lyrics besprinkled through the closet-drama of the nineteenth century is due probably to the native lyric gift of the poets who borrowed the external trappings of a form unsuited to their genius, and probably also in part to an intentional imitation of the Shakespearian practice.

The professional playwrights have tended of late to drop into song only infrequently ; and perhaps

Vlil INTR OD UCTION.

this is just as well, since they have rarely possessed an abundance of the lyric faculty. The specimens it is possible to extract from O'Keefe and Dion Boucicault are not really worthy of comparison with the average lyric of the minor playwrights of an earlier era ; and yet they have a certain interest of their own. Perhaps the lyrical gift of the latter-day playwrights of our language might have been presented more advantageously if a choice had been possible from the more comic verses of Planche and Mr. W. S. Gilbert ; but these seemed to be excluded by the scheme of the earlier collection.

BRANDER MATTHEWS.

Columbia University, IN THE City of New York.

ADVERTISEMENT.

This volume contains a collection of Songs from the English Dramatists, beginning with the writer of the first regular comedy, and ending with Sheridan. The want of such a collection has long been felt, and that it has never been supplied before must occasion surprise to all readers who are acquainted with the riches we possess in this branch of lyrical poetry.

The plan upon which the work is arranged furnishes the means of following the course of the drama historically, and tracing in its progress the revolutions of style, manners, and morals that marked successive periods. The songs of each dramatist are distributed under the titles of the plays from which they are taken ; and the plays are given in the order of their production. Short biographical notices, and explanatory notes, have been introduced wherever they appeared necessary or desirable ; but all superfluous annotation has been carefully avoided.

The orthography of the early songs has been modernized, in no instance, however, to the loss or

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X AD VER TISEMENT.

injury of a phrase essential to the colouring of the age, or the structure of the verse. The old spelling is not sacred ; nor can it be always fixed with certainty. It was generally left to the printers, who not only differed from each other, but sometimes from themselves. By adopting a uniform and familiar orthography, the enjoyment of the beauties of these poems, the most perfect of their class in any language, is materially facilitated.

In the preparation of this volume, all known accessible sources have been explored and exhausted. The research bestowed upon it cannot be adequately estimated by its bulk. The labour which is not represented in the ensuing pages considerably exceeded the labour which has borne the fruit and flowers gathered into this little book. Many hundreds of plays have been examined without yielding any results, or such only as in their nature were unavailable. Some names will be missed from the catalogue of dramatic writers, and others will be found to contribute less than might be looked for from their celebrity ; but in all such cases a satisfactory explanation can be given. Marlowe's plays, for example, do not contain a single song, and Greene's only one. Southerne abounds in songs, but they are furnished chiefly by other writers, and are of the most commonplace character. Etherege has several broken snatches of drinking rhymes and choruses dancing through his comedies, full of riotous

AD VER TI SEMEN T. XI

animal spirits soaring to the height of all manner of extravagance, and admirably suited to ventilate the profligacy of the day ; but for the most part they are either unfit for extract from their coarseness, or have not substance enough to stand alone. Wycherley's songs are simply gross, and Tom Killigrew's crude and artificial.

On the other hand, some things will be found here that might not have been anticipated. A few plays with nothing else in them worth preservation have supplied an excellent song ; and others that had long been consigned to oblivion by their dulness or depravity, have unexpectedly thrown up an occasional stanza of permanent value.

The superiority in all qualities of sweetness, thoughtfulness, and purity of the writers of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century over their successors is strikingly exhibited in these productions. The dramatic songs of the age of Elizabeth and James I. are distinguished as much by their delicacy and chastity of feeling, as by their vigour and beauty. The change that took place under Charles II. was sudden and complete. With the Restoration, love disappears, and sensuousness takes its place. Voluptuous without taste or sentiment, the songs of that period may be said to dissect in broad daylight the life of the town, laying .bare with revolting shamelessness the tissues of its most secret vices. But as this species of morbid

Xll ADVERTISEMENT.

anatomy required some variation to relieve its sameness, the song sometimes transported the libertinism into the country, and through the medium of a sort of Covent-garden pastoral exhibited the fashionable delinquencies in a masquerade of Strephons and Chlorises, no better than the Courtalls and Loveits of the comedies. The costume of innocence gave increased zest to the dissolute wit, and the audiences seem to have been delighted with the representation of their own licentiousness in the transparent disguise of verdant images, and the affectation of rural simplicity. It helped them to a spurious ideal, which rarely, however, lasted out to the end of the verse. The subsequent decline of the drama is sensibly felt in the degeneracy of its lyrics. The interval, from the end of the seventeenth century to the close of the eighteenth, presents a multitude of songs, chiefly, however, in operas which do not come strictly within the plan of this volume ; but, with a few solitary exceptions, they are trivial, monotonous, and conventional. The brilliant genius of Sheridan alone shines out with conspicuous lustre, and terminates the series with a gaiety and freshness that may be regarded as a revival of the spirit with which it opens.

R. B.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction by Brander Maithews . . . iii Advertisement by the Editor ....

NICHOLAS UDALL.

Appendix

JOHN O'KEEFE.

The Highland Reel 301

HENRY WADS WORTH LONGFELLOW.

The Spanish Student ....... 303

ALFRED TENNYSON.

Queen Mary 304

ROBERT BROWNING.

A Blot in the 'Scutcheon ....... 305

DION BOUCICAULT.

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.

SONGS FROM THE DRAMATISTS.

NICHOLAS UDALL.

1505-1556.

[Nicholas Udall, descended from Peter Lord Uvedale and Nicholas Udall, constable of Winchester Castle in the reign of Edward Ul.,^ was born in Hampshire in 1505 or 1506. admitted scholar of Corpus Christ! College, Oxford, 1520, and became probationary fellow 1524, but did not obtain his master's degree for ten years afterwards, in consequence of his known attachment to the doctrines of Luther. His first literary work was a pageant in Latin and English, exhibited by the mayor and citizens of London, to celebrate the entrance of Anne Bullen into the city after her marriage. This was written in 1532, in conjunction with Leland, the antiquary, with whom he had formed a friendship at Oxford. In 1534, having acquired a high reputation for scholarship, he was appointed head master of Eton. His severity in this capacity rendered him odious to the pupils, and has been specially recorded by Tusser, who says that Udall inflicted fifty-three stripes upon him 'for fault but small, or none at all.'' ^ Udall

1 Communicated to the Gentleman' s Magazine, v. Ixxx. p. 2, by Robert Uvedale, in reply to the inquiries of Dr. Mavor, then making collections for his edition of Tusser.

^ See the poetical life added by Tusser to his poems.

I continued at Eton till 1541, when he was brought before the council at Westminster, on a charge of having been concerned with two of the scholars and a servant of his own in a robbery of silver images and plate which had taken place at the college. There seems to be little doubt of his guilty knowledge of the transaction, if not of actual complicity in the theft, for he was dismissed from the mastership, and applied in vain to be restored. No further proceedings, however, were taken against him. From this time he devoted himself to literature, and took a leading part in the discussions against Popery. His great learning, and the services he rendered to religion by his controversial writings and his eloquence in the pulpit, were rewarded by his presentation to a stall at Windsor in 155 1, and his nomination to the parsonage of Calborne, in the Isle of Wight, two years afterwards. These preferments in the church were not considered inconsistent with the encouragement of his skill as a dramatic writer ; and in 1553 and 1554 he was ordered to prepare an entertainment for the feast of the coronation of Queen Mary, — Dialogues and Interludes to be performed at court. About this time he was appointed head master of Westminster school, which he held till 1556, when the monastery was reestablished in the November of that year. He died in the following month, and was buried at St. Margaret's.^

It had long been supposed that Gammer Gurton's Needle was the first regular English comedy. This supposition rested on the authority of Wright, the author of the Historia Histrio7iica. But the discovery, in 181 8, of a copy of Ralph Roister Bolster , printed in 1566 (curi-

1 These particulars are chiefly derived from Mr. W. Durrant Cooper's careful memoir prefixed to the edition of Ralph Roister Doister, reprinted by the Shakespeare Society, from the unique copy in Eton College. The memoir may be consulted for a further account pf Udall's works.

ously enough the year in which Gauuner Gurton's Needle was acted), transferred the precedence to Nicholas Udall. At what time Udall wrote this play is not known. The earliest reference to it occurs in Wilson's Rule of Reason, printed in 1551. From a contemporary allusion in the play to a certain ballad-maker, also alluded to by Skelton, who died in 1533, Mr. Collier conjectures that the comedy was a youthful production. ^ This is extremely probable; although the evidence is not decisive, as the ballad-maker alluded to might have survived, and maintained his notoriety many years after the death of Skelton. However that may be, the claim of this comedy to be considered the first in our language is indisputable. It must have preceded Gammer GiirtotCs Needle by at least fifteen years ; and, being at that period so well known as to be quoted by Wilson, we may reasonably assign it to a much earlier date.

The comedy is written in rhyme, and divided into acts and scenes. The action takes place in London, and the plot, constructed with a surprising knowledge of stage art, affords ample opportunity for the development of a variety of characters. The copy discovered in 18 18 wants the title-page, but is presumed to have borne the date of 1566, as in that year Thomas Hackett had a license to print it. In 1 81 8 a limited reprint was made by the Rev. Mr. Briggs, who deposited the original in the library of Eton College. ' There was a singular propriety,' observes Mr. Collier, ' in presenting it to Eton College, as Udall had been master of the school ; ' a circumstance which was entirely fortuitous, Mr. Briggs not being acquainted even with the name of the author. It was reprinted in 1821 and 1830, and lastly by the Shakespeare Society in 1847.]

1 His. En. Dra7n. Poetry, ii. 246.

RALPH ROISTER BOLSTER.

THE work-girls' SONG.^

Pipe, merry Annot ;

Trilla, Trilla, Trillarie.

Work, Tibet ; work, Annot ; work, Margerie ; Sew, Tibet ; knit, Annot ; spin, Margerie ; Let us see who will win the victory.

Pipe, merry Annot ;

Trilla, Trilla, Trillarie.

What, Tibet ! what, Annot ! what, Margerie ! Ye sleep, but we do not, that shall we try; Your fingers be numb, our work will not he.

Pipe, merry Annot ;

Trilla, Trilla, Trillarie.

Now Tibet, now Annot, now Margerie ; Now whippet apace for the maystrie : ^ But it will not be, our mouth is so dry.

1 To make this lively round intelligible, the reader should be informed that it is sung by three sewing girls, who are variously employed, as indicated in the first stanza. The stage directions at the opening of the scene describe their several occupations : ' Madge Murnblecriist spinning on the distaff — Tibet Talkative sewing — Annot Alyface knitting.' After some idle clatter, in which they are joined by the hair-brained Roister Doister, they agree to sing a song, to beguile the time and help them on in their work,

Annot. Let all these matters pass, and we three sing a song ; So shall we pleasantly both the time beguile now, And eke dispatch all our work, ere we can tell how. Tibet. I shrew them that say nay, and that shall not be I. Aladge. And I am well content.

Tibet. Sing on then by and by.

2 Mastery, superior skill.

THE SEWING-MEN'S SONG.

Pipe, merry Annot ;

Trilla, Trilla, Trillarie.

When, Tibet? when, Annot? when, Margerie? I will not, — I can not, — no more can I ; Then give we all over, and there let it He !

THE sewing-men's SONG.

A THING very fit

For them that have wit.

And are fellows knit, Servants in one house to be ;

As fast for to sit

And not oft to flit.

Nor vary a whit.

But lovingly to agree.

No man complaining,

Nor other disdaining,

For loss or for gaining.

But fellows or friends to be ;

No grudge remaining.

No work refraining,

Nor help restraining.

But lovingly to agree.

No man for despite,

By word or by write.

His fellow to twite, But further in honesty ;

No good turns entwite,^

Nor old sores recite, 1 Twite, entwite — to twit, to reproach.

NICHOLAS UDALL.

But let all go quite, And lovingly to agree.

After drudgery,

When they be weary.

Then to be merry, To laugh and sing they be free ;

With chip and cherie.

Heigh derie derie,

Trill on the berie, And lovingly to agree.

THE MINION WIFE.

Who so to marry a minion ^ wife, Hath had good chance and hap,

Must love her and cherish her all his life, And dandle her in his lap.

If she will fare well, if she will go gay,

A good husband ever still.

What ever she list to do or to say,

Must let her have her own will.

About what affairs so ever he go.

He must shew her all his mind.

None of his counsel she may be kept fro, Else is he a man unkind.

I MUN BE MARRIED A SUNDAY.

I MUN be married a Sunday ; I mun be married a Sunday ;

1 Pet or darling.

/ MUN BE MARRIED A SUNDAY. y

Who soever shall come that way, I mun be married a Sunday.

Roister Bolster is my name ; Roister Bolster is my name ; A lusty brute I am the same ; I mun be married a Sunday.

Christian Custance have I found ; Christian Custance have I found ; A widow worth a thousand pound : I mun be married a Sunday.

Custance is as sweet as honey ; Custance is as sweet as honey ; I her lamb, and she my coney; I mun be married a Sunday.

When we shall make our wedding feast, When we shall make our wedding feast, There shall be cheer for man and beast, I mun be married a Sunday.

I mun be married a Sunday.^

1 The following passage occurs in the Taming of the Shrew : —

We will have rings, and things, and fine array ; And kiss me, Kate, we will be married o' Sunday.