The cavalier songs and ballads of England from 1642 to 1684

Charles Mackay

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• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

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THE
AND BALLADSCAVALIER SONGS
OF ENGLAND
FBOM 1642 TO 1684
CHAELES MACKAY
SERVICES
8 19902MAY
.^rr^DATE,
t
LOND
1BOHN AND COGKIFFIN
*
sHALL >STATIONERS' COURT
;hQ
1863.rrINTRODUCTION.
THE Cavalier Ballads of like the JaEngland,
cobite Ballads of and Scotland at a laterEngland
are mines of wealth for the student of theperiod,
and social manners of our ancestors. Thehistory
"rr
rude but often beautiful ^of thepolitical lyrics early |
^"of the Stuarts were far more anddays interesting
to the who ^heard orimportant people repeated
than similar canthem, be in ourany compositions
time. "When the was the mereprinting press
vehicle of for the educated ^**polemics minority,
and when the was neither adaily journal luxury
of the a of the nor anrich,poor, necessity appre
ciable in the formation and ofpower guidance
and'iblic the the balladopinion, song appealed
co the if not to the intellect of the masses,passion,
and instructed them in all the events of theleading
time. In our needthe no informationday peopleINTRODUCTION.IV
of for it from the morethe kind, readilythey procure
more if not moreavailable and reliable,copious
source of the and Thedaily weekly press. song
to deal with affairs.and ballad have ceased public
miserNo new ones of the kind are made asexcept
able and that amuse soberburlesques mayparodies
and half-drunken men about town,costermongers
saloons at but whichwho music midnight,frequent
oldare offensive to one else. Suchevery genuine
in the are eitherballads as remain popular memory
fast or relate to the never^dying out, exclusively
of and wine. Thewar,to-be-superseded topics love,
of our have little heart orpeople day appreciation
infor Scotland and Ireland.song, except England
and too andAmerica are too and theprosaic busy,
all their advanmasses, notwithstanding supposed
in aremuch too to ineducation, vulgartages delight
either or ballad that rises tothe ofsong dignity poet
"
the buffooneries of theappreciatery. They Negro
and the inanities and the ofMinstrelsy," vapidities
sentimental love but the of suchsongs, elegance
writers as Thomas and the force oMoore,
thinkers and tender as Evigorous lyrists
f
are above their andBurns, are left \sphere,
scholars in their closets and ladies in their drav
The case was differenting-rooms. our ances-amongIJfTBODUCTION. V
in the memorable of the fortors period struggle
that commenced in the of Charles I.-liberty, reign
The Puritans had the on their andside,pulpit
found it u instrument. The Cavaliers hadpowerful
the writers on and found themtheirs,song equally
effective. And the and ballad writers ofsong
that were not illiterate but some ofversifiers,day
the choicest wits and mostweretljem accomplished
of the nation. As could not reachgentlemen they
the ears of their theby printed book,countrymen
or thethe nor mount thepamphlet, newspaper,
and with Puritanism on its ownpulpit dispute
and in its own found theground precincts, they
the and the more availableballad,song, epigram
amusical and such as theamong song-loving people
then and trusted to these towere,English keep
the inof the evil of theup spirit loyalty days loyal
incause to teach and cheer
; courage adversity,
fulness in all and to ridicule thecircumstances,
whom could not and theshame,hypocrites they
whom could not overthrow.tyrants they Though
thousands of these have been inpreserved
1
. inP the British andMuseum,King's Pamphlets
other collections which have been ranfreely
ofsacked for the materials the asfollowing pages,
thousands more havemany undoubtedly perished.INTRODUCTION.
aas and sold forbroadsides,Originally printed
at it used to be the fashionhalfpenny country fairs,
orof the to them inpeasantry paste up cupboards,
as well ason the backs of and farmers'doors, wives,
and farm who were able toservant labourers,girls
lids of theirwould often them on theread, paste
them. Thisas the best means oftrunks, preserving
is one reason so of them have been lostwhy many
without To Sir ~W. C. literarecovery. Trevelyan
ture is indebted for the restoration of a few of these
and which he found in an oldwaifs strays, pasted
of the of and which he caretrunk Cromwell,days
detachedand to the BritishMuseum.
fully presented
But a sufficient ofnumber these leaves offlying
and have reached oursatire, sentiment, time,loyalty
to throw a curious and instructive thelight upon
of themen who resisted the of thefeelings progress
Eevolution and who made to theEnglish ; loyalty
of the even when the monarchperson monarch,
was the first of the civic virtues. Inwrong, the
of the materials at assuperabundance command,
will be seen from the list of books andappended
MSS. which have been consulted and drawn upon
to form this the wascollection, todifficulty keep
within and tobounds, select such asonly specimens
merited a in a volume limitedplace necessarily byINTKODUCTIOtf. Vll
their their their their histocelebrity, wit, beauty,
rical or the tointerest, light they might happen
throw on the the most reobscure ofbiography
markable actors in the scenes which describe.they
It would be too much to claim for these ballads the
exalted title of are not inpoetry. They poetical
the sense of the and wouldhighest word, possibly
not for the whichhave been so effective purpose
hadwere intended to if their writersserve,they
been more fanciful and or less intentimaginative,
what had to than the manner ofupon they say upon
it. But if not aresaying extremely poetical, they
and of the soil and somenational, racy ;extremely
of them are certain to live as as thelong language
which them. For the convenience of referproduced
enceand consultation havebeen chrothey arranged
inwiththe discontents that
;nologically beginning
andthe of Charles I., followingaugurated reign
theto final, though short-lived, triumphregularly
ofthe Cavalier in the accession of James II.cause,
After his ill-omened advent to the the Cathrone,
valier became the Jacobite. In this collection no
itJacobite so arecalled, included,songs, properly
intention of the to issue a comthebeing publishers
of the Jacobite Ballads ofpanion volume, England,
from the accession of James II. to the battle ofVH1 INTRODUCTION.
j
should the receive theCulloden, public present
volume with sufficient to the venture.favour justify
The Editor in to fellow-cannot, justice previous
omit to record his to the inlabourers, obligation
with conits learnedteresting volume, annotations,
tributed Mr Thomas to theby Wright publications
of the or to another andPercy equallySociety;
valuable edited Mr J. O.collection, Halliwell,by
for the same
Society.
1862.December,