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Jasp. By my troth, sir, I ne'er came there; 'tis too hot for me, sir.

Mer. A merry ghost, a very merry ghost!

[Sings.

And where is your true love? Oh, where is yours?

Jasp. Marry, look you, sir! [Opens the Coffin.
Mer. Ah, ha! art thou good at that, i'faith?
[Sings.

With hey tricksy terlerie-whiskin,5

The world it runs on wheels.

When the young man's

Up goes the maiden's heels.

Mrs MERRYTHOUGHT and MICHAEL within.

Mrs Mer. What, master Merrythought! will you not let's in! What do you think shall become of us?

Mer. What voice is that that calleth at our door? Mrs Mer. You know me well enough; I am sure I have not been such a stranger to you.

Mer. [Sings.] And some they whistled, and some they sung,

Hey down, down!

And some did loudly say,

Ever as the lord Barnet's horn blew,
Away, Musgrave, away.

5 Terlerie-whiskin.] This was a cant-phrase of the time. In the Lady's Trial by Ford, we have terlery-pufkins. Whiskin occurs twice with no very determinate meaning in the same author's Fancies Chaste and Noble. The vacancy in the third line of this stanza may be supplied but too easily.

• And some they whistled, &c.] This stanza is taken from the

Mrs Mer. You will not have us starve here, will you, master Merrythought?

Jasp. Nay, good sir, be persuaded; she's my

mother:

If her offences have been great against you,
Let your own love remember she is yours,
And so forgive her.?

Luce. Good master Merrythought,

Let me entreat you; I will not be denied. Mrs Mer. Why, master Merrythought, will you be a vex'd thing still?

Mer. Woman, I take you to my love again; but you shall sing before you enter; therefore dispatch your song, and so come in.

Mrs Mer. Well, you must have your will, when all's done :-Micke, what song canst thou sing, boy?

Mich. I can sing none forsooth, but A Lady's Daughter of Paris,' properly.

It was a lady's daughter, &c.

[Sings within.

ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard, printed in Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. iii. p. 64, where it runs thus: "Then some they whistled, and some they sung,

And some did loudlye saye,

Whenever lord Barnardes horne it blewe,

Away, Musgrave, away."

"If her offences have been great against you,

Let your own love remember she is yours,
And so forgive her.] This may mean,

"Let your self-loye tell

you that she is a part of yourself, and so forgive her." Yet I think it probable that we ought to read-" Let your old love”that is, your former affection.-Mason.

Enter Mrs MERRY THOUGHT and MICHAEL.

Mer. Come, you're welcome home again.

If such danger be in playing,

And jest must to earnest turn,
You shall go no more a-Maying-

Vent. [Within.] Are you within, sir? master Merrythought!

Jasp. It is my master's voice; good sir, go hold

him

In talk whilst we convey ourselves into

[Exit with LUCE.

Some inward room.
Mer. What are you? are you merry?

You must be very merry, if you enter.

Vent. I am, sir.

Mer. Sing then.

Vent. Nay, good sir, open to me.

Mer. Sing, I say,

Or, by the merry heart, you come not in!

Vent. Well, sir, I'll sing.

[Sings.

Fortune my foe, &c.

Enter VENTERWELS.

Mer. You're welcome, sir, you're welcome! You see your entertainment; pray you be merry. Vent. Oh, master Merrythought, I'm come to ask you

• Fortune my foe.] See The Custom of the Country, vol. II. p. 279, where the first stanza of this highly popular song will be found. It is also alluded to in Brome's Antipodes, and in The Two Merry Milkmaids, by J. C.

Forgiveness for the wrongs I offer'd you,
And your most virtuous son; they are infinite,
Yet my contrition shall be more than they.
I do confess my hardness broke his heart,
For which just Heaven hath giv'n me punishment
More than my age can carry; his wand'ring spirit,
Not yet at rest, pursues me every where,
Crying, "I'll haunt thee for thy cruelty."
My daughter she is gone, I know not how,
Taken invisible, and whether living,

Or in the grave, 'tis yet uncertain to me.
Oh, master Merry thought, these are the weights
Will sink me to my grave! Forgive me, sir.

Mer. Why, sir, I do forgive you; and be merry! And if the wag in's lifetime play'd the knave, Can you forgive him too?

Vent. With all my heart, sir.

Mer. Speak it again, and heartily.
Vent. I do, sir;

Now, by my soul, I do.

Mer. [Sings.] With that came out his paramour;

She was as white as the lily flower.

Hey troul, troly, loly!

Enter LUCE and JASPER.

With that came out her own dear knight,
He was as true as ever did fight, &c.

Sir, if you will forgive 'em, clap their hands together; there's no more to be said i' th' matter. Vent. I do, I do.

"Cit. I do not like this: Peace, boys! Hear me, one of you! every body's part is come to an end but Ralph's, and he's left out.

"Boy. "Tis long of yourself, sir; we have nothing to do with his part.

"Cit. Ralph, come away! Make [an end] on him, as you have done of the rest, boys; come! "Wife. Now, good husband, let him come out and die.

"Cit. He shall, Nell.-Ralph, come away quickly, and die, boy.

"Boy. Twill be very unfit he should die, sir, upon no occasion; and in a comedy too.

"Cit. Take you no care of that, Sir Boy; is not his part at an end, think you, when he's dead?Come away, Ralph!"

Enter RALPH, with a forked Arrow through his Head.

Ralph. When I was mortal,' this my costive

corps

Did lap up figs and raisins in the Strand;
Where sitting, I espied a lovely dame,
Whose master wrought with lingell' and with awl,
And underground he vamped many a boot:
Straight did her love prick forth me, tender sprig,
To follow feats of arms in warlike wise,

9 Make on him.] The two words which we have added seem absolutely necessary to the completion of the sense.-Ed. 1778.

▾ When I was mortal, &c.] This speech is a parody on that of the Ghost of Andrea, at the beginning of the famous play of Jeronimo:

"When this eternal substance of my soul

Did live imprison'd in my wanton flesh," &c.-Reed. This speech is ridiculed in several old plays; among others in Albumazar.

2

Lingell.] A thread of hemp rubbed with rosin, &c. used by rustics for mending their shoes.-Percy.

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