[Bagford Collection, II. 164. Pepys, iii. 298.]

The Frantic
Frantic Lover:

Or, The Wandring Young Man.

With Grief and Care he is opprest,}

no Comfort can he find;

Nights he is disturb'd of Rest, Caus'd by his Love unkind.

TO AN EXCELLENT NEW PLAY-HOUSE TUNE.

This may be Printed, R[obt]. [ocock].

Be coy, be cruel, do your worst,
Though for your sake I am accurst,

I must and will adore.

Was you as kind as sweet and fair,
No creature could with thee compare,
to love I am inclin'd;

But yet I understand and see,
That you're resolv'd to torture me,
O are you not unkind?

Can you forget the vow you made,
When as in solemn sort you said,
I was your only joy :

Yet now you will no favour show,
But prove my final overthrow,

and would my life destroy.

Sometimes in dreams I do behold Your tresses like fair threads of gold, likewise your beauty bright;

12

18

24

But when I waken from my rest,
And find that I am dispossest,

it proves my ruine quite.

30

For sure I am, my Love is true,
Where e're I range i'll honnour you,
in sounding forth thy praise;
If I may not enjoy the Bliss,
Bestow on me a parting kiss,
I'll wander out my days.

54

Her Answer.

MI so fair and cruel too,
As has reported been by you?
'tis faulse, pray don't revile:
In one you seem to flatter me,
Then charge me with much cruelty,
where is your love the while?

You tell me that you loved long,
And through me have received wrong,
pray is this false or true ?

When did the darts of my disdain,
Give any reason to complain ?
I will be judg'd by you.

When first to me you did make Suit,
If then I held you in dispute,
was this disloyalty?

I must confess it would be brave

If young men could but ask and have;
maids soon would slighted be.

"Tis not the mode for maids to wooe,
Yet when we find Men just and true,
then, then we often yield:

This is no more then modesty,
But he that would have more of me,
shall never win the field.

But if thy Heart so Loyal be,
As not to fancy none but me,
in all the world beside :

BAGFORD.

2 P

Then I will willingly comply
In loyal Love to live and dye,
whatever may betide.

I'le make it all my study still,

To be obedient to thy will

true blessings to restore:

Here in my armes I'll the[e] infold,

And prize the[e] more then all the Gold,
on the rich Indian Shore.

The moan you

made my heart did move,

Thou shalt not wander from thy Love,

whom you so much adore:

And therefore now no more repine,

Take Hand and Heart, I will be thine,
what canst thou wish for more ?

FINIS.

84

90

96

Printed for J. Deacon, at the Angel in Guilt-spur-street, without

Newgate.

[In Black-letter. Date, 1685-1688.]

The Healing Balsom of a True Lover.

"Phillis is my only Joy,

Faithless as the Wind or Seas; Sometimes coming, sometimes coy,

Yet she never fails to please; If, with a frown, I am cast down, Phillis smiling, And beguiling,

Makes me happier than before.

THE

Tho', alas! too late I find,

Nothing can her Fancy fix;
Yet the Moment she is kind,

I forgive her all her Tricks;
Which, tho' I see, I can't get free;
She deceiving, I believing;
What need Lovers wish for more ?"
Sir Charles Sedley.

HE tune to which the following ballad is directed to be sung is "Amoret and Phillis." This title refers to "a song by Sir C. S.," in Sir George Etherege's comedy "Sir Fopling Flutter; or, The Man of Mode," Act v. sc. 2, 1676. It long continued a favourite. The earliest music to it was by Dr. Nicholas Staggins, Composer to Charles II., and afterwards Master of the Band to William III., and appears in Playford's Choice Ayres, ii. 5, 1679. Later, it was re-set by Dieupart,' and also by L. Ramondon.

We give the words direct from the comedy, but they appeared separately so early as 20th November, 1676, among New Songs; and the year after in Wit's Academy, p. 113 :

There can be no reasonable doubt as to the authorship, for it is expressed in the play "Song by Sir C. S.," and we find at beginning the "Prologue, By Sir Car Scroope, Baronet." Who wrote our Bagford ballad of "The Healing Balsom" it were a much harder task to determine. A copy is in Pepys Coll., iii. 298.

1 In Watts's Musical Miscellany, ii. 220, 1729, where the words are mistakenly assigned to Etherege, in defiance of a statement in the play. The music and words are also in the choice little undated volume, Richard Neale's A Pocket Companion for Gentlemen and Ladies, &c., p. 116; and in Vocal Music, iii. 236. J. Nichols, a trustworthy authority, gives the words unhesitatingly to Sir Car Scrope, and as " from the French of Madame de la Suze," in the first vol. of his Select Collection of Poems, with Notes, p. 16, 1780. Dr. John Aikin, and R. H. Evans (in his most impudent republication of Aikin's book, without leave, during his lifetime), misled by the initials, print the song as being Sir Charles Sedley's. It is not, however, among Sedley's Miscellaneous Works, 1702; nor is it equal to the best of his charming lyrics, many of which are perfect as Love-songs.

2 Al. lect. you strive.