Receive therefore thy life again to thee, Live thou in bliss, and banish death to Hell, In vain therefore do neither wail nor weep, Full well thy love thy privy pangs doth see, Nor will thy love on Fortunes back abide, Pluck up thy heart, supprest with brinish tears; Though mighty Kings by Fortune get the foil,' For Fortunes spight thou needst not care a pin, My recompense shall not remain behind. Die not in fear, nor live in discontent, Be thou not slain, where never blood was meant, Woodcuts vary.] 84 88 It was popular before 1595, and is frequently quoted in early dramatic literature. In Cornucopia, 1612, we read an evident travesty before the lover is capsized and nearly drowned, he exclaims, "Fortune my foe, why dost thou frowne this night? Ye lowring heavens, why doe yee looke so darke?" The music is given in Mr. Chappell's Pop. Music, p. 162. 1 This correction is from the Roxb. Coll., iii. 192, foyl; our Bagford copy, and Roxb. Coll., iii. 193, misprint foil and foile. Page 335. "The Souldier's Return" could not have appeared before 1686, as it must have followed "The Soldier's Second Letter" of that year. See next two notes, and p. 961. Page 353. The date of the Souldier's Departure must have been 1685, the first year of Robert Pocock's licensing. certainly preceded "The Souldier's Second Letter." It Page 358. The Souldier's Second Letter. "We have lived Together ever since our little feet Were guided on the path, and thence have shared Beddoes: The Bride's Tragedy, v. 9. THE recovery of the ensuing ballad does more than add one to our already large group of ditties to the tune "The Soldier's Departure." It leads us much closer to a right perception of the date of them all. This ballad was certainly issued immediately after the taking of Buda from the Turks by Charles, Duke of Lorraine, in 1686. These ballads (compare pp. 339, 439) help to show the interest which was taken by the English populace in the struggle of the Imperialists and their allies against the Ottoman power. Readers can now see the intention of the timeserver, Jonah Deacon, when he added that Crusade-like woodcut, with his own initials prominently displayed, to the ballad of "The Valiant Souldier's Misfortune" (our p. 350). It was, of course, to establish at a glance its connexion with the supposed Christian warfare then being waged near the Danube. There are still shameless people who feel ferocious joy at the slaughter and humiliation of Turkey. (The woodcut on p. 966 adorns a Douce ballad, i. 49 verso, "Round, Boys, a Bumper to Lorrain.") While the Duke of Monmouth was lingering at the Hague, after the death of Charles II., in February, 168, he is said to have been invited to join the forces of the Emperor, as an opening to distinction; one far safer and more glorious than any insurrectionary attempt to gain possession of the English throne. William of Orange no doubt feared the possibility of so handsome and popular a favourite becoming successful among English Protestants if such an attempt were made. He therefore, with a pretence of disinterested affection for Monmouth, offered him the means of equipment, with a sufficient amount of expenditure to enable him to appear like an English nobleman when volunteering his services. But Monmouth better loved to pass the time in dalliance with Henrietta Wentworth, who had followed him abroad, and they dwelt together at Brussels. Even thus he might have been happy, but for vacillation, inconstancy, and the temptation offered by needy adventurers like Robert Ferguson and the dissolute Ford Lord Grey of Werk. He yielded to them, and went to his ruin, in 1685. Had he, instead, gone earlier to the theatre of war, winning the laurels of a Commander as Sobieski did at Vienna in 1683, or fought alongside of Lorraine, and then returned, flushed with conquest and renown, to try his fortunes for the English throne, a different fate from that of Sedgemoor-fight would probably have been told in history. Such is but one more event of the "What might have been." Among the 180 Loyal Songs, of 1685 and 1694, so often mentioned, one is On the Siege of Buda, p. 331. It begins, Sound the Trumpet, Sound the Trumpet, Tara, tara, tara, tara, let the Drum beat, Sound a Charge, the Christian our Valour calls; To the Trenches, to the Trenches, Dub, a dub; a dub, a dub, the Storm commences, In vain defence is; The Pagan Turk Shall never lurk In Buda's Walls. Lorraine that mighty Man, Whose force none can withstand, Regards not the Ottoman Band has rais'd the Siege in vain, Whilst we the Town which was our own, Will take it And make it Our own again. Teckley's routed, &c. [Tekeli.] This, of course, appeared a year before Lorraine's final success in recapturing Buda, the event mentioned in the Douce ballad. The first "Souldier's Letter," preceding this, is extant, and of the date 1685. The popularity of the subject is proved by the number of ballads to the same tune of "The Souldier's Departure," = "The Doubting Virgin." 1 "News from Ostend; or, the Souldier's loving Letter to his Sweetheart in London, with her kind Answer to the same." It is in Wood's Coll., E 25, fol. 131, beginning, "My dearest, this Letter unto thee I send, Hoping that in health 'twill thee find, To let thee know I'm got safe to Ostend, And to tell thee a piece of my mind." (19 verses more.) The same woodcut as on our next page. BAGFORD. 3 R [Douce Coll., ii. fol. 193 verso.] The Souldier's Second Letter Together with his Victorious Conquests in Foreign Parts. Though now I range a Nation strange, in time it shall appear, With Diamonds fair, beyond compare, I will adorn my Dear. To the Tune of, The Souldiers Departure. This may be Printed, R. P. [Two cuts here: the left-hand cut is on p. 969.] No have sent to thee once more; [Ow my Love and dearest Jewel, Do not think I can be cruel, thou art she whom I adore: All things shall be soon decided, I am still to Love inclin'd, Tho' we have been long divided, thou art always in my mind. 4 8 Dearest, in my last Relation, I a large account did give, By a Letter of that station, which indeed I then did live; I have such a valiant spirit, more than private Soldier's praise: thou art always in my mind. On the Turks, Dame Fortune lowers, as I hope for ever may; We have storm'd both Towns and Towers, Buda did become our Prey. When the roaring Guns did rattle, Providence to us was kind In the greatest Heat of Battle, thou wert always in my mind. |