The grasshopper, gnat, and fly, Grace said, we dance awhile, And if the moon doth hide her head, O'er tops of dewy grass So nimbly we do pass, The young and tender stalk Ne'er bends where we do walk; Yet in the morning may be seen Where we the night before have been. 0. SONG LVI. Imitated from the Midsummer-Night's Dream of Shakspeare. Act II. Scene V. Lo! here, beneath this hallow'd shade, Within a cowslip's blossom deep, The lovely queen of elves is laid, May nought disturb her balmy sleep! Let not the snake, or baleful toad Nor snail or worm shall hither come, With noxious filth her bow'r to stain ; Hence be the beetle's sullen hum, And spider's disembowel'd train. The love-lorn nightingale alone Shall through Titania's harbour stray, SONG LVII. THE MAD MERRY PRANKS OF ROBIN GOOD-FELLOW. FROM Oberon, in fairy-land, The king of ghosts and shadows there, Mad Robin I, at his command, Am sent to view the night-sports here; Is kept about, * Dr. Percy has, among his old ballads, given this excellent song, with his usual correctness, from an ancient black letter copy in the 'British Museum.' After it was printed off, (as he acquaints us in a note) he saw an ancient black letter copy containing some variations, and intitled, The merry pranks of Robin-Good-fellow. To 'the tune of Dulcina, &c.' To this copy (says he) were prefixed 'two wooden cuts of Robin Good-fellow, which seem to represent 'the dresses in which this whimsical character was formerly exhi'bited on the stage.' To gratify the curious, he has caused these figures to be very neatly engraved. And his numerous readers seem to have given implicit credit to every thing he has been pleased to tell them. For their better information, however, it may not be im. pertinent to let them into a few secrets. 1. The ancient black letter copy of this ballad in the Museum, whence the learned and ingenious editor expressly declares he printed it, has the identical figures and title which he pretends to have afterwards discovered. In every corner where I go, I will o'ersee, And merry be, And make good sport, with ho, ho, ho! More swift than lightning can I fly Each thing that's done below the moon. There's not a hag, Nor ghost shall wag, Nor cry, · goblin!' where I do go; But Robin I Their feats will spy, And fear them home, with ho, ho, ho! If any wanderers I meet, That from their night-sport do trudge home; With counterfeiting voice I greet, And cause them on with me to roam, Through woods, through lakes, Through bogs, through brakes, Them to come on, And wend me laughing, ho, ho, ho! 2. Neither of the said figures has the slightest connection either with the whimsical character personated in the song, or with stage representation: both of them having been originally designed for, and the identical blocks made use of in' Bulwer's Artificial Changeling,' (p. 460 & 472): the first being intended for one of the black and white gallants of Sealebay, adorned with the moon, stars, &c. the other for a hairy savage. Sometimes I meet them like a man, Sometimes, an ox; sometimes, a hound; And to a horse I turn me can, To trip and trot about them round; But if, to ride, My back they stride, More swift than wind away I go; I whirry, laughing, ho, ho, ho! When lads and lasses merry be, I eat their cates, and sip their wine ; I ft and snort, And out the candles I do blow; They shriek-'Who's this?' I answer nought, but ho, ho, ho! Yet, now and then, the maids to please, And, while they sleep, snort, f-t, and fease, Their malt up still, I dress their hemp, I spin their tow; If any wake, And would me take, I wend me laughing, ho, ho, ho! When house or hearth doth sluttish lie, I do them take, And on the key-cold floor them throw; If out they cry, Then forth I fly, And loudly laugh I, ho, ho, ho! When any need to borrow aught, We lend them what they do require; And for the use demand we nought; Our own is all we do desire : If to repay They do delay, Abroad amongst them then I go; And night by night I them affright, With pinching, dreams, and ho, ho, ho! When lazy queans have nought to do, But study how to cog and lie, To make debate and mischief too 'Twixt one another secretly, I mark their gloze, And it disclose To them that they have wronged so; When I have done, I get me gone, And leave them scolding, ho, ho, ho! |