[Roxburghe Collection, II. 112, and IV. 44; Euing, Nos. 67 and 68.

The Dumb Maid:

or the

Poing Gallant Trappan'd.

A Young Man did unto her a wooing come,
But she pretended much that she was Dumb;
But when they both in Marriage-bands were ty'd,
The Doctor's skill was likewise with her try'd:
The Doctor he set her Tongue on the run,
She Chatters now, and never will have done.

TO A NEW TUNE, call'd [from this ballad] Dum, dum, dum ;
Or, I would I were in my own Country, &c.
Licensed and Enter'd according to Order.

All you that pass along, give ear unto my Song,
Concerning a Youth that was young, young, young;

And of a Maiden fair, few with her might compare,
But alack, and alas! she was dumb, dumb, dumb.

4

She was beautious, fresh, & gay, like th'pleasant flowers in May,
And her cheeks was as round as a plum, plum, plum;
She was neat in every part, and she stole away his Heart :
But alack, and alas! she was dumb, dumb, dumb.

8

At length this Country Blade, wedded this pretty Maid,
And he kindly conducted her home, home, home.
Thus in her Beauty bright lay all his whole Delight;
But alack, and alas! she was dumb, dumb, dumb.

12

Now will I plainly show what work this Maid could do,
Which a Pattern may be for Girls young, young, young.
O she, both day and night, in working took delight,
But alack, and alas! she was dumb, dumb, dumb.

16

She could brew and she could bake, she could wash, wring, and shake,

She could sweep the House with a broom, broom, broom; She could knit, and sew, and spin, and do any such thing, But alack, and alas! she was dumb, dumb, dumb.

20

But at last this Man did go, the Doctor's Skill to know,
Saying, "Sir, can you cure a Woman of the Dumb?"
"O, it is the easiest part that belongs unto my Art,
For to cure a[ny] Woman of the dumb, dumb, dumb." 24
To the Dr. he did her bring, and he cut her Chattering-string,
And he [quickly] set her Tongue on the run, run, run.
In the morning he did rise, and she fill'd his House with cries,
And she rattled in his ears like a drum, drum, drum.

28

The Young Gallant Trapanned.

359

To the Doctor he did go, with his heart well fill'd with woe,
Crying, "Doctor, I am [certainly] undone, done, done!
Now she's turned a scolding Wife, and I am weary of my life,
Nor I cannot make her hold her tongue, tongue, tongue!" 32
The Doctor thus did say, "When she went from me away,
She was perfectly cured of the dumb, dumb, dumb.
But it's beyond the Art of Man, let him do the best he can,
For to make a scolding Woman hold her tongue, tongue,
tongue.

"So, as you to me came, return you back again,

And take you the Oyl of Hazel strong;

36

With it anoint her body round, when she makes the House to sound:

So perhaps you may charm her tongue, tongue, tongue." 40 [Printer's name cut off from the first Roxburghe copy, but the Bright copy (IV. 44) is a different edition, printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, T. Wright, J, Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger: with a cut substituted on p. 358 R. for a repetition of the young man from our p. 347. which is on first Roxburghe copy. The Euing copies are distinct issues: one is probably a duplicate of our Roxburghe, II. 112, printed by and for W. Onley and A. Milbourne], and sold by C. Bates, with four woodcuts; the other has no cuts. Date, about 1678.]

[This cut belongs to the "Dorsetshire Damosel," p. 341.]

Dying Tears of a Penitent Sinner.

"When on my sick Bed I languish,
Full of sorrow, full of anguish,
Fainting, gasping, trembling, crying,
Panting, groaning, speechless, dying,
My Soul just now about to take her flight
Into the Regions of eternal right;
O tell me, you,

That have been long below,

What shall I do?

What shall I think, when cruel Death appears,
That may extenuate my fears?

"Me-thinks I hear some gentle Spirit say,
'Be not fearful! come away!1

Think with thy self, that now thou shalt be free,
And find thy long expected liberty,

Better thou may'st: but worse thou can'st not be,
Than in this Vale of tears and misery.

ALTHOUGH

Like Cæsar, with assurance then come on,

And unamaz'd attempt the Lawrel Crown,
That lyes on th' other side Death's Rubicon.'

-Thomas Flatman's A Thought of Death, 1674, 1682.

LTHOUGH "The Dying Tears of a Penitent Sinner" proved to be a good "taking" title, helping the sale of the following ballad, it scarcely indicated its full scope, which, after the opening verses of the Second Part, is no less than a description of the Death of our Saviour on the Cross. Thus it may be considered a companion, or a contrast, to the Roxburghe Ballad, already reprinted in vol. ii. p. 549, on "The Birth and Passion of Christ," to the tune of "As at noon Dulcina rested." It may be compared with another pious ditty, entitled "The Confession of a Penitent Sinner," beginning, "Of Adam's seed poore sinner I," etc. (see Roxburghe Ballads, iii. 168); but the present ditty is of much higher merit and more solemn tone. It being a street ballad for the uneducated, we need not expect it to rival the sustained grandeur of Bryant's modern "Thanatopsis," with its ending like an organ-peal—

1 When Pope borrowed his inspiration and much of the language of his "Dying Christian"="Vital spark of heavenly flame," from his predecessor, the already-neglected and nearly-forgotten poet, Thomas Flatman, it would have been only just, not to say generous, to have bestowed a word of praise and acknowledgement. But Pope had not much more large-heartedness than had Tom Campbell, who acted similarly in regard to Vaughan the Silurist, and others, from whom he pilfered his Rainbow. Pope was great, although faulty; which is more than can be said for Campbell, who toadied Lady Byron and spirted venom against the dead poet, her husband: long before the Beecher Stowe nuisance did.

Diogenes on a quest for "The Faithful Friend."

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable Caravan, that moves

To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
Around him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

361

We have not yet found any extant copy of "The Faithful Friend," which gives name to the tune of these "Dying Tears," but we have ascertained the date of its publication by Francis Grove (viz., 19th December, 1637), and also the important fact that "The Brother's Gift" was an alternative title of the same ballad. We despair not of meeting it, in the course of time. Probably there were at least two distinct tunes, similarly named. One tune of "The Faithful Friend" has been already mentioned in a ballad entitled "A Conscionable Couple," beginning, "This doth make the world to wonder." Being in Roxb. Coll., II. 66, it is reprinted in Roxb. Bds., iii. 561, with its burden of "Leave thee, leave thee, I'll not leave thee: O so loath I am to leave thee!" It might seem to claim "The Faithful Friend" title, but the metre disagrees with what we seek. So does "Friendly Counsaile" (burden, A Faithfull Friend from a flattering Foe). Another employment of the name is (in Roxb. Coll., II. 350), "The Mistaken Bride; or, The Faithful Friend. To an excellent new Tune, call'd, Celia that I once was blest." Here is the first verse, showing such different metre that it is not possibly the same "Faithful Friend" as the tune sought:

In fair London late did dwell, A Man whose Fame did most excel;
He possessing a rich Blessing, Of his hopeful Son we'll tell :

Fair Gerardo he was named, Mild, and of sweet temper framed, etc. (22 v.)

There is also a ballad (Pepys Coll., I. 82) entitled "The Two Faithful Friends: The pleasant History of Alexander and Ludwicke, who were so like one another, that none could know them asunder: wherein is declared how Ludwicke married the Princesse of Hungaria in Alexander's name, and how each night he layd a naked sword between him and the Princesse, because he would not wrong his friend." Printed for Henry Gosson, before 1641, it begins, "The Emperor of Germany." To the Tune of Flying Fame. This tune, named from a lost ballad beginning "When Flying Fame," is the same as Chevy Chase.

The woodcut, copied on next page, is scarcely appropriate for this masculine Penitent Sinner," but it is in the original. Representing a pious widow with her seven children, it had belonged earlier to the ballad of "The Kentish Miracle" (Roxb. Coll., II. 242), to which we come soon. It appears, along with "The Kentish Wonder," in the first volume of The Kentish Garland.