To the Reader
Because we would not that any man’s expectation should be deceived in the ample printing of this book, lo, Gentle Reader, we have inserted these few songs, which were added by the stranger that lately acted Valerius his part, in form following.
The Cries of Rome.
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Round and sound, all of a colour; buy a very fine marking stone, marking stone; round and sound, all of a colour; buy a very fine marking stone, a very very fine!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Bread and—meat—bread—and meat, for the ten—der—mercy of God, to the poor pris—ners of Newgate, four—score and—ten—poor—prisoners!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Salt—salt—white Wor—stershire salt!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Buy a very fine mouse-trap, or a tormentor for your fleas!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Kitchen-stuff, maids!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Ha’ you any wood to cleave?
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
I ha’ white radish, white hard lettuce, white young onions!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
I ha’ rock-sampier, rock-sampier!75
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Buy a mat, a mil-mat, mat, or a hassock for your pew, a stopple for your close-stool, or a pesock to thrust your feet in!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Whiting, maids, whiting!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Hot fine oat-cakes, hot!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Small-coals here!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Will you buy any milk to-day?
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Lanthorn and candle-light here! Maid, a light here!
Thus go the cries in Rome’s fair town;
First they go up street, and then they go down.
Here lies a company of very poor women in the dark dungeon, hungry, cold, and comfortless night and day! Pity the poor women in the dark dungeon!
Thus go the cries where they do house them;
First they come to the grate, and then they go louse them.
The Second Song.
“Arise, arise, my Juggy, my Puggy,
Arise, get up, my dear;
The weather is cold, it blows, it snows;
Oh, let me be lodgèd here.
My Juggy, my Puggy, my honey, my cony,
My love, my dove, my dear;
Oh, oh, the weather is cold, it blows, it snows,
Oh, oh, let me be lodgèd here.”
“Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy,
Begone, begone, my dear;
The weather is warm, ’twill do thee no harm;
Thou canst not be lodgèd here.
My Willy, my Billy, my honey, my cony,
My love, my dove, my dear;
Oh, oh, the weather is warm, ’twill do thee no harm
Oh oh, thou canst not be lodgèd here.”
“Farewell, farewell, my Juggy, my Puggy,
Farewell, farewell, my dear;
Then will I begone from whence that I came,
If I cannot be lodgèd here.
My Juggy, my Puggy, my honey, my cony,
My love, my dove, my dear;
Oh, oh, then will I begone, from whence that I came,
Oh, oh, if I cannot be lodgèd here.”
“Return, return, my Willy, my Billy,
Return, my dove and my dear;
The weather doth change, then seem not strange;
Thou shalt be lodgèd here.
My Willy, my Billy, my honey, my cony,
My love, my dove, my dear;
Oh, oh, the weather doth change, then seem not strange,
Oh, oh, and thou shalt be lodgèd here.”
Footnotes
Introduction Footnotes
1 “So compared by the Fathers,” Heywood explains in the margin.
2 Prefixed to his Apology for Actors (1612).
3 Until recently, Heywood’s plays were only accessible piecemeal and in parts. Dodsley’s collection contained two; Dilke’s contained three, and Baldwyn’s two. Between 1842 and 1851, the Old Shakespeare Society produced altogether twelve; while Mr. Halliwell in 1853 printed the Lancashire Witches separately. At last, in 1874 Mr. John Pearson issued a complete edition in six volumes. Since that date another play in MS. by Heywood, The Captives, was discovered and printed by Mr. A. H. Bullen in the last volume of his Old Plays (1885).
4 With this main-plot Heywood has interwoven a subordinate and independent story. To dwell upon this under-plot would be superfluous. Yet I may point out that it is borrowed from an Italian Novella by Illicini, the incidents of which Heywood carefully transferred to English scenes. In like manner The Captive, consists of a main-plot borrowed from the Mostellaria of Plautus and an under-plot adapted from a novella of the Neapolitan, Masuccio. See my Shakspere’s Predecessors (p. 462), and a letter written by me to the Academy (Dec. 12, 1885).