Many mediæval lyrics have come down to us; men already saw that any object of human desire or interest would serve as subject matter. Of course, there are love-songs. This is the closing verse of one written before Chaucer was born, probably about 1310. The lover has already declared "I wax mad, a maiden destroys me "; and then he describes her: Lily-white is she This Woman dwells in the West. It has a curious abruptness about it, and the poet had not learned that it ruins a lyric to transpose words, to put them out of their obvious order. Not all young men were so lovelorn as this youth. Here is the merry song of one who greatly preferred his freedom; an outspoken man of the late fifteenth century: Á, a, a, o Yet I love wheresoever I go. In all the world is no merrier life In every place he is loved above all They set light store by married men, Then maidens say: "Farewell, Jack! The lyrics of these centuries are varied in their subjects; here is one which shows the Englishman's characteristic love of his pet animals; few, if any, races love their animals more whole-heartedly than we: I have a gentle cock I have a gentle cock, I have a gentle cock His legs are pearly grey, Of crystal are his eyes, Nearly a hundred years earlier one of those humorous lyrics, which are just as natural as those of love or of natural scenery and the rest, had been written, possibly by Chaucer. Those unfortunate people who imagine that all poetry is solemn and dry can correct themselves by this. Yet it is not made of that pure fun coming out of a heart free from care and as light as a feather, nor of that mixed fun with a sharp edge on it which is called wit; but of surface fun which covers without hiding a vein of seriousness and concern. Chaucer was not, or did not think he was, as well off as he desired to be; so he expressed these facts in his Complaint to his Purse, which I have put into modernly spelt English: To you my purse and to no other wight, "Be heavy again-or else must I die." "Be heavy again-or else must I die." "Be heavy again or else must I die." If Chaucer wrote this, he did so probably at the end of his life, when he was badly off. If so, the King to whom he sent it was Henry IV, not Richard II, as some say. The wide range of English Song cannot be appreciated unless we know something of the religious and devotional lyrics. This Christmas slumber-song, coming down to us from the age of the York and Lancaster wars, may serve as a very charming instance: "Lullay, my Child, and weep no more; 1 i.e., rudder. This other night, I saw a sight- "I may not sleep, but I may weep, Sleep I would, but I am cold, Methought I heard the Child answered, I was born and laid before Adam's guilt man had spilt, 1 Dole 'tis to see, here shall I be Here shall I be, hanged on a Tree, That I have bought, lose I will not, A spear so sharp shall pierce My Heart, Without any pity, here shall I pay, For thee, and for many more." It is not possible to include many of these " Middle English" songs, charming and interesting as they are 1 Ruined. 2 Reasonable. But this one, beautiful in its joy and freshness, its religious genuineness and simplicity, its love of animals and of the country, and not least attractive in its playful fun, gathers up into itself the leading characteristics of Englishmen, as they lived and felt and enjoyed themselves, in that reign of Henry VII, which some of us were inclined to connect with money-making dulness out of our national wool. That notion and this poem are as far as the poles asunder: 1 Flagon, or flask. 2 Time, while. 3 Names of his sheep. ▲ Until. 5 Το. |