The Broom-man maketh his living most sweet,
With carrying of broomes from street to street;
Who would desire a pleasanter thing,
Then all the day long to doe nothing but sing?

The Chimney-sweeper all the long day,
He singeth and sweepeth the soote away;
Yet when he comes home, although he be weary,
With his sweet wife he maketh full merry.

The Cobler he sits cobling till noone,
And cobbleth his shooes till they be done;
Yet doth he not feare, and so doth say;
For he knows his worke will soone decay.

The Marchant-man doth saile on the seas,
And lye on the ship-board with little ease,
Alwayes in doubt the rocke is neare;
How can he be merry and make good cheare?

The Husband-man all day goeth to plow,
And when he comes home he serveth his sow;
He moyleth and toyleth all the long yeare ;
How can he be merry and make good cheare?

The Serving-man waiteth fro' street to street,
With blowing his nailes and beating his feet;
And serveth for forty shillings a yeare,
That 'tis impossible to make good cheare.

Who liveth so merry and maketh such sport,
As those that be of the poorest sort ?
The poorest sort, wheresoever they be,
They gather together by one, two, and three

And every man will spend his penny,

What makes such a shot among a great many.

XXVIII.

We be Souldiers three.

ALSO from Deuteromelia, or the Second Part of Musick's Melodie, &c., 1609.

Perhaps written during the war in the Low Countries, where Sir Philip Sidney lost his life, A.D. 1568.

WE be souldiers three;

Pardona moy je vous an pree:
Lately come forth of the Low country,
With never a penny of mony.

Here, good fellow, I drinke to thee
Pardona moy je vous an pree:
To all good fellowes, where ever they be,
With never a penny of mony.

And he that will not pledge me this,

Pardona moy je vous an pree:
Payes for the shot, what ever it is,
With never a penny of mony.

Charge it againe, boy, charge it againe,
Pardona moy je vous an pree :

As long as there is any incke in thy pen,
With never a penny of mony.

XXIX.

The Marriage of the Frogge and the Mouse. ••

WARTON, in his History of English Poetry, mentions “A moste strange weddinge of the frogge and the mouse," a ballad licensed by the Company of Stationers in 1580. Many nursery rhymes on the same subject are still current. Pinkerton (Select Ballads, vol. ii, p.33) says that "The froggie came to the mill door," was sung on the Edinburgh stage shortly prior to 1784. "The frog cam to the myl dur," is one of the songs mentioned in Wedderburn's Complaynt of Scotland, 1548; and Dr. Leyden gives a traditional fragment, "The frog sat in the mill-door, spin, spin, spinning; When by came the little mouse, rin, rin, rinning,"

which possibly may be the same.

The following ditty is from the collection, entitled, Melismata, 1611.

It was the frogge in the well,

Humble-dum, humble-dum ;
And the merrie mouse in the mill,
Tweedle, tweedle, twino.

The frogge would a woing ride,
Sword and buckler by his side;

When he was upon his high horse set,
His boots they shone as black as jet;

When he came to the merry mill-pin,
Lady mouse beene you within ?

Then came out the dusty mouse,
I am lady of this house;

Hast thou any minde of me?
I have e'ne great minde of thee.

Who shall this marriage make?
Our lord, which is the rat;

What shall we have to our supper?
Three beanes in a pound of butter.

When supper they were at,

The frog, the mouse, and even the rat ;

Then came in Gib our cat,

And catcht the mouse even by the backe.

Then did they separate,

And the frog leapt on the floore so flat;

Then came in Dicke our drake,

And drew the frogge even to the lake ;

The rat ran up the wall,

A goodly company, the divell goe with all.