Recording: A sweet Sonnet
A sweet Sonnet was one of the most successful love-songs of the early-modern period. It ran to many editions, and its tune - 'Fortune my foe' - was used for dozens of other ballads (see Editions and Featured tune history). In addition, there were many passing references to the song in other forms of literature. In The maydes metamorphosis, a play of c. 1600, Joculo sings the opening verse as he enters the stage, noting ‘I am disposed to be melancholly’. The value of the song in helping men through the pain of romantic rejection is also suggested in Thomas Rawlins’ Tom Essence, or, The modish wife (1677). Here, Laurence tells his sweetheart that he will survive if she leaves him: ‘‘tis but once singing Fortune my Foe, and twice being drunk will set thee a float out of my heart, and then farewell to your Ladyship’.
The expression ‘Fortune my foe’ pre-dated A sweet Sonnet but the song’s success led to a very significant increase in usage. A modified phrase also took off, and individuals who had fallen into misfortune of any sort could be said to ‘sing Fortune my foe’ (see Cowley, Payne and Ravenscroft). Writers of the period, aware that the song was very widely known, also re-wrote the opening lines to suit the current circumstances of their characters or for comic effect (see Jonson, Taylor, Fennor and Anon, The fifteen comforts). A song in Sportive wit (1656) includes the lament, ‘Fortune my foe hath stolne away my Bacon,/ And powdred Beef and mustard in my mouth hath quite forsaken’ (the second line is deliberately crammed with extra syllables, presumably to enhance the humour).
The ballad may have been popular for a number of reasons. The ten-syllable lines were distinctive within the genre and they clearly caught the English imagination. The song also presented in concise form the powerful interplay of strong emotions, particularly melancholy and happiness, that often accompanies love. Singers and listeners undertook together a journey through despair and onwards to satisfaction.
Another contrast is equally interesting: the ballad juxtaposes male feebleness with female strength, in a reversal of the supposed norm. Clearly, there was something about this feature that appealed to women and men alike. It is notable, however, that most of the broader literary references to the song highlight the first part – male misery – while leaving ‘The Ladies comfortable and pleasant answer’ to one side.
The ballad is also cleverly set up so that it can either be performed as two individual songs – the ‘complaint’ and the ‘answer’ – or as a dialogue in which male and female verses are delivered alternately (users of this website can achieve this effect by clicking on the verses one by one). The second text echoes the first at many points, a characteristic that renders this arrangement particularly effective. Lastly, the song may have included a somewhat mysterious ‘celebrity’ element involving Walter Ralegh and Elizabeth I, though it is difficult to know exactly how this worked (see Related texts).
Our featured edition presents another song about The Stout Cripple of Cornwal alongside A sweet Sonnet (and it was not the only edition to adopt this approach). The Stout Cripple was a major success in its own right and has its own separate place on our website. The publishers of the double-issue were deliberately pairing two long-established 'classics', presumably hoping to appeal to consumers with this two-for-the-price-of-one innovation. By juxtaposing the two songs, they may also have set up some interesting contrasts in the minds of listeners and readers: between the true-hearted melancholic romance of A sweet Sonnet and the cynical criminality of The Stout Cripple; or between the somewhat unmanly wallowing of the male lover in the first song and the more impressive masculinity (whether criminal or conventional) that is on display in the second.
Rather surprisingly, the immense success of the song appears to have come to a sudden halt in the early eighteenth century. From this point onwards, it was hardly ever printed and no folksong version is known. A sweet Sonnet was distinctively a song of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the reasons for this invite discussion.
Christopher Marsh
References
Anon, The fifteen comforts of rash and inconsiderate marriage (1694), A6v.
Anon, The maydes metamorphosis (1600), C3v.
Anon, Sportive wit the muses merriment (1656), p. 117.
Abraham Cowley, The guardian, a comedie (1651), Act I, scene 3 (unpaginated).
William Fennor, Cornu-copiae, Pasquils night-cap (1612), p. 38.
Ben Jonson, Ben Jonson, his case is altered (1609), G3v.
William Langland, The vision of Pierce Plowman (1550), O1v.
Henry Neville Payne, The morning ramble (1673), p. 70.
Edward Ravenscroft, The London cockolds a comedy (1682), p. 35.
Thomas Rawlins, Tom Essence, or, The modish wife (1677), p. 37.
John Taylor, Epigrammes written on purpose to read (1651), p. 10.
To the tune of 'Fortune my Foe' (standard name)
The purpose of this section is to provide brief notes on the melody followed by detailed evidence relating to its career, paying particular attention to the ‘echoes’ (inter-song associations and connections) that may have been set up if it was nominated for the singing of more than one ballad. In the list presented in the ‘Songs and Summaries’ section below, we have endeavoured to include as many of the black-letter ballads that used the tune as possible, under any of its variant names. Titles from our chart of best-sellers are presented in bold type (these are also in colour when there is a link to the relevant ballad page on the website). It should be noted that it is extremely difficult to date many ballads precisely and the chronological order in which the songs are listed is therefore very approximate (we have drawn on previous attempts to date the ballads, making adjustments when additional evidence can be brought into play). In most cases, we list the earliest surviving edition of a ballad, though in many instances there may have been earlier versions, now lost.
Versions and variations
‘Fortune my foe’ was so well known that notation appears in dozens of sources, both printed and manuscript. There are instrumental settings for lute, virginals, cittern and lyra viol, and several of the period’s most celebrated composers – John Dowland and William Byrd, for example – applied their talents to the tune.
This was a remarkably solid melody, and renditions are striking in their consistency over time and space. Examples can be found in the following sources (and in many more besides): William Ballet’s lute book (c. 1600); the Fitzwilliam virginal book (late sixteenth and early seventeenth century); Clement Matchett’s virginal book (c.1612); William Barley’s New Booke of Tabliture (1596); and William Corkine’s Ayres, to Sing and Play (1610). The melody was also well known on the continent, where its English origins were recognised. An unusual variant in a major key appears in Oliver Pygge’s Meditations (1589), where the melody is nominated for a song about England’s deliverance from the Spanish Armada. The version used on our recording can be found in Robert Creighton’s virginal book (probably compiled in the 1630s). Other titles for this melody included ‘Aim not too high’, ‘Doctor Faustus’, ‘A lesson for all true Christians’, ‘The Virgins ABC’, ‘The Young Mans ABC’, ‘The godly mans instruction’, ‘A letter for a Christian family’, 'Bernards vision' and ‘Kings Tryal’.
Echoes (an overview)
‘Fortune my foe’ was almost certainly the best-known melody in seventeenth-century England, with the possible exception of a few of the most common psalm tunes. Almost eighty different songs are listed below, all of them designed for singing to this extraordinarily successful four-line composition. These include seven from our list of best-sellers.
Equally remarkable is the thematic consistency of the texts for which the tune was chosen. They fall into two main categories. The original tune-title comes from A sweet Sonnet, and this romantic song remained popular for over a century. A small number of other ballads also adopted the romantic theme (see, for example, The Young-Mans A. B. C.).
In numerical terms, however, the melody’s original mood of romance was overwhelmed by dozens of ballads that focused on sin and repentance. The predominance of this theme explains why authors sometimes referred to ‘Fortune my foe’ as ‘that solemne Tune’ (The penitant traytor) or ‘that preaching tune’ (Brome, Rump). The tune feels intrinsically sober and serious, and it seems likely that this must have helped to drive the development of sternly moral associations alongside those already established.
The dangers of sin and the pressing need for repentance were emphasised in several different and often overlapping ways: by describing the providential judgements that were visited upon individual sinners; by introducing us to dying Christians who demonstrated how to make a good exit or, in some cases, how not to; by stressing the immorality of society in general terms and advising everyone to reform their conduct immediately; by describing meteorological ‘wonders’ and interpreting them as warnings from God; and, most notably, by portraying named convicts as they awaited execution and contemplated the error of their ways, usually urging others to take heed. These songs amplified one another to a remarkable extent.
A ballad entitled The Lamentation of Master Pages wife of Plimmouth appears to have played a crucial role in blending the themes of love and sin, thus opening the way for a transition – never quite complete but striking nonetheless – from one theme to the other.
As time passed, and as the songs piled up on top of one another, the reputation of ‘Fortune my foe’ as a ‘hanging tune’ must have ensured that it conveyed a mood of doom even when applied to songs on different subjects. When, for example, The Godly Mans Instructions are sung to the tune, the text’s many moral injunctions are arguably backed by a melodic reminder concerning the consequences of disobedience. And on the rare occasions when the ballad was named for more optimistic ballads about the deeds of exemplary individuals, it is as if we are simultaneously being encouraged to imitate a positive role model and warned about the dangers of failing to do so. There is also the interesting possibility that a performance of the romantic Sweet Sonnet in c. 1670 would have felt rather different from a rendition of the song in c. 1570 because of the steady accumulation of doom-laden associations in the intervening decades.
There are also some direct intertextual echoes that connect the songs together, though they are perhaps not as precise and numerous as those that marked the careers of some of our other tunes (‘Flying Fame’, for example). The influence of the original Sweet Sonnet over subsequent songs can be seen in the occasional habit of referring to ‘Fortune’ in the opening line. The Araignement of John Flodder and his wife, for example, kicks off with the words, ‘Brave Windham late, whom Fortune did adorn’, an opening gambit that recalls the start of The Lamentation of Master Pages wife: ‘Unhappy she whom Fortune hath forlorn’. This line was also echoed in A Looking-Glasse for Maids, which begins, ‘Unhappy I, who in this prime of youth’.
Several songs also follow A sweet Sonnet in including a verse, usually somewhere in the middle, in which the same words are used repetitively to begin several successive lines (see, for example, The Judgment of God shewed upon on Jhon Faustus and Save a Theefe from the Gallowes). An excellent song shares with The Young-Mans A. B. C. and The Virgins A. B. C. not only a tune and an alphabetic structure but an approach to the letter Q: the relevant lines are ‘Quench fond desires and pleasures of the flesh’,‘Quench thou the flames of this my burning breast’ and ‘Quench in thy self all lusts inflaming fires’. Beyond these examples, there is a general feeling of intertextual connection in the placement of words such as ‘lament’ and ‘amend’ at the ends of lines, often rhymed with recurring and equally sober terms like ‘repent’ and ‘end’.
[See 'Postscript', below, for additional notes on the melody].
Songs and Summaries
A sweet Sonnet, wherein the Lover exclaimeth against Fortune for the loss of his Ladies favour... To the Tune of Fortune my Foe (Registered 1565-66; J. Wright, J. Clark, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, 1682-84). Pepys 1.512-13; EBBA 20243. Emotions – despair, joy, love; Gender – courtship, masculinity, femininity. A man sings in sorrow because he thinks his sweetheart has abandoned him, but she responds with a message of reassurance.
A mournfull Dittie on the death of certaine Judges and Justices of the Peace... To the tune of Fortune (William Wright, 1590). British Library, Huth 50.(62.). Death – illness, burial/funeral; Emotions – anxiety; Employment – professions; Religion – Christ/God, sin/repentance; Morality – general, social/economic; News – sensational; Politics – Royalist; Royalty – praise; Places – English. This describes the mysterious deaths of several eminent judges and gentlemen, and warns us of all of the need to administer justice fairly to all.
The Lamentable and Tragicall History of Titus Andronicus... To the tune of Fortune my Foe (registered 1594; F. Coles, T. Vere, and W. Gilbertson, 1661-63). Folger Library L252a. History – ancient/mythological, heroism; Politics – domestic, power, plots; Family – children/parents, siblings; Gender – adultery/cuckoldry, sexual violence, femininity, masculinity; Crime – murder, rape, false witness; Violence – interpersonal, sexual, punitive, between states; Bodies – injury; Death – warfare, unlawful killing, suicide; Disability – physical; Emotions – anger, hatred, love, despair; Employment – sailors/soldiers; Environment – landscape; Places – European, travel/transport, nationalities. This tells the bloody story of Titus Andronicus, the war-hero who returned to Rome only to become locked in a deadly feud with the nasty new Empress and her malevolent minions.
A Godly Song, entituled, A farewell to the Worlds... To the Tune of, Fortune my Foe (Henry Gossen, 1601-40). Roxburghe 1.136-37; EBBA 30084. Religion – Bible, body/soul, Christ/God, faith, heaven/hell, sin/repentance, church; Death – godly end; Bodies – health/sickness; Recreation – music; Family – children/parents; Gender – marriage; Places - English. A parish clerk prepares to meet his maker, demonstrating the composure, repentance and faith that define a good death.
Saint Bernards Vision. OR, A briefe Discourse (Dialogue-wise) betweene the Soule and the Body of a damned man newly deceased... To the Tune of, Fortune my Foe (J. Wright, 1602-46). Roxburghe 1.376-77; EBBA 30253. Religion – body/soul, angels/devils, Christ/God, heaven/hell, sin/repentance; Death – result of immorality, burial/funeral; Bodies – health/sickness; Emotions – anger, despair, hope; History – ancient/mythological; Recreation – music; Morality – general. The narrator, recalling a dream, describes an acrimonious encounter between a corpse and the immortal soul that previously inhabited it, each blaming the other for the death and damnation that they have suffered.
The Judgment of God shewed upon on Jhon Faustus... TO THE TUNE OF Fortune my Foe (surviving printed copies are later in date but the song was transcribed by hand in 1603-1616). Shirburn ballads, XV. Religion – conjuration, angels/Devils, body/soul, sin/repentance, Christ/God, heaven/hell; History – recent; Emotions – greed, despair; Violence – diabolical; Death –diabolical; Environment – wonders, buildings; Places – European, travel/transport; Employment – professions; Society – education. A German doctor of divinity turns away from Christ and pledges his soul to the Devil, with horrific consequence.
A Joyfull new Ballad of the late victorye obtained by my Lord Mount Joy... TO THE TUNE OF Fortune my Foe (printed copies have not survived but the ballad was transcribed by hand in the early seventeenth century, 1603-16). Shirburn ballads, XXXI. This celebrates Mountjoy’s recent victories against the Earl of Tyrone and his Spanish allies in Ireland, and thanks God for fighting on the English side.
The Lamentation of Master Pages wife of Plimmouth... to the tune of Fortune (composed 1590s; H. Gosson, 1609-40). Pepys 1.126-27; EBBA 20054. See also Shirburn ballads, XXVI and XXVII. Crime – murder, punishment; Death – execution, unlawful killing, godly end; Emotions – sorrow, anger, love, longing; Family – children/parents; Gender – courtship, marriage, femininity, masculinity; Society – old/young; Morality – romantic/sexual, familial; Bodies – looks/physique; Religion – Christ/God, sin/repentance; News – convicts/crimes; Places – English; Violence – interpersonal. Three songs on one sheet in which Eulalia Page and her lover, George Strangwidge, explain why they murdered Eulalia’s husband and prepare themselves for execution.
[The] complaint and lamentation of Mistresse Arden of [Fev]ersham in Kent... To the tune of, Fortune my Foe (C. W., 1610-38). Roxburghe 3.156-57; EBBA 30458. Crime – murder, punishment; Death – unlawful killing, execution; Gender – marriage, adultery/cuckoldry; Bodies – looks/physique, injury; Employment – apprenticeship/service; Family – siblings; Places – English, travel/transport; Recreation – food, hospitality; Society – neighbours; Violence – interpersonal, domestic. Mistress Arden describes how she killed her husband for the love of another man, aided by two rather incompetent assassins called ‘Shakebag’ and ‘Black Will’.
Save a Theefe from the Gallowes and hee'l hang thee if he can: / Or, The mercifull Father, and the mercilesse Sonne... To the tune of, Fortune my Foe (Edw[ard Wright], 1611-56). Manchester Central Library Blackletter Ballads 1.56; EBBA 36258. Family – children/parents, kin, inheritance; Violence- interpersonal, punitive; Crime – murder, general; Death – unlawful killing, execution, result of immorality; Religion – Bible, sin/repentance, faith, Christ/God; Morality – familial; Emotions – greed, despair; Society – old/young; Places – English. Two repentant songs by a young gentleman who murdered his uncle and framed his own loving and kind father for the crime.
The Araignement of John Flodder and his wife, at Norwidge... To the tune of Fortune my foe (John Trundle, c.1615). Pepys 1.130-31; EBBA 20056. Environment – buildings; Places – English; Crime – arson, punishment; Death – execution; Emotions – sorrow, anger, horror; Society – rich/poor; Employment – begging; Religion – church, charity. The town of Windham in Norfolk speaks out against the wandering beggars who set fire to it, causing catastrophic damage.
Anne Wallens Lamentation, For the Murthering of her husband... To the tune of Fortune my foe (Henry Gosson, c. 1616). Pepys 1.124-25; EBBA 20053. Crime – murder, prison, punishment; Death – unlawful killing, execution; Violence – domestic, punitive; Gender – marriage; Society – neighbours, urban life; Emotions – anger, sorrow, guilt; Religion – sin/repentance, Christ/God, prayer; Employment – crafts/trades; Morality – familial; Places – English; Recreation - alcohol. A woman, awaiting execution, expresses her remorse for the murder of her husband and urges other women to learn the lessons and control their tempers.
The lamentable burning of the Citty of Cork (in the Province of Munster in Ireland) by Lightning... To the tune of Fortune my foe (E. A, c.1622). Pepys 1.68-69r; EBBA 20267. Religion – divine intervention, sin/repentance, Christ/God, church; Places – Irish; Emotions – fear, horror, confusion; Morality – general; Environment – buildings, weather; Family – children/parents,siblings; Gender – marriage; Society – urban life. This describes a lightning strike and subsequent fire in Cork, interpreting it as a warning from God of the need for us all to repent and turn to Him.
An excellent song, wherein you shall find, Great consolation for a troubled mind... To the Tune of, Fortune my Foe (registered 1656, but the tune title that derived from the ballad, ‘Aim not too high’, was in existence from c. 1625, so the song must have been in circulation by this date; F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright, 1665-74). Pepys 2.63; EBBA 20688. Religion – moral rules, sin/repentance, charity, prayer, Christ/God, heaven/hell, angels/Devils, Bible, body/soul, general; Morality – general, social/economic; Society – rich/poor. An ABC ballad that offers extensive instruction on living a godly and moral life.
An example for all those that make no conscience of swearing and forswearing, Shewing Gods heavy Judgement upon a Maid-servant in London… To the tune of, Aime not too high (J. W, c.1625). Folger Shakespeare Library. Religion – sin/repentancy, Bible, body/soul, Christ/God, divine intervention, faith; Bodies – health/sickness; Crime – robbery/theft; Employment – apprenticeship/service; Society – criticism; Morality – general; Death – result of immorality; Emotions – wonder; Environment – buildings; News – sensational; Places – English; Recreation – sight-seeing. A warning against swearing and forswearing, centring on the example of a thieving servant who is now rotting in prison as a result of her sins.
A discourse of Mans life. Comparing him to things that quickly passe... To the tune of Ayme not too high (H. G., c. 1625-29). Roxburghe 1.70-71; EBBA 30049. Death – general; Environment – animals, birds, flowers/treesk crops, weather, seasons; Religion – prayer, pilgrimage, Bible; Employment – crafts/trades; Royalty – praise. A meditation on the transitory nature of life, concentrating on imagery drawn from the natural world.
By the directions of the Scriptures, and the examples of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ... To the Tune of Ayme not too high (Francis Grove, 1625-62). Manchester Central Library - Blackletter Ballads 1.5; EBBA 36014. Morality – social/economic; Religion – Bible, charity, Christ/God; Society – criticism, rich/poor; Bodies – clothing, nourishment, health/sickness; Crime – prison; Economy – hardship/prosperity; Family – children/parents; Emotions – sympathy. This complains that the rich are failing in their charitable duties to the poor, and urges everyone to follow Jesus’ example in looking after those who are suffering.
The Despairing Lover, Whose minde was much tormented, Because of his True-Love Hee thought hee was prevented... To the tune of, Aime not too high (F. Coules, 1625-80). Roxburghe 1.82-83; EBBA 30057. Gender – courtship, masculinity, femininity; Death – suicide, heartbreak; Environment – animals, sea, weather; Places – European, extra-European, travel/transport; Emotions – despair, joy, love. A man feels rejected by his sweetheart and prepares to kill himself, but she intervenes in the nick of time and a loving outcome is assured.
The godly end, and wofull lamentation of one John Stevens... To the tune of Fortune my foe (H. Gosson, c. 1632). Roxburghe 1.490-91; EBBA 30327. Crime – treason, prison, punishment; Death – execution; Violence – punitive; Employment – apprenticeship/service; Politics – treason; Family – children/parents; Religion – Christ/God, sin/repentance, faith, Bible; Emotions – sorrow; Bodies – injury; Places – English, travel/transport; Royalty – praise. A young man, awaiting execution for high treason, expresses deep remorse and warns others to avoid wickedness.
The lamentation of Edward Bruton, and James Riley... To the tune of, Fortune my Foe + Another Bloody murther committed neere Ware... To the same Tune (H. G., c. 1633). Roxburghe 1.486-87; EBBA 30324. Crime – murder, robbery/theft, punishment; Death – execution, unlawful killing; Violence – interpersonal, punitive; Family – pregnancy/childbirth; Religion – sin/repentance, Christ/God, Catholic/Protestant, heaven/hell; Emotions – guilt, sorrow; News – convicts/crimes; Places – English. The first song presents the repentant words of two murderers as they await execution, and the second tells the story of a gang of robbers/murderers who meet the same fate.
[Title missing]... pitty, to all people that shall heare of it… To the tune of, Aime not too high (imprint missing, c. 1633). Manchester Central Library, Blackletter ballads, 1.50; EBBA 36041. Environment – buildings; Emotions – fear, horror; Family – children/parents; Gender – marriage; History – recent; News – general; Places – English; Religion – prayer. The text is damaged but its clear purpose is to describe a recent fire that caused panic and destroyed numerous properties on London Bridge.
The Young-Mans A. B. C.... The Tune is, Aim not too high (registered 1634; J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, 1684-86). Pepys 1.508-09; EBBA 20241. Gender – courtship, femininity, masculinity; Emotions – despair, hope, confusion, hatred, disdain; Bodies – health/sickness. A male youth is in terrible romantic torment and begs his insensitive sweetheart to ‘Resolve me off or on/ and there’s an end’.
Death’s loud Allarum: OR, A perfect description of the frailty of Mans life with some admonitions to warne all men and women to repentance... To the tune of, Aime not too high (John Wright the Young[er], 1634-45). Roxburghe 1.78-79; EBBA 30054. Religion – sin/repentance, Christ/God, divine intervention, heaven/hell; Death – general; Emotion – anxiety; Family – children/parents, siblings; Morality – general; Recreation – alcohol, food; Society – rich/poor; Violence - divine. A reminder that death can strike at any minute and that it is therefore vital that all people prepare themselves and amend their sinful lives before it is too late.
A wonderfull wonder, Being a most strange and true relation of the resolute life, and miserable death of Thomas Miles... To the tune of, Aime not too high (John Wright junior, c. 1635). Roxburghe 1.482-83; EBBA 30320. Death – result of immorality; Recreation – food; Religion – prayer, Christ/Jesus, sin/repentance, divine intervention; Morality – general; Bodies – nourishment, health/illness; Environment – wonders, weather; Places – English. This warns us against swearing and forswearing, using the example of a man who expressed an opinion, hoping never to eat again if it wasn’t true, and then choked to death at his next meal.
A cruel murther committed lately upon the body of Abraham Gearsy... To the tune of Fortune my Foe (John Wright Junior, c.1635). Roxburghe 1.488-89; EBBA 30326. Crime- murder, punishment; Death – unlawful killing, execution; Economy – money; Emotions – horror; Violence – interpersonal, punitive; Religion – angels/devils, Christ/God, sin/repentance, prayer; Family – children/parents; Morality – general; News – convicts/crimes; Society – friendship, neighbours; Places – English. The tale of two brothers, executed for the murder of a man to whom one of them owed money.
Youths Warning-peice. In a true Relation of the woefull Death of William Rogers of Cranbrooke in Kent an Apothecary... To the Tune of Doctor Faustus (A. K, 1636). Roxburghe 1.434-35; EBBA 30294. Religion – Christ/God, faith, clergy, church, heaven/hell; Bodies – health/sickness; Employment – apprenticeship/service, crafts/trades; Death – result of immorality; Economy – money, livings; Emotions – sorrow, horror; Family – children/parents; Morality – general, social/economic; Society – education; Places – English; Recreation – alcohol; Royalty – praise. A cautionary tale about a promising and godly young apothecary who fell into bad company, turned away from religion, and died in a state of panic regarding the future of his immortal soul.
A Lamentable List, of certaine Hidious, Frightful, and Prodigious Signes… To the tune of Aime not to high (Thomas Lambert, 1638). Wood 402(67, 68). Environment – wonders, animals, birds, weather; Religion – divine intervention, Christ/God, sin/repentance, Bible; Places – European; Bodies – health/sickness; Emotions – fear, wonder; Violence – divine; History – recent; Morality – general; News – international, sensational; Recreation – music. A musical list of all the strange happenings in Germany during the last twenty years, and a warning to all Christians of the need to repent.
A Description of this age… The Tune is, Aim not to high (Richard Burton,1640-79). Douce Ballads 1(60b). Society – criticism, friendship, neighbours, rich/poor; Morality – general, familial, romantic/sexual, social/economic; Religion – body/soul, Christ/God, sin/repentance, church, charity; Bodies – clothing, health/sickness, adornment; Death – general, godly end; Economy – money, hardship/prosperity; Emotions – anxiety, frustration; Recreation – alcohol, fashions; Employment – professions, prostitution; Family – children/parents, siblings; Gender – marriage. The author expresses alarm at the sinfulness of the age and urges repentance, while reminding all people that they are destined to die.
A Looking-Glasse for Maids. OR, The Downfall of two desperate Lovers... The tune is, Aim not too high (Tho. Vere, 1644-82) Euing 163; EBBA 32063. Gender – courtship, femininity, masculinity; Morality – romantic/sexual; Death – duelling/jousting, tragedy; Violence – interpersonal; Recreation – food, music; Environment – birds; flowers/trees; Bodies – clothing, nourishment, injury; Emotions – jealousy, anger, horror, despair, shame; Family – children/parents; Religion – Christ/God, prayer; Places – English. A warning against wantonness and pride in a tale of two men who died fighting over a woman on Isle of Wight.
Three horrible Murthers... To the Tune of, Aime not too high: or Fortune my Foe (John Hammond, 1646). Manchester Central Library, Blackletter Ballads 2.12; EBBA 36111. Crime - murder, theft; Death - unlawful killing, tragedy, execution; Violence – interpersonal, punitive; Justice - execution, imprisonment; Employment - sailors/soldiers, Emotions – fear, horror sorrow; Family – children/parents; News – general; Places – English. A violent house-robbery near Winchester is thwarted by some passing soldiers, but not before several members of the family have been murdered.
The penitant traytor or the humble Confession of a Devonshire gentleman, who was condemned for high treason, and executed at Tyborne for the same, in the Raigne of King Henry the third… You may sing this if you please. To the Tune of, Fortune my Foe (no imprint, 1647). BL Thomason, 669.f.11[35]. Politics – controversy, dometic, Royalist, treason, plots, elections, parliament; Crime – treason; Death – execution; History – medieval, villainy; Humour – satire, deceit/disguise; Places – English. This is a black-letter ballad written in the satirical style that is more commonly associated with white-letter songs, and its tale about the treason of a medieval gentleman is really an attack upon current parliamentary politics.
The manner of the Kings Tryal at Westminster-Hall... The Tune is, Aim not too high (c. 1648; W. Thackeray and T. Passinger, 1687-88). Pepys 2.204-05; EBBA 20816. Crime – treason, punishment; Death – execution, godly end; Politics – controversy, domestic, treason; Royalty – authority, criticism; Violence – punitive; Emotions – sorrow; Family – children/parents. An account of the trial and execution of Charles I, setting out the charges laid, the king’s response, and his speech on the scaffold.
A True Relation, Of The great Floods that happened in many parts of England in December and January last... The Tune is, aim not to high (J. Clark, 1651-86?). Roxburghe 3.236; EBBA 30875. Religion – Bible, Christ/God, divine intervention, sin/repentance, charity, church, prayer; Morality – general; Society – criticism, rich/poor; Death – result of immorality; Environment – wonders, weather, buildings; Economy – hardship, prices/wages; Violence – divine/diabolical; Emotions – fear, guilt; Families – pregnancy/childbirth; Recreation – alcohol; Bodies – adornment, nourishment; Places – extra-European. The recent floods are described in graphic detail and interpreted as a warning from God that England must repent its sinful ways if it is to avoid even worse suffering.
The Virgins ABC, OR, An Alphabet of Vertuous Admonitions, for a Chast, Modest and well governed Maid... The Tune is, The young Mans A. B. C. (registered 1656; F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clark, 1675-80). Euing 370; EBBA 31981. Gender – femininity, courtship; Morality – general, romantic/sexual. A set of instructions on moral living, aimed at young women.
A Looking-Glass for all true Christians... The Tune is, Aim not too high (registered 1656; J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, 1682-84). Pepys 2.47; EBBA 20671. Religion – sin/repentance, Bible, Christ/God, heaven and hell, moral rules; Morality – general; Society – criticism, rich/poor; Emotions - sorrow. A comprehensive and urgent call to repentance for sinners of all sorts.
Dying Tears, OR Englands Joy turned to mourning for the loss of that Vertuous Prince, Henry Duke of Glocester... To the Tune of, Aim not too high (Charles Tyns, c.1660). Euing 65; EBBA 31748. Death – illness, burial/funeral; Royalty – praise; Emotions – sorrow; Politics – domestic, foreign affairs, Royalist; Religion – mortality,Family – siblings, children/parents; News – political; Bodies – physique/looks. This laments the death of Charles I’s third son, heaps praises upon him and reminds all listeners that they, like the dead duke, will pass away and must prepare urgently for eternity.
A most wonderful and sad judgement of God upon one Dorothy Mattley late of Ashover... The tune is, Fortune my Foe (W. Gilbertson, 1660-62). Wood 401(177). Death – providential; Economy – money; Emotions – horror, wonder; Religion – divine intervention; Violence – divine; Environment – landscape; News – sensational; Employment – female; Crime – robbery/theft; Places – English. A woman forswears herself, hoping that she will be swallowed into the earth if she stole money from a boy, and, because she is lying, the ground duly opens up and consumes her.
Newes from Hereford. OR, A wonderful and terrible Earthquake... The Tune is, Aim not too high (F. Coles, T. Vere, and W. Gilbertson, 1661). Wood 401 (179). Environment – weather, buildings, crops, animals; Places – English; Emotions – horror, wonder, fear; Religion – divine intervention, Christ/God, sin/repentance, church; Violence – divine; Family – pregnancy/childbirth; Morality – general; News – sensational, domestic; Death – providential. A call for national repentance, inspired by the extreme weather, unprecedented apparitions and peculiar births that have recently been afflicting Hereford.
The poor man put to a pinch... To the Tune of, The Description of this Age, or, Aim not to high (J. Conyers, 1661-92). Pepys 4.299; EBBA 21961. Economy – hardship/prosperity, money, livings, trade; Employment –crafts/trades, unemployment; Religion – Christ/God, prayer; Society – rich/poor; Family –children/parents; Emotions – anxiety, sorrow, hope; Bodies – nourishment. A plea on behalf of the suffering poor, asserting that the difficult economic conditions are caused by our sins and that only God can make things better.
A Sad and True Relation of a great fire or two... To the Tune of, Fortune my Foe, or Aim not too High (E. Andrews, 1662). Wood 401(189). Death – accident; Emotions – horror, sorrow; Environment – buildings; News – domestic; Places – English; Recreation – general; Religion - mortality; Employment – professions, crafts/trades; Family – children/parents. This tells the sad story of a devastating house-fire that killed a rich merchant, his family and their guests as they slept in their beds on a December night.
Truth brought to light. OR, Wonderful strange and true news from Gloucester... To the Tune of, Aim not too high (Charles Tyns, 1662). Wood 401(191). Crime – witchcraft, murder, robbery/theft; Death – execution; Violence – interpersonal; Family – children/parents, siblings; Gender –femininity; Employment – apprenticeship/service; Economy – money; Emotions – horror, wonder; Religion – conjuration/witchcraft, Christ/God; Society – friendship; Environment – sea, landscape; News – convicts/crimes; Places – English, extra-European, travel/transport. This presents the strange-but-true story of a Gloucestershire man who was presumed dead at the hands of a widow and her two sons, but who then reappeared, having instead been bewitched by the widow and transported by supernatural means to a rocky island off the Turkish shore.
A Warning for Swearers... Tune, Aim not too High (W. Thackeray, T. Passenger, and W. Whitwood, 1666-79). Roxburghe 3.38-39; EBBA 30391. Religion – divine intervention, angels/devils, Bible, Christ/God, sin/repentance; Bodies – health/sickness; Crime – robbery/theft; Death – result of immorality, providential; Disability – physical; Emotions – horror, wonder; Employment – female; Morality – general; News – sensational; Places – English. Two cautionary tales about a man and a woman who, in separate parts of the country, forswore themselves and were instantly afflicted with terrible punishments by God.
A Lesson for all true Christians... Tune of, The Letter for a Christian Family (this song generated a new name for the tune - ‘A lesson for all true Christians’ - and must therefore have been in circulation before this additional title was used by others in 1670-79; J. C., W. T., and T. P., 1684-86). Pepys 2.48; EBBA 20672. Religion - Christ/God, Bible, prayer, sin/repentance, heaven/hell, moral rules, church; Death – illness; Bodies – health/sickness; Family – children/parents; Crime – robbery/theft, prison; Gender – marriage, sex; Economy – trade; Society – old/young; Recreation – alcohol. A ballad in ABC format that offers wide-ranging advice on religious, moral and social duties.
The Kentish WONDER: BEING A true Relation how a poor distressed Widow, in the Wild of Kent, was by the Providence of the Almighty, miraculously preserved in her Necessity... To the Tune of, Aim not too high (P. Brooksby, 1670-98). Crawford 1392; EBBA 33918. Religion – prayer, divine intervention, Bible, Christ/God, faith; Family – children/parents, kin, siblings; Gender – femininity; Bodies – nourishment; Society – criticism; Economy – hardship/prosperity, household; Morality – social/economic; Crime – robbery/theft; Places – English. A poor widow prays to God and is miraculously enabled to keep her seven children alive for seven weeks on a single loaf of (burnt) bread.
The Godly Mans Instructions: OR, The Dying Mans last Words to his Children... To the Tune of, Aim not too High (Philip Brooksby, 1670-98). Beinecke – Michell-Jolliffe, 2000 Folio 6 272; EBBA 35932. Religion – moral rules, Christ/God, body/soul, heaven/hell, sin/repentance; Society – old/young; Death – illness; Family – children/parents; siblings; Morality – general; Recreation – alcohol. A dying man warns his children and everyone else of the need to avoid the sins that abound in society if they are to hope for a place in heaven.
The Disturbed Ghost: OR, The Wonderful Appearance of the Ghost, or Spirit of Edward Avon... Tune Aim not two High, or Kings Tryal (Philip Brooksby, 1670-98). Douce 1(56b). Crime – murder, robbery/theft; Death – accident; Family – children/parents, siblings, kin; Religion – ghosts/spirits, sin/repentance; Violence – interpersonal; Economy – money; Emotions – anxiety, guilt, shame; Morality – general; Environment – flowers/trees; News – sensational; Places – English, travel/transport; Recreation – tobacco. The troubled ghost of a recently deceased man returns to Marlborough, where he asks his relatives to settle a monetary debt and also confesses to a murder that he committed several decades earlier.
A Godly Guide of Directions for true penitent Sinners in these troubled times… Tune is, Aim not too high (P. Brooksby, 1670-98). Roxburghe 2.189; EBBA 30660. Religion – Bible, Christ/God, heaven/hell, sin/repentance, charity, church, mortality; Death – general, godly end; Emotions – frustration, anxiety, hope; Morality – general, social/economic. A song that expresses extreme concern about the sinfulness of society and urges everyone to mend their ways, leave their sins and turn to God.
The Great Assize; Or, Christ’s certain and sudden appearance to Judgment... To the Tune of, Aim not too high (P. Brooksby, 1670-98). Roxburghe 1.132-33; EBBA 30082. Religion – Christ/God, heaven/hell, sin/repentance, angels/devils; Death – general; Family – children/parents, kin; Bodies – health/sickness; Environment – animals, flowers/trees; Recreation – general. A song that urges us not to love the things of this world, but instead to prepare for death, repent our sins and turn to God in the hope that we will end up in heaven rather than hell.
Great Brittains Arlarm to Drowsie Sinners in Destress... The Tune is, Aim not too high (P. Brooksby, 1670-98). Roxburghe 2.203-03; EBBA 30669. Religion – Christ/God, mortality, prayer, divine intervention; Death – general; Morality – general, social/economic, romantic/sexual, familial; Society – criticism, old/young, rich/poor, neighbours; Emotions – frustration, sorrow, hope; Family – children/parents; Environment – flowers/trees, animals; Recreation – alcohol; Economy – money. This presents a stern warning about sinfulness, and argues that we can only avoid further heavy judgements from God if we repent and reform.
The Troubles of these Times, OR, The Calamities of our English Nation... To the Tune of, A Lesson for all true Christians (P. Brooksby, 1670-98). Roxburghe 2.456; EBBA 30930. Religion – Christ/God, divine intervenetion, sin/repentance, prayer; Economy – hardship; Emotions – anxiety, guilt; Morality – general; Politics – foreign affairs; Society – criticism. A song that laments England’s current troubles – particularly warfare and economic hardship – and urges everyone to turn to God in true repentance.
The YOUTHS Guide... Tune of, A Lesson for all true Christians; Or, My bleeding heart (P. Brooksby, 1670-98). Crawford 1014; EBBA 33629. Death – illness, godly end, providential; Religion – sin/repentance, Christ/God, Catholic/Protestant, heaven/hell, Bible; Society – old/young; Employment – apprenticeship/service; Family – children/parents; Gender – sex; Morality – general; Places – English; Politics – plots; Recreation – alcohol. A young man on his deathbed exhorts us all, particularly those who are youthful, to heed the signs that God has recently sent, fly from sin and prepare for Judgement Day.
A Recollection of the Times. OR Englands Looking-Glass... The Tune of, Aim not too high (E. Oliver, c. 1672-85). Bodleian 4o Rawl. 566(69). Religion – Christ/God, divine intervention, heaven/hell, sin/repentance, church; Violence – divine; Environment – buildings; Bodies – health/sickness; Death – illness; Economy – trade, extortion; Emotions – frustration, sorrow; Family – children/parents; Morality – social/economic; Places – English. This points out that God has sent England numerous warnings in the form of fire and pestilence but there is little evidence that people are endeavouring to repent their sins and lead more moral lives.
A Letter for a Christian Family. Directed to all true Christians to Read... To the Tune of, The Godly Mans Instruction (registered 1675; J. C., W. T., and T. P., 1684-86). Pepys, 2.33v; EBBA 20657. Religion – moral rules, sin/repentance, Bible, Christ/God, church; Family – children/parents; Morality – general; Society – criticism, old and young, rich/poor; Recreation - fashions. Comprehensive moral and religious guidance for all sorts.
The Hartford-shires Murder. OR Bloody news from St. Albans… Tune of, Aim not too high; Or, Fortune my Foe (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1675-80) . Bod Wood E 25 (103). Crime – murder, robbery/theft; Death – unlawful killing; Violence – interpersonal; Bodies – injury; Employment – agrarian; Environment – landscape, animals; Economy – money, trade; Emotions – fear, horror; News – convicts/crimes; Places – English, travel/transport; Religion – Christ/God. A gang of robbers attack two honest farmers, one of whom dies, and the criminals remain at large, despite the fact that the surviving farmer managed to raise the alarm.
A Discription of Plain-dealing, Time, and Death, Which all Men ought to mind whilst they do live on earth... To the Tune of, A Letter for a Christian Family (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1675-80). Crawford 564; EBBA 32998. Death – general; Emotions – sorrow; Employment – professions; Society – criticism; History – nostalgia, medieval; Morality – general; Gender – sex; Recreation – alcohol. This presents speeches by Plain-Dealing, Conscience and Time, each of whom complains that people nowadays pay them no attention, and it concludes with a stern address from Death who warns that all of us ‘to the Grave must go’.
A godly song for all penitent sinners In these Sinful Times... To the Tune of, A Lesson for all True Chrisians (F. Coles, T. Vere. J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1675-80). Pepys 2.50; EBBA 20674. Religion – sin/repentance, Christ/God, mortality, church, Catholic/Protestant, prayer, charity, faith, heaven/hell; Society – criticism; Death – general, accident; Emotions – frustration; Family – children/parents; Morality – social/economic, general. This argues that England has never been better served by preachers, yet the sins of society continue unabated and repentance is urgently required.
God’s great and wonderful work in Somerset-shire, the charitable Farmer miraculously Rewarded... The tune is aim not too High (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and John Clarke, 1676). Wood 276b(101). Environment – crops, wonders; Religion – charity, divine intervention, Bible, heroism, Christ/God; News – sensational; Economy – prices/wages, hardship/prosperity, rural/urban; Society – rich/poor, rural life;Employment – agrarian; Emotions – wonder; Places – English; Bodies – nourishment; Family – children/parents; Morality – general. A song about a generous farmer who sells his wheat below market price in order to help the suffering poor, despite the scorn of other wealthy men, and God rewards him with a bumper crop.
The Young Mans Counsellor... Tune of, Aim not to high (Richard Hardy, 1676-85). Roxburgh 4.47; EBBA 31330. Society – friendship, neighbours; Gender – courtship, marriage; Econony – prices/wages, extortion, money, trade; Employment – agrarian, apprenticeship/service; Family – children/parents; Recreation – alcohol, games/sports; Religion – Christ/God; Morality – general. This offers extensive advice on moral living to young men who are just setting out in the world.
A Looking-Glass for Traytors, OR, High Treason Rewarded… Tune of, Aim not too high, Or, Fortune my Foe (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1678-80). Bodleian Library, Wood E25 (33). Crime – treason; Politics – plots, Royalist, domestic, treason; Religion – Catholic/Protestant, Christ/God, sin/repentance; Death – execution; Violence – punitive, political; Royalty – praise; Places – English; Emotions – anger, relief. A ballad about the trial and execution of Edward Coleman, convicted of high treason following his alleged involvement in the Popish Plot.
A Looking-glass for all true Protestants... To the Tune of, Papists aim not too High (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1679). Pepys 2.68; EBBA 20692. Politics – plots, controversy, domestic, Royalist, treason; Religion – Catholic/Protestant, Bible; Royalty – general; Emotions – anger, fear, patriotism; Crime – treason. This offers thanks to God for deliverance from the Popish Plot and calls on all Protestants to be vigilant and repentant.
A Ballad of the Strange and Wonderful Storm of Hail, Which fell in LONDON on the 18th. of May 1680... To the Tune of, Aim not too High (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, c. 1680). Pepys 2.137; EBBA 20757. Environment – weather, wonders, birds, flowers/trees; Religion – divine intervention, sin/repentance, Christ/God, Bodies – injury; Violence – divine; Emotions – horror, wonder; Family – children/parents; News – domestic, sensational; Places – English. This interprets an incredibly violent hail storm as a warning from God of the need to repent urgently and prepare for death.
A Caveat for Young-men... Tune, Aim not too high (M. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, J. Clark, W. Thackery, and T. Passenger, 1680-81). Pepys 2.36; EBBA 20660. Death – general; Gender – masculinity; Religion – mortality, Christ/God, sin/repentance; Society – old/young, rich/poor. A warning to everyone – young men in particular – that death can strike without warning at any stage of life, and it is therefore essential to make spiritual preparation through repentance.
THE Dying Christians friendly Advice... To the Tune of , Aim not too high (C. Dennisson, 1680-95). Pepys 2.43; EBBA 20667. Religion – Christ/God, sin/repentance, heaven/hell; Death – general; Crime – murder, immorality; Morality – general; Recreation – alcohol; Gender – sex; Society - friendship. A ballad that urges us to turn from sin and place our whole trust in Jesus, knowing that he will prove a friend to those whose prayers are sincere.
ENGLANDS Miseries Crown’d with Mercy... To the Tune of Aim not too High (J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, c.1681). Pepys 2.225; EBBA 20837. Crime – treason, punishment; Politics – plots, treason, domestic, Royalist; Royalty – prasie; Violence – political; Emotions – horror, relief, patriotism; Religion – Christ/God, divine intervention; Family – siblings; Places – English, travel/transport; Death – execution. This expresses relief that God has intervened by preventing ‘the late horrid Plot’ against Charles II and his brother from achieving its terrible objective.
Witchcraft discovered and punished... To the Tune of, Doctor Faustus: or, Fortune my Foe (no imprint, 1682). Roxburghe 2.531; EBBA 31034. Religion – conjuration/witchcrafts; angels/devils, Christ/God, divine intervention; Crime – witchcraft; Death – unlawful killing, execution; Violence – diabolical, punitive; Gender – femininity; Emotions – horror, relief; Bodies – physique/looks; Family – children/parents; Environment – animals; News – convicts/crimes; Places - English An account of three condemned witches who have, for many years, been causing death and destruction in Devon.
THE Bloody-minded Husband; OR, The Cruelty of John Chambers... Tune is, Aim not too high (J. Deacon, 1684). Pepys 2.169; EBBA 20786. Crime – murder, punishment, prison; Death – unlawful killing, execution; Violence – interpersonal, domestic; Gender – masculinity, adultery/cuckoldry; Morality – familial; Religion – sin/repentanceEmployment – apprenticeship/service; Bodies – injury; Places – English. This tells the story of a vicious and lascivious husband who commissioned the murder of his wife because he preferred his harlot.
CRIMINALS CRUELTY... Tune is Aim not too high (J. Deacon, 1684). Pepys 2.153; EBBA 20771. Crime – murder, prsion, punishment; Death – unlawful killing, execution; Bodies – injury; Violence – interpersonal; Emotions – horror; Gender – masculinity, femininity; Morality – general; Environment – buildings; News – convicts/crimes; Places – English; Religion – divine intervention, sin/repentance. This describes the crimes of John Wise who robbed and murdered a widow who lived alone in a cellar but is now brought to justice following the dying confession of one of his accomplices.
The Bloody VINTNER: OR, Cruelty Rewarded with Justice...To the Tune of, Aim not too high (no imprint, 1684). Bodleian Library, Douce Ballads 1(23bv). Crime – murder, punishment; Death – unlawful killing, execution; Violence – interpersonal; Gender – marriage, masculinity; Emotions – horror; Employment – apprenticeship/service, crafts/trades; Bodies – injury; Morality – romantic/sexual, general; Religion – sin/repentance, Christ/God; News – convicts/crimes; Places – English. We are all warned to fear God by the example of a vintner who brutally murdered his young wife and who now faces execution.
Sad news from Salisbury... To the Tune of, Aim not too High (P. Brooksby, c.1685) . Euing 159; EBBA 31877. Environment – weather, landscape; Death – tragedy, accident; Religion – divine intervention, sin/repentance; Employment – crafts/trades, apprenticeship/service; Family – children/parents; Bodies – injury; Disability – physical; Emotions – horror; Morality – general; News – domestic; Places – English. Freezing conditions have killed numerous people in the west country, and this ballad interprets the extreme weather as a warning to us all of the need to reform our sinful lives.
DISNY’S Last Farewell... To the Tune of, Fortune my Foe (J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger, 1685). Pepys 2.154; EBBA 20772. Crime – treason, punishment; Death – execution; Politics – plots, treason, Royalism, obedience, domestic; Family – children/parents. William Disney expresses his remorse for having supported the Monmouth rebellion and prepares to face execution.
THE Young-Mans Repentance, OR, The sorrowful Sinners Lamentation... Tune is, Aim not too high (J. Back, 1685-88). Pepys 2.37; EBBA 20661. Religion - sin/repentance, church, Christ/God, saints, faith, heaven/hell, prayer; Death – illness; Gender – sex; Society - old/young; Emotions – sorrow; Morality – general. A man who has lived an immoral life now faces death in a mood of profound regret, and he is keen to warn others about the folly of his ways.
The Downfal of Pride... To the Tune of Aim not too High (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96). Pepys 2.59; EBBA 20683. Family – children/parents, siblings, kin, inheritance; Gender – femininity; Morality – familial; Economy – hardship/prosperity, money; Emotions – disdain, love; Bodies – adornment; Crime – prison; Employment – professions; Society - education. A wealthy couple dote on their oldest daughter while treating the younger one like a servant, but in the end she rescues her mother and sister with exemplary kindness when her father dies and the family falls on hard times.
GUN-POWDER Plot... To the Tune of Aim not too high (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, J. Back, 1688-96). Pepys 2.370; EBBA 20990. Politics – plots, parliament, treason; Religion – Catholic/Protestant, divine intervention; Crime – treason; Violence – political; Emotions – horror, relief, patriotism; History – recent, villainy; Royalty – praise. This recounts the story of Catesby and his fellow ‘Roman’ plotters, who attempted to blow up king and parliament during the reign of James I.
The Bedfordshire Prophesie... To the Tune of Bernard’s Vision, or, Aim not too high (no publisher named, 1690) . Pepys 2.69; EBBA 20693. Death – godly end, illness, providential; Politics – domestic, foreign affairs, Royalist; Religion – Christ/God, prophecy, sin/repentance, divine intervention; Royalty – praise; Family – general; News – sensational; Bodies – health/sickness; Places – English. A godly man dies for twelve hours but is then restored to life for seven days so that he can urge repentance and reassure the English that King William will prove victorious in Ireland.
Englands Tribute of Tears, On the Death of his Grace the DUKE of GRAFTON... Tune is, The Watch for a Wise Man’s Observation: Or, Aim not too high (J. Millet, c.1690). Pepys 2.365; EBBA 20984. Politics – foreign affairs, Royalist, obedience, celebration; Death – warfare; Violence – between states; Emotions – sorrow, pride, patriotism; Employment – sailors/soldiers; Gender – masculinity; Royalty – praise; Bodies – injury; Religion – Catholic/Protestant, heaven/hell, heroism; News – international, political; Places – Irish. This brings the sad news of the death in battle of the Duke of Grafton, and it recounts his great deeds in the war in Ireland.
The Bloody Murtherer: OR, The Sorrowful Lamentation of James Selbee... To the Tune of, Aim not to High (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1691). Pepys 2.200; EBBA 20814. Crime – murder, punishment; Death – unlawful killing, execution; Emotions – sorrow; Gender – adultery/cuckoldry, sex, marriage; Employment – alehouses/inns, prostitution; Recreation – alcohol, hospitality; Religion – Christ/God, sin/repentance, prayer; Morality – romantic/sexual, general; Places – English. The repentant last words of a debauched man who murdered the landlady-prostitute with whom he had just had drunken sex.
The Distressed gentlewoman; Or, Satan’s Implacable Malice... The Tune is, Aim not too High (Imprint damaged: P. Brooksby, J. D and [?], c.1691). Pepys 2.74; EBBA 20698. Religion – church, Bible, angels/devils, clergy, Christ/God, prayer; Bodies – health/sickness; Employment – professions; Emotions – anxiety, hope; Gender – femininity; News – domestic; Places – English. This describes the on-going ordeal of a godly young woman who is currently possessed by a devil and prone to blasphemous outbursts that upset all witnesses.
A Looking-Glass for a Christian Family... The Tune is, Aim not too High (no imprint, later seventeenth century). Roxburghe 2.283; EBBA 30740. Religion – moral rules, sin/repentance, heaven/hell, divine intervention; Morality – general; Family – children/parents; Society – criticism. A call to repentance, emphasising the sinful state of the English nation.
Postscript
An intriguing additional ballad that may well have been sung to the tune is Martin Parker’s The honest plaine dealing Porter: Who once was a rich man, but now tis his lot, To proue that need will make the old wife trot (c. 1630). The melody is here named ‘the Maids A.B.C.’ and our best guess is that this derives from an early and now lost edition of The Virgins ABC (listed above). If so, then it seems likely that Parker took the unusual step of deploying the melody for satirical effect. The mood of misery that was carried by ‘Fortune’ adds dark humour to a text in which a lowly London porter explains that, despite having fallen from wealth into poverty, he is entirely happy with his lot. Parker, a prolific ballad-writer, hardly ever wrote songs to the tune of ‘Fortune my foe’, and this therefore looks like a bubble-pricking comic intervention.
The melody was also nominated occasionally for the singing of white-letter ballads such as A Miraculous Cure for Witchcraft Or Strange News from the Blew-Boar in Holdborn (1670) and A New Scotch Ballad: Call’d Bothwel-Bridge (1679). It also provided the music for several songs that appeared in printed books. See, for example: ‘The most cruell murther of Edward the fifth’ in Richard Johnsons Golden Garland (1620); ‘On the death of King JOHN who was poisoned by a Monk’ in the 1674 edition of Thomas Deloney’s Royal Garland of Love and Delight; and ‘A song against Fortune and those that have or doe defend the same’ in John Rhodes’ The Countrie Mans Comfort. Or Religious Recreations fitte for all well disposed persons (edition of 1637).
The last of these is the most interesting in that it confronts directly the reliance on fortune that is expressed in the original, romantic song. Rhodes, a clergyman, urges singers and listeners to trust in God instead. The trajectory of the melody during the seventeenth century, from romance towards religion and morality, would therefore have pleased him.
Another churchman, William Slatyer, set two metrical psalms to ‘Fortune’, noting that it was one of ‘the most noted and common, but solemne tunes, every where in this Land familiarly used and knowne’. And Richard Corbet, yet another man of the cloth, recommended that one of his poems was ‘to be sung or whistled, to the tune of the Medow Brow by the learned, by the unlearned to the tune of Fortune’, though his humorous intent is suggested by the fact that the lyrics do not fit our tune at all comfortably (Certain elegant poems, 1647). Ross Duffin has also shown that playwrights of the period sometimes composed songs for the stage that were probably intended for the melody.
Not surprisingly, references to this tune are also found in many other forms of literature. In Richard Brome’s The Antipodes (1638), a character called Joyless demonstrates his joylessness by merely whistling the melody. In 1682, a character quoted by Alexander Oldys notes the shame experienced by miscreants when they were ‘sung about the Streets in a Ballad to the tune of Fortune my Foe’ (The Fair Extravagant). And Aphra Behn’s play, The Roundheads (1682), includes a scene in which a group of Royalists humiliate two former parliamentarians to the tune of Fortune, forcing one of them to dance (this is surely a black joke, for ‘Fortune’ was never a dance melody).
And the tune’s romantic associations seem to be in play when a character in D’Avenant’s Love and honour (1649) commends the woman he loves for her skill on the virginals, adding ‘I’d wish no more of heven/ Than once to hear her play Fortune my foe/ Or John come kisse me now’. Interestingly, the same pair of tunes was mentioned more disparagingly by the composer Matthew Locke, who scorned another musician’s new-fangled scheme for tuning the viol because it restricted players to ‘such lean stuff as Fortune my Foe, or John come kiss me now’. To Locke’s refined ears, this exceptionally successful melody clearly had its limitations.
Christopher Marsh
References
William Ballet’s lute book, Trinity College Dublin, MS 408, pp. 14 and 111.
William Barley’s New Booke of Tabliture (1596).
Aphra Behn, The Roundheads (1682), p. 56.
Alexander Brome, Rump, or, An exact collection of the choicest poems and songs (1662), p. 56.
Richard Brome, The Antipodes (1638), G1r.
Richard Corbet, Certain elegant poems (1647), p. 47.
William Corkine, Ayres, to Sing and Play (1610), F2v.
Robert Creighton, virginal book, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS Conservatoire Rés. 1186, fo. 24.
William D’Avenant, Love and honour (1649), p. 7.
Thomas Deloney, The Royal Garland of Love and Delight (1674), A5r-6r.
Ross W. Duffin, Some other note. The lost songs of English Renaissance comedy (Oxford, 2018), pp. 200-01, 395 and 536.
The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, ed. J. A. Fuller Maitland and W. Barclay Squire, 2 vols (Leipzig, 1894-99), vol. 1, p. 254.
Richard Johnson, The Golden Garland (1620), E3r-5r.
Matthew Locke, Observations upon a late book, entituled, An essay to the advancement of musick &c, written by Thomas Salmon (1672), p. 33.
Clement Matchett’s virginal book, ed. Thurston Dart (1957), p. 11.
Christopher Marsh, Music and Society in Early Modern England (2010), p. 238.
Alexander Oldys, The Fair Extravagant, or, the Humorous Bride (1682), p. 82.
Oliver Pygge, Meditations Concerning Praiers to Almighty God (1589), E2r.
John Rhodes, The Countrie Mans Comfort. Or Religious Recreations fitte for all well disposed persons (edition of 1637), B8v-C1r.
Claude M. Simpson, The British Broadside Ballads and its Music (New Brunswick, 1966), pp. 225-31.
William Slatyer, Psalmes, or songs of Sion turned into the language, and set to the tunes of a strange land (1631), table at back.
Back to contentsStandard woodcut name: Square-shouldered woman
The purpose of this section is to provide evidence relating to the career of the image under discussion, paying particular attention to the ‘reflections’ (inter-song associations and connections) that may have been set up if it was chosen to illustrate more than one ballad. The list given below includes all ballads from the Pepys and Roxburghe collections that feature this woodcut or a close variant (these are the two largest collections, including approximately 3300 sheets, in total). References to ballads from other collections occur only when the featured edition of the song under consideration here (or the featured edition of another song from our list) comes from such a source. Ballads from our chart of best-sellers are presented in bold type, and they also appear in colour where there is a link to another song in the database. Please note, however, that the editions of hit songs listed below are not necessarily those for which digital images are presented on this website. Cross-references to other examples of our featured woodcuts are also presented in bold. It is extremely difficult to date many ballads precisely and the chronological order in which the songs are listed is therefore very approximate (we have drawn on previous attempts to date the ballads, making adjustments when additional evidence can be brought into play).
Reflections (an overview)
This small figure of a woman features on most late seventeenth-century copies and editions of this song. More than one copy of the woodblock existed, suggesting that printers saw the value in having a copy in stock. She is not, however, found on any other ballad in the two largest collections. This is curious, for there is nothing in the very basic illustration to tie it exclusively to a single song. It seems, however, that she was associated above all with A sweet Sonnet, and that her simple solidity somehow qualified her particularly well to deliver ‘The Ladies comfortable and pleasant Answer’ (she does indeed look calm in comparison to the somewhat agitated man who stands beside her).
Songs and summaries:
A sweet Sonnet, wherein the Lover exclaimeth against Fortune for the loss of his Ladies favour [issued with A New Ballad, intituled, The Stout Cripple of Cornwal] (J. Wright, J. Clark, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, 1682-84). Pepys 1.512-13; ESTC R234209; EBBA 20243. Emotions – despair, joy, love; Gender – courtship, masculinity, femininity. A man sings in sorrow because he thinks his sweetheart has abandoned him, but she responds with a message of reassurance (picture placement: she stands over the second column of text, in which the woman delivers her response).
Christopher Marsh
Back to contentsThis section presents a short chronological list of published texts from before 1700 that share material with A sweet Sonnet, and that may therefore be related to it in some way. There is considerable mystery surrounding the origins of this song and it currently seems impossible to decide which of two alternative scenarios is the more convincing. The fact that all surviving copies of our ballad date from the seventeenth century only adds to the confusion.
In the first scenario, the ballad was registered in 1567 as a song ‘of one complaynyng of the mutabilite [sic] of fortune’ (see Editions). It quickly became well known and Henry Chillester, publishing a collection of poems and songs in 1581, nodded towards it when he wrote the lines, ‘In vaine I worke, in vaine I waste my witt,/ In vaine I prove to purchase ease with paine’ (in A sweet Sonnet, we have ‘In vain I sigh, in vain I wail and weep,/ In vain mine eyes refrain from quite sleep’). Then, at some point in the late 1580s, Sir Walter Ralegh and Elizabeth I modelled a poetic exchange very closely on the well-known ballad. In Ralegh’s contribution, he laments the fact that ‘Fortune hath taken away my love’, while Elizabeth reassures him and urges him to ‘put away thy fears’. The context for this is probably provided by the beginnings of Ralegh’s fall from royal favour as the Earl of Essex rose to prominence from 1587 onwards. Both poems reference the ballad continuously, and two of Ralegh’s lines run, ‘In vain, my eyes, in vain ye waste your tears;/ In vaine my sights, the smoke of my despairs’.
These courtly poems circulated in manuscript and were very soon approvingly quoted and discussed in Puttenham’s famous work, The arte of poesie (c. 1589). For instance, Puttenham picked out the lines in which Ralegh used the expression, ‘In vain’, as an excellent example of poetic repetition. This scenario is plausible, though the 1567 reference to the registration of the ballad is a little vague, and one wonders whether Puttenham would have been happy to praise courtly verses that were based so squarely on a common ballad.
In the second scenario, the ballad actually originated in the poetic exchange between Ralegh and Elizabeth. Not surprisingly, they used the ten-syllable lines that were such a frequent feature of courtly Elizabethan verse. Their poems then began to circulate in manuscript and were somehow picked up not only by Puttenham but also by an anonymous ballad-maker, who saw the opportunity to manufacture a hit. The courtly verses were therefore expanded, set to a new tune and published. The broadside probably appeared some time before February 1589, when the first reference to another ballad that used the same melody was recorded in the Stationers’ Register (‘A ballad of the life and deathe of Doctor Faustus’ was probably an early edition of another hit song, The Judgement of God shewed upon one John Faustus). On 15 April 1590, the Stationers registered ‘a ballad wherein two lovers exclayme against fortune for the losse of their ladyes with the ladies comfortable answere’. This may well be a previously unnoticed reference to A sweet Sonnet. Admittedly, the summary of the song is garbled but the vocabulary used is very similar to the title found on our hit ballad (because of the uncertainty, we have not counted this as a definite edition of the song)..
If the ballad noted in 1590 was indeed the song we seek, then another entry in the Stationers’ Register may represent a reaction to its success: on 13 June, the publisher, William Wright, entered a ballad entitled, ‘Fortune hath taken thee away my love, being the true dittie thereof’. The similarity to the opening line in Ralegh’s poem is striking, and this therefore looks like an attempt to put out a version of the courtly verse that claimed to be more authentic than A sweet Sonnet. The success of our hit ballad in 1589-91 would also help to account for a sudden rush of other songs that used its tune (see Featured tune history). And the intertwining of the courtly verse and the broadside ballad would also help to explain why Robert Naunton, writing in 1641, reported that Ralegh’s fall from royal favour in the late 1580s or early 1590s had ‘made him shortly after sing Fortune my foe, &c.’
If this alternative scenario is to be preferred, however, then we must explain the affinity between the royal verses and Chillester’s earlier poem. Similarly problematic is the almost complete absence of broader literary commentary noting a connection between the ballad and the courtly poems. Indeed, Naunton seems to be the only author to hint at such a connection, and his remark could be explained as a coincidence generated by the currency of the phrase ‘sing Fortune my foe’ (an expression of despair). So, the mystery remains.
Christopher Marsh
Texts (in chronological order)
Henry Chillester, Youthes witte (1581), song in which ‘A Lover, whose ladie saide he was an unfortunate flatterer, wryteth these verses for answere thereunto’, pp. 144-46.
Walter Ralegh, ‘Fortune hath taken away my love’, and Elizabeth I, ‘Ah, silly Pug, wert thou so sore afraid?’, c. 1587-89, in Elizabeth I. Collected works, ed. Leah S. Marcus, Janet Mueller and Mary Beth Rose (Chicago, 2000), pp. 307-09.
George Puttenham, The arte of English poesie (c. 1589), ed. Gladys Doidge Willcock and Alice Walker (Cambridge, 1936), pp. 198, 212 and 236.
References
Joshua Eckhardt, Manuscript verse collectors and the politics of anti-courtly love poetry (Oxford, 2009), pp. 37-39.
Leah S. Marcus, ‘Editing Queen Elizabeth I’ in Sarah C. E. Ross and Paul Salzman (eds.), Editing early modern women (Cambridge, 2016), pp. 139-55.
Robert Naunton, Fragmenta regalia (1641), p. 31.
Hyder E. Rollins, An analytical index to the ballad-entries (1557-1709) in the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London (1924; Hatboro, Pennsylvania, 1967), nos. 910, 1449, 1499, 1826, 2018 and 2936.
A sweet Sonnet, wherein the Lover exclaimeth against/ Fortune for the loss of his Ladies favour, almost past hope to get again, and in the end/ receives a comfortable answer, and attains his desire, as may here appear.
To the Tune of Fortune my Foe.
[Play each verse by clicking anywhere within its text]
The Lovers complaint for the loss/ of his Love.
And will thy favour never better be? Wilt thou I say, for ever breed my pain, And wilt thou not restore my joys again?
Fortune hath falsly stoln my love away; My love and joy, whose sight did make me glad Such great misfortunes never young man had.
Fortune had never griev’d me half so sore, But takeing her whereon my heart did stay, Fortune thereby hath took my life away;
With bitter thoughts still tossed to and fro, O cruel chance, thou breeder of my pain, Take life, or else restore my love againe.
In vain mine eyes refrain from quiet sleep, In vain I shed my tears both night and day, In vain my love my sorrows do bewray.
Nor feels my love what griping grief I cry; Full well I may false fortunes deeds reprove, Fortune that so unkindly keeps my love.
When fortune fleets and wavers like the wind, Sometimes aloft, sometimes again below, Thus tottering fortune tottereth too and fro.
My dearest love in most unconstant bands, And onely serve the sorrows dew to me, Sorrows hereafter, thou shalt my Mistris be,
Fortune that rules on earth & earthly things, So that alone I live not in this woe, For many more hath fortune served so.
With wisdom, skill, or mighty strength of hand, In midst of mirth she bringeth bitter Moan, And woe to me that hath her hatred known.
Then had my love, my love for ever been; Then love farewel, though fortune favour thee, No fortune frail shall ever conquer me,
The Ladies comfortable and pleasant/ Answer.
Mourn not my dear nor be not so dismaid Fortune cannot withall her power and skill, Enforce my heart to think the any ill,
No cause thou hast to curse, but to rejoyce, Fortune shall not thy joy and love deprive, If by my love it may remain alive.
Thy life and love shall not be lost by me, And while thy heart upon thy life do stay, Fortune shall never steal the same away.
All careful thoughts see thou from thee expel; As thou doth wish, thy love agrees to be, For proof whereof I come my self to thee.
In vain therefore break not thy quiet sleep, Wast not in vain thy time in sorrow so, For why thy love delights to ease thy woe.
And soon thy love will send to sucker thee: Tho well thou may’st false fortunes deeds reprove, Yet cannot fortune keep away thy love.
Whose fickle wheel doth often slip aside, And never think that fortune beareth sway If virtue watch, and will not her obey.
Torment me not, but take away thy fears; Thy Mistris mind brooks no unconstant bands Much less to live in rueing fortunes hands.
Losing thereby their travel and their toyl; Though fortune be to me a cruel foe, Fortune shall not make me to serve thee so.
For thou thereby shall neither loose nor win, If faithful love and favour I do find, My recompence shall not remain behind.
Be thou not slain, where never blood was ment Revive again, to faint thou hast no need, The less afraid, the better thou shalt speed.
A New Ballad, intituled, The Stout Cripple of Cornwal,/ wherein is shewed his Dissolute Life, and deserved death.
The Tune is, The Blind Begger.
[This song appears on the website in its own right and a recording can therefore be found elsewhere].
OF a stout Cripple that kept the high=way,
And beg’d for his living all time of the day.
A story i’le tell you that pleasant shall be
The Cripple of Cornwall sir - named was he.
He crept on his hands, and knees up and down,
In a torn Jacket, and a ragged torn Gown,
For he had never a leg to the knee,
The Cripple of Cornwal sir - named was he.
He was of stomack couragious and stout,
For he had no cause to complain of the Gout,
To go upon stilts most cunning was he,
With a staff on his neck most gallant to see.
Yea no good fellowship would he forsake,
Were it in secret a purse for to take,
His help was as good as any might be,
The Cripple of Cornwal sir - named was he.
When he upon any service did go,
The crafty young Cripple provided it so:
His stool he kept close in an old hollow tree,
That stood from the City a mile 2 or three.
Thus all the day long he beg’d for relief,
And all the night long he plaid the false thief,
And seven years together this custom kept he,
And no man knew him such a person to be.
There were few Grasiers that went on the way,
But unto the Cripple for passage did pay,
And every brave Merchant that he did discry,
He emtied their purses e’re they passed by.
The noble Lord Courteney both gallant & bold,
Rode forth with great plenty of silver and gold;
At Exeter there a purchase to pay,
But that the false Cripple his journey did stay:
For why the false Cripple heard tydings of late,
As he sat for alms at the Noblemans gate,
This is (quoth the Cripple) a booty for me,
And i’le follow closely, as closely may be.
Then to his companions the matter he moved,
which their false actions before time had proved
they make themselves ready & deeply they swear
The Monies their own before they come there.
Upon his two stilts the Cripple did mount,
To have the best share it was his full account=
All cloathed in Canvas down to the ground,
He took up his place his mates with him round.
Then came the Lord C. wi'h half a score men,
Yet little suspecting these thieves in their Den.
And they perceiving them come to their hand,
In a dark evening bid them to stand,
Deliver thy purse qd. the Cripple with speed,
For we be good fellows & thereof have need
Not so qd. L. Courtney, but this i’le tell ye,
Win it and wear it, else get none of me.
With that the L. Courtney stood in his defence
And so did his servants, but e’r they went hence:
Two of the true=men were slain in the fight,
And four of the thieves were put to the flight.
And while for their safeguard they run thus away
The jolly bold cripple did hold them in play,
And with his Pike=staff he wounded them so,
As they were unable to run or to go.
With fighting the Lord Courtney was out of breath,
and most of his servants were wounded to death,
Then came other Horse=men riding so fast,
The Cripple was forced to fly at the last.
And over a River that ran there beside,
Which was very deep and eighteen foot wide,
With his long staff and stilts leaped he,
And shifted himself in an old hollow tree,
Then throughout the city was hue and cry made
To have these thieves apprehended and staid.
The Cripple he creeps on his hands & his knees,
And in the high=way great passing he sees,
And as they came riding, he begging doth say,
O give me one penny good masters I pray.
And thus unto Exeter creeps he along,
No man suspecting he had done wrong:
Anon the Lord Courtney he spies in the street,
He comes unto him and kisses his feet;
Saying, God save your honour, & keep you from ill
And from the hands of your enemy still.
Amen qd. L. Courtney & therewith threw down
Unto the poor Cripple an English Crown.
Away went the Cripple and thus he did think,
Five hundred pound more wil make me to drink
In vain that hue and cry it was made.
They found none of them tho the countrey was laid
But this griev’d the cripple night & day,
That he so unluckily mist of his prey,
Nine hundred pound the Cripple had got,
By begging and thieving so good was his lot;
A thousand pound he would make it up he said,
And then he would give over his trade.
But as he strived his mind to full=fill,
In following his actions so lewd and so ill:
At last he was taken the law to suffice,
Condemned and hanged at Exeter Size,
Which made all men amazed to see,
That such an impudent Cripple as he,
Should venture himself to such actions as they
To rob in such sort upo nthe high=way.
Printed for J. Wright, J. Clark, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger.
This ballad is included according to the criteria for List A (see Methodology). The evidence presented here is accurate, to the best of our knowledge, as of 1st January 2024.
Shirburn ballads: no reference.
Appearances on Ballad Partners' lists: Pavier and partners, 1624 (as 'Fortune my foe', from first line); Coles, Vere, Wright and Clarke,1675.
Other registrations with Stationers' Company: 1565; and 1604.
No. of known editions c.1560-1711: 9
No. of extant copies: 5
New tune-titles generated: 'Fortune [my foe]' (24 ballads).
Specially-commissioned woodcuts: none known.
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library databases: 5 references, with no record of later collection as a folk-song (Roud no. V24484 ).
POINTS: 0 + 20 + 10 + 18 + 5 + 30 + 0 + 0 = 83
This box will be used to highlight any new information on this song that might come to light after the launch of the website.
Back to contents