There is only one surviving copy of this song and it does not appear to have been regularly re-issued. A New little Northren Song earns its place in the chart primarily because it generated a new and lasting title for an existing melody (see Featured tune history). It must, therefore, have made quite a splash in the early 1630s, and William Chappell, writing two hundred years later, was clearly missing something when he described the song as 'very long, full of typographical errors, and devoid of merit' (one suspects that he found it morally offensive).
The tune is indeed the most distinctive and appealing feature of the song but this tale of a young woman’s tortured and deceit-ridden pathway to marital happiness is also entertaining it its own right. Notable elements include: the cynicism and cunning that are portrayed as an essential feature of courtship for both sexes, rendering the final lines of certain verses deeply ironic (‘as mayds are lov’d of men’ and ‘as women doe love men’, for example); the repetitive use of ‘under and over’ to suggest sex and the vicissitudes of fortune at one and the same time; the role of the woman’s all-knowing mother in helping her to evade the shame of an illegitimate birth; London’s reputation as a city so large that it allows the young woman anonymity and a chance to start again (on this aspect, see Fenner); and the fact that her unwitting husband works as a tailor, an occupation whose members were associated in ballad-world with cowardice, sexual inadequacy and vulnerability to the tricks of others, young women in particular (see, for example, Couragious Betty of Chick-Lane and Poor Tom the Taylor His Lamentation). In most of these areas, the ballad-makers tapped into existing conventions while raising their song above the conventional through the use of a rollicking good tune.
Christopher Marsh
References
Anon, Couragious Betty of Chick-Lane (c. 1690).
Anon, Poor Tom the Taylor His Lamentation (1684).
Broadside ballads from the Bodleian Library: http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
William Chappell, Popular music of the olden time, 2 vols. (1855-56), vol. 1, p. 189.
David Cressy, Birth, marriage and death. Ritual, religion and the life-cycle in Tudor and Stuart England (Oxford, 1997), chs. 10 and 11.
English Broadside Ballad Archive: https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/
English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC).
William Fenner, Cornu-copiae, Pasquils night-cap (1612), p. 32.
Diane O’Hara, Courtship and constraint. Rethinking the making of marriage in Tudor England (Manchester, 2000).
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), no. 1876
‘To a pretty new Northern tune’ (standard name: Under and over)
The purpose of this section is to provide brief notes on the melody followed by detailed evidence relating to its ballad 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
This ear-catching tune was not often written down but notation can be found in the following sources: Robert Creighton’s virginal book (c. 1635-38); the manuscript songbook known by its reference number, Drexel 5612 (seventeenth century); and Playford’s Dancing Master (from the second edition of 1652 onwards). I have yet to see the Creighton version, but the other two are very similar, varying only in minor details, often in the approaches to the cadence points. Our recording draws primarily on the Drexel example.
The melody was known variously as ‘Under and over’, ‘Over and under’ (both names derived from the ballad under discussion here), ‘Rock the cradle sweet John’ and ‘There was a ewe had three lambs’.
Echoes (an overview)
‘Under and over’ seems to have been popular mainly during the 1630s, following its nomination on A New little Northren Song at the start of the decade. Most of the black-letter ballads that are listed below focus on courtship, sex and marriage, treating these themes in a knockabout and humorous manner. Women trick men (A New little Northren Song) and men trick women (A good throw for three Maiden-heads). Most of the children born are the products of adultery (Rocke the Cradle John and Rocke the Babie Joane). Males and females vie for superiority, and the tune is named ‘Over and Under’ on Rocke the Cradle John but ‘Under and Over’ on Rocke the Babie Joane.
It was also nominated on ballads about other topics, but most of these were humorous (The Times abuses) and some of them retained gender relations as one of an assortment of themes (Choice of Inventions). In fact, Choice of Inventions devotes one verse to a recycled and abbreviated version of the story told in A good throw for three Maiden-heads (‘device’ is rhymed with ‘dice’ in both ballads, and they are also connected by an interest in the number three).
In other ballads, too, there are verbal affinities that reinforce the connections carried primarily by the tune. In Rocke the Cradle John, the line ‘I love thee as my life’ recalls ‘And love her as his life’, sung to the same melodic line in A New little Northren Song. In the same two songs, the lines ‘her belly was so round’ and ‘her belly wondrous round’ are also deployed, again to the same section of the tune. We might also compare the lines ‘This fault she could not smother’ and ‘The truth he could not smother’ in A New little Northren Song and Rocke the Babie Joane respectively. And the refrains in Rocke the Cradle John and Rocke the Babie Joane are clearly designed to stimulate comparison:
‘Rocke the Cradle, rocke the Cradle,/ rocke the Cradle John,/ Theres many a man rockes the Cradle,/ when the Childs none of his owne’ [Rocke the Cradle John].
‘Suckle the Baby,/ huggle the Baby,/ Rocke the Baby Jone./ I scorne to suckle the Baby,/ Unlesse it were mine owne’ [Rocke the Babie Joane].
[See 'Postscript', below, for additional notes on this melody].
Songs and Summaries
A New little Northren Song called, Under and over, over and under... To a pretty new Northern tune (H. G., 1631-38). Pepys 1.264-65; EBBA 20122. Gender – courtship, masculinity, femininity, sex; Humour – bawdry, deceit/disguise; Family – children/parents, pregnancy/childbirth; Emotions – longing, anger, joy; Morality – romantic/sexual; Environment – flowers/trees, animals; Society – old/young, rural life, urban life. A maiden has sex with an insistent man who then departs, leaving her pregnant, but after her baby is born she leaves it behind (apparently) and travels to London, where she manages to trick an innocent tailor into marrying her.
Rocke the Cradle John... It goes to the tune of, Over and under (E. B., c. 1631-38). Roxburghe 3.176-77; EBBA 30474. Gender – courtship, marriage; Humour – mockery, extreme situations/surprises, bawdry; Family – pregnancy/childbirth, children/parents; Bodies – looks/physique; Emotions – longing; Recreation – music; Employment – female. A country gallant comes to London and woos a maiden with great devotion, so she grasps the opportunity to marry him and then manages to convince him that the twins born a month later are his own.
A good throw for three Maiden-heads... To the Tune of, Over and Under (J. Grissmond, 1631-38?). Pepys 1.314-15; EBBA 20149. Gender – sex, singles; Recreation – games/sports,alcohol, good fellowship; Humour – bawdry, extreme situations/surprises; Emotions – longing. Three maidens go out drinking and all take a fancy to the same man, so they play dice to decide who should have him but he, joining in, wins the maidenheads of the entire trio.
The Times abuses: OR, Muld-Sacke his grievances briefly exprest... To the tune of, Over and under (J. Wright, 1631-46?). Roxburghe 1.404-05; EBBA 30277. Recreation – alcohol; Employment – crafts/trades, apprenticeship/service; Humour – extreme situations/surprises; Society – criticism. ‘Muld-Sacke’ (or Mulled Sack), a personification of alcohol, responds to the abuse of assorted critics by urging everybody to get on with their proper business instead of insulting him.
Choice of Inventions, Or Severall sorts of the figure of three... It goes to the tune of Rock the Cradle sweet John (F. Coles, 1631-80). Roxburghe 1.32-33; EBBA 30028. Employment – crafts/trades, female, sailors/soldiers; Gender – marriage, sex; Humour – domestic/familial, verbal; Environment – animals; Places – English; Recreation – music, alcohol, dance, games/sports. A series of amusing observations on contemporary life, loosely connected by a concentration on the number three.
It is bad jesting with a Halter... To the tune of There was a Ewe had three Lambes (F. C., c. 1632). Pepys 1.440-41; EBBA 20207. Gender – masculinity; Employment – sailors/soldiers, crafts/trades, alehouses/inns; Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, tobacco; News – domestic, sensational; Bodies – clothing, injury; Economy – money; Places – travel/transport. This tells the story of a hard-drinking man who amuses his companions by performing a joke with a rope but nearly dies when a moment of audience participation goes wrong.
Rocke the Babie Joane... To the Tune of, Under and over (H. G., 1632-40). Pepys 1.396-97; EBBA 20184. Gender – adultery/cuckoldry, marriage, masculinity, femininity; Family – pregnancy/childbirth, children/parents; Humour – domestic/familial; Morality – familial, romantic/sexual; Emotions – anxiety, anger, contentment; Death – childbirth. A philandering husband has an extra-marital child, and when its mother dies he must persuade his angry and reluctant wife to nurse the baby alongside her own.
Postscript
This melody bears a strong resemblance to an earlier tune, ‘Joan’s Ale is New’, which seems to have been nominated only on a long-lived ballad of the same name. This was a rowdy drinking song, and its humorous tone may well have contributed to the mood it carried when used, in modified form, for the ballads listed above. It is also worth noting that those who were engaged in tussles for supremacy more generally could be said to ‘play at under and over’, an expression that seems to predate the melody. See, for example, Thomas Drant, Two sermons (1570).
Christopher Marsh
References
Jeremy Barlow (ed.), The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford’s Dancing Master (1985), no. 112.
Robert Creighton, virginal book (c. 1635-38), Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS Conservatoire Rés. 1186, fo. 15r-v.
Thomas Drant, Two sermons (1570), K3v.
New York Public Library MS Drexel 5612 (seventeenth century), p. 148 (transcription in Simpson).
Claude Simpson, The British broadside ballad and its music (New Brunswick, 1966), pp. 722-24.
Back to contentsStandard woodcut name: Country couple (spotty dress)
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 little woodcut has not been found on any of the other ballads in the two largest collections, and since no other copy of A New little Northren Song has survived, we cannot say whether it appeared on other editions (the song is included in our list primarily because of its influential tune). It is hard to know why the woodcut fell by the wayside, unlike the much more successful illustration of a Couple with leafy fan that appears on the other side of the sheet. The image was smaller than average for a courting couple and perhaps did not quite have the impact of the popular alternatives. Or perhaps the woodcut simply got lost or broken beyond repair.
Songs and summaries
A New little Northren Song called, Under and over, over and under (H. G., 1631-40). Pepys 1.264-65; EBBA 20122. Gender – courtship, masculinity, femininity, sex; Humour – bawdry, deceit/disguise; Family – children/parents, pregnancy/childbirth; Emotions – longing, anger, joy; Morality – romantic/sexual; Environment – flowers/trees, animals; Society – old/young, rural life, urban life. A maiden has sex with an insistent man who then departs, leaving her pregnant, but after her baby is born she leaves it behind (apparently) and travels to London, where she manages to trick an innocent tailor into marrying her (picture placement: they stand beneath the title).
Christopher Marsh
Back to contentsThere are, of course, hundreds of early-modern publications - ballads prominently included - that treat the subject of courtship with cynical humour. We have not, however, found any that seem closely related to A New little Northren Song in terms of their precise verbal content (but see Featured tune history for echoes that can be heard in other songs set to the same tune).
Christopher Marsh
A New little Northren Song called,
Under and over, over and under,/ Or a pretty new Jeast, and yet no wonder,/ Or a mayden mistaken, as many now bee,/ View well this glasse, and you may plainely see.
To a pretty new Northern tune.
[Play each verse by clicking anywhere within its text]
I heard two lovers talking:
One to the other spake,
of loves constancie:
I ore a medow turning,
upon a Summers morning:
I heard these Lovers mourning,
cause of loves cruelty.
For under and over, over and under,
under and over agen,
quoth shee sweet heart I love thee,
as maydens should love men.
and not her love denyed,
Quoth hee I am affyed:
in constancy to thee,
Then cast all sorrowes from thee:
for I will never wrong thee,
Sweet pleasures shall o’rethrong thee
so thou bee true to me.
For under and over, over and under,
under, and over agen,
I meane sweete heart to love thee,
as mayds are lov’d of men.
men fayls oft in their meeting,
Let me have faithfull greeting,
or else depart for aye:
O say not so my Jewell,
for then you are to cruell,
Yeeld Cupid’s fire more fewell,
let not true love decay.
For under and over, over &c.
I love thee mine owne sweeting,
as mayds are lov’d of men.
(quoth he) sweete no such matter,
With that amaine flung at her:
and then began to play,
Such kisses sweete he gave her,
and often time did crave her,
That he in love might have her:
to sport with him all day.
At under and over, over &c.
yeeld thou to sport with me sweet
as mayds doe sport with men.
and then in kindnesse shooke her,
Swearing he had mistooke her:
if now she prov’d unkind,
O yeeld my sweete unto me,
or else you will undoe me,
If thou no love wilt show me,
to griefe I am assign’d.
Then under and over, over &c.
come sport with me my sweeting,
as mayds doe sport with men.
they both were well contented,
And often times frequented,
that lovely meadow greene,
To gather lovely dazies,
or sport in Cupid’s mazes,
I speake it to their praises:
they merry there have beene.
With under and over, over &c.
These two did sport together,
as women sport with men.
this bonny Lasse was tyred,
Her heart with love was fired:
and growne so round before,
This young man from her wanders,
to Fraunce or else to Flaunders:
Thus was she served with Flanders,
her heart then waxed sore.
With under and over, over &c.
this mayd was wrong’d in earnest
as mayds are wrong’d by men.
The second part To the same tune.
like one of Cupid’s cattle,
And dayly would she tattle,
That her love was too unkind:
Thus in distresse to leave her,
and by his words deceave her,
Which did of joyes bereave her,
that shee was left behind.
With under and over, over and under,
under and over agen,
she rayl’d against her sweet heart,
as women rayle gainst men.
complain’d before another,
This fault she could not smother,
her belly was so round:
Quoth she) some comfort yeeld me,
and from all shame pray shield me,
For sorrowes Tyde hath fild me,
that I am like to sound.
With under and over, over and under,
under and over agen,
she gainst her love complained,
as mayds complaine gainst men.
her daughter was deceived,
Which very much her grieved,
but now for helpe she seekes,
How to keepe her daughter
from shame should follow after,
And this same shamelesse matter,
in private close shee keepes.
With under and over, over and under,
under and over agen,
she sayes unto her daughter
these are the trickes of men.
the Carryer he was hyred,
And she from thence was carryed
to London with all speed:
No one could be demurer,
nor seeme a Virgin purer,
Her carryage now did sure her,
to bee a mayd indeed.
With under and over, over and under
shee vowes never to sport that way,
that maydens use with men.
a Taylor and did woo her,
He never could part fro her,
till she was made his wife:
He for a mayd did take her,
and vowd ne’re to forsake her
But still be her partaker,
And love her as his life.
With under and over, over &c.
She vow’d ever to love him still,
as women doe love men.
and she was now light hearted,
Being so well supported,
by her new wedded mate,
She now was freed from mourning,
her griefe to joyes were turning,
She now liv’d voyd of scorning,
dissension and debate.
With under and over, over and under,
she vow’d ever to love him still,
as women doe love men.
FINIS,
London Printed for H G.
This ballad is included according to the criteria for List C (see Methodology). The evidence presented here is accurate, to the best of our knowledge, as of 1st January 2024.
New tune titles deriving from the ballad: 'Under and over' (4 ballads).
Appearances on publishers' lists: none.
Other registrations with Stationers' Company: 1631.
No. of known editions c.1560-1711: 2
No. of extant copies: 1
Specially-commissioned woodcuts: none known.
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library databases: 3 references, with no evidence of later collection as a folk-song (Roud no. V53204).
Pre-1640 bonus: yes.
POINTS: 8 + 0 + 5 + 4 + 1 + 0 + 0 + 20 = 38
This box will be used to highlight any new information on this song that might come to light after the launch of the website.
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