The Woman to the PLOW seems to have been successful from 1629 (or a little earlier), through into 1680s. After this, its publication profile faded and it was eventually superseded by other songs that told the same story in new words. A comparable mix of narrative similarity and verbal difference also characterises the song’s relationship with late-medieval versions of the story (see Related texts). We can probably conclude that humorous tales about husbands and wives who swap economic roles with disastrous results before reverting to type have been a staple of English culture for centuries (similar stories exist in other countries too: see Ashliman, below).
Unusually, we have the initials of the author, ‘M. P.’ This was almost certainly Martin Parker, who seems to have been both an alehouse-keeper and a prolific author. Most early-modern ballads were published anonymously but Parker’s name or initials appear on numerous sheets and pamphlets for two reasons: first, he believed in taking responsibility for his work; and second, his growing fame from the 1620s onwards meant that any publication that was attributed to him might receive a boost in the marketplace.
The Woman to the PLOW was registered quite early in Parker’s career and, coincidentally, 1629 was also the year that saw him arrested for his alleged involvement in a theft. As Joad Raymond explains, Parker was released on bail and went on, in the 1630s and 1640s, to become one of the best-known authors of ballads and chapbooks in England. Hyder Rollins attributed Parker’s excellence to ‘the remarkably fine way in which he could fit words to the innumerable tunes that floated through his head’. Parker was clearly a Royalist and he wrote many political works. Alongside these, he built up an impressive body of ballads about all sorts of topics, including gender relations, wonders, food, good fellowship, religion and murder.
After his death in c.1654, a satirical elegy by ‘S. F.’ (1656) called him ‘the famous Poet’ and reported that his songs had always been ‘applauded by the thirsty throng’ at markets and fairs (in the author’s view, this was not necessarily a good thing). He also wrote The Wandring Jews Chronicle, another of the hit songs featured on this website.
The success of The Woman to the PLOW can probably be related to the witty manner in which Parker tackles that hardy perennial of ballad culture, the fraught relationship between men and women. The notion that husbands and wives had different duties in the maintenance of households was an early-modern commonplace, and the author of A godlie forme of householde government insisted that men were to ‘dispatch all things without doore’ while their spouses worked to ‘oversee and give order for all things within the house’ (of course, life was rarely so clear-cut in practice). Parker advanced the same message but he did so with a smile on his face and a tune in his heart. His use of expressions such as ‘grope the hen’ and ‘a pox on all such whores’ set him apart from the authors of godly advice literature and probably appealed more directly to his target audience.
The ballad might be considered an object lesson in attracting the attention (and the cash) of women and men at the same time, if for different reasons. In several ways, Parker spreads his net as widely as possible; the title offers star billing to the woman but the first line of the opening verse reverses the order; the couple’s disagreement is based on mutual antagonism (‘He chid her for her Huswivery/ And she found fault as well as he’); and following their reversal of roles, roughly equal coverage is given to his and her failure to perform their new duties adequately.
In other respects, however, the narrator seems to express greater sympathy for the wife than the husband. This perhaps reflects two things: a patriarchal assumption that the husband, in particular, should have known better; and Parker’s awareness that female consumers were a vital component of his audience (women were active in England’s markets, one of the prime sites for the singing and selling of ballads). The husband is mocked as a ‘hansome Slut’ and a ‘Cot-quean fool’ while his wife is spared such abuse. His neighbours ‘scoff’ at his antics, and the narrator derides his penchant for ‘Hose and Doublet Huswivery’. At the end, he has no option but to admit his miscalculations and ‘intreat’ his wife to take her ‘charge’ again.
His wife, in contrast, is highly commended towards the end of the song for her skill in finding a way through the dispute and reaching a state of equilibrium. Female listeners could laugh at the ‘Cot-quean fool’, sympathise with his wife and resolve that, if their husbands ever behaved in similar fashion, they would follow Parker’s advice and ‘serve them as this Woman did’.
The laughter of men may have been a little more complicated because the principal butt of Parker’s humour was one of their own. Running through the text, in and between the lines, were warnings about the consequences of masculine ill temper, over-confidence and impulsiveness. The worst of these consequences was failed manhood, bringing with it the necessity of begging one’s wife for release and relief. Men were often warned that women sought sovereignty within marriage, and here was a husband who had reduced himself to a position of virtual dependence by over-asserting his superiority. So, the ‘Cot-quean fool’ was funny for men but perhaps not that funny.
As usual, we know little about the sorts of circumstance in which the song might have been performed during the seventeenth century. Some later evidence can, however, be drawn into the discussion in order to offer a few clues. In 1825, Allan Cunningham included in his Songs of Scotland a ballad that told a very similar story (see also Related texts). He reported that it was ‘a favourite among the peasantry of Nithsdale, where it was formerly sung at weddings, househeatings, prentice-bindings, and other times of fixed or casual conviviality’. The particular occasions that he specified were all associated with transitions to new households and new relationships, and perhaps we might also imagine English people of the seventeenth century calling upon The Woman to the PLOW in order to learn and laugh at such critical moments.
Christopher Marsh
References
Anon, A godlie forme of householde government (1598), p. 171. This work is often attributed to John Dod and Robert Cleaver.
D. L. Ashliman, ‘Trading places’: https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/tradingplaces.html#simrock
Broadside ballads from the Bodleian Library: http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Allan Cunningham, The songs of Scotland, ancient and modern, 4 vols. (1825), vol. 2, pp. 123-25.
English Broadside Ballad Archive: https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/
English Short Title Catalogue.
S. F., Death in a new dress (1656), A4r-B1r.
Amanda Flather, Gender and space in early modern England (Woodbridge, 2007), ch. 3.
Angela McShane, ‘Martin Parker balladeer’ in Garret A. Sullivan Jr et. al. (eds.), The encyclopaedia of English Renaissance literature (Oxford, 2012).
Christopher Marsh, ‘ “The woman to the plow: and the man to the hen-roost”: wives, husbands and best-selling ballads in seventeenth-century England’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 28 (2018), pp. 65-88.
Joad Raymond, ‘Parker, Martin’, Oxford dictionary of national biography
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. 2999 and 3000.
Hyder E. Rollins, ‘Martin Parker, ballad-monger’, Modern philology 16.9 (January 1919), pp. 449-74.
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, https://www.vwml.org/ [search for Roud number 281, but see also V11690 and 5361].
To the tune of ‘I have for all good Wives a song’ (lost melody)
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
Sadly, this melody does not appear to have survived and we have not made a recording. An extract from the song can, however, be heard roughly midway through a short film that was made about the 100 Ballads Project. It is sung by John Toal, using a later folk-tune that was associated with similar stories about marital role-swaps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pld5JI3ZMME
In the seventeenth century, the lost tune to which the song was originally sung was usually known as 'I have for all good wives a song', though it also acquired from the current ballad a new title, 'The woman to the plow and the man to the hen-roost'.
Echoes (an overview)
This lost tune was named on several ballads, particularly in the years either side of 1630. It was clearly a favourite of the famous ballad-writer, Martin Parker, and four of the six songs listed below appear to have been his compositions. Marriage was the melody’s main province, and all but one of the ballads dealt with this theme. The tune was chosen in particular for knock-about songs involving conflict between husbands and wives (The Woman to the Plow is a prime example) or, more rarely, discussions between men about the characteristics of good and bad wives (see Man's Felicity and Misery).
In the ballads by Parker, we perhaps see a master of the art first establishing a new tune and then building its associations across several songs: the marriage-in-trouble theme is set up in A merry Dialogue, Man's Felicity and Misery and the highly successful Woman to the Plow; then in A Banquet for Soveraigne Husbands the same theme can be addressed less explicitly because the tune is now able to do some of the work. The last of these ballads can seem a little confusing at first, but the tune’s potent associations provided contextual information that must have helped knowledgeable listeners understand what was going on.
The only ballad that does not discuss marriage is A pleasant new Dialogue: OR, The discourse between the Serving-man and the Husband-man, in which two men argue over the relative merits of their contrasting occupations. The jaunty conflict that the tune carried from other songs is retained, but the subject matter shifts (and there may have been humour in the melodic implication that the serving-man and the husbandman were bickering like a married couple).
The songs are also connected by several direct textual cross-references. The Woman to the Plow, for example, concludes with the lines, ‘So shall you live Contented lives,/ And take sweet pleasure in your Wives’, later echoed at the same point in The Constant Wife of Sussex: ‘And unto every constant wife/ I wish long dayes and happie life’. One verse in The Constant Wife opens, ‘As on a day the good mans wife,/ whom he did love as his owne life’, recalling the lines, ‘If here be any scolding wives,/ I wish them if they love their lives’, in A Banquet for Soveraigne Husbands (again at the start of a verse).
And there is a notable similarity between the following couplets, both at the ends of verses in their respective ballads: ‘Give me the Car-whip and the Flaile,/ take thou the Churn and Milking-pail’ (The Woman to the Plow); and ‘To make the bed I will not faile,/ milke thou the Cow ile hold the paile’ (The Constant Wife).
[See 'Postscript', below, for additional notes on this melody].
Songs and Summaries
A merry Dialogue betwixt a married man and his wife... To an excellent Tune (M. Trundle, Widdow, 1626-29). Pepys 1.388-89; EBBA 20180. Gender – marriage, femininity, masculinity; Economy – household; Humour – domestic/familial; Emotions – anger; Employment – general, female; Family – pregnancy/childbirth. A husband and wife have a furious argument over who works hardest and suffers most.
The Woman to the Plow; And the Man to the HEN-ROOST... The Tune is, I have for all good wives a Song (composed 1626-29; F. Grove, 1629-56). Euing 397; EBBA 32025. Employment – agrarian, female; Gender – marriage; Humour – domestic/familial, extreme situations/surprises; Nature – animals; Family – children/parents; Economy – household, livings. A husband and wife, critical of one another’s work, swap tasks for a time with disastrous consequences.
A pleasant new Dialogue: OR, The discourse between the Serving-man and the Husband-man... To the tune of, I have for all good wives a Song (F. Coules, 1626-80). Roxburghe 1.98-99; EBBA 30066. Employment – agrarian, apprenticeship/service; Bodies – clothing, nourishment; Recreation – alcohol, food, fashions; ; Society – rural life; Gender – sex; Emotions – anger. A nobleman’s servant and a husbandman quarrel over whose life is more pleasurable and valuable, with the husbandman winning out in the end.
A Banquet for Soveraigne Husbands. OR, The Rosting of the Ramme whole... To the tune of The Woman to the Plow, and the Man to the Hen-Roost (Francis Coules, c. 1629?). Pepys 1.402-03; EBBA 20189. Gender – adultery/cuckoldry, marriage, masculinity, femininity; Recreation – food, dance, hospitality, games/sport; Humour – domestic/familial, mockery; Emotions – fear; Morality – romantic/sexual; Environment – animals; Places – English. Hen-pecked husbands gather to feast on a roasted ram, but most are initially wary of tasting it for fear of their wives.
Man's Felicity and Misery: Which is a good Wife and a bad...To the tune of I have for all good wives a Song (Francis Grove, c. 1632). Roxburghe 1.274-75; EBBA 30194. Gender – marriage, femininity, adultery/cuckoldry; Humour – extreme situations, domestic/familial; Morality – familial; Family – children/parents, kin; Employment – female; Bodies – looks/physique; Recreation – alcohol, food. A dialogue ballad in which two cousins, Edmund and David, compare the qualities and failings of their wives (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, next to a woman with a leafy fan).
The Constant Wife of Sussex... To the tune of, I have for all good wives a song (Fr. Coles, c. 1632). Pepys 1.414-15; EBBA 20195. Gender – marriage, adultery/cuckoldry, masculinity, femininity, sex; Humour- bawdry, domestic/familial; Family – pregnancy/childbirth; Employment – female, apprenticeship/service; Recreation – story-telling, food, alcohol; Morality – romantic/sexual, domestic/familial; Places – English. A constant wife gives birth to a daughter and then agrees ‘to prevent her husbands shame’ by accepting the maidservant’s baby, fathered by the same man and born on the same day, as the twin of her own child.
Postscript
The melody does not appear to have been nominated on white-letter ballads, nor in songbooks of the period. Ballads about role-exchanges within marriage remained common within vernacular culture after 1700, and songs with titles such as ‘The capable wife’, ‘The churlish husband or farmer turned nurse’ and ‘Old Father Grumble’ told stories that were strongly reminiscent of The Woman to the PLOW.
Christopher Marsh
References
https://www.vwml.org/ (Vaughan Williams Memorial Library).
Vic Gammon, Desire, drink and death in English folk and vernacular song, 1600-1900 (Aldershot, 2008), pp. 39-40.
Back to contentsStandard woodcut name: Countryman with staff
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 was clearly a very successful and familiar image throughout the mid- and late-seventeenth century. Several distinct woodblocks were in existence, producing pictures that reveal various differences. Some were reverse images of others, presumably because copycat-carvers often worked from printed versions without bothering to adjust for the fact that their pictures would be reversed in the production process. Individual printers clearly saw the need to hold their own versions of the block in stock. Numerous publishers issued ballads that carried the image, but later editions of The Woman to the PLOW did not use it.
The songs listed below suggest that the man in the picture gathered some interesting associations and was therefore capable of contributing rather more to the meaning of individual ballads than we might at first imagine. Most obviously, he was an archetypal countryman, representing rural masculinity to society in general and to urban society in particular. Within this category, there was considerable variety. Sometimes, he was funny because he was stupid, but much more frequently he was admirable, particularly for his straightforwardness, his ability to fight and his romantic appeal (though this did not protect him entirely from heartbreak and marital failure).
On several occasions, the joke was that the countryman was sharper and shrewder than he looked, capable of outwitting more sophisticated urban types (see Down-Right Dick of the West, for example). At other times, the emphasis was upon his poverty, and here too he tended to enlist our sympathy, though on one occasion he appeared on The Beggers Chorus, a song about a happy group of sponging beggars.
The camaraderie of this ‘Jovial Crew’ and the forthright honesty of countrymen also interacted with the woodcut’s role as a symbol of masculine ‘good fellowship’. Manly recreation that involved alcoholic sociability is highlighted in several ballads, and on occasion the Countryman with staff seems to stand as the articulate defender of these laudable customs against the criticisms of reformers (see The Jolly PORTERS).
In all these roles, the genius of this little artwork was the slipperiness and variability of the body-language that is represented, and it is interesting that one of the songs is actually about how to interpret the many ‘signes and tokens’ that people send constantly to one another through facial expressions, gesture and behaviour. Depending on the precise context, the Countryman with staff could appear romantic, insecure, imploring, sociable, awkward, argumentative or even drunk, and part of his appeal may have resided in the pleasing cross-currents that were stimulated in the minds of those who came to know him.
On our featured edition of The Woman to the PLOW, the picture, like the accompanying narrative, challenges us to decide whether the rural ‘Good-man’ who criticises his wife is loveable or laughable.
Songs and summaries
Faire fall all good Tokens. OR, A pleasant new Song not common to be had, Which will teach you to know good tokens from bad (Henry Gosson, 1601-40). Roxburghe 1.114-15; EBBA 30073. Society – criticism, rich/poor; Morality – general; Economy – money; Bodies – health/ sickness, looks/physique; Disability – physical; Gender – marriage, sex; Recreation – alcohol. A metrical essay on the noticing and interpreting of many behavioural ‘signs and tokens’ – most of them negative – that can be observed in society (picture placement: in an inverted version, he appears on the right side of the sheet, next to a woman with visible breasts and a farthingale skirt).
The poore man payes for all. This is but a dreame which here shall insue: But the Author wishes his words were not true (H. G., 1601-40). Roxburghe 1.326-27; EBBA 30223. Society – criticism; Morality – social/economic; Economy – extortion, hardship/prosperity, livings, prices/wages, money; Employment – agrarian, professions, crafts/trades, alehouses/inns; Emotions – sorrow; Politics – court, power; Bodies – clothing. The narrator has a dream in which the rich abuse the poor, and he’s well aware that the reality is disturbingly similar (picture placement: in a back-to-front version, he appears beneath the title, to the left of a gallant in a plumed hat).
A Health to all Good-Fellowes: OR, The good Companions Arithmaticke (Henry Gossen, 1601-40). Roxburghe 1.150-51; EBBA 30095. Recreation – good fellowship, alcohol, music; Gender – masculinity, marriage; Morality – social/economic; Employment - general, alehouses/inns, female/male; Emotions – joy; Economy – livings, prices/wages. An excitable man explains the appeal of drinking and good fellowship, arguing that a love of alcoholic sociability is entirely consistent with hard work, honest marriage and general moral probity (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears on the right side of the sheet, next to a woman with a fan and man with one hand held out).
The Complaint of a Lover forsaken of his Love (Edward Wright, 1611-56). Roxburghe 1.54-55; EBBA 30040. Gender – courtship, masculinity, femininity; Environment – flowers/trees; Emotions – love, distain, despair; Death – heartbreak, suicide; Bodies – adornment; Violence – self-inflicted. A heartbroken man prepares to drink poison because the woman he loves has treated him with scorn (picture placement: he appears beneath the title in a reversed image).
A merry Jest of John Tomson, and Jakaman his VVife: Whose Jealousie was justly, the cause of all their strife (Edward Wright, 1611-56). Roxburghe 1.254-55; EBBA 30181. Gender – marriage, femininity, masculinity, adultery/cuckoldry, singles; Bodies – clothing; Emotions – frustration; Morality – romantic/sexual; Employment – apprenticeship/service; Society - neighbours. A man is exasperated by the domineering jealousy of a wife who forces him to ‘stand like John hold my staffe’ and hide his face from public view (picture placement: in a reversed image, he stands beneath the title, to the right of a woman in a farthingale skirt who carries a leafy fan).
Byd Y bigail [tr. The shepherd's world] (A. M. for H. G., 1615-40?). Pepys 1.457; EBBA 20032. Employment - agrarian; Environment - animals; Recreation - music. A Welsh shepherd describes and takes pride in his happy, simple life (picture placement: in a back-to-front version, he stands beside a simply-dressed woman with hands on hips). I am grateful to Judith Marsh and David Roberts for helping me to make sense of the text.
A good workeman needes neuer want worke (Francis Grove, 1623-62). Roxburghe 1.540-41; EBBA 30358. Employment – apprenticeship/service, crafts/trades; Humour – deceit/disguise, verbal; Gender – masculinity, sex; Recreation – alcohol, food. A man describes his ten servants – an assortment of gluttons, alcoholics and layabouts – and tries to persuade the rest of us to take them on (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears over the opening lines, to the right of a man with his hand out and another with his hands held up in surprise).
The Praise of a pretty Lasse: OR, The Young mans dissimulation (F. Grove, 1623-62). Roxburghe 1.308-09; EBBA 30213. Gender – courtship, femininity; Bodies – looks/physique; Humour – extreme situations/surprises, satire, mockery; Emotions – love. A man sings in praise of his sweetheart, who is big, strong and reliable but not, it seems, a conventional beauty (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears on the far right, next to a woman with hands on hips who towers over him).
Cupids wrongs vindicated: Wherein he that Cupids wiles did discover, Is proved a false dissembling Lover (F. G., 1623-62). Roxburghe 1.50-51; EBBA 30038. Gender – courtship, masculinity; Morality – romantic/sexual; Emotions – anger; Bodies – hearth/sickness; Recreation – food, alcohol; Environment – animals; Society - friendship. A woman complains forcefully about a former sweetheart who declared his loyalty to her while enjoying other women, and who now feigns romantic despair because she has dumped him (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears beneath the title, to the left of a woman with a ruff and hanging sleeves).
A Jest, Or, Master Constable (Francis Grove, 1623-62). Roxburghe 3.208-09; EBBA 30853. Humour – deceit/disguise, misunderstanding, mockery, verbal; Emotions – anger; Crime – prison; Employment – crafts/trades; Gender – masculinity, marriage; Places – English; Recreation – alcohol. An over-zealous constable on his watch challenges a passer-by to identify himself and is outwitted by a series of riddling answers (picture placement: he appears beneath the title, to the right of a man who strikes a curious straight-armed pose).
Man's Felicity and Misery: Which is a good Wife and a bad (Francis Grove, 1623-62). Roxburghe 1.274-75; EBBA 30194. Gender – marriage, femininity, adultery/cuckoldry; Humour – extreme situations, domestic/familial; Morality – familial; Family – children/parents, kin; Employment – female; Bodies – looks/physique; Recreation – alcohol, food. A dialogue ballad in which two cousins, Edmund and David, compare the qualities and failings of their wives (picture placement: in a reversed version, he stands on the right side of the sheet, next to a woman in a farthingale skirt).
Cuckolds Haven: OR, The marry'd mans miserie, who must abide The penaltie of being Hornify'd (Francis Grove, 1623-62). Roxburghe 1.46-47; EBBA 30036. Gender – adultery/cuckoldry, marriage, masculinity, femininity, sex, singles; Humour – mockery, domestic/familial; Morality – romantic/sexual; Emotions – despair; Recreation – alcohol. A cuckold moans about the impossibility of preventing female adultery, given the appetites and attitudes of all but a few women (picture placement: he stands beneath the title in a reversed image, to the left of a gallant who walks away from him).
Good Ale for my money. The Good-fellowes resolution of strong Ale, That cures his nose from looking pale (‘Printed at London’, 1624-67). Roxburghe 1.138-39; EBBA 30085. Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, music; Employment – crafts/trades, sailors/soldiers; Family – children/parents, kin; Gender – masculinity, femininity, mixed sociability; Emotions – joy. A song in lusty praise of ale-drinking, good fellowship and not going home till morning (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears on the right side of the sheet, next to a gallant with a sword).
A comparison of the life of Man (Francis Coules, 1624-80). Roxburghe 1.44-45; EBBA 30035. Environment – flowers/trees, seasons, sea, weather; Morality – general; Death – general; Religion – Christ/God, moral rules, sin/repentance, charity, church, Bible. A meditation on the mutability of life and the fickleness of fortune, rounded off with a message about the urgent need for repentance (picture placement: a reversed version of the woodcut appears over the final column of text, next to a man who gestures towards the larger image – featuring social scenes and the names of three cities – on the left side of the sheet).
A Dialogue betweene Master Guesright and poore neighbour Needy, OR A few proofes both reall and true, Shewing what men for mony will doe (F. Cowles, 1624-80). Roxburghe 1.74-75; EBBA 30051. Economy – money, livings; Employment – crafts/trades, sailors/soldiers alehouses/inns, professions; Morality – social/economic; Recreation – food, alcohol, tobacco; Society – neighbours, criticism; Bodies – clothing, health/sickness; Death – execution. Master Guesright persuades Neighbour Needy, via a litany of examples, that most people do what they do ‘more for money then [than] love’ (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears beneath the title, to the right of a man in a black gown who carries a scroll).
Londons Ordinarie, Or euery man in his humour (‘Printed at London by the Assignes of Thomas Symcocke’, 1628-31). Roxburghe 1.212-13; EBBA 30153. Employment – crafts/trades, professions, sailors/soldiers; Humour – verbal; Recreation – food, hospitality; Society – urban life; Places – English. A musical list of London’s occupational groups, each of which is said to take lunch at an appropriately-named tavern (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears over the third and fourth columns of text). See below for another edition.
The Lovers complaint for the losse of his Love (‘Printed by the Assignes of Thomas Symcocke’, 1628-31). Roxburghe 1.317; EBBA 30218. Gender – courtship, femininity, masculinity, sex; Emotions – sorrow; Environment – animals, birds, flowers/trees. A man is sorrowful because his sweetheart has left him, and he wishes he had ‘clipt’ her wings by having sex with her in the woods (picture placement: a reversed version appears alone over the opening lines).
A mad kinde of wooing. Or, a Dialogue betweene Will the simple, and Nan the subtill, With their loving agreement (‘Printed by the Assignes of Thomas Symcocke’, 1628-31). Roxburghe 1.246-47; EBBA 30171. Gender – courtship, femininity, masculinity; Emotions – longing, disdain, contentment; Society – rural life, urban life; Bodies – looks/physique; Morality – romantic/sexual; Violence - interpersonal. A dialogue ballad in which Nan initially rejects Will’s advances on the grounds that he is too ‘rusticke’ in speech and manners, before coming to recognise his appeal in the final verse (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears beneath the title, to the left of a woman who holds a fan and stands with her back to him).
The Woman to the Plow; And the Man to the HEN-ROOST (F. Grove, 1629-56). Euing 397; EBBA 32025. Employment – agrarian, female; Gender – marriage; Humour – domestic/familial, extreme situations/surprises; Nature – animals; Family – children and parents; Economy – household, livings. A husband and wife, critical of one another’s work, swap tasks for a time with disastrous consequences (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, to the left of a woman who faces him with an up-turned palm held out).
A Sayler new come ouer: And in this Ship with him those of such fame The like of them, nere vnto England came (Henry Gosson, c. 1631). Pepys 1.396-97v; EBBA 20185. Employment – crafts/trades, professions, sailors/soldiers; Humour – extreme situations/surprises; News – sensational; Bodies – health/sickness; Emotions – excitement; Places – English, travel. This describes the unlikely talents and services of a long list of recent immigrants, all of whom are now waiting in Dover (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears beneath the title, alongside a woman in a hooped skirt).
Robin Hood and the Shepherd: Shewing how Robin Hood, little John and the Shepherd fought a sore Combate (William Thackeray, 1664-92). Pepys 2.115; EBBA 20737. Gender – masculinity; Violence – interpersonal; History – medieval; Humour – extreme situations/surprises; Recreation – games/sports; Employment – agrarian. Robin Hood picks a fight with a humble shepherd and finds that he has met his match (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, to the right of a man with bow and arrow).
The Northern Ladd: OR, The Fair Maids Choice, Who Refus'd all for a Plowman, counting her self therein most Happy (no imprint, 1670-90?). Roxburghe 2.368-69; EBBA 30806. Gender – courtship, masculinity, femininity, sex; Humour – bawdry; Employment – agrarian, crafts/trades; Bodies – clothing; Emotions – contentment; Recreation – music. A northern maiden is courted by all sorts of men but shows no interest in anybody until a jovial ploughman comes along (picture placement: in a reversed version, he stands alone on the right side of the sheet).
The Beggers Chorus, In the Jovial CREW (P. Brooksby, 1670-98). Pepys 4.251; EBBA 21911. Humour – mockery; Emotions – joy; Disability – physical; Society – rich/poor; Employment – apprenticeship/service; Family – children/parents; Bodies – physique; Places – English; Politics – plots; Religion – divine intervention. A beggar sings of his happy life, claiming that he sponges off others for everything and wants for nothing (picture placement: in a back-to-front version, he appears on the right, alongside a woman with a fan).
The Country-mans care in choosing a Wife: OR, A young Batchelor hard to be pleased (imprint missing, 1670-1700?). Roxburghe 2.76; EBBA 30547. Gender - courtship, femininity; Employment – female/male, crafts/trades; Society – rural life. A fussy countryman reviews his romantic options, listing the various types of women that he has rejected before settling finally and happily upon a rich farmer’s daughter (picture placement: he appears beneath the title, to the right of a woman who holds a fan before her).
The Merry Plow-Man, AND Loving Milk-Maid (I. Deacon, 1671-99). Pepys 3.171; EBBA 21183. Society – rural life, urban life; Employment – agrarian; female/male; Nature – general; Recreation - musicGender – masculinity, femininity, courtship, sex; Emotions – joy. A plow-man explains that country life is superior to city life in every imaginable way (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, to the right of a maid with a pail of milk on her head).
A true sence of Sorrow: OR THE Poor York-shire-Man protected by Providence (J. Deacon, 1671-99). Pepys 2.53; EBBA 20677. Economy – hardship, household; Emotions – despair, joy; Family – pregnancy/childbirth; Gender – marriage; Morality –social/economic; Society – neighbours, rich and poor. A poor man, whose wife is in child-bed, begs for relief and, after some disappoinments, is generously helped by a slightly mysterious gentleman dressed all in black (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, in between an Akimbo man with raised hand and a mother holding two babies).
THE West-Country Wedding. Betwixt Roger the Plowman, and Ellin the Dary-Maid (I. Deacon, 1671-99). Pepys 4.108; EBBA 21772. Gender – courtship, sex, masculinity, femininity; Humour – bawdry, deceit/disguise; Employment – agrarian, female/male; Emotions – anger; Recreation – fairs/festivals, food. Roger marries Ellin, much to the dismay of the other young women of the area, many of whom are already pregnant by the philandering and deceitful bridegroom (picture placement: he appears beneath the title, to the left of a wedding scene).
An Excellent Ditty, called the Shepherds wooing Dulcina (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1675-80). Pepys 4.6; EBBA 21673. Gender – courtship, femininity, masculinity, sex; Employment – sailors/soldiers; Emotions – longing, love; Religion – ancient gods. A shepherd courts a maiden whose initial reluctance is eventually replaced by enthusiasm (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears on the left of the sheet, turning slightly away from a woman with a fan).
Londons Ordinary: Or, Every man in his Humour (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1675-80). Roxburghe 2.291; EBBA 30745. Employment – crafts/trades, professions, sailors/soldiers; Humour – verbal; Recreation – food, hospitality; Society – urban life; Places – English. A musical list of London’s occupational groups, each of which is said to take lunch at an appropriately-named tavern (picture placement: he appears on the right side of the sheet, next to a gallant in a plumed hat). See above for another edition.
The Tragedy of Phillis, Complaining of the Disloyal love of Amintas + The Complaint of the Shepherd Harpalus (F. Coles, T. Vere, I. Wright, and I. Clarke, 1675-80). Pepys 3.319; EBBA 21334. Death – heartbreak; Emotions – love, sorrow; Employment – agrarian; Bodies – health/sickness; History – ancient/mythological. In the first song, Phyllis dies of a broken heart because Amintas has abandoned her, and, in the second, the shepherd Harpalus meets the same fate because Philemea has rejected him (picture placement: he appears beneath the title of the second song, next to a woman with a fan).
The Prodigals Resolution (F. Coles, T, Vere, J. Wright, I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, 1680-81). Pepys 4.240; EBBA 21900. Family – children and parents, kin; Humour – domestic/familial; Recreation - general; Employment - general. A man is grateful for the wealth inherited from his industrious father and vows to spend it unwisely (picture scheme: he gestures towards a finely-dressed man with a moustache).
The Mistery Discovered; OR, Frollick upon Frollick (no imprint, 1680-1700?). Roxburghe 2.352-53; EBBA 30793. Gender – sex, courtship, femininity, masculinity; Humour – bawdry, deceit/disguise; Recreation – dance; Emotions – longing. This uses the vocabulary of dance to urge romantic and sexual forcefulness upon men, arguing along the way that women are actually just as eager as they are, though they try to conceal the fact (picture placement: he appears beneath the title, to the right of a communal dancing scene).
The Jovial Lass: OR DOLL and ROGER (J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, 1682-84). Pepys 3.116; EBBA 21123. Gender – sex, masculinity, femininity; Humour – bawdry, misunderstanding, mockery; Employment – agrarian; Bodies – physique; Nature – animals. Roger approaches a milkmaid and, after some banter, they have sex without mentioning marriage (picture placement: in a reversed version, he appears beneath the title, to the right of a man with a cow or donkey and a young couple).
The Contention, between a Countryman & a Citizen, For a beauteous London Lass, who at length is married to the Country Man (P. Brooksby, 1685-88). Pepys 3.255; EBBA 21269. Gender – courtship, masculinity; Society – rural life, urban life; Emotions – longing, anger; Employment – agrarian; Bodies – clothing, physique; Places – English. A farmer and a Londoner argue over who is best equipped to win the hand of a city maiden (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, to the right of a well-dressed man and maiden with a mirror and a peacock).
Down-Right Dick of the West. OR, The Plow-Mans Ramble to LONDON (J. Deacon, 1685-88). Pepys 4.273; EBBA 21934. Recreation – sight-seeing; Economy – rural/urban, general; Employment – agrarian, urban; Society – rural life, urban life; Gender – masculinity; Humour – extreme situations/surprises; Violence – interpersonal; Nature – crops; Emotions – anger; Bodies – clothing. A ploughman travels to London and out-wits some gay gallants in an argument about the relative importance of country and town to the economy (picture placement: he stands beneath the title and to the right of a gallant with a moustache).
The Faithful FARMER, OR, The Down-right Wooing betwixt ROBIN and NANCY (J. Blare, 1685-88). Roxburghe 2.154-55; EBBA 30634. Gender – courtship; Environment – animals, crops; Family – children/parents, inheritance; Employment – agrarian; Economy – hardship/prosperity, money; Emotions – longing, anxiety, contentment; Society – rural life; Bodies – clothing. A man persuades a woman to marry him by listing his best clothes, equipment and livestock, and he soon overcomes her objection that she is too poor for him (picture placement: he appears beneath the title, to the right of a couple standing in a field).
The Happy Husbandman: OR, Country Innocence (P. Brooksby, 1685-88). Pepys 3.45; EBBA 21041. Gender – marriage, femininity, masculinity, sex; Economy – household, rural/urban; Employment – agrarian, female; Emotions – love, joy; Nature – flowers/trees, animals. A man describes his idyllic rural marriage (picture placement: he appears with a Walking woman, though a spinning wheel stands between them).
ROBIN'S DELIGHT: OR, KATE the Dairy-Maids Happy Marriage (J. Deacon, 1685-88). Pepys 3.202; EBBA 21215. Gender – courtship; Emotions – longing, love, joy; Recreations – fairs/festivals, dance, music; Family – inheritance; Bodies – physique. Robin has recently inherited his father’s land and now sets his sights on dairy-maids in general and Kate in particular (picture placement: he stands beside a maiden with a milk-pail on her head).
The Country Cuckold: OR, The Buxome Dames Frollick in a Field of RIE, with her Lusty Gallant (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96) Pepys 4.139; EBBA 21803. Gender – adultery/cuckoldry, marriage, sex, masculinity, femininity; Humour – bawdry, deceit/disguise, domestic/familial; Morality – romantic/sexual; Employment – agrarian; Nature – crops; Emotions – anger; Violence – interpersonal. A countryman finds his wife having sex with a gallant in a neighbour’s field, so he warns them not to damage the crops and then extracts forty shillings in compensation from his wife’s terrified lover (picture placement: he appears on the far right, alongside a man on his knees).
The Country Farmer's Vain-glory; in a New Song of Harvest Home (P. Brooksby, J. Dencon [sic], J. Bla[re], and J. Back, 1688-96). Roxburghe 2.82; EBBA 30556. Environment – crops, seasons; Employment – agrarian; Gender – masculinity; Economy – taxation; Recreation – alcohol, food, good fellowship, music; Emotions – joy, disdain; Crime – tax evasion, punishment; Religion – clergy, church; Society – criticism, rural life. In the first part, a group of countrymen ‘roar out’ a song to celebrate the harvest, and, in the second, a more sober character explains why such behaviour is uncouth and unacceptable (picture placement: he appears beneath the title, to the right of a gent with a walking stick and one hand on his hip).
A Dialogue Between Tom and Iack, Two North-Country Plow-men, Containing their witty Discourse, and pleasant pastime In their Travels up to the City of London (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96). Pepys 4.359; EBBA 22023. Humour – misunderstanding, mockery; Places – English, travel; Gender – masculinity; Society – rural life; Royalty – authority, general; Employment – agrarian. Two simple men of the north travel to London while having a conversation that reveals their limited horizons (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, alongside another countryman with a long staff).
The Jolly PORTERS: OR, The Merry Lads of LONDON (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96). Pepys 4.292; EBBA 21954. Employment - crafts/trades; Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship; Gender – masculinity; Economy – prices/wages; Emotions – joy; Politics – general. One porter advises the rest that their vocation properly involves drinking strong beer, spending their money freely, socialising and ignoring all thoughts of tomorrow (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, in between two other men).
ROGER'S Delight: OR, The WEST-Country Christning, and Gossipping (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96). Pepys 4.290; EBBA 21952. Family – pregnancy/childbirth, children/parents; Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship; Gender – marriage, femininity, masculinity; Employment – female/male, professions; Society – neighbours; Bodies – physique; Emotions – joy. This describes the birth of a child, complete with the summoning of the midwife and the neighbourly festivity that surrounds the event (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, to the left of a woman riding side-saddle).
THE Unfortunate Fencer; OR, The Couragious Farmer of Gloucester-shire (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96). Pepys 4.358; EBBA 22022. Violence – interpersonal; Gender – masculinity; Humour – extreme situations/surprises, mockery; Society – rural life, urban life; Places – English, travel; Recreation – games/sports, music; Emotions – excitement. A conceited London swordsman goes on tour but is soundly beaten and deeply humiliated by a brave farmer in Gloucester (picture placement: he stands beneath the title and to the right of a fine gentleman with a stick).
The Unfortunate Lover (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, J. Back, 1688-96). Pepys 3.96; EBBA 21098. Gender – courtship, masculinity; Humour – mockery; Bodies – physique; Emotions – longing, love, sorrow; Nature - animals. A man laments the fact that he cannot locate his sweet-heart (picture placement: he gestures towards a buxom maiden).
THE Broken VINTNER of London: With a Brief Account of his Flight into the Country to Chouse His Creditors (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96). Pepys 4.291; EBBA 21953. Politics – controversy, domestic, foreign affairs; Religion – Catholic/Protestant; Employment – crafts/trades; Gender – masculinity; Violence – interpresonal; Places – English, travel; Recreation – alcohol; Emotions – anger, patriotism; Economy – hardship. A Jacobite vintner flees London to avoid paying certain debts, but makes the mistake of engaging a patriotic countryman in political debate when he stops in a tavern (picture placement: he stands beneath the title, approached from the left by a man on horseback).
Christopher Marsh
Back to contentsNone of the additional songs listed below is closely related to The Woman to the PLOW in terms of precise verbal content but they all tell essentially the same story and so are worth considering in relation to our featured ballad.
Precursors include the songs commonly known today as ‘The ballad of the tyrannical husband’ and ‘The wife of Auctermuchty’ (a Scottish example). Both are similar to Parker’s hit ballad in tone and trajectory, though the earlier songs are also distinguished from it in several aspects: the husband is more clearly represented as bad-tempered; after the role-swap is agreed, the wife lists the domestic tasks that her husband will need to perform; and she also sabotages his efforts to make butter by tampering with the equipment. Parker not only omitted these details in The Woman to the PLOW but also increased the attention paid to the wife’s unsuccessful attempts to perform her husband’s duties.
Folk-song versions of the story from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries often share with the late-medieval sources the wife’s listing of tasks and the emphasis on the husband’s cantankerous nature but the sabotage device is not regularly encountered. As in ‘The ballad of the tyrannical husband’ and ‘The wife of Auctermuchty’, the emphasis is upon the man’s faults in confronting his wife and in failing to perform her tasks adequately during the experiment. In some of the folk songs, his failings contrast sharply with the woman’s competence in taking on the male roles (one title is ‘The capable wife’).
In comparison to other texts, Parker’s ballad might therefore be said to have reduced slightly the criticism of the husband by paying attention to the equal and opposite shortcomings of the wife, perhaps reflecting his determination to attract ‘Both men and women’ (see also Song history). It is also possible, however, that audiences would have taken for granted a particularly hostile attitude to the man – and Parker certainly shows no sympathy for him - because they already knew the story from other sources. The celebrated author was clearly working with a well-established narrative, and his song seems to be an excellent example of an orally-circulating story that was transformed into a material object for the expanding ballad market.
Christopher Marsh
Texts (in chronological order)
Anon, ‘Jhesu that arte jentylle, for joye of Thy dame’ (first line), usually known as ‘The ballad of the tyrannical husband’ (late fifteenth century): https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/salisbury-trials-and-joys-ballad-of-a-tyrannical-husband
‘Mofat’ (author), ‘In Awchtirmwchty thair dwelt ane man’’ (first line), usually known as ‘The wife of Auchtermuchty’, The Bannatyne manuscript. Writtin in tyme of pest 1568, ed. W. Tod Ritchie, Scottish Text Society publications, 4 vols. (1928-34), vol. 2 (1928), pp. 320-24.
Martin Parker, The Woman to the PLOW; And the Man to the HEN-ROOST... The Tune is, I have for all good Wives a Song (c. 1629).
Nineteenth- and twentieth-century songs that told the same story have been recorded under various titles, including ‘The capable wife’, ‘The churlish husband’, ‘John Grumlie’, ‘Old Grumbly Crust’, ‘Hickerknocker’, ‘Old Dorrington’, ‘The teeny cow’ and ‘The wealthy farmer’: Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, https://www.vwml.org/ [search for Roud number 281 but see also V11690 and 5361].
The Woman to the PLOW;/ And the Man to the HEN-ROOST;/ OR,/ A fine way to cure a Cot-quean.
The Tune Is, I have for all good Wives a Song.
[We have not made a recording because the tune is unknown]
BOth Men and Women listen well
a merry Jest I will you tell,
Betwixt a Good=man and a Wife,
Who fell the other day at strife,
He chid her for her Huswivery,
And she found fault as well as he.
With him for’s work without the doors,
Quoth he, a pox on all such whors,
Sith you and I cannot agree,
Let’s change our work content quoth she
My wheel and Distaff here take thou,
And I will drive the Cart and Plow.
This was concluded twixt them both,
To Cart and Plow the good=wife go’th.
The good=man he at home doth tarry,
To see that nothing doth miscarry,
An apron he before him put,
Judge, was not this a hansome Slut,
He fleets the Milk, he makes the Cheese
He gropes the Hens, the Turks & Gees,
He Brews & Bakes as wel as he can,
But not as it should be done, poor man,
As he did make his Cheese one day,
Two pigs their belys brake with whay.
Nothing that he in hand did take,
Did come to good, once he did Bake,
And burn’d the Bread as black as a stock
Another time he went to rock
The Cradle, and threw the Child o’th floor,
And brok his Nose, and hurt it sore.
He went to Milk one evening tide,
A skittish Cow on the wrong side,
His pail was full of Milk, God wot,
She kickt and spilt it every jot,
Besides she hit him a blow o’th face,
Which was scant whol in six weeks space
Thus was he serv’d, and yet too well,
And more mischances yet befell,
Before his Apron he’d leave off,
Though all his Neighbors did him scoff,
Now list and mark one pretty jest,
‘Twill make you laugh above all the rest.
As he to Churn his Butter went,
One morning with a good intent,
The Cot=quean fool did surely dream,
For he had quite forgot the Cream,
He churn’d al day, with all his might,
And yet he could get no Butter at night.
The second part, to the same tune.
TWere strange indeed for me to utter
that without Cream he should make buter
Now having shewd his Huswivery,
Who did all things thus oukwardly,
Unto the Good=wife Ile turn my Rime,
And tell you how she spent her time.
She daily us’d to drive the Plow,
But to do’t well she knew not how,
She made so many bank i’th ground
He had been better have given five pound
That she had never tan’t in hand,
So sorely she had spoild his Land.
As she did sow the seed likewise,
She made a feast for Crows and Pies,
She threw a handful at a place,
And left all bare another space,
At th’Harrow she could not rule her Mare
But hid one Land and left two bare.
And shortly after on a day,
As she came home with a load of Hay,
She overthrew it, nay and worse
She broke the Cart, and kild a Horse.
The good-man the same time had ill luck,
He let in the Sow, and she kil’d a Duck.
And being grieved at his heart,
For losse ons Duck, his Horse and Cart,
And many hurts on both sides done,
His eyes did with salt water run,
O now quoth he full well I see,
The Wheel’s for her, the Plow for me.
I thee intreat quoth he good Wife,
To take thy charge, and all my life,
Ile never meddle with Huswivery more,
Nor find such faults as I did before,
Give me the Car=whip and the Flaile,
take thou the Churn and Milking=pail.
The good=Wife she was well content,
And about her Huswivery she went,
He to Hedging and to Ditching,
Reaping, Mowing, Lading, Pitching,
He would be twatling still before,
But after that he nere twatled more.
I wish all Wives that troubled be,
With Hose and Dublet, Huswivery,
To serve them as this Woman did,
Then may they work and nere be chid,
Though she i’th interim had some losse,
Thereby she was eas’d of a crosse.
Take heed of this you Husbandmen,
Let Wives alone to grope the Hen,
And meddle you with the Horse and Oxe
And keep your Lambs from Wolfe & Fox
So shall you live contented lives
And take sweet pleasure in your wives.
FINIS M. P.
London, Printed for F. Grove, dwelling/ on Snow-Hill.
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: not included.
Appearances on Ballad Partners' lists: Coles, Vere, Wright and Clarke, 1675; and Thackeray, 1689.
Other registrations with Stationers' Company: 1629.
No. of known editions c.1560-1711: 5
No. of extant copies: 9
New tune-titles generated: 'The woman to the plow and the man to the hen-roost' (1 ballad).
Specially-commissioned woodcuts: none known.
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library databases: 5 references, with no evidence of later collection as a folk-song (Roud no. V11690).
POINTS: 0 + 10 + 5 + 10 + 9 + 2 + 0 + 0 = 36
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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