Ancient Poems [52]
and small; And what is worse for mother still, I'm the oldest of them all. Though little, I'll work as hard as a Turk, If you'll give me employ, To plow and sow, and reap and mow, And be a farmer's boy.
'And if that you won't me employ, One favour I've to ask, - Will you shelter me, till break of day, From this cold winter's blast? At break of day, I'll trudge away Elsewhere to seek employ, To plow and sow, and reap and mow, And be a farmer's boy.'
'Come, try the lad,' the mistress said, 'Let him no further seek.' 'O, do, dear father!' the daughter cried, While tears ran down her cheek: 'He'd work if he could, so 'tis hard to want food, And wander for employ; Don't turn him away, but let him stay, And be a farmer's boy.'
And when the lad became a man, The good old farmer died, And left the lad the farm he had, And his daughter for his bride. The lad that was, the farm now has, Oft smiles, and thinks with joy Of the lucky day he came that way, To be a farmer's boy.
Ballad: RICHARD OF TAUNTON DEAN; OR, DUMBLE DUM DEARY.
[THIS song is very popular with the country people in every part of England, but more particularly with the inhabitants of the counties of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. The chorus is peculiar to country songs of the West of England. There are many different versions. The following one, communicated by Mr. Sandys, was taken down from the singing of an old blind fiddler, 'who,' says Mr. Sandys, 'used to accompany it on his instrument in an original and humorous manner; a representative of the old minstrels!' The air is in POPULAR MUSIC. In Halliwell's NURSERY RHYMES OF ENGLAND there is a version of this song, called RICHARD OF DALTON DALE.
The popularity of this West-country song has extended even to Ireland, as appears from two Irish versions, supplied by the late Mr. T. Crofton Croker. One of them is entitled LAST NEW-YEAR'S DAY, and is printed by Haly, Hanover-street, Cork. It follows the English song almost verbatim, with the exception of the first and second verses, which we subjoin:-
'Last New-Year's day, as I heard say, Dick mounted on his dapple gray; He mounted high and he mounted low, Until he came to SWEET RAPHOE! Sing fal de dol de ree, Fol de dol, righ fol dee. 'My buckskin does I did put on, My spladdery clogs, TO SAVE MY BROGUES! And in my pocket a lump of bread, And round my hat a ribbon red.'
The other version is entitled DICKY OF BALLYMAN, and a note informs us that 'Dicky of Ballyman's sirname was Byrne!' As our readers may like to hear how the Somersetshire bumpkin behaved after he had located himself in the town of Ballyman, and taken the sirname of Byrne, we give the whole of his amatory adventures in the sister- island. We discover from them, INTER ALIA, that he had found 'the best of friends' in his 'Uncle,' - that he had made a grand discovery in natural history, viz., that a rabbit is a FOWL! - that he had taken the temperance pledge, which, however, his Mistress Ann had certainly not done; and, moreover, that he had become an enthusiast in potatoes!
DICKY OF BALLYMAN.
'On New-Year's day, as I heard say, Dicky he saddled his dapple gray; He put on his Sunday clothes, His scarlet vest, and his new made hose. Diddle dum di, diddle dum do, Diddle dum di, diddle dum do.
'He rode till he came to Wilson Hall, There he rapped, and loud did call; Mistress Ann came down straightway, And asked him what he had to say?
''Don't you know me, Mistress Ann? I am Dicky of Ballyman; An honest lad, though I am poor, - I never was in love before.
''I have an uncle, the best of friends, Sometimes to me a fat rabbit he sends; And many other dainty fowl, To please my life, my joy, my soul.
''Sometimes I reap, sometimes I mow, And to the market I do go, To sell my father's corn and hay, - I earn my sixpence every day!'
''Oh, Dicky! you go beneath your mark, - You only wander in the dark; Sixpence a day will never do, I must have silks, and satins, too!
''Besides, Dicky, I must have tea For my breakfast, every day;
'And if that you won't me employ, One favour I've to ask, - Will you shelter me, till break of day, From this cold winter's blast? At break of day, I'll trudge away Elsewhere to seek employ, To plow and sow, and reap and mow, And be a farmer's boy.'
'Come, try the lad,' the mistress said, 'Let him no further seek.' 'O, do, dear father!' the daughter cried, While tears ran down her cheek: 'He'd work if he could, so 'tis hard to want food, And wander for employ; Don't turn him away, but let him stay, And be a farmer's boy.'
And when the lad became a man, The good old farmer died, And left the lad the farm he had, And his daughter for his bride. The lad that was, the farm now has, Oft smiles, and thinks with joy Of the lucky day he came that way, To be a farmer's boy.
Ballad: RICHARD OF TAUNTON DEAN; OR, DUMBLE DUM DEARY.
[THIS song is very popular with the country people in every part of England, but more particularly with the inhabitants of the counties of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. The chorus is peculiar to country songs of the West of England. There are many different versions. The following one, communicated by Mr. Sandys, was taken down from the singing of an old blind fiddler, 'who,' says Mr. Sandys, 'used to accompany it on his instrument in an original and humorous manner; a representative of the old minstrels!' The air is in POPULAR MUSIC. In Halliwell's NURSERY RHYMES OF ENGLAND there is a version of this song, called RICHARD OF DALTON DALE.
The popularity of this West-country song has extended even to Ireland, as appears from two Irish versions, supplied by the late Mr. T. Crofton Croker. One of them is entitled LAST NEW-YEAR'S DAY, and is printed by Haly, Hanover-street, Cork. It follows the English song almost verbatim, with the exception of the first and second verses, which we subjoin:-
'Last New-Year's day, as I heard say, Dick mounted on his dapple gray; He mounted high and he mounted low, Until he came to SWEET RAPHOE! Sing fal de dol de ree, Fol de dol, righ fol dee. 'My buckskin does I did put on, My spladdery clogs, TO SAVE MY BROGUES! And in my pocket a lump of bread, And round my hat a ribbon red.'
The other version is entitled DICKY OF BALLYMAN, and a note informs us that 'Dicky of Ballyman's sirname was Byrne!' As our readers may like to hear how the Somersetshire bumpkin behaved after he had located himself in the town of Ballyman, and taken the sirname of Byrne, we give the whole of his amatory adventures in the sister- island. We discover from them, INTER ALIA, that he had found 'the best of friends' in his 'Uncle,' - that he had made a grand discovery in natural history, viz., that a rabbit is a FOWL! - that he had taken the temperance pledge, which, however, his Mistress Ann had certainly not done; and, moreover, that he had become an enthusiast in potatoes!
DICKY OF BALLYMAN.
'On New-Year's day, as I heard say, Dicky he saddled his dapple gray; He put on his Sunday clothes, His scarlet vest, and his new made hose. Diddle dum di, diddle dum do, Diddle dum di, diddle dum do.
'He rode till he came to Wilson Hall, There he rapped, and loud did call; Mistress Ann came down straightway, And asked him what he had to say?
''Don't you know me, Mistress Ann? I am Dicky of Ballyman; An honest lad, though I am poor, - I never was in love before.
''I have an uncle, the best of friends, Sometimes to me a fat rabbit he sends; And many other dainty fowl, To please my life, my joy, my soul.
''Sometimes I reap, sometimes I mow, And to the market I do go, To sell my father's corn and hay, - I earn my sixpence every day!'
''Oh, Dicky! you go beneath your mark, - You only wander in the dark; Sixpence a day will never do, I must have silks, and satins, too!
''Besides, Dicky, I must have tea For my breakfast, every day;