Part I., p. 2 [our p. 195.] _A Puritan of late.

Compare John Cleveland’s “Zealous Discourse between the Independent-Parson and Tabitha,” “Hail Sister,” &c. (_J. C. Revived_, 1662, p. 108); and also the superior piece of humour, beginning, “I came unto a Puritan to wooe,” _M. D., C._, p. 77. The following description of the earlier sort of Precisian, ridiculous but not yet dangerous, is by Richard Brathwaite, and was printed in 1615:—

_To the Precisian._

_For the Precisian that dares hardly looke,_ _(Because th’ art pure, forsooth) on any booke,_ _Save Homilies, and such as tend to th’ good_ _Of thee and of thy zealous brother-hood:_ _Know my Time-noting lines ayme not at thee,_ _For thou art too too curious for mee._ _I will not taxe that man that’s wont to slay_ “His Cat for killing mise on th’ Sabbath day:[”] _No; know my resolution it is thus,_ _I’de rather be thy foe then be thy pus:_ _And more should I gaine by’t: for I see,_ _The daily fruits of thy fraternity:_ _Yea, I perceiue why thou my booke should shun,_ _“Because there’s many faultes th’ art guiltie on:”_ _Therefore with-drawe, by me thou art not call’d,_ _Yet do not winch (good iade) when thou art gall’d,_ _I to the better sort my lines display,_ _I pray thee then keep thou thy selfe away._

(_A Strappado for the Diuell_, 1615.)

The sixth line offers another illustration of what has been ably demonstrated by J. O. Halliwell, commenting on the “_too-too_ solid flesh” of _Hamlet_, Act i. sc. 2, in Shakespeare Soc. Papers, i. 39-43, 1844.

By it being printed within double quotational commas, we see that the reference to a Puritan hanging his cat on a Monday, for having profanely caught a mouse on the Sabbath-Sunday, was already an old and familiar joke in 1615. James Hogg garbled a ballad in his _Jacobite Relics_, 1819, i. 37, as “_There was a ~Cameronian~ Cat, Was hunting for a prey_,” &c., but we have a printed copy of it, dated 1749, beginning “_A ~Presbyterian~ Cat sat watching of her prey_.” Also, in a poem “On Lute-strings, Cat-eaten,” we read:—

_Puss, I will curse thee, maist thou dwell_ _With some dry Hermit in a Cel,_ _Where Rat ne’re peep’d, where Mouse ne’er fed,_ _And Flies go supperlesse to bed:_ _Or with some close par’d Brother, where_ _Thou’lt fast each Sabbath in the yeare,_ _Or else, profane, be hang’d on Monday,_ _For butchering a Mouse on Sunday_, &c.

(_Musarum Deliciæ_, 1656, _p._ 53.)

John Taylor, the Water-Poet, so early as 1620, writes of a Brownist:—

_The Spirit still directs him how to pray,_ _Nor will he dress his meat the Sabbath day,_ _Which doth a mighty mystery unfold;_ _His zeale is hot, although his meat be cold._ _Suppose his Cat on Sunday kill’d a rat,_ _She on the Monday must be hang’d for that._

(J. P. C.’s _Bibl. Acc._, ii. 418.)

Page 11 [our 197]. _I dreamt my Love, &c._

In the _Percy Folio MS._ (about 1650) p. 480; E. E. T. S., iv. 102, with a few variations, one of which we have noted in margin of p. 181. The industrious editors of the printed text of the _Percy Folio MS._ were not aware of the fact that many of the shorter pieces were already to be found in print; but this is no wonder. They are not easy to discover (see next p. 352), and although we ourselves note occasionally “not found elsewhere,” it is with the remembrance that a happy “find” may yet reward a continuous search hereafter. We do not despair of recovering even the lost line of “The Time-Poets.”

Page 12 [our 198]. _Now ~Lambert’s~ sunk, &c._

In the 1662 edit. of the _Rump_, i. 330, and in _Loyal Sgs._, 1731, i. 219. It may have been written so early as Jan. 15th, 1659-60, when Col. Lambert had submitted to the Parliament, on finding the troops disinclined to support him unanimously. Another ballad made this inuendo:—

_~John Lambert~ at ~Oliver’s~ Chair did roare,_ _And thinks it but reason upon this score,_ _That ~Cromwell~ had sitten in his before;_ _Still blessed Reformation._

(_Rump_, ii. 99.)

Fairfax had returned to his house, and to Monk were given the thanks of the rescued Parliament. As M. de Bordeaux writes of him to Card. Mazarin, at this exact date, “he is now the most powerful subject in the whole nation. Fleetwood, Desborough, and all the others of the same faction are entirely out of employment” (Guizot’s _Monk_, 1851, p. 156). Although no mention or definite allusion seems made in the ballad to Monk’s attack on the London defences, Feb. 9th, we incline to think this may be nearer to the true date: if it refers to the oath of abjuration, of Feb. 4th, which was offered to Monk, as on March 1st. “Arthur’s Court” is an allusion to Sir Arthur Haselrig, “a rapacious, head-strong, and conceited agitator” (_Ibid._, p. 37). Monk had not publicly declared himself for the King until May; but he was seen to be opposed to the Rump by 11th Feb., when its effigies were enthusiastically burnt. Richard Cromwell’s abdication had been, virtually, April 22nd, 1659.

Page 32 [204]. _A young man walking all alone._

This is another of the songs contained in the _Percy Folio MS_. (p. 460;