Part 10

This song, says Mr Chappell, in his Popular Music of the Olden Time, which describes with some humour the taste of the Puritans, might pass for a Puritan song, if it were not contained in the “Shepherds’ Oracles,” by Francis Quarles, 1646. He was cup-bearer to Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I., and afterwards chronologer to the city of London. He died in 1644, and his Shepherds’ Oracles were a posthumous publication. It was often reprinted during the Restoration, and reproduced and slightly altered by Thomas Durfey, in his “Pills to Purge Melancholy,” where the burthen is, “Hey, boys, up go we.”

KNOW this, my brethren, heaven is clear, And all the clouds are gone; The righteous man shall flourish now, Good days are coming on. Then come, my brethren, and be glad, And eke rejoyce with me; Lawn sleeves and rochets shall go down, And hey, then, up go we.

We’ll break the windows which the whore Of Babylon hath painted, And when the popish saints are down Then Barrow shall be sainted; There’s neither cross nor crucifix Shall stand for men to see, Rome’s trash and trumpery shall go down, And hey, then, up go we.

Whate’er the Popish hands have built Our hammers shall undo; We’ll break their pipes and burn their copes, And pull down churches too; We’ll exercise within the groves, And teach beneath a tree; We’ll make a pulpit of a cask, And hey, then, up go we.

We’ll put down Universities, Where learning is profest, Because they practise and maintain The language of the Beast; We’ll drive the doctors out of doors, And all that learned be; We’ll cry all arts and learning down, And hey, then, up go we.

We’ll down with deans and prebends, too, And I rejoyce to tell ye We then shall get our fill of pig, And capons for the belly. We’ll burn the Fathers’ weighty tomes, And make the School-men flee; We’ll down with all that smells of wit, And hey, then, up go we.

If once the Antichristian crew Be crush’d and overthrown, We’ll teach the nobles how to stoop, And keep the gentry down: Good manners have an ill report, And turn to pride, we see, We’ll therefore put good manners down, And hey, then, up go we.

The name of lords shall be abhorr’d, For every man’s a brother; No reason why in Church and State One man should rule another; But when the change of government Shall set our fingers free, We’ll make these wanton sisters stoop, And hey, then, up go we.

What though the King and Parliament Do not accord together, We have more cause to be content, This is our sunshine weather: For if that reason should take place, And they should once agree, Who would be in a Roundhead’s case, For hey, then, up go we.

What should we do, then, in this case? Let’s put it to a venture; If that we hold out seven years’ space We’ll sue out our indenture. A time may come to make us rue, And time may set us free, Except the gallows claim his due, And hey, then, up go we.

THE CLEAN CONTRARY WAY, OR, COLONEL VENNE’S ENCOURAGEMENT TO HIS SOLDIERS.

To the air of “Hey, then, up go we.” From a Collection of Loyal Songs written against the Rump Parliament.

FIGHT on, brave soldiers, for the cause, Fear not the Cavaliers; Their threat’nings are as senseless as Our jealousies and fears. Tis you must perfect this great work, And all malignants slay; You must bring back the King again The clean contrary way.

’Tis for religion that you fight, And for the kingdom’s good; By robbing churches, plundering them, And shedding guiltless blood. Down with the orthodoxal train, All loyal subjects slay; When these are gone, we shall be blest The clean contrary way.

When Charles we have made bankrupt, Of power and crown bereft him, And all his loyal subjects slain, And none but rebels left him; When we have beggar’d all the land, And sent our trunks away, We’ll make him then a glorious prince The clean contrary way.

’Tis to preserve his Majesty That we against him fight, Nor ever are we beaten back, Because our cause is right: If any make a scruple at Our Declarations, say,— Who fight for us, fight for the King The clean contrary way.

At Keinton, Brainsford, Plymouth, York, And divers places more, What victories we saints obtain, The like ne’er seen before: How often we Prince Rupert kill’d, And bravely won the day, The wicked Cavaliers did run The clean contrary way.

The true religion we maintain, The kingdom’s peace and plenty; The privilege of Parliament Not known to one and twenty; The ancient fundamental laws, And teach men to obey Their lawful sovereign, and all these The clean contrary way.

We subjects’ liberties preserve By imprisonment and plunder, And do enrich ourselves and state By keeping th’ wicked under. We must preserve mechanicks now To lectorize and pray; By them the gospel is advanced The clean contrary way.

And though the King be much misled By that malignant crew, He’ll find us honest at the last, Give all of us our due. For we do wisely plot, and plot Rebellion to alloy, He sees we stand for peace and truth The clean contrary way.

The publick faith shall save our souls And our good works together; And ships shall save our lives, that stay Only for wind and weather: But when our faith and works fall down And all our hopes decay, Our acts will bear us up to heaven The clean contrary way.

THE CAMERONIAN CAT.

A well-known song from Hogg’s Jacobite Relics; and popular among the Cavaliers both of England and Scotland in the days of the Commonwealth. It was usually sung to a psalm tune; the singers imitating the style and manner of a precentor at a Presbyterian church.

THERE was a Cameronian cat Was hunting for a prey, And in the house she catch’d a mouse Upon the Sabbath-day.

The Whig, being offended At such an act profane, Laid by his book, the cat he took, And bound her in a chain.

Thou damn’d, thou cursed creature, This deed so dark with thee, Think’st thou to bring to hell below My holy wife and me?

Assure thyself that for the deed Thou blood for blood shalt pay, For killing of the Lord’s own mouse Upon the Sabbath-day.

The presbyter laid by the book, And earnestly he pray’d That the great sin the cat had done Might not on him be laid.