Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Popular music of the olden time > Volume 2

REIGN OF CHARLES II.
509
The king, with wonder and surprise,
Will swear the seas grow bold ;
Because the tides will higher rise,
Than e'er they did of old :
But let him know it is our tears
Brings floods of grief to Whitehall stairs.
With a fa la, &c.
Should foggy Opdam chance to know
Our sad and dismal story ;
The Dutch would scorn so weak a foe,
And quit their fort at Goree :
For what resistance can they find
From men who've left their hearts behind?
With a fa la, &c.
Let wind and weather do its worst,
Be you to us but kind ;
Let Dutchmen vapour, Spaniards curse,
No sorrow shall we find :
'Tis then no matter how things go,
Or who's our friend, or who's our foe,
With a fa la, &c.
To pass our tedious hours away,
We throw a merry main ;
Or else at serious ombre play ;
But why should we in vain
Each other's ruin thus pursue ?
We were undone when we left you.
With a fa la, &c.
But now our fears tempestuous grow,
And cast our hopes away :
Whilst you regardless of our woe,
Sit careless at a play :
Perhaps permit some happier man
To kiss your hand, or flirt your fan.
With a fa la, &c.
When any mournful tune you hear,
That dies in every note ;
As if it sigh'd with each man's care,
For being so remote :
Think then how often love we've made
To you, when all those tunes were play'd.
With a fa la, &c.
In justice you cannot refuse,
To think of our distress ;
When we for hopes of honour lose
Our certain happiness ;
All those designs are hut to prove
Ourselves more worthy of your love.
With a fa la, &c.
And now we've told you all our loves,
And likewise all our fears ;
In hopes this declaration moves
Some pity for our tears ;
Let's hear of no inconstancy,
We have too much of that at sea.
With a fa la, &c.
THE FAIR ONE LET ME IN.
A black-letter copy of this ballad in the Koxburghe Collection, ii. 240, is
entitled, " Kind Lady ; or, The Loves of Stella and Adonis : A new court song,
much iD request. To a new tune, or Hey, boys, up go we, The Charming Nymph,
or Jenny, gin." It commences —
" The night her blackest sables wore," &c.
The " new tune " soon became popular, and many other ballads were sung to it.
In the same volume of the Roxburghe Collection are " The Good Fellow's
Frolic ; or, Kent Street Club : To the tune of TJie fair one let me in, p. 198 ; —
" The love-sick Maid of Wapping," p. 295 ; — and a third ballad at p. 270.
In the Douce Collection, p. 55, is " The despairing Maiden reviv'd by the
return of her dearest love," &c. " To the tune of The fair one let me in, or
Busy Fame, or Jenny, gin;" commencing —
" As I walkt forth to take the air, And for to view the lilies fair,
One morning in the Spring, To hear the small birds sing," &c.
The words of the original song, " The night her blackest sables wore," or " The
fair one let me in," were written by D'Urfey, and the tune composed by Thomas
Farmer. They were published together in "A new Collection of Songs and
Poems, by Thomas D'Urfey, Gent. Printed for Joseph Hindmarsh, at the Black