SONGS AND SINGING
93
other catches, is anonymous, and is of some date long before Shakespeare.
As You 53, 7.
| Touchstone. | By my troth, well met. Come, sit, sit, and a song. |
| 2 Page. | We are for you; sit i' the middle. |
| 1 Page. | Shall we clap into 't roundly without hawk- ing, or spitting, or saying we are hoarse, which are the only prologues to a bad voice? |
| 2 Page. | I' faith, i' faith; and both in a tune, like two gipsies on a horse. |
[Song follows, 'It was a lover.' Could be sung as a two-part madrigal quite easily. See Bridge's 'Shakespeare Songs,' for Morley's original setting.]
| Touch. | Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable. |
| 1 Page. | You are deceived, sir; we kept time; we lost not our time. |
| Touch. | By my troth, yes; I count it but time lost to hear such a foolish song. God be wi' you; and God mend your voices. Come, Audrey. |
The First Page's speech at l. 9. is most humorously appropriate. 'Both in a tune, like two gipsies on a horse,' is a quaint description of a duet. There is yet another pun on 'lost time' in ll. 36–8.
Jaques' cynicism comes out even in his limited, dealings with music.
