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English Song and Ballad Music.
In Shadwell’s Epsom Wells, 1673, Clodpate sings “the old song, Lay by your pleading, Law lies a bleeding;’ and perhaps Whitlock had the other song in his mind when he said, “Both truth and love lie a bleeding.” (Zootomia, or Present Manners of the English, 1654.)
The title of the ballad is “Love lies a bleeding:
By whose mortal wounds you may soon understand,
What sorrow we suffer since love left the land.
What sorrow we suffer since love left the land.
To the tune of The Cyclops.”
When we love did nourish, England did flourish,
Till holy hate came in and made us all so currish;
Now every widgeon talks of religion,
But doth as little good as Mahomet and his pigeon.
Till holy hate came in and made us all so currish;
Now every widgeon talks of religion,
But doth as little good as Mahomet and his pigeon.
Each coxcomb is suiting his words for confuting,
But heaven’s sooner gain’d by suff’ring than disputing;
True friendship we smother, and strike at our brother,
Apostles never went to God by killing one another.
But heaven’s sooner gain’d by suff’ring than disputing;
True friendship we smother, and strike at our brother,
Apostles never went to God by killing one another.
He that doth know me, and love will shew me,
Finds the nearest and the noblest way to overcome me;
He that hath bound me, or that doth wound me,
Winneth not my heart, he doth but conquer, not confound me.
Finds the nearest and the noblest way to overcome me;
He that hath bound me, or that doth wound me,
Winneth not my heart, he doth but conquer, not confound me.
In such condition, love is physician,
True love and reason make the purest politician;
But strife and confusion, deceit and delusion,
Though they seem to thrive at first, will make a sad conclusion, &c.
True love and reason make the purest politician;
But strife and confusion, deceit and delusion,
Though they seem to thrive at first, will make a sad conclusion, &c.
