garred him squaik.

Then cam in the carl cat,
Wi' a fiddle on his back.
'Want ye ony music here?'

The puddy he swam doun the brook;
The drake he catched him in his fluke.

The cat he pu'd Lord Rotten doun;
The kittens they did claw his croun.

But Lady Mouse, baith jimp and sma',
Crept into a hole beneath the wa';
'Squeak!' quoth she, 'I'm weel awa.'"

Doubtless Ravenscroft's version is more ancient. A ballad entitled "A
most strange weddinge of the frogge and the mouse" was licensed for
printing in 1580.

_Page_ 65. "Lady, when I behold."--Gracefully Paraphrased from an
Italian original:--

"Quand' io miro le rose,
Ch'in voi natura pose;
E quelle che v' ha l'arte
Nel vago seno sparte;
Non so conoscer poi
Se voi le rose, o sian le rose in voi."

_Page_ 66. John Danyel is supposed to have been a brother of Samuel
Daniel, the poet. He took his degree of Bachelor of Music in 1604. "At
the commencement of the reign of Charles the First he was one of the
Court Musicians, and his name occurs among the 'Musicians for the Lutes
and Voices' in a privy seal, dated December 20th, 1625, exempting the
musicians belonging to the Court from the payment of subsidies"
(Rimbault).

_Page_ 68. "Then all at once _for our town_ cries."--"I should imagine,"
says Oliphant, "that there was occasionally a sort of friendly
contention in the sports between neighbouring villages; which idea is
rather corroborated by a passage from an old play called the
'Vow-breaker' by Samson, 1636: 'Let the major play the hobby-horse an'
he will; I hope _our Town lads_ cannot want a hobby-horse.'" In an old
play. "The Country Girl," (first printed in 1647), attributed to that
shadowy personage Antony Brewer, we have an allusion to this pleasant
form of rivalry:--

"_Abraham._ Sister Gillian,--I have the rarest news for you.

_Gillian._ For me? 'tis well. And what news have you got, sir?

_Abr._ Skipping news, lipping news, tripping news.

_Gil._ How! dancing, brother Abram, dancing?

_Abr._ Prancing, advancing, dancing. Nay, 'tis a match, a
match upon a wager.

_Gil._ A match. Who be they?

_Abr._ Why all the wenches of _our town_ Edmonton, and all the
mad wenches of Waltham.

_Gil._ A match, and leave me out! When, when is't, brother?

_Abr._ Marry, e'en this morning:--they are now going to't
helter-skelter. [_A treble