2°'! S. VII. May 14. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



391 



that it bad been written and dropped by the doc- 

 tor), and that, having put a tune to it, he would 

 sing it, which he did. The song began thus: — 



" God bless all good kings and queens, 

 If such there be : 



But, if it should please Him to d n them all, 



'Twere all the same to me." 



Then followed a jocular narrative ii> verse re- 

 presenting the then King George III. (under the 

 character of '■'■Farmer George"), selling rotten 

 mutton to a butcher of Windsor ; and then another 

 of the supposed parsimony of the then Queen 

 Charlotte, under the character of a laundress, 

 washing and getting up her soiled lace with her 

 own hands. And at the end of every stanza the 

 above introductory verses were sung, and joined 

 in by all the company as a chorus or refrain, and 

 this was done with great gusto. 



The amusements of the evening, aided by 

 punch served in large rummer glasses, consisted 

 chiefly of political and other songs, jests, vulgar 

 stories, indelicate anecdotes, and offensive personal 

 jokes ; which impressed me with the lowest pos- 

 sible estimate of the social and moral character of 

 the party, as my notes will justify. Dr. W. 

 and a few others were rather more staid and 

 well-behaved than the rest ; and it was this occa- 

 sion to which I referred in " N. & Q.," 2""* S. iv. 

 103. as to a hon mot of Peter Pindar. In my sub- 

 sequent reflections, I could not but contrast the 

 vulgar and fierce character of this Jacobin song 

 with the milder and more gentlemanlike tone of 

 the following verses, attributed to the old Jaco- 

 bite party, and said to be often given at their 

 meetings : — 



" God bless the King ! I mean the Faith's Defender ; 



God bless — no harm in blessing — the Pretender ; 

 Who that Pretender is, and who is King, 



God bless us all ! that's quite another thing." * 



Does anyone know whether the Jacobin song 

 referred to has ever appeared in print, or been 

 heard since that night in 1800? P. H. F, 



lovklace's lucasta. 



There is no lover of poetry who can be unac- 

 fjuainted Avith the following exquisite song by 

 Colonel Richard Lovelace, published in a volume 

 of poems by him with the title oi '■'• Lucasta : Epodes, 

 Odes, Son7iets, Soncrs, Sfe. Lond, 1649. 8vo." The 

 late Dr. Bliss had in his " little collection," as he 

 calls it, a manuscript copy of this song, in all 

 appearance contemporary with the author. As it 

 differs in many places from that published by 

 Dr. Percy in his Reliques of Ancient English 

 Poetry, and is a considerable improvement in 



[* Bv John Bvrom the Nonjuror. See "N. & Q." 1»» 



S. V. 37l>.] 



several lines, it may be worthy of insertion in 

 ",N. & Q." 



" His beings in Prison. 



" When Loue, with vnconfined winges, 



Houer'd within my gates. 

 And my diuine Althea bringes 



To whisper at mj' grates ; 

 When I lye tangled in her hayre, 



And fettered in her eve, — 

 The birds, that wautonin the ayre, 



Know not such libertie. 

 " When flowing cupps runno swiftly round 



With no allaj-ing theames, 

 Our careless heades with roses bound, 



Our heartes with loyall flames ; 

 When thirsty griefes in wine we steope, 



When healths and draughts arc fr(;e, — 

 Fishes, that tipple iu the deepe, 



Know no such libertie. 

 " When, like committed linnets, I 



With shriller notes shall singe, 

 The sweetnes, merc}', majestic, 



And glories of my Kinge ; 

 When I shall voyce aloud how good. 



He is, and great should be, — 

 Enlarged winds that curie the flood 



Know no such libertie. 

 " Stone walls doe not a prison make, 



Nor iron barres a cage, 

 A spotlesse mind and innocent 



Calls that an hermitage ; 

 If I haue freedome in my loue 



And iu my soule am free, — 

 Angells alone that are aboue 



Enjoy such libertie." 



The reason why Lovelace gave the volume the 

 title of Lucasta was because some time before he 

 had made his amours to a gentlewoman of great 

 beauty and fortune named Lucy Sacheverel, whom 

 he usually called Lux casta ; but she, upon a strong 

 report that Lovelace was dead of a wound received 

 at Dunkirk, soon after married. 



" The Colonel," according to Anthony Wood, " was a 

 staunch loyalist, and it is lamentable to read the account 

 of his reduction from competency to poverty. After the 

 murder of King Charles, he having been sent to prison 

 for delivering to the House of Commons a petition from 

 Kent, for restoring to the King his rights, and for settling 

 the government, &c., &c., he was set at liberty; but 

 having by that time consumed all his estate, grew very 

 melancholy, which brought him into a consumption, 

 became very poor in body and purse, was the object of 

 charity, went in ragged clothes (whereas when he was 

 in his glory he wore cloth of gold and silver), and mostly 

 lodged in obscure and dirty places, more befitting the 

 worst of beggars and poorest of servants." 



There Avas another volume of his poems pub- 

 lished in 1659, entitled, Lucasta: Posthume Poems.* 



J. M. GUTCH. 



CAXTON RELICS. 



Numerous instances might be adduced of inter- 

 esting and important knowledge concerning early 



[* See " N. & Q.," 1*' S. ix. 125, 205. ; x. 44G. 532.] 



