Aug. 14. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



153 



it, or that any particular virtue was attributed to 

 it : whilst in the county we have on Charnwood 

 Forest the well giving its name to Holy- Well-Haw, 

 and the spring on Bosworth Field, rendered famous 

 by the ti-adition of Richard III. having drunk at 

 it during the battle, and which is surmounted by 

 an inscription to that effect from the pen of the 

 learned L)r. Parr. Leicestriensis. 



"Oir, GO FROM THE WINDOW ! " 



(VoLvi., p. 75.) 



The following stanzas of this old ballad occur in 

 Beaumont and Fietchei-'s Knight of the Burnivg 

 Pestle, 1611 (Act III. Sc. 5.) : 



" Go from my window, love, go ; 

 Go from ray window, my dear ! 

 The wind and the rain 

 Will drive you back again ; 

 You cannot be lodged here. 



, " Begone, begone, my juggy, my puggy. 

 Begone, my love, my dear 1 



The weather is warm, 



'Twill do thee no harm ; 

 Tliou canst not be lodged here." 



Fragments are again quoted in The WomavLS 

 Prize (Act I. Sc. 3.) ; and in Monsieur Thomas 

 (Act III. Sc. 3.). But the song is much older 

 than the seventeenth century. The tune is pre- 

 served in Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book ; in 

 Barley's New Booke of Tablature, 1596; and in 

 Morley's First Booke of Consort Lessons, 1598. 

 It is also one of those ballads that received the 

 honour of " moralisation," in Andro Hart's Com- 

 pendious Booke of Godly and Spiritualt Songs. In 

 the latter shape it is so curious that I subjoin it, 

 for the especial benefit of those readers who may 

 not have met with a "godly" version of one of 

 Old England's sinful ditties : 



" Quho [who] is at my windo, who, who ? 

 Goe from my windo, goe, goe, 

 Quho calls there, so like ane strangerc ? 

 Goe from my windo, goe, goe. 



" Lord, I am here, ane wrached mortal. 

 That for thy mercie dois crie and call 

 Unto thee, my Lord celcstiall ; 

 See who is at my windo, who ? 



" O gracious Lord celestiall. 

 As thou art Lord and King eternall ; 

 Grant us grace that we may enter all. 

 And in at thy doore let me goe. 



" Quho is at my windo, quho? 

 Goe from my windo, goe ; 

 Cry no more there, like ane strangerc, 

 But in at my doore thou goe !" 



In Hey wood's Rape of Lucrece, ed. 1620, is a 

 sort of paraphrase or companion song to this, but 

 it is far too contemptible to be worth transcribing. 

 It is inserted with some variations (not for the 



better) in the fourth volume of Durfey's Pills to 

 Purge Melancholy, 1719. 



" Go from my window," retained its popularity 

 until a late period. It is mentioned in Otway s 

 Soldiers Fortune, and several other plays of about 

 the same time. 



Traditional versions are probably still floating 

 about the country. The late Mr. Bacon of Nor- 

 wich used to sing one, which, to judge from the 

 first stanza (the only one that could be recalled to 

 memory) promised an improvement upon the 

 ancient copy : 



" Go from my window, my love, my dove, 

 Go from my window, my dear ! 

 For the wind is in the west, 

 And the cuckoo's in his nest, 

 And you can't have a lodging here," 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



MITIGATION OF CAriTAL PUNISHMENT TO A 

 FORGER. 



(Vol. v., p. 444.) 



After an interval of several years from the time 

 of my hearing the story referred to by 11. B. C, 

 and of which I made no note at the time, I met 

 my informant last week, and had an opportunity 

 of correcting certain failures of memory. I find 

 that it was only said in the neighbourhood where 

 he had lived, that the forger had escaped from the 

 hulks by counterfeiting a government order for 

 his own release. What, therefore, was stated by 

 me as a fact, had been only a report. The peti- 

 tion was presented to the judges as they descended 

 the steps of the "Judges' Lodgings" at York, 

 which is a considerable edifice. A Yorkshire par- 

 son may be excused for unwittingly allowing the 

 minster to obtrude itself into a good story. I 

 cannot now divest myself of the first impression ; 

 but, of course, I submit. The obdurate judge 

 was Baron Graham. The trial took place about 

 thirty-five years ago. 



In order to put H. B. C. still more closely on 

 the trail, I will mention, whilst my information 

 is fresh, that my friend also told me that it was 

 about the second known instance of the royal 

 clemency being extended to a condemned forger. 

 The previous case was scarcely less interesting. 

 A forger was sentenced to be hanged ; but there 

 were extenuating circumstances, and a petition to 

 the crown in his favour was circulated for signa- 

 ture. One person who signed it was a dissenting 

 minister named Fawcett, who sometime before 

 had published a Commentary on the Bible, with 

 which George HI. had been so well pleased, that; 

 he sent for him, and told him he should be glad to 

 serve him. Mr. Fawcett, however, replied, that 

 his majesty could give him nothing in this life 

 which he valued. The king then told him, that 



