452 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 84. 



Masters of Househnlds, and all sortes of Servants to 

 murke, and deUs;htfullfor all Men to lieade. Printed 

 at London for Nathaniel Butler, 4to. 1608. The 

 author of this tract was Thomas Dekker. Its 

 popularity was so great that it passed through 

 three editions in the course of one year. The 

 title-page above given is that of the first impression. 

 It is adorned with an interesting woodcut of the 

 bellman with bell, lantern, and halberd, ibllowed 

 by his dog. In the Ibllowiiig year the same author 

 printed his Lanthorne and Candle-light, or the 

 Bellman s second Nights-walke. In which he brings 

 to light a Brood of more strange Villanies then ever 

 were till thisyeare discovered, 6fC. London, printed 

 for John Busbie, 4to. 1609. The success of the 

 Bellman of London, which Dekker published 

 anonymously, induced him to write this second 

 part, to the dedication of which " to Maister 

 Francis Mustian of Peckham" he puts his name, 

 while he also admits the authorship of the first 

 part. This is the second edition of Lanthorne and 

 Candle-light, but it came out originally in the 

 same year. On the title-page of this tract the 

 bellman is represented in a night-cap, without his 

 dog, and with a -"brown bill" on his shoulder. 

 Three years later Dekker produced his O per se 

 O, or a Neiv Cryer of Lanthorne and Candle-light. 

 Being an Addition, or Lengthening of the Bell- 

 mans Second Night-walke, ^c. Printed at London 

 for John Busbie, 4to. 1612. Previous to the year 

 1648, this production went through no fewer than 

 nine distinct editions, varying only in a slight de- 

 gree from each other. One of these editions, now 

 before me, has for its title English Villanies Eight 

 severall times Brest to Death hy the Brinters, 4to. 

 1648. The author in this calls the bellman "the 

 childe of darkeness, a common night-walker, a man 

 that hath no man to wait upon him, but onely a 

 dogge ; one that was a disordered person, and at 

 midnight would beat at men's doores bidding 

 them (in meere mockerie) to looke to their candles, 

 when they themselves were in their dead sleepes." 

 The following verses are at the back of the title- 

 page, preceded by a woodcut of a bellman. The 

 same lines are also given, " with additions," in the 

 earlier editions of tJie Villanies, but they are too 

 indecent to quote: 



"the bell-man's crv. 

 " Men and children, maids and wives, 

 'Tis not too late to mend your lives : 

 IMidiiight fcastings are great wasters. 

 Servants' riots undoe masters. 

 When you heare this ringing bell, 

 Thinke it is your latest knell: 

 Foure a clock, the cock is crowing, 

 I must to my home be going : 

 When all other men doe rise, 

 Then must I shut up mine eyes.'' 

 The e.\ceeding popularity of the Bellman of 

 London induced Samuel Rowlands to bring out 



his Martin Mark- all, Beadle of Brideivell, his 

 Defence and Ansivere to the Bclmo.n of London, 

 discovering the long-concealed Originall and Regi- 

 ment of lingues ivhen they fir^t began to take head, 

 and hoiv they have succeeded, &;c. Printed for 

 John Budge, &c., 4to. 1610. The object of this 

 publication was to expose Dekker's Bellman, whicli 

 Rowlands says was only a "vamp ujv" of Harman's 

 Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors ; but 

 Ilarman himself was only a borrower, and the 

 origin of his work is lite Fratcrnitye of Vacabondes, 

 printed prior to 1565. Greene's Ground-ivork of 

 Coney-catching is another work which may be 

 pointed out as having been taken from the same 

 original. But as these tracts do not contain any 

 " bellman's songs," I need not now dwell upon 

 them. 



Among the many curious musical works printed 

 in London at the close of the si.Kteenth and the 

 beginning of the following century, I can scarcely 

 point out a more desirable volume than one with 

 this title : Melismata, Musicfd Phansies fitting the 

 Court, City, and Country Humours, to three, four, 

 and five voices: 



To all delightful, except to the spiteful; 

 To none offensive^ except to the pensive. 



London, printed by William Stausby, &c., 4to. 

 1611. The work is in five divisions, viz., 1. Court 

 Varieties ; 2. Citie Rounds ; 3. Citie Conceits ; 

 4. Country Rounds; 5. Country Pastimes. Among 

 the " City Conceits" we have the following : 



" A BEL-MA N^S SOKG. 



" Maides to bed, and cover coale, 

 I>et the mouse out of her hole ; 

 Crickets in the chimney sing, 

 Whilst the little bell doth ring : 

 If fast asleepe, who can tell 

 Wlien the clapper hits the bell." 



But perhaps the most curious collection of bell- 

 man's songs that has been handed down to us, is a 

 small tract of twelve leaves entitled The Common 

 Calls, Cries, and Sounds of the Bel-Man; or 

 Diverse Verses to put us in mindc of our Mortality, 

 12mo. Printed at London, 1639. This exces- 

 sively rare and interesting "set of rhymes" is now 

 before me, and from them I have extracted a few 

 specimens of the genuine old songs of the London 

 bellman of jsast times : — 



"THE bel-man's SOUN'nS. 

 " For Cliristmas Day. 



" Remember all that on this mornc. 

 Our blessed Saviour Christ was borne ; 

 Who issued from a Virgin ptire, 

 Our soules from Satan to secure ; 

 And patronise our feeble spirit, 

 That we through him may heaven inherit." 



