468 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 111. 



reiiding Mr. Wakefield's laudations, for otherwise 

 I should not perhaps have remarked the words as 

 unusual. AVaketield adduces from Pope's Eloisa 

 to Abelard : 



" One human tear shall drop, and be forgiven." 



" Noble rage," Gray's Elegy. " JSToble rage," 

 Cowley's Dauideidos, lib. iv. p. 137, Again, in the 

 Elegy : 



" Save tliat fjom yonder ivy-mantled tower 



The mopeing owl does to the nioou complain 

 Of such as, wand'ring near her seciet bower, 

 Molest tier ancient solitary reign." 



Cowley, in describing the palace of Lucifer, has 

 soaie fine sentences ; and amongst them : 



" Non liic gemmatis stillantia sidera guttis 

 Iinpugnajit saves jus inviolabi'e nnctis." 



Davideidos, lib. i. p. 3. 



And in English : 



" No gentle stars with their fair gems of night, 

 Offend the tyranous and unquestioned hight." 



Davideidos, lib. i. p. 6. 



Akensidc constantly used tlie adjective human 

 in diiferent conjunctions. Kt. 



Warmington. 



OLD SONG : THE CUCKOLD S CAP. 



The following song I never saw in print. I 

 knew an old lady, who fifty years ago used to sing 

 it. Is it known ? 



Near Reading there lived a buxom young dame, 

 The wife of a miller, and Joan was her name ; 

 And she had a hen of a wondrous size. 

 The like you never beheld with your eyes : 

 It had a red head, gay wings, yellow legs, 

 And every year laid her a bushel of eggs, 

 Whicli made her resolve for to set it with speed, 

 Because she 'd a mind to have more of the breed. 



Now as she was setting her hen on a day, 



A sheplierd came by, and thus he did say : 



"Oh, what are you doing?" She answered him 



then, 

 " I'm going to set my miraculous hen." 

 " O, Joan," said the shepherd, " to keep your eggs 



warm, 

 And that they may prosper and come to no harm, 

 You must set them all in a large cuckold's cap, 

 And then all your chickens will come to good hap." 



" O, I have no cuckold's cap, shepherd," said ; he, 



" But nevertheless I'll be ruled by thee; 



For this very moment I'll trudge up and down. 



And borrow one, if there be one in the town." 



So she went to the baker's, and thus she did say : 



" O, lend me a cuckold's cap, neighbour, I pray. 



For I'm going to set my miraculous hen, 



And when that I've done with't, I'll brin'^ it 



The baker's wife ansv^ered, and thus she replied : 

 " Had I got such a thing, you should not be denied ; 

 But these nineteen or twenty years I have been wed, 

 And my husband ne'er had such a cap to his head. 

 But go to my cousin, who lives at the mill, 

 I know she had one, and she may have it still ; 

 Tell her I sent you, she'll lend it, I know." 

 " Thank ye," says Joan, and away she did go. 



So, straight to the house of the miller she went. 

 And told her that slie by her cousin was sent, 

 To borrow a thing wliich was wondrous rare, 

 'Twas a large cuckold's cap, which her husband did 



wear. 

 " I do not dispute but such things there may be ; 

 But why should my cousin, pray, send you to me? 

 For these nineteen or twenty years I've been a wife, 

 And my husband ne'er liad such a cap in his life. 



" But go to the quaker who lives at tlie Swan, 

 I know she had one, and if 'tis n't gone, 

 Tell her to lend it to you for my sake, 

 Which I the same for a great I'avour shall take," 

 So she went to the house of old Yea and Nay, 

 And said to his wife, who was buxom and gay, 

 " I'm come ibr to borrow, if that you will lend, 

 A large cuckold's cap : I was sent by a friend." 



The quaker's wife answered and said, with a frown. 

 " AVhy, I've no such thing, if thou'dst give me a 



crown ; 

 Besides, I 'd not lend it, friend Joan, if I had. 

 For fear it siiould make my old husband run mad. 

 In town there are many young damsels, perhaps, 

 Who may be ingenious in making these caps. 

 But as for their names, I really can't say. 

 So, therefore, friend Joan, excuse me, I pray." 



Now Joan being tired and weary withal, 



She said, " I've had no good fortune at all. 



I find that it is the beginning of sorrow. 



To trudge up and down among neighbours to 



borrow. 

 A large cuckold's cap I wanted indeed, 

 A thing of small value, and yet couldn't speed: 

 But, as I'm a woman, believe me," says Joan, 

 "Before it be long, I'll have one of my own." 



J. 11. Helton. 



THE GODODIN. 



This poem, though not absolutely the earliest 

 in point of date, is the longest of the numerous 

 poems produced among the Kymry of the north 

 of Enirland during the sixth and seventh centuries. 

 Two translations have already appeared in Ln- 

 glish ; one by the Rev. Edward Davies, the author 

 of Celtic Researches, and the other by a gentleman 

 named Probert. Of these the latter, though very 

 imperfect and extremely defective, is the only one 

 which an English reader should consult; the ver- 

 sion given by Davies is only a very nigenious mis- 

 representation. The poem has no more rel'erence 



