CUCKOO SONGS. 155 



This would appear to be only a new version of an old 

 proverb, for in "Grange's Garden," 4to, 1577, we have 



" Content yourself as well as I, 

 Let reason rule your minde, 

 As cuckoldes come by destinie. 

 So cuckowes sing by kinde." 



If Shakespeare is to be believed, marriage is not the 

 only thing that goes by destiny : 



" The ancient saying is no heresy, 

 Hanging and wiving goes by destiny." 



Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Sc. 9. 



King Henry IV., alluding to his predecessor, says : 



" So when he had occasion to be seen, 

 He was but as the cuckoo is in June, 

 Heard, not regarded." 



Henry IV. Part I. Act iii. Sc. 2. 



For in June the cuckoo has been in song for a month, 

 and is therefore less noticed than on its first arrival in 

 April, when listened to as the harbinger of Spring. 



Apropos of the cuckoo's song, the following ballad is 

 considered to be the earliest in the English language now 

 extant. Its date is about the latter part of the reign of 

 Henry III., and it affords a curious example of the altera- 

 tions which our language has undergone since that time ; 



