And when our money all is spent,

Then sell our goods, and spend our rent;

Or drink it up with one consent,

And ever toss the pot.

Chorus. Toss the pot, &c.

When all is gone, we have no more,

Then let us set it on the score;

Or chalk it up behind the door,

And ever toss the pot.

Chorus. Toss the pot, &c.

And when our credit is all lost,

Then may we go and kiss the post:

And eat brown bread instead of roast,

And ever toss the pot.

Chorus. Toss the pot, &c.

Let us conclude as we began,

And toss the pot from man to man;

And drink as much now as we can,

And ever toss the pot.

Chorus. Toss the pot, &c.

Music by Ravenscroft.

A toss-pot came to be a name for a toper, or drunkard.

Enamouring.

"The last recreation is that they term Enamouring, a "passion as more or less possessing and affecting all; so "truly expressed by none but music; that is, song or po

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etry. I have heard it said that love teaches a man music "who never before knew what pertained thereto; and the 'philosopher's three principal causes of music, first dolour, "second joy, third enthousiasm, are all found by him within "Love's territories."

Ravenscroft, no doubt, had here in his eye the quotation from Erasmus, Musicam docet amor, et poesin, which Burton thus enlarges upon; "Love maketh them musicians, "and to compose ditties, madrigals, elegies, sonnets; and "to sing them to pretty tunes. Without question, so many

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gentlemen and gentlewomen would not be so well quali"fied in this kind if love did not incite them. Who would "learn to play, or give his mind to music, or make so many rhymes and love-songs as most do, but for women's sake? "because they hope by that means to purchase their good “wills, and win their favour. We see this daily verified in our young women and wives; they that being maids took so much pains to sing and play, with such cost and charge "to their parents to get those graceful qualities, now, being "married, will scarce touch an instrument; they care not "for it."

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Merely adding that Burton's last remark is quite as applicable to ladies of the present time, I shall proceed with Mr. Ravenscroft's ditties.

CCXCIV.

The Servant to his Mistress.

My mistress is as fair as fine;

With milk-white fingers, golden hair:
Her eyes the radiant stars outshine,
Lighting all things far and near.
Fair as Phoebe, tho' not so fickle,
Smooth as glass, tho' not so brickle.

My heart is like a ball of snow,
Melting at her glances bright;
Her ruddy lips like night-worms glow,
Sparkling in the pale twilight.
Neat she is, no feather lighter,
Bright she is, no daisy whiter.

Music by John Bennet.

Having been the means of rescuing from oblivion, and bringing before the public the very elegant music of this Madrigal, I deem it correct to state that I have given the ditty its present dress. If in order to avoid the ridiculous I have weakened the force of the original, I humbly apologize to the lovers of such beauty as is therein described; it runs thus:

"My mistress is as fair as fine,

"Milk-white fingers, cherry nose* :
"Like twinckling day stars looks her eyne,
"Light'ning all things where she goes.
"Fair as Phoebe, &c. (ut supra).

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My heart is like a ball of snow,

"Melting at her lukewarm sight:
"Her fiery lips like night-worms glow,

Shining clear as candle light.

"Neat she is," &c.

As a strong contrast to the cherry nose, &c., of the above, I would recommend the perusal of a passage from Thomson,

* In the burlesque tragedy, performed by Messrs. Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, &c., in the Midsummer Night's Dream, Thisbe speaks of "The lily brows,

"The cherry nose,

"The yellow cowslip cheeks,"

of Pyramus.

(Summer, line 1582,) descriptive of the daughters of Britannia, wherein is an exquisite summary of the component parts of Beauty :

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....The faultless form

"Shaped by the hand of harmony," &c.

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......The parted lip

"Like the red rose-bud moist with morning dew,
"Breathing delight.....

"The look resistless, piercing to the soul,

«And by the soul inform'd; when drest in love
"She sits high smiling in the conscious eye."

Did Jove see this wanton eye,

Ganymede should wait no longer;

Phoebe, his good-will to buy,

Would change her face, and look much younger.

But she shall not so, &c.

Music by E. Piers.

This I find in a comedy by Thomas Middleton, A.D. 1602,

called The Spaniard's Night Walk.

CCXCVI.

Hodge Trillindle to his Zweethort Malkyn.

Vurst bart.

Come Malkyn, hurle thine oyz at Hodge Trillindle,
And zet azide thy distave and thy zpindle;

A tyny vit let a ma brast my minde

To thee, which I have vownd as ghurst* as ghinde;
Yet loave me, sweet, a little tyny vit,

And we a little wedelocke wooll gommit.

Y'vaith wooll we, that we wooll y'vaith, lo!

Zegund bart vollowes.

Malkyn's answer to Hogde Trillindle.

Yo tell ma zo,-but, Roger, ich ha' vound

Your words but wynde: thon not for vorty pound,
Wooll I beleave you vurther thon ich zee

Your words and deeds loyke beeans and beacoan gree:

But if you loave me long a little vit,

Thon wedelocke ich a little wooll gommit.

Y'vaith wooll I, thot ich wooll y'vaith, lo!

Dthurd bart vollowes.

Their Goncluzion.

Ich con but zweare, ond that I chill,

Unbonably to loave a thee ztill:

That wooll I, lo!-Thon, Roger, zweare

Yo wooll be virmer thon yo weare.

* Curst, i. e. mischievous, shrewd. "Kate the curst." (Taming of the Shrew, act ii.)