Audrey.
Touch.
To-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey;
to-morrow will we be married.
Aud.
I do desire it with all my heart: and I hope
it is no dishonest desire, to desire to be a woman of
the world1 note
. Here come two of the banished duke's
pages.
Enter two Pages.
1 Page.
Well met, honest gentleman.
Touch.
By my troth, well met: Come, sit, sit,
and a song.
2 Page.
We are for you: sit i'the middle.
1 Page.
Shall we clap into't roundly, without
-- 495 --
hawking, or spitting, or saying we are hoarse; which
are the only prologues to a bad voice?
2 Page.
I'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, like
two gypsies on a horse.
SONG2 note
.
I.
I
It was a lover, and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green corn-field did pass
In the spring time, the only pretty rank time3 note
,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
II.
II
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie,
In spring time, &c.
-- 496 --
III.
III
This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower
In spring time, &c.
IV.
IV
And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crowned with the prime
In spring time, &c.
Touch.
Truly, young gentlemen, though there
was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was
very untuneable4 note
.
1 Page.
You are deceived, sir; we kept time,
we lost not our time.
Touch.
By my troth, yes; I count it but time
lost to hear such a foolish song. God be with you;
and God mend your voices! Come, Audrey.
[Exeunt.
-- 497 --
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
