Have you not heard these many years ago Jeptha was judge of Israel? He had one only daughter and no mo, The which he loved passing well; And as by lott, God wot, It so came to pass, As Gods will was.2
A poore soule sat sighing under a sycamore tree; Oh willow, willow, willow! With his hand on his bosom, his head on his knee, Oh willow, willow, willow!13
Note 4. When griping grief the heart doth wound, And doleful dumps the mind oppress, Then music with her silver sound. William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, act iv. sc. 5. [back]
Note 5. Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim, When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid! William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, act ii. sc. 1. [back]
Note 6. Shakespeare, who alludes to this ballad in Loves Labour s Lost, act iv. sc. 1, gives the beggars name Zenelophon. The story of the king and the beggar is also alluded to in King Richard II., act v. sc. 3. [back]
Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus (Nobility is the one only virtue).Juvenal: Satire viii. line 20. [back]
Note 12. The first stanza is quoted in full, and the last line of the second, by Shakespeare in Othello, act ii. sc. 3. [back]
Note 13. The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree, Sing all a green willow; Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee, Sing willow, willow, willow. Othello, act iv. sc. 3. [back]
Note 14. Quoted by Shakespeare in Second Part of Henry IV., act ii. sc. 4. [back]
Note 15. Quoted by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, act ii. sc. 3. [back]