The title of the Poem is "Her Triumph"
It was published in, though composed much earlier,
"A Celebration of Charis, in Ten Lyrick Peeces" by Ben Johnson, 1640
I believe the song should consist of the one verse, though there is
evidence otherwise.
This is one of the few cases where we can see a clear mistake in some
the original sources, due to the careful anapestic meter of the poem.
The opening line must have 3x3 syllables. One may amend white to
bright to preserve the internal alliterative, and set a contrast to
white later in the poem as well as avoiding the obvious repetition.
Other corrections, such as changing "soil" to "earth" are less clear,
although the line
Before the soil hath smutch'd it
Obviously follows the same internal alliterative scheme;
"earth hath" as a reverse alliterative alternative is however
possible, though different from the final printed copy.
The song has been recorded and performed many times (including Sting)
with a syllable missing from the first line, which would have been
immediately obvious at the time, and
pass unremarked nowadays--a good example of reception.
The Song makes an appearance in "the Devil is an Ass" 1616 sung in
the seduction scene by Wittipol.
The last two lines are a transformation of the classical heroic
couplet, and close out the scene (Act II Scene vi).
This explains why the character of the song changes at the end.
The earlier theatrical form suggests the inclusion of a preexisting
song, in which one performance possibilty is the recitaion of the
first verse and the sung performance of
the "plug-in" song. Other interpretations are possible.
The play has only the two verses.
Metrically, it appears that the third verse was written first, then
the other two added later.
dt
At 07:07 PM 7/28/2007, you wrote:
>The lyrics beginning "Have you seen but a white lily grow" [etc.]
>are the third stanza of Ben Jonson's poem "See the chariot at hand
>here of love...".
>This stanza ("Have you seen but a white lily grow") does appear
>alone in most music sources. Other sources of the same music and of
>the poem have the song beginning "See the chariot at hand..." [etc.]
>with more stanzas (total of three if I remember correctly - this
>should be checked).
>
>One source does have tablature (by whom is unknown), and just the
>one stanza beginning "Have you seen but a white lily grow...":
>British Library Add. MS 15177, fol. 17v.
>It also has a few nice additional embellishments (that would be best
>saved for this stanza).
>
>There is a facsimile in:
>English Song, 1600-1675: Facsimiles of Twenty-six Manuscripts and an
>Edition of the Texts. 12 vols. Edited with Introductions by Elise
>Bickford Jorgens. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1986-89.
>Vol. I. Vol. 1: British Library Manuscripts, Part I: Add. Ms. 15117;
>Egerton Ms. 2971; Add. Ms. 24665 (Giles Earle's Songbook); Add. Ms.
>29481, ff. 2-26v. (1986).
>If this is used, it will make a longer song if the other stanzas are
>added from another source.
>
>Other music sources include:
>Och Mus. MS 87, fol. 4v
>NYPL Drexel MS 4175 no. 49
>NYPL Drexel MS 4257, no. 2
>Lbl Add. MS 29481, fol. 21
>NYPL Drexel MS 4175 no. 34 song lost
>[I know of no seventeenth-century printed source of the song.]
>[There are several more MS poetry sources of the lyrics and two
>original (with Ben Jonson) printed sources.]
>
>I have a transcription of the version from NYPL Drexel MS 4257, no.
>2 (voice & thoroughbass) at my Acadia Early Music Archive:
>http://ace.acadiau.ca/score/archive/ftp.htm#J [two PostScript EPS
>files at the moment; I will make a PDF].
>
>I can easily make a transcription of the version in Lbl Add. MS
>15177, if you give me a day or so.
>It will make a nice addition to the one already at the Early Music Archive.
>
>The song is unattributed in all sources.
>Ian Spink made a very reasonable (now generally accepted) suggestion
>that the song could be by Robert Johnson. It also has been
>attributed to Alfonso Ferrabosco (the younger). Both attributions
>are due to the two composers' associations with Ben Jonson in the
>masque and theatre. It also does have the "flavour" of both Johnson
>and Ferrabosco. Spink suggests that if the song is a theatre song,
>then Johnson is more likely.
>
>Gordon J Callon
>Adjunct Professor
>School of Music
>Acadia University
>Wolfville
>Nova Scotia
>Canada
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