Origins: I Never Will Marry

Subject: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From:
Date: 13 Jan 97 - 06:08 PM

Does anyone know the words to a song that goes like this: I never will marry, I'll be no man's wife, I expect to live single the rest of my life. I need the rest of the words. Someone has recently done this and recorded it.

Subject: Lyr Add: I NEVER WILL MARRY
From: Ian
Date: 13 Jan 97 - 06:19 PM

Sure, Try this. Enjoy! - Ian O'Donnell
---------
I NEVER WILL MARRY

I never will marry. I'll be no man's wife.
I intend to stay single for the rest of my life.

One day as I rambled down by the sea shore,
The wind it did whistle and the waters did roar.

I heard a poor maiden make a pitiful cry.
She sounded so lonesome at the waters nearby.

I never will marry. I'll be no man's wife.
I intend to stay single for the rest of my life.

The shells in the ocean will be my deathbed,
And the fish in the water swim over my head.

My love's gone and left me. He's the one I adore.
I never will see him, no never, no more.

She plunged her fair body in the water so deep.
She closed her pretty blue eyes in the water so deep.

I never will marry. I'll be no man's wife.
I intend to stay single for the rest of my life.

Subject: Lyr Add: I NEVER WILL MARRY
From:
Date: 14 Jan 97 - 02:48 AM

Hi,

Know slightly different version of this 19th century tune. I've included chords.

I NEVER WILL MARRY

CHORUS:
G D G C
I never will marry. I'll be no man's wife.
C G D G
I intend to stay single for the rest of my life.

One day as I rambled down by the sea shore,
The wind it did whistle and the waters did roar.

I heard a poor maiden make a pitiful cry.
She sounded so lonesome at the waters nearby. CHORUS

The shells in the ocean will be my deathbed,
And the fish in the ocean swim over my head.

My love's gone and left me. He's the one I adore.
I never will see him, no never, no more.

She plunged her fair body in the water so deep.
She closed her pretty blue eyes in the water to sleep. CHORUS

Regards

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From:
Date: 14 Jan 97 - 08:16 PM

Thanks, Ian and cpw. That's just what I'm looking for. JA Allen

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Swordravenstar
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 12:24 PM

First of all I'd like to say hi, I just joined this forum and the site looks very good. I think I heard some of this song on "The Vicar of Dibley" on BBC 1 last night, its quite poignant and I wondered if any of u out there knew who the artist might be who made this particular recording. I searched the internet and came accross mention of a recording of this by Kristin Hersh, from her album "Murder, Misery and Goodnight". Im not familiar with her music tho. Is she the artist and do u think its worthwhile me investing in this album?

Cheers,

Swordravenstar

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Peace
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 01:13 PM

Welcome to the Mudcaty, Sword.

Bruce M

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: mandotim
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 02:06 PM

I heard the snippet on the Vicar of Dibley too; sounded like Linda Ronstadt/Dolly Parton/Emmylou Harris from the 'trio' album (I think). The top harmony was definitely Emmylou.
Tim

Subject: Lyr Add: I NEVER WILL MARRY
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 02:19 PM

Here is a different version:

They say that love is a gentle thing,
But it only has caused me pain.
For the only girl I ever did love,
Has gone on that midnight train.

CHORUS: I never will marry, I'll take me no wife.
I expect to live single, all of my life.

The train pulled out and the whistle blew,
With a long and a lonesome moan,
She's gone, she's gone like the midnight dew,
Left me all alone.

(chorus)

There's many a change in the winter wind,
And a change in the cloud's design,
There's many a change in a young girl's heart,
But never a change in mine.

(chorus)

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: jaze
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 04:24 PM

Alaska Mike, that's the version I first heard on an Irish folk concert cd. It was done by a group called the Morrisseys. The girl singing lead has a great voice.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LOVER'S LAMENT FOR HER SAILOR
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 05:07 PM

There are several songs of this type. "I Will Never Marry" seems to have appeared in England as "The Lover's Lament for Her Sailor." Most versions end by the woman drowning herself. Several copies in the Bodleian Library, with date from ca. 1803- late 19th c. Here is one from ca. 1819-1844.

Lyr. Add: THE LOVER'S LAMENT FOR HER SAILOR

As I was walking along the seashore,
Where the breeze it blew cool, and the billows did round,
Where the wind and the waves and the waters run
I heard a shrill voice make a sorrowful sound.

Chorus:
Crying, O my love's gone, whom I do adore,
He's gone and I will never see him more.

I tarried awhile still listening near,
And heard her complain for the loss of her dear;
Which grieved me sadly to hear her complain
Crying, he is gone and I will never see him again.

She appeared like some goddess, and dressed like a queen,
She's the fairest of creatures that ever was seen.
I told her I'd marry her myself, if she pleas'd,
But the answer she made me, was my love is in the seas.

I never will marry nor be any man's bride,
I choose to live single, all the days of my life,
For the loss of my sailor I deeply deplore,
As he's lost in the seas I shall ne'er see him more.

I will go down to my dearest that lies in the deep
And with kind embraces I will him intreat,
I will kiss his cold lips like the coral so red,
I will close up his eyes that have been so long dead.

The shells of the oysters shall be my lover's bed,
And the shrimps of the sea shall swim over his head,
Then she plunged her fair body right into the deep,
And closed her fair eyes in the water to sleep.

Bodleian Collection, Harding B11(2238), ca. 1819-1844, printed by J. Pitts, London.

Belden printed a copy of "The Lover's Lament For Her Sailor" in his "Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society, 1940 (1973) coll. in 1906 (but "sung to my mother over forty years ago...") in Missouri, p. 167-168.

The Traditional Ballad Index lists the song as "I Never Will Marry."
Belden says "See Roxburghe Ballads IV 397, where the author describes it as a modern reproduction of "The Sorrowful Lady's Complaint," a broadside from the Roxburghe Collection.

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 05:40 PM

The version cited by Alaska Mike was the version which appeared on a Smothers Brothers album back in the (when else?) 1960s. Their rendition was hilarious.

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 05:57 PM

There's a fair bit of detail in previous threads on the subject, so I'll just add briefly that Roxburghe quotes (in part) Sam Cowell's music hall re-working of the song (Oh, my Love's Dead!), followed by The Sorrowful Ladie's Lament (c.1673), apparently a broadside expansion of the earlier Captain Digby's Farewell.

Examples found in oral currency have tended to contain elements of the Cowell redaction and of the broadside quoted above; further, there are links with what may have been an historical incident at Whitby. Steve Gardham has done some work on that.

I placed a list of links to other material here (including this old, now revived, thread) at Constant Lovers.

The text posted by "Alaska Mike" borrows some words and structural elements from the song group, but otherwise looks to be a modern re-working (there have been plenty of those since the 17th century) probably from America. What is the tune?

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: SINSULL
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 05:58 PM

Said Little Dickie Smothers:
"but I sure will mess around a lot..."

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 06:10 PM

Hadn't seen Rapaire's post while composing mine. Looks like I was right about US provenance for that last one (well, the train was a giveaway).

Subject: Lyr Add: I NEVER WILL MARRY
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 06:39 AM

There's a different version collected here from traditional singer, Carrie Milliner who was born in 1926 & grew up in a sleeper cutters camp where everyone in the family sang.

The song is sung by us not them (Chloe & Jason Roweth) from their interpretation of Carrie's collected works in the Oral History collection of the National Library (www.nla.gov.au)

Maybe Bob Bolton can put up the dots in the Song Book that accompanied their CD - 'Sleepers'

Note from CD liner - Well known English/Irish traditional song adapted in America, and it seems, Australia as well. Carrie commented that later recorded versions of a song often frustrated her attempts to remember the old tune.
......................

I NEVER WILL MARRY

One morning as I rambled down by the sea-shore
The wind it did whistle & the waters did roar.

I heard a fair damsel make a pitiful sound,
She sounded so lonesome, on the waters around.

Chorus
I never will marry, I'll be no man's wife,
I expect to live single all the days of my life

The shells in the ocean will be my death bed,
The fish in deep water swim over my head,

She cast her fair body on the waters so deep,
She closed her blue eyes in the water to sleep.

My love's gone and left me, the one I adore,
He's gone and I'll never see him anymore


chorus (2)

Subject: Lyr Add: I NEVER WILL MARRY
From: Flash Company
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 10:02 AM

I used to do this in slightly different order:-

One day as I rambled, all by the sea shore,
The wind it did whistle and the waters did roar,
And I spied a fair damsel making pitiful cry,
It sounded so lonesome in the water nearby

Sing I never will marry
I'll be no man's wife
I expect to live single,
For the rest of my life.

For my love's gone and left me, he's the one I adore,
And he's gone where I never will see his face more
Now the shells in the ocean, they will be my death bed
And the fish in deep waters will swim over my head,

Ch...

She plunged her fair body in the water so deep
And she closed her pretty blue eyes in the water to sleep

Ch.....

Heard it done this way by Miki And Griff (Remember them?)

FC

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 04:06 PM

There may be a Texas Gladden recording of this piece. That's the version my mother sang from time to time. Seems to me there was a verse that started "Go 'way from me, William, and leave me alone..." I wish I had the know-how to give the tune I remember. It had more movement/interest than the tune the Smothers Bros. used (imo), but was a serious song, not the somewhat comic routine ("poignant-pregnant with feeling"..."song about a girl who was (?)months poignant"...)of Tommy and Dicky, whose work I always enjoyed.
..." 'The sands of the ocean shall be my deathbed
    And the fish in deep water swim over my head'

    She flung her fair body in the water so deep,
    And she clo-sed her pretty blue eyes forever to sleep."
More memory bits.    Thanks for the mem...         Tw

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 04:27 PM

Texas Gladden- "I'm Never to Marry (The Girl that I Hated)." Don't think this is the right one.
She may have used a different title. See list at Amazon with clips, 37 of them, Ballad Legacy, Lomax.

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 06:10 PM

Texas Gladden: I'm Never to Marry ("One morning I rambled, down by the seashore"): Rounder CD 1800 ('Ballad Legacy'). Details from Roud Index (Roud 466, Laws K17).

I don't see any clips at Amazon; where should I be looking?

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 07:48 PM

yes, the Rounder disc. I came in on the Gladden cd from google and was confused for awhile. At Amazon.com, put Texas Gladden in Popular music search and "Ballad Legacy: The Alan Lomax Portait Series" comes up. Scroll down to "Samples, and at the bottom of the list click on "See all 37 tracks...."
I checked Amazon.co.uk and the list of 37 is there with indication of audio clips on all. The title is listed as "Portraits, Texas Gladden," not confusing like the .com heading at the US site.

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: I NEVER WILL MARRY (Texas Gladden)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 08:55 PM

Texas Gladden's version is in Reprints from Sing Out!, vol. 2 (Oak), p. 23.

X:1
T:I NEVER WILL MARRY
T:(The Damsel's Lament)
M:3/4
L:1/4
N:New words and new music arranged by Mrs. Texas Gladden. © 1958 by Melody Trails Inc., NYC
K:G
G|"G"G B G|"D"A A2-|A3-|A2 (B/A/)|
w:One day as I ram-bled,__ Down_
w:I spied a fair dam-sel,__ Make a
"G"G B d|"C"c3-|c3-|c2 c|c e c|"G"B d2-|
w:by the sea-shore,__ The wind it did whis-tle,
w:pi-ti-ful cry,__ It sound-ed so lone-some,
d3-|d2 B/G/|"D7"F G A|"G"G2z|]
w:__ And the wa-ters did roar.
w:__ In the wa-ters near-by.

Chorus:
I never will marry, I'll be no man's wife,
I expect to live single, all the days of my life.
The shells in the ocean, will be my death bed,
The fish in deep water, swim over my head.

My love's gone and left me, he's the one I adore,
He's gone where I never shall see him any more.
She plunged her dear body, in the water so deep,
She closed her pretty blue eyes, in the waters to sleep.

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Swordravenstar
Date: 04 Jan 05 - 05:11 PM

Thanks for that. The "Trio" albums don' have that song, but it seems that Linda Rondstadt has a version of it on her album "Simple Dreams" which is supposed to feature guest vocals from Dolly Parton.

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 12:48 AM

Yup, Ian et al, them's the words. Tho I know it by the title: "The Damsel's Lament". First "folk song" I ever heard in live performance (at the Unicorn Cafe, in Milwaukee, in the fall of 1959). Sung by a sweet voiced young woman in a blue flower print dress, a Martin D-28 in her arms. I can still see her standing in the single spot. Dang she was the prettiest woman I have ever seen. I still sing that song and see her when I do.

sigh

CB

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: John Minear
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 09:12 AM

Alaska Mike's version was one of the first songs I learned in my younger days, back about 1961. It was written by Fred Hellerman, using the nom de plume "Fred Brooks" (Copyright 1958 Sanga Music Inc.). Fred Hellerman was a member of the Weavers and you can find this song in THE WEAVERS' SONG BOOK (Harper & Bros, 1960), p. 162. The tune is very close to the traditional one. T.O.M.

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Big Jim from Jackson
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 10:57 AM

The Carter Family recorded the song (first version given above). That's probably from where Rondstat and Parton got it. It's been recorded many times by lots of bluegrass bands.

Subject: RE: lyrics:I Never Will Marry
From: Inükshük
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 05:55 PM

I have an old Stompin' Tom version that has something close to these verses at the end, after the fair maiden has done herself in:

Now at night when I ramble
On the cliffs high above
I fancy I hear her
Sing, "Come to me, love.

"The shells of the ocean
Will be your deathbed
The fish in deep water
Will swim over your head."

I, too, will not marry
I'll not take a wife
I prefer to stay single
All the days of my life

Gives the song a whole different slant.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Never Will Marry
From: GUEST,AwGeesGirl
Date: 11 Oct 08 - 11:03 PM

I remember Ronstadt and Tommy and Dickie doing this but also my mom. She sang some different words as I remember. My mom was from the south coast of North Carolina in Brunswick County, and she taught me songs like "Go Tell Aunt Hattie" ( known elsewhere as "Aunt Rhody"), The Riddle Song, and "I Am A Rovin' Gambler". Wish I could find more about all of them as I like to include stories.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Never Will Marry
From: cptsnapper
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 01:06 AM

the version that I remember started off like Alaska Mike's offering but the second & third verses were something like this

I wish my heart was made of glass whereon you might behold
All the wonders of my love: the letters are written in gold.

Your company, your company, your company unto me
it makes feel feel while I'm away that every day is three

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Never Will Marry
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 05:56 PM

This was on a 10" Peggy Seeger LP - 10T9 - issued in 1958. Jacqui of the Spinners used to sing it in the early '60s and it was the the first banjo song I learned when I got my banjo in 1961.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Never Will Marry
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 07:49 PM

JACQUI of The Spinners? Are we talking about different Spinners here? The ones I know are an all-male lineup.

Blessings
Rhiannon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Never Will Marry
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Oct 08 - 08:37 PM

I believe I learned this one from a Folkways recording by Peggy Seeger entitled Songs for You and Me. I do have fond memories of singing it with my friends in Michigan.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Never Will Marry
From: Amos
Date: 08 Mar 16 - 06:53 PM

The two very different versions of this song have been entwined in my crowded brain for fifty years--the one tale of a forlorn girl, the other of a forlorn boy.

I like Sinsull's neat postscript to the whole business, though!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Never Will Marry
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 09 Mar 16 - 06:26 AM

Belated attempt at clarification of 8-year-old confusion. The 'Jacqui' ref'd a few posts back would presumably have been the one who was half of Jacqui & Bridie who ran another Liverpool folk club around same time as The Spinners --

see Liverpool Echo article "Remembering 50 years of Jacqui and Bridie's folk club"

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/remembering-50-years-jacqui-bridies-3385531

I remember this song much sung around the London clubs late·50s-early·60s; brought over by Peggy Seeger I think; who as pointed out just above by Charley Noble, had recorded it on Folkways.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Origins: I Never Will Marry
From: GUEST,Oz Childs
Date: 17 May 17 - 01:39 PM

If you Google "I never will marry" the first hit is a lovely video of Johnny Cash and Linda Ronstadt singing that song on Cash's old TV show. They both were in top vocal form that day. But what is really interesting is, instead of "the fish in deep water swim over my head" Cash sang, "the rushing deep waters will molder my head." Kind of grisly, eh? But since Cash was married to June Carter, I have to assume that those are the words she learned as a child from Maybelle or A.P.

Even though when the Carters recorded it I believe they used the fish verse. I wonder if "John Brown's Body" is the only well-known song to use the word "molder" or "moulder" in the sense of decomposing?

Subject: RE: Origins: I Never Will Marry
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 18 May 17 - 10:52 AM

It's sometimes attributed to Pa Caret of The Carter Family but in Ireland it's said to be a trad ballad from the 19th century

Subject: RE: Origins: I Never Will Marry
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Sep 19 - 11:12 AM

The Kossoy sisters do a superb job on this song, but the lyrics don't make sense. The girl receives a proposal of marriage, declines, then kills herself by jumping in the ocean.

Subject: RE: Origins: I Never Will Marry
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 23 Sep 19 - 02:31 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-6AxnP0ku8

The Koosey Sisters: "I Never Will Marry"

Subject: RE: Origins: I Never Will Marry
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Sep 19 - 04:54 PM

I'm about to write a paper 'Burlesquing the Ballad' and this will be the first song under scrutiny as it is the earliest of the songs I will be studying, that became a burlesque and then the burlesque became a serious song again. As Malcolm stated way back up the thread it can be traced back to the seventeenth century and didn't become burlesqued until about 1800.

Subject: RE: Origins: I Never Will Marry
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Sep 19 - 03:37 PM

Is this related to the Clancy Brothers' I know who is sick, that their mom apparently sang?

Subject: RE: Origins: I Never Will Marry
From: Tim K
Date: 18 Jun 21 - 02:38 AM

It seems to me that Sing Out (and by extension Rise Up Singing) have mistakenly attributed the words the Carter Family sing to Texas Gladden.

As of the time of this posting, here's the Carters singing the words from SO and RUS:
https://youtu.be/1l_zYH_YYnE

And here's two versions of Texas Gladden singing the song, under the title "I Never Will Marry" and "I'm Never To Marry."
https://youtu.be/AANPF9b7wAY

The words are almost exactly the same in both versions and quite different from the Carters/SO/RUS. Here's how I catch them:

One morning I rambled down by the seashore
And the wind it did whistle and the waters did roar
I heard some fair maiden give a pitiful cry
And it sounded so lonely, it swept off on high

Said William to Molly, if you will agree
To give your consent, love, to marrying me
My mind is to marry and never to part
For the first time I saw you, you wounded my heart

Go away from me William, and leave me alone
For I’m a poor girl, and a long way from home
I’m never to marry, nor be no man’s wife
I intend to live single, all the days of my life

The shells in the ocean shall be my deathbed
While the fish in deep water swims over my head
I’m never to marry nor be no man’s wife
I intend to live single all the days of my life

He cast her fair body in the water so deep
And she closed her pretty blue eyes forever to sleep
You promised to marry, you blighted my life
Now the girl that I hated is being(?) my wife


I suppose it's possible Texas Gladden sang a third version that followed the Carter Family lyrics, but it strikes me as unlikely.

The Kossoy Sisters seem to follow Texas until the end, when they swing back to Carter Family lyrics, probably because the order and/or pronouns at the end of Texas' version seem to get a little garbled.

As someone that's played "Never Will Marry" for a few years, I'm a little gobsmacked by this version. I think it's so much cooler! Instead of a lovesick girl melodramatically killing herself over lost love, it's a woman refusing marriage and saying she plans to live single the rest of her life (a line that never made sense when she was about to commit suicide), which provokes her failed suitor to kill her. (Shades of Pretty Polly)

Subject: RE: Origins: I Never Will Marry
From: GUEST,Rory
Date: 09 Feb 24 - 07:08 PM

The song first appears in songbooks from 1671 consisting of three stanzas and a refrain. Some with no title or titled as "Captain Digby's Farewell"

The New Academy of Complements, Compiled by Charles Sackville and others, 1671, Song 308, p.292. (p.301 in 1713 edition)
Three stanzas and refrain

Captain Digby's Farewell - The New Academy of Complements 1671


Oxford Drollery, by William Hickes, 1671, p.128
Three stanzas and no refrain

Captain Digby's Farewell - Oxford Drollery 1671

I'Le go to my Love where he lies in the deep,
And in my embraces my dearest shall sleep,
When we awake the kind Dolphins together shall throng,
And in Chariot of Shells shall draw us along.

The Orient hath Pearls, which the Ocean bestows,
All mixed with Coral a Crown to compose,
Though the Sea-nymphs do spite us, and even our bliss,
We'll teach them to love, & the Cockles to kiss.

For my Love lies now in his watry Grave,
And hath nothing to shew for his Tomb but a wave,
I'le kiss his dear Lips than the Coral more red,
That grows where he lies in his watery Bed.
Ah, Ah, Ah, my Love's dead;
There was not a Bell,
But a Triton's Shell,
To ring, to ring out his Knell.



Windsor Drollery, 1671, Song 19, p.12.
Appears to be a parody of this song that turns a woman's lament about her drowned lover into a man's song about promiscuous sex
first line: I'll go to my love where he lies in the deep
last line: But a tortoise-shell to ring my love's knell
last stanza ends:
I will kiss her dear lips while her money does last,
But when it is gone, to another I'll haste.


"The Sorrowful Ladies Complaint", 1673.
The original three stanzas of "Captain Digby's Farewell" was then expanded to twelve stanzas in a black letter broadside ballad, which came to be applied to the death of the Earl of Sandwich, after the action in Sole Bay, 1673.

"The Sorrowful Ladies Complaint", 1673
To the tune of "The Earl Of Sandwich Farewell"

The Sorrowful Ladies Complaint 1673

"The Sorrowful Ladies Complaint"
Relating how a Damosel Lamenteth the loss of her Lover, who behaved himself very Valiantly in a late
Engagement at Sea, but at last was unfortunately Slain.
This Stories known both far and wide,
To Hollands wonder, Englands Pride;
Come therefore every Loyal Heart,
And in my burden bear a part.
To the Tune of, The Earl of Sandwich farewel.

ONe morning I walkd by my self on the shoar,
When the Tempest did sing and the Waves they did roar,
Yet the noise of the winds and the waters was drownd,
By the pittiful cry and the sorrowful sound,
Of ah! ah! ah! my Loves dead,
There is not a Bell
But a Tritons shell,
To ring, to ring, to ring my Loves knell.

It troubled me much when I heard all her grief,
But hoping it might not be past all Relief,
I followed the voice till at last I espyd,
A sorrowful Lady, and all that she cryd,
Was ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead,
There is not a Bell,
But a Tritons shell,
To ring, to ring, to ring my Loves knell.

A handsomer Damosel sure never were seen,
With a face like an Angel, a Robe like a Queen,
A Voyce like a Syren, and Eyes like a Dove,
Yet ever she cryd for the losse of her Love;
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead, etc.

When my Love was alive his courage was such,
He conquered the Dane, and affrighted the Dutch,
He venturd to shew he ner feard to dye,
But woe be to me that for ever must cry,
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead,
There is not a Bell,
But a Tritons shell,
To ring, to ring, to ring my Loves knell.

Surrounded with Ships and asaulted by Foes,
He stoutly received, and returned their blows,
So well he did manage his Ship in the strife,
That he never would yeild till he yeilded his life,
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead, etc.

To recal him to life, Oh what would I give?
But since he is dead, tis no pleasure to live,
He venturd for me, and shall I be afraid,
To dye for my love? it shall never be said:
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead,
There is not a Bell,
But a Tritons shell,
To ring, to ring, to ring my Loves knell.

The second Part, to [the] same Tune.

MY Love lies now in his watry Grave,
And hath nothing to shew for his Tomb but a Wave,
Ile kisse his dear lips, then the Corral more Red,
That grows where he lies in his watry Bed,
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead,
There is not a Bell, but a Trytons shell,
To ring, to ring, to ring my Loves knell.

The Oriential Pearl, which the Ocean bestows,
We'l mix with a Corral, a Crown to compose:
The Sea Nymps shall grieve, and envy our blisse,
We'l teach them to love, and like Cockels to kisse,
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead,
There is not a Bell, but a Trytons shell,
To ring, to ring, to ring my Loves knell.

Ile go to my Love that lies in the deep,
And in my imbraces my dearest shall sleep,
When awake, the kind Dolphins together shall throng,
In Chariots of Shells to convey him along,
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead,
There is not a Bell, but a Trytons shell:
To ring, to ring, to ring my Loves knell.

And just as she spoke, she was casting her self
From the top of a Rock on a dangerous shelf,
But I being neer her made hast to her aid,
And savd her from falling, when just she had said
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead,
There is not a Bell,
But a Trytons shell,
To ring, to ring, to ring my Loves knell.

Fair Lady, said I, whether Maiden or Wife,
Your death will not call the departed to Life:
Loves fire goes out at the losse of the Fuel,
And though you be constant, you need not be cruel.
Ah! what though your Loves dead,
Yet he had a Bell,
Not a Trytons shell
To ring, to ring, to ring out his knell:

She started to find this unhappy surprize,
With grief in her face, and disdain in her eyes,
She told me my kindness had done her much wrong,
And prayd me to bear but a part in her Song:
Ah, ah, ah, my Loves dead,
There was not a bell,
But a Trytons shell,
To ring, to ring, to ring out his knell.

London, Printed for Phillip Brooksby, at the Hospital-gate,
in West-smith-field.