The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #5114   Message #29076
Posted By: Bruce O.
23-May-98 - 03:37 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: My Lodging Is on the Cold Ground
Subject: Lyr Add: MY LODGING IS ON THE COLD GROUND
I don't have the song in Davenant's play, but here's the version in 'Merry Drollery Compleat', 1670, 1691. Same as in Chappell's PMOT, where most of the information in Simpson's BBBM had originally appeared.

Phillis, her lamentation

My lodging is on the cold ground,
And very hard is my Fare;
But that which troubles me the most is
The unkindness of my Dear:
Yet still I cry O turn Love,
And I prethee Love turn to me;
For thou art the man that I long for,
An alack what remedy!

I'll crown thee with Garlands of straw then,
And I'll marry thee with a Rush Ring;
My frozen hopes shall thaw then,
And merrily we will sing
O turn to me my dear Love,
And I prethee Love turn to me;
For thou art the man that alone can'st
Procure my libertie.

But if thou wilt harden thy Heart still,
And be deaf to my pitiful moan,
Then I must endure the smart still,
And tumble in straw alone;
Yet still I cry O turn Love,
And I prethee Love turn to me;
For thou art the man that alone art
The cause of my misery.

C. M. Simpson suggested a song in 'Merry Drollery', 1661, may have suggested the form of Davenant's song.

Womens delight.

There dwelt a maid in the Cunny-gate,
And she was wondrous fair,
And she would have an old man
Was overgrown with hair;
And ever she cry'd, O turn,
O turn thee unto me,
Thou hast the thing I have not,
A little above the knee.

[5 total verses]