The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #107846   Message #4025136
Posted By: Jim Dixon
27-Dec-19 - 06:06 PM
Thread Name: Songs for the Birds
Subject: Lyr Add: OF ALL THE BRAVE BIRDS THAT EVER I SEE...
From The Essex Harmony: Being an Entire New Choice Collection of the Most Celebrated Songs, Catches, Canzonets, Canons and Glees ..., Volume 2 (London: J Buckland and S. Crowder, 1777), page 41:

Of all the brave birds that ever I see,
The owl is the fairest in her degree,
For all the day long she sits in a tree,
And when the night comes, away flies she.

Te whit! Te whoo! To whom drinks thou?
Sir knave, to thou.*
This song is well sung; I make you a vow,
And he is a knave that drinketh now.

Nose, nose, nose, nose,
And who gave thee that jolly red nose?
Cinnamon and ginger, nutmeg and cloves,
And that gave me this jolly red nose.

- - - -
* Some sources say "to thee" which is grammatical, but "to thou" rhymes better.

The above "glee" is ascribed to "Mr. Freeman" but I suppose that only applies to the arrangement for 3 voices. I have also seen it ascribed to Ravenscroft

Another copy appears in Amusement for the Ladies: Being a Selection of the Favorite Catches, Canons, Glees, and Madrigals…, Vol. 4 (London: Broderip & Wilkinson, [ca. 1800]), page 40.