The Elizabethan Imogen 15
notes, and at the end appear the words “finis q. mr. Heath.” As
Ritson remarks, he might be “author, or composer, or both, or
neither.” Or he could have been the scribe. As for the date,
Ritson prints it as the third poem in Class IV, which comprises
the reigns of Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth.
Quiller-Couch puts the poem in the reign of Henry VIII. Because
of the paper on which it is written, the Folger MS. is dated
ca. 1550 by Seymour de Ricci (Census of Medieval and Renais-
sance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, New York,
1935-40, vol. I, p. 385; see Francis Lee Utley, The Crooked Rib,
Columbus, 1944, p. 262). The Harleian ballad is two stanzas
shorter, has a different order for other stanzas, and contains
other variations; Ritson’s transcription of it is as follows:
These women all,
Both great and small,
Ar wavering to and fro,
Now her, now ther,
Now every when—
But I will nott say so.
They love to range,
Ther myndes ‘do’ chaunge;
And maks ther ‘frynd’ ther foo;
As lovers trewe
Eche daye they chewse new:—
But I will nott say so.
They Iaughe, they smylle,
They do begyle,
As dyce that men ‘do’ throwe;
Who useth them ‘mych’
Shall never be ryche:—
But I will not say so.
Summe hot, sum cold,
Ther is no hold,
But as the wynd doth blowe;
When all is done,
They chaung Iyke the moone:-
But I will not say so.
So thus one and other
Takith after ther mother,
As ‘соске’ by kind doth crowe.
My song is ended,
The beste may be amended:—
But I will nott say so.