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looke in the dam, & you may spye
heere is soe much that some runs by;
there neuer came a yeere soe drye

cold keepe this Mill ffrom grindinge.
yett shee no common Miller is;

shee does not grind eche plowmans gris1;
she needs not, vnless shee list,

Her mill has plenty of water.

32

but ffor sweet recreation.

ffinis.

1 Grist, Corn ground, or fit for grinding; Meal, Flower. Phillips.-F.

Lillumwham.

[Page 461 of MS.]

WITH this poem may be compared another "Burlesque Receipt" for the same purpose in Reliquiæ Antiquæ, i. 250, "A good medesyn, yff a mayd have lost her madened, to make her a mayd ageyn," which is taken, says Mr. Halliwell," from a copy of Caxton's Mirrour of the World, or th' ymage of the same, fol. Lond. 1481, in the King's Library in the British Museum, fol. ult. v°., written by some owner of the book in the year 1520."

A maid

went to the well to wash,

and as she
washed
her clothes,

12

4

THE: maid, shee went to the well to washe,

Lillumwham, Lillumwham!

the mayd shee went to the well to washe,

whatt then? what then?

the maid shee went to the well to washe;

dew ffell of her lilly white fleshe;

Grandam boy, Grandam boy, heye!

8 Leg a derry, Leg a merry, mett, mer, whoope, whir! driuance, larumben, Grandam boy, heye!

White shee washee, & white1 shee ronge,
Lillumwham &c :

white' shee hangd o the hazle wand,
Grandam boy, heye &c.

1 Is this white for while? There is no loop to the letter, and that makes the difference between the 7 and t in this

MS. The white of line 6, and of lines 10 and 12, is exactly the same.-F.

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20

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28

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There came an old Palmer by the way,

Lillumwham &c.

sais, "god speed thee well thou faire maid!"
Grandam boy, hey &c.

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Saies, "peace, ffaire mayd! you are fforsworne!

Lillumwham &c.

Nine Children you haue borne;

Grandam boy, heye &c.—

1
They were buryed vnder thy beds head;-
Lillumwham &c :-

40 other three vnder thy brewing leade2;

Grandam boy, hey &c.

Three.-P.

2 Lead, a vat for dyeing, &c., Northern; a kitchen copper is sometimes so called.

a palmer asked her

for a cup

to drink out of.

She said she hadn't one.

"If your lover

came you'd

soon find

some."

"I never had a lover."

"That's a story!

You've had

9 children,

and murdered them all!"

Halliwell's Gloss. "A forneys of a leed."
Chaucer, Cant. T. Prol. 1. 202.-F.

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Leg a derry, Leg a merry, met, mer, whoop, whirr ! driuance, Larumben, Grandam boy, heye!

ffinis.

See Mr. Dyce's note in the Ballads and Romances of the Folio, ii. 46.-F.

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