Packington's Pound - Folklorist

“Packington's Pound”

Description

Dance tune, with no real lyrics of its own, but used as a platform for a great variety of broadsides.

Notes

Folklore has it that a fellow named Packington, in the reign of Elizabeth I, bet that he could swim the length of the Thames. But Elizabeth forbade the attempt, and Packington forfeited his pound. I have no way to verify this; I heard it on a classical music station.

This *tune* is almost certainly traditional, though the words have not endured. Included in the Index for the many broadsides set to its melody (see the Same Tune list). - RBW

Same tune

Well worth[y] Predecessors, and Fathers by name/Pitties Lamentation (BBI ZN2781)
Come listen a while and a Story you'll hear/The Murtherer Justly Condemned.. May, 1697 (BBI ZN629)
When England half Ruin'd had cause to be sad/Romes Beargarden (BBI ZN2836)
Poor England thy sorrows this many a year/England's Mercies (BBI ZN2214)
Come, John, sit thee down, I have somewhat to say/An Amorous Dialogue between John and his Mistress (BBI ZN616)
Come young men and listen to what I'le you show/A good wife is a portion every day (BBI ZN710)
All Company-keepers come hear what I say/Two-penny-worth of Wit for a Penny (BBI ZN61)
Come listen a while though the weather be cold/Blanket Fair (BBI ZN636)
I am a young blade that had money good store/The World turn'd up-side down (BBI ZN1231)
All you that have stock, and are mad for a peace/The French Preliminaries (BBI ZN136)
Let England rejoyce with heart and with voice/A New Protestant Ballad.. Reign of King William (BBI ZN1641)
Hold up thy head England, and now shew thy face/Englands Joy in a Lawful Triumph [on proclaiming Charles II King] (BBI ZN1158)
You Sabbath-day Tiplers, pray do not repine/A Caveat for Tiplers (BBI ZN3103)
There was an old Knight liv'd in Sommersetshire/The Bountiful Knight of Sommersetshire (BBI ZN2555)
A chimney-man lately in London did dwell/Chimney-man's Lamentation (BBI ZN486)
This nation long time hath been plagued with old rats/Come Buy a Mouse Trap/ [by Humphrey Crouch] (BBI ZN2582)
A new calculation of late has been given/A New Copy of Verses, of Monsieurs Boating (BBI ZN1875)
By Brittains true Monarchs, Great William and Mary/The Proclamation For a General Fast in the Nation (BBI ZN457)
Ye Sages of London, of states high and low/City Justice (BBI ZN2986)
Your scandalous lies I with patience have read/An Answer to the Packet of Advice (BBI ZN3223)
Good people come hither come listen awhile/The Brickmaker's Lamentation from Newgate (BBI ZN1049)
You free-men, and masters, and 'prentices mourn/London's Lamentation (BBI ZN3245)
Ye Whigs and Dissenters I charge ye, attend/The Whigs Hard Heart for the Cause of the Hard Frost (BBI ZN2987)
This Winter was sharp, it did plainly appear/London's Wonder [frost ending Feb. 4 1685] (BBI ZN2585)
Bold Titus he walkt about Westminster-Hall/Perjury Punished (BBI ZN411)
Come listen ye Whigs, to my pitiful moan/The Salamanca Doctor's Farewell (BBI ZN658)
Let England Rejoyce and all sorrows expell/The Princely Triumph..Birth of the Young Prince of Wales (BBI ZN1639)
The world is orerun with enormous abuse/Fayre Warning (BBI ZN2966)
Though the town does abound so with plots and with shams/The Protestant Cuckold [Ben. Harris and wife Ruth] (BBI ZN2599)
Now let us all true Protestants ever Rejoyce/...Prince of Orange's March (BBI ZN1932)
London now smiles to see Oxford in tears/Oxford in Mourning for the Loss of the Parliament (BBI ZN1703)
The manifold changes that have hap'ned of late/The High Court of Justice [trial of Regicides] (BBI ZN1748)
You Millers, and Taylors, & Weavers each one/The Crafty Maid of the West..Miller.. trapan'd (BBI ZN3071)
As through the City I passed of late/The Sorrowful Complaint of Conscience and Plain-Dealing (BBI ZN314)
The weather is clear, which was late over cast/Holland turn'd to Tinder..Third Great Royal Victory [Naval battle, July 25-6, 1666] (BBI ZN2760)
Let England, and Jreland, and Scotland rejoyce/The Royal Victory [over Dutch fleet, June 2, 3, 1665] (BBI ZN1636) (With the title "The Royal Victory" in C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , p. 58)
Lift up thy head England & lay by thy mourning/The Triumph of four Nations;.. [peace of Breda] (BBI ZN1690)
Of all the rich pleasures that ever was seen/Joyfull News to the Nation..[Crowning of] Charles the II. on the 23. of April (BBI ZN2094)
Adiew vain delights, and bewitch us no more/Robbery Rewarded.. Five Notorious High-way-men's Exploits (BBI ZN15)
Come hither good fellows and hear what I say/A Groatsworth of Good Counsel for a Penny, Or The Bad Husbands Repentance (BBI ZN595)
Of late I did walk in a pleasant fair day/The Constant Couple, Or, The Glory of True Love (BBI ZN2110)
The Jenny a small Picaroon in the Park/The City Caper; Or, The Whetstone-Park Privateer (BBI ZN1541)
Forbear your vile plotting/The Plotter Executed (BBI ZN906)
All young men and maidens, come listen a while/The merry Pastime of the Spring (BBI ZN161)
Good people attend now, and I will declare/Mans Amazement..Thomas Cox.. (BBI ZN1045)
When all hearts did yield unto Cupid as King/Pyramus and Thisbie (BBI ZN2815)
You Bartholomew tapsters I first do advise/A Description of Bartholomew-Fair (BBI ZN2991)
Come all you brave Sea-men of Courage so free/News from the coast of Spain (BBI ZN524)
Let all loyal subjects look well to their wits/Treason Rewarded at Tiburn.. executed [24th of January, 1679] (BBI ZN1619)
Fairest and dearest to thee I am bound/The Dying Lovers Reprieve (BBI ZN848)
For certain and sure, this Girl will go mad/The Young-Man's Answer to the Politick-Maids Device (BBI ZN903)
Farewel, worldly pleasures and fading delight/Sir Thomas Armstrong's Farewell [executed June 20, 1684] (BBI ZN888)
Come, all loyal lovers, so courteous and free/Love and Constancy (BBI ZN503)
You bonny boon blades that are company keepers/The bad husband's Information of ill Husbandry (BBI ZN2998)
Good fellows come hither, 'tis to you I speak/The Alewives Invitation to Married-Men, and Batchelors (BBI ZN1005)
My dearest come hither and listen tome [sic]/The merry Discourse between two Lovers (BBI ZN1799)
Come all loyal Subjects of every degree/Good News for the Nation..[new parliament] (BBI ZN506)
Company of Gossips that love strong bub/The Merry Gossips Vindication (BBI ZN712)
Alas my dear husband, what is your intent/A Looking glass for all Good-fellows; or, The Provident Wives Directions (BBI ZN45)
Come all loyal subjects I pray you draw near/ Great Britains Joy (BBI ZN505)
A curse on blind Cupid his name I do hate/A Westminster Wedding, Or, A Whore-master Buried Alive (BBI ZN738)
Captain Harman, or, News from the Coast of Spain ("Come, all you brave seamen of courage so free") (C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , p. 83)

References

Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 259-260, "Packington's Pound" (1 tune)
BI, ChWI259