424
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. m. JU*E 3, ion.
As I am going to quote the Harington
version of the song in full, there will be no
difficulty in comparing it with Tottel, which
is in almost everybody's hands. It will be
seen that there is not the shadow^of a doubt
as to the author being John Harington,
but that the ' Nugse Antiquae ' version of the
poem omits four stanzas preserved by
Tottel, one of which contains the lines
written on the window by Mary, Queen of
Scots.
Sonnet by J. Haryngton, 1554.
1. The days were once, and very late, My harte and I might leap at large, Nor were we shutte within the gate Of loves desyre, nor tooke no charge Of what myghte greife, or did perteyne To rack the mynde with ceaseless payne.
2. I heedede not or taunte or toyes, Nor pin'd to see them frown or smyle, Their woes I mock'd and scorn'd their joyes, I shunn'd their frawdes, and cunning wyle ; Then to myself I often smyl'd,
To think how love had such beguyl'd.
3. Thus in the net of my conceite,
I masked forthe amonge the sorte Of such as fedde upon the bayt That Cupid layd for his disporte ; And ever, as I sawe them caughte, In wanton waye I thereat laught.
4. Till at the last, when Cupid spy'd My scornful will and spightfull use, And saw I pass'd not those were tyed, If so myself might live still loose ;
He sett himselfe to lye in waite, And in my waye he caste a baite.
5. Such one as never Nature made (I dare well say) but her alone ; Suche one she was as mighte invade
An hearte more harde than marble stone ; Such one she is, I know it right, Nature her made to shew her myght.
6. Then, as a man in strange amaze All use of reason far awaye, Did I begin to stare and gaze, Nor could my folly brooke delaye ; For, ere I had the witt to looke,
I swallowd up bothe bayte and hooke.
I said that this poem is of high his- torical interest, and I think I am justified in making that assertion ; for it was com- posed by Harington when he was a prisoner in the Tower with the Princess Elizabeth, and it was quoted in Fotheringay Castle by Mary, Queen of Scots, when she was the prisoner of the same Elizabeth. The co- incidence of two queens being associated with the song, and the turn in Fortune's wheel, in the case of Elizabeth, from being the oppressed to become the oppressor of another queen, strike one's imagination as being sufficiently romantic to be deserving of some notice.
My purpose in these papers was to
add two more names to Tottel's list of
authors, and I have done what I set out
to perform ; but I regret to say that I did
not discover till my first contribution was
printed that I had blundered in styling the
elder Harington Sir John Harington. He
was plain John Harington, and as such is to
be distinguished from his celebrated son, the
witty godson of Queen Elizabeth, and the
translator of ' Orlando Furioso.'
CHARLES CRAWFORD.
THE BLINDFOLDED MAN:
JAPANESE VARIANTS.
W- A. CLOUSTON in his * Popular Tales and Fictions,' 1887, vol. ii. pp. 160-62, quotes from Baillie Eraser's ' Narrative of a Journey into Khorassan ' the following analogue of the Adventure of the Poor Mason related in Washington Irving' s ' Tales of the Alham- bra ' :
" There is a tradition that the founder of this college [Paen Pah], having gone to India [from Persia] .... was forced to solicit charity in the public streets. One day he was accosted by an old Hindu, who told him that, if he would submit bo be blindfolded and led to his house, he would have work, and good pay. The poor man con- sented to the term?! ; and after a very circuitous course, his eyes being uncovered, he found him- self in a place surrounded by lofty walls, where he was ordered to dig a large hole, in which the Hindu buried a great quantity of gold .... This operation occupied several days, during which time he bethought himself of an expedient by which he might discover whither he had been conveyed. A cat came into the place, which he caught and killed ; and stuffing the skin -with jold, he took an opportunity to throw it over what le believed to be the boundary wall of the premises, ffe listened to the sound, and judged that it fell upon clay, or some moist substance. When his work was dene, he received a present of a few rupis, was again blindfolded, and led to the place whence he had been brought. He immediately jegan to search for his cat, which.... he found ying in a dirty pond beside a high wall, which he recognized for the enclosure of the Hindu's dwelling. The gold he thus obtained enabled him at the old man's death. . . .to purchase the house 'rom his heir, and he thus became possessed of the vealth which the Hindu had buried. With this le returned to Persia, and with a portion of it
built this college."
Parallel to this Persian tale, we have a Japanese one told of Itakura Shigemune,
- he wisest judge Japan has ever produced
1586-1656 A.D.). It runs thus :
" During his residence hi Kydto as Chief
ustice, it happened one day that a professional
urgeon of good reputation brought him private
nformation of a strange affair that had recently
)ccurred to himself. ' About twenty days ago,'
