Pastyme With Good Company

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Pastyme With Good Company
Anonymous

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a song preserved in a manuscript now in the collection of the British Museum (BM Addl. MSS. 31,922; Addl. MSS. 5,665; MSS. Reg. Appendix 58). In the opinion of some, both words and music were almost certainly written by Henry VIII of England.

In the 1548 work The Complaynt of Scotland, the author mentions "Pastance with gude companye" as being among the popular songs within the kingdom of Scotland in the early part of the 16th century.

51378Pastyme With Good CompanyAnonymous

Passetyme with good companye

I love, and shall until I dye;

Grugge who wyll, but none deny,

So God be pleeyd, this lyfe wyll I:

For my pastaunce,

Hunt, syng, and daunce,

My hert ys sett;

All godely sport,

To my comfort,

Who shall me lett?

Youth wyll have nedes dalyaunce,

Of good or yll some pastaunce,

Companye me thynketh them best,

All thouts and fantasyes to dygest.

For ydleness,

Ys chef mastres

Of vices all:

Than who can say,

But passe the day

Ys best of all.

Company with honeste,

Ys vertu and vyce to flee;

Company ys gode or yll,

But ev'ry man hath hys frewylle;

The best I sew,

The worst eschew,

My mynd shall be:

Vertue to use,

Vyce to refuse,

I shall use me.

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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