Love in a Maze is an English broadside ballad that dates back, from estimation by the English Short Title Catalogue, to the 1640s, which immediately coincides with the publication of James Shirley's play, The Changes, or Love in a Maze, in 1639. The full title of the ballad is: "Love in a MAZE: / OR, The Young-man put to his Dumps. / Here in this Song you may behold and see / A gallant Girl obtain'd by Wit and Honesty; / All you that hear my Song, and mark it but aright, / Will say true love's worth gold, and breeds delight." It is set to the tune of, "The True Lovers Delight; Or, The Cambridge Horn." [1] The ballad's opening lines are, "LAte in the Morning as I abroad was walking,/All in a meadow green, I heard two Lovers talking;." Extant copies of the ballad can be found at the Glasgow University Library, the British Library, the Huntington Library, the Pepys Library at Magdalene College, and the National Library of Scotland.
The play begins with voyeuristic means: the, seemingly omniscient, narrator stumbles upon two witty lovers on a hilly knoll close to a river. The young man—the first of the two speaking roles—professes his love for a fair, wealthy maiden—the second and wittier. She is reluctant to comply with this wish to be married, and replies that love, "is like a fishers angle,/ which oft hath golden baites, silly maidens to intangle." [2] The young man continues to profess his adoration and enchantment with the maid, but she can see through his falsity—she acknowledges that young men constantly chase after young women, vocalizing their love, but are only interested in the woman's virginity. The young man is undeterred and asks for a test to prove his ardor. The maid takes to the riverbed and plucks a bouquet of "may" and "time" and she hands it to him as a riddle. The young man blushes and answers the riddle: "This May [May first is the month and date of the ballad's setting] stuck in Time which is to me presenting,/ shew that I may in time gain your love with sweet con-tenting." The maiden then agrees to marry him and they do. The narrator ends by praising this marriage in which both gained something: he—money—and she—a loyal husband. But it also warns young maids to: "Try before you trust, be careful in consenting."
Form
The ballad is arranged in play-like fashion in that it employs two speakers, each with their own part and set of lines. The form of each speaker's part includes five lines—two rhyming couplets concluded with an exact repetition of line 4. The rhyme scheme is: A,A,B,B,B.
In addition to the ballad's likeness to Shirley's "The Changes, or, Love in a Maze," the subtitle, "Love in a Maze" is perhaps most recognized in the amatory fiction piece written by Eliza Haywood in 1725, nearly a century after the ballad and play's first publications. Though Shirley's play, the broadside ballad, and Haywood's novella do not retell exactly the same plot line, themes of witty lover engagement, sexual awakening, and lascivious practices are apparent in all three.
And though more is usually known about the ballad's tune in ballad scholarship, there is little known about either "The True Lovers Delight" or "The Cambridge Horn." Neither are cataloged in Chappell's Popular Music of Olden Time or Simpson's The British Broadside Ballad and its Music.
"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional English ballad. The song lists a number of impossible tasks given to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The "Scarborough/Whittingham Fair" variant was most common in Yorkshire and Northumbria, where it was sung to various melodies, often using Dorian mode, with refrains resembling "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" and "Then she'll be a true love of mine." It appears in Traditional Tunes by Frank Kidson published in 1891, who claims to have collected it from Whitby.
"Barbara Allen" is a traditional folk song that is popular throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. It tells of how the eponymous character denies a dying man's love, then dies of grief soon after his untimely death.
"The Daemon Lover" – also known as "James Harris", "A Warning for Married Women", "The Distressed Ship Carpenter", "James Herries", "The Carpenter’s Wife", "The Banks of Italy", or "The House-Carpenter" – is a popular ballad dating from the mid-seventeenth century, when the earliest known broadside version of the ballad was entered in the Stationers' Register on 21 February 1657.
"Geordie" is an English language folk song concerning the trial of the eponymous hero whose lover pleads for his life. It is listed as Child ballad 209 and Number 90 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The ballad was traditionally sung across the English speaking world, particularly in England, Scotland and North America, and was performed with many different melodies and lyrics. In recent times, popular versions have been performed and recorded by numerous artists and groups in different languages, mostly inspired by Joan Baez's 1962 recording based on a traditional version from Somerset, England.
"The Broomfield Hill", "The Broomfield Wager" "The Merry Broomfield", "The Green Broomfield", "A Wager, a Wager", or "The West Country Wager" (Child 43, Roud 34) is a traditional English folk ballad.
"Riddles Wisely Expounded" is a traditional English song, dating at least to 1450. It is Child Ballad 1 and Roud 161, and exists in several variants. The first known tune was attached to it in 1719. The title "Riddles Wisely Expounded" was given by Francis James Child and seems derived from the seventeenth century broadside version "A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded".
The Suffolk Miracle is Child ballad 272 and is listed as #246 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Versions of the ballad have been collected from traditional singers in England, Ireland and North America. The song is also known as "The Holland Handkerchief" and sometimes as "The Lover's Ghost".
The song "All Around my Hat" is of nineteenth-century English origin. In an early version, dating from the 1820s, a Cockney costermonger vowed to be true to his fiancée, who had been sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia for theft and to mourn his loss of her by wearing green willow sprigs in his hatband for "a twelve-month and a day", the willow being a traditional symbol of mourning. The song was made famous by Steeleye Span, whose rendition may have been based on a more traditional version sung by John Langstaff, in 1975.
"King John and the Bishop" is an English folk-song dating back at least to the 16th century. It is catalogued in Child Ballads as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index 302.
"The Sprig of Thyme", "The Seeds of Love", "Maiden’s Lament", "Garners Gay", "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" or "Rue" is a traditional British and Irish folk ballad that uses botanical and other symbolism to warn young people of the dangers in taking false lovers. The song was first documented in 1689 and the many variants go by a large number of titles.
"The Cuckoo" is a traditional English folk song, also sung in the United States, Canada, Scotland and Ireland. The song is known by many names, including "The Coo-Coo", "The Coo-Coo Bird", "The Cuckoo Bird", "The Cuckoo Is a Pretty Bird", "The Evening Meeting", "The Unconstant Lover", "Bunclody" and "Going to Georgia". In the United States, the song is sometimes syncretized with the other traditional folk song "Jack of Diamonds". Lyrics usually include the line : "The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies; she brings us glad tidings, and she tells us no lies."
Fantomina; or, Love in a Maze is a novel by Eliza Haywood published in 1725. In it, the protagonist disguises herself as four different women in her efforts to understand how a man may interact with each individual persona. Part of the tradition of amatory fiction is to rewrite the story of the persecuted maiden into a story of feminine power and sexual desire.
A Voyage to Virginia is an English broadside ballad. Although surviving copies of the broadside date back to the late 17th century, the ballad could have been available in the early to mid-17th century. The ballad is told from the point of view of a soldier, who is saying farewell to his love, Betty. Copies of the broadside can be found at the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and Magdelene college.
Amintor's Lamentation for Celia's Unkindness is an English broadside ballad from the 17th century that tells the story of a young man who falls in love the coy Celia who does not love him back, and leaves the country to avoid him. The ballad begins with Amintor lamenting her refusal to return his love, and concludes with Celia's response, in which she accuses Amintor of using charm and arts to try to steal her purity. Sung to the tune of "Since Celia's My Foe." Copies of the broadside can be found in the British Library and the National Library of Scotland. On-line transcriptions of the ballad are also available for public consumption.
The Wandering Virgin is an English broadside ballad from the late 17th century. The narrator warns fellow virgins not to be too coy unless they also want to wander the world round looking for the lover who has given up on their courtship. She tells the story of how she dresses like a man and travels over sea, land, desert, and forest to find her love. Sung to the tune of Over Hills and High Mountains, or Ah! Chloris Awake, depending on the broadside. Copies of the broadside are available in National Library of Scotland, the University of Glasgow Library, the British Library, and Magdalene College, Cambridge.
The Despairing Lover is an English broadside ballad from the late-17th century, written by Edward Ford. It is about a man who loses his lover and vows to kill himself, until she saves him by returning at the end of the ballad. It is paired with A Constant and Kind Maid, in which the woman becomes the man's constant and loving wife. Sung to the tune of Fortune My Foe or Aim Not Too High, though according to William Chappell there is some controversy over the compatibility of these tunes. Copies of the broadside can be found at the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and Magdalene College, Cambridge. On-line facsimile transcriptions are also available for public consumption.
The Princely Lovers Garland is an English broadside ballad from the 18th century. It tells the story of a young royal couple who overcome separation, shipwreck, imprisonment, and the princess's father to finally join together in happy marriage. Copies of the broadside are available at the Huntington Library, the British Library, and the National Library of Scotland.
The Merchants Daughter of Bristow is an English broadside ballad from the 17th century about a young woman who defies her father and follows her lover to Italy, where she saves him from religious persecution and execution. Also known as Maudlin the Merchants Daughter. Copies of the broadside can be found in the British Library, the University of Glasgow Library, and Magdalene College, Cambridge.
"Hares on the Mountain" is an English folk song. Versions of this song have been collected from traditional singers in England, Canada and the US, and have been recorded by modern folk artists.
"Early, Early in the Spring" is a British folk song that has been collected from traditional singers in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the United States. It tells the story of a sailor gone to sea whose beloved promises to wait for him. When he returns she has married a rich man and he goes back to sea with a broken heart and a bitter attitude. In a few American versions the betrayed lover is a cowboy.