The Merry Broomfield; Or, the West Country Wager
A NOBLE young squire that lived in the West,He courted a young lady gay;And as he was merry he put forth a jest,A wager with her he would lay.
‘A wager with me,’ the young lady replied,‘I pray about what must it be?If I like the humour you shan’t be denied,I love to be merry and free.’
Quoth he, ‘I will lay you a hundred pounds,A hundred pounds, aye, and ten,That a maid if you go to the merry Broomfield,That a maid you return not again.’
‘I’ll lay you that wager,’ the lady she said,Then the money she flung down amain;‘To the merry Broomfield I’ll go a pure maid,The same I’ll return home again.’
He covered her bet in the midst of the hall,With a hundred and ten jolly pounds;And then to his servant he straightway did call,For to bring forth his hawk and his hounds.
A ready obedience the servant did yield,And all was made ready o’er night;Next morning he went to the merry Broomfield,To meet with his love and delight.
Now when he came there, having waited a while,Among the green broom down he lies;The lady came to him, and could not but smile,For sleep then had closèd his eyes.
Upon his right hand a gold ring she secured,Drawn from her own fingers so fair;That when he awakèd he might be assuredHis lady and love had been there.
She left him a posie of pleasant perfume,Then stepped from the place where he lay,Then hid herself close in the besom of broom,To hear what her true love did say.
He wakened and found the gold ring on his hand,Then sorrow of heart he was in;‘My love has been here, I do well understand,And this wager I now shall not win.
‘Oh! where was you, my goodly goshawk,The which I have purchased so dear,Why did you not waken me out of my sleep,When the lady, my love, was here?’
‘O! with my bells did I ring, master,And eke with my feet did I run;And still did I cry, pray awake! master,She’s here now, and soon will be gone.’
‘O! where was you, my gallant greyhound,Whose collar is flourished with gold;Why hadst thou not wakened me out of my sleep,When thou didst my lady behold?’
‘Dear master, I barked with my mouth when she came,And likewise my collar I shook;And told you that here was the beautiful dame,But no notice of me then you took.’
‘O! where wast thou, my servingman,Whom I have clothèd so fine?If you had waked me when she was here,The wager then had been mine.’
In the night you should have slept, master,And kept awake in the day;Had you not been sleeping when hither she came,Then a maid she had not gone away.’
Then home he returned when the wager was lost,With sorrow of heart, I may say;The lady she laughed to find her love crost,—This was upon midsummer-day.
‘O, squire! I laid in the bushes concealed,And heard you, when you did complain;And thus I have been to the merry Broomfield,And a maid returned back again.
‘Be cheerful! be cheerful! and do not repine,For now ’tis as clear as the sun,The money, the money, the money is mine,The wager I fairly have won.’
Words in this poem 17
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- amain adv.
- With might; with full force; vigorously; violently; exceedingly. [Pref. a- + main. See 2d Main, n.]
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- besom n.
- A brush of twigs for sweeping; a broom; anything which sweeps away or destroys. [OE. besme, besum, AS. besma; akin to D. bezem, OHG pesamo, G. besen; of uncertain origin.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- midsummer n.
- The middle of summer. Shak. Midsummer daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. [AS. midsumor.]
- repine v. i.
- To fail; to wane. [Pref. re- + pine to languish.]
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Merry Broomfield; Or, the West Country Wager is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, Project Gutenberg ebook #649; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bell, The Merry Broomfield; Or, the West Country Wager, in Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (1857), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #649, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bell-ancient-poems/the-merry-broomfield-or-the-west-country-wager.html, id L11916.
Form and metre
The Merry Broomfield; Or, the West Country Wager is 76 lines in 19 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 11 of its 19 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in anapaestic common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB westA · gayB · jestA · layB
- 2 ABAB repliedA · beB · deniedA · freeB
- 3 -A-A pounds · tenA · broomfield · againA
- 4 -A-A said · amainA · maid · againA
- 5 ABAB hallA · poundsB · callA · houndsB
- 6 ABAB yieldA · nightB · broomfieldA · delightB
- 7 ABAB whileA · liesB · smileA · eyesB
- 8 ABAB securedA · fairB · assuredA · thereB
- 9 ABAB perfumeA · layB · broomA · sayB
- 10 ABAB handA · inB · understandA · winB
- 11 -A-A goshawk · dearA · sleep · hereA
- 12 A-A- masterA · run · masterA · gone
- 13 -A-A greyhound · goldA · sleep · beholdA
- 14 ABAB cameA · shookB · dameA · tookB
- 15 -A-A servingman · fineA · here · mineA
- 16 -A-A master · dayA · came · awayA
- 17 ABAB lostA · sayB · crostA · dayB
- 18 ABAB concealedA · complainB · broomfieldA · againB
- 19 -A-A repine · sunA · mine · wonA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A NOBLE young squire that lived in the West, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| He courted a young lady gay; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And as he was merry he put forth a jest, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| A wager with her he would lay. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| ‘A wager with me,’ the young lady replied, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘˘/ |
| ‘I pray about what must it be? | 8 | ········ |
| If I like the humour you shan’t be denied, | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| I love to be merry and free.’ | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Quoth he, ‘I will lay you a hundred pounds, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A hundred pounds, aye, and ten, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| That a maid if you go to the merry Broomfield, | 12 | ········/˘/· |
| That a maid you return not again.’ | 9 | ····˘/·˘/ |
| ‘I’ll lay you that wager,’ the lady she said, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Then the money she flung down amain; | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| ‘To the merry Broomfield I’ll go a pure maid, | 11 | ··/˘/······ |
| The same I’ll return home again.’ | 8 | ···˘/·˘/ |
| He covered her bet in the midst of the hall, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| With a hundred and ten jolly pounds; | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| And then to his servant he straightway did call, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| For to bring forth his hawk and his hounds. | 9 | ········· |
| A ready obedience the servant did yield, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| And all was made ready o’er night; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Next morning he went to the merry Broomfield, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/· |
| To meet with his love and delight. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Now when he came there, having waited a while, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| Among the green broom down he lies; | 8 | ········ |
| The lady came to him, and could not but smile, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| For sleep then had closèd his eyes. | 7 | ······· |
| Upon his right hand a gold ring she secured, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| Drawn from her own fingers so fair; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| That when he awakèd he might be assured | 10 | ········˘/ |
| His lady and love had been there. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| She left him a posie of pleasant perfume, | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| Then stepped from the place where he lay, | 8 | ········ |
| Then hid herself close in the besom of broom, | 11 | ··˘/···/˘·· |
| To hear what her true love did say. | 8 | ········ |
| He wakened and found the gold ring on his hand, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Then sorrow of heart he was in; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| ‘My love has been here, I do well understand, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| And this wager I now shall not win. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| ‘Oh! where was you, my goodly goshawk, | 9 | ·····/˘/· |
| The which I have purchased so dear, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Why did you not waken me out of my sleep, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| When the lady, my love, was here?’ | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| ‘O! with my bells did I ring, master, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And eke with my feet did I run; | 8 | ········ |
| And still did I cry, pray awake! master, | 10 | ······˘//˘ |
| She’s here now, and soon will be gone.’ | 8 | ········ |
| ‘O! where was you, my gallant greyhound, | 9 | ·····/˘/· |
| Whose collar is flourished with gold; | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Why hadst thou not wakened me out of my sleep, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| When thou didst my lady behold?’ | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| ‘Dear master, I barked with my mouth when she came, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And likewise my collar I shook; | 8 | ·/··/˘·· |
| And told you that here was the beautiful dame, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But no notice of me then you took.’ | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| ‘O! where wast thou, my servingman, | 8 | ········ |
| Whom I have clothèd so fine? | 6 | ······ |
| If you had waked me when she was here, | 9 | ········· |
| The wager then had been mine.’ | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| In the night you should have slept, master, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And kept awake in the day; | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Had you not been sleeping when hither she came, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Then a maid she had not gone away.’ | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Then home he returned when the wager was lost, | 11 | ···˘/··/˘·· |
| With sorrow of heart, I may say; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The lady she laughed to find her love crost,— | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| This was upon midsummer-day. | 8 | ····//˘· |
| ‘O, squire! I laid in the bushes concealed, | 10 | ······/˘˘/ |
| And heard you, when you did complain; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And thus I have been to the merry Broomfield, | 11 | ·······/˘/· |
| And a maid returned back again. | 8 | ···˘/·˘/ |
| ‘Be cheerful! be cheerful! and do not repine, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘···˘/ |
| For now ’tis as clear as the sun, | 8 | ········ |
| The money, the money, the money is mine, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| The wager I fairly have won.’ | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
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