"For Lewis his right, alasse, tis too-too lame,

A senslesse claime, if truth be titles friend."

The Troublesome Raigne of King John, 1611.

"And superstitious disordred orders,

Too-too luxuriant in the British borders."

Billingsley's Brachy-Martyrologia, 1657, p. 162.

"Down the stairs he hurried quickly,

While I made me too-too sickly."

Barnaby's Journal.

"And wou'd have gull'd him with a trick,
But Martin was too-too politic."

Hudibras, II., iii. 158.

An attentive perusal of these examples will readily convince the reader that a mere duplication of the too, more especially with a comma dividing the word, will neither suit the context, nor the explanations of Ray and Watson. It is scarcely necessary to multiply more instances, but in the event of any one wishing to pursue the subject further, I will add the following references: - Promos and Cassandra, 1st part, act iii., sc. 6, and act v., sc. 5; Randolph's Jealous Lovers, 1646, p. 19, and 21; Wither's Abuses, p. 43; The Troublesome

Raigne of King John, 1611, (two more instances); Herrick's Works, ii., 27; Randolph's Poems, 1643, p. 12; Randolph's Amyntas, 1640, p. 82; Marlowe's Dido, act v., sc. 1, and act v., sc. 2; Marlowe's Hero and Leander, p. 334; The Return from Parnassus, act v., sc. 1; Wily Beguiled, ap. Hawkins, p. 340; Locrine, act i., sc. 2, and act v., sc. 5; British Bibliographer, ii., 320; Harrison's Description of Britaine, pp. 108, 129, 193, 202, 220; British Bibliographer, iv., 205; The Misfortunes of Arthur, act iii., sc. 1, and act v., sc. 1; The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon, act ii., sc. 1 and 2, and act iii., sc. 1; A Woman is a Weathercock, act ii., sc. 1; Amends for Ladies, act ii., sc. 2; Ashmole's Theat. Chem. Brit., p. 335; Beaumont and Fletcher, iii. 171; Young's Night Thoughts, ed. 1827, p. 303.

Many more references might no doubt be added, but what are here brought together will be quite sufficient to enable the reader to understand fully the force of the word too-too as used by our early writers.

J. O. HALLIWELL.

P.S. Since writing the above, I have observed an earlier instance of too-too in an unpublished romance in the Thornton MS., in the library of Lincoln Cathedral. This MS. was written in Yorkshire, in the reign of Henry VI., and the passage which contains too-too is as follows::

"3erne he prayes hyme to-too,
His nyne sonnes with hym to goo."

ART. XI.-The Song of The Willow, in Othello.

In vol. vii., p. 607 of the edition of Shakespeare's Plays and Poems, recently published by Messrs. Whittaker and Co., it is mentioned, in a note, that there is a song by old John Heywood, the dramatist, epigrammatist, virginal-player, and theatrical instructor of the reign of Henry VIII., with the same burden as the ballad, part of which is assigned to Desdemona, in act iv., sc. 3 of "Othello," viz:

"Sing all the green will must be my garland.”

As the members of the Shakespeare Society may like to see this curious relic of a man of so much ability and distinction as the author of the interludes of "The Four Ps," "John Tib and Sir John," &c. I subjoin it, observing, that it is contained in a manuscript of the time, the property of the late B. H. Bright, Esq., who lent it me many years since, in order that I might transcribe such portions as I thought the most valuable the whole of the manuscript well deserved to be copied, but I had not then time to make more than a few extracts, one of which was the following, rendered peculiarly inviting by its obvious connection with one of the greatest works of our greatest dramatist. It has never been anywhere noticed but in the place referred to at the commencement: it is called

"A BALLAD OF THE GREEN WILLOW.

"All a grene wyllow, wyllow,

All agrene wyllow is my garland.

"Alas! by what meane may I make ye to know
The unkyndnes for kyndnes that to me doth growe,
That one, who most kynd love on me should bestow,

Most unkynd unkyndness to me she doth show:
For all the grene wyllow is my garland.

"To have love, and hold love, where love is so sped,
Oh, delicate foode to the lover so fed!

From love won to love lost where lovers be led,
Oh desperate dolor! the lover is dead;

For all the grene wyllow is his garland.

"She sayde she dyd love me, and would love me still;
She sware above all men I had her good will:

She sayde and she sware she would my will fulfill,
The promyse all good, the performans all yll;
For all the grene wyllow is my garland.

"Now, wo worth the wyllow, and wo worth the wyght
That wyndeth wyllow, wyllow garland to dyght:

That dole delt in almys is all amyss quyght,
Where lovers are beggers for almys in syght,
No lover doth beg for this willow garland.

"Of this wyllow garland the burden seem'th small, But my break-neck burden I may it well call:

Like the sow of lede on my hede it doth fall,

Break hed, and break necke, back, bones, brayn, hart and all : All parts prest in peces.

"Too yll for her thynk I best things may be had;
Too good for me thynkethe she thyngs beyng most bad:
All I do present her that may make her glad;
All she doth present me that may make me sad.
This equyitie have I with this wyllow garland.

"Could I forget thee as thou canst forget me,
That were my sound salve, which cannot nor shalbe .

Though thou lyke the soryng hawke every way fle,

I wylbe the turtle most stedfast still to thee,
And paciently weare this grene wyllow garland.

"All ye that have had love, and have my lyke wrong,
My lyke truthe and paciens plant still you among.
When femynyne fancies for new love do long,
Old love can not hold them, new love is so strong.
For all.

FINIS qd. IHON HEYWOOD."

If this song show nothing else, it proves how ancient was the burden of the song, some snatches of which are sung by Desdemona. The ballad printed by Percy in his Reliques (i., 212, ed. 1812) from a copy in the Pepysian Collection at Cambridge, is obviously a comparatively modern re-impression (about the year 1640 or 1650) of a much older production, though perhaps not so ancient as the song by John Heywood just quoted independently of any connection with Shakespeare, it is worth preserving. I therefore send it to be included in the "Papers" of the Society, the main purpose of which is to illustrate our early Drama and Stage.

May 3, 1844.

A "BALLAD-MONGER."

[Since the above was transmitted, Mr. Bright's manuscripts have been sold and dispersed. It appears to have formed lot 245 in the catalogue issued by Sotheby and Wilkinson in June, 1844.]