'Carman's whistle' [ Appendix ].
H. 4. B. 32, 320. Falstaff soliloquises on Shallow's lies concerning his wild youth.
Fal. He (Shallow) came ever in the rearward of the fashion, and sung those tunes … that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware—they were his fancies, or his goodnights.… The case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a court.
The Carman's Whistle was a popular Elizabethan tune, and was arranged as a virginal lesson by Byrd. This arrangement can be had most readily in Litolff's publication, 'Les maîtres du Clavecin.'
The 'fancies' referred to above are the 'Fantazies' already remarked on (chest of viols); and the 'Goodnights' are songs in memoriam, or dirges.
'Fortune my foe.' [ Appendix ]. Merry Wives 33, 62. Falstaff (to Mrs Ford). 'I see what thou wert, if Fortune thy foe were not, Nature thy friend.' This old tune is at latest of Elizabeth's time, and was sung to the ancient ballad of "Titus Andronicus." The first verse of 'Fortune my foe' is as follows:—
"Fortune my foe, why dost thou frown on me?
And will thy favour never better be?
Wilt thou, I say, for ever breed my pain,
And wilt thou not restore my joyes again?"
'Ophelia's Songs.' Hamlet 45. [ Appendix ]. 'How
