ffusions were called the songs of _Vau de Vire_, till they
became known as _Vaudevilles_. Boileau has well described them:--

La liberte franchise en ses vers se deploie;
Cet enfant de plaisir veut naitre dans la joie.

It is well known how the attempt ended, of James I. and his unfortunate
son, by the publication of their "Book of Sports," to preserve the
national character from the gloom of fanatical puritanism; among its
unhappy effects there was however one not a little ludicrous. The
Puritans, offended by the gentlest forms of mirth, and every day
becoming more sullen, were so shocked at the simple merriment of the
people, that they contrived to parody these songs into spiritual ones;
and Shakspeare speaks of the Puritan of his day "singing psalms to
hornpipes." As Puritans are the same in all times, the Methodists in our
own repeated the foolery, and set their hymns to popular tunes and jigs,
which one of them said "were too good for the devil." They have sung
hymns to the air of "The beds of sweet roses," &c. Wesley once, in the
pulpit, described himself, in his old age, in the well known ode of
Anacreon, by merely substituting his own name![64] There have been
Puritans among other people as well as our own: the same occurrence took
place both in Italy and France. In Italy, the Carnival songs were turned
into pious hymns; the hymn _Jesu fammi morire_ is sung to the music of
_Vaga bella e gentile_--_Crucifisso a capo chino_ to that of _Una donna
d'amor fino_, one of the most indecent pieces in the _Canzoni a ballo_;
and the hymn beginning

Ecco 'l Messia
E la Madre Maria,

was sung to the gay tune of Lorenzo de' Medici,

Ben venga Maggio,
E 'l gonfalon selvaggio.

Athenaeus notices what we call slang or flash songs. He tells us that
there were poets who composed songs in the dialect of the mob; and who
succeeded in this kind of poetry, adapted to their various characters.
The French call such songs _Chansons a la Vade_; the style of the
_Poissardes_ is ludicrously applied to the gravest matters of state, and
convey the popular feelings in the language of the populace. This sort
of satirical song is happily defined,

Il est l'esprit de ceux qui n'en ont pas.

Athenaeus has also preserved songs, sung by petitioners who went about on
holidays to collect alms. A friend of mine, with taste and learning, has
discovered in his researches "The Crow Song" and "The Swallow Song," and
h