which were his favourite ballads among those the country-girls sang. She indirectly inquired of Amby Seedling, who had followed Izz from Talbothays, and by chance Amby remembered that, amongst the snatches of melody in which they had indulged at the dairyman’s, to induce the cows to let down their milk, Clare had seemed to like “Cupid’s Gardens,” “I have parks, I have hounds,” and “The break o’ the day”; and had seemed not to care for “The Tailor’s Breeches” and “Such a beauty I did grow,” excellent ditties as they were.
To perfect the ballads was now her whimsical desire. She practised them privately at odd moments, especially “The break o’ the day”:
Arise, arise, arise! And pick your love a posy, All o’ the sweetest flowers That in the garden grow. The turtle doves and sma’ birds In every bough a-building, So early in the May-time At the break o’ the day!
It would have melted the heart of a stone to hear her singing these ditties whenever she worked apart from the rest of the girls in