Robert Herrick. Up Tails All.

UP TAILS ALL.
by Robert Herrick

          BEGIN with a kiss,
          Go on too with this ;
And thus, thus, thus let us smother
          Our lips for awhile,
          But let's not beguile
Our hope of one for the other.

          This play, be assur'd,
          Long enough has endur'd,
Since more and more is exacted ;
          For love he doth call
          For his uptails all ;
And that's the part to be acted.

Uptails all, the refrain of a song beginning “ Fly
Merry News” : see Note.

[ Note, p.280:

       729.   Up  tails  all.     This  tune  will  be  found  in
  Chappell's  Popular Music of  the Olden  Time,  vol. i.
  p. 196.   He  notes  that  it  was  a  favourite  with  Her-
  rick, who wrote  four other  poems  in  the  metre, viz.:
  The Hag  is  Astride,  The Maypole  is  up,  The Peter-
  penny, and Twelfth Night : or, King and Queen.  The
  Tune  is  found  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Virginal  Book,
  and in the Dancing Master  (1650-1690).  It is alluded
  to  by   Ben  Jonson,   and  was  a  favourite  with  the
  Cavaliers.  ]

Ť AJ Note: cf. also, Ceremonies for Christmas ť

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol II.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 57; 280.

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