The origins of Wit and Mirth: or Pills to Purge Melancholy, the most famous song book of its day, may be traced back to a single volume of 'witty ballads, jovial songs, and merry catches' by an earlier generation of lyricists, published without music in 1661 under the title An Antidote against Melancholy: made up in Pills. For the third edition, still without music but livened up by more recent songs, the title was changed to Wit and Mirth: An Antidote against Melancholy (1682), and in 1699, still in one volume, it was published by Henry Playford with music. Over the course of the next two decades it was expanded and republished again and again, eventually to become this six-volume 'standard edition' of contemporary popular comic and bawdy ballads, with an increasing emphasis on the work of the stammering dramatist and lyricist Thomas D'Urfey, whose songs were sung by all the town. Among the composers were Dr. John Blow and Henry Purcell.] [from Wikipedia: Thomas D'Urfey (1653-1723) was an English dramatist and songwriter. He wrote the plays The Fond Husband in 1676, Madame Fickle in 1677 and The Virtuous Wife in 1680. He also wrote the song collection Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy between 1719 and 1720.] The book is not always gramatically correct, e.g.: "There was three Travellers". Odd spellings, and odd grammatical constructions, if they make sense, have been preserved. There is some dialect, which has also been preserved. (e.g.: "Wo'as me poor Lass! what mun I do?") Apostrophes of ownership are conspicuous by their absence. Spelling is sometimes quaint...'spight' for 'spite', 'dye' for 'die', 'chuse' for choose', 'seaze' for 'seize', 'quere' for 'queer', etc. Where a spelling makes sense, and is merely discretional and not obviously incorrect, it has been retained. 'Their' instead of 'there' has appeared twice (page 4 and page 201), retained, and 'Pharoah' (page 225), retained: it _is_ a drinking song. pp. 245-246: 'Monsieur Grabeau' (twice) on page 245 becomes Monsieur Grabeu (four times) on page 246. [Note (from Wikipedia): Louis Grabu, Grabut, Grabue, or Grebus (fl. 1665-1690, died after 1693) was a Catalan-born, French-trained composer and violinist who was mainly active in England. While he was probably born in Catalonia--he was later referred to as 'Lodovicus Grabeu of Shalon in Catalunnia' --details of his early life are lacking. Sometime in his youth he moved to Paris, where he was most likely trained by Lully. At the time of the Restoration he went to England, where French music, especially opera, was much in vogue.