Imported Popular Song in <em>The Humorous Magistrate</em>: 'The Noble Acts of Arthur of the Round Table' and 'Come heare, Lady Muses'

In the anonymous Caroline comedy The Humorous Magistrate , characters make references to two popular songs. In act 2, Mistress Mumble sings a snippet of 'The Noble Acts of Arthur of the Round Table' at the approach of the wooing lawyer, Strife. In act 5, a group of fiddlers make reference to a manuscript ballad beginning, 'Come heare, Lady Muses', infamous for its attack on George Villiers, duke of Buckingham. This note examines the sources and traditions informing these songs and offers a musical setting for Mistress Mumble's line. I then illuminate an intriguing connection via 'Come heare, Lady Muses' between The Humorous Magistrate and another anonymous play entitled The Emperor's Favourite , considered by many to have been written by the same playwright. Finally, I consider the implications of the two songs, as they exist in their plays, with regard to author and audience.