This is a Ravenscroft
drinking round that we'd never sung before, although I've had it
in the notebook in someone else's transcription for a while.
One reason it isn't more popular is that it's pretty hard.
Also, as written, it has a range of more than two octaves. The
other transcription made that less obvious by switching clefs in
the middle, but I've left it with Ravenscroft's original
pitches, going from the C below middle C to the D more than an
octave above.
I suspect Ravenscroft did have friends who sang this kind of
range, and if you don't, you should learn how to decide which
sections to transpose:
Most women will sing the first section an octave up and men
will sing it as written. Women of
the high voice persuasion will sing the second section
(starting at "I have loved") an
octave up, but women of the low voice persuasion will sing
it as written, and men of the low voice persuasion may
decide to go down an octave. Most women will sing the
third section (starting at "He that loves not") where it's written, and men who haven't
developed their falsetto range will take it down an octave.
Most women will sing the fourth section (starting with
"tappe the canikin") where it's written,
and men of the low voice persuasion will take it down an
octave.
Once you've settled that, then you have to figure out how to
sing the intervals and the rhythms. We didn't do very well
Tuesday night.