La Matelotte

It's obvious, opined Pliny the Elder. I love you yet means I love you still.

Maybe, I said, but I feel sure there was a fourth line. It would have had to to rhyme with yet. I can't think what it could have been.

I can, said Pliny. How about this:

Mewsette , Mewsette,
My love and my pet,
I love you yet
I sometimes forget.

Pliny! I said, that wasn't it, but it's very clever. You've turned an ambiguity into an ambivalence.

Thankyou, said Pliny. And now tell me about La Matelotte. What is a matelotte?

Well, I had no idea. It sounded like a lively dance. When I got home I discovered that a matelot is a French sailor, so I guess a matelotte is a lady sailor. I didn't think they had lady sailors in the 18th century though.

No said Pliny, but a lady could dance with a sailor. What did the program notes say?

Nothing. Except that Marais, the composer, once wrote a piece of music called Le Tableau de l'Operation de la Taille. It was about an operation to remove gallstones.

I should like to hear that, said Pliny, looking nevertheless somewhat doubtful.

You can, I said. On YouTube.