Playford Edition:                            

Dargason can be located in the 1st edition of the [English] Dancing Master (1651). 

Dance Documentation Between 1603-1651


Ballad Documentation:

The ballad is mentioned by verse in Act 5; Scene 3 of William Shakespeare's Henry IV (circa 1597):

• "Silence: Be merry, be merry, my wife has all:
  For women are Shrews, both short, and tall:
  'Tis merry in Hall, when Beards wag all:
  And welcome merry Shrovetide. Be merry, be merry." ⁽¹⁾

Tune:

The tune of "Be Merry, Be Merry, My Wife Has All" is an earlier version of the tune Dargason.  To be exact, "the tune is one referred to [as Dargason] in Cambridge University MS Dd.2.II, a lute manuscript copied by Matthew Homes ca. 1585-95." ⁽²⁾ 

Ballad:

"Be merry, be merry, my wife has all:
for women are Shrews, both short, and tall:
'Tis merry in Hall, when Beards wag all;
and welcome merry Shrovetide. 
Be merry, be merry.

Be merry, be merry, my wife has all:
for women are Shrews, both short, and tall:
'Tis merry in Hall, when Beards wag all;
and welcome merry Shrovetide.
Be merry, be merry.

We shall do nothing but eat and make good cheer,
and praise heaven for the merry year,
when flesh is cheap and females dear,
and lusty lads roam here and there so merr'ly."⁽³⁾