Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age Part 27

_Page_ 9. John Wilbye is styled by Oliphant "the first of madrigal writers." He published his "First Set of English Madrigals" in 1598, and his "Second Set" in 1609. The Second Set was dedicated to the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart. The composer concludes his dedicatory epistle with the prayer, "I beseech the Almighty to make you in all the pa.s.sages of your life truly happy, as you are in the world's true opinion, virtuous." In the very year when the epistle was written the gifted patroness of art and learning was accused before the Privy Council and ordered to be kept in close confinement. She made her escape, but after a few hours was captured at sea in her flight to Dunkirk, brought back to London, and committed to the Tower, where she died of a broken heart in 1615. It is pleasant to think that the song-book dedicated to her honour may have cheered her in the long hours of solitude. The collection consists chiefly of love-lyrics; but such verses as "Happy, O happy he," &c. (p. 37) and "Draw on, sweet Night"

(p. 21), must have been carefully cherished by the poor captive.

_Page_ 9. "April is in my mistress' face."--Compare Robert Greene's verses in "Perimedes, the Blacksmith," 1588:--

"Fair is my love, for April in her face, Her lovely b.r.e.a.s.t.s September claims his part, And lordly July in her eyes takes place: But cold December dwelleth in her heart: Blest be the months that set my thoughts on fire, Accurs'd that month that hindereth my desire!"

_Page_ 11. "The Urchins' Dance" is from the anonymous play "The Maid's Metamorphosis," 1600. In the same play are the following dainty verses;--

"_1 Fairy._ I do come about the copse Leaping upon flowers' tops; Then I get upon a fly, She carries me above the sky, And trip and go!

_2 Fairy._ When a dew-drop falleth down And doth light upon my crown, Then I shake my head and skip And about I trip.

_3 Fairy._ When I feel a girl a-sleep, Underneath her frock I peep, There to sport, and there I play; Then I bite her like a flea, And about I skip."

Thomas Ravenscroft, compiler of the "Brief Discourse," won his spurs at a very early age. He took his degree of Bachelor of Music before he had reached his fifteenth year, as we learn from some commendatory verses prefixed to the "Brief Discourse;"--

"Non vidit tria l.u.s.tra puer, quin arte probatus, Vita laudatus, sumpsit in arte gradum."

He was twenty-two when he published the "Brief Discourse" in 1614: but in 1611 be had published "Melismata, musical fancies fitting the court, city, and country humours," and he edited two collections that appeared in 1609--"Pammelia" and "Deuteromelia." "Pammelia" is the earliest English printed collection of Catches, Rounds, and Canons; both words and music were for the most part older than the date of publication.

"Deuteromelia" was intended as a continuation of "Pammelia."

_Page_ 12. Robert Dowland, editor of "A Musical Banquet," was a son of John Dowland; he succeeded his father as one of the Court musicians in 1626, and was alive in 1641.

_Page_ 16. Thomas Ford, when he published his "Music of sundry kinds,"

1607, was a musician in the suite of Prince Henry. At the accession of Charles I. he was appointed one of his musicians, and he died in 1648--the year before his royal patron was beheaded.

_Page_ 23. "Little lawn then serve[d] the p.a.w.n."--The p.a.w.n was a corridor, serving as a bazaar, in the Royal Exchange (Gresham's).

_Page_ 24. "Farewell, false Love, the oracle of lies."--"J. C." in "Alcilia," 1595, writes:--

"Love is honey mixed with gall, A thraldom free, a freedom thrall; A bitter sweet, a pleasant sour, Got in a year, lost in an hour; A peaceful war, a warlike peace, Whose wealth brings want, whose want increase; Full long pursuit and little gain, Uncertain pleasure, certain pain; Regard of neither right nor wrong, For short delights repentance long.

Love is the sickness of the thought, Conceit of pleasure dearly bought; A restless pa.s.sion of the mind, A labyrinth of arrows blind: A sugared poison, fair deceit, A bait for fools, a furious heat; A chilling cold, a wondrous pa.s.sion, Exceeding man's imagination; Which none can tell in whole or part, But only he that feels the smart."

Robert Greene has a somewhat similar description of Love ("What thing is Love? it is a power divine," &c.) in "Menaphon," 1589.

_Page_ 28. "Fond wanton youths."--This piece is also printed in "The Golden Garland of Princely Delights," 1620, where it is headed "Of the Inconveniences by Marriage," and is directed to be sung to the tune of "When Troy town."

_Page_ 29, l. 22. "Their _longings_ must not be beguiled."--The original gives "Their _laughings_" (which is unintelligible).

_Page_ 31. It was at Wanstead House, a seat of the Earl of Leicester, that Sidney wrote his masque the "Lady of the May" in honour of Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1578. "Was Raleigh retired there," writes Mr. W.

J. Linton (_Rare Poems_, p. 257), "during some season of her displeasure? There is a look of him about this song, not unlike the lines to Cynthia; and what mistress but Majesty should appoint his place of retirement?

'Wanstead, my Mistress saith this is the doom.'"

The two lines that close each stanza are from a song in Sidney's "Arcadia."

_Page_ 37. "Who, known to all, unknown to himself dies." From Seneca's "Thyestes:"--

"qui notus nimis omnibus Ignotus moritur sibi."

_Page_ 39. "How many things."--I have given four of John Maynard's "Twelve Wonders of the World" (cf. pp. 44-5, 69); and, if I am not mistaken, the reader will like to see the remaining eight. There is much freshness and piquancy in these quaint old rhymes, which were written by no less a poet than Sir John Davies.

"THE DIVINE.

My calling is Divine, And I from G.o.d am sent; I will no chop-church be, Nor pay my patron rent,

Nor yield to sacrilege; But like the kind true mother, Rather will lose all the child Than part it with another.

Much wealth I will not seek, Nor worldly masters serve, So to grow rich and fat While my poor flock doth starve.

THE SOLDIER.

My occupation is The n.o.ble trade of kings The trial that decides The highest right of things.

Though Mars my master be, I do not Venus love, Nor honour Bacchus oft, Nor often swear by Jove.

Of speaking of myself I all occasion shun, And rather love to do, Than boast what I have done.

THE LAWYER.

The law my calling is; My robe, my tongue, my pen Wealth and opinion gain And make me judge of men.

The known dishonest cause, I never did defend Nor spun out suits in length, But wish'd and sought an end;

Nor counsel did bewray, Nor of both parties take, Nor ever took I fee For which I never spake.

THE PHYSICIAN.

I study to uphold The slippery state of man, Who dies when we have done The best and all we can.

From practice and from books I draw my learned skill, Not from the known receipt Or 'pothecary's bill.

The earth my faults doth hide, The world my cures doth see, What youth and time effects Is oft ascribed to me.

THE MERCHANT.

My trade doth everything To every land supply, Discovers unknown coasts, Strange countries doth ally.

I never did forestall, I never did engross, Nor custom did withdraw Though I return'd with loss.

I thrive by fair exchange, By selling and by buying, And not by Jewish use, Reprisal, fraud, or lying.