NICHOLAS BRETON. (15457-1626?.) The "Lullaby" is found in the Arbor of Amorous Devises, 1594; "I Would Thou Wert Not Fair" from the Strange Fortunes of Two Excellent Princes, 1600; "Lovely Kind and Kindly Loving" from Melancholic Humours, 1600; and "What is Love?" from the Longing of a Blessed Heart, 1601. Breton's Works, edited by Dr. Grosart, are in the Chertsey Worthies' Library. "Chosen Poems of Nicholas Breton" are appended to Bullen's Lyrics from Elizabethan Romances. A SWEET LULLABY. COME little babe, come silly soul, Thy father's shame, thy mother's grief, Sing lullaby and lap it warm, Poor soul that thinks no creature harm. Thou little think'st and less dost know Why dost thou weep, why dost thou wail, Come little wretch, ah silly heart, "T was I, I say, against my will; And dost thou smile? O, thy sweet face! No doubt thou soon would'st purchase grace, I I know right well, for thee and me. Sweet boy, if it by fortune chance Tell how by love she purchased blame. Then will his gentle heart soon yield; A lamb in town thou shalt him find; His glancing looks, if once he smile God bless my babe, and lullaby I WOULD THOU WERT NOT FAIR. WOULD thou wert not fair, or I were wise I would thou hadst no face, or I no eyes; I would thou wert not wise, or I not fond; But thou art fair, and I cannot be wise: Thy sunlike face hath blinded both mine eyes; Thou canst not be but wise, nor I but fond; Nor thou but free, nor I but still in bond. Yet am I wise to think that thou art fair; Then in thy beauty only make me wise, So shalt thou still be fair and I be wise; So would I thou wert fair and I were wise; LOVELY KIND, AND KINDLY LOVING. LOVELY kind, and kindly loving, Such a mind were worth the moving: Truly fair, and fairly true, Where are all these, but in you? Wisely kind, and kindly wise; Blessed life, where such love lies! Sweetly dear, and dearly sweet; IT WHAT IS LOVE? T is too clear a brightness for man's eye; As gives the soul a secret power to know it, It is of heaven and earth the highest beauty, The Deity of angels' adoration, The glorious substance of the soul's salvation: It is the height of good and hate of ill, And only knowledge that doth knowledge know; It is in sum the substance of all bliss, ANONYMOUS LYRICS. (1588-1603.) The writing of lyrics was an art to almost everyone's hand in the days of Elizabeth. Songs sung themselves; the music of words as well as of tones was in the air. The authorship of hundreds of these songs consequently is now unknown,-they came easily, and were easily forgotten. THE QUIET LIFE. From William Byrd's Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs, 1588. WHAT pleasure have great princes More dainty to their choice Than herdsmen wild, who careless And fortune's fate not fearing, Their dealings plain and rightful, They never know how spiteful On favourite presumptuous Whose pride is vain and sumptuous. All day their flocks each tendeth; Where gold and pearl are plenty; For lawyers and their pleading, Whence conscience judgeth plainly, They spend no money vainly. |