No frost nor snow, no wind, I trow,
Can hurt me if I would,

I am so wrapt, and throughly1 lapt,
Of jolly good ale and old.

Back and side go bare, &c.

And Tib my wife, that as her life
Loveth well good ale to seek,
Full oft drinks she, till ye may see
The tears run down her cheek.
Then doth she trowl to me the bowl,

Even as a maltworm should;

And saith, Sweetheart, I have take my part Of this jolly good ale and old.

Back and side go bare, &c.

Now let them drink, till they nod and wink,
Even as good fellows should do ;
They shall not miss to have the bliss

Good ale doth bring men to.

And all poor souls that have scoured bowls, Or have them lustily trowled,

God save the lives of them and their wives, Whether they be young or old.

Back and side go bare, &c.

1 An old form of "thoroughly."

From JOHN LYLY'S Alexander and Campaspe, 1584.1

CARDS AND KISSES.

“UPID and my Campaspe played

CUPI

At cards for kisses-Cupid paid;
He stakes his quiver, bow and arrows,
His mother's doves, and team of sparrows;
Loses them too; then down he throws

The coral of his lip, the rose

Growing on's cheek (but none knows how);
With these, the crystal of his brow,
And then the dimple of his chin :
All these did my Campaspe win.
At last he set her both his eyes,
She won, and Cupid blind did rise.
O Love! has she done this to thee?
What shall, alas! become of me?

1 Lyly's songs are not found in the original editions of his plays. They first appeared in the collective edition of 1632.

1

WHAT

SPRING'S WELCOME.

HAT bird so sings, yet so does wail?
O'tis the ravished nightingale.

"Jug, jug, jug, jug, tereu," she cries,

And still her woes at midnight rise.
Brave prick-song!' who is't now we hear?
None but the lark so shrill and clear;
Now at heaven's gates 2 she claps her wings,
The morn not waking till she sings.
Hark, hark, with what a pretty throat,
Poor robin redbreast tunes his note;
Hark how the jolly cuckoos sing,
Cuckoo to welcome in the spring!
Cuckoo to welcome in the spring!

Harmony written or pricked down in opposition to plainsong, where the descant rested with the will of the singer."Chappell. (The nightingale's song, being full of rich variety, is often termed prick-song by old writers. So they speak of the cuckoo's plain-song.)

2 'Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings." Cymbeline, iii. 2.

From JOHN LYLY's Sappho and
Phao, 1584.

O CRUEL LOVE!

CRUEL Love, on thee I lay

My curse, which shall strike blind the day; Never may sleep with velvet hand

Charm thine eyes with sacred wand;
Thy jailors shall be hopes and fears,
Thy prison-mates groans, sighs, and tears,
Thy play to wear out weary times,
Fantastic passions, vows, and rhymes;
Thy bread be frowns, thy drink be gall,
Such as when you Phao call;

The bed thou liest on be1 despair,

Thy sleep fond dreams, thy dreams long care.
Hope, like thy fool at thy bed's head,

Mock2 thee till madness strike thee dead,
As, Phao, thou dost me with thy proud eyes;
In thee poor Sappho lives, for thee she dies.

1 Old ed. "by."

2 Old ed. "Mockes."

VULCAN'S SONG.

MY shag-hair Cyclops, come, let's ply

Our Lemnian hammers lustily.
By my wife's sparrows,

I swear these arrows

Shall singing fly

Through many a wanton's eye.

These headed are with golden blisses,
These silver ones feathered with kisses;
But this of lead

Strikes a clown dead,
When in a dance

He falls in a trance,

To see his black-brow lass not buss him,
And then whines out for death t' untruss him.
So, so our work being done, let's play:

Holiday, boys! cry holiday!