THE NEW INN; OR, THE LIGHT HEART. A VISION OF BEAUTY. T was a beauty that I saw IT 1629. So pure, so perfect, as the frame A skein of silk without a knot! A printed book without a blot! THE SAD SHEPHERD; OR, A TALE OF ROBIN HOOD. LOVE AND DEATH. HOUGH I am young and cannot tell THO Either what death or love is well, Yet I have heard they both bear darts, Love wounds with heat, as death with cold; Extremes to touch, and mean one thing. As in a ruin we it call, One thing to be blown up, or fall; * This piece, a dramatic pastoral, in the manner of the Faithful Shepherdess of Fletcher, was left unfinished by Jonson at his death. Only two acts, and a fragment of a third, are all that have come down to us. They abound in passages of exquisite beauty, and display his mastery over a species of poetry in which he is least appreciated. DRINK THE FOREST.* TO CELIA. RINK to me only with thine eyes, Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I'll not look for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth rise, But might I of Jove's nectar sup, But thou thereon didst only breathe, Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, FRANCIS BEAUMONT AND JOHN FLETCHER. 1584-1616. 1579-1625. [VARIETY, grace, and sweetness are the predominant characteristics of Beaumont and Fletcher's songs. They occupy a middle region between Shakespeare and Jonson. The individual hand of either poet cannot be traced with certainty in any of these pieces. We learn from the traditions which have reached us, that they lived together on the Bank-side, and not only pursued their studies in close companionship, but carried their community of habits so far that they had only one bench between them, and used the same clothes and cloaks in common. Beaumont has got the credit (though the younger man) of possessing the restraining judgment, and Fletcher the overflowing fancy and exuberant wit. There A collection of Jonson's smaller poems. can be no doubt, however, from the allusions of the Prologues and Commendatory Verses, that Fletcher had by far the larger share in the plays; and, if such a conjecture may be hazarded upon internal evidence, the bulk of the songs may be ascribed to him also. They are full of that luxuriance and beauty which distinguish the pieces known to have been written by him separately.] I Maidens, willow branches bear; My love was false, but I was firm Upon my buried body lie FICKLENESS. COULD never have the power But my head would prompt mine eye Venus, fix thou mine eyes fast, Or if not, give me all that I shall see at last. THE ELDER BROTHER.* THE STUDENT AWAKENED BY LOVE. BEAUT EAUTY clear and fair, Rather like a perfume dwells; Where the violet and the rose * Ascribed to Fletcher. Where to live near, And planted there, Is to live, and still live new; More than light, perpetual bliss,- Dear, again back recall A stranger to himself and all; THE SPANISH CURATE.* SPEAK, LOVE!† EAREST, do not delay me, DE Since, thou knowest, I must be gone; From that breath, whose native smell Oh, then speak, thou fairest fair! Kill not him that vows to serve thee; Else dull silence, sure, will starve me: Which, being restrained, a heart is broken. *By Fletcher. This song, and that which immediately follows, not having appeared in the original edition of the Spanish Curate, were removed from the text by Mr. Colman. The authorship is, of course, doubtful; but the stage directions in the places in which they were inserted indicate that some songs were intended to be introduced by the authors; and, to whatever hand we are indebted for these, they are entitled to preservation in this collection. This looks either like the authorship of Fletcher, or an intentional LE COUNTRY FEASTING. ET the bells ring, and let the boys sing, Let the cups go round, 'till round goes the ground; Let the pig turn merrily, merrily, ah! For verily, verily, verily, ah! Our vicar this day shall be trim.* The stewed cock shall crow, cock-a-loodle-loo, The duck and the drake shall swim in a lake Our wives shall be neat, to bring in our meat Our pains shall be great, and bottles shall sweat, We'll labour and swink,† we'll kiss and we'll drink, And tithes shall come thicker and thicker; We'll fall to our plough, and get children enow, And thou shalt be learnèd old vicar. imitation. A similar passage occurs in a preceding song: Beauty clear and fair, Where the air Rather like a perfume dwells,' &c. * Dibdin appears to have founded the burthen of a song in the Quaker on this verse: 'When the lads of the village shall merrily, ah, Sound the tabors, I'll hand thee along; And I say unto thee, that verily, ah! Thou and I will be first in the throng.' To work hard. |