How brave lives he that keeps a fool,

Although the rate be deeper!

But he that is his own fool, sir,

Does live a great deal cheaper.
Sure I shall burst, burst, quite break,
Thou art so witty.

'Tis rare to break at court,

For that belongs to the city.

Ha, ha! my spleen is almost worn
To the last laughter.

Oh, keep a corner for a friend;
A jest may come hereafter.

From JOHN FLETCHER'S Love's
Cure, 1647.

TURN, TURN THY BEAUTEOUS FACE AWAY.

URN, turn thy beauteous face away;

TUR

How pale and sickly looks the day,

In emulation of thy brighter beams!

Oh envious light, fly, fly, begone!

Come, night, and piece two breasts as one! When what love does we will repeat in dreams. Yet, thy eyes open, who can day hence fright? Let but their lids fall, and it will be night.

From JOHN FLETCHER'S The
Queen of Corinth, 1647.

WEEP NO MORE.

EEP no more, nor sigh, nor groan,

WEEP

Sorrow calls no time that's gone:
Violets plucked, the sweetest rain
Makes not fresh nor grow again;
Trim thy locks, look cheerfully;
Fate's hid ends eyes cannot see :
Joys as winged dreams fly fast,
Why should sadness longer last?
Grief is but a wound to woe;

Gentlest fair, mourn, mourn no mo.1

From JOHN FLETCHER'S The

Bloody Brother; or, Rollo,
Duke of Normandy, 1639.

DRINK TO-DAY, AND DROWN ALL SORROW.

RINK to-day, and drown all sorrow,

DRINK

You shall perhaps not do it to-morrow :
Best, while you have it, use your breath;
There is no drinking after death.

Wine works the heart up, wakes the wit,
There is no cure 'gainst age but it :
It helps the head-ache, cough, and tisic,
And is for all diseases physic.

Then let us swill, boys, for our health;
Who drinks well, loves the commonwealth.
And he that will to bed go sober

Falls with the leaf still in October.

From JOHN FLETCHER'S The
Elder Brother, 1637.

BEAUTY CLEAR AND FAIR.

BEAUTY

EAUTY clear and fair,

Where the air

Rather like a perfume dwells;

Where the violet and the rose

Their blue veins and1 blush disclose,

And come to honour nothing else.

Where to live near,

And planted there,

Is to live, and still live new ;

Where to gain a favour is

More than light, perpetual bliss,—

Make me live by serving you.

Dear, again back recall
To this light,

A stranger to himself and all;"

Both the wonder and the story

Shall be yours, and eke the glory :

I am your servant, and your thrall.

1 Old eds. "in "-which Dyce retained. Mason proposed "and"; and this reading is found in an early MS. copy of the play (Egerton MS. 1994).

COME FOLLOW ME, YOU COUNTRY LASSES.

OME follow me, you country lasses,

COME

And you shall see such sport as passes:

You shall dance and I will sing;

Pedro, he shall rub the string;

Each shall have a loose-bodied gown

Of green, and laugh till you lie down.

Come follow me, come follow, &c.

You shall have crowns of roses, daisies,
Buds where the honey-maker grazes;
You shall taste the golden thighs,
Such as in wax-chamber lies:

What fruit please you taste, freely pull,
· Till you have all your bellies full.

Come follow me, &c.

1 Acted in 1623.-I suspect that the song may be by William Rowley.

From SHAKESPEARE and FLET-
CHER'S The Two Noble
Kinsmen, 1634.

A BRIDAL SONG.'

ROSES, their sharp spines being gone,

Not royal in their smells alone,

But in their hue;

Maiden pinks, of odour faint,
Daisies smell-less, yet most quaint,

And sweet thyme true;

Primrose, firstborn child of Ver,

Merry springtime's harbinger,
With her bells dim; 2

Oxlips in their cradles growing,
Marigolds on deathbeds blowing,
Larks'-heels trim.

All dear Nature's children sweet,
Lie 'fore bride and bridegroom's feet,

Blessing their sense!

Not an angel of the air,

Bird melodious, or bird fair,

Be absent hence!

The crow, the slanderous cuckoo, nor

The boding raven, nor chough hoar,3

Nor chattering pie,

May on our bride-house perch or sing,

Or with them any discord bring,

But from it fly!

1 I have given the song tentatively to Fletcher; but I have a

strong suspicion that it is by Shakespeare.

2 Mr. W. J. Linton proposes

" With harebell slim."

3 11 Chough hoar" is Seward's correction.

hee" (and "he").

Old eds. "clough