Lord Vaux the elder is a fong-writer of the two following reigns. His Aged Lover, of which the gravedigger in Hamlet fings a few ftanzas, and Cupids Affault, both preferved at the end of Surreys poems, and reprinted by Percy, are pieces of no little merit. And, in whatever light the beautiful paftoral of Harpalus be confidered, the author has done hisself much injustice in concealing his name. We now arrive at the time of queen Elizabeth; in which we are to look for the origin of the modern English fong; not a fingle compofition of that nature, with the fmalleft degree of poetical merit, being discoverable at any preceding period; and, confequently, none earlyer is to be found in the collection herewith given to the public (141). And But the We may venture to place Marlow at the head of the numerous fong-writers of this reign; not more by reafon of his priority, than on account of his merit. yet his Paftoral Invitation is the only fong of his which has defcended to us; poffibly, which he wrote. beautiful and characteristic fimplicity of this little piece is fully fufficient to juftify the preference here given him on the score of merit. Wither, better known in the political, as well as poetical, annals of the two following reigns, must be efteemed a fongfter of this. Both he and Marlow are happily imitated by Raleigh. Spenfer has inferted a paftoral fong in his eclogues. ton, a fmooth and poetic writer, has left us two or three tolerable fongs; but his excellence is in his larger works. The genius of Shakspeare was as univerfal as it was fublime: his Lyric produc tions are fuperior to thofe of his contemporaries; and than fome of them nothing better has fince appeared. Dray (141) If we could recover that "bunch of ballets and fongs "all ancient," which captain Cox, the literary mason of Coventry, had "fair wrapt up in parchment and bound with a whipcord :" “as "Broom, broom on hil: So wo iz me begon, trolylo. Over a whinny weg. Hey ding a ding. Bonny lafs upon a green. My bony on • gave me a bek. By a bank az I lay; and a hundred more" (Langham, Letter from Killingworth, Lon. 1575. 8vo,) it is very poffible that the above opinion might prove erroneous. How How much ought we to regret the valuable time he facrificed to the falfe tafte of his age, in the compofition of above 150 fonnets (the most difficult and infipid metrical flructure ever invented), which, though from the pen of this immortal bard, we can fcarcely endure to read! Sir Philip Sidney wrote a number of things in and out of the Arcadia, which were then efteemed fongs: but they are all too much in the affected and unnatural manner of the Italian and Spanish pocts, to deserve this character at prefent. His friend, lord Brooke, has, however, left us one piece, which will be always accepted as a good fong. And fome of the performances of Francis Davifon appear the effufions of a real poetical genius, and deferve much praife. The queen herself had a turn for poetry, which she did not difdain to cultivate. Specimens of her talents. are preferved in fome contemporary publications; but none of them appears to be a perfect fong. Vere earl of Oxford, mafter Edwards of the queens chapel, George Gafcoigne, Nicholas Breton, and many other diftinguifhed and inferior poets, are among the fong-writers of this reign. The earliest drinking fong of any merit, in the language, is that inferted at page 71. of the second volume. How much, if at all, elder it is than the dramatic piece in which it is preferved does not appear. It is, likewife, to the age of this princefs we are to refer the origin of the English ballad. That the common people of this, like thofe of almost every other country, have always, even in their rudeft ftate, had fongs to celebrate or record national or local occurrences, by whomfoever they may have been compofed, is an incontrovertible fact. Unfortunately, however, of these pieces not more than two, both already noticed, are known to exist (142). All the reft, not having been collected or (142) It may be proper to mention that the ballad of Captain Car, printed by Percy under the Scotish title of Edom (Adam) o Gordon, is extant in a MS. of queen Elizabeths time. But whether this be originally English, or only an alteration from the Scotish, and whether the name fubjoined be that of the author or tranfcriber, are circum. ftances altogether uncertain. entered entered in large volumes, nor ever printed, are irrecoverably loft. What a treasure would it be to poffefs a collection of the vulgar fongs compofed and fung during the civil wars of York and Lancafter, in which almoft every moment afforded fome great, noble, interefting or pathetic fubject for the imagination of the poet! How delightful, how inftructive, would be the perufal of fuch a little hiftory of that turbulent and bloody period! The ponderous tomes of Lydgate and Occleve have defcended to us in the highest prefervation; one would gladly facrifice the whole for a fingle page! But the fongs of which we are fpeaking appear to have born fo little refemblance to the ftile and manner of the old ballads with which we are now acquainted, and from which a part of the prefent collection is formed, that we may fairly infer that not one of the latter exifted before the reign of the above princefs. The learned and ingenious bifhop Percy has, indeed, published a work, in which a confiderable number of fongs and ballads, that have never otherwise appeared, are afcribed to a very remote antiquity; an antiquity altogether incompatible with the ftile and language of the compofitions theirfelves, moft of which, one may be allowed to fay, bear the ftrongest intrinfic marks of a very modern date. But the genuineness of these pieces cannot be properly investigated or determined without an infpection of the original manufcript, from which they are faid to be extracted. As to the ancient black letter copies of the more common English ballads, of which there are feveral collections extant (143), not more than three are fo old as the fixteenth century, nor double the number of a more early date than the reign of king Charles II. The reft, to the amount of many hundreds, appear to have been printed between the Restoration and the commencement of the prefent century. It is not, however, meant by this to infinuate that none of those in (143) The large ft is one of 5 vols. in the Pepyfian library; the next one of 2 in the library of the late major Pearfon. There is another in the British, and a fourth in the Ashmolean museum. the the two laft defcriptions are of equal antiquity, in point of compofition, with thofe in the firit: the contrary is certain. That thefe ballads were originally compofed for public fingers by profeffion, and perhaps immediately for printers, bookfellers, or those who vended fuch like things, is highly probable. But whether they were, in every cafe, firft published in fingle sheets, and not, till afterwards collected into Garlands, or whether they made their first appearance in fuch collections, does not clearly appear. Thomas Deloney and Richard Johnfon, writers by profeffion of amufing books for the populace, were famous ballad-makers about this period. And could we be affured that they were the real authors of the Garlands, or collections published under their refpective names, we might be able to refer moft of the ballads in the prefent collection to the one or to the other. Elderton has been pronounced peerlefs in the compofition of ballads (144). From him the laurel defcended to Martin Parker, the laft, perhaps, who was any way celebrated on this account. The reign of queen Elizabeth is alfo the age of Madrigals, Catches and Glees: but, as thefe, though fomewhat partaking of the nature of fong, claim a much nearer affinity with Euterpe than with Polyhymnia, it will be fufficient to have juft mentioned them. Among the fongfters of James the Firfts time, one is pleased to meet the name of that elegant writer and accomplished gentleman fir Henry Wotton. Dr. Donnes imitation of Marlow, and other pieces, intitle him to a place in the lift. And of the following fong by Ben Jonfon, Anacreon, had Anacreon written in English, need not have been ashamed. Drink to me only with thine eyes, (144) See Song XLIX. Part III. One of his ballads is reprinted by Percy. The The thirst that from the foul doth rife Doth afk a drink divine, But might I of Joves nectar fup, I fent thee late a rofy wreath, But thou thereon did't only breathe, And fent'ft it back to me, Since when it grows and fmells, I fwear, The facetious bishop Corbett is likewise an author of this reign. His Fairies Farewell and Distracted Puritan, have much humour and merit. The poems of Carew afford many excellent fongs: a little more fimplicity might have confiderably increafed the number. Bishop King, whom it would be injuftice to forget, must have written toward the end of this reign. Waller, born in 1605, may be efteemed the firft fongwriter, as well as the best poet of the reign of Charles I. Milton has left us a few fongs, which would have appeared to poffefs more merit if they had fallen from an author of lefs dignity. Sucklings chef d'œuvre is his I'll tell thee Dick. It is to be regretted that the poetical excellence of this celebrated compofition fhould be degraded by groffnefs of fentiment and impurity of language. Butler and fir John Denham chiefly fignalized theirfelves in fpirited attacks on the gloomy and barbarous Roundheads. Indeed the Rebellion and Ufurpation form the epoch of fatyric fongs; with which the Cavaliers feem, until the Reftoration, to have kept up a constant poetic fire, which, if it did not any great execution, at leaft kept the attention of loyalty awake, and, in fome measure, no doubt, contributed to that happy event. Cowley, who commenced author at a very early age, is likewife to be confidered as a fong-writer of this reign. His Chronicle is an admirable performance, and, had his judgement and tafte been equal to his vivacity and |