All is but feigned, and with oker dy'd That every shower will wash and wipe away; All things do change that under heaven abide, And after death all friendship doth decay: Therefore, whatever man bear'st worldly sway, Living, on God and on thyself rely; For, when thou diest, all shall with thee die. JOHN LYLIE Was born in the wilds of Kent, about 1553, became a student in Magdalen College, Oxford, 1569, was afterwards a demy, took the degrees of B. A. and M. A. and is supposed to have died about 1600. That he possessed considerable talents for poetry the following specimens will testify; but he is said to have gained the admiration of Queen Elizabeth's court, by the invention of a new English, a model of which he exhibited in two prose works called "Euphues " and his England," &c. London, 1580, and "Euphues: "the Anatomy of Wit," &c. 1581. It is to be supposed that this strange and barbarous jargon, the obscurity of which no human intellect is able to pierce, was adopted by the fashionable beauties of that virgin-court for the purpose of shielding their virtue from the addresses of importunate ignorance. Lylie wrote nine plays, six of which were republished, with the following songs, by Blount, in 1632, 12mo. under the title of "Sixe Court Comedies, often presented and acted "before Queene Elizabeth by the children of her Majestie's "chappell and the children of Paules: written by the "onely rare poet of that time, the witie, comicall, fa"cetiously-quicke, and unparallel'd John Lylie, Master of Arts." SONG. [From "Alexander and Campaspe."] WHAT bird so sings, yet so does wail? .. Jug, jug, jug, jug,—tereu, she cries, Brave prick-song! who is't now we hear? Hark, hark! with what a pretty throat SONG. [From the same.] Gr. OH for a bowl of fat Canary, Rich Palermo, sparkling sherry, Some nectar else from Juno's dairy! Oh these draughts would make us merry! Ps. Oh for a wench (I deal in faces And in other daintier things)! M. Oh for a plump fat leg of mutton, None is happy but a glutton, None an ass but who wants money. CHORUS. Wines indeed, and girls are good, Cupid and Campaspe. [From the same.] CUPID and my Campaspe play'd Growing on's cheek (but none knows how); All these did my Campaspe win. O Love! has she done this to thee? SONG. [From "Gallathea."] O YES! O yes! if any maid To frowns of spite, to eyes of scorn, And would in madness now see torn O yes! O yes! has any lost A heart which many a sigh hath cost? Is any cozen'd of a tear Which, as a pearl, Disdain does wear? Is any one undone by fire, And turn'd to ashes through desire? Did ever any lady weep, Being cheated of her golden sleep, Stol'n by sick thoughts? the pirate's found, And in her tears he shall be drown'd. Read his indictment: let him hear What he's to trust to: boy, give ear! |