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320 |
ENGLISII SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC. |
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The sheep for woe go bleating, That they their goddess miss,
And sable ewes,
By their mourning, shew Her absence, cause of this. The nymphs leave off their dancing, Pan's pipe of joy 13 cleft,
For great his grief,
He shunneth all relief, Since she from him is reft. Come, fatal sisters, leave your spools,' Leave ' weaving' altogether, That made this flower to wither. .
Let envy, that foul vipress,
Put on a wreath of cypress, Sing sad dirges altogether.
Diana was chief mourner At these sad obsequies, Who with her train Went tripping o'er the plain, Singing doleful elegies. Menalchus and Amintas, And many shepherds moe,h |
With mournful verse, Did all attend her hearse,
And in sable saddles go. Flora, the goddess that us'd to beautify
Fair Phillis' lovely bowers
With sweet fragrant flowers, Now her grave adorned, And with flowers mourned,
Tears- thereon in vain she pours.
Venus alone triumphed To see this dismal day,
Who did despair
That Phillida the fair . Her laws would ne'er obey. The blinded boy his arrows And darts were vainly spent;
Her heart, alas,
Impenetrable wa3, And to love would ne'er assent. At which affront, Citharea repining, Caus'd Death with his dart To pierce her tender heart;
But her noble spirit
Doth such joys inherit, •As' from her shall ne'er depart. |
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HUNTING THE HARE.
" Of prikyng and of hunting for the Haro Was al his lust, for no -cost wolde he spare."
Chaucer's Description of a Monk. .
Hunting has always been so favorite an amusement with the English, that the great variety of songs upon the subject will excite no surprise. Those I have printed, of the reign of Henry VIII., relate cither to deer or fox-hunting; but Henry was no less careful of the minor sport, as may be seen by an act of Parliament (passed anno 14-15 of his reign), entitled "An Act concerning the Hunting of the Hare." It recites that, " For as muche as oure Soveraigne Lorde the Kinge, and other noblemen of this realme, before this time hath used and exercised the. game of huntynge the hare, for their disporte and pleasure, which game is now decayed and almost utterly dystroied for that -divers parties of this realme, by reason of the trasinge'in the snow, have killed and destroied, and dayly do Mile and distroy the same hares, by fourteen or sixteen upon a daye, to the dyspleasure of our Soveraigne Lorde the Kinge and other noblemen," &e.; therefore the act fixes a penalty of six shillings and eight-pence (a large sum in comparison with the value of the hares in those days) for every one so killed. Henry seems, also, to have considered the sale of hunting- |
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1 A spool to wind yarn upon. |
b More. |
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