CCCXLVI.

The shepherds' daughters all are gone,
Leaving their flocks to feed alone,
From the greenwood fresh May to bring.

So sweetly they play,

And sing all the way*,

That fields and groves with heav'nly music ring.
Behold where they return along,

With Daphne fair their troops among;

Upon whose golden locks they all have set,

Of fragrant flow'rs a seemly coronet,

Sounding on high, in Daphne's praise,
Pleasant songs and roundelays.

CCCXLVII.

Cease, restless thoughts, to vex my careful mind,
And bid adieu to vain delights of love;
Since Phillis, she, alas-! has prov'd unkind,
Whom my complaints cannot to pity move.
Farewell, unkind! my silly sheep and I
Henceforth will join in equal sympathy.

The sheep, as in duty bound, invariably sympathize in their master's sorrows.

"The feeble flocks refuse their former food,

"And hang their heads as they would learn to weep."

Spenser. Shepherds' Calendar.

* These two lines are in Spenser's Shepherds' Calendar (April) in praise of Elizabeth.

309

GEORGE KIRBYE.

Besides one composition in the Triumphs of Oriana, Kirbye is only known to have published a set of Madrigals for four, five, and six voices, twenty-five in number, printed in the year 1597.

CCCXLVIII.

Lo! here my heart I leave with her remaining,
That never yet vouchsaf'd to do me pleasure;
And when I seek to move her with complaining,

She scorns my sighs and tears, alas! past measure.
Sweet Love, O turn her heart at last, and joy me,
Or else her deep disdain will soon destroy me.

CCCXLIX.

What can I do, of the sweet light deprived

Of thy fair eyes, by which I still have lived?
How can my soul endure, thus charged with sadness,
Exile from thy dear sight so full of gladness?

CCCL.

Farewell! my love-I part contented;

Since 't is ordain'd that I must leave thee;

O might I stay, altho' tormented,

The pain next death would little grieve me.
No greater torment can be prov'd
Than thus to part from my belov'd.

CCCLI.

Sleep now, my muse, and henceforth take thy rest, Which all too long thyself in vain hast wasted; Let it suffice, I still must live opprest,

And of my pains the fruit must ne'er be tasted. Then sleep, my muse, fate cannot be withstood; 'Tis better sleep, than wake to do no good.

CCCLII.

Ah! sweet, alas! when first I saw those eyes,
So rich with crystal majesty,

Their wounding beauty 'gan to tyrannize,

And made mine eyes bleed tears full piteously.

I felt the wound, yet feared not the deed;
Till, ah! I found my tears did inward bleed.

CCCLIII.

Up, then, Melpomene! the mournful'st Muse of nine Such cause of mourning never had afore;

Up, grisly ghosts, and up, my rueful line,

Matter of mirth now shalt thou have no more.

For dead she is that made thee mirth of yore.

Dido my dear, alas! is dead:

Dead, and lieth wrapt in lead,
O heavy hearse!

Let streaming tears be poured out in store,

O careful verse!

Why wail we thus? why weary we the gods with plaints,

As if some evil were to her betight?

She reigns a goddess now among the saints,

That whylom was the saint of shepherds' light,

And is installed now in Heaven's height.

I see, the blessed soul I see,

Walk in Elysian fields so free;

O happy hearse !

Might I once come to thee-O that I might—
O joyful verse!

These stanzas are from Spenser's Eleventh Eclogue, of which the Argument is as follows:

66

66

66

"Colin being desired by Thenot to sing, excuses himself 'by his concern for the death of Dido, the daughter of a shepherd of note; whose memory, at Thenot's further request, he celebrates in a funeral elegy.”

CCCLIV.

Mourn now, my soul, with anguish of my pain,
Cross'd are the joys which hope did ever give:
Dry are mine eyes with shedding tears in vain;
Dead is my heart, and never more can live.
Hard are my torments, living thus in grief;
Harder her heart, that yieldeth no relief.

CCCLV.

Why should I love, since she doth prove ungrateful,
Since for reward I reap nought but disdain?
Love, thus to be requited, is most hateful,"

And reason would I should not love in vain :

Yet 't is in vain, when all is out of season;

For love hath no society with reason.

This would almost seem to be a paraphrase of part of the song, composed by Solomon on the celebration of his nuptials with "The Shulamite," vide chap. ii. v. 8.: "It is "the voice of my beloved; behold he cometh leaping upon "the mountains, skipping upon the hills."

Set also by Thomas Tomkins for six voices.

JOHN FARMER

Was the author of an elaborate treatise on musical composition, published 1591. He also contributed to the Triumphs of Oriana, and in 1599 published a set of seventeen Madrigals to four voices, dedicated to Edward DeVere, Earl of Oxenford. He therein styles himself" Prac"titioner in the art of Music."