From SAMUEL HARDING'S Sicily and Naples, or the Fatal Union. A Tragedy, 1640. NOBLEST BODIES ARE BUT GILDED CLAY. Chorus. NOBLEST bodies are but gilded clay : But the precious shining rind, Put away The inmost rottenness remains behind. 2. Vermin now insulting lie, And dig for diamonds in each eye; On that tongue, his people's law. In each gaudy ornament, Who shall his corpse in the best dish present. P From RICHARD BROME'S Northern Lass, 1632. HUMILITY. NOR Love nor Fate dare I accuse For that my love did me refuse, But oh! mine own unworthiness Oh had I wisely given my heart Of foot, of hand, of lip, or eye,— I might have lived where now I die : But I, presuming all to choose, From RICHARD BROME'S A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars, 1652. THE MERRY BEGGARS. OME, come away! the spring, COME By every bird that can but sing, Who in her sweetness strives t'outdo The loudness of the hoarse cuckoo. "Cuckoo," cries he; "Jug, jug, jug," sings she; From bush to bush, from tree to tree: Why in one place then tarry we? Come away! why do we stay? From WILLIAM STRODE's The ADONIS' GOOD-NIGHT. ONCE Venus' cheeks, that shamed the morn, Their hue let fall; Her lips, that winter had out-borne, Her heat grew cold, her nectar dry; From ROBERT DAVENPORT'S King John and Matilda, 1655.2 A REQUIEM. MATILDA, now go take thy bed In the dark dwellings of the dead; And rise in the great waking day, Sweet as incense, fresh as May. Rest thou, chaste soul, fixed in thy proper sphere, Amongst Heaven's fair ones; all are fair ones there. Chorus. Rest there, chaste soul, whilst we here troubled say "Time gives us griefs, Death takes our joys away." 1 Acted by the students of Christ Church in 1636. O'ER THE SMOOTH Ο From JOHN MILTON'S Arcades. Part of an Entertainment presented to the Countess Dowager of Derby at Harefield (1634). ENAMELLED GREEN. 'ER the smooth enamelled green, Follow me, as I sing And touch the warbled string; Under the shady roof Of branching elm star-proof I will bring you where she sits, Such a rural queen All Arcadia hath not seen. NYMPHS AND SHEPHERDS, DANCE NO MORE. NYMPHS and shepherds, dance no more By sandy Ladon's lilied banks; On old Lycæus or Cyllene hoar, A better soil shall give ye thanks. From the stony Mænalus Bring your flocks and live with us; Here ye shall have better grace, To serve the Lady of this place. Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were, Yet Syrinx well might wait on her. Such a rural queen All Arcadia hath not seen. |