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GREEN'S ARCADIA.

SEPHESTIA'S SONG TO HER CHILD,

AFTER ESCAPING FROM SHIPWRECK.

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MOTHER'S wag, pretty boy,
Father's sorrow, father's joy,
When thy father first did see
Such a boy by him and me,
He was glad, I was woe,
Fortune changed made him so;

When he had left his pretty boy,

Last his sorrow, first his joy.

Weep not my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old, there's grief enough for thee.

The wanton smiled, father wept,

Mother cried, baby leap'd;

More he crow'd, more he cried,
Nature could not sorrow hide,
He must go, he must kiss
Child and mother, baby bless;
For he left his pretty boy,
Father's
's sorrow, father's joy.

Weep not my wanton, smile upon my knee;

When thou art old, there's grief enough for thee.

The above beautiful stanzas are from the Arcadia of ROBERT GREEN. Lond. 1616. Green was born a gentleman, but compelled from necessity to support himself and his family by the efforts of his pen. His publications are from forty-five to fifty in number, from the sale of which he had managed to obtain a precarious livelihood. He died about the year 1592.

TO COLIN CLOUT.

BEAUTY sat bathing by a spring,
Where fairest shades did hide her,
The winds blew calm, the birds did sing,
The cool streams ran beside her;
My wanton thoughts enticed mine eye
To see what was forbidden;

But better memory said, fie,

So vain desire was chidden:

Hey nonnie, nonnie, &c.

Into a slumber then I fell,

When fond imagination

Seem'd to see, but could not tell
Her feature or her fashion;

But even as babes in dreams do smile,
And sometimes fall a-weeping;
So I awak'd as wise this while,

As when I fell a-sleeping:

Hey nonnie, nonnie, &c.

The above is Song 13th in "England's Helicon," 1600; Lond. 4to. p. 192. This scarce and valuable work contains 150 separate Songs and Poems, contributed by the different literary characters of the day, or selected from contemporary works of acknowledged merit.

WHO PROSTRATE LIES AT WOMAN'S FEET.

WHO prostrate lies at woman's feet,

And calls them darlings dear and sweet,

BATESON AND Hunnis' SONGS.

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Protesting love, and craving grace,

And praising oft a foolish face,
Are oftentimes deceived at last;

They catch at naught, and hold it fast.

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WHEN FIRST MINE EYES.

WHEN first mine eyes did view and mark
Thy beauty fair for to behold;

And when my ears 'gan first to hark

The pleasant words that thou me told,
I would as then I had been as free
From ears to hear, and eyes to see.

And when in mind I did consent
To follow thus my fancy's will,
And when my heart did first relent

To wist such bait myself to spill,
I would my heart had been as thine,
Or else thy heart as soft as mine.

O flatterer false! thou traitor born,

What mischief more might thou devise,
Than thy dear friend to have in scorn,
And him to wound in sundry-wise,
Which still a friend pretends to be,
And art not so, by proof I see;

Fie, fie upon such treachery!

The above Lyric is by HUNNIS, one of the contributors to the "Paradise of Dainty Divices," in the time of Edward IV. and Mary; author of "A Hive of Honey," "A Hive of Honeysuckle," a translation of the Psalms, &c. Hunnis died in the year 1568.

THE NYMPHS TO THEIR MAY QUEEN.

WITH fragrant flowers we strew the way,
And make this our chief holiday;

For though this clime was bless'd of yore,
Yet was it never proud before:

O beauteous Queen of second Troy,
Accept of our unfeigned joy.

Now the air is sweeter than sweet balm,
And satyrs dance about the palm;
Now earth with verdure newly dight,
Gives perfect signs of her delight:

O beauteous Queen of second Troy,
Accept of our unfeigned joy.

Now birds record new harmony,
And trees do whistle melody,
And every thing that nature breeds
Doth clad itself in pleasant weeds:

O beauteous Queen of second Troy,
Accept of our unfeigned joy.

The above is by THOMAS WATSON, whose poetical works are numerous, and of various merit. Stephens prefers his Sonnets to those of Shakespeare. He was born in 1560, and died in 1592.

TAKE ALL ADVENTURES PATIENTLY.

THOUGH pinching be a privy pain,

To want's desire, that is but vain;

Though some be curs'd, and some be kind,

Subdue the worst with patient mind.

RALEIGH'S SONGS.

Who sits so high, who sits so low,
Who feels such joy, that feels no woe?
When bale is bad, good boot is nigh,
Take all adventures patiently.

To marry a sheep, to marry a shrew,
To meet with a friend, to meet with a foe,
Those checks of chance can no man fly,
But God himself that rules the sky.

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From the Play of " Tom Tyler and his Wife," 1598; in Garrick's Scarce Plays.

A NYMPH'S DISDAIN OF LOVE.

HEY down a down, did Dian sing,
Amongst her virgins sitting,
Than love there is no vainer thing
For maidens most unfitting;
And so think I,

With a down, down derry.

When women knew no woe,

But lived themselves to please,
Man's feigning guiles they did not know,
The ground of their disease.

Unborn was false suspect;

No thought of jealousy;

From wanton toys, and fond affect,
The virgin's life was free.

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