FOOTNOTES:
[887] Mrs. Lennox. Shakespeare illustrated, vol. iii. p. 302.
[888] See Jeffery of Monmouth, Holinshed, &c. who relate Leir's history in many respects the same as the ballad.
XVI.
YOUTH AND AGE,
Is found in the little collection of Shakespeare's Sonnets, intitled the Passionate Pilgrime,[889] the greatest part of which seems to relate to the amours of Venus and Adonis, being little effusions of fancy, probably written while he was composing his larger poem on that subject. The following seems intended for the mouth of Venus, weighing the comparative merits of youthful Adonis and aged Vulcan. In the Garland of Good Will it is reprinted, with the addition of four more such stanzas, but evidently written by a meaner pen.
Crabbed Age and Youth
Cannot live together;
Youth is full of pleasance,
Age is full of care:
Youth like summer morn,5
Age like winter weather,
Youth like summer brave,
Age like winter bare:
Youth is full of sport,
Ages breath is short;10
Youth is nimble, Age is lame:
Youth is hot and bold,
Age is weak and cold;
Youth is wild, and Age is tame.
Age, I do abhor thee,15
Youth, I do adore thee;
O, my love, my love is young:
Age, I do defie thee;
Oh sweet shepheard, hie thee,
For methinks thou stayst too long.20