In this our world a hangman for to be
Of all those fooles that will have all they see."[573:C]
If, from this catalogue of allusions, our author's intimacy with the romances of his age, may be considered as proved, his familiarity with the ballads and songs of the same period will not be deemed less extensive, or less admitting of demonstration. Throughout his dramas, indeed, a peculiar partiality for these popular little pieces is very manifest; he delights to quote them, wherever he can find a place for their introduction, and his own efforts in this line of poetry are often of the utmost simplicity and beauty.
How strongly he felt this predilection for the strains of our elder minstrelsy, and how exquisitely he has expressed his attachment to them, must be in the recollection of all who have ever read, or seen performed, his admirable comedy of the Twelfth Night, in which the Duke exclaims,—
"Give me some musick:—but that piece of song,
That old and antique song we heard last night,
Methought it did relieve my passion much;
More than light airs and recollected terms,
Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times:—
Mark it, Cæsario; it is old, and plain: