Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2] / Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

He fell, as by some murm'ring riv'let's side

The tow'ring poplar, whose broad branches shade

A rural cottage, guardian of its peace,

Sinks crashing, and uptears the flow'ry bank,

Whelm'd by the tempest; the defenceless cot

Howls to the moaning wind: the birds behold

Their nests, their young, in ruin lost: the brook

Rolls o'er the tree whose image long it loved."

[550:A] Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 327.

[550:B] Of court-fools, it is observed by Mr. Douce, that "Muckle John, the fool of Charles the First, and the successor of Archee Armstrong, is perhaps the last regular personage of the kind."—Illustrations, vol. ii. p. 308.