Page [16]. Thomas Ford, when he published his “Music of sundry kinds,” 1607, was a musician in the suite of Prince Henry. At the accession of Charles I. he was appointed one of his musicians, and he died in 1648—the year before his royal patron was beheaded.
Page [23]. “Little lawn then serve[d] the Pawn.”—The Pawn was a corridor, serving as a bazaar, in the Royal Exchange (Gresham’s).
Page [24]. “Farewell, false Love, the oracle of lies.”—“J. C.” in “Alcilia,” 1595, writes:—
“Love is honey mixed with gall,
A thraldom free, a freedom thrall;
A bitter sweet, a pleasant sour,
Got in a year, lost in an hour;
A peaceful war, a warlike peace,
Whose wealth brings want, whose want increase;
Full long pursuit and little gain,
Uncertain pleasure, certain pain;
Regard of neither right nor wrong,
For short delights repentance long.
Love is the sickness of the thought,
Conceit of pleasure dearly bought;
A restless passion of the mind,
A labyrinth of arrows blind:
A sugared poison, fair deceit,
A bait for fools, a furious heat;
A chilling cold, a wondrous passion,
Exceeding man’s imagination;
Which none can tell in whole or part,
But only he that feels the smart.”
Robert Greene has a somewhat similar description of Love (“What thing is Love? it is a power divine,” &c.) in “Menaphon,” 1589.
Page [28]. “Fond wanton youths.”—This piece is also printed in “The Golden Garland of Princely Delights,” 1620, where it is headed “Of the Inconveniences by Marriage,” and is directed to be sung to the tune of “When Troy town.”
Page [29], l. 22. “Their longings must not be beguiled.”—The original gives “Their laughings” (which is unintelligible).
Page [31]. It was at Wanstead House, a seat of the Earl of Leicester, that Sidney wrote his masque the “Lady of the May” in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s visit in 1578. “Was Raleigh retired there,” writes Mr. W. J. Linton (Rare Poems, p. 257), “during some season of her displeasure? There is a look of him about this song, not unlike the lines to Cynthia; and what mistress but Majesty should appoint his place of retirement?
‘Wanstead, my Mistress saith this is the doom.’”