Stay, stay! let me but breathe my last
Upon her lips, and I'll forgive what's past; (p. 24)
a reminiscence of the lines spoken by Alexis in a similar situation:
Oh, yet forbear
To take her from me! give me leave to die
By her! (Faithful Shepherdess, III. i. 165[[347]].)
The general level of the verse is not high, but we now and again light on some pleasing lines such as the following:
My dearest love, fair as the eastern morn
As it breaks o'er the plains when summer's born,
Hanging bright liquid pearls on every tree,
New life and hope imparting, as to me
Thy presence brings delight, so fresh and rare
As May's first breath, dispensing such sweet air
The Phoenix does expire in; sit, while I play
The cunning thief, and steal thy heart away,
And thou shalt stand as judge to censure me. (p. 18.)
So again there is some grace in a song which catches perhaps a distant echo of Peele's gem:
Gloriana. Sit, while I do gather flowers
And depopulate the bowers.
Here's a kiss will come to thee!Lysander. Give me one, I'll give thee three!
Both. Thus in harmless sport we may
Pass the idle hours away.Gloriana. Hark! hark, how fine
The birds do chime!
And pretty Philomel
Her moan doth tell. (p. 22.)
Another of these miniature pastorals is preserved in a British Museum manuscript, where it bears the title of The Converted Robber.[[348]] No author's name appears, but a plausible conjecture may be advanced. The scene of the piece, namely, is Stonehenge, and it is evident that the occasion on which it was first performed had some connexion with Salisbury, for there is obviously a topical allusion in the final words:
Lett us that do noe envy beare um
Wish all felicity to Sarum.
Now in 1636,[[349]] according to Anthony à Wood, there was acted at St. John's College, Oxford, a play by John Speed, entitled Stonehenge, the occasion being the return of Dr. Richard Baylie after his installation as Dean of Salisbury. We can hardly be far wrong in identifying the two pieces. The only difficulty is that in the manuscript the play is dated 1637. This, however, may either be a mere slip of the scribe, or may possibly imply that the piece was produced in 1636-7, the scribe adopting the popular and modern, whereas Wood always adhered to the old or legal reckoning.