Now is my love all ready forth to come: And ye fresh boys, that tend upon her groom, The joyfull'st day that ever sun did see. O fairest Phoebus! father of the Muse! 50 Or sing the thing that mote thy mind delight, Then I thy sovereign praises loud will sing, 55 That all the woods shall answer, and their echo ring. Hark! how the minstrels 'gin to shrill aloud And thereunto do dance and carol sweet, Hymen, iö Hymen, Hymen, they do shout, And evermore they Hymen, Hymen sing, That all the woods them answer, and their echo ring. 76 Lo! where she comes along with portly pace, 80 Some angel she had been. Her long loose yellow locks like golden wire, Sprinkled with pearl, and pearling flowers atween, Do like a golden mantle her attire; And, being crowned with a garland green, Her modest eyes, abashed to behold. Ne dare lift up her countenance too bold, Nathless do ye still loud her praises sing, That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring. Tell me, ye merchants' daughters, did ye see So sweet, so lovely, and so mild as she, 100 Her cheeks like apples which the sun hath rudded, 105 To Honour's seat and Chastity's sweet bower. Upon her so to gaze, Whiles ye forget your former lay to sing, To which the woods did answer, and your echo ring? 110 But if ye saw that which no eyes can see, There dwells sweet love, and constant chastity, 120 And giveth laws alone, The which the base affections do obey, Then would ye wonder, and her praises sing, That all the woods should answer, and your echo ring. ၂ဝ JOHN LYLY. OHN LYLY (15549-1606) was born in Kent, in 1553 or 1554, and studied at the University of Oxford. He early went to court, where he was employed as an official writer of comedies, but waited in vain for the appointment as Master of the Revels. While still resident at Oxford, he wrote a didactic novel, Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (1579), which, together with its sequel, Euphues and his England (1580), became the most popular representative of the quaint, fantastic style then fashionable, known under the name of 'Euphuism'. Sentences framed on the principle of parallelism and antithesis, a profuse employment of alliteration, rhyme, and puns, and a passion for proverbial sayings and illustrations drawn from classical antiquity or from the fabulous zoology of the Middle Ages (Physiologus) are the chief characteristics of this style, which has often been confused with other affectations of writing and mistaken for a mere love of conceits. It had been imported into England by Thomas North's translation (1557) of the Spanish Libro aureo de Marco Aurelio (1529) by Archbishop Guevara. Lyly is chiefly thought of by posterity as the author of Euphues; but his dramatic works, though all of them written for court amusements, and not for the public stage, had perhaps a still greater influence on contemporary art. For he may be called the founder of the romantic prose comedy on classical subjects, with disguises and mummeries and in a conceited style, interspersed with exquisite lyrics, in all of which points he was followed by no less a poet than Shakspere himself. Of Lyly's nine extant plays we mention The Woman in the Moon (perhaps the first pastoral comedy, written ab. 1583), Alexander and Campaspe (printed 1584), Sappho and Phao (1584), and Endymion (1591). TO MY VERY GOOD FRIENDS THE GENTLEMEN SCHOLARS OF OXFORD. There is no privilege that needeth a pardon, neither is there any remission to be asked where a commission is granted. I speak this, I speak this, Gentlemen, not to excuse the offence which is taken, but to offer a defence where I was mistaken. A clear conscience is a sure card; truth hath the prerogative to speak with plain10 ness, and the modesty to bear with patience. It was reported of some, and believed of many, that in the education of Ephoebus, where mention is made of universities, that Oxford 16 was too much either defaced or defamed. I know not what the envious have picked out by malice, or the curious by wit, or the guilty by their own galled consciences; but this 20 I say that I was as far from thinking ill, as I find them from judging well. But if I should now go about to make amends, I were then faulty in somewhat amiss, and should show myself like Apelles' prentice who 25 coveting to mend the nose, marred the cheek, and not unlike the foolish dyer who never thought his cloth black until it was burned. If any fault be committed, impute it to 30 Euphues who knew you not, not to Lyly who hate you not. ... Euphues, at his arrival, I am assured, will view Oxford, where he will either recant his sayings, or 35 renew his complaints. He is now on the seas; and how he hath been tossed, I know not. But whereas I thought to receive him at Dover, I must meet him at Hampton. Nothing can hinder his coming but death, neither anything hasten his departure but unkindness. 40 Concerning myself I have always thought so reverently of Oxford, of 45 the scholars, and the manners, that I seemed to be rather an idolater than a blasphemer. They that invented this toy were 50 unwise, and they that reported it, unkind; and yet none of them can prove me unhonest. But suppose I glanced at some abuses: did not Jupiter's egg bring 55 forth as well Helen, a light housewife in earth, as Castor, a light star in heaven? The ostrich that taketh the greatest pride in her feathers, picketh some of the worst out, and 60 burneth them; there is no tree but hath some blast, no countenance but hath some blemish; and shall Oxford then be blameless? I wish it were so, but I cannot think it is so. But 65 as it is, it may be better; and were it badder, it is not the worst. But I commit my cause to the consciences of those that either know what I am, or can guess what I should be. The one will answer themselves in construing friendly, the 75 other, if I knew them, I would satisfy reasonably. Thus loath to incur the suspicion of unkindness in not telling my mind, and not willing to make any excuse 80 where there need no amends, I can neither crave pardon, lest I should confess a fault, nor conceal my meaning, lest I should be thought a fool. And so I end, yours assured to use 85 John Lyly. CHE CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. HRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564-93), the greatest of Shakspere's predecessors, was born at Canterbury in 1564, as the son of a shoemaker. He received a good education, and took his degree of M.A. at Cambridge in 1587. Early he took to writing dramatic poetry; for in or about the same year his first play, Tamburlaine the Great, was brought out, which, together with Thomas Kyd's Spanish Tragedy (ab. 1585), shares the claim of having established the use of blank verse on the English stage. This was soon followed by six other plays, the most noteworthy of which are: The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, founded on an English translation of the German chapbook of Dr. Faustus (1587); The Jew of Malta, with the famous figure of Barabas, a prototype of Shylock; and Edward II., an historical play which by most critics is considered his maturest work. The bright colours and the sweet verbal music of the poets of the English Renaissance he exhibited in his epic of Hero and Leander, left a fragment, but continued by G. Chapman, and in the fine lyric of The Passionate Shepherd, from which even Shakspere quoted a line in As You Like It (III, 5, 82). He was killed, 29 years old, in a tavern quarrel at Deptford. DOCTOR FAUSTUS. [Comp. 1588/89-publ. 1604] Scene I. FAUSTUS in his Study. Faust. Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin 6 And live and die in Aristotle's works. (Reads.) Bene disserere est finis logices. Is to dispute well logic's chiefest end? 10 Then read no more, thou hast attained that end; Bid öv xai un ov farewell; Galen come, Seeing Ubi desinit Philosophus, ibi incipit Medicus; 15 And be eternis'd for some wondrous cure. 20 Are not thy bills hung up as monuments, (Reads.) (Reads.) 30 A pretty case of paltry legacies! (Reads.) Stipendium peccati mors est. Ha! Stipendium &c. 40 The reward of sin is death; that's hard. (Reads.) Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas. If we say that we have no sin, We deceive ourselves, and there's no truth in us. Why then, belike we must sin, and so consequently die. 45 Ay, we must die an everlasting death. What doctrine call you this, Che sarà, sarà, And necromantic books are heavenly: 50 Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters, 55 All things that move between the quiet poles |