few-I have given it in the notes.1 Facing page 341 is a most complete picture of the musical instruments used on Shakespeare's stage. Here are the viols, harps, lutes, and recorders mentioned so often in Elizabethan and Jacobean plays. Here we may see the regals, the portable organ that was played in Edwardes' Damon and Pythias, 1571; the pandore, or bandore, a wire-strung instrument resembling a lute, used for accompaniments; the theorbo, a large mandolin which the player rested on his knee. Drayton's verses, which the plate illustrated, give the list: The trembling Lute some touch, some strain the Viol best POLY-OLBION. The Fourth Song, p. 63. 1613. It may be asked upon what principle of selection there have been admitted to this book certain lyrics whose content is insignificant and whose style is the true "rym doggerel." My purpose has been not merely to reprint poems of great charm and beauty too little known, but to explain and illustrate the use of song on the stage. If the poetic quality of certain selections seems too slight to warrant their inclusion, generally it will be found that they were employed in an interesting or an unusual manner, or that they throw some light on the subject 1 I cannot believe that the punctuation offers, except in the most general way, any clue to the music of these songs or the manner in which they were performed. I am utterly unable to follow Mr. Noble in his conclusions based on commas and colons. See his Shakespeare's Use of Song, pp. 57, 58, 77, 86, 97, 107. 2 A note in the MS. of Browne's Inner Temple Masque names the instruments for its performance, 1615. "The music was composed of treble violins with all the inward parts, a bass viol, bass lute, sagbut, cornamute, and tabor and pipe." of singing in the theatre. Should this not be the case, their appearance must be attributed to the customary aberration of an anthologist. On the whole, this collection should do more than to offer certain poems, the flower of what is now a lost art; it should enable the reader to understand how far removed is our emotional yet tuneless drama from the lyric stage of the Tudor and Stuart reigns. It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to the anthologies of Bell and of Bullen, as well as to those scholars whose works appear in the Bibliography. The Notes will show how often I have drawn upon The Elizabethan Stage by E. K. Chambers. To W. J. Lawrence I am especially grateful. His wide knowledge of the British drama is equalled only by his generosity in sharing that knowledge with others. I desire to express to the Librarian of the Dyce Collection, South Kensington Museum, and to the authorities of the British Museum and the Bodleian Library my appreciation of many courtesies extended to me while gathering and studying these songs. I wish to thank the following authors and publishers for their permission to use these lyrics of which they hold the copyrights: Doubleday, Page and Co., Garden City, N. Y., for "I cannot tell what this love may be" (p. 243); "Prithee, pretty maiden-prithee tell me true" (p. 243); and "When I go out of door" (p. 244), from Acts i and ii of Patience by W. S. Gilbert. Thomas Hardy for "Let's meet again to-night, my Fair" (p. 246), from scene 11 of The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall, published by The Macmillan Co., New York, and Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London. The Macmillan Co., New York, and Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London, for "We hadn't been three days at sea before we saw a sail" (p. 247), from Act ii, scene 6, of Admiral Guinea by W. E. Henley. Lady Gregory for "Yesterday travelling Connacht" (p. 248); "It is pitiful and sharp to-day are the wounds of Ireland" (p. 248), from Dervorgilla, and “All round my hat I wore a green ribbon" (p. 249), from The Bogie Man, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London. William Butler Yeats for "The wind blows out of the gates of the day" (p. 249), from The Land of Heart's Desire, published by The Macmillan Co., New York, and Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London. Laurence Housman and H. Granville-Barker for "How now, everywhere up in air stars stare" (p. 250), from Act ii of Prunella, published by Little, Brown and Co., Boston, and Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd., London. John Galsworthy for "The windy hours through darkness fly" (p. 251), from Act iii of The Little Dream, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, and Gerald Duckworth and Co., Ltd., London. Gordon Bottomley for "The bird in my heart's a-calling through a far-fied, tear-grey sea" (p. 251), from The Crier by Night, published by Small, Maynard and Co., Boston, and Constable and Co., Ltd., London. Clemence Dane for "Come with me to London" (p. 252) and "If Luck and I should meet" (p. 253), from Act i and Act iii, scene 2, of Will Shakespeare, published by The Macmillan Co., New York, and William Heinemann, Ltd., London. Songs from the British Drama ANONYMOUS Theise Songes belonge to the Taylors and Shearemens Pagant. Song 1. As I out rode this enderes night, Of thre joli sheppardes I saw a sight, And all abowte there fold a star shone bright. So mereli the sheppards ther pipes can blow. 1. enderes: last. Song 2. Doune from heaven, from heaven so hie, So mereli the sheppards ther pipes can blow. Song 3. Lully, lulla, thow littell tine child; By, by, lully, lullay, thow littell tyne child: O sisters too, How may we do For to preserve this day This pore yongling, For whom we do singe By, by, lully, lullay? |