NIGHT SONG TO JULIA.

HER lamp the glow-worm lend me,
The shooting stars attend me,

And the elves also, whose little eyes glow
Like the sparks of fire befriend me.

No will-o'-the-wisp beslight thee,
Nor snake, or slow-worm bite thee,
But on, on thy way, nor lingering stay,
Since ghost there is none to affright thee.

Then let not the darkness thee cumber,
What though the moon does slumber,
The stars of the night will lend thee their light,
Like tapers clear without number.

Then, Julia, let me woo thee,

Thus, thus to come unto me,

And when I shall meet thy silvery feet,

My soul I will

pour into thee.

CHERRY-RIPE.

CHERRY-ripe, ripe, ripe, ripe I cry,
Full and fair ones, come and buy!
If so be you ask me where

They do grow, I answer there,

UNCERTAIN AUTHOR.

Where my Julia's lips do smile;
There's the land, or cherry isle;
Whose plantations fully show

All the

year where cherries grow.

35

The three foregoing Songs are by ROBERT HERRICK, who appears to have been a poet of very considerable merit. Within these few years, his memory has been happily revived by Drake, Irvin, Campbell, Retrospective Review, &c. all of whom, attracted by the native sweetness and harmony of his versification, have drawn largely upon his writings. Herrick's poetry is considerable, and he may be placed at the head of the minor poets of his time. He lived to an advanced age, and was born in London in 1591. He published a volume of his poetry, under the title of

"Hesperides." 1648. 8vo.

DETRACTION'S REWARD.

WHO seeks to tame the blustering wind,
Or cause the floods bend to his will,

Or else against dame nature's kind

To change things fram'd by cunning skill:
That man I think bestoweth pain,
Though that his labour be in vain.

Who strives to break the sturdy steel,
Or goeth about to stay the sun;
Who thinks to cause an oak to reel,
Which never can by force be done:
That man likewise bestoweth pain,
Though that his labour be in vain.

So he likewise, that goes about
To please each eye and every ear,
Had need to have without a doubt

A golden gift with him to bear;
For evil report shall be his gain,
Though he bestow both toil and pain.

Copied, by Percy, from an old M. S. in the Cotton Library, [Vesp. A. 25.] entitled, "Divers things of Henry VIII.'s time."

THE CUCKOO.

SUMMER is a-coming in;

Loud sings the cuckoo;

Groweth seed, and bloweth mead,
And springeth the wood now:
Sing cuckoo!

Ewe bleateth after lamb;

Loweth after calf the cow;

Bullock starteth, the buck verteth,
Merrily sings cuckoo:

Cuckoo! cuckoo!

Well singest thou, cuckoo!

Ne swik thu naver nu.

The above descriptive piece is said by Ritson to be the most ancient English song now extant; and is preserved in the Harleian Library in M. S. It is supposed to have been composed in the thirteenth century, in Henry the Third's time. The orthography is here modernised. Our authority translates the last line, by rendering it, "Mayest thou never cease."

MORLEY'S BALLADS.

37

THOMAS MORLEY was Bachelor in Music, and gentleman of Queen Elizabeth's Royal Chapel. He published several books of Madrigals and Ballads, betwixt the years 1593 and 1600, besides "A plaine and easy Introduction to Pracktical Musick, in form of a Dialogue;" Lond. 1597 -1608, fol.; reprinted again, totidem verbis, by Randel, under the inspection of Dr. Howard, about the year 1780. For more than a century, this remained a standard work, and was the companion of every musical amateur. even find a writer in the Monthly Review for 1785, vol. 72, page 581, stating this to be the most ample and lu... minous general treatise upon practical music and composition, they could boast of possessing at that time.

66

We

Madrigals," says the writer of the article Music, for Brewster's Encyclopedia, " commenced about the middle of the sixteenth century. These were vocal compositions in many parts, generally in fugæ; they do not seem to have contributed greatly to the improvement of melody; but, as greater freedom of combination and modulation was allowed than in the church, these secular compositions afforded an opportunity to ingenious men, of trying new effects, by which the bounds of harmony were enlarged."

Morley, and all the old writers upon modern music, before the use of bars, affixed no other meaning to the MODES, or MOODS as they were then called, than that of regulators of time or measure."

E

The following eight Madrigals are selected from a slim 4to. in five parts, with neatly engraven frontispiece, containing twenty-one pieces in all, of which this is the title, "Quintus, Tenor, &c. of Thomas Morley, The First Booke of Balletts to Five Voyces. In London, by Thomas Este, 1595."

DAINTY, FINE, SWEET NYMPH.

DAINTY, fine, sweet nymph, delightful,
While the sun aloft is mounting,

Sit we here, our loves recounting, Fa, la, la,
With sugar'd glosses, among these roses.

Why, alas! are you so spiteful,

Dainty nymph, but, oh! too cruel?

Wilt thou kill thy dearest jewel? Fa, la, la,
Kill then and bliss me, but first come kiss me.

NOW IS THE MONTH OF MAYING.

Now is the month of Maying,

When merry lads are playing
Each with his bonny lass
Upon the greeny grass.

The spring clad all in gladness
Doth laugh at winter's sadness,
And to the bagpipe's sound

The nymphs tread out their ground.