WHER

HERE gripinge grefes the hart would wounde,
And dolefulle dumps the mynde oppreffe,

There muficke with her filver found

With spede is wont to fend redresse : Of trobled mynds, in every fore, Swete muficke hathe a falve in ftore.

In joye yt maks our mirthe abounde,
In woe yt cheres our hevy sprites;
Be-ftrawghted heads relyef hath founde,

By mufickes pleasaunt fwete delightes:
Our fenfes all, what fhall I fay more?
Are fubjecte unto muficks lore.

The Gods by muficke have theire prayse,
The lyfe, the foule therein doth joye;
For, as the Romayne poet fayes,

In feas, whom pyrats would deftroy,
A dolphin faved from death most sharpe
Arion playing on hys harpe.

10

15

O heavenly gyft, that rules the mynd,

Even as the fterne dothe rule the shippe!

O muficke, whom the gods affinde

To comforte manne, whom cares would nippe!

Senfe thow both man and beste doest move,

What befte ys he, wyll the difprove?

M 3

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IV. KING

IV.

KING COPHETUA AND THE BEGGAR-MAID,

-is a ftory often alluded to by our old Dramatic Writers. Shakespear in his ROMEO AND JULIET, A. II. Sc. 1. makes Mercutio fay,

Her [Venus's] purblind fon and heir,
Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so true,
"When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid."

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As the 13th Line of the following ballad feems here particularly alluded to, it is not improbable but Shakespeare wrote it SHOT SO TRIM, which the players or printers, not perceiving the allufion, might alter to TRUE. The former, as being the more humorous expreffion, feems most likely to bave come from the mouth of Mercutio.

In the 2d Part of HEN. IV. A. 5. Sc. 3. Falftaff is introduced affectedly Jaying to Piftoll,

"O bafe Affyrian knight, what is thy news? "Let king Cophetua know the truth thereof."

Thefe lines Bp. Warburton thinks were taken from an old bombaft play of KING COPHETUA. No fuch play is, I believe, now to be found: but it does not therefore follow that it never exifted. Many dramatic pieces are referred to by old writers, which are not now extant, or even mentioned in any

See above p. 130,

+ See Meres's Wits Treaf. f. 283. Arte of Eng. Poef. 1589. p. 51, III, 143, 169.

Lift.

Lift. In the infancy of the ftage, plays were often exhibited that were never printed.

It is probably in allufion to the fame play that Ben Jonson Jays in his Comedy of EVERY MAN in his humour, A. 3. Sc. 4. "I have not the heart to devour thee, an' I might be made << as RICH as King Cophetua."

At least there is no mention of King Cophetua's RICHES in the prefent ballad, which is the oldeft I have met with on the fubject.

It is printed from Rich. Johnson's "Crown Garland of " Goulden Rofes:" 1612. 12mo. (where it is intitled fimply, A SONG OF A BEGGAR AND A KING :) corrected by another copy.

I

Read that once in Affrica
A princely wight did raine,
Who had to name Cophetua,
As poets they did faine :

From natures lawes he did decline,

For fure he was not of my mind,
He cared not for women-kinde,

But did them all difdaine.

But, marke, what hapned on a day.

As he out of his window lay,

5

10

The blinded boy, that shootes fo trim,

From heaven downe did hie;

He drew a dart and shot at him,

In place where he did lye:
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15

Which

Which foone did pierse him to the quicke,
And when he felt the arrow pricke,
Which in his tender heart did fticke,
He looketh as he would dye.

What fudden chance is this, quoth he,
That I to love muft fubject be,

Which never thereto would agree,

But ftill did it defie ?

In thee, quoth he, doth reft my life,

For furely thou shalt be

my wife;

Or

Or elfe this hand with bloody knife

The Gods fhall fure fuffice. Then from his bed he foon arose,

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And faid, With us you shal remaine
Till fuch time as we dye ;

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For thou, quoth he, fhalt be my wife,
And honoured for my queene;

With thee I meane to lead my life,

As fhortly shall be seene:

Our wedding shall appointed be,

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And every thing in its degree :

Come on, quoth he, and follow me,

Thou shalt go shift thee cleane.

What