For kings bethink them what the state require,
Where shepherds, careless, carol by the fire:
Ah then, ah then,

If country love such sweet desires gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

He kisseth first, then sits as blithe to eat
His cream and curd, as doth the king his meat,
And blither too :

For kings have often fears when they sup,
Where shepherds dread no poison in their cup:
Ah then, ah then,

If country loves such sweet desires gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

Upon his couch of straw he sleeps as sound
As doth the king upon his beds of down,
More sounder too:

For cares cause kings full oft their sleep to spill,
Where weary shepherds lie and snort their fill:
Ah then, ah then,

If country loves such sweet desires gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

Thus with his wife he spends the year as blithe
As doth the king at every tide or syth,

And blither too :

For kings have wars and broils to take in hand,
When shepherds laugh, and love upon the land:
Ah then, ah then,

If country love such sweet desires gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?

[BARNFIELD, who wrote the following piece about the year 1592, was

a native of Staffordshire, and is little known in any other way than as its author.]

S it fell upon a day,

AS

In the merry month of May,

Sitting in a pleasant shade

Which a grove of myrtles made;

Beasts did leap, and birds did sing,

Trees did grow, and plants did spring;
Everything did banish moan,

Save the nightingale alone.

She, poor bird, as all forlorn,

Lean'd her breast up-till a thorn;

And there sung the dolefull'st ditty,

That to hear it was great pity.
Fie, fie, fie, now would she cry;
Teru, teru, by and by;

That, to hear her so complain,
Scarce I could from tears refrain;
For her griefs, so lively shown,
Made me think upon mine own.
Ah! (thought I) thou mourn'st in vain;
None takes pity on thy pain:

Senseless trees, they cannot hear thee,
Ruthless bears, they will not cheer thee:
King Pandion he is dead;

All thy friends are lapp'd in lead;
All thy fellow-birds do sing,
Careless of thy sorrowing!

Whilst as fickle Fortune smil'd,
Thou and I were both beguil'd.
Every one that flatters thee
Is no friend in misery.

Words are easy, like the wind;

Faithful friends are hard to find.

Every man will be thy friend

Whilst thou hast wherewith to spend:
But, if store of crowns be scant,
No man will supply thy want.
If that one be prodigal,
Bountiful they will him call;
And with such like flattering,
'Pity but he were a king.'
If he be addict to vice,
Quickly him they will entice;
But if fortune once do frown,
Then farewell his great renown :
They that fawn'd on him before
Use his company no more.
He that is thy friend indeed,
He will help thee in thy need:
If thou sorrow, he will weep,
If thou wake he cannot sleep:
Thus, of every grief in heart
He with thee doth bear a part.
These are certain signs to know
Faithful friend from flattering foe.

[CHRISTOPHER MARLOW was born in the year 1562. The place of his birth and the circumstances of his family are unknown, though it is recorded that he was educated at Cambridge, and on leaving that university became an actor and dramatic writer.

Marlow is considered the most distinguished of Shakspeare's predecessors. The character of his works is well described by Hazlitt:-" There is a lust of power in his writings, a hunger and thirst after unrighteousness, a glow of imagination unhallowed by anything but its own energies. His thoughts burnt within him like a furnace of flickering flame, or throwing out black smoke and mists that hide the dawn of genius, or like a poisonous mineral corrode the heart." The incidents of his death but too well accorded with the licentiousness of his character.]

COME live with me, and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, and hills and fields,
Woods or steepy mountains yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies;
A cap of flowers and a kirtle,
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle :
A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold:
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing,
For thy delight, each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.

THE NYMPH'S REPLY.*

BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH.-1555-1618.

[SIR WALTER RALEIGH was born at Budleigh in Devonshire, in 1555. After leaving Oxford, where he was educated, he entered the Middle Temple, but soon embraced the profession of arms, in which he became highly distinguished. His introduction to Elizabeth was due, the legend runs, to his gallantry in placing his cloak over a miry place that she might pass over it without inconvenience. He took a very active part in the destruction of the Spanish Armada, but his high character is sullied by the share he took in the ruin of the Earl of Essex. He obtained a grant of 12,000 acres of land, out of the forfeited estate of the Earl of Desmond, in the county of Cork; and during a visit to Spenser at Kilcolman, persuaded that poet to write his "Faerie Queene." After the accession of James he was tried for conspiring with Lord Cobham and others to place Arabella Stewart on the throne, and was condemned; but though respited, he remained twelve years in the Tower, where he wrote his "History of the World." He was then taken from prison and placed in command of a squadron sent against Guiana. While on this expedition, he plundered the town of St. Thomé, and on his

* To "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love," by Christopher Marlow. See the ceding.

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