Hee sent his man to ask the Douglas, Faire words, quoth he, they make fooles faine, You may hap to think itt soon enough, 195 Jamye his hatt pulled over his browe, And he is to Erle Percy againe, To tell him what the Douglas sayd. 200 Hold upp thy head, man, quoth his lord; He did it but to prove thy heart, To see if he cold make it quail. When they had other fifty sayld, Other fifty mile upon the sea, Lord Percy called to Douglas himselfe, Sayd, What wilt thou nowe doe with mee? 205 Looke that your brydle be wight, my lord, And your horse goe swift as shipp att sea: What needeth this, Douglas? he sayth; 210 For I was counted a horseman good 215 A false Hector hath my horse, Who dealt with mee so treacherouslìe: A false Armstrong he hath my spurres, 220 When they had sayled other fifty mile, A deputed 'laird' landed Lord Percye. Then he at Yorke was doomde to dye, It was, V. 224. fol. MS. reads land, and has not the following stanza. ར. Wy Wind to me a Kingdom is. 225 THIS excellent philosophical song appears to have been famous in the sixteenth century. It is quoted by Ben Jonson in his play of Every man out of his Humour, first acted in 1599, act i. sc. 1, where an impatient person says, "I am no such pil'd cynique to believe When the lanke hungrie belly barkes for foode." It is here chiefly printed from a thin quarto music-book, entitled "Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadnes and Pietie, made into Musicke of five parts, &c. By William Byrd, one of the Gent. of the Queenes Majesties Honorable Chappell. Printed by Thomas East," &c. 4to. no date: but Ames, in his Typog. has mentioned another edition of the same book, dated 1588, which I take to have been later than this. Some improvements, and an additional stanza (sc. the 5th) were had from two other ancient copies; one of them in black letter, in the Pepys Collection, thus inscribed, “A sweet and pleasant Sonet, intitled My Mind to me a Kingdom is. To the tune of In Crete," &c. Some of the stanzas in this poem were printed by Byrd separate from the rest: they are here given in what seemed the most natural order. My minde to me a kingdome is; That God or nature hath assignde: Though much I want, that most would have, 5 Yet still my mind forbids to crave. Content I live, this is my stay; I seek no more than may suffice: Content with that my mind doth bring. I see how plentie surfets oft, 10 And hastie clymbers soonest fall: I see that such as sit aloft 15 Mishap doth threaten most of all: These get with toile, and keep with feare: Such cares my mind could never beare. No princely pompe, nor welthie store, 20 No wylie wit to salve a sore, Some have too much, yet still they crave, 25 They poor, I rich; they beg, I give; 30 I laugh not at anothers losse, I grudge not at anothers gaine; I joy not in no earthly blisse: I weigh not Cresus' welth a straw; For care, I care not what it is; I feare not fortunes fatall law: My mind is such as may not move For beautie bright or force of love. I wish but what I have at will: In greatest stormes I sitte on shore, I kisse not where I wish to kill; I faine not love where most I hate; The court, ne cart, I like, ne loath; My welth is health, and perfect ease; My conscience clere my chiefe defence: I never seeke by brybes to please, 65 VI. The Patient Countess. THE subject of this tale is taken from that entertaining colloquy of Erasmus, entitled, Uxor Meupyapos, sive Conjugium: which has been agreeably modernised by the late Mr. Spence in his little miscellaneous publication entitled "Moralities, &c., by Sir Harry Beaumont," 1753, 8vo. p. 42. The following stanzas are extracted from an ancient poem entitled Albion's England, written by W. Warner, a celebrated poet in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, though his name and works are now equally forgotten. The reader will find some account of him in vol. ii. book ii. song 24 (p. 195). The following stanzas are printed from the author's improved edition of his work, printed in 1602, 4to; the third impression of which appeared so early as 1592, in bl. let. 4to. The edition in 1602 is in thirteen books, and so it is reprinted in 1612, 4to; yet in 1606, was published "A Continuance of Albion's England by the first Author, W. W. Lond. 4to:" this contains books xiv. xv. xvi. In Ames's Typography, is preserved the memory of another publication of this writer's, entitled Warner's Poetry, printed in 1580. 12mo, and reprinted in 1602. There is also extant under the name of Warner, "Syrix, or sevenfold Hist. pleasant, and profitable, comical, and tragical," 4to. It is proper to premise, that the following lines were not written by the author in stanzas, but in long Alexandrines of fourteen syllables; which the narrowness of our page made it here necessary to subdivide. |