Full fast he hies then to her court;
Where when she heard his moan,

Return'd him answer, that she griev'd
That all his means were gone,

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But no way could relieve his wants;
Yet if that he would stay

In brave and gallant sort,

She gave in charge he should be brought
To Aganippus' court;

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Whose royal king, with noble mind,

So freely gave consent

To muster up his knights at arms,
To fame and courage bent.

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And so to England came with speed,

To repossesse King Leir,

And drive his daughters from their thrones

By his Cordelia dear.

Was in the battel slain;

Where she, true-hearted, noble queen,

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And being dead, their crowns they left
Unto the next of kin :

Thus have you seen the fall of pride,
And disobedient sin.

XVI.

Youth and Age

is found in the little collection of Shakspeare's Sonnets, entitled the Passionate Pilgrime, the greatest part of which seems to relate to the amours of Venus and Adonis, being little effusions of fancy, probably written while he was composing his larger Poem on that subject. The following seems intended for the mouth of Venus, weighing the comparative merits of youthful Adonis and aged Vulcan. In the Garland of Good-will it is reprinted, with the addition of four more such stanzas, but evidently written by a meaner pen.

1 Mentioned above, Song xii. b. ii.

Youth, I do adore thee;

O, my love, my love is young!

Age, I do defie thee;

O sweet shepheard, hie thee,

For methinks thou stayst too long!

**See Malone's Shakspeare, vol. x. p. 325.

XVII.

The Frolicksome Duke, or the Tinker's Good Fortune.

The following ballad is upon the same subject as the Introduction to Shakspeare's Tuming of the Shrew: whether it may be thought to have suggested the hint to the dramatic poet, or is not rather of later date, the reader must determine.

The story is told of Philip the Good,1 Duke of Burgundy, and is thus related by an old English writer: "The said duke, at the marriage of Eleonora, sister to the king of Portugall, at Bruges in Flanders, which was solemnized in the deepe of winter; when as by reason of unseasonable weather he could neither hawke nor hunt, and was now tired with cards, dice, &c., and such other domestick sports, or to see ladies dance; with some of his courtiers he would in the evening walke disguised all about the towne. It so fortuned, as he was walking late one night, he found a countrey fellow dead drunke, snorting on a bulke; he caused 1 By Ludov. Vives in Epist. and by Pont. Heuter, Rerum Burgund. ». *.

ais followers to bring him to his palace, and there stripping him of his old clothes, and attyring him after the court fashion, when he wakened, he and they were all ready to attend upon his excellency, and persuade him that he was some great duke. The poor fellow admiring how he came there, was served in state all day long; after supper he saw them dance, heard musicke, and all the rest of those court-like pleasures; but late at night, when he was well tipled, and again faste asleepe, they put on his old robes, and so conveyed him to the place where they first found him. Now the fellow had not made them so good sport the day before, as he did now, when he returned to himself; all the jest was to see how he looked upon it. In conclusion, after some little admiration, the poore man told his friends he had seen a vision, constantly believed it, and would not otherwise be persuaded, and so the jest ended."Burton's Anat. of Melancholy, pt. ii. sec. 2, mem. 4. 2d ed. 1624, fol.

This ballad is given from a black letter copy in the Pepys Collection which is entitled as above. "To the tune of Fond boy."

Now as fame does report, a young duke keeps a court,
One that pleases his fancy with frolicksome sport :
But amongst all the rest, here is one I protest,

Which will make you to smile when you hear the true jest: poor tinker he found, lying drunk on the ground,

A

As secure in a sleep as if laid in a swound.

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The duke said to his men," William, Richard, and Ben,
Take him home to my palace, we'll sport with him then.”
O'er a horse he was laid, and with care soon convey'd
To the palace, altho' he was poorly arrai'd :
Then they stript off his cloaths, both his shirt, shoes, and
And they put him to bed for to take his repose.

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[hose,

Having pull'd off his shirt, which was all over durt,
They did give him clean holland, this was no great hurt :
On a bed of soft down, like a lord of renown,

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They did lay him to sleep the drink out of his crown.

In the morning, when day, then admiring he lay,

For to see the rich chamber, both gaudy and gay.

Now he lay something late, in his rich bed of state,
Till at last knights and squires they on him did wait;
And the chamberlain bare, then did likewise declare,
He desired to know what apparel he'd ware:
The poor tinker amaz'd, on the gentleman gaz'd,
And admired how he to this honour was rais'd.

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