XVI.

When younglings first on Cupid fix their sight,
And see him naked, blindfold, and a boy;
Tho' bow and shafts and firebrand be his might,
Yet ween they he can work them no annoy.
And therefore with his purple wings they play

For glorious seemeth Love, tho' light as feather;
And when they've done, they ween to scape away,
For blind men, say they, shoot they know not whither;
But when by proof they find that he did see,

And that his wound did rather dim their sight; They wonder more how such a lad as he

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Should be of such surprising power and might.

"The reason why Love was always painted young (as "Phornutus and others will) is because young men are "most apt to love; soft, fair and fat, because such folks are soonest taken; naked, because all true affection is simple and open: he smiles because merry and given to delights; hath a quiver to show his power; is blind, because he sees not where he strikes, &c.

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"Petrarch hath a tale of a young gallant that loved a "wench with one eye, and for that cause by his parents "was sent to travel into far countries: after some years he “returned, and meeting the maid, asked her how and by "what chance she lost her eye? no, said she, I have lost "none; but you have found yours; signifying thereby that "all lovers are blind.”—Burton's Anat. of Melancholy.

Shakspeare thus accounts for Cupid's blindness:
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
"And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind."

XVII.

The greedy Hawk with sudden sight of lure,
Doth stoop in hope to have her wished prey;
So many men do stoop to sights unsure,

And courteous speech doth keep them at the bay.
Let them beware lest friendly looks be like

The lure whereat the soaring Hawk doth strike.

A simile taken from the favourite sport of hawking. The lure was a figure in imitation of a fowl, made of feathers and leather, which the falconer threw into the air, all the while luring or enticing the hawk with his voice, in order to make it stoop and strike at its prey.

In Grange's Garden (Golden Aphroditis), A.D. 1577, are the following lines:

"With lure I play the Faulkner kind,

“I hallow and I whoop;

"I shake my fist, I whistle shrill,

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"But nought will make her stoop;

Whereby, tho' sore against my will,
"I find the proverb true,

"Unmanned Hawks forsake the lure,

"Which maketh me to rue."

Petruchio, in The Taming of the Shrew, is made to say, "My falcon (meaning Catherine) now is sharp and passing empty,

"And till she stoop, she must not be full gorged,

"For then she never looks upon her lure."-Act iv. Sc. i.

The expression to keep at bay more properly belongs to hunting. When deer after being hard run turn against the hounds, they are said to bay.

XVIII.

Compel the hawk to sit that is unmannd,

Or make the hound untaught, to draw the deer; Or bring the free against his will in band,

Or move the sad a pleasant tale to hear;

Your time is lost, and you are ne'er the near.
So Love nè learns by force the knot to knit,
He serves but those that feel sweet fancy's fit.

Legend of Jane Shore, by Thos. Churchyard, 1559.

An unmann'd hawk is one not sufficiently taught to endure company, and which for that reason will not sit quietly on the falconer's fist. In illustration of this I must again quote part of Petruchio's soliloquy as referred to above.

"Another way I have to man my haggard*

"To make her come, and know her keeper's call."

The waywardness of Love is thus well described by a Spanish writer, George of Montemayor, 1583. (Translated by Barth. Yong.)

"Love's not a thing, that any may procure it;

"Love's not a thing that may be bought for treasure; "Love's not a thing that comes when any lure it,

“Love's not a thing that may be found at pleasure.”

The phrase ne'er the near (i. e. never the nearer) occurs again in Nos. CXI. and CXXXI; also in Shakspeare's play of Richard the Second:

"Better far off than near, be ne'er the near.

The country-folks in Devonshire still say, ""Tis ne'er "the near" (meaning it is of no use) to do this or that.

* Vide No. X.

XIX.

Upon a summer's day, Love went to swim,

And cast himself into a sea of tears;

The clouds call'd in their light, and Heav'n wax'd dim, And sighs did raise a tempest causing fears.

The naked boy could not so wield his arms,

But that the waves were masters of his might; And threat'ned him to work far greater harms, If he devised not to 'scape by flight:

Then for a boat his quiver stood in stead,

His bow unbent did serve him for a mast; Whereby to sail his cloth of vail he spread,

His shafts for oars on either board he cast. From shipwreck safe the wag got thus to shore, And sware to bathe in lovers' tears no more.

XX.

A Dialogue between two Shepherds.
Who made thee, Hob, forsake the plough,
And fall in love?

Sweet beauty, which hath power to bow

The Gods above.

What dost thou serve? A shepherdess;
One such as hath no peer I guess.
What is her name, who bears thy heart

Within her breast?

Silvana fair of high desert,

Whom I love best.

O Hob, I fear she looks too high;

Yet love I must, or else I die!

This is like the style of Spenser, but I do not find it in his works.

XXI.

Love is a fit of pleasure,
Bred out of idle brains;

His fancies have no measure,

No more than have his pains:
His vain affections like the weather,
Precise or fond*, we wot not whether.

The last work by Byrd was published in the reign of James the First, and is entitled

"Psalmes, Songs, and Sonnets†, some solemne, others joy"full, framed to the life of the words, fit for voyces or viols, "of three, four, five, and six parts; composed by W. Byrd, one of the Gentlemen of his Majesties Honorable Chappell, 1611.-Printed by Thos. Snodham, the assigne of "W. Barley.

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"Dedication.

"To the Right Honorable Francis, Earle of Cumber"land, Baron Clifford, Lord Broomfleet, Atton, Vescio, "Vipont, and Lord of Westmorland,

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May it please Your Lordship,

"The natural inclination and love to the art of Musicke "wherein I have spent the better part of mine age, have "been so powerful in me, that even in my old years which Thirty-two in number.

* Steady or uncertain.