how noble a thing it was for the conqueror of the world to prefer the toils of sovereignty to the delights of love. Alexander, after taking Thebes, becomes enamoured of his captive, the beautiful Campaspe. He makes Apelles paint her portrait; and Apelles loves her with a warmth that conquers in her soul the love of Alexander. The king, discovering their mutual passion, generously betroths the lady to the painter, consoles himself with Hephaestion's friendship, and marches off with drum and fife to subdue Asia. The moral must have been consoling to Elizabeth, who always faltered between passion and her crown. This comedy, though it is nothing but a dramatised anecdote, is, I think, the best of Lyly's. He has caught something of Plutarch's spirit, sympathising, as the English of that age could do, with the martial greatness of Alexander, the audacity of Alcibiades, the strong resolves of Epameinondas or Timoleon. In the dialogues between Alexander and Diogenes, Lyly was able to bring his own fencing style into appropriate play. Careless, as usual, of Greek local colouring, these combats of wit express the well-known episode with terse and vivid fancy. There is something akin to Shakspere's 'Timon' in the following: Diog. Who calleth? Alex. Alexander; how happened it that you would not come out of your tub to my palace? D. Because it was as far from my tub to your palace, as from your palace to my tub. A. Why then, dost thou owe no reverence to kings? D. No. A. Why so? D. Because they be no gods. 'ALEXANDER AND CAMPASPE 527 D. Yea, gods of earth. A. Plato is not of thy mind. D. I am glad of it. A. Why? D. Because I would have none of Diogenes' mind but Diogenes. A. If Alexander have anything that may pleasure Diogenes, let me know, and take it. D. Then take not from me that you cannot give me, the light of the world. A. What dost thou want? D. Nothing that you have. A. I have the world at command. D. And I in contempt. A. Thou shalt live no longer than I will. D. But I shall die whether you will or not. A. How should one learn to be content? D. Unlearn to covet. A. Hephæstion! Were I not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes. Between Apelles and Campaspe there is a pretty conceited dialogue on love. Apelles is showing the pictures in his studio: Camp. What counterfeit is this, Apelles? C. What, be there also loving goddesses? A. This is she that hath power to command the very affections of the heart. C. How is she hired-by prayer, by sacrifice, or bribes? A. By prayer, sacrifice, and bribes. C. What prayer? A. Vows irrevocable. C. What sacrifice? A. Hearts ever sighing, never dissembling. C. What bribes? A. Roses and kisses; but were you never in love? C. No, nor love in me. A. Then have you injured many. C. How so? A. Because you have been loved of many. C. Flattered perchance of some. A. It is not possible that a face so fair and a wit so sharp, both without comparison, should not be apt to love. C. If you begin to tip your tongue with cunning, I pray you dip your pencil in colours; and fall to that you must do, not to that you would do. The lyrics in the play are also among Lyly's best. Apelles' song, Cupid and my Campaspe played,' is too well known to need a word of commendation. But this upon the notes of birds deserves to be recovered from the somewhat tedious scene in which it lies embedded : ་ What bird so sings, yet so does wail? Brave prick-song! Who is 't now we hear? The morn not waking till she sings ! Cuckoo, to welcome in the spring! IX. Gallathea' deserves to be classed with its author's complimentary Court Comedies. The scene is laid in Lincolnshire. The plot turns upon the yearly sacrifice of a virgin to the sea-monster Agar, in whom we may discern the Ægir, or great wave of the river Humber. Diana and her nymphs, Neptune and Venus, Tityrus and Melibœus, with augurs, alchemists, and English clowns, make up the motley list of personages. To discuss this play in detail would be 6 'GALLATHEA, LOVE'S METAMORPHOSIS? 529 superfluous. But I cannot refrain from calling attention to the pretty underplot of Phyllida and Gallathea, two girls disguised in male attire. Each thinks the other is what she pretends to be, and falls in love with her companion as a boy. The double confusion is sustained with art and delicacy, considering the difficulty of the motive; and occasion is given for a succession of dialogues in Lyly's quaintest style.1 His peculiar charm of treatment might also be illustrated by the scene in which Diana catches Cupid, cuts his wings, burns his arrows, and exposes him bound to the resentment of her nymphs.2 In clear simplicity and perfect outline, this picture resembles an intaglio cut to illustrate some passage of Anacreon. The proclamation to the nymphs, who have been hurt by Cupid, is written in three graceful lyric stanzas, sung by solo voices and chorus: 3 O yes! O yes! has any lost A heart which many a sigh hath cost? Is any cozened of a tear, Which, as a pearl, disdain doth wear? Here stands the thief! let her but come The sentiment of virginity, which forms the moral element in 'Gallathea,' refers to Elizabeth; and the same motive is worked up in 'Love's Metamorphosis.' Cupid again runs wild, and makes mischief among the nymphs of Ceres. Ceres in this play assumes the same attitude as Diana in the former. The pastoral subject once more furnishes the author with subjects for idyllically classical episodes. Among these, the 1 Act ii. sc. I, iii. 2, iv. 4, v. 3. 3 Act iv. sc. 2. 2 Act iii. sc. 4. scene of the nymphs adorning a rustic altar on their harvest holyday might be chosen for quotation.1 Ben Jonson deigned to imitate it in Pan's Anniversary,' as in his Hue and Cry after Cupid' he borrowed the motive of Diana's proclamation from Gallathea.' ་ Two Comedies by Lyly remain to be briefly mentioned. One, called Mother Bombie,' is a tedious love-farce representing English manners. It scarcely deserves to be remembered, but for a pretty song introduced by way of a duet: O Cupid! Monarch over kings! When thou wouldst wound a tender heart? It is all one in Venus' wanton school Who highest sits, the wise man or the fool! Have far more knowledge To read a woman over, Than a neat prating lover. Nay, 't is confessed That fools please women best ! The Woman in the Moon' was Lyly's first dramatic essay, as we read in the Prologue: Remember all is but a poet's dream, The first he had in Phoebus' holy bower, Unlike his other Comedies, it is written throughout in blank verse, and is free from euphuistic mannerism. These peculiarities induce a doubt as to whether it was really Lyly's composition. But since the play 1 Act i. sc. 2. |
