The shepherd answer'd then with a deep sighing, All full of sweetness and of sorrow mixed; On thee, dainty dear life, my heart is fixed. With that the gentle Nymph, all sweetly smiling, With soft words of delight and flatt'ring gloses, Full kindly kiss'd his cheek with lips of roses. Music by Giov. Ferretti, 1580. Morley's Madrigal "Within an arbour," or Beside a fountain as it is originally printed, appears to be from the same original with this, of which I am only able to give the first words, "In un boschetto." Except rage and disdain come to recure love: My lady gives disgrace for well deserving, And in my flame sans measure, Takes her disport and pleasure; Unless some frost assuage this heat, and cure love; "S' al mio scampo non vien sdegno e furore; "Poiche Madonn' alla mia vera fede, "Solo de finto amor vuol dar mercede, "E perche del mio fuoco "Prende solazzo e gioco: "Se qualche gel non tempra tant' ardore, The determined will in the first line reminds one of the difference between shall and will as exemplified in the wellknown exclamation of the drowning man, "I will be drowned, and nobody shall save me.” 66 XXXVIII. Zephyrus brings the time that sweetly scenteth, Flora her garlands red and white compileth. Music by Gir. Converso, and A. Ferabosco, 1580. A translation of the following sonnet of Petrarch: "E i fiori e l'herbe sua dolce famiglia; "Giove s'allegra di mirar sua figlia : "L'aura, l'acqu' e la terra è d'amor piena, Dr. Nott, in his edition of the Earl of Surrey's works, thinks that Petrarch in the above sonnet speaks the language of pedantry rather than of nature, when he talks of Progne chattering and Philomela weeping. He (Dr. N.) infinitely prefers a stanza of his noble author on the same subject. "The sweet season that bud and bloom forth brings, "With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale: "The nightingale with feather new she sings, "The turtle to her mate hath told her tale." Another translation of this Madrigal is adapted to the Music of Luca Marenzio, and will be found in Watson's collection. XXXIX. I was full near my fall, and hardly 'scaped, What death it is, to live by love surprised. The secret snare and deadly bush enlimed, Quick to the Heav'n doth mount with song and pleasure: Trains of false looks and faithless words defying, Mounting the hill so hard for to be climbed, I sing for joy of liberty the treasure. Music by A. Ferabosco, 1580. One of the sports of fowling in former days was to catch the feathery tribe with birdlime smeared over ears of corn or small twigs, and is thus described in "The Gentleman's "Recreation," published about 1674: "Having got your "limed straws ready, go into the field adjacent to your "house, and carry a bag of chaff and thresht ears, and "scatter these together twenty yards wide; (it is best in a * i. e. If my reason had delayed to rule, &c. "snow,) then take the limed ears, and stick them up and "down with the ears leaning, or at the end touching the 66 ground; then retire from the place, and traverse the "grounds all round about; the birds hereupon being dis"turbed in their other haunts fly hither, and pecking at "the ears of corn, finding that they stick upon them, they straightway mount up from the earth, and in their flight "the bird-limed straws lap under their wings, and falling are not able to disengage themselves from the straws, and so are certainly taken." 66 66 66 I have not met with the Italian original of this Madrigal; the first words are "Fui vicino al cader." MUSICA TRANSALPINA. BOOK II. "The Second Book of Madrigalles*, to five and six voices, "translated out of sundry Italian authors, and newly pub"lished by Nicholas Yonge. At London, printed by "Thomas Este, 1597. "To the Right Worshipful and true lover of Musicke, "Sir Henry Lennard, Knight. "No one science draweth nearer to the essence of God "than this of Musicke; for as God is altogether unity, so "is musicke proportionably an harmonical unity. No man "favours men of that quality beyond yourself: to no man am "I more deeply beholden than to your good self. Lo then, " in all these respects, and without all further ceremony, I "here present to your good judgment this second book of "Musica Transalpina, which (as well upon the gracious acceptance of my first one) as also the encouragement of 'sundry civil gentlemen and merchants of good sort, I have * Twenty-four in Number. 66 66 D 66 66 carefully culled out of the compositions of the best au"thors in Italy. Perhaps they speak not English so well as they sing Italian, and alas! how could they, being as "yet but late sojourners in England? Howbeit I humbly "desire yourself principally, and in your name, all others "for whose delight they were intended; to supply their de"fects with friendly interpretation. And so, humbly bow"ing myself, I rest, at your devotion wholly and ever. "NICHOLAS YONGE." Although there is nothing in the above dedication to show that the Madrigals in this book were translated by the same individual who furnished those contained in Mr. Yonge's first work, such is most probably the case. The style of versification at all events is very similar. XL. The white delightsome swan sweet singing dieth; And I lamenting Feel both sense and life relenting. Strange and unlike proceeding, that he should die distressed, And I die most blessed. Death which in all thy wronging Fill'st me with gladness, and with sweet love longing; If in thy pangs no greater grief do seize me, A thousand deaths a day would not displease me. Music by Orazio Vecchi, 1580. XLI. So far, dear life, from thy bright beams absented, In grief I live tormented; |