Page:Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age (1896).djvu/13

Rh From the same song-book I have taken the graceful and playful dialogue—"Open the door! Who's there within?"—between an eager wooer and a discreet maid; and other dainty little songs.

A large and important collection of early MS. music-books is preserved in the library of Christ Church, Oxford. Here I found the fine verses beginning, "Yet if his Majesty our sovereign lord." The detailed description of the preparations made by a loyal subject for the entertainment of his "earthly king" is singularly impressive. Few could have dealt with common household objects—tables and chairs and candles and the rest—in so dignified a spirit. Our poet has triumphed over the difficulties:—

"'Set me fine Spanish tables in the hall,    See they be fitted all;     Let there be room to eat,     And order taken that there want no meat.     See every sconce and candlestick make bright,     That without tapers they may give a light.     Look to the presence: are the carpets spread,     The dais o'er the head,     The cushions in the chairs,     And all the candles lighted on the stairs?     Perfume the chamber, and in any case     Let each man give attendance in his place.'"

It would be hard to improve on that description. Then the contrast between the preparations made