Page:Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age (1896).djvu/24

xx His second collection, "Two Books of Airs," is undated; but from an allusion to the death of Prince Henry we may conclude that it was published about 1613. The first book consists of "Divine and Moral Poems," and the second of "Light Conceits of Lovers." In dealing with sacred themes our English poets seldom do themselves justices; but Campion's devotional lyrics are never stiff or awkward or vapid. "Awake, awake! thou heavy sprite" by its impassioned fervour recalls Henry Vaughan. Among the moral poems are some delightful verses ("Jack and Joan they think no ill") in praise of a contented countryman and his good wife. A sweeter example of an old pastoral lyric could nowhere be found, not even in the pages of Nicolas Breton.

"The Third and Fourth Books of Air" are also undated, but they cannot have been published earlier than 1617. In this collection, where all is