Earth now is green and heaven is blue; Lively spring which makes all new, Iolly spring doth enter. Sweet young sunbeams do subdue Angry aged winter. Blasts are mild and seas are calm, Every meadow flows with balm, The earth wears all her riches, Harmonious birds sing such a psalm As ear and heart bewitches. Reserve (sweet spring) this nymph of ours, Eternal garlands of thy flowers, Green garlands never wasting; In her shall last our state’s fair spring, Now and forever flourishing, As long as heaven is lasting. _THE MARRIED STATE_ Wedlock, indeed, hath oft comparèd been To public feasts, where meet a public rout, Where they that are without would fain go in, And they that are within would fain go out. John Marston, both dramatist and divine, gives us this bit of humorous satire-- _THE SCHOLAR AND HIS DOG_ I was a scholar: seven useful springs Did I deflower in quotations Of cross’d opinions ’bout the soul of man; The more I learnt, the more I learnt to doubt. Delight my spaniel slept, whilst I baus’d leaves, Toss’d o’er the dunces, pored on the old print Of titled words: and still my spaniel slept. Whilst I wasted lamp-oil, baited my flesh, Shrunk up my veins: and still my spaniel slept. And still I held converse with Zabarell, Aquinas, Scotus, and the musty saw Of antick Donate: still my spaniel slept. Still on went I; first, _an sit anima_; Then, an it were mortal. Oh, hold, hold! at that They’re at brain buffets, fell by the ears amain Pell-mell together; still my spaniel slept. Then, whether ’t were corporeal, local, fixt, _Ex traduce_, but whether ’t had free will Or no, hot philosophers Stood banding factions, all so strongly propt, I stagger’d, knew not which was firmer part, But thought, quoted, read, observ’d, and pryed, Stufft noting-books: and still my spaniel slept. At length he wak’d, and yawned; and by yon sky, For aught I know he knew as much as I. Following the example of Jest Books and collections of Merry Tales, came the Anthologies. The most important of these was the _Miscellany_, which went through eight editions in thirty years, and is said to be the book of songs and sonnets that Master Slender missed so much. This book was first published in 1557 and was followed by many less worthy collections. In 1576 appeared _The Paradise of Dainty Devices_ which also ran through many editions. As a rule these collections were uninteresting and composed largely of dull and prosy numbers. Their chief charm lay in their titles, which were such as _A Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions_, _A Handful of Pleasant Delights_, and _A Bouquet of Dainty Conceits_.