In an old Elizabethan play there is reference to lunary or moonwort as a contributory factor in amatory thoughts: I have heard of an herb called Lunary that being bound to the pulse of the sick causes nothing but dreams of weddings and dances. * * * * * In _Endymion_, a drama by the Elizabethan playwright John Lyly (c. 1554–c. 1606), Endymion soliloquizes: As ebony, which no fire can scorch, is yet consumed with sweet savors, so my heart which cannot be bent by the hardness of fortune, may be bruised by amorous desires. * * * * * In the drama _The Old Wives Tale_, by George Peele, the Elizabethan playwright, Frolic and Fantastic sing an erotic chant: Whenas the rye reach to the chin, And chopcherry, chopcherry ripe within, Strawberries swimming in the cream, And school-boys playing in the stream; Then, O then, O then, O my true-love said, Till that time come again She could not live a maid. * * * * * In _Endymion_, the Elizabethan drama by John Lyly, Sir Tophas describes a desirable woman: Sir Tophas: I love no grissels; they are so brittle they will crack like glass, or so dainty that if they be touched they are straight of the fashion of wax: animus maioribus instat. I desire old matrons. What a sight would it be to embrace one whose hair were as orient as the pearl, whose teeth shall be so pure a watchet that they shall stain the truest turquoise, whose nose shall throw more beams from it than the fiery carbuncle, whose eyes shall be environ’d about with redness exceeding the deepest coral, and whose lips might compare with silver for the paleness! Such a one if you can help me to, I will by piecemeal curtail my affections towards Dipsas, and walk my swelling thoughts till they be cold. * * * * * In _Philaster_, a drama by Francis Beaumont (1584–1616) and John Fletcher (1579–1625), Megra, a Lascivious Lady, is thus described: Dion: Faith, I think she is one whom the state keeps for the agents of our confederate princes; she’ll cog and lie with a whole army, before the league shall break. Her name is common through the kingdom, and the trophies of her dishonor advanced beyond Hercules’ Pillars. She loves to try the several constitutions of men’s bodies; and, indeed, has destroyed the worth of her own body by making experiment upon it for the good of the commonwealth. * * * * * In _Endymion_, John Lyly’s drama, Epiton and Sir Tophas have a verbal bout on love: Epiton: Sir, will you give over wars and play with that bauble called love?