In Morley's "Canzonets to three Voices," 1593, we have the following pleasant description of the preparations for a country wedding:-- "Arise, get up, my dear, make haste, begone thee: Lo! where the bride, fair Daphne, tarries on thee. Hark! O hark! yon merry maidens squealing Spice-cakes, sops-in-wine are a-dealing. Run, then run apace And get a bride-lace And gilt rosemary branch the while there yet is catching And then hold fast for fear of old snatching. Alas! my dear, why weep ye? O fear not that, dear love, the next day keep we. List, yon minstrels! hark how fine they firk it, And how the maidens jerk it! With Kate and Will, Tom and Gill, Now a skip, Then a trip, Finely fet aloft, There again as oft; Hey ho! blessed holiday! All for Daphne's wedding day!" _Page_ 9. John Wilbye is styled by Oliphant "the first of madrigal writers." He published his "First Set of English Madrigals" in 1598, and his "Second Set" in 1609. The Second Set was dedicated to the unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart. The composer concludes his dedicatory epistle with the prayer, "I beseech the Almighty to make you in all the passages of your life truly happy, as you are in the world's true opinion, virtuous." In the very year when the epistle was written the gifted patroness of art and learning was accused before the Privy Council and ordered to be kept in close confinement. She made her escape, but after a few hours was captured at sea in her flight to Dunkirk, brought back to London, and committed to the Tower, where she died of a broken heart in 1615. It is pleasant to think that the song-book dedicated to her honour may have cheered her in the long hours of solitude. The collection consists chiefly of love-lyrics; but such verses as "Happy, O happy he," &c. (p. 37) and "Draw on, sweet Night" (p. 21), must have been carefully cherished by the poor captive. _Page_ 9. "April is in my mistress' face."--Compare Robert Greene's verses in "Perimedes, the Blacksmith," 1588:-- "Fair is my love, for April in her face, Her lovely breasts September claims his part, And lordly July in her eyes takes place: But cold December dwelleth in her heart: Blest be the months that set my thoughts on fire, Accurs'd that month that hindereth my desire!" _Page_ 11. "The Urchins' Dance" is from the anonymous play "The Maid's Metamorphosis," 1600. In the same play are the following dainty verses;-- "_1 Fairy._ I do come about the copse Leaping upon flowers' tops; Then I get upon a fly, She carries me above the sky, And trip and go! _2 Fairy._ When a dew-drop falleth down And doth light upon my crown, Then I shake my head and skip And about I trip.