And so to England came with speed,
To repossesse king Leir
And drive his daughters from their thrones
By his Cordelia dear.
Where she, true-hearted noble queen,
Was in the battel slain;
Yet he, good king, in his old days,
Possest his crown again.
But when he heard Cordelia's death,
Who died indeed for love
Of her dear father, in whose cause
She did this battle move;
He swooning fell upon her breast,
From whence he never parted:
But on her bosom left his life,
That was so truly hearted.
The lords and nobles when they saw
The end of these events,
The other sisters unto death
They doomed by consents;
And being dead, their crowns they left
Unto the next of kin:
Thus have you seen the fall of pride,
And disobedient sin.
NOTES
- Mrs. Lennox,Shakspeare Illustrated, vol. iii. p. 302.
- See Jeffery of Monmouth, Holingshed, &c. who relate Leir's History in many
respects the same as the ballad.
XVI. Youth And Age. ................................................................................................
This song is found in the little collection of Shakspeare's Sonnets, intitledThe
Passionate Pilgrime,[1] the greatest part of which seems to relate to the amours of
Venus and Adonis, being little effusions of fancy, probably written while he was
composing his larger poem on that subject. The following seems intended for the
mouth of Venus, weighing the comparative merits of youthful Adonis and aged
Vulcan. In theGarland of Good-Willit is reprinted, with the addition of four more
such stanzas, but evidently written by a meaner pen.
CRABBED Age and Youth
Cannot live together;
Youth is full of pleasance,
Age is full of care:
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather,
Youth like summer brave,
Age like winter bare: