ond 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.

_3 Fairy._ When I feel a girl a-sleep,
Underneath her frock I peep,
There to sport, and there I play;
Then I bite her like a flea,
And about I skip."

Thomas Ravenscroft, compiler of the "Brief Discourse," won his spurs at
a very early age. He took his degree of Bachelor of Music before he had
reached his fifteenth year, as we learn from some commendatory verses
prefixed to the "Brief Discourse;"--

"Non vidit tria lustra puer, quin arte probatus,
Vita laudatus, sumpsit in arte gradum."

He was