appeared in "The
Ph[oe]nix Nest," 1593; it is also printed (in form of a dialogue) in
"England's Helicon," 1600, and Davison's "Poetical Rhapsody," 1602. It
is ascribed to Raleigh in a MS. list of Davison's. See Canon Hannah's
edition of Raleigh's poems.

_Page_ 93. "Oft have I mused."--This poem was printed in Davison's
"Poetical Rhapsody," 1602.

_Page_ 96. "Our country-swains in the morris-dance."--In Morley's
"Madrigals to Four Voices," 1594, there is a lively description of the
morris-dance:--

"Ho! who comes here with bag-piping and drumming?
O, 'tis I see the morris-dance a coming.
Come, ladies, out, O come, come quickly,
And see about how trim they dance and trickly:
Hey! there again: hark! how the bells they shake it!
Now _for our town_! once there, now for our town and take it:
Soft awhile, not away so fast, they melt them!
Piper be hang'd, knave! look, the dancers swelt them.
Out, there, stand out!--you come too far (I say) in--
There give the hobby-horse more room to play in!"

"I woo with tears and _ne'er the near_."--_Ne'er the near_ (a proverbial
expression) = Never the nigher.

_Page_ 107. "When they came home Sis _floted_ cream."--I suppose the
meaning is that Sis skimmed the cream from the milk. Halliwell (_Arch.
Dict._) gives "Flotten-milk. Same as Flet-mitte" and "flet-mitte" is a
north-country term for skimmed milk.

"Since first I saw."--This exquisite song is also found in "The Golden
Garland of Princely Delights," 1620.

_Page_ 114. "Sweet Love, my only treasure."--Printed in Davison's
"Poetical Rhapsody," 1602, where it is subscribed with the mysterious
initials "A. W."

_Page_ 115. "Sweet, stay awhile."--I suspect that this stanza does not
really belong to Donne's "Break of day;" it is not found in MS. copies
of Donne's poems, nor in any edition prior to that of 1669. Probably
Donne's verses were written as a companion-piece to the present poem.

_Page_ 120. "Yet merrily sings little Robin."--The loveliest of all
verses in praise of Robin Redbreast are in Chapman's "Tears of Peace,"
1609:--

"Whose face _the bird_ hid _that loves humans best,
That hath the bugle eyes and rosy breast,
And is the yellow autumn's nightingale_."

_Page_ 120. "The love of change."--This is the first stanza of a poem
which is printed entire (in six stanzas) in Davison's "Poetical
Rhapsody," 1602.

_Page_ 121. "The lowest trees have tops."--Printe