e tune the while_.

L. 20.

[To Cesario]--How dost thou like _this tune_?

_Viola._ _It gives a very echo_ to the seat
Where love is thron'd.

L. 43.

_Duke._ Mark it, Cesario; _it is old, and plain_;

[_Clown_ sings 'Come away, death.']

L. 67.

_Duke._ There's for thy pains.

_Clo._ _No pains, sir; I take pleasure in singing, sir._

_Duke._ I'll pay thy pleasure then.

'Light airs' in line 5 means 'vain fiddling jigs'--_i.e._, lively
instrumental music. Lines 20-22 and 43 are worth remembering for many
reasons.

The next and last passage requires no remark, except that 'organ pipe
of frailty' means simply the voice of the dying king.

_King John_ V, vii, 10. Death of K. John.

_Prince Henry._ Doth he still rage?

_Pembroke._ He is more patient
Than when you left him: _even now he sung_.

_P. Hen._ _O vanity of sickness!..._
... 'Tis _strange that death should sing_.
I am the _cygnet_ to this pale faint _swan_,
Who _chants a doleful hymn_ to his own death,
And, from the _organ-pipe of frailty_, sings
His soul and body to their lasting rest.

IV

SERENADES AND 'MUSIC'

The history of Serenades is as ancient as that of Songs. In the middle
of the 15th century, Sebastian Brant, a lawyer, wrote in Dutch his
'Stultifera Navis,' or 'Ship of Fools,' a severe satire on things in
general, and popular amusements in particular. The book was afterwards
translated into Latin, and thence into English. Here are some of the
verses that treat of Serenades in the year 1450.

'The furies fearful, sprong of the floudes of hell,
Bereft _these vagabonds_ in their minds, so
That by no meane can they abide ne dwell
Within their houses, but out they nede must go;
More wildly wandring then either bucke or doe.
Some with their _harpes_, another with their _lute_,
Another with his _bagpipe_, or a foolishe _flute_.

'Then measure they their _songes_ of melody
_Before the doores of their lemman deare_;
Howling with their foolishe songe and cry,
So that their lemman may their great folly heare:
'But yet moreover these fooles are so unwise,
That _in cold winter_ they use the same madness.
When all the houses are lade with snowe and yse,
O madmen amased, unstable, and witless!