s well
as structure. Afterwards, during a five-years service in the war of
Flanders, he found leisure for much serious thought; and discarding the
levities of his early years, he composed by way of expiation a moral
satire in blank verse called the Steel Glass, and several religious
pieces. Notwithstanding however this newly assumed seriousness, he
attended her majesty in her progress in the summer of 1575, and composed
a large number of courtly verses as a contribution to "the princely
pleasures of Kennelworth." Gascoigne died in October 1577. Of his minor
poems the following may be cited as a pleasing specimen.

THE LULLABY OF A LOVER.

Sing lullaby as women do,
Wherewith they bring their babes to rest,
And lullaby can I sing too
As womanly as can the best.
With lullaby they still the child;
And if I be not much beguil'd,
Full many wanton babes have I,
Which must be still'd with lullaby.

First lullaby my youthful years.
It is now time to go to bed,
For crooked age and hoary years
Have won the haven within my head:
With lullaby then youth be still,
With lullaby content thy will,
Since courage quails and comes behind,
Go sleep and so beguile thy mind.

Next lullaby my gazing eyes,
Which wonted were to glaunce apace;
For every glass may now suffice
To shew the furrows in my face.
With lullaby then wink awhile,
With lullaby your looks beguile:
Let no fair face or beauty bright
Entice you eft with vain delight.

And lullaby my wanton will,
Let reason's rule now reign thy thought,
Since all too late I find by skill,
How dear I have thy fancies bought:
With lullaby now take thine ease,
With lullaby thy doubts appease;
For trust to this, if thou be still,
My body shall obey thy will.

Thus lullaby my youth, mine eyes,
My will, my ware, and all that was,
I can no mo delays devise,
But welcome pain, let pleasure pass:
With lullaby now take your leave,
With lullaby your dreams deceive,
And when you rise with waking eye,
Remember then this lullaby.

Respecting another poet of greater popularity than Gascoigne, and of a
more original turn of genius, Warner, the author of Albion's England,
Puttenham has preserved a discreet silence; for his great work had been
prohibited by the capricious tyranny, or rigid decorum, of archbishop
Whitgift, and se