Welcome, fair queen of May:
Sing sweet air,
Welcome fair;
Welcome be the Shepherd's queen,
The glory of all our green."

Whether it was that Dowland's music was not attractive
enough when not played by himself--for the sweetness of his
luting became proverbial, as we know by Barnefield's sonnet, ¹
his song-books were, according to their publisher, not a success
altogether in the market. In the book which gave the publisher
an opportunity to confess as much, issued in 1600, Dowland's
Second Book, there is a delightful song, often attributed to
Campion--

"Fine knacks for ladies, cheap, choice, brave and new
Good pennyworths; but money cannot move
I keep a fair but for the fair to view;
A beggar may be liberal of love.
Though all my wares be trash, the heart is true--
The heart is true."

Whether his or no, it is admirable for its impulsive melody,
its brave singing lines, open accents, and at the end its iteration
to enforce the cadence. Its use of alliteration, running to the
limit that song permits, is notable. Its play upon words
shows how much the words counted in singing at this time.
So the two melodies, tonic and verbal, were considered; and
the result was an organic thing; a piece of life, a work of
art.

There is another lyric, from the same book, in its way incom-
parable for its poetic grace and the musical accord of word,
rhyme, and idea, which must be Campion's--

"I saw my lady weep,
And sorrow proud to be advanc'd so
In those fair eyes where all perfections keep.
Her face was full of woe,
But such a woe (believe me) as wins more hearts
Than mirth can do with her enticing parts.

-167-