Page 184

John Fletcher. (1579–1625) (continued)

2092

I find the medicine worse than the malady. 1

Love’s Cure. Act iii. Sc. 2.

2093

He went away with a flea in ’s ear.

Love’s Cure. Act iii. Sc. 3.

2094

    There ’s naught in this life sweet,
If man were wise to see ’t,
    But only melancholy;
    O sweetest Melancholy! 2

The Nice Valour. Act iii. Sc. 3.

2095

Fountain heads and pathless groves,
Places which pale passion loves.

The Nice Valour. Act iii. Sc. 3.

2096

Drink to-day, and drown all sorrow;
You shall perhaps not do ’t to-morrow.

The Bloody Brother. Act ii. Sc. 2.

2097

And he that will to bed go sober
Falls with the leaf still in October. 3

The Bloody Brother. Act ii. Sc. 2.

2098

Three merry boys, and three merry boys,
And three merry boys are we, 4
As ever did sing in a hempen string
Under the gallows-tree.

The Bloody Brother. Act iii. Sc. 2.

2099

    Hide, oh, hide those hills of snow
  Which thy frozen bosom bears,
On whose tops the pinks that grow
  Are of those that April wears!
But first set my poor heart free,
Bound in those icy chains by thee. 5

The Bloody Brother. Act v. Sc. 2.

Note 1.
See Bacon, Quotation 16. [back]

Note 2.
Naught so sweet as melancholy.—Robert Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy. Author’s Abstract. [back]

Note 3.
The following well-known catch, or glee, is formed on this song:—

He who goes to bed, and goes to bed sober,
Falls as the leaves do, and dies in October;
But he who goes to bed, and goes to bed mellow,
Lives as he ought to do, and dies an honest fellow. [back]

Note 4.
Three merry men be we.—George Peele: Old Wives’ Tale, 1595. John Webster (quoted): Westward Hoe, 1607. [back]

Note 5.
See Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Quotation 30. [back]

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