108
SHAKESPEARE AND MUSIC
'concerted' music, and the players seem to be performing such a quaint old piece as 'The Lord of Salisbury his Pavin,' by Gibbons, in Parthenia, the last 'strain' of which has just such a 'dying fall' as is mentioned in line 4. [See the remarks on the passage from Lucrece in Section I. on the technical meaning of 'strain.']
Twelfth Night 11.
| Duke. | If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.— That strain again! it had a dying fall: O! it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour.—Enough! no more: 'Tis not so sweet now, as it was before. |
Brutus' musical establishment is on a smaller scale than the Duke's. He keeps a 'good boy,' who can sing to his own accompaniment on the lute, and is such a willing servant as to perform when almost overcome by sleep.
Julius Cæsar 43, 256. Brutus and his servant Lucius.
| Bru. | Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful. Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile, And touch thy instrument a strain or two? |
| Luc. | Ay, my lord, an't please you. |
