PART 2

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ANTIDOTE AGAINST MELANCHOLY. 1661.

_Gratiano._—“Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio,— I love thee, and it is my love that speaks;— There are a sort of men, whose visages Do cream and mantle like a standing pond, And do a wilful stillness entertain, With purpose to be dress’d in an opinion Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit; As who should say, ‘I am Sir Oracle, And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!’”

(_Merchant of Venice_, Act i. sc. 1.)

We have already, in a brief Introduction, (pp. 105-110), explained our reason for adding all that was necessary to complete this work; a large portion having been anticipated in _Merry Drollery_ of the same year, 1661. In the Postscript (pp. 161-165), we endeavoured to trace the authorship of the entire collection; leaving to these following notes, and those attached to _M. Drollery, Compleat_, the search for separate poems or songs. Also, on pp. 166-175, we traced the history of “Arthur o’ Bradley,” delaying the important song of his Wedding (from an original of the date 1656), unto