Cupid and my Campaspe play'd

Cupid and my Campaspe play'd

Original Text
[John Lyly,] Sixe court comedies (W. Stansby for E. Blount, 1632). STC 17088.
2At cards for kisses--Cupid paid:
3He stakes his quiver, bow and arrows,
4His mother's doves, and team of sparrows;
5Loses them too; then down he throws
6The coral of his lip, the rose
7Growing on's cheek (but none knows how);
8With these, the crystal of his brow,
9And then the dimple of his chin:
10All these did my Campaspe win.
11At last he set her both his eyes,
12She won, and Cupid blind did rise.
13      O Love! has she done this to thee?
14      What shall (alas!) become of me?

Notes

1] Most of the songs in Lyly's plays were first printed in the collected edition of 1632, Six Court Comedies, not in the earlier separate quarto editions. They were possibly composed only in the seventeenth century, long after Lyly's death, but they were peculiarly suited to the children's companies for whom Lyly wrote, the Chapel Children and the Children of Paul's, because they were thoroughly trained as choristers. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1632
RPO poem Editors
F. D. Hoeniger
RPO Edition
3RP 1.146.
Form