dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense; Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such As passing all conceit, needs no defence.
"Spenser (English Men of Letters Series)"
R. W. Church
dowland was born at Westminster in 1562. At the age of twenty, or thereabouts, he started on his travels; and, after rambling through "the chiefest parts of France, a nation furnished with great variety of music," he bent his course "towards the famous province of Germany," where he found "both excellent masters and most honourable patrons of music."
"Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age"
Various
"If the consideration of mine own estate," writes Eastland, "or the true worth of money, had prevailed with me above the desire of pleasing you and showing my love to my friends, these second labours of Master dowland-whose very name is a large preface of commendation to the book-had for ever lain hid in darkness, or at the least frozen in a cold and foreign country."
"Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age"
Various