Nicholas Breton

Nicholas Breton (also Britton or Brittaine; c. 1545/53 – c. 1625/6) was a poet and prose writer of the English Renaissance.

Quotes

• I wish my deadly foe, no worse
  Than want of friends, and empty purse.
  • "A Farewell to Town", st. 3, in The Works of a Young Wit (1577)

• In the merry month of May,
  In a morn by break of day,
  Forth I walk’d by the wood-side
  Whenas May was in his pride:
  There I spièd all alone
  Phillida and Coridon.
  • "Phillida and Corydon", ll. 1–6
  • Elvetham Entertainment (1591), England’s Helicon (1600), Este’s Madrigals (1604)

• Come little babe, come silly soul,
  Thy father’s shame, thy mother’s grief,
  Born as I doubt to all our dole,
  And to thyself unhappy chief:
    Sing lullaby, and lap it warm,
    Poor soul that thinks no creature harm.
  • "A Cradle Song", st. 1, in The Arbor of Amorous Devices (1597)

• We rise with the lark and go to bed with the lamb.
  • The Court and Country (1618), para. 8
  • Cf. John Lyly, Euphues and His England (1580):

    Go to bed with the lamb, and rise with the lark.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Nicholas Breton on Wikipedia