Page:Shakespeare and Music.djvu/123

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SERENADES AND 'MUSIC'
109
Bru. It does, my boy.
I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing.

[Boy sings to lute.]
Bru. This is a sleepy tune: [Boy drops off]—O murderous slumber!
Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy,
That plays thee music?—Gentle knave, good night;
I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee.
If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument:
I'll take it from
thee; and, good boy, good night.—
[Ghost of Cæsar appears.]

L. 290.

Bru. Boy!—Lucius!—Varro! Claudius! sirs, awake!—Claudius!
Luc. [asleep]. The strings, my lord, are false.
Bru. He thinks he still is at his instrument.

In Henry VIII. 3/1 is a case of the same kind.

Queen Catherine. Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles:
Sing, and disperse them, if thou canst. Leave working.
[Song. 'Orpheus.']

The next passage brings us to another class of music—viz., dirges, funeral songs, or 'good-nights.' [See H. 4. B. 3/2, 322]. In Cymbeline 4/2, 184, Cadwal (Arviragus) sounds an 'ingenious instrument' to signify Imogen's death. Polydore (Guiderius) says