Mastodawn

The glories of our blood and state
   Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate;
   Death lays his icy hand on kings:
         Scepter and crown
         Must tumble down,
And, in the dust, be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

James Shirley (1596–1666) English poet, playwright
Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for Achilles’s Armour, sc. 3, st. 1 (1659)

More about this quote: wist.info/shirley-james/82728/

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Shirley, James - Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for Achilles's Armour, sc. 3, st. 1 (1659) | WIST Quotations

The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings: Scepter and crown Must tumble down, And, in the dust, be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade. Sung by Calchas over the…

WIST Quotations

Tamsin Lewis Mar 15, 2024

William Lawes: What should my mistress do with hair.
A 17th Century setting of James Shirley's poem 'One that loved none but deformed Women', which may have been sung in his 1636 play, The Duke's Mistress.
Richard de Winter: tenor
Emily Atkinson: soprano
Peter Willcock: bass
Alison Kinder: bass viol
Richard Mackenzie: lute

Images:
Drexel 4041 f88
Quentin Matsys - A Grotesque old woman, 1513
[The image is too early for the song, but matches the sentiments expressed]

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