I recently learned about another response to Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” that I did not find in my preliminary research (oh, so long ago it seems). 

Dr. James Reid-Baxter, Scottish Historian, informed me of a Scottish reply published in 1606 entitled “Alexis to Lesbia” by Alexander Craig of Rosecraig. Rosecraig, located in Banff, is an ancient port on the Moray Firth Coast. Craig published his “rich tribute” to quote the words of Dr. Reid-Baxter, to the ballad towards the end of “The amorose songes, sonets, and elegies: of M. Alexander Craige, Scoto-Britane,” printed at London, 1606 STC (2nd ed.) / 5956. This book is available on EEBO (Early English Books Online) database. As a subscription is required to access the database, I have the first page of the reply available for viewing here:

Alexis to Lesbia by Alexander Craige

The poem begins with familiar words: “Come be my Love, and live with me.” Below is some commentary on the work from Dr Reid-Baxter, posted here with his permission:

It is quite particularly interesting because Craig, who was trying to make a name as a court poet in London, actually sets his poem in Banff (without naming the town) by his reference to the river “Doveran” (now spelled Deveron) running into the sea, and much evocation of that element and the rocky coastline to the west of Banff. The poem’s various references to rocks are almost certainly a pun on Craig’s own surname (which is a variant of English “crag”). Also interesting is the fact that Craig uses the ballad as the first part of a whole dramatic sequence of addresses and replies–with the exception of the “sonnet to Lesbia”, these can all be sung to “the tune”, whatever that tune was in 1606. 

The tune may very well be Live with me and be my love! After speaking with Erik Bell, Music Specialist for EBBA and a contributor for this site, I have learned that all of the Alexis-Lesbia dialogue ballads can be sung to the Live with me and be my Love tune. We are doing some digging to see what else can be found about the tune.

While comparing this reply to the three versions of Marlowe’s ballad (published in The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599, in the England’s Helicon, 1600, and the Roxburghe Collection, 1619-1629?), I was surprised at the length of “Alexis to Lesbia” (1606)! It has 14 stanzas, more than twice the amount of all three versions of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” It is also the only one of the Alexis-Lesbia dialogue ballads that is in the same stanza format as Marlowe’s ballad. It’s rhyme scheme is also AA BB, the same as “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” However, “Alexis to Lesbia” does not feature a refrain at the end of each stanza. Another response in the Alexis-Lesbia dialogue ballads collection, “A Letter to Lesbia, showing his discontent,” evokes again the Marlowe ballad lines: “Oft have I pray’d thee be my Love,/Come live with me, and thou shalt prove.” 

You can read more about Alexander Craig of Rosecraig through the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (subscription required).

When I add information to the website or write these blog posts, I try to use as many digital and online accessible sources. The sad truth is there aren’t that many about this work. Those that I have found require subscriptions to databases.