Note 201 — THE CITY GALLANT.
Reading edition
Reed observes: "A parody on a line from 'The Spanish Tragedy'—
"'O eyes! no eyes; but fountains fraught with tears,'"
on which Mr Collier writes: "If a parody be intended, it is not a very close one. The probability is, that the line is quoted by Rash from some popular poem of the day."
It would be just as reasonable to call the following opening of a sonnet by Sir P. Sidney a parody upon a line in the "Spanish Tragedy"—
"O tears! no tears; but rain from beauty's skies."
In fact, it was a common mode of expression at the time. Thus in "Albumazar," we have this exclamation—
"O lips! no lips; but leaves besmeared with dew."