''Patient Grissel'' is a play by Thomas Dekker,

Henry Chettle Henry Chettle (c. 1564 – c. 1606) was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer of the Elizabethan era, best known for his pamphleteering. Early life The son of Robert Chettle, a London dyer, he was apprenticed in 1577 and became a me ...

, and William Haughton, first printed in 1603. It is mentioned in Henslowe's diary in the entry for December 1599. The plot is a variant of the medieval tale of

Patient Griselda Griselda (anglicised to Grizzel and similar forms) is a figure in European folklore noted for her patience and obedience. In literature In the most famous version of the Griselda tale, written by Giovanni Boccaccio , Griselda marries Gualt ...

, as told in

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's ''

Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''magnum opus' ...

'' and

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so we ...

's ''

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...

''. The play contains Dekker's poem "Golden Slumbers" (which was adapted by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

for the song of the same title on

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' ''

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although ''Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly re ...

'' album):

:Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, :Smiles awake you when you rise. :Sleep, pretty wantons; do not cry, :And I will sing a lullaby: :Rock them, rock them, lullaby. :Care is heavy, therefore sleep you; :You are care, and care must keep you; :Sleep, pretty wantons; do not cry, :And I will sing a lullaby: :Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

References

1590s plays Plays by Thomas Dekker (writer) {{16thC-play-stub