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6 When day was set, and friends were met, I say not nay, but that alle day And married to be,

Lord Lauderdale came to the place, The bridal for to see.

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It is both wreten and said

That woman's feyth is, as who seyth,

Alle utturly decayde;

But neverthelesse right good witnes
In this case myght be layde,
That they love trew, and contenewe,—
Recorde the Nutbrown Mayde,
Which, whan her love cam her to prove,
To her to make his mone,
Wolde not departe, for in her hart
She loved but hym alone.

Than betwen us let us discusse
What was alle the manere
Between them two: we wille also
Telle alle the payn in fere
That she was in. Now I begyn,
So that ye me answere;
Wherfor alle ye that present be,
I pray you, geve an ere.

I am the knyght; I com by nyght,
As secrete as I can,

Saying, 'Alas! thus stondith the caas,
I am a banysshed man.'

1 all the while 2 then

3 their

20

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4 1-fere, together This poem is essentially a little drama, of which the first three stanzas constitute a kind of prologue and the last stanza an epilogue. In the first stanza one speaker propounds the general theme of the fickleness of womankind. In the second stanza, another speaker cites in refutation the story of the Nutbrown Mayde. Then the first speaker proposes that they two enact that story, and he begins by assuming the part of the man who pretended to be outlawed in order to "prove" the maid's love. The second speaker takes the part of the maid, and the dialogue continues regularly in alternate stanzas. It is readily seen that the poem, though for convenience grouped here with the ballads, is of a very different character from the folk-ballads proper, and a product of much more conscious art. Our text is that of the Balliol MS., with some very slight changes of spelling and the regular substitution of MAYDE for the more frequent marginal PUELLA of the manuscript.

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