Ye were betrayed: wherefore, good mayd, the best rede that I can,

Is, that I to the grene wode go, alone, a banyshed

man.

B.

Whatever befall, I never shall of this thyng you out

brayd:

But yf ye go, and leve me so, than have ye me betrayed.

Remember you wele howe that ye dele; for, yf ye be as ye fayd,

Ye were unkynde, to leue behynde, your love, the notbrowne mayd.

Truft me truly, that I fhall dy fone after ye be gone; For, in my mynde, of all mankynde I love but you alone.

A.

Yf that ye went, yè fholde repent; for in the foreft

nowe

I have purvayed me of a mayd, whom I love more than you;

Another fayrère than ever ye were, I dare it wele

avowe;

And of you bothe eche fholde be wrothe with other,

as I trowe:

It were myne efe, to lyve in pefe; fo wyll I, yf I

can;

Wherfore I to the grene wode go, alone, a ba

nyshed man.

R 2

B. Though

B.

Though in the wode I undyrftode ye had a para

mour,

All this may nought remove my thought, but that I will be your:

And she shall fynde me foft, and kynde, and cour teys every hour;

Glad to fulfyll all that the wyll commaunde me, to my power:

For had ye, lo, an hundred mo, yet wolde I be that

one;

For, in my mynde, of all mankynde I love but you alone.

A.

Myne own dere love, I fe the prove that ye be kynde,

and true;

Of mayde, and wyfe, in all my lyfe, the best that ever I knewe,

Be mery and glad, be no more fad, the cafe is chaunged newe;

For it were ruthe, that, for your truthe, ye fholde have caufe to rewe:

Be nat difmayed; whatfoever I fayed to you, whan I began,

I will nat to the grene wode go, I am no banyshed

man.

B. Thefe

B.

Thefe tydings be more gladder to me than to be

made a quene,

Yf I were fure they fholde endure but it is often

fene,

:

Whan men wyll breke promyfe, they fpeke the wordes on the fplene:

Ye shape fome wyle, me to begyle, and ftele from me, I wene:

Than were the cafe worse than it was, and I more wobegone;

For, in my mynde, of all mankynde I love but you

alone.

A.

Ye fhall nat nede further to drede; I will not dyf

parage

You (God defende !) fyth you defcend of so grete

lynage.

Nowe understande, to Weftmarlande, which is myne herytage,

I wyll you bringe; and with a rynge, by way of

maryage

I wyll you take, and lady make, as shortely as I

can:

Thus have ye won an erlys fon, and no banyshed

man.

R 3

Here

B.

Here may ye fe, that women be, in love, meke, kynde, and stable:

Late never man reprove them than,

But, rather, pray God, that we may to them be comfortable,

Which fometyme proved fuch as he loved, yf they be charytable.

Forfoth, men wolde that women fholde be meke to them eche one;

Moche more ought they to God obey, and ferve but hym alone.

HENRY

HENRY AND EMMA.

PO

A

E

M.

UPON THE MODEL OF THE NUT-BROWN MAID.

то CL OE,

THOU, to whofe eyes I bend, at whofe command

(Though low my voice, though artless be my hand)
I take the sprightly reed, and fing, and play;
Careless of what the cenfuring world may say:
Bright Cloe, object of my conftant vow,
Wilt thou a while unbend thy ferious brow;
Wilt thou with pleasure hear thy lover's ftrains,
And with one heavenly fmile o'erpay his pains?
No longer fhall the Nut-brown Maid be old;
Though fince her youth three hundred years have

roll'd:

At thy defire the shall again be rais'd;

And her reviving charms in lafting verfe be prais'd,
No longer man of woman fhall complain,
That he may love, and not be lov'd again:
That we in vain the fickle fex pursue,
Who change the conftant lover for the new,