Take you example by this thing, And yield to each his right, Lest God with such like miserye Your wicked minds requite.

66

SPANISH LADY'S LOVE.

T was a tradition in the west of England, that the person admired by the Spanish Lady was a gentleman of the Popham family, and that her picture with the pearl necklace mentioned in the ballad, was not many years ago preserved at Littlecot, near Hungerford, Wilts, the seat of that respectable family.

"Another tradition hath pointed out Sir Richard Levison, of Trentham, in Staffordshire, as the subject of this ballad; who married Margaret daughter of Charles Earl of Nottingham; and was eminently distinguished as a naval officer and commander in all the expeditions against the Spaniards in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, particularly in that to Cadiz in 1594, when he was aged twenty-seven. He died in 1605, and has a monument, with his effigy in brass, in Wolverhampton Church." Percy.

245 245 245 24S

245 25 25 25 25

THE SPANISH LADY'S LOVE.

ILL you hear a Spanish Lady,

WILL

How shee wooed an English man?

Garments gay as rich as may be

Decked with jewels she had on,

Of a comely countenance and grace was she,
And by birth and parentage of high degree.

As his prisoner there he kept her,
In his hands her life did lye;
Cupid's bands did tye them faster
By the liking of an eye

In his courteous company was all her joy,
To favour him in any thing she was not coy.

But at last there came commandment
For to set the ladies free,
With their jewels still adorned,

None to do them injury.

Then said this lady mild, Full woe is me;
O let me still sustain this kind captivity!

Gallant captain, shew some pity
To a ladye in distresse

Leave me not within this city,

For to dye in heavinesse :

Thou hast set this present day my body free, But my heart in prison still remains with thee.

"How should'st thou, fair lady, love me,
Whom thou know'st thy country's foe?
Thy fair wordes make me suspect thee:
Serpents lie where flowers grow.”

All the harm I wishe to thee, most courteous
knight,

God

grant the same upon my head may fully light.

Blessed be the time and season,

That you came on Spanish ground;
If our foes you may be termed,

Gentle foes we have you found :

With our city, you have won our hearts eche one, Then to your country bear away, that is your owne.

"Rest you still, most gallant lady;
Rest you still, and weep no more;
Of fair lovers there is plenty,

Spain doth yield a wonderous store." Spaniards fraught with jealousy we often find, But Englishmen through all the world are counted kind.

Leave me not unto a Spaniard,
You alone enjoy my heart;
I am lovely, young, and tender,

Love is likewise my desert;

Still to serve thee day and night my mind is prest;

The wife of every Englishman is counted blest.

"It wold be a shame, fair lady,

For to bear a woman hence;
English soldiers never carry
Any such without offence."

I'll quickly change myself, if it be so,
And like a page Ile follow thee, where'er thou go.

"I have neither gold nor silver
To maintain thee in this case,
And to travel is great charges,

As you know in every place."

My chains and jewels every one shal be thy own, And eke five hundred pounds in gold that lies

unknown.

"On the seas are many dangers,
Many storms do there arise,
Which wil be to ladies dreadful,

And force tears from watery eyes."

Well in troth I shall endure extremity,
For I could find in heart to lose my life for thee.

"Courteous ladye, leave this fancy,
Here comes all that breeds the strife;
I in England have already

A sweet woman to my wife:

I will not falsify my vow for gold nor gain,
Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in
Spain."

So in the MS. 10,000l. P. C.