LXVII

PERIGOT AND WILLY'S ROUNDELAY

PERIGOT. It fell upon a holy eve,

WILLY. (Hey ho, holiday !)

PER. When holy fathers wont to shrive,
WILL. (Now 'ginneth this roundelay),
PER. Sitting upon a hill so high,
WILL. (Hey ho, the high hill!)

PER. The while my flock did feed thereby, WILL. The while the shepherd's self did spill;

PER. I saw the bouncing Bellibone,
WILL. (Hey ho, Bonnibell!)

PER. Tripping over the dale alone;
WILL. (She can trip it very well :)
PER. Well deckèd in a frock of gray,
WILL. (Hey ho, gray is greet!1)
PER. And in a kirtle of green say;2
WILL.
(The green is for maidens meet.)

PER. A chaplet on her head she wore,
(Hey ho, the chaplet !)

WILL.

PER. Of sweet violets therein was store, WILL.

-She sweeter than the violet.

PER. My sheep did leave their wonted food, WILL. (Hey ho, silly sheep!)

PER. And gazed on her as they were wood,3 WILL. -Wood as he that did them keep.

1 Weeping.

8

2 Soie, silk. Wild, distraught.

PERIGOT AND WILLY'S ROUNDELAY 65

PER. As the bonny lass pass'd by,
WILL. (Hey ho, bonny lass!)

PER. She roved at me with glancing eye,
WILL. As clear as the crystal glass:
PER. All as the sunny beam so bright,
WILL. (Hey ho, the sunbeam !)

PER. Glanceth from Phœbus' face forth-right, WILL. So love into my heart did stream.

PER. The glance into my heart did glide,
(Hey ho, the glider!)

| WILL.

PER. Therewith my soul was sharply gride;' WILL. Such wounds soon waxen wider.

PER. Hasting to wraunch the arrow out, WILL. (Hey ho, Perigot!)

PER. I left the head in my

heart-root.

WILL. It was a desperate shot.

PER. There it rankleth aye more and more,

WILL. (Hey ho, the arrow !)

PER. Nor can I find salve for my sore:
WILL. (Love is a cureless sorrow.)
PER. And if for graceless grief I die-
WILL. (Hey ho, graceless grief!)
PER. Witness, she slew me with her
WILL. Let thy folly be the prief.2

eye.

PER. And you that saw it, simple sheep-
WILL. (Hey ho, the fair flock!)

PER. For prief thereof my death shall weep
And moan with many a mock.

WILL.

PER. So learn'd I love on a holy eve―

WILL. (Hey-ho, holy day!)

PER. That ever since my heart did grieve: WILL. Now endeth our roundelay.

Spenser.

LXVIII

A ROUNDELAY

BETWEEN TWO SHEPHERDS

TELL me, thou skilful shepherd swain,
Who's yonder in the valley set?
O, it is she, whose sweets do stain
The lily, rose, the violet!

Why doth the sun against his kind
Stay his bright chariot in the skies?

He pauseth, almost stricken blind

With gazing on her heavenly eyes.

Why do thy flocks forbear their food, Which sometime was their chief delight?

Because they need no other good

That live in presence of her sight.

How come these flowers to flourish still,
Not with'ring with sharp Winter's breath?

She hath robb'd Nature of her skill,

And comforts all things with her breath.

FAIR AND FAIR

Why slide these brooks so slow away,
As swift as the wild roe that were?
O, muse not, shepherd, that they stay,
When they her heavenly voice do hear.

From whence come all these goodly swains,
And lovely girls attired in green?
From gathering garlands on the plains,
To crown our fair the Shepherds' Queen.

The sun that lights this world below,

Flocks, flowers, and brooks will witness bear; These nymphs and shepherds all do know

That it is she is only fair.

M. Drayton.

LXIX

FAIR AND FAIR

CENONE. FAIR and fair, and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be ;

The fairest shepherd on our green,
A love for any lady.

PARIS. Fair and fair, and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be;

Thy love is fair for thee alone,
And for no other lady.

ENONE. My love is fair, my love is gay,
As fresh as bin the flowers in May,
And of my love my roundelay
My merry, merry, merry roundelay,

67

Concludes with Cupid's curse,

"They that do change old love for new, Pray gods they change for worse!'

AMBO SIMUL. They that do change old love for new, Pray gods they change for worse!

(ENONE. Fair and fair, etc.

PARIS. Fair and fair, etc.

Thy love is fair, etc.

ENONE. My love can pipe, my love can sing,
My love can many a pretty thing,
And of his lovely praises ring
My merry, merry, merry roundelays,
Amen to Cupid's curse,—

They that do change, etc.

PARIS. They that do change, etc.

AMBO. Fair and fair, etc.

LXX

Geo. Peele.

A MADRIGAL

LIKE the Idalian queen,

Her hair about her eyne,

With neck and breast's ripe apples to be seen,
At first glance of the morn

In Cyprus' gardens gathering those fair flow'rs
Which of her blood were born,

I

saw, but fainting saw, my paramours.