VI

O Helen fair, beyond compare!
I'll mak a garland o' thy hair,
Shall bind my heart for evermair,

Until the day I dee!

VII

O that I were where Helen lies!
Night and day on me she cries;
Out of my bed she bids me rise,

Says, "Haste, and come to me!"

VIII
O Helen fair! O Helen chaste!
If I were with thee, I'd be blest,
Where thou lies low and taks thy rest,

On fair Kirconnell lea.

IX

I wish my grave were growing green,
A winding sheet drawn owre my een,
And I in Helen's arms lying,

On fair Kirconnell lea.

X
I wish I were where Helen lies!
Night and day on me she cries;
And I am weary of the skies,
For her sake that died for me,

ANONYMOUS I SAW THREE SHIPS

I 'As I sat under a sycamore tree,

- A sycamore-tree, a sycamore-tree, I looked me out upon the sea

On Christ's Sunday at morn.

II

I saw three ships a-sailing there,

A-sailing there, a-sailing there, Jesu, Mary, and Joseph they bare

On Christ's Sunday at morn.

III

Joseph did whistle and Mary did sing,

- Mary did sing, Mary did sing, And all the bells on earth did ring

For joy our Lord was born.

IV
O they sail'd in to Bethlehem!

- To Bethlehem, to Bethlehem; Saint Michael was the sterèsman,

Saint John sate in the horn.

V

And all the bells on earth did ring

On earth did ring, on earth did ring; “Welcome be thou, Heaven's King, On Christ's Sunday at morn!”

ANONYMOUS LORD RANDAL

1, “O WHERE hae ye been, Lord Randal, my son? O where hae ye been, my handsome young man?"“I hae been to the wild wood; mother, make my

bed soon, For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

II

“Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randal, my son! Where gat ye your dinner, my handsome young

man?” “I dined wi' my true love; mother, make my bed

soon, For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

III

“What gat ye to your dinner, Lord Randal, my

son? What gat ye to your dinner, my handsome young

man?” "I gat eels boil'd in broo'; mother, make my bed

soon, For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

IV

“What became of your bloodhounds, Lord Randal,

my son?

What became of your bloodhounds, my handsome

young man?"

"O they swelld and they died; mother, make my bed

soon, For I'm weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."

“O I fear ye are poison’d, Lord Randal, my son! O I fear ye are poison’d, my handsome young man!” "O yes! I am poison'd; mother, make my bed

soon,

For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wald lie down.”

ANONYMOUS

THE ELIXIR

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for thee:

Not rudely, as a beast,
To runne into an action;
But still to make thee prepossest,
And give it his perfection.

A man that looks on glasse,
On it may stay his eye;
Or if he pleaseth, through it passe,
And then the heav'n espie.

All may of thee partake:
Nothing can be so mean,

Which with his tincture (for thy sake)
Will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause
Makes drudgerie divine:
Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,
Makes that and th' action fine.

This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold:
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for lesse be told.

GEORGE HERBERT

THE BELLS OF HEAVEN

'T would ring the bells of Heaven
The wildest peal of years,
If Parson lost his senses
And people came to theirs,
And he and they together
Knelt down with angry prayers
For tamed and shabby tigers
And dancing dogs and bears,
And wretched, blind pit ponies,
And little hunted hares.

Ralph HODGSON