The Solitary Shepherd's Song
shac vates. far enriched meads,
sacre Wands, sweet fields, and rising mountains; namtec flowers, green herbs, where Flora treads, Ketrechec bi wanton winds and war'ry fountains. Cal wmpet charristers of wood,
"ha: perched at your former pains report,
An straight agair recount with pleasant mood
Your present jors in sweet and seemly sort.
è al vou creatures, whosoever thrive
Or mache earth, in seas, by air, or fire,
Mar diest æe vot than I here under sun:
Love dies i me, whenas he doth revive
Ir von 2 perish, under bency's ire,
Where ster storms, winds, frosts, your life is won.
From "A Marguerite of America.”
Not Iris, in her pride and bravery,
Adorns her arch with such variety;
Nor doth the Milk-white Way, in frosty night,
Appear so fair and beautiful in sight
As done these fields, and groves, and sweetest bowers,
Bestrew'd and deck'd with parti-coloured flowers.
Along the bubbling brooks and silver glide
That at the bottom do in silence slide,
The water-flowers and lilies on the banks,
Like blazing comets, burgeon all in ranks;
Under the hawthorn and the poplar-tree,
Where sacred Phoebe may delight to be,
The primrose and the purple hyacinth,
The dainty violet, and the wholesome minth,
The double daisy, and the cowslip, queen
Of summer flowers, do overpeer the green;
And round about the valley as ye pass,
Ye may ne see for peeping flowers the grass:
That well the mighty Juno, and the rest,
May boldly think to be a welcome guest
On Ida's hills, when to approve the thing
The Queen of Flowers prepares a second spring.
From "The Arraignment of Paris."
Enone. 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,
And fresh as bin the flowers in May,
And of my love my roundelay,
My merry, merry, merry roundelay,
Concludes with Cupid's Curse;
They that do change old love for new,
Pray Gods they change for worse.
Fair, and fair, &c.} (repeated)
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 old love for new,
Pray Gods they change for worse.
The Shepherd's Wife's Song
Ah, what is love? It is a pretty thing,
As sweet unto a shepherd as a king;
And sweeter too,
For kings have cares that wait upon a crown,
And cares can make the sweetest love to frown:
If country loves such sweet desires do gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?
His flocks are folded, he comes home at night,
As merry as a king in his delight;
For kings bethink them what the state require,
Where shepherds careless carol by the fire:
Ah then, ah then,
If country loves such sweet desires do gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?
He kisseth first, then sits as blithe to eat
His cream and curds as doth the king his meat; And blither too,
For kings have often fears when they do sup,
Where shepherds dread no poison in their cup:
Ah then, ah then,
If country loves such sweet desires do gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain?
To bed he goes, as wanton then, I ween,
As is a king in dalliance with a queen;
More wanton too,
For kings have many griefs affects to move,
Where shepherds have no greater grief than love:
Ah then, ah then,
If country loves such sweet desires do gain,
What lady would not love a shepherd swain ?
Upon his couch of straw he sleeps as sound
As doth the king upon his beds of down;
More sounder too,
For cares cause kings full oft their sleep to spill,
Where weary shepherds lie and snort their fill :
Ah then, ah then,
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