THE LOVER HOPETH OF BETTER CHANCE.

HE is not dead, that sometime had a fall,

The sun returns, that hid was under cloud, And when Fortune had spit out all her gall, I trust good luck to me shall be allowed: For I have seen a ship in haven fall,

After that storm hath broke both mast and shroud; The willow eke, that stoopeth with the wind, Doth rise again, and greater wood doth bind.

THAT PLEASURE IS MIXED WITH EVERY
PAIN.

VENOMOUS thorns that are so sharp and keen,
Sometime bear flowers fair and fresh of hue:
Poison ofttime is put in medicine,

And unto man his health doth oft renew:
The fire that all things eke consumeth clean

May hurt and heal: then if that this be true, I trust sometime my harm may be my health, Since every woe is joined with some wealth.

THE COURTIER'S LIFE.

IN Court to serve, deckèd with fresh array,
Of sugar'd meats feeling the sweet repast,
The life in banquets and sundry kinds of play,
Amid the press of worldly looks to waste,
Hath with it join'd ofttimes such bitter taste,
That whoso joys such kind of life to hold,
In prison joys, fetter'd with chains of gold.

OF THE MEAN AND SURE ESTATE.

STAND, whoso list, upon the slipper wheel
Of high estate; and let me here rejoice,
And use my life in quietness each dele,'
Unknown in Court that hath the wanton toys:
In hidden place my time shall slowly pass,
And when my years be past withouten noise,
Let me die old after the common trace;

For gripes of death doth he too hardly pass,
That knowen is to all, but to himself, alas,
He dieth unknown, dasèd with dreadful face.

THE LOVER SUSPECTED OF CHANGE

PRAYETH THAT IT BE NOT BELIEVED AGAINST HIM.

ACCUSED though I be without desert;

Sith none can prove, believe it not for true:
For never yet, since that you had my heart,
Intended I to false, or be untrue.

Sooner I would of death sustain the smart,
Than break one word of that I promis'd you;
Accept therefore my service in good part:
None is alive, that can ill tongues eschew;
Hold them as false; and let not us depart

Our friendship old in hope of any new:
Put not thy trust in such as use to feign,
Except thou mind to put thy friend to pain.

1 'Dele:' portion, division.

10

OF DISSEMBLING WORDS.

THROUGHOUT the world if it were sought,
Fair words enough a man shall find;
They be good cheap, they cost right nought,
Their substance is but only wind;

But well to say and so to mean,
That sweet accord is seldom seen.

OF SUDDEN TRUSTING.

DRIVEN by desire I did this deed,
To danger myself without cause why,
To trust th' untrue, not like to speed,
To speak and promise faithfully:
But now the proof doth verify,
That whoso trusteth ere he know,
Doth hurt himself, and please his foe.

THE LADY TO ANSWER DIRECTLY WITH YEA OR NAY.

1 MADAM, withouten many words,

Once I am sure you will, or no:

And if you will, then leave your bourds,
And use your wit, and show it so:

2 For with a beck you shall me call; And if of one, that burns alway,

Ye have pity or ruth at all,

Answer him fair with yea or nay.

3 If it be yea, I shall be fain;

If it be nay, friends as before; You shall another man obtain,

And I mine own, and yours no more.

ANSWER.

1 OF few words, Sir, you seem to be,

And where I doubted what I would do Your quick request hath caused me

Quickly to tell you what you shall trust to.

2 For he that will be called with a beck,
Makes hasty suit on light desire:
Is ever ready to the check,

And burneth in no wasting fire.

3 Therefore whether you be lief or loth,
And whether it grieve you light or sore,
I am at a point: I have made an oath,
Content you with Nay;' for you get no more.

THE LOVER PROFESSETH HIMSELF
CONSTANT.

WITHIN my breast I never thought it gain
Of gentle minds the freedom for to lose;
Nor in my heart sank never such disdain,
To be a forger, faults for to disclose:
Nor I cannot endure the truth to glose,
To set a gloss upon an earnest pain:
Nor I am not in number one of those
That list to blow retreat to every train.

OF THE FEIGNED FRIEND.

RIGHT true it is, and said full yore ago;

'Take heed of him that by the back thee claweth:' For none is worse than is a friendly foe.

Though thee seem good all thing that thee delighteth, Yet know it well, that in thy bosom creepeth: For many a man such fire oft-times he kindleth, That with the blaze his beard himself he singeth.

COMPARISON OF LOVE TO A STREAM
FALLING FROM THE ALPS.

FROM these high hills as when a spring doth fall,
It trilleth down with still and subtle course,
Of this and that it gathers aye, and shall,

Till it have just down flow'd to stream, and force, Then at the foot it rageth over all:

So fareth love, when he hath ta'en a source,
Rage is his reign, resistance 'vaileth none,
The first eschew is remedy alone.

OF HIS LOVE THAT PRICKED HER
FINGER WITH A NEEDLE.

SHE sat and sew'd, that hath done me the wrong
Whereof I plain, and have done many a day:
And, whilst she heard my plaint, in piteous song
She wish'd my heart the sampler, as it lay.
The blind master, whom I have serv'd so long,
Grudging to hear that he did hear her say,
Made her own weapon do her finger bleed,
To feel if pricking were so good indeed.