Forget not then thine own approved,
The which so long hath thee so loved,
Whose steadfast faith yet never moved:
Forget not this!

35.

The Appeal

An Earnest Suit to his Unkind Mistress, not to
Forsake him

AND wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay, for shame!

-To save thee from the blame
Of all my grief and grame.
And wilt thou leave me thus?

Say nay! say nay!

And wilt thou leave me thus,
That hath loved thee so long
In wealth and woe among:
And is thy heart so strong
As for to leave me thus?

Say nay! say nay!

And wilt thou leave me thus,
That hath given thee my heart
Never for to depart
Neither for pain nor smart:
And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay! say nay!

36.

And wilt thou leave me thus,
And have no more pitye
Of him that loveth thee?
Alas, thy cruelty!
And wilt thou leave me thus?

Say nay! say nay!

A Revocation

WHAT should I say?

-Since Faith is dead,

And Truth away

From you is fled?
Should I be led

With doubleness?

Nay! nay! mistress.

I promised you,

And you promised me,

To be as true

As I would be.

But since I see

Your double heart,

Farewell my part!

Thought for to take

'Tis not my mind;

But to forsake

One so unkind;
And as I find

So will I trust.
Farewell, unjust!

37.

Can ye say nay

But that you said

That I alway

Should be obeyed?
And-thus betrayed
Or that I wist!
Farewell, unkist!

Vixi Puellis Nuper Idoneus...

THEY flee from me that sometime did me seek,

With naked foot stalking within my chamber: Once have I seen them gentle, tame, and meek, That now are wild, and do not once remember That sometime they have put themselves in danger To take bread at my hand; and now they range, Busily seeking in continual change.

Thanked be fortune, it hath been otherwise
Twenty times better; but once especial-
In thin array: after a pleasant guise,

When her loose gown did from her shoulders fall,
And she me caught in her arms long and small,
And therewithal so sweetly did me kiss,
And softly said, 'Dear heart, how like you this?
It was no dream; for I lay broad awaking:

But all is turn'd now, through my gentleness,
Into a bitter fashion of forsaking;

And I have leave to go of her goodness;
And she also to use new-fangleness.

But since that I unkindly so am servèd,

'How like you this?'-what hath she now deservèd?

She is neither white nor brown,
But as the heavens fair;
There is none hath her form divine
In the earth or the air.

Such a one did I meet, good sir,
Such an angelic face,

Who like a nymph, like a queen, did appear
In her gait, in her grace.

She hath left me here alone

All alone, as unknown,

Who sometime did me lead with herself,
And me loved as her own.

What's the cause that she leaves you alone
And a new way doth take,
That sometime did love you as her own,
And her joy did you make?

I have loved her all my youth,
But now am old, as you see:
Love likes not the falling fruit,
Nor the withered tree.

Know that Love is a careless child,
And forgets promise past:

He is blind, he is deaf when he list,
And in faith never fast.

His desire is a dureless content,
And a trustless joy;

He is won with a world of despair,
And is lost with a toy.

27.

28.

Of womenkind such indeed is the love,
Or the word love abusèd,
Under which many childish desires
And conceits are excusèd.

But true love is a durable fire,
In the mind ever burning,
Never sick, never dead, never cold,
From itself never turning.

The Lover in Winter Plaineth for

the Spring

16th Cent. (?)

WESTERN wind, when wilt thou blow
That the small rain down can rain?

Christ, that my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again!

Balow

BALOW, my babe, lie still and sleep!

16th Cent.

It grieves me sore to see thee weep.

Wouldst thou be quiet I'se be glad,
Thy mourning makes my sorrow sad:
Balow my boy, thy mother's joy,
Thy father breeds me great annoy-
Balow, la-low!

When he began to court my love,
And with his sugred words me move,
His faynings false and flattering cheer
To me that time did not appear :