For, in my mynde, of all mankynde I love but you

alone.

A.

A baron's chylde to be begylde! it were a cursed

dede:

To be felàwe with an outlàwe! Almighty God fcr

bede!

Yea, beter were, the pore squyère alone to forest yede,

Than

ye sholde say another day, that by my cursed dede

Ye were betrayed: wherfore, good mayd, the best rede that I can,

Is, that I to the green wode go, alone, a banyshed

man.

B.

Whatever befall, I never shall of this thyng you

upbrayd:

But yf ye go, and leve me so, than have ye me betrayed.

Remember you wele howe that ye dele; for, yf ye be as ye sayd,

Ye were unkynde, to leue behynde, your love, the notbrowne mayd.

Trust me truly, that I shall dy sone after ye be gone; For, in my mynde, of all mankynde I love but you alone.

A.

Yf that ye went, ye sholde repent; for in the forest

nowe

I have purvayed me of a mayd, whom I love more than you;

Another fayrère than ever ye were, I dare it wele

avowe;

And of you bothe eche sholde be wrothe with other, as I trowe:

It were myne ese, to lyve in pese; so wyll I, yf I

can;

Wherfore I to the grene wode go, alone, a banyshed man.

B.

Though in the wode I undyrstode ye had a para

mour,

All this may nought remove my thought, but that I will be your:

And she shall fynde me soft, and kynde, and courteys every hour;

Glad to fulfyll all that she wyll commaunde me, to my power:

For had ye, lo, an hundred mo, yet wolde I be that

one;

For, in my mynde, of all mankynde I love but you

alone.

A.

Myne own dere love, I se the prove that ye be kynde,

and true;

Of mayde, and wyfe, in all my lyfe, the best that ever I knewe.

Be mery and glad, be no more sad, the case is chaunged newe;

For it were ruthe, that, for your truthe, ye sholde have cause to rewe:

Be nat dismayed; whatsoever I sayd to you, whan I began,

I will nat to the grene wode go, I am no banyshed

man.

B.

These tydings be more gladder to me than to be made a quene,

Yf I were sure they sholde endure: but it is often

sene,

Whan men wyll breke promyse, they speke the wordes on the splene:

Ye shape some wyle, me to begyle, and stele from me, I wene:

Than were the case worse than it was, and I more wo-begone;

For, in my mynde, of all mankynde I love but you alone.

A.

Ye shall nat nede further to drede; I wyll not dys

parage

You (God defende!) syth you descend of so grete lynage.

Nowe understande,-to Westmarlande, which is myne herytage,

I wyll you bringe; and with a rynge, by way of

maryage

I wyll you take, and lady make, as shortely as I

can:

Thus have ye won an erlys son, and not a banyshed

man.

B.

Here may ye se, that women be, in love, meke, kynde, and stable :

Late never man reprove them than,

But, rather, pray God, that we may to them be comfortable,

Which sometyme proved such as he loved, yf they be charytable.

Forsoth, men wolde that women sholde be meke to them eche one;

Moche more ought they to God obey, and serve but hym alone.

HENRY AND EMMA, A POEM.

UPON THE MODEL OF THE NUT-BROWN MAID.

TO CLOE.

THOU, to whose eyes I bend, at whose command
(Though low my voice, though artless be my hand)
I take the sprightly reed, and sing, and play;
Careless of what the censuring world may say :
Bright Cloe, object of my constant vow,
Wilt thou awhile unbend thy serious brow;
Wilt thou with pleasure hear thy lover's strains,
And with one heavenly smile o'erpay his pains?

No longer shall the Nut-brown Maid be old;
Though since her youth three hundred years have
At thy desire she shall again be raised; [roll'd:
And her reviving charms in lasting verse be prais'd.
No longer man of woman shall complain,
That he may love, and not be lov'd again :
That we in vain the fickle sex pursue,
Who change the constant lover for the new.
Whatever has been writ, whatever said,
Of female passion feign'd or faith decay'd:
Henceforth shall in my verse refuted stand,
Be said to winds, or writ upon the sand.
And, while my notes to future times proclaim
Unconquer'd love, and ever-during flame ;
O fairest of the sex! be thou my Muse:
Deign on my work thy influence to diffuse.
Let me partake the blessings I rehearse,
And grant me, love, the just reward of verse!

As beauty's potent queen, with every grace
That once was Emma's, has adorn'd thy face;
And as her son has to my bosom dealt
That constant flame, which faithful Henry felt ;
O let the story with thy life agree :

Let men once more the bright example see;
What Emma was to him, be thou to me.
Nor send me by thy frown from her I love,
Distant and sad, a banish'd man to rove.
But oh! with pity, long-entreated, crown
My pains and hopes; and when thou say'st that one
Of all mankind thou lov'st, oh! think on me alone.