PERJURY EXCUSED.

ID not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye,

DID

'Gainst whom the world cannot hold argument,

Persuade my heart to this false perjury?

Vows for thee broke deserve not punishment.

A woman I forswore; but I will prove,

Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee :
My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love;
Thy grace being gained cures all disgrace in me.
Vows are but breath, and breath a vapour is:

Then thou, fair sun, which on my earth dost shine, Exhalest this vapour-vow; in thee it is:

If broken then, it is no fault of mine: If by me broke, what fool is not so wise To lose an oath to win a paradise?

ON A DAY-ALACK THE DAY!

N a day-alack the day!—

ON

Love, whose month is ever May, Spied a blossom, passing fair,

Playing in the wanton air:

Through the velvet leaves the wind,
All unseen, 'gan passage find;
That the lover, sick to death,
Wish himself the heaven's breath.
Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow;
Air, would I might triumph so!
But, alack, my hand is sworn,

Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn :
Vow, alack, for youth unmeet,
Youth so apt to pluck a sweet.
Do not call it sin in me,
That I am forsworn for thee:
Thou for whom Jove would swear
Juno but an Ethiope were ;
And deny himself for Jove,
Turning mortal for thy love.

SPRING AND WINTER.

WHEN daisies pied, and violets blue,

WHEN

And lady-smocks all silver-white

And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue

Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, cuckoo,-O word of fear,

Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, cuckoo,-O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

When icicles hang by the wall,

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipped, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-whit;

To-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel1 the pot.

When all around the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,

And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-whit;

To-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

1 Skim.

From A Midsummer Night's

Dream.

OVER HILL, OVER DALE.

VER hill, over dale,

OVE

Thorough bush, thorough brier,

Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see,
Those be rubies, fairy favours,

In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

YOU SPOTTED SNAKES WITH DOUBLE TONGUE.

YOU spotted snakes with double tongue,

You

Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen ;

Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;

Come not near our fairy queen :

Philomel, with melody,

Sing in our sweet lullaby ;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby;
Never harm,

Nor spell, nor charm,

Come our lovely lady nigh ;

So, good night, with lullaby. Weaving spiders, come not here:

Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence ! Beetles black, approach not near;

Worm, nor snail, do no offence.

Philomel, with melody, &c.

THE OUSEL-COCK, SO BLACK OF HUE.

HE ousel-cock, so black of hue,

TH

With orange-tawny bill,

The throstle with his note so true,

The wren with little quill;

The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
The plain-song1 cuckoo gray,

Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer nay.

1 See note 1, p. 6.