SONG OF WOE.

PARDON

ARDON, goddess of the night,
Those that slew thy virgin knight ;
For the which, with songs of woe,
Round about her tomb they go.
Midnight, assist our moan;
Help us to sigh and groan,
Heavily, heavily:

Graves, yawn and yield your dead,
Till death be uttered,

Heavily, heavily.

From The Merry Wives of
Windsor.

PINCH HIM, FAIRIES.

'Y on sinful fantasy!

FY

Fy on lust and luxury!

Lust is but a bloody fire,

Kindled with unchaste desire,

Fed in heart; whose flames aspire,

As thoughts do blow them, higher and higher.
Pinch him, fairies, mutually ;

Pinch him for his villainy;

Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about,

Till candles, and star-light, and moon-shine be out.

From Twelfth Night.

O MISTRESS MINE, WHERE ARE YOU ROAMING?

MISTRESS mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,

That can sing both high and low :
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers' meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.

What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter ;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty :
Then come kiss me, sweet-and-twenty,1
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

SLAIN BY A FAIR CRUEL MAID.

OME away, come away, death,

And in sad cypress let me be laid;

Fly away, fly away, breath;

I am slain by a fair cruel maid.

My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O, prepare it!

My part of death, no one so true

Did share it.

1 " Sweet-and-twenty "-twenty times sweet. (A term of endearment.)

Not a flower, not a flower sweet,

On my black coffin let there be strown ;

Not a friend, not a friend greet

My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown : A thousand thousand sighs to save,

Lay me, O, where

Sad true lover never find my grave,
To weep there!

WHEN THAT I WAS AND A LITTLE TINY BOY.

WHEN that I was and a little tiny boy,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate, For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, By swaggering could I never thrive, For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,

And we'll strive to please you every day.

From As You Like it.

UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE.

NDER the greenwood tree,

UNDE

Who loves to lie with me,

And turn his merry note

Unto the sweet bird's throat,

Come hither, come hither, come hither; Here shall he see

No enemy

But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live i' the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,

And pleased with what he gets, Come hither, come hither, come hither: Here shall he see

No enemy

But winter and rough weather.

If it do come to pass,

That any man turn ass,
Leaving his wealth and ease,
A stubborn will to please,

Ducdame,' ducdame, ducdame;

Here shall he see,

Gross fools as he,

An if he will come to me.

1 A word of doubtful meaning.

MAN'S INGRATITUDE.

LOW, blow, thou winter wind,

BLO

Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen,

Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude.

Heigh ho sing, heigh ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly : Then, heigh ho, the holly!

This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh

As benefits forgot :
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend remembered not.

Heigh ho sing heigh ho! &c.

ROSALIND.

ROM the east to western Ind,

FR

No jewel is like Rosalind.

Her worth, being mounted on the wind,
Through all the world bears Rosalind.

All the pictures, fairest lined,

Are but black to Rosalind.

Let no fair be kept in mind,

But the fair of Rosalind.