That ye

315

He.
Myne owne dere love, I fe the prove

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 fholde have cause to rewe :
Be nat dismayed; whatsoever I fayd

To you, whan I began;
I wyll nat to the

go,
I am no banyshed man.

320

grene wode

325

SHE.
These tydings be more gladd 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 wordés 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.

330

335

HE.

Pen. 315. of all. Prol.

Ver, 325. gladder. Prole

HE.

340

Ye shall nat nede further to drede;

I wyll nat dysparage
You, (God defend !) fyth ye descend

Of fo grete a lynàge.
Nowe undyrstande; to Weltmarlande,

Which is myne herytage,
I wyll you brynge; and with a rynge,

By way of maryage
I wyll you take, and lady make,

As shortely as I can:
Thus have you won an erlys son,

And not a banyshed man.”

345

AUTHOR, “ Here may ye fe, that women be In love, meke, kynde, and stable :

350 Late never man reprove them than,

Or call them variable ;
But, rather, pray God, that we may

To them be comfortable;
Which fometyme proveth such, as he loveth, 355

Yf they be charytable,
For fyth men wolde that women sholde

Be meke to them each one ;
Moche more ought they to God obey,
And serve but hym alone,

VII, A
Ver. 340. grete lynyage, Prola Ver. 347. Then have. Prol.
Ver. 348. And no banyshed. Pro!. V.352. This line wanting in Prolo
7.355. provedmoved. Prol. lb, as loveth. Camb. V.357, Forsoth. Prola

360

VII,

A BALET BY THE EARL RIVERS.

The amiable light, in which the character of Anthony Widville the gallant Earl Rivers has been placed by the lively Editor of the Catal. of Noble Authors, interests us in whatever fell from his pen. It is presumed therefore that the insertion of this little Sonnet will be pardoned, tho' it should not be found to have much poetical merit. It is the only original Poem known of that nobleman's; his more voluminous works being only translations. And if we consider that it was written during his cruel confinement in Pomfret castle a short time before his execution in 1483, it gives us a fine picture of the composure and feediness with which this siout earl bebeld bis approaching fate.

The verses are preserved by Rouse a contemporary historian, who seems to have copied them from the Earl's own hand writing. In tempore, says this writer, incarcerationis apud Pontem-fractum edidit unum BALET in anglicis, ut mihi monftratum eft, quod subsequitur fub his verbis : Bum what musyng &c. - Rosli Hift. 8vo 2 Edit. p. 213." The 2d Stanza is, not withstanding, imperfect, and we have inserted asierisks, to denote the defect.

This little piece, which perhaps ought rather to have been printed in fianzas of eight short lines, is written in imitation of a poem of Chaucer's, that will be found in Urry's Edit. 1721. pag. 555, beginning thus,

“ Alone walkyng, In thought plainyng,

“ And fore fighying, All desolate.
“ Me remembrying Of my livyng,

“ My death wishyng Bothe erly and late,
Infortunate Is so my fate

“ That wote ye zuhat, Out of mesure
« My life I hate; Thus desperate
" In such pore estate, Dee I endure, &c.”

SU M

UMWHAT musyng, and more mornyng,

In remembring the unstydfastnes ; This world being of such whelyng,

Me contrarieng, what may I gesse ?

I fere dowtles, remediles,
Is now to fefe

my

wofull chaunce. Lois’ this traunce now in substaunce,

* * * such is dawnce,

my

Wyllyng to dye, me thynkys truly

Bowndyn am I, and that gretly, to be content: 10 Seyng playnly, that fortune doth wry

All contrary from myn entent,

My lyff was lent me to on intent,

Hytt is ny spent. Welcome fortune ! But I ne went thus to be shent,

But sho hit ment, fuch is hur won,

15

Ver. 7. in this. Rolfi Hp.
Ver. 15. went, i. e, weerida

VIII, CU

VIII.

S CUPID's ASSAULT: BY NICH. LORD VAUX.

The Reader will observe that infant Poetry grew apace between the times of Rivers and Vaux, tho' almost contemporaries. Sir Nicholas ( afterwards lord) Vaux was a shining ornament in the court of Henry VII. and died in the year 1523. See the ballad, I LoTHE THAT I DID LOVE, in the next volume.

The following piece (printed from Surrey's poems, 1559. 460) is attributed to lord Vaux by Puttenham in his “ Art of Eng. Pochie, 1589.400." Take the passage at large. “In " this figure (Counterfait Aktion] the lord Nicholas Vaux, " a noble gentleman and much delighted in vulgar making, " and a man otherwise of no great learning, but having " berein a marvelous facilitie, made a dittie representing the " Battayle and Afault of Cupide, fo excellently well, as for " the gallant and propre application of his fiction in every "part, I cannot chooje but let downe the greatest part of his

ditty, for in truth it cannot be amended. When CUPID

SCALED, &c.” p. 200. For a farther account of this ancient peer and poet see Mr. Walpole's Noble Authors.

W

;

HEN Cupide scaled fyrst the fort,
Wherin

my hart lay wounded fore;
The battery was of such a sort,

That I must yelde or dye therfore.

S

There faw I Love upon the wall,

How he is banner did display.
Alarme, alarme, he gan to cal,
And bade his souldiours kepe aray.

3

The