HE. Myne owne dere love, I fe the prove That ye be kynde, and true; Of mayde, and wyfe, in all my lyfe, 315 For it were ruthe, that, for your truthe, Ye fholde have cause to rewe: Be nat difmayed; whatsoever I fayd To you, whan I began ; Į wyll nat to the grene wode go, I am no banyshed man. 320 Than, were the cafe worse than it was, And I more wo-begone: For, in my mynde, of all mankynde 335 I love but you alone. Ven. 315. of all. Prol. Ver. 325. gladder. Prol. HE. HE. Ye fhall nat nede further to drede; I wyll nat dysparage You, (God defend !) fyth ye defcend Of fo grete a lynàge. Nowe undyrftande; to Westmarlande, Which is myne herytage, I wyll you brynge; and with a rynge, By way of maryage I wyll you take, and lady make, As fhortely as I can; Thus have you won an erlys fon, AUTHOR. 340 345 "Here may ye fe, that women be In love, meke, kynde, and ftable: 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 fuch, as he loveth, 355 Yf they be charytable. For fyth men wolde that women fholde Be meke to them each one; Moche more ought they to God obey, Wer. 340. grete lynyage. Prol. Ver. 348. And no banyfhed. Prol. 355. proved-loved. Prol. Ib. as 360 VII. A Ver. 347. Then have. Prol. V. 352. This line wanting in Prol. loveth. Camb, V.357. Forfoth. Prol. 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 prefumed therefore that the infertion 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 tranflations. And if we confider that it was written during his cruel confinement in Pomfret caftle a fhort time before his execution in 1483, it gives us a fine picture of the compofure and fleadiness with which this fout earl beheld bis approaching fate. The verfes are preferved by ROUSE a contemporary hiftorian, who feems to have copied them from the Earl's own hand writing. In tempore, fays this writer, incarcerationis apud Pontem-fractum edidit unum BALET in anglicis, ut mihi monftratum eft, quod fubfequitur fub his verbis: Sum what muspng &c. "Roffi Hift. 8vo 2 Edit. p. 213.” The 2d Stanza is, not-withstanding, imperfect, and we have inferted aferifks, to denote the defect. This little piece, which perhaps ought rather to have been printed in ftanzas of eight fhort 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, "Me remembrying Of my livyng 66 66 My death wifhyng Bothe erly and late.. Infortunate Is So my fate "That wote ye what, Out of mefure "My life I hate; Thus defperate "In fuch pore eftate, Doe I endure, &c." SUM UMWHAT mufyng, and more mornyng, I fere dowtles, remediles, Is now to fefe my wofull chaunce. Lois' this traunce now in substauncę, * fuch is my dawnce, 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! 15 But I ne went thus to be fhent, But fho hit ment, fuch is hur won, Ver. 7. in this. Roffi Hift. Ver. 15. went, i. e, weered. VIII, CU VIII. CUPID's ASSAULT: BY NICH. LORD VAUX. The Reader will obferve that infant Poetry grew apace between the times of RIVERS and VAUX, tho' almoft 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. 66 a "In The following piece (printed from Surrey's poems, 1559. 4to) is attributed to lord Vaux by Puttenham in his "Art of Eng. Poefie, 1589. 4to." Take the paffage at large. "this figure [Counterfait Action] the lord Nicholas Vaux, noble gentleman and much delighted in vulgar making, "and a man otherwife of no great learning, but having "berein a marvelous facilitie, made a dittie reprefenting the Battayle and Assault of Cupide, so excellently well, as for "the gallant and propre application of his fiction in every part, I cannot chooje but fet 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 Jee Mr. Walpole's Noble Authors. vol. 1. HEN Cupide fcaled fyrst the fort, W. fore; |