XXXIII

A CLOWN'S SONG

HEN that I was and a little tiny boy,

WHEN

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,

'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
By swaggering could I never thrive.

But when I came unto my beds,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads.

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.

XXXIV

FORESTER'S SONG

WHAT shall he have that kill'd the deer?

His leather skin and horns to wear.

Then sing him home;

Take thou no scorn to wear the horn;

It was a crest ere thou wast born:

Thy father's father wore it,

And thy father bore it!

The horn, the horn, the lusty horn

Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.

XXXV

A SAILOR'S SONG

THE master, the swabber, the boatswain and I, The gunner and his mate,

Loved Mall, Meg and Marian and Margery,

But none of us cared for Kate;

For she had a tongue with a tang,

Would cry to a sailor, Go hang !

She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch,

Yet a tailor might scratch her where'er she did

itch:

Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang!

XXXVI

THE POWER OF SONG

RPHEUS with his lute made trees

OR

And the mountain tops that freeze Bow themselves when he did sing : To his music plants and flowers Ever sprung; as sun and showers

There had made a lasting spring.

Every thing that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads, and then lay by.

In sweet music in such art,
Killing care and grief of heart

Fall asleep, or hearing, die.

XXXVII

SPRING

WHEN daisies pied and violets blue

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!