I see how thine abuse hath wrested so thy wits, That all it yields to thy desire, and follows thee by fits.

Where thou hast loved so long, with heart, and all thy power,

I see thee fed with feigned words, thy freedom to devour:

I know (though she say nay, and would it well

withstand)

When in her grace thou held thee most, she bare thee but in hand.

I see her pleasant chere in chiefest of thy suit; When thou art gone, I see him come that gathers up the fruit.

And eke in thy respect, I see the base degree Of him to whom she gave the heart, that promised was to thee.

I see, (what would you more,) stood never man so

sure

On woman's word, but wisdom would mistrust it

to endure.

THE FORSAKEN LOVER DESCRIBETH AND

FORSAKETH LOVE.

LOATHSOME place! where I
Have seen, and heard my dear
When in my heart her eye
Hath made her thought appear,
By glimpsing with such grace,—
As fortune it ne would

That lasten any space,
Between us longer should.

As fortune did advance
To further my desire;

Even so hath fortune's chance
Thrown all amidst the mire.
And that I have deserved,
With true and faithful heart,
Is to his hands reserved,
That never felt the smart.

But happy is that man
That scaped hath the grief,
That love well teach him can,

By wanting his relief.
A scourge to quiet minds

It is, who taketh heed;
A common plage that binds;
A travail without meed.

;

This gift it hath also:
Whoso enjoys it most,
A thousand troubles grow,
To vex his wearied ghost.
And last it may not long;
The truest thing of all:
And sure the greatest wrong,
That is within this thrall.

But since thou, desert place,
Canst give me no account
Of my desired grace,

That I to have was wont;
Farewell! thou hast me taught,

To think me not the first
That love hath set aloft,

And casten in the dust.

THE LOVER DESCRIBETH HIS REST

LESS STATE.1

S oft as I behold, and see

The sovereign beauty that me bound;
The nigher my comfort is to me,
Alas! the fresher is my wound.

As flame doth quench by rage of fire,
And running streams consume by rain;

The 3rd, 6th, and 8th stanzas do not occur in Tottel's collection, but were supplied by Dr. Nott from a copy in the

66

Nuge Antiquæ."

So doth the sight that I desire
Appease my grief, and deadly pain.

Like as the fly that seeth the flame,
And thinks to play her in the fire;
That found her woe, and sought her game
Where grief did grow by her desire.

First when I saw those crystal streams,
Whose beauty made my mortal wound;
I little thought within their beams
So sweet a venom to have found.

But wilful will did prick me forth,
And blind Cupid did whip and guide;
Force made me take my grief in worth; 1
My fruitless hope my harm did hide;

Wherein is hid the cruel bit,
Whose sharp repulse none can resist;
And eke the spur that strains each wit
To run the race against his list.

As cruel waves full oft be found
Against the rocks to roar and cry;
So doth my heart full oft rebound
Against my breast full bitterly.

And as the spider draws her line,
With labour lost I frame my suit;
The fault is her's, the loss is mine:
Of ill sown seed, such is the fruit.

Patiently.

I fall, and see mine own decay;

As he that bears flame in his breast,
Forgets for pain to cast away

The thing that breedeth his unrest.1

THE LOVER EXCUSETH HIMSELF OF

SUSPECTED CHANGE.

HOUGH I regarded not
The promise made by me;
Or passed not to spot
My faith and honesty:

Yet were my fancy strange,
And wilful will to wite,2

If I sought now to change
A falcon for a kite.

All men might well dispraise
My wit and enterprise,
If I esteemed a pese 3
Above a pearl in price :

Or judged the owl in sight
The sparhawk to excel;

1 In Tottel's collection this stanza is thus printed

I fall and see mine own decay,

As one that bears flame in his breast;
Forgets in pain to put away

The thing that breedeth mine unrest.
3 A pea.

2 To censure.