ANONYMOUS (SCOTTISH)

50. When Flora had O'erfret the Firth

16th Cent.

UHEN Flora had o'erfret the firth

Qu

In May of every moneth queen;
Quhen merle and mavis singis with mirth
Sweet melling in the shawis sheen;
Quhen all luvaris rejoicit bene
And most desirous of their prey,
I heard a lusty luvar mene
-'I luve, but I dare nocht assay!'

'Strong are the pains I daily prove,
But yet with patience I sustene,
I am so fetterit with the luve
Only of my lady sheen,

Quhilk for her beauty micht be quee
Nature so craftily alway

Has done depaint that sweet serene:
-Quhom I luve I dare nocht assay.

'She is so bricht of hyd and hue,

I luve but her alone, I ween;
Is none her luve that may eschew,
That blinkis of that dulce amene;
So comely cleir are her twa een
That she mae luvaris dois affray

Than ever of Greece did fair Helene:
-Quhom I luve I dare nocht assay!'

Lusty May

LUSTY May, with Flora queen!

16th Cent

The balmy dropis from Phoebus sheen
Preluciand beams before the day:

By that Diana growis green

Through gladness of this lusty May.

Then Esperus, that is so bricht,
Til woful hairtis castis his light,

With bankis that bloomis on every brae;
And schouris are shed forth of their sicht
Through gladness of this lusty May.

Birdis on bewis of every birth,
Rejoicing notis makand their mirth
Richt plesantly upon the spray,
With flourishingis o'er field and firth
Through gladness of this lusty May.

All luvaris that are in care
To their ladies they do repair

In fresh morningis before the day,
And are in mirth ay mair and mair
Through gladness of this lusty May.

My Heart is High Above

16th Cent.

MY heart is high above, my body is full of bliss,

For I am set in luve as well as I would wiss

I luve my lady pure and she luvis me again,

I am her serviture, she is my soverane;

boughs.

51. sheen] bright. birth] kind.

til] into.

schouris] showers. 52. wiss] wish.

bewis]

She is my very heart, I am her howp and heill,
She is my joy invart, I am her luvar leal;

I am her bond and thrall, she is at my command;
I am perpetual her man, both foot and hand;

The thing that may her please my body sall fulfil;
Quhatever her disease, it does my body ill.
My bird, my bonny ane, my tender babe venust,
My luve, my life alane, my liking and my lust!
We interchange our hairtis in others armis soft,
Spriteless we twa depairtis, usand our luvis oft.
We mourn when licht day dawis, we plain the nicht is short,
We curse the cock that crawis, that hinderis our disport.
I glowffin up aghast, quhen I her miss on nicht,
And in my oxter fast I find the bowster richt;
Then languor on me lies like Morpheus the mair,
Quhilk causes me uprise and to my sweet repair.
And then is all the sorrow forth of remembrance
That ever I had a-forrow in luvis observance.
Thus never I do rest, so lusty a life I lead,
Quhen that I list to test the well of womanheid.
Luvaris in pain, I pray God send you sic remeid
As I have nicht and day, you to defend from deid!
Therefore be ever true unto your ladies free,

And they will on you rue as mine has done on me.

heill] health. blink on awaking.

invart] inward.

oxter] armpit.

venust] delightful.
a-forrow] aforetime.

glowffin]

NUMBERS FROM

ELIZABETHAN MISCELLANIES & SONG-BOOKS

53.

BY UNNAMED OR UNCERTAIN AUTHORS

A Praise of His Lady

GIVE

Tottel's Miscellany, 1557

IVE place, you ladies, and begone!
Boast not yourselves at all!

For here at hand approacheth one
Whose face will stain you all.

The virtue of her lively looks
Excels the precious stone;

I wish to have none other books
To read or look upon.

In each of her two crystal eyes
Smileth a naked boy;

It would you all in heart suffice
To see that lamp of joy.

I think Nature hath lost the mould
Where she her shape did take;
Or else I doubt if Nature could
So fair a creature make.

She may be well compared
Unto the Phoenix kind,

Whose like was never seen or heard,
That any man can find.

In life she is Diana chaste,
In troth Penelopey;

In word and eke in deed steadfast.
-What will you more we say?

If all the world were sought so far,
Who could find such a wight?
Her beauty twinkleth like a star
Within the frosty night.

Her rosial colour comes and goes
With such a comely grace,

More ruddier, too, than doth the rose,
Within her lively face.

At Bacchus' feast none shall her meet,

Ne at no wanton play,

Nor gazing in an open street,

Nor gadding as a stray.

The modest mirth that she doth use
Is mix'd with shamefastness;
All vice she doth wholly refuse,
And hateth idleness.

O Lord! it is a world to see
How virtue can repair,
And deck in her such honesty,
Whom Nature made so fair.

Truly she doth so far exceed
Our women nowadays,
As doth the jeliflower a weed;
And more a thousand ways.