The Northampton-shire Lovers:
OR,
No wealth can compare unto true Love:
Young men and Maids that delight to hear
How Lovers Couple, pray draw near;
And in this Sonnet you may find
A fancy that may please your mind.
To the Tune, Of true Love rewarded with loyalty, Or, Loves down fall.
With Allowance.
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IN Summer time when leaves are green,
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and Flora in her rich aray:
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With all sorts of flowers so sweet,
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she had bedeckt the fields so gay.
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I espyed a young man and a maid,
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a walking in the cool oth day;
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The young man he was not afraid,
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but these words unto her did say.
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Man.
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Oh turn to me my own Dear heart,
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and I my self will turn to thee;
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For thou and I will never part,
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whilst life and breath remains in me.
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Thou knowest these long seven years & more,
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we two together have been in love;
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And I have slackend my desires,
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only thy passions for to prove.
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But heres my hand, no longer I
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no further trial will I make,
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But love thee till the day I dye,
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therefore my Bride I mean to take.
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I have six horses at my Plow,
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and six more in my Stable stand;
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And here to thee I make a vow,
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They all shall be at they command.
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Besides my grounds they are well stockt,
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for thee to walk in to and fro;
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In truth my Dear I do not mock,
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if thou canst love me tell me so.
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Maid.
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Your words, good Sir, are very fair,
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ten times better then I do deserve;
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Yet tis good for me to have a care,
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lest you from them should quickly swarve.
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For young mens tongues now in these dayes,
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they are so tipt with words so fair,
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A maidens beauty they will praise,
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till they have caught her in a snare
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But if yonders Bower was full of gold,
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and thou couldst give it unto me,
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Until Im wed, I never would
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lose one dram of my Virginity.
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The second part, to the same Tune,
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Tho foolish Knacks some maids entice,
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to yield unto a young mans will;
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Then leave them in fools Paradice,
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and of repenting they have their fill.
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For hasty marriage neer proves good,
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so it behoves me to be coy;
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Altho Im young I understand
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that in my freedoms all my joy.
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So for this time, good Sir, adew,
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my Mother she for me doth stay;
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And when I hear your heart is true,
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you then shall hear what I will say.
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Till then what ever me betide,
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let wealth or sorrow come to me,
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Until that I am made a Bride,
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I never mean to turn to thee.
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Man.
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But wilt thou be gone my love and joy,
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and leave me in this place alone,
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The cherping Birds will cease their notes,
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to hear me make my grievous moan.
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The waters which are here so deep,
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without a shroud my grave shall be;
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My body shall the fishes feed,
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if once you do depart from me.
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Therefore as thourt a Virgin pure,
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and I think thee to be no less,
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Some comfort now to me procure,
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to ease my grief and heaviness.
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Be not a talk to other maids,
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that they behind your back should say,
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She was so peevish and so coy,
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she cast her first true love away.
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Then turn to me my own dear heart,
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and I my self will turn to thee;
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For thou and I will never part,
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whilst life and breath remains in me.
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Maid.
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I would not for ten thousand Worlds,
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that any friend of mine should say;
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I was so peevish and so coy,
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to cast my dearest love away.
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But where he is I cannot tell,
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no, nor yet do I know his name;
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Yet you pretend that you art him,
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with protestations on the same.
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Yet a further trial I will have,
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ere that the true loves knot I tye;
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Before Ill match to be a slave,
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Id rather by this knife to dye.
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Tho some dont look before they leap,
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I will be weary of such things;
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For whilst Im single I live well,
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but marriage many troubles brings.
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You say youve House, you say youve Land,
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yet all that does not please my mind,
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Your looks doth shew you dogged are,
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and wilt not to a Wife prove kind.
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Then what will riches profit me,
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if I have not a quiet life:
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A Lady that lives discontentedly,
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shed better be a Hoggerds wife.
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Man.
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I can say no less, my only dear,
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these words are true you tell to me:
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When man and wife doth live at strife,
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be sure no blessing there can be.
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But a loving man of me thoust find,
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As any lives beneath the Sun,
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I ever to thee will prove kind,
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Ill neer think much of what thoust done.
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My promise I will keep and hold,
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so long as life remains in me,
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If thou wants Silver or good Gold,
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I strait will give it unto thee.
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Therefore the bargain let us seal
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with a kiss or two that is so sweet.
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And so much then he did prevail,
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that lovingly she did him greet.
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Now she no longer doth seem coy;
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and this is all the young mans song,
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Now I have gained my love and joy,
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we will be wedded ere be long.
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And what he spoke he did fulfil,
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so far as I do understand,
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They went to Church with friends good will,
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and strait was married out of hand.
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Thus all young Lovers they may learn,
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where ever they do go or come:
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Young men if once a bargain you make,
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be sure that you do strike it home.
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For long delays does neer prove good,
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a modest and a civil Girl,
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Tho she is poor and thou art rich,
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yet love outpasses Gold or Pearl.
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