The Spanish Ladies Love.
[To a pleasant new tune.]
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WIll you hear a Spanish Lady,
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how she wood an English man
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Garments gay as rich as may be,
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bedcckt with jewels had she on:
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Of a comely countenance
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and grace was she;
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Both by birth and Parentage,
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of high degree.
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As his prisoner there he kept her,
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in his hands her life did lye;
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Cupids hands did tye them faster.
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by the liking of an eye:
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In his courteous company
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was all her joy;
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To favour him in any thing,
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she was not coy.
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But at last there came commandment
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for to set all ladies free:
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With their jewels still adorned;
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none to do them injury:
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O then said this Lady gay,
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full woe is me
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O let me still sustain this kind
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Captivity.
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Gallant captain take some pitty,
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on a woman in distress;
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Leave me not within this City,
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for to dye in heaviness:
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Thou hast set this present day
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my body free;
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But my heart in prison still
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remains with thee.
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How shouldst thou fair Lady love me
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whom thou knowst thy Country hat[es]
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Thy fair words make me suspect thee
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Serpents lye where flowers grow:
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All the harm I think on thee,
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most courteous Kngiht,
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God grant upon my head the same
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may fully light!
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Blessed be the time and season
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that thou came on Spanish ground
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If you may our foes be termed
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gentle foes we have you found:
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With our City you have won
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our hearts each one
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Then to your country bear away
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that is your own.
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The second Part, to the same Tune.
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REst you still most gallant Lady,
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rest you still and weep no more
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Of fair flowers you have plenty,
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Spain doth yield you wonderous store
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Spaniards faught with Jealousie,
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we oft do find,
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But English-men throughout the world
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are counted kind.
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Leave me not unto a Spaniard,
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thou alone enjoyst my heart,
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I am lovely young and tender,
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love is like wise my desert:
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Still to save thee day and night,
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my mind is prest,
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The wife of every English-man,
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is counted blest.
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It would be a shame fair Lady,
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for to bear a Woman hence,
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English Souldiers never carry
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any such without offence
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I will quickly change my self,
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if it be so,
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And like a page will follow thee,
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where ere thou go.
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I have neither gold nor silver,
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to maintain thee in this case,
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And to travel is great charges,
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as you know in every place.
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My chains and jewels every one
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shell be thy own,
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And eke a hundred pound in gold,
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that lies unknown.
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On the seas are many dangers,
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many storms do there arise,
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Which will be to Ladies dreadful,
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and force tears from watry eyes,
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Well in worth I shall indure
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extremity,
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For I could find in heart to lose
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my life for thee.
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Courteous Lady, leave this folly,
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here comes all that breeds the strife
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I in England have already
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a sweet woman to my wife;
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I will not falsifie my vow
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for gold nor gain;
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Nor yet for all the fairest dames
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that live in Spain.
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O how happy is that woman
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that enjoys so true a friend,
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Many happy days God send her,
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and of my suit i[]ll make an end:
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On my knees I pardon crave
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for my offence,
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Which love and true affection
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did first commence:
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Commend me to that gallant Lady,
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hear to her this chain of gold;
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With these bracelets for a token,
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grieveing that I was so bold;
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All my jewels in like sort
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take thou with thee,
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For they are fitting for thy wife
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but not for me.
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I will spend my days in prayer,
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love and all her laws defie,
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In a nunnery I will shrowd me
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far from any company;
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But ere my prayer have an end,
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be sure of this,
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To pray for thee and for thy love,
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I will not miss.
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Thus farewell most gallant Captain,
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farewell to my hearts content;
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Count not Spanish Ladies wanton,
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tho to thee my mind was bent:
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Joy and true prosperity
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remain with thee.
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The like fall unto thy share,
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most fair Lady.
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