The Unfortunate Lovers;
Or, John True and Susan Mead.
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ATtend, ye lovers, and give an ear
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Unto this mournful song,
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Of two that lived faithfully,
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But did each other wrong.
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At Coventry, in Warwickshire,
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This young man he did dwell,
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His name, John True, a Shoemaker,
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And livd very well.
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At Borley-Moor this maiden dwelt,
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Three miles from Coventry;
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Yet for the love he bore to her,
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He would her often see.
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And coming to her on a time,
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He told to her his mind:
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Susan, quoth he, I love thee dear,
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Be not to me unkind.
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If thou canst love and fancy me,
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In heart and eke in mind,
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I will prove loving unto thee,
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Be not to me unkind.
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Thy chearful looks rejoice my heart,
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And merry make my mind.
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Sweet Susan, then love me again,
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Be not to me unkind.
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Good John, I thank you for your love
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And wish you at home to tarry:
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I am too young for to be wed,
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And have no will to marry.
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Where thou livest are maidens store,
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Most beautiful and free.
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Henceforth set not vain love on me,
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For I cannot love thee.
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This answer struck him to the heart,
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As cold as any stone:
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So homewards strait he did return,
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With many a bitter groan.
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Wishing that he had neer been born
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Or in his cradle dyd.
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Unhappy man, to love so true,
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And yet to be denyd.
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Quoth he, Ill go to her again,
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And hear what she doth say.
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It may be she may be more kind,
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Tho first she said me nay.
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So going to the town again,
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He sent for her straitway,
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Desiring her to speak to him,
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But still she said him nay.
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Then did he sigh, lament, and grieve,
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And knew not what to say;
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So did he take his pen in band,
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And wrote these words straitway,
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My hearts delight and only joy,
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Kill me not with disdain;
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Vouchsafe that I may speak to thee,
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To rid me of my pain.
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Resolve me, sweetest, I thee pray,
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Why is thy hatred such?
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I know no cause, except it be
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For loving thee too much.
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As is my name, true is my love,
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Sweet Susan, unto thee:
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True is my name, true is my love,
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And evermore shall be.
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My love is honest, just and good,
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Kill me not with disdain;
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Rather do me the courtesy,
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To love for love again.
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When she had [r]ead and understood
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His mind and his intent,
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She then began to like and love,
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And grant his hearts content.
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John, I am thine, if thou art mine,
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For ever and for aye.
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It was to try thy constancy,
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That I did say thee nay.
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But heres my hand, hear and love,
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Ill neer thee more deny,
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My love is constant, firm, and true,
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And shall be till I die.
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Then they embracd each others love
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And joind in heart and voice,
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That she of him, and he of her,
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Had made so sweet a choice.
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But fortune that doth often frown,
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Where she before did smile,
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The mans delight, the maidens joy
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Full soon she did beguile.
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When she was settled in her love,
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Then he would change her mind.
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And for to try her constancy,
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Would be to her unkind.
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And thus resolved in his mind,
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Hed go to her no more:
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But went and wood another maid,
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Which grievd her heart full sore.
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Quoth he, she proved unto me,
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Hard hearted and unkind:
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But now her true love I have won
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Ill bear the self-same mind.
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When she perceivd his love to her
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Not as it was wont to be,
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She did lament, sigh, weep, and grieve
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And these words said she:
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False-hearted wretch, adieu, quoth she
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Disloyal and unkind.
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And if I die for love of thee,
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Thou shalt not know my mind.
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Woe to the time I did believe
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That flattering tongue of thine;
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Would to God I neer had seen
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The tears of those false eyes.
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Hard hap I had to set my love
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On one that mocketh me,
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Sure all the country did not yield
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A man so false as he.
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Thus was she brought to mean estate
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All comfort from her fled.
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She did desire to speak with him,
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Before that she was dead.
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Her friends did seek to cheer her up,
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And to make glad her mind:
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But she was killd for loving him,
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Who was to her unkind.
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False-hearted man, may never maid
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Love thee as I have done.
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But may my death rememberd be
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To time that is to come:
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But may all maids a warning take,
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By this my mournful death.
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And now, O Lord! receive my soul,
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To thee I give my breath:
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Thus died the pattern of true love,
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Thus died a virtuous maid.
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Thus died a good and harmless lass,
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As ever love betrayd;
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Six maids in white, as custom is,
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Did bear her to her grave:
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Her parents grieve, lament and mourn
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No child at all they have.
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When as her lover understood
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For love that she was dead;
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He ragd, and ready was to tear
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The hair from off his head.
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But when he came unto the place
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Where his true lover lay,
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He straitway run unto the gave,
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And there these words did say;
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Susan, quoth he, Ill kiss thy grave,
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Upon my bended knee;
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Whereby Ill show to all the world,
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How much I did love thee.
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And as he lay upon the ground,
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He heard the voice to say,
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John True, if ever thou lovst me,
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Make haste and come away.
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Then started he up from the grave,
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And stood like one struck dumb;
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And when he had regaind his speech
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He said, I come, I come.
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And thus like one out of his wits,
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He ragd in furious sort;
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That all the neighbours round about
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Were grievd at the report;
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And thus in sorrow and grief of heart
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He lay a whole fortnight;
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And when he had confessd his fault,
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He yielded up his spirit.
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According to his hearts desire,
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And as he did request,
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They dug his grave and laid him down
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By her whom he lovd best.
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You young men all that have true love
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Be true unto your friend,
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And if you love, be sure you love,
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Be true unto the end:
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And thus I end my story true,
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So full of grief and woe;
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May never any such again
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To wrong any other so.
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