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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deckt with Jewels had she on.
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Of a fair and comely countenance,
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and grace was she,
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And 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 bands did tye her 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 Ladyes 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 wo 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 distresse,
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Leave me not within this City,
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for to dye in heavinesse.
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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 Countryes so,
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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 knight,
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God grant upon my life the same
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may fully light.
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Blessed be the time and Season,
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that you 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 there are plenty
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Spain doth yeeld you wondrous store.
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Spaniards frought 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 enjoest my heart,
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I am lovely young and tender
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love is likewise my desert.
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Still to serve 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 cafe,
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And to travell tis 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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shall be thine own,
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And eke a hundred pound in gold,
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which lyes 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 Ladyes dreadfull
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and force tears from watry eyes,
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Well in worth shall I endure,
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extremity,
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For I could find in heart to loose,
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my life for thee,
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Courteoes Lady leave this fancy,
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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 lives 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 dayes God send hend her
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of my Suit Ile 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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bear to her this chain of gold,
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With these bracelets for a token.
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grieving 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 these are fitting for thy wife,
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and not for me.
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I will spend my dayes in prayer
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love and and all her laws defie
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In a Nunnery will I 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 misse,
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Thus farewell most gallant Captain:
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and farewell my hearts content
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Count not Spanish Ladyes wanton,
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though 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 to thy share,
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most fair Lady
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