A PATTERN of true LOVE to you I will recite,
Between a Beautiful Lady, and a Courteous Knight.
To the Tune of, Dainty come thou to me, etc.
Licens'd and Enter'd according to Order.
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DEar Love regard my grief,
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do not my suit disdain,
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O yield me some relief,
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that am with sorrow slain:
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These long seven years and more
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have I still loved thee;
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Do thou my joys restore,
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fair Lady pity me.
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Pity my grievous pain,
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long suffered for thy sake,
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Do not my suit disdain,
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that no time rest can take;
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These seven long years and more,
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have I still loved thee:
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Do thou my joys restore
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fair Lady pity me.
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How should I pity thee?
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this Lady then reply'd,
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Thou art no match for me,
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thy suit must be deny'd:
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I am of noble blood,
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you but of mean degree,
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It stands not for my good
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surely to match with thee.
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This answer had he most,
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which cut his heart so deep,
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That on his bed full oft
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would he lye down and weep,
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With tears he did lament
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his froward destiny;
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With sighs yet would he say,
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fair Lady pity me.
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While I live, I must love,
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so fancy urgeth me,
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My mind cannot remove,
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such is my constancy:
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My mind is nobly bent
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though I of low degree,
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Sweet Lady give consent
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to love and pity me.
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The Lady hearing now
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the moan that he did make,
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Did of his suit allow,
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and thus to him she spake
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Sir Knight, mourn thou no more,
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my faith I plight to thee,
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May this thy joys restore,
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thou hast thy wish of me.
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But first sweet Love (quoth she)
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what shift then wilt thou make,
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With speed to marry me,
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and thy delight to take:
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It were a bargain bad
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to get a wanton Wife,
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And lose with sorrow great
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thy sweet distressed life.
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If that my Father knew
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the love I bear to thee,
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We both the same should rue,
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therefore be rul'd by me:
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When my Father is in bed,
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and all his waiting-men,
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Through the window will I get
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see that you meet me then.
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Content Lady (he said)
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he's but a Coward-knight,
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Whom ought shall make afraid
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to win a Lady bright:
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Thus then they went away,
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but by the master-cook
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Coming through the window wide,
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was this fair Lady took.
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O gentle cook, (quoth she)
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do not my deed bewray,
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Some favour to me show,
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and let me pass away:
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Love that doth conquer Kings,
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forc'd me to do this deed,
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Whilst others sits and sings,
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make not my heart to bleed.
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Not so, (then said the cook)
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fair Lady pardon me,
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Who can this trespass brook,
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committed thus by thee?
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My Lord, your Father, shall
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the matter understand,
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For false I will not be,
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neither for house nor land.
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Then from the Lady's face,
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fell down the tears amain,
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She was in woful case,
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and thus she made h[e]r moan:
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Ah, my own dear Love,
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little know'st thou my grief,
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Great sorrows must we p[r]ove,
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hope yielding no relief.
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Her Father in a spleen,
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lock'd up his Daughter bright,
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And sent forth armed men
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to take this worthy Knight,
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Who then was judg'd to be
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quite banish'd from the land,
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Never his Love to see,
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so strict was the command.
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And at the sessions next,
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after the Knight was gone,
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To his Daughter, full of woe,
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they brought a hanged man,
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Whose head was smitten off,
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the Maiden's truth to prove,
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Quoth her Father, Wanton Dame,
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now take thee here thy Love.
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Her tears fell down amain,
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when this sight she did see,
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And sorely did complain
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of Father's cruelty;
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His body she did wash
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with tears that she did shed,
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An hundred times she kist
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his body being dead.
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Alas, my Love, (she said)
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dear hast thou paid for me,
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Would God in heaven's bliss,
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my soul were now with thee,
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But whilst that I do live,
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a vow I here do make,
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Seven years to live unwed
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for my true Lover's sake.
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Her Father hearing this,
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was grieved inwardly,
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He pardon'd her amiss,
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and prais'd her constancy:
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And to this courteous Knight,
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her Father did her wed.
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God grant the like success
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where perfect love is breed.
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