Heath Readings in the Literature of England

WHEN all is done and said,

In the end thus shall you find,
He most of all doth bathe in bliss
That hath a quiet mind,
And, clear from worldly cares,
To deem can be content

The sweetest time in all his life
In thinking to be spent.

The body subject is

To fickle Fortune's

LYRICS

The virtue of her lively looks
Excels the precious stone;

I wish to have none other books
To read or look upon.

In each of her two crystal eyes Smileth a naked boy;

It would you all in heart suffice To see that lamp of joy.

power,

And to a million of mishaps

Is casual every hour;

I think nature hath lost the mould,
Where she her shape did take;

Or else I doubt if nature could
So fair a creature make.

She may be well compared

Unto the Phenix kind,

Whose like was never seen or heard,
That any man can find.

In life she is Diana chaste,
In truth Penelope,

In word and eke in deed steadfast
What will you more we say?

If all the world were sought so far, Who could find such a wight? Her beauty twinketh like a star Within the frosty night.

Her rosial colour comes and goes

With such a comely grace,

More redier too than doth the rose, Within her lively face.

At Bacchus' feast none shall her meet,

Ne at no wanton play,

Nor gazing in an open street,

Nor gadding as a stray.

The modest mirth that she doth use

Is mixt with shamefastness;

All vice she doth wholly refuse,
And hateth idleness.

O Lord, it is a world to see
How virtue can repair,
And deck in her such honesty,
Whom nature made so fair!
Truly she doth as far exceed
Our women now-a-days
As doth the gilli-flower a weed,
And more a thousand ways.

THAT EACH THING IS HURT OF ITSELF

WHY fearest thou thy outward foe,

When thou thyself thy harm dost feed?
Of grief or hurt, of pain or woe,
Within each thing is sown a seed.

So fine was never yet the cloth,
No smith so hard his iron did beat,
But the one consumèd was with moth,
The other with canker all to-fret.
The knotty oak and wainscot old,
Within doth eat the silly worm;
Even so a mind in envy rolled
Always within itself doth burn.
Thus everything that nature wrought,
Within itself his hurt doth bear;
No outward harm need to be sought,
Where enemies be within so near.

I marvel much, pardy (quoth she) for to behold the rout,

To see man, woman, boy and beast, to toss the world about:

Some kneel, some crouch, some beck, some

check, and some can smoothly smile, 35 And some embrace others in arm, and there think many a wile,

Some stand aloof at cap and knee, some humble and some stout,

Yet are they never friends indeed until they once fall out:

Thus ended she her song and said, before she did remove,

The falling out of faithful friends renewing is of love.

1576

George Gascoigne (1535?-1577)

THE LULLABY OF A LOVER

SING lullaby, as women do, Wherewith they bring their babes to rest, And lullaby can I sing too, As womanly as can the best. With lullaby they still the child, And if I be not much beguiled, Full many wanton babes have I, Which must be stilled with lullaby.

First, lullaby my youthful years,

It is now time to go to bed,

For crooked age and hoary hairs,
Have won the haven within my head:
With lullaby then youth be still,
With lullaby content thy will,

Since courage quails and comes behind,
Go sleep, and so beguile thy mind.

Next lullaby my gazing eyes,
Which wonted were to glance apace;
For every glass may now suffice,
To shew the furrows in my face:
With lullaby then wink awhile,
With lullaby your looks beguile:
Let no fair face, nor beauty bright,
Entice you eft with vain delight.

And lullaby my wanton will,

For trust to this, if thou be still,

My body shall obey thy will.

I die to think to part from thee.

1573

David king of Jerusalem, and the third Judas Maccabæus. Of these three the Bible rehearseth all their noble histories and acts. And since the said Incarnation have been 5 three noble Christian men, stalled and admitted through the universal world into the number of the nine best and worthy. Of whom was first the noble Arthur, whose noble acts I purpose to write in this present

After that I had accomplished and finished divers histories, as well of contemplation as of other historial and worldly acts of great conquerors and princes, and also certain books of ensamples and doctrine, many noble and divers gentlemen of this realm of Eng- 10 book here following. The second was Charleland came and demanded me many and ofttimes, wherefore that I have not do made and imprint the noble history of the Saint Greal, and of the most renowned Christian king, first and chief of the three best Chris- 15 tian, and worthy, king Arthur, which ought most to be remembered amongst us Englishmen tofore all other Christian kings; for it is notoriously known through the universal world, that there be nine worthy and the 20 and of his knights, with the history of the best that ever were, that is to wit, three Paynims three Jews, and three Christian men. As for the Paynims, they were tofore the Incarnation of Christ, which were named,

main, or Charles the Great, of whom the history is had in many places, both in French and in English. And the third and last was Godfrey of Boloine, of whose acts and life I made a book unto the excellent prince and king of noble memory, king Edward the Fourth. The said noble gentlemen instantly required me to imprint the history of the said noble king and conqueror king Arthur,

Saint Greal, and of the death and ending of the said Arthur; affirming that I ought rather to imprint his acts and noble feats, than of Godfrey of Boloine, or any of the

the first Hector of Troy, of whom the history 25 other eight, considering that he was a man is comen both in ballad and in prose, the second Alexander the Great, and the third, Julius Cæsar, Emperor of Rome, of whom the histories be well known and had. And as for the three Jews, which also were tofore the 30 Incarnation of our Lord, of whom the first was duke Joshua which brought the children of Israel into the land of behest, the second

born within this realm, and king and emperor of the same: and that there be in French divers and many noble volumes of his acts, and also of his knights. To whom I swered that divers men hold opinion that there was no such Arthur, and that all such books as been made of him, be feigned and fables, because that some chronicles make of

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Heath Readings in the Literature of England, المجلد 1