Thou has set this present day my body free,

But my heart in prison still remains with thee."

How shouldst thou, fair lady, love me, Whom thou knowst thy country's foe? Thy fair words make me suspect thee: Serpents lie where flowers grow."

"All the harm I wish to thee, most courteous knight, God grant the same upon my head may fully light.

Gentle foes we have you found:

With our city you have won our hearts each one;
Then to your country bear away, that is your own.”

"Rest you still, most gallant lady;

Rest you still, and weep no more Of fair lovers there is plenty,

Spain doth yield a wondrous store."

66

'Spaniards fraught with jealousy we often find,

But Englishmen through all the world are counted kind.

"Leave me not unto a Spaniard;

You alone enjoy my heart;

I am lovely, young, and tender,

Love is likewise my desert:

Still to serve thee day and night my mind is prest;

The wife of every Englishman is counted blest."

PERCY'S RELIQUES.

66

It would be a shame, fair lady, For to bear a woman hence; English soldiers never carry

Any such without offence." “I'll quickly change myself, if it be so, And like a page I'll follow thee where'er thou go."

"I have neither gold or silver

To maintain thee in this case; And to travel is great charges, As you know in every place."

"My chains and jewels every one shall be thy own,

And eke five hundred pounds in gold that lies unknown."

"On the seas are many dangers, Many storms do there arise, Which will be to ladies dreadful,

And force tears from watery eyes."

"Well, in troth, I shall endure extremity,

For I could find in heart to lose my life for thee."

66

"Courteous lady, leave this fancy;

Here comes all that breeds the strife;

I in England have already

A sweet woman to my wife:

I will not falsify my vow for gold or gain,

Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in Spain.”

"Oh! how happy is that woman

That enjoys so true a friend!

267

Many happy days God send her!

Of my suit I make an end:

On my knees I pardon crave for my offence,

Which did from love and true affection first commence.

"Commend me to thy lovely lady,

Bear to her this chain of gold. And these bracelets for a token,

Grieving that I was so bold:

All my jewels in like sort take thou with thee,
For they are fitting for thy wife, and not for me.

66

I will spend my days in prayer,
Love and all her laws defy;

In a nunnery will I shroud me

Far from any company:

But, ere my prayers have an end, be sure of this,
To pray for thee, and for thy love, I will not miss.

"Thus farewell, most gallant captain, Farewell too my heart's content! Count not Spanish ladies wanton,

Though to thee my love was bent: Joy and true prosperity go still with thee!" "The like fall ever to thy share, most fair ladie."

PERCY'S RELIQUES.

BURNS.

O were my Love yon Lilac fair.

O WERE my love yon lilac fair,
Wi' purple blossoms to the spring;
And I a bird to shelter there,
When wearied on my little wing;

How I wad mourn, when it was torn

By autumn wild, and winter rude!
But I wad sing on wanton wing,

When youthfu' May its bloom renewed.

66

‘O gin my love were yon red rose,
That grows upon the castle wa',
And I mysel' a drap o' dew,

Into her bonnie breast to fa'!

"Oh, there beyond expression blessed,
I'd feast on beauty a' the night;
Sealed on her silk-saft faulds to rest,

Till fley'd awa by Phœbus' light.”*

BURNS.

269

*The first two stanzas are Burns's. The last two are a fragment contained

in Witherspoon's collection of Scots songs.

Endymion.

The rising moon has hid the stars;
Her level rays, like golden bars,

Lie on the landscape green,
With shadows brown between.

And silver white the river gleams,
As if Diana, in her dreams,

Had dropt her silver bow
Upon the meadows low.

On such a tranquil night as this,
She woke Endymion with a kiss,

When, sleeping in the grove,
He dreamed not of her love.

Like Dian's kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought;

Nor voice, nor sound betrays
Its deep, impassioned gaze.

It comes, the beautiful, the free,
The crown of all humanity,-

In silence and alone,
To seek the elected one.