O, my love, my love is young:

Age I do defie thee;

Oh sweet shepherd, hie thee,

For methinks thou stayst too long.

Printed in the "Passionate Pilgrim," by Shakspeare, 1599. "It seems," says Percy, "intended for the mouth of Venus, weighing the comparative merits of youthful Adonis and aged Vulcan." Ford, in "Fancies chaste and noble," 1638, alludes to it, which gave Gifford an opportunity to call it " a despicable ditty."]

THE PRAISE OF A COUNTRYMAN'S LIFE.

JOHN CHALKHILL.

Oh! the sweet contentment

The countryman doth find,

High trolollie, lollie, loe, high trolollie, lee,

That quiet contemplation,

Possesseth all my mind:

Then, care away, and wend along with me

For courts are full of flattery,

As hath too oft been try'd,

The city full of wantonness,

And both are full of pride:

Then, care away, and wend along with me.

But, oh the honest countryman

Speaks truly from his heart,

His pride is in his tillage,

His horses and his cart:

Then, care away, and wend along with me.

Our clothing is good sheep-skins,
Gray russet for our wives,

"Tis warmth, and not gay clothing,

That doth prolong our lives:

Then, care away, and wend along with me.

The ploughman though he labour hard,

Yet on the holy-day

No emperor so merrily

Does pass his time away :

Then, care away, and wend along with me.

To recompense our tillage

The heavens afford us showers,
And for our sweet refreshments

The earth affords us bowers:

Then, care away, and wend along with me.

The cuckoo and the nightingale,

Full merrily do sing,

And with their pleasant roundelayes,

Bid welcome to the spring:

Then, care away, and wend along with me.

This is not half the happiness

The countryman enjoys,

Though others think they have as much,

Yet he that says so, lies:

Then, come away, turn countryman with me.

[Found in Walton's Angler, 1653. Who Chalkhill was has been a matter of much dispute, by some he is supposed to be Walton himself; but Walton, who published his poem called Thealma and Clearchus, by John Chalkhill, calls him a friend of Spenser's. The chorus," High trolollie," &c. is repeated as the third line of every verse.]

YOU MEANER BEAUTIES.

SIR HENRY WOTTON.

Born 1368-Died 1639.

You meaner beauties of the night,
Which poorly satisfy our eyes
More by your number than your light;
You common people of the skies,
What are you when the Moon shall rise?

Ye violets that first appear,

By your pure purple mantles known,
Like the proud virgins of the year,
As if the spring were all your own;
What are you when the Rose is blown?

Ye curious chanters of the wood,

That warble forth dame Nature's layes,
Thinking your passion's understood

By your weak accents; what's your praise,
When Philomel her voice shall raise?

"Sun" is the reading in the Reliquiæ Wottoniana. The alteration

I believe is Percy's, from a MS. copy.

So, when my mistress shall be seen
In sweetness of her looks and mind;
By virtue first, then choice a queen;
Tell me, if she was not design'd

Th' eclipse and glory of her kind?

["Written, on that amiable princess, Elizabeth, daughter of James 1. and wife of the Elector Palatine, who was chosen King of Bohemia, Sept. 5, 1619." PERCY.

In Chambers' Scottish Songs, vol. ii. p. 31, this beautiful song is printed with three additional verses, and attributed to Lord Darnley, "written it is said in praise of the beauty of Queen Mary, before their marriage." These are the other verses, Mr. Chambers prints them from an old copy :

You glancing jewels of the East,
Whose estimation fancies raise,
Pearls, rubies, sapphires, and the rest
Of glittering gems what is your praise,
When the bright diamond shows his rays?

But ah! poor light, gem, voice, and sound,
What are ye if my Mary shine?
Moon, diamond, flowers, and Philomel,
Light, lustre, scent, and music tine,
And yield to merit more divine.

The rose, and lily, the whole spring,

Unto her breath for sweetness speed;

The diamond darkens in the ring;

When she appears, the moon looks dead,
As when Sol lifts his radiant head.

In a little publication bearing date 1663, entitled, "A crew of Kind London Gossips, to which is added ingenious poems," the last verse of the additions is found, the rhyme in the second line is made run,' and the two last lines are thus given :

If she appear the moons undone,

As in the presence of the sun.

There can be no good grounds for printing the song as Lord Darnley's!]

THE CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE.

SIR HENRY WOTTON.

How happy is he born or taught,
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his highest skill:

Whose passions not his masters are;
Whose soul is still prepared for death;
Not ty'd unto the world with care
Of prince's ear, or vulgar breath:

Who hath his life from rumours freed;
Whose conscience is his strong retreat :
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great :

Who envies none, whom chance doth raise,
Or vice who never understood
How deepest wounds are given with praise;
Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

Who God doth late and early pray
More of his grace than gifts to lend;

And entertains the harmless day

With a well chosen book or friend.

This man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise, or fear to fall;
Lord of himself, though not of lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.