Then between us let us discuss, what was all the manere
Between them two; we will also tell all the pain and fear
That she was in. Now I begin, so that ye me answere.
Wherefore all ye that present be, I pray you give an ear:
"I am the knight, I come by night, as secret as I can,
Saying--Alas, thus standeth the case, I am a banished man!"
"And I your will for to fulfil, in this will not refuse;
Trusting to shew, in wordes few, that men have an ill use,
To their own shame, women to blame, and causeless them accuse;
Therefore to you I answer now,
all women to excuse;

Mine own heart dear, with you what cheer? I pray you tell anon,
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"It standeth so; a deed is do wherefore much harm shall grow,
My destiny is for to die a shameful death I trow,

Or else to flee; the one must be; none other way I know
But to withdraw, as an outlaw, and take me to my bow;
Wherefore adieu, my own heart true, none other rede† I can,
For I must to the green wood go, alone, a banished man."
"O Lord, what is the worlde's bliss, that changeth as the moon,
My summer's day, in lusty May, is darked before the noon:
I hear you say farewell; nay, nay, we depart‡ not so soon;
Why say ye so? whither will ye go? alas, what have ye done?
All my welfare to sorrow and care should change if ye were gone,
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"I can believe it shall you grieve, and somewhat you distrain;

But afterward, your painēs hard within a day or twain

Shall soon aslake, and ye shall take comfort to you again.

Why should ye nought? for to make thought your labour were in vain, And thus I do, and pray you lo,§ as heartily as I can,

For I must to the green wood go, alone, a banished man.”

"Now sith that ye have shewed to me the secret of your mind,

I shall be plain to you again, like as ye shall me find;

Sith it is so, that ye will go, I will not leave behind,

Shall never be said, the Nut-Brown Maid was to her love unkind; Make you ready, for so am I, although it were anon,

For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone.”

"Yet I you rede to take good heed what men will think and say,
Of young and old, it shall be told, that ye be gone away,
Your wanton will for to fulfil, in green wood yon to play,
And that ye might, from your delight, no longer make delay.

* manner.

† counsel.

part.

§ mark.

Rather than ye should thus for me be called an ill woman,
Yet would I to the green wood go, alone, a banished man.'
"Though it be sung of old and young that I should be to blame,
Theirs be the charge that speak so large in hurting of my name;
For I will prove that faithful love, it is devoid of shame;
In your distress and heaviness, to part with you the same;
And sure all tho'* that do not so, true lovers are they none;
But, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."
"I counsel you, remember how it is no maiden's law,
Nothing to doubt, but to run out to wood with an outlaw:
For ye must there in your hand bear a bow ready to draw,
And as a thief thus must ye live, ever in dread and awe,
By which to you great harm might grow, yet had I liefer then
That I had to the green wood go, alone, a banished man.”

"I think not nay, but as ye say, it is no maiden's law,
But love may make me for your sake, as I have said before,
To come on foot, to hunt and shoot to get us meat in store,
For so that I your company may have, I ask no more;
From which to part, it maketh mine heart as cold as any stone,
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."
"For an outlaw this is the law, that men him take and bind
Without pity, hanged to be, and waver with the wind.
If I had need, as God forbid, what rescues could ye find?
Forsooth I trow, you and your bow for fear would draw behind;
And no marvel, for little avail were in your counsel than†
Wherefore I to the wood will go, alone, a banished man.”
"Full well know ye that women be full feeble for to fight,
No womanhede‡ it is indeed to be bold as a knight;
Yet in such fear if that ye were, with enemies day or night,
I would withstand, with bow in hand, to grieve them as I might,
And you to save, as women have, from death many one;
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"Yet take good heed for ever I dredes that ye could not sustain
The thorny ways, the deep valleys, the snow, the frost, the rain,
The cold, the heat; for dry or wete|| we must lodge on the plain;
And us above none other rofe¶ but a brake bush or twain;
Which soon should grieve you, I believe, and ye would gladly than,
That I had to the green wood go, alone, a banished man.”

"Sith I have here been partynere** with you of joy and bliss,
I must also part of your woe endure, as reason is;

Yet am I sure of one pleasure; and, shortly, it is this,
That where ye be me seemeth, perdie, I could not fare amiss
Without more speech, I you beseech, that we were soon agone;
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"If ye go thider,* ye must consider, when ye have lust to dine,
There shall no meat be for you get, nor drink, beer, ale nor wine,
Nor sheetes clean to lie between, maden of thread and twine;
None other house, but leaves and boughs, to cover your head and mine :
Lo, mine heart sweet, this ill diet should make you pale and wan,
Wherefore I to the wood will go, alone, a banished man.”
"Among the wild deer, such an archere, as men say that ye be,
Ne may not fail of good victaile, where is so great plenty,
And water clear, of the rivere, shall be full sweet to me,
With which in hele,† I shall righte wele endure, as ye shall see ;
And, ere we go, a bed or two I can provide anon,

For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"Lo yet before, ye must do more, if ye will go with me,
As cut your hair up by your ear, your kirtle by your knee;
With bow in hand, for to withstand your enemies, if need be;
And this same night, before daylight, to wood ward will I flee.
If that ye will all this fulfil, do it shortly as ye can,
Else will I to the green wood go, alone, a banished man."
"I shall as now, do more for you than 'longeth to womanhede,
To short my hair, a bow to bear, to shoot in time of need.
O my sweet mother, before all other, for you have I most drede;
But now adieu! I must ensue where fortune doth me lead;
All this make ye; now let us flee, the day comes fast upon;
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone.”
"Nay, nay, not so, ye shall not go, and I shall tell you why:
Your appetite is to be light of love, I well espy ;
For like as ye have said to me, in like wise hardely,
Ye would answere who so ever it were, in way of company.
It is said of old, soon hot soon cold, and so is a woman;
Wherefore I to the wood will go, alone, a banished man.”
"If ye take heed, it is no need such words to say by me,
For oft ye pray'd, and long essay'd, or I you loved, perdie ;
And though that I of ancestry a baron's daughter be,
Yet have you proved how I you loved, a squire of low degree,
And ever shall, whatso befall, to die therefore anon;
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"A baron's child to be beguiled, it were a cursed deed;
To be fellow with an outlaw, Almighty God forbid :
Yet better were, the poor squier alone to forest yedė,*
Than ye shall say, another day, that by my wicked deed
Ye were betrayed; wherefore, good maid, the best rede that I can
Is that I to the green wood go, alone, a banished man."
"Whatever befall, I never shall of this thing you upbraid,
But if ye go, and leave me so, then have ye me betrayed;
Remember you well, how that ye deal, for if ye, as ye said,
Be so unkind, to leave behind your love, the Nut-Brown Maid,
Trust me truly that I die soon after ye be gone,

For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"If that ye went ye should repent, for in the forest now
I have purvey'd me of a maid, whom I love more than you.
Another fairer than ever ye were, I dare it well avow;
And of you both, each should be wroth with other, as I trow
It were mine ease to live in peace; so will I if I can;
Wherefore I to the wood will go, alone, a banished man."
"Though in the wood I understood ye had a paramour,

All this may nought remove my thought, but that I will be your;
And she shall find me soft and kind, and courteous every hour,
Glad to fulfil all that she will command me to my power,
For had ye loot an hundred mo, yet would I be that one;
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"Mine own dear love, I see the proof that ye be kind and true:
Of maid and wife, in all my life, the best that ever I knew.
Be merry and glad, be no more sad, the case is changed new
For it were ruth, that, for your truth, you should have cause to rue
Be not dismayed, whatsoever I said to you when I began

I will not to the green wood go, I am no banished man."

"These tidings be more glad to me than to be made a queen,
If I were sure they should endure: but it is often seen,

When men will break promise, they speak the wordes on the spleen:
Ye shape some wile, me to beguile, and steal from me, I ween;
Then were the case worse than it was, and I more woe-begone;
For, in my mind, of all mankind, I love but you alone."

"Ye shall not need further to drede, I will not disparage
You, God defend, sith you descend of so great a lineage:
Now understand; to Westmoreland, which is my heritage,
I will you bring, and with a ring, by way of marriage,

I will ye take, and lady make, as shortly as I can;

Thus have ye won an earle's son, and not a banished man."

Here may ye see, that women be, in love, meek, kind, and stable,
Let never man reprove them then, or call them variable;
But rather pray God that we may to them be comfortable,
Which sometime proveth such as loveth, if they be charitable :
For sith men would that women should be meek to them each one,
Much more ought they to God obey, and serve but Him alone.

66

89.-SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY.-IV.

ADDISON.

WE give the Spectator,' No. 335, without abridgment. It is by Addison.

My friend Sir Roger de Coverley, when we last met together at the club, told me that he had a great mind to see the new tragedy ('The Distressed Mother') with me, assuring me at the same time that he had not been at a play these twenty years. The last I saw,' said Sir Roger, 'was the Committee, which I should not have gone to neither had not I been told beforehand that it was a good Church of England comedy.' He then proceeded to inquire of me who this distressed mother was; and upon hearing that she was Hector's widow, he told me that her husband was a brave man, and that when he was a schoolboy he had read his life at the end of the dictionary. My friend asked me in the next place if there would not be some danger in coming home late, in case the Mohocks should be abroad. 'I assure you,' says he, 'I thought I had fallen into their hands last night; for I observed two or three lusty black men that followed me halfway up Fleet Street, and mended their pace behind me in proportion as I put on to get away from them. You must know,' continued the knight with a smile, ‘I fancied they had a mind to hunt me; for I remember an honest gentleman in my neighbourhood who was served such a trick in King Charles the Second's time, for which reason he has not ventured himself in town ever since. I might have shown them very good sport had this been their design; for, as I am an old fox-hunter, I should have turned and dodged, and have played them a thousand tricks they had never seen in their lives before.' Sir Roger added, that if these gentlemen had any such intention, they did not succeed very well in it; for I threw them out,' says he, at the end of Norfolk Street, where I doubled the corner, and got shelter in my lodgings before they could imagine what was become of me. However,' says the knight, 'if Captain Sentry will make one with us to-morrow night, and you will both of you call upon me