Or kill the gallant knight:
To put in practice either,
Alas! it was a spite

Unto the silly damsel.

But one must be refused,
More mickle was the pain,
That nothing could be used,
To turn them both to gain;
For of the two the trusty knight
Was wounded with disdain :

Alas! she could not help it.

Thus art with arms contending
Was victor of the day,
Which by a gift of learning
Did bear the maid away;
Then lullaby, the learned man
Hath got the lady gay;

For now my song is ended.

XVII.

On a day (alack the day!)
Love, whose month was ever May,
Spied a blossom passing fair,
Playing in the wanton air:

Through the velvet leaves the wind,
All unseen, 'gan passage find;
That the lover (sick to death)
Wish'd himself the heaven's breath,
Air (quoth he) thy cheeks may blow;
Air, would I might triumph so!
But, alas! my hand hath sworn
Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn:
Vow, alack! for youth unmeet:
Youth, so apt to pluck a sweet.

5 On a day (alack the day !)] This poem, in a more complete state, and with the addition of two lines only found there, may be seen in "Love's Labour's Lost," Vol. ii. p. 335. The poem is also printed in " England's Helicon," (sign. H) a miscellany of poetry, first published in 1600, where "W. Shakespeare" is appended to it. It is not necessary for us here to point out the more minute variations.

Thou for whom Jove would swear
Juno but an Ethiop were;
And deny himself for Jove,
Turning mortal for thy love.

XVIII.

My flocks feed not,

My ewes breed not,

My rams speed not,
All is amiss:
Love is dying',
Faith's defying,

Heart's denying',

Causer of this.

All my merry jigs are quite forgot,
All my lady's love is lost (God wot):
Where her faith was firmly fix'd in love,
There a nay is plac'd without remove.
One silly cross

Wrought all my loss;

O frowning Fortune, cursed, fickle dame!
For now I see

Inconstancy

More in women than in men remain.

In black mourn I,

All fears scorn I,

Love hath forlorn me,

Living in thrall :

Heart is bleeding,
All help needing,

O cruel speeding!
Fraughted with gall!

My flocks feed not,] In "England's 'Helicon," 1600, this poem immediately follows "On a day (alack the day!)" but it is there entitled "The unknown Shepherd's Complaint," and it is subscribed Ignoto. Hence we may suppose that the compiler of that collection knew that it was not by Shakespeare, although it had been attributed to him in "The Passionate Pilgrim" of the year preceding. It had appeared anonymously, with the music, in 1597, in a collection of Madrigals by Thomas Weelkes.

7 Love is DYING,] "Love's denying" in "England's Helicon."

Heart's DENYING,] "Heart's renying" in " England's Helicon."

My shepherd's pipe can sound no deal',
My wether's bell rings doleful knell;
My curtail dog that wont to have play'd,
Plays not at all, but seems afraid;
My sighs so deep',

Procure to weep,

In howling-wise, to see my doleful plight.
How sighs resound

Through heartless ground,

Like a thousand vanquish'd men in bloody fight!

Clear wells spring not,

Sweet birds sing not,
Green plants bring not

Forth their dye';
Herds stand weeping,

Flocks all sleeping,

Nymphs back peeping
Fearfully:

All our pleasure known to us poor swains,
All our merry meetings on the plains,
All our evening sport from us is fled;
All our love is lost, for love is dead.
Farewell, sweet lass3,

Thy like ne'er was

"My shepherd's pipe can sound no DEAL,] "Deal" is part, and "no deal" is therefore no part." My shepherd's pipe cannot sound."

" have

1 My sighs so deep,] Both editions of "The Passionate Pilgrim With for "My," which last not only is necessary for the sense, but is confirmed as the true reading by Weelkes' Madrigals, 1597.

2 Green plants bring not

Forth their dye ;] So both editions of the "Passionate Pilgrim" and "England's Helicon." Malone preferred the passage as it stands in Weelkes' Madrigals :

"Loud bells ring not
Cheerfully."

But the variation was, perhaps, arbitrarily introduced for the sake of the music. Malone says, by mistake, that "The Passionate Pilgrim" reads "Forth: they die," and modern editors have followed him in this error, not having consulted the old copies.

3 Farewell, sweet LASS,] "The Passionate Pilgrim" and "England's Helicon" both have love for "lass," which the rhyme shows to be the true reading, as it stands in Weelkes' Madrigals, 1597.

For a sweet content, the cause of all my moan'
Poor Coridon

Must live alone,

Other help for him I see that there is none.

XIX.

When as thine eye hath chose the dame',

And stall'd the deer that thou shouldst strike,
Let reason rule things worthy blame,

As well as partial fancy like :

Take counsel of some wiser head,
Neither too young, nor yet unwed.

And when thou com'st thy tale to tell,
Smooth not thy tongue with filed talk,
Lest she some subtle practice smell;
A cripple soon can find a halt:

But plainly say thou lov'st her well,
And set thy person forth to sell®.

What though her frowning brows be bent,
Her cloudy looks will clear ere night;
And then too late she will repent

That thus dissembled her delight;

the cause of all my MOAN :] So "England's Helicon" and Weelkes' Madrigals: "The Passionate Pilgrim," 1599, has woe for "moan."

When as thine eye hath chose the dame,] In some modern editions, the stanzas of this poem have been given in an order different to that in which they stand in “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599: to that order we restore them, and that text we follow, excepting where it is evidently corrupt. The line,

"As well as partial fancy like,"

we have corrected by a manuscript of the time. The edition of 1599 reads, "As well as fancy party all might,"

which is decidedly wrong. Malone substituted

"As well as fancy, partial tike."

The manuscript by which we have corrected the fourth line of the stanza also gives the two last lines of it thus:

"Ask counsel of some other head,

Neither unwise nor yet unwed."

But no change from the old printed copy is here necessary. In the manuscript the whole has the initials of Shakespeare's names at the end.

And set thy person forth to sell.] So the manuscript in our possession, and another that Malone used: the old copies read, with obvious corruption,

"And set her person forth to sale."

And twice desire, ere it be day,

That which with scorn she put away.

What though she strive to try her strength,
And ban and brawl, and say thee nay,
Her feeble force will yield at length,
When craft hath taught her thus to say,-
"Had women been so strong as men,
In faith you had not had it then."

And to her will frame all thy ways:
Spare not to spend, and chiefly there
Where thy desert may merit praise,
By ringing in thy lady's ear:

The strongest castle, tower, and town,
The golden bullet beats it down.

Serve always with assured trust,
And in thy suit be humble, true;
Unless thy lady prove unjust,
Seek never thou to choose a new.

When time shall serve, be thou not slack
To proffer, though she put thee back.

The wiles and guiles that women work,
Dissembled with an outward show,
The tricks and toys that in them lurk,
The cock that treads them shall not know.
Have you not heard it said full oft,
A woman's nay doth stand for nought?

Think, women still to strive with men
To sin, and never for to saint:
There is no heaven; be holy then,
When time with age shall them attaint.
Were kisses all the joys in bed,
One woman would another wed.

But soft! enough,-too much, I fear;
Lest that my mistress hear my song,
She will not stick to warm my ear',

7 She will not stick to warm my ear,] So the manuscript in our possession : "The Passionate Pilgrim," 1599, has it,

"She will not stick to round me on th' ear,"

which cannot be right.