PHILLIDA AND CORYDON.

In the merrie moneth of Maye,
In a morne by break of daye,
With a troope of damselles playing
Forthe "I yode" forsooth a-maying:
When anon by a wood side,
Where as Maye was in his pride,
I espied all alone
Phillida and Corydon.

Much adoe there was, god wot;
He wold love, and she wold not.
She sayde, never man was trewe;
He sayes, none was false to you.

He sayde, hee had lovde her longe :
She sayes, love should have no wronge.
Corydon wold kisse her then :

She sayes, maydes must kisse no men,

Tyll they doe for good and all.
When she made the shepperde call
All the heavens to wytnes truthe,
Never loved a truer youthe.
Then with manie a prettie othe,
Yea and nay, and faith and trothe;
Suche as seelie shepperdes use
When they will not love abuse ;

Love, that had bene long deluded,
Was with kisses sweete concluded;
And Phillida with garlands gaye
Was made the lady of the Maye.

NICHOLAS BRETON.

MAID OF ATHENS.

MAID of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh, give me back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!
Hear my vow before I go,
Ζώη μοῦ, σὰς ἀγαπῶ,

By those tresses unconfined,
Woo'd by each Ægean wind;
By those lids whose jetty fringe
Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge,
By those wild eyes like the roe,
Ζώη μοῦ, σὰς ἀγαπῶ.

By that lip I long to taste;
By that zone-encircled waist;

BONNIE LESLEY.

OH saw ye bonnie Lesley

As she gaed o'er the border?

She's gane, like Alexander,

To spread her conquests farther.

To see her is to love her,

And love but her for ever;
For Nature made her what she is,
And never made anither.

Thou art a queen, fair Lesley-
Thy subjects we, before thee;
Thou art divine, fair Lesley-

The hearts o' men adore thee.

The Spanish girl that meets your love

Ne'er taunts you with a mock denial, For every thought is bent to prove

Her passion in the hour of trial. When thronging foemen menace Spain, She dares the deed and shares the danger;

And should her lover press the plain,

She hurls the spear, her love's avenger.

And when, beneath the evening star,
She mingles in the gay Bolero,
Or sings to her attuned guitar

Of Christian knight or Moorish hero, Or counts her beads with fairy hand Beneath the twinkling rays of Hesper, Or joins devotion's choral band,

To chaunt the sweet and hallow'd vesper,

In each her charms the heart must move
Of all who venture to behold her;
Then let not maids less fair reprove
Because her bosom is not colder:
Through many a clime 'tis mine to roam,
Where many a soft and melting maid is,
But none abroad, and few at home,
May match the dark-eyed girl of Cadiz

LORD BYRON.

I LOVE MY LOVE. WHAT is the meaning of the song That rings so clear and loud, Thou nightingale amid the copse,

Thou lark above the cloud? What says thy song, thou joyous thrush, Up in the walnut tree?

"I love my Love, because I know My Love loves me.”

What is the meaning of thy thought,
O maiden fair and young?
There is such pleasure in thine eyes,
Such music on thy tongue;
There is such glory on thy face,

What can the meaning be?
"I love my Love, because I know
My Love loves me."

Oh happy words! at Beauty's feet We sing them ere our prime, And when the early summers pass, And Care comes on with Time,