chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 79 



Thy silver dishes for thy meat, 

 As precious as the Gods do eat, 

 Shall, on an ivory table, be 

 Prepared each day for thee and me. 



The shepherd-swains shall dance and sing, 

 For thy delight each May-morning : 

 If these delights thy mind may move, 

 Then live with me, and be my Love. 



Ven. Trust me, Master, it is a choice song, and 

 sweetly sung by honest Maudlin. I now see it was 

 not without cause, that our good Queen Elizabeth 

 did so often wish herself a Milk-maid all the month 

 of May, because they are not troubled with fears 

 and cares, but sing sweetly all the day, and sleep 

 securely all the night : and, without doubt, honest, 

 innocent, pretty, Maudlin does so. I'll bestow Sir 

 Thomas Overbury's Milk-maid's wish upon her, 

 " that she may die in the Spring ; and, being dead, 

 " may have good store of flowers stuck round about 

 " her winding-sheet." 



THE MILK-MAID'S MOTHER'S ANSWER. 



If all the world and love were young, 

 And truth in every Shepherd's tongue, 

 These pretty pleasures might me move 

 To live with thee, and be thy Love. 



