THE COMPLETE ANGLER. Ill 



A gown made of the finest wool, 

 Which from our pretty lambs we pull ; 

 Slippers lined choicely for the cold, 

 With buckles of the purest gold ; 



A belt of straw, and ivy buds, 

 With coral clasps and amber studs : 

 And if these pleasures may thee move, 

 Come live with me, and be my love. 



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 Eliza- 

 beth did so often wish herself a milkmaid 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 '11 

 bestow Sir Thomas Overbury's milkmaid'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." 



