8o THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART i. 



8 Where we will sit upon the rocks, 



9 And see the shepherds feed our l flocks, 

 By shallow rivers, to whose falls 

 Melodious birds sing madrigals. 



And I will make thee beds of roses ; 



2 And, then, a thousand fragrant posies ; 

 A cap of flowers, and a kirtle, 

 Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle ; 



A gown made of the finest wool, 

 Which from our pretty lambs we pull ; 



3 Slippers, lin'd 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.* 



VARIATIONS. 



8 And we. 9 Seeing. l their. 



2 And a thousand. 3 Faire lined slippers. 



"* It has been much disputed whether this song was written by Christopher Marlowe 

 or by Shakespeare. The first time which it appeared in print, as far as can be traced, 

 was in " The Passionate Pilgrim and other Sonnets, by Mr William Shakespeare," printed 

 by Jaggard, in 1599, where it is thus given : 



Live with me, and be my love, There will I make thee a bed of roses, 



And we will all the pleasures prove, With a thousand fragrant posies ; 



That hills and valleys, dales and fields, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle, 



And all the craggy mountains yield. Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle. 



There will we sit upon the rocks, A belt of straw and yvye-buds, 



And see the shepherds feed their flocks, With coral clasps, and amber studs ; 



By shallow rivers, by whose falls, And if these pleasures may thee move, 



Melodious birds sing madrigals. Then live with me, and be my love. 



LOVE'S ANSWER. 



If that 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. 



Several lines are also quoted in the " Merry Wives of Windsor," act iii. sc. i, which 

 was first printed in 1602, and upon this evidence it has, with much reason, been attri- 

 buted to Shakespeare. But in " England's Helicon," which was published in 1600, seven 

 years after Marlowe s death, the song occurs as printed by Walton' (excepting the 

 trifling variations which have been pointed out), with the name of Christopher Marlowe 

 attached, and entitled "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love." In the Jew of Malta, 

 however, a tragedy which was written by Marlowe before 1593, but not printed until 

 1633, he introduced the first line of the song in the following manner : 



