64 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. TART i. 



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 my 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, my master, it is a choice song, and sweetly 

 sung by honest Maudlin. I now see_jt_wasjiQt without cause 

 that ourgood^Queen Elizabeth did sn nft^p wjgh hprsf^fVajTTJlK 

 mai3~airthe month of May^_because they are not troubled with 

 fears and cares, and sing sweetly all the day, and sleep securely 

 all the night: and without doubt, honest, innocent, pretty 

 Maudlin does so. I'll hnntmv Sir Tfrnrpas Oyerburylg 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 MILKMAID'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. 



But Time drives flocks from field to fold, 

 When rivers rage and rocks grow cold; 

 Then Philomel becometh dumb, 

 And age complains of care to come. 



