THE COMPLETE AXC.LLK 87 



THE MILKMAID S SONG. 



Come live with me, and be my love, 

 And we will all the pleasures prove 

 That valleys, groves, or hills, or field, 

 Or woods, and steepy mountains yield ; 



Where %ve will sit upon the rocks, 

 And see the shepherds feed our flocks, 

 By shallow rivers, to whose falls 

 Melodious birds sing madrigals. 



And I will make thee beds of roses, 

 And then a thousand fragrant posit s, 

 A cap of flowers and a kirtle, 

 Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle ; 



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 j 



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.* 



Venator. Trust me, master, it is a choice song, and sweetly 

 sung by honest Maudlin. I now see it was not without cause 

 that our own Queen Elizabeth did so often wish herself a 

 milkmaid all the month of May, because they are not troubled 



* Dr Warburton, in his notes on the Merry Wives of Windsor, ascribes 

 this song to Shakespeare : it is true, Sir Hugh Evans, in the third act of 

 that play, sings four lines of it ; and it occurs in a Collection ofPoemt, said 

 to be Shakespeare's, printed by Thomas Cotes for John Benson, 12mo. 1640, 

 with some variations. On the contrary, it is to be found, with the name of 

 " Christopher Marlow" to it, in England's Helicon; and Walton has just 

 said it was made by Kit Marlow. The reader will judge of these evidences 

 as he pleases. 



