CHAP. IV.] THE THIRD DAT. 119 



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. 1 



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." 2 



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. 



1 Dr. Warburton, in his notes on "The Merry Wives of Windsor," 

 ascribes this song to Shakspeare ; it is true Sir Hugh Evans, in the thii'd 

 act of that play, sings four lines of it ; and it occurs in a collection of 

 poems said to be Shakspeare'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 (p. 115) it was made by Kit. Marlow. The reader will 

 judge of these evidences as he pleases. [Dr. Johnson and Percy ascribe it 

 to Marlow ; Sir Harris Nicolas, on the contrary, thinks it Shakspeare's.] 

 As to the song itself, though a beautiful one, it is not so purely pastoral 

 as it is generally thought to be ; buckles of gold, coral clasps and amber 

 studs, silver dishes and ivory tables, are luxuries, and consist not with the 

 parsimony and simplicity of rural life and manners. H. 



2 This is the concluding paragraph of Sir Thomas Overbury's exquisite 



