Had Helen then sate carding wooll,
(Whose beauteous face did breed such strife),
She had not been Sir Paris' trull,
Nor caused so many to lose their life;
Yet we by love did still agree
To hold the bands of amity.
Or had King Priam's wanton son
Been making quills with sweet content,
He had not then his friends undone,
When he to Greece a-gadding went;
For love and friendship ...
The cedar-trees endure more storms
Then little shrubs that sprout on high;
The weavers live more void of harms
Then princes of great dignity;
While love and friendship doth agree ...
The shepherd sitting in the field
Doth tune his pipe with heart's delight;
When princes watch with spear and shield,
The poor man soundly sleeps all night;
While love and friendship doth agree ...
Yet this by proof is daily try'd,
For God's good gifts we are ingrate,
And no man through the world so wide
Lives well contented with his state;
No love and friendship we can see
To hold the bands of amity.
THE HONEST FELLOW
Hang fear, cast away care,
The parish is bound to find us
Thou and I, and all must die,
And leave this world behind us.
The bells shall ring, the clerk shall sing,
And the good old wife shall winde us;
And the sexton shall lay our bodies in the clay,
Where nobody shall find us.