Thy music grave, bedeckèd well
With sundry points of skill,
Bewrays thy knowledge excellent
Ingrafted in thy will.
My tongue shall speak, my pen shall write
In praise of thee to tell;
The sweetest bird that ever was,
In friendly sort farewell.
From Thomas Weelkes’ Ballets and Madrigals, 1598.
In pride of May
Then, Lady dear,
Do you appear
In beauty like the spring: Fa la la!
I dare well say
The birds that day
More cheerfully will sing. Fa la la!
From Robert Jones’s Musical Dream, 1609.
Φεύγειν δὴ τὸν Ἔρωτα κενὸς πόνος.—Archias.
In Sherwood lived stout Robin Hood,
A noble thief was Robin Hood,
Wise was he could deceive him;
Yet Marian in his bravest mood
Could of his heart bereave him:
No greater thief lies hidden under skies,
Than beauty closely lodged in women’s eyes.
Hey, jolly Robin, &c.
An outlaw was this Robin Hood,
His life free and unruly,
Yet to fair Marian bound he stood
And love’s debt paid her duly:
Whom curb of strictest law could not hold in,
Love[8] to obedience with a wink could win.
Hey, jolly Robin, &c.