T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
A Courtly New Ballad of the Princely Wooing of the Fair Maid of London by King Edward
Roxburghe Ballads(Anonymous. From The Roxburghe Ballads, Vol. I. 1874) |
FAIR Angel of England! thy beauty most bright | |
| Is all my heart’s treasure, my joy and delight; | |
| Then grant me, sweet Lady, thy true Love to be, | |
| That I may say “welcome, good fortune, to me.” | |
| The Turtle, so true and chaste in her love, | 5 |
| By gentle persuasions her fancy will move; | |
| Then be not intreated, sweet Lady, in vain, | |
| For Nature requireth what I would obtain. | |
| What Phoenix so famous, that liveth alone, | |
| Is vowèd to chastity, being but one; | 10 |
| But be not, my Darling, so chaste in desire, | |
| Lest thou, like the Phoenix, do penance in fire. | |
| But alas! (gallant Lady) I pity thy state, | |
| In being resolved to live without mate; | |
| For if of our courting the pleasure you knew | 15 |
| You shall have a liking the same to ensue. | |
| Long time have I sued the same to obtain, | |
| Yet I am requited with scornful disdain; | |
| But if you will grant your good will to me, | |
| You shall be advanced to Princely degree. | 20 |
| Promotions and honours may often entice | |
| The chastest that liveth, though never so nice: | |
| What woman so worthy but will be content | |
| To live in the Palace where Princes frequent? | |
| Two brides, young and princely, to Church have I led; | 25 |
| Two Ladies most lovely have deckèd my bed; | |
| Yet hath thy love taken more root in my heart | |
| Than all their contentments whereof I had part. | |
| Your gentle hearts cannot men’s tears much abide, | |
| And women least angry when most they do chide; | 30 |
| Then yield to me kindly, and say that at length | |
| Men do want mercy, and poor women strength. | |
| I grant that fair Ladies may poor men resist, | |
| But Princes will conquer and love whom they list; | |
| A King may command her to lie by his side, | 35 |
| Whose feature deserveth to be a King’s Bride. | |
| In granting your love you shall purchase renown, | |
| Your head shall be deckèd with England’s fair crown, | |
| Thy garment most gallant with gold shall be wrought, | |
| If true love, for treasure, of thee may be bought. | 40 |
| Great Ladies of honour shall ’tend on thy train, | |
| Most richly attired with scarlet ingrain: | |
| My chamber most Princely thy person shall keep, | |
| Where Virgins with music shall rock thee asleep. | |
| If any more pleasures thy heart can invent, | 45 |
| Command them, sweet Lady, thy mind to content; | |
| For Kings’ gallant Courts, where Princes do dwell, | |
| Afford such sweet pastimes as Ladies love well. | |
| Then be not resolved to die a true Maid, | |
| But print in thy bosom the words I have said; | 50 |
| And grant a King favour thy true love to be, | |
| That I may say, “welcome, sweet Virgin, to me.” |
The Fair Maid of London’s Answer to King Edward’s Wanton Love |
OH, wanton King Edward! thy Labour is vain | |
| To follow the pleasure thou canst not attain, | |
| Which getting, thou losest, and having, dost wast[e] it, | 55 |
| The which if thou purchase, is spoiled if thou hast it. | |
| But if thou obtainst it, thou nothing hast won; | |
| And I, losing nothing, yet quite am undone; | |
| But if of that Jewel a King do deceive me, | |
| No King can restore, though a Kingdom he give me. | 60 |
| My colour is changed, since you saw me last; | |
| My favour is vanished, my beauty is past; | |
| The Rose’s red blushes that sate on my cheeks | |
| To paleness are turned, which all men mislikes. | |
| I pass not what Princes for love do protest, | 65 |
| The name of a Virgin contenteth me best; | |
| I have not deserved to sleep by thy side, | |
| Nor to be accounted for King Edward’s bride. | |
| The name of a Princess I never did crave, | |
| No such type of honour thy hand-maid will have; | 70 |
| My breast shall not harbour so lofty a thought, | |
| Nor be with rich proffers to wantonness brought. | |
| If wild wanton Rosamond, one of our sort, | |
| Had never frequented King Henry’s brave Court, | |
| Such heaps of deep sorrow she never had seen, | 75 |
| Nor tasted the rage of a [harsh] jealous Queen. | |
| All men have their freedom to shew their intent, | |
| They win not a woman except she consent; | |
| Who, then, can impute to a man any fault, | |
| Who still goes uprightly while women do halt. | 80 |
| ’Tis counted [a] kindness in men for to try, | |
| And virtue in women the same to deny; | |
| For women inconstant can never be proved, | |
| Until by their betters therein they be moved. | |
| If women and modesty once do but sever, | 85 |
| Then farewell good name and credit for ever! | |
| And, royal King Edward, let me be exiled | |
| Ere any man knows [that] my body’s defiled. | |
| No, no, my old Father’s reverent tears | |
| Too deep an impression within my soul bears; | 90 |
| Nor shall his bright honour that blot, by me, have | |
| To bring his gray hairs with grief to the grave. | |
| The heavens forbid that when I should die, | |
| That any such sin upon my soul lie; | |
| If I have [yet] kept me from doing this sin, | 95 |
| My heart shall not yield with a Prince to begin. | |
| Come rather with pity to weep on my Tomb, | |
| Then, for my birth, curse my dear mother’s Womb, | |
| That brought forth a blossom that stained the tree | |
| With wanton desires to shame her and me. | 100 |
| Leave me (most noble King), tempt not, in vain, | |
| My milk-white affections with lewdness to stain: | |
| Though England will give me no comfort at all, | |
| Yet England shall yield me a sad burial. | |