Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875.

William Shakespeare

VIII. “It was a lover and his lass”

IT was a lover and his lass

With a hey and a ho, and a hey nonino!

That o’er the green cornfield did pass

In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,

When birds do sing hey ding a ding:

Sweet lovers love the Spring.

Between the acres of the rye

These pretty country folks would lie:

This carol they began that hour,

How that life was but a flower:

And therefore take the present time

With a hey and a ho, and a hey nonino!

For love is crownèd with the prime

In spring time, the only pretty ring time,

When birds do sing hey ding a ding:

Sweet lovers love the Spring.