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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  30. To Mistress Margery Wentworth

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

John Skelton. 1460?–1529

30. To Mistress Margery Wentworth

WITH margerain gentle, 
  The flower of goodlihead, 
Embroidered the mantle 
  Is of your maidenhead. 
Plainly I cannot glose;         5
  Ye be, as I divine, 
The pretty primrose, 
  The goodly columbine. 
 
Benign, courteous, and meek, 
  With wordes well devised;  10
In you, who list to seek, 
  Be virtues well comprised. 
With margerain gentle, 
  The flower of goodlihead, 
Embroidered the mantle  15
  Is of your maidenhead. 
 
GLOSS:  margerain] marjoram.