LOVE ME LITTLE, LOVE ME LONG. Say thou lov'st me while thou live, While that life endures : Love me little, love me long, &c. Constant love is moderate ever, A suit of durance let it be, Love me little, love me long, &c. Winter's cold or summer's heat, Such the love that I would gain, Love me little, love me long, &c. BALLADS QUOTED BY SHAKSPEARE. King Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid. READ that once in How he his fancie might remoove, raine, Who had to name Co- A salve to cure him of his care, phetua, As poets they did faine: From natures lawes he did decline, For sure he was not of my mind, He did them all disdaine. The which did cause his paine. And, as he musing thus did lye, He thought for to devise How he might have her companye, That so did 'maze his eyes. In thee, quoth he, doth rest my life; For surely thou shalt be my wife, Or else this hand with bloody knife The Gods shall sure suffice. Then from his bed he soon arose, And to his pallace gate he goes; The blinded boy, that shootes so trim, Full little then this beggar knowes From heaven downe did hie; He drew a dart and shot at him, In place where he did lye: Which soone did pierse him to the quicke, And when he felt the arrow pricke, He looketh as he would dye. Then from the window he did come, And laid him on his bed, A thousand heapes of care did runne Within his troubled head: For now he meanes to crave her love, And now he seekes which way to proove When she the king espies. The Gods preserve your majesty, Our childrens food to buy. That after them did hye. For thou, quoth he, shalt be my wife, And honoured for my queene; With thee I meane to lead my life, As shortly shall be seene: |