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THE POWER OF LOVE.

"Get aff, noo, an' fash me nae mair, auld man, Get aff, noo, an' fash me nae mair;

129

There's a something in love that your gowd canna

move

I'll be Johnnie's although I gang bare, auld man, I'll be Johnnie's although I gang bare."

PETER STILL.

THE POWER OF LOVE.

Hear ye, ladies that despise

What the mighty Love has done;
Fear examples, and be wise:
Fair Calisto was a nun;
Leda, sailing on the stream,

To deceive the hopes of man,
Love accounting but a dream,
Doted on a silver swan;

Danäe in a brazen tower,

Where no love was, loved a shower.

Hear ye, ladies that are coy,

What the mighty Love can do;

Fear the fierceness of the boy;

The chaste moon he makes to woo;

Vesta, kindling holy fires,

Circled round about with spies,

Never dreaming loose desires,

Doting at the altar dies;

Ilion in a short hour, higher

He can build, and once more fire. BEAUMONT and FLETCHER.

Then fly betimes, for only they
Conquer love that run away.

GIVE ME MORE LOVE.

Give me more love, or more disdain,
The torrid or the frozen zone
Brings equal ease unto my pain;

The temperate affords me none;
Either extreme, of love or hate,
Is sweeter than a calm estate.

Give me a storm; if it be love,
Like Danäe in that golden shower,
I swim in pleasure; if it prove

Disdain, that torrent will devour
My vulture hopes; and he's possessed
Of heaven that's but from hell released;
Then crown my joys, or cure my pain;
Give me more love, or more disdain.
THOMAS CAREW.

TO ANTHEA.

Bid me to live, and I will live

Thy protestant to be;

TO ANTHEA.

Or bid me love, and I will give
A loving heart to thee.

A heart as soft, a heart as kind,

A heart as sound and free,

As in the whole world thou canst find,
That heart I'll give to thee.

Bid that heart stay, and it will stay,

To honor thy decree;

Or bid it languish quite away,
And't shall do so for thee.

Bid me to weep, and I will weep,
While I have eyes to see,
And having none, yet I will keep
A heart to weep for thee.

Bid me despair, and I'll despair
Under that cypress tree;
Or bid me die, and I will dare
E'en death, to die for thee.

Thou art my life, my love, my heart,
The very eyes of me,

And hast command of every part,

To live and die for thee.

ROBERT HERRICK.

131

SONG.

Love was not meant for people in their wits, And they that fondly show it

Betray the straw and feathers in their brain, And shall have bedlam for their pain;

If single love be such a curse,

To marry is to make it ten times worse.

JAMES SHIRLEY.

CUPID'S CURSE.

My love is fair, my love is gay,
As fresh as are the flowers in May;
And of my love the roundelay,
My merry, merry roundelay,
Concludes with Cupid's curse;

They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!

My love can pipe, my love can sing,
My love can many a pretty thing,
And of his lovely praises ring
My merry, merry roundelay.

Amen to Cupid's curse!

They that do change old love for new,

Pray gods they change for worse!

GEORGE PEELE.

SONG.

SONG.

I prithee send me back my heart,
Since I cannot have thine,

For if from yours you will not part,
Why, then, shouldst thou have mine?

Yet now I think on't, let it lie,

To find it were in vain;
For thou'rt a thief in either eye
Would steal it back again.

Why should two hearts in one breast lie,
And yet not lodge together?
O Love! where is thy sympathy,
If thus our breasts thou sever?

But love is such a mystery,

I cannot find it out;

For when I think I'm best resolved,

I then am in most doubt.

Then farewell care, and farewell woe,

I will no longer pine:

For I'll believe I have her heart

As much as she has mine.

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SIR JOHN SUCKLING.

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