Galate did much impair
Venus' honour for her fair;
For stately stepping, Juno's pace,
By Galate did take disgrace;
And Pallas' wisdom bare no prize
Where Galate would show her wise.
This gallant girl thus passeth by,
Where Tityrus did sighing lie,
Sighing, sore, for love strains
More than sighs from lovers' veins;
Tears in eye, thought in heart,
Thus his grief he did impart:
'Fair Galate, but glance thine eye;
Here lies he, that here must die,
For love is death, if love not gain
Lover's salve for lover's pain.
Winters seven and more are past,
Since on thy face my thoughts I cast:
When Galate did haunt the plains,
And fed her sheep amongst the swains,
When every shepherd left his flocks
To gaze on Galate's fair locks,
When every eye did stand at gaze,
When heart and thought did both amaze,
When heart from body would asunder,
On Galate's fair face to wonder;
Then amongst them all did I
Catch such a wound, as I must die
If Galate oft say not thus,
'I love the shepherd Tityrus!'
"Tis love, fair nymph, that doth pain
Tityrus, thy truest swain;
True, for none more true can be
Than still to love, and none but thee.
Say, Galate, oft smile and say,
"Twere pity love should have a nay;
But such a word of comfort give,
And Tityrus thy love shall live:
Or with a piercing frown reply,
I cannot live, and then I die,
For lover's nay is lover's death,
And heart-break frowns do stop the breath.'
Galate at this arose,
And with a smile away she goes,
As one that little cared to ease
Tityr, pained with love's disease.
At her parting, Tityrus
Sighed amain, and saved thus:
'O, that women are so fair,
To trap men's eyes in their hair,*
With beauteous eyes, love's fires,
Venus' sparks that heat desires!
But O, that women have such hearts,
Such thoughts, and such deep-piercing darts,
As in the beauty of their eye
Harbour nought but flattery!
Their tears are drawn that drop deceit,
Their faces calends of all sleight,
Their smiles are lures, their looks guile,
And all their love is but a wile.
Then, Tityr, leave, leave, Tityrus,
To love such as scorns you thus;
And say to love and women both,
What I liked, now I do loath.'
With that he hied him to the flocks,
And counted love but Venus' mocks.
The haste with which Greene produced his love-pamphlets is betrayed in the frequency of his repetitions. Thus, the hair is repeatedly described as derived from Apollo, and as being the net in which men are entrapped :
Apollo, when my mistress first was born,
Cut off his locks, and left them on her head.'-p. 44.
'-like Apollo's locks
Methought appeared the trammels of her hair.'—p. 71
'Brightsome Apollo in his richest pomp,
Was not like to the trammels of her hair.'-p. 103.
'Her amber trammels did my heart dismay.'-p. 65.
'Who chain blind youths in trammels of their hair.'-p. 97.
OF A COUNTRY SWAIN AT THE RETURN OF PHILADOR.
'HE silent shade had shadowed every tree,
And Phoebus in the west was shrouded low; Each hive had home her busy labouring bee, Each bird the harbour of the night did know: Even then,
All things did from their weary labour lin,*
Menalcas sate and thought him of his sin:
His head on hand, his elbow on his knee;
And tears like dew, be-drenched upon his face,
His face as sad as any swain's might be;
His thoughts and dumps befitting well the place;
Even then,
When thus
Menalcas sate in passions all alone,
He sighed then, and thus he 'gan to moan.
'I that fed flocks upon Thessalia plains, And bade my lambs to feed on daffodil,
That lived on milk and curds, poor shepherds' gains, And merry sate, and piped upon a pleasant hill; Even then,
I sate secure, and feared not Fortune's ire,
Mine eyes eclipsed, fast blinded by desire.
Then lofty thoughts began to lift my mind,
I grudged and thought my fortune was too low;
A shepherd's life 'twas base and out of kind,
The tallest cedar have the fairest grow:
Pride did intend the sequel of my ruth,
Began the faults and follies of my youth.
I left the fields and took me to the town,
Fold sheep who list, the hook was cast away;
Menalcas would not be a country clown,
Nor shepherd's weeds, but garments far more gay:
Even then,
Aspiring thoughts did follow after ruth,
Began the faults and follies of my youth.
My suits were silk, my talk was all of state,
I stretched beyond the compass of my sleeve;
The bravest courtier was Menalcas' mate,
Spend what I would, I never thought on grief:
Even then,
I lashed out lavish, then began my ruth,
And then I felt the follies of my youth.
I cast mine eye on every wanton face,
And straight desire did hale me on to love;
Then lover-like I prayed for Venus' grace,
That she my mistress' deep affects might move:
Even then,
Love trapped me in the fatal bands of ruth,
Began the faults and follies of my youth.
No cost I spared to please my mistress' eye,
No time ill-spent in presence of her sight;
Yet oft she frowned, and then her love must die,
But when she smiled, O then a happy wight!
Even then,
Desire did draw me on to deem of ruth,
Began the faults and follies of my youth.
The day in poems often did I pass,
The night in sighs and sorrows for her grace;
And she, as fickle as the brittle glass,
Held sun-shine showers within her flattering face:
I spied the woes that women's loves ensu❜th,
I saw and loathe the follies of my youth.
I noted oft that beauty was a blaze,
I saw that love was but a heap of cares;
That such as stood as deer do at the gaze,
And sought their wealth amongst affection's tares,
Even such
With hot pursuit did follow after ruth,
And fostered up the follies of their youth.
Thus clogged with love, with passions, and with grief,
I saw the country life had least molest;
I felt a wound, and fain would have relief,
And this resolved I thought would fall out best:
Even then,
I felt my senses almost sold to ruth,
I thought to leave the follies of my youth.
To flocks again; away the wanton town,
Fond pride avaunt; give me the shepherd's hook,
A coat of gray, I'll be a country clown;
Mine eye shall scorn on beauty for to look:
Both pride and love are ever pained with ruth,
Therefore farewell the follies of my youth.'+
A deer was said to stand at gaze when it stared at anything. A slight liberty has been taken with this line, by which the measure is adjusted without injury to the sense. In former editions it stands
'And therefore farewell the follies of my youth.'
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