But shall I go mourn for that, my dear?
The pale moon shines by night :
And when I wander here and there,
I then do most go right.

If tinkers may have leave to live
And bear the sow-skin budget,
Then my account I well may give
And in the stocks avouch it.

Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
And merrily hent the stile-a :
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad, tires in a mile-a.

XXIX

PEDLAR'S CRIES

AWN as white as driven snow;

LA

Cypress black as e'er was crow ;
Gloves as sweet as damask roses;
Masks for faces and for noses;

Bugle bracelet, necklace amber,
Perfume for a lady's chamber;
Golden quoifs and stomachers,
For my lads to give their dears:
Pins and poking-sticks of steel,

What maids lack from head to heel:

Come buy of me, come; come buy, come buy;

Buy, lads, or else your lasses cry:

Come buy.

Will you buy any tape,

Or lace for your cape,

My dainty duck, my dear-a?

Any silk, any thread,

Any toys for your head,

Of the new'st and finest, finest wear-a?

Come to the pedlar ;

Money's a medler

That doth utter all men's ware-a

XXX

BACCHANALIAN SONG

COME, thou Monarch of the vine,

Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne!

In thy fats our cares be drown'd,

With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd : Cup us, till the world go round,

Cup us, till the world go round!

XXXI

A COUNTRY FELLOW'S SONG

Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer, And praise God for the merry year ;

When flesh is cheap and females dear,

And lusty lads roam here and there
So merrily,

And ever among so merrily.

Be merry, be merry, my wife has all;
For women are shrews, both short and tall:
"Tis merry in hall when beards wag all,

And welcome merry Shrove-tide :—
Be merry, be merry!

A cup of wine that's brisk and fine,
And drink unto the leman mine;

And a merry heart lives long-a.

Fill the cup, and let it come;

I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom.

XXXII

A CLOWN'S HELEN

AS this fair face the cause, quoth she,

WAS

Why the Grecians sackéd Troy?

Fond done, done fond,

Was this King Priam's joy?

With that she sighed as she stood,
With that she sighed as she stood,
And gave this sentence then;
Among nine bad if one be good,
Among nine bad if one be good,

There's yet one good in ten.