Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/76

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He. Mine own dear love, I see the prove
         That ye be kind and true;
       Of maid, of wife, in all my life,
         The best that ever I knew.
       Be merry and glad; be no more sad;
         The case is changèd new;
       For it were ruth that for your truth
         Ye should have cause to rue.
       Be not dismayed, whatsoever I said
         To you when I began:
       I will not to the green-wood go;
         I am no banished man.

She. These tidings be more glad to me
         Than to be made a queen,
       If I were sure they should endure;
         But it is often seen
       When men will break promise they speak
         The wordis on the splene.
       Ye shape some wile me to beguile,
         And steal from me, I ween:
       Then were the case worse than it was,
         And I more wo-begone:
       For, in my mind, of all mankind
         I love but you alone.

He. Ye shall not nede further to drede:
         I will not disparàge
       You (God defend), sith you descend
         Of so great a linàge.
       Now understand: to Westmoreland,
         Which is my heritage,


on the splene] that is, in haste.