With thy two daughters thou didst lie,
On them two bastards got;

And thus most tauntingly she chaft
Against poor silly Lot.

Who calleth there, quoth Judith then,
With such shrill sounding notes?
This fine minks surely came not here,
Quoth she, for cutting throats.

Good Lord, how Judith blush'd for shame
When she heard her say so;
King David hearing of the same,
He to the gate did go.

Quoth David, who knocks there so loud, And maketh all this strife?

You were more kind, good Sir, she said, Unto Uriah's wife.

And when thy servant thou didst cause
In battle to be slain,

Thou caused'st then more strife than I,
Who would come here so fain.

The woman's mad, said Solomon,
That thus doth taunt a king;
Not half so mad as you, she said,
I trow in many a thing.

Thou hadst seven hundred wives at once, For whom thou didst provide,

And yet three hundred whores, God wot, Thou didst maintain beside.

And those made thee forsake thy God,
And worship stocks and stones,
Besides the charge they put thee to
In breeding of young bones.

Hadst thou not been besides thy wits,
Thou wouldst not thus have ventur'd,

And therefore I do marvel much,
How thou this place hast entered.

I never heard, quoth Jonas, then,
So vile a scold as this ;
Thou whore-son run away, quoth she,

Thou diddest more amiss.

They say, quoth Thomas, women's tongues

Of aspen leaves are made;

Thou unbelieving wretch, quoth she,

All is not true that's said.

No sinner enters in this place,

Quoth Mary Magdalen then, "Twere ill for you, fair mistress, mild She answered her again.

You for your honesty, quoth she,
Had once been ston'd to death,
Had not our Saviour Christ come by,
And written on the earth.

It was not by your occupation
You are become divine,

I hope my soul by Christ's passion
Shall be as safe as thine,

Then rose the good apostle Paul,
Unto this wife he cried,
Except thou shake thy sins away,
Thou here shalt be denied.

Remember, Paul, what thou hast done,

All thro' a lewd desire,

How thou didst persecute God's church With wrath as hot as fire.

Then up starts Peter at the last,

And to the gate he hies,

Fond fool, quoth he, knock not so fast,

Thou weariest Christ with cries,

Peter, said she, content thyself,
For mercy may be won,
I never did deny my Christ

As thou thyself hast done.

When as our Saviour Christ heard this,
With heavenly angels bright,

He comes unto this sinful soul,
Who trembled at his sight.

Of him for mercy she did crave,
Quoth he, thou hast refused
My proffer'd grace and mercy both,
And much my name abused.

Sore have I sinn'd, O Lord, she said, And spent my time in vain,

But bring me, like a wand'ring sheep, Into thy fold again.

O Lord, my God, I will amend
My former wicked vice:

The thief for one poor silly word

Past into Paradise.

My laws and my commandments,
Saith Christ, were known to thee,

But of the same in any wise,

Not yet one word did ye,

I

grant the same, O Lord, quoth she,

Most lewdly did I live,

But yet the loving father did

His prodigal son forgive.

So I forgive thy soul, he said,
Through thy repenting cry,
Come you therefore into my joy,
I will not thee deny.

LXXII.

"A most excellent and famous Ditty of Sampson, judge of Israel, how hee Wedded a Philistine's Daughter, who at length forsooke him: also how hee slew a Lyon, and propounded a Riddle, and after how hee was falsely betrayed by Dalila, and of his death."

[Black Letter, for the assigns of T. Symcocke.]

WHEN Samson was a tall young man,
His power and strength encreased then,
And in the host and tribe of Dan,

The Lord did bless him still.

It chanced so upon a day,

As he was walking on his way,

He saw a maiden fresh and

gay

In Timnath,