None, quoth Alphonso, kill'd the man,

My lord, but only I,

And therefore set this poor man free,

And let me justly die.

Thus while for death these faithful friends

In striving did proceed,

The man before the senate came,

That did the fact indeed.

Who being moved with remorse,
Their friendly hearts to see,
Did say before the judges plain

None did the fact but he.
Thus when the truth was plainly told,

Of all sides joy was seen,
Alphonso did embrace his friend

Which had so woful been.

In rich array he clothed him
As fitted his degree,

And helped him to his lands again

And former dignity.

The murderer for telling truth

Had pardon at that time, Who afterwards lamented much

His foul and grievous crime.

LXXXV.

"A PLEASANT BALLAD OF TWO LOVERS."

[From a black letter copy, in the Pepys Collection.]

COMPLAIN, my lute, complain on him,
That stays so long away,
He promis'd to be here ere this,
But still unkind doth stay:

But now the proverb true I find,

Once out of sight, then out of mind,

Hey ho, my heart is full of woe!

Peace, lyre, peace, it is not so,

He'll by and by be here,
But every one that is in love

Thinks every hour a year.

Hark, hark! methinks I hear one knock,

Run quickly then, and turn the lock,
Then farewell all my care and woe.

Come, gallant, now, come loiterer,
For I must chide with thee,
But yet I will forgive thee once,

Come, sit thee down by me,

Fair lady, rest yourself content,

I will endure your punishment, And then we shall be friends again.

For

every hour that I have staid So long from thee away,

A thousand kisses will I give,

Receive them ready pay.
And if we chance to count amiss,
Again we'll reckon them every kiss,

For he is blest that's punisht so.

And if those thousand kisses then,
We chance to count aright,
We shall not need to count again,
Till we in bed do light,

And then be sure that thou shalt have,

Thy reckoning just as thou shalt crave, So shall we still agree as one.

And thus they spent the silent night,
In sweet delightful sport,

Till Phoebus with his beams so bright,
From out the fiery port

Did blush to see the sweet content,

In sable night so vainly spent, Betwixt these lovers two.

And then this gallant did persuade,
That he might now be gone,
Sweet-heart, quoth he, I am afraid,
That I have stay'd too long.

And wilt thou then be gone, quoth she,

And will no longer stay with me? Then welcome all my care and woe.

And then she took her lute in hand,
And thus began to play,

Her heart was faint, she could not stand;
But on her bed she lay,

And art thou gone, my love? quoth she;

Complain, my lute, complain with me, Untill that he doth come again.

LXXXVI.

"COURAGE CROWNED WITH CONQUEST,

OR,

A brief Relation how that valiant Knight and heroick champion, Sir Eglamore, bravely fought with, and manfully slew a terrible huge great monstrous Dragon."

To a pleasant new tune.

[In the black letter copies, the words" with his fa, la, lanctre down dilie," occur at the end of each of the two first verses, and of the last verse of each stanza. It may be sufficient to intimate this to the reader, without repeating them here.]

SIR EGLAMORE, that valiant knight,
He fetcht his sword, and he went to fight;
As he went over hill and dale,

All clothed in his coat of mail.

A huge great dragon leapt out of his den,
Which had killed the lord knows how many men,
But when he saw Sir Eglamore,

Good lack, had you seen how this dragon did roar !