On holidays when virgins meet

To dance the hays with nimble feet,
Thou shalt come forth and then appear
The queen of roses for that year;

And having danced ('bove all the best)
Carry the garland from the rest.
In wicker-baskets maids shall bring
To thee, my dearest shepherdling,

The blushing apple, bashful pear,
And shame-faced plum all simp'ring there :
Walk in the groves and thou shalt find
The name of Phillis in the rind

Of every straight and smooth-skin tree,
Where kissing that I'll twice kiss thee.
To thee a sheep-hook I will send
Be-prankt with ribands to this end,

This, this alluring hook might be
Less for to catch a sheep than me.
Thou shalt have possets, wassails fine,
Not made of ale but spiced wine;

To make thy maids and self free mirth,
All sitting near the glittering hearth.
Thou shalt have ribbands, roses, rings,
Gloves, garters, stockings, shoes and strings,

Of winning colours that shall move
Others to lust but me to love.

These, nay, and more, thine own shall be
If thou wilt love and live with me.

FRAGMENT.1

I WALK'D along a stream, for pureness rare,
Brighter than sun-shine; for it did acquaint
The dullest sight with all the glorious prey
That in the pebble-pavèd channel lay.

No molten crystal, but a richer mine,

Even Nature's rarest alchymy ran there,— Diamonds resolv'd, and substance more divine, Through whose bright-gliding current might appear A thousand naked nymphs, whose ivory shine, Enamelling the banks, made them more dear Than ever was that glorious palace' gate Where the day-shining Sun in triumph sate.

Upon this brim the eglantine and rose,

The tamarisk, olive, and the almond tree, As kind companions, in one union grows, Folding their twining2 arms, as oft we see

1 From England's Parnassus, 1600, p. 480, where it is subscribed "Ch. Marlowe."

? The text of England's Parnassus has “twindring," which is corrected in the Errata to " twining."

Turtle-taught lovers either other close,

Lending to dulness feeling sympathy; And as a costly valance o'er a bed,

So did their garland-tops the brook o'erspread.

Their leaves, that differ'd both in shape and show, Though all were green, yet difference such in green, Like to the checker'd bent of Iris' bow,

Prided the running main, as it had been

DIALOGUE IN VERSE.1

JACK,

SEEST thou not yon farmer's son?

He hath stoln my love from me, alas!
What shall I do? I am undone ;

My heart will ne'er be as it was.
O, but he gives her gay gold rings,
And tufted gloves [for] holiday,
And many other goodly things,

That hath stolen my love away.

1 First printed in The Alleyn Papers (for the Shakespeare Society), p. 8, by Collier, who remarks:-"In the original MS. this dramatic dialogue in verse is written as prose, on one side of a sheet of paper, at the back of which, in a more modern hand, is the name 'Kitt Marlowe.' What connection, if any, he may have had with it, it is impossible to determine, but it was obviously worthy of preservation, as a curious stage-relic of an early date, and unlike anything else of the kind that has come down to us. In consequence of haste or ignorance on the part of the writer of the manuscript, it has been necessary to supply some portions, which are printed within brackets. There are also some obvious errors in the distribution of the dialogue, which it was not easy to correct. The probability is that, when performed, it was accompanied with music."