31. THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL

THERE lived a wife at Usher's Well,
And a wealthy wife was she;
She had three stout and stalwart sons,
And sent them o'er the sea.

They hadna been a week from her,
A week but barely ane,

When word cam' to the carline 1 wife,
That her three sons were gane.

They hadna been a week from her,
A week but barely three,

When word cam' to the carline wife
That her sons she'd never see.

"I wish the wind may never cease,
Nor fish be in the flood,

Till my three sons come hame to me,
In earthly flesh and blood!"

It fell about the Martinmas,

When nights are lang and mirk,
The carline wife's three sons cam' hame,
And their hats were o' the birk.2

It neither grew in syke 3 nor ditch,
Nor yet in any sheugh; 4
But at the gates o' Paradise
That birk grew fair enough.

1 Old peasant-woman.

3 Marsh.

2 Birch.

4 Trench.

"Blow up the fire, my maidens !

Bring water from the well!

For a' my house shall feast this night,
Since my three sons are well."

And she has made to them a bed,
She's made it large and wide;
And she's ta'en her mantle round about,
Sat down at the bedside.

Up then crew the red, red cock,
And up and crew the gray;
The eldest to the youngest said
'Tis time we were away.

"The cock doth craw, the day doth daw,
The channerin' 1 worm doth chide;
Gin we be missed out o' our place,
A sair pain we maun bide."

"Lie still, lie still but a little wee while, Lie still but if we may ;

Gin my mother should miss us when she wakes She'll go mad ere it be day.

"Our mother has nae mair but us;

See where she leans asleep;

The mantle that was on herself

She has happed it round our feet."

O it's they have ta'en up their mother's mantle, And they've hung it on a pin ;

"O lang may ye hing, my mother's mantle, Ere ye hap us again!

1 Fretting.

"Fare ye weel, my mother dear!
Fareweel to barn and byre! 1
And fare ye weel, the bonny lass
That kindles my mother's fire ! "
OLD BALLAD

32.-EPITAPH ON A CHILD

HERE lies, within a cabinet of stone,
The dear remainder of a pretty one,
Who did in wit his years so far outpass,
His parents' wonder and their joy he was,
And by his face you might have deemèd him
To be on earth some heavenly cherubim.
Six years with life he laboured, then deceased
To keep the sabbath of eternal rest;

So that, which many thousand able men
Are labouring for till threescore years and ten,
This blessed child attainèd to ere seven,
And now enjoys it with the saints of Heaven.
G. WITHER

33.-TO ANTHEA, WHO MAY COMMAND HIM ANYTHING

BID me to live, and I will live
Thy protestant 2 to be:

Or bid me love, and I will give
A loving heart to thee.

1 Stable.

2 Champion, witness.

A heart as soft, a heart as kind,

A heart as sound and free

As in the whole world thou canst find, That heart I'll give to thee.

Bid that heart stay, and it will stay,
To honour thy decree :
Or bid it languish quite away,
And 't shall do so for thee.

Bid me to weep, and I will weep
While I have eyes to see:
And having none, yet I will keep
A heart to weep for thee.

Bid me despair, and I'll despair
Under that cypress-tree:
Or bid me die, and I will dare
E'en death, to die for thee.

Thou art my life, my love, my heart,
The very eyes of me,

And hast command of every part,

To live and die for thee.

R. HERRICK

34.-"ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE1"

WHAT is our life? a play of passion; 2
Our mirth? the music of division: 3
Our mothers' wombs the tiring-houses be,
Where we are drest for this short comedy;
Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,
That sits and marks whoe'er doth act amiss;
Our graves, that hide us from the searching sun,
Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we playing to our latest rest:
Only we die in earnest,—that's no jest.

W. RALEIGH

35.-HESTER 4

WHEN Maidens such as Hester die,
Their place ye may not well supply,
Though ye among a thousand try
With vain endeavour.

A month or more hath she been dead,
Yet cannot I by force be led

To think upon the wormy bed
And her together.

A springy motion in her gait,
A rising step, did indicate

1 From a song-book published in 1612.

other readings.

2 In allusion to the Passion Plays.

There are

3 Airs with variations: probably played as interludes.

4 Hester Savory, married eight months before her death

to C. S. Dudley.