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1 To woe the first, ashamed am I;

2 for & if he aske I will not denye;

3 for the case is such I must needs haue one.
4 I can noe &c.

5 Therfore my prayer, itt shalbe still

that I may haue one that will worke my will;
for itt is only hee can ease me anon,

& therfore Ile noe longer lye alone.

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to testifye his mickle woe;

& all was for the loue of his hy &c.

ffayre shee was to loue, as euer liked swaine;

neuer such a dainty one

shall none enioy againe;

sett a thousand on a rowe,

time forbidds that any showe
euer the like to her hy &c.

faire shee was, [of] comly 3 hew,

her bosome like a swan;

backe shee had of bending yew,

her wast was but a span;

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because he

had lost her.

She was one in a thousand.

Her bosom swan-swell

ing,

3 of comelye.-P.

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Men that More:

[Page 201 of MS.]

We have not been able to find anything about the origin of this song. Neither Mr. Chappell nor any other song-learned person we have referred to knows it. It seems a notice, on the one hand, to men that a girl's refusal does not always mean a real No, and on the other hand, a warning to girls to beware lest love or waggish inclination tempt them beyond the bounds of prudence. How oft, alas, are they but flies that do play with the candle, and perish, while that burns on its allotted space, with no lessening of its brilliance in the eyes of men!-F.

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MEN that more to the yard1 northe church

are oft enclined,

take young mayds now & then att lurch

But

to try their mind;

younge maids now adayes are soe coy, thé will not
show

when they are in loue,

Men sometimes pro

pose to girls,

But for feare I2 oft say noe, when perhapps they wold but they're fayne doe if itt wold not proue.

If for a time for feare they bee wyllye

and seeme coy,

there is one that perhapps may beguile yee,

the blind boy;

so coy they say no.

Yet Cupid will pierce their hearts.

1? MS. yord.-F.

2 for they.-F.

E

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heele strike home when he please; to the quicke heele shoot

his shaft without delay;

then theyle sigh & lament when, alas, their owne kind hart

cannott say Nay.

The small fly that playeth with the candle

oft doth burne;

Young

maids may

get burnt

such young

maids as doe loue for to dandle

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like flies in a

candle.

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once, may mourne.

lett flyes burne, & maids mourne, for in vaine you do perswade

them from their folly;

Nature binds all their kinds now & then to play the

waggs

though the seeme holy.

ffins.

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