Long thou for love never so high,
My love is more than thine may be.
Thou weepest, thou gladdest, I sit thee by:
Yet wouldst thou once, love, look unto me!
Should I always feede thee
With children meat? Nay, love, not so!
I will prove thy love with adversite
Quia amore langueo.

Wax not weary, mine own wife!
What mede is aye to live in comfort?
In tribulation I reign more rife
Ofter times than in disport.
In weal and in woe I am aye to support:
Mine own wife, go not me fro!
Thy mede is marked, when thou art mort:
Quia amore langueo.

yede] went. het] promised. bait] resting-place. weet] wet. in
fere] together. crippe] scrip. mene] care for.


Anonymous. 15th Cent.

25. The Nut-Brown Maid

He. BE it right or wrong, these men among
On women do complain;
Affirming this, how that it is
A labour spent in vain