Book of Ballads, A

Wyatt, Sir Thomas, and Anon

TextBaseEarlyTudorEnglish
CV4-8: 26053.5
2008
STC 26053.5
Ringler 26053.5 and TP 831, 1098, 1168, 1173 and 1558. "This fragment contains five short lyric poems, two of which are incomplete. Numbers 1, 4, and 5 are by Sir Thomas Wyatt. No. 2 expands a poem of Wyatt's in the Devonshire MS, and probably represents the poet's final version. No. 3 is of uncertain authorship" (Fraser, p. 142). Restored readings in square brackets are supplied from Fraser's ed. Ptd. Reginald H. Griffith and Robert A. Law, _Univ. of Texas Stud. in English_, 10 (1930), 7-11.

[verso /recto headline:] A Boke / of Balettes
London: W. Copland?,1549?.

Variant source 1: T. Marshe, 1563? (STC 24650.5)

Composition Date: .






ref.ed: 111
folio: 44
The fantasy of my harte
That may me only ease,
And helpe my careful smarte

Therfore my lady dere
5 Let se your fantasye
To make some hope appeare
Of helpe and remedy

For if ye be my frende
And vndertake my wo
10 My grefe is at an ende
Yf ye continew so

Els fantasy doth not ryght
As I deserue and shall
To haue her day and night
15 To loue me best of all


Finis.
L[ou]e w[home ye] lyst and spare not
Therwith I am content
Hate whome ye lyst and spare not
For euen I am indifferent

5 Do what ye lyst and dred not
After your owne fantasy
Thinke what you lyst and fere not
For all is one to me.

For as for me I am not
10 Wauering as the wynde
But euen as one that reketh not
Which way ye turne your mynde

ref.ed: 112
folio: 44v
For in your loue, I doubt not
But as one that reketh not
15 Whether yo[u] hate or hate not
I[s] lest charge of my thou[ght] Is] In 1549, Is 1563; thought] thou 1549, thought 1563

Wherfore I pray you forget not
But that I am well contente.
To loue whom ye lyst and spare not
20 For I am indyfferent


Finis
SHall she neuer out of my mynde
Nor shall I neuer out of this payn
Alas her loue doth me so blinde
Except her helpe I am now slayne.

5 I neuer told her of my mynde
What payne I suffer for her sake
Alas what meanes might I now find
That no displeasure with me she take

Yf I speake fayre she sayth I [flatter]
10 And if I do not I shall not spede
Yf I to her to wryte a letter
Then wyll she say she can not rede

Shall I despayre yet for all this
Nay say my hart wyll not do so
15 I wold ones my swete-hart kys
A thousand times to bynd more wo.

I am abashed when I shuld speake
Alas I can not my mind expresse
Yt maketh my hart in peces breake
20 To se her louing gentelnes


Finis
ref.ed: 113
folio: [45]
MY penne take payne a [lytle space]
To folowe the thing [that doth me chase]
And hold my harte so [sore]
And when thou hast [this brought to passe]
5 My pen I pray the write no [more].

Remembre thou hast oft ple[ased]
And my sorowes also eased
But now vnknowen I kne[w b]ef[ore]
That where I trust I am de[cey]ued
10 And yet my pen thou canst [do no] more.

A time thou haddest as other ha[ue]
To wryte which way my h[ope to craue]
That time is past withdra[w therefore]
Sens we do lose let other sau[e]
15 As good leaue of, and writ[e no more.]

[And vse] to worke an-o[ther way]
N[ot as ye would but as ye may]
For els my lif[e is] past [restore]
And my desyre is my decaye

20 To loue in vayne who-so-euer [shal]
Of worldly payne it passeth all
As in lyke case I find wherfore
To hold so fast and yet to fall
Alak my pen now wryte no more

25 Syns thou hast taken payne this space
To folow that which doth the chase
And hath in holde my hert so sore
[And] now thou hast this brought to passe And] ndA 1549
ref.ed: 114
folio: [45v]
[My pen I pra]y the write no more


Finis.
[My lute a]wake perfourme the last
[Labour t]hat thou and I shall wast
[And end th]at I haue new begonne
[For when] this song is sung and paste
5 [My lute be still for I] haue done.

[As to be he]arde wh[er]e eare is none
[As lead to] graue in marble-stone
[My so]ng may perce her hart as sone
[Should] we then syng wepe or mone
10 [No more] my lute for I haue done

[The rocke d]oth not so cruelly
[Repulse the wau]es continually
[As she my sute a]nd effeccion
[So that I am] past all remedy
15 [Wherby my] lute and I haue done

[Proud of the spl]ene that [thou hast got]
[Of symple hart, throu]gh loues shot
[Vnkind altho]ugh thou hast them wone
[Thinke not] he hath his bow forgot
20 [Alt]hough my lute and I haue done

Vengeaunce may fall on such disdayne
That maketh but game of ernest payne
[.]true not alone vnder the sunne Striue? Others versions have Thinck or Trow.
[V]ngentylly to cause the louers payne
25 [Al]though my lute and I haue done

And then may chaunce the to repent
The time that thou hast lost and spent