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Second Fairy

Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence ; Beetles black, approach not near;

Worm, nor snail, do no offence.

Chorus

Philomel with melody

Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby!
Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,

Come our lovely lady nigh!

So good-night, with lullaby.

W. Shakespeare

CXXXI

LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ELLINOR

Lord Thomas he was a bold forester,

And a chaser of the king's deer;

Fair Ellinor was a fine woman,

And Lord Thomas he loved her dear.

'Come riddle my riddle, dear mother,' he said, 6 And riddle us both as one;

Whether I shall marry with fair Ellinor,
And let the brown girl alone?'

'The brown girl she has got houses and land,
And fair Ellinor she has got none;
Therefore I charge you on my blessing,
Bring me the brown girl home.'

As it befell on a high holiday,
As many more did beside,

Lord Thomas he went to fair Ellinor,
That should have been his bride.

But when he came to fair Ellinor's bower,

He knocked there at the ring;

But who was so ready as fair Ellinor

For to let Lord Thomas in.

'What news, what news, Lord Thomas?' she said, 'What news hast thou brought unto me?' 'I am come to bid thee to my wedding,

And that is bad news for thee.'

'O, God forbid, Lord Thomas,' she said,
6 That such a thing should be done.

I thought to have been thy bride my own self,
And you to have been the bridegroom.'

'Come riddle my riddle, dear mother,' she said,
'And riddle it all in one;

Whether I shall go to Lord Thomas's wedding,
Or whether I shall tarry at home?'

'There are many that are your friends, daughter, And many that are your foe;

Therefore I charge you on my blessing,
To Lord Thomas's wedding don't go.'

'There's many that are my friends, mother And if a thousand more were my foe, Betide my life, betide my death,

To Lord Thomas's wedding I'll go.'

She clothed herself in gallant attire,
And her merry men all in green;
And as they rid through every town,
They took her to be some queen.

But when she came to Lord Thomas's gate,
She knocked there at the ring;

But who was so ready as Lord Thomas,
To let fair Ellinor in.

'Is this your bride ?' fair Ellinor said;
'Methinks she looks wonderful brown;
Thou might'st have had as fair a woman,
As ever trod on the ground.'

'Despise her not, fair Ellin,' he said,
Despise her not unto me;

For better I love thy little finger,
Than all her whole body.'

This brown bride had a little penknife,
That was both long and sharp,
And betwixt the short ribs and the long,
Prick'd fair Ellinor to the heart.

'Now Heaven save thee,' Lord Thomas he said, 'Methinks thou look'st wondrous wan: Thou used to look with as fresh a colour, As ever the sun shined on.'

'O, art thou blind, Lord Thomas?' she said,
'Or canst thou not very well see?

O, dost thou not see my own heart's blood
Run trickling down my knee?'

Lord Thomas he had a sword by his side;

As he walked about the hall,

He cut off his bride's head from her shoulders,
And threw it against the wall.

He set the hilt against the ground,
And the point against his heart;
There never were three lovers met,
That sooner did depart.

Old Ballad

CXXXII

QUEEN MAB

O then, I see, Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman;
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep:
Her wagon spokes made of long spinner's legs:
The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;
The traces, of the smallest spider's web;
The collars of the moonshine's watery beams;
Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash, of film;
Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm,
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid:
Her chariot is an empty hazel nut,
Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,
Time out of mind the fairies' coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night,
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love;

On courtiers' knees that dream on court'sies straight;
O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees ;
O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream.
W. Shakespeare

CXXXIII

YOUNG LOCHINVAR

O, young Lochinvar is come out of the West!
Through all the wide Border his steed is the best;
And save his good broadsword he weapon had none;
He rode all unarm'd and he rode all alone.
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar !

He stay'd not for brake and he stopt not for stone; He swam the Eske river where ford there was

none;

But ere he alighted at Netherby gate,

The bride had consented; the gallant came late;
For a laggard in love and a dastard in war,
Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar.

So bravely he enter'd the Netherby Hall,

Among bridesmen and kinsmen and brothers and all,
Then spake the bride's father, his hand on his sword,
For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word,
'O come ye in peace here, or come ye in war,
Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar ?'

'I long woo'd your daughter, my suit you denied; Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide;

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