< Page:Poems and ballads (IA poemsballads00swinrich).pdf
I bid you make good cheer to be
I would that he were hanged and dead
O king, I have a word to thee;
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258
THE MASQUE OF QUEEN BERSABE.
primus miles.
So fair a queen as all men see,
And hold us for your lieges free ;
By Peter's soul that hath the key,
Ye have good hap of it.
secundus miles.
Who hath no joy to see your head
With gold about it, barred on red ;
I hold him as a sow of lead
That is so scant of wit.
Tunc dicat Nathan propheta.
The child that is in Bersabe
Shall wither without light to see ;
This word is come of God by me
For sin that ye have done.
Because herein ye did not right,
To take the fair one lamb to smite
That was of Urias the knight ;
Ye wist he had but one.
Full many sheep I wot ye had,
And many women, when ye bade
To do your will and keep you glad ;
And a good crown about your head
With gold to show thereon.
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