Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/215

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The deepest love, yet most discreet

And secret is he. Lady sweet,

Give entry to this best of men,

And he through you shall live again.

And now we pray that you this fair

Fresh chaplet wrought of flowerets rare

Will to Fair-Welcome give, dear dame,

As offering in the Lover’s name,

’Twill comfort him a thousand fold

More than a hundred marks of gold.

God help me! I would gladly aid

Your purpose, cried she, but afraid

Am I lest Jealousy should know

Thereof, and thence would ruin grow

To me and mine, and much I fear

Lest Evil-Tongue should waken her.

He ever is engaged to spy

Whate’er we do, by Jealousy;

Unlet or hindered doth he shout

And chaunt each thing he knows about.

And when his knowledge he hath spent,

No scruple feels he to invent

Lies by the hundred, ’twere among

My chiefest joys to see him hung.

But if to Jealousy he told

This thing, she’d do worse things than scold.

No more of Evil-Tongue have dread,

Cried out the four, he lies stark dead,