Whether stars doe stir good liking from aboue,
By hidden force and couert power deuyne
Or chaunce breede, choyce and leades vs on to loue
And fancy falles as fortune list assigne,
I cannot iudge nor perfectly desyne
But this I know, once let it gather roote
And to remoue it then is slender boote

Let sicknes grow, let cankers worke theyr wyl
Seeke not at first their malyce to suppresse
Scorne wholsome helpe,doe floute at physikes skil
In hope thy greefe wyl swage and waxen losse
And thou at last shalt neuer haue redresse
Diseases more admitte no cunning cure
The cause by tyme is fastned on to sure.

When fire is once crept yn among the straw
And flame hath raught the rotten roofe on hye
Tis hardly quencht hys fury hath no law
It seldome slakes tyl all on ground do ly
The way to help is busily to ply
The matter fyrst before it grow too far
When steedes are stolne tys bootles doores to barre

Euen so it fares when fancy blowes the cole
Of friendship fyrst and sets abroach good will
A man may ympes with ease from loue controle
Whilst feare doth force them stoupe to parents wyl
But let them run their race at ryot styl
And not rebukte by reason at the fyrst
Along they go let parents doe their worst.

Too late come salues to cure confirmed sores
When loue is linkt and choyce is chayned fast
You may as soone plucke trees vp by the rootes
As breake the knot or sunder promise past
The tackle hangs so sure vnto the Mast
When shyps from shore haue hoyste vp all their sailes,
To bend about againe it little vailes.

So statelie is the stroke of Cupids bow,
So fell his force, so huge his heauie hand
No striuyng serues, no shift to shun the blow,
No might nor meane his Godhead to withstand
Who fastest runnes sinks deapest in the sands:
Wherefore I wish that parents giue consent,
And not repine when mindes to match are bent.

For barre the sick whom Feuer doth molest,
To drinke his fill, his thirst will be the more:
Restraine thy Jenates course, thy bridle wrest,
The beast becommes farre fiercer than before.
Where streames be stopt, there riuers most doe rore,
Downe goe the banks, and ouer flowes the flood,
Where swellyng waters feele themselues withstood

No trauayle serues to sunder louing heartes,
No absence breedos in friendes forgetfull mindes,
The farther of that ech from other parts,
The hotter ech his flaming fancie findes.
Who striues to stop, doth most enrage the wynds:
No louer true, but beares within hys brest,
The shape of her whom he doth fancie best.

As thunder showres, whom weather calmes againe,
Gyue greater drought and helpes along the string,
By meanes of heate mixt with the blooming raine:
So safe returne of absent friends, doth bring
Increase of loue and faster streames the spryng:
Respect of birth, of state, or ought beside,
Stops not the boat that driues with such a tide.

A folly then for parents to restraine,
For lueres sake their children, sith we see
That both theyr care and labour is in vaine,
And sundrie times a thousand illes there bee
That doe ensue, when they will not agree:
As in this tale the Florentine doth showe
The great mishaps by such restraint that grow

Could mothers threates, or tutors taunts reuoke
This Marchants minde, or make him alter loue,
Could Parris pleasure once this youth prouoke,
His auncient friend from fancie to remoue?
Yea, though it were a thing for his behoue,
No, backe he came the selfe same man he went,
He chaungde the ayre, but not his first entent.

And loue, to helpe him onward on his race,
Assisted with deuise and subtile sleight,
Eke Uenus taught him how to come in place
And shrowded him in cloudie cloke of night,
Whereby he might approch to his delight,
But all for nought. The game that he pursude
Was caught before, and thence his bane ensude.

So Pyramus in Babylon of yore,
Faire Thisbe loued, but parents disagreed,
They might not match, but prisoned were therefore:
Yet loue at length this faithfull couple freed,
The time was set, the place and all decreed,
When soule mishap berest them both of life,
Who slue themselues with one vnluckie knife.

Had pitie lodge within Saluestras brest,
Would she haue forst so true a man to die,
Who chargde with loue and thousand woes distrest,
Did hazard life to presse in place so nie,
Vnto a dame that with her spouse dyd lie?
O blooddie Beare, nay rather Tygers whelp,
That would refuse her auncient friend to helpe.

O marble mynde O stayne of womans stocke
Not fed with milke of kindly nurses pappe
But hewed with toole out of some ruthles rocke
And layd withyn some Lionesses lap
Couldst thou alow thy frend so hard a hap
As by thy syde amid his sute to see
Him die the death and all for loue of thee?

DraWhether dames and read this bloody fact
Note wel the fruite of frowardnes in loue
Peruse the plague of her that pyty lackt
See how in that she pleasd the gods aboue
Example take your rygor to remoue
And you that aro Cupydos knyghts take heede
Bestow no more good will than shalbe need.

Renounce the loue of such as are forsped
Forgoe those frends whom law forbids to lyke
Courte no mans wyfe embrace no maryage bed
Leaue of your luste by others harmes to seeke
No such good wyl can last aboue a weeke
Looke when you thynke your selues in cheefest pryce
They set you by whylst others throw the dyce.

When once regard of honor lyes asyde
When credyt is respected nought at all
Then shame ensues and followes after pride
From vertue then to fylthy vice they fall
And to allure they vse a pleasant call
And beyng once entangled in the twyg
To make you fat they seede you with a fyg.

For one delight ten thousand yls ensues
For lyttle glee much bytter gall you gayne,
You may not hope to fynde those woomen true,
Theyr husbands beds that doe not stick to stayne
And make them serue for clokes agaynst the rayne
Wherefore I say force not of any dame
That for a frend forgoes an honest name.