1584.]
¶But if you seek, for to misleeke,
with this that I haue done:
Or else disdaine, that I so plaine
this talke with you haue begone:
Farewell I wil not let you,
He fisheth well that gets you,
And sure I thinke your other friend,
Wil prooue a Cuckold in the end:
But he wil take heed if he be wise,
To watch you and catch you, with Argus eies,
Besetting and letting your wonted guise.
¶Although the Cat doth winke a while,
yet sure she is not blinde:
It is the waie for to beguile,
the Mice that run behind:
And if she see them running,
Then straightway she is comming:
Vpon their head she claps her foote,
To striue with her it is no boote.
The seelie poore Mice dare neuer play,
She catcheth and snatcheth them euery day,
Yet whip they, and skip they, when she is away.
¶And if perhaps they fall in trap,
to death then must they yeeld:
They were better then, to haue kept their den
than straie abroad the field:
But they that will be ranging,
Shall soone repent their changing:
And so shall you ere it be long,
Wherefore remember well my song:
And do not snuffe though I be plaine,
But cherily, merily, take the same.
For huffing and snuffing deserueth blame.
¶For where you say you must obay,
the promise you haue made,
So sure as I wil neuer flie,
