Page:National Ballad and Song (1897), vol. 1.djvu/37

to lett me ride a iourney on a iade.
With that, stept forth a foggy three-chinde dame,
that vsd to take younge wenches for to tame,
And askt me, if soothe were my request,
or only moud a question but in iest?
“In iest,” quoth I, “that terme yt as you will,
I come for game; therefore giue me my Gill.”
“If that yt be,” quoth shee, “that you demaunde,
Then giue me first a godes peny in my hand;
For in our oratory, siccarly,
none enters in, to doe his deuory,
But he must paye his affidavit first,
and then perhaps Ile ease him of his thirst.”
I, seeing her soe earnest for the box,
I gaue her her due, and shee the doare vnlockes.
Nowe I am entered, sweete Venus be my speede!
but wheres the female that must doe the deed?
Through blind meanders, and through crooked wayes,
She leads me onward, as my author sayes,
Vntill I came vnto a shady loft
where Venus bouncing vestures skyrmish fought.[? vestals skirmish oft]
And there she sett me in a Lether chayre,
and brought me forth, of wenches, straight a paire,
And bad me choose which might content my eye;
but she I sought, I could noe waye espye.
I spake her faire, and wisht her well to fare,
“but soe yt is, I must haue fresher ware;