Popular Music Of The Olden Time Vol 1

Ancient Songs, Ballads, & Dance Tunes, Sheet Music & Lyrics - online book

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314                                  ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC.
Ford was not a great harmonist, but this song (now miscalled a madrigal) has survived the works of many more learned composers, and is probably as popular at the present day as when first written. The harmony of the modern copies is not by Ford.
If I admire or praise you too much,
That fault you may forgive me ; Or if my hands had stray'd to touch,
Then justly might you leave me. I ask'd you leave, you bade me love,
Is't now a time to chide me? No, no, no, I'll love you still,
What fortune e'er betide me.
The sun, whose beams most glorious are,
Rejecteth no beholder; And your sweet beauty, past compare,
Made my poor eyes the bolder. I have only found the last stanza third edition, 8vo., 1671.
When beauty moves, and wit delights, And signs of kindness bind me,
There, O there, where'er I go, 111 leave my heart behind me.
[If I have wronged you, tell me wherein,
And I will soon amend it; In recompense of such a sin,
Here is my heart, I'll send it. If that will not your mercy move,
Then, for my life I care not; Then, O then, torment me still, And take my life, and spare not.] in late copies, such as Wit's Interpreter,