225Ye florishing branches of a Kingly stocke,

226Sprung from a tree that once did flourish greene,

227Whose blossomes now are nipt with Winters frost,

228And pale grym death doth wayt vpon my steps,

229And summons me vnto his next Assizes.

230Therefore, deare daughters, as ye tender the safety

231Of him that was the cause of your first being,

232Resolue a doubt which much molests my mind,

233Which of you three to me would proue most kind;

234Which loues me most, and which at my request

235Will soonest yeeld vnto their fathers hest.

236Gon. I hope, my gracious father makes no doubt

237Of any of his daughters loue to him:

238Yet for my part, to shew my zeale to you,

239Which cannot be in windy words rehearst,

240I prize my loue to you at such a rate,

241I thinke my life inferiour to my loue.

242Should you inioyne me for to tye a milstone

243About my neck, and leape into the Sea,

244At your commaund I willingly would doe it:

245Yea, for to doe you good, I would ascend

246The highest Turret in all Brittany,

247And from the top leape headlong to the ground:

248Nay, more, should you appoynt me for to marry

249The meanest vassayle in the spacious world,

250Without reply I would accomplish it:

251In briefe, commaund what euer you desire,

252And if I fayle, no fauour I require.

253Leir. O, how thy words reuiue my dying soule!

254Cor. O, how I doe abhorre this flattery!

255Leir. But what sayth Ragan to her fathers will?

256Rag. O, that my simple vtterance could suffice,

257To tell the true intention of my heart,

258Which burnes in zeale of duty to your grace,

259And neuer can be quench'd, but by desire

260To shew the same in outward forwardnesse.

261Oh, that there were some other mayd that durst

262But make a challenge of her loue with me;

B Ide