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The Poetical Works of Thomas Chatterton

with an essay on the Rowley poems by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat and a memoir by Edward Bell
Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770)

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Vol. I.
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I. Poems written before 1769.
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II. Poems written in 1769.
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III. Poems written in 1770.
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IV. Miscellaneous Poems, &c.
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VOL. II.

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266

WARRE.

By John, seconde Abbotte of Seyncte Austyns Mynsterre.
[_]

(Unaltered).

I.

Of warres glumm pleasaunce doe I chaunte mie laie,
Trouthe tips the poynctelle, Wysdomme skemps the lyne,
Whylste hoare Experiaunce telleth what toe saie,
And forwyned Hosbandrie wyth blearie eyne,
Stondeth and woe bements; the trecklynge bryne
Rounnynge adone hys cheekes which doëthe shewe,
Lyke hys unfrutefulle fieldes, longe straungers to the ploughe.

II.

Saie, Glowster, whanne, besprenged on evrich syde,
267

The Gentle, Hyndlette, and the Vylleyn felle;
Whanne smetheynge sange dyd flowe lyke to a tyde,
And sprytes were damnèd for the lacke of knelle,
Diddest thou kenne ne lykeness toe an helle,
Where all were misdeedes doeynge lyche unwise,
Where Hope unbarred and Deathe eftsoones dyd shote theyre eies.

III.

Ye shepster-swaynes who the ribibble kenne,
Ende the thyghte daunce, ne loke uponne the spere:
In ugsommnesse warre moste bee dyghte toe menne,
Unseliness attendethe honourewere;
Quaffe your swote vernage and atreeted beere.
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