Love

The match that's made for just and true respects

by Anonymous (Elizabethan songs) c. 1588–1630

From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)

Love

The match that's made for just and true respects,
With evenness both of years and parentage,
Of force must bring forth many good effects.
Pari jugo dulcis tractus.

For where chaste love and liking sets the plant,
And concord waters with a firm good-will,
Of no good thing there can be any want.
Pari jugo dulcis tractus.

Sound is the knot that Chastity hath tied,
Sweet is the music Unity doth make,
Sure is the store that Plenty doth provide.
Pari jugo dulcis tractus.

Where Chasteness fails there Concord will decay,
Where Concord fleets there Plenty will decease,
Where Plenty wants there Love will wear away.
Pari jugo dulcis tractus.

I, Chastity, restrain all strange desires;
I, Concord, keep the course of sound consent;
I, Plenty, spare and spend as cause requires.
Pari jugo dulcis tractus.

Make much of us, all ye that married be;
Speak well of us, all ye that mind to be;
The time may come to want and wish all three.
Pari jugo dulcis tractus.

✦ ✦ ✦

From William Byrd's Psalms, Sonnets and Songs, 1588.

MLA

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “The match that's made for just and true respects.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/139/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “The match that's made for just and true respects.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/139/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Anonymous (Elizabethan songs)