“Equitabat homo per sylvam frondosam,
        Ducebatque secum Meswinden formosam. 
                Quid stamus, cur non imus?”

       “A fellow rid by the greenwood side,
        And fair Meswinde was his bride,
                Why stand we so, and do not go?”

This they sung, he chaft, till at length, impatient as he was, he prayed to St. Magnus, patron of the church, they might all three sing and dance till that time twelvemonth, and so [5532]they did without meat and drink, wearisomeness or giving over, till at year’s end they ceased singing, and were absolved by Herebertus archbishop of Cologne.  They will in all places be doing thus, young folks especially, reading love stories, talking of this or that young man, such a fair maid, singing, telling or hearing lascivious tales, scurrilous tunes, such objects are their sole delight, their continual meditation, and as Guastavinius adds, Com. in 4.  Sect. 27.  Prov.  Arist. ob seminis abundantiam crebrae cogitationes, veneris frequens recordatio et pruriens voluptas, &c. an earnest longing comes hence, pruriens corpus, pruriens anima, amorous conceits, tickling thoughts, sweet and pleasant hopes; hence it is, they can think, discourse willingly, or speak almost of no other subject.  ’Tis their only desire, if it may be done by art, to see their husband’s picture in a glass, they’ll give anything to know when they shall be married, how many husbands they shall have, by cromnyomantia, a kind of divination with [5533]onions laid on the altar on Christmas eve, or by fasting on St. Anne’s eve or night, to know who shall be their first husband, or by amphitormantia, by beans in a cake, &c., to burn the same.  This love is the cause of all good conceits, [5534] neatness, exornations, plays, elegancies, delights, pleasant expressions, sweet motions, and gestures, joys, comforts, exultancies, and all the sweetness of our life, [5535]_qualis jam vita foret, aut quid jucundi sine aurea Venere_? [5536]_Emoriar cum ista non amplius mihi cura fuerit_, let me live no longer than I may love, saith a mad merry fellow in Mimnermus.  This love is that salt that seasoneth our harsh and dull labours, and gives a pleasant relish to our other unsavoury proceedings, [5537]_Absit amor, surgunt tenebrae, torpedo, veternum, pestis_, &c.  All our feasts almost, masques, mummings, banquets, merry meetings, weddings, pleasing songs, fine tunes, poems, love stories, plays, comedies, Atellans, jigs, Fescennines, elegies, odes, &c. proceed hence. [5538]Danaus, the son of Belus, at his daughter’s wedding at Argos, instituted the first plays (some say) that ever were heard of symbols, emblems, impresses, devices, if we shall believe Jovius, Coutiles, Paradine, Camillus de Camillis, may be ascribed to it.  Most of our arts and sciences, painting amongst the rest, was first invented, saith [5539]Patritius ex amoris beneficio, for love’s sake.  For when the daughter of [5540]Deburiades the Sycionian, was