PREFACEThe long tradition of medieval poetry ends with a burst of sweetness in the religious carols.

ANONYMOUS
The Nutbrown Maid
Squire
Be it wright or wrong, these men among

On women do complain,

Affirming this, how that it is

A labor spent in vain

To love them well, for never a del

They love a man again;

For let a man do what he can

Their favor to attain,

Yet if a new to them pursue

Their first true lover than

Laboureth for nought, and from her thought

He is a banished man.