Robert Greene (1558-1592). Mullidor's Madrigal. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1907. The Book of Elizabethan Verse

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William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.

Mullidor’s Madrigal

By Robert Greene (1558–1592)


DILDIDO, 1 dildido,
O love, O love,
I feel thy rage rumble below and above!

In summer-time I saw a face,
Trop belle pour moi, hélas, hélas!	5
Like to a stoned-horse 2 was her pace:
Was ever young man so dismayed?
Her eyes, like wax-torches, did make me afraid:
Trop belle pour moi, voilà mon trépas.

Thy beauty, my love, exceedeth supposes;	10
Thy hair is a nettle for the nicest roses.
Mon dieu, aide moi!
That I with the primrose of my fresh wit
May tumble her tyranny under my feet:
Hé donc je serai un jeune roi!	15
Trop belle pour moi, hélas, hélas,
Trop belle pour moi, voilà mon trépas.

Note 1. From Francesco’s Fortunes, or the Second Part of Never Too Late, 1590. “The French verses may … be expected to be Greene’s own composition; such an hiatus as je serai un jeune roi would scarcely have been possible in a French poet.” (Churton-Collins.) [back]

Note 2. Stoned-horse: a stallion. Cf. s. v. entier, cheval entier, a stone-horse. [back]

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