The Lyrics of Henry VIII/Wher be ye (Unattributed)

[ff. 110^v-112^r]

Wher be ye
my loue my loue
and where be ye gone
I am so sad
to make me glad
yt is but you my loue alone alone
yt is but you my loue alone alone

Yower company
makes me so mery
from care and from all mone.
but when ye mysse
no Ioy it is
but you my loue alone alone alone
it ys but you my loue alon alon

when ye be hens
with yor absence
my myrth and Ioy is gone
me to comfort
is no resort.
but you my loue alone alone alone
it ys but you my loue alon alon

The tyme passyng
to daunce or syng
to swage sum what my mone
Is nothing
no comforting
but yow my loue alone alone

Thus with my care
with yor welfare
crist kepe you from yor fone
And god aboue
kepe yor loue
for you haue myne alone
for you haue myne alone.

Textual Commentary

In this lyric, the speaker bemoans the absence of a lover. The speaker notes that there is no comfort in the lover’s absence—even in pastimes akin to those proposed by Henry in “Pastyme with good companye” (H 5)—save for that of the lover’s company.

11 ye mysse You are missed, absent.

22–3 The tyme passyng / to daunce or syng Cf. Henry’s “Pastyme with good companye” (H 5.5–6).

24 swage Assuage.

31 fone Foes.

“Wher be ye” is through-set for three voices, in all but the last two stanzas, which are underlaid following the completion of the second and third stanzas of the first voice (f. 111^v). The second and third stanzas are presented under the same music, with the last two lines of each presented singly, to be shared by the stanzas’ first five lines.

This piece is indexed in Robbins Index & Suppl. 4058.3, Boffey, and Ringler MS TM2037. It is reprinted in Flügel Anglia 251–52, Flügel Neuengl 137, Stevens M&P 420–21, and Stevens MCH8 80–81.

Textual Notes

Texts Collated

Texts Collated: H^1,2,3 (ff. 110^v–112^r, ll. 1–21 H^1,2,3).

6 alone alone] a lone alone alone. H³

9 so mery] mery H³

13 alone alone] alone alone alone H^1,2, alone alone alone alone. H³

18 substitute but when ye mysse H³

19 substitute no Ioy it is H³

20–21 provided from 13–14

28 repeated from 27

35 repeated from 34