Christopher Marlowe: Come live with me and be my love; Walter Raleigh: The Nymph's Reply.

Two songs:
Callum Coates reads Christopher Marlowe's poem "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" in original pronounciation.
Followed by "The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd", which is attributed to Walter Raleigh. Set to William Corkine's melody "Come live with me and be my love."
Recorded live during a conference at the Society of Antiquaries in July 2025.

Emily Atkinson: soprano
Callum Coates: actor
Robin Jeffrey: lute
Lynda Sayce: flute.

The Passionate Shepherd to his love
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And I will make thee beds of Roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and Ivy buds,
With Coral clasps and Amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.

The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every Shepherd’s tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move,
To live with thee, and be thy love.
Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of Roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten:
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.
Thy belt of straw and Ivy buds,
The Coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.
But could youth last, and love still breed,
Had joys no date, nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee, and be thy love.
England’s Helicon, 1600