is youth pleads to God to inflict some
penance upon thee; his virtues are pleas that enforce writs of
displeasure to cross thee: thou hast highly abused thy kind and
natural brother, and the heavens cannot spare to quite thee with
punishment. There is no sting to the worm of conscience, no hell to a
mind touched with guilt. Every wrong I offered him, called now to
remembrance, wringeth a drop of blood from my heart, every bad look,
every frown pincheth me at the quick, and says, 'Saladyne thou hast
sinned against Rosader.' Be penitent, and assign thyself some penance
to discover thy sorrow, and pacify his wrath."

In the depth of his passion, he was sent for to the king, who with a
look that threatened death entertained him, and demanded of him where
his brother was. Saladyne made answer, that upon some riot made
against the sheriff of the shire, he was fled from Bordeaux, but he
knew not whither.

"Nay, villain," quoth he, "I have heard of the wrongs thou hast
proffered thy brother since the death of thy father, and by thy means
have I lost a most brave and resolute chevalier. Therefore, in justice
to punish thee, I spare thy life for thy father's sake, but banish
thee for ever from the court and country of France; and see thy
departure be within ten days, else trust me thou shalt lose thy head."

And with that the king flew away in a rage, and left poor Saladyne
greatly perplexed; who grieving at his exile, yet determined to bear
it with patience, and in penance of his former follies to travel
abroad in every coast till he had found out his brother Rosader. With
whom now I begin.

Rosader, being thus preferred to the place of a forester by Gerismond,
rooted out the remembrance of his brother's unkindness by continual
exercise, traversing the groves and wild forests, partly to hear the
melody of the sweet birds which recorded,[1] and partly to show his
diligent endeavor in his master's behalf. Yet whatsoever he did, or
howsoever he walked, the lively image of Rosalynde remained in memory:
on her sweet perfections he fed his thoughts, proving himself like the
eagle a true-born bird, since as the one is known by beholding the
sun, so was he by regarding excellent beauty. One day among the rest,
finding a fit opportunity and place convenient, desirous to discover
his woes to the woods, he engraved with his knife on the bark of a
myrtle tree, this pretty estimate of his mistress' perfection:

[Footnote 1: sang.]

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