“Steadfast of thought,
Well made, well wrought,
Far may be sought,
Ere that ye can find
So courteous, so kind
As merry Margaret,
This midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower.”

— John Skelton

To Mistress Margaret Hussey, lines 26-34, probably published c. 1511, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

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John Skelton 14

English poet 1460–1529

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