Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

And thereto hath a troth as just

As had Penelope the fair;
For what she saith, ye may it trust,
As it by writing sealèd were ;
And virtues hath she many mo,
Than I with pen have skill to show.

I could rehearse, if that I would,

The whole effect of Nature's plaint, When she had lost the perfect mould,

The like to whom she could not paint :

With wringing hands how she did cry,
And what she said, I know it, I.

I know she swore with raging mind,
Her kingdom only set apart,

There was no loss by law of kind

That could have gone so near her heart;

And this was chiefly all her pain:

'She could not make the like again.'

Sith Nature thus gave her the praise

To be the chiefest work she wrought;
In faith, methink! some better ways

On your behalf might well be sought,
Than to compare, as ye have done,
To match the candle with the sun.
Earl of Surrey.

XIII

When first mine eyes did view and mark
Thy beauty fair for to behold,

And when mine ears 'gan first to hark

The pleasant words that thou me told,

I would as then I had been free

From ears to hear, and eyes to see.

10

15

20

25

30

5

And when in mind I did consent
To follow thus my fancy's will,
And when my heart did first relent

To taste such bait, myself to spill,
I would my heart had been as thine,
Or else thy heart as soft as mine.

O flatterer false ! thou traitor born,

What mischief more might thou devise
Than thy dear friend to have in scorn,

And him to wound in sundry wise;
Which still a friend pretends to be,
And art not so by proof I see?
Fie, fie upon such treachery!

William Hunnis.

ΙΟ

15

XIV

TO HIS FORSAKEN MISTRESS.

I do confess thou'rt smooth and fair,

And I might have gone near to love thee,

Had I not found the slightest prayer

That lips could speak, had power to move thee;

But I can let thee now alone,

As worthy to be loved by none.

I do confess thou'rt sweet, but find

Thee such an unthrift of thy sweets,
Thy favours are but like the wind,
That kisses everything it meets :
And since thou can with more than one,

5

ΙΟ

Thou'rt worthy to be kissed by none.

The morning rose that untouched stands,
Armed with her briars, how sweetly smells
But, plucked and strained through ruder hands,
Her scent no longer with her dwells.

15

But scent and beauty both are gone,
And leaves fall from her, one by one.

Such fate ere long will thee betide,

When thou hast handled been a while;
Like sere flowers to be thrown aside;—

And I will sigh, while some will smile,
To see thy love for more than one
Hath brought thee to be loved by none.

XV

Sir Robert Aytoun.

The shepherd's faREWELL.

While that the sun with his beams hot
Scorched the fruits in vale and mountain,
Philon the shepherd, late forgot,
Sitting beside a crystal fountain,

In shadow of a green oak tree
Upon his pipe this song playèd he:
Adieu Love, adieu Love, untrue Love,
Untrue Love, untrue Love, adieu Love;
Your mind is light, soon lost for new love.

So long as I was in your sight,

I was your heart, your soul, and treasure;
And evermore you sobbed and sighed,
Burning in flames beyond all measure:
Three days endured your love to me,
And it was lost in other three!
Adieu Love, adieu Love, untrue Love,
Untrue Love, untrue Love, adieu Love;
Your mind is light, soon lost for new love.

Another shepherd you did see,

To whom your heart was soon enchainèd;
Full soon your love was leapt from me,
Full soon my place he had obtainèd.

20

5

ΤΟ

15

20

Soon came a third, your love to win,
And we were out, and he was in.
Adieu Love, adieu Love, untrue Love,

25

Untrue Love, untrue Love, adieu Love;

Your mind is light, soon lost for new love.

Sure you have made me passing glad
That you your mind so soon removèd,
Before that I the leisure had

30

To choose you for my best beloved :
For all your love was past and done
Two days before it was begun :-

Adieu Love, adieu Love, untrue Love,
Untrue Love, untrue Love, adieu Love;

Your mind is light, soon lost for new love.

XVI

SONNET.

35

Anon.

Rudely thou wrongest my dear heart's desire,
In finding fault with her too portly pride:
The thing which I do most in her admire,
Is of the world unworthy most envíed;
For in those lofty looks is close implied

5

Scorn of base things and sdeign of foul dishonour,
Threatening rash eyes which gaze on her so wide,
That loosely they ne dare to look upon her.

Such pride is praise, such portliness is honour;
That boldness innocence bears in her eyes;
And her fair countenance, like a goodly banner,
Spreads in defiance of all enemies.

[ocr errors]

Was never in this world ought worthy tried,
Without some spark of such self-pleasing pride.
Edmund Spenser.

XVII

SONNET.

Like as a huntsman after weary chace,
Seeing the game from him escaped away,
Sits down to rest him in some shady place,
With panting hounds beguilèd of their prey;
So after long pursuit and vain assay,
When I all weary had the chace forsook,
The gentle deer returned the self-same way,
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook;
There she beholding me with milder look,
Sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide,
Till I in hand her yet half trembling took,
And with her own good-will her firmly tied;
Strange thing meseemed to see a beast so wild
So goodly won, with her own will beguiled.
Edmund Spenser.

XVIII

A VISION UPON THE FAIRY QUEEN.

Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay,
Within that temple where the vestal flame
Was wont to burn; and passing by that way
To see that buried dust of living fame,
Whose tomb fair Love and fairer Virtue kept,
All suddenly I saw The Fairy Queen:
At whose approach the soul of Petrarch wept ;
And from thenceforth those Graces were not seen,
For they this Queen attended; in whose stead
Oblivion laid him down on Laura's hearse.
Hereat the hardest stones were seen to bleed,
And groans of buried ghosts the heavens did pierce,
Where Homer's spright did tremble all for grief,
And cursed the access of that celestial thief.
Sir Walter Raleigh.

5

IO

5

ΙΟ

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »