Couentry, that do'st adorne[1] The Countrey wherein I was borne, Yet therein lyes not thy prayse Why I should crowne thy Tow'rs with Bayes: 'Tis not thy Wall, me to thee weds...
Must I needes write, who's hee that can refuse, He wants a minde, for her that hath no Muse, The thought of her doth heau'nly rage inspire, Next powerfull, to those clouen tongues of fire....
Wer't granted me to choose, How I would end my dayes; Since I this life must loose, It should be in Your praise; For there is no Bayes Can be set aboue you.
That ten-yeares-trauell'd Greeke return'd from Sea Ne'r ioyd so much to see his Ithaca, As I should you, who are alone to me, More then wide Greece could to that wanderer be....
Like as a man, on some aduenture bound His honest friendes, their kindnes to expresse, T'incourage him of whome the maine is own'd; Some venture more, and some aduenture lesse,...
Great Lady, essence of my chiefest good, Of the most pure and finest tempred spirit, Adorn'd with gifts, enobled by thy blood, Which by discent true vertue do'st inherit:...
Madam, my words cannot expresse my mind, My zealous kindnes to make knowne to you, When your desarts all seuerally I find; In this attempt of me doe claim their due,...
As other men, so I my selfe doe muse, Why in this sort I wrest Inuention so, And why these giddy metaphors I vse, Leauing the path the greater part doe goe; I will resolue you; I am lunaticke,...
Since to obtaine thee, nothing me will sted, I haue a Med'cine that shall cure my Loue, The powder of her Heart dry'd, when she is dead, That Gold nor Honour ne'r had power to moue;...
Bright starre of Beauty, on whose eyelids sit, A thousand Nimph-like and enamoured Graces, The Goddesses of memory and wit, Which in due order take their seuerall places,...
As in some countries far remote from hence, The wretched creature destin'd to die, Having the judgment due to his offence, By surgeons begged, their art on him to try,...
Calling to mind since first my love begun, Th'uncertain times, oft varying in their course, How things still unexpectedly have run, As't please the Fates by their resistless force;...
What dost thou mean to cheat me of my heart, To take all mine and give me none again? Or have thine eyes such magic or that art That what they get they ever do retain?...
Clear Ankor, on whose silver-sanded shore, My soul-shrined saint, my fair Idea lives; O bless'd brook, whose milk-white swans adore Thy crystal stream, refin'd by her eyes,...
Yet read at last the story of my woe, The dreary abstracts of my endless cares, With my life's sorrow interlin'd so, Smoked with my sighs, and blotted with my tears, The sad memorials of my miseries,...
As Love and I late harboured in one inn, With Proverbs thus each other entertain. "In love there is no lack," thus I begin: "Fair words make fools," replieth he again....
My fair, if thou wilt register my love, A world of volumes shall thereof arise; Preserve my tears, and thou thyself shall prove A second flood down raining from mine eyes;...
When like an eaglet I first found my love, For that the virtue I thereof would know, Upon the nest I set it forth to prove If it were of that kingly kind or no; But it no sooner saw my sun appear,...
You best discerned of my mind's inward eyes, And yet your graces outwardly divine, Whose dear remembrance in my bosom lies, Too rich a relic for so poor a shrine; You, in whom nature chose herself to view,...
In former times, such as had store of coin, In wars at home or when for conquests bound, For fear that some their treasure should purloin, Gave it to keep to spirits within the ground;...