No whit dishonour'd by his fainting horse,
That cowardlike would have held his master
back

From honour's goal,-ill-natur'd and ill-taught,
To fail him foully in so great a presence.
But as an archer with a bended bow

The farther from the mark he draws his shaft,
The farther flies it and with greater force
Wounds earth and air; so did it fare in this:
This lusty runner, thus restrain'd at first,
Now all inflam'd, soon having chang'd his steed,
And view'd the person of his princely mistress,
Whose radiant beams have* power to set on
fire

The icy ridge of snowy Rhodope,

Flies like a bullet from a cannon's mouth.
His armed horse made dreadful harmony,
Grating against the rails: so valiantly
He justed, that unjust it were in me
Not to admire young Dudley's chivalry.

Young Howard, ramping lion-like, came on,
Anchor of Howard's honourable house,
His noble father's hope, his mother's joy.
Loyal and lovely was this fair young knight,
Gracious in his beginnings at the tilt,
Pleasing to her to whom he did present
His person and the service of that day,
And all the days and minutes of his life:
Bravely he bare him in his mistress' eye,
And brake + his staves and let the shivers fly.
Drury in flames of gold embroider'd fair,

* have] MS. "

"and." tbrake] MS. "breakes,"

Inflam'd with love of virtue and of arms,

Came to the tilt like Phoebus,

And like a warrior there demean'd himself; Heaven's vault, earth's centre sounded of his force:

So well he ran as they that do him right,
For field and court held him a worthy knight.
Among these runners that in virtue's race
Contended, rivals of each other's praise,
Nowell and Needham, gentlemen of name,
Came mounted and appointed gallantly;
Both nobly minded, as became them well,
Resolv'd to run in honour of the day.

L'éscu d'amour, the arms of loyalty,
Lodg'd Skydmore in his heart; and on he came,
And well and worthily demean'd himself

In that day's service: short and plain to be,
Nor lord nor knight more forward than was he.
Then Ratcliffe, Reynolds, Blount, and Carey

came,

In all accoutrements fitting gentlemen;
Well mounted and appointed every man';
And gallantly and worthily they ran.

Long may they run in honour of the day!
Long may she live to do them honour's right,
To grace their sports and them as she hath
done,

England's Astræa, Albion's shining sun!
And may she shine in beauty fresh and sheen
Hundreds of years, our thrice-renowned queen!
Write, Clio, write; write, and record her story,
Dear in heaven's eye, her court and country's
glory.

Prefixed to The EKATOMIIA@IA, or Passionate
Centurie of Love.*

IF graver heads shall count it overlight
To treat of love, say thou to them, a stain
Is incident unto the finest dye:
And yet no stain at all it is for thee,
These lays of love, as mirth to melancholy,
To follow fast thy sad Antigone;+
Which may bear out a broader work than this,
Compil'd with judgment, order, and with art;
And shroud thee under shadow of his wings,
Whose gentle heart, and head with learning
fraight,+

Shall yield thee gracious favour and defence.

THE PRAISE OF CHASTITY, WHEREIN IS SET FORTH, BY WAY OF COMPARISON, HOW GREAT IS THE CONQUEST OVER OUR AFFECTIONS.

From The Phoenix Next, 1593.

THE noble Romans whilom wonted were,
For triumph of their conquer'd enemies,
The wreaths of laurel and of palm to wear,
In honour of their famous victories;

The 'EKATOMIA@IA or Passionate Centurie of Loue, Diuided into two parts: whereof, the first expresseth the Authors sufferance in Loue: the latter, his long farewell to Love and all his tyrannie. Composed by Thomas Watson Gentleman; and published at the request of certaine Gentlemen his very frendes. London Imprinted by Iohn Wolfe for Gabriell Cawood, dwellinge in Paules Churchyard at the Signe of the Holy Ghost. 4to. n. d.,-published in 1582. It is dedicated to "Lord Edwarde Vere, Earle of Oxenforde," &c. See more concerning Watson in the Account of Peele and his Writings, p. 332, and in note §, p. 584.

thy sad Antigone] Sophoclis Antigone. Interprete Thoma Watsono J. U. studioso. Huic adduntur pompa quædam, ex singulis Tragedia actis derivate; et post eas, totidem themata sententiis refertissima; eodem Thoma Watsono Authore. Londini excudebat Johannes Wolfius, 1581. 4to. fraight] i. e. fraught.

Like bodies shrin'd in seats of ivory,
Their names renown'd for happiness in fight,
They bear the guerdon of their chivalry.

The valiant Greeks for sack of Priam's town,
A work of manhood match'd with policy,
Have fill'd the world with books of their renown,
As much as erst the Roman empery.

The Phrygian knights that in the House of Fame
Have shining arms of endless memory,
By hot and fierce repulse did win the same,

Though Helen's rape hurt Paris' progeny.

Thus strength hath guerdon by the world's award;
So praise we birth and high nobility:
If, then, the mind and body reap reward

For nature's dower, conferrèd liberally,
Press, then, for praise unto the highest room,
That art the highest of the gifts of heaven,
More beautiful by wisdom's sacred doom
Than Sol himself amid the Planets Seven;
Queen of content and temperate desires,
Choice nurse of health, thy name hight*
Chastity;

A sovereign power to quench such climbing fires
As choke the mind with smoke of infamy;

Champion at-arms, re'ncounter with thy foe,
An enemy foul and fearful to behold:
If, then, stout captains have been honour'd so,
Their names in books of memory enroll'd

For puissant strength,-ye Roman peers, retire,
And, Greeks, give ground; more honour there

is won,

With chaste rebukes to temper thy desire, Than glory gain'd the world to over-run;

hight] i. e. called.