FROM

LACENA'S RIDDLE.

(ED. 1587.)

THE DESCRIPTION OF SILVESTRO'S

LADY.

HER stature like the tall straight cedar-trees
Whose stately bulks do fame th' Arabian groves;
A pace like princely Juno when she brav'd
The Queen of Love 'fore Paris in the vale;
A front beset with love and courtesy ;
A face like modest Pallas when she blush'd
A seely shepherd should be beauty's judge;
A lip sweet ruby-red, grac'd with delight;
A cheek wherein for interchange of hue
A wrangling strife 'twixt lily and the rose;
Her eyes two twinckling* stars in winter-nights
When chilling frost doth clear the azur'd sky;
Her hair of golden hue doth dim the beams
That proud Apollo giveth from his coach;
The Gnidian doves, whose white and snowy

And rules his diet by geometry;

Whose restless mind rips up his mother's

breast,

To part her bowels for his family;
And fetcheth Pluto's glee in from the grass

By careless cutting of a goddess' gifts;
That throws his gotten labour to the earth,

As trusting to content for others' shifts; 'Tis he, good sir, that Saturn best did please When golden world set worldlings all at ease; His name is Person, and his progeny, Now tell me, of what ancient pedigree?

VERSES

UNDER THE PICTURE OF FORTUNE.

THE fickle seat whereon proud Fortune sits, The restless globe whereon the Fury stands, Bewrays her fond and far inconstant fits;

The fruitful horn she handleth in her hands Bids all beware to fear her flattering smiles, That giveth most when most she meaneth guiles;

The wheel that, turning, never taketh rest,

The top whereof fond worldlings count their

bliss,

Within a minute makes a black exchange,

And then the vile* and lowest better is: Which emblem tells us the inconstant state Of such as trust to Fortune or to Fate.

vile] The 4to. "vild": but see note t, p. 167, sec. col.

FROM

ΜΕΝ ΑΡΗΟΝ.

(ED. 1589, COMPARED WITH ED. 1616.)

APOLLO'S ORACLE.

WHEN Neptune, riding on the southern seas,

Shall from the bosom of his leman* yield Th' Arcadian wonder, men and gods to please, Plenty in pride shall march amidst the field; Dead men shall war, and unborn babes shall frown,

And with their falchions hew their foemen down.

When lambs have lions for their surest guide,
And planets rest upon th' Arcadian hills,
When swelling seas have neither ebb nor tide,
When equal banks the ocean-margin fills;
Then look, Arcadians, for a happy time,
And sweet content within your troubled clime.

MENAPHON'S SONG.

SOME say Love,

Foolish Love,

Doth rule and govern all the gods:

I say Love,

Inconstant Love,

Sets men's senses far at odds.

Some swear Love,

Smooth-fac'd + Love,

Is sweetest sweet that men can have:

I say Love,

Sour Love,

Makes virtue yield as beauty's slave: A bitter sweet, a folly worst of all, That forceth wisdom to be folly's thrall.

Love is sweet: Wherein sweet?

In fading pleasures that do pain.

Beauty sweet:

Is that sweet,

That yieldeth sorrow for a gain? If Love's sweet,

Herein sweet,

That minutes' joys are monthly woes: 'Tis not sweet,

That is sweet

Nowhere but where repentance grows. Then love who list, if beauty be so sour; Labour for me, Love rest in prince's bower.

leman] i. e. mistress, love.

t Smooth-fac'd] Both 4tos. "Smooth'd face."

SEPHESTIA'S SONG TO HER CHILD. WEEP not, my wanton, smile upon my knce; When thou art old there's grief enough for thee. Mother's wag, pretty boy,

Father's sorrow, father's joy;
When thy father first did see
Such a boy by him and me,
He was glad, I was woe;
Fortune changèd made him so,
When he left his pretty boy,

Last his sorrow, first his joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old there's grief enough for thec.
Streaming tears that never stint,
Like pearl-drops from a flint,
Fell by course from his eyes,
That one another's place supplies;
Thus he griev'd in every part,
Tears of blood fell from his heart,
When he left his pretty boy,

Father's sorrow, father's joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old there's grief enough for theo.
The wanton smil'd, father wept,
Mother cried, baby lept;
More he crow'd, more we cried,
Nature could not sorrow hide:
He must go, he must kiss
Child and mother, baby bless,
For he left his pretty boy,

Father's sorrow, father's joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee; When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.

MENAPHON'S ROUNDELAY.

WHEN tender ewes," brought home with evening

sun,

Wend to their folds,

And to their holds

The shepherds trudge when light of day is done,
Upon a tree

The eagle, Jove's fair bird, did perch;
There resteth + he:

A little fly his harbour then did search,

* When tender ewes, &c.] The beginning of this roundelay bears some resemblance to the opening of Gray's Elegy.

tresteth] Qy. "rested"? but just before we have "trudge" and "wend.'

And did presume, though others laugh'd thereat, To perch whereas * the princely eagle sat.

The eagle frown'd, and shook his † royal wings, And charg'd the fly

From thence to hie:

Afraid, in haste the little creature flings, Yet seeks again,

Fearful, to perk him by the eagle's side :

With moody vein,

The speedy post of Ganymede replied, "Vassal, avaunt, or with my wings you die: Is't fit an eagle seat him with a fly?"

The fly crav'd pity, still the eagle frown'd: The silly fly,

Ready to die,

Disgrac'd, displac'd, fell grovelling to the ground:

The eagle saw,

And with a royal mind said to the fly,

"Be not in awe,

I scorn by me the meanest creature die;
Then seat thee here." The joyful fly up flings,
And sat safe-shadow'd with the eagle's wings.

DORON'S DESCRIPTION OF SAMELA.
LIKE to Diana in her summer-weed,
Girt with a crimson robe of brightest dye,
Goes fair Samela;
Whiter than be the flocks that straggling feed,
When wash'd by Arethusa Fount they lie,
Is fair Samela;

As fair Aurora in her morning-grey,
Deck'd with the ruddy glister of her love,
Is fair Samela;

Like lovely Thetis on a calmèd day,
Whenas her brightness Neptune's fancy move,
Shines fair Samela;

Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassy streams,
Her teeth are pearl, the breasts are ivory
Of fair Samela;
Her cheeks, like rose and lily, yield forth gleams,
Her brows bright arches fram'd of ebony:
Thus fair Samela

Passeth fair Venus in her bravest hue,
And Juno in the show of majesty,

For she's Samela;
Pallas in wit, all three, if you well view,
For beauty, wit, and matchless dignity,
Yield to Samela.

* whereas] i. e. where.
this] The 4to. of 1589 "her."

Fount] Walker's correction (Crit. Exam. of the text of Shakespeare, &c., ii. 268).-Both 4tos. "faint."