SONNET LXVIII.

M

OST glorious Lord of lyfe! that, on this day, Didst make thy triumph over death and sin ; And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away Captivity thence captive, us to win:

This joyous day, dear Lord, with joy begin;
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dy,
Being with thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!

And that thy, love we weighing worthily,

May likewise love thee for the same againe ;
And for thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy,
With love may one another entertayne!

So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought:
Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

SONNET LXIX.

TH

HE famous warriors of the anticke world
Us'd trophees to erect in stately wize;
In which they would the records have enrold
Of theyr great deeds and valorous emprize.
What trophee then shall I most fit devize,
In which I may record the memory
Of my loves conquest, peerlesse beauties prise,
Adorn'd with honour, love, and chastity!
Even this verse, vowd to eternity,
Shall be thereof immortall moniment;
And tell her praise to all posterity,
That may admire such worlds rare wonderment;
The happy purchase of my glorious spoile,
Gotten at last with labour and long toyle.

SONNET LXX.

FRESH Spring, the herald of loves mighty king,

In whose cote-armour richly are displayd

All sorts of flowres, the which on earth do spring,
In goodly colours gloriously arrayd;

Goe to my Love, where she is carelesse layd,
Yet in her winters bowre not well awake;
Tell her the joyous time wil not be staid,
Unlesse she doe him by the forelock take;
Bid her therefore herselfe soone ready make,
To wayt on Love amongst his lovely crew;
Where every one, that misseth then her make,
Shall be by him amearst with penance dew.
Make hast therefore, sweet Love, whilst it is prime;
For none can call againe the passed time.

SONNET LXXI.

I

JOY to see how, in your drawen work,
Your selfe unto the Bee ye doe compare;
And me unto the Spyder, that doth lurke
In close awayt, to catch her unaware:
Right so your selfe were caught in cunning snare
Of a deare foe, and thralled to his love;

In whose streight bands ye now captived are
So firmely, that ye never may remove.
But as your worke is woven all about
With Woodbynd flowers and fragrant Eglantine;
So sweet your prison you in time shall prove,
With many deare delights bedecked fyne.

And all thensforth eternall peace shall see
Betweene the Spyder and the gentle Bee.

SONNET LXXII.

OF

FT, when my spirit doth spred her bolder winges,
In mind to mount up to the purest sky;
It down is weighd with thought of earthly things,
And clogd with burden of mortality;
Where, when that soverayne beauty it doth spy,
Resembling heavens glory in her light,

Drawn with sweet pleasures bayt, it back doth fly,
And unto heaven forgets her former flight.
There my fraile fancy, fed with full delight,
Doth bathe in blisse, and mantleth most at ease;
Ne thinks of other heaven, but how it might
Her harts desire with most contentment please.

Hart need not wish none other happinesse,
But here on earth to have such hevens blisse.

SONNET LXXIII.

BEING my self captyved here in care,

My hart, (whom none with servile bands can tye,
But the fayre tresses of your golden hayre,)
Breaking his prison, forth to you doth fly.
Like as a byrd, that in ones hand doth spy
Desired food, to it doth make his flight:
Even so my hart, that wont on your fayre eye
To feed his fill, flyes backe unto your sight.
Doe you him take, and in your bosome bright
Gently encage, that he
may be your
thrall:
Perhaps he there may learne, with rare delight,
To sing your name and prayses over all :

That it hereafter may you not repent,
Him lodging in your bosome to have lent.

SONNET LXXIV.

MOST happy letters! fram'd by skilfull trade,

With which that happy name was first desynd,
The which three times thrise happy hath me made,
With guifts of body, fortune, and of mind.
The first my being to me gave by kind,
From Mothers womb deriv'd by dew descent:
The second is my sovereigne Queene most kind,
That honour and large richesse to me lent:
The third, my Love, my lives last ornament,
By whom my spirit out of dust was raysed:
To speake her prayse and glory excellent,
Of all alive most worthy to be praysed.

Ye three Elizabeths! for ever live,
That three such graces did unto me give.

SONNET LXXV.

NE day I wrote her name upon the strand; But came the waves, and washed it away: Agayne, I wrote it with a second hand;

ONE

But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.
Vayne man, sayd she, that doest in vaine assay
A mortall thing so to immortalize;

For I my selve shall lyke to this decay,
And eke my name bee wyped out lykewize.
Not so, quod I; let baser things devize
To dy in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your vertues rare shall éternize,
And in the hevens wryte your glorious name.

Where, when as death shall all the world subdew,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.

SONNET LXXVI.

FA

AYRE bosome! fraught with vertues richest tresure, The neast of love, the lodging of delight, The bowre of blisse, the paradice of pleasure, The sacred harbour of that hevenly spright; How was I ravisht with your lovely sight, And my frayle thoughts too rashly led astray! Whiles diving deepe through amorous insight, On the sweet spoyle of beautie they did pray; And twixt her paps, (like early fruit in May, Whose harvest seemd to hasten now apace,) They loosely did their wanton winges display, And there to rest themselves did boldly place.

Sweet thoughts! I envy your so happy rest,
Which oft I wisht, yet never was so blest.

SONNET LXXVII.

WAS it a dreame, or did I see it playne;

A goodly table of pure Yvory,

All spred with juncats, fit to entertayne
The greatest Prince with pompous roialty:
Mongst which, there in a silver dish did ly
Two golden apples of unvalewd price;
Far passing those which Hercules came by,
Or those which Atalanta did entice;
Exceeding sweet, yet voyd of sinfull vice;
That many sought, yet none could ever taste;
Sweet fruit of pleasure, brought from Paradice
By Love himselfe, and in his garden plaste.

Her brest that table was, so richly spredd ;
My thoughts the guests, which would thereon have fedd.