To the Right Honourable the Earle of Ormond and
Ossory.
RECEIVE, most Noble Lord, a simple taste
Of the wilde fruit which salvage soyl hath bred;
Which, being through long wars left almost waste,
With brutish barbarisme is overspredd :
And, in so faire a land as may be redd,1
Not one Parnassus, nor one Helicone,
Left for sweete Muses to be harboured,
But where thyselfe hast thy brave mansione: There indeede dwel faire Graces many one, And gentle Nymphes, delights of learned wits; And in thy person, without paragone, All goodly bountie and true honour sits. Such therefore, as that wasted soyl doth yield, Receive, dear Lord, in worth, the fruit of barren field. E. S.
To the Right Honourable the Lord Charles Howard,
Lord high Admiral of England, Knight of the
Noble order of the Garter, and one of
her Majestie's privie Counsell, &c.
AND ye, brave Lord, whose goodly personage
And noble deeds, each other garnishing,
Make you ensample, to the present age,
Of th' old heroës, whose famous offspring
The antique Poets wont so much to sing;
In this same Pageaunt have a worthy place,
1 So faire a land as may be redd, i. e. as fair a land as any that can be read of.
* This nobleman lived in Ireland.
Sith those huge castles of Castilian King,
That vainly threatned kingdomes to displace,
Like flying doves ye did before you chace ;*
And that proud people, woxen insolent
Through many victories, didst first deface:
Thy praises everlasting monument
Is in this verse engraven semblably,2
That it may live to all posterity.
To the Right Honourable the Lord of Hunsdon, high Chamberlaine to her Majesty.
RENOWMED Lord, that, for your worthinesse
And noble deeds, have your deserved place
High in the favour of that Emperesse,
The worlds sole glory and her sexes grace;
Here eke of right have you a worthie place,
Both for your nearnes to that Faerie Queene,†
And for your owne high merit in like cace:
Of which, apparaunt proofe was to be seene,
When that tumultuous and fearfull deene 3
Of Northerne rebels ye did pacify,
And their disloiall powre defaced clene,
The record of enduring memory.
Live, Lord, for ever in this lasting verse,
That all posteritie thy honor may reherse.
3
rage
3 Deene, din.
Sith, since. 2 Semblably, with resemblance. * Allusion is here made to the defeat of the Spanish Armada. He was cousin to Queen Elizabeth.
To the most renowmed and valiant Lord, the Lord Grey of Wilton, Knight of the Noble order of the Garter, &c.
MOST Noble Lord, the pillor of my life,
And Patrone of my Muses pupillage;
Through whose large bountie, poured on me rife
In the first season of my feeble age,
I now doe live bound yours by vassalage;
(Sith nothing ever may redeeme, nor reave1
Out of your endlesse debt, so sure a gage;)
Vouchsafe, in worth, this small guift to receave,
Which in your noble hands for pledge I leave
Of all the rest that I am tyde t' account:
Rude rymes, the which a rustick Muse did weave
In savadge soyle, far from Parnasso Mount,
And roughly wrought in an unlearned loome:
The which vouchsafe, dear Lord, your favourable doome.
E. S.
To the Right Honourable the Lord of Buckhurst, one of Her Majestie's privie Counsell.
IN vain I thinke, Right Honourable Lord,
By this rude rime to memorize thy Name,
Whose learned Muse hath writ her owne record
In golden verse, worthy immortal fame:
Thou much more fit (were leasure to the same)
Thy gracious Soverains praises to compile,
And her imperiall Majestie to frame
In loftie numbers and heroicke stile.
But, sith thou maist not so, give leave a while
To baser wit his power therein to spend,
Whose grosse defaults thy daintie pen may file,'
And unadvised oversights amend.
But evermore vouchsafe, it to maintaine
Against vile Zoilus backbitings vaine.
To the Right Honourable Sir Francis Walsingham,
Knight, principall Secretary to her Majestie, and
one of her honourable privie Counsell.
THAT Mantuane Poets incompared 2 spirit,
Whose girland now is set in highest place,
Had not Mecænas, for his worthy merit,
It first advaunst to great Augustus grace,
Might long perhaps have lien in silence bace,
Ne bene so much admir'd of later age.
This lowly Muse, that learns like steps to trace,
Flies for like aide unto your patronage,
(That are the great Mecanas of this age,
As well to all that civil artes professe,
As those that are inspir'd with martial rage,)
And craves protection of her feeblenesse :
Which if ye yield, perhaps ye may her rayse
In bigger tunes to sound your living prayse.
1 File, smooth or polish. 2 Incompared, incomparable.
To the Right Noble Lord and most valiaunt Captaine, Sir John Norris, Knight, Lord president of Mounster.
WHO ever gave more honourable prize
To the sweet Muse then did the Martiall crew,
That their brave deeds she might immortalize
In her shril tromp, and sound their praises dew?
Who then ought more to favour her then you,
Most Noble Lord, the honor of this age,
And Precedent of all that armes ensue ?
Whose warlike prowesse and manly courage,
Tempred with reason and advizement sage,
Hath fild sad Belgicke with victorious spoile;
In Fraunce and Ireland left a famous gage;
And lately shakt the Lusitanian soile.
Sith then each where thou hast dispredd thy fame,
Love him that hath eternized your Name.
To the Right Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Wardein of the Stanneryes, and Lieftenaunt of Cornewaile.
To thee, that art the Sommers Nightingale,
Thy soveraine Goddesses most deare delight,
Why doe I send this rusticke Madrigale,
That may thy tunefull eare unseason quite ?
Thou onely fit this Argument to write,
In whose high thoughts Pleasure hath built her bowre,
And dainty Love learnd sweetly to endite.
VOL. I.
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