To the Right Honourable the Lord Burleigh, Lord high Threasurer of England.

To you, Right Noble Lord, whose carefull brest

Το

menage of most grave affaires is bent;

And on whose mightie shoulders most doth rest
The burdein of this kingdome's governement,

(As the wide compasse of the firmament
On Atlas mightie shoulders is upstayd,)
Unfitly I these ydle rimes present,

The labor of lost time, and wit unstayd:
Yet if their deeper sence be inly wayd,

And the dim vele, with which from commune vew
Their fairer parts are hid, aside be layd,
Perhaps not vaine they may appear to You.
Such as they be, vouchsafe them to receave,
And wipe their faults out of your censure grave.

E. S.

To the Right Honourable the Earle of Oxenford, Lord high Chamberlayne of England, &c.

RECEIVE, most Noble Lord, in gentle gree,1

The unripe fruit of an unready wit;

Which, by thy countenaunce, doth crave to bee

Defended from foule Envies poisnous bit.

Which so to doe may thee right well befit,
Sith th' antique glory of thine auncestry
Under a shady vele is therein writ,
And eke thine owne long living memory,
Succeeding them in true Nobility :

And also for the love which thou doest beare

Gree, favor.

To th' Heliconian ymps,1 and they to thee;

They unto thee, and thou to them, most deare: Deare as thou art unto thyselfe, so love 2

That loves and honours thee; as doth behove.

E. S.

To the Right Honourable the Earle of Northumberland.

THE sacred Muses have made alwaies clame
To be the Nourses of Nobility,

And Registres of everlasting fame,

To all that armes professe and chevalry.
Then, by like right, the noble Progeny,

Which them succeed in fame and worth, are tyde
T'embrace the service of sweet Poetry,

By whose endevours they are glorifide;
And eke from all, of whom it is envide,

To patronize the authour of their praise,

Which gives them life, that els would soon have dide,
And crownes their ashes with immortall baies.

To thee therefore, Right Noble Lord, I send

This present of my paines, it to defend.

E. S.

To the Right Honourable the Earle of Cumberland.

REDOUBTED Lord, in whose corageous mind
The flowre of chevalry, now blossming faire,
Doth promise fruite worthy the noble kind
Which of their praises have left you the haire;

1 Ymps, offspring.

2 "Him" is understood after "love."

To you this humble present I prepare,

For love of vertue and of martial praise;
To which though nobly ye inclined are,
(As goodlie well ye shew'd in late assaies,)1
Yet brave ensample of long passed daies,
In which trew honor ye may fashiond see,
To like desire of honor may ye raise,
And fill your mind with magnanimitee.
Receive it, Lord, therefore as it was ment,
For honor of your name and high descent.

E. S.

To the most Honourable and excellent Lord the Earle of Essex, Great Maister of the Horse to her Highnesse, and Knight of the Noble order of the Garter, &c.

MAGNIFICKE Lord, whose vertues excellent

Doe merit a most famous Poets witt

To be thy living praises instrument;
Yet doe not sdeigne to lett thy name be writt
In this base Poeme, for thee far unfitt;
Nought is thy worth disparaged thereby.

But when my Muse, whose fethers, nothing flitt,
Doe yet but flagg and lowly learne to fly,
With bolder wing shall dare alofte to sty 3
To the last praises of this Faery Queene;
Then shall it make most famous memory
Of thine heroicke parts, such as they beene:
Till then, vouchsafe thy noble countenaunce
To their first labours needed furtheraunce.

E. S.

1 Assaies, proofs, or trials.

3 2 Sdeigne, disdain.

Sty, ascend.

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 heroes, 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.

E. S.

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 rage 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.

2

Sith, since. Semblably, with resemblance.

E. S.

3 Deene, din.

* Allusion is here made to the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

He was cousin to Queen Elizabeth.