to vnfold it My selfe with ceaseles teares my harmes bewaile And her obdurate heart not to be moued Though long continued woes my senses faile And curse the day the houre when first I loued She takes the glasse wherein her selfe she sees In bloudie colours cruelly depainted And her poore prisoner humbly on his knees Pleading for grace with heart that neuer fainted She breakes the glasse alas I cannot choose But grieue that I should so my labour loose SONNET XX. GReat is the ioy that no tongue can expresse Faire babe new borne how much doest thou delight me But what is mine so great yea no whit lesse So great that of all woes it doth acquite me It 's faire Fidessa that this comfort bringeth Who sorrie for the wrongs by her procured Delightfull tunes of loue of true loue singeth Wherewith her too-chast thoughts were nere inured She loues she saith but with a loue not blind Her loue is counsaile that I should not loue But vpon vertues fixe a staied mind But what this new coynd loue loue doth reproue If this be loue of which you make such store Sweet loue me lesse that you may loue me more SONNET XXI HE that will Caesar be or els not be Who can aspire to Caesars bleeding fame Must be of high resolue but what is he That thinkes to gaine a second Caesars name Who ere he be that climes aboue his strength And climeth high the greater is his fall For though he sit a while we see at length His slipperie place no firmnes hath at all Great is his bruse that falleth from on high This warneth me that I should not aspire Examples should preuaile I care not I I perish must or haue what I desire This humour doth with mine full well agree I must Fidessaes be or els not be SONNET XXII IT was of loue vngentle gentle boy That thou didst come and harbour in my brest Not of intent my body to destroy And haue my soule with restles cares opprest But sith thy loue doth turne vnto my paine Returne to Greece sweete lad where thou wast borne Leaue me alone my griefes to entertaine If thou forsake mee I am lesse forlorne Although alone yet shall I finde more ease Then see thou hie thee hence or I will chase thee Men highly wronged care not to displease My fortune hangs on thee thou doest disgrace me Yet at thy farewell play a friendly part To make amends flye to Fidessaes hart SONNET XXIII FLye to her heart houer about her heart With daintie kisses mollifie her heart Pierce with thy arrowes her obdurate heart With sweet allurements euer moue her heart At midday and at midnight touch her heart Be lurking closely nestle about her heart With power thou art a god command her heart Kindle thy coales of loue about her heart Yea euen into thy selfe transforme her heart And she must loue be sure thou haue her heart And I must dye if thou haue not her heart Thy bed if thou rest well must be her heart He hath the best part sure that hath the heart What haue I not if I haue but her heart SONNET XXIIII STriuing is past ah I must sinke and drowne And that in sight of long descried shore I cannot send for ayd vnto the towne All helpe is vaine and I must dye therefore Then poore distressed caytiue be resolued To leaue this earthly dwelling fraught with care Cease will thy woes thy corps in earth inuolued Thou dyest for her that will no helpe prepare Oh see my case her selfe doth now behold The casement open is she seemes to speake But she is gone oh then I dare be bold And needs must say she causde my heart to breake I dye before I drowne oh heauie case It was because I saw my mistris face SONNET XXV COmpare me to Pygmalion with his image sotted For as was he euen so am I deceiued The shadow only is to me alotted The substance hath of substance me bereued Then poore and helples must I wander still In deepe laments to passe succeeding daies Weltring in woes that poore and mightie kill Oh who is mightie that so soone decaies The dread almightie hath appoynted so The finall period of all worldly things That as in time they come so must they goe Death common is to beggers and to kings But whither doe I runne beside my text I runne to death for death must be the next SONNET XXVI THe sillie bird that hasts vnto the net And flutters to and fro till she be taken Doth looke some foode or succour there to get But looseth life so much is she mistaken The foolish flie that flieth to the flame With ceaseles houering and with restles flight Is burned straight to ashes in the same And findes her death where was her most delight The proude aspiring boye that needes would prie Into the secrets of the highest seate Had some conceite to gaine content thereby Or else his follie sure was wondrous great These did through follie perish all and die And though I know it euen so doe I. SONNET XXVII POore worme poore silly worme alas poore beast Feare makes thee hide thy head within the groūd Because of creeping things thou art the least Yet euery foote giues thee thy mortall wound But I thy fellow worme am in worse state For thou thy Sunne enioyest but I want mine I liue in irksome night oh cruell fate My Sunne will neuer rise nor euer shine Thus blind of light mine eyes misguide my feete And balefull darknes makes me still afraide Men mocke me when I stumble in the streete And wonder how my yong sight so decaide Yet doe I ioy in this euen when I fall That I shall see againe and then see all SONNET XXVIII WEll may my soule immortall and diuine That is imprison'd in a lump of clay Breath out laments vntill this bodie pine That from her takes her pleasures all away Pine then thou lothed prison of my life Vntoward subiect of the least aggrieuance Oh let me dye mortalitie is rife Death comes by wounds by sicknes care chance Oh earth the time will come when I 'le resume thee And in my bosome make thy resting place Then doe not vnto hardest sentence doome me Yeeld yeeld betimes I must and will haue grace Richly shalt thou be intomb'd since for thy graue Fidessa faire Fidessa thou shalt haue SONNET XXIX EArth take this earth wherin my spirits lāguish Spirits leaue this earth that doth in griefs retaine you Griefs chase this earth that it may fade with anguish Spirits auoide these furies which doe paine you Oh leaue your lothsome prison freedome gaine you Your essence is diuine great is your power And yet you mone your wrongs sore cōplaine you Hoping for ioye which fadeth euery howre Oh Spirits your prison loath freedome gaine you The destinies in deepe laments haue shut you Of mortall hate because they doe disdaine you And yet of ioy that they in prison put
are done but to increase my smart And intertaine my loue with falsed wiles Yet being when she smiles surprisde with ioy I faine would languish in so sweet a paine Beseeching death my bodie to destroy lest on the sudden she should frowne againe When men doe wish for death fates haue no force But they when men would liue haue no remorce SONNET XLI THe prison I am in is thy faire face Wherein my libertie inchained lyes My thoughts the bolts that hold me in the place My foode the pleasing lookes of thy faire eyes Deepe is the prison where I lye inclosed Strong are the bolts that in this cell containes me Sharpe is the foode necessitie imposed When hunger makes me feed on that which paines me Yet doe I loue imbrace and follow fast That holds that keepes that discontents me most And list not breake vnlock or seeke to waste The place the bolts the foode though I be lost Better in prison euer to remaine Then being out to suffer greater paine SONNET XLII WHen neuer speaking silence proues a wonder When euer-flying fame at home remaineth When all-concealing night keepes darknes vnder When Men deuouring wrong true glorie gaineth When Soule-tormenting griefe agrees with ioy When Lucifer forerunnes the balefull night When Venus doth forsake her little boye When her vntoward boye obtaineth sight When Sysiphus doth cease to roule his stone When Othes shaketh off his heauie chaines When Beautie Queene of pleasure is alone When Loue and Vertue quiet peace disdaines When these shall be and I not be Then will Fidessa pittie me SONNET XLIII TEll me of loue sweete Loue who is thy fire Of if thou mortall or immortall be Some say thou art begotten by Desire Nourisht with hope and fed with fantasie Ingendred by a heauenly goddesse eye Lurking most sweetely in an Angels face Others that beautie thee doth deifie Oh Soueraigne beautie full of power and grace But I must be absurd all this denying Because the fayrest faire aliue nere knew thee Now Cupid comes thy godhead to the trying T' was she alone such is her power that slew me She shall be Loue and thou a foolish boye Whose vertue proues thy power but a toye SONNET XLIIII NO choice of change can euer change my minde Choiceles my choice the choicest choice aliue Wonder of women were she not vnkinde The pitiles of pitie to depriue Yet she the kindest creature of her kinde Accuseth me of selfe ingratitude And well she may sith by good proofe I finde My selfe had dide had she not helpfull stoode For when my sicknes had the vpper hand And death began to shew his awfull face She tooke great paines my paines for to withstand And easde my heart that was in heauie cace But cruell now she skorneth what it craueth Vnkind in kindnes murdering while she saueth SONNET XLV MIne eye bewrayes the secrets of my hart My heart vnfolds his griefe before her face Her face bewitching pleasure of my smart Daignes not one looke of mercie and of grace My guiltie eye of murder and of treason Friendly conspirator of my decay Dumbe eloquence the louers strongest reason Doth weepe it selfe for anger quite away And chooseth rather not to be then bee Disloyall by too-well discharging dutie And being out ioyes it no more can see The sugred charmes of all deceiuing beautie But for the other greedily doth eye it I pray you tell me what doe I get by it SONNET XLVIII MVrder oh murder I can crie no longer Murder oh murder is there none to ayde me Life feeble is in force death is much stronger Then let me dye that shame may not vpbrayd me Nothing is left me now but shame or death I feare she feareth not foule murthers guilt Nor doe I feare to loose a seruile breath I know my bloud was giuen to be spilt What is this life but maze of counties strayes The enemie of true felicitie Fitly compar'd to dreames to flowers to playes Oh life no life to me but miserie Of shame or death if thou must one Make choice of death and both are gone SONNET XLIX MY cruell fortunes clowded with a frowne Lurke in the bosome of eternall night My climing thoughts are basely haled downe My best deuices proue but after-sight Poore outcast of the worlds exiled roome I liue in wildernes of deepe lament No hope reseru'd me but a hopeles tombe When fruitles life and fruitfull woes are spent Shall Phoebus hinder little starres to shine Or loftie Cedar Mushrome leaue to growe Sure mightie men at little ones repine The rich is to the poore a common foe Fidessa seeing how the world doth goe Ioyneth with fortune in my ouerthrow SONNET L. WHen I the hookes of pleasure first deuowred Which vndigested threaten now to choke me Fortune on me her golden graces shewred Oh then delight did to delight prouoke me Delight false instrument of my decay Delighteth nothing that doth all things moue Made me first wander from the perfect way And fast intangled me in the snares of loue Then my vnhappie happines at first began Happie in that I lou'd the fayrest faire Vnhappily despisde a haples man Thus ioy did triumph triumph did despaire My conquest is which shall the conquest gaine Fidessa author both of ioy and paine SONNET LI. WOrke worke apace you blessed Sisters three In restles twining of my fatall threed Oh let your nimble hands at once agree To weaue it out and cut it off with speed Then shall my vexed and tormented ghost Haue quiet passage to the Elisian rest And sweetly ouer death and fortune boast In euerlasting triumphs with the blest But ah too well I know you haue conspired A lingring death for him that lotheth life As if with woes he neuer could be tyred For this you hide your all-diuiding knife One comfort yet the heauens haue assign'd me That I must dye and leaue my griefes behind me SONNET LII IT is some comfort to the wronged man The wronger of iniustice to vpbraide Iustly my selfe herein I comfort can And iustly call her an vngratefull maide Thus am I pleasde to rid my selfe of crime And stop the mouth of all-reporting fame Counting my greatest crosse the losse of time And all my priuat griefe her publique shame Ah but to speake a trueth hence are my cares And in this comfort all discomfort resteth My harmes I cause her scandale vnawares Thus loue procures the thing that loue detesteth For he that viewes the glasses of my smart Must needs report she hath a flintie hart SONNET LIII I Was a king of sweet content at least But now from out my kingdome banished I was chiefe guest at faire Dame pleasures feast But now I am for want of succour famished I was a Saint and heauen was my rest But now cast downe into the lowest hell Vile caytifes may not liue amongst the blest Nor blessed men mongst cursed caytifes dwell Thus am I made an exile of a king Thus choice of meates to want of
food is changed Thus heauens losse doth hellish torments bring Selfe crosses make me from my selfe estranged Yet am I still the same but made another Then not the same alas I am no other SONNET LIIII IF great Apollo offered as a dower His burning throne to Beauties excellence If Ioue himselfe came in a golden shower Downe to the earth to fetch faire Io thence If Venus in the curled locks were tied Of proud Adonis not of gentle kind If Tellus for a shepheards fauour died The fauour cruell loue to her assign'd If heauens winged Herrald Hermes had His heart inchanted with a countrie maide If poore Pygmalion were for beautie mad If gods and men haue all for beautie straide I am not then asham'd to be included Mongst those that loue and be with loue deluded SONNET LV. OH no I dare not oh I may not speake Yes yes I dare I can I must I will Then heart powre forth thy plaints do not breake Let neuer fancie manly courage kill Intreate her mildly words haue pleasing charmes Of force to moue the most obdurate heart To take relenting pitie of my harmes And with vnfained teares to waile my smart Is she a stocke a blocke a stone a flint Hath she nor eares to heare nor eyes to see If so my cries my prayers my teares shall stint Lord how can louers so bewitched bee I tooke her to be beauties Queene alone But now I see she is a senceles stone SONNET LVI IS trust betraide doth kindnes grow vnkind Can beautie both at once giue life and kill Shall fortune alter the most constant mind Will reason yeeld vnto rebelling will Doth fancie purchase praise and vertue shame May shew of goodnes lurke in treacherie Hath trueth vnto her selfe procured blame Must sacred Muses suffer miserie Are women woe to men traps for their falles Differ their words their deedes their lookes their liues Haue louers euer been their tennis-balles Be husbands fearefull of the chastest wiues All men doe these affirme and so must I Vnlesse Fidessa giue to me the lye SONNET LVII THree play-fellowes such three were neuer seene In Venus court vpon a summers day Met altogether on a pleasant greene Intending at some pretie game to play They Dian Cupid and Fidessa were Their wager beautie bow and crueltie The conqueresse the stakes away did beare Whose fortune then it was to winne all three Fidessa which doth these as weapons vse To make the greatest heart her will obay And yet the most obedient to refuse As hauing power poore louers to betray With these she wounds she heales giues life death More power hath none that liues by mortall breath SONNET LVIII OH beautie Syren kept with Cyrces rod The fairest good in seeme but fowlest ill The sweetest plague ordain'd for man by God The pleasing subiect of presumptuous will Th' alluring obiect of vnstaied eyes Friended of all but vnto all a foe The dearest thing that any creature buyes And vainest too it serues but for a shoe In seeme a heauen and yet from blisse exiling Paying for truest seruice nought but paine Yong mens vndoing yong and old beguiling Mans greatest losse though thought his greatest gaine True that all this with paine enough I proue And yet most true I will Fidessa loue SONNET LIX DOe I vnto a cruell Tyger pray That praies on me as wolfe vpon the Lambes Who feare the danger both of night and day And runne for succour to their tender dammes Yet will I pray though she be euer cruell On bended knee and with submissiue hart She is the fire and I must be the fuell She must inflict and I indure the smart She must she shall be mistris of her will And I poore I obedient to the same As fit to suffer death as she to kill As readie to be blam'd as she to blame And for I am the subiect of her ire All men shall know thereby my loue intire SONNET LX. OH let me sigh weepe waile and crie no more Or let me sigh weepe waile crie more and more Yea let me sigh weepe waile crie euer-more For she doth pitie my complaints no more Then cruell Pagan or the sauadge Moore But still doth adde vnto my torments more Which grieuous are to me by so much more As she inflicts them and doth wish them more Oh let thy mercie merciles be neuer more So shall sweet death to me be welcome more Then is to hungrie beasts the grassie moore Ah she that to affliction ads yet more Becomes more cruell by still adding more Wearie am I to speake of this word more Yet neuer wearie she to plague me more SONNET LXI FIdessaes worth in time begetteth praise Time praise praise fame fame wonderment Wonder fame praise time her worth doe raise To hiest pitch of dread astonishment Yet time in time her hardned heart bewraieth And praise it selfe her crueltie dispraiseth So that through praise alas her praise decaieth And that which makes it fall her honor raiseth Most strange yet true so wonder wonder still And follow fast the wonder of these daies For well I know all wonder to fulfill Her will at length vnto my will obaies Meane time let others praise her constancie And me attend vpon her clemencie SONNET LXII MOst true that I must faire Fidessa loue Most true that faire Fidessa cannot loue Most true that I doe feele the paines of loue Most true that I am captiue vnto loue Most true that I deluded am with loue Most true that I doe find the sleights of loue Most true that nothing can procure her loue Most true that I must perish in my loue Most true that she contemnes the god of loue Most true that he is snared with her loue Most true that she would haue me cease to loue Most true that she her selfe alone is Loue. Most true that though she hated I would loue Most true that dearest life shall end with loue FINIS B. Griffin Talis apud tales talis sub tempore tali Subque meo tals iudice talis ero