It first advaunft to great Auguftus grace, Might long perhaps have lien in filence bace, Ne bene fo much admir'd of later age.

This lowly Mufe, that learns like steps to

trace,

Flies for like aide unto your patronage, (That are the great Mecenas of this age, As well to all that civil artes profeffe, As those that are infpir'd with martial rage,) And craves protection of her feebleneffe: Which if ye yield, perhaps ye may her rayse In bigger tunes to found your living prayse.

E. S.

To the Right Noble Lord and moft valiaunt Captaine, Sir John Norris, Knight, Lord prefident of Mounfter.

WHO ever gave more honourable prize

To the fweet Mufe then did the Martiall

crew,

That their brave deeds fhe might immortalize

In her shril tromp, and found their praises dew?

Who then ought more to favour her then you,

Ver. 8. unto your patronage, &c.] See the Ruines of Time, ver. 436, where Sir Francis is intended under the name of Melibæ. TODD.

Moft Noble Lord, the honor of this age, And Precedent of all that armes enfue? Whose warlike proweffe and manly courage, Tempred with reason and advizement fage,

Hath fild fad Belgicke with victorious spoile; In Fraunce and Ireland left a famous gage; And lately fhakt the Lufitanian foile. Sith then each where thou haft difpredd thy fame,

Love him that hath eternized your Name.

E. S.

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 foveraine Goddeffes moft deare delight,

Ver. 10: Hath fild fad Belgiche &c. &c.] His exploits in other countries are alfo enumerated by Henry Lok, in a Sonnet addreffed to him at the end of Ecclefiaftes paraphrased, 1597. "The moderne Marfes did your vertues try;

Whit you the proud Iberian forces quayld

"In Britany, and in Netherland, whereby
"With equall armes they feldome have prevayld:
"The trecherous practife, wherewith they affayld
"Th' inconftant humors of the Irish foes,

"Your pollicies have stayd, when force hath fayld, "Whereby your merits measure daily growes." TODD. Ver. 1. the Sommers Nightingale,] An unknown author has addressed Henry Constable in a phrase of the fame kind. See the edition of Milton, 1801, vol. 5. p. 444. "Englands sweete nightingale, what frights thee fo, &e."

TODD.

Why doe I fend this rufticke Madrigale,

That may thy tunefull eare unfeason quite ? Thou onely fit this Argument to write,

In whose high thoughts Pleasure hath built

her bowre,

And dainty Love learnd fweetly to endite. My rimes I know unfavory and fowre, To taft the streames that, like a golden fhowre, Flow from thy fruitfull head of thy Love's praise ;

Fitter perhaps to thonder martiall ftowre,

Whenfo thee lift thy lofty Mufe to raise: Yet, till that Thou thy Poeme wilt make knowne, Let thy faire Cinthias praises be thus rudely showne.

E. S.

To the Right Honourable and moft vertuous Lady, the Counteffe of Pembroke.

REMEMBRAUNCE of that most heroicke Spirit,

The hevens pride, the glory of our daies, Which now triumpheth (through immortall

Ver. 14. Let thy faire Cinthias praifes &c.] An allufion to the poem written by Sir Walter, entitled Cynthia. See the Life of Spenfer. TODD.

Of hevenlie blis and everlasting praies;

! Who firft my Mufe did lift out of the flore,
To fing his sweet delights in lowlie laies ;
Bids me, moft Noble Lady, to adore
His goodly image living evermore

In the divine resemblaunce of your face;
Which with

ye

your vertues embellish more, And native beauty deck with heavenly grace: For His, and for your owne efpecial fake, Vouchfafe from him this token in good worth to take.

E. S.

To the most vertuous and beautifull Lady, the Lady Carew.

NE may I, without blot of endleffe blame, You, faireft Lady, leave out of this place;

Ver. 9. His goodly image &c.] Henry Conftable, in one of his manufcript Sonnets in my poffeffion, addresses this Lady with a fimilar application to her deceased brother, tre beloved and accomplished Sir Philip Sidney:

Yet knowe do well as I

"To honoure thee what need I feeke for more?

"Thou art his fifter whom I honoured so.

Thy minde, all fay, like to thy brother is, &c." The fame allufion is made by Henry Lok, in a Sonnet infcribed to this Lady at the end of his Ecclefiaftes paraphrased, 1597. And indeed" who would not fing for Sidney?" TODD.

Ver. 14. Vouchsafe from him] It should be me. CHURCH. Ver. 2. You, fairest Lady, &c.] See the Life of Spenfer.

TODD.

But, with remembraunce of your gracious

Name,

(Wherewith that courtly garlond most ye

grace

And deck the world,) adorne these verses base:
Not that these few lines can in them comprise
Thofe glorious ornaments of hevenly grace,
Wherewith ye triumph over feeble
And in fubdued harts do tyranyfe;

eyes

(For thereunto doth need a golden quill And filver leaves, them rightly to devife ;) But to make humble prefent of good will: Which, whenas timely meanes it purchase may, In ampler wife itfelfe will forth display.

E. S.

*To all the gratious and beautifull Ladies in the Court.

THE Chian Peincter, when he was requir'd
To pourtraict Venus in her perfect hew;
To make his worke more abfolute, defir'd
Of all the faireft Maides to have the vew.
Much more me needs, (to draw the femblant

trew

Of Beauties Queene, the worlds fole wonderment,)

* Henry Lok thus clofes his collection of Sonnets, fubjoined to his Ecclefiaftes paraphrafed, 1597, with an addrefs To the Honorable Ladies and Gentlewomen, attendants in the Court; and another to his friends in general. TODD.