EARLY cheerful mounting lark,
Light's gentle usher, morning's clark,
In merry notes delighting:
S tint awhile thy song, and hark,
And learn my new inditing.
Bear up this hymn, to Heav'n it bear,
E 'en up to Heav'n, and sing it there,
To Heav'n each morning bear it;
Have it set to some sweet sphere,
And let the angels hear it.
Renown'd Astrea, that great name,
Exceeding great in worth and fame,
Great worth hath so renown'd it,
It is Astrea's name I praise,
Now then, sweet lark, do thou it raise;
And in high Heaven resound it.
TO ALL THE PRINCES OF EUROPE.
EUROPE, the Earth's sweet paradise:
Let all thy kings that would be wise,
In politic devotion,
S ail hither to observe her eyes,
A nd mark her heav'nly motion.
B rave princess of this civil age,
Enter into this pilgrimage:"
This saint's tongue's an oracle,
Her eye hath made a prince a page,
And works each day a miracle.
Raise but your looks to her, and see
E 'en the true beams of majesty,
Great princes, mark her duly;
If all the world you do survey,
No forehead spreads so bright a ray,
And notes a prince so truly.
TO THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER.
E ACH month hath praise in some degree;
Let May to others seem to be
In sense the sweetest season;
September thou art best to me,
A nd best doth please my reason.
But neither for thy corn nor wine
Extol I those mild days of thine,
Though corn and wine might praise thee,
Heav'n gives thee honour more divine,
A nd higher fortunes raise thee.
FR enown'd art thou (sweet month) for this,
E mong thy days her birth-day is,
G race, Plenty, Peace, and Honour,
In one fair hour with her were born,
Now since they still her crown adorn,
And still attend upon her.
EXTREME was his audacity,
Little his skill that finish'd thee;
I am asham'd and sorry,
So dull her counterfeit should be,
And she so full of glory.
But here are colours red and white,
E ach line and each proportion right;
These lines, this red and whiteness,
Have wanting yet a life and light,
A majesty, and brightness.
Rude counterfeit, I then did err,
E 'en now when I would needs infer
Great boldness in thy maker:
I did mistake, he was not bold,
or durst his eyes her eyes behold, And this made him mistake her.
E YE of that mind most quick and clear,
Like Heaven's eye which from his sphere
Into all things pryeth,
S ees through all things ev'ry where,
And all their natures trieth.
B right image of an angel's wit,
Exceeding sharp and swift like it,
Things instantly discerning:
Having a nature infinite,
And yet increas'd by learning.
Rebound upon thyself thy light,
Enjoy thine own sweet precious sight
Give us but some reflection;
It is enough for us if we,
Now in her speech, now policy,
A dmire thine high perfection.
EXQUISITE Curiosity,
Look on thyself with judging eye,
If aught be faulty, leave it:
So delicate a fantasy
As this, will straight perceive it.
Because her temper is so fine,
Endow'd with harmonies divine;
Therefore if discord strike it,
Her true proportions do repine,
And sadly do mislike it.
Right otherwise a pleasure sweet,
E'er she takes in actions meet,
G racing with smiles such meetness ;
In her fair forehead beams appear,
No summer's day is half so clear,
A dorad with half that sweetness.
OF THE INNUMERABLE VIRTUES OF HER MIND.
E RE thou proceed in these sweet pains
Learn, Muse, how many drops it rains
In cold and moist December;
S um up May flow'rs, and August's grains,
A nd grapes of mild September.
B ear the sea's sand in memory,
Earth's grass, and the stars in the sky,
The little moats which mounted,
Hang in the beams of Phoebus' eye,
A nd never can be counted.
R ecount these numbers numberless,
E re thou her virtue can express,
Great wits this count will cumber.
I nstruct thyself in numb'ring schools;
Now courtiers use to beg for fools,
All such as cannot number.
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