JOHN HARINGTON, ESQ. Father of Sir John Harington, to whom the following production was inadvertently ascribed in the former edition of these Specimens. He was imprisoned in the reign of Queen Mary for having espoused the cause of Elizabeth, who rewarded his attachment by the reversion of a grant of lands at Kelston near Bath. He died in 1582; and, if the poem here selected be rightly attributed to him by the Harington papers, he cannot be denied the singular merit of having united an elegance of taste with an artifice of style which far exceeded his contemporaries. A SONNET Made on Isabella Markham, when I first thought her fair, as she stood at the Princess's Window in goodly Attire, and talked to divers in the Courtyard. [From a MS. dated 1564. Vide Nugæ Antiquæ.] W HENCE comes my love?-Oh, heart, disclose! 'Twas from cheeks that shame the rose; From lips that spoil the ruby's praise; From eyes that mock the diamond's blaze: Whence comes my woe, as freely own ;— Ah me! 'twas from a heart like stone. The blushing cheek speaks modest mind, Why thus, my love, so kind bespeak O Venus! take thy gifts again. Make nought so fair to cause our moan, EARL OF OXFORD. Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, the seventeenth of his surname and family, was a pensioner, says Wood, of St John's College, Cambridge, and distinguished in his youth for wit, valour, and patriotism. He succeeded his father in his title and honours in 1562, and died an old man in 1604. It is, therefore, probable that he was not born later than 1534. His poetical talents were much admired, or at least much extolled, by his contemporaries and such of his sonnets as are preserved in the Paradise of Dainty Devices are certainly not among the worst, although they are by no means the best, in that collection. One only (the Judgment of Desire) can be said to rise a little above mediocrity. W [Penitent Beauty.] [From Lord Orford's works, vol. I. p. 552.] HEN I was fair and young, then favour graced me; Of many was I sought their mistress for to be; But I did scorn them all, and answer'd them there. fore, Go, go-go, seek some other-where, importune me no more! How many weeping eyes I maue to pine in wo, How many sighing hearts, I have not skill to show. But I the prouder grew, and still thus spake therefore, "Go, go!—go, seek some other-where, importune 66 me no more!" Then spake brave Venus' son, that brave victorious boy, Saying, "You dainty dame, for that you be so coy, "I will so pull your plumes, as you shall say no "Go, go!—go, seek some other-where, importune me no more." As soon as he had said, such care grew in my breast, That neither night nor day I could take any rest, Wherefore I did repent that I had said before,"Go, go!-go, seek some other-where, importune Of the Birth and Bringing up of Desire. [From Briton's Bowre of Delights, 1597.] "When wert thou born, Desire ?" "In pomp and pride of May." "By whom, sweet boy, wert thou begot? "By Good-conceit men say.' "Tell me who was thy nurse?" "Fresh Youth, in sugar'd joy." "What was thy meat and daily food?" "Sore sighs, with great annoy." "What had you then to drink?" "Unfeigned lovers' tears." "What cradle were you rocked in?" "In hope devoid of fears." "What brought you then asleep?" "Sweet speech, that lik❜d men best." "And where is now your dwelling place ?" "In gentle hearts I rest.” "Doth company displease?" "It doth in many one." |