however pleasing it may be, I cannot tell, I wrote it at the importunity of your servant, which I had not done, but that he told me, he must have but a bad welcome, if he returned empty-handed; therefore take it as it is, and make what you can of it, while I rest at my own disposal,
A Clown's Praise of his Mistress.
EXcellent Mistress, brighter than the moon.
The scow’red pewter, or the silver spoon;
Fairer than Phoebus, or the morning star;
Dainty fair, Mistress by my truth you are:
As far exceeding Diana and her nymphs,
As lobsters crawfish, and crawfish shrimps:
Thine eyes like diamonds shine most clearly,
As I am an honest man I love thee dearly.
His EPISTLE to her.
I Love, because it comes to me by kind:
And much because it much delights my mind;
And thee, because it much delights my heart,
And that alone, because of thy desert:
I love, and much, and thee, and thee alone,
By kind, mind, heart, and every one.
Her ANSWER.
THou lovest not, because thou art unkind,
Nor much,because it delights not thy mind,
Nor me, because I am not in thy heart,
Nor me, because I want desert,
Thou lov’st not much, nor me, nor me alone
By kind, mind, heart, nor any one.
