Tixall Poetry.
259
To My Most Honoured Cosen, Mrs E. C.
on New Yeare's Day.
Madam, the great and rich may freely pay
To you resembling tribute on this day.
Nor should I envy the best choosers too,
Such as present you your owne beauty's view.
In fairest mirrors, that did ne'r reflect
Before so bright, so charming an aspect:
If I could make you one, where you may finde
A true, though faint resemblance of your minde.
And if my words, like breath, cast not too great
A mist o're that I would before you set,
My thoughts may be the glass, where may be showne
Something you may perhaps vouchsafe to owne:
And in that hope, they stand before you here,
And your perfections thus reflected beare.
To you resembling tribute on this day.
Nor should I envy the best choosers too,
Such as present you your owne beauty's view.
In fairest mirrors, that did ne'r reflect
Before so bright, so charming an aspect:
If I could make you one, where you may finde
A true, though faint resemblance of your minde.
And if my words, like breath, cast not too great
A mist o're that I would before you set,
My thoughts may be the glass, where may be showne
Something you may perhaps vouchsafe to owne:
And in that hope, they stand before you here,
And your perfections thus reflected beare.
