Edward the third.
431How much more
shall the
straines of poets wit,
432Beguild and raui
sh soft and humane myndes.
433Lor: To whome my Lord
shal I direct my
stile.
434King: To one that
shames the faire and
sots the wi
se,
435Who
se bodie is an ab
stract or a breefe,
436Containes ech generall vertue in the worlde,
437Better then bewtifull thou mu
st begin,
438Deui
se for faire a fairer word then faire,
439And euery ornament that thou woulde
st prai
se,
440Fly it a pitch aboue the
soare of prai
se,
441For
flattery feare thou not to be conuicted,
442For were thy admiration ten tymes more,
443Ten tymes ten thou
sand more thy worth exceeds,
444Of that thou art to prai
se their prai
ses worth,
445Beginne I will to contemplat the while,
446Forget not to
set downe how pa
ssionat,
447How hart
sicke and how full of langui
shment,
448Her beautie makes mee,
449Lor: Writ I to a woman?
450King: What
bewtie els could triumph on me,
451Or who but women doe our loue layes greet,
452What thinek
st thou I did bid thee prai
se a hor
se.
453Lor, Of what condicion or e
state
she is,
454Twere requi
sit that I
should know my Lord,
455King: Of
such e
state, that hers is as a throane,
456And my e
state the foot
stoole where
shee treads,
457Then mai
st thou iudge what her condition is,
458By the proportion of her mightines,
459Write on while I peru
se her in my thoughts,
460Her voice to mu
sicke or the nightingale,
461To mu
sicke euery
sommer leaping
swaine,
462Compares his
sunburnt louer when
shee
speakes,
463And why
should I
speake of the nightingale,
464The nightingale
singes of adulterate wrong,
465And that compared is to
satyrical,
466For
sinne though
synne would not be
so e
steemd,
C But