Internet Shakespeare Editions

About this text

  • Title: The Passionate Pilgrim (Octavo, 1599)
  • Editor: Hardy M. Cook
  • ISBN: 978-1-55058-411-0

    Copyright Internet Shakespeare Editions. This text may be freely used for educational, non-proift purposes; for all other uses contact the Coordinating Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Editor: Hardy M. Cook
    Not Peer Reviewed

    The Passionate Pilgrim (Octavo, 1599)


    DId not the heauenly Rhetorike of thine eie,
    30Gainst whom the world could not hold argumēt,
    Perswade my hart to this false periurie:
    Vowes for thee broke deserue not punishment.
    A woman I forswore: but I will proue
    Thou being a Goddesse, I forswore not thee:
    35My vow was earthly, thou a heauenly loue,
    Thy grace being gainde, cures all disgrace in me.
    My vow was breath, and breath a vapor is,
    Then thou faire Sun, that on this earth doth shine,
    Exhale this vapor vow, in thee it is:
    40If broken, then it is no fault of mine.
    If by me broke, what foole is not so wise
    To breake an Oath, to win a Paradise?