INBORN ROYALTY. O THOU goddess, Thou divine Nature, how thyself thou blazon'st In these two princely boys! They are as gentle As zephyrs, blowing below the violet, Not wagging his sweet head: and yet as rough, Their royal blood enchafed, as the rud'st wind, That by the top doth take the mountain pine, And make him stoop to the vale. 'Tis wonderful That an invisible instinct should frame them To royalty unlearned; honor untaught; Civility not seen from other; valor, That wildly grows in them, but yields a crop As if it had been sowed! SHAKSPEARE: Cymbeline. Arose the virgin, born of heavenly brood, And to her snowy palfrey got again To seek her strayed champion if she might attain. The lion would not leave her desolate, But with her went along, as a strong guard Of her chaste person, and a faithful mate. Still, when she slept, he kept both watch and ward; And, when she waked, he waited diligent, With humble service to her will prepared: From her fair eyes he took commandment And ever by her looks conceived her intent. SPENSER. WHEN I DO COUNT THE CLOCK. WHEN I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silvered o'er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer's green, all girded up in sheaves, Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard; Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, And die as fast as they see others grow; And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence, Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. SHAKSPEARE. WHEN I love, as some have told, You can make a Mercury. HERRICK |