Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Laura

Alia bellissima sua Signora

Robert Tofte (1561–1620)

THROUGH thee, not of thee, Lady fair I write;

Through power of Beauty, not of Virtues, thine:

With zealous will, though slender be my might,

I, weakling, seek an eagle’s nest to climb.

Then guide my feet! and if to slip I chance,

Uphold me by the favour of thy glance!

Accept in gree these verses rudely penned;

A sign of duty which to thee I owe:

And deign with sweet regard them to defend;

Which as condemnèd else are like to go.

In thee, it rests the stamp on them to set:

If current, Pass! Suppressed! if counterfeit.

And though the note, thy praises only fit,

Of sweetest bird, the dulcet nightingale:

Disdain not little Robin RedbreasT yet! [R and T stand here, and elsewhere, for the initials of the Author.]

What he doth want in learning or in skill;

He doth supply with zeal of his good will.

For only Thee, they were devised alone:

And unto Thee, they dedicated are.

Who knows? Perhaps this kindness, by thee shown,

Shall make this glimpse shine like a glittering star.

Such is thy virtue in the World his sight;

Thy crow though black, may go for swan most white.

Then doubt me not, though parted we remain:

In England thou; and I in Italy.

As I did part, I will return again,

Loyal to thee; or else with shame I’ll die!

True Lovers, when they travel countries strange,

The air, and not their constant minds, do change.