Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
Parthenophil and Parthenophe[Dedicatory Sonnets.] To the Right Honourable, most renowned and valiant Robert, Earl of Essex and Ewe
Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609)V
When time from cares of more import, permits;
The too dear charge of my unchargèd wits!
And that I do my lighter Muses lead
To kiss your sacred hands! I mildly plead
For pardon; where all gracious virtue sits.
Since time of yore, their Lord’s firstfruits admits;
My bashful Muse (which lost her maidenhead
In too dear travail of my restless Love)
To you, my Lord! her first-born babe presents!
Unworthy such a patron! for her lightness.
Yet deign her zeal! though not the light contents;
Till, from your virtues (registered above),
To make her Love more known, she borrow brightness.