| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Fidessa | | Sonnet XXXVIII. Was never eye did see my Mistress’s face | | Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602) |
| | | WAS never eye did see my Mistress’s face, | |
| Was never ear did hear FIDESSA’s tongue, | |
| Was never mind that once did mind her grace, | |
| That ever thought the travail to be long! | |
| “When her I see, no creature I behold.” | 5 |
| So plainly say, these Advocates of Love, | |
| That now do fear, and now to speak are bold; | |
| Trembling apace, when they resolve to prove. | |
| These strange effects do show a hidden power, | |
| A majesty, all base attempts reproving; | 10 |
| That glads or daunts as she doth laugh or lower; | |
| Surely some goddess harbours in their moving! | |
| Who thus my Muse from base attempts hath raised, | |
| Whom thus my Muse beyond compare hath praised. | | | | |
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