Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
John Fletcher (1579–1625)Song: ‘Hear, ye ladies that despise’ (from Valentinian)
H
What the mighty Love has done;
Fear examples and be wise:
Fair Calisto was a nun;
Leda, sailing on the stream
To deceive the hopes of man,
Love accounting but a dream,
Doated on a silver swan;
Danaë, in a brazen tower,
Where no love was, loved a shower.
What the mighty Love can do;
Fear the fierceness of the boy:
The chaste moon he made to woo;
Vesta, kindling holy fires,
Circled round about with spies,
Never dreaming loose desires,
Doting at the altar dies;
Ilion, in a short hour, higher
He can build, and once more fire.