  TO HIS (SUPPOSED) MISTRESSE. 1. Who ere she be,1 That not impossible she That shall command my heart and me; 2. Where ere she lye, Lock't up from mortall eye,5 In shady leaves of Destiny; 3. Till that ripe birth Of studied Fate stand forth, And teach her faire steps tread our Earth; 4. Till that divine10 IdÆa, take a shrine Of chrystall flesh, through which to shine; 5. Meet you her, my wishes, Bespeake her to my blisses, And be ye call'd, my absent kisses.15 6. I wish her, beauty That owes not all its duty To gaudy tire or glistring shoo-ty. 7. Something more than Taffata or tissew can,20 Or rampant feather, or rich fan. 8. More than the spoyle Of shop, or silkeworme's toyle, Or a bought blush, or a set smile. 9. A face that's best25 By its owne beauty drest, And can alone commend the rest. 10. A face made up, Out of no other shop Than what Nature's white hand sets ope.30 11. A cheeke where Youth, And blood, with pen of Truth Write, what their reader sweetly ru'th. 12. A cheeke where growes More than a morning rose:35 Which to no boxe his being owes. 13. Lipps, where all day A lover's kisse may play, Yet carry nothing thence away. 14. Lookes that oppresse40 Their richest tires, but dresse Themselves in simple nakednesse. 15. Eyes, that displace The neighbour diamond, and out-face That sunshine, by their own sweet grace.45 16. Tresses, that weare Iewells, but to declare How much themselves more pretious are. 17. Whose native ray, Can tame the wanton day50 Of gems, that in their bright shades play. 18. Each ruby there, Or pearle that dares appeare, Be its own blush, be its own teare. 19. A well tam'd heart,55 For whose more noble smart, Love may be long chusing a dart. 20. Eyes, that bestow Full quivers on Love's bow; Yet pay lesse arrowes than they owe.60 21. Smiles, that can warme The blood, yet teach a charme, That Chastity shall take no harme. 22. Blushes, that bin The burnish of no sin,65 Nor flames of ought too hot within. 23. Ioyes, that confesse, Vertue their mistresse, And have no other head to dresse. 24. Feares, fond, and flight,70 As the coy bride's, when Night First does the longing lover right. 25. Teares, quickly fled, And vaine, as those are shed 26. Dayes, that need borrow, No part of their good morrow, From a fore-spent night of sorrow. 27. Dayes, that in spight Of darknesse, by the light80 Of a cleere mind are day all night. 28. Nights, sweet as they, Made short by lovers play, Yet long by th' absence of the day. 29. Life, that dares send85 A challenge to his end, And when it comes say, Welcome friend! 30. SydnÆan showers Of sweet discourse, whose powers Can crown old Winter's head with flowers.90 31. Soft silken hours; Open sunnes; shady bowers; 'Bove all, nothing within that lowers. 32. What ere delight Can make Daye's forehead bright,95 Or give downe to the wings of Night. 33. In her whole frame, Haue Nature all the name, Art and ornament the shame. 34. Her flattery,100 Picture and Poesy, Her counsell her owne vertue be. 35. I wish her store Of worth may leave her poore Of wishes; and I wish——no more.105 36. Now if Time knowes That her, whose radiant browes Weave them a garland of my vowes; 37. Her whose just bayes, My future hopes can raise,110 A trophie to her present praise. 38. Her that dares be, What these lines wish to see: I seeke no further: it is she. 39. 'Tis she, and here115 Lo I uncloath and cleare, My wishes cloudy character. 40. May she enjoy it, Whose merit dare apply it, But Modesty dares still deny it.120 41. Such worth as this is Shall fixe my flying wishes, And determine them to kisses. 42. Let her full glory, My fancyes, fly before ye,125 Be ye my fictions; but her story. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. The Harleian ms. 6917-18, as before, gives an admirable reading, corrective of all the editions in st. 3, line 3. Hitherto it has run, 'And teach her faire steps to our Earth:' the ms. as given by us 'tread' for 'to:' ib. st. 5, line 1, reads 'Meete her my wishes;' perhaps preferable: st. 6, I accept 'its' for 'his' from 1670 edition: st. 7, 'than'=then, and is spelled 'then' here and elsewhere in 1646 and 1670: st. 8, line 3, Harleian ms. reads 'Or a bowe, blush, or a set smile;' inferior: st. 9, ib. reads 'commend' for 'command;' adopted: st. 11, ib. 'their' for 'the;' adopted: st. 14, ib. spells 'tyers,' and line 3 reads as we print for 'And cloath their simplest nakednesse,' which is clumsy and poor: st. 15: Here, as in the poem, 'On the bleeding wounds of our crucified Lord' (st. 6), where we read 'The thorns that Thy blest brows encloses,' and elsewhere, we have an example of the Elizabethan use of 'that' as a singular (referring to and thus made a collective plural) taken as the governing nominative to the verb. So in this poem of 'Wishes' we have 'Eyes that bestow,' 'Joys that confess,' 'Tresses that wear.' But it must be stated that the Harleian ms., as before, reads not as in 1646 and 1648 'displaces,' 'out-faces' and 'graces,' but as printed by us on its authority; certainly the rhythm is improved thereby: st. 18, line 2, ib. 'dares' for 'dare;' adopted: st. 24, looking to 'tears quickly fled' of next stanza, I think 'flight' is correct, and not a misprint for 'slight.' Accordingly I have punctuated with a comma after fond, flight being = the shrinking-away of the bride, like the Horatian fair lady, a fugitive yet wishful of her lover's kiss: st. 31, Harleian ms. as before, 'Open sunn:' st. 42, line 3, 'be you my fictions, she my story.' G. |
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