doth slo
Wyth payne and wo.
This fals Enuy
Sayth that I 950
Vse great folly
For to endyte,
And for to wryte,
And spend my tyme
In prose and ryme,
For to expres
The noblenes
Of my maistres,
That causeth me
Studious to be 960
To[425] make a relation
Of her commendation;
And there agayne
Enuy doth complayne,
And hath disdayne;
But yet certayne
I wyll be[426] playne,
And my style dres
To this prosses.
Now Phebus me ken 970
To sharpe my pen,
And lede my fyst
As hym best lyst,
That I may say
Honour alway
Of womankynd!
Trouth doth me bynd
And loyalte
Euer to be
Their true bedell, 980
To wryte and tell
How women excell
In noblenes;
As my maistres,
Of whom I thynk
With pen and ynk
For to compyle
Some goodly[427] style;
For this most goodly[428] floure,
This blossome of fresh coloure, 990
So Jupyter me socoure,
She flourissheth new and new
In beaute and vertew:
Hac claritate gemina
O gloriosa fœmina,
Legem pone mihi, domina,[429] in viam justificationum tuarum!
Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum.
How shall I report
All the goodly sort
Of her fetures clere, 1000
That hath non erthly pere?
Her[430] fauour of her face
Ennewed all with[431] grace,
Confort, pleasure, and solace,
Myne hert doth so enbrace,
And so hath rauyshed me
Her to behold and se,
That in wordes playne
I cannot me refrayne
To loke on[432] her agayne: 1010
Alas, what shuld I fayne?
It wer a plesaunt payne
With her aye to remayne.
Her eyen gray and stepe
Causeth myne hert to lepe;
With her browes bent
She may well represent
Fayre Lucres, as I wene,
Or els fayre Polexene,
Or els Caliope, 1020
Or els Penolope;
For this most goodly floure,
This blossome of fresshe coloure,
So Jupiter me socoure,
She florisheth new and new
In beautye and vertew:
Hac claritate gemina
O gloriosa fœmina,
Memor esto verbi tui servo tuo!
Servus tuus sum ego. 1030
The Indy saphyre blew
Her vaynes doth ennew;
The orient perle so clere,
The whytnesse of her lere;
The[433] lusty ruby ruddes
Resemble the rose buddes;
Her lyppes soft and mery
Emblomed lyke the chery,
It were an heuenly blysse
Her sugred mouth to kysse. 1040
Her beautye to augment,
Dame Nature hath her lent
A warte vpon her cheke,
Who so lyst to seke
In her vysage a skar,
That
