Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/108

 NUMBERS

FROM

ELIZABETHAN MISCELLANIES & SONG-BOOKS

BY UNNAMED OR UNCERTAIN AUTHORS

53. A Praise of His Lady

Tottel's Miscellany, 1557

Give place, you ladies, and begone! Boast not yourselves at all! For here at hand approacheth one Whose face will stain you all.

The virtue of her lively looks Excels the precious stone; I wish to have none other books To read or look upon.

In each of her two crystal eyes Smileth a naked boy; It would you all in heart suffice To see that lamp of joy.

I think Nature hath lost the mould Where she her shape did take; Or else I doubt if Nature could So fair a creature make.

She may be well compared Unto the Phœnix kind, Whose like was never seen or heard, That any man can find.