dight With chearefull grace and amiable sight For of the soule the bodie forme doth take For soule is forme and doth the bodie make Therefore where euer that thou doest behold A comely corpse with beautie faire endewed Know this for certaine that the same doth hold A beauteous soule with faire conditions thewed Fit to receiue the seede of vertue strewed For all that faire is is by nature good That is a signe to know the gentle blood Yet oft it falles that many a gentle mynd Dwels in deformed tabernacle drownd Either by chaunce against the course of kynd Or through vnaptnesse in the substance fownd Which it assumed of some stubborne grownd That will not yield vnto her formes direction But is perform'd with some foule imperfection And oft it falles ay me the more to rew That goodly beautie albe heauenly borne Is foule abusd and that celestiall hew Which doth the world with her delight adorne Made but the bait of sinne and sinners scorne Whilest euery one doth seeke and sew to haue it But euery one doth seeke but to depraue it Yet nathemore is that faire beauties blame But theirs that do abuse it vnto ill Nothing so good but that through guilty shame May be corrupt and wrested vnto will Nathelesse the soule is faire and beauteous still How euer fleshes fault it filthy make For things immortall no corruption take But ye faire Dames the worlds deare ornaments And liuely images of heauens light Let not your beames with such disparagements Be dimd and your bright glorie darkned quight But mindfull still of your first countries sight Doe still preserue your first informed grace Whose shadow yet shynes in your beauteous face Loath that foule blot that hellish fierbrand Disloiall lust faire beauties foulest blame That base affectiōs which your eares would bland Commend to you by loues abused name But is indeede the bondslaue of defame Which will the garland of your glorie marre And quēch the light of your bright shyning starre But gentle Loue that loiall is and trew Will more illumine your resplendent ray And adde more brightnesse to your goodly hew From light of his pure fire which by like way Kindled of yours your likenesse doth display Like as two mirrours by opposd reflexion Doe both expresse the faces first impression Therefore to make your beautie more appeare It you behoues to loue and forth to lay That heauenly riches which in you ye beare That men the more admyre their fountaine may For else what booteth that celestiall ray If it in darknesse be enshrined euer That it of louing eyes be vewed neuer But in your choice of Loues this well aduize That likest to your selues ye them select The which your forms first sourse may sympathize And with like beauties parts be inly deckt For if you loosely loue without respect It is no loue but a discordant warre Whose vnlike parts amongst themselues do iarre For Loue is a celestiall harmonie Of likely harts composd of starres concent Which ioyne together in sweete sympathie To worke ech others ioy and true content Which they haue harbourd since their first descēt Out of their heauenly bowres where they did see And know ech other here belou'd to bee Then wrong it were that any other twaine Should in loues gentle band combyned bee But those whom heauen did at first ordaine And made out of one mould the more t' agree For all that like the beautie which they see Streight do not loue for loue is not so light As streight to burne at first beholders sight But they which loue indeede looke otherwise With pure regard and spotlesse true intent Drawing out of the obiect of their eyes A more refyned forme which they present Vnto their mind voide of all blemishment Which it reducing to her first perfection Beholdeth free from fleshes frayle infection And then conforming it vnto the light Which in it selfe it hath remaining still Of that first Sunne yet sparckling in his sight Thereof he fashions in his higher skill An heauenly beautie to his fancies will And it embracing in his mind entyre The mirrour of his owne thought doth admyre Which seeing now so inly faire to be As outward it appeareth to the eye And with his spirits proportion to agree He thereon fixeth all his fantasie And fully setteth his felicitie Counting it fairer then it is indeede And yet indeede her fairenesse doth exceede For louers eyes more sharply sighted bee Then other mens and in deare loues delight See more then any other eyes can see Through mutuall receipt of beames bright Which carrie priuie message to the spright And to their eyes that inmost faire display As plaine as light discouers dawning day Therein they see through amorous eye-glaunces Armies of loues still flying too and fro Which dart at them their litle fierie launces Whom hauing wounded backe againe they go Carrying compassion to their louely foe Who seeing her faire eyes so sharpe effect Cures all their sorrowes with one sweete aspect In which how many wonders doe they reede To their conceipt that others neuer see Now of her smiles with which their soules they feede Like Gods with Nectar in their bankets free Now of her lookes which like to Cordials bee But when her words embassade forth she sends Lord how sweete musicke that vnto them lends Sometimes vpon her forhead they behold A thousand Graces masking in delight Sometimes within her eye-lids they vnfold Ten thousand sweet belgards which to their sight Doe seeme like twinckling starres in frostie night But on her lips like rosy buds in May So many millions of chaste pleasures play All those ô Cytherea and thousands more Thy handmaides be which do on thee attend To decke thy beautie with their dainties store That may it more to mortall eyes commend And make it more admyr'd of foe and frend That in mens harts thou mayst thy throne enstall And spred thy louely kingdome ouer all Then Iotryumph ô great beauties Queene Aduance the banner of thy conquest hie That all this world the which thy vassals beene May draw to thee and with dew fealtie Adore the powre of thy great Maiestie Singing this Hymne in honour of thy name Compyld by me which thy poore liegeman am In lieu whereof graunt ô great Soueraine That she whose conquering beautie doth captiue My trembling hart in her eternall chaine One drop of grace at length will to me giue That I her bounden thrall by her may liue And this same life which first fro me she reaued May owe to her of whom I it receaued And you faire Venus dearling my deare dread Fresh flowre of grace great Goddesse of my life Whē your faire eyes these fearefull lines shal read Deigne to let fall one drop of dew reliefe That may recure my harts long pyning griefe And shew what wōdrous powre your beauty hath That can restore a damned wight from death FINIS AN HYMNE OF HEAVENLY LOVE LOue lift me vp vpon thy golden wings From
dart Doing him die that neuer it deserued To free his foes that from his heast had swerued What hart can feele least touch of so sore launch Or thought can think the depth of so deare wound Whose bleeding sourse their streames yet neuer staunch But stil do flow freshly still redound To heale the sores of sinfull soules vnsound And clense the guilt of that infected cryme Which was enrooted in all fleshly slyme O blessed well of loue ô floure of grace O glorious Morning starre ô lampe of light Most liuely image of thy fathers face Eternall King of glorie Lord of might Meeke lambe of God before all worlds behight How can we thee requite for all this good Or what can prize that thy most precious blood Yet nought thou ask'st in lieu of all this loue But loue of vs for guerdon of thy paine Ay me what can vs lesse then that behone Had he required life of vs againe Had it beene wrong to aske his owne with gaine He gaue vs life he it restored lost Then life were least that vs so litle cost But he our life hath left vnto vs free Free that was thrall and blessed that was band Ne ought demaunds but that we louing bee As he himselfe hath lou'd vs afore hand And bound therto with an eternall band Him first to loue that vs so dearely bought And next our brethren to his image wrought Him first to loue great right and reason is Who first to vs our life and being gaue And after when we fared had amisse Vs wretches from the second death did saue And last the food of life which now we haue Euen himselfe in his deare sacrament To feede our hungry soules vnto vs lent Then next to loue our brethren that were made Of that selfe mould and that selfe makers hand That we and to the same againe shall fade Where they shall haue like heritage of land How euer here on higher steps we stand Which also were with selfe same price redeemed That we how euer of vs light esteemed And were they not yet since that louing Lord Commaunded vs to loue them for his sake Euen for his sake and for his sacred word Which in his last bequest he to vs spake We should them loue with their needs partake Knowing that whatsoere to them we giue We giue to him by whom we all doe liue Such mercy he by his most holy reede Vnto vs taught and to approue it trew Ensampled it by his most righteous deede Shewing vs mercie miserable crew That we the like should to the wretches shew And loue our brethren thereby to approue How much himselfe that loued vs we loue Then rouze thy selfe ô earth out of thy soyle In which thou wallowest like to filthy swyne And doest thy mynd in durty pleasures moyle Vnmindfull of that dearest Lord of thyne Lift vp to him thy heauie clouded eyne That thou his soueraine bountie mayst behold And read through loue his mercies manifold Beginne from first where he encradled was In simple cratch wrapt in a wad of hay Betweene the toylefull Oxe and humble Asse And in what rags and in how base aray The glory of our heauenly riches lay When him the silly Shepheards came to see Whom greatest Princes sought on lowest knee From thence reade on the storie of his life His humble carriage his vnfaulty wayes His cancred foes his fights his toyle his strife His paines his pouertie his sharpe assayes Through which he past his miserable dayes Offending none and doing good to all Yet being malist both of great and small And looke at last how of most wretched wights He taken was betrayd and false accused How with most scornefull taunts fell despights brused He was reuyld disgrast and foule abused How scourgd how crownd how buffeted how syde And lastly how twixt robbers crucifyde With bitter wounds through hands through feet Then let thy flinty hart that feeles no paine Empierced be with pittifull remorse And let thy bowels bleede in euery vaine At sight of his most sacred heauenly corse So torne and mangled with malicious forse And let thy soule whose sins his sorrows wrought Melt into teares and grone in grieued thought With sence whereof whilest so thy softened spirit Is inly toucht and humbled with meeke zeale Through meditation of his endlesse merit Lift vp thy mind to th' author of thy weale And to his soueraine mercie doe appeale Learne him to loue that loued thee so deare And in thy brest his blessed image beare With all thy hart with all thy soule and mind Thou must him loue and his beheasts embrace All other loues with which the world doth blind Weake fancies and stirre vp affections base Thou must renounce and vtterly displace And giue thy selfe vnto him full and free That full and freely gaue himselfe to thee Then shalt thou feele thy spirit so possest And rauisht with deuouring great desire Of his deare selfe that shall thy feeble brest Inflame with loue and set thee all on fire With burning zeale through euery part entire That in no earthly thing thou shalt delight But in his sweet and amiable sight Thenceforth all worlds desire will in thee dye And all earthes glorie on which men do gaze Seeme durt and drosse in thy pure sighted eye Compar'd to that celestiall beauties blaze Whose glorious beames all fleshly sense doth daze With admiration of their passing light Blinding the eyes and lumining the spright Then shall thy rauisht soule inspired bee With heauēly thoughts farre aboue humane skil And thy bright radiant eyes shall plainely see Th'Idee of his pure glorie present still Before thy face that all thy spirits shall fill With sweete enragement of celestiall loue Kindled through sight of those faire things aboue FINIS AN HYMNE OF HEAVENLY BEAVTIE RApt with the rage of mine own rauisht thought Through cōtemplation of those goodly sights And glorious images in heauen wrought Whose wōdrous beauty breathing sweet delights Do kindle loue in high conceipted sprights I faine to tell the things that I behold But feele my wits to faile and tongue to fold Vouchsafe then ô thou most almightie Spright From whom all guifts of wit and knowledge flow To shed into my breast some sparkling light Of thine eternall Truth that I may show Some litle beames to mortall eyes below Of that immortall beautie there with thee Which in my weake distraughted mynd I see That with the glorie of so goodly sight The hearts of men which fondly here admyre Faire seeming shewes and feed on vaine delight Transported with celestiall desyre Of those faire formes may lift themselues vp hye◠And learne to loue with zealous humble dewty Th' eternall fountaine of that heauenly beauty Beginning then below with th' easie vew Of this base world subiectro fleshly eye From thence to mount aloft by order dew To contemplation of th' immortall sky Of the soare faulcon so I learne to fly That flags awhile her fluttering wings
Fovvre Hymnes MADE BY EDM. SPENSER ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed for VVilliam Ponsonby 1596. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE AND MOST VERtuous Ladies the Ladie Margaret Countesse of Cumberland and the Ladie Marie Countesse of Warwicke HAuing in the greener times of my youth composed these former two Hymnes in the praise of Loue and beautie and finding that the same too much pleased those of like age dispositiō which being too vehemently caried with that kind of affection do rather sucke out poyson to their strong passion then hony to their honest delight I was moued by the one of you two most excellent Ladies to call in the same But being vnable so to doe by reason that many copies thereof were formerly scattered abroad I resolued at least to amend and by way of retractation to reforme them making in stead of those two Hymnes of earthly or naturall loue and beautie two others of heauenly and celestiall The which I doe dedicate ioyntly vnto you two honorable sisters as to the most excellent and rare ornaments of all true loue and beautie both in the one and the other kinde humbly beseeching you to vouchsafe the patronage of them and to accept this my humble seruice in lieu of the great graces and honourable fauours which ye dayly shew vnto me vntill such time as I may by better meanes yeeld you some more notable testimonie of my thankfull mind and dutifull deuotion And euen so I pray for your happinesse Greenwich this first of September 1596. Your Honors most bounden euer in all humble seruice Ed. Sp. AN HYMNE IN HONOVR OF LOVE LOue that long since hast to thy mighty powre Perforce subdude my poore captiued hart And raging now therein with restlesse stowre Doest tyrannize in euerie weaker part Faine would I seeke to ease my bitter smart By any seruice I might do to thee Or ought that else might to thee pleasing bee And now t' asswage the force of this new flame And make thee more propitious in my need I meane to sing the praises of thy name And thy victorious conquests to areed By which thou madest many harts to bleed Of mighty Victors with wyde wounds embrewed And by thy cruell darts to thee subdewed Onely I feare my wits enfeebled late Through the sharpe sorrowes which thou hast me bred Should faint and words should faile me to relate The wondrous triumphs of thy great godhed But if thou wouldst vouchsafe to ouerspred Me with the shadow of thy gentle wing I should enabled be thy actes to sing Come then ô come thou mightie God of loue Out of thy siluer bowres and secret blisse Where thou doest sit in Venus lap aboue Bathing thy wings in her ambrosiall kisse That sweeter farre then any Nectar is Come softly and my feeble breast inspire With gentle furie kindled of thy fire And ye sweet Muses which haue often proued The piercing points of his auengefull darts And ye faire Nimphs which oftētimes haue loued The cruell worker of your kindly smarts Prepare your selues and open wide your harts For to receiue the triumph of your glorie That made you merie oft when ye were sorie And ye faire blossomes of youths wanton breed Which in the conquests of your beautie bost Wherewith your louers feeble eyes you feed But sterue their harts that needeth nourture most Prepare your selues to march amongst his host And all the way this sacred hymne do sing Made in the honor of your Soueraigne king GReat god of might that reignest in the mynd And all the bodie to thy hest doest frame Victor of gods subduer of mankynd That doest the Lions and fell Tigers tame Making their cruell rage thy scornefull game And in their roring taking great delight Who can expresse the glorie of thy might Or who aliue can perfectly declare The wondrous cradle of thine infancie When thy great mother Venus first thee bare Begot of Plentie and of Penurie Though elder then thine owne natiuitie And yet a chyld renewing still thy yeares And yet the eldest of the heauenly Peares For ere this worlds still mouing mightie masse Out of great Chaos vgly prison crept In which his goodly face long hidden was From heauens view and in deepe darknesse kept Loue that had now long time securely slept In Venus lap vnarmed then and naked Gan reare his head by Clotho being waked And taking to him wings of his owne heate Kindled at first from heauens life-giuing fyre He gan to moue out of his idle seate VVeakely at first but after with desyre Lifted aloft he gan to mount vp hyre And like fresh Eagle make his hardie flight Through all that great wide wast yet wāting light Yet wanting light to guide his wandring way His owne faire mother for all creatures sake Did lend him light from her owne goodly ray Then through the world his way he gan to take The world that was not till he did it make Whose sundrie parts he frō them selues did seuer The which before had lyen confused euer The earth the ayre the water and the fyre Then gan to raunge them selues in huge array And with contrary forces to conspyre Each against other by all meanes they may Threatning their owne confusion and decay Ayre hated earth and water hatefyre Till Loue relented their rebellious yre He then them tooke and tempering goodly well Their contrary dislikes with loued meanes Did place them all in order and compell To keepe them selues within their sundrie raines Together linkt with Adamantine chaines Yet so as that in euery liuing wight They mixe themselues shew their kindly might So euer since they firmely haue remained And duly well obserued his beheast Through which now all these things that are cōtained Within this goodly cope both most and least Their being haue and dayly are increast Through secret sparks of his infused fyre Which in the barraine cold he doth inspyre Thereby they all do liue and moued are To multiply the likenesse of their kynd Whilest they seeke onely without further care To quench the flame which they in burning fynd But man that breathes a more immortall mynd Not for lusts sake but for eternitie Seekes to enlarge his lasting progenie For hauing yet in his deducted spright Some sparks remaining of that heauenly fyre He is enlumind with that goodly light Vnto like goodly semblant to aspyre Therefore in choice of loue he doth desyre That seemes on earth most heauenly to embrace That same is Beautie borne of heauenly race For sure of all that in this mortall frame Contained is nought more diuine doth seeme Or that resembleth more th' immortall flame Of heauenly light then Beauties glorious beame What wonder then if with such rage extreme Fraile men whose eyes seek heauenly things to see At sight thereof so much enrauisht bee Which well perceiuing that imperious boy Doth therwith tip his sharp empoisned darts Which glancing through the eyes with coūtenāce coy Rest not till they haue pierst the trembling harts And
on Nectar heauenly wize With Hercules and Hebe and the rest Of Venus dearlings through her bountie blest And lie like Gods in yuorie beds arayd With rose and lillies ouer them displayd There with thy daughter Pleasure they doe play Their hurtlesse sports without rebuke or blame And in her snowy bosome boldly lay Their quiet heads deuoyd of guilty shame After full ioyance of their gentle game Then her they crowne their Goddesse and their Queene And decke with floures thy altars well beseene Ay me deare Lord that euer I might hope For all the paines and woes that I endure To come at length vnto the wished scope Of my desire or might my selfe assure That happie port for euer to recure Then would I thinke these paines no paines at all And all my woes to be but penance small Then would I sing of thine immortall praise An heauenly Hymne such as the Angels sing And thy triumphant name then would I raise Boue all the gods thee onely honoring My guide my God my victor and my king Till then dread Lord vouchsafe to take of me This simple song thus fram'd in praise of thee FINIS AN HYMNE IN HONOVR OF BEAVTIE AH whither Loue wilt thou now carrie mee What wontlesse fury dost thou now inspire Into my feeble breast too full of thee Whylest seeking to aslake thy raging fyre Thou in me kindlest much more great desyre And vp aloft aboue my strength doest rayse The wondrous matter of my fyre to prayse That as I earst in praise of thine owne name So now in honour of thy Mother deare An honourable Hymne I eke should frame And with the brightnesse of her beautie cleare The rauisht harts of gazefull men might reare To admiration of that heauenly light From whence proceeds such foule enchaunting might Therto do thou great Goddesse queene of Beauty Mother of loue and of all worlds delight Without whose souerayne grace and kindly dewty Nothing on earth seemes fayre to fleshly sight Doe thou vouchsafe with thy loue-kindling light Tilluminate my dim and dulled eyne And beautifie this sacred hymne of thyne That both to thee to whom I meane it most And eke to her whose faire immortall beame Hath darted fyre into my feeble ghost That now it wasted is with woes extreame It may so please that she at length will streame Some deaw of grace into my withered hart After long sorrow and consuming smart WHat time this worlds great workmaister did cast To make al things such as we now behold It seemes that he before his eyes had plast A goodly Paterne to whose perfect mould He fashiond them as comely as he could That now so faire and seemely they appeare As nought may be amended any wheare That wondrous Paterne wheresoere it bee Whether in earth layd vp in secret store Or else in heauen that no man may it see With sinfull eyes for feare it to deflore Is perfect Beautie which all men adore Whose face and feature doth so much excell All mortall sence that none the same may tell Thereof as euery earthly thing partakes Or more or lesse by influence diuine So it more faire accordingly it makes And the grosse matter of this earthly myne Which clotheth it thereafter doth refyne Doing away the drosse which dims the light Of that faire beame which therein is empight For through infusion of celestiall powre The duller earth it quickneth with delight And life-full spirits priuily doth powre Through all the parts that to the lookers sight They seeme to please That is thy soueraine might O Cyprian Queene which flowing from the beame Of thy bright starre thou into them doest streame That is the thing which giueth pleasant grace To all things faire that kindleth liuely fyre Light of thy lampe which shyning in the face Thence to the soule darts amorous desyre And robs the harts of those which it admyre Therewith thou pointest thy Sons poysned arrow That wounds the life wastes the inmost marrow How vainely then doe ydle wits inuent That beautie is nought else but mixture made Of colours faire and goodly temp'rament Of pure complexions that shall quickly fade And passe away like to a sommers shade Or that it is but comely composition Of parts well measurd with meet disposition Hath white and red in it such wondrous powre That it can pierce through th' eyes vnto the hart And therein stirre such rage and restlesse stowre As nought but death can stint his dolours smart Or can proportion of the outward part Moue such affection in the inward mynd That it can rob both sense and reason blynd Why doe not then the blossomes of the field Which are arayd with much more orient hew And to the sense most daintie odours yield Worke like impression in the lookers vew Or why doe not faire pictures like powre shew In which oftimes we Nature see of Art Exceld in perfect limming euery part But ah beleeue me there is more then so That workes such wonders in the minds of men I that haue often prou'd too well it know And who so list the like assayes to ken Shall find by tryall and confesse it then That Beautie is not as fond men misdeeme An outward shew of things that onely seeme For that same goodly hew of white and red With which the cheekes are sprinckled shal decay And those sweete rosy leaues so fairely spred Vpon the lips shall fade and fall away To that they were euen to corrupted clay That golden wyre those sparckling stars so bright Shall turne to dust and loose their goodly light But that faire lampe from whose celestiall ray That light proceedes which kindleth louers fire Shall neuer be extinguisht nor decay But when the vitall spirits doe expyre Vnto her natiue planet shall retyre For it is heauenly borne and can not die Being a parcell of the purest skie For when the soule the which deriued was At first out of that great immortall Spright By whom all liue to loue whilome did pas Downe from the top of purest heauens hight To be embodied here it then tooke light And liuely spirits from that fayrest starre Which lights the world forth from his firie carre Which powre retayning still or more or lesse When she in fleshly seede is est enraced Through euery part she doth the same impresse According as the heauens haue her graced And frames her house in which she will be placed Fit for her selfe adorning it with spoyle Of th'heauenly riches which she robderewhyle Therof it comes that these faire soules which haue The most resemblance of that heauenly light Frame to themselues most beautifull and braue Their fleshly bowre most fit for their delight And the grosse matter by a soueraine might Tempers so trim that it may well be seene A pallace fit for such a virgin Queene So euery spirit as it is most pure And hath in it the more of heauenly light So it the fairer bodie doth procure To habit in and it more fairely