O pleasant country! O translucent stream,
Bathing her lovely face, her eyes so clear,
And catching of their living light the beam!
I envy ye her actions chaste and dear:
No rock shall stud thy waters, but shall learn
Henceforth with passion strong as mine to burn.
NOTT.
O bright and happy
flowers and herbage blest,
On which my lady treads!—O
favour’d plain,
That hears her accents sweet,
and can retain
The traces by her fairy steps
impress’d!—
Pure shrubs, with tender verdure
newly dress’d,—
Pale amorous violets,—leafy
woods, whose reign
Thy sun’s bright rays
transpierce, and thus sustain
Your lofty stature, and umbrageous
crest;—
O thou, fair country, and
thou, crystal stream,
Which bathes her countenance
and sparkling eyes,
Stealing fresh lustre from
their living beam;
How do I envy thee these precious
ties!
Thy rocky shores will soon
be taught to gleam
With the same flame that burns
in all my sighs.
WROTTESLEY.
SONNET CXXX.
Amor, che vedi ogni pensiero aperto.
HE CARES NOT FOR SUFFERINGS, SO THAT HE DISPLEASE NOT LAURA.
Love, thou who
seest each secret thought display’d,
And the sad steps I take,
with thee sole guide;
This throbbing breast, to
thee thrown open wide,
To others’ prying barr’d,
thine eyes pervade.
Thou know’st what efforts,
following thee, I made,
While still from height to
height thy pinions glide;
Nor deign’st one pitying
look to turn aside
On him who, fainting, treads
a trackless glade.
I mark from far the mildly-beaming
ray
To which thou goad’st
me through the devious maze;
Alas! I want thy wings,
to speed my way—
Henceforth, a distant homager,
I’ll gaze,
Content by silent longings
to decay,
So that my sighs for her in
her no anger raise.
WRANGHAM.
O Love, that seest
my heart without disguise,
And those hard toils from
thee which I sustain,
Look to my inmost thought;
behold the pain
To thee unveil’d, hid
from all other eyes.
Thou know’st for thee
this breast what suffering tries;
Me still from day to day o’er
hill and plain
Thou chasest; heedless still,
while I complain
As to my wearied steps new
thorns arise.
True, I discern far off the
cheering light
To which, through trackless
wilds, thou urgest me:
But wings like thine to bear
me to delight
I want:—Yet from
these pangs I would not flee,
Finding this only favour in
her sight,
That not displeased my love
and death she see.
CAPEL LOFFT.