You Sheepheards which on hillocks sit,
like Princes in their throanes :
And guide your flocks, which else would flit,
your flocks of little ones :
Good Kings haue not disdained it,
but Sheepheards haue beene named :
A sheepe-hooke is a Scepter fit,
for people well reclaimed.
The Sheepheards life so honour'd is and praised :
That Kings lesse happy seeme, though higher raised.
The Sommer Sunne hath guilded faire,
with morning rayes the mountaines :
The birds doo caroll in the ayre,
and naked Nimphs in Fountaines.
The Siluanes in their shagged haire,
with Hamadriades trace :
The shadie Satires make a Quiere,
which rocks with Ecchoes grace.
All breathe delight, all solace in the season :
Not now to sing, were enemie to reason.
Cosma my
Loue, and more then so,
the life of mine affections :
Nor life alone, but Lady too,
and Queene of their directions.
Cosma my Loue, is faire you know,
and which you Sheepheards know not :
Is (Sophi said) thence called so,
but names her beauty showe not.
Yet hath the world no better name then she :
And then the world, no fairer thing can be.
The Sunne vpon her fore-head stands,
(or iewell Sunne-like glorious,)
Her fore-head wrought with Ioues owne hands,
for heauenly white notorious.
Her golden lockes like Hermus sands,
(or then bright Hermus brighter :)
A spangled Cauill binds in with bands,
then siluer morning lighter.
And if the Planets are the chiefe in skies :
No other starres then Planets are her eyes.
Her cheeke, her lip, fresh cheeke, more fresh,
then selfe-blowne buds of Roses :
Rare lip, more red then those of flesh,
which thousand sweetes encloses :
Sweet breath, which all things dooth refresh,
and words than breath farre sweeter :
Cheeke firme, lip firme, not fraile nor nesh,
as substance which is fleeter.
In praise doo not surmount, although in placing :
Her christall necke, round breast, and armes embracing.
The thorough-shining ayre I weene,
is not so perfect cleare :
As is the skie of her faire skinne,
whereon no spots appeare.
The parts which ought not to be seene,
for soueraigne woorth excell :
Her thighs with Azure braunched beene,
and all in her are well.
Long Iuorie hands, legges straighter then the Pine :
Well shapen feete, but vertue most diuine.
Nor cloathed like a Sheepheardesse,
but rather like a Queene:
Her mantle dooth the formes expresse,
of all which may be seene.
Roabe fitter for an Empresse,
then for a Sheepheards loue :
Roabe fit alone for such a Lasse,
as Emperours doth moue.
Roabe which heauens Queene, the bride of her owne brother,
Would grace herselfe with, or with such another.
Who euer (and who else but Ioue)
embroidered the same :
Hee knew the world, and what did moue,
in all the mightie frame.
So well (belike his skill to proue)
the counterfeits he wrought :
Of wood-Gods, and of euery groaue,
and all which else was ought.
Is there a beast, a bird, a fish worth noate?
Then that he drew, and picturde in her coate.
A vaile of Lawne like vapour thin
vnto her anckle trailes :
Through which the shapes discerned bin,
as too and fro it sailes.
Shapes both of men, who neuer lin
to search her wonders out :
Of monsters and of Gods a kin,
which her empale about.
A little world her flowing garment seemes :
And who but as a wonder thereof deemes?
For heere and there appeare forth towers,
among the chalkie downes :
Citties among the Country bowers,
which smiling Sun-shine crownes.
Her mettall buskins deckt with flowers,
as th'earth when frosts are gone:
Besprinckled are with Orient showers
of hayle and pebble stone.
Her feature peerelesse, peerelesse her attire,
I can but loue her loue, with zeale entire.
O who can sing her beauties best,
or that remaines vnsung?
Doe thou Apollo tune the rest,
vnworthy is my tongue.
To gaze on her, is to be blest,
so wondrous fayre her face is;
Her fairenes cannot be exprest,
in Goddesses nor Graces.
I loue my loue, the goodly worke of Nature:
Admire her face, but more admire her stature.
On thee (ô Cosma) will I gaze,
and reade thy beauties euer :
Delighting in the blessed maze,
which can be ended neuer.
For in the luster of thy rayes,
appeares thy parents brightnes :
Who himselfe infinite displaies
in thee his proper greatnes.
My song must end, but neuer my desire :
For Cosmas face is Theorellos fire.
FINIS E.
B.
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You Shepherds which on hillocks sit
1
like Princes in their thrones
And guide your flocks, which else would flit,
your flocks of little ones:
Good Kings haue not disdained it,
but Shepherds have been named.
A sheep-hook is a Sceptre fit,
for people well reclaimed.
The Shepherd's life so honoured is and praised, 9
That Kings less happy seem, though higher raised.
The Summer Sun hath gilded fair
with morning rays the mountains.
The birds do carol in the air,
and naked Nymphs in Fountains.
The Sylvans in their shagged hair,
with Hamadryads trace.
The shady Satyrs make a choir,
which rocks with echoes grace.
All breathe delight, all solace in the season:
Not now to sing, were enemy to reason. 20
Cosma my Love, and more than so,
the life of mine affections:
Nor life alone, but Lady too,
and Queen of their directions.
Cosma, my Love, is fair you know,
and which you Shepherds know not:
Is (Sophie said) thence called so,
but names her beauty show not.
Yet hath the world no better name than she,
And than the world, no fairer thing can be. 30
The Sun upon her forehead stands,
(or jewel Sun-like, glorious),
Her forehead, wrought with Jove's own hands,
for heavenly white notorious.
Her golden locks like Hermus' sands,
(or than bright Hermus brighter ),
A spangled caul binds in with bands,
than silver morning lighter.
And if the Planets are the chief in skies,
No other stars than Planets are her eyes. 40
Her cheek, her lip, fresh cheek, more
fresh,
than self-blown buds of Roses,
Rare lip, more red than those of flesh,
which thousand sweets encloses.
Sweet breath, which all things doth refresh,
and words than breath far sweeter.
Cheek firm, lip firm, not frail nor nesh,
as substance which is fleeter:
In praise do not surmount, although in placing, 49
Her crystal neck, round breast, and arms embracing.
The thorough-shining air, I ween,
is not so perfect clear
As is the sky of her fair skin,
whereon no spots appear.
The parts which ought not to be seen,
for sovereign worth excel.
Her thighs with Azure branched been,
and all in her are well.
Long Ivory hands, legs straighter then the Pine,
Well shapen feet, but virtue most divine. 60
Nor clothed like a Shepherdess,
but rather like a Queen:
Her mantle doth the forms express,
of all which may be seen.
Robe fitter for an Empress,
than for a Shepherd's love.
Robe fit alone for such a Lass,
as Emperors doth move.
Robe which heaven's Queen, the bride of her own brother,
Would grace herself with, or with such another. 70
Who ever (and who else but Jove)
embroidered the same,
He knew the world, and what did move,
in all the mighty frame.
So well (belike his skill to prove)
the counterfeits he wrought
Of wood-Gods, and of every grove,
and all which else was aught.
Is there a beast, a bird, a fish worth note
Than that he drew, and pictured in her coat? 80
A veil of lawn like vapour thin
unto her ankle trails,
Through which the shapes discerned bin,
as to and fro it sails.
Shapes both of men, who never lin
to search her wonders out,
Of monsters and of Gods a kin,
which her empale about.
A little world her flowing garment seems,
And who but as a wonder thereof deems? 90
For here and there appear forth towers,
among the chalky downs,
Cities among the country bowers,
which smiling Sun-shine crowns.
Her metal buskins decked with flowers,
as th'earth when frosts are gone,
Besprinkled are with Orient showers
of hail and pebble stone.
Her feature peerless, peereless her attire,
I can but love her love, with zeal entire. 100
O who can sing her beauties best,
or that remains unsung?
Do thou Apollo tune the rest,
unworthy is my tongue.
To gaze on her, is to be blest,
so wondrous fair her face is;
Her fairness cannot be expressed
in Godesses nor Graces.
I love my love, the goodly work of Nature,
Admire her face, but more admire her stature. 110
On thee (ô Cosma) will
I gaze,
and read thy beauties ever,
Delighting in the blessed maze,
which can be ended never.
For in the lustre of thy rays,
appears thy parent's brightness,
Who, himself infinite, displays
in thee his proper greatness.
My song must end, but never my desire:
For Cosma's face is Theorello's fire. 120
FINIS E.
B.
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Two of the stanzas from this poem recall
Shakespeare's sonnets 33 and 130. We cannot assume that the influence is
from Shakespeare to this idyll, rather than in the opposite direction,
as this work has a prior publication date, and was in print nine years
before Shakespeare's sonnets.
I set out below the parts of the sonnets
in question, and the relevant stanzas from this 'Eidillion'.
The Summer Sun hath gilded fair
with morning rays the mountains.
The birds do carol in the air,
and naked Nymphs in Fountains.
The Sylvans in their shagged hair,
with Hamadryads trace.
The shady Satyrs make a choir,
which rocks with echoes grace.
All breathe delight, all solace in the season:
Not now to sing, were enemy to reason.
From Sonnet 33
Full many a glorious morning have I
seen
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Her cheek, her lip, fresh cheek, more
fresh,
than self-blown buds of Roses,
Rare lip, more red than those of flesh,
which thousand sweets encloses.
Sweet breath, which all things doth refresh,
and words than breath far sweeter.
Cheek firm, lip firm, not frail nor nesh,
as substance which is fleeter:
In praise do not surmount, although in placing,
Her crystal neck, round breast, and arms embracing.
From Sonnet 130
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
E.B is probably Edmund Bolton, author
of the Elements of Armories, 1610.
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NOTES
Edillion = Idyllium,
or idyllion. It is from the Greek eidillion, which is an idyll, or short
poem descriptive of a scene chiefly from rustic life.
2. in their thrones = on their thrones.
5-6. i.e. Good kings have not disdained the title of Shepherd.
7. sheep-hook = a shepherd's crook.
a sceptre fit = a symbol of rule just as befitting as a sceptre is to a
king.
8. well-reclaimed = of good temper, cultivated. Possibly 'of good renown'.
10. higher raised = of a higher station in life.
15. Sylvans = spirits of the woods. Drummond describes them as goat
footed (and probably male).
16. Hamadryad = A wood-nymph fabled to live and die with the tree
which she inhabited. (OED).
trace = tread, walk, proceed.
17. Satyrs = gods or demons who were part human, part horse, or part
goat.
18. i.e. Which the rocks grace with their echoes.
22. mine affections = my passions.
25, 27. Cosma , Sophie. - The poet is punning on the Greek
meanings of the names, beauty (literally 'order, good arrangement') and
wisdom. See note to 29 below.
26. which = that which.
27. thence = because of her beauty.
29. world - the poet continues the pun on the Greek word for the world,
kosmos i.e. order, ornament, world or universe (so called by Pythagoras
or his disciples ‘from its perfect order and arrangement’. See
OED cosmos (1) .
32. or jewel, sun-like - i.e. her forehead is like a jewel which shines
as the sun shines. 35. Hermus - a river in Asia Minor (now Turkey)
which joins the Pactolus. Both rivers were thought to have sand containing
gold, and were supposedly the source of Croesus' wealth.
37. A spangled caul = A richly decorated kind of close-fitting cap, worn
by women: a net for the hair; a netted cap or head-dress, often richly ornamented.
See OED (1), which however does not give the spelling 'cavill'. A spangle
is a piece of metal or foil which glints and is sewn on dresses etc. for
ornament.
40. stars - the planets were known as the wandering stars.
42. self-blown = self-opening, flourishing. OED gives 'In bloom; that has
blossomed. Cf. full-blown ' for blown ppl. a(2). The other meanings
of blown ppl. a(1) such as 'tossed by the wind', or 'stale, flat',
do not seem appropriate here.
47. nesh = tender, delicate, weak. (OED 4a.)
48. fleeter = more transitory, less secure.
49-50. i.e all these parts (listed in the lines above), do not surpass the
glory of her neck, although they are physically set above it.
50. arms embracing = arms which are capable of embracing; arms which seem
to enclose all these other parts.
51. thorough-shining = through which the light shines. I ween = I consider.
57. with Azure branched been = (?) Adorned with a figured pattern in embroidery,
gilding, chasing, etc. (OED 2b.) in this case adorned with azure (blue),
probably the blue of her veins. See line 71.
68. i.e who is capable of stirring Emperors to passion. 69. Heaven's Queen
etc. - Hera was the sister as well as the wife of Zeus, according to Greek
mythology. (They were called Jove or Jupiter and Juno in the Latin tradition).
71. This and the next two stanzas continue the description of the robe she
is wearing.
73. what did move = what were the moving forces.
76. counterfeits = copies, images.
78. was aught = was anything worth depicting.
81. lawn = flimsy silk.
83. discerned bin = could be discerned.
85. lin = cease, desist.
87. a kin = related to, i.e. Gods, who are related to monsters, and vice
versa.
88. empale about = surround her.
95. buskins = boots with thick soles such as were worn by the hunter goddess
Diana. The reference to metal probably refers to decoration of gold and
silver, as in heraldry.
100. love her love - possibly a misprint for 'I can but love my love'.
102. Or that remains etc. = (?) or all that which still remains unsung after
all that I have already praised. 103. Apollo - God of the lyre and
of song.
113. the blessed maze = the maze which one enters in seeking to unravel
the mystery of her beauty. A state of bewilderment (OED 3a.).
116. parent = God, or Jupiter.
118. proper = own.
120. fire = passion, love. |