Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
IdeaIntroductory: Into these Loves, who but for Passion looks
Michael Drayton (15631631)IDEA.
IN
SIXTY-THREE
SONNETS.
BY
MICHAEL DRAYTON,
ESQUIRE.
LONDON,
Printed for JOHN SMETHWICK.
1619.
SIXTY-THREE
BY
M
E
LONDON,
Printed for J
1619.
To the Reader of these Sonnets.
[First printed in 1599 (No. 2), and in all later editions. ]
[
I
At this first sight, here let him lay them by!
And seek elsewhere in turning other books,
Which better may his labour satisfy.
No far-fetched Sigh shall ever wound my breast!
Love from mine eye, a Tear shall never wring!
No “Ah me!”s my whining sonnets drest!
A Libertine! fantasticly I sing!
My Verse is the true image of my Mind,
Ever in motion, still desiring change:
And as thus, to variety inclined;
So in all humours sportively I range!
My Muse is rightly of the English strain,
That cannot long one fashion entertain.