Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
Parthenophil and ParthenopheSonnet LXXII. My Mistress beauty matched with the Graces
Barnabe Barnes (1569?1609)M
’Twixt P
Where She, with mask, had veiled the lovely places;
And Graces, in like sort, i-maskèd were.
But when their lovely beauties were disclosed;
“This Nymph,” quoth J
For beauteous favours, in her face disposed,
Love’s goddess, in love’s graces she surpasseth!”
“She doth not pass the Graces!” P
“Though in her cheeks the Graces richly sit;
For they be subjects to her beauty made.
The glory for this fair Nymph is most fit!
There, in her cheeks, the Graces blush for shame!
That in her cheeks to strive, the subjects came.”