Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
William Drummond of Hawthornden (15851649)Extracts from the Poems: Sonnet to Sir W. Alexander
T
Shall witness’d be to all the woods and plains
As singular, renown’d by neighbouring swains,
That to our relics time may trophies rear:
Those madrigals we sung amidst our flocks,
With garlands guarded from Apollo’s beams,
On Ochills whiles, whiles near Bodotria’s streams,
Are registrate by echos in the rocks.
Of foreign shepherds bent to try the states,
Though I, world’s guest, a vagabond do stray,
Thou mayst that store which I esteem survey,
As best acquainted with my soul’s conceits:
Whatever fate heavens have for me designed,
I trust thee with the treasure of my mind.