Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–47). The Poetical Works. 1880.
Songs and SonnetsA Praise of his Love, wherein he reproveth them that compare their Ladies with his
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That spent your boasts and brags in vain;
My Lady’s beauty passeth more
The best of yours, I dare well sayen,
Than doth the sun the candle light,
Or brightest day the darkest night.
As had Penelope the fair;
For what she saith, ye may it trust,
As it by writing sealed were:
And virtues hath she many mo’
Than I with pen have skill to show.
The whole effect of Nature’s plaint,
When she had lost the perfect mould,
The like to whom she could not paint:
With wringing hands, how she did cry.
And what she said, I know it, aye.
Her kingdom only set apart,
There was no loss by law of kind
That could have gone so near her heart
And this was chiefly all her pain;
‘She could not make the like again.’
To be the chiefest work she wrought;
In faith, methink! some better ways
On your behalf might well be sought
Than to compare, as ye have done,
To match the candle with the sun.