William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.
A Pastoral of Phyllis and CorydonNicholas Breton (15451626)
O
Fair befall the dainty sweet!
By that flower there is a bower,
Where the heavenly Muses meet.
Fringèd all about with gold;
Where doth sit the fairest fair,
That did ever eye behold.
She that is the shepherds’ joy;
She that Venus did despite,
And did blind her little boy.
And the world desires to see;
This is ipsa quae the which
There is none but only she.
Who would not this saint adore?
Who would not this sight desire,
Though he thought to see no more?
One good look, and I am gone;
Look on me, for I am he,
Thy poor silly Corydon.
Look upon thy silly swain;
By thy comfort have been seen
Dead men brought to life again.