William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.
On the Excellence of His MistressNicholas Breton (1545–1626)
T
That hand that holds the heart of every eye,
That wit that goes beyond all nature’s art,
The sense too deep for wisdom to descry:
That eye, that hand, that wit, that heavenly sense
Doth shew my only mistress’ excellence.
O hands that hold the highest thoughts in thrall!
O wit that weighs the depth of all desart!
O sense that shew the secret sweet of all!
The heaven of heavens with heavenly power preserve thee,
Love but thyself, and give me leave to serve thee.
To look, to live to kiss that heavenly hand,
To sound that wit that doth amaze the mind,
To know that sense, no sense can understand,
To understand that all the world may know,
Such wit, such sense, eyes, hands, there are no moe.