[A sweet Nosgay, Or pleasant Posye contayning a hundred and ten Phylosophicall Flowers] [by Isabella Whitney] |
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An other Letter sent to IS. VV by one: to whom shee had written her infortunate state.
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 | [A sweet Nosgay, Or pleasant Posye |  |
An other Letter sent to IS. VV by one: to whom shee had written her infortunate state.
Your Letters (Cosin) scarsley seene, I catcht into my hand:In hope therby some happy newes, from you to vnderstand,
But whē I had suruaid the same, & waid the tenor well
A heuy beap of sorowes did, mi former ioyes expel.
with buryall songe salutes, her hard and dolefull desteny.
In deed, I se & kno to wel, how fortune spites your welth:
And as a tirant Goddesse, doth disdain your happie health.
Whose poyson serpentine I trust, in tyme shal wasted bee,
For tinie amends the greatest misse, & sets the captiue free.
Wherfore (good Cosyn) as before, so now my barren quill
Disdayneth not in simple sorte, to vtter his good wyll.
And to discharge the dutie that, belōgeth to a frend,
whose welth, I wold to God wer such, as might your case domēd
But luck preuēting euery meane, that might your harms redresse
Denieth power to me that do, a frēdly mind possesse
Yet Cosyn, rest in perfect hope, to see the happy day,
That shal vnlade your heped-grief, & driue your cares awai
And sith the con̄sel of the Gods surpasse the humayne wit.
Remēber what the prouerb saith: hereafter coms not yet.
And pōder wel ye Shipmās case, whose deth, ye tossing tyde
Doth threaten oft: assaulting sore his shakē Ship with pride
Yet whē NEPTVNVS staieth, & calmes the Seas again,
His ioyes more ample are by farre, then theirs ye did cōplain
He tels at home with iocund mind amōg his friends & kyn
The danger great, & deep dispair, that erst his life was in:
Triūphyng ouer Neptunes spite, whose force he felt before:
And ioyes to vew the Seas, when he obtained hath ye shore
So whē the floods, of Fortunes spite yt swel we foming rage
Shal stīt their struglīg strif, & whē their malice shal aswage
Then may you gain, & long enioy the Hauen of good hap:
For Nurses chide ful oft, before they lull their child in lap.
Whose bare rehersal might enforce, a stonie hart to rew.
Why shuld we thē, we such disdain: endure the chastismēt
Wherbi, perhaps, the Gods in vs, som further harms p̄uent
And sith no creature may deserue, Dame Iunos graces well,
Whi shuld we grudg, & blame the gods, whose goodnes doth excel
Wheras our dutie bindeth vs, their doyngs to allow:
Whose actions all, are for the best, whē we perceiue not how
We rather should with quiet minde, abide the dated time,
Wherin the Goddes shal vs accompt, as worthy for to clime.
Whiche after trial shal betide, to those that suffre smarte:
For: he doth yll deserue ye sweet, yt tasteth not ye tarte
Which argueth those ye for a while, doth bide ye brūt of pain
To be the owners of good hap, when Fortune turnes again
Whose nūber, I beseech the Gods your self may furnish out,
And that his eies may see you plaste, amid that happirowt
Whose great goodwil shal neuer dy: althogh the wāt of time
Hath don me wrong, & euer doth: in shortning of my rime.
Your most louyng Cosyn. G. VV.
| [A sweet Nosgay, Or pleasant Posye | |