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The Works of Michael Drayton

Edited by J. William Hebel
Drayton, Michael (1563-1631)

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VOLUME I
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VOLUME II
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POEMS: BY MICHAEL DRAYTON ESQVIRE.
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ENGLANDS HEROICALL EPISTLES. BY Michael Drayton, ESQVIRE.
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IDEA. IN SIXTIE THREE SONNETS. BY Michael Drayton, ESQVIRE.
  
TO THE READER OF THESE SONNETS.
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ODES. WITH OTHER LYRICK POESIES.
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THE LEGENDS OF Robert, Duke of Normandie. Matilda the Faire. Pierce Gaveston, Earle of Cornwall. Thomas Cromwell, Earle of Essex.
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THE OWLE.
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PASTORALS. Contayning EGLOGVES, With the Man in the Moone.
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VOLUME III
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VOLUME IV

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30

[Those Priests which first the Vestall Fire begun]

Those Priests which first the Vestall Fire begun,

To the Vestals.


Which might be borrow'd from no Earthly flame,
Devis'd a Vessell to receive the Sunne,
Being stedfastly opposed to the same:
Where, with sweet Wood, layd curiously by Art,
On which the Sunne might by reflection beat,
Receiving strength from ev'ry secret part,
The Fuell kindled with Celestiall Heat.
Thy blessed Eyes, the Sunne which lights this Fire,
My holy Thoughts, they be the Vestall flame,
The precious Odors be my chaste Desire,
My Brest's the Vessell, which includes the same:
Thou art my Vesta, thou my Goddesse art,
Thy hallow'd Temple onely is my Heart.
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