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The Works in Verse and Prose

(including hitherto unpublished Mss.) of Sir John Davies: for the first time collected and edited: With memorial-introductions and notes: By the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart. In three volumes

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248

HYMNE XII. To her Picture.

Extreame was his audacitie,
Little his skill, that finisht thee;
I am asham'd and sorry,
So dull her counterfeit should bee,
And she so full of glory.
But here are colours red and white,
Each line, and each proportion right;
These lines, this red and whitenesse,
Haue wanting yet a life and light,
A maiestie, and brightnesse.
Rude counterfeit, I then did erre,
Euen now when I would needs inferre
Great boldnesse in thy maker:
I did mistake, he was not bold,
Nor durst his eyes her eyes behold:
And this made him mistake her.