The Works in Verse and Prose of Nicholas Breton For the First Time Collected and Edited: With Memorial-Introduction, Notes and Illustrations, Glossarial Index, Facsimilies, &c. By the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart. In Two Volumes |
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 | The Works in Verse and Prose of Nicholas Breton |  |
[First, to thy seemely selfe]
A Letter sent vnto a Gentilwoman in verse, wherein he gaue great thanks for both good cheere and other curteous entertainement he had receiued at her hands, beeing in the Country at her house. The Gentilwomans name was Mistris Lettis.
First, to thy seemely selfe,my selfe I doo commend:
And for thy friendly cheere & cost
ten thousand thanks I send:
Which able to requite,
I know I shall not be:
But to my power, I will deserue
as much as lyes in me.
But yet, of all thy cates,
one dish aboue the rest
I euer since doo beare in minde,
which fare dooth like me best:
Which deinty dish (my deare,)
If I mought plainly name,
Lettys it is, a houlsome hearbe:
thyselfe doost know the same.
An herbe that we haue here:
but yet I plainely finde
That Lettys, from our Lettys heere,
dooth much digresse in kinde:
For in that Lettys, such
vertues soone I found,
55
dooth grow vpon our ground:
This Lettys sweete art thou,
in which I so delight:
And God he knows what griefs I bide,
for wanting of thy sight.
No cates, that I can taste,
but seeme all gall to me:
When that in minde I feede vpon
the fresh recorde of thee:
And so, my Lettys sweete,
vnto thy selfe farewell!
And thinck no cates like Lettys fine,
can like me halfe so well.
| The Works in Verse and Prose of Nicholas Breton | |