A Small Treatise betwixt Arnalte and Lucenda Entituled The Evill-intreated Lover, Or The Melancholy Knight Originally written in the Greeke Tongue, by an unknowne Author. Afterwards Translated into Spanish; after that, for the Excellency thereof, into the French Tongue by N. H. next by B. M. into the Thuscan, and now turn'd into English Verse by L. L. [i.e. Leonard Lawrence] a well-wisher to the Muses |
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 | A Small Treatise betwixt Arnalte and Lucenda Entituled The Evill-intreated Lover, Or The Melancholy Knight |  |
To his much esteemed Friend L. L. upon his Translation of Arnalte and Lucenda.
I must confesse, these Lines which thou hast writ,Expresse (kind friend) thy Genius and thy Wit:
And these thy Uerses have reviv'd in me
The e'ne dead sparkes of pleasing Poetrie:
'Cause I'de say something in the commendation
Of this thy Poem, and well-pen'd Translation:
I doe not write to beautifie thy Worke,
Nor under covert of thy sheetes to lurke,
And so to crowd into the Presse, not I,
But to applaud thy ingenuity:
The Greeks, th'Italians, Spaniards, French-men too,
They are beholding Sir, I vow to you:
My reason's this, since by thy paines and Pen,
Th'hast taught pure English to their Country-men,
And thereon their worth's perspicuous to our Nation.
By this thy copious and refin'd Translation.
Hadst thou beene tutor'd, or at first brought up
To quaffe of Nectar in a golden Cup,
I'de ne're admir'd these thy strenuous Lines,
Nor yet have wonder'd at thy well pen'd rimes:
But's strange, me thinkes, that one who daily vses
To trade, and traffiicke, thus should Court the Muses:
Then thrive in Raptures, and transcendent Layes,
That Fame may Crowne thee with a wreath of Baies.
N. P.
| A Small Treatise betwixt Arnalte and Lucenda Entituled The Evill-intreated Lover, Or The Melancholy Knight | |