 | The Works of Michael Drayton |  |
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TO THE EXCELLENT and most accomplish't Ladie: Lucie Countesse of Bedford.
Great Ladie, essence of my cheefest good,Of the most pure and finest tempred spirit,
Adorn'd with gifts, enobled by thy blood,
Which by discent true vertue do'st inherit:
That vertue which no fortune can deprive,
Which thou by birth tak'st from thy gracious mother,
Whose royall mindes with equall motion strive,
Which most in honor shall excell the other;
Unto thy fame my Muse her selfe shall taske,
Which rain'st upon mee thy sweet golden showers,
And but thy selfe, no subject will I aske,
Upon whose prayse my soule shall spend her powers.
Sweet Ladie then, grace this poore Muse of mine,
Whose faith, whose zeale, whose life, whose all is thine.
Your Honors humbly divoted, Michaell Drayton.
| The Works of Michael Drayton | |