University of Virginia Library



Don Gaspar Romani to the Authour.

If Lady Lavras memorie vnstained
Petrarc in endlesse verse hath left renowned:
And if with Laurell Homer hath beene crowned
For writing of the wars the Greekes obtained:
If Kings t'aduaunce the glorie they haue gained
In life time, when fierce Mars in battell frowned,
Procure it should not be in Lethe drowned,
But after death by historie maintained:
More iustly then shouldst thou be celebrated
(O excellent Diana) for the fairest
Of all the faire ones, that the world hath brought foorth:
Since all those wits, whose pens were estimated
To write the best, in glorie thou impairest,
And from them all the Laurell crowne hast sought foorth.