LXXIIII.
[Although the droppes, which chaung'd Actæons shape]
The Author in this passion, vpō a reason secret vnto him selfe,
extolleth his Mistres vnder the name of a Spring. First he
preferreth the same before the sacred fount of Diana, which
(as Ouid witnesseth 3. Metam:) was in the valley Gargaphie,
adioyning to Thæbes: then, before Tagus the famous riuer
in Spaine, whose sandes are intermixt with stoare of gold, as
may be gathered by those two verses in Martiall lib. 8.
Non illi satis est turbato sordidus auro
Hermus, & Hesperio qui sonat orbe Tagus.
And lastly, before Hippocrene, a fountaine of Bœotia, now called
the well of the Muses, & fained by the Poets, to haue had his
source or beginning from the heele of Pegasus the winged
horse.
Although
the droppes, which chaung'd Actæons shape,
Were halfe diuine, and from a sacred fount;
Though after Tagus sandes the world do gape;
And Hippocrene stand in high account:
Yet ther's a Spring, whose vertue doth excell
Dianaes fount, Tagus, and Pegase well.
That happie how'r, wherein I found it furst,
And sat me downe adioyning to the brinke,
My sowe it selfe, suppris'd with vnknow'n thurst,
Did wish it lawfull were thereof to drinke;
But all in vaine: for Loue did will me stay
And waite a while in hope of such a pray.
This is that Spring quoth he, where Nectar flowes,
Whese liquor is of price in heaun's aboue;
This is the Spring, wherein swete Venus showes,
By secrete baite how Beautie forceth Loue.
Why then, quoth I, deere Loue how shall I mend,
Or quench my thurst, vnlesse thou stand my frend?
