Her Queenly Beauty. You meaner beauties of the night, More by your number than your light! That warble forth dame Nature's lays, By your weak accents! what's your praise You violets that first appear, By your pure purple mantles known, As if the spring were all your own! So, when my mistress shall be seen Sir H. Wotton. Her Reflected Beauty. I saw thee weave a web with care, And that thy heart such nature knew. Alas! how idly my surprise, Since naught so plain can be ; Thy cheek their richest hue supplies, Their grace, their beauty, all are drawn from thee ! Étienne Jodelle. Her Beauty in Repose. One of her hands one of her cheeks lay under, Which, therefore, swell'd, and seem'd to part asunder, Out of the bed the other fair hand was On a green satin quilt, whose perfect white And show'd like unmelt snow unto the sight; Her eyes (and therefore it was night) close laid, That it broke through, and show'd itself in scorn, Throwing a kind of light about the place, Which turn'd to smiles still as 't came near her face. Her beams (which some dull men call'd hair) divided, Wiselyer downwards sought; but falling short, Sir J. Suckling. Respect inspired by her Beauty. Thy simplest tress Claims more from me than tenderness; Within the caves of Istakar. Byron. Her Beauty compared to Roses. Ladye! when I behold the roses sprouting, Which, clad in damask mantles, deck the arbours ; And then behold your lips, where sweet love harbours— J. Wilbye. Her Beauty with Sense irresistible. How much superior beauty awes The casket, where to outward show Is doubly valued when we know It holds a gem within. Bickerstaff. The shape alone let others prize, A damask cheek, an ivory arm, A face where awful honour shines, And angel innocence refines The tenderness of love. These are the soul of beauty's frame, Without whose vital aid, Unfinish'd all her features seem, And all her roses dead. But ah! where both their charms unite, How perfect is the view; Of power to charm the greatest woe, Diffusing mildness o'er the brow, Their power but faintly to express And read it perfect there! Akenside. With each perfection dawning on her mind, Jerningham. Her Beauty's Spell. She shall be dignified with this high honour,-- Shakespeare. |