Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FRIAR BACON: A COUNTRY'S BEAUTY, by ROBERT GREENE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FRIAR BACON: A COUNTRY'S BEAUTY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I tell thee
Last Line: ^1^ tint.
Subject(s): Beauty; Hearts; Love; Women


Edward [Prince of Wales]. I tell thee,
Lacy, that her sparkling eyes
Do lighten forth sweet Love's alluring fire:
And in her tresses the doth fold the looks
Of such as gaze upon her golden hair:
Her bashful white, mixed with the morning's red,
Luna doth boast upon her lovely cheeks:
Her front is Beauty's table, where she paints
The glories of her gorgeous excellence:
Her teeth are shelves of precious margarites,
Richly enclosed with ruddy coral cliffs.
Tush, Lacy, she is beauty's overmatch
If thou surveyest her curious imagery.
Lacy [Earl of Lincoln]. I grant, my lord, the damsel is as fair
As simple Suffolk's homely towns can yield;
But in the court be quainter dames than she;
Whose faces are enrich'd with honour's taint,^1^
Whose beauties stand upon the stage of Fame,
And vaunt their trophies in the courts of Love.
Edward. Ah, Ned, but hadst thou watch'd her as myself,
And seen the secret beauties of the maid,
Their courtly coyness were but foolery,
Ermsbie. Why, how watch'd you her, my lord?
Edward. When as she swept like Venus through the house,
And in her shape fast folded up my thoughts;
Into the Milkhouse went I with the maid,
And there amongst the cream-bowls she did shine,
As Pallas 'mongst her princely huswifery;
She turned her smock over her lily arms,
And div'd them into milk to run her cheese;
But whiter than the milk her crystal skin,
Check'd with lines of azure, made her blush,
That Art or Nature durst bring for compare:
Ermsbie, if thou hadst seen, as I did note it well,
How beauty play'd the huswife, how this girl
Like Lucrece, laid her fingers to the work,
Thou wouldst with Tarquin hazard Rome and all
To win the lovely maid of Fresingfield.

^FOOTNOTE^

^1^ tint.





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