Thomas Lodge (1558-1625). Phoebe's Sonnet. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1907. The Book of Elizabethan Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.

Phœbe’s Sonnet

By Thomas Lodge (1558–1625)


‘DOWN a down!’
Thus Phyllis sung
By fancy once distressèd:
‘Whoso by foolish love are stung,
Are worthily oppressèd.	5
And so sing I, with a down, a down.

When Love was first begot
And by the mover’s will
Did fall to human lot
His solace to fulfil,	10
Devoid of all deceit,
A chaste and holy fire
Did quicken man’s conceit,
And woman’s breast inspire.
The gods that saw the good	15
That mortals did approve,
With kind and holy mood,
Began to talk of Love.

‘Down a down!’
Thus Phyllis sung,	20
By fancy once distressèd:
‘Whoso by foolish love are stung,
Are worthily oppressèd.
And so sing I, with a down, a down.

But during this accord,	25
A wonder strange to hear;
Whilst Love in deed and word
Most faithful did appear,
False Semblance came in place,
By Jealousy attended,	30
And with a double face
Both Love and Fancy blended.
Which makes the gods forsake,
And men from fancy fly,
And maidens scorn a make,	35
Forsooth and so will I.

‘Down a down!’
Thus Phyllis sung
By fancy once distressèd:
‘Whoso by foolish love are stung,	40
Are worthily oppressèd.
And so sing I, with a down, a down, a down a.’.