| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | Friendship | | By Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (1581–1647) |
| | Translated by Edmund Gosse
THIS earth, embossed with mountains, laced with streams, | |
| Starred with fair cities ringed about with towers, | |
| Whose face with hill and laughing valley gleams, | |
| Whose shadowy woods are full of tender flowers, | |
| The birds, the careless beasts beneath the moon, | 5 |
| And that conceited race of feeble man, | |
| All hold their place by harmony, and soon | |
| Sans friendship would sink out of nature’s plan. | |
| From manly friendship cities take their root, | |
| Their nurture and their life; from strife their death; | 10 |
| Thro’ civil jars they pant with heavy breath; | |
| So dangerous is division in the State! | |
| In harmony the seeds of glory shoot, | |
| And peace at home makes little kingdoms great. | | | | |
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