| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Sonnets after Astrophel, etc. | | Megliora spero: Faction that ever dwells in Court where wit excels | | Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford (1550–1604) |
| | | FACTION that ever dwells in Court where wit excels, | |
| Hath set defiance. | |
| FORTUNE and LOVE have sworn that they were never born | |
| Of one alliance. | |
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| CUPID which doth aspire to be god of Desire, | 5 |
| Swears he “gives laws; | |
| That where his arrows hit, some joy, some sorrow it: | |
| FORTUNE no cause.” | |
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| FORTUNE swears “weakest hearts,” the books of CUPID’s arts, | |
| “turned with her wheel, | 10 |
| Senseless themselves shall prove. Venture hath place in love. | |
| Ask them that feel!” | |
| |
| This discord it begot atheists, that honour not. | |
| NATURE thought good | |
| FORTUNE should ever dwell in Court where wits excel; | 15 |
| LOVE keep the wood. | |
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| So to the wood went I, with LOVE to live and die. | |
| FORTUNE’s forlorn. | |
| Experience of my youth made me think humble TRUTH | |
| In deserts born. | 20 |
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| My saint I keep to me, and JOAN herself is free, | |
| JOAN fair and true! | |
| She that doth only move passions of love with LOVE. | |
FORTUNE! adieu!
F I N I S. E. O. [i.e., EDWARD DE VERE, Earl of OXFORD.] | | | | |
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