| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Parthenophil and Parthenophe | | Madrigal 15. Nature’s pride, Love’s pearl, Virtue’s perfection | | Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609) |
| | | NATURE’s pride, Love’s pearl, Virtue’s perfection, | |
| In sweetness, beauty, grace, | |
| Of body, face, affection | |
| Hath glory, brightness, place | |
| In rosy cheeks, clear eyes, and heavenly mind; | 5 |
| All which, with wonder, honour, praise, take race | |
| To charm, to shine, to fly, with Fame’s protection. | |
| Mine heart the first, mine eyes next, third my thought | |
| Did wound, did blind, did bind; | |
| Which grieved, obscured, and wrought | 10 |
| Heart, eyes, and senses with such imperfection, | |
| That in their former comfort, sight, and kind | |
| They moved, gazed, and sought, | |
| Yet found not, in what order, sort, and case | |
| Of tears, plaints, sighs, with seas, with murmur, wind | 15 |
| To find, to get, t’ embrace | |
| Nature’s pride, Love’s pearl, Virtue’s perfection. | | | | |
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