| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Parthenophil and Parthenophe | [Dedicatory Sonnets]
To the Right Noble and virtuous Lord, Henry, Earl of Southampton | | Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609) |
| | | RECEIVE, sweet Lord! with thy thrice sacred hand, | |
| (Which sacred Muses make their instrument) | |
| These worthless leaves! which I, to thee present! | |
| (Sprung from a rude and unmanured land) | |
| That with your countenance graced, they may withstand | 5 |
| Hundred-eyed Envy’s rough encounterment; | |
| Whose Patronage can give encouragement | |
| To scorn back-wounding ZOILUS his band. | |
| Vouchsafe, right virtuous Lord! with gracious eyes, | |
| (Those heavenly lamps which give the Muses light, | 10 |
| Which give and take, in course, that holy fire) | |
| To view my Muse with your judicial sight; | |
| Whom, when time shall have taught, by flight, to rise | |
| Shall to thy virtues, of much worth, aspire. | | | | |
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