| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Parthenophil and Parthenophe | [Dedicatory Sonnets]
To the right virtuous and most beautiful Lady, the Lady Strange | | Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609) |
| | | SWEET Lady! Might my humble Muse presume | |
| Thy beauties’ rare perfection to set out | |
| (Whom she, Pride of our English Court reputes) | |
| Ambitious, she would assume | |
| To blazon everywhere about | 5 |
| Thy beauty! whose dumb eloquence disputes | |
| With fair Loves’ Queen; and her, by right confutes! | |
| But since there is no doubt | |
| But that thy beauty’s praise (which shall consume | |
| Even Time itself) exceedeth | 10 |
| All British Ladies; deign my Muse’s suits! | |
| Which, unacquainted of your beauty, craves | |
| Acquaintance! and proceedeth | |
| T’approach so boldly! and behaves | |
| Herself so rudely! daunted at your sight; | 15 |
| As eyes in darkness, at a sudden light. | | | | |
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