| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Licia | | Sonnet XLVIII. I saw, sweet Licia, when the Spider ran | | Giles Fletcher (1586?–1623) |
| | | I SAW, sweet LICIA, when the Spider ran | |
| Within your house, to weave a worthless web; | |
| You present were, and feared her with your fan: | |
| So that, amazèd, speedily she fled. | |
| She, in your house, such sweet perfumes did smell; | 5 |
| And heard the Muses with their notes refined: | |
| Thus, filled with envy, could no longer dwell; | |
| But straight returned, and at your house repined. | |
| “Then tell me, Spider, why of late I saw | |
| Thee lose thy poison, and thy bowels gone? | 10 |
| Did these enchant and keep thy limbs in awe, | |
| And made thy forces to be small or none? | |
| No, no! Thou didst, by chance, my LICIA see; | |
| Who, for her look, MINERVA seemed to be.” | | | | |
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