§ 2. Coupled with the love of youth for maiden, we have one of the most simple and perfect of old English sonnets (by Davison):[309]
“PURE AND ENDLESS.”
“If you would know the love which you I bear,
Compare it to the ring which your fair hand
Shall make MORE precious, when you shall it wear:
So my love’s nature you shall understand.
Is it of metal pure? So endless is my love,
Unless you it destroy with your disdain.
Doth it the purer grow the more ’tis tried?