2 Your > Thy 1590 2 you > thou 1590

1 But if in living colours and right hue

hue > appearance

2 Yourself you covet to see pictured, 3 What can it do more lively, or more true,

lively > {Livelily; in a lifelike manner} true > accurately

4 Than that sweet verse, with nectar sprinkled, 5 In which a gracious servant pictured

a gracious servant > (Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552-1618, poet, soldier, explorer, scholar, statesman, and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth. He had a huge estate near Spenser's in southern Ireland, and under his auspices the FQ was published and dedicated to the sovereign)

6 His Cynthia, his heaven's fairest light?

Cynthia > (Raleigh's poem in praise of Queen Elizabeth is called The Ocean's Love to Cynthia; of this, only one book has survived. See I:118-24)

7 That with his melting sweetness ravished,