Why when, Perseda? wilt thou not assure me,
But shall I, like a mastless ship at sea,
Go ev'ry way, and not the way I would?
My love hath lasted from mine infancy,
And still increased, as I grew myself.
When did Perseda pastime in the streets,
But her Erastus over-ey'd her sport?
When didst thou, with thy sampler in the sun,
Sit sewing with thy pheers, but I was by,
Marking thy lily hand's dexterity;
Comparing it to twenty gracious things?
When didst thou sing a note that I could hear,
But I have fram'd a ditty to the tune,
Figuring Perseda twenty kind of ways?
When didst thou go to church on holidays,
But I have waited on thee to and fro,
Marking my times, as falcons watch their flight?
When I have miss'd thee, how I have lamented,
As if my thoughts had been assured true!
Thus in my youth; now, since I grew a man,
I have persevered to let thee know
The meaning of my true heart's constancy,
Then be not nice, Perseda, as women wont
To hasty lovers, whose fancy soon is fled;
My love is of a long continuance,
And merits not a stranger's recompense.
Perseda.
Enough, Erastus, thy Perseda knows;
She whom thou wouldst have thine, Erastus, knows.
Erastus.
Nay, my Perseda knows, and then 'tis well.
Perseda.
Ay, watch you[r] vantages? thine be it then—
I have forgot the rest, but that's th' effect;
Which to effect, accept this carcanet:
My grandam on her deathbed gave it me,
And there, ev'n there, I vow'd unto myself
To keep the same, until my wand'ring eye
Should find a harbour for my heart to dwell.
Ev'n in thy breast do I elect my rest;
Let in my heart to keep thine company.
Erastus.
And, sweet Perseda, accept this ring
To equal it: receive my heart to boot;
It is no boot, for that was thine before:
And far more welcome is this change to me,
Than sunny days to naked savages,
Or news of pardon to a wretch condemn'd,
That waiteth for the fearful stroke of death:
As careful will I be to keep this chain,
As doth the mother keep her children
From water-pits or falling in the fire.
Over mine armour will I hang this chain;
And, when long combat makes my body faint,
The sight of this shall show Perseda's name,
And add fresh courage to my fainting limbs.
This day the eager Turk of Tripolis,
The knight of Malta, honour'd for his worth,
And he that's titled by the golden spur,
The Moor upon his hot Barbarian horse,
The fiery Spaniard, bearing in his face
The impress of a noble warrior,
The sudden Frenchman and the big-bon'd Dane,
And English archers, hardy men-at-arms,
I-cleped Lions of the western world:
Each one of these approved combatants,
Assembled from sev'ral corners of the world,
Are hither come to try their force in arms,
In honour of the Prince of Cyprus' nuptials.
Amongst these worthies will Erastus troop,
Though like a gnat amongst a hive of bees:
Know me by this thy precious carcanet:
And, if I thrive in valour, as the glass,
That takes the sunbeams burning with his force,
I'll be the glass, and thou that heav'nly sun,
From whence I'll borrow what I do achieve:
And, sweet Perseda, unnoted though I be,
Thy beauty yet shall make me known ere night.
Perseda.