¶ The Shepheards resolution in loue. +Printed in Thomas Watson, sonnet 37, The Hektompathia , (1582), sig. E3, with the headnote: ‘The Author in this passion doth by manner of secret comparison preferre his beloued before all other women whatsoeuer: and persuadeth vpon the examples of all sortes of Goddes (whom loue hath ouertaken at one time or other) that the worthiness of his Mistres being well considered, his owne fondnes in loue must of force be in it selfe excusable’. Another copy is in L: Harl. 3277, c. 1580, f. 21. Alexander Craig imitated this poem, probably using Englands Helicon , in his ‘To Pandora’, Amorose Songes (1606), sig. B7v, ‘Since Ioue him selfe was subiect to Loue,/And left the lift to catch a mortall pray./… In cignum, in pluuiam qui iubet ire Iouem.’ Author: Thomas Watson. Structure (May/Ringler): 18: 3×6 sx
I F Ioue him-selfe be subiect vnto Loue, And range the woods to finde a mortall pray, If Neptune from the Seas him-selfe remoue, And seeke on sands with earthly wightsbeings, humans to play: (5) Then may I loue my Shepheardesse by right, Who farre excels each other mortall wightbeing ?
If Pluto could by Loue be drawne from hell, To yeeld him-selfe a silly virgins thrall. +to be a slave to an innocent virgin, Persephone . If Phœbus could vouchsafe on earth to dwell, (10) To winne a rustick Mayde +Phoebus-Apollo had a number of human lovers vnto his call: Then how much more should I adore the sight, Of her in whom the heauens them-selues delight?