name,

Instead of glory, prov'd her Countryes shame :

Of her what worth in Storyes to be seen,
But that she was a rich Egyptian Queen.
Zenobya potent Empress of the East,
And of all these, without compare the
best,

Whom none but great Aurelius could quel;
Yet for our Queen is no fit Parallel. 88
She was a Phoenix Queen, so shall she be,
Her ashes not reviv'd, more Phoenix she.
Her personal perfections, who would tell,
Must dip his pen in th' Heleconian Well,
Which I may not, my pride doth but as-
pire

To read what others write, and so admire. Now say, have women worth? or have they none?

Or had they some, but with our Queen is't gone?

Nay Masculines, you have thus taxt us long,

But she, though dead, will vindicate our

But when my wondring eyes and envious heart

Great Bartas sugar'd lines, do but read o're

Fool I do grudg the Muses did not part
'Twixt him and me that overfluent store;
A Bartas can, do what a Bartas will
But simple I according to my skill.

3

II

From school-boyes tongue no rhet❜rick we expect

Nor yet a sweet Consort from broken strings,

Nor perfect beauty, where's a main de

fect:

1 To the long poems The Four Elements, The Four Humours, The Four Ages, and The Four Seasons.