Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
CœliaSonnet V. Fair Queen of Cnidos! come, adorn my forehead!
William Percy (1575–1648)F
And crown me with the laurel, Emperor!
Ií, thrice sing Ií about thy poet!
Lo, on my goddess, I am conqueror!
For once, by chance, not sure or wittingly,
Upon my foot, her tender foot alighted,
With that, she plucked it off full nimbly
As though the very touch had her affrighted.
Dear Mistress! will you deal so cruelly,
To ’prive me of so small a benefit?
What! do you jerk it off so nimbly
As though, in very sooth, a snake had bit it!
Yea, bit perhaps indeed! Ho, Muses, blab you!
Not a word, Pieannets! or I will gag you!