Sonnet XI. In Ida Vale three Queens, the Shepherd saw

Giles Fletcher (1586?–1623)

IN Ida Vale three Queens, the Shepherd saw;

Queens of esteem, divine, they were all three.

A sight of worth, but I a wonder show:

Their virtues all in one alone to be.

LICIA the Fair surpassing VENUS’s pride,

(The matchless Queen, commander of the gods,

When, drawn with doves, she in her pomp doth ride)

Hath far more beauty and more grace by odds:

JUNO, JOVE’s wife, unmeet to make compare;

I grant a goddess, but not half so mild:

MINERVA wise, a virtue; but not rare.

Yet these are mean, if that my Love but smiled.

She them surpasseth, when their prides are full,

As far as they surpass the meanest trull.