Poems, with a maske by Thomas Carew ... ; the songs were set in musick by Mr. Henry Lawes ...

The Comparison.

DEarest, thy tresses are not threads of gold, Thy eyes of Diamonds, nor doe I hold Thy lips for Rubies: Thy fair cheeks to be Fresh Roses, or thy teeth of Ivory. Thy skin that doth thy dainty body sheath, Not Alablaster is, nor dost thou breath Arabian odours, those the earth brings forth, Compar'd with which, would but impaire thy worth. Such may be others Mistresses, but mine Holds nothing earthly, but is all divine. Thy tresses are those rayes that doe arise Not from one Sunne, but two; Such are thy eyes; Thy lips congealed Nectar are, and such, As but a Deitie, there's none dare touch; The perfect crimson that thy cheek doth cloath (But only that it farre exceeds them both) Aurora's blush resembles, or that red That Iris struts in when her mantle's spred; Thy teeth in white doe Leda's Swan exceed, Thy skin's a heavenly and immortall weed; And when thou breath'st, the winds are ready strait To filch it from thee, and doe therefore wait

Close at thy lips, and snatching it from thence Bear it to Heaven, where 'tis Ioves frankincense. Fair Goddess, since thy feature makes the one, Yet be not such for these respects alone; But as you are divine in outward view, So be within as fair, as good, as true.