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The traitor cat had caught her by the hip,
And made her there against her will remain,
That had forgot her poor surety and rest
For seeming wealth wherein she thought to
reign.

Alas, my Poins, how men do seek the best 70
And find the worst by error as they stray!
And no marvel; when sight is so opprest,
And blinds the guide, anon out of the way
Goeth guide and all in seeking quiet life.
O wretched minds, there is no gold that may
Grant that you seek; no war, no peace, no
strife.

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Nor ye set not a drag-net for an hare;
And yet the thing that most is your de-
sire
Ye do mis-seek with more travail and care.
Make plain thine heart, that it be not knotted
With hope or dread, and see thy will be
bare

From all effects whom vice hath ever spotted.
Thyself content with that is thee assigned, 95
And use it well that is to thee allotted.
Then seek no more out of thyself to find
The thing that thou hast sought so long be-
fore,

For thou shalt feel it sticking in thy mind.
Mad, if ye list to continue your sore, 100
Let present pass and gape on time to come,
And deep yourself in travail more and

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HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY (1517?-1547)

Henry Howard, or, as he is commonly called, Surrey, was, like Wyatt, actively connected with the English court. His courtly occupations, however, were not so much administrative and diplomatic as military and chivalric. From his early years up to manhood, Surrey was the companion of princes, and more than once his elders bargained for his marriage with a princess. As a boy of some fifteen years, Surrey accompanied the king to France, and remained eleven months at the French court. At the age of twenty, by striking a courtier who had accused him of seditious intentions, he landed himself in confinement for a few months at Windsor. These months Surrey spent in versifying, a diversion for which he had been well prepared by previous practice and by considerable reading in classical and contemporary literature. After having distinguished himself from time to time in jousts, he was made knight of the garter in 1541. Surrey's impulsive and adventurous spirit, which established him as the most foolish proud boy that is in England,' led him to eminent military service in France, during which he called forth the king's reprimand by exposing himself needlessly to danger. By numerous angry and trenchant utterances, he eventually brought upon himself the charge of treason, which he vigorously denied, but which led, ultimately, to his beheading on Tower Hill, January 21, 1547.

Although Surrey composed verse during most of his life-time, his poems first appeared in print in 1557, when Richard Tottel published Songs and Sonnets written by the right honorable Lord Henry Howard, late Earl of Surrey, and others. During the same year appeared Surrey's translation of the second and fourth books of Virgil's Eneid, a translation in which blank verse is used for the first time, in any notable way, in English. Although Surrey was the poetical disciple of his friend Wyatt, he excelled his master in all points. In particular, this superiority is apparent in range of subject, in refinement and variety of versification, and in delicacy of feeling.

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When that I think what grief it is again, To live and lack the thing should rid my pain.

VOW TO LOVE FAITHFULLY HOWSOEVER HE BE REWARDED

Set me whereas the sun doth parch the green,

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Or where his beams do not dissolve the ice;
In temperate heat, where he is felt and seen;
In presence prest of people, mad or wise;
Set me in high, or yet in low degree;
In longest night, or in the longest day;
In clearest sky, or where clouds thickest be;
In lusty youth, or when my hairs are gray:
Set me in heaven, in earth, or else in hell;
In hill, or dale, or in the foaming flood;
Thrall, or at large, alive whereso I dwell;
Sick or in health, in evil fame or good;
Hers will I be, and only with this thought
Content myself, although my chance be
naught.

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