HE soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings, THE With green hath clad the hill and eke the vale : The nightingale with feathers new she sings; The turtle to her mate hath told her tale: Summer is come, for every spray now springs, The buck in brake his winter coat he flings; THE SHEPHERD'S COMMENDATION OF HIS NYMPH. BY EDWARD VERE, EARL OF OXFORD.-1534-1604. some time on the He took an active [EDWARD VERE, EARL OF OXFORD, was born about the year 1534, and after having been educated in Cambridge, spent Continent, from which he returned a perfect coxcomb. part in the destruction of the Spanish Armada, and sat on the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. His poems, which are full of conceits, have never been collected. He died in 1604.] Compares not with her white, So bright my nymph doth shine With this there is a red, When Phoebus from the bed Of Thetis doth arise, The morning blushing red, He shows in my nymph's face, As queen of every grace. This pleasant lily white, This sweet fair Dea spread. These sunbeams in mine eye, BY THOMAS SACKVILLE.-1536-1608. [THOMAS SACKVILLE, EARL OF DORSET, the son of Sir Richard Sackville, was born at Withyam in Sussex, in 1536, and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. He became a student of the Inner Temple, and while there composed the first tragedy ever written in the English language. After having published that and the "Mirrour for Magistrates," he bade adieu to the Muses, and became a statesman. His integrity and vigour procured him many important appointments from Elizabeth, and caused his elevation to the highest honours and dignities. He died suddenly at the Council Board in 1608, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.] HE wrathful winter 'proaching on apace, THE With blust'ring blasts had all ybared the treen, With chilling cold had pierced the tender green; The soil that erst so seemly was to seen, And soote fresh flowers (wherewith the summer's queen |