LAURA:

OR

SONNETS

AND

ELEGIAC QUATUORZAINS.

Ma 'l severo Nocchier, hor questi, hor quelli,
Scegliando, & rifiutando una gran parte,
Lungi tenea dal Porto, & da l' arena.

EN. D'ANNIB. Caro.

VOL. IV.

OR

AN ANTHOLOGY OF SONNETS,

(ON THE PETRARCAN MODEL)

AND

ELEGIAC QUATUORZAINS:

English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese,
French, and German;

Original and translated;

Great part never before publisht.

WITH

A PREFACE,

Critical and Biographic ;

NOTES AND INDEX.

IN FIVE VOLUMES:

VOL. IV.

BY CAPEL LOFFT.

LONDON:

Printed by R. Taylor and Co., Shoe-lane,

FOR B. AND R. CROSBY AND CO., STATIONERS' COURT,

LUDGATE STREET.

1813.

AND

QUATUORZAINS.

SIXTH CENTENARY.

Le Donne son venute in eccellenza

Di ciascun' Arte ove hanno posto cura

-ARIOSTO.

EDWARDS.

TO MISS MULSO-AFTERWARD MRS. CHAPONE.

SWEET LINNET! who from off the Laurel Spray
That hangs o'er SPENSER's ever sacred Tomb
Pourst out such Notes as strike the Woodlark dumb
And vie with PHILOMEL's enchanting Lay!
How shall my Verse thy Melody repay?—

If my weak Voice could reach the Age to come, Like Colin-Clout's*, thy Name should ever bloom Through future Times, unconscious of Decay.

But

2.

my frail aid thy Merits not require.

Thee POLYHYMNIA in the roseate Bowers

Of high PARNASSUS, midst the vocal throng, Shall glad receive; and to her tuneful Sire Present, where crown'd with amarantine flowers The raptur'd Choir shall listen to thy Song.

The rustic Name assum'd by SPENSER.