An Excellent Sonnet of the Two Unfortunate LOVERS
HERO and LEANDER:
GIVING
An Account how Leander fell in Love with the famous Hero; but being disappoint-
ed by her cruel Father, who confined her in a Tower, Leander resolving to swim
over the Hellespont to fetch her away, a mighty Storm arose, and he was drowned
near her Window; for Sorrow of which, she leaped into the Sea to him.
To the Tune of, Gerherds Mistress.
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Hero.
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HOW fares
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My fair Leander? O vouchsafe to speak,
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least my Heart break,
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I banishd from thy sweet Company;
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Tis not
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Thy Fathers Anger can abase my Love;
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I still will prove
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Thy faithful Friend until such Time I die:
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Though Fate and
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Fortune do conspire to interrupt our Love,
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In spight of Fate
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And Fortunes hate I still will constant prove:
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And though
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Our angry Friends in Malice now our Bodies part
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No Friends nor Foes,
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Nor Scats nor Blows, shall seperate our Hearts.
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Leander.
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What Voice
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Is this that calls Leander from her Bower?
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from yonder Tower,
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The Eccho of this Voice doth sure proceed.
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Hero.
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Leander
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Tis thy Hero fain would come to thee,
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if it might be;
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Thy Absence makes my tender Heart to bleed
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But oh! this pleasant
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River Hellispont, which is the Peoples wonder
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Those Waves so high
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Do injury, by parting us asunder:
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And though theres Ferry
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Men great store, yet none will stand my Friend,
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To waft me ore to
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That fair Shore where all my Grief shall end.
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Leander.
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Hero
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Though I am thy constant Lover still,
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and ever will
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My angry Father is thy Enemy:
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He still
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Doth strive to keep us asunder; now and then,
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poor Ferry-Men,
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They dare not waft thee over lest they die:
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Nor yet
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Dare they convey me unto my dear Hero now,
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My Fathers Rage
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Will not asswage, nor will the same allow,
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Be patient
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Then dear Hero now, as I am true to thee,
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Even so I trust
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Thou art as just, and faithful unto me.
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Hero.
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Is there
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No Way to stay an angry Fathers Wrath,
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whose Fury hath
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Bereavd his Child of Comfort and Content?
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Leander.
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O no,
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Dear Hero, theres no Way that I do know,
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to ease my Woe,
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My Days of Joy and Comfort now are spent,
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You may
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As well go tame a Lion in the Wilderness,
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As to persuade
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My Fathers Aid to help me in Distress.
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His Anger
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And this River hath kept us asunder long,
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He hath his Will,
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His Humour still, and we have all the wrong.
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Hero.
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Tis not
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Thy Fathers Anger, nor this River deep,
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the which shall keep
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Me from the Embracements of my dearest Friend
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For through
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This Silver Stream, my Way I mean to take,
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even for thy sake,
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For thy dear sake my dearest Life Ill spend,
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Though Waves and
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Winds should both conspire mine Enemies to be
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My Loves so strong,
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I fear no Wrong can happen unto me:
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O meet me
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In the Garden where this pleasant River glides
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Lend me thy Hand,
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Draw me to Land, whatever me betides.
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Now must
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I make my tender slender Arms my Oars,
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help watery Powers.
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Ye little Fishes teach me how to swim;
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And all
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Ye Sea-Nymphs guard me unto yonder Banks,
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Ill give you Thanks,
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Bear up my Body, strengthen every Limb!
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I come
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Leander now prepare thy lovely Arms for me,
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I come dear Love,
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Assist me Jove, I may so happy be.
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But oh! a mighty
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Tempest rose, and he was drownd that Tide,
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In her fair Sight,
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Her Hearts delight, and so with Grief she dyd.
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But when
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Her aged Father these Things understands,
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He wrings his Hands,
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And tears his Hoary Hair from off his Head.
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Society
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He shuns, and doth forsake his Meat,
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his Griefs so great,
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And oft doth make the lowly Ground his Bed:
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O my Leander,
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Would that I had dyd to save thy Life,
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Or that I had
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When I was sad, made thee brave Heros Wife.
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It was
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My Trespass, and I do confess I wrongd thee,
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Posterity shall
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Know hereby, the Fault lay all in me.
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But since
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The Waves have cast his Body on the Land,
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upon the Sand,
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His Corps shall buried be in solemn wise;
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One Grave
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Shall serve them both & one most stately Tomb
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shell make him Room,
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Although her Corps be Breathless where she lies.
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Ye Fathers
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Have a special care now, whatsoeer you do,
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For those that parts
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True loyal Hearts, themselves were never true:
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Though Fate and Fortune
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Cross poor Lovers, sometimes as we do know
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Pray understand,
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Have you no Hand, even in their overthrow.
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