to come unto you or to make
any other visits either by day or night till I have further liberty
granted me;" besides this, the Earl of Shrewsbury was distantly related
to Constable's family, and this fact of kinship may have opened the
way; while his sonnet to the Countess intimates that his heart had been
touched by some beauty in her Venus' camp. If not Arabella, who could
this be?

"To you then, you, the fairest of the wise,
And wisest of the fair I do appeal.
A warrior of your camp by force of eyes
Me prisoner took, and will with rigour deal,
Except you pity in your heart will place,
At whose white hands I only seek for grace."

As before, the sonnets addressed to Arabella give no definite
information. The first is in the usual strain of praise, and closes:

"My drift was this,
Some earthly shadow of thy worth to show
Whose heavenly self above world's reason is."

The second is as follows:

"Only hope of our age, that virtues dead
By your sweet breath should be revived again;
Learning discouraged long by rude disdain
By your white hands is only cherished.
Thus others' worth by you is honoured.
But who shall honour yours? Poor wits, in vain
We seek to pay the debts which you pertain
Till from yourself some wealth be borrowed.
Lend some your tongues, that every nation may
In his own hear your virtuous praises blaze;
Lend them your wit, your judgment, memory,
Lest they themselves should not know what to say;
And that thou mayst be loved as much as praised,
My heart thou mayst lend them which I gave thee."

The last of Constable's sonnets in the edition of 1592 is this
dedicatory address:

"My mistress' worth gave wings unto my muse
And my muse wings did give unto her name,
So, like twin birds, my muse bred with her fame
Together now do learn their wings to use.
And in this book, which here you may peruse,
Abroad they fly, resolved to try the same
Adventure in their flight; and thee, sweet dame,
Both she and I for our protection choose;
I by my vow, and she by farther right
Under your phoenix (wing) presume to fly;
That from all carrion beaks in safety might
By one same wing be shrouded, she and I.
O happy, if I might but flitter there
Where you and she and I should be so near."

The value of this