John Weever, 1599 (1576-1632)
“Ad Gulielmum Shakespeare.”
Honey-tongued Shakespeare, when I saw thine issue,
I swore Apollo got them and none other;
Their rosy-tinted features clothed in tissue,
Some heaven-born goddess said to be their mother:
Rose-cheeked Adonis, with his amber tresses,
Fair fire-hot Venus, charming him to love her,
Chaste Lucretia, virgin-like her dresses,
Proud lust-stung Tarquin, seeking still to prove her:
Romeo, Richard; more whose names I know not,
Their sugared tongues, and power attractive beauty
Say they are saints, although that saints they show not,
For thousands vow to them subjective duty:
They burn in love, thy children, Shakespeare het them, [heated
Go, woo thy Muse, more Nymphish brood beget them.
Epigrammes in the oldest Cut, and newest Fashion. John Weever. 1599. Epig. 22.
Some bibliographers have assigned the first edition of Weever’s Epigrammes to the year 1595, but no copy bearing that date is known.