SONNET
Quand' io movo i sospiri a chiamar voi

HE PLAYS UPON THE NAME LAURETA OR LAURA.

  In sighs when I outbreathe your cherish'd name,
  That name which love has writ upon my heart,
  LAUd instantly upon my doting tongue,
  At the first thought of its sweet sound, is heard;
  Your REgal state, which I encounter next,
  Doubles my valour in that high emprize:
  But TAcit ends the word; your praise to tell
  Is fitting load for better backs than mine.
  Thus all who call you, by the name itself,
  Are taught at once to LAUd and to REvere,
  O worthy of all reverence and esteem!
  Save that perchance Apollo may disdain
  That mortal tongue of his immortal boughs
  Should ever so presume as e'en to speak.

  ANON.