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Sonnet CCXXIII

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Sonnet CCXXIII by Francesco Petrarch

[Pg 225]
 SONNET CCXXIII.
 Qual donna attende a gloriosa fama.
 THE EYES OF LAURA ARE THE SCHOOL OF VIRTUE.
  Feels any fair the glorious wish to gainOf sense, of worth, of courtesy, the praise?On those bright eyes attentive let her gazeOf her miscall'd my love, but sure my foe.Honour to gain, with love of God to glow,Virtue more bright how native grace displays,May there be learn'd; and by what surest waysTo heaven, that for her coming pants, to go.The converse sweet, beyond what poets write,Is there; the winning silence, and the meekAnd saint-like manners man would paint in vain.The matchless beauty, dazzling to the sight,Can ne'er be learn'd; for bootless 'twere to seekBy art, what by kind chance alone we gain.
 Anon., Ox., 1795.