The Works of Edmund Spenser/The Shepheards Calender

by Edmund Spenser

THE

SHEPHEARDS CALENDER:

CONTEYNING

TWELVE AEGLOGUES,

PROPORTIONABLE TO THE TWELVE MONETHES,

Entitled to the noble and vertuous Gentleman, most worthie of all titles both of learning and chivalry,

MAISTER PHILIP SIDNEY.

---

TO HIS BOOKE.

Goe, little Booke! thy selfe present,
As childe whose parent is unkent,
To him that is the president
Of noblenesse and chevalree:
And if that Envie barke at thee,
As sure it will, for succour flee
Under the shadow of his wing,
And, asked who thee forth did bring,
A shepheards swaine, say, did thee sing,
All as his straying flocke he fedde:
And, when his honour has thee redde,
Crave pardon for thy hardy-hedde.
But, if that any aske thy name,
Say, thou wert base-begot with blame:
Forthy thereof thou takest shame.
And, when thou art past ieopardee,
Come tell me what was said of mee,
And I will send more after thee.

Immerito.

Sections 

• Epistle
• Generall Argument
• Shepheards Calender