Sonnet XCV (95)

How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame

Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose,

Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name!

O, in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose!

That tongue that tells the story of thy days,

Making lascivious comments on thy sport,

Cannot dispraise but in a kind of praise;

Naming thy name blesses an ill report.

O, what a mansion have those vices got

Which for their habitation chose out thee,

Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot,

And all things turn to fair that eyes can see!

   Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege;

   The hardest knife ill-used doth lose his edge. 

2. Canker. A worm preying upon and defacing the blossom. 

3. Thy budding name. An expression which seems to agree very well with the youth of William Herbert, now about nineteen. 

8. Naming thy name, &c. In consequence of Mr. W. H.'s well-known grace and attractiveness. 

12. Turns. So Q. "turnes." "Beauty's veil turns all things to fair," &c. 

14. The hardest knife, &c. Alluding to the result of excessive indulgence.