"I have them about me," quoth Rosader, "let us sit down, and then you shall hear what a poetical fury love will infuse into a man." With that they sate down upon a green bank, shadowed with fig trees, and Rosader, fetching a deep sigh, read them this sonnet: _Rosader's Sonnet_ In sorrow's cell I laid me down to sleep, But waking woes were jealous of mine eyes, They made them watch, and bend themselves to weep, But weeping tears their want could not suffice: Yet since for her they wept who guides my heart, They weeping smile, and triumph in their smart. Of these my tears a fountain fiercely springs, Where Venus bains[1] herself incensed with love, Where Cupid bowseth[2] his fair feathered wings; But I behold what pains I must approve. Care drinks it dry; but when on her I think, Love makes me weep it full unto the brink. Meanwhile my sighs yield truce unto my tears, By them the winds increased and fiercely blow: Yet when I sigh the flame more plain appears, And by their force with greater power doth glow: Amid these pains, all phoenix-like I thrive Since love, that yields me death, may life revive.[3] _Rosader en esperance._ [Footnote 1: bathes.] [Footnote 2: dips.] [Footnote 3: This song is said to be an imitation of Desportes's sonnet beginning, Si je me siez a l'ombre aussi soudainement.] "Now, surely, forester," quoth Aliena, "when thou madest this sonnet, thou wert in some amorous quandary, neither too fearful as despairing of thy mistress' favors, nor too gleesome as hoping in thy fortunes."