New Year Eve

Celebrations for New Year begin from New Year's Eve on 31st December. This is the last day of the Gregorian calendar and the day before New Year's Day. The idea behind New Year's Eve celebration is to bid adieu to the year gone by and give a warm welcome to the coming year. Popular way of celebrating New Year's Eve is to party until the moment of the transition of the year at midnight. 

New Year's Eve is a public non-working holiday in several countries including France, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, Mexico, Greece, the Philippines, and Venezuela. 

New Year Eve Traditions
Tradition of celebrating New Year's Eve vary in several parts of the world due to cultural variations. In most countries people cut cake as the clock strikes for midnight on New Year's Eve and open champagne bottles to express their joys. Given here is a brief description of some of the other most popular and interesting traditions of New Year Eve celebrations. 

Father Time and Baby New Year
A common image of New Year's Eve celebration is the incarnation of Father Time - the old year represented by an old bearded man wearing a sash across his chest with the previous year printed on it. This Father Time hands over his responsibilities to the Baby New Year - the personification of New Year represented by a baby wearing a sash with the new year printed on it. 

Auld Lang Syne
Inspired by an old Scottish tune, the song Auld Lang Syne (meaning 'the good old days') has become the National Anthem of New Year's eve celebration. The song is traditionally sung at the midnight on the New Year's Eve in almost all English speaking countries of the world. The lyrics to the song Auld Lang Syne were written by the poet Robert Burns and published after his death in 1796. Bursting of Firecrackers In most parts of the world, people welcome the New Year by bursting noisy firecrackers. Some even fire celebratory gun-shots. The tradition emerged from an ancient belief that noise and fire helped to dispel evil spirits and bring good-luck. 

Greeting Happy New Year
Just as the clock strikes at midnight on New Year's Day people start Greeting Happy New Year to everyone around. At several places there is also a tradition to kiss one's beloved at midnight. It is said that kissing ensures affections and ties will continue all through the year. To dear ones staying in distant cities, greetings are sent over phone or through SMS and New Year greeting cards. 

Popular New Year Eve Celebrations Around the World
Many countries take pride in their New Year's Eve celebrations but New Year's Eve of Times Square, Trafalgar Square and Sydney are most popular amongst them all. 

New Year's Eve at Times Square in New York City
New Year's Eve celebration of Times Square, New York city is one of the most popular New Year's eve celebrations around the world. The event is noted for the famous ball drop atop One Times Square. Every year, thousands of people from across the world descend upon Times Square to experience this traditional event. 

New Year's Eve at Trafalgar Square in London
This is yet another most popular New Year's Eve celebrations. Each year thousands of revelers throng the Square to welcome the New Year to the sound of Big Ben's famous chimes. 

New Year's Eve at Sydney, Australia
Sydney is said to be the world's preferred destination for New Year's Eve celebrations. Breathtaking firework display is said to be the major attraction that pull thousands of people to Sydney from all over the world. An estimated 80,000 firecrackers are shot from Sydney Harbour Bridge on the New Year's Eve, offering a truly stunning view. The other major attraction is The Harbour of Lights Parade. It is a delightful sight to watch cruise boats covered in fairy lights cruise the centre of the harbour all night

New Year In Different Languages

Language	Happy New Year
Afghani	Saale Nao Mubbarak
Afrikaans	Gelukkige nuwe jaar
Albanian	Gezuar Vitin e Ri
Arabic	Antum salimoun
Armenian	Snorhavor Nor Tari
Assyrian	Sheta Brikhta
Azeri	Yeni Iliniz Mubarek!
Bengali	Shuvo Nabo Barsho
Cambodian	Soursdey Chhnam Tmei
Catalan	FELIÇ ANY NOU
Chinese	Chu Shen Tan / Xin Nian Kuai Le
Corsican Language	Pace e Salute
Croatian	Sretna Nova godina!
Cymraeg (Welsh)	Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Czechoslovakia	Scastny Novy Rok
Danish	Godt Nytår
Dhivehi	Ufaaveri Aa Aharakah Edhen
Dutch	GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR!
Eskimo	Kiortame pivdluaritlo
Esperanto	Felican Novan Jaron
Estonians	Head uut aastat!
Ethiopian	MELKAM ADDIS AMET YIHUNELIWO!
Finnish	Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
French	Bonne Annee
Gaelic	Bliadhna mhath ur
German	Prosit Neujahr
Greek	Kenourios Chronos
Gujarati	Nutan Varshbhinandan
Hawaiian	Hauoli Makahiki Hou
Hebrew	L'Shannah Tovah
Hindi	Nav varsh ka shubkamnayein
Hong Kong (Cantonese)	Sun Leen Fai Lok
Hungarian	Boldog Ooy Ayvet
Indonesian	Selamat Tahun Baru
Iranian	Saleh now mobarak
Iraqi	Sanah Jadidah
Irish	Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit
Italian	Felice anno nuovo
Japanese	Akimashite Omedetto Gozaimasu
Kabyle	Asegwas Amegaz
Kannada	Hosa Varushadha Shubhashayagalu
Kisii	SOMWAKA OMOYIA OMUYA
Khmer	Sua Sdei tfnam tmei
Korea	Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo!
Kurdish	NEWROZ PIROZBE
Lithuanian	Laimingu Naujuju Metu
Laotian	Sabai dee pee mai
Macedonian	Srekjna Nova Godina
Malay	Selamat Tahun Baru
Marathi	Nveen Varshachy Shubhechcha
Malayalam	Puthuvatsara Aashamsakal
Maltese	Is-Sena t- Tajba
Nepal	Nawa Barsha ko Shuvakamana
Norwegian	Godt Nyttår
Papua New Guinea	Nupela yia i go long yu
Pashto	Nawai Kall Mo Mubarak Shah
Persian	Saleh now ra tabrik migouyam
Philippines	Manigong Bagong Taon
Polish	Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese	Feliz Ano Novo
Punjabi	Nave sal di mubarakan
Romanian	AN NOU FERICIT
Russian	S Novim Godom
Samoa	Manuia le Tausaga Fou
Serbo-Croatian	Sretna nova godina
Sindhi	Nayou Saal Mubbarak Hoje
Singhalese	Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Siraiki	Nawan Saal Shala Mubarak Theevay
Slovak	A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovenian	sreèno novo leto
Somali	Iyo Sanad Cusub Oo Fiican!
Spanish	Feliz Ano ~Nuevo
Swahili	Heri Za Mwaka Mpyaº
Swedish	GOTT NYTT ÅR! /Gott nytt år!
Sudanese	Warsa Enggal
Tamil	Eniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal
Telegu	Noothana samvatsara shubhakankshalu
Thai	Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish	Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian	Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku
Urdu	Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho
Vietnamese	Chuc Mung Tan Nien
Uzbek	Yangi Yil Bilan

Christmas History

“Put your problems on probation, Run your troubles off the track, throw your worries out the window, it is Christmas time again” This quote represents the maddening impatience with which people wait for their favorite winter festival, yes! Christmas has arrived to take away those winter blues, and replace those dowdy moods with an atmosphere of hope and grandeur. It is that fun filled time of the year when the regular banalities of life seem like a passing phase, and you carry on with life amidst joyful worries of Christmas trees, presents, and turkey. All this fun and frolic aside, for those of you who are the curious sorts, it also poses a couple of questions. It makes you wonder how this wonderful festival came into existence. When did it start? Was it always like this? If not, how different was it? Here are some answers to these tiring questions that tweak your brain and give you a better understanding of the festival you love.

History Of Christmas

Grand Mom’s Biblical Version
To start off with, let us begin with your granny’s version of the tale; a really long time ago, 2000 years ago to be precise, there was a nice girl called Mary. Mary loved praying and one day as she sat by her small wooden bed and prayed, a stranger appeared and stood before her. Mary of course was scared but the stranger told her not to be afraid. The stranger was the angel Gabriel and he bore a message for her. The angel told her that she would have a son. At this point of time as a child, you probably screamed, “the son is Jesus” which is pretty obvious, but however the story doesn’t end here. The angel Gabriel also went to another person that night, the angel went to a man called Joseph, he asked Joseph to marry Mary. Joseph and Mary got married and she soon gave to birth to Jesus in a place called Bethlehem on the 25th December, the same day we celebrate Christmas. As a child, this story appealed to you and your granny’s exaggerated version added magic to Christmas, however there exist other points of view.

Christmas; A Marketing Gimmick?
In the ancient world, winter was a very cruel time, people hated it. The end of winter meant the end of all their woes and miseries. So the end of winter was celebrated world over; the Mesopotamians had the festival Zagmuth, the Romans saturnalia and the Scandinavians celebrated Yule. These festivals were very popular. During the nascent stages of Christianity, the Church realized that having Christmas in December was the only way it could get popularly embraced and abolish the other pagan gods. It probably disheartens you to look at Christmas as a marketing gimmick, but the birth of Christ is highly disputed, with some scholars stating that it was too cold a time, in those regions for any shepherding activity let alone a birth of a child. The birth of Christ is estimated to be sometime during spring and not winter.

Christmas during this time was celebrated in a very raucous and chaotic way.
People indulged in excessive drinking and raided the house of the rich demanding food and other luxuries. A beggar was chosen as the “lord of misrule” and other eager celebrants his subjects. With time it became such a rowdy affair that people began to fear Christmas and it soon led to something that might make you choke on your food.

Christmas Gets Banned!
In the year 1645, Christmas was banned by Oliver Chromewell and his puritans in England and all British colonies. They had vowed to free England from her state of decadence and banning Christmas was part of the reform. People were even fined for celebrating Christmas. However, the ban didn’t stay long, Charles the second came to power, and with it brought back Christmas. It was again outlawed in Boston (1659 to 1681) when the English separatists came to power.

Dickens And Irving’s Christmas
America reinvented Christmas; it converted it from a raucous, hippie festival to a family centered festival of peace and nostalgia. After the American Revolution Christmas was declared a federal holiday only on june 26th 1980 soon after, began its reform. Washington Irving and Charles Dickens created masterpieces that changed the definition of Christmas. As hard as we try we can’t forget the Christmas Carol, as kids didn’t we all wonder if we too would be visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. Irving’s short stories in his book “the sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon” are so popular that they invented tradition. Strange is the power of the written word, it transcends countries and boundaries. Christmas now is celebrated world over, even by non Christians. It now no longer remains a religion centric occasion, but a phenomenon. A joyous day eagerly anticipated all around the world.

'Merry Christmas' In Different Languages

Christmas is celebrated the world over and people exchange gifts and wishes too. We present you a list of how to wish to your friends, neighbors, colleagues and loved ones, 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy New Year' or both in more than 100 languages!

Afrikaans	Gesëende Kersfees
Afrikander	Een Plesierige Kerfees
African/ Eritrean/ Tigrinja	Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
Albanian	Gezur Krislinjden
Arabic:	Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Argentine:	Feliz Navidad
Armenian:	Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Azeri:	Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun
Bahasa Malaysia:	Selamat Hari Natal
Basque:	Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!
Bengali:	Shuvo Naba Barsha
Bohemian:	Vesele Vanoce
Brazilian:	Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo
Breton:	Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat
Bulgarian:	Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo
Catalan:	Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!
Chile:	Feliz Navidad
Chinese: (Cantonese)	Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin)	Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
Choctaw:	Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito
Columbia:	Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Cornish:	Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Corsian:	Pace e salute
Crazanian:	Rot Yikji Dol La Roo
Cree:	Mitho Makosi Kesikansi
Croatian:	Sretan Bozic
Czech:	Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish:	Glædelig Jul
Duri:	Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak
Dutch:	Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast
English:	Merry Christmas
Eskimo: (inupik)	Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Esperanto:	Gajan Kristnaskon
Estonian:	Ruumsaid juulup|hi
Faeroese:	Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!
Farsi:	Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Finnish:	Hyvaa joulua
Flemish:	Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French:	Joyeux Noel
Frisian:	Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
Galician:	Bo Nada
Gaelic:	Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
German:	Froehliche Weihnachten
Greek:	Kala Christouyenna!
Hausa:	Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaiian:	Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew:	Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hindi:	Shub Naya Baras
Hausa:	Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaian:	Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou!
Hungarian:	Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Icelandic:	Gledileg Jol
Indonesian:	Selamat Hari Natal
Iraqi:	Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Irish:	Nollaig Shona Dhuit or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat
Iroquois:	Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay.
Italian:	Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese:	Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Jiberish:	Mithag Crithagsigathmithags
Korean:	Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Latin:	Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Latvian:	Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!
Lausitzian:	Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto
Lettish:	Priecigus Ziemassvetkus
Lithuanian:	Linksmu Kaledu
Low Saxon:	Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar
Macedonian:	Sreken Bozhik
Maltese:	IL-Milied It-tajjeb
Manx:	Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa
Maori:	Meri Kirihimete
Marathi:	Shub Naya Varsh
Navajo:	Merry Keshmish
Norwegian:	God Jul or Gledelig Jul
Occitan:	Pulit nadal e bona annado
Papiamento:	Bon Pasco
Papua New Guinea:	Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu
Pennsylvania German:	En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!
Peru:	Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Philipines:	Maligayan Pasko!
Polish:	Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie
Portuguese:	Feliz Natal
Pushto:	Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha
Rapa-Nui (Easter Island):	Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua
Rhetian:	Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn
Romanche (sursilvan dialect):	Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!
Rumanian:	Sarbatori vesele
Russian:	Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Sami:	Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan:	La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Sardinian:	Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou
Serbian:	Hristos se rodi
Slovakian:	Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce
Sami:	Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan:	La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Scots Gaelic:	Nollaig chridheil huibh
Serb-Croatian:	Sretam Bozic. Vesela Nova Godina
Serbian:	Hristos se rodi.
Singhalese:	Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Slovak:	Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovene:	Vesele Bozicne. Screcno Novo Leto
Spanish:	Feliz Navidad
Swedish:	God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Tagalog:	Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon
Tami:	Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal
Trukeese:	(Micronesian) Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!
Thai:	Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish:	Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian:	Srozhdestvom Kristovym
Urdu:	Naya Saal Mubarak Ho
Vietnamese:	Chung Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh:	Nadolig Llawen
Yugoslavian:	Cestitamo Bozic
Yoruba:	E ku odun, e ku iye'dun!

Elle Fashion | The X Factor's Best Dressed | Elleuk.com

Elle Fashion | The X Factor's Best Dressed | Elleuk.com

There is nothing more beautiful than believing in yourself.
Sam Kao

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.
Sally Field
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie
Which we ascribe to heaven.
William Shakespeare
All's Well That Ends Well.
Dreams do come true if you keep believing in yourself. Anything is possible.
Jennifer Capriati
Celebrate all the things you don't like about yourself - love yourself.
Lady Gaga
To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when nobody else will.
Sugar Ray Robinson

Just go out there and do what you've got to do.
Martina Navratilova

If you don’t ask because you might be refused, you’ve already refused yourself.
Nisandeh Neta

You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.
Michael Jordan

Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching. and live like it's heaven on earth.
Mark Twain

Use your imagination not to scare yourself to death but to inspire yourself to life.
Adele Brookman

It's time to start living the life you've imagined.
Henry James

Fear kills everything. Your mind, your heart, your imagination.
Cornelia Funke

You're only a victim when you allow yourself to be one.
Primadonna Angela

The mind should dance with the body, and the whole universe is your stage. Try to feel that whatever you are doing is the most beautiful thing, the prettiest dance, because you are dancing with the whole Universe.
Yogi Bhajan

Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.
Jean Sibelius

Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right.
Henry Ford

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
Vincent Van Gogh

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spirit can walk, spirit can swim, spirit can climb, spirit can crawl. There is no terrain you cannot overcome.
Irisa Hail

I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn't fall down.
Allen H. Neuharth

Knock the "t" off the "can't."
George Reeves

Don't let anyone steal your dream. It's your dream, not theirs.
Dan Zadra

Men harm others by their deeds, themselves by their thoughts.
Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare
Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers.
Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot.
Truman Capote
Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
William Shakespeare
Measure for Measure.
What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates his fate.
Henry David Thoreau

A person can grow only as much as his horizon allows.
John Powell

Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be.
Karen Ravn

Never dull your shine for somebody else.
Tyra Banks

Oliver Wendell Holmes once attended a meeting in which he was the shortest man present. "Dr. Holmes," quipped a friend, "I should think you'd feel rather small among us big fellows." "I do," retorted Holmes, "I feel like a dime among a lot of pennies."
Author Unknown
If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas Alva Edison

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's me who is my enemy
Me who beats me up
Me who makes the monsters
Me who strips my confidence.
Paula Cole
Me, from This Fire album.
I am not a has-been. I am a will be.
Lauren Bacall

Always act like you're wearing an invisible crown.
Author Unknown
It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
Edmund Hillary
I am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly.
Buckminster Fuller

God wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily.
Author Unknown

A LOVER'S COMPLAINT A POEM BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

From off a hill whose concave womb reworded
A plaintful story from a sist'ring vale,
My spirits t'attend this double voice accorded,
And down I laid to list the sad-tuned tale,
Ere long espied a fickle maid full pale,
Tearing of papers, breaking rings atwain,
Storming her world with sorrow's wind and rain.
Upon her head a platted hive of straw,
Which fortified her visage from the sun,
Whereon the thought might think sometime it saw
The carcase of a beauty spent and done.
Time had not scythed all that youth begun,
Nor youth all quit, but spite of heaven's fell rage
Some beauty peeped through lattice of seared age.

Oft did she heave her napkin to her eyne,
Which on it had conceited characters,
Laund'ring the silken figures in the brine
That seasoned woe had pelleted in tears,
And often reading what contents it bears;
As often shrieking undistinguished woe
In clamours of all size, both high and low.

Sometimes her levelled eyes their carriage ride
As they did batt'ry to the spheres intend;
Sometime diverted their poor balls are tied
To th'orbed earth; sometimes they do extend
Their view right on; anon their gazes lend
To every place at once, and nowhere fixed,
The mind and sight distractedly commixed.

Her hair, nor loose nor tied in formal plait,
Proclaimed in her a careless hand of pride;
For some, untucked, descended her sheaved hat,
Hanging her pale and pined cheek beside;
Some in her threaden fillet still did bide,
And, true to bondage, would not break from thence,
Though slackly braided in loose negligence.

A thousand favours from a maund she drew
Of amber, crystal, and of beaded jet,
Which one by one she in a river threw,
Upon whose weeping margent she was set;
Like usury applying wet to wet,
Or monarch's hands that lets not bounty fall
Where want cries some, but where excess begs all.

Of folded schedules had she many a one,
Which she perused, sighed, tore, and gave the flood;
Cracked many a ring of posied gold and bone,
Bidding them find their sepulchres in mud;
Found yet moe letters sadly penned in blood,
With sleided silk feat and affectedly
Enswathed and sealed to curious secrecy.

These often bathed she in her fluxive eyes,
And often kissed, and often 'gan to tear;
Cried "O false blood, thou register of lies,
What unapproved witness dost thou bear!
Ink would have seemed more black and damned here!"
This said, in top of rage the lines she rents,
Big discontent so breaking their contents.

A reverend man that grazed his cattle nigh,
Sometime a blusterer that the ruffle knew
Of court, of city, and had let go by
The swiftest hours observed as they flew,
Towards this afflicted fancy fastly drew,
And, privileged by age, desires to know
In brief the grounds and motives of her woe.

So slides he down upon his grained bat,
And comely distant sits he by her side,
When he again desires her, being sat,
Her grievance with his hearing to divide.
If that from him there may be aught applied
Which may her suffering ecstasy assuage,
'Tis promised in the charity of age.

"Father," she says "though in me you behold
The injury of many a blasting hour,
Let it not tell your judgement I am old:
Not age, but sorrow over me hath power.
I might as yet have been a spreading flower,
Fresh to myself, if I had self-applied
Love to myself, and to no love beside.

"But, woe is me! too early I attended
A youthful suit -it was to gain my grace -
O, one by nature's outwards so commended
That maidens' eyes stuck over all his face.
Love lacked a dwelling and made him her place;
And when in his fair parts she did abide
She was new-lodged and newly deified.

"His browny locks did hang in crooked curls,
And every light occasion of the wind
Upon his lips their silken parcels hurls.
What's sweet to do, to do will aptly find:
Each eye that saw him did enchant the mind,
For on his visage was in little drawn
What largeness thinks in Paradise was sawn.

"Small show of man was yet upon his chin;
His phoenix down began but to appear,
Like unshorn velvet, on that termless skin,
Whose bare outbragged the web it seemed to wear;
Yet showed his visage by that cost more dear,
And nice affections wavering stood in doubt
If best were as it was, or best without.

"His qualities were beauteous as his form,
For maiden-tongued he was, and thereof free;
Yet, if men moved him, was he such a storm
As oft twixt May and April is to see,
When winds breathe sweet, unruly though they be.
His rudeness so with his authorized youth
Did livery falseness in a pride of truth.

"Well could he ride, and often men would say
`That horse his mettle from his rider takes:
Proud of subjection, noble by the sway,
What rounds, what bounds, what course, what stop he makes!'
And controversy hence a question takes,
Whether the horse by him became his deed,
Or he his manage by th' well-doing steed.

"But quickly on this side the verdict went:
His real habitude gave life and grace
To appertainings and to ornament,
Accomplished in himself, not in his case.
All aids, themselves made fairer by their place,
Came for additions; yet their purposed trim
Pieced not his grace, but were all graced by him.

"So on the tip of his subduing tongue
All kind of arguments and question deep,
All replication prompt, and reason strong,
For his advantage still did wake and sleep.
To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,
He had the dialect and different skill,
Catching all passions in his craft of will,

"That he did in the general bosom reign
Of young, of old, and sexes both enchanted,
To dwell with him in thoughts, or to remain
In personal duty, following where he haunted.
Consents bewitched, ere he desire, have granted,
And dialogued for him what he would say,
Asked their own wills, and made their wills obey.

"Many there were that did his picture get
To serve their eyes, and in it put their mind;
Like fools that in th'imagination set
The goodly objects which abroad they find
Of lands and mansions, theirs in thought assigned,
And labour in moe pleasures to bestow them
Than the true gouty landlord which doth owe them.

"So many have, that never touched his hand,
Sweetly supposed them mistress of his heart.
My woeful self, that did in freedom stand,
And was my own fee-simple, not in part,
What with his art in youth, and youth in art,
Threw my affections in his charmed power,
Reserved the stalk and gave him all my flower.

"Yet did I not, as some my equals did,
Demand of him, nor being desired yielded;
Finding myself in honour so forbid,
With safest distance I mine honour shielded.
Experience for me many bulwarks builded
Of proofs new-bleeding, which remained the foil
Of this false jewel and his amorous spoil.

"But ah, who ever shunned by precedent
The destined ill she must herself assay?
Or forced examples 'gainst her own content
To put the by-past perils in her way?
Counsel may stop awhile what will not stay,
For when we rage, advice is often seen
By blunting us to make our wills more keen.

"Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood
That we must curb it upon others' proof,
To be forbod the sweets that seems so good
For fear of harms that preach in our behoof.
O appetite, from judgement stand aloof!
The one a palate hath that needs will taste,
Though reason weep, and cry `It is thy last'.

"For further I could say this man's untrue,
And knew the patterns of his foul beguiling;
Heard where his plants in others' orchards grew;
Saw how deceits were gilded in his smiling;
Knew vows were ever brokers to defiling;
Thought characters and words merely but art,
And bastards of his foul adulterate heart.

"And long upon these terms I held my city,
Till thus he 'gan besiege me: `Gentle maid,
Have of my suffering youth some feeling pity,
And be not of my holy vows afraid.
That's to ye sworn to none was ever said;
For feasts of love I have been called unto,
Till now did ne'er invite nor never woo.

" `All my offences that abroad you see
Are errors of the blood, none of the mind;
Love made them not; with acture they may be,
Where neither party is nor true nor kind.
They sought their shame that so their shame did find;
And so much less of shame in me remains
By how much of me their reproach contains.

" `Among the many that mine eyes have seen,
Not one whose flame my heart so much as warmed,
Or my affection put to th' smallest teen,
Or any of my leisures ever charmed.
Harm have I done to them, but ne'er was harmed;
Kept hearts in liveries, but mine own was free,
And reigned commanding in his monarchy.

" `Look here what tributes wounded fancies sent me
Of pallid pearls and rubies red as blood,
Figuring that they their passions likewise lent me
Of grief and blushes, aptly understood
In bloodless white and the encrimsoned mood -
Effects of terror and dear modesty,
Encamped in hearts, but fighting outwardly.

" `And lo, behold these talents of their hair,
With twisted metal amorously impleached,
I have received from many a several fair,
Their kind acceptance weepingly beseeched,
With the annexions of fair gems enriched,
And deep-brained sonnets that did amplify
Each stone's dear nature, worth, and quality.

" `The diamond? -why, 'twas beautiful and hard,
Whereto his invised properties did tend;
The deep-green em'rald, in whose fresh regard
Weak sights their sickly radiance do amend;
The heaven-hued sapphire and the opal blend
With objects manifold: each several stone,
With wit well blazoned, smiled or made some moan.
" `Lo, all these trophies of affections hot,
Of pensived and subdued desires the tender,
Nature hath charged me that I hoard them not,
But yield them up where I myself must render -
That is to you, my origin and ender;
For these, of force, must your oblations be,
Since I their altar, you enpatron me.

" `O then advance of yours that phraseless hand,
Whose white weighs down the airy scale of praise.
Take all these similes to your own command,
Hallowed with sighs that burning lungs did raise.
What me your minister, for you obeys,
Works under you, and to your audit comes
Their distract parcels in combined sums.

" `Lo, this device was sent me from a nun,
A sister sanctified, of holiest note,
Which late her noble suit in court did shun,
Whose rarest havings made the blossoms dote;
For she was sought by spirits of richest coat,
But kept cold distance, and did thence remove
To spend her living in eternal love.

" `But, O my sweet, what labour is't to leave
The thing we have not, mast'ring what not strives,
Planing the place which did no form receive,
Playing patient sports in unconstrained gyves!
She that her fame so to herself contrives,
The scars of battle scapeth by the flight,
And makes her absence valiant, not her might.

" `O pardon me, in that my boast is true!
The accident which brought me to her eye
Upon the moment did her force subdue,
And now she would the caged cloister fly:
Religious love put out religion's eye.
Not to be tempted, would she be immured,
And now to tempt, all liberty procured.

" `How mighty then you are, O hear me tell!
The broken bosoms that to me belong
Have emptied all their fountains in my well,
And mine I pour your ocean all among.
I strong o'er them, and you o'er me being strong,
Must for your victory us all congest,
As compound love to physic your cold breast.

" `My parts had power to charm a sacred nun,
Who, disciplined, ay, dieted in grace,
Believed her eyes when they t'assail begun,
All vows and consecrations giving place.
O most potential love! -vow, bond, nor space,
In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine,
For thou art all, and all things else are thine.

" `When thou impressest, what are precepts worth
Of stale example? When thou wilt inflame,
How coldly those impediments stand forth,
Of wealth, of filial fear, law, kindred, fame!
Love's arms are peace, 'gainst rule, 'gainst sense, 'gainst shame;
And sweetens, in the suff'ring pangs it bears,
The aloes of all forces, shocks, and fears.

" `Now all these hearts that do on mine depend,
Feeling it break, with bleeding groans they pine,
And supplicant their sighs to you extend,
To leave the batt'ry that you make 'gainst mine,
Lending soft audience to my sweet design,
And credent soul to that strong-bonded oath
That shall prefer and undertake my troth.'

"This said, his wat'ry eyes he did dismount,
whose sights till then were levelled on my face;
Each cheek a river running from a fount
With brinish current downward flowed apace.
O how the channel to the stream gave grace!
Who glazed with crystal gate the glowing roses
That flame through water which their hue encloses.

"O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear!
But with the inundation of the eyes
What rocky heart to water will not wear?
What breast so cold that is not warmed here?
O cleft effect! Cold modesty, hot wrath,
Both fire from hence and chill extincture hath.

"For lo, his passion, but an art of craft,
Even there resolved my reason into tears;
There my white stole of chastity I daffed,
Shook off my sober guards and civil fears;
Appear to him as he to me appears,
All melting; though our drops this diff'rence bore:
His poisoned me, and mine did him restore.

"In him a plenitude of subtle matter,
Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives,
Of burning blushes or of weeping water,
Or swooning paleness; and he takes and leaves,
In either's aptness, as it best deceives,
To blush at speeches rank, to weep at woes,
Or to turn white and swoon at tragic shows,

"That not a heart which in his level came
Could scape the hail of his all-hurting aim,
Showing fair nature is both kind and tame;
And, veiled in them, did win whom he would maim.
Against the thing he sought he would exclaim;
When he most burned in heart-wished luxury
He preached pure maid and praised cold chastity.

"Thus merely with the garment of a grace
The naked and concealed fiend he covered,
That th'unexperient gave the tempter place,
Which like a cherubin above them hovered.
Who, young and simple, would not be so lovered?
Ay me, I fell; and yet do question make
What I should do again for such a sake.

"O, that infected moisture of his eye,
O, that false fire which in his cheek so glowed,
O, that forced thunder from his heart did fly,
O, that sad breath his spongy lungs bestowed,
O, all that borrowed motion, seeming owed,
Would yet again betray the fore-betrayed,
And new pervert a reconciled maid."