Prais'd be Diana's Fair and Harmless Light

Prais'd be Diana's fair and harmless light;

    Prais'd be the dews wherewith she moists the ground;

    Prais'd be her beams, the glory of the night;

    Prais'd be her power by which all powers abound.

    Prais'd be her nymphs with whom she decks the woods,

    Prais'd be her knights in whom true honour lives;

    Prais'd be that force by which she moves the floods;

    Let that Diana shine which all these gives.

    In heaven queen she is among the spheres;

   In aye she mistress-like makes all things pure;

   Eternity in her oft change she bears;

   She beauty is; by her the fair endure.

   Time wears her not: she doth his chariot guide;

   Mortality below her orb is plac'd;

   By her the virtue of the stars down slide;

   In her is virtue's perfect image cast.

       A knowledge pure it is her worth to know:

       With Circes let them dwell that think not so.