“To all vertuous Ladies in generall"
Virtue is recompensing for ladies: “Put on your wedding garments euery one,/ The Bridegroome stayes to entertaine you all;/ Let Virtue be your guide, for she alone/ Can leade you right that you can neuer fall;/ And make no stay for feare he should be gone:/ But fill your Lamps with oyle of burning zeale, /That to your Faith he may his Truth reueale.” The garments are gauges of the women who are qualified to meet the bridegroom as a result of their virtues. Perpetuating virtues empowers ladies to diminish their probability of harboring vices. Oil is characteristic of the enthusiasm which is causative to the endurance of virtues.
Moreover, virtue is portrayed as corresponding to flowers: “Behold, bright Titans shining chariot staies,/ All deckt with flowers of the freshest hew,/ Attended on by Age, Houres, Nights, and Daies,/ Which alters not your beauty, but giues you/ Much more, and crownes you with eternall praise:/ This golden chariot wherein you must ride,/ Let simple Doues, and subtill serpents guide.” The loveliness of virtue does not erode; hence, it remains renewed throughout the years. Virtuous womenfolk have the license of earning approbations for their integrity; crowns are figurative of the standing which the virtuous ladies appreciate. ‘Golden chariots’ exemplify the exaltation that is integral in honourable ladies’ lives.
"To the Ladie Margaret Countesse Dowager of Cumberland"
Lanyer wishes a vigorous soul for ‘Ladie Margret’ for it is the most cherished paragon: “and as Saint Peter gaue health to the body, so I deliuer you the health of the soule; which is this most pretious pearle of all perfection, this rich diamond of deuotion, this perfect gold growing in the veines of that excellent earth of the most blessed Paradice, wherein our second Adam had his restlesse habitation. The sweet incense, balsums, odours, and gummes that flowes from that beautifull tree of Life, sprung from the roote of Iessie, which is so super-excellent, that it giueth grace to the meanest & most vnworthy hand that will vndertake to write thereof.” A vigorous soul is more prized than the physical diamonds. Accordingly, individuals who focus more the trivial treasures at the expense of the unseen soul mislay the poise that is intrinsic in a seamless soul. Preciousness of a soul is superior to the worldly jewels which are universally used to parade wealth. The magnificence of a soul hardly denigrates unlike the depreciable metals.
