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Preen

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"Youre hawke proynith and not pikith and she prenyth not bot whan she begynnyth at hir leggys, and fetcheth moystour like oyle at hir taill." [ "Book of St. Albans,"  1486]





SONNET XCI
William Shakespeare

Some glory in their birth,ſome in their skill ,
Some in their wealth,ſome in their bodies force,
Some in their garments though new-fangled ill:
Some in their Hawkes and Hounds,ſome in their Horſe.

And euery humor hath his adiunct pleaſure,
Wherein it findes a ioy aboue the reſt,
But theſe perticulers are not my meaſure,
All theſe I better in one generall beſt.
Thy loue is bitter then high birth to me,
Richer then wealth,prouder then garments coſt,
Of more delight then Hawkes or Horſes bee:
And hauing thee,of all mens pride I boaſt.
   Wretched in this alone,that thou maiſt take,
   All this away,and me moſt wretched make.

 


"to trim, to dress up," late 14c., perhaps a variation of prune (v.),  or from O.Fr. poroindre  "anoint before," and O.Fr. proignier  "round off, prune." O.E. preon  meant "to pin,"
1480–90; late Middle English prene,  variant of Middle English prunen, proynen  perhaps by association with prenen,  to stab, pierce, from the pricking action of a bird's beak in preening



Elizabeth I hawking, 1575.from the "Booke of Faulconrie" by George Turbevile..  
images within this collage are Valentino Fall 2011 from Vogue.com. 


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