William Shakespeare

Silvia

Who is Silvia? What is she? That all our swains commend her? Holy, fair, and wise is she: The heaven such grace did lend her, That she might admirèd be. Is she kind as she is fair? For beauty lives with kindness: Love doth to her eyes repair, To help him of his blindness; And, being help’d, inhabits there. Then to Silvia let us sing, That Silvia is excelling; She excels each mortal thing Upon the dull earth dwelling: To her let us garlands bring. An extract fro Act 4 Scene 2 of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" where it is described as a song Silvia is daughter of the Duke of Milan and the beloved of Valentine. The play is thought to be Shakespeare's first and it is the first of his published plays to contain cross-dressing.