Striving to tell his woes, words would not come; For light cares speak, when mighty griefs are dumb.

His first known work a translation of Paulus Jovius to which some original matter is appended was printed in 1585. Later life
He was first encouraged and by his own account taught in verse by the famous Countess of Pembroke whose honour he was never weary of proclaiming. Dedicated to "The Right Honourable the Lady Mary Countess of Pembroke" we learn that Delia lived on the banks of the River Avon—not Shakespeare's one of course but the one which flowed through "where Delia has her seat" at Wilton in Wiltshire—and that the sonnets to her were inspired by her memory when the poet was in Italy.