ON THE PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE.

(UNDER THE FRONTISPIECE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF HIS WORKS: 1623.)

This figure that thou here seest put, It was for gentle Shakspeare cut, Wherein the graver had a strife With nature, to outdo the life: Oh, could he but have drawn his wit, As well in brass, as he hath hit His face; the print would then surpass All that was ever writ in 'brass: But since he cannot, reader, look Not on his picture but his book.



VERE, STORRER, &c.

In the same age of fertile, seething mind which produced Jonson and the rest of the Elizabethan giants, there flourished some minor poets, whose names we merely chronicle: such as Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, born 1534, and dying 1604, who travelled in Italy in his youth, and returned the 'most accomplished coxcomb in Europe,' who sat as Grand Chamberlain of England upon the trial of Mary Queen of Scots, and who has left, in the 'Paradise of Dainty Devices,' some rather beautiful verses, entitled, 'Fancy and Desire;'—as Thomas Storrer, a student of Christ Church, Oxford, and the author of a versified 'History of Cardinal Wolsey,' in three parts, who died in 1604;—as William Warner, a native of Oxfordshire, born in 1558, who became an attorney of the Common Pleas in London, and died suddenly in 1609, having made himself famous for a time by a poem, entitled 'Albion's England,' called by Campbell 'an enormous ballad on the history, or rather the fables appendant to the history of England,' with some fine touches, but heavy and prolix as a whole;—as Sir John Harrington, who was the son of a poet and the favourite of Essex, who was created a Knight of the Bath by James I., and who wrote some pointed epigrams and a miserable translation of Ariosto, in which heeffectually tamed that wild Pegasus; —as Henry Perrot, who collected, in 1613, a book of epigrams, entitled, 'Springes for Woodcocks;'—as Sir Thomas Overbury, whose dreadful and mysterious fate, well known to all who read English history, excited such a sympathy for him, that his poems, 'A Wife,' and 'The Choice of a Wife,' passed through sixteen editions before the year 1653, although his prose 'Characters,' such as the exquisite and well-known 'Fair and Happy Milkmaid,' are far better than his poetry;—as Samuel Rowlandes, a prolific pamphleteer in the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., author also of several plays and of a book of epigrams;—as Thomas Picke, who belonged to the Middle Temple, and published, in 1631, a number of songs, sonnets, and elegies;—as Henry Constable, born in 1568, and a well-known sonneteer of his day;—as Nicholas Breton, author of some pretty pastorals, who, it is conjectured, was born in 1555, and died in 1624;—and as Dr Thomas Lodge, born in 1556, and who died in 1625, after translating Josephus into English, and writing some tolerable poetical pieces.



THOMAS RANDOLPH.

This was a true poet, although his power comes forth principally in the drama. He was born at Newnham, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, in 1605, being the you of Lord Zouch's steward. He became a King's Scholar at Westminster, and subsequently a Fellow in Trinity College, Cambridge. Ben Jonson loved him, and he reciprocated the attachment. Whether from natural tendency or in imitation of Jonson, who called him, as well as Cartwright, his adopted son, he learned intemperate habits, and died, in 1634, at the age of twenty-nine. His death took place at the house of W. Stafford, Esq. of Blatherwyke, in his native county, and he was buried in the church beside, where Sir Christopher, afterwards Lord Hatton, signalised the spot of his rest by a monument. He wrote five dramas, which are imperfect and formal in plan, but written with considerable power. Some of his miscellaneous poems discover feeling and genius.

THE PRAISE OF WOMAN.

He is a parricide to his mother's name, And with an impious hand murders her fame, That wrongs the praise of women; that dares write Libels on saints, or with foul ink requite The milk they lent us! Better sex! command To your defence my more religious hand, At sword or pen; yours was the nobler birth, For you of man were made, man but of earth— The sun of dust; and though your sin did breed His fall, again you raised him in your seed. Adam, in's sleep again full loss sustain'd, That for one rib a better half regain'd, Who, had he not your blest creation seen In Paradise, an anchorite had been. Why in this work did the creation rest, But that Eternal Providence thought you best Of all his six days' labour? Beasts should do Homage to man, but man shall wait on you; You are of comelier sight, of daintier touch, A tender flesh, and colour bright, and such As Parians see in marble; skin more fair, More glorious head, and far more glorious hair; Eyes full of grace and quickness; purer roses Blush in your cheeks; a milder white composes Your stately fronts; your breath, more sweet than his, Breathes spice, and nectar drops at every kiss.

* * * * *

If, then, in bodies where the souls do dwell, You better us, do then our souls excel?

No. * * * * Boast we of knowledge, you are more than we, You were the first ventured to pluck the tree; And that more rhetoric in your tongues do lie, Let him dispute against that dares deny Your least commands; and not persuaded be, With Samson's strength and David's piety, To be your willing captives.

* * * * *

Thus, perfect creatures, if detraction rise Against your sex, dispute but with your eyes, Your hand, your lip, your brow, there will be sent So subtle and so strong an argument, Will teach the stoic his affections too, And call the cynic from his tub to woo.

TO MY PICTURE.

When age hath made me what I am not now, And every wrinkle tells me where the plough Of Time hath furrow'd, when an ice shall flow Through every vein, and all my head be snow; When Death displays his coldness in my cheek, And I, myself, in my own picture seek, Not finding what I am, but what I was, In doubt which to believe, this or my glass; Yet though I alter, this remains the same As it was drawn, retains the primitive frame, And first complexion; here will still be seen, Blood on the cheek, and down upon the chin: Here the smooth brow will stay, the lively eye, The ruddy lip, and hair of youthful dye. Behold what frailty we in man may see, Whose shadow is less given to change than he.

TO A LADY ADMIRING HERSELF IN A LOOKING-GLASS.

Fair lady, when you see the grace Of beauty in your looking-glass; A stately forehead, smooth and high, And full of princely majesty; A sparkling eye, no gem so fair, Whose lustre dims the Cyprian star; A glorious cheek, divinely sweet, Wherein both roses kindly meet; A cherry lip that would entice Even gods to kiss at any price; You think no beauty is so rare That with your shadow might compare; That your reflection is alone The thing that men must dote upon. Madam, alas! your glass doth lie, And you are much deceived; for I A beauty know of richer grace,— (Sweet, be not angry,) 'tis your face. Hence, then, oh, learn more mild to be, And leave to lay your blame on me: If me your real substance move, When you so much your shadow love, Wise Nature would not let your eye Look on her own bright majesty; Which, had you once but gazed upon, You could, except yourself, love none: What then you cannot love, let me, That face I can, you cannot see.

'Now you have what to love,' you'll say, 'What then is left for me, I pray?' My face, sweet heart, if it please thee; That which you can, I cannot see: So either love shall gain his due, Yours, sweet, in me, and mine in you.



ROBERT BURTON.

The great, though whimsical author of the 'Anatomy of Melancholy' was born at Lindley, in Leicestershire, 1576, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He became Rector of Seagrave, in his native shire. He was a man of vast erudition, of integrity and benevolence, but his happiness, like that of Burns, although in a less measure, 'was blasted ab origine by an incurable taint of hypochondria;' and although at times a most delightful companion, at other times he was so miserable, even when a young student at Oxford, that he had no resource but to go down to the river-side, where the coarse jests of the bargemen threw him into fits of laughter. This surely was a violent remedy, and one that must have reacted into deeper depression. In 1621, he wrote and published, as a safety-valve to his morbid feelings, his famous 'Anatomie of Melancholy, by Democritus Junior.' It became instantly popular, and sold so well, that the publisher is said to have made a fortune by it. Nothing more of consequence is recorded of the author, who died in 1640. Although

'Melancholy mark'd him for her own,'

she failed to kill him till he had passed his grand climacteric. He was buried in Christ Church, with the following epitaph, said to have been composed by himself:—

'Paucis notus, paucioribus ignotus. Hic jacet Democritus Junior, Cui vitam pariter et mortem Dedit Melancholia!

'Known [by name] to few, unknown [as the author of the "Anatomy"] to fewer, here lies D. J., who owes his death [as a man] and his life [as an author] to Melancholy.'

His work is certainly a most curious and bewitching medley of thought, information, wit, learning, personal interest, and poetic fancy. We all know it was the only book which ever drew the lazy Johnson from his bed an hour sooner than he wished to rise. The subject, like the flesh of that 'melancholy' creature the hare, may be dry, but, as with that, an astute cookery prevails to make it exceedingly piquant; the sauce is better than the substance. Burton's melancholy is not, like Johnson's, a deep, hopeless, 'inspissated gloom,' thickened by memories of remorse, and lighted up by the lurid fires of feared perdition; it is not, like Byron's, dashed with the demoniac element, and fretted into universal misanthropy; it is not, like Foster's, the sad, fixed fascination of a pure intelligence contemplating the darker side of things, as by a necessity of nature, and ignoring, without denying, the existence of the bright; nor is it, like that of the 'melancholy Jacques,' in 'As you Like it,' a wild, woodland, fantastical habit of thought, as of one living collaterally and aside to the world, and which often explodes into laughter at itself and at all things else;—Burton's is a wide- spread but tender shade, like twilight, diffused over the whole horizon of his thought, and is nourished at times into a luxury, and at times paraded as a peculiar possession. In his form of melancholy there are pleasures as well as pains. 'Most pleasant it is,' he says, 'to such as are to melancholy given, to lie in bed whole days and keep their chambers; to walk alone in some solitary grove, betwixt wood and water, by a brook-side, to meditate upon some delightsome and pleasant subject; and a most incomparable delight it is so to melancholise and build castles in the air.' Religious considerations have little to do with Burton's melancholy, and remorse or fear apparently nothing. Hence his book, although its theme be sadness, never shadows the spirit, but, on the contrary, from his dark, Lethean poppies, his readers are made to extract an element of joyful excitement, and the anatomy, and the cure, of the evil, are one and the same.

As a writer, Burton ranks, in some points, with Montaigne, and in others with Sir Thomas Browne. He resembles the first in simplicity, bonhommie, and miscellaneous learning, and the other in rambling manner, quaint phraseology, and fantastic imagination. Neither of the three could be said to write books, but they accumulated vast storehouses, whence thousands of volumes might be, and have been compiled. There is nothing in Burton so low as in many of the 'Essays' of Montaigne, but there is nothing so lofty as in passages of Browne's 'Religio Medici' and 'Urn-Burial.' Burton has been a favourite quarry to literary thieves, among whom Sterne, in his 'Tristram Shandy,' stands pre-eminent. To his 'Anatomy' he prefixes a poem, a few stanzas of which we extract.

ON MELANCHOLY.

1 When I go musing all alone, Thinking of divers things foreknown, When I build castles in the air, Void of sorrow, void of fear, Pleasing myself with phantasms sweet Methinks the time runs very fleet. All my joys to this are folly; Nought so sweet as melancholy.

2 When I go walking all alone, Recounting what I have ill-done, My thoughts on me then tyrannise, Fear and sorrow me surprise; Whether I tarry still, or go, Methinks the time moves very slow. All my griefs to this are jolly; Nought so sad as melancholy.

3 When to myself I act and smile, With pleasing thoughts the time beguile, By a brook-side or wood so green, Unheard, unsought for, or unseen, A thousand pleasures do me bless, And crown my soul with happiness. All my joys besides are folly; None so sweet as melancholy.

4 When I lie, sit, or walk alone, I sigh, I grieve, making great moan; In a dark grove or irksome den, With discontents and furies then, A thousand miseries at once Mine heavy heart and soul ensconce. All my griefs to this are jolly; None so sour as melancholy.

5 Methinks I hear, methinks I see Sweet music, wondrous melody, Towns, palaces, and cities, fine; Here now, then there, the world is mine, Rare beauties, gallant ladies shine, Whate'er is lovely is divine. All other joys to this are folly; None so sweet as melancholy,

6 Methinks I hear, methinks I see Ghosts, goblins, fiends: my fantasy Presents a thousand ugly shapes; Headless bears, black men, and apes; Doleful outcries and fearful sights My sad and dismal soul affrights. All my griefs to this are jolly; None so damn'd as melancholy.



THOMAS CAREW.

This delectable versifier was born in 1589, in Gloucestershire, from an old family in which he sprung. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, but neither matriculated nor took a degree. After finishing his travels, he returned to England, and became soon highly distinguished, in the Court of Charles I., for his manners, accomplishments, and wit. He was appointed Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Sewer in Ordinary to the King. He spent the rest of his life as a gay and gallant courtier; and in the intervals of pleasure produced some light but exquisite poetry. He is said, ere his death, which took place in 1639, to have become very devout, and bitterly to have deplored the licentiousness of some of his verses.

Indelicate choice of subject is often, in Carew, combined with great delicacy of execution. No one touches dangerous themes with so light and glove-guarded a hand. His pieces are all fugitive, but they suggest great possibilities, which his mode of life and his premature removal did not permit to be realised. Had he, at an earlier period, renounced, like George Herbert, 'the painted pleasures of a court,' and, like Prospero, dedicated himself to 'closeness,' with his marvellous facility of verse, his laboured levity of style, and his nice exuberance of fancy, he might have produced some work of Horatian merit and classic permanence.



PERSUASIONS TO LOVE.

Think not, 'cause men flattering say, Y'are fresh as April, sweet as May, Bright as is the morning-star, That you are so;—or though you are, Be not therefore proud, and deem All men unworthy your esteem:

* * * * *

Starve not yourself, because you may Thereby make me pine away; Nor let brittle beauty make You your wiser thoughts forsake: For that lovely face will fail; Beauty's sweet, but beauty's frail; 'Tis sooner past, 'tis sooner done, Than summer's rain, or winter's sun: Most fleeting, when it is most dear; 'Tis gone, while we but say 'tis here. These curious locks so aptly twined, Whose every hair a soul doth bind, Will change their auburn hue, and grow White and cold as winter's snow. That eye which now is Cupid's nest Will prove his grave, and all the rest Will follow; in the cheek, chin, nose, Nor lily shall be found, nor rose; And what will then become of all Those, whom now you servants call? Like swallows, when your summer's done They'll fly, and seek some warmer sun.

* * * * *

The snake each year fresh skin resumes, And eagles change their aged plumes; The faded rose each spring receives A fresh red tincture on her leaves; But if your beauties once decay, You never know a second May. Oh, then be wise, and whilst your season Affords you days for sport, do reason; Spend not in vain your life's short hour, But crop in time your beauty's flower: Which will away, and doth together Both bud and fade, both blow and wither.

SONG.

Give me more love, or more disdain, The torrid, or the frozen zone Bring equal ease unto my pain; The temperate affords me none; Either extreme, of love or hate, Is sweeter than a calm estate.

Give me a storm; if it be love, Like Danae in a golden shower, I swim in pleasure; if it prove Disdain, that torrent will devour My vulture-hopes; and he's possess'd Of heaven that's but from hell released: Then crown my joys, or cure my pain; Give me more love, or more disdain.

TO MY MISTRESS SITTING BY A RIVER'S SIDE.

Mark how yon eddy steals away From the rude stream into the bay; There lock'd up safe, she doth divorce Her waters from the channel's course, And scorns the torrent that did bring Her headlong from her native spring. Now doth she with her new love play, Whilst he runs murmuring away. Mark how she courts the banks, whilst they As amorously their arms display, To embrace and clip her silver waves: See how she strokes their sides, and craves An entrance there, which they deny; Whereat she frowns, threatening to fly Home to her stream, and 'gins to swim Backward, but from the channel's brim Smiling returns into the creek, With thousand dimples on her cheek. Be thou this eddy, and I'll make My breast thy shore, where thou shalt take Secure repose, and never dream Of the quite forsaken stream: Let him to the wide ocean haste, There lose his colour, name, and taste; Thou shalt save all, and, safe from him, Within these arms for ever swim.

SONG.

If the quick spirits in your eye Now languish, and anon must die; If every sweet, and every grace, Must fly from that forsaken face: Then, Celia, let us reap our joys, Ere time such goodly fruit destroys.

Or, if that golden fleece must grow For ever, free from aged snow; If those bright suns must know no shade, Nor your fresh beauties ever fade; Then fear not, Celia, to bestow What still being gather'd still must grow. Thus, either Time his sickle brings In vain, or else in vain his wings.

A PASTORAL DIALOGUE.

SHEPHERD, NYMPH, CHORUS.

Shep. This mossy bank they press'd. Nym.That aged oak Did canopy the happy pair All night from the damp air. Cho. Here let us sit, and sing the words they spoke, Till the day-breaking their embraces broke.

Shep. See, love, the blushes of the morn appear: And now she hangs her pearly store (Robb'd from the eastern shore) I' th' cowslip's bell and rose's ear: Sweet, I must stay no longer here.

Nym. Those streaks of doubtful light usher not day, But show my sun must set; no morn Shall shine till thou return: The yellow planets, and the gray Dawn, shall attend thee on thy way.

Shep. If thine eyes gild my paths, they may forbear Their useless shine. Nym. My tears will quite Extinguish their faint light. Shep. Those drops will make their beams more clear, Love's flames will shine in every tear.

Cho. They kiss'd, and wept; and from their lips and eyes, In a mix'd dew of briny sweet, Their joys and sorrows meet; But she cries out. Nym. Shepherd, arise, The sun betrays us else to spies.

Shep. The winged hours fly fast whilst we embrace; But when we want their help to meet, They move with leaden feet. Nym. Then let us pinion time, and chase The day for ever from this place.

Shep. Hark! Nym. Ah me, stay! Shep. For ever Nym. No, arise; We must be gone. Shep. My nest of spice Nym. My soul. Shep. My paradise. Cho. Neither could say farewell, but through their eyes Grief interrupted speech with tears supplies.

SONG.

Ask me no more where Jove bestows, When June is past, the fading rose; For in your beauties orient deep These flowers, as in their causes, sleep.

Ask me no more whither do stray The golden atoms of the day; For, in pure love, Heaven did prepare Those powders to enrich your hair.

Ask me no more whither doth haste The nightingale, when May is past; For in your sweet dividing throat She winters, and keeps warm her note.

Ask me no more, where those stars light, That downwards fall in dead of night; For in your eyes they sit, and there Fixed become, as in their sphere.

Ask me no more, if east or west The phoenix builds her spicy nest; For unto you at last she flies, And in your fragrant bosom dies.



SIR JOHN SUCKLING.

This witty baronet was born in 1608. He was the son of the Comptroller of the Household of Charles I. He was uncommonly precocious; at five is said to have spoken Latin, and at sixteen had entered into the service of Gustavus Adolphus, 'the lion of the North, and the bulwark of the Protestant faith.'

On his return to England, he was favoured by Charles, and became, in his turn, a most enthusiastic supporter of the Royal cause; writing plays for the amusement of the Court; and when the Civil War broke out, raising, at his own expense of L1200, a regiment for the King, which is said to have been distinguished only by its 'finery and cowardice.' When the Earl of Strafford came into trouble, Suckling, along with some other cavaliers, intrigued for his deliverance, was impeached by the House of Commons, and had to flee to France. Here an early death awaited him. His servant having robbed him, he drew on, in vehement haste, his boots, to pursue the defaulter, when a rusty nail, or, some say, the blade of a knife, which was concealed in one of them, pierced his heel. A mortification ensued, and he died, in 1641, at thirty-three years of age.

Suckling has written five plays, various poems, besides letters, speeches, and tracts, which have all been collected into one thin volume. They are of various merit; none, in fact, being worthy of print, or at least of preservation, except one or two of his songs, and his 'Ballad upon a Wedding'. This last is an admirable expression of what were his principal qualities—naivete, sly humour, gay badinage, and a delicious vein of fancy, coming out occasionally by stealth, even as in his own exquisite lines about the bride,

'Her feet, beneath her petticoat, Like little mice, stole in and out, As if they fear'd the light.'

SONG.

Why so pale and wan, fond lover! Prithee why so pale? Will, when looking well can't move her, Looking ill prevail? Prithee why so pale?

Why so dull and mute, young sinner? Prithee why so mute? Will, when speaking well can't win her, Saying nothing do 't? Prithee why so mute?

Quit, quit for shame! this will not move, This cannot take her; If of herself she will not love, Nothing can make her— The devil take her!

A BALLAD UPON A WEDDING.

1 I tell thee, Dick, where I have been, Where I the rarest things have seen: Oh, things without compare! Such sights again cannot be found In any place on English ground, Be it at wake or fair.

2 At Charing-Cross, hard by the way Where we (thou know'st) do sell our hay, There is a house with stairs: And there did I see coming down Such folks as are not in our town, Vorty at least, in pairs.

3 Amongst the rest, one pest'lent fine, (His beard no bigger though than thine,) Walk'd on before the rest: Our landlord looks like nothing to him: The king (God bless him)'twould undo him, Should he go still so dress'd.

4 At Course-a-park, without all doubt, He should have first been taken out By all the maids i' the town: Though lusty Roger there had been, Or little George upon the Green, Or Vincent of the Crown.

5 But wot you what? the youth was going To make an end of all his wooing; The parson for him staid: Yet by his leave, for all his haste, He did not so much wish all past (Perchance) as did the maid.

6 The maid—and thereby hangs a tale— For such a maid no Whitsun-ale Could ever yet produce: No grape that's kindly ripe could be So round, so plump, so soft as she, Nor half so full of juice.

7 Her finger was so small, the ring Would not stay on which they did bring, It was too wide a peck: And to say truth (for out it must) It look'd like the great collar (just) About our young colt's neck.

8 Her feet, beneath her petticoat, Like little mice, stole in and out, As if they fear'd the light: But oh! she dances such a way! No sun upon an Easter-day Is half so fine a sight.

9 He would have kiss'd her once or twice, But she would not, she was so nice, She would not do 't in sight; And then she look'd as who should say. I will do what I list to-day; And you shall do 't at night.

10 Her cheeks so rare a white was on, No daisy makes comparison, (Who sees them is undone,) For streaks of red were mingled there, Such as are on a Katherine pear, The side that's next the sun.

11 Her lips were red, and one was thin, Compared to that was next her chin; Some bee had stung it newly. But (Dick) her eyes so guard her face, I durst no more upon them gaze, Than on the sun in July.

12 Her mouth so small, when she does speak, Thou'dst swear her teeth her words did break, That they might passage get; But she so handled still the matter, They came as good as ours, or better, And are not spent a whit.

13 If wishing should be any sin, The parson himself had guilty been, She look'd that day so purely: And did the youth so oft the feat At night, as some did in conceit, It would have spoil'd him, surely.

14 Passion o'me! how I run on! There's that that would be thought upon, I trow, beside the bride: The business of the kitchen's great, For it is fit that men should eat; Nor was it there denied.

15 Just in the nick the cook knock'd thrice, And all the waiters in a trice His summons did obey; Each serving-man with dish in hand, March'd boldly up, like our train'd band, Presented and away.

16 When all the meat was on the table, What man of knife, or teeth, was able To stay to be entreated? And this the very reason was, Before the parson could say grace, The company were seated.

17 Now hats fly off, and youths carouse; Healths first go round, and then the house, The bride's came thick and thick; And when 'twas named another's health, Perhaps he made it hers by stealth, And who could help it, Dick?

18 O' the sudden up they rise and dance; Then sit again, and sigh and glance: Then dance again and kiss. Thus sev'ral ways the time did pass, Whil'st every woman wish'd her place, And every man wish'd his.

19 By this time all were stol'n aside To counsel and undress the bride; But that he must not know; But yet 'twas thought he guess'd her mind, And did not mean to stay behind Above an hour or so.

20 When in he came (Dick), there she lay, Like new-fall'n snow melting away, 'Twas time, I trow, to part. Kisses were now the only stay, Which soon she gave, as who would say, Good-bye, with all my heart.

21 But just as heavens would have to cross it, In came the bridemaids with the posset; The bridegroom eat in spite; For had he left the women to 't It would have cost two hours to do 't, Which were too much that night.

22 At length the candle's out, and now All that they had not done, they do! What that is, who can tell? But I believe it was no more Than thou and I have done before With Bridget and with Nell!

SONG.

I pray thee send me back my heart, Since I can not have thine, For if from yours you will not part, Why then shouldst thou have mine?

Yet now I think on 't, let it lie, To find it were in vain; For thou'st a thief in either eye Would steal it back again.

Why should two hearts in one breast lie, And yet not lodge together? O love! where is thy sympathy, If thus our breasts thou sever?

But love is such a mystery, I cannot find it out; For when I think I'm best resolved, I then am in most doubt.

Then farewell care, and farewell woe, I will no longer pine; For I'll believe I have her heart As much as she has mine.



WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT.

Cartwright was born in 1611, and was the son of an innkeeper—once a gentleman—in Cirencester. He became a King's scholar at Westminster, and afterwards took orders at Oxford, where he distinguished himself, according to Wood, as a 'most florid and seraphic preacher.' One is reminded of the description given of Jeremy Taylor, who, when he first began to preach, by his 'young and florid beauty, and his sublime and raised discourses, made men take him for an angel newly descended from the climes of Paradise.' Cartwright was appointed, through his friend Bishop Duppa, Succentor of the Church of Salisbury in 1642. He was one of a council of war appointed by the University of Oxford, for providing troops in the King's cause, to protect, or some said to overawe, the Universities. He was imprisoned by the Parliamentary forces on account of his zeal in the Royal cause, but soon liberated on bail. In 1643, he was appointed Junior Proctor of his University, and also Reader in Metaphysics. At this time he is said to have studied sixteen hours a-day. This, however, seems to have weakened his constitution, and rendered him an easy victim to what was called the camp-fever, then prevalent in Oxford. He died December 23, 1643, aged thirty-two. The King, then in Oxford, went into mourning for him. His works were published in 1651, and to them were prefixed fifty copies of encomiastic verses from the wits and poets of the time. They scarcely justify the praises they have received, being somewhat crude and harsh, and all of them occasional. His private character, his eloquence as a preacher, and his zeal as a Royalist, seem to have supplemented his claims as a poet. He enjoyed, too, in his earlier life, the friendship of Ben Jonson, who used to say of him, 'My son Cartwright writes all like a man;' and such a sentence from such an authority was at that time fame.

LOVE'S DARTS.

1 Where is that learned wretch that knows What are those darts the veil'd god throws? Oh, let him tell me ere I die When 'twas he saw or heard them fly; Whether the sparrow's plumes, or dove's, Wing them for various loves; And whether gold or lead, Quicken or dull the head: I will anoint and keep them warm, And make the weapons heal the harm.

2 Fond that I am to ask! whoe'er Did yet see thought? or silence hear? Safe from the search of human eye These arrows (as their ways are) fly: The flights of angels part Not air with so much art; And snows on streams, we may Say, louder fall than they. So hopeless I must now endure, And neither know the shaft nor cure.

3 A sudden fire of blushes shed To dye white paths with hasty red; A glance's lightning swiftly thrown, Or from a true or seeming frown; A subtle taking smile From passion, or from guile; The spirit, life, and grace Of motion, limbs, and face; These misconceit entitles darts, And tears the bleedings of our hearts.

4 But as the feathers in the wing Unblemish'd are, and no wounds bring, And harmless twigs no bloodshed know, Till art doth fit them for the bow; So lights of flowing graces Sparkling in several places, Only adorn the parts, Till that we make them darts; Themselves are only twigs and quills: We give them shape and force for ills.

5 Beauty's our grief, but in the ore, We mint, and stamp, and then adore: Like heathen we the image crown, And indiscreetly then fall down: Those graces all were meant Our joy, not discontent; But with untaught desires We turn those lights to fires, Thus Nature's healing herbs we take, And out of cures do poisons make.

ON THE DEATH OF SIR BEVIL GRENVILLE.

Not to be wrought by malice, gain, or pride, To a compliance with the thriving side; Not to take arms for love of change, or spite, But only to maintain afflicted right; Not to die vainly in pursuit of fame, Perversely seeking after voice and name; Is to resolve, fight, die, as martyrs do, And thus did he, soldier and martyr too.

* * * * *

When now the incensed legions proudly came Down like a torrent without bank or dam: When undeserved success urged on their force; That thunder must come down to stop their course, Or Grenville must step in; then Grenville stood, And with himself opposed and check'd the flood. Conquest or death was all his thought. So fire Either o'ercomes, or doth itself expire: His courage work'd like flames, cast heat about, Here, there, on this, on that side, none gave out; Not any pike on that renowned stand, But took new force from his inspiring hand: Soldier encouraged soldier, man urged man, And he urged all; so much example can; Hurt upon hurt, wound upon wound did call, He was the butt, the mark, the aim of all: His soul this while retired from cell to cell, At last flew up from all, and then he fell. But the devoted stand enraged more From that his fate, plied hotter than before, And proud to fall with him, sworn not to yield, Each sought an honour'd grave, so gain'd the field. Thus he being fallen, his action fought anew: And the dead conquer'd, whiles the living slew.

This was not nature's courage, not that thing We valour call, which time and reason bring; But a diviner fury, fierce and high, Valour transported into ecstasy, Which angels, looking on us from above, Use to convey into the souls they love. You now that boast the spirit, and its sway, Shew us his second, and we'll give the day: We know your politic axiom, lurk, or fly; Ye cannot conquer, 'cause you dare not die: And though you thank God that you lost none there, 'Cause they were such who lived not when they were; Yet your great general (who doth rise and fall, As his successes do, whom you dare call, As fame unto you doth reports dispense, Either a ———— or his excellence) Howe'er he reigns now by unheard-of laws, Could wish his fate together with his cause.

And thou (blest soul) whose clear compacted fame, As amber bodies keeps, preserves thy name, Whose life affords what doth content both eyes, Glory for people, substance for the wise, Go laden up with spoils, possess that seat To which the valiant, when they've done, retreat: And when thou seest an happy period sent To these distractions, and the storm quite spent, Look down and say, I have my share in all, Much good grew from my life, much from my fall.

A VALEDICTION.

Bid me not go where neither suns nor showers Do make or cherish flowers; Where discontented things in sadness lie, And Nature grieves as I. When I am parted from those eyes, From which my better day doth rise, Though some propitious power Should plant me in a bower, Where amongst happy lovers I might see How showers and sunbeams bring One everlasting spring, Nor would those fall, nor these shine forth to me; Nature herself to him is lost, Who loseth her he honours most. Then, fairest, to my parting view display Your graces all in one full day; Whose blessed shapes I'll snatch and keep till when I do return and view again: So by this art fancy shall fortune cross, And lovers live by thinking on their loss.



WILLIAM BROWNE.

This pastoral poet was born, in 1590, at Tavistock, in Devonshire, a lovely part of a lovely county. He was educated at Oxford, and went thence to the Inner Temple. He was at one time tutor to the Earl of Carnarvon, and afterwards, when that nobleman perished in the battle of Newbury, in 1643, he was patronised by the Earl of Pembroke, in whose house he resided, and is even said to have become so rich that he purchased an estate. In 1645 he died, at Ottery St Mary, the parish where, in 1772, Coleridge was born.

Browne began his poetical career early, and closed it soon. He published the first part of 'Britannia's Pastorals' in 1613, the second in 1616; shortly after, his 'Shepherd's Pipe;' and, in 1620, produced his 'Inner Temple Masque' which was then enacted, but not printed till a hundred and twenty years after the author's death, when Dr Farmer transcribed it from a MS. of the Bodleian Library, and it appeared in Tom Davies' edition of Browne's poems. Browne has no constructive power, and no human interest in his pastorals, but he has an eye for nature, and we quote from him some excellent specimens of descriptive poetry.

SONG.

Gentle nymphs, be not refusing, Love's neglect is Time's abusing, They and beauty are but lent you; Take the one, and keep the other: Love keeps fresh what age doth smother, Beauty gone, you will repent you.

'Twill be said, when ye have proved, Never swains more truly loved: Oh, then, fly all nice behaviour! Pity fain would (as her duty) Be attending still on Beauty, Let her not be out of favour.

SONG.

1 Shall I tell you whom I love? Hearken then a while to me, And if such a woman move As I now shall versify; Be assured, 'tis she, or none, That I love, and love alone.

2 Nature did her so much right, As she scorns the help of art. In as many virtues dight As e'er yet embraced a heart; So much good so truly tried, Some for less were deified.

3 Wit she hath, without desire To make known how much she hath; And her anger flames no higher Than may fitly sweeten wrath. Full of pity as may be, Though perhaps not so to me.

4 Reason masters every sense, And her virtues grace her birth: Lovely as all excellence, Modest in her most of mirth: Likelihood enough to prove Only worth could kindle love.

5 Such she is: and if you know Such a one as I have sung; Be she brown, or fair, or so, That she be but somewhile young; Be assured, 'tis she, or none, That I love, and love alone.

POWER OF GENIUS OVER ENVY.

'Tis not the rancour of a canker'd heart That can debase the excellence of art, Nor great in titles makes our worth obey, Since we have lines far more esteem'd than they. For there is hidden in a poet's name A spell that can command the wings of Fame, And maugre all oblivion's hated birth Begin their immortality on earth, When he that 'gainst a muse with hate combines May raise his tomb in vain to reach our lines.

EVENING.

As in an evening when the gentle air Breathes to the sullen night a soft repair, I oft have sat on Thames' sweet bank to hear My friend with his sweet touch to charm mine ear, When he hath play'd (as well he can) some strain That likes me, straight I ask the same again, And he, as gladly granting, strikes it o'er With some sweet relish was forgot before: I would have been content, if he would play, In that one strain to pass the night away; But fearing much to do his patience wrong, Unwillingly have ask'd some other song: So in this differing key though I could well A many hours but as few minutes tell, Yet lest mine own delight might injure you (Though both so soon) I take my song anew.

FROM 'BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS.'

Between two rocks (immortal, without mother) That stand as if outfacing one another, There ran a creek up, intricate and blind, As if the waters hid them from the wind, Which never wash'd but at a higher tide The frizzled cotes which do the mountains hide, Where never gale was longer known to stay Than from the smooth wave it had swept away The new divorced leaves, that from each side Left the thick boughs to dance out with the tide. At further end the creek, a stately wood Gave a kind shadow (to the brackish flood) Made up of trees, not less kenn'd by each skiff Than that sky-scaling peak of Teneriffe, Upon whose tops the hernshew bred her young, And hoary moss upon their branches hung; Whose rugged rinds sufficient were to show, Without their height, what time they 'gan to grow. And if dry eld by wrinkled skin appears, None could allot them less than Nestor's years. As under their command the thronged creek Ran lessen'd up. Here did the shepherd seek Where he his little boat might safely hide, Till it was fraught with what the world beside Could not outvalue; nor give equal weight Though in the time when Greece was at her height.

* * * * *

Yet that their happy voyage might not be Without Time's shortener, heaven-taught melody, (Music that lent feet to the stable woods, And in their currents turn'd the mighty floods, Sorrow's sweet nurse, yet keeping Joy alive, Sad Discontent's most welcome corrosive, The soul of art, best loved when love is by, The kind inspirer of sweet poesy, Least thou shouldst wanting be, when swans would fain Have sung one song, and never sung again,) The gentle shepherd, hasting to the shore, Began this lay, and timed it with his oar:

Nevermore let holy Dee O'er other rivers brave, Or boast how (in his jollity) Kings row'd upon his wave. But silent be, and ever know That Neptune for my fare would row.

* * * * *

Swell then, gently swell, ye floods, As proud of what ye bear, And nymphs that in low coral woods String pearls upon your hair, Ascend; and tell if ere this day A fairer prize was seen at sea.

See the salmons leap and bound To please us as we pass, Each mermaid on the rocks around Lets fall her brittle glass, As they their beauties did despise And loved no mirror but your eyes,

Blow, but gently blow, fair wind, From the forsaken shore, And be as to the halcyon kind, Till we have ferried o'er: So mayst thou still have leave to blow, And fan the way where she shall go.

A DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH.

Oh, what a rapture have I gotten now! That age of gold, this of the lovely brow, Have drawn me from my song! I onward run, (Clean from the end to which I first begun,) But ye, the heavenly creatures of the West, In whom the virtues and the graces rest, Pardon! that I have run astray so long, And grow so tedious in so rude a song. If you yourselves should come to add one grace Unto a pleasant grove or such like place, Where, here, the curious cutting of a hedge, There in a pond, the trimming of the sedge; Here the fine setting of well-shaded trees, The walks their mounting up by small degrees, The gravel and the green so equal lie, It, with the rest, draws on your lingering eye: Here the sweet smells that do perfume the air, Arising from the infinite repair Of odoriferous buds, and herbs of price, (As if it were another paradise,) So please the smelling sense, that you are fain Where last you walk'd to turn and walk again. There the small birds with their harmonious notes Sing to a spring that smileth as she floats: For in her face a many dimples show, And often skips as it did dancing go: Here further down an over-arched alley That from a hill goes winding in a valley, You spy at end thereof a standing lake, Where some ingenious artist strives to make The water (brought in turning pipes of lead Through birds of earth most lively fashioned) To counterfeit and mock the sylvans all In singing well their own set madrigal. This with no small delight retains your ear, And makes you think none blest but who live there. Then in another place the fruits that be In gallant clusters decking each good tree Invite your hand to crop them from the stem, And liking one, taste every sort of them: Then to the arbours walk, then to the bowers, Thence to the walks again, thence to the flowers, Then to the birds, and to the clear spring thence, Now pleasing one, and then another sense: Here one walks oft, and yet anew begin'th, As if it were some hidden labyrinth.



WILLIAM ALEXANDER, EARL OF STIRLING.

This eminent Scotchman was born in 1580. He travelled on the Continent as tutor to the Duke of Argyle. After his return to Scotland, he fell in love with a lady, whom he calls 'Aurora,' and to whom he addressed some beautiful sonnets. She refused his hand, however, and he married the daughter of Sir William Erskine. He repaired to the Court of James I., and became a distinguished favourite, being appointed Gentleman Usher to Charles I., and created a knight. He concocted a scheme for colonising Nova Scotia, in which he was encouraged by both James and Charles; but the difficulties seemed too formidable, and it was in consequence dropped. Charles appointed him Lord-Lieutenant of Nova Scotia, and, in 1633, he created him Lord Stirling. Fifteen years (from 1626 to 1641) our poet was Secretary of State for Scotland. These were the years during which Laud was foolishly seeking to force his liturgy upon the Presbyterians, but Stirling gained the praise of being moderate in his share of the business. In the course of this time he contrived to amass an ample fortune, and spent part of it in building a fine mansion in Stirling, which is still, we believe, standing. He died in 1641.

Besides his smaller pieces, Stirling wrote several tragedies, including one on Julius Caesar; an heroic poem; a poem addressed to Prince Henry, the son of James I.; another heroic poem, entitled 'Jonathan;' and a poem, in twelve parts, on the 'Day of Judgment.' These are all forgotten, and, notwithstanding vigorous parts, deserve to be forgotten; but his little sonnets, which are, if not brilliant, true things, and inspired by a true passion, may long survive. He was, on the whole, rather a man of great talent than of genius.

SONNET.

I swear, Aurora, by thy starry eyes, And by those golden locks, whose lock none slips, And by the coral of thy rosy lips, And by the naked snows which beauty dyes; I swear by all the jewels of thy mind, Whose like yet never worldly treasure bought, Thy solid judgment, and thy generous thought,

Which in this darken'd age have clearly shined; I swear by those, and by my spotless love, And by my secret, yet most fervent fires, That I have never nursed but chaste desires, And such as modesty might well approve. Then, since I love those virtuous parts in thee, Shouldst thou not love this virtuous mind in me?



WILLIAM DRUMMOND.

A man of much finer gifts than Stirling, was the famous Drummond. He was born, December 13, 1585, at Hawthornden, his father's estate, in Mid- Lothian. It is one of the most beautiful spots, along the sides of one of the fairest streams in all Scotland, and well fitted to be the home of genius. He studied civil law for four years in France, but, in 1611, the estate of Hawthornden became his own, and here he fixed his residence, and applied himself to literature. At this time he courted, and was upon the point of marrying, a lady named Cunningham, who died; and the melancholy which preyed on his mind after this event, drove him abroad in search of solace. He visited Italy, Germany, and France; and during his eight years of residence on the Continent, used his time well, conversing with the learned, admiring all that was admirable in the scenery and the life of foreign lands, and collecting rare books and manuscripts. He had, before his departure, published, first, a volume of occasional poems; next, a moral treatise, in prose, entitled, 'The Cypress Grove;' and then another work, in verse, 'The Flowers of Zion.' Returned once more to Scotland, he retired to the seat of his brother- in-law, Sir John Scott of Scotstarvet, and there wrote a 'History of the Five James's of Scotland,' a book abounding in bombast and slavish principles. When he returned to his own lovely Hawthornden, he met a lady named Logan, of the house of Restalrig, whom he fancied to bear a striking resemblance to his dead mistress. On that hint he spake, and she became his wife. He proceeded to repair the house of Hawthornden, and would have spent his days there in great peace, had it not been for the distracted times. His politics were of the Royalist complexion; and the party in power, belonging to the Presbyterians, used every method to annoy him, compelling him, for instance, to furnish his quota of men and arms to support the cause which he opposed. In 1619, Ben Jonson visited him at Hawthornden. The pair were not well assorted. Brawny Ben and dreaming Drummond seem, in the expressive coinage of De Quincey, to have 'interdespised;' and is not their feud, with all its circumstances, recorded in the chronicles of the 'Quarrels of Authors' compiled by the elder Disraeli? The death of a lady sent Drummond travelling over Europe —the death of a King sent him away on a farther and a final journey. His grief for the execution of Charles I. is said to have shortened his days. At all events, in December of the year of the so-called 'Martyrdom,' (1649,) he breathed his last.

He was a genuine poet as well as a brilliant humorist. His 'Polemo Middinia,' a grotesque mixture of bad Latin and semi-Latinised Scotch, has created, among many generations, inextinguishable laughter. His 'Wandering Muses; or, The River of Forth Feasting,' has some gorgeous descriptions, particularly of Scotland's lakes and rivers, at a time when

'She lay, like some unkenn'd of isle, Ayont New Holland;'

but his sonnets are unquestionably his finest productions. They breathe a spirit of genuine poetry. Each one of them is a rose lightly wet with the dew of tenderness, and one or two suggest irresistibly the recollection of our Great Dramatist's sonnets, although we feel that 'a less than Shakspeare is here.'

THE RIVER OF FORTH FEASTING.

A PANEGYRIC TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE JAMES, KING Or GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND.

To His Sacred Majesty.

If in this storm of joy and pompous throng, This nymph (great king) doth come to thee so near That thy harmonious ears her accents hear, Give pardon to her hoarse and lowly song: Fain would she trophies to thy virtues rear; But for this stately task she is not strong, And her defects her high attempts do wrong, Yet as she could she makes thy worth appear. So in a map is shown this flowery place; So wrought in arras by a virgin's hand With heaven and blazing stars doth Atlas stand, So drawn by charcoal is Narcissus' face: She like the morn may be to some bright sun, The day to perfect that's by her begun.

* * * * *

What blustering noise now interrupts my sleep? What echoing shouts thus cleave my crystal deep, And seem to call me from my watery court? What melody, what sounds of joy and sport, Are convey'd hither from each neighbouring spring? With what loud rumours do the mountains ring, Which in unusual pomp on tiptoes stand, And (full of wonder) overlook the land? Whence come these glittering throngs, these meteors bright, This golden people glancing in my sight? Whence doth this praise, applause, and love arise, What load-star eastward draweth thus all eyes? Am I awake? or have some dreams conspired To mock my sense with what I most desired? View I that living face, see I those looks, Which with delight were wont t'amaze my brooks? Do I behold that worth, that man divine, This age's glory, by these banks of mine? Then find I true what long I wish'd in vain, My much beloved prince is come again; So unto them whose zenith is the pole, When six black months are past, the sun doth roll: So after tempest to sea-tossed wights Fair Helen's brothers show their cheering lights: So comes Arabia's wonder from her woods, And far, far off is seen by Memphis' floods; The feather'd Sylvans, cloud-like, by her fly, And with triumphing plaudits beat the sky; Nile marvels, Seraph's priests, entranced, rave, And in Mydonian stone her shape engrave; In lasting cedars they do mark the time In which Apollo's bird came to their clime. Let Mother Earth now deck'd with flowers be seen, And sweet-breath'd zephyrs curl the meadows green, Let heaven weep rubies in a crimson shower, Such as on India's shores they use to pour: Or with that golden storm the fields adorn, Which Jove rain'd when his blue-eyed maid was born. May never hours the web of day outweave, May never night rise from her sable cave. Swell proud, my billows, faint not to declare Your joys as ample as their causes are: For murmurs hoarse sound like Arion's harp, Now delicately flat, now sweetly sharp; And you, my nymphs, rise from your moist repair; Strow all your springs and grots with lilies fair: Some swiftest-footed, get them hence, and pray Our floods and lakes come keep this holiday; Whate'er beneath Albania's hills do run, Which see the rising or the setting sun, Which drink stern Grampius' mists, or Ochil's snows: Stone-rolling Tay, Tyne tortoise-like that flows, The pearly Don, the Dees, the fertile Spey, Wild Neverne, which doth see our longest day; Ness smoking sulphur, Leave with mountains crown'd, Strange Lomond for his floating isles renown'd: The Irish Rian, Ken, the silver Ayr, The snaky Dun, the Ore with rushy hair, The crystal-streaming Nid, loud-bellowing Clyde, Tweed which no more our kingdoms shall divide; Rank-swelling Annan, Lid with curled streams, The Esks, the Solway, where they lose their names, To every one proclaim our joys and feasts, Our triumphs; bid all come and be our guests: And as they meet in Neptune's azure hall, Bid them bid sea-gods keep this festival; This day shall by our currents be renown'd, Our hills about shall still this day resound; Nay, that our love more to this day appear, Let us with it henceforth begin our year. To virgins, flowers; to sunburnt earth, the rain; To mariners, fair winds amidst the main; Cool shades to pilgrims, which hot glances burn, Are not so pleasing as thy blest return. That day, dear prince, which robb'd us of thy sight, (Day, no, but darkness and a dusky night,) Did fill our breasts with sighs, our eyes with tears, Turn'd minutes to sad months, sad months to years, Trees left to flourish, meadows to bear flowers, Brooks hid their heads within their sedgy bowers, Fair Ceres cursed our fields with barren frost, As if again she had her daughter lost: The muses left our groves, and for sweet songs Sat sadly silent, or did weep their wrongs. You know it, meads; your murmuring woods it know, Hill, dales, and caves, copartners of their woe; And you it know, my streams, which from their een Oft on your glass received their pearly brine; O Naiads dear, (said they,) Napeas fair, O nymphs of trees, nymphs which on hills repair! Gone are those maiden glories, gone that state, Which made all eyes admire our bliss of late. As looks the heaven when never star appears, But slow and weary shroud them in their spheres, While Titon's wife embosom'd by him lies, And world doth languish in a dreary guise: As looks a garden of its beauty spoil'd, As woods in winter by rough Boreas foil'd, As portraits razed of colours used to be: So look'd these abject bounds deprived of thee.

While as my rills enjoy'd thy royal gleams, They did not envy Tiber's haughty streams, Nor wealthy Tagus with his golden ore, Nor clear Hydaspes which on pearls doth roar, Nor golden Gange that sees the sun new born, Nor Achelous with his flowery horn, Nor floods which near Elysian fields do fall: For why? thy sight did serve to them for all. No place there is so desert, so alone, Even from the frozen to the torrid zone, From flaming Hecla to great Quinsey's lake, Which thy abode could not most happy make; All those perfections which by bounteous Heaven To divers worlds in divers times were given, The starry senate pour'd at once on thee, That thou exemplar mightst to others be. Thy life was kept till the Three Sisters spun Their threads of gold, and then it was begun. With chequer'd clouds when skies do look most fair, And no disordered blasts disturb the air, When lilies do them deck in azure gowns; And new-born roses blush with golden crowns, To prove how calm we under thee should live, What halcyonian days thy reign should give, And to two flowery diadems thy right; The heavens thee made a partner of the light. Scarce wast thou born when, join'd in friendly bands, Two mortal foes with other clasped hands; With Virtue Fortune strove, which most should grace Thy place for thee, thee for so high a place; One vow'd thy sacred breast not to forsake, The other on thee not to turn her back; And that thou more her love's effects mightst feel, For thee she left her globe, and broke her wheel.

When years thee vigour gave, oh, then, how clear Did smother'd sparkles in bright flames appear! Amongst the woods to force the flying hart, To pierce the mountain wolf with feather'd dart; See falcons climb the clouds, the fox ensnare, Outrun the wind-outrunning Doedale hare, To breathe thy fiery steed on every plain, And in meand'ring gyres him bring again, The press thee making place, and vulgar things, In Admiration's air, on Glory's wings; Oh, thou far from the common pitch didst rise, With thy designs to dazzle Envy's eyes: Thou soughtst to know this All's eternal source, Of ever-turning heaven the restless course, Their fixed lamps, their lights which wandering run, Whence moon her silver hath, his gold the sun; If Fate there be or no, if planets can By fierce aspects force the free will of man; The light aspiring fire, the liquid air, The flaming dragons, comets with red hair, Heaven's tilting lances, artillery, and bow, Loud-sounding trumpets, darts of hail and snow, The roaring elements, with people dumb, The earth with what conceived is in her womb. What on her moves were set unto thy sight, Till thou didst find their causes, essence, might. But unto nought thou so thy mind didst strain, As to be read in man, and learn to reign: To know the weight and Atlas of a crown, To spare the humble, proud ones tumble down. When from those piercing cares which thrones invest, As thorns the rose, thou wearied wouldst thee rest, With lute in hand, full of celestial fire, To the Pierian groves thou didst retire: There garlanded with all Urania's flowers, In sweeter lays than builded Thebes' towers, Or them which charm'd the dolphins in the main, Or which did call Eurydice again, Thou sung'st away the hours, till from their sphere Stars seem'd to shoot thy melody to hear. The god with golden hair, the sister maids, Did leave their Helicon, and Tempe's shades, To see thine isle, here lost their native tongue, And in thy world-divided language sung.

Who of thine after age can count the deeds, With all that Fame in Time's huge annals reads? How, by example more than any law, This people fierce thou didst to goodness draw; How, while the neighbour world, toss'd by the Fates, So many Phaetons had in their states, Which turn'd to heedless flames their burnish'd thrones, Thou, as ensphered, kept'st temperate thy zones; In Afric shores the sands that ebb and flow, The shady leaves on Arden's trees that grow, He sure may count, with all the waves that meet To wash the Mauritanian Atlas' feet. Though crown'd thou wert not, nor a king by birth, Thy worth deserves the richest crown on earth. Search this half sphere, and the Antarctic ground, Where is such wit and bounty to be found? As into silent night, when near the Bear, The virgin huntress shines at full most clear, And strives to match her brother's golden light, The host of stars doth vanish in her sight, Arcturus dies; cool'd is the Lion's ire, Po burns no more with Phaetontal fire: Orion faints to see his arms grow black, And that his flaming sword he now doth lack: So Europe's lights, all bright in their degree, Lose all their lustre parallel'd with thee; By just descent thou from more kings dost shine, Than many can name men in all their line: What most they toil to find, and finding hold, Thou scornest—orient gems, and flattering gold; Esteeming treasure surer in men's breasts, Than when immured with marble, closed in chests; No stormy passions do disturb thy mind, No mists of greatness ever could thee blind: Who yet hath been so meek? thou life didst give To them who did repine to see thee live; What prince by goodness hath such kingdoms gain'd? Who hath so long his people's peace maintain'd? Their swords are turn'd to scythes, to coulters spears, Some giant post their antique armour bears: Now, where the wounded knight his life did bleed, The wanton swain sits piping on a reed; And where the cannon did Jove's thunder scorn, The gaudy huntsman winds his shrill-tuned horn: Her green locks Ceres doth to yellow dye, The pilgrim safely in the shade doth lie, Both Pan and Pales careless keep their flocks, Seas have no dangers save the wind and rocks: Thou art this isle's Palladium, neither can (Whiles thou dost live) it be o'erthrown by man.

Let others boast of blood and spoils of foes, Fierce rapines, murders, Iliads of woes, Of hated pomp, and trophies reared fair, Gore-spangled ensigns streaming in the air, Count how they make the Scythian them adore, The Gaditan and soldier of Aurore. Unhappy boasting! to enlarge their bounds, That charge themselves with cares, their friends with wounds; Who have no law to their ambitious will, But, man-plagues, born are human blood to spill! Thou a true victor art, sent from above What others strain by force, to gain by love; World-wandering Fame this praise to thee imparts, To be the only monarch of all hearts. They many fear who are of many fear'd, And kingdoms got by wrongs, by wrongs are tear'd; Such thrones as blood doth raise, blood throweth down, No guard so sure as love unto a crown.

Eye of our western world, Mars-daunting king, With whose renown the earth's seven climates ring, Thy deeds not only claim these diadems, To which Thame, Liftey, Tay, subject their streams; But to thy virtues rare, and gifts, is due All that the planet of the year doth view; Sure if the world above did want a prince, The world above to it would take thee hence.

That Murder, Rapine, Lust, are fled to hell, And in their rooms with us the Graces dwell; That honour more than riches men respect, That worthiness than gold doth more effect, That Piety unmasked shows her face, That Innocency keeps with Power her place, That long-exiled Astrea leaves the heaven, And turneth right her sword, her weights holds even, That the Saturnian world is come again, Are wish'd effects of thy most happy reign. That daily, Peace, Love, Truth, Delights increase, And Discord, Hate, Fraud, with Incumbers, cease; That men use strength not to shed others' blood, But use their strength now to do others good; That Fury is enchain'd, disarmed Wrath, That (save by Nature's hand) there is no death; That late grim foes like brothers other love, That vultures prey not on the harmless dove, That wolves with lambs do friendship entertain, Are wish'd effects of thy most happy reign. That towns increase, that ruin'd temples rise, That their wind-moving vanes do kiss the skies; That Ignorance and Sloth hence run away, That buried Arts now rouse them to the day, That Hyperion far beyond his bed Doth see our lions ramp, our roses spread; That Iber courts us, Tiber not us charms, That Rhine with hence-brought beams his bosom warms; That ill doth fear, and good doth us maintain, Are wish'd effects of thy most happy reign.

O Virtue's pattern, glory of our times, Sent of past days to expiate the crimes, Great king, but better far than thou art great, Whom state not honours, but who honours state, By wonder born, by wonder first install'd, By wonder after to new kingdoms call'd; Young, kept by wonder from home-bred alarms, Old, saved by wonder from pale traitors' harms, To be for this thy reign, which wonders brings, A king of wonder, wonder unto kings. If Pict, Dane, Norman, thy smooth yoke had seen, Pict, Dane, and Norman had thy subjects been; If Brutus knew the bliss thy rule doth give, Even Brutus joy would under thee to live, For thou thy people dost so dearly love, That they a father, more than prince, thee prove.

O days to be desired! Age happy thrice! If you your heaven-sent good could duly prize; But we (half palsy-sick) think never right Of what we hold, till it be from our sight, Prize only summer's sweet and musked breath, When armed winters threaten us with death, In pallid sickness do esteem of health, And by sad poverty discern of wealth: I see an age when, after some few years, And revolutions of the slow-paced spheres, These days shall be 'bove other far esteem'd, And like Augustus' palmy reign be deem'd. The names of Arthur, fabulous Paladines, Graven in Time's surly brows, in wrinkled lines, Of Henrys, Edwards, famous for their fights, Their neighbour conquests, orders new of knights, Shall by this prince's name be pass'd as far As meteors are by the Idalian star. If gray-hair'd Proteus' songs the truth not miss— And gray-hair'd Proteus oft a prophet is— There is a land hence distant many miles, Outreaching fiction and Atlantic isles, Which (homelings) from this little world we name, That shall emblazon with strange rites his fame, Shall rear him statues all of purest gold, Such as men gave unto the gods of old, Name by him temples, palaces, and towns, With some great river, which their fields renowns: This is that king who should make right each wrong, Of whom the bards and mystic Sibyls sung, The man long promised, by whose glorious reign This isle should yet her ancient name regain, And more of fortunate deserve the style, Than those whose heavens with double summers smile.

Run on, great prince, thy course in glory's way, The end the life, the evening crowns the day; Heap worth on worth, and strongly soar above Those heights which made the world thee first to love; Surmount thyself, and make thine actions past Be but as gleams or lightnings of thy last, Let them exceed those of thy younger time, As far as autumn; doth the flowery prime. Through this thy empire range, like world's bright eye, That once each year surveys all earth and sky, Now glances on the slow and resty Bears, Then turns to dry the weeping Auster's tears, Hurries to both the poles, and moveth even In the figured circle of the heaven: Oh, long, long haunt these bounds which by thy sight Have now regain'd their former heat and light. Here grow green woods, here silver brooks do glide, Here meadows stretch them out with painted pride, Embroidering all the banks, here hills aspire To crown their heads with the ethereal fire, Hills, bulwarks of our freedom, giant walls, Which never friends did slight, nor sword made thralls: Each circling flood to Thetis tribute pays, Men here in health outlive old Nestor's days: Grim Saturn yet amongst our rocks remains, Bound in our caves, with many metall'd chains, Bulls haunt our shade like Leda's lover white, Which yet might breed Pesiphae delight, Our flocks fair fleeces bear, with which for sport Endymion of old the moon did court, High-palmed harts amidst our forests run, And, not impaled, the deep-mouth'd hounds do shun; The rough-foot hare safe in our bushes shrouds, And long-wing'd hawks do perch amidst our clouds. The wanton wood-nymphs of the verdant spring, Blue, golden, purple flowers shall to thee bring, Pomona's fruits the Panisks, Thetis' girls, The Thule's amber, with the ocean pearls; The Tritons, herdsmen of the glassy field, Shall give thee what far-distant shores can yield, The Serean fleeces, Erythrean gems, Vast Plata's silver, gold of Peru streams, Antarctic parrots, Ethiopian plumes, Sabasan odours, myrrh, and sweet perfumes: And I myself, wrapt in a watchet gown Of reeds and lilies, on mine head a crown, Shall incense to thee burn, green altars raise, And yearly sing due paeans to thy praise.

Ah! why should Isis only see thee shine? Is not thy Forth, as well as Isis, thine? Though Isis vaunt she hath more wealth in store, Let it suffice thy Forth doth love thee more: Though she for beauty may compare with Seine, For swans, and sea-nymphs with imperial Rhine, Yet for the title may be claim'd in thee, Nor she nor all the world can match with me. Now when, by honour drawn, them shalt away To her, already jealous of thy stay, When in her amorous arms she doth thee fold, And dries thy dewy hairs with hers of gold, Much asking of thy fare, much of thy sport, Much of thine absence, long, howe'er so short, And chides, perhaps, thy coming to the north, Loathe not to think on thy much-loving Forth: Oh, love these bounds, where of thy royal stem More than an hundred wore a diadem. So ever gold and bays thy brows adorn, So never time may see thy race outworn, So of thine own still mayst thou be desired, Of strangers fear'd, redoubted, and admired; So Memory thee praise, so precious hours May character thy name in starry flowers; So may thy high exploits at last make even, With earth thy empire, glory with the heaven.

SONNETS.

I.

I know that all beneath the moon decays, And what by mortals in this world is brought, In Time's great periods shall return to nought; That fairest states have fatal nights and days; I know that all the Muse's heavenly lays, With toil of sp'rit, which are so dearly bought, As idle sounds, of few, or none, are sought, That there is nothing lighter than vain praise; I know frail beauty like the purple flower, To which one morn oft birth and death affords, That love a jarring is of minds' accords, Where sense and will envassal Reason's power; Know what I list, all this can not me move, But that, alas! I both must write and love.

II.

Ah me! and I am now the man whose muse In happier times was wont to laugh at love, And those who suffer'd that blind boy abuse The noble gifts were given them from above. What metamorphose strange is this I prove I Myself now scarce I find myself to be, And think no fable Circe's tyranny, And all the tales are told of changed Jove; Virtue hath taught with her philosophy My mind into a better course to move: Reason may chide her fill, and oft reprove Affection's power, but what is that to me? Who ever think, and never think on ought But that bright cherubim which thralls my thought.

III.

How that vast heaven, entitled first, is roll'd, If any glancing towers beyond it be, And people living in eternity, Or essence pure that doth this all uphold: What motion have those fixed sparks of gold, The wandering carbuncles which shine from high, By sp'rits, or bodies crossways in the sky, If they be turn'd, and mortal things behold; How sun posts heaven about, how night's pale queen With borrow'd beams looks on this hanging round, What cause fair Iris hath, and monsters seen In air's large field of light, and seas profound, Did hold my wandering thoughts, when thy sweet eye Bade me leave all, and only think on thee.

IV.

If cross'd with all mishaps be my poor life, If one short day I never spent in mirth, If my sp'rit with itself holds lasting strife, If sorrow's death is but new sorrow's birth; If this vain world be but a mournful stage, Where slave-born man plays to the scoffing stars, If youth be toss'd with love, with weakness age; If knowledge serves to hold our thoughts in wars, If Time can close the hundred mouths of Fame, And make what's long since past, like that's to be; If virtue only be an idle name, If being born I was but born to die; Why seek I to prolong these loathsome days? The fairest rose in shortest time decays.

V.

Dear chorister, who from those shadows sends, Ere that the blushing morn dare show her light, Such sad, lamenting strains, that night attends, Become all ear; stars stay to hear thy plight, If one whose grief even reach of thought transcends, Who ne'er, not in a dream, did taste delight, May thee importune who like case pretends, And seems to joy in woe, in woe's despite. Tell me (so may thou fortune milder try, And long, long sing) for what thou thus complains, Since winter's gone, and sun in dappled sky, Enamour'd, smiles on woods and flowery plains? The bird, as if my questions did her move, With trembling wings sigh'd forth, 'I love, I love.'

VI.

Sweet soul, which, in the April of thy years, For to enrich the heaven mad'st poor this round, And now, with flaming rays of glory crown'd, Most blest abides above the sphere of spheres; If heavenly laws, alas! have not thee bound From looking to this globe that all upbears, If ruth and pity there above be found, Oh, deign to lend a look unto these tears, Do not disdain, dear ghost, this sacrifice, And though I raise not pillars to thy praise, My offerings take, let this for me suffice, My heart a living pyramid I raise: And whilst kings' tombs with laurels flourish green, Thine shall with myrtles and these flowers be seen.

SPIRITUAL POEMS.

I.

Look, how the flower which ling'ringly doth fade, The morning's darling late, the summer's queen, Spoil'd of that juice which kept it fresh and green, As high as it did raise, bows low the head: Right so the pleasures of my life being dead, Or in their contraries but only seen, With swifter speed declines than erst it spread, And, blasted, scarce now shows what it hath been. As doth the pilgrim, therefore, whom the night By darkness would imprison on his way, Think on thy home, my soul, and think aright, Of what's yet left thee of life's wasting day; Thy sun posts westward, passed is thy morn, And twice it is not given thee to be born.

II.

The weary mariner so fast not flies A howling tempest, harbour to attain; Nor shepherd hastes, when frays of wolves arise, So fast to fold, to save his bleating train, As I, wing'd with contempt and just disdain, Now fly the world, and what it most doth prize, And sanctuary seek, free to remain From wounds of abject times, and Envy's eyes. To me this world did once seem sweet and fair, While senses' light mind's prospective kept blind, Now, like imagined landscape in the air, And weeping rainbows, her best joys I find: Or if aught here is had that praise should have, It is a life obscure, and silent grave.

III.

The last and greatest herald of heaven's King, Girt with rough skins, hies to the deserts wild, Among that savage brood the woods forth bring, Which he more harmless found than man, and mild; His food was locusts, and what there doth spring, With honey that from virgin hives distill'd; Parch'd body, hollow eyes, some uncouth thing Made him appear, long since from earth exiled; There burst he forth; 'All ye whose hopes rely On God, with me amidst these deserts mourn; Repent, repent, and from old errors turn!' Who listen'd to his voice, obey'd his cry? Only the echoes, which he made relent, Rung from their flinty caves, 'Repent, repent!'

IV.

Sweet bird, that sing'st away the early hours Of winters past or coming, void of care, Well-pleased with delights which present are, Fair seasons, budding sprays, sweet-smelling flowers: To rocks, to springs, to rills, from leafy bowers, Thou thy Creator's goodness dost declare, And what dear gifts on thee he did not spare, A stain to human sense in sin that lowers. What soul can be so sick, which by thy songs, Attired in sweetness, sweetly is not driven Quite to forget earth's turmoils, spites, and wrongs, And lift a reverend eye and thought to heaven? Sweet artless songster, thou my mind dost raise To airs of spheres, yes, and to angels' lays.

V.

As when it happ'neth that some lovely town Unto a barbarous besieger falls, Who both by sword and flame himself installs, And, shameless, it in tears and blood doth drown Her beauty spoil'd, her citizens made thralls, His spite yet cannot so her all throw down, But that some statue, pillar of renown, Yet lurks unmaim'd within her weeping walls: So, after all the spoil, disgrace, and wreck, That time, the world, and death, could bring combined, Amidst that mass of ruins they did make, Safe and all scarless yet remains my mind: From this so high transcending rapture springs, That I, all else defaced, not envy kings.



PHINEAS FLETCHER

We have already spoken of Giles Fletcher, the brother of Phineas. Of Phineas we know nothing except that he was born in 1584, educated at Eton and Cambridge, became Rector at Hilgay, in Norfolk, where he remained for twenty-nine years, surviving his brother; that he wrote an account of the founders and learned men of his university; that in 1633, he published 'The Purple Island;' and that in 1650 he died.

His 'Purple Island' (with which we first became acquainted in the writings of James Hervey, author of the 'Meditations,' who was its fervent admirer) is a curious, complex, and highly ingenious allegory, forming an elaborate picture of Man, in his body and soul; and for subtlety and infinite flexibility, both of fancy and verse, deserves great praise, although it cannot, for a moment, be compared with his brother's 'Christ's Victory and Triumph,' either in interest of subject or in splendour of genius.

DESCRIPTION OF PARTHENIA.

With her, her sister went, a warlike maid, Parthenia, all in steel and gilded arms; In needle's stead, a mighty spear she sway'd, With which in bloody fields and fierce alarms, The boldest champion she down would bear, And like a thunderbolt wide passage tear, Flinging all to the earth with her enchanted spear.

Her goodly armour seem'd a garden green, Where thousand spotless lilies freshly blew; And on her shield the lone bird might be seen, The Arabian bird, shining in colours new; Itself unto itself was only mate; Ever the same, but new in newer date: And underneath was writ, 'Such is chaste single state.'

Thus hid in arms she seem'd a goodly knight, And fit for any warlike exercise: But when she list lay down her armour bright, And back resume her peaceful maiden's guise; The fairest maid she was, that ever yet Prison'd her locks within a golden net, Or let them waving hang, with roses fair beset.

Choice nymph! the crown of chaste Diana's train, Thou beauty's lily, set in heavenly earth; Thy fairs, unpattern'd, all perfection stain: Sure heaven with curious pencil at thy birth In thy rare face her own full picture drew: It is a strong verse here to write, but true, Hyperboles in others are but half thy due.

Upon her forehead Love his trophies fits, A thousand spoils in silver arch displaying: And in the midst himself full proudly sits, Himself in awful majesty arraying: Upon her brows lies his bent ebon bow, And ready shafts; deadly those weapons show; Yet sweet the death appear'd, lovely that deadly blow.

* * * * *

A bed of lilies flower upon her cheek, And in the midst was set a circling rose; Whose sweet aspect would force Narcissus seek New liveries, and fresher colours choose To deck his beauteous head in snowy 'tire; But all in vain: for who can hope t' aspire To such a fair, which none attain, but all admire?

Her ruby lips lock up from gazing sight A troop of pearls, which march in goodly row: But when she deigns those precious bones undight, Soon heavenly notes from those divisions flow, And with rare music charm the ravish'd ears, Daunting bold thoughts, but cheering modest fears: The spheres so only sing, so only charm the spheres.

Yet all these stars which deck this beauteous sky By force of th'inward sun both shine and move; Throned in her heart sits love's high majesty; In highest majesty the highest love. As when a taper shines in glassy frame, The sparkling crystal burns in glittering flame, So does that brightest love brighten this lovely dame.

INSTABILITY OF HUMAN GREATNESS.

Fond man, that looks on earth for happiness, And here long seeks what here is never found! For all our good we hold from Heaven by lease, With many forfeits and conditions bound; Nor can we pay the fine and rentage due: Though now but writ and seal'd, and given anew, Yet daily we it break, then daily must renew.

Why shouldst thou here look for perpetual good, At every loss against Heaven's face repining? Do but behold where glorious cities stood, With gilded tops, and silver turrets shining; Where now the hart fearless of greyhound feeds, And loving pelican in safety breeds; Where screeching satyrs fill the people's empty steads.

Where is the Assyrian lion's golden hide, That all the East once grasp'd in lordly paw? Where that great Persian bear, whose swelling pride The lion's self tore out with ravenous jaw? Or he which, 'twixt a lion and a pard, Through all the world with nimble pinions fared, And to his greedy whelps his conquer'd kingdoms shared?

Hardly the place of such antiquity, Or note of these great monarchies we find: Only a fading verbal memory, An empty name in writ is left behind: But when this second life and glory fades, And sinks at length in time's obscurer shades, A second fall succeeds, and double death invades.

That monstrous Beast, which nursed in Tiber's fen, Did all the world with hideous shape affray; That fill'd with costly spoil his gaping den, And trod down all the rest to dust and clay: His battering horns pull'd out by civil hands, And iron teeth lie scatter'd on the sands; Backed, bridled by a monk, with seven heads yoked stands.

And that black Vulture,[1] which with deathful wing O'ershadows half the earth, whose dismal sight Frighten'd the Muses from their native spring, Already stoops, and flags with weary flight: Who then shall look for happiness beneath? Where each new day proclaims chance, change, and death, And life itself's as fleet as is the air we breathe.

[1] 'Black Vulture:' the Turk.

HAPPINESS OF THE SHEPHERD'S LIFE.

Thrice, oh, thrice happy, shepherd's life and state! When courts are happiness, unhappy pawns! His cottage low and safely humble gate Shuts out proud Fortune, with her scorns and fawns No feared treason breaks his quiet sleep: Singing all day, his flocks he learns to keep; Himself as innocent as are his simple sheep.

No Serian worms he knows, that with their thread Draw out their silken lives; nor silken pride: His lambs' warm fleece well fits his little need, Not in that proud Sidonian tineture dyed: No empty hopes, no courtly fears him fright, Nor begging wants his middle fortune bite; But sweet content exiles both misery and spite.

Instead of music, and base flattering tongues, Which wait to first salute my lord's uprise, The cheerful lark wakes him with early songs, And birds' sweet whistling notes unlock his eyes: In country plays is all the strife he uses, Or sing, or dance unto the rural Muses, And but in music's sports all difference refuses.

His certain life, that never can deceive him, Is full of thousand sweets, and rich content; The smooth-leaved beeches in the field receive him With coolest shades, till noontide rage is spent; His life is neither toss'd in boisterous seas Of troublous world, nor lost in slothful ease; Pleased, and full blest he lives, when he his God can please.

His bed of wool yields safe and quiet sleeps, While by his side his faithful spouse hath place; His little son into his bosom creeps, The lively picture of his father's face: Never his humble house nor state torment him; Less he could like, if less his God had sent him; And when he dies, green turfs, with grassy tomb, content him.

MARRIAGE OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH.

'Ah, dearest Lord! does my rapt soul behold thee? Am I awake, and sure I do not dream? Do these thrice-blessed arms again enfold thee? Too much delight makes true things feigned seem. Thee, thee I see; thou, thou thus folded art: For deep thy stamp is printed on my heart, And thousand ne'er-felt joys stream in each melting part.'

Thus with glad sorrow did she sweetly 'plain her, Upon his neck a welcome load depending; While he with equal joy did entertain her, Herself, her champions, highly all commending: So all in triumph to his palace went; Whose work in narrow words may not be pent: For boundless thought is less than is that glorious tent.

There sweet delights, which know nor end nor measure; No chance is there, nor eating times succeeding: No wasteful spending can impair their treasure; Pleasure full grown, yet ever freshly breeding: Fulness of sweets excludes not more receiving; The soul still big of joy, yet still conceiving; Beyond slow tongue's report, beyond quick thought's perceiving.

There are they gone; there will they ever bide; Swimming in waves of joys and heavenly loves: He still a bridegroom, she a gladsome bride; Their hearts in love, like spheres still constant moving; No change, no grief, no age can them befall; Their bridal bed is in that heavenly hall, Where all days are but one, and only one is all.

And as in his state they thus in triumph ride, The boys and damsels their just praises chant; The boys the bridegroom sing, the maids the bride, While all the hills glad hymens loudly vaunt: Heaven's winged shoals, greeting this glorious spring, Attune their higher notes, and hymens sing: Each thought to pass, and each did pass thought's loftiest wing.

Upon his lightning brow love proudly sitting Flames out in power, shines out in majesty; There all his lofty spoils and trophies fitting, Displays the marks of highest Deity: There full of strength in lordly arms he stands, And every heart and every soul commands: No heart, no soul, his strength and lordly force withstands.

Upon her forehead thousand cheerful graces, Seated on thrones of spotless ivory; There gentle Love his armed hand unbraces; His bow unbent disclaims all tyranny; There by his play a thousand souls beguiles, Persuading more by simple, modest smiles, Than ever he could force by arms or crafty wiles.

Upon her cheek doth Beauty's self implant The freshest garden of her choicest flowers; On which, if Envy might but glance askant, Her eyes would swell, and burst, and melt in showers: Thrice fairer both than ever fairest eyed; Heaven never such a bridegroom yet descried; Nor ever earth so fair, so undefiled a bride.

Full of his Father shines his glorious face, As far the sun surpassing in his light, As doth the sun the earth with flaming blaze: Sweet influence streams from his quickening sight: His beams from nought did all this All display; And when to less than nought they fell away, He soon restored again by his new orient ray.

All heaven shines forth in her sweet face's frame: Her seeing stars (which we miscall bright eyes) More bright than is the morning's brightest flame, More fruitful than the May-time Geminies: These, back restore the timely summer's fire; Those, springing thoughts in winter hearts inspire, Inspiriting dead souls, and quickening warm desire.

These two fair suns in heavenly spheres are placed, Where in the centre joy triumphing sits: Thus in all high perfections fully graced, Her mid-day bliss no future night admits; But in the mirrors of her Spouse's eyes Her fairest self she dresses; there where lies All sweets, a glorious beauty to emparadise.

His locks like raven's plumes, or shining jet, Fall down in curls along his ivory neck; Within their circlets hundred graces set, And with love-knots their comely hangings deck: His mighty shoulders, like that giant swain, All heaven and earth, and all in both sustain; Yet knows no weariness, nor feels oppressing pain.

Her amber hair like to the sunny ray, With gold enamels fair the silver white; There heavenly loves their pretty sportings play, Firing their darts in that wide flaming light: Her dainty neck, spread with that silver mould, Where double beauty doth itself unfold, In the own fair silver shines, and fairer borrow'd gold.

His breast a rock of purest alabaster, Where loves self-sailing, shipwreck'd, often sitteth. Hers a twin-rock, unknown but to the shipmaster; Which harbours him alone, all other splitteth. Where better could her love than here have nested, Or he his thoughts than here more sweetly feasted? Then both their love and thoughts in each are ever rested.

Run now, you shepherd swains; ah! run you thither, Where this fair bridegroom leads the blessed way: And haste, you lovely maids, haste you together With this sweet bride, while yet the sunshine day Guides your blind steps; while yet loud summons call, That every wood and hill resounds withal, Come, Hymen, Hymen, come, dress'd in thy golden pall.

The sounding echo back the music flung, While heavenly spheres unto the voices play'd. But see! the day is ended with my song, And sporting bathes with that fair ocean maid: Stoop now thy wing, my muse, now stoop thee low: Hence mayst thou freely play, and rest thee now; While here I hang my pipe upon the willow bough.

So up they rose, while all the shepherds' throng With their loud pipes a country triumph blew, And led their Thirsil home with joyful song: Meantime the lovely nymphs, with garlands new His locks in bay and honour'd palm-tree bound, With lilies set, and hyacinths around, And lord of all the year and their May sportings crown'd.

END OF VOL. I.



SPECIMENS WITH MEMOIRS OF THE LESS-KNOWN BRITISH POETS.

With an Introductory Essay,

By

THE REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN.

IN THREE VOLS.

VOL. II.



CONTENTS

SECOND PERIOD—FROM SPENSER TO DRYDEN. (CONTINUED.)

WILLIAM HABINGTON Epistle addressed to the Honourable W. E. To his Noblest Friend, J. C., Esq. A Description of Castara

JOSEPH HALL, BISHOP OF NORWICH Satire I. Satire VII.

RICHARD LOVELACE Song—To Althea, from Prison Song A Loose Saraband

ROBERT HERRICK Song Cherry-Ripe The Kiss: A Dialogue To Daffodils To Primroses To Blossoms Oberon's Palace Oberon's Feast The Mad Maid's Song Corinna's going a-Maying Jephthah's Daughter The Country Life

SIR RICHARD FANSHAWE The Spring, a Sonnet—From the Spanish

ABRAHAM COWLEY The Chronicle, a Ballad The Complaint The Despair Of Wit Of Solitude The Wish Upon the Shortness of Man's Life On the Praise of Poetry The Motto—'Tentanda via est,' &c Davideis-Book II Life The Plagues of Egypt

GEORGE WITHER From 'The Shepherd's Hunting' The Shepherd's Resolution The Steadfast Shepherd From 'The Shepherd's Hunting'

SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT From 'Gondibert'—Canto II From 'Gondibert'—Canto IV

DR HENRY KING Sic Vita Song Life

JOHN CHALKHILL Arcadia Thealma, a Deserted Shepherdess Priestess of Diana Thealma in Full Dress Dwelling of the Witch Orandra

CATHARINE PHILLIPS The Inquiry A Friend

MARGARET, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE Melancholy described by Mirth Melancholy describing herself

THOMAS STANLEY Celia Singing Speaking and Kissing La Belle Confidante The Loss Note on Anacreon

ANDREW MARVELL The Emigrants The Nymph complaining of the Death of her Fawn On 'Paradise Lost' Thoughts in a Garden Satire on Holland

IZAAK WALTON The Angler's Wish

JOHN WILMOT, EARL or ROCHESTER Song Song

THE EARL OP ROSCOMMON From 'An Essay on Translated Verse'

CHARLES COTTON Invitation to Izaak Walton A Voyage to Ireland in Burlesque

DR HENRY MORE Opening of Second Part of 'Psychozoia' Exordium of Third Part Destruction and Renovation of all things A Distempered Fancy Soul compared to a Lantern

WILLIAM CHAMBERLAYNE Argalia taken Prisoner by the Turks

HENRY VAUGHAN On a Charnel-house On Gombauld's 'Endymion' Apostrophe to Fletcher the Dramatist Picture of the Town The Golden Age Regeneration Resurrection and Immortality The Search Isaac's Marriage Man's Fall and Recovery The Shower Burial Cheerfulness The Passion Rules and Lessons Repentance The Dawning The Tempest The World The Constellation Misery Mount of Olives Ascension-day Cock-crowing The Palm-tree The Garland Love-sick Psalm civ The Timber The Jews Palm-Sunday Providence St Mary Magdalene The Rainbow The Seed Growing Secretly (Mark iv. 26) Childhood Abel's Blood Righteousness Jacob's Pillow and Pillar The Feast The Waterfall

DR JOSEPH BEAUMONT Hell Joseph's Dream Paradise Eve To the Memory of his Wife Imperial Borne Personified End

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES—

FROM ROBERT HEATH— What is Love? Protest of Love To Clarastella

BY VARIOUS AUTHORS— My Mind to me a Kingdom is The Old and Young Courtier There is a Garden in her Face Hallo, my Fancy The Fairy Queen

* * * * *

SPECIMENS WITH MEMOIRS OF THE LESS-KNOWN BRITISH POETS.

SECOND PERIOD—FROM SPENSER TO DRYDEN. (CONTINUED.)

* * * * *

WILLIAM HABINGTON.

This poet might have been expected to have belonged to the 'Spasmodic school,' judging by his parental antecedents. His father was accused of having a share in Babington's conspiracy, but was released because he was godson to Queen Elizabeth. Soon after, however, he was imprisoned a second time, and condemned to death on the charge of having concealed some of the Gunpowder-plot conspirators; but was pardoned through the interest of Lord Morley. His uncle, however, was less fortunate, suffering death for his complicity with Babington. The poet's mother, the daughter of Lord Morley, was more loyal than her husband or his brother, and is said to have written the celebrated letter to Lord Monteagle, in consequence of which the execution of the Gunpowder-plot was arrested.

Our poet was born at Hindlip, Worcestershire, on the very day of the discovery of the plot, 5th November 1605. The family were Papists, and William was sent to St Omers to be educated. He was pressed to become a Jesuit, but declined. On his return to England, his father became preceptor to the poet. As he grew up, instead of displaying any taste for 'treasons, stratagems, and spoils,' he chose the better part, and lived a private and happy life. He fell in love with Lucia, daughter of William Herbert, the first Lord Powis, and celebrated her in his long and curious poem entitled 'Castara.' This lady he afterwards married, and from her society appears to have derived much happiness. In 1634, he published 'Castara.' He also, at different times, produced 'The Queen of Arragon,' a tragedy; a History of Edward IV.; and 'Observations upon History.' He died in 1654, (not as Southey, by a strange oversight, says, 'when he had just completed his fortieth year,') forty-nine years of age, and was buried in the family vault at Hindlip.

'Castara' is not a consecutive poem, but consists of a great variety of small pieces, in all sorts of style and rhythm, and of all varieties of merit; many of them addressed to his mistress under the name of Castara, and many to his friends; with reflective poems, elegies, and panegyrics, intermingled with verses sacred to love. Habington is distinguished by purity of tone if not of taste. He has many conceits, but no obscenities. His love is as holy as it is ardent. He has, besides, a vein of sentiment which sometimes approaches the moral sublime. To prove this, in addition to the 'Selections' below, we copy some verses entitled—

'NOX NOCTI INDICAT SCIENTIAM.'—David.

When I survey the bright Celestial sphere, So rich with jewels hung, that Night Doth like an Ethiop bride appear,

My soul her wings doth spread, And heavenward flies, The Almighty's mysteries to read In the large volume of the skies;

For the bright firmament Shoots forth no flame So silent, but is eloquent In speaking the Creator's name.

No unregarded star Contracts its light Into so small a character, Removed far from our human sight,

But if we steadfast look, We shall discern In it, as in some holy book, How man may heavenly knowledge learn.

It tells the conqueror That far-stretch'd power, Which his proud dangers traffic for, Is but the triumph of an hour;

That, from the furthest North, Some nation may, Yet undiscover'd, issue forth, And o'er his new-got conquest sway,—

Some nation, yet shut in With hills of ice, May be let out to scourge his sin Till they shall equal him in vice;

And then they likewise shall Their ruin brave; For, as yourselves, your empires fall, And every kingdom hath a grave.

Thus those celestial fires, Though seeming mute, The fallacy of our desires, And all the pride of life, confute;

For they have watch'd since first The world had birth, And found sin in itself accurst, And nothing permanent on earth.

There is something to us particularly interesting in the history of this poet. Even as it is pleasant to see the sides of a volcano covered with verdure, and its mouth filled with flowers, so we like to find the fierce elements, which were inherited by Habington from his fathers, softened and subdued in him,—the blood of the conspirator mellowed into that of the gentle bard, who derived all his inspiration from a pure love and a mild and thoughtful religion.

EPISTLE ADDRESSED TO THE HONOURABLE W.E.

He who is good is happy. Let the loud Artillery of heaven break through a cloud, And dart its thunder at him, he'll remain Unmoved, and nobler comfort entertain, In welcoming the approach of death, than Vice E'er found in her fictitious paradise. Time mocks our youth, and (while we number past Delights, and raise our appetite to taste Ensuing) brings us to unflatter'd age, Where we are left to satisfy the rage Of threat'ning death: pomp, beauty, wealth, and all Our friendships, shrinking from the funeral. The thought of this begets that brave disdain With which thou view'st the world, and makes those vain Treasures of fancy, serious fools so court, And sweat to purchase, thy contempt or sport. What should we covet here? Why interpose A cloud 'twixt us and heaven? Kind Nature chose Man's soul the exchequer where to hoard her wealth, And lodge all her rich secrets; but by the stealth Of her own vanity, we're left so poor, The creature merely sensual knows more. The learned halcyon, by her wisdom, finds A gentle season, when the seas and winds Are silenced by a calm, and then brings forth The happy miracle of her rare birth, Leaving with wonder all our arts possess'd, That view the architecture of her nest. Pride raiseth us 'bove justice. We bestow Increase of knowledge on old minds, which grow By age to dotage; while the sensitive Part of the world in its first strength doth live. Folly! what dost thou in thy power contain Deserves our study? Merchants plough the main And bring home th' Indies, yet aspire to more, By avarice in the possession poor. And yet that idol wealth we all admit Into the soul's great temple; busy wit Invents new orgies, fancy frames new rites To show its superstition; anxious nights Are watch'd to win its favour: while the beast Content with nature's courtesy doth rest. Let man then boast no more a soul, since he Hath lost that great prerogative. But thee, Whom fortune hath exempted from the herd Of vulgar men, whom virtue hath preferr'd Far higher than thy birth, I must commend, Rich in the purchase of so sweet a friend. And though my fate conducts me to the shade Of humble quiet, my ambition paid With safe content, while a pure virgin fame Doth raise me trophies in Castara's name; No thought of glory swelling me above The hope of being famed for virtuous love; Yet wish I thee, guided by the better stars, To purchase unsafe honour in the wars, Or envied smiles at court; for thy great race, And merits, well may challenge the highest place. Yet know, what busy path soe'er you tread To greatness, you must sleep among the dead.

TO HIS NOBLEST FRIEND, J.C., ESQ.

I hate the country's dirt and manners, yet I love the silence; I embrace the wit And courtship, flowing here in a full tide, But loathe the expense, the vanity, and pride. No place each way is happy. Here I hold Commerce with some, who to my care unfold (After a due oath minister'd) the height And greatness of each star shines in the state, The brightness, the eclipse, the influence. With others I commune, who tell me whence The torrent doth of foreign discord flow; Relate each skirmish, battle, overthrow, Soon as they happen; and by rote can tell Those German towns, even puzzle me to spell. The cross or prosperous fate of princes they Ascribe to rashness, cunning, or delay; And on each action comment, with more skill Than upon Livy did old Machiavel. O busy folly! why do I my brain Perplex with the dull policies of Spain, Or quick designs of France? Why not repair To the pure innocence o' the country air, And neighbour thee, dear friend? Who so dost give Thy thoughts to worth and virtue, that to live Blest, is to trace thy ways. There might not we Arm against passion with philosophy; And, by the aid of leisure, so control Whate'er is earth in us, to grow all soul? Knowledge doth ignorance engender, when We study mysteries of other men, And foreign plots. Do but in thy own shad (Thy head upon some flow'ry pillow laid, Kind Nature's housewifery,) contemplate all His stratagems, who labours to enthrall The world to his great master, and you'll find Ambition mocks itself, and grasps the wind. Not conquest makes us great. Blood is too dear A price for glory. Honour doth appear To statesmen like a vision in the night; And, juggler-like, works o' the deluded sight. The unbusied only wise: for no respect Endangers them to error; they affect Truth in her naked beauty, and behold Man with an equal eye, not bright in gold, Or tall in little; so much him they weigh As virtue raiseth him above his clay. Thus let us value things: and since we find Time bend us toward death, let's in our mind Create new youth, and arm against the rude Assaults of age; that no dull solitude O' the country dead our thoughts, nor busy care O' the town make us to think, where now we are, And whither we are bound. Time ne'er forgot His journey, though his steps we number'd not.