5
If mercifull, then why
Am I to payne reservd
Who have thee truely serv'd,
When shee that by thy powre sets not a fly
Laughs thee to scorne and lives at liberty?
If mercifull, then why
Am I to payne reservd
Who have thee truely serv'd,
When shee that by thy powre sets not a fly
Laughs thee to scorne and lives at liberty?
Donne - 1
.
.
bound, _A25_]
[25 Anchors _Chambers_: Anchos _A25_]
[29 traine, _Ed_: traine _A25_]
[31 inke, _Ed_: inke _A25_]
_O Frutefull Garden. _
O Frutefull garden, and yet never tilde,
Box full of Treasure yet by noe man filde.
O thou which haste, made him that first made thee;
O neare of kinne to all the Trinetie;
O Pallace where the kinge of all, and more; 5
Went in, and out, yet never opened doore;
Whose flesh is purer, than an others sperrit
Reache him our Prayers, and reach us down his merrit;
O bread of lyfe which sweld'ste up without Leaven;
O bridge which joynst togeather earth and heaven; 10
Whose eyes see me through these walles, and throughe glasse,
And through this fleshe as thorowe Cipres passe.
Behould a little harte made greate by thee
Swellinge, yet shrinkinge at thy majestie.
O dwell in it, for where soe ere thou go'ste 15
There is the Temple of the Holy Ghoste.
[O Frutefull Garden. _A25_: [TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. ]
_Chambers_]
[6 out, _Ed_: out _A25_]
[8 merrit; _Ed_: merrit, _A25_]
[9 Leaven, _Ed_: Leaven _A25_]
_To my Lord of Pembroke. _
Fye, Fye you sonnes of Pallas what madd rage
Makes you contend that Love's, or God, or page?
Hee that admires, his weaknes doth confess;
For as Love greater growes; soe hee growes less.
Hee that disdaines, what honor wynns thereby, 5
That he feeles not, or triumphes on a fly?
If love with queasie paine thy stomack move,
Soe will a slutt whome none dare touch; or love.
If it with sacred straines doe thee inspire
Of Poetrie; soe wee maye want admire. 10
If it thee valiant make, his ryvall hate
Can out doe that and make men desperate.
Yealdinge to us, all woemen conquer us,
By gentlenes we are betrayed thus.
We will not strive with Love that's a shee beaste; 15
But playinge wee are bounde, and yeald in Jest;
As in a Cobwebb toyle, a flye hath beene
Undone; so have I some fainte lover seene.
Love cannot take away our strength, but tame,
And wee less feele the thinge then feare the name; 20
Love is a temperate bath; hee that feeles more
Heate or could there, was hott, or could before.
But as Suñ beames which would but norishe, burne,
Drawne into hollow Christall, soe we turne
To fire her bewties Lustre willingly, 25
By gatheringe it in our false treacherous eye.
Love is nor you, nor you; but I a balme,
Sword to the stiff, unto the wounded balme.
Prayes noe thinge adds, if it be infinite,
If it be nothing, who can lessen it? 30
[To my Lord of Pembroke. _A25_, _Chambers_]
[3 confess; _Ed_: confess _A25_]
[5 disdaines, _Ed_: disdaines _A25_]
[6 fly? _Ed_: fly; _A25_]
[19 tame, _Ed_: tame _A25_]
[27 I a balme, _A25_: Aye a calm, _Chambers conjectures_]
_Of a Lady in the Black Masque. _
Why chose shee black; was it that in whitenes
Shee did Leda equal? whose brightnes
Must suffer loss to put a bewtie on
Which hath no grace but from proportion.
It is but Coullor, which to loose is gayne, 5
For shee in black doth th'Æthiopian staine,
Beinge the forme that beautifies the creature
Her rareness not in Coullor is; but feature.
Black on her receaves soe strong a grace
It seemes the fittest beautie for the face. 10
Coullor is not, but in æstimation
Faire, or foule, as it is stild by fashion.
Kinges wearinge sackcloath it doth royall make;
Soe black<ne>s from her face doth beautie take.
It not in Coullor but in her, inheres, 15
For what she is, is faire, not what she weares;
The Moore shalle envye her, as much, or more,
As did the Ladies of our Court before.
The Sunn shall mourne that hee had westwarde beene,
To seeke his Love; whilst shee i'th North was seene. 20
Her blacknes lends like lustre to her eyes,
As in the night pale Phoebe glorifyes.
Hell, synne, and vice their attributes shall loose
Of black, for it wan, and pale whitenes choose,
As like themselves, Common, and most in use: 25
Sad of that Coulor is the late abuse.
[Of a Lady _&c. _ _A25_, _Chambers_]
[10 face. _Ed_: face _A25_]
[13 make; _Ed_: make _A25_]
[14 black<ne>s _Chambers_: blacks _A25_]
[16 weares; _Ed_: weares, _A25_]
II.
POEMS FROM THE BURLEY MS.
<_Life. _>
This lyfe it is not life, it is a sight
That wee have of y^e earth, y^e earth of vs;
It is a feild, where sence & reason fight,
The soules & bodies quarrells to discus;
It is a iorney where wee do not goe, 5
but fly w^{th} speedy wings t'our blisse or woe.
It is a chaine y^t hath but two smale links
Where<with> o^r graue is to o^r bodie ioyned;
It is a poysned feast wherein who thinks
To tast ioyes cup, y^e cup of death doth find. 10
It is a play, presented in heauens eye
Wherein o^r parts are to do naught but dye.
[Life. > _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]
[2 vs; _Ed_: vs _Bur_]
[3 feild, _Ed_: feild _Bur_]
[4 discus; _Ed_: discus _Bur_]
[6 Woe. _Ed_: woe _Bur_]
[8 Where<with> _Ed_: where _Bur_
ioyned; _Ed_: ioyned _Bur_]
<_My Love. _>
My love doth fly w^{th} wings of feare
And doth a flame of fire resemble,
w^{ch} mounting high & burning cleere
yet ever more doth wane & tremble.
My loue doth see & still admire, 5
Admiring breedeth humblenes;
blind loue is bold, but my desire
the more it loues p^{re}sumes y^e lesse.
My loue seekes no reward or glory
but w^{th} it self it self contenteth, 10
is never sullaine, never sory,
never repyneth or repenteth.
O'who the sunne beames can behold
but hath some passion, feeles some heat,
for though the sunn himself be cold 15
his beames reflecting fire begett.
O y^t myne eyes, ô that myne hart
Were both enlarged to contayne
the beames & ioyes shee doth impart,
whilst shee this bowre doth not disdayne; 20
this bowre vnfit for such a gueste,
but since she makes it now her Inn,
Would god twere like her sacred breast
most fayre w^{th}out, most rich w^{th}in.
[<My Love. > _Ed_: _no title and no punctuation_, _Bur_]
[4 wane _Ed_: weane _Bur_]
[12 never _Ed_: ne're _Bur_]
<_O Eyes! _>
O Eyes, what do you see?
O eares what do you heare?
that makes y^o wish to bee
All eyes or else all eare?
I see a face as fayre 5
As mans eye ever saw,
I here as sweet an ayre
as y^t w^{ch} rocks did draw,
I wish, when in such wise
I see or heare y^e same, 10
I had all Argus eyes
or else y^e eare<s> of fame.
[<O Eyes! > _Ed_: _no title and no punctuation_, _Bur_]
[12 eare<s> _Ed_: eare _Bur_:
Cui, quot sunt corpore plumae,
Tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,
Tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, _tot subrigit auris_.
Virgil: _Aen. _ iv. 181-3.
]
<_Silence Best Praise. _>
Cõmend her? no. I dare not terme her fayre,
nor sugred sweet, nor tall, nor louely browne;
suffice it y^t she is w^{th}out compare;
but how, I dare not tell lest she should frowne.
but those parts <least> w^{ch} others make theyre pryde, 5
and feed there fancies w^{th} devised lyes;
giue me but leaue to pull my saint asyde,
and tell her in her eare that she is wise.
to write of beauties rare ther is noe art,
for why tis common to there sex & kind, 10
but making choice of natures better part
my Muse doth most desire to prayse her mind.
But as her vertue<s> clayme a crowne of bayes,
So manners makes me sylent in her prayse.
[<Silence Best Praise. > _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]
[1 fayre, _Ed_: fayre _Bur_]
[2 sweet, . . . tall, . . . browne; _Ed_: _no stops_, _Bur_]
[3 compare; _Ed_: compare _Bur_]
[4 frowne. _Ed_: frowne _Bur_]
[5 <least> _Ed_: lest _Bur_
pryde, _Ed_: pryde _Bur_]
[6 lyes; _Ed_: lyes _Bur_]
[7 asyde, _Ed_: asyde _Bur_]
[8 wise. _Ed_: wise _Bur_]
[9-10 art, . . . kind. _Ed_: _no commas_, _Bur_]
[10 common] cõmõ _Bur_]
[12 mind. _Ed_: mind _Bur_]
[13 vertue<s> _Ed_: vertue _Bur_
bayes, _Ed_: bayes _Bur_]
<_Beauty in Little Room. _>
Those drossy heads & irrepurged braynes
w^{ch} sacred fyre of loue hath not refined
may grossly think my loue smale worth contaynes
because shee is of body smale combined.
Not diving to y^e depth of natures reach, 5
W^{ch} on smale things doth greatest guifts bestow:
small gems & pearls do witt more truly teach
W^ch little are yet great in vertue grow,
of flowers most part y^e least wee sweetest see,
of creatures having life & sence y^e annt 10
is smalst, yet great her guifts & vertues bee,
frugall & provident for feare of want.
Wherfore who sees not natures full intent?
she made her smale to make her excellent.
[<Beauty in Little Room. > _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]
[5 depth _Ed_: depht _Bur_
reach, _Ed_: reach _Bur_]
[6 bestow: _Ed_: bestow _Bur_]
[8 grow, _Ed_: grow _Bur_]
[11 bee, _Ed_: bee _Bur_]
[13 intent? _Ed_: intent _Bur_]
<_Loves Zodiake. _>
I that y^e higher half of loues
Round Zodiake haue rune,
And in the signe of crabbed chaunce
My Tropick haue begun,
Am taught to teach y^e man is blest 5
Whose loues lott lights so badd,
as his solstitium soonest makes
And so growes Retrograde.
[<Loves Zodiake> _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]
<_Fortune, Love, and Time. _>
When fortune, loue, and Tyme bad me be happie,
Happy I was by fortune, loue, and tyme.
These powres at highest then began to vary,
and cast him downe whome they had caus'd to clyme;
They prun'd theire wings, and tooke theire flight in rage; 5
fortune to fooles, loue to gold, and tyme to age.
Fooles, gold, and age, (o foolish golden age! )
Witt, fayth, and loue must begg, must brybe, must dy;
These are the actors and the world's the stage,
Desert and hope are as but standers by: 10
True lovers sit and tune this restlesse song;
Fortune, loue, and tyme haue done me wrong.
[<Fortune, Love, and Time. > _Ed_: _no title and no
punctuation_, _Bur_]
<_Life a Play. _>
What is o^r life? a play of passion.
o^r mirth? the musick of diuision.
O^r mothers wombs the tyring houses bee
Where we are drest for liues short comedy.
The earth the stage, heauen y^e spectator is, 5
Who still doth note who ere do act amisse.
O^r graues that hyde vs, frõ the all-seeing suñ,
Are but drawne curtaynes whẽ the play is done.
[<Life a Play. > _Ed_: _no title, and no punctuation except the
two marks of interrogation_, _Bur_]
_A Kisse. _
O what a blisse
is this?
heaven is effected
and loues eternity contracted
In one short kisse. 5
For not tymes measure
makes pleasure
more full,
tedious and dull
all ioyes are thought 10
y^t are not in an instant wrought.
Cupi<d>s blest and highest spheare
is heare.
heere on his throne
in his bright imperial crowne 15
hee sitts.
Those witts
That thinke to proue
that mortals know
in any place below 20
a blisse so great
so sweet
Are heretiques in loue.
These pleasures high
now dye, 25
but still beginning
new & greater glory wiñing
gett fresh supply.
No short breath'd panting
nor faynting 30
is heere,
fuller and freer
more pleasinge is
this pleasure still, & none but this.
Heer'es no blush nor labor great, 35
no sweat;
Heres no payne
nor repentance when againe
Loue cooles.
O fooles 40
That fondly glory
in base condition
of sensual fruition,
you do mistake
& make 45
y^r heaven purgatory.
[A Kisse. _Bur_]
[8 full. _Ed_: full _Bur_]
[12 Cupi<d>s _Ed_: Cupis _Bur_]
[27 new _Ed_: now _Bur_]
[28 supply. _Ed_: supply _Bur_]
[31 heere, _Ed_: heere _Bur_]
[35 great, _Ed_: great _Bur_]
[39 cooles. _Ed_: cooles _Bur_]
[43 fruition, _Ed_: fruition _Bur_]
_Epi: B: Jo:_
Tell me who can when a player dies
In w^{ch} of his shapes againe hee shall rise?
What need hee stand at the iudgment throne
Who hath a heaven and a hell of his owne.
Then feare not Burbage heavens angry rodd, 5
When thy fellows are angells & old Hemmĩgs is God.
[Epi: B: Jo: (i. e. Epitaph: Ben Ionson) _Bur_: _no
punctuation_]
_Epi: Hen: Princ: Hug^o Holland. _
Loe now hee shineth yonder
A fixed starr in heaven,
Whose motion is vnder
None of the planetts seaven;
And if the soñ should tender 5
The moone his loue and marry,
They never could engender
So fayre a starr as Harry.
[Epi: Hen: Princ: Hug^o Holland. _Bur_: _no punctuation_]
III.
POEMS FROM VARIOUS MSS.
<_The Annuntiation. _
_Additional Lines. _>
Nature amaz'd sawe man without mans ayde
Borne of a mother nursed by her a mayd,
The child the Parent was, the worke the word,
No word till then did such a worke affoord.
Twas lesse from nothing the world's all to growe 5
Then all-Creato^{rs} height to stoope so lowe.
A virgin mother to a child bredd wonder,
T'was more a child should bee the God of thunder.
Th'omnipotent was strangely potent heere
To make the powerfull God pearelesse appeare. 10
Hee in our body cladd, for our soules love
Came downe to us, yet stay'd vnchanged above.
Yet God through man shind still in this cleere brooke,
Through meane shewes into maiesty wee looke.
Sinnes price seemd payd with brasse, fewe sawe the gold, 15
Yet true stones set in lead theyr lustre hold.
His birth though poore, Prophets foretold his story,
Hee breathd with beasts, but Angels sung his glory.
Hee, so farr of, so weake, yet Herod quakes,
The citty dreads, babes, murderd, feare mistakes. 20
His Circumcision bore sinne, payne, and shame,
Young bloud new budd, hence bloomd a sauiours name.
His paynes and passion bredd compassion, wonder;
Earth trembling, heavens darke, rocks rent asunder.
His birth, life, death, his words, his workes, his face 25
Shewd a rich Jewell shining through the case,
Cast thus, since man at gods high presence trembles.
Heere man mans troth loves whome his sheepe resembles.
The bright Sunne beame a sickly eye may di[~m]e,
A little babe in shallow heart may swi[~m]. 30
Hee heavens wealth to a poore stable brings,
Th'oxestall the Court unto the king of kings.
No Shadowes now nor lightning flames give terro^r.
This light tells with our tongue, and beares o^r erro^r.
Pure infant teares, moist pearle adornd his cheeke, 35
Assignd, ere borne, our erring soules to seeke.
Hee first wept teares, then bloud, a deare redemption;
This bought what Adam sould, that seemd preemption.
Cleare droppe, deare seede, the corne had bloudy eares,
Rich harvest reapd in bloud and sowne in teares. 40
Who this Corne in theyr hart nor thresh, nor lay,
Breake for sinnes debt, unthrifty never pay.
Use wealth, it wastes, a stayd hand heapes the store,
But this the more wee use wee have the more;
Use, not like usury whose growth is lending, 45
Rich thoughts this treasure keepe and thrive by spending;
Th'expense runnes circular, turning returning,
Such love no hart consumes, yet ever burning.
[<The Annuntiation. Additional Lines. > _Ed_: _these lines run
straight on as part of_ The Annuntiation and Passion _in O'F_]
[2 a mayd] _Norton supplies_ a mayd, _Ed_: mayd _O'F_]
[3 was,. . . word, _Ed_: _no commas_, _O'F_]
[6 lowe. _Ed_: lowe _O'F_]
[7 wonder, _Ed_: wonder _O'F_]
[8 thunder. _Ed_: thunder _O'F_]
[13 brooke, _Ed_: brooke _O'F_]
[21 shame, _Ed_: shame _O'F_]
[23 wonder; _Ed_: wonder _O'F_]
[24 trembling, _Ed_: trembling _O'F_]
[26 case, _Ed_: case _O'F_]
[27 trembles. _Ed_: trembles _O'F_]
[28 resembles. _Ed_: resẽbles _O'F_]
[29 di[~m]e, _Ed_: di[~m]e _O'F_]
[31 brings, _Ed_: brings _O'F_]
[35 cheeke, _Ed_: cheeke _O'F_]
[37 redemption; _Ed_: redemption _O'F_]
[38 preemption. _Ed_: preemption _O'F_]
[39 eares, _Ed_: eares _O'F_]
[41 lay, _Ed_: lay _O'F_]
[43 store, _Ed_: store _O'F_]
[44 more; _Ed_: more _O'F_]
[45 Use, . . . lending, _Ed_: _no commas_, _O'F_]
[46 spending; _Ed_: spending _O'F_]
[47 returning, _Ed_: returning _O'F_]
[48 consumes, _Ed_: consumes _O'F_]
_Elegy. To Chast Love. _
Chast Love, let mee embrace thee in mine armes
Without the thought of lust. From thence no harmes
Ensue, no discontent attende those deeds
So innocently good w^{ch} thy love breeds.
Th'approche of day brings to thy sence no feares, 5
Nor is the black nights worke washd in thy teares;
Thou takst no care to keepe thy lover true,
Nor yet by flighte, nor fond inventions new
To hold him in, who with like flame of love
Must move his spirit too, as thine doth move; 10
w^{ch} ever mounts aloft with golden wings
And not declines to lowe despised things.
Thy soule is bodyd within thy quiet brest
In safety, free from trouble and unrest.
Thou fearst no ill because thou dost no ill, 15
Like mistress of thy selfe, thy thought, and will,
Obey thy mind, a mind for ever such
As all may prayse, but none admire too much.
Then come, Chast Love, choyse part of womankind
Infuse chast thoughts into my loving mind. 20
[Elegy. To Chast Love. _O'F_]
[5 feares, _Ed_: feares _O'F_]
[6 teares; _Ed_: teares _O'F_]
[7 true, _Ed_: true _O'F_]
[9 in, _Ed_: in _O'F_]
[10 move; _Ed_: move _O'F_]
[15 ill, _Ed_: ill _O'F_]
[16 will, _Ed_: will _O'F_]
_Upon his scornefull Mistresse. Elegy. _
Cruell since that thou dost not feare the curse
W^{ch} thy disdayne, and my despayre procure,
My prayer for thee shall torment thee worse
Then all the payne thou coudst thereby endure.
May, then, that beauty w^{ch} I did conceave 5
In thee above the height of heavens course,
When first my Liberty thou didst bereave,
Bee doubled on thee and with doubled force.
Chayne thousand vassalls in like thrall with mee,
W^{ch} in thy glory mayst thou still despise, 10
As the poore Trophyes of that victory
Which thou hast onely purchasd by thine eyes;
And when thy Triumphs so extended are
That there is nought left to bee conquered,
Mayst thou with the great Monarchs mournfull care 15
Weepe that thine Hono^{rs} are so limited;
So thy disdayne may melt it selfe to love
By an unlookd for and a wondrous change,
W^{ch} to thy selfe above the rest must prove
In all th'effects of love paynefully strange, 20
While wee thy scorned subjects live to see
Thee love the whole world, none of it love thee.
[Upon his scornefull Mistresse. _O'F_: _no title_, _B_, _which
adds note_, This hath relation to 'When by thy scorne'. _See_
The Apparition, _p. _ 191]
[2 despayre _B_: disdayne _O'F_
procure, _Ed_: procure _O'F_]
[6 course, _Ed_: course _O'F_]
[7 bereave, _Ed_: bereave _O'F_]
[8 force. _Ed_: force _O'F_]
[9 Chayne _B_: Stay _O'F_ mee, _Ed_: mee _O'F_]
[10 despise, _Ed_: despise _O'F_]
[12 eyes; _Ed_: eyes _O'F_]
[14 conquered, _Ed_: conquered _O'F_]
[16 limited; _Ed_: limited _O'F_]
[18 change, _Ed_: change _O'F_]
[20 strange, _Ed_: strange _O'F_]
<_Absence. _>
Wonder of Beautie, Goddesse of my sense,
You that have taught my soule to love aright,
You in whose limbes are natures chief expense
Fitt instrument to serve your matchless spright,
If ever you have felt the miserie 5
Of being banish'd from your best desier,
By Absence, Time, or Fortunes tyranny,
Sterving for cold, and yet denied for fier:
Deare mistresse pittie then the like effects
The which in mee your absence makes to flowe, 10
And haste their ebb by your divine aspect
In which the pleasure of my life doth growe:
Stay not so long for though it seem a wonder
You keepe my bodie and my soule asunder.
FINIS.
<_Tongue-tied Love. _>
Faire eies do not think scorne to read of Love
That to your eies durst never it presume,
Since absence those sweet wonders do<th> remove
That nourish thoughts, yet sence and wordes consume;
This makes my pen more hardy then my tongue, 5
Free from my feare yet feeling my desire,
To utter that I have conceal'd so long
By doing what you did yourself require.
Believe not him whom Love hath left so wise
As to have power his owne tale for to tell, 10
For childrens greefes do yield the loudest cries,
And cold desires may be expressed well:
In well told Love most often falsehood lies,
But pittie him that only sighes and dies.
FINIS.
[<Absence. > <Tongue-tied Love. > _Ed_: _whole sonnets without
titles in_ _L74_: _the last six lines of the second appear
among Donne's poems in_ _B_, _O'F_, _S96_ <Tongue-tied Love. >]
[12 cold desires] coldest Ayres _O'F_]
<_Love, if a God thou art. _>
Love if a god thou art
then evermore thou must
Bee mercifull and just;
If thou bee just, ô wherefore doth thy dart
Wound mine alone and not my mistresse hart?
5
If mercifull, then why
Am I to payne reservd
Who have thee truely serv'd,
When shee that by thy powre sets not a fly
Laughs thee to scorne and lives at liberty? 10
Then if a God thou woulds accounted bee,
Heale mee like her, or else wound her like mee.
<_Great Lord of Love. _>
Greate Lord of love, how busy still thou art
To give new wounds and fetters to my hart!
Is't not enough that thou didst twice before
It so mangle
And intangle 5
By sly arts
of false harts.
Forbeare mee, Ile make love no more.
Fy busy Lord, will it not thee suffice
To use the Rhetorique of her tongue and eyes 10
When I am waking, but that absent so
They invade mee
To perswade mee,
When that sleepe
Oft should keepe 15
And lock out every sence of woe.
If thou perswade mee thus to speake, I dye
And shee the murdresse, for me will deny;
And if for silence I bee prest, Her good
Yet I cherish 20
Though I perish,
For that shee
Shall bee free
From that foule guilt of spilling bloud.
[<Love if a God thou art. > <Great Lord of Love. > <Loves
Exchange. > _all without titles in_ _O'F_: _punctuation mainly
the Editor's_]
<_Loves Exchange_>
1. To sue for all thy Love, and thy whole hart
were madnesse.
I doe not sue, nor can admitt,
(Fayrest) from yo^u to have all yet;
Who giveth all, hath nothing to impart 5
But sadnesse.
2. Hee who receaveth all can have no more,
Then seeing.
My love by length of every howre
Gathers new strength, new growth, new power: 10
You must have dayly new rewards in store
Still beeing.
3. You cannot every day give mee yo^r hart
For merit;
Yet if you will, when yours doth goe 15
You shall have still one to bestow,
For you shall mine, when yours doth part,
Inherit.
4. Yet if you please weele find a better way
Then change them, 20
For so alone (dearest) wee shall
Bee one and one another all;
Let us so joyne our harts, that nothing may
Estrange them.
_Song. _
Now y'have killd mee with yo^{r} scorne
Who shall live to call yo^{u} fayre?
What new foole must now bee borne
To prepare
Dayly sacrifice of service new, 5
Teares too good for woemen true?
Who shall sorrow when yo^{u} crye
And to please yo^{u} dayly dye?
Men succeeding shall beware
And woemen cruell, no more fayre. 10
2.
Now y'have killd mee, never looke
Any left to call yo^{u} trewe;
Who more madd must now bee tooke
To renewe
My oblations dayly, lost? 15
Vowes too good for woemen chast!
Who shall call yo^{u} sweete, and sweare
T'is yo^{r} face renews the yeare?
Men by my Death shall beleeve,
And woemen cruell yet shall greeve. 20
[Song. _O'F_: _punctuation mainly Editor's_]
_Love, bred of glances. _
Love bred of Glances twixt amorous eyes
Like Childrens fancies, sone borne, sone dyes.
Guilte, Bitternes, and smilinge woe
Doth ofte deceaue poore lovers soe,
As the fonde Sence th'unwary soule deceives 5
With deadly poison wrapt in Lily leaves.
But harts so chain'd as Goodnes stands
With truthe unstain'd to couple hands,
Love beinge to all beauty blinde
Save the cleere beauties of the minde, 10
There heaven is pleasd, continuall blessings sheddinge,
Angells are guests and dance at this blest weddinge.
[Love _&c. _ <True Love. > _Chambers_, _who prints from RP117_:
_no title_, _O'F_, _P_, _S96_ (_from which present text is
taken_)]
[2 borne _B_, _P_, _O'F_, _S96_: bred _Chambers_]
[4 Doth _S96_: does _B_, _O'F_: doe _P_]
[5 As] And _Chambers_]
[7 as Goodnes] 'tis goodnes _Chambers_]
[8 hands, _Ed_: hands _S96_]
[10 minde, _B_: minde _S96_]
[11 There heav'n is _O'F_, _P_, _S96_: Where Reason is
_Chambers_
sheddinge, _Ed_: sheddinge _S96_]
[12 this] his _Chambers_]
_To a Watch restored to its Mystres. _
Goe and Count her better howers.
For they are happier than oures.
The day that gives her any bliss,
Make it as long againe as 'tis.
The hower shee smyles in, lett it bee 5
By thy acte multiplyde to three.
But if shee frowne on thee or mee,
Know night is made by her, not thee;
Be swifte in such an hower & soone,
See thou make night, ere it be noone. 10
Obey her tymes, whoe is the free
Faire Sunne that governes thee & mee.
[To a Watch _&c. _ _B_, _where note below title says_ none of
J. D. _and poem is signed_ W. L. ]
<_Ad Solem. _>
Wherfore peepst thou, envious daye?
We can kisse without thee.
Lovers hate the golden raye,
Which thou bearst about thee.
Goe and give them light that sorowe 5
Or the saylor flyinge:
Our imbraces need noe morowe
Nor our blisses eying.
We shall curse thy curyous eye
For thy soone betrayinge, 10
And condemn thee for a spye
Yf thou catch us playinge.
Gett thee gone and lend thy flashes
Where there's need of lendinge,
Our affections are not ashes 15
Nor our pleasures endinge.
Weare we cold or withered heare
We would stay thee by us,
Or but one anothers feare
Then thou shouldst not flye us. 20
Wee are yongue, thou spoilst our pleasure;
Goe to sea and slumber,
Darknes only gives us leasure
Our stolne joyes to number.
[<Ad Solem. > _Ed_: _no title_, _Add. MSS. _ _22603_, _33998_,
_Egerton MS. 2013_, _Harleian MS. 791_, _S_, _TCD(II)_:
_printed J. Wilson_: Cheerful Ayres (1659), _Grosart and
Chambers_: _text from Eg. MS. 2013_: _punctuation partly
Editor's_]
[2 kisse] live _E20_]
[9 curyous _A22_, _A33_, _H79_, _S_, _TCD_: envious _E20_]
[19 one anothers feare _TCD_: one another fear _E20_: one
anothers sphere _A22_, _A33_, _S_]
[23 gives] lends _A22_, _A33_]
<_If She Deride. _>
Greate and goode if she deryde mee
Let me walke Ile not despayre,
Ere to morrowe Ile provide mee
One as greate, lesse prowd, more faire.
They that seeke Love to constraine 5
Have theire labour for their paine.
They that strongly can importune
And will never yeild nor tyre,
Gaine the paye in spight of Fortune
But such game Ile not desyre. 10
Where the prize is shame or synn,
Wynners loose and loosers wynn.
Looke upon the faythfull lover,
Griefe stands paynted in his face,
Groanes, and Teares and sighs discover 15
That they are his onely grace:
Hee must weepe as children doe
That will in the fashion wooe.
I whoe flie these idle fancies
Which my dearest rest betraye, 20
Warnd by others harmfull chances,
Vse my freedome as I may.
When all the worlde says what it cann
'Tis but--Fie, vnconstant mann!
[<If She Deryde. > _Chambers_: _no title_, _S_: _also, Chambers
reports, in C. C. C. Oxon. MS. 327, f. 26: printed by Grosart
and Chambers_]
[11 Where the prize is _Chambers_: Where they prize this
(_'t' struck out_) _S_: Where they prize is _Grosart_]
[14 Teares and sighs] _Chambers reverses_]
<_Fortune Never Fails. _>
What if I come to my mistris bedd
The candles all ecclipst from shyninge,
Shall I then attempt for her mayden-head
Or showe my selfe a coward by declyninge?
Oh noe 5
Fie doe not soe,
For thus much I knowe by devyninge,
Blynd is Love
The dark it doth approve,
To pray on pleasures pantinge; 10
What needeth light
For Cupid in the night,
If jealous eyes be wantinge.
Fortune never failes, if she badd take place,
To shroude all the faire proceedings: 15
Love and she though blynd, yet each other embrace,
To favor all their servants meetings:
Venture I say
To sport and to play,
If in place all be fitting; 20
Though she say fie
Yet doth she not denie:
For fie is but a word of tryall:
Jealosie doth sleepe,
Then doe not weepe 25
At force of a faynt denyall.
Glorious is my love, with tryumphs in her face,
Then to to bould were I to venter:
Who loves deserves to live in a princes grace,
Why stand you then affraid to enter? 30
Lights are all out
Then make noe doubt
A lover bouldly maye take chusinge.
Bewtie is a baite
For a princely mate. 35
Fy, why stand you then a musinge?
You'll repent too late
If she doe you hate,
For loves delight refusinge.
[<Fortune Never Fails. > _Grosart_: _no title_, _RP31_, _S_:
_also, Chambers reports, in C. C. C. Oxon. MS. 327, f. 21:
printed Grosart and Chambers, and, last two verses only,
Simeon_]
[10 pantinge;] hauntinge: _RP31_]
[14 she badd _S_: she bidd _Grosart_: she bids _Chambers_: the
bould _RP31_]
[19 and to play _RP31_, _S_: and play _Grosart and Chambers_]
[26 faynt] fair _Chambers_]
[28 were] was _RP31_]
[29 princes] Princess _Chambers_]
[33 lover] woer _Chambers_
chusinge] a choosing _Chambers_]
_To His Mistress. _
1. Beleeve yo^r Glasse, and if it tell you (Deare)
Yo^r Eyes inshrine
A brighter shine
Then faire Apollo, looke if theere appeare
The milkie skye 5
The Crimson dye
Mixt in your cheeks, and then bid Phoebus sett,
More Glory then hee owes appears. But yet
2. Be not deceived with fond Alteration
. . . . . 10
. . . . .
. . . . . . . .
As Cynthias Globe,
A snow white robe
Is soonest spotled, a Carnation dye 15
Fades, and discolours open'd but to Eie.
3. Make use of youth, and bewty whilest they flourish:
Tyme never sleepes,
Though it but creeps
It still gets forward. Do not vainly nourish 20
Them to selfe-use,
It is Abuse;
The richest Grownds lying wast turne Boggs and rott,
And soe beinge useles, were as good were not.
4. Walke in a meddowe by a Rivers side, 25
Upon whose Bancks
Grow milk-white Ranks
Of full blown Lyllies in their height of Pryde,
Which downward bend
And nothing tend 30
Save their owne Bewties in the Glassie streame:
Looke to yo^r selfe: Compare yo^{r}selfe to them.
5. In show, in bewtie, marke what followes then:
Sommer must end,
The sunn must bend 35
His Longe Absented beames to others: then
Their spring being crost
By wynters frost
And sneap'd by bytter storms against w^{ch} nought boots,
They bend their prowd topps lower then their roots. 40
6. Then none regard them; but w^{th} heedles feet
In durt each treads
Their declyned heads.
So when youthe wasted, Age, and yo^u shall meet,
Then I alone
Shall sadly moane 45
That Interviewe; others it will not move,
So light regard we, what we little Love.
FINIS.
[To His Mistress. _Le Prince D'Amour_ (_1660_): _no title_,
_S_ (_whence text_): _printed by Simeon_, _Grosart_,
_Chambers_: _punctuation partly Editor's_]
[1 if it tell] it will tell _Chambers_]
[9 deceived] deceiv'd _S_]
[16 open'd] opened _S_]
[24 were not] as not _LeP D' A_]
[31 the Glassie _S_: a Glassie _LePD'A_: their Glassie
_Chambers_]
[32 to them. _S_: with them. _Chambers_]
[36 then] when _Chambers_]
[39 sneap'd _Ed_: snep'd _S_: swept _LePD'A_: snipped
_Chambers_]
_A Paradoxe of a Painted Face. _
Not kisse? By Jove I must, and make impression
As longe as Cupid dares to holde his Session
Vpon my flesh and blood: our kisses shall
Outminute Time and without number fall.
Doe I not know these Balls of blushinge Red 5
That on thy Cheekes thus amorouslie are spred?
Thy snowy necke, those veynes upon thy Browe
Which with their azure crincklinge sweetly bowe
Are artificiall? Borrowed? and no more thine owne
Then Chaines which on St. George's Day are showne, 10
Are proper to the wearers? Yet for this
I idole thee, and beg a luscious kisse.
The fucus, and Ceruse, which on thy face
Thy Cunninge hand layes on to add new Grace,
Detaine me with such pleasing fraude, that I 15
Finde in thy art, what can in nature Lie.
Much like a painter that upon some Wall
On which the radiant Sun-beames use to fall
Paints with such art a Gilded butterflye
That silly maides with slowe-moved fingers trye 20
To Catch it, and then blush at theire mistake,
Yet of this painted flye most reckonynge make:
Such is our state; since what we looke upon
Is nought but Coullor and Proportion.
Take me a face, as full of fraud and Lies 25
As Gypsies in your cunninge Lotteries,
That is more false, and more Sophisticate
Than are Saints reliques, or a man of state.
Yet such being Glazed by the sleight of arte,
Gaines admiration, winninge many a Harte. 30
Put case there be a difference in the molde,
Yet may thy Venus be more Chaste, and holde
A dearer treasure: oftentimes we see
Rich Candian wines in woodden Boules to bee.
The odoriferous Civet doth not lie 35
Within the muskat's nose, or eare, or eye,
But in a baser place; for prudent nature
In drawinge us of various formes and stature
Gives from the curious shop of hir rich treasure
To faire parts comeliness, to baser, pleasure. 40
The fairest flowers, which in the Springe doe growe
Are not so much for use, as for the showe,
As Lillies, Hyacinths, and the georgious birthe
Of all pide flowers that diaper the earthe,
Please more with their discoloured purple traine 45
Then wholesome pothearbs which for use remaine.
Shall I a Gaudy Speckled Serpent kiss
For that the colours which he weares are his?
A perfumed Cordevant who will not wear
Because the sente is borrowed elsewhere? 50
The roabes and vestiments, which grace us all
Are not our owne, but adventitiall.
Time rifles Natures beauty, but slye Arte
Repaires by cunninge this decayinge parte.
Fills here a wrinckle, and there purles a veyne, 55
And with a nimble hand runs o're againe
The breaches dented in by th'arme of time,
And makes Deformity to be no crime.
As when great men be grip't by sicknes hand,
Industrious Physicke pregnantly doth stand 60
To patch up foule diseases, and doth strive
To keepe theire totteringe Carcasses alive.
Beautie is a candlelight which every puffe
Blowes out, and leaves nought but a stinking snuffe
To fill our nostrills with; this boldelie thinke, 65
The cleerest Candle makes the greatest stincke,
As your pure fode and cleerest nutryment
Gets the most hott, and nose stronge excrement.
Why hange we then on thinges so apt to varie,
So fleetinge, brittle, and so temporarie? 70
That agues, Coughes, the toothache, or Catarr
(Slight hansells of diseases) spoile and marr.
But when olde age theire beauties hath in Chace,
And plowes up furrowes in theire once-smoothe face,
Then they become forsaken, and doe showe 75
Like stately abbeyes ruin'd longe agoe.
Nature but gives the modell, and first draught
Of faire perfection, which by art is taught
To speake itselfe, a compleat form and birthe,
Soe stands a Copie to these shapes on earthe. 80
Jove grante me then a reparable face
Which, whiles that Colours are, can want no grace.
Pigmalions painted statue I coulde love,
Soe it were warme and softe, and coulde but move.
[A Paradoxe of a Painted Face. _H39_, _S_, _S96_, _TCD_ (_II_)
_Pembroke and Ruddier_ (_1660_), _Le Prince D'Amour_ (_1660_),
_Simeon_ (_1856-7_), _Grosart_ (_from S_), _Chambers_ (_from
Simeon_, _and Pembroke and Ruddier_): _text from S96_:
_punctuation partly Editor's_]
[8 azure crincklinge _S96_: azure winckles _P and R_: azure
twinklinge _S_: azur'd wrinklings _TCD_: azure wrinkles
_Chambers_]
[15 Detaine] Deceive _H39_, _P and R_, _LeP D' A_, _TCD_,
_Chambers_
pleasing] cunning _TCD_]
[18 radiant _S96_: cadent _H39_, _TCD_, _LeP D' A_, _Grosart_,
_and Chambers_: splendent _P and R_]
[21 then] yet _S96_]
[32 Chaste] choise _P and R_, _LeP D' A_, _TCD_]
[39 shop] shape _S96_
rich] largest _S96_: large _P and R_, _Grosart_, _and
Chambers_]
[45 discoloured] discovered _H39_: _but_ discoloured _is here_
variegated]
[53 rifles] rifled _S96_]
[55 purles] fills _S_: purls _is_ embroiders as with gold or
silver thread]
[67 clearest] choicest _P and R_: cleanest _S_: finest
_Chambers_]
[68 most hott] most stronge _S96_]
[72 hansells _H39_: houses _S_, _S96_, _Chambers_: touches _P
and R_: causes _LeP D' A_]
[73 beauties] brav'ries _H39_]
[79 To speake itselfe _TCD_, _P and R_: Speake to itselfe _S_,
_S96_: Speake for itselfe _H39_: To make itselfe _Simeon_,
_Grosart_, _and Chambers_]
_Sonnett. _
Madam that flea that Crept between your brests
I envied, that there he should make his rest:
The little Creatures fortune was soe good
That Angells feed not on so pretious foode.
How it did sucke how eager tickle you 5
(Madam shall fleas before me tickle you? )
Oh I can not holde; pardon if I kild it.
Sweet Blood, to you I aske this, that which fild it
Ran from my Ladies Brest. Come happie flea
That dide for suckinge of that milkie Sea. 10
Oh now againe I well could wishe thee there,
About hir Hart, about hir anywhere;
I would vowe (Dearest flea) thou shouldst not dye,
If thou couldst sucke from hir hir crueltye.
[Sonnett. _O'F_, _S96_: _no title_, _S_: On A Flea on His
Mistress's Bosom _Simeon_, _Grosart_, _Chambers_ (_from
Simeon_): _text from S96_]
[7 I can not holde] I not hold can _Chambers_
kild _Ed_: killed _Chambers_: kill _S96_]
[13 vowe ] now _Chambers_
Dearest _S96_: deare _S_, _O'F_, _Chambers_
thou] that thou _Chambers_]
_On Black Hayre and Eyes. _
If shaddowes be the pictures excellence;
And make it seeme more lively to the sence;
If starres in the bright day are hid from sight
And shine most glorious in the masque of night;
Why should you thinke (rare creature) that you lack 5
Perfection cause your haire and eyes are blacke,
Or that your heavenly beauty which exceedes
The new sprung lillies in their mayden weeds,
The damaske coullour of your cheekes and lipps
Should suffer by their darknesse an eclipps? 10
Rich diamonds shine brightest, being sett
And compassed within a foyle of Jett.
Nor was it fitt that Nature should have mayde
So bright a sunne to shine without a shade.
It seemes that Nature when she first did fancie 15
Your rare composure studied Necromancie,
That when to you this guift she did impart
She used altogether the black art.
By which infused power from Magique tooke
You doe command all spiritts with a looke: 20
Shee drew those Magique circles in your eyes,
And mayde your hayre the chaines wherewith shee ties
Rebelling hearts: those blew veines which appeare,
Winding Meander about either spheare,
Misterious figures are, and when you list 25
Your voice commandeth like the Exorcist,
And every word which from your Pallett falleth
In a deep charme your hearer's heart inthralleth.
Oh! If in Magique you have skill so farre,
Vouchsafe me to be your familiar. 30
Nor hath kind Nature her black art reveal'd
To outward partes alone, some lie conceal'd,
And as by heads of springs men often knowe
The nature of the streames that run belowe,
So your black haire and eyes do give direction 35
To make me thinke the rest of like complexion:
That rest where all rest lies that blesseth Man,
That Indian mine, that straight of Magellan,
That worlde dividing gulfe where he that venters,
With swelling sayles and ravisht senses enters 40
To a new world of blisse. Pardon, I pray,
If my rude muse presumeth to display
Secretts unknowne, or hath her bounds orepast
In praysing sweetnesse which I ne're did tast;
Sterved men doe know there's meate, and blind men may 45
Though hid from light presume there is a day.
The rover in the marke his arrowe sticks
Sometimes as well as he that shootes att prickes,
And if I might direct my shaft aright,
The black mark would I hitt and not the white. 50
[On Black Hayre and Eyes _Add. MS. 11811, on which text is
based: in several MSS. including A25, TCD (II), L77: printed
in Parnassus Biceps (1656), Pembroke and Ruddier's Poems
(1660), Simeon (1856-7), Grosart, and Chambers_]
[2 it _A2I_, _H60_, _TCD_: them _A11_: things _L77_]
[4 shine _H39_, _TCD_: seem _A11_, _Grosart_, _and Chambers_]
[8 mayden weeds,] maidenheads, _H39_, _TCD_, _Grosart_, _and
Chambers_]
[9 The damasque coullor of] That cherry colour of _H39_,
_TCD_: Or that the cherries of _Some MSS. _]
[12 compassed ] compos'd _A11_
foyle] field _Chambers_]
[19 tooke] book _Grosart and Chambers_]
[20 all spiritts] like spirits _Grosart and Chambers_]
[25 figures] fables _A11_]
[26 commandeth] commands _A11_]
[29 you have skill _L77_, _TCD_, _&c. _: your power _A11_: you
have power _Grosart and Chambers_]
[33 For (And) as by the springhead a man may (men often) know
_L77_, _TCD_, _and other MSS. _]
[34 streame . . . runs _L77_, _&c. _]
[44 did] shall _TCD and other MSS. _]
[47 sticks] strikes _Grosart and Chambers_]
[49 direct _L77_, _TCD_, _&c. _: ayme _A11_, _Grosart_, _and
Chambers_]
_Fragment of an Elegy. _
And though thy glasse a burning one become
And turne us both to ashes on her urne,
Yet to our glory till the later day
Our dust shall daunce like attomes in her ray.
And when the world shall in confusion burne, 5
And Kinges and peasantes scramble at an urne,
Like tapers new blowne out wee happy then
Will at her beames catch fire and live againe.
But this is sence, and some one may-be glad
That I so good a cause of sorrow had, 10
Will with all those whome I affect may dye
So I might please him with an elegie.
O let there never line of witt be read
To please the living that doth speake thee dead;
Some tender-harted mother good and mild, 15
Who on the deare grave of her tender child
So many sad teares hath beene knowne to rayne
As out of dust would mould him up againe,
And with hir plaintes enforce the wormes to place
Themselves like veynes so neatly on his face, 20
And every lymne, as if that they wer striving
To flatter hir with hope of his reviving:
Shee should read this, and hir true teares alone
Should coppy forth these sad lines on the stone
Which hides thee dead, and every gentle hart 25
That passeth by should of his teares impart
So great a portion, that if after times
Ruine more churches for the Clergyes crimes,
When any shall remove thy marble hence,
Which is lesse stone then hee that takes it thence, 30
Thou shalt appeare within thy tearefull cell
Much like a faire nymph bathing in a well.
[25 Anchors _Chambers_: Anchos _A25_]
[29 traine, _Ed_: traine _A25_]
[31 inke, _Ed_: inke _A25_]
_O Frutefull Garden. _
O Frutefull garden, and yet never tilde,
Box full of Treasure yet by noe man filde.
O thou which haste, made him that first made thee;
O neare of kinne to all the Trinetie;
O Pallace where the kinge of all, and more; 5
Went in, and out, yet never opened doore;
Whose flesh is purer, than an others sperrit
Reache him our Prayers, and reach us down his merrit;
O bread of lyfe which sweld'ste up without Leaven;
O bridge which joynst togeather earth and heaven; 10
Whose eyes see me through these walles, and throughe glasse,
And through this fleshe as thorowe Cipres passe.
Behould a little harte made greate by thee
Swellinge, yet shrinkinge at thy majestie.
O dwell in it, for where soe ere thou go'ste 15
There is the Temple of the Holy Ghoste.
[O Frutefull Garden. _A25_: [TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. ]
_Chambers_]
[6 out, _Ed_: out _A25_]
[8 merrit; _Ed_: merrit, _A25_]
[9 Leaven, _Ed_: Leaven _A25_]
_To my Lord of Pembroke. _
Fye, Fye you sonnes of Pallas what madd rage
Makes you contend that Love's, or God, or page?
Hee that admires, his weaknes doth confess;
For as Love greater growes; soe hee growes less.
Hee that disdaines, what honor wynns thereby, 5
That he feeles not, or triumphes on a fly?
If love with queasie paine thy stomack move,
Soe will a slutt whome none dare touch; or love.
If it with sacred straines doe thee inspire
Of Poetrie; soe wee maye want admire. 10
If it thee valiant make, his ryvall hate
Can out doe that and make men desperate.
Yealdinge to us, all woemen conquer us,
By gentlenes we are betrayed thus.
We will not strive with Love that's a shee beaste; 15
But playinge wee are bounde, and yeald in Jest;
As in a Cobwebb toyle, a flye hath beene
Undone; so have I some fainte lover seene.
Love cannot take away our strength, but tame,
And wee less feele the thinge then feare the name; 20
Love is a temperate bath; hee that feeles more
Heate or could there, was hott, or could before.
But as Suñ beames which would but norishe, burne,
Drawne into hollow Christall, soe we turne
To fire her bewties Lustre willingly, 25
By gatheringe it in our false treacherous eye.
Love is nor you, nor you; but I a balme,
Sword to the stiff, unto the wounded balme.
Prayes noe thinge adds, if it be infinite,
If it be nothing, who can lessen it? 30
[To my Lord of Pembroke. _A25_, _Chambers_]
[3 confess; _Ed_: confess _A25_]
[5 disdaines, _Ed_: disdaines _A25_]
[6 fly? _Ed_: fly; _A25_]
[19 tame, _Ed_: tame _A25_]
[27 I a balme, _A25_: Aye a calm, _Chambers conjectures_]
_Of a Lady in the Black Masque. _
Why chose shee black; was it that in whitenes
Shee did Leda equal? whose brightnes
Must suffer loss to put a bewtie on
Which hath no grace but from proportion.
It is but Coullor, which to loose is gayne, 5
For shee in black doth th'Æthiopian staine,
Beinge the forme that beautifies the creature
Her rareness not in Coullor is; but feature.
Black on her receaves soe strong a grace
It seemes the fittest beautie for the face. 10
Coullor is not, but in æstimation
Faire, or foule, as it is stild by fashion.
Kinges wearinge sackcloath it doth royall make;
Soe black<ne>s from her face doth beautie take.
It not in Coullor but in her, inheres, 15
For what she is, is faire, not what she weares;
The Moore shalle envye her, as much, or more,
As did the Ladies of our Court before.
The Sunn shall mourne that hee had westwarde beene,
To seeke his Love; whilst shee i'th North was seene. 20
Her blacknes lends like lustre to her eyes,
As in the night pale Phoebe glorifyes.
Hell, synne, and vice their attributes shall loose
Of black, for it wan, and pale whitenes choose,
As like themselves, Common, and most in use: 25
Sad of that Coulor is the late abuse.
[Of a Lady _&c. _ _A25_, _Chambers_]
[10 face. _Ed_: face _A25_]
[13 make; _Ed_: make _A25_]
[14 black<ne>s _Chambers_: blacks _A25_]
[16 weares; _Ed_: weares, _A25_]
II.
POEMS FROM THE BURLEY MS.
<_Life. _>
This lyfe it is not life, it is a sight
That wee have of y^e earth, y^e earth of vs;
It is a feild, where sence & reason fight,
The soules & bodies quarrells to discus;
It is a iorney where wee do not goe, 5
but fly w^{th} speedy wings t'our blisse or woe.
It is a chaine y^t hath but two smale links
Where<with> o^r graue is to o^r bodie ioyned;
It is a poysned feast wherein who thinks
To tast ioyes cup, y^e cup of death doth find. 10
It is a play, presented in heauens eye
Wherein o^r parts are to do naught but dye.
[Life. > _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]
[2 vs; _Ed_: vs _Bur_]
[3 feild, _Ed_: feild _Bur_]
[4 discus; _Ed_: discus _Bur_]
[6 Woe. _Ed_: woe _Bur_]
[8 Where<with> _Ed_: where _Bur_
ioyned; _Ed_: ioyned _Bur_]
<_My Love. _>
My love doth fly w^{th} wings of feare
And doth a flame of fire resemble,
w^{ch} mounting high & burning cleere
yet ever more doth wane & tremble.
My loue doth see & still admire, 5
Admiring breedeth humblenes;
blind loue is bold, but my desire
the more it loues p^{re}sumes y^e lesse.
My loue seekes no reward or glory
but w^{th} it self it self contenteth, 10
is never sullaine, never sory,
never repyneth or repenteth.
O'who the sunne beames can behold
but hath some passion, feeles some heat,
for though the sunn himself be cold 15
his beames reflecting fire begett.
O y^t myne eyes, ô that myne hart
Were both enlarged to contayne
the beames & ioyes shee doth impart,
whilst shee this bowre doth not disdayne; 20
this bowre vnfit for such a gueste,
but since she makes it now her Inn,
Would god twere like her sacred breast
most fayre w^{th}out, most rich w^{th}in.
[<My Love. > _Ed_: _no title and no punctuation_, _Bur_]
[4 wane _Ed_: weane _Bur_]
[12 never _Ed_: ne're _Bur_]
<_O Eyes! _>
O Eyes, what do you see?
O eares what do you heare?
that makes y^o wish to bee
All eyes or else all eare?
I see a face as fayre 5
As mans eye ever saw,
I here as sweet an ayre
as y^t w^{ch} rocks did draw,
I wish, when in such wise
I see or heare y^e same, 10
I had all Argus eyes
or else y^e eare<s> of fame.
[<O Eyes! > _Ed_: _no title and no punctuation_, _Bur_]
[12 eare<s> _Ed_: eare _Bur_:
Cui, quot sunt corpore plumae,
Tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,
Tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, _tot subrigit auris_.
Virgil: _Aen. _ iv. 181-3.
]
<_Silence Best Praise. _>
Cõmend her? no. I dare not terme her fayre,
nor sugred sweet, nor tall, nor louely browne;
suffice it y^t she is w^{th}out compare;
but how, I dare not tell lest she should frowne.
but those parts <least> w^{ch} others make theyre pryde, 5
and feed there fancies w^{th} devised lyes;
giue me but leaue to pull my saint asyde,
and tell her in her eare that she is wise.
to write of beauties rare ther is noe art,
for why tis common to there sex & kind, 10
but making choice of natures better part
my Muse doth most desire to prayse her mind.
But as her vertue<s> clayme a crowne of bayes,
So manners makes me sylent in her prayse.
[<Silence Best Praise. > _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]
[1 fayre, _Ed_: fayre _Bur_]
[2 sweet, . . . tall, . . . browne; _Ed_: _no stops_, _Bur_]
[3 compare; _Ed_: compare _Bur_]
[4 frowne. _Ed_: frowne _Bur_]
[5 <least> _Ed_: lest _Bur_
pryde, _Ed_: pryde _Bur_]
[6 lyes; _Ed_: lyes _Bur_]
[7 asyde, _Ed_: asyde _Bur_]
[8 wise. _Ed_: wise _Bur_]
[9-10 art, . . . kind. _Ed_: _no commas_, _Bur_]
[10 common] cõmõ _Bur_]
[12 mind. _Ed_: mind _Bur_]
[13 vertue<s> _Ed_: vertue _Bur_
bayes, _Ed_: bayes _Bur_]
<_Beauty in Little Room. _>
Those drossy heads & irrepurged braynes
w^{ch} sacred fyre of loue hath not refined
may grossly think my loue smale worth contaynes
because shee is of body smale combined.
Not diving to y^e depth of natures reach, 5
W^{ch} on smale things doth greatest guifts bestow:
small gems & pearls do witt more truly teach
W^ch little are yet great in vertue grow,
of flowers most part y^e least wee sweetest see,
of creatures having life & sence y^e annt 10
is smalst, yet great her guifts & vertues bee,
frugall & provident for feare of want.
Wherfore who sees not natures full intent?
she made her smale to make her excellent.
[<Beauty in Little Room. > _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]
[5 depth _Ed_: depht _Bur_
reach, _Ed_: reach _Bur_]
[6 bestow: _Ed_: bestow _Bur_]
[8 grow, _Ed_: grow _Bur_]
[11 bee, _Ed_: bee _Bur_]
[13 intent? _Ed_: intent _Bur_]
<_Loves Zodiake. _>
I that y^e higher half of loues
Round Zodiake haue rune,
And in the signe of crabbed chaunce
My Tropick haue begun,
Am taught to teach y^e man is blest 5
Whose loues lott lights so badd,
as his solstitium soonest makes
And so growes Retrograde.
[<Loves Zodiake> _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]
<_Fortune, Love, and Time. _>
When fortune, loue, and Tyme bad me be happie,
Happy I was by fortune, loue, and tyme.
These powres at highest then began to vary,
and cast him downe whome they had caus'd to clyme;
They prun'd theire wings, and tooke theire flight in rage; 5
fortune to fooles, loue to gold, and tyme to age.
Fooles, gold, and age, (o foolish golden age! )
Witt, fayth, and loue must begg, must brybe, must dy;
These are the actors and the world's the stage,
Desert and hope are as but standers by: 10
True lovers sit and tune this restlesse song;
Fortune, loue, and tyme haue done me wrong.
[<Fortune, Love, and Time. > _Ed_: _no title and no
punctuation_, _Bur_]
<_Life a Play. _>
What is o^r life? a play of passion.
o^r mirth? the musick of diuision.
O^r mothers wombs the tyring houses bee
Where we are drest for liues short comedy.
The earth the stage, heauen y^e spectator is, 5
Who still doth note who ere do act amisse.
O^r graues that hyde vs, frõ the all-seeing suñ,
Are but drawne curtaynes whẽ the play is done.
[<Life a Play. > _Ed_: _no title, and no punctuation except the
two marks of interrogation_, _Bur_]
_A Kisse. _
O what a blisse
is this?
heaven is effected
and loues eternity contracted
In one short kisse. 5
For not tymes measure
makes pleasure
more full,
tedious and dull
all ioyes are thought 10
y^t are not in an instant wrought.
Cupi<d>s blest and highest spheare
is heare.
heere on his throne
in his bright imperial crowne 15
hee sitts.
Those witts
That thinke to proue
that mortals know
in any place below 20
a blisse so great
so sweet
Are heretiques in loue.
These pleasures high
now dye, 25
but still beginning
new & greater glory wiñing
gett fresh supply.
No short breath'd panting
nor faynting 30
is heere,
fuller and freer
more pleasinge is
this pleasure still, & none but this.
Heer'es no blush nor labor great, 35
no sweat;
Heres no payne
nor repentance when againe
Loue cooles.
O fooles 40
That fondly glory
in base condition
of sensual fruition,
you do mistake
& make 45
y^r heaven purgatory.
[A Kisse. _Bur_]
[8 full. _Ed_: full _Bur_]
[12 Cupi<d>s _Ed_: Cupis _Bur_]
[27 new _Ed_: now _Bur_]
[28 supply. _Ed_: supply _Bur_]
[31 heere, _Ed_: heere _Bur_]
[35 great, _Ed_: great _Bur_]
[39 cooles. _Ed_: cooles _Bur_]
[43 fruition, _Ed_: fruition _Bur_]
_Epi: B: Jo:_
Tell me who can when a player dies
In w^{ch} of his shapes againe hee shall rise?
What need hee stand at the iudgment throne
Who hath a heaven and a hell of his owne.
Then feare not Burbage heavens angry rodd, 5
When thy fellows are angells & old Hemmĩgs is God.
[Epi: B: Jo: (i. e. Epitaph: Ben Ionson) _Bur_: _no
punctuation_]
_Epi: Hen: Princ: Hug^o Holland. _
Loe now hee shineth yonder
A fixed starr in heaven,
Whose motion is vnder
None of the planetts seaven;
And if the soñ should tender 5
The moone his loue and marry,
They never could engender
So fayre a starr as Harry.
[Epi: Hen: Princ: Hug^o Holland. _Bur_: _no punctuation_]
III.
POEMS FROM VARIOUS MSS.
<_The Annuntiation. _
_Additional Lines. _>
Nature amaz'd sawe man without mans ayde
Borne of a mother nursed by her a mayd,
The child the Parent was, the worke the word,
No word till then did such a worke affoord.
Twas lesse from nothing the world's all to growe 5
Then all-Creato^{rs} height to stoope so lowe.
A virgin mother to a child bredd wonder,
T'was more a child should bee the God of thunder.
Th'omnipotent was strangely potent heere
To make the powerfull God pearelesse appeare. 10
Hee in our body cladd, for our soules love
Came downe to us, yet stay'd vnchanged above.
Yet God through man shind still in this cleere brooke,
Through meane shewes into maiesty wee looke.
Sinnes price seemd payd with brasse, fewe sawe the gold, 15
Yet true stones set in lead theyr lustre hold.
His birth though poore, Prophets foretold his story,
Hee breathd with beasts, but Angels sung his glory.
Hee, so farr of, so weake, yet Herod quakes,
The citty dreads, babes, murderd, feare mistakes. 20
His Circumcision bore sinne, payne, and shame,
Young bloud new budd, hence bloomd a sauiours name.
His paynes and passion bredd compassion, wonder;
Earth trembling, heavens darke, rocks rent asunder.
His birth, life, death, his words, his workes, his face 25
Shewd a rich Jewell shining through the case,
Cast thus, since man at gods high presence trembles.
Heere man mans troth loves whome his sheepe resembles.
The bright Sunne beame a sickly eye may di[~m]e,
A little babe in shallow heart may swi[~m]. 30
Hee heavens wealth to a poore stable brings,
Th'oxestall the Court unto the king of kings.
No Shadowes now nor lightning flames give terro^r.
This light tells with our tongue, and beares o^r erro^r.
Pure infant teares, moist pearle adornd his cheeke, 35
Assignd, ere borne, our erring soules to seeke.
Hee first wept teares, then bloud, a deare redemption;
This bought what Adam sould, that seemd preemption.
Cleare droppe, deare seede, the corne had bloudy eares,
Rich harvest reapd in bloud and sowne in teares. 40
Who this Corne in theyr hart nor thresh, nor lay,
Breake for sinnes debt, unthrifty never pay.
Use wealth, it wastes, a stayd hand heapes the store,
But this the more wee use wee have the more;
Use, not like usury whose growth is lending, 45
Rich thoughts this treasure keepe and thrive by spending;
Th'expense runnes circular, turning returning,
Such love no hart consumes, yet ever burning.
[<The Annuntiation. Additional Lines. > _Ed_: _these lines run
straight on as part of_ The Annuntiation and Passion _in O'F_]
[2 a mayd] _Norton supplies_ a mayd, _Ed_: mayd _O'F_]
[3 was,. . . word, _Ed_: _no commas_, _O'F_]
[6 lowe. _Ed_: lowe _O'F_]
[7 wonder, _Ed_: wonder _O'F_]
[8 thunder. _Ed_: thunder _O'F_]
[13 brooke, _Ed_: brooke _O'F_]
[21 shame, _Ed_: shame _O'F_]
[23 wonder; _Ed_: wonder _O'F_]
[24 trembling, _Ed_: trembling _O'F_]
[26 case, _Ed_: case _O'F_]
[27 trembles. _Ed_: trembles _O'F_]
[28 resembles. _Ed_: resẽbles _O'F_]
[29 di[~m]e, _Ed_: di[~m]e _O'F_]
[31 brings, _Ed_: brings _O'F_]
[35 cheeke, _Ed_: cheeke _O'F_]
[37 redemption; _Ed_: redemption _O'F_]
[38 preemption. _Ed_: preemption _O'F_]
[39 eares, _Ed_: eares _O'F_]
[41 lay, _Ed_: lay _O'F_]
[43 store, _Ed_: store _O'F_]
[44 more; _Ed_: more _O'F_]
[45 Use, . . . lending, _Ed_: _no commas_, _O'F_]
[46 spending; _Ed_: spending _O'F_]
[47 returning, _Ed_: returning _O'F_]
[48 consumes, _Ed_: consumes _O'F_]
_Elegy. To Chast Love. _
Chast Love, let mee embrace thee in mine armes
Without the thought of lust. From thence no harmes
Ensue, no discontent attende those deeds
So innocently good w^{ch} thy love breeds.
Th'approche of day brings to thy sence no feares, 5
Nor is the black nights worke washd in thy teares;
Thou takst no care to keepe thy lover true,
Nor yet by flighte, nor fond inventions new
To hold him in, who with like flame of love
Must move his spirit too, as thine doth move; 10
w^{ch} ever mounts aloft with golden wings
And not declines to lowe despised things.
Thy soule is bodyd within thy quiet brest
In safety, free from trouble and unrest.
Thou fearst no ill because thou dost no ill, 15
Like mistress of thy selfe, thy thought, and will,
Obey thy mind, a mind for ever such
As all may prayse, but none admire too much.
Then come, Chast Love, choyse part of womankind
Infuse chast thoughts into my loving mind. 20
[Elegy. To Chast Love. _O'F_]
[5 feares, _Ed_: feares _O'F_]
[6 teares; _Ed_: teares _O'F_]
[7 true, _Ed_: true _O'F_]
[9 in, _Ed_: in _O'F_]
[10 move; _Ed_: move _O'F_]
[15 ill, _Ed_: ill _O'F_]
[16 will, _Ed_: will _O'F_]
_Upon his scornefull Mistresse. Elegy. _
Cruell since that thou dost not feare the curse
W^{ch} thy disdayne, and my despayre procure,
My prayer for thee shall torment thee worse
Then all the payne thou coudst thereby endure.
May, then, that beauty w^{ch} I did conceave 5
In thee above the height of heavens course,
When first my Liberty thou didst bereave,
Bee doubled on thee and with doubled force.
Chayne thousand vassalls in like thrall with mee,
W^{ch} in thy glory mayst thou still despise, 10
As the poore Trophyes of that victory
Which thou hast onely purchasd by thine eyes;
And when thy Triumphs so extended are
That there is nought left to bee conquered,
Mayst thou with the great Monarchs mournfull care 15
Weepe that thine Hono^{rs} are so limited;
So thy disdayne may melt it selfe to love
By an unlookd for and a wondrous change,
W^{ch} to thy selfe above the rest must prove
In all th'effects of love paynefully strange, 20
While wee thy scorned subjects live to see
Thee love the whole world, none of it love thee.
[Upon his scornefull Mistresse. _O'F_: _no title_, _B_, _which
adds note_, This hath relation to 'When by thy scorne'. _See_
The Apparition, _p. _ 191]
[2 despayre _B_: disdayne _O'F_
procure, _Ed_: procure _O'F_]
[6 course, _Ed_: course _O'F_]
[7 bereave, _Ed_: bereave _O'F_]
[8 force. _Ed_: force _O'F_]
[9 Chayne _B_: Stay _O'F_ mee, _Ed_: mee _O'F_]
[10 despise, _Ed_: despise _O'F_]
[12 eyes; _Ed_: eyes _O'F_]
[14 conquered, _Ed_: conquered _O'F_]
[16 limited; _Ed_: limited _O'F_]
[18 change, _Ed_: change _O'F_]
[20 strange, _Ed_: strange _O'F_]
<_Absence. _>
Wonder of Beautie, Goddesse of my sense,
You that have taught my soule to love aright,
You in whose limbes are natures chief expense
Fitt instrument to serve your matchless spright,
If ever you have felt the miserie 5
Of being banish'd from your best desier,
By Absence, Time, or Fortunes tyranny,
Sterving for cold, and yet denied for fier:
Deare mistresse pittie then the like effects
The which in mee your absence makes to flowe, 10
And haste their ebb by your divine aspect
In which the pleasure of my life doth growe:
Stay not so long for though it seem a wonder
You keepe my bodie and my soule asunder.
FINIS.
<_Tongue-tied Love. _>
Faire eies do not think scorne to read of Love
That to your eies durst never it presume,
Since absence those sweet wonders do<th> remove
That nourish thoughts, yet sence and wordes consume;
This makes my pen more hardy then my tongue, 5
Free from my feare yet feeling my desire,
To utter that I have conceal'd so long
By doing what you did yourself require.
Believe not him whom Love hath left so wise
As to have power his owne tale for to tell, 10
For childrens greefes do yield the loudest cries,
And cold desires may be expressed well:
In well told Love most often falsehood lies,
But pittie him that only sighes and dies.
FINIS.
[<Absence. > <Tongue-tied Love. > _Ed_: _whole sonnets without
titles in_ _L74_: _the last six lines of the second appear
among Donne's poems in_ _B_, _O'F_, _S96_ <Tongue-tied Love. >]
[12 cold desires] coldest Ayres _O'F_]
<_Love, if a God thou art. _>
Love if a god thou art
then evermore thou must
Bee mercifull and just;
If thou bee just, ô wherefore doth thy dart
Wound mine alone and not my mistresse hart?
5
If mercifull, then why
Am I to payne reservd
Who have thee truely serv'd,
When shee that by thy powre sets not a fly
Laughs thee to scorne and lives at liberty? 10
Then if a God thou woulds accounted bee,
Heale mee like her, or else wound her like mee.
<_Great Lord of Love. _>
Greate Lord of love, how busy still thou art
To give new wounds and fetters to my hart!
Is't not enough that thou didst twice before
It so mangle
And intangle 5
By sly arts
of false harts.
Forbeare mee, Ile make love no more.
Fy busy Lord, will it not thee suffice
To use the Rhetorique of her tongue and eyes 10
When I am waking, but that absent so
They invade mee
To perswade mee,
When that sleepe
Oft should keepe 15
And lock out every sence of woe.
If thou perswade mee thus to speake, I dye
And shee the murdresse, for me will deny;
And if for silence I bee prest, Her good
Yet I cherish 20
Though I perish,
For that shee
Shall bee free
From that foule guilt of spilling bloud.
[<Love if a God thou art. > <Great Lord of Love. > <Loves
Exchange. > _all without titles in_ _O'F_: _punctuation mainly
the Editor's_]
<_Loves Exchange_>
1. To sue for all thy Love, and thy whole hart
were madnesse.
I doe not sue, nor can admitt,
(Fayrest) from yo^u to have all yet;
Who giveth all, hath nothing to impart 5
But sadnesse.
2. Hee who receaveth all can have no more,
Then seeing.
My love by length of every howre
Gathers new strength, new growth, new power: 10
You must have dayly new rewards in store
Still beeing.
3. You cannot every day give mee yo^r hart
For merit;
Yet if you will, when yours doth goe 15
You shall have still one to bestow,
For you shall mine, when yours doth part,
Inherit.
4. Yet if you please weele find a better way
Then change them, 20
For so alone (dearest) wee shall
Bee one and one another all;
Let us so joyne our harts, that nothing may
Estrange them.
_Song. _
Now y'have killd mee with yo^{r} scorne
Who shall live to call yo^{u} fayre?
What new foole must now bee borne
To prepare
Dayly sacrifice of service new, 5
Teares too good for woemen true?
Who shall sorrow when yo^{u} crye
And to please yo^{u} dayly dye?
Men succeeding shall beware
And woemen cruell, no more fayre. 10
2.
Now y'have killd mee, never looke
Any left to call yo^{u} trewe;
Who more madd must now bee tooke
To renewe
My oblations dayly, lost? 15
Vowes too good for woemen chast!
Who shall call yo^{u} sweete, and sweare
T'is yo^{r} face renews the yeare?
Men by my Death shall beleeve,
And woemen cruell yet shall greeve. 20
[Song. _O'F_: _punctuation mainly Editor's_]
_Love, bred of glances. _
Love bred of Glances twixt amorous eyes
Like Childrens fancies, sone borne, sone dyes.
Guilte, Bitternes, and smilinge woe
Doth ofte deceaue poore lovers soe,
As the fonde Sence th'unwary soule deceives 5
With deadly poison wrapt in Lily leaves.
But harts so chain'd as Goodnes stands
With truthe unstain'd to couple hands,
Love beinge to all beauty blinde
Save the cleere beauties of the minde, 10
There heaven is pleasd, continuall blessings sheddinge,
Angells are guests and dance at this blest weddinge.
[Love _&c. _ <True Love. > _Chambers_, _who prints from RP117_:
_no title_, _O'F_, _P_, _S96_ (_from which present text is
taken_)]
[2 borne _B_, _P_, _O'F_, _S96_: bred _Chambers_]
[4 Doth _S96_: does _B_, _O'F_: doe _P_]
[5 As] And _Chambers_]
[7 as Goodnes] 'tis goodnes _Chambers_]
[8 hands, _Ed_: hands _S96_]
[10 minde, _B_: minde _S96_]
[11 There heav'n is _O'F_, _P_, _S96_: Where Reason is
_Chambers_
sheddinge, _Ed_: sheddinge _S96_]
[12 this] his _Chambers_]
_To a Watch restored to its Mystres. _
Goe and Count her better howers.
For they are happier than oures.
The day that gives her any bliss,
Make it as long againe as 'tis.
The hower shee smyles in, lett it bee 5
By thy acte multiplyde to three.
But if shee frowne on thee or mee,
Know night is made by her, not thee;
Be swifte in such an hower & soone,
See thou make night, ere it be noone. 10
Obey her tymes, whoe is the free
Faire Sunne that governes thee & mee.
[To a Watch _&c. _ _B_, _where note below title says_ none of
J. D. _and poem is signed_ W. L. ]
<_Ad Solem. _>
Wherfore peepst thou, envious daye?
We can kisse without thee.
Lovers hate the golden raye,
Which thou bearst about thee.
Goe and give them light that sorowe 5
Or the saylor flyinge:
Our imbraces need noe morowe
Nor our blisses eying.
We shall curse thy curyous eye
For thy soone betrayinge, 10
And condemn thee for a spye
Yf thou catch us playinge.
Gett thee gone and lend thy flashes
Where there's need of lendinge,
Our affections are not ashes 15
Nor our pleasures endinge.
Weare we cold or withered heare
We would stay thee by us,
Or but one anothers feare
Then thou shouldst not flye us. 20
Wee are yongue, thou spoilst our pleasure;
Goe to sea and slumber,
Darknes only gives us leasure
Our stolne joyes to number.
[<Ad Solem. > _Ed_: _no title_, _Add. MSS. _ _22603_, _33998_,
_Egerton MS. 2013_, _Harleian MS. 791_, _S_, _TCD(II)_:
_printed J. Wilson_: Cheerful Ayres (1659), _Grosart and
Chambers_: _text from Eg. MS. 2013_: _punctuation partly
Editor's_]
[2 kisse] live _E20_]
[9 curyous _A22_, _A33_, _H79_, _S_, _TCD_: envious _E20_]
[19 one anothers feare _TCD_: one another fear _E20_: one
anothers sphere _A22_, _A33_, _S_]
[23 gives] lends _A22_, _A33_]
<_If She Deride. _>
Greate and goode if she deryde mee
Let me walke Ile not despayre,
Ere to morrowe Ile provide mee
One as greate, lesse prowd, more faire.
They that seeke Love to constraine 5
Have theire labour for their paine.
They that strongly can importune
And will never yeild nor tyre,
Gaine the paye in spight of Fortune
But such game Ile not desyre. 10
Where the prize is shame or synn,
Wynners loose and loosers wynn.
Looke upon the faythfull lover,
Griefe stands paynted in his face,
Groanes, and Teares and sighs discover 15
That they are his onely grace:
Hee must weepe as children doe
That will in the fashion wooe.
I whoe flie these idle fancies
Which my dearest rest betraye, 20
Warnd by others harmfull chances,
Vse my freedome as I may.
When all the worlde says what it cann
'Tis but--Fie, vnconstant mann!
[<If She Deryde. > _Chambers_: _no title_, _S_: _also, Chambers
reports, in C. C. C. Oxon. MS. 327, f. 26: printed by Grosart
and Chambers_]
[11 Where the prize is _Chambers_: Where they prize this
(_'t' struck out_) _S_: Where they prize is _Grosart_]
[14 Teares and sighs] _Chambers reverses_]
<_Fortune Never Fails. _>
What if I come to my mistris bedd
The candles all ecclipst from shyninge,
Shall I then attempt for her mayden-head
Or showe my selfe a coward by declyninge?
Oh noe 5
Fie doe not soe,
For thus much I knowe by devyninge,
Blynd is Love
The dark it doth approve,
To pray on pleasures pantinge; 10
What needeth light
For Cupid in the night,
If jealous eyes be wantinge.
Fortune never failes, if she badd take place,
To shroude all the faire proceedings: 15
Love and she though blynd, yet each other embrace,
To favor all their servants meetings:
Venture I say
To sport and to play,
If in place all be fitting; 20
Though she say fie
Yet doth she not denie:
For fie is but a word of tryall:
Jealosie doth sleepe,
Then doe not weepe 25
At force of a faynt denyall.
Glorious is my love, with tryumphs in her face,
Then to to bould were I to venter:
Who loves deserves to live in a princes grace,
Why stand you then affraid to enter? 30
Lights are all out
Then make noe doubt
A lover bouldly maye take chusinge.
Bewtie is a baite
For a princely mate. 35
Fy, why stand you then a musinge?
You'll repent too late
If she doe you hate,
For loves delight refusinge.
[<Fortune Never Fails. > _Grosart_: _no title_, _RP31_, _S_:
_also, Chambers reports, in C. C. C. Oxon. MS. 327, f. 21:
printed Grosart and Chambers, and, last two verses only,
Simeon_]
[10 pantinge;] hauntinge: _RP31_]
[14 she badd _S_: she bidd _Grosart_: she bids _Chambers_: the
bould _RP31_]
[19 and to play _RP31_, _S_: and play _Grosart and Chambers_]
[26 faynt] fair _Chambers_]
[28 were] was _RP31_]
[29 princes] Princess _Chambers_]
[33 lover] woer _Chambers_
chusinge] a choosing _Chambers_]
_To His Mistress. _
1. Beleeve yo^r Glasse, and if it tell you (Deare)
Yo^r Eyes inshrine
A brighter shine
Then faire Apollo, looke if theere appeare
The milkie skye 5
The Crimson dye
Mixt in your cheeks, and then bid Phoebus sett,
More Glory then hee owes appears. But yet
2. Be not deceived with fond Alteration
. . . . . 10
. . . . .
. . . . . . . .
As Cynthias Globe,
A snow white robe
Is soonest spotled, a Carnation dye 15
Fades, and discolours open'd but to Eie.
3. Make use of youth, and bewty whilest they flourish:
Tyme never sleepes,
Though it but creeps
It still gets forward. Do not vainly nourish 20
Them to selfe-use,
It is Abuse;
The richest Grownds lying wast turne Boggs and rott,
And soe beinge useles, were as good were not.
4. Walke in a meddowe by a Rivers side, 25
Upon whose Bancks
Grow milk-white Ranks
Of full blown Lyllies in their height of Pryde,
Which downward bend
And nothing tend 30
Save their owne Bewties in the Glassie streame:
Looke to yo^r selfe: Compare yo^{r}selfe to them.
5. In show, in bewtie, marke what followes then:
Sommer must end,
The sunn must bend 35
His Longe Absented beames to others: then
Their spring being crost
By wynters frost
And sneap'd by bytter storms against w^{ch} nought boots,
They bend their prowd topps lower then their roots. 40
6. Then none regard them; but w^{th} heedles feet
In durt each treads
Their declyned heads.
So when youthe wasted, Age, and yo^u shall meet,
Then I alone
Shall sadly moane 45
That Interviewe; others it will not move,
So light regard we, what we little Love.
FINIS.
[To His Mistress. _Le Prince D'Amour_ (_1660_): _no title_,
_S_ (_whence text_): _printed by Simeon_, _Grosart_,
_Chambers_: _punctuation partly Editor's_]
[1 if it tell] it will tell _Chambers_]
[9 deceived] deceiv'd _S_]
[16 open'd] opened _S_]
[24 were not] as not _LeP D' A_]
[31 the Glassie _S_: a Glassie _LePD'A_: their Glassie
_Chambers_]
[32 to them. _S_: with them. _Chambers_]
[36 then] when _Chambers_]
[39 sneap'd _Ed_: snep'd _S_: swept _LePD'A_: snipped
_Chambers_]
_A Paradoxe of a Painted Face. _
Not kisse? By Jove I must, and make impression
As longe as Cupid dares to holde his Session
Vpon my flesh and blood: our kisses shall
Outminute Time and without number fall.
Doe I not know these Balls of blushinge Red 5
That on thy Cheekes thus amorouslie are spred?
Thy snowy necke, those veynes upon thy Browe
Which with their azure crincklinge sweetly bowe
Are artificiall? Borrowed? and no more thine owne
Then Chaines which on St. George's Day are showne, 10
Are proper to the wearers? Yet for this
I idole thee, and beg a luscious kisse.
The fucus, and Ceruse, which on thy face
Thy Cunninge hand layes on to add new Grace,
Detaine me with such pleasing fraude, that I 15
Finde in thy art, what can in nature Lie.
Much like a painter that upon some Wall
On which the radiant Sun-beames use to fall
Paints with such art a Gilded butterflye
That silly maides with slowe-moved fingers trye 20
To Catch it, and then blush at theire mistake,
Yet of this painted flye most reckonynge make:
Such is our state; since what we looke upon
Is nought but Coullor and Proportion.
Take me a face, as full of fraud and Lies 25
As Gypsies in your cunninge Lotteries,
That is more false, and more Sophisticate
Than are Saints reliques, or a man of state.
Yet such being Glazed by the sleight of arte,
Gaines admiration, winninge many a Harte. 30
Put case there be a difference in the molde,
Yet may thy Venus be more Chaste, and holde
A dearer treasure: oftentimes we see
Rich Candian wines in woodden Boules to bee.
The odoriferous Civet doth not lie 35
Within the muskat's nose, or eare, or eye,
But in a baser place; for prudent nature
In drawinge us of various formes and stature
Gives from the curious shop of hir rich treasure
To faire parts comeliness, to baser, pleasure. 40
The fairest flowers, which in the Springe doe growe
Are not so much for use, as for the showe,
As Lillies, Hyacinths, and the georgious birthe
Of all pide flowers that diaper the earthe,
Please more with their discoloured purple traine 45
Then wholesome pothearbs which for use remaine.
Shall I a Gaudy Speckled Serpent kiss
For that the colours which he weares are his?
A perfumed Cordevant who will not wear
Because the sente is borrowed elsewhere? 50
The roabes and vestiments, which grace us all
Are not our owne, but adventitiall.
Time rifles Natures beauty, but slye Arte
Repaires by cunninge this decayinge parte.
Fills here a wrinckle, and there purles a veyne, 55
And with a nimble hand runs o're againe
The breaches dented in by th'arme of time,
And makes Deformity to be no crime.
As when great men be grip't by sicknes hand,
Industrious Physicke pregnantly doth stand 60
To patch up foule diseases, and doth strive
To keepe theire totteringe Carcasses alive.
Beautie is a candlelight which every puffe
Blowes out, and leaves nought but a stinking snuffe
To fill our nostrills with; this boldelie thinke, 65
The cleerest Candle makes the greatest stincke,
As your pure fode and cleerest nutryment
Gets the most hott, and nose stronge excrement.
Why hange we then on thinges so apt to varie,
So fleetinge, brittle, and so temporarie? 70
That agues, Coughes, the toothache, or Catarr
(Slight hansells of diseases) spoile and marr.
But when olde age theire beauties hath in Chace,
And plowes up furrowes in theire once-smoothe face,
Then they become forsaken, and doe showe 75
Like stately abbeyes ruin'd longe agoe.
Nature but gives the modell, and first draught
Of faire perfection, which by art is taught
To speake itselfe, a compleat form and birthe,
Soe stands a Copie to these shapes on earthe. 80
Jove grante me then a reparable face
Which, whiles that Colours are, can want no grace.
Pigmalions painted statue I coulde love,
Soe it were warme and softe, and coulde but move.
[A Paradoxe of a Painted Face. _H39_, _S_, _S96_, _TCD_ (_II_)
_Pembroke and Ruddier_ (_1660_), _Le Prince D'Amour_ (_1660_),
_Simeon_ (_1856-7_), _Grosart_ (_from S_), _Chambers_ (_from
Simeon_, _and Pembroke and Ruddier_): _text from S96_:
_punctuation partly Editor's_]
[8 azure crincklinge _S96_: azure winckles _P and R_: azure
twinklinge _S_: azur'd wrinklings _TCD_: azure wrinkles
_Chambers_]
[15 Detaine] Deceive _H39_, _P and R_, _LeP D' A_, _TCD_,
_Chambers_
pleasing] cunning _TCD_]
[18 radiant _S96_: cadent _H39_, _TCD_, _LeP D' A_, _Grosart_,
_and Chambers_: splendent _P and R_]
[21 then] yet _S96_]
[32 Chaste] choise _P and R_, _LeP D' A_, _TCD_]
[39 shop] shape _S96_
rich] largest _S96_: large _P and R_, _Grosart_, _and
Chambers_]
[45 discoloured] discovered _H39_: _but_ discoloured _is here_
variegated]
[53 rifles] rifled _S96_]
[55 purles] fills _S_: purls _is_ embroiders as with gold or
silver thread]
[67 clearest] choicest _P and R_: cleanest _S_: finest
_Chambers_]
[68 most hott] most stronge _S96_]
[72 hansells _H39_: houses _S_, _S96_, _Chambers_: touches _P
and R_: causes _LeP D' A_]
[73 beauties] brav'ries _H39_]
[79 To speake itselfe _TCD_, _P and R_: Speake to itselfe _S_,
_S96_: Speake for itselfe _H39_: To make itselfe _Simeon_,
_Grosart_, _and Chambers_]
_Sonnett. _
Madam that flea that Crept between your brests
I envied, that there he should make his rest:
The little Creatures fortune was soe good
That Angells feed not on so pretious foode.
How it did sucke how eager tickle you 5
(Madam shall fleas before me tickle you? )
Oh I can not holde; pardon if I kild it.
Sweet Blood, to you I aske this, that which fild it
Ran from my Ladies Brest. Come happie flea
That dide for suckinge of that milkie Sea. 10
Oh now againe I well could wishe thee there,
About hir Hart, about hir anywhere;
I would vowe (Dearest flea) thou shouldst not dye,
If thou couldst sucke from hir hir crueltye.
[Sonnett. _O'F_, _S96_: _no title_, _S_: On A Flea on His
Mistress's Bosom _Simeon_, _Grosart_, _Chambers_ (_from
Simeon_): _text from S96_]
[7 I can not holde] I not hold can _Chambers_
kild _Ed_: killed _Chambers_: kill _S96_]
[13 vowe ] now _Chambers_
Dearest _S96_: deare _S_, _O'F_, _Chambers_
thou] that thou _Chambers_]
_On Black Hayre and Eyes. _
If shaddowes be the pictures excellence;
And make it seeme more lively to the sence;
If starres in the bright day are hid from sight
And shine most glorious in the masque of night;
Why should you thinke (rare creature) that you lack 5
Perfection cause your haire and eyes are blacke,
Or that your heavenly beauty which exceedes
The new sprung lillies in their mayden weeds,
The damaske coullour of your cheekes and lipps
Should suffer by their darknesse an eclipps? 10
Rich diamonds shine brightest, being sett
And compassed within a foyle of Jett.
Nor was it fitt that Nature should have mayde
So bright a sunne to shine without a shade.
It seemes that Nature when she first did fancie 15
Your rare composure studied Necromancie,
That when to you this guift she did impart
She used altogether the black art.
By which infused power from Magique tooke
You doe command all spiritts with a looke: 20
Shee drew those Magique circles in your eyes,
And mayde your hayre the chaines wherewith shee ties
Rebelling hearts: those blew veines which appeare,
Winding Meander about either spheare,
Misterious figures are, and when you list 25
Your voice commandeth like the Exorcist,
And every word which from your Pallett falleth
In a deep charme your hearer's heart inthralleth.
Oh! If in Magique you have skill so farre,
Vouchsafe me to be your familiar. 30
Nor hath kind Nature her black art reveal'd
To outward partes alone, some lie conceal'd,
And as by heads of springs men often knowe
The nature of the streames that run belowe,
So your black haire and eyes do give direction 35
To make me thinke the rest of like complexion:
That rest where all rest lies that blesseth Man,
That Indian mine, that straight of Magellan,
That worlde dividing gulfe where he that venters,
With swelling sayles and ravisht senses enters 40
To a new world of blisse. Pardon, I pray,
If my rude muse presumeth to display
Secretts unknowne, or hath her bounds orepast
In praysing sweetnesse which I ne're did tast;
Sterved men doe know there's meate, and blind men may 45
Though hid from light presume there is a day.
The rover in the marke his arrowe sticks
Sometimes as well as he that shootes att prickes,
And if I might direct my shaft aright,
The black mark would I hitt and not the white. 50
[On Black Hayre and Eyes _Add. MS. 11811, on which text is
based: in several MSS. including A25, TCD (II), L77: printed
in Parnassus Biceps (1656), Pembroke and Ruddier's Poems
(1660), Simeon (1856-7), Grosart, and Chambers_]
[2 it _A2I_, _H60_, _TCD_: them _A11_: things _L77_]
[4 shine _H39_, _TCD_: seem _A11_, _Grosart_, _and Chambers_]
[8 mayden weeds,] maidenheads, _H39_, _TCD_, _Grosart_, _and
Chambers_]
[9 The damasque coullor of] That cherry colour of _H39_,
_TCD_: Or that the cherries of _Some MSS. _]
[12 compassed ] compos'd _A11_
foyle] field _Chambers_]
[19 tooke] book _Grosart and Chambers_]
[20 all spiritts] like spirits _Grosart and Chambers_]
[25 figures] fables _A11_]
[26 commandeth] commands _A11_]
[29 you have skill _L77_, _TCD_, _&c. _: your power _A11_: you
have power _Grosart and Chambers_]
[33 For (And) as by the springhead a man may (men often) know
_L77_, _TCD_, _and other MSS. _]
[34 streame . . . runs _L77_, _&c. _]
[44 did] shall _TCD and other MSS. _]
[47 sticks] strikes _Grosart and Chambers_]
[49 direct _L77_, _TCD_, _&c. _: ayme _A11_, _Grosart_, _and
Chambers_]
_Fragment of an Elegy. _
And though thy glasse a burning one become
And turne us both to ashes on her urne,
Yet to our glory till the later day
Our dust shall daunce like attomes in her ray.
And when the world shall in confusion burne, 5
And Kinges and peasantes scramble at an urne,
Like tapers new blowne out wee happy then
Will at her beames catch fire and live againe.
But this is sence, and some one may-be glad
That I so good a cause of sorrow had, 10
Will with all those whome I affect may dye
So I might please him with an elegie.
O let there never line of witt be read
To please the living that doth speake thee dead;
Some tender-harted mother good and mild, 15
Who on the deare grave of her tender child
So many sad teares hath beene knowne to rayne
As out of dust would mould him up againe,
And with hir plaintes enforce the wormes to place
Themselves like veynes so neatly on his face, 20
And every lymne, as if that they wer striving
To flatter hir with hope of his reviving:
Shee should read this, and hir true teares alone
Should coppy forth these sad lines on the stone
Which hides thee dead, and every gentle hart 25
That passeth by should of his teares impart
So great a portion, that if after times
Ruine more churches for the Clergyes crimes,
When any shall remove thy marble hence,
Which is lesse stone then hee that takes it thence, 30
Thou shalt appeare within thy tearefull cell
Much like a faire nymph bathing in a well.
