fuller ffiHM&its' Prrarjj.
THE
COMPLETE WORKS OF RICHARD CRASHAW.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
STEPS TO THE TEMPLE. CARMEN DEO NOSTRO. THE DELIGHTS OF THE MUSES. AIRELLES.
LONDON : ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W.
ftftt Jfalltr Slortlncs'
THE COMPLETE WORKS
RICHARD CRASHAW.
FOR THE FIRST TIME COLLECTED AND COLLATED WITH THE ORIGINAL AND EARLY EDITIONS,
AND MUCH ENLARGED WITH I. Hitherto imprinted and inedited Poems from Archbishop Bancroft's
MSS. &C. &C.
II. Translation of the whole of the Poemata et Epigrammata. III. Memorial-Introduction, Essay on Life and Poetry, and Notes. TV. In Quarto, reproduction in facsimile of the Author's own Illustra tions of 1652, with others specially prepared.
EDITED BY THE
REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART,
ST. GEORGE'S, BLACKBURN, LANCASHIRE.
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I.
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.
1872.
156 copies printed.
33 8 1,
TO THE VERY REVEREND
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, D.D.
AS AN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE FOR FUNDAMENTAL INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL
QUICKENING AND NURTURE
FOUND IN AND SUSTAINED BY HIS WRITINGS EARLIER AND LATEST,
THIS EDITION
OF A POET HE LOVES AS ENGLISHMAN AND CATHOLIC IS DEDICATED BY
ALEXANDER B. GROSART.
CONTENTS.
Those marked [*] are printed for the first time from MSS. ; those marked [f] have additions for the first time given in their places.
PAGE
Dedication v
Preface xi
Memorial-Introduction xxvii
Note xl
The Preface to the Reader . . . . . . xlv
SACRED POETRY : I. Steps to the Temple, and Carmen Deo Nostro, 1-181.
fSainte Mary Magdalene, or the Weeper 3 — *
Sancta Maria Dolorvm, or the Mother of Sorrows : a pathe- ticall Descant upon the deuout Plainsong of Stabat Mater
Dolorosa 19 •**
fThe'Teare 25 —
fThe Office of the Holy Crosse 29
Vexilla Regis : the Hymn of the Holy Crosse . . .44
The Lord silences His Questioners ...... 47
Our Blessed Lord in His Circumcision to His Father . . 48
On the Wounds of our crucified Lord 50 _
Vpon the bleeding Crucifix : a song 51
f To the Name above every name, the Name of lesvs : a hymn 55 X —
Psalme xxiii 65 "
Psalme cxxxvii. ......... 68
fin the Holy Nativity of ovr Lord God : a hymn svng as by
the Shepheards 70 - -
New Year's Day 76
fin the gloriovs Epiphanie of ovr Lord God : a hymn svng as
by the three Kings 79 -
To the Qveen's Maiesty . . . . . . . .91
.
Vlll CONTENTS.
PAGE ;
"* Vpon Easter Day 94
Sospetto d' Herode 95
The Hymn of Sainte Thomas, in Adoration of the Blessed Sa crament 121 J^
Lavda Sion Salvatorem : the Hymn for the Bl. Sacrament . 124 - — f Prayer : an Ode which was prefixed to a little Prayer-book
given to a young Gentle- woman 128 V
To the same Party: Covncel concerning her Choise . .134 Description of a Religiovs Hovse and Condition of Life (out
of Barclay) 137
-""" On Mr. George Herbert's Booke intituled the Temple of Sacred
Poems : sent to a Gentle-woman 139
*^tA Hymn to the Name and Honor of the admirable Sainte
Teresa 141
fAn Apologie for the foregoing Hymn, as hauing been writt
when the Author was yet among the Protestants . .150 fThe Flaming Heart : vpon the Book and Picture of the sera- phical Saint Teresa, as she is vsvally expressed with a
Seraphim biside her 152
•"^ A Song of Divine Love 157
*•** fln the gloriovs Assvmption of ovr Blessed Lady . . . 158 ^ fUpon five piovs and learned Discourses by Eobert Shelford . 162 Dies irae, dies ilia : the Hymn of the Chvrch, in meditation
of the Day of Ivdgment 166
^** Charitas Nimia, or the dear Bargain 170 y
S. Maria Maior : the Hiinn, O gloriosa Domina . . .173
Hope [by Cowley] 175
M. Crashaw's Answer for Hope 178
SACRED POETRY: II. Airelks, 183-194.
*Mary seeking Jesus when lost 185
*The Wounds of the Lord Jesus 187
*On ye Gunpowder-Treason 188
* Ditto 190
f Ditto 192
SECULAR POETRY : I. The Delights of the Muses, 195-276.
-""""Musick's Duell 197
In the Praise of the Spring (out of Virgil) .... 207 With a Picture sent to a Friend . 208
CONTENTS. IX
PAGE
fin praise of Lessius's Rule of Health 209
The Beginning of Helipdorus 212
Cupid's Cryer (out of- the Greeke) ' .214
Vpon Bishop Andrews' Picture before his Sermons . . 217
Vpon the Death^of a Gentleman 218
Vpon the Death "of Mr. Herrys 220
Vpon the Death of the most desired Mr. Herrys . . . 222
Another 225
His Epitaph 228
fAn Epitaph Vpon a yovng Married Covple, dead and bvryed
together » . 230
Death's Lectvre and the Fvneral of a yovng Gentleman . 232
An Epitaph vpon Doctor Brooke 234
On a f oule Morning, being then to take a Journey . . . 235 To the Morning : Satisfaction for Sleepe .... 237
Love's Horoscope 240
A Song (out of the Italian) 243
Out of the Italian 245
Out of the Italian . . . 246
Vpon the Frontispeece of Mr. Isaackson's Chronologic . . 246 On the same by Bishop Rainbow ...... 248
An Epitaph vpon Mr. Ashton, a conformable Citizen . . 250
Out of Catullus 251
Wishes ........... 252
fTo the Queen : an Apologie for the length of the following
Panegyrick ......... 259
To the Queen, vpon her numerous Progenie : a Panegyrick . 260 Vpon two greene Apricockes sent to Cowley by Sir Crashaw . 269 Alexias : The Complaint of the forsaken Wife of Sainte Alexis : three Elegies 271
SECULAR POETRY : II. Airettes, 277-303.
*Upon the King's Coronation 279
* Ditto 280
*Vpon the Birth of the Princesse Elizabeth . . . .282
*Vpon a Gnatt burnt in a Candle - . . . . . . 284
*From Petronius . . . . . . . . . 286
*From Horace. ......... 287
*Ex Euphormione ......... 289
*An Elegy vpon the Death of Mr. Stanninow, Fellow of Queen's Colledge 290
£ CONTENTS.
PAGK
*Upon the Death of a Friend 292
*An Elegie on the Death of Dr. Porter 293
f Verse-Letter to the Countess of Denbigh .... 295
Ditto from Carmen Deo Nostro 301
ILLUSTRATIONS, in the illustrated Quarto only : Vol. I.
1. The. Weeper: engraved by W. J. Linton, Esq., after the
Author's own Design ....... 4
2. Sancta Maria Dolorvm ; or the Mother of Sorrows . . 19
3. The Office of the Holy Crosse 29
4. The Recommendation ........ 43
5. To the Name above every name, the Name of lesus . . 55
6. The Hymn of Sainte Thomas 55
7. The 'irresolute' Locked Heart 55
8. In the Holy Nativity of ovr Lord God . . . .71
9. In the gloriovs Epiphanie of ovr Lord God . . . • 79
10. Head of Satan: drawn and engraved by W. J. Linton, Esq. 95
11. Sainte Teresa ' . 141
12. Dies irae, dies ilia 166
13. Maria Maior, O gloriosa Domina 173
14. A second Illustration from the Bodleian copy . . .173
15. The Dead Nightingale : drawn by Mrs. Blackburn, engraved
by W. J. Linton, Esq. . 197
Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 are reproduced in fac simile from the author's own designs of 1652, by Pouucey of Dor chester, expressly for our edition of Crashaw. Besides the above there are a number of head- and tail-pieces by W. J. Linton, Esq.
PEEFACE.
I HAVE at last the pleasure of seeing half-fulfilled a long- cherished wish and intention, by the issue of the present Volume, being Vol. I. of the first really worthy edition of the complete Poetry of KICHARD CRASHAW, while Vol. II. is so well advanced that it may be counted on for Midsummer (Deo favente).
This Volume contains the whole of the previously- published English Poems, with the exception of the Epi grams scattered among the others, which more fittingly find their place in Vol. II., along with the Latin and Greek originals, and our translation of all hitherto un translated. Here also will be found important, and pecu liarly interesting as characteristic, additions of unprinted and inedited poems by CRASHAW from Archbishop SAN- CROFT'S MSS., among the TANNER MSS. in the Bodleian. These I have named 'Airelles,' after the little Alpine flowers that are dug out beneath the mountain masses of snow and ice, with abiding touches of beauty and per fume, as though they had been sheltered within walls and glass. The formerly printed Poems have been collated and recollated anxiously with the original and other early and authoritative editions, the results of which are shown in Notes and Illustrations at the close of each poem. Many
Xll PREFACE.
of the various readings are of rare interest, and collation has revealed successive additions and revisions altogether unrecorded by modern editors. In their places I have pointed out the flagrant carelessness of the last Editor, W. B. TURNBULL, Esq., in Smith's * Library of Old Au thors.'
As was meet, I have adhered to the first titles of ' Steps to the Temple' and ' The Delights of the Muses,' the former embracing the SACRED, and the latter the SECULAR Poems. The original Editor (whoever he was), not the Author, gave these titles. In the Preface to * the learned Reader,' he says, lwe stile his sacred Poems, Steps to the Temple.' At one time I was disposed to assign the editorship of the volumes of 1646 and 1648 to SANCROFT ; but inasmuch as both contained Bp. RAIN BOW'S verses prefixed to ISAACSON'S * Chronologic,' while the piece is not in the SANCROFT MS., it seems he could not have been the editor. His pathetic closing words reveal much love : ' I will conclude all that I have im partially writ of this learned young Gent, (now dead to us) as hee himselfe doth, with the last line of his poem upon Bishop Andrewes' picture before his Sermons, Verte paginas — Look on his following leaves, and see him breath.'
I would now give an account of previous editions of our Worthy, and our use of them. The earliest of his publications — excluding minor pieces in University Collections as recorded in our Essay — was a volume of Latin Epigrams published at Cambridge in 1634 in a small 8vo. The name of CRASHAW nowhere appears, but his initials R. C. are appended to the Dedication to his friend LANEY. The title-page was as follows:
PREFACE. Xlll
' Epigram matum Sacrorum Liber. Cantabrigize, ex Aca- demise, celeberrimae typographo, 1634.' Besides the Epi grams, this now rare volume contained certain of his ' Poemata' before the Epigrams. A second edition was published in 1670 with a few additional Epigrams, and those in Greek. A third edition appeared in 1674. Fuller details, with collation of each, are given in Vol. II. in their places.
Nothing more of any considerableness was published until 1646, two years after the Poet's ejection. Then appeared a small volume of Poems, chiefly English, ar ranged in two distinct classes, Sacred and Secular, the latter with a separate title-page. In the Note which fol lows this Preface, the title-pages of the volume will be found, along with those of the subsequent editions of 1648 and 1670. With reference to the volume of 1646, a mistake in the printing was thus pointed out : * Reader, there was a sudden mistake ('tis too late to recover it) : thou wilt quickly find it out, and I hope as soone passe it over ; some of the humane Poems are misplaced amongst the Divine.' These ' humane' poems, that be longed not to the ' Steps' but the ' Delights of the Muses,' were fifteen in all. They were assigned their own places in the new edition of 1648. With two exceptions, we have adhered to the classification of the 1648 edition: the exceptions are, that we have placed 'Vexilla Regis' immediately after the ' Office of the Holy Crosse,' as be longing properly to that composition ; and the ' Apologie' for the Hymn to TERESA after the first, not after the second Hymn, seeing the ' Apologie' is only for the first. The new edition bore on its title-page the announcement : ' The second Edition, wherein are added divers pieces not
XIV PREFACE.
before extant.' Our contents of the present Volume (im mediately following our Dedication) shows these addi tions, which were important and precious ; viz. twenty- nine new English Poems and eighteen new Latin Poems. The next edition was published in PARIS in 1652. In our Note (as supra) the title-page is given. This volume is an elegant one, and is adorned with twelve dainty engravings after the Author's own designs, though we possess a copy without the engravings, having blanks left. This exceedingly rare book contains most of the Sacred Poems and some of the more serious of the Secu lar Poems ; but as the contents (as supra) show, there were large omissions, notably the Sospetto and Musick's Duel. It was edited by THOMAS CAR, who prefixes two poems of his own, as follows :
I. CRASH AWE, THE ANAGRAMME ' HE WAS CAR.'
Was CAB then Crashawe ; or was Crashawe Car, 1
Since both within one name combined are ?
Yes, Car's Crashawe, he Car; 'tis loue alone
Which melts two harts, of both composing one.
So Crashaw's still the same : so much desired 5
By strongest witts ; so honor'd, so admired ;
Car was but he that enter'd as a friend
With whom he shar'd his thoughtes, and did commend
(While yet he liu'd) this worke ; they lou'd each other:
Sweete Crashawe was his friend ; he Crashawe's brother. 10
So Car hath title then ; 'twas his intent
That what his riches pen'd, poore Car should print ;
Nor feares he checke, praysing that happie one
Who was belou'd by all ; disprais'd by none :
To witt, being plea^'d with all things, he pleas'd all, 15
Nor would he giue, nor take offence ; befall
What might, he would possesse himselfe, and liue
As deade (deuoyde of interest) t' all might giue
Desease t' his well-composed mynd ; fore-stal'd
With heauenly riches ; which had wholy call'd 20
PREFACE. XV
His thoughts from earth, to Hue aboue in th' aire
A very bird of paradice. No care
Had he of earthly trashe. What might suffice
To fitt his soule to heauenly exercise
Sufficed him : and may we guesse his hart 25
By what his lipps brings forth, his onely part
Is God and godly thoughtes. Leaues doubt to none
But that to whom one God is all ; all's one.
What he might eate or weare he tooke no thought ;
His needfull foode he rather found then sought. 30
He seekes no downes, no sheetes, his bed's still made ;
If he can find a chaire or stoole, he's layd.
When Day peepes in, he quitts his restlesse rest,
And still, poore soule, before he's vp, he's dre'st.
Thus dying did he Hue, yet Hued to dye 35
In th' Virgin's lappe, to whom he did apply e
His virgine thoughtes and words, and thence was styld
By foes, the chaplaine of the virgine myld,
While yet he Hued without. His modestie
Imparted this to some, and they to me. 40
Liue happie then, deare soule ! inioy the rest
Eternally by paynes thou purchacedst,
While Car must Hue in care, who was thy friend,
Nor cares he how he Hue, so in the end
He may inioy his dearest Lord and thee ; 45
And sitt and singe more skilfull songs eternally.1
II. AN EPIGRAMME
Vpon the Pictures in the following Poemes, which the Authour first made with his owne hand, admirably well, as may be seene in his Manuscript dedicated to the Right Honourable Lady the L. Denbigh.
'Twixt pen and pensill rose a holy strife 1
Which might draw Vertue better to the life : Best witts gaue votes to that, but painters swore They neuer saw peeces so sweete before
1 TURNBULL in line 19 misprints ' Diseased his ... .' making nonsense. Disease is = dis-ease, discompose, as used by PHINEAS FLETCHER: cf. vol. iii. p. 194 et alibi.
XVI PREFACE.
As thes fruits of pure Nature ; where no Art 5
Did lead the vntaught pensill, nor had part
In th' worke
The hand growne bold, with witt will needes contest : Doth it preuayle ? ah no ! say each is best. This to the eare speakes wonders ; that will trye 10
To speake the same, yet lowder, to the eye. Both in their aymes are holy, both conspire To wound, to burne the hart with heauenly fire. This then's the doome, to doe both parties right : This to the eare speakes best ; that, to the sight. 15
THOMAS CAR.1
It is clear from these lines in the former poem —
* Car was but he that enter'd as a friend With whom he shar'd his thoughtes, and did commend (While yet he liiCd] THIS WORKE
So Car hath title then ; 'twas his intent
That what his riches peii'd, poore Car should print1 —
that the volume of 1652 carries the authority of CRA- SHAW with it as his own Selection from what he had written. So that I have had no hesitation in accepting its text of the Poems previously published (in 1646 and 1648): understanding that the Selection was regulated by his desire only to offer the COUNTESS OF DENBIGH those he himself most valued. There are inevitable mis prints and a chaos of punctuation; but the text as a whole is a great advance on those preceding, as our Notes and Illustrations to the several poems prove. There are some very valuable additions throughout, entirely overlooked by modern Editors. Our text of all not in 1652 volume is based on that of 1648 collated with 1646.
1 TURXBULL again misprints in line 3 'But' for 'Best,' once more making nonsense.
PREFACE. XV11
The engravings celebrated in the Epigram of CAR — of whom more, and of the origin and purpose of the Volume, in our Essay — are as follows :
1. ' To the noblest and best of ladyes :' a heart with an emblematical lock. Beneath is printed 'Non Vi' ( = not by force), and the following lines :
'Tis not the work of force but skill
To find the way into man's will.
'Tis loue alone can hearts vnlock:
Who knowes the Word, he needs not knock.
2. ' To the name above every name.' ' Numisma Urbani 6.' A dove under the tiara, surrounded with a glory. The legend is, * In unitate Deus est.'
3. ' The Holy Nativity.' The Holy Family at Beth- lehem. Beneath are these lines in French and Latin :
Ton Createur te faict voir sa naissance Deignant souffrir pour toy des son enfance.
Quern vidistis, Pastores, &c. Natum vidimus, &c.
4. * The Glorious Epiphanie.' The adoration of the Magi-kings.
5. ' The Office of the Holy Crosse.' Christ on the Cross. Beneath (from the Vulgate),
Tradidit semetipsum pro nobis oblationem et hostiam Deo in odorem suavitatis. — Ad Ephe. 5.
6. 'The Eecommendation.' The ascended Saviour looking down toward the Earth. Above, this line,
Expostulatio Jesu Christi cum mundo ingrato.
Beneath, a Latin poem of thirteen lines, which appears in its place in our Vol. II.
7. ' Sancta Maria Dolorum.' The Virgin Mary under VOL. i. b
XV111 PREFACE.
the Cross with the instruments of the Passion, holding the dead Saviour in her arms.
8. * Hymn of St. Thomas.' A Remonstrance. l Ecce panis Angelornm.'
9. ' Dies Irse.' The Last Judgment. ' Dies Irae, dies ilia.'
10. ' 0 Grloriosa Domina.' The Virgin Mary and Child. Angels hold a crown over her head, surmounted by the Holy Dove. Beneath :
S. Maria Major.
Dilectus meus mihi, et ego illi,
Qui pascitur inter lilia. Cant.
11. ' The Weeper.' A female head, showing beneath, a bleeding and burning heart, surrounded by a glory. This couplet is below :
Lo, where a wounded heart, with bleeding eyes conspire : Is she a flaming fountaine, or a weeping fire ?
12. ' Hymn to St. Teresa.' Portrait : scroll above, inscribed * Misericors Domini in seternum cantabo.' Be neath, ' La Vray Portraict de Ste. Terese, Fondatrice des Religieuses et Religieux reformez de 1'ordre de N. Dame de mont Carmel : Decedee le 4e Octo. 1582. Ca- nonisee le 12e Mars 1622.'
Besides these TWELVE, I discovered another in illus tration of c O Gloriosa Dprnina,' substituted for No. 10 in the very fine copy of the volume in the Douce Collection in the Bodleian. I have the satisfaction of furnishing admirable reproductions in fac-simile of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12, and by the kindness of the Bodleian Trustees, the unique illustration for No. 10. No. 11 by my friend W. J. LINTON, Esq. The whole
PREFACE. XIX
of these belong exclusively to our illustrated quarto edi tion, and the impressions taken have been strictly limited thereto, and a very few for my own gift-use.
We have now done with genuine editions ; but have yet to notice a wretched medley which bears the name of the * 2d edition.' Its title-page is given in our Note (as before). This volume is fairly printed ; but whatever was meant by ' 2d edition,' whether it was so styled from ignorance of the edition of 1648 or copying of its title, or because it was meant for a 2d edition of 1652, it is a deplorable compilation made out of 1646 and 1652. It first reprints 1646 and then 1652, omitting in the second part such poems of 1652 as were in 1646, but without taking the trouble of correcting any, so as to bring them into agreement with the better text. Not to mention well-nigh innumerable misprints and omissions, so blind is it, that it has twice printed two poems which in 1652 had their titles altered, not observing that it had already printed them under the old titles. These were the poems, On the Death of a Young Gentleman, and in Praise of Lessius. It contains only the eight Latin Poems of 1646, and no others. Of this edition TURN- BULL says, * In its text [it is] the most inaccurate of all' — and— What then? He reprints it! and leaves un detected its inaccuracies and omissions, and superadds as many more of his own — as our Notes and Illustrations demonstrate, albeit we have left many blunders unre corded, contenting ourselves with seeing that our own is correct. And yet this Editor got in a rage with a cor respondent (Professor McCarthy) of Notes and Queries, who at the time corrected incidentally a misprinted letter — oblivious of (literally) hundreds infinitely worse.
XX PEEFACE.
PEREGRINE PHILLIPS in 1785 published a very well- printed volume of 'Selections' from CRASHAW; but, like TURNBULL, he blundered over the (so-called) ' 2d edition' of 1670, and seems never to have seen those of 1648 and 1652. Of other more recent editions I shall speak in our Essay, and, as already stated in our Memorial- Introduction, notice the University Collections and others, to which our Poet contributed. In its place, at close of the present Volume, see account of a hitherto unused edition of a Verse-Letter to COUNTESS OF DENBIGH.
Of the Poems now for the first time printed, the pre sent Volume contains no fewer than fifteen or sixteen with important additions : Vol. II. will contain very many more, as well as our Translation of the hitherto untranslated Poems and Epigrams. The source of all these erewhile unprinted Poems is Vol. 465 among the TANNER MSS., which is known to be in the handwrit ing (mainly) of Archbishop BANCROFT. The Volume is a collection of contemporary Poetry, but as it now rests in the Bodleian is imperfect, as the Index shows. The following details will probably interest our readers. In the Index is first of all the following, ' Mr. Cra- shaw's Epigrams, sacra Latina;' but it is erased. Then underneath is written * Mr. Crashaw's poems transcrib'd fro his own copie, before they were printed; amongst wch are some not printed.' ' Latin, On ye Gospels v p 7. On other Subiects p 39, 95, 229. English Sacred Poems p 111. On other Subiects— 39, 162, 164 v 167 v 196. 202 v 206. 223. v Suspetto di Herodi, translated fro Car. Marino p 287 v.' Guided by this Index — for, though to some ' K. CR.' is prefixed, others printed in 1646 and 1648 are left without name
PREFACE. XXI
or initials — page 7 to 22 contains Latin Poems and Epi grams still unpublished. On page 22 is a large letter C =Crashaw. The pagination then leaps to p. 39 and goes on to page 64, and consists of Latin Poems and one in Greek ' On other Subjects,' also wholly unpublished. Page 66 is blank, and a blank leaf follows. Then there is a Latin poem by WALLIS, and pp. 95-6 contain other Latin poems by CRASHAW, in part published. Pages 97- 102 are blank, and the pagination again leaps to p. Ill, where begin the English Sacred Poems, continuing to page 137, with ' Crashaw' written at end. These pages (111-137) contain mainly Poems and Epigrams before published. On page 130 is a short poem * On Good Friday' by T. Randolph. On page 135 are two poems by Dr. Alabaster: then, on page 136, Crashaw's poem ' On the Assumption,' and on page 137, a short poem by Wotton. Pages 138-142 are blank, and once more the pagination passes to p. 159, where there is a poem by GILES FLETCHER (pp. 159-160) — printed by us in Ap pendix to Poems of Dr. GILES FLETCHER in our FULLER WORTHIES' MISCELLANIES. Pages 160-1 have poems by Corbett (erroneously inserted as HERRICK'S by Haz- litt in his edition of Herrick), and a Song by WOTTON. On page 162 'The Faire Ethiopian,' by CRASHAW: p. 163, < Upon Mr. Cl.' [Cleveland?], who made a Song against the D.D.s — The complaint of a woman with child [both anonymous]. Then at page 164 ' Upon a gnatt burnt in a candle,' by Crashaw (being entered in Index as supra), and never published. On pages 165-6, Love's Horoscope (published) : p. 166, Ad Amicam. T. R. (not by CRASHAW, being entered in Index under Randolph): pp. 167-71, Fidicinis et Philomela Bellum
XX11 PREFACE.
Musicum, and Upon Herbert's Temple : pp. 172-3, Upon Isaacson's Frontispiece (the second piece): pp. 173-4, An invitation to faire weather (all published before). Then translations from the Latin Poets with ' R. OR.' above each, pp. 174-178 — all unpublished: pp. 178-9, from Virgil (published). Next on pp. 180-87 are the follow ing : ' On ye Gunpowder-Treason' (three separate pieces), and ' Upon the King's Coronation' (two pieces). These have never been printed until now in our present Vol., and they are unquestionably Crashaw's, inasmuch as (a) All entered thus 164 v. 167 are by him, and so these being entered under his name in Index as 167 v. 196 must belong to him; (b) 'Upon the King's Coronation' are renderings in part of his own Latin ; (c) As shown in our Essay (where also their biographic value is shown) unusual words used by Crashaw occur in them. Pp. 187- 90, * Panegyrick upon the birth of the Duke of York' (published): pp. 190-2, 'Upon the birth of the Princesse Elizabeth' (never before printed). Pages 192-196, poems by Corbett, Wotton, and others. Pages 196-7, Trans lation from the Latin Ex Euphormione (not before pub lished), and on Lessius (published). Then pp. 197-201, poems by various, in part anonymous : pp. 202-3, An Elegy on Staninough — not having his name or initials, but entered in Index under his name — (never before pub lished) : pp. 203-5, In obitum desider. Mri Chambers (published, but the heading new), and Upon the death of a friend (not befoie published): p. 205, ' On a cobler' (anonymous): p. 206, In obitum Dr Brooke: Epitaphium Conjug. (published) : page 207, poem by CULVERWELL : p. 208, blank; and then the pagination passes to p. 223. Pages 223-229, poems on Herrys [or Harris] (all pub-
PEEFACE. XX111
listed, but with variations) : pp. 229-30, Elegie on Dr. Porter (never before published, and entered in Index under Crashaw) : from p. 231 to 238, various poems, but none by Crashaw; then the pagination leaps to p. 238, and goes on to p. 255, with various pieces, but again none by CRASHAW. On pp. 297-8 are eight of the published English Epigrams. All the other anony mous and avowed poems being entered in the Index separately from CEASHAW'S, and under either their titles or authors, makes us safe to exclude them from our Volumes. On the other hand, the Index-entries and ' R. C.' together, assure us that rich and virgin as is the treasure-trove of unprinted and unpublished Poems — English and Latin, especially the Latin — it is without a shadow of doubt RICHARD CRASHAW'S, and of supreme worth. I have also had the good fortune to discover a Harleian MS. from Lord Somers' Library (6917-18), which furnishes some valuable readings of some of the Poems, as recorded and used by us.
Throughout we ha ye endeavoured with all fidelity to reproduce our Worthy in integrity of text and ortho graphy — diminishing only (slightly) italics and capitals, and as usual giving capitals to all divine Names (nouns and pronouns) and personifications. In Notes and Il lustrations all various readings are recorded, and such elucidations and filling-in of names and allusions as are likely to be helpful. '
It is now my pleasant duty to return right hearty, because heartfelt, thanks to many friends and correspon dents who have aided me in a somewhat arduous and difficult work and ' labour of love.' To the venerable
XXIV PREFACE.
and illustrious man whose name by express permission adorns my Dedication, I owe a debt of gratitude for a beautiful, a pathetic, a (to me) sacred Letter, that greatly animated me to go forward. By my admirable friends Revs. J. H. CLARK, M.A., of West Dereham, Norfolk, and THOMAS ASHE, M.A., Ipswich, my edition (as Vol. II. will evidence) is advantaged in various Translations for the first time of the Latin poems, valuable in them selves, and the more valued for the generous enthusiasm and modesty with which they were offered, not to say how considerably they have lightened my own work in the same field. To Dr. BRINSLEY NICHOLSON, who retains in the Army his fine literary culture and acumen; to W. ALDIS WRIGHT, Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Cam bridge; the very Reverend Dr. F. C. HUSENBETH, Cossey, Norwich; the Earl and Countess of DENBIGH; Monsignor STONOR, Rome; to Correspondents at LORETTO, DOUAI, PARIS, &c.; and to Colonel CHESTER and Mr. W. T. BROOKE, London, — I wish to tender my warmest thanks for various services most pleasantly rendered ; all to the enrichment of our edition.
The Illustrations (in the 4to) speak for themselves. I cannot sufficiently express my acknowledgments for the spontaneous and ever-increasing willinghood of my artist-poet friend W. J. LINTON, Esq., who from his temporary Transatlantic home has sent me the exquisite head- and tail-pieces in both volumes, besides cunningly interpreting the two original Illustrations drawn for me by Mrs. HUGH BLACKBURN of Glasgow, and the Poet's ' Weeper.' To Mrs. BLACKBURN her work is its own abundant reward ; but none the less do I appreciate her great kindness to me.
PREFACE. XXV
Anything else needing to be said will be found in the Memorial-Introduction and Essay on the Life and Poetry, and Notes and Illustrations. I cannot better close our Preface than with the fine tribute of K. ARTS WILLMOTT, in his ' Dream of the Poets,' wherein he catches up the echo of COWLEY across two centuries :
Poet and Saint ! thy sky was dark And sad thy lonely vigil here ; But thy meek spirit, like the lark Still showered music on the ear, From its own heaven ever clear : No pining mourner thou ! thy strain Could breathe a slumher upon Pain, Singing thy tears asleep : not long
To stray by Siloa's brook was thine : Yet Time hath never dealt thee wrong,
Nor brush'd the sweet bloom from thy line : Thou hast a home in every song, In every Christian heart, a shrine.
ALEXANDER B. GROSART.
15 St. Alban's Place, Blackburn, Lancashire, 4th February 1872.
MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
IN a Study of the Life and Poetry of our present Worthy, which will be found in our Volume II. — thus postponed in order that the completed Works may be before the stu dent-reader along with it — I venture to hope new light will be shed on both, and his character as a Man and Poet — one of the richest of the minor Poets of Eng land — vindicated and interpreted as never hitherto they have been. Some memories cannot bear the ' cruel light' of close scrutiny, some poetries when tested prove fal setto-noted. RICHARD CRASHAW grows on us the more insight we gain. If he were as well known as GEORGE HERBERT, he would be equally cherished, while his Poetry would be recognised as perfumed with all his devoutness and of a diviner ' stuff"1 and woven in a grander loom ; in sooth, infinitely deeper and finer in almost every element of true singing as differenced from pious and gracious ver sifying. In this hurrying-scurrying age, only twos-and- threes take time to hold communion with these ancient Worthies ; and hence my Essay, as with the FLETCHERS and LORD BROOKE and HENRY VAUGHAN, may win-back that recognition and love due to CRASHAW.
Then, in a much fuller and more adequate Memoir than hitherto furnished of WILLTAM CRASHAW, B.D.,
XXV111 MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
father of our Poet — also in our Volume II. — the usually- given ancestral details will appear from new and unused sources. So that here and now I intend to limit myself to a brief statement of the few outward Facts, i.e. re serving their relation to the central thing in RICHARD CRASHAW'S life — his passing from Protestantism to Catholicism, and to contemporaries and inner friends, and to his Poetry — to our announced Study.
WILLMOTT in his < Lives of the English Sacred Poets' (vol. first, 1834, vol. second, 1839), begins his fine-toned little Notice thus : ' After an anxious search in all the accessible sources of information, I am able to tell little of one of whom every lover of poetry must desire to know much. The time of his birth and of his decease is in volved in equal mystery.'1 Our l all' is still ' little' as compared with what we yearn for ; but we do not need to begin so dolorously as our predecessor, for we have discovered both the * time of his birth and of his decease.' He was born in London in 1612-3; this date being ar rived at from the register-entry of his age on admission to the University, viz. 18 in 1630-1 (as hereafter stated). SHAKESPEARE was then retired to his beloved Stratford ; MILTON was in the sixth year of his cherub-beauty. His father being ' Preacher at the Temple' at the date would have determined LONDON to have been his birthplace ; but his admission to Pembroke and his own signature at Peterhouse, ' Richardum Crashaw, LondinensemJ prove it. Who was his mother I have failed to find. The se cond Mrs. WILLIAM CRASHAW, celebrated in a remark-
1 Edition of 1834, p. 295 ; of 1839, vol. i. p. 301. TURNBULL adds not one iota to our knowledge, and repeats all WILLMOTT'S erroneous dates, &c.
MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXIX
able contemporary poetical tractate printed (if not pub lished) by her bereaved husband (of which more anon and elsewhere, as supra), could not have been the Poet's mother, as she was not married to CRASHAW (pater) until 1619. We should gladly have exchanged the ' Honour of Vertue or the Monument erected by the sorrowfull Husband and the Epitaphs annexed by learned and worthy men, to the immortall memory of that worthy Gentle-woman Mrs' ELIZABETH CRASHAWE. Who dyed in child-birth, and was buried in Whit-Chappel : Octob. 8. 1620. In the 24 yeare of her age' — for a page on the first Mrs. Crashaw. Yet is it pleasant to know the motherless little lad received such a new mother as this tribute pictures. In 1620 he was in his ninth year. Thus twice a broad shadow blackened his father's house and his home. Little more than a year had he his ' second' mother.
Our after-Memoir of the elder CRASHAW shows that he was a man of no ordinary force of character and influ ence. The Epistles- dedicatory to his numerous polemical books are addressed with evident familiarity to the fore most in Church and State : and it is in agreement with this to learn (as we do) that MASTER RICHARD gained admission to the great ' Charterhouse' School through SIR HENRY YELVERTON and SIR RANDOLPH CREW — the former the patron-friend of the saintly DR. SIBBES, the latter of HERRICK, and both of mark. The Register of Charterhouse as now extant begins in 1680. So that we know not the date of young Crashaw's entry on the 4 foundation' provided so munificently by SuTTON.1 As
1 The present eminent Head of ' Charterhouse,' Dr. HAIG-BROWN, strove to find earlier documents in vain for me.
XXX MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
we shall find, one of the Teachers — Brooke — is gratefully and characteristically remembered by our Worthy in one of his Latin poems, none the less gratefully that ' the rod' is recalled. He was ' Schoolmaster' from 1627-8 to 1643. The age of admission was 10 to 14: the latter would bring us to 1627-8, or Brooke's first year of office. Probably, however, he entered sooner ; but neither RO BERT GREY (1624-26) nor WILLIAM MIDDLETON, A.M. (1626-28), nor others of the Masters or celebrities of the famous School are celebrated by him, with the ex ception of (afterwards) BISHOP LANEY. FRANCIS BEAU MONT was Head- Master in June 18, 1624, and I should have liked to have been able to associate CRASHAW with the Beaumont family. Probably DR. JOSEPH BEAUMONT of ' Psyche' was a school-fellow.
How long the Charterhouse was attended is un known ; but renewed researches at CAMBRIDGE add to as well as correct the usual dates of his attendance there. WILLMOTT states that ' he was elected a scholar of Pem broke Hall, March 26, 1632,' and remarks, 'and yet we find him lamenting the premature death of his friend, William Herrys, a fellow of the same College, which happened in the October of 1631.'1 He quotes from the COLE MSS. The original register in the Admission - book of Pembroke College removes the difficulty, and is otherwise valuable, as will be seen. It is as follows :
1 Julij 6. 1631. Richardus Crashawe, Gulielmi pres- byteri films, natus Londini annos habens 18, admissus est ad 2se mensse ordinem sub tutela Mri Tourney.'
He was ' matriculated pensioner of Pembroke, March 26, 1 As before, vol. ii. p. 302.
MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXXI
1632,' but, as above, his 'admission' preceded. Belong ing to Essex, it is not improbable that CRASHAW and HARRIS were school-fellows at the Charterhouse. His * friendships' and associates, so winsomely ' sung' of, will demand full after-notice. In 1632-3 appeared GEORGE HERBERT'S * Temple ;' an influential event in our Poet's history. He took the degree of B.A. in 1634. In 1634 he published anonymously his volume of Latin Epigrams and other Poems ; a very noticeable book from a youth of 20, especially as most must have been composed long previously. He passed from Pembroke to Peterhouse in 1636; and again I have the satisfaction to give, for the first time, the entry in the old College Register. It is as follows :
' Anno Domini millesimo sexcentesimo tricesimo sexto vicesimo die mensis Novembris Eichardus Crashaw admissus fuit a Reverendo in Christo Patre ac Dno Dno Francisco Episcopo Elaecisi ad locum sive societatem Magistri Simon Smith legitime vacantem in Collegio sive Domo Su Petri, et vicesimo secundo die ejusdem mensis coram Magistro et Sociis ejusdem Collegii per- sonaliter constitutus, juramentum praestitit quod singulis Ordinationibus et Statutis Collegii (quantum in ipso est) reverenter obediret, et specialiter prater hoc de non ap- pellando contra amotionem suam secundum modum et formani statutorum praedictorum et de salvando cistam Magistri Thomas de Castro Bernardi et Magri Thomas Holbrooke (quantum in ipso est) indemnum, quo jura- mento prsestito admissus fuit a Magistro Collegii in per- petuum socium ejusdem Collegii et in locum supradic- tum. Per me Richardum Crashaw Londinensem.' (p. 500.)
XXX11 MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
He was made Fellow in 1637, and M.A. in 1638 ; look ing forward to becoming a ' Minister* of the Gospel. His Latin Poems in honour of, and in pathetic appeal regarding PETERHOUSE, are of the rarest interest, and suggest much elucidatory of his great ' change' in re ligious matters ; a change that must have been a sad shock to his ultra- Protestant father, but in which, be yond all gainsaying, conscience ruled, if the heart qui-*. vered. While at the University he was called on to contribute to the various ' Collections' issued from 1631 onward ; and it certainly is once more noticeable that such a mere youth should have been thus recognised. His Verses — Latin and English — appeared thus with those of HENRY MORE, JOSEPH BEAUMONT, EDWARD KING ('Lycidas'), COWLEY, and others ; and more than hold their own. In 1635 SHELFORD, ' priest' of RINGS- FIELD, obtained a laudatory poem from him for his ' Five Pious and Learned Discourses.' According to ANTHONY A- WOOD, on the authority of one who knew (not from the Registers), he took a degree in 1641 at Oxford.1
Of his inner Life and experiences during these years (twelve at least), and the influences that went to shape his decision and after-course, and his relation to the COUNTESS OF DENBIGH, I shall speak fully and I trust helpfully in our Essay. We need to get at the Facts and Circumstances to pronounce a righteous verdict.
1 I feel disposed to think that it must have been some other RICHARD CRASHAW, albeit attendance at both Universities was not uncommon. WOOD'S words are, that he was 'incorporated' in 1641 at Oxford ; and his authority ' the private observation of a certain Master of Arts, that was this year living in the University ;' and he adds, ' afterwards he was Master of Arts, in which degree it is probable he was incorporated' (Fasti, s. n.).
MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXX111
For his great-brained, stout-hearted, iron-willed Father, the stormy period was congenial : but for his son the atmosphere was mephitic ; as the Editor's ' Preface to the Learned Reader,' in his * character' of him, suggests. Signatures were being put unsolemnly to the * Solemn League and Covenant,' and as a political not a religious thing, by too many. RICHARD CRASHAW could not do that, and the crash of ' Ejection' came. Here is the rescript from the Register of PETERHOUSE once more unused hitherto :l
1 Whereas in pursuite of an ordinance of Parliament for regulating and reforming of the Universitie of Cam bridge, I have ejected Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Penniman, Mr. Crashaw, Mr. Holder, Mr. Tyringham, late fellowes of Peterhouse, in Cambridge. And whereas Mr. Charles Hotham, Robert Quarles, Howard Becher, Walter Ellis, Edward Sammes, have been examined and approved by the Assembly of Divines now sitting at Westminster, according to the said Ordinance as fitt to be Fellowes : These are therefore to require you, and every of you, to receive the said Charles Hotham, Robert Quarles, Howard Becher, Walter Ellis, Masters of Arts ; and Edward Sammes, Bachr, as fellowes of your Colledge in room of the said Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Penniman, Mr. Crashaw, Mr. Holder, Mr. Tyringham, formerly ejected, and to give them place according to their seniority in the Universitie, in reference to all those that are or shall hereafter bee putt in by mee accordinge to the Ordinance
1 I owe very hearty thanks to my good friend Mr. W. Aldis Wright, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, and to the Masters and other authorities of Pembroke and Peterhouse, for unfailing atten tion to my inquiries and the most zealous aid throughout. VOL. I. c
XXXIV MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
of Parliament aforesaid. Given under my hand and scale the eleaventh day of June anno 1644.
1 MANCHESTER.
' To the Master, President, and Fellowes of Peterhouse, in Cambridge.'
(p. 518.)
' The ejection' of 1644, like that larger one of 1662, brought much sorrow and trial to a number of good and true souls. To one so gentle, shy, self-introspective as CRASHAW, it must have been as the tearing down of a nest to a poor bird. His fellow-sufferers went hither and thither. Our first glimpse of our Worthy after his l ejec tion' is in 1646, when the ' Steps to the Temple' and ' Delights of the Muses' appeared, with its Editor's touching saying at the close of his Preface ' now dead to us.' A second edition, with considerable additions, was published in 1648. Previous to 1646 he had ' gone over' to Catholicism ; for in the ' Steps' of that year is ' An Apologie' for his ' Hymn' — * In Memory of the Vertuous and Learned Lady Madre de Teresa, that sought an early Martyrdome.' In 1646 it is headed simply ' An Apologie for the precedent Hymne:' in the 'Carmen Deo Nostro' of 1652 it is more fully inscribed * An Apo logie for the foregoing Hymn, as hauing been writt when the author was yet among the Protestantes.' His two Latin poems, 'Fides quce sola justificat non est sine spe et dilectione' and * Baptismus non tollit futura pec- cataj were first published in 1648. TURNBULL was either ignorant of their existence or intentionally suppressed them.
Our Worthy did not long remain in England. He retired to France ; and his little genial poem on sending 4 two green apricocks' to COWLEY sheds a gleam of light
MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXXV
on his residence in Paris. COWLEY was in the l gay city' in 1646 as Secretary to LORD JERMYN; and inasmuch as the volume of that year contained his own alternate-poem on * Hope,' I like to imagine that he carried over a copy of it to CRASHAW, and renewed their old friendship. COWLEY, it is told, found our Poet in great poverty : but CAR'S verses somewhat lighten the gloom. The * Secre tary' of LORD JERMYN introduced his friend to the Queen of Charles L, who was then a fugitive in Paris. So it usually runs : but CRASHAW had previously ' sung' of and to her Majesty. From the Queen the Poet obtained letters of recommendation to Italy ; and from a contem porary notice, hereafter to be used, we learn he became ' Secretary' at Rome to CARDINAL PALOTTA. He appears to have remained in ROME until 1649-50, and by very 'plain speech' on the moralities, that is immoralities, of certain ecclesiastics, to have drawn down on himself Italian jealousy and threats. His ' good' Cardinal pro vided a place of shelter in the Lady-chapel of LORETTO, of which he was made a Canon. But his abode there was very brief; for, by a document sent me from Loretto, I ascertained that he died of fever after a few weeks' re sidence only, and was buried within the chapel there, in 1650.1 COWLEY shed 'melodious tears' over his dear friend, in which he turns to fine account his ' fever1 end : and with his priceless tribute, of which DR. JOHNSON
1 My 'document' was an extract from an old Kegister of the Church. I lent it to the late Mr. ROBERT BELL (who intended to include CRASHAW in his ' Poets'), and somehow it got astray. My priest-correspondent at Loretto was dead when I applied for another copy, and the Register has disappeared. Of the fact, however, that CRASHAW died in 1650 there can be no doubt.
XXXVI MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
said, ' In these verses there are beauties which common authors may justly think not only above their attainment, but above thfeir ambition,'1 — I close for the present our Memoir :
ON THE DEATH OF MR. CEASHAW.
Poet and Saint ! to thee alone are giv'n
The two most sacred names of Earth and Heav'n,
The hardest, rarest union which can be
Next that of godhead with humanity.
Long did the Muses banish'd slaves abide,
And built vain pyramids to mortal pride ;
Like Moses thou (tho' spells and charms withstand)
Hast brought them nobly home, back to their Holy Land.
Ah, wretched we, Poets of Earth ! but thou Wert living, the same Poet which thou'rt now ; Whilst angels sing to thee their ayres divine, And joy in an applause so great as thine. Equal society with them to hold, Thou need'st not make new songs, but say the old ; And they (kind spirits !) shall all rejoice to see, How little less than they, exalted man may be.
Still the old heathen gods in numbers dwell, The heav'nliest thing on Earth still keeps up Hell : Nor have we yet quite purg'd the Christian land ; Still idols here, like calves at Bethel stand. And tho' Pan's death long since all or'cles broke, Yet still in rhyme the fiend Apollo spoke ; Nay, with the worst of heathen dotage, we (Vain men !) the monster woman deifie ; Find stars, and tie our fates there in a face, And Paradise in them, by whom we lost it, place. What diff'rent faults corrupt our Muses thus? Wanton as girls, as old wives, fabulous.
Thy spotless Muse, like Mary, did contain The boundless Godhead ; she did well disdain
1 Life of COWLEY, in Lives of the Poets.
MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXXV11
That her eternal verse employ 'd should be
On a less subject than eternity ;
And for a sacred mistress scorn'd to take
But her whom God Himself scorn'd not His spouse to make :
It (in a kind) her miracle did do,
A fruitful mother was, and virgin too.
How well (blest Swan) did Fate contrive thy death, And made thee render up thy tuneful breath In thy great mistress's arms ! Thou most divine, And richest off'ring of Loretto's shrine ! Where, like some holy sacrifice t' expire, A fever burns thee, and Love lights the fire. Angels (they say) brought the fam'd chappel there, And bore the sacred load in triumph thro' the air : 'Tis surer much they brought thee there ; and they, And thou, their charge, went singing all the way.
Pardon, my Mother-Church, if I consent That angels led him, when from thee he went ; For ev'n in error, sure no danger is, When join'd with so much piety as his. Ah ! mighty God, with shame I speak't, and grief ; Ah ! that our greatest faults were in belief ! And our weak reason were ev'n weaker yet, Rather than thus, our wills too strong for it. His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might Be wrong ; his life, I'm sure, was in the right : And I, myself, a Catholick will be ; So far at least, great Saint ! to pray to thee.
Hail, Bard triumphant ! and some care bestow On us, the Poets militant below : Oppos'd by our old enemy, adverse Chance, Attack'd by Envy and by Ignorance ; Enchain'd by Beauty, tortur'd by desires, Expos'd by tyrant-love, to savage beasts and fires. Thou from low Earth in nobler flames didst rise, And like Elijah, mount alive the skies. Elisha-like (but with a wish much less, More fit thy greatness and my littleness ;) Lo here I beg (I whom thou once didst prove So humble to esteem, so good to love)
XXXV111 MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
Not that thy sp'rit might on me doubled be,
I ask but half thy mighty sp'rit for me :
And when my Muse soars with so strong a wing,
'Twill learn of things divine, and first of thee to sing.1
ALEXANDER B. GROSART.
1 "Works, vol. i. (1707) pp. 44-7. Line 3 by a strange oversight is misprinted in all the editions I have seen ' The hard, and rarest . . .' I accept WILLMOTT'S correction.
THE
WOEKS OF EICHAED CEASHAW.
VOL. I.
ENGLISH POETEY.
NOTE.
THE title-pages, with collation, of the original and early edi tions of ' Steps to the Temple' and ' The Delights of the Muses' (1646 to 1670) are here given successively :
1st edition, 1646. (1)
STEPS
TEMPLE,
Sacred Poems,
With other Delights of the
MUSES.
By RICHARD CRASHAW, some times of PEMBROKE Hall, and late Fellow o/S. Peters Coll. in Cambridge.
Printed and Published according to Order.
LONDON,
Printed by T. W. for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at his shop at the Princes Armes in Sl Pauls Church yard. 1 646.
(2)
THE
DELIGHTS
MUSES.
OR,
Other Poems written on severall occasions.
By RICHARD CRASHAW, sometimes ^Pem broke Hall, and late Fellow of§\ Pe ters Colledge in Cambridge.
Mart. Die mihi quid melius desidiosus agas.
London,
Printed by T. W. for H. Moseley, at
the Princes Armes in S. Pauls
Churchyard, 1646. [12°]
Collation : Title-page ; the Preface to the Reader, pp. 6 ; the Author's Motto and short Note to Reader, pp. 2 [all unpaged] ; ' Steps to the Temple,' pp. 99 ; title-page of ' Delights,' as supra, and pp. 103-138 ; the Table, pp. 4.
Id edition, 1648.
STEPS
TEMPLE,
Sacred Poems.
With The Delights of the Muses.
By RICHARD CRASHAW, some times o/" Pembroke Hall, and late fellow o/S. Peters Coll. in Cambridge.
The second Edition wherein are added divers pieces not before extant.
LONDON,
Printed for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be
sold at his Shop at the Princes Armes
in S! Pauls Church-yard.
1648. [12°]
The title-page to the ' Delights of the Muses' is exactly the same with that of 1646, except the date ' 1648.' Collation : Engraved title-page ; title-page (printed) ; the Preface to the Reader and the Author's Motto, pp. 6; ' Steps,' pp. 110; the Table, pp. 4 ; the ' Delights ;' title-page ; the Tahle, pp. 3 ; Poems, pp. 71.
3d edition, 1652.
CARMEN
DEO NOSTRO,
TE DECET HYMNVS SACRED POEMS,
Collected,
Corrected,
Avgmented,
Most humbly Presented.
To
My Lady
The Covntesse of
DENBIGH
By
Her most deuoted Seruant. R. C.
In heaty \sic\ acknowledgment of his immortall obligation to her Goodnes & Charity.
AT PARIS
By PETER TARGA, Printer to the Arch-
bishope ef [sic] Paris, in S. Victors streete at
the golden sunne.
M. DC. LII. [8VO]
Collation : Title-page ; Verses by CAE, pp. 3 ; Verse-Letter to Countess of Denbigh, pp. 3 [all unpaged] ; the Poems, pp. 131. (See our Preface for more on this and preceding and suc ceeding volumes, and for notice of a separate edition of the Verse-Letter to the Countess of Denbigh.)
4th edition, erroneously designated Id edition, 1670.
STEPS
TO THE
TEMPLE,
THE
DELIGHTS
Of The
Muses,
and
Carmen Deo Nostro.
By Ric. Crashaw, sometimes Fellow of Pem broke Hall, and late Fellow of S\ Peters Colledge in Cambridge.
The 2? Edition.
In the Savoy,
Printed by T. N. for Henry Herringham at the
Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk of the
New Exchange. 1670. [8VO]
Collation: Engraving of a 'Temple;' title-page; the Pre face to the Reader and the Author's Motto, pp. 8 ; the Table, pp. 6 [all unpaged] ; ' Steps,' pp. 77; 'Delights,' pp. 81-137; 'Carmen Deo Nostro, Te Decet Hymnvs,' pp. 141-208. For later editions see our Preface, as before, and for details on all, early and recent, and Manuscripts ; and also our Memorial-In troduction and Essay. The ' Preface' of 1646 was reprinted in 1648 without change, save a few slight orthographical differ ences, and these : p. xlvi. line 3, 'their' for ' its dearest :' p. xlvii. line 1, ' subburd' for ' suburb :' and ibid, line 19, ' then' for ' than :' 1648 our text. It follows this Note in its own place. G.
STEPS TO THE TEMPLE, &c.
THE PREFACE TO THE READER.
LEARNED READER,
The Author's friend will not usurpe much upon thy eye : This is onely for those whom the name of our divine Poet hath not yet seized1 into admiration. I dare under take that what jAMBLicus2 (in vita Pyihagora] affirmeth of his Master, at his contemplations, these Poems can, viz. They shall lift thee, Reader, some yards ahove the ground : and, as in PYTHAGORAS Schoole, every temper was first tuned into a height by severall proportions of Musick, and spiritualiz'd for one of his weighty lectures ; so maist thou take a poem hence, and tune thy soule by it, into a hea venly pitch;3 and thus refined and borne up upon the wings of meditation, in these Poems thou maist talke freely of God, and of that other state.
Here's HERBERT'S"* second, but equall, who hath retriv'd Poetry of late, and return'd it up to its primitive use ; let
1 Query, the legal term 'seized' = taken possession of? So VAU- GHAN, Silurist,
' 0 give it ful obedience, that so seiz'd Of all I have, I may not move thy wrath' (i. 154), and
' Thou so long seiz'd of my heart' (ib. p. 289). G.
2 = lamblichus, the celebrated Neo-Platonic philosopher, author of Ts?i UvBetyo^ov mi^o-ius, concerning the Philosophy of Pythagoras. G.
s? vetyo^ov mio-ius, concernng e osopy o yagoras. .
3 Cf. poem on Lessius, lines 18 and 38. G.
4 See our Memorial-Introduction and Essay, for remarks on HER BERT'S relation to CRASHAW. G.
xlvi STEPS TO THE TEMPLE.
it bound back to heaven gates, whence it came. Thinke yee ST. AUGUSTINE would have steyned his graver learning with a booke of Poetry, had he fancied its dearest end to be the vanity of love -sonnets and epithalamiums ? No, no, he thought with this our Poet, that every foot in a high-borne verse, might helpe to measure the soule into that better world. Divine Poetry, I dare hold it in position, against SUAREZ on the subject, to be the language of the angels ; it is the quintessence of phantasie and discourse center'd in Heaven ; 'tis the very out-goings of the soule ; 'tis what alone our Author is able to tell you, and that in his owne verse.
It were prophane but to mention here in the Preface those under-headed Poets, retainers to seven shares and a halfe ;l madrigall fellowes, whose onely businesse in verse,
1 ' Seven shares and a halfe.' The same phrase occurs in Ben Jonson's Poetaster. The player whom Captain Tucca bullied and fleeced, was one of Henslowe's company, as shown by Tucca's sting ing taunt that they had ' fortune and the good year on their side ;' the facts being that the Fortune theatre had just been built, and that the year had been an exceptionally bad one with the hitherto prosperous players. To call attention tacitly to the allusion ' fortune' is, in the original editions, printed in italics. Various other players having been mimicked, ridiculed, and reviled, Tucca then bids fare well to his new acquaintance with — ' commend me to seven shares and a half ;' a remark which by its position seems to point to the chief men of the company. But a great part of the office of a man ager like Henslowe was, as exhibited in Henslowe's own Diary, just such as is depreciatingly described in our text. He had various dramatic authors, poetasters, and others in his pay and debt. Hence as the Poetaster was written in 1601, and this preface in 1646, it may be concluded, that ' seven shares and a half was the established proportion taken by, and therefore a theatrical cant name for, the Manager. It follows also that as the Player was one of Henslowe's company, the seven shares and a half alluded to by Jonson was Henslowe himself, from whom he had seceded, and with whom he had probably quarrelled. The question, however, yet remains open, whether seven shares and a half was the proportion received by a manager, or that taken by a proprietor-manager, such as Henslowe was. Malone has conjectured that Henslowe drew fifteen shares ; if so, the other seven and a half may have been as rent, and out of one of the two halves may have come the general expenses of the house. G.
STEPS TO THE TEMPLE. xlvii
is to rime a poore six-penny soule, a suburb-sinner1 into Hell: — May such arrogant pretenders to Poetry vanish, with their prodigious issue of tumorous2 heats and flashes of their adulterate braines, and for ever after, may this our Poet fill up the better roome of man. Oh ! when the gene- rail arraignment of Poets shall be, to give an accompt of their higher soules, with what a triumphant brow shall our divine Poet sit above, and looke downe upon poore HOMER, VIRGIL, HORACE, CLAUDIAN, &c. ? who had amongst them the ill lucke to talke out a great part of their gallant genius, upon bees, dung, froggs, and gnats, &c., and not as himself here, upon Scriptures, divine graces, martyrs and angels.
Reader, we stile his Sacred Poems, Steps to the Temple, and aptly, for in the Temple of God, under His wing, he led his life, in St. Marie's Church neere St. Peter's Col- ledge : there he lodged under TERTULLTAN'S roofe of angels; there he made his nest more gladly than David's swallow neere the house of God, where like a primitive saint, he offered more prayers in the night than others usually offer in the day ; there he penned these Poems, STEPS for happy soules to climbe heaven by. And those other of his pieces, intituled The Delights of the Muses, (though of a more hu mane mixture) are as sweet as they are innocent.
The praises that follow, are but few of many that might be conferr'd on him : he was excellent in five languages (besides his mother tongue), vid. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, the two last whereof he had little helpe in, they were of his own acquisition.
Amongst his other accomplishments in accademick (as well pious as harmlesse arts) he made his skill in Poetry, Musick, Drawing, Limming, Graving (exercises of his curi ous invention and sudden fancy) to be but his subservient
1 ' Sixpenny soule, a suburb sinner? This was the ordinary town courtesan, who, eschewing the penny and twopenny rabble of the pit and gallery, frequented the cheapest of the better-class seats, or main body of the house. G.
5 = swollen. G.
xlviil STEPS TO THE TEMPLE.
recreations for vacant houres, not the grand businesse of his soule.
To the former qualifications I might adde that which would crowne them all, his rare moderation in diet (almost Lessian temperance1) ; he never created a Muse out of dis tempers, nor (with our Canary scribblers2) cast any strange mists of surfets before the intellectuall beames of his mind or memory, the latter of which he was so much a master of, that he had there under locke and key in readinesse, the richest treasures of the best Greek and Latine poets, some of which Authors hee had more at his command by heart, than others that onely read their works, to retaine little, and understand lesse.
Enough Reader, I intend not a volume of praises larger than his booke, nor need I longer transport thee to think over his vast perfections : I will conclude all that I have impartially writ of this learned young Gent, (now dead to us) as he himselfe doth, with the last line of his poem upon Bishop Andrews' picture before his Sermons : Verte paginas,
( Look on his following leaves, and see him breath.'3
1 = as taught by Lessius, whose praise CRASHAW sang. See the Poem in its place in the ' Delights.' G.
2 = drinkers of Canary (wine) ? G.
3 On the authorship of this Preface see our Preface. G.
THE AUTHOR'S MOTTO.
Live lesus, live, and let it bee My life, to dye for love of Thee.
i. STEPS TO THE TEMPLE
(1648),
AND
CARMEN DEO NOSTRO Ac.
(1652).
VOL. I.
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE, OR THE WEEPER.1
Loe! where a wounded heart with bleeding eyes conspire. x.' Is she a flaming fountain, or a weeping fire ?
THE WEEPER.2
I.
HAIL, sister springs ! i
Parents of syluer-footed rills ! Euer-bubling things ! Thawing crystall ! snowy hills Still spending, neuer spent ! I mean 5
Thy fair eyes, sweet Magdalene !
1 This couplet appeared first in 1648 edition of the ' Steps to the Temple ;' but it properly belongs to the engraving in ' Carmen Deo Nostro' of 1652, which is reproduced in our illustrated 4to edition. G.
2 k The Weeper' appeared originally in the ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 1-5) : was reprinted in editions of 1648 (pp. 1-6), 1652 (pp. 85-92), 1670 (pp. 1-5). For reasons stated in our Preface, our text follows that of 1652 ; but see Notes and Illustrations at close of the poem for details of various readings, &c. &c., and our Essay for critical remarks on it from POPE to DR. GEORGE MACDONALD. G.
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE. II.
Heauens thy fair eyes be ;
Heauens of euer-falling starres.
'Tis seed-time still with thee ;
And starres them sow'st, whose haraest dares i o Promise the Earth, to counter-shine Whateuer makes heaun's forehead fine.
in.
But we' are deceiued all :
Starres indeed they are too true ;
For they but seem to fall, 15
As heaun's other spangles doe : It is not for our Earth and vs To shine in things so pretious.
IV.
Vpwards thou dost weep : Heaun's bosome drinks the gentle stream. 20
(Where th' milky riuers creep, Thine floates aboue, and is the cream. Waters aboue th' heauns, what they be We' are taught best by thy teares and thee.
v.
Euery morn from hence, 25
A brisk cherub something sippes, Whose sacred influence Addes sweetnes to his sweetest lippes ;
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE. 0
Then to his musick ; and his song
Tasts of this breakfast all day long. 30
VI.
When some new bright guest Takes vp among the starres a room, And Heaun will make a feast : Angels with crystall violls come phials And draw from these full eyes of thine, 35
Their Master's water, their own wine. -
VII.
The deaw no more will weep The primrose's pale cheek to deck : The deaw no more will sleep Nuzzel'd in the lilly's neck ; 40
Much rather would it be thy tear, And leaue them both to tremble here.
VIII.
"Not the soft gold which Steales from the amber-weeping tree, Makes Sorrow halfe so rich 45
As the drops distil' d from thee. Sorrowe's best iewels lye in these Caskets, of which Heaven keeps the keyes.
IX.
When Sorrow would be seen In her brightest majesty : 50
6 SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE.
(For she is a Queen) :
Then is she drest by none but thee. Then, and only then, she weares Her proudest pearles : I mean, thy teares.
1
x.
Not in the Euening's eyes, 5 5
When they red with weeping are
For the Sun that dyes ;
Sitts Sorrow with a face so fair. Nowhere but here did ever meet Sweetnesse so sad, sadnesse so sweet. 60
XI.
Sadnesse all the while Shee sits in such a throne as this, Can doe nought but smile, Nor beleeves she Sadnesse is :
Gladnesse it selfe would be more glad, 65
To bee made soe sweetly sad.
XII.
There's no need at all,
That the balsom-sweating bough
So coyly should let fall
His med'cinable teares ; for now 70
Nature hath learnt to' extract a deaw More soueraign and sweet, from you.
SAINTE MARY MAGDALJfiNE. <
XIII.
Yet let the poore drops weep
(Weeping is the ease of Woe) :
Softly let them creep, 7 5
Sad that they are vanquish't so. They, though to others no releife, Balsoin may be for their own greife.
XIV.
Golden though he be,
Golden Tagus murmures though. 80
Were his way by thee,
Content and quiet he would goe ; Soe much more rich would he esteem Thy syluer, then his golden stream.
xv.
Well does the May that lyes 85
Smiling in thy cheeks, confesse The April in thine eyes ; Mutuall sweetnesse they expresse. No April ere lent kinder showres, Nor May return'd more faithfull flowres. 90
XVI.
0 cheeks ! Bedds of chast loues, By your own showres seasonably dash't. Eyes ! Nests of milky doues, In your own wells decently washt.
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE.
0 wit of Loue ! that thus could place 95
Fountain and garden in one face.
XVII.
0 sweet contest ! of woes
With loues ; of teares with smiles disputing !
0 fair and freindly foes,
Each other kissing and confuting ! 100
While rain and sunshine, cheekes and eyes Close in kind contrarietyes.
XVIII.
But can these fair flouds be Freinds with the bosom-fires that fill thee ! Can so great flames agree ' 105
^Eternal teares should thus distill thee !
• 0 flouds ! 0 fires ! 0 suns ! 0 showres !
Mixt and made freinds by Loue's sweet powres.
XIX.
'Twas his well-pointed dart
That digg'd these wells, and drest this wine ; 1 1 o
And taught the wounded heart
The way into these weeping eyn. Vain loues auant ! bold hands forbear ! The Lamb hath dipp't His white foot here.
xx.
And now where'ere He strayes, 115
Among the Galilean mountaines,
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE.
Or more vnwellcome wayes ;
He's follow'd by two faithfull fountaines Two walking baths, two weeping motions, Portable, and compendious oceans. 120
\
XXI.
0 thou, thy Lord's fair store ! In thy so rich and rare expenses, Euen when He show'd most poor He might prouoke the wealth of princes.
What prince's wanton' st pride e'er could 125
Wash with syluer, wipe with gold 1
XXII.
Who is that King, but He Who calls 't His crown, to be call'd thine, That thus can boast to be Waited on by a wandring mine, 130
A voluntary mint, that strowes
Warm, syluer showres wher're He goes ?
XXIII.
O pretious prodigall !
Fair spend-thrift of thy-self ! thy measure (Mercilesse loue !) is all. 135
Euen to the last pearle in thy threasure : thesaurus,
All places, times, and obiects be [Latin.
Thy teares' sweet opportunity.
10 SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE.
XXIV.
Does the day-starre rise ?
Still thy teares doe fall and fall. 140
Does Day close his eyes ?
Still the fountain weeps for all. Let Night or Day doe what they will, Thou hast thy task : thou weepest still.
xxv.
Does thy song lull the air ? 145
Thy falling teares keep faithfull time. Does thy sweet-breath'd praire Yp in clouds of incense climb 1 Still at each sigh, that is, each stop, A A bead, that is, a tear, does drop. / 150
XXVI.
At these thy weeping gates (Watching their watry motion), Each winged moment waits : Takes his tear, and gets him gone.
By thine ey's tinct enobled thus, 155
Time layes him vp ; he's pretious.
XXVII.
Time, as by thee He passes, Makes thy ever-watry eyes His hower-glasses. By them His steps He rectifies. 160
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE. 1 1
The sands He us'd, no longer please, For His owne sands Heel use thy seas.
XXVIII.
Not, ' so long she liued,'
Shall thy tomb report of thee ;
But, ' so long she grieued :' 165
Thus must we date thy memory. Others by moments, months, and yeares Measure their ages ; thou, by teares.
XXIX.
So doe perfumes expire,
So sigh tormented sweets, opprest 170
With proud vnpittying fire.
Such teares the suffring rose, that's vext With vngentle flames, does shed, Sweating in a too warm bed.
XXX.
Say, ye bright brothers, 175
The fugitiue sons of those fair eyes, Your fruitfull mothers ! What make you here 1 what hopes can 'tice You to be born ? what cause can borrow You from those nests of noble sorrow 1 1 80
XXXI.
Whither away so fast ? For sure the sluttish earth
12 SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE.
Your sweetnes cannot tast,
Nor does the dust deserve your birth.
Sweet, whither hast you then? 0 say 185
Why you trip so fast away ?
XXXII.
"We goe not to seek
The darlings of Aurora's "bed,
The rose's modest cheek,
Nor the violet's humble head. 190
Though the feild's eyes too Weepers be, Because they want such teares as we.
XXXIII.
0
Much lesse mean we to trace The fortune of inferior gemmes, Preferr'd to some proud face, 195
Or pertch't vpon fear'd diadems :
Crown'd heads are toyes. We goe to meet
A worthy object, our Lord's feet.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
With some shortcomings — superficial rather than substan tive — ' The Weeper' is a lovely poem, and well deserves its place of honour at the commencement of the ' Steps to the Temple,' as in editions of 1646, 1648, and 1670. Accordingly we have spent the utmost pains on our text of it, taking for basis that of 1652. The various readings of the different edi tions and of the SANCKOFT MS. are given below for the capable student of the ultimate perfected form. I have not hesitated
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE. 13
to correct several misprints of the text of 1652 from the earlier editions.
The present poem appears very imperfectly in the first edition (1646), consisting there of only twenty-three stanzas instead of thirty-three (and so too in 1670 edition). The stanzas that are not given therein are xvi. to xxix. (on the last see onward). But on the other hand, exclusive of interesting va riations, the text of 1646 supplies two entire stanzas (xi. and xxvii.) dropped out in the editions of 1648 and 1652, though both are in 1670 edition and in the SANCEOFT MS. Moreover I accept the succession of the stanzas in 1646, so far as it goes, confirmed as it is by the SANCROFT MS. A third stanza in 1652 edition (st. xi. there) as also in 1648 edition, I omit, as it be longs self-revealingly to ' The Teare,' and interrupts the meta phor in ' The Weeper.' Another stanza (xxix.) might seem to demand excision also, as it is in part repeated in ' The Teare ;' but the new lines are dainty and would be a loss to ' The Weeper.' Our text therefore is that of 1652, as before, with restorations from 1646.
The form of the stanza in the editions of 1646, 1648 and 1670 is thus :
In 1652 from stanza xv. (there) to end,
but I have made all uniform, and agreeably to above of 1652.
I would now submit variations, illustrations and corrections, under the successive stanzas and lines.
Couplet on the engraving of ' The Weeper.' In 1652 ' Sainte' is misprinted ' Sanite,' one of a number that remind us that the
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE.
volume was printed in Paris, not London. In all the other edi tions the heading ' Sainte Mary Magdalene' is omitted.
St. i. line 2. 1646, 1648 and 1670 editions read ' silver- forded.' Were it only for the reading of the text of 1652 ' sil ver-footed,' I should have heen thankful for it ; and I accept it the more readily in that the SANCROFT MS. from Crashaw's own copy, also reads ' silver-footed.' The Homeric compound epi thet occurs in HERRICK contemporarily in his Hesperides,
' I send, I send here my supremest kiss To th.ee, my silver-footed Thamasis'
[that is, the river Thames] . WILLIAM BROWNE earlier, has 'faire silver-footed Thetis' (Works hy Hazlitt, i. p. 188). Cf. also the first line of the Elegy on Dr. Porter in our ' Airelles' — printed for the first time hy us : ' Stay silver-footed Came.'
With reference to the long-accepted reading ' silver-/orded,' the epithet is loosely used not for in the state of heing forded, hut for in a state to be forded, or fordahle, and hence shallow. The thought is not quite the same as that intended to be conveyed by such a phrase as ' silver stream of Thames,' but pictures the bright, pellucid, silvery whiteness of a clear mountain rill. As silver- shallow — a meaning which, as has been said, cannot be fairly obtained from it — can it alone be taken as a double epithet. In any other sense the hyphen is only an attempt to connect two qualities which refuse to be connected. All difficulty and obscurity are removed by ' silver- footed.'
St. iii. line 1. The ' we' ' may be = wee, as printed in 1646, but in 1648 it is ' we are,' and in 1670 ' we're,' and in the last, line 2, ' they're.' The SANCROFT MS. in line 2, reads ' they are indeed' for 'indeed they are.'
St. iv. line 4, 1646 and 1670 have ' crawles' and ' crawls' re spectively, for ' floates,' as in 1648 and our text. The SAN- CROFT MS. also reads ' crawles.' In line 3, 1646 and 1670 ' meet' is inadvertently substituted for ' creep.' Lines 5 and 6, 1646 and 1670 read
' Heaven, of such faire floods as this, Heaven the christall ocean is.'
So too the SANCROFT MS., save that for ' this' it has ' these.'
SAINTE MARY MAGDALEXE. 15
St. v. line 2. ' Brisk' is = active, nimble. So — and some thing more — SHAKESPEARE : ' he made me mad, to see him shine sofcrafc' (1 Henry IV. 3).
Line 3. 1646, 1670 and SANCKOFT MS. read ' soft' for * sa cred' of 1652 and 1648.
Line 6, ' Breakfast.' See our Essay on this and similar homely words, with parallels. 1648 reads ' his' for ' this break fast.'
St. yi. line 4, ' violls'= ' phials' or small bottles. The read ing in 1646 and 1670 is ' Angels with their bottles come.' So also in the SANCKOFT MS.
St. vii. line 4. 'Nuzzeld'= nestled or nourished. In quaint old DR. WORSHIP'S Sermons, we have ' dew cruzzle on his cheek' (p. 91).
Lines 1 and 3, ' deaw'= ' dew.' This was the contemporary spelling, as it was long before in SIR JOHN DAVIES, the FLET CHERS and others in our Fuller Worthies' Library, s. v.
Lines 5 and 6. 1646, 1670 and BANCROFT MS. read
' Much rather would it tremble heere And leave them both to bee thy teare.'
1648 is as our text (1652).
St. ix. A hasty reader may judge this stanza to have been displaced by the xith, but a closer examination reveals a new vein (so -to -say) of the thought. It is characteristic of Cra- shaw to give a first-sketch, and afterwards fill in other details to complete the scene or portraiture.
St. xi. Kestored from 1646.
St. xii. line 1. 1646, 1648 and 1670 read ' There is.' Line 4, l med? cinable teares.' So SHAKESPEARE (nearly): ' their medicinal gum' (Othello, v. 2).
St. xiii. line 2. 1646 and 1670 unhappily misprint ' case ;' and TURNBULL passed the deplorable blunder and perpetuated it.
Line 5. Our text (1652) misprints ' draw' for ' deaw'= dew, as before.
Line 6. 1646 and 1670 read ' May balsame.'
St. xiv. line 3. 1646 and 1670 read
' Might he flow from thee.'
16 SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE.
TUENBULL misses the rhythmical play in the first and second ' though,' and punctuates the second so as to read with next line. I make a full-stop as in the SANCKOFT MS. Line 4, ib. read
' Content and quiet would he goe.' So the SANCKOFT MS. Line 5, ib. read
' Richer far does he esteeme.' So the SANCKOFT MS.
St. xv. lines 5 and 6, ib. read
' No April e're lent softer showres, Nor May returned fairer flowers.'
' Faithful' looks deeper : but the SANCROFT MS. agrees with '46 and '70.
St. xvii. line 2, in 1648 misreads
' With loves and tears , and smils disputing .'
TURNBULL, without the slightest authority, seeing not even in 1670 are the readings found, has thus printed lines 2 and 4, ' With loves, of tears with smiles disporting' . . . 'Each other kissing and comforting' ! !
St. xviii. line 2 in 1648 mis-reads
' Friends with the balsome fires that fill thee.'
The ' balsome' is an evident misprint, but ' thee' is preferable to ' fill you' of our text (1652), and hence I have adopted it.
Line 3 in 1648 reads
' Cause great flames agree.'
St. xix. line 3, 1648, reads ' that' for ' the.'
Line 4, ib. ' those' for ' these.'
Line 6. cf. Revelations xiv. 5, 'These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.'
St. xxi. line 6. ' wipe with gold,' refers to Mary Magdalene's golden tresses, as also in st. xxii. ' a voluntary mint.'
Line 4. 'prouoke'=challenge.
St. xxii. line 2. Curiously enough, 1648 edition leaves a blank where we read ' calls 't' as in our text (1652). TURNBULL prints ' call'st,' but that makes nonsense. It is calls 't as=rcaUs it. So too the SANCROFT MS. Probably the copy for 1648 was illegible.
SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE. 1 7
St. xxiv. line 1. 1646 and 1670 read
' Does the Night arise ?'
Line 2. Our text (1652) misprints ' starres' for ' teares' of 1646, 1648 and 1670.
Line 3. 1646 and 1670 read
' Does Night loose her eyes ?'
The SANCKOFT MS. reads line 139 ' Does the Night arise ?' and line 141, ' Does Niget loose her eyes?'
St. xxv. line 2. 1646 and 1670 read
' Thy teares' just cadence still keeps time.' So the SANCEOFT MS.
Line 3. Our text (1652) misprints ' paire' for ' praire.' ' Sweet-breath'd' should probably be pronounced as the adjectival of the substantive, not as the participle of the verb.
Line 6. 1646, 1648 and 1670 read ' doth' for ' does.'
St. xxvi. lines 1 and 2. 1646 and 1670 read
' Thus dost ihou melt the yeare Into a weeping motion. Each minute waiteth heere.'
So the SANCROFT MS.
St. xxvii. Eestored from 1646 edition. The SANCROFT MS. in line 168 miswrites ' teares.'
St. xxviii. line 5. reads in 1646 and 1670
' Others by dayes, by monthes, by yeares.' So also the SANCROFT MS., wherein this st. follows our st. xv.
St. xxix. line 3. Our text (1652) misprints ' fires' for ' fire' of 1648.
St. xxx. line 1. Our text (1652) misprints « Say the bright brothers.' 1646 and 1670 read ' Say watry Brothers.' So SAN CROFT MS. 1648 gives 'ye,' which I have adopted. The misprint of ' the' in 1652 originated doubtless in the printer's reading ' ye,' the usual mode of writing ' the.' ' Line 2. 1646 and 1670 read
' Yee simpering . . . .' So the SANCROFT MS.
Line 3, ib. ' fertile' for ' fruitfull.'
Line 4, ib. ' What hath our world that can entice.' So the SANCROFT MS.
VOL. I. C
18 SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE.
Lines 5 and 6, ib.
' what is't can borrow You from her eyes, swolne wombes of sorrow.'
So the SANCKOFT MS.
St. xxxi. line 2. 1646 and 1670 read
' 0 whither ? for the sluttish Earth :'
and I accept ' sluttish' for ' sordid,' which is also confirmed by SANCKOFT MS.
Line 4, ib. ' your' for ' their;' and as this is also the read ing of 1648 and SANCEOFT MS., I have accepted it.
Line 5. 1646 and 1670 omit ' Sweet.'
Line 6, ib. read ' yee' for ' you.'
St. xxxii. and xxxiii. In 1646 and 1670 these two stanzas are thrown into one, viz. 23 (there), which consists of the first four lines of xxxii. and the two closing lines of xxxiii. as fol lows,
' No such thing ; we goe to meet A worthier object, our Lord's feet.'
In the SANCKOFT MS. also, and reads as last line 'A worthy ob ject, our Lord Jesus feet.' On the closing lines of st. xxxii. cf. Sospetto d'Herode, st. xlviii.
I have not thought it needful, either in these Notes or here after, to record the somewhat arbitrary variations of mere orthography in the different editions, as ' haile' for ' hail,' ' syl- uer' for ' silver,' ' hee' for ' he,' and the like. But I trust it will be found that no different wording has escaped record. G.
SANCTA MAEIA DOLORVM, OR THE MOTHEE OF SORROWS.
A patheticall Descant vpon the deuout Plainsong of Stabat Mater Dolorosa.1
I.
IN shade of Death's sad tree
Stood dolefull shee. Ah she ! now by none other Name to be known, alas, but Sorrow's Mother.
Before her eyes, 5
Her's, and the whole World's ioyes, Hanging all torn she sees ; and in His woes And paines, her pangs and throes : Each wound of His, from euery part, All, more at home in her one heart. 10
1 Appeared originally in ' Steps' of 1648 (pp. 7-9) : reprinted in 1652 and 1670. As before, our text is that of 1652 (pp. 55-61); but see Notes and Illustrations at close. The illustration, engraved by MESAGER, is reproduced in our illustrated quarto edition. G.
20 SANCTA MARIA DOLORVM.
II.
What kind of marble, than,
Is that cold man
"Who can look on and see, Nor keep such noble sorrowes company ?
Sure eu'en from you 15
(My flints) some drops are due, To see so many unkind swords contest
So fast for one soft brest : While with a faithfull, mutuall floud, Her eyes bleed teares, His wounds weep blood. v 20
in.
0 costly intercourse
Of deaths, and worse —
Diuided loues. While Son and mother Discourse alternate wounds to one another,
Quick deaths that grow 25
And gather, as they come and goe : His nailes write swords in her, which soon her heart
Payes back, with more then their own smart. Her swords, still growing with His pain, Turn speares, and straight come home again. 30
IV.
She sees her Son, her God, Bow with a load
SANCTA MARIA DOLORVM. 21
Of borrow'd sins ; and swimme In woes that were not made for Him.
Ah ! hard command 35
Of loue ! Here must she stand, Charg'd to look on, and with a stedfast ey
See her life dy :
Leaning her only so much breath As serues to keep aliue her death. 40
v.
0 mother turtle-doue !
Soft sourse of loue !
That these dry lidds might borrow Somthing from thy full seas of sorrow !
0 in that brest 45
Of thine (the noblest nest Both of Loue's fires and flouds) might I recline
This hard, cold heart of mine ! The chill lump would relent, and proue Soft subject for the seige of Loue. 50
VI.
0 teach those wounds to bleed In me ; me, so to read This book of loues, thus writ In lines of death, my life may coppy it
With loyall cares. 55
0 let me, here, claim shares !
22 SANCTA MARIA DOLORVM.
Yeild somthing in thy sad prserogatiue (Great queen of greifes), and giue Me, too, my teares ; who, though all stone, Think much that thou shouldst mourn alone. 60
VII.
Yea, let my life and me
Fix here with thee,
And at the humble foot Of this fair tree, take our eternall root.
That so we may 65
At least be in Loue's way ; And in these chast warres, while the wing'd wounds flee
So fast 'twixt Him and thee, My brest may catch the kisse of some kind dart, Though as at second hand, from either heart. 70
VIII.
O you, your own best darts,
Dear, dolefull hearts !
Hail ! and strike home, and make me see That wounded bosomes their own weapons be.
Come wounds ! come darts ! 75
JSTail'd hands ! and peirced hearts ! Come your whole selues, Sorrow's great Son and mother !
Nor grudge a yonger brother Of greifes his portion, who (had all their due) One single wound should not haue left for you. 80
SANCTA MAEIA DOLORVM. 2-5
IX.
Shall I, sett there
So deep a share
(Dear wounds), and onely now In sorrows draw no diuidend with you ?
0 be more wise, 85
If not more soft, mine eyes ! Flow, tardy founts ! and into decent showres
Dissolue my dayes and howres. And if thou yet (faint soul !) desert To bleed with Him, fail not to weep with her. 90
x.
Eich queen, lend some releife ;
At least an almes of greif
To' a heart who by sad right of sin Could proue the whole summe (too sure) due to him.
By all those stings 95
Of Loue, sweet-bitter things, Which these torn hands transcrib'd on thy true heart;
0 teach mine too the art To study Him so, till we mix Wounds, and become one crucifix. 100
XI.
0 let me suck the wine So long of this chast Vine,
24 SANCTA MARIA DOLORVM.
Till drunk of the dear wounds, I be A lost thing to the world, as it to me.
0 faithfull freind 105
Of me and of my end ! Fold vp my life in loue ; and lay't beneath
My dear Lord's vitall death.
Lo, heart, thy hope's whole plea ! her pretious breath Pour'd out in prayrs forthee; thy Lord's in death, no
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
St. i. line 10. In 1648 the reading is
' Are more at home in her Owne heart.'
In 1670 ' All, more at home in her own heart.' I think ' all' and ' one' of our text (1652) preferable. There is a world of pathos in the latter. Cf. st. ii. line 8.
St. ii. line 1. On the change of orthography for rhyme, see our PHINEAS FLETCHER, vol. ii. 206; and our LOED BROOKE, VAUGHAN, &c. &c., show ' then' and ' than' used as in Crashaw.
St. vi. line 3. In 1648 the reading is « love ;' 1670 as our text (1652). The plural includes the twofold love of Son and mother.
Line 7, ib. ' to' for ' in.'
Line 9, ib. ' Oh give' at commencement. 1670, ' to' for ' too.'
St. vii. and viii. These two stanzas do not appear in 1648 edition, but appear in 1670.
St. vii. line 4. By ' tree' the Cross is meant. Cf . st. i. line 1.
St. ix. line 1. 1648 edition supplies the two words required by the measure of the other stanzas, ' in sins.' They are dropped inadvertently in 1652 and 1670. Turnbull failed as usual to detect the omission.
Line 4. 1648 spells ' Divident.'
THE TEARE. 25
Lines 5 and 6. I have accepted correction of our text (1652) from 1648 edition, in line 6, of 'If for ' Is,' which is also the reading of 1670. 1648 substitutes 'just' for 'soft;' but 1670 does not adopt it, nor can I.
St. x. line 1. 1648 reads ' Lend, O lend some relief e.' Line 9 reads ' To studie thee so.' St. xi. line 3, ib. reads ' thy' for ' the.' Line 8, ib. reads ' Thy deare lost vitall death.' Line 10. I have adopted from 1648 ' in thy Lord's death' for ' thy lord's in death' of our text (1652).
Turnbull has soine sad misprints in this poem: e.g. st. ii. line 4, ' sorrow's' for ' sorrows ;' st. iii. line 2, ' death's' for ' deaths ;' st. vi. line 9, ' Me to' for ' Me, too ;' st. x. line 2, 'in' for ' an,' and line 3, ' a' mis-inserted before ' sad.' Except in the ' Me to' of st. vi., he had not even the poor excuse of fol lowing the text of 1670. G.
THE TEAEE.1
i. WHAT bright-soft tiling is this,
Sweet Mary, thy faire eyes' expence 1
A moist sparke it is, A watry diamond ; from whence The very tearme, I think, was found, 5
The water of a diamond.
1 Appeared originally in ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 6-7) : reprinted in 1648 (pp. 9-11) and 1670 editions. As it does not appear in 'Carmen Deo Nostro,' &c. (1652), our text follows that of 1648^ but see Notes and Illustrations at close of the poem. G.
26 THE TEARS.
II.
0, 'tis not a teare :
'Tis a star about to dropp
From thine eye, its spheare ;
The sun will stoope and take it up : i o
Proud will his sister be, to weare This thine eyes' iewell in her eare.
in.
0, 'tis a teare, Too true a teare ; for no sad eyne,
How sad so 'ere, 15
Raine so true a teare, as thine ; Each drop leaving a place so deare, Weeps for it self; is its owne teare.
IV.
Such a pearle as this is,
Slipt from Aurora's dewy brest — 20
The rose-bud's sweet lipp kisses ;
And such the rose it self that's vext With ungentle flames, does shed, Sweating in a too warm bed.
v.
Such the maiden gem, 25
By the purpling vine put on,
Peeps from her parent stem, And blushes on the bridegroom sun ;
THE TEARE. 27
The watry blossome of thy eyne
Eipe, will make the richer wine. 30
VI.
Faire drop, why quak'st thou so 1 'Cause thou streight must lay thy head
In the dust? 0, no ! The dust shall never be thy bed :
A pillow for thee will I bring, 35
Stuft with downe of angel's wing.
VII.
Thus carried up on high
(For to Heaven thou must goe), Sweetly shalt thou lye,
And in soft slumbers bath thy woe, 40
Till the singing orbes awake thee, And one of their bright chorus make thee.
VIII.
There thy selfe shalt bee
An eye, but not a weeping one ;
Yet I doubt of thee, 45
Whether th' had'st rather there have shone An eye of heaven ; or still shine here, In the heaven of Marie's eye, a TEARE.
28 THE TEARE.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
It is to be re-noted that st. v. is identical in all save ' watry' for ' bridegroom' with st. xi. of ' The Weeper' as given in text of 1652, and that st. iv. has two lines from st. xxix. of the same poem. Neither of these stanzas appear in ' The Weeper' of 1646. As stated in relative foot-note, I have withdrawn the former from ' The Weeper.' We may be sure it was inadvert ently inserted in 1652, seeing that the very next stanza closes with the same word ' wine' as in it : a fault which our Poet never could have passed. It is to be noticed too that ' The Teare' did not appear in the edition of 1652. By transferring the stanza to ' The Teare' as in 1646, 1648 and 1670 editions, a blemish is removed from ' The Weeper,' while in ' The Teare' it is a vivid addition. The ' such' of line 1 links it naturally on to st. iv. with its ' such.'
Our text follows that of 1648 except in st. v. line 4, where I adopt the reading of 1652 in ' The Weeper' (there st. xi.) of 1 bridegroom' (misprinted ' bridegrooms') for ' watry,' and that I correct in st. vii. line 6, the misprint ' the' for ' thee,' — the latter being found in 1646 and 1670. With reference to st. v. again, in line 5 in ' The Weeper' of 1648 the reading is ' bal- some' for ' blossom.' The ' ripe' of line 6 settles (I think) that ' blossom' is the right word, as the ripe blossom is=the grape, to the rich lucent-white drops of which the Weeper's tears are likened. ' Balsome' doesn't make wine. I have adopted from et. xi. of ' The Weeper' of 1652 the reading ' the purpling vine' for ' the wanton Spring' of 1646, 1648 and 1670. The SANCROFT MS. in st. i. line 2, reads ' expends' for ' expence ;' st. iv. line 4, 'that's' for 'when;' st. v. line 4, 'manly sunne' for 'bride- groome,' and line 5, 'thine' for 'thy;' st. viii. line 6, 'I' th" for ' In th'.' G.
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.1
Tradidit semetipsum pro nobis oblationem et hostiam Deo in odorem suauitatis. Ad Ephe. v. 2.
THE HOWRES. FOE THE HOVR OF MATINES.
The Verside. Lord, by Thy sweet and sailing sign !
The Responsory.
Defend us from our foes and Thine. V. Thou shalt open my lippes, 0 Lord. R. And my mouth shall shew forth Thy prayse. V. 0 God, make speed to saue me. 5
R. 0 Lord, make hast to help me.
1 Most of ' The Office of the Holy Crosse' appeared in the ' Steps' of 1648, but in a fragmentary form. First came a piece ' Upon our B. Saviour's Passion,' which included all the Hymns. Then 'the Antiphona,' which was the last so called here; then 'the Recom mendation of the precedent Hymn;' then *a Prayer;' and lastly, ' Christ's Victory,' including three other of the verses, called ' the Antiphona.' Our text is from ' Carmen Deo Nostro' &c. of 1652, as before (pp. 31-48) — the engraving in which is reproduced in our il lustrated quarto edition. See Notes and Illustrations at close of this composition. G.
30 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.
Glory be to the FATHER,
and to the SON,
and to the H[oly] GHOST. As it was in the beginning, is now, and euer i o
shall be, world without end. Amen.
THE HYMN.
The wakefull Matines hast to sing The unknown sorrows of our King : The Father's Y«rord and. Wisdom, made Man for man, by man's betraid ; 1 5
^The World's price sett to sale, and by the bold Merchants of Death and Sin, is bought and sold : Of His best freinds (yea of Himself) forsaken ; By His worst foes (because He would) beseig'd and taken.
The AntipJiona.
All hail, fair tree, 20
Whose fruit we be ! What song shall raise Thy seemly praise, Who broughtst to light Life out of death, Day out of Night ! 25
The Versicle. Lo, we adore Thee, Dread LAMB ! and bow thus low before Thee :
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE. 31
The Responsor.
'Cause, by the couenant of Thy crosse, Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse.
The Prayer.
0 Lord IESV-CHRIST, Son of the liuing God ! 30 interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death, Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy ; vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest ; to Thy 3 5 Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners, life and glory euerlasting. Who liuest and reignest with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
FOR THE HOUR OF PRIME.
The Verside. Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign ! 40
The Responsor.
Defend vs from our foes and Thine. V. Thou shalt open my lips, 0 Lord. R. And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. V. 0 God, make speed to save me. R. 0 Lord, make hast to help me. 45
V. Glory be to, &c. R. As it was in the, &c.
32 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.
THE HYMN.
The early Prime blushes to say
She could not rise so soon, as they
Call'd Pilat vp ; to try if he 50
Could lend them any cruelty.
Their hands with lashes arm'd, their toungs with lyes
And loathsom spittle, blott those beauteous eyes,
The blissfull springs of ioy j from whose all-chear- ing ray
The fair starrs fill their wakefull fires, the sun him self drinks day. 5 5
The Antiphona.
Victorious sign
That now dost shine,
Transcrib'd aboue Into the land of light and loue ;
0 let vs twine 60
Our rootes with thine,
That we may rise Vpon thy wings, and reach the skyes.
The Versicle. Lo, we adore Thee,
Dread Lamb ! and fall 65
Thus low before Thee.
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE. 33
The Responsor.
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse.
The Prayer.
0 LORD IESV-CHRIST, Son of the liuing God ! interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death, 70 Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy ; vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest ; to Thy Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners, 75 life and glory euerlasting. Who liuest and reignest with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
THE THIRD.
The Verside. Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign,
The Responsor.
Defend vs from our foes and Thine. 80
V. Thou shalt open my lips, 0 Lord. R. And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. V. 0 God, make speed to save me. R. 0 Lord, make hast to help me. V. Glory be to, &c. -85
R. As it was in the, &c.
VOL. I. D
34 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.
THE HYMN.
The third hour's deafen'd with the cry Of crucify Him, crucify. So goes the vote (nor ask them, why 1), Liue Barabbas ! and let God dy. 90
But there is witt in wrath, and they will try A hail more cruell then their crucify. For while in sport He weares a spitefull crown The serious showres along His decent Face run sadly down.
The Antiphona.
Christ when He dy'd 95
Deceiu'd the Crosse ;
And on Death's side
Threw all the losse. The captiue World awak't and found The prisoners loose, the iaylor bound. 100
The Versicle.
Lo, we adore Thee, Dread LAMB, and fall Thus low before Thee.
The Responsor.
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse
Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse. 105
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE. 35
The Prayer.
0 Lord IESV-CHRIST, Son of the lining God ! interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death, Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy; no vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest ; to Thy Church, peace and concord ; to vs sinners, life and glory everlasting. Who liuest and reignest with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. 115
THE SIXT.
The Versicle. Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign !
The Responsor.
Defend vs from our foes and Thine. V. Thou shalt open my lips, 0 Lord. R. And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. V. 0 God, make speed to save me ! 120
R. 0 Lord, make hast to help me ! V. Glory be to, &c. R. As it was in the, &c.
THE HYMN.
Now is the noon of Sorrow's night :
High in His patience, as their spite, 125
36 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.
Lo, the faint Lamb, with weary limb
Beares that huge tree which must bear Him !
That fatall plant, so great of fame
For fruit of sorrow and of shame,
Shall swell with both, for Him, and mix 130
All woes into one crucifix.
Is tortur'd thirst itselfe too sweet a cup ?
Gall, and more bitter mocks, shall make it vp.
Are nailes, blunt pens of superficiall smart '?
Contempt and scorn can send sure wounds to
search the inmost heart. 135
The Antiphona.
0 deare and sweet dispute 'Twixt Death's and Loue's farr different fruit !
Different as farr As antidotes and poysons are.
By that first fatall tree 140
Both life and liberty
Were sold and slain ; By this they both look vp, and Hue again.
The Verside. Lo, we adore Thee, Dread Lamb ! and bow thus low before Thee. 145
The Responsor.
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse, Thou hast sau'd the World from certain losse.
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE. 37
The Prayer.
0 Lord IESV-CHRIST, Son of the lining God ! interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death, Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy 150 iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy ; vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest ; to Thy Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners, life and glory euerlasting. Who liuest and reignest 155 with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
THE NINTH.
The Verside. Lord, by Thy sweet and sailing sign,
The Responsor.
Defend vs from our foes and Thine. V. Thou shalt open my lips, 0 Lord. 160
R. And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. V. 0 God, make speed to save me ! R. 0 Lord, make hast to help me ! V. Glory be to, &c. R. As it was in the, &c. 165
THE HYMN.
The ninth with awfull horror hearkened to those groanes Which taught attention eu'n to rocks and stones.
38 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.
Hear, Father, hear ! Thy Lamb (at last) complaines Of some more painfull thing then all His paines. Then bowes His all-obedient head, and dyes 170
His own lou's and our sins' GREAT SACRIFICE. The sun saw that, and would haue seen no more ; The center shook : her vselesse veil th' inglorious Temple tore.
The Antiphona. O strange, mysterious strife
Of open Death and hidden Life ! 175
When on the crosse my King did bleed, Life seem'd to dy, Death dy'd indeed.1
The Verside. Lo, we adore Thee, Dread Lamb ! and fall Thus low before Thee. 180
The Responsor.
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse.
The Prayer.
0 Lord lesv-Christ, Son of the liuing God ! interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death,
1 Mors et vita duello Conflixero mirando :
Dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus.
Latin Sequence 12th-13th century: Viet. Pasch. G.
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE. 39
Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy 185 iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And vouchsafe to grannt vnto me Thy grace and mercy; vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest ; to Thy Church, peace and concord ; to vs sinners, life and glory euerlasting. Wholiuest and reignest 190 with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
EVENSONG.
The Verside.
Lord, by Thy sweet and sailing sign !
The Responsor.
Defend vs from our foes and Thine. V. Thou shalt open my lips, 0 Lord ! 195
R. And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. V. 0 God, make speed to save me ! R. 0 Lord, make hast to help me ! V. Glory be to, &c. R. As it was in the, &c. 200
THE HYMN.
But there were rocks would not relent at this : Lo, for their own hearts, they rend His ; Their deadly hate Hues still, and hath A wild reserve of wanton wrath ; Superfluous spear ! But there's a heart stands by 205 Will look no wounds be lost, no deaths shall dy.
40 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.
Gather now thy Greifs ripe fruit, great* mother- maid!
Then sitt thee down, and sing thine eu'nsong in the sad tree's shade.
The Antiphona.
0 sad, sweet tree !
Wofull and ioyfull we 210
Both weep and sing in shade of thee. When the dear nailes did lock And graft into thy gracious stock
The hope, the health,
The worth, the wealth 215
Of all the ransom'd World, thou hadst the power
(In that propitious hour)
To poise each pretious limb,
And proue how light the World was, when it weighd with Him.
Wide maist thou spred 220
Thine armes, and with thy bright and blissfull head O'relook all Libanus. Thy lofty crown The King Himself is, thou His humble throne, Where yeilding and yet conquering He Prou'd a new path of patient victory : 225
When wondring Death by death was slain, And our Captiuity His captiue ta'ne.
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE. 41
The Versicle. Lo, we adore Thee, Dread LAMB ! and bow thus low before Thee.
The Responsor.
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse 230
Thou hast sau'd the World from certain losse.
The Prayer. 0 Lord lesv-Christ, Son of the liuing, &c.
COMPLINE.
The Versicle.
Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign !
The Responsor.
Defend vs from our foes and Thine. V. Thou shalt open my lips, 0 Lord ! 235
R. And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. V. 0 God, make speed to save me ! R. 0 Lord, make hast to help me ! V. Glory be to, &c. R. As it was in the, &c. 240
THE HYMN.
The Complin hour comes last, to call Vs to our own lives' funerall.
42 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.
All hartlesse task ! yet Hope takes head, And liues in Him that here lyes dead. Kun, Mary, run ! Bring hither all the blest 245
Arabia, for thy royall phoenix' nest ; Pour on thy noblest sweets, which, when they touch This sweeter body, shall indeed be such. But must Thy bed, Lord, be a borrow'd graue Who lend'st to all things all the life they haue. 250 0 rather vse this heart, thus farr a fitter stone, 'Cause, though a hard and cold one, yet it is Thine own. Amen.
The Antipliona.
0 saue vs then,
Mercyfull King of men !
Since Thou wouldst needs be thus 255
A Saviour, and at such a rate, for vs ;
Saue vs, 0 saue vs, Lord.
We now will own no shorter wish, nor name a nar rower word ;
Thy blood bids vs be bold,
Thy wounds giue vs fair hold, 260
Thy sorrows chide our shame : Thy crosse, Thy nature, and Thy name
Aduance our claim,
And cry with one accord
Saue them, 0 saue them, Lord ! 265
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE. . 43
THE RECOMMENDATION.1
These Houres, and that which houers o're my end, Into Thy hands and hart, Lord, I commend.
Take both to Thine account, that I and mine In thdt hour, and in these, may be all Thine.
That as I dedicate my deuoutest breath 270
To make a kind of life for my Lord's death,
So from His liuing and life-giuing death,
My dying life may draw a new and neuer fleeting breath.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
In the original edition of this composition, as supra (1648), it is entitled simply ' Vpon our B[lessed] Saviour's Passion.' What in our text (1652) constitute the Hymns, were originally numbered as seven stanzas. A few various readings from 1648 will be found below. Our text is given in full in 1670 edition, but not very accurately.
Various readings of the Hymns in 1648 ' StepsS
i. Line 1. ' The wakefull dawning hast's to sing.'
,, 2. The allusion is to the petition in the old Litanies, ' By all Thine unknown sorrows, good Lord, deliver us.'
,, 8. 'betray'd' for ' beseigd :' the former perhaps su perior.
n. 1. 'The early Morne.' 2. ' It' for ' she.'
m.
IV.
v.
VII.
5. ' ther's' for ' there is.'
6. ' The fruit' instead of ' for' — a misprint. 6. ' our great sins' sacrifice.'
1. ' The Nightening houre' — a curious coinage.
1 The engraving of our text (1652) here, is reproduced in our il lustrated quarto edition. For the Latin ' Expostulatio' belonging thereto, see our vol. ii. G.
44 VEXILLA REGIS.
In the ' Prayer,' ' nnto all quick and dead' is dropped, and reads ' the,' not ' Thy,' Church. In line 55 Turnbull reads ' weakful,' and, line 243, ' heed' for ' head,' — two of a number of provoking blunders in his text. Gr.
YEXILLA EEGIS :
THE HYMN OF THE HOLY CROSSE.1 I.
LOOK vp, languisting soul ! Lo, where the fair T Badge of thy faith calls back thy care,
And biddes thee ne're forget
Thy life is one long debt
Of loue, to Him, Who on this painfull tree 5
Paid back the flesh He took for thee.
ii.
Lo, how the streames of life, from that full nest Of loues, Thy Lord's too liberall brest,
Flow in an amorous floud
Of water wedding blood. i o
With these He wash't thy stain, transferr'd thy smart, And took it home to His own heart.
in.
But though great Love, greedy of such sad gain, Vsurpt the portion of thy pain,
1 Appeared originally in 'Steps' of 1648 (pp. 30-1) : reprinted hi 1652 (pp. 49-51) and 1670 (pp. 174-6). Our text is that of 1652, as before. See Notes and Illustrations at close of the poem. G.
VEXILLA REGIS. 45
And from the nailes and spear 15
Turn'd the steel point of fear :
Their vse is chang'd, not lost; and now they moue
Not stings of wrath, but wounds of loue.
IV.
Tall tree of life ! thy truth makes good What was till now ne're understood, 20
Though the prophetick king Struck lowd his faithfull string : It was thy wood he meant should make the throne For a more than Salomon.
v.
Large throne of Loue ! royally spred 25
With purple of too rich a red :
Thy crime is too much duty ;
Thy burthen, too much beauty j Glorious or greiuous more ? thus to make good Thy costly excellence with thy King's own blood. 30
VI.
Euen ballance of both worlds ! our world of sin, And that of grace, Heaun-way'd in Him :
Vs with our price thou weighed'st ; Our price for vs thou payed'st, Soon as the right-hand scale reioyc't to proue 35 How much Death weigh'd more light then Loue.
46 VEXILLA REGIS.
VII.
Hail, our alone hope ! let thy fair head shoot Aloft, and fill the nations with thy noble fruit : The while our hearts and we Thus graft our selues on thee, 40
Grow thou and they. And be thy fair increase The sinner's pardon and the iust man's peace.
Liue, 0 for euer Hue and reign The Lamb Whom His own loue hath slain ! And let Thy lost sheep Hue to inherit 45
That kingdom which this Crosse did merit. Amen.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
These variations &c. as between 1648 and 1652, deserve record :
St. i. line 1. ' Languishing,' which is the reading in 1648.
Ib. line 2. Here, and in v. line 1, I have added ' e' to ' badg' and ' larg' respectively from 1648.
St. vi. line 2. Our text (1652) corrects a manifest blunder of 1648, which reads ' wag'd' for ' way'd'=weighed. In 1648, lines 3-4 read , ^^ with one price were weighedj Both with one price were paid.'
St. vii. appeared for the first time in our text (1652). In the closing four lines, line 4, 1648, reads noticeably 4 That Kingdome which Thy blessed death did merit.'
The allusion in st. iv. is to the old reading of Psalm xcvi. 10 : ' Tell it among the heathen that the Lord reigneth from the tree.1 The reference to Solomon points to the mediaeval mystical interpretations of Canticles iii. 9-10.
I place ' Vexilla Regis' immediately after the ' Office of the Holy Crosse,' as really belonging to it, and not to be separated as in 1648. G.
[THE LORD SILENCES HIS QUESTIONERS.]1
' Neither durst any man from that day aske Him any more questions.'
St. Matthew xxii.
MID'ST all the darke and knotty snares, i
Black wit or malice can, or dares,
Thy glorious wisedome breaks the nets,
And treds with uncontrouled steps ;
Thy quell'd foes are not onely now 5
Thy triumphs, but Thy trophies too :
They both at once Thy conquests bee,
And Thy conquests' memorie.
Stony amazement makes them stand
Wayting on Thy victorious hand, 10
Like statues fixed to the fame
Of Thy renoune, and their own shame,
As if they onely meant to breath
To be the life of their own death.
'Twas time to hold their peace, when they 15
Had ne're another word to say ;
1 Originally appeared in l Steps' of 1646 (p. 15) : was reprinted in editions 1648 (pp. 21-2) and 1670 (p. 15). Our text is that of 1648: but there are only slight orthographic differences in the others. G.
48 OUR BLESSED LORD IN HIS CIRCUMCISION.
Yet is their silence unto Thee,
The full sound of Thy victorie ;
Their silence speaks aloud, and is
Thy well pronounc'd panegyris. 20
While -they speak nothing, they speak all
Their share, in Thy memoriall.
While they speake nothing, they proclame
Thee, with the shrillest trump of Fame.
To hold their peace is all the wayes 25 These wretches have to speak Thy praise.
OUKB[LESSED] LOED IN HIS CIKCUMCISION TO HIS FATHEK.1
1. To Thee these first-fruits of My growing death i (For what else is My life ?), lo ! I bequeath :
2. Tast this, and as Thou lik'st this lesser flood Expect a sea ; My heart shall make it good.
1 Appeared originally in the l Steps' of 1646 (p. 21) : was re printed in 1648 (p. 29) and 1670 (p. 22). Our text is that of 1648, but the others are the same except in the usual changes of ortho graphy. The SANCROFT MS. in line 7 reads ' Then shall He drink ;' line 9, 'My paines are in their nonage: my young feares;' line 10 I have adopted, instead of 'Are yet both in their hopes, not come to yeares,' which isn't English ; line 12, ' are tender ;' line 14, l a to- wardnesse.' I have arranged these poems in numbered couplets as in the SANCROFT MS. I insert <d,' dropped by misprint in 1648, but found in 1646 (line 13). G.
3.
OUR BLESSED LORD IN HIS CIRCUMCISION. 49
Thy wrath that wades here now, e're long shall
swim, 5
The floodgate shall be set wide ope for Him.
4. Then let Him drinke, and drinke, and doe His
worst To drowne the wantonnesse of His wild thirst.
5. Now's but the nonage of My paines, My feares Are yett but hopes, weake as my infant yeares. i o
6. The day of My darke woe is yet but morne, My teares but tender, and My death new-borne.
7. Yet may these unfledg'd griefes give fate some
guesse, These cradle-torments have their towardnesse.
8. These purple buds of blooming death may bee, 1 5 Erst the full stature of a fatall tree.
9. And till My riper woes to age are come,
This knife may be the speare's praeludium.
VOL. I.
ON THE WOUNDS OF OUE CEUCIFIED LOED.1
0, THESE wakefull wounds of Thine ! i
Are they mouthes ? or are they eyes ?
Be they mouthes, or be they eyne,
Each bleeding part some one supplies.
Lo ! a mouth ! whose full-bloom'd lips 5
At too dear a rate are roses : Lo ! a blood-shot eye ! that weeps,
And many a cruell teare discloses.
0, thou that on this foot hast laid
Many a kisse, and many a teare ; 10
Now thou shalt have all repaid,
What soe're thy charges were.
This foot hath got a mouth and lips
To pay the sweet summe of thy kisses ;
To pay thy teares, an eye that weeps, 1 5
Instead of teares, such gems as this is.
1 Appeared originally in ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 21, 22) : was re printed in editions of 1648 (pp. 29, 30) and 1670 (pp. 22, 23). Our text is that of 1648 ; but all agree save in usual orthographic slight changes. In 1646 stanza ii. line 2 spells 'too' as 'two.' The. SAN- CROFT MS. varies only, as usual, in the orthography. G.
VPON THE BLEEDING CRUCIFIX. 51
The difference onely this appeares,
(Nor can the change offend) The debt is paid in ruby-teares
Which thou in pearles did'st lend. 20
VPON THE BLEEDING CRUCIFIX: A SONG.1
i.
IIESU, no more ! It is full tide : From Thy head and from Thy feet, From Thy hands and from Thy side \ All the purple riuers meet.
ii.
What need Thy fair head bear a part In showres, as if Thine eyes had none ? What need they help to drown Thy heart, That striues in torrents of it's own ?
in.
Water'd by the showres they bring, The thornes that Thy blest browe encloses (A cruell and a costly spring) Conceiue proud hopes of proving roses.
1 Appeared originally in the ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 23, 24) : was re- printed in editions of 1648 (pp. 32, 33), 1652 (pp. 61-63) and 1670 (pp. 24, 25). Our text is that of 1652, as hefore, but with an entire stanza from 1646 overlooked. .See Notes and Illustrations at close of the poem. G.
52 VPON THE BLEEDING CEUCIFIX.
IV.
Thy restlesse feet now cannot goe For vs and our eternall good, As they were euer wont. What though 1 They swimme, alas ! in their own floud.
v.
Thy hand to giue Thou canst not lift ; Yet will Thy hand still giuing be. \ It giues, but 0 itself 's the gift : \ It giues though bound ; though bound 'tis free.
VI.
But 0 Thy side, Thy deep-digg'd side ! That hath a double Nilus going : Nor euer was the Pharian tide Half so fruitfull, half so flowing.
VII.
No hair so small, but payes his riuer To this Eed Sea of Thy blood ; Their little channells can deliuer Somthing to the generall floud.
VIII.
But while I speak, whither are run All the riuers iiam'd before ? I counted wrong : there is but one ; But 0 that one is one all ore.
VPON THE BLEEDING CRUCIFIX. 53
IX.
Rain-swoln riuers may rise proud, Bent all to drown and overflow ; But when indeed all's ouerflow'd, They themselues are drowned too. x.
This Thy blood's deluge (a dire chance, Dear Lord, to Thee) to vs is found A deluge of deliuerance ; A deluge least we should be drown'd. lest
N'ere wast Thou in a sense so sadly true,
The well of liuing waters, Lord, till now.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
The title in 1646 is ' On the Weeding wounds of our crucified Lord :' in 1648 has ' body' for ' wounds :' in 1670 as 1646. I record these variations, &c. :
St. i. lines 2 and 3, in 1646 and 1670 read
' From Thy hands and from Thy feet, From Thy head and from Thy side.'
So the SANCROFT MS.
St. ii. In 1646 and 1670 this stanza is the 5th, and in line 2 has ' teares' for ' showres.'
St. iii. This stanza, by some strange oversight, is wholly dropped in 1652. St. iii. not in SANCROFT MS., and our st. ii. is the last. On one of the fly-leaves of the copy of 1646 edition in Trinity College, Cambridge, is the following contemporary MS. epigram, which embodies the sentiment of the stanza :
' In caput Xti spinis coronatum. Cerno Caput si Christe tuum mihi vertitur omne In spinis illud, quod fuit ante rosa.'
Turnbull gives the stanza, but misplaces it after our st. vi., overlooking that our st. ii. is in 1646 edition st. v.
54 VPON THE BLEEDING CRUCIFIX.
St. iv. line 1 : in 1646 and 1670 ' they' for ' now.'
Line 3, ib. ' as they are wont' — evident inadvertence, as ' ever' is required by the measure.
Line 4, ib. ' blood' for ' floud :' so also in 1648.
St. v. line 1, ib. ' hand' for ' hands :' ' hand' in 1648, and in SANCKOFT MS. : adopted. Line 4, ' dropps' in SANCKOFT MS. for ' gives.'
St. vi. line 3. Our text (1652) prints ' pharian,' the Paris printer spelling (and mis-spelling) without comprehending the reference to Pharaoh.
St. vii. line 1, in 1646 and 1670 * not a haire but . . . .'
St. ix. line 3, in 1648 a capital in ' All's.' G.
TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME, THE NAME OF IESVS :
In Vnitate Devs Est Numisma Vrbani 6.
I SING the name which none can say i
But touch't with an interiour ray :
The name of our new peace ; our good :
Our blisse : and supernatural! blood :
The name of all our Hues and loues. 5
Hearken, and help, ye holy doues !
The high-born brood of Day ; you bright
Candidates of blissefull light,
The heirs elect of Loue, whose names belong
Vnto the euerlasting life of song ; 10
All ye wise so vies, who in the wealthy brest
Of this vnbounded name, build your warm nest.
1 Appeared originally in 'Steps' of 1648 (pp. 33-40); was re printed in 1652 (pp. 1-9) and 1670 (pp. 146-153). Our text is that of 1652, as before, and its engraving here is reproduced in our il lustrated 4to edition. See Notes and Illustrations at close of the poem. G.
56 TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME.
Awake, my glory, Sovl (if such thou be, And that fair word at all referr to thee),
Awake and sing, 15
And be all wing ;
Bring hither thy whole self; and let me see What of thy parent Heavn yet speakes in thee.
O thou art poore
Of noble powres, I see, 20
^ And full of nothing else but empty me : Narrow, and low, and infinitely lesse Then this great morning's mighty busynes.
One little world or two
(Alas) will neuer doe ; 25
We must haue store.
Goe, Sovl, out of thy self, and seek for more. - Goe and request
Great Natvre for the key of her huge chest
Of Heauns, the self-inuoluing sett of sphears 30
( Which dull mortality more feeles then heares).
Then rouse the nest Of nimble Art, and trauerse round The aiery shop of soul-appeasing sound : And beat a summons in the same 35
All-soueraign name, To warn each seuerall kind And shape of sweetnes, be they such
As sigh with supple wind
Or answer artfull touch ; 40
TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME. 57
That they conuene and come away To wait at the lone-crowned doores of this illustri ous day. love Shall we dare this, my Soul 1 we'l doe't and bring No other note for't, but the name we sing.
Wake Ivte and harp, and euery sweet-lipp't
thing 45
That talkes with tunefull string ; Start into life, and leap with me Into a hasty fitt-tun'd harmony.
Nor must you think it much
T' obey my bolder touch; 50
I haue authority in Love's name to take you, And to the worke of Loue this morning wake you.
Wake, in the name Of Him Who neuer sleeps, all things that are,
Or, what's the same, 55
Are musicall ;
Answer my call
And come along ;
Help me to meditate mine immortal song. Come, ye soft ministers of sweet sad mirth, 60
Bring all your houshold stuffe of Heaun on earth ; 0 you, my Soul's most certain wings, Complaining pipes, and prattling strings,
Bring all the store Of sweets you haue ; and murmur that you haue no
more. 65
58 TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME.
Come, ne're to part,
Nature and Art !
Come ; and come strong, To the conspiracy of our spatious song.
Bring all the powres of praise, 70
Your prouinces of well-vnited worlds can raise ; Bring all your Ivtes and harps of Heavn and Earth ; Whatere cooperates to the common mirthe :
Vessells of vocall ioyes,
Or you, more noble architects of intellectuall noise, 75 Cymballs of Heau'n, or humane sphears, Solliciters of sovles or eares \
And when you are come, with all That you can bring or we can call :
O may you fix 80
For euer here, and mix
Your selues into the long And euerlasting series of a deathlesse song ; Mix all your many worlds aboue, And loose them into one of loue. 85
Chear thee my heart !
For thou too hast thy part
And place in the Great Throng Of this vnbounded all-imbracing song.
Powres of niy soul, be proud ! 90
And speake lowd
To all the dear-bought Nations, this redeeming Name, And in the wealth of one rich word, proclaim
TO THE NAME ABOVE EVEKY NAME. 59
New similes to Nature. *<May it be no wrong
Blest Heauns, to you and your superiour song, 95
That we, dark sons of dust and sorrow,
A while dare borrow
The name of your dilights, and our desires, And fitt it to so farr inferior lyres. Our murmurs haue their musick too, 100
Ye mighty Orbes, as well as you ;
Nor yeilds the noblest nest Of warbling Seraphim to the eares of Loue, A choicer lesson then the ioyfull brest N
Of a poor panting turtle-doue. £ 105
And we, low wormes, haue leaue to doe The same bright busynes (ye Third Heavens) with you. Gentle spirits, doe not complain !
We will haue care
To keep it fair, no
And send it back to you again. Come, louely Name ! Appeare from forth the bright
Eegions of peacefull light ; Look from Thine Own illustrious home, Fair King of names, and come : 115
Leaue all Thy natiue glories in their gorgeous nest, And giue Thy Self a while the gracious Guest Of humble soules, that seek to find
The hidden sweets
Which man's heart meets 120
When Thou art Master of the mind.
60 TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERT NAME.
Come louely Name; Life of our hope !
Lo, we hold our hearts wide ope !
Vnlock Thy cabinet of Day,
Dearest Sweet, and come away. 125
Lo, how the thirsty Lands Gasp for Thy golden showres ! with long-stretcht hands
Lo, how the laboring Earth
That hopes to be
All Heauen by Thee, 130
Leapes at Thy birth ! The' attending World, to wait Thy rise,
First turn'd to eyes ; And then, not knowing what to doe, Turn'd them to teares, and spent them too. 135
Come royall Name ! and pay the expence Of all this pretious patience ;
0 come away
And kill the death of this delay ! 0, see so many worlds of barren yeares 1 40
Melted and measur'd out in seas of teares : 0, see the weary liddes of wakefull Hope (Love's eastern windowes) all wide ope
With curtains drawn,
To catch the day-break of Thy dawn. 1 45
0, dawn at last, long-lookt for Day ! Take Thine own wings, and come away. Lo, where aloft it comes ! It comes, among The conduct of adoring spirits, that throng
TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME. 61
Like diligent bees, and swarm about it. 150
0, they are wise, And know what sweetes are suck't from out it :
It is the hiue,
By which they thriue,
Where all their hoard of hony lyes. 155
Lo, where it comes, vpon the snowy Dove's Soft back ; and brings a bosom big with loues : Welcome to our dark world, Thou womb of Day ! Vnfold Thy fair conceptions, and display The birth of our bright ioyes, 0 Thou compacted 160 Body of blessings : Spirit of soules extracted ! 0, dissipate Thy spicy powres, (Cloud of condensed sweets) and break vpon vs
In balmy showrs ! 0, fill our senses, and take from vs all force of so
prophane a fallacy, 165
To think ought sweet but that which smells of Thee ! Fair, flowry Name, in none but Thee And Thy nectareall fragrancy,
Hourly there meetes \
An vniuersall synod of all sweets j 170
By whom it is denned thus,
That no perfume
For euer shall presume To passe for odoriferous,
But such alone whose sacred pedigree 175
Can proue itself some kin (sweet Name !) to Thee.
62 TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME.
Sweet Name, in Thy each syllable
A thousand blest Arabias dwell ;
A thousand hills of frankincense,
Mountains of myrrh, and beds of spices 180
And ten thousand paradises,
The soul that tasts Thee takes from thence.
How many vnknown worlds there are
Of comforts, which Thou hast in keeping !
How many thousand mercyes there 185
In Pitty's soft lap ly a-sleeping !
Happy he who has the art
To awake them,
And to take them
; Home, and lodge them in his heart. 190
0, that it were as it was wont to be ! When Thy old freinds of fire, all fuU of Thee, Fought against frowns with smiles ; gaue glorious
chase
To persecutions ; and against the face Of Death and feircest dangers, durst with braue 195 And sober pace, march on to meet A GRAVE. ^ On their bold brests, about the world they bore Thee, And to the teeth of Hell stood vp to teach Thee ; In center of their inmost soules, they wore Thee, Where rackes and torments striu'd, in vain, to
reach Thee. 200
Little, alas, thought they Who tore the fair brests of Thy freinds,
TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME. 63
Their fury but made way
For Thee, and seru'd them in Thy glorious ends. What did their weapons but with wider pores 205 Inlarge Thy flaming-brested louers,
More freely to transpire
That impatient fire,
The heart that hides Thee hardly couers 1 What did their weapons but sett wide the doores 210 For Thee ? fair, purple doores, of Loue's deuising ; The ruby windowes which inricht the East Of Thy so oft-repeated rising ! Each wound of theirs was Thy new morning, And reinthron'd Thee in Thy rosy nest, 215
With blush of Thine Own blood Thy day adorn ing :
It was the witt of Loue oreflowd the bounds Of Wrath, and made Thee way through all those
wovnds. Wellcome, dear, all-adored Name !
For sure there is no knee 220
That knowes not Thee : Or, if there be such sonns of shame,
Alas ! what will they doe
When stubborn rocks shall bow And hills hang down their heaun-saluting heads 225
To seek for humble beds Of dust, where in the bashfull shades of Night
64 TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME.
Next to their own low Nothing, they may ly, And couch before the dazeling light of Thy dread
majesty. They that by Loue's mild dictate now 230
Will not adore Thee, Shall then, with just confusion bow
And break before Thee.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
The title in 1648 ' Steps' is simply ' On the name of Jesus.' In 1670 it is ' To the Name above every Name, the Name of Jesus, a Hymn,' and throughout differs from our text (1652) only in usual modernisation of orthography. The text of 1648 yields these readings : Line 7, ' the bright.'
42, « of th's.'
49, ' Into a habit fit of self tun'd Harmonic.'
79, ' you're.'
92, ' aloud.'
105, ' Seraphins.'
106, ' loyall' for ' joyfull.' 132, ' heavens.'
182 spells ' sillabell.'
187, ' The soules tastes thee takes from thence.' 202, < bare.' 204, « ware.'
209, ' For Thee : And serv'd therein thy glorious ends.' See our Essay for critical remarks on the measure and rhythm of this poem as printed in our text (1652). G.
PSALME XXIII.1
HAPPY me ! 0 happy sheepe ! i
Whom my God vouchsafes to keepe ;
Even my God, even He it is,
That points me to these paths of blisse ;
On Whose pastures cheerefull Spring, 5
All the yeare doth sit and sing,
And rejoycing, smiles to see
Their green backs weare His liverie :
Pleasure sings my soul to rest,
Plentie weares me at her brest, 10
Whose sweet temper teaches me
NOT wanton, nor in want to be.
At my feet, the blubb'ring mountaine
Weeping, melts into a fountaine ;
Whose soft, silver-sweating streames 15
Make high-noon forget his beames :
When my wayward breath is flying,
He calls home my soul from dying ;
1 Appeared originally in the ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 25-27) : was re printed in editions of 1648 (pp. 40-42) and 1670 (pp. 26-28). Our text is that of 1648 : but see Notes and Illustrations at close of the poem. G.
VOL. I. F
PSALME XXIII.
Strokes and tames my rabid griefe,
And does wooe me into life : 20
When my simple weaknes strayes,
(Tangled in forbidden wayes)
He (my Shepheard) is my guide,
Hee's before me, on my side,
And behind me, He beguiles 25
Craft in all her knottie wiles :
He expounds the weary wonder
Of my giddy steps, and under
Spreads a path, cleare as the day,
Where no churlish rub says nay 30
To my joy-conducted feet,
Whilst they gladly goe to meet
Grace and Peace, to learne new laies,
Tun'd to my great Shepheard's praise.
Come now all ye terrors sally, 35
Muster forth into the valley,
Where triumphant darknesse hovers
With a sable wing, that covers
Brooding horror. Come, thou Death,
Let the damps of thy dull breath 40
Over-shadow even that shade,
And make Darknes' selfe afraid ;
There my feet, even there, shall find
Way for a resolved mind.
Still my Shepheard, still my God, 45
Thou art with me ; still Thy rod,
PSALME XXIII. 67
And Thy staffe, whose influence
Gives direction, gives defence.
At the whisper of Thy word
Crown'd abundance spreads my "boord : 50
While I feast, my foes doe feed
Their ranck malice not their need,
So that with the self-same bread
They are starv'd and I am fed,
How my head in ointment swims ! 55
How my cup o'relooks her brims !
So, even so still may I move,
By the line of Thy deare love ;
Still may Thy sweet mercy spread
A shady arme above my head, 60
About my paths ; so shall I find,
The faire center of my mind,
Thy temple, and those lovely walls
Bright ever with a beame, that falls
Fresh from the pure glance of Thine eye, 65
Lighting to Eternity.
There I'le dwell for ever ; there
Will I find a purer aire
To feed my life with, there I'le sup
Balme and nectar in my cup ; 70
And thence my ripe soule will I breath
Warme into the armes of Death.
68 PSALM CXXXVII.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
In the BANCROFT MS. this is headed ' Ps. 23 (Paraphrasia).' In line 4 it reads ' paths' for ' wayes,' which I accept ; line 27 ' weary' for ' giddy,' and line 28 ' giddy' for ' weary,' both adopted ; line 29 reads as we have printed instead of ' Spreads a path as cleare as day ;' line 33, 'learne' for ' meet,' adopted; line 41, ' that' for ' the,' adopted. Only orthographic further variations. In line 30 ' rub' = obstruction, reminds of SHAKE SPEARE'S ' Now every rub is smoothed in our way' (Henry V. ii. 2), and elsewhere. G.
PSALM CXXXVII.1
ON the proud banks of great Euphrates' flood, i
There we sate, and there we wept : Our harpes, that now no musick understood,
Nodding, on the willowes slept :
While unhappy captiv'd wee, 5
Lovely Sion, thought on thee. They, they that snatcht us from our countrie's breast,
Would have a song carv'd to their eares In Hebrew numbers, then (0 cruell jest !)
When harpes and hearts were drown'd in teares : 10
1 Appeared originally in ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 27, 28) : reprinted in editions of 1648 (pp. 42, 43) and 1670 (pp. 28, 29). Our text is that of 1648, with which the others agree, except in usual slight changes of orthography, and the following adopted from the SAN- CROFT MS. : line 7, a second ' they' inserted ; line 17, ' than' for 'then;' line 21 'vnpearch''t''= with out perch or support. G.
PSALM CXXXVII. 69
Come, they cry'd, come sing and play One of Sion's songs to-day. Sing 1 play 1 to whom (ah !) shall we sing or play,
If not, Jerusalem, to thee ?
Ah ! thee Jerusalem ! ah ! sooner may 1 5
This hand forget the masterie Of Musick's dainty touch, than I The musick of thy memory. Which when I lose, 0 may at once my tongue
Lose this same busie-speaking art, 20
Vnpearch't, her vocall arteries unstrung,
No more acquainted with my heart, On my dry pallat's roof to rest A wither'd leaf, an idle guest. No, no, Thy good Sion, alone, must crowne 25
The head of all my hope-nurst joyes. But Edom, cruell thou ! thou cryd'st downe, downe Sinke Sion, downe and never rise, Her falling thou did'st urge and thrust, And haste to dash her into dust : 30
Dost laugh] proud Babel's daughter ! do, laugh on,
Till thy mine teach thee teares, Even such as these ; laugh, till a venging throng Of woes, too late, doe rouze thy feares :
Laugh, till thy children's bleeding bones 35 "Weepe pretious teares upon the stones.
IN THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OVE LOED GOD
A HYMN SVNG AS BY THE SHEPHEAKDS.1
THE HYMN.
Chorvs.
COME, we shepheards, whose blest sight i
Hath mett Loue's noon in Nature's night ; Come, lift we vp our loftyer song And wake the svn that lyes too long.
To all our world of well-stoln joy 5
He slept ; and dreamt of no such thing.
"While we found out Heaun's fairer ey And kis't the cradle of our King.
Tell him He rises now, too late To show vs ought worth looking at. 10
Tell him we now can show him more Then he e're show'd to mortall sight •
Then he himselfe e're saw before, Which to be spen needes not his light.
1 Appeared originally in the ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 28-31) : re printed in editions of 1648 (pp. 43-47), 1652 (pp. 10-16) and 1670 (pp. 29-32). Our text is that of 1652, as before, and its engraving here, is reproduced in our illustrated quarto edition. See Notes and Illustrations at close of this composition. G.
IN THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OVR LORD GOD. 71
Tell him, Tityrus, where th' hast been, 15
Tell him Thyrsis, what th' hast seen.
TITYRUS.
Gloomy night embrac't the place Where the noble Infant lay.
The Babe look't vp and shew'd His face j ; In spite of darknes, it was day. 20
^ It was Thy day, Sweet ! and did rise Not from the East, but from Thine eyes.
Chorus. It was Thy day, Sweet.
THYRSIS.
Winter chidde aloud, and sent The angry North to wage his warres. 25
The North forgott his feirce intent, And left perfumes in stead of scarres.
By those sweet eyes' persuasiue powrs Where he mean't frost, he scatter'd flowrs.
Chorus. By those sweet eyes. 30
BOTH.
We saw Thee in Thy baulmy-nest, Young dawn of our aeternall Day !
We saw Thine eyes break from their East And chase the trembling shades away.
We saw Thee ; and we blest the sight, 35
We saw Thee by Thine Own sweet light.
72 IN THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OVR LORD GOD.
TlTYRUS.
Poor world (said I), what wilt thou doe To entertain this starry Stranger ?
Is this the best thou canst bestow? A cold, and not too cleanly, manger ? 40
Contend, the powres of Heau'n and Earth, To fitt a bed for this huge birthe 1
Chorus. Contend the powers.
THYRSIS.
Proud world, said I, cease your contest And let the mighty Babe alone. 45
The phsenix builds the phaenix' nest, Lov's architecture is his own.
The Babe whose birth embraues this morn, Made His Own bed e're He was born.
Chorus. The Babe whose 50
TITYRUS.
I saw the curl'd drops, soft and slow, rCome houering o're the place's head ;
Offring their whitest sheets of snow "o furnish the fair Infant's bed :
Forbear, said I; be not too bold, 55
Your fleece is white but 'tis too cold. Chorus. Forbear, sayd I.
THYRSIS.
I saw the obsequious Seraphims Their rosy fleece of fire bestow.
IN THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OVR LORD GOD. 73
For well they now can spare their wing, 60 Since Heavn itself lyes here below.
Well done, said I ; but are you sure Your down so warm, will passe for pure 1 Chorus. Well done, sayd I.
TlTYRUS.
No, no ! your King's not yet to seeke 65
Where to repose His royall head ;
See, see ! how soon His new-bloom'd cheek Twixt's mother's brests is gone to bed.
Sweet choise, said we ! no way but so Not to ly cold, yet sleep in snow. 70
Chorus. Sweet choise, said we.
BOTH.
We saw Thee in Thy baulmy nest, Bright dawn of our seternall Day !
We saw Thine eyes break from their East » And chase the trembling shades away. 75
We saw Thee : and we blest the sight, We saw Thee, by Thine Own sweet light. Chorus. We saw Thee, &c.
FVLL CHORVS.
Wellcome, all wonders in one sight ! ^Eternity shutt in a span ! 80
Sommer in Winter, Day in Night ! Heauen in Earth, and God in man !
74 IN THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OVR LORD GOD.
Great, little One ! Whose all-embracing birth Lifts Earth to Heauen, stoopes Heau'n to Earth.
Wellcome, though not to gold nor silk, 85
To more then Csesar's birth-right is ;
Two sister-seas of virgin-milk, With many a rarely-temper'd kisse,
That breathes at once both maid and mother, Warmes in the one, cooles in the other. 90
Shee sings Thy tears asleep, and dips Her kisses in Thy weeping eye ;
She spreads the red leaves of Thy lips, That in their buds yet blushing lye :
She 'gainst those mother-diamonds, tries 95
The points of her young eagle's eyes.
Wellcome, though not to those gay flyes, Guilded i' th' beames of earthly kings ;
Slippery soules in smiling eyes : But to poor shepheards' home-spun things; 100
Whose wealth's their flock ; whose witt, to
be Well-read in their simplicity.
Yet when young April's husband-showrs ShaU blesse the fruitful! Maja's bed,
We'l bring the first-born of her flowrs 105
To kisse Thy feet and crown Thy head.
To Thee, dread Lamb ! Whose loue must keep The shepheards, more then they the sheep.
IN THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OVR LORD GOD. 75
. To Thee, meek Majesty ! soft King Of simple Graces and sweet Loves : no
Each of vs his lamb will bring, Each his pair of sylver doues :
Till burnt at last in fire of Thy fair eyes, Ourselues become our own best sacrifice.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
In the SANCEOFT MS. the heading is simply ' A Hymne of the Nativitie sung by the Shepheards.' It furnishes these various readings, though it wants a good deal of our text (1652) :
Lines 1 to 4,
c who haue seene
Dale's King deposed by night's Queene. Come lift we up our lofty song, To wake the sun that sleeps too long.'
„ 5 to 7,
1 Hee (in this our generall joy)
Slept
the faire-ey'd boy.'
„ 24, « Winter chid the world '
„ 32, ' Bright dawne . . . .' „ 58 to 63,
' I saw the officious angells bring
The downe that their soft breasts did strow : For weU they now can spare their wings,
When heauen itselfe lies here below. Faire youth (said I) be not too rough, Thy downe (though soft)'s not soft enough.'
' Officious'= ready to do good offices : ' obsequious'= obedient, eager to serve. Lines 65 to 68,
' The Babe noe sooner 'gan to seeke
Where to lay His louely head ; But streight His eyes advis'd His cheeke 'Twixt's mother's breasts to goe to bed.'
,, 79, ' Welcome to our wond'ring sight.'
,, 83, ' glorious birth.'
,, 85, ' not to gold' for ' nor to gold :' adopted.
,, 96, ' points'= pupils (?).
76 NEW YEAR'S DAY.
Lines 101 to 103,
1 But to poore shepheards' simple things, That vse not varnish ; noe oyl'd arts, But lift cleane hands full of cleare hearts.'
,, 108, ' . . . . while they feed the sheepe.'
„ 114, ' Wee'l burne '
These variations agree with the text of 1646. See our Essay for critical remarks. G.
NEW YEAE'S DAY.1
RISE, thou best and brightest morning ! Rosy with, a double red ;
With thine own blush thy cheeks adorning, And the dear drops this day were shed.
All the purple pride, that laces The crimson curtains of thy bed,
Guilds thee not with so sweet graces, Nor setts thee in so rich a red.
Of aU the fair-cheek't flowrs that fill thee, None so fair thy bosom strowes, As this modest maiden lilly Our sins haue sham'd into a rose.
1 Appeared originally in the ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 94, 95), where it is headed 'An Himne for the Circumcision day of our Lord:' re printed in edition of 1648 (pp. 47, 48) with 'A' for 'An' in heading, and in the 'Carmen <fec.' of 1652 (pp. 17, 18), being there entitled simply 'New Year's Day,' and in the edition of 1670 (pp. 72-74). Our text is that of 1652, as before, but there are only slight differ ences besides the usual orthographical ones, hi any. See Notes and Illustrations at close of the poem. G.
NEW YEAR'S DAY. 77
Bid thy golden god, the sun, Burnisht in his best beames rise,
Put all his red-ey'd rubies on ; These rubies shall putt out their eyes.
Let him make poor the purple East, Search what the world's close cabinets keep,
Eob the rich births of each bright nest That naming in their fair beds sleep.
Let him embraue his own bright tresses With a new morning made of gemmes ;
And wear, in those his wealthy dresses, Another day of diadems.
When he hath done all he may To make himselfe rich in his rise,
All will be darknes to the day That breakes from one of these bright eyes.
And soon this sweet truth shall appear, Dear Babe, ere many dayes be done ;
The Morn shall come to meet Thee here, And leaue her own neglected sun.
Here are beautyes shall bereaue him Of all his eastern paramours.
His Persian loners all shall leaue him, And swear faith to Thy sweeter powres ;
Nor while they leave him shall they lose the sun, But in Thy fairest eyes find two for one.
78 NEW YEAR'S DAY.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
St. ii. line 1,
4 All the purple pride that laces ;'
the reference is to the empurpled lighter and lace- (or gauze-) like clouds of the morning. The heavier clouds are the ' crim son curtains,' the ' purple laces' the fleecy, lace-like, and em purpled streakings of the lighter and dissolving clouds, which the Poet likens to the lace that edged the coverlet, and possihly other parts of the bed and bedstead. SHAKESPEAKE describes a similar appearance with the same word, but uses it in the sense of inter or cross lacing, when he makes Juliet say (iii. 5),
' look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder East.'
So too in stanza v. ' each sparkling nest,' the flame - coloured clouds are intended. ' Nest,' like ' bud,' is a favourite word with CBASHAW, and he uses it freely. In 1648 edition, st. iii. line 2 reads * showes ;' stanza v. line 2, * cabinets ;' stanza viii. line 5, 'and meet;' stanza ix. 'paramours'= lovers, wooers, not as now signifying loose love. G.
IN THE GLOEIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVE LORD GOD:
A HYMN SVNG- AS BY THE THREE KINGS.1
1 Kinge. Bright Babe ! Whose awfull beautyes make i
The morn incurr a sweet mistake ;
2 Kinge. Eor Whom the officious Heauns deuise
To disinheritt the sun's rise :
3 Kinge. Delicately to displace 5
The day, and plant it fairer in Thy face.
1 Kinge. 0 Thou born King of loues !
2 Kinge. Of lights !
3 Kinge. Of ioyes !
Chorus. Look vp, sweet Babe, look vp and see 10 For loue of Thee, Thus farr from home The East is come To seek her self in Thy sweet eyes.
1 Appeared originally in the ' Steps' of 1648 (pp. 48-55), reprinted in « Carmen' &c. of 1652 (pp. 19-28) and in 1670 (pp. 153-161). Our text is that of 1652, as before : but see close for Notes and Illustra tions. In our illustrated quarto edition we reproduce the engraving here of 1652. G.
80 IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OP OVR LORD GOD.
1 Kinge. We, who strangely went astray, 1 5
Lost in a bright Meridian night.
2 Kinge. A darknes made of too much day.
3 Kinge. Becken'd from farr
By Thy fair starr, 20
Lo, at last haue found our way. , Chorus. To Thee, Thou Day of Night ! Thou East
of West !
Lo, we at last haue found the way To Thee, the World's great vniuersal East, The generall and indifferent Day. 25
1 Kinge. All-circling point ! all-centring sphear !
The World's one, round, seternall year :
2 Kinge. Whose full and all-vnwrinkled face
Nor sinks nor swells with time or place ;
3 Kinge. But euery where and euery while 30
Is one consistent, solid smile :
1 Kinge. Not vext and tost
2 Kinge. 'Twixt Spring and frost ;
3 Kinge. Nor by alternate shredds of light,
Sordidly shifting hands with shades and Night. Chorus. O little all ! in Thy embrace 36
The World lyes warm, and likes his place : Nor does his full globe fail to be Kist on both his cheeks by Thee. Time is too narrow for Thy year, 40
Nor makes the whole World Thy half-sphear.
IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVR LORD GOD. 81
1 Kinge. To Thee, to Thee
From him we flee.
2 Kinge. From him, whom by a more illustrious ly,
The blindnes of the World did call the eye. 45
3 Kinge. To Him, Who by these mortall clouds hast
made Thyself our sun, though Thine Own shade.
1 Kinge. Farewell, the World's false light !
Farewell, the white ^Egypt ; a long farewell to thee 50 Bright idol, black idolatry : The dire face of inferior darknes, kis't And courted in the pompus mask of a more specious mist.
2 Kinge. Farewell, farewell
The proud and misplac't gates of Hell, 5 5 Pertch't in the Morning's way perched. And double-guild ed as the doores of Day : The deep hypocrisy of Death and Night More desperately dark, because more bright.
3 Kinge. Welcome, the World's sure way ! 60
Heavn's wholsom ray. Chorus. Wellcome to vs ; and we
(Sweet !) to our selues, in Thee.
1 Kinge. The deathles Heir of all Thy Father's day !
2 Kinge. Decently born! 65
Embosom 'd in a much more rosy Morn : The blushes of Thy all-vnblemisht mother. VOL. i. G
82 IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVR LORD GOD.
o
3 Kinge. No more that other
Aurora shall sett ope Her ruby casements, or hereafter hope 70
From mortall eyes
To meet religious welcomes at her rise. Chorus. We (pretious ones !) in you haue won . A gentler Morn, a iuster sun.
1 Kinge. His superficiall beames sun-burn't our
skin; 75
2 Kinge. But left within
3 Kinge. The Night and Winter still of Death and Sin. Chorus. Thy softer yet more certaine darts
Spare our eyes, but peirce our harts :
1 Kinge. Therfore with his proud Persian spoiles 80
2 Kinge. We court Thy more concerning smiles.
3 Kinge. Therfore with his disgrace
We guild the humble cheek of this chast
place ; Chorus. And at Thy feet pbwr forth his face.
1 Kinge. The doating Nations now no more 85
Shall any day but Thine adore.
2 Kinge. Nor — much lesse — shall they leaue these eyes
For cheap ^Egyptian deityes.
3 Kinge.^Xn. whatsoe're more sacred shape
&f ram, he-goat, or reuerend ape ; 90
Those beauteous rauishers opprest so sore The too-hard-tempted nations. 1 Kinge. Neuer more
IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OP OVR LORD GOD. 83
By wanton heyfer shall be worn
2 Kinge. A garland, or a guilded horn : 95
The altar-stall'd ox, fatt Osyris now With his fair sister cow
3 Kinge. Shall kick the clouds no more j "but lean
and tame, Chorus. See His horn'd face, and dy for shame :
And Mithra now shall be no name. 100
1 Kinge. No longer shall the immodest lust
Of adulterous godles dust
2 Kinge. Fly in the face of Heau'n ; as if it were
The poor World's fault that He is fair. 105
3 Kinge. Nor with peruerse loues and religious rapes
Reuenge Thy bountyes in their beauteous
shapes ; And punish best things worst j because
they stood Guilty of being much for them too good.
1 Kinge. Proud sons of Death! that durst compell 110
Heau'n it self to find them Hell :
2 Kinge. And by strange witt of madnes wrest
From this World's East the other's West.
3 Kinge. All-idolizing wormes ! that thus could crowd
And vrge their sun into Thy cloud ; 115
Forcing His sometimes eclips'd face to be A long deliquium to the light of Thee. Chorus. Alas ! with how much heauyer shade
The shamefac't lamp hung down his head
84 IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVR LORD GOD.
For that one eclipse lie made, 120
Then all those he suffered !
1 Kinge. For this he look't so bigg; and euery morn
With a red face confes't his scorn.
Or hiding his vex't cheeks in a hir'd mist
Kept them from being so vnkiridly kis't. 125
2 Kinge. It was for this the Day did rise
So oft with blubber'd eyes : For this the Evening wept; and we ne're knew But call'd it deaw.
3 Kinge. This dayly wrong 130
Silenc't the morning- sons, and damp't their
song :
Chorus. NOT was't our deafnes, but our sins, that thus Long made th' harmonious orbes all mute to vs.
1 Kinge. Time has a day in store
When this so proudly poor 135
And self-oppressed spark, that has so long By the loue-sick World bin made Not so much their sun as shade : Weary of this glorious wrong From them and from himself shall flee 140 For shelter to the shadow of Thy tree : Chorus. Proud to haue gain'd this pretious losse And chang'd his false crown for Thy crosse.
2 Kinge. That dark Day's clear doom shall define
Whose is the master Fire, which sun should
shine : 145
IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVR LORD GOD. 85
That sable judgment-seat shall by new lawes Decide and settle the great cause
Of controuerted light :
Chorus. And Natur's wrongs rejoyce to doe Thee right. 3 Kinge. That forfeiture of Noon to Night shall pay 150 All the idolatrous thefts done by this Mght
of Day;
And the great Penitent presse hin own pale lipps With an elaborate loue-eclipse : To which the low World's lawes Shall lend no cause, 155
Chorus. Saue those domestick which He borrowes From our sins and His Own sorrowes.
1 Kinge. Three sad hours' sackcloth then shall show
to vs His penance, as our fault, conspicuous :
2 Kinge. And He more needfully and nobly proue 160
The Nations' terror now then erst their loue.
3 Kinge. Their hated loues changd into wholsom
feares : Chorus. The shutting of His eye shall open their's.
1 Kinge. As by a fair-ey'd fallacy of Day
Miss-ledde, before, they lost their way ; 165
So shall they, by the seasonable fright
Of an vnseasonable Night,
Loosing it once again, stumble on true Light :
2 Kinge. And as before His too-bright eye
Was their more blind idolatry; 170
86 IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVR LORD GOD.
So his officious blindnes now shall be Their black, but faithfull perspectiue of Thee : 3 Kinge. His new prodigious Night, Their new and admirable light, The supernaturall dawn of Thy pure Day; 175
While wondring they (The happy conuerts now of Him Whom they compell'd before to be their sin)
Shall henceforth see
To kisse him only as their rod, 180
Whom they so long courted as God. Chorus. And their best vse of him they worship't, be To learn of him at last, to worship. Thee.
1 Kinge. It was their weaknes woo'd his beauty;
But it shall be 185
Their wisdome now, as well as duty, To injoy his blott ; and as a large black letter Vse it to spell Thy beautyes better ; And make the Night it self their torch to Thee.
2 Kinge. By the oblique ambush of this close night 190
Couch't in that conscious shade The right-ey'd Areopagite Shall with a vigorous guesse inuade And catch Thy quick reflex; and sharply see
On this dark ground 195
To descant Thee.
3 Kinge. 0 prize of the rich Spirit ! with what feirce
chase
IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVR LORD GOD. 87
Of his strong soul, shall he Leap at thy lofty face,
And seize the swift flash, in rebound 200
From this obsequious cloud, Once call'd a sun, Till dearly thus vndone ; Chorus. Till thus triumphantly tam'd (0 ye two
Twinne svnnes !) and taught now to negotiate you. 205
1 Kinge. Thus shall that reuerend child of Light,
2 Kinge. By being scholler first of that new Night,
Come forth great master of 'the mystick Day;
3 Kinge. And teach obscure mankind a more close way
By the frugall negatiue light 210
Of a most wise and well-abused Night To read more legible Thine originall ray; Chorus. And make our darknes serue Thy Day : Maintaining 'twixt Thy World and cures A commerce of contrary powres, 215
A mutuall trade 'Twixt sun and shade, By confederat black and white Borrowing Day and lending Night. 219
1 Kinge. Thus we, who when with all the noble powres That (at Thy cost) are call'd, not vainly, ours :
We vow to make braue way Vp wards, and presse on for the pure intelli- gentiall prey;
88 IN THE GLOBIOVS EPIPHAXIE OF OVR LORD GOD.
2 Kinge. At least to play
The amorous spyes 225
And peep and proffer at Thy sparkling throne ;
3 Kinge. In stead of bringing in the blissfull prize
And fastening on Thine eyes :
Forfeit our own
And nothing gain 230
But more ambitious losse at last, of brain; Chorus. Now by abased liddes shall learn to be
Eagles; and shutt our eyes that we may see.
The Close. [Chorus.] Therfore to Thee and Thine auspitious ray
(Dread Sweet !) lo thus 236
At last by vs, The delegated eye of Day Does first his scepter, then himself, in solemne
tribute pay.
Thus he vndresses 240
His sacred vnshorn tresses ; At Thy adored feet, thus he layes down
1 Kinge. His gorgeous tire
Of flame and fire,
2 Kinge. His glittering robe. 3 Kinge. His sparkling
crown; 245
1 Kinge. His gold : 2 Kinge. His mirrh : 3 Kinge.
His frankincense. Chorus. To which he now has no pretence :
IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVR LORD GOD. 89
For being show'd by this Day's light, how farr He is from sun enough to make Thy starr, His best ambition now is but to be 250
Somthing a brighter shadow, Sweet, of Thee. Or on Heaun's azure forhead high to stand Thy golden index ; with a duteous hand Pointing vs home to our own sun The World's and his Hyperion. 255
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
The title in 1648 edition is simply 'A Hymne for the Epi- phanie. Sung as by the three Kings.' Except the usual slight changes of orthography, the following are all the variations be tween the two texts necessary to record : and I give with them certain corrective and explanatory notes :
Line 25, 'indifferent' is = impartial, not as now 'uncon cerned.'
Line 52, 1648 edition misprints ' his't' for ' kis't.' In the 51st line the ' bright idol' is the sun. Line 83, ib. reads ' thy' for ' this.' • ,, 95, ' a guilded horn.' Cf. Juvenal, Satire x. ,, 99, ib. is given to 3d King. Throughout we have cor rected a number of slips of the Paris printer in his figures. Line 108, ib. spells ' to' for ' too.'
,, 117, 'deliquium^swoon, faint. In chemistry :=melting. „ 122, 1648 edition reads 'his' for 'this;' and I have adopted it.
Line 143, ib. reads ' deere :' a misprint. ,, 155, ib. reads ' domesticks.' „ 180, ib. reads ' the' for ' their.' „ 186, ib. drops 'it.'
„ 195, ib. reads ' what' for ' that,' and in next line ' his' for ' this,' of 1652 : both adopted. Line 212, ' legible' is=legibly.
,, 224 and onward, in 1648 is printed ' least,' in our text (1652) ' lest.' Except in line 224 it is plainly = last, and so I read it in 231st and 237th.
90 IN THE GLOR10VS EPIPHANIE OP OVR LORD GOD.
See our Essay for Miltonic parallels with lines in this re markable composition. Line 46, ' these mortal clouds,' i.e. of infant flesh. Cf. Sosp. d' Herode, stanza xxiii.
' That He whom the sun serves should faintly peep Through clouds of infant flesh.'
Line 114, 'And urge their sun into Thy cloud,' i.e. into becom ing Thy cloud, forcing him to become ' a long deliquium to the light of thee.' Line 189, our text (1652) misprints ' in self.' Line 190, ' By the oblique ambush,' &c. The Kings continuing in the spirit of prophecy, and with words not to be understood till their fulfilment, pass on from the dimming of the sun at the Crucifixion to a second dimming, but this time through the splendour of a brighter light, at the conversion of him who was taken to preach to the Gentiles in the court of the Areopagites. The speaker, or rather CEASHAW, takes the view which at first sight may seem to be implied in the gospel narrative, that the light brighter than midday shone round about SAUL and his companions but not on them, they being couched in the conscious shade of the day light. Throughout, there is a double allusion to this second dimming of the sun as manifesting Christ to St. Paul and the Gentiles, and to thedimming of the eyes, and the walking in dark ness for a time of him who as a light on Earth was to mani fest the True Light to the world. Throughout, too, there is a kind of parallelism indicated between the two lesser lights. Both rebellions were to be dimmed and brought into subjection, and then to shine forth ' right-eyed' in renewed and purified splend our as evidences of the Sun of Righteousness. Hence at the close, the chorus calls them 'ye twin-suns,' — and the words, ' Till thus triumphantly tamed' refer equally to both. The punctuation to make this clear should be ' .... sun, .... un done ; . . .' 'To negotiate you' (both word and metaphor being rather unhappily chosen) means, to pass you current as the true-stamped image of the Deity. ' 0 price of the rich Spirit' (line 197) may be made to refer to ' thee [0 Christ] , price of the rich spirit' of Paul, but ' may be' is almost too strong to apply to such an interpretation. It is far more consonant to the struc ture and tenor of the whole passage, to read it as an epithet applied to St. Paul : ' 0 prize of the rich Spirit of grace.' I have also without hesitation changed ' of this strong soul' into 'of his strong soul.' 'Oblique ambush' may refer to the ob lique rays of the sun now rays of darkness, but the primary
TO THE QVEEN'S MAIESTY. 91
reference is to the indirect manner and ' vigorous guess,' by which St. Paul, mentally glancing from one to the other light, learned through the dimming of the sun to believe in the Deity of Him who spake from out the dimming brightness. The same thought, though with a strained and less successful effort of expression, appears in the song of the third King, ' with that fierce chase,' &c.
Line 251. ' Somthing a brighter shadow (Sweet) of Thee.' Ap parently a remembrance of a passage which THOMAS HEYWOOD, in his ' Hierarchic of the Angels,' gives from a Latin trans lation of PLATO, ' Lumen est umbra Dei et Deus est Lumen Luminis.' On which see our Essay. Perhaps the same gave rise to the thought that the sun eclipsed God, or shut Him out as a cloud or shade, or made night, e.g.
4 And urge their sun
.... eclipse he made:' (lines 115-120). ' Not so much their sun as shade
.... by this night of day :' (lines 138-151). G.
TO THE QVEEN'S MAJESTY.1 MADAME, i
'Mongst those long rowes of crownes that guild your race, These royall sages sue for decent place : The day-break of the Nations j their first ray, When the dark World dawn'd into Christian Day, 5 And smil'd i' th' Babe's bright face; the purpling bud And rosy dawn of the right royall blood ; Fair first-fruits of the Lamb ! sure kings in this, They took a kingdom while they gaue a kisse. But the World's homage, scarse in these well blown, 10 We read in you (rare queen) ripe and full-grown.
1 Appeared originally in « Steps' of 1648 (pp. 55, 56) : reprinted in editions of 1652 (pp. 29, 30) and 1670 (pp. 161, 162). Our text is that of 1652, as before : but see Notes at close of the poem. G.
92 TO THE QVEEN'S MAJESTY.
For from this day's rich, seed of diadems
Does rise a radiant croppe of royalle stemms,
A golden haruest of crown 'd heads, that meet
And crowd for kisses from the Lamb's white feet : 1 5
In this illustrious throng, your lofty floud
Swells high, fair confluence of all high-born bloud :
With your bright head, whole groues of scepters bend
Their wealthy tops, and for these feet contend.
So swore the Lamb's dread Sire : and so we see't, 20
Crownes, and the heads they kisse, must court these
feet.
Fix here, fair majesty! May your heart ne're misse To reap new crownes and kingdoms from that kisse; Nor may we misse the ioy to meet in you The aged honors of this day still new. 25
May the great time, in you, still greater be, While all the year is your epiphany; While your each day's deuotioii duly brings Three kingdomes to supply this day's three kings.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
In 1648 the title is ' To the Queene's Majestie upon his dedicating to her the foregoing Hymne, viz. "A Hymne for the Epiphanie," ' which there precedes, but in 1652 follows, the dedicatory lines to the Queen. 1648 furnishes these variations : line 7 misprints ' down' for ' dawn :' line 11 reads ' deare' for ' rare :' line 14 'royalT for « golden :' line 18 corrects our text's misprint of ' whose' for ' whole,' which I have accepted : line 20 reads ' great' for ' dread.'
In line 3 we read
' Those royall sages sue for decent place.'
TO THE Q VEEN'S MAJESTY. 93
We know that the King on Twelfth-day presented gold, frank incense and myrrh, and so perhaps did the Queen. But these gifts were not presented to the magi-kings, and CKASHAW seems to sue on behalf of ' these royall sages.' The explanation doubt less is that this was a verse-letter to the Queen, enclosing as a gift his Epiphany Hymn ' sung as by the three Kings.'
In line 5 'the purpling bud,' &c. requires study. Led by the (erroneous) pianctuation (face,) I supposed this clause to refer to the ' Babe.' But would our Poet have said that the ' dawn of the world smiled on the Babe's face,' and in the same breath have called the face a ' rosy dawn' ? Looking to this, and his rather profuse employment of ' bud,' I now believe the clause to be another description of the kings, and punctuate (face;). The rhythm of the passage is certainly improved thereby and made more like that of CBASHAW, and the words ' right royall blood,' which may be thought to become difficult, can be thus explained. The races of the heathen kings were not ' royal,' their authority being usurped and falsely derived from false gods, and the kingly blood first became truly royal when the kings recognised the supreme sovereignty of the King of kings and the derivation of their authority from Him, and when they were in turn recognised by Him. Hence the use of th£ epithet ' purpling,' the Christian or Christ-accepting kings being the first who were truly 'born in the purple,' or 'right royall blood.'
In lines 15-18, as punctuated in preceding editions, the Poet is made to arrange his words after a fashion hardly to be called English, and to jumble his metaphors like a poetaster or 4th of July orator in America. But both sense and poetry are restored by taking the (!) after ' blood' as at least equal to (:), and by replacing 'whose' by 'whole,' as in 1648. This seems to us restoration, not change. Even thus read, however, the passage is somewhat cloudy ; but the construction is — the groves of sceptres of your high-born ancestors bend with you their wealthy tops, when you bow down your head. Our Poet is fond of inversions, and they are sometimes more obscure than they ought to be. Line 20 = Psalm i., and cf. Philip, ii. 11. G.
VPON EASTER DAY.1
RISE heire of fresh Eternity i
From thy virgin tombe ! Eise mighty Man of wonders, and Thy World with Thee !
Thy tombe the uniuersall East,
Nature's new wombe, 5
Thy tombe, fair Immortalitie's perfumed nest.
Of all the glories make Noone gay,
This is the Morne ; This Rock buds forth the fountaine of the streames
of Day; In Joye's white annalls live this howre 10
When Life was borne ; No cloud scoule on His radiant lids, no tempest lower.
Life, by this Light's nativity
All creatures have ; Death onely by this Daye's just doome is forc'tto dye,
Nor is Death forc't ; for may he ly 16
Thron'd in Thy grave, Death will on this condition be content to dye.
1 Appeared originally in ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 22, 23) : reprinted in 1648 (pp. 56, 57) and in 1670 (pp. 23, 24). Our text is that of 1648, with the exception of reading in line 10, 'live' for ' lives,' from 1646 (and so in 1670). Other slight differences are simply in ortho graphy, and not noted. In the BANCROFT MS. the heading is * Vpon Christ's Resurrection.' G.
SOSPETTO. D' HERODE.
LIBRO PRIMO.1
ARGOMENTO.
Casting the times with their strong signes,
Death's master his owne death divines :
Strugling for helpe, his best hope is
Herod's suspition may heale his.
Therefore he sends a fiend to wake
The sleeping tyrant's fond mistake ; foolish
Who feares (in vaine) that He Whose birth
Meanes Heav'n, should meddle with his Earth.
MUSE, now the servant of soft loves no more, Hate is thy theame, and Herod, whose unblest Hand (0 what dares not jealous greatnesse 1) tore A thousand sweet babes from their mothers' brest :
1 For critical remarks on the present very striking expansion and interpretation rather than translation of MARINO, the Reader is re ferred to our Essay. The BANCROFT MS. must have contained this poem, for it is inserted in the index ; but unfortunately the pages of the MS. containing it have disappeared. It was first published in the ' Steps' of 1646 (pp. 51-73), and was reprinted in the editions of 1648 and 1670: and separately, with a brief introduction, a few years since. Our text is that of 1648 (pp. 57-74) ; but it differs from the edition of 1646 only in slight changes of spelling, e.g. 'hee' for ' he,' ' guild' for ' gild,' and the like — not calling for record. The edition
96 SOSPETTO D' HERODE.
The bloomes of martyrdom e. 0 be a dore Of language to my infant lips, yee best
Of confessours : whose throates answering his swords, Gave forth your blood for breath, spoke soules for words.
ii.
Great Anthony ! Spain's well-beseeming pride, Thou mighty branch of emperours and kings ; The beauties of whose dawne what eye may bide 1 Which with the sun himselfe weigh's equall wings ; Mappe of heroick worth ! whom farre and wide To the beleeving world, Fame boldly sings :
Deignethou to weare this humble wreath, that bowes To be the sacred honour of thy browes.
in.
Nor needs my Muse a blush, or these bright flowers Other than what their owne blest beauties bring :
of 1670, in st. i. line 3, misprints ' so what' for ' O what,' and TURN- BULL repeats the error, and of himself misreads in st. xxii. ' Who thunders on a throne of stars above' for ' Who in a throne of stars thunders above,' and in like manner in st. xxiv. line 8 substitutes ' getting' for ' finding,' and in st. xxvi. line 3 ' serve' for ' serves.' Again in st. li. first line of which is left partially blank, from (pro bably) the illegibility of CRASHAW'S MS., TURNBULL tacitly fills in, 1 By proud usurping Herod now was borne,' and in line 3 misprints ' lineage' for ' image' — fetching it from the ' linage' of 1670 — a plaus ible reading, yet scarcely in keeping with the verb 'worn.' So too, besides lesser orthographic alterations, in st. xxxvi. line 2 he does not detect the stupid misprint ' whose' for ' my,' nor that of ' fight' for ' sight' in st. xlvii. line 8, while hi st. Ixi. he drops ' all,' which even the 1670 edition does not do, any more than is it responsible for a tithe of TURNBULL'S mistakes here and throughout. G.
SOSPETTO D* HERODE. 97
They were the smiling sons of those sweet bowers That drink the deaw of life, whose deathlesse spring, Nor Sirian flame nor Borean frost deflowers : From whence heav'n-labouring bees with busie wing,
Suck hidden sweets, which well-digested proves
Immortall hony for the hive of loves.
IV.
Thou, whose strong hand with so transcendent worth,
Holds high the reine of faire Parthenope,
That neither Rome nor Athens can bring forth
A name in noble deeds rivall to thee !
Thy fame's full noise, makes proud the patient Earth,
Farre more then, matter for my Muse and mee.
The Tyrrhene Seas and shores sound all the same And in their murmurs keepe thy mighty name.
v.
Below the bottome of the great Abysse, There where one center reconciles all things : The World's profound heart pants ; there placed is Mischief e's old master. Close about him clings A curl'd knot of embracing snakes, that kisse His correspondent cheekes : these loathsome strings Hold the'perverse prince in eternall ties Fast bound, since first he forfeited the skies.
VI.
The judge of torments and the king of teares, He fills a burnisht throne of quenchlesse fire : VOL. i. H
98 SOSPETTO D' HERODE.
And for his old faire roabes of light, he weares A gloomy mantle of darke flames ; the tire That crownes his hated head on high appeares : Where seav'n tall homes (his empire's pride) aspire. And to make up Hell's majesty, each home Seav'n crested Hydras, horribly adorne.
VII.
His eyes, the sullen dens of Death and Night, Startle the dull ayre with a dismall red : Such his fell glances, as the fatall light Of staring comets, that looke kingdomes dead. From his black nostrills, and blew lips, in spight Of Hell's owne stinke, a worser stench is spread.
His breath Hell's lightning is : and each deepe groane
Disdaines to think that Heav'n thunders alone.
VIII.
His flaming eyes' dire exhalation, Ynto a dreadfull pile gives fiery breath ; Whose unconsuni'd consumption preys upon The never-dying life of a long death. In this sad house of slow destruction, J (His shop of flames) hee fryes himself, beneath
A masse of woes ; his teeth for torment gnash, While his steele sides sound with his tayle's strong lash.
SOSPETTO D' HERODE. 99
IX.
Three rigourous virgins waiting still behind, Assist the throne of th' iron-sceptred king. With whips of thorn es and knotty vipers twin'd They rouse him, when his ranke thoughts need a sting. Their lockes are beds of uncomb'd snakes that wind About their shady browes in wanton rings.
Thus reignesthe wrathfull king, and while he reignes, His scepter and himselfe both he disdaines.
x.
Disdainefull wretch ! how hath one bold sinne cost Thee all the beauties of thy once bright eyes ! How hath one black eclipse cancell'd, and crost The glories that did gild thee in thy rise ! Proud morning of a perverse day ! how lost Art thou unto thy selfe, thou too selfe-wise Narcissus ! foolish Phaeton ! who for all Thy high-aym'd hopes, gaind'st but a flaming fall.
XI.
From Death's sad shades to the life-breathing ayre,
This mortall enemy to mankind's good,
Lifts his malignant eyes, wasted with care,
To become beautifull in humane blood. 1 Where lordan melts his chrystall, to make faire
The fields of Palestine, with so pure a flood, There does he fixe his eyes : and there detect New matter, to make good his great suspect.
100
XII.
He calls to mind th' old quarrell, and what sparke Set the contending sons of Heav'n on fire : Oft in his deepe thought he revolves the darke Sibill's divining leaves : he does enquire Into th' old prophesies, trembling to marke How many present prodigies conspire,
To crowne their past predictions, both he layes Together, in his pondrous mind both weighs.
XIII.
Heaven's golden-winged herald, late he saw
To a poore Galilean virgin sent :
How low the bright youth bow'd, and with what awe
Immortall flowers to her faire hand present.
He saw th' old Hebrewe's wombe, neglect the law
Of age and barrennesse, and her babe prevent anticipate
His birth by his devotion, who began
Betimes to be a saint, before a man.
XIV.
He saw rich nectar-thawes, release the rigour Of th' icy North ; from frost-bound Atlas hands, 1 His adamantine fetters fall : green vigour v Gladding the Scythian rocks and Libian sands. He saw a vernall smile, sweetly disfigure Winter's sad face, and through the flowry lands Of faire Engaddi, hony-sweating fountaiiies With manna, milk, an7T15aIm, new-broach the mountaines.
SOSPETTO D' HERODE. 101
XV.
He saw how in that blest Dayjbearing .Night, The Heay'n-rebuked shades made hast away; How bright a dawne of angels with new light Amaz'd the midnight world, and made a Day Of which the Morning knew not. Mad with spight He markt how the poore shepheards ran to pay Their simple tribute to the Babe, Whose birth Was the great businesse both of Heav'n and Earth.
XVI.
He saw a^t^eeMd^Sun, with rich encrease Make proud the ruby portalls of the East. He saw the Temple sacred to sweet Peace, Adore her Prince's birth, flat on her brest. He saw the falling idolls, all confesse A comming Deity : He saw the nest
Of pois'nous and unnaturall loves, Earth-nurst, Toucht with the World's true antidote, to burst.
XVII.
He saw Heav'n blossome with a new-borne light, On which, as on a glorious stranger gaz'd The golden eyes of Night : whose beame made bright The way to Sethlem, and as boldly blaz'd, (Nor askt leave of the sun) by day as night. By whom (as Heav'ns illustrious hand-maid) rais'd, Three kings (or what is more) three wise men went Westward to find the World's true orient.
102 SOSPETTO D' HERODE.
XVIII.
Strucke with these great concurrences of things, Symptomes so deadly unto Death and him ; Faine would he have forgot what fatall strings Eternally bind each rebellious limbe. He shooke himselfe, and spread his spatious wings : Which like two bosom'd sailes, embrace the dimme Aire, with a dismall shade ; but all in vaine : Of sturdy adamant is his strong chaine.
XIX.
While thus Heav'n's highest counsails, by the low Footsteps of their effects, he trac'd too well, He tost his troubled eyes : embers that glow Now with new rage, and wax too hot for Hell : With his foule clawes he fenc'd his furrowed brow,*) And gave a gastly shreeke, whose horrid yell
Ran trembling through the hollow vaults of Night, The while his twisted tayle he giiaw'd for spight.
xx.
Yet on the other side, faine would he start
Above his feares, and thinke it cannot be.
He studies Scripture, strives to sound the heart
And feele the pulse of every prophecy ;
He knows (but knowes not how, or by what art)
The Heav'n-expecting ages hope to see
A mighty Babe, Whose pure, unspotted birth From a chast virgin wombe, should blesse the Earth.
SOSPETTO D' HERODE. 103
XXI.
But these vast mysteries his senses smother,
And reason (for what's faith to him ?) devoure.
How she that is a maid should prove a mother,
Yet keepe inviolate her virgin flower ;
How God's eternall Sonne should be Man's brother,
Poseth his proudest intellectuall power. How a pure kSpirit should incarnate bee, And Life it eelfe weare Death's fraile livery.
XXII.
That the great angell-blinding Light should shrinke His blaze, to shine in a poore shepherd's eye : That the unmeasur'd God so low should sinke, As pris'ner in a few poore rags to lye : That from His mother's brest He milke should drinke, Who feeds with nectar Heav'n's faire family : That a vile manger His low bed should prove, Who in a throne of stars thunders above.
XXIII.
i That He Whom the sun serves, should faintly peepe } Through clouds of infant flesh : that He the old Eternall Word should be a child, and weepe : That He Who made the fire, should feare the cold : That Heav'n's high Majesty His court should keepe In a clay-cottage, by each blast control'd :
That Glorie's Self should serve our griefs and feares, And free Eternity, submit to yeares.
104
XXIV.
And further, that the Lawe's eternall Giver Should bleed in His Own© Lawe's obedience : And to the circumcising knife deliver Himselfe, the forfet of His slave's offence : That the unblemisht Lambe, blessed for ever, Should take the marke of sin, and paine of sence. These are the knotty riddles, whose darke doubt Intangles his lost thoughts, past getting out.
xxv.
While new thoughts boyl'd in his enraged brest,
His gloomy bosome's darkest character
Was in his shady forehead seen exprest :
The forehead's shade in Griefe's expression there,
Is what in signe of joy among the blest
The face's lightning, or a smile is here.
Those stings of care that his strong heart opprest, A desperate, Oh mee ! drew from his deepe brest.
XXVI.
Oh mee ! (thus bellow'd he) Oh mee ! what great Portents before mine eyes their powers advance 1 And serves my purer sight, onely to beat Downe my proud thought, and leave it in a trance? Frowne I : and can great Nature keep her seat 1 And the gay starrs lead on their golden dance ? Can His attempts above still prosp'rous be, Auspicious still, in spight of Hell and me ?
SOSPETTO D' HERODE. 105
XXVII.
Hee has my Heaven (what would He more ?) whose
bright
And radiant scepter this bold hand should beare : And for the never-fading fields of light, My faire inheritance, He confines me here To this darke house of shades, horrour and night, To draw a long-liv'd death, where all my cheere Is the solemnity my sorrow weares, That mankind's torment waits upon my teares.
XXVIII.
Darke, dusky Man, He needs would single forth, To make the partner of His Owne pure ray : And should we powers of Heav'n, spirits of worth, Bow our bright heads before a king of clay] It shall not be, said I, and clombe the North, Where never wing of angell yet made way :
What though I mist my blow 1 yet I strooke high, And to dare something, is some victory.
XXIX.
Is He not satisfied ? meanes He to wrest Hell from me too, and sack my territories 3 Vile humane nature means He not t' invest (0 my despight !) with His divinest glories ? And rising with rich spoiles upon His brest With His faire triumphs fill all future stories ?
Must the bright armes of Heav'n, rebuke these eyes ?
Mocke me, and dazle my darke mysteries ?
106 SOSPETTO D' HERODE.
XXX.
Art thou not Lucifer ? lie to whom the droves Of stars that gild the Morne, in charge were given 1 The nimblest of the lightning- winged loves, The fairest, and the first-borne smile of Heav'n 1 Looke in what pompe the mistrisse planet moves Rev'rently circled by the lesser seaven :
Such, and so rich, the flames that from thine eyes, Opprest the cpmmon-people of the skyes.
XXXI.
Ah wretch ! what bootes thee to cast back thy eyes. Where dawning hope no beame of comfort showes 1 While the reflection of thy forepast joyes, Eenders thee double to thy present woes : Eather make up to thy new miseries, And meet the mischiefe that upon thee growes.
If Hell must mourne, Heav'n sure shall sympathize, What force cannot effect, fraud shall devise.
XXXII.
And yet whose force feare 1 1 have I so lost My selfe ? my strength too with my innocence ? Come try who dares, Heav'n, Earth, what ere doth boast A borrowed being, make thy bold defence. Come thy Creator too : What though it cost Me yet a second fall ? wee'd try our strengths : Heav'n saw us struggle once ; as brave a fight Earth now should see, and tremble at the sight.
SOSPETTO D' HERODE. 107
XXXIII.
Thus spoke th' impatient prince, and made a pause : His foule hags rais'd their heads, and clapt their hands, And all the powers of Hell in full applause Flourisht their snakes, and tost their naming brands. We (said the horrid sisters) wait thy lawes, Th' obsequious handmaids of thy high commands : Be it thy part, Hell's mighty lord, to lay On us thy dread command, our's to obey.
xxxiv.
What thy Alecto, what these hands can doe, Thou mad'st bold proofe upon the brow of Heav'n, Nor should'st thou bate in pride, because that now To these thy sooty kingdomes thou art driven. Let Heav'n's Lord chide above lowder than thou In language of His thunder, thou art even With Him below : here thou art lord alone, Boundlesse and absolute : Hell is thine owne.
XXXV.
If usuall wit, and strength will doe no good, Vertues of stones, nor herbes : use stronger charmes, Anger and love, best hookes of humane blood. If all faile, wee'l put on our proudest armes, And pouring, on Heav'n's face the Sea's huge flood Quench His curl'd fires : wee'l wake with our alarmes Euine, where e're she sleepes at Nature's feet : And crush the World till His wide corners meet.
108 SOSPETTO D' HERODE.
XXXVI.
Reply'd the proud king, 0 my crowne's defence, Stay of my strong hopes, you of whose brave worth, The frighted stars tooke faint experience, When 'gainst the Thunder's mouth we marched forth : Still you are prodigall of your Love's expence In our great projects, both 'gainst Heav'n and Earth : I thanke you all, but one must single out : Cruelty, she alone shall cure my doubt.
XXXVII.
Fourth of the cursed knot of hags is shee,
Or rather all the other three in one ;
Hell's shop of slaughter shee do's oversee,
And still assist the execution.
But chiefly there do's she delight to be,
Where Hell's capacious cauldron is set on :
And while the black soules boile in their own gore, To hold them down, and looke that none seeth o're.
XXXVIII.
Thrice howl'd the caves of Mght, and thrice the sound, Thundring upon the bankes of those black lakes, Bung through the hollow vaults of Hell profound : At last her listning eares the noise o're takes, Sjielifts her sooty lampes, and looking round, A gen'rall hisse from the whole tire of snakes
Eebounding, through Hell's inmost cavernes came,
In answer to her formidable name.
SOSPETTO D HERODE.
109
XXXIX.
'Mongst all the palaces in Hell's command,
No one so mercilesse as this of her's.
The adamantine doors, for ever stand
Impenetrable, both to prai'rs and teares ;
The walls inexorable steele, no hand
Of Time, or teeth of hungry Ruine feares.
Their ugly ornaments are the bloody staines
Of ragged limbs, tome sculls, and dasht-out braines.
XL.
There has the purple Vengeance a proud seat Whose ever-brandisht sword is sheath'd in blood : About her Hate, Wrath, Warre and Slaughter sweat ; Bathing their hot limbs in life's pretious flood : There rude impetuous Rage do's storme and fret, And there as master of this murd'ring brood,
Swinging a huge sith stands impartiall Death : scythe With endlesse businesse almost out of breath.
XLI.
For hangings and for curtaines, all along The walls (abominable ornaments !) Are tooles of wrath, anvills of torments hung ; Fell executioners of foule intents, Nailes, hammers, hatchets sharpe, and halters strong, Swords, speares, with all the fatall instruments Of Sin and Death, twice dipt in the dire staines Of brothers' mutuall blood, and fathers' braines.
110 SOSPETTO D' HERODE.
XL1I.
The tables furnisht with a cursed feast
Which Harpyes, with leane Famine feed upon,
Vnfill'd for ever. Here among the rest,
Inhumane Erisicthon too makes one ;
Tantalus, Atreus, Progne, here are guests :
Wolvish Lycaon here a place hath won. The cup they drinke in is Medusa's scull, Which mixt with gall and blood they quaff e brim-full.
XLIII.
The foule queen's most abhorred maids of honour, Medsea, Jezabell, many a meager witch, With Circe, Scylla, stand to wait upon her : But her best huswife's are the Parcae, which Still worke for her, and have their wages from her : They prick a bleeding heart at every stitch.
Her cruell cloathes of costly threds they weave, Which short-cut lives of murdred infants leave.
XLIV.
The house is hers'd about with a black wood, hearsed Which nods with many a heavy-headed tree : Each flowers a pregnant poyson, try'd and good, Each herbe a plague. The wind's sighes timed bee By a black fount, which weeps into a flood. Through the thick shades obscurely might you see Minotaures, Cyclopses, with a darke drove Of Dragons, Hydraes, Sphinxes, fill the grove.
SOSPETTO D' HERODE. Ill
XLV.
Here Diomed's horses, Phereus' dogs appeare,
With, the fierce lyons of Therodamas.
Busiris has his bloody altar here :
Here Sylla his severest prison has :
The Lestrigonians here their table reare :
Here strong Procrustes plants his bed of brasse : Here cruell Scyron boasts his bloody rockes And hatefull Schinis his so feared oakes.
XLVI.
What ever schemes of blood, fantastick Frames
Of death, Mezentius or Geryon drew ;
Phalaris, Ochus, Ezelinus : names
Mighty in mischiefe ; with dread Nero too ;
Here are they all, here all the swords or flames
Assyrian tyrants or Egyptian knew.
Such was the house, so furnisht was the hall, Whence the fourth Fury answer' d Pluto's call.
XLVII.
Scarce to this monster could the shady king The horrid summe of his intentions tell ; But shee (swift as the momentary wing Of lightning, or the words he spoke) left Hell. She rose, and with her to our World did bring Pale proofe of her fell presence ; th' aire too well With a chang'd countenance witnest the sight, And poore fowles intercepted in their flight.
112 SOSPETTO D' HERODE.
XLVIII.
Heav'n saw her rise, and saw Hell in the sight : The fields' faire eyes saw her, and saw no more, But shut their flowry lids for ever : Night And Winter strow her way : yea, such a sore Is she to Nature, that a generall fright, An universal palsie spreading o're
The face of things, from her dire eyes had run, Had not her thick snakes hid them from the sun.
XLIX.
Now had the Night's companion from her dew, Where all the busie day she close doth ly, With her soft wing wipt from the browes of men Day's sweat ; and by a gentle tyranny And sweet oppression, kindly cheating them Of all their cares, tam'd the rebellious eye Of Sorrow, with a soft and downy hand, Sealing all brests in a Lethsean band.
L.
When the Erinnys her black pineons spread, And came to Bethlem, where the cruell king Had now retyr'd himselfe, and borrowed His brest a while from Care's unquiet sting ; Such as at Thebes' dire feast she shew'd her head, Her sulphur-breathed torches brandishing : Such to the frighted palace now she comes, And with soft feet searches the silent roomes.
SOSPETTO D' HERODE. 113
LI.
By Herod now was borne
The scepter, which of old great David swaid ; Whose right by David's linage so long worne, lineage Himselfe a stranger to, his owne had made ; And from the head of Judah's house quite torne The crowne, for which upon their necks he laid A sad yoake, under which they sigh'd in vaine, And looking on their lost state sigh'd againe.
LII.
Vp, through the spatious pallace passed she, To where the king's proudly-reposed head (If any can be soft to Tyranny And selfe-tormenting sin) had a soft bed. She thinkes not fit, such, he her face should see, As it is seene in Hell, and seen with dread. To change her face's stile she doth devise, And in a pale ghost's shape to spare his eyes.
LIII.
Her selfe a while she layes aside, and makes
Ready to personate a mortall part.
loseph, the king's dead brother's shape, she takes :
What he by nature was, is she by art.
She comes to th' king, and with her cold hand slakes
His spirits (the sparkes of life) and chills his heart, Life's forge ; fain'd is her voice, and false too, be Her words : ' sleep'st thou, fond man? sleep'st thou'?' said she.
VOL. I. I
114 SOSPETTO D' HERODE.
LIV.
So sleeps a pilot, whose pooro barke is prest With many a mercylesse o're-mastring wave ; For whom (as dead) the wrathfull winds contest Which of them deep'st shall digge her watry grave. Why dost thou let thy brave soule lye supprest In death-like slumbers, while thy dangers crave A waking eye and hand ? looke vp and see The Fates ripe, in their great conspiracy.
LV.
Know'st thou not how of th' Hebrewes' royall stemme (That old dry stocke) a despair'd branch is sprung : A most strange Babe ! Who here conceal'd by them In a neglected stable lies, among Beasts and base straw : Already is the streame Quite turn'd : th' ingratefull rebells, this their young Master (with voyce free as the trumpe of Fame) Their new King, and thy Successour proclame.
LVI.
What busy motions, what wild engines stand On tiptoe in their giddy braynes ! th' have fire Already in their bosomes, and their hand Already reaches at a sword ; they hire Poysons to speed thee ; yet through all the" Land What one comes to reveale what they conspire 1
Goe now, make much of these; wage still their wars And bring home on thy brest, more thanklesse scarrs.
SOSPETTO D' HERODE. 115
LVII.
Why did I spend my life, and spill my blood, That thy firme hand for ever might sustaine A well-pois'd scepter ? does it now seeme good Thy brother's blood be spilt, life spent in vaine 1 'Gainst thy owne sons and brothers thou hast stood In armes, when lesser cause was to complaine :
And now crosse Fates' a watch about thee keepe, Can'st thou be carelesse now? now can'st thou sleep?
LVIII.
Where art thou man 1 what cowardly mistake Of thy great selfe, hath stolne king Herod from thee 1 0 call thy selfe home to thy self, wake, wake, And fence the hanging sword Heav'n throws upon thee. Redeeme a worthy wrath, rouse thee, and shake Thy selfe into a shape that may become thee. Be Herod, and thou shalt not misse from mee Immortall stings to thy great thoughts, and thee.
LIX.
So said, her richest snake, which to her wrist
For a beseeming bracelet she had ty'd
(A speciall worme it was as ever lust
The foamy lips of Cerberus) she apply'd
To the king's heart : the snake no sooner hist,
But Vertue heard it, and away she hy'd :
Dire flames diffuse themselves through every veine : This done, home to her Hell she hy'd