Chapter VIII: Introduction: To Thomas Stanley (2)

For since thou hast no part
Felt of this flame,
I only from thy tyrant heart
Repuls'd, not banish'd am.

To lose what once was mine
Would grieve me more
Than those inconstant sweets of thine
Had pleas'd my soul before. 20

Now I have not lost the bliss
I ne'er possest;
And spite of fate am blest in this,
That I was never blest.

[_The Repulse._] In the third line of this rather
fine poem _1656_ reads 'romantic' for 'tyrannic', and Miss
Guiney adopts it. To me it seems quite inappropriate, and one
of the errors of dictation so common in that 'edition'.]

[Line: 21 _1647_ reads '_that_ bliss'.]

_The Tomb._

When, cruel fair one, I am slain
By thy disdain,
And, as a trophy of thy scorn,
To some old tomb am borne,
Thy fetters must their power bequeath
To those of Death;
Nor can thy flame immortal burn,
Like monumental fires within an urn;
Thus freed from thy proud empire, I shall prove
There is more liberty in Death than Love. 10

And when forsaken Lovers come,
To see my tomb,
Take heed thou mix not with the crowd
And (as a Victor) proud
To view the spoils thy beauty made
Press near my shade,
Lest thy too cruel breath or name
Should fan my ashes back into a flame,
And thou, devour'd by this revengeful fire,
His sacrifice, who died as thine, expire. 20

[Or should my dust thy pity move
That could not love,
Thy sighs might wake me, and thy tears
Renew my life and years.
Or should thy proud insulting scorn
Laugh at my urn,
Kindly deceived by thy disdain,
I might be smil'd into new life again.
Then come not near, since both thy love and hate
Have equal power to love or animate.] 30

But if cold earth, or marble, must
Conceal my dust,
Whilst hid in some dark ruins, I
Dumb and forgotten lie,
The pride of all thy victory
Will sleep with me;
And they who should attest thy glory,
Will, or forget, or not believe this story.
Then to increase thy triumph, let me rest,
Since by thine eye slain, buried in thy breast. 40

[_The Tomb._] Brydges, though thinking the end of
this poem 'a feeble conceit', admits that 'there are passages
in it that are more than pretty'. It is certainly one of
Stanley's best, and he seems to have taken some trouble
with it. In _1651_ he dropped the bracketed stanza 3 and
substituted the text for the last couplet of stanza 2, which
reads in _1647_:

And (thou in this fire sacrificed to me)
We might each other's mutual martyr be.

In the last line of the omitted stanza 'love' is certainly
wrong, and Miss Guiney's suggestion of 'kill' is almost
_certissima_. But she seems to have had a different copy of
_1647_ before her from that which I collated, for she does not
notice a variant, or set of variants, in ll. 37-9:

And they _that_ should _this triumph know_
Will or forget or not believe _it so_,
Then to increase thy _glories_, &c.

In l. 5 _1647_ reads 'thy power'.]

_The Enjoyment._

ST.-AMANT.

Far from the court's ambitious noise
Retir'd, to those more harmless joys
Which the sweet country, pleasant fields,
And my own court, a cottage, yields;
I liv'd from all disturbance free,
Though prisoner (Sylvia) unto thee;
Secur'd from fears, which others prove,
Of the inconstancy of Love;
A life, in my esteem, more blest,
Than e'er yet stoop'd to Death's arrest. 10

My senses and desires agreed,
With joint delight each other feed:
A bliss, I reach'd, as far above
Words, as her beauty, or my love;
Such as compar'd with which, the joys
Of the most happy seem but toys:
Affection I receive and pay,
My pleasures knew not Grief's allay:
The more I tasted I desir'd,
The more I quench'd my thirst was fir'd. 20

Now, in some place where Nature shows
Her naked beauty, we repose;
Where she allures the wand'ring eye
With colours, which faint art outvie;
Pearls scatter'd by the weeping morn,
Each where the glitt'ring flowers adorn;
The mistress of the youthful year
(To whom kind Zephyrus doth bear
His amorous vows and frequent prayer)
Decks with these gems her neck and hair. 30

Hither, to quicken Time with sport,
The little sprightly Loves resort,
And dancing o'er the enamel'd mead,
Their mistresses the Graces lead;
Then to refresh themselves, repair
To the soft bosom of my fair;
Where from the kisses they bestow
Upon each other, such sweets flow
As carry in their mixéd breath
A mutual power of life and death. 40

Next in an elm's dilated shade
We see a rugged Satyr laid,
Teaching his reed, in a soft strain,
Of his sweet anguish to complain;
Then to a lonely grove retreat,
Where day can no admittance get,
To visit peaceful solitude;
Whom seeing by repose pursu'd,
All busy cares, for fear to spoil
Their calmer courtship, we exile. 50

There underneath a myrtle, thought
By Fairies sacred, where was wrought
By Venus' hand Love's mysteries,
And all the trophies of her eyes,
Our solemn prayers to Heaven we send,
That our firm love might know no end;
Nor time its vigour e'er impair:
Then to the wingéd God we sware,
And grav'd the oath in its smooth rind,
Which in our hearts we deeper find. 60

Then to my dear (as if afraid
To try her doubted faith) I said,
'Would in thy soul my form as clear,
As in thy eyes I see it, were.'
She kindly angry saith, 'Thou art
Drawn more at large within my heart;
These figures in my eye appear
But small, because they are not near,
Thou through these glasses seest thy face,
As pictures through their crystal case.' 70

Now with delight transported, I
My wreathéd arms about her tie;
The flattering Ivy never holds
Her husband Elm in stricter folds:
To cool my fervent thirst, I sip
Delicious nectar from her lip.
She pledges, and so often past
This amorous health, till Love at last
Our souls did with these pleasures sate,
And equally inebriate. 80

Awhile, our senses stol'n away,
Lost in this ecstasy we lay,
Till both together rais'd to life,
We re-engage in this kind strife.
Cythaera with her Syrian boy
Could never reach our meanest joy.
The childish God of Love ne'er tried
So much of love with his cold bride,
As we in one embrace include,
Contesting each to be subdu'd. 90

[_The Enjoyment._] _La Jouissance_, one of
Saint-Amant's early lyric pieces, which is here translated,
was not so famous as his _Solitude_, which will be found
(Englished by the matchless Orinda a little after Stanley's
time) in vol. i, p. 601, of this collection; but it
was popular and much imitated. Stanley has cut it down
considerably, for the original has nineteen stanzas--some of
them, I suppose, too 'warm' for the translator's modest muse.]

[Line: 59 Brydges misprints '_k_ind']

_To Celia Pleading Want of Merit._

Dear, urge no more that killing cause
Of our divorce;
Love is not fetter'd by such laws,
Nor bows to any force:
Though thou deniest I should be thine,
Yet say not thou deserv'st not to be mine.

Oh rather frown away my breath
With thy disdain,
Or flatter me with smiles to death;
By joy or sorrow slain, 10
'Tis less crime to be kill'd by thee,
Than I thus cause of mine own death should be.

Thyself of beauty to divest,
And me of love,
Or from the worth of thine own breast
Thus to detract, would prove
In us a blindness, and in thee
At best a sacrilegious modesty.

But, Celia, if thou wilt despise
What all admire, 20
Nor rate thyself at the just price
Of beauty or desire,
Yet meet my flames, and thou shalt see
That equal love knows no disparity.

[_To Celia Pleading, &c._] _1647_ has in title 'To
_One that Pleaded her own_', and 'Dearest' for 'Celia' in l.
19.]

_Love's Innocence._

See how this Ivy strives to twine
Her wanton arms about the Vine,
And her coy lover thus restrains,
Entangled in her amorous chains;
See how these neighb'ring Palms do bend
Their heads, and mutual murmurs send,
As whispering with a jealous fear
Their loves, into each other's ear.
Then blush not such a flame to own,
As like thyself no crime hath known; 10
Led by these harmless guides, we may
Embrace and kiss as well as they.
And like those blesséd souls above,
Whose life is harmony and love,
Let us our mutual thoughts betray,
And in our wills our minds display;
This silent speech is swifter far
Than the ears' lazy species are;
And the expression it affords,
As our desires, 'bove reach of words. 20
Thus we, my dear, of these may learn
A passion others not discern;
Nor can it shame or blushes move,
Like plants to live, like Angels love:
Since all excuse with equal innocence,
What above reason is, or beneath sense.

[_Love's Innocence._] In _1647_ the following
differences occur: Title, 'The Innocence of Love'; l. 1,
'(Dear) doth twine' for 'strives to twine'; l. 7, 'To one
another whispering there'; ll. 9-10, 'Then blush not, _Fair,
that_ flame to _show, Which_ like thyself no crime _can
know_'; ll. 11-12, '_Thus led by those chaste_ guides, we
may Embrace and kiss as _free_ as they'; l. 20, 'As _are our
flames_'; l. 21, 'Thus, _Doris, we_'.]

_The Bracelet._

TRISTAN.

Now Love be prais'd! that cruel fair,
Who my poor heart restrains
Under so many chains,
Hath weav'd a new one for it of her hair.

These threads of amber us'd to play
With every courtly wind;
And never were confin'd;
But in a thousand curls allow'd to stray.

Cruel each part of her is grown;
Nor less unkind than she 10
These fetters are to me,
Which to restrain my freedom, lose their own.

[_The Bracelet._] Little survives, even in literary
memories, of François Tristan l'Hermite (1601-1655), except
the success of his _Marianne_ (Maria_m_ne), 1636, one of the
most famous French tragedies of the period outside Corneille.
M. Ed. Fournier gave him a niche in Crépet's _Poètes Français_
(Paris, 1861), ii. 539-52, but did not include the original
of this piece. The _In Memoriam_ rhyme-order, though the line
lengths are different, is interesting. Stanley had perhaps
borrowed, before translating it, the 'soft fetters of her
hair', noted above, though the fancy is of course primaeval
and perennial.]

_The Kiss._

When on thy lip my soul I breathe,
Which there meets thine,
Freed from their fetters by this death
Our subtle forms combine;
Thus without bonds of sense they move,
And like two Cherubins converse by love.

Spirits, to chains of earth confin'd,
Discourse by sense;
But ours, that are by flames refin'd,
With those weak ties dispense. 10
Let such in words their minds display;
We in a kiss our mutual thoughts convey.

But since my soul from me doth fly,
To thee retir'd,
Thou canst not both retain: for I
Must be with one inspir'd.
Then, dearest, either justly mine
Restore, or in exchange let me have thine.

Yet, if thou dost return mine own,
Oh tak't again! 20
For 'tis this pleasing death alone
Gives ease unto my pain.
Kill me once more, or I shall find
Thy pity, than thy cruelty, less kind.

[_The Kiss._] Title in _1647_ 'The _killing_ Kiss',
and several other variants. An answer to this poem appears in
Jordan's _Claraphi and Clarinda_.]

[Line: 4 _1647_ 'They both unite and join'. But Miss Guiney's
suspicion that 'forms' may be a misprint obviously shows
forgetfulness of the philosophical sense of the word =
'ideas', 'immortal parts'. Cf. Spenser, 'For soul is _form_'.]

[Line: 6 by] _1647_ 'and'--perhaps better.]

[Line: 12 _1647_ 'Our lips, not tongues, each other's thoughts
betray'. (Miss Guiney's copy seems to have '_our_ tongues',
which cannot be right.)]

[Line: 15 for I] and I _1647_.]

[Line: 17 dearest] _1647_ 'Doris'. This is the second time
(_v. sup._, p. 126) that poor Doris has been disestablished.]

_Apollo and Daphne._

GARCILASSO MARINO.

When Phoebus saw a rugged bark beguile
His love, and his embraces intercept,
The leaves, instructed by his grief to smile,
Taking fresh growth and verdure as he wept:
'How can', saith he, 'my woes expect release,
When tears the subject of my tears increase!'

His chang'd, yet scorn-retaining Fair he kiss'd,
From the lov'd trunk plucking a little bough;
And though the conquest which he sought he miss'd,
With that triumphant spoil adorns his brow. 10
Thus this disdainful maid his aim deceives:
Where he expected fruit he gathers leaves.

[_Apollo and Daphne._] Why Garcilasso I do not know.
Marini's name was Giambattista.]

[Line: 6 The first 'tears' certainly looks odd, and Miss
Guiney conjectures 'leaves'. But the ways of Marinism are not
thus. Apollo's tears _watered_ the laurel and so made it
grow. His tears increased their subject, the vapid vegetable
substitute for Daphne's flesh and blood.]

_Speaking and Kissing._

The air, which thy smooth voice doth break,
Into my soul like lightning flies;
My life retires whilst thou dost speak,
And thy soft breath its room supplies.

Lost in this pleasing ecstasy,
I join my trembling lips to thine;
And back receive that life from thee,
Which I so gladly did resign.

Forbear, Platonic fools, t' inquire
What numbers do the soul compose!
No harmony can life inspire,
But that which from these accents flows.

[_Speaking and Kissing._] This is _smarter_ than
Stanley's usual style.]

_The Snow-ball._

Doris, I that could repel
All those darts about thee dwell,
And had wisely learn'd to fear,
'Cause I saw a foe so near;
I that my deaf ear did arm
'Gainst thy voice's powerful charm,
And the lightning of thine eye
Durst (by closing mine) defy,
Cannot this cold snow withstand
From the whiter of thy hand. 10
Thy deceit hath thus done more
Than thy open force before:
For who could suspect or fear
Treason in a face so clear;
Or the hidden fires descry
Wrapt in this cold outside lie?
Flames might thus involv'd in ice
The deceiv'd world sacrifice;
Nature, ignorant of this
Strange antiperistasis, 20
Would her falling frame admire,
That by snow were set on fire.

[_The Snow-ball._] Doris maintains here the place
she lost above. The tripping seventeenth-century 'sevens' are
well spent on her. In l. 10 Miss Guiney thinks that 'whiter',
the sole reading, must be 'winter'. [Greek: hêkista]: that
Stanley meant 'the whiter _snow_' is, to me, certain.]

[Line: 20 'Antiperistasis' = 'reaction' or 'topsyturvyfication'
(Thackeray).]

_The Deposition._

Though when I lov'd thee thou wert fair,
Thou art no longer so;
Those glories all the pride they wear
Unto opinion owe;
Beauties, like stars, in borrow'd lustre shine;
And 'twas my love that gave thee thine.

The flames that dwelt within thine eye
Do now, with mine, expire;
Thy brightest graces fade and die
At once with my desire; 10
Love's fires thus mutual influence return;
Thine cease to shine, when mine to burn.

Then, proud Celinda, hope no more
To be implor'd or woo'd,
Since by thy scorn thou dost restore
The wealth my love bestow'd;
And thy despis'd disdain too late shall find
That none are fair but who are kind.

[_The Deposition._] In _1647_ '_A_ Deposition _from
Beauty_'. Also l. 3, 'do' for 'all'; l. 9, 'glories' for
'graces'; l. 16, 'That' for 'The' and 'which' for 'my'.]

_To his Mistress in Absence._

TASSO.

Far from thy dearest self, the scope
Of all my aims,
I waste in secret flames;
And only live because I hope.
Oh, when will Fate restore
The joys, in whose bright fire
My expectation shall expire,
That I may live because I hope no more!

_Love's Heretic._

He whose active thoughts disdain
To be captive to one foe,
And would break his single chain,
Or else more would undergo;
Let him learn the art of me,
By new bondage to be free!

What tyrannic mistress dare
To one beauty love confine,
Who, unbounded as the air,
All may court but none decline? 10
Why should we the heart deny
As many objects as the eye?

Wheresoe'er I turn or move,
A new passion doth detain me:
Those kind beauties that do love,
Or those proud ones that disdain me;
This frown melts, and that smile burns me;
This to tears, that ashes turns me.

Soft fresh Virgins, not full blown,
With their youthful sweetness take me; 20
Sober Matrons, that have known
Long since what these prove, awake me;
Here staid coldness I admire;
There the lively active fire.

She that doth by skill dispense
Every favour she bestows,
Or the harmless innocence,
Which nor court nor city knows,
Both alike my soul enflame,
That wild Beauty, and this tame. 30

She that wisely can adorn
Nature with the wealth of Art,
Or whose rural sweets do scorn
Borrow'd helps to take a heart,
The vain care of that's my pleasure,
Poverty of this my treasure.

Both the wanton and the coy,
Me with equal pleasures move;
She whom I by force enjoy,
Or who forceth me to love: 40
This, because she'll not confess,
That not hide, her happiness.

She whose loosely flowing hair,
Scatter'd like the beams o' th' morn,
Playing with the sportive air,
Hides the sweets it doth adorn,
Captive in that net restrains me,
In those golden fetters chains me.

Nor doth she with power less bright
My divided heart invade, 50
Whose soft tresses spread like night
O'er her shoulders a black shade;
For the starlight of her eyes
Brighter shines through those dark skies.

Black, or fair, or tall, or low,
I alike with all can sport;
The bold sprightly Thais woo,
Or the frozen Vestal court;
Every Beauty takes my mind,
Tied to all, to none confin'd. 60

[_Love's Heretic._] This, for Stanley, longish piece
has few _vv. ll._ But _1647_ reads in l. 34 'that' instead
of 'to', and the singular 'pleasure' in l. 38. The piece is
rather in the Suckling vein; but Stanley did not play the
light-o'-love quite successfully.]

_La Belle Confidente._

You earthly souls that court a wanton flame,
Whose pale weak influence
Can rise no higher than the humble name,
And narrow laws of sense,
Learn by our friendship to create
An immaterial fire,
Whose brightness Angels may admire,
But cannot emulate.

Sickness may fright the roses from her cheek,
Or make the lilies fade; 10
But all the subtile ways that Death doth seek,
Cannot my love invade.
Flames that are kindled by the eye,
Through time and age expire;
But ours, that boast a reach far higher,
Can nor decay nor die.

For when we must resign our vital breath,
Our loves by Fate benighted,
We by this friendship shall survive in death,
Even in divorce united. 20
Weak Love, through fortune or distrust,
In time forgets to burn,
But this pursues us to the urn,
And marries either's dust.

[_La Belle Confidente._] On this Sir Egerton:
'However far-fetched these ideas may be, there is uncommon
elegance and ingenuity in the expression, and polish in the
versification.' There is also something more than polish--a
_concerted_ effect which 'elegance and ingenuity' do not often
reach. In l. 16, 'Cannot' appears in _1647_ for 'Can nor';
'And' for 'For' in l. 17; and ll. 18, 20 are changed over and
run:

Even in divorce delighted,
. . . . . .
Still in the grave united.
]

_La Belle Ennemie._

I yield, dear enemy, nor know
How to resist so fair a foe!
Who would not thy soft yoke sustain,
And bow beneath thy easy chain,
That with a bondage bless'd might be,
Which far transcends all liberty?
But since I freely have resign'd
At first assault my willing mind,
Insult not o'er my captiv'd heart
With too much tyranny and art, 10
Lest by thy scorn thou lose the prize
Gain'd by the power of thy bright eyes,
And thou this conquest thus shalt prove,
Though got by Beauty, kept by Love!

_The Dream._

LOPE DE VEGA.

To set my jealous soul at strife,
All things maliciously agree,
Though sleep of Death the image be,
Dreams are the portraiture of life.

I saw, when last I clos'd my eyes,
Celinda stoop t' another's will;
If specious Apprehension kill,
What would the truth without disguise?

The joys which I should call mine own,
Methought this rival did possess: 10
Like dreams is all my happiness;
Yet dreams themselves allow me none.

[_The Dream._] The actual and full _In Memoriam_
arrangement is the point of interest here. Stanley, however,
is even less successful than the few other seventeenth-century
practitioners in getting the full rhythmical sweep of the form
into operation. He breaks the circle and so loses the charm.]

_To the Lady D._

MADAM,
The blushes I betray,
When at your feet I humbly lay
These papers, beg you would excuse
Th' obedience of a bashful Muse,
Who, bowing to your strict command,
Trusts her own errors to your hand,
Hasty abortives, which, laid by,
She meant, ere they were born should die:
But since the soft power of your breath
Hath call'd them back again from Death, 10
To your sharp judgement now made known,
She dares for hers no longer own;
The worst she must not, these resign'd
She hath to th' fire, and where you find
Those your kind Charity admir'd,
She writ but what your eyes inspir'd.

[_To the Lady D._] This in _1647_ is the Dedication
'To my most honour'd Aunt the Lady Dormer'. She was a daughter
of Sir William Hammond and wife of Sir Robert Dormer, Knight,
of Chearsley, Bucks. In _1647_ Stanley added to the poem
'_Madam, Your Ladyships Greatest admirer and most humble
Servant_, THO. STANLEY'.]

_Love Deposed._

You that unto your mistress' eyes
Your hearts do sacrifice,
And offer sighs or tears at Love's rich shrine,
Renounce with me
Th' idolatry,
Nor this infernal Power esteem divine.

The brand, the quiver, and the bow,
Which we did first bestow,
And he as tribute wears from every lover,
I back again 10
From him have ta'en,
And the impostor, now unveil'd, discover.

I can the feeble child disarm,
Untie his mystic charm,
Divest him of his wings, and break his arrow;
We will obey
No more his sway,
Nor live confin'd to laws or bounds so narrow.

And you, bright Beauties, that inspire
The Boy's pale torch with fire, 20
We safely now your subtle power despise,
And unscorch'd may
Like atoms play,
And wanton in the sunshine of your eyes.

Nor think hereafter by new arts
You can bewitch our hearts,
Or raise this devil by your pleasing charm;
We will no more
His power implore,
Unless, like Indians, that he do no harm. 30

_The Divorce._

Dear, back my wounded heart restore,
And turn away thy powerful eyes;
Flatter my willing soul no more!
Love must not hope what Fate denies.

Take, take away thy smiles and kisses!
Thy love wounds deeper than disdain;
For he that sees the heaven he misses,
Sustains two hells, of loss and pain.

Shouldst thou some other's suit prefer,
I might return thy scorn to thee, 10
And learn apostasy of her,
Who taught me first idolatry.

Or in thy unrelenting breast
Should I disdain or coyness move,
He by thy hate might be releas'd,
Who now is prisoner to thy love.

Since then unkind Fate will divorce
Those whom Affection long united,
Be thou as cruel as this force,
And I in death shall be delighted. 20

Thus while so many suppliants woo.
And beg they may thy pity prove,
I only for thy scorn do sue:
'Tis charity here not to love.

[_The Divorce._] A rise from one or two preceding
pieces.]

[Line: 12 Who] That _1647_.]

[Line: 14 I] cold _1647_.]

[Line: 15 He] I _1647_.]

[Line: 16 is] am _1647_.]

[Line: 21 while] whilst _1647_. woo] do _1647_.]

[Line: 22 'Implore thy pity they may prove' _1647_.]

_Time Recovered._

CASONE.

Come, my dear, whilst youth conspires
With the warmth of our desires;
Envious Time about thee watches,
And some grace each minute snatches;
Now a spirit, now a ray,
From thy eye he steals away;
Now he blasts some blooming rose,
Which upon thy fresh cheek grows;
Gold now plunders in a hair;
Now the rubies doth impair 10
Of thy lips; and with sure haste
All thy wealth will take at last;
Only that of which thou mak'st
Use in time, from time thou tak'st.

[_Time Recovered._] This 'very light and good'
version is from Guido Casoni (so more usually), a poet of the
Trevisan March (1587-1640), and founder of the Academy of
the _Incogniti_ at Venice, to the Transactions of which he
contributed most of his work.]

_The Bracelet._

Rebellious fools that scorn to bow
Beneath Love's easy sway,
Whose stubborn wills no laws allow,
Disdaining to obey,
Mark but this wreath of hair, and you shall see,
None that might wear such fetters would be free!

I once could boast a soul like you,
As unconfin'd as air;
But mine, which force could not subdue,
Was caught within this snare; 10
And, by myself betray'd, I, for this gold,
A heart that many storms withstood, have sold.

No longer now wise Art inquire,
With this vain search delighted,
How souls, that human breasts inspire,
Are to their frames united;
Material chains such spirits well may bind,
When this soft braid can tie both arm and mind

Now, Beauties, I defy your charm,
Rul'd by more powerful art: 20
This mystic wreath which crowns my arm,
Defends my vanquish'd heart;
And I, subdu'd by one more fair, shall be
Secur'd from Conquest by Captivity.

[_The Bracelet._] Almost certainly suggested by
Donne. If so the suggestion was very rashly taken, but the
result might have been worse.]

[Line: 7 soul] heart _1647_. l. 12 is an alteration--as Miss
Guiney very rightly says to its detriment--of _1647_, which
reads--

Have to mine enemy my freedom sold.
]

[Line: 15 _1647_ 'that do our life inspire'.]

[Line: 22 _1647_ 'Guards and defends my heart'.]

_The Farewell._

Since Fate commands me hence, and I
Must leave my soul with thee, and die,
Dear, spare one sigh, or else let fall
A tear to crown my funeral,
That I may tell my grievéd heart,
Thou art unwilling we should part,
And Martyrs, that embrace the fire,
Shall with less joy than I expire.

With this last kiss I will bequeath
My soul transfus'd into thy breath, 10
Whose active heat shall gently slide
Into thy breast, and there reside,
And be in spite of Fate, thus bless'd
By this sad death, of Heaven possess'd.
Then prove but kind, and thou shalt see
Love hath more power than Destiny.

[_The Farewell._] In lines 13 and 14 of this all
editions vary slightly. _1647_ has 'may' for 'be', which
latter word opens the next line, turning out 'sad'. The text
is _1651_, _1656_, keeping l. 13 of _1647_, has for l. 14 the
text of _1651_.]

_Claim to Love._

GUARINI.

Alas! alas! thou turn'st in vain
Thy beauteous face away,
Which, like young sorcerers, rais'd a pain
Above its power to lay.

Love moves not, as thou turn'st thy look,
But here doth firmly rest;
He long ago thy eyes forsook,
To revel in my breast.

Thy power on him why hop'st thou more
Than his on me should be? 10
The claim thou lay'st to him is poor,
To that he owns from me.

His substance in my heart excels
His shadow in thy sight;
Fire, where it burns, more truly dwells,
Than where it scatters light.

_To his Mistress, who dreamed he was wounded._

GUARINI.

Thine eyes, bright Saint, disclose,
And thou shalt find
Dreams have not with illusive shows
Deceiv'd thy mind:
What sleep presented to thy view,
Awake, and thou shalt find is true.

Those mortal wounds I bear,
From thee begin,
Which though they outward not appear,
Yet bleed within. 10
Love's flame like active lightning flies,
Wounding the heart, but not the eyes.

But now I yield to die
Thy sacrifice,
Nor more in vain will hope to fly
From thy bright eyes:
Their killing power cannot be shunn'd,
Open or closed alike they wound.

[_To his Mistress, &c._] _1647_ 'To Doris dreaming
he was wounded'. Guarini is not there mentioned.]

_The Exchange._

DIALOGUE.

_Phil._

That kiss, which last thou gav'st me, stole
My fainting life away,
Yet, though to thy breast fled, my soul
Still in mine own doth stay;

_Char._

And with the same warm breath did mine
Into thy bosom slide;
There dwell contracted unto thine,
Yet still with me reside.

_Chor._

Both souls thus in desire are one,
And each is two in skill; 10
Doubled in intellect alone,
United in the will.
Weak Nature no such power doth know:
Love only can these wonders show.

[_The Exchange._] _1647_ 'Exchange of Souls'. In
editions other than _1651_ there is a refrain after each
stanza-speech:

Weak Nature no such power doth know,
Love only can these wonders show.
]

_Unaltered by Sickness._

Sickness, in vain thou dost invade
A Beauty that can never fade!
Could all thy malice but impair
One of the sweets which crown this fair,
Or steal the spirits from her eye,
Or kiss into a paler dye
The blushing roses of her cheek,
Our drooping hopes might justly seek
Redress from thee, and thou might'st save
Thousands of lovers from the grave: 10
But such assaults are vain, for she
Is too divine to stoop to thee;
Blest with a form as much too high
For any change, as Destiny,
Which no attempt can violate;
For what's her Beauty, is our Fate.

[_Unaltered by Sickness._] Lines 1 and 2 are
expanded in _1656_ to:

Pale, envious Sickness, hence! no more
Possess our breast, too cold before.
In vain, alas! thou dost invade
Those beauties which can never fade.
]

[Line: 4 'On those sweets which crown the fair' _1656_.]

[Line: 7 blushing] blooming _1657_.]

[Line: 8 drooping] dropping _1647_: suffering _1656_.]

[Line: 14 For any] _1656_ _But_ any--nonsensically.]

_On his Mistress's Death._

PETRARCH.

Love the ripe harvest of my toils
Began to cherish with his smiles,
Preparing me to be indued
With all the joys I long pursued,
When my fresh hopes, fair and full blown,
Death blasts, ere I could call my own.

Malicious Death! why with rude force
Dost thou my Fair from me divorce?
False Life! why in this loathéd chain
Me from my Fair dost thou detain? 10
In whom assistance shall I find?
Alike are Life and Death unkind.

Pardon me, Love; thy power outshines,
And laughs at their infirm designs.
She is not wedded to a tomb,
Nor I to sorrow in her room.
They, what thou join'st, can ne'er divide
She lives in me, in her I died.

_The Exequies._

Draw near,
You Lovers that complain
Of Fortune or Disdain,
And to my ashes lend a tear;
Melt the hard marble with your groans,
And soften the relentless stones,
Whose cold embraces the sad subject hide,
Of all Love's cruelties, and Beauty's pride!

No verse,
No epicedium bring, 10
Nor peaceful requiem sing,
To charm the terrors of my hearse;
No profane numbers must flow near
The sacred silence that dwells here.
Vast griefs are dumb; softly, oh! softly mourn,
Lest you disturb the peace attends my urn.

Yet strew
Upon my dismal grave
Such offerings as you have,
Forsaken cypress and sad yew; 20
For kinder flowers can take no birth,
Or growth, from such unhappy earth.
Weep only o'er my dust, and say, Here lies
To Love and Fate an equal sacrifice.

[_The Exequies._] A very good stanza, the rhythm
rising and swelling admirably. In the final couplet of the
first, _1647_ reads--

do a victim hide,
That, paid to Beauty, on Love's altar died.
]

_The Silkworm._

This silkworm, to long sleep retir'd,
The early year hath re-inspir'd,
Who now to pay to thee prepares
The tribute of her pleasing cares;
And hastens with industrious toil
To make thy ornament, her spoil:
See with what pains she spins for thee
The thread of her own destiny;
Then growing proud in Death, to know
That all her curious labours thou 10
Wilt, as in triumph, deign to wear,
Retires to her soft sepulchre.
Such, dearest, is that hapless state,
To which I am design'd by Fate,
Who by thee, willingly, o'ercome,
Work mine own fetters and my tomb.

[_The Silkworm._] ]

[Line: 1 This] The _1647_.]

[Line: 6 Miss Guiney insists, in the teeth of all texts, upon
changing over 'thy' and 'her', saying that 'facts and the
context force' the reversal. I am afraid that the genius of
seventeenth-century poetry did not care much for facts or
context at any time. But here no violence is done to either.
Nine men out of ten wishing to say 'to make out of the spoil
of herself an ornament for thee' would have probably put it in
the same way, especially if they wanted the rhyme 'spoil'.]

[Line: 10 'That _her rich work and_ labours' _1647_.]

[Line: 14 'I destined am' _1647_.]

_A Lady Weeping._

MONTALVAN.

As when some brook flies from itself away,
The murmuring crystal loosely runs astray;
And as about the verdant plain it winds,
The meadows with a silver riband binds,
Printing a kiss on every flower she meets,
Losing herself to fill them with new sweets,
To scatter frost upon the lily's head,
And scarlet on the gilliflower to spread;
So melting sorrow, in the fair disguise
Of humid stars, flow'd from bright Cloris' eyes, 10
Which wat'ring every flower her cheek discloses,
Melt into jasmines here, there into roses.

[_A Lady Weeping._] Few people, I think, will accept
Miss Guiney's suggestion of 'tears' for 'stars' in l. 10,
especially after 'humid'. The shooting star, which dissolved
on reaching earth into dew or 'jelly', is very common with
Carolines.]

_Ambition._

I must no longer now admire
The coldness which possess'd
Thy snowy breast,
That can by other flames be set on fire.
Poor Love, to harsh Disdain betray'd,
Is by Ambition thus out-weigh'd.

Hadst thou but known the vast extent
Of constant faith, how far
'Bove all that are
Born slaves to Wealth, or Honour's vain ascent; 10
No richer treasure couldst thou find
Than hearts with mutual chains combin'd.

But Love is too despis'd a name,
And must not hope to rise
Above these ties;
Honour and Wealth outshine his paler flame;
These unite souls, whilst true desire
Unpitied dies in its own fire.

Yet, cruel fair one, I did aim
With no less justice too, 20
Than those that sue
For other hopes, and thy proud fortunes claim.
Wealth honours, honours wealth approve,
But Beauty's only meant for Love.

[_Ambition._] ]

[Line: 16 Miss Guiney thinks that the singular 'Honour',
though in all texts, is obviously wrong. I should say that
the plural would be more obviously wronger. The mistake, of
course, comes from importing a modern distinction.]

_Song._

When, dearest beauty, thou shalt pay
Thy faith and my vain hope away
To some dull soul that cannot know
The worth of that thou dost bestow;
Lest with my sighs and tears I might
Disturb thy unconfin'd delight,
To some dark shade I will retire,
And there, forgot by all, expire.

Thus, whilst the difference thou shalt prove
Betwixt a feign'd and real love, 10
Whilst he, more happy, but less true,
Shall reap those joys I did pursue,
And with those pleasures crownéd be
By Fate, which Love design'd for me,
Then thou, perhaps, thyself wilt find
Cruel too long, or too soon kind.

[_Song._] Not one of Stanley's worst.]

_The Revenge._

RONSARD.

Fair Rebel to thyself and Time,
Who laugh'st at all my tears,
When thou hast lost thy youthful prime,
And Age his trophy rears,

Weighing thy inconsiderate pride
Thou shalt in vain accuse it,
Why beauty am I now denied,
Or knew not then to use it?

Then shall I wish, ungentle fair,
Thou in like flames mayst burn; 10
Venus, if just, will hear my prayer,
And I shall laugh my turn.

[_The Revenge._] Not one of his best, even as a
translation. The suspicion of _flatness_ which occurs too
often in him could not be more fatal than in connexion
with Ronsard's famous and beautiful sonnet. But Stanley has
handicapped himself almost inconceivably. He has thrown away
the half-sad, half-scornful burst of the opening 'Quand vous
serez bien vieille'--the vivid picture of the crone half
boasting, half regretting her love and her disdain, by the
flicker of fire and candle, to the listening handmaiden,
and the final touch as to the use of life. In fact I have
sometimes wondered whether he really meant this masterpiece.]

_Song._

I will not trust thy tempting graces,
Or thy deceitful charms;
Nor pris'ner be to thy embraces,
Or fetter'd in thy arms;
No, Celia, no, not all thy art
Can wound or captivate my heart.

I will not gaze upon thy eyes,
Or wanton with thy hair,
Lest those should burn me by surprise,
Or these my soul ensnare; 10
Nor with those smiling dangers play,
Or fool my liberty away.

Since then my wary heart is free,
And unconfin'd as thine,
If thou wouldst mine should captiv'd be,
Thou must thine own resign,
And gratitude may thus move more
Than Love or Beauty could before.

[_Song._] Another capital stanza-mould, especially
in 1. The next is even better.

This Song is also in _Select Airs and Dialogues, set by Mr.
Jeremy Savill_, _1659_.]

_Song._

No, I will sooner trust the wind,
When falsely kind
It courts the pregnant sails into a storm,
And when the smiling waves persuade,
Be willingly betray'd,
Than thy deceitful vows or form.

Go, and beguile some easy heart
With thy vain art;
Thy smiles and kisses on those fools bestow,
Who only see the calms that sleep 10
On this smooth flatt'ring deep,
But not the hidden dangers know.

They that like me thy falsehood prove,
Will scorn thy love.
Some may, deceiv'd at first, adore thy shrine;
But he that, as thy sacrifice,
Doth willingly fall twice,
Dies his own martyr, and not thine.

[_Song._]

[Line: 12 the] thy _1647_.]

_To a Blind Man in Love._

MARINO.

Lover, than Love more blind, whose bold thoughts dare
Fix on a woman is both young and fair!
If Argus, with a hundred eyes, not one
Could guard, hop'st thou to keep thine, who hast none?

[_To a Blind Man in Love._] 2 The ellipsis of 'who'
before 'is' is one of the few grammatical licences which are
really awkward in poetry. In _Oronta 1647_, where this poem
also appeared with two other translations from Marino, the
reading is 'woman that is young'; and in 7 'Senses too'.]

_Answer._

I'm blind, 'tis true, but, in Love's rules, defect
Of sense is aided by the intellect;
And senses by each other are supplied:
The touch enjoys what's to the sight denied.

_Song._

I Prithee let my heart alone,
Since now 'tis rais'd above thee,
Not all the beauty thou dost own,
Again can make me love thee:

He that was shipwreck'd once before
By such a Syren's call,
And yet neglects to shun that shore,
Deserves his second fall.

Each flatt'ring kiss, each tempting smile,
Thou dost in vain bestow, 10
Some other lovers might beguile,
Who not thy falsehood know.

But I am proof against all art.
No vows shall e'er persuade me
Twice to present a wounded heart
To her that hath betray'd me.

Could I again be brought to love
Thy form, though more divine,
I might thy scorn as justly move,
As now thou sufferest mine. 20

[_Song._] Pretty, and the double rhymes in stanzas 1
and 4 well brought off.]

[Line: 7 _1656_ '_the_ shore'.]

_The Loss._

Yet ere I go,
Disdainful Beauty, thou shall be
So wretched, as to know
What joys thou fling'st away with me.

A faith so bright,
As Time or Fortune could not rust;
So firm, that lovers might
Have read thy story in my dust,

And crown'd thy name
With laurel verdant as thy youth, 10
Whilst the shrill voice of Fame
Spread wide thy beauty and my truth.

This thou hast lost;
For all true lovers, when they find
That my just aims were crost,
Will speak thee lighter than the wind.

And none will lay
Any oblation on thy shrine,
But such as would betray
Thy faith, to faiths as false as thine. 20

Yet, if thou choose
On such thy freedom to bestow,
Affection may excuse,
For love from sympathy doth flow.

[_The Loss._] Still good. But I have once more to
demur to Miss Guiney's opinion that 'Thy' in l. 20, though
found in all texts, should 'almost certainly' be 'Their'.
In the first place, conjectural emendations in the teeth
of text-agreement are never to be made without absolute
necessity. In the second, the hackneyed observation about
the less obvious reading is never so true as of the Caroline
poets. In the third, this particular correction, if obvious
in one sense, is but specious in another, and '_Their_ faith'
will be found on examination to make less, not more, sense
than 'Thy'. The meaning is, 'Such faith as thou mightest
repose in them after being false to me', i.e. 'They would
leave thee for other light-o'-loves'.]

_The Self-Cruel._

Cast off, for shame, ungentle Maid,
That misbecoming joy thou wear'st;
For in my death, though long delay'd,
Unwisely cruel thou appear'st.
Insult o'er captives with disdain,
Thou canst not triumph o'er the slain.

No, I am now no longer thine,
Nor canst thou take delight to see
Him whom thy love did once confine,
Set, though by Death, at liberty; 10
For if my fall a smile beget,
Thou gloriest in thy own defeat.

Behold how thy unthrifty pride
Hath murder'd him that did maintain it!
And wary souls, who never tried
Thy tyrant beauty, will disdain it:
But I am softer, and that me
Thou wouldst not pity, pity thee.

[_The Self-Cruel._] Merely 'Song' in _1647_.

The observations in the preceding note apply to Miss Guiney's
supposition that 'that' in the penultimate line is a misprint
for 'though'. 'I pity thee _in_ (or 'for') that thou wouldst
not pity me.']

_Song._

BY M. W. M.

Wert thou yet fairer than thou art,
Which lies not in the power of Art;
Or hadst thou in thine eyes more darts
Than ever Cupid shot at hearts;
Yet if they were not thrown at me,
I would not cast a thought on thee,

I'd rather marry a disease,
Than court the thing I cannot please;
She that will cherish my desires,
Must meet my flames with equal fires. 10
What pleasure is there in a kiss
To him that doubts the heart's not his?

I love thee not because th' art fair,
Softer than down, smoother than air;
Nor for the Cupids that do lie
In either corner of thine eye:
Wouldst thou then know what it might be?
'Tis I love you, 'cause you love me.

[_Song._] In _1647_ the song itself is not given,
and the title of Stanley's piece is '_In Answer to a Song_,
Wert thou much fairer than thou art, &c.' I do not know
who Master W. M. was--possibly Walter Montagu, Abbé de
Saint-Martin, whom we have met once or twice in commendatory
poems, and who was of the Cavalier literary set.]

_Answer._

Wert thou by all affections sought,
And fairer than thou wouldst be thought;
Or had thine eyes as many darts
As thou believ'st they shoot at hearts;
Yet if thy love were paid to me,
I would not offer mine to thee.

I'd sooner court a fever's heat,
Than her that owns a flame as great;
She that my love will entertain,
Must meet it with no less disdain; 10
For mutual fires themselves destroy,
And willing kisses yield no joy.

I love thee not because alone
Thou canst all beauty call thine own
Nor doth my passion fuel seek
In thy bright eye or softer cheek:
Then, fairest, if thou wouldst know why
I love thee, 'cause thou canst deny.

_The Relapse._

Oh, turn away those cruel eyes,
The stars of my undoing!
Or Death, in such a bright disguise,
May tempt a second wooing.

Punish their blindly impious pride,
Who dare contemn thy glory;
It was my fall that deified
Thy name, and seal'd thy story.

Yet no new sufferings can prepare
A higher praise to crown thee; 10
Though my first Death proclaim thee fair,
My second will unthrone thee.

Lovers will doubt thou canst entice
No other for thy fuel,
And if thou burn one victim twice,
Both think thee poor and cruel.

[_The Relapse._] One of the author's best. Double
rhymes often brought him luck. It was reprinted in Lawes's
_Airs and Dialogues, the Second Book_, 1655, p. 7, with the
heading 'He would not be tempted'. In _1647_ called 'Song'
only. This edition also reads in l. 5 'blind and impious', and
in l. 7 'thy name' for 'my fall'. This last, which doubtless
is a slip, seems to occur in some copies of _1651_, but
Brydges prints it correctly.]

_To the Countess of S. with the Holy Court._

MADAM,
Since every place you bless, the name
This book assumes may justlier claim,
(What more a court than where you shine?
And where your soul, what more divine?)
You may, perhaps, doubt at first sight,
That it usurps upon your right;
And praising virtues, that belong
To you, in others, doth yours wrong;
No; 'tis yourself you read, in all
Perfections earlier ages call 10
Their own; all glories they e'er knew
Were but faint prophecies of you.
You then have here sole interest whom 'tis meant
As well to entertain, as represent.

[_To the Countess of S._] This lady has been
supposed, probably enough, to be Dorothy Sidney or Spencer,
Countess of Sunderland, and Waller's 'Sacharissa'. _The
Holy Court_ was a manual of devotion by the Jesuit Caussin,
translated into English as early as 1626.]

_Song._

DE VOITURE.

I languish in a silent flame;
For she, to whom my vows incline,
Doth own perfections so divine,
That but to speak were to disclose her name
If I should say that she the store
Of Nature's graces doth comprise,
The love and wonder of all eyes,
Who will not guess the beauty I adore?

Or though I warily conceal
The charms her looks and soul possess; 10
Should I her cruelty express,
And say she smiles at all the pains we feel;

Among such suppliants as implore
Pity, distributing her hate,
Inexorable as their fate,
Who will not guess the beauty I adore?

[_Song._] Stanley was less _impar congressus_ with
Voiture than with Ronsard, and this is well done. The stanza
is well framed and is different from the French ('Je me tais
et me sens brûler', Chanson LIV, _[Oe]uvres_ de Voiture, ed.
Ubicini, Paris, 1855, ii. 336).]

_Drawn for Valentine by the L. D. S._

Though 'gainst me Love and Destiny conspire,
Though I must waste in an unpitied fire,
By the same Deity, severe as fair,
Commanded adoration and despair;
Though I am mark'd for sacrifice, to tell
The growing age what dangerous glories dwell
In this bright dawn, who, when she spreads her rays,
Will challenge every heart, and every praise;
Yet she who to all hope forbids my claim,
By Fortune's taught indulgence to my flame. 10
Great Queen of Chance! unjustly we exclude
Thy power an interest in beatitude,
Who, with mysterious judgement, dost dispense
The bounties of unerring Providence,
Whilst we, to whom the causes are unknown,
Would style that blindness thine, which is our own;
As kind in justice to thyself as me,
Thou hast redeem'd thy name and votary;
Nor will I prize this less for being thine,
Nor longer at my destiny repine: 20
Counsel and choice are things below thy state;
Fortune relieves the cruelties of Fate.

_The Modest Wish._

BARCLAY.

Reach incense, boy! thou pious Flamen, pray!
To genial Deities these rites we pay.
Fly far from hence, such as are only taught
To fear the Gods by guilt of crime or thought!
This is my suit; grant it, Celestial Powers,
If what my will affects, oppose not yours.
First, pure before your altars may I stand,
And practise studiously what you command;
My parents' faith devoutly let me prize,
Nor what my ancestors esteem'd, despise; 10
Let me not vex'd inquire (when thriving ill
Depresseth good) why thunder is so still?
No such ambitious knowledge trouble me;
Those curious thoughts advance not Piety:
Peaceful my house, in wife and children bless'd,
Nor these beyond my fortunes be increas'd:
None cozen me with Friendship's specious gloss;
None dearly buy my friendship with their loss:
To suits nor wars my quiet be betray'd;
My quiet, to the Muses justly paid: 20
Want never force me court the rich with lies,
And intermix my suit with flatteries:
Let my sure friends deceive the tedious light,
And my sound sleeps, with debts not broke, the night:
Cheerful my board, my smiles shar'd by my wife,
O Gods! yet mindful still of human life,
To die nor let me wish nor fear; among
My joys mix griefs, griefs that not last too long:
My age be happy; and when Fate shall claim
My thread of life, let me survive in fame. 30
Enough: the gods are pleas'd; the flames aspire,
And crackling laurel triumphs in the fire.

_E Catalectis Vet[erum] Poet[arum]_

A small well-gotten stock and country seat
I have, yet my content makes both seem great.
My quiet soul to fears is not inur'd,
And from the sins of Idleness secur'd.
Others may seek the camp, others the town,
And fool themselves with pleasure or renown;
Let me, unminded in the common crowd,
Live master of the time that I'm allow'd.

_On the Edition of Mr. Fletcher's Works._

Fletcher (whose fame no age can ever waste;
Envy of ours, and glory of the last)
Is now alive again; and with his name
His sacred ashes wak'd into a flame;
Such as before did by a secret charm
The wildest heart subdue, the coldest warm,
And lend the ladies' eyes a power more bright,
Dispensing thus to either, heat and light.
He to a sympathy those souls betray'd,
Whom Love or Beauty never could persuade; 10
And in each mov'd spectator could beget
A real passion by a counterfeit:
When first Bellario bled, what lady there
Did not for every drop let fall a tear?
And when Aspasia wept, not any eye
But seem'd to wear the same sad livery.
By him inspir'd, the feign'd Lucina drew
More streams of melting sorrow than the true;
But then the Scornful Lady did beguile
Their easy griefs, and teach them all to smile. 20
Thus he affections could or raise or lay;
Love, Grief, and Mirth thus did his charms obey:
He Nature taught her passions to outdo,
How to refine the old, and create new;
Which such a happy likeness seem'd to bear,
As if that Nature Art, Art Nature were.
Yet all had nothing been, obscurely kept
In the same urn wherein his dust hath slept,
Nor had he ris' the Delphic wreath to claim,
Had not the dying scene expir'd his name. 30
Oh the indulgent justice of this age,
To grant the Press, what it denies the Stage!
Despair our joy hath doubled; he is come
Twice welcome by this _post-liminium_;
His loss preserv'd him; they that silenc'd wit
Are now the authors to eternize it:
Thus poets are in spite of Fate reviv'd,
And plays, by intermission, longer liv'd.

[_On [the Edition of Mr.] Fletcher's Works._] The
bracketed words omitted in _1647_, when, as the book itself
(the first folio of Beaumont and Fletcher) had just appeared,
they were unnecessary. The variants are slight: 'could' and
'did' in lines 5 and 11 are changed over; in l. 19, 'doth'
(again reflecting the immediate presentation). In l. 29
'rise': the form 'ris'' is recognized by Ben Jonson. In l. 30
Miss Guiney thinks 'not' 'clearly a misprint' for 'with'. But
this is clearly a misunderstanding of 'expir'd', which is used
with its proper transitive force as in Latin. 'Had not the
dying stage [the suppressed and decadent theatre of 1647]
expired [uttered with its passing breath] his name, the book
would not have been published [and so made him rise and claim
the crown].' ll. 31, 32 were omitted in the Beaumont and
Fletcher Folio, 1647.

It can hardly be necessary to annotate the well-known
characters of 'the twins' that Stanley introduces. Brydges,
by printing 'Scornful Lady' without capitals, unnecessarily
obscured one of them.]

_To Mr. W. Hammond._