Chapter IX: Introduction: To Thomas Stanley (3)

Thou best of friendship, knowledge, and of art!
The charm of whose lov'd name preserves my heart
From female vanities (thy name, which there,
Till Time dissolves the fabric, I must wear),
Forgive a crime which long my soul opprest,
And crept by chance in my unwary breast,
So great, as for thy pardon were unfit,
And to forgive were worse than to commit,
But that the fault and pain were so much one,
The very act did expiate what was done. 10
I, who so often sported with the flame,
Play'd with the Boy, and laugh'd at both as tame,
Betray'd by Idleness and Beauty, fell
At last in love, love, both the sin and hell:
No punishment great as my fault esteem'd,
But to be that which I so long had seem'd.
Behold me such, a face, a voice, a lute,
The sentence in a minute execute!
I yield; recant; the faith which I before
Denied, profess; the power I scorn'd, implore. 20
Alas, in vain! no prayers, no vows can bow
Her stubborn heart, who neither will allow.
But see how strangely what was meant no less
Than torment, prov'd my greatest happiness:
Delay, that should have sharpen'd, starv'd Desire,
And Cruelty not fann'd, but quench'd my fire;
Love bound me: now by kind Disdain set free,
I can despise that Love as well as she.
That sin to friendship I away have thrown:
My heart thou mayst without a rival own, 30
While such as willingly themselves beguile,
And sell away their freedoms for a smile,
Blush to confess our joys as far above
Their hopes, as Friendship's longer liv'd than Love.

[_To Mr. W. Hammond._] In _1647_, as usually,
initials only. His relation (see Introduction) and the author
of the poems in vol. ii. As in some other cases, this poem
shows the _nisus_ of the more or less stopped couplet--the way
in which it was communicating energy to writers of the time
even when they mainly belong to the older division.]

[Line: 30 _1647_ 'Nor any flame, but what is thine, will
own'.]

_On Mr. Shirley's Poems._

When, dearest friend, thy verse doth re-inspire
Love's pale decaying torch with brighter fire,
Whilst everywhere thou dost dilate thy flame,
And to the world spread thy Odelia's name,
The justice of all ages must remit
To her the prize of Beauty, thee of Wit.
Then, like some skilful artist, that to wonder
Framing a piece, displeas'd, takes it asunder,
Thou Beauty dost depose, her charms deny,
And all the mystic chains of Love untie: 10
Thus thy diviner Muse a power 'bove Fate
May boast, that can both make and uncreate.
Next thou call'st back to life that love-sick boy,
To the kind-hearted nymphs less fair than coy,
Who, by reflex beams burnt with vain desire,
Did, Phoenix-like, in his own flames expire:
But should he view his shadow drawn by thee,
He with himself once more in love would be.
Echo (who though she words pursue, her haste
Can only overtake and stop the last) 20
Shall her first speech and human veil obtain
To sing thy softer numbers o'er again.
Thus, into dying poetry, thy Muse
Doth full perfection and new life infuse;
Each line deserves a laurel, and thy praise
Asks not a garland, but a grove of bays;
Nor can ours raise thy lasting trophies higher,
Who only reach at merit to admire.
But I must chide thee, friend: how canst thou be
A patron, yet a foe to poetry? 30
For while thou dost this age to verse restore,
Thou dost deprive the next of owning more;
And hast so far e'en future aims surpast,
That none dare write: thus being first and last,
All, their abortive Muses will suppress,
And poetry by this increase grow less.

[_On Mr. Shirley's Poems._] _1647_ initials (I. S.),
as usual. The same remark applies here as to the last piece.
Shirley's _Poems_ (which include a reciprocal compliment to
our author's) appear at the end of the sixth volume of Dyce's
standard edition of his plays, and therefore are not included
in this collection. They are, however, interesting, though
there is nothing in them so good as the famous 'Glories of our
blood and state'. 'Odelia' (a curious and rather suspicious
name) appears pretty frequently in them. Shirley was a friend
not merely of Stanley, but of Hammond and Prestwich (_v.
inf._) and others of the set. Some of the poems usually
attributed to Carew appear to be really his. His _Poems_ were
published in 1646, a year before Stanley's.--There are some
quite unimportant variants between _1647_ and _1651_: 'that'
and 'who' in l. 7; 'a' and 'some' in l. 8; 'words' and
'speech' in l. 19; and l. 30 has the absurd reading 'A patron,
yet a _friend_ to poesy'. _1647_ omits lines 31 and 32, and
reads

Thou hast so far all future times surpassed

in l. 33. Miss Guiney suggests 'voice' for 'veil' in l.
21. But 'veil' is far more poetical as = The _body_ of her
disguise and humiliation after her aerial enfranchisement.]

_On Mr. Sherburn's Translation of Seneca's Medea, and Vindication of the Author._

That wise philosopher, who had design'd
To life the various passions of the mind,
Did wrong'd Medea's jealousy prefer
To entertain the Roman theatre;
Both to instruct the soul, and please the sight,
At once begetting horror and delight.
This cruelty thou dost once more express,
Though in a strange, no less becoming dress;
And her revenge hast robb'd of half its pride,
To see itself thus by itself outvied, 10
That boldest ages past may say, our times
Can speak, as well as act their highest crimes.
Nor was 't enough to do his scene this right,
But what thou gav'st to us, with equal light
Thou wouldst bestow on him, nor wert more just
Unto the author's work, than to his dust;
Thou dost make good his title, aid his claim,
Both vindicate his poem and his name,
So shar'st a double wreath; for all that we
Unto the poet owe, he owes to thee. 20
Though change of tongues stol'n praise to some afford,
Thy version hath not borrow'd, but restor'd.

[_On Mr. Sherburn's Translation, &c._] Title in
_1647_ rather longer, but with initials, 'To Mr. E. S. on his
Translation of Medea, with the other Tragedies of Seneca
the Philosopher and vindicating of their Author'. Sherburn
(afterwards Sir Edward) had the rather capriciously adjudged
honour of appearing in Chalmers's _Poets_, which accounts for
his absence here.]

[Line: 20 _1647_ reads 'author' for 'poet', an obvious
overlooking of the occurrence of the word just before.]

_On Mr. Hall's Essays._

Wits that matur'd by time have courted praise,
Shall see their works outdone in these Essays;
And blush to know, thy earlier years display
A dawning, clearer than their brightest day.
Yet I'll not praise thee, for thou hast outgrown
The reach of all men's praises, but thine own.
Encomiums to their objects are exact;
To praise, and not at full, is to detract.
And with most justice are the best forgot,
For praise is bounded when the theme is not: 10
Since mine is thus confin'd, and far below
Thy merit, I forbear it, nor will show
How poor the autumnal pride of some appears,
To the ripe fruit thy vernal season bears.
Yet though I mean no praise, I come t'invite
Thy forward aims still to advance their flight;
Rise higher yet, what though thy spreading wreath
Lessen to their dull sight who stay beneath?
To thy full learning how can all allow
Just praise, unless that all were learn'd as thou? 20
Go on in spite of such low souls, and may
Thy growing worth know age, though not decay,
Till thou pay back thy theft; and live to climb
As many years as thou hast snatch'd from Time.

[_On Mr. Hall's Essays._] _1647_ 'To Mr. I. H. on
his Essays'. These were the much-praised _Horae Vacivae_ (see
Introduction to Hall, vol. ii). Besides the slight difference
in general title the _1647_ version divides itself. The first
division consists of the first four lines only. A second, to
Mr. I. H., appears elsewhere, beginning:

_I'll not commend thee_, for thou hast outgrown--

and going on as above, except that 'full' is foisted up from
l. 8 to l. 7 ('full objects'), to the destruction of sense and
metre.]

[Line: 3 earlier] early _1647_.]

[Line: 13 'The pride of others' autumns poor appears' _1647_.]

_On S[ir] J[ohn] S[uckling], his Picture and Poems._

Suckling, whose numbers could invite
Alike to wonder and delight,
And with new spirit did inspire
The Thespian scene and Delphic lyre,
Is thus express'd in either part,
Above the humble reach of Art.
Drawn by the pencil, here you find
His form, by his own pen, his mind.

[_On Sir John Suckling, his Picture and Poems._]
Initials only in original titles. These poems were the
_Fragmenta Aurea_ of 1646.]

_The Union._

[Greek: Mia psychê duo sômata.]

BY MR. WILLIAM FAIRFAX.

As in the crystal centre of the sight,
Two subtle beams make but one cone of light,
Or when one flame twin'd with another is,
They both ascend in one bright pyramis;
Our spirits thus into each other flow,
One in our being, one in what we know,
In what we will, desire, dislike, approve,
In what we love, and one is that pure love,
As in a burning glass th' aërial flame,
With the producing ray, is still the same: 10
We to Love's purest quintessence refin'd,
Do both become one undefilèd mind.
This sacred fire into itself converts
Our yielding spirits, and our melting hearts,
Till both our souls into one spirit run,
So several lines are in their centre one.
And when thy fair idea is imprest
In the soft tablet of my easier breast,
The sweet reflection brings such sympathy,
That I my better self behold in thee; 20
And all perfections that in thee combine,
By this resultance are entirely mine;
Thy rays disperse my shades, who only live
Bright in the lustre thou art pleas'd to give.

[_The Union_]
]

[Line: 12 undefiled] undivided _1647_.]

[Line: 18 tablet] table _1647_.]

_Answer._

If we are one, dear friend! why shouldst thou be
At once unequal to thyself and me?
By thy release thou swell'st my debt the more,
And dost but rob thyself to make me poor.
What part can I have in thy luminous cone?
What flame, since my love's thine, can call my own?
The palest star is less the son of night,
Who, but thy borrow'd, know no native light:
Was 't not enough thou freely didst bestow
The Muse, but thou wouldst give the laurel too? 10
And twice my aims by thy assistance raise,
Conferring first the merit, then the praise?
But I should do thee greater injury,
Did I believe this praise were meant to me,
Or thought, though thou hast worth enough to spare,
T' enrich another soul, that mine should share.
Thy Muse, seeming to lend, calls home her fame,
And her due wreath doth in renouncing claim.

[_Answer._] In l. 10 of the 'Answer' _1647_ has
'must'. At the end of the poem in _1647_ is the couplet

[Greek: Dysmore thêlymanôn glyky mê lege kentron erôtôn;
Mounos TAS MOUSAS olbios esti THELÔN.]
]

_Pythagoras, his Moral Rules._

First to immortal God thy duty pay,
Observe thy vow, honour the saints: obey
Thy prince and rulers, nor their laws despise:
Thy parents reverence, and near allies:
Him that is first in virtue make thy friend;
And with observance his kind speech attend:
Nor, to thy power, for light faults cast him by;
Thy power is neighbour to necessity.
These know, and with intentive care pursue;
But Anger, Sloth, and Luxury subdue. 10
In sight of others, or thyself, forbear
What 's ill; but of thyself stand most in fear.
Let Justice all thy words and actions sway,
Nor from the even course of reason stray;
For know that all men are to die ordain'd,
And riches are as quickly lost as gain'd.
Crosses that happen by divine decree,
If such thy lot, bear not impatiently.
Yet seek to remedy with all thy care,
And think the just have not the greatest share. 20
'Mongst men discourses good and bad are spread,
Despise not those, nor be by these misled.
If any some notorious falsehood say,
Thou the report with equal judgement weigh.
Let not men's smoother promises invite,
Nor rougher threats from just resolves thee fright.
If ought thou wouldst attempt, first ponder it,
Fools only inconsiderate acts commit.
Nor do what afterward thou mayst repent,
First learn to know the thing on which th'art bent. 30
Thus thou a life shalt lead with joy replete.
Nor must thou care of outward health forget;
Such temperance use in exercise and diet,
As may preserve thee in a settled quiet.
Meats unprohibited, not curious, choose,
Decline what any other may accuse:
The rash expense of vanity detest,
And sordidness: a mean in all is best.
Hurt not thyself; act nought thou dost not weigh;
And every business of the following day 40
As soon as by the morn awak'd, dispose;
Nor suffer sleep at night thy eyes to close,
Till thrice that diary thou hast o'errun;
How slipt? what deeds, what duty left undone?
Thus thy account summ'd up from first to last,
Grieve for the ill, joy for what good hath past.
These, if thou study, practise, and affect,
To sacred Virtue will thy steps direct.
Nature's eternal fountain I attest,
Who did the soul with fourfold power invest. 50
Ere thou begin, pray well thy work may end,
Then shall thy knowledge to all things extend,
Divine and human; where enlarg'd, restrain'd;
How Nature is by general likeness chain'd.
Vain Hope nor Ignorance shall dim thy sight:
Then shalt thou see that hapless men invite
Their ills; to good, though present, deaf and blind;
And few the cure of their misfortunes find:
This only is the fate that harms, and rolls,
Through miseries successive, human souls. 60
Within is a continual hidden fight,
Which we to shun must study, not excite:
Good God! how little trouble should we know,
If thou to all men wouldst their genius show!
But fear not thou; men come of heav'nly race,
Taught by diviner Nature what t' embrace;
Which, if pursued, thou all I nam'd shalt gain,
And keep thy soul clear from thy body's stain:
In time of prayer and cleansing meats denied
Abstain from; thy mind's reins let reason guide: 70
Then rais'd to Heaven, thou from thy body free,
A deathless saint, no more shalt mortal be.

[_Pythagoras, his Moral Rules._] Stanley's three
vocations of poet, translator, and philosopher come well
together in this closing piece, and the prose commentary
completes the exposition in little.]

The common received opinion that _Pythagoras_ is not the author of these verses, seems to be defended by _Chrysippus_ in _Agellius_, _Plutarch_, _Laertius_, and _Iamblichus_, who affirm that the rules and sense only were his, digested into verse by some of his scholars. But it is not improbable that they did no more than collect the verses, and so gave occasion to the mistake; for _Laertius_ confesseth that _Pythagoras_ used to deliver his precepts to his disciples in verse, one of which was

[Greek: Pê parebên? ti d' erexa? ti moi deon ouk etelesthê?]
_How slipt? what deeds, what duty left undone?_

Of this opinion I believe _Clemens Alexandrinus_, who cites one of these lines under his name, and _Proclus_, when he calls him [Greek: tôn chrysôn epôn patera], _the father of the golden verses_.

[_thy duty pay_]

[Greek: Nomô hôs diakeitai]; though _Hierocles_ in another sense read [Greek: diakeintai].

[_thy vow_]

[Greek: Horkos]. _Hierocles_, [Greek: têrêsis tôn theiôn nomôn], _observance of religious rules_.

[_honour the saints_]

[Greek: Hêrôas]. _Laertius_ on these words explains _souls whereof the air is full. Hierocles, angels, the sons of God, &c._

[_Thy prince and rulers_]

[Greek: Katachthonious daimonas], _Hierocles_, [Greek: Tous epi gês politeuesthai dynamenous]; _capable of government_.

[_nor their laws despise_]

[Greek: Ennoma rhezein]. _Hierocles_ [Greek: Peithesthai hois apoleloipasin hêmin parangelmasi]; _to obey their commands_.

[_with observance_]

[Greek: Erga epôphelima], _that is_, [Greek: euergesia, therapeia]: _yet, Hierocles otherwise_.

[_Thy power is neighbour to necessity_]

Whatsoever necessity can force thee to bear, it is in thy power to bear voluntarily. If thy friend have wronged thee, how canst thou say, thou art not able to endure his company, when imprisonment might constrain thee to it? See _Hierocles_.

[_'Mongst men discourses good and bad are spread;_
_Despise not these,[1] nor be by those misled._]

So _Hierocles_; _Marcilius_ reads [Greek: ôn] (that is, [Greek: oun]) for [Greek: hôn] which best agrees with this sense.

[_what any other may accuse_]

[Greek: phthonon]. _Hierocles_ interprets [Greek: mempsin], _invidia_, so taken sometimes by _Cicero_, _Marcell._

[_And every business of the following day
As soon as by the morn awak'd, dispose_]

These two lines I have inserted upon the authority of _Porphyrius_,

[Greek: Pro men oun tou hypnou tauta heautô ta epê epadein hekaston.
Mêd' hypnon malakoisin], &c.

[Greek: Pro de tês exanastaseôs ekeina:
Prôta men ex hypnoio meliphronos exypanistas
Eu mala poipneuein hos' en hêmati erga telessei].

_He advised every one before he slept to repeat these verses to himself,
Nor suffer sleep at night, &c.
And before he rose these,
And every business, &c._

How much this confirms _Pythagoras_ the author, and his scholars but disposers of the verses (who, as it appears, forgot these two), is evident enough. The main argument they insist upon, who labour to prove the contrary, is derived from these words,

[_Nature's eternal fountain I attest,
Who did the soul with fourfold power invest_]

Where _Marcilius_ expounds [Greek: paradonta tetrakên][2] _illum a quo scientiam_ [Greek: tetraktyos], _acceperant, is autem doctor eorum Pythagoras_, as if it were

_Him who the Tetrad to our souls exprest,
(Nature's eternal fountain) I attest;_

And then takes pains to show that his scholars used to swear by him. But [Greek: paradidonai psychê mathêtôn] for [Greek: didaskein] is not without a little violence to [Greek: hametera psycha] (which makes _Iamblic[h]us_ read [Greek: hameteras sophias]) _Marcilius_ in this being the less excusable for confessing immediately, _Animae vero nostrae dixerunt Pythagorei quoniam quaternarius animae numerus est_, an explanation inconsistent with the other, but (as I conceive) truer; _Macrobius_ expressly agreeth with it; _Iuro tibi per eum qui dat animae nostrae quaternarium numerum_; or, as others,

_Per qui nostrae animae numerum dedit ipse quaternum._

_By him who gave us life--God._ In which sense, [Greek: pagan aennaou physeôs] much more easily will follow [Greek: paradonta] than [Greek: tetrakên]. The four powers of the soul are, _mens_, _scientia_, _opinio_, _sensus_, which _Aristotle_ calls _the four instruments of judgement_, _Hierocles_, [Greek: kritikas dynameis]. The _mind_ is compared to a unit, in that of many singulars it makes one. _Science_ to the number _two_ (which amongst the Pythagoreans is _numerus infinitatis_), because it proceeds from things certain and granted to uncertain and infinite. _Opinion_ to _three_, a number of indefinite variety. _Sense_ to _four_, as furnishing the other three. In this exposition I am the more easily persuaded to dissent from _Plutarch_, _Hierocles_, _Iamblichus_, and other interpreters, since they differ no less amongst themselves.

[_Within is a continual hidden fight_]

Betwixt Reason and Appetite.

[_how little trouble_]

As _Marcilius_ reads, [Greek: Ê pollôn], &c.

[_their genius_]

[Greek: Hoiô daimoni], _Hierocles_ expounds [Greek: hoia psychê].
_Genius_ includes both.

[_what t' embrace_]

_Hierocles_ [Greek: panta ta deonta], _all that they ought to do._

[_from the[3] body's stain_]

_Hierocles from the infection of the body._

[_In times[3] of prayer_]

[Greek: En te lysei psychês], _Meditation_. See _Plato in Phaedone_.

[_and cleansing_]

Which extended (saith _Hierocles_) [Greek: heôs sitiôn kai potôn kai tês holês diaitês tou thnêtou hêmôn sômatos] _to meat and drink_, &c.

[_meats denied_]

What they were is expressed by _Laertius_, _Suidas_, _Hierocles_, _Agellius_, &c. _Hierocles_ affirms that in these words [Greek: hôn eipomen], he cites his _sacred Apothegms_: [Greek: ta de epi merous en tois hierois apophthegmasin, en aporrhêtô paredidoito], _Concerning meat is particularly delivered in his holy Apothegms, that which was not lawful to make known to every one._ Which is a great testimony that _Pythagoras_, and not any of his disciples, writ these verses; for if the author had cited him before in the third person (as they argue from [Greek: paradonta tetrakên][4]), he would have cited him now in the first.

[Footnote 1: 'These' and 'those' are originally 'crossed over'
in text and note.]

[Footnote 2: [Greek: tetrakên] should, as indeed the context
proclaims, be [Greek: tetraktyn].]

[Footnote 3: Slight alteration of text in notes again
original.]

[Footnote 4: See above. The mistake is an odd one because
the original oath is in hexameters and [Greek: tetraktyn] is
absolutely necessary as the last word.]

FINIS.

POEMS APPEARING ONLY IN THE EDITION OF 1656

On this swelling bank, once proud
Of its burden, Doris lay:
Here she smil'd, and did uncloud
Those bright suns eclipse the day;
Here we sat, and with kind art
She about me twin'd her arms,
Clasp'd in hers my hand and heart,
Fetter'd in those pleasing charms.

Here my love and joys she crown'd,
Whilst the hours stood still before me, 10
With a killing glance did wound,
And a melting kiss restore me.
On the down of either breast,
Whilst with joy my soul retir'd,
My reclining head did rest,
Till her lips new life inspir'd.
Thus, renewing of these sights
Doth with grief and pleasure fill me,
And the thought of these delights
Both at once revive and kill me! 20

Dear, fold me once more in thine arms!
And let me know
Before I go
There is no bliss but in those charms.
By thy fair self I swear
That here, and only here,
I would for ever, ever stay:
But cruel Fate calls me away.

How swiftly the light minutes slide!
The hours that haste 10
Away thus fast
By envious flight my stay do chide.
Yet, Dear, since I must go,
By this last kiss I vow,
By all that sweetness which dwells with thee,
Time shall move slow, till next I see thee.

The lazy hours move slow,
The minutes stay;
Old Time with leaden feet doth go,
And his light wings hath cast away.
The slow-pac'd spheres above
Have sure releas'd
Their guardians, and without help move,
Whilst that the very angels rest.

The number'd sands that slide
Through this small glass, 10
And into minutes Time divide,
Too slow each other do displace;
The tedious wheels of light
No faster chime,
Than that dull shade which waits on night:
For Expectation outruns Time.

How long, Lord, must I stay?
How long dwell here?
O free me from this loathèd clay!
Let me no more these fetters wear! 20
With far more joy
Shall I resign my breath,
For, to my griev'd soul, not to die
Is every minute a new death.

[The three pieces which appear in _1656_ only have
no great character, and were very likely written for Gamble
_to_ tunes--seldom a very satisfactory process.]

* * *

* * * * *

POEMS,

ELEGIES,

PARADOXES,

and

SONNETS.

_LONDON_.

Printed by _J. G._ for _Rich: Marriot_
and _Hen: Herringman_, and sold in
St. _Dunstans_ Churchyard _Fleet-street_,
and at the _New-Exchange_.

1657.