Chapter II: Poems From the Burley Ms

<_Life._>

This lyfe it is not life, it is a sight
That wee have of y^e earth, y^e earth of vs;
It is a feild, where sence & reason fight,
The soules & bodies quarrells to discus;
It is a iorney where wee do not goe, 5
but fly w^{th} speedy wings t'our blisse or woe.
It is a chaine y^t hath but two smale links
Where<with> o^r graue is to o^r bodie ioyned;
It is a poysned feast wherein who thinks
To tast ioyes cup, y^e cup of death doth find. 10
It is a play, presented in heauens eye
Wherein o^r parts are to do naught but dye.

[Life.> _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]

[2 vs; _Ed_: vs _Bur_]

[3 feild, _Ed_: feild _Bur_]

[4 discus; _Ed_: discus _Bur_]

[6 Woe. _Ed_: woe _Bur_]

[8 Where<with> _Ed_: where _Bur_

ioyned; _Ed_: ioyned _Bur_]

<_My Love._>

My love doth fly w^{th} wings of feare
And doth a flame of fire resemble,
w^{ch} mounting high & burning cleere
yet ever more doth wane & tremble.
My loue doth see & still admire, 5
Admiring breedeth humblenes;
blind loue is bold, but my desire
the more it loues p^{re}sumes y^e lesse.
My loue seekes no reward or glory
but w^{th} it self it self contenteth, 10
is never sullaine, never sory,
never repyneth or repenteth.
O'who the sunne beames can behold
but hath some passion, feeles some heat,
for though the sunn himself be cold 15
his beames reflecting fire begett.
O y^t myne eyes, ô that myne hart
Were both enlarged to contayne
the beames & ioyes shee doth impart,
whilst shee this bowre doth not disdayne; 20
this bowre vnfit for such a gueste,
but since she makes it now her Inn,
Would god twere like her sacred breast
most fayre w^{th}out, most rich w^{th}in.

[<My Love.> _Ed_: _no title and no punctuation_, _Bur_]

[4 wane _Ed_: weane _Bur_]

[12 never _Ed_: ne're _Bur_]

<_O Eyes!_>

O Eyes, what do you see?
O eares what do you heare?
that makes y^o wish to bee
All eyes or else all eare?
I see a face as fayre 5
As mans eye ever saw,
I here as sweet an ayre
as y^t w^{ch} rocks did draw,
I wish, when in such wise
I see or heare y^e same, 10
I had all Argus eyes
or else y^e eare<s> of fame.

[<O Eyes!> _Ed_: _no title and no punctuation_, _Bur_]

[12 eare<s> _Ed_: eare _Bur_:

Cui, quot sunt corpore plumae,
Tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,
Tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, _tot subrigit auris_.

Virgil: _Aen._ iv. 181-3.
]

<_Silence Best Praise._>

Cõmend her? no. I dare not terme her fayre,
nor sugred sweet, nor tall, nor louely browne;
suffice it y^t she is w^{th}out compare;
but how, I dare not tell lest she should frowne.
but those parts <least> w^{ch} others make theyre pryde, 5
and feed there fancies w^{th} devised lyes;
giue me but leaue to pull my saint asyde,
and tell her in her eare that she is wise.
to write of beauties rare ther is noe art,
for why tis common to there sex & kind, 10
but making choice of natures better part
my Muse doth most desire to prayse her mind.
But as her vertue<s> clayme a crowne of bayes,
So manners makes me sylent in her prayse.

[<Silence Best Praise.> _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]

[1 fayre, _Ed_: fayre _Bur_]

[2 sweet, ... tall, ... browne; _Ed_: _no stops_, _Bur_]

[3 compare; _Ed_: compare _Bur_]

[4 frowne. _Ed_: frowne _Bur_]

[5 <least> _Ed_: lest _Bur_

pryde, _Ed_: pryde _Bur_]

[6 lyes; _Ed_: lyes _Bur_]

[7 asyde, _Ed_: asyde _Bur_]

[8 wise. _Ed_: wise _Bur_]

[9-10 art, ... kind. _Ed_: _no commas_, _Bur_]

[10 common] cõmõ _Bur_]

[12 mind. _Ed_: mind _Bur_]

[13 vertue<s> _Ed_: vertue _Bur_

bayes, _Ed_: bayes _Bur_]

<_Beauty in Little Room._>

Those drossy heads & irrepurged braynes
w^{ch} sacred fyre of loue hath not refined
may grossly think my loue smale worth contaynes
because shee is of body smale combined.
Not diving to y^e depth of natures reach, 5
W^{ch} on smale things doth greatest guifts bestow:
small gems & pearls do witt more truly teach
W^ch little are yet great in vertue grow,
of flowers most part y^e least wee sweetest see,
of creatures having life & sence y^e annt 10
is smalst, yet great her guifts & vertues bee,
frugall & provident for feare of want.
Wherfore who sees not natures full intent?
she made her smale to make her excellent.

[<Beauty in Little Room.> _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]

[5 depth _Ed_: depht _Bur_

reach, _Ed_: reach _Bur_]

[6 bestow: _Ed_: bestow _Bur_]

[8 grow, _Ed_: grow _Bur_]

[11 bee, _Ed_: bee _Bur_]

[13 intent? _Ed_: intent _Bur_]

<_Loves Zodiake._>

I that y^e higher half of loues
Round Zodiake haue rune,
And in the signe of crabbed chaunce
My Tropick haue begun,
Am taught to teach y^e man is blest 5
Whose loues lott lights so badd,
as his solstitium soonest makes
And so growes Retrograde.

[<Loves Zodiake> _Ed_: _no title_, _Bur_]

<_Fortune, Love, and Time._>

When fortune, loue, and Tyme bad me be happie,
Happy I was by fortune, loue, and tyme.
These powres at highest then began to vary,
and cast him downe whome they had caus'd to clyme;
They prun'd theire wings, and tooke theire flight in rage; 5
fortune to fooles, loue to gold, and tyme to age.

Fooles, gold, and age, (o foolish golden age!)
Witt, fayth, and loue must begg, must brybe, must dy;
These are the actors and the world's the stage,
Desert and hope are as but standers by: 10
True lovers sit and tune this restlesse song;
Fortune, loue, and tyme haue done me wrong.

[<Fortune, Love, and Time.> _Ed_: _no title and no
punctuation_, _Bur_]

<_Life a Play._>

What is o^r life? a play of passion.
o^r mirth? the musick of diuision.
O^r mothers wombs the tyring houses bee
Where we are drest for liues short comedy.
The earth the stage, heauen y^e spectator is, 5
Who still doth note who ere do act amisse.
O^r graues that hyde vs, frõ the all-seeing suñ,
Are but drawne curtaynes whẽ the play is done.

[<Life a Play.> _Ed_: _no title, and no punctuation except the
two marks of interrogation_, _Bur_]

_A Kisse._

O what a blisse
is this?
heaven is effected
and loues eternity contracted
In one short kisse. 5
For not tymes measure
makes pleasure
more full,
tedious and dull
all ioyes are thought 10
y^t are not in an instant wrought.
Cupi<d>s blest and highest spheare
is heare.
heere on his throne
in his bright imperial crowne 15
hee sitts.
Those witts
That thinke to proue
that mortals know
in any place below 20
a blisse so great
so sweet
Are heretiques in loue.
These pleasures high
now dye, 25
but still beginning
new & greater glory wiñing
gett fresh supply.
No short breath'd panting
nor faynting 30
is heere,
fuller and freer
more pleasinge is
this pleasure still, & none but this.
Heer'es no blush nor labor great, 35
no sweat;
Heres no payne
nor repentance when againe
Loue cooles.
O fooles 40
That fondly glory
in base condition
of sensual fruition,
you do mistake
& make 45
y^r heaven purgatory.

[A Kisse. _Bur_]

[8 full. _Ed_: full _Bur_]

[12 Cupi<d>s _Ed_: Cupis _Bur_]

[27 new _Ed_: now _Bur_]

[28 supply. _Ed_: supply _Bur_]

[31 heere, _Ed_: heere _Bur_]

[35 great, _Ed_: great _Bur_]

[39 cooles. _Ed_: cooles _Bur_]

[43 fruition, _Ed_: fruition _Bur_]

_Epi: B: Jo:_

Tell me who can when a player dies
In w^{ch} of his shapes againe hee shall rise?
What need hee stand at the iudgment throne
Who hath a heaven and a hell of his owne.
Then feare not Burbage heavens angry rodd, 5
When thy fellows are angells & old Hemmĩgs is God.

[Epi: B: Jo: (i.e. Epitaph: Ben Ionson) _Bur_: _no
punctuation_]

_Epi: Hen: Princ: Hug^o Holland._

Loe now hee shineth yonder
A fixed starr in heaven,
Whose motion is vnder
None of the planetts seaven;
And if the soñ should tender 5
The moone his loue and marry,
They never could engender
So fayre a starr as Harry.

[Epi: Hen: Princ: Hug^o Holland. _Bur_: _no punctuation_]