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ON

ELEANOR FREEMAN,

WHO DIED 1650, AGED TWENTY-ONE.

A

VIRGIN blossom in her May

Of youth and virtues, turn'd to clay;
Rich earth accomplish'd with those graces
That adorn saints in heavenly places.
Let not Death boast his conquering power,
She'll rise a star, that fell a flower!

From the Church of Tewkesbury,
Gloucestershire.

ON A FAVOURITE DOG.

NEAR to this eglantine

Enclosed lies the milk-white Armeline ;

Once Chloris' only joy,

Now only her annoy;

Who envied was of the most happy swains

That keep their flocks on mountains, dales, or plains:

For oft she bore the wanton in her arm,

And oft her bed and bosom did him warm ;
Now when unkindly fates did him destroy,
Bless'd dog, he had the grace,

With tears for him that Chloris wet her face.

Drummond's Poems, p. 203, 8vo.

80

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES.

ΤΟ

THE QUEEN,

ENTERTAINED AT NIGHT BY THE COUNTESS OF ANGLESEY.

FAIR as unshaded light; or as the day
In its first birth, when all the year was May;
Sweet as the altar's smoke, or as the new
Unfolded bud, swell'd by the early dew;
Smooth as the face of waters first appear'd,
Ere tides began to strive, or winds were heard :
Kind as the willing saints, and calmer far

Than in their sleeps forgiven hermits are*;

* It were difficult to produce, from the whole mass of Davenant's poetry, fourteen successive lines of such ease and uninterrupted sweetness of flow. Pope seems to have been fully sensible of their merit:

Smooth as the face of waters first appear'd, &c.
Still as the sea, ere winds were taught to blow.
Kind as the willing saints, and calmer far
Than in their sleeps forgiven hermits are.

Thus Pope:

Soft as the slumbers of a saint forgiven. Davenant seems to have been fond of this idea; he his Gondibert:

Calm as forgiven saints at their last hour.

POPE.

DAVENANT.

Eloisa.

has it again in

Cant. viii.

You that are more than our discreeter fear

Dares praise with such full art, what make you here?
Here, where the summer is so little seen,

That leaves (her cheapest wealth) scarce reach at green.
You come as if the silver planet were

Misled awhile from her much-injur'd sphere,
And t' ease the travels of her beams to-night,
In this small lanthorn would contract her light.

Sir W. Davenant's Works, p. 218,
1673, fol.

LOVE.

LOVE'S

sooner felt than seen; his substance thin
Betwixt those snowy mounts in ambush lies:
Oft in the eyes he spreads the subtle gin,
He therefore soonest wins that fastest flies.
Fly thence, my dear; fly fast, my Thomalin:
Who him encounters once for ever dies.

But if he lurk between the ruddy lips,
Unhappy soul, that thence his nectar sips,
While down into his heart the sugar'd poison slips!

Oft in a voice he creeps down through the ear,
Oft from a blushing cheek he lights his fire;
Oft shrouds his golden flame in likest hair*,

Oft in a soft smooth skin doth close retire:

* Oft shrouds his golden flame in likest hair.] Randolph, in some

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Oft in a smile, oft in a silent tear,

And if all fail, yet Virtue's self he'll hire:

Himself's a dart, when nothing else can move.

Who then the captive soul can well reprove,

When Love, and Virtue's self become the darts of Love?

Piscatory Eclogues, by P. Fletcher,

Ecl. vi. stan. 12, 13, Edit. 1633.

JEALOUSY.

O JEALOUSY! daughter of Envy and Love,

Most wayward issue of a gentle sire;

Foster'd with fears, thy father's joys t' improve;
Mirth-marring monster, born a subtle liar;
Hateful unto thyself, flying thine own desire:

Feeding upon suspect, that doth renew thee;
Happy were lovers if they never knew thee.

Thou hast a thousand gates thou enterest by,
Condemning trembling passions to our heart:
Hundred-ey'd Argus, ever-waking spy,
Pale hag, infernal fury, pleasure's smart,
Envious observer, prying in every part:

humorous verses inscribed "To his well-timb'red Mistresse," gives the following directions:

Then place the garret of her head above,
Thatch'd with a yellow hair to keep in love.

P. 126, Edit. 1643.

Suspicious, fearful, gazing still about thee;

O would to God that love could be without thee!

Complaint of Rosamond, by S. Daniel,

Poetical Works, Vol. I. p. 51,
Edit. 1718.

A

VOW TO LOVE FAITHFULLY,

HOWSOEVER HE BE REWARDED.

SET

me whereas the sun doth parch the green,
Or where his beams do not dissolve the ice;
In temperate heat, where he is felt and seen,
In presence press'd of people, mad or wise:
Set me in high or yet in low degree,
In longest night or in the shortest day;
In clearest sky, or where clouds thickest be,
In lusty youth, or when my hairs are gray:
Set me in heaven, in earth, or else in hell,
In hill or dale, or in the foaming flood;
Thrall, or at large, alive whereso I dwell,
Sick or in health, in evil fame or good:
Hers will I be, and only with this thought
Content myself, although my chance be nought.

EARL OF SURREY.

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