POEMS BY SIR ROBERT AYTON.

ON KING JAMES THE VI.1

THE old records of analized fame

Confirms this wonder with the world's affent,

That once that Ifle which Delos heght by name,
In Neptune's bofom like a pilgrim went ;
After, when great Apollo was content,
To grace it with the blifs of his birth-day,
Then thofe inconftant motions did relent,
And it began to ftand [fecure] and stay.
When I admire thy hap I needs muft fay
In this, our Albion may with thee compare:
Before our Phoebus birth we were a prey

To civil motions, toffed here and there;

But fince our birth-ftar did o'erfhine our ftate,

We stand secure redeem'd from all debate.

TO QUEEN ANNE, ON A NEW YEAR'S-DAY, 1604.2
MADAM,

Who knows your greatness, cannot but with fear

Draw near your altar, to make offerings there;

6

'Watson's Collection of Scots Poems, part iii. Edin. 1711. p. 44. Part of this Sonnet being evidently corrupted, the word secure,' in line 8, is inserted, to fill up the measure; and Delos,' at the beginning of line 9, and none,' after Albion,' in line 10 omitted, as superfluous, and affecting the sense.

But whofo knows your goodness, may make bold
And with a mite as with a mine of gold,

As confidently facrifice to you:

And this is it that muft plead pardon now,

Both for the poornefs of my gifts and lines.

Princes are gods, gods laugh to fee their fhrines
Adorn'd with any gift but of that kind,
That beggars may as well as Crœfus find:
They know how worldlings perfonate their parts,
And mask with gold prefents of leaden hearts;
They know how gifts at court are but a train
To steal from great ones twice as good again.
Now I have no fuch end; my poor oblation
At this aufpicious time of falutation,

Had it a tongue, this only would it say,

Heavens heap upon you many a New-year's day.

TO THE AUTHOR OF THE MONARCHICKE TRAGEDIES.3

Well may the programme of thy tragick stage
Inuite the curious pompe-expecting eies,

To gaze on present shewes of passed age,

Which juft defert Monarchick dare baptize.

Crownes throwne from thrones to tombes, detomb'd arife

2 Watson's Collection, part iii. p. 44.

3 Sir William Alexander of Menstrie, created Earl of Stirling by Charles I. This commendatory sonnet is prefixed to his Monarchicke Tragedies, (London, 1604, 4to,) which had for their patron his Majesty King James.

To match thy Mufe with a Monarchick theme,
That whilft her facred foaring cuts the skies,
A vulgar fubject may not wrong the fame:
And, which giues most aduantage to thy fame,
The worthieft Monarch that the funne can fee,
Doth grace thy labours with his glorious name,
And daignes protector of thy birth to be:
Thus all Monarchick, patron, fubject, ftile,
Make thee, the Monarch-tragick of this Ile.

TO THE AUTHOR.1

Why thought fond Grece to build a folid fame,
On fleeing fhades of fables passing vaine?
Why did her felfe-deceaving fanfie dreame,
That none but thee the Mufes did maintaine?
She fayd, these facred fifters did remain
Confined within a Craig which there did lie,
That great Apollo felfe did not difdaine,
For that rough palace, to renounce the fkie;
That there a well ftill drawne, but never dry,
Made lay-men poets eir they left the place;
But all were tales, which Fame doth now bely,
And builds up Albions glore, to their difgrace.

Lo here the CRAIGE, whence flows that facred well,
Where Phoebus raignes, where all the Mufes dwell.

4 This Sonnet is subjoined to the rare volume entitled "The Poeticall Essays of Alexander Craig. Scoto-britane." London, 1604, 4to.

TO THE MOST WORSHIPFULL AND WORTHY KNIGHT,
SIR JAMES HAY, GENTLEMAN OF HIS MAJESTIES BED-
CHAMBER.5

When Janus keys vnlocks the gates aboue,
And throwes more age on our fublunar lands,

I facrifize with flames of feruent loue

Thefe hecatombs of kiffes to thy hands:

Their worth is small, but thy deserts are fuch,

They'l paffe in worth, if once thy fhrine they tuch.

Laugh but on them, and then they will compare
With all the harueft of the Arabian fields,

With all the pride of that perfumed aire

Which winged troupes of musked Zephirs yeelds,

When with their breath th' embalme th' Elifian plaine,

And makes the floures reflect those fents againe :

Yea they will be more fweet in their conceat

Than Venus kiffes fpent on Adons wound;

Then those wherewith pale Cynthia did entreat

The louely shepheard of the Latmian bounds;

And more than those which Joue's ambrofian mouth

Prodigaliz'd vpon the Trojan youth.

5 These stanzas serve as the dedication to Sir Robert Ayton's Latin poem, " BASIA: sive Strena Cal. Jan. ad JACOBUM HAYUM Equitem illustrissimum." Londini, 1605, 4to. The poem (omitting these dedicatory stanzas) is reprinted in the Delitia Poetarum Scotorum. Sir James Hay, a favourite of King James, was afterwards raised to the Peerage, by the title of Earl of Carlisle, and Viscount Doncaster.

I know they can not fuch acceptance finde,

If rigor cenfure their vncourtly frame:

But thou are courteous, and wilt call to minde

Th' excufe which fhields both me and them from blame;

My Mufe was but a nouice into this,

And, being virgin, scarfe well taught to kiffe.

TO HIS DEAR FRIEND AND FELLOW STUDENT
MR ROBERT AETON.6

Sing fwift hoof'd ÆTHON to thy matchless felfe,
And be not filent in this pleasant spring:

I am thy echo, and thy aerie elf,

The latter ftrains of thy fweet tunes I'll fing.
Ah, fhall thy Mufe no further fruits forth-bring
But Bafia bare? and wilt thou write no more
To higher notes? I pray thee tune thy ftring!
Be still admired as thou haft bene of yore.
Write, ÆTHON, write, let not thy vain decay,
Leaft we become Cymerians dark, or worse;
If ÆTHON faill, the fun his course must stay,
For Phoebus chariot laks the cheefeft horfe:

Thogh Fortun frown, ah, why should vertue die?
Sing, ÆTHON, fing, and I fhall echo thee.

6 This poem and the answer form part of "The Poetical Recreations of Mr Alexander Craig of Rosecraig. At Edinburgh: printed by Thomas Finlason. 1609." 4to. In the Records of the University of St Andrews, it appears Alexander Craig entered the year previous to Ayton.

7 The Latin poem under that title, printed in the year 1605. See note 5, p. 308.