E'en so we met; and after long pursuit,

E'en so we join'd; we both became entire; No need for either to renew a suit,

For I was flax and he was flames of fire:

Our firm-united souls did more than twine;
So I my Best-Belovéd's am; so He is mine.
If all those glittering Monarchs that command
The servile quarters of this earthly ball,
Should tender, in exchange, their shares of land,

I would not change my fortunes for them all :
Their wealth is but a counter to my coin:
The world's but theirs; but my Beloved's mine.
F. Quarles

CXXIV

TO ANTHEA WHO MAY COMMAND HIM

ANY THING

Bid me to live, and I will live
Thy Protestant to be:

Or bid me love, and I will give
A loving heart to thee.

A heart as soft, a heart as kind,
A heart as sound and free

As in the whole world thou canst find,
That heart I'll give to thee.

Bid that heart stay, and it will stay,

To honour thy decree :

Or bid it languish quite away,

And 't shall do so for thee.

Bid me to weep, and I will weep
While I have eyes to see:
And having none, yet I will keep
A heart to weep for thee.

Bid me despair, and I'll despair,
Under that cypress tree :
Or bid me die, and I will dare
E'en Death, to die for thee.

H

Thou art my life, my love, my heart,
The very eyes of me,

And hast command of every part,

To live and die for thee.

R. Herrick

CXXV

Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Nor for any outward part,
No, nor for my constant heart,—
For those may fail, or turn to ill,
So thou and I shall sever :
Keep therefore a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why-
So hast thou the same reason still
To doat upon me ever!

CXXVI

Anon.

Not, Celia, that I juster am

Or better than the rest;

For I would change each hour, like them,
Were not my heart at rest.

But I am tied to very thee
By every thought I have;
Thy face I only care to see,
Thy heart I only crave.

All that in woman is adored

In thy dear self I find

For the whole sex can but afford
The handsome and the kind.

Why then should I seek further store,
And still make love anew?

When change itself can give no more,
'Tis easy to be true.

Sir C. Sedley

CXXVII

ΤΟ ALTHEA FROM PRISON

When Love with unconfinéd wings
Hovers within my gates,

And my divine Althea brings
To whisper at the grates;
When I lie tangled in her hair
And fetter'd to her eye,
The Gods that wanton in the air
Know no such liberty.

When flowing cups run swiftly round
With no allaying Thames,

Our careless heads with roses bound,
Our hearts with loyal flames;
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,
When healths and draughts go free-
Fishes that tipple in the deep
Know no such liberty.

When, (like committed linnets), I
With shriller throat shall sing
The sweetness, mercy, majesty
And glories of my King;

When I shall voice aloud how good
He is, how great should be,
Enlarged winds, that curl the flood,
Know no such liberty.

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.

Colonel Lovelace.

Why so dull and mute, young sinner?
Prythee, why so mute?

Will, when speaking well can't win her,
Saying nothing do't?

Prythee, why so mute?

Quit, quit, for shame! this will not move,
This cannot take her ;

If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her :

The D-1 take her!

Sir J. Suckling

CXXX

A SUPPLICATION

Awake, awake, my Lyre!

And tell thy silent master's humble tale
In sounds that may prevail;

Sounds that gentle thoughts inspire:
Though so exalted she

And I so lowly be

Tell her, such different notes make all thy harmony.

Hark, how the strings awake!

And, though the moving hand approach not near, Themselves with awful fear

A kind of numerous trembling make.

Now all thy forces try;

Now all thy charms apply;

Revenge upon her ear the conquests of her eye.

Weak Lyre! thy virtue sure