Though I miss the flowery fields, Than the sweet-voiced Philomel; (Whence she should be driven too, Than all nature's beauties can1 By her help, I also now, Make this churlish place allow Some things that may sweeten gladness, In the very gall of sadness. The dull loneness, the black shade, That those hanging vaults have made; The strange music of the waves, Beating on these hollow caves; This black den which rocks emboss, 1 Wordsworth is fond of expressing this result of the poetical temperament. In de scribing the hardness of " Peter Bell's" mind, he gives as one of the proofs of it A yellow primrose was to him A yellow primrose-nothing more. FROM A DIRGE. This my chamber of neglect, She hath taught me by her might, That to nought but earth are borne; Than I am in love with thee. Though our wise ones call it madness, If I love not thy madd'st fits Thou dost teach me to contemn What makes knaves and fools of them.1 Farewell, Sweet groves to you! You hills that highest dwell, You wanton brooks and solitary rocks, 165 My dear companions all, and you my tender flocks! Farewell, my pipe! and all those pleasing songs whose moving strains Delighted once the fairest nymphs that dance upon the plains. You discontents, whose deep and over-deadly smart Have without pity broke the truest heart, Sighs, tears, and every sad annoy, That erst did with me dwell, 1 Compare this whole passage with Ovid, Tristia, IV. 110. 2 The shape of this stanza, of a "rhomboidal dirge," as Ellis terms it, is an example of the affectation of moulding poems into the forms of objects. THOMAS CAREW. (1589-1639.) CAREW, the gay courtier poet of Charles I., is one of the best types of the style of light voluptuous poetry which ripened into such mischievous luxuriance in the reign of Charles II. He is of the metaphysical school of Donne, with something of his earnestness and heart, and with infinitely more of elegance and grace. His poems are all occasional and short, with the exception of the masque, " Cœlum Britannicum," written at the request of Charles I. "Among the poets," says Campbell, "who have walked the same limited path, he is pre-eminently beautiful, and deservedly ranks among the earliest of those who gave a cultivated grace to our lyrical strains." Carew was descended from a Gloucestershire family; his life was a career of gaiety and licence, but he seems to have been respected and beloved by all who knew him. Clarendon writes of him-" His glory was, that after fifty years of his life spent with less severity or exactness than they ought to have been, he died with the greatest remorse for that licence, and with the greatest manifestation of Christianity that his best friends could desire. EPITAPH ON the duke of BUCKINGHAM.1 Reader, when these dumb stones have told Did strength with shape and grace enrich ; Of flowing gestures, speech, and eyes; ! George Villiers, the favourite of James I. and Charles 1. He was assassinated by the Irishman Felton, in revenge for some alleged injustice. Safe in his care, he leaves betray'd But, though the stars conspire to shower Of all their graces, if their dire SONG. Ask me no more, where Jove bestows, Ask me no more, whither do stray Ask me no more, whither doth haste Ask me no more, where those stars light, Ask me no more, if east or west, FROM "COELUM BRITANNICUM." MERCURY'S REPLY TO HEDONÉ.2 Bewitching Syren! gilded rottenness! This song furnishes an example of the conceits of the metaphysical school. Which, as thy joys 'gin towards their west decline, Mingles with gall thy most refined sweets. * * To thy voluptuous den fly, witch, from hence; WILLIAM BROWNE. (1590-1645.) Or the life of Browne little is known. He was descended of a "knightly family," and born at Tavistock in Devonshire. After a university education he entered the Inner Temple; but seems to have addicted himself more to poetry than to law. Spencer and Sydney were his models; and his young imagination seems to have been nursed by the scenery of his native county. His poems were written chiefly while he was very young. They have little vigour, but are often characterised by a delightful beauty of rural description. Milton's Comus has been said to be founded on Browne's "Inner Temple Masque :" but Fletcher's "Faithful Shepherdess" aspires to the same honour. "Lycidas" also has been traced to one of Browne's Eclogues; and Warton recognizes the scenery of "L'Allegro" in a passage in Britannia's Pastorals. Though thus alleged to have been the object of imitation by the greatest genius of poetry, and though commended and beloved by all the poets of his age, Browne very narrowly escaped oblivion. The want of interest and vigour in his writing will prevent him from being popular in an age which seeks excitement as the prime quality of poetry, but his elegance and tranquil grace will render the study of his works valuable in a literary education.-See Retrospective Review, vol. ii. p. 149. FROM BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS. BOOK II. SONG I. A NIGHT SCENE. Now great Hyperion1 left his golden throne The sun;-an appellation of Apollo, implying "the Heaven-walker." |