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TO CELIA.

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I know thy forms are studied arts,
Thy subtle ways be narrow straits,
Thy courtesy but sudden starts,

And what thou call'st thy gifts, are baits.

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TO CELIA.

I.

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;

Or leave a kiss within the cup,
And I'll not look for wine.

The thirst, that from the soul doth rise,
Doth ask a drink divine:

But might I of Jove's nectar sup,

I would not change for thine.

II.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honouring thee,
As giving it a hope, that there
It could not withered be;

But thou thereon didst only breathe,

And sent'st it back to me,

Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,

Not of itself but thee.1

1 This song is a translation from a "Collection of Love Letters" by the Greek sophist Philostratus.

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Help, help to lift

Myself up to thee, harrow'd, torn, and bruised
By sin and Satan, and my flesh misused;
As my heart lies in pieces, all confused,
O take my gift.

II.

All-gracious God, the sinner's sacrifice,⚫
A broken heart thou wert not wont despise ;
But, 'bove the fat of rams and bulls, to prize-
An offering meet

For thy acceptance; O behold me right,
And take compassion on my grievous plight!
What odour can be than a heart contrite
To thee more sweet?

III.

Eternal Father, God, who didst create
This all of nothing, gav'st it form and fate,
And breath'st into it life and light, and state
To worship thee!

Eternal God, the Son, who not denied'st
To take our nature; becam'st man, and died'st
To pay our debts, upon thy cross, and cried'st-
"All's done in me!"

IV.

Eternal Spirit, God from both proceeding,
Father and Son-The Comforter, in breeding
Pure thoughts in man; with fiery zeal them feeding
For acts of grace!

Increase those acts, O glorious Unity
Of Persons, still one God in Trinity;
Till I attain the longed-for mystery

Of seeing your face.

V.

Beholding One in Three, and Three in One,
A Trinity to shine in Union;

The gladdest light dark man can think upon.
Oh grant it me!

TO THE HOLY TRINITY.

Father and Son, and Holy Ghost, you three
All co-eternal in your Majesty,

Distinct in Persons, yet in Unity—

One God to see.

VI.

My Maker, Saviour, and my Sanctifier !
To hear, to mediate, sweeten my desire
With grace, and love, with cherishing entire ;
O then how blest!

Among thy saints elected to abide,

And with thy angels placéd, side by side,
But in thy presence truly glorified,

Shall I there rest.

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FROM THE ELEGY ON SHAKESPEARE.

Soul of the age!

The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespeare rise!

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Triumph my Britain, thou hast one to show,
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not for an age, but for all time!
And all the Muses still were in their prime,
When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm
Our ears, or, like a Mercury, to charm.
Nature herself was proud of his designs,
And joy'd to wear the dressing of his lines.

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Sweet Swan of Avon, what a sight it were
To see thee in our water yet appear,

And make those flights upon the banks of Thames,
That did so take Eliza and our James.

But stay, I see thee in the hemisphere

Advanced, and made a constellation there.

Shine forth, thou star of poets, and with rage

Or influence, chide, or cheer the drooping stage,

Which, since thy flight from hence, hath mourn'd like

night,

And despairs day, but for thy volume's light.

EPITAPH ON THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE.

Underneath this sable hearse,
Lies the subject of all verse,

Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother;
Death, ere thou hast slain another,
Learned, and fair, and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee!

PHINEAS AND GILES FLETCHER.

(PHINEAS, 1584?-1650? GILES, 1588?—1623.)

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Their

THE brothers Fletcher belong to a family eminently poetical. father, Dr. Giles Fletcher, was a poet, and their cousin, John Fletcher, one of the most eminent dramatists of the age of James I. Both of them were clergymen, and were of amiable character. "The two Fletchers," says Southey, 'are the best poets of the school of Spenser." "The Purple Island" of Phineas is an allegorical exposition of the anatomy and physiology of the human body, and of the mental constitution of man. The subject is unhappy; the first cantos are tiresome, and often disgustingly minute; the latter portion of the poem rises to eloquence and beauty of allegory, He published also " Piscatory Eclogues," and miscellaneous poems. The poem of Giles, "Christ's Victory and Triumph," is "rich and picturesque in the highest degree," distinguished by 'energy of style, sublimity of sentiment, opulence of description, and harmony of numbers." Milton has borrowed a feather or two from this work.

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FROM "THE PURPLE ISLAND."

CANTO X.

Encrates.-Agneia.-Parthenia.3

"By him the stout Encrates boldly went,
Assailéd oft by mighty enemies,

Which all on him alone their spite misspent ;

For he whole armies, single, bold defies;

With him nor might nor cunning slights prevail;
All force on him they try, all forces fail;

Yet still assail him fresh, yet vainly still assail.

"His body full of vigour, full of health;

His table feeds not lust, but strength and need;
Full stored with plenty, not by heaping wealth,
But topping rank desires, which vain exceed.

On's shield an hand from Heaven an orchard dressing,
Pruning superfluous boughs the trees oppressing;
So adding fruit: his word, By lessening increasing.'

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"His settled mind was written in his face:
For on his forehead cheerful gravity
False joys and apish vanities doth chase:
And watchful care did wake in either eye.

His heritance he would not lavish sell,
Nor yet his treasure hide by neighbouring Hell:
But well he ever spent, what he had gotten well.

2 Chastity in the married.

1 Temperance. Chastity in the unmarrried. Each virtue is characterised by armorial bearings and devices.

FROM THE PURPLE ISLAND.

"A lovely pair of twins closed either side:

Not those in Heaven, the flowery Geminies, Are half so lovely bright; the one his bride, Agneia chaste, was joined in Hymen's ties,

And love, as pure as Heaven's conjunction: That she was his, and he her flesh and bone: So were the two in sight,-in truth entirely one.

"Upon her archéd brow, unarmed love

Triumphing sat in peaceful victory;
And in her eyes thousand chaste graces move,
Checking vain thoughts with awful majesty:

Ten thousand more her fairer breast contains
Where quiet meekness every ill restrains,
And humbly subject spirit by willing service reigns.

"Her sky-like arms glittered in golden beams,
And brightly seemed to flame with burning hearts:
The scalding ray with his reflected streams
Fire to their flames, but heavenly fire, imparts:
Upon her shield a pair of turtles shone;

A loving pair, still coupled, ne'er alone;

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Her word, 'Though one when two, yet either two, or none'

"With her, her sister went, a warlike maid,
Parthenia, all in steel, and gilded arms;
In needle's stead, a mighty spear she swayed,
With which in bloody fields and fierce alarms,
The boldest champion she down would bear,
And like a thunderbolt wide passage tear,
Flinging all to the earth with her enchanted spear.

"Her goodly armour seemed a garden green,
Where thousand spotless lilies freshly blew;
And on her shield the lone bird might be seen,
The Arabian bird,' shining in colours new:
Itself unto itself was only mate;

Ever the same, but new in newer date:

And underneath was writ, 'Such is chaste single state.'

"Thus hid in arms, she seem'd a goodly knight,
And fit for any warlike exercise;

But when she list lay down her armour bright,
And back resume her peaceful maiden's guise:
The fairest maid she was, that ever yet
Prison'd her locks within a golden net
Or let them waving hang, with roses fair beset.

1 The Phoenix.-See note 2, p. 154.

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