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diff --git a/38550-8.txt b/38550-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..65dfafb --- /dev/null +++ b/38550-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16247 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume +II (of 2), by Richard Crashaw, Edited by Alexander Balloch Grosart + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume II (of 2) + + +Author: Richard Crashaw + +Editor: Alexander Balloch Grosart + +Release Date: January 13, 2012 [eBook #38550] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE WORKS OF RICHARD +CRASHAW, VOLUME II (OF 2)*** + + +E-text prepared by Taavi Kalju, Rory OConor, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has Volume I of this work. + See http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38549 + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/completeworksfor02crasuoft + + +Transcriber' note: + + A character following a carat is supercripted (example: + y^e). When two or more characters are superscripted they + are enclosed in curly brackets (example: D^{ris}). + + + + + +The Fuller Worthies' Library. + +THE COMPLETE WORKS OF RICHARD CRASHAW. + +In Two Volumes. + +VOL. II. + +ESSAY ON LIFE AND WRITINGS. + +EPIGRAMMATA ET POEMATA LATINA: TRANSLATED FOR THE +FIRST TIME. GLOSSARIAL INDEX. + + + + + + + +London: +Robson and Sons, Printers, Pancras Road, N.W. + + + + +The Fuller Worthies' Library. + +THE COMPLETE WORKS OF RICHARD CRASHAW. + +For the First Time Collected +and Collated with the Original and Early Editions, +and Much Enlarged with + + I. Hitherto unprinted and inedited Poems from Archbishop Sancroft's + MSS. &c. &c. + II. Translation of the whole of the Poemata et Epigrammata. + III. Memorial-Introduction, Essay on Life and Poetry, and Notes. + IV. In Quarto, reproduction in facsimile of the Author's own + Illustrations of 1652, with others specially prepared. + +Edited by the + +REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART, + +St. George's, Blackburn, Lancashire. + +In Two Volumes. + +VOL. II. + + + + + + +Printed for Private Circulation. +1873. + +156 copies printed. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In our Essay and Notes in the present Volume we so fully state such +things as it seemed expedient to state on the specialties of our +collection of Crashaw's Latin and Greek Poetry, in common with our like +collection of his English Poetry in Vol. I., that little remains for +preface here, beyond our wish renewedly to express our gratitude and +obligations to our fellow-workers on the Translations now submitted. The +names given at p. 4 herein, and the markings on the margin of the +Contents, will show how generously my own somewhat large proportion of +the task of love has been lightened by them; and throughout I have been +aided and animated by the cordiality with which the friends have +responded to my demands, or spontaneously sent their contributions. +Preëminently I owe thanks to my 'brother beloved,' the Rev. RICHARD +WILTON, M.A., Londesborough Rectory, Market Weighton. + +On the text of the Latin and Greek I refer to the close of our Essay; +but I must acknowledge willing and scholarly help, on certain points +whereon I consulted them, from Rev. Dr. HOLDEN, Ipswich, Rev. Dr. +JESSOPP, Norwich, and W. ALDIS WRIGHT, Esq. M.A. Cambridge (as before); +albeit the inevitable variety of suggested emendations, as onward, +compelled me to limit myself to as accurate a reproduction as possible +of the text of Crashaw himself, obvious misprints excepted. + +I have now to record the various University Collections wherein +Crashaw's earliest poetical efforts appeared--all showing a passionate +loyalty, which indeed remained with him to the end. + +(_a_) Anthologia in Regis exanthemata; seu gratulatio Musarum +Cantabrigiensium de felicissime conservata Regis Caroli valetudine, +1632. + +(_b_) Ducis Eboracensis Fasciae a Musis Cantabrigiensibus raptim +contextae, 1633. + +(_c_) Rex Redux; sive Musa Cantabrigiensis Voti ... et felici reditu +Regis Caroli post receptam coronam comitaque peracta in Scotia, 1633. + +(_d_) Carmen Natalitium ad cunas illustrissimae Principis Elizabethae +decantatum intra Nativitatis Dom. solemnia per humiles Cantabrigiae +Musas, 1635. + +(_e_) {Synôdia}, sive Musarum Cantabrigiensium concentus et +congratulatio ad serenissimum Britanniarum Regem Carolum de quinta sua +sobole clarissima Principe sibi nuper felicissime nata, 1637. + +(_f_) Voces votivae ab Academicis Cantabrigiensibus pro novissimo Caroli +et Mariae Principe Filio emissae, 1640. + +It is a noticeable fact, that Crashaw while still so young should have +been invited to contribute to these University Collections along with +Wren, Henry More, Edward King ('Lycidas'), Joseph Beaumont, Edward +Rainbow, and kindred. His pieces in each are recorded in the places in +our Volumes. They invite critical comment; but our space is fully +exhausted. + +By the liberality of F. MADOX-BROWN, Esq. R.A. I am enabled to furnish +(in the 4to) in this our Second Volume an admirable photograph, by +Hollyer of London, of his cartoon for the memorial-window in Peterhouse, +Cambridge. Peterhouse is at late-last doing honour to some of her sons +thus. Professor Ward, of Owens' College, Manchester, has the praise, as +the privilege, of presenting the Crashaw portion of the fine Window. +The figure is full of dignity and impressiveness; we may accept the +creation of the Painter's genius for a Portrait. The accessories +are suggestive of familiar facts in the life and poetry of Crashaw. +Vignette-illustrations from W.J. LINTON, Esq. and Mrs. BLACKBURN again +adorn our volume (in 4to). I regard that to the 'Captive Bird' (p. xxi.) +as a gem. Finally, I cannot sufficiently acknowledge the cultured +sympathy with which Mr. CHARLES ROBSON (of my Printers), one of the old +learned school, has coöperated with me in securing accuracy. To 'err is +human,' but I believe our Volumes will be found as little blemished as +most. One misprint, however, caught our eye, just when our completed +Vol. I. was sent out, which troubled us as much as ever it would have +done Ritson, viz. 'anchor' for 'arrow' in Cowley's 'Hope' (p. 176, l. +23). Gentle Reader, be so good as correct this at once. + + A.B.G. + + Park View, Blackburn, Lancashire, + March 4, 1873. + +P.S. Three small overlooked items bearing on Crashaw having been +recovered from a missing Note-book, I add them here. + +(_a_) The 1670 edition of the 'Steps,' &c. (whose title-page is given in +Vol. I. xliv.) was re-issued with an undated title-page as 'The Third +Edition. London, Printed for _Richard Bently_, _Jacob Tonson_, _Francis +Saunders_, and _Tho. Bennett_.' It is from the same type, and identical +in every way except the fresh title-page, with the (so-called) '2d +Edition.' + +(_b_) In Thomas Shipman's 'Carolina, or Loyal Poems' (1683) there is a +somewhat scurril piece entitled 'The Plagiary, 1658. Upon S.C., +Presbyterian Minister and Captain, stealing forty-eight lines from +Crashaw's Poems, to patch-up an Elegy for Mr. F. P[ierpont].' A very +small specimen must suffice: + + 'Soft, sir,--stand! + You are arraign'd for theft; hold up your hand. + Impudent theft as ever was exprest, + Not to steal jewels only, but the chest; + Not to nib bits of gold from Crashaw's lines, + But swoop whole strikes together from his mynes.' + +Another piece, 'The Promise. To F.L. Esq., with Crashaw's Poems (1653),' +has nothing quotable. + +(_c_) In Aylett's Poems, 'Peace with her Fowre Gardens,' &c. (1622), +there are three little commendatory poems signed 'R.C.,' and these have +been assigned to Crashaw; but '1622' forbids this, as he was then only +in his 9-10th year. G. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + As neither Crashaw nor his early Editors furnished Contents to the + Epigrammata et Poemata, we are left free to decide thereon; and + inasmuch as (_a_) our translations are intended to make Vol. II. as + generally accessible and understood as Vol. I, and as (_b_) very few + of those here first printed have headings, or the Scripture-texts + only--we have deemed it expedient to give as Contents the subjects + in English. The Scholar-student will find the Latin headings of the + Author in their places. In the right-hand margin the initials of the + respective Translators are given; on which see pp. 4-5, and Notes to + the successive divisions. [*] on left-hand margin indicates there is + a Greek version also: [+] printed for first time: [×] translated for + first time. G. + + +I. SACRED EPIGRAMS, 1-164. 1634-1670. + + TRANS. PAGE + +Note 2 + +× Dedication: Latin, pp. 7-11; English G., CL. 11 + +× To the Reader: Latin, pp. 16-22; English G. 22 + +* 1. Two went up into the Temple to pray CR., B. 35 + + 2. Upon the asse that bore our Saviour CR., G. 36 + + 3. The Lord 'despised and rejected' by His own + people B. 37 + +× 4. The cripple at the Pool of Bethesda CL., G. 37 + +× 5. Christ to Thomas CL., A. 38 + + 6. Whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall + find it A., CR. 39, 206 + +× 7. Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, + cometh unto the sepulchre G. 40 + +× 8. On the miracle of multiplyed loaves G. 40 + + 9. On the baptized Ethiopian CR., B. 41 + + 10. The publican standing afar off, smote on his + breast G. 42 + +*× 11. The widow's mites CR. 43 + +× 12. Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard + His word G. 43 + +× 13. The descent of the Holy Spirit G. 44 + + 14. On the Prodigall CR. 45 + + 15. I am ready not to be bound only, but to dye[1] CR., G. 45 + +× 16. On Herod worshipped as a god, eaten of worms CL. 46 + +× 17. When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, + &c. G. 46 + +× 18. He offered them money CL. 47 + +× 19. The shadow of St. Peter heals the sick G. 47 + + 20. The dumbe healed, and the people enjoyned + silence CR., G. 48 + + 21. And a certaine priest comming that way looked on + him, &c. CR., G., A. 49 + +× 22. The ungrateful lepers G. 50 + +× 23. Be ye not fretted about to-morrow G., A. 51 + +× 24. Matthew called from the receipt of custom R. WI. 52 + +× 25. The dead son re-delivered to his mother CL. 52 + + 26. It is better to go into heaven with one eye, &c. CR., G. 53 + +× 27. The man ill of dropsy cured G. 54 + +× 28. There was no room for them in the Inn G. 55 + + 29. Upon Lazarus his teares CR., G. 55 + +× 30. Caiphas angry that Christ confesses He is the + Christ G. 56 + +× 31. But though He had done so many miracles, &c. CL. 56 + +× 32. To S. Andrew, fisherman G. 57 + +× 33. I am the voice G. 57 + +× 34. The chains spontaneously fall off G. 58 + +× 35. On All-Saints' Day R. WI. 58 + + 36. Upon the Powder-day CR. 59 + +× 37. God in the Virgin's womb R. WI. 59 + +× 38. To the Jews, murderers of St. Stephen G. 61 + +× 39. St. John in exile G. 61 + + 40. To the infant martyrs CR., B. 62 + +× 41. The blessed Virgin seeks Jesus G. 63 + + 42. I am not worthy, &c. CR. 63 + + 43. And He answered them nothing CR., G. 64 + +× 44. Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace CL. 65 + +× 45. The Word among thorns G. 65 + +× 46. The Judaic and Christian Sabbath G. 66 + + 47. The blind cured by the word of our Saviour CR. 67 + +× 48. My burden is light G. 67 + + 49. On the miracle of loaves CR., R. WI. 67 + +× 50. Now we know Thee to have a devil G. 68 + + 51. On the blessed Virgin's bashfulness CR. 69 + +× 52. On the wounds of our crucified Lord R. WI. 69 + +× 53. Wherefore eateth your Master with Publicans? G. 71 + +* 54. Come, see the place where the Lord lay + Vpon the sepulchre of our Lord CR. 72 + +× 55. The unthankful lepers. (Where are the nine?) G. 72 + + 56. On the still-surviving markes of our Saviour's + wounds CR., G. 73 + + 57. The sick implore St. Peter's shadow CR., G. 74 + +× 58. Why are ye troubled? Behold My hands, &c. G. 75 + +× 59. The chains spontaneously fell from Peter, &c. G. 75 + +× 60. From his body there were brought ... + handkerchiefs, &c. R. WI. 76 + +× 61. Christ the Vine to the Vinedresser-Father G. 76 + +× 62. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. CL. 77 + + 63. But men loved darkness rather than light CR., B., G. 77 + + 64. Dives asking a drop CR. 78 + +× 65. How can a man be born when he is old? R. WI. 79 + +× 66. The tree dried up by the word of Christ G. 80 + +× 67. Zacharias incredulous CL. 80 + + 68. On the water of our Lord's baptisme CR., B. 81 + +× 69. The bowed-down woman healed by the Lord, &c. G. 81 + +× 70. Neither durst any man ... ask Him any more + questions G. 82 + + 71. St. John and his mother B. 82 + + 72. If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down B. 83 + + 73. The Lord weeping over the Jews B. 83 + +× 74. Nor even as this publican G. 84 + +× 75. On Saul blinded with too much light R. WI. 84 + + 76. Blessed are the eyes which see B., G. 85 + +× 77. Her son is delivered to his mother from the bier + R. WI. 85 + +× 78. On the wise of this world R. WI. 86 + +× 79. The Jews seeking to cast Christ headlong from a + precipice G. 87 + +× 80. The casting down of the dragon G. 87 + +× 81. The blessed Virgin believing G. 87 + +× 82. Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar? G. 88 + +× 83. The minstrels and crowd making a noise about the + dead G. 89 + + 84. The fishermen called B., G., A. 89 + + 85. Give to Cæsar ... and to God CR., G. 90 + + 86. The Lord borne on the ass B., R. WI. 90 + +× 87. They shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud G. 91 + +× 88. Except I shall put my fingers, &c. G. 91 + +× 89. To the Jews stoning Stephen G. 92 + +× 90. To St. John the beloved disciple G. 92 + + 91. Upon the infant martyrs CR., G. 93 + +× 92. God with us G. 93 + + 93. The circumcision of Christ: Vol. I. pp. 48-9; + and CR. 94 + +× 94. The Epiphany of our Lord CL. 94 + +× 95. Lo, we have sought Thee, &c. G. 95 + + 96. Water turned into wine G., CL., A. 96 + +× 97. The Lord at a distance heals the absent servant, + &c. G. 97 + + 98. Why are ye so fearful? B. 97 + +× 99. Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace CL. 98 + +× 100. Good seed in the field G. 99 + + 101. She began to wash His feet, &c. CR., CL. 99 + +× 102. What seekest that I do to thee? G. 100 + +× 103. The silence of Christ to the woman of Canaan G. 101 + + 104. Blessed be the paps which Thou hast sucked CR. 101 + +× 105. Christ the Vine (including the branches) G. 102 + + 106. Verily I say unto you, Yee shall weep and + lament CR. 102 + + 107. Christ the good Shepherd B., CL. 103 + + 108. On the wounds of the crucified Lord CR., G. 104 + +× 109. The paralytic healed G. 104 + +× 110. Then took they up stones G. 105 + +× 111. On the Resurrection of the Lord R. WI. 105 + +× 112. But some doubted R. WI. 106 + +× 113. The scars of the wounds which the Lord + showed, &c. G. 106 + +× 114. John sends to Jesus, &c. CL. 107 + + 115. On St. Peter cutting off Malchus his eare CR. 108 + + 116. The withered hand healed G., B. 108 + + 117. To Pontius washing his hands CR., B. 108 + +× 118. The stater-giving fish G. 109 + + 119. I have overcome the world B., A. 110 + +× 120. On the ascension of our Lord R. WI. 111 + +*× 121. The descent of the Holy Spirit G. 112 + +× 122. God so loved the world, that He gave His + ... Son R. WI. 112 + +× 123. I have bought five yoke of oxen G. 113 + +× 124. St. Paul healing the lame man with a word, &c. R. WI. 113 + +* 125. To the sacred Dove alighting on the head of + Christ W. 114 + +× 126. The doors of the prison self-opening to Peter G. 115 + + 127. The Pharisees murmured, &c. G., B. 116 + +× 128. On the beam of the Pharisee R. WI. 116 + +× 129. They determined ... he should be put out + of the synagogue A. 117 + + 130. Concerning the prayer of the sons of Zebedee CL., B. 117 + +× 131. To the guests at the miraculous supper of the + five loaves R. WI. 118 + +× 132. Christ overcoming the world G. 119 + + 133. The Grecian disputants go about to kill St. + Paul R. WI. 119 + +× 134. He that is greatest among you, let him be as + the younger B. 120 + +× 135. He beheld the city, and wept over it R. WI. 120 + + 136. Christ in Egypt R. WI. 121 + +× 137. The blind confessing Christ, &c. G., B. 121 + + 138. If any man will come after Me, &c. G. 122 + + 139. And he left all ... and followed Him B., G. 122 + + 140. Ye build the sepulchres of the Prophets CR., G. 123 + +× 141. The man with the withered hand, &c. G. 123 + +× 142. Luke the beloved physician B., A. 124 + + 143. The dropsical man thirsting now for Christ G. 125 + + 144. To the assembly of all the S W., A. 125 + +× 145. Christ heals in absence CL. 127 + +× 146. The man born blind B., A. 127 + +× 147. And they laughed at Him G. 127 + +× 148. The wisdom of the world CL. 128 + +*× 149. On the stable where our Lord was born A. 128 + +× 150. St. Stephen to his friends, to raise no monument CL. 130 + +× 151. On St. John, whom Domitian cast into a + caldron, &c. CL. 130 + +× 152. The infant-martyrs G. 131 + +× 153. They brought unto Him all sick people, &c. R. WI. 131 + +× 154. A sword shall pierce through thy own soul G. 132 + +× 155. On the blood of the Lord's circumcision R. WI. 133 + +× 156. The Child Jesus among the doctors R. WI. 134 + + 157. To our Lord, upon the water made wine CR., G. 135 + +× 158. The Infant Christ is presented to the Father + in the Temple R. WI. 135 + +× 159. The leper beseeching G. 136 + + 160. Why are ye afraid? CR., B. 137 + +× 161. They teach customs, &c. R. WI. 138 + +*× 162. Command that this stone become a loaf G. 139 + + 163. The woman of Canaan R. WI. 139 + + 164. Upon the dumbe devill cast out, &c. CR. 140 + +× 165. They said, This is of a truth that Prophet R. WI. 141 + +× 166. It was winter, and Jesus walked in Solomon's + porch R. WI. 141 + +× 167. They gave large money to the soldiers R. WI. 142 + +× 168. To the blessed Virgin: concerning the angelic + salutation R. WI. 143 + + 169. To Pontius washing his blood-stained hands CR. 144 + +× 170. On the day of the Lord's Passion R. WI. 144 + +× 171. On the day of the Lord's Resurrection, &c. A. 146 + +× 172. On the scars of the Lord still remaining R. WI. 147 + +× 173. My peace I give unto you R. WI. 149 + +× 174. Paul's conversion and blindness CL. 149 + +× 175. I am the Way, &c. R. WI. 150 + +× 176. On the night and winter journey of the Infant + Lord R. WI. 150 + +× 177. I do not say that I will pray the Father for + you A. 157 + +*× 178. On the day of the Lord's Ascension R. WI. 159 + +*× 179. The blind man implores Christ R. WI. 160 + +*× 180. What man of you having an hundred sheep, &c. R. WI. 161 + +*× 181. To Herod beheading St. James R. WI. 162 + +*× 182. The blind men having received their sight, &c. R. WI. 163 + +* 183. Zaccheus in the sycamore-tree R. WI. 164 + + 184. On our crucified Lord, naked and bloody CR. 164 + + 185. Sampson to his Dalilah CR. 164 + + +SECULAR EPIGRAMS, 165-6. + + 1. Upon Ford's two Tragedyes, 'Love's Sacrifice' + and 'The Broken Heart' 165 + + 2. Vpon the Faire Ethiopian, &c. 165 + + 3. On marriage 165 + + 4. On Nanus mounted upon an ant 165 + + 5. Vpon Venus putting-on Mars his armes 166 + + 6. Vpon the same 166 + + 7. Out of Martiall 166 + + +II. SACRED EPIGRAMS, NEVER BEFORE PRINTED, 167-205. + ++× 1. St. Paul and the viper G. 169 + ++× 2. The miracle of the loaves G. 169 + ++× 3. Of the tears of the suffering Christ G. 170 + ++× 4. The sepulchre of the Lord G. 171 + ++× 5. The parting words of Love G. 172 + ++× 6. Herod devoured of worms G. 172 + ++× 7. It is good to be here G. 173 + ++× 8. Look on the lilies, &c. R. WI. 173 + ++× 9. The deaf healed R. WI. 173 + ++× 10. The modesty of the blessed Virgin G. 174 + ++× 11. I send you as lambs, &c. G. 174 + ++× 12. Christ carried by the devil G. 175 + ++× 13. St. John the Baptist a voice G. 175 + ++× 14. John the Voice, Christ the Word G. 176 + ++× 15. On the birth of the Lord, &c. G. 176 + ++× 16. Of the 'blue-blood' pride of the Athenians G. 177 + ++× 17. I am the True Vine G. 178 + ++× 18. The departure of Christ lamented, &c. G. 178 + ++× 19. On the descent of the Holy Spirit R. WI. 179 + ++× 20. Life and Death G. 179 + ++ 21. I am the Doore CR., G. 180 + ++ 22. Upon the thornes taken downe from our Lord's + head, &c. CR., G. 181 + ++× 23. Nicodemus G. 181 + ++× 24. To Domitian, concerning St. John, &c. R. WI. 183 + ++× 25. The voice of the Baptist G. 183 + ++× 26. On St. Peter loosed by the angel R. WI. 184 + ++ 27. On St. Peter casting away his nets, &c. CR., G. 184 + ++× 28. The Lamb of God, &c. G. 185 + ++× 29. The miraculous draught of fishes G. 186 + ++× 30. Lord, not my feet only, &c. G. 186 + ++× 31. Though they beheld so many miracles, &c. G. 186 + ++× 32. On the cloud which received the Lord R. WI. 187 + ++× 33. He saw the city, and wept over it G. 188 + ++× 34. Nor even as this publican R. WI. 189 + ++× 35. His Disciples came and awoke Him R. WI. 189 + ++× 36. The woman of Canaan G. 189 + ++× 37. Wherefore sitteth your Master with sinners, &c. G. 191 + ++× 38. Miracles of healing, &c. G. 191 + ++× 39. To St. Luke the physician R. WI. 192 + ++× 40. He bears His own cross G. 193 + ++ 41. Upon our Lord's last comfortable discourse, &c. CR., G. 194 + ++× 42. And they spat upon Him G. 194 + ++× 43. He besought that He would go with him, &c. G. 194 + ++× 44. For dread came upon him, &c. G. 196 + ++ 45. But now they have seen and hated CR., G. 196 + ++× 46. The blind suppliant G. 197 + ++× 47. The Pharisees insidiously watching, &c. G. 199 + ++× 48. Touched the hem of His garment, &c. R. WI. 200 + ++× 49. The departing Saviour R. WI. 200 + ++× 50. Paul unfearing [page 45, and] G. 201 + ++× 51. The message of the Baptist to Christ R. WI. 202 + ++× 52. Gifts to Jesus R. WI. 202 + ++× 53. On the blessed Virgin's easy parturition R. WI. 203 + ++ 54. Upon our Saviour's tombe, &c. CR., G. 204 + ++× 55. On the Holy Spirit descending, &c. R. WI. 205 + ++ 56. Life for death CR. 205 + ++× 57. On the Divine love CR. 205 + + +III. LATIN POEMS. PART FIRST: SACRED. HITHERTO UNCOLLECTED, 207-218. + +× Faith, which alone justifies, exists not without + hope and love G. 209 + +× Baptism cancels not after-sins CL. 216 + + +IV. LATIN POEMS. PART FIRST: SACRED. NEVER BEFORE PRINTED, 219-242. + ++ Psalm 1. 221 + ++× Wrath of the judgment-whirlwind R. WI. 221 + ++× Even so: come, Lord Jesus R. WI. 223 + ++× Circumcision of Christ R. WI. 225 + ++× The Virgin Mary, on losing the Child Jesus R. WI. 229 + ++× War in heaven R. WI. 231 + ++× We do not receive, but make, a short life R. WI. 233 + ++× Martyrs R. WI. 235 + ++× Hope R. WI. 237 + ++× On Stephen's crown R. WI. 239 + +× Jesus Christ's expostulation with an ungrateful + world R. WI. 241 + + +LATIN POEMS. PART SECOND: SECULAR, 243-92. + +I. _From 'Steps to the Temple' and 'Delights of the Muses.'_ + +× The Bubble G. 247 + +× Peace of mind, under the similitude of a captive + song-bird G. 258 + +× Gain out of loss G. 263 + +× Description of human life R. WI. 266 + +× On Pygmalion A., G. 269 + +× Arion G. 273 + +× On Apollo pining for Daphne G. 279 + +× Æneas the bearer of his father G. 283 + +× Of the generation and regeneration of the Phoenix G. 284 + +× Epitaph A., G. 286 + +× Elegy R. WI. 289 + +× Woman a treasury of evils G. 290 + + +LATIN POEMS. PART SECOND: SECULAR. NEVER BEFORE PRINTED, 293-330. + +II. _Miscellaneous and Commemorative._ + ++× The beautiful not lasting G. 296 + ++× A hymn to Venus G. 300 + ++× A description of Spring R. WI. 303 + ++× Priscianus beaten and being beaten R. WI. 308 + ++× To a Tractate on this subject, &c. R. WI. 315 + ++ Purgation 317 + ++× To my most estimable preceptor ... R. Brooke R. WI. 319 + +× On death of Rev. Dr. Mansell R. WI. 323 + +× To the Right Hon. Lord Robert Heath, on being + made a judge, &c. R. WI. 326 + ++ Ode on Horace, Lib. ii. 13, in Greek 329 + + +LATIN POEMS. PART SECOND: SECULAR, 331-84. + +III. _Royal and Academical._ + +× The Return of the King A. 333 + +× To the royal Infant not yet born R. WI. 335 + +× To the King on recovery from small-pox R. WI. 337 + +× To her serene Majesty child-bearing in winter R. WI. 339 + +× To the Queen CL. 342 + +× To the Queen ... from the university R. WI. 345 + +× On birth of Princess Mary CL. 346 + ++× On the same R. WI. 350 + +× To the Queen R. WI. 354 + +× The prayer of Peterhouse for the House of God + [=its chapel] S.S. 357 + +× A groan on occasion of the difficult parturition + of the remaining works of Peterhouse R. WI., G. 362 + +× To the venerable man, Master Tournay, &c. CL. 371 + +× To Master Brooke R. WI. 374 + +× Epitaph on Dr. Brooke R. WI. 376 + +× Epitaph on William Herries G. 378 + +× On the same R. WI. 383 + +× On the Portrait of Bishop Andrewes CR. 384 + + +Glossarial Index 385 + + +ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL. II. 4TO. + +Photograph of the Cartoon for the memorial-window to +Crashaw in Peterhouse, by F. Madox-Brown, Esq. R.A. _facing title-page._ + +The captive Song-bird, by Mrs. Blackburn _vignette to Essay._ + +Vignette illustrations, by W.J. Linton, Esq. _pp._ 96, 242, 251, 295, 329, + 350, 373, 377. + + + + +ESSAY ON THE LIFE AND POETRY OF CRASHAW.[2] + + +In our Memorial-Introduction (vol. i. p. xxvi.) we make two promises, +which fall now to be redeemed: + +(_a_) A STUDY OF THE LIFE AND POETRY OF RICHARD CRASHAW. + +(_b_) A MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CRASHAW, B.D., HIS FATHER. + +The latter is in so many ways elucidative and illuminative of the +former, outwardly and inwardly, that I deem it well to give it first. + + +I. MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CRASHAW, B.D. + +The late laborious and accurate Joseph Hunter, in his MS. collections +yclept Chorus Vatum, which by rare good fortune are preserved in the +British Museum (Addl. MSS. 24.487, pp. 34-39), thus begins, _s.n._ + +'I am here introducing a name which may be said to be hitherto unknown +in the regions of Poetry, and which has been unaccountably passed over +by biographical writers of every class; yet one who has just claims on +our attention of his own as well as in being the father of Richard +Crashaw, whose merits are admitted;' and he continues with a pleasant +egotism that one can readily pardon, 'and he has particular claims upon +me, as having been a native of the part of the kingdom from which I +spring, and bearing a name which is that of a numerous family from whom +I descend.' + +We shall find onward, that the elder Crashaw had a unique gift of +Poetry; but independent of that, a somewhat prolonged acquaintance with +his numerous books enables us emphatically to ratify the 'claims' of +'_his own_' otherwise--though in strong, even fierce, antagonism as +Divine and Writer to his gentle-natured son's after-opinions. + +Hitherto, in the brief and meagre notices of his son, and of the +paternal Crashaw, it has simply been stated that he was a +'_Yorkshireman_.' This is mentioned incidentally in various places. We +are now enabled by the interest in our researches of local Antiquaries, +together with aid from the Hunter and Cole MSS., to give for the first +time family-details. Handsworth, sometimes spelled Hansworth, near +Sheffield, one of the hamlets of England in the 'Black Country'--once +couched among green fields and hedge-row 'lanes,' though now blighted +and begrimed--was the 'nest' of the Crashaws; and there and in the +neighbourhood the name is met with until comparatively recent times.[3] +The Church-Register goes back to 1558, and under Baptisms, Aug. 24th, +1568, is this entry, 'Thomas, son of Richard Crawshaw, baptised;' and, +alas, under the following 'November 14th,' 'Thomas, son of Richard +Crawshaw, buried.' Next comes our Worthy: + +'1572, October 26th, WILL., son of Richard Crawshaw, baptised.' There +follow: January 12th, 1574, 'Francis;' November 24th, 1577, 'Ann'--both +baptised; April 26th 1585, 'Richard,' son of Richard, buried; 1591, +'Robert Eairl [_sic_] and Dorothy Crawshaw married;' 1608, November +20th, 'Hellen Crawshaw, widow, buried.' Then in 1609, 1611, 1613, 1615, +1619, 1623, 1627, entries concerning the 'Francis' of 1574 and his +household. The name does not reappear until 1682, January 1st, when +'William, son of William Crawshaw, is 'baptised;' and so the usual +record of the light and shadow of 'Births and Marriages and Deaths' goes +on until July 22d, 1729. + +It appears from these Register-data that the father of our William +Crashaw was named 'Richard,' and that he died in April 1585, when Master +William was passing his 13th year. It also appears that his mother was +named 'Hellen,' and that she died as 'a widow' in November 1608. In +addition to these entries, I have discovered that this 'Hellen' was +daughter of John Routh, of Waleswood; a name of mark in Yorkshire, in +itself and through marriages.[4] That we are right in all this is made +certain by his Will, wherein our Crashaw (_pater_) leaves 'to the +parishe of Hansworth, in Com. Ebor., where I was borne, my owne works, +all to be bounde together, to lye in the churche; and fourty shillings +in monye to the stocke of the poor of that parishe.'[5] So far as I can +gather from several family-tables which have been furnished to me, +_the_ Richard Crashaw, father of our William Crashaw, was son of another +Richard Crashaw, who in turn was Rector of Aston, next parish to +Handsworth, in 1539. Thus, if not of 'blue blood' in the heraldic sense, +the Crashaws must have been well-to-do; for they are found not only +intermarrying with good Yorkshire families, but also occupying +considerable social status: _e.g._ a son of Francis--described as of +Hansworth-Woodhouse, a hamlet of Hansworth--brother of William, was +admitted to the freedom of the Cutlers' Company of Sheffield in 1638, +and was Master in 1675. I have lineal descents brought down to the +present year; and the annals of the House may hold their own in +family-histories.[6] Our Worthy had life-long intercourse and life-long +friendships with the foremost in Yorkshire, as his Will genially and +quaintly testifies. + +Fatherless in his 13th-14th year, his widowed mother must have been in +circumstances pecuniarily that enabled her to have William, at least, +'_prepared_' for the University. He was of renowned 'St. John's,' +Cambridge, designated by him his 'deere nurse and spirituall mother.'[7] +A MS. note by Thomas Baker, in his copy of 'Romish Forgeries and +Falsifications' (1606), now in the Library of St. John's, furnishes +almost the only definite notice of his University career that I have met +with, as follows: 'Guil. Crashawe Eboracensis admissus socius Coll. Jo. +pro Dña Fundatrice, authoritate Regia, sede vacante Epi. Elien. 19 Jan. +1593.'[8] Such is the 'entry' as given by Baker; but in the original it +is as follows: 'Gulielmus Chrashawe Eboracensis admissus sum sisator pro +Mr°. Alveye Maij 1°, 1591.' The Master and each senior Fellow chose +sizars at this date. Again: 'Ego Gulielmus Crashawe Eboracensis admissus +sum socius huius Collegij pro domina fundatrice, Authoritate regia, sede +vacante Episcopi Eliensis, 19° Januarij 1593' [_i.e._ 1593-4]. The +Bishop of Ely had the right of nominating one Fellow.[9] The See of Ely +was vacant from the death of Bishop Richard Cox, 22d July 1581, to the +occupancy of Martin Heton in 1598-9. Hence it came that the Queen +presented Crashaw to the fellowship of St. John's. (See Baker's St. +John's, by Mayor (vol. i. p. 438), for more details.) This was somewhat +late. How he obtained the patronage of Elizabeth does not appear. The +entry in 'White Vellum Book' of the College Treasury runs simply, 'Being +crediblie informed of the povertie and yet otherwise good qualities and +sufficiencie of Wm. Crashaw, B.A.' &c. The opening paragraphs of his +Will characteristically recount his successive ecclesiastical +appointments and preferments, and hence will fittingly come in here. 'In +the name of the true and everlivinge God, Amen. I William Crashawe, +Bachelor in Divinitie, Preacher of God's Worde. Firste at Bridlington, +then at Beverley in Yorkshire. Afterwards at the Temple; since then +Pastor of the Churche of Ag[nes] Burton, in the diocese of Yorke; nowe +Pastor of that too greate Parishe of White-Chappell in the suburbs of +London: the unworthye and unprofitable servante of God, make and ordaine +this my last Will and Testament.' Previous to the death of Elizabeth he +had been '_deprived_' of a 'little vicarage' ('A Discourse on Popish +Corruptions requiring a Kingly Reformation:' MS. in Royal Library). +Inquiries at Bridlington, formerly Burlington, and the several places +named, have resulted in nothing, from the destruction of muniments, &c. +In the earlier he must have been 'Curate' only. His many legacies of his +'owne workes,' which were to 'lye' in many churches, have all perished, +or at least disappeared; and equally so his various 'monyes' for the +'poore.' It is sorrowful to find how so very often like provisions are +discovered to have gone out of sight, to an aggregate few indeed +suspect. + +With Agnes Burton he had closer relations, inasmuch as one 'item' of his +Will runs: 'The next avoydance of Ag. Burton, taken in my brother's name +(for which he knoweth what hath byn offered), I give and bequeathe the +same to my said brother Thomas, to be by him disposed to some worthy +man.' + +He describes 'Mr. Henry Alvay,' 'the famous Puritan,' as his 'ffather in +Christ,' in bequeathing him 'one siluer pott with a cover loose, parcell +guilt, of about 13 ounces.'[10] When, or from whom, he received 'orders' +and ordination does not appear, but what our Worthy became as a Preacher +his 'Sermons' remain to attest. They attest his evangelical fervour even +to passion, his intense convictions, his wistful tenderness alternated +with the most vehement rebuke of fashionable sins and worldliness, his +deep personal love for the Lord Jesus, and a strangely pathetic yearning +for all men to be 'safe' in Him. He had a kind of holy ubiquity of zeal +in occupying pulpits where 'witness' was to be borne 'for the Truth.' +His motto, found in a copy of Valerius Maximus, and elsewhere, was +'Servire Deo regnare est' (Notes and Queries, 3d S. vii. 111). America +ought to prize his Sermon 'Preached in London before the Right +Honourable the Lord Lawarre, Lord Governour and Captaine Generall of +Virginia, and others of his Maiestie's Counsell for that Kingdome, and +the rest of the Adventurers in that Plantation. At the said Lord +Generall his leaue-taking of England, his natiue countrey, and departure +for Virginia, February 21, 1609. By W. Crashaw, Bachelar of Divinitie, +and Preacher at the Temple. Wherein both the lawfulnesse of that Action +is maintained, and the necessity thereof is also demonstrated, and so +much out of the grounds of Policie, as of Humanity, Equity and +Christianity. Taken from his mouth, and published by direction.' 1610. +The running heading is 'A New Yeere's Gift to Virginea.' The text is St. +Luke xxii. 32: 'I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and +when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.' There is no nobler +Sermon than this of the period; and it is only one of various equally +eloquent, impressive, and powerful. Politically the Preacher saw far +ahead, and his patriotism is chivalrous as Sidney's. Dr. Donne later +preached for the same Virginia Company. He had 'sought' to go as +secretary in the outset. + +Our Worthy was twice married. Of his first wife--mother of Richard, our +'sweet Singer'--I have failed utterly to get so much as her name. Of his +second wife there remains a privately-printed tractate entitled 'The +Honovr of Vertve, or the Monument erected by the sorowfull Husband, and +the Epitaphes annexed by learned and worthy men, to the immortall memory +of that worthy gentlewoman Mrs. Elizabeth Crashawe. Who dyed in +child-birth, and was buried in Whit-Chappell, October 8, 1620. In the 24 +yeare of her age.' Of inconceivable interest would this remarkable +tractate have been, had this been the Poet's mother; but the date shows +that Hunter, in his 'Chorus Vatum,' and others, are mistaken in their +statement that she was such. Richard Crashaw was born in 1612-3, while +the 'Epitaphes' and other allusions touchingly inform us that this fatal +'child-birth' was, 'as she most surely expected,' of her only child. The +great Usher preached her funeral-sermon, 'at which Sermon and Funerall +was present one of the greatest Assemblies that ever was seene in man's +memorie at the burial of any priuate person.' The illustrious +Preacher--who 'vseth,' the Memorial says, 'to be very wary and modeste +in commendation'--is very full and articulate in his praises of the +dead. One bit we read with wet eyes; for among other traits Usher +praises 'her singular motherly affection _to the child of her +predecessor_--a rare vertue [as he noted] in step-mothers at this +day.'[11] One can scarcely avoid a sigh that such a 'step-mother' was +not spared to such a 'child.' No 'quick' name is found to any of the +Verse, nor is the Verse intrinsically very memorable, except for its +wealth of sympathy towards the Widower.[12] + +Of our Worthy's numerous Writings I have made out a careful +enumeration, inasmuch as the usual bibliographical authorities (as +Lowndes and Hazlitt) are exceedingly empty; but I must utilise it +elsewhere, seeing that such a catalogue of (for the most part) violent +invective against Popery were incongruous in an edition of the Poetry of +his so opposite-minded son. These three out of our collection will show +that Popery was the supreme object of his aversion; and even the full +title-pages give but a poor idea of the out-o'-way learning--for he was +a scholar among scholars--the grave wit, the sarcasm, the shrewd sense, +and, alas, the uncharity of these and kindred sermons and books. The +first is this, but from a later edition, for a reason that will appear: +'Loyola's Disloyalty; or the Iesvites' open Rebellion against God and +His Church. Whose Doctrine is Blasphemie, in the highest degree, against +the blood of Christ, which they Vilifie, and under-valew, that they +might uphold their Merits. By Consequent, encouraging all Traytors to +kill their lawfull Kings and Princes. With divers other Principles and +Heads of their damnable and erronious Doctrine. Worthy to be written and +read in these our doubtfull and dangerous times. 1643' (4to). This was +originally issued as 'The Iesvites' Gospell' (1610), and in 1621 and +1641 as 'The Bespotted Jesuit.' Be it specially noted that Crashaw +himself must not be made responsible for the after title-pages.[13] Next +is this: 'The Parable of Poyson. In Five Sermons of Spirituall Poyson, +&c. Wherein the poysonfull Nature of Sinne, and the Spirituall Antidotes +against it, are plainely and brefely set downe. Begun before the +Prince his Highnesse. Proceeded in at Greye's Inne and the Temple, +and finished at St. Martin's in the fields. By William Crashaw, +Batcheler of Diuinity, and Preacher of God's word. 1618' (4to). The +Epistle-dedicatory is dated from Agnes Burton, Yorkshire. 'The ioyfull 5 +of Nouember, the day neuer to be forgotten.' The third is this: 'The New +Man, or a Svpplication from an vnknowne Person, a Roman Catholike, vnto +Iames, the Monarch of Great Brittaine, and from him to the Emperour, +Kings, and Princes of the Christian World. Touching the causes and +reasons that will argue a necessity of a Generall Councell to be +fortwith assembled against him that now vsurps the Papall Chaire vnder +the name of Paul the fifth. Wherein are discouered more of the secret +Iniquities of that Chaire and Court, then hitherto their friends feared, +or their very aduersaries did suspect. Translated into English by +William Crashaw, Batchelour in Diuinity, according to the Latine Copy, +sent from Rome into England. 1622' (4to). Other of these controversial +tractates, or 'Flytings' (Scoticè), are more commonly known, and need +not detailed notice from us. That the 'ruling passion' was 'strong' to +the end, appears by the already repeatedly named Will, the opening of +which has been given, and which thus continues: 'For my religion, I +professe myself in lief and deathe a Christian, and the crosse of Jesus +Christ is my glorye, and His sufferings my salvation. I renounce and +abhorre Atheisme, Iudaisme, Turcisme, and all heresies against the Holy +and Catholike faithe, oulde and newe, and (namelye) Poperie, beinge as +nowe it is established by the canons of Trent and theyr present allowed +decrees and doctors, lyke a confused body of all heresies.' And again: +'I accounte Poperie (as it nowe is) the heape and chaos of all heresies, +and the channell whereunto the fowlest impieties and heresies that have +bene in the Christian worlde have runne and closelye emptied themselves. +I beleeve the Pope's seate and power to be the power of the greate +Antichrist, and the doctrine of the Pope (as nowe it is) to be the +doctrine of Antichrist; yea, that doctrine of devills prophesied of by +the Apostles, and that the trve and absolute Papist, livinge and +dyeinge, debarres himself of salvation for oughte that we knowe. And I +beleve that I am bounde to separate myself from that sinagogue of Rome +if I wil be saved. And I professe myselfe a member of the true Catholike +Churche, but not of the Roman Churche (as nowe it is), and to looke for +salvation, not by that faith nor doctrine which that Churche nowe +teacheth, but that which once it had, but now falne from it.' And then +follow 'groundes' in burning and 'hard' words, intermingled with strange +outbursts of personal humiliation before God and an awful sense of His +scrutiny. + +These Title-pages and Will-extracts must suffice to indicate the +Ultra-Protestantism of the elder Crashaw. To qualify them--in addition +to our note of the intensified after title-pages _by others_--it must be +remembered that the Armada of 1588 flung its scaring shadow across his +young days, and that undoubtedly the descendants of Loyola falsified +their venerable Founder's intentions by political agitations and +plottings. These coloured our ecclesiastical polemique's whole ways of +looking at things. His Will and codicil are dated in 1621-2, and during +these years and succeeding, his most fiery and intense 'Sermons' and +tractates were being published. Richard was then growing up into his +teens, and without his 'second' mother. As Crashaw senior died in +1626--his Will having been 'proved' 16th October in that year--our +Poet-saint was only about 13-14 when he lost his father, scarcely ten +when appointed by him executor, the words being: 'I ordaine and make Mr. +Robert Dixon and _my sonne Richarde_ executors of my Will' (10th June +1622).[14] + +His Epistles-dedicatory and private Letters (several of which are +preserved in the British Museum, and of which I have copies--one very +long to Sir Julius Cæsar on his brother's illness) and his Will, make it +plain that our Worthy mingled in the highest society, and was consulted +in the most delicate affairs. His dedication of one of his most +pronounced books, 'Consilium quorundam Episcop. Bononiæ &c.' (1613), to +Shakespeare's Earl of Southampton, _as to a trusted friend_, settles, to +my mind, the (disputed) fact as to the Earl having become a Protestant. +So too the translation of Augustine's 'City of God' (1620, 2d edition) +is dedicated to William Earl of Pembroke, the Earl of Arundel, and the +Earl of Montgomery. + +The last matter to be touched on is the Verse of the paternal Crashaw, +which has a unique character of its own. It consists of translations +from the Latin. His 'Loyola's Disloyalty' is based on a rendering of a +Latin poem in super-exaltation of the Virgin Mary by Clarus Bonarscius +(= Carolus Scribanius); and Crashaw animadverts on such 'pointes' as +these: 'That the milke of Mary may come into comparison with the blood +of Christ;' 'that the Christian man's faith may lawfully take hold of +both as well as one;' 'that the best compound for a sicke soule is to +mix together her milke and Christ's blood;' 'that Christ is still a +little child in His mother's armes, and so may be prayed unto;' 'that a +man shall often-times be sooner heard at God's hand in the mediation of +Mary than Jesus Christ;' and so on. I give the opening, middle, and +closing lines. + + +TO OUR LADY OF HALL AND THE CHILD JESUS. + + 'My thoughts are at a stand, of milke and blood, + Delights of brest and side, which yeelds most good; + And say, when on the teates mine eyes I cast, + O Lady, of thy brest I beg a taste. + But if mine eyes upon the wounds doe glide, + Then, Jesu, I had rather sucke Thy side. + Long have I mused, now knowe I where to rest; + For with my right hand I will graspe the brest, + If so I may presume: as for the wounds, + With left He catch them; thus my zeale abounds.' + +Again: + + 'Mother and Son, give eare to what I crave, + I beg this milke, that bloud, and both would have. + Youngling, that in Thy mother's armes art playing, + Sucking her brest sometimes, and sometimes staying, + Why dost Thou view me with that looke of scorne? + 'Tis forceless envie that 'gainst Thee is borne. + Oft hast Thou said, being angry at my sinne, + Darest thou desire the teates My food lyes in? + I will not, oh I dare not, golden Child; + My mind from feare is not so farre exild: + But one, even one poore drop I doe implore + From Thy right hand or side, I ask no more. + If neither, from Thy left hand let one fall; + Nay from Thy foot, rather than none at all: + If I displease Thee, let Thy wounds me wound, + But pay my wage if I in grace be found.' + +Finally: + + 'But ah, I thirst; ah, droght my breath doth smother, + Quench me with blood, sweet Son; with milk, good mother + Say to Thy mother, See My brother's thirst; + Mother, your milke will ease him at the first. + Say to thy Son, Behold Thy brother's bands; + Sweet Son, Thou hast his ransome in Thy hands. + Shew Thy redeeming power to soules opprest, + Thou Sonne, if that Thy blood excel the rest. + And shew Thyselfe justly so stilde indeed, + Thou mother, if thy brests the rest exceed. + Ah, when shall I with these be satisfi'd? + When shall I swimme in joyes of brest and side? + Pardon, O God, mine eager earnestnesse, + If I Thy lawes and reason's bounds transgresse; + Where thirst o're-swayes, patience is thrust away: + Stay but my thirst, and then my cryes will stay. + I am better then Thy nailes; yet did a streame + Of Thy deere bloud wash both the lance and them. + More worthy I then clouts; yet them a flood + Moistened of mother's milke and of Son's blood.' + +Rhythm, epithet, and the whole ring of these Verses remind us of the +younger Crashaw. But the most remarkable Verse-production of the elder +Crashaw is his translation of the 'Querela, sive Dialogvs Animæ et +Corporis damnati,' ascribed to St. Bernard. It originally appeared in +1616, and has been repeatedly reprinted since. Those of 1622 and 1632 +are now before me, and the English title-page runs: 'The Complaint, or +Dialogve betwixt the Soule and the Bodie of a damned man. Each laying +the fault vpon the other. Supposed to be written by S. Bernard, from a +nightly vision of his; and now published out of an ancient manuscript +copie. By William Crashaw.' The Dialogue thus opens: + + 'In silence of a Winter's night, + A sleeping yet a walking spirit; + A livelesse body to my sight + Methought appeared, thus addight. + + In that my sleepe I did descry + A Soule departed but lately + From that foule body which lay by; + Wailing with sighes, and loud did cry. + + Fast by the body, thus she mones + And questions it, with sighes and grones; + O wretched flesh, thus low who makes thee lye, + Whom yesterday the world had seene so high? + + Was't not but yesterday the world was thine, + And all the countrey stood at thy devotion? + Thy traine that followed thee when thy sunne did shine + Have now forsaken thee: O dolefull alteration! + + Those turrets gay of costly masonry, + And larger palaces, are not now thy roome; + But in a coffin of small quantity + Thou lyest interrèd in a little tombe. + . . . . . + O wretched flesh, with me that art forlorne, + If thou couldst know how sharpe our punishment; + How justly mightest thou wish not to be borne, + Or from the wombe to tombe to have been hent! + . . . . . + How lik'st thou now, poor foole, thy latter lodging, + The roofe whereof lyes even with thy nose? + Thy eyes are shut, thy tongue cannot be cogging; + Nothing of profit rests at thy dispose. + . . . . . + Thy garments, wretched fool, are farre from rich; + Thy upper garment hardly worth a scute; + A little linnen shrouds thee in thy ditch, + No rents nor gifts men bring, nor make their suite.' + +Again, st. 79-81: + + 'If I be clad in rich array, + And well attended every day, + Both wise and good I shal be thoght, + My kinred also shall be sought. + I am, say men, the case is cleere, + Your cosen, sir, a kinsman neere. + But if the world doe change and frowne, + Our kinred is no longer knowne; + Nor I remembred any more + By them that honoured me before. + O vanity! vile love of mucke, + Foule poyson, wherefore hast thou stucke + Thyselfe so deepe, to raise so high + Things vanishing so suddenly?' + +In a 'Manvall for true Catholicks, or a Handfvll, or rather a Heartfull +of holy Meditations and Prayers, gathered out of certaine ancient +Manuscripts, written 300 yeeres agoe, or more,' which is usually bound +up with the 'Querela,' there is no little striking thought and +word-painting, combined with a parsimony of epithet, and a naked and yet +imaginative echo of the monkish Latin, singularly impressive. Passing +the 'Orthodoxall Confessions of God the Father' and 'Sonne' and 'Holy +Ghost,' though all have many memorable things--I would close our +specimens with one complete poem from the 'Manvall.' It is entitled 'The +Conclusion, with a devout and holy prayer;' the word 'prayer' reminding +us that in his Prayers herein and in his 'Milke for Babes' (1618, and +several later), Crashaw is lowly and devout, and simply a sinner holding +the Christian's hope. The remark applies also to much of his celebration +of 'Carraciolo,' the Italian convert and 'Second Moses' (1608). + + 'This is Christian faith unfainèd, + Orthodoxall, true, unstainèd. + As I teach, all understand, + Yeelding unto neither hand. + And in this my soule's defence, + Reiect me not for mine offence: + Thogh Death's slave, yet desperation + I fly in death to seek salvation. + I have no meane Thy love to gain, + But this faith which I maintaine. + This Thou seest, nor will I cease + By this to beg for a release. + Let this sacred salve be bound + Vpon my sores, to make them sound. + Though man be carried forth, and lying + In his grave, and putrifying: + Bound and hid from mortall eyes; + Yet if Thou bid, he must arise. + At Thy will the grave will open, + At Thy will his bonds are broken. + And forth he comes without delay, + If Thou but once bid, Come away! + In this sea of dread and doubt + My poore barke is tost about; + With storms and pirats far and wide, + Death and woes on every side. + Come, thou Steer's-man ever blest, + Calme these winds that me molest; + Chase these ruthlesse pyrats hence, + And show me some safe residence. + My tree is fruitles, dry, and dead, + All the boughs are witherèd; + Downe it must, and to the fire, + If desert have his due hire. + But spare it, Lord, another yeare. + With manuring it [yet] may beare. + If it then be dead and dry, + Burne it; alas, what remedy! + Mine old foe assaults me sore + With fire and water, more and more. + Poore I, of all my strength bereft, + Onely unto Thee am left. + That my foe may hence be chasèd, + And I from Ruin's clawes releasèd, + Lord, vouchsafe me every day + Strength to fast, and faith to pray: + These two meanes Thyself hast taught + To bring temptation's force to noght. + Lord, free my soule from sin's infection + By repentance's direction. + Be Thy feare in me abiding, + My soule to true salvation guiding. + Grant me faith, Lord, hope, and love, + Zeale of heaven and things above. + Teach mee prize the world at nought; + On Thy blisse be all my thought. + All my hopes on Thee I found, + In Whom all good things abound. + Thou art all my dignitie: + All I have I have from Thee. + Thou art my comfort in distresse, + Thou art my cure in heavinesse; + Thou art my music in my sadnes, + Thou art my medicine in my madnesse. + Thou my freedom from my thral, + Thou my raiser from my fall. + In my labour Thou reliev'st me; + Thou reform'st whatever grieves me. + Al my wrongs Thy hand revengeth, + And from hurt my soul defendeth. + Thou my deepest doubts revealest, + Thou my secret faults concealest. + O do Thou stay my feet from treading + In paths to hel and horror leading, + Where eternal torment dwels, + With fears and tears and lothsome smels; + Where man's deepest shame is sounded, + And the guilty still confounded; + Where the scourge for ever beateth, + And the worme that alwaies eateth; + Where all those endless do remain, + Lord, preserve us from this paine. + In Sion lodge me, Lord, for pitty-- + Sion, David's kingly citty, + Built by Him that's onely good; + Whose gates be of the Crosse's wood; + Whose keys are Christ's undoubted word; + Whose dwellers feare none but the Lord; + Whose wals are stone, strong, quicke and bright; + Whose Keeper is the Lord of Light: + Here the light doth never cease, + Endlesse Spring and endles peace; + Here is musicke, heaven filling, + Sweetnesse evermore distilling; + Here is neither spot nor taint, + No defect, nor no complaint; + No man crookèd, great nor small, + But to Christ conformèd all. + Blessed towne, divinely gracèd, + On a rocke so strongly placèd, + Thee I see, and thee I long for; + Thee I seek, and thee I grone for. + O what ioy thy dwellers tast, + All in pleasure first and last! + What full enioying blisse divine, + What iewels on thy wals do shine! + Ruby, iacinth, chalcedon, + Knowne to them within alone. + In this glorious company, + In the streets of Sion, I + With Iob, Moses, and Eliah, + Will sing the heauenly Alleviah. Amen. + +Surely this is a very noteworthy transfusion of old Latin pieties into +vivid English. 'Visions' of Jerusalem the Golden transfigure even the +austere words towards the close. One can picture Master Richard's eyes +kindling over his Father's verses when he was gone. + +So endeth what I have thought it needful to tell of the elder Crashaw. +As hitherto almost nothing has been told of him, even our compressed +little Memorial--keeping back many things and notices that have gathered +in our note-books--may be welcome to some. I pass now to + + +II. A STUDY OF THE LIFE AND POETRY OF RICHARD CRASHAW. + +The outward facts of our 'sweet Singer's' story are given with +comparative fulness in our Memorial-Introduction (vol. i. pp. +xxvii.-xxxviii.). In the present brief Essay we wish to look into some +of these, so as to arrive at a true estimate of them and of the Poetry, +now fully (and for the first time) collected. + +I think I shall be able to say what has struck myself as worth saying +about Crashaw, under these three things: + +I. His change from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism, using the terms +as historic words, not polemically. + +II. His friends and associates, as celebrated in his Writings. + +III. His characteristics and place as a Poet. These successively. + +I. _His change from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism._ From our Memoir +of his Father it will be apparent to all that _he_ was a Protestant of +Protestants; and it is an inevitable assumption that his son from +infancy would be indoctrinated with all vigilance and fervour in the +paternal creed, which may be designated Puritan, as opposed to Laudian +High-Churchism within the Church of England.[15] I think we shall not +err either, in concluding that the younger Crashaw had a very +impressionable and plastic nature; so that the strong and self-assertive +character of his Father could not fail to mould his earliest thinking, +opinions, beliefs, and emotion. Still it will not do to pronounce our +Poet's change to have been a revolt and rebound from the narrowness of +the paternal teaching and writing, seeing that his Father died in 1626, +when he was only passing into his 13-14th year.[16] It is palpable that +the elder Crashaw was spared the distress of the apostacy (as he should +most trenchantly have named it) of his only son. Moreover, the very +notable poems from the Tanner MSS. on the _Gunpowder Treason_ (vol. i. +pp. 188-194) are pronounced and intense in their denunciations of (to +quote from them) that 'vnmated malice,' that 'vnpeer'd despight' and +'very quintessence of villanie,' for 'singing' of which he feels he must +have not 'inke' but 'the blood of Cerberus, or Alecto's viperous brood,' +and demonstrate that he carried with him to, and kept in, Cambridge all +his father's wrath, and more than even his father's vocabulary of +vituperation, with too his own after-epithets, instinct with poetic +feeling, as a thoughtful reading reveals. These poems belong to 1631-3. +Even in the Latin Epigrams of 1634 there is (to say the least) a +'slighting' allusion to the Pope in the 'Umbra S. Petri,' being 'Nunc +quoque, Papa, tuum sustinet illa decus' (see Epigram xix. p. 47). That +volume, also, is dedicated in the most glowing words of affection and +indebtedness to Dr. Benjamin Lany (vol. ii. pp. 7-15), afterwards, as we +shall find onward, a distinguished bishop in the Church of England. And +he was a man after the elder Crashaw's own heart, as we shall now have +revealed in a little overlooked poem addressed to Crashaw senior, which +is appended to the 'Manvall for True Catholicks' (as before). Here it +is; and let the Reader ponder its anti-papal sentiment: + + +A CONCLUSION TO THE AUTHOR AND HIS BOOKE. + + Tradition and antiquitie, the ground + Whereon that erring Church doth so relye, + Breakes out to light, from darknesse, to confound + The novel doctrine of their heresie, + Which plaine by these most sensible degrees + Doth point the wayes it hath digrest to fall; + Where each observing iudgement plainely sees, + From good to bad, from bad to worst of all + It is arriv'd: so that it can aspire, + Obscure, deface, suppresse, doe what it may, + To blinde this truth; to no step any higher + By any policie it can essay. + These holy Hymnes stuft with religious zeale + And meditations of most pious use, + Able their whole to wound, our wounded heale: + Free from impiety, or least abuse, + Blot out all merit in ourselves we have, + And onely, solely, doe on Christ relye: + Offer not prayers for those are in the grave, + Nor unto saints, that heare not, doe not cry. + Then in a word, since God hath thee preserv'd + From the Inquisitors' most cruel rage, + Though in their worth they else might have deserv'd + To passe among the good things of this Age, + Yet are in this respect of more regard, + Since God would have them to these times appeare, + So many having perisht; and be heard + With more true zeale, that God hath kept so deare. + By all which I conclude, from thine owne heart, + Thou wicked servant, that might know and would not, + He hath discharg'd himselfe in all and part, + That would have cur'd your Babel, but hee could not. + + B.L. + +There is some obscurity in these Donne- or Ben-Jonson-like rugged lines, +but none as to the opinions of their writer on Popery. Thus up to 1634 +at least, or until his twenty-second or twenty-third year, Crashaw the +younger was as thoroughly Protestant, in all probability, as his father +could have desired. The '_change_' accordingly was a radical one when he +left his mother-Church, and one laments that our light is so dim and our +view so distant. Anthony a-Wood (as before) and the usual authorities +state that our Crashaw became famous as a preacher: he became, says +Willmott, 'a preacher of great energy and power,' _id est_, in England, +and therefore while still belonging to the Church of England. I have an +impression that somehow the son has been confounded with the father, +whose renown as a preacher was lasting; just as it seems certain that +son and father have been confounded by the continuous editors of +Selden's 'Table-Talk,' wherein the illustrious Thinker recounts +somewhat proudly that he had converted Crashaw from his opposition to +stage-plays. We may as well expiscate this point here. The younger +Crashaw, then, never expressed himself, so far as is known, against +stage-plays: contrari-wise, in his fine Epigram on Ford's 'Love's +Sacrifice' and 'Broken Heart' he is in sympathy with these +'stage-plays.' On the other hand, in one of his most impassioned +sermons, his father had, with characteristic pungency, condemned 'Plaies +and Players'--as given below.[17] To return: be this as it may in the +matter of 'preaching,' the matter-of-fact is, that our Crashaw retained +his Fellowship up to his ejection on the 11th of June 1644 (vol. i. pp. +xxxiii.-iv.), or when he was in his 32d-33d year; or, as gentle Father +Southwell gently put it, about his 'dear Lord's' age. We get a glimpse +of his religious life while a Protestant, in the original 'Preface to +the Reader' of 'Steps to the Temple,' &c. as follows: 'Reader, we stile +his Sacred Poems, Steps to the Temple, and aptly; for in the Temple of +God, under His wing, he led his life, in St. Marie's Church neere St. +Peter's Colledge: there he lodged under Tertullian's roofe of angels; +there he made his nest more gladly than David's swallow neere the house +of God, where, like a primitive saint, he offered more prayers in the +night than others usually offer in the day; there he penned these poems, +STEPS for happy soules to climbe heaven by' (vol. i. p. xlvii.). +Coinciding with this is the love he had for the writings of 'Sainte +Teresa,' when (in his own words) 'the Author' of 'A Hymn to the Name +and Honor of the admirable Sainte Teresa' was 'yet among the +Protestants.' In his 'Apologie for the foregoing Hymn'--than which, for +subtle, delicate, fin_est_ mysticism, in words that are not so much +words as music, and yet definite words too, changing with the quick +bright changes of a dove's neck, there is hardly anything truer--the +Poet traces up his devotion to her to his 'reading' of her books; as +thus: + + 'Thus haue I back again to thy bright name, + Fair floud of holy fires! transfus'd the flame + I took from reading thee.... + ... O pardon, if I dare to say + Thine own dear bookes are guilty.' (vol. i. p. 150.) + +The words of the Preface (as above) remind us also that Crashaw took his +part in the Fasts and Vigils and austerities of the Ferrars and the +saintly, if ascetic, 'Little Gidding' group.[18] Going back on the +'Hymn,' such lines as these show how even then the Poet had drunk-in the +very passion of Teresa: _e.g._ + + 'Loue toucht her heart, and, lo, it beates + High, and burnes with such braue heates, + Such thirsts to dy, as dares drink vp + _A thousand cold deathes in one cup_. + Good reason: for she breathes all fire; + Her white breast heaues with strong desire. + . . . . . + Sweet, not so fast! lo, thy fair Spouse, + Whom thou seekst with so swift vowes, + Calls thee back, and bidds thee come + T'embrace a milder martyrdom. + Blest powres forbid thy tender life + Should bleed vpon a barbarous knife: + Or some base hand have power to raze + Thy brest's chast cabinet, and vncase + A soul kept there so sweet: O no, + Wise Heaun will neuer haue it so. + Thou art Love's victime, and must dy + A death more mystical and high: + Into Loue's armes thou shalt let fall + A still-suruiuing funerall. + His is the dart must make the death + Whose stroke shall tast thy hallow'd breath; + A dart thrice dipt in that rich flame + Which writes thy Spouse's radiant name + Vpon the roof of Heau'n, where ay + It shines; and with a soueraign ray + Beates bright vpon the burning faces + Of soules which in that Name's sweet graces + Find everlasting smiles. . . + O how oft shalt thou complain + Of a sweet and subtle pain; + Of intolerable ioyes; + Of a death, in which who dyes + Loues his death, and dyes again, + And would for ever so be slain, + And liues and dyes; and knowes not why + To live, but that he thus may neuer leaue to dy.' + +It is deeply significant to find such a Hymn as that written while 'yet +among the Protestants.' Putting the two things together--(_a_) his +recluse, shy, meditative life 'under Tertullian's roofe of angels,' and +his prayers THERE in the night; (_b_) his passionately sympathetic +reading, as of Teresa, and going forth of his most spiritual yearnings +after the 'sweet and subtle pain,' and Love's death 'mystical and +high'--we get at the secret of the 'change' now being considered. +However led to it, Crashaw's reading lay among books that were as fuel +to fire brought to a naturally mystical and supersensitive temperament; +and however formed and nurtured, such self-evidently was his +temperament. His innate mysticism drew him to such literature, and the +literature fed what perchance demanded rather to be neutralised.[19] I +feel satisfied one main element of the attraction of Roman Catholicism +for him was the nutriment and nurture for his profoundest though most +perilous spiritual experiences in its Writers. His great-brained, +strong-thewed father would have dismissed such 'intolerable ioyes' as +morbid sentimentalism; but the nervous, finely and highly-strung +organisation of his son was as an Æolian harp under their touch. To all +this must be added certain local influences, and ultimately the crash of +the Ejection. The history of the University during the period of +Crashaw's residence makes it plain that there was then, as later, a +revival of what may be technically called Ritualism--as an intended +help-meet to Faith--and that by some of the most cultured and gracious +scholars of the Colleges. I am not vindicating, much less judging such, +any more than would I 'sit in judgment' on the Ritualist revival of our +own day, _i.e._ of its adherents. For myself, I find it a diviner and +grander thing to 'walk by faith' rather than by 'sight,' and not +'bodied' but 'disembodied truth' the more spiritual. But to not a +few--and to such as Crashaw--the sensible, the visible, the actually +looked-at--sanctified with the hoar of centuries--light up and +etherealise. Contemporary records show that the chapel of +Peterhouse--Crashaw's college--which was built in 1632, and consecrated +by Francis White, Bishop of Ely, was a 'handsome' one, having a +beautiful ceiling and a noble east window--its glass 'hid away in the +troublesome times.' Among the benefactors to its building were +(afterwards bishops) Cosin and Wren, and also Shelford, whose 'Five +learned Discourses' were graced with a noticeable 'commendatory poem' +by Crashaw (vol. ii. pp. 162-5). Before this chapel was built the +society made use of the chancel of the adjacent church of Little St. +Mary's, into which there was a door from Peterhouse College. The reader +may at this point turn to our poet's heart-broken 'pleadings' for the +'restoration' of his College, now made 'to speak English.' On all which, +and the like, dear old Fuller, in his History of the University, thus +speaks, under a somewhat later date (1642), but _the_ very +turning-period with Crashaw: 'Now began the University to be much +beautified in buildings; every college, after casting its skin with the +snake, or renewing its bill with the eagle, having their courts, or at +least their fronts and gatehouse, repaired and adorned. But the greatest +attention was in their chapels, most of them being graced with the +accession of organs,' &c. + +Contemporary records farther lead us to Peterhouse and Pembroke Colleges +as specially 'visited' and 'spoiled' in the Commission from the +Parliament in 1643 to remove crosses. We may read one 'report' out of +many. 'Mr. Horscot: We went to Peterhouse, 1643, Dec. 21, with officers +and soldiers, and [in] the presence [of] Mr. Wilson, of the president +Mr. Francis, Mr. Maxy and other Fellows, Dec. 20 and 23, we pulled down +two mighty great angells with wings, and divers other angells and the +four Evangelists and Peter with his keies, over the Chappell Dore, and +about a hundred cherubims and angells and divers superstitious letters +in gold; and at the upper end of the chancel these words were written as +followeth: "Hic locus est Domini Dei, nil aliud et Porta coeli." +Witness, Will. Dowsing, Geo. Long.' Farther: 'These words were written +at Keie's Coll. and not at Peterhouse, but about the walls were written +in Latin, "We prays thee ever;" and on some of the images was written +"Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus;" or other, "Gloria Dei et Gloria Patri," +and "Non nobis Domine;" and six angells in the windowes.' So at +Pembroke, 'We brake and pulled down 80 superstitious pictures;' and so +at Little St. Mary's, 'We brake down 60 superstitious pictures, some +Popes and crucifixes and God the Father sitting in a chayer and holding +a glass in his hand.' Looking on the since famous names of Peterhouse +and Pembroke (Spenser's college)--Cosin, Wren, Shelford, Tournaye, +Andrewes--they at once suggest ritualistic, if not Roman Catholic, +proclivities. + +Thus from all sides came potent influences of personal friendship--of +his friends and associates more onward--to give impulse and _momentum_ +to Crashaw's mystical Roman-Catholic sympathies. The 'Ejection' of 1644 +found Crashaw in the very heart of these influences, not swayed simply, +but mastered by them. To one so secluded and unworldly, a crisis in +which the pillars of the throne were shattered, and in which not the +many for the one, but the one rather than the many, must be sacrificed, +was a dazing bewilderment, and terror, and agony. All was chaos and +weltering confusion; no resting-place in England for his dove-feet: +dissonance, blasphemy as he weened, came to his shuddering heart: he saw +the lifting-up of anchors never before lifted, and the Church drifting, +drifting away aimlessly and helplessly (as he misjudged). Moses-like, he +looked this way and that way, and saw no man--saw not The Man--and +failed, I fear, to look UP, because of his very agony of looking down +and in. And so, in his tremor and sorrow and weariness, he passed over +to Roman Catholicism as the 'ideal' of his reading, and as the 'home' of +the sainted ones whose words were as manna to his spirit. Not a strong, +defiant, masterful soul, by any means--frail, timorous, shrinking, +rather--he would 'fly away,' even if out to the wilderness, to be 'at +rest.' The very 'inner life' of God was in his soft gentle heart, and +that he carried with him through after-years, as Cowley bore brave +witness by his magnanimous title of 'Saint.' Conscience +too--ill-instructed possibly, yet true to its light, if true also to +feelings that ought to have been wrestled with, not succumbed to--went +with him: and what of God's grace is in a man keeps him, wherever +ecclesiastically he may abide. + +Such is our solution of the 'change' of Crashaw from Protestantism to +Catholicism. It is sheer fanaticism to rave against the 'change,' and to +burrow for ignoble motives. Gross ignorance of the facts of the period +is betrayed by any one who harshly 'judges' that the humble 'ejected +Fellow' made a worldly 'gain' by his 'change.' Nay verily, it was no +'gain,' in that paltry sense, for an Englishman then to become a Roman +Catholic. It was to invite obloquy, misconstruction, 'evil-speaking.' In +Crashaw's case he had wealthy uncles and aunts, and other relatives, who +should have amply provided for him, and 'sheltered' him through the +'troublous times.' Prynne's 'Legenda Lignea, with an Answer to Mr. +Birchley's Moderator (pleading for a Toleration of Popery) and a +Character of some hopeful saints revolted to the Church of Rome' (1653), +is brutal as it is inaccurate; but it must be adduced as an example of +what 'Revolters' (so called) had to endure, albeit Crashaw was gone into +the silences whither no clamour reaches, when the bitter book came +forth. 'Master Richard Crashaw (son to the London divine, and sometime +Fellow of St. Peterhouse in Cambridge) is another slip of the times that +is transplanted to Rome. This peavish sillie seeker glided away from his +principles in a poetical vein of fancy and impertinent curiosity, and +finding that verses and measured flattery took and much pleased some +female wits, Crashaw crept by degrees into favour and acquaintance with +some court ladies, and with the gross commendations of their parts and +beauties (burnished and varnished with some other agreeable adulations) +he got first the estimation of an innocent, harmless convert; and a +purse being made by some deluded, vain-glorious ladies and their +friends, the poet was despatched on a pilgrimage to Rome, where, if he +had found in the see Pope Urban the Eighth instead of Pope Innocent, he +might possibly have received a greater quantity and a better number of +benedictions; for Urban was as much a pretender to be prince and +oecumenical patron of poets as head of the Church; but Innocent being +more harsh and dry, the poor small poet Crashaw met with none of the +generation and kindred of Mecænas, nor any great blessing from his +Holiness; which misfortune puts the pitiful wier-drawer to a humour of +admiring his own raptures; and in this fancy (like Narcissus) he is +fallen in love with his own shadow, conversing with himself in verse, +and admiring the birth of his own brains; he is only laughed at, or at +most but pitied, by his few patrons, who, conceiving him unworthy of any +preferment in their Church, have given him leave to live (like a lean +swine almost ready to starve) in a poor mendicant quality; and that +favour is granted only because Crashaw can rail as satirically and +bitterly at true religion in verse as others of his grain and complexion +can in prose and loose discourses: this fickle shuttlecock, so tost with +every changeable puff and blast, is rather to be laughed at and scorned +for his ridiculous levity than imitated in his sinful and notorious +apostacy and revolt' (cxxxviii.). + +The short and crushing answer to all this Billingsgate is: The poems of +Crashaw are now fully before the reader, and he will not find, from the +first page to the last, one line answering to Prynne's jaundiced +representations: 'flatteries,' 'adulations,' 'railings,' you look for in +vain. The wistfulness of persuasion of the Verse-Letter to the Countess +of Denbigh would have been trampled on as a blind man or a boor +tramples on a bed of pansies, by the grim lawyer-Puritan. Then, the very +lowliness and (alleged) mendicancy of his post in the Church of Rome +might have suggested a grain of charity, seeing that worldly advancement +could not be motive to an all-but friendless scholar. As to the 'birth +of his own brains,' and 'conversing with himself in verse,' would that +we had more such 'births' and 'conversings'! Other accusations are +malignant gossip, where they are not nonsense. Far different is the +spirit of Dr. John Bargrave; whose MS. has at last been worthily edited +and published for the Camden Society.[20] His notice of Crashaw at Rome +is as follows: 'When I went first of my four times to Rome, there were +there four revolters to the Roman Church that had been Fellows of +Peterhouse in Cambridge with myself. The name of one of them was Mr. R. +Crashaw, who was one of the _Seguita_ (as their term is): that is, an +attendant or of the followers of this Cardinal, for which he had a +salary of crowns by the month (as the custom is), but no diet. Mr. +Crashaw infinitely commended his Cardinal, but complained extremely of +the wickedness of those of his retinue; of which he, having the +Cardinal's ear, complained to him. Upon which the Italians fell so far +out with him that the Cardinal, to secure his life, was fain to put him +from his service, and procuring him some small employ at the Lady's of +Loretto; whither he went on pilgrimage in summer time, and, overheating +himself, died in four weeks after he came thither, and it was doubtful +whether he was not poisoned' (p. 37). That brings before us a true, +white-souled Man 'of God,' resolute to 'speak out,' whoever sinned in +his sight; and it is blind sectarianism to deny that, from the noble and +holy Loyola to our own Faber and Spencer and the living Newman, the +Church of Rome has never been without dauntless preachers of the very +righteousness of God, or unhesitant rebukers of the wickedness, +immoralities, and frivolities of their co-religionists. The suspicion of +'poyson' I am unwilling to accept. Onward I shall give our recovered +record of his death. Summarily, then, the 'change' of Crashaw from +Protestantism to Roman Catholicism had its root and carries its solution +in his 'mystical' dreamy temperament and yearnings, as these were +over-encouraged instead of controlled; and as formative influences there +were--(_a_) his reading in Teresa and kindred literature, until not +'hands,' but brain and heart, imagination and fancy, grew into the +elements wherein they wrought--as one finds sprays of once-green moss +and delicate-carven ferns changed by the dripping limestone into +limestone: (_b_) the ritualistic revival being in the hands of those +most loved and trusted, and from whom he fetched whatever of spiritual +life and peace and joy and hope was in him--these too being of stronger +will, and decisive in opinion and action--his vague 'feeling-after' rest +was centred in the Rest of ideal Roman Catholicism: (_c_) the confusions +and strifes of the transition-period of the Commonwealth terrified and +wounded him; he mistook the crash of falling scaffolding, whose end was +served, for the falling of the everlasting skies; saw not their serene +shining beyond the passing clouds, lightning-charged for divine +clarifying; and a 'quiet retreat,' which Imagination beckoned him to, +won him to 'hide' there his weeping and dismay. Nothing sordid or +expedient, or facing-both-ways, or unworthy, moved him to 'change.' +Every one who has self-respect based on self-knowledge, and who thus has +experienced the mystery of his deepest beliefs, will make all gentlest +allowances, hold all tenderest sympathies with him, and feel the coarse +abuse of Prynne and later as a personal wrong. Richard Crashaw was a +true 'man of God,' and acted, I believe, in sensitive allegiance to his +conscience as it spake to him. 'Change,' even fundamental change, in +such a man is to be accepted without reserve as 'honest' and righteous +and God-fearing. He dared not sign the 'Solemn League and Covenant,' +however 'solemn' it might be to others; and so he went out.[21] I pass +to-- + +II. _His friends and associates, as celebrated in his writings._ I use +the word 'Writings' here rather than 'Poems,' because in his Epistles, +_e.g._ to the 'Epigrammata' and those printed by us for the first time, +as well as in his Poetry, names are found over which one pauses +instinctively. Commencing with his school-days at the Charterhouse, +there is Robert Brooke, 'Master' ('Preceptor') from 1628 to 1643.[22] +Very little has come down to us concerning him, and the present head of +the renowned School has been unable to add to Alexander Chalmers' +testimony, 'A very celebrated Master.' All the more have I pleasure in +inviting attention to the new 'Epistola' and related poems addressed to +him, and which must be studied along with the previous poem, +'Ornatissimo viro præceptori suo colendissimo, Magistro Brook' (vol. ii. +pp. 319); and perhaps the humorous and genial serio-comic celebration of +'Priscianus' grew from some school-incident (vol. ii. pp. 308, 315) +having in the latter year, like Crashaw, been 'ejected' from the +Charterhouse for not taking the 'Solemn League and Covenant.' He had +been usher from 1626 to 1628. An apartment in the building is still +called from him Brooke Hall ('Chronicles,' pp. 129, 159). + +The next prominent name is that of Benjamin Lany--sometimes Laney, as in +Masson's Milton (i. 97)--afterwards successively Bishop of Peterborough +and Lincoln and Ely. We have already noted his marked Protestantism in +the verse-eulogy of the elder Crashaw, so that probably it was as his +father's son, Lany, then Master of Pembroke, received our Worthy there. +Lany was of the 'ejected' in 1644. The present Bishop of Ely, with all +willingness to help us, found no MSS. or biographic materials in his +custody. When may we hope each bishopric will find a qualified +historian-biographer? A portrait of Lany is in the Master's Lodge at the +Charterhouse ('Chronicles,' 1847, p. 140). + +Crashaw's tutor at Pembroke was 'Master Tournay,' to whose praise and +friendship he dedicates a Latin poem (vol. ii. pp. 371 et sqq.). Dr. +Ward, Master of Sidney College, writes to Archbishop Usher thus of him: +'We have had some doings here of late about one of Pembroke Hall, who, +preaching in St. Mary's, about the beginning of Lent, upon that text, +James ii. 22, seemed to avouch the insufficiency of faith to +justification, and to impugn the doctrine of our 11th Article, of +Justification by faith only; for which he was convented by the +Vice-Chancellor, who was willing to accept of an easy acknowledgment; +but the same party preaching his Latin sermon, _pro Gradu_, the last +week, upon Rom. iii. 28, he said he came not _palinodiam canere, sed +eandem cantilenam canere_; which moved our Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Love, to +call for his sermon, which he refused to deliver. Whereupon, upon +Wednesday last, being Barnaby Day, the day appointed for the admission +of the Bachelors of Divinity, which must answer _Die Comitiorum_, he was +stayed by the major part of the suffrages of the Doctors of the +faculty.... The truth is, there are some Heads among us that are great +abettors of M. Tournay, the party above mentioned, who, no doubt, are +backed by others' (June 14, 1643. Life of Parr, p. 470: Willmott, 1st +series, pp. 302-3). In relation to Tournay's heresy on 'Justification,' +it is profoundly interesting, biographically, to remember Crashaw's most +striking Latin poems--so carelessly overlooked, if not impudently +suppressed, by Turnbull--first published by Crashaw in the volume of +1648, viz. 'Fides, quæ sola justificat, non est sine spe et dilectione,' +and 'Baptismus non tollit futura peccata.' The student will do well to +turn to these two poems in their places (vol. ii. pp. 209, 216).[23] + +Robert Shelford, 'of Ringsfield in Suffolk, Priest,' was another +'_suspect_:' as in Huntley's [ = Prynne] _Breviate_ (3d ed. 1637, p. +308) we read, 'Master Shelford hath of late affirmed in print, that the +Pope was never yet defined to be the Antichrist by any Synods.' More +vehemently writes Usher to Dr. Ward (Sept. 15, 1635): 'But while we +strive here to maintain the purity of our ancient truth, how cometh it +to pass that you at Cambridge do cast such stumbling-blocks in our way, +by publishing unto the world such rotten stuff as Shelford hath vented +in his Five Discourses; wherein he hath so carried himself _ut famosi +Perni amanuensem possis agnoscere_. The Jesuits of England sent over the +book hither to assure them that we are now coming home to them as fast +as we can. I pray God this sin be not deeply laid to their charge, who +give an occasion to our blind thus to stumble' (as before). It was to +these 'Five Discourses' our Poet furnished a 'commendatory' poem--given +by us unmutilated from the volume (vol. i. pp. 162-5). Shelford, like +his friend, was of Peterhouse. Another college-friend was William Herrys +(or Herries or Harris), who was of Essex. He died in October 1631. He +was of Pembroke and Christ's. The poems and 'Epitaph' consecrated to his +memory are in various ways remarkable. But beyond a few college-dates, I +have failed to recover notices of him. He seems to have been to Crashaw +what young King was to Milton and his fellow-students (vol. i. pp. +220-30; vol. ii. pp. 378 et sqq.).[24] So with James Stanninow (or +Staninough), 'fellow of Queene's Colledge'--the poem on whose death was +first printed by us (vol. i. pp. 290-92). He has a Latin poem prefixed +to Isaacson's 'Chronology' (our vol. i. pp. 246-49).[25] So too with +'Master Chambers,' of the fine pathetic hitherto anonymous poem 'Vpon +the death of a Gentleman' (vol. i. pp. 218-19). Neither have I been able +to add one syllable to the name and heading: 'An Epitaph vpon Mr. +Ashton, a conformable citizen.' Wren, Cosin, and others of Cambridge, +not being named by Crashaw, do not come under these remarks. The new +poems on Dr. Porter (vol. i. pp. 293-4), Dr. Mansell (vol. ii. p. 323), +and others, explain themselves--with our notes. Of Cardinal Palotta, or +Palotto, we get most satisfying glimpses in Dr. Bargrave's volume +(already quoted). The Protestant Canon's testimony is: 'He is very +papable [placable], and esteemed worthy by all, especially the princes +that know his virtue and qualities, being a man of angelical life; and +Rome would be glad to see him Pope, to pull down the pride of the +Barberini. Innocent the Xth, now reigning, hath a great regard for him, +though his kindred care not for him, because he speaketh his mind freely +of them to the Pope' (p. 36).[26] + +It only remains that I notice our Crashaw's friendship with (_a_) +Abraham Cowley; (_b_) the Countess of Denbigh. + +(_a_) ABRAHAM COWLEY. Of the alternate-poem on Hope, composed by Cowley +and Crashaw (vol. i. pp. 175-181), and that 'Vpon two greene Apricockes +sent to Cowley by Sir Crashaw' (ib. pp. 269-70), more in our next +division. These remain as the ever-enduring 'memorial' of their +friendship, while the thought-full, love-full 'Elegy,' devoted by the +survivor to the memory of his Friend, can never pale of its glory (vol. +i. pp. xxxvi.-viii.). All honour to Cowley that he kept the traduced +'Apostate' and 'Revolter' in his heart-of-hearts, and 'sought' him out +in his lowly 'lodgings' in the gay, and yet (to him) sad Paris. It is my +purpose one day worthily to reproduce the Works of this in form +fantastic, but in substance most intellectual, of our Poets; and I shall +have then, perhaps, something additional to communicate on this +beautiful Friendship. They had appeared together as Poets in the 'Voces +Votivæ.' The various readings show that Cowley's portion of Hope was +revised in Paris; and this, with the gift of the 'apricockes,' expresses +that they had some pleasant intercourse.[27] + +(_b_) COUNTESS OF DENBIGH. By the confiding goodness of the present Earl +and Countess of Denbigh, I have, among my 'Sunny Memories,' most +pleasant hours of a long summer day spent in examining the Library and +family MSS. and portraits at Newnham Paddox, and a continued and +sympathetic correspondence, supplemented with kindred helpfulness on the +part of the good Father-priest of the house. It is one of the anomalies +of our national historic Biography that the sister of Buckingham--Susan, +daughter of Sir George Villiers, of Brokesby, first Countess of +Denbigh--should have died and made no 'sign,' and left no memorial; for +it is absolutely unknown when or where she did die. But as it is known +that _she_ became a Roman Catholic,[28] while it is not known that +Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Edward Bourchier, Earl of Bath, who +became third wife (of four) of Basil, second Earl of Denbigh, so +'changed,' we must conclude that Turnbull and others are mistaken in +regarding the latter as Crashaw's 'patron' and friend. The family-papers +show that Susan Countess of Denbigh was a lady of intellect and force; +equally do they show that Elizabeth Bourchier was (to say the least) +un-literary. I have from Newnham Paddox a sheaf of rarely-vivid and +valuable Letters of 'Susan'--with some of 'Elizabeth;' and if I can only +succeed in discovering the date of the former's death, so as to +determine whether she was living up to Crashaw's death in 1650, or +thereby--as dowager-countess--I intend to prepare a short Monograph on +her, wherein I shall print, for the first time, such a series of Letters +as will compare with any ever given to the world; and I should greatly +like to engrave her never-yet engraved magnificent face at Newnham +Paddox. For the present, a digression may be allowed, in order to +introduce, as examples of these recovered Letters, a short and +creditable one from Buckingham to his mother, and one from Susan, +Countess of Denbigh, to her son; others, that are long and fact-full, +hereafter (as _supra_). These in order: + + +I. Buckingham to his Mother [undated]: + + Dere Mother,--Give me but as many blessings and pardons as I shall + make falts, and then you make happie + + Your most obedient Sonne, + + For my Mother. BUCKINGHAM. + + +II. Susan, Countess of Denbigh, to Lord Fielding: + + My deere Sone,--The king dothe approve well of your going into + Spane, and for my part I thinke it will be the best of your traviles + by reson that the king doth discours moust of that plase. I am much + afflicted for feare of Mr. Mason, but I hope our Lord well send him + well home againe. I pray do not torment me with your going into the + danger of the plauge any more. So with my blessing I take my leave. + + Your loveing Mother, + + For my deare Sonne theise. SU. DENBIGH. + + +The Verse-Letters to the Countess of Denbigh (vol. i. pp. 295-303) will +be read with renewed interest in the light of the all-but certain fact +that it was Susan, sister of Buckingham--every way a memorable +woman--who was 'persuaded' by Crashaw to 'join' Roman Catholicism, as +did her mother.[29] Reverting to the names which I have endeavoured to +commemorate, where hitherto scarcely anything has been known, it will be +perceived that the circle of Crashaw's friendships was a narrow one, and +touched mainly the two things--his University career, and his great +'change' religiously or rather ecclesiastically. Of the Poets of his +period, except Cowley and Ford, no trace remains as known to or +influential over him. When Crashaw entered Cambridge, Giles Fletcher +had been dead ten years; Phineas Fletcher and Herrick had left about the +same number of years; Herbert, for four or five; and Milton was just +going. His most choice friends were among the mighty dead. Supreme names +later lay outside of his access. I wish he had met--as he might have +done--Milton. I pass next to + +III. _His characteristics and place as a Poet._ It is something 'new +under the sun' that it should be our privilege well-nigh to double the +quantity of the extant Poetry of such a Singer as Richard Crashaw, by +printing, for the first time, the treasure-trove of the Sancroft-Tanner +MSS.; and by translating (also for the first time) the whole of his +Latin poetry. Every element of a true poetic faculty that belongs to his +own published Poems is found in the new, while there are new traits +alike of character and genius; and our Translations must be as the +'raising' of the lid of a gem-filled casket, shut to the many for these +(fully) two hundred years. The admirer of Crashaw hitherto has thus his +horizon widened, and I have a kind of feeling that perchance it were +wiser to leave the completed Poetry to make its own impression on those +who come to it. Nevertheless I must, however briefly, fulfil my promise +of an estimate of our Worthy. Four things appear to me to call for +examination, in order to give the essentials of Crashaw as a Poet, and +to gather his main characteristics: (_a_) Imaginative-sensuousness; +(_b_) Subtlety of emotion; (_c_) Epigrams; (_d_) Translations and +(briefly) Latin and Greek Poetry. I would say a little on each. + +(_a_) _Imaginative-sensuousness._ Like 'charity' for 'love,' the word +'sensuous' has deteriorated in our day. It is, I fear, more than in +sound and root confused with 'sensual,' in its base application. I use +it as Milton did, in the well-known passage when he defined Poetry to be +'simple, _sensuous_, and passionate;' and I qualify 'sensuousness' with +'imaginative,' that I may express our Poet's peculiar gift of looking at +everything with a full, open, penetrative eye, yet through his +imagination; his imagination not being as spectacles (coloured) astride +the nose, but as a light of white glory all over his intellect and +entire faculties. Only Wordsworth and Shelley, and recently Rossetti and +Jean Ingelow, are comparable with him in this. You can scarcely err in +opening on any page in your out-look for it. The very first poem, 'The +Weeper,' is lustrous with it. For example, what a grand reach of +'imaginative' comprehensiveness have we so early as in the second +stanza, where from the swimming eyes of his 'Magdalene' he was, as it +were, swept upward to the broad transfigured sky in its wild +ever-varying beauty of the glittering silver rain! + + 'Heauns thy fair eyes be; + Heauens of ever-falling starres. + 'Tis seed-time still with thee; + And starres thou sow'st whose haruest dares + Promise the Earth to counter-shine + Whateuer makes heaun's forehead fine.' + +How grandly vague is that 'counter-shine _whatever_,' as it leads +upwards to the 'forehead'--superb, awful, God-crowned--of the 'heauns'! +Of the same in kind, but unutterably sweet and dainty also in its +exquisiteness, is stanza vii.: + + 'The deaw no more will weep _dew_ + The primrose's pale cheek to deck: + The deaw no more will sleep + Nuzzel'd in the lily's neck; + Much rather would it be thy tear, + And leaue them both to tremble there.' + +Wordsworth's vision of the 'flashing daffodils' is not finer than this. +A merely realistic Poet (as John Clare or Bloomfield) would never have +used the glorious singular, 'thy tear,' with its marvellous +suggestiveness of the multitudinous dew regarding itself as outweighed +in everything by one 'tear' of such eyes. Every stanza gives a text for +commentary; and the rapid, crowding questions and replies of the Tears +culminate in the splendid homage to the Saviour in the conclusion, +touched with a gentle scorn: + + 'We goe not to seek + The darlings of Aurora's bed, + The rose's modest cheek, + Nor the violet's humble head, + Though the feild's eyes too Weepers be, + Because they want such teares as we. + Much lesse mean to trace + The fortune of inferior gemmes, + Preferr'd to some proud face, + Or pertch't vpon fear'd diadems: + _Crown'd heads are toyes. We goe to meet_ + A worthy object, our _Lord's feet_.' + +'Feet' at highest; mark the humbleness, and the fitness too. Even more +truly than of Donne (in Arthur Wilson's Elegy) may it be said of +Crashaw, here and elsewhere, thou 'Couldst give both life and sense unto +a flower,'--faint prelude of Wordsworth's 'meanest flower.' + +Dr. Macdonald (in 'Antiphon') is perplexingly unsympathetic, or, if I +may dare to say it, wooden, in his criticism on 'The Weeper;' for while +he characterises it generally as 'radiant of delicate fancy,' he goes +on: 'but surely such tones are not worthy of flitting moth-like about +the holy sorrow of a repentant woman! Fantastically beautiful, they but +play with her grief. Sorrow herself would put her shoes off her feet in +approaching the weeping Magdalene. They make much of her indeed, but +they show her little reverence. There is in them, notwithstanding their +fervour of amorous words, a coldness, like that which dwells in the +ghostly beauty of icicles shining in the moon' (p. 239). Fundamentally +blundering is all this: for the Critic ought to have marked how the +Poet's 'shoes' are put off his feet in approaching the weeping +Magdalene; but that _she_ is approached as far-back in the Past or in a +Present wherein her tears have been 'wiped away,' so that the poem is +dedicate not so much to The Weeper as to her Tears, as things of beauty +and pricelessness. Mary, 'blessed among women,' is remembered all +through; and just as with her Divine Son we must 'sorrow' in the vision +of His sorrows, we yet have the remembrance that they are all done, +'finished;' and thus we can expatiate on them not with grief so much as +joy. The prolongation of 'The Weeper' is no 'moth-like flitting about +the holy sorrow of a repentant woman,' but the never-to-be-satisfied +rapture over the evidence of a 'godly sorrow' that has worked to +repentance, and in its reward given loveliness and consecration to the +tears shed. The moon 'shining on icicles' is the antithesis of the +truth. Thus is it throughout, as in the backgrounds of the great +Portrait-painters as distinguished from Land-scapists and Sea-scapists +and Sky-scapists--Crashaw inevitably works out his thoughts through +something he has looked at as transfigured by his imagination, so that +you find his most mystical thinking and feeling framed (so to say) with +images drawn from Nature. That he did look not at but into Nature, let +'On a foule Morning, being then to take a Journey,' and 'To the Morning; +Satisfaction for Sleepe,' bear witness. In these there are penetrative +'looks' that Wordsworth never has surpassed, and a richness almost +Shakesperean. Milton must have studied them keenly. There is this +characteristic also in the 'sensuousness' of Crashaw, that while the +Painter glorifies the ignoble and the coarse (as Hobbima's Asses and +red-cloaked Old Women) in introducing it into a scene of Wood, or +Way-side, or Sea-shore, his outward images and symbolism are worthy in +themselves, and stainless as worthy (passing exceptions only +establishing the rule). His epithets are never superfluous, and are, +even to surprising nicety, true. Thus he calls Egypt '_white_ Egypt' +(vol. i. p. 81); and occurring as this does 'In the glorious Epiphanie +of ovr Lord God,' we are reminded again how the youthful Milton must +have had this extraordinary composition in his recollection when he +composed his immortal Ode.[30] Similarly we have '_hir'd_ mist' (vol. i. +p. 84); '_pretious_ losse' (ib.); '_fair-ey'd_ fallacy of Day' (ib. p. +85); '_black_ but faithfull perspectiue of Thee' (ib. p. 86); '_abasèd_ +liddes' (ib. p. 88); '_gratious_ robbery' (ib. p. 156); 'thirsts of +loue' (ib.); '_timerous_ light of starres' (ib. p. 172); '_rebellious_ +eye of Sorrow' (ib. p. 112); and so in hundreds of parallels. Take this +from 'To the Name above every Name' (ib. p. 60): + + 'O come away ... + O, see the weary liddes of wakefull Hope-- + Love's eastern windowes--all wide ope + With curtains drawn, + To catch the day-break of Thy dawn. + O, dawn at last, long-lookt-for Day, + Take thine own wings, and come away.' + +Comparing Cowley's and Crashaw's 'Hope,' Coleridge thus pronounces on +them: 'Crashaw seems in his poems to have given the first ebullience of +his imagination, unshapen into form, or much of what we now term +sweetness. In the poem Hope, by way of question and answer, his +superiority to Cowley is self-evident;' and he continues, 'In that on +the Name of Jesus, equally so; but his lines on St. Teresa are the +finest.' 'Where he does combine richness of thought and diction, nothing +can excel, as in the lines you so much admire, + + Since 'tis not to be had at home + . . . . . + She'l to the Moores and martyrdom.'[31] + +And then as never-to-be-forgotten 'glory' of the Hymn to Teresa, he +adds: 'these verses were ever present to my mind whilst writing the +second part of the Christabel; if indeed, by some subtle process of the +mind, they did not suggest the first thought of the whole poem' +(Letters and Conversations, 1836, i. 196). Coleridge makes another +critical remark which it may be worth while to adduce and perhaps +qualify. 'Poetry as regards small Poets may be said to be, in a certain +sense, conventional in its accidents and in its illustrations. Thus +[even] Crashaw uses an image "as sugar melts in tea away;" which +although _proper then_ and _true now_, was in bad taste at that time +equally with the present. In Shakespeare, in Chaucer, there was nothing +of this' (as before). The great Critic forgot that 'sugar' and 'tea' +were not vulgarised by familiarity when Crashaw wrote, that the wonder +and romance of their gift from the East still lay around them, and that +their use was select, not common. Thus later I explain Milton's +homeliness of allusion, as in the word 'breakfast,' and 'fell to,' and +the like; words and places and things that have long been not prosaic +simply, but demeaned and for ever unpoetised. I am not at all careful to +defend the 'sugar' and 'tea' metaphor; but it, I think, belongs also to +his imaginative-sensuousness, whereby orient awfulness almost, magnified +and dignified it to him. + +Moreover the canon in 'Antiphon' is sound: 'When we come, in the +writings of one who has revealed master-dom, upon any passage that seems +commonplace, or any figure that suggests nothing true, the part of +wisdom is to brood over that point; for the probability is that the +barrenness lies in us, two factors being necessary for the result of +sight--the thing to be seen, and the eye to see it. No doubt the +expression may be inadequate; but if we can compensate the deficiency by +adding more vision, so much the better for us' (p. 243). + +I thank Dr. George Macdonald[32] (in 'Antiphon') for his quaint opening +words on our Crashaw, and forgive him, for their sake, his blind reading +of 'The Weeper.' 'I come now to one of the loveliest of our angel-birds, +Richard Crashaw. Indeed, he was like a bird in more senses than one; for +he belongs to that class of men who seem hardly ever to get foot-hold of +this world, but are ever floating in the upper air of it' (p. 238). +True, and yet not wholly; or rather, if our Poet ascends to 'the upper +air,' and sings there with all the divineness of the skylark, like the +skylark his eyes fail not to over-watch the nest among the grain +beneath, nor his wings to be folded over it at the shut of eve. +Infinitely more, then, is to be found in Crashaw than Pope (in his +Letter to his friend Henry Cromwell) found: 'I take this poet to have +writ like a gentleman; that is, at leisure hours, and more to keep out +of idleness than to establish a reputation: so that nothing regular or +just can be expected of him. All that regards design, form, fable (which +is the soul of poetry), all that concerns exactness, or consent of parts +(which is the body), will probably be wanting; only pretty conceptions, +fine metaphors, glittering expressions, and something of a neat cast of +verse (which are properly the dress, gems, or loose ornaments of +poetry), may be found in these verses.' Nay verily, the form is often +exquisite; but 'neat' and 'pretty conceptions' applied to such verse is +as 'pretty' applied to Niagara--so full, strong, deep, thought-laden is +it. I have no wish to charge plagiarism on Pope from Crashaw, as +Peregrine Phillips did (see onward); but neither is the contemptuous as +ignorant answer by a metaphor of Hayley to be received. The two minds +were essentially different: Pope was talented, and used his talents to +the utmost; Crashaw had absolute as unique genius.[33] + +(_b_) _Subtlety of emotion._ Dr. Donne, in a memorable passage, with +daring originality, sings of Mrs. Drury rapturously: + + 'Her pure and eloquent soul + Spoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought, + That one might almost say her body thought.' + +I have much the same conception of Crashaw's thinking. It was so +emotional as almost always to tremble into feeling. Bare intellect, +'pure' (= naked) thought, you rarely come on in his Poems. The thought +issues forth from (in old-fashioned phrase) the heart, and its subtlety +is something unearthly even to awfulness. Let the reader give hours to +the study of the composition entitled 'In the glorious Epiphanie of ovr +Lord God, a Hymn svng as by the three Kings,' and 'In the holy Nativity +of ovr Lord God.' Their depth combined with elevation, their grandeur +softening into loveliness, their power with pathos, their awe bursting +into rapture, their graciousness and lyrical music, their variety and +yet unity, will grow in their study. As always, there is a solid +substratum of original thought in them; and the thinking, as so often in +Crashaw, is surcharged with emotion. If the thought may be likened to +fire, the praise, the rapture, the yearning may be likened to flame +leaping up from it. Granted that, as in fire and flame, there are +coruscations and jets of smoke, yet is the smoke that 'smoak' of which +Chudleigh in his Elegy for Donne sings: + + 'Incense of love's and fancie's _holy smoak_;' + +or, rather, that 'smoke' which filled the House to the vision of Isaiah +(vi. 4). The hymn 'To the admirable Sainte Teresa,' and the 'Apologie' +for it, and related 'Flaming Heart,' and 'In the glorious Assvmption of +our Blessed Lady,' are of the same type. Take this from the 'Flaming +Heart' (vol. i. p. 155): + + 'Leaue her ... the flaming heart: + Leaue her that, and thou shalt leaue her + Not one loose shaft, but Loue's whole quiver. + _For in Loue's feild was neuer found + A nobler weapon than a wovnd._ + Loue's passiues are his actiu'st part, + The wounded is the wounding heart. + . . . . . + Liue here, great heart; and loue and dy and kill, + And bleed and wound; and yeild and conquer still.' + +His homage to the Virgin is put into words that pass the bounds which we +Protestants set to the 'blessed among women' in her great renown, and +even while a Protestant Crashaw fell into what we must regard as the +strange as inexplicable forgetfulness that it is The _Man_, not The +Child, who is our ever-living High-Priest 'within the veil,' and that +not in His mother's bosom, but on the Throne of sculptured light, is His +place. Still, you recognise that the homage to the Virgin-mother is to +the Divine Son through her, and through her in fine if also mistaken +humility. 'Mary' is the Muse of Crashaw; the Lord Jesus his 'Lord' and +hers. I would have the reader spend willing time, in slowly, +meditatively reading the whole of our Poet's sacred Verse, to note how +the thinking thus thrills into feeling, and feeling into rapture--the +rapture of adoration. It is miraculous how he finds words wherewith to +utter his most subtle and vanishing emotion. Sometimes there is a +daintiness and antique richness of wording that you can scarcely equal +out of the highest of our Poets, or only in them. Some of his images +from Nature are scarcely found anywhere else. For example, take this +very difficult one of ice, in the Verse-Letter to the Countess of +Denbigh (vol. i. p. 298, ll. 21-26), 'persuading' her no longer to be +the victim of her doubts: + + 'So, when the Year takes cold, we see + Poor waters _their own prisoners be; + Fetter'd and lock'd-up fast they lie + In a cold self-captivity_. + Th' astonish'd Nymphs their Floud's strange fate deplore, + To find themselves their own severer shoar.' + +Young is striking in his use of the ice-metaphor: + + 'in Passion's flame + Hearts melt; but _melt like ice, soon harder froze_.' + + (Night-Thoughts, N. II. l. 522-3.) + +But how strangely original is the earlier Poet in so cunningly working +it into the very matter of his persuasion! Our quotation from Young +recalls that in the 'Night-Thoughts' there are evident reminiscences of +Crashaw: _e.g._ + + 'Midnight veil'd his face: + Not such as this, not such as Nature makes; + A midnight Nature shudder'd to behold; + A midnight new; a dread eclipse, without + Opposing spheres, from her Creator's frown.' + + (Night IV. ll. 246-250.) + +So in 'Gilt was Hell's gloom' (N. VII. l. 1041), and in this portrait of +Satan: + + 'Like meteors in a stormy sky, how roll + His baleful eyes!' (N. IX. ll. 280-1.) and + + 'the fiery gulf, + That flaming bound of wrath omnipotent;' (Ib. ll. 473-4) + +and + + 'Banners streaming as the comet's blaze;' (Ib. l. 323) + +and + + 'Which makes a hell of hell,' (Ib. l. 340) + +we have the impress and inspiration of our Poet. + +How infinitely soft and tender and Shakesperean is the 'Epitaph vpon a +yovng Married Covple dead and bvryed together' (with its now restored +lines), thus!-- + + 'Peace, good Reader, doe not weep; + Peace, the louers are asleep. + They, sweet turtles, folded ly + In the last knott that Loue could ty. + And though they ly as they were dead, + Their pillow stone, their sheetes of lead + (Pillow hard, and sheetes not warm), + Loue made the bed; they'l take no harm: + Let them sleep; let them sleep on, + Till this stormy night be gone, + And the æternall morrow dawn; + Then ...' (vol. i. pp. 230-1.) + +The hush, the tranquil stillness of a church-aisle, within which 'sleep' +old recumbent figures, comes over one in reading these most pathetically +beautiful words. Of the whole poem, Dodd in his 'Epigrammatists' (as +onward) remarks, 'after reading this Epitaph, all others on the same +subject must suffer by comparison. Yet there is much to be admired in +the following by Bishop Hall, on Sir Edward and Lady Lewkenor. It is +translated from the Latin by the Bishop's descendant and editor, the +Rev. Peter Hall (Bp. Hall's Works, 1837-9, xii. 331): + + 'In bonds of love united, man and wife, + Long, yet too short, they spent a happy life; + United still, too soon, however late, + Both man and wife receiv'd the stroke of fate: + And now in glory clad, enraptur'd pair, + The same bright cup, the same sweet draught they share. + Thus, first and last, a married couple see, + In life, in death, in immortality.' + +There is much beauty also in an anonymous epitaph in the 'Festoon' 143, +'On a Man and his Wife:' + + 'Here sleep, whom neither life nor love, + Nor friendship's strictest tie, + Could in such close embrace as thou, + Their faithful grave, ally; + Preserve them, each dissolv'd in each, + For bands of love divine, + For union only more complete, + Thou faithful grave, than thine.' (p. 253.) + +His 'Wishes to his (supposed) Mistresse' has things in it vivid and +subtle as anything in Shelley at his best; and I affirm this +deliberately. His little snatch on 'Easter Day' with some peculiarities, +culminates in a grandeur Milton might bow before. The version of 'Dies +Irae' is wonderfully severe and solemn and intense. Roscommon +undoubtedly knew it. And so we might go on endlessly. His melody--with +exceptional discords--is as the music of a Master, not mere +versification. Once read receptively, and the words haunt almost +awfully, and, I must again use the word, unearthlily. Summarily--as in +our claim for Vaughan, as against the preposterous traditional +assertions of his indebtedness to Herbert poetically, while really it +was for spiritual benefits he was obligated--we cannot for an instant +rank George Herbert as a Poet with Crashaw. Their piety is alike, or the +'Priest' of Bemerton is more definite, and clear of the 'fine mist' of +mysticism of the recluse of 'Little St. Mary's;' but only very rarely +have you in 'The Temple' that light of genius which shines as a very +Shekinah-glory in the 'Steps to the Temple.' These 'Steps' have been +spoken of as 'Steps' designed to lead into Herbert's 'Temple,' whereas +they were 'Steps' to the 'Temple' or Church of the Living God. Crashaw +'sang' sweetly and generously of Herbert (vol. i. pp. 139-140); but the +two Poets are profoundly distinct and independent. Clement Barksdale, +probably, must bear the blame of foolishly subordinating Crashaw to +Herbert, in his Lines in 'Nympha Libethris' (1651): + + +'HERBERT AND CRASHAW. + + + When unto Herbert's Temple I ascend + By Crashaw's Steps, I do resolve to mend + My lighter verse, and my low notes to raise, + And in high accent sing my Maker's praise. + Meanwhile these sacred poems in my sight + I place, that I may learn to write.' + +(_c_) _Epigrams._ The title-page of the Epigr. Sacra of 1670 marks out +for us their main dates; that is to say, as it designates him 'Collegii +Petrensis Socius,' which he was not until 1637, the only portion that +belongs to that period must be the additions made in the 1670 edition +(see vol. ii. pp. 3-4). Dr. Macdonald (in 'Antiphon') observes: 'His +Divine Epigrams are not the most beautiful, but they are to me the most +valuable, of his verses, inasmuch as they make us feel afresh the truth +which he sets forth anew. In them some of the facts of our Lord's life +and teaching look out upon us as from clear windows of the Past. As +epigrams, too, they are excellent--pointed as a lance' (p. 240). He +limits himself to the 'English' Epigrams, and quotes after above, Nos. +LIV. (2) and XI.; and continues with No. XIV., and next LIV. (1); on +which he says: 'I value the following as a lovely parable. Mary is not +contented; to see the place is little comfort. The church itself, with +all its memories of the Lord, the Gospel-story, and all theory about +Him, is but His tomb until we find Himself;' and he closes with one +which he thinks is 'perhaps his best,' viz. No. I.[34] We too may give +it: + + '_Two went up into the Temple to pray._ + Two went to pray! O, rather say, + One went to brag, th' other to pray. + One stands up close, and treads on high, + Where th' other dares not send his eye. + One neerer to God's altar trod; + The other to the altar's God.' (vol. ii. p. 35.) + +The admiring critic on this proceeds: 'This appears to me perfect. Here +is the true relation between the forms and the end of religion. The +priesthood, the altar and all its ceremonies, must vanish from between +the sinner and his God. When the priest forgets his mediation of a +servant, his duty of a door-keeper to the temple of truth, and takes +upon him the office of an intercessor, he stands between man and God, +and is a satan, an adversary. Artistically considered, the poem could +hardly be improved' (p. 241). 'Artistically,' nevertheless, it is a +wonder Dr. Macdonald did not detect Turnbull's mis-reading of 'lend' for +'send' (l. 4). Bellew in his Poet's Corner reads 'bend,' which is +equally poor for 'tendit.' There follows No. XLII., 'containing a +similar lesson;' and finally No. XLV. p. 196, whereof he says: 'The +following is a world-wide intercession for them that know not what they +do. Of those that reject the truth, who can be said ever to have truly +seen it? A man must be good to see truth. It is a thought suggested by +our Lord's words, not an irreverent opposition to the truth of them' +(p. 242). + +Now that, besides the (relatively) few Epigrams which were translated by +Crashaw himself, the whole are translated (for the first time), and now +too that, exclusive of longer Latin poems, a goodly addition has been +made by us to them, the reader will find it rewarding to turn and return +on this remarkable section of Crashaw's poetry. Conceits there are, +grotesque as gargoyles of a cathedral, oddities of symbolism, even +passing into unconscious playing with holy words and things never to be +played with; but each has a jewel of a distinct thought or sentiment, +and often the wording is felicitous, albeit, as in all his Latin verse, +not invariably without technical faults of quantity and even syntax. I +had marked very many for specific criticism; but I must refrain. Our +translation is perhaps a better commentary. To my co-workers and myself +it has been a labour of love. I must close our notice of Crashaw as an +Epigrammatist with some parallels from 'The Epigrammatists' of the Rev. +Henry Philip Dodd, M.A. (1870). Under No. CXVII., 'On Pontius Pilate +washing his hands,' he has this: 'In Elsum's Epigrams on Paintings, +1700, is one on a picture by Andrea Sacchi of Pilate washing his hands, +translated from Michael Silos, De Romana Pictura et Sculptura' (Ep. 17): + + 'O cursèd Pilate, villain dyed in grain, + A little water cannot purge thy stain; + No, Tanaïs can't do't, nor yet the main. + Dost thou condemn a Deity to death, + Him whose mere love gave and preserv'd thy breath?' + +Similarly, under No. LI. 'On the Blessed Virgin's Bashfulness,' he has +this: 'Some lines "To the Blessed Virgin at her Purification," by the +old epigrammatist Bancroft, are almost as beautiful in sentiment as +this exquisite piece (Book ii. 86): + + Why, favourite of Heaven, most fair, + Dost thou bring fowls for sacrifice? + Will not the armful thou dost bear, + That lovely Lamb of thine, suffice?' + +Of the exceptionally celebrated, not exceptionally superior Epigram on +'The Water turned Wine,' which somehow has been given by a perverse +continued blunder to Dryden, Aaron Hill's masterly translation may be +read along with those given by us in the place (vol. ii. pp. 96-7): + + 'When Christ at Cana's feast by pow'r divine + Inspir'd cold water with the warmth of wine; + See! cried they, while in red'ning tide it gush'd, + The bashful stream hath seen its God, and _blush'd_.' + +Dryden's 'The conscious water saw its God, and blush'd,' is a mere +remembrance of Crashaw.[35] + +(_d_) _Translations and (briefly) Latin and Greek Poetry._ It may seem +semi-paradoxical to affirm it, but in our opinion the genius of Crashaw +shines with its fullest splendour in his Translations, longer and +shorter. Even were there not his wonderful 'Suspicion of Herod' and +'Musick's Duell,' this might be said; for in his 'Dies Irae,' and +'Hymne out of Sainte Thomas,' and others lesser, there are felicities +that only a genuine Maker could have produced. His 'Dies Irae' was the +earliest version in our language. Roscommon and Scott alike wrote after +and 'after' it. But it is on the two truly great Poems named we found +our estimate. Turning to 'Musick's Duell,' as we ask the reader to do +now (vol. i. 197-203), we have only to read critically the Latin of +Strada, from whence it is drawn, to discern the creative gift of our +Poet. Here it is: + + Jam Sol a medio pronus deflexerat orbe + Mitius, e radiis vibrans crinalibus ignem. + Cum Fidicen, propter Tiberina fluenta, sonanti + Lenibat plectra curas, aestumque levabat, + Ilice defensus nigra scenaque virenti. + Audiit hunc hospes silvae Philomela propinquae + Musa loci, nemoris siren, innoxia siren; + Et prope succedens stetit abdita frondibus, alte + Accipiens sonitum, secumque remurmurat, et quos + Ille modos variat digitis, haec gutture reddit. + Sensit se Fidicen Philomela imitante referri, + Et placuit ludum volucri dare; plenius ergo + Explorat citharam, tentamentumque futurae + Praebeat ut pugnae, percussit protinus omnes + Impulsu pernice fides, nec segnius illa. + Mille per excurrens variae discrimina vocis, + Venturi specimen praefert argutula cantus. + Tunc Fidicen per fila movens trepidantia dextram, + Nunc contemnenti similis diverberat ungue, + Depectitque pari chordas, et simplice ductu: + Nunc carptim replicat, digitisque micantibus urget + Fila minutatim, celerique repercutit ictu. + Mox silet. Illa modis totidem respondet, et artem + Arte refert. Nunc seu rudis aut incerta canendi + Projicit in longum, nulloque plicatile flexu + Carmen init, simili serie, jugique tenore, + Praebet iter liquidum labenti e pectore voce; + Nunc caesim variat, modulisque canora minutis. + Delibrat vocem, tremuloque reciprocat ore. + Miratur Fidicen parvis e faucibus ire + Tam varium, tam dulce melos; majoraque tentans + Alternat mira arte fides; dum torquet acutas + Inciditque, graves operoso verbere pulsat, + Permiscetque simul certantia rauca sonoris, + Ceu resides in bella viros clangore lacessat. + Hoc etiam Philomela canit: dumque ore liquenti + Vibrat acuta sonum, modulisque interplicat acquis; + Ex inopinato gravis intonat, et leve murmur + Turbinat introrsus, alternantique sonore + Clarat, et infuscat ceu martia classica pulset. + Scilicet erubuit Fidicen, ... + Non imitabilibus plectrum concentibus urget. + Namque manu per fila volat, simul hos, simul illos + Explorat numeros, chordaque laborat in omni, + Et strepit, et tinnit, crescitque superbius, et se + Multiplicat religens, plenoque choreumate plaudit.[36] + +It will be noted by the student that such word-painting as in these +lines belongs to Crashaw, not Strada: + + 'and streightway she + _Carves out her dainty voyce as readily_. + . . . . . + Through the sleeke passage of her open throat + _A clear unwrinckled song_; + . . . . . + closes the sweet quarrell, rowsing all, + _Hoarce, shrill at once; as when the trumpets call + Hot Mars to th' harvest of Death's field, and woo + Men's hearts into their hands_:' + . . . . . + staggers in a warbling doubt + _Of dallying sweetnesse_, hovers o'er her skill, + _And folds in wav'd notes with a trembling bill_ + . . . . . + a tide + Of streaming sweetnesse, _which in state doth ride + On the wav'd backe of every swelling straine, + Rising and falling in a pompous traine_. + . . . . . + Thus high, thus low, _as if her silver throat + Would reach the brazen voyce of War's hoarce bird_. + + ... his hands sprightly as fire, he flings + And with _a quavering coynesse tasts the strings_. + The sweet-lip't sisters, musically frighted, + Singing their feares, are fearefully delighted, + _Trembling as when Appolo's golden haires + Are fan'd and frizled, in the wanton ayres + Of his own breath: which marryed to his lyre_ + Doth tune the spheares. + . . . . . + with nectar drop, + _Softer than that which pants in Hebe's cup_. + . . . . . + _The lute's light genius now does proudly rise, + Heav'd on the surges of swolne rapsodyes,_ + . . . . . + _Creeps on the soft touch of a tender tone_.' + +In the words of Willmott (as before), 'We shall seek in vain in the +Latin text for the vigour, the fancy, and the grandeur of these lines. +These remain with Crashaw, of whose obligations to Strada we may say, as +Hayley [stupidly, if picturesquely] remarked of Pope's debt to Crashaw, +that if he borrowed anything from him in this article, it was only as +the sun borrows from the earth, when, drawing from thence a mere vapour, +he makes it the delight of every eye, by giving it all the tender and +gorgeous colouring of heaven' (vol. i. p. 323). The richness and fulness +of our Poet as a Translator becomes the more clear when we place beside +his interpretation of Strada the 'translations' of others, as given in +the places (vol. i. pp. 203-6). A third (anonymous) version we +discovered among the Lansdowne MSS. 3910, pt. lxvi., from which we take +a specimen: + + 'Now the declininge sunn 'gan downward bende + From higher heauene, and from his locks did sende + A milder flame; when neere to Tyber's flowe + A Lutaniste allayde his carefull woe, + With sondinge charmes, and in a greeny seate + Of shady oake, toke shelter from the heate. + + A nitingale ore-hard hym that did use + To soiourne in y^e neighbour groues, the Muse + That files the place, the syren of the wood: + Poore harmeles Syren, steling neere she stood + Close lurkinge in the leaues attentiuely: + Recordinge that vnwonted mellodye, + She condt it to herselfe, and every straine + His fingers playde, her throat return'd againe.' + +And so to the end (MS. 3910, pp. 114-17). We have reserved until now +incomparably the second, but only a far-off second, to Crashaw's, from +John Ford's 'Lover's Melancholy' (1629); which probably was our Poet's +guide to Strada. Here is the substance of the fine reminiscent version, +from act i. scene 1: + + _Menaphon._ A sound of music touched mine ears, or rather, + Indeed, entranced my soul. As I stole nearer, + Invited by the melody, I saw + This youth, this fair-faced youth, upon his lute, + With strains of strange variety and harmony, + Proclaiming, as it seemed, so bold a challenge + To the clear choristers of the wood, the birds, + That as they flocked about him all stood silent, + Wondering at what they heard. I wondered too. + + _Amethus._ And do so I: good, on. + + _Men._ A nightingale, + Nature's best-skilled musician, undertakes + The challenge, and for every several strain + The well-shaped youth could touch, she sung her own: + He could not run division with more art + Vpon his quaking instrument than she + The nightingale did with her various notes + Reply to: for a voice and for a sound, + Amethus, 'tis much easier to believe + That such they were, than hope to hear again. + + _Ameth._ How did the rivals part? + + _Men._ You term them rightly. + For they were rivals, and their mistress, Harmony. + Some time thus spent, the young man grew at last + Into a pretty anger, that a bird, + Whom art had never taught cliffs, moods, or notes, + Should vie with him for mastery, whose study + Had busied many hours to perfect practice. + To end the controversy, in a rapture, + Vpon his instrument he plays so swiftly + So many voluntaries, and so quick, + That there was curiosity and cunning, + Concord in discord, lines of differing method + Meeting in one full centre of delight. + + _Ameth._ Now for the bird. + + _Men._ The bird, ordained to be + Music's first master, strove to imitate + These several sounds; which when her warbling throat + Failed in, for grief down dropped she on his lute, + And brake her heart. It was the quaintest sadness, + To see the conqueror upon her hearse + To weep.[37] + +Comment is needless on such pale, empty literality, as compared with the +vitality and _élan_ of Crashaw, in all but Ford's; while even Ford's is +surpassed in every way by the 'Musick's Duell.' + +The 'Suspicion of Herod,' by Marino (c. i.), is a grand poem in the +original. Milton knew it, and was taken by it. Our Poet had glorious +materials whereon to work, accordingly, when he turned Translator of +this all-too-little known Singer of Italy. But Crashaw's soul was more +spacious, his imagination more imperial, his vocabulary wealthier, than +even Marino's. The greatness and grandeur and force of the Italian +roused the Englishman to emulation. Willmott (as before) has placed the +original Italian beside Crashaw's interpretation, and the advance in the +Translator on his original is almost startling. We prefer adducing +Crashaw, and then giving a close rendering of the original: _e.g._ + + 'He saw Heav'n blossome with a new-borne light, + _On which, as on a glorious stranger, gaz'd + The golden eyes of Night_.' (st. xvii.) + +literally in Marino: + + '_He sees also shining from heaven, + With beauteous ray, the wondrous star_, + Which, brilliant and beautiful, goes + Pointing the way straight towards Bethlehem.' + +Again: + + 'He saw how in that blest Day-bearing Night, + The Heav'n-rebukèd shades made hast away; + _How bright a dawne of angels with new light + Amaz'd the midnight world, and made a Day + Of which the Morning knew not_.' (st. xv.) + +literally in Marino: + + 'He sees the quiet shades and the dark + Horrors of the happy, holy Night + Smitten and routed by heavenly voices, + And vanquished by angelic splendours.' + +Once more: when Alecto, the most terrible of the infernal sisters, +ascends to Earth at the command of Satan: + + 'Heav'n saw her rise, and saw Hell in the sight: + The fields' faire eyes saw her, and saw no more, + But shut their flowry lids for ever;' (st. xlviii.) + +for + + 'Parvero i fiori intorno e la verdura + Sentir forza di peste, ira di verno;' + +literally: + + 'soon as Hell had vomited out + This monster from the dark abyss, + _The flowers all around and the verdure appeared + To feel the strength of the plague, the fury of winter_.' + +This naked simplicity of wording is very fine: yet do Crashaw's +adornments bring new charm to Marino. The soliloquy of Satan, though +close as the skin to the body, has a ruddiness (so-to-say) from +Crashaw. Nothing in Milton is grander than st. xxv. to xxx.; and in all +there are touches from the cunning hand of Crashaw: _e.g._ + + '_And for the never-fading fields of light;_' (st. xxvii.) + +for Marino's + + 'Che più può farmi omai chi la celeste + _Reggia mi tolse, e i regni i miei lucenti_?' + +literally: + + 'What more can He now do to me, Who took + _From me the heavenly palace and my bright realms_?' + +Again: + + '_Bow our bright heads before a king of clay;_' (st. xxviii.) + +for Marino's + + 'Volle alle forme sue semplici e prime, + Natura sovralzar corporea e bassa, + E de' membri del ciel capo sublime + Far di limo terrestre eterna massa;' + +literally: + + 'He turns to his simple primitive forms, + To raise Nature above the corporeal and low, + And to make an unworthy mass of earthly clay + The sublime head of the heavenly members.' + +Compare also st. x. in Crashaw with the original as literally rendered: + + 'Disdainefull wretch, how hath one bold sinne cost + Thee all the beauties of thy once bright eyes! + How hath _one black eclipse cancell'd and crost + The glories that did gild thee in thy rise! + Proud morning of a perverse day_, how lost + Art thou unto thy selfe, thou too selfe-wise + Narcissus! foolish Phaeton, who for all + Thy _high-aym'd hopes, gaind'st but a flaming fall_.' + +Literally in Marino: + + 'O wretched Angel, once fairer than light, + How thou hast lost thy primeval splendour! + Thou shalt have from the eternal Requiter + Deserved punishment for the unjust crime: + Proud admirer of thy honours, + Rebellious usurper of another's seat! + Transformed, and fallen into Phlegethon, + Proud Narcissus, impious Phaethon!' + +Milton takes from Crashaw, not Marino, in his portrait of the Destroyer: + + 'From Death's sad shades to the life-breathing ayre + This mortall enemy to mankind's good + Lifts his _malignant eyes, wasted with care, + To become beautifull in humane blood_.' (st. xi.) + +Literally in Marino: + + 'He from the shades of death to the living air, + Envious in truth of our human state, + Lifted aloft his eyes by where + The hollow vent-hole opened straight down.' + +Well-nigh innumerable single lines and words are inevitably marked: +_e.g._ + + 'the rebellious eye + Of sorrow.' (st. xlix.) + +So the eyes of Satan: + + 'the sullen dens of Death and Night + Startle the dull ayre with a dismal red;' (st. vii.) + +for Marino's + + 'Negli occhi ove mestizia alberga e morte, + Luce fiammeggia torbida e vermiglia;' + +literally: + + 'In the eyes where sadness dwells and death + A turbid vermilion-coloured light shines.' + +Again: the sun is seen by the Tempter to + + Make proud the ruby portalls of the East;' (st. xvi.) + +for 'la Reggia Oriental.' Crashaw has the same vivid fancy in the Hymn +for Epiphany: + + 'Aurora shall set ope + Her ruby casements.' + +Finally, to show that even where our Translator keeps closest to the +original, he yet gives the creative touches of which I have already +spoken, read his st. v. beside this literal translation: + + 'Under the abysses, at the very core of the world, + In the central point of the universe, + Within the bowers of the darkest deep, + There stands the fiendly perverse Spirit: + With sharp thongs an impure group + Binds him with a hundred snakes athwart: + With such bonds girds him for ever, + The great champion who conquered HIM in Paradise.' + +Thus we might go over the entire poem, and everywhere we should gather +proofs that he was himself all he conceived in his splendid portraiture +of the true Poet's genius: + + 'no rapture makes it live + Drest in the glorious madnesse of a Muse, + Whose feet can walke the Milky Way, + Her starry throne, and hold up an exalted arm + To lift me from my lazy urn and climbe + Upon the stoopèd shoulders of old Time, + And trace eternity.' (vol. i. p. 238.)[38] + +Fully to estimate Crashaw's own grander imaginative faculty the Reader +must study here the now-first-printed and very Miltonic poems on +Apocalypse xii. 7 (Vol. II. pp. 231-3) and 'Christe, veni' (_ib._ pp. +223-5). It is profoundly to be regretted that our Poet should have +limited himself to Book I. of the 'Strage degli Innocenti,' viz. +'Sospetto d'Herode.' Book VII. especially, 'Della Gerusalemme Distruta,' +would have demanded all his powers. The entire poem was 'done in +English,' and it is '_done_' (by T.R. 1675). + +With reference to our own Translations of Crashaw, if in some instances +we have enlarged on our original, and adventured to fill-in what in the +Latin the Poet is fettered in uttering, may we apologise by pleading his +own example as a Translator, though with unequal steps and far off? I +would specify the very remarkable 'Bulla,' in which, indeed, I find +Crashaw's highest of pure poetic faculty within the region of Fancy in +its delicatest and subtlest symbolisms; also the scarcely less +remarkable address 'To the Reader' ('Lectori'); and his 'Fides &c. &c.' +and his classical legends of 'Arion,' and his University 'Laments' and +'Appeals' for Peterhouse. Throughout, my co-workers and myself have +aimed to give the _thought_ of Crashaw; and, unless I egregiously +mistake, we have together earned some gratitude from admirers of our +Worthy. + +I leave to other Scholars to deal critically with the Latin and Greek of +these Poems and Epigrams now first translated. Read unsympathetically, I +fear that very often his quantities and versification will be regarded +as barbarous; but we have done something, it is believed, to neutralise +Turnbull's most discreditable misprints herein, as in the English Poems. +In the places (vol. ii. pp. 5-6, 244, and 332) we have recorded some of +his more flagrant blunders; but besides we have silently corrected as +many more of the original and early editions. + +That Crashaw was not an accurate scholar the Greek Epigrams (as well as +some of the Latin ones) furnish sufficient proof. Of the many obvious +errors in quantity and construction, I have only corrected such as may +have been mere oversights, some of them perhaps caused by his MS. having +been misread; in other cases I have followed the original editions, and +corrected the numerous errors made by Turnbull from his not being able +to read the Greek ligatures &c. It may be well to indicate a few of the +typical corrections that I felt obliged to make, and note other lapses +which I did not feel justified in altering. + + In XI. last line, {aperrhipton} for {aporrhipton}; CXXI. last line, + {eên} for {eê}; CXXV. line 5. {kein'} for {kein}; CLXXX. line 1 has + {planê} as if the penult were long instead of short, and {alêmi} an + unused form, so that the line offends both quantity and usage--it + might be amended thus, {Heis men egô, hê mou te planê periêgen, + alômai}; CLXXXII. line 1, {epeballen} for {epiballen}; CLXXXIII. + line 2, {sykomôre} should be {sykomore}, but altered for scansion; + line 3, {ekkrêmnês} should perhaps be {ekkrêmnas}; line 4, + unscanable; and in CXXV. line 4, {dasiois} should be {dasesin}. + {ouranos}, the penult of which is short, he uses as either long or + short. + +I must add, that the accentuation was as often wrong as right. I have +carefully corrected it throughout. And this seems to me to be the only +allowable way of reproducing Crashaw. An Editor cannot be held +responsible for his Author writing imperfect Greek or Latin, any more +than for his mistakes either in opinion or in matters-of-fact or taste. + +Anderson's and Chalmers' Poets, and Peregrine Phillip's Selections, and +Turnbull's edition in Russell Smith's 'Old Authors' and that in +Gilfillan's Poets (a selection only), are our predecessors in furnishing +Crashaw's Poetry. We confess to a feeling of just pride (shall we say?) +in being the first worthily and adequately to present as remarkable +Poetry, in its own region, as is anywhere to be found. RICHARD CRASHAW +has assuredly not yet gathered all his fame.[39] + + ALEXANDER B. GROSART. + + + + + Latin Poems. + + PART FIRST. SACRED. + + + I. + + EPIGRAMMATA SACRA. + + (1634-1670.) + + + + +NOTE. + + The earliest appearance of CRASHAW as a poet was in the University + Collections of Latin Verse on the (then) usual conventional + occasions of royal births and deaths, and the like. These pieces + will be found in their places in the present volume. The place of + honour herein we assign to his own published volume of 1634, of + which the following is the title-page, within a neat woodcut border: + + + + + EPIGRAM- + + MATUM + + SACRORUM + + LIBER. + + + University Printer's ornament, + with legend, 'Hinc. Lvcem. Et. + Pocula. Sacra.' and 'Alma Mater.' + + + Cantabrigiæ, + Ex Academiæ celeberrimæ + typographeo. 1634. + + This is a small duodecimo. Collation: Title-page--Epistle-dedicatory + to LANY, with the poems, 'Salve, alme custos Pierii gregis,' + &c.--Venerabili viro Magistro Tournay, Tutori suo summe + observando--Ornatissimo viro Præceptori suo colendissimo, Magistro + Brook--Lectori (verse and prose), seven leaves: Epigrammata Sacra, + pp. 79. + + + + +A second edition of this volume appeared in 1670. Its title-page is as +follows: + + RICHARDI CRASHAWI + + POEMATA + + et + + EPIGRAMMATA, + + Quæ scripsit Latina & Græca, + Dum _Aulæ Pemb._ Alumnus fuit, + Et + Collegii _Petrensis_ Socius. + + + Editio Secunda, Auctior & emendatior. + + + {Heineken eumathiês pinytophronos, hên ho Melichros + Êskêsen, Mousôn ammiga kai Charitôn.} {Anthol.} + + [Printer's ornament, as before.] + + Cantabrigiæ, + Ex Officina _Joan. Hayes_, Celeberrimæ Academiæ + Typographi. 1670. + +This is an 8vo. Collation: Title-page--and to Brook, as before; then +these additional Latin poems: In Picturam Reverendissimi Episcopi D. +Andrews--Votiva Domûs Petrensis pro Domo Dei--In cæterorum Operum +difficili Parturitione Gemitus--Epitaphium in Gulielmum Herrisium--In +Eundem--Natalis Principis Mariæ--In Serenissimæ Reginæ partum +hyemalem--Natalis Ducis Eboracensis--In faciem Augustiss. Regis a +morbillis integram--Ad Carolum Primum, Rex Redux--Ad Principem nondum +natum, Reginâ gravidâ. Bastard-title, 'Epigrammata Sacra, quæ scripsit +Græca et Latina'--Lectori (as before), nine leaves: Epigrammata Sacra, +pp. 67. + +The additions to the second edition--besides the Latin poems +enumerated--were in the Epigrams these: No. 1, Pharisaeus et Publicanus, +Greek version--No. 11, Obolum Viduæ, ib.--No. 53, Ecce locus ubi jacuit +Dominus, ib.--No. 120, In descensum Spiritûs sancti, ib.--No. 124, In S. +Columbam ad Christi caput sedentem, ib.--No. 141, Ad D. Lucam medicum, +ib.--No. 148, In stabulum ubi natus est Dominus, ib.--No. 161, Hic lapis +fiat panis, ib.--No. 177, In die Ascensionis Dominicæ, ib.--No. 178, +Cæcus implorat Christum, Latin and Greek--No. 179, Quis ex vobis, &c. +ib.--No. 180, Herodi D. Jacobum obtruncati, ib.--No. 181, Cæci receptis, +&c. ib.--and No. 182, Zaccheus in sycomoro. + +A third edition was issued in 1674. It is identical with that of 1670, +save in the date on title-page, printer's ornament, and this line at +bottom: 'Prostant venales apud _Joann. Creed_.' Probably consisted of +'remainders' of 1670 edition. + +As the edition of 1634 was published during the author's residence in +the University, and so under his own eye, I have made it the basis of +our text, though with a vigilant eye on the later corrections; but have +given from the edition of 1670 the Greek versions of certain of the +Epigrams, and those added (as above). The Epistle-dedicatory to Lany, +and related introductory poems of 1634, alone, I prefix to the +Epigrammata Sacra, assigning the other poems more fittingly to the +Secular Poems (as annotated in the places). The Editor of the second +edition, 'auctior et emendatior,' has not been transmitted. For more on +the editions of the Epigrammata Sacra, see our Essay and Notes and +Illustrations. As explained in our Prefatory Note, the translations of +the Latin Poemata et Epigrammata, as of the others, follow the originals +successively. A. denotes the translator to be THOMAS ASHE, M.A., +Ipswich; B., CLEMENT BARKSDALE (from 'Epigrammata Sacra selecta, cum +Anglicâ Versione. Sacred Epigrams Englished. London: Printed for John +Barksdale, Bookseller in Cirencester. 1682.' 12mo); CL., Rev. J.H. +CLARK, M.A., West Dereham, Norfolk; CR., CRASHAW himself; G., myself; +W., Rev. W. ARIS WILLMOTT (from his 'Lives of the Sacred Poets,' s.n. +Crashaw); and R. WI., Rev. RICHARD WILTON, M.A., Londesborough Rectory, +Market Weighton. In the present and succeeding division those Epigrams +translated by Crashaw himself are given under the related Latin--all +from the original text of 1646, as before. They consist of Nos. 1, 2, 8, +9, 11, 14, 15, 20, 21, 26, 29, 36, 40, 42, 43, 47, 49, 51, 54 (two), 56, +57, 63, 64, 68, 85, 91, 93, 101, 104, 106, 108, 115, 117, 140, 157, 160, +164, 169, 184, and 185 in the present, and of Nos. 21, 22, 28, 42, 46, +and 55 in next section. + +It only remains that I add here, instead of noticing in their places, +the following more flagrant errors of Turnbull in the 'Epigrammata' and +related 'Poemata Latina et Græca.' Similar lists will be found in the +introductory notes to the several divisions of this volume. + +In the Epistle to Lany, line 18, avidi _for_ avide; line 29, amore _for_ +amare; in the Ode, st. ii. line 1, ipsi _for_ ipse. In the address +'Lectori,' line 7, abi _for_ alis; line 29, putre _for_ putri; line 48, +mens _for_ meus; line 53, fingit _for_ finget; line 70, graves _for_ +gravis; line 97, tota dropped out; line 120, negat _for_ neget; in +succeeding prose, line 29, Acygmanos _for_ acygnianos. + +The misprints in the Epigrammata are so numerous, that it is deemed +expedient to tabulate them according to our numbering. On the errors in +the Greek, see our Preface to the present Volume. + + No. + + 1, line 4, ille _for_ hic. + + 2, heading, Victorem _for_ vectorem. + + 3, l. 1, ori _for_ oris. + + 6, l. 2, meæ _for_ mea. + + 7, l. 4, tanto _for_ tanti. + + 8, l. 1, vulnere _for_ vulnera. + + 10, l. 1, tumidus _for_ timidus. + + 12, heading, Luc. x. 30 _for_ x. 39; and so often. + + 19, l. 4, decas _for_ decus. + + 30, l. 3, Te ne _for_ Tene. + + 31, heading, credebunt _for_ credebant. + + 44, l. 1, tumere _for_ tenuere. + + 45, l. 2, mala _for_ male. + + 48, l. 1, Christe _for_ Christi. + + 60, l. 4, fecere _for_ fuere. + + 65, l. 7, adnixus _for_ ad nixus. + + 67, l. 1, Infantes _for_ infantis. + + 69, heading, meditur _for_ medetur. + + 78, l. 2, pati _for_ peti. + + 101, l. 4, aqua _for_ aquas. + + 108, l. 8, oculos _for_ oculus. + + 111, l. 3, natalis _for_ natales. + + 114, l. 2, utere _for_ uteri. + + 115, l. 4, queas _for_ queat. + + 120, heading, Domini _for_ Dominicam. + + " l. 6, Phoebe _for_ Phoebo. + + 122, heading, traduit _for_ traderet. + + 123, l. 2, nescis _for_ nescio. + + 125, l. 1, volueris _for_ volucris. + + 126, heading, Divi _for_ Divo. + + 132, heading, Christo _for_ Christi. + + 135, heading left out. + + 140, l. 2, illa _for_ ille. + + 149, l. 2, quae _for_ qua. + + 153, l. 3, colubres _for_ colubros. + + 155, heading, Domini _for_ Dominicæ. + + 158, l. 3, par _for_ per. + + 161, l. 8, fieris _for_ fieres. + + " l. 12, solis _for_ solio. + + 164, l. 1, Daemone _for_ Dæmona. + + 169, heading, lavante _for_ lavanti. + + " l. 2, virginea _for_ virgineæ. + + 170, l. 5, decies _for_ denis. + + 172, l. 1, vidis _for_ vides. + + 176, l. 16, dominum _for_ dominam. + + " l. 73, ista _for_ iste. + + 177, l. 20, metu _for_ nutu. + + 182, l. 2, fide _for_ fida. + +The whole of these, with others belonging to Crashaw himself and his +first editors, are carefully corrected in our edition. G. + + + + +REVERENDO ADMODUM VIRO + +BENJAMINO LANY,[40] + +SS. THEOLOGIAE PROFESSORI, AULAE PEMBROCHIANAE CUSTODI DIGNISSIMO, EX +SUORUM MINIMIS MINIMUS, + +R. C[RASHAW] + +CUSTODIAM COELESTEM + +P. + + +Suus est et florum fructus; quibus fruimur, si non utilius, delicatius +certe. Neque etiam rarum est quod ad spem Veris, de se per flores suos +quasi pollicentis, adultioris anni, ipsiusque adeo Autumni exigamus +fidem. Ignoscas igitur, vir colendissime, properanti sub ora Apollinis +sui, primaeque adolescentiae lascivia exultanti Musae. Tenerae aetatis +flores adfert, non fructus serae: quos quidem exigere ad seram illam et +sobriam maturitatem, quam in fructibus expectamus merito, durum fuerit; +forsan et ipsa hac praecoci importunitate sua placituros magis: tibi +praesertim quem paternus animus, quod fieri solet, intentum tenet omni +suae spei diluculo, quo tibi de tuorum indole promittas aliquid. Ex more +etiam eorum, qui in praemium laboris sui pretiumque patientiae festini, +ex iis quae severunt ipsi et excoluerunt, quicquid est flosculi +prominulum, prima quasi verecundia auras et apertum Jovem experientis +arripiunt avide, saporemque illi non tam ex ipsius indole et ingenio +quam ex animi sui affectu, foventis in eo curas suas et spes, affingunt. +Patere igitur, reverende custos, hanc tibi ex istiusmodi floribus +corollam necti; convivalem vero: nec aliter passuram sidus illud oris +tui auspicatissimum, nisi, qua est etiam amoenitate, remissiore radio +cum se reclinat, et in tantum de se demit. Neque sane hoc scriptionis +genere, modo partes suas satis praestiterit, quid esse potuit otio +theologico accommodatius, quo nimirum res ipsa theologica poetica +amoenitate delinita majestatem suam venustate commendat. Hoc demum +quicquid est, amare tamen poteris, et voles, scio: non ut magnum quid, +non ut egregium, non ut te dignum denique, sed ut tuum: tuum summo jure, +utpote quod e tua gleba, per tuum radium, in manum denique tuam evocatum +fuerit. Quod restat hujus libelli fatis, exorandus es igitur, vir +spectatissime, ut quem sinu tum facili privatum excepisti, eum jam ore +magis publico alloquentem te non asperneris. Stes illi in limine, non +auspicium modo suum, sed et argumentum. Enimvero Epigramma sacrum tuus +ille vultus vel est, vel quid sit docet; ubi nimirum amabili diluitur +severum, et sanctum suavi demulcetur. Pronum me vides in negatam mihi +provinciam; laudum tuarum, intelligo: quas mihi cum modestia tua +abstulerit, reliquum mihi est necessario ut sim brevis; imo vero longus +nimium; utpote cui argumentum istud abscissum fuerit, in quo unice +poteram, et sine taedio, prolixus esse. Vale, virorum ornatissime, neque +dedigneris quod colere audeam Genii tui serenitatem supplex tam tenuis, +et, quoniam numen quoque hoc de se non negat, amare etiam. Interim vero +da veniam Musae in tantum sibi non temperanti; quin in hanc saltem +laudis tuae partem, quae tibi ex rebus sacris apud nos ornatis +meritissima est, istiusmodi carmine involare ausa sit, qualicunque: + + Salve, alme custos Pierii gregis, + Per quem erudito exhalat in otio; + Seu frigus udi captet antri, + Sive Jovem nitidosque soles. + + Non ipse custos pulchrior invias + Egit sub umbras Aemonios greges; + Non ipse Apollo notus illis + Lege suae meliore cannae. + + Tu, si sereno des oculo frui, + Sunt rura nobis, sunt juga, sunt aquae, + Sunt plectra dulcium sororum + (Non alio mihi nota Phoebo). + + Te dante, castos composuit sinus; + Te dante, mores sumpsit; et in suo + Videnda vultu, pulveremque + Relligio cineremque nescit. + + Stat cincta digna fronde decens caput: + Suosque per te fassa palam Deos, + Comisque, Diva, vestibusque + Ingenium dedit ordinemque. + + Jamque ecce nobis amplior es modo + Majorque cerni. Quale jubar tremit + Sub os! verecundusque quanta + Mole sui Genius laborat! + + Jam qui serenas it tibi per genas, + Majore coelo sidus habet suum; + Majorque circum cuspidatae + Ora comis tua flos diei. + + Stat causa. Nempe hanc ipse Deus, Deus, + Hanc ara, per te pulchra, diem tibi + Tuam refundit, obvioque + It radio tibi se colenti. + + Ecce, ecce! sacro in limine, dum pio + Multumque prono poplite amas humum, + Altaria annuunt ab alto; + Et refluis tibi plaudit alis + + Pulchro incalescens officio, puer + Quicunque crispo sidere crinium, + Vultuque non fatente terram, + Currit ibi roseus satelles. + + Et jure. Nam cum fana tot inviis + Moerent ruinis, ipsaque, ceu preces + Manusque non decora supplex + Tendat, opem rogat, heu negatam! + + Tibi ipsa voti est ora sui rea. + Et solvet. O quam semper apud Deum + Litabis illum, cujus arae + Ipse preces prius audiisti! + + +[TRANSLATION. Prose G.; verse CL.] + + _To the very reverend man_ BENJAMIN LANY, _Doctor of Divinity, most + worthy Master of Pembroke College [Cambridge], the least of the + least of those that are his, R[ichard] C[rashaw] implores the divine + protection._[41] + +Even flowers have their own peculiar fruit, which we enjoy, if not so +profitably, yet in a manner more refined. Nor is it unusual that, in +accordance with the hope of Spring, making promises for herself as it +were by her flowers, we demand credit for the maturer year, and even for +Autumn itself. Forgive, then, most Reverend Sir, the Muse hastening into +the presence of her Apollo, and exulting in the wantonness of earliest +youth. She offers the flowers of a tender age, not the fruits of a late +one, which flowers indeed it were unreasonable to demand in accordance +with that late and sober maturity which we rightly look for in +fruits--flowers which are more likely to be pleasing from the very fact +of their precocious importunity,--to thee above all, whom a fatherly +mind, as it is wont to happen, holds watching for every dawning of its +hope, by which you may give yourself assurance of anything respecting +the genius of your sons; after the manner also of those who, in haste +for the reward of their labour and the price of their patience, from +what they have themselves sown and tended, snatch greedily whatever part +may project a little of a floweret, which, as with early bashfulness, is +making trial of the airs and the open sky, and attach an odour to it, +not so much from its own nature and character as from the inclination of +their own mind, which fosters in it their own anxieties and hopes. +Suffer then, Reverend Master, this little garland, made of flowers of +such a sort, to be bound on thee; a festal one assuredly, and not able +to endure that most auspicious star of thy countenance in any other way +than--for it is even of such a graciousness--when it draws back with +milder ray, and so far subtracts from itself. Nor assuredly than this +kind of writing, provided it have sufficiently discharged its proper +functions, could anything be more suitable to theological leisure; for +in it without doubt the very substance of theology being overlaid with +poetic grace, sets off its grandeur by loveliness. Finally, whatever +this may be, you will nevertheless, I know, be able and willing to be +lovingly disposed towards it; not as anything great or uncommon; not, in +short, as anything worthy of you, but as your own--your own by highest +right as having been called forth from your soil, by your light, and, in +fine, into your hand. As for what fortune awaits this little book, deign +to be persuaded, most worshipful Sir, not to scorn when addressing you +now in a more public style him whom you have welcomed in private with so +ready an affection. May you stand on its threshold, not only as its good +omen but also as its subject! In very truth that countenance of yours is +a Sacred Epigram, or teaches what it should be, where forsooth severity +is tempered with love, and sanctity is mellowed by sweetness. You see me +inclined towards a sphere denied to me--that of sounding your praises, I +mean; which since your modesty has taken from me, it remains of +necessity that I should be brief: yes indeed, I am too diffuse, seeing +that the very subject is cut off from me in which alone I was, and even +without irksomeness, able to be prolix. Farewell, most cultured of men, +and do not disdain me, so insignificant a suppliant, for daring to +honour your tranquil genius, and, since divinity even does not forbid +this respecting itself, also to love it. But in the mean while give +pardon to the Muse, to such a degree unrestrained as to have dared for +this part at least of your praise, which is most due to you on account +of sacred things that have been honoured amongst us, to fly towards you +with a strain of such kind as this, whatever it may be: + + Kind Guardian of the Muses' flock, + Through whom it breathes in learn'd repose, + Whether it choose the dripping rock, + Or where the open sunshine glows. + + Not fairer he through trackless shade + Who led Æmonia's flocks of old; + Not even Apollo, when he play'd, + With defter touch could charm the fold. + + If thou the eye serene dost grant, + Green fields are ours, and streams and hills, + And, since no Phoebus else we want, + The Muses with their dulcet quills. + + Religion too with modest grace + Through thee assumes a gentler mien; + Through thee again can show her face, + No more in dust and ashes seen. + + Her brows crown'd meetly, and, through thee, + Her God in sight of all confess'd, + She gives in her divinity + Meaning and law to garb and vest. + + Lo, while we gaze, an ample state + Adorns thee; what a lustrous sheen + Plays on thy lips! with what a weight + Thy reverent Genius toils within! + + For him on whom thy calm glance flows + His star sheds down a fuller ray; + The light that o'er thine aspect glows + Is brighter than the shafts of Day. + + And there is cause. The Lord of heaven, + Whose altar thou hast made so fair, + Pours back the light that thou hast given, + With glory meets His worshipper. + + Lo, on the threshold of thy God + While thou dost stoop on bended knee, + The altar from on high doth nod, + Its plausive wings are bent to thee. + + And, glowing with his duty's worth, + Each starry-tressèd chorister + With look that savours not of earth + Tends like a rosy cherub there. + + And rightly. For, when ruin-wreck'd, + With prayers and outstretch'd hands the fane + Bemoan'd itself in all neglect, + And sought elsewhere for help in vain,-- + + To thee by its own vows 'tis bound, + And now repays thee. At the shrine + Whose cry so well thy ears hath found + Long, long may prayer and praise be thine! + + + + +LECTORI. + + + Salve. Jamque vale. Quid enim quis pergeret ultra? + Qua jocus et lusus non vocat, ire voles? + Scilicet hic, Lector, cur noster habebere, non est; + Deliciis folio non faciente tuis. + Nam nec Acidalios halat mihi pagina rores; + Nostra Cupidineae nec favet aura faci. + Frustra hinc ille suis quicquam promiserit alis: + Frustra hinc illa novo speret abire sinu. + Ille e materna melius sibi talia myrto; + Illa jugis melius poscat ab Idaliis. + Quaerat ibi suus in quo cespite surgat Adonis, + Quae melior teneris patria sit violis. + Illinc totius Florae, verisque, suique + Consilio, ille alas impleat, illa sinus. + Me mea, casta tamen, si sit rudis, herba coronet: + Me mea, si rudis est, sit rudis, herba juvat. + Nulla meo Circaea tument tibi pocula versu: + Dulcia, et in furias officiosa tuas. + Nulla latet Lethe, quam fraus tibi florea libat, + Quam rosa sub falsis dat malefida genis. + Nulla verecundum mentitur mella venenum: + Captat ab insidiis linea nulla suis. + Et spleni, et jecori foliis bene parcitur istis. + Ah, male cum rebus staret utrumque meis! + Rara est quae ridet, nulla est quae pagina prurit, + Nulla salax, si quid norit habere salis. + Non nudae Veneres, nec, si jocus, udus habetur: + Non nimium Bacchus noster Apollo fuit. + Nil cui quis putri sit detorquendus ocello; + Est nihil obliquo quod velit ore legi. + Haec coram atque oculis legeret Lucretia justis; + Iret et illaesis hinc pudor ipse genis. + Nam neque candidior voti venit aura pudici + De matutina virgine thura ferens: + Cum vestis nive vincta sinus, nive tempora fulgens, + Dans nive flammeolis frigida jura comis, + Religiosa pedum sensim vestigia librans, + Ante aras tandem constitit, et tremuit. + Nec gravis ipsa suo sub numine castior halat + Quae pia non puras summovet ara manus. + Tam Venus in nostro non est nimis aurea versu: + Tam non sunt pueri tela timenda dei. + Saepe puer dubias circum me moverat alas, + Jecit et incertas nostra sub ora faces; + Saepe vel ipse sua calamum mihi blandus ab ala, + Vel matris cygno de meliore dedit; + Saepe Dionaeae pactus mihi serta coronae; + Saepe: Meus vates tu, mihi dixit, eris. + I procul, i cum matre tua, puer improbe, dixi: + Non tibi cum numeris res erit ulla meis. + Tu Veronensi cum passere pulchrior ibis: + Bilbilicisve queas comptius esse modis. + Ille tuos finget quocunque sub agmine crines: + Undique nequitiis par erit ille tuis. + Ille nimis, dixi, patet in tua proelia campus: + Heu, nimis est vates et nimis ille tuus! + Gleba illa, ah, tua quam tamen urit adultera messis! + Esset Idumaeo germine quanta parens! + Quantus ibi et quantae premeret puer ubera matris! + Nec coelos vultu dissimulante suos. + Ejus in isto oculi satis essent sidera versu; + Sidereo matris quam bene tuta sinu! + Matris ut hic similes in collum mitteret ulnas, + Inque sinus niveos pergeret, ore pari; + Utque genis pueri haec aequis daret oscula labris, + Et bene cognatis iret in ora rosis; + Quae Mariae tam larga meat, quam disceret illic + Uvida sub pretio gemma tumere suo! + Staret ibi ante suum lacrymatrix Diva Magistrum: + Seu levis aura volet, seu gravis unda cadat; + Luminis haec soboles, et proles pyxidis illa, + Pulchrius unda cadat, suavius aura volet. + Quicquid in his sordet demum, luceret in illis. + Improbe, nec satis est hunc tamen esse tuum? + Improbe, cede, puer: quid enim mea carmina mulces? + Carmina de jaculis muta futura tuis. + Cede, puer, qua te petulantis fraena puellae; + Turpia quae revocant pensa procacis herae; + Qua miseri male pulchra nitent mendacia limi; + Qua cerussatae, furta decora, genae; + Qua mirere rosas, alieni sidera veris; + Quas nivis haud propriae bruma redempta domat. + Cede, puer, dixi et dico; cede, improba mater: + Altera Cypris habet nos; habet alter Amor. + Scilicet hic Amor est; hic est quoque mater Amoris. + Sed Mater virgo; sed neque caecus Amor. + O Puer! ô Domine! ô magnae reverentia Matris, + Alme tui stupor et relligio gremii! + O Amor, innocuae cui sunt pia jura pharetrae, + Nec nisi de casto corde sagitta calens! + Me, Puer, ô certa, quem figis, fige sagitta; + O tua de me sit facta pharetra levis! + Quodque illinc sitit et bibit, et bibit et sitit usque; + Usque meum sitiat pectus, et usque bibat. + Fige, Puer, corda haec. Seu spinis exiguus quis, + Seu clavi aut hastae cuspide magnus ades; + Seu major cruce cum tota; seu maximus ipso + Te corda haec figis denique; fige, Puer. + O metam hanc tuus aeternum inclamaverit arcus: + Stridat in hanc teli densior aura tui. + O tibi si jaculum ferat ala ferocior ullum, + Hanc habeat triti vulneris ire viam. + Quique tuae populus cunque est, quae turba, pharetrae; + Hic bene vulnificas nidus habebit aves. + O mihi sis bello semper tam saevus in isto! + Pectus in hoc nunquam mitior hostis eas. + Quippe ego quam jaceam pugna bene sparsus in illa! + Quam bene sic lacero pectore sanus ero! + Haec mea vota. Mei sunt haec quoque vota libelli. + Haec tua sint, Lector, si meus esse voles. + Si meus esse voles, meus ut sis, lumina, Lector, + Casta, sed ô nimium non tibi sicca, precor. + Nam tibi fac madidis meus ille occurrerit alis, + Sanguine, seu lacryma diffluat ille sua: + Stipite totus hians, clavisque reclusus, et hasta: + Fons tuus in fluvios desidiosus erit? + Si tibi sanguineo meus hic tener iverit amne, + Tune tuas illi, dure, negabis aquas? + Ah durus! quicunque meos, nisi siccus, amores + Nolit, et hic lacrymae rem neget esse suae. + Saepe hic Magdalinas vel aquas vel amaverit undas; + Credo nec Assyrias mens tua malit opes. + Scilicet ille tuos ignis recalescet ad ignes; + Forsan et illa tuis unda natabit aquis. + Hic eris ad cunas, et odoros funere manes: + Hinc ignes nasci testis, et inde meos. + Hic mecum, et cum matre sua, mea gaudia quaeres: + Maturus Procerum seu stupor esse velit; + Sive per antra sui lateat, tunc templa, sepulchri: + Tertia lux reducem, lenta sed illa, dabit. + Sint fidae precor, ah, dices, facilesque tenebrae; + Lux mea dum noctis, res nova! poscit opem. + Denique charta meo quicquid mea dicat amori, + Illi quo metuat cunque, fleatve, modo, + Laeta parum, dices, haec, sed neque dulcia non sunt: + Certe et amor, dices, hujus amandus erat. + +Si nimium hic promitti tibi videtur, Lector bone, pro eo cui +satisfaciendo libellus iste futurus fuerit; scias me in istis non ad +haec modo spectare quae hic habes, sed ea etiam quae olim, haec interim +fovendo, habere poteris. Nolui enim, si hactenus deesse amicis meis non +potui, flagitantibus a me, etiam cum dispendii sui periculo, paterer eos +experiri te in tantum favorem tuum, nolui, inquam, fastidio tuo +indulgere. Satis hic habes quod vel releges ad ferulam suam, neque enim +maturiores sibi annos ex his aliqua vendicant, vel ut pignus plurium +adultiorumque in sinu tuo reponas. Elige tibi ex his utrumvis. Me +interim quod attinet, finis meus non fefellit. Maximum meae ambitionis +scopum jamdudum attigi: tunc nimirum cum quale-cunque hoc meum pene +infantis Musae murmur ad aures istas non ingratum sonuit, quibus neque +doctiores mihi de publico timere habeo, nec sperare clementiores; adeo +ut de tuo jam plausu, dicam ingenue et breviter, neque securus sim ultra +neque solicitus. Prius tui, quisquis es, Lector, apud me reverentia +prohibet; de cujus judicio omnia possum magna sperare: posterius illorum +reverentia non sinit, de quorum perspicacitate maxima omnia non possum +mihi non persuadere. Quanquam ô quam velim tanti me esse in quo patria +mea morem istum suum deponere velit, genio suo tam non dignum; istum +scilicet quo, suis omnibus fastiditis, ea exosculatur unice, quibus +trajecisse Alpes et de transmarino esse, in pretium cessit! Sed relictis +hisce, nimis improbae spei votis, convertam me ad magistros acygnianos; +quos scio de novissimis meis verbis, quanquam neminem nominarim, iratos +me reliquisse: bilem vero componant; et mihi se hoc debere, ambitioso +juveni verbum tam magnum ignoscant--debere, inquam, fateantur: quod +nimirum in tam nobili argumento, in quo neque ad foetida de suis sanctis +figmenta, neque ad putidas de nostris calumnias opus habeant confugere, +de tenui hoc meo dederim illorum magnitudini unde emineat. Emineat vero; +serius dico, sciantque me semper se habituros esse sub ea, quam mihi +eorum lux major affuderit, umbra, placidissime acquiescentem. + + +[TRANSLATION. Verse and Prose, G.] + +TO THE READER. + + 'Greeting,' Reader; and now 'farewell'! + Wherefore shouldst thou on my page dwell, + Where neither jest nor sport inviteth, + That the jocund youth delighteth? + Therefore, Reader, pass thee by + To thine own idle jollity: + The notes that trill from my poor lute + Such as thee shall never suit; + Nor here are Acidalian dews + That Venus' roses sweet suffuse; + Nor breath sets Cupid's torch a-blaze + That lovers on my lines may gaze. + Vainly shall mother and shall son + Look here for lewd emotion. + Cupid, seek thy mother's kirtle, + Or hide thee 'neath her fragrant myrtle. + And, Venus, thy Idalian hills + Will better yield thee sport that thrills: + Thither, therefore, goddess, turn; + O'er thy lost Adonis burn; + Or devise, if grief thee frets, + Other shrines for thy violets: + There, with Flora and the Spring + The green earth enamelling, + Thou mayst fill thy bosom's whiteness, + He his wings in all their brightness, + With all flow'rs that wait on thee + When thou holdest revelry. + Me my own poor flow'r will crown; + Poor 'tis true, yet all my own-- + Poor but pure. So let it be, + Those unto others, this to me. + No Circe-cup foams in my verse, + To make fierce lustings still more fierce; + No draft of Lethe here doth flow, + Flow'ry above, deathly below; + No false cheeks, with falser bloom-- + A rose up-bursting from a tomb; + No barb hid 'neath treach'rous plume; + No poison spread as honey'd bait; + No line where danger lies in wait: + Here's nor spleen nor melancholy, + That for me were unmeet wholly; + Rarely do I raise a smile, + Ne'er merge my wit in wanton wile; + Never quicken Passion's pulse, + Nor show nude Beauty to convulse, + Until beneath the hoof o' th' flesh + The strong man bound is in Lust's mesh. + If jest I pass, do not repine + To learn it reeks not of the wine; + For my Apollo is celestial, + And from Bacchus shrinks as bestial. + Nothing that's foul my page contains; + Nothing the modest eye arraigns; + Nothing to cause averted face-- + Lucretia every line might trace + With calm, serene, unfearing eye, + Nor blush stain cheek of Modesty. + For not more pure the maiden's vow[42] + Whisper'd in tremulous words and low, + As, girt in snowy robe, her breast + Heaves like a wave in sweet unrest, + And the white veil shows whiter brow + In pureness of unfallen snow, + With flame-gleam from meek-droppèd hair + Dishevell'd by the am'rous air: + Soft strains with her soft voice blending, + The marriage-rites to heaven ascending: + Yea, not the altar's self exhaleth + More chastely, as its God it haileth, + That keeps far off unholy hands + While there the priest with bow'd head stands. + My verse is not the Queen of Love's, + Nor knows the cooing of her doves: + Her beauty me not overpowers, + Though bright as skies when no cloud low'rs; + Vainly at me her tricksy boy + His arrows shoots. The sweet annoy + I never felt; though oft and oft + He hover'd o'er me, and with soft, + Sly, 'luring glances his torch wav'd, + And look'd to find me swift enslav'd; + Offer'd a quill from his own wing, + E'en from his mother's swan--to sing; + Ay, often Venus' love-wreaths weaving, + On my brow the symbol leaving: + He would laugh, and Poet style me, + And with flatteries beguile me: + 'Begone, begone, O wanton boy! + Thy mother too, though Queen of Joy.' + Thus did I speak. Naught of my song + Shall thy tyranny prolong: + Get thee, with thy torch and arrow, + Unto the Veronian sparrow; _Catullus_ + Or the Bilbilician win _Martial_ + To embalm thy pleasant sin: + Be thy assaults however vile, + He on thee will smile, and smile: + He, thy love-locks curious twining, + Shall ne'er come short of thy inclining: + He thine own poet is, and will + Give thee full license to instill + By jest and quip and jollity + Whate'er it listeth thee to try. + Alas, that genius so august + Should pander to adult'rous lust! + Alas, that he, poet so true, + Should poet be, Cupid, to you! + O, what harvest of rich thought + Judean seed from him had brought, + If, up-climbing holy mountains, + He had drunk from hallow'd fountains! + Mother and son, I see them now, + As round her neck his arms he'd throw, + Nestling with his azure eyes, + Her bosom's splendour for his skies; + Kissing, and kiss'd in sweet reply, + As soft winds o'er violets die: + While she all her love discloses, + Murm'ring on his lips' twin roses: + His lips like hers, and hers like his, + Glued i' the rapture of their bliss. + Visions like these would Martial give + With dainty touch and fugitive. + The heav'nly Weeper there would bow + Before her Lord, and pay her vow: + Now is uttered gentle sigh, + And now great tears gleam in her eye: + That, offspring of the stainless Light; + This, of the Pyx's mystic rite: + In his verse, tears, sighs should fall + Delicate and musical: + In fine, whate'er in mine were mean + Should radiant grow as sunlight's sheen. + Go, then, go, insatiate boy, + Nor me longer seek t' annoy: + I've said it, nor shall e'er unsay: + Go to thy mother, and there play. + Why wilt thou whisper flattery, + And praise my Muse's witchery-- + Verses that reck not of thy smarts-- + And smite me with thy fire-tipp'd darts? + Go, get thee gone! Thy haunt must be + Where there's wanton revelry, + And the young minx with toss o' curls + Opes her lips to show her pearls; + Opes her lips, with some gross jest + A foolish lover to arrest. + Thither go, where falsely-fair + Beauty is bought and sold; and where, + Flaunting with painted cheek, and eye + A-flame to ev'ry devilry, + Base women seek base men, and tingle + Their hot veins as they commingle, + Baring their charms, 'neath alien roses + Ministering such sweets as Hell composes. + Hence, therefore, Cupid! Venus, hence! + I yield not to your violence: + I've said it, nor shall you allure + My heart to own your sway impure. + Another Cypris holds me now, + Another Love receives my vow: + For Love is here and Mother kind, + But she a Virgin; He not blind. + O Child! O Lord! great Mother blest! + O wonder of thy holy breast! + O Love, whose quiver's sacred pow'rs + Ne'er send forth arrow that devours, + Unless a shaft pierce the pure heart, + That Thou mayst heal the blessèd smart. + Me whom Thou piercest, holy Child, + Pierce, pierce me sure with arrows mild. + Let Thy quiver grow more light + As Thou dost me yearning smite: + What my soul pants for, and still drinks + And drinks, and thirsts, and never thinks + To get enough, O give, still give. + Thus would I die; thus would I live. + Transfix this heart, Child: howsoe'er + Thou comest,--crown'd with thorns and bare, + Or great with the awful heraldry + Of nail and spear for Faith to see; + Or greater still, on the holy rood + Wet with the terror of Thy Blood; + Or great'st of all, Thyself alone + In meek might of Thy Passion,-- + Still pierce this heart; O pierce it, Child: + _Thus_ would I drink in rapture wild. + O that Thy bow might wound me still! + O that of wounds I had my fill! + Or, if some swifter wing there be, + That it would fly to me--to me! + Behold, my Saviour, this poor breast, + And take it as Thine arrows' nest: + I seek not to be spar'd one blow: + Thus would I have Thee still my foe; + Still yearn that wounded I may be; + For wounds like these are ecstasy. + These are my wishes: and my Books, + May they be his who on them looks! + Seek'st, Reader, to be mine? Then, last, + I ask thy eyes that they be chaste; + Chaste, but not tearless; my dear Love + To meet and know, as from above + He comes, and still the Crucified, + Proclaiming how for man He died + By thorn, and nail, and spear, and cry, + And bitterest words of agony: + Say, should He meet thee thus in blood, + Couldst thou e'en grudge of tears a flood? + Ah, hard thy heart as e'er was stone, + That all unmov'd can hear Him groan, + Nor by a throb of feeling show + Thou hast a sense of His great woe; + While here He treasured human tears + Hushing sad Mary in her fears, + As to His feet in shame she crept, + And with white drops them all bewept: + More than Assyrian gold to thee + Such tears, if thou their worth couldst see. + His love with thine again will glow, + His tears afresh with thine will flow. + Here, Reader, glancing through my Book, + Thou shalt upon His cradle look: + To His sweet obsequies now turn, + And mark how still my love shall burn. + Here, with His Mother and with me, + My ceaseless sacred joys shalt see: + Whether Earth's Princes speechless stand + As sudden darkness wraps the land; + Or He lies hidden in the Cave, + A temple now, and not a grave; + But the third morning shall restore Him: + Ah, much too slow those days pass o'er Him! + Be true, ye shadows of the tomb; + Enfold Him in a kindly gloom: + Thus wilt thou pray; while my dear Light + (O strange!) demands the help of Night. + In fine, whate'er my Book shall say + To my dear Love--however pray, + However fear, however weep, + And with sweet tears its pages steep-- + My words thy willing words will move. + 'O, not enough these things I love; + But they are sweet all things above; + And certainly the love of Him + Deserves all other loves to dim.' + +If it seem to you, good Reader, that I have promised overmuch on behalf +of him to whom this tractate shall be pleasing, know that I do not look +merely on those things which you possess here, but also on those which, +by cherishing such as you now have, you may hereafter obtain; for I have +been unwilling, if hitherto I have not been a-wanting to my friends +earnestly entreating me that I should allow them, even at the risk of +their own peril, to encroach on your good-will, however great--I have +been unwilling, I say, to give myself up to your fastidious criticism. +You have enough here either to hand over to the rod which it deserves +(for none of these things ask or claim for themselves maturer years), or +to lay it up in your bosom as a pledge of more and of advanced +attempts. Choose for yourself an alternative. As for myself, my aim has +not deceived me. I have already attained the utmost pinnacle of my +ambition, at the time when this somewhat indifferent murmur of my +almost-infantine Muse sounded not unmusically in those ears, than which +from the world at large I have none more learned to fear, none more +indulgent to hope for; so that, as regards your applause, I will speak +candidly and at once: I am neither over-confident nor over-solicitous of +it. Firstly, my respect for you, Reader, whoever you are, and of whose +decision I can hope everything, restrains; and next, my respect for +those of whose penetration I am unable not to persuade myself to hope +the greatest things. Yet still, how I do wish that I were of service +whenever my Country desires to cast aside its own particular custom, so +unworthy its own worth--that custom particularly by which, all her own +things being despised, she only prizes those things to which having +crossed the Alps and lived over the sea has given a value! But these +wishes of too rash hope being put aside, let me turn to the acygnian +gentlemen, whom I know--although I shall name none personally--to have +angrily abandoned me on account of some of my recent sayings. Still, let +them compose their temper, and let them confess--may they pardon such a +great saying from a forward young man!--I say, let them confess that +they owe me this: that, in truth, in so grand an argument, in which +they have not recourse to the stale untruths concerning their own +services, nor to the nauseous calumnies concerning ours. With regard to +this slight statement of mine, I have yielded to the importance of those +from whence it springs. And let it spring, forsooth! I speak +seriously--and let them know that they will always find me most +tranquilly reposing under that shadow which their greater light has cast +around me! + + + + +EPIGRAMMATA SACRA. + + +I. + +_Pharisaeus et Publicanus._ Luc. xviii. 14-19. + + En duo templum adeunt, diversis mentibus ambo. + Ille procul trepido lumine signat humum: + It gravis hic, et in alta ferox penetralia tendit. + Plus habet hic templi; plus habet ille Dei. + + {Andres, idou, heteroisi noois, dyô hiron esêlthon. + Têlothen orrhôdei keinos ho phrikaleos; + All' ho men hôs sobaros nêou mychon engys hikanei; + Pleion ho men nêou, pleion ho d' eiche Theou.} + +_Two went up into the Temple to pray._ + + Two went to pray! O, rather say, + One went to brag, th' other to pray. + One stands up close, and treads on high, + Where th' other dares not send his eye. + One neerer to God's altar trod; + The other to the altar's God. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Two men unto the Temple went to pray. + That, with a downcast look, stood far away; + This, near the altar, himself highly bore: + This of the Temple, that of God hath more. B. + + +II. + +_In asinum Christi vectorem._ Matt. xxi. 7. + + Ille[43] suum didicit quondam objurgare magistrum: + Et quid ni discas tu celebrare tuum? + Mirum non minus est, te jam potuisse tacere, + Illum quam fuerat tum potuisse loqui. + +_Upon the asse that bore our Saviour._ + + Hath only Anger an omnipotence + In eloquence? + Within the lips of Love and Joy doth dwell + No miracle? + Why else had Balaam's asse a tongue to chide + His master's pride, + And thou, heaven-burthen'd beast, hast ne're a word + To praise thy Lord? + That he should find a tongue and vocal thunder + Was a great wonder; + But O, methinkes, 'tis a farre greater one + That thou find'st none. CR. + +MORE CLOSELY. + + The ass of old had power to chide its wilful lord; + And hast not thou the power to speak one praiseful word? + Not less a marvel, sure, this silence is in thee + Than that the ass of old to speak had liberty. G. + + +III. + +_Dominus apud suos vilis._ Luc. iv. 28-29. + + En consanguinei! patriis en exul in oris + Christus! et haud alibi tam peregrinus erat. + Qui socio demum pendebat sanguine latro, + O consanguineus quam fuit ille magis! + +_The Lord 'despised and rejected' by His own people._ + + See, O my kinsmen, what strange thing is this! + Christ in's own country a great stranger is. + The thief which bled upon the Cross with Thee + Was more ally'd in consanguinity.[44] B. + + +IV. + +_Ad Bethesdae piscinam positus._ Joan. v. 1-16. + + Quis novus hic refugis incumbit Tantalus undis, + Quem fallit toties tam fugitiva salus? + Unde hoc naufragium felix medicaeque procellae, + Vitaque tempestas quam pretiosa dedit? + +_The cripple at the Pool of Bethesda._ + + What Tantalus is this, who health still craves + So oft, yet vainly, from the refluent waves? + And whence this happy wreck, this healing strife, + This storm that drifts its victim into life? CL. + + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + What new Tantalus is here, + Couch'd by this swift-ebbing wave, + Whom the healing flood comes near, + Then retiring fails to save? + + O, what happy shipwreck this, + And a cure by conflict wrought! + Strange that woe should thus win bliss, + From disaster life be brought! G. + + +V. + +_Christus ad Thomam._ Joan. xx. 26-29. + + Saeva fides, voluisse meos tractare dolores! + Crudeles digiti, sic didicisse Deum! + Vulnera ne dubites, vis tangere nostra: sed, eheu, + Vulnera, dum dubitas, tu graviora facis. + +_Christ to Thomas._ + + Harsh faith, and wouldst thou probe these signs of woe? + O cruel fingers, would ye prove God so? + Touch them, lest thou shouldst doubt? Then have thy will; + But, ah, thy doubting makes them deeper still. CL. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + O cruel faith, afresh my pangs to move! + O ruthless fingers, thus their Lord to prove! + See, touch the wounds; doubt not; but with such doubt + Thou makest all those wounds afresh gush out. A. + + +VI. + +_Quisquis perdiderit animam suam mea causa inveniet eam._ Matt. xvi. 25. + + I, vita, i, perdam: mihi mors tua, Christe, reperta est: + Mors tua vita mea est; mors tibi vita mea. + Aut ego te abscondam Christi, mea vita, sepulchro: + Non adeo procul est tertius ille dies. + +_Whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it._ + + Away, my life! Lord Christ, I have Thy death: + My life's Thy death, and Thy death gives me breath. + But come, my life, I'll hide thee in His tomb: + The third day hence is not so long to come. A. + + +VII. + +_Primo mane venit ad sepulchrum Magdalena._ Joan. xx. 1. + + Tu matutinos praevertis, sancta, rubores, + Magdala; sed jam tum Sol tuus ortus erat.[45] + Jamque vetus merito vanos sol non agit ortus, + Et tanti radios non putat esse suos. + Quippe aliquo, reor, ille novus jam nictat in astro, + Et se nocturna parvus habet facula. + Quam velit ô tantae vel nuntius esse diei, + Atque novus Soli Lucifer ire novo! + + +_[Mary] Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, cometh unto the +sepulchre._ + + Thou holy Magdalene, + Ere rosy morn was seen, + Awokest; but e'en then + Thy Sun was in thy ken. + + Now the great olden sun, + Rising as wont upon + The earth, is wilderèd + With new beams round him shed. + + Lo, as a star he seems, + Or torch with nigh-quench'd beams; + Keeping himself still small + Before the Lord of All. + + How well might'st thou, O Sun, + Submit to be outshone, + And, as a morning-star, + Herald One grander far! G. + + +VIII. + +_Quinque panes ad quinque hominum millia._ Joan. vi. 9. + + En mensae faciles, redivivaque vulnera coenae, + Quaeque indefessa provocat ora dape! + Aucta Ceres stupet arcana se crescere messe. + Denique quid restat? Pascitur ipse cibus. + +_On the miracle of multiplyed loaves._ + + See here an easie feast that knows no wound, + That under Hunger's teeth will needs be found; + A subtle harvest of unbounded bread: + What would ye more? Here Food itselfe is fed. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Eas'ly-furnish'd table! + And feast increas'd by eating: + Still the mouth entreating. + + The bread itself, unable + To tell whence it flows, + Finds it most surely grows. + + Finds itself guest--no fable! + Whence is the mystic dower? + From Him Who is all power. G. + + +IX. + +_Æthiops lotus._ Act. viii. 38. + + Ille niger sacris exit, quam lautus! ab undis: + Nec frustra Æthiopem nempe lavare fuit. + Mentem quam niveam piceae cutis umbra fovebit? + Tam volet et nigros sancta Columba lares. + +_On the baptized Ethiopian._ + + Let it no longer be a forlorne hope + To wash an Ethiope: + He's washt; his gloomy skin a peacefull shade + For his white soule is made: + And now, I doubt not, the Eternall Dove + A black-fac'd house will love. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + How fair this Ethiop comes from th' holy fount! + To wash a Black we may not vain account. + How bright a soul is in a cloudy skin! + The Dove now loves a black house to dwell in. B. + + +X. + +_Publicanus procul stans percutiebat pectus suum._ Luc. xviii. 13. + + Ecce hic peccator timidus petit advena templum: + Quodque audet solum, pectora moesta ferit. + Fide miser; pulsaque fores has fortiter: illo + Invenies templo tu propiore Deum. + +_The publican standing afar off smote on his breast._ + + Lo, a sinner, timid stranger, + Stranger to the Lord our God, + Seeks, in consciousness of danger, + Where to leave sin's awful load. + He to the Temple now is come, + Bow'd in dread beside the door; + His pallid lips, behold, are dumb; + He smites his bosom, dares no more. + Ah, distress'd one, smite thee there + In _that_ temple, God is near. G. + + +XI. + +_[In] obolum viduae._ Marc. xii. 44. + + Gutta brevis nummi, vitae patrona senilis, + E digitis stillat non dubitantis anus; + Istis multa vagi spumant de gurgite census: + Isti abjecerunt scilicet; illa dedit. + + {Kermatioio bracheia rhanis, biotoio t' aphaurês + Herkos, apostazei cheiros apo tromeras. + Tois de anaskirta polys aphros anaideos olbou. + hoi men aperrhipton; keina dedôke monon.} + +_The widow's mites._ + + Two mites, two drops--yet all her house and land-- + Falle from a steady heart though trembling hand: + The others' wanton wealth foams high and brave. + The other cast away; she only gave. CR. + + +XII. + +_Maria vero assidens ad pedes ejus audiebat eum._ Luc. x. 39. + + Aspice, namque novum est, ut ab hospite pendeat hospes! + Hinc ori parat, hoc sumit ab ore cibos. + Tune epulis adeo es, soror, officiosa juvandis, + Et sinis has, inquit, Martha, perire dapes? + +_Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard His word._ + + Behold, a new thing here--host hanging on her Guest! + Preparing for His mouth, His mouth's words are her feast! + O Martha sister, spare thy labour and thy cost: + Tending the food that perisheth, diviner food is lost. G. + + +XIII. + +_In Spiritus Sancti descensum._ Act. ii. + + Ferte sinus, ô, ferte: cadit vindemia coeli, + Sanctaque ab aethereis volvitur uva jugis. + Felices nimium, queis tam bona musta bibuntur; + In quorum gremium lucida pergit hiems! + En caput, en ut nectareo micat et micat astro; + Gaudet et in roseis viva corona comis. + Illis, ô Superi, quis sic neget ebrius esse? + Illis, ne titubent, dant sua vina faces. + +_The descent of the Holy Spirit._ + + Bear, O bosoms, bear ye what Heaven's vintage showers, + Sacred clusters pouring from ethereal bowers. + Too happy, surely, ye who drink of wine so good; + It comes into your bosoms a sparkling, cooling flood. + Behold, with nectar'd star each head is shining, shining; + Around your purpl'd locks a crown of life entwining. + O Spirit of all flesh, to drink who'd be denied, + Since Thou, lest they should falter, mak'st wine a torch to guide? G. + + +XIV. + +_Congestis omnibus peregre profectus est._ Luc. xv. 13. + + Dic mihi, quo tantos properas, puer auree, nummos? + Quorsum festinae conglomerantur opes? + Cur tibi tota vagos ructans patrimonia census? + Non poterunt siliquae nempe minoris emi? + + +ON THE PRODIGALL. + +_The younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far +country._ + + Tell me, bright boy, tell me, my golden lad, + Whither away so frolick? why so glad? + What all thy wealth in counsile? all thy state? + Are husks so deare? troth, 'tis a mighty rate. CR. + + +XV. + +_Non solum vinciri, sed et mori paratus sum._ Act. xxi. 13. + + Non modo vinc'la, sed et mortem tibi, Christe, subibo, + Paulus ait, docti callidus arte doli. + Diceret hoc aliter: Tibi non modo velle ligari, + Christe, sed et solvi[46] nempe paratus ero. + +_I am ready not to be bound only, but to dye._ + + Come death, come bonds, nor do you shrink, my eares, + At those hard words man's cowardize calls feares. + Save those of feare, no other bands feare I; + Nor other death than this--the feare to die. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Not bonds for Thee, Lord, but death too I'll brave, + Says Paul, adept in double-meanings grave. + The words meant more: his wish was to be bound + For Christ; but loosèd too, and with Him found. G. + + +XVI. + +_In Herodem_ {skôlêkobrôton}. Act. xii. 23. + + Ille Deus, Deus! haec populi vox unica: tantum, + Vile genus, vermes credere velle negant. + At cito se miseri, cito nunc errasse fatentur; + Carnes degustant, ambrosiamque putant. + +_On Herod worshipped as a god, eaten of worms._ + + A god! a god! one-mouth'd the people cry; + Only the worms, vile tribe, his claim deny. + Yet they, too, soon confess themselves astray, + For in his flesh they find ambrosia. CL. + + +XVII. + +_Videns ventum magnum timuit, et cum coepisset demergi, clamavit, &c._ +Matt. xiv. + + Petre, cades, ô, si dubitas: ô, fide: nec ipsum, + Petre, negat fidis aequor habere fidem. + Pondere pressa suo subsidunt caetera: solum, + Petre, tuae mergit te levitatis onus.[47] + +_When he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid; and beginning to sink, +he cried, &c._ + + Peter! doubt, and thou sinkest! O, believe; + The sea will not thy faith, Peter, deceive. + Things by their weight subside into the wave; + Thy lightness, Peter, threats a wat'ry grave. G. + + +XVIII. + +_Obtulit eis pecunias._ Act. viii. 18. + + Quorsum hos hic nummos profers? quorsum, impie Simon? + Non ille hic Judas, sed tibi Petrus adest. + Vis emisse Deum? potius, precor, hoc age, Simon, + Si potes, ipse prius daemona vende tuum. + +_He offered them money._ + + Money! what wouldst thou, impious? Look and see, + 'Tis Peter, not Iscariot, speaks to thee. + Wouldst thou buy God? Nay, Simon, change thy tone, + And try to sell that demon of thine own. CL. + + +XIX. + +_Umbra S. Petri medetur aegrotis._ Act. v. 15. + + Conveniunt alacres, sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras, + Atque umbras fieri, creditis? umbra vetat. + O Petri umbra potens, quae non miracula praestat? + Nunc quoque, Papa, tuum sustinet illa decus. + +_The shadow of St. Peter heals the sick._ + + Beneath that shadow they delight to crowd; + To turn to shades by that shade not allow'd. + From Peter's shadow what may we not hope, + Now all thy glory it sustains, O Pope! G. + + +XX. + +_Tetigit linguam ejus, &c. ... et loquebatur ... et praecepit illis ne +cui dicerent: illi vero eo magis praedicabant._ Marc. vii. 33, 36. + + Christe, jubes muta ora loqui; muta ora loquuntur: + Sana tacere jubes ora; nec illa tacent. + Si digito tunc usus eras, muta ora resolvens; + Nonne opus est tota nunc tibi, Christe, manu? + +_The dumbe healed, and the people enjoyned silence._ + + Christ bids the dumbe tongue speake; it speakes: the sound + Hee charges to be quiet; it runs round. + If in the first He us'd His finger's touch, + His hand's whole strength here could not be too much. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Christ, the mute lips Thou bidst to speak; and lo, + Straightway words flow: + Thou mute wouldst have the speaking lips; but they + Thee disobey. + If, then, a single finger Thou didst use + Mute tongues to loose, + Thy whole hand now we need; for old and young + Have ceaseless tongue. G. + + +XXI. + +_Sacerdos quidam descendens eadem via vidit, et praeteriit._ Luc. x. 32. + + Spectasne, ah, placidisque oculis mea vulnera tractas? + O dolor! ô nostris vulnera vulneribus! + Pax oris quam torva tui est! quam triste serenum! + Tranquillus miserum qui videt, ipse facit. + +_And a certaine priest comming that way looked on him, and passed by._ + + Why dost thou wound my wounds, O thou that passest by, + Handling and turning them with an unwounded eye? + The calm that cools thine eye does shipwrack mine; for O, + Unmov'd to see one wretched is to make him so. CR. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + Dost look upon my wounds, serene-faced Priest? + Thy placid eyes give wounds more deep and sore. + O, thy calm stare avert! pass on, at least: + They who see woe unmov'd cause it, and more. G. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Canst look, and by with look so tranquil pass, + Nor heed my wounds? O, wounds on wounds, alas! + O peace, too grim! on it set little store: + Who looks unmov'd on misery makes it more. A. + + +XXII. + +_Leprosi ingrati._ Luc. xvii. + + Dum linquunt Christum, ah morbus! sanantur euntes: + Ipse etiam morbus sic medicina fuit. + At sani Christum, mens ah male-sana! relinquunt: + Ipsa etiam morbus sic medicina fuit. + +_The ungrateful lepers._ + + Whilst leaving Christ--ah, fell disease!-- + They're healèd as they go: + Their malady their medicine is, + Because He will'd it so. + But healèd now--ah, mind diseas'd!-- + They from the Lord depart: + Their healing their disease is now, + Bred in an ingrate heart. G. + + +XXIII. + +_Ne soliciti estote tu crastinum._ Matt. vi. 34. + + I, miser, inque tuas rape non tua tempora curas: + Et nondum natis perge perire malis. + Mi querulis satis una dies, satis angitur horis: + Una dies lacrymis mi satis uda suis. + Non mihi venturos vacat expectare dolores: + Nolo ego, nolo hodie crastinus esse miser. + +_Be ye not fretted about to-morrow._ + + Go, wretched mortal, antedate the day, + Fill thee with care; + Work thyself mis'ries, in a perverse way, + Before they're there. + Enough for me the day's cares in the day, + The passing hour; + Enough the tears that daily, yea or nay, + In sorrow low'r. + I have no leisure thus to antedate + The coming woe, + Nor to-day darken with to-morrow's fate; + And so I go. G. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Wretch, to thy woes add not + to-morrow morn; + And haste not thou to + groan with ills unborn. + Each day's laments, each + hour's griefs, me suffice; + Each morn, noon, eve, with + rueful weeping eyes. + No leisure is to look for + griefs to be: + Stir not to-day to-morrow's + pains in me. A. + + +XXIV. + +_A telonio Matthaeus._ Matt. ix. 9. + + Ah satis, ah nimis est: noli ultra ferre magistrum, + Et lucro domino turpia colla dare. + Jam fuge; jam, Matthaee, feri fuge regna tyranni: + Inque bonam, felix i fugitive,[48] crucem. + +_Matthew called from the receipt of custom._ + + Enough, too much; no more a master's yoke + Endure, nor bow to lordly Lucre's stroke: + His service from thy slavish neck is broke. + + Flee, Matthew, flee the cruel tyrant's sway, + And hie thee, like a happy runaway, + To the sweet cross that waits for thee to-day. R. WI. + + +XXV. + +_Viduae filius e feretro matri redditur._ Luc. vii. 15. + + En redeunt, lacrymasque breves nova gaudia pensant; + Bisque illa est, uno in pignore, facta parens. + Felix quae magis es nati per funera mater: + Amisisse, iterum cui peperisse fuit. + +_The dead son re-delivered to his mother._ + + Sweet restoration! by new joys outweigh'd, + Brief sorrow is exil'd, + And the lorn widow is a mother made + Twice in her only child. + + O happy mother! then a mother most + When all her hopes seem'd vain: + Happy, who wept beside a dear son lost, + And found him born again. CL. + + +XXVI. + +_Bonum intrare in coelos cum uno oculo, &c._ Matt. xviii. 9. + + Uno oculo? ah centum potius mihi, millia centum: + Nam quis ibi, in coelo, quis satis Argus erit? + Aut si oculus mihi tantum unus conceditur, unus + Iste oculus fiam totus et omnis ego. + +_It is better to go into heaven with one eye, &c._ + + One eye? a thousand rather, and a thousand more, + To fix those full-fac't glories. O, he's poore + Of eyes that has but Argus' store! + Yet, if thou'lt fill one poore eye with Thy Heaven and Thee, + O grant, sweet Goodnesse, that one eye may be + All and every whit of me. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + With one eye! Ah! but rather to me give + A hundred or a hundred-thousand, Lord. + All Argus' eyes were no superlative + To view the glories Thy three heavens afford. + + Or, O my God, if unto those who die, + It be Thy will only to give one eye, + Grant my whole body that one eye to be, + That thus I may forever gaze on Thee. G. + + +XXVII. + +_Hydropicus sanatur._ Luc. xiv. 2-4. + + Ipse suum pelagus, morboque immersus aquoso + Qui fuit, ut laetus nunc micat atque levis: + Quippe in vina iterum Christus, puto, transtulit undas; + Et nunc iste suis ebrius est ab aquis. + + Himself is his own sea; + Dropsy his malady + In sad severity. + + But Christ the Lord he sees, + Who touching him him frees; + Now joyous and at ease. + + Again, as I opine, + The Lord transmutes to wine + By miracle divine; + + And now, still more and more, + His own wine-water store + Pours mirth at ev'ry pore. G. + + +XXVIII. + +_Non erat iis in diversorio locus._ Luc. ii. 7. + + Illi non locus est? Illum ergo pellitis? Illum? + Ille Deus, quem sic pellitis; ille Deus. + O furor! humani miracula saeva furoris! + Illi non locus est, quo sine nec locus est. + +_There was no room for them in the inn._ + + No place for Him! So Him you drive away; + You drive away your God, your God. O, stay! + O height of human madness! wonders rare! + No place for Him! without Whom no place were. G. + + +XXIX. + +_In lacrymas Lazari spretas a Divite._ Luc. xvi. + + Felix, ô, lacrymis, ô Lazare, ditior istis, + Quam qui purpureas it gravis inter opes: + Illum cum rutili nova purpura vestiet ignis, + Ille tuas lacrymas quam volet esse suas. + +_Upon Lazarus his teares._ + + Rich Lazarus, richer in those gems, thy teares, + Than Dives in the roabes he weares: + He scornes them now; but, O, they'l suit full well + With th' purple he must weare in Hell! CR. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + O happy Lazarus! richer in thy tears + Than he who midst his riches purple wears. + Hell's purple flames red-glowing shall be his: + Ah, then how shall he count thy tears a bliss! + + +XXX. + +_Indignatur Caiphas Christo se confitenti._ Matt. xxvi. 65. + + Tu Christum, Christum quod non negat esse lacessis: + Ipsius hoc crimen, quod fuit ipse, fuit. + Tene Sacerdotem credam? Novus ille Sacerdos + Per quem impune Deo non licet esse Deum. + +_Caiphas angry that Christ confesses He is the Christ._ + + Wroth that The Christ confesseth Christ He is! + His fault that He is but Himself, I wis. + Thee shall I reckon priest? Strange priest is he + Who leaves not God His own Divinity! G. + + +XXXI. + +_Cum tot signa edidisset, non credebant in eum._ Joan. xii. 37. + + Non tibi, Christe, fidem tua tot miracula praestant; + O verbi, ô dextrae dulcia regna tuae! + Non praestant? neque te post tot miracula credunt? + Mirac'lum qui non credidit, ipse fuit.[49] + +_But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed +not on Him._ + + For all Thy signs they still refuse Thee, Lord; + Those signs, blest symbols of Thy reign and word. + Such signs, and not believe? Sure, who did thus + Made unbelief itself miraculous. CL. + + +XXXII. + +_Ad S. Andream piscatorem._ Marc. i. 16. + + Quippe potes pulchre captare et fallere pisces; + Centum illic discis lubricus ire dolis. + Heus, bone piscator! tendit sua retia Christus: + Artem inverte, et jam tu quoque disce capi. + +_To S. Andrew, fisherman._ + + How cleverly the fishes he beguiles! + He learns to use a hundred cunning wiles. + Ho, thou good Fisher: Christ casts out His net; + Now haste thou to be caught; for thee 'tis set. G. + + +XXXIII. + +_Ego sum vox, &c._ Joan. i. 23. + + Vox ego sum, dicis: tu vox es, sancte Joannes? + Si vox es, genitor cur tibi mutus erat? + Ista tui fuerant quam mira silentia patris! + Vocem non habuit tunc quoque cum genuit. + +_I am the voice._ + + 'I am the voice,' thou sayest. Thou holy John, + If voice thou art, why was thy father dumb? + O silence strange! which as I muse upon, + I see thy voice from God, not man, did come. G. + + +XXXIV. + +_Vincula sponte decidunt._ Act. xii. 7. + + Qui ferro Petrum cumulas, durissime custos, + A ferro disces mollior esse tuo. + Ecce fluit, nodisque suis evolvitur ultro: + I, fatue, et vinc'lis vincula pone tuis. + +_The chains spontaneously fall off._ + + Who loadest him with chains, thou jailer stern, + To be more kind e'en from those chains shalt learn. + Lo, they dissolve, and their own knots untie. + Go, fool, and chains with chains to fetter try. G. + + +XXXV. + +IN DIEM OMNIUM SANCTORUM. + +_Ne laedite terrain, neque mare, neque arbores, quousque obsignaverimus +servos Dei nostri in frontibus suis._ Rev. vii. 3. + + Nusquam immitis agat ventus sua murmura, nusquam + Sylva tremat, crispis sollicitata comis. + Aequa Thetis placide allabens ferat oscula Terrae; + Terra suos Thetidi pandat amica sinus: + Undique pax effusa piis volet aurea pennis, + Frons bona dum signo est quaeque notata suo. + Ah, quid in hoc opus est signis aliunde petendis? + Frons bona sat lacrymis quaeque notata suis. + +_On All-Saints' Day._ + + Let wind with murmurs harsh nowhere be heard; + Nowhere wood tremble, its curl'd tresses stirr'd. + Calm-flowing Sea greet Earth with kisses bland, + Earth unto Sea its bosom kind expand. + Let holy Peace on golden pinions steal, + Till each blest brow is mark'd with its own seal. + Ah, why elsewhere for this, need signs be sought? + To each blest brow tears seal enough have brought. R. WI. + + +XXXVI. + +_In die Conjurationis sulphureae._ + + Quam bene dispositis annus dat currere festis! + Post omnes Sanctos omne scelus sequitur. + +_Upon the Powder-day._ + + How fit our well-rank'd Feasts do follow! + All-mischiefe comes after All-Hallow.[50] CR. + + +XXXVII. + +_Deus sub utero Virginis._ Luc. i. 31. + + Ecce tuus, Natura, pater; pater hic tuus hic est: + Ille, uterus matris quem tenet, ille pater. + Pellibus exiguis arctatur Filius ingens, + Quem tu non totum, crede, nec ipsa capis. + Quanta uteri, Regina, tui reverentia tecum est, + Dum jacet hic coelo sub breviore Deus! + Conscia divino gliscunt praecordia motu, + Nec vehit aethereos sanctior aura polos. + Quam bene sub tecto tibi concipiuntur eodem + Vota, et, vota cui concipienda, Deus! + Quod nubes alia, et tanti super atria coeli + Quaerunt, invenient hoc tua vota domi. + O felix anima haec, quae tam sua gaudia tangit! + Sub conclave suo cui suus ignis adest. + Corpus amet, licet, illa suum, neque sidera malit: + Quod vinc'lum est aliis, hoc habet illa domum. + Sola jaces, neque sola; toro quocunque recumbis, + Illo estis positi tuque tuusque toro. + Immo ubi casta tuo posita es cum conjuge conjunx; + Quod mirum magis est, es tuus ipsa torus. + +_God in the Virgin's womb._ + + Thy Father, Nature, here thy Father see: + Whom womb of mother holds, thy Father He. + Scant teguments the mighty Son enchain, + Whom thou thyself not wholly dost contain. + What reverence, Queen, to thine own womb is given, + While God lies here beneath a lesser heaven! + With sacred motion swells her conscious breast; + Nor are the poles upborne by airs more blest. + 'Neath the same roof are well conceiv'd by thee + Vows, and the God to whom vows offer'd be. + What other prayers o'er clouds and sky's vast bound + Seek, by thy prayers this will at home be found. + Blest soul, so nigh to thy supreme desire, + To which 'neath its own shrine dwells its own fire. + She may her body love, nor heaven prefer: + What chains down others is a home to her. + Lone, yet not lone, where'er thou dost recline; + On that same couch are laid both thou and thine. + Nay, when with thy chaste spouse, chaste wife thou'rt laid-- + More strange, thyself thine own blest couch art made. R. WI. + + +XXXVIII. + +_Ad Judaeos mactatores Stephani._ Act. vii. 59. + + Frustra illum increpitant, frustra vaga saxa: nec illi + Grandinis, heu, saevae! dura procella nocet. + Ista potest tolerare, potest nescire; sed illi, + Quae sunt in vestro pectore, saxa nocent. + +_To the Jews, murderers of St. Stephen._ + + Vainly ye cast stones, Jews; they give no shock: + Shower as the hail-storm, it is all in vain. + These he shall bear, and heed not: 'tis the rock + Of your obdurate hearts that gives him pain. G. + + +XXXIX. + +_D. Joannes in exilio._ Rev. i. 9. + + Exul, amor Christi est: Christum tamen invenit exul: + Et solitos illic invenit ille sinus. + Ah, longo, aeterno ah terras indicite nobis + Exilio, Christi si sinus exilium est. + +_St. John in exile._ + + Love to Christ an exile is, + Yet the exile findeth Christ; + All the dear familiar bliss, + And the bosom-joys unpric'd. + Ah, Lord, exile long to us, + Never-ending e'en be sent, + If we find Christ's bosom thus + As our place of banishment. G. + + +XL. + +_Ad infantes martyres._ Matt. ii. 16. + + Fundite ridentes animas, effundite coelo; + Discet ibi vestra, ô quam bene! lingua loqui. + Nec vos lac vestrum et maternos quaerite fontes: + Quae vos expectat lactea tota via est. + +_To the infant martyrs._ + + Go, smiling soules, your new-built cages breake, + In Heav'n you'l learne to sing ere here to speake: + Nor let the milky fonts that bath your thirst + Bee your delay; + The place that calls you hence is, at the worst, + Milke all the way. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Depart, ye smiling souls, to Heaven depart: + Your tongues may there learn best the speaking art. + Stay not to suck, sweet children, do not stay: + Cry not; for you shall go the milky way. B. + + +XLI. + +_Quaerit Jesum suum beata Virgo._ Luc. ii. 45. + + Ah, redeas miserae, redeas, puer alme, parenti; + Ah, neque te coelis tam cito redde tuis. + Coelum nostra tuum fuerint, ô, brachia, si te + Nostra suum poterunt brachia ferre Deum. + +_The blessed Virgin seeks Jesus._ + + Ah, to Thy mother, ah, return, + my fair, belovèd Son; + Return not to Thy native skies, + my heaven-descended One. + Thy mother's arms Thy heaven would be, + enfolding Thee around; + If thus within these innocent arms + the great God might be found.[51] G. + + +XLII. + +_Non sum dignus ut sub tecta mea venias._ Matt. viii. 8. + + In tua tecta Deus veniet: tuus haud sinit illud + Et pudor atque humili in pectore celsa fides. + Illum ergo accipies, quoniam non accipis: ergo + In te jam veniet, non tua tecta Deus.[52] + + +_I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roofe._ + + Thy God was making hast into thy roofe; + Thy humble faith and feare keepes him aloofe. + Hee'll be thy guest, because He may not be; + Hee'll come--into thy house? No, into thee. CR. + + +XLIII. + +_Christus accusatus nihil respondet._ Matt. xxvii. 12. + + Nil ait: ô sanctae pretiosa silentia linguae! + Ponderis ô quanti res nihil illud erat! + Ille olim verbum qui dixit, et omnia fecit, + Verbum non dicens omnia nunc reficit. + +_And He answered them nothing._ + + O mighty Nothing! unto thee, + Nothing, wee owe all things that bee. + God spake once when Hee all things made, + Hee sav'd all when Hee Nothing said. + The world was made of Nothing then; + 'Tis made by Nothing now againe. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + 'Nothing He said.' + O precious silence of that sacred tongue! + O what vast interests on that Nothing hung! + He who once spoke the word, and all things made, + Now re-makes all, when not a word is said. G. + + +XLIV. + +_Nunc dimittis._ Luc. ii. 29. + + Spesne meas tandem ergo mei tenuere lacerti? + Ergo bibunt oculos lumina nostra tuos? + Ergo bibant: possintque novam sperare juventam: + O possint senii non meminisse sui! + Immo mihi potius mitem mors induat umbram, + Esse sub his oculis si tamen umbra potest. + Ah, satis est. Ego te vidi, puer auree, vidi: + Nil post te, nisi te, Christe, videre volo.[53] + +_Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace._ + + And is my hope grasp'd in these arms of mine + At last, and do these eyes drink light from Thine? + There let them drink with a new youth in store, + And feel the dimming touch of age no more. + Nay rather, if Thine eyes can give it room, + Let Death's soft shadow gently o'er them come. + Thee have I seen, O Child: enough for me: + I care not to behold aught else but Thee. CL. + + +XLV. + +_Verbum inter spinas._ Luc. viii. 7. + + Saepe Dei verbum sentes cadit inter, et atrum + Miscet spina procax, ah, male juncta! latus. + Credo quidem: nam sic spinas, ah, scilicet inter + Ipse Deus verbum tu quoque, Christe, cadis. + + +_The Word among thorns._ + + Often and often 'good words' fall + Where thorns and briars rankly crawl; + Their spines lay hold, and choke, and pierce-- + Like to wild beast in hunger fierce. + I know it: for like flash of sword + I read 'twas so with Thee THE WORD: + God, e'en my God, Thou wast in truth; + But fell'st 'mong thorns, which show'd no ruth. G. + + +XLVI. + +_Sabbatum Judaicum et Christianum._ Luc. xiv. 5. + + Res eadem vario quantum distinguitur usu: + Nostra hominem servant sabbata, vestra bovem. + Observent igitur, pacto quid justius isto? + Sabbata nostra homines, sabbata vestra boves. + +_The Judaic and Christian Sabbath._ + + How diff'rent grows a thing through diff'rent use! + _Our_ Sabbaths serve men, _yours_ give oxen truce, + Be this agreed--arrangement fitter none-- + _Our_ Sabbath men keep, _yours_ oxen alone. G. + + +XLVII. + +_Ad verbum Dei sanatur caecus._ Marc. x. 52. + + Christe, loquutus eras, ô sacra licentia verbi: + Jamque novus caeci fluxit in ora dies. + Jam credo, Nemo[54] est, sicut Tu, Christe, loquutus: + Auribus? immo oculis, Christe, loquutus eras. + + +_The blind cured by the word of our Saviour._ + + Thou spak'st the word--Thy word's a law; + Thou spak'st, and straight the blind man saw. + To speak and make the blind to see, + Was never man, Lord, spake like Thee. + To speak thus was to speak, say I, + Not to his eare, but to his eye. CR. + + +XLVIII. + +_Onus meum leve est._ Matt. xi. 30. + + Esse levis quicunque voles, onus accipe Christi: + Ala tuis humeris, non onus, illud erit. + Christi onus an quaeris quam sit grave? scilicet audi, + Tam grave, ut ad summos te premat usque polos. + +_My burden is light._ + + Askest how thou may'st lightly loaded be? + Christ's _burden_ take from me: + A wing to lift, no load to press thee down, + Thou it wilt feel and own. + Dost ask how heavy may Christ's _burden_ be? + Then list, O man, to me: + So _heavy_, that whoe'er 'neath it enrolls, + It lifts to the highest poles. G. + + +XLIX. + +_Miraculum quinque panum._ Joan. vi. 1-13. + + Ecce, vagi venit unda cibi; venit indole sacra + Fortis, et in dentes fertilis innumeros. + Quando erat invictae tam sancta licentia coenae? + Illa famem populi poscit, et illa fidem. + +_On the miracle of loaves._ + + Now, Lord, or never, they'l beleeve on Thee; + Thou to their teeth hast prov'd Thy deity. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + See, loaves in heaps, blest growth, spread far and wide, + For mouths innumerable multiplied. + Feast holy, free, invincible like this, + Claims the crowd's hunger, and their faith, I wis. R. WI. + + +L. + +_Nunc scimus te habere daemonium._ Joan. viii. 52. + + Aut Deus, aut saltem daemon tibi notior esset, + Gens mala, quae dicis daemona habere Deum. + Ignorasse Deum poteras, ô caeca; sed oro, + Et patrem poteras tam male nosse tuum? + +_Now we know Thee to have a devil._ + + God or the devil by you + ought better to be known, + Ye wicked ones, who charge + your God a devil to own. + Ign'rant of God, indeed, + ye well might be; but O, + The devil, your own father, + how could ye fail to know? G. + + +LI. + +_In beatae Virginis verecundiam._ + + In gremio, quaeris, cur sic sua lumina Virgo + Ponat? ubi melius poneret illa, precor? + O ubi, quam coelo, melius sua lumina ponat? + Despicit, at coelum sic tamen illa videt. + +_On the blessed Virgin's bashfulness._ + + That on her lap she casts her humble eye, + 'Tis the sweet pride of her humility. + The faire starre is well fixt, for where, O, where, + Could she have fixt it on a fairer spheare? + 'Tis Heav'n, 'tis Heav'n she sees, Heaven's God there lyes; + She can see Heaven, and ne're lift up her eyes. + This new guest to her eyes new lawes hath given: + 'Twas once looke up, 'tis now looke downe to Heaven. CR. + + +LII. + +_In vulnera Dei pendentis._ + + O frontis, lateris, manuumque pedumque cruores; + O quae purpureo flumina fonte patent: + In nostram, ut quondam, pes non valet ire salutem, + Sed natat; in fluviis, ah, natat ille suis. + Fixa manus; dat, fixa: pios bona dextera rores + Donat, et in donum solvitur ipsa suum. + O latus, ô torrens; quis enim torrentior exit + Nilus, ubi pronis praecipitatur aquis? + Mille et mille simul cadit et cadit undique guttis + Frons: viden' ut saevus purpuret ora pudor? + Spinae hoc irriguae florent crudeliter imbre, + Inque novas sperant protinus ire rosas. + Quisque capillus it exiguo tener alveus amne, + Hoc quasi de rubro rivulus oceano. + O nimium vivae pretiosis amnibus undae: + Fons vitae nunquam verior ille fuit. + +_On the wounds of our crucified Lord._ + + O bleeding wounds of brow, feet, hands, and side; + Rivers which from a purple fount spread wide. + No more to save us now that foot can go, + But swims in streams which from its own wounds flow. + Transfix'd His hand yet gives--gives dewdrops holy, + And into its own gift is melted wholly. + O side, O torrent; for with torrent strong + What flooded Nile more swift is driven along? + Drops from His brow in thousands fall and fall; + See to His face a cruel blush they call. + By this sad shower the thorns unkindly nurst + Soon into new-blown roses hope to burst. + Each hair becomes a slender streamlet's bed, + As if a rivulet from this ocean red. + O waves too much alive with precious streams, + Nowhere a fount of life more truly gleams.[55] R. WI. + + +LIII. + +_Quare cum Publicanis manducat Magister vester?_ Matt. ix. 11. + + Ergo istis socium se peccatoribus addit? + Ergo istis sacrum non negat ille latus? + Tu, Pharisaee, rogas, Jesus cur fecerit istud? + Nae dicam: Jesus, non Pharisaeus, erat. + +_Wherefore eateth your Master with Publicans?_ + + Wherefore associates He with sinners vile? + Why hides He not His holy self the while? + Askest thou, Pharisee, how this can be? + Because 'tis Jesus, not a Pharisee. G. + + +LIV. + +_Ecce locus ubi jacuit Dominus._ + + Ipsum, ipsum, precor, ô potius mini, candide, monstra: + Ipsi, ipsi ô lacrymis oro sit ire meis. + Si monstrare locum satis est, et dicere nobis, + En, Maria, hic tuus en hic jacuit Dominus; + Ipsa ulnas monstrare meas, et dicere possum, + En, Maria, hic tuus en hic jacuit Dominus. + + {Phaidime, moi auton mallon moi deiknythi auton. + Autos mou, deomai, autos echê dakrya. + Ei de topon moi deiknynai halis esti, kai eipein, + Hôde teos, Mariam, ênide, keito anax; + Ankoinas mou deiknynai dynamai ge kai eipein, + Hôde teos, Mariam, ênide, keito anax.} + +_Come, see the place where the Lord lay._ + + Show me Himselfe, Himselfe, bright Sir, O show + Which way my poore tears to Himselfe may goe. + Were it enough to show the place, and say, + Looke, Mary, here, see where thy Lord once lay; + Then could I show these armes of mine, and say, + Looke, Mary, here, see where thy Lord once lay. + +_Vpon the sepulchre of our Lord._ + + Here, where our Lord once laid His head, + Now the grave lies buried. CR. + + +LV. + +_Leprosi ingrati._ Luc. xvii. 11-19. + + Lex jubet ex hominum coetu procul ire leprosos: + At mundi a Christo cur abiere procul? + Non abit, at sedes tantum mutavit in illis; + Et lepra, quae fuerat corpore, mente sedet. + Sic igitur digna vice res variatur; et a se + Quam procul ante homines, nunc habuere Deum. + +_The unthankful lepers. (Where are the nine?)_ + + The Lord commands the lepers + far off from men to stay: + But cleansèd by the Lord, + why went the Nine away? + The leprosy remaineth, + chang'd only in its seat: + Expellèd from the body, + to the soul it makes retreat. + Now by fit retribution + a change is brought about: + Before shut out from men, + from God they're now shut out. G. + + +LVI. + +_In cicatrices quas Christus habet in se adhuc superstites._ Joan. xx. + + Quicquid spina procax, vel stylo clavus acuto, + Quicquid purpurea scripserat hasta nota, + Vivit adhuc tecum; sed jam tua vulnera non sunt: + Non, sed vulneribus sunt medicina meis. + +_On the still-surviving markes of our Saviour's wounds._ + + Whatever story of their crueltie, + Or naile, or thorne, or speare have writ in Thee, + Are in another sence + Still legible; + Sweet is the difference: + Once I did spell + Every red letter + A wound of Thine; + Now, what is better, + Balsome for mine. CR. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + Each bloody, cruel character, + Thorn, nail, and spear had written, + When here, as man's great Arbiter, + On Calvary Thou wert smitten, + Thou wearest still above, O Lord: + But now no longer wounds they are; + According to Thy Holy Word, + They med'cine for my wounds declare. G. + + +LVII. + +_Aeger implorat umbram D. Petri._ Act. v. 15. + + Petre, tua lateam paulisper, Petre, sub umbra: + Sic mea me quaerent fata, nec invenient. + Umbra dabit tua posse meum me cernere solem; + Et mea lux umbrae sic erit umbra tuae. + +_The sick implore St. Peter's shadow._ + + Under thy shadow may I lurke awhile, + Death's busie search I'le easily beguile: + Thy shadow, Peter, must show me the sun; + My light's thy shadowe's shadow, or 'tis done. CR. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + O Peter, Peter, let thy shadow fall + Where I in wretchedness a-weary crawl: + Here vainly shall my fates upon me call. + Thy shadow me shall guide unto my sun-- + Whoe'er sought Him in truth, and was undone?-- + And so my light, thy shadow, shall be one. G. + + +LVIII. + +_Quid turbati estis? Videte manus meas et pedes, quia ego ipse sum._ +Luc. xxiv. 39. + + En me et signa mei, quondam mea vulnera: certe, + Vos nisi credetis, vulnera sunt et adhuc. + O nunc ergo fidem sanent mea vulnera vestram: + O mea nunc sanet vulnera vestra fides. + +_Why are ye troubled?... Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I +myself._ + + 'Tis I; behold My proofs, My wounds of old; + Wounds which still bleed, if you will not believe. + O, now to heal your faith My wounds behold, + And healing from your faith My wounds receive. + + +LIX. + +_In vincula Petro sponte delapsa, et apertas fores._ Act. xii. 7, 10. + + Ferri non meminit ferrum: se vincula Petro + Dissimulant: nescit carcer habere fores. + Quam bene liber erit, carcer quem liberat! ipsa + Vincula quem solvunt, quam bene tutus erit! + +_The chains spontaneously fell from Peter, and the (prison)-doors +opened._ + + Iron forgets 'tis iron; + the chains dissemble too; + Nor has the prison doors + for Peter now. + Free truly is that pris'ner + who by the prison's freed; + Whom chains themselves unbind + free is indeed. + + +LX. + +_Deferebantur a corpore ejus sudaria, &c._ Act. xix. 12. + + Imperiosa premunt morbos, et ferrea fati + Jura ligant, Pauli lintea tacta manu. + Unde haec felicis laus est et gloria lini? + Haec, reor, e Lachesis pensa fuere colo. + +_From his body there were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs, &c._ + + They quell disease, and sway Fate's iron bands, + These lordly linen cloths touched by Paul's hands. + Whence rose the glory of their happy fame? + From the Fates' distaff, sure, these kerchiefs came. R. WI. + + +LXI. + +_Christus vitis ad vinitorem Patrem._ Joan. xv. 1-6. + + En serpit tua, purpureo tua palmite vitis + Serpit, et, ah, spretis it per humum foliis. + Tu viti succurre tuae, mi Vinitor ingens: + Da fulcrum; fulcrum da mihi: quale? crucem. + +_Christ the Vine to the Vinedresser-Father._ + + Lo, Thy vine trails, trails with a purple shoot, + Scatt'ring its leaves before it beareth fruit. + Succour Thy vine, great Vinedresser, from loss: + Support, support me, Lord: how? With Thy cross. G. + + +LXII. + +_Pene persuades mihi ut fiam Christianus._ Act. xxvi. 28. + + Pene? quid hoc pene est? Vicinia saeva salutis! + O quam tu malus es proximitate boni! + Ah, portu qui teste perit, bis naufragus ille est; + Hunc non tam pelagus, quam sua terra premit. + Quae nobis spes vix absunt, crudelius absunt: + Pene sui felix, emphasis est miseri. + +_Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian._ + + _Almost?_ What word is this we hear? + O doubly lost, with heaven so near! + To perish in the neighbourhood + Of vast but unavailing good! + He shipwreck undergoes twice o'er + Who perishes in sight of shore, + And less by ocean is o'ercome + Than by that hopeless glimpse of home. + The hopes that almost seem our own + Leave all the keener sting when gone; + And just to miss felicity + Is but emphatic misery. CL. + + +LXIII. + +_Lux venit in mundum, sed dilexerunt homines magis tenebras quam lucem._ +Joan. iii. 19. + + Luce sua venit ecce Deus, mundoque refulget; + Pergit adhuc tenebras mundus amare suas. + At Stygiis igitur mundus damnabitur umbris: + Pergit adhuc tenebras mundus amare suas? + +_But men loved darkness rather than light._ + + The world's Light shines: shine as it will, + The world will love its darknesse still. + I doubt though, when the world's in hell, + It will not love its darknesse halfe so well. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Behold the day of Christ! God comes with light; + Yet the world loves the darkness of the night. + Therefore the world to Stygian darkness will + Be damn'd: and doth the world love darkness still? B. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + Lo, God comes girt with light, + and all the world o'ershines: + The world abides in night, + nor watcheth for the signs. + To Stygian darkness hurl'd + on the great Day of Doom, + Shalt thou, night-loving world, + still love thy lightless gloom? G. + + +LXIV. + +_Dives implorat guttam._ Luc. xvi. 24. + + O mihi si digito tremat et tremat unica summo + Gutta! ô si flammas mulceat una meas! + Currat opum quocunque volet levis unda mearum; + Una mihi haec detur gemmula, Dives ero. + +_Dives asking a drop._ + + A drop, one drop! how sweetly one faire drop + Would tremble on my pearle-tipt finger's top! + My wealth is gone: O, goe it where it will, + Spare this one iewell, I'le be Dives still. CR. + + +LXV. + +_Quomodo potest homo gigni qui est senex?_ Joan. iii. 4. + + Dic, Phoenix unde in nitidos novus emicat annos, + Plaudit et elusos aurea penna rogos? + Quis colubrum dolus insinuat per secula retro, + Et jubet emeritum luxuriare latus? + Cur rostro pereunte suam praedata senectam + Torva ales, rapido plus legit ore diem? + Immo, sed ad nixus praestat Lucina secundos? + Natales seros unde senex habeat. + Ignoras, Pharisaee? sat est: jam credere disces: + Dimidium fidei, qui bene nescit, habet. + +_How can a man be born when he is old?_ + + See how new Phoenix into bright life springs, + And fans the unhurting flames with golden wings. + O'er snake what subtle change creeps as months flow, + Bidding its faded frame with beauty glow. + Why, on itself with worn beak having prey'd, + Is raven old more youthful swift array'd? + O'er second birth-throes bears Lucina sway, + Whence an old man may have late natal day? + Pharisee, know'st not? Well, now faith thou'lt learn: + Wisely to know not, half faith's crown doth earn. R. WI. + + +LXVI. + +_Arbor Christi jussu arescens._ Marc. xi. 13. + + Ille jubet: procul ite mei, mea gloria, rami: + Nulla vocet nostras amplius aura comas. + Ite, nec ô pigeat; nam vos neque fulminis ira, + Nec trucis ala Noti verberat: ille jubet. + O vox, ô Zephyro vel sic quoque dulcior omni; + Non possum Autumno nobiliore frui. + +_The tree dried up by the word of Christ._ + + He speaks: hence, leaves; my glory hence, away; + Thou Zephyr 'mid my leaves no longer play; + Begone: nor grieve: 'tis not the lightning's wrath, + Nor wing of the storm-wind that smites: HE saith. + O voice, than Zephyr sweeter far to me; + More noble autumn-fruit could never be. G. + + +LXVII. + +_Zacharias minus credens._ Luc. i. 12. + + Infantis fore te patrem, res mira videtur; + Infans interea factus es ipse pater. + Et dum promissi signum, nimis anxie, quaeris, + Jam nisi per signum quaerere nulla potes. + +_Zacharias incredulous._ + + To have a child thou deem'st so strange a thing, + That thou art made a child for wondering. + Whilst for a sign too eagerly thou dost call, + Except by sign thou can'st not ask at all. CL. + + +LXVIII. + +_In aquam baptismi Dominici._ Matt. iii. 13-16. + + Felix ô, sacros cui sic licet ire per artus; + Felix, dum lavat hunc, ipsa lavatur aqua. + Gutta quidem sacros quaecunque perambulat artus, + Dum manet hic, gemma est; dum cadit hinc, lacryma. + +_On the water of our Lord's baptisme._ + + Each blest drop on each blest limme + Is washt itselfe in washing Him: + 'Tis a gemme while it stayes here; + While it falls hence 'tis a teare. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Happy the water washt His sacred side; + In washing Christ itself is purify'd. + Each drop that trickled down His body, there + Staying a gem, thence falling was a tear. B. + + +LXIX. + +_Mulieri incurvatae medetur Dominus, indignante Archisynagogo._ Luc. +xiii. 11. + + In proprios replicata sinus quae repserat, et jam + Daemonis, infelix, nil nisi nodus erat, + Solvitur ad digitum Domini: sed strictior illo + Unicus est nodus; cor, Pharisaee, tuum. + +_The bowed-down woman healed by the Lord, the Synagogue-ruler is +displeased._ + + Creeping and doubled erewhile in her woe, + Lo, now she stands erect: Christ willed it so. + Dæmonic knots are loos'd beneath His hands; + But thy heart, Pharisee, still rigid stands. G. + + +LXX. + +_Neque ausus fuit quisquam ex illo die eum amplius interrogare._ Matt. +xxii. 46. + + Christe, malas fraudes, Pharisaica retia, fallis: + Et miseros sacro discutis ore dolos. + Ergo tacent tandem, atque invita silentia servant: + Tam bene non aliter te potuere loqui.[56] + +_Neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions._ + + Nets, frauds of Pharisees, the Lord beguiles; + His sacred lips disperse the wretched wiles. + So they were silent--enforc'd so to be: + Such silence, Lord, their best address to Thee. G. + + +LXXI. + +_S. Joannes matri suae._ Matt. xx. 20. + + O mihi cur dextram, mater, cur, oro, sinistram + Poscis, ab officio mater iniqua tuo? + Nolo manum Christi dextram mihi, nolo sinistram: + Tam procul a sacro non libet esse sinu. + + +_St. John and his mother._ + + Mother, why ask you right or left for me? + The benefit would be an injury. + Nor right nor left for me convenient are: + From His sweet bosome either is too far. B. + + +LXXII. + +_Si filius Dei es, dejice te._ Matt. iv. 6. + + Ni se dejiciat Christus de vertice Templi, + Non credes quod sit Filius ille Dei? + At mox te humano de pectore dejicit: heus tu, + Non credes quod sit Filius ille Dei? + +_If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down._ + + Cast Thyself from the pinacle whereon + I set Thee, or I think Thee not God's Son. + No; but He'l cast thee from the hearts of men, + Satan. Wilt not believe He's God's Son then? B. + + +LXXIII. + +_Dominus flens ad Judaeos._ Luc. xix. 41. + + Discite, vos miseri, venientes discite flammas; + Nec facite ô lacrymas sic periisse meas. + Nec periisse tamen poterunt: mihi credite, vestras + Vel reprimet flammas haec aqua, vel faciet. + +_The Lord weeping over the Jews._ + + Think on the coming flames I would prevent; + Let not My tears for you in vain be spent. + And yet they can't be spent in vain; for sure + This water flames will quench, or else procure. B. + + +LXXIV. + +_Nec velut hic Publicanus._ Luc. xviii. 11. + + Istum? vile caput! quantum mihi gratulor, inquis, + Istum quod novi tam mihi dissimilem! + Vilis at iste abiit sacris acceptior aris: + I nunc, et jactes hunc tibi dissimilem. + +_Nor even as this publican._ + + Him, 'vile wretch!' Ah, myself how much I pride + That I am utterly unlike to him! + The 'vile wretch' leaves God's altar justified: + Now go and boast thou art unlike to him. G. + + +LXXV. + +_In Saulum fulgore nimio excaecatum._ Act. ix. 3. + + Quae lucis tenebrae? quae nox est ista dici? + Nox nova, quam nimii luminis umbra facit. + An Saulus fuerit caecus, vix dicere possum; + Hoc scio, quod captus lumine Saulus erat.[57] + +_On Saul blinded with too much light._ + + What darken'd noon is here? what mid-day night? + It is the shadow cast by too much light. + Saul may be blind or not; all I can say, + Ta'en within Heaven's light earth's light fades away. R. WI. + + +LXXVI. + +_Beati oculi qui vident._ Luc. x. 23. + + Cum Christus nostris ibat mitissimus oris, + Atque novum caecos jussit habere diem, + Felices, oculos qui tunc habuere, vocantur? + Felices, et qui non habuere, voco. + +_Blessed are the eyes which see._ + + When Christ with us on Earth did sympathize, + And to the poor blind men restor'd their eyes, + Happy they who had eyes. Not they alone; + I call them also happy who had none. B. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + When Christ on earth moved on His pitying way, + And bade the blind look up and find new day, + Was eyesight then such bliss to every one? + Yet I will deem them happy who had none. G. + + +LXXVII. + +_Filius e feretro matri redditur._ Luc. vii. 15. + + Ergone tam subita potuit vice flebilis horror + In natalitia candidus ire toga? + Quos vidi, matris gemitus hos esse dolentis + Credideram; gemitus parturientis erant. + +_Her son is delivered to his mother from the bier._ + + With such quick change could tear-bedew'd Dismay + Give birthday smiles, and walk in white array? + Heard I bereavèd mother's wailings wild? + No; the blest cries of one who bears a child! R. WI. + + +LXXVIII. + +_In seculi sapientes._ Matt. xi. 25. + + Ergone delicias facit, et sibi plaudit ab alto + Stultitia, ut velit hac ambitione peti? + Difficilisne adeo facta est, et seria tandem? + Ergo et in hanc etiam quis sapuisse potest? + Tantum erat, ut possit tibi doctior esse ruina? + Tanti igitur cerebri res, periisse, fuit? + Nil opus ingenio; nihil hac opus arte furoris: + Simplicius poteris scilicet esse miser. + +_On the wise of this world._ + + With such complacent joys is Folly fraught, + That with this trouble she must needs be sought? + So difficult and grave is she turn'd now, + Can any one for her be wise enow? + Must Ruin to be deeper taught aspire? + To perish, does it so much brain require? + Genius and skill in madness who would see? + Forsooth, more simply you may wretched be! R. WI. + + +LXXIX. + +_In Judaeos Christum praecipitare conantes._ Luc. iv. 29. + + Dicite, quae tanta est sceleris fiducia vestri, + Quod nequiit daemon, id voluisse scelus? + Quod nequiit daemon scelus, id voluisse patrare: + Hoc tentare ipsum daemona, credo, fuit. + +_The Jews seeking to cast Christ headlong from a precipice._ + + What daring leads you on, ungodly crew, + To that which ev'n the Devil durst not do? + Ye dare what he dares not? If truth be told, + Ye tempt the Devil's self to be more bold. G. + + +LXXX. + +_In draconem praecipitem._ Rev. xii. 9. + + I, frustra truculente; tuas procul aurea rident + Astra minas, coelo jam bene tuta suo. + Tune igitur coelum super ire atque astra parabas? + Ascensu tanto non opus ad barathrum. + +_The casting-down of the dragon._ + + Go, Dragon! the fair stars smile at thy threat, + Secure, serene, in native skies a-glow. + Thy throne o'er sky and stars thou fain would'st set; + Thou need'st not vault so high to plunge so low. G. + + +LXXXI. + +_Beatae Virgini credenti._ Luc. ii. 19. + + Miraris, quid enim faceres? sed et haec quoque credis: + Haec uteri credis dulcia monstra tui. + En fidei, Regina, tuae dignissima merces: + Fida Dei fueras filia; mater eris. + +_The blessed Virgin believing._ + + Thou wonderèd'st! how else could'st thou so guarded? + Yet thou believ'dst the mighty coming birth; + Queen! thy faith's working is full well rewarded; + God's daughter, thou God's mother art on earth. G. + + +LXXXII. + +_Licetne Caesari censum dare?_ Marc. xii. 14. + + Post tot Scribarum, Christe, in te proelia, tandem + Ipse venit Caesar; Caesar in arma venit. + Pugnant terribiles non Caesaris ense, sed ense + Caesare: quin Caesar vinceris ipse tamen. + Hoc quoque tu conscribe tuis, Auguste, triumphis. + Sic vinci dignus quis nisi Caesar erat? + +_Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar?_ + + After so many battles with the Scribes, O Lord, + Cæsar himself comes; Cæsar with his sword. + They fight not arm'd with Cæsar's sword indeed; + But Cæsar as their sword with craft they plead. + Conquer'd thyself, O Cæsar, make it known-- + Who save thee, worthy so to be o'erthrown. G. + + +LXXXIII. + +_In tibicines et turbam tumultuantem circa defunctam._ Matt. ix. 23. + + Vani, quid strepitis? nam quamvis dormiat illa,[58] + Non tamen e somno est sic revocanda suo. + Expectat solos Christi sopor iste susurros: + Dormit enim; sed non omnibus illa tamen. + + +_The minstrels and crowd making a noise about the dead._ + + Vain mourning this; why make ye such loud noise? + She sleeps indeed, but so will not awake. + Her sleep waits for the whisper of His voice + Who a great promise to her father spake. G. + + +LXXXIV. + +_Piscatores vocati._ Matt. iv. 19. + + Ludite jam, pisces, secura per aequora: pisces + Nos quoque, sed varia sub ratione, sumus. + Non potuisse cápi, vobis spes una salutis: + Una salus nobis est, potuisse capi. + +_The fishermen called._ + + Play, fishes, in your waters, safely play: + We become fishes too, another way. + Not to be taken, to you safety brought: + But we are then most safe when we are caught. B. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + Careless, aneath the waves, ye fishes, play: + We too are fishes, in a different way; + Ye die, we live, being caught; and that for aye. G. + +ANOTHER. + + Sport, fishes, now, within the secure sea: + Lo, fishes too, in different kind, are we. + In shunning nets your hope of safety lay; + Our safety is to be the netter's prey. A. + + +LXXXV. + +_Date Caesari._ Marc. xii. 17. + + Cuncta Deo debentur: habet tamen et sua Caesar; + Nec minus inde Deo est, si sua Caesar habet. + Non minus inde Deo est, solio si caetera dantur + Caesareo, Caesar cum datur ipse Deo. + +_Give to Cæsar ... and to God...._ + + All we have is God's, and yet + Cæsar challenges a debt; + Nor hath God a thinner share, + Whatever Cæsar's payments are. + All is God's; and yet 'tis true + All we have is Cæsar's too. + All is Cæsar's; and what ods, + So long as Cæsar's selfe is God's? CR. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + All things belong to God, yet Cæsar has his all; + Not due the less to God that they to Cæsar fall. + Not less they're God's because they're giv'n to Cæsar's throne; + For Cæsar's throne itself belongs to God alone. G. + + +LXXXVI. + +_Dominus asino vehitur._ Matt. xxi. 7. + + Ille igitur vilem te, te dignatur asellum, + O non vectura non bene digne tua! + Heu, quibus haud pugnat Christi patientia monstris! + Hoc quod sic fertur, hoc quoque ferre fuit. + +_The Lord borne on the ass._ + + Does He, base ass, thus deign to honour thee, + Unworthy thus to bear th' incarnate God? + Alas, Thy patience strangely tried I see, + Thee carried thus who bear'st sin's awful load! B. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + A common ass does the Lord dignify? + O, how unworthy such a burden high! + With the Lord's patience, ah, what can compare? + So to be borne, this also was to bear. R. WI. + + +LXXXVII. + +_Videbunt Filium hominis venientem in nube._ Luc. xxi. 27. + + Immo, veni: aërios, ô Christe, accingere currus, + Inque triumphali nube coruscus ades. + Nubem quaeris? erunt nostra, ah! suspiria nubes: + Aut sol in nubem se dabit ipse tuam. + +_They shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud._ + + Come, yoke Thy chariots of the air, O Lord; + Triumphal honours let bright clouds afford. + Dost seek a cloud? Our sighs a cloud will be, + Or the sun melt into a cloud for Thee. G. + + +LXXXVIII. + +_Nisi digitum immisero, &c._ Joan. xx. 25. + + Impius ergo iterum clavos? iterum impius hastam? + Et totum digitus triste revolvet opus? + Tune igitur Christum, Thoma, quo vivere credas, + In Christum faceres, ah truculente! mori? + +CHRIST TO THOMAS. + +_Except I shall put my finger, &c._ + + Thy impious finger, would it, then, re-borrow + The nails, the spear, each circumstance of sorrow? + That on a living Christ thou mayst rely, + Cruel, wouldst thou thy Christ re-crucify? G. + + +LXXXIX. + +_Ad Judaeos mactatores S. Stephani._ Act. vi. 9-12. + + Quid datis, ah miseri! saxis nolentibus iras? + Quid nimis in tragicum praecipitatis opus? + In mortem Stephani se dant invita: sed illi + Occiso faciunt sponte sua tumulum. + +_To the Jews stoning St. Stephen._ + + Wretches, do ye put rage into cold stones? + Why rush so eagerly to work so vile? + Your stones unwilling add to Stephen's moans, + But gladly heap a tomb for him the while. G. + + +XC. + +_Sancto Joanni dilecto discipulo._ + + Tu fruere, augustoque sinu caput abde, quod ô tum + Nollet in aeterna se posuisse rosa. + Tu fruere; et sacro dum te sic pectore portat, + O sat erit tergo me potuisse vehi. + +_To St. John the beloved disciple._ + + Upon His breast thy happy head reposes, + Nor would that pillow change for Heaven's own roses: + While thus His bosom bears up happy thee, + To press His shoulders were enough for me. G. + + +XCI. + +_In lactentes martyres._ Matt. ii. 16, 17. + + Vulnera natorum qui vidit et ubera matrum, + Per pueros fluviis, ah! simul ire suis: + Sic pueros quisquis vidit, dubitavit an illos + Lilia coelorum diceret, anne rosas. + +_Upon the infant martyrs._ + + To see both blended in one flood, + The mothers' milk, the childrens' blood, + Makes me doubt if Heaven will gather + Roses hence, or lillies rather. CR. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + Who saw the infants' blood and milk of mother + Flowing, alas, in a commingl'd tide, + Doubtingly ask'd, and gaz'd from one to other, + Whether Heav'n's rose or lily they espy'd. G. + + +XCII. + +_Deus nobiscum._ Matt. i. 23. + + Nobiscum Deus est? vestrum hoc est, hei mihi! vestrum: + Vobiscum Deus est, ô asini atque boves. + Nobiscum non est; nam nos domus aurea sumit: + Nobiscum Deus est, et jacet in stabulo? + Hoc igitur nostrum ut fiat, dulcissime Jesu, + Nos dandi stabulis, vel tibi danda domus. + +_God with us._ + + Is God with us? Woe's me, + God is with you, ye beasts, I see. + God is with you, ye beasts; + God comes not to our golden feasts. + That God may be with us, + We must provide a lowly house. + God comes to the humble manger, + While to the great house a stranger. G. + + +XCIII. + +_Christus circumcisus ad Patrem._ + + Has en primitias nostrae, Pater, accipe mortis; + Vitam ex quo sumpsi, vivere dedidici. + Ira, Pater, tua de pluvia gustaverit ista: + Olim ibit fluviis hoc latus omne suis. + Tunc sitiat licet et sitiat, bibet et bibet usque: + Tunc poterit toto fonte superba frui. + Nunc hastae interea possit praeludere culter: + Indolis in poenas spes erit ista meae.[59] + + +XCIV. + +_In Epiphaniam Domini._ Matt. ii. 2. + + Non solita contenta dies face lucis Eoae, + Ecce micat radiis caesariata novis. + Persa sagax, propera: discurre per ardua regum + Tecta, per auratas marmoreasque domus: + Quaere ô, quae intepuit Reginae purpura partu; + Principe vagitu quae domus insonuit. + Audin' Persa sagax? Qui tanta negotia coelo + Fecit, Bethlemiis vagiit in stabulis. + +_The Epiphany of our Lord._ + + Scorning her wonted herald, lo, the Day + Now decks her forehead with a brighter ray. + Sage Persian, haste; ask where high roofs unfold + Their royal wealth of marble and of gold; + In what rich couch an Empress-mother lies; + What halls have heard a new-born Prince's cries. + Wouldst know, sage Persian? He for whom Heaven keeps + Such festival, in Bethlehem's manger weeps. CL. + + +XCV. + +_Ecce quaerebamus te, &c._ Luc. ii. 49. + + Te quaero misera, et quaero: tu nunc quoque tractas + Res Patris; Pater est unica cura tibi. + Quippe quod ad poenas tantum et tot nomina mortis, + Ad luctum et lacrymas, hei mihi! mater ego. + +_Lo, we have sought Thee, &c._ + + I seek Thee mourning, and I seek again: + Thou still Thy Father's business dost attend; + And me, alas, sad mother of all pain, + Of grief and tears, Thou surely wilt befriend. G. + + +XCVI. + +_Aquae in vinum versae._ Joan. ii. 1-11. + + Unde rubor vestris, et non sua purpura lymphis? + Quae rosa mirantes tam nova mutat aquas? + Numen, convivae, praesens agnoscite Numen: + Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit.[60] + +_Water turned into wine._ + + Whence that blush upon thy brow, + Fair Nymph of the waters, now? + Mark the glow all rosy-red + Of the stream astonièd. + All the guests in tumult rush'd: + The shy Nymph saw her God, and blush'd. G. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Whence to your waters comes the glow of wine? + What strange new rose their mazèd streams hath flush'd? + Haste, guests, and own your Visitant divine; + For the chaste Nymph hath seen her God, and blush'd. CL. + + +ANOTHER. + + Whence comes this rose, this ruddy colour strange? + What blushes new the wondering water change? + Mark, mark, gay guests, a present Deity! + The conscious water blush'd its God to see. A. + + +XCVII. + +_Absenti Centurionis filio Dominus absens medetur._ Matt. viii. 13. + + Quam tacitis inopina salus illabitur alis! + Alis quas illi vox tua, Christe, dedit. + Quam longas vox ista manus habet! haec medicina + Absens et praesens haec medicina fuit. + +_The Lord at a distance heals the absent servant of the Centurion._ + + Safety unlook'd-for! silent 'light the wings + Wherewith Thy voice, O Christ, swift-healing brings: + Far-reaching hand Thy word has, and Thou healest + Absent and present, even as Thou willest. G. + + +XCVIII. + +_Quid timidi estis?_ Marc. iv. 40. + + Tanquam illi insanus faceret sua fulmina ventus; + Tanquam illi scopulos norit habere fretum. + Vos vestri scopuli, vos estis ventus et unda: + Naufragium cum illo qui metuit, meruit. + +_Why are ye so fearful?_ + + As if to Him the winds their thunder threw; + As if to Him hard rocks the water knew. + Ye are your rocks, ye are your wind and wave: + Shiprack with Him who fear, deserve to have. B. + + +XCIX. + +_Nunc dimittis._ Luc. ii. 29. + + Ite mei, quid enim ulterius, quid vultis, ocelli? + Leniter obductis ite superciliis. + Immo et adhuc et adhuc, iterumque iterumque videte; + Accipite haec totis lumina luminibus. + Jamque ite; et tutis ô vos bene claudite vallis: + Servate haec totis lumina luminibus. + Primum est, quod potui te, Christe, videre: secundum, + Te viso, recta jam potuisse mori.[61] + +_Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace._ + + Begone, mine eyes; what would ye see beside? + Go now in peace 'neath darkening brows to hide. + Once and again, and yet again; behold; + With one long gaze His beams in yours enfold. + Then go, and guard your treasure safe from foes, + And fast in yours those beams of His enclose. + To look on Thee, O Christ, this first have I; + Then, having look'd on Thee, straightway to die. CL. + + +C. + +_In segetem sacram._ Matt. xiii. 24. + + Ecce suam implorat, demisso vertice, falcem: + Tu segeti falcem da, Pater alme, suam. + Tu falcem non das? messem tu, Christe, moraris? + Hoc ipsum falx est; haec mora messis erit. + +_Good seed in the field._ + + Its sickle it implores with head bow'd low; + Its sickle on the corn-field, Lord, bestow. + Refusest Thou? The harvest dost delay? + The sickle this--hence fuller harvest-day. G. + + +CI. + +_Coepit lacrymis rigare pedes ejus, et capillis extergebat._ Luc. vii. +37. + + Unda sacras sordes lambit placidissima: flavae + Lambit et hanc undam lucida flamma comae. + Illa per has sordes it purior unda; simulque + Ille per has lucet purior ignis aquas. + +_She began to wash His feet with teares, and wipe them with the haires +of her head._ + + Her eyes' flood lickes His feets' faire staine; + Her hair's flame lickes up that againe. + This flame thus quencht hath brighter beames; + This flood thus stainèd fairer streames. CR. + +ANOTHER RENDERING. + + With placid force the gentle wave + That consecrated dust doth lave, + And a bright flame of golden hair + Doth lave in light those waters fair. + Purer the trickling waters shine + Through contact with that dust divine; + And purer through the waters' flow + That flame of lucent fire doth glow. CL. + + +CII. + +_Quid vis tibi faciam?_ Luc. xviii. 41. + + Quid volo, Christe, rogas? quippe ah volo, Christe, videre: + Quippe ad te, dulcis Christe, videre volo. + At video, fideique oculis te nunc quoque figo: + Est mihi, quae nunquam est non oculata, fides. + Sed quamvis videam, tamen ah volo, Christe, videre: + Sed quoniam video, Christe, videre volo. + +_What seekest that I do to thee?_ + + Askest, O Christ, my wish? My Christ I wish to see: + To see Thee, O my sweet Christ, to see Thee. + But, lo, I see; for now on Thee I fix faith's eye, + And gazing so, dimness and darkness fly. + But though I see, yet, ah, my Christ I wish to see; + And since I see, O Christ, I would see Thee. G. + + +CIII. + +_Christus mulieri Canaaneae difficilior._ Matt. xv. 21. + + Ut pretium facias dono, donare recusas: + Usque rogat supplex, tutamen usque negas. + Hoc etiam donare fuit, donare negare. + Saepe dedit quisquis saepe negata dedit. + +_The silence of Christ to the woman of Canaan._ + + That He a gift more precious might bestow, + While she implor'd, discouragements He used. + This was to give thus not to give; for, lo, + He giveth oft who gives what's oft refused.[62] G. + + +CIV. + +_Beatus venter et ubera, &c._ Luc. ii. 27. + + Et quid si biberet Jesus vel ab ubere vestro? + Quid facit ad vestram, quod bibit ille, sitim? + Ubera mox sua et hic, ô quam non lactea! pandet; + E nato mater tum bibet ipsa suo. + +_Blessed be the paps which Thou hast sucked._ + + Suppose He had been tabled at thy teates, + Thy hunger feeles not what He eates: + He'l have His teat ere long--a bloody one; + The mother then must suck the Son. CR. + + +CV. + +_In Christum vitem._ Joan. xv. 1. + + Ulmum vitis amat, quippe est et in arbore flamma, + Quam fovet in viridi pectore blandus amor: + Illam ex arboribus cunctis tu, vitis, amasti; + Illam, quaecunque est, quae crucis arbor erat. + +_Christ the true Vine (including the branches)._ + + The vine clings lovingly unto the elm; + Love's flame draws thus a tree within its realm: + But most, O vine, thou lov'st, whate'er its name, + That tree from which the cross of Calvary came. G. + + +CVI. + +_Vos flebitis et lamentabimini._ Joan. xvi. 20. + + Ergo mihi salvete mei, mea gaudia, luctus: + Quam charum, ô Deus, est hoc mihi flere meum! + Flerem, ni flerem: solus tu, dulcis Jesu, + Laetitiam donas tunc quoque quando negas. + +_Verily I say unto you, Yee shall weep and lament._ + + Welcome, my griefe, my joy; how deare's + To me my legacy of teares! + I'll weepe and weepe, and will therefore + Weepe 'cause I can weepe no more. + Thou, Thou, deare Lord, even Thou alone, + Giv'st joy, even when Thou givest none. CR. + + +CVII. + +_In gregem Christi Pastoris._ Joan. x. 11. + + O grex, ô nimium tanto Pastore beatus; + O ubi sunt tanto pascua digna grege? + Ne non digna forent tanto grege pascua, Christus + Ipse suo est Pastor, pascuum et ipse gregi. + +_Christ the good Shepherd._ + + O flock, O too much in thy Sheepherd blest, + Where are fields worthy thee to feed and rest? + Lest worthy pastures nowhere should be found, + Christ is to thee the Sheepherd and the ground. B. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + O flock, in your great Shepherd all too blest, + Where shall fit pasturage be found for you? + That His fair flock may ne'er want food or rest, + Christ is the Pastor and the pasture too. CL. + + +CVIII. + +_In vulnera pendentis Domini._ Matt. xxviii. 26-53. + + Sive oculos, sive ora vocem tua vulnera; certe + Undique sunt ora, heu, undique sunt oculi. + Ecce ora, ô nimium roseis florentia labris! + Ecce oculi, saevis ah madidi lacrymis! + Magdala, quae lacrymas solita es, quae basia sacro + Ferre pedi, sacro de pede sume vices. + Ora pedi sua sunt, tua quo tibi basia reddat: + Quo reddat lacrymas scilicet est oculus.[63] + + +_On the wounds of the crucified Lord._ + + Thy wounds, O Lord, are mouths and eyes-- + Let not the strange words breed surprise: + Where'er I look, wounds seem to speak; + Where'er I look, wounds in tears break; + Mouths with ruddy lips disparted, + Eyes as of the broken-hearted. + Thou, Mary, on His sacred feet + Rainèdst thy tears and kisses sweet. + Now retake thy kisses, tears; + Cling thee there, there hush thy fears. + See, mouths and eyes are here also; + Swift they'll pay back thy loving woe. G. + + +CIX. + +_Paralyticus convalescens._ Marc. ii. 1-13. + + Christum, quod misero facilis peccata remittit, + Scribae blasphemum dicere non dubitant. + Hoc scelus ut primum Paralyticus audiit: ira + Impatiens, lectum sustulit atque abiit. + +_The paralytic healed._ + + The Scribes audaciously blaspheme the Lord, + That He a poor man pardon'd with a word. + The Paralytic hears all that they say; + Indignant takes his bed, and walks away. G. + + +CX. + +_Tunc sustulerunt lapides._ Joan. viii. 59. + + Saxa? illi? quid tam foedi voluere furores? + Quid sibi de saxis hi voluere suis? + Indolem, et antiqui agnosco vestigia patris: + Panem de saxis hi voluere suis. + +_Then took they up stones._ + + 'They took up stones:' What meant they by such rage? + What wanted they with them? Their meaning's plain: + 'Tis their old father's way--O sad presage! + He too took up the stones for bread amain.[64] G. + + +CXI. + +_In resurrectionem Domini._ Matt. xxviii. 6. + + Nasceris, en, tecumque tuus, Rex auree, mundus, + Tecum[65] virgineo nascitur e tumulo. + Tecum in natales properat natura secundos, + Atque novam vitam te novus orbis habet. + Ex vita, Sol alme, tua vitam omnia sumunt: + Nil certe, nisi mors, cogitur inde mori. + At certe neque mors: nempe ut queat illa sepulchro, + Christe, tuo condi, mors volet ipsa mori. + +_On the Resurrection of the Lord._ + + Thou'rt born, and, lo, bright King, Thy world is born, + Is born with Thee from virgin tomb this morn. + Hastes Nature to its second day of birth, + And a new life in Thee crowns a new earth. + Dear Sun, from Thy life all things draw life's breath; + Nought thence is forced to die, save only Death. + Nor is Death forced--since in Thy grave to lie, + Death will itself, O Christ, be glad to die. R. WI. + + +CXII. + +_Aliqui vero dubitabant._ Matt. xxviii. 17. + + Scilicet et tellus dubitat,[66] tremebunda: sed ipsum hoc, + Quod tellus dubitat, vos dubitare vetat. + Ipsi custodes vobis, si quaeritis, illud + Hoc ipse dicunt,[67] dicere quod nequeunt. + +_But some doubted._ + + Earth, quaking, wavers: if that fact be true, + The wavering earth forbids you waver too. + The very keepers, if their voice you seek, + Though speechless, even by their silence speak. R. WI. + + +CXIII. + +_In vulnerum vestigia quae ostendit Dominus, ad firmandam suorum fidem._ +Joan. xx. 20. + + His oculis, nec adhuc clausis coïere fenestris, + Invigilans nobis est tuus usus amor. + His oculis nos cernit amor tuus: his et amorem, + Christe, tuum gaudet cernere nostra fides. + +_The scars of the wounds which the Lord showed to the strengthening of +His disciples' faith._ + + Thy love these eyes did open; + They're watching for us still: + These eyes, of love the token, + Our faith with love do fill. G. + + +CXIV. + +_Mittit Joannes qui quaerant a Christo, an is sit._ Luc. vii. 19. + + Tu qui adeo impatiens properasti agnoscere Christum, + Tunc cum claustra uteri te tenuere tui, + Tu, quis sit Christus, rogitas? et quaeris ab ipso? + Hoc tibi vel mutus dicere quisque potest.[68] + +_John sends to Jesus ... saying, Art Thou He that should come? or look +we for another?_ + + And dost _thou_ ask, who in thy mother's womb + So eager wast to hail Messiah come? + Thou ask, and of Himself, if Christ He be? + Why, even the very dumb can answer thee. CL. + + +CXV. + +_In Petrum auricidam._ Joan. xviii. 10. + + Quantumcunque ferox tuus hic, Petre, fulminat ensis, + Tu tibi jam pugnas, ô bone, non Domino. + Scilicet in miseram furis implacidissimus aurem, + Perfidiae testis ne queat esse tuae. + + +_On St. Peter cutting off Malchus his eare._ + + Well, Peter, dost thou wield thy active sword; + Well for thyselfe, I meane, not for thy Lord. + To strike at eares is to take heed there bee + No witnesse, Peter, of thy perjury. CR. + + +CXVI. + +_Manus arefacta sanatur._ Marc. iii. 1-5. + + Felix, ergo tuae spectas natalia dextrae, + Quae modo spectanti flebile funus erat! + Quae nec in externos modo dextera profuit usus, + Certe erit illa tuae jam manus et fidei.[69] + +_The withered hand healed._ + + O happy man, thy right-hand's birth beholding, + Erewhile a sad funereal sight enfolding! + The hand of no use, by the word Christ saith, + Restor'd, is now become the hand of faith. G. & B. + + +CXVII. + +_In Pontium male lautum._ Matt. xxvii. 24. + + Illa manus lavat unda tuas, vanissime judex: + Ah tamen illa scelus non lavat unda tuum! + Nulla scelus lavet unda tuum: vel si lavet ulla, + O volet ex oculis illa venire tuis. + + +_To Pontius washing his hands._ + + Thy hands are washt; but, O, the water's spilt + That labour'd to have washt thy guilt: + The flood, if any can, that can suffice, + Must have its fountaine in thine eyes. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + The unjust judge washt his hands at the time: + Ah, but no water can wash out thy crime. + No water washt it out: if any will, + 'Tis that which must from thy owne eyes distil. B. + + +CXVIII. + +_In piscem dotatum._ Matt. xvii. 27. + + Tu piscem si, Christe, velis, venit ecce, suumque + Fert pretium: tanti est vel periisse tibi. + Christe, foro tibi non opus est; addicere nummos + Non opus est: ipsum se tibi piscis emet. + +_The stater-giving fish._ + + A fish Thou wishest, Lord; + And without e'er a word, + Behold, it swims to Thee, + Fetching its own cost, free. + Thou needest not to go + In markets to and fro; + Nor need'st Thou price to bring-- + The fish owns Thee its king. G. + + +CXIX. + +_Ego vici mundum._ Joan. xvi. 33. + + Tu contra mundum dux es meus, optime Jesu? + At tu, me miserum! dux meus ipse jaces. + Si tu, dux meus, ipse jaces, spes ulla salutis? + Immo, ni jaceas tu, mihi nulla salus. + +_I have overcome the world._ + + Jesus, my Captain, give me victories! + Alas, Jesus Himself, my Captain, dies. + And if my Captain fall, what hope have I? + No hope at all, unless my Captain die. B. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Art Thou my Chief, best Lord, against the foe? + But Thou, my Chief, me wretched! liest low. + If Thou, my Chief, liest low, what help for me? + Nay, if Thou liest not low, no help can be. A. + + +CXX. + +_In ascensionem Dominicam._ Act. i. 10. + + Vadit, io, per aperta sui penetralia coeli: + It coelo, et coelum fundit ab ore novum. + Spargitur ante pedes, et toto sidere pronus + Jam propius solis sol bibit ora sui. + At fratri debere negans sua lumina Phoebe, + Aurea de Phoebo jam meliore redit. + Hos, de te victo, tu das, Pater, ipse triumphos: + Unde triumphares, quis satis alter erat? + +_On the ascension of our Lord._ + + Through open'd depths of His own heaven He soars, + And from His face in heaven a new heaven pours. + Scatter'd before Him down the welkin sinks + The sun, and its own sun's near glory drinks. + Moon unto sun for light no more beholden, + Now from more lustrous sun returns all golden. + These triumphs o'er Thyself Thou grantest, Lord; + Triumphs no other could suffice to 'accord. R. WI. + + +CXXI. + +_In descensum Spiritus Sancti._ Act. ii. + + Jam coeli circum tonuit fragor: arma minasque + Turbida cum flammis mista ferebat hiems. + Exclamat Judaeus atrox: Venit ecce nefandis, + Ecce venit meriti fulminis ira memor. + Verum ubi composito sedit fax blandior astro, + Flammaque non laesas lambit amica comas; + Judaeis, fulmen quia falsum apparuit esse, + Hoc ipso verum nomine fulmen erat. + + {Ouranou ektypêse bromos; polemon kai apeilas + Êge trechôn anemos syn phlogi smerdaleê. + Auen Ioudaios; miara stygerôn ta karêna + Ephthase tês orgês to prepon ouraniês. + Alla galênaiô hote keitai hêsychon astrô + Phlegma, kai ablêtous leiche philon plokamous, + Hekthambei. hoti gar keinois ouk êen alêthês, + Nyn eteon dioti tôde keraunos eên.} + +_The descent of the Holy Spirit._ + + Booms the thunder through the sky, + Flash the lightnings, threats the storm; + Cries the Jew with vengeful eye: + See SIN doom'd in fitting form! + But, lo, the lightning, paled to light + Mild and calm as ev'ning's star, + Binds their brows with nimbus bright, + Playing softly i' their hair. + To the Jews it is not lightning, + Yet the more the name's enlightening.[70] G. + + +CXXII. + +_Sic dilexit mundum Deus, ut Filium morti traderet._ Joan. iii. 16. + + Ah nimis est, illum nostrae vel tradere vitae: + Guttula quod faceret, cur facit oceanus? + Unde et luxuriare potest, habet hinc mea vita: + Ample et magnifice mors habet unde mori. + +_God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son...._ + + Ah, 'tis too much to give Him for our sake: + A drop might serve, why then an ocean take? + Here may my life expatiate gloriously-- + Amply, magnificently, Death may die. R. WI. + + +CXXIII. + +_Juga boum emi._ Luc. xiv. 19. + + Ad coenam voco te, domini quod jussa volebant; + Tu mihi, nescio quos, dicis, inepte, boves. + Imo vale, nobis nec digne nec utilis hospes; + Coena tuos, credo, malit habere boves. + +_I have bought five yoke of oxen._ + + I call thee to His Supper, + for so The Master spake: + Thou sayest 'No,' pretending + thou must thy oxen take. + Farewell, O thou unworthy + and wholly useless guest; + Thy oxen for the Supper + in truth were better prest. G. + + +CXXIV. + +_D. Paulum, verbo sanantem claudum, pro Mercurio Lystres adorant._ Act. +xiv. 8-18. + + Quis Tagus hic, quae Pactoli nova volvitur unda? + Non hominis vox est haec: Deus ille, Deus. + Salve, mortales nimium dignate penates: + Digna Deo soboles, digna tonante Deo. + O salve, quid enim, alme, tuos latuisse volebas? + Te dicit certe vel tua lingua Deum. + Laudem hanc haud miror: meruit facundus haberi, + Qui claudo promptos suasit habere pedes. + +_St. Paul, healing the lame man with a word, is worshipped by the +Lystrians as Mercury._ + + What Tagus, what Pactolus here is rolled? + 'Tis not man's voice: a God, a God behold. + Hail, too much honour thou to men hast done, + Of Jove, of thundering Jove the worthy son. + Hail, Lord, for why wouldst hide thee from thine own? + A God e'en by thy tongue assuredly art known. + The praise of eloquence for him was meet + Who could persuade the lame to use swift feet. R. WI. + + +CXXV. + +_In S. Columbam ad Christi caput sedentem._ + + Cui sacra siderea volueris suspenditur ala? + Hunc nive plus niveum cui dabit illa pedem? + Christe, tuo capiti totis se destinat auris, + Qua ludit densae blandior umbra comae. + Illic arcano quid non tibi murmure narrat, + Murmure mortales non imitante sonos? + Sola avis haec nido hoc non est indigna cubare: + Solus nidus hic est hac bene dignus ave.[71] + + {Pê tachyergos agei pteryg' asteroessan eretmos? + Ê tini keina pherei tên poda chioneên? + Christe, teê kephalê pasais pterygessin epeigei; + Pê skia toi dasiois paize mala plokamois. + Poia soi arrhêtô psithyrismati kein' agoreuei? + Arrêt', ouk êchês isa men andromeês. + Mouna men hêd' ornis kalias est' axia tautês· + Axia d' ornithos mouna men hê kalia.} + +_To the sacred Dove alighting on the head of Christ._ + + On whom doth this blest Bird its wings outspread? + Where will it suffer its white feet to rest? + O Jesus, hovering o'er Thy hallow'd head, + Within Thy hair's sweet shade it seeks a nest. + There does it breathe a mystic song to Thee, + A melody unlike all earthly sound: + That Bird alone to this pure nest may flee; + This nest alone worthy the Bird is found. W. + + +CXXVI. + +_In fores divo Petro sponte apertas._ Act. xii. 10. + + Quid juvit clausisse fores, bone janitor, istas? + Et Petro claves jam liquet esse suas. + Dices, sponte patent: Petri ergo hoc scilicet ipsum + Est clavis, Petro clave quod haud opus est. + +_The doors of the prison self-opening to Peter._ + + Good jailor, how is this, + These doors thou lockest here? + That Peter has the keys + 'Tis now to all men clear. + Thou say'st the doors self-open, + And well thou sayest indeed; + For by this very token + He no other key doth need. G. + + +CXXVII. + +_Murmurabant Pharisaei, dicentes, Recipit peccatores, et comedit cum +illis._ Luc. xv. 2. + + Ah male, quisquis is est, pereat, qui scilicet istis + Convivam, saevus, non sinit esse suum! + Istis cum Christus conviva adjungitur, istis + O non conviva est Christus, at ipse cibus.[72] + +_The Pharisees murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth +with them._ + + Ah, let him perish in his harsh protests + Who sinners checks to be the Saviour's guests! + Sinners do entertain Christ as a guest: + They spread the table, but He is the feast. G. & B. + + +CXXVIII. + +_In trabem Pharisaicam._ Matt. vii. 3. + + Cedant, quae, rerum si quid tenue atque minutum est, + Posse acie certa figere, vitra dabunt. + Artis opus mirae! Pharisaeo en optica trabs est, + Ipsum, vera loquor, qua videt ille nihil. + + +_On the beam of the Pharisee._ + + Grant you can fix upon a needle's end + Each smallest object microscopes will lend. + Rare beam to look through has the Pharisee, + Whereby, in sooth, nothing itself sees he! R. WI. + + +CXXIX. + +_Constituerunt ut si quis confiteretur eum esse Christum, synagoga +moveretur._ Joan. ix. 22. + + Infelix, Christum reus es quicunque colendi; + O reus infelix, quam tua culpa gravis! + Tu summis igitur, summis damnabere coelis: + O reus infelix, quam tua poena gravis! + +_They determined that if any man should confess Him to be Christ, he +should be put out of the synagogue._ + + Alas, unhappy, own the Christ thou wilt; + Unhappy culprit, fearful is thy guilt. + The gates of heaven for aye should keep thee close: + Unhappy culprit, fearful are thy woes. A. + + +CXXX. + +_De voto filiorum Zebedaei._ Matt. xx. 20. + + Sit tibi, Joannes, tibi sit, Jacobe, quod optas; + Sit tibi dextra manus; sit tibi laeva manus. + Spero alia in coelo est, et non incommoda, sedes; + Si neque laeva manus, si neque dextra manus. + Coeli hanc aut illam nolo mihi quaerere partem; + O coelum, coelum da, Pater alme, mihi. + +_Concerning the prayer of the sons of Zebedee._ + + O brothers twain, may it be yours to fill + At right and left your places as ye will! + A seat remains, I trust--a fair one too-- + Besides those high ones that were sought for you. + I pray not that to me some part be given, + But heaven itself, kind Father, grant me heaven. CL. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + John and James, take your place at God's command: + One at the right, th' other at the left hand. + I ask not to be placèd so, or so: + To heaven, to heaven, good Father, let me go. B. + + +CXXXI. + +_Ad hospites coenae miraculosae quinque panum._ Joan. vi. 9-13. + + Vescere pane tuo, sed et, hospes, vescere Christo; + Et panis pani scilicet ille tuo. + Tunc pane hoc Christi recte satur, hospes, abibis, + Panem ipsum Christum si magis esurias.[73] + +_To the guests at the miraculous supper of the five loaves._ + + Feed on thy bread, on Christ too feed, O guest; + With Bread on bread forsooth thou shalt be blest. + Then shalt thou go, with Christ's bread satisfied, + If hungering for the living Bread beside. R. WI. + + +CXXXII. + +_De Christi contra mundum pugna._ Joan. xvi. 33. + + Tune, miser, tu, mundus ait, mea fulmina contra + Ferre manus, armis cum tibi nuda manus? + I, lictor, manibusque audacibus injice vinc'la: + Injecit lictor vincula, et arma dedit. + +_Christ overcoming the world._ + + O wretched! the world mutters. I do wonder + Thou dar'st lift unarm'd hands against my thunder. + Go, tyrant; put thy chains upon these hands: + 'Tis done; and now full-arm'd the prisoner stands. G. + + +CXXXIII. + +_Graeci disputatores divo Paulo mortem machinantur._ Act. ix. 29. + + Euge, argumentum! sic disputat: euge, sophista! + Sic pugnum Logices stringere, sic decuit. + Hoc argumentum in causam quid, Graecule, dicit? + Dicit, te in causam dicere posse nihil.[74] + +_The Grecian disputants go about to kill St. Paul._ + + O noble argument, Sophister rare! + Thus Logic's fist to double be your care. + This argument, poor Greek, what does it weigh? + It says that you have nought at all to say. R. WI. + + +CXXXIV. + +_Qui maximus est inter vos, esto sicut qui minimus._ Luc. xxii. 26. + + O bone, discipulus Christi vis maximus esse? + At vero fies hac ratione minor. + Hoc sanctae ambitionis iter, mihi crede, tenendum est, + Haec ratio: Tu, ne sis minor, esse velis. + +_He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger._ + + The greatest of disciples wouldst thou be? + Whoever's so ambitious, less is he. + That thou mai'st not go less, to every one + Submit: this, this is Christ's ambition. B. + + +CXXXV. + +_In lacrymantem Dominum._ Luc. xix. 41. + + Vobis, Judaei, vobis haec volvitur unda; + Quae vobis, quoniam spernitis, ignis erit. + Eia faces, Romane, faces! seges illa furoris, + Non nisi ab his undis, ignea messis erit. + +_He beheld the city, and wept over it._ + + For you, O Jews, is roll'd this tearful tide, + Which as a flame shall glow, since ye deride. + Torches, Rome's torches--those wild-waving ears + A fiery crop shall prove, fed by these tears. R. WI. + + +CXXXVI. + +_Christus in Aegypto._ Matt. ii. 19-21. + + Hunc tu, Nile, tuis majori flumine monstra; + Hunc, nimis ignotum, dic caput esse tibi. + Jam tibi, Nile, tumes; jam te quoque multus inunda: + Ipse tuae jam sis laetitiae fluvius. + +_Christ in Egypt._ + + With prouder stream, Nile, show Him to thine own; + Call Him thy fountain-head, too little known: + Now swelling for thyself, thyself o'erflow; + And with its own joy let thy current glow. R. WI. + + +CXXXVII. + +_In caecos Christum confitentes, Pharisaeos abnegantes._ Matt. ix. +27-31. + + Ne mihi tu, Pharisaee ferox, tua lumina jactes: + En caecus! Christum caecus at ille videt. + Tu, Pharisaee, nequis in Christo cernere Christum: + Ille videt caecus; caecus es ipse videns.[75] + +_The blind confessing Christ, the Pharisees denying._ + + Cast not thine eyes on me, proud Pharisee, + Lo, this blind man, though blind, yet Christ can see. + Thou, Pharisee, canst not in Christ Christ find; + The blind man sees Him, and the seer's blind. G. & B. + + +CXXXVIII. + +_Si quis pone me veniet, tollat crucem et sequatur me._ Matt. xvi. 24. + + Ergo sequor, sequor, en, quippe et mihi crux mea, Christe, est: + Parva quidem; sed quam non satis, ecce, rego. + Non rego? non parvam hanc? ideo neque parva putanda est. + Crux magna est, parvam non bene ferre crucem. + + +_If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his +cross and follow Me._ + + Therefore I follow, lo, I follow on; + My cross is with me, yet not rightly worn. + It little is compar'd with Thine, I own; + Yet little is not being wrongly borne. G. + + +CXXXIX. + +_Relictis omnibus sequutus est eum._ Luc. v. 28. + + Quas Matthaeus opes, ad Christi jussa, reliquit; + Tum primum vere coepit habere suas.[76] + Iste malarum est usus opum bonus, unicus iste; + Esse malas homini, quas bene perdat, opes. + +_And he left all ... and followed Him._ + + To be rich, truly rich, Matthew did take + The right way, when he left all for Christ's sake. + This is the one good use of ill-got wealth; + For ill-got 'tis which, leaving, bringeth health. B. & G. + + +CXL. + +_Aedificatis sepulchra Prophetarum._ Matt. xxiii. 29. + + Sanctorum in tumulis quid vult labor ille colendis? + Sanctorum mortem non sinit ille mori. + Vane, Prophetarum quot ponis saxa sepulchris, + Tot testes lapidum, queis periere, facis. + + +_Ye build the sepulchres of the Prophets._ + + Thou trim'st a Prophet's tombe, and dost bequeath + The life thou took'st from him unto his death. + Vain man! the stones that on his tombe doe lye + Keepe but the score[77] of them that made him dye. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + What means this labour on the tombs of saints, + Causing their holy memory be cherish'd? + Vain men! each stone which consecrates their plaints + Doth tell us of the stones by which they perish'd. G. + + +CXLI. + +_In manum aridam qua Christo mota est miseratio._ Marc. iii. 3-5. + + Prende, miser, Christum; et cum Christo prende salutem: + At manca est, dices, dextera: prende tamen. + Ipsum hoc, in Christum, manus est: hoc prendere Christum est, + Qua Christum prendas, non habuisse manum. + +_The man with the withered hand, who excited Christ's compassion._ + + Take hold of Christ, O wretched one, + And with Christ take salvation. + But thy right hand, thou say'st, is dead; + Yet take thee hold: His word is said. + Take hold of Christ e'en without hand; + Then safe in Christ, and well, thou'lt stand: + Take hold of Christ in simple faith; + This will be hand to thee, He saith. G. + + +CXLII. + +_Ad D. Lucam medicum._ Coloss. iv. 14. + + Nulla mihi, Luca, de te medicamina posco, + Ipse licet medicus sis, licet aeger ego: + Quippe ego in exemplum fidei dum te mihi pono, + Tu, medice, ipse mihi es tu medicina mea. + + {Ouden egô, Louka, para sou moi pharmakon aitô, + Kan sy d' iatros eês, kan men egô noseros. + All' en hosô paradeigma peleis moi pistios, autos, + Autos iatros emoi g' essi akestoriê.} + +_Luke the beloved physician._ + + No medicine of thee, O Luke, I seek, + Though thou art a physician, and I sick: + Th' example of thy faith before my eyen, + To me, physician, is the medicine. B. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + +_To St. Luke as a physician._ + + No medicine will I crave, Saint Luke, of thee, + Though I be sick, though thou physician be: + Pattern of faith, I plant thee in my soul, + And thou thyself the medicine makest me whole. A. + + +CXLIII. + +_Hydropicus sanatus, Christum jam sitiens._ Luc. xiv. 4. + + Pellitur inde sitis, sed et hinc sitis altera surgit; + Hinc sitit ille magis, quo sitit inde minus. + Felix ô, et mortem poterit qui temnere morbus; + Cui vitae ex ipso fonte sititur aqua. + +_The dropsical man thirsting now for Christ._ + + Thy dropsy's quench'd, but other thirst now rises, + Which craves the more, the less the former thirsts. + O happy malady, which death despises: + Thirst for the stream which from life's fountain bursts. G. + + +CXLIV. + +_In coetum coelestem omnium Sanctorum._ + + Felices animae, quas coelo debita virtus + Jam potuit vestris inseruisse polis: + Hoc dedit egregii non parcus sanguinis usus, + Spesque per obstantes expatiata vias. + O ver, ô longae semper seges aurea lucis; + Nocte nec alterna dimidiata dies; + O quae palma manu ridet, quae fronte corona; + O nix virgineae non temeranda togae; + Pacis inocciduae vos illic ora videtis; + Vos Agni dulcis lumina; vos--quid ago? + +_To the assembly of all the Saints._ + + Thrice-happy souls, to whom the prize is given, + Whom faith and truth have lifted into heaven: + Gift of the heavenly Martyrs' dying breath, + Gift of a Faith that burst the gates of Death. + O Spring, O golden harvest of glad light; + Sweet day, whose beauty never fades in night; + The palm blooms in each hand, the garland on each brow, + The raiment glitters in its undimm'd snow; + The regions of unfading peace ye see, + And the meek brightness of the Lamb: how different from me![78] W. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Thrice-happy, happy souls, to you heaven's debt + Is paid; you in your heavenly spheres are set. + Whence this to you? ah, noble blood ye shed, + And your strong faith the strong world buffeted. + O ever-ripening harvest of long light; + O Spring, O day not halved with lingering night; + O hands with laughing palms, O crownèd brows; + O spotless robes, whiter than virgin snows! + The beauteous eyes of fadeless Peace ye see-- + The eyes of the sweet Lamb; yea--woe is me! A. + + +CXLV. + +_Christus absenti medetur._ Matt. viii. 13. + + Vox jam missa suas potuit jam tangere metas? + O superi, non hoc ire sed isse fuit. + Mirac'lum fuit ipsa salus, bene credere possis, + Ipsum, mirac'lum est, quando salutis iter. + + +_Christ heals in absence._ + + Came, then, His voice with power, Himself unseen? + Heavens! this, though not to go, was to have been. + The cure miraculous we can credit well, + When the mere going was a miracle. CL. + + +CXLVI. + +_Caecus natus._ Joan. ix. 1, 2. + + Felix, qui potuit tantae post nubila noctis, + O dignum tanta nocte, videre diem: + Felix ille oculus, felix utrinque putandus, + Quod videt, et primum quod videt ille Deum. + +_The man born blind._ + + Happy the man who was endu'd with sight, + And saw a day well worth so long a night: + Happy the eye, twice happy is the eye, + That sees, and at first look, a Deity. B. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Thrice-happy eye, that after such dark night-- + Day worthy night so dark--couldst see the light: + O happy eye, eye thrice and four times blest, + At once to ope, and upon God to rest. A. + + +CXLVII. + +_Et ridebant illum._ Matt. ix. 24. + + Luctibus in tantis, Christum ridere vacabat? + Vanior iste fuit risus, an iste dolor? + Luctibus in tantis hic vester risus inepti, + Credite mi, meruit maximus esse dolor. + +_And they laughed at Him._ + + Laughter at Christ the Saviour-- + Laughter 'mid falling tears! + O, which show'd greater folly, + Vain laughter or vain fears? + Such laughter 'mid such sorrow, + O fools, ye may believe: + Such laughter in such Presence + Gave greatest cause to grieve. G. + + +CXLVIII. + +_In sapientiam seculi._ Matt. xi. 25. + + Noli altum sapere, hoc veteres voluere magistri, + Ne retrahat lassos alta ruina gradus. + Immo mihi dico, Noli sapuisse profundum: + Non ego ad infernum me sapuisse velim. + +_The wisdom of the world._ + + 'Aim not at things too high,' 'twas said of old, + 'Lest ruin thence o'ertake thee, over-bold.' + For me to dive too deep I think not well: + I would not have my knowledge deep as hell. CL. + + +CXLIX. + +_In stabulum ubi natus est Dominus._ + + Illa domus stabulum? non est, Puer auree, non est: + Illa domus, qua tu nasceris, est stabulum? + Illa domus toto domus est pulcherrima mundo; + Vix coelo dici vult minor illa tuo.[79] + Cernis ut illa suo passim domus ardeat auro? + Cernis ut effusis rideat illa rosis? + Sive aurum non est, nec quae rosa rideat illic; + Ex oculis facile est esse probare tuis. + + {Oikos hod' est' aulê? ou mê. teos oikos, Iêsou, + En th' ô ty tiktê aulion ou peletai. + Oikôn men pantôn mala dê kallistos ekeinos; + Ouranou oude teou mikroteros peletai. + Ênide keino neô dôm' empyrizeto chrysô, + Ênide keino neois dôma rhodoisi gela. + Ên rhodon ouchi gela, ên oude te chrysos ekeithen; + Ek sou d' ophthalmôn estin elenchemenai.} + +_On the stable where our Lord was born._ + + That house a stable? nay, bright Infant, nay: + Where Thou art born--a stable do we say? + Of mansions in this world fairest of all, + That house but little less than heaven we call. + Seest thou that house with golden splendour flush? + Seest thou that house with scatter'd roses blush? + There is no gold, no rose there laughing lies: + It is the light that falls from His fair eyes. A. + + +CL. + +_S. Stephanus amicis suis, funus sibi curantibus._ Act. vii. 57-60. + + Nulla, precor, busto surgant mihi marmora: bustum + Haec mihi sint mortis conscia saxa meae. + Sic nec opus fuerit, notet ut quis carmine bustum, + Pro Domino, dicens, occidit ille suo. + Hic mihi sit tumulus, quem mors dedit ipsa; meique + Ipse hic martyrii sit mihi martyrium. + +_St. Stephen to his friends, to raise no monument._ + + I pray you, raise, my friends, no tomb for me, + But let these conscious stones my record be; + Nor will there then be need of verse to tell + That here for his dear Lord a martyr fell. + That which brought death, a tomb shall also bring, + And be the witness of my witnessing. CL. + + +CLI. + +_In D. Joannem, quem Domitianus ferventi oleo illaesum indidit._ + + Illum qui, toto currens vaga flammula mundo, + Non quidem Joannes, ipse sed audit amor-- + Illum ignem extingui, bone Domitiane, laboras? + Hoc non est oleum, Domitiane, dare.[80] + +_On St. John, whom Domitian cast into a caldron of boiling oil, he +unhurt._ + + That fire--which o'er the world a wandering flame, + Bears not the name of John, but Love's own name-- + To quench, my good Domitian, dost thou toil? + Fire scarce is quench'd, methinks, by adding oil. CL. + + +CLII. + +_In tenellos martyres._ + + Ah, qui tam propero cecidit sic funere, vitae + Hoc habuit tantum, possit ut ille mori. + At cujus Deus est sic usus funere, mortis + Hoc tantum, ut possit vivere semper, habet. + +_The infant-martyrs._ + + Fallen, alas, in life's most tender dawn, + With only so much life as die they may. + But they 'gainst whom Death's arrows thus are drawn, + Only taste death that they may live for aye. G. + + +CLIII. + +_Attulerunt ei omnes male affectos daemoniacos, lunaticos: et sanavit +eos._ Matt. iv. 24. + + Collige te tibi, torve Draco, furiasque facesque, + Quasque vocant pestes nox Erebusque suas: + Fac colubros jam tota suos tua vibret Erinnys; + Collige, collige te fortiter, ut pereas. + +_They brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers +diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and +those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and He healed +them._ + + Gather thy powers, grim Dragon, furies, flames, + All plagues which Erebus or midnight claims, + Bid each Erinnys high her serpents flourish; + Bring all, bring all, that thou mayst wholly perish.[81] R. WI. + + +CLIV. + +_Tuam ipsius animam pertransibit gladius._ Luc. ii. 35. + + Quando habeat gladium tua, Christe, tragoedia nullum, + Quis fuerit gladius, Virgo beata, tuus? + Namque nec ulla alias tibi sunt data vulnera, Virgo, + Quam quae a vulneribus sunt data, Christe, tuis. + Forsan quando senex jam caligantior esset, + Quod Simeon gladium credidit, hasta fuit. + Immo neque hasta fuit, neque clavus, sed neque spina: + Hei mihi, spina tamen, clavus et hasta fuit. + Nam queiscunque malis tua, Christe, tragoedia crevit, + Omnia sunt gladius, Virgo beata, tuus. + +_A sword shall pierce through thy own soul._ + + Since in the tragedy + Wrought upon Calvary, + No sword, O Christ, hast Thou, + Whence, then, shall come the blow + To Mary, virgin-mother? + + Not any wounds are given, + Save as her Son is riven: + No sword, O Christ, hast Thou; + Whence, then, shall come the blow + To Mary, virgin-mother? + + Perchance the dim-ey'd seer + By sword intended spear: + No sword, O Christ, hast Thou; + Whence, then, shall come the blow + To Mary, virgin-mother? + + Not spear or nail or thorn, + Yet by all these I'm torn: + No sword, O Christ, hast Thou; + O whence, then, comes the blow + To Mary, virgin-mother? + + In the dread tragedy + Wrought upon Calvary, + Whate'er, O suff'ring Lord, + Smote Thee, pierc'd as a sword + Mary, the virgin-mother. G. + + +CLV. + +_In sanguinem circumcisionis dominicae. Ad convivas, quos haec dies apud +nos solennes habet._ + + Heus, conviva! bibin'? Maria haec, Mariaeque puellus, + Mittunt de prelo musta bibenda suo. + Una quidem est, toti quae par tamen unica mundo, + Unica gutta, suo quae tremit orbiculo. + O bibite hinc; quale aut quantum vos cunque bibistis, + Credite mi, nil tam suave bibistis adhuc. + O bibite et bibite, et restat tamen usque bibendum: + Restat, quod poterit nulla domare sitis. + Scilicet hic, mensura sitis, mensura bibendi est: + Haec quantum cupias vina bibisse, bibis. + +_On the blood of the Lord's circumcision._ + + Ah, friend, wilt drink? Mary and her Babe divine + Send from their press, for drinking, this new wine. + One drop, yet this round world in worth resembling, + A single drop in tiny circlet trembling. + Drink hence; whate'er ye've drunk, how much soever, + Trust me, such pleasant drink ye've met with never. + Drink, drink again; to drink is left for you-- + Is left what mortal thirst can ne'er subdue. + Thirst's limit here will drinking's bound define: + You drink all that you would drink of this wine. R. WI. + + +CLVI. + +_Puer Jesus inter doctores._ Luc. ii. 46. + + Fallitur, ad mentum qui pendit quemque profundum, + Ceu possint laeves nil sapuisse genae. + Scilicet e barba male mensuratur Apollo; + Et bene cum capitis stat nive, mentis hyems. + Discat, et a tenero disci quoque posse magistro, + Canitiem capitis nec putet esse caput. + +_The Child Jesus among the doctors._ + + To weigh a man by bearded chin is vain, + As if smooth cheeks no wisdom could contain. + Forsooth the beard is a poor gauge of wit; + With mental winter snowy head may fit. + Hear what wise words from a Child-teacher fall, + Nor think a hoary head the head of all. R. WI. + + +CLVII. + +_Ad Christum, de aqua in vinum versa._ Joan. ii. 1-11. + + Signa tuis tuus hostis habet contraria signis: + In vinum tristes tu mihi vertis aquas. + Ille autem e vino lacrymas et jurgia ducens, + Vina iterum in tristes, hei mihi! mutat aquas. + +_To our Lord, upon the water made wine._ + + Thou water turn'st to wine, faire friend of life; + Thy foe, to crosse the sweet arts of Thy reigne, + Distills from thence the teares of wrath and strife, + And so turnes wine to water backe againe. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Blessing's in Thy every sign, + But the Tempter each pollutes: + Thou the water makest wine, + He the wine to woe transmutes. G. + + +CLVIII. + +_Christus infans Patri sistitur in templo._ Luc. ii. 22-33. + + Agnus eat ludatque, licet, sub patre petulco; + Cumque sua longum conjuge turtur agat. + Conciliatorem nihil hic opus ire per agnum, + Nec tener ut volucris non sua fata ferat. + Hactenus exigua haec, quasi munera, lusimus; haec quae + Multum excusanti sunt capienda manu. + Hoc donum est; de quo, toto tibi dicimus ore, + Sume, Pater: meritis hoc tibi sume suis. + Donum hoc est, hoc est; quod scilicet audeat ipso + Esse Deo dignum: scilicet ipse Deus. + +_The Infant Christ is presented to the Father in the temple._ + + Let the lamb go, by hornèd sire to play; + The turtle, with its mate, flee far away: + No need is here of lamb to mediate, + Or tender bird to bear another's fate. + At those poor offerings once, as 'twere, we play'd, + Receiv'd by One who much allowance made. + This is a gift the full-voic'd boast to wake, + 'Take it, O Father, on its merits take.' + A gift, a gift this is, which need not fear + Being fit for God, since God Himself is here. R. WI. + + +CLIX. + +_Leprosus Dominum implorans._ Matt. viii. 2. + + Credo quod ista potes, velles modo: sed quia credo, + Christe, quod ista potes, credo quod ista voles. + Tu modo, tu faciles mihi, sol meus, exere vultus; + Non poterit radios nix mea ferre tuos.[82] + +_The leper beseeching._ + + I believe, Lord, Thou'rt able if Thou'rt willing, + And I believe Thou'rt willing as Thou'rt able. + Shine on me, O my Sun: Thy rays distilling, + Shall melt my snow, and give me healing stable. G. + + +CLX. + +_Christus in tempestate._ Matt. viii. 23-27. + + Quod fervet tanto circum te, Christe, tumultu, + Non hoc ira maris, Christe, sed ambitio est. + Haec illa ambitio est, hoc tanto te rogat ore, + Possit ut ad monitus, Christe, tacere tuos. + +_Why are ye afraid, O ye of little faith?_ + + As if the storme meant Him, + Or 'cause Heaven's face is dim, + His needs a cloud. + Was ever froward wind + That could be so unkind, + Or wave so proud? + The wind had need be angry, and the water black, + That to the mighty Neptune's Self dare threaten wrack. + There is no storm but this + Of your own cowardise + That braves you out; + You are the storme that mocks + Yourselves; you are the rocks + Of your owne doubt: + Besides this feare of danger there's no danger here, + And he that here feares danger does deserve his feare. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + That the Sea with such violence falls on, + 'Tis not his malice, but ambition: + This the ambition, this the loud request, + At Thy command, O Christ, to take his rest. B. + + +CLXI. + +_Annunciant ritus, quos non licet nobis suscipere, cum simus Romani._ +Act. xvi. 21. + + Hoc Caesar tibi, Roma, tuus dedit, armaque? solis + Romanis igitur non licet esse piis? + Ah, melius, tragicis nullus tibi Caesar in armis + Altus anhelanti detonuisset equo; + Nec domini volucris facies horrenda per orbem + Sueta tibi in signis torva venire tuis: + Quam miser ut staret de te tibi, Roma, triumphus, + Ut tanta fieres ambitione nihil. + Non tibi, sed sceleri vincis: proh laurea tristis, + Laurea, Cerbereis aptior umbra comis. + Tam turpi vix ipse pater diademate Pluto, + Vix sedet ipse suo tam niger in solio. + De tot Caesareis redit hoc tibi, Roma, triumphis: + Caesaree, aut, quod idem est, egregie misera es. + +_They teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to +observe, being Romans._ + + Rome, have thy Cæsar's arms wrought this for thee, + That Romans only may not Christians be? + Better for thee no Cæsar had waged war, + High-thundering on his fiery steed afar; + Nor eagle's lordly form o'er all the world + Had aye on thy stern ensigns been unfurl'd. + How poor a triumph, Rome, o'er thyself wrought, + By dint of such ambition to be--nought! + Conquering for sin, not Rome; sad laurel-wreath, + More fit to shadow Cerberus' locks beneath. + Old Pluto scarce wears diadem so base, + Sits scarce so swart enthron'd in his own place. + Cæsarean triumphs, Rome, win this for thee-- + Cæsarean, that is, highest misery. R. WI. + + +CLXII. + +_Hic lapis fiat panis._ Matt. iv. 3. + + Et fuit ille lapis, quidni sit dicere? panis, + Christe, fuit: panis sed tuus ille fuit. + Quippe Patris cum sic tulerit suprema voluntas, + Est panis, panem non habuisse, tuus. + + {Artos eên toi dêt', eipein themis estin, ekeinos, + Christe, toi artos eên kai lithos, alla teos. + Ên hou tôs tou patros eê megalou to thelêma, + Artos hot' ouk ên toi, Christe, toi artos eên.} + +_Command that this stone become a loaf._ + + And so it was; bread was that stone; + Such bread, Christ, as was all Thine own. + Since God so will'd that it should be, + To have no bread was bread to Thee. G. + + +CLXIII. + +_Mulier Canaanitis._ Matt. xv. 22. + + Quicquid Amazoniis dedit olim fama puellis, + Credite: Amazoniam cernimus, ecce, fidem. + Foemina, tam fortis fidei? jam credo fidem esse + Plus quam grammatice foeminei generis. + +_The woman of Canaan._ + + Whate'er Fame tells of Amazons of old, + Believe: here Amazonian faith behold. + Of such strong faith a woman? Faith I see + More than in grammar feminine to be. R. WI. + + +CLXIV. + +_Deus, post expulsum daemonem mutum, maledicis Judaeis os obturat._ Luc. +xi. 14. + + Una pene opera duplicem tibi daemona frangis: + Iste quidem daemon mutus; at ille loquax. + Scilicet in laudes, quae non tibi laurea surgit? + Non magis hic loquitur, quam tacet ille tuas. + +_Upon the dumbe devill cast out, and the slanderous Jewes put to +silence._ + + Two devills at one blow Thou hast laid flat; + A speaking devill this, a dumbe one that. + Was't Thy full victorie's fairer increase, + That th' one spake, or that th' other held his peace? CR. + + +CLXV. + +_Dicebant, Vere hic est Propheta._ Joan. vi. 14. + + Post tot quae videant, tot quae miracula tangant, + Haec et quae gustent, Christe, dabas populo: + Jam Vates, Rex, et quicquid pia nomina possunt, + Christus erat: vellem dicere, venter erat. + Namque his, quicquid erat Christus, de ventre repleto + Omne illud vero nomine venter erat. + +_They said, This is of a truth that Prophet._ + + When Christ had given the multitude so much, + So many miracles to see, taste, touch; + Now Prophet, King, the holiest name Heaven wishes, + Was Christ: I'd rather call it 'Loaves and fishes.' + Whate'er Christ was, to their stay'd appetite + 'Twas all more truly 'Loaves and fishes' dight. R. WI. + + +CLXVI. + +_Christus ambulabat in porticu Salomonis, et hyems erat._ Joan. x. 22. + + Bruma fuit? non, non; ah, non fuit ore sub isto: + Si fuit, haud anni, nec sua bruma fuit. + Bruma tibi vernis velit ire decentior horis, + Per sibi non natas expatiata rosas. + At tibi ne possit se tam bene bruma negare, + Sola haec, quam vibrat gens tua, grando[83] vetat. + +_It was winter, and Jesus walked in Solomon's porch._ + + Was't winter? No, O no; beneath that Face: + At least no natural winter there found place. + Winter for Thee would breathe Spring's beauteous hours, + With roses crowd its unaccustom'd bowers. + But lest so sweetly Winter should retire, + Lo, this hail hinders, hurl'd by Jewish ire. R. WI. + + +CLXVII. + +_Dederunt nummos militibus._ Matt. xxviii. 12. + + Ne miles velit ista loqui, tu munera donas? + Donas, quod possit, cum tacet ipse, loqui. + Quae facis a quoquam, pretio suadente, taceri; + Clarius, et dici turpius ista facis. + +_They gave large money to the soldiers._ + + The soldiers' silence is't with money bought? + Thy gift will tell a tale, though they say nought. + Whatever with a bribe thou fain wouldst hide, + More shamefully thou spreadest far and wide. R. WI. + + +CLXVIII. + +_Beatae Virgini: de salutatione angelica._ Luc. i. 26-28. + + {Chaire} suum neque Caesareus jam nuntiet ales; + {Chaire} tuum penna candidiore venit. + Sed taceat, qui {chaire} tuum quoque nuntiat, ales; + {Chaire} meum penna candidiore venit. + Quis dicat mihi {chaire} meum mage candidus autor, + Quam tibi quae dicat candidus ille tuum? + Virgo, rogas, quid candidius quam candidus ille + Esse potest? Virgo, quae rogat, esse potest. + {Chaire} tuum, Virgo, donet tibi candidus ille; + Donas candidior tu mihi {chaire} meum. + {Chaire} meum de {chaire} tuo quid differat, audi: + Ille tuum dicit, tu paris, ecce, meum. + +_To the blessed Virgin: concerning the angelic salutation._ + + Its 'hail' Cæsarean eagle need not bring; + Thy 'hail' comes wafted on a whiter wing. + But let the 'all-hail' angel e'en be still; + My 'hail' comes flitting on a whiter quill. + To say my 'hail' what whiter being can be + Than that white being who utters thine to thee? + Virgin, dost ask what whiter than that white + Might be? The Virgin who is asking, might. + That white one, Virgin, may give 'hail' to thee; + But thou, more white, dost give my 'hail' to me. + My 'hail' o'er thy 'hail,' wouldst thou know its worth; + He utters thine, but mine thou bringest forth. R. WI. + + +CLXIX. + +_Pontio lavanti._ Matt. xxvii. 24. + + Non satis est caedes, nisi stuprum hoc insuper addas, + Et tam virgineae sis violator aquae? + Nympha quidem pura haec et honesti filia fontis + Luget, adulterio jam temerata tuo. + Casta verecundo properat cum murmure gutta, + Nec satis in lacrymam se putat esse suam. + Desine tam nitidos stuprare, ah desine, rores: + Aut dic, quae miseras unda lavabit aquas. + +_To Pontius washing his blood-stained hands._ + + Is murther no sin? or a sin so cheape + That thou need'st heape + A rape upon't? Till thy adult'rous touch + Taught her these sullied cheeks, this blubber'd face, + She was a nimph, the meadowes knew none such; + Of honest parentage, of unstain'd race; + The daughter of a faire and well-fam'd fountaine + As ever silver-tipt the side of shady mountaine. + + See how she weeps, and weeps, that she appeares + Nothing but teares: + Each drop's a teare that weeps for her own wast. + Harke how at every touch she does complaine her; + Harke how she bids her frighted drops make hast, + And with sad murmurs chides the hands that stain her. + Leave, leave, for shame; or else, good judge, decree + What water shal wash this when this hath washèd thee. CR. + + +CLXX. + +_In die passionis dominicae._ + + Tamne ego sim tetricus? valeant jejunia: vinum + Est mihi dulce meo, nec pudet esse, cado. + Est mihi quod castis, neque prelum passa, racemis + Palmite virgineo protulit uva parens. + Hoc mihi, ter denis sat enim maturuit annis, + Tandem, ecce, e dolio praebibit hasta suo. + Jamque it; et ô quanto calet actus aromate torrens, + Acer ut hinc aura divite currit odor! + Quae rosa per cyathos volitat tam vina Falernos? + Massica quae tanto sidere vina tremunt? + O ego nescibam; atque ecce est vinum illud amoris, + Unde ego sim tantis, unde ego par cyathis. + Vincor: et ô istis totus prope misceor auris: + Non ego sum tantis, non ego par cyathis. + Sed quid ego invicti metuo bona robora vini? + Ecce est, quae validum diluit[84] unda merum. + +_On the day of the Lord's Passion._ + + Should I be dull? Fastings farewell! Sweet wine + I have--nor am asham'd--in cask of mine, + Which the full grape, unprest, from virgin shoot + Produced for me in purest cluster'd fruit. + This wine, now mellow'd by the thirtieth year, + Lo, from the 'wood' will pour at touch of spear. + It pours, and O how sweet the torrent glows, + How sharp an odour on the rich air flows! + What bouquet thus breathes from Falernian jars? + What Massic wines tremble beneath such stars? + O, I knew not; and, lo, this is Love's wine, + Whence I such draughts, e'en I, need not decline. + Vanquish'd, I wholly faint these airs along; + I am no match, not I, for draughts so strong. + But wherefore fear I their blest strength divine? + Behold the water mingled with the wine! R. WI. + + +CLXXI. + +_In die resurrectionis dominicae venit ad sepulchrum Magdalena ferens +aromata._ + + Quin et tu quoque busta tui Phoenicis adora; + Tu quoque fer tristes, mens mea, delicias. + Si nec aromata sunt, nec quod tibi fragrat amomum; + Qualis Magdalina est messis odora manu. + Est quod aromatibus praestat, quod praestat amomo: + Haec tibi mollicula, haec gemmea lacrymula. + Et lacryma est aliquid: neque frustra Magdala flevit: + Sentiit haec, lacrymas non nihil esse suas. + His illa, et tunc cum Domini caput iret amomo, + Invidiam capitis fecerat esse pedes. + Nunc quoque cum sinus huic tanto sub aromate sudet, + Plus capit ex oculis, quo litet, illa suis. + Christe, decent lacrymae: decet isto rore rigari + Vitae hoc aeternum mane tuumque diem. + +_On the day of our Lord's resurrection, the Magdalene bearing spices +cometh to the sepulchre._ Marc. xvi. 1; Luc. xxiv. 1. + + Come thou too, thou; kneel by thy Phoenix' tomb; + Bring thy poor offerings too, my soul, and come. + With thee no herbs and fragrant spice are seen-- + Such odorous tribute gave the Magdalene; + But these--no herbs nor spices equal them-- + These little liquid drops, each tear a gem. + One tear is much: thine did not fall in vain, + Sweet Magdalene; thou knewest the tears were gain. + With these--her Lord's head in amomum laid-- + The humble feet the head's despair she made. + Now, while her breast moist with such fragrance lies, + She in a strife draws sweeter from her eyes. + Lord Christ, these tears are well: well fits it too + Life's everlasting morn drip with such dew. A. + + +CLXXII. + +_In cicatrices Domini adhuc superstites._ Luc. xxiv. 31. + + Arma vides; arcus, pharetramque levesque sagittas, + Et quocunque fuit nomine miles Amor. + His fuit usus Amor: sed et haec fuit ipse; suumque + Et jaculum, et jaculis ipse pharetra suis. + Nunc splendent tantum, et deterso pulvere belli + E memori pendent nomina magna tholo. + Tempus erit tamen, haec irae quando arma pharetramque, + Et sobolem pharetrae spicula tradet Amor. + Heu, qua tunc anima, quo stabit conscia vultu, + Quum scelus agnoscet dextera quaeque suum? + Improbe, quae dederis, cernes ibi vulnera, miles, + Qua tibi cunque tuus luserit arte furor. + Seu digito suadente tuo mala laurus inibat + Temporibus; sacrum seu bibit hasta latus: + Sive tuo clavi saevum rubuere sub ictu; + Seu puduit jussis ire flagella tuis. + Improbe, quae dederis, cernes ibi vulnera, miles: + Quod dederis vulnus, cernere, vulnus erit. + Plaga sui vindex clavosque rependet et hastam: + Quoque rependet, erit clavus et hasta sibi. + Quis tam terribiles, tam justas moverit iras? + Vulnera pugnabunt, Christe, vel ipsa tibi. + +_On the scars of the Lord still remaining._ + + Arms see--bows, quiver, arrows flying far, + And every style in which Love went to war. + These arms Love used--nay, Himself was: His own + Dart and darts' quiver was Himself alone. + Now they but shine, and, dusty battle ended, + In treasur'd glory are on high suspended. + Time comes when unto Wrath these arms, both quiver + And quiver's offspring, darts, Love will deliver. + Ah, with what thoughts, what countenance wilt thou stand + When its own guilt comes home to each right hand? + Wretch, thou wilt see the wounds which thou hast made, + And with what fatal skill thy fury play'd: + Whether with bloody wreath thy fingers plied + His temples, or thy spear drank His dear side; + Or 'neath thy blow nails turned a cruel red, + Or the scourge blush'd as at thy call it sped. + Wretch, there the wounds thou gavest thou shalt see: + To see the wound thou gav'st a wound shall be. + Stroke self-avenging follows nails and spear: + Its nail and spear of recompense are here. + Such awful righteous wrath who would excite? + Thy very wounds, O Christ, for Thee will fight. R. WI. + + +CLXXIII. + +_Pacem meam do vobis._ Joan. xiv. 27. + + Bella vocant: arma, ô socii, nostra arma paremus + Atque enses: nostros scilicet, ah, jugulos. + Cur ego bella paro, cum Christus det mihi pacem? + Quod Christus pacem dat mihi, bella paro. + Ille dedit, nam quis potuit dare certior autor? + Ille dedit pacem: sed dedit ille suam. + +_My peace I give unto you._ + + War calls: O friends, our arms let us prepare, + And swords; forsooth, our throats let us lay bare. + Why war prepare, if Christ His peace afford? + Because Christ gives me peace, I take the sword. + He gave--what surer giver can be shown? + He gave the peace, but then He gave His own. R. WI. + + +CLXXIV. + +_In D. Paulum illuminatum simul et excaecatum._ Act. ix. 8, 9. + + Quae, Christe, ambigua haec bifidi tibi gloria teli est, + Quod simul huic oculos abstulit atque dedit? + Sancta dies animi, hac oculorum in nocte, latebat; + Te ut possit Paulus cernere, caecus erat. + +_Paul's conversion and blindness._ + + Why, Lord, this twofold glory of Thy ray, + Giving him sight whose sight it takes away? + Paul in that night God's inner light shall find: + That he may see The Christ his eyes are blind. CL. + + +CLXXV. + +_Ego sum Via. Ad Judaeos spretores Christi._ Joan. xiv. 6. + + O sed nec calcanda tamen: pes improbe, pergis? + Improbe pes, ergo hoc coeli erat ire viam? + Ah pereat, Judaec ferox, pes improbus ille, + Qui coeli tritam sic facit esse viam. + +_I am the Way. To the Jewish despisers of Christ._ + + Not to be trampled on, though: vile foot, stay; + Vile foot, is this to tread the heavenly Way? + Let that fierce Jewish foot to death be given, + Which thus wears out the blessèd Way to heaven. R. WI. + + +CLXXVI. + +_In nocturnum et hyemale iter infantis Domini._ Matt. ii. 19-21. + + Ergo viatores teneros, cum Prole parentem, + Nox habet hos, queis est digna nec ulla dies. + Nam quid ad haec Pueri vel labra genasve parentis? + Heu, quid ad haec facient oscula, nox et hyems! + Lilia ad haec facerent, faceret rosa; quicquid et halat + Aeterna Zephyrus qui tepet in viola. + Hi meruere, quibus vel nox sit nulla; vel ulla + Si sit, eat nostra purius illa die. + Ecce sed hos quoque nox et hyems clausere tenellos: + Et quis scit, quid nox, quid meditetur hyems? + Ah, ne quid meditetur hyems saevire per Austros, + Quaeque solet nigros nox mala ferre metus! + Ah, ne noctis eat currus non mollibus Euris, + Aspera ne tetricos nuntiet aura Notos! + Heu, quot habent tenebrae, quot vera pericula secum, + Quot noctem dominam quantaque monstra colunt! + Quot vaga quae falsis veniunt ludibria formis! + Trux oculus, Stygio concolor ala Deo! + Seu veris ea, sive vagis stant monstra figuris; + Virginei satis est hinc, satis inde metus. + Ergo veni; totoque veni resonantior arcu, + Cynthia, praegnantem clange procul pharetram. + Monstra vel ista vel illa, tuis sint meta sagittis: + Nec fratris jaculum certior aura vehat. + Ergo veni, totoque veni, flagrantior ore, + Dignaque Apollineas sustinuisse vices. + Scis bene quid deceat Phoebi lucere sororem: + Ex his, si nescis, Cynthia, disce genis. + O tua, in his, quanto lampas formosior iret! + Nox suam, ab his, quanto malit habere diem! + Quantum ageret tacitos haec luna modestior ignes, + Atque verecundis sobria staret equis! + Luna, tuae non est rosa tam pudibunda diei, + Nec tam Virgineo fax tua flore tremit. + Ergo veni; sed et astra, tuas age, Cynthia, turmas: + Illa oculos pueri, quos imitentur, habent. + Hinc oculo, hinc astro: at parili face nictat utrumque; + Aetheris os, atque os aethereum Pueri. + Aspice, quam bene res utriusque deceret utrumque! + Quam bene in alternas mutua regna manus! + Ille oculus coeli hoc si staret in aethere frontis; + Sive astrum hoc Pueri fronte sub aetherea. + Si Pueri hoc astrum aetherea sub fronte micaret, + Credat et hunc oculum non minus esse suum. + Ille oculus coeli, hoc si staret in aethere frontis, + Non minus in coelis se putet esse suis. + Tam pulchras variare vices cum fronte Puelli, + Cumque Puelli oculis aether et astra queant. + Astra quidem vellent; vellent aeterna pacisci + Foedera mutatae sedis inire vicem. + Aether et ipse, licet numero tam dispare, vellet + Mutatis oculis tam bona pacta dari. + Quippe iret coelum quanto melioribus astris, + Astra sua hos oculos si modo habere queat! + Quippe astra in coelo quantum meliore micarent, + Si frontem hanc possint coelum habuisse suum. + Aether et astra velint: frustra velit aether et astra: + Ecce negat Pueri frons, oculique negant. + Ah, neget illa, negent illi: nam quem aethera mallent + Isti oculi? aut frons haec quae magis astra velit? + Quid si aliquod blanda face lene renideat astrum? + Lactea si coeli terque quaterque via est? + Blandior hic oculus, roseo hoc qui ridet in ore; + Lactea frons haec est terque quaterque magis. + Ergo negent, coelumque suum sua sidera servent: + Sidera de coelis non bene danda suis. + Ergo negant: seque ecce sua sub nube recondunt, + Sub tenera occidui nube supercilii: + Nec claudi contenta sui munimine coeli, + Quaerunt in gremio matris ubi lateant. + Non nisi sic tactis ubi nix tepet illa pruinis, + Castaque non gelido frigore vernat hyems. + Scilicet iste dies tam pulchro vespere tingi + Dignus; et hos soles sic decet occidere. + Claudat purpureus qui claudit vesper Olympum; + Puniceo placeas tu tibi, Phoebe, toro; + Dum tibi lascivam Thetis auget adultera noctem, + Pone per Hesperias strata pudenda rosas. + Illas nempe rosas, quas conscia purpura pinxit; + Culpa pudorque suus queis dedit esse rosas. + Hos soles, niveae noctes, castumque cubile, + Quod purum sternet per mare virgo Thetis; + Hos, sancti flores; hos, tam sincera decebant + Lilia; quaeque sibi non rubuere rosae. + Hos, decuit sinus hic; ubi toto sidere proni + Ecce lavant sese lacteo in oceano. + Atque lavent: tandemque suo se mane resolvant, + Ipsa dies ex hoc ut bibat ore diem. + +_On the night and winter journey of the Infant Lord._ + + These tender travellers, feel they Night's dark sway, + Mother and Child, too good for whitest day? + For how will mother's cheeks, or lips of Child, + How kisses fare, from Night and Winter wild? + With lilies these, with roses, should be blest, + Or sweetest breath of violet-perfum'd West. + Such travellers merited to have no night, + Or, if at all, one whiter than our light. + Winter and Night these tender ones enclose, + And what Night plots, or Winter, ah, who knows? + Ah, lest fell Winter with its north-winds rage, + Ill-omen'd Night its wonted fears engage. + Ah, lest rough east-winds should Night's chariot draw, + Or harsh south-winds should shake the heart with awe. + What real perils troop in Darkness' train, + Over what monsters Night extends her reign: + What vagrant phantoms, which in false shapes go, + Stern-ey'd, black-pinion'd, like the gods below! + But standing forth in false forms or in true, + For these, for those, a Virgin's dread is due. + Come then, come, Cynthia, with resounding bow, + And clang thy full-charg'd quiver at the foe. + These monsters, those, thy darts unerring share, + Nor truer aim thy brother's arrows bear: + Come, then, O come, with all thy face a-flame, + Worthy thyself to take Apollo's name. + Thou know'st how Phoebus' sister ought to shine; + If not, learn, Cynthia, from these cheeks divine. + Placed here thy torch more beauty would display, + And Night from hence prefer to draw its day; + Such moon more modest shed its silent beam, + And shamefac'd stay her softly-going team. + O Moon, thy day no rose so chaste resembles, + Thy torch with no such virgin beauty trembles. + Come then, but bring thy troops of stars likewise; + For they can try to shine like the Child's eyes. + An eye, a star, twinkling with equal grace, + The face of heaven and the Child's heavenly face. + How well the charm of each transferr'd would show, + From hand to hand the mutual sceptres go! + Whether heaven's eye should deck His skiey brow, + Or the Child's star adorn heaven's forehead now. + If the Child's star on heaven's forehead shone, + That eye would seem to Him not less His own. + Place on His skiey forehead heaven's eye, + Not less 'twould deem itself in its own sky. + Such interchanges might the stars and skies + Make charmingly with the Child's brow and eyes. + For change of place the stars indeed might like + An everlasting treaty now to strike; + And differing though in numbers, e'en the skies + Might wish to bargain for a change of eyes. + With how much better stars the sky would shine, + If as its stars it had these eyes divine! + The stars would shine in how much better heaven, + If as their sky this brow divine were given! + So sky and stars may choose--in vain they choose; + For the Child's brow and His fair eyes refuse. + Ah, wisely; for these eyes what better heaven + Could wish? what better stars to brow be given? + What though some gentle star more softly gleams? + What if heaven's way thrice, four times, milky seems? + Softer this eye which smiles in ruddy face; + This milk-white brow, thrice, four times is its grace. + To quit their heaven, let then these stars deny; + Stars ought not to be ta'en from their own sky. + They do deny; and soon in cloud are hid, + In tender shadow of the drooping lid. + Nor with their own defence content they rest, + But seek a hiding-place in mother's breast. + Thus the snow melts where His warm touch is plac'd, + And genial Spring blooms out of Winter chaste. + Such day such evening-dew deserves to drink; + Such suns in such a bed deserve to sink. + Sky-closing Eve, thy purple veil entwine, + Sun, thy luxurious couch incarnadine; + While wanton Thetis day too early closes, + Thy shameless bed place 'mid Hesperian roses; + Roses, forsooth, by conscious blushes painted, + By sin with its own tell-tale redness tainted. + Nights snowy-white, chaste couch to these suns be, + Which virgin Thetis spreads o'er lucent sea; + All-holy flowers, lilies inviolate, + Roses with innocent blush upon them wait. + Be theirs this bosom, where reclin'd all night + They bathe themselves in ocean milky-white. + And let them bathe, till their own morn say, rise; + And Day itself drink splendour from these eyes. R. WI. + + +CLXXVII. + +_Non dico, me rogaturum Patrem pro vobis._ Joan. xvi. 26. + + Ah tamen ipse roga: tibi scilicet ille roganti + Esse nequit durus, nec solet esse, Pater. + Ille suos omni facie te figit amores; + Inque tuos toto effunditur ore sinus. + Quippe, tuos spectans oculos, se spectat in illis; + Inque tuo, Jesu, se fovet ipse sinu. + Ex te metitur sese, et sua numina discit: + Inde repercussus redditur ipse sibi. + Ille tibi se, te ille sibi par nectit utrinque: + Tam tuus est, ut nec sit magis ille suus. + Ergo roga: ipse roga: tibi scilicet ille roganti + Esse nequit durus, nec solet esse, Pater. + Illum ut ego rogitem? Hoc, eheu, non ore rogandum; + Ore satis puras non faciente preces. + Illum ego si rogitem, quis scit quibus ille procellis + Surgat, et in miserum hoc quae tonet ira caput? + Isto etiam forsan veniet mihi fulmen ab ore: + Saepe isto certe fulmen ab ore venit. + Ille una irati forsan me cuspide verbi, + Uno me nutu figet, et interii: + Non ego, non rogitem: mihi scilicet ille roganti + Durior esse potest, et solet esse, Pater. + Immo rogabo: nec ore meo tamen: immo rogabo + Ore meo, Jesu, scilicet ore tuo. + +_I do not say that I will pray the Father for you._ + + Yea, Lord, ask Thou: He is not wont to be, + He cannot prove unkind, if ask'd of Thee. + With favouring eyes He makes Thee all His love; + Toward Thine heart, Lord, His whole affections move. + Beholding Thy fair eyes Himself He sees; + In Thy pure breast Himself He cherishes. + By Thee He metes Himself, His godhead learns, + And, sweet reversion! to Himself returns. + He Thee, Thou He, in one Ye intertwine; + He is His own no more, He is so Thine. + Yea, Lord, ask Thou: He is not wont to be, + He cannot prove unkind, if ask'd of Thee. + Shall these lips, Lord, ask Him? But how should they? + With rightful words and pure they fail to pray. + If I should ask Him, then, what tempests dread, + What anger thundering o'er this wretched head! + His look perchance would gleam as lightning down-- + Yea, oft, I know, as lightning falls His frown. + Perchance the javelin of one angry word, + One nod, would slay, and I should die unheard. + I? I'll not ask: Lord, He is wont to be, + He easy proves unkind, if ask'd of me. + Yet, stay: I'll ask:--not with these lips of mine; + Yea, with my lips,--my lips, Lord, namely Thine. A. + + +CLXXVIII. + +_In die ascensionis dominicae._ Act. i. 9, 10. + + Usque etiam nostros te, Christe, tenemus amores? + Heu, coeli quantam hinc invidiam patimur! + Invidiam patiamur: habent sua sidera coeli, + Quaeque comunt tremulas crispa tot ora faces; + Phoebenque et Phoebum, et tot pictae vellera nubis, + Vellera, quae rosea Sol variavit acu. + Quantum erat, ut sinerent hac una nos face ferri? + Una sit hic: sunt et sint ibi mille faces. + Nil agimus: nam tu quia non ascendis ad illum, + Aether[85] descendit, Christe, vel ipse tibi. + + {Nyn eti hêmeteron se, Christe, echomen ton erôta? + Ouranou oun hosson ton phthonon hôs echomen; + Alla echômen. echei hea men ta d' agalmata aithêr, + Astra te kai Phoibon kai kala tôn nephelôn. + Hosson eên, hêmin ophr' eiê hen tode astron? + Astron hen hêmin ê; eisi toi astr' hekaton. + Panta matên. hoti, Christe, sy ouk anebaines es auton, + Autos men katebê ouranos eis se teos.} + +_On the day of the Lord's ascension._ + + Still do we keep Thee here, O Christ, our Love? + Ah, envy much we gain from Heaven above! + But be it so: Heaven is with stars a-blaze, + And countless orbs that trick their tremulous rays: + Moon, sun, and colour'd clouds, a fleecy store, + By Evening's rosy touch embroider'd o'er. + 'Twere little they should leave one light below: + Let one be here, a thousand there may glow. + 'Tis vain: since Thou ascendest not on high, + To Thee, O Christ, descends the very sky. R. WI. + + +CLXXIX. + +_Caecus implorat Christum._ Marc. x. 46-52. + + Improba turba, tace. Mihi tam mea vota propinquant, + Et linguam de me vis tacuisse meam? + Tunc ego tunc taceam, mihi cum meus ille loquetur: + Si nescis, oculos vox habet ista meos. + O noctis miserere meae, miserere; per illam + In te quae primo riserit ore, diem. + O noctis miserere meae, miserere; per illam + Quae, nisi te videat, nox velit esse, diem. + O noctis miserere meae, miserere; per illam + In te quam fidei nox habet ipsa, diem. + Haec animi tam clara dies rogat illam oculorum: + Illam, oro, dederis; hanc mihi ne rapias. + + {Nykt' eleêson emên, eleêson. nai toi ekeino, + Christe, emou êmar, nyx hod' emeio echei. + Ophthalmôn men ekeino, Theos, deetai tode gnômês; + Mê moi tout' airês, dos moi ekeino phaos.}[86] + +_The blind man implores Christ._ + + Be silent, crowd: my prayers so near me come, + And do you bid my pleading tongue be dumb, + Before my Lord to me His speech addresses? + Know, then, that voice of His my eyes possesses. + Pity my night, Lord, pity; by that day + Which smiled on me in Thee with earliest ray: + Pity my night, Lord, pity; by that day + Which if it sees Thee not, for night would pray: + Pity my night, Lord, pity; by that day + Which in faith's dimness fades not quite away. + My mind's clear day bids my eyes' day awake: + This grant, O Lord, nor the other from me take. R. WI. + + +CLXXX. + +_Quis ex vobis si habeat centum oves, et perdiderit unam ex illis, &c._ +Luc. xv. 4. + + O ut ego angelicis fiam bona gaudia turmis! + Me quoque solicito quaere per arva gradu. + Mille tibi tutis ludunt in montibus agni, + Quos potes haud dubia dicere voce tuos. + Unus ego erravi, quo me meus error agebat; + Unus ego fuerim gaudia plura tibi. + Gaudia non faciunt, quae nec fecere timorem; + Et plus quae donant ipsa peric'la placent. + Horum quos retines fuerit tibi latior usus: + De me quem recipis dulcior usus erit. + + {Eis men egô, hê mou planê periêgen, alêmi; + Eis de toi sôs esomai gêthosynai pleones. + Amnos ho mê poiôn phobon ou poiei de te charma. + Meizôn tôn men, emou chreia de glykyterê.} + +_What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, &c._ + + O might I fire the angel-bands with joy, + Thy seeking steps o'er anxious plains employ! + A thousand lambs on the safe mountains play; + All Thine they are, Thou certainly canst say. + The one that err'd and stray'd behold in me; + Be I the one to bring more joy to Thee! + They give no joy who never caus'd a fear; + Dangers themselves, o'ercome, the more endear. + Of those retain'd, more wide be the employment; + Of me recover'd, sweeter the enjoyment. R. WI. + + +CLXXXI. + +_Herodi D. Jacobum obtruncanti._ Act. xii. 2. + + Nescis Jacobus quantum hunc tibi debeat ictum, + Quaeque tua in sacrum saeviat ira caput. + Scilicet ipso illi donasti hoc ense coronam, + Quo sacrum abscideras scilicet ense caput. + Abscissum pensare caput quae possit abunde, + Sola haec tam saeva et sacra corona fuit. + + {En men, Iakôbe, kephalên toi xiphos apêren, + Hen tode kai stephanon xiphos edôke teon. + Mounon ameibesthai kephalên, Iakôbe, dynaito, + Keinos hod' hôs kalos martyriou stephanos.} + +_To Herod beheading St. James._ + + Know'st not how much James owes thee for this stroke, + Or how on his blest head thine anger broke. + Lo, to himself a crown thou dost accord + Forsooth with that selfsame beheading sword. + Only this sacred sanguinary crown + That sunder'd head was able to weigh down. R. WI. + + +CLXXXII. + +_Caeci receptis oculis Christum sequuntur._ Matt. xx. 34. + + Ecce manu imposita Christus nova sidera ponit: + Sectantur patriam sidera fida manum. + Haec manus his, credo, coelum est: haec scilicet astra + Suspicor esse olim quae geret ille manu.[87] + + {Cheir epiballomenê Christou epeballen opôpôn + Astra; opêdeuei keina ge cheiri Theou. + Cheir hauê toutois pelen ouranos. astra gar oimai + En cheri taut' oisei Christos epeita heê.} + +_The blind men having received their sight follow Christ._ + + See Christ with outstretcht hand new stars create, + Which on that hand with due observance wait. + That hand, sure, is their heaven: these stars are they + Which He will hold in His right hand one day. R. WI. + + +CLXXXIII. + +_Zachaeus in sycomoro._ Luc. xix. 4. + + Quid te, quid jactas alienis fructibus, arbor? + Quid tibi cum foliis non, sycomore, tuis? + Quippe istic ramo qui jam tibi nutat ab alto, + Mox e divina Vite racemus erit. + + {Tipt' epikompazeis keneon xeinô de te karpô, + Kai phyllois semnê mê, sykomôre, teois? + Kai gar hod' ekkrêmnês sou nyn meteôros ap' ernous, + Ampelou ho kladôn essetai ouraniou.} + +_Zaccheus in the sycamore-tree._ + + Why of strange fruits dost boast, O sycamore? + Of leaves not thine who gave thee such a store? + He who waves to and fro on bough of thine, + A cluster soon will be of the True Vine. R. WI. + + +CLXXXIV. + +_On our crucified Lord naked and bloody._ + + Th' have left Thee naked, Lord: O that they had! + This garment too I would they had deny'd. + Thee with Thyselfe they have too richly clad, + Opening the purple wardrobe of Thy side. + O never could bee found garments too good + For Thee to weare, but these of Thine own blood. + + +CLXXXV. + +_Sampson to his Dalilah._ + + Could not once blinding me, cruell, suffice? + When first I look't on thee, I lost mine eyes. + + + + +SECULAR EPIGRAMS. + + +I. + +_Upon Ford's two Tragedyes, 'Love's Sacrifice' and 'The Broken Heart.'_ + + Thou cheat'st us, Ford; mak'st one seeme two by art: + What is Love's Sacrifice but The Broken Heart? + + +II. + +_Vpon the Faire Ethiopian, sent to a gentlewoman._ + + Lo here the faire Chariclea, in whom strove + So false a fortune and so true a love! + Now after all her toyles by sea and land, + O may she but arrive at your white hand! + Her hopes are crown'd; onely she feares that than + Shee shall appeare true Ethiopian. + + +III. + +_On marriage._ + + I would be married, but I'de have no wife: + I would be married to a single life. + + +IV. + +_On Nanus mounted upon an ant._ + + High-mounted on an ant, Nanus the tall + Was throwne, alas, and got a deadly fall; + Vnder th' unruly beast's proud feet he lies + All torne: with much adoe yet ere he dyes + Hee straines these words: Base Envy, doe laugh on: + Thus did I fall, and thus fell Phaethon. + + +V. + +_Vpon Venus putting-on Mars his armes._ + + What, Mars his sword? faire Cytherea, say, + Why art thou arm'd so desperately to-day? + Mars thou hast beaten naked; and, O then, + What needst thou put on armes against poore men? + + +VI. + +_Vpon the same._ + + Pallas saw Venus arm'd, and straight she cry'd: + Come if thou dar'st; thus, thus let us be try'd. + Why, foole! saies Venus, thus provok'st thou mee, + That being nak't, thou know'st could conquer thee? + + +VII. + +_Out of Martiall._ + + Foure teeth thou hadst, that, ranck'd in goodly state, + Kept thy mouth's gate. + The first blast of thy cough left two alone; + The second, none. + This last cough, Delia, cought-out all thy feare; + Th' hast left the third cough now no business here. + + +NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. + +These Secular, or, as the word was, 'Humane' Epigrams, all originally +appeared in the volume of 1646, as before, and were continued in the +after-editions. It is pleasant to have this recognition of John Ford +(I.) by Crashaw. The two Tragedies celebrated, appeared in the same +year, 1633. The 'Faire Ethiopian' of II. was doubtless William Lisle's +poem so named [Lond. 1632],--not given by Hazlitt, _s.n._ The others are +too well known to need annotation. These are all preserved, with a +collection of others, in the Tanner MS., as before. G. + + + + +Latin Poems. + +PART FIRST. SACRED. + + +II. + +EPIGRAMMATA SACRA. + +NEVER BEFORE PRINTED. + + +NOTE. + +It is my great privilege to be the first to print the following +extensive additions to the _Epigrammata Sacra_ of Crashaw. They are +wholly derived from Archbishop Sancroft's MS. in the Bodleian, as +described in our Preface (Vol. I. p. xx.-xxiii.) and in the Preface to +the present Volume. For their relation to those published by the Author +himself and in the editions of 1634 and 1670, see our Essay, as before. +As with Crashaw's own collection (of 1634), the Epigrams seem to have +been composed and written down on the spur of the moment as a subject +struck him, and hence there is the same absence of arrangement: nor is +it much to be lamented, seeing that each is independent. As a rule, I +follow the order of the manuscript. For translations of fifteen of these +fifty-five Epigrams, viz. Nos. 8, 9, 19, 24, 26, 32, 34, 35, 39, 46, 48, +49, 51, 52, 53, and 55, I am indebted, as for so much more throughout, +to my excellent poet-friend the Rev. RICHARD WILTON, M.A., as before: +for the others, in Fuller's phrase, 'my meanness is responsible,' except +in a few instances wherein Crashaw has himself furnished renderings, or +at least little poems less or more corresponding with the Latin; as +pointed out in the places. G. + + +I. + +Act. xxviii. 3. + + Paule, nihil metuas, non fert haec vipera virus: + Virtutem vestrae vult didicisse manus. + Oscula, non morsus; supplex, non applicat hostis. + Nec metuenda venit, sed miseranda magis. + +_St. Paul and the viper._ + + Paul, fear thou nought; no poison bears this asp: + It seeks to learn the virtue of thy hand. + Not as a foe, but suppliant, it would clasp; + Not fear, but pity, it would fain command. G. + + +II. + +Joan. vi. 14, 26. + + Jam credunt, Deus es: Deus est, qui teste palato, + Quique ipso demum est judice dente Deus. + Scilicet haec sapiunt miracula: de quibus alvus + Proficere, et possit pingue latus fluere. + Haec sua fecisti populo miracula credunt. + Gens pia, et in ventrem relligiosa suum! + +_The miracle of the loaves._ + + Now truly they believe that Thou art God!-- + God witnessèd by palate and by tooth!-- + They know the smack of miracles that load + And swell their paunches; yea, believe, forsooth. + To a most pious race, Lord, Thou appealest, + And stomachs most believing Thou revealest. G. + + +III. + +_In lacrymas Christi patientis._ + + Saeve dolor! potes hoc? oculos quoque perpluis istos? + O quam non meritas haec arat unda genas! + O lacrymas ego flere tuas, ego dignior istud, + Quod tibi cunque cadit roris, habere meum. + Siccine? me tibi flere tuas! ah, mi bone Jesu, + Si possem lacrymas vel mihi flere meas! + Flere meas? immo immo tuas, hoc si modo possem: + Non possem lacrymas, non ego flere meas. + Flere tuas est flere meas, tua lacryma, Christe, + Est mea vel lacryma est si tua, causa mea est. + +_Of the tears of the suffering Christ._ + + O cruel Pain! I ask thee how + Thou canst do what thou'rt doing now? + Dost thou also--or is't my fears?-- + Drench His sweet eyes with scalding tears? + O how that show'r furrows amain + His undeserving cheek, as rain! + More meet it were that I should know + The tears that from His anguish flow: + More meet it were that I should feel + All dews that down His wan cheek steal: + O is it thus? Would that it were! + That I might weep Thy laden tear: + Yea, blessèd Jesus, would that I + For mine own self could weeping lie: + Mine own tears weep? nay, they are Thine, + For all Thy tears, alas, are mine. + Ah, not a tear that Thou didst shed, + When sorrow bow'd Thy sacred head, + But came of human woe or guilt, + For which at last Thy Blood was spilt; + And even if the tears were Thine, + Being for my sake, they're rather mine. G. + + +IV. + +_In sepulcrum Domini._ Joan. xix. 38-42. + + Jam cedant, veteris cedant miracula saxi, + Unde novus subito fluxerat amne latex. + Tu felix rupes, ubi se lux tertia tollet, + Flammarum sacro fonte superba flues. + +_The sepulchre of the Lord._ + + Yield place, ye wonders of the ancient stone + Whence sudden-gushing streams were seen to flow: + When the third day, blest rock, on thee has shone, + Proudly with fount of sacred fire thou'lt glow. G. + + +V. + +_Ubi amorem praecipit._ Joan. xiii. 14. + + Sic magis in numeros morituraque carmina vivit + Dulcior extrema voce caducus olor; + Ut tu inter strepitus odii, et tua funera, Jesu, + Totus amor liquido totus amore sonas. + +_The parting words of Love._ + + E'en as the dying swan, sweeter for failing breath, + Dies not, but rather lives, in her last wistful song, + Dost Thou, Lord, mid hate's din and close-approaching death, + As Love, with melting voice, Thy dying love prolong. G. + + +VI. + +Act. xii. 23. + + Euge, Deus--pleno populus fremit undique plausu-- + Certe non hominem vox sonat, euge, Deus! + Sed tamen iste Deus qui sit, vos dicite, vermes, + Intima turba illi; vos fovet ille sinu. + +_Herod devoured of worms._ + + Behold a god! full-voic'd the people cry; + Not man, but god, with shouts they him attest. + What kind of god he is, ye worms, reply-- + A crowd that know the secrets of his breast. G. + + +VII. + +_Bonum est nobis esse hic._ + + Cur cupis hic adeo, dormitor Petre, manere? + Somnia non alibi tam bona, Petre, vides. + +_It is good to be here._ + + Why seek'st thou, drowsy Peter, here to stay? + Elsewhere such pleasant dreams thou see'st not, eh?[88] G. + + +VIII. + +_Videte lilia agrorum ... nec Salomon, &c._ Matt. vi. 29. + + Candide rex campi, cui floris eburnea pompa est, + Deque nivis fragili vellere longa toga; + Purpureus Salomon impar tibi dicitur esto. + Nempe, quod est melius, par fuit ille rosis. + +_Look on the lilies of the field ... not Solomon, &c._ + + O fairest monarch of the enamell'd field, + Whose is the blossom'd pomp of ivory splendour, + And whose the fleeces, snowy-white, which yield + Long-flowing robes immaculate and tender. + Ah, not like lilies--'tis divinely spoken-- + Was Solomon, with sin encrimsonèd; + But not unlike--and 'tis a better token-- + Roses tear-wash'd, which hang the blushing head. R. WI. + + +IX. + +Marc. vii. 33, 36. + + Voce manuque simul linguae tu, Christe, ciendae: + Sistendae nudis vocibus usus eras. + Sane at lingua equus est pronis effusus habenis: + Vox ciet, at sistit non nisi tota manus. + + +_The deaf healed._ + + To wake the tongue--voice, hand too, Christ would use; + To check it, but a bare word of command. + Really, the tongue is as a horse rein'd-loose-- + Starts at a word, stay'd only with strong hand. R. WI. + + +X. + +_In beatae Virginis verecundiam._ + + Non est hoc matris, sed, crede, modestia nati, + Quod virgo in gremium dejicit ora suum. + Illic jam Deus est, oculus jam Virginis ergo, + Ut coelum videat, dejiciendus erit. + +_The modesty of the blessed Virgin._ + + Not humbleness of mother, but of Child, + Shines in the downward gaze of Virgin mild. + The Virgin gazes where her God doth lie: + She must look down that Heaven may meet her eye. G. + + +XI. + +_Mitto vos sicut agnos in medio luporum._ + + Hos quoque, an hos igitur saevi lacerabitis agnos? + Hic saltem, hic vobis non licet esse lupis. + At sceleris nulla est clementia, at ergo scietis, + Agnus qui nunc est, est aliquando Leo. + +_I send you as lambs in the midst of wolves._ + + These lambs also, e'en these, will ye, then, fiercely tear? + Here to be wolves, at least here, ye will never dare. + Alas, the wicked still are cruel; but ye'll learn + He Who is now a Lamb will one day Lion turn. G. + + +XII. + +_Christus a daemone vectus._ Matt. iv. + + Ergo ille, angelicis ô sarcina dignior alis, + Praepete sic Stygio, sic volet ille vehi. + Pessime! nec laetare tamen tu scilicet inde, + Non minus es daemon, non minus ille Deus. + +_Christ carried by the devil._ + + Will He--O burden worthier angels' wings!-- + Deign to be carried by swift fiend of hell? + Vilest! to thee this no advancement brings; + He no less God, thou no less demon fell. G. + + +XIII. + +Joan. i. 23. + + Vox ego sum, dicis: tu vox es, sancte Joannes? + Si vox es, sterilis cur tibi mater erat? + Quam fuit ista tuae mira infoecundia matris! + In vocem sterilis rarior esse solet. + +_St. John the Baptist a voice._ + + 'I am a voice, a voice,' says holy John. + If so, how should thy mother barren be? + This is unfruitfulness to muse upon; + Tongue-barren women we so seldom see! G. + + +XIV. + +_Vox Joannes, Christus Verbum._ + + Monstrat Joannes Christum, haud res mira videtur: + Vox unus, verbum scilicet alter erat. + Christus Joanne est prior, haec res mira videtur: + Voce sua verbum non solet esse prius. + +_John the Voice, Christ the Word._ + + John points out Christ; no wonder this we deem: + One is a Voice, the other is the Word. + Christ is before John; wondrous this may seem; + For when was word before a voice e'er heard? G. + + +XV. + +_In natales Domini pastoribus nuntiatos._ Luc. ii. 8-19. + + Ad te sydereis, ad te, bone Tityre, pennis + Purpureus juvenis gaudia tanta vehit. + O bene te vigilem, cui gaudia tanta feruntur, + Ut neque dum vigilas, te vigilare putes. + Quem sic monstrari voluit pastoribus aether, + Pastor an agnus erat? Pastor et agnus erat. + Ipse Deus cum Pastor erit, quis non erit agnus? + Quis non pastor erit, cum Deus agnus erit? + +_On the birth of the Lord announced to the shepherds._ + + To thee, good Tityrus, on starry wings _shepherd_ + The royal angel such 'glad tidings' brings. + Surely the happy watcher never thought + That he was watching when such joys were brought. + And He, Whom thus the heavenly host reveal'd + To shepherds 'mid their flocks in open field, + Tell me, was He a Shepherd or a Lamb? + Shepherd and Lamb at once; He took each name. + Since, then, our God a Shepherd's name doth wear, + The name of lamb who will not wish to bear? + And who will not be shepherd, since God deigns + To be a Lamb, for suffering of sin's pains? G. + + +XVI. + +_In Atheniensem merum._ Act. xvii. 28. + + Ipsos naturae thalamos sapis, imaque rerum + Concilia, et primae quicquid agunt tenebrae, + Quid dubitet refluum mare, quid vaga sydera volvant; + Christus et est studiis res aliena tuis. + Sic scire, est tantum nescire loquacius illa: + Qui nempe illa sapit sola, nec illa sapit. + +_Of the 'blue-blood' pride of the Athenians._ + + Thou knowest Nature's secret things + And all her deepest counsellings-- + All wonders of the primal Night + Conceal'd from prying human sight; + Knowest how the sea-tide pauses, + The wandering stars too in their causes. + But while to thee, in all else wise, + Christ from thy thoughts an alien lies, + In earthly studies to advance + Is but loquacious ignorance; + And he whose wisdom is but such, + Of those things even knows not much. + O, study thou beneath the Cross, + Or all thy labour is but loss! G. + + +XVII. + +_Ego vitis vera._ Joan. xv. 1. + + Credo quidem, sed et hoc hostis te credidit ipse + Caiaphas, et Judas credidit ipse, reor. + Unde illis, Jesu, vitis nisi vera fuisses, + Tanta tui potuit sanguinis esse sitis? + +_I am the True Vine._ + + 'Believe!' e'en Caiaphas, thy foe, believèd + Thee the True Vine; and Judas too, I think. + Had they not, Lord, Thee as True Vine receivèd, + Could they have thirsted so Thy Blood to drink? G. + + +XVIII. + +_Abscessum Christi queruntur Discipuli._ + + Ille abiit, jamque ô quae nos mala cunque manetis, + Sistite jam in nostras tela parata neces. + Sistite; nam quibus haec vos olim tela paratis, + Abscessu Domini jam periere sui. + +_The departure of Christ lamented by the Disciples._ + + The Lord is gone; and now, all evils dire, + Hold back the darts which for our death you flourish: + Yea, hold them back, nor waste on us your ire, + For with our Lord's departure, lo, we perish. G. + + +XIX. + +_In descensum Spiritus Sancti._ Act. ii. 1-4. + + Quae vehit auratos nubes dulcissima nimbos? + Quis mitem pluviam lucidus imber agit? + Agnosco, nostros haec nubes abstulit ignes: + Haec nubes in nos jam redit igne pari. + O nubem gratam et memorem, quae noluit ultra + Tam saeve de se nos potuisse queri! + O bene; namque alio non posset rore rependi, + Coelo exhalatum quod modo terra dedit. + +_On the descent of the Holy Spirit._ + + What sweetest cloud comes wafting golden shower? + What gentle raindrops bring their shining dower? + The cloud which stole our flame, our heart's desire, + This very cloud returns with equal fire. + O kindly-mindful cloud, which could not brook + That we should mourn thee with so sad a look! + 'Tis well; no other dew had countervail'd + That which from earth to heaven was late exhal'd. R. WI. + + +XX. + +Act. x. 39. + + Quis malus appendit de mortis stipite vitam? + O malus agricola, hoc inseruisse fuit? + Immo, quis appendit vitae hac ex arbore mortem? + O bonus Agricola, hoc inseruisse fuit. + What wicked one affix'd Life to Death's tree? + O wretched gard'ner, call'st thou this engrafting? + Nay, tell me who affix'd Death to Life's tree? + O noble Gard'ner, this I call engrafting. G. + + +XXI. + +_Ego sum Ostium._ Joan. x. 9. + + Jamque pates, cordisque seram gravis hasta reclusit, + Et clavi claves undique te reserant. + Ah, vereor, sibi ne manus impia clauserit illas, + Quae coeli has ausa est sic aperire fores. + +_I am the Doore._ + + And now th' art set wide ope; the speare's sad art, + Lo, hath unlockt Thee at the very heart. + He to himselfe--I feare the worst-- + And his owne hope, + Hath shut these doores of heaven, that durst + Thus set them ope. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Now Thou art open wide; the barrier dear + Of Thy great heart unclos'd by cruel spear; + And nails as keys unlock Thee everywhere. + Ah, he whose wicked hand thus forc'd the gate + Of heaven, perhaps at heaven's shut door will wait + One day, with outer darkness for his fate. G. + + +XXII. + +_In spinas demtas a Christi capite cruentatas._ + + Accipe, an ignoscis? de te sata germina, miles. + Quam segeti est messis discolor illa suae! + O quae tam duro gleba est tam grata colono? + Inserit hic spinas: reddit et illa rosas. + +_Upon the thornes taken downe from our Lord's head bloody._ + + Knowst thou this, souldier? 'tis a much-chang'd plant, which yet + Thyselfe didst set; + 'Tis chang'd indeed: did Autumn e're such beauties bring + To shame his Spring? + O, who so hard an husbandman could ever find + A soyle so kind? + Is not the soile a kind one, thinke ye, that returnes + Roses for thornes? CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Take, soldier--know'st them not?--thy planted germs; + A harvest how unlike to its seed-corn! + What soil yields husbandman such kindly terms? + The rose he gathers, where he planted thorn. G. + + +XXIII. + +Joan. iii. 1-21. + + Nox erat, et Christum, Doctor male docte, petebas + In Christo tenebras depositure tuas. + Ille autem multo dum te bonus irrigat ore, + Atque per arcanas ducit in alta vias, + Sol venit, et primo pandit se flore diei, + Ludit et in dubiis aureus horror aquis. + Sol oritur; sed adhuc, et adhuc tamen, ô bone, nescis. + Sol oritur, tecum nox tamen est, et adhuc + . . . . . + Non coeli, illa fuit, nox fuit illa tua. + +_Nicodemus._ + + 'Twas night; and, Teacher all untaught, + Thy darkness thou to Christ hast brought + But while attent He speaks to thee + Benignant words, that thou mayst see, + Leading higher still and higher, + As thy yearnings do aspire, + Guiding thee, by sure grace given, + Through secret paths that reach to heaven; + Lo, the Sun on thee is risen, + Bursting from his cloudy prison, + Showing Him, the Life, the Way, + Flushing with first bloom of day, + Quivering with a golden light + Such as on wav'ring seas gleams bright. + The Sun is risen; yet darkness lies, + Good Nicodemus, on thine eyes; + But the night's thine own; for, lo, + All heav'n above doth lustrous glow. G. + + +XXIV. + +_Domitiano de S. Johanne ad portam Lat._ + + Ergo ut inultus eas? sed nec tamen ibis inultus, + Sic violare ausus meque meosque deos. + Ure oleo, lictor. Oleo parat urere lictor: + Sed quem uri lictor credidit, unctus erat. + Te quoque sic olei virtus malefida fefellit? + Sic tua te Pallas, Domitiane, juvat? + +_To Domitian, concerning St. John commanded to be cast into a caldron of +boiling oil._ + + Thou go unpunish'd? That shall never be, + Since thou hast dar'd to mock my gods and me. + Burn him in oil!--The lictor oil prepares: + Behold the Saint anointed unawares! + With such elusive virtue was the oil fraught! + Such aid thy olive-loving Pallas brought![89] R. WI. + + +XXV. + +_In Baptistam vocem._ Joan. i. 23. + + Tantum habuit Baptista loqui, tot flumina rerum, + Ut bene Vox fuerit, praetereaque nihil. + Ecce autem Verbum est unum tantum ille loquutus: + Uno sed Verbo cuncta loquutus erat. + +_The voice of the Baptist._ + + The Baptist had to speak such floods of things, + That well he might be Voice and nothing more: + But one word only, lo, Christ speaks, which brings + In one word all: My soul that Word adore! G. + + +XXVI. + +_In D. Petrum angelo solutum._ Act. xii. 6, 7. + + Mors tibi et Herodes instant: cum nuncius ales + Gaudia fert, quae tu somnia ferre putas. + Quid tantum dedit ille, rogo, tibi? Vincula solvit, + Mors tibi et Herodes nonne dedisset idem? + +_On St. Peter loosed by the angel._ + + Death, Herod, press on thee; when angel's wing + Brings joys which thou supposest dreams to bring. + What gave he thee? Thy chains burst at his touch; + But Death and Herod would have given as much. R. WI. + + +XXVII. + +_Relictis omnibus sequuti sunt eum._ Luc. v. 28. + + Ad nutum Domini abjecisti retia, Petre. + Tam bene non unquam jacta fuere prius. + Scilicet hoc recte jacere est tua retia, Petre, + Nimirum, Christus cum jubet, abjicere. + +_On St. Peter casting away his nets at our Saviour's call._ + + Thou hast the art on't, Peter, and canst tell + To cast thy nets on all occasions well. + When Christ calls, and thy nets would have thee stay, + To cast them well's to cast them quite away. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + At the Lord's word thy nets were cast away: + Never before thy nets so well were cast. + Rightly to cast them is to cast away, + When once The Master's order has been pass'd. G. + + +XXVIII. + +_Agnus Dei, qui tollit peccata mundi._ Joan. i. 36. + + Ergo tot heu, torvas facies, tot in ora leonum, + In tot castra lupum qui meat, Agnus erit? + Hic tot in horribiles, quot sunt mea crimina, pardos? + Hic tot in audaces ungue vel ore feras? + Ah melius, pugiles quis enim commiserit istos? + Quos sua non faciunt arma vel ira pares. + +_The Lamb of God, Who bears away the sins of the world._ + + Shall He, then, be a Lamb, to go + Forth against such various foe? + Lions ravenous, great of jaw; + Wolves in vast herds, of mighty paw; + Pards vengeful, prowling out and in-- + Frightful, num'rous as my sin-- + Awful of face, and gaunt and grim, + Merciless to mangle limb by limb. + Ah, goest Thou, gentle One, 'gainst these? + And does terror upon Thee seize? + O how unequal is the strife, + And the prey so grand a life! + With such as these to fight art fated? + Nor in arms nor passion mated. G. + + +XXIX. + +_Pisces multiplicati._ Joan. xxi. 11. + + Quae secreta meant taciti tibi retia verbi, + Queis non tam pisces quam capis Oceanum? + +_The miraculous draught of fishes._ + + What nets, hid in Thy silent word, + Passest Thou on; + By which not fish Thou takest, Lord, + But the Ocean? G. + + +XXX. + +_Domine, non solum pedes, sed et caput, &c._ Joan. xiii. 9. + + En caput, atque suis quae plus satis ora laborant + Sordibus; huc fluvios, ais [et] adde tuos. + Nil opus est; namque haec, modo tertius occinat ales, + E fluviis fuerint, Petre, lavanda suis. + +_Lord, not my feet only, but also my head, &c._ + + 'Behold my head, behold my face, + Which sin's filthiest stains deface: + Here pour Thy streams:' thou say'st to Me. + But, Peter, needs not this for thee; + For ere the cock a third time crow, + Rivers of its own tears must flow. G. + + +XXXI. + +_Cum tot signa edidisset, non credebant._ Joan. xii. 37. + + Quanta amor ille tuus se cunque levaverit ala, + Quo tua cunque opere effloruit alta manus; + Mundus adest, contraque tonat, signisque reponit + Signa, adeo sua sunt numina vel sceleri, + Imo, ô nec nimii vis sit temeraria verbi, + Ille uno sensu vel tua cuncta premit. + Tot tantisque tuis mirac'lum hoc objicit unum, + Tot tantisque tuis non adhibere fidem. + +_Though they beheld so many miracles, they believed not._ + + However high in Thy great love Thou wingest, + And whatsoe'er within Thy hand Thou bringest, + Against Thee, with its thunders, stands the world, + Sign answering sign; Sin's banners all unfurl'd. + Nay--and let not the bold rash word appal-- + One thought o' the world makes all Thy wonders fall: + Against Thy mightiest signs this one it wields-- + To the vast whole of Thine, no faith it yields. G. + + +XXXII. + +_In nubem, quae Dominum abstulit._ Act. i. 9. + + O nigra haec! quid enim mihi candida pectora monstrat, + Pectora cygneis candidiora genis? + Sit vero magis alba, suo magis aurea Phoebo, + Quantumcunque sibi candida; nigra mihi est. + Nigra mihi nubes! et qua neque nigrior Austros, + Vel tulit irati nuntia tela Dei. + Nigra! licet nimbos, noctem neque detulit ullam. + Si noctem non fert, at rapit, ecce, diem. + +_On the cloud which received the Lord._ + + O, this black cloud! a white breast does it show-- + A breast more white than a swan's neck of snow? + More bright than golden sunshine let it be! + However fair itself, 'tis black to me. + From blacker cloud ne'er issu'd stormy blast, + Nor thunderbolts of angry heaven were cast. + Black! though no showers or shadows round it play; + If Night it bring not, yet it takes our Day. R. WI. + + +XXXIII. + +_Vidit urbem, et flevit super eam._ Luc. xix. 41, 42. + + Ergo meas spernis lacrymas, urbs perfida? Sperne. + Sperne meas, quas ô sic facis esse tuas. + Tempus erit, lacrymas poterit cum lacryma demum + Nostra, nec immerito, spernere spreta tuas. + +_He saw the city, and wept over it._ + + Why scornest thou My tears, deceitful city? + Scorn, scorn My tears, and thus thou mak'st them thine. + The time will come when thou shalt seek My pity; + But I shall scorn thy tears, as thou scorn'st Mine. G. + + +XXXIV. + +_Nec sicut iste publicanus._ Luc. xviii. 11. + + Tu quoque dum istius miseri peccata fateris, + Quae nec is irato mitius ungue notat; + Hic satis est gemino bonus in sua crimina telo. + Interea, quid erit, mi Pharisaee, tuis? + +_Nor even as this publican._ + + While thou too dost this wretch's sins confess, + Which he with hand and tongue deplores no less; + If he 'gainst his own crimes twice just will be, + What thinks he meanwhile of the Pharisee? R. WI. + + +XXXV. + +_Accedentes Discipuli excitaverunt eum._ Matt. viii. 25. + + Ah, quis erat furor hos, tam raros, solvere somnos? + O vos, queis Christi vel sopor invigilat! + Illum si somnus tenuit, vos somnia terrent, + Somnia tam vanos ingeminata metus. + Nil Christi nocuit somnus, mihi credite. Somnus + Qui nocuit, vestrae somnus erat fidei. + +_His Disciples came and awoke Him._ + + What madness this, slumbers so rare to break, + O ye, for whom even Christ's sleep doth wake! + If sleep held Him, ye're terrified by dreams-- + Dreams which redouble fear that only seems. + Christ's sleep nought injur'd you, indeed 'tis true: + Your faith's sleep, and that only, injur'd you. R. WI. + + +XXXVI. + +_In mulierem Canaanaeam cum Domino decertantem._ Matt. xv. 22-28. + + Cedit io jam, jamque cadet modo, fortiter urge, + Jam tua ni desit dextera, jamque cadet. + Nimirum hoc velit ipse, tuo favet ipse triumpho, + Ipse tuas tacitus res tuus hostis agit. + Quas patitur facit ille manus; ictu ille sub omni est; + Atque in te vires sentit, amatque suas. + Usque adeo haud tuus hic ferus est, neque ferreus hostis; + Usque adeo est miles non truculentus Amor. + Illo quam facilis victoria surgit ab hoste, + Qui, tantum ut vinci possit, in arma venit! + +_The woman of Canaan._ + + Now He yieldeth, now He falleth, + As thy passion on Him calleth: + Press thee nigher still and nigher, + Urge thee higher still and higher; + Cleave and cling, nor let thy hand + Cease to plead, nor fearing stand. + He thy triumph sees with gladness, + Loves thee in thy clinging sadness; + Seems thy foe, yet ne'ertheless + Yearns in His heart of love to bless; + Willing bears thy every blow, + That from His own pow'r doth flow; + Loves to hear thy interceding, + His own voice within thee pleading. + Ah, this seeming en'my of thine, + Of fierceness giveth thee no sign; + For Love no grim soldier is, + Rough and severe, denying bliss. + Eas'ly is that victory won, + When the foe seeks to be undone. G. + + +XXXVII. + +_Quare comedit Magister vester cum peccatoribus, &c._ Matt. ix. 11. + + Siccine fraternos fastidis, improbe, morbos, + Cum tuus, et gravior, te quoque morbus habet? + Tantum ausus medicum morbus sibi quaerere, magnus; + Tantum ausus medicum spernere, major erat. + +_Wherefore eateth your Master with sinners, &c._ + + Dost loathe thy brother, Pharisee, + Since his disease to Christ he brings? + And knowest not that all men see + Disease to thee more deadly clings? + That he dare seek Healer so great, + Shows great his disease to be; + That thou dar'st scorn on Him to wait, + Shows a greater cleaves to thee. G. + + +XXXVIII. + +_In febricitantem et hydropicum sanatos._ Marc. i. 30, 31; Luc. xiv. +2-4. + + Nuper lecta gravem extinxit pia pagina febrem, + Hydropi siccos dat modo lecta sinus. + Haec vice fraterna quam se miracula tangunt, + Atque per alternum fida juvamen amant! + Quippe ignes istos his quam bene mersit in undis, + Ignibus his illas quam bene vicit aquas! + +_Miracles of healing the men sick of fever and of dropsy._ + + We read within the sacred page + Christ quench'd a fever's burning rage; + Read that a dropsy's swollen flood + Ebb'd at His word e'en as He stood. + Well join'd these mir'cles each to other, + As loving brother unto brother: + How well these waters drown'd that flame, + That fire these waters overcame! G. + + +XXXIX. + +_In S. Lucam medicum._ Col. iv. 14. + + Hanc, mihi quam miseram faciunt mea crimina vitam, + Hanc, medici, longam vestra medela facit. + Hoc'ne diu est vixisse? diu, mihi credite, non est + Hoc vixisse; diu sed timuisse mori. + Tu foliis, Medice alme, tuis medicamina praebes, + Et medicaminibus, quae mala summa, malis. + Hoc mortem bene vitare est, vitare ferendo. + Et vixisse diu est hoc, cito posse mori. + +_To St. Luke the physician._ + + This life my sins with wretchedness make rife, + Physicians by their art prolong this life. + Is this to live long time? I hear one sigh; + This is but fearing a long time to die. + Thy leaves, Physician blest, medicines contain + E'en for our medicines poor, our chiefest bane. + This is to escape death well--in death to lie; + And this is to live long--quickly to die. R. WI. + + +XL. + +_Tollat crucem suam, &c._ Matt. xxvii. 32. + + Ergo tuam pone; ut nobis sit sumere nostram: + Si nostram vis nos sumere, pone tuam. + Illa, illa, ingenti quae te trabe duplicat, illa + Vel nostra est, nostras vel tulit illa cruces. + +_He bears His own cross, &c._ + + Wherefore Thy cross, O Lord, lay down, + That we our own may make it: + If ours Thou willest us to own, + Thine, Lord, lay down; we'll take it: + That, that, I say, with its huge beam, + Which Thy prest body doubles; + That cross, e'en that, our own we deem, + For it has borne our troubles. + Our sin Thy burden sendeth; + Thy cross our crosses blendeth. G. + + +XLI. + +_In cygneam D. Jesu cantionem._ Joan. xvii. + + Quae mella, ô quot, Christe, favos in carmina fundis! + Dulcis et, ah furias! ah, moribundus olor! + Parce tamen, minus hae si sunt mea gaudia voces: + Voce quidem dulci, sed moriente canis. + +_Upon our Lord's last comfortable discourse with His disciples._ + + All Hybla's honey, all that sweetnesse can, + Flowes in Thy song, O faire, O dying Swan! + Yet is the joy I take in't small or none; + It is too sweet to be a long-liv'd one. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. _On the swan-song of our Lord Jesus._ + + What songs, like honeycomb, your tongue employ, + Sweet Swan! but ah, Thou waitest for Death's call. + O cease; these sounds are but a doubtful joy; + 'Tis a sweet voice, but has a dying fall. G. + + +XLII. + +_Et conspuebant illum._ Marc. xiv. 65. + + Quid non tam foede saevi maris audeat ira? + Conspuit ecce oculos, sydera nostra, tuos. + Forsan et hic aliquis sputo te excaecat, Jesu, + Qui debet sputo, quod videt ipse, tuo. + +_And they spat upon Him._ + + What will Wrath's sea, so foully fierce, not dare? + It spits upon our stars, Thy eyes so fair. + Perchance e'en here some one now spits on Thee + Who to Thy spittle owes it, he doth see. G. + + +XLIII. + +_Rogavit eum, ut descenderet et sanaret filium suum._ Joan. iv. 47. + + Ille ut eat tecum, in natique tuique salutem? + Qui petis; ah nescis, credo, quod ales Amor. + Ille ut eat tecum? quam se tua vota morantur! + Ille ut eat? tanto serius esset ibi. + Ne tardus veniat, Christus tecum ire recusat: + Christi nempe ipsum hoc ire moratur iter. + Christi nempe viis perit hoc quodcunque meatur: + Christi nempe viis vel properare mora est. + Hic est, cui tu vota facis tua, Christus: at idem, + Crede mihi, dabit haec qui rata, Christus ibi est. + +_He besought that He would go with him and heal his son._ + + That He would go with thee thou pleadest, + As for thy child thou intercedest. + Ah, little knowest thou how Love, + Such as descendeth from Above, + Swifter far is than feet can go, + Or any motion here below. + 'Go with thee?' O how strange request! + Thou wouldst later then be blest. + That He may not slowlier come, + Christ will not travel with thee home, + For so to 'go' were to delay; + All paths unneeded by The Way. + Christ to Whom thou speakest pleading, + Christ with Whom thou'rt interceding, + He is here, and yet is yonder, + Swift as is the bolt of thunder: + He thy heart's desire will give; + Have thou faith, thy child shall live. G. + + +XLIV. + +_Pavor enim occupaverat eum super capturam piscium._ Luc. v. 9. + + Dum nimium in captis per te, Petre, piscibus haeres, + Piscibus, ut video, captus es ipse tuis. + Rem scio, te praedam Christus sibi cepit: et illi + Una in te ex istis omnibus esca fuit. + +_For dread came upon him at the great draught of fishes._ + + Whilst, Peter, thou art so astonishèd + At thy draught of fishes, + Methinks thyself by them art captive led: + Christ to catch thee wishes, + So as one bait He setteth all these fishes. G. + + +XLV. + +_Viderunt et oderunt me._ Joan. xv. 24. + + Vidit? et odit adhuc? Ah, te non vidit, Jesu. + Non vidit te, qui vidit, et odit adhuc. + Non vidit, te non vidit, dulcissime rerum; + In te qui vidit quid, quod amare neget. + +_But now they have seen and hated._ + + Seene, and yet hated Thee? They did not see; + They saw Thee not, that saw and hated Thee: + No, no, they saw Thee not, O Life, O Love, + Who saw aught in Thee that their hate could move. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + See Thee, Lord, and hated still? + Ah, that were impossible: + See and hate? He saw Thee never + Who could see, nor love for ever. + O Thou, the all-lovely One, + He hath had no vision + Who can see and hate; for why, + Speck nor stain may none descry + In Thy lowly, lofty Face, + Full of sweetness, love, and grace. G. + + +XLVI. + +Luc. xviii. 39. + + Tu mala turba tace; mihi tam mea vota propinquant, + Tuque in me linguam vis tacuisse meam? + Tunc ego, tunc taceam, mihi cum meus Ille loquetur. + Si nescis, oculos vox habet ista meos. + O noctis miserere meae, miserere, per illam, + Quae tam laeta tuo ridet in ore diem. + O noctis miserere meae, miserere, per illam, + Quae, nisi te videat, nox velit esse, diem. + O noctis miserere meae, miserere, per illam, + Haec mea quam, fidei, nox habet ipsa, diem. + Illa dies animi, Jesu, rogat hanc oculorum: + Illam, oro, dederis; hanc mihi ne rapias. + +_The blind suppliant._ + + Be silent, crowd: my prayers so near me come, + And do you bid my pleading tongue be dumb + Before my Lord to me His speech, etc.[90] + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + Silence, silence, O vile crowd; + Yea, I will now cry aloud: + He comes near, Who is to me + Light and life and liberty. + Silence seek ye? yes, I'll be + Silent when He speaks to me, + He my Hope; ah, meek and still, + I shall 'bide His holy will. + O crowd, ye it may surprise, + But His voice holdeth my eyes: + O have pity on my night, + By the day that gives glad light; + O have pity on my night, + By the day would lose its light, + If it gat not of Thee sight; + O have pity on my night, + By day of faith upspringing bright; + That day within my soul that burns, + And for eyes' day unto Thee turns. + Lord, O Lord, give me this day, + Nor do Thou take that away. G. + + +XLVII. + +_In Pharisaeos Christi verbis insidiantes._ Matt. xxii. 15. + + O quam te miseri ludunt vaga taedia voti, + Ex ore hoc speras qui, Pharisaee, malum! + Sic quis ab Aurorae noctem speraverit ulnis, + Unde solet primis Sol tener ire rosis? + Sic Acheronta petas illinc unde amne corusco + Lactea sydereos Cynthia lavit equos. + Sic violas aconita roges: sic toxica nympham, + Garrula quae vitreo gurgite vexat humum. + Denique, ut exemplo res haec propriore patescat, + A te sic speret quis, Pharisaee, bonum? + +_The Pharisees insidiously watching the words of Christ._ + + O self-baffl'd Pharisee, + Vainly dost thou weary thee, + Hoping at His holy mouth + To catch other than the Truth: + Stainless, holy, pure is He, + Guileless as Simplicity. + Who would e'er expect black Night + In the bosom of the Light, + When the young sun in splendour burns, + And the dawn to roses turns? + Who, again, would seek to mark + Acheron plunging i' the dark, + Where white Cynthia's starry steeds + Lave them by the glitt'ring meads? + Who would aconite think to get + From the fragrant violet? + Or, watching by the babbling rill + Gushing in pureness from the hill, + Think thence poison to distil? + In fine, instance nearer thee-- + Would any ever hope to see + Aught of good in Pharisee? G. + + +XLVIII. + +Matt. ix. 20. + + Falleris, et nudum male ponis, pictor, Amorem; + Non nudum facis hunc, cum sine veste facis. + Nonne hic est, dum sic digito patet ille fideli, + Tunc cum vestitus, tunc quoque nudus Amor? + +_Touched the hem of His garment._ + + Erringly, painter, thou portrayst Love bare: + Not bare you make him, though no clothes he wear. + Here, while laid open to believing hand, + Though clothed indeed, bare truly see Him stand. R. WI. + + +XLIX. + + Tolle oculos, tolle, ô tecum tua sydera nostros. + Ah quid enim, quid agant hic sine sole suo? + Id quod agant sine sole suo tua sydera, coelum: + Id terrae haec agerent hic sine sole suo. + Illa suo sine sole suis caeca imbribus essent: + Caeca suis lacrymis haec sine sole suo. + +_The departing Saviour._ + + O take, take with Thee, Lord, Thy stars, our eyes; + What would they do left here without their sun? + E'en what your sunless stars would do, ye skies, + Would here by sunless stars of earth be done. + Without their sun, those dark with showers we see; + These without sun, dark with their tears would be. R. WI. + + +L. + +_Nam ego non solum vinciri, &c._ Act. xxi. 13. + + Quid mortem objicitis nostro, quid vinc'la timori? + Non timor est illinc, non timor inde meus. + Vincula, quae timeam, sunt vincula sola timoris: + Sola timenda mihi est mors, timuisse mori. + +_Paul unfearing._ + + Why talk of death or bonds to me, + As if these things a fear could be? + My fear springeth not from thence; + Nor in these is influence + Me to trouble or alarm, + Me to fret, or me to harm. + The only bonds that fearful are + Are the bonds themselves of fear; + The only death looks dreadfully, + Is lest I should fear to die. G. + + +LI. + +_Legatio Baptistae ad Christum._ Matt. xi. + + Oro, quis es? legat ista suo Baptista Magistro. + Illi quae referant, talia Christus habet. + Cui caecus cernit, mutus se in verba resolvit, + It claudus, vivit mortuus: oro, quis est? + +_The message of the Baptist to Christ._ + + I ask, Who art Thou? is the Baptist's word. + Straight from his Master this reply is heard: + He by whose mighty power dumb speak, blind see, + Lame walk, dead live: Who is This? I ask thee. R. WI. + + +LII. + + Accipe dona, puer, parvae libamina laudis; + Accipe, non meritis accipienda suis: + Accipe dona, puer dulcis; dumque accipis illa, + Digna quoque efficies, quae, puer, accipies. + Sive oculo, sive illa tua dignabere dextra; + Dextram oculumque dabis posse decere tuum. + Non modo es in dantes, sed et ipsa in dona benignus; + Nec tantum donans das, sed et accipiens. + +_Gifts to Jesus._ + + Take, Lord, these gifts, small offerings of our hand, + Though their own worth acceptance none command. + Take, and while taking them, Thou Saviour sweet. + E'en what Thou takest, Thou wilt render meet. + Whether Thou deem them worthy eye or touch, + Thou wilt be able, Lord, to make them such: + Kind e'en to gifts themselves, as to those giving, + Thou givest both when giving and receiving. R. WI. + + +LIII. + +_In partum B. Virginis non difficilem._ + + Nec facta est tamen illa parens impune, quod almi + Tam parcens uteri venerit ille puer. + Una haec nascentis quodcunque pepercerit hora. + Toto illum vitae tempore parturiit. + Gaudia parturientis erat semel ille parenti; + Quotidie gemitus parturientis erat. + +_On the blessed Virgin's easy parturition._ + + Not lightly she escap'd a mother's doom, + Although her Child dealt gently with her womb: + Whate'er was spar'd at the one hour of birth, + She travail'd with Him all His time on earth: + The joy of childbirth quickly pass'd away; + She felt the pangs of childbirth every day. R. WI. + + +LIV. + + Circulus hic similem quam par sibi pergit in orbem! + Principiumque suum quam bene finis amat! + Virgineo thalamo quam pulchre convenit ille, + Quo nemo jacuit, virgineus tumulus! + Undique ut haec aequo passu res iret; et ille + Josepho desponsatus, et ille fuit. + +_Upon our Saviour's tombe, wherein never man was laid._ + + How life and death in Thee + Agree! + Thou hadst a virgin wombe + And tombe: + A Joseph did betroth + Them both. CR. + +ANOTHER VERSION. + + See how a circle tends, + Beginning as it ends: + Behold a virgin womb; + Behold a virgin tomb; + Behold, and wonder at the truth, + A Joseph was espous'd to both! G. + + +LV. + +_In Sanctum igneis linguis descendentem Spiritum._ Act. ii. 3. + + Absint, qui ficto simulant pia pectora vultu, + Ignea quos luteo pectore lingua beat. + Hoc potius mea vota rogant, mea thura petessunt, + Ut mihi sit mea mens ignea, lingua luti. + +_On the Holy Spirit descending in fiery tongues._ + + Begone, who goodness feign with a false face, + Whom fiery tongues in earthy bosom grace. + This rather all my prayers and gifts desire, + A tongue of earth, if but my heart be fire. R. WI. + + +LVI. + +LIFE FOR DEATH.[91] + +_Whosoever will loose his life, &c._ Matt. xvi. 25. + + Soe I may gaine Thy death, my life I'le giue,-- + My life's Thy death, and in Thy death I liue; + Or else, my life, I'le hide thee in His graue, + By three daies losse æternally to saue. CR. + + +LVII. + +ON THE DIVINE LOVE: AFTER H. HUGO.[92] + +_In amorem divinum_ (Hermannus Hugo). + + Æternall Loue! what 'tis to loue Thee well, + None but himselfe who feeles it, none can tell. + But oh, what to be lou'd of Thee as well, + None, not himselfe who feeles it, none can tell. CR. + + + + +Latin Poems. + +PART FIRST. SACRED. + +III. + +HITHERTO UNCOLLECTED. + +1648. + + +NOTE. + + Whether intentionally, or with his usual carelessness, the two + following important and characteristic Poems are not given in + Turnbull's edition; and they seem entirely to have escaped the + knowledge of even admirers of Crashaw. They appeared originally in + the 'Steps of the Temple' of 1648 (pp. 103-105), and were naturally + excluded from the Paris collection of 1652, and overlooked in the + edition of 1670. See their biographic significance in our Essay in + the present Volume. For the second translation (viz. of Baptismus + &c.) I tender thanks to my good friend Rev. J.H. Clark, M.A., as + before; the other and somewhat difficult one (Fides &c.) I have + myself done. G. + + + + +FIDES, QUAE SOLA JUSTIFICAT, +NON EST SINE SPE ET DILECTIONE. + + + Nam neque tam sola est. O quis male censor amarus + Jam socias negat in mutua sceptra manus? + Deme Fidem; nec aget, nec erit jam nomen Amoris: + Et vel erit, vel aget quid sine Amore Fides? + Ergo, Amor, i, morere; i, magnas, Puer alme, per umbras 5 + Elysiis non tam numen inane locis. + O bene, quod pharetra hoc saltem tua praestat et arcus, + Ne tibi in extremos sit pyra nulla rogos! + O bene, quod tuus has saltem tibi providet ignis, + In tu quas possis funera ferre faces! 10 + Durus es, ah, quisquis tam dulcia vincula solvis; + Quae ligat, et quibus est ipse ligatus Amor. + O bene junctarum divortia saeva sororum, + Tam penitus mixtas quae tenuere manus! + Nam quae, tam varia, in tam mutua viscera vivunt? 15 + Aut ubi, quae duo sunt, tam prope sunt eadem? + Alternis sese circum amplectuntur in ulnis: + Extraque et supra, subter et intus eunt. + Non tam Nympha tenax, Baccho jam mista marito, + Abdidit in liquidos mascula vina sinus. 20 + Compare jam dempto, saltem sua murmura servat + Turtur, et in viduos vivit amara modos. + At Fidei sit demptus Amor; non illa dolebit, + Non erit impatiens aegraque; jam moritur. + Palma, marem cui tristis hyems procul abstulit umbram, 25 + Protinus in viridem procubuit faciem? + Undique circumfert caput, omnibus annuit Euris; + Siqua maritalem misceat aura comam: + Ah misera, expectat longum, lentumque expirat, + Et demum totis excutitur foliis. 30 + At sine Amore Fides nec tantum vivere perstat, + Quo dici possit vel moritura Fides. + Mortua jam nunc est: nisi demum mortua non est + Corporea haec, anima deficiente, domus. + Corpore ab hoc Fidei hanc animam si demis Amoris, 35 + Jam tua sola quidem est, sed male sola Fides. + Hectore ab hoc, currus quem jam nunc sentit Achillis, + Hectora eum speres quem modo sensit herus? + Tristes exuvias, Oetaei frusta furoris, + Vanus, in Alcidae nomen et acta vocas? 40 + Vel satis in monstra haec, plus quam Nemeaea, malorum + Hoc Fidei torvum et triste cadaver erit? + Immo, Fidem usque suos velut ipse Amor ardet amores; + Sic in Amore fidem comprobat ipsa Fides. + +ERGO: + + Illa Fides vacua quae sola superbiat aula, 45 + Quam Spes desperet, quam nee amabit Amor; + Sola Fides haec, tam misere, tam desolate + Sola, quod ad nos est, sola sit usque licet. + A sociis quae sola suis, a se quoque sola est. + Quae sibi tam nimia est, sit mihi nulla Fides. 50 + +NOTE. + + In line 10 we have corrected an evident but long-continued misprint + in the original text of 'In tu aquas' by reading 'In tu quas,' and + translate accordingly. G. + + +TRANSLATION. + +FAITH, WHICH ALONE JUSTIFIES, + +EXISTS NOT WITHOUT HOPE AND LOVE. + + That Faith which only justifies + A sinner as in guilt he lies, + Bow'd aneath the awful blood, + Clinging to the uplifted rood, + Is not alone so as nor Love + Nor heavenly Hope may in it move, + To thrill with touch of ecstasy + The bruisèd heart, the swimming eye. + What, censor! bitter to ill end, + Dost thou thy dogma still defend? + And wouldest thou to hands allied + Mutual sceptres see denied, + Snapping betwixt Faith and Love + The tie that binds them from Above? + I tell thee nay, stone-hearted one, + The Faith of Christ is not alone: + Take Faith away, and Love will sigh; + Take Hope away, and Faith will die; + Take Faith away, Love will do naught; + Take Love away, and Faith's distraught: + For I tell thee, vain sophister, + They're as sister unto sister. + But mark, this Love that brings Faith joy + Is not blind Cupid. Ah, bright Boy, + Begone; thou shalt not, wouldst thou, stay; + Go, get thee swift from light o' day; + Go, get thee now to the vast shades, + And there indulge thy escapades: + Thou in Elysian realms mayst reign + A fitting deity, not vain: + Go therefore, and with thee thy bow + And quiver. Well it is below + That these for thee shall form a pyre, + To which thy torch will furnish fire. + But, ah, thou hast a heart of stone, + Who wouldest make Faith live alone, + Loos'ning the sweet ties Love has found + To bind Faith to her, herself bound. + O, it is cruel thus to sever + Sisters whom God hath joinèd ever; + Whose claspèd hands so closely cling, + E'en as vine-tendrils ring on ring: + You may not tell there's more than one, + So absolute the union. + Where shall you find beneath the sky + Two differing so variously, + And yet each life in other bound, + Touch one, the other you shall wound: + Or where, 'mid all the pairs on earth, + Twins through marriage or through birth, + Shall you find two so truly one? + Arms twining in affection, + They clasp each other, chin to chin, + Above, below, without, within, + Embracing and embrac'd by turns; + Yet not with such wild-fire as burns + In Lust's hot touch, and clasp and grasp + Eager and stinging as tongue of asp. + Not so closely interwine + The graceful Elm and clinging Vine, + When to bosom of the tree + Bacchus' clusters prest you see, + And the Nymph the fruit receives, + And hides it amid dewy leaves; + Ev'n as the poets tell of old, + In legends of the Age of Gold. + Faith and Love know no such flame, + Their pure twining brings no shame; + Look for taint, you'll find it missing: + 'Tis as flower flower kissing; + Or twin-roses dewy dripping, + And twin-bees their honey sipping. + The Turtle-dove, robb'd of her mate, + Pines and mourns disconsolate; + Yet still lives on in widow'd grief, + Knowing at times Hope's sweet relief. + But Faith when once of Love bereft + Loses her all, has nothing left; + Nor mourns nor frets nor pales--she's dead, + Struck to the heart astonièd. + The Palm that by the wintry blast + Sees her companion-tree downcast, + Whose mighty shadow o'er her threw + Protection when the fierce storm blew; + Her umbrage sheds, and quivering + Seeks that some fav'ring wind would bring + Her branches with his boughs to mingle, + Since she is left in sadness, single; + Wretched, she wears and wastes away, + Leaf following leaf in wan decay, + Until at last, naked and bare, + She shivers in the piercing air; + And when the Spring comes, Winter sped, + 'Tis vain to call her--she is dead! + But when Love from Faith is gone, + Faith lingers not still on and on; + That while her form yet meets your eye, + You can pronounce 'She'll surely die.' + SHE'S DEAD i' the instant: or you will + Maintain a stark corpse liveth still, + Whose soul has pass'd beyond the sky, + Sunder'd until the last great Cry. + Faith is the body, Love the soul; + Take Love from it, you take the whole: + Now, now indeed thy Faith's alone, + But being alone, lo, it is none. + To make it clear, turn Homer's page + That paints Achilles' hate and rage, + When, having mighty Hector slain, + He dragg'd him dead over the plain-- + That Hector whom the chariot feels + Dragg'd helpless, lifeless at its wheels, + Was it the same who, with proud crest, + That chariot's lord had lately prest, + Eager the victory to wrest? + Hercules' name and deeds dost see + In Oeta's bloody tragedy, + When dead the mighty hero lay, + Of jealousy the poison'd prey. + His living strength the lion slew, + And hide Nemæan round him threw: + 'Gainst more than lion-rage of Death + Dost summon the sad corpse of Faith? + Sure Love with love for Faith will burn, + While Faith herself trusts Love in turn. + +THEREFORE: + + That Faith alone, lording it high, + Which Hope despairs of, and with cry + Of anguish Love can never love, + Is not the Faith sent from Above: + The Faith that thus would be alone, + What is't to us--desolate, lone? + Faith then, that lovèd will not love + Nor hope--may no such Faith me move! + But ever in my bosom lie + Faith, Hope, and Love in trinity: + Yea, Love himself shall Faith's best lover prove, + And Faith confirm his strongest faith in Love. G. + + +BAPTISMUS NON TOLLIT FUTURA PECCATA. + + Quisquis es ille tener modo quem tua mater[93] Achilles + In Stygis aethereae provida tinxit aquis, + Sanus, sed non securus dimitteris illinc: + In nova non tutus vulnera vivis adhuc. + Mille patent aditus; et plus quam calce petendus 5 + Ad nigri metues spicula mille dei. + Quod si est vera salus, veterem meminisse salutem; + Si nempe hoc vere est esse, fuisse pium; + Illa tibi veteres navis quae vicerat Austros, + Si manet in mediis usque superstes aquis; 10 + Ac dum tu miseros in littore visis amicos, + Et peccatorum triste sodalitium, + Illa tibi interea tutis trahet otia velis, + Expectans donec tu rediisse queas: + Quin igitur da vina, puer; da vivere vitae; 15 + Mitte suum senibus, mitte supercilium; + Donemus timide, ô socii, sua frigora brumae: + Aeternae teneant hic nova regna rosae. + Ah, non tam tetricos sic eluctabimur Euros; + Effractam non est sic revocare ratem. 20 + Has undas aliis decet ergo extinguere in undis; + Naufragium hoc alio immergere naufragio: + Possit ut ille malis oculus modo naufragus undis, + Jam lacrymis melius naufragus esse suis. + + +TRANSLATION. + +BAPTISM CANCELS NOT AFTER-SINS. + + O young Achilles, whom a mother's care + Hath dipp'd as in a sacred Stygian wave; + Whole, but yet not secure, thou hence dost fare, + For there are wounds from which it will not save. + A thousand ways of entrance open lie + For evil; not alone against thy heel + The prince of darkness in his rage lets-fly + The thousand arrows thou mayst dread to feel. + But if remember'd health may still have given + True health, and to have been is still to be, + Thou seem'st as one whose bark, by storms unriven, + Still rides, as yet unconquer'd, on the sea; + And, while on shore thy friends thou visitest, + And the sad company of them that sin, + With furlèd sails upon the waves at rest, + Thy bark floats idly till thou art within. + But if for this thou criest overbold, + 'Bring wine! enjoy the moment as it goes; + Leave to old age its cares; dismiss the cold, + While in new realms for ever reigns the rose!' + Ah, know that not in revels such as these + Learn we to struggle with the spiteful gale; + Nor thus can hope to rescue from rough seas + The broken cable and the driven sail. + These waves must in another wave be wash'd, + This shipwreck in another shipwreck drown'd; + The eye in such ill storms so vilely dashed, + A happier wreck in its own tears be found. CL. + + + + +Latin Poems. + +PART FIRST. SACRED. + +IV. + +NEVER BEFORE PRINTED. + + +NOTE. + + The Sancroft MS., as before, furnishes the following hitherto + unprinted longer Poems, which I place under SACRED, as being + throughout in subject and treatment such. The Rev. RICHARD WILTON, + M.A., as before, has at once the praise and responsibility of the + translations in the whole of this section. G. + + + + +PSALMUS I. + + + O te te nimis et nimis beatum, + Quem non lubricus implicavit error; + Nec risu misero procax tumultus. + Tu cum grex sacer undique execrandis + Strident consiliis, nec aure felix; + Felix non animo, vel ore mixtus, + Haud intelligis impios susurros. + Sed tu deliciis ferox repostis + Cultu simplice, sobriaque cura + Legem numinis usque et usque volvis. + Laeta sic fidas colit arbor undas, + Quem immiti violentus aura + Seirius frangit, neque contumacis. + +NOTE. + + This fragment of a Latin rendering of the first Psalm may be + compared with BUCHANAN'S, but, I fear, not to its advantage. It were + superfluous to give a translation of it; but see the parallel which + follows. G. + + +IRA PROCELLAE. + + At tu, profane pulvis, et lusus sacer + Cujusvis aurae; fronte qua tandem feres + Vindex tribunal? quanta tum, et qualis tuae + Moles procellae stabit? O quam ferreo + Frangere nutu, praeda frontis asperae, + Sacrique fulminandus ah procul, procul + A luce vultus, aureis procul a locis, + Ubi longa gremio mulcet aeterno pios. + Sincera semper pax, et umbrosa super + Insurgit ala, vividique nectaris + Imbres beatos rore perpetuo pluit. + Sic ille, sic, ô vindice, stat vigil, + Et stabit ira torvus in impios, + Seseque sub mentes bonorum + Insinuat facili favore. + + +TRANSLATION. + +THE WRATH OF THE JUDGMENT-WHIRLWIND. + + But thou, O dust profane, and of each air + The plaything doom'd, with what face wilt thou bear + The Judgment-throne? how huge a stormy cloud + Will lower upon thee! how wilt thou be bow'd + With iron nod, the prey of frowning Face, + By thunder to be driven far off, apace, + From light of sacred Countenance! afar + From golden regions, where the righteous are, + Sooth'd in pure Peace's lap eterne, whose wing + Towers high above them, overshadowing; + While happy showers of nectar sweet imbue + Their lips, as with an everlasting dew. + The wicked so His watchful ire will learn, + And cower 'neath God's avenging countenance stern; + The righteous so His love divine will feel + With gentle lapse into their bosom steal. R. WI. + + +CHRISTE, VENI. + + Ergo veni; quicunque ferant tua signa timores, + Quae nos cunque vocant tristia, Christe, veni. + Christe, veni; suus avulsum rapiat labor axem, + Nec sinat implicitas ire redire vias; + Mutuus attonito titubet sub foedere mundus, + Nec natura vagum dissona volvat opus. + Christe, veni; roseos ultra remeare per ortus + Nolit, et ambiguos Sol trahat aeger equos. + Christe, veni; ipsa suas patiatur Cynthia noctes, + Plus quam Thessalico tincta tremore genas; + Astrorum mala caesaries per inane dolendum + Gaudeat, horribili flore repexa caput; + Sole sub invito subitae vis improba noctis + Corripiat solitam, non sua jura, diem; + Importuna dies, nec Eoi conscia pacti, + Per desolatae murmura noctis eat. + Christe, veni; tonet Oceanus pater, et sua nolit + Claustra vagi montes sub nova sceptra meent. + Christe, veni; quodcunque audet metus, audeat ultra + Fata id agant, quod agant; tu modo, Christe, veni. + Christe, veni; quacunque venis mercede malorum. + Quanti hoc constiterit cunque venire, veni. + Teque tuosque oculos tanti est potuisse videre! + O tanti est te vel sic potuisse frui! + Quicquid id est, veniat. TU MODO, CHRISTE, VENI. + + +TRANSLATION. + +EVEN SO: COME, LORD JESUS. + + O come; whatever fears Thy standards carry, + Or sorrows summon us, Lord, do not tarry. + Come, Lord; though labouring heaven whirl from its place, + And its perplexèd paths no more can trace; + Though sympathising earth astonied reel, + And nature jarrèd cease its round to wheel. + Come, Lord; though sun refuse with rosy beam + To rise, and sickly drives a doubtful team. + Come, Lord; though moon look more aghast at night + Than when her cheeks with panic fear are white; + Though ominous comets through the dolorous air + Hurtle, and round their brow dread fire-wreaths wear; + Though spite of struggling sun Night's sudden sway + Impious and lawless seize the accustom'd day; + Mistimèd Day, mindless of eastern glow, + Through moanings of forsaken Night should go. + Come, Lord; though father Ocean roars and lowers, + That his mov'd mountain-bars own other powers. + Come, Lord; whate'er Fear dares, e'en let it dare; + Let Fates do what they will, be Thou but there. + Come, Lord; with whate'er recompense of ill, + Whate'er Thy coming cost, O come, Lord, still. + Thee and Thine eyes, O what 'twill be to see! + Thee to enjoy e'en so, what will that be! + Let come what will, do Thou, Lord, only come. R. WI. + + +CIRCUMCISIO. + + Ah ferus, ah culter, qui tam bona lilia primus + In tam crudeles jussit abire rosas; + Virgineum hoc qui primus ebur violavit ab ostro, + Inque sui instituit muricis ingenium. + Scilicet hinc olim quicunque cucurrerit amnis, + Ex hoc purpurei germine fontis erit. + Scilicet hunc mortis primum puer accipit unguem, + Injiciunt hodie fata, furorque manus. + Ecce illi sanguis fundi jam coepit; et ecce + Qui fundi possit, vix bene sanguis erat; + Excitat e dolio vix dum bene musta recenti, + Atque rudes furias in nova membra vocat. + Improbus, ut nimias jam nunc accingitur iras, + Armaque non molli sollicitanda manu; + Improbus, ut teneras audet jam ludere mortes, + Et vitae ad modulum, quid puerile mori; + Improbus, ut tragici impatiens praeludia fati + Ornat, et in socco jam negat ire suo: + Scilicet his pedibus manus haec meditata cothurnos? + Haec cum blanditiis mens meditata minas? + Haec tam dura brevem decuere crepundia dextram? + Dextra giganteis haec satis apta genis? + Sic cunis miscere cruces? cumque ubere matris + Commisisse neces et scelus et furias? + Quo ridet patri, hoc tacite quoque respicit hastam, + Quoque oculo matrem mulcet, in arma redit. + Dii superi, furit his oculis! hoc asper in ore est! + Dat Marti vultus, quos sibi mallet Amor. + Deliciae irarum! torvi, tenera agmina, risus! + Blande furor! terror dulcis! amande metus! + Praecocis in paenas pueri lascivia tristis! + Cruda rudimenta! et torva tyrocinia! + Jam parcum breviusque brevi pro corpore vulnus, + Proque brevi brevior vulnere sanguis eat: + Olim, cum nervi vitaeque ferocior haustus + Materiam morti luxuriemque dabunt; + Olim maturos ultro conabitur imbres; + Robustum audebit tunc solidumque mori. + Ergo illi, nisi qui in saevos concreverit usus, + Nec nisi quem possit fundere, sanguis erit? + Euge, puer trux! euge tamen mitissime rerum! + Quique tibi tantum trux potes esse, puer? + Euge tibi trux! euge mihi mitissime rerum! + Euge Leo mitis! trux sed et Agne tamen! + Macte, puer, macte hoc tam durae laudis honore! + Macte, o paenarum hac indole et ingenio! + Ah ferus, ah culter, sub quo, tam docte dolorum, + In tristem properas sic, puer, ire virum. + Ah ferus, ah culter, sub quo, puer auree, crescis, + Mortis proficiens hac quasi sub ferula. + + +TRANSLATION. + +THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST. + + Ah, fierce, fierce knife, which such sweet lilies first + Into such cruel roses made to burst; + Which first this ivory pure with purple stain'd, + And in the white a deeper dye engrain'd. + Whatever stream hereafter hence shall flow, + Out of this purple fountain-head shall grow. + Now first this tender Child Death's talons knows, + The Fates and Fury now hurl their first blows. + See now His blood begins to pour; and see + Scarce blood enough to pour there seems to be. + Scarce wise to broach the new wine from the wood, + And 'gainst those young limbs call the Furies rude. + Wanton, e'en now He girds on woes too much, + And arms not to be tried by such soft touch: + Wanton, He dares at gentle deaths to play, + And for His age to die, as a child may: + Wanton, beforehand acts His tragic woe, + Restless, refusing in child-step to go. + Buskins is this hand shaping for those feet, + And does this mind plan threats with coaxings sweet? + Such playthings stern does this small hand bespeak, + And is it match'd with giant's iron cheek? + To mingle cross with cradle, mother's breast + With slaughter, wickedness, and rage unblest? + His smiling eye now glances at the spear, + And turns to arms from soothing mother dear. + God, with such face to frown, such eyes to rage! + War wins the looks which Love would fain engage. + O winsome angers! savage smiles--mild brood-- + Soft rage, sweet terror, awe which might be woo'd! + Sad wanton forwardness of Child for woes; + Harsh rudiments, stern training which He chose! + Now scantier wound for scanty body show, + And scantier blood for scanty wound let now. + Soon, when His strength and deeper draught of breath + Shall furnish food luxuriously for Death, + 'Twill be His pleasure then full showers to try, + Then will He strongly, wholly dare to die. + No blood but what to cruel use will grow + To Him belongs, or what He can bid flow. + Ah, cruel Child, though of all things most mild, + Yet to Thyself Thou canst be cruel, Child; + To Thyself cruel, but most mild to me; + A Lion mild, a pitiless Lamb here see. + Long, long may this stern praise Thine honour lift, + A faculty for woes[94] and innate gift. + Fierce knife, from which experience sharp He borrows, + While the Child hastes to grow the Man of Sorrows; + Fierce knife, 'neath which Thou draw'st Thy golden breath, + Advancing as 'twere 'neath the rod of Death. R. WI. + + +VIRGO. + + Ne, pia, ne nimium, Virgo, permitte querelis: + Haud volet, haud poterit natus abesse diu. + Nam quid eum teneat? vel quae magis oscula vellet? + Vestri illum indigenam quid vetet esse sinus? + Quippe illis quae labra genis magis apta putentur? + Quaeve per id collum dignior ire manus? + His sibi quid speret puer ambitiosius ulmo, + Quove sub amplexu dulcius esse queat? + O quae tam teneram sibi vitis amicior ulmum + Implicet, alternis nexibus immoriens? + Cui circum subitis eat impatientior ulnis? + Aut quae tam nimiis vultibus ora notet? + Quae tam prompta puer toties super oscula surgat? + Qua signet gemma nobiliore genam? + Illa ubi tam vernis adolescat mitius auris, + Tamve sub apricis pendeat uva jugis? + Illi qua veniat languor tam gratus in umbra? + Commodius sub quo murmure somnus agat? + O ubi tam charo, tam casto in carcere regnet, + Maternoque simul virgineoque sinu, + Ille ut ab his fugiat, nec tam bona gaudia vellet? + Ille ut in hos possit non properare sinus? + Ille sui tam blanda sinus patrimonia spernet? + Haeres tot factus tam bene deliciis? + Ne tantum, ne Diva, tuis permitte querelis: + Quid dubites? Non est hic fugitivus Amor. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO THE VIRGIN MARY, + +ON LOSING THE CHILD JESUS. + + Not, not too much, Virgin, to plaints give way; + Nor will, nor can, thy Son long from thee stay. + Why should He? Where so love to be carest? + What could prevent His nestling in thy breast? + What lips more suited to those cheeks divine? + What hand to clasp that neck more fit than thine? + What could He hope more clinging than these arms? + Or what embraces e'er possess such charms? + What kindlier vine its tender elm around + Could twine, in mutual folds e'en dying found? + To whom with sudden arms more eager go? + Who on this face such yearning glances throw? + Where 'mid such quick-rain'd kisses could He wake?' + Whence His prest cheek a nobler ruby take? + Where could that grape ripen in airs more mild, + Or hang 'neath hills where suns so sweetly smil'd? + Where could such grateful languor o'er Him creep, + Or what more soothing murmur lull to sleep? + Where could He reign in nook so chaste, so dear, + As in this Mother's, Virgin's bosom here? + Could He fly hence, and such blest joys decline, + And could He help hastening to breast of thine? + This balmy bosom's heritage not share, + Of such delights so easily made heir? + Nay, Lady, nay; thy loud complainings stay; + Be cheer'd: this is no Love that flies away. R. WI. + + +APOCALYPSE XII. 7. + + Arma, viri! aetheriam quocunque sub ordine pubem + Siderei proceres ducitis; arma, viri! + Quaeque suis, nec queis solita est, stet dextra sagittis; + Stet gladii saeva luce corusca sui. + Totus adest, totisque movet se major in iris, + Fertque Draco, quicquid vel Draco ferre potest. + Quas secum facies, imae mala pignora noctis; + Quot secum nigros ducit in arma deos. + Jam pugnas parat, heu saevus! jam pugnat, et ecce, + Vix potui 'Pugnat' dicere, jam cecidit. + His tamen ah nimium est quod frontibus addidit iras; + Quod potuit rugas his posuisse genis. + Hoc torvum decus est, tumidique ferocia fati, + Quod magni sceleris mors quoque magna fuit. + Quod neque, si victus, jaceat victoria vilis; + Quod meruit multi fulminis esse labor; + Quod queat ille suas hoc inter dicere flammas: + 'Arma tuli frustra: sed tamen arma tuli.' + + +TRANSLATION. + +WAR IN HEAVEN. + +Rev. xii. 7. + + To arms, ye starry chieftains all, who lead + The youth of heaven to war--to arms, with speed! + Let each right-hand its untried arrows grasp, + Or its own fiercely-gleaming falchion clasp. + _He_ is _all_ here, and mightier in his wrath, + The Dragon brings all powers the Dragon hath: + Strange forms, curst children of the deepest Night-- + What dusky gods he marshals to the fight! + Now he makes ready, fights now, fierce as hell! + Scarce could I say 'He fights,' when, lo, he fell. + Ah, 'twas too much to scar with wrath these faces, + And leave on angel-cheeks such furrow'd traces. + 'Tis his grim boast and proudly-swelling fate, + That of a great crime e'en the end was great: + If vanquish'd, that 'twas no mean victory; + Much boltèd thunder there requir'd to be; + That with these words his fiery pains he charms: + 'Arms I bore vainly; but I did bear arms.' R. WI. + +NOTE. + + See our Essay, as before, for relation of this poem to the Sospetto + d' Herode, and others. G. + + +NON ACCIPIMUS BREVEM VITAM, + +SED FACIMUS. + + Ergo tu luges nimium citatam + Circulo vitam properante volvi? + Tu Deos parcos gemis, ipse cum sis + Prodigus aevi? + Ipse quod perdis, quereris perire? + Ipse tu pellis, sed et ire ploras? + Vita num servit tibi? servus ipse + Cedet abactus. + Est fugax vitae, fateor, fluentum: + Prona sed clivum modo det voluptas, + Amne proclivi magis, et fugace + Labitur unda. + Fur Sopor magnam hinc, oculos recludens, + Surripit partem, ruit inde partem + Temporis magnam spolium reportans + Latro voluptas. + Tu creas mortes tibi mille, et aeva + Plura quo perdas, tibi plura poscis...... + + +TRANSLATION. + +WE DO NOT RECEIVE, BUT MAKE, A SHORT LIFE. + + Dost thou lament that life, urg'd-on too quickly, + Rolls round its course in hasting revolution? + Dost blame the thrifty gods, when thou thyself art + Lavish of lifetime? + What thyself wastest, mourn'st thou if it perish? + Dost drive it from thee, but deplore it going? + Is life thy servant? Sooth, a very servant + Turn'd off departeth. + Life's stream is fleeting--I confess it--always; + But once let Pleasure yield an easy incline, + With headlong wave and with more fleeting current + Onward it glideth. + Sleep, the thief, closing drowsy eyelids, snatcheth + One mighty portion; while as large a portion + Pleasure, the robber, carries off unchalleng'd-- + Time's precious gold-dust. + Thou for thyself a thousand deaths createst; + And the more lifetimes thou dost spend in folly, + So many more in lieu of them demandest; + Wasting and wanting. R. WI. + + +DE SANGUINE MARTYRUM. + + Felices, properatis io, properatis, et altam + Vicistis gyro sub breviore viam. + Vos per non magnum vestri mare sanguinis illuc + Cymba tulit nimiis non operosa notis, + Quo nos tam lento sub remigio luctantes + Ducit inexhausti vis male fida freti. + Nos mora, nos longi consumit inertia lethi; + In ludum mortis luxuriemque sumus. + Nos aevo et senio et latis permittimur undis; + Spargimur in casus, porrigimur furiis. + Nos miseri sumus ex amplo spatioque perimus; + In nos inquirunt fata, probantque manus; + Ingenium fati sumus, ambitioque malorum. + Conatus mortis consiliumque sumus. + In vitae multo multae patet area mortis[95] + . . . . . + Non vitam nobis numerant, quot viximus anni: + Vita brevis nostra est; sit licet acta diu. + Vivere non longum est, quod longam ducere vitam: + Res longa in vita saepe peracta brevi est. + Nec vos tam vitae Deus in compendia misit, + Quam vetuit vestrae plus licuisse neci. + Accedit vitae quicquid decerpitur aevo, + Atque illo brevius, quo citius morimur. + + +TRANSLATION. + +MARTYRS. + + Good speed ye made, in sooth, good speed, ye blest, + And by a shorter course won heavenly rest; + Over a narrow sea of your own blood + Death's bark has borne you, by few gales withstood: + While with slow oars we toil the shore to gain, + Through boisterous fury of the boundless main. + _We_ waste with lingering, indolent decay; + We are Death's pastime and his wanton play; + O'er time and age and wide waves we are blown, + Expos'd to furies and to chances thrown. + Wretched in full are we, perish at length; + Fates seek us out, and try on us their strength. + We are Fate's skill, Evils' ambition fine, + Death's utmost effort and deep-plann'd design. + In a long life wide field for Death there lies; + In a short life grand deeds may daze men's eyes.[96] + By years we live we reckon not our life; + Our life is short, with great deeds be it rife. + To spend long years, let not long life be thought; + A long-liv'd deed oft in short life is wrought. + God not so much contracted your life's space, + As order'd Death the sooner to give place. + What earth's life loses, gains the life on high: + By how much sooner, so much less we die. R. WI. + + +SPES. + + Spes diva, salve! diva avidam tuo + Necessitatem numine prorogans, + Vindicta fortunae furentis, + Una salus mediis ruinis. + Regina quamvis, tu solium facis + Depressa parvi tecta tugurii; + Surgit jacentes inter; illic + Firma magis tua regna constant. + Cantus catenis, carmina carcere, + Dolore ab ipso gaudiaque exprimis: + Scintilla tu vivis sub imo + Pectoris, haud metuens procellas. + Tu regna servis, copia pauperi, + Victis triumphus, littora naufrago, + Ipsisque damnatis patrona, + Anchora sub medio profundo. + Quin ipse alumnus sum tuus, ubere + Pendens ab isto, et hinc animam traho. + O Diva nutrix, ô foventes + Pande sinus, sitiens laboro. + + +TRANSLATION. + +HOPE. + + Hail, goddess Hope! + Who Fate remorseless movest + Far off, and canst with raging Fortune cope; + 'Mid ruin thou our sole salvation provest. + A mighty queen, + Thy throne on roof-trees lowly + And prostrate souls is fix'd, and there are seen + The firm foundations of thy kingdom holy. + A gladsome hymn + From fetters disengaging, + And joy from grief, thou liv'st in bosom dim, + A spark that laughs at tempests wildly raging. + A crown to slaves; + Abundance to the needy; + To shipwreck'd men a refuge from the waves; + To conquer'd and condemn'd deliverance speedy. + An 'Anchor sure,' + The eternal Rock thou graspest, + The strain of ocean 'stedfast' to endure; + And Heaven's calm joys 'within the veil' thou claspest. + Nay, I thy child, + Dependent here adore thee: + From thee I draw my life, O Mother mild; + Open thy fostering bosom, I implore thee. R. WI. + + +{EIS TON TOU STEPHANOU STEPHANON}. + + Ecce tuos lapides! nihil est pretiosius illis; + Seu pretium capiti dent, capiantve tuo. + Scilicet haec ratio vestri diadematis: hoc est, + Unde coronatis vos decet ire comis. + Quisque lapis quanto magis in se vilis habetur, + Ditior hoc capiti est gemma futura tuo. + Haec est, quae sacra didicit florere figura, + Non nisi per lacrymas charta videnda tuas. + Scilicet ah dices, haec cum spectaveris ora, + Ora sacer sic, ô sic tulit ille pater. + Sperabis solitas illinc, pia fulmina, voces; + Sanctaque tam dulci mella venire via. + Sic erat illa, suas Famae cum traderet alas, + Ad calamum, dices, sic erat illa manus. + Tale erat et pectus, celsae domus ardua mentis, + Tale suo plenum sidere pectus erat. + O bene fallacis mendacia pulchra tabellae, + Et qui tam simili vivit in aere, labor! + Cum tu tot chartis vitam, Pater alme, dedisti, + Haec merito vitam charta dat una tibi. + + +TRANSLATION. + +ON STEPHEN'S CROWN. + + [This poem seems only intelligible by our supposing that a double + reference is intended; first, and faintly, to St. Stephen the + proto-martyr; and mainly to Stephens (Stephanus), father and son, + Robert and Henry, the great scholars, commentators, printers, and + publishers of the sixteenth century, whose books would always be in + Crashaw's hands. Stephens, father and son, suffered persecution, + banishment, poverty, and excommunication alike from Protestants and + Catholics, while engaged in bringing out the Bible, Greek Testament, + and numerous Classic Authors. 'In two years Henry revised and + published more than 4000 pages of Greek text.' In the latter years + of his life, being driven from Geneva (as it is alleged) by the + 'petty surveillance and censorship of the pious pastors there, he + wandered in poverty over Europe, his own family often ignorant where + he was to be found.'] + + Behold thy stones! more precious nought is seen, + Whether they deck with precious rays serene + Thy head, or from it take a precious glow. + This is your style of diadem; e'en so + With crownèd locks 'tis seemly ye should go: + The viler in itself each stone may seem, + A richer gem upon thy head will gleam. + Behold the Book where, seen through mist of tears, + A sacred form in manhood's bloom appears. + Ah, you will say, when you behold this face, + Such looks, O such, our father us'd to grace. + The accustom'd sounds you hope for--holy thunder, + And the blest honey hid that sweet tongue under: + So, o'er his pen, you say, that hand was bent, + When her own wings to fetter'd Fame he lent. + Such was that breast, his spirit's lofty dwelling-- + That breast with its own starry thoughts high swelling. + O pleasing fantasies of picture fair, + And kindred forms which laboured brass may bear! + Since through thee, Sire, such countless writings live, + Life unto thee let this one writing give. R. WI. + + +EXPOSTULATIO JESU CHRISTI + +CUM MUNDO INGRATO. + + Sum pulcher: at nemo tamem me diligit. + Sum nobilis: nemo est mihi qui serviat. + Sum dives: a me nemo quicquam postulat. + Et cuncta possum: nemo me tamen timet. + Aeternus exsto: quaeror a paucissimis. + Prudensque sum: sed me quis est qui consulit? + Et sum Via: at per me quotusquisque ambulat? + Sum Veritas: quare mihi non creditur? + Sum Vita: verum rarus est qui me petit. + Sum Vera Lux: videre me nemo cupit. + Sum misericors: nullus fidem in me collocat. + Tu, si peris, non id mihi imputes, homo: + Salus tibi est a me parata: hac utere.[97] + + +TRANSLATION. + +JESUS CHRIST'S EXPOSTULATION + +WITH AN UNGRATEFUL WORLD. + + I am all-fair, yet no one loveth Me: + Noble, yet no one would My servant be: + Rich, yet no suppliant at My gate appears: + Almighty, yet before Me no one fears: + Eternal, I by very few am sought: + Wise am I, yet My counsel goes for nought: + I am the Way, yet by Me walks scarce one: + The Truth, why am I not relied upon? + The Life, yet seldom one My help requires: + The True Light, yet to see Me none desires: + And I am merciful, yet none is known + To place his confidence in Me alone. + Man, if thou perish, 'tis that thou dost choose it; + Salvation I have wrought for thee, O use it! R. WI. + + + + +Latin Poems. + +PART SECOND. SECULAR. + + +I. + +FROM 'STEPS TO THE TEMPLE' AND 'DELIGHTS OF THE MUSES,' ETC. + +1646-1648. + + +NOTE. + + Among the English poems of the 'Steps to the Temple' and 'Delights + of the Muses' of 1646 were the following, in order: In Picturam + Reverendissimi Episcopi D. Andrews (p. 89)--Epitaphium in Dominum + Herrisium (pp. 92-3)--Principi recens natae omen maternae indolis + (pp. 108-9)--In Serenissimae Reginae partum hyemalem (pp. 118-9)--Ad + Reginam (pp. 121-2)--In faciem Augustiss. Regis a morbillis integram + (p. 127)--Rex Redux (pp. 131-2), and Ad Principem nondum natum (p. + 133). In the enlarged edition of 1648 besides these, there appeared: + Bulla (pp. 54-58)--Thesaurus Malorum Foemina (p. 59)--In Apollinea + depereuntem Daphnen (pp. 60-1)--Aeneas Patris sui Bajulus (p. + 61)--In Pygmaliona (p. 61)--Arion (pp. 61-2)--Phoenicis Genethliacon + et Epicedion (p. 63)--Epitaphium (p. 64)--Damno affici saepe fit + Lucrum (pp. 64-5)--Humanae Vitae Descriptio (p. 65)--Tranquillitas + Animi, Similitudine ducta ab Ave captiva et canora tamen (pp. 66-7). + + These Poems I have arranged under two classes: (_a_) Miscellaneous, + really, not merely formally, poetry: (_b_) Royal and other + commemorative pieces. The former in the present section, the latter + in the next. See our Essay on each. Nearly the whole of the + translations in this division are by myself, with additional + renderings of some by Rev. Thomas Ashe, M.A., as before, and others + by Rev. Richard Wilton, M.A., as before, as pointed out in the + places. + + As before, I note here the more misleading errors of Turnbull's + text. In 'Bulla,' l. 1, 'timores' for 'tumores;' l. 4, 'dextera + mihi' for 'dextra mei;' l. 54, 'nitent' for 'niteat;' l. 80, 'avis' + for 'uvis;' l. 84, 'nives' for 'niveae;' l. 85, 'sint' for 'sunt;' + l. 154, 'desinet' for 'defluet;' l. 157, 'Tempe' for 'Nempe:' in + Tranquillitas Animi,' l. 13, 'minis minisque' for 'nimis nimisque;' + l. 16, 'patrisque' for 'patreaeque;' l. 20, 'provocabit' for + 'provocabat:' in 'Humanae Vitae Descriptio,' l. 13, 'more' for + 'mare:' in 'Apollinea depereuntem Daphnen,' l. 12, 'ores' for + 'oris:' in Phoenicis Genethliacon et Epicedion,' l. 5, 'teipsum' for + 'teipsam:' in 'Epitaphium,' l. 6, 'tremulum' for 'tremulam;' l. 7, + 'discas' for 'disces,' 'hinc' for 'huc,' and 'reponas' for + 'repones;' l. 10, 'miseris' for 'nimis:' in 'Thesaurus Malorum + Foemina,' l. 16, 'Pietas' for 'Pectus.' G. + + + + +BULLA. + + + Quid tibi vana suos offert mea Bulla tumores? + Quid facit ad vestrum pondus inane meum? + Expectat nostros humeros toga fortior. Ista + En mea Bulla, lares en tua dextra mei. + Quid tu? quae nova machina, 5 + Quae tam fortuito globo + In vitam properas brevem? + Qualis virgineos adhuc + Cypris concutiens sinus, + Cypris jam nova, jam recens, 10 + Et spumis media in suis, + Promsit purpureum latus; + Concha de patria micas, + Pulchroque exsilis impetu; + Statim et millibus ebria 15 + Ducens terga coloribus + Evolvis tumidos sinus + Sphaera plena volubili. + Cujus per varium latus, + Cujus per teretem globum 20 + Iris lubrica cursitans + Centum per species vagas, + Et picti facies chori + Circum regnat, et undique, + Et se Diva volatilis 25 + Jucundo levis impetu + Et vertigine perfida + Lasciva sequitur fuga, + Et pulchre dubitat; fluit + Tam fallax toties novis, 30 + Tot se per reduces vias, + Erroresque reciprocos + Spargit vena coloribus; + Et pompa natat ebria. + Tali militia micans 35 + Agmen se rude dividit; + Campis quippe volantibus, + Et campi levis aequore + Ordo insanus obambulans + Passim se fugit, et fugat. 40 + Passim perdit, et invenit. + Pulchrum spargitur hic Chaos. + Hic viva, hic vaga flumina + Ripa non propria meant, + Sed miscent socias vias, 45 + Communique sub alveo + Stipant delicias suas. + Quarum proximitas vaga + Tam discrimine lubrico, + Tam subtilibus arguit 50 + Juncturam tenuem notis, + Pompa ut florida nullibi + Sinceras habeat vias; + Nec vultu niteat suo. + Sed dulcis cumulus novos 55 + Miscens purpureus sinus + Flagrant divitiis suis, + Privatum renuens jubar. + Floris diluvio vagi, + Floris sidere publico 60 + Late ver subit aureum, + Atque effunditur in suae + Vires undique copiae. + Nempe omnis quia cernitur, + Nullus cernitur hic color, 65 + Et vicinia contumax + Allidit species vagas. + Illic contiguis aquis + Marcent pallidulae faces. + Unde hic vena tenellulae, 70 + Flaminis ebria proximis + Discit purpureas vias, + Et rubro salit alveo. + Ostri sanguineum jubar + Lambunt lactea flumina; 75 + Suasu caerulei maris + Mansuescit seges aurea; + Et lucis faciles genae + Vanas ad nebulas stupent; + Subque uvis rubicundulis 80 + Flagrant sobria lilia; + Vicinis adeo rosis + Vicinae invigilant nives; + Ut sint et niveae rosae, + Ut sunt et roseae nives, 85 + Accenduntque rosae nives, + Extinguuntque nives rosas. + Illic cum viridi rubet, + Hic et cum rutile viret, + Lascivi facies chori. 90 + Et quicquid rota lubrica + Caudae stelligerae notat, + Pulchrum pergit et in ambitum. + Hic coeli implicitus labor, + Orbes orbibus obvii; 95 + ex velleris aurei, + Grex pellucidus aetheris; + Qui noctis nigra pascua + Puris morsibus atterit; + Hic quicquid nitidum et vagum 100 + Coeli vibrat arenula, + Dulci pingitur in joco; + Hic mundus tener impedit + Sese amplexibus in suis. + Succinctique sinu globi 105 + Errat per proprium decus. + Hic nictant subitae faces, + Et ludunt tremulum diem, + Mox se surripiunt sui et + Quaerunt tecta supercili, 110 + Atque abdunt petulans jubar, + Subsiduntque proterviter. + Atque haec omnia quam brevis + Sunt mendacia machinae! + Currunt scilicet omnia 115 + Sphaera, non vitrea quidem-- + Ut quondam Siculus globus-- + Sed vitro nitida magis, + Sed vitro fragili magis, + Et vitro vitrea magis. 120 + Sum venti ingenium breve, + Flos sum, scilicet, aëris, + Sidus scilicet aequoris; + Naturae jocus aureus, + Naturae vaga fabula, 125 + Naturae breve somnium. + Nugarum decus et dolor; + Dulcis doctaque vanitas. + Aurae filia perfidae; + Et risus facilis parens. 130 + Tantum gutta superbior, + Fortunatius et lutum. + Sum fluxae pretium spei; + Una ex Hesperidum insulis. + Formae pyxis, amantium 135 + Clare caecus ocellulus; + Vanae et cor leve gloriae. + Sum caecae speculum Deae, + Sum Fortunae ego tessera, + Quam dat militibus suis; 140 + Sum Fortunae ego symbolum, + Quo sancit fragilem fidem + Cum mortalibus ebriis, + Obsignatque tabellulas. + Sum blandum, petulans, vagum, 145 + Pulchrum, purpureum, et decens, + Comptum, floridulum, et recens, + Distinctum nivibus, rosis, + Undis, ignibus, aere, + Pictum, gemmeum, et aureum, 150 + O sum, scilicet, ô NIHIL. + Si piget, et longam traxisse in taedia pompam + Vivax, et nimium Bulla videtur anus: + Tolle tuos oculos pensum leve defluet, illam + Parca metet facili non operosa manu. 155 + Vixit adhuc. Cur vixit? adhuc tu nempe legebas. + Nempe fuit tempus tum potuisse mori? + + +NOTE. + + A collation of the 'Bulla' with the Tanner MS. corrects the + punctuation of the original and subsequent printed texts, and + specially puts right in the last line 'Nempe' for 'Tempe,' so long + retained. In the fourth line from close the printed texts read + 'desinet' for 'defluet.' Nothing else noticeable. G. + + +TRANSLATION. THE BUBBLE. [TO REV. DR. LANY.] + + What art thou? What new device, + Globe, chance-fashion'd in a trice, + Into brief existence bounding, + Perfectly thy circle rounding? + As when Cypris, her breast smiting-- + Virgin still, all love inviting-- + Cypris in young loveliness + Couch'd rosy where the white waves press + Her to bear and her to bless; + _So_ forth from thy native shell + Gleamest thou ineffable! + Springing up with graceful bound + And describing dainty round; + Thousand colours come and go + As thou dost thy fair curves show, + Swelling out--a whirling ball + Meet for Fairy-Festival; + Through whose sides of shifting hue, + Through whose smooth-turn'd globe, we view + Iris' gliding rainbow sitting, + In a hundred forms soft-flitting: + And semblance of a troop displaying, + All around dominion swaying: + And the Goddess volatile + With witching step and luring smile + Follows still with twinkling foot + In link'd mazes involute: + With many a sight-deceiving turn + And flight which makes pursuers burn, + And a graceful hesitation-- + Only treacherous simulation: + JUST SO, and no less deceiving, + Our BUBBLE, all its colours weaving, + Follows ever-varying courses, + Or in air itself disperses: + Here now, there now, coming, going, + Wand'ring as if ebbing, flowing: + Sporting Passion's colours all + In ways that are bacchanal; + And the GLOBES undisciplin'd + As though driven by the wind, + Borne along the fleeting plains + Light as air; nor order reigns-- + But the heaven-possess'd array + Moving each in its own way, + Hither now and thither flying, + Glancing, wavering, and dying, + Losing still their path and finding, + In a random inter-winding: + Rising, falling, on careering, + Vis'ble now, now disappearing; + Living wand'ring streams outgoing, + Ev'n Confusion beauteous showing: + Flowing not each in its course, + But each to other joining force; + Moving in pleasant pastime still + In a mutual good-will: + And a nearness that's so near + You the contact almost fear, + Yet so finely drawn to eye + In its delicate subtlety + That the procession, blossom-fair, + Nowhere has direction clear: + Nor with their own aspect glance, + But in the sweet luxuriance + Which skiey influences lend, + As in new windings on they trend: + Throwing off the stol'n sunlight + In a flood of blossoms bright, + Scatter'd on the fields of light; + Such a brilliancy of bloom + As all may share if all will come. + Now golden Spring advances lightly, + Spreading itself on all sides brightly, + Out of its rich and full supply + Open-handed, lavishly. + Since all colours you discern, + No one colour may you learn: + All tints melted into one + In a sweet confusion, + You cannot tell 'tis that or this, + So shifting is the loveliness: + Gleams as of the peacock's crest, + Or such as on dove's neck rest; + Opal, edg'd with amethyst, + Or the sunset's purpl'd mist, + Or the splendour that there lies + In a maiden's azure eyes, + Kindling in a sweet surprise: + Flower-tints, shell-tints, tender-dy'd, + Save to curious unespied: + Lo, one BUBBLE follows t'other, + Differing still from its frail brother, + Striking still from change to change + With a quick and vivid range. + There in the contiguous wave + Torches palely-glist'ning lave; + Here what delicate love-lights shine! + Through them near flames bick'ring shine. + Matching flushing of the rose, + As the ruddy channel flows: + Milky rivers in white tide + Lucent, hush, still onwards glide: + Purple rivers in high flood-- + Red as is man's awful blood: + Corn-fields smiling goldenly + Meet the blue laugh of the sea: + Mist-clouds sailing on their way + Darken the changeful cheeks of Day: + And beneath vine-clusters red + Lilies are transfigurèd: + Here you mark as 'twere the snows + Folding o'er the neighb'ring rose; + Snow into blown roses flushing, + Roses wearied of their blushing, + As the shifting tints embrace, + And their course you scarce can trace; + Now retiring, now advancing, + Now in wanton mazes dancing; + Now a flow'ry red appears, + Now a purpl'd green careers. + All the signs in heaven that burn + Where the gliding wheel doth turn, + Here in radiant courses go, + As though 'twere a heaven below: + The sky's mazes involute + Circling onward with deft foot, + Sphere on heavenly sphere attending, + Coming, going, inter-blending: + And the gold-fleec'd flocks of air + Wand'ring inviolate and fair; + Flocks that drink in chaste delight + Dewy pastures of the Night, + Leaving no trace of foot or bite. + Whate'er of change above you note, + As these clouds o'er heaven float, + Lo, repeated here we see + In a sportive mimicry. + Here the tiny tender world + Within its own brightness furl'd + Wavers, as in fairy robe + 'Twere a belted linèd globe. + Lights as of the breaking Day + Tremble with iridescent play, + But now swiftly upward going, + Evanescent colours showing, + In some nook their beams concealing, + Nor their wantonness revealing. + O, what store of wonders here + In this short-liv'd slender SPHERE! + For all wonders I have told + Are within its GLOBE enroll'd: + Not such globe as skillèd he + Fashion'd of old in Sicily: + Brighter e'en than crystals are, + And than crystal frailer far. + 'I am Spirit of the Wind, + For a flitting breath design'd; + I am Blossom born of air; + I'm of Ocean, guiding Star; + I'm a golden sport of Nature, + Frolic stamp'd on ev'ry feature: + I'm a myth, an idle theme, + The brief substance of a dream: + Grace and grief of trifles, I + Charm--a well-skill'd vanity; + Begotten of the treacherous breeze, + Parent of absurdities: + Yet, a drop or mote, at best, + Favour'd more than are the rest. + I'm price of Hope that no more is, + One of the Hesperides: + Beauty's casket, doating eye + Of lovers blinded wilfully: + The light Spirit of Vanity. + I am Fortune's looking-glass, + The countersign which she doth pass + To her troop of warriors: + I'm the oath by which she swears, + And wherewith she doth induce + Men to trust a fragile truce. + Charming, provoking, still astray, + Fair and elegant and gay, + Trim and fresh and blossom-hu'd; + Interchangeably imbu'd + With rosy-red and the snow's whiteness, + Air and water and fire's brightness: + Painted, gemm'd, of golden dye, + NOTHING--after all--am I!' + If now, O gentle Reader, it appear + Irksome my BUBBLE'S chatterings to hear; + If on it frowning, 'Words, words, words!' thou say, + No more I'll chatter, but at once obey. + So, turn thine eye, my Friend, no more give heed; + My BUBBLE lives but if thou choose to read. + Cease thou to read, and I resign my breath; + Cease thou to read, and that will be my death. G. + + +TRANQUILLITAS ANIMI: + +SIMILITUDINE DUCTA AB AVE CAPTIVA, ET CANORA TAMEN. + + Ut cum delicias leves, loquacem + Convivam nemoris vagamque musam + Observans, dubia viator arte + Prendit desuper: horridusve ruris + Eversor, male perfido paratu, 5 + Heu durus! rapit, atque io triumphans + Vadit: protinus et sagace nisu + Evolvens digitos, opus tenellum + Ducens pollice lenis erudito, + Virgarum implicat ordinem severum, 10 + Angustam meditans domum volucri. + Illa autem, hospitium licet vetustum + Mentem solicitet nimis nimisque, + Et suetum nemus, hinc opaca mitis + Umbrae frigora, et hinc aprica puri 15 + Solis fulgura, patriaeque sylvae + Nunquam muta quies; ubi illa dudum + Totum per nemus, arborem per omnem, + Hospes libera liberis querelis + Cognatum bene provocabat agmen: 20 + Quanquam ipsum nemus arboresque alumnam + Implorant profugam, atque amata multum + Quaerant murmura lubricumque carmen + Blandi gutturis et melos serenum. + Illa autem, tamen, illa jam relictae, 25 + Simplex! haud meminit domus, nec ultra + Sylvas cogitat; at brevi sub antro, + Ah penna nimium brevis recisa, + Ah ritu vidua sibique sola, + Privata heu fidicen! canit, vagoque 30 + Exercens querulam domum susurro + Fallit vincula, carceremque mulcet; + Nec pugnans placidae procax quieti + Luctatur gravis, orbe sed reducto + Discursu vaga saltitans tenello, 35 + Metitur spatia invidae cavernae. + Sic in se pia mens reposta, secum + Alte tuta sedet, nec ardet extra, + Aut ullo solet aestuare fato: + Quamvis cuncta tumultuentur, atrae 40 + Sortis turbine non movetur illa. + Fortunae furias onusque triste + Non tergo minus accipit quieto, + Quam vectrix Veneris columba blando + Admittat juga delicata collo. 45 + Torvae si quid inhorruit procellae, + Si quid saeviat et minetur, illa + Spernit, nescit, et obviis furorem + Fallit blanditiis, amatque et ambit + Ipsum, quo male vulneratur, ictum. 50 + Curas murmure non fatetur ullo; + Non lambit lacrymas dolor, nec atrae + Mentis nubila frons iniqua prodit. + Quod si lacryma pervicax rebelli + Erumpit tamen evolatque gutta, 55 + Invitis lacrymis, negante luctu, + Ludunt perspicui per ora risus. + + +TRANSLATION. PEACE OF MIND:[98] + +UNDER THE SIMILITUDE OF A CAPTIVE SONG-BIRD. + + The time of the singing of birds is come; + I will away i' the greenwood to roam; + I will away; and thou azure-ey'd Muse + Deign with thy gifts my mind to suffuse.-- + So o'erheard I one say, as he withdrew + To a fairy scene that well I knew, + Light lac'd with shadow, shadow with light, + Leaves playing bo-peep from morn unto night. + But, ah, what is this? Alas, and alas, + A sweet bird flutters upon the grass; + Flutters and struggles with quivering wing! + Tempted and snar'd--gentle, guileless thing. + Vain, vain thy struggles; for, lo, a hand + Hollow'd above, makes thee captive stand. + Home hies the Captor, loud singing his joy; + He has got a pet song-bird for his boy. + Now twining and twisting, a cage he makes + Wire-wrought and fast'n'd. Ah, my heart aches! + It is a prison, for the poor bird prepar'd; + Shut close and netted, netted and barr'd. + Comes the flutter and gleam of forest-leaves + Through the trellis'd window under the eaves; + Comes the breath and stir of the vernal wind, + Comes the goldening sunshine--to remind + Of all that is lost; comes now and again + Far off a song from the blading grain; + Calling, still calling the Songster to come + Back--once more back--to its woodland home. + I mark eyelids rise; mark the lifting wing; + Mark the swelling throat, as if it would sing; + Mark the weary 'chirp, chirp,' like infant's cry, + Yearning after the free and boundless sky; + For the grand old woods; once more to sit + On the swinging bough into blossom smit. + Vain, vain, poor bird! thou'rt captive still; + Thou must bend thee to thy Captor's will: + Thy wing is cut; from thy mate thou'rt taken; + All alone thou abidest, sad, forsaken. + The days pass on; and I look in once more + On the captive bird 'bove the ivied door. + Sweetly it sings, as if all by itself, + A short, quiet song. O thou silly elf, + Hast forgot the greenwood, the forest hoar, + The flash of the sky, the wind's soften'd roar? + Hast forgot that thou still a captive art, + Prison'd in wire-work? hast forgot thy smart? + 'Tis even so: for now down, and now up, + Now hopping on perch, now sipping from cup, + I mark it sullen and pining no more, + But keeping within, though open the door. + List ye, now list--from its swelling throat, + Of its woodland song you miss never a note. + Alone, it is true, and in a wir'd cage; + But kindness has melted the captive's rage. + Behold a sweet meaning in this bird's story-- + How the child of God is ripen'd for glory: + For it is thus with the child of God, + Smitten and bleeding 'neath His rod: + Thus 'tis with him; for, tranquil and calm + 'Mid dangers and insults, he singeth his psalm: + Alone, all alone, deserted of man, + Slander'd and trampl'd and plac'd under ban, + He frets not, he pines not, he plains not still, + But sees clear in all his dear Father's will: + Come loss, come cross, come bereavement, come wrong, + He sets all to music, turns all to song; + Come terror, come trial, come dark day, come bright, + Still upward he looks, and knows all is right: + Wounded, he sees the Hand gives the stroke, + Bending his neck to bear his Lord's yoke, + And finds it grow light, by grace from Above, + As love's slender collars o' the Queen of Love; + Comes the starting tear, 'tis dried with a smile; + Comes a cloud, as you look 'tis gone the while; + Stirs the 'old Adam' to tempt and to dare, + He thinks Who was tempted and knows what we are; + Gentle and meek, murmurs not nor rebels, + But serene as in heaven and tranquil dwells: + And so the Believer has 'songs in the night,' + And so every cloud has a lining of light. + Thus, even thus, the captive bird's story + Tells how a soul is ripen'd for glory. G. + + +DAMNO AFFICI SAEPE FIT LUCRUM. + + Damna adsunt multis taciti compendia lucri, + Felicique docent plus properare mora. + Luxuriem annorum posita sic pelle redemit, + Atque sagax serpens in nova saecla subit. + Cernis ut ipsa sibi replicato suppetat aevo, + Seque iteret multa morte perennis avis? + Succrescit generosa sibi, facilesque per ignes + Perque suos cineres, per sua fata ferax. + Quae sollers jactura sui? quis funeris usus? + Flammarumque fides ingeniumque rogi? + Siccine fraude subis? pretiosaque funera ludis? + Siccine tu mortem, ne moriaris, adis? + Felix cui medicae tanta experientia mortis, + Cui tam Parcarum est officiosa manus. + + +TRANSLATION. + +GAIN OUT OF LOSS. + + Losses are often source of secret gain, + Delays good-speed, and ease the child of pain. + The subtle snake, laying aside her fears, + Casts off her slough, and heals the waste of years. + The phoenix thus her waning pride supplies, + And, to be ever-living, often dies; + Bold for her good, she makes the fires her friend, + And to begin anew, will plot her end. + What skilful losing! what wise use of dying! + What trust in flames! and what a craft in plying + That trick of immolation! Canst thou so + Compound with griefs? canst wisely undergo + Life's losses, crosses? play with gainful doom? + Canst, to be quicken'd, gladly seek the tomb? + Thrice-happy he thus touch'd with healing sorrow, + For whom night's strife plots but a gracious morrow. A. + +ANOTHER RENDERING (_more freely_). + + Suff'ring is not always loss; + Often underneath the cross-- + Heavy, crushing, wearing, slow, + Causing us in dread to go-- + All unsuspected lieth gain, + Like sunshine in vernal rain. + Lo, the serpent's mottled skin + Cast, new lease of years doth win: + Lo, the phoenix in the fire + Leaps immortal from its pyre, + The mystic plumage mewing, + And life by death renewing. + What a wise loss thus to lose!-- + Who will gainsay or abuse? + What strange end to fun'ral pile, + Thus in Death's gaunt face to smile! + Faith still strong within the fire, + Faith triumphant o'er its ire. + How stands it, fellow-man, with thee? + What meaning in this myth dost see? + Happy thou, if when thou'rt lying + On thy sick-bed slow a-dying, + Cometh vision of the Eternal, + Cometh strength for the supernal, + Cometh triumph o'er the infernal; + And thou canst the Last Enemy + Calmly meet, serenely die; + The hard Sisters life's web snipping, + But thy spirit never gripping; + Good, not evil, to thee bringing; + Hushing not thy upward singing, + To the Golden City winging. + Even so to die is gain, + Like the Harvest's tawnied grain: + Suffering is not always loss; + The Crown succeeds the Cross. G. + + +HUMANAE VITAE DESCRIPTIO. + + O vita, tantum lubricus quidam furor + Spoliumque vitae! scilicet longi brevis + Erroris hospes! Error ô mortalium! + O certus error! qui sub incerto vagum + Suspendit aevum, mille per dolos viae 5 + Fugacis, et proterva per volumina + Fluidi laboris, ebrios lactat gradus; + Et irretitos ducit in nihilum dies. + O fata! quantum perfidae vitae fugit + Umbris quod imputemus atque auris, ibi 10 + Et umbra et aura serias partes agunt + Miscentque scenam, volvimur ludibrio + Procacis aestus, ut per incertum mare + Fragilis protervo cymba cum nutat freto; + Et ipsa vitae fila, queis nentes Deae 15 + Aevi severa texta producunt manu, + Haec ipsa nobis implicant vestigia, + Retrahunt trahuntque, donec everso gradu + Ruina lassos alta deducat pedes. + Felix, fugaces quisquis excipiens dies 20 + Gressus serenos fixit, insidiis sui + Nec servit aevi, vita inoffensis huic + Feretur auris, atque clauda rarius + Titubabit hora: vortices anni vagi + Hic extricabit, sanus assertor sui. 25 + + +TRANSLATION. + +DESCRIPTION OF HUMAN LIFE. + + O Life, or but some evanescent madness + And glittering spoil of life snatch'd with blind gladness! + Of endless Error, transitory guest; + Sad human Error, which would fain find rest. + O certain Error, 'neath uncertain sky + Suspending here our frail mortality; + Leading us through a thousand devious ways + And intricacies of a treacherous maze! + Our staggering footsteps how dost thou beguile + Through wanton rounds of unavailing toil, + And our entangl'd days to nothing bring! + O fates, how much of our poor life takes wing, + Wasted on winds and shadows! On life's stage + Shadows and winds a serious part engage, + The scene confusing. On life's billow tost, + The sport of changeful tide, we're well-nigh lost, + And, like a frail boat on a stormy sea, + We waver up and down uncertainly. + Nay, e'en the threads spun by the Fates on high, + As with stern fingers they divinely ply + The web of life, twine round us as we go, + And draw us backwards, forwards, to and fro; + Till Ruin trips us up, and we are found + Helpless and weary, stretched along the ground. + Happy the man who, welcoming each day + With smiles that answer to its fleeting ray, + Pursues with step serene his purpos'd way; + The alluring snares peculiar to the age + _His_ soul enslave not, nor his mind engage; + His life with peaceful tenor glides along, + By fav'ring breezes fann'd, and sooth'd with song; + Inspir'd by Heaven with soul-sustaining force, + Seldom he falls, or falters in his course; + But ever, as the eddying years roll round, + Bursting through all the perils that abound, + A wise assertor of himself is found. R. WI. + + +IN PYGMALIONA. + + Poenitet artis + Pygmaliona suae, + Quod felix opus esset, + Infelix erat artifex; + Sentit vulnera, nec videt ictum. + Quis credit? gelido veniunt de marmore flammae: + Marmor ingratum nimis + Incendit autorem suum. + Concepit hic vanos furores, + Opus suum miratur atque adorat. + Prius creavit, ecce nunc colit manus; + Tentantes digitos molliter applicat; + Decipit molles caro dura tactus. + An virgo vera est, an sit eburnea; + Reddat an oscula quae dabantur, + Nescit; sed dubitat, sed metuit, munere supplicat, + Blanditiasque miscet. + Te, miser, poenas dare vult, hos Venus, hos triumphos + Capit a te, quod amorem fugis omnem. + Cur fugis heu vivos? mortua te necat puella. + Non erit innocua haec, quamvis tua fingas manu; + Ipsa heu nocens erit nimis, cujus imago nocet. + + +TRANSLATION. + +ON PYGMALION. + + Grief for work his hands have done + Harroweth Pygmalion; + Happy reach of art! yet he + The artificer, unhappily, + He feels the wounds: what deals the blow? + Can it be true? can flames from gelid marble flow? + + Marble, treacherous and to blame + To burn your Sculptor with such flame! + What madness in his heart is hid? + He wonders at, he adores the work he did. + First he made, and next his hand + With wandering fingers softly tries + The mystery to understand. + Ah, surely now the hard flesh lies! + Is it a living maiden, see! + O treacherous blisses! + Is it no marble? can it frail flesh be? + Does it return his kisses? + He knows not, he. + + He doubts, he fears, he prays; what mean + All these sweet blandishments between? + Venus, wretched Sculptor, wills + You should suffer these sad ills; + This is her triumph over you, + Because at love your lips would curl; + Your will not living overthrows yet this dead girl. + + Weep, ah, weep, Pygmalion! + Though you shap'd her with your hands, + With your chisel, out of stone, + Not innocuous here she stands. + O image of a maiden! + If you so strangely baneful prove, + With what despair will you come laden, + Coming alive to claim his love! A. + +ANOTHER VERSION (_more freely_). + + Pygmalion mourns his own success; + Was ever such strange wretchedness? + His work itself, a work of Art, + Perfect in its every part; + But himself? Alas, artist he + Of his own utmost misery. + He feels his wounds, but who shall tell + Whence come the drops that downward steal? + Flames leap out from the marble, cold + As ice itself by storm-wind roll'd: + And he, contriver of that fire, + Burns self-immolate on his own pyre; + Furies of his own genius born + Cast him, adoring and forlorn, + Into a strange captivity + Before his own hands' work; and he + Clings to the shapely form, until, + In ecstasy of love a-thrill, + He burning lips to cold lips sets, + And wild with passion her cheek wets; + Strains to his breast insensate stone, + As 'twere a breathing thing; with moan, + With clasp and grasp and tingling touch, + As though he ne'er could grip too much; + And wilder'd cry of agony, + That she respond would; by him lie + A virgin pure as drifted snow, + Or lilies that i' the meadows blow. + Is it ivory? is it stone? + Lives it? or is it clay alone? + O that to flesh the stone would melt, + And show a soul within it dwelt! + He looks, he yearns, he sighs, he sobs, + Convulsive his whole body throbs; + He doubts, he fears, he supplicates + With wistful gaze; he on her waits; + Gifts lavish he lays at her feet, + And, stung to passion, will entreat, + As though the image he has made + Were thing of life he might persuade-- + Persuade and woo, and on her stake + His future, all. O sad mistake! + For thee, Pygmalion, Venus sends + These triumphs which thy chisel lends, + To punish thee, for that no love + Erewhile thy obstinate heart might move. + Why flee'st thou the living, say, + When this image thee doth slay? + Thee doth--ay, slay! Why dost thou stand + Entranc'd before the work o' thy hand, + None the less hurtful that it is + Thine own genius yields the bliss? + Venus must thee still deny; + The sculptured maid must breathless lie. G. + + +ARION. + + Squammea vivae + Lubrica terga ratis + Jam conscendet Arion. + Merces tam nova solvitur + Navis quam nova scanditur. Illa + Aërea est merces, haec est et aquatica navis. + Perdidere illum viri + Mercede magna, servat hic + Mercede nulla piscis: et sic + Salute plus ruina constat illi; + Minoris et servatur hinc quam perditur. + Hic dum findit aquas, findit hic aëra: + Cursibus, piscis; digitis, Arion: + Et sternit undas, sternit et aëra: + Carminis hoc placido Tridente + Abjurat sua jam murmura, ventusque modestior + Auribus ora mutat: + Ora dediscit, minimos et metuit susurros; + Sonus alter restat, ut fit sonus illis + Aura strepens circum muta sit lateri adjacente penna, + Ambit et ora viri, nec vela ventis hic egent; + Attendit hanc ventus ratem: non trahit, at trahitur. + + +TRANSLATION (_full_). + +ARION. + + Never since ship was set a-float + Have men seen so strange a boat: + Alive it is from deck to keel, + Having the gray gleam of steel; + Slippery as wave-wash'd wreck, + Or as a war-ship's bloody deck. + A Dolphin, lo, its huge back bending, + Safety to Arion lending + From the sailors of Sicily, + Covetous of his golden monie; + Money that as prize he had won + Before all Singers aneath the sun; + Playing and singing so famouslie, + Singing and playing so wondrouslie, + That there went up from ev'ry throat + The verdict, 'for Arion I vote:' + Vote the prize; and gifts as well, + Crowns of gold and of asphodel; + Lyres all a-glow with gems, + Robes bejewell'd to their hems; + A thousand golden pieces and one + For the gifted son of Poseidon: + And, hark, as 'twere the bellowing thunder, + In clang'rous shouts men tell their wonder. + Arion now homeward takes his way + In a fair ship steer'd for Corinth Bay; + Proud of his prizes, proud of his skill, + Proud that soon Periander will + Welcome him fondly, and call him friend, + With words such as no money can send. + Alas and alas, such crime to tell! + The ship-captain and sailors fell + Covet his gold, and have it must, + Though Arion they murder by blow or thrust. + But Apollo at midnight hour + Sendeth a dream in mystic power; + It showeth the men, it showeth their crime. + Arion awakes with the morning's chime; + Awakes, and planneth how to escape. + Vain, vain all; on him they gape, + Thirsting alike for gold and life, + Murder and covetousness at strife. + 'Suffer me, then,' Arion said, + 'That I may play as I have play'd; + Here is my poor Lyre, and, ere I die, + Let me prove its minstrelsy.' + He has donn'd him now in gay attire, + Festal robes; in his hand his Lyre. + List ye, list ye; above, below, + Sounds such as only the angels know; + Sounds that are born of rapture and bliss, + Of the throbbing heart and the burning love-kiss. + Now it is soft, pathetic, low, + Then 'gins to change to cry of woe; + Now it comes rushing as if the thunder + Came booming from the deep earth under; + Pulsing along each quivering string + As though the Lyre were a living thing, + And Arion's hand had so cunning a spell + As should win all heaven--ay and hell. + O, came there never such melodie + From mortal earth or mortal sky. + He mounted to the good ship's prow, + And mingling with his song a vow + To the gods, he himself threw + Out 'mid the waves from that damnable crew. + Up through the waves the Dolphins bound, + A hundred bended backs are found, + Each one more eager than the rest + To upbear the sweet Player on Ocean's breast. + Arion ascends; and, lo, he stands, + His Lyre unwet within his hands: + Onward and onward careering they go; + O soft and true the notes that flow! + Rising, falling, swelling, dying, + Near and nearer, far-off flying; + Pulsing along each quivering string + As though the Lyre were a living thing. + New is the ship, as new the freight; + The Dolphin feels never the weight; + New is the ship, and new the fare, + That of the water, this of the air: + The sailors in their greed him lost, + The Dolphin bears him withouten cost. + Away and away with a shim'ring track + Arion goes on the Dolphin's back; + Away and away, still softly playing, + Each string his lightest touch obeying. + Under the spell the Sea grows calm, + Listing attent his witching psalm; + Under the spell the air grows mild, + Breathing soft as sleeping child. + But who may seek all the tale to tell? + It is a tale unspeakable. + Onward and onward careering they go, + Silence above and silence below: + The Storm-gale shuts its mouth and lists, + The Wind folds its pinions and desists, + Following, not blowing, drawing not, but drawn, + From early ev'ning to breaking dawn. + Tenarus at last Arion beheld; + Tenarus, his own dear home that held; + And as together they swiftly come, + He claps hands loud and thinks of home. + The Dolphin seeks a quiet cove; + The Dolphin arching its back above + The azure waters, leaves him there, + A-list'ning still his Lyre to hear. + Homeward to Corinth Arion proceeds: + Periander a tale of suff'ring reads + In the thinnèd cheek and the dreamy eye, + In the tremulous words and the laden sigh. + The story is told. O story of wrong! + The ship returns; and it is not long + Ere captain and crew, at bar arraign'd, + Must tell where Arion they detain'd. + 'He tarries,' quoth they, 'in Sicily, + Winning all men by his minstrelsie.' + Lies were proven in their throat. + Periander his hands together smote, + Swearing a solemn oath that they-- + One, all--should drown'd be in the Bay. + Tied hand and foot, pallor'd and grim, + 'Tis done as they would ha' done to him. + A plunge as of a plunging stone, + A few bubbles--Vengeance is done! G. + + + + +IN + +APOLLINEA DEPEREUNTEM DAPHNEN. + + + Stulte Cupido, + Quid tua flamma parat? + Annos sole sub ipso + Accensae pereunt faces? + Sed fax nostra potentior istis, + Flammas inflammare potest, ipse uritur ignis, + Ecce flammarum potens + Majore sub flamma gemit. + Eheu, quid hoc est? En Apollo + Lyra tacente, ni sonet dolores, + Coma jacente squallet aeternus decor + Oris, en, dominae quo placeat magis, + Languido tardum jubar igne promit. + Pallente vultu territat aethera. + Mundi oculus lacrymis senescit, + Et solvit pelago debita, quodque hauserat ignibus, + His lacrymis rependit. + Noctis adventu properans se latebris recondit, + Et opacas tenebrarum colit umbras, + Namque suos odit damnans radios nocensque lumen. + An lateat tenebris dubitat, an educat diem, + Hinc suadet hoc luctus furens, inde repugnat amor. + + +TRANSLATION (_full_). + +ON APOLLO PINING FOR DAPHNE. + + Cupid, foolishest of pets, + What woe thy swift-sent flame begets! + Surely before the flashing Sun + Torches pale to extinction? + But our torch is mightier far; + It able is 'gainst fire to war, + Yea, fire itself to burn and char. + The igni-potent in amaze, + Lo, groans, his huge heart all a-blaze + With keener flame than his own rays. + Ah, what is this? Apollo burns, + And as distraught in anguish mourns. + Lo, see his lyre mute and unstrung, + Or only grief-notes from it wrung: + Lo, his golden locks neglected, + And his radiant face dejected; + Beauty eterne distain'd, rejected. + The great Sun-god is in love, + And seeks in vain his Fair to move: + Hence his weird pallor, and those cries + That the sky shudd'ring terrifies; + Hence the world's day-bringing eye + Tears dim, such as in mortals' lie; + Hence those showers often falling, + The Sea her erst gifts recalling; + Hence welcome the approaching night, + That mourning he may veil his light-- + Veil his light, and in shadows deep + His great anguish in secret weep. + Nor, when vermeil-drapèd Morning, + With her smile the East adorning, + Touches with her rosy finger + Eyes that 'neath their lashes linger, + Seeking to wake the God of Day, + That round the world his beams may play, + Does he haste at all to rise + To his 'fulgent throne i' the skies; + But rather would abide within + The clouds whereon he rests his chin; + Hating his own beams' splendour now, + Since Daphne scorns to list his vow: + Thus he lingers, and still weighs + Whether Day or Night to raise. + Raging grief he cannot smother, + Says the one; and Love the other. + Cupid, tricksiest of pets, + What woe thy swift-sent flame begets![99] G. + + + + +AENEAS PATRIS SUI BAJULUS. + + + Moenia Trojae, hostis et ignis, + Hostes inter et ignes, Aeneas spolium pium + Atque humeris venerabile pondus + Excipit, et 'Saevae nunc ô nunc parcite flammae; + Parcite haud, clamat, mihi; + Sacrae favete sarcinae: + Quod si negatis, nec licebit + Vitam juvare, sed juvabo funus + Rogusque fiam patris ac bustum mei.' + His dictis, acies pervolat hostium, + Gestit, et partis veluti trophaeis + Ducit triumphos. Nam furor hostium + Jam stupet, et pietate tanta + Victor vincitur; imo et moritur + Troja libenter, funeribusque gaudet, + Ac faces admittit ovans, ne lateat tenebras + Per opacas opus ingens pietatis. + Debita sic patri solvis tua, sic pari rependis + Officio. Dederat vitam tibi, tu reddis huic: + Felix, parentis qui pater diceris esse tui. + + +TRANSLATION (_full_). + +ÆNEAS THE BEARER OF HIS FATHER. + + The walls of Troy--the walls of Troy! + 'Tis an old tale you will enjoy: + A foe is there amid the fire, + A foe 'twixt foemen in their ire. + Aeneas takes a pious load + With upward prayer to his god; + E'en his old father, whose gray head + Lay 'mong the dying and the dead: + O venerable spoil in truth, + Fit from the demons to fetch ruth. + Fierce roar the flames, and fiercer still + Rages the fight on plain and hill. + 'Spare the old man,' Aeneas cries; + 'Spare the white hairs; or if he dies, + Be mine the privilege of his pyre; + Be mine with him at once t'expire.' + Scarcely are the true words spoken, + When through line of battle broken + Swift he passes; and this brave son + His father bears in triumph on; + Reck'ning that he a trophy has + That the conquerors' doth surpass. + He safely goes: for, lo, amaz'd, + The foe upon them wistful gaz'd: + The conquerors the conquer'd are + By filial love so strong, so fair. + The flames Troy willingly receives, + Jubilant that the old man lives; + Welcomes the torches, that the night + May not conceal this deed of light. + All praise to thee, high-hearted son! + Thou an undying name hast won: + The debt of love thou hast repaid + Unto thy father, who is made + Thy debtor now; for life he gave, + And thou in turn his life dost save. + Happy the son whom thus we see + Father of his own sire to be. G. + + +PHOENICIS GENETHLIACON ET EPICEDION. + + Phoenix alumna mortis, + Quam mira tua puerpera! + Tu scandis haud nidos, sed ignes. + Non parere sed perire ceu parata: + Mors obstetrix; atque ipsa tu teipsam paris, + Tu tuique mater ipsa es, + Tu tuique filia. + Tu sic odora messis + Surgis tuorum funerum; + Tibique per tuam ruinam + Reparata, te succedis ipsa. Mors ô + Faecunda; sancta ô lucra pretiosae necis! + Vive, monstrum dulce, vive, + Tu tibique suffice. + + +TRANSLATION. + +OF THE GENERATION AND REGENERATION OF THE PHOENIX. + + Phoenix, nursling of Death, + How wondrous is thy birth! + Thou gainest not thy breath + I' nest, like birds of Earth: + 'Mid fire all flaming hot + Thou strangely art begot; + The leaping flames thee cherish + When thou seem'st to perish. + Lo, Death thy midwife is; + Lo, thyself thou bearest. + O tell me how is this, + That mystery thou preparest? + Thou mother of thyself! + Thou daughter of thyself! + When thy 'pointed hour is done, + Thou an od'rous nest entwinest; + And, as for thy destruction, + Thou 'midst its fires reclinest. + Most surely thou'rt consum'd; + Most surely thou'rt relum'd. + O fruitful Death! + O gainful Death! + Live then, self-containèd bird; + Most pleasing wonder. + The old legend is absurd; + But truth lies under. G. + + +EPITAPHIUM. + + Quisquis nectareo serenus aevo + Et spe lucidus aureae juventae, + Nescis purpureos abire soles, + Nescis vincula ferreamque noctem + Imi careris horridumque Ditem, 5 + Et spectas tremulam procul senectam, + Hinc disces lacrymas, et huc repones. + Hic, ô scilicet hic brevi sub antro + Spes et gaudia mille, mille, longam, + Heu longam nimis! induere noctem. 10 + Flammantem nitidae facem juventae + Submersit Stygiae paludis unda. + Ergo, si lacrymas neges doloris, + Huc certo lacrymas feres timoris. + + +NOTE. + + I correct, in l. 6, 'tremulam' for 'tremulum;' l. 7, 'disces' for + 'discas,' and 'huc' for 'hinc.' G. + + +TRANSLATION. + +EPITAPH. + + Ye that still, serene in peace, + Lying in the lap of ease, + Believe the hopes of golden youth, + And have not heard the bitter truth, + How shining suns fade at a breath; + Ye, with little dread of death, + Or fear of chains and iron night + Of man's last prison, or the sight + Of gloomy Dis; that think to keep + Old age away,--look here, and weep. + Here, to this one narrow room, + A thousand joys and hopes have come; + Here bright minutes many a one + Have a lasting night put on: + Youth's torch, that flash'd such light about, + Is in the Stygian wave put out. + Then, if you grudge poor grief a tear, + Heave, at least, a sigh for fear. A. + +ANOTHER RENDERING (_more freely_). + + Whoe'er ye be, upgazing here, + Calm, unruffl'd, without tear; + Joyous in your golden prime, + And unwitting of the time + When shall pale Life's glowing sun, + And the web of years be spun; + Thinking not o' the iron night + Where grim Pluto reigns in might; + Thinking not of the nether world, + With its clanking chains; + Whither damnèd souls are hurl'd + When the Judge arraigns; + Seeing old age far away; + Making Life one holiday;-- + Here perceive that Grief shall yet + Your ruddy cheeks with sorrow wet; + Here musing upon this poor stone, + Ye may learn prevention. + This Earth, what is it but a home + Fugitive as sea-wave's foam? + Mark where breaks the whit'n'd wave + 'Mid the cliffs--an archèd cave; + Light and shadow play within, + Flick'ring o'er its walls; + In the gloom--with Hell akin-- + A dull stream slowly crawls. + E'en such is Life, how bright soe'er, + Hope and Joy lure to Despair; + And Life's stream goes plunging down + Into dark drear Acheron; + Youth's bright torch extinguish'd quite; + Golden Day exchang'd for Night: + To long night of changeless woe + Swift the Christless souls shall go. + Shun not therefore in thy prime, + Shun not whilst thou art in Time, + Tears of penitence over sin; + Or bitterly shalt thou rue, + When Death shall fling his javelin, + And Hell's prison thee immew. + Bethink thee in thy golden prime; + Bethink thee whilst thou'rt yet in Time. G. + + +ELEGIA.[100] + + Ite, meae lacrymae, nec enim moror, ite; sed oro + Tantum ne miserae claudite vocis iter. + O liceat querulos verbis animare dolores, + Et saltem 'Ah periit!' dicere noster amor. + Ecce negant tamen; ecce negant, lacrymaeque rebelles + Pergunt indomita praecipitantque via. + Visne, ô care, igitur te nostra silentia dicant? + Vis fleat assiduo murmure mutus amor? + Flebit, et urna suos semper bibet humida rores, + Et fidas semper semper habebit aquas. + Interea, quicunque estis, ne credite mirum + Si verae lacrymae non didicere loqui. + + +TRANSLATION. + +ELEGY. + + Flow, flow, my tears; I stay you not; but pray + To my unhappy voice close not the way. + My plaintive griefs with words, O let me move; + To say, 'Alas, he died!' allow my love. + Lo, they say, no--the rebel tears say, no! + And with unconquer'd headlong torrent flow. + Wouldst thou, O dear one, that our silence speak? + Mute love with ceaseless sob moisten our cheek? + It shall; and still thine urn drink its own dews, + And never its own faithful waters lose. + Meanwhile let no one think a wonder wrought, + If real tears to speak could not be taught. R. WI. + + +THESAURUS MALORUM FOEMINA. + + Quis deus, ô quis erat, qui te, mala foemina, finxit? + Proh, crimen superum, noxa pudenda deum! + Quae divum manus est adeo non dextera mundo? + In nostras clades ingeniosa manus: + Parcite; peccavi: nec enim pia numina possunt + Tam crudele semel vel voluisse nefas. + Vestrum opus est pietas; opus est concordia vestrum; + Vos equidem tales haud reor artifices. + Heus, inferna cohors, foetus cognoscite vestros. + Num pudet hanc vestrum vincere posse scelus? + Plaudite Tartarei proceres Erebique potentes, + Nae mirum est tantum vos potuisse malum; + Jam vestras laudate manus. Si forte tacetis, + Artificum laudes grande loquetur opus. + Quam bene vos omnes speculo contemplor in isto? + Pectus in angustum cogitur omne malum. + Quin dormi, Pluto; rabidas compesce sorores; + Jam non poscit opem nostra ruina tuam. + Haec satis in nostros fabricata est machina muros, + Mortales furias Tartara nostra dabunt. + + +TRANSLATION. + +WOMAN A TREASURY OF EVILS. + + What god? or who was it? I ask, contriv'd + Thee, O Woman, evil Woman? who conniv'd + Together--who--in this supremest crime + Of the divinities, before old Time + Was born? Alas, most dire calamity + As e'er has come upon humanity! + Whence was the hand, ye Powers, so evil-skill'd + In sin and mischief, so perversely will'd + To curse this world of ours? But hold! I blunder; + I must to the dark regions lying under, + Ev'n Hell, descend. Not Thee, O God above, + For Thou art pitiful, for Thou art Love: + Not one of all the gracious Pow'rs supernal; + But ye, O Furies, from the pit infernal, + Ye, ye the work devis'd, matur'd, achiev'd, + And brought to Man; to Man--frail Man! deceiv'd: + Ho, hosts of evil! ho! on you I call: + Behold your offspring diabolical. + Does it a blush raise?--Spirits of evil, speak!-- + Such as expos'd crime brings to mortal cheek? + Lo, these your works yourselves surpass, I wis; + Clap hands, ye potentates of the Abyss. + Rulers of Erebus, is it not a wonder, + Worthy of Hell's most resonant swift thunder, + That ye such thing contrivèd have as Heaven + Never cast out, nor e'er to Hell was driven? + Take ye your praise, your praise; this work o' your hands + Absolute in mischief 'bove compar'son stands. + Or if ye silent be, your work will speak + Your praise. Ha, ha! what mean ye that ye shriek + Thus as I meditate with pulse of fear + Upon this monster, Woman? Ah, 'tis clear; + I see your guile and skill. The gods above + Would have all ills within one scant breast move! + To bed, Pluto, king of the nether world; + Sleep on in peace; be every banner furl'd; + Ye fires, go out; Man's ruin is complete; + No need of you--in Woman all woes meet: + In her, ye devils, ye have so contriv'd + That Tempter, who--better than had ye div'd + To furthest Tartarus--Man's protecting wall + Shall breach. Earth's fury--Woman--passes all! G. + + + + +Latin Poems. + +PART SECOND. SECULAR. + + +II. + +MISCELLANEOUS AND COMMEMORATIVE. + +NEVER BEFORE PRINTED. + + +NOTE. + + Once more the Sancroft MS. furnishes the Poems of this division, all + hitherto unprinted. In this section I have again been largely and + finely aided in the translations by my already-named friend the Rev. + Richard Wilton, as before. G. + + +PULCHRA NON DIUTURNA. + + + EHEU, ver breve et invidum! + Eheu, floriduli dies! + Ergo curritis improba, + Et quae nunc face fulgurat, + Dulcis forma tenacibus + Immiscebitur infimae: + Heu, noctis nebulis; amor + Fallax, umbraque somnii. + Quin incumbitis; invida + Sic dictat colus, et rota + Cani temporis incito + Currens orbe volubilis. + O deprendite lubricos + Annos; et liquidum jubar + Verni sideris, ac novi + Floris fulgura, mollibus + Quae debetis amoribus, + Non impendite luridos + In manes avidum et Chaos. + Quanquam sidereis genis, + Quae semper nive sobria + Sinceris spatiis vigent, + Floris germine simplicis, + Flagrant ingenuae rosae: + Quanquam perpetua fide + Illic mille Cupidines, + Centum mille Cupidines, + Pastos nectarea dape, + Blandis sumptibus educas; + Istis qui spatiis vagi, + Plenis lusibus ebrii, + Udo rore beatuli, + Uno plus decies die + Istis ex oculis tuis, + Istis ex oculis suas + Sopitas animant faces, + Et languentia recreant + Succo spicula melleo: + Tum flammis agiles novis + Lasciva volitant face, + Tum plenis tumidi minis, + Tum vel sidera territant, + Et coelum et fragilem Jovem: + Quanquam fronte sub ardua + Majestas gravis excubans, + Dulces fortiter improbis + Leges dictat amoribus: + Quanquam tota, per omnia, + Coelum machina praeferat, + Tanquam pagina multiplex + Vivo scripta volumine, + Terris indigitans polos. + Et compendia siderum: + Istis heu tamen heu genis, + Istis purpureis genis, + Oris sidere florido, + Regno frontis amabili; + Mors heu crastina forsitan + Crudeles faciet notas, + Naturaeque superbiam + Damnabit tumuli specu. + + +TRANSLATION. + +THE BEAUTIFUL NOT LASTING. + + Alas, how brief and grudg'd our Spring! + Ah, flow'ry days how vanishing! + E'en so ye hasten on and on + With an unceasing motion. + And thou, sweet Beauty, brightly flashing, + But all too soon thy fairness dashing, + To depths of lowest Night must go: + Ah, losing there thy hasty glow; + Dark'ning mists around thee clinging, + And thy loveliness swift-winging: + A love that brightens to deceive; + A dream-shadow, fugitive. + Ye therefore o'er whom Life's young Day + Shineth still with golden ray, + Seize--Fate's harsh distaff makes appeal, + And hoary Time's quick-whirling wheel, + As round and round the circle spins, + And to furthest distance wins-- + Seize ye the gliding seasons fleet, + And dews of vernal Phosphor sweet, + And new-blown flowers' brightness meet. + O, what to tender loves ye owe, + Waste not on Chaos dark below, + Where pallid ghosts dim-gleaming go. + Though, Beauty, on thy starry cheeks, + Where snow's white pureness ever breaks, + And where gazing, we see born + Roses fresh without all thorn, + Buds intertwining undefil'd, + Spotless as e'er a grace-born child: + Though thou with everlasting faith + Fosterest with thy nectar'd breath + Myriad Loves, and dost them feed + With honey'd feast of heavenly mead + In gentle draughts; and they roam round + In thy realms, and aye are found + Surfeiting themselves with play + In one amorous holiday; + Happy in the drenching dew, + And seeking ever to renew + Their torch-flames at thy fair eyes, + And whet blunt arrows' ecstasies + With sweet juice that in honey lies: + And so, with their flame relumèd, + Deftly hover, airy-plumèd; + Waving higher still and higher + Their torches that raise soft desire; + Menacing the very stars, + Yea the old heavens i' their wars: + Although beneath thy high-arch'd brow + Sits Majesty, nor doth allow + To wanton loves such liberty + As mocks the Ruler of the sky; + But in their wild career gives pause, + Imposing on them Love's sweet laws: + Though thy whole frame in every part + Sets forth the sky as in a chart; + Though thy fair face in every look + Shows heaven in page of living book; + To Earth reveals the starry skies + In the bright glances of thine eyes: + Yet, alas, on these fair cheeks, + Where the rose all-blushing speaks, + There shall come the snow's sad whiteness, + And the red, heart-breaking brightness: + On the 'human face divine,' + That as a star doth radiant shine, + There shall come the deep'ning shadow, + As clouds across the dappl'd meadow. + On the high state of the brow + To-morrow Death may make his blow; + And all of Nature's bravery + Gone, in the Grave's cavern lie. + Alas, the fairest is the fleetest! + Alas, how short-liv'd is the sweetest! + Alas, the richest is the rarest! + Alas, that Death doth spoil the fairest! G. + + +HYMNUS VENERI, + +DUM IN ILLIUS TUTELAM TRANSEUNT VIRGINES. + + Tu tuis adsis, Venus alme, sacris: + Rideas blandum, Venus, et benignum, + Quale cum Martem premis, aureoque + Frangis ocello. + Rideas ô tum neque flamma Phoebum, + Nec juvent Phoeben sua tela; gestat + Te satis contra tuus ille tantum + Tela Cupido. + Saepe in ipsius pharetra Dianae + Hic suas ridens posuit sagittas, + Ausus et flammae Dominum magistris + Urere flammis. + Virginum te orat chorus--esse longum + Virgines nollent--modo servientum + Tot columbarum tibi passerumque augere catervam. + Dedicant quicquid labra vel rosarum + Colla, vel servant tibi liliorum; + Dedicant totum tibi ver genarum, + Ver oculorum. + Hinc tuo sumas licet arma nato, + Seu novas his ex oculis sagittas; + Seu faces flamma velit acriori + Flave comatas. + Sume, et ô discant quid amica, quid nox, + Quid bene et blande vigilata nox sit; + Quid sibi dulcis furor, et protervus + Poscat amator. + Sume per quae tot tibi corda flagrant, + Per quod arcanum tua cestus halat, + Per tuus quicquid tibi dixit olim aut + Fecit Adonis. + + +TRANSLATION. + +A HYMN TO VENUS, + +WHILE THE VIRGINS PASS UNDER HER PROTECTION. + + Be thou, sweet Venus, present now, + Whilst at thy sacred rites we vow; + Smile, Venus, with the smile that charms + When Mars enfolds thee in his arms, + O'ercome with glance as sunshine golden, + Renownèd from the ages olden. + Smile; then Phoebus' flame shall fail, + Nor Phoebe her own darts avail. + Thy Cupid only against thee + Wields successful weaponry. + Oft and oft the laughing Boy + In the wildness of his joy + Has slipt into Diana's quiver + His keen arrows, that a shiver + Pleasant-painful send through all, + When he, trickster, doth enthral. + Yea, he has dar'd the Lord of Fire + With flames more burning, in his ire. + The arm-link'd Virgins to thee pray, + Seeking thou wouldst near them stay; + Were it but to offer here, + In the flock that hovers near, + More doves and sparrows lightly-flying: + To their prayer there's no denying. + Lo, they dedicate in posies + All their lips supply of roses; + All their necks, of lilies, white + As the dewy stainless light; + Yea, the whole Spring of each cheek, + And that which from their eyes doth break. + Hence, Venus, arms thou mayest take + For thy wanton Boy to make + Arrows from their fire-darting eyes, + Or torches flame-tipp'd that surprise + With Love's delicious agonies. + Take them, and see thou lett'st them know + What means a 'mistress;' and then show + What the Night all-wakeful is + In the rapture of its bliss; + What the bold lover shall demand + When all charms he doth command. + Take them: by all the hearts that burn, + And passionate unto thee turn! + By all the mysteries that are breath'd, + Or in thine own girdle sheath'd! + By all to thee Adonis e'er + Or said or did, when he would swear, + Ne'er i' the world was one so fair! G. + + +VERIS DESCRIPTIO. + + Tempus adest, placidis quo sol novus auctior horis + Purpureos mulcere dies, et sidere verno + Floridus, augusto solet ire per aethera vultu, + Naturae communis amor; spes aurea mundi; + Virgineum decus, et dulcis lascivia rerum, + Ver tenerum, ver molle subit; jam pulchrior annus + Pube nova, roseaeque recens in flore juventae + Felici fragrat gremio, et laxatur odora + Prole parens; per aquas, perque arva, per omnia late + Ipse suas miratur opes, miratur honores. + Jam Zephyro resoluta suo tumet ebria tellus, + Et crebro bibit imbre Jovem, sub frondibus altis + Flora sedens, audit, felix! quo murmure lapsis + Fons patrius minitetur aquis, quae vertice crispo + Respiciunt tantum, et strepero procul agmine pergunt. + Audit, et arboreis siquid gemebunda recurrens + Garriat aura comis, audit, quibus ipsa susurris + Annuit, et facili cervice remurmurat arbor. + Quin audit querulas, audit quodcunque per umbras + Flebilibus Philomela modis miserabile narrat. + Tum quoque praecipue blandis Cytherea per orbem + Spargitur imperiis; molles tum major habenas + Incutit increpitans, cestus magis ignea rores + Ingeminat, tumidosque sinus flagrantior ambit; + Nympharum incedit late, Charitumque corona + Amplior, et plures curru jam nectit olores: + Quin ipsos quoque tum campis emittit apricis + Laeta parens gremioque omnes effundit Amores. _Venus_ + Mille ruunt equites blandi, peditumque protervae + Mille ruunt acies: levium pars terga ferarum + Insiliunt, gaudentque suis stimulare sagittis; + Pars optans gemino multum properare volatu + Aërios conscendit equos; hic passere blando + Subsiliens leve ludit iter; micat huc, micat illuc + Hospitio levis incerto, et vagus omnibus umbris: + Verum alter gravidis insurgens major habenis + Maternas molitur aves: illi improbus acrem + Versat apem similis, seseque agnoscit in illo. + Et brevibus miscere vias ac frangere gyris: + Pars leviter per prata vagi sua lilia dignis + Contendunt sociare rosis; tum floreus ordo + Consilio fragrante venit; lascivit in omni + Germine laeta manus; nitidis nova gloria pennis + Additur; illustri gremio sedet aurea messis; + Gaudet odoratas coma blandior ire sub umbras. + Excutiunt solitas, immitia tela, sagittas, + Ridentesque aliis pharetrae spectantur in armis. + Flore manus, et flore sinus, flore omnia lucent. + Undique jam flos est. Vitreas hic pronus ad undas + Ingenium illudentis aquae, fluitantiaque ora, + Et vaga miratur tremulae mendacia formae. + Inde suos probat explorans, et judice nympha + Informat radios, ne non satis igne protervo + Ora tremant, agilesque docet nova fulgura vultus, + Atque suo vibrare jubet petulantius astro. + + +TRANSLATION. + +A DESCRIPTION OF SPRING. + + The time is come, when, lord of milder hours, + The Sun, ascending fresh with larger powers, + Is wont to woo and soothe the purple Day, + And, brilliant with its beaming vernal ray, + To climb with face august the heavenly way; + All Nature's love, Earth's hope and glory golden, + To which for garlands virgins are beholden. + With a glad plenty of all living things + Sweet tender Spring approaches on soft wings. + The Year, more beauteous now with offspring new, + And crown'd with Youth's fresh flowers of every hue, + Delicious odours pours from happy breast, + Of fragrant progeny the parent blest: + O'er verdant fields, blue waters, everywhere, + At his own wealth he wonders, large and fair. + By her own Zephyr thirsty Earth unbound + Drinks eagerly the showers which fall all round; + While Flora, sitting where tall trees appear, + Lists, O how happily! as, murmuring near, + A father-fountain chides its gliding waters, + Which with curl'd head--alas, unduteous daughters-- + Only look back, and then a garrulous band + Pursue their laughing way o'er all the land; + Lists how the sighing, oft-returning air + Soft prattles to the leafy tresses fair; + With what sweet whispers it accosts the tree, + Which with bow'd head makes answer murmuringly; + Lists, lists again, while through the mournful shade + Sad Philomel's pathetic plaint is made. + Now chiefly Venus spreads her empire sweet, + And calls the world to worship at her feet; + Now mightier her soft reins shakes to and fro, + Chiding, and makes her chariot faster go; + More fiery bids her cestus' powers abound, + And her warm swelling bosom girds around; + More glorious now, circl'd by Nymphs and Graces, + She marches forth, and to her chariot-traces + She yokes more swans. Nay, freer than before, + Her Loves themselves, the sunny meadows o'er, + From her maternal bosom see her pour; + A thousand horsemen sweet career around, + Ten thousand wanton footmen scour the ground; + Part mount the backs of wild beasts as they run, + And their own goad-like arrows ply in fun; + Part seek wing'd flight to urge with double speed, + And so ascend each one an airy steed; + One, vaulting on a sparrow, flits away; + Here see him lightly shine, there brightly play, + In no place long; now resting here, now yonder, + Wherever shadows woo them, lo, they wander. + One, rising mightier than her heavy reins, + His Mother's birds attempts with lighter chains. + One, bee-like, brave o'erthrows an angry bee, + Only another self in him to see; + In tiny circles they awhile revolve, + But soon their interlacing flight dissolve. + Part, lightly flitting o'er the meadows fair, + Strive their own lilies with meet rose to pair. + Now flowery tribes in fragrant counsel stand, + Amid the buds wantons the joyous band. + New glory on their shining pinions rests, + A golden harvest settles on their breasts; + With sweeten'd locks to odorous shades they go, + Their arrows, weapons harsh, away they throw, + While other arms their smiling quivers show. + Flowers in their hand, flowers in their breast, are seen, + On every side appears a flowery sheen. + One Love, reclin'd beside a glassy stream, + Admires the nature of the illusive gleam, + The liquid likeness of his wavering face, + And tremulous deceit of imag'd grace. + Thence, his own rays examining, he tries + And fashions, as the Nymph may chance advise, + That braver fires may tremble in his eyes; + His mobile face new lightnings flashes far, + With rays more wanton, bickering like a star. R. WI. + + +PRISCIANUS VERBERANS ET VAPULANS. + + The two following poems--somewhat out of character, so to say, with + Crashaw--were probably prepared for a tractate, which it has been + our good fortune to hap on in the Bodleian. It is a Latin burlesque + Poem, filling a small 4to of 20 pages, with this title: + + + EN + PRISCIANUS + VERBERANS + ET + VAPULANS. + + Jam publicato verberans aures stylo + Qua penis iterum vapulet, metuit crisin. + + + Londini + + Excudebat Augustinus Mathewes impensis + Roberti Mulbourne ad insigne + Canis venatici in coemeterio Paulino. 1632. + + The words 'Priscianus Verberans et Vapulans' remind us of the + once-famous 'Comoedia' of Nicodemus Freschlin; but the later poem + shows no reminiscence of the earlier. These details will doubtless + interest and amuse in relation to Crashaw's pieces. Priscianus, + otherwise Nisus, a schoolmaster, whips a boy who broke and dirtied + his whipping-horse, and the boy's parents bring an action against + him for assault. The place is evidently Aldborough in + Suffolk--illumined by the genius of Crabbe--and the name of the + boy's family Coleman. The poem thus begins and proceeds--the + marginal notes being placed at the bottom of our pages: + + Pinguibus in populi, qui dicitur Austricus,[101] arvis + Praeturam, fasces, lictores nuper adepta + Villa[102] antiqua, novo jam Burgi turget honore. + + He describes the school: + + Vicinae senior Carbonius[3] incola villae, + 'Lingua vernacula idem quod {anthrakandros}, + + sends his son as a scholar: the stipend 20_s._ a year: + + De stipe[103] consentit genitor: Carbunculus intrat. + + He describes the whipping-block, the judicious use of which saves + boys from the gallows: + + Iste caballus + Non in perniciem, non urbis ut ille ruinam _the Trojan_ + Sed curam imberbis populi, regimenque salubre: + A triplici ligno[104] lignum hoc penate tuetur + Praecipitem aetatem. + + Young Coleman plays truant from school, and one day, when the school + is empty, breaks and defiles the horse. He openly boasts of his + feat, and returning another day to repeat his misdeed, is caught by + Nisus, who mounts him on the injured horse, which, by poetical + license, is made to whinny with content. The youth expects twenty + cuts, and receives four: + + Quattuor[105] inflixit tantum mediocriter ictus, + Plures optet equus, plures daret arbiter aequus. + + Coleman senior calls on the Schoolmaster, who remarks that payment + for his son's schooling is in arrear. Coleman returns with Mrs. + Coleman, and demands a receipt for the payment, which he makes, as + Nisus discovers, lest a counter-action be brought against him: + + Vult sibi ut absolvens[106] accepti latio detur + Consignata manu Nisi, atque a teste probata. + + Then Mrs. Coleman shows herself deserving of the cucking-stool: + + ..... bona Carbonissa + Inque caput Nisi cumulata opprobria plaustro + Digna et rixivomas sub aquis mersante[107] cathedra, + Quinetiam manibus quasi pugnatura lacessit. + + They bring their action for assault. (The English words in the + marginal notes, placed below, are in black-letter:) + + Nulla mora est, juristam adhibent, de fonte dicarum + Qui populo Placita ad Communia[108] panditur, exit + Schedula quod vulgo[109] Regis Breve dicitur: illo + Mox capitur Nisus, geminoque sub obside spondet + In responsurum praescripto tempore: tempus + Cunctarum[110] lux est animarum crastini. Verum + Actor quis?[111] Puer ipse, virum qui provocat, annos + Nondum bis-senos superans. Sed et actio quaenam? + Quid crimen? Pravus atque atrox injuria, tristes + Et tragicae ambages, ampullae sesquipedales, + Quod[112] Regis contra pacem vi Nisus, et armis + Insultum fecit, male tractans verbere saevo + Verberibus diris adeo, plenisque pericli + De pueri vita ut desperaretur. + + The poem ends, leaving poor Nisus in the midst of his first + law-suit: + + Ecce + Nisus, jam primum Nisus miser ambulat in jus: + + and the marginal note is 'In causis litigiosis sive casibus + inscriptionum stylus Johannes de Stiles versus Johannem de Nokes.' A + concluding chronogram gives the year 1629: + + LVDI MagIster LIte VeXatVr forI. + + The Schoolmaster's friends have written him complimentary epigrams, + which are prefixed to his poem. One is worth reproducing, ae it has + an echo of Crashaw's: + + Ad {koprochrysounta} + Suavia nonnulli lutulento carmine narrant: + Turpia tu nitido, Nise poeta, places. + + In black-letter, as follows: + + Some cloath faire tales in sluttish eloquence: + Thy tale is foule, thy verse is frankincense. + + T. Lovering Artium Ludiq. Magister. + + There seems little doubt that Crashaw's two poems were born of this + anonymous tractate. Cf. 'rixivomas' (p. 310) with 'vomitivam' and + 'rixosa volumina linguae.' Biographically they and others secular + have a special interest and value. My good friend Rev. Richard + Wilton, as before, has very happily translated these playthings. G. + + Quid facis? ah, tam perversa quid volvitur ira? + Quid parat iste tuus, posterus iste furor? + Ah, truculente puer, tam foedo parce furori. + Nec rapiat tragicas tam gravis ira nates. + Ecce fremit, fremit ecce indignabundus Apollo. + Castalides fugiunt, et procul ora tegunt. + Sic igitur sacrum, sic insedisse caballum + Quaeris? et, ah, fieri tam male notus eques? + Ille igitur phaleris nitidus lucebit in istis? + Haec erit ad solidum turpis habena latus? + His ille, haud nimium rigidis, dabit ora lupatis? + Haec fluet in miseris sordida vitta jubis? + Sic erit ista tui, sic aurea pompa triumphi? + Ille sub imperiis ibit olentis heri? + Ille tamen neque terribili stat spumeus ira; + Ungula nec celso fervida calce tonat. + O merito spectatur equi patientia nostri! + Dicite Io, tantum quis toleravit equus? + Pegasus iste ferox, mortales spretus habenas. + Bellerophontaea non tulit ire manu. + Noster equus tamen exemplo non turget in isto: + Stat bonus, et solito se pede certus habet. + Imo licet tantos de te tulit ille pudores, + Te tulit ille iterum, sed meliore modo. + Tunc rubor in scapulas O quam bene transiit iste, + Qui satis in vultus noluit ire tuos! + At mater centum in furias abit, et vomit iram + Mille modis rabidam jura, forumque fremit. + Quin fera tu taceas; aut jura forumque tacebunt: + Tu legi vocem non sinis esse suam. + O male vibratae rixosa volumina linguae, + Et satis in nullo verba tonanda foro! + Causidicos, vesana! tuos tua fulmina terrent. + Ecce stupent miseri, ah, nec meminere loqui. + Hinc tua, foede puer, foedati hinc terga caballi + Exercent querulo jurgia lenta foro. + Obscaenas lites, et olentia jurgia ridet + Turpiter in causam sollicitata Themis. + Juridicus lites quisquis tractaverit istas, + O satis emuncta nare sit ille, precor, + At tu de misero quid vis, truculente, caballo? + Cur premis insultans, saeve, tyranne puer! + Tene igitur fugiet? fugiet sacer iste caballus? + Non fugiet, sed, si vis, tibi terga dabit.[113] + + +TRANSLATION. + +PRISCIANUS BEATING AND BEING BEATEN. + + What wouldest thou? why rolls thy wayward ire? + What means that rage of thine dirty and dire? + Ah, savage boy, such fury foul forbear, + Nor let thy wrath those tragic buttocks tear. + Apollo, all indignant, groans and sighs; + The Muses flee, and hide them from thine eyes. + Thus dost thou seek to sit the sacred steed? + Thus to become a horseman fam'd indeed! + In such adornment shall he brightly shine? + His firm flank lash'd by this base whip of thine? + His mouth to this loose bit shall he deliver? + O'er his poor mane this filthy fillet quiver? + In golden triumph thus shalt thou proceed, + So rank a lord bestriding such a steed? + Yet foaming with dire rage he does not stand, + Nor with hot hoof go thundering o'er the land. + Our horse's patience is a wond'rous sight! + O, say, what horse before endur'd such wight? + Old Pegasus, despising mortal sway, + Bellerophon's strong hand disdain'd to obey: + And yet with no such rage swells this our horse; + Quiet he stands, and holds his wonted course. + Nay, though he bore such shame from thee that day, + Again he bore thee--in a better way! + Then to thy shoulders fitly pass'd the blush, + Which to thy countenance refus'd to rush. + His mother furious raves and wildly splutters + A thousand spites, and of the law-courts mutters. + Peace, woman! or the law-courts thou wilt awe; + Thou dost not leave its own voice to the Law. + O fractious eddies of the brandish'd tongue, + Such words as in no law-court ever rung. + Thy very lawyers from thy thunders hide: + Lo, they forget to speak, as stupefied. + Thus, thus, foul boy, thy fouled horse's hide + By wrangling law-court's tedious strife is plied. + While Justice, summon'd to a cause so vile, + Views the rank strife obscene with scornful smile. + Whatever judge such nasty action tries, + See that he blow his nose well, I advise. + But why wouldst thou, cruel, tyrannic boy, + With thy insulting weight that horse annoy? + That sacred steed, will it, then, from thee flee?-- + 'Twill not turn tail, but lend its back to thee! R. WI. + + +AD LIBRUM + +SUPER HAC RE AB IPSO LUDI MAGISTRO EDITUM, QUI DICITUR 'PRISCIANUS +VERBERANS ET VAPULANS.' + + Sordes ô tibi gratulamur istas, + O Musa aurea, blanda, delicata; + O Musa, ô tibi candidas, suoque + Jam nec nomine, jam nec ore notas: + Sacro carmine quippe delinitae + Se nunc, ô bene nesciunt, novaque + Mirantur facie novum nitorem. + Ipsas tu facis ô nitere sordes. + Sordes ô tibi gratulamur ipsas. + Si non hic natibus procax malignis + Foedo fulmine turpis intonasset, + Unde insurgeret haec querela vindex, + Docto et murmure carminis severi + Dulces fortiter aggregaret iras? + Ipsae ô te faciunt nitere sordes: + Sordes ô tibi gratulamur ipsas. + Quam pulchre tua migrat Hippocrene! + Turpi quam bene degener parenti! + Foedi filia tam serena fontis. + Has de stercore quis putaret undas? + Sic ô lactea surge, Musa, surge; + Surge inter medias serena sordes. + Spumis qualiter in suis Dione, + Cum prompsit latus aureum, atque primas + Ortu purpureo movebat undas. + Sic ô lactea surge, Musa, surge: + Enni stercus erit Maronis aurum. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO A TRACTATE ON THIS SUBJECT + +PUBLISHED BY THE MASTER OF THE SCHOOL HIMSELF, WHICH IS CALLED +'PRISCIANUS VERBERANS ET VAPULANS.' + + On this vile theme thee we congratulate, + O golden Muse, pleasing and delicate; + This fair white vileness, Muse, which by its own + Or name or face is now no longer known. + For, charm'd by thy poetic sacred strain, + It knows not, happily, itself again; + But with new face wonders at its new splendour-- + For splendid e'en a vile theme thou canst render: + Congratulations for vile theme we tender. + For had not _he_,[114] with headlong buttocks base, + Gone flashing foully on with thunderous pace, + From whence would this avenging plant have sprung, + This solemn strain with polish'd music rung? + And whence had gather'd these brave angers tender? + O Muse, the vilest theme can bring thee splendour, + For which congratulations now we render. + Thy Hippocrenè comes with a fair face, + Finely unworthy of its father base; + Of a foul fountain so serene a daughter: + From dunghill, who would dream such crystal water? + Thus rise, O Muse, O rise, a milk-white queen, + Out of the midst of vileness rise serene. + Even as Venus rising from her spray, + When she discover'd to the light of day + Her golden limbs, the billowy waves surprising + With the first glory of her purple rising; + So rise, O Muse, thy milk-white grace unfold; + Ennius' dunghill will be Virgil's gold! R. WI. + + +MELIUS PURGATUR STOMACHUS PER + +VOMITUM QUAM PER SECESSUM. + + Dum vires refero vomitus et nobile munus, + Da mini de vomitu, grandis Homere, tuo. + Nempe olim, multi cum carminis anxia moles + Vexabat stomachum, magne Poeta, tuum; + Aegraque jejuno tenuebat pectora morsu, + Jussit et in crudam semper hiare famem: + Phoebus, ut est medicus, vomitoria pocula praebens, + Morbum omnem longos expulit in vomitus. + Protinus et centum incumbunt toto ore Poetae, + Certantes sacras lambere relliquias. + Quod vix fecissent, scio, si medicamen ineptum + Venisset misere posteriore via. + Quippe per anfractus caecique volumina ventris + Sacra, putas, hostem vult medicina sequi? + Tam turpes tenebras haec non dignatur, at ipsum + Sedibus ex imis imperiosa trahit. + + ERGO: + + Per vomitum stomachus melius purgabitur, alvus + Quam qua secretis exit opaca viis. + + +NOTE. + + While we do not deem it expedient to translate this somewhat coarse + _jeu d'esprit_, its sentiment and allusions will be found + anticipated in the lines 'To the Reader, upon the Author his + Kins-man,' prefixed to 'Follie's Anatomie; or Satyres and Satyricall + Epigrams; with a compendious History of Ixion's Wheele. Compiled by + Henry Hutton, Dunelmensis.' London, 1619 (pp. 3-4)--which we give + here: + + Old Homer in his time made a great feast, + And every Poet was thereat a guest: + All had their welcome, yet not all one fare; + To them above the salt (his chiefest care) + He spread a banquet of choice Poesie, + Whereon they fed even to satietie. + The lower end had from that end their cates; + For Homer, setting open his dung-gates, + Delivered from that dresser excrement, + Whereon they glutted, and returned in print. + Let no man wonder that I this rehearse; + Nought came from Homer but it turned to verse. + Now where our Author was, at this good cheere, + Where was his place, or whether he were there; + Whether he waited, or he tooke away, + Of this same point I cannot soothly say. + But this I ghesse: being then a dandiprat, + Some witty Poet took him on his lap, + And fed him, from above, with some choice bit. + Hence his acumen, and a ready wit. + But prayers from a friendly pen ill thrive, + And truth's scarce truth, spoke by a relative. + Let envy, therefore, give her vote herein: + Envy and th' Author sure are nought akin. + He personate bad Envy; yet say so, + He lickt at Homer's mouth, not from below. R[ALPH] H[UTTON]. + + Percy Society edit. (Rimbault), 1842. Both Hutton and Crashaw remind + us of the like sportiveness (rough) in Dryden and Byron. G. + + +CUM HORUM ALIQUA DEDICARAM + +PRAECEPTORI MEO COLENDISSIMO, AMICO AMICISSIMO, R. BROOKE.[115] + +En tibi Musam, Praeceptor colendissime, quas ex tuis modo scholis, quasi +ex Apollinis officina, accepit alas timide adhuc, nec aliter quam sub +oculis tuis jactitantem. + + Qualiter e nido multa jam floridus ala + Astra sibi meditatur avis, pulchrosque meatus + Aërios inter proceres, licet aethera nunquam + Expertus, rudibusque illi sit in ardua pennis + Prima fides, micat ire tamen, quatiensque decora + Veste leves humeros, querulumque per aëra ludens + Nil dubitat vel in astra vagos suspendere nisus, + At vero simul immensum per inane profundis + Exhaustus spatiis, vacuoque sub aethere pendens, + Arva procul sylvasque suas, procul omnia cernit, + Cernere quae solitus: tum vero victa cadit mens, + Spesque suas, et tanta timens conamina, totus + Respicit ad matrem, pronisque revertitur auris. + +Quod tibi enim haec feram, vir ornatissime, non ambitio dantis est, sed +justitia reddentis; neque te libelli mei tam elegi patronum, quam +dominum agnosco. Tua sane sunt haec et mea; neque tamen ita mea sunt, +quin si quid in illis boni est, tuum hoc sit totum, neque interim in +tantum tua, ut quantumcumque est in illis mali, illud non sit ex integro +meum. Ita medio quodam et misto jure utriusque sunt, ne vel mihi, dum me +in societatem tuarum laudum elevarem, invidiam facerem; vel injuriam +tibi, ut qui te in tenuitatis meae consortium deducere conarer. Ego enim +de meo nihil ausim boni mecum agnoscere, nedum profiteri palam, praeter +hoc unum, quo tamen nihil melius, animum nempe non ingratum tuorum +beneficiorum historiam religiosissima fide in se reponentem. Hoc +quibuscumque testibus coram, hoc palam in os coeli meaeque conscientiae +meum jacto effero me in hoc ultra aemuli patientiam. Enim vero +elegantiore obsequio venerentur te, et venerantur scio, tuorum alii: +nemo me sincero magis vel ingenuo poterit. Horum denique rivulorum, +tenuium utcunque nulliusque nominis, haec saltem laus erit propria, quod +suum nempe norint Oceanum. + + +TRANSLATION. + +WHEN I HAD DEDICATED CERTAIN OF MY POEMS + +TO MY MOST ESTIMABLE PRECEPTOR AND MOST FRIENDLY FRIEND, R. BROOKE. + +'Well done, Muse!' was thy encouraging word, most estimable Præceptor; +'Well done, Muse!' fluttering its wings, which it received from thy +School of late, as from Apollo's workshop, timidly as yet, nor otherwise +than beneath thine eyes. + + Like as a nestling, feather'd gaily o'er, + Is meditating towards the stars to soar, + And in ambitious flights already vies + With the wing'd chiefs that skim along the skies: + What though he never has essay'd the air, + And needs must trust in plumes untried to bear + Unwonted burden heavenward? yet he quivers + To stretch his wings, and his fair plumage shivers + Round his light shoulders till he flits away, + While whispering airs against his pinions play; + Nor dreams he will suspend his wandering flight + Anywhere short of regions starry bright. + But when exhausted by the spaces high + And the immeasurable void of sky, + Hovering in empty air, far off he sees + The fields and hedges and familiar trees-- + O, how far off!--which used his sight to please; + Then sudden overpower'd behold him sink, + And from his hopes and lofty soarings shrink: + To his dear mother his whole soul looks back, + And down he flutters on the homeward track. + +That I offer thee these poems, most honourable Sir, is not the ambitious +desire to give, but the righteous wish to restore what is due. And I +have not chosen thee so much the patron of my little book, as I +recognise thee to be its owner. Thine indeed these things are, and mine: +nor yet are they so much mine, but that if there is anything good in +them, this is wholly thine; nor at the same time are they so far thine, +that everything bad in them is not entirely mine. Thus, by a sort of +common and joint right, they belong to each of us; lest either I should +bring envy to myself, while I presumed to a share of thy praises, or +injury to thee, by endeavouring to drag thee down to association with my +feebleness. For concerning anything belonging to me, I should not +venture even to myself to admit any merit, much less to proclaim it +openly, except this one thing, than which there is nothing more +excellent--namely, a mind not ungrateful, and cherishing in itself with +most punctilious fidelity the record of thy kindnesses. + +This in the presence of any witnesses, this openly in the face of heaven +and to my own conscience, I boast of as my own. I proclaim myself in +this particular incapable of enduring a rival; for others of thy +admirers [pupils] may venerate thee, and do venerate thee, with more +polite attention, but none will be able to do so with observance more +sincere and felt. In conclusion; of these rivulets, however slender they +may be and of no name, this at least will be the fitting praise--that at +all events they know their own Ocean. R. WI. + + +IN OBITUM REV. V. D^{ris} MANSELL, + +COLL. REGIN. M^{ri} QUI VEN. D^{s} BROOKE [M^{ri} COLL. TRIN.], +INTERITUM PROXIME SECUTUS EST.[116] + + Ergo iterum in lacrymas et saevi murmura planctus + Ire jubet tragica mors iterata manu; + Scilicet illa novas quae jam fert dextra sagittas, + Dextra priore recens sanguine stillat adhuc. + Vos ô, quos socia Lachesis prope miscuit urna, + Et vicina colus vix sinit esse duos; + Ite ô, quos nostri jungunt consortia damni; + Per nostras lacrymas ô nimis ite pares; + Ite per Elysias felici tramite valles, + Et sociis animos conciliate viis. + Illic ingentes ultro confundite manes, + Noscat et aeternam mutua dextra fidem. + Communes eadem spargantur in otia curae, + Atque idem felix poscat utrumque labor. + Nectarae simul ite vagis sermonibus horae; + Nox trahat alternas continuata vices. + Una cibos ferat, una suas vocet arbor in umbras; + Ambobus faciles herba det una toros. + Certum erit interea quanto sit major habenda + Quam quae per vitam est, mortis amicitia. + + +TRANSLATION. + +ON THE DEATH OF REV. DR. MANSELL, + +MASTER OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, WHICH FOLLOWED VERY CLOSELY THE DECEASE OF +REV. DR. BROOKE.[117] + + In tears once more and sighs of cruel woe + Death's tragic stroke repeated bids us go; + That fatal hand, which now bears arrows new, + Still freshly drips with former crimson dew. + Ye whom Fate almost mingl'd in one urn, + Whom to be two, close threads forbid discern; + Go ye, who equally our sorrows share, + By reason of our tears too much a pair; + Go where Elysian vales your steps invite, + In social paths your happy souls unite; + There mix your mighty shades with willing mind, + Eternal faith your blended right-hands find. + Let common cares be lost in the same joys, + While the same happy labour both employs; + Through nectar'd hours in talk together range, + And night continue the sweet interchange: + One tree bear fruit for both, one tree yield shade, + On the same turf your pleasant couch be made; + Thus how much better will be plainly seen + Friendship of Death than that of life, I ween. R. WI. + + +HONORATISSIMO DR. ROBERTO HEATH, + +SUMMO JUSTIT. DE COM. BANCO, GRATULATIO.[118] + + Ignitum latus et sacrum tibi gratulor ostrum, + O amor atque tuae gloria magna togae: + Nam video Themis ecce humeris, Themis ardet in istis, + Inque tuos gaudet tota venire sinus. + O ibi purpureo quam se bene porrigit astro, + Et docet hic radios luxuriare suos. + Imo eat aeterna sic ô Themis aurea pompa; + Hic velit ô sidus semper habere suum. + Sic flagret, et nunquam tua purpura palleat intus; + O nunquam in vultus digna sit ire tuos. + Sanguine ab innocuo nullos bibat illa rubores; + Nec tam crudeli murice proficiat. + Quaeque tibi est (nam quae non est tibi?) candida virtus + Fortunam placide ducat in alta tuam. + Nullius viduae lacrymas tua marmora sudent; + Nec sit, quae inclamet te, tibi facta domus. + Non gemat ulla suam pinus tibi scissa ruinam, + Ceu cadat in domini murmure maesta sui. + Fama suas subter pennas tibi sternat eunti; + Illa tubae faciat te melioris opus. + Thura tuo, quacunque meat, cum nomine migrent; + Quaeque vehit felix te, vehat aura rosas. + Vive tuis, nec enim non sunt aequissima, votis + Aequalis, quae te sidera cunque vocant. + Haec donec niveae cedat tua purpura pallae, + Lilium ibi fuerit, quae rosa vestis erat. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD ROBERT HEATH, + +ON HIS BEING MADE A JUDGE: A CONGRATULATION.[119] + + Upon thy sacred purple, barr'd with fire, + I gratulate thee--glorious, lov'd attire! + For on those shoulders I see Justice shine, + And glad to hide within those folds of thine. + O finely there she shoots her purple beam, + And teaches here her rays brightly to gleam. + May Justice thus in pomp eternal go, + Here always wish her golden star to glow! + Thus blaze, and ne'er thy purple pale its blush, + And never need into thy face to flush. + From innocent blood ne'er drink a deeper dye, + And turn more crimson from such cruelty. + Let all fair virtues--for thou ownest all-- + Calmly to heaven above thy footsteps call. + No widows' tears thy marble halls distil, + No house cry out against thee, built by ill; + No timber cut for thee its downfall groan, + 'Mid its lord's murmurs sadly overthrown. + May Fame spread out her wings beneath thy feet, + And thee with loud applause her trumpet greet! + May incense waft thy name where'er it goes, + The happy gale which bears thee bear the rose! + Live equal to thy prayers, most just are they, + Whatever stars direct thee on thy way, + Till this thy purple turn to robe of snow, + And where the rose had been, the lily glow! R. WI. + + + + +HORATII ODE, + +Ille et nefasto te posuit die, &c. Lib. ii. 13. + + +{hellênisti.} + + {Hôra se keinos thêken apophradi + Ho prôtos hostis cheiri te bômaki + Ethrepse, dendron, tês te kômês + Aition, essomenôn t' elenchos. + Keinos tokêos thrypse kai auchena, + Keinos ge, phaiên, haimati xeiniô + Mychôtaton koitôna rhaine + Nyktios, amphaphaase keinos + Ta dêta Kolchôn pharmaka, kai kakou + Pan chrêma, dôsas moi epichôrion + Se stygnon ernos, despotou se + Empeson es kephalên aeikôs. + Pasês men hôrês pan epikindynon + Tis oide pheugein? deidie Bosphoron + Libys ho plôtên, oud' anaikêr + Tên kryphiên heterôthen oknei. + Parthôn machêmon Rhômaïkos phygên, + Kai toxa; Parthos Rhômaïkên bian, + Kai desma; laous alla moiras + Balle, balei t' adokêtos hormê. + Schedon schedon pôs Persephonês idon + Aulên melainên, kai krisin Aiakou, + Kalên t' apostasin makairôn + Aioliais kinyrên te chordais + Sapphô patridos memphomenên korais, + Êchounta kai se pleion epichrysô, + Alkaie, plêktrô sklêra nêos, + Sklêra phygês, polemou te sklêra + Euphêmeousai d' amphoterôn skiai + Klyousi thambei, tas de machas pleon, + Anastatous te men tyrannous + Ômias ekpien ôsi laos. + Ti thaum'? ekeinais thêr hote trikranos + Akên aoidais, ouata kabbale, + Erinnyôn th' hêdypathousi + Bostryches, hêsychiôn echidnôn. + Kai dê Promêtheus, kai Pelopos patêr + Heudousin êchei tô lathikêdeï; + Agein leontas Ôriôn de + Ou phileei, phoberas te lynkas.} + + + + +Latin Poems. + +PART SECOND. SECULAR. + +III. + +ROYAL AND ACADEMICAL. + + +NOTE. + + In our Preface to the present Volume we give the title-pages of the + original publications wherein appeared the Royal and Academical + Poems of this section; in the translation of which I owe again + thanks to the friends of the former divisions, as their initials + show; and another, Professor Sole, of St. Mary's College, Oscott, + Birmingham, to whom I am indebted for that bearing his initials. One + to the 'Princess,' celebrated before, is here printed as well as + translated for the first time, as noted in the place. It was deemed + preferable to include it with the others rather than among those + hitherto unprinted. For brief notices of the various Royal and + Academical celebrities of these poems, see Memorial-Introduction and + related English poems in Vol. I. and notes in their places in the + present Volume. + + Once more I note here the chief errors of Turnbull's text: 'Ad + Carolum,' &c. l. 11, 'perrerati' for 'pererrati;' l. 26, 'discere' + for 'dicere:' in 'In Serenissimæ Reginæ' &c. the heading is + 'Senerissimæ;' l. 14, 'tuos' for 'tuus;' l. 41, 'Namque' for 'Nam + quæ;' l. 43, 'Junus' for 'Janus:' in 'Principi recens' &c. l. 4, + 'eum' for 'cum;' l. 10, 'lato' for 'late;' l. 22, 'imperiosus' for + 'imperiosior;' l. 26, 'quoque' for 'quoquo;' l. 30, 'melle' for + 'molle:' in 'Ad Reginam,' l. 35, 'aure' for 'auree:' in 'Votiva + Domus' &c. l. 20, 'teneræ' for 'tremulae;' l. 25, 'jam' for 'bene;' + l. 26, 'mulcent' for 'mulceat;' l. 29, 'minium' for 'nimium;' l. 40, + 'ora' for 'ara;' l. 45, 'volvit' for 'volvat;' l. 50, 'motus ad + oras' for 'nidus ad aras:' in 'Ejusdem caeterorum' &c. l. 5, + 'natalis' for 'natales;' l. 15, 'qua' for 'quo;' l. 31, 'longe' for + 'longo:' in 'Venerabili viro magistro Tournay' &c. l. 8, 'vixerit' + for 'vexerit;' l. 21, 'tuos est' for 'tuas eat;' ll. 24, 27, and 28, + 'est' for 'eat:' in 'Or. viro praeceptori' &c. l. 6, 'metuendas' for + 'metuendus;' l. 20, 'est' for 'eat.' G. + + + + +AD CAROLUM PRIMUM: + +REX REDUX.[120] + + + Ille redit, redit. Hoc populi bona murmura volvunt; + Publicus hoc, audin'? plausus ad astra refert: + Hoc omni sedet in vultu commune serenum; + Omnibus hinc una est laetitiae facies. + Rex noster, lux nostra redit; redeuntis ad ora + Arridet totis Anglia laeta genis: + Quisque suos oculos oculis accendit ab istis; + Atque novum sacro sumit ab ore diem. + Forte roges tanto quae digna pericula plausu + Evadat Carolus, quae mala quosve metus: + Anne pererrati male fida volumina ponti + Ausa illum terris pene negare suis: + Hospitis an nimii rursus sibi conscia tellus + Vix bene speratum reddat Ibera caput. + Nil horum; nec enim male fida volumina ponti + Aut sacrum tellus vidit Ibera caput. + Verus amor tamen haec sibi falsa pericula fingit-- + Falsa peric'la solet fingere verus amor; + At Carolo qui falsa timet, nec vera timeret-- + Vera peric'la solet temnere verus amor; + Illi falsa timens, sibi vera pericula temnens, + Non solum est fidus, sed quoque fortis amor. + Interea nostri satis ille est causa triumphi: + Et satis, ah, nostri causa doloris erat. + Causa doloris erat Carolus, sospes licet esset; + Anglia quod saltem dicere posset, abest. + Et satis est nostri Carolus nunc causa triumphi: + Dicere quod saltem possumus: Ille redit. + + +TRANSLATION. + +THE RETURN OF THE KING. + + 'The King returns!' the people cry; + And shouts of greeting scale the sky. + The news sits in each look serene; + In each a common joy is seen. + Our King! our light! she laughs once more, + Glad Anglia, as he gains her shore. + Each at the King's eyes lights his eyes; + Sees new day with his face arise. + You'll ask, what fears beset his way, + What ills, what dangers,--we're so gay: + If 'gainst his bark, that sail'd for home, + The faithless billows dar'd to foam; + Or if, so seldom blest, you plann'd + To keep him still, Iberian land. + Nor waves have wrong'd his saintly head, + Nor green Iberia felt his tread. + Yet think such fancies true love will-- + True love, that feigns false perils still: + Us such fears vex, whose hearts are stout-- + True perils still true love will scout: + Thus fear false perils, scorn the true, + Will trusty love and brave in you. + O fitly we kept cloudy brow, + Because of him, as laughter now. + When we could say, 'Our King's not here,' + We griev'd for him, no danger near: + Now our hearts can no least joy lack, + When we say, laughing, 'He's come back.' A. + + +AD PRINCIPEM NONDUM NATUM, + +REGINA GRAVIDA.[121] + + Nascere nunc, ô nunc; quid enim, puer alme, moraris? + Nulla tibi dederit dulcior hora diem. + Ergone tot tardos, ô lente, morabere menses? + Rex redit; ipse veni, et dic, bone, gratus ades. + Nam quid ave nostrum? quid nostri verba triumphi? + Vagitu melius dixeris ista tuo. + At maneas tamen, et nobis nova causa triumphi: + Sic demum fueris; nec nova causa tamen: + Nam quoties Carolo novus aut nova nascitur infans, + Revera toties Carolus ipse redit. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO THE ROYAL INFANT NOT YET BORN, + +THE QUEEN BEING WITH CHILD. + + Be born, O, now; for why, fair child, delay? + No sweeter hour will bring to thee the day. + So many months wilt linger on the wing? + The King returns; come thou, and welcome bring. + What is our hail? our voice of triumph high? + Thou wilt have said these better with thy cry. + But stay; and soon new cause of triumph be; + And yet in thee no new cause shall we see: + Oft as to Charles is born new girl, new boy, + Sure Charles himself returns, and brings us joy. R. WI. + + + + +IN FACIEM AUGUSTISSIMI REGIS + +A MORBILLIS INTEGRAM.[122] + + + Musa redi, vocat alma parens Aeademia: noster + En redit, ore suo noster Apollo redit; + Vultus adhuc suus, et vultu sua purpura tantum + Vivit, et admixtas pergit amare nives. + Tune illas violare genas? tune illa profanis, + Morbe ferox, tentas ire per ora notis? + Tu Phoebi faciem tentas, vanissime? Nostra + Nec Phoebe maculas novit habere suas. + Ipsa sui vindex facies morbum indignatur; + Ipsa sedet radiis ô bene tuta suis: + Quippe illic Deus est. coelumque et sanctius astrum: + Quippe sub his totus ridet Apollo genis. + Quod facie Rex tutus erat, quod caetera tactus: + Hinc hominem Rex est fassus, et inde Deum. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO THE FACE OF THE MOST AUGUST KING. + +UNINJURED BY SMALL-POX. + + Come, Muse, at call of thy Academy: + With his own face our Phoebus here we see; + His face his own yet, with its own red dyed, + Which with its whiteness loves to be allied. + O fierce disease, dost thou, with marks profane, + Attempt these cheeks, that countenance, to stain? + Most futile! Dost attempt our Phoebus' face? + Not in our Phoebe her own spots canst trace. + His self-asserting face disdains disease; + 'Mid its own rays it sits, O well at ease. + Sure God and heaven and holiest star are here; + Sure 'neath these cheeks smiles Phoebus full and clear. + Our King being safe in face, but touch'd elsewhere, + Proves he was here a god, though a man there. R. WI. + + +IN SERENISSIMAE REGINAE + +PARTUM HIEMALEM.[123] + + Serta, puer; quis nunc flores non præbeat hortus? + Texe mihi facili pollice serta puer. + Quid tu nescio quos narras mihi; stulte, Decembres + Quid mihi cum nivibus? da mihi serta, puer. + Nix et hiems? non est nostras quid tale per oras; + Non est, vel si sit, non tamen esse potest. + Ver agitur: quaecunque trucem dat larva Decembrem, + Quid fera cunque fremant frigora, ver agitur. + Nonne vides quali se palmite regia vitis + Prodit, et in sacris quae sedet uva jugis? + Tam laetis quae bruma solet ridere racemis? + Quas hiemis pingit purpure tanta genas? + O Maria, ô divum soboles, genitrixque deorum, + Siccine nostra tuus tempora ludus erunt? + Siccine tu cum vere tuo nihil horrida brumae + Sidera, nil madidos sola morare notos? + Siccine sub media poterunt tua surgere bruma, + Atque suas solum lilia nosse nives? + Ergo vel invitis nivibus frendentibus Austris, + Nostra novis poterunt regna tumere rosis? + O bona turbatrix anni, quae limite noto + Tempora sub signis non sinis ire suis; + O pia praedatrix hiemis, quae tristia mundi + Murmura tam dulci sub ditione tenes; + Perge, precor, nostris vim pulchram ferre calendis; + Perge, precor, menses sic numerare tuos. + Perge intempestiva atque importuna videri; + Inque uteri titulos sic rape cuncta tui. + Sit nobis sit saepe hiemes sic cernere nostras + Exhaeredatas floribus ire tuis. + Saepe sit has vernas hiemes Maiosque Decembres, + Has per te roseas saepe videre nives. + Altera gens varium per sidera computet annum, + Atque suos ducant per vaga signa dies: + Nos deceat nimiis tantum permittere nimbis? + Tempora tam tetricas ferre Britanna vices? + Quin nostrum tibi nos omnem donabimus annum: + In partus omnem expende, Maria, tuos. + Sic tuus ille uterus nostri bonus arbiter anni: + Tempus et in titulos transeat omne tuos. + Namque alia indueret tam dulcia nomina mensis? + Aut qua tam posset candidus ire toga? + Hanc laurum Janus sibi vertice vellet utroque: + Hanc sibi vel tota Chloride Maius emet. + Tota suam, vere expulso, respublica florum + Reginam cuperent te sobolemve tuam. + O bona sors anni, cum cuncti ex ordine menses + Hic mihi Carolides, hic Marianus erit! + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO HER SERENE MAJESTY, CHILD-BEARING IN WINTER. + + Garlands! bring garlands, boy! what garden now + Would not give flowers? with ready hand do thou + Weave garlands. What! December, sayst thou,--snow? + Fool! hold thy blabbing, speak of what we know. + Winter upon our shores, and snow? the thing + Is not, and cannot be. It is the Spring: + Whatever ghost threatens us with the drear + Beatings of wild December, Spring is here. + See'st thou not with what leaves the royal vine + Spreads forth, what clusters on her boughs incline? + Say, when like this was Winter ever seen + To laugh and glow in purple? O great Queen, + Offspring of gods, and mother! do we see + The seasons thus a plaything made for thee? + Thus with thy Spring mayst thou the stars restrain, + That Winter sting not, nor the South bring rain. + And do the lilies by thy grace alone + Spring up, and know no snows except their own? + In spite of all that Winter may oppose, + Are thus our kingdoms blooming with the rose? + O thou most blest disturber of the year, + Who sufferest not the bounded seasons here + To keep i' their own signs! destroyer kind + Of Winter, whose sweet influence can bind + All harsher murmurs of the world, still dare + We pray thee, thus to force our calendar + With thy fair violence; continue still + The months to number at thine own sweet will; + Still thus untimely, still thus burdensome, + Make all things subject to thy royal womb. + So, by thy grace, may it be often ours + To see dethronèd Winter deck'd in flowers; + On snow that falls i' roses still to gaze, + Sweet vernal Winters and December Mays! + Let others by the stars compute their year, + And count their days as wandering signs appear: + Not so we Britons; not for us shall storm + With cruel change our seasons dare deform; + To thee, great Queen, our whole year we resign, + O spend it all i' those rich births of thine! + So the whole year shall own thy womb to be + Its sovereign arbitress of good; in thee + Merge all its titles. Where's the month could bear + A more delicious name, or ever wear + More whiteness? Janus, for his double crown, + Covets this laurel; Maius for his own + Would buy it, though his Chloris were the cost. + Thee or thine infant, now that Spring has lost + His ancient throne, the flow'ry states invite + To take their empire. O blest year, how bright + Thy fortunes, where each month in turn may claim + From Mary or from Charles its mighty name! G. + + +AD REGINAM + +ET SIBI ET ACADEMIAE PARTURIENTEM.[124] + + Huc ô sacris circumflua coetibus, + Huc ô frequentem, Musa, choris pedem + Fer, annuo doctum labore + Purpureas agitare cunas. + Foecunditatem provocat, en, tuam + Maria partu nobilis altero, + Prolemque Musarum ministram + Egregius sibi poscit infans. + Nempe illa nunquam pignore simplici + Sibive soli facta puerpera est: + Partu repercusso, vel absens, + Perpetuos procreat gemellos. + Hos ipsa partus scilicet efficit, + Inque ipsa vires carmina suggerit, + Quae spiritum vitamque donat + Principibus simul et Camaenis. + Possit Camaenas, non sine numine, + Lassare nostras diva puerpera, + Et gaudiis siccare totam + Perpetuis Heliconis undam. + Quin experiri pergat, et in vices + Certare sanctis conditionibus: + Lis dulcis est, nec indecoro + Pulvere, sic potuisse vinci. + Alternis Natura diem meditatur et umbras, + Hinc atro, hinc albo pignore facta parens. + Tu melior Natura tuas, dulcissima, servas-- + Sed quam dissimili sub ratione!--vices. + Candida tu, et partu semper tibi concolor omni: + Hinc natam, hinc natum das; sed utrinque diem. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO THE QUEEN. + + Hither, Muse, and bring again + Thy august surrounding train; + With measur'd tread of practis'd feet + Come, for thou hast learn'd to greet + With the voice of loyal cheer + A princely cradle year by year. + Lo, our noble Queen on thee + Calls in fruitful rivalry + By another birth; and he, + Illustrious infant, needs must have + The Muses' offspring for his slave. + Never has she yet been known + A mother for herself alone, + But by a reflected might + Even in absence doth delight + In twins ever, and while she + Thus augments her progeny, + And gives vigour to the lyre, + She doth at once with life inspire + Young princes, and the Muses' quire. + These, though not untouch'd they be + With the sacred flame, may she + Tire in her fruitful deity, + And with joys that theirs outrun, + Dry at last all Helicon! + Sweet is the strife wherein, to prove + Her powers, she deigns by rule to move; + Nor an unbecoming stain + Is the dust that they must gain, + Who in such contest can but fight in vain. + Nature, o'er day and night alternate dreaming, + Brings forth a swart child now, and now a fair: + On thee attends, O Queen in beauty beaming, + A better Nature, with a rule how rare! + Bright as thyself, thine own tend all the selfsame way; + A daughter now, and now a son; but each a child of + Day. CL. + + +SERENISSIMAE REGINAE LIBRUM SUUM + +COMMENDAT ACADEMIA. + + Hunc quoque materna, nimium nisi magna rogamus, + Aut aviae saltem sume, Maria, manu. + Est Musa de matre recens rubicundulus infans, + Cui pater est partus--quis putet?--ille tuus. + Usque adeo impatiens amor est in virgine Musa: + Jam nunc ex illo non negat esse parens. + De nato quot habes olim sperare nepotes, + Qui simul et pater est, et facit esse patrem! + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO HER MOST SERENE MAJESTY + +THE UNIVERSITY COMMENDS ITS BOOK. + + Deign, Queen, to this, unless we ask too much, + A mother's, or at least grandmother's, touch. + It is the Muse's rosy infant fine; + Its father--who would think?--this Child of thine. + So unrestrain'd the love of virgin Muse, + To be a mother thus she can't refuse. + From _him_ what grandsons round thee soon will gather, + Who at once father is, and makes a father! R. WI. + + +PRINCIPI RECENS NATAE + +OMEN MATERNAE INDOLIS.[125] + + Cresce, ô dulcibus imputanda divis; + O cresce, et propera, puella princeps, + In matris propera venire partes. + Et cum par breve fulminum minorum, + Illinc Carolus, et Jacobus inde, + In patris faciles subire famam, + Ducent fata furoribus decoris; + Cum terror sacer Anglicique magnum + Murmur nominis increpabit omnem + Late Bosporon Ottomanicasque + Non picto quatiet tremore Lunas; + Te tunc altera nec timenda paci + Poscent praelia; tu potens pudici + Vibratrix oculi, pios in hostes + Late dulcia fata dissipabis. + O eum flos tener ille, qui recenti + Pressus sidere jam sub ora ludit, + Olim fortior omne cuspidatos + Evolvet latus aureum per ignes; + Quique imbellis adhuc, adultus olim, + Puris expatiabitur genarum + Campis imperiosior Cupido; + O quam certa superbiore penna + Ibunt spicula melleaeque mortes, + Exultantibus hinc et inde turmis, + Quoquo jusseris, impigre volabunt! + O quot corda calentium deorum + De te vulnera delicata discent! + O quot pectora principum magistris + Fient molle negotium sagittis! + Nam quae non poteris per arma ferri, + Cui matris sinus atque utrumque sidus + Magnorum patet officina amorum? + Hinc sumas licet, ô puella princeps, + Quantacunque opus est tibi pharetra. + Centum sume Cupidines ab uno + Matris lumine Gratiasque centum + Et centum Veneres: adhuc manebunt + Centum mille Cupidines; manebunt + Tercentum Veneresque Gratiaeque + Puro fonte superstites per aevum. + + +TRANSLATION. + +OF THE PRINCESS MARY. + + Grow, maiden Princess, and increase, + Thou who with the sweet goddesses + Thy place shalt have; O haste to be + Thy mother's own epitome; + And when that pair of minor flames, + Thy princely brothers Charles and James, + Apt in the footsteps of their sire, + Lead on the Fates in glorious ire; + When o'er the Bosphorus shall creep + A thrill of dread, as rolls full deep + The murmur of the British name, + And with no feign'd alarm shall shame + The Turkish Crescent--other wars, + And such as bring sweet Peace no tears + Shall call thee forth; and from on high + The flashing of thy modest eye + Shall scatter o'er adoring foes + Thick volleys of delicious woes. + O, when that tender bloom which now + Plays, lately born, beneath thy brow, + In time to come with mightier blaze + Shall dart around its pointed rays; + When he, the Cupid now so mild, + No longer but a harmless child, + Shall range in youth's imperious pride + Thy cheeks' fair pastures far and wide,-- + O then with what unerring skill, + Borne on proud wings, thy shafts shall kill, + While, where thou bid'st, the honey'd blow + Falls ceaseless midst the exulting foe! + How many god-like breasts shall learn + From thee with Love's rich wounds to burn! + How often shall thy mastering darts + Work their sweet will on princely hearts! + For what may she not do in war, + Whose mother's breast--with each bright star + That rul'd her birth--to her but proves + A storehouse of all-conquering loves? + Hence for thy quiver, Princess Maid, + Take what thou wilt, nor be afraid. + A hundred Cupids be thy prize, + From one of thy bright mother's eyes; + A hundred graces add to these, + And then a hundred Venuses: + A hundred-thousand Cupids still + Are hers; three hundred Graces will, + With Venuses in equal store, + Haunt that pure fount for evermore. CL. + + + + +IN NATALES MARIAE PRINCIPIS.[126] + + + Parce tuo jam, bruma ferox, ô parce furori, + Pone animos; ô pacatae da spiritus aurae, + Afflatu leniore gravem demulceat annum. + Res certe et tempus meruit. Licet improbus Auster + Saeviat, et rabido multum se murmure volvat; + Imbriferis licet impatiens Notus ardeat alis; + Hic tamen, hic certe, modo tu non, saeva, negares, + Nec Notus impatiens jam, nec foret improbus Auster. + Scilicet hoc decuit? dum nos tam lucida rerum + Attollit series, adeo commune serenum + Laetitiae vernisque animis micat alta voluptas; + Jam torvas acies, jam squallida bella per auras + Volvere, et hibernis annum corrumpere nimbis? + Ah melius, quin luce novae reparata juventae + Ipsa hodie vernaret hiems, pulchroque tumultu + Purpureas properaret opes, effunderet omnes + Laeta sinus, nitidumque diem fragrantibus horis + Aeternum migrare velit, florumque beata + Luxurie, tanta ô circum cunabula surgat, + Excipiatque novos et molliter ambiat artus. + Quippe venit, sacris iterum vagitibus ingens + Aula sonat, venit en roseo decus addita fratri + Blanda soror. Tibi se brevibus, tibi porrigit ulnis, + Magne puer, facili tibi torquet hiantia risu + Ora; tibi molles lacrymas et nobile murmur + Temperat, inque tuo ponit se pendula collo. + Tale decus juncto veluti sub stemmate cum quis + Dat sociis lucere rosis sua lilia. Talis + Fulget honos medio cum se duo sidera mundo + Dulcibus intexunt radiis: nec dignior olim + Flagrabat nitidae felix consortio formae, + Tunc cum sidereos inter pulcherrima fratres + Erubuit primum, et Laedaeo cortice rupto + Tyndarida explicuit tenerae nova gaudia frontis. + Sic socium ô miscete jubar, tu candide frater, + Tuque serena soror. Sic ô date gaudia patri, + Sic matri cumque ille olim subeuntibus annis, + Ire inter proprios magna cervice triumphos. + Egregius volet, atque sua se discere dextra; + Te quoque tum pleno mulcebit sidere, et alto + Flore tui dulcesque oculos maturior ignis + Indole divina, et radiis intinget honoris. + Tunc ô te quoties, nisi quod tu pulchrior illa, + Esse suam Phoeben fulsus jurabit Apollo; + Tunc ô te quoties, nisi quod tu castior illa, + Esse suam Venerem Mavors jurabit inanis. + Felix, ah, et cui se non Mars, non aureus ipse + Credet Apollo parem; tanta cui conjuge celsus + In pulchros properare sinus, et carpere sacras + Delicias oculosque tuos, tua basia solus + Tum poterit dixisse sua; et se nectare tanto + Dum probat esse Deum, superas contemnere mensas. + + +TRANSLATION. + +ON THE BIRTHDAY OF THE PRINCESS MARY. + + Forbear thy fury, Winter fierce, forbear; + Lay down thy wrath, and let the tranquil air + With inspiration mild soothe the stern year: + This time deserves it, and occasion dear. + The wild North-wind may rage and wildly bluster; + The gusty South its rainy clouds may muster; + Yet here at least, if thou but will it so, + Neither wild North nor gusty South will blow. + For were it seemly, when events so bright + Exalt us, and the universal light + Of joy and vernal pleasure thrills the soul, + Grim lines of battling tempest-clouds should roll + Through all the air, and drown the year with rain? + Better old Winter should bright youth regain, + And turn at once to Spring; with tumult sweet + Hasten his purple stores, and joyful greet + With all his outpour'd heart this shining Day, + And bid its fragrant hours for ever stay; + Making a radiant wealth of flowers abound + Where in her cradle that sweet Child is found, + Her tender limbs caress and softly compass round. + She comes! Once more are heard those blessèd cries + Within the palace. See a glory rise-- + A star-like glory added to the other, + A charming sister to a rosy brother! + To this she stretches out her tiny arms, + Fair Boy--for thee displays the winsome charms + Of her sweet smiles, and checks her gentle tears, + And coos and prattles to delight thine ears, + Or fondly hangs upon thy neck. Such grace + Pleases the eye, when, their stalks joined, you place + Lilies with roses to combine their splendour. + And then appears such lustrous glory tender, + When in the midst of heaven, at dewy eve, + Two stars their gentle radiance interweave. + Nor loftier grace that beauteous union show'd + When from her egg the fairest Helen glow'd + Betwixt her starry brothers, and display'd + Her tender brow with new delights array'd. + So mix your common beam, thou brother fair + And sister mild. Such joys your father share + And mother dear! And when, as seasons roll, + He moves with head erect and princely soul + Amid his proper triumphs, and shall learn + Himself by his own deeds, thou shalt discern + A riper flame within thee, heavenly dower, + And star full-orb'd shalt shine, and full-grown flower; + While a soft beauty bathes thy lustrous eyes, + And rays of majesty the world surprise. + Then O how oft, but that thou art more fair, + Will some imaginary Phoebus swear + That thou art his own Phoebe! or again + But that thou art more chaste, some Mars in vain + Will swear thou art his Venus, love's soft strain! + Ah, happy he, to whom nor Mars will dream + Nor golden Phoebus he can equal seem, + Who with a wife so sweet, so fair is blest, + And all the fond affection of thy breast, + And tender, pure endearments; who alone + Can call thy eyes and kisses all his own; + And while he quaffs such nectar'd wine of love, + Feels like a god, and scorns the feasts above. R. WI. + + +AD REGINAM.[127] + + Et vero jam tempus erat tibi, maxima mater, + Dulcibus his oculis accelerare diem: + Tempus erat, ne qua tibi basia blanda vacarent; + Sarcina ne collo sit minus apta tuo. + Scilicet ille tuus, timor et spes ille suorum, 5 + Quo primum es felix pignore facta parens, + Ille ferox iras jam nunc meditatur et enses, + Jam patris magis est, jam magis ille suus. + Indolis ô stimulos; vix dum illi transiit infans, + Jamque sibi impatiens arripit ille virum. 10 + Improbus ille suis adeo negat ire sub annis: + Jam nondum puer est, major et est puero. + Si quis in aulaeis pictas animatus in iras + Stat leo, quem docta cuspide lusit acus, + Hostis, io, est; neque enim ille alium dignabitur hostem; 15 + Nempe decet tantas non minor ira manus. + Tunc hasta gravis adversum furit; hasta bacillum est; + Mox falsum vero vulnere pectus hiat. + Stat leo, ceu stupeat tali bene fixus ab hoste, + Ceu quid in his oculis vel timeat vel amet, 20 + Tam torvum, tam dulce micant: nescire fatetur + Mars ne sub his oculis esset, an esset amor. + Quippe illic Mars est, sed qui bene possit amari; + Est et amor certe, sed metuendus amor: + Talis amor, talis Mars est ibi cernere; qualis 25 + Seu puer hic esset, sive vir ille Deus. + Hic tibi jam scitus succedit in oscula fratris; + Res, ecce, in lusus non operosa tuos. + Basia jam veniant tua quantacunque caterva; + Jam quocunque tuus murmure ludat amor. 30 + En, tibi materies tenera et tractabilis hic est; + Hic ad blanditias est tibi cera satis. + Salve infans, tot basiolis, molle argumentum, + Maternis labiis dulce negotiolum; + O salve; nam te nato, puer auree, natus 35 + Et Carolo et Mariae tertius est oculus. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO THE QUEEN. + + 'Twas now the time for thee, Mother most great, + With these sweet eyes the day to accelerate; + Time thy soft kisses should not idle be, + Or from fit burden thy fair neck be free. + For he, his parents' fear and hope confest, + With whom thou first wast made a mother blest, + He wraths and swords designs, courageous grown; + Now more his father's is, and more his own. + O spurs of nature! yet an infant, see + He catches at the man impatiently, + The rogue declines to keep in his own years; + Not yet a child, he more than child appears. + If on the tapestry, with feign'd anger fraught, + A lion stands, by skilful needle wrought, + A foe behold; such foe to fight he deigns; + A lesser wrath his mighty hand disdains. + Fierce spear he brandishes; a wand his spear: + Soon in false breast behold true wound appear. + The lion stands, maz'd by such enemy, + Fearing or loving something in his eye, + So sternly, sweetly bright; nor can he tell + Whether beneath that eye Mars or Love dwell. + In sooth, a Mars who may be lov'd is here; + And Love indeed, but Love deserving fear. + Such Love, such Mars, 'tis easy here to scan; + This god or that, as he is boy or man. + Thy babe now comes to take the endearing place, + A creature not beyond thy fond embrace. + Now let thy troops of kisses have their way, + Now let thy love with brooding murmur play; + Here is material tractable and tender, + Which waxen surface to soft touch shall render. + Hail, infant! gentle subject for caresses, + Employment sweet a mother's lips which blesses; + O hail; for with thy birth, thou golden boy, + Lo, to thy parents a third eye brings joy! R. WI. + + +VOTIVA DOMUS PETRENSIS + +PRO DOMO DEI.[128] + + Ut magis in mundi votis aviumque querelis + Jam veniens solet esse dies, ubi cuspide prima + Palpitat, et roseo lux praevia ludit ab ortu; + Cum nec abest Phoebus, nec Eois laetus habenis + Totus adest, volucrumque procul vaga murmura mulcet: + Nos ita; quos nuper radiis afflavit honestis 6 + Relligiosa dies; nostrique per atria coeli-- + Sacra domus nostrum est coelum--jam luce tenella + Libat adhuc trepidae fax nondum firma diei: + Nos ita jam exercet nimii impatientia voti, 10 + Speque sui propiore premit. + Quis pectora tanti + Tendit amor coepti, desiderio quam longo + Lentae spes inhiant, domus o dulcissima rerum, + Plena Deo domus! Ah, quis erit, quis, dicimus, ille-- + O bonus, ô ingens meritis, ô proximus ipsi, 16 + Quem vocat in sua dona, Deo--quo vindice totas + Excutiant tenebras haec sancta crepuscula? + Quando, + Quando erit, ut tremulae flos heu tener ille diei, 20 + Qui velut ex oriente suo jam altaria circum + Lambit, et ambiguo nobis procul anuit astro, + Plenis se pandat foliis, et lampade tota + Laetus, ut e medio cum sol micat aureus axe, + Attonitam penetrare domum bene possit adulto 25 + Sidere, nec dubio pia moenia mulceat ore? + Quando erit, ut convexa suo quoque pulchra sereno + Florescant, roseoque tremant laquearia risu? + Quae nimium informis tanquam sibi conscia frontis + Perpetuis jam se lustrant lacrymantia guttis? 30 + Quando erit, ut claris meliori luce fenestris + Plurima per vitreos vivat pia pagina vultus? + Quando erit, ut sacrum nobis celebrantibus hymnum + Organicos facili et nunquam fallente susurro + Nobile murmur agat nervos; pulmonis iniqui 35 + Fistula nec monitus faciat malefida sinistros? + Denique, quicquid id est quod res hic sacra requirit, + Fausta illa et felix--sitque ô tua--dextra, suam cui + Debeat haec Aurora diem. Tibi supplicat ipsa, + Ipsa tibi facit ara preces. Tu jam illius audi, 40 + Audiet illa tuas. Dubium est, modo porrige dextram, + Des magis, an capias: audi tantum esse beatus, + Et damnum hoc lucrare tibi. + Scis ipse volucres + Quae rota volvat opes; has ergo, hic fige perennis 45 + Fundamenta Domus Petrensi in rupe, suamque + Fortunae sic deme rotam. Scis ipse procaces + Divitias quam prona vagos vehat ala per Euros; + Divitiis illas, age, deme volucribus alas, + Facque suus nostras illis sit nidus ad aras: 50 + Remigii ut tandem pennas melioris adeptae, + Se rapiant, dominumque suum super aethera secum. + Felix ô qui sic potuit bene providus uti + Fortunae pennis et opum levitate suarum, + Divitiisque suis aquilae sic addidit alas. 55 + + +TRANSLATION. + +THE PRAYER OF PETERHOUSE FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD [=ITS CHAPEL]. + + As bids the Day a keener longing stir + The waking world, and warblings cheerier + To birds inspires, when comes she o'er the hills, + As quivering dart the streaks of Morn, and thrills + Through lattic'd sky from roseate East the light + Presaging his approach; nor absent quite, + Nor glorying in his slacken'd reins, the Sun + Is present all; and birds, to music won + By gentle touch, are murmuring far and near,-- + So we, on whom with radiance severe + A solemn day begins to dawn; whose eye + Now sees glide through the heavenly courts which lie, + With portals wide--God's house is heaven, we say-- + The flame unsteady of still wavering Day + Slenderly stealing in; the prospect nigher, + Our hearts too labour with extreme desire, + And throb with hopes impatient of their end. + How love of such a work our heart doth rend! + How long desire makes hopes in leash restrain'd + To pant! O sweetest House, on which has rain'd + The torrent of God's fulness. Ah, who is he, + Ah, who--O good, O huge in charity, + O nigh to God Himself,--Whom to descend + On His own gracious gifts he prays--shall lend + This sacred twilight power to drive away + All gloom, and shake her raiment into day? + Ah, when, thou pitifully trem'lous bloom + Of glimmering Day, that as from bridal room + In the Orient cam'st to kiss our altar-stone, + And beckonest to us from a star alone, + In yonder distance shining doubtfully,-- + Ah, when wilt thou expand to Day, and, free + In conscious joy of thy full splendour, pour + A flood of light, as when the Sun doth soar + In golden mid-day, and, to full age grown, + Shine through and through the pile, and make it own + With awe thy sway, nor let the sacred walls + Doubt thy embrace? + Blest he to whom befalls + To see the vaulted roofs span their fair sky, + And break in flowers, while fretted ceilings lie + Trembling with rosy laughter; which do now, + As wearing of their shame a conscious brow, + Bedew their formless face with dropping tear. + When shall it be? the window growing clear + With better light, that many a page devout + May live, and life from glassy face breathe out. + Ah, when, as hymn of praise we celebrate, + Shall solemn-breathing murmur make vibrate + The organ's nerves with graceful ceaseless hum; + Nor pipe of lung unjust intruding come, + Each harsh, uncertain note for ever dumb? + Whatever else, in fine, this Sanctuary + May need, that right-hand bless'd and happy be, + And be it thine! to which the Dawn shall owe + Its day. The altar kneels to thee. Do thou + List to her prayer, and she will thine allow; + Stretch out thy laden hand, and doubtful live + Whether thou dost not more receive than give; + That thou art happy do thou only hear, + And turn thy loss to gain in yonder sphere. + Thou know'st what wheel makes riches fly away; + These riches therefore here securely lay, + Fountains of a House perennial, + On the Petrensian rock; from Fortune shall + Her own wheel thus be wrench'd. Thou knowest how prone + A wing bears up unconstant riches, blown + On vagrant, veering winds. Come, take away + These wings from fleeting riches, make them stay + At these our altars, and build here their nest; + Till arm'd with wings to better flight redress'd, + They may transport themselves to the home of rest, + Bearing their master with them. + Blest that man + Who knowing prudently the times to scan, + The airiness of wealth to profit brings, + And him on Fortune's pinions deftly flings, + And to his riches adds an eagle's wings. S.S. + + + + +IN CAETERORUM OPERUM + +DIFFICILI PARTURITIONE GEMITUS.[129] + + + O felix nimis illa, et nostrae nobile nomen + Invidiae volucris, facili quae funere surgens + Mater odora sui, nitidae nova fila juventae, + Et festinatos peragit sibi fata per ignes. + Illa, haud natales tot tardis mensibus horas 5 + Tam miseris tenuata moris, saltu velut uno + In nova secla rapit sese, et caput omne decoras + Explicat in frondes, roseoque repullulat ortu. + Cinnameos simul illa rogos conscenderit, omnem + Laeta bibit Phoebum, et jam jam victricibus alis 10 + Plaudit humum cineresque suos. + Heu, dispare fato + Nos ferimur; seniorque suo sub Apolline phoenix + Petrensis mater, dubias librata per auras + Pendet adhuc, quaeritque sinum in quo ponat inertes 15 + Exuvias, spoliisque suae reparata senectae + Ore pari surgat, similique per omnia vultu. + At nunc heu nixu secli melioris in ipso + Deliquium patitur! + At nunc heu lentae longo in molimine vitae 20 + Interea moritur! Dubio stant moenia vultu + Parte sui pulchra, et fratres in foedera muros + Invitant frustra, nec respondentia saxis + Saxa suis; moerent opera intermissa, manusque + Implorant. 25 + Succurre piae, succurre parenti, + O quisquis pius es. Illi succurre parenti, + Quam sibi tot sanctae matres habuere parentem. + Quisquis es, ô tibi, crede, tibi tot hiantia ruptis + Moenibus ora loqui. Matrem tibi, crede verendam 30 + Muros tam longo laceros senioque situque + Ceu canos monstrare suos. Succurre roganti. + Per tibi plena olim, per jam sibi sicca precatur + Ubera, ne desis senio. Sic longa juventus + Te foveat, querulae nunquam cessura senectae. 35 + + +TRANSLATION. + +A GROAN + +ON OCCASION OF THE DIFFICULT PARTURITION OF THE REMAINING WORKS OF +PETERHOUSE. + + O bird too fortunate, whose glorious name + Fills us with envy of her happy fame, + Which by an easy death on soaring wing, + Sweet mother of herself, doth upwards spring, + Assumes afresh her shining youth's attire, + And wins new lease of life through hasten'd fire! + She--not through slow-revolving natal days + To a thin shadow worn by sad delays-- + Transports herself into another round + Of centuries, as by a single bound; + With beauteous leaves her head she covers o'er, + And with a rosy birth shoots forth once more. + Soon as she climbs the spicy funeral pyre + Joyful she drinks the sun, and mounting higher, + Now, now the ground her wings victorious strike, + And her own ashes. + But, alas, we follow + No such example. 'Neath her own Apollo, + Our Mother Peterhouse, now ancient grown, + Our agèd Phoenix, hither, thither blown, + And balancing herself on doubtful air, + Hovers with wing uncertain, seeking where + Her relics she may lay, worn out with toils, + As in a nest, and from the very spoils + Of her own age renew'd, she may arise + In perfect comeliness of face and eyes, + As in the days of old, to mount the skies. + But now, alas, e'en in the very throes + Of her reviving age our Phoenix knows + And keenly feels a sad deficiency. + Alas, in life's long lingering effort she + Now in the mean while dies. Of doubtful face, + Her buildings seem in part bedeck'd with grace; + But elsewhere, heedless of inviting calls + To union, stand the unfinish'd brother walls. + On unresponsive ears the summons falls; + As stones to fellow-stones appealing turn, + The interrupted works together mourn, + And beg a helping hand. O, succour bring, + Whoe'er is pious, to the parent wing + Which shelter'd thee beneath its holy shade, + And gave so many mother churches[130] aid + Parental; O, be now thy help display'd. + Whoe'er thou art, the ruin'd courts to thee + With gaping mouths are speaking audibly. + Thy reverend mother would thine eyes engage + To view thy walls, dismantled long with age + And base neglect, and ponder her gray hair. + By the full breasts which once she offer'd thee, + By the dry breasts which she is doom'd to see + Now for herself, she cries imploringly: + 'My age to help, O fail not to appear; + So may long-lasting youth thy bosom cheer, + Youth which complaining age shall never fear.' R. WI. + + +TRANSLATION (_more freely_). + +A LAMENT + +OVER THE SLOW RESTORATION OF PETERHOUSE-COLLEGE BUILDINGS. + + O Phoenix, all-too-happy bird, + Who enviless thy fame has heard? + Thou, thine own mother, from the pyre-- + Spices mix'd with flickering fire-- + Sweetly didst thy breath suspire; + Then rose again, and thy age gone + In a swift resurrection-- + Gone! by wondrous mystic skill + Wearing a richer plumage still, + Youth renew'd from feet to bill,-- + Thou didst not linger in thine age, + Nor a slow weary struggle wage, + With changing cures and long delay + Searching for life in every way. + No; but a quick fate self-choosing, + All hindering self-ruth refusing, + Thou didst raise thy funeral pyre, + Thou didst hovering i' the fire, + From amidst the perfum'd flame + Spring up, immortal as thy fame. + Thou didst lift thy comely head, + Ev'ry moulting feather shed; + Thou didst raise thy radiant breast + Blazing to the blazing West. + O Phoenix, thou'rt an awful bird; + Who enviless thy fame has heard? + Climbing to thy funeral pyre, + Climbing self-martyr'd to the fire, + Sweetly there to bear thine ire; + Fetching down from the great sun + To pilèd nest of cinnamon + Rays intense; then upward winging, + Sudden from thine ashes springing; + Victorious by this quaint mewing, + Life strangely out of death renewing; + Now i' the red fire consuming, + Next at the sun thine eyes reluming. + Alas, how different is the fate + In this our later age, ingrate, + Of her, my mother-college, lying + All desolate and slowly dying; + Lifting but a feeble wing, + Though once, as Phoenix of the fire, + Springing immortal from its pyre; + When Apollo and the Graces + Reign'd where Ruin now defaces, + Gave her, when she shone in splendour, + Orator, sage, and poet tender; + Gave her sons, noble and good, + Better than the bluest blood: + O how chang'd, since those days olden + Such as in the ages golden, + I behold her, smitten, lorn, + And by every Fury torn, + Hanging in uncertain strife + As it were 'twixt death and life; + Doubting whether e'en she shall + Have so much as funeral; + Her corpse laid in some quiet bay, + Where the sea-waves softly play; + Willing they should take her bones-- + Her time-stain'd, rent, and shatter'd stones; + If only thus but once again + Rebuilded, she might yet attain + To something of her old renown + By such resurrection, + And, phoenix-like, herself out-do + In her best days when she was new. + O ye sons, your mother own + In her desolation; + Own her, though in aging years + She shows few and thin gray hairs, + Where once,--ah--in brave times of old-- + Flash'd her proud locks with sheen of gold. + Ah, Peter nam'd, thou art denied, + Thus is thy name verified. + 'Tis a spectacle for tears; + 'Tis a spectacle for fears; + 'Tis a spectacle for wonder; + 'Tis a crime deserves the thunder, + That from base to gold-touch'd ceiling + Day by day her halls are reeling; + Mullion'd window torn and rent, + And destruction imminent; + Everywhere such gaping wounds + As a stranger e'en astounds; + And what was in faith begun + Left in desolation; + Stone to stone in mute appealing, + Cold neglect and scorn revealing, + And the font of tears unsealing. + Sons of my Mother-College lying + All in ruins and slow dying, + If ye have aught of piety + Or least touch of charity, + Look on these broken walls, and see + Your mother in her misery; + Holding up, in vain appealing, + Wither'd hands, her woes revealing; + And in the rank growths tangled there + See her dishonourèd gray hair. + Woe is me, her genial breast, + Which so many sons has blest, + Each all welcoming that came, + Drawn by her renownèd name, + Wither'd, shrunk, can quench no thirst, + Ah, my heart with grief will burst. + To my dim eye there rises clear + The full tide that once roll'd here; + Now shingle, sand, and fest'ring mud + Tell of the far-refluent flood. + O, pity her, ye sons, and vow + Once more to crown your mother's brow; + Once more to rear her crumbling walls; + Once more to gather in her halls + The young, the brave, the true, the good, + The wise, the noble; and the Rood + Over all shall bless and keep; + So in old age ye shall not weep, + Nor ever shall your fair fame sleep. G. + + +VENERABILI VIRO MAGISTRO TOURNAY, + +TUTORI SUO SUMME OBSERVANDO. + + Messis inauravit Cereri jam quarta capillos, + Vitis habet Bacchum quarta corona suae, + Nostra ex quo, primis plumae vix alba pruinis, + Ausa tuo Musa est nidificare sinu. + Hic nemus, hic soles, et coelum mitius illi; 5 + Hic sua quod Musis umbra vel aura dedit. + Sedit ibi secura malus quid moverit Auster, + Quae gravis hibernum vexerit ala Jovem. + Nescio quo interea multum tibi murmure nota est: + Nempe sed hoc poteras murmur amare tamen. 10 + Tandem ecce, heu simili de prole puerpera! tandem + Hoc tenero tenera est pignore facta parens. + Jamque meam hanc sobolem, rogo, quis sinus alter haberet? + Quis mihi tam noti nempe teporis erat? + Sed quoque et ipsa meus, de te, meus, improba, tutor, 15 + Quam primum potuit dicere, dixit, erit. + Has ego legitimae, nec laevo sidere natae + Non puto degeneres indolis esse notas; + Nempe quod illa suo patri tam semper apertos, + Tam semper faciles norit adire sinus. 20 + Ergo tuam tibi sume: tuas eat illa sub alas: + Hoc quoque de nostro, quod tuearis, habe. + Sic quae Suada tuo fontem sibi fecit in ore, + Sancto et securo melle perennis eat. + Sic tua, sic nullas Siren non mulceat aures, 25 + Aula cui plausus et sua serta dedit. + Sic tuus ille, precor, Tagus aut eat obice nullo, + Aut omni, quod adhuc, obice major eat. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO THE VENERABLE MAN MASTER TOURNAY, + +MY TUTOR MOST REVERED.[131] + + A fourth time now our glebe for Ceres bears + The golden locks of harvest; Bacchus wears + Now the fourth season his bright vine-leaf crown, + Since, scant'ly hoar as yet with the soft down + Of her first plumage, in thy gentle breast + My young Muse dar'd to build herself a nest. + Here found she sun and shade and gentler heaven, + And what with these is by the Muses given + Were hers. Here sat she careless how the skies + Might darken, or the blasts of winter rise; + And here her voice reach'd thee, but by what move + Of fate I know not, only that thy love + Her voice did win; and now at length behold-- + And ah, how much the child her arms enfold + Is like the mother!--she in tender years + The parent of a tender babe appears. + What lap, then, for this infant shall I find + Fitter than thine, or known by me so kind? + Yea, soon as she could speak, the wanton, she + Said, 'He shall be my guardian,' meaning thee; + And no ill forecast I would deem is this + Of Genius true and favouring deities, + That she so early should a sire divine + Always so open, always so benign. + Take, then, thine own--she is beneath thy wing-- + And of this gift accept the offering. + So may Persuasion, who her fount has made + Upon thy lips, still pour from thence unstay'd + Her sacred honey; so be at the Court, + Whereto with plausive wreaths she doth resort, + No ears thy Siren move not; so, I pray, + No hindering bar thy Tagus strive to stay, + Or only such as erst thy stream has swept away. CL. + + + + +ORNATISSIMO VIRO PRAECEPTORI SUO + +COLENDISSIMO MAGISTRO BROOK. + + + O mihi qui nunquam nomen non dulce fuisti, + Tunc quoque cum domini fronte timendus eras; + Ille ego pars vestri quondam intactissima regni, + De nullo virgae nota labore tuae, + Do tibi quod de te per secula longa queretur, + Quod de me nimium non metuendus eras: + Quod tibi turpis ego torpentis inertia sceptri + Tam ferulae tulerim mitia jura tuae. + Scilicet in foliis quicquid peccabitur istis, + Quod tua virga statim vapulet, illud erit; + Ergo tibi haec poenas pro me mea pagina pendat. + Hic agitur virgae res tibi multa tuae. + In me igitur quicquid nimis illa pepercerit olim, + Id licet in foetu vindicet omne meo. + Hic tuus inveniet satis in quo saeviat unguis, + Quodque veru docto trans obeliscus eat: + Scilicet haec mea sunt; haec quas mala scilicet: ô si, + Quae tua nempe forent, hic meliora forent! + Qualiacunque, suum norunt haec flumina fontem-- + Nilus ab ignoto fonte superbus eat-- + Nec certe nihil est qua quis sit origine. Fontes + Esse solent fluvii nomen honorque sui. + Hic quoque tam parvus, de me mea secula dicant, + Non parvi soboles hic quoque fontis erat. + Hoc modo et ipse velis de me dixisse: Meorum + Ille fuit minimus--sed fuit ille meus. + + +TRANSLATION. + +TO THAT MOST CULTURED MAN, + +HIS MOST ESTIMABLE TUTOR MASTER BROOK.[132] + + O thou, whose name to me was still endear'd + E'en when the master's brow was justly fear'd; + I, of thy realm the most inviolate part, + By touch of thy birch-rod ne'er taught to smart, + Give thee what through long years complains of thee + That thou wast not enough a fear to me; + That I, base subject of thy sceptre slow, + Thy ferule's milder sway should only know. + Sooth, in these leaves what faults soe'er thou see, + Thy rod in every case should punish'd be. + Then let this page for me the suffering pay; + Here certainly thy rod may have full play; + Howe'er that rod to me was once too mild, + It may revenge it all on this my child; + Here will thy nail discover where to rage, + And scratch a learnèd blot across the page. + These which are bad, forsooth, these things are mine; + Would they were better, that they might be thine! + Whate'er they are, these streams their fountain know, + Nile from an unknown fount may proudly go. + Not lightly what one's source may be we deem; + Fountains give name and honour to their stream. + So small--my times perhaps may say of me-- + An offspring of no fountain small was he. + Only to say of me may it be thine: + 'He was my least indeed--but he was mine!' R. WI. + + +IN REV. DRE. BROOKE EPITAPHIUM.[133] + + Posuit sub ista, non gravi, caput terra + Ille, ipsa quem mors arrogare vix ausa + Didicit vereri, plurimumque suspenso + Dubitavit ictu, lucidos procul vultus, + Et sidus oris acre procul prospectans. + Cui literarum fama cum dedit lumen, + Accepit, atque est ditior suis donis. + Cujus serena gravitas faciles mores + Muliere novit; cujus in senectute + Famaeque riguit, et juventa fortunae. + Ita brevis aevi, ut nec videri festinus; + Ita longus, ut nec fessus. Et hunc mori credis? + + +TRANSLATION. + +EPITAPH ON REV. DR. BROOK. + + Beneath this earth, strew'd lightly, lies the head + Of one whom Death himself had learnt to dread, + Scarce venturing to claim; and falter'd much + Ere he allow'd his threatening stroke to touch + That sacred presence. These bright eyes from far + He view'd; from far that face ray'd like a star. + On whom when fame of letters lustre drew, + He took it as his right, and richer grew + By his own gifts to learning; whose serene + Severity of manners seem'd to have been + Temper'd by woman's softness; whose good name, + In later as in early years the same, + Stood firm; his fortune equal to his fame. + His life so short, that not in haste he seem'd; + So long, that weary he might not be deem'd: + That such a one is dead, can it be dream'd? R. WI. + + + + +EPITAPHIUM IN GULIELMUM HERRISIUM.[134] + + + Siste te paulum, viator, ubi longum sisti + Necesse erit, huc nempe properare te scias quocunque properas. + Morae pretium erit + Et lacrymae, + Si jacere hic scias + Gulielmum + Splendidae Herrisiorum familiae + Splendorem maximum: + Quem cum talem vixisse intellexeris, + Et vixisse tantum; + Discas licet + In quantas spes possit + Assurgere mortalitas, + De quantis cadere. + { Infantem Essexia } + Quem { Juvenem Cantabrigia } vidit + Senem, ah infelix utraque + Quod non vidit. + Qui + Collegii Christi Alumnus + Aulae Pembrokianae socius, + Utrique ingens amoris certamen fuit, + Donec + Dulciss. lites elusit Deus, + Eumque coelestis collegii, + Cujus semper alumnus fuit, + socium fecit; + Qui et ipse collegium fuit, + In quo + Musae omnes et Gratiae, + Nullibi magis sorores, + Sub praeside religione, + In tenacissimum sodalitium coaluere. + { Oratoria Oratorem } + { Poetica Poetam } + Quem { Utraque Philosophum } agnovere. + { Christianum Omnes } + + { Fide Mundum } + { Spe Coelum } + Qui { Charitate Proximum } superavit. + { Humilitate Seipsum } + Cujus + Sub verna fronte senilis animus, + Sub morum facilitate, severitas virtutis; + Sub plurima indole, pauci anni; + Sub majore modestia, maxima indoles + adeo se occuluerunt + ut vitam ejus + Pulchram dixeris et pudicam dissimulationem: + Imo vero et mortem, + Ecce enim in ipso funere + Dissimulari se passus est, + Sub tantillo marmore tantum hospitem, + Eo nimirum majore monumento quo minore tumulo. + Eo ipso die occubuit quo Ecclesia + Anglicana ad vesperas legit, + Raptus est ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus; + Scilicet Id. Octobris anno S. 1631. + + +TRANSLATION. + +EPITAPH FOR WILLIAM HARRIS. + + Stay thee a short space here, good passer-by, + Upon thy way; + Wherein a little while thou too must lie, + Haste as thou may. + Certes thou knowest that thy life-long quest + Leads hither--to the long, long sleep and rest: + Grudge thee not, then, the tribute of a tear, + Whilst, ling'ring, to this stone thou drawest near. + It will reward thy stay, + It will thy tears repay, + To know + Below + lies + William, + Of the family of Harris, + The most splendid name + Where all have fame. + Knowing that such an one did live, + And how he liv'd--great, noble, wise-- + Know how all mortal hopes are fugitive; + Height gauging depth with 'Here he lies.' + { As infant Essex } + Whom { As youth Cambridge } saw. + Ah, miserable and lamenting both, that they + See not his golden locks in years grow gray! + He was + A student of Christ College, + A fellow of Pembroke Hall: + To have him + The two Colleges did strive + In rivalry of love: + But the great God put in His negative, + Calling him Above, + To gain ampler knowledge + In the Heavenly College, + Of which he was on earth a student consecrate; + So, when Death summon'd him, he went elate. + So wise his wit, + By genius lit, + In himself alone + Many in one, + You had a College, where + Graces and Muses fair + With Religion, you might see + Twin'd hand in hand in amity. + + { Eloquence as an Orator } + { Poetry as a Poet } + Whom { Each as a Philosopher } owned: + { All as a Christian } + + { By faith the world } + { By hope Heaven } + Who { By love his fellow-men } conquered; + { By himself himself } + + Of whom + The ripen'd mind under a youthful face; + Severest virtue under courtliest grace; + Few years his, yet mellow'd as in age; + A modesty that did all hearts engage: + These self-reveal'd and self-revealing, + That all his life seem'd but a fine concealing. + + Yea, ev'n in his death 'twas so; + For being thus at length laid low, + He chose no boastful tomb to tell + How good the life that in him fell: + By so much greater is the guest, + Smaller the mound where he doth rest: + Yea, in his death there was diminution: + Great was the guest, but see how small the stone. + On that very day he died in which the + Church of England reads its even-song: + He was snatch'd away, lest the wickedness + of the times should contaminate his understanding, + viz. 15th October A.S. 1631.[135] + + +IN EUNDEM SCAZON.[136] + + Huc, hospes, oculos flecte, sed lacrimis caecos, + Legit optime haec, quem legere non sinit fletus. + Ars nuper et natura, forma, virtusque + Aemulatione fervidae, paciscuntur + Probare uno juvene quid queant omnes, + Fuere tantae terra nuper fuit liti, + Ergo huc ab ipso Judicem manent coelo. + + +TRANSLATION. + + Stranger, bend here thine eyes, but dim with tears; + Whom weeping blinds, best reader here appears. + Art, Nature, Beauty, Virtue, all agree, + Contending late with a warm rivalry, + To show what in one youth all join'd would be. + So great the strife they caus'd on earth of late, + That here from heaven itself the Judge they wait. R. WI. + + +IN PICTURAM REVERENDISSIMI EPISCOPI + +D. ANDREWS.[137] + + Haec charta monstrat, fama quem monstrat magis, + Sed et ipsa necdum fama quem monstrat satis; + Ille, ille totam solus implevit tubam, + Tot ora solus domuit, et famam quoque + Fecit modestam: mentis igneae pater + Agilique radio lucis aeternae vigil, + Per alta rerum pondera indomito vagus + Cucurrit animo, quippe naturam ferox + Exhausit ipsam mille foetus artibus, + Et mille linguis ipse se in gentes procul + Variavit omnes, fuitque toti simul + Cognatus orbi, sic sacrum et solidum jubar + Saturumque coelo pectus ad patrios libens + Porrexit ignes: hac eum, lector, vides + Hac, ecce, charta ô utinam et audires quoque. + + + + +GLOSSARIAL INDEX. + +As in the other Worthies, this Index is intended to guide to Notes and +Illustrations of the several words in the places; but mainly in Vol. I., +as Vol. II. consists wholly of the Latin and Greek and their +translations. G. + + +A. + +Acidalian, ii. 22. + +Adult'rous, ii. 144. + +Alas, i. 181. + +All-Hallow, ii. 59. + +All-mischiefe, ii. 59. + +Alps, ii. 32. + +Ambush, i. 90. + +Apricockes, i. 269. + +Archer [badly misprinted 'anchor'], i. 176. + +Assyrian, ii. 30. + + +B. + +Baal-zebub, i. 133. + +Bilbilician, ii. 26. + +Black-fac'd, ii. 41. + +Blossome, i. 28, 207. + +Bottles, i. 15. + +Brag, ii. 35. + +Breakfast, i. 15. + +Brisk, i. 15. + +Bud, i. 93. + +Bulla, ii. 245, 251. + +Buried, ii. 72. + + +C. + +Cadence, i. 17. + +Calls 't, i. 16. + +Canary scribblers, i. xlviii. + +Case, i. 15. + +Cast, ii. 184. + +Cast away, ii. 43. + +Ceaze, i. 214. + +Chaplaine [of Virgin], i. xv. + +Cherrimock, i. 267. + +Child, ii. 28-9. + +Clouds [mortal], i. 90. + +Crawles, i. 14. + +Cruzzle, i. 15. + + +D. + +Deaw, i. 15. + +Deliquium, i. 89. + +Devil, speaking and dumbe, ii. 140. + +Divident, i. 24. + +Doome, i. xvi. + + +E. + +Ease, i. 15. + +Epigram, sacred, ii. 13. + + +F. + +Faithful, i. 16. + +Fides, ii. 101. + +Flight, i. 258. + +Fly, i. 175. + +Food, ii. 41. + +Forlorne, ii. 41. + +Forswearing, i. 133. + +Fragrant, i. 157. + +Fries, i. 118. + +Frighted, ii. 144. + +Froward, ii. 137. + +Full-fac't, ii. 53. + + +G. + +Gaie, ii. 43. + +Gloomy, ii. 41. + +Gold, i. 16. + +Golden, ii. 45. + +Groves, i. 93. + + +H. + +Heaven-burthen'd, ii. 36. + +Horn [guilded], i. 89. + +Husband-showrs, i. 74. + + +I. + +Illustrious, i. 239. + +Indifferent, i. 89. + +Ite, i. 169. + + +K. + +Kist, i. 89. + + +L. + +Laces, i. 78. + +Large-look't, i. 233. + +Least and last, i. 89. + +Legible, i. 89. + +Lightness, ii. 46. + +Lin'age, i. 119. + +Looke up, looke downe, ii. 69. + + +M. + +May balsame, i. 15. + +Med'cinable, i. 15. + +Mint, i. 16. + + +N. + +Negotiate, i. 90. + +Nest, i. 78. + +Nightening, i. 43. + +Nuzzeld, i. 15. + + +O. + +Oblique, i. 90. + +Officious, i. 75. + +One-mouth'd, ii. 46. + +One, owne, i. 24. + + +P. + +Paire, i. 17. + +Paradise, bird of, i. xv. + +Paramours, i. 78. + +Pearle-tipt, ii. 79. + +Pharian, i. 54. + +Phosporos, i. 118. + +Points, i. 75. + +Posts, i. 123. + +Precocious, ii. 12. + +Price=prize, i. 90. + +Prouoke, i. 16. + +Purple, ii. 164. + +Pyx, ii. 27. + + +R. + +Rampart, i. 253. + +Rape, ii. 144. + +Rub, i. 68. + + +S. + +Sages [sue], i. 92-3. + +Sanite, i. 13. + +Score, ii. 123. + +Seized, i. xlv. + +Send, ii. 35. + +Seven shares and a half, i. xlvi. + +Shadow ['brighter'], i. 91. + +Shipwrack, ii. 49. + +Silver-forded, footed, i. 14. + +Silver-tipt, ii. 144. + +Simpering, i. 17. + +Sixpenny soule, suburb sinner, i. xlvii. + +Sluttish, i. 18. + +Staine, ii. 99. + +Steely, i. 227. + +Stooped, i. 240. + +Strings, i. 140. + +Subtracts, ii. 12. + +Sugar, i. 179. + +Sydnæan, i. 256. + + +T. + +Then=than, i. 24, _et frequenter_. + +Thinne, i. 177. + +Threasure, i. 9. + +Tree=cross, i. 24, 46. + +Trims't, ii. 123. + +Twin'd, i. 242. + + +U. + +Uncontrouled, i. 242. + +Unpearcht, i. 68. + +Unwounded, ii. 49. + + +V. + +Veronian, ii. 25. + +Violls, i. 5. 15. + + +W. + +Washt, ii. 81. + +Wayd, i. 46. + +Wee, i. 14. + +White, i. 149; ii. 41, 165. + +Wine, i. 28. + +Worm, i. 119. + +Wrack, ii. 137. + + END OF VOL. II. + + + Finis. + + + LONDON: + + ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Crashaw's version is inadvertently inserted here instead of at p. +201. G. + +[2] See p. 261 (ll. 13-14 of the Poem) for the subject of the above +vivid illustration of the captive Bird, by Mrs. Blackburn, as before, +specially for us (in 4to). + +[3] Not to be confounded with Handsworth in Staffordshire, or Hensworth +near Doncaster. + +[4] In his Will (as before) he leaves 'to my aunt Rowthe my owne works.' +She was Dorothy, daughter of John Eyre, of Laughton, co. York. + +[5] Mr. Hunter cannot have gone about his inquiries at Handsworth with +his usual persistence, for he says (as _supra_), 'I conjecture that he +may have been born about 1575, but I do not remember of his baptism in +my extracts from the Parish Register of Hansworth, nor indeed any notice +of the name of Crashaw,' &c. The Register, as shown above, abounds in +the name of Crashaw. For the 'conjecture' of 1575 it is gratifying to be +able to substitute the baptism-record in 1572. Later, indeed, Mr. Hunter +discovered his mistake. It is not very creditable to the Rev. Dr. Gatty +that in his edition of Hunter's 'Hallamshire'--a district which includes +Handsworth--he has left the interesting facts laid to his hand unused. +Surely it was worth while to claim Crashaw as sprung of Handsworth. + +[6] I have very specially to thank Dr. Henry Hunter, of Taunton, the +Rector of Handsworth (Rev. John Hand, M.A.), and Mr. Henry Cadman, of +Ballifield Hall, for continued help in these local searches and +recoveries. Dugdale's 'Visitation of Yorkshire' (under Strafford and +Tickhill Wapentake) has other Crashaws. + +[7] His Will, as before. + +[8] Communicated by W. Aldis Wright, Esq. M.A., as before. The remainder +of the note refers to after-matters not necessary to be recorded here. + +[9] Communicated to me by Professor Mayor, of Cambridge. + +[10] On Alvey, see Brook's Puritans, ii. 85-6. + +[11] From the 'Honovr of Vertve' we also learn that Usher had baptised +our Richard; another very interesting fact. We give the opening words, +after the monumental inscription: 'The Funerall Sermon was made by +Doctor Vsher of Ireland, then in England, and now Lord Bishop of Meath, +in Ireland. It was her owne earnest request to him, that he would preach +at the baptisme of her sonne, as he had eight yeares afore, being then +also in England, at the baptisme _of her husband's elder sonne_. Now +because it proued to be both the baptisme of the sonne and buriall of +the mother, as she often said it would, he therefore spake out of this +text, 1 Sam. iv. 2.' It will be noticed that 'eight years' from 1620 +take us back to 1612-13, our Crashaw's birth-year. I add farther this on +Mrs. Crashaw: 'Being yong, faire, comely, brought vp as a gentlewoman, +in musick, dancing, and like to be of great estate, and therefore much +sought after by yong gallants and rich heires, and good joinctures +offered, yet she chose a Divine twise her owne age.' + +[12] The longest poem is anonymous. It commences with a curious +enumeration of popular 'omens' supposed to precede death or misfortune. +The lines onward put some of the sweet commonplaces of our Literature +very well: + + 'Her time was short, the longer is her rest; + God takes them soonest whom He loveth best; + For he that's borne to-day and dyes to-morrow + Looseth some dayes of ioy, but yeares of sorrow.' + +A fragment of it is in the Dr. Farmer Chetham MS. (as edited by us). + +[13] The title-page of the 'Iesvites' Gospell,' is extremely +disingenuous, as there is no hint whatever of a prior publication, and +the wording indeed is such as to make it seem that the Author, though +dead well-nigh a quarter of a century at the time, was still living; for +it thus runs: 'By W.C. And now presented to the Honourable the House of +Commons in Parliament Assembled' (1641). Crashaw senior was +Ultra-Protestant, but he is made insulting and offensive beyond his +intention, as his own title-pages show. Any title-page after 1626 was +not his. + +[14] Robert Dixon, gent., proved the Will on 16th October 1626, and +power was reserved for farther proof by Richard Crashaw, who, as under +age, could not then act. Except that young Richard is named executor, +there is no special provision made for him; and we must assume that as +only son and child he necessarily inherited his portion over and above +the (considerable) legacies. It was no uncommon thing at the period to +name one young as Master Richard an executor; there are instances even +of an unborn child being nominated. + +[15] Yet is it notable that the elder Crashaw instituted 'a daily +Morning Exercise'--reckoned High-churchly then and since. The 'Honour of +Vertue' records that 'many hundred poore soules' had to bless God for +the 'Exercise.' + +[16] Thomas Baker's note in W. Crashaw's 'Romish Forgeries' (as partly +quoted before) is utterly mistaken and misdirectedly strong: 'Erat ille +[the elder Crashaw] acerrimus Propugnator Religionis Reformatæ, quam +Filius ejus Ric. Crashaw, injuriis vexatus, pressus inopia, Patria +extorris, et complexu Matris Ecclesiæ avulsus, abjuravit.' + +[17] The passage occurs in his Sermon before 'Lord Lawarre' on setting +out for Virginia (see its title-page _ante_). After disposing of (1) the +divels, (2) the Papists, he comes, as follows, to (3) the Plaiers. 'As +for the Plaiers: (pardon me, right honourable and beloued, for wronging +this place and your patience with so base a subject), they play with +Princes and Potentates, Magistrates and Ministers, nay with God and +Religion and all holy things: nothing that is good, excellent, or holy +can escape them: how then can this action? But this may suffice, that +they are Players: they abuse Virginia, but they are Players: they +disgrace it; true, but they are but Players, and they haue played with +better things, and such as for which, if they speedily repent not, I +dare say, vengeance waites for them. But let them play on; they make men +laugh on earth, but "Hee that sits in heaven laughes them to scorne;" +because like the flie, they so long play with the candle, till first it +singe their wings, and at last burnes them altogether. But why are the +Players enemies to this Plantation and doe abuse it? I will tell you the +causes. First, for that they are so multiplied here, that one cannot +liue by another, and they see that wee send of all trades to Virginia, +but wee send no Players, which if wee would doe, they that remaine would +gaine the more at home. Secondly, as the diuell hates vs because wee +purpose not to suffer Heathens, and the Pope because wee have vowed to +tolerate no Papists, so doe the Players, because wee resolue to suffer +no idle persons in Virginia; which course, if it were taken in England, +they know they might turne to new occupations' [sheet H 3, unpaged]. The +'Talk' in Selden's 'Table-Talk' is as follows: 'I never converted but +two; the one was Mr. Crashaw, from writing against Plays, by telling him +a way how to understand that place [of putting on women's apparel], +which has nothing to do in the business [as neither has it]--that the +Fathers speak against Plays in their time with reason enough, for they +had real idolatries mixed with their Plays, having three altars +perpetually upon the stage' ('Poetry,' § 3). In confirmation farther of +our correction of a long-continued error, I find the elder Crashaw in +another of his sermons touching incidentally on the very point of +'women's apparel,' as follows: 'The ungodly playes and enterludes so +rife in this nation: what are they but a bastard of Babylon, a daughter +of error and confusion, a hellish device (the divel's own recreation to +mock at holy things), by him delivered to the heathen, from them to the +Papists, and from them to us?... They know all this, _and that God +accounts it abomination for a man to put on woman's apparel_, and that +the ancient Fathers expounded that place against them' (Sermon preached +at the Crosse, Feb. 14, 1607 ... justified by the Author ... 1609, 4to, +p. 169). Probably the preacher intimated his intention to pursue his +condemnation farther, and so the great Scholar put him right on the +well-known text. + +[18] See Professor Mayor's 'Nicholas Ferrar' (1855), pp. vi. vii. 330. +He has satisfied us that Crashaw was not the author of the Epitaph on +Nicholas Ferrar, as Sancroft supposed. See p. 144. + +[19] His reading included Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish. His +'exercises' were 'Poetry, Drawing, Limming, Graving' ('exercises of his +curious invention and sudden fancy'). See our vol. i. p. xlvii. + +[20] 'Pope Alexander the Seventh and the College of Cardinals.' By John +Bargrave, D.D., Canon of Canterbury [1662-1680]. With a Catalogue of Dr. +Bargrave's Museum. Edited by J.C. Robertson, M.A., Canon of Canterbury. +Camden Society, 1867, 4to. Todd, in his Milton (i. 250-1), first quoted +the above from the MS. + +[21] Crashaw's name is duly entered in the list of Converts of the +1648-9 edition of Dr. Carier's 'Missive to his Majesty of Great Britain +... containing the Motives of his Conversion to Catholike +Religion'--thus: 'Mr. Richard Crashaw, Master of Arts of Peterhouse, +Cambridge, now Secretary to a Cardinall in Rome, well known in England +for his excellent and ingenious Poems.' The Countess of Denbigh is also +in the list. + +[22] In its place (vol. i. p. 234) an Epitaph is headed 'Vpon Doctor +Brooke.' This may possibly have been Brook of the Charterhouse; but I +had thought it the brother of Christopher Brook (or Brooke)--Dr. Samuel +Brooke, the associate of Dr. Donne, and author of a dainty little poem +on 'Tears.' I am not aware that the Master of the Charterhouse was +'Doctor.' But his name is spelled Brooks in 'Domus Carthusiana,' p. 139. +With reference to 'Priscianus' and 'Stomachus' and 'Hymn to Venus,' &c., +two things are noticeable: (1) that earlier Crashaw was of the 'earth +earthy,' as much as any of his contemporary poets;--his 'Royal' and +other early poetry (as above) is heathenish almost--in strange and +suggestive contrast with his later, when every atom of him was +religious: (2) that he was not without humour or power of satire. It is +a man's loss to be without humour--he has a poorer nature if he be +without it; and for myself, I relish the human-ness of some of Crashaw's +earlier Verse, as distinguished from his after intensely-unearthly +spiritual Poetry. + +[23] The following entry from the Admission-Book of Pembroke College +refers to Crashaw's Tournay: 'Mar. 1, 1620. Joannes Turney, Cantianus, +annos habens [blank] admissus est sizator sub custodia Mri Duncon.' In +another account of the Fellows of Pembroke by Attwood in continuation of +Bishop Wren is this: 'Joannes Tourney, Cantianus, scholaris Collegii Mro +Vaughan [_i.e._ 20 Oct. 1627] titulum obtinet eodem anno. An. 1632 +Prædicator Academiæ. An. 1634, Thesaurarius Junior et S. Theologiæ +Baccalaureus. Thesaurarius Senior an. 1635, et Attornatus Collegii cum +Mro Vaughan in negotiis collegium quocunque modo spectantibus.' + +[24] From the Admission-Book of Christ's College I get the following: +'Gulielmus Harris, Essexiensis, filius Gulielmi Equitis de Margret-Ing. +institutus in rudimentis grammaticis sub Mro Plumtræ Scholæ publicæ de +Brentwood Archididasculo, admissus Mar. 2, 1623, ætatis 16, sub Mro +Siddall.' The family of Harris, lords of the manor of Shenfield in the +parish of Margaret-Ing in Essex, occurs in Morant's 'Essex.' Sir William +Herrys married Frances Astley. From Attwood (as before) I glean these +farther entries: 'Gulielmus Herrys, Essexiensis, Colegii Christi +alumnus, Artium Baccalaureus; electus et ille Jan. 8, an. 1630. An. 1631 +incipit in Artibus. Monitor autem illo anno, Oct. 15. Optimæ spei +juvenis.' He may have died of the plague (cf. Cooper's 'Annals of +Cambridge,' iii. 243). (From Mr. Wright, as before.) + +[25] Stanynough has also verses in the Univ. Collections of 1625 and +1633. He was buried in Queen's College Chapel, 5 March 1634-5 (St. Bot. +Regr.). I do not deem it necessary to record the college entries +concerning him, from his admission as pensioner, 30 April 1622, to +'leave to forbear to take orders,' Sept. 1631: renewed 22 July 1633. + +[26] The whole §, pp. 34-37, is full of anecdote and of rare interest, +and sorrowfully confirmatory of Crashaw's words. + +[27] I find I cannot spare room for Cowley's own separate poem on Hope. +It is in all the editions of his Poems. + +[28] Bishop Laud, in his Defence, pleads that he had retained many in +the Church of England, and names the Duke of Buckingham, spite of his +mother's and sister's influence (Works, _s.n._). Buckingham's mother was +a fervent Catholic, and here his 'sister,' _i.e._ Susan first Countess +of Denbigh, is placed with her as Roman Catholic. Other references go to +make the fact certain. I hope to be called on hereafter to give details +(as _supra_). + +[29] The poems entitled 'Prayer: an Ode which was prefixed to a little +prayer-book given to a young gentlewoman,' and 'To the same Party: +covncel concerning her choise' (vol. i. pp. 128-137), have much of the +sentiment and turn of wording of the Verse-Letters to the Countess of +Denbigh; but I have failed to discover who is designated by their 'M.R.' +It is clear she was a 'gentle'-born Lady. 'Mrs.' does not necessarily +designate a married person. She may have been a 'fair young Lady.' + +[30] The 'Epiphanie' has some of the grandest things of Crashaw, and +things so original in the thought and wording as not easily to be +paralleled in other Poets: _e.g._ '_Dread Sweet_' (l. 236), and the +superb 'Something a _brighter shadow_, Sweet, of thee' (l. 250). The +most Crashaw-like of early 'Epiphany' or Christmas Hymns is that of +Bishop Jeremy Taylor, from which I take these lines: + + 'Awake, my soul, and come away! + Put on thy best array; + Least if thou longer stay, + Thou lose some minitts of so blest a day. + Goe run, + And bid good-morrow to the sun; + Welcome his safe return + To Capricorn; + And that great Morne + Wherein a God was borne, + Whose story none can tell, + But He whose every word's a miracle.' + + (Our ed. of Bp. Taylor's Poems, pp. 22-3.) + +_En passant_, since our edition of Bishop Taylor's Poems was issued we +have discovered that a 'Christmas Anthem or Carol by T.P.,' which +appeared in James Clifford's 'Divine Services and Anthems' (1663), is +Bishop Taylor's Hymn. This we learn from 'The Musical Times,' Feb. 1st, +1871, in a paper on Clifford's book. Criticising the words as by an +unknown T.P.--ignorant that he was really criticising Bp. Jeremy +Taylor--the (I suppose) learned Writer thus appreciatively writes of the +grand Hymn and these passionate yearning words: 'Who, for instance, +could seriously sing in church such stuff as the following Christmas +Anthem or Carol, by T.P.? which Mr. William Childe (not yet made Doctor) +had set to music.' Ahem! And so on, in stone-eyed, stone-eared +stupidity.--Of modern celebrations I name as worthy of higher +recognition than it has received the following 'Hymn to the Week above +every Week,' by Thomas H. Gill; Lon., Mudie, 1844 (pp. 24). There is no +little of the rich quaint matter and manner of our elder Singers in this +fine Poem. + +[31] Cf. vol. i. p. 143. + +[32] Like Macaulay in his History of England (1st edition), Dr. +Macdonald by an oversight speaks of Crashaw as 'expelled from _Oxford_,' +instead of Cambridge (cf. our vol. i. p. 32). + +[33] The Letter of Pope to Mr. Henry Cromwell is in all the editions of +his Correspondence. Willmott (as before) also gives it _in extenso_. Of +The Weeper Pope says: 'To confirm what I have said, you need but look +into his first poem of The Weeper, where the 2d, 4th, 6th, 14th, 21st +stanzas are as sublimely dull as the 7th, 8th, 9th, 16th, 17th, 20th, +and 23d stanzas of the same copy are soft and pleasing. And if these +last want anything, it is an easier and more unaffected expression. The +remaining thoughts in that poem might have been spared, being either but +repetitions, or very trivial and mean. And by this example one may guess +at all the rest to be like this; a mixture of tender gentle thoughts and +suitable expressions, of forced and inextricable conceits, and of +needless fillers-up of the rest,' &c. &c. 'Sweet' is the loftiest +epithet Pope uses for Crashaw, and that in the knowledge of the +'Suspicion of Herod.' In The Weeper he passes some of the very finest +things. In his Abelard and Eloisa he incorporates felicities from +Crashaw's 'Alexias' within inverted commas; but elsewhere is not very +careful to mark indebtedness. + +[34] He also quotes, as complete in themselves and 'best alone,' these +two lines from No. LI.: + + 'This new guest to her eyes new laws hath given; + Twas once _look up_, 'tis now look down to heaven.' + +Dr. Robert Wilde in his Epitaph upon E.T. has the same idea, and puts it +quaintly: + + 'Reader, didst thou but know what sacred dust + Thou tread'st upon, thou'dst judge thyself unjust + Shouldst thou neglect a shower of tears to pay, + To wash the sin of thy own feet away. + That actor in the play, who, looking down + When he should cry 'O heaven!' was thought a clown + And guilty of a solecism, might have + Applause for such an action o'er this grave. + Here lies a piece of Heaven; and Heaven one day + Will send the best in heaven to fetch't away.' + + (Hunt's edition, p. 30.) + +[35] The 'conceit' is found in Vida's Christiad, lib. ii. 431, iii. 984: +also in a Hymn of St. Ambrose. Cf. too Psalm lxvii. 16. Victor Hugo has +adapted it as follows: 'Here is a whimsical explanation of the miracle +of the wedding at Cana in Galilee: + + La nymphe de ces eaux aperçut Jésus-Christ, + Et son pudique front de rougeur se couvrit.' + + The nymph of these waters perceived Jesus Christ, + And her modest brow was dyed with shame. + +(Victor Hugo: a Life, 1863, i. 269). Whence the brilliant Frenchman +fetched his 'whimsical explanation' is not doubtful. In the last line of +Crashaw's epigram the reading in Poemata Anglorum Latina is + + 'Vidit et erubuit nympha pudica Deum.' + +'Lympha' is inferior, and a (mis)reading for 'nympha.' + +[36] From _Prolusiones_ of Strada. + +[37] Gifford here has one of his many singular notes, because he could +think of no other meaning than 'merriment' for 'mirth,' which, as 'joy' +or 'gladness,' is quite in place, and indeed accurately descriptive of +the combined gladness and sadness of the pathetic contest. + +[38] Professor M'Carthy, who finds the influence of Crashaw in Shelley, +has suggested one line from the 'Suspicion' as a motto for Hood's 'Song +of the Shirt,' viz. in st. xliii. + + 'They prick a bleeding heart at every stitch.' + +(N. and Q. 2d S. v. 449-52.) + +[39] I place here a copy of the document that had gone astray (Vol. +I. p. xxxv.): 'It results from a Papal Bull dated 24th April 1649, +that Richard Crashaw, an Englishman, was admitted to a benefice +('Beneficiato') of the Basilica-Church of our Lady of Loreto, through +strong interest in his favour by Cardinal Pallotta, then Protector of +the so-called Holy House of Loreto, and in whose service Richard Crashaw +was. But as it appears from another Bull dated 25th August 1649, that a +successor was named to Richard Crashaw, it is evident that he was a +Beneficiary in Loreto for only about three months--too short a time to +furnish sufficient materials for the illustration of his +biography.--N.B. A Beneficiary in ecclesiastical hierarchy is a grade +under a Canon, and his duty in church is more assiduous than that of the +Canon; but it is not necessary to be a Beneficiary before becoming a +Canon.' + +[40] See our Essay for notice of Lany. G. + +[41] See our Essay in the present volume for notices of Lany. G. + +[42] Perhaps a virgin-priestess being dedicated is intended. G. + +[43] Balaami asinus. CR. + +[44] By a singular misprint Barksdale thus reads: + + 'The thief which bless'd upon the Cross with Me,' &c. G. + +[45] Barksdale thus renders the first couplet: + + 'Magdalen! thou prevent'st the morning light; =anticipatest + But thy Sun was already in thy sight.' G. + +[46] Phil. i. 23, {tên epithymian echôn eis to analysai}. + +[47] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the latter couplet: + + 'All things subside by their own weight: I think + Thy lightness only, Peter, makes thee sink.' + +[48] Christi scilicet. C. [The reference is to a runaway slave, whose +punishment would be crucifixion. G.] + +[49] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the latter couplet: + + 'After so many miracles done well, + He that believes not is a miracle.' + +[50] Query: Is there a punning-play on Judas' 'All Hail' (_i.e._ All +Hallow) before the Betrayal? G. + +[51] Cf. Crashaw's own hitherto unpublished poem, amplifying the +epigram, in 'Airelles,' vol. i. pp. 185-6. G. + +[52] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the closing couplet: + + 'Thou receiv'st and receiv'st not Christ; for He + Comes not into thy house, but into thee.' + +[53] Barksdale, as before, translates the last couplet thus: + + 'Enough! I have seen, have seen my Saviour: + Beside Thee, Christ, I would see nothing more.' + +[54] Joan. vii. 46. + +[55] Cf. our vol. i. pp. 50-1. G. + +[56] See vol. i. pp. 47-8, for Crashaw's own poem enlarging the +epigram. G. + +[57] Barksdale thus renders the latter couplet: + + 'That Saul was blind, I will not say: + Sure Saul was _captus lumine_.' + +[58] Ver. 24. Non enim mortua est puella, sed dormit. CR. + +[59] For Crashaw's own full rendering of this epigram, see our vol. i. +pp. 48-9. G. + +[60] Barksdale thus renders one couplet: + + 'See, O my guests, a Deity is here: + The chast nymph saw a God, and blusht for fear.' + +For Dryden's and others, see our Essay in this volume. G. + +[61] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the last couplet: + + 'To see Christ was first in my desire: + Next, having seen Thee, forthwith to expire.' + +[62] Barksdale, as before, inserts an anonymous epigram on the same +subject as _supra_, being the only one not by Crashaw in the volume. It +is as follows: '40. Mulier Canaanitis. Matt. 15. _Femina tam fortis, +&c._ + + 'O woman, how great is that faith of thine! + _Fides_ more than a grammar's feminine.' + +In another application, quaint old Dr. Worship, in his 'Earth raining +upon Heaven' (1614), in rebuking the unfeminine boldness of the sex, +says, 'Harke yee grammarians: _Hic mulier_ ere long will be good Latin' +(pp. 5, 6). G. + +[63] For Crashaw's own rendering of this epigram or poem, see our vol. +i. pp. 50-1. G. + +[64] Cf. St. Matt. iv. 3. G. + +[65] Joan. xix. 41. {en hô oudepô oudeis etethê} CR. + +[66] Ver. 2. {seismos egeneto megas.} CR. + +[67] Ver. 4. {eseisthêsan hoi têrountes, kai egenonto hôsei nekroi.} CR. + +[68] Barksdale, as before, renders the closing couplet thus: + + 'Is He the Christ? And the inquiry is + Of Himself? Why, the dumb can answer this.' + +[69] Barksdale, as before, renders the latter couplet. G. + +[70] + + Or--To the Jews it is not fire, + Yet the name best tells Heav'n's ire. G. + +[71] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the last couplet: + + 'Most worthy nest this for the Bird above; + Most worthy of this nest is th' holy Dove.' G. + +[72] Barksdale, as before, renders the latter couplet. G. + +[73] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the latter couplet: + + 'These loaves of Christ are well bestow'd: if fed + With these, they hunger after living bread.' G. + +[74] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the latter couplet: + + 'By your opposing force, Greeks, what is meant? + That you have no convincing argument.' G. + +[75] Barksdale, as before, renders the latter couplet. G. + +[76] Barksdale, as before, renders the opening couplet. G. + +[77] = reckoning or debt to be paid. G. + +[78] By an oversight Willmott renders _ora_ 'regions' instead of +'eyes.' G. + +[79] Barksdale thus renders the second couplet: + + 'This house a stable! No: Thy blessèd birth, + Jesus, converts it to a heaven on earth.' G. + +[80] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the closing couplet: + + 'John is Christ's flame; Domitian, in thine ire, + Canst thou e'er hope with oil to extinguish fire?' G. + +[81] Barksdale thus renders the latter couplet: + + 'Do, Dragon, do, thy snakes together call, + That by Christ's virtue they may perish all.' G. + +[82] Barksdale, as before, thus renders the closing couplet: + + 'Shine forth, my Sun: soon as Thy beams are felt, + Thy gracious healing beams, my snow will melt.' G. + +[83] Ver. 31. Sustulerunt lapides. CR. + +[84] ... Et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua. CR. + +[85] Act. i. Nubes susceptum eum abstulit. CR. + +[86] Crashaw must have stopped short in his Greek version of the present +and succeeding epigram. G. + +[87] Rev. i. 16. CR. + +[88] Is the allusion to Peter's following 'afar off,' and after-denial +of the Lord? G. + +[89] The allusion in l. 5 is to wrestlers anointing themselves to +prevent their adversaries grasping them. R. WI. + +[90] See the above Epigram, with only a few verbal changes, at pp. +160-1, with translation by Rev. Richard Wilton. I add my own, as the +inadvertent repetition was not observed until too late. G. + +[91] This was overlooked in its proper place as Crashaw's own rendering +of Epigram VI. p. 39. G. + +[92] LVI. and LVII. from Tanner MSS., as before. G. + +[93] Ecclesia. CR. + +[94] Cf. Wordsworth's 'A faculty for storms' ('Happy Warrior'). G. + +[95] MS. has no stop here, and leaves a space nearly wide enough for a +line. Mr. Wilton has excellently supplied it. Doubtless it was left +blank by Sancroft in order to consult the Text, or as unable to decipher +the MS. G. + +[96] I have ventured to supply a connecting line in place of the +pentameter here dropt out; which might have been something like this: + + 'Inque brevi vita splendida facta micent.' R. WI. + +[97] From 'The Recommendation' illustration in 'Carmen D. nostro' +(Paris, 1652). See vol. i. in 4to, p. 43. G. + +[98] See Illustration (in 4to) by Mrs. Blackburn to ll. 13-14 as +vignette in Essay. G. + +[99] Query, in the heading (Latin), 'In Apolline_m_'? but 'Apolline_a_' +is in all the texts. G. + +[100] Appeared originally in 1648 edition (pp. 63-4), under the title of +'Elegia.' It was subsequently headed 'In eundem,' following the +Epitaph-poem on Harris (see above). G. + +[101] In agro Sudovolgorum. + +[102] Nomen Elda (_Cancrorum idiomate_) [backwards]. + +[103] Pretium annuum haud invidendum, XX_s._ + +[104] Patibulo, quod tribus constat lignis, arrectariis binis, et trabe +transversa. + +[105] Quattuor, quia equus quadrupes videbatur in eam sententiam quasi +pedibus ire. + +[106] Vulgo acquietantia. + +[107] Organum est librite hydrobapticum ad omnium ripas situm, linguæ +fervore refrigerando. + +[108] The Common Pleas in Westminster Hall. + +[109] A writ. + +[110] The return of the writ [the morrow of All Souls]. + +[111] The plaintiff. + +[112] Stylus curiae. Si quis alicui in jurgio pilum imminuerit, prodit +tragica accusatio de insultu et vulnere, ita quod de ejus vita +desperabatur. O forensem exaggerationem! + +[113] It is not easy to bring-out the play on _terga dabit_--'terga +dare' being equivalent to 'fugere'--and yet indicative of the boy's +punishment on the back of the whipping-horse. + +[114] Alluding to Pegasus, and the fountain caused by stroke of hoof. + +[115] See Memorial-Introduction, vol. i., and our Essay in the present +Volume, for notices of Brooke. G. + +[116] See notice of Dr. Mansell in note to the translation. The present +poem is printed by Mr. Searle in his 'History of the Queen's College +&c.' 1871, pp. 448-9. G. + +[117] 'John Mansel or Mansell was of the county of Lincoln, and was +entered at the college (Queen's) as a sizar 29th March 1594, under +Clement Smith, nephew of Sir Thomas Smith. He was B.A. 1597-8, was made +scholar in 1598, and elected fellow of the college 31st June 1600. +Romney and Bilsington, priories in Kent, were founded in 1257 by John +Maunsell, provost of Beverley, treasurer of York, rector of Maidstone, +Kent, and of Wigan, Lancashire; he was also Chief-justice of England. "I +have seen a pedigree of the Mansels, from Philip de Mansel, who came in +with the Conqueror, untill our times. Of this name and familie is that +orthodoxall sound Divine and worthy Master of Queen's Colledge in +Cambridge, _John Mansel_, Doctor of Divinitie, and a generall schollare +in all good literature." (Weever, _Fun. Mon._ 273-4.) He commenced M.A. +in 1601, and was B.D. in 1609. From the year 1604 to the year 1617 he +seems to have been in residence, as he held various college offices and +college lectureships in every year of that period. He was senior bursar +for the two years 1609-10 and 1610-11. He was vicar of Hockington from +2d September 1614 to May 1616. He vacated his fellowship in the course +of the year 1616-17, receiving his stipend for three and half weeks in +the third quarter, so that he ceased to be fellow towards the end of +July 1617. He became D.D. in 1622. He was elected president [of Queen's +College] 29th April 1622.... Dr. Mansel died 7th October 1631.' (From +Mr. Searle's 'History of the Queen's College &c.,' as before, pp. +447-8.) Agreeably to the heading, Dr. Samuel Brooke died September 1631 +(MS. Baker xxvi. 167; Wood's Fasti (Bliss), pt. i. p. 400. Crashaw +celebrated Brooke, as did Dr. Donne. See English Poems in vol. i., and +Epitaphium onward. G. + +[118] See notice of Heath in note to the translation. G. + +[119] 'Lord' is titular, not of the peerage. Doubtless Crashaw +celebrates Sir Robert Heath, Kt., who was successively Recorder of +London, Solicitor-General, Attorney-General, and finally, 26th October +1631, Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas. From this post he appears to +have been dismissed three years later; but in 1641 he was appointed a +Judge of the King's Bench, and in 1643 Chief-Justice of that court, when +he would be commonly called '_Lord_ Chief-Justice of England.' Being a +Royalist, he fled into France in 1646, and died at Calais 30th August +1649. His remains were brought to England and buried at Brasted, Kent, +in which church there is a fine monument. His age was seventy-five. G. + +[120] That is, from the Scotch trip of 1663. This appeared in the +University collection, 'Rex Redux' &c. (see Preface in present Volume), +1633. Among other contributors were Edward King ('Lycidas'), Thomas +Randolph, Waller, and Henry More. G. + +[121] The following is a note of Charles I.'s family: + +Charles James, born May 13, 1628; died same day. + +Charles, born May 29, 1630; afterwards Charles II. + +Mary, born November 4, 1631; afterwards mother of William III. + +James, born October 14, 1633; afterwards James II., probably the unborn +child of this poem. + +Elizabeth, born December 28, 1635; died of grief for her father 5th +September 1650 (see Vaughan's fine poem to her memory, Works by us, +_s.n._). + +Anne, born March 17, 1636-7; died December 8, 1640. + +Henry, born July 8, 1640; afterwards Duke of Gloucester and Earl of +Cambridge. + +Henrietta-Anne, born June 16, 1644. G. + +[122] The King (Charles I.) had the small-pox in 1632. This appeared +originally in the University Collection on the occasion, 'Anthologia in +Regis,' &c. (see Preface to present volume). Henry More and Edward King +('Lycidas') contributed also. G. + +[123] See note to preceding poem. From Voces Votivæ &c. (see Preface to +this volume). G. + +[124] From 'Delights of the Muses,' 1648, pp. 47-8; not in Turnbull. G. + +[125] Turnbull gives simply as the heading 'Natales Principis Mariae.' +The date is Nov. 4, 1631. This Princess was born Nov. 4, 1631. G. + +[126] From Tanner MS., as before; hitherto unprinted. See note to +preceding poem. G. + +[127] Originally headed 'Natalis Ducis Eboracensis;' but altered as +above, as the English poem on this subject was so changed when other +children were born, and the earlier title became inapplicable. Appeared +originally in the University collection 'Ducis Eboracensis' &c. (see +Preface in present volume). This was afterwards James II. G. + +[128] On 'Peterhouse' see our Memorial-Introduction, vol. i. and Essay +in the present volume. G. + +[129] See Memorial-Introd. vol. i., and Essay in the present vol. as +below. G. + +[130] Apparently the churches in the gift of the College. W. + +[131] John Tournay was of Kent: B.A. 1623; M.A. 1627; B.D. 1634; elected +Fellow of Pembroke Hall 20th October 1627, and had the College title for +orders the same year (Loder's Framlingham, p. 250). See our Essay in +present volume on the group of College friends. G. + +[132] See Memorial-Introduction, vol. i. and our Essay, for notices of +Brooke; also present volume for other poems, &c. addressed to him. G. + +[133] Dr. Samuel Brooke, brother of Christopher Brooke, author of sweet +lines, as 'Tears,' and others. He died in September 1631. See note on +Dr. Mansell _ante_. G. + +[134] For notice of Herres or Harris, see Essay in the present volume. +Curiously enough, in line 2, the original misprints 'tempe' for 'nempe,' +as in the 'Bulla' is misprinted 'nempe' for 'tempe;' and onward 'morte' +for 'mortem;' while 'Oratorem' and 'Poetam' are exchanged wrongly. In +the heading too it is 'Dominum' for 'Gulielmum.' G. + +[135] In 1648 (last four lines), l. 2 is misprinted 'Anglica nec' for +'Anglicana,' and l. 3 'militia' for 'malitia' of 1646 edition. There is +some obscurity in the 'ad vesperas legit.' The intransitive use seems +unusual, unless it means as above = the Anglican Church performs the +evening service at the close of its day, or before it ceased to exist as +the Church of the land. Laud was now commencing those innovations which +led to the destruction of the Church of England. G. + +[136] From 'Delights of the Muses,' after 'Upon the Death of Mr. Herrys' +(of vol. i. pp. 220-1). Not given by Turnbull. G. + +[137] For Crashaw's own translation of this see vol. i. p. 217. 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