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diff --git a/44977-8.txt b/44977-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8aeed6d..0000000 --- a/44977-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9795 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. -Volume 1 of 2., by John Davies - -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/license - - -Title: The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. Volume 1 of 2. - -Author: John Davies - -Editor: Alexander B. Grosart - -Release Date: February 22, 2014 [EBook #44977] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS OF SIR JOHN DAVIES (1/2) *** - - - - -Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - Transcriber's Note: - - In this etext the following are represented by:-- - - Italics > _underscore_ - Macron > [=r] - Superscript > ^ - oe ligature > [oe] - ornate font > $ - - Greek language is shown in phonetics. - - * * * * * - - - Early English Poets. - - SIR JOHN DAVIES. - - - PRINTED BY ROBERT ROBERTS, - BOSTON. - - - - - Early English Poets. - - THE - - COMPLETE POEMS - - OF - - SIR JOHN DAVIES. - - EDITED, - - WITH - - Memorial-Introduction and Notes, - - BY THE - - REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART. - - - [Illustration] - - - _IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I._ - - - London: - CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY. - 1876. - - - - - To - THE RIGHT HONOURABLE W. EWART - GLADSTONE, M.P., &c., &c. - - SIR, - -I had the honour to place in your hands the complete Poems of SIR -JOHN DAVIES in the Fuller Worthies' Library. In now publishing -these Poems for a wider circle of readers and students, I re-dedicate -them to you. - -That I should have wished (and wish) to inscribe the Works of a man -famous as a prescient and practical Statesman, as a philosophic -Thinker, as an Orator, as a Lawyer, and as a Poet, to you, is -extremely natural; for in you, Sir,--in common with all Great Britain -and Europe, and America,--I recognize his equal, and England's -foremost living name, in nearly every department wherein the elder -distinguished himself; while transfiguring and ennobling all, is -your conscience-ruled and stainless Christian life. That you gave me -permission so to do, with appreciative and kindly words, adds to my -pleasure. Trusting that my fresh 'labour of love' (for which 'love of -labour' has been necessary) on this Worthy may meet your continued -approval, - - I am, Sir, - With high regard and gratitude, - Yours faithfully and truly, - ALEXANDER B. GROSART. - - - - -_Preface._ - - -My edition of the Complete Poems of Sir John Davies in the Fuller -Worthies' Library in 1869; since being followed up with a similarly -complete collection of his much more extensive Prose, as Volumes II. -and III. of his entire Works--met with so instant a Welcome, that very -speedily I had to return the answer of 'out of print' to numerous -applicants. Accordingly it was with no common satisfaction I agreed -to the request of the Publishers that Sir John Davies' complete Poems -should succeed Giles Fletcher's in their Early English Poets. - -In the preparation of this new edition I have carefully re-collated -the whole of the original and early editions, with the same advantage -and for the same reasons, as in Giles Fletcher's. I have likewise been -enabled to make some interesting additions, as will appear in the -respective places. - -I wish very cordially to re-thank various friends for their continued -helpfulness. Several I must specify: To Dr. Brinsley Nicholson I -am indebted for many suggestions, and spontaneous research towards -elucidating the Poems. I would specially thank B. H. Beedham, Esq., -Ashfield House, Kimbolton, for not only making a transcript of the -holograph copy of the "Twelve Wonders" in Downing College Library, -Cambridge, and of the Lines to the King in All Souls' College, -Oxford--both Colleges readily allowing this--but for his old-fashioned -enthusiasm and carefulness of scrutiny of every available source, far -and near. Biographical results will be utilized more fully elsewhere, -viz. in the Memorial-Introduction to be prefixed to the Prose in the -complete Works; but meantime and here I cannot sufficiently acknowledge -Mr. Beedham's kindness or my obligation to him. To Colonel Chester, of -Bermondsey, for ready and most useful help in family-Wills, &c., I am -as often deeply obliged. His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, was good -enough to allow me the leisurely use of his MS. of "Nosce Teipsum" at -Alnwick Castle. Dr. David Laing, of Edinburgh, again entrusted me his -Davies MSS. (See Note, Vol. II., p. 119.) - -The Poetry of Sir John Davies, weighty and imperishable though it be, -bears so small a proportion to his entire works and activities in many -departments, that it would be out of keeping to give a lengthened Life -herein. Still, in the present Memorial-Introduction will be found -very much more of accurate detail than hitherto, and corrections of -long-transmitted and accepted mistakes. - -The discovery of extremely important MSS.--including State-Papers, -and official and private Letters--in H.M. Public Record Office, the -Bodleian, Oxford, the British Museum, etc., delays my completion of -the Prose Works and the full Life; but within this year it is my hope -and expectation to issue the whole to my constituents of the Fuller -Worthies' Library. _En passant_--for the sake of others it may be -stated that the complete Works (Verse and Prose: 3 vols.) will be -readily accessible in all the leading public Libraries of the Kingdom, -and of the United States. - -I send forth this new edition of a great Poet assured that he has not -yet gathered half his destined renown:-- - - "Ah! weak and foolish men are they - Who lightly deem of Poet's lay, - That turns e'en winter months to May, - And makes the whole year warm: - 'Tis this that brings back Paradise, - Reveals its bowers by Art's device, - Instructs the fool, delights the wise, - And gives to Life its charm. - - (STEPHEN JENNER.) - - ALEXANDER B. GROSART. - - _St. George's Vestry, - Blackburn, Lancashire._ - - - - -_Contents._ - -Those marked with [*] are herein printed for the first time, or -published for the first time among Davies' Poems. - - - PAGE - - DEDICATION i - - PREFACE iii - - MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION--I. BIOGRAPHICAL xi - - " " II. CRITICAL lvii - - " " III. POSTSCRIPT cvi - - NOSCE TEIPSUM 1-118 - - NOTE 3 - - ROYAL DEDICATION 9 - - *DEDICATION OF A GIFT-COPY (IN MS.) IN THE POSSESSION - OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, - AT ALNWICK CASTLE 12 - - OF HUMANE KNOWLEDGE 15 - - OF THE SOULE OF MAN AND THE IMMORTALITIE THEREOF 25 - - What the soule is 29 - - That the soule is a thing subsisting by it selfe - without the body 29 - - That the soule is more then a perfection or reflection - of the sense 35 - - That the Soule is more then the Temperature of - the Humors of the Body 39 - - That the Soule is a Spirit 41 - - That it cannot be a Body 42 - - That the Soule is created immediately by God 45 - - Erronious opinions of the Creation of Soules 46 - - Objection:--That the Soule is Extraduce 47 - - The Answere to the Obiection 49 - - Reasons drawne from Nature 49 - - Reasons drawne from Diuinity 52 - - Why the Soule is United to the Body 60 - - In what manner the Soule is united to the Body 61 - - How the Soul doth exercise her Powers in the Body 63 - - The Vegetatiue or quickening Power 63 - - The power of Sense 64 - - Sight 65 - - Hearing 67 - - Taste 68 - - Smelling 69 - - Feeling 70 - - The Imagination or Common Sense 70 - - The Fantasie 71 - - The Sensitiue Memorie 72 - - The Passions of Sense 73 - - The Motion of Life 74 - - The Locall Motion 74 - - The intellectuall Powers of the Soule 75 - - The Wit or Understanding 75 - - Reason, Vnderstanding 76 - - Opinion, Judgement 76 - - The Power of Will 78 - - The Relations betwixt Wit and Will 78 - - The Intellectuall Memorie 79 - - An Acclamation 81 - - That the Soule is Immortal, and cannot Die 82 - - Reason I--Drawne from the desire of Knowledge 83 - - Reason II--Drawn from the Motion of the Soule 85 - The Soul compared to a Riuer 85 - - Reason III--From Contempt of Death in the - better Sort of Spirits 90 - - Reason IV--From the Feare of Death in the - Wicked Soules 92 - - Reason V--From the generall Desire of Immortalitie 93 - - Reason VI--From the very Doubt and Disputation - of Immortalitie 95 - - That the Soule cannot be destroyed 96 - - Her Cause ceaseth not 96 - - She hath no Contrary 96 - - Shee cannot Die for want of Food 97 - - Violence cannot destroy her 98 - - Time cannot destroy her 98 - - Objections against the Immortalitie of the Soule 99 - - Objection I 100 - - Answere 100 - - Objection II 104 - - Answere 105 - - Objection III 106 - - Answere 106 - - Objection IV 108 - - Answere 109 - - Objection V 110 - - Answere 110 - - The Generall Consent of All 111 - - Three Kinds of Life answerable to the three - Powers of the Soule 113 - - An Acclamation 114 - - APPENDIX--REMARKS PREFIXED TO NAHUM TATE'S - EDITION (1697) OF 'NOSCE TEIPSUM' 118 - - HYMNES TO ASTRAEA 125 - - NOTE 127 - - Of Astraea 129 - - To Astraea 130 - - To the Spring 131 - - To the Moneth of May 132 - - To the Larke 133 - - To the Nightingale 134 - - To the Rose 135 - - To all the Princes of Europe 136 - - To Flora 137 - - To the Moneth of September 138 - - To the Sunne 139 - - To her Picture 140 - - Of her Minde 141 - - Of the Sun-beames of her Mind 142 - - Of her Wit 143 - - Of her Will 144 - - Of her Memorie 145 - - Of her Phantasie 146 - - Of the Organs of her Minde 147 - - Of the Passions of her Heart 148 - - Of the innumerable vertues of her Minde 149 - - Of her Wisdome 150 - - Of her Justice 151 - - Of her Magnanimitie 152 - - Of her Moderation 153 - - To Enuy 154 - - ORCHESTRA, OR A POEME OF DAUNCING 155 - - NOTE 157 - - DEDICATIONS.--I. TO HIS VERY FRIEND, MA. RICH. - MARTIN 159 - - II. TO THE PRINCE 160 - - ORCHESTRA, OR A POEME OF DAUNCING 161 - - - - -_Memorial-Introduction._ - -I. BIOGRAPHICAL. - - -As in other instances, the first thing to be done in any Life of our -present Worthy, is to distinguish him from other two contemporary Sir -John Davieses--non-attention to which has in many biographical and -bibliographical works led to no little confusion. There was - -I. Sir John Davis (or Davys or Davies) of Pangbourne, Berkshire, -who 'sleeps well' under a chalk-stone monument in the parish church -there. He was mixed up with the 'Plots' (alleged and semi-real), -of the Elizabethan-Essex period. Many of his Letters--various very -long and matterful and pathetic--are preserved at Hatfield among the -Cecil-Salisbury MSS. The Blue-Book report of the "Royal Commission on -Historical Manuscripts" (3rd, 1872), makes a strange jumble of our Sir -John and this Sir John's Letters (see Index, s. n.). He was Master -of the Ordnance 31st January, 1598, and was knighted at Dublin 12th -July, 1599. His Will is dated 6th April, 1625, and it was proved at -London ... May, 1626. Our Sir John was appointed one of his executors. -Arms: _Sable_, a griffin, segt., _or._ He is supposed to have been of -Shropshire descent. - -II. Sir John Davies (or Davys or Davis) Knight-Marshal of Connaught and -Thomond: temp. Elizabeth. He had large grants of lands in Roscommon. -He is now represented by the family of Clonshanville (or Loyle) in -Roscommon, who are of Shropshire descent (see Archdall's Peerage of -Ireland.) His Will is dated 14th February, 1625. He died 13th April, -1626. His Will was not proved (at Dublin) until 17th November, 1628. -Arms: Sable, on a chevron, argent, three trefoils slipped, _vert._: -crest; a dragon's head erased, _vert._ - -According to Mr. J. Payne Collier, the following entry is found in the -register of S. Mary, Aldermanbury: "Buried Sir John Davyes, Knight, May -28, 1624." (Bibliographical Account of Early English Literature, i., -193). If there be no mistake here, we have another contemporary Sir -John Davies. Certainly it was not ours, and as certainly neither of the -two preceding.[1] - -[Footnote 1: Through B. H. Beedham, Esq., as before, I have many -details on the two contemporary Sir John Davieses from Sir Bernard -Burke Ulster King at Arms, &c., &c., and J. N. C. Atkinson Davis, -Esqr., Dublin; and the same acknowledgment has to be made on many -points in the Life.] - -The spelling of the family name, which is now Davies, varies very much. -I have found it as Dyve, Dayves, Davyes, Dauis, Davis, and Davies. -Usually our Worthy signs 'Dauyes;' but in his books changes, e.g., in -'Nosce Teipsum' of 1599, to the verse-dedication to Elizabeth, it is -'Dauies;' in 1602 'Dauys,' and in 1608 'Davis,' and so diversely in his -Prose. - -Among the Carte Papers in the Bodleian are rough jottings by the -Historian for a Memoir of our Sir John Davies, wherein it is stated -that the family came originally from South Wales to Tisbury, Wiltshire. -The words are: "His family had continued several generations in y^{e} -place, though descended from a family of that name in South Wales: but -planted heere in England Temp. Hen. 7: accompanying at that time y^{e} -Earle of Pembrooke out of Wales.[2] - -[Footnote 2: Carte Papers, folios 330-334: Vol. XII. The particular -MS. is headed "Notes of the life of Sr John Dauys. May 2d. 1674." -These Notes are not very accurate. To begin with, the father's name is -mistakenly given as Edward instead of John.] - -The 'estate' of the Davieses at Tisbury was named Chicksgrove -(sometimes spelled Chisgrove.) Only a small fragment of the Manor-house -remains "unto this day." The Tisbury parish registers, however, yield -abundant entries of the family-names under the wonted three-fold -'Baptisms,' 'Marriages,' 'Burials;' and the church itself, in tablets -and communion plate, and other memorials, possesses various evidences -of their influential position for many generations, and in many lines -of descent and local intermarriage. It must suffice here briefly to -summarize the Pedigree, and to extract the entries immediately bearing -on our present Life. - -Confirming the Carte statement of a Welsh descent, one John Davys, -of ... wyn, in Shropshire, temp. Henry VIII., recorded by Carney -(1606) in the Visitation of Dublin in Ulster Office, and according to -Chalmers settled at Tisbury, temp. Edward VI., came from Wales with -the Earl of Pembroke, and was living in 1517 and 1541.[3] This John -Davys married Matilda, daughter of ... Bridemore, who was buried as -"Maud, Master Davys widow, 18 May, 1570." There was a numerous family -of sons and daughters from this union.[4] We have only now to do -with their eighth, and youngest son, John, who was living in 1517 -and 1541.[5] He was of 'New Inn,' London; and thus, like his more -famous son, was brought up to the study of the Law. This will appear -authoritatively onward; but at this point it is needful to correct and -explain a long-continued error, originated by ANTHONY à-WOOD "Athenæ," -by Dr. Bliss, Vol. ii., p. 400) apparently, viz. that the father was -"a wealthy tanner," and so Sir John, of "low extraction," etc., etc. -I do not know that there should have been reason for shame had the -paternal Davies been a 'tanner,' wealthy or otherwise, if otherwise -he was that Christian gentleman which all reports represent. But the -matter-of-fact is that through the premature deaths of his elder -brothers, John Davyes, of Chisgrove, seems to have inherited the family -possessions and wealth, and to have been in the front rank of the -country gentry. The explanation of the mistake as to his having been a -'tanner,' is unexpectedly found in the Will of Thomas Bennett, brother -(as we shall see) of Sir John Davies' mother. Among other things he -leaves "a certain mess, or tent, in West Hatch now (1591) in the use of -Edward Scannell, and all lands thereto belonging, [to] be held by John -Bennett my son, Thomas Rose and Nicholas Graye as trustees to my own -use for life, and after my decease to the use and behoof" of various -relatives, of whom one is described as "Edward Davys of Tyssebury, -_tanner_." This Edward Davys, tanner, was no doubt of the Chisgrove -family; and hence the confusion. In all probability he was one of the -younger sons, and so brother of our Sir John. When he came to make his -Will (now before me), though engaged in trade, he asserts his gentility -by styling himself 'gentleman.' So much in correction of a second -important biographical mistake. - -[Footnote 3: In MS. F 4, 18, Trinity College, Dublin, the same origin -is given, but the place beyond ... 'wyn' is illegible in both.] - -[Footnote 4: Hoare's Wilts. gives many names; but his pedigrees are -rarely trustworthy; as a rule, are exceedingly untrustworthy.] - -[Footnote 5: The MSS. of note _supra_.] - -John Davyes, of Chisgrove, was married to Mary, daughter of John -Bennett (alias Pitt) of Pitt House, Wilts., (Visitation of Wilts., -1563) by Agnes his wife, daughter of ........ Toppe, of Fenny Sutton, -in Wilts. Hoare[6] and others, give ample proof of the almost lordly -position of the Bennetts. Woolrych observes (1869) "The Bennetts of -Pyt, have been well known in our own time. The struggles of Bennet -and Astley for the representation of the county are remembered as -severe and costly."[7] Thus if Davyes of Chisgrove was of good blood -in the county, he certainly advanced himself when he wooed and won -a daughter of the house of Bennett (or Benett). They had at least -three sons. The first was Matthew, who became D.D., Vicar of Writtle, -Essex. Hoare (as before) calls him second son, and states that he died -unmarried. Both are inaccuracies. The Tisbury Register shews that -he was the eldest not the second son; and the Will of our Sir John -remembers his family.[8] The second son was (probably) the Edward who -became a "tanner." He was baptized at Tisbury 6th December, 1566. He -too is named in our Sir John's Will. The third was the subject of our -Memorial-Introduction. The following is his baptismal entry from (_a_) -the paper or scroll-copy, (_b_) the parchment or extended register of -Tisbury--_literatim_: - -[Footnote 6: Wilts., as before, on Davies, Vol. IV. part I., p. 136; on -Bennetts, Vol. III., part II., p. 107.] - -[Footnote 7: Lives of Eminent Serjeants, 2 vols., 8vo. (1869). By -H. William Woolrych, Sergeant-at-Law: Vol. I., p. 187. Considerable -industry is shown in this work, but it literally swarms with blunders.] - -[Footnote 8: In the fuller Life to be prefixed to the Prose Works, I -hope to furnish more details.] - - (_a_) Paper MS.: 1569 Aprill xvj. John the sonne of John Dauy was - crysten'd. - - (_b_) Parchment MS.: Anno dni 1569 Aprill 16 John the sonne of John - Davis bapt.[9] - -There were two sisters, Edith and Maria. Master John was in his 11th -year only when he lost his father, who died in 1580. The Carte MS. -"Notes" (as before) tell us: "his father dyed when hee was very young -and left him with his 2 brothers to his mother to bee educated. She -therefore brought them vpp all to learning." The same "Notes" state -"y^{t} Iohn off whom we now write, being designed for a lawyer, -neglected his learning, butt being first a scholar in Winchester -Colledge, was afterwards removed to New Colledge in Oxford." According -to Chalmers (History of Oxford: I. p. 105) he became in Michaelmas term -1585, a Commoner of Queen's College, Oxford. From thence he removed -in 1587 (not 1588 as usually stated e.g. by Wood to George Chalmers -and Woolrych). The Admission Register of the Middle Temple contains -his entry, and it is interesting additionally as establishing that his -father was of the New Inn, London, and so of the legal profession: - - f. 193 D. - Teio Die februarij A^o 1587: - - Mr Iohes Davius filius tertius Johis Davis de Tisburie in Com Wiltes - gen de nov hospitio gen admissus est in societate medij Templi et - obligat^r vna m ' m^r is Lewes et Raynolde et dat p fine--xx^s.[10] - -[Footnote 9: In the same I intend to give account of these Registers, -and the many Davies entries, &c.] - -[Footnote 10: From the original books, as _supra_. See Pearce's Inns -of Court, p. 293, where it is stated that the elder Davies was a legal -practitioner in Wilts.] - -This 'entry' renders null all speculations as to whether by 'New -Inn' were not intended 'New Hall' Oxford, &c. &c.; and it is a third -correction of important biographical errors hitherto. - -It is to be regretted that other Records of New Inn commence only with -the year 1674. So that we are without light on the residence in the -Middle Temple. - -In 1590 the saddest of all human losses came on the young law-student -by the death of his mother, who was buried at Tisbury "XXVth -of Marche, 1590." In this year he is again at the University of -Oxford; for in the "Fasti" (by Bliss, Vol. ii., p. 250) he is entered -under 1590 as taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. I fear that with -the death of his lady-mother there ensued a full plunge into the -frivolities and gaities of the University and Inns of Court society. -It was a 'fast' period; and while his after-books prove conclusively -that he must have studied Law widely and laboriously, there can be -little doubt that there were outbursts of youthful extravagance and -self-indulgence. None the less is it equally certain--rather is in -harmony therewith--that very early he mingled with the poets and wits -of the day. There is not a tittle of evidence warranting the ascription -of "Sir Martin Mar People his Coller of Esses Workmanly wrought by -Maister Simon Soothsaier, Goldsmith of London, and offered to sale upon -great necessity by John Davies. Imprinted at London by Richard Ihones. -1590 (4^to),"[11] to him; nor can any one really study "O Vtinam 1 -For Queene Elizabeths securitie, 2 For hir Subiects prosperitie, 3 -For a general conformitie, 4 And for Englands tranquilitie. Printed -at London, by R. Yardley and P. Short, for Iohn Pennie, dwelling in -Pater noster row, at the Grey hound. 1591 (16mo),"[12] and for a -moment concede his hastily alleged authorship. But in 1593 his poem of -"Orchestra, or a Poeme of Dauncing," was "licensed to Iohn Harison" the -elder. No earlier edition than that of 1596 has been proved; but the -"license" assures us that Harrison had negotiated for its publication -in 1593. The title-page of the 1596 edition is followed by a dedicatory -sonnet "To his very friend, Ma. Rich. Martin." The Reader may turn -to it "an' it please" him (Vol. I. p. 159): and "thereby hangs a -tale." The dedicatory sonnet, it will be seen, while characterizing -"Orchestra" as "this dauncing Poem," this "suddaine, rash, half-capreol -of my wit," informs us that his "very friend" Martin was the "first -mouer and sole cause of it, and that he was the Poet's "owne selues -better halfe," and "deerest friend." We have the time employed on it -too:-- - -[Footnote 11: There is a copy at Lambeth.] - -[Footnote 12: There is a copy in the Bodleian.] - - "You know the modest Sunne full fifteene times - Blushing did rise, and blushing did descend, - While I in making of these ill made rimes, - My golden howers unthriftily did spend: - Yet, if in friendship you these numbers prayse, - I will mispend another fifteene dayes." - -All this receives tragi-comical illumination from the fact that this -same "very friend" and "better halfe," and he who so sang of him, had -soon a deadly quarrel and estrangement. RICHARD MARTIN became -Recorder of London, and one memorial of him is a Speech to the King -which, if it partakes of the oddities of Euphues, must also be allowed -to contain weighty and bravely-outspoken counsel: and thus he has come -down to posterity as a grave and potent seignior. Moreover, he became -Reader of his Society, and M.P. for first Barnstaple, and later for -Cirencester. He appears, too, as the associate of Ben Jonson, John -Selden, and others of the foremost.[13] - -[Footnote 13: See Woolrych, as before, and the authorities therein -given. At the end of Thomas Coriate's "Traveller for the English Wits," -W. Jaggard, 1616 (4to), is a list of his acquaintances, to whom he -desires "the commendations of my dutiful respects." Among them occurs -"Mr. Richard Martin, Counsellor."] - -But as a youthful law-student he was 'wild.' He fell under the lash of -the Benchers, having been expelled from the Middle Temple in February, -1591, for the part he took in a riot at the prohibited festival of the -Lord of Misrule. He was fast of tongue and ribald of wit, with a dash -of provocative sarcasm. Evidently he was one of those men who would -rather (as the saying puts it) lose his friend than his joke (however -poor the joke and rich the friend). A consideration of the whole facts -seems to show that again restored to the Middle Temple he had let loose -his probably wine-charged sarcasms at his friend Davies. Whether it -was so or not, he was ignobly punished. For against all "good manners" -not to speak of the "law" and discipline of the Court, Master Davies -came into the Hall with his hat on, armed with a dagger, and attended -by two persons with swords. Master Martin was seated at dinner at the -Barristers' Table. Davies pulling a bastinado or cudgel from under his -gown, went up to his insulter and struck him repeatedly over the head. -The chastisement must have been given with a will; for the bastinado -was shivered to pieces--arguing either its softness or the head's -asinine thickness. Having "avenged" himself, Davies returned to the -bottom of the Hall, drew one of the swords belonging to his attendants, -and flourished it repeatedly over his head, turning his face towards -Martin, and then hurrying down the water-steps of the Temple, threw -himself into a boat.[14] This extraordinary occurrence happened at the -close of 1597 or January of 1598. In 1595 he had been called to the -bar; but in February 1598 Davies was expelled by a unanimous sentence; -"disbarred" and deprived for ever of all authority to speak or consult -in law.[15] These "outbreaks" and expulsions were familiar incidents; -and make us exclaim with Othello: "O thou invisible spirit of wine, if -thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil"--"O God, that -men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! -that we should with joy, pleasure, revel and applause, transform -ourselves into beasts" (ii. 3). This is the all-too-plain solution -of these "high jinks." It was a disaster of the most ominous kind. -Nevertheless the dark cloud that thus fell across the noon of the -full-and-hot-blooded young Barrister folded in it a "bright light:" -or--if we may fetch an illustration from Holy Scripture, as Moses the -great Lawgiver of ancient Israel through the slaying of the Egyptian -was compelled to be a fugitive in the wilderness and therein to master -his native impulsiveness and passion, so was the "offender" in the -Hall of the Middle Temple through the disgrace and penalties incurred -forced into retirement and introspection. It was a costly price to -pay. But it is to be doubted whether if the enforced return to Oxford -and the self-scrutiny and penitence that calm reflection wrought there -had not arrested him, he ever would have given our literature "Nosce -Teipsum." His great poem bears witness to very poignant self-accusation -and humiliation. Towards the close you seem to catch the echo of sobs -and the glistening of tears; nor is it "preaching" to recognize a -diviner element still--his unrest and burden alike laid on Him Who -alone can sustain and help a "wounded spirit" in its trouble. Besides -the hazardous as disastrous incident with Martin, his "Epigrams" -by their _abandon_ and general allusiveness reveal that he was the -associate of the "young gallants" of the city and lived "fast"; and so -give significance and interpretation to his later passionate regrets, -self-accusations and self-rebuke. How abased and yet in touches how -noble is this! - -[Footnote 14: Lord Stowell wrote an elaborate Paper on the whole -matter, and the restoration of Davies. It appeared in "Archæologia," -Vol. XXI. I propose to write the narrative _in extenso_ in my fuller -Life, as before.] - -[Footnote 15: Lord Stowell, as before.] - - "O ignorant poor man! what dost thou beare - Lockt vp within the casket of thy brest? - What iewels and what riches hast thou there! - What heauenly treasure in so weake a chest! - - Looke in thy soule, and thou shalt beauties find, - Like those which drownd Narcissus in the flood: - Honour and Pleasure both are in thy mind, - And all that in the world is counted good. - - Thinke of her worth, and think that God did meane, - This worthy mind should worthy things imbrace; - Blast not her beauties with thy thoughts vnclean, - Nor her dishonour with thy passions base: - - Kill not her quickning powers with surfettings, - Mar not her sense with sensualitie; - Cast not her serious wit on idle things: - Make not her free-will, slaue to vanitie. - - And when thou think'st of her eternitie, - Thinke not that death against her nature is, - Thinke it a birth; and when thou goest to die, - Sing like a swan, as if thou went'st to blisse. - - * * * * * - - - Take heed of over-weening, and compare - Thy peacock's feet with thy gay peacock's traine; - Study the best and highest things that are, - But of thyselfe an humble thought retaine."[16] - -"Expelled" and "disbarred," he retired to Oxford and there "followed -his studies, although he wore a cloak." (Wood's _Athenæ_, as before, -ii. 401). To lighten severer studies he now leisurely composed that -"Nosce Teipsum" from which has just been quoted the remarkable close. -His vein must have been a "flowing" one; for it was published within -a year of his disgrace, viz. in 1599.[17] It was dedicated to the -"great Queen;" without the all-too-common contemporary hyperbole of -laudation, yet showing the strange magnetism of her influence to win -allegiance from the greatest, even in her old age:-- - - "Loadstone to hearts and loadstone to all eyes." - -The Carte "Notes" (as before) thus tell the whole story and ratify -Anthony-a-Wood:--"Vpon a quarrell between him and Mr. Martin before -y^{e} Judges, where he strooke Mr. Martin hee was confined and made a -prisoner: after w^{ch} in discontentment he retired to y^{e} countrye, -and writt y^{t} excellent poeme of his Nosce Teipsum, w^{ch} was so -well aprooved of by the Lord Mountioy after Lord Deputy of Ireland and -Earle of Devonshire, that by his aduise he publisht it and dedicated -it to Queen Elizabeth, to whom hee presented it, being introduced by -y^{e} aforesaide Lord his pattron, and y^{e} first essay of his pen -was so well relisht y^{t} y^{e} Queen encouraged him in his studdys, -promising him preferment, and had him sworn her servant in ordinary." -"Nosce Teipsum" was not his "first essay" so that perchance the meaning -is that its verse-dedication was his "first essay" in addressing the -Queen--his second being the Hymns to Astræa. The "Hymns to Astræa" -appeared in quick succession to "Nosce Teipsum" in the same year 1599. -They are dainty trifles; but from all we know of Elizabeth would be -received as "sweet incense." If they seem to us to-day flattering not -to say adulatory, it must be remembered that such was the _mode_. Much -later, Epistles-dedicatory from Bacon and others of the mighties, -and not to Elizabeth but to James--are infinitely fulsome compared -with the ideal praises of an ideal Elizabeth--that Elizabeth who had -stirred the nation's pulses through her great patriotic words when -"The Armada" threatened--in the most superlative of these "Hymnes." -Their workmanship is as of diamond-facets. The "bright light" of -olden promise was now "lining" the dark cloud. The discipline of -his retirement to Oxford did him life-long good. Speedily outward -events dove-tailed with the deepened ethical experience and resultant -character. - -[Footnote 16: Vol. I., pp. 115-116, "Nosce Teipsum."] - -[Footnote 17: See Vol. I., pp. 9-11. The date 1592, sometimes -(modernly) appended to the dedication of "Nosce Teipsum," has -no authority, and is in contradiction with all the known facts -and circumstances. Equally erroneous and misleading is the -ultra-rhetorically given chronology in "Court and Society from -Elizabeth to Anne," (2 Vols., 8vo., 1864), which bears the name of -the present Duke of Manchester, as thus:--"This Templar ... who wrote -a noble work on the immortality of the soul in the very hey-day of -his young blood, who afterwards became famous for his gravity as a -judge, his wisdom as a politician, and his soundness as a statesman, -terminated his literary career as the author of a poem in praise of -dancing," (Vol. I., p. 289). This is precisely the reverse of the fact. -In his earlier hot-blooded days he threw off his gay and self-named -"light" verses. In an interval of penitent self-inspection and worthier -aspiration, he wrote "Nosce Teipsum," and he followed this up by -ever-deepened grave, wise and weighty (prose) books. It is a pity -(perhaps) to spoil your brilliant bits of antithetic scandal; and more -pity that they should be hazarded for inevitable spoiling. Or put it in -another way: it is too bad to have your cook serving up the Roast Beef -of Old England as if it were strawberries (and cream). One need not use -severer terms, knowing the ducal editorship is a blind. Campbell in his -"Specimens," preceded in the blundering.] - -For despair and disgrace there came hope and help. For a career -that seemed arrested, a higher, and wider, and nobler opened out in -inspiriting perspective. In 1599-1600 he was in all men's mouths as a -Poet. The "Poetical Rhapsody" of Davison of these years would have been -rendered incomplete without contributions from "I. D.;" and so there -went to it those Minor Poems, that are read still with pleasure. So -early as 1595 George Chapman had printed his "Ovid's Banquet of Sence," -with lines from "I. D." More important still, "Secretary Cecil" became -his friend and patron. "_By desire_" he prepared certain dialogues and -scenes for entertainments to the Queen. Three of these remain. The -first is "A Dialogue between a Gentleman Usher and a Poet."[18] The -second is "A Contention betwixt a Wife, a Widdow, and a Maide."[19] -The third is "A Lottery: presented (as the heading states) before -the late Queene's Maiesty at the Lord Chancelor's House, 1601."[20] -These indicate that the recluse of Oxford was once more restored to -society, and that the supremest. The favour of the aged Queen was -capricious; but the "Lottery" that formed part of the entertainment -at the Lord Chancellor's marked the turning of the tide, in flood not -ebb. Through Ellesmere steps were taken to cancel the "expulsion" and -"disbarring." He addressed a respectful and manly Petition to "his -Society." It was considered at a "Parliament of the Society, held on -the 30th October 1601." He had "presented" it in Trinity Term; but it -was adjourned until now. In the interval he had attended "the Commons" -and in November after making the admission and satisfaction required by -four Benches, it was unanimously agreed that he should be "restored to -his position at the bar and his seniority." He publicly pronounced his -"repentance" in due form on the feast of All Saints. This was done in -the Hall in the presence of Chief Iustice Popham, Chief Baron Periam, -Judge Fenner, Baron Savil, Sergeant Harris, Sergeant Williams, and the -Masters of the Bench." The legal or ceremonial part being completed, -and the Apology read in English, Davies turned to "Mr. Martin," then -present, and as he could offer no sufficient satisfaction to him, -entreated his forgiveness, promising sincere love and affection in all -good offices towards him for the future." "Mr. Martin" accepted the -tender thus made, and the re-instatement was completed.[21] That the -reconciliation between Davies and Martin was formal rather than real -has been too hastily assumed. True, that when in 1622 Davies collected -his Poems, the Sonnet to Martin was withdrawn and a _hiatus_ left -towards the close of "Orchestra." But both these things are otherwise -explainable. Both Elizabeth and Martin were now dead--the latter in -1618. Besides, it was only natural that the living friend should be -willing to remove all memory of the quarrel. The name should only -have revived it. This, and not a many-yeared carrying of an unclosed -wound is my judgment in charity. The restored 'Barrister' never forgot -his indebtedness to the Lord Chancellor. His dedication of his great -"Reports" of Irish Law Cases and their correspondence remain to attest -this--remain too to attest the reciprocal admiration, if a tenderer -word were not fitter, of Ellesmere.[22] His words in the 'Reports' -dedication are more than respectful. - -[Footnote 18: In Memorial-Introduction to Poems, as before, pp. 15-21.] - -[Footnote 19: See Vol. II., pp. 72-86.] - -[Footnote 20: Ibid, pp. 87-95. See on this in second division of this -Memorial-Introduction: Postscript.] - -[Footnote 21: See Lord Stowell's Paper, in Archælogia, Vol. XXI., pp. -107-112, and our fuller Life, as before.] - -[Footnote 22: See Prose Works, as before, Vol. II. With reference to -the Lines to the Lord Chancellor on the death of his "second wife" -(Vol. I. pp. 112-3) it may be noted that he married (1) Elizabeth, -d. of Thomas Ravenscroft of Bretton, co. Flint, Esq., (2) Elizabeth, -sister of Sir George More of Loseley co. Surrey, Kt., and widow of -Sir John Wolley of Pirford, Surrey, Kt., and before him of Richard -Polsted, Esq., of Aldbury, co. Surrey. Her second husband Sir John -Wolley (sometimes spelled Wooley) died in February or March 1595-6 and -was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. She appears to have remarried (viz. -the Lord Chancellor) in the same year: so that she did not live long -thereafter; for she died on 20th January 1599-1600 and was buried with -her second husband. The Lord Chancellor was in profound grief (as the -Lines of Davies confirm); but he got over it sufficiently to marry (3) -Alice, d. of Sir John Spencer of Althorpe co. Northampton, Kt., and -widow of Ferdinando, 5th Earl of Derby, on 21st October of the same -year (1599-1600) exactly nine months after the death of his (lamented) -second wife. She survived the Lord Chancellor until 26th January 1636-7 -and was buried at Harefield, co. Middlesex. Of Ellesmere himself these -_data_ may be given: Sir Thomas Egerton was created Lord Ellesmere 21 -July 1603, upon his appointment as Lord High Chancellor of England. -He was further created Viscount Brackley 7th Nov. 1616, and was about -being made Earl of Bridgewater when he died 15th March 1616-7. His son -John was so created 27th May 1617.] - -It would appear from the MS. dedication of a corrected MS. of "Nosce -Teipsum" to "the right noble, valorous, and learned Prince Henry, Earle -of Northumberland" that he must have joined in the intercession for -restoration, e.g. - - "Then to what spirit shall I these noates commend, - But unto that which doth them best expresse; - - Who will to them more kind protection lend, - Than Hee which did protect me in distresse."[23] - -[Footnote 23: Vol. I., pp. 12-13.] - -Contemporaneous with his full Restoration to his privileges at the -Bar, the student-lawyer--through influence that has not come down to -us--found his way into Parliament as M.P. for Corfe Castle. The House -'sat' for "barely two months"--October 27th to December 29th" (1601). -It was the last Parliament of Elizabeth. The records of it are meagre -and unsatisfying, but sufficient is preserved to inform us that untried -and inexperienced in Parliament as he was, the member for Corfe Castle -at once came to the front. A long-continued warfare on the part of -the Commons against monopolies found in him a vehement defender of -the privileges of the House. The wary Queen, who always knew when to -give way, withdrew certain "patents" that had been granted and led to -grievous abuses; and Davies was appointed one of the "Grand Committee" -to thank her Majesty[24]. He had spoken stoutly for procedure by "bill" -and not by "petition." Richard Martin supported the monopolies. - -[Footnote 24: The Carte "Notes," as before, make Davies go to the -Scottish Court on the birth of Prince Henry; but this is an obvious -mistake: and yet it is noticeable that among the hitherto unpublished -poems is one to the King, wherein contemporary allusion is made to his -Majesty's visit to Denmark for his Queen.] - -In 1602 a second edition "newly corrected and amended" of "Nosce -Teipsum" appeared. Still prefixed to it--and to his honour continued in -the third edition of 1608 when she was gone--was the verse-dedication -to the Queen. But it was now "the beginning of the end" with her. -Somewhat cloudily and thundrously was the great orb westering. She -died on 24th March 1603. It argues that Davies had advanced in various -ways that he accompanied Lord Hunsdon to Scotland when that nobleman -went with the formal announcement of James' accession to the throne. A -pleasant anecdote has survived that when "in the presence" Lord Hunsdon -announced John Davies, the King--who if a fool was a learned one and -capable of discerning genius--straightway asked "whether he were 'Nosce -Teipsum'" and on finding he was its author, "embraced him and conceived -a considerable liking for him."[25] That his position was regarded as a -potential one with the new King is incidentally confirmed by letters to -him from no less than Bacon, who addressing him in Scotland sought his -good influences in his behalf, using in one a sphinx-like expression -of "concealed poets" that it is a marvel Delia Bacon did not lay hold -of to buttress her egregious argument on the Baconian authorship of -Shakespeare's Plays. - -[Footnote 25: Wood, as before, ii., p. 401.] - -Accompanying the King southward, Davies held his own at the English -court. The royal 'liking' grew: and the royal brain--small no doubt yet -alert and in a sense animated with patriotic feeling--was in earnest -study of what has till to-day proved England's difficulty--Ireland. -Mountjoy (later Earl of Devonshire and husband of Sidney's -"Stella"[26]) was sent as Lord-Deputy, and Davies accompanied him as -Solicitor-General for Ireland, for which office the "patent" is dated -25th November, 1603. Immediately almost on his arrival at Dublin, viz. -on 18th December, 1603, he was knighted. The date hitherto given has -been "at Theobald's 11th February 1607," but the records of the Ulster -King of Arms make it certain that the knighthood was conferred on 18th -December, 1603. On the same occasion his "crest" is described as "On a -mount _vert_, a Pegasus, _or_, winged, gules."[27] - -[Footnote 26: See my edition of Sir Philip Sidney, being prepared for -reproduction from the Fuller Worthies' Library in the present Series.] - -[Footnote 27: Sir Bernard Burke and J. N. C. Atkins Davis, Esq., -communications through Mr. Beedham, as before.] - -I know no more noble story than the Work of Sir John Davies in and -for Ireland. Our collection of his Prose Works, wherein his State -Papers and Correspondence will appear _in extenso_--from H. M. Public -Record Office and other sources--will make it clear as day that -beyond all comparison he was the foremost man in the Government. -With the sheer hard toil of humblest attorney slaving for his daily -bread, there was a breadth of view, a self-denying resoluteness of -purpose to benefit his adopted country, a prescience of outlook -into the future combined with fearless and magnanimous dealing with -contemporary problems, a high-hearted resistance in the face of -manifold temptations to slacken effort, and a fecundity of resource -and fulness of knowledge and vigilance of observation, that ought to -be written on a white page of our national history. It is scarcely -possible to exaggerate the consuming labours and the actual and solid -results of Davies' almost ubiquitory activities in Ireland. In my full -Life of him I hope to make good to the uttermost this high praise. -Here and now a few outward facts alone can be stated. In 1606, by -patents dated successively 29th May, 1606, and 29th May, 1609,[28] he -was promoted to be Attorney-General for Ireland, and was also created -Sergeant-at-Arms.[29] He went as "Judge of Assize." His Reports -and State Papers, and "Pleadings" and Letters, from 1603 onward, -demonstrate how firm was his grasp of circumstance, and how statesmanly -he marked out his plans, while his forensic appearances astonish with -the omniverousness of his legal reading and knowledge of precedents. -Throughout he was 'backed' and cheered by his superiors in Ireland and -by the King and his ministers. So early as 9th September, 1604, the -Lord Chancellor thus wrote to Davies:-- - -[Footnote 28: See Smith's Law Officers of Ireland, _s.n._ The Patent of -29th May, 1609, I propose to give _in extenso_ in the Life, as before. -It is extremely interesting.] - -[Footnote 29: As Sergeant-at-Law he ought to have been resident in -London, but the King gave him "dispensation" that he might return to -Ireland.] - - Y^{r} lett^{r} written at Cavan the |13 of Julij Last I receyude - the 28 of August. I am gladde to heare of yo^{r} [illegible] & wysh - yo^{r} seruice & successe therein may be aunswerable to yo^{r} owne - expectations & best hopes. You maye haue comfort that you serue so - gracious a soueraigne, so religious & replete w^{th} all Royall - virtues, and so redy & wyllinge to acknowledge & remunerate the - services & dueties of his meanest servantes farre beyonde their - desertes. I doubt not but yo^{r} diligence & care will be such as - wyll be very acceptable to his Ma^{tie}. In the Discourse w^{ch} you - haue sent me, I fynde not only a very lovinge respcte w^{ch} you have - towardes me (for w^{ch} I owe you heartie thankes). But also a very - wyse & judicious obseruacon of the state of this wasted kingdome & the - condicon of the people. God staye his hande from further afflictinge - them. They haue alreadye fealte the scourge of Warre & oppresion & now - are vnder the grevous scourge of famine & pestilence. God gyue them - his grace and make them imprest as true Christians ought. To become - truly Religious towarde God, Loyall and faythfull to their Soueraigne, - constantly obedient to his lawes & to the effecting thereof. I euer - wysh & praye that they may haue religious virtuous & godly magistrates - sette ouer them. To yo^{r} selfe I wish all happines, and wherein - you shall haue occasion to vse mee, you shall alwayes finde me redy & - wyllinge to stande you in the best stede I can. And so w^{th} my very - swete comendacons I comitt you to the Almightye. And rest yo^{r} very - assured Loving frende - - T. ELLESMERE, Canc. - - At[torn]feile - 9 Septembris 1604. - - To the right wo^{r} my very Loving frende, Sr. John Davis Knight, his - Ma^{ties} Solict. generall in his Realme of Ireland.[30] - -A few years later--1608--one Letter in full--like all our MSS., -now for the first time printed,--from the Lord Deputy--the noble -Chichester--must suffice as a specimen of many kindred. - -[Footnote 30: Carte MSS. ff. 315-6.] - - Noble Mr. Attornie, - - Since your departure hence I haue received two ioynt letters from you, - and Sr. James Ley, and one from your selfe alone, for w^{ch} I am not - your debter vnlesse it be in the matter, w^{ch} I confesse bringes - more life w^{th} it comming freshe out of the stoorehouse of neewes - and noveltie, for I have written as manie and more vnto you both. - - Albeyt I expect you w^{th} the first passage (for so the lordes haue - promised by their letters) yet can I not leaue you vnremembred, - assuringe you thoe you have greater friendes, none respects you better - then my selfe, nor can be more readie to make demonstration therof - accordinge to the meanes I haue. I praye bringe w^{th} you the lordes - directions for Sr. Neale Odonnell, and the rest of the prisoners. - Sr. Neale and Ocatiance [O'Sullivan?] had contriued their escape - and woulde haue as desperately attempted it, had I not preuented it - within these sixe nightes by a discoverie made vnto me, albeyt I keep - 20 men euerie neight for the guarde of the Castle ouer and aboue the - warde of the same, whereof two or three lye in each of their chambers. - Their horses were come to the towne, and all thinges else in readines. - Sure these men doe goe beyond all nations in the worlde for desperate - escapes, Shane Granie Ocarratan [O'Sullivan?] after he was acquited - of three indictments, and as most men conceiued free from all danger - of the lawe, did on fridaye the 27th of Januarie cast himselfe out of - a wyndow in the topp of the Castle by the heelpe of a peece of rotten - match, and his mantell w^{ch} brake before he was halfe waye downe, - and thoe he were presently discovered yet he escaped about supper tyme. - - When I had written thus far worde was brought me that a passadge - [_sic_] was come from Hollyheade w^{ch} made me to pause for a tyme - hopinge you or some other w^{th} letters, or other directions, was - arriued, but beinge advertised that the Recorder of this Cyttie only - w^{th} a fewe other passengers had in this fayre weather wrought out a - passage by longe lyeinge att sea, although the wyndes were contrarie, - and that they came from London before Christmas and had no written - letters or message but in theise particulars, I fell to you againe. - - And do now praye you to geue your best assystance and furtherance to - such matters tuchinge my perticulare as John Strowd or Annesley shall - acquaint you w^{th} all, for w^{ch} you shall finde me verie thankfull - vnto you. - - I haue written to the lordes in the behalfe of the howse servitors - here, that they maye be remembered vpon the deuysion and plantation of - the scheated lands in Ulster. I am discreadited amonge them if they - should be forgotten, and sure the plantation woulde be weake w^{th} - out them, for they must be the pyllers to support it. Those that - shall come from thence wyll not affect it in that kynde as these do, - to make it a settlement for them and theirs; and in respect of their - wourthier deserts and paynfull labors, and that I haue vpon my promise - to speake effectually for them preuayled so farre as to staye them - from resortinge thither, w^{ch} they woulde doe in great multitudes - if I woulde haue given way to their desire. I wysh that an honorable - consideration maye be had of them before the diuision be concluded. - I knowe that worke is of great moment and on it dependes much of the - prosperitie, and good estate of the whole kingdome. I haue sayd enough - to one that vnderstandes so well: And so beinge called vpon sooner - then I expected I must end w^{th} the page, but wyll euer be found - - Your trewe affected friend - ARTHUR CHICHESTER. - - Att Dublyn Castle the 7th of - februarie 1608. - - I send here w^{th} the proceedinge of the Court of Kinges bench in - the cause of the Carrolans w^{ch} was violently prosecuted by the l. - of Howth. I send them by reason it is thought by the Judges that the - Baron will exclaime of their proceedinges here. - - To my verie wourthie friend Sr John Davis Knight his - - Ma^{ties} Attornie in the Realme of Irelande.[31] - -[Footnote 31: Carte, as before, Vol. 62, ff. 313-14.] - -Two short letters from Bacon--not before printed, having escaped -even Mr. Spedding's Argus-eyes--in the same Carte MSS.--show Davies's -pleasant relations with his great contemporary. They are as follow:-- - - -(I. Carte MS. Vol. 62, ff. 317-18.) - - Good Sr Jh. Davies yo^{r} mistaking shall not be imputed to you (for - the difference is not much). Yo^{r} gratulacons for my marrige I take - kyndly. And as I was all waies delighted w^{th} the fruites of yo^{r} - [illegible] so I would be gladde of yo^{r} [illegible] so as you plant - not yo^{r} self to[o] farre of[f]. For I had rather you should be a - laborer than a plant in that State. You giue me no occasion to wryte - longer in that you impart not by yo^{r} l^{rs} any occurrence of - y^{rs}. And so w^{th} my very lov^{g} consid^{n} towards you - - I remayne - Yo^{r} assured friend - FR. BACON. - - from Graies Inn, - this 26th of Dec. 1606. - - To my very good Frend Sr Jh. Davis Knt Attorny g'rall to his M. in - Ireland. - - (II. Ibid ff, 328-9.) - - Mr. Atturny, - - I thanke you for yo^{r} l^{re} and the discourse you sent of this mere - accident, as thinges then appeared. I see manifestly the begynnyng of - better or woorse. But me thinketh it is first a tender of the better, - and woorse foloweth but vpon refusall or default. I would haue been - gladd to see you hear, but I hope occasion restreineth o^{r} meeting - for a vacation when we may haue more fruite of conference. To requite - yo^{r} proclamacon (w^{ch} in my judgment is wysely and seriously - penned) I send you [illegible] w^{h} [illegible] w^{ch} happened to be - in my hands when y^{os} came. - - I would be gladde to hear oft from you and to be advertized how - [illegible] passe whereby to haue some occasion to thinke some good - thoughts though I can doe lyttell. At least it wilbe a contynuance in - exercise of o^r frendshippe w^{ch} on my part remayneth increased by - that I hear of yo^{r} service and the good respects I find towards my - self. And so in extreme hast I remayne - - Yo^{r} very [illegible] frend - FR. BACON. - - from Graies Inn this - 23th of Oct. 1607. - - To the R. W. his verie Lovinge frende Sr Iohn Dauys - Knight, his Ma^{ties} Atturnye in Irelande. - -During one of his 'circuits' in Ireland, he met Eleanor, daughter -of Lord Audley (afterwards Earl of Castlehaven) and was married to -her--though the date has not been traced. Her later years were darkened -with insanity of a strangely voluble type. It is to be feared she was -an ill "help-meet" for her husband. There is pathos, if also inevitable -comedy, in her career--not here to be entered on.[32] - -[Footnote 32: See Life to be prefixed to Prose Works for quotations -from her writings in verse and prose, and for further details.] - -While intensely occupied with his official duties, Sir John Davies did -not neglect his literary gift. He was making history every year--so -fundamental and permanent was the part he filled in Ireland--but the -Past was gone back on that he might fetch from it monition for the -Present, and hope for the Future. His imperishable book: "A Discourse -of the true reasons why Ireland has neuer been entirely subdued till -the beginning of His Majesty's reign," (4to)[33] will reward the most -prolonged study to-day. It was published in 1612. In the same year -he was made King's Sergeant and also elected M.P. for Fermanagh, -being the first representative for that county in the Irish House of -Parliament. He was likewise chosen to be Speaker of the House; but not -without a characteristically violent struggle between the Catholics -and Protestants.[34] He delivered a notable speech "to the House" on -its opening in 1613.[35] In 1614 he appears in the House of Commons in -England as M.P. for Newcastle-under-Lyne:[36] and his attendance in -England was preparatory to final retirement from Ireland. "Grants of -lands" there from the "forfeitures,"--which, if ever any righteously -acquired, he did[37]--gave him a special interest in Ireland as a -proprietor; but after all, for such a man, at such a time, to be -limited to Ireland, was but a splendid exile. It is not, therefore, to -be wondered at that having practically achieved all, and more than all, -he had been given to do, or himself originated, he sought to return. -It is usually stated (e.g. Chalmers, Woolrych, &c., &c.) that he so -returned in 1616; but it was not until 1619 that he did so finally and -absolutely; for in a letter under date "21 June, 1619," to Buckingham, -he is found still only pleading for retirement and for the transference -of his office to a relative.[38] It is one of the treasures of the -Fortescue MSS, in the Bodleian,[39] and is as follows: - -[Footnote 33: See Prose, Vol. II.] - -[Footnote 34: See fuller Life, as before, for a complete narrative from -contemporary documents.] - -[Footnote 35: Ibid, Vol. III.] - -[Footnote 36: Willis's Nat. Parl., Vol. III., p. 173.] - -[Footnote 37: In the Life, as before, will be given full details of the -Grants, with a curious paper of his daughter long afterwards making -inquiries as to what had become of the Irish estates, &c., &c.] - -[Footnote 38: It will be observed that in the Letter Sir John does -not name the gentleman he wishes to succeed him. It was no doubt Sir -William Ryves, who actually was appointed. The "neere alliance" was -through the family of Mervyn, and is shown in the following details -drawn up for me by Mr. B. H. Beedham, from information communicated by -Mr. J. N. C. Davis, as before: - - George Touchet, Earl of Castlehaven Š Lucy, d. of Sir James Mervyn, - Š Fonthill, Wilts. - 3-------------------------------^---------------------------2 - Sir John Davies Lady Eleanor Touchet Edward Davys - Joan Cave - Š - ---------------^------ - Matthew Davys ŠAnn d. of - b. 1595 ob. 1678. ŠEdward Mervyn - Šof Fonthill, - Šob. 8th - ŠNov. 1657. - -------------------------------^ - John Ryves of Daunsey Court Š Elizabeth d. of John Mervyn - Š (several children) - 6------------------^------------------8th son. - Sir William Ryves settled Sir Thomas Ryves, Master - in Ireland; had numerous in Chancery: Judge of the - appointments, and made Prerogative Court there. - large purchases of estates; - Attorney General.] - -[Footnote 39: No. 245. For a notice of the collection from which -the above Letter is for the first time printed, see Preface to "The -Fortescue Papers ... Edited ... by Samuel R. Gardiner, for the Camden -Society (1871). My friend Mr. Gardiner must have overlooked Davies's -important letter.] - - My most honored Lord, - - I præsent my most humble Thanks to y^{r} L^{p} for præsenting mee - to his Ma^{ty} the last Day, at Wansted; & for y^{r} noble favour - in furthering the suit I then made, as well for mine owne stay in - England, as for my recommending a fitt man to my place of service in - Ireland. - - The Gentleman to whom I wish this place now, is much obliged to y^{r} - L^{p} already, & well worthy of y^{r} L^{ps} favours, & besides his - owne worthines (hee being a Reader & Judge of a circuit, of w^{ch} - degree & quality never any before was sent out of England to supply - that place), hee is of neere alliance vnto mee. So as, where there - is concurrence of meritt & kinred, y^{r} L^{p} may conjecture that I - deale w^{th} him like a gentleman & a friend, & not like a marchent. - Albeit I wi^{ll} leave a good place there, w^{th}out any præsent - præferment heer (whereof none of my profession have failed at their - return out of Ireland) I might, perhaps w^{th} some reason expect - some Retribution, to recompence the charge of Transporting my famely - from thence, & of setling it heer in this Kingdome, where I am become - almost an Alien by reason of my long absence. - - For this particular favour of transferring my place to so well - deserving a successor, I doo wholly depend vppon y^{r} L^{p} as I - shall euer doo vpon all other occasions, while I live, as one that - have separated my self from all other dependancies, beeing entirely - devoted to doo y^{r} L^{p} all humble & faythful service - - Jo: Dauys. - - 21 Junij 1619. - - if my long service may induce favour, y^{r} L^{p} may bee pleased to - looke vppon the noate enclosed. - - To the right honorable my very good lord - my lord the Marques of Buckingham, &c. - -It is to be regretted that the "noate" of the postscript has not been -preserved. It probably enumerated his public services. - -Sir William Ryves succeeded as Attorney-General for Ireland by Patent -dated 30th October, 1619.[40] From 1619 onward, Sir John Davies is -found in the House of Commons (still for Newcastle-under-Lyne) and "on -circuit" as a Judge. His "Charges"--to be given in his Prose Works--as -"one of the Justices of Assize for the Northerne Circute"--are very -characteristic, being full of legal 'precedents,' and noticeable in -their tracing up the verdict sought to abiding principles. He took -part in the memorable "case" of Frances, Countess of Somerset, for the -poison-murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. In the House of Commons he spoke -seldom; but when anything that concerned Irish interests came up he -never failed to contend in behalf of Ireland.[41] - -[Footnote 40: By inadvertence the Patent describes Sir John Davies -as "deceased." Unless used as = departed (from Ireland), or = having -ceased to fill the office, it is a singular oversight.] - -[Footnote 41: In the Life, as before, his appearances in Parliament -will be noted and illustrated.] - -Lightening his legal employments were a large correspondence and -'fellowship' with his most eminent contemporaries, and the collection -of his Poetical Works, in so far as he wished them to go down to -posterity. Of the former I select one undated letter to the illustrious -Sir Robert Cotton, with whom he had been early acquainted, and -associated in 1614, in re-establishing the Society of Antiquaries, -originally founded in 1590. One of these is a sprightly and pleasant -letter, and all the more welcome that most of his correspondence that -remains is official and grave. The lighter letter is as follows, from -MSS. Cotton: Julius C. III., p. 14: now paged 133, British Museum: - - Sweet Robin, for a few sweet words, a client of mine hath presented me - w^{th} sweet meates, to what end I know not except it be, as Chaucer - speakes, - - To make mine English sweet uppon my tongue, that I may pleade the - better for him to morrow at the Seale. - - Not w^{th} standing, the best vse that I can make of it, is to - preesent you w^{th} it, especially at this time when you ar in - Physick, that you may sweeten your tast after the Rhewbarb. I have - been a little distracted w^{th} vnexpected busines these two or three - last dayes, that I cold not performe my officious promise to visit - you in this voluntary sicknes of yours; but [erased] now I am faine - to make my hands to excuse my feet from travayling vnto you, because - being the servant of the multitude I am not mine owne man. Make much - of your self, & make y^{r} self speedily well, that I may have your - company towards Cambridge, from whence I will go w^{th} you to see the - ancient Seat of Robt. le Bruis; so wishing you a prosperous operation - of your Phisick, at least that you may Imagine so, for it is the - Imagination that doth good, & not the Physick, w^{ch} I ever thought a - meere imposture; I cease to troble you least the intention of to much - Reading hinder the working of those vertuous drugs. - - Y^{rs} all & ever - J. Dauis. - - (Endorsed) To my worthy friend - Rob: Cotton esquier. - -A second letter runs thus, from MSS. Cotton: Julius C. III., p. 32:-- - - Noble S^{r} Robert: the ordinary subject of letters is, newes, whereof - this kingdome since the warres, hath been very barren; therefore I - must write vnto you that w^{ch} is no newes, that is, that I love you, - & hold a kind & dear memory of you. - - according to my promise to y^{r} self & Mr. Solliciter of England - who is now, I hear, a Judge, I have caused this bearer to draw some - Mapps of o^{r} principal Cittyes of Ireland; & he having occasion to - go for England, I have thought fitt to direct him vnto you. he is an - honest ingenuous yong m[=a] & of y^{r} owne Name. I hear not yet of - y^{e} Antiquities out of Cumberland; if they be brought hither I will - take care to transmitt th[=e] to London, & so in speciall hast, being - ready to go my circuit ov^{r} all Munster I leave you to y^{e} divine - p'servation. - - Y^{s} to do you Service, - Io: Dauys. - - Dublin 4 Martij 1607. - I desire to be affectionately remembred to Mr. - Justice Doddridge & Mr. Clarencieux. - -His Poems, as finally collected by him, appeared in a thin octavo -in 1622. His Prose Works he never collected, but allowed them to be -re-published separately. His "True Cause" passed through several -editions during his own life-time. One of his most important -prose-books after the "True Cause" brings us to the closing event -of his busy and various-coloured life. It is entitled in the first -issue, which was posthumous[42]--"The Question concerning Impositions, -Tonnage, Poundage, Prizage, Customs, &c. Fully stated and argued, from -Reason, Law, and Policy. Dedicated to King James in the latter end of -his Reign." (1656.) - -[Footnote 42: Woolrych, as before, splits the one work into several, -and mistakes MSS. of it for distinct works. Vol. I., pp. 209-10.] - -This historically-memorable treatise has already been reproduced in the -Prose Works.[43] Elsewhere I examine it critically.[44] It must suffice -here to state that later the King (Charles I.), having an impoverished -exchequer, had recourse to forced loans of various amounts. Hating the -control of Parliament, he persisted in substituting his will for law, -his "proclamation" for statute. Feeling the treacherousness of his -standing-ground of prerogative, the Judges were applied to, and with -loyalty to the monarch rather than to their country, they somewhat -favoured the King's 'demands.' Charles deemed their "opinion" to have -a somewhat "uncertain sound," and presented to the Judges a paper for -their signature, recognising the legality of the collection. This was -refused. One of the victims of the sovereign's wrath was Chief-Justice -Crew, who was "discharged" on the 9th of November, 1626 (Foss's -Judges, vi., p. 291). Sir John Davies was appointed as his successor; -and one cannot help recognising that the opinions revealed in his "Jus -Imponendi" contributed to the succession. For one, I should rather -have found Sir John Davies on the other side, spite of his great array -of "precedents" and ingenious applications to the then circumstances -and exigencies, and necessarily ignorant of the lengths Charles as -distinguished from James, was to proceed. Technically, there had been -"precedents" no doubt; but long "use and wont" had rendered so-called -regal rights obsolete, and it was insanity to revive them, as Charles -I.,--who inherited James's high notions of regal authority,--found out -when too late. But, passing to Davies, the "lean fellow" called Death -was nearer the Knight than was the Chief-Justiceship. Purple and ermine -robes were actually bought, but they were not to be donned. He had told -a Mr. Mead that he was at supper with the Lord Keeper on the 7th of -December,[45] and that he fully expected the great promotion. The air -was thick with "reports" to the same effect. He was found dead in his -bed on the morning of the 8th December, cut down, it has been supposed, -by apoplexy. Three days after, he was interred in S. Martin's Church, -London. Later a double inscription for himself and his widow (who was -re-married to Sir Archibald Douglas,) long hung on the third pillar, -near the grave. The original Latin, with our translation, are as -follow:[46]-- - -[Footnote 43: Vol. III., pp. 1-116.] - -[Footnote 44: In the fuller Life, as before.] - -[Footnote 45: Pearce's "Inns of Court," p. 293.] - -[Footnote 46: See Stow's "Environs of London," by Strype, Book VI., p. -72. But our text of the Inscriptions is from the Carte MSS. Dr. E. F. -Rimbault's MS. in the autograph of John Le Neve, as published in Notes -and Queries, 1st series, Vol. V., p. 331, is inexplicably imperfect and -blundering.] - -D. O. M. S. - - Johannes Davys Equestris ordinis quondam Attornati - Regii Generalis amplissima prudentiâ in regno - Hyberniæ functus, inde in patriam revocatus - inter servientes Domini Regis ad Legem primum - Locum obtinuit; post varia in utrone munere præ - clare gesta ad ampliora jam designatus, repente - spem suorum destituit suam implevit ab humanis - honoribus ad c[oe]lestem gloriam evocatus - Ætatis anno 57.^{o} - Vir ingenio compto, rarâ facundiâ - Oratione cum solutâ tum numeris restrictâ - Felicissimus. - Juridicam severitatem morum elegantiâ et ameniore eruditione temperavit. - Iudex incorruptus; Patronus fidus - Ingenuæ pietatis amore et anxiæ superstitionis contemptu - Iuxta insignis. - Plebeiarum animarum in religionis negotio - Pervicacem [Greek: mikropsuchian] ex edito despiciebet - Fastidium leniente miseratione. - Ipse magnanimè probus, religiosus, liber, et c[oe]lo admotus - Uxorem habuit Dominam Eleanoram Honoratissimi - Comitis de Castlehaven Baronis Audley filiam - Unicam ex eâ prolem superstitem hæredem reliquit - Luciam illustrissimo Ferdinando Baroni - Hastings Huntingdoniæ Comiti nuptam. - Diem Supremam obiit 8^{o} idus Decembris - Anno Domini 1626. - Apud nos exemplum relinquens, hic resurrectionem justorum expectat. - Accubat dignissimo marito incomparabilis uxor - Quæ illustre genus - Et generi pares animos - Christianâ mansuetudine temperavit - Erudita super sexum - Mitis infra sortem - Plurimis Major - Quia humilior - In eximiâ formâ sublime ingenium - In venustâ comitate singularem modestiam - In femineo corpore viriles animos - In rebus adversissimis serenam mentem - In impio sæculo pietatem et rectitudinem inconcussam - Possedit. - Non illi robustam animam aut res lauta laxavit, aut - Angusta contraxit, sed utramque sortem pari vultu - Animoque non excepit modo sed rexit - Quippe Dei plena cui plenitudini - Mundus nec benignus addere - Nec malignus detrahere potuisset - Satis Deum jamdudum spirans et sursum aspirans sui - Ante et Reip. fati præsaga, salutisque æternæ certissima - Ingente latoque ardore in Servatoris dilectissimi sinum - Ipsius sanguine lotam animam efflavit - Rebus humanis exempta immortalitatem induit - III. Non. Quintilis Anno Salutis 1652. - Ps. 16. 9. - Etiam caro mea habitat securè quà non es - Derelicturus animam meam in sepulchro. - - -D(eo) O(ptimo) M(aximo) S(acrum) - - To God the Best and Greatest: Sacred. - John Davys of knightly rank, having formerly - discharged with prudence the highest duties of - King's Attorney General in the realm of Ireland: - thence having been recalled to his own country, - secured the first place among the servants - of his lord the King, at the Law. After various - services nobly rendered in each office, being now - nominated to more distinguished (appointments) - he suddenly frustrated the hope of his friends - but fulfilled his own--being called away - from human honours to celestial glory, - in the year of his age 57. - A man for accomplished genius, for uncommon - eloquence, for language whether free or bound - in verse, - Most happy. - Judicial sternness with elegance of manners - and more pleasant learning - he tempered. - An uncorrupt Judge, a faithful Patron - For love of free-born piety and contempt of fretting superstition - alike remarkable. - He looked down from on high on the obstinate narrowness - of plebeian souls in the matter of religion, - pity softening his disdain. - Himself magnanimously just, religious, free, and moved by heaven, - Had for wife the Lady Eleanor of the Right Honble. - Earl of Castlehaven, Baron Audley, daughter: - His only surviving offspring by her he left as heiress, - Lucy, to the most illustrious Ferdinand Baron - Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, married. - He spent his last day the 8th December - In the year of our Lord 1626. - With us leaving an example: here for the resurrection - of the Just, he waits. - - * * * * * - - Near to her most worthy husband lies his incomparable Wife: - Who her illustrious birth - And spirit equal to her race - With Christian mildness tempered. - Learned above her sex, - Meek below her rank, - Than most people greater - Because more humble, - In eminent beauty She possessed a lofty mind, - In pleasing affability, singular modesty: - In a woman's body a man's spirit, - In most adverse circumstances a serene mind, - In a wicked age unshaken piety and uprightness. - Not for her did Luxury relax her strong soul, or - Poverty narrow it: but each lot with equal countenance - And mind, she not only took but ruled. - Nay she was full of God, to which fulness - Neither a smiling world could have added, - Nor from it a frowning world have taken away. - Now for a long time sufficiently breathing of God - and aspiring above, of her own - And the Commonwealth's fate divining beforehand, - And most sure of Eternal Salvation - With a mighty and huge ardour into her Beloved Saviour's - breast, She breathed forth her soul washed in His own blood. - Taken away from things human she put on immortality - on the fifth of July, in the year of Salvation, 1652. - Ps. 16. 9. - My flesh also dwells securely because Thou wilt not - leave my soul in the sepulchre. - -One is willing to accept the "golden lies" of these Epitaphs in either -case. - -Sir John Davies had several children. One, who was semi-idiotic, was -drowned in Ireland. Others alleged to have been born, have not been -traced. His daughter Lucy, of the Inscriptions, and by whom, no doubt, -they were procured, became famous in her generation as Countess of -Huntingdon. We have to deplore that while we have a fine portrait -of her, none, as yet, has been found of her Father. His Will and -Charities, and their singular after-history, will be given in my fuller -Life (as before). Pass we now to - - - - -II. CRITICAL. - - -I shall limit myself in this second half of the Memorial-Introduction -to a brief statement and examination of certain characteristics of -the Poetry of Sir John Davies--the limitation being imposed by the -contents of the present volumes.[47] There are Poets whose truest and -most certain fame rests on so-called minor poems; and yet commonly -their bulkier productions have over-shadowed these. From Milton to -Wordsworth it is to be lamented that to the many they should be -represented by "Paradise Lost" and "The Excursion"; or to descend, -that Thomas _Campbell_ and Samuel _Rogers_ should have so hidden -behind their "Pleasures of Hope" and "Pleasures of Memory" their rare -and real faculty as Poets--for while in the larger poems of Milton -and Wordsworth there is of the imperishable stuff that only genius -of a lofty type weaves, it is rather (_meo judicio_) in "purple -patches" than in the web as a whole. In Milton and Wordsworth you do -not read them at their high_est_ in their Epics but in their shorter -poems; while Campbell and Rogers should long since have died out of -men's hearts had they left nothing behind them save the smooth and -prize-poem-like common-places of their "Pleasures." In Milton the -remark requires modification, for only in "Paradise Lost" has he put -forth to uttermost daring his Imagination--than which no writer of -all time has approached him for grandeur of vision and splendour of -utterance. But substantially I think that those capable of discernment -will agree with me that if Time may shut and leave unread except by -an elect few, many pages of the 'great' and volume-filling poems, the -lesser will assuredly draw more and more homage, and abide the regalia -of our Literature. - -[Footnote 47: His Prose is of no common order; and will be critically -examined in the fuller Life, along with his Prose Works in the Fuller -Worthies' Library, as before.] - -It is different with Sir John Davies. His "Orchestra" and "Hymnes to -Astræa" and Minor Poems, preceded considerably his "Nosce Teipsum," but -it was his "Nosce Teipsum" that made King James I. prick up his ears on -hearing his name, and it is "Nosce Teipsum" that is the poem that will -secure immortality to Sir John Davies. His other poetry has special -remarkablenesses--as will appear--but in "Nosce Teipsum" alone have -we the inspiration and spontaneity, the insight and speculation, the -subtlety and yet definiteness, the "burden" (in the prophetic sense) -and the melody of the Poet as distinguished from the versifier or -verse-Rhetorician. - -I value "Nosce Teipsum" as a first thing for its _deep and original -thinking_, i.e. for its _intellectual strength_--all the more -remarkable that as the former part of the Memorial-Introduction -shows, he was only in his 28th-29th year when he composed it. Of -its art I shall have somewhat to say anon: but regarding it as a -"_philosophical_ poem" and as a contribution to metaphysic, I place -foremost the THOUGHT in it, as at once a characteristic and a -merit (if merit be not too poor a word). DAVIES (along with -FULKE GREVILLE, LORD BROOKE and DONNE) -simply as Thinker on the profoundest problems of nature and human -nature, seems to me to stand out pre-eminently, and in saying this, I -regard it as sheer nonsense to exalt the workmanship at the expense -of the material--to ask me to recognize in a bit of tin ingeniously -and painstakingly etched into a kind of miracle of execution something -co-equal with a solid bar of gold as it gleams i' the face of the sun -in its purged and massive simpleness; or to put it unmetaphorically, -I must pronounce judgment on the rank of a Poet _qua_ a Poet -fundamentally on the kind and quality of the thought on higher and -deeper things that he puts into his verse and that he strikes out in -others. Your mere artist-Poet is surely third-rate and must even go -beneath the music-composer of to-day. - -"Nosce Teipsum" as it was practically the earliest so it remains the -most remarkable example of deep reflective-meditative thinking in verse -in our language or in any language. The student of this great poem will -very soon discover that within sometimes homeliest metaphors there is -folded a long process of uncommon thought on the every-day facts of our -mysterious existence. I call the thinking deep, because "Nosce Teipsum" -reveals more than eyes that looked on the surface--reveals penetrative -and bold descent to the roots of our being and reachings upward to the -Highest. Your mere realistic word-painter of what he sees, is shallow -beside a Poet who passes beneath the surface and circumstance and -fetches up from sunless depths or down from radiant altitudes fact and -facts--each contributory to that ultimate philosophy which while it -shall accept every proved fact, will not rush off hysterically shouting -"eureka," with ribald accusations of all that generations have held to -be venerable and sustaining. I call the thinking original, for there -is evidence everywhere in "Nosce Teipsum" that the penitent recluse of -Oxford made his own self his study--as really if not as avowedly as -Wordsworth. - -I am aware in claiming originality for Davies that in that huge -waste-basket of our Literature--Nichols' Literary Illustrations -(Vol. IV. pp. 549-50) there is a letter from an Alexander Dalrymple, -Esq., who is designated "the great hydrographer" to "Mr. Herbert" -(the Bibliographer I opine) wherein he takes different ground. We -must traverse his charge. He thus writes:--"Dear Sir, I have lately -purchased the following old books" (he enumerates several).... "I have -also got 'Wither's translation of Nemesius de Naturâ hominis' by which -I find Sir John Davies's poem on the Immortality of the Soul is chiefly -taken from Nemesius" ... "I have picked up a tract in 4to. by Thomas -Jenner, with some very good plates, the marginal notes of which seem -to be what the heads of Tate's edition of Sir John Davies's are taken -from." - -Were this true it would utterly take from "Nosce Teipsum" the first -characteristic and merit I claim for it--deep and original thought. But -it is absolutely untrue, an utter delusion, as any one will find who -takes the pains that I have done to read, either the original Nemesius, -or what this sapient book-buyer mentions, Wither's translation. With my -mind and memory full of "Nosce Teipsum" and the poem itself beside me, -I have read and re-read every page, sentence and word of Nemesius and -Wither (and there is a good deal of Wither in his translation: 1636) -and I have not come upon a single metaphor or (as the old margin-notes -called them) "similies," or even observation in "Nosce Teipsum" drawn -from Nemesius or Wither. The only element in common is that necessarily -Nemesius adduces and discusses the opinions of the Heathen Philosophers -on the many matters handled by him, and Sir John Davies does the same -with equal inevitableness. But to base a charge of plagiarism against -"Nosce Teipsum" on this, is to reason on the connection between -Tenterden Steeple and Goodwin Sands (if the well-worn folly be a -permissible reference). The following is the title-page of the quaint -old tome and as it is by no means scarce, any reader can cross-question -our witness: "The Nature of Man. A learned and useful Tract written -in Greek by Nemesius, surnamed the Philosopher; sometime Bishop of a -City in Ph[oe]necia, and one of the most ancient Fathers of the Church. -Englyshed, and divided into Sections, with briefs of their principle -contents by Geo. Wither. London: Printed by M. F. for Henry Taunton in -St. Duncan's Churchyard in Fleetstreet. 1636." (12^{o} 21 leaves and -pp. 661.) Chronologically--Wither's translation was not published until -1636, while "Nosce Teipsum" was published in 1599; but Nemesius' own -book no more than Wither's warrants any such preposterous statements as -this Alexander Dalrymple makes. Even in the treatment of the "opinions" -of the Heathen Philosophers which come up in Nemesius, and in "Nosce -Teipsum," the latter while 'intermedling' with the same returns wholly -distinct answers in refutation. The "opinions" themselves as being -derived of necessity from the same sources are identical; but neither -their statement nor refutation. Nemesius is ingenious and well-learned, -but heavy and prosaic. Sir John Davies is light of touch and a light -of poetic glory lies on the lamest "opinion." The "Father of the -Church" goes forth to war with encumbering armour: the Poet naked -and unarmed beyond the spear wherewith he 'pierces' everything, viz. -human consciousness. Jenner's forgotten book had perhaps been read by -Tate, but that concerns Tate not Sir John Davies. I pronounce it a -hallucination to write "Sir John Davies' poem on the immortality of -the Soul is chiefly taken from Nemesius." Not one line was taken from -Nemesius. - -Before passing on it may be well to illustrate here from the "contents" -of two chapters (representative of the whole) in Wither's Nemesius, -the merely superficial agreement between them and "Nosce Teipsum." In -the Poem under "The Soule of Man and the Immortalitie thereof" various -opinions of its 'nature' are thus summarized: - - "One thinks the _Soule_ is _aire_; another _fire_; - Another _blood_, diffus'd about the heart; - Another saith, the _elements_ conspire, - And to her _essence_ each doth giue a part. - - _Musicians_ thinke our _Soules_ are _harmonies_, - _Phisicians_ hold that they _complexions_ bee; - _Epicures_ make them swarmes of _atomies_, - Which doe by chance into our bodies flee." (p. 26.) - -In Nemesius, c. 2. § I, the 'headings' are: "I. The severall and -different Opinions of the Ancients concerning the Sovl, as whether it -be a Substance; whether corporeall, or incoporeall, whether mortal -or immortal P. II. The confutation of those who affirme in general -that the Sovl is a corporeall-substance. III. Confutations of their -particular Arguments, who affirme that the Sovl is Blood, Water, or -Aire." These are all common-places of ancient 'opinion' and of the -subject; and anything less poetical than Nemesius' treatment of them is -scarcely imaginable. Here if anywhere Davies' indebtedness must have -been revealed; but not one scintilla of obligation suggests itself to -the Reader. Again in the Poem, after a subtle and very remarkable -'confutation' of the notion that the Soul is a thing of 'Sense' only, -there comes proof "That the Soule is more than the Temperature of the -humours of the Body;" and nowhere does Davies show a more cunning -hand than in his statement of the 'false opinion.' Turning once more -to Nemesius c. II. § 3, these are its 'headings:'--"I. It is here -declared, that the Soul is not (as Galen implicitly affirmeth) a -Temperature in general. II. It is here proved also, that the Soul is no -particular temperature or quality. III. And it is likewise demonstrated -that the Soul is rather governesse of the temperatures of the Body, -both ordering them, and subduing the vices which arise from the bodily -tempers." Here again we would have expected some resemblances or -suggestions; but again there is not a jot or tittle of either. Thus -is it throughout. One might as well turn up the words used in "Nosce -Teipsum" in a quotation-illustrated Dictionary of the English Language -(such as Richardson's) and argue 'plagiarism' because of necessarily -agreeing definitions, as from a few scattered places in "Nosce Teipsum" -discussing the same topics, allege appropriation of Nemesius. Your mere -readers of title-pages and contents, or glancers over indices are -constantly blundering after this fashion. Dalrymple was one of these. - -The headings of the successive sections--removed in our text from -the margins to their several places--suffice to inform us of the -original lines of thought and research and illustration pursued in -"Nosce Teipsum" and thither I refer the Reader. The merest glance -will show that in "Nosce Teipsum" you have the whole breadth of the -field traversed--and that for the first time in Verse. I can only very -imperfectly illustrate either the depth or the originality of the poem. -Almost as at the opening of the book, take these uniting both:-- - - "And yet alas, when all our lamps are burnd, - Our bodyes wasted, and our spirits spent; - When we haue all the learnèd _Volumes_ turn'd, - Which yeeld mens wits both help and ornament: - - What can we know? or what can we discerne? - When _Error_ chokes the windowes of the minde, - The diuers formes of things, how can we learne, - That haue been euer from our birth-day blind? - - When _Reasone's_ lampe, which (like the _sunne_ in skie) - Throughout _Man's_ little world her beames did spread; - Is now become a sparkle, which doth lie - Vnder the ashes, halfe extinct, and dead: - - How can we hope, that through the eye and eare, - This dying sparkle, in this cloudy place, - Can recollect these beames of knowledge cleere, - Which were infus'd in the first minds by grace? - - So might the heire whose father hath in play - Wasted a thousand pound of ancient rent; - By painefull earning of a groate a day, - Hope to restore the patrimony spent. - - The wits that diu'd most deepe and soar'd most hie - Seeking Man's pow'rs, haue found his weaknesse such: - "Skill comes so slow, and life so fast doth flie, - "We learne so little and forget so much. - - For this the wisest of all morall men - Said, '_He knew nought, but that he nought did know_'; - And the great mocking-Master mockt not then, - When he said, '_Truth was buried deepe below_.' - - For how may we to others' things attaine, - When none of vs his owne soule vnderstands? - For which the Diuell mockes our curious braine, - When, '_Know thy selfe_' his oracle commands. - - For why should wee the busie Soule beleeue, - When boldly she concludes of that and this; - When of her selfe she can no iudgement giue, - Nor how, nor whence, nor where, nor what she is? - - All things without, which round about we see, - We seeke to knowe, and how therewith to doe; - But that whereby we _reason, liue and be_, - Within our selues, we strangers are thereto. - - We seeke to know the mouing of each spheare, - And the strange cause of th' ebs and flouds of _Nile_; - But of that clock, within our breasts we beare, - The subtill motions we forget the while. - - We that acquaint our selues with euery _Zoane_ - And passe both _Tropikes_ and behold the _Poles_, - When we come home, are to our selues vnknown, - And vnacquainted still with our owne _Soules_. - - We study _Speech_ but others we perswade; - We _leech-craft_ learne, but others cure with it; - We interpret _lawes_, which other men haue made, - But reade not those which in our hearts are writ." - - (pp. 18-20.) - -Again:-- - - -IN WHAT MANNER THE SOULE IS UNITED TO THE BODY. - - But how shall we this _union_ well expresse? - Nought ties the _soule_; her subtiltie is such - She moues the bodie, which she doth possesse, - Yet no part toucheth, but by _Vertue's_ touch. - - Then dwels shee not therein as in a tent, - Nor as a pilot in his ship doth sit; - Nor as the spider in his web is pent; - Nor as the waxe retaines the print in it; - - Nor as a vessell water doth containe; - Nor as one liquor in another shed; - Nor as the heat doth in the fire remaine; - Nor as a voice throughout the ayre is spread: - - But as the faire and cheerfull _Morning light_, - Doth here and there her siluer beames impart, - And in an instant doth herselfe vnite - To the transparent ayre, in all, and part: - - Still resting whole, when blowes th' ayre diuide: - Abiding pure, when th' ayre is most corrupted; - Throughout the ayre, her beams dispersing wide, - And when the ayre is tost, not interrupted: - - So doth the piercing _Soule_ the body fill, - Being all in all, and all in part diffus'd; - Indiuisible, incorruptible still, - Not forc't, encountred, troubled or confus'd. - - And as the _sunne_ aboue, the light doth bring, - Though we behold it in the ayre below; - So from th' Eternall Light the _Soule_ doth spring, - Though in the body she her powers doe show. - - (pp. 61-2.) - -Further, "An Acclamation":-- - - -AN ACCLAMATION. - - O! what is Man (great Maker of mankind!) - That Thou to him so great respect dost beare! - That Thou adornst him with so bright a mind, - Mak'st him a king, and euen an angel's peere! - - O! what a liuely life, what heauenly power, - What spreading vertue, what a sparkling fire! - How great, how plentifull, how rich a dower - Dost Thou within this dying flesh inspire! - - Thou leau'st Thy print in other works of Thine, - But Thy whole image Thou in Man hast writ; - There cannot be a creature more diuine, - Except (like Thee) it should be infinit. - - But it exceeds man's thought, to thinke how hie - _God_ hath raisd _Man_, since _God a man_ became; - The angels doe admire this _Misterie_, - And are astonisht when they view the same. - - (pp. 81-2.) - -Again:-- - - -THAT THE SOULE IS IMMORTAL, AND CANNOT DIE. - - Nor hath he giuen these blessings for a day, - Nor made them on the bodie's life depend; - The _Soule_ though made in time, _suruives for aye_, - And though it hath beginning, sees no end. - - Her onely _end_, is _neuer-ending_ blisse; - Which is, _th' eternall face of God to see_; - Who _Last of Ends_, and _First of Causes_, is: - And to doe this, she must _eternall_ bee. - - How senselesse then, and dead a soule hath hee, - Which _thinks_ his _soule_ doth with his body die! - Or _thinkes_ not so, but so would haue it bee, - That he might sinne with more securitie. - - For though these light and vicious persons say, - Our _Soule_ is but a smoake, or ayrie blast; - Which, during life, doth in our nostrils play, - And when we die, doth turne to wind at last: - - Although they say, '_Come let us eat and drinke_'; - Our life is but a sparke, which quickly dies; - Though thus they _say_, they know not what to think, - But in their minds ten thousand doubts arise. - - Therefore no heretikes desire to spread - Their light opinions, like these _Epicures_: - For so the staggering thoughts are comfortèd, - And other men's assent their doubt assures. - - Yet though these men against their conscience striue, - There are some sparkles in their flintie breasts - Which cannot be extinct, but still reuiue; - That though they would, they cannot quite bee _beasts_; - - But who so makes a mirror of his mind, - And doth with patience view himselfe therein, - His _Soule's_ eternitie shall clearely find, - Though th' other beauties be defac't with sin. - - (pp. 82-3.) - -Further, "An Acclamation":-- - - -AN ACCLAMATION. - - O ignorant poor man! what dost thou beare - Lockt vp within the casket of thy brest? - What iewels, and what riches hast thou there! - What heauenly treasure in so weak a chest! - - Looke in thy _soule_, and thou shalt _beauties_ find, - Like those which drownd _Narcissus_ in the flood: - _Honour_ and _Pleasure_ both are in thy mind, - And all that in the world is counted _Good_. - - Thinke of her worth, and thinke that God did meane. - This worthy mind should worthy things imbrace; - Blot not her beauties with thy thoughts vnclean, - Nor her dishonour with thy passions base; - - Kill not her _quickning power_ with surfettings, - Mar not her _Sense_ with sensualitie; - Cast not her serious wit on idle things: - Make not her free-_will_, slaue to vanitie. - - And when thou think'st of her _eternitie_, - Thinke not that _Death_ against her nature is; - Thinke it a _birth_; and when thou goest to die, - Sing like a swan, as if thou went'st to blisse. - - And if thou, like a child, didst feare before, - Being in the darke, where thou didst nothing see: - Now I haue broght thee _torch-light_, feare no more; - Now when thou diest, thou canst not hud-winkt be. - - And thou, my _Soule_, which turn'st thy curious eye, - To view the beames of thine owne forme diuine; - Know, that thou canst know nothing perfectly, - While thou art clouded with this flesh of mine. - - Take heed of _ouer-weening_, and compare - Thy peacock's feet with thy gay peacock's traine; - Study the best, and highest things, that are, - But of thy selfe, an humble thought retaine. - - Cast down thy selfe, and onely striue to raise - The glory of thy Maker's sacred Name; - Vse all thy powers, that Blessed Power to praise, - Which giues the power to _bee_, and _use the same_. - - (pp. 114-16.) - -Finally, here is a simile well-wrought in itself and accidentally to be -for ever associated with a celebrated criticism:-- - - -THE MOTION OF THE SOULE. - - .... how can shee but immortall bee? - When with the motions of both _Will_ and _Wit_, - She still aspireth to eternitie, - And neuer rests, till she attaine to it? - - Water in conduit pipes, can rise no higher - Then the wel-head, from whence it first doth spring: - Then sith to eternall GOD shee doth aspire, - Shee cannot be but an eternall thing. - - (p. 85.) - -The second stanza contains a metaphor that was stolen and murdered as -well, by Robert Montgomery. Concerning _his_ use of it Macaulay thus -wrote in his merciless review:--"We would not be understood, however, -to say that Mr. Robert Montgomery cannot make similitudes for himself. -A very few lines further on we find one which has every mark of -originality and on which we will be bound, none of the poets whom he -has plundered will ever think of making reprisal:-- - - 'The soul aspiring, pants its source to mount, - As streams meander level with their fount.' - -"We take this to be on the whole the worst similitude in the world. -In the first place, no stream meanders, or can possibly meander level -with its fount. In the next place, if streams did meander level with -their fount, no two motions can be less like each other than that of -meandering level and that of mounting upwards." True; but none the less -is the original 'spoiled' and despoiled metaphor, accurate and vivid. - -If the Reader will surrender himself to the task, he will be rewarded -for studying and re-studying the entire poem of "Nosce Teipsum;" and, -unless I very much mistake, will then regard Hallam's judgment on it -as inadequate rather than exaggerate, as (with intercalated remarks), -thus: "A more remarkable poem [than Drayton's and Daniel's] is that -of Sir John Davies, afterwards Chief Justice of Ireland [a mistake], -entitled, 'Nosce Teipsum,' published in 1599, usually, though rather -inaccurately, called 'On the Immortality of the Soul.' Perhaps no -language can produce a poem, extending to so great a length, of -more condensation of thought, or in which fewer languid verses will -be found. Yet, according to some definitions [of poetry] the 'Nosce -Teipsum' is wholly unpoetical, inasmuch as it shows no passion [a -greater blunder still] and little fancy [a third mistake]. If it -reaches the heart at all, it is through the reason. But since strong -argument in terse and correct style fails not to give us pleasure in -prose, it seems strange that it should lose its effect when it gains -the aid of regular metre to gratify the ear and assist the memory. -Lines there are in Davies which far out-weigh much of the descriptive -and imaginative poetry of the last two centuries, whether we estimate -them by the pleasure they impart to us, or by the intellectual vigour -they display. Experience has shown that the faculties familiarly -deemed poetical are frequently exhibited in a considerable degree, -but very few have been able to preserve a perspicuous beauty without -stiffness or pedantry (allowance made for the subject and the times), -in metaphysical reasoning, so successfully as Sir John Davies."[48] -The alleged "no passion" is contradicted by the various pathetic -autobiographic introspections and confessions brought out in this -Memorial-Introduction, and not less so by the outbursts of adoration -and praise that thunder up like the hosannahs before the great White -Throne. The similarly alleged "little fancy" is one of manifold proofs -that the critic was the most superficial of all imaginable readers with -so much pretention. "Nosce Teipsum" is radiant as the dew-bedabbled -grass with delicacies of fancy, not a few of the "fancies" being as -exquisitely touched as divine work. - -[Footnote 48: Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, -16th, and 17th Centuries: Vol. II., p. 227, edn. 1860.] - -Campbell in his "Essay on English Poetry" (prefixed to his -"Specimens") may be read with interest after Hallam. Accepting from -Johnson as Johnson from Dryden the name of "metaphysical poets," he -observes:--"The term of metaphysical poetry would apply with much more -justice to the quatrains of Sir John Davies and those of Sir Fulke -Greville, writers who, at a later period, found imitators in Sir Thomas -Overbury and Sir William Davenant. Davies's poem on the Immortality -of the Soul, entitled "_Nosce teipsum_," will convey a much more -favourable idea of metaphysical poetry than the wittiest effusions of -Donne and his followers. Davies carried abstract reasoning into verse -with an acuteness and felicity which have seldom been equalled. He -reasons undoubtedly with too much labour, formality, and subtlety, -to afford uniform poetical pleasure. The generality of his stanzas -exhibit hard arguments interwoven with the pliant materials of fancy so -closely, that we may compare them to a texture of cloth and metallic -threads, which is cold and stiff, while it is splendidly curious. There -is this difference, however, between Davies and the commonly-styled -metaphysical poets, that _he_ argues like a hard thinker, and _they_, -for the most part, like madmen. If we conquer the drier parts of -Davies' poem, and bestow a little attention on thoughts which were -meant, not to gratify the indolence, but to challenge the activity of -the mind, we shall find in the entire essay fresh beauties at every -perusal: for in the happier parts we come to logical truths so well -illustrated by ingenious similes, that we know not whether to call the -thoughts more poetically or philosophically just. The judgment and -fancy are reconciled, and the imagery of the poems seems to start more -vividly from the surrounding shades of abstraction." - -The 'coldness' of 'cloth and metallic threads' which the critic applies -to the 'hard arguments' of _Nosce Teipsum_ is a mere imagination. But -besides, the 'metallic threads' are not for warmth but for splendour. -The lining of the 'splendidly curious' garment is to be looked for for -warmth. Similarly the 'hard arguments' would have been unpoetical as -unphilosophical had they been 'warm' with the warmth of the 'clothing' -in similes and fancies. The 'hardness' is where it ought to be--in -the thinking: but it is a hardness like the bough that is green with -leafage and radiant with bloom and odorous with 'sweet scent' and -pliant to every lightest touch of the breeze. The leaf and bloom start -from the 'hard' bough rightly, fittingly 'hard' to its utmost twig. The -alleged 'too much labour' is singularly uncharacteristic. As for the -'madness' I can but exclaim--Oh for more of such 'fine lunacy' as in -Donne is condemned! His and compeers' 'madness' is worth cart-loads of -most men's sanity. - -In our own day Dr. George Macdonald has spoken more wisely if still -somewhat superficially of "_Nosce Teipsum_" in his charming "England's -Antiphon." Having explained that by "Immortality of the Soul" is -intended "the spiritual nature of the soul, resulting in continuity -of existence," he proceeds:--"It [_Nosce Teipsum_] is a wonderful -instance of what can be done for metaphysics in verse, and by means -of imaginative or poetic embodiment generally. Argumentation cannot -of course naturally belong to the region of poetry, however well -it may comport itself when there naturalized; and consequently, -although there are most poetic no less than profound passages in the -treatise, a light scruple arises whether its constituent matter can -properly be called poetry. At all events, however, certain of the -more prosaic measures and stanzas lend themselves readily, and with -much favour, to some of the more complex of logical necessities. And -it must be remembered that in human speech, as in the human mind, -there are no absolute divisions: power shades off into feeling; and -the driest logic may find the heroic couplet render it good service." -(pp. 105-6). The 'scruple' must be 'light' indeed that has to decide -whether the 'reasoning' of "Nosce Teipsum" be or be not 'poetry.' It -is astounding that at this time o' day any should attempt to exclude -the highest region of the intellect and its noblest occupation from -poetry. Poetry I must hold absolutely is poetry, whatever be its matter -and form if the thinking be glorified by imagination or tremulous with -emotion. It is sheer folly to refuse to the Poet any material within -the compass of the universe. Especially deplorable is it to have to -argue for possibilities of poetry in the greatest of all thinking, -viz., metaphysics, in the face of such actualities of achievement as in -Davies and Lord Brooke and Donne. - -A second characteristic of "Nosce Teipsum" that calls for notice -is its _perfection of workmanship_ shown in the _mastery of an -extremely difficult stanza_, as well as its solidity of material. -Here unquestionably Sir John Davies far excels Lord Brooke and Donne, -and later, Sir William Davenant in "Gondibert." The two former are -occasionally (it must be granted) semi-inarticulate, and the last -is very often monotonous and trying. "Nosce Teipsum" is throughout -articulate and unmistakeable, and never flags. You have a fear o' -times that a metaphor will prove grotesque or mean: or a vein of -thought pinch and go out from ore to bare limestone. But invariably an -imaginative touch, or a colour-like epithet, or a thrill of emotion, -lifts up the mean into a transfiguring atmosphere as of sun-set purples -and crysolites, and gives to grotesquest gargoyles (as of cathedrals) -a strange fitness. Then when a thought or illustration seems about -to end, debasedly, another forward-carrying and ennobling, swiftly -succeeds. - -There is more than dexterity, there is consummate art--the art of a -conscious master--in the inter-weaving of the lines and stanzas of -"Nosce Teipsum." Professor Craik recognised the difficulty and the -triumph, but fails by ultra-ingenuity in accounting for either the -selection of the measure or the miracle of its continuous success. -His criticism is worth recalling, thus:--"A remarkable poem of this -age ... is the 'Nosce Teipsum' of Sir John Davies ... a philosophical -poem, the earliest of the kind in the language. It is written in rhyme, -in the common heroic ten-syllable verse, but disposed in quatrains, -like the early play of Misogonus, already mentioned, and other poetry -of the same era, or like Sir Thomas Overbury's poem of 'The Wife,' -the 'Gondibert' of Sir William Davenant, and the 'Annus Mirabilis' of -Dryden, at a later period. No one of these writers has managed this -difficult stanza so successfully as Davies: it has the disadvantage -of requiring the sense to be in general closed at certain regularly -and quickly-recurring turns, which yet are very ill adapted for an -effective pause; and even all the skill of Dryden has been unable to -free it from a certain air of monotony and languor,--a circumstance of -which that poet may be supposed to have been himself sensible, since he -wholly abandoned it after one or two early attempts. Davies, however, -has conquered its difficulty; and, as has been observed, 'perhaps no -language can produce a poem, extending to so great a length, of more -condensation of thought, or in which fewer languid verses will be -found.' (Hallam, as before.) In fact, it is by this condensation and -sententious brevity, so carefully filed and elaborated, however, as -to involve no sacrifice of perspicuity or fulness of expression, that -he has attained his end. Every quatrain is a pointed expression of a -separate thought, like one of Rochefoucault's maxims; each thought -being, by great skill and painstaking in the packing, made exactly to -fit and to fill the same case. It may be doubted, however, whether -Davies would not have produced a still better poem if he had chosen a -measure which would have allowed him greater freedom and real variety; -unless, indeed, his poetical talent was of a sort that required the -suggestive aid and guidance of such artificial restraints as he had to -cope with in this; and what would have been a bondage to a more fiery -and teeming imagination, was rather a support to his."[49] - -[Footnote 49: _A Compendious History of English Literature_, &c., Vol. -I., p. 577, edn. 1866.] - -Most of this must be read _cum grano salis_. Davies elected his -measure and stanza with evidently entire spontaneity; and it is an -odd reversal of the simple matter of fact to ascribe the 'artificial -restraints' chosen, to an absence 'of a fiery and teeming imagination,' -when, as all observation demonstrates, the more fiery and fecund -the imagination of a Poet, the more exquisitely obedient is he to -the subtlest and most intricate movements of his measure--just as -the bluest-blooded race-horse is a law to itself whereas your stolid -dray-cart or plough-drawer needs the "artificial restraints" of all -kinds of gear, and the constraint of whip and blow and vociferation. I -can well suppose that but for the "Fairy Queen" Sir John Davies might -have chosen its stanza, but just as to-day "In Memoriam" has taken -to itself its form and music to the exclusion of every other--though -a very ancient English measure--so Spenser's immortal poem precluded -"Nosce Teipsum" following in the same. I cannot admit "artificial -restraints" in the sense of needed restraints or aid. There was the -stanza, and the genius of Sir John Davies appropriated it--since -Spenser's, in all worship, could not be taken--and, like a great Vine, -clad its natural slenderness and poorness of build with wealth of -bright green leafage and clustered fruitage. The nicety and daintiness -of workmanship, the involute and nevertheless firmly-completed and -manifested imagery of "Nosce Teipsum" wherewith this nicety and -daintiness are wrought, place Sir John Davies artistically among the -finest of our Poets. Southey wrote decisively on this:--"Sir John -Davies and Sir William Davenant, avoiding equally the opposite faults -of too artificial and too careless a style, wrote in numbers which, for -precision and clearness, and felicity and strength, have never been -surpassed." For 'felicity' I should have said 'flexibility.'[50] - -[Footnote 50: To Southey's praise be it remembered, that he was the -first emphatically to regret that there had been no collective edition -of Sir John Davies's Works, as thus: "It may be regretted that he did -not leave representatives who would have thought it a duty and an -honour to publish all that could be collected of his writings; thus -erecting the best and most enduring monument to his memory." (British -Poets: Chaucer to Jonson: p. 686). Our edition of his Prose and Verse -fulfils Southey's wish.] - -Again our examples of the mastery and perfection of workmanship must be -brief; but take these:-- - - "Nor can her wide imbracements fillèd bee; - For they that most, and greatest things embrace, - Inlarge thereby their minds' capacitie, - As streames inlarg'd, inlarge the channel's space. - - _All things receiu'd, doe such proportion take, - As those things haue, wherein they are receiu'd_: - So little glasses little faces make, - And narrow webs on narrow frames be weau'd; - - Then what vast body must we make the _mind_ - Wherin are men, beasts, trees, towns, seas, and lands; - And yet each thing a proper place doth find, - And each thing in the true proportion stands? - - Doubtlesse this could not bee, but that she turnes - Bodies to spirits, by _sublimation_ strange; - As fire conuerts to fire the things it burnes - As we our meats into our nature change. - - From their grosse _matter_ she abstracts the _formes_, - And draws a kind of _quintessence_ from things; - Which to her proper nature she transformes, - To bear them light on her celestiall wings: - - This doth she, when, from things _particular_, - She doth abstract the _universall kinds_; - Which bodilesse and immateriall are, - And can be lodg'd but onely in our minds: - - And thus from diuers _accidents_ and _acts_, - Which doe within her obseruation fall, - She goddesses, and powers diuine, abstracts: - As _Nature_, _Fortune_, and the _Vertues_ all." - - (pp. 42-44.) - -Again:-- - - _Are they not sencelesse_ then, that thinke the Soule - Nought but a fine perfection of the _Sense_; - Or of the formes which _fancie_ doth enroule, - A _quicke resulting_, and a _consequence_? - - What is it then that doth the _Sense_ accuse, - Both of _false judgements_, and _fond appetites_? - What makes vs do what _Sense_ doth most refuse? - Which oft in torment of the _Sense_ delights? - - _Sense_ thinkes the _planets_, _spheares_ not much asunder; - What tels vs then their distance is so farre? - _Sense_ thinks the lightning borne before the thunder; - What tels vs then they both together are? - - When men seem crows far off vpon a towre, - _Sense_ saith, th'are crows; what makes vs think them men? - When we in _agues_, thinke all sweete things sowre, - What makes vs know our tongue's false iudgement then? - - What power was that, whereby _Medea_ saw, - And well approu'd, and prais'd the better course, - When her rebellious _Sense_ did so withdraw - Her feeble powers, as she pursu'd the worse? - - Did _Sense_ perswade _Vlisses_ not to heare - The mermaid's songs, which so his men did please; - As they were all perswaded, through the eare - To quit the ship, and leape into the _seas_? - - Could any power of _Sense_ the _Romane_ moue, - To burn his own right hand with courage stout? - Could _Sense_ make _Marius_ sit vnbound, and proue - The cruell lancing of the knotty gout? - - Doubtlesse in _Man_ there is a _nature_ found, - Beside the _Senses_, and aboue them farre; - 'Though most men being in sensuall pleasures drownd, - 'It seems their _Soules_ but in their _Senses_ are.' - - If we had nought but _Sense_, then onely they - Should haue sound minds, which haue their _Senses_ sound; - But _Wisdome_ growes, when _Senses_ doe decay, - And _Folly_ most in quickest _Sense_ is found. - - If we had nought but _Sense_, each liuing wight, - Which we call _brute_, would be more sharp then we; - As hauing _Sense's apprehensiue might_, - In a more cleere, and excellent degree. - - But they doe want that _quicke discoursing power_, - Which doth in vs the erring _Sense_ correct; - Therefore the _bee_ did sucke the painted flower, - And _birds_, of grapes, the cunning shadow, peckt. - - _Sense_ outsides knows; the Soule throgh al things sees; - _Sense_, _circumstance_; she, doth the _substance_ view; - _Sense_ sees the barke, but she, the life of trees; - _Sense_ heares the sounds, but she, the concords true. - - (pp. 35-38.) - -Once more:-- - - I know my bodie's of so fraile a kind, - As force without, feauers within can kill; - I know the heauenly nature of my minde, - But 'tis corrupted both in wit and will: - - I know my _Soule_ hath power to know all things, - Yet is she blinde and ignorant in all; - I know I am one of Nature's little kings, - Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall. - - I know my life's a paine and but a span, - I know my _Sense_ is mockt with euery thing: - And to conclude, I know my selfe a MAN, - Which is a _proud_, and yet a _wretched_ thing. - - (p. 24.) - - If the pathos and grandeur of Pascal be anticipated in - these lines, Pope has certainly appropriated Davies' - favourite metaphor of the 'spider.' Witness the Sense - of Feeling illustrated:-- - - Much like a subtill spider, which doth sit - In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide; - If ought doe touch the vtmost thred of it, - Shee feeles it instantly on euery side. - - (p. 70). - -So in the _Essay of Man_:-- - - "The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine, - Feels at each thread, and lives along the line." - -Another now familiar 'metaphor' also occurs in "Nosce Teipsum":-- - - "Heere _Sense's apprehension_, end doth take; - As when a stone is into water cast, - One circle doth another circle make, - Till the last circle touch the banke at last." - - (p. 72.) - -These two characteristics, viz., (1) _deep and original thinking_, -(2) _perfection of workmanship, or mastery of an extremely difficult -stanza_--embrace that in "Nosce Teipsum," regarded broadly, which -I am anxious to have the Reader recognize and 'prove' for himself. -Subsidiary to them is one other thing--not shared with many of -our Poets and therefore demanding specific statement--viz. its -_condensation throughout_. Hallam and Craik have called attention to -this; and the student cannot fail to be struck with it. It is not -simply that the stanzas are as so many rings of gold each complete in -itself--much as Proverbs are--but that whether it be idea or opinion or -metaphor there is no beating of it out, as though yards of gold-leaf -or tin-foil were more valuable than the relatively small solid ore -that has been so manipulated: or the common mistake of imagining that -a pound of feathers is heavier than a pound of lead. From Dean Donne -until now "comparisons are odious." Nevertheless when one recalls -the attenuated thought and the blatant verbiage of not a few of our -Poets, this resolute sifting out of everything extraneous is not less -noticeable than commendable. It assures us that the Poet was conscious -of his resources--of his unused wealth of thought and imagination and -fancies. He who compacts his carbon into a Koh-i-noor has infinite -supplies of it. Similarly a Poet who could and did so lavishly add -great thought to great thought and vivid metaphor to vivid metaphor, -and still go on adding in smallest possible compass, declares his -intellect to be of the highest. I take two stanzas as illustrative -equally of condensed thought and condensed metaphor concerning our -First Parents:-- - - When their reasons eye was sharpe and cleare, - And (as an eagle can behold the sunne) - Could haue approcht th' Eternall Light as neare, - As the intellectuall angels could haue done: - - Euen then to them the _Spirit of Lyes_ suggests - That they were blind, because they saw not ill; - And breathes into their incorrupted brests - A curious _wish_, which did corrupt their _will_. - -Your Rhetorician-poet would have expatiated on his 'Eagle' through -a hundred lines. Your mere Metaphysician would have entangled -himself with distinctions between 'wish' and 'will' endlessly. -Similarly how succinctly memorable is this of man's un-willinghood -to know himself--every stanza a perfect circle but all the circles -interlinked:-- - - We study _Speech_ but others we perswade; - We _leech-craft_ learne, but others cure with it; - We interpret _lawes_, which other men haue made, - But reade not those which in our hearts are writ. - - Is it because the minde is like the eye, - Through which it gathers knowledge by degrees-- - Whose rayes reflect not, but spread outwardly: - Not seeing it selfe when other things it sees? - - No, doubtlesse; for the mind can backward cast - Vpon her selfe, her vnderstanding light; - But she is so corrupt, and so defac't, - As her owne image doth her selfe affright. - - As in the fable of the Lady faire, - Which for her lust was turnd into a cow; - When thirstie to a streame she did repaire, - And saw her selfe transform'd she wist not how: - - At first she startles, then she stands amaz'd, - At last with terror she from thence doth flye; - And loathes the watry glasse wherein she gaz'd, - And shunnes it still, though she for thirst doe die: - - Euen so _Man's Soule_ which did God's image beare, - And was at first faire, good, and spotlesse pure; - Since with her _sinnes_ her beauties blotted were, - Doth of all sights her owne sight least endure: - - For euen at first reflection she espies, - Such strange _chimeraes_, and such monsters there; - Such toyes, such _antikes_, and such vanities, - As she retires, and shrinkes for shame and feare. - - And as the man loues least at home to bee, - That hath a sluttish house haunted with _spirits_; - So she impatient her owne faults to see, - Turnes from her selfe and in strange things delites. - - For this few _know themselues_: for merchants broke - View their estate with discontent and paine; - And _seas_ are troubled, when they doe reuoke - Their flowing waues into themselues againe. - - (pp. 20-22.) - -How daintily-put and how divinely ennobled by the sacred reference -is this of the soul's yearning after that higher ideal that is ever -receding horizon-like to our vision:-- - - Then as a _bee_ which among weeds doth fall, - Which seeme sweet flowers, with lustre fresh and gay; - She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all, - But pleasd with none, doth rise, and soare away; - - So, when the _Soule_ finds here no true content, - And, like _Noah's_ doue, can no sure footing take; - She doth returne from whence she first was sent, - And flies to _Him_ that first her wings did make. (p. 87) - -For condensed and close-packed thought and imagery the 'Reasons' for -the 'Immortalitie of the Soule' (pp. 83-99) are not to be equalled -anywhere. - -We may not linger over "Nosce Teipsum." Passing to the "Hymnes to -Astræa" and "Orchestra, or a Poeme of Dauncing" while they have the -same characteristics with "Nosce Teipsum," they yet suggest another -characteristic in Davies as a Poet--_unexpectedness of brilliant and -great things_. You count on the Lark's up-springing and the Lark's -idyllic song, if you are traversing its bladed or daisied possession; -but you are startled if it rise from the mired or dusty street or -the inodorous slum. You look for the eagle when you have climbed -Shehallion and other Highland mountain fastnesses; but suppose it -were to flap out upon you as you paced into your semi-suburban villa. -So in "Nosce Teipsum," as seen, deep thought perfectly worked is what -knowing the Poet you look for therein; but even in "Hymnes to Astræa" -and "Orchestra" you very soon discover that it is still the Poet of -"Nosce Teipsum" who sings. The moods of thought are airier and more -vivacious substantively, but the thinking and shaping and colouring of -imagination is the same; and 'unexpected' is really _the_ word that -seems to me to express the out-flashing of the higher faculty. Turning -to the "Hymnes to Astræa," how exquisite are the fancy and the flattery -of Hymne V., "To the Larke," as she is wooed by the Poet-Courtier to be -his minstrel to 'sing' of Elizabeth. You do not for a moment feel the -'artificial restraint' of the margin-letters that go to form Elizabetha -Regina:-- - - Earley, cheerfull, mounting Larke, - Light's gentle vsher, Morning's clark, - In merry notes delighting; - Stint awhile thy song, and harke, - And learn my new inditing. - - Beare vp this hymne, to heau'n it beare, - Euen vp to heau'n, and sing it there, - To heau'n each morning beare it; - Haue it set to some sweet sphere, - And let the Angels heare it. - Renownd Astræa, that great name, - Exceeding great in worth and fame, - Great worth hath so renownd it; - It is Astræa's name I praise, - Now then, sweet Larke, do thou it raise, - And in high Heauen resound it. - - (p. 133.) - -Meet companion to this is Hymne VII., "To the Rose:"-- - - Eye of the Garden, Queene of flowres, - Love's cup wherein he nectar powres, - Ingendered first of nectar; - Sweet nurse-child of the Spring's young howres, - And Beautie's faire character. - - Best iewell that the Earth doth weare, - Euen when the braue young sunne draws neare, - To her hot Loue pretending; - Himselfe likewise like forme doth beare, - At rising and descending. - - Rose of the Queene of Loue belou'd; - England's great Kings diuinely mou'd, - Gave Roses in their banner; - It shewed that Beautie's Rose indeed, - Now in this age should them succeed, - And raigne in more sweet manner. - - (p. 135.) - -That the large and intense homage of Davies (among his illustrious -contemporaries), in these "Hymnes" was genuine not simulated, -spontaneous not mercenary, the apostrophe to Envy protests. With an -echo of the old 'exegi monumentum' or reminiscence of Shakespeare's -then not long published Sonnets, he thus writes:-- - - Enuy, goe weepe; my Muse and I - Laugh thee to scorne; thy feeble eye - Is dazeled with the glory - Shining in this gay poesie, - And little golden story. - - Behold how my proud quill doth shed - Eternall _nectar_ on her head; - The pompe of coronation - Hath not such power her fame to spread, - As this my admiration. - - Respect my pen as free and franke - Expecting not reward nor thanke, - Great wonder onely moues it; - I never made it mercenary, - Nor should my Muse this burthen carrie - As hyr'd, but that she loues it. - - (p. 154.) - -Then in "Orchestra" you are again and again reminded that, mere sport -of wit though it be, "suddaine, rash, half-capreol of my wit," as he -himself calls it to Martin (p. 159), it is a man of rare genius who -sports. So much so that ever and anon you perceive, as Cleopatra of her -Anthony: - - ------"his delights - Were dolphin-like; _they show'd his tack above_ - _The element they lived in_." (v. 2.) - -That is, even among the trivialities about 'Dauncing' and the -frivolities of laudation, you are re-called to grander things--as in -the Summer one sees breaks of blue in the over-arching sky above some -miserable Pick-nick party desecrating some glorious forest-dell. I cull -two out of manifold examples of the unexpectedness that I now wish to -point out--as thus of the antiquity yet vitality of 'Dauncing':-- - - "Thus doth it equall age with age inioy, - And yet in lustie youth for euer flowers; - Like loue his sire, whom Paynters make a boy, - Yet is the eldest of the heau'nly powers; - Or like his brother Time, whose wingèd howers - Going and comming will not let him dye, - But still preserve him in his infancie." - - (p. 169.) - -That is 'brilliant' but this is 'great,' indeed magnificent, of the -Sea:-- - - "Loe the _Sea_ that fleets about the Land, - And like a girdle clips her solide waist, - Musicke and measure both doth vnderstand; - For his great chrystall eye is always cast - Vp to the Moone, and on her fixèd fast; - And as she daunceth in her pallid spheere, - So daunceth he about her Center heere." (p. 179.) - -I know not where, outside of Milton, to match that personification of -the Sea, with its "great chrystall eye"; and 'palid' is as tenderly -delicate as the other is grand. Coleridge must have carried it in his -omniverous memory, for surely one of the most memorable of the stanzas -in his "Ancient Mariner" drew its inspiration thence, as thus:-- - - "Still as a slave before his lord, - The ocean hath no blast; - His great bright eye most silently - Up to the Moon is cast-- - If he may know which way to go; - For she guides him smooth or grim. - See, brother, see! how graciously - She looketh down on him." - (Pt. VI.) - -At this point it may interest some to read Sir John Harington's welcome -to the Poet on the publication of 'Orchestra', thus:-- - - -_Of Master_ John Dauies _Booke of Dancing_. _To Himselfe._ - - While you the Planets all doe set to dancing, - Beware such hap, as to the Fryer was chancing: - Who preaching in a Pulpit old and rotten, - Among some notes, most fit to be forgotten: - Vnto his Auditory thus he vaunts, - To make all Saints after his pype to dance: - It speaking, which as he himselfe aduances, - To act his speech with gestures, lo, it chances, - Downe fals the Pulpit, sore the man is brusèd, - Neuer was Fryer and Pulpit more abusèd. - Then beare with me, though yet to you a stranger, - To warne you of the like, nay greater danger. - For though none feare the falling of those sparkes, - (And when they fall, t'will be good catching Larkes) - Yet this may fall, that while you dance and skip, - With female Planets, sore your foote may trip, - That in your lofty Caprioll and turne - Their motion may make your dimension burne." - - (Epigrams, Book II. 67.) - -I am tempted to further critical examination of this very remarkable -Poetry; but feel constrained by already transgressed limits to withhold -them for the present. But I must say something on the Epigrams -and Minor Poems. I have 'compunctious visitings' in re-publishing -them, even though they have been included by Dyce and by Colonel -Cunningham in their successive editions of Marlowe. In my Note (Vol. -II., pp. 3-6), I give bibliographical and other details concerning -these Epigrams; and I correct a mis-assignation of certain by Dyce -to Davies that belong to Henry Hutton. It must be conceded that the -Epigrams have dashes of the roughness, even coarseness, of the age. -They self-drevealingly belong to the wild-oats sowing of the Poet's -youthful period. Nevertheless, I have ventured their reproduction in -integrity for four reasons:-- - - (_a_) These Epigrams, from their subjects and style, are valuable, as - expressing the _tone_ of society at the time. - - (_b_) It would be _suppressio veri_ to withhold them, toward an - accurate estimate of their Author. They furnish elements of judgment. - - (_c_) They were what gained the Poet 'a name': even when tartly spoken - of by Guilpin he is called the 'English Martial' from them. - - (_d_) These Epigrams belong to a section of our early Literature - that contemporaneously was abundant; and it were advantageous if - characteristics of particular periods were more recognised in literary - criticism. - -Besides Guilpin, a very rare volume of early Verse by Ashmore, -furnishes a hitherto overlooked Epigram, wherein "Nosce Teipsum" and -the Epigrams, are noticed with well-put praise. I am fortunate enough -to be able to give it, which I do in its English form only, the Latin -being poor and inaccurate. It is inscribed "Ad D. Io. Davies, Milite -Iudicem Itinerium" and thus runs:-- - - "If Plato lived and saw those heaven-breathed Lines - Where thou the Essence of the Soule confines; - Or merry Martiale read thy Epigrammes, - Where sportingly, these looser times thou blames: - Though both excel, yet (in their severall wayes) - They both ore-come, would yeeld to thee the Prise."[51] - -[Footnote 51: Ashmore (J). Certain Selected Odes of Horace Englished, -with Poems of divers Subiects translated. Whereunto are added, both -in Latin and English, sundry new Epigrammes, Anagrammes, Epitaphes. -1621 sm. 4^{o}. As this Volume is seldom to be met with, I take the -opportunity of adding here the Anagram to Bacon, which does not appear -to have been known to his Editors or Biographers. - -To the Right Honourable, Sir Francis Bacone, Knight, Lord High -Chancelor of England. - - Anagr { Bacone - { Beacon - - Thy Vertuous Name and Office, joyne with Fate, - To make thee the bright Beacon of the State. - -I just observe, as my book passes through the Press, that ANTHONY -A-WOOD quotes (probably) above, without naming the author.] - - -His name-sake, John Davies of Hereford similarly saluted him. His -'Lines' with others, will appear more fitly in the fuller 'Life.' -Meanwhile, as carrying within it, perhaps the most memorable -circumstance appertaining to these 'Epigrams,' I must ask attention -here, to one of Wordsworth's finest minor poems--his - - -"POWER OF MUSIC. - - An Orpheus! an Orpheus! yes, Faith may grow bold, - And take to herself all the wonders of old;-- - Near the stately Pantheon you'll meet with the same, - In the street that from Oxford hath borrowed its name. - - His station is there; and he works on the crowd, - He sways them with harmony merry and loud; - He fills with his power all their hearts to the brim-- - Was aught ever heard like his fiddle and him? - - What an eager assembly! what an empire is this! - The weary have life, and the hungry have bliss; - The mourner is cheered, and the anxious have rest; - And the guilt-burthened soul is no longer opprest. - - As the Moon brightens round her the clouds of the night, - So He, where he stands, is a centre of light; - It gleams on the face, there, of the dusky-browed Jack, - And the pale-visaged Baker's, with basket on back. - - That errand-bound 'Prentice was passing in haste-- - What matter! he's caught--and his time runs to waste; - The Newsman is stopped, though he stops on the fret; - And the half-breathless Lamp-lighter--he's in the net! - - The Porter sits down on the weight which he bore; - The Lass with her barrow wheels hither her store;-- - If a thief could be here he might pilfer at ease; - She sees the Musician, 'tis all that she sees! - - He stands, backed by the wall; he abates not his din; - His hat gives him vigour, with boons dropping in, - From the old and the young, from the poorest; and there! - The one-pennied Boy has his penny to spare. - - O blest are the hearers, and proud be the hand - Of the pleasure it spreads through so thankful a band; - I am glad for him, blind as he is!--all the while - If they speak 'tis to praise, and they praise with a smile. - - That tall Man, a giant in bulk and in height, - Not an inch of his body is free from delight; - Can he keep himself still, if he would? oh, not he! - The music stirs in him like wind through a tree. - - Mark that Cripple who leans on his crutch; like a tower - That long has leaned forward, leans hour after hour!-- - That Mother, whose spirit in fetters is bound, - While she dandles the Babe in her arms to the sound. - - Now, coaches and chariots! roar on like a stream; - Here are twenty souls happy as souls in a dream: - They are deaf to your murmurs--they care not for you, - Nor what ye are flying, nor what ye pursue! - -What is this but a glorified version of a portion of Epigram 38? Here -it is:-- - - "As doth the Ballad-singer's auditory, - Which hath at Temple-barre his standing chose, - And to the vulgar sings an Ale-house story: - First stands a Porter: then, an Oyster-wife - Doth stint her cry, and stay her steps to heare him; - Then comes a Cut-purse ready with a knife, - And then a Countrey-clyent passeth neare him; - There stands the Constable, there stands the whore, - And, listening to the Song, heed not each other; - There by the Serjeant stands the debitor, - And doth no more mistrust him than his brother: - Thus Orpheus to such hearers giveth musick - And Philo to such patients giveth physic." - -Any charge of plagiarism were an outrage on Genius: but the coincidence -is remarkable. It is just possible that the later Poet may have found -the 'Epigrams' in his bookish friend SOUTHEY'S library, -and that the rough lines lingered semi-unconsciously in his memory. -The earlier is to the later, as a photograph of the actual coarse -street-group to the idealizations of the Artist: nevertheless it has -its own interest and value, neither are the Characters ill-chosen, nor -without humour. - -But on the other hand Davies, in his 47th Epigram, was no doubt -influenced by a remembrance of Sidney's 30th Stella sonnet. The -likeness as to the countries mentioned is remarkable.[52] - -[Footnote 52: See my edition of Sidney, Vol. I.] - -One flagrant appropriater of Davies' Epigrams must be nailed-up, in -the person of William Winstanley in his "The Muses Cabinet stored with -variety of Poems, both pleasant and profitable. London 1655." Thus we -read "On Rembombo":-- - - "Rembombo having spent all his estate - Went to the wars to prove more fortunate. - Being return'd, he speaks such warlike words, - No dictionary half the like affords: - He talks of flankers, gabions and scalados, - Of curtneys, parapets & palizados, - Retreats & triumphs & of carnisadoes, - Of sallies, halfe moones & of ambuscadoes: - I to requite the fustian termes he uses, - Reply with words belonging to the Muses; - As Spondes, Dactiles & Hexameters, - Stops, commas, accents, types, tropes, & pentameters, - Madrigalls, Epicediums, elegies, - Satyres, Iambicks, & Apostrophes, - Acrosticks, Aquiuoques, & epigrams: - Thus talking and being understood by neither, - We part wise as when we came together." - - (p. 43) - -Let the Reader compare this with Davies' Epigram (Vol. II., p. 23-4). -Various others are similarly transmogrified; and John Heath also is -'spoiled' (in a double sense). Yet has Winstanley the impudence to -close his volume bitingly thus:-- - - "Cease Muse, here comes a criticke, close thy page, - These lines are not strong enough for this age; - The nice new-fangled readers of these times - Will scarcely relish thy plain country rimes." - -The Minor Poems, not hitherto collected, will reward critical perusal. -Some of them are noticeable: quaint fancies, glances of wit and -wisdom, felicitous epithet, racy similes, aphoristic sayings, bird-like -notes of genuine music, and now and then, powerful sarcasm, will meet -the studious reader. The HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED MSS., which -include, besides secular poems, his long vainly-sought Metaphrase -of certain Psalms, speak for themselves. And so I leave the Reader -to raise the lid of the casket of gems now put into his hands. It -demands robustness of brain and sensibilities of spirit to appreciate -adequately Sir John Davies as a Poet; but if, in all humility of -receptiveness and open-eyedness, these volumes be read, no one -competent can go away unimpressed. Whether as Thinker or Singer he must -be placed among the rare few who have enriched our highest Literature. - - ALEXANDER B. GROSART. - - - - -POSTSCRIPT. - -MINOR POEMS, ETC. - - -There are several things relative to the Minor Poems of Sir John Davies -that require statement and elucidation; and I deem it well to give such. - - I. The Ten Sonnets to Philomel and Hymn to Music. - - II. The Entertainment to Elizabeth at Harefield by the Countess of - Derby. - - III. The Poem to King James 1st. - - IV. Dacus not Samuel Daniel. - - V. Marston and "Orchestra," &c. - - VI. Hymnes to Astræa. - -_I. The Ten Sonnets to Philomel and Hymn to Music._ In my Fuller -Worthies' Library edition of Davies, I admitted "Canzonet: a Hymne -in praise of Musick" among his Poems (pp. 297-9) because in the -"Rhapsody" it bore his initials I. D. precisely as his other accepted -pieces therein did. But I excluded the 'Ten Sonnets to Philomel' from -their having the signature originally of "Melophilus," and I. D. only -subsequently. I too hastily agreed with Sir Egerton Brydges (in his -edition of the "Rhapsody" 2 Vols., 1826) in assigning them to Dean -Donne. I could not discern Donne's manner in the 'Canzonet,' and so -had no difficulty in rejecting Brydges' alleged 'internal evidence' in -respect of it, initialled as it was. Neither did I find the 'internal -evidence' in the 'Ten Sonnets' for its Donne authorship, but, in -addition to the early signature "Melophilus," there was a note of -"Manuscripts to get" by Davison, from Donne, that has seemed to warrant -the "Ten Sonnets" being regarded as his contribution, and the later I. -D. as representing J[ohn] D[onne], and not Sir John Davies. My friend -Dr. Brinsley Nicholson has satisfied me that Davison's List of MSS. -to be received could not refer to his "Rhapsody," but to some other -intended work or private collection; and so the one point in favour -of Donne falls to the ground. The evidence as communicated to myself, -and since, in a lengthy communication to the _Athenæum_ (January 22d, -1876), may be thus summarized, (1) There is nothing in Davison's -notings which even hints that he was thinking of the "Rhapsody." (2) -The greater number of the MSS. mentioned never appeared even by a -specimen in the "Rhapsody." (3) The second entry is of - - "Sports, Masks, and Entertainments to y^{e} { late Queen - { the King," &c. - -Therefore it was written in or after 1603. But the first edition of -the "Rhapsody" containing the "Hymn to Music" signed I. D., and the -"Ten Sonnets" signed "Melophilus," and in the subsequent editions I. -D., was published in 1602, (4) There is not in the subsequent editions -a single piece by any of these memorandum-noted authors that is not in -the first--so shewing further that the memorandum had no reference to -the "Rhapsody." Of Donne and Constable there are in the editions 1608, -1611, 1621, only those given in 1602, and in no edition at all is there -a single specimen of Ben Jonson, Hodgson, Harington, Joseph Hall, &c., -&c. There remains thus only (5). The I. D. evidence, e.g.: - - 1602. 1608. 1611. 1621. - Hymn I. D. I. D. I. D. Unsigned. - Sonnets Melophilus. I. D. I. D. I. D. - 12 Wonders } Not John Dauis Sir John Dauis Sir John Davies - Lottery } in I. D. I. D. Sir I. D. - Contention } 1st Jonn Dauis Sir John Unsigned. - } edn. Dauis. - Absence hear this my protestation. Unsigned in all four editions. - -That two are unsigned in the 1621 edition is probably due to omission -made during the thorough re-distribution of the pieces into books of -Odes, &c., &c. Further (6) the "Hymn to Music" and the "Ten Sonnets" -follow consecutively, and are the very first among the "pieces by -sundry others." So in editions of 1608 and 1611 the "Twelve Wonders," -"Lottery," and "Contention" are the first of the new pieces, in -fact, open the book and follow one another successively in a group of -three--John Dauis--I. D.--John Davies. (7) We gather from inspection -of the "Table" that (_a_) the "Lottery," I. D., is John Davies; (_b_) -that Davison put I. D. after the "Lottery," knowing that he had already -appropriated I. D. to the author of the "Hymne;" and what is more, he -chose to put I. D. to the "Lottery" just when he associated the "Ten -Sonnets" with I. D. and John Davies' poems by altering Melophilus to -I. D.; (_c_) at the same time he left "Absence hear," &c., unsigned; -(_d_) what has been said under (5) and (6) suggests that Davies was a -personal friend of Davison's, and this is strengthened by there being -no MS. of Davies noted as "to get." If so, Davison was still less -likely to use ambiguous initials for anything by Davies. Once more (8) -When we add to this that the "Hymne" must go with the "Ten Sonnets" and -that it is clearly by the author of "Orchestra"; and that neither the -"Hymne" nor the "Ten Sonnets" appear in any collection of Donne's poems -printed or in MS. the external evidence in favour of Sir John Davies -as author of the work is as strong as it well can be. Internally the -student of "Orchestra" and the "Hymnes to Astræa" will readily see the -"fine Roman hand" that wrote them in the "Hymne to Music" and related -"Ten Sonnets to Philomel." There is none of the style, or conceits, or -wording, or rhythm of Donne. I add finally (9) If the "Ten Sonnets to -Philomel" were based on real love experiences, we can understand how -at first at any rate the disguise of "Melophilus" might be preferred -to I. D. It does not seem probable that they were addressed to her who -became his wife. In accord with all this both the "Hymne to Music" and -the "Ten Sonnets to Philomel" are now included among Sir John Davies's -Poems (Vol. ii. pp. 96-106.) - -II. _The Entertainment to Elizabeth at Harefield by the Countess of -Derby._ In the foot-notes to the "Lottery," (Vol. II., pp. 87-94) -several variations from Manningham's "Diary" are accepted as decided -improvements, especially those in VII., XIX., -and XXI., which were probably taken from a revised or -autograph MS. That Manningham had full information on the "Lottery" -is proved by the list he gives of the persons to whom the 'lots' -went, viz., I., To hir M^{tie}. III. La[dy] -Scroope. XXVII. La[dy] Scudamore. VI. Lady Francis. -VII. Earle of Darby's countes. VIII. Lady Southwell, -II. Countess of Darby dowager: [the Lord Keeper's wife]. -XII. Countess of Kildare. XIII. La[dy] Effingham. -XIX. La[dy] Newton. XXI. Not named. XXII. -La[dy] Warwike. XXV. La[dy] Dorothy. XXXIII. La[dy] -Susan ... XXXII. La[dy] Kidderminster. XXXI. Blank. -But there remains an interesting question to be settled, viz., the -date of this "Lottery." Nichols, apparently on the sole authority of -the "Rhapsody," gives it to a visit to the Lord Keeper's town-house -[York House] in 1601; and assigns it to York House because Sir Thomas -Egerton did not buy Harefield till 1602, and clearly by the speeches -in the "Entertainment" the Queen had never been there before August, -1602. But the "Rhapsody" date is a slip of Davison's pen or of his -printer for 1602, and the "Lottery" took place at Harefield as part of -the "Entertainment." Notices in the "Lottery" itself guide us to this -conclusion, e.g., it was about August, for in Lot 22 we read:-- - - "'Tis Summer yet,... - But 'twill be winter one day, doubt you not." - -and the visit to Harefield was in August. Then there is this to -be noted that the masquer is "A Mariner ... supposed to come from -the Carrick." Let 'the' be marked '_the_ Carrick.' The allusion is -historical. The Queen sent out Sir Richard Levison (or Lawson) and Sir -William Morrison on 19th and 26th March, 1602 to intercept the plate -fleet and do any other damage along the Spanish coast. They did not -get the Fleet and were wholly unsuccessful till 1st June, when they -came upon an immense 'carrick' from the East Indies of 1,600 tons -flanked on one side by a castle and on the other by eleven Spanish and -Portugese galleys. On the 2nd the admirals with five men of war and -two merchantmen Easterlings, beat the gallies and silenced the castle, -and on the 3rd the carrick surrendered with a cargo estimated by the -Portugese at a million of ducats. Our killed in this brilliant exploit -was six seamen (see Camden's Annals and Monson's Naval Tracts). This -proves that the Verses were _vers d'occasion_. We have '_the_ carrick' -and Cynthia who sent forth Fortune to the sea, and many a "jewel and a -gem" brought, and Fortune so commanded - - ------"as makes me now to sing - There is no fishing to the sea, no service to the King." - -Further, the Queen writing to Lord Mountjoy (Deputy to Ireland) 15th -July 1602 says "... first to assure you that we have sent a fleet -to the coast of Spain, notwithstanding our former fleet returned -with the Carrick," which shows two things (1) That Lawson and Monson -had returned prior to the 15th of July (2) that the Queen had sent -out another fleet at once; and thus Davies' verses were the more -appropriate as being not only a remembrance of good luck but an -anticipation of continued good fortune. - -These proofs of date which require no confirmation are confirmed by -this, that Manningham after the "Lottery," and on the same leaf, -gives a "dialogue betweene the bayly and a dairy mayd" before "her -Mtis coming to the house," quoting a sentence from it as found in the -"Entertainment." This leads me to state why I have given the entire -"Entertainment" to Sir John Davies. It certainly is contrary to natural -expectation that the "Lottery" verses are not introduced into the -"Entertainment," and but for other considerations the inference might -have been that only the "Lottery" was by Davies, and the rest by some -other. But there is this explanation of the absence of the "Lottery" -verses, that evidently they formed part of the amusement of one of -the rainy days--for it was a wet S^{t}. Swithin--when the speeches -and other things of the "Entertainment" took place without doors, -and distinct from the "Lottery." Then on reading the "Entertainment" -itself, there are manifold marks that the whole came from one pen, -and that pen Davies's; for throughout there is likeness of style and -thought to his avowed writings. Take these few examples: (1) "If thou -knewest the cause, thou wouldst not wonder; for I stay to entertaine -the Wonder of this time," &c. ("Entertainment," &c., Vol. II., pp. -249-50.) Cf. this with "Orchestra" st. 120, "wonder of posteritie" -(i.e., of her own time): (2) "The Guest that wee are to entertaine doth -fill all places with her divine vertues, as the Sunne fills the World -with the light of his beames." (_Ibid_, p. 250). Cf. Hymnes to Astræa, -XIV., stanza 2:-- - - "Behold her in her vertues' beames, - Extending sun-like to all realities." - -Again, XV., st. 1:-- - - "Eye of that mind most quicke and cleere,-- - Like Heaven's eye, which from his spheare - Into all things prieth; - Sees through all things euery where, - And all their natures trieth." - -(3) "Though her selfe shall eclipse her soe much, as to suffer her -brightness to bee shadowed in this obscuere and narrow _Place_, yet the -sunne beames that follow her, the traine I meane that attends vpon her, -must, by the necessitie of this _Place_, be deuided from her." (_Ibid_, -p. 251). Cf. XIX., st. 1:-- - - "Eclipsed she is, and her bright rayes, - Lie under vailes, yet many wayes - Is her faire forme reuealed." - -'Beams' and 'sunbeams' are favourite words with Davies: so too -'mirror.' (4) "Time weare very vngratefull, if it should not euer stand -still, to serue and preserue, cherish and delight her, that is the -glory of her time, and makes the Time happy wherein she liueth" (_Ibid_ -p. 251). Cf. II. st. 3, ll. 1-3. - - "Right glad am I that now I live: - Even in these days whereto you give - Great happiness and glory." - -(5) "What if she make thee a contynewell holy-day, she makes me [Place] -a perpetuall sanctuary" (_Ibid_ p. 251). Cf. IV., st. 1:-- - - "Each day of time, sweet moneth of May, - Love makes a solemne holy-day." - -(6) "Doth not the presence of a Prince make a Cottage a Court, and the -presence of the Gods make euery place Heaven?" (_Ibid_ pp. 251-2). Cf. -Dedication of "Nosce Teipsum":-- - - "Stay long (sweet spirit) ere thou to Heauen depart, - Which makest each place a heauen wherein thou art." - -In the Verse (pp. 253-4) there are abundant parallels. I must content -myself with references. With the 1st stanza - - "Beauties rose, and vertues booke, &c." - -compare Hymnes to Astræa VII., st. 3: XVII., st. 2-3 and the -"Contention" (_ad. fin._) and XIII. st. 2: XV. st. 2. Also IV. last 2 -lines: VII. st. 3. ll. 1-3: X. last 4 lines. Similar results are found -on a comparison of the "Entertainment" with the "Dialogue between a -Gentleman Usher and a Poet" (Fuller Worthies' Library edn. of Davies' -Poems: pp. 15-21.) - -I have accordingly given the whole "Entertainment" as belonging to -Sir John Davies. It is to be regretted that the Satyrs Verses are -unaccompanied by the rest of the Masque to which apparently they -belong. Harefield has the further light of glory on it of having been -the scene of Milton's "Arcades" and of the famous elm-aisle celebrated -by him in imperishable verse. The Countess of Derby, afterwards the -Lord Keeper's third wife, was the early friend of Spenser and of -Milton, and of all her eminent literary contemporaries.[53] - -[Footnote 53: As for much more I am indebted to Dr. Brinsley Nicholson -(as before) for most of the details of the above statement. He has -likewise favoured me with these additional illustrations of a refrain -in the introduction to the "Lottery." In the Queen's Entertainment at -Cawdray (Lord Montacute's), in 1591, an angler says, "Madame, it is an -olde saying, There is no fishing to the sea nor service to the King: -but it holdes when the sea is calme and the King vertuous" (Nichols' -Progresses). Greene also uses it in his James IV., when the schemer who -has gained by flattering the King, says (I. 2) - - "Now may I say as many often sing, - No fishing to the sea nor service to a King." - -See Note to the "Lottery," Vol. II., p. 88. It was surely an error -of judgment of the late Mr. John Bruce, in reproducing Manningham's -"Diary," to leave out the "Lottery," and related entries, on the weak -plea that the former had been printed in Shakespeare and Percy Society -publications. It may be here mentioned that Manningham, in giving some -of the "Lottery" verses, writes on a leaf which is followed by one of -the date of 1601; but as Mr. Collier remarks, either the leaves of -the Diary got misplaced, or else he was in the habit of using up at -after times leaves that he had left blank. Further: Chamberlain, in -a letter of October 2, 1602, mentions the visit to the Lord Keeper's -at Harefield as part of the late "Progress." The original M.S. of the -Entertainment belonged to Sir Roger Newdegate, but is now missing. -Finally: I over-looked to annotate _in loco_ in the "Entertainment" -itself, that as the Dairy house was to the left while the "House" (of -Harefield) was to the right, the Dairymaid ridicules the idea of the -Bailiff taking such a party to what she calls a Pigeon house for its -size, and which was moreover at that moment in the carpenters' hands. -In effect the Queen had to be separated from at least the greater part -of her suite.] - -III. "_Yet other Twelve Wonders of the World._" In foot-note (Vol. II., -p. 67) I promise an account of an autograph MS. of this characteristic -set of verses. It finds more fitting place here than in the Preface. -The MS. is preserved at Downing College, Cambridge, and having been -described on p. 325 of the "Third Report of the Historical MSS. -Commissioners," Mr. Beedham, (as before) was kind enough to make a -_literatim_ transcript for me (with the permission of the College -authorities). The MS. is headed "Verses giuen to the L. Treasurer vpon -Newyeares day vpon a dosen of Trenchers by Mr. Davis." In the margin -against "The Lawyer," in the same handwriting as the Verses, is this: -"This is misplaced, it should be before the physis^{n}," and similarly -against "The Country Gentleman," also in the same handwriting, is: -"This is misplaced, in the original it is before the m^{r} chant." -There is nothing to give any clue as to the precise New Year's day upon -which the Verses were furnished to the Lord Treasurer; but unless I -very much mistake, they were the "cobweb" of his "inuention" enclosed -in that letter which Mr. J. Payne Collier supposed to have gone with a -gift-copy of "Nosce Teipsum." The letter speaks for itself:-- - - "Mr. Hicks. I have sent you heer inclosed that cobweb of my - invention which I promised before Christmas: I pray you present - it, commend it, and grace it, as well for your owne sake as mine: - bycause by your nominacion I was first put to this taske, for which - I acknowledge my self beholding to you in good earnest, though the - imployment be light and trifling, because I am glad of any occasion - of being made knowne to that noble gentl. whom I honore and admire - exceedingly. If ought be to be added, or alter'd; lett me heare from - you. I shall willingly attend to doo it, the more speedily if it - be before the terme. So in haste I commend my best service to you. - Chancery Lane, 20 Jan. 1600. Yours to do you service very willingly, - Jo. Davys." (Bibl. Account, V. I., pp. 193-4; no specification of - source beyond S. P. O.) - -The handwriting of the copy in Downing College belongs to the close -of the 16th or to the earliest years of the 17th century. The second -marginal note above would seem to show that the transcript was made -from the original, then perhaps being circulated from hand to hand. -Specimens of variations may interest. In "The Courtier," l. 1, for -'liu'd' the MS. reads 'serued': l. 4, "from them that fall" for "such -as fall": l. 5, "my" for "a rich array": in the "Divine," l. 1, "one -cure doth me contente" for "and I from God am sent": l. 3, "true kinde" -for "kind true": l. 5, "Nor followe princes' Courts" for "Much wealth -I will not seeke ": "The Souldier," l. 6, "brag" for "boast": "The -Physitian," l. 1, "prolonge" for "vphold" and "life" for "state": l. 2, -"I" for "me" (_bis_): l. 6, "time & youth" for "youth and time": "The -Lawyer," l. 1, "My practice is the law" for "the Law my calling is": -ll. 5-6, - - "Some say I haue good gifts, and love where I doe take - Yet never tooke I fee, but I advisd or spake," - - - for - - - "Nor counsell did bewray, nor of both parties take, - Nor euer tooke I fee for which I neuer spake." - -"The Merchant" l. 2, "vnknowne worlds ... kingdomes doth" for "unknowne -coasts ... countries to": "The Married Man," l. 4, "choise" for -"chance": "The Wife," l. 1, "my" for "our": l. 2, "Thither am I ... -where firste" for "I thither am ... from whence": l. 3, - - "I goe not maskd abroad to visit, when I do - My secrets I bewray to none but one or two," - - for - - "I doe not visite oft, nor many, when I doe, - I tell my mind to few, and that in counsell too." - -"The Widowe" l. 1, "dyinge" _is_ inserted here before "husband": l. -3, "love" for "haue": l. 6, "Nor richer then I am, nor younger would -I seeme" for "Nor younger then I am, nor richer will I seeme": "The -Maide," l. 4, "of" for "on": l. 5, "but" for "yet." These embrace all -save orthographical and other slight variants. As derived from an -authentic _autograph_ MS. the Downing College copy is interesting and -its variants serve further to illustrate the letter to Hicks wherein -Davies expresses his willingness to make any changes--which alone -might have led Mr. Collier to see that he could not possibly refer to -"Nosce Teipsum," which was then published. - -IV. _Dacus not Samuel Daniel._ Turning to Epigrams 30 and 45 (pp. -30, 45) the reader will find in Dyce's note to the latter that he -identified 'Dacus' with Daniel, and the passage whereon he based the -identification. I passed his note though not at all satisfied with -the parallel of "dumb eloquence" to the Epigram's "silent eloquence." -Epigram 30 points rather to a rhymster of the John Taylor Water-Poet -type, and if one had patience to make the search "silent eloquence" -should doubtless be found in one or other of his many books--clumsily -appropriated from Sir Philip Sidney. Then the "dumb eloquence" of the -Complaint of Rosamond which Dyce quotes, was to the King _not_ "to his -Mistress"--even if it were what the Epigram hints "silent eloquence." -_En passant_ the phrases and variants on it was one of the aped phrases -of the gallants and poetasters of the day. Jonson who disliked Daniel, -ridicules the stanza in a way that informs us it was affected by them. -Griffin in his _Fidessa_ also has it in his "dumb message of my hidden -grief." Further: Davies of Hereford in his "Scourge of Folly" who must -have known his namesake's use of Dacus calls him Dacus the pot-poet -and speaks as much against his character as our Davies does against his -rhymes--all of which was curiously inapplicable to Samuel Daniel. At -the time Davies of Hereford wrote Daniel was a gentleman of the Queen's -bed-chamber. Lastly--and conclusively--Sir John Davies praises three -English poets in his "Orchestra" (Elizabethan edn.) of whom one is -Daniel:-- - - "O that I could old Gefferie's Muse awake - Or borrow Colin's fayre heroike stile, - Or smooth my rimes with Delia's servant's file." - -(Vol. I. p. 212). It is a pleasure to be able to vindicate Sir John -Davies from abuse of so genuine a Poet-contemporary as Daniel, and -Daniel from so weighty an adverse judgment, had it really been -Davies's. To the same good friend who has so helped me elsewhere--Dr. -Brinsley Nicholson--I owe thanks for these too-long-delayed corrections. - -V. _Marston and 'Orchestra.'_ But if Harrington and Davies of Hereford -praised, there were others who had their jeers at Orchestra, e.g. John -Marston in his 11th Satire of his Scourge of Villanie, in ridiculing -the gallant who thinks of nothing but dancing, as he afterwards does -Luscus, who talks of nothing but Plays, and vents only play-scraps, -says (1599). - - "Who ever heard spruce skipping Curio - Ere prate of ought but of the whirle on toe. - - * * * * * - - Praise but Orchestra, and the skipping art, - You shall command him, faith you have his hart - Even capring in your fist." - -Then there follows (_meo judicio_) a reminiscence or two of the poem -itself, and a laugh at the "worthy poet." Thus in 'Orchestra,' st. 59, -we have - - "According to the musicke of the spheres," - -and st. 60, - - "And imitate the starres cælestiall." - -and st. 71, speaking of Castor and Pollux: - - "Where both are carried with an equall pace - Together iumping in their turning race," - -and where, though 'iumping' is of course used in the sense not of our -'jumping' (leaping) but in that of equal or agreeing, as in "jump where -may find Cassio," or as where the folio (I. 1) has "just as this same -hour" the 4^{o} Hamlet has "jump at this dead hour"; yet it has for the -context an unlucky sound and association. Hence Marston wickedly and -waggishly continues: - - "A hall, a hall - Roome for the spheres, the orbs celestiall - Will daunce Kemps jigge; they'le revel with neate jumps; - A worthy poet hath put on their pumps. - O wits quick traverse but _sance ceo's_ slowe, - Good faith 'tis hard for nimble Curio. - Ye gracious orbes, keepe the old measuring - All's spoilde if once yee fall to capering." - -VI. _Hymnes to Astræa._ I adhere to Sir John Davies' own form of -Astraea in the collective edition of 1621. Doubtless he and the Printer -meant it for "æ' not '[oe]' inasmuch as besides Astraea's mythological -reign in the golden age over a people that became too wicked for her, -she became the constellation Virgo, as celebrated, among others, by -Barnfield in his _Cynthia_.[54] The whole of Hy. I. shows this, where -the flattery was specially apt to the subject on account of making -Astraea the daughter of Aurora: and so Hy. V. of the Lark: and Hy. XXI. - - A. B. G. - -[Footnote 54: See my edition of his Complete Poems for the Roxburghe -Club.] - - - - - THE - - COMPLETE POEMS - - OF - - SIR JOHN DAVIES: - - I. NOSCE TEIPSUM. - - - - -NOTE. - -'Nosce Teipsum' was originally published in 1599 (4to). The following -is its title-page and collation: - - Nosce teipsum - - _This Oracle expounded in two - Elegies_ - - 1. Of Humane knowledge. - - 2. Of the Soule of Man, and the immortalitie - thereof. - - [Wood-engraving of an anchor within a - border and the motto Anchora Spei.] - - London, - Printed by _Richard Field_ for _Iohn Standish_, - 1599. [4to.] - -Title-page--Dedication pp. 2--Of humane Knowledge pp. 1-8--Of the -soule of man and the immortalitie thereof pp. 9-101. A second edition -appeared in 1602, whereof the following are title-page and collation:-- - - Nosce teipsum, - - _This Oracle expounded in two - Elegies_. - - 1. Of Humane knowledge. - - 2. Of the Soule of Man, and the immortalitie - thereof. - - _Newly corrected and amended._ - - London, - Printed by _Richard Field_ for _Iohn Standish_. - 1602. [4to.] - Title-page--Dedication pp. 2, signed 'Dauys': - poem pp. 101. - -A third edition was issued in 1608. I give its title-page also: - - Nosce teipsum - - _This Oracle expounded in two - Elegies_. - - 1. Of Humane Knowledge. - - 2. Of the Soule of Man and the immortalitie - thereof. - - _Written by_ Sir Iohn Davis, _his Maiesties - Atturney generall in Ireland_. - - London, - Printed by Henry Ballard for - _Iohn Standish_. 1608. [4to.] - - Collation same with the others, _supra_. - -The next edition known to me, bears the date of 1618, along with -Orchestra and Hymnes to Astræa: and the last during the life-time of -the Author, was in the sm. 8vo of 1622, which volume contained the same -Poems with that of 1618. - - * * * * * - -Our text is a faithful reproduction, including the significant and -suggestive italics, of the last edition published by Sir John Davies, -viz., that of 1622, with the few various readings from the first and -subsequent editions. The following is the title-page and collation of -1622 edn. - - _Nosce Teipsum_ - - This Oracle expounded in two - _Elegies_. - - 1. Of Humane Knowledge. - - 2. Of the Soule of Man, and the immortalitie - thereof. - - Hymnes of _Astræa_ in - Acrosticke Verse. - - ORCHESTRA, - - OR, - - _A Poeme of Dauncing_. - - In a Dialogue betweene _Penelope_ - and one of her Wooers. - - _Not finished._ - - * * * * * - - London, - - Printed by _Augustine Mathewes_ for _Richard - Hawkins_, and are to be sold at his Shop in - Chancery Lane, neere Serieants - Inne. 1622. [8vo.] - -Title-page--Dedic^{n} pp 2--Of Humane Knowledge pp 1-8--Of the -Soule of Man and the Immortalitie thereof pp 9-81. Hymnes pp 20 -[unpaged]--Orchestra pp 47 [unpaged]. - -In my first edition of Sir John Davies' Poems in the Fuller Worthies' -Library, I printed, perhaps with too hasty decision, at the bottom -of each page, certain slight MS. notes written by the famous Bp. -Hacket, in his copy of Nosce Teipsum (1599). When it was too late to -stop progress, the mere curiosity of the jottings was perceived. I do -not deem it expedient to reproduce them here; but a specimen may be -acceptable, and here and there in the places, a few. I limit myself to -the Dedication: - - Heading, 'soveraigne': Emmanuel [but Elizabeth was meant]. - - L. 1, 'maiestie': Elizabetha: and near it [meaningless] Richar[d] - Yeorck. - - L. 1, 'North': Scotland [but erased], and so against 'sunne' (l. 2) - James, but erased. - - L. 3, 'heauenly worth': Shewes for thy glory. - - L. 5, 'alone': Supported by none but God. - - L. 6, 'great States': Great affaires. - - L. 8, 'the Almightie's hand': Per me reges regnant et dixi dii estis. - - L. 10, 'Nature's dowre': Arte's excellence the gift of nature. - - L. 13, 'Great Spirit': Deus. - - L. 16, 'Cynthia': Luna. - - L. 30, 'angell': Angellus Pommi. - - L. 32, 'angell': [Greek: [Ag]gellos Phôtos]. - - L. 33, 'Heauen': Superior: to the higher heauen. - - L. 34, 'heauen': Inferior. - -These suffice to show how carefully, if not always accurately, the -good Bishop read the poem, but also how unimportant his notes are. -On the title-page opposite the words "This Oracle," &c., is written -"written in the temple of Apollo, letters commendatory." On _verso_ of -the title-page, is this memorandum by a former owner: "This Edition -is extremely scarce. Vide Smith's Catgue. Iron Bridge, 1822. Pr. O. -16. O. This Book came out of Mr. Hacket's Library, a Descendant of Bp. -Hacket, whose Book it was, and the MS. notes are by him." The book is -now in the library of my excellent fellow-collector, G. W. Napier, -Esq., of Merchiston House, Alderley Edge, Manchester, to whom I owe its -re-use, as well as of other early editions of Davies. G. - - - - -I. $Royal Dedication$ - -TO MY MOST GRACIOVS DREAD SOVERAIGNE. - - - _To that cleere maiestie which in the North - Doth, like another Sunne in glory rise; - Which standeth fixt, yet spreads[55] her heauenly worth; - Loadstone to hearts, and loadstarre to all eyes._ - - _Like Heau'n in all; like th' Earth in this alone, - That though[56] great States by her support doe stand, - Yet she herselfe supported is of none, - But by the finger of the Almightie's hand:_ - - _To the diuinest and the richest minde, - Both by Art's purchase and by Nature's dowre, - That euer was from Heau'n to Earth confin'd, - To shew the vtmost of a creature's power:_ - - _To that great Spirit,[57] which doth great kingdomes mooue, - The sacred spring whence $right$ and $honor$ streames, - Distilling $Vertue$, shedding $Peace$ and $Loue$, - In euery place, as $Cynthia$ sheds her beames:_ - - _I offer up some sparkles of that fire, - Whereby wee $reason, liue, and moue, and be$; - These sparkes by nature euermore aspire, - Which makes them to so $high$ an $highnesse$ flee._ - - _Faire $Soule$, since to the fairest body knit,[58] - You giue such liuely life, such quickning power, - Such sweet celestiall influences to it,[59] - As keepes it still in youth's immortall flower:_ - - _(As where the sunne is present all the yeere, - And neuer doth retire his golden ray, - Needs must the Spring bee euerlasting there, - And euery season like the month of May.)_ - - _O! many, many yeeres may you remaine, - A happy angell to this happy Land; - Long, long may you on Earth our empresse raigne, - Ere you in Heauen a glorious angell stand._ - - _Stay long (sweet spirit) ere thou to Heauen depart, - Which mak'st each place a heauen wherein thou art._ - - - Her Maiestie's least and vnworthiest Subiect[60] - - IOHN DAVIES.[61] - -[Footnote 55: Spreds in 1st edn. G.] - -[Footnote 56: Thomas Davies, as before, misprints 'thro.' G.] - -[Footnote 57: Bp. Hacket writes 'Deus' against 'Spirit': but perhaps -the Queen only was (flatteringly) intended, as her poetic name of -Cynthia would seem to indicate. This word 'Spirit' is misprinted by -Thomas Davies and by Southey and usually, 'spring'. G.] - -[Footnote 58: Misprinted by Davies and Southey, as before, 'join'd'. G.] - -[Footnote 59: Davies and Southey misread - - 'And influence of such celestial kind' - -which I find supported by none of the author's own texts. G.] - -[Footnote 60: Davies and Southey, as before, misread 'Her -Maiesty's Devoted Subject and Servant' from Tate (1697). See our -Memorial-Introduction. G.] - -[Footnote 61: In 1599 edition 'Dauies,' and in 1608 edition 'Davis' and -also in its title-page: in 1622 edition, as above. G. - -[asterism]: TATE, and after him THOMAS DAVIES, -dates this Dedication 'July 11th, 1592.' It is possible that the 'Poem' -was then in manuscript: but it was not printed or published until 1599, -and there is no date to the Dedication either in that edition or in -those of 1602, 1608 or 1622. G.] - - - - -II. ANOTHER DEDICATION OF A GIFT-COPY (IN MS.) IN THE POSSESSION OF -HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, AT ALNWICK CASTLE.[62] - -[Footnote 62: On this MS. of Nosce Teipsum see our Preface. G.] - - _To the right noble, valorous, and learned Prince Henry, Earle of - Northumberland_: - - - The strongest and the noblest argument - To proue the soule immortall, rests in this: - That in no mortall thing it finds content, - But seekes an object that æternall is. - - If any soule hath this immortall signe, - (As every soule doth show it, more or lesse), - It is your spirit, heröick and diuine; - Which this true noate most liuely doth expresse; - - For being a prince, and hauing princely blood, - The noblest of all Europe in your vaines; - Having youth, wealth, pleasure, and every good, - Which all the world doth seek, with endlesse paynes. - - Yet can you never fixe y^{r} thoughts on these, - These cannot with your heavenly mind agree; - These momentary objects cannot please, - Your wingèd spirit, which more aloft doth flee. - - It only longs to learne and know the truth, - The truth of every thing, which never dies; - The nectar which præserves the soule in youth; - The manna which doth minds immortalize. - - These noble studdies, more ennoble you, - And bring more honor to your race and name - Than Hotspur's fier, which did the Scots subdew, - Then Brabant's scion, or great Charles his name. - - Then to what spirit shall I these noates commend, - But unto that which doth them best expresse; - Who will to them more kind protection lend, - Then Hee which did protect me in distresse? - - - - -_Of Humane Knowledge._ - - - Why did my parents send me to the Schooles, - That I with knowledge might enrich my mind? - Since the _desire to know_ first made men fools, - And did corrupt the root of all mankind: - - For when God's hand had written in the hearts - Of the first Parents, all the rules of good, - So that their skill infusde did passe all arts - That euer were, before, or since the Flood; - - And when their reason's eye was sharpe and cleere, - And (as an eagle can behold the sunne) - Could haue approcht th' Eternall Light as neere, - As the intellectuall angels could haue done: - - Euen then to them the _Spirit of Lyes_ suggests - That they were blind, because they saw not ill; - And breathes into their incorrupted brests - A curious _wish_, which did corrupt their _will_. - - For that same ill they straight desir'd to know; - Which ill, being nought but a defect of good, - In[63] all God's works the Diuell could not show - While Man their lord in his perfection stood. - - So that themselues were first to doe the ill, - Ere they thereof the knowledge could attaine; - Like him that knew not poison's power to kill, - Vntill (by tasting it) himselfe was slaine. - - Euen so by tasting of that fruite forbid, - Where they sought _knowledge_, they did _error_ find; - Ill they desir'd to know, and ill they did; - And to giue _Passion_ eyes, made _Reason_ blind. - - For then their minds did first in Passion see - Those wretched shapes of _Miserie_ and _Woe_, - Of _Nakednesse_, of _Shame_, of _Pouertie_, - Which then their owne experience made them know. - - But then grew _Reason_ darke, that _she_ no more, - Could the faire formes of _Good[64]_ and _Truth_ discern; - _Battes_ they became, that _eagles_ were before: - And this they got by their _desire_ to _learne_. - - But we their wretched of-spring, what doe we? - Doe not we still taste of the fruit forbid - Whiles with fond[65] fruitlesse curiositie, - In bookes prophane we seeke for knowledge hid? - - What is this _knowledge_ but the sky-stolne fire, - For which the _thiefe[66]_ still chain'd in ice doth sit? - And which the poore rude _Satyre_ did admire, - And needs would kisse but burnt his lips with it.[67] - - What is it? but the cloud of emptie raine, - Which when _Ioue's_ guest imbrac't, hee monsters got?[68] - Or the false _payles_[69] which oft being fild with paine[70], - Receiv'd the water, but retain'd it not! - -[Footnote 63: Misprinted 'and' in 1st edition and in 1608. G.] - -[Footnote 64: 'God' in 1st edition. G.] - -[Footnote 65: Foolish. G.] - -[Footnote 66: In 1st edition 'Thief' is misprinted 'shie' and Bp. -Hacket writes here: 'Prometheus stole fire: qui in tulit in terram -malum.' G.] - -[Footnote 67: Fable in Æsop [Babrius]. G.] - -[Footnote 68: Ixion. G.] - -[Footnote 69: Danaides. G.] - -[Footnote 70: Painstaking. G.] - - Shortly, what is it but the firie coach - Which the _Youth_ sought, and sought his death withal?[71] - Or the _boye's_ wings, which when he did approch - The _sunne's_ hot beames, did melt and let him fall?[72] - - And yet alas, when all our lamps are burnd, - Our bodyes wasted, and our spirits spent; - When we haue all the learnèd _Volumes_ turn'd, - Which yeeld mens wits both help and ornament: - - What can we know? or what can we discerne? - When _Error_ chokes the windowes of the minde, - The diuers formes of things, how can we learne, - That haue been euer from our birth-day blind?[73] - - When _Reasone's_ lampe, which (like the _sunne_ in skie) - Throughout _Man's_ little world her beames did spread; - Is now become a sparkle, which doth lie - Vnder the ashes, halfe extinct, and dead: - - How can we hope, that through the eye and eare, - This dying sparkle, in this cloudy place, - Can recollect these beames of knowledge cleere, - Which were infus'd in the first minds by grace? - - So might the heire whose father hath in play - Wasted a thousand pound of ancient rent; - By painefull earning of a[74] groate a day, - Hope to restore the patrimony spent. - -[Footnote 71: Phaethon. Hacket.] - -[Footnote 72: Icarus. Hacket.] - -[Footnote 73: Anima tanquam tabula, Aris[totle]. Hacket.] - -[Footnote 74: 'One' in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.] - - - The wits that diu'd most deepe and soar'd most hie - Seeking Man's pow'rs, haue found his weaknesse such: - "Skill comes so slow, and life so fast doth flie, - "We learne so little and forget so much. - - For this the wisest of all morall[75] men - Said, '_He knew nought, but that he nought did know_'; - And the great mocking-Master mockt not then, - When he said, '_Truth was buried deepe[76] below_.' - - For how may we to others' things attaine, - When none of vs his owne soule vnderstands? - For which the Diuell mockes our curious braine, - When, '_Know thy selfe_' his oracle commands.[77] - -[Footnote 75: 'Mortal' in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.] - -[Footnote 76: Misprinted 'here' but corrected in the errata of 1622 -edition, as above, from 1599 and 1608 editions. G.] - -[Footnote 77: Oraculum Appollinis [f]uit Diabolicum. Hacket.] - - For why should wee the busie Soule beleeue, - When boldly she concludes of that and this; - When of her selfe she can no iudgement giue, - Nor how, nor whence, nor where, nor what she is? - - All things without, which round about we see, - We seeke to knowe, and how therewith to doe; - But that whereby we _reason, liue and be_, - Within our selues, we strangers are thereto. - - We seeke to know the mouing of each spheare, - And the strange cause of th' ebs and flouds of _Nile_; - But of that clocke within our breasts we beare, - The subtill motions we forget the while. - - We that acquaint our selues with euery[78] _Zoane_ - And passe both _Tropikes_ and behold the _Poles_, - When we come home, are to our selues vnknown, - And vnacquainted still with our owne _Soules_. - - We study _Speech_ but others we perswade; - We _leech-craft_ learne, but others cure with it; - We interpret _lawes_, which other men haue made, - But reade not those which in our hearts are writ. - - Is it[79] because the minde is like the eye, - Through which it gathers knowledge by degrees-- - Whose rayes reflect not, but spread outwardly: - Not seeing it selfe when other things it sees? - -[Footnote 78: Thomas Davies, as before, misprints 'each' G.] - -[Footnote 79: Misprinted 'It is': corrected by H... G.] - - No, doubtlesse; for the mind can backward cast - Vpon her selfe, her vnderstanding light; - But she is so corrupt, and so defac't, - As her owne image doth her selfe affright. - - As in the fable of the Lady faire, - Which for her lust was turnd into a cow;[80] - When thirstie to a streame she did repaire, - And saw her selfe transform'd she wist not how: - - At first she startles, then she stands amaz'd, - At last with terror she from thence doth flye; - And loathes the watry glasse wherein she gaz'd, - And shunnes it still, though she for thirst doe die: - - Euen so _Man's Soule_ which did God's image beare, - And was at first faire, good, and spotlesse pure; - Since with her _sinnes_ her beauties blotted were, - Doth of all sights her owne sight least endure: - - For euen at first reflection she espies, - Such strange _chimeraes_, and such monsters there; - Such toyes, such _antikes_, and such vanities, - As she retires, and shrinkes for shame and feare. - -[Footnote 80: Io. G.] - - And as the man loues least at home to bee, - That hath a sluttish house haunted with _spirits_;[81] - So she impatient her owne faults to see, - Turnes from her selfe and in strange things delites. - - For this few _know themselues_: for merchants broke - View their estate with discontent and paine; - And _seas_ are troubled, when they doe reuoke - Their flowing waues into themselues againe. - - And while the face of outward things we find, - Pleasing and faire, agreeable and sweet; - These things transport, and carry out the mind, - That with her selfe her selfe[82] can neuer meet. - - Yet if _Affliction_ once her warres begin, - And threat the feebler _Sense_ with sword and fire; - The _Minde_ contracts her selfe and shrinketh in, - And to her selfe she gladly doth retire: - - As _Spiders_ toucht, seek their webs inmost part; - As _bees_ in stormes vnto their hiues returne; - As bloud in danger gathers to the heart; - As men seek towns, when foes the country burn. - - If ought can teach vs ought, _Afflictions_ lookes, - (Making vs looke[83] into our selues so neere,) - Teach vs to _know our selues_ beyond all bookes, - Or all the learned Schooles that euer were. - - This _mistresse_ lately pluckt me by the eare, - And many a golden lesson hath me taught; - Hath made my _Senses_ quicke, and Reason cleare, - Reform'd my Will and rectifide my Thought. - - So doe the _winds_ and _thunders_ cleanse the ayre; - So working lees[84] settle and purge the wine; - So lop't and prunèd trees doe flourish faire; - So doth the fire the drossie gold refine. - - Neither _Minerua_ nor the learnèd Muse, - Nor rules of _Art_, not _precepts_ of the wise; - Could in my braine those beames of skill infuse, - As but the glance of this _Dame's_ angry eyes. - - She within _lists_[85] my ranging minde hath brought, - That now beyond my selfe I list[86] not goe; - My selfe am _center_ of my circling thought, - Onely _my selfe_ I studie, learne, and know. - - I know my bodie's of so fraile a kind, - As force without, feauers within can kill; - I know the heauenly nature of my minde, - But 'tis corrupted both in wit and will: - - I know my _Soule_ hath power to know all things, - Yet is she blinde and ignorant in all; - I know I am one of Nature's little kings, - Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall. - - I know my life's a paine and but a span, - I know my _Sense_ is mockt with euery thing: - And to conclude, I know my selfe a MAN, - Which is a _proud_, and yet a _wretched_ thing. - -[Footnote 81: In 1599 and 1608 more accurately 'sprites'. G.] - -[Footnote 82: Davies and Southey substitute 'the mind'. G.] - -[Footnote 83: Davies and Southey, as before, mis-substitute 'pry.' G.] - -[Footnote 84: An overlooked misprint here is 'seas': found in all the -author's own editions, and repeated until now, _e.g._ by Thomas Davies -and Southey, as before. G.] - -[Footnote 85: Bounds: as in Race-courses. G.] - -[Footnote 86: Thoms Davies, as before, mis-reads 'will'. G.] - - -OF THE SOULE OF MAN AND THE IMMORTALITE THEREOF. - - - _The lights of heau'n_ (which are the World's fair eies) - Looke downe into the World, the World to see; - And as they turne, or wander in the skies, - Suruey all things that on this _Center_ bee. - - And yet the _lights_ which in my _towre_ do shine, - Mine _eyes_ which view all obiects, nigh and farre; - Looke not into this little world of mine, - Nor see my face, wherein they fixèd are. - - Since _Nature_ failes vs in no needfull thing, - Why want I meanes my inward selfe to see? - Which sight the knowledg of my self might bring, - Which to true wisdome is the first degree. - - That _Power_ which gaue me eyes the World to view, - To see my selfe infus'd an _inward light_; - Whereby my _Soule_, as by a mirror true, - Of her owne forme may take a perfect sight, - - But as the sharpest _eye_ discerneth nought, - Except the _sunne_-beames in the ayre doe shine; - So the best _Soule_[87] with her reflecting thought, - Sees not her selfe without some light diuine. - - _O Light_ which mak'st the light, which makes the day! - Which setst the eye without, and mind within; - 'Lighten my spirit with one cleare heauenly ray, - Which now to view it selfe doth first begin. - - For her true forme how can my sparke discerne? - Which dimme by _nature_, _Art_ did neuer cleare; - When the great wits, of whom all skill we learn, - Are ignorant both _what_ shee is, and _where_. - - One thinks the _Soule_ is _aire_; another, _fire_; - Another _blood_, diffus'd about the heart; - Another saith, the _elements_ conspire, - And to her _essence_ each doth giue a part. - - _Musicians_ thinke our _Soules_ are _harmonies_, - _Phisicians_ hold that they _complexions_ bee; - _Epicures_ make them swarmes of _atomies_, - Which doe by chance into our bodies flee. - - Some thinke one generall _Soule_ fils euery braine, - As the bright _sunne_ sheds light in euery starre; - And others thinke the name of _Soule_ is vaine, - And that we onely _well-mixt_ bodies are. - - In judgement of her _substance_ thus they vary; - And thus they vary in iudgement of her _seat_; - For some her chaire vp to the braine doe carry, - Some thrust it downe into the _stomackes_ heat. - - Some place it in the root of life, the _heart_; - Some in the _liuer_[88], fountaine of the veines; - Some say, _Shee is all in all, and all in part_: - Some say, She is not containd but all containes. - - Thus these great clerks their little wisdome show, - While with their doctrines they at _hazard_ play, - Tossing their light opinions to and fro, - To mocke the _lewd_, as learn'd in this as they. - - For no craz'd braine could euer yet propound, - Touching the _Soule_, so vaine and fond a thought, - But some among these masters haue been found, - Which in their _Schooles_ the self-same thing haue taught. - - _God onely wise_, to punish pride of wit, - Among men's wits hath this confusion wrought, - As the proud _towre_ whose points the clouds did hit, - By tongues' confusion was to ruine brought. - - But _Thou_ which didst _Man's soule_ of nothing make, - And when to nothing it was fallen agen, - "To make it new, the forme of man didst take, - "And _God_ with _God_, becam'st a _Man_ with men. - - Thou, that hast fashioned twice this _Soule_ of ours, - So that she is by double title Thine; - Thou onely knowest her nature and her pow'rs, - Her subtill forme Thou onely canst define. - - To iudge her selfe she must her selfe transcend, - As greater circles comprehend the lesse; - But she wants power, her owne powers to extend, - As fettered men can not their strength expresse. - - But Thou bright Morning Star, Thou rising _Sunne_, - Which in these later times hast brought to light - Those mysteries, that since the world begun, - Lay hid in darknesse, and eternall night: - - Thou (_like the sunne_) dost with indifferent ray, - Into the _palace_ and the _cottage_ shine, - And shew'st the _soule_ both to the clerke and lay[89], - By the cleare _lampe_ of Thy _Oracle_ diuine. - -[Footnote 87: 'Sense' in 1st edn. G.] - -[Footnote 88: Davies and Southey misprint egregiously 'river.' G.] - -[Footnote 89: Laymen. G.] - - This Lampe through all the regions of my braine, - Where my _soule_ sits, doth spread such beames of grace, - As now, me thinks, I do distinguish plain, - Each subtill line of her immortall face. - - -WHAT THE SOULE IS. - - _The soule a substance_, and a _spirit_ is, - Which _God_ Himselfe doth in the body make; - Which makes the _Man_: for euery man from this, - The _nature_ of a _Man_, and _name_ doth take. - - And though this[1] spirit be to the body knit, - As an apt meane her powers to exercise; - Which are _life_, _motion_, _sense_, and _will_, and _wit_, - Yet she _suruiues_, although the body _dies_. - - -THAT THE SOULE IS A THING SUBSISTING BY IT SELFE WITHOUT THE -BODY. - - _She is a substance_, and a reall thing, - Which hath it selfe an actuall working might; - Which neither from the Senses' power doth spring, - Nor from the bodie's humors, tempred right. - - She is a _vine_, which doth no propping need, - To make her spread her selfe or spring vpright; - She is a _starre_, whose beames doe not proceed - From any _sunne_, but from a _natiue_ light. - - For when she sorts things _present_ with things _past_, - And thereby things to _come_ doth oft foresee; - When she doth _doubt_ at first, and _chuse_ at last, - These acts her owne, without her body bee. - - When of the deaw,[90] which the _eye_ and _eare_ doe take - From flowers abroad, and bring into the braine, - She doth within both waxe and hony make: - This worke is her's, this is her proper paine.[91] - - When she from sundry acts, one skill doth draw, - Gathering from diuers fights one art[92] of warre, - From many cases like, one rule of Law; - These her collections, not the _Senses_ are. - -[Footnote 90: Dew: and so spelled also by the Fletchers and other -contemporaries. G.] - -[Footnote 91: Painstaking. G.] - -[Footnote 92: Misprinted 'act' in the 1st edn. G.] - - When in th' effects she doth the causes know, - And seeing the stream, thinks wher the spring doth rise; - And seeing the branch, conceiues the root below; - These things she views without the bodie's eyes. - - When she, without a _Pegasus_, doth flie - Swifter then lightning's fire from _East_ to _West_, - About the _Center_ and aboue the _skie_, - She trauels then, although the body rest. - - When all her works she formeth first within, - Proportions them, and sees their perfect end, - Ere she in act does anie part begin; - What instruments doth then the body lend? - - When without hands she doth thus[93] _castles_ build, - Sees without eyes, and without feet doth runne; - When she digests the world, yet is not fil'd: - By her owne power these miracles are done. - -[Footnote 93: In 1st edition 'she thus doth.' G.] - - When she defines, argues, diuides, compounds, - Considers _vertue_, _vice_, and _generall things_, - And marrying diuers principles and grounds, - Out of their match a true conclusion brings. - - These actions in her closet all alone, - (Retir'd within her selfe) she doth fulfill; - Vse of her bodie's organs she hath none, - When she doth vse the powers of Wit and Will. - - Yet in the bodie's prison so she lies, - As through the bodie's windowes she must looke, - Her diuers powers of _sense_ to exercise, - By gath'ring notes out of the _World's_ great book. - - Nor can her selfe discourse or iudge of ought, - But what the _Sense_ collects and home doth bring; - And yet the power of her discoursing thought, - From these collections, is a diuers thing. - - For though our eyes can nought but colours see, - Yet colours giue them not their powre of sight; - So, though these fruits of _Sense_ her obiects bee, - Yet she discernes them by her proper light. - - The workman on his stuffe his skill doth show, - And yet the stuffe giues not the man his skill; - _Kings_ their affaires do by their seruants know, - But order them by their owne royall will. - - So, though this cunning mistresse and this queene, - Doth, as her instrument, the _Senses_ vse, - To know all things that are _felt_, _heard_, or _seene_, - Yet she her selfe doth onely _iudge_ and _chuse_: - - Euen as our great wise _Empresse_[94] that now raignes - By _soueraigne_ title ouer sundry Lands; - Borrowes in meane affaires her _subiects_ paines, - Sees by their eyes, and writeth by their hands; - - But things of waight and consequence indeed, - Her selfe doth in her chamber them debate; - Where all her Counsellers she doth exceed - As farre in iudgement, as she doth in State. - - Or as the man whom she doth now aduance,[95] - Vpon her gracious _mercy-seat_ to sit; - Doth common things, of course and circumstance, - To the reports of common men commit: - -[Footnote 94: Q. Eliz[abeth]. H. [Davies and Southey, as before, -substitute 'a prudent emperor.' G.]] - -[Footnote 95: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'whom princes -do.' Ellesmere. See sonnet addressed to him among 'Minor poems.' G.] - - But when the cause it selfe must be decreed, - Himselfe in person, in his proper Court, - To graue and solemne hearing doth proceed, - Of euery proofe and euery by-report. - - Then, like God's angell he pronounceth right, - And milke and hony from his tongue doth flow; - Happie are they that still are in his sight, - To reape the wisedome which his lips doe sow. - - Right so the _Soule_, which is a lady free, - And doth the iustice of her _State_ maintaine; - Because the senses ready seruants be, - Attending nigh about her Court, the braine: - - By them the formes of outward things she learnes, - For they returne into the fantasie, - What euer each of them abroad discernes, - And there inrole it for the Minde to see. - - But when she sits to iudge the good and ill, - And to discerne betwixt the false and true; - She is not guided by the _Senses'_ skill, - But doth each thing in her owne mirrour view. - - Then she the _Senses_ checks, which oft do erre, - And euen against their false reports decrees; - And oft she doth condemne what they preferre, - For with a power aboue the _Sense_, she sees. - - Therefore no _Sense_ the precious ioyes conceiues, - Which in her priuate contemplations bee; - For then the rauish't spirit the _Senses_ leaues, - Hath her owne powers, and proper actions free. - - Her harmonies are sweet, and full of skill, - When on the Bodie's instrument she playes; - But the proportions of the _wit_ and _will_, - Those sweete accords, are euen the angel's layes. - - These tunes of _Reason_ are _Amphion's_ lyre, - Wherewith he did the _Thebane_ citie found; - These are the notes wherewith the heauenly _quire_, - The praise of Him which made[96] the heauen doth sound. - -[Footnote 96: 'Spreads' in 1st edn. G.] - - Then her _selfe-being nature_ shines in this, - That she performes her noblest works alone; - "The _worke_, the touch-stone of the _nature_ is, - "And by their operations, things are knowne. - - -THAT THE SOULE IS MORE THEN A PERFECTION OR REFLECTION OF THE -SENSE. - - _Are they not sencelesse_ then, that thinke the Soule - Nought but a fine perfection of the _Sense_; - Or of the formes which _fancie_ doth enroule, - A _quicke resulting_, and a _consequence_? - - What is it then that doth the _Sense_ accuse, - Both of _false judgements_, and _fond appetites_? - What makes vs do what _Sense_ doth most refuse? - Which oft in torment of the _Sense_ delights? - - _Sense_ thinkes the _planets_, _spheares_ not much asunder; - What tels vs then their distance is so farre? - _Sense_ thinks the lightning borne before the thunder; - What tels vs then they both together are? - - When men seem crows far off vpon a towre, - _Sense_ saith, th'are crows; what makes vs think them men? - When we in _agues_, thinke all sweete things sowre, - What makes vs know our tongue's false iudgement then? - - What power was that, whereby _Medea_ saw, - And well approu'd, and prais'd the better course, - When her rebellious _Sense_ did so withdraw - Her feeble powers, as she pursu'd the worse?[97] - - Did _Sense_ perswade _Vlisses_ not to heare - The mermaid's songs, which so his men did please; - As they were all perswaded, through the eare - To quit the ship, and leape into the _seas_? - - Could any power of _Sense_ the _Romane_ moue, - To burn his own right hand with courage stout?[98] - Could _Sense_ make _Marius_ sit vnbound, and proue - The cruell lancing of the knotty gout?[99] - - Doubtlesse in _Man_ there is a _nature_ found, - Beside the _Senses_, and aboue them farre; - "Though most men being in sensuall pleasures drownd, - "It seemes their _Soules_ but in their _Senses_ are. - - If we had nought but _Sense_, then onely they - Should haue sound minds, which haue their _Senses_ sound; - But _Wisdome_ growes, when _Senses_ doe decay, - And _Folly_ most in quickest _Sense_ is found. - - If we had nought but _Sense_, each liuing wight, - Which we call _brute_, would be more sharp then we; - As hauing _Sense's apprehensiue might_, - In a more cleere, and excellent degree. - - But they doe want that _quicke discoursing power_, - Which doth in vs the erring _Sense_ correct; - Therefore the _bee_ did sucke the painted flower, - And _birds_, of grapes, the cunning shadow, peckt.[100] - - _Sense_ outsides knows; the Soule throgh al things sees; - _Sense_, _circumstance_; she, doth the _substance_ view; - _Sense_ sees the barke, but she, the life of trees; - _Sense_ heares the sounds, but she, the concords true. - - But why doe I the _Soule_ and _Sense_ diuide? - When _Sense_ is but a power, which she extends; - Which being in diuers parts diuersifide, - The diuers formes of obiects apprehends? - - This power spreds outward, but the root doth grow - In th' inward _Soule_, which onely doth perceiue; - For th' _eyes_ and _eares_ no more their obiects know, - Then glasses know what faces they receiue. - - For if we chance to fixe our thoughts elsewhere, - Although our eyes be ope, we cannot see; - And if one power did not both see and heare, - Our sights and sounds would alwayes double be. - - Then is the _Soule_ a nature, which containes - The powre of _Sense_, within a greater power - Which doth imploy and vse the _Senses_ paines, - But sits and rules within her priuate bower. - - -[Footnote 97: Meliora proboq ... iora ... sequor ... Sen'a. H. [Rather -Ovid vii. 20. - - ... Video meliora, proboque - Deteriora sequor' - -Pathetically quoted by BYRON in his remarkable Letter to -JOHN SHEPPARD. G.]] - -[Footnote 98: The allusion is to Mutius Scaevola, who was taken in an -attempt to assassinate Porsena, and thrust his hand into the fire to -prove his fortitude: Livy II. 12. G.] - -[Footnote 99: The story is told by Plutarch in his Life of Marius c. -VI. 415. G.] - -[Footnote 100: Pliny XXXV. 36 § 3: told of a picture of -Zeuxis, as that of the horse neighing is of another by Apelles (_ib_ § -17.) G.] - - -THAT THE SOULE IS MORE THEN THE TEMPERATURE[101] OF THE HUMORS OF -THE BODY. - - _If shee doth then_ the subtill _Sense_ excell, - How gross are they that drown her in the blood! - Or in the bodie's humors tempred well, - As if in them such high perfection stood? - - As if most skill in that _Musician_ were, - Which had the best, and best tun'd instrument; - As if the pensill neate[102] and colours cleare, - Had power to make the Painter excellent. - - Why doth not beautie then refine the wit? - And good complexion rectifie the will? - Why doth not health bring wisdom still with it? - Why doth not sicknesse make men bruitish still? - - Who can in _memory_, or _wit_, or _will_, - Or _ayre_, or _fire_, or _earth_, or _water_ finde? - What alchymist can draw, with all his skil, - The _quintessence_ of these, out of the mind? - - If th' _elements_ which haue nor _life_, nor _sense_, - Can breed in vs so great a powre as this; - Why giue they not themselues like excellence, - Or other things wherein their mixture is? - - If she were but the Bodie's qualitie - Then would she be with it _sicke_, _maim'd_ and _blind_; - But we perceiue where these priuations be - A _healthy_, _perfect_, and _sharpe-sighted_ mind. - - If she the bodie's nature did pertake, - Her strength would with the bodie's strength decay; - But when the bodie's strongest sinewes slake, - Then is the _Soule_ most actiue, quicke and gay. - - If she were but the bodie's accident, - And her sole _being_ did in it subsist; - As _white in snow_; she might her selfe absent, - And in the bodie's substance not be mist. - - But _it_ on _her_, not _shee_ on _it_ depends; - For _shee_ the body doth sustaine and cherish; - Such secret powers of life to it she lends, - That when they faile, then doth the body perish. - - Since then the _Soule works by her selfe alone, - Springs not from Sense, nor humors, well agreeing_; - Her nature is peculiar, and her owne: - She is a _substance_, and a _perfect being_. - -[Footnote 101: Misprinted 'temparature.' G.] - -[Footnote 102: Clean, pure. G.] - - -THAT THE SOULE IS A SPIRIT. - - But though this substance be the root of _Sense_, - _Sense_ knowes her not, which doth but _bodies_ know; - _Shee is a spirit_, and heauenly influence, - Which from the fountaine of God's Spirit doth flow. - - Shee is a Spirit, yet not like _ayre_, or _winde_, - Nor like the _spirits_ about the _heart_ or _braine_; - Nor like those spirits which alchymists do find, - When they in euery thing seeke gold in _vaine_. - - For shee all _natures_ vnder heauen doth passe; - Being like those spirits, which God's bright face do see; - Or like _Himselfe_, Whose _image_ once she was, - Though now (alas!) she scarce His _shadow_ bee. - - Yet of the _formes_, she holds the first degree, - That are to grosse materiall bodies knit; - Yet shee her selfe is _bodilesse_ and free; - And though confin'd, is almost infinite. - - - THAT IT CANNOT BE A BODY. - - Were she a _body_ how could she remaine - Within this body, which is lesse then she? - Or how could she the world's great shape contain, - And in our narrow brests containèd bee? - - All _bodies_ are confin'd within some place, - But _she_ all place within her selfe confines; - All _bodies_ haue their measure, and their space, - But who can draw the _Soule's_ dimensiue lines? - - No _body_ can at once two formes admit, - Except the one the other doe deface; - But in the _soule_ ten thousand formes do sit, - And none intrudes into her neighbour's place. - - All _bodies_ are with other bodies fild, - But she receiues both heauen and earth together; - Nor are their formes by rash incounter spild, - For there they stand, and neither toucheth either. - - Nor can her wide imbracements fillèd bee; - For they that most, and greatest things embrace, - Inlarge thereby their minds' capacitie, - As streames inlarg'd, inlarge the channel's space.[103] - - _All things receiu'd, doe such proportion take, - As those things haue, wherein they are receiu'd_: - So little glasses little faces make, - And narrow webs on narrow frames be weau'd; - - Then what vast body must we make the _mind_ - Wherin are men, beasts, trees, towns, seas, and lands; - And yet each thing a proper place doth find, - And each thing in the true proportion stands? - - Doubtlesse this could not bee, but that she turnes - Bodies to spirits, by _sublimation_ strange; - As fire conuerts to fire the things it burnes - As we our meats into our nature change. - - From their grosse _matter_ she abstracts the _formes_, - And drawes a kind of _quintessence_ from things; - Which to her proper nature she transformes, - To bear them light on her celestiall wings: - - This doth she, when, from things _particular_, - She doth abstract the _universall kinds_; - Which bodilesse and immateriall are, - And can be lodg'd but onely in our minds: - - And thus from diuers _accidents_ and _acts_, - Which doe within her obseruation fall, - She goddesses, and powers diuine, abstracts: - As _Nature_, _Fortune_, and the _Vertues_ all. - - Againe, how can she seuerall _bodies_ know, - If in her selfe a _bodie's_ forme she beare? - How can a mirror sundry faces show, - If from all shapes and formes it be not cleare? - - Nor could we by our eyes all colours learne, - Except our eyes were of all colours voide; - Nor sundry tastes can any tongue discerne, - Which is with grosse and bitter humors cloide. - - Nor may a man of _passions_ iudge aright, - Except his minde bee from all passions free; - Nor can a _Iudge_ his office well acquite, - If he possest of either partie bee. - - If lastly, this quicke power a body were, - Were it as swift as is[104] the _winde_ or _fire_; - (Whose atomies doe th' one down side-waies beare, - And make the other in _pyramids_ aspire:) - - Her nimble body yet in time must moue, - And not in instants through all places slide; - But she is nigh, and farre, beneath, aboue, - In point of time, which thought cannot deuide: - - She is sent as soone to _China_ as to _Spaine_, - And thence returnes, as soone as shee is sent; - She measures with one time, and with one paine, - An ell of silke, and heauen's wide spreading tent. - - As then the _Soule_ a substance hath alone, - Besides the Body in which she is confin'd; - So hath she not a _body_ of her owne, - But is a _spirit_, and _immateriall minde_. - -[Footnote 103: - - 'Time but the impression stronger makes - As streams their channels deeper wear.' - - BURNS: to Mary in Heaven.] - -[Footnote 104: Southey misprints 'in.' G.] - - -THAT THE SOULE IS CREATED IMMEDIATELY BY GOD. - - _Since body and soule_ haue such diuersities, - Well might we muse, how first their match began; - But that we learne, that He that spread the skies, - And fixt the Earth, first form'd the _soule_ in man. - - This true _Prometheus_ first made Man of earth, - And shed in him a beame of heauenly fire; - Now in their mother's wombs before their birth, - Doth in all sonnes of men their _soules_ inspire. - - And as _Minerua_ is in fables said, - From _Ioue_, without a mother to proceed; - So our true _Ioue_, without a mother's ay'd, - Doth daily millions of _Mineruas_ breed. - - -ERRONIOUS OPINIONS OF THE CREATION OF SOULES. - - Then neither from eternitie before, - Nor from the time when _Time's_ first point begun; - Made He all _souls_: which now He keepes in store, - Some in the moone, and others in the sunne: - - Nor in a _secret cloyster_ doth Hee keepe - These virgin-spirits, vntill their marriage-day; - Nor locks them vp in chambers, where they sleep, - Till they awake, within these beds of clay. - - Nor did He first a certaine number make, - Infusing part in _beasts_, and part in _men_, - And, as vnwilling further paines to take, - Would make no more then those He framèd then. - - So that the widow _Soule_ her _body_ dying, - Vnto the next-borne _body_ married was; - And so by often changing and supplying, - Mens' _soules_ to beasts, and beasts to men did passe. - - (These thoughts are fond; for since the bodies borne - Be more in number farre then those that dye; - Thousands must be abortiue, and forlorne, - Ere others' deaths to them their _soules_ supply.) - - But as _God's handmaid_, _Nature_, doth create - Bodies in time distinct, and order due;[105] - So God giues _soules_ the like successiue date, - Which _Himselfe_ makes, in bodies formèd new: - - Which _Him selfe_ makes, of no materiall thing; - For vnto angels He no power hath giuen, - Either to forme the shape, or stuffe to bring - From _ayre_ or _fire_, or _substance of the heauen_. - - Nor He in this doth _Nature's_ seruice vse; - For though from bodies, she can bodies bring, - Yet could she neuer soules from Soules _traduce_, - As fire from fire, or light from light doth spring. - - -OBJECTION:--THAT THE SOULE IS EXTRADUCE. - - Alas! that some, that were great lights of old, - And in their hands the _lampe_ of God did beare;[106] - Some reuerend Fathers did this error hold, - Hauing their eyes dim'd with religious feare! - - For when (say they) by Rule of Faith we find, - That euery _soule_ vnto her _body_ knit, - Brings from the mother's wombe, the _sinne of kind_, - The roote of all the ill she doth commit. - - How can we say that God the _Soule_ doth make, - But we must make Him author of her sinne? - Then from man's soule she doth beginning take, - Since in man's soule corruption did begin. - - For if God make her, first He makes her ill, - (Which God forbid our thoghts should yeeld vnto!) - Or makes the body her faire forme to spill,[107] - Which, of it selfe it had no power to doe. - - Not _Adam's body_ but his _soule_ did sinne - And so her selfe vnto corruption brought; - But the poore _soule_ corrupted is within, - Ere shee had sinn'd, either in act, or thought: - - And yet we see in her such powres diuine, - As we could gladly thinke, _from God she came_; - Faine would we make Him Author of the wine, - If for the dregs we could some other blame. - -[Footnote 105: Misprinted in 1608 and 1622 edition 'other:' correctly, -as above, in 1599 edition. G.] - -[Footnote 106: Holy Scriptures. G.] - -[Footnote 107: = Spoil. G.] - - - THE ANSWERE TO THE OBIECTION. - - _Thus these_ good men with holy zeale were blind, - When on the other part the truth did shine; - Whereof we doe cleare demonstrations find, - By light of _Nature_, and by light _Diuine_ - - None are so grosse as to contend for this, - That soules from bodies may traducèd bee; - Betweene whose natures no proportion is, - When roote and branch in nature still agree. - - But many subtill wits haue iustifi'd, - That _soules_ from _soules_ spiritually may spring; - Which (if the nature of the _soule_ be tri'd) - Will euen in Nature proue as grosse a thing. - - -REASONS DRAWNE FROM NATURE. - - For all things made, are either made of nought, - Or made of stuffe that ready made doth stand; - Of nought no creature euer formèd ought, - For that is proper to th' Almightie's hand. - - If then the _soule_ another _soule_ doe make, - Because her power is kept within a bound, - Shee must some former stuffe or _matter_ take; - But in the soule there is no _matter_ found. - - Then if her heauenly Forme doe not agree - With any _matter_ which the world containes; - Then she of nothing must created bee, - And to _create_, to God alone pertaines. - - Againe, if _soules_ doe other _soules_ beget, - 'Tis by themselues, or by the bodie's power; - If by themselues, what doth their working let, - But they might _soules_ engender euery houre? - - If by the body, how can _wit_ and _will_ - Ioyne with the body onely in this act? - Sith[108] when they doe their other works fulfill, - They from the body doe themselues _abstract_? - - Againe, if _soules_ of _soules_ begotten were, - Into each other they should change and moue; - And _change_ and _motion still corruption_ beare; - How shall we then the _soule_ immortall proue? - - If lastly, _soules_ doe[109] generation vse, - Then should they spread incorruptible seed; - What then becomes of that which they doe lose, - When th' acts of generation doe not speed? - - And though the _soule_ could cast spirituall seed, - Yet _would_ she not, because she _neuer dies_; - For mortall things desire their _like_ to breed, - That so they may their kind immortalize. - - Therefore the angels, sonnes of God are nam'd, - And marry not, nor are in marriage giuen; - Their spirits and ours are of one _substance_ fram'd, - And haue one Father, euen the _Lord of heauen_: - - Who would at first, that in each other thing, - The _earth_ and _water_ liuing _soules_ should breed; - But that _man's soule_ whom He would make their king, - Should from Himselfe immediatly proceed. - - And when He took the _woman_ from _man's_ side, - Doubtlesse Himselfe inspir'd her _soule_ alone; - For 'tis not said, He did _man's soule_ diuide, - But took _flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone_. - - Lastly, God being made Man for man's owne sake, - And being like Man in all, except in sin, - His body from the _virgin's_ wombe did take; - But all agree, _God form'd His soule within_. - - Then is the _soule_ from God; so _Pagans_ say, - Which saw by _Nature's_ light her heauenly kind; - Naming her _kin to God, and God's bright ray_, - A citizen of Heauen to Earth confined. - - But now, I feele, they plucke me by the eare - Whom my young _Muse_ so boldly termèd blind; - And craue more heauenly light, that cloud to clear, - Which makes them think God doth not make the mind. - -[Footnote 108: Here and elsewhere, the 1622 edn. alters 'since' of the -1599 and 1608 edns. to the earlier form 'sith': on which see Wright's -Bible Word-Book. _s.v._ G.] - -[Footnote 109: In 1599 and 1608 edns., 'did.' G.] - - - -REASONS DRAWNE FROM DIUINITY. - - God doubtlesse makes her, and doth make her good, - And graffes her in the body, there to spring; - Which, though it be corrupted, flesh and blood - Can no way to the _Soule_ corruption bring: - - And yet this _Soule_ (made good by God at first,[110] - And not corrupted by the bodie's ill) - Euen in the wombe is sinfull, and accurst, - Ere shee can _iudge_ by _wit_ or _chuse_ by _will_.[111] - -[Footnote 110: By an unhappy oversight, the whole of this stanza is -dropped out of 1697 edition: and thence, by Davies, and generally. G.] - -[Footnote 111: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'ill.' G.] - - Yet is not God the Author of her sinne - Though Author of her _being_, and _being there_; - And if we dare to iudge our _Iudge_ herein,[112] - He can condemne vs, and Himselfe can cleare. - -[Footnote 112: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'Maker's -will.' G.] - - First, God from infinite eternitie - _Decreed_, what _hath beene_, _is_, or _shall bee_ done; - And was resolu'd, that euery man should bee, - And in his turne, his race of life should run: - - And so did purpose all the _soules_ to make, - That euer _have beene_ made, or _euer shall_; - And that their _being_ they should onely take - In humane bodies, or not _bee_ at all. - - Was it then fit that such a weake euent - (_W[e]aknesse it selfe_,--the sinne and fall of Man) - His counsel's execution should preuent, - Decreed and fixt before the World began? - - Or that one _penall law_ by _Adam_ broke, - Should make God breake His owne _eternall Law_; - The setled order of the World reuoke, - And change all forms of things, which He foresaw? - - Could _Eue's_ weake hand, extended to the tree, - In sunder rend that _adamantine chaine_, - Whose golden links, _effects_ and causes be, - And which to God's owne chair doth fixt remaine.[113] - - O could we see, how cause from cause doth spring! - How mutually they linkt and folded are! - And heare how oft one disagreeing string - The harmony doth rather make then marre? - - And view at once, how _death_ by _sinne_ is brought, - And how from _death_, a better _life_ doth rise, - How this God's _iustice_, and His _mercy_ tought: - We this decree would praise, as right and wise. - - But we that measure times by first and last, - The sight of things successiuely, doe take; - When God on all at once His view doth cast, - And of all times doth but one _instant_ make. - - All in _Himselfe_ as in a _glasse_ Hee sees, - For _from Him, by Him, through Him, all things bee_: - His sight is not discoursiue, by degrees, - But seeing the whole, each single part doth see.[114] - -[Footnote 113: Homer, Iliad, VIII. 19: and _cf._ Tennyson ('Morte d' -Arthur,' p. 200: edition 1848.) - - 'For so the whole round world is every way - - Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.' G.] - -[Footnote 114: It is noticeable that the supreme Divine and Thinker of -America--Jonathan Edwards--accepts this symbol of the 'Tree,' and works -it out marvellously in his great treatise on 'Original Sin.' G.] - - He lookes on _Adam_, as a _root_, or _well_, - And on his heires, as _branches_, and as _streames_; - He sees _all_ men as _one_ Man, though they dwell - In sundry cities, and in sundry realmes: - - And as the _roote_ and _branch_ are but one _tree_, - And _well_ and _streame_ doe but one _riuer_ make; - So, if the _root_ and _well_ corrupted bee, - The _streame_ and _branch_ the same corruption take: - - So, when the root and fountaine of Mankind - Did draw corruption, and God's curse, by sin; - This was a charge that all his heires did bind, - And all his offspring grew corrupt therein. - - And as when the hand doth strike, the Man offends, - (For _part from whole, Law seuers not in this_) - So _Adam's_ sinne to the whole kind extends; - For all their natures are but part of his. - - Therefore this _sinne of kind_, not personall, - But reall and hereditary was; - The guilt whereof, and punishment to all, - By course of Nature, and of Law doth passe. - - For as that easie Law was giuen to all, - To ancestor and heire, to first and last; - So was the first transgression generall, - And all did plucke the fruit and all did tast. - - Of this we find some foot-steps in our Law, - Which doth her root from God and Nature take; - Ten thousand men she doth together draw, - And of them all, one Corporation make: - - Yet these, and their successors, are but one, - And if they gaine or lose their liberties; - They harme, or profit not themselues alone, - But such as in succeeding times shall rise. - - And so the ancestor, and all his heires, - Though they in number passe the stars of heauen, - Are still but one; his forfeitures are theirs, - And vnto them are his aduancements giuen: - - His ciuill acts doe binde and bar them all; - And as from _Adam_, all corruption take, - So, if the father's crime be _capitall_ - In all the _bloud_, Law doth _corruption_ make. - - Is it then iust with vs, to dis-inherit - The vnborn nephewes for the father's fault? - And to aduance againe for one man's merit, - A thousand heires, that have deservèd nought? - - And is not God's decree as iust as ours, - If He, for _Adam's_ sinne, his sonnes depriue, - Of all those natiue vertues, and those powers, - Which He to him, and to his race did giue? - - For what is this contagious sinne of kinde - But a priuation of that grace within? - And of that great rich dowry of the minde - Which all had had, but for the first man's sin? - - If then a man, on light conditions gaine - A great estate, to him and his, for euer; - If wilfully he forfeit it againe - Who doth bemone his heire or blame the giuer? - - So, though God make the _Soule_ good, rich and faire, - Yet when her forme is to the body knit, - Which makes the Man, which man is _Adam's heire_ - Iustly forth-with He takes His grace from it: - - And then the soule being first from nothing brought, - When God's grace failes her, doth to nothing fall; - And this _declining pronenesse unto nought_, - Is euen that sinne that we are borne withall. - - Yet not alone the first good qualities, - Which in the first _soule_ were, depriuèd are; - But in their place the contrary doe rise, - And reall spots[115] of sinne her beauty marre. - - Nor is it strange, that Adam's ill desart - Should be transferd vnto his guilty Race; - When Christ His grace and iustice doth impart - To men vniust, and such as haue no grace. - - Lastly, the _Soule_ were better so to bee - Borne slaue to sinne, then not to be at all; - Since (if she do belieue) One sets her free, - That makes her mount the higher for her fall. - - _Yet this_ the curious wits will not content; - They yet will know (sith[116] God foresaw this ill) - Why His high Prouidence did not preuent - The declination of the first man's will. - - If by His Word He had the current staid - Of _Adam's_ will, which was by nature free; - It had bene one, as if His Word had said, - I will henceforth that _Man no man shall bee_. - - For what is Man without a moouing mind, - Which hath a iudging _wit_, and chusing _will_? - Now, if God's power should her election bind, - Her motions then would cease and stand all still. - - And why did God in man this _soule_ infuse, - But that he should his Maker _know_ and _loue_? - Now, if _loue_ be compeld and cannot chuse, - How can it gratefull or thankeworthy proue? - - Loue must free-hearted be, and voluntary, - And not enchanted, or by Fate constraind; - Nor like that loue, which did _Ulisses_ carry, - To _Circe's_ ile, with mighty charmes enchaind. - - Besides, were we vnchangeable in _will_, - And of a _wit_ that nothing could mis-deeme; - Equall to God, Whose wisedome shineth still, - And neuer erres, we might our selues esteeme. - - So that if Man would be vnuariable, - He must be God, or like a rock or tree; - For euen the perfect Angels were not stable, - But had a fall more desperate then wee. - - Then let vs praise that Power, which makes vs be - _Men_ as we are, and rest contented so; - And knowing Man's fall was curiositie, - Admire God's counsels, which we cannot know. - - And let vs know that God the Maker is - Of all the _Soules_, in all the men that be: - Yet their corruption is no fault of His, - But the first man's that broke God's first decree. - -[Footnote 115: Misprinted in 1622 'sports:' 'spots' from 1599, 1602 and -1608. G.] - -[Footnote 116: 'Since,' as before in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.] - - -WHY THE SOULE IS UNITED TO THE BODY. - - _This substance_, and this _spirit of God's owne making_, - Is in the body plact, and planted heere; - "That both of God, and of the world partaking, - "Of all that is, Man might the image beare. - - Then other things, which mindlesse bodies be; - Last, He made Man, th' _horizon_ 'twixt both kinds, - In whom we doe the World's abridgement see.[117] - - Besides, this World below did need _one wight_, - Which might thereof distinguish euery part; - Make vse thereof, and take therein delight, - And order things with industry and art: - - Which also God might in His works admire, - And here beneath, yeeld Him both praier and praise; - As there, aboue, the holy angels quire - Doth spread His glory[118] with spirituall layes. - - Lastly, the bruite, unreasonable wights, - Did want a _visible king_ on[119] them to raigne: - And God, Himselfe thus to the World vnites, - That so the World might endlesse blisse obtaine. - -[Footnote 117: One of Heylin's numerous books is called -'_Microcosmus_:' a little Description of the great World. Oxon: 1st -edn., 1622. The word is met with in other old title-pages and in -theological (Puritan) writings. G.] - - -IN WHAT MANNER THE SOULE IS UNITED TO THE BODY. - - "But how shall we this _union_ well expresse? - Nought ties the _soule_; her subtiltie is such - She moues the bodie, which she doth possesse, - Yet no part toucheth, but by _Vertue's_ touch. - - Then dwels shee not therein as in a tent, - Nor as a pilot in his ship doth sit; - Nor as the spider in his[120] web is pent; - Nor as the waxe retaines the print in it; - - Nor as a vessell water doth containe; - Nor as one liquor in another shed; - Nor as the heat doth in the fire remaine; - Nor as a voice throughout the ayre is spread: - - But as the faire and cheerfull _Morning light_, - Doth here and there her siluer beames impart, - And in an instant doth herselfe vnite - To the transparent ayre, in all, and part: - - Still resting whole, when blowes th' ayre diuide; - Abiding pure, when th' ayre is most corrupted; - Throughout the ayre, her beams dispersing wide, - And when the ayre is tost, not interrupted: - - So doth the piercing _Soule_ the body fill, - Being all in all, and all in part diffus'd; - Indiuisible, incorruptible[121] still, - Not forc't, encountred, troubled or confus'd. - - And as the _sunne_ aboue, the light doth bring, - Though we behold it in the ayre below; - So from th' Eternall Light the _Soule_ doth spring, - Though in the body she her powers doe show. - -[Footnote 118: Davies and Southey, as before, insert 'forth' here. G.] - -[Footnote 119: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'o'er:' but -'on' is the Poet's own word here and elsewhere. G.] - -[Footnote 120: In 1599 and 1608 editions, 'her.' G.] - -[Footnote 121: In 1598 and 1608 editions, 'vncorruptible.' G.] - - -HOW THE SOUL DOTH EXERCISE HER POWERS IN THE BODY. - - _But as_ the[122] world's _sunne_ doth effects beget, - Diuers, in diuers places euery day; - Here _Autumnes_ temperature, there _Summer's_ heat, - Here flowry _Spring-tide_, and there _Winter_ gray: - - Eere _Euen_, there _Morne_, here _Noone_, there _Day_, there _Night_; - Melts wax, dries clay, mak[e]s flowrs, som quick,[123] som dead; - Makes the _More_ black, and th' _Europ[oe]an_ white, - Th' _American_ tawny, and th' _East-Indian_ red: - - So in our little World: this _soule_ of ours, - Being onely one, and to one body tyed, - Doth vse, on diuers obiects diuers powers, - And so are her effects diuersified. - - -THE VEGETATIUE OR QUICKENING POWER. - - _Her quick'ning_ power in euery lining part, - Doth as a nurse, or as a mother serue; - And doth employ her _oeconomicke art_, - And busie care, her houshold to preserue - - Here she _attracts_, and there she doth _retaine_, - There she _decocts_, and doth the food prepare; - There she _distributes_ it to euery vaine, - There she _expels_ what she may fitly spare. - - This power to _Martha_ may comparèd be,[124] - Which busie was, the _houshold-things_ to doe; - Or to a _Dryas_, liuing in a tree:[125] - For euen to trees this power is proper too. - - And though the Soule may not this power extend - Out of the body, but still vse it there; - She hath a power which she abroad doth send, - Which views and searcheth all things euery where. - -[Footnote 122: 'This' in 1599 edition. G.] - -[Footnote 123: Living. G.] - - -THE POWER OF SENSE. - - _This power is Sense_, which from abroad doth bring[126] - The _colour_, _taste_, and _touch_, and _sent_,[127] and _sound_; - The _quantitie_, and _shape_ of euery thing - Within th' Earth's center, or Heauen's circle found. - - This power, in parts made fit, fit obiects takes, - Yet not the things, but forms of things receiues; - As when a seale in waxe impression makes, - The print therein, but not it selfe it leaues. - - And though things sensible be numberlesse, - But onely fiue the _Senses'_ organs be; - And in those fiue, all things their formes expresse, - Which we can _touch_, _taste_, _feele_, or _heare_, or _see_. - - These are the windows throgh the which she views - The _light of knowledge_, which is life's loadstar: - "And yet while she these spectacles doth vse, - "Oft worldly things seeme greater then they are. - -[Footnote 124: St. Luke, x. 40, 41. G.] - -[Footnote 125: On the Dryads Cf. Paus. viii. 4. § 2 Apollon. Rhod. ii. -447, &c. G.] - -[Footnote 126: Misprinted 'spring,' but corrected in the errata of 1622 -edition, as above. G.] - -[Footnote 127: Scent. G.] - - -SIGHT. - - First, the two _eyes_ that haue the _seeing_ power, - Stand as one watchman, spy, or sentinell; - Being plac'd aloft, within the head's high tower; - And though both see, yet both but one thing tell. - - These mirrors take into their little space - The formes of _moone_ and _sun_, and euery _starre_; - Of euery body and of euery place, - Which with the World's wide armes embracèd are: - - Yet their best obiect, and their noblest vse, - Hereafter in another World will be; - When God in them shall heauenly light infuse, - That face to face they may their _Maker_ see. - - Here are they guides, which doe the body lead, - Which else would stumble in eternal night; - Here in this world they do much knowledge _read_, - And are the casements which admit most light: - - They are her farthest reaching instrument, - Yet they no beames vnto their obiects send; - But all the rays are from their obiects sent, - And in the _eyes_ with pointed angles end: - - If th' obiects be farre off, the rayes doe meet - In a sharpe point, and so things seeme but small; - If they be neere, their rayes doe spread and fleet, - And make broad points, that things seeme great withall. - - Lastly, nine things to _Sight_ requirèd are; - The _power_ to see, the _light_, the _visible_ thing, - Being not too _small_, too _thin_, too _nigh_, too _farre_, - _Cleare_ space, and _time_, the forme distinct to bring. - - Thus we see how the _Soule_ doth vse the eyes, - As instruments of her quicke power of sight; - Hence do th' Arts _opticke_ and faire _painting_ rise: - _Painting_, which doth all gentle minds delight. - - -HEARING. - - Now let vs heare how she the _Eares_ imployes: - Their office is the troubled ayre to take, - Which in their mazes formes a sound or noyse, - Whereof her selfe doth true distinction make. - - These wickets of the _Soule_ are plac't on hie - Because all sounds doe lightly mount aloft; - And that they may not pierce too violently, - They are delaied with turnes, and windings oft. - - For should the voice directly strike the braine, - It would astonish and confuse it much; - Therfore these plaits and folds the sound restraine, - That it the organ may more gently touch. - - As streames, which with their winding banks doe play, - Stopt by their creeks, run softly through the plaine; - So in th' Eares' labyrinth the voice doth stray, - And doth with easie motion touch the braine. - - It is the slowest, yet the daintiest _sense_; - For euen the _Eares_ of such as haue no skill, - Perceiue a discord, and conceiue offence; - And knowing not what is good, yet find the ill. - - And though this _sense_ first gentle _Musicke_ found, - Her proper obiect is _the speech of men_; - But that speech chiefely which God's heraulds sound, - When their tongs vtter what His Spirit did pen. - - Our _Eyes_ haue lids, our _Eares_ still ope we see, - Quickly to heare how euery tale is proouèd; - Our _Eyes_ still moue, our _Eares_ vnmouèd bee, - That though we hear quick we be not quickly mouèd. - - Thus by the organs of the _Eye_ and _Eare_, - The _Soule_ with knowledge doth her selfe endue; - "Thus she her prison, may with pleasure beare, - "Hauing such prospects, all the world to view. - - These conduit-pipes of knowledge feed the Mind, - But th' other three attend the Body still; - For by their seruices the _Soule_ doth find, - What things are to the body, good or ill. - - -TASTE. - - The _bodie's_ life with meats and ayre is fed, - Therefore the _soule_ doth vse the _tasting_ power, - In veines, which through the tongue and palate spred, - Distinguish euery relish, sweet and sower. - - This is the bodie's _nurse_; but since man's wit - Found th' art of _cookery_, to delight his _sense_; - More bodies are consum'd and kild with it, - Then with the sword, famine, or pestilence. - - -SMELLING. - - _Next_, in the nosthrils she doth vse the _smell_: - As God the _breath of life_ in them did giue, - So makes He now this power in them to dwell, - To iudge all ayres, whereby we _breath_ and _liue_. - - This _sense_ is also mistresse of an Art, - Which to soft people sweete perfumes doth sell; - Though this deare Art doth little good impart, - "Sith[128] they smell best, that doe of nothing smell. - - And yet good _sents_[129] doe purifie the braine, - Awake the fancie, and the wits refine; - Hence old _Deuotion_, _incense_ did ordaine - To make mens' spirits apt for thoughts diuine. - -[Footnote 128: In 1599 and 1608 editions, 'since,' as before. G.] - -[Footnote 129: Scents. G.] - - -FEELING. - - _Lastly, the feeling power_, which is Life's root, - Through euery liuing part it selfe doth shed; - By sinewes, which extend from head to foot, - And like a net, all ore the body spred. - - Much like a subtill spider, which doth sit - In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide; - If ought doe touch the vtmost thred of it, - Shee feeles it instantly on euery side. - - By _Touch_, the first pure qualities we learne, - Which quicken all things, _hote_, _cold_, _moist_ and _dry_; - By _Touch_, _hard_, _soft_, _rough_, _smooth_, we doe discerne; - By _Touch_, _sweet pleasure_, and _sharpe paine_, we try. - - * * * * * - - These are the outward instruments of Sense, - These are the guards which euery thing must passe - Ere it approch the mind's intelligence, - Or touch the Fantasie, _Wit's looking-glasse_. - - -THE IMAGINATION OR COMMON SENSE. - - And yet these porters, which all things admit, - Themselues perceiue not, nor discerne the things; - One _common_ power doth in the forehead sit, - Which all their proper formes together brings. - - For all those _nerues_, which _spirits of Sence_ doe beare, - And to those outward organs spreading goe; - Vnited are, as in a center there, - And there this power those sundry formes doth know. - - Those outward organs present things receiue, - This inward _Sense_ doth absent things retaine; - Yet straight transmits all formes shee doth perceiue, - Vnto a higher region of the _braine_. - - -THE FANTASIE. - - Where _Fantasie_, neere _hand-maid_ to the mind, - Sits and beholds, and doth discerne them[130] all; - Compounds in one, things diuers in their kind; - Compares the black and white, the great and small. - - Besides, those single formes she doth esteeme, - And in her ballance doth their values trie; - Where some things good, and some things ill doe seem, - And neutrall some, in her _fantasticke_[131] eye. - - This busie power is working day and night; - For when the outward _senses_ rest doe take, - A thousand dreames, fantasticall and light, - With fluttring wings doe keepe her still awake.[132] - - -[Footnote 130: Misprinted 'then' in 1622 edition, but as above -correctly in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.] - -[Footnote 131: Misprinted 'Fancasticke' in 1622 edition. G.] - - -THE SENSITIUE MEMORIE. - - Yet alwayes all may not afore her bee; - Successiuely, she this and that intends; - Therefore such formes as she doth cease to see, - To _Memorie's_ large volume shee commends. - - The _lidger-booke_ lies in the braine behinde, - Like _Ianus'_ eye, which in his poll was set; - The _lay-man's tables, store-house of the mind_, - Which doth remember much, and much forget. - - Heere _Sense's apprehension_, end doth take; - As when a stone is into water cast, - One circle doth another circle make, - Till the last circle touch the banke at last.[133] - -[Footnote 132: Cf. Milton's Il Penseroso, lines 5-10. G.] - -[Footnote 133: Cf. Phineas Fletcher: Purple Island c. v., stanza 47. -G.] - - -THE PASSIONS OF SENSE. - - But though the _apprehensiue[134] power_ doe pause, - The _motiue_ vertue then begins to moue; - Which in the heart below doth PASSIONS cause, - _Ioy_, _griefe_, and _feare_, and _hope_, and _hate_, and _loue_. - - These passions haue a free commanding might, - And diuers actions in our life doe breed; - For, all acts done without true Reason's light, - Doe from the passion of the _Sense_ proceed. - - But sith[135] the _braine_ doth lodge the powers of _Sense_, - How makes it in the heart those passions spring? - The mutuall loue, the kind intelligence - 'Twixt heart and braine, this _sympathy_ doth bring. - - From the kind heat, which in the heart doth raigne, - The _spirits_ of life doe their begining take; - These _spirits_ of life ascending to the braine, - When they come there, the _spirits of Sense_ do make. - - These _spirits of Sense_, in Fantasie's High Court, - Iudge of the formes of _obiects_, ill or well; - And so they send a good or ill report - Downe to the heart, where all affections dwell. - - If the report bee _good_, it causeth _loue_, - And longing _hope_, and well-assurèd _ioy_: - If it bee _ill_, then doth it _hatred_ moue, - And trembling _feare_, and vexing _grief's_ annoy. - - Yet were these naturall affections good: - (For they which want them, _blockes_ or _deuils_ be) - If _Reason_ in her first perfection stood, - That she might _Nature's_ passions rectifie. - -[Footnote 134: Misprinted 'apprehension;' corrected in the errata of -1622 edition from 1599 and 1608 editions. G.] - -[Footnote 135: In 1599 and 1608 editions 'since,' as before. G.] - - -THE MOTION OF LIFE. - - Besides, another _motiue_-power doth rise - Out of the heart; from whose pure blood do spring - The _vitall spirits_; which, borne in _arteries_, - Continuall motion to all parts doe bring. - - -THE LOCALL MOTION. - - This makes the pulses beat, and lungs respire, - This holds the sinewes like a bridle's reines; - And makes the Body to aduance, retire, - To turne or stop, as she them[136] slacks, or straines. - - Thus the _soule_ tunes the _bodie's_ instrument; - These harmonies she makes with _life_ and _sense_; - The organs fit are by the body lent, - But th' actions flow from the _Soule's_ influence. - - -THE INTELLECTUALL POWERS OF THE SOULE. - - _But now_ I haue a _will_, yet want a _wit_, - To expresse the working of the _wit_ and _will_; - Which, though their root be to the body knit, - Vse not the body, when they vse their skill. - - These powers the nature of the _Soule declare_, - For to man's _soule_ these onely proper bee; - For on the Earth no other wights there are - That haue these heauenly powers, but only we. - - -THE WIT OR UNDERSTANDING. - - The WIT, the pupill of the _Soule's_ cleare eye, - And in man's world, the onely shining _starre_; - Lookes in the mirror of the Fantasie, - Where all the gatherings of the _Senses_ are. - - From thence this power the shapes of things abstracts, - And them within her _passiue part_ receiues; - Which are enlightned by that part which _acts_, - And so the formes of single things perceiues. - - But after, by discoursing to and fro, - Anticipating, and comparing things; - She doth all vniversall natures know, - And all _effects_ into their _causes_ brings.[137] - -[Footnote 136: Misprinted 'them' in 1622 edition, corrected as above -from 1599 and 1608 editions. G.] - - -REASON, VNDERSTANDING. - - When she _rates_ things and moues from ground to ground, - The name of _Reason_ she obtaines by this; - But when by Reason she the truth hath found, - And _standeth fixt_, she VNDERSTANDING is. - - -OPINION, JUDGEMENT. - - When her assent she _lightly_ doth encline - To either part, she is OPINION[138] light: - But when she doth by principles define - A certaine truth, she hath _true Judgement's_ sight. - - And as from _Senses_, _Reason's_ worke doth spring, - So many _reasons understanding_ gaine; - And many _understandings_, _knowledge_ bring; - And by much _knowledge_, _wisdome_ we obtaine. - - So, many stayres we must ascend vpright - Ere we attaine to _Wisdome's_ high degree;[139] - So doth this Earth eclipse our Reason's light. - Which else (in instants) would like angels see. - - Yet hath the _Soule_ a dowrie naturall, - And _sparkes of light_, some common things to see; - Not being a _blancke_ where nought is writ at all, - But what the writer will, may written be - - For Nature in man's heart her lawes doth pen; - Prescribing _truth_ to _wit_, and _good_ to _will_; - Which doe _accuse_, or else _excuse_ all men, - For euery thought or practise, good or ill: - - And yet these sparkes grow almost infinite, - Making the World, and all therein their food; - As fire so spreads as no place holdeth it, - Being nourisht still, with new supplies of wood. - - And though these sparkes were almost quencht with sin, - Yet they whom that _Iust One_ hath iustifide; - Haue them encreasd with heauenly light within, - And like the _widowe's oyle_ still multiplide. - -[Footnote 137: Thomas Davies, as before, mis-prints 'bring.' G.] - -[Footnote 138: Thomas Davies and Southey, as before, read 'opinion's -light:' but in all the Author's editions it is as above = light -opinion: or query is 'hight' = named, meant? G.] - -[Footnote 139: Davies, as before, 'decree.' G.] - - -THE POWER OF WILL. - - And as this _wit_ should goodnesse truely know, - We haue a _Will_, which that true good should chuse; - Though _Wil_ do oft (when _wit_ false formes doth show) - Take _ill_ for _good_, and _good_ for _ill_ refuse. - - -THE RELATIONS BETWIXT WIT AND WILL. - - _Will_ puts in practice what the _Wit_ deuiseth: - _Will_ euer acts, and _Wit_ contemplates still; - And as from _Wit_, the power of _wisedome_ riseth, - _All other vertues_ daughters are of _Will_. - - _Will_ is the _prince_, and _Wit_ the counseller, - Which doth for common good in Counsell sit; - And when _Wit_ is resolu'd, _Will_ lends her power - To execute what is aduis'd by _Wit_. - - _Wit_ is the mind's chief iudge, which doth controule - Of _Fancie's_ Court the iudgements, false and vaine; - _Will_ holds the royall septer in the _soule_ - And on[140] the passions of the heart doth raigne. - - _Will_ is as free as any emperour, - Naught can restraine her _gentle_ libertie; - No tyrant, nor no torment, hath the power, - To make vs _will_, when we vnwilling bee. - - -THE INTELLECTUALL MEMORIE. - - To these high powers, a store-house doth pertaine, - Where they all arts and generall reasons lay; - Which in the _Soule_, euen after death, remaine - And no _Lethæan_[141] flood can wash away. - - This is the _Soule_, and these her vertues bee; - Which, though they haue their sundry proper ends, - And one exceeds another in degree, - Yet each on other mutually depends. - - _Our Wit_ is giuen, _Almighty God_ to _know_; - Our _Will_ is giuen to _loue_ Him, being _knowne_; - But God could not be _known_ to vs below, - But by His _workes_ which through the sense are shown. - - And as the _Wit_ doth reape the fruits of _Sense_, - So doth the _quickning_ power the _senses feed_; - Thus while they doe their sundry gifts dispence, - "The best, the seruice of the least doth need. - - Euen so the King his Magistrates do serue, - Yet Commons feed both magistrate and king; - The Commons' peace the magistrates preserue - By borrowed power, which from the Prince doth spring. - - The _quickning power_ would _be_, and so would rest; - The _Sense_ would not _be_ onely, but _be well_; - But _Wit's_ ambition longeth to the _best_, - For it desires in endlesse blisse to dwell. - - And these three powers, three[142] sorts of men doe make: - For some, like plants, their veines doe onely fill; - And some, like beasts, their senses' pleasure take; - And some, like angels, doe contemplate still. - - Therefore the fables turnd some men to flowres, - And others, did with bruitish formes inuest; - And did of others, make celestiall powers, - Like angels, which still trauell, yet still rest. - - Yet these three powers are not three _soules_, but one; - As one and two are both containd in _three_; - _Three_ being one number by it selfe alone: - A shadow of the blessed Trinitie. - -[Footnote 140: Here = o'er as on page 61 _ante_. G.] - -[Footnote 141: = forgetfulness: from Lethe. G.] - -[Footnote 142: A numeral '3' here, and in the next stanza but one. G.] - - -AN ACCLAMATION. - - O! what is Man (great Maker of mankind!) - That Thou to him so great respect dost beare! - That Thou adornst him with so bright a mind, - Mak'st him a king, and euen an angel's peere! - - O! what a liuely life, what heauenly power, - What spreading vertue, what a sparkling fire! - How great, how plentifull, how rich a dower - Dost Thou within this dying flesh inspire! - - Thou leau'st Thy print in other works of Thine, - But Thy whole image Thou in Man hast writ; - There cannot be a creature more diuine, - Except (like Thee) it should be infinit. - - But it exceeds man's thought, to thinke how hie - _God_ hath raisd _Man_, since _God a man_ became; - The angels doe admire this _Misterie_, - And are astonisht when they view the same. - - -THAT THE SOULE IS IMMORTAL, AND CANNOT DIE. - - Nor hath He giuen these blessings for a day, - Nor made them on the bodie's life depend; - The _Soule_ though made in time, _suruives for aye_, - And though it hath beginning, sees no end. - - Her onely _end_, is _neuer-ending_ blisse; - Which is, _th' eternall face of God to see_; - Who _Last of Ends_, and _First of Causes_, is: - And to doe this, she must _eternall_ bee. - - How senselesse then, and dead a soule hath hee, - Which _thinks_ his _soule_ doth with his body die! - Or _thinkes_ not so, but so would haue it bee, - That he might sinne with more securitie. - - For though these light and vicious persons say, - Our _Soule_ is but a smoake, or ayrie blast; - Which, during life, doth in our nostrils play, - And when we die, doth turne to wind at last: - - Although they say, '_Come let us eat and drinke_'; - Our life is but a sparke, which quickly dies; - Though thus they _say_, they know not what to think, - But in their minds ten thousand doubts arise. - - Therefore no heretikes desire to spread - Their light opinions, like these _Epicures_:[143] - For so the staggering thoughts are comfortèd, - And other men's assent their doubt assures. - - Yet though these men against their conscience striue, - There are some sparkles in their flintie breasts - Which cannot be extinct, but still reuiue; - That though they would, they cannot quite bee _beasts_; - - But who so makes a mirror of his mind, - And doth with patience view himselfe therein, - His _Soule's_ eternitie shall clearely find, - Though th' other beauties be defac't with sin. - - -REASON I. - -DRAWNE FROM THE DESIRE OF KNOWLEDGE. - - First _in Man's mind_ we find an appetite - To _learne_ and _know the truth_ of euery thing; - Which is co-naturall, and borne with it, - And from the _essence_ of the _soule_ doth spring. - - With this _desire_, shee hath a natiue _might_ - To find out euery truth, if she had time; - Th' innumerable effects to sort aright, - And by degrees, from cause to cause to clime. - - But sith our life so fast away doth slide, - As doth a hungry eagle through the wind, - Or as a ship transported with the tide; - Which in their passage leaue no print behind; - - Of which swift little time so much we spend, - While some few things we through the sense doe straine; - That our short race of life is at an end, - Ere we the principles of skill attaine. - - Or God (which to vaine ends hath nothing done) - In vaine this _appetite_ and _power_ hath giuen; - Or else our knowledge, which is here begun, - Hereafter must bee perfected in heauen. - - God neuer gaue a _power_ to one whole kind, - But most part of that kind did vse the same; - Most eies haue perfect sight, though some be blind; - Most legs can nimbly run, though some be lame: - - But in this life no _soule_ the truth can know - So perfectly, as it hath power to doe; - If then perfection be not found below, - An higher place must make her mount thereto. - -[Footnote 143: = disciples of Epicurus's Philosophy. G.] - - -REASON II. - -DRAWN FROM THE MOTION OF THE SOULE. - - _Againe_ how can shee but immortall bee? - When with the motions of both _Will_ and _Wit_, - She still aspireth to eternitie, - And neuer rests, till she attaine to it? - - Water in conduit pipes, can rise no higher - Then the wel-head, from whence it first doth spring: - Then sith to eternall GOD shee doth aspire, - Shee cannot be but an eternall thing. - - "All mouing things to other things doe moue, - "Of the same kind, which shews their nature such; - So _earth_ falls downe and _fire_ doth mount aboue, - Till both their proper elements doe touch. - - -THE SOUL COMPARED TO A RIUER. - - _And as_ the moysture, which the thirstie earth - Suckes from the sea, to fill her emptie veines, - From out her wombe at last doth take a birth, - And runs a _Nymph_[144] along the grassie plaines: - -[Footnote 144: Davies and Southey, as before, have the extraordinary -misprint here of 'lymph.' Cf. 'Orchestra,' stanza 63, which explains -the personification. G.] - - Long doth shee stay, as loth to leaue the land, - From whose soft side she first did issue make; - Shee tastes all places, turnes to euery hand, - Her flowry bankes vnwilling to forsake: - - Yet _Nature_ so her streames doth lead and carry, - As that her course doth make no finall stay, - Till she her selfe vnto the _Ocean_ marry, - Within whose watry bosome first she lay: - - Euen so the _Soule_ which in this earthly mold - The Spirit of God doth secretly infuse; - Because at first she doth the earth behold, - And onely this materiall world she viewes: - - At first her _mother-earth_ she holdeth deare, - And doth embrace the world and worldly things: - She flies close by the ground, and houers here, - And mounts not vp with her celestiall wings. - - Yet vnder heauen she cannot light on ought - That with her heauenly _nature_ doth agree; - She cannot rest, she cannot fix her thought, - She cannot in this world contented bee: - - For who did euer yet, in _honour_, _wealth_, - Or _pleasure of the sense_, contentment find? - Who euer ceasd to wish, when he had _health_? - Or hauing _wisedome_ was not vext in mind? - - Then as a _bee_ which among weeds doth fall, - Which seeme sweet flowers, with lustre fresh and gay; - She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all, - But pleasd with none, doth rise, and soare away; - - So, when the _Soule_ finds here no true content, - And, like _Noah's_ doue, can no sure footing take; - She doth returne from whence she first was sent, - And flies to _Him_ that first her wings did make. - - _Wit_, seeking _Truth_, from cause to cause ascends, - And neuer rests, till it the _first_ attaine: - _Will_, seeking _Good_, finds many middle ends, - But neuer stayes, till it the _last_ doe gaine. - - Now God, the _Truth_, and _First of Causes_ is: - God is the _Last Good End_, which lasteth still; - Being _Alpha_ and _Omega_ nam'd for this; - _Alpha_ to _Wit_, _Omega_ to the _Will_. - - Sith[145] then her heauenly kind shee doth bewray, - In that to God she doth directly moue; - And on no mortall thing can make her stay, - She cannot be from hence, but from _aboue_. - -[Footnote 145: In 1599 and 1608 editions, 'since,' as before. G.] - - And yet this _First True Cause_, and _Last Good End_, - Shee cannot heere so _well_, and _truely_ see; - For this perfection shee must yet attend, - Till to her _Maker_ shee espousèd bee. - - As a _king's_ daughter, being in person sought - Of diuers princes, who doe neighbour neere; - On none of them can fixe a constant thought, - Though shee to all doe lend a gentle eare: - - Yet she can loue a forraine _emperour_, - Whom of great worth and power she heares to be; - If she be woo'd but by _embassadour_, - Or but his _letters_, or his pictures see: - - For well she knowes, that when she shalbe brought - Into the _kingdome_ where her _Spouse_ doth raigne; - Her eyes shall see what she conceiu'd in thought, - Himselfe, his state, his glory, and his traine. - - So while the _virgin Soule_ on _Earth_ doth stay, - She woo'd and tempted is ten thousand wayes, - By these great powers, which on the _Earth_ beare sway; - The _wisdom of the World_, _wealth_, _pleasure_, _praise_: - - With these sometime she doth her time beguile, - These doe by fits her Fantasie possesse; - But she distastes them all within a while, - And in the sweetest finds a tediousnesse. - - But if upon the World's Almighty King - She once doe fixe her humble louing thought; - Who by His _picture_, drawne in euery thing, - And _sacred messages_, her _loue_ hath sought; - - Of Him she thinks, she cannot thinke too much; - This hony tasted still, is euer sweet; - The pleasure of her rauisht thought is such, - As almost here, she with her blisse doth meet: - - But when in Heauen she shall His _Essence_ see, - This is her _soueraigne good, and perfect blisse_: - Her longings, wishings, hopes all finisht be, - Her ioyes are full, her motions rest in this: - - There is she crownd with garlands of _content_, - There doth she manna eat, and nectar drinke; - That Presence doth such high delights present, - As neuer tongue could speake, nor heart could thinke. - - -REASON III. - -FROM CONTEMPT OF DEATH IN THE BETTER SORT OF SPIRITS. - - _For this_ the better _Soules_ doe oft despise - The bodie's death, and doe it oft desire; - For when on ground, the burdened ballance lies - The emptie part is lifted vp the higher: - - But if the bodie's death the _soule_ should kill, - Then death must needs _against her nature_ bee; - And were it so, all _soules_ would flie it still, - "For Nature hates and shunnes her contrary. - - For all things else, which Nature makes to bee, - Their _being_ to preserue, are chiefly taught; - And though some things desire a change to see, - Yet neuer thing did long to turne to naught. - - If then by death the _soule_ were quenchèd quite, - She could not thus against her nature runne; - Since euery senselesse thing, by Nature's light, - Doth preservation seeke, destruction shunne. - - Nor could the World's best spirits so much erre, - If death tooke all--that they should all agree, - Before this life, their _honour_ to preferre; - For what is praise to things that nothing bee? - - Againe, if by the bodie's prop she stand; - If on the bodie's life, her life depend; - As _Meleager's_ on the fatall brand[146],-- - The bodie's good shee onely would intend: - - We should not find her half so braue and bold, - To leade it to the Warres and to the seas; - To make it suffer watchings, hunger, cold, - When it might feed with plenty, rest with ease. - - Doubtlesse all _Soules_ have a suruiuing thought; - Therefore of death we thinke with quiet mind; - But if we thinke of _being turn'd to nought_, - A trembling horror in our _soules_ we find. - -[Footnote 146: Apollod I., 8, § 2, _et alibi_: Ovid, _Met._ -viii., 450; _et seq_: 531: Diod. IV., 34. G.] - - -REASON IV. - -FROM THE FEARE OF DEATH IN THE WICKED SOULES. - - _And as_ the better spirit, when shee doth beare - A scorne of death, doth shew she cannot die; - So when the wicked _Soule_ Death's face doth feare, - Euen then she proues her owne eternitie. - - For when Death's forme appeares, she feareth not - An vtter quenching or extinguishment; - She would be glad to meet with such a lot, - That so she might all future ill preuent: - - But shee doth doubt what after may befall; - For Nature's law accuseth her within; - And saith, 'Tis true that is affirm'd by all, - _That after death there is a paine for sin_. - - Then she which hath bin hud-winkt from her birth, - Doth first her selfe within Death's mirror see; - And when her body doth returne to earth, - She first takes care, how she alone shall bee. - - Who euer sees these irreligious men, - With burthen of a sicknesse weake and faint; - But heares them talking of Religion then, - And vowing of their _soules_ to euery saint? - - When was there euer cursèd _atheist_ brought - Vnto the _gibbet_,[147] but he did adore - That blessed Power, which he had set at nought, - Scorn'd and blasphemèd all his life before? - - These light vaine persons still are drunke and mad, - With surfettings and pleasures of their youth; - But at their deaths they are fresh,[148] sober, sad - Then they discerne, and then they speake the truth. - - If then all _Soules_, both good and bad, doe teach, - With generall voice, that _soules_ can neuer die; - 'Tis not man's flattering glosse, but _Nature's speech_, - Which, like _God's_ Oracle, can neuer lie. - - -REASON V. - -FROM THE BENERALL DESIRE OF IMMORTALITIE. - - _Hence springs_ that vniuersall strong desire, - Which all men haue of Immortalitie: - Not some few spirits vnto this thought aspire, - But all mens' minds in this vnited be. - - Then this desire of Nature is not vaine, - "She couets not impossibilities; - "Fond thoughts may fall into some idle braine, - "But one _assent_ of all, is euer wise. - - From hence that generall care and study springs, - That _launching_ and _progression of the mind_; - Which all men haue so much, of future things, - That they no ioy doe in the present find. - - From this desire, that maine desire proceeds, - Which all men haue suruiuing Fame to gaine; - By _tombes_, by _bookes_, by memorable _deeds_: - For she that this desires, doth still remaine. - - Hence lastly, springs care of posterities, - For things their kind would euerlasting make; - Hence is it that old men do plant young trees, - The fruit whereof another age shall take. - - If we these rules vnto our selues apply, - And view them by reflection of the mind; - All these true notes of immortalitie - In our _heart's tables_ we shall written find. - -[Footnote 147: Spelled in 1622 edition 'Iiebbet,' but in 1599 and 1608 -as above. G.] - -[Footnote 148: = active, vigorous: an uncommon use of the word. G.] - - -REASON VI. - -FROM THE VERY DOUBT AND DISPUTATION OF IMMORTALITIE. - - _And though_ some impious wits do questions moue, - And doubt if _Soules_ immortall be, or no; - That _doubt_ their immortalitie doth proue, - Because they seeme immortall things to know. - - For he which reasons on both parts doth bring, - Doth some things mortall, some immortall call; - Now, if himselfe were but a mortall thing, - He could not iudge immortall things at all. - - For when we iudge, our minds we mirrors make: - And as those glasses which materiall bee, - Formes of materiall things doe onely take, - For _thoughts_ or _minds_ in them we cannot see; - - So, when we God and angels do conceiue, - And thinke of _truth_, which is eternall too; - Then doe our minds immortall formes receiue, - Which if they mortall were, they could not doo: - - And as, if beasts conceiu'd what Reason were, - And that conception should distinctly show, - They should the name of _reasonable_ beare; - For without _Reason_, none could _Reason_ know: - - So, when the _Soule_ mounts with so high a wing, - As of eternall things she _doubts_ can moue; - Shee proofes of her eternitie doth bring, - Euen when she striues the contrary to proue. - - For euen the _thought_ of immortalitie, - Being an act done without the bodie's ayde; - Shewes, that her selfe alone could moue and bee, - Although the body in the graue were layde. - - -THAT THE SOULE CANNOT BE DESTROYED. - - And if her selfe she can so liuely moue, - And neuer need a forraine helpe to take; - Then must her motion euerlasting proue, - "Because her selfe she neuer can forsake. - - -HER CAUSE CEASETH NOT. - - _But though_ corruption cannot touch the minde, - By any cause that from it selfe may spring; - Some outward cause Fate hath perhaps designd, - Which to the _Soule_ may vtter quenching bring. - - -SHE HATH NO CONTRARY. - - _Perhaps_ her cause may cease, and she may die; - God is her _cause_, His _Word_ her Maker was; - Which shall stand fixt for all eternitie - When Heauen and Earth shall like a shadow passe. - - _Perhaps_ some thing repugnant to her kind, - By strong _antipathy_, the _Soule_ may kill; - But what can be _contrary_ to the minde, - Which holds all _contraries_ in concord still? - - She lodgeth heat, and cold, and moist, and dry, - And life, and death, and peace, and war together; - Ten thousand fighting things in her doe lye, - Yet neither troubleth, or disturbeth either. - - -SHEE CANNOT DIE FOR WANT OF FOOD. - - _Perhaps_ for want of food the _soule_ may pine; - But that were strange, sith all things _bad_ and _good_, - Sith all God's creature's _mortall_ and _diuine_, - Sith _God Himselfe_, is her eternall food. - - Bodies are fed with things of mortall kind, - And so are subiect to mortalitie; - But _Truth_ which is eternall, feeds the mind; - The _Tree of life_, which will not let her die. - - -VIOLENCE CANNOT DESTROY HER. - - _Yet violence_, perhaps the _Soule_ destroyes: - As lightning, or the _sun-beames_ dim the sight; - Or as a thunder-clap, or cannons' noyse, - The power of hearing doth astonish quite. - - But high perfection to the _Soule_ it brings, - T' encounter things most excellent and high; - For, when she views the best and greatest things - They do not hurt, but rather cleare her[149] eye, - - Besides,--as _Homer's gods_ 'gainst armies stand,-- - Her subtill forme can through all dangers slide; - _Bodies are captiue_, _minds_ endure no band, - "And Will is free, and can no force abide. - - -TIME CANNOT DESTROY HER. - - _But lastly_, _Time_ perhaps at last hath power - To spend her liuely powers, and quench her light; - But old god _Saturne_ which doth all deuoure, - Doth cherish her, and still augment her might. - - Heauen waxeth old, and all the _spheres_ aboue - Shall one day faint, and their swift motion stay; - And _Time_ it selfe in time shall cease to moue; - _Onely the Soule suruives_, and liues for aye. - - "Our Bodies, euery footstep that they make, - "March towards death, vntill at last they die; - "Whether we worke, or play, or sleepe, or wake, - "Our life doth passe, and with _Time's_ wings doth flie: - - But to the _Soule_ Time doth perfection giue, - And ads fresh lustre to her beauty still; - And makes her in eternall youth to liue, - Like her which nectar to the gods doth fill.[150] - - The more she liues, the more she feeds on _Truth_; - The more she feeds, her _strength_ doth more increase: - And what is _strength_, but an effect of _youth_? - Which if _Time_ nurse, how can it euer cease? - -[Footnote 149: Thomas Davies and Southey, as before, misread 'the.' G.] - - -OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE IMMORTALITIE OF THE SOULE. - - _But now_ these _Epicures_ begin to smile, - And say, my doctrine is more false then true; - And that I fondly doe my selfe beguile, - While these receiu'd opinions I ensue. - -[Footnote 150: Hebe. G.] - - -OBJECTION I. - - For what, say they, doth not the _Soule_ waxe old? - How comes it then that agèd men doe dote; - And that their braines grow sottish, dull and cold, - Which were in youth the onely spirits of note? - - What? are not _Soules_ within themselues corrupted? - How can there idiots then by nature bee? - How is it that some wits are interrupted, - That now they dazeled are, now clearely see? - - -ANSWERE. - - _These questions_ make a subtill argument, - To such as thinke both _sense_ and _reason_ one; - To whom nor agent, from the instrument, - Nor power of working, from the work is known. - - But they that know that wit can shew no skill, - But when she things in _Sense's glasse_ doth view; - Doe know, if accident this glasse doe spill, - It _nothing sees_, or _sees the false for true_. - - For, if that region of the tender braine, - Where th' inward sense of Fantasie should sit, - And the outward senses gatherings should retain, - By Nature, or by chance, become vnfit; - - Either at first vncapable it is, - And so few things, or none at all receiues; - Or mard by accident, which haps amisse - And so amisse it euery thing perceiues. - - Then, as a cunning prince that vseth _spyes_, - If they returne no newes doth nothing know; - But if they make aduertisement of lies, - The Prince's Counsel all awry doe goe. - - Euen so the _Soule_ to such a body knit, - Whose inward senses vndisposèd be, - And to receiue the formes of things vnfit; - Where nothing is brought in, can nothing see. - - This makes the idiot, which hath yet a mind, - Able to _know_ the truth, and _chuse_ the good; - If she such figures in the braine did find, - As might be found, if it in temper stood. - - But if a _phrensie_ doe possesse the braine, - It so disturbs and blots the formes of things; - As Fantasie prooues altogether vaine, - And to the Wit no true relation brings. - - Then doth the Wit, admitting all for true, - Build fond[151] conclusions on those idle grounds; - Then doth it flie the good, and ill pursue, - Beleeuing all that this false _spie_ propounds. - - But purge the humors, and the rage appease, - Which this distemper in the fansie wrought; - Then shall the _Wit_, which never had disease, - Discourse, and iudge discreetly, as it ought. - - So, though the clouds eclipse the _sunne's_ faire light, - Yet from his face they doe not take one beame; - So haue our eyes their perfect power of sight, - Euen when they looke into a troubled streame. - - Then these defects in _Senses'_ organs bee, - Not in the _soule_ or in her working might; - She cannot lose her perfect power to see, - Thogh mists and clouds do choke her window light. - - These imperfections then we must impute, - Not to the agent but the instrument; - We must not blame _Apollo_, but his lute, - If false accords from her false strings be sent. - - The _Soule_ in all hath one intelligence; - Though too much moisture in an infant's braine, - And too much drinesse in an old man's sense, - Cannot the prints of outward things retaine: - - Then doth the _Soule_ want worke, and idle sit, - And this we _childishnesse_ and _dotage_ call; - Yet hath she then a quicke and actiue Wit, - If she had stuffe and tooles to worke withall: - - For, giue her organs fit, and obiects faire; - Giue but the aged man, the young man's sense; - Let but _Medea_, _Æson's_ youth repaire,[152] - And straight she shewes her wonted excellence. - - As a good harper stricken farre in yeares, - Into whose cunning hand the gowt is fall;[153] - All his old crotchets in his braine he beares, - But on his harpe playes ill, or not at all. - - But if _Apollo_ takes his gowt away, - That hee his nimble fingers may apply; - _Apollo's_ selfe will enuy at his play, - And all the world applaud his minstralsie. - - Then _dotage_ is no weaknesse of the mind, - But of the _Sense_; for if the mind did waste, - In all old men we should this wasting find, - When they some certaine terme of yeres had past: - - But most of them, euen to their dying howre, - Retaine a mind more liuely, quicke, and strong; - And better vse their vnderstanding power, - Then when their braines were warm, and lims were yong. - - For, though the body wasted be and weake, - And though the leaden forme of earth it beares; - Yet when we heare that halfe-dead body speake, - We oft are rauisht to the heauenly _spheares_. - -[Footnote 151: Foolish. G.] - -[Footnote 152: Ovid, _Met._ vii. 163, 250 _et alibi_. G.] - -[Footnote 153: _Sic_: and also onward. G.] - - -OBJECTION II. - - Yet say these men, If all her organs die, - Then hath the _soule_ no power her powers to vse; - So, in a sort, her powers extinct doe lie, - When vnto _act_ shee cannot them reduce. - - And if her powers be dead, then what is shee? - For sith from euery thing some powers do spring, - And from those powers, some _acts_ proceeding bee, - Then kill both _power_ and _act_, and kill the _thing_. - - -ANSWERE. - - _Doubtlesse_ the bodie's death when once it dies, - The instruments of sense and life doth kill; - So that she cannot vse those faculties, - Although their root rest in her substance still. - - But (as the body liuing) _Wit_ and _Will_ - Can _iudge_ and _chuse_, without the bodie's ayde; - Though on such obiects they are working still, - As through the bodie's organs are conuayde: - - So, when the body serues her turne no more, - And all her _Senses_ are extinct and gone, - She can discourse of what she learn'd before, - In heauenly contemplations, all alone. - - So, if one man well on a lute doth play, - And haue good horsemanship, and Learning's skill; - Though both his lute and horse we take away, - Doth he not keep his former learning still? - - He keepes it doubtlesse, and can vse it to[o]; - And doth both th' other _skils_ in power retaine; - And can of both the proper actions doe, - If with his lute or horse he meet againe. - - So (though the instruments by which we liue, - And view the world, the bodie's death doe kill;)[154] - Yet with the body they shall all reuiue, - And all their wonted offices fulfill. - - -OBJECTION III. - - _But how_, till then, shall she herselfe imploy? - Her spies are dead which brought home newes before; - What she hath got and keepes, she may enioy, - But she hath meanes to vnderstand no more. - - Then what do those poore _soules_, which nothing get? - Or what doe those which get, and cannot keepe? - Like buckets[155] bottomlesse, which all out-let - Those _Soules_, for want of exercise, must sleepe. - - -ANSWERE. - - _See how_ man's _Soule_ against it selfe doth striue: - Why should we not haue other meanes to know? - As children while within the wombe they liue, - Feed by the nauill: here they feed not so. - - These children, if they had some vse of sense, - And should by chance their mothers' talking heare; - That in short time they shall come forth from thence, - Would feare their birth more then our death we feare. - - They would cry out, 'If we this place shall leaue, - Then shall we breake our tender nauill strings; - How shall we then our nourishment receiue, - Sith our sweet food no other conduit brings?' - - And if a man should to these babes reply, - That into this faire world they shall be brought; - Where they shall see the Earth, the Sea, the Skie, - The glorious Sun, and all that God hath wrought: - - That there ten thousand dainties they shall meet, - Which by their mouthes they shall with pleasure take; - Which shall be cordiall too, as wel as sweet, - And of their little limbes, tall bodies make: - - This would[156] they thinke a fable, euen as we - Doe thinke the _story_ of the _Golden Age_; - Or as some sensuall spirits amongst vs bee, - Which hold the _world to come, a fainèd stage_: - - Yet shall these infants after find all true, - Though then thereof they nothing could conceiue; - As soone as they are borne, the world they view, - And with their mouthes, the nurses'-milke receiue. - - So, when the _Soule_ is borne (for Death is nought - But the _Soule's_ birth, and so we should it call) - Ten thousand things she sees beyond her thought, - And in an vnknowne manner knowes them all. - - Then doth she see by spectacles no more, - She heares not by report of double spies; - Her selfe in instants doth all things explore, - For each thing present, and before her, lies. - -[Footnote 154: The parenthetic marks are as _supra_: but perhaps they -ought to begin at 'by' and end with 'world.' G.] - -[Footnote 155: Davies and Southey, as before, oddly misprint -'bucklers.' G.] - -[Footnote 156: Misprinted 'world,' but corrected in the errata of -1622 edition. Davies and Southey, as before, repeat the misprint, and -accommodate 'they' to it by reading 'they'd:' so rare is it to recur to -an author's own text. G.] - - -OBJECTION IV. - - _But still_ this crue with questions me pursues: - If _soules_ deceas'd (say they) still liuing bee; - Why do they not return, to bring vs newes - Of that strange world, where they such wonders see?[157] - -[Footnote 157: - - 'Tell us, ye dead, will none of you in pity, - To those you left behind, disclose the secret? - - Oh! that some courteous ghost would blab it out; - What 'tis you are, and we must shortly be.' - - ROBERT BLAIR: 'The Grave.' G.] - - -ANSWERE. - - _Fond[158] men!_ If we beleeue that men doe liue - Vnder the _Zenith_ of both frozen _Poles_, - Though none come thence aduertisement to giue; - Why beare we not the like faith of our _soules_? - - The _soule_ hath here on Earth no more to doe, - Then we haue businesse in our mother's wombe; - What child doth couet to returne thereto? - Although all children first from thence do come? - - But as _Noah's_ pidgeon, which return'd no more, - Did shew, she footing found, for all the Flood; - So when good soules, departed through Death's dore, - Come not againe, it shewes their dwelling good. - - And doubtlesse, such a _soule_ as vp doth mount, - And doth appeare before her Maker's Face; - Holds this vile world in such a base account, - As she looks down, and scorns this wretched place. - - But such as are detruded downe to Hell, - Either for shame, they still themselues retire; - Or tyed in chaines, they in close prison dwell, - And cannot come, although they much desire. - -[Footnote 158: Foolish. G.] - - -OBJECTION V. - - _Well, well_, say these vaine spirits, though vaine it is - To thinke our _Soules_ to Heauen or Hell to[159] goe, - _Politike_ men haue thought it not amisse, - To spread this _lye_, to make men vertuous so. - - -ANSWERE. - - _Doe you_ then thinke this _morall vertue_ good? - I thinke you doe, euen for your priuate gaine; - For Common-wealths by _vertue_ euer stood, - And common good the priuate doth containe. - - If then this _vertue_ you doe loue so well, - Haue you no meanes, her practise to maintaine; - But you this lye must to the people tell, - That good _Soules_ liue in ioy, and ill in paine? - - Must _vertue_ be preseruèd by a _lye_? - _Vertue_ and _Truth_ do euer best agree; - By this it seemes to be a veritie, - Sith the effects so good and vertuous bee. - - For, as the deuill father is of lies, - So vice and mischiefe doe his lyes ensue; - Then this good doctrine did not he deuise, - But made this _lye_, which saith it is not true. - -[Footnote 159: In 1599 and 1608 editions, 'do.' G.] - - -THE GENERALL CONSENT OF ALL. - - _For how_ can that be false, which euery tongue - Of euery mortall man affirmes for true? - Which truth hath in all ages been so strong, - As lodestone-like, all hearts it euer drew. - - For, not the _Christian_, or the _Iew_ alone, - The _Persian_, or the _Turke_, acknowledge this; - This mysterie to the wild _Indian_ knowne, - And to the _Canniball_ and _Tartar_ is. - - This rich _Assyrian_ drugge growes euery where; - As common in the _North_, as in the _East_; - This doctrine does not enter by the _eare_, - But of it selfe is natiue in the breast. - - None that acknowledge God, or prouidence, - Their _Soule's_ eternitie did euer doubt; - For all _Religion_ takes her root from hence, - Which no poore naked nation liues without. - - For sith the World for Man created was, - (For onely Man the vse thereof doth know) - If man doe perish like a withered grasse, - How doth God's Wisedom order things below? - - And if that Wisedom still wise ends propound, - Why made He man, of other creatures King? - When (if he perish here) there is not found - In all the world so poor and vile a thing? - - If death do quench vs quite, we haue great wrong, - Sith for our seruice all things else were wrought; - That _dawes_, and _trees_, and _rocks_, should last so long, - When we must in an instant passe to nought. - - But blest be that _Great Power_, that hath vs blest - With longer life then Heauen or Earth can haue; - Which hath infus'd into our mortall breast - Immortall powers, not subiect to the graue. - - For though the Soule doe seeme her graue to beare, - And in this world is almost buried quick; - We haue no cause the bodie's death to feare, - For when the shell is broke, out comes a chick. - - -THREE KINDS OF LIFE ANSWERABLE TO THE THREE POWERS OF THE -SOULE. - - _For_ as the _soule's essentiall_ powers are three, - The _quickning power_, the _power of sense_ and _reason_; - Three kinds of life to her designèd bee, - Which perfect these three[160] powers in their due season. - - The first life, in the mother's wombe is spent, - Where she her _nursing power_ doth onely vse; - Where, when she finds defect of nourishment, - Sh' expels her body, and this world she viewes. - - This we call _Birth_; but if the child could speake, - He _Death_ would call it; and of Nature plaine,[161] - That she would thrust him out naked and weake, - And in his passage pinch him with such paine. - - Yet, out he comes, and in this world is plac't, - Where all his _Senses_ in perfection bee; - Where he finds flowers to smell, and fruits to taste; - And sounds to heare, and sundry formes to see. - - When he hath past some time vpon this stage, - His _Reason_ then a litle seemes to wake; - Which, thogh she spring, when sense doth fade with age, - Yet can she here no perfect practise make. - - Then doth th' aspiring _Soule_ the body leaue, - Which we call _Death_; but were it knowne to all, - What _life_ our _soules_ do by this _death_ receiue, - Men would it _birth_ or _gaole[162] deliuery_ call. - - In this third life, Reason will be so bright, - As that her sparke will like the _sun-beames_ shine; - And shall of God enioy the reall sight. - Being still increast by influence diuine. - -[Footnote 160: Numeral '3,' as before, in 1622 edition. G.] - -[Footnote 161: _Id est_ 'complain.' G.] - - -AN ACCLAMATION. - - O Ignorant poor man! what dost thou beare - Lockt vp within the casket of thy brest? - What iewels, and what riches hast thou there! - What heauenly treasure in so weake a chest! - - Looke in thy _soule_, and thou shalt _beauties_ find, - Like those which drownd _Narcissus_ in the flood:[163] - _Honour_ and _Pleasure_ both are in thy mind, - And all that in the world is counted _Good_. - - Thinke of her worth, and think that God did meane, - This worthy mind should worthy things imbrace; - Blot not her beauties with thy thoughts vnclean, - Nor her dishonour with thy passions base; - - Kill not her _quickning power_ with surfettings, - Mar not her _Sense_ with sensualitie; - Cast not her serious[164] wit on idle things: - Make not her free-_will_, slaue to vanitie. - - And when thou think'st of her _eternitie_, - Thinke not that _Death_ against her nature is, - Thinke it a _birth_; and when thou goest to die, - Sing like a swan, as if thou went'st to blisse.[165] - - And if thou, like a child, didst feare before, - Being in the darke, where thou didst nothing see; - Now I haue broght thee _torch-light_, feare no more; - Now when thou diest, thou canst not hud-winkt be. - - And thou my _Soule_, which turn'st thy curious eye, - To view the beames of thine owne forme diuine; - Know, that thou canst know nothing perfectly, - While thou art clouded with this flesh of mine. - - Take heed of _ouer-weening_, and compare - Thy peacock's feet with thy gay peacock's traine;[166] - Study the best, and highest things that are, - But of thy selfe an humble thought retaine. - - Cast downe thy selfe, and onely striue to raise - The glory of thy Maker's sacred Name; - Vse all thy powers, that Blessed Power to praise, - Which giues thee power to _bee_, and _vse the same_. - -[Footnote 162: 'Goale' in 1608 edition. G.] - -[Footnote 163: See Ovid, _Met._ III., 341 _et alibi_, and -Eustathius (ad Hom. p. 266). G.] - -[Footnote 164: 'Serious' dropped by Davies and Southey, as before. G.] - -[Footnote 165: Cf. Sir Thomas Browne: 'Vulgar Errors,' _s.v._ G.] - -[Footnote 166: More usually applied to the swan: as ancient -WORSHIP puts it 'The whitest swanne hath a blacke foot:' -'Christian's Mourning Garment.' G.] - - $Finis.$ - - - - -$Appendix.$ - -REMARKS PREFIXED TO NAHUM TATE'S EDITION (1697) OF 'NOSCE TEIPSUM.'[167] - - -There is a natural love and fondness in Englishmen for whatever was -done in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. We look upon her time as our -golden age; and the great men who lived in it, as our chiefest heroes -of virtue, and greatest examples of wisdom, courage, integrity and -learning. - -[Footnote 167: The Original, Nature, and Immortality of the Soul. A -Poem. With an Introduction concerning Humane Knowledge. Written by Sir -John Davies, Attorney-General to Q. Elizabeth. With a Prefatory Account -concerning the Author and Poem. London, Printed by W. Rogers at the -Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet street. 1697'--TATE -informs us that the 'Remarks' were 'written by an ingenious and learned -Divine'--It will be noticed that they finish somewhat abruptly: and -while there is 'account' of the Poem, none of the Author.'--Dr. -BLISS, in his edition of Anthony-a-Wood's ATHENÆ, -describes above as containing only the second portion: but he is -mistaken: the Poem is given completely.] - -Among many others, the author of this poem merits a lasting honour; -for, as he was a most eloquent lawyer, so, in the composition of this -piece, we admire him for a good poet and exact philosopher. 'Tis not -rhyming that makes a poet, but the true and impartial representing -of virtue and vice, so as to instruct mankind in matters of greatest -importance. And this observation has been made of our countrymen, That -Sir John Suckling wrote in the most courtly and gentleman-like style; -Waller in the most sweet and flowing numbers; Denham with the most -accurate judgment and correctness; Cowley with pleasing softness and -plenty of imagination: none ever uttered more divine thought than Mr. -Herbert; none more philosophical than Sir John Davies. His thoughts are -moulded into easy and significant words; his rhymes never mislead the -sense, but are led and governed by it: so that in reading such useful -performances, the wit of mankind may be refined from its dross, their -memories furnished with the best notions, their judgments strengthened, -and their conceptions enlarged: by which means the mind will be raised -to the most perfect ideas it is capable of in this degenerate state. - -But as others have laboured to carry out our thoughts, and to -entertain them with all manner of delights abroad; 'tis the peculiar -character of this author, that he has taught us (with Antoninus) to -meditate upon ourselves; that he has disclosed to us greater secrets -at home; self-reflection being the only way to valuable and true -knowledge, which consists in that rare science of a man's self, which -the moral philosopher loses in a crowd of definitions, divisions and -distinctions: the historian cannot find it among all his musty records, -being far better acquainted with the transactions of a thousand years -past, than with the present age, or with himself: the writer of fables -and romances wanders from it, in following the delusions of a wild -fancy, chimeras and fictions that do not only exceed the works, but -also the possibility of Nature. Whereas the resemblance of truth is -the utmost limits of poetical liberty, which our author has very -religiously observed; for he has not only placed and connected together -the most amiable images of all those powers that are in our souls, but -he has furnished and squared his matter like a true philosopher; that -is, he has made both body and soul, colour and shadow of his poem, out -of the storehouse of his own mind, which gives the whole work a real -and natural beauty; when that which is borrowed out of books, (the -boxes of counterfeit complexion) shews well or ill, as it has more or -less likeness to the natural. But our author is beholding to none but -himself; and by knowing himself thoroughly, he has arrived to know -much; which appears in his admirable variety of well-chosen metaphors -and similitudes that cannot be found within the compass of a narrow -knowledge. For this reason the poem, on account of its intrinsic worth, -would be as lasting as the Iliad or the Æneid, if the language 'tis -wrote in were as immutable as that of the Greeks and Romans. - -Now it would be of great benefit to the beaus of our age to carry this -glass in their pocket, whereby they might learn to think rather than -dress well. It would be of use also to the wits and virtuosoes to carry -this antidote against the poison they have sucked in from Lucretius -or Hobbes. This would acquaint them with some principles of religion; -for in old times the poets were the divines, and exercised a kind of -spiritual authority amongst the people. Verse in those days was the -sacred style, the style of Oracles and Lawes. The vows and thanks of -the people were recommended to their gods in songs and hymns. Why may -they not retain this priviledge? for if prose should contend with -verse, it would be upon unequal terms, and (as it were) on foot against -the wings of Pegasus. With what delight are we touched in hearing the -stories of Hercules, Achilles, Cyrus, and Æneas? Because in their -characters we have wisdom, honour, fortitude and justice, set before -our eyes. It was Plato's opinion, that if a man could see virtue, he -would be strangely enamoured on her person. Which is the reason why -Horace and Virgil have continued so long in reputation, because they -have drawn her in all the charms of poetry. No man is so senseless -of rational impressions, as not to be wonderfully affected with the -pastorals of the ancients, when under the stories of wolves and sheep, -they describe the misery of people under hard masters, and their -happiness under good. So the bitter and wholesome Iambick was wont to -make villainy blush; the Satire invited men to laugh at folly; the -Comedian chastised the common errors of life; and the Tragedian made -kings afraid to be tyrants, and tyrants to be their own tormentors. - -Wherefore, as Sir Philip Sidney said of Chaucer, that he knew not which -he should most wonder at, either that he in his dark time should see -so distinctly, or that we in this clear age should go so stumblingly -after him; so may we marvel at and bewail the low condition of poetry -now, when in our Plays scarce any one rule of decorum is observed, but -in the space of two hours and a half we pass through all the fits of -Bedlam; in one scene we are all in mirth, in the next we are all in -sadness; whilst even the most laboured parts are starved for want of -thought; a confused heap of words, and empty sound of rhyme. - -This very consideration should advance the esteem of the following -poem, wherein are represented the various movements of the mind; at -which we are as much transported as with the most excellent scenes of -passion in Shakespear, or Fletcher: for in this, as in a mirror (that -will not flatter) we see how the soul arbitrates in the understanding -upon the various reports of sense, and all the changes of imagination: -how compliant the will is to her dictates, and obeys her as a queen -does her king: at the same time acknowledging a subjection, and yet -retaining a majesty: how the passions move at her command, like a -well-disciplined army; from which regular composure of the faculties, -all operating in their proper time and place, there arises a -complacency upon the whole soul, that infinitely transcends all other -pleasures. - -What deep philosophy is this! to discover the process of God's art -in fashioning the soul of man after His own image; by remarking how -one part moves another, and how those motions are varied by several -positions of each part, from the first springs and plummets, to the -very hand that points out the visible and last effects. What eloquence -and force of wit to convey these profound speculations in the easiest -language, expressed in words so vulgarly received, that they are -understood by the meanest capacities. - -For the poet takes care in every line to satisfy the understandings of -mankind: he follows step by step the workings of the mind, from the -first strokes of sense, then of fancy, afterwards of judgment, into -the principles both of natural and supernatural motives: hereby the -soul is made intelligible, which comprehends all things besides; the -boundless tracks of sea and land, and the vaster spaces of heaven; that -vital principle of action, which has always been busied in enquiries -abroad, is now made known to itself; insomuch that we may find out what -we ourselves are, from whence we came, and whither we must go; we may -perceive what noble guests those are, which we lodge in our bosoms, -which are nearer to us than all other things, and yet nothing further -from our acquaintance. - -But here all the labyrinths and windings of the human frame are laid -open: 'tis seen by what pullies and wheels the work is carried on, as -plainly as if a window were opened in the breast: for it is the work -of God alone to create a mind. The next to this is to shew how its -operations are performed. - - - - -II. HYMNES OF ASTRÆA. - - - - -NOTE. - - -The following is the original title-page of 'Astr[oe]a': - - HYMNES OF - ASTR[OE]A, IN - Acrosticke verse - - London - Printed for J. S. - 1599 - - [4^{o} pp. 27: register A. B. C. D. of 4 leaves each.] - -Throughout, the Poet spells 'Astr[oe]a': probably Asteria ([Greek: -'Asteria]) were more accurate. Our text for these 'Hymnes' is, as in -Nosce Teipsum, the edition of 1622: but throughout, compared with the -first, as _supra_. Title-page in 1622 edition is as follows: - - HYMNES - of - ASTREA - - _In Acrosticke Verse._ - - London - Printed by A. M. for _Richard Hawkins_. - 1622. [8vo.] - -With reference to Elizabeth who is so glorified in these 'Hymnes' as -'Astræa,' cf. the 'Conference between a Gentleman-Usher and a Post' in -our Memorial-Introduction. I have since found that another copy of -this interesting MS. is preserved among the Harleian MSS.: No. cclxxxvi -fol. 248. I would here call attention to the correspondence between the -metaphor of the Senses serving the Intellect in 'Nosce Teipsum' and in -the 'Conference' as flatteringly descriptive of the position held by -her 'ministers' to the Queen. In Davison's 'Rhapsody' _the_ name for -Elizabeth is Astræa. G. - - - - -_Hymnes to Astr[oe]a._ - -HYMNE I. - -OF ASTR[OE]A.[168] - - - $E$ arly before the day doth spring, - $L$ et us awake my Muse, and sing; - $I$ t is no time to slumber, - $S$ o many ioyes this time doth bring, - $A$ s Time will faile to number. - - $B$ ut whereto shall we bend our layes? - $E$ uen vp to Heauen, againe to raise[169] - $T$ he Mayd, which thence descended; - $H$ ath brought againe the golden dayes, - $A$ nd all the world amended. - - $R$ udenesse it selfe she doth refine, - $E$ uen like an Alchymist diuine; - $G$ rosse times of yron turning - $I$ nto the purest forme of gold; - $N$ ot to corrupt, till heauen waxe old, - $A$ nd be refined with burning. - -[Footnote 168: Here spelled 'Astrea.' G.] - -[Footnote 169: = to praise or exalt. G.] - - -HYMNE II. - -TO ASTRÆA. - - $E$ ternall Virgin, _Goddesse_ true, - $L$ et me presume to sing to you. - $I$ oue, euen great _Ioue_ hath leasure - $S$ ometimes to heare the vulgar crue, - $A$ nd heares them oft with pleasure. - - $B$ lessèd _Astræa_, I in part - $E$ nioy the blessings you impart; - $T$ he Peace, the milke and hony, - $H$ umanitie, and civil _Art_, - $A$ richer dower then money. - - $R$ ight glad am I that now I liue, - $E$ uen in these dayes whereto you giue - $G$ reat happinesse and glory; - $I$ f after you I should be borne, - $N$ o doubt I should my birth-day scorne, - $A$ dmiring your sweet storie. - - -HYMNE III. - -TO THE SPRING. - - $E$ arth now is greene, and heauen is blew, - $L$ iuely Spring which makes all new, - $I$ olly Spring, doth enter; - $S$ weete yong sun-beames doe subdue - $A$ ngry, agèd Winter. - - $B$ lasts are milde, and seas are calme, - $E$ uery meadow flowes with balme, - $T$ he Earth weares all her riches; - $H$ armonious birdes sing such a psalme, - $A$ s eare and heart bewitches. - - $R$ eserue (sweet Spring) this Nymph of ours, - $E$ ternall garlands of thy flowers, - $G$ reene garlands neuer wasting; - $I$ n her shall last our _State's_ faire Spring, - $N$ ow and for euer flourishing, - $A$ s long as Heauen is lasting. - - -HYMNE IV. - -TO THE MONETH OF MAY. - - $E$ ach day of thine, sweet moneth of May, - $L$ oue makes a solemne holy-day. - $I$ will performe like duty, - $S$ ith thou resemblest euery way - $A$ stræa, Queen of beauty, - - $B$ oth you fresh beauties do pertake, - $E$ ither's aspect doth Summer make, - $T$ houghts of young Loue awaking; - $H$ earts you both doe cause to ake, - $A$ nd yet be pleas'd with akeing. - - $R$ ight deare art thou, and so is shee, - $E$ uen like attractiue sympathy, - $G$ aines vnto both like dearenesse; - $I$ weene this made Antiquitie - $N$ ame thee, sweet _May of Maiestie_, - $A$ s being both like in _clearnesse_. - - -HYMNE V. - -TO THE LARKE. - - $E$ arley, cheerfull, mounting Larke, - $L$ ight's gentle vsher, Morning's clark, - $I$ n merry notes delighting; - $S$ tint awhile thy song, and harke, - $A$ nd learne my new inditing. - - $B$ eare vp this hymne, to heau'n it beare, - $E$ uen vp to heau'n, and sing it there, - $T$ o heau'n each morning beare it; - $H$ aue it set to some sweet sphere, - $A$ nd let the Angels heare it. - - $R$ enownd Astræa, that great name, - $E$ xceeding great in worth and fame, - $G$ reat worth hath so renownd it; - $I$ t is Astræa's name I praise, - $N$ ow then, sweet Larke, do thou it raise, - $A$ nd in high Heauen resound it. - - -HYMNE VI. - -TO THE NIGHTINGALE. - - $E$ uery night from euen till morne, - $L$ oue's Quirister amidde the thorne - $I$ s now so sweet a singer; - $S$ o sweet, as for her song I scorne - $A$ pollo's voice, and finger. - - $B$ ut Nightingale, sith you delight - $E$ uer to watch the starry night; - $T$ ell all the starres of heauen, - $H$ eauen neuer had a starre so bright, - $A$ s now to Earth is giuen. - - $R$ oyall Astræa makes our day - $E$ ternall with her beames, nor may - $G$ rosse darknesse ouercome her; - $I$ now perceiue why some doe write, - $N$ o countrey hath so short a night, - $A$ s England hath in Summer. - - -HYMNE VII. - -TO THE ROSE. - - $E$ ye of the Garden, Queene of flowres, - $L$ ove's cup wherein he nectar powres, - $I$ ngendered first of nectar; - $S$ weet nurse-child of the Spring's young howres, - $A$ nd Beautie's faire character. - - $B$ est iewell that the Earth doth weare, - $E$ uen when the braue young sunne draws neare, - $T$ o her hot Loue pretending;[170] - $H$ imselfe likewise like forme doth beare, - $A$ t rising and descending. - - $R$ ose of the Queene of Loue belou'd; - $E$ ngland's great Kings diuinely mou'd, - $G$ ave Roses in their banner; - $I$ t shewed that Beautie's Rose indeed, - $N$ ow in this age should them succeed, - $A$ nd raigne in more sweet manner. - -[Footnote 170: = reaching forward. G.] - - -HYMNE VIII. - -TO ALL THE PRINCES OF EUROPE. - - $E$ urope, the earth's sweet Paradise, - $L$ et all thy kings that would be wise, - $I$ n _politique deuotion_; - $S$ ayle hither to obserue her eyes, - $A$ nd marke her heaunly motion. - - $B$ raue Princes of this ciuill age, - $E$ nter into this pilgrimage; - $T$ his saint's tongue is an oracle, - $H$ er eye hath made a Prince a page, - $A$ nd works each day a miracle. - - $R$ aise but your lookes to her, and see - $E$ uen the true beames of maiestie, - $G$ reat Princes, marke her duly; - $I$ f all the world you doe suruey, - $N$ o forehead spreades so bright a ray, - $A$ nd notes a Prince so truly. - - -HYMNE IX. - -TO FLORA. - - $E$ mpresse of flowers, tell where away - $L$ ies your sweet Court this merry[171] May, - $I$ n _Greenewich_ Garden allies?[172] - $S$ ince there the heauenly powers do play - $A$ nd haunt no other vallies. - - $B$ _eautie_, _vertue_, _maiestie_, - $E$ loquent Muses, three times three, - $T$ he new fresh _Houres_ and Graces, - $H$ aue pleasure in this place to be, - $A$ boue all other places. - - $R$ oses and lillies did them draw, - $E$ re they diuine _Astræa_ saw; - $G$ ay flowers they sought for pleasure: - $I$ nstead of gathering crownes of flowers, - $N$ ow gather they Astræa's dowers, - $A$ nd beare to heauen that treasure, - -[Footnote 171: Thomas Davies, as before, drops 'merry.'] - -[Footnote 172: = alleys. G.] - - -HYMNE X. - -TO THE MONETH OF SEPTEMBER. - - $E$ ach moneth hath praise in some degree; - $L$ et May to others seeme to be - $I$ n sense the sweetest Season; - $S$ eptember thou art best to me, - $A$ nd best dost please my reason. - - $B$ ut neither for thy corne nor wine - $E$ xtoll I those mild dayes of thine, - $T$ hough corne and wine might praise thee; - $H$ eauen giues thee honour more diuine, - $A$ nd higher fortunes raise thee. - - $R$ enown'd art thou (sweet moneth) for this, - $E$ mong thy dayes her birth-day is;[173] - $G$ race, plenty, peace and honour - $I$ n one faire hour with her were borne; - $N$ ow since they still her crowne adorne, - $A$ nd still attend vpon her. - -[Footnote 173: Queen Elizabeth was born on 7th September, 1533. G.] - - -HYMNE XI. - -TO THE SUNNE. - - $E$ ye of the world, fountaine of light, - $L$ ife of Day, and death of Night; - $I$ humbly seek thy kindnesse: - $S$ weet, dazle not my feeble sight, - $A$ nd strike me not with blindnesse. - - $B$ ehold me mildly from that face, - $E$ uen where thou now dost run thy race, - $T$ he spheare where now thou turnest; - $H$ auing like _Phaeton_ chang'd thy place, - $A$ nd yet hearts onely burnest. - - $R$ ed in her right cheeke thou dost rise, - $E$ xalted after in her eyes, - $G$ reat glory there thou shewest; - $I$ n th' other cheeke when thou descendest, - $N$ ew rednesse vnto it thou lendest, - $A$ nd so thy round thou goest. - - -HYMNE XII. - -TO HER PICTURE. - - $E$ xtreame was his audacitie, - $L$ ittle his skill, that finisht thee; - $I$ am asham'd and sorry, - $S$ o dull her counterfeit should bee, - $A$ nd she so full of glory. - - $B$ ut here are colours red and white, - $E$ ach line, and each proportion right; - $T$ hese lines, this red and whitenesse, - $H$ aue wanting yet a life and light, - $A$ maiestie, and brightnesse. - - $R$ ude counterfeit, I then did erre, - $E$ uen now when I would needs inferre - $G$ reat boldnesse in thy maker; - $I$ did mistake, he was not bold, - $N$ or durst his eyes her eyes behold: - $A$ nd this made him mistake her. - - -HYMNE XIII. - -OF HER MINDE. - - $E$ arth, now adiew, my rauisht thought - $L$ ifted to Heau'n sets thee at nought; - $I$ nfinite is my longing, - $S$ ecrets of angels to be taught, - $A$ nd things to Heau'n belonging. - - $B$ rought downe from heau'n of angels kind, - $E$ uen now doe I admire her _mind_; - $T$ his is my contemplation, - $H$ er cleare sweet spirit, which is refin'd - $A$ boue humane _creation_. - - $R$ ich sun-beame of th' Æternall light, - $E$ xcellent _Soule_, how shall I wright?[174] - $G$ ood angels make me able; - $I$ cannot see but by your eye, - $N$ or, but by your tongue, signifie - $A$ thing so admirable. - -[Footnote 174: = write. G.] - - -HYMNE XIIII. - -OF THE SUN-BEAMES OF HER MIND. - - $E$ xceeding glorious is the starre, - $L$ et vs behold her beames afarre - $I$ n a side line reflected; - $S$ ight bears them not, when neere they are, - $A$ nd in right lines directed. - - $B$ ehold her in her vertues' beames, - $E$ xtending sun-like to all realmes; - $T$ he sunne none viewes too neerly: - $H$ er well of goodnes in these streames, - $A$ ppeares right well and clearely. - - $R$ adiant vertues, if your light - $E$ nfeeble the best iudgement's sight, - $G$ reat splendor aboue measure - $I$ s in the _mind_ from whence you flow; - $N$ o wit may haue accesse to know, - $A$ nd view so bright a treasure. - - -HYMNE XV. - -OF HER WIT. - - $E$ ye of that mind most quicke and cleere,-- - $L$ ike Heauen's eye, which from his spheare - $I$ nto all things prieth; - $S$ ees through all things euery where, - $A$ nd all their natures trieth. - - $B$ right image of an angel's wit, - $E$ xceeding sharpe and swift like it, - $T$ hings instantly discerning; - $H$ auing a nature infinit, - $A$ nd yet increas'd by learning. - - $R$ ebound vpon thy selfe thy light, - $E$ nioy thine own sweet precious sight - $G$ iue us but some reflection; - $I$ t is enough for vs if we - $N$ ow in her speech, now policie, - $A$ dmire thine high perfection. - - -HYMNE XVI. - -OF HER WILL. - - $E$ uer well affected _will_, - $L$ ouing _goodnesse_, loathing _ill_, - $I$ nestimable treasure! - $S$ ince such a power hath power to spill,[175] - $A$ nd save vs at her pleasure. - - $B$ e thou our law, sweet _will_, and say - $E$ uen what thou wilt, we will obay - $T$ his law, if I could reade it; - $H$ erein would I spend night and day, - $A$ nd study still to plead it. - - $R$ oyall _free-will_, and onely _free_, - $E$ ach other _will_ is slaue to thee; - $G$ lad is each will to serue thee: - $I$ n thee such princely power is seene, - $N$ o spirit but takes thee for her Queene, - $A$ nd thinkes she must obserue thee. - -[Footnote 175: = spoil. G.] - - -HYMNE XVII. - -OF HER MEMORIE. - - $E$ xcellent iewels would you see, - $L$ ouely ladies? come with me, - $I$ will (for loue I owe you). - $S$ hew you as rich a treasurie, - $A$ s East or West can shew you. - - $B$ ehold, if you can iudge of it, - $E$ uen that great store-house of her wit: - $T$ hat beautiful large Table, - $H$ er Memory; wherein is writ - $A$ ll knowledge admirable. - - $R$ eade this faire book, and you shall learne - $E$ xquisite skill; if you discerne, - $G$ aine heau'n by this discerning; - $I$ n such a memory diuine, - $N$ ature did forme the _Muses_ nine, - $A$ nd _Pallas_ Queene of Learning. - - -HYMNE XVIII. - -OF HER PHANTASIE. - - $E$ xquisite curiositie, - $L$ ooke on thy selfe with iudging eye, - $I$ f ought be faultie, leaue it; - $S$ o delicate a phantasie - $A$ s this, will straight perceiue it. - - $B$ ecause her temper is so fine, - $E$ ndewèd with harmonies diuine; - $T$ herefore if discord strike it, - $H$ er true proportions doe repine, - $A$ nd sadly do[176] mislike it. - - $R$ ight otherwise a pleasure sweet - $E$ uer she takes in actions meet, - $G$ racing with smiles such meetnesse; - $I$ n her faire forehead, beames appeare, - $N$ o Summer's day is halfe so cleare, - $A$ dorn'd with halfe that sweetnesse. - -[Footnote 176: Misprinted 'to.' G.] - - -HYMNE XIX. - -OF THE ORGANS OF HER MINDE. - - $E$ clipsed she is, and her bright rayes. - $L$ ie under vailes, yet many wayes - $I$ s her faire forme reuealed; - $S$ he diuersly her selfe conueyes, - $A$ nd cannot be concealed. - - $B$ y instruments her powers appeare - $E$ xceedingly well tun'd and cleare: - $T$ his lute is still in measure, - $H$ olds still in tune, euen like a spheare, - $A$ nd yeelds the world sweet pleasure. - - $R$ esolue me, Muse, how this thing is, - $E$ uer a body like to this - $G$ aue Heau'n to earthly creature? - $I$ am but fond[177] this doubt to make - $N$ o doubt the angels bodies take, - $A$ bove our common nature. - -[Footnote 177: = Foolish. G.] - - -HYMNE XX. - -OF THE PASSIONS OF HER HEART. - - $E$ xamine not _th' inscrutable heart_, - $L$ ight _Muse_ of her, though she in part - $I$ mpart it to the subiect; - $S$ earch not, although from Heau'n thou art, - $A$ nd this an heauenly obiect. - - $B$ ut since she hath a heart, we know, - $E$ uer some passions thence doe flow, - $T$ hough euer rul'd with Honor; - $H$ er judgment raignes, they waite below, - $A$ nd fixe their eyes vpon her. - - $R$ ectified so, they in their kind - $E$ ncrease each vertue of her mind, - $G$ ouern'd with mild tranquilitie; - $I$ n all the regions vnder heau'n, - $N$ o State doth beare it selfe so euen, - $A$ nd with so sweet facilitie. - - -HYMNE XXI. - -OF THE INNUMERABLE VERTUES OF HER MINDE. - - $E$ re thou proceed in this sweet paines, - $L$ earne _Muse_ how many drops it raines - $I$ n cold and moist _December_; - $S$ um up _May_ flowres, and _August_ graines, - $A$ nd grapes of mild _September_. - - $B$ eare the Sea's sand in memory, - $E$ arth's grasses, and the starres in skie; - $T$ he little moates which mounted, - $H$ ang, in the beames of _Ph[oe]bus'_ eye, - $A$ nd neuer can be counted. - - $R$ ecount these numbers numberlesse,[178] - $E$ re thou her vertue canst expresse, - $G$ reat wits this count will, cumber. - $I$ nstruct thy selfe in numbring Schooles; - $N$ ow courtiers vse to begge for fooles, - $A$ ll such as cannot number. - -[Footnote 178: Cf. Paradise Regained, iii. 310. G.] - - -HYMNE XXII. - -OF HER WISDOME. - - $E$ [a]gle-eyed Wisdome, life's loadstarre, - $L$ ooking neere on things afarre; - $I$ oue's best beloued daughter, - $S$ howes to her spirit all[179] that are, - $A$ s Ioue himselfe hath taught her. - - $B$ y this straight rule she rectifies - $E$ ach thought that in [her] heart doth rise: - $T$ his is her cleane true mirror, - $H$ er _looking-glasse_, wherein she spies - $A$ [ll] forms of Truth and Error. - - $R$ ight princely vertue fit to raigne, - $E$ nthroniz'd in her spirit remaine, - $G$ uiding our fortunes euer; - $I$ f we this starre once cease to see, - $N$ o doubt our State will shipwrackt bee, - $A$ nd torne and sunke for euer. - -[Footnote 179: In first edition 'things.' G.] - - -HYMNE XXIII. - -OF HER JUSTICE. - - $E$ xil'd _Astræa_ is come againe, - $L$ o here she doth all things maintaine - $I$ n _number_, _weight_, and _measure_: - $S$ he rules vs with delightfull paine, - $A$ nd we obey with pleasure. - - $B$ y _Loue_ she rules more then by _Law_, - $E$ uen her great mercy breedeth awe; - $T$ his is her sword and scepter: - $H$ erewith she hearts did euer draw, - $A$ nd this guard euer kept her. - - $R$ eward doth sit in her right-hand, - $E$ ach vertue thence taks her garland - $G$ ather'd in Honor's garden; - $I$ n her left hand (wherein should be - $N$ ought but the sword) sits Clemency - $A$ nd conquers Vice with pardon. - - -HYMNE XXIV. - -OF HER MAGNANIMITIE. - - $E$ uen as her State, so is her mind, - $L$ ifted aboue the vulgar kind; - $I$ t treades proud Fortune vnder: - $S$ un-like it sits aboue the wind, - $A$ boue the stormes, and thunder. - - $B$ raue spirit, large heart, admiring _nought_, - $E$ steeming each thing as it ought, - $T$ hat swelleth not, nor shrinketh; - $H$ onour is alwayes in her thought, - $A$ nd of great things she thinketh. - - $R$ ocks, pillars, and heauen's axeltree, - $E$ xemplifie her constancy; - $G$ reat changes neuer change her: - $I$ n her sexe, feares are wont to rise, - $N$ _ature_ permits, _Vertue_ denies, - $A$ nd scornes the face of _Danger_. - - -HYMNE XXV. - -OF HER MODERATION. - - $E$ mpresse of kingdomes though she be, - $L$ arger is her soueraigntie - $I$ f she her selfe doe gouerne; - $S$ ubiect vnto her self is she, - $A$ nd of her selfe true soueraigne. - - $B$ eautie's crowne though she do weare, - $E$ xalted into Fortune's chaire, - $T$ hron'd like the Queene of Pleasure; - $H$ er vertues still possesse her eare, - $A$ nd counsell her to measure. - - $R$ eason, if shee incarnate were, - $E$ uen Reason's selfe could neuer beare - $G$ reatnesse with moderation; - $I$ n her one temper still is seene, - $N$ o libertee claimes she as Queene, - $A$ nd showes no alteration. - - -HYMNE XXVI. - -TO ENUY. - - $E$ nuy, goe weepe; my Muse and I - $L$ augh thee to scorne: thy feeble eye - $I$ s dazeled with the glory - $S$ hining in this gay poesie, - $A$ nd little golden story. - - $B$ ehold how my proud quill doth shed - $E$ ternall _nectar_ on her head; - $T$ he pompe of coronation - $H$ ath not such power her fame to spread, - $A$ s this my admiration. - - $R$ espect my pen as free and franke - $E$ xpecting not reward nor thanke, - $G$ reat wonder onely moues it; - $I$ never made it mercenary, - $N$ or should my Muse this burthen carrie - $A$ s hyr'd, but that she loues it. - - $Finis.$ - - - - -III. ORCHESTRA. - - - - -NOTE. - - -In the Registers of the Stationer's Company, under date 25th June, -1594, a Mr. Harrison entered for copy-right of 'Orchestra' (Notes -and Queries 3 S. II., p. 461: Dec. 13, '62): but it was not -published till 1596. The following is the original title-page: - - ORCHESTRA - - OR - - A POEME ON DAUN- - CING - - Iudicially prooving the - true observation of time and - measure, in the Authenticall - and laudable use of Daun- - cing. - - Ouid. Art. Aman. lib I. - Si vox est, canta: si mollia - brachia, salta - Et quacunque potes dote - placere, place. - - AT LONDON: - - Printed by J. Robarts - for N. Ling. - - 1596. - - [18mo: pp 46: register A B C of 8 leaves each.] - -In the Bodleian copy there is this inscription at top of title-page "Ex -dono Wilti. Burdett, amici sui primo die Decembr. 1596 36. E. R." - -Instead of the after-dedication 'To the Prince' there was the 'Sonnet' -to Martin which we have placed before it. The title-page from the -edition of 1622 may be added here:-- - - ORCHESTRA. - - OR - - A Poeme expressing the An- - _tiquitie and Excellencie_ - OF DAVNCING. - - In a Dialogue betweene _Penelope_ - and one of her Wooers. - - _Not Finished._ - - LONDON. - - Printed by A. M. for Richard Hawkins. - - 1622. [8vo.] - -With reference to 'Not finished' placed on the later title-page (1622), -it is explained by the stanzas restored from the first edition. These -shew that the Poet had intended to pursue his subject further; even the -hitherto omitted stanzas reading more like a fresh 'invocation' than a -'conclusion.' - -Our text, as with 'Nosce Teipsum,' is from the edition of 1622: but -compared throughout with above very rare, if not unique, first edition -from the Bodleian. At close, by recurrence to the original edition -we are able to supply the blanks of all the subsequent editions and -reprints. See our Memorial-Introduction, for explanation of the -omission: and for Sir John Harington's 'Epigram' on 'Orchestra.' G. - - - - -[$Dedications.$] - - -I. TO HIS VERY FRIEND, MA. RICH. MARTIN.[180] - - To whom shall I this dauncing Poem send, - This suddaine, rash, half-capreol[181] of my wit? - To you, first mouer and sole cause of it, - Mine-owne-selues better halfe, my deerest frend. - O, would you yet my Muse some Honny lend - From your mellifluous tongue, whereon doth sit - Suada in Maiestie, that I may fit - These harsh beginnings with a sweeter end. - You know the modest Sunne full fifteene times - Blushing did rise, and blushing did descend, - While I in making of these ill made rimes, - My golden howers unthriftily did spend: - Yet, if in friendship you these numbers prayse, - I will mispend another fifteene dayes. - -[Footnote 180: See Memorial-Introduction concerning Martin. G.] - -[Footnote 181: Cf. st. 68. l. 6. G.] - - -II. TO THE PRINCE.[182] - - Sir, whatsoeuer YOV are pleas'd to doo - It is your special praise, that you are bent, - And sadly[183] set your princely mind thereto: - Which makes YOV in each thing so excellent. - - Hence is it that YOV came so soon to bee - A man-at-armes in euery point aright; - The fairest flowre of noble chiualrie; - And of Saint _George_ his band, the brauest knight. - - And hence it is, that all your youthfull traine - In actiueness and grace, YOV doe excell; - When YOV doe courtly dauncings entertaine - Then Dauncing's praise may be presented well - - To YOV, whose action adds more praise thereto, - Then all the _Muses_ with their penns can doo. - -[Footnote 182: Query--Henry, son of James I.? He died in 1612. Or -Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I.? Most probably the former. G.] - -[Footnote 183: = seriously. Cf. Milton: P. L. vi. 541 and Comus, 509. -So in Shakespeare frequently. G.] - - - - -_Orchestra_, - -OR - -A POEME OF DAUNCING. - - -1. - - Where liues the man that neuer yet did heare - Of chaste _Penelope_, _Ulisses'_ Queene? - Who kept her faith vnspotted twentie yeare, - Till he return'd that farre away had beene, - _And many men, and many townes had seen_: - Ten yeare at siege of Troy he lingring lay, - And ten yeare in the Mid-land-Sea did stray. - - -2. - - _Homer_, to whom the Muses did carouse - A great deepe cup with heauenly nectar filld: - The greatest, deepest cup in _Ioue's_ great house, - (For _Ioue_ himselfe had so expresly willd) - He dranke off all, ne let one drop be spilld; - Since when, his braine that had before been drie, - Became the well-spring of all Poetrie. - - -3. - - _Homer_ doth tell in his aboundant verse, - The long laborious trauailes of the _Man_; - And of his lady too he doth reherse, - How shee illudes with all the art she can, - Th' vngratefull loue which other lords began; - For of her lord, false Fame long since had sworn, - That _Neptune's_ monsters had his carkase torne. - - -4. - - All this he tells, but one thing he forgot, - One thing most worthy his eternall song; - But he was old, and blind, and saw it not, - Or else he thought he should _Ulisses_ wrong, - To mingle it his tragike acts among; - Yet was there not in all the world of things, - A sweeter burden for his Muse's wings. - - -5. - - The courtly loue _Antinous_ did make: - _Antinous_ that fresh and iolly knight, - Which of the gallants that did vndertake - To win the widdow, had most wealth and might, - Wit to perswade, and beautie to delight: - The courtly loue he made vnto the Queene, - _Homer_ forgot, as if it had not beene. - - -6. - - Sing then _Terpischore_, my light Muse sing - His gentle art, and _cunning curtesie_; - You lady can remember euery thing, - For you are daughter of Queene Memorie; - But sing a plaine and easy melodie: - For the soft meane that warbleth but the ground, - To my rude eare doth yeeld the sweetest sound. - - -7. - - One onely night's discourse I can report, - When the great Torch-bearer of Heauen was gone - Downe in a maske vnto the Ocean's Court, - To reuell it with Thetis[184] all alone; - Antinous disguisèd and vnknowne, - Like to the Spring in gaudie ornament, - Vnto the Castle of the Princesse went. - - -8. - - The soueraine Castle of the rockie Ile, - Wherein _Penelope_ the Princesse lay; - Shone with a thousand lamps, which did exile - The shadowes darke,[185] and turn'd the night to day; - Not _Ioue's_ blew tent, what time the sunny ray - Behind the Bulwarke of the Earth retires, - Is seene to sparkle with more twinckling fires. - -[Footnote 184: Misprinted 'Tethis.' G.] - -[Footnote 185: In 1st edition 'dim darke shades.' G.] - - -9. - - That night the Queen came forth from far within, - And in the presence of her Court was seene; - For the sweet singer _Ph[oe]mius_[186] did begin - To praise the worthies that at _Troy_ had beene; - Somewhat of her _Ulisses_ she did weene. - In his graue hymne the heau'nly man would sing, - Or of his warres, or of his wandering. - - -10. - - _Pallas_ that houre with her sweet breath diuine - Inspir'd immortall beautie in her eyes; - That with cælestiall glory shee did shine, - Brighter[187] then _Venus_ when shee doth arise - Out of the waters to adorne the skies; - The Wooers all amazèd doe admire - And checke their owne presumptuous desire. - -[Footnote 186: Phemius, a great singer at the court of Ulysses: Odys. -i. 154, 337: the latter contains the allusion _supra_, where Penelope -stands at the door of the hall and listens to the song. G.] - -[Footnote 187: Misprinted 'brigher.' G.] - - -11. - - Onely _Antinous_ when at first he view'd - Her starbright eyes, that with new honour shind; - Was not dismayd, but there-with-all renew'd - The noblesse and the splendour of his mind; - And as he did fit circumstances find, - Vnto the throne he boldly gan aduance, - And with faire maners wooed the Queene to dance. - - -12. - - 'Goddesse of women, sith your heau'nlinesse - 'Hath now vouchsaft it selfe to represent - 'To our dim eyes, which though they see the lesse - 'Yet are they blest in their astonishment; - 'Imitate heau'n, whose beauties excellent - 'Are in continuall motion day and night, - 'And moue thereby more wonder and delight. - - -13. - - 'Let me the moouer be, to turne about - 'Those glorious ornaments, that Youth and Loue - 'Haue fixed in you, euery part throughout; - 'Which if you will in timely measure moue, - 'Not all those precious iemms in heau'n aboue, - 'Shall yeeld a sight more pleasing to behold, - 'With all their turnes and tracings manifold.' - - -14. - - With this the modest Princesse blusht and smil'd, - Like to a cleare and rosie euentide, - And softly did returne this answer mild: - 'Faire Sir, you needs must fairely be denide - 'Where your demaund cannot be satisfide; - 'My feet, which onely Nature taught to goe, - 'Did neuer yet the art of footing know. - - -15. - - 'But why perswade you me to this new rage? - '(For all disorder and misrule is new) - 'For such misgouernment in former age, - 'Our old diuine Forefathers neuer knew; - 'Who if they liu'd, and did the follies view, - 'Which their fond nephews make their chiefe affaires, - 'Would hate themselues that had begot such heires.' - - -16. - - 'Sole heire of Vertue and of Beautie both, - 'Whence cometh it (_Antinous_ replies) - 'That your imper[i]ous vertue is so loth - 'To graunt your beauty her chiefe exercise? - 'Or from what spring doth your opinion rise - 'That dauncing[188] is a frenzy and a rage, - 'First knowne and vs'd in this new-fangled age? - -[Footnote 188: Misprinted in 1612 edition 'danching.' G.] - - -17. - - '_Dauncing_[189] (bright Lady) then began to bee, - 'When the first seeds whereof the World did spring, - 'The fire, ayre, earth, and water--did agree, - 'By Loue's perswasion,--Nature's mighty King,-- - 'To leaue their first disordred combating; - 'And in a daunce such measure to obserue, - 'As all the world their motion should preserue. - -[Footnote 189: Margin-Note here 'The antiquitie of dancing.' G.] - - -18. - - 'Since when, they still are carried in a round, - 'And changing, come one in another's place; - 'Yet doe they neither mingle nor confound, - 'But euery one doth keepe the bounded space - 'Wherein the Daunce doth bid it turne or trace; - 'This wondrous myracle did Loue deuise, - 'For Dauncing is Love's proper exercise. - - -19. - - 'Like this, he fram'd the gods' eternall Bower, - 'And of a shapelesse and confusèd masse, - 'By his through-piercing and digesting power, - 'The turning vault of heauen formèd was; - 'Whose starry wheeles he hath so made to passe, - 'As that their moouings do a musicke frame, - 'And they themselues still daunce vnto the same. - - -20. - - 'Or if this All which round about we see, - '(As idle _Morpheus_ some sicke braines hath taught) - 'Of vndeuided _motes_ compacted bee: - 'How was this goodly Architecture wrought? - 'Or by what meanes were they together brought? - 'They erre that say they did concurre by chance: - 'Loue made them meet in a well-ordered daunce. - - -21. - - 'As when _Amphion_ with his charming lire - 'Begot so sweet a syren of the ayre; - 'That with her Rethorike made the stones conspire - 'The ruines of a citie to repaire: - '(A worke of wit and reason's wise affaire) - 'So Loue's smooth tongue, the _motes_ such measure taught - 'That they ioyn'd hands; and so the world was wrought. - - -22. - - 'How iustly then is Dauncing tearmèd new, - 'Which with the World in point of time begun? - 'Yea Time it selfe, (whose birth _Ioue_ neuer knew, - 'And which indeed is elder then the sun)[190] - 'Had not one moment of his age outrunne, - 'When out leapt Dauncing from the heap of things, - 'And lightly rode vpon his nimble wings. - - -23. - - 'Reason hath both their pictures in her treasure, - 'Where _Time the measure of all mouing is_, - 'And Dauncing is a moouing all in measure; - 'Now if you doe resemble that to this, - 'And thinke both one, I thinke you thinke amis: - 'But if you iudge them twins, together got, - 'And Time first borne, your iudgement erreth not. - - -24. - - 'Thus doth it equall age with age inioy, - 'And yet in lustie youth for euer flowers; - 'Like loue his sire, whom Paynters make a boy, - 'Yet is the eldest of the heau'nly powers; - 'Or like his brother Time, whose wingèd howers - 'Going and comming will not let him dye, - 'But still preserve him in his infancie.' - -[Footnote 190: In first edition reads: 'And which is far more ancient -then the sun.' G.] - - -25. - - This said; the Queene with her sweet lips diuine, - Gently began to moue the subtile ayre, - Which gladly yeelding, did itselfe incline - To take a shape betweene those rubies fayre; - And being formèd, softly did repayre - With twenty doublings in the emptie way, - Vnto _Antinous_ eares, and thus did say: - - -26. - - 'What eye doth see the heau'n, but doth admire - 'When it the moouings of the heau'ns doth see? - 'My selfe, if I to heau'n may once aspire, - 'If that be dauncing, will a Dauncer be; - 'But as for this your frantick iollitie - 'How it began, or whence you did it learne, - 'I neuer could with Reason's eye discerne. - - -27. - - Antinous answered: 'Iewell of the Earth, - 'Worthy you are that heau'nly daunce to leade; - 'But for you thinke our dauncing base of birth, - 'And newly-borne but of a braine-sicke head, - 'I will foorthwith his antique gentry read; - 'And for I loue him, will his herault[191] be, - 'And blaze his Armes, and draw his petigree.[192] - - -28. - - 'When Loue had shapt this World,--_this great faire wight_, - 'That all wights else in this wide womb containes; - 'And had instructed it to daunce aright,[193] - 'A thousand measures with a thousand straines, - 'Which it should practise with delightfull paines,[194] - 'Vntill that fatall instant should reuolue, - 'When all to nothing should againe resolue: - - -29. - - 'The comely order and proportion faire - 'On euery side, did please his wandring eye: - 'Till glauncing through the thin transparent ayre, - 'A rude disordered rout he did espie - 'Of men and women, that most spightfully - 'Did one another throng, and crowd so sore, - 'That his kind eye in pitty wept therefore. - -[Footnote 191: Herald. G.] - -[Footnote 192: Pedigree. G.] - -[Footnote 193: Margin-Note here 'The original of dancing.' G.] - -[Footnote 194: 'Painstaking.' G.] - - -30. - - 'And swifter then the lightning downe he came, - 'Another shapelesse Chaos to digest; - 'He will begin another world to frame, - '(For Loue till all be well will neuer rest) - 'Then with such words as cannot be exprest, - 'He cutts the troups, that all asunder fling, - 'And ere they wist, he casts them in a ring. - - -31. - - 'Then did he rarifie the element, - 'And in the center of the ring appeare; - 'The beams that from his forehead spreading[195] went, - 'Begot an horrour, and religious feare - 'In all the soules that round about him weare; - 'Which in their eares attentiueness procures, - 'While he, with such like sounds, their minds allures. - - -32. - - 'How doth Confusion's mother, headlong Chance,[196] - 'Put Reason's noble squadron to the rout? - 'Or how should you that haue the gouernance - 'Of Nature's children, Heauen and Earth throughout, - 'Prescribe them rules, and liue your selues without? - 'Why should your fellowship a trouble be, - 'Since man's chiefe pleasure is societie? - -[Footnote 195: In 1st edition 'shining.' G.] - -[Footnote 196: Margin-Note here 'The speech of Love, perswading men to -learn Dancing.' G.] - - -33. - - 'If sence hath not yet taught you, learne of me - 'A comely moderation and discreet; - 'That your assemblies may well ordered bee - 'When my vniting power shall make you meet, - 'With heau'nly tunes it shall be temperèd sweet: - 'And be the modell of the World's great frame, - 'And you Earth's children, _Dauncing_ shall it name. - - -34. - - 'Behold the _World_, how it is _whirled round_, - 'And for it is so _whirl'd_, is namèd so; - 'In whose large volume many rules are found - 'Of this new Art, which it doth fairely show; - 'For your quicke eyes in wandring too and fro - 'From East to West, on no one thing can glaunce, - 'But if you marke it well, it seemes to daunce. - - -35. - - 'First[197] you see fixt in this huge mirrour blew, - 'Of trembling lights, a number numberlesse:[198] - '_Fixt they are_ nam'd, but with a name vntrue, - 'For they all mooue[199] and in a Daunce expresse - 'That _great long yeare_, that doth containe no lesse - 'Then threescore hundreds of those yeares in all, - 'Which the sunne makes with his course naturall. - -[Footnote 197: Margin-Note here 'By the orderly motion of the fixed -stars.' G.] - -[Footnote 198: Cf. 'Paradise Regained' iii. 310, as in Astr[oe]a, Hymne -xxi. G.] - - -36. - - 'What if to you these sparks disordered seeme - 'As if by chaunce they had beene scattered there? - 'The gods a solemne measure doe it deeme, - 'And see a iust proportion euery where, - 'And know the points whence first their mouings were; - 'To which first points when all returne againe, - 'The axel-tree of Heau'n shall breake in twaine. - - -37. - - 'Vnder that spangled skye, fiue wandring flames[200] - 'Besides the King of Day, and Queene of Night, - 'Are wheel'd around, all in their sundry frames, - 'And all in sundry measures doe delight, - 'Yet altogether keepe no measure right; - 'For by it selfe each doth it selfe aduance, - 'And by it selfe each doth a galliard[201] daunce. - -[Footnote 199: In 1st edition 'are mov'd.' G.] - -[Footnote 200: Margin-Note here 'Of the planets.' G.] - - -38. - - '_Venus_, the mother of that bastard Loue, - 'Which doth vsurpe the World's great Marshal's name, - 'Iust with the sunne her dainty feete doth moue, - 'And vnto him doth all the iestures frame; - 'Now after, now afore, the flattering Dame, - 'With diuers cunning passages doth erre, - 'Still him respecting that respects not her. - - -39. - - 'For that braue Sunne the Father of the Day, - 'Doth loue this Earth, the Mother of the Night; - 'And like a reuellour in rich aray, - 'Doth daunce his galliard in his lemman's sight, - 'Both back, and forth, and sidewaies, passing light; - 'His princely[202] grace doth so the gods amaze, - 'That all stand still and at his beauty gaze. - -[Footnote 201: A French 'dance': the name meaning gay or brisk, and -so a quick liuely dance, introduced into England about 1541. Thomas -Wright's 'Dictionary' _s.v._ G.] - -[Footnote 202: In 1st edition 'gallant.' G.] - - -40. - - 'But see the Earth, when he approcheth neere, - 'How she for ioy doth spring and sweetly smile; - 'But see againe her sad and heauy cheere - 'When changing places he retires a while; - 'But those blake[203] cloudes he shortly will exile, - 'And make them all before his presence flye, - 'As mists consum'd before his cheerefull eye. - -[Footnote 203: Black. G.] - - -41. - - 'Who doth not see the measures of the Moone, - 'Which thirteene times she daunceth euery yeare? - 'And ends her pauine[204] thirteene times as soone - 'As doth her brother, of whose golden haire[205] - 'She borroweth part, and proudly doth it weare; - 'Then doth she coyly turne her face aside, - 'Then halfe her cheeke is scarse sometimes discride. - -[Footnote 204: Spanish _pavana_: a solemn Spanish dance. G.] - -[Footnote 205: Spelled in first edition, 'heire.' G.] - - -42. - - 'Next her, the pure, subtile, and clensing Fire[206] - 'Is swiftly carried in a circle euen; - 'Though Vulcan be pronounst by many a lyer, - 'The only halting god that dwels in heauen: - 'But that foule name may be more fitly giuen - 'To your false Fire, that farre from heauen is fall:[207] - 'And doth consume, waste, spoile, disorder all. - -[Footnote 206: Margin-Note here 'Of the Fire.' G.] - -[Footnote 207: Cf. 'Nosce Teipsum' page 103, _ante_: st. fourth, line -second. G.] - - -43. - - 'And now behold your tender nurse the _Ayre_[208] - 'And common neighbour that ay runns around; - 'How many pictures and impressions faire - 'Within her empty regions are there found; - 'Which to your sences Dauncing doe propound. - 'For what are _Breath_, _Speech_, _Ecchos_, _Musicke_, _Winds_, - 'But Dauncings of the Ayre in sundry kinds? - -[Footnote 208: Margin-Note here, 'Of the Ayre.' G.] - - -44. - - 'For when you breath, the _ayre_ in order moues, - 'Now in, now out, in time and measure trew; - 'And when you speake, so well she dauncing loues, - 'That doubling oft, and oft redoubling new, - 'With thousand formes she doth her selfe endew - 'For all the words that from our lips repaire - 'Are nought but tricks and turnings of the ayre. - - -45. - - 'Hence is her pratling daughter _Eccho_ borne, - 'That daunces to all voyces she can heare; - 'There is no sound so harsh that shee doth scorne, - 'Nor any time wherein shee will forbeare - 'The ayrie pauement with her feet to weare; - 'And yet her hearing sence is nothing quick, - 'For after time she endeth euery trick. - - -46. - - 'And thou sweet _Musicke_, Dauncing's onely life, - 'The eare's sole happinesse, the ayre's best speach; - 'Loadstone of fellowship, charming-rod of strife, - 'The soft mind's Paradice, the sicke mind's leach; - 'With thine own tong, thou[209] trees and stons canst teach, - 'That when the Aire doth dance her finest measure, - 'Then art thou borne, the gods and mens sweet pleasure. - -[Footnote 209: In first edition 'y^{e}' = the, and so elsewhere. G.] - - -47. - - 'Lastly, where keepe the _Winds_ their reuelry, - 'Their violent turnings, and wild whirling hayes,[210] - 'But in the Ayre's tralucent[211] gallery? - 'Where shee herselfe is turnd a hundreth wayes, - 'While with those Maskers wantonly she playes; - 'Yet in this misrule, they such rule embrace, - 'As two at once encomber not the place. - -[Footnote 210: A round country dance. G.] - -[Footnote 211: Translucent. Cf. Milton, Samson Agonistes 548, and -Comus, 861. G.] - - -48. - - 'If then fire,[212] ayre, wandring and fixed lights - 'In euery prouince of the imperiall skie, - 'Yeeld perfect formes of dauncing to your sights, - 'In vaine I teach the eare, that which the eye - 'With certaine view already doth descrie. - 'But for your eyes perceiue not all they see, - 'In this I will your Senses master bee. - -[Footnote 212: In first edition spelled 'fier.' G.] - - -49. - - 'For loe the _Sea_[213] that fleets about the Land, - 'And like a girdle clips her solide waist, - 'Musicke and measure both doth vnderstand; - 'For his great chrystall eye is alwayes cast - 'Vp to the Moone, and on her fixèd fast; - 'And as she daunceth in her pallid spheere, - 'So daunceth he about his Center heere. - -[Footnote 213: Margin-Note here 'Of the sea.' G.] - - -50. - - 'Sometimes his proud greene waues in order set, - 'One after other flow vnto the shore; - 'Which, when they haue with many kisses wet, - 'They ebbe away in order as before; - 'And to make knowne his courtly loue the more, - 'He oft doth lay aside his three-forkt mace, - 'And with his armes the timorous Earth embrace. - - -51. - - 'Onely the Earth doth stand for euer still: - 'Her rocks remoue not, nor her mountaines meet: - '(Although some wits enricht with Learning's skill - 'Say heau'n stands firme, and that the Earth doth fleet, - 'And swiftly turneth vnderneath their feet) - 'Yet though the Earth is euer stedfast seene, - 'On her broad breast hath Dauncing euer beene. - - -52. - - 'For those blew vaines that through her body spred, - 'Those saphire streames which from great hils do spring.[214] - '(The Earth's great duggs; for euery wight is fed - 'With sweet fresh moisture from them issuing): - 'Obserue a daunce in their wilde wandering; - 'And still their daunce begets a murmur sweet, - 'And still the murmur with the daunce doth meet. - -[Footnote 214: Margin-Note here 'Of the riuers.' G.] - - -53. - - 'Of all their wayes I love _Mæander's_ path, - 'Which to the tunes of dying swans doth daunce;[215] - 'Such winding sleights, such turns and tricks he hath, - 'Such creeks, such wrenches, and such daliaunce; - 'That whether it be hap or heedlesse chaunce, - 'In this indented course and wriggling play - 'He seemes to daunce a perfect cunning _hay_.[216] - -[Footnote 215: Ovid (Heroides VII. 1, 2) - - 'Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abjectus in herbis, - Ad vada Maeandri concinit albus olor.' - -Cf. Sir Thomas Browne 'Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors' Book -III.c.xxvii: Works by Wilkin, Vol. II. pp. 517, 518 -(edition Pickering 1835.) G.] - -[Footnote 216: A round country dance, as before.] - - -54. - - 'But wherefore doe these streames for euer runne? - 'To keepe themselues for euer sweet and cleere: - 'For let their euerlasting course be donne, - 'They straight corrupt and foule with mud appeare. - 'O yee sweet Nymphs that beautie's losse do feare, - 'Contemne the drugs that Physicke doth deuise, - 'And learne of Loue this dainty exercise. - - -55. - - 'See how those flowres that have sweet beauty too, - '(The onely iewels that the Earth doth weare,[217] - 'When the young Sunne in brauery her doth woo): - 'As oft as they the whistling wind doe heare, - 'Doe waue their tender bodies here and there; - 'And though their daunce no perfect measure is, - 'Yet oftentimes their musicke makes them kis. - -[Footnote 217: Margin-Note here 'Of other things upon the earth.' G.] - - -56. - - 'What makes the vine about the elme to daunce, - 'With turnings, windings, and embracements round? - 'What makes the loadstone to the North aduance - 'His subtile point, as if from thence he found - 'His chiefe attractiue vertue to redound? - 'Kind Nature first doth cause all things to loue, - 'Loue makes them daunce and in iust order moue. - - -57. - - 'Harke how the birds doe sing, and marke then how - 'Iumpe[218] with the modulation of their layes, - 'They lightly leape, and skip from bow to bow: - 'Yet doe the cranes deserue a greater prayse - 'Which keepe such measure in their ayrie wayes, - 'As when they all in order rankèd are, - 'They make a perfect forme triangular. - -[Footnote 218: 'Exact': this illustrates Hamlet i., I, and Othello ii., -3. G.] - - -58. - - 'In the chiefe angle flyes the watchfull guid, - 'And all the followers their heads doe lay - 'On their foregoers backs, on eyther side; - 'But for the captaine hath no rest to stay, - 'His head forewearied with the windy way, - 'He back retires, and then the next behind, - 'As his lieuetenaunt leads them through the wind. - - -59. - - 'But why relate I euery singular? - 'Since all the World's great fortunes and affaires - 'Forward and backward rapt and whirled are, - 'According to the musicke of the spheares: - 'And Chaunge[219] herselfe her nimble feete vpbeares - 'On a round slippery wheele that rowleth ay, - 'And turnes all States with her imperuous[220] sway. - -[Footnote 219: In first edition a probable misprint is, 'Chaunce.' G.] - -[Footnote 220: In first edition 'impetuous.' G.] - - -60. - - 'Learne then to daunce, you that are Princes borne, - 'And lawfull lords of earthly creatures all; - 'Imitate them, and thereof take no scorne, - 'For this new art to them is naturall-- - 'And imitate the starres cælestiall: - 'For when pale Death your vital twist shall seuer, - 'Your better parts must daunce, with them for euer. - - -61. - - 'Thus Loue perswades, and all the crowd[221] of men - 'That stands around, doth make a murmuring; - 'As when the wind loosd from his hollow den, - 'Among the trees a gentle base[222] doth sing, - 'Or as a brooke through peebles wandering; - 'But in their looks they vttered this plain speach, - 'That they would learn to daunce, if Loue would teach.[223] - -[Footnote 221: In first and 1622 editions there is a probable misprint -of 'crowne' here. G.] - -[Footnote 222: Bass. G.] - -[Footnote 223: Margin-Note here: 'How Loue taught men to dance.' G.] - - -62. - - 'Then first of all he doth demonstrate plaine - 'The motions seauen that ar in Nature found, - '_Upward_ and _downeward_, _forth_ and _backe againe_, - '_To this side_ and _to that_, and _turning round_;[224] - 'Whereof a thousand brawles he doth compound, - 'Which he doth teach vnto the multitude, - 'And euer with a turne they must conclude. - -[Footnote 224: Margin-Note here 'Rounds or Country Dances.' G.] - - -63. - - 'As when a Nimph[225] arysing from the land, - 'Leadeth a daunce with her long watery traine - 'Down to the Sea; she wries to euery hand, - 'And euery way doth crosse the fertile plaine; - 'But when at last shee falls into the maine, - 'Then all her trauerses concluded are, - 'And with the Sea her course is circulare. - -[Footnote 225: This interprets 'Nosce Teipsum,' Reason II, st. 1, page -86 _ante_.] - - -64. - - 'Thus when at first Loue had them marshallèd, - 'As earst he did the shapeless masse of things, - 'He taught them _rounds_ and _winding heyes_ to tread, - 'And about trees to cast themselues in rings: - 'As the two Beares, whom the First Mouer flings - 'With a short turn about heauen's axeltree, - 'In a round daunce for ever wheeling bee. - - -65. - - 'But after these, as men more ciuell grew, - 'He did more graue and solemn measures frame,[226] - 'With such faire order and proportion true,[227] - 'And correspondence euery way the same, - 'That no fault-finding eye did euer blame; - 'For euery eye was mouèd at the sight - 'With sober wondring, and with sweet delight. - -[Footnote 226: Margin-Note here 'Measures.' G.] - -[Footnote 227: In 1st edition spelled 'trew,' G.] - - -66. - - 'Not those yong[228] students of the heauenly booke, - '_Atlas_ the great, _Promethius_ the wise, - 'Which on the starres did all their life-time looke, - 'Could euer finde such measures in the skies, - 'So full of change and rare varieties; - 'Yet all the feete whereon these measures goe, - 'Are only spondeis, solemne, graue and sloe. - -[Footnote 228: In 1st edition 'old': 'young' in 1622 must be a -misprint, unless used in the grand meaning of SIR THOMAS -BROWNE. In 1622 it is mis-spelled 'youg.' G.] - - -67. - - 'But for more diuers and more pleasing show, - 'A swift and wandring daunce she did inuent, - 'With passages vncertaine to and fro, - 'Yet with a certaine answer and consent - 'To the quicke musicke of the instrument.[229] - 'Fiue was the number of the Musick's feet, - 'Which still the daunce did with fiue paces meet. - -[Footnote 229: Margin-Note here 'Galliards.' G.] - - -68. - - 'A gallant daunce, that lively doth bewray - 'A spirit and a vertue masculine; - 'Impatient that her house on earth should stay - 'Since she her selfe is fiery and diuine; - 'Oft doth she make her body vpward fline[230], - 'With lofty turnes and capriols[231] in the ayre, - 'Which with the lusty tunes accordeth faire. - -[Footnote 230: In 1st edition spelled 'flyne': A.S. 'to fly.' G.] - -[Footnote 231: A 'capriole' is a 'lady's head-dress' (Wright): but here -seems to mean 'springings and turnings': degenerated into 'capers' at -this later day. G.] - - -69. - - 'What shall I name those currant trauases,[232] - 'That on a triple _dactile_ foot doe runne - 'Close by the ground with sliding passages, - 'Wherein that Dauncer greatest praise hath wonne - 'Which with best order can all orders shunne; - 'For euery where he wantonly must range, - 'And turne, and wind, with vnexpected change. - -[Footnote 232: Margin-Note here, 'Courantoes.' G.] - - -70. - - 'Yet is there one, the most delightfull kind, - 'A loftie iumping, or a leaping round;[233] - 'Where arme in arme two dauncers are entwind - 'And whirle themselues with strict embracements bound, - 'And still their feet an _anapest_ do sound; - 'An _anapest_ is all their musick's song, - 'Whose first two feet are short, and third is long. - -[Footnote 233: Margin-Note here, 'Lavoltaes.' G.] - - -71. - - 'As the victorious _twinnes_ of _Læda_ and _Ioue_ - 'That taught the Spartans dauncing on the sands - 'Of swift _Eurotas_, daunce in heaun aboue, - 'Knit and vnited with eternall hands; - 'Among the starres their double image stands, - 'Where both are carried with an equall pace, - 'Together iumping in their turning race. - - -72. - - 'This is the net wherein the Sunn's bright eye - '_Venus_ and _Mars_ entangled did behold; - 'For in this daunce, their armes they so imply[234] - 'As each doth seeme the other to enfold; - 'What if lewd wits another tale haue told - 'Of iealous _Vulcan_, and of yron chaynes? - 'Yet this true sence that forgèd lye containes. - -[Footnote 234: There is a misprint of 'employ' in Thomas Davies' -edition, as before. G.] - - -73. - - 'These various formes of dauncing, Loue did frame - 'And beside these, a hundred millions moe; - 'And as he did inuent, he taught the same, - 'With goodly iesture, and with comly show, - 'Now keeping state, now humbly honoring low: - 'And euer for the persons and the place - 'He taught most fit and best according grace.[235] - -[Footnote 235: Margin-Note here 'Grace in dauncing.' G.] - - -74. - - 'For Loue, within his fertile working braine - 'Did[236] then conceiue those gracious Virgins three; - 'Whose ciuell moderation does maintaine - 'All decent order and conueniencie, - 'And faire respect, and seemlie modestie; - 'And then he thought it fit they should be borne, - 'That their sweet presence dauncing might adorne. - -[Footnote 236: In the errata of 1622 edition 'doo' is substituted for -'did,' itself a misprint, perhaps, for 'does.' G.] - - -75. - - 'Hence is it that these _Graces_ painted are - 'With hand in hand dauncing an endlesse round; - 'And with regarding eyes, that still beware - 'That there be no disgrace amongst them found; - 'With equall foote they beate the flowry ground, - 'Laughing, or singing, as their passions will: - 'Yet nothing that they doe becomes them ill. - - -76. - - 'Thus Loue taught men, and men thus learnd of Loue - 'Sweet Musick's sound with feet to counterfaite; - 'Which was long time before high thundering _Ioue_ - 'Was lifted vp to Heauen's imperiall seat; - 'For though by birth he were the Prince of _Creete_, - 'Nor _Creet_, nor Heau'n should the yong Prince haue seen, - 'If dancers with their timbrels had not been. - - -77. - - 'Since when all ceremonious misteries, - 'All sacred orgies and religious rights,[237] - 'All pomps, and triumphs, and solemnities, - 'All funerals, nuptials, and like publike sights, - 'All Parliaments of peace, and warlike fights, - 'All learnèd arts, and euery great affaire - 'A liuely shape of dauncing seemes to beare.[238] - -[Footnote 237: 'Rites.' G.] - -[Footnote 238: Margin-Note here, 'The use and formes of dauncing in -sundry affaires of man's life.' G.] - - -78. - - 'For what did he who with his ten-tong'd lute - 'Gaue beasts and blocks an vnderstanding eare? - 'Or rather into bestiall minds and brute - 'Shed and infus'd the beames of reason cleare? - 'Doubtlesse for men that rude and sauage were - 'A ciuill forme of dauncing he deuis'd, - 'Wherewith vnto their gods they sacrifiz'd. - - -79. - - 'So did _Musæus_, so _Amphion_ did, - 'And _Linus_ with his sweet enchanting song; - 'And he whose hand the Earth of monsters rid, - 'And had men's eares fast chaynèd to his tongue - 'And _Theseus_ to his wood-borne slaues among, - 'Vs'd dauncing as the finest policie - 'To plant religion and societie. - - -80. - - 'And therefore now the Thracian _Orpheus_ lire - 'And _Hercules_ him selfe are stellified;[239] - 'And in high heau'n amidst the starry quire, - 'Dauncing their parts continually doe slide; - 'So on the Zodiake _Ganimed_ doth ride, - 'And so is _Hebe_ with the Muses nine - 'For pleasing _Ioue_ with dauncing, made diuine. - -[Footnote 239: Made stellæ=stars or constellations. G.] - - -81. - - 'Wherefore was _Proteus_ sayd himselfe to change - 'Into a streame, a lyon, and a tree; - 'And many other formes fantastique, strange, - 'As in his fickle thought he wisht to be? - 'But that he daunc'd with such facilitie, - 'As like a lyon he could pace with pride, - 'Ply like a plant, and like a riuer slide. - - -82. - - 'And how was _Cæneus_[240] made at first a man, - 'And then a woman, then a man againe, - 'But in a daunce? which when he first began - 'Hee the man's part in measure did sustaine: - 'But when he chang'd into a second straine, - 'He daunc'd the woman's part another space, - 'And then return'd into his former place. - -[Footnote 240: Virgil, Æneid VI., 448, calls him Cænis: - - .... 'et juvenis quondam, nunc femina, Cænis, - Rursus et in veterem fato revoluta figuram.' - -He is mentioned again in Homer, Iliad I. 264. G.] - - -83. - - 'Hence sprang the fable of _Tiresias_, - 'That he the pleasure of both sexes tryde; - 'For in a daunce he man and woman was - 'By often chaunge of place from side to side; - 'But for the woman easily did slide - 'And smoothly swim with cunning hidden art, - 'He tooke more pleasure in a woman's part. - - -84. - - 'So to a fish _Venus_ herselfe did change,[241] - 'And swimming through the soft and yeelding waue, - 'With gentle motions did so smoothly range, - 'As none might see where she the water draue; - 'But this plaine truth that falsèd fable gaue, - 'That she did daunce with slyding easines, - 'Plyant and quick in wandring passages. - -[Footnote 241: _Met._ III., 320, &c., &c. G.] - - -85. - - 'And merry _Bacchus_ practis'd dauncing to[o], - 'And to the Lydian numbers,[242] rounds did make: - 'The like he did in th' Easterne India doo, - 'And taught them all when _Ph[oe]bus_ did awake, - 'And when at night he did his coach[243] forsake: - 'To honor heaun, and heau'ns great roling eye - 'With turning daunces, and with melodie. - -[Footnote 242: Cf. L'Allegro 'Lap me in soft Lydian airs.' (l 136.) G.] - -[Footnote 243: Qu: couch? G.] - - -86. - - 'Thus they who first did found a Common-weale, - 'And they who first Religion did ordaine, - 'By dauncing, first the peoples hearts did steale: - 'Of whom we now a thousand tales doe faine; - 'Yet doe we now their perfect rules retaine - 'And vse them stil in such deuises new, - 'As in the World, long since their withering, grew. - - -87. - - 'For after townes and kingdomes founded were, - 'Betweene greate States arose well-ordered War; - 'Wherein most perfect measure doth appeare, - 'Whether their well-set rankes respected are - 'In quadrant forme or semicircular: - 'Or else the march, when all the troups aduance, - 'And to the drum, in gallant order daunce. - - -88. - - 'And after Warrs, when white-wing'd Victory - 'Is with a glorious tryumph beautified, - 'And euery one doth _Io Io_ cry, - 'Whiles all in gold the conquerour doth ride; - 'The solemne pompe that fils the Citty wide - 'Obserues such ranke and measure euerywhere, - 'As if they altogether dauncing were. - - -89. - - 'The like iust order mourners doe obserue, - '(But with vnlike affection and atire) - 'When some great man that nobly did deserue, - 'And whom his friends impatiently desire, - 'Is brought with honour to his latest fire:[244] - 'The dead corps too in that sad daunce is mou'd - 'As if both dead and liuing, dauncing lou'd. - -[Footnote 244: Incremation. G.] - - -90. - - 'A diuers cause, but like solemnitie - 'Vnto the Temple leads the bashfull bride: - 'Which blusheth like the Indian iuory - 'Which is with dip of Tyrian purple died; - 'A golden troope doth passe on euery side, - 'Of flourishing young men and virgins gay, - 'Which keepe faire measure all the flowry way. - - -91. - - 'And not alone the generall multitude, - 'But those choise _Nestors_ which in councell graue - 'Of citties, and of kingdomes doe conclude, - 'Most comly order in their sessions haue; - 'Wherefore the wise Thessalians euer gaue - 'The name of leader of their Countrie's daunce - 'To him that had their Countrie's gouernance. - - -92. - - 'And those great masters of their liberall arts, - 'In all their seurall Schooles doe Dauncing teach: - 'For humble Grammer first doth set the parts - 'Of congruent and well-according speach; - 'Which Rethorike, whose state the clouds doth reach, - 'And heau'nly Poetry, doe forward lead, - 'And diuers measures diuersly doe tread. - - -93. - - 'For Rhetorick, clothing speech in rich aray - 'In looser numbers teacheth her to range, - 'With twenty tropes, and turnings euery way, - 'And various figures and licencious change; - 'But Poetry with rule and order strange, - 'So curiously doth moue each single pace, - 'As all is mard if she one foot misplace. - - -94. - - 'These Arts of speach, the guids and marshals are; - 'But Logick leadeth Reason in a daunce: - '(Reason the cynosure and bright load-star, - 'In this World's sea t' auoid the rock of Chaunce.) - 'For with close following and continuance - 'One reason doth another so ensue,[245] - 'As in conclusion still the daunce is true. - -[Footnote 245: Pursue or succeed. G.] - - -95. - - 'So Musicke to her owne sweet tunes doth trip - 'With tricks of 3, 5, 8, 15, and more; - 'So doth the Art of Numbering seeme to skip - 'From eu'n to odd in her proportion'd score; - 'So doe those skils, whose quick eyes doe explore - 'The iust dimension both of Earth and Heau'n, - 'In all their rules obserue a measure eu'n. - - -96. - - 'Loe this is Dauncing's true nobilitie, - 'Dauncing, the child of Musicke and of Loue; - 'Dauncing it selfe, both loue and harmony, - 'Where all agree, and all in order moue; - 'Dauncing, the Art that all Arts doe approue; - 'The faire caracter of the World's consent, - 'The Heau'ns true figure and th' Earth's ornament. - - -97. - - The Queene, whose dainty eares had borne too long, - The tedious praise of that she did despise; - Adding once more the musicke of the tongue - To the sweet speech of her alluring eyes, - Began to answer in such winning wise, - As that forthwith _Antinous'_ tongu[e] was tyde, - His eyes fast fixt, his eares were open wide. - - -98. - - 'Forsooth (quoth she) great glory you haue won, - 'To your trim minion, Dauncing, all this while, - 'By blazing him Loue's first begotten sonne; - 'Of euery ill the hateful father vile - 'That doth the world with sorceries beguile; - 'Cunningly mad, religiously prophane, - 'Wit's monster, Reason's canker, Sence's bane. - - -99. - - 'Loue taught the mother that vnkinde desire - 'To wash her hands in her owne infant's blood; - 'Loue taught the daughter to betray her sire - 'Into most base vnworthy seruitude; - 'Loue taught the brother to prepare such foode - 'To feast his brothers that the all-seeing sun - 'Wrapt in a clowd, that wicked sight did shun.[246] - -[Footnote 246: The Cenci of Shelley has 'married' this tragical crime -to 'immortal verse.' G.] - - -100. - - 'And euen this self same Loue hath dauncing taught, - 'An Art that showes th' Idea of his minde - 'With vainesse, frenzie, and misorder fraught; - 'Sometimes with blood and cruelties vnkinde: - 'For in a daunce, _Tereus'_ mad wife did finde - 'Fit time and place by murther[247] of her sonne, - 'T' auenge the wrong his trayterous sire had done. - -[Footnote 247: In first edition, 'murthering.' G.] - - -101. - - 'What meane the mermayds when they daunce and sing - 'But certaine death vnto the marriner? - 'What tydings doe the dauncing dilphins[248] bring, - 'But that some dangerous storme approcheth nere? - 'Then sith both Loue and Dauncing lyueries beare - 'Of such ill hap, vnhappy may I[249] proue, - 'If sitting free I either daunce or loue.' - -[Footnote 248: In first edition also spelled 'dilphins' = dolphins. G.] - -[Footnote 249: In first edition, 'they.' G.] - - -102. - - Yet once again _Antinous_ did reply; - 'Great Queen, condemne not Loue[250] the innocent, - 'For this mischeuous lust, which traterously - 'Vsurps his name, and steales his ornament: - 'For that true Loue which Dauncing did inuent, - 'Is he that tun'd the World's whole harmony, - 'And linkt all men in sweet societie. - -[Footnote 250: Note here, 'True Loue inventor of dauncing.' G] - - -103. - - 'He first extracted from th' earth-mingled mind - 'That heau'nly fire, or quintessence diuine, - 'Which doth such simpathy in beauty find, - 'As is betweene the elme and fruitful vine, - 'And so to beauty euer doth encline; - 'Life's[251] life it is, and cordiall to the heart, - 'And of our better part, the better part. - -[Footnote 251: Spelled 'Liues.' G.] - - -104. - - 'This _is true Loue_, by that true _Cupid_ got, - 'Which daunceth galliards in your amorous eyes, - 'But to your frozen hart approcheth not-- - 'Onely your hart he dares not enterprise; - 'And yet through euery other part he flyes, - 'And euery where he nimbly daunceth now, - 'Though[252] in your selfe, your selfe perceiue not how. - -[Footnote 252: Thomas Davies and Southey, as before, misprint -egregiously 'that.' G.] - - -105. - - 'For your sweet beauty daintily transfus'd - 'With due proportion throughout euery part; - 'What is it but a daunce where Loue hath vs'd - 'His finer cunning, and more curious art? - 'Where all the elements themselues impart, - 'And turne, and wind, and mingle with such measure, - 'That th' eye that sees it surfeits with the pleasure? - - -106. - - 'Loue in the twinckling of your eylids daunceth, - 'Loue daunceth in your pulses and your vaines, - 'Loue when you sow, your needle's point aduanceth - 'And makes it daunce a thousand curious straines - 'Of winding rounds, whereof the forme remaines; - 'To shew, that your faire hands can daunce the hey, - 'Which your fine feet would learne as well as they. - - -107. - - 'And when your iuory fingers touch the strings - 'Of any siluer-sounding instrument; - 'Loue makes them daunce to those sweete murmerings, - 'With busie skill, and cunning excellent; - 'O that your feet those tunes would represent - 'With artificiall motions to and fro, - 'That Loue this art in ev'ry part might sho[w]e! - - -108. - - 'Yet your faire soule, which came from heau'n aboue - 'To rule thys house,--another heau'n below,-- - 'With diuers powers in harmony doth moue, - 'And all the vertues that from her doe flow, - 'In a round measure hand in hand doe goe: - 'Could I now see, as I conceiue thys Daunce, - 'Wonder and Loue would cast me in a traunce. - - -109. - - 'The richest iewell in all the heau'nly treasure - 'That euer yet vnto the Earth was showne, - 'Is perfect Concord, th' onely perfect pleasure[253] - 'That wretched earth-borne men haue euer knowne, - 'For many harts it doth compound in one; - 'That when so one doth will, or speake, or doe, - 'With one consent they all agree thereto. - -[Footnote 253: Margin-Note here, 'Concord.' G.] - - -110. - - 'Concord's true picture shineth in this art, - 'Where diuers men and women rankèd be, - 'And euery one doth daunce a seuerall part, - 'Yet all as one, in measure doe agree, - 'Obseruing perfect vniformitie; - 'All turne together, all together trace, - 'And all together honour and embrace. - - -111. - - 'If they whom sacred Loue hath link't in one, - 'Doe as they daunce, in all their course of life, - 'Neuer shall burning griefe nor bitter mone, - 'Nor factious difference, nor vnkind strife, - 'Arise betwixt the husband and the wife; - 'For whether forth or bake[254] or round he goe - As the man doth, so must the woman doe. - -[Footnote 254: 'Back,' same as 'blake,' page 176, _ante_, for 'black.' -G.] - - -112. - - 'What if by often enterchange of place - 'Sometime the woman gets the vpper hand? - 'That is but done for more delightfull grace, - 'For one[255] that part shee doth not euer stand; - 'But, as the measure's law doth her command, - 'Shee wheeles about, and ere the daunce doth end, - 'Into her former place shee doth transcend. - -[Footnote 255: = on. G.] - - -113. - - 'But not alone this correspondence meet - 'And vniform consent doth dauncing praise; - 'For _Comlines_ the child of order sweet,[2] - 'Enamels it with her eye-pleasing raies; - 'Fair Comlines, ten hundred thousand waies, - 'Through dauncing shedds it selfe, and makes shine - 'With glorious beauty, and with grace diuine. - - -114. - - 'For _Comliness_ is a disposing faire - 'Of things and actions in fit time and place; - 'Which doth in dauncing shew it selfe most cleere, - 'When troopes confus'd, which here and there doe trace - 'Without distinguishment or bounded space: - 'By dauncing's rule, into such ranks are brought, - 'As glads the eye, as rauisheth the thought. - - -115. - - 'Then why should Reason iudge that reasonles - 'Which is wit's ofspring, and the worke of art, - 'Image of concord and of comlines? - 'Who sees a clock mouing in euery part, - 'A sayling pinnesse,[256] or a wheeling cart; - 'But thinks that Reason, ere it came to passe - 'The first impulsiue cause and mouer was? - -[Footnote 256: In first edition, spelled 'pinnesse' also, = pinnace. G.] - - -116. - - 'Who sees an Armie all in ranke aduance, - 'But deemes a wise Commaunder is in place, - 'Which leadeth on that braue victorious daunce? - 'Much more in Dauncing's Art, in Dauncing's grace, - 'Blindnes it selfe may Reason's footstep trace; - '_For of Loue's maze it is the curious plot, - 'And of Man's fellowship the true-love knot_. - - -117. - - 'But if these eyes of yours, (load-starrs of Loue, - 'Shewing the World's great daunce to your mind's eye!) - 'Cannot with all their demonstrations moue - 'Kinde apprehension in your fantasie, - 'Of Dauncing's vertue, and nobilitie; - 'How can my barbarous tongue win you there to, - 'Which Heau'n and Earth's faire speech could neuer do? - - -118. - - 'O Loue my king: if all my wit and power - 'Haue done you all the seruice that they can, - 'O be you present in this present hower, - 'And help your seruant and your true Leige-man - 'End that perswasion which I earst began; - 'For who in praise of Dauncing can perswade - 'With such sweet force as Loue, which Dancing made? - - -119. - - Loue heard his prayer, and swifter then the wind, - Like to a page, in habit, face, and speech, - He came, and stood _Antinous_ behind, - And many secrets to his thoughts did teach;[257] - At last a christall mirrour he did reach - Vnto his hands, that he with one rash view, - All formes therein by Loue's reuealing knew. - -[Footnote 257: Margin-Note here, 'A passage to the description of -dauncing in this age.' G.] - - -120. - - And humbly honouring, gaue it to the Queene - With this faire speech: 'See fairest Queene (quoth he) - 'The fairest sight that euer shall be seene, - 'And th' onely wonder of posteritie, - 'The richest worke in Nature's treasury; - 'Which she disdaines to shew on this World's stage, - 'And thinkes it far too good for our rude age. - - -121. - - 'But in another World diuided far: - 'In the great, fortunate, triangled Ile, - 'Thrise twelue degrees remou'd from the North star, - 'She will this glorious workemanship compile; - 'Which she hath beene conceiuing all this while - 'Since the World's birth, and will bring forth at last, - 'When sixe and twenty hundred yeares are past.' - - -122. - - _Penelope_, the Queene, when she had view'd - The strang eye-dazeling, admirable sight, - Faine would have praisd the state and pulchritude, - But she was stricken dumbe with wonder quite, - Yet her sweet minde retain'd her thinking might; - Her rauisht minde in heaunly thoughts did dwel, - But what she thought, no mortall tongue can tel. - - -123. - - You lady Muse, whom _Ioue_ the Counsellour - Begot of Memorie, Wisdom's treasuresse; - To your diuining tongue is giuen a power - Of vttering secrets large and limitlesse: - You can _Penelope's_ strange thoughts expresse - Which she conceiu'd, and then would faine haue told, - When shee the wond'rous christall did behold. - - -124. - - Her wingèd thoughts bore vp her minde so hie, - As that she weend shee saw the glorious throne - Where the bright moone doth sit in maiesty: - A thousand sparkling starres about her shone, - But she herselfe did sparkle more alone - Then all those thousand beauties would haue done - If they had been confounded all in one. - - -125. - - And yet she thought those stars mou'd in such measure. - To do their soueraigne honor and delight, - As sooth'd her minde, with sweet enchanting plesure, - Although the various change amaz'd her sight, - And her weake iudgement did entangle quite; - Beside, their mouing made them shine more cleare, - As diamonds mou'd more sparkling do appeare. - - -126. - - This was the picture of her wondrous thought; - But who can wonder that her thought was so, - Sith _Vulcan_ king of fire that mirror wrought, - (Who things to come, present, and past, doth know) - And there did represent in liuely show - Our glorious English Courts diuine image, - As it should be in this our Golden Age. - - * * * * * - - _Here are wanting some Stanzaes describing Queene Elizabeth. Then - follow these._ - - -127. - - Her brighter dazeling beames of maiestie - Were laid aside, for she vouchsaft awhile - With gracious, cheerefull, and familiar eye - Vpon the reuels of her Court to smile; - For so Time's Iourneis she doth oft beguile: - Like sight no mortall eye might elsewhere see, - So full of State, Art, and varietie. - - -128. - - For of her barons braue, and ladies faire,-- - Who had they been elsewhere, most faire had been; - Many an incomparable louely payre, - With hand in hand were interlinkèd seene, - Making faire honour to their soueraigne Queene; - Forward they pac'd, and did their pace apply - To a most sweet and solemne melody. - - -129. - - So subtile and curious was the measure, - With such[258] vnlookt for chaunge in euery straine; - As that _Penelope_ rapt with sweet pleasure, - Weend[259] shee beheld the true proportion plaine - Of her owne webb, weaud and unweaud againe; - But that her art was somewhat lesse she thought, - And on a meere ignoble subiect wrought. - -[Footnote 258: Thomas Davies, as before, drops 'such.' G.] - -[Footnote 259: Thomas Davies and Southey misread 'when.' G.] - - -130. - - For here like to the silkeworme's industry, - Beauty it selfe out of it selfe did weaue - So rare a worke, and of such subtilty, - As did all eyes entangle and deceiue, - And in all mindes a strange impression leaue; - In this sweet laborinth did _Cupid_ stray, - And neuer had the power to passe away. - - -131. - - As when the Indians, neighbours of the morning, - In honour of the cheerefull rising sunne; - With pearle and painted plumes themselues adorning, - A solemne stately measure haue begun; - The god well pleasd with that faire honour done, - Sheds foorth his beames, and doth their faces kis - With that immortal glorious face of his. - -132. - - So, &c., &c. * * * - - - _Such is 'Orchestra' as given by the Author in 1622: but in the first - edition (1596) no fewer than five omitted stanzas are found. They here - follow._ - - -127. - - Away, Terpsechore, light Muse away! - And come Vranie, prophetese diuine; - Come, Muse of heau'n, my burning thirst allay: - Euen now for want of sacred drinke I tine: - In heau'nly moysture dip thys pen of mine, - And let my mouth with nectar ouerflow, - For I must more then mortall glory show. - - -128. - - O, that I had Homer's aboundant vaine, - I would hierof another Ilias make: - Or els the man of Mantua's[260] charmèd braine, - In whose large throat great Joue the thunder spake. - O that I could old Gefferie's[261] Muse awake, - Or borrow Colin's[262] fayre heroike stile, - Or smooth my rimes with Delia's servants file.[263] - -[Footnote 260: Virgil. G.] - -[Footnote 261: Chaucer. G.] - -[Footnote 262: Spenser. G.] - -[Footnote 263: Daniel: The allusion being to his 'Sonnets to Delia.' G.] - - -129. - - O, could I, sweet Companion, sing like you, - Which, of a shadow, under a shadow sing;[264] - Or, like _Salue's_ sad lover true, - Or like the Bay, the Marigold's darling,[265] - Whose suddaine verse Loue covers with his wing: - O that your braines were mingled all with mine, - T' inlarge my wit for this great worke diuine! - -[Footnote 264: Edward Guilpin calls his volume 'Skialetheia, or a -_Shadowe_ of Truth in certain Epigrams and Satyres,' 1598. G.] - -[Footnote 265: I hazard a guess, that this may refer to _Charles -Best_, an associate of DAVIES in the 'Rhapsody,' and author -of certain vivid lines called 'A Sonnet of the Sun: a jewell, being -a sun shining upon the _Marigold_ closed in a heart of gold, sent to -his mistress, named Mary, among others. See _Nicolas's_ edition of the -'Rhapsody,' Vol. I., pp. 183, 184. G.] - - -130. - - Yet, Astrophell might one for all suffize, - Whose supple Muse Camelion-like doth change - Into all formes of excellent deuise: - So might the Swallow,[266] whose swift Muse doth range - Through rare Idæas, and inuentions strange, - And euer doth enioy her ioyfull Spring, - And sweeter then the Nightingale doth sing. - -[Footnote 266: Perhaps a play on his 'then' friend's name of Martin. G.] - - -131. - - O that I might that singing Swallow heare, - To whom I owe my seruice and my loue! - His sugred tunes would so enchant mine eare, - And in my mind such sacred fury moue, - As I should knock at Heau'ns gate aboue, - With my proude rimes, while of this heau'nly state - I doe aspire the shadow to relate.[267] - -[Footnote 267: Collier gives _supra_ in his 'Bibliographical Account of -Early English Literature,' _s.n._] - - $Finis.$ - - - _Uniform with the present volume._ - - EARLY ENGLISH POETS - - Edited, with Introductions and copious Notes, by the REV - A. B. GROSART. Elegantly printed on fine paper, Crown - 8vo., Cloth, 6s. per volume. - - [asterism] LARGE PAPER COPIES, ONLY 50 PRINTED. - - "Mr. Grosart has spent the most laborious and the most enthusiastic - care on the perfect restoration and preservation of the - text; and it is very unlikely that any other edition of the poet - can ever be called for.... From Mr. Grosart we always - expect and always receive the final results of most patient and - competent scholarship."--_Examiner._ - - I. FLETCHER'S (GILES B. D.) COMPLETE POEMS, - Christ's Victorie in Heaven, Christ's Victorie on Earth, - Christ's Triumph over Death, and Minor Poems, with - Memorial-Introduction and Notes. - - II. DAVIES' (SIR JOHN) COMPLETE POETICAL - WORKS, including Psalms I. to L. in Verse, and other - hitherto unpublished MSS., for the first time collected - and edited, with Memorial-Introduction and Notes, 2 - volumes. - - III. HERRICK'S (ROBERT) HESPERIDES, NOBLE - NUMBERS, and complete Collected Poems, with - Notes, Introductory Memoir, and facsimile Portrait, - Index of First Lines and Glossary, 3 volumes. [_In the - press._ - - IV. SIDNEY'S (SIR PHILIP) COMPLETE POETICAL - WORKS, including the Songs and Sonnets, - Astrophel and Stella, the May Lady, &c., &c., with - Memorial-Introduction and copious notes. [_In preparation._ - - V. DONNE'S (JOHN) COMPLETE POETICAL - WORKS, including the Poems on Several Occasions, - the Satyrs, Polydoran, &c., &c., with Introductory Memoir - and copious Explanatory Notes. [_In preparation._ - - - Other volumes are in active preparation. - - _CHATTO AND WINDUS, Piccadilly, W._ - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. -Volume 1 of 2., by John Davies - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS OF SIR JOHN DAVIES (1/2) *** - -***** This file should be named 44977-8.txt or 44977-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/9/7/44977/ - -Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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