Imprimatur Nov. 25. 1663. Roger L'Estrange POEMS By the Incomparable Mrs. K. P. LONDON Printed by J. G. for Rich. Marriott at his Shop under S. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1664. To the most excellently accomplish'd Mrs. K. P. upon her Poems 1. WE allow'd your Beauty and we did submit To all the tyrannies of it Ah cruel Sex will you depose us too in Wit Orinda does in that too reign Does Man behind her in proud triumph draw And cancel great Apollo's Salick Law We our old Title plead in vain Man may be Head but Woman 's now our Brain Worse then Love's fire-arms heretofore In Beauty's camp it was not known Too many arms besides the Conquerour bore 'T was the great Cannon we brought down T assault the stubborn Town Orinda first did a bold sally make Our strongest quarter take And so successful prov'd that she Turn'd upon Love himself his own Artillery 2. Women as if the Body were the whole Did that and not the Soul Transmit to their posterity If in it something they conceiv'd Th' abortive Issue never liv'd 'T were shame and pity Orinda if in thee A Sp'rit so rich so noble and so high Should unmanur'd or barren lie But thou industriously hast sow'd and till'd The fair and fruitful Field And 't is a strange increase that it doth yield As when the happy Gods above Meet all together at a F east A secret joy unspeakably does move In their great Mother Semele's contented breast With no less pleasure thou methinks shouldst see Thus thy no less immortal Progeny And in their Birth thou no one touch do st find Of th' ancient C urse to Woman-kind Thou bring ' st not forth with pain It neither travel is nor labour of thy Brain So easily they from thee come And there is so much room I' th' unexhausted and unfathom'd womb That like the Holland Countess thou might ' st bear A Child for ev'ry day of all the fertile year 3. Thou dost my wonder would ' st my envy raise If to be prais'd I lov'd more then to praise Where-e're I see an excellence I must admire to see thy well-knit Sense Thy Numbers gentle and thy Passions high These as thy Forehead smooth those sparkling as thy Eye 'T is solid and 't is manly all Or rather 't is Angelical For as in Angels we Do in thy Verses see Both improv'd Sexes eminently meet They are then Man more strong and more then Woman sweet 4. They talk of Nine I know not who Female Chimaera's that o're Poets reign I ne're could find that Fancy true But have invok'd them oft I 'me sure in vain They talk of Sappho but alas the shame I' th' manners soil the lustre of her fame Orinda's inward Vertue is so bright That like a Lantern's fair enclosed light It through the Paper shines where she doth write Honour and Friendship and the gen'rous scorn Of things for which we were not born Things which of custom by a fond disease Like that of Girles our vicious stomachs please Are the instructive subjects of her Pen. And as the Roman Victory Taught our rude Land arts and civility At once she takes enslaves and governs Men. 5. But Rome with all her arts could ne're inspire A Female Breast with such a fire The warlike Amazonian Train Which in Elysium now do peaceful reign And Wit 's wild Empire before Arms prefer Find ' twill be settled in their Sex by her Merlin the Prophet and sure he 'l not lie In such an awful Company Does Prophecies of learn'd Orinda show What he had darkly spoke so long ago Even Boadicla's's angry Ghost Forgets her own misfortune and disgrace And to her injur'd Daughters now does boast That Rome's o'recome at last by a Woman of her race Abraham Cowley To the Incomparable Mrs. K. P. Author of these Poems Madam THe Beauty of your Lines is 't not so clear You need no Foil to make 't the more appear She that 's Superlative although alone Consider'd gains not by Comparison And yet whate're hath hitherto been writ By others tends to magnifie your Wit What 's said of Origen When he did well Interpret Texts no man did him excell When ill no man did e're go so awry We may t' your Sex though not to you apply For now we 've seen from a Feminine Quill Poetry good as e're was and as ill H. A. THE TABLE Poem 1 UPon the double Murther of K. Charles I. in answer to a libellous copy of Rimes made by Vavasor Powell Page 1 2 On the numerous access of the English to wait upon the King in Flanders 3 3 Arion to a Dolphin on His Majesty's passage into England 5 4 On the fair weather just at Coronation 9 5 To the Queen's Majesty on her arrival at Portsmouth May 14. 1662. 10 6 To the Queen-mother's Majesty Jan. 1. 1660 1. 13 7 Upon the Princess Royal her return into England 16 8 On the death of the illustrious Duke of Gloucester 18 9 To her Royal Highness the Duchess of York on her commanding me to send her some things that I had written 22 10 On the death of the Queen of Bohemia 24 11 On the 3 of September 1651. 27 12 To the noble Palaemon on his incomparable discourse of Friendship 29 13 To the right Honourable Alice Countess of Carbury on her enriching Wales with her presence 31 14 To Sir Edw. Deering the noble Silvander on his Dream and Navy personating Orinda's preferring Rosania before Solomon's traffick to Ophir 34 15 To the truly-noble Mr. Henry Lawes 37 16 A Sea-voyage from Tenby to Bristoll begun Sept. 5 1652. sent from Bristoll to Lucasia Sept. 8. 1652. 39 17 Friendship 's Mystery to my dearest Lucasia Set by Mr. Henry Lawes 43 18 Content to my dearest Lucasia 45 19 A Dialogue of Absence 'twixt Lucasia and Orinda Set by Mr. Henry Lawes 50 20 To my dear Sister Mrs. C. P. on her Nuptial 52 21 To Mr. Henry Vaughan Silurist on his Poems 54 22 A retir'd Friendship to Ardelia 56 23 To Mrs. Mary Carne when Philaster courted her 59 24 To Mr. J. B. the noble Cratander upon a Composition of his which he was not willing to own publickly 62 25 Lucasia 64 26 Wiston Vault 68 27 Friendship in Embleme or the Seal To my dearest Lucasia 70 28 In memory of T. P. who died at Action May 24. 1660. at 12. and ½ of age 75 29 In memory of that excellent person Mrs. Mary Lloyd of Bodidrist in Denbigh-shire who died Nov. 13. 1656. after she came thither from Pembroke-shire 81 30 To the truly-competent judge of Honour Lucasia upon a scandalous Libel made by J. Jones 87 31 To Antenor on a Paper of mine which J. Jones threatens to publish to prejudice him 91 32 To the truly-noble Mrs. Anne Owen on my first approches 93 33 Rosania shadowed whilest Mrs. Mary Awbrey 94 34 To the Queen of Inconstancy Regina Collier in Antwerp 100 35 To the excellent
mankind wish for in vain But yet his Pleasure 's follow'd with a Groan For man was never born to be alone 8. Content her-self best comprehends Borwixt-two souls and they two friends Whose either joyes in both are fixed And multiply'd by being mixed Whose minds and interests are still the same Their Griefs when once imparted lose their name 10. These far remov'd from all bold noise And what is worse all hollow joyes Who never had a mean design Whose flame is serious and divine And calm and even must contented be For they 've both Union and Society 11. Then my Lucasia we have Whatever Love can give or crave With scorn or pity can survey The Trifles which the most betray With innocence and perfect friendship fired By Vertue joyn'd and by our Choice retired 12. Whose Mirrours are the crystal Brooks Or else each others Hearts and Looks Who cannot wish for other things Then Privacy and Friendship brings Whose thoughts and persons chang'd and mixt are one Enjoy Content or else the World hath none XIX A Dialogue of Absence 'twixt Lucasia and Orinda Set by Mr. Hen. Lawes Luc. SAy my Orinda why so sad Orin Absence frō thee doth tear my heart Which since with thine it union had Each parting splits Luc. And can we part Orin Our Bodies must Luc. But never we Our Souls without the help of Sense By wayes more noble and more free Can meet and hold intelligence Orin And yet those Souls when first they met Lookt out at windows through the Eyes Luc. But soon did such acquaintance get Not Fate nor Time can them surprize Orin Absence will rob us of that bliss To which this Friendship title brings Love's fruits and joyes are made by this Useless as Crowns to captiv'd Kings Luc. Friendship 's a Science and we know There Contemplation's most employ'd Orin Religion's so but practick too And both by niceties destroy'd Luc. But who ne're parts can never meet And so that happiness were lost Orin Thus Pain and Death are sadly sweet Since Health and Heav'n such price must cost Chorus But we shall come where no rude hand shall sever And there wee 'l meet and part no more for ever XX. To my dear Sister Mrs. C. P. on her Nuptial WE will not like those men our offerings pay Who crown the cup then think they crown the day We make no garlands nor an altar build Which help not Joy but Ostentation yield Where mirth is justly grounded these wild toyes ********** 2. But these shall be my great Solemnities Orinda's wishes for Cassandra's bliss May her Content be as unmix'd and pure As my Affection and like that endure And that strong Happiness may she still find Not owing to her Fortune but her Mind 3. May her Content and Duty be the same And may she know no Grief but in the name May his and her Pleasure and Love be so Involv'd and growing that we may not know Who most Affection or most Peace engrost Whose Love is strongest or whose Bliss is most 4. May nothing accidental e're appear But what shall with new bonds their Souls endear And may they count the hours as they pass By their own Joys and not by Sun or Glass While every day like this may sacred prove To Friendship Gratitude and strictest Love XXI To Mr. Henry Vaughan Silurist on his Poems HAd I ador'd the multitude and thence Got an antipathy to Wit and Sense And hugg'd that fate in hope the World would grant 'T was good affection to be ignorant Yet the least Ray of thy bright fancy seen I had converted or excuseless been For each Birth of thy Muse to after-times Shall expiate for all this Age's crimes First shines thy Amoret twice crown'd by thee Once by thy Love next by thy Poetry Where thou the best of Unions dost dispence Truth cloth'd in Wit and Love in Innocence So that the muddiest Lovers may learn here No Fountains can be sweet that are not clear There Juvenal reviv'd by thee declares How flat man's Joys are and how mean his Cares And generally upbraids the World that they Should such a value for their Ruine pay But when thy sacred Muse diverts her Quill The Landskip to design of Leon's hill As nothing else was worthy her or thee So we admire almost t' Idolatry What Savage breast would not be rap'd to find Such Jewels in such Cabinets enshrin'd Thou fill'd with Joys too great to see or count Descend'st from thence like Moses from the Mount And with a candid yet unquestion daw Restor'st the Golden Age when Verse was Law Instructing us thou who secur'st thy fame That nothing can disturb it but my name Nay I have hopes that standing so near thine 'T will lose its dress and by degrees refine Live till the disabused World consent All Truths of Use or Strength or Ornament Are with such Harmony by thee display'd As the whole World was first by Number made And from the charming Rigour thy Muse brings Learn there 's no pleasure but in serious things XXII A retir'd Friendship to Ardelia COme my Ardelia to this Bower Where kindly mingling Souls awhile Let 's innocently spend an hour And at all ferious follies smile 2. Here is no quarrelling for Crowns Nor fear of changes in our Fate No trembling at the great ones frowns Nor any slavery of State 3. Here 's no disguise nor treachery Nor any deep conceal'd design From Bloud and Plots this place is free And calm as are those looks of thine 4. Here let us sit and bless our Stars Who did such happy qulet give As that remov'd from noise of Wars In one anothers hearts we live 5. Why should we entertain a fear Love cares not how the World is turn'd If crouds of dangers should appear Yet Friendship can be unconcern'd 6. We wear about us such a charm No horrour can be our offence For mischief's self can doe no harm To Friendship or to Innocence 7. Let 's mark how soon Apollo's beams Command the flocks to quit their meat And not entreat the neighbouring Springs To quench their thirst but cool their heat 8. In such a scorching Age as this Who would not ever seek a shade Deserve their Happiness to miss As having their own peace betray'd 9. But we of one anothers mind Assur'd the boisterous World disdain With quiet Souls and unconfin'd Enjoy what Princes wish in vain XXIII To Mrs. Mary Carne when Philaster courted her Madam AS some great Conqueror who knows no bounds But hunting Honour in a thousand wounds Pursues his rage and thinks that Triumph cheap That 's but attended with the common heap Till his more happy fortune doth afford Some Royal Captive that deserv'd his sword And onely now is of his Laurel proud Thinking his dang'rous valour well bestow'd But then retreats and spending hate no more Thinks Mercy now what Courage was before As Cowardise in fight so equally He doth abhor a bloudy Victory So Madam though your Beauty were
my breath XXXIX To Regina Collier on her Cruelty to Philaster TRiumphant Queen of scorn how ill doth sit In all that Sweetness such injurious Wit Unjust and Cruel what can be your prize To make one heart a double Sacrifice Where such ingenuous Rigour you do shew To break his Heart you break his Image too And by a Tyranny that 's strange and new You Murther him because he Worships you No Pride can raise you or can make him start Since Love and Honour do enrich his heart Be Wise and Good lest when Fate will be just She should o'rethrow those glories in the dust Rifle your Beauties and you thus forlorn Make a cheap Victim to another's scorn And in those Fetters which you do upbraid Your self a wretched Captive may be made Redeem the poyson'd Age let it be seen There 's no such freedom as to serve a Queen But you I see are lately Round-head grown And whom you vanquish you insult upon XL. To Philaster on his Metancholy for Regina GIve over now thy tears thou vain And double Murtherer For every minute of thy pain Wounds both thy self-and her Then leave this dulness for 't is our belief Thy Queen must cure or not deserve thy Grief XLI Philoclea's parting Feb. 25. 1650. KInder then a condemned Man's Reprieve Was your dear Company that bad me live When by Rosannia's silence I had been The wretchedst Martyr any Age hath seen But as when Traytors faint upon the Rack Tormentors strive to call their Spirits back Not out of kindness to preserve their breath But to increase the Torments of their Death So was I raised to this glorious height To make my fall the more unfortunate But this I know none ever dy'd before Upon a sadder or a nobler score XLII To Rosannia now Mrs. Mountague being with her Septemb. 25. 1652. 1. AS men that are with Visions grac'd Must have all other thoughts displac'd And buy those short descents of Light With loss of Sense or Spirit 's flight 2. So since thou wert my happiness I could not hope the rate was less And thus the Vision which I gain Is short t' enjoy and hard t' attain 3. Ah then what a poor trifle's all That thing which here we Pleasure call Since what our very Souls hath cost Is hardly got and quickly lost 4. Yet is there Justice in the fate For should we dwell in blest estate Our Joyes thereby would so inflame We should forget from whence we came 5. If this so sad a doom can quit Me for the follies I commit Let no estrangement on thy part Adde a new ruine to my heart 6. When on my self I do reflect I can no smile from thee expect But if thy Kindness hath no plea Some freedom grant for Charity 7. Else the just World must needs deny Our Friendship an Eternity This Love will ne're that title hold For thine 's too hot and mine 's too cold 8. Divided Rivers lose their name And so our too-unequal flame Parted will Passion be in me And an Indifference in thee 9. Thy Absence I could easier find Provided thou wert well and kind Then such a Presence as is this Made up of snatches of my bliss 10. So when the Earth long gasps for rain If she at last some few drops gain She is more parched then at first That small recruit increas'd the thirst XLIII To my Lucasia LEt dull Philosophers inquire no more In Nature's womb or Causes strivet ' explore By what strange harmony and course of things Each body to the whole a tribute brings What secret unions secret Neighbourings make And of each other how they do partake These are but low Experiments but he That Nature's harmony intire would see Must search agreeing Souls sit down and view How sweet the mixture is how full how true By what soft touches Spirits greet and kiss And in each other can complete their bliss A wonder so sublime it will admit No rude Spectator to contemplate it The Object will refine and he that can Friendship revere must be a Noble man How much above the common rate of things Must they then be from whom this Union springs But what 's all this to me who live to be Disprover of my own Morality And he that knew my unimproved Soul Would say I meant all Friendship to controul But Bodies move in time and so must Minds And though th' attempt no easie progress finds Yet quit me not lest I should desp'rate grow And to such Friendship adde some Patience now O may good Heav'n but so much Vertue lend To make me fit to be Lucasia's Friend But I 'le forsake my self and seek a new Self in her breast that 's far more rich and true Thus the poor Bee unmark'd doth humme and fly And droan'd with age would unregarded dy Unless some curious Artist thither come Will bless the Insect with an Amber-tomb Then glorious in its funeral the Bee Gets Eminence and gets Eternity XLIV On Controversies in Religion REligion which true Policy befriends Design'd by God to serve Man's noblest ends Is by that old Deceiver's subtile play Made the chief party in its own decay And meets that Eagle's destiny whose breast Felt the same shaft which his own feathers drest For that great Enemy of Souls perceiv'd The notion of a Deity was weav'd So closely in Man's Soul to ruine that He must at once the World depopulate But as those Tyrants who their Wills pursue If they expound old Laws need make no new So he advantage takes of Nature's light And raises that to a bare useless height Or while we seek for Truth he in the Quest Mixes a Passion or an Interest To make us lose it that I know not how 'T is not our Practice but our Quarrel now And as in th' Moon 's Eclipse some Pagans thought Their barbarous Clamours her deliverance wrought So we suppose that Truth oppressed lies And needs a Rescue from our Enmities But 't is Injustice and the Mind's Disease To think of gaining Truth by losing Peace Knowledge and Love if true do still unite God's Love and Knowledge are both Infinite And though indeed Truth does delight to lie At some Remoteness from a Common Eye Yet 't is not in a Thunder or a Noise But in soft Whispers and the stiller Voice Why should we then Knowledge so rudely treat Making our weapon what was meant our meat 'T is Ignorance that makes us quarrel so The Soul that 's dark will be contracted too Chimaera's make a noise swelling and vain And soon resolve to their own smoak again But a true Light the spirit doth dilate And robs it of its proud and sullen state Makes Love admir'd because 't is understood And makes us Wise because it makes us Good 'T is to a right Prospect of things that we Owe our Uprightness and our Charity For who resists a beam when shining bright Is not a Sinner of a common height That state 's a forfeiture
a thing That makes each Woman Man each Man a King Doth so much lose and from its height so fall That some contend to have no Soul at all 'T is either not observ'd or at the best By Passion fought withall by Sin deprest Freedom of Will God's Image is forgot And if we know it we improve it not Our Thoughts though nothing can be more our own Are still unguided very seldom known Time 'scapes our hands as Water in a Sieve We come to die e're we begin to live Truth the most sutable and noble prize Food of our Spirits yet neglected lies Errour and Shadows are our choice and we Owe our perdition to our own decree If we search Truth we make it more obscure And when it shines we can't the light endure For most men now who plod and eat and drink Have nothing less their bus'ness then to think And those few that enquire how small a share Of Truth they find how dark their Notions are That serious Evenness that calms the Breast And in a Tempest can bestow a Rest We either not attempt or else decline By ev'ry trifle snatch'd from our design Others he must in his deceits involve Who is not true unto his own Resolve We govern not our selves but loose the Reins Courting our Bondage to a thousand chains And with as many Slaveries content As there are Tyrants ready to torment We live upon a Rack extended still To one Extreme or both but always ill For since our Fortune is not understood We suffer less from bad then from the good The Sting is better drest and longer lasts As Surfeits are more dangerous then Fasts And to complete the misery to us We see Extremes are still contiguous And as we run so fast from what we hate Like Squibs on Ropes to know no middle state So outward storms strengthned by us we find Our Fortune as disordered as our Mind But that 's excus'd by this it doth its part A trech'rous World befits a trech'rous Heart All ill 's our own the outward storms we lothe Receive from us their Birth their Sting or both And that our Vanity be past a doubt 'T is one new Vanity to find it out Happy are they to whom God gives a Grave And from themselves as from his wrath doth save 'T is good not to be born but if we must The next good is soon to return to dust When th' uncag'd Soul fled to Eternity Shall rest and live and sing and love and see Here we but crawl and grapple play and cry Are first our own then others enemy But there shall be defac'd both stain and score For Time and Death and Sin shall be no more LXXI The Soul 1. HOw vain a thing is Man whose noblest part That Soul w th through the World doth come Traverses Heav'n finds out the depths of Art Yet is so ignorant at home 2. In every Brook our Mirrour we can find Reflections of our face to be But a true Optick to present our Mind We hardly get and darkly see 3. Yet in the search after our selves we run Actions and Causes we survey And when the weary Chase is almost done Then from our Quest we slip away 4. 'T is strange and sad that since we do believe We have a Soul must never die There are so few that can a Reason give How it obtains that Life or why 5. I wonder not to find those that know most Profess so much their Ignorance Since in their own Souls greatest Wits are lost And of themselves have scarce a glance 6. But somewhat sure doth here obscurely lie That above Dross would fain advance And pants and catches at Eternity As 't were its own Inheritance 7. A Soul self-mov'd which can dilate contract Pierces and judges things unseen But this gross heap of Matter cannot act Unless impulsed from within 8. Distance and Quantity to Bodies due The state of Souls cannot admit And all the Contraries which Nature knew Meet there nor hurt themselves nor it 9. God never made a Body so bright and clean Which Good and Evil could discern What these words Honesty and Honour mean The Soul alone knows how to learn 10. Aud though 't is true she is imprison'd here Yet hath she Notions of her own Which Sense doth onely jog awake and clear But cannot at the first make known 11. The Soul her own felicity hath laid And independent on the Sense Sees the weak terrours which the World invade With pity or with negligence 12. So unconcern'd she lives so much above The Rubbish of a clotty Jail That nothing doth her Energy improve So much as when those structures fail 13. She 's then a substance subtile strong and pure So immaterial and refin'd As speaks her from the Body's fate secure As wholly of a diff'rent kind 14. Religion for reward in vain would look Vertue were doom'd to misery All actions were like bubbles in a brook Were it not for Mortality 15. And as that Conquerour who Millions spent Thought it too mean to give a Mite So the World's Judge can never be content To bestow less then Infinite 16. Treason against Eternal Majesty Must have eternal Justice too And since unbounded Love did satisfie He will unbounded Mercy shew 17. It is our narrow thoughts shorten these things By their companion Flesh inclin'd Which feeling its own weakness gladly brings The same opinion to the Mind 18. We stifle our own Sun and live in Shade But where its beams do once appear They make that person of himself afraid And to his own acts most severe 19. For ways to sin close and our breasts disguise From outward search we soon may find But who can his own Soul bribe or surprise Or sin without a sting behind 20. He that commands himself is more a Prince Then he who Nations keeps in aw And those who yield to what their Souls convince Shall never need another Law LXXII Happiness NAture courts Happiness although it be Unknown as the Athenian Deity It dwells not in Man's Sense yet he supplies That want by growing fond of its disguise The false appearances of Joy deceive And seeking her unto her like we cleave For sinning Man hath scarce sense left to know Whether the Plank he grasps will hold or no. While all the business of the World is this To seek that Good which by mistake they miss And all the several Passions men express Are but for Pleasure in a diff'rent dress They hope for Happiness in being Great Or Rich or Lov'd then hug their own conceit And those which promise what they never had I' th' midst of Laughter leave the spirit sad But the Good man can find this treasure out For which in vain others do dig and doubt And hath such secret full Content within Though all abroad be storms yet he can sing His peace is made all 's quiet in that place Where Nature 's cur'd and exercis'd by Grace This inward Calm
prevents his Enemies For he can neither envy nor despise But in the beauty of his ordered Mind Doth still a new rich satisfaction find Innocent Epicure whose single breast Can furnish him with a continual feast A Prince at home and Sceptres can refuse Valuing onely what he cannot lose He studies to doe good a man may be Harmless for want of Opportunity But he 's industrious kindness to dispence And therein onely covets eminence Others do court applause and fame but he Thinks all that giddy noise but Vanity He takes no pains to be observ'd or seen While all his acts are echoed from within He 's still himself when Company are gone Too well employ'd ever to be alone For studying God in all his volumes he Begins the business of Eternity And unconcern'd without retains a power To suck like Bees a sweet from ev'ry flower And as the Manna of the Israelites Had several tastes to please all Appetites So his Contentment is that catholick food That makes all states seem fit as well as good He dares not wish nor his own fate propound But if God sends reads Love in every wound And would not lose for all the joys of Sense The glorious pleasures of Obedience His better part can neither change nor lose And all God's will can bear can doe can chuse LXXIII Death 1. HOw weak a Star doth rule Mankind Which owes its ruine to the same Causes which Nature had design'd To cherish and preserve the frame 2. As Commonwealths may be secure And no remote Invasion dread Yet may a sadder fall endure From Traitors in their bosom bred 3. So while we feel no violence And on our active Health do trust A secret hand doth snatch us hence And tumbles us into the dust 4. Yet carelesly we run our race As if we could Death's summons wave And think not on the narrow space Between a Table and a Grave 5. But since we cannot Death reprieve Our Souls and Fame we ought to mind For they our Bodies will survive That goes beyond this stayes behind 6. If I be sure my Soul is safe And that my Actions will provide My Tomb a nobler Epitaph Then that I onely liv'd and dy'd 7. So that in various accidents I Conscience may and Honour keep I with that ease and innocence Shall die as Infants go to sleep LXXIV To the Queen's Majesty on her late Sickness and Recovery THe publick Gladness that 's to us restor'd For your escape from what we so deplor'd Will want as well resemblance as belief Unless our Joy be measur'd by our Grief When in your Fever we with terrour saw At once our Hopes and Happiness withdraw And every crisis did with jealous fear Enquire the News we scarce durst stay to hear Some dying Princes have their Servants slain That after death they might not want a Train Such cruelty were here a needless sin For had our fatal Fears prophetick been Sorrow alone that service would have done And you by Nations had been waited on Your danger was in ev'ry Visage seen And onely yours was quiet and serene But all our zealous Grief had been in vain Had not Great Charles's call'd you back again Who did your suff'rings with such pain discern He lost three Kingdoms once with less concern Lab'ring your safety he neglected his Nor fear'd he Death in any shape but this His Genius did the bold Distemper tame And his rich Tears quench'd the rebellious Flame At once the Thracian Hero lov'd and griev'd Till he his lost Felicity retriev'd And with the moving accents of his wo His Spouse recover'd from the shades below So the King's grief your threatned loss withstood Who mourn'd with the same fortune that he woo'd And to his happy Passion we have been Now twice oblig'd for so ador'd a Queen But how severe a Choice had you to make When you must Heav'n delay or Him forsake Yet since those joys you made such haste to find Had scarce been full if he were left behind How well did Fate decide your inward strife By making him a Present of your Life Which rescu'd Blessing we must long enjoy Since our Offences could it not destroy For none but Death durst rival him in you And Death himself was baffled in it too FINIS Errata For Rosannia read Rosania throughout Pag. 81. for Bodiscist read Bodidrist LXXV Upon Mr. Abraham Cowley's Retirement ODE I. NO no unfaithful World thou hast Too long my easie Heart betray'd And me too long thy Foot-ball made But I am wiser grown at last And will improve by all that I have past I know'twas just I should be practis'd on For I was told before And told in sober and instructive lore How little all that trusted thee have won And yet I would make haste to be undone Now by my suff'ring I am better taught And shall no more commit that stupid fault Go get some other Fool Whom thou mayst next cajole On me thy frowns thou dost in vain bestow For I know how To be as coy and as reserv'd as thou 2. In my remote and humble seat Now I 'm again possest Of that late fugitive my Breast From all thy tumults and from all thy heat I le find a quiet and a cool retreat And on the Fetters I have worn Look with experienc'd and revengeful scorn In this my sov'raign Privacy 'T is true I cannot govern thee But yet my self I may subdue And that 's the nobler Empire of the two If ev'ry Passion had got leave Its satisfaction to receive Yet I would it a higher pleasure call To conquer one then to indulge them all 3. For thy inconstant Sea no more I 'le leave that safe and solid Shore No though to prosper in the cheat Thou shouldst my Destiny defeat And make me be Belov'd or Rich or Great Nor from my self shouldst me reclaim With all the noise and all the pomp of Fame Judiciously I 'le thee despise Too small the Bargain and too great the Price For them to cozen twice At length this secret I have learn'd Who will be happy will be unconcern'd Must all their Comfort in their Bosom wear And seek their treasure and their power there 4. No other Wealth will I aspire But of Nature to admire Nor envy on a Laurel will bestow Whil'st I have any in my Garden grow And when I would be Great 'T is but ascending to a Seat Which Nature in a lofty Rock hath built A Throne as free from trouble as from guilt Where when my Soul her wings does raise Above what Worldlings fear or praise With innocence and quiet pride I 'le sit And see the humble Waves pay tribute to my feet O Life Divine when free from joys diseas'd Not always merry but 't is always pleas'd 5. A Heart which is too great a thing To be a Present for a Persian King Which God himself would have to be his Court Where Angels would officiously resort From its own height should much decline If this Converse it should resign Ill-natur'd World for thine Thy unwise rigour hath thy Empire lost It hath not onely set me free But it hath made me see They onely can of thy possession boast Who do enjoy thee least and understand thee most For lo the Man whom all Mankind admir'd By ev'ry Grace adorn'd and ev'ry Muse inspir'd Is now triumphantly retir'd The mighty Cowley this hath done And over thee a Parthian Conquest won Which future Ages shall adore And which in this subdues thee more Then either Greek or Roman ever could before FINIS
forgiven and our stars appeased Your Mercy which no Malice could destroy Shall first bestow and then instruct our Joy For bounteous Heav'n hath in your Highness sent Our great Example Bliss and Ornament VIII On the Death of the Illustrious Duke of Gloucester GReat Glou'ster's dead and yet in this we must Confess that angry Heaven is wise and just We have so long and yet so ill endured The woes which our offences had procured That this new stroke would all our strength destroy Had we not known an intervall of Joy And yet perhaps this stroke had been excused If we this intervall had not abused But our Ingratitude and Discontent Deserv'd to know our mercies were but lent And those complaints Heav'n in this rigid fate Does first chastise and then legitimate By this it our Divisions does reprove And makes us joyn in grief if not in love For Glorious Youth all Parties do agree As in admiring so lamenting thee The Soveraign Subject Foreiners delight Thou wert the universal Favourite Not Rome's belov'd and brave Marcellus fell So much a Darling or a Miracle Though built of richest bloud and finest earth Thou hadst a heart more noble then thy birth Which by th' afflictive changes thou didst know Thou hadst but too much cause and time to shew For when Fate did thy Infancy expose To the most barbarous and stupid Foes Yet thou didst then so much express the Prince As did even them amaze if not convince Nay that loose Tyrant whom no bound confin'd Whō neither Laws nor Oaths nor Shame could bind Although his Soul was then his Look more grim Yet thy brave Innocence half softened him And he that Worth wherein thy Soul was drest By his ill-favour'd clemency confest Lessening the ill which he could not repent He call'd that Travel which was Banishment Escap'd from him thy Trials were encreas'd The scene was chang'd but not the danger ceas'd Now from rough Guardians to Seducers gone Those made thy Temper these thy Judgmt known Whil'st thou the noblest Champion wert for Truth Whether we view thy Courage or thy Youth If to foil Nature and Ambition claims Greater reward then to encounter Flames All that shall know the story must allow A Martyr's Crown prepared for thy brow But yet thou wert suspended from thy Throne Til thy Great Brother had regain'd his own Who though the bravest Suff'rer yet even he Could not at once have mist his Crown and Thee But as Commission'd Angels make no stay But having done their errand go their way So thy part done not thy restored State The future splendour which did for thee wait Nor that thy Prince and Countrey must mourn for Such a Support and such a Counsellor Could longer keep thee from that bliss whence thou Look'st down with pity on Earth's Monarchs now Where thy capacious Soul may quench her thirst And Younger Brother may inherit first While on our King Heav'n does this care express To make his Comforts safe he makes them less For this successful Heathens use to say It is too much great Gods send some allay IX To Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York on her commanding me to send her some things that I had written TO you whose Dignity strikes us with aw And whose far greater Judgment gives us law Your Mind being more transcendent then your State For while but Knees to this Hearts bow to that These humble Papers never durst come near Had not your pow'rful Word bid them appear In which such majesty such sweetness dwells As in one act obliges and compells None can dispute commands vouchsaf'd by you What shall my fears then and confusion doe They must resign and by their just pretence Some value set on my obedience For in Religious Duties 't is confest The most Implicite are accepted best If on that score your Highness will excuse This blushing tribute of an artless Muse She may encourag'd by your least regard Which first did worth create and then reward At modest distance with improved strains That Mercy celebrate which now she gains But should you that severer justice use Which these too prompt Approches may produce As the swift Doe which hath escaped long Believes a Vulgar hand would be a wrong But wounded by a Prince falls without shame And what in life she loses gains in fame So if a Ray from you chance to be sent Which to consume and not to warm is meant My trembling Muse at least more nobly dies And falls by that a truer sacrifice X. On the Death of the Queen of Bohemia ALthough the most do with officious heat Onely adore the Living and the Great Yet this Queen's Merits Fame hath so far spread That she rules still though dispossest and dead For losing one two other Crowns remain'd Over all hearts and her own griefs she reign'd Two Thrones so splendid as to none are less But to that third which she does now possess Her Heart and Birth Fortune so well did know That seeking her own fame in such a Foe She drest the spacious Theatre for the fight And the admiring World call'd to the sight An Army then of mighty Sorrows brought Who all against this single Vertue fought And sometimes stratagems and sometimes blows To her Heroick Soul they did oppose But at her feet their vain attempts did fall And she discovered and subdu'd them all Till Fortune weary of her malice grew Became her Captive and her Trophee too And by too late a suit begg'd to have been Admitted Subject to so brave a Queen But as some Hero who a field hath wone Viewing the things he had so bravely done When by his spirit's flight he finds that he With his own Life must buy the Victory He makes the slaughter'd heap that next him lies His Funeral Pile and then in triumph dies So fell this Royal Dame with conquering spent And left in every breast her monument Wherein so high an Epitaph is writ As I must never dare to copy it But that bright Angel which did on her wait In fifty years contention with her fate And in that office did with wonder see How great her troubles how much greater she How she maintain'd her best Prerogative In keeping still the power to Forgive How high she did in her Directions go And how her Condescension stoop'd as low With how much Glory she had ever been A Daughter Sister Mother Wife and Queen Will sure employ some deathless Muse to tell Our children this instructive Miracle Who may her sad Illustrious Life recite And after all her Wrongs may doe her Right XI On the 3. of September 1651. AS when the glorious Magazine of Light Approches to his Canopy of Night He with new splendour clothes his dying Rayes And double brightness to his Beams conveys And as to brave and check his ending fate Puts on his highest looks in 's lowest state Drest in such terrour as to make us all Be Anti-Persians and adore his Fall Then quits the
allow'd To be severe unto the yielding Croud That were subdu'd e're you an Object knew Worthy your Conquest and your Mercy too Yet now 't is gain'd your Victory 's complete Onely your Clemency should be as great None will dispute the power of your Eyes That understands Philaster is their prize Hope not your Glory can have new access For all your future Prophees will grow less And with that Homage be you satisfi'd From him that conquers all the World beside Nor let your Rigour now the Triumph blot And lose the honour which your Beauty got Be just and kind unto your Peace and Fame In being so to him for they 're the same And live and die at once if you would be Nobly transmitted to Posterity Take heed lest in thy story they peruse A murther which no language can excuse But wisely spare the trouble of one frown Give him his happiness and know your own Thus shall you be as Honour's self esteem'd Who have one Sex oblig'd your own redeem'd Thus the Religion due unto your Shrine Shall be as Universal as Divine And that Devotion shall this blessing gain Which Law and Reason do attempt in vain The World shall joyn maintaining but one strife Who shall most thank you for Philaster's life XXIV To Mr. J. B. the noble Cratander upon a Composition of his which he was not willing to own publickty AS when some injur'd Prince assumes Disguise And strives to make his Carriage sympathize Yet hath a great becoming Meen and Air Which speaks him Royal spight of all his care So th' Issues ' of thy Soul can ne're be hid And the Sun's force may be as soon forbid As thine obscur'd there is no shade so great Through which it will not dart forth light and heat Thus we discover thee by thy own Day Against thy will snatching the Cloud away Now the Piece shines and though we will not say Parents can Souls as Tapers lights convey Yet we must grant thy Soul transmitted here In beams almost as lasting and as clear And that 's our highest praise for that thy Mind Thy Works could never a resemblance find That mind whose search can Nature's secret hand At one great stroke discover and command Which cleareth times and things before whose eyes Nor Men nor Notions dare put on disguise And were all Authors now as much forgot As prosperous Ignorance her self would plot Had we the rich supplies of thy own breast The knowing World would never miss the rest Men did before from Ignorance take their Fame But Learning's self is honour'd by thy Name Thou studiest not belief to introduce Of Novelties more fit for shew then use But think'st it noble Charity t' uphold The credit and the Beauty of the old And with one hand canst easily support Learning and Law a Temple and a Court. And this secures me for as we below Valleys from Hills Houses from Churches know But to their fight who stand extremely high These forms will have one flat Equality So from a lower Soul I might well fear A critick censure when survey'd too near But from Cratander who above the best Lives in a height which levells all the rest I may that Royalty of Soul expect That can at once both pardon and neglect Thus I approach and wanting wit and sense Let Trepidation be my Reverence XXV Lucasia NOt to oblige Lucasia by my voice To boast my fate or instifie my choice Is this design'd but pity does engage My Pen to rescue the declining Age. For since 't is grown in fashion to be bad And to be vain or angry proud or mad While in their Vices onely Men agree Is thought the onely modern Gallantry How would some brave Examples check the crimes And both reproch and yet reform the Times Nor can Mortality it self reclaim Th' apostate World like my Lucasia's name Lucasia whose rich Soul had it been known In that Time th' Ancierits call'd the Golden one When Innocence and Greatness were the same And Men no battels knew but in a game Chusing what Nature not what Art prefers Poets were Judges Kings Philosophers Even then from her the Wise would copies draw And she to th infant World had giv'n a Law That Souls were made of Number could not be An Observation but a Prophecy It meant Lucasia whose harmonious state The Spheres and Muses faintly imitate But as then Musick is best understood When every Chord's examin'd and found good So what in others Judgment is and Will In her is the same even Reason still And as some Colour various seems but yet 'T is but our difference in considering it So she now light and then does light dispence But is one shining Orb of Excellence And that so piercing when she Judgment takes She doth not search but Intuition makes And her Discoveries more easie are Then Caesar's Conquest in his Pontick War As bright and vigorous her beams are pure And in their own rich candour so secure That had she liv'd where Legends were devised Rome had been just and she been canonized Nay Innocence her self less clear must be If Innocence be any thing but she For Vertue 's so congenial to her mind That Liquid things or Friends are less combin'd So that in her that Sage his wish had seen And Vertue 's self had personated been Now as distilled Simples do agree And in th' Alembick lose variety So Vertue though in pieces scatter'd 't was Is by her Mind made one rich useful mass Nor doth Discretion put Religion down Nor hasty Zele usurp the Judgment 's crown Wisdom and Friendship have one single Throne And make another Friendship of their own Each sev'ral piece darts such fierce pleasing rayes Poetick Lovers would but wrong in praise All hath proportion all hath comliness And her Humility alone excess Her Modesty doth wrong a Worth so great Which Calumny herself would noblier treat While true to Friendship and to Nature's trust To her own Merits onely she 's unjust But as Divinity we best declare By sounds as broken as our Notions are So to acknowledge such vast Eminence Imperfect Wonder is our evidence No Pen Lucasia's glories can relate But they admire best who dare imitate XXVI Wiston Vault ANd why this Vault and Tomb alike we must Put off Distinction and put on Dust. Nor can the stateliest fabrick help to save From the corruptions of a common Grave Nor for the Resurrection more prepare Then if the Dust were scatter'd into air What then Th' ambition 's just say some that we May thus perpetuate our Memory Ah false vain task of Art ah poor weak Man Whose Monument does more then 's Merit can Who by his Friends best care and love 's abused And in his very Epitaph misused For did they not suspect his Name would fall There would not need an Epitaph at all But after death too I would be alive And shall if my Lucasia do survive I quit these pomps of Death and am content
Having her Heart to be my Monument Though ne're Stone to me 't wil Stone for me prove By the peculiar miracles of Love There I 'le Inscription have which no Tomb gives Not Here Orinda lies but Here she lives XXVII Friendship in Embleme or the Seal To my dearest Lucasia 1. THe Hearts thus intermixed speak A Love that no bold shock can break For joyn'd and growing both in one Neither can be disturb'd alone 2. That means a mutual Knowledge too For what is 't either Heart can doe Which by its panting Centinel It does not to the other tell 3. That Friendship Hearts so much refines It nothing but it self designs The Hearts are free from lower ends For each point to the other tends 4. They flame 't is true and several wayes But still those Flames do so much raise That while to either they incline They yet are noble and divine 5. From smoke or hurt those Flames are free From grosness or mortality The Heart like Moses Bush presumed Warm'd and enlightned not consumed 6. The Compasses that stand above Express this great immortal Love For Friends like them can prove this true They are and yet they are not two 7. And in their posture is exprest Friendship 's exalted Interest Each follows where the other leans And what each does each other means 8. And as when one foot does stand fast And t'other circles seeks to cast The steddy part does regulate And make the Wandrer's motion straight 9. So Friends are onely two in this T'reclaim each other when they miss For whosoe're will grosly fall Can never be a Friend at all 10. And as that useful Instrument For Even lines was ever meant So Friendship from good Angels springs To teach the world Heroick things 11. As these are found out in design To rule and measure every Line So Friendship governs actions best Prescribing unto all the rest 12. And as in Nature nothing's set So just as Lines in Number met So Compasses for these b'ing made Do Friendship 's harmony persuade 13. And like to them so Friends may own Extension not Division Their Points like Bodies separate But Head like Souls knows no such fate 14. And as each part so well is knit That their Embraces ever fit So Friends are such by destiny And no third can the place supply 15. There needs no Motto to the Seal But that we may the mind reveal To the dull Eye it was thought fit That Friendship onely should be writ 16. But as there are Degrees of bliss So there 's no Friendship meant by this But such as will transmit to Fame Lucasia and Orinda's name XXVIII In Memory of T. P. who died at Action the 24. May 1660. at 12. and ½ of Age. IF I could ever write a lasting Verse It should be laid dear heart upon thy Herse But Sorrow is no Muse and does confess That it least can what it would most express Yet that I may some bounds to Grief allow I 'le try if I can weep in Numbers now Ah beauteous Blossom too untimely dead Whither ah whither is thy sweetness fled Where are the charms that alwayes did arise From the prevailing language of thy Eyes Where is thy lovely air and lovely meene And all the wonders that in thee were seen Alas in vain in vain on thee I rave There is no pity in the stupid Grave But so the Bankrupt sitting on the brim Of those fierce Billows which had ruin'd him Begs for his lost Estate and does complain To the inexorable Flouds in vain As well we may enquire when Roses die To what retirement their sweet Odours flie Whither their Virtues and their Blushes haste When the short triumph of their life is past Or call their perishing Beauties back with tears As adde one moment to thy finish'd years No thou art gone and thy presaging Mind So thriftily thy early hours design'd That hasty Death was baffled in his Pride Since nothing of thee but thy Body dy'd Thy Soul was up betimes and so concern'd To grasp all Excellence that could be learn'd That finding nothing fill her thirsting here To the Spring-head she went to quench it there And so prepar'd that being freed from sin She quickly might become a Cherubin Thou wert all Soul and through thy Eyes it shin'd Asham'd and angry to be so confin'd It long'd to be uncag'd and thither flown Where it might know as clearly as 't was known In these vast hopes we might thy change have found But that Heav'n blinds whom it decrees to wound For Parts so soon at so sublime a pitch A Judgment so mature Fancy so rich Never appear unto unthankful Men But as a Vision to be hid again So glorious Scenes in Masques Spectators view With the short pleasure of an hour or two But that once past the Ornaments are gone The Lights extinguish'd and the Curtains drawn Yet all these Gifts were thy less noble part Nor was thy Head so worthy as thy Heart Where the Divine Impression shin'd so clear As snatch'd thee hence and yet endear'd thee here For what in thee did most command our love Was both the cause and sign of thy remove Such fools are we so fatally we choose For what we most would keep we soonest loose The humble greatness of thy Pious thought Sweetness unforc'd and Bashfulness untaught The native Candour of thine open breast And all the Beams wherein thy Worth was drest Thy Wit so bright so piercing and immense Adorn'd with wise and lovely Innocence Might have foretold thou wert not so complete But that our joy might be as short as great 'T is so and all our cares and hopes of thee Fled like a vanish'd Dream or wither'd Tree So the poor Swain beholds his ripened Corn By some rough Wind without a Sickle torn Never ah never let sad Parents guess At once remove of future happiness But reckon Children 'mong those passing joys Which one hour gives and the next hour destroys Alas we were secure of our content But find too late that it was onely lent To be a Mirrour wherein we may see How frail we are how spotless we should be But if to thy blest Soul my grief appears Forgive and pity these injurious tears Impute them to Affection 's sad excess Which will not yield to Nature's tenderness Since 't was through dearest ties and highest trust Continued from thy Cradle to thy Dust And so rewarded and confirm'd by thine That wo is me I thought thee too much mine But I 'le resign and follow thee as fast As my unhappy Minutes will make hast Till when the fresh remembrances of thee Shall be my Emblems of Mortality For such a loss as this bright Soul is not Ever to be repaired or forgot XXIX In memory of that excellent person Mrs. Mary Lloyd of Bodiscist in Denbigh-shire who died Nov. 13. 1656. after she came thither from Pembroke-shire I Cannot hold for though to write were rude Yet to be silent were Ingratitude
Gold uncoin'd Had been unuseful nor with glory shin'd This stamp'd my Innocency in the Ore Which was as much but not so bright before Till an Alembick wakes and outward draws The strength of Sweets lies sleeping in their Cause So this gave me an opportunity To feed upon my own Integrity And though their Judgment I must still disclaim Who can nor give nor take away a fame Yet I 'le appeal unto the knowing few Who dare be just and rip his heart to you XXXI To Antenor on a Paper of mine which J. Jones threatens to publish to prejudice him MUst then my Crimes become his Scandal too Why sure the Devil hath not much to doe The weakness of the other Charge is clear When such a trifle must bring up the Rear But this is mad design for who before Lost his Repute upon anothers score My Love and Life I must confess are thine But not my Errours they are only mine And if my Faults must be for thine allow'd It will be hard to dissipate the Cloud For Eve's Rebellion did not Adam blast Untill himself forbidden Fruit did taste 'T is possible this Magazine of Hell ' Whose name would turn a Virge into a spell Whose mischief is congenial to his life May yet enjoy an honourable Wife Nor let his ill be reckoned as her blame Nor yet my Follies blast Antenor's name But if those lines a Punishment could call Lasting and great as this dark Lanthorn's gall Alone I 'd court the Torments with content To testifie that thou art Innocent So if my Ink through malice prov'd a stain My Bloud should justly wash it off again But since that Mint of slander could invent To make so dull a Ryme his Instrument Let Verse revenge the quarrel But he 's worse Then wishes and below a Poet's curse And more then this Wit knows not how to give Let him be still himself and let him live XXXII To the truly Noble Mrs. Anne Owen on my first Approches Madam AS in a Triumph Conquerors admit Their meanest Captives to attend on it Who though unworthy have the power confest And justifi'd the yielding of the rest So when the busie World in hope t' excuse Their own surprize your Conquest do peruse And find my name they will be apt to say Your charms were blinded or else thrown away There is no honour got in gaining me Who am a prize not worth your Victory But this will clear you that 't is general The worst applaud what is admir'd by all But I have Plots in 't for the way to be Secure of fame to all Posterity Is to obtain the honour I pursue To tell the World I was subdu'd by you And since in you all wonders common are Your Votaries may in your Vertues share While you by noble Magick worth impart She that can Conquer can reclaim a heart Of this Creation I shall not despair Since for your own sake it concerns your care For 't is more honour that the world should know You made a noble Soul then found it so XXXIII Rosannia shadowed whilest Mrs. Mary Awbrey IF any could my dear Rosannia hate They onely should her Character relate Truth shines so bright there that an enemy Would be a better Oratour then I. Love stifles Language and I must confess I had said more if I had loved less Yet the most critical who that Face see Will ne're suspect a partiality Others by time and by degrees persuade But her first look doth every heart invade She hath a Face so eminently bright Would make a Lover of an Anchorite A Face whose conquest mixt with modesty Are both completed in Divinity Not her least glance but sets them all on fire And checks them if they would too much aspire Such is the Magick of her Looks the same Beam doth both kindle and refine our flame If she doth smile no Painter e're would take Another Rule when he would merry make And to her splendour Heaven hath allow'd That not a posture can her Beauty cloud For if she frown none but would phansie then Justice descended here to punish Men. Her common looks I know not how to call Any one Grace they are compos'd of all And if we Mortals could the doctrine reach Her Eyes have language and her Looks do teach Such is her whole frame Heaven does afford Her not to be desir'd but still ador'd But as in Palaces the outmost worst Rooms entertain our wonder at the first But once within the Presence-chamber door We do despise whate're we saw before So when you with her Mind acquaintance get You 'l hardly think upon the Cabinet Her Soul that Ray shot from the Deity Doth still preserve its native purity Which Earth can neither threaten or allure Nor by false joyes defile it or obscure Such Innocence within her heart doth dwell Angels themselves do onely parallel And should her whole Sex to dissembling fall Her own Integrity redeems them all Transparent clear and will no words admit And all Comparisons but slubber it More gently soft then is an Evening-shower And in that sweetness there is coucht a Power Which scorning pride doth think it very hard If Modesty should need so mean a Guard Her Honour is protected by her Eyes As the old Flaming Sword kept Paradise Such Constancy of temper truth and law Guides all her actions that the World may draw From her own self the noblest Precedent Of the most safe wife vertuous Government She courts Retirement is herself alone Above a Theatre and beyond a Throne So rich a Soul none can say properly She hath but is each noble Quality And as the highest Element is clear From all the Tempests which disturb the Air So she above the World and its rude noise Within a Storm a quiet Calm enjoys She scorns the sullen trifles of the Time But things transcendent do her thoughts sublime Unlike those Gallants which take far less care To have their Souls then make their Bodies fair Who sick with too much leisure time do pass With these two books Pride and a Looking-glass Plot to surprize Mens hearts their pow'r to try And call that Love which is mere Vanity But she although the greatest Murtherer For ev'ry glance commits a Massacre Yet glories not that slaves her power confess But wishes that her Monarchy were less And if she love it is not thrown away As many doe onely to spend the day But her 's is serious and enough alone To make all Love become Religion Yea to her Friendship she so faithful is That 't is her onely blot and prejudice For Envy's self could never errour see Within that Soul ' bating her love to me Now as I must confess the name of Friend To her that all the World doth comprehend Is a most wild Ambition so for me To draw her picture is flat Lunacy Oh! I must think the rest for who can write Or into words confine what 's Infinite XXXIV To the Queen of Inconstancy
Regina Collier in Antwerp 1. UNworthy since thou hast decreed Thy Love and Honour both shall bleed My Friendship could not chuse to die In better time or company 2. What thou hast got by this Exchange Thou wilt perceive when the Revenge Shall by those treacheries be made For which our Faith thou hast betray'd 3. When thy Idolaters shall be True to themselves and false to thee Thou 'lt see that in Heart-merchandise Value not Number makes the price 4. Live to that day my Innocence Shall be my Friendship 's just defence For this is all the World can find While thou wert noble I was kind 5. The desp'rate game that thou dost play At private Ruines cannot stay The horrid treachery of that Face Will sure undo its native place 6. Then let the Frenchmen never fear The victory while thou art there For if Sins will call Judgments down Thou hast enough to stock the Town XXXV To the Excellent Mrs. Anne Owen upon her receiving the name of Lucasia and Adoption into our Society Decemb. 28. 1651. WE are complete and Fate hath now No greater blessing to bestow No the dull World must now confess We have all worth all happiness Annals of State are trifles to our fame Now 't is made sacred by Lucasia's name But as though through a Burning-glass The Sun more vigorous doth pass Yet still with general freedom shines For that contracts but not confines So though by this her beams are fixed here Yet she diffuses glory every where Her Mind is so entirely bright The splendour would but wound our sight And must to some disguise submit Or we could never worship it And we by this relation are allow'd Lustre enough to be Lucasia's Cloud Nations will own us now to be A Temple of Divinity And Pilgrims shall ten Ages hence Approach our Tombs with reverence May then that time which did such bliss convey Be kept by us perpetual Holy-day XXXVI To my Excellent Lucasia on our Friendship I Did not live untill this time Crown'd my felicity When I could say without a crime I am not thine but Thee This Carcass breath'd and walkt and slept So that the World believ'd There was a Soul the Motions kept But they were all deceiv'd For as a Watch by art is wound To motion such was mine But never had Orinda found A Soul till she found thine Which now inspires cures and supplies And guides my darkned Breast For thou art all that I can prize My Joy my Life my Rest. No Bridegrooms not Crown-conquerors mirth To mine compar'd can be They have but pieces of this Earth I 've all the World in thee Then let our Flame still light and shine And no false fear controul As innocent as our Design Immortal as our Soul Rosannia's private Marriage IT was a wise and kind design of Fate That none should this day's glory celebrate For 't were in vain to keep a time which is Above the reach of all Solemnities The greatest Actions pass without a noise And Tumults but prophane diviner Joyes Silence with things transcendent nearest suits The greatest Emperours are serv'd by Mutes And as in ancient time the Deities To their own Priests reveal'd no Mysteries Untill they were from all the World retir'd And in some Cave made fit to be inspir'd So when Rosannia who hath them out-vied And with more Justice might be Deified Who if she had their Rites and Altars we Should hardly think it were Idolatry Had found a breast that did deserve to be Receptacle of her Divinity It was not fit the gazing World should know When she convey'd her self to him or how An Eagle safely may behold the Sun When weak Eyes are with too much Light undone Now as in Oracles were understood Not the Priests only but the common good So her great Soul would not imparted be But in design of general Charity She now is more diffusive then before And what men then admir'd they now adore For this Exchange makes not her Power less But only fitter for the World's Address May then that Mind which if we will admit The Universe one Soul must sure be it Inform this All which till she shin'd out lay As drousie men do in a cloudy day And Honour Vertue Reason so dispence That all may owe them to her influence And while this Age is thus employ'd may she Scatter new Blessings for Posterity I dare not any other wish prefer For only her bestowing adds to her And to a Soul so in her self complete As would be wrong'd by any Epithete Whose splendour's fix'd unto her chosen Sphear And fill'd with Love and Satisfaction there What can increase the Triumph but to see The World her Convert and her History XXXVIII Injuria Amicitiae LOvely Apostate what was my offence Or am I punish'd for Obedience Must thy strange Rigour find as strange a time The Act and Season are an equal Crime Of what thy most ingenuous scorns could doe Must I be Subject and Spectatour too Or were the Sufferings and Sins too few To be sustain'd by me perform'd by you Unless with Nero your uncurb'd desire Be to survey the Rome you set on fire While wounded for and by your Power I At once your Martyr and your Prospect die This is my doom and such a ridling Fate As all impossibles doth complicate For Obligation here is Injury Constancy Crime Friendship a Heresie And you appear so much on Ruine bent Your own destruction gives you now Content For our twinne-Spirits did so long agree You must undoe your self to ruine me And like some Frantick Goddess you 'r inclin'd To raze the Temple where you are enshrin'd And what 's the Miracle of Cruelty Kill that which gave you Immortality While glorious Friendship whence your Honour springs Lies gasping in the Croud of common things And I 'me so odious that for being kind Doubled and studied Murthers are design'd Thy sin 's all Paradox for should'st thou be Thy self again th' wouldst be severe to me For thy Repentance coming now so late Would only change and not relieve thy Fate So dangerous is the consequence of ill Thy least of Crimes is to be cruel still For of thy Smiles I should yet more complain If I should live to be betray'd again Live then fair Tyrant in Security From both my Kindness and Revenge be free While I who to the Swains had sung your Fame And taught each Echo to repeat your Name Will now my private Sorrow entertain To Rocks and Rivers not to thee complain And though before our Union cherish'd me 'T is now my pleasure that we disagree For from my Passion your last Rigour grew And you kill'd me 'cause that I worshipp'd you But my worst Vows shall be your Happiness And not to be disturb'd by my distress And though it would my sacred flames pollute To make my heart a scorned prostitute Yet I 'le adore the Author of my Death And kiss your Hand that robs me of
Who from the top of his Prosperities Can take a fall and yet without surprize Who with the same august and even state Can entertain the best and worst of Fate Whose suffering's sweet if Honour once adorn it Who slights Revenge not that he fears but scorns it Whose Happiness in ev'ry Fortune lives For that no Fortune either takes or gives Who no unhandsome wayes can bribe his Fate Nay out of Prison marches through the Gate Who losing all his Titles and his Pelf Nay all the World can never lose himself This Person shines indeed and he that can Be Vertuous is the great Immortal man LXI A Country-life HOw Sacred and how Innocent A Country-life appears How free from Tumult Discontent From Flattery or Fears This was the first and happiest Life When man enjoy'd himself Till Pride exchanged Peace for Strife And Happiness for Pelf 'T was here the Poets were inspir'd And sang their Mysteries And while the listning World admir'd Mens Minds did civilize That Golden Age did entertain No Passion but of Love The thoughts of Ruling and of Gain Did ne're their Fancies move None then did envy Neighbour's wealth Nor Plot to wrong his bed Happy in Friendship and in Health On Roots not Beasts they fed They knew no Law nor Physick then Nature was all their Wit And if there yet remain to men Content sure this is it What Blessings doth this World afford To tempt or bribe desire For Courtship is all Fire and Sword Who would not then retire Then welcome dearest Solitude My great Felicity Though some are pleas'd to call thee rude Thou art not so but we Such as do covet only rest A Cottage will suffice Is it not brave to be possest Of Earth but to despise Opinion is the rate of things From hence our Peace doth flow I have a better Fate then Kings Because I think it so When all the stormy World doth wear How unconcern'd am I I cannot fear to tumble lower That never could be high Secure in these unenvi'd walls I think not on the State And pity no mans case that falls From his Ambition's height Silence and Innocence are safe A heart that 's nobly true At all these little Arts can laugh That do the World subdue While others Revel it in State Here I 'le contented sit And think I have as good a Fate As Wealth and Pomp admit Let some in Courtship take delight And to th' Exchange resort There Revel out a Winter's night Not making Love but Sport These never knew a noble Flame 'T is Lust Scorn or Design While Vanity playes all their Game Let Peace and Honour mine When the inviting Spring appears To Hide-Parke let them go And hasting thence be full of fears To lose Spring-Garden shew Let others nobler seek to gain In Knowledge happy Fate And others busie them in vain To study wayes of State But I resolved from within Confirmed from without In Privacy intend to spin My future Minutes out And from this Hermitage of mine I banish all wild toyes And nothing that is not Divine Shall dare to tempt my Joyes There are below but two things good Friendship and Honesty And only those alone I would Ask for Felicity In this retir'd Integrity Free from both War and noise I live not by Necessity But wholly by my Choice LXII To Mrs. Wogan my Honoured Friend on the Death of her Husband DRy up your tears there 's enough shed by you And we must pay our share of Sorrows too It is no private loss when such men fall The World 's concern'd and Grief is general But though of our Misfortune we complain To him it is injurious and vain For since we know his rich Integrity His real Sweetness and full Harmony How free his heart and house were to his Friends Whom he oblig'd without Design or Ends How universal was his Courtesie How clear a Soul how even and how high How much he scorn'd disguise or meaner Arts But with a native Honour conquer'd Hearts We must conclude he was a Treasure lent Soon weary of this sordid Tenement The Age and World deserv'd him not and he Was kindly snatch'd from future Misery We can scarce say he 's Dead but gone to rest And left a Monument in ev'ry breast For you to grieve then in this sad excess Is not to speak your Love but make it less A noble Soul no Friendship will admit But what 's Eternal and Divine as it The Soul is hid in mortal flesh we know And all its weaknesses must undergo Till by degrees it does shine forth at length And gathers Beauty Purity and Strength But never yet doth this Immortal Ray Put on full splendour till it put off Day So Infant Love is in the worthiest breast By Sense and Passion fetter'd and opprest But by degrees it grows still more refin'd And scorning clogs only concerns the Mind Now as the Soul you lov'd is here set free From its material gross capacity Your Love should follow him now he is gone And quitting Passion put Perfection on Such Love as this will its own good deny If its dear Object have Felicity And since we cannot his great Loss Reprieve Let 's not lose you in whom he still doth Live For while you are by Grief secluded thus It doth appear your Funeral to us LXIII In memory of the most justly honoured Mrs. Owen of Orielton AS when the ancient World by Reason liv'd The Asian Monarchs deaths were never griev'd Their glorious Lives made all their Subjects call Their Rites a Triumph not a Funeral So still the Good are Princes and their Fate Invites us not to weep but imitate Nature intends a progress of each stage Whereby weak Man creeps to succeeding Age Ripens him for that Change for which he 's made Where th' active Soul is in her Centre laid And since none stript of Infancy complain Cause 't is both their necessity and gain So Age and Death by slow approches come And by that just inevitable doom By which the Soul her cloggy dross once gone Puts on Perfection and resumes her own Since then we mourn a happy Soul O why Disturb we her with erring Piety Who 's so enamour'd on the beauteous Ground When with rich Autumn's livery hung round As to deny a Sickle to his Grain And not undress the teeming Earth again Fruits grow for use Mankind is born to die And both Fates have the same necessity Then grieve no more sad Relatives but learn Sigh not but profit by your just concern Reade over her Life's volume wise and good Not 'cause she must be so but 'cause she wou'd To chosen Vertue still a constant friend She saw the Times which chang'd but did not mend And as some are so civil to the Sun They 'd fix his beams and make the Earth to run So she unmov'd beheld the angry Fate Which tore a Church and overthrew a State Still durst be Good and own the noble Truth To
spend our Labour Love and Care Not as things seem but as they are 13. 'T is Fancy lest Wit thrown away In trifles to imploy that Ray Which then doth in full lustre shine When both Ingenuous and Divine 14. To Eyes by Humours vitiated All things seem falsly coloured So 't is our prejudicial thought That makes clear Objects seem in fault 15. They scarce believe united good By them 't was never understood They think one Grace enough for one And 't is because their selves selves have none 16. We hunt Extremes and run so fast We can no steddy judgment cast He best surveys the Circuit round Who stands i' th' middle of the ground 17. That happy mean would let us fee Knowledge and Meekness may agree And find when each thing hath its name Passion and Zele are not the same 18. Who studies God doth upwards fly And height's still lesser to our eye And he that knows God soon will see Vast cause for his Humility 19. For by that search it will be known There 's nothing but our Will our own And whoso doth that stock imploy Will find more cause for Shame then Joy 20. We know so little and so dark And so extinguish our own spark That he who furthest here can go Knows nothing as he ought to know 21. It will with the most Learned sute More to enquire then dispute But Vapours swell within a Cloud And Ignorance 't is makes us proud 22. So whom their own vain Heart belies Like Inflammations quickly rise But that Soul which is truly great Is lowest in its own conceit 23. Yet while we hug our own mistake We Censures but not Judgments make And thence it is we cannot see Obedience stand with Liberty 24. Providence still keeps even state But he can best command his Fate Whose Art by adding his own Voice Makes his Necessity his Choice 25. Rightly to rule ones self must be The hardest largest Monarchy Whose Passions are his Masters grown Will be a Captive in a Throne 26. He most the inward freedom gains Who just Submissions entertains For while in that his Reason sways It is himself that he obeys 27. But onely in Eternity We can these beauteous Unions see For Heaven's self and Glory is But one harmonious constant Bliss LXVI Invitation to the Country BE kind my dear Rosannia though 't is true Thy Friendship will become thy Penance too Though there be nothing can reward the pain Nothing to satisfie or entertain Though all be empty wild and like to me Who make new Troubles in my Company Yet is the action more obliging great 'T is Hardship only makes Desert complete But yet to prove Mixtures all things compound There may in this be some advantage found For a Retirement from the noise of Towns Is that for which someKings have left their Crowns And Conquerours whose Laurel prest the brow Have chang'd it for the quiet Myrtle-bow For Titles Honours and the World's Address Are things too cheap to make up Happiness The easie Tribute of a giddy race And pay'd less to the Person then the place So false reflected and so short content Is that which Fortune and Opinion lent That who most try'd it have of it complain'd With Titles burthen'd and to Greatness chain'd For they alone enjoy'd what they possest Who relisht most and understood it best And yet that understanding made them know The empty swift dispatch of all below So that what most can outward things endear Is the best means to make them disappear And even that Tyrant Sense doth these destroy As more officious to our Grief then Joy Thus all the glittering World is but a cheat Obtruding on our Sense things Gross for Great But he that can enquire and undisguise Will soon perceive the thing that hidden lies And find no Joys merit esteem but those Whose Scene lies only at our own dispose Man unconcern'd without himself may be His own both Prospect and Security Kings may be Slaves by their own Passions hurl'd But who commands himself commands the World A Country-life assists this study best Where no distractions do the Soul arrest There Heav'n and Earth lie open to our view There we search Nature and its Author too Possest with Freedom and a real State Look down on Vice and Vanity and Fate There my Rosannia will we mingling Souls Pity the Folly which the World controuls And all those Grandeurs which the World do prize We either can enjoy or can despise LXVII In Memory of Mrs. E. H. AS some choice Plant cherish'd by Sun and Air And ready to requite the Gard'ner's care Blossoms and flourishes but then we find Is made the Triumph of some ruder Wind So thy untimely Grave did both entomb Thy Sweetness now and wonders yet to come Hung full of hopes thou felt'st a lovely prize Just as thou didst attract all Hearts and Eyes Thus we might apprehend for had thy years Been lengthen'd to have pay'd those vast arrears The World expected we should then conclude The Age of Miracles had been renew'd For thou already hast with ease found out What others study with such pams and doubt That frame of Soul which is content alone And needs no Entertainment but its own Thy even Mind which made thee good and great Was to thee both a shelter and retreat Of all the Tumults which the World do fill Thou wert an unconcern'd Spectatour still And were thy duty punctually supply'd Indifferent to all the World beside Thou wert made up with a Resolv'd and fix'd And wouldst not with a base Allay be mix'd Above the World couldst equally despise Both its Temptations and its Injuries Couldst summe up all and find not worth desire Those glittering Trifles which the most admire But with a nobler aim and nobler born Look down on Greatness with contempt and scorn Thou hadst no Arts that others this might see Nor lov'dst a Trumpet to thy Piety But silent and retir'd calm and serene Stol'st to thy blessed Haven hardly seen It were vain to describe thee then but now Thy vast accession harder is to know How full of light and satisfy'd thou art So early from this treach'rous World to part How pleas'd thou art reflexions now to make And find thou didst not things below mistake In how abstracted converse thou dost live How much thy Knowledge is intuitive How great and bright a glory is enjoy'd With Angels and in Mysteries employ'd 'T is sin then to lament thy Fate but we Should help thee to a new Eternity And by successive Imitation strive Till Time shall die to keep thee still alive And by thy great Example furnish'd be More apt to live then write this Elogy LXVIII Submission 'T Is so and humbly I my will resign Nor dare dispute with Providence Divine In vain alas we struggle with our chains But more entangled by the fruitless pains For as i' th' great Creation of this All Nothing by chance could in such order fall And what would single