The Works of Mr Abraham Cowley :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Works of Mr Abraham Cowley

Consisting of Those which were formerly Printed: And Those which he Design'd for the Press, Now Published out of the Authors Original Copies ... The Text Edited by A. R. Waller

Cowley, Abraham (1618-1667)

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To his deare Friend and Schoole-fellow Abraham Cowley, on his flourishing and hopefull Blossomes.

To his Friend and Schoole-fellow Abraham Cowley, on his Poeticall Blossomes.

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To the Reader.

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CONSTANTIA AND PHILETUS.

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To the Right Worshipfull, my very loving Master, Master Lambert Osbolston, chiefe Schoolmaster of Westminster-Schoole.

THE TRAGICALL HISTORY OF Pyramus and Thisbe.

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An Elegie on the Death of the Right Honourable, Dudley Lord Carleton, Viscount Dorchester, late Principall Secretary of State.

An Elegie on the death of my loving Friend and Cousen, Master Richard Clerke, late of Lincolns Inne, Gent.

A DREAME OF ELYSIUM.

SYLVA,

On his Majesties returne out of Scotland.

A Song on the same.

A Vote.

A Poeticall Revenge.

To the Duchesse of Buckingham.

To his very much honoured Godfather, Master A. B.

An Elegie on the Death of Mris Anne Whitfield.

An Elegie on the Death of John Littleton Esquire, Sonne and Heire to Sir Thomas Littleton, who was drowned leaping into the water to save his younger Brother.

A translation of Verses upon the B. Virgin, written in Latine by the right Worshipfull Dr. A.

Ave Maria.

Gratia Plena.

Dominus tecum.

Benedicta tu in mulieribus.

Et benedictus fructus ventris tui.

Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te.

Et virtus altissimi obumbrabit tibi.

ODE I. On the praise of Poetry.

ODE II. That a pleasant Poverty is to be preferred before discontented Riches.

ODE III. To his Mistris.

ODE IV. On the uncertainty of Fortune. A Translation.

ODE V. In commendation of the time we live under the Reign of our gracious K. Charles.

ODE VI. Upon the shortnesse of Mans life.

An Answer to an Invitation to Cambridge.

A SATYRE. THE PURITAN AND THE PAPIST.

A DISCOURSE By way of VISION, Concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwell.

[Ah, happy Isle, how art thou chang'd and curst]

[Curst be the Man (what do I wish? as though]

[It is a Truth so certain, and so clear]

[When, Lo, e're the last words were fully spoke]

Several Discourses by way of Essays, in Verse and Prose.

1. Of Liberty.

[Who governs his own course with steddy hand]

[Magne Deus, quod ad has vitœ brevis attinet horas]

[Hail, old Patrician Trees, so great and good!]

3. Of Obscurity.

Seneca, ex Thyeste, Act. 2. Chor.

A Paraphrase upon the 10th Epistle of the first Book of Horace.

[I'dmire, Mecænas, how it comes to pass]

A Paraphrase on an Ode in Horace's third Book, beginning thus, Inclusam Danaen turris ahenea.

[8.] The dangers of an Honest man in much Company.

Claudian's Old Man of Verona.

9. The shortness of Life and uncertainty of Riches.

[Why dost thou heap up Wealth, which thou must quit]

10.

10. The danger of Procrastination.

Mart. Lib. 5. Epigr. 59.

Mart. Lib. 2. Ep. 90.

11.

11. Of My self.

[This only grant me, that my means may lye]

Martial. L. 10. Ep. 47.

Martial Book 10. Epigram 96.

To the Duke of Buckingham, upon his Marriage with the Lord Fairfax his Daughter.

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A POEM On the late CIVIL WAR.

APPENDIX.

Coolyes verses uppon my Lady Elisabeth birth on Christmass even 1635. (From Harleian MSS. 6383: first printed by Dr Grosart in his Edition of Cowley.)

Upon the happie Birth of the Duke. From Voces Votivae ab Academicis Cantabrigiensibus etc. MDCXL.

To the Lord Falkland. For his safe Return from the Northern Expedition against the SCOTS.

On the Death of Sir Henry Wootton.

On the Death of Mr. Jordan,

On his Majesties Return out of Scotland.

On the Death of Sir Anthony Vandike,

Prometheus ill-painted.

ODE.

Friendship in Absence.

To the Bishop of Lincoln,

To a Lady who made Posies for Rings.

Prologue to the Guardian

The Epilogue.

On the Death of Mr. William Hervey.

ODE.

In imitation of Martials Epigram.

The Chronicle.

To Sir William Davenant.

An Answer to a Copy of Verses sent me to Jersey.

The Tree of Knowledge.

Reason.

On the Death of Mr. Crashaw.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

ELEGIE UPON ANACREON,

Written in Juice of Lemmon.

Leaving Me, and then loving Many.

My Heart discovered.

Answer to the Platonicks.

Resolved to be beloved.

The Heart fled again.

[Then like some wealthy Island thou shalt ly]

Looking on, and discoursing with his Mistress.

Verses lost upon a Wager.

Bathing in the River.

Love given over.

Pindarique ODES,

THE SECOND Olympique Ode OF PINDAR.

THE FIRST Nemeæan Ode OF PINDAR.

The Praise of Pindar.

The 34. Chapter of the Prophet Isaiah.

The Plagues of Egypt.

II.

III.

IV.

Verses written on several occasions.

CHRISTS PASSION

On Orinda's Poems.

ODE.

Upon the Death of the Earl of Balcarres.

ODE.

On the Queens Repairing Somerset House.

The Complaint.

The Adventures of Five hours.

On the death of Mrs. Katherine Philips.

Hymn. To light.

To the Royal Society.

Upon the Chair made out of Sir Francis Drakes ship, Presented to the University Library in Oxford, by John Davis of Deptford, Esquire.

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ODE I. On the praise of Poetry.

'Tis not a Pyramide of Marble stone,
Though high as our ambition,
'Tis not a Tombe cut out in Brasse, which can
Give life to th'ashes of a man,
But Verses onely; they shall fresh appeare,
Whil'st there are men to reade, or heare.
When Time shall make the lasting Brasse decay,
And eate the Pyramide away,
Turning that Monument wherein men trust
Their names, to what it keepes, poore dust:
Then shall the Epitaph remaine, and be
New graven in Eternitie.
Poets by death are conquered, but the wit
Of Poets triumph over it.
What cannot Verse? When Thracian Orpheus tooke
His Lyre, and gently on it strooke,
The learned stones came dancing all along,
And kept time to the charming song.
With artificiall pace the Warlike Pine,
Th'Elme, and his Wife the Ivy twine,
With all the better trees, which erst had stood
Unmov'd, forsooke their native Wood.

The Lawrell to the Poets hand did bow,
Craving the honour of his brow:
And every loving arme embrac'd, and made
With their officious leaves a shade.
The beasts too strove his auditors to be,
Forgetting their old Tyrannie.
The fearefull Hart next to the Lion came,
And Wolfe was Shepheard to the Lambe.
Nightingales, harmlesse Syrens of the ayre,
And Muses of the place, were there.
Who when their little windpipes they had found
Unequall to so strange a sound,
O'recome by art and griefe they did expire,
And fell upon the conquering Lyre.
Happy, ô happy they, whose Tombe might be,
Mausolus, envied by thee!