University of Virginia Library


15

Poems from Manuscripts.


17

X. To the Lady May.

Your smiles are not, as other womens bee,
Only the drawing of the mouth awrye;
For breasts and cheekes and fforehead wee may see,
Parts wanting motion, all stand smiling by.
Heaven hath noe mouth, and yet is sayd to smile
After your stile;
Noe more hath Earth, yet that smyles too,
Just as you doe.
Noe sympering lipps nor lookes can breed
Such smyles as from your fface proceed.
The sunn must lend his goulden beames,
Soft windes their breath, green trees their shade,
Sweete ffields their flowers, cleare springs their streams,
Ere such another smyle bee made.
But these concurring, wee may say,
Soe smiles the spring, and soe smyles louely Maye.

18

XI

[Though regions farr devided]

Though regions farr devided
And tedious tracts of tyme,
By my misfortune guided,
Make absence thought a cryme;
Though wee weare set a sunder
As ffarr, as East from West,
Loue still would worke this wonder,
Thou shouldst be in my breast.
How slow alasse are paces,
Compar'd to thoughts that flye
In moment back to places,
Whole ages scarce descry.
The body must have pauses;
The mynde requires noe rest;
Loue needs no second causes
To guide thee to my breast.
Accept in that poore dwelling,
But welcome, nothing great,
With pride noe turretts swelling,
But lowly as the seate;
Wher, though not much delighted,
In peace thou mayst be blest,
Unfeasted yet unfrighted
By rivalls, in my breast.

19

But this is not the dyett,
That doeth for glory striue;
Poore beawties seeke in quiet
To keepe one heart aliue.
The price of his ambition,
That lookes for such a guest,
Is hopelesse of fruition
To beate an empty breast.
See then my last lamenting.
Upon a cliffe I'le sitt,
Rock Constancy presenting,
Till I grow part of itt;
My teares a quicksand ffeeding,
Wher on noe ffoote can rest,
My sighs a tempest breeding
About my stony breast.
Those armes, wherin wide open
Loues fleete was wont to putt,
Shall layd acrosse betoken
That havens mouth is shutt.
Myne eyes noe light shall cherish
For shipps att sea distrest,
But darkeling let them perish
Or splitt against my breast.

20

Yet if I can discouer
When thyne before itt rides,
To shew I was thy louer
I'le smooth my rugged sides,
And soe much better measure
Afford thee then the rest,
Thou shalt haue noe displeasure
By knocking att my breast.

21

XII.

[Come not to me for scarfs, nor plumes]

Come not to me for scarfs, nor plumes,
Nor from the needy look for gould;
Incense wee haue, but noe perfumes,
Nor noe such fleece in all our ffold,
As Jason wonn,
But wooll home spunn
To keepe us from the winters cold;
And when our garments should be thinne,
We leaue the ffleece and take the skinn;
Which heere we neither pinke, nor race,
Unlesse a bramble or a thorne,
Deriding of the printers place,
Supply his offices in scorne;
Nor yet much lesse
Striue to possesse
Things that might be as well forborne.
What wee can spare, wee neuer lack;
A sheapheards wardrobe is his back.

22

Our roofes are low, our cabins small,
Our loues, as well as loaues, are browne,
Yet soe contented there withall,
Wee seeke noe finer in the towne;
ffor thach and mudd
Sometimes haue stood,
When lead and marble weare blowne downe,
And loue, they say, as often rests
In sunnburnt, as in snowy breasts.
And by my sheapheards kalander,
Tis loue alone, thou com'st to seeke,
And our predictions seldome erre,
ffor though unstudied in the Greeke
Or Hebrew tongue,
Sheapheards haue sung
Southsayings, which the learned like,
And I may hitt perhaps on this
Upon a trueth when doctors misse.

23

The pulcee of loue beates in our eyes,
And when that goes as quick as yours,
Admit the patient seldom dies,
Experience noe such life assures;
ffor as the stone
Kills not alone,
But ffeavers frequently procures,
Which deaths sadd offices fullfill,
Soe loue must cease, or death will kill.
Take but the country aire a while,
And if thou wilt descend soe lowe,
To please thyne eare, wee'll raise our stile,
Which soe refind perhaps may grow,
Thy hearing sence
Shall not stirr hence,
Admit thyne eyes from court doe goe;
For euery homely thing we haue,
Att least in title, shalbe braue.

24

A mountaine toppe shalbe thy throne,
Thy Percian carpetts flowry feildes;
Thy cooch with green mosse ouer growne,
As unshorne veluet, summer yealds;
Thy lamp by night
The constant light,
That glisters, wher the gloworme builds,
Thy sparver a well tufted tree,
Ore heaven itselfe, thy canopy.
A larke shall call thee from thy rest,
And sing thee mattens euery day;
The nightingall that warbells best
Shall vespers euery evening saye;
The wise ant preach,
And bees shall teach
Us, how to rule, and to obaye;
A crane the watch and ward shall keepe,
And noe lambe bleat, to breake thy sleepe.

25

And if a ffeather of Loues winges,
To slacken and retard his flight,
The goulden-headed shaft he brings,
Impoverishing his quiver quite,
The scarfe fame tyes
About his eyes,
Thy stepps may hitherward invite,
Thou mayst from this tyme forth dispose
Of him and vs, and each of those.
Thou needes must thinke, I know full well
Wher Loue resides, that undertake
Without the helpe of charme, or spell,
Hee shall soe quick appearance make,
Yet thinke withall
His power not small,
That in the plurall number spake,
Though likely to be sick and ill,
Hee is so apt to make his will.

26

But as the wisest sorte dispose
Of all they haue in perfect health,
Least wayward sicknesse fancy those
That are unworthy of their wealth,
So passion free
Doe I by thee,
Scorning thou shouldst come in by stealth,
Or watch my weakenesse or a ffitt
Of loue, and soe inherite itt.
Att court new ffashions are not strange,
But heere wee euer keepe our old;
There loue (they say) consists in change,
Heere, after one, all ours are told.
The first is last,
Because wee cast
One hand can but another hold;
But they haue loues, wee understand,
ffor euery finger of the hand.

27

Brothers and sisters, cosens, freindes,
And two scarce parted in the wombe
At court, for their peculiar ends,
Hard by Loues cradle build their tombe.
Heere hee surviues
Eyther two liues,
Or els ffills up an empty roome;
And after such a league beginns,
Though strangers borne, wee dye like twinns.
And after death the lowly mynde
And humble spirite raysed by grace
A place in glory sooner finde
Than they who vainely seeke a place.
Thou mayst soe caught
Perhapps be brought,
Though slow at first, to mend thy pace,
And cast thy purple roabes away,
To take a scripp and sheapheards grey.

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XIII. Pure Simple Love.

Hide not thy love and myne shal bee
Open and free;
No mask dooth well upon thy face.
Lett those that meane more hurt provide
Love of a guide,
Or of some close retyring place.
A harmles kisse would make us thinck
Love hath no Nectar else to drinck.
Our loves are not of age to will
Both good and ill,
For thine, alas, is but new borne,
And myne is yett to yonge to speake.
How can they breake
Or hold Loves civill Lawes in skorne?
Wee might go naked if some spie,
Apt to traduce us, stood not by.

29

Had wee been that created paire,
Eve half so faire,
Or Adam lov'd but half so well,
The Serpent could have found no charme
To doe us harme,
Or had so much as tyme to tell
His tale to thee, or I to view
An apple where such cherries grew.
Yett had hee ledd mee to thy brest,
That waye was best
To have seduct mee from thy lipp.
Those apples tempt mee most; They bee
Fruit of that Tree,
That made our first forefathers slipp.
I dare not touch them least I dye
The death thou threatnest with thyne Eye.
Yett hee that meanes not to transgres
Needes fearr the lesse,
For what hath Justice heere to doe
But with her skales? Her sword may lye
As Useles by,
When shee comes downe to Judge us twoe;
For no persuations can infect
Thyne innocence or my respect.

30

If all the stings of envy laye
Strewde in our waye,
And tongues to tell of all wee did,
As our affection waxeth old,
Shall itt growe cold?
Loves Elementall fire forbid
Such frost and snowe, for past all doubt,
If our sparks dye, his fire will out.
Though thanckfull hands and eyes may prove
Cyphers of love,
Yett, till some figure bee prefixt,
As oos, by thousands or alone,
Stand all for none,
So, till our lookes and smiles bee mixt
With further meaning, they amount
To nothing by a iust account.
How golden was that age that lett,
When Couples mett,
Theire lips and hands doe what they woulde,
Left out theire haires and more skinn bare,
Then now they dare;
For libertie misunderstood
Is counted lightnes, and when twoe
Maie doe amise, tis thought they doe.

31

Yett since there bee some people still,
That meane no ill,
The worlde is not so full of sinne,
Butt that wee maie finde some place yett
Proper and fitt
To act our mutuall friendship in,
And some Spectators to allowe
Of our old loving fashion now.
Then will I lay my cheeke to thyne,
And thou shalt twyne
Thy maiden armes about my neck,
And I will compas in thy waste
With arms as chaste,
And one anothers eyes bedeck
With little babies which shall bee
Our unpolluted progenee.
Besides weele doe such childish things,
Though Love have wings,
Hee shal bee lothe to fly awaye;
And restles tyme, as lothe to passe
By with his glase,
Shall offer everie foote to staie;
One spinn, the next draw out our yeeres,
And the third Fate lett fall her sheeres.

32

If anie Lovers of one sort
Hether resort,
Theyll fitt them with our modest sceanes,
And prompted by a wanton eye
Quicklie discrye
Wee know not what such action meanes,
Butt runn awaye and leave the Stage
To them and this corrupted age.
And if her eyes, clearest and best
Of all the rest,
Surveigh theise Lynes tract with Loves dart,
Presume to ask her, ere you go,
Whether or no
Shee wilbe pleasd to act her part;
Which if shee be ashamd to doe,
Intreat her to excuse mee toe.

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XIV. A Paradox.

There is no Louer hee or shee,
That euer was or can be false.
Tis passion or symplycitie
Or some Apostacie that calls
Those votaries, those dead folke soe;
For if we goe
To vowes, to prayers, to paines, to all
The penuries Monasticall,
No bare foote man,
Rock Hermitt or Carthusian,
Can in a course of life suruiue
More strict or more contemplatiue.
For till that sparke of fyre be out,
As holy men are not allow'd
Among the Saints nor goe aboute
To proue them selues in sufferance proud,
Soe was there neuer Louer found
But under ground;

34

And if he tooke the style before,
And name uncanonized wore,
People might say,
This Saint hath nere a holliday,
But like a bold, unbidden Guest,
Intrudes uppon anothers feaste.
What desperate challenger is he,
Before he vanish in his flame,
What ere his paines or patience be,
That dares assume a Martyrs name;
For all the way he goes he's none,
Till he be gone.
'Tis death, not dyeing, that must doe
This right to them and Louers too,
Which they approue,
That make and marr the Lawes of loue.
Yet better cheape can none acquire
This Crowne of thornes, this Robe of fire.
'Tis not a yeare will serue to trye
How weake ones faith is or how strong;
In this austere Societye
Probation lasts a whole life long.
No obseruation singlie vowd
Is here allow'd.

35

Two heartes must ioyne and then those two
Must both alike beleeue and doe;
But as a twynn,
This colledge takes no fellow in;
At home, abroade, in all affaires,
They liue, they dye, they goe, by payres.
And as two Turtells that haue pearcht
And interchangd their feruent eyes,
When each in others bosome searcht,
If either Male or Female dyes
And the liue Bird survyuith still
To prune and bill,
Not only this that neuer pynde
Is thought of some forgettfull kynde,
But that's denyde
To be a Turtle true that died;
So fares it here that past all doubt
Th'instinct of Loue findes Louers out.
Hard happ when death cannot assure
What our whole liues haue deerely bought,
But we must Relatiues procure
To Answer euery Louing thought.
'Tis much to dye; 'tis more to fynde
Two of my minde.

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XV.

[Tis but a while, since in a vestall flame]

Sir,

Tis but a while, since in a vestall flame
Barren, but bright, the Tuders royall name
Beloued expir'd; then God a Steward sent
With many Tallents, fitt for gouernment.
This patriarch did butt two sonnes begett,
Whereof one shines, the other sunne is sett.
Father and sonne did their first fruits restore
Unto the Giuer, and he gave them more,
The hopefull Charles and Mary full of grace;
And it were courtship out of time and place
To prayse them yet, till Men and Women growne
Giuing them prayse, we giue them but their owne.
Get us a Blacke prince to the white we haue,
A Henry Monmoth, and a Richard braue
As Coeur de Lion, lineally plac't
On thy throne, Charles the fearles, and the chast.

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And when Greate Brittaine Males enow haue seene
To be our Kings, get each Land else a Queene
Louely, and louing, as your Machles Bride,
Misfortune-free; or else if seauen tymes try'd,
Out of that furnace may they come and shyne
Like the pure Golden Princesse Pallatine.
Meane while, what chosen vessells must they be!
That can not wish (vewing their pedigree)
An Actiue vertue, or a passiue grace,
But may be found in their owne Stocke and Race.
May euery Branch of thyne a Scepter growe,
And from thy source a Sea of Vertues flowe
Aboute the world, till Fame with outstretch't wings
Style Charles the Patterne, & the Roote of Kings.
A. Tounshend.

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XVI. An Elegie made by Mr Aurelian Townshend In remembrance of the Ladie Venetia Digby.

What Trauellers of matchlesse Venice say,
Is true of thee, admir'd Venetia;
Hee that ner'e saw thee, wants beleife to reach
Halfe those perfections, thy first sight would teach.
Imagination can noe shape create
Aëry enough thy forme to imitate;
Nor bedds of Roses, Damask, red, and white,
Render like thee a sweetnes to the sight.
Thou wer't eye-Musike, and no single part,
But beauties concert; Not one onely dart,
But loues whole quiuer; no prouinciall face,
But uniuersall; Best in euery place.
Thow wert not borne, as other women be,
To need the help of heightning Poesie,
But to make Poets. Hee, that could present
Thee like thy glasse, were superexcellent.
Witnesse that Pen which, prompted by thy parts
Of minde and bodie, caught as many heartes

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With euery line, as thou with euery looke;
Which wee conceiue was both his baite and hooke.
His Stile before, though it were perfect steele,
Strong, smooth, and sharp, and so could make us feele
His loue or anger, Witneses agree,
Could not attract, till it was toucht by thee.
Magneticke then, Hee was for heighth of style
Suppos'd in heauen; And so he was, the while
He sate and drewe thy beauties by the life,
Visible Angell, both as maide and wife.
In which estate thou did'st so little stay,
Thy noone and morning made but halfe a day;
Or halfe a yeare, or halfe of such an age
As thy complexion sweetly did presage,
An houre before those cheerfull beames were sett,
Made all men loosers, to paye Natures debt;
And him the greatest, that had most to doe,
Thy freind, companion, and copartner too,
Whose head since hanging on his pensiue brest
Makes him looke just like one had bin possest
Of the whole world, and now hath lost it all.
Doctors to Cordialls, freinds to counsell fall.
Hee that all med'cines can exactly make,
And freely give them, wanting power to take,
Sitts and such Doses howerly doth dispense,
A man vnlearn'd may rise a Doctor thence.

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I that delight most in vnusuall waies,
Seeke to asswage his sorrowe with thy praise,
Which if at first it swell him vp with greife,
At last may drawe, and minister releife;
Or at the least, attempting it, expresse
For an old debt a freindly thanckfulnesse.
I am no Herald! So ye can expect
From me no Crests or Scutcheons, that reflect
With braue Memorialls on her great Allyes;
Out of my reach that tree would quickly rise.
I onely stryue to doe her Fame som Right,
And walke her Mourner, in this Black and Whight.