University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The poems of George Daniel

... From the original mss. in the British Museum: Hitherto unprinted. Edited, with introduction, notes, and illustrations, portrait, &c. By the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart: In four volumes

collapse sectionI. 
  
collapse section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
collapse section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
collapse section 
  
  
collapse section 
  
  
  
collapse section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
collapse sectionII. 
collapse section 
  
 I. 
 II. 
 III. 
 IV. 
 V. 
 VI. 
 VII. 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
 X. 
 XI. 
 XII. 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 XV. 
 XVI. 
 XVII. 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 XX. 
 XXI. 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. 
 XXV. 
 XXVI. 
 XXVII. 
 XXVIII. 
 XXIX. 
 XXX. 
 XXXI. 
 XXXII. 
 XXXIII. 
 XXXIV. 
 XXXV. 
 XXXVI. 
 XXXVII. 
 XXXVIII. 
 XXXIX. 
 XL. 
 XLI. 
 XLII. 
 XLIII. 
 XLIV. 
 XLV. 
 XLVI. 
 XLVII. 
 XLVIII. 
 XLIX. 
 L. 
 LI. 
 LII. 
 LIII. 
 LIV. 
 LV. 
 LVI. 
 LVII. 
 LVIII. 
 LIX. 
collapse section 
  
  
  
collapse section 
  
  
  
  
collapse section 
  
collapse section 
  
 I. 
 II. 
 III. 
 IV. 
 V. 
 VI. 
 VII. 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
 X. 
 XI. 
 XII. 
collapse sectionIII, IV. 
collapse section 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 XV. 
 XVI. 
 XVII. 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 XX. 
 XXI. 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. 
 XXV. 
 XXVI. 
 XXVII. 
 XXVIII. 
 XXIX. 
 XXX. 
 XXXI. 
 XXXII. 
 XXXIII. 
 XXXIV. 
 XXXV. 
 XXXVI. 
 XXXVII. 
 XXXVIII. 
 XXXIX. 
 XL. 
 XLI. 
 XLII. 
 XLIII. 
 XLIV. 
 XLV. 
 XLVI. 
 XLVII. 
 XLVIII. 
 XLIX. 
 L. 
 LI. 
  
collapse section 
  
  
  
collapse section 
  
  
  
  
collapse section 
  
collapse section 
  
collapse section 
  
collapse section 
collapse section 
  
 1. 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
Idyll 4.
 5. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Idyll 4.

Nor wonder, if the loud Prærogative
Scatter our Dust, & licke our Sweat, to Live
With the Same Innocence, as Fishes Mudde;
Land-Cormorants may Challeng them for food;
Who Grasse to Lions? or Slaine Bullocks fling's

225

To Camells? ye whole world, through severall Things
Eats her selfe vp; the Estrich, may digest
A Broken Rocke, & on a Plough-Share feast;
Some, Eate ye fruits & some the Iuyce of Earth
Whose quicke returnes, bring second Fodders forth;
Fatted, to feed themselves; Arabia, yeilds
Noe Wonder, in her Bird, (if true) wch builds
Her funerall Pile, her Cradle; the world, weake
Reveiues her Selfe, & what the Ancients Speake
From the first Symbole, Traditorie Truth
Is soe indeed; if we observe the Growth
And decay of Things, the world is All
One Phœnix; & makes new originall
From her owne Ashes; as she one Day must
Start from one flame, new & refinéd Dust,
She now, in parcells, Dictates to her Earth
The Transmigration of an entire Birth;
Therfore I must Correct my Selfe, to know
Man, but a Feather; if he fall, or grow,
'Tis but observéd, till another Coat
Gives a new wing; & weare the Eye-sore out;
'Tis but a mewing Time; what matter if
Cold Gorges crampe the feet? Our Eyeass Life
Complaines vnpittied; we're indeed soe Dull
In the Nest-Gutt, wee Crye fasting & full;
Though Tyrranny, (big-Swolne, in all formes,
Vulture or Moll) doe Swoop, or hunt out wormes.
Men borne for bondage; 'tis not in our Choice

226

How wee shall Bleed; if Blood be made ye Price;
And 'tis as easie Smart, to give that Breath
In Ayre, as Earth; resolv'd a certaine Death:
For Kings act open-fac'd, but what of late
Wee See pursued, vnder the Masque of State;
Where fatted fellow-creepers, Dig new Seams
And catch it, warme-lay'd, delvinge ye extreames
Of the darke Centre, wth an Eager Foot;
And wee are Strangled ere our Neighbours know 't.
This yet I'de rather Shun, might I but creepe
To breath in Royall Ayre, then Dye soe Deepe.
But nothing bootes my fancy, when I Span
My Selfe to Iudgment, in the Circle Man:
(And over-toil'd Affections, wounded Send
To Reason, at his need, my nearest freind;)
I boldly looke on Either, and refuse
Neither, but comply to the Genius
Directs all forme; I can as well keep bare
To a Cotton-Bench, as to a Velvet-Chaire;
'Tis all one to my Ease, to all the Right
I claime in Man; to all the Benefitt
Of Fortune; (if my former Errors had
Not lodg'd mee (they malignant Say, I) Madd;
For Sideing is a madnes, where the Hand
Acts to a Somewhat, we but vnderstand
In the Relations,) if the Essence be
Resolvéd through, in the necessitie.
I know noe Argument in Reason Springs
T'oppose the forme, by Cōmonwealths, or Kings;

227

Nor is 't a Sickly bending in the Blood
But a firme Truth, to what I've vnderstood
From the whole question; wch ill-stated, Swaies
Vs to our owne Affections Severall waies;
But to the Eye of Reason, (if wee must
Live vnder Power) all Power is Equall Iust.
Man is a kind of Sea-weed (if we may
Run to the Simile, the World, a Sea;)
Wee lye weake Spriggs, wch vpon water floate;
Osyers, in Ayre, but Corrall at the Root;
Empire low-firm'd, a Plant congeal'd, a Rocke
Torne vp, a Babble, or a whistle-Stalke;
The large Amphibion now resolv'd is hung;
To make proud females was our wonder long.
Empire & State, the formes of Government,
The Originall of Power, & the Discent,
Are now but Easie Problemes; a Discourse
For vnconcernéd Woemen; or what's worse
Taught Children quarrell Crown's; & can declaime
Power, wth their Spoone-meat, vnder any Name;
Can tumble Iunius Brutus, & conferre
The Phillipicks, with all our moderne Stirre;
And can name Oligarchy, wth more Ease
Then a Loome-flitter, can Church Hierarchies;
Such Definitions wth their Milke; & prove
Authority, to what their Mothers Love;
And See the Reason, ere they well can prate;
Who Rules the House, to Them governs ye State.

228

For my owne part, I love a Woeman Witt
As a Tam'd Hare, that Strikes a Drūming fitt;
Or the cag'd Squirrell, wth a Iing of Bells;
Mechanicke Entertaine! & the face Sells
Sometimes at better Rate, where they can top
The Cōmers; wth the Tangle of the Shop;
But whither Toothéd, run I, in mistake?
May the Sex live long flatter'd, for his Sake;
Who put the Witt vpon 'em, for a Boast,
And got his End, Such Labour, never Lost.
Draw out ye Scheme; take ye Ascendent right,
Iupiter; Venus lost, vnto our Sight;
And then read on; wee've whirl'd the Pin of State
Fraile Axis; & See Power, not Constellate;
Cæsar, (noe starre within our Region knowne,
Trust in a knott, of Tullie's mourning Gowne)
Is but a Wild-fire, to wast Senate Raggs,
And silence Cato, whose too bitter braggs
Of Libertie, Chain'd others, in the Quest,
And lost his owne; by a new Power opprest.
The Slumbers of our Age, (if we could tell
Them out, broad-wakeing), ancient Dreams reveale;
If Life be little more, 'tis fond expence
To hang vp State, fring'd with a Reverence
For better Curtains; & wrought Pillow's bring
Pownc'd Law, Stitched Cōmon-wealth, & purled King;
More trouble to our Rest, lye downe & Sleepe
The Folly out, wch others Laugh, or Weepe.