Puslapio vaizdai
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Only a sweet and virtuous soul,
Like season'd timber, never gives;

But, though the whole world turn to coal,

Then chiefly lives.

GEORGE HERBERT.1

TO BLOSSOMS.

FAIR pledges of a fruitful tree,

Why do ye fall so fast?

Your date is not so past,
But you may stay yet here a while,
To blush and gently smile;
And go at last.

What, were ye born to be

An hour or half's delight;
And so to bid good-night?
'T was pity Nature brought ye forth
Merely to show your worth,
And lose you quite.

But you are lovely leaves, where we
May read how soon things have

Their end, though ne'er so brave:

1 GEORGE HERBERT was a descendant of the Earls of Pembroke and younger brother of the famous Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He was born at Montgomery Castle in Wales, in 1593, and was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity College, Cambridge. After graduation he took holy orders, became a minister of the Established Church and prebendary of Layton. In 1630 he was presented by King Charles I. to the living of Bemerton, and died while still a young man, in 1632. He wrote a great deal, both prose and verse, but always on religious and moral subjects, and was a man of gentle and devout nature and Dure life.

And after they have shown their pride,
Like you, a while, they glide
Into the grave.

ROBERT HERRICK.1

TO LUCASTA, ON GOING TO THE WARS

TELL me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
That from the nunnery

Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind,
To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shall adore;

I could not love thee, Dear, so much,

Loved I not Honor more.

RICHARD LOVELACE."

1 ROBERT HERRICK was born in London in 1591. He was a student at Cambridge, took orders, and was presented by Charles I. to the living of Dean Prior in Devonshire in 1629. He was deprived of his living by Cromwell in 1648. He then returned to London and lived in retirement, believing his connection with the church to be wholly severed, but on the restoration of Charles II. in 1660 he was reinstated in his living, which he held until his death, about the year 1674. He was eminent both as a divine and as a poet. His poems are chiefly secular and many very light, but it is as the author of them that he is chiefly remempered, although he wrote some verses on sacred subjects. Almost all his poems are very short, but they are very perfect and highly finished and many are among the very best of their kind 2 RICHARD LOVELACE, the son of Sir William Lovelace, of

TO DAFFODILS.

FAIR daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon:
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay,

Until the hasting day

Has run

But to the even-song;

And, having prayed together, we
Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or any thing.

We die,

As your hours do, and dry

Away,

Like to the summer's rain;

Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.

ROBERT Herrick.

Woolwich, Kent, was born in 1618. He came of age just at the outbreak of the civil war between king and Parliament. He at once embraced the royal cause, and after its defeat took service with the king of France and commanded a regiment when he was wounded at Dunkirk. He returned to England only to be thrown into prison, and after his release lingered in ondon in obscurity and poverty, and died there in 1658, a victim to the political troubles of the time. He was a handsome, gallant cavalier, and a good soldier as wel. as a poet. Most of ais poems have little merit, but there are one or two besides that given here which have preserved his name from obliv.on.

GO, LOVELY ROSE.

Go, lovely Rose!

Tell her, that wastes her time and me,

That now she knows,

When I resemble her to thee,

How sweet and fair she seems to be.

Tell her that's young

And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung

In deserts, where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.

Small is the worth

Of beauty from the light retired:
Bid her come forth,

Suffer herself to be desired,

And not blush so to be admired.

Then die! that she

The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee:

How small a part of time they share

That are so wondrous sweet and fair!

EDMUND WALLER.1

1 EDMUND WALLER was born in 1605. He was of good famПly, a connection of both John Hampden and Oliver Cromwell, and was a man of property. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, entered Parliament in 1621, and, with occasional intervals, continued there through life, being elected the last time in 1685, as member for Saltash in the only Parliament of James II. In 1643 he was discovered in a plot against the Long Par liament, made abject submission, was fined £10,000, and forced into exile. He returned in 1653, and made terms with Crom

"I'LL NEVER LOVE THEE MORE."

I.

My dear and only love, I pray

That little world of thee
Be governed by no other sway
Than purest monarchy;
For if confusion have a part,
Which virtuous souls abhor,
And hold a synod in thine heart,
I'll never love thee more.

II.

As Alexander I will reign,
And I will reign alone;
My thoughts did evermore disdain
A rival ou my throne.

He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,

That dares not put it to the touch,
To gain or lose it all.

III.

But I will reign and govern still,
And always give the law,
And have each subject at my will
And all to stand in awe;
But 'gainst my batteries if I find
Thou kick, or vex me sore,
As that thou set me up a blind,
I'll never love thee more.

well, by whom he was protected. On the Restoration he again shanged sides, and made his peace with Charles II., during whose reign he continued to flourish. He died in 1687. As a politician he was sharp, mean, and time-serving; as a poet, raceful and witty He wrote much, both prose and verse.

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