like breath; then was I called away in haste
to entertain you. Never was a man
heaved from a sheep-cot to a sceptre, raised
so high in thoughts as I; you left a kiss
upon these lips then, which I mean to keep
from you for ever; I did hear you talk
far above singing. After you were gone
I grew acquainted with my heart and searched
what stirred it so: alas, I found it love!
For this I did delude my noble father
with a feigned pilgrimage, and dress'd myself
in habit of a boy, and, for I knew
my birth no match for you, I was past hope
of having you; and understanding well
that when I made discovery of my sex,
I could not stay with you, I made a vow
by all the most religious things a maid
could call together, never to be known,
whilst there was hope to hide me from men's eyes,
for other than I seemed, that I might ever
abide with you. Then sate I by the fount
where first you took me up.
UT-let us not with melancholy thoughts
see how those cottages, begirt with green,
gleam in the radiance of the setting sun!
His orb is disappearing; day is done;
yet he hastes on and calls to birth new life.
Alas! why can I not on pinions spurn the ground,
and still pursuing, still be left behind him?
Then at my feet should I entranced behold
evening's eternal stillness wrap the world;
find every summit, every vale at rest,
each stream of silver flow with waves of gold:
no deep ravines, no rugged mountain-top
would interrupt me in my godlike flight.
Even now the sea, with all its sunlit bays,
unrolls his depths before my wandering eyes.
But lo! at length he seems to sink away;
yet a new impulse is awakened in me,
I hasten on to drink perpetual light,
the day before me and the night behind,
the heavens above me and the waves beneath!
'tis but a glorious vision-he is gone
oh that this gross material has no wings
to follow the pure spirit as it flies;
yet there is something resident within us
prompts all our feelings, lifts them to the skies;
whene'er the lark, lost in the boundless blue,
pours forth his stream of quivering melody,
or soars the eagle o'er the mountain pines
poised on the breadth of his almighty wings,
or o'er the wide-spread plains, o'er ocean's bed
the grey-plumed heron slowly sails towards home.
translated from GOETHE
ETHINKS I am a prophet new inspir'd,
and, thus, expiring do foretell of him:
his rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last,
for violent fires soon burn out themselves;
small showers last long, but sudden storms are short;
he tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes;
with eager feeding food doth choke the feeder:
light vanity, insatiate cormorant,
consuming means, soon preys upon itself.
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
this other Eden, demi-paradise;
this fortress, built by Nature for herself
against infection and the hand of war;
this happy breed of men, this little world;
this precious stone set in the silver sea,
which serves it in the office of a wall,
or as a moat defensive to a house,
against the envy of less happier lands;
this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
this land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
dear for her reputation through the world,
is now leas'd out (I die pronouncing it),
like to a tenement or pelting farm:
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
with inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds:
that England, that was wont to conquer others,
hath made shameful conquest of itself.
Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life,
how happy then were my ensuing death!
IOIO THE TENDENCY OF MANY MEANS TO ONE END
"HEREFORE doth heaven divide
setting endeavour in continual motion;
to which is fixéd, as an aim or butt,
obedience: for so work the honey-bees;
creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
the act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king, and officers of sorts:
where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
others, like soldiers, arméd in their stings,
make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
which pillage they with merry march bring home
to the tent-royal of their emperor:
who, busied in his majesty, surveys
the singing masons building roofs of gold;
the civil citizens kneading up the honey;
the poor mechanic porters crowding in
their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;
the sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,
delivering o'er to executors pale
the lazy yawning drone. I this infer,-
that many things, having full reference
to one concent, may work contrariously;
as many arrows, looséd several ways,
fly to one mark;
as many several ways meet in one town;
as many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;
as many lines close in the dial's centre;
so many a thousand actions, once afoot,
end in one purpose, and be all well borne
without defeat.
1011 RICHARD PLANTAGENET DUKE OF YORK
HE-WOLF of France, but worse than wolves of
France,
whose tongue more poisons than the adder's tooth!
how ill-beseeming is it in thy sex,
to triumph, like an Amazonian trull,
upon their woes, whom fortune captivates!
But that thy face is, visard-like, unchanging,
made impudent with use of evil deeds,
I would assay, proud queen, to make thee blush:
to tell thee whence thou cam'st, of whom deriv'd,
were shame enough to shame thee, wert thou not
shameless.
Thy father bears the type of king of Naples,
of both the Sicils, and Jerusalem;
yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman.
Hath that poor monarch taught thee to insult?
it needs not, nor it boots thee not, proud queen;
unless the adage must be verified,—
That beggars mounted run their horse to death.
'Tis beauty, that doth oft make women proud;
but, God he knows, thy share thereof is small:
'tis virtue, that doth make them most admir'd;
the contrary doth make thee wonder'd at:
'tis government, that makes them seem divine;
the want thereof makes thee abominable:
thou art as opposite to every good
as the Antipodes are unto us,
or as the south to the septentrion.
O tiger's heart wrapp'd in a woman's hide!
how could'st thou drain the life-blood of the child,
to bid the father wipe his eyes withal,
and yet be seen to bear a woman's face?
Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible;
thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.
1012 PISANDER HOLDING A PARLEY WITH THE chiefs
OF SYRACUSE AT THE HEAD OF THE INSURGENTS
Bince I must speak for all. Your tyranny
BRIEF
drew us from our obedience.
Happy those times
when lords were styled fathers of families,
and not imperious masters! when they number'd
their servants almost equal with their sons,
or one degree beneath them! when their labours
were cherished and rewarded, and a period
set to their sufferings; when they did not press
their duties or their wills, beyond the power
and strength of their performance; all things order'd
with such decorum, as wise law-makers,
from each well-govern'd private house derived
the perfect model of a commonwealth.
Humanity then lodged in the hearts of men,
and thankful masters carefully provided
for creatures wanting reason. The noble horse,
that in his fiery youth from his wide nostrils
neighed courage to his rider and brake through
groves of opposéd pikes, bearing his lord
safe to triumphant victory, old or wounded,
was set at liberty and freed from service.
The Athenian mules, that from the quarry drew
marble, hewed for the temples of the gods,
the great work ended, were dismissed and fed
at the public cost; nay, faithful dogs have found
their sepulchres; but man, to man more cruel,
appoints no end to the sufferings of his slave;
since pride stepped in and riot, and o'erturned
this goodly frame of concord, teaching masters
to glory in the abuse of such as are
brought under their command; who, grown unuseful,
are less esteemed than beasts.
MUST obey him, for I see my friends
beset with peril. Yet my own sad fate
doth with increasing anguish move my heart.
May I no longer feed the silent hope
|