When that abject insolence,

(Which submits to the more great.
And disdains the weaker state,
As misfortune were offence,)

Shall at court be judged a crime,
Though in practice, and the time
Purchase wit at your expense.

Each small tempest shakes the proud;
Whose large branches vainly sprout,
'Bove the measure of the root.
But let storms speak ne'er so loud,
And the astonished day be night;
Yet the just shines in a light,
Fair at noon without a cloud.

TIME.

TIME! where didst thou those years inter
Which I have seen decease?

My soul's at war, and truth bids her
Find out their hidden sepulchre,
To give her troubles peace.

Pregnant with flowers, doth not the spring
Like a late bride appear?
Whose feathered music only bring
Caresses, and no requiem' sing,
On the departed year.

The earth, like some rich wanton heir,
Whose parents coffined lie,

Forgets it once looked pale and bare,
And doth for vanities prepare,

As the spring ne'er should die.

The present hour, flattered by all,
Reflects not on the last;

But I, like a sad factor, shall

To account my life each moment call,
And only weep the past.

My memory tracks each several way,
Since reason did begin

Over my actions her first sway:
And teacheth me that each new day
Did only vary sin.

1 requiem, a service in the Romish church for the repose of the souls of the dead.

Poor bankrupt conscience! where are those
Rich hours, but farmed to thee?
How carelessly I some did lose,
And other to my lust dispose,
As no rent-day should be!

I have infected with impure
Disorders my past years;
But I'll to penitence inure

Those that succeed. There is no cure,
Nor antidote, but tears.

ROBERT HERRICK

WAS a native of London; he was educated at Cambridge, and, in 1629, received a living in Devonshire. During the usurpation of Cromwell, he was ejected, like many others of the episcopal clergy, but was reinstated on the restoration of Charles the Second. Good fortune, however, came too late, for the poet died

soon after his re-establishment in his former rectory.

Herrick's poetry is remarkable for prettiness, rather than any higher quality; and in too many instances he has sullied his verses by allusions, equally offensive to delicacy and good taste.

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 awhile,
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?
'Twas 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 brave1,
And after they have shewn their pride,
Like you, awhile, they glide

Into the grave.

1 brave, displaying pride in any qualification; here, in external show.

THE acknowledged prince of British poets, was born in London, December 9, 1608. He was, in early life, a diligent student; and before he attained the age of seventeen, knew the French, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldee languages, almost as familiarly as his own. He was sent to Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.A. in 1632. After a residence of five years with his father, at Horton, in Buckinghamshire, where he composed some of his smaller pieces, he visited Italy. On his return home, he found England distracted by civil war, and, led away by early prejudices, he embraced the Republican party. During the Protectorate, he held the situation of Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell, and unfortunately was induced to write in defence of the crimes of the regicides. After this he was stricken with blindness, and his immortal poem, the Paradise Lost, was dictated to his daughters, who acted as his amanuenses. After the Restoration, Milton was supposed to be in some danger; but he was protected by Sir W. Davenant, to whom he had rendered the same service when the Commonwealth was triumphant. Paradise Lost was sold to a bookseller, for a miserable sum, and published in 1667; Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes appeared in 1670. From thenceforward, the poet lived in retirement, and died A.D. 1674. The best character of Milton's powers is to be found in the well-known épigram of Dryden, which can scarcely be deemed too laudatory:—

Three poets in three distant ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England, did adorn.
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed;
The next in majesty; in both the last.
The force of nature could no further go;
To make a third, she joined the former two.

1

THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

SOUTHWARD through Eden went a river large,

Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy' hill
Passed underneath engulphed; for God hath thrown
That mountain as his garden-mould high raised
Upon the rapid current, which, through veins

Of

porous earth with kindly thirst updrawn,
Rose a fresh mountain, and with many a rill
Watered the garden; thence united fell
Down the steep glade, and met the nethers flood,
Which from his darksome passage now appears.
And now, divided into four main streams,
Runs diverse3, wandering many a famous realm,
And country, whereof here needs no account;
But rather to tell how, if Art could tell,
How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks,
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold,
With mazy error under pendant shades
Ran nectar visiting each plant, and fed
Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice Art
In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon
Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
The open field, and where the unpierced shade
Imbrowned the noontide bowers: thus was this place
A happy rural seat of various view ;-

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others, whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables" true,

If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks
Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,
Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap
Of some irriguous7 valley spread her store,
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grapes, and gently creeps
Luxuriant; meanwhile murmuring waters fall

shaggy, as rough with trees and shrubs, as the sides of a beast are with hair.

2 nether, lower.

3 diverse, in different directions.

4 orient, eastern; like what is produced in eastern countries.

5 nectar, nectar was fabled by the pagans to be the drinks of the gods.

6 Hesperian fables; fables respecting the gardens of the Hesperides, in which the apples were said to be of gold. 7 irriguous, watered. 8 umbrageous, shady.

Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned,
Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams.
The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan3,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring.

THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE BATTLE OF THE ANGELS.
So spake the Sovereign voice, and clouds began
To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll
In dusty wreaths, reluctant flames, the sign
Of wrath awaked; nor with less dread the loud
Ethereal trumpet from on high 'gan blow:
At which command the Powers militant1o
That stood for Heaven, in mighty quadrate" joined,
Of union irresistible, moved on

In silence their bright legions to the sound,
Of instrumental harmony, that breathed
Heroic ardour to adventurous deeds
Under their godlike leaders, in the cause
Of God and his Messiah. On they move
Indissolubly firm; nor obvious12 hill,

Nor straightening vale, nor wood, nor stream divides
Their perfect ranks; for high above the ground
Their march was, and the passive air upbore
Their nimble tread: as when the total kind
Of birds, in orderly array on wing

Came summoned over Eden to receive
Their names of thee; so over many a tract

Of heaven they marched, and many a province wide,
Tenfold the length of this terrene13: at last
Far in the horizon to the north appeared
From skirt to skirt a fairy region, stretched
In battailous aspect, and nearer view
Bristled with upright beams innumerable

Of rigid spears, and helmets thronged, and shields
Various, with boastful argument portrayed,
The banded powers of Satan hasting on
With furious expedition.

9 Pan, the god of the country, or of
nature, in the ancient mythologies.
10 militant, warlike, prepared for

war.

11 quadrate, square.

12 obvious, intervening, lying in their

way.

13 terrene, the earth.

14 battailous, warlike, threatening battle.