Some few that I have known in days of old
Would stand most dreadful risk of catching cold;
While you, my friend, whatever wind should blow,
Might traverse England safely to and fro,
An honest man, close-buttoned to the chin,
Broad-cloth without, and a warm heart within.

Cowper.

EPITAPHS.

I. ON A YOUNG LADY.

UNDERNEATH this stone doth lie
As much virtue as could die;
Which when alive did vigour give

To as much beauty as could live.

II. ON THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE.1
UNDERNEATH this marble hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother;—
Death! ere thou hast slain another,
Learned and fair and good as she,
Time shall throw his dart at thee!

Ben Jonson.

Ben Jonson.

III. INTENDED FOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON.

NATURE and Nature's laws lay hid in night :

God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light. Pope.

IV. FOR THE TOMB OF MR. HAMILTON.

PAUSE here, and think: a monitory rhyme
Demands one moment of thy fleeting time.
Consult life's silent clock, thy bounding vein;

Seems it to say-" Health here has long to reign ?"
Hast thou the vigour of thy youth? an eye
That beams delight? a heart untaught to sigh?
Yet fear. Youth, ofttimes healthful and at ease,
Anticipates a day it never sees;

And many a tomb, like Hamilton's, aloud
Exclaims, "Prepare thee for an early shroud!"

Cowper.

(1) This accomplished lady was the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, who has been styled by Coleridge "the star of serenest brilliancy in the glorious constellation of Elizabeth's court."

THE EMIGRANTS.

WHERE the remote Bermudas ride
In ocean's bosom unespied,

From a small boat that rowed along,
The listening winds received this song:-
"What should we do but sing His praise,
That led us through the watery maze,
Unto an isle so long unknown,
And yet far kinder than our own!

"Where He the huge sea monsters racks,
That lift the deep upon their backs,
He lands us on a grassy stage,
Safe from the storm and prelates'1 rage.

"He gives us this eternal spring,
Which here enamels everything;
And sends the fowls to us, in care,
On daily visits through the air.
"He hangs in shades the orange bright,
Like golden2 lamps in a green night,
And does in the pomegranate close3
Jewels more rich than Ormus shows.
"He makes the figs our mouths to meet,
And throws the melons at our feet;
With cedars chosen by His hand,
From Lebanon, He stores the land.

"He cast-of which we rather boast-
The Gospel's pearl4 upon our coast,
And, in these rocks, for us did frame
A temple where to sound His name.
"Oh! let our voice His praise exalt,
Till it arrive at heaven's vault,
Which thence perhaps resounding, may
Echo beyond the Mexique bay.”

(1) Prelates' rage-See note 4 below.

(2) Like golden, &c.-No one can have seen an orangery, even in our own country, who will not acknowledge the truth and beauty of this line.

(3) Close-enclose.

(4) Gospel's pearl, &c.-The emigrants had left their country to avoid persecution for their religious opinions ;-hence their thankfulness that here they would be unmolested.

Thus sang they in the English boat
A holy and a cheerful note,

And all the way, to guide their chime,
With falling oars they kept the time.

Andrew Marvell.

LYRICS FROM THE OLDER WRITERS.

I. THE SONGS OF BIRDS.

WHAT bird so sings, yet so does wail?
Oh 'tis the ravished nightingale!
"Jug, jug, jug, tereu!" she cries,
And still her woes at midnight rise.
Brave prick song! Who is't now we hear?
None but the lark so shrill and clear;
Now at heaven's gates2 she claps her wings,
The morn not waking till she sings.
Hark! hark! with what a pretty throat
Poor robin-redbreast tunes his note!
Hark! how the jolly cuckoos sing!
Cuckoo! to welcome in the spring.
Cuckoo! to welcome in the spring.

II. THE FAIRY'S SONG.

OVER hill, over dale,

Lyly (born 1553).

Thorough bush, thorough brier;
Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the Fairy Queen,

To dew her orbs3 upon the green;

(1) Prick song-elaborate and ornamented music pricked out in harmony-as distinguished from plain song, which consisted of simple melody.

(2) Heaven's gates-See the "Réveillé,” p. 172, where we find Shakspere using the same expression-probably borrowed from Lyly. Milton also adopts it (see p. 340):

"Ye birds

That singing up to heaven's gate ascend."

(3) To dew her orbs, &c.-The orbs are the fairy rings, as they are popularly called, and the fairy's office was to dew or water them after they had been worn dry by the merry little dancers.

The cowslip tall her pensioners1 be;
In their gold coat spots you see-
These be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

III. WINTER.

WHEN icicles hang by the wall,

Shakspere (born 1564).

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,2
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whoo!

Tu-whit! tu-whoo! a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel3 the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs5 hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whoo!

Tu-whit! tu-whoo! a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

IV. INGRATITUDE.

BLOW, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen

Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude.

(1) Pensioners-Body-guard.

Shakspere.

"They were" (says Charles Knight) "Queen

Elizabeth's favourite attendants. They were the handsomest men of the first families-tall as the cowslip was to the fairy, and shining in their spotted gold coats like that flower under an April sun."

(2) Ways be foul-the roads are dirty.

(3) Keel-skim, according to some; others say it means to cool.

(4) Saw-from say, a saying. Shakspere, in "The Seven Ages" (see p. 283), speaks of "wise saws, and modern instances."

(5) Crabs-i.e. apples, which it was usual to put into the wassail-bowl.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot;
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not.

V. THE REVEILLE.

Shakspere.

HARK! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings,

And Phoebus 'gins arise,

His steeds1 to water at those springs

On chaliced flowers that lies;2

And winking marybuds begin

To ope their golden eyes;

With everything that pretty bin;3
My lady sweet, arise;
Arise, arise!

VI. ARIEL'S SONG.

Shakspere.

WHERE the bee sucks there suck I;

In a cowslip's bell I lie;

There I couch when owls do cry;

On the bat's wing I do fly
After summer, merrily;

Merrily, merrily, shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

Shakspere.

(1) His steeds, &c.—2. e. the sun begins to drink up the dew from the cups of the flowers; a more exquisite application of the mythological fable can scarcely be conceived.

(2) That lies-i. e. the springs that lies. See a remark on a similar expression in note 2, p. 140.

(3) Bin-an old form of the 3rd person, for which we now have is and are.