You laugh because you like not; I jest whenas I joy not; You pierce, although you strike not; I strike and yet annoy not. I spy, whenas I speak not; for oft I speak and speed not; But of my wounds you reck not, because you sec they bleed not: Yet bleed they where you see not, but you endure not: the pain Of noble mind they be not that ever kill and cure not. I see, whenas I view not; I wish, although I crave not; I serve, and yet I sue not; I hope for that I have not; I catch, although I hold not; I burn, although I flame not; I seem, whenas I would not; and when I seem, Ι am not. Yours am I, though I seem not, and will be, though I show not; Mine outward deeds then deem not, when mine intent you know not; But if my serving prove not most sure, although I sue not, Withdraw your mind and love not, nor of my ruin rue not. XII. SIR WALTER RALEIGH TO HIS SON.1 HREE things there be that prosper all арасе, And flourish while they are asunder But on a day, they meet all in a place, And they be these; the Wood, the Weed, the Wag: The Wood is that that makes the gallows tree; The Weed is that that strings the hangman's bag; The Wag, my pretty knave, betokens thee. Now mark, dear boy-while these assemble not, Green springs the tree, hemp grows, the wag is wild; But when they meet, it makes the timber rot, GOD BLESS THE CHILD! 1 MS. Malone 19, p. 130. Four kings shall be assembled in this isle, By day or night this tumult shall not cease, An herald strong, the like was never born, ST WAL. R. MS. Malone 19, p. 45. Also ascribed to Raleigh in the Catalogue of Oxford MSS. among those of c. c. c. XIV. THE SILENT LOVER.1 ASSIONS are likened best to floods and streams: The shallow murmur, but the deep So, when affections yield discourse, it seems Wrong not, sweet empress of my heart, With thinking that he feels no smart, Since, if my plaints serve not to approve It comes not from defect of love, But from excess of duty. 1 Signed as below in a MS. formerly belonging to the late Mr. Pickering. The text of the Oxford edition, viii. 716, is corrected from a Rawl. MS. where the piece is absurdly headed" Sir Walter Raleigh to Queen Elizabeth." Also assigned to Raleigh in the Lansdowne MS. of some of W. Browne's Poems (Brydges, Preface to Browne's Poems, L. P. 1815, p. 6). In other old copies entitled "To his Mistress, by Sir Walter Raleigh;" see "Wit's Interpreter," 1671, p. 146; another copy on p. 173 is anonymous. The title given above is from Oldys, p. lv. and the editions of Raleigh's Works. The piece has been claimed on inferior evidence for Lord Pembroke,Sir R. Aytoun, and Lord Walden. For, knowing that I sue to serve I rather choose to want relief Thus those desires that aim too high When reason cannot make them die, Yet, when discretion doth bereave Silence in love bewrays more woe Then wrong not, dearest to my heart, ST W. R. |