In the Glorious Assumption of our Blessed Lady Against Irresolution and Delay in Religious Matters 136 Denbigh 139 DIVINE EPIGRAMS "Two went up into the Temple to pray" 142 "I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under "It is better to go into Heaven with one eye 145 "I am ready not only to be bound but to die 146 him and passed by "She began to wash His feet with her tears "And a certain priest coming that way looked on "Verily I say unto you, ye shall weep and lament". "Ye build the sepulchres of the prophets 148 148 148 149 "But men loved darkness more than light" 149 150 150 To Pontius washing his blood-stained hands. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay" 150 151 To our Blessed Lord upon the choice of His Sep Upon the body of our Blessed Lord 152 152 153 Why are ye afraid, O ye of little faith?" 153 Upon the Death of Mr. Herrys Upon the Death of the most desired Mr. Herrys 157 162 167 168 168 An Epitaph on a Young Married Couple Death's Lecture and the Funeral of a Young Gentle Page 179 To the Queen 187 To the Queen, on her numerous progeny Upon two green apricots sent to Mr. Cowley Alexias 188 194 195 TRANSLATIONS In praise of spring (Virgil) To thy lover, A Song (Italian) Temperance. Crashaw's answer to Cowley, on Hope. 209 210 210 . 210 212 214 INTRODUCTION RICHARD CRASHAW, the author of this volume, was born probably in the year 1613. The exact date is unknown. He was the only child of William Crashaw, B.D., by his first wife, whose name even has never reached us. And indeed of the poet himself we know very little. The few facts of his life are almost exactly those we should have expected; they cause us no surprise, and the sadness which is over his whole life is but a shadow throwing up the passionate beauty of his verse, the mightiness of his faith. Of his stepmother, the second wife of William Crashaw, we know only that she was kind to him, "her singular, motherly affection to the child" having earned the praise of Archbishop Ussher. Of his father we know more. He was indeed something of a figure in his day. A Puritan parson, of decided character: a somewhat strange and curious being, perhaps not altogether charming, of nearly three hundred years ago. But his influence over his son can count for very little, for he died when Richard was thirteen years old. After the Charterhouse, where he was at school |