And now we've told you all our loves, In hopes this declaration moves Let's hear of no inconstancy, Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset. LXXVII. TO ALTHEA, FROM PRISON. WHEN Love with unconfinèd wings And my divine Althea brings The birds that wanton in the air When flowing cups run swiftly round Our careless heads with roses crown'd, When thirsty grief in wine we steep, When healths and draughts go free-. When, linnet-like confined, I With shriller throat shall sing When I shall voice aloud how good Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; If I have freedom in my love, Richard Lovelace. LXXVIII. LOYALTY CONFINED. (Written when a prisoner in the Tower, during Cromwell's usurpation.) BEAT on, proud billows; Boreas, blow; Your incivility doth plainly show That innocence is tempest-proof; Though surly Nereus frown, my thoughts are calm ; That which the world miscalls a jail, A private closet is to me; Locks, bars, and solitude, together met, To keep rogues out, not keep me in. Into this private room I'm turn'd; The salamander should be burn'd. Or, like those sophists who would drown a fish, The cynic hugs his poverty, The pelican her wilderness; And 'tis the Indian's pride to be Naked on frozen Caucasus. Contentment feels no smart; stoics, we see, Make torments easy by their apathy. I'm in the cabinet lock'd up, Like some high-prizèd margarite; Or like the great Mogul or Pope, I'm cloister'd up from public sight. Retiredness is a part of majesty, And thus, proud Sultan! I am great as thee. These manacles upon my arm I, as my mistress' favours, wear; And for to keep my ankles warm, I have some iron shackles there. These walls are but my garrison; this cell, Thinking to make his purpose sure, By a malicious friendly knife Did only wound him to his cure: Malice, we see, wants wit; for what is meant Mischief, oft times proves favour by th' event. Altho' I cannot see my king Neither in person-nor in coin !— Yet contemplation is a thing That renders that I have not, mine. Have you not heard the nightingale, Even then her melody doth plainly prove My soul is free as ambient air, Which doth my outward parts include; Whilst loyal thoughts do still repair T'accompany my solitude. What tho' they do with chains my body bind, My king alone can captivate my mind. I am that bird whom they combine Though I'm mew'd up, yet I can chirp and sing, LXXIX. Sir Roger L'Estrange. THE MEANS TO ATTAIN HAPPY LIFE. MARTIAL, the things that do attain The mean diet, no delicate fare; True wisdom join'd with simpleness; Where wine the wit may not oppress; The faithful wife, without debate; Such sleep as may beguile the night; Nor wish for death, nor fear his might. Earl of Surrey. LXXX. CONTENT. SWEET are the thoughts that savour of content :- The homely house that harbours quiet rest, The cottage that affords no pride or care, The mean that 'grees with country music best, The sweet consort of mirth and music's fare. Obscured life sets down a type of bliss; A mind content both crown and kingdom is. Robert Greene. LXXXI. THE WISH. WELL then; I now do plainly see Does of all meats the soonest cloy; Ah, yet, ere I descend to th' grave, And, since love ne'er will from me flee, A mistress moderately fair, And good as guardian-angels are, Only beloved, and loving me! O, fountains! when in you shall I Myself, eased of unpeaceful thoughts, espy? O fields! O woods! when, when shall I be made The happy tenant of your shade? Here's the spring-head of Pleasure's flood; Where all the riches lie, that she Has coin'd and stamp'd for good. Pride and ambition here Only in far-fetch'd metaphors appear; Here nought but winds can hurtful murmurs scatter, And nought but Echo flatter. The gods, when they descended, hither From Heaven did always choose their way; And therefore we may boldly say That 'tis the way too thither. How happy here should I, And one dear She, live, and embracing die! |