I did; and going did a rainbow note: This is the lace of Peace's coat: But while I looked, the clouds immediately Then went I to a garden, and did spy The crown Imperial: Sure, said I, But when I digged, I saw a worm devour At length I met a reverend good old man : I did demand, he thus began: At Salem dwelt, who lived with good increase He sweetly lived; yet sweetness did not save But after death out of his grave There sprang twelve stalks of wheat: Which many wondering at, got some of those To plant and set. It prospered strangely, and did soon disperse For they that taste it do rehearse, A secret virtue, bringing peace and mirth Take of this grain, which in my garden grows, Make bread of it: and that repose With so much earnestness you do pursue Is only there. PRAISE. King of Glory, King of Peace, I will love Thee: And that love may never cease, I will move Thee. Thou hast granted my request, Thou hast heard me : Thou didst note my working breast, Thou hast spared me. Wherefore with my utmost art I will sing Thee, And the cream of all my heart I will bring Thee. Though my sins against me cried, Thou didst clear me; And alone, when they replied, Thou didst hear me. Thou grew'st soft and moist with tears, Thou relentedst; And when Justice called for fears, Thou dissentedst. Not rudely, as a beast, A man that looks on glass, All may of Thee partake: Which with his tincture (for thy sake) A servant with this clause Who sweeps a room as for thy laws, This is the famous stone For that which God doth touch and own JAMES SHIRLEY, "the last of a great race" of dramatists, was born in London about the year 1594. His university education commenced at Oxford, whence he migrated to Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.A. He officiated for some time as a curate in Hertfordshire; but, going over to the Church of Rome, became successively a schoolmaster at St. Alban's, and a dramatic writer in London. His first play, the comedy of "The Wedding," was published in 1629; and between that date and his death he produced in all about forty plays. His dramas were remarkable in an age of licence for the purity of their thought and their freedom from profanity. During the civil war Shirley took the field under his patron, the Earl of Newcastle. During the ascendancy of Cromwell he resumed his intermitted occupation of a schoolmaster. The fire of London, 1666, drove him and his family from their house in Whitefriars; and presently after, Shirley and his wife both died on the same day. 66 As a dramatist it has been objected to Shirley that he has no originality, no force or intensity of passion or pathos. "But," says Mr. Hallam, "his mind was poetical;" and although no play of surpassing power was produced by him, nor possibly any good scene, .'. . he has many lines of considerable beauty." The following short poem from "The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for Achilles' Armour," published in 1659, carries its own recommendation; whilst the fact that it was a great favourite with Charles II. may serve to vindicate the character of that somewhat frivolous monarch as not altogether unsusceptible of grave and serious reflection. DEATH'S FINAL CONQUEST. The glories of our birth and state Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade. |