XI.

Then thou the Mother of fo sweet a Child
Her false imagin'd loss cease to lament,
And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild ;
Think what a present thou to God hast sent,
And render him with patience what he lent ; 75

This if thou do, he will an ofspring give, [live. That till the world's last end thall make thy name to

II. Anno Ætatis 19. At a Vacation Exercise in

the college, part Latin, part English. The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began.

H

AIL native Language, that by finews weak
Didit move my first endevoring tongue to

speak,
And mad'st imperfect words with childish trips,
Half unpronounc'd, flide through my infant-lips,
Driving dumb silence from the portal door, 5
Where he had mutely fat two years before :
Here I falute thee, and thy pardon ask,
That now I use thee in my latter talk :
Small lofs it is that thence can come unto thee,
I know my tongue but little grace can do thee : 16
Thou need ft not be ambitious to be first,
Believe me I have thither packt the worst :
And, if it happen as I did forecast,
The Jaintieft dithes shall be serv'd

up

laft. I pray thee then deny me not thy aid

15 For this same imall neglect that I have made : But haite thee ftrait to do me once a pleasure, And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure,

Not

20

Not those new fangled toys, and trimming flight
Which takes our late fantastics with delight,
But cull those richest robes, and gay'lt attire
Which deepest spirits, and choicest wits defire :
I have some naked thoughts that rove about,
And loudly knock to have their passage out ;
And weary of their place do only stay

25
Till thou hast deck'd them in thy best array ;
That so they may without fufpect or fears
Fly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears ;
Yet I had rather, if I were to chufe,
Thy service in some graver subject use,

3@ Such as may make thee search thy coffers round, Before thou clothe my fancy in fít sound : Such where the deep transported mind may soar Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav'ni's door Look in, and see each blissful Deity

35 How he before the thunderous throne doth lie, List ning to what unfhorn Apollo fings To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings Immortal nectar to her kingly fire : Then passing through the spheres of watchful fire, 4a And misty regions of wide air next under, And hills of Inow and lofts of piled thunder, May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves, In Heav'n's deñance mustering all his waves ; Then sing of secret things that came to pass 45 When beldam Nature in her cradle was ; And last of kings and queens and breroes old, Such as the wise Demodocus once told In folemn songs at king Alcinous feait, While fad Ulysses foul and all the rest Are held with his melodious harmony In willing chains and sweet captivity. But fie, my wand'ring Mule, how thou doft stray ! Expe&ance calls thee now another way,

Thou

Thou know'st it must be now thy only bent 55
To keep in compass of thy predicament
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may resign my room.
Then Ens is represented as father of the Predica-

ments his ten sons, whereof the eldest stood for
Substance with his canons, which Ens, thus
speaking, explains.

GI

ood luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth

The faery ladies danc'd upon the hearth; 60 Thy drousy nurse hath sworn she did them fpie Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie, And sweetly singing round about thy bed Strow all their blessings on thy fleeping head. She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldft ftill From eyes of mortals walk invisible :

66 Yet there is something that doth force my fear, For once it was my dismal hap to hear A Sibyl old, bow-bent with crooked age, That far events full wisely could presage, 70 And in time's long and dark prospective glass Foresaw what future days should bring to pass ; Your fon, said she, (nor can you it prevent) Shall subject be to many an Accident. O'er all his brethren he shall reign as king, 75 Yet every one thall make him underling, And those that cannot live from him afunder Ungratefully shall strive to keep him under, In worth and excellence he shall out-go them, Yet being above them, he shall be below them; 8e From others he shall stand in need of nothing, Yet on his brothers shall depend for clothing. To find a foe it shall not be his hap, And peace shall lull him in her flow'ry lap ;

Yet

85

Yet shall he live in strife, and at his door
Devouring war shall never cease to roar :
Yea it shall be his natural property
To harbour those that are at enmity.
What pow'r, what force, what mighty spell, if not
Your learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot? go

R

The next Quantity and Quality fpake in prose, then

Relation was calld by his name.
IVERS arise; whether thou be the son

Of utmost Tweed, or Oose, or gulphy Dun,
Or Trent, who like some earth-born giant spreads
His thirty arms along th' indented meads,
Or fullen Mole that runneth underneath,
Or Severn fwift, guilty of maidens' death,
Or rocky Avon, or of fedgy Lee,
Or coaly Tine, or ancient hallow'd Dee,
Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythian's name,
Or Medway smooth, or royal towred Thame. 10e

[The rest was prose.}

95

III.
On the MORNING of CHRIST'S NATIVITY.

Compos'd 1629.

T

HIS is the month, and this the happy morn,

Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin-Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring ;
For to the holy lages once did fing,

5
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

That

II

II. That glorious form, that light unsufferable, And that far-beaming blaze of majesty, Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table To fit the midst of Trinal Unity, He laid aside ; and here with us to be,

Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay,

III.
Say heav'nly Muse, shall not thy facred vein

15
Afford a present to the Infant God?
Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,
To welcome him to this his new abode,
Now while the Heav'n by the sun's team untrod,

Hath took no print of the approaching light, 20 And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?

IV.
See how from far upon the eastern road
The star-led wisards haste with odors sweet :
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet ;

25 Have thou the honor first, thy Lord to greet,

And join thy voice unto the Angel quire, From out his secret altar touch'd with hallow'd fire,

The H Y MN,

I

I.
T was the winter wild,

While the Heav'n-born child
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger