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Lastly, came Winter cloathed all in frize,

Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill;
Whilst on his hoary beard his breath did freese,
And the dull drops, that from his purpled bill
As from a limbeck did adown distill:
In his right hand a tipped staffe he held,
With which his feeble steps he stayed still;
For he was faint with cold, and weak with eld; "
That scarce his loosed limbes he able was to weld."

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43. SONNET LXXXVIII.

Like as the culver, on the bared bough,
Sits mourning for the absence of her mate,
And in her songs sends many a wishful vow
For his return that seems to linger late;
So I alone, now left disconsolate,

Mourn to myself the absence of my love,

And, wand'ring here and there, all desolate,

Seek with my plaints to match that mournful dove:
Ne joy of aught that under heaven doth hove,

Can comfort me but her own joyous sight,
Whose sweet aspect both God and man can move,

In her unspotted pleasures to delight.

Dark is my day, whiles her fair light I miss,
And dead my life, that wants such lively bliss.

44. Sir Philip Sydney. 1554-1586. (Manual, p. 78.) [For Extracts from his Prose Works, see next Chapter.]

SONNET TO SLEEP.

Come, sleep, O sleep, the certain knot of peace,
The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,
Th' indifferent judge between the high and low!
With shield of proof, shield me from out the prease
Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw :

O make me in those civil wars to cease!

I will good tribute pay if thou do so.

SP. ENG. LIT.

D

Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed
A chamber deaf to noise, and blind to light;
A rosy garland, and a weary head;

And if these things, as being thine by right,
Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me,
Livelier than elsewhere Stella's image see.

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(For Extracts from his Prose Works, see next Chapter.)
45. A PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE.
By Christopher Marlowe.

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That grove or valley, hill or field,
Or wood and steepy mountain yield.
Where we will sit on rising rocks,
And see the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

Pleased will I make thee beds of roses,
And twine a thousand fragrant posies;
A cap of flowers and rural kirtle,
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.

A jaunty gown of finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
And shoes lined choicely for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold:

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
If these, these pleasures can thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.

THE NYMPH'S REPLY TO THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD.

By Sir Walter Raleigh.

If all the world and Love were young,
And truth on every Shepherd's tongue,
These pleasures might my passion move
To live with thee, and be thy love.

But fading flowers in every field,
To winter floods their treasures yield;
A honey'd tongue-a heart of gall,
Is Fancy's spring, but Sorrow's fall.

Thy gown, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies,
Are all soon wither'd, broke, forgotten,
In Folly ripe, in Reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw, and ivy-buds,
Thy coral clasps, and amber studs,
Can me with no enticements move,
To live with thee, and be thy love.

But could Youth last, could Love still breed ;
Had joys no date, had Age no need ;

Then those delights my mind might move
To live with thee, and be thy love.

46. THE SOUL'S ERRAND.

This beautiful poem appeared anonymously in "Davison's Poetical Rhapsody," in 1608. It has been ascribed to Sir Walter Raleigh by many able critics.

Go, Soul, the Body's guest,
Upon a thankless errand;

Fear not to touch the best;

The truth shall be thy warrant.

Go, since I needs must die,

And give them all the lie.

Go, tell the Court it glows,

And shines like painted wood;
Go, tell the Church it shows
What's good, but does no good.
If Court and Church reply,
Give Court and Church the lie.

Tell Potentates, they live

Acting, but oh! their actions

Not loved, unless they give;

Nor strong, but by their factions.
If Potentates reply,

Give Potentates the lie.

Tell men of high condition,

That rule affairs of state, Their purpose is ambition; Their practice only hate. And if they do reply,

Then give them all the lie.

Tell those that brave it most,

They beg for more by spending,

Who, in their greatest cost,

Seek nothing but commending.
And if they make reply,
Spare not to give the lie.

Tell Zeal it lacks devotion;
Tell Love it is but lust;
Tell Time it is but motion;

Tell Flesh it is but dust:
And wish them not reply,
For thou must give the lie.

Tell Age it daily wasteth;

Tell Honor how it alters; Tell Beauty that it blasteth; Tell Favor that she falters:

And as they do reply,

Give every one the lie.

Tell Wit how much it wrangles

In fickle points of niceness;
Tell Wisdom she entangles

Herself in over-wiseness:
And if they do reply,
Then give them both the lie.

Tell Physic of her boldness;
Tell Skill it is pretension;
Tell Charity of coldness;

Tell Law it is contention :
And if they yield reply,
Then give them still the lie.

Tell Fortune of her blindness;
Tell Nature of decay;
Tell Friendship of unkindness;

Tell Justice of delay:

And if they do reply,

Then give them all the lie.

Tell Arts they have no soundness,
But vary by esteeming;
Tell Schools they lack profoundness,
And stand too much on seeming.
If Arts and Schools reply,

Give Arts and Schools the lie.

Tell Faith it's fled the city;

Tell how the Country erreth;
Tell Manhood, shakes off pity;
Tell Virtue, least preferreth.
And if they do reply,
Spare not to give the lie.

So, when thou hast, as I

Commanded thee, done blabbing;
Although to give the lie

Deserves no less than stabbing;

Yet stab at thee who will,

No stab the Soul can kill.

47. Samuel Daniel. 1562-1619. (Manual, pp. 79-80.) RICHARD II. ON THE MORNING BEFORE HIS MURDER. [From the Third Bock of the Civil Wars.]

The morning of that day which was his last,

After a weary rest, rising to pain,

Out at a little grate his eyes he cast

Upon those bordering hills and open plain,
Where others' liberty makes him complain
The more his own, and grieves his soul the more,
Conferring captive crowns with freedom poor.

O happy man, saith he, that lo I see,
Grazing his cattle in those pleasant fields,
If he but knew his good. How blessed he
That feels not what affliction greatness yields!
Other than what he is he would not be,

Nor change his state with him that sceptre wields.
Thine, thine is that true life: that is to live
To rest secure, and not rise up to grieve.

Thou sitt'st at home safe by thy quiet fire,
And hear'st of others' harms, but fearest none
And there thou tell'st of kings, and who aspire,
Who fall, who rise, who triumph, who do moan.

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