LXXIII

A FATHER'S BLESSING

WHAT I shall leave thee none can tell,
But all shall say I wish thee well;

I wish thee, Vin, before all wealth,
Both bodily and ghostly health:

Nor too much wealth, nor wit, come to thee,
So much of either may undoe thee.
I wish thee learning, not for show,
Enough for to instruct, and know;
Not such as gentlemen require,
To prate at table, or at fire.

I wish thee all thy mother's graces,
Thy father's fortunes, and his places.
I wish thee friends, and one at court,
Not to build on, but support;
To keep thee, not in doing many
Oppressions, but from suffering any.
I wish thee peace in all thy ways,
Nor lazy nor contentious dayes;
And when thy soul and body part,
As innocent as now thou art.

R. CORBET.

LXXIV

THE RETREAT

HAPPY those early dayes, when I
Shin'd in my angel infancy!
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race.
Or taught my soul to fancy ought
But a white, celestial thought;
When yet I had not walkt above
A mile or two from my first love,
And looking back, at that short space,
Could see a glimpse of his bright face;
When on some gilded Cloud or Flowre
My gazing soul would dwell an houre,
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity;

Before I taught my tongue to wound

My conscience with a sinful sound,
Or had the black art to dispense
A sev'rall sin to ev'ry sense;

But felt through all this fleshly dresse
Bright shootes of everlastingnesse.

O how I long to travel back,

And tread again that ancient track!
That I might once more reach that plaine

Where first I left my glorious traine;

From whence th' enlightened spirit sees
That shady city of palme trees.

But ah! my soul with too much stay
Is drunk, and staggers in the way!

Some men a forward motion love,
But I by backward steps would move;
And, when this dust falls to the urn,
In that state I came, return.

H. VAUGHAN.

LXXV

THE ALCHEMY OF LOVE

WHAT pearls, what rubies can
Seem so lovely fair to man,
As her lips whom he doth love,
When in sweet discourse they move,
Or her lovelier teeth, the while
She doth bless him with a smile?
Stars indeed fair creatures bee:

Yet amongst us where is hee
Joys not more the whilst he lies
Sunning in his mistress' eyes,
Than in all the glimmering light
Of a starrie winter's night?
Note the beautie of an eye-
And if aught you praise it bye

80

Leave such passion in your mind,
Let my reason's eye be blind.
Mark if ever red or white

Anywhere gave such delight,
As when they have taken place
In a worthie woman's face.

G. WITHER.

LXXVI

LOVE

ALL love, at first, like gen'rous wine,
Ferments and frets, until 'tis fine;
But when 'tis settled on the lee,
And from th' impurer matter free,
Becomes the richer still, the older,
And proves the pleasanter, the colder.
Love is too great a happiness
For wretched mortals to possess:
For, could it hold inviolate
Against those cruelties of Fate,
Which all felicities below

By rigid laws are subject to,
It would become a bliss too high
For perishing mortality,

Translate to earth the joys above;

For nothing goes to Heaven but love.

S. BUTLER.

LXXVII

THE PRIMROSE

ASKE me why I send you here
This sweet Infanta of the yeare?
Aske me why I send to you

This primrose, thus bepearl'd with dew?
I will whisper to your eares

The sweets of love are mixt with tears.

Ask me why this flower does show

So yellow-green, and sickly too?
Ask me why the stalk is weak
And bending, yet it doth not break?

I will answer, These discover

What fainting hopes are in a lover.

R. HERRICK.

LXXVIII

AGAINST THEM WHO LAY UNCHASTITY TO THE SEX OF WOMEN

THEY meet but with unwholesome springs,
And summers which infectious are;

G