And evermore they "Hymen, Hymen" sing, Lo, where she comes along with portly1 pace, Her long loose yellow locks like golden wire, And being crownéd with a garland green, Seem like some maiden queen. Her modest eyes abashéd to behold So many gazers as on her do stare, Upon the lowly ground affixéd are: Ne dare lift up her countenance too bold, But blush to hear her praises sung so loud, . So far from being proud. Nathless do ye still ioud her praises sing, That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring. 160 To humble your proud faces. Bring her up to th' high altar, that she may Behold, whiles she before the altar stands, That even the angels, which continually Forget their service and about her fly, 220 230 Oft peeping in her face, that seems more fair The more they on it stare. But her sad eyes, still fastened on the ground, Are governéd with goodly modesty That suffers not one look to glance awry, Which may let in a little thought unsound. Why blush ye, love, to give to me your hand, The pledge of all our band? Sing, ye sweet angels, Alleluya sing, That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring. Now all is done; bring home the bride again, Pour out the wine without restraint or stay, There dwells sweet Love and constant Chastity, And giveth laws alone, Whom Heaven would heap with bliss. Make feast therefore now all this live-long day, This day for ever to me holy is; Pour not by cups but by the bellyful. Pour out to all that wull, And sprinkle all the posts and walls with wine, That they may sweat and drunken be withal. Crown ye god Bacchus with a coronal, And Hymen also crown with wreaths of vine; And let the Graces dance unto the rest, For they can do it best: 240 250 The whiles the maidens do their carol sing, 260 Then would ye wonder, and her praises sing, 1 Portly, of good carriage. The use of the word has now slipped down into association chiefly with the movements of a big person. "Buxom," bow-some, which meant one who was pliable of manners, one who could yield with easy courtesy, has suffered a like change. 2 Phœbe, a name of Diana, sister of Phoebus; the Moon, sister of the Sun. The word means "the pure shining one." Ring ye the bells, ye young men of the town, Barnaby the bright. Barnabas, called an apostle by St. Luke and In time small wedge will cleaue the sturdiest oake; In time the marble weares with weakest shewres: More fierce is my sweete loue, more hard withall, Then beast, or birde, then tree, or stony wall. No yoake preuailes, shee will not yeeld to might; No lure will cause her stoope, she beares full gorge; No wedge of woes make printe, she reakes no right; No shewre of tears can moue, she thinkes I forge: Helpe therefore Heau'nly Boy, come perce her brest With that same shaft, which robbes me of my rest. So let her feele thy force, that she relent; So keepe her lowe, that she vouchsafe a pray; So frame her will to right, that pride be spent ; So forge, that I may speede without delay; Which if thou do, I'le sweare, and singe with ioy, That Loue no longer is a blinded boy. LXXIX. The Au ́t hour in this Passion seemeth vppon mislike of his weari some estate in loue to enter into a deepe discourse with him selfe touching the particular miseries which befall him that loueth. And for his sense in this place, hee is very like vnto him selfe, where in a Theame diducted out of the bowelles of Antigone in Sophocles (which he lately translated into Latine, and published in print) he writeth in very like manner as followeth, Mali quando Cupidinis Venas astus edax occupat intimas, Iactatur variè, nec Cereris subit Nec Bacchi udium; peruigiles trahit Noctes; cura animum sollicita atterit, etc. And it may appeare by the tenour of this Passion that the Authour prepareth him selfe to fall from Loue and all his lawes as will well appeare by the sequell of his other Passions that followe, which are all made vpon this Posie, My Loue is past. Where heate of loue doth once possesse the heart, The belly neither cares for meate nor drinke, And wisedome yeldeth place to black decay: Counsell, and fame, and friendship are contem'nd: And bashfull shame, and Gods them selues condem'nd. LXXXIX. The two first staffes of this Sonnet are altogether sententiall, and euerie one verse of them is grownded vpon a diuerse reason and authoritie from the rest. I haue thought good for breuitie sake, onelie to set downe here the authorities, with figures, whereby to applie euerie one of them to his due lyne in order as they stand. 1. Hieronimus: In delicijs difficile est seruare castitatem. 2. Ausonius: dispulit inconsultus amor, etc. 3. Seneca: Amor est ociosa causa sollicitudinis. 4. Propertius: Errat, qui finem resani quærit amoris. 5. Horatius: Semper ardentes acuens sagittas. 6. Xenophon scribit amorem esse igne, et flamma flagrantiorem, quòd ignis vrat tangentes, et proxima tantum cremet, amor ex longinquo spectante torreat, 7. Calenti: Plurima Zelotipo sunt in amore mala, Ouidius: Inferet arma tibi saua rebellis amor. 9. Pontanus: Si vacuum sineret perfidiosus amor. 10. Marullus: Quid tantum lachri 8. mis mis proterue Jnsultas puer? 11. Tibullus: At lascivis amor rixæ mala verba ministrat. 12. Virgilius: Bellum sarpe petit ferus exitiale Cupido. Loue hath delight in sweete delicious fare; Loue is a wanton childe, and loues to brall. 1 2 4 8 9 10 11 Henry Constable, of about Watson's age, was another writer of Elizabethan sonnets. He was of a good Roman Catholic family, studied in Cambridge at St. John's College, and graduated in 1579. In later days his religious opinions brought him into difficulty, and in 1595 he went abroad. Towards the end of Elizabeth's reign he ventured back to England, and was imprisoned in the Tower, not to be released till after the accession of King James. He was esteemed by the foremost poets of his time. Ben Jonson wrote of "Constable's ambrosiac muse "13 with reference to the series of sonnets published in 1592 under the title of "Diana." It will be observed that while Spenser's sonnets are fourteen-lined poems consisting of three quatrains and a couplet, and Watson's are poems of three six-lined stanzas, Constable's are true sonnets in their construction. In some of them he even avoids the pairing of rhyme in the last two lines. These sonnets are some of Henry Constable's : THE BEGGAR AT THE DOOR. Pity refusing my poor Love to feed, A Beggar starv'd for want of help he lies, And at your mouth, the Door of Beauty, cries, That thence some alms of sweet grants may proceed. But as he waiteth for some almés-deed A cherry-tree before the door he spies: "Oh dear," quoth he, "two cherries may suffice, Two only life may save in this my need." "But beggars can they nought but cherries eat?" "Pardon my Love, he is a goddess' son, And never feedeth but on dainty meat, Else need he not to pine as he hath done: For only the sweet fruit of this sweet tree Can give food to my Love, and life to me." TO HIS LADY'S HAND. Sweet Hand! the sweet yet cruel bow thou art His wounds were in his hands and feet, where I All these same helpless wounds feel in my heart. Now as Saint Francis (if a saint) am I: The bow that shot these shafts a relique is, OF THE EXCELLENCY OF HIS LADY'S VOICE. Lady of ladies, the delight alone For which to heaven earth doth no envy bear; Seeing and hearing thee, we see and hear Such voice, such light, as never sung nor shone. The want of heaven I grant yet we may moan, Not for the pleasure of the angels there, As though in face or voice they like thee were, But that they many be, and thou but one. The basest notes which from thy voice proceed The treble of the angels do exceed. So that I fear, their quire to beautify, Lest thou to some in heaven shall sing and shine: Lo! when I hear thee sing, the reason why Sighs of my breast keep time with notes of thine. 10 The following sonnet is one of three inscribed by Henry Constable TO SIR PHILIP SIDNEY'S SOUL. Great Alexander then did well declare, How great was his united kingdom's might, When ev'ry captain of his army might After his death with mighty kings compare. So now we see after thy death, how far Thou dost in worth surpass each other knight, When we admire him as no mortal wight In whom the least of all thy virtues are. One did of Macedon the king become, Another sate in the Egyptian throne; But only Alexander's self had all. So courteous some, and some be liberal, Some witty, wise, valiant, and learned some, But king of all the virtues thou alone! 10 am The last illustration of Henry Constable's " brosiac muse" shall be a piece that first appeared in one of the poetical Miscellanies of Elizabeth's reign, "England's Helicon." THE SHEPHERD'S SONG OF VENUS AND ADONIS. Venus fair did ride, Silver doves they drew her, By the pleasant lawns Ere the sun did rise: Vesta's beauty rich Opened wide to view her, Philomel records Pleasing harmonies. Ready bound for hunting; Him she kindly greets, And his journey stays; Him she seeks to kiss, No devices wanting; Him her eyes still woo; Him her tongue still prays. He with blushing red Not a kiss can he afford; Still she woo'd him for a word. "Speak," she said, "thou fairest; Beauty thou impairest, See me, I am pale and wan: Lovers all adore me, I for love implore thee;" Crystal tears with that down ran. Him herewith she forced To come sit down by her, In behalf of Beauty's Queen : Water's gentle murmur Yet no liking could be seen. "Boy," she said, “look on me, Still I gaze upon thee, Speak, I pray thee, my delight: " Coldly he replied, And in brief deniéd To bestow on her a sight. "I am now too young To be won by beauty, Tender are my years, I am yet a bud." "Fair thou art," she said; "Then it is thy duty, Wert thou but a blossom, To effect my good. Every beauteous flower Boasteth in my power, 70 Birds and beasts my laws effect; Myrrha, thy fair mother, From whence declining daily by degrees, And bonfires make all day, And dance about them, and about them sing, Ah! when will this long weary day have end, Thy tiréd steeds long since have need of rest. And the bright evening star, with golden crest, Appear out of the east. 270 280 Let no lamenting cries, nor doleful tears, Ne let house-fires, nor lightnings' helpless harms, Let not the screech-owl nor the stork be heard, Let none of these their dreary accents sing, But let still Silence true night-watches keep, Shall fly and flutter round about your bed; 330 340 350 360 Their pretty stealths shall work, and snares shall spread, To filch away sweet snatches of delight, Conceal'd through covert night. Ye sons of Venus, play your sports at will; All night therefore attend your merry play, For it will soon be day: Now none doth hinder you, that say or sing, Who is the same, which at my window peeps? But walks about high heaven all the night? 370 The puck. This word is misprinted "ponke" in the original, for 'pouke," or "Puck." The word also was written "Pug," and that was therefore the name given to the imp in Ben Jonson's "The Devil is an Ass." One of "Three Notelets on Shakespeare," by Mr. William J. Thoms-for whose many services to good literature. as founder of "Notes and Queries," and otherwise, all students are grateful-is in the "Folk Lore of Shakespeare," including a section "of Puck's several names.' The word "Pouk" is first found in Piers Plowman, where it signifies the devil. "Paccan meant in First English to deceive by false appearances. "In the cognate Nether Saxon," wrote Sir Francis Palgrave (quoted by Mr. Thoms). the verb Picken' signifies to gambol; and when inflected into 'Pickeln and Paeckeln,' to play the fool. From the Anglo-Saxon (First English) root we have Pack' or 'Patch,' the fool; whilst from 'Pickeln' and 'Paeckeln' are derived 'Pickle,' a mischievous boy. 'Pueke' and 'Puck' are the sportive devils of the Goths and Teutons." A favourite writer of love sonnets in Elizabeth's reign was Thomas Watson, a Londoner, born about 1557, who, as a student at Oxford, became noted for his skill in song, and seems in later life to have been drawn away from common law by love of literature. Before 1581 he was in Paris, and he had for a friend Philip Sidney's father-in-law, Sir Thomas Walsingham, upon whose death, in 1590, he wrote an Eclogue. He published both Latin and English verse, and died in 1592. In the same year appeared soon afterwards, in Latin, his "Amintæ Gaudia;" and in 1593 "The Tears of Fancy," fifty-two sonnets on Love disdained. Among publications during his life-time was that of the "Ekатоμmаlia" (hundred passions), or Passionate Centurie of Love," which professed only to be "a Toy" in a prefatory "Quatorzain of the Authour unto this his Booke of Lovepassions." The passions form a series of little poems, loosely called sonnets, some of them imitations or translations from other writers, and each consisting of three six-lined stanzas, with an 66 99 introductory prose description in the Italian manner. The following three passions are given with their several introductions, and left without change of spelling as example of the form of printed English in Elizabeth's reign (1582). THREE SONNETS. XLVII. This passion conteineth a relation through out from line to line; as, from euery line of the first staffe as it standeth in order, vnto euery line of the second staffe: and from the second staffe vnto the third. The oftener it is read of him that is no great clarke, the more pleasure he shall haue in it. And this posie a scholler set down ouer this Sonnet, when he had well considered of it: Tam casu, quàm arte et industria. The two first lines are an imitation of Seraphine, Sonnetto 103. Col tempo el Villanello al giogo mena In time the bull is brought to weare the yoake; |