Nor sea, nor shade, nor shield, nor rock, nor cave, Nor silent deserts, nor the sullen grave,
Where flame-ey'd fury means to smite, can save.
"T is vain to flee; till gentle Mercy shew
Her better eye, the farther off we go,
The swing of Justice deals the mightier blow.
Th' ingenuous child, corrected, doth not fly
His angry mother's hand, but clings more nigh,
And quenches, with his tears, her flaming eye.
Great God! there is no safety here below; Thou art my fortress, thou that seem'st my foe, 'Tis thou that strik'st the stroke, must guard the blow.
O Chastity! the flower of the soul,
How is thy perfect fairness turn'd to foul!
How are thy blossoms blasted all to dust,
By sudden lightning of untamed lust!
How hast thou thus defil'd thy iv'ry feet,
Thy sweetness that was once, how far from sweet!
Where are thy maiden smiles, thy blushing cheek?
Thy lamb-like countenance, so fair, so meek?
Where is that spotless flower, that while-ere
Within thy lily bosom thou didst wear?
Has wanton Cupid snatch'd it? hath his dart
Sent courtly tokens to thy simple heart?
Where dost thou bide? the country half disclaims thee;
The city wonders when a body names thee:
Or have the rural woods engrost thee there,
And thus forestall'd our empty markets here?
Sure thou art not; or kept where no man shews thee;
Or chang'd so much, scarce man or woman knows thee.
Hist. of Queen Ester, Sect. ii. Med. 2.
Even as the soil (which April's gentle showers
Have fill'd with sweetness, and enrich'd with flowers)
Rears up her suckling plants, still shooting forth
The tender blossoms of her timely birth,
But if denied the beams of cheerly May,
They hang their wither'd heads and fade away;
So man, assisted by th' Almighty's hand,
His faith does flourish, and securely stand;
But left awhile, forsook (as in a shade)
It languishes, and, nipt with sin, doth fade.
As when a lady (walking Flora's bower)
Picks here a pink, and there a gillyflower,
Now plucks a violet from her purple bed,
And then a primrose (the year's maidenhead),
There nips the brier, here the lover's pansy,
Shifting here dainty pleasures with her fancy,
This on her arm, and that she lists to wear
Upon the borders of her curious hair;
At length, a rose-bud (passing all the rest)
She plucks, and bosoms in her lily breast.
Hist. of Queen Ester, Sect. 6.
Even as a hen (whose tender brood forsake
The downy closet of her wings, and take
Each its affected way) marks how they feed,
This on that crumb, and that on t'other seed;
Moves as they move, and stays when as they stay,
And seems delighted in their infant play ;
Yet fearing danger, with a busy eye
Looks here and there, if aught she can espy
Which unawares might snatch a booty from her,
Eyes all that pass, and watches every comer;
Even so the affection, &c.
Like as the haggard *, cloister'd in her mew
To scour her downy robes, and to renew
Haggard here means 66 a haggard hawk”—a wild unreclaimed hawk—" Haggart falcons are the most excellent › birds of all other falcons," says Tubervile. See Steevens's ingenious note on the word haggard, in Othello; Ed. Shaksp. 1803. vol. xix. 387.
Her broken flags, preparing t' overlook
The tim❜rous mallard at her sliding brook,
Jets oft from perch to perch, from stock to ground,
From ground to window, thus surveying round
Her dove-befeather'd prison-till at length
Calling her noble birth to mind, and strength
Whereto her wing was born, her ragged beak
Nips off her jangling jesses *, strives to break
Her gingling fetters, and begins to bate
At every glimpse, and darts at every grate.
Even as the needle that directs the hour
(Touch'd with the loadstone) by the secret power
Of hidden Nature, points upon the pole ;
Even so the wavering powers of my soul,
Touch'd by the virtue of the Spirit, flee
From what is earth, and point alone to Theet.
From HEADLEY'S Select Beauties, &c.
* "Jesses are short straps of leather tied about the foot of a hawk, by which she is held on the fist," says Sir T. HANMER. Vide Shaksp. ed. 1803, vol. xix. 387.
EDITOR. +"In the beautiful song of Sweet William's Farewell,' the sailor, with propriety, adopts a nautical term from his
"Change as ye list, ye winds; my heart shall be
The faithful compass that still points to thee."
"In perusing Quarles," says Headley, "I have occasionally observed that he has sometimes taken thoughts from the works of Lord Sterline, but the passages were hardly worth noticing."
The following Specimens are taken from Quarles's " DIVINE POEMS :" the second edition of which appeared in 1680; a fifth, in 1717. They are quoted from the former edition.
From the Pentelogia.
[In the same.]
Can he be fair, that withers at a blast?
Or he be strong, that airy breath can cast?
Can he be wise, that knows not how to live ?
Or he be rich, that nothing hath to give?
Can he be young, that 's feeble, weak, and wan?
So fair, strong, wise, so rich, so young is man,
So fair is man, that death (a parting blast)
Blasts his fair flower, and makes him earth at last;
So strong is man, that with a gasping breath
He totters, and bequeaths his strength to death;
So wise is man, that if with death he strive,
His wisdom cannot teach him how to live;
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