Do not to the vulgar show them,
'Tis enough that thou dost know them.
Their ill hearts are but the centre,
Where all misconceivings enter.
But thou, Luna, that dost lightly
Haunt our downs and forests nightly;
Thou that favour'st generation,
And art help to procreation;
See their issue thou so cherish,
I may live to see it flourish.
And you planets, in whose power
Doth consist these lives of our,
You that teach us divinations,
Help with all your constellations,
How to frame in her a creature
Blest in fortune, wit, and feature.
Lastly, oh, you angels, ward them,
Set your sacred spells to guard them;
Chase away such fears or terrors
As not being seem through errors;
Yea, let not a dream's molesting
Make them start when they are resting.
But Thou chiefly, most adored,
That shouldst only be implored;
Thou to whom my meaning tendeth,
Whither e'er in show it bendeth;
Let them rest to-night from sorrow
And awake with joy to-morrow.
Oh, to my request be heedful,
Grant them that and all things needful.
Let not these my strains of folly
Make true prayer be unholy;
But if I have here offended,
Help, forgive, and see it mended.
Deign me this; and if my Muse's
Hasty issue she peruses,
Make it unto her seem grateful,
Though to all the world else hateful.
But howe'er yet, soul, persever
Thus to wish her good for ever.
Thus ends the day together with my song,
Oh, may the joys thereof continue long!
Let heaven's just, all-seeing, sacred power
Favour this happy marriage day of your ;
And bless you in your chaste embraces so,
We Britons may behold before you go
The hopeful issue we shall count so dear,
And whom, unborn, his foes already fear.
Yea, I desire that all your sorrows may
Never be more than they have been to-day.
Which hoping, for acceptance now I sue,
And humbly bid your grace and court adieu.
I saw the sight I came for, which I know
Was more than all the world beside could show
But if amongst Apollo's lays you can
Be pleased to lend a gentle ear to Pan,
1. 516. So 1622, 33. Early eds. give 'Jubilee' for 'marriage-day.'
Or think your country shepherd loves as dear
As if he were a courtier or a peer,
Then I, that else must to my cell of pain,
Will joyful turn unto my flock again,
And there unto my fellow shepherds tell
Why you are lov'd, wherein you do excel.
And when we drive our flocks afield to graze them,
So chant your praises that it shall amaze them :
And think that fate hath new recall'd from death
Their still-lamented sweet Elizabeth.
For though they see the court but now and then,
They know desert as well as greater men:
And honoured fame in them doth live or die,
As well as in the mouth of majesty.
But taking granted what I here entreat,
At heaven for you my devotions beat;
And though I fear fate will not suffer me
To do you service where your fortunes be,
Howe'er my skill hath yet despised seem'd,
And my unripen'd wit been mis-esteem'd,
When all this costly show away shall flit,
And not one live that doth remember it,
If envy's trouble let not to persever,
I'll find a means to make it known for ever.
CERTAIN EPIGRAMS CONCERNING MARRIAGE,
'Tis said, in marriage above all the rest
The children of a king find comforts least,
Because without respect of love or hate
They must, and oft be, ruled by the State
But if contented love, religion's care,
Equality in state, and years declare
A happy match, as I suppose no less,
Then rare and great's Eliza's happiness.
God was the first that marriage did ordain,
By making one, two; and two, one again,
Soldier, of thee I ask, for thou canst best,
Having known sorrow, judge of joy and rest;
What greater bliss than after all thy harms
To have a wife that's fair and lawful thine,
And lying prison'd 'twixt her ivory arms,
There tell what thou hast 'scaped by powers divine ?
How many round thee thou hast murthered seen,
How oft thy soul hath been near-hand expiring,
How many times thy flesh hath wounded been :
Whilst she thy fortune and thy worth admiring,
With joy of health and pity of thy pain,
Doth weep and kiss, and kiss and weep again.
Fair Helen having stain'd her husband's bed,
And mortal hatred 'twixt two kingdoms bred,
Had still remaining in her so much good
That heroes for her lost their dearest blood:
Then if with all that ill such worth may last,
Oh, what is she worth that's as fair-and chaste!
Old Orpheus knew a good wife's worth so well
That when his died he followed her to hell,
And for her loss at the Elysian grove
He did not only ghosts to pity move,
But the sad poet breath'd his sighs so deep,
"Tis said, the devils could not choose but weep.
Long did I wonder, and I wonder much,
Rome's Church should from her clergy take that due : Thought I, why should she that contentment grutch? What, doth she all with continence endue?
No; but why then are they debarr'd that state?
Is she become a foe unto her own?
Doth she the members of her body hate,
Or is it for some other cause unshown?
Oh yes, they find a woman's lips so dainty,
They tie themselves from one 'cause they'll have
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