XII.

LOYALTY CONFINED.

This excellent old fong is preferved in David Lloyd's "Memoires of those that suffered in the cause of Charles I.” Lond. 1668. fol. p. 96. He speaks of it as the compofition of a worthy perfonage, who fuffered deeply in thofe times, and was ftill living with no other reward than the confcience of having fuffered. The author's name he has not mentioned, but, if tradition may be credited, this fong was written by Sir ROGER L'ESTRANGE.-Some mistakes in Lloyd's copy are corrected by two others, one in MS. the other in the Weftminster Drollery, or a Choice Collection of Songs and Poems, 1671. 12mo.

B

EAT on, proud billows; Boreas blow;

Swell, curled waves, high as Jove's roof;

Your incivility doth fhow,

That innocence is tempeft proof;

Though furly Nereus frown, my thoughts are calm; 5 Then ftrike, Affliction, for thy wounds are balm.

That which the world mifcalls a jail,

A private closet is to me :

Whilst a good confcience is my bail,

And innocence my liberty:

10

Locks,

Locks, bars, and folitude together met,
Make me no prisoner, but an anchoret.

I, whilft I wisht to be retir'd,

Into this private room was turn'd; As if their wifdoms had confpir'd

The falamander fhould be burn'd;

Or like those fophifts, that would drown a fish,
I am constrain'd to fuffer what I wish.

The cynick loves his poverty;
The pelican her wilderness ;
And 'tis the Indian's pride to be

Naked on frozen Caucafus :

Contentment cannot fmart, Stoicks we fee

Make torments eafie to their apathy.

15

20

Thefe manacles upon my arm

25

I, as my miftrefs' favours, wear;

And for to keep my ancles warm,

I have fome iron fhackles there:

These walls are but my garrifon; this cell,
Which men call jail, doth prove my citadel.

I'm in the cabinet lockt up,

Like fome high-prized margarite,

Or, like the great mogul or pope,

Am cloyfter'd up from publick fight:

Y 4

30

Retire

Retirement is a piece of majesty,

And thus, proud fultan, I'm as great as thee.

Here fin for want of food must starve,

Where tempting objects are not feen; And these strong walls do only ferve

To keep vice out, and keep me in: Malice of late's grown charitable sure, I'm not committed, but am kept secure.

So he that struck at Jafon's life,

Thinking t' have made his purpose sure,

By a malicious friendly knife

Did only wound him to a cure;

35

40

45

Malice, I fee, wants wit; for what is meant
Mischief, oftimes proves favour by th' event.

When once my prince affliction hath,
Profperity doth treason feem;
And to make smooth so rough a path,

I can learn patience from him:

Now not to fuffer fhews no loyal heart,

When kings want ease subjects must bear a part.

My king from me what adamant can part,
Whom I do wear engraven on my heart?

Have you not feen the nightingale,
A prifoner like, coopt in a cage,
How doth the chaunt her wonted tale

In that her narrow hermitage?

Even then her charming melody doth prove,

That all her bars are trees, her cage a grove.

I am that bird, whom they combine

Thus to deprive of liberty;

But though they do my corps confine,

Yet maugre heat, my foul is free :

And though immur'd, yet can I chirp, and fing

Difgrace to rebels, glory to my king.

My foul is free, as ambient air,

Although my bafer part's immew'd, Whilft loyal thoughts do still repair

T'accompany my folitude:

Although rebellion do my body binde,
My king alone can captivate my minde.

75

XIII. VERSES

ર

XIII.

VERSES BY K. CHARLES I.

"This prince, like his father, did not confine himself to profe: Bishop Burnet has given as a pathetic elegy faid to be written by Charles in Carifbrook caftle [in 1648.] "The poetry is most uncouth and unharmonious, but there are ftrong thoughts in it, fome good fenfe, and a strain of ma"jeftic piety." Mr. Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, sol. I.

86

It is in his "Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton," p. 379. that Burnet hath preferved this elegy, which he tells us be bad from a gentleman, who waited on the king at the time when it was written, and copied it out from the original. It is there intitled " MAJESTY IN MISERY: OR AN “IMPLORATION TO THE KING OF KINGS."

Hume bath remarked of thefe ftanzas, "that the truth of

the fentiment, rather than the elegance of the expreffion, "renders them very pathetic." See his hift. 1763. 4to. vol. 5. p. 437. 442. which is no bad comment upon them.

Thefe are almoft the only verses known of Charles's compofure. Indeed a little Poem ON A QUIET CONSCIENCE, printed in the Poetical Calendar, 1763. vol. 8th. is attributed to K. CHARLES I; but I know not upon what authority.

Great monarch of the world, from whofe power springs The potency and power of kings,

Record the royal woe my fuffering fings;

I

And