If thou, compos'd of gentle mould,
Art so unkind to me;

What dismal stories will be told

Of those that cruel be?

TO M. HENRY LAWES, THE EXCELLENT COMPOSER OF HIS LYRICS

Τ

OUCH but thy lyre, my Harry, and I hear From thee some raptures of the rare Gotiere; Then if thy voice commingle with the string, I hear in thee rare Laniere 2 to sing; Or curious Wilson: tell me, canst thou be Less than Apollo, that usurp'st such three?

Three, unto whom the whole world give applause; Yet their three praises praise but one; that's Lawes.

UPON LOVE

OVE brought me to a silent grove

Lov

And show'd me there a tree,

Where some had hang'd themselves for love,

And gave a twist to me.

1 Admire, wonder.

2 Laniere, Nicholas Laniere (1590?-1670?), musician, appointed Master of the King's Music in 1626.

N

The halter was of silk and gold,
That he reach'd forth unto me;
No otherwise than if he would
By dainty things undo me.

He bade me then that necklace use;
And told me, too, he maketh
A glorious end by such a noose,

His death for love that taketh.

'Twas but a dream; but had I been
There really alone,

My desp❜rate fears in love had seen
Mine execution.

A HYMN TO CUPID

HOU, thou that bear'st the sway,
With whom the sea-nymphs play;

ΤΗ

And Venus, every way:

When I embrace thy knee,

And make short pray'rs to thee,

In love then prosper me.
This day I go to woo;

Instruct me how to do

This work thou put❜st me to.
From shame my face keep free ;
From scorn I beg of thee,
Love, to deliver me:
So shall I sing thy praise,
And to thee altars raise,
Unto the end of days.

N

A DEFENCE FOR WOMEN

·AUGHT are all women: I say no, Since for one bad, one good I know:

For Clytemnestra most unkind,

Loving Alcestis there we find :
For one Medea that was bad,
A good Penelope was had:
For wanton Lais, then we have
Chaste Lucrece, a wife as grave:
And thus through womankind we see
A good and bad. Sirs, credit me.

CEREMONIES FOR CANDLEMAS EVE

D

OWN with the rosemary and bays,

Down with the mistletoe; Instead of holly, now up-raise The greener box, for show.

The holly hitherto did sway;
Let box now domineer
Until the dancing Easter day,

Or Easter's eve appear.

Then youthful box which now hath grace

Your houses to renew ;

Grown old, surrender must his place

Unto the crisped yew.

When yew is out, then birch comes in,

And many flowers beside ;

Both of a fresh and fragrant kin

To honour Whitsuntide.

Green rushes, then, and sweetest bents,

With cooler oaken boughs,

Come in for comely ornaments

To re-adorn the house.

Thus times do shift; each thing his turn does hold; New things succeed, as former things grow old.

THE CEREMONIES FOR CANDLEMAS

K

DAY

INDLE the Christmas brand, and then
Till sunset let it burn ;

Which quench'd, then lay it up again

Till Christmas next return.

Part must be kept wherewith to teend
The Christmas log next year,
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend
Can do no mischief there.

UPON CANDLEMAS DAY

ND now the white loaf and the pie,

END

And let all sports with Christmas die.

UPON BEN JONSON

H

ERE lies Jonson with the rest
Of the poets: but the best.

Reader, would'st thou more have known?

Ask his story, not this stone.

That will speak what this can't tell

Of his glory. So farewell.

AN ODE FOR HIM

H Ben!

AH

Say how, or when

Shall we thy guests

Meet at those lyric feasts

Made at the Sun,1

The Dog, the Triple Tun?

Where we such clusters had,

As made us nobly wild, not mad ;
And yet each verse of thine

Out-did the meat, out-did the frolic wine.

My Ben!

Or come again,

Or send to us
Thy wit's great overplus;

But teach us yet

Wisely to husband it,

Lest we that talent spend:

And having once brought to an end

That precious stock; the store

Of such a wit the world should have no more.

1 The Sun, etc., famous taverns.