1 A new-born wood of various lines there grows ; Here spouts a V, and there a T, And all the flourishing letters stand in rows. COWLEY. As they sought only for novelty, they did not much inquire whether their allusions were to things high or low, elegant or gross: whether they compared the little to the great, or the great to the little. Physic and Chirurgery for a Lover. The World and a Clock. Mahol th' inferior world's fantastic face Through all the turns of matter's maze did trace; Made up the whole again of every part. COWLEY. COWLEY. A coal-pit has not often found its poet; but, that it may not want its due honour, Cleiveland has paralleled it with the Sun: The moderate value of our guiltless ore Had he our pits, the Persian would admirę Then let this truth reciprocally run, The sun's Heaven's coalery, and coal's our sun. Death, a Voyage. E'er rigg'd a soul for Heaven's discovery, DONNE. Their thoughts and expressions were sometimes grossly absurd, and such as no figures or license can reconcile to the understanding. A Lover neither Dead nor Alive. Then down I laid my head Down on cold earth; and for a while was dead, And my freed soul to a strange somewhere fled; Ah, sottish soul, said I, When back to its cage again I saw it fly; Fool to resume her broken chain, And row her galley here again! Fool, to that body to return Where it condemn'd and destin'd is to burn! Once dead, how can it be, Death should a thing so pleasant seem to thee, That thou should'st come to live it o'er again in me? A Lover's Heart, a Hand Grenado. Woe to her stubborn heart, if once mine come Into the self-same room; "Twill tear and blow up all within. Like a grenado shot into a magazin. Then shall love keep the ashes, and torn parts, Of both our broken hearts: Shall out of both one new one make: From her's th' allay, from mine the metal take. The Poetical Propagation of Light. The prince's favour is diffus'd o'er all, From which all fortunes, names, and natures fall; COWLEY. Then from those wombs of stars, the bride's bright eyes At every glance a constellation flies, And sows the court with stars, and doth prevent, In light and power, the all-eyed firmament: First her eye kindles other ladies' eyes, Then from their beams their jewels' lustres rise: DONNE. They were in very little care to clothe their notions with elegance of dress, and therefore miss the notice and the praise which are often gained by those who think less, but are more diligent to adorn their thoughts. That a Mistress beloved is fairer in idea than in reality, is by Cowley thus expressed: Thou in my fancy dost much higher stand, To change thee as thou'rt there, for very thee. That prayer and labour should co-operate, are thus taught by Donne: In none but us are such mix'd engines found, As hands of double office; for the ground We till with them; and them to Heaven we raise; Who prayerless labours, or, without this, prays, By the same author, a common topic, the danger of procrastination, is thus illustrated: That which I should have begun In my youth's morning, now late must be done; Which stray or sleep all day, and having lost Light and strength, dark and tir'd, must then ride post. All that man has to do is to live and die; the sum of humanity is comprehended by Donne in the following lines: Think in how poor a prison thou didst lie; After enabled but to suck and cry. Think, when 'twas grown to most, 'twas a poor inn, A province pack'd up in two yards of skin, And that usurp'd, or threaten'd with a rage Of sicknesses, or their true mother, age. But think that death hath now enfranchis'd thee; Thou hast thy expansion now, and liberty; Think, that a rusty piece discharg'd is flown In pieces, and the bullet is his own, And freely flies; this to thy soul allow, Think thy shell broke, think thy soul hatch'd but now. They were sometimes indelicate and disgusting. Cowley thus apostrophises beauty: Thou tyrant, which leav'st no man free! Thou subtle thief, from whom nought safe can be! Thou murtherer, which hast kill'd; and devil, which would'st damn me! Thus he addresses his Mistress: Thou who, in many a propriety, So truly art the sun to me, Add one more likeness, which I'm sure you can, Thus he represents the meditations of a Lover: Such charms thy beauty wears, as might Desires in dying confest saints excite. Thou with strange adultery Dost in each breast a brothel keep; The true Taste of Tears. Hither with crystal vials, lovers, come, And take my tears, which are love's wine, And try your mistress' tears at home; For all are false, that taste not just like mine. This is yet more indelicate: As the sweet sweat of roses in a still, As that which from chaf'd musk-cats pores doth trill, As the almighty balm of the early East; Such are the sweet drops of my mistress' breast. They seem no sweat-drops, but pearl coronets: DONNE. DONNE. Their expressions sometimes raise horror, when they intend perhaps to be pathetic: As men in hell are from diseases free, So from all other ills am I, COWLEY. They were not always strictly curious, whether the opinions from which they drew their illustrations were true; it was enough that they were popular. Bacon remarks, that some falsehoods are continued by tradition, because they supply commodious allusions. It gave a piteous groan, and so it broke; COWLEY. In forming descriptions, they looked out, not for images, but for conceits. Night has been a common subject, which poets have contended to adorn. Dryden's Night is well known; Donne's is as follows: Thou seest me here at midnight, now all rest: Doth practise dying by a little sleep; Thou at this midnight seest me. It must be however confessed of these writers, that if they are upon common subjects often unnecessarily and unpoetically subtle; yet, where scholastic speculation can be properly admitted, their copiousness and acuteness may justly be admired. What Cowley has written upon Hope shews an unequalled fertility of invention: Hope, whose weak being ruin'd is, The stars have not a possibility Of blessing thee; If things then from their end we happy call, Hope, thou bold taster of delight, Who, whilst thou should'st but taste, devour'st it quite! By clogging it with legacies before! The joys which we entire should wed, For joy, like wine kept close, does better taste, |