Yet this inconstancy is such

As you too shall adore;

I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.

238

To ALTHEA FROM PRISON

WHEN Love with unconfinèd wings
Hovers within my gates,
And my divine Althea brings

To whisper at the grates;
When I lie tangled in her hair
And fetter'd to her eye,

The birds that wanton in the air
Know no such liberty.

When flowing cups run swiftly round
With no allaying Thames,

Our careless heads with roses crown'd,
Our hearts with loyal flames;
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,

When healths and draughts go free-
Fishes that tipple in the deep
Know no such liberty.

When, linnet-like confinèd I

With shriller throat shall sing

The sweetness, mercy, majesty

And glories of my King;

When I shall voice aloud how good
He is, how great should be,
Enlarged winds, that curl the flood,

Know no such liberty.

Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take

That for an hermitage;

239

If I have freedom in my love
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.

TO LUCASTA, GOING BEYOND THE SEAS

IF to be absent were to be

Away from thee;

Or that when I am gone
You or I were alone;

Then, my Lucasta, might I crave

Pity from blustering wind, or swallowing wave.

Though seas and land betwixt us both,

Our faith and troth,

Like separated souls,

All time and space controls:

Above the highest sphere we meet
Unseen, unknown, and greet as Angels greet.

So then we do anticipate
Our after-fate,

And are alive i̇' the skies,
If thus our lips and eyes

Can speak like spirits unconfined
In Heaven, their earthy bodies left behind.

240

EDMUND WALLER

[1606-1687]

ON A GIRDLE

THAT which her slender waist confined
Shall now my joyful temples bind:
No monarch but would give his crown
His arms might do what this has done.

It was my Heaven's extremest sphere,
The pale which held that lovely deer:
My joy, my grief, my hope, my love
Did all within this circle move.

A narrow compass! and yet there
Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair:
Give me but what this ribband bound,
Take all the rest the Sun goes round.

241

Go, LOVELY ROSE!

Go, lovely Rose!

Tell her, that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,

When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.

Tell her that's young

And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung

In deserts, where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.

Small is the worth

Of beauty from the light retired:
Bid her come forth,

Suffer herself to be desired,

And not blush so to be admired.

Then die! that she

The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee:

How small a part of time they share

They are so wondrous sweet and fair!

WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT

[1611-1643]

242 ON THE QUEEN'S RETURN FROM THE LOW
COUNTRIES

HALLOW the threshold, crown the posts anew!
The day shall have its due.

Twist all our victories into one bright wreath,
On which let honour breathe:

Then throw it round the temples of our Queen!
'Tis she that must preserve those glories green.

When greater tempests than on sea before
Received her on the shore;

When she was shot at 'for the King's own good'

By legions hired to blood;

How bravely did she do, how bravely bear!

And show'd, though they durst rage, she durst not fear.

Courage was cast about her like a dress

Of solemn comeliness:

A gather'd mind and an untroubled face

Did give her dangers grace:

Thus, arm'd with innocence, secure they move
Whose highest 'treason' is but highest love.

243

JAMES GRAHAM, MARQUIS OF MONTROSE

[1612-1650]

MY DEAR AND ONLY LOVE

My dear and only Love, I pray
That little world of thee
Be govern'd by no other sway
Than purest monarchy;
For if confusion have a part

(Which virtuous souls abhor),

And hold a synod in thine heart,
I'll never love thee more.

Like Alexander I will reign,
And I will reign alone;

My thoughts did evermore disdain

A rival on my throne.

He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,

That dares not put it to the touch,
To gain or lose it all.

And in the empire of thine heart,
Where I should solely be,

If others do pretend a part
Or dare to vie with me,
Or if Committees thou erect,
And go on such a score,
I'll laugh and sing at thy neglect,
And never love thee more.

But if thou wilt prove faithful then,
And constant of thy word,

I'll make thee glorious by my pen
And famous by my sword;

I'll serve thee in such noble ways
Was never heard before;

I'll crown and deck thee all with bays,
And love thee more and more.

244

RICHARD CRASHAW

[1613 (?)-1649]

WISHES FOR THE SUPPOSED MISTRESS

WHOE'ER she be,

That not impossible She

That shall command my heart and me;