His cloak with orient velvet quite lined through;
His rosy ties and garters so o'erblown,
By his each glorious parcel to be known!
He wont was to encounter me aloud,
Where'er he met me;· now he's dumb or proud.
Know you
the cause? he's neither land nor lease,
Nor bawdy stock that travels for increase,
Nor office in the town, nor place in court,
Nor 'bout the bears, nor noise to make lords sport.
He is no favorite's favorite, no dear trust
Of any madam's, hath need o' squires, and must.
Nor did the King of Denmark him salute,
When he was here; nor hath he got a suit Since he was gone, more than the one he wears. Nor are the queen's most honored maids by th'
About his form. What then so swells each limb? Only his clothes have over-leavened him.
XCVIII. TO SIR THOMAS ROE.
Thou hast begun well, Roe, which stand well too,
And I know nothing more thou hast to do.
He that is round within himself, and straight,
Need seek no other strength, no other height;
Fortune upon him breaks herself, if ill,
71 Christian IV., who visited this country in 1606.-G. 72 Nephew of Sir John Roe,- see Epigram xxvii. p. 16, and the most distinguished member of his family. He was knighted by James I., and appointed ambassador to the Mogul, at the instance of the East India Company, to whom he rendered valuable services during the four years he held the appointment. He died in 1644. —- B.
And what would hurt his virtue, makes it still.78 That thou at once then nobly mayst defend With thine own course the judgment of thy friend, Be always to thy gathered self the same,
And study conscience more than thou wouldst fame.
Though both be good, the latter yet is worst,
And ever is ill got without the first.
That thou hast kept thy love, increased thy will,
Bettered thy trust to letters; that thy skill
Hast taught thyself worthy thy pen to tread:
And that to write things worthy to be read;
How much of great example wert thou, Roe,
If time to facts, as unto men would owe?
But much it now avails, what's done, of whom;
The self-same deeds, as diversely they come,
From place or fortune, are made high or low,
And e'en the praiser's judgment suffers so.
Well, though thy name less than our great ones be,
Thy fact is more; let truth encourage thee.
Playwright, by chance, hearing some toys I'd writ,
Cried to my face, they were th' elixir of wit:
78" In se ipso totus, teres atque rotundus
Externi ne quid valeat per leve morari,
In quem manca ruit semper fortuna."
HORACE, Sat. II. 7, 86-89.
And I must now believe him; for to-day
Five of my jests, then stolen, past him a play.
CI. INVITING A FRIEND TO SUPPER.
To-night, grave sir, both my poor house and I
Do equally desire your company;
Not that we think us worthy such a guest,
But that your worth will dignify our feast,
With those that come; whose grace may make
that seem
Something, which else could hope for no esteem.
It is the fair acceptance, sir, creates
The entertainment perfect, not the cates.
Yet shall you have, to rectify your palate,
An olive, capers, or some betterTM salad
Ushering the mutton; with a short-legged hen,
If we can get her, full of eggs, and then,
Lemons, and wine for sauce: to these, a coney
Is not to be despaired of for our money;
And though fowl now be scarce, yet there are
clerks,
The sky not falling, think we may have larks.
I'll tell you of more, and lie, so you will come,
Of partridge, pheasant, woodcock, of which some
May yet be there; and godwit if we can;
Knat, rail, and ruff, too.
74 Bell corrects to "bitter."
75 Godwit and knat are of the family of snipes.
76 Richard Brome, to whom he afterwards addressed some
Shall read a piece of Virgil, Tacitus,
Livy, or of some better book to us,
Of which we'll speak our minds, amidst our meat; And I'll profess no verses to repeat.
To this if aught appear, which I not know of,
That will the pastry, not my paper, show of.
Digestive cheese, and fruit there sure will be;
But that which most doth take my muse and me,
Is a pure cup of rich Canary wine,
Which is the Mermaid's " now, but shall be mine:
Of which had Horace or Anacreon tasted,
Their lives, as do their lines, till now had lasted.
Tobacco, nectar, or the Thespian spring,
Are all but Luther's beer, to this I sing.
Of this we will sup free, but moderately,
And we will have no Pooly' or Parrot by;
Nor shall our cups make any guilty men;
But at our parting, we will be, as when
We innocently met. No simple word
That shall be uttered at our mirthful board,
Shall make us sad next morning; or affright
The liberty that we'll enjoy to-night.
CII. TO WILLIAM, EARL OF PEMBROKE.7
I do but name thee, Pembroke, and I find
It is an epigram on all mankind;
77 The tavern in Bread-street. This passage Gifford traces to Horace's invitation to Virgil, but refers the plan of the whole to a little poem of Martial, Lib. X. Epig. 48.
78 To whom the book of Epigrams is dedicated. See ante,
Against the bad, but of, and to be 79 good:
Both which are asked, to have thee understood.
Nor could the age have missed thee in this strife
Of vice and virtue, wherein all great life
Almost is exercised; and scarce one knows
To which, yet, of the sides himself he owes.
They follow virtue for reward to-day;
To-morrow vice, if she give better pay;
And are so good, and bad, just at a price,
As nothing else discerns the virtue' or vice.
But thou, whose noblesse keeps one stature still,
And one true posture, though besieged with ill
Of what ambition, faction, pride can raise ;
Whose life, e'en they that envy it, must praise;
That art so reverenced, as thy coming in,
But in the view, doth interrupt their sin;
Thou must draw more: and they that hope to see
The commonwealth still safe, must study thee.
CIII. TO MARY LADY WROTH.81
How well, fair crown of your fair sex, might he That but the twilight of your sprite did see,
79 So the folio; but the obvious correction is
"Against the bad, but of and to the good."
80 Owns, belongs. - B.
81 Daughter of the Earl of Leicester, a younger brother to Sir Philip Sidney, and wife of Sir Robert Wroth, of Durance, in Middlesex, who is reported by Jonson to have been jealous of her. She acquired some literary reputation by a pastoral romance in imitation of The Arcadia, called Urania, published in 1621. A couple of samples of her verse are preserved by Mr. Dyce in his Specimens of British Poetesses. They will
|