III.

DONNA leggiadra, il cui bel nome onora

L' erbosa val di Reno e il nobil varco,
Bene è colui d'ogni valore scarco

Qual tuo spirto gentil non innamora,
Che dolcemente mostrasi di fuora,

De' sui atti soavi giammai parco,
E i don', che son d'amor saette ed arco,

Là onde l'alta tua virtù s'infiora.
Quando tu vaga parli, o lieta canti,

Che mover possa duro alpestre legno,

Guardi ciascun agli occhi ed agli orecchi L'entrata chi di te si truova indegno;

Grazia sola di sù gli vaglia, innanti
Che 'l disio amoroso al cuor s'invecchi.

IV.

QUAL in colle aspro, all'imbrunir di sera,

L’avezza giovinetta pastorella
Va bagnando l'erbetta strana e bella

Che mal si spande a disusata spera
Fuor di sua natia alma primavera,

Così Amor meco insù la lingua snella
Desta il fior novo di strania favella,

Mentre io di te, vezzosamente altera,
Canto, dal mio buon popol non inteso,

E 'l bel Tamigi cangio col bell'Arno.

Amor lo volse, ed io all'altrui peso
Seppi ch’Amor cosa mai volse indarno.

Deh! foss' il mio cuor lento e 'l duro seno
A chi pianta dal ciel si buon terreno.

CANZONE.

RIDONSI donne e giovani amorosi
M’ accostandosi attorno, e ‘Perchè scrivi,
Perchè tu scrivi in lingua ignota e strana
Verseggiando d' amor, e come ť osi ?
Dinne, se la tua speme sia mai vana,
E de' pensieri lo miglior t arrivi !'
Così mi van burlando: “altri rivi,
Altri lidi t' aspettan, ed altre onde,
Nelle cui verdi sponde
Spuntati ad or ad or alla tua chioma

L'immortal guiderdon d'eterne frondi.
Perchè alle spalle tue soverchia soma ?'

Canzon, dirotti, e tu per me rispondi :
' Dice mia Donna, e il suo dir è il mio cuore,

Questa è lingua di cui si vanta Amore.”)

66

V.

DIODATI (e te 'l dirò con maraviglia),

Quel ritroso io, ch' amor spreggiar solea
Ể de' suoi lacci spesso mi ridea,

Già caddi, ov'uom dabben talor s'impiglia. Nètreccie d'oro nè guancia vermiglia

M'abbaglian sì, ma sotto nova idea
Pellegrina bellezza che 'l cuor bea,

Portamenti alti onesti, e nelle ciglia
Quel sereno fulgor damabil nero,

Parole adorne di lingua più d'una,

E 'l cantar che di mezzo l'emispero
Traviar ben può la faticosa Luna;

E degli occhi suoi avventa si gran fuoco
Che l'incerar gli orecchi mi fia poco.

VI.

PER certo i bei vostr'occhi, Donna mia,

Esser non può che non sian lo mio sole ;
Sì mi percuoton forte, come ei suole

Per l arene di Libia chi s' invia,
Mentre un caldo vapor (nè sentì pria)

Da quel lato si spinge ove mi duole,
Che forse amanti nelle lor parole

Chiaman sospir ; io non so che si sia.
Parte rinchiusa e turbida si cela

Scossomi il petto, e poi n'uscendo poco

Quivi d' attorno ó s'agghiaccia o singiela; Ma quanto agli occhi giunge a trovar loco

Tutte le notti a me suol far piovose,
Finchè mia alba rivien colma di rose.

VII.

GIOVANE, piano, e semplicetto amante,

Poichè fuggir me stesso in dubbio sons,
Madonna, a voi del mio cuor lumil dono
Farò divoto. Io certo a prove tante

N N

L'ebbi fedele, intrepido, costante,

Di pensieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono.
Quando rugge il gran mondo, e scocca il tuono,
§

arma di se, e d'intero diamante, Tanto del forse e d'invidia sicuro,

Di timori, e speranze al popol use,

Quanto d'ingegno e dalto valor vago,
E di cetra sonora, e delle Muse.

Sol troverete in tal parte men duro
Ove Amor mise l' insanabil ago.

VIII.

WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.

CAPTAIN or Colonel, or Knight in Arms,

Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize,
If deed of honour did thee ever please,

Guard them, and him within protect from harms.
He can requite thee; for he knows the charms

That call fame on such gentle acts as these,
And he can spread thy name o'er lands and seas,

Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms.
Lift not thy spear against the Muses' bower :

The great Emathian conqueror bid spare

The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower
Went to the ground; and the repeated air

Of sad Electra's poet had the power
To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.

IX.

[TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.] LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth

Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green,
And with those few art eminently seen

That labour up the hill of heavenly Truth,
The better part with Mary and with Ruth

Chosen thou hast; and they that overween,
And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen,

No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth.
Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends

To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light,

And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure Thou, when the Bridegroom with his feastful friends

Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night,
Hast gained thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure.

X.

TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.

DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once President

Of England's Council and her Treasury,
Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee,

And left them both, more in himself content,
Till the sad breaking of that Parliament

Broke him, as that dishonest victory
At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,

Killed with report that old man eloquent,
Though later born than to have known the days

Wherein your father flourished, yet by you,

Madam, methinks I see him living yet :
So well your words his noble virtues praise

That all both judge you to relate them true
And to possess them, honoured Margaret.

XI.

ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON MY WRITING

CERTAIN TREATISES.

A BOOK was writ of late called Tetrachordon,

And woven close, both matter, form, and style ;
The subject new : it walked the town a while,

Numbering good intellects ; now seldom pored on.
Cries the stall-reader, “ Bless us! what a word on

A title-page is this !”; and some in file
Stand spelling false, while one might walk to Mile-

End Green. Why, is it harder, sirs, than Gordon,
Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?

Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek

That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.
Thy age, like ours, O soul of Sir John Cheek,

Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,
When thou taught'st Cambridge and King Edward Greek

XII.

ON THE SAME.

I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs

By the known rules of ancient liberty,
When straight a barbarous noise environs me

Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs ;
As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs

Railed at Latona's twin-born progeny,
Which after held the Sun and Moon in fee.

But this is got by casting pearl to hogs,
That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood,

And still revolt when Truth would set them free.

Licence they mean when they cry Liberty ;
For who loves that must first be wise and good :

But from that mark how far they rove we see,
For all ihis waste of wealth and loss of blood.

ON THE

THE

LONG

NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE UNDER

PARLIAMENT.

BECAUSE you have thrown off your Prerate Lord,

And with stiff vows renounced his Liturgy,
To seize the widowed whore Plurality

From them whose sin ye envied, not abhu rred,
Dare ye 'for this adjure the civil sword

To force our consciences that Christ set free,
And ride us with a Classic Hierarchy,

Taught ye by mere A. S. and Rutherford ?
Men whose life, learning, faith, and pure intent,

Would have been held in high esteem with Paul

Must now be named and printed heretics
By shallow Edwirds and Scotch What-d'ye-call !

But we do hope to find out all your tricks,
Your plots and packing, worse than those of Trent,

That so the Parliament
May with their wholesome and preventive shears
Clip your phylacteries, though baulk your ears,

And succour our just fears, When they shall read this clearly in your charge : New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large.

XIII.

TO MR. H. LAWES ON HIS AIRS.

HARRY, whose tuneful and well-measured song

First taught our English music how to span
Words with just note and accent, not to scan

With Midas' ears, committing short and long,
TH.) worth and skill exempts thee from the throng,

With praise enough for Envy to look wan;
To after age thou shalt be writ the man
That with smooth air couldst humour best our tongue.