JOHN WEBSTER.

1638.

'Tis just like a summer bird-cage in a garden; the birds that are without despair to get in, and the birds that are within despair and are in a consumption, for fear they shall never get out.1 The White Devil. Acti. Sc. 2.

Call for the robin-redbreast and the wren,
Since o'er shady groves they hover,
And with leaves and flowers do cover
The friendless bodies of unburied men.

Ibid. Acti. Sc. 2. Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright, But look'd to near have neither heat nor light. Ibid. Act iv. Sc. 4

1 Le mariage est comme une forteresse assiégée; ceux qui sont dehors veulent y entrer, et ceux qui sont dedans veulent en sortir. Un proverbe Arabe. Quitard, Etudes sur les Proverbes Français. p. 102.

Mon

It happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out. taigne, Essays, Ch. v. Vol. iii.

Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been
To public feasts, where meet a public rout,
Where they that are without would fain go in,
And they that are within would fain go out.

Sir John Davis, Contention betwixt a Wife,
a Widow, and a Maid. (From Davison's
Poetical Rhapsody, Lond. 1826.)

Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get out, and such as are out wish to get in? Emerson, Representative Men: Montaigne.

-

Circa 1616-1650.

RICHARD CRASHAW.

The conscious water saw its God and blushed.1

Translation of Epigram on John ii.

Whoe'er she be,

That not impossible she,

That shall command my heart and me.

And when it comes, say, Welcome, friend!

In Praise of Lessius's Rule of Health.

The modest front of this small floor,
Believe me, reader, can say more
Than many a braver marble can,
"Here lies a truly honest man!"

Epitaph upon Mr. Ashton.

1 Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit.
Epig. Sacra. Aquæ in vinum versæ, p. 299.

THOMAS HEYWOOD.

- 1649.

The world's a theatre, the earth a stage
Which God and nature do with actors fill.
Apology for Actors. 1612.
Seven cities warr'd for Homer being dead;
Who living had no roofe to shrowd his head.'
The Hierarchie of the blessed Angells. Lond. 1635, p. 207.

SIR JOHN DENHAM. 1615 – 1668.

Though with those streams he no resemblance hold,

Whose foam is amber and their gravel gold;
His genuine and less guilty wealth t' explore,
Search out his bottom, but survey his shore.
Cooper's Hill, Line 165.
O, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not

dull;

Strong without rage; without o'erflowing full. Line 189.

Actions of the last age are like almanacs of the last year. The Sophy. A Tragedy. But whither am I strayed? I need not raise Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise; Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built;

1 Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead, Through which the living Homer begged his bread. Thomas Seward, Epigram.

Denham.

· Dekker.

165

Denham continued.]

Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt

Of Eastern kings, who, to secure their reign, Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred

That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer; A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit. The first true gentleman that ever breathed."

The Honest Whore. Part i. Act i. Sc. 12.

We are ne'er like angels till our passion dies. Ibid. Part ii. Act i. Sc. 2.

To add to golden numbers, golden numbers.

Patient Grissell. Acti. Sc. 1.

Honest labour bears a lovely face.

Ibid.

1 Poets are sultans, if they had their will; For every author would his brother kill.

Orrery, "in one of his Prologues," says Johnson. Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear like the Turk, no brother near the throne. Pope, Prologue to the Satires, Line 197. 2 Of the offspring of the gentilman Jafeth, come Habraham, Moyses, Aron, and the profettys; and also the Kyng of the right lyne of Mary, of whom that gentilman Jhesus was borne. — Juliana Berners, Heraldic Blazonry.

ABRAHAM COWLEY. 1618-1667.

What shall I do to be for ever known,
And make the age to come my own?

The Motto.

His time is for ever, everywhere his place.

Friendship in Absence.

We spent them not in toys, in lusts, or wine;
But search of deep philosophy,

Wit, eloquence, and poetry;

Arts which I loved, for they, my friend, were thine. On the Death of Mr. William Harvey.

His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might Be wrong; his life, I'm sure, was in the right.1 On the Death of Crashaw.

We grieved, we sighed, we wept we :

blushed before.

never

Discourse concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwell.

The thirsty earth soaks up the rain,
And drinks and gapes for drink again;
The plants suck in the earth, and are
With constant drinking fresh and fair.

From Anacreon. Drinking.
Why

Should every creature drink but I?

Why, man of morals, tell me why?

1 Cf. Pope, Essay on Man, Ep. iii. Line 306.

Ibid.