O facred Fire, that burneft mightily In living breafts, ykindled first above,
Emongst th' eternal Spheres and lamping Sky,
And thence pour'd into Men, which Men call love;
Not that fame which doth bafe affections move
In brutish mindes, and filthy lust inflame;
But that fweet fit, that does true beauty love,
And chofeth vertue for his dearest dame,
Whence fpring all noble deeds,and never dying fame.
Well did Antiquitie a God thee deeme,
That ever mortal minds has fo great might,
To order them as beft to thee doth feeme,
And all their actions to direct aright;
The fatal purpose of divine forefight
Thou dost effect in destined defcents,
Through deep impreffion of thy fecret might,
And stirredft up the Heroes high intents,
Which the late World admires for wondrous Monu
Wondrous it is to fee in diverfe mindes,
How diverfly Love doth his pageants play,
And thews his Power in variable kinds :
The bafer wit, whoes idle thoughts alway
Are wont to cleave unto the lowly clay,
It stirreth up to fenfual defire,
And in lewd floth to waft his careless day
But in brave fprite it kindles goodly fire,
That to all high defert and honour doth aspire.
Ne fuffereth uncomely Idleness,
In his free thought to build her fluggish neft;
Ne fuffereth it thought of ungentlenefs,,.
Ever to creep into his noble breft;
But to the highest and the worthieft
Lifteth it up, that elfe would lowly fall:
It lets not fall, it lets it not to reft:
It lets not scarce this Prince to breath at all,
But to his first perfuit him forward still doth call.
Falfe love, why doe men fay thou canst not fee,
And in their foolish fancie feine thee blind,
That with thy charmes the fharpeft fight doft bind,
And to thy will abufe? thou walkeft free,
And feeft every fecret of the mind;
Thou feeft all, yet none at all feeft thee;
All that is by the working of thy Deite.
True he it faid, whatever Man it faid,
That Love with gall and honey doth abound;
But if the one be with the other way'd,
For every dram of honey therein found,
A pound of gall doth over it redound.
He fhould without disturbance her poffeffe :
Sweet is the Love that comes alone with willingness.
Which long concealing in her covert breft,
Yet chaw'd the cud of Lovers careful plight;
Yet could it not fo thoroughly degeft,
Being faft fixed in her wounded fprite,
But it tormented her both day and night:
Yet would fhe not thereto yeeld free accord,
To ferve the lowly vaffal of her might,
And of her Servant make her foveraign Lord :
So great her pride, that the fuch bafenefs much ab-
(horr'd.
So much the greater still her anguish grew,
Through ftubborne handling of her love-fick heart,
And still the more the ftrove it to fubdue,
The more the ftill augmented her own finart,
And wider made the wound the hidden dart.
At laft, when long fhe ftruggled had in vaine, She gan to ftoupe, and her proud mind convert
To meek obeyfance of loves mighty raine,
And him entreat for grace that procur'd her paine.
In ftouteft mindes, and maketh monftrous warre;
He maketh warre, he maketh peace againe,
yet his
peace is but continual jarre :
O miferable men that in him fubject are.
For this was not to love but luft inclin'd; For love does alwaies bring forth bountious deedes, And in each gentle heart defire of honour breedes.
Nought fo of love this loofer Dame did skill, But as a coale to kindle fleshly flame,
Giving the bridle to her wanton will, And treading under foot her honest name : Such love is hate, and fuch defire is shame,
Still did the rove at her with craftie glaunce, Of her falfe eyes, that at her heart did ayme, And told her meaning in her countenance, But Britomart diffembled it with ignoraunce.
Thenceforth the feather in her lofty creft,
Ruffed of Love, gan lowly to availe,
And her proud portance and her princely geft,
With which the earft triumphed, did now quaile :
Sad, folemne, fowre, and full of fancie fraile
She wax; yet wift she neither how nor why,
She wift not, filly maid, what he did ayle;
Yet wift The was not well at eafe perdy,
Yet thought it was not love, but fome malencholy.
So foon as night had with her pallid hue
Defac't the beauty of the fhining íky,
And reft from men the world's defired view,
She with her nourfe adown to fleep did lie;
But fleep full farre away from her did flie
Instead thereof great fighes and forrowes deep
Kept watch and ward about her warily.
That nought she did availe, and often steep
Her dainty couch with tears, which clofely fhe did
(weep.
But if that any drop of flumbring rest
Did chaunce to still into her weary sprite,
When feeble nature felt her self oppreft;
Streight way with dreames, and with fantasticke fight
Of dreadful things, the fame was put to flight,
That oft out of her bed she did aftart,
As one with view of ghaftly Fiends affright :
Tho' gan she to renew her former smart,
And think of that faire visage written in her heart.
(Spen.
Love, the most gen'rous Paflion of the Mind :
The fofteft Refuge Innocence can find.
The safe Director of unguided Youth,
Fraught with kind Wishes, and fecur'd by Truth :
The Cordial Drop Heav'n in our Cup has thrown,
To make the nauseous Draught of Life go down:
On which one only Bleffing God might raife,
In Lands of Atheists, Subfidies of Praise :
For none did e'er so dull and stupid prove,
But felt a God, and bless'd his Pow'r in Love. Roch.
For Love's not always of a vicious Kind ;
But oft to virtuous Acts inflames the Mind :
Awakes the fleepy Vigour of the Soul ;
And, brushing o'er, adds Motion to the Pool:
Love, ftulious how to please, improves our Parts
With polish'd Manners, and adorns with Arts.
Love first invented Verfe, and form'd the Rhyme,
The Motion measur'd, harmoniz`d the Chime;
To libʼral Arts en'arg'd the Narrow-foul'd,
Soften'd the Fierce, and made the Coward bold.
(Dryd. Cym. & Iph.
The Pow'r of Love,
In Earth, and Seas, and Air, and Heav'n above,
Rales unrefifted with an awful Nod:
By day Miracles declar'd a God;
He blinds the Wife, gives Eye-fight to the Blind:
And moulds and ftamps anew the Lover's Mind.
No Law is made for Love:
Law is to Things which to free Choice relate;
Love is not in our Choice, but in our Fate:
Laws are but Positive; Love's Pow'r we fee
Is Nature's Sanction, and her first Decree.
Each Day we break the Bond of human Laws
For Love, and vindicate the common Cause.
Laws for Defence of civil Rights are plac'd ;
Love throws the Fences down,and makes a gen'ral Wafte.
Maids, Widows, Wives, without Diftinction fall:
The fweeping Deluge, Love, comes on, and covers all.
(Dryd. Pal. & Arc.
So like the Chances are of Love and War,
That they alone in this diftinguish'd are:
In Love the Victors from the Vanquish'd fly:
They fly that wound, and they perfue that die. Wall.
The Proverb holds: That to be wife and love,
Is hardly granted to the Gods Above.
A gen'ral Doom on all Mankind is pass'd,
And all are Fools and Lovers, first or laft.
This both by others and my felf I know,
For I have ferv'd their Sovereign long ago;
Oft have been caught within the winding Train
Of female Snares; and felt the Lover's Pain;
And learn'd how far the God can human Hearts
(conftrain. Dryd. Pal. & Arc.
I'm pleas'd and pain'd fince firft her Eyes I faw,
As I were ftung with fome Tarantula:
Arms and the dufty Field Ilefs admire,
And foften ftrangely in fome new Defire:
Honour burns in me not fo fiercely bright;
But pale, as Fires when mafter'd by the Light?
Ev'n while I fpeak and look, I change yet more
And now am nothing that I was before.
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