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BERTUS MORTON

(WHO WAS BURIED AT SOUTHAMPTON)

WEPT BY SIR H. WOTTON.

[SIR ALBERTUS MORTON was Wotton's nephew, and had been his Secretary at Venice. He was frequently employed by King James on foreign affairs,-was knighted by him Sept. 29: 1617 and died Secretary of State in November, 1625 (as Wood correctly states), " in the vernality (as I may term it)," says his uncle, " of his employments and Fortunes under the best King and Master of the World."* Sir Henry never mentions him without expressing his affectionate regard for him;† and though Walton has inserted the following extract in his Life of Wotton, I need offer no

Wood's A. O. ii. 523-4. Rel. Wotton. p. 477. Administration was granted to his widow in Dec. 1625. She was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Apsley, of Thakeham, Sussex; was married Jan. 13: 1624: and died S. P. 1627, which gives the date of Wotton's Epitaph on her.-Morton's relationship to Wotton is stated at length in the Introd. to this vol.

+ See an account of an accident that befell Sir Albertus in 1613: Rel. Wotton. 417, 421, 425, and compare ib. 443, 552.

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apology for repeating it here:-" Here [i. e. at Redgrave] when I had been almost a Fortnight in the midst of much Contentment, I received knowledge of Sir Albertus Morton's departure out of this World, who was dearer unto me than mine own being in it. What a wound it is to my Heart, you will easily believe: But his undisputable Will must be done, and unrepiningly received by his own Creatures, who is the Lord of all Nature, and of all Fortune, when he taketh now one, and then another, till the expected day wherein it shall please him to Dissolve the whole, and to wrap up even the Heaven it self as a Scroul of Parchment. This is the last Philosophy that we must study upon the Earth; let us now, that yet remain, while our Glasses shall run by the droping away of Friends, re-inforce our Love to one another; which of all Vertues, both Spiritual and Moral, hath the highest privilege, because Death it self shall not end it."*

The Variations are from a copy of the Poem inserted in Walton's Life of Wotton (=A), † and from MS. Rawl. Poet. 147, p. 107. (=B.)]

ILENCE (in truth) would speak my sorrow best,

For deepest wounds can least their feelings tell;

Yet let me borrow from mine own unrest

But time to bid him, whom I loved, farewel.

[5] O my unhappy Lines! you that before

Have serv'd my Youth to vent some wanton cries,

* Rel. Wotton, 322. Letter to Nic. Pey, dated 1626 in ed. 1672, no doubt by mistake. There is no date in the two earlier eds. Walton has varied it a little in the Life.

+ All that portion of the Life which concerns Morton and Bedel, was first inserted in ed. 1654. It will be seen that the copy printed in that year differs from the one given in 1672.

And now, congeal'd with grief, can scarce imploré
Strength to accent,-Here my Albertus lies!

This is the sable Stone,-this is the Cave [10] And Womb of Earth that doth his Corps embrace; While others sing his praise, let me engrave These bleeding Numbers to adorn the place.

Here will I paint the Characters of wo; Here will I pay my tribute to the Dead; [15] And here my faithful Tears in showres shall flow, To humanize the Flints whereon I tread.

Where, though I mourn my matchless loss alone, And none between my Weakness judge and me, Yet even these gentle Walls allow my moan, [20] Whose doleful Echoes to my Plaints agree.

But is he gone? and live I Rhyming here,
As if some Muse would listen to my Lay,
When all distun'd sit wai[1]ing for their Dear,
And bathe the Banks where he was wont to play?

[25] Dwell thou in endless Light, discharged Soul,

A.

Freed now from Natures and from Fortunes trust;
While on this fluent Globe my Glass shall roul,
And run the rest of my remaining dust.

H. W.

[VARIATIONS. 1. 'will speak my sorrows'-B.-4. 'A time''loue'-B.-9. 'that Sable stone'-A. 'and yis yo caue’—

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B.-14. Here I will pay'-A. ed. 1654.-16. ‘on which'—A. -19. 'pensive walls'-A.-23. All the old copies edited by Walton have the unmeaning misprint, waiting', which Mr. Dyce corrected on conjecture; and it is 'wailing' in B.-24. 'they were wont'-B.-25. 'Dwell then in endless light, thou freed soul'-A. ed. 1654. 'Dwell then in endless Bliss with happy Souls'-ib. ed. 1672. The line is imperfect in B.-26. Discharg'd from'-A B.-27. Whil'st on this fluid globe my glass shall roul'—A. ed. 1654. Whil'st on this fluid Globe my Hour-glass rowls'-ib. ed. 1672. 'or glasses rowle'-B.-28. 'And runs the rest'-A. ed. 1672. 'or remaining'-B. The sign. in the two earlier editions of Rel. Wotton. is "H. WOTTON."]

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[IF it were not certain that Wotton often affects a kind of reserve about his own productions, the following postscript to one of his letters to John Dinely (dated Nov. 13: 1628 :) would be rather perplexing:-" If the Queen [of Bohemia] have not heard the Epitaph of Albertus Morton and his Lady, it is worth her hearing, for the passionate plainness.” Then follows the couplet,-marked "Authoris Incerti.” (Rel. Wotton. p. 560.)

In Philipot's edit. of Camden's Remaines, it is given with a singular difference:-" Vpon two Lovers who, being espoused, dyed both before they were married." It commences, "She first"-&c. (p. 406, ed. 1657.) In Restituta, iv. 353, it is cited from Picke's Festum Voluptatis, 1639, with the title, "One that dyed with griefe a few dayes after her husband.”—The signature in the first. ed. of Rel. Wotton. is "H. WOTTON;" in the second, "HEN. WOTTON."]

E first deceas'd; She for a little tri'd

He and

To live without him, lik'd it not, and di'd.

H. W.

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