TO HIS UNCONSTANT MISTRESS.

[Not included in any printed editions of Carew before 1870. From Harl. MS. 6057, fol. II vo, and 12, signed Th. Car.]

BUT

say, you very woman! why to me

The fit of weakness and inconstancy?
What forfeit have I made of word or vow,
That I am rack'd with thy displeasure now?
If I have done a fault I do not shame
To cite it from thy lips: Give it a name.

I ask the Banns: stand forth and tell me, why?
Did thy cloy'd appetite urge thee to try

If any other man could do 't as I ?—

I see friends are as clothes, laid up whilst new,
But after wearing cast, though ne'er so true.
Or did thy fierce ambition long to make
Some lover turn a martyr for thy sake?—
Thinking thy beauty had deserved no name,
Unless some one had perish'd in the flame;

Upon whose loving dust this sentence lies:
'Here one was murder'd by his Mistress' eyes?'

Or was't because my love to thee was such
I could not choose but blab it-swear how much
I was thy slave, and, doting, let thee know
I better could my self than thee forego?

Hearken, ye men! that so shall love like me :
I'll give you counsel gratis! if you be

Possess'd of what you like, let your fair friend
Lodge in your bosom, but no secrets send
To seek their lodging in a female breast,
For so much is abated of your rest.

The steed that comes to understand his strength
Grows wild, and casts his manager at length;
And the tame lover that unlocks his heart
Unto his Mistress, teaches her an art

To plague himself: shows her the secret way
How she may tyrannise another day.

M

['plunge him s.

And now, my fair Unkindness thus to thee !
Mark how wise passion and I agree :

Hear, and be sorry for 't: I will not die
To expiate thy crime of levity.

I walk (not cross-arm'd, neither), eat, and live ;
Yea, for to pity thy neglect-not grieve,
Nor envy him that by my loss hath won,
That thou art from thy faith and promise gone.
Thou shalt believe thy changing moon-like fits
Have not infected me, nor turn'd my wits
To Lunacy : I do not mean to weep,

When I should eat; or sigh, when I should sleep.
I will not fall upon my pointed quill,
Bleed ink, and Poems or Invention spill,
To contrive ballads, or weave elegies,

For nurses' wearings when the infant cries;

T. & Iseult.] Nor, like th' enamour'd Tristrams of the time,
Despair in prose, or hang myself in rhyme;
Nor thither run upon my verses' feet,

Orl. Furioso.]

Where I shall none but fools and madmen meet:
Who 'midst the silent shades and myrtle walks,
Pule and do penance for their Mistress' faults.

I'm none of those Poetic malcontents,
Born to make paper dear with my laments,
Or vile Orlando, that will rail and vex,
And for thy sake fall out with all thy sex.
No: I will love again, and seek a prize
That shall redeem me from thy poor despise ;
I'll court my fortune now in such a shape
That will not feign die, nor stern choler take.
Thus launch I off with triumph from thy shore,
To which my last Farewell! for never more
Will I touch there; or put to sea again,
Blown with the churlish wind of thy disdain.

Nor will I stop the course till I have found
A coast that yields safe harbour and firm ground.

Smile ye, Love's stars! wing'd with desires, fly
To make my wished-for discovery :

Nor doubt I but for one that proves like you,
I shall find ten as fair, and yet more true.

TH. CAR.

['The Enquiry'-'Amongst the myrtles as I walked,' [Cf. p. 228. was given among Carew's, on our p. 65; and also 'The Primrose '-'Ask me why I send you here,' on p. 73; although both of them were included among Robert Herrick's 'Hesperides,' 1648, and strongly resemble his style. Both belong to the posthumous 1640 edition of Carew, pp. 170, 188, where 'The Primrose' is a superior version. Did Carew and Herrick write it, conjointly, in friendly emulation? We distrust Herrick's variations, which are later and weaker.]

VERSES.

[From Mr. Wyburd's MS., where they immediately precede the Song of p. 69, 'Ask me no more where Jove bestows :' a poem indisputably Carew's ; one often parodied in CivilWar time, e.g. 'Ask me no more why there appears' (see pp. 232, 183). Imitated, without acknowledgment, by Alfred Tennyson, in second edition of his 'Princess.' These Verses are fragmentary. The authorship seems to be worse than doubtful; without true claim on Carew. Included in the Roxburghe Library edition, 1870, they are retained, under protest, and not accepted as Carew's.]

HE gave her Jewels in a Cup of Gold,

Wherein were graven stories done of old 1;
And in his hand he held a book, which show'd
The birth-stars of the City, where Brute plough'd
The furrows for the wall: on every page

A King was drawn, his fortune and his age ;
But she liked best, and loved to see again

The British Princes that had marched with Spain,

Thus enter'd she the Court, where every one
To entertain her made provision.

'Nays,' MS.]

Cf. Nares, s. v.]

Cætera desunt.]

[Thus far we might believe the fragment held some Courtly reference to the Queen Henrietta Maria, in sympathy with her antecedent rival, the Infanta of Spain. What follows is mere rambling incoherence; in no way resembling Carew. To print the lines is virtually to condemn them.]

Naïs had angled all the night, and took

The Trout, the Gudgeon with her silver hook :
The Graces all were busy in the Downs,

In gathering sallets and in wreathing crowns :
The wood-nymphs ran about, and, while 'twas dark,
With light and lowe-bell caught the amazed Lark :
One with some hairs, pluck'd from a Centaur's tail,
Made springes for the woodcock in the dale:
One spread her net the Coney to ensnare :
Another with her hounds pursued the hare.
Diana, early, with her bugle clear,

Armed with a quiver, shot the fallow deer.
The stately Stag, hit with her fatal shaft,
Shed tears in falling, while the Huntress laugh'd.
All sent their gains to Hymen for a present,

The Buck, the Partridge, and the painted Pheasant;
And Jove, to grace the feast of Hymen's joy,
Sent thither Nectar by his Trojan Boy.

The Graces and the Dryades were there, etc.

THE HUE AND CRY.

[This version, which is the earlier-printed by seven years, differs so greatly from the one similarly-named on our p. 71, reprinted from p. 184 of 'Carew's Poems,' 1640, editio princeps, that the reproduction of both is necessary. There need be no hesitation in assigning solely to Carew their authorship, although the present version appeared in James Shirley's 'Wittie Fair One,' 1633, a comedy acted so early as 1628. 'Would you know what's soft?' p. 70, and 'To his Mistress Confined,' on p. 72, both of them by Carew, no less confusingly adorn Shirley's play, mixed with his own work, and not disclaimed. Perhaps the friends joined in writing the Hue and Cry.]

IN

N Love's name you are charged hereby
To make a speedy Hue and Cry

After a face, which t'other day

Came and stole my heart away.
For your directions, in brief,

These are best marks to know the thief:
Her hair a net of beams would prove,

Strong enough to captive Jove,
Playing the Eagle: her clear brow
Is a comely field of snow.

A sparkling eye, so pure a grey,
As when it shines it needs no day.
Ivory dwelleth on her nose;

Lilies married to the Rose

Have made her cheek the nuptial bed;
Lips betray their virgins' weed:
As they only blush'd for this,
That they one another kiss.
But observe, beside the rest,
You shall know this felon best
By her tongue; for if your ear
Shall once a heavenly music hear,
Such as neither gods nor men

But from that voice shall hear again,

That, that is she: oh, take her t' ye;
None can rock heaven asleep but she.

[Variations of this song, in Shirley's Poems, 1646:-
Dress'd in his Eagle's shape: Her brow
Is a spacious field of snow :

Her eyes so rich, so pure a grey,
Every look creates a day.

And if they close themselves (not when

The Sun doth set) 'tis night again.

In her cheeks are to be seen

Of flowers both the King and Queen,
Thither by all the Graces led,
And smiling in their nuptial bed.
On whom, like pretty nymphs, do wait,
Her twin-born lips, whose virgin state
They do deplore themselves, nor miss
To blush, so often as they kiss,
Without a man. Beside the rest, etc.]