Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham Part 38

His smaller pieces are not remarkable, unless we except his vigorous lines "On the Earl of Stafford's Trial and Death," containing such n.o.ble sentiments as these--

"Such was his force of eloquence, to make The hearers more concern'd than he that spake, Each seem'd to act that part he came to see, _And none was more a looker-on than he_; So did he move our pa.s.sions, some were known _To wish for the defence, the crime their own_.

Now private pity strove with public hate, _Reason with rage, and eloquence with fate_."

Nor let us forget his verses on "Cowley's Death," which, although unequal, and in their praise exaggerated, yet are in parts exceedingly felicitous, as for instance, in the lines to which Macaulay, in his "Milton," refers:--

"To him no author was unknown, Yet what he wrote was all his own; He melted not the ancient gold, Nor with Ben Jonson did make bold To plunder all the Roman stores Of poets and of orators; Horace's wit and Virgil's state He did not steal, but emulate!

And when he would like them appear, Their _garb_, but not their _clothes_, did wear."

Such is true criticism, which, in our judgment, means clear, sharp, discriminating judgment expressed in the language and with the feelings of poetry.

DENHAM'S POETICAL WORKS.

POEMS UPON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

COOPER'S HILL.

Sure there are poets which did never dream Upon Parna.s.sus, nor did taste the stream Of Helicon; we therefore may suppose Those made not poets, but the poets those, And as courts make not kings, but kings the court, So where the Muses and their train resort, Parna.s.sus stands; if I can be to thee A poet, thou Parna.s.sus art to me.

Nor wonder, if (advantaged in my flight, By taking wing from thy auspicious height) 10 Through untraced ways and airy paths I fly, More boundless in my fancy than my eye: My eye which, swift as thought, contracts the s.p.a.ce That lies between, and first salutes the place Crown'd with that sacred pile, so vast, so high, That, whether 'tis a part of earth or sky, Uncertain seems, and may be thought a proud Aspiring mountain, or descending cloud.

Paul's, the late theme of such a Muse,[1] whose flight 19 Has bravely reach'd and soar'd above thy height: Now shalt thou stand, though sword, or time, or fire, Or zeal more fierce than they, thy fall conspire, Secure, whilst thee the best of poets sings, Preserved from ruin by the best of kings.

Under his proud survey the city lies, And like a mist beneath a hill doth rise; Whose state and wealth, the business and the crowd, Seems at this distance but a darker cloud: And is, to him who rightly things esteems, No other in effect than what it seems: 30 Where, with like haste, though sev'ral ways, they run, Some to undo, and some to be undone; While luxury and wealth, like war and peace, Are each the other's ruin and increase; As rivers lost in seas some secret vein Thence reconveys, there to be lost again.

O happiness of sweet retired content!

To be at once secure and innocent.

Windsor the next (where Mars with Venus dwells, Beauty with strength) above the valley swells 40 Into my eye, and doth itself present With such an easy and unforced ascent, That no stupendous precipice denies Access, no horror turns away our eyes: But such a rise as doth at once invite A pleasure and a rev'rence from the sight: Thy mighty master's emblem, in whose face Sate meekness, heighten'd with majestic grace; Such seems thy gentle height, made only proud To be the basis of that pompous load, 50 Than which, a n.o.bler weight no mountain bears, But Atlas only, which supports the spheres.

When Nature's hand this ground did thus advance, 'Twas guided by a wiser power than Chance; Mark'd out for such an use, as if 'twere meant T' invite the builder, and his choice prevent.

Nor can we call it choice, when what we choose, Folly or blindness only could refuse.

A crown of such majestic towers doth grace The G.o.ds' great mother, when her heavenly race 60 Do homage to her, yet she cannot boast, Among that num'rous and celestial host.

More heroes than can Windsor; nor doth Fame's Immortal book record more n.o.ble names.

Not to look back so far, to whom this isle Owes the first glory of so brave a pile, Whether to Caesar, Albanact, or Brute, The British Arthur, or the Danish Knute, (Though this of old no less contest did move Than when for Homer's birth seven cities strove) 70 (Like him in birth, thou shouldst be like in fame, As thine his fate, if mine had been his flame), But whosoe'er it was, Nature design'd First a brave place, and then as brave a mind; Not to recount those sev'ral kings, to whom It gave a cradle, or to whom a tomb; But thee, great Edward, and thy greater son[2]

(The lilies which his father wore, he won), And thy Bellona,[3] who the consort came Not only to thy bed, but to thy fame, so She to thy triumph led one captive king,[4]

And brought that son, which did the second bring.

Then didst thou found that Order (whether love 83 Or victory thy royal thoughts did move), Each was a n.o.ble cause, and nothing less Than the design, has been the great success: Which foreign kings, and emperors esteem The second honour to their diadem.

Had thy great destiny but given thee skill To know, as well as power to act her will, 90 That from those kings, who then thy captives were, In after times should spring a royal pair Who should possess all that thy mighty power, Or thy desires more mighty, did devour: To whom their better fate reserves whate'er The victor hopes for, or the vanquish'd fear; That blood, which thou and thy great grandsire shed, And all that since these sister nations bled, Had been unspilt, had happy Edward known.

That all the blood he spilt had been his own. 100 When he that patron chose, in whom are join'd Soldier and martyr, and his arms confin'd Within the azure circle, he did seem But to foretell, and prophesy of him, Who to his realms that azure round hath join'd, Which Nature for their bound at first design'd; That bound, which to the world's extremest ends, Endless itself, its liquid arms extends.

Nor doth he need those emblems which we paint, But is himself the soldier and the saint. 110 Here should my wonder dwell, and here my praise; But my fix'd thoughts my wand'ring eye betrays, Viewing a neighb'ring hill, whose top of late A chapel crown'd, 'till in the common fate Th' adjoining abbey fell. (May no such storm Fall on our times, when ruin must reform!) Tell me, my Muse! what monstrous dire offence, 117 What crime could any Christian king incense To such a rage? Was't luxury, or l.u.s.t?

Was he so temperate, so chaste, so just?

Were these their crimes? They were his own much more; But wealth is crime enough to him that's poor, Who having spent the treasures of his crown, Condemns their luxury to feed his own.

And yet this act, to varnish o'er the shame Of sacrilege, must bear devotion's name.

No crime so bold, but would be understood A real, or at least a seeming good: Who fears not to do ill, yet fears the name, And, free from conscience, is a slave to fame. 130 Thus he the church at once protects, and spoils: But princes' swords are sharper than their styles; And thus to th'ages past he makes amends, Their charity destroys, their faith defends.

Then did Religion in a lazy cell, In empty, airy contemplations dwell; And like the block, unmoved lay; but ours, As much too active, like the stork devours.

Is there no temp'rate region can be known, Betwixt their frigid, and our torrid zone? 140 Could we not wake from that lethargic dream, But to be restless in a worse extreme?

And for that lethargy was there no cure, But to be cast into a calenture?

Can knowledge have no bound, but must advance So far, to make us wish for ignorance, And rather in the dark to grope our way, Than, led by a false guide, to err by day?

Who sees these dismal heaps, but would demand What barbarous invader sack'd the land? 150 But when he hears no Goth, no Turk did bring This desolation, but a Christian king; When nothing but the name of zeal appears 'Twixt our best actions and the worst of theirs, What does he think our sacrilege would spare, When such th'effects of our devotions are?

Parting from thence 'twixt anger, shame and fear, Those for what's past, and this for what's too near, My eye descending from the hill, surveys Where Thames among the wanton valleys strays. 160 Thames, the most loved of all the Ocean's sons By his old sire, to his embraces runs; Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea, Like mortal life to meet eternity.

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 not his bottom, but survey his sh.o.r.e, O'er which he kindly spreads his s.p.a.cious wing, And hatches plenty for th'ensuing spring; 170 Nor then destroys it with too fond a stay, Like mothers which their infants overlay; Nor with a sudden and impetuous wave, Like profuse kings, resumes the wealth he gave.

No unexpected inundations spoil The mower's hopes, nor mock the ploughman's toil: But G.o.dlike his unwearied bounty flows; First loves to do, then loves the good he does.

Nor are his blessings to his banks confined, But free and common as the sea or wind; 180 When he, to boast or to disperse his stores, Full of the tributes of his grateful sh.o.r.es, Visits the world, and in his flying towers Brings home to us, and makes both Indies ours; Finds wealth where 'tis, bestows it where it wants, Cities in deserts, woods in cities plants; So that to us no thing, no place is strange, While his fair bosom is the world's exchange.

Oh, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! 190 Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full.

Heaven her Erida.n.u.s no more shall boast, Whose fame in thine, like lesser current, 's lost; Thy n.o.bler streams shall visit Jove's abodes, To s.h.i.+ne among the stars,[5] and bathe the G.o.ds.

Here Nature, whether more intent to please Us or herself with strange varieties, (For things of wonder give no less delight To the wise maker's, than beholder's sight; 200 Though these delights from sev'ral causes move; For so our children, thus our friends, we love), Wisely she knew the harmony of things, As well as that of sounds, from discord springs.

Such was the discord, which did first disperse Form, order, beauty, through the universe; While dryness moisture, coldness heat resists, All that we have, and that we are, subsists; While the steep, horrid roughness of the wood Strives with the gentle calmness of the flood, 210 Such huge extremes when Nature doth unite, Wonder from thence results, from thence delight.

The stream is so transparent, pure, and clear, That had the self-enamour'd youth[6] gazed here, So fatally deceived he had not been, While he the bottom, not his face had seen.

But his proud head the airy mountain hides 217 Among the clouds; his shoulders and his sides A shady mantle clothes; his curled brows Frown on the gentle stream, which calmly flows, While winds and storms his lofty forehead beat: The common fate of all that's high or great.

Low at his foot a s.p.a.cious plain is placed, Between the mountain and the stream embraced, Which shade and shelter from the hill derives, While the kind river wealth and beauty gives, And in the mixture of all these appears Variety, which all the rest endears.

This scene had some bold Greek or British bard Beheld of old, what stories had we heard 230 Of fairies, satyrs, and the nymphs their dames, Their feasts, their revels, and their am'rous flames?

'Tis still the same, although their airy shape All but a quick poetic sight escape.

There Faunus and Sylva.n.u.s keep their courts, And thither all the horned host resorts To graze the ranker mead; that n.o.ble herd On whose sublime and shady fronts is rear'd Nature's great masterpiece; to show how soon, Great things are made, but sooner are undone. 240 Here have I seen the King, when great affairs Gave leave to slacken, and unbend his cares, Attended to the chase by all the flower Of youth whose hopes a n.o.bler prey devour: Pleasure with praise and danger they would buy, And wish a foe that would not only fly.

The stag now conscious of his fatal growth, At once indulgent to his fear and sloth, To some dark covert his retreat had made, Where nor man's eye, nor heaven's should invade 250 His soft repose; when th'unexpected sound Of dogs, and men, his wakeful ears does wound.

Roused with the noise, he scarce believes his ear, Willing to think th'illusions of his fear Had given this false alarm, but straight his view Confirms that more than all he fears is true.

Betray'd in all his strengths, the wood beset; All instruments, all arts of ruin met; He calls to mind his strength and then his speed, His winged heels, and then his armed head; 260 With these t'avoid, with that his fate to meet: But fear prevails, and bids him trust his feet.

So fast he flies, that his reviewing eye Has lost the chasers, and his ear the cry; Exulting, till he finds their n.o.bler sense Their disproportion'd speed doth recompense; Then curses his conspiring feet, whose scent Betrays that safety which their swiftness lent; Then tries his friends; among the baser herd, Where he so lately was obey'd and fear'd, 270 His safety seeks; the herd, unkindly wise, Or chases him from thence, or from him flies; Like a declining statesman, left forlorn To his friends' pity, and pursuers' scorn, With shame remembers, while himself was one Of the same herd, himself the same had done.

Thence to the coverts and the conscious groves, The scenes of his past triumphs and his loves; Sadly surveying where he ranged alone Prince of the soil, and all the herd his own, 280 And like a bold knight-errant did proclaim.

Combat to all, and bore away the dame, And taught the woods to echo to the stream His dreadful challenge, and his clas.h.i.+ng beam; Yet faintly now declines the fatal strife; So much his love was dearer than his life.

Now every leaf, and every moving breath Presents a foe, and every foe a death.

Wearied, forsaken, and pursued, at last All safety in despair of safety placed, 290 Courage he thence resumes, resolved to bear All their a.s.saults, since 'tis in vain to fear.

And now, too late, he wishes for the fight That strength he wasted in ign.o.ble flight: But when he sees the eager chase renew'd, Himself by dogs, the dogs by men pursued, He straight revokes his bold resolve, and more Repents his courage than his fear before; Finds that uncertain ways unsafest are, And doubt a greater mischief than despair. 300 Then to the stream, when neither friends, nor force, Nor speed, nor art, avail, he shapes his course; Thinks not their rage so desperate to a.s.say An element more merciless than they.

But fearless they pursue, nor can the flood Quench their dire thirst; alas! they thirst for blood.

So t'wards a s.h.i.+p the oar-finn'd galleys ply, Which, wanting sea to ride, or wind to fly, Stands but to fall revenged on those that dare Tempt the last fury of extreme despair. 310 So fares the stag, among th'enraged hounds, Repels their force, and wounds returns for wounds; And as a hero, whom his baser foes In troops surround, now these a.s.sails, now those, Though prodigal of life, disdains to die By common hands; but if he can descry Some n.o.bler foe approach, to him he calls, And begs his fate, and then contented falls.

So when the king a mortal shaft lets fly 319 From his unerring hand, then glad to die, Proud of the wound, to it resigns his blood, And stains the crystal with a purple flood.

This a more innocent, and happy chase, Than when of old, but in the selfsame place, Fair Liberty pursued,[7] and meant a prey To lawless power, here turn'd, and stood at bay; When in that remedy all hope was placed Which was, or should have been at least, the last.

Here was that charter seal'd, wherein the crown All marks of arbitrary power lays down: 330 Tyrant and slave, those names of hate and fear, The happier style of king and subject bear: Happy, when both to the same centre move, When kings give liberty, and subjects love.

Therefore not long in force this charter stood; Wanting that seal, it must be seal'd in blood.

The subjects arm'd, the more their princes gave, Th' advantage only took the more to crave; Till kings by giving, give themselves away, And e'en that power, that should deny, betray. 340 'Who gives constrain'd, but his own fear reviles, Not thank'd, but scorn'd; nor are they gifts, but spoils.'

Thus kings, by grasping more than they could hold, First made their subjects, by oppression, bold: And popular sway, by forcing kings to give More than was fit for subjects to receive, Ran to the same extremes; and one excess Made both, by striving to be greater, less.

When a calm river, raised with sudden rains, Or snows dissolved, o'erflows th'adjoining plains, 350 The husbandmen with high raised banks secure Their greedy hopes, and this he can endure; But if with bays and dams they strive to force His channel to a new, or narrow course; No longer then within his banks he dwells, First to a torrent, then a deluge, swells; Stronger and fiercer by restraint he roars, And knows no bound, but makes his power his sh.o.r.es.

[1] 'Such a Muse': Mr. Waller.

[2] 'Great Edward, and thy greater son': Edward III. and the Black Prince.

[3] 'Thy Bellona': Queen Phillippa.

[4] 'Captive king': the kings of France and Scotland.

[5] 'The stars': the Forest.

[6] 'Self-enamour'd youth': Narcissus.

[7] 'Liberty pursued': Runimede, where Magna Charta was first sealed.