AND now all Nature seem'd in love; New juice did stir th' embracing vines, There stood my friend, with patient skill Attending of his trembling quill. Already were the eves possest With the swift pilgrim's daubed nest: In Philomel's triumphing voice. The showers were short, the weather mild, The morning fresh, the evening smil'd. Joan strokes a syllabub or twain. And now, though late, the modest rose Did more than half a blush disclose. To welcome the new-livery'd year. Among other embassies of Sir Henry, he was sent to the Emperor Ferdinand the Second, and several other German Princes, to incline them to equitable conditions for the restoration of the Queen of Bohemia, (daughter of King James I.) and her descendants, to their patrimonial inheritance of the 1 Palatinate. This Queen Sir Henry always called "his Dear and Royal Mistress," and treated her with the highest admiration, as the following tender and exquisite stanzas will prove: On his Mistress, the QUEEN OF BOHEMIA. You meaner beauties of the night, That poorly satisfy our eyes More by your number, then your light, You curious chanters of the wood, That warble forth Dame Nature's lays, By your weak accents; what's your praise You violets, that first appear, By your pure purple mantles known, As if the Spring were all your own; So, when my mistress shall be seen Th' eclipse and glory of her kind? a The rise and fall of that favourite and minion of King James, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, are a See this poem, with variations and additions, from a MS. in the British Museum, inserted in "The Topographer," vol. i. p. 421. too well known to be repeated. The following elegant, moral, and pathetic lines on the subject must delight every reader of taste: Upon the sudden Restraint of the EARL OF SOMERSET, DAZLED thus with height of place, Then since Fortune's favours fade, But if greatness be so blind, Then though darkened, you shall say, But proves at night a bed of down. Of Sir Henry's piety, his biographer has given the most ample testimony. Indeed, it appears in every trait of his character, and almost in every part of his writings, and every record of his conversations, which have been handed down to us. The ensuing translation from the Psalms, a task which it is always difficult to perform with success, is another proof of it, as well as of his powers of versification. |