ROYAL RESOLUTIONS.

I.

HEN plate was at pawn, and fob at an ebb,
And spider might weave in bowels its web,
And stomach as empty as brain;

Then Charles without acre,

Did swear by his Maker,

If e'er I see England again,

I'll have a religion all of my own,

Whether Popish or Protestant shall not be known;
And if it prove troublesome, I will have none.

II.

I'll have a long parliament always to friend,
And furnish my treasure as fast as I spend,
And if they will not, they shall have an end.

IV.

My insolent brother shall bear all the sway;
If parliaments murmur, I'll send him away,
And call him again as soon as I may.

VII.

The ancient nobility I will lay by,

And new ones create their rooms to supply,
And they shall raise fortunes for my own fry.

VIII.

Some one I'll advance from a common descent,
So high that he shall hector the parliament,
And all wholesome laws for the public prevent,

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IX.

And I will assert him to such a degree

That all his foul treasons, though daring and high,
Under my hand and seal shall have indemnity.

XIII.

I'll wholly abandon all public affairs,

And pass all my time with buffoons and players,
And saunter to Nelly when I should be at prayers.

XIV.

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I'll have a fine pond with a pretty decoy,
Where many strange fowl shall feed and enjoy,
And still in their language quack Vive le Roy!
Andrew Marvell.

THE CONTENTED MAN'S MORRICE.

(From Speculum Speculativum, 1660.)

HESE words in youth my motto were,

And mine in age I'll make them,
I neither Have, nor Want, nor Care;
When also first I spake them,

I thought things would be as they are,
And meekly, therefore, take them.

The riches I possess this day

Are no such goods of fortune As king can give or take away, Or tyrants make uncertain; For hid within myself they are, Behind an unseen curtain.

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Of my degree but few or none
Were daily so frequented;
But now I'm left of every one,

And therewith well contented.
For when I am with God alone,
Much folly is prevented.

Then why should I give way to grief?
Come, strike up pipe and tabor;
He that affecteth God in chief,

And as himself his neighbour,

May still enjoy a happy life,

Although he lives by labour.

For service done and love exprest,

Though very few regard it,

My country owes me bread at least;
But, if I be debarr'd it,

Good conscience is a daily feast,

And sorrow never marr'd it.

There is no trust in temp'ral things,
For they are all unsteady :

That no assurance from them springs,

Too well I find already;

And that e'en parliaments and kings,
Are frail, or false, or giddy.

All stands upon a tott'ring wheel,
Which never fix'd abideth;

Both Commonweals and Kingdoms reel :

He that in them confideth

(Or trust their faith) shall mischief feel,

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With which soe'er he sideth.

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This only doth my mirth allay,
I am to some engaged

Who sigh and weep, and suffer may
Whilst thus I sing encaged :
But I've a God, and so have they,
By whom that care's assuaged.

And he that gives us in these days
New Lords may give us new laws;
So that our present puppet-plays,
Our whimsies, brawls, and gewgaws,
May turned be to songs of praise,
And holy hallelujahs.

George Wither.

FROM SAMSON AGONISTES.

THE DAY OF DELIVERANCE.

HOW comely it is, and how reviving,
To the spirits of just men long oppress'd,

When God into the hands of their deliverer Puts invincible might,

To quell the mighty of the earth, the oppressor,
The brute and boisterous force of violent men,
Hardy and industrious to support

Tyrannic power, but raging to pursue

The righteous, and all such as honour truth.

THE DAY OF DOUBT.

OD of our fathers, what is man!

That thou toward him with hand so various-
Or might I say contrarious,

Temper'st thy providence through his short course;
Not evenly, as thou rulest

The angelic orders and inferior creatures mute,
Irrational and brute.

Nor do I name of men the common rout,
That, wandering loose about,

Grow up and perish, as the summer-fly,
Heads without name, no more remember'd;
But such as thou hast solemnly elected,
With gifts and graces eminently adorn'd,
To some great work, thy glory,

And people's safety, which in part they effect:
Yet toward these thus dignified, thou oft,
Amidst their height of noon,

Changest thy countenance, and thy hand, with no regard

Of highest favours past

From thee on them, or them to thee of service.

Nor only dost degrade them, or remit

To life obscured, which were a fair dismission;
But throw'st them lower than thou didst exalt them

high,

Unseemly falls in human eye,

Too grievous for the trespass or omission;

Oft leavest them to the hostile sword

Of heathen and profane, their carcasses
To dogs and fowls a prey, or else captiv'd;

Or to the unjust tribunals, under change of times,
And condemnation of the ingrateful multitude.