Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

Speak without words, such words as none can tell;
The tress also should be of crisped1 gold.
With wit, and these, might chance I might be tied,
And knit again the knot that should not slide.

OF THE MEAN AND SURE ESTATE.

Stand whoso list, upon the slipper top
Of high estate; and let me here rejoice,
And use me quiet without let or stop,

Unknown in Court, that hath such brackish joys.
In hidden place so let my days forth pass;

That when my years be done withouten noise,

I may die aged, after the common trace:

For him death grip'th right hard by the crop,
That is much known of other, and of himself, alas!
Doth die unknown, dased with dreadful face.

OF HIS RETURN FROM SPAIN.

Tagus, farewell! that westward with thy streams
Turns up the grains of gold already tried;2
With spur and sail, for I go seek the Thames,
Gainward the sun that sheweth her wealthy pride;
And to the town which Brutus sought by dreams,3
Like bended moon, doth lend her lusty side,
My King, my Country, alone for whom I live,
Of mighty Love the wings for this me give.4

What little prose Sir Thomas Wyatt has left us, consists chiefly of letters. The following extract from a letter to his only son presents, in its elevated sentiments and uncompromising spirit of Christian purity, a beautiful view of a true Christian father:

MY DEAR SON,-Inasmuch as now ye are come to some years of understanding, and that you should gather within yourself some fame of Honesty, I thought that I should not lose my labor wholly if now I did something advertise you to take the sure foundations and stablished opinions that leadeth to honesty.

And here, I call not Honesty that, men commonly call Honesty, as reputation for riches, for authority, or some like thing; but that Honesty, that I dare well say your grandfather had rather left to me than all the lands he did leave me; that was, Wisdom,

1 "Crisped" means short curling ringlets, which were artificially produced by curling irons. Pop does not introduce these in his description of the toilet in the "Rape of the Lock,"

"Puffs, powders, patches, Bibles, billet-doux."

We rather smile now at the taste for "golden" colored hair.

2 "Gold already tried," pure gold.

3 This alludes to the old story, that Brutus, the third in descent from Æneas, on quitting his native and, sailed for parts unknown, landed at Albion, proceeded inland, and founded London on the orth side of the Thames, which he called Troynovante, as many early English writers call it.

4 The meaning of this is, "The love I bear my king and my country, give me wings for my jour ▲ev,"

Gentleness, Soberness, desire to do Good, Friendship to get the love of many, and Truth above all the rest. A great part to have all these things, is to desire to have them. to desire to have them. And although glory and honest name are not the very ends wherefore these things are to be followed, yet surely they must needs follow them as light followeth fire, though it were kindled for warmth. Out of these things the chiefest and infallible ground is the dread and reverence of God, whereupon shall ensue the eschewing of the contraries of these said virtues; that is to say, ignorance, unkindness, rashness, desire of harm, unquiet enmity, hatred, many and crafty falsehoods, the very root of all shame and dishonesty. I say, the only dread and reverence of God, that seeth all things, is the defence of the creeping in of all these mischiefs into you. And for my part, although I do well say there is no man that would wish his son better than I; yet on my faith, I had rather have you lifeless, than subject to these vices.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Begin therefore betimes. Make God and goodness your foundations. Make your examples of wise and honest men: shoot at that mark: be no mocker: mocks follow them that delight therein. He shall be sure of shame that feeleth no grief in other men's shames. Have your friends in a reverence, and think unkindness to be the greatest offence, and least punished among men; but so much the more to be dreaded, for God is Justiser upon that alone. Love well and agree with your wife; for where is noise and debate in the house, there is unquiet dwelling. Frame wel yourself to love and rule well and honestly your wife as your fel low, and she shall love and reverence you as her head. Such as you are unto her, such shall she be unto you. Obey and reverence your father-in-law, as you would me; and remember that long life followeth them that reverence their fathers and elders; and the blessing of God, for good agreement between the wife and husband, is fruit of many children.

Read oft this my letter, and it shall be as though I had often written to you; and think that I have herein printed a fatherly affection to you. If I may see that I have not lost my pain, mine shall be the contentation, and yours the profit; and upon condition that you follow my advertisement, I send you God's blessing and mine, and as well to come to honesty, as to increase of years.

HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY.

1516-1547.

HENRY HOWARD, Earl of Surrey, the eldest son of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, and Lady Elizabeth Stafford, was born about 1516. We say about that year, for we are as ignorant of the precise date of his birth as we are of all that relates to his early education, and the habits of his early life. In 1535 his marriage with the Lady Frances Vere was publicly solemnized, from which time what relates to his personal history is authentic. In 1540 he began to take an active part in public affairs, being sent by the king over to the continent, to see that the English towns and garrisons were in a proper state of defence against the threatened attack of the French. In April, 1542, he was made Knight of the Garter, which was esteemed a great mark of royal favor; and in October of the same year, he bore an active and leading part in the expedition against Scotland. In 1544 he acted as field-marshal of the English forces on the continent, and in that and the two succeeding years, he greatly distinguished himself by his valor and skill, at the sieges of Landrecy and Boulogne.

But as his popularity increased, his interest declined with the king, whose caprices and jealousies grew more violent with his years and infirmities. The brilliancy of Surrey's character, the celebrity he had acquired in military science in his command on the continent, his general abilities, his wit, learning, and affability, were viewed with suspicion by the Earl of Hertford, the king's brother, who, as he saw the monarch's end approaching, was anxious to secure to himself the protectorship during Edward the Sixth's minority; and he saw that the only rival he had to fear was the great and good Earl of Surrey. Accordingly he did all he could to poison the mind of the king against him; and in April, 1546, he was recalled from the continent, imprisoned in Windsor Castle,1 and in December of the same year was sent to the Tower. He was soon brought to trial. The accusations against him were of the most frivolous character, the chief of which was brought against him by his unnatural sister, the Duchess of Richmond. She said that he wore on his arms, instead of a duke's coronet, what "seemed, to her judgment, much like a close crown;" and a cipher, "which she took to be the king's cipher, H. R." On this did she intimate that her brother was guilty of high treason. Surrey defended himself with great spirit and ability, and as to the main point in the indictment, showed conclusively that his ancestors had, of a long continuance, worn the same coat of arms, as well within the kingdom as without; and that it had constantly been borne by himself in Henry's presence. But all was of no avail; the ruling influences, with Hertford at their head, determined that he should be convicted. Accordingly he was pronounced guilty, and was beheaded on the 19th of January, 1547.

Thus fell, at the early age of thirty, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey; a man of such elevated virtues, and such rare endowments, that his untimely death must, with every one, be a subject of deep regret; for what might he not have done for English Literature, had his life been spared?2 The endow

1 Where he wrote the first poem here inserted.

2 Warton says, "For justness of thought, correctness of style, and purity of expression, he may justly be pronounced the first English classical poet."

ments of his mind were various; his acquirements great. There was no polite or manly accomplishment in which he did not excel. He was master of the Latin, the French, the Italian, and the Spanish languages. He had a vigorous intellect, and a quick and ready wit. He was fond of literary fame, and studious of literary excellence: but he beheld it in others without envy. His own genius was of a moral and contemplative cast. His noble mind never stooped to any thing that would inflame passion, or solicit improper Jesire. It is his peculiar praise that not a single thought nor a single expression can be found in all his writings, to wound the nicest sense of modesty, or to degrade the dignity of poetry. To crown all, he had the highest reverence for religion, and the Scriptures were equally his consolation and delight: by these he strengthened those moral principles which governed all his actions, and confirmed in his heart that generous contempt of vice which is experienced by none but men of noble minds. Such was the Earl of Surrey.1

PRISONER IN WINDSOR, HE RECOUNTETH HIS PLEASURE THERE PASSED IN FORMER YEARS.

So cruel prison how could betide, alas!

As proud Windsor? where I in lust and joy,
With a King's son, my childish3 years did pass,
In greater feast than Priam's sons of Troy.
Where each sweet place returns a taste full sour.

The large green courts, where we were wont to hove,4

1 I cannot but insert here a portion of Dr. Nott's very discriminating and just comparison between Surrey and Wyatt:- "They were men whose minds may be said to have been cast in the same mould; for they differ only in those minuter shades of character which always must exist in human nature. In their love of virtue, and their instinctive hatred and contempt of vice; in their freedom from personal jealousy; in their thirst after knowledge and intellectual improvement; in nice observation of nature, promptitude to action, intrepidity, and fondness for romantic enterprise; in magnificence and liberality; in generous support of others, and high-spirited neglect of themselves; in constancy in friendship, and tender susceptibility of affections of a still warmer nature, and in every thing connected with sentiment and principle, they were one and the same; but when those qualities branch out into particulars, they will be found in some respects to differ.

"Wyatt had a deeper and more accurate penetration into the characters of men than Surrey had: hence arises the difference in their satires. Surrey, in his satire against the citizens of London, deals only in reproach; Wyatt, in his, abounds with irony, and those nice touches of ridicule which make us ashamed of our faults, and therefore often silently effect amendment. Surrey's observation of nature was minute; but he directed it towards the works of nature in general, and the movements of the passions, rather than to the foibles and the characters of men; hence it is that he excels in the description of rural objects, and is always tender and pathetic. In Wyatt's complaints, we hear a strain of manly grief which commands attention; and we listen to it with respect, for the sake of him that suffers. Surrey's distress is painted in such natural terms, that we make it our own, and recognise in his sorrows, emotions which we are conscious of having felt ourselves." Read, also, a fine article on Surrey and Wyatt in the 2d vol. of D'Israeli's "Amenities of Literature.”

2 This poem was written about 1546, when Surrey was imprisoned at Windsor, not long after his return from Boulogne. See notice of his life. "It is a poem," says Dr. Nott, "of singular beauty, and may be ranked among the most perfect compositions in our language."

3 The words "child," "childish," "childhood," had in former times a much larger meaning than they now have. Both Chaucer and Spenser use them as applied to "early manhood." The phrase, "childish years," therefore, means to describe the time when the Duke of Richmond and himself were just entering on manhood. At the time of his residence in Windsor, 1534, Surrey was about eighteen and the Duke of Richmond about fifteen.

4 "To hove," to linger about a place in expectation or hope: same as "to hover."

With eyes cast up unto the Maiden's tower,1
And easy sighs, such as folk draw in love.
The stately seats, the ladies bright of hue,

[ocr errors]

The dances short, long tales of great delight;
With words, and looks, that tigers could but rue,2
Where each of us did plead the other's right.
The palme-play, where, despoiled4 for the game,
With dazed eyes oft we by gleams of love,
Have miss'd the ball, and got sight of our dame,
To bait her eyes, which kept the leads above.6
The gravel'd ground, with sleeves tied on the helm,8
On foaming horse with swords and friendly hearts;
With chere,9 as though one should another whelm,
Where we have fought, and chased oft with darts.
The secret groves, which oft we made resound
Of pleasant plaint, and of our ladies' praise;
Recording soft what grace each one had found,
What hope of speed, what dread of long delays.
The wild forest, the clothed holts with green;
With reins avail'd," and swift-ybreathed horse,
With cry of hounds, and merry blasts between,
Where we did chase the fearful hart of force.
The void walls12 eke that harbor'd us each night:
Wherewith, alas! revive within my breast
The sweet accord, such sleeps as yet delight;

The pleasant dreams, the quiet bed of rest;
The secret thoughts, imparted with such trust;

10

The wanton talk,18 the divers change of play;
The friendship sworn, each promise kept so just,
Wherewith we past the winter nights away.
O place of bliss! renewer of my woes!

Give me account, where is my noble fere? 14
Whom in thy walls thou didst each night enclose·
To other lief; 15 but unto me most dear.

1 "Maiden's tower," that part of the castle where the ladies of the court had their apartments. 2 Such looks and entreaties as might have moved tigers to pity.

3 "Palme-play," a game played with a ball and hand, so called because the ball was hit with the palm: it was also played with the bat, and similar to tennis.

4 "Despoiled," stripped for the game.

5 "To bait," to allure, to attract.

[ocr errors]

6 "Which kept the leads above." The word "lead" is used by old writers for a flat roof covered with lead, and the plural "leads" is therefore probably used for the walks or galleries (covered with lead) around the upper stories of the building, where the ladies might sit and see the game played in safety.

7 "The gravel'd ground," the space enclosed, made level with fine gravel.

8 It was a general practice among ancient knights to tie to their helmets a sleeve or glove, received from their lady-love, which they wore not only in tilts and tournaments, but even in battle.

9 "Chere" is used by all the old poets for the look, the expression of the countenance.

10 The clothed holts with green," the high hills clothed with verdure.

11 "Reins availed," mean slackened, so as to allow the horse to go at full speed.

12 "Void walls," the walls of those chambers now desolate, which were wont each night to receive us.

13Wanton talk," playful conversation. The word "wanton" was used by early writers as descriptive of the sportiveness and innocence of infancy. 14 "Fere," companion.

15 "Lief," spelled also leef and leve, is an adjective, meaning "dear." The person here alluded to by Surrey was probably his sister, the Lady Mary who was married to the Duke of Richmond.

« ПредишнаНапред »