I'm un-ore-clowded, too! free from the mist!
The blind and late Heaven's-eyes great Occulist,
Obscured with the false fires of his sceme,
Not half those souls are lightned by this theme.
Unhappy murmurers, that still repine
(After th' Eclipse our Sun doth brighter shine),
Recant your false grief, and your true joys know;
Your blisse is endlesse, as you fear'd your woe!
What fort'nate flood is this! what storm of wit!
Oh, who would live, and not ore-whelm'd in it?
No more a fatal Deluge shall be hurl'd:
This inundation hath sav'd the world.
Once more the mighty Fletcher doth arise,
Roab'd in a vest studded with stars and eyes
Of all his former glories; his last worth
Imbroiderd with what yet light ere brought forth.
See! in this glad farewel he doth appear
Stuck with the Constellations of his Sphere,
Fearing we numb'd fear'd no flagration,
Hath curl'd all his fires in this one ONE:
Which (as they guard his hallowed chast urn)
The dull aproaching hereticks do burn.
Fletcher at his adieu carouses thus
To the luxurious ingenious,
As Cleopatra did of old out-vie,
Th' un-numb'red dishes of her Anthony,
When (he at th' empty board a wonderer)
Smiling she<92.2> calls for pearl and vinegar,
First pledges him in's BREATH, then at one draught
Swallows THREE KINGDOMS of To HIS BEST THOUGHT.
Hear, oh ye valiant writers, and subscribe;
(His force set by) y'are conquer'd by this bribe.
Though you hold out your selves, he doth commit
In this a sacred treason in your wit;
Although in poems desperately stout,
Give up: this overture must buy you out.
Thus with some prodigal us'rer 't doth fare,
That keeps his gold still vayl'd, his steel-breast bare;
That doth exceed his coffers all but's eye,
And his eyes' idol the wing'd Deity:
That cannot lock his mines with half the art
As some rich beauty doth his wretched heart;
Wild at his real poverty, and so wise
To win her, turns himself into a prise.
First startles her with th' emerald Mad-Lover<92.3>
The ruby Arcas,<92.4> least she should recover
Her dazled thought, a Diamond he throws,
Splendid in all the bright Aspatia's woes;<92.5>
Then to sum up the abstract of his store,
He flings a rope of Pearl of forty<92.6> more.
Ah, see! the stagg'ring virtue faints! which he
Beholding, darts his Wealths Epitome;<92.7>
And now, to consummate her wished fall,
Shows this one Carbuncle, that darkens all.
<92.1> "THE WILD-GOOSE CHASE. A Comedie: As it hath been acted
with singular applause at the BLACKFRIERS. Being the Noble,
Last, and Onely REMAINES of those Incomparable DRAMATISTS,
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Gent. London: Printed for
Humphrey Moseley, 1652," folio.
<92.2> Singer reads HE, but original SHE, as above. Of course
Cleopatra is meant.
<92.3> Fletcher's MAD LOVER.
<92.4> Fletcher's FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS.
<92.5> THE MAID'S TRAGEDY, by Beaumont and Fletcher, 1619.
<92.6> Should we not read FIFTY, and understand the collected
edition of Beaumont and Fletcher's Works in 1647?
<92.7> The WILD-GOOSE CHASE, which is also apparently the CARBUNCLE
mentioned two lines lower down.
TO
MY NOBLE KINSMAN THOMAS STANLEY,<93.1> ESQ.
ON HIS LYRICK POEMS COMPOSED
BY MR. JOHN GAMBLE.<93.2>
I.
What means this stately tablature,
The ballance of thy streins,
Which seems, in stead of sifting pure,
T' extend and rack thy veins?
Thy Odes first their own harmony did break:
For singing, troth, is but in tune to speak.
II.
Nor trus<93.3> thy golden feet and wings.
It may<93.4> be thought false melody<93.5>
T' ascend to heav'n by silver strings;
This is Urania's heraldry.
Thy royal poem now we may extol,
As<93.6> truly Luna blazon'd upon Sol.
III.
As when Amphion first did call
Each listning stone from's den;
And with his<93.7> lute did form the<93.8> wall,
But with his words the men;
So in your twisted numbers now you thus
Not only stocks perswade, but ravish us.
IV.
Thus do your ayrs eccho ore
The notes and anthems of the sphaeres,
And their whole consort back restore,
As if earth too would blesse Heav'ns ears;
But yet the spoaks, by which they scal'd so high,
Gamble hath wisely laid of UT RE MI.<<AN.5>>
<93.1> Thomas Stanley, Esq., author of the HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY,
and an elegant poet and translator, v. SUPRA.
Lovelace wrote these lines for AYRES AND DIALOGUES. TO BE SUNG
TO THE THEORBO, LUTE, OR BASE-VIOLL: By John Gamble, London,
Printed by William Godbid for the Author, 1656. folio. [The words
are by Stanley.]
<93.2> "Wood, in his account of this person, vol. i. col. 285,
conjectures that many of the songs in the above collection
(Gamble's AYRES, &c. 1659), were written by the learned Thomas
Stanley, Esq., author of the HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, and seemingly
with good reason, for they resemble, in the conciseness and elegant
turn of them, those poems of his printed in 1651, containing
translations from Anacreon, Bion, Moschus and others."--Hawkins.
<93.3> LUCASTA and AYRES AND DIALOGUES read THUS, which leaves
no meaning in this passage.
<93.4> Old editions have MAY IT.
<93.5> Harmonie--AYRES AND DIALOGUES, &c.
<93.6> Original reads AND, and so also the AYRES AND DIALOGUES.
<93.7> Old editions have THE.
<93.8> So the AYRES AND DIALOGUES. LUCASTA has HIS.
<<AN.5>> P. 249. UT RE MI.
See LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, 1598, iv. 3:--
"Hol. Old Mantuan! Old Mantuan! who understandeth thee not,
loves thee not--UT, RE, SOL, la, mi, FA"----
And Singer's SHAKESPEARE, ed. 1856, ii. 257, NOTE 15.