steer If I essay the strife to end When Ignorance were Wisdom here All thy attempts how can I blame To work my 〈…〉 seek the same The Cure Nymph VVHat busie Cares too timely born Young Swain disturb thy sleep Thy early sighs awake the Morn Thy tears teach her to weep Shepherd Sorrows fair Nymph are full alone Nor counsel can endure Nymph Yet thine disclose for until known Sickness admits no Cure Shepherd My Griefs are such as but to hear Would poyson all thy Joyes The Pitty which thou seem'st to bear My Health thine own destroyes Nymph How can diseased Minds infect Say what thy Grief doth move Shepherd Call up thy vertue to protect Thy Heart and know 't was Love Nymph Fond Swain Shepherd By which I have been long Destin'd to meet with Hate Nymph Fy Shepherd fy thou dost Love wrong To call thy Crime thy Fate Shepherd Alas what Cunning could decline What Force can Love repel Nymph Yet there 's a Way to unconfine Thy Heart Shepherd For pitty tell Nymph Choose one whose Love may be allur'd By thine who ever knew Inveterate Diseases cur'd But by receiving now Shepherd All will like her my Soul perplex Nymph Yet try Shepherd Oh could there be But any softness in that Sex I 'd wish it were in Thee Nymph Thy Prayer is heard learn now t' esteem The kindness She hath shown Who thy lost freedom to redeem Hath forseited her own CELIA Singing ROses in breathing forth their scent Or Stars their borrowed ornament Nymphs in the Watery Sphear that move Or Angels in their orbs above The winged Chariot of the Light Or the slow silent wheels of Night The shade which from the swifter Sun Doth in a circular motion run Or souls that their eternal Rest do keep Make far less noise then Caelia's Breath in sleep But if the Angel which inspires This subtile Flame with active fires Should mould this Breath to words and those Into a Harmony dispose The Musick of this heavenly sphear Would steal each soul out at the Ear And into Plants and Stones infuse A life that Cherubins would choose And with new Powers invert the Laws of Fate Kill those that live and dead things animate A la mesme BElle voix dont mes charmes desrobent mon ame Et aulieu d'un esprit m'animent d'une flamme Dont Iesens la subtile la douce chaleur Enter par non oreille glisser dans mon coeur Me faisant esprever par cette aimable vie Nos ames ne consistent que d'une harmonie Que la vie m'est douce la mort m'est sans peine Puisq ' on les trouve toutes deux dans ton haleine Ne m'espargne donc pas satisfais tes rigueurs Car si tu me souffres de vivre Ie me meurs The Returne BEauty whose soft Magnetick chains Nor time nor absence can unite â—hy power the narrow bounds disdains Of nature or Philosophie That canst by unconfined laws A motion though at distance cause Drawn by the sacred influence Of thy bright eyes I back return And since I no where can dispence With flames that do in absence burn I rather choose 'midst them t' expire Then languish by a hidden fire But if thou insulting pride Of vulgar beauties dost despise Who by vain triumphs Deifide Their votaries do sacrifice Then let those flames whose magick charm At distance scorch'd approch'd but warm Song VVHen I lie burning in thine eye Or freezing in thy brest What Martyrs in wish'd flames that die Are half so pleas'd or blest When thy soft accents through mine ear Into my soul do fly What Angel would not quit his sphear To hear such harmony Or when the kisse thou gav'st me last My soul stole in its breath What life would sooner be embrac'd Then so desir'd a death Then think no freedom I desire Or would my fetters leave Since Phenix-like I from this fire Both life and youth receave The sick Lover GUARINI MY sickly breath Wasts in a double flame Whilst Love and Death To my poor life lay claim The feavour in whose heat I melt By her that causeth it not felt Thou who alone Canst yet wilt grant no ease Why slight'st thou one To feed a new disease Vnequal fair the heart is thine Ah why then should the pain be mine Song CElinda by what potent art Or unresisted charm Dost thou thine ear and frozen heare Against my passion arm Or by what hidden influence Of powers in one combin'd Dost thou rob love of either sense Made deaf as well as blind Sure thou as friends united hast Two distant Deities And scorn within thy heart hast plac'd And love within thine eyes Or those soft fetters of thy hair A bondage that disdains All liberty do guard thine ear Free from all other chains Then my complaint how canst thou hear Or I this passion fly Since thou imprisoned hast thine ear And not confin'd thine eye Song FOol take up thy shaft again If thy store Thou profusely spend in vain Who can furnish thee with more Throw not then away thy darts On impenetrable hearts Think not thy pale flame can warm Into tears Or dissolve the snowy charm Which her frozen bosom wears That expos'd unmelted lies To the bright suns of her eyes But since thou thy power hast lost Nor canst fire Kindle in that breast whose frost Doth these flames in mine inspire Not to thee but Her I 'le sue That disdains both me and you Delay DElay Alas there cannot be To Love a greater Tyrannie Those cruel Beauties that have slain Their Votaries by their disdain Or studied torments sharp and witty Will be recorded for their pitty And after-ages be misled To think them kind when this is spred Of deaths the speediest is despair Delayes the slowest tortures are Thy cruelty at once destroyes But Expectation starves my Joyes Time and Delay may bring me past The power of Love to cure at last And shouldst thou wish to ease my pain Thy pitty might be lent in vain Or if thou hast decreed that I Must fall beneath thy cruelty O kill me soon Thou wilt expresse More Mercy ev'n in shewing lesse Commanded by his Mistris to woe for her MARINO STrange kind of Love that knowe no President A Faith so firm as passeth faiths Extent By a Tyrannick Beauty long subdu'd I now must sue for her to whom I su'd Vnhappy Orator who though I move For Pitty Pitty cannot hope to prove Employing thus against my self my Breath And in anothers Life begging my Death But if such moving Powers my Accents have Why first my own Redresse do I not crave What hopes that I to pitty should encline Anothers Brest who can move none in thine Or how can the griev'd Patient look for ease When the Physitian suffers the dsease If thy sharp Wounds from me expect their Cure 'T is fit those first be heald that I indure Vngentle fair one why dost thou dspence Vnequally thy
our mutual thoughts betray And in our wils our minds display This silent speech is swifter far Then the ears lazy species are And the expression it afford As our desires 'bove reach of words Thus we my Dear of these may learn A Passion others not discern Nor can it shame or blushes move Like Plants to live like Angels love Since All excuse with equal Innocence What above Reason is or beneath Sence The Bracelet TRISTAN NOw Love be prais'd that cruel Fair Who my poor Heart restrains Vnder so many Chains Hath weav'd a new one for it of her Hair These threads of Amber us'd to play With every courtly wind And never were confin'd But in a thousand Curls allow'd to stray Cruel each part of her is grown Nor lesse unkinde then She These fetters are to Me Which to restrain my Freedome loose their own The Kisse VVHen on thy lip my soul I breath Which there meets thine Freed from their fetters by this death Our subtile Forms combine Thus without bonds of sence they move And like two Cherubins converse by love Spirits to chains of earth confin'd Discourse by sence But ours that are by flames refin'd With those weak ties dispence Let such in words their minds display We in a kisse our mutual thoughts convey But since my soul from me doth flie To thee retir'd Thou canst not both retain for I Must be with one inspir'd Then Dearest either justly mine Restore or in exchange let me have thine Yet if thou dost return mine own Oh tak 't again For 't is this pleasing death alone Gives ease unto my pain Kill me once more or I shall find Thy pity then thy cruelty lesse kind Apollo and Daphne GARCILASSO MARINO VVHen Phaebus saw a rugged Bark beguile His Love and his Embraces intercept The Leaves instructed by his Grief to smile Taking fresh Growth and verdure as he wept How can saith he my woes expect Release When Tears the Subject of my Tears increase His chang'd yet scorn-retaining Fair he kist From the lov'd Trunk plucking a little Bough And though the Conquest which he sought he mist With that Triumphant spoil adorns his Brow Thus this disdainful Maid his aim deceives Where he expected Fruit he gathers Leaves Speaking and Kissing THe air which thy smooth voice doth break Into my soul like lightning flies My life retires whil'st thou dost speak And thy soft breath its room supplies Lost in this pleasing Extasie I joyn my trembling lips to thine And back receive that life from thee Which I so gladly did resign Forbear Platonick fools t' enquire What numbers do the soul compose No harmony can life inspire But that which from these accents flows The Snow-ball DOris I that could repell All those darts about thee dwell And had wisely learn'd to fear Cause I saw a Foe so near I that my deaf ear did arm 'Gainst thy voices powerful charm And the lightning of thine eye Durst by closing mine defie Cannot this cold snow withstand From the whiter of thy hand Thy deceit hath thus done more Then thy open force before For who could suspect or fear Treason in a face so clear Or the hidden fires descry Wrapt in this cold out-side lie Flames might thus involv'd in ice The deceiv'd world sacrifice Nature ignorant of this Strange Antiperistasis Would her falling frame admire That by snow were set on fire The Deposition THough when I lov'd thee thou were fair Thou art no longer so Those glories all the pride they wear Unto Opinion ow Beauties like stars in borrow'd lustre shine And 't was my Love that gave thee thine The flames that dwelt within thine eye Do now with mine expire Thy brightest Graces fade and die At once with my desire Loves fires thus mutual influence return Thine cease to shine when mine to burn Then proud Celinda hope no more To bee implor'd or woo'd Since by thy scorn thou dost restore The wealth my love bestow'd And thy despis'd Disdain too late shall find That none are fair but who are kind To his Mistresse in Absence TASSO FAr from thy dearest self the Scope Of all my Aims I waste in secret Flames And onely live because I hope O when will Fate restore The Ioyes in whose bright fire My Expectation shall expire That I may live because I hope no more Loves Heretick HE whose active thoughts disdain To be Captive to one foe And would break his single chain Or else more would undergo Let him learn the art of me By new bondage to be free What tyrannick Mistresse dare To one beauty love confine Who unbounded as the aire All may court but none decline Why should we the Heart deny As many objects as the Eye Wheresoe're I turn or move A new passion doth detain me Those kind beauties that do love Or those prâ—ud ones that disdain me This frown melts and that smile burns me This to tears that ashes turns me Soft fresh Virgins not full blown With their youthful sweetnesse take me Sober Matrons that have known Long since what these prove awake me Here staid coldnesse I admire There the lively active fire She that doth by skill dispence Every favour she bestows Or the harmlesse innocence Which nor Court nor City knows Both alike my soul enflame That wilde beauty and this tame She that wisely can adorn Nature with the wealth of art Or whose rural sweets do scorn Borrow'd helps to take a heart The vain care of that 's my pleasure Poverty of this my treasure Both the wanton and the coy Me with equal pleasures move She whom I by force enjoy Or who forceth me to love This because she 'l not confesse That not hide her happinesse She whose loosely flowing hair Scatter'd like the beams o' th' Morn Playing with the sportive Air Hides the sweets it doth adorn Captive in that net restrains me In those golden fetters chains me Nor doth she with power lesse bright My divided heart invade Whose soft tresses spread like Night O're her shoulders a black shade For the star-light of her eyes Brighter shines through those dark Skies Black or fair or tall or low I alike with all can sport The bold sprightly Thais woo Or the frozen Vestal court Every beauty takes my minde Tied to all to none confin'd La belle Confidente YOu earthly Souls that court a wanton flame Whose pale weak influence Can rise no higher then the humble name And narrow laws of Sence Learn by our friendship to create An immaterial fire Whose brightnesse Angels may admire But cannot emulate Sicknesse may fright the roses from her cheek Or make the Lilies fade But all the subtile wayes that death doth seek Cannot my love invade Flames that are kindled by the eye Through time and age expire But ours that boast a reach far higher Can nor decay nor die For when we must resign our vital breath Our Loves by Fate benighted We by this friendship shall survive in death Even in divorce united
Weak Love through fortune or distrust In time forgets to burn But this pursues us to the Urn And marries either's Dust La belle Ennemie I Yield dear Enemy nor know How to resist so fair a Foe Who would not thy soft yoke sustain And bow beneath thy easie chain That with a bondage blest might be Which far transcends all liberty But since I freely have resign'd At first assault my willing mind Insult not o're my captiv'd heart With too much tyrannie and art Lest by thy scorn thou lose the prize Gaind by the power of thy bright eyes And thou this conquest thus shalt prove Though got by Beauty kept by Love The Dream Lope de vega TO set my jealous Soul at strife All things maliciously agree Though sleep of Death the Image be Dreams are the Portraiture of Life I saw when last I clos'd my Eyes Celinda stoop t' anothers Will If specious Apprehension kill What would the truth without disguise The joyes which I should call mine own Me thought this Rival did possesse Like Dreams is all my happinesse Yet Dreams themselves allow me none To the Lady D. Madam THe Blushes I betray When at your Feet I humbly lay These Papers beg you would excuse Th' obedience of a bashful Muse Who bowing to your strict command Trusts her own Errours to your hand Hasty Abortives which laid by She meant ere they were born should die But since the soft power of your Breath Hath call'd them back again from Death To your sharp Judgement now made known She dares for Hers no longer own The worst she must not these resign'd She hath to th' fire and where you find Those your kinde Charity admir'd She writ but what your Eyes inspir'd Love Deposed YOu that unto your Mistresse eyes Your hearts do sacrifice And offer sighs or tears at Loves rich shrine Renounce with me Th' Idolatrie Nor this Infernal Power esteem divine The Brand the Quiver and the Bow Which we did first bestow And he as tribute wears from every Lover I back again From him have ta'ne And the Impostor now unvail'd discover I can the feeble Child disarm Unty his mystick charm Devest him of his Wings and break his Arrow We will obey No more his sway Nor live confin'd to laws or bounds so narrow And you bright Beauties that inspire The Boyes pale torch with fire We safely now your subtil power despise And unscorch'd may Like Atoms play And wanton in the sun-shine of your eyes Nor think hereafter by new arts You can betwitch our hearts Or raise this Devil by your pleasing charm We will no more His power implore Unlesse like Indians that he do no harm The Divorce DEar back my wounded heart restore And turn away thy powerful eyes Flatter my willing soul no more Love must not hope what Fate denies Take take away thy smiles and kisses Thy Love wounds deeper then Disdain For he that sees the Heaven he misses Sustains two Hels of losse and pain Shouldst thou some others suit prefer I might return thy scorn to thee And learn Apostasie of her Who taught me first Idolatry Or in thy unrelenting breast Should I disdain or coynesse move He by thy hate might be releas't Who now is prisoner to thy love Since then unkind Fate will divorce Those whom Affection long united Be thou as cruel as this force And I in death shall be delighted Thus whilst so many suppliants woe And beg they may thy pitty prove I onely for thy scorn do sue 'T is charity here not to love Time Recover'd CASONE COme my dear whilst youth conspires With the warmth of our desires Envious Time about thee watches And some Grace each minute snatches Now a spirit now a Ray From thy Eye he steals away Now he blasts some blooming Rose Which upon thy fresh Cheek grows Gold nâ—w plunders in a Hair Now the Rubies doth impair Of thy lips and with sure hast All thy wealth will take at last Onely that of which Thou mak'st Vse in time from time Thou tak'st The Bracelet REbellious fools that scorn to bow Beneath Loves easie sway Wose stubborn wils no laws allow Disdaining to obay Mark but this wreath of hair and you shall see None that might wear such fetters would be free I once could boast a soul like you As unconfin'd as aire But mine which force could not subdue Was caught within this snare And by my self betray'd I for this gold A heart that many storms withstood have sold No longer now wise Art enquire With this vain search delighted How souls that humane breasts inspire Are to their frames united Material chains such spirits well may bind When this soft brayd can tie both Arm and Mind Now Beauties I defie your charm Rul'd by more powerful Art This mystick wreath which crowns my Arm Defends my vanquisht Heart And I subdu'd by one more fair shall be Secur'd from Conquest by Captivity The Farewell SInce Fate commands me hence and I Must leave my soul with thee and die Dear spare one sigh or else let fall A tear to crown my Funeral That I may tell my grieved heart Thou art unwilling we should part And Martyrs that imbrace the fire Shall with lesse joy then I expire With this last kiss I will bequeath My soul transfus'd into thy breath Whose active heat shall gently slide Into thy breast and there reside And be in spight of Fate thus blest By this sad death of Heaven possest Then prove but kind and thou shalt see Love hath more power then Destinie Claim to Love GUARINI ALasse alasse thou turnst in vain Thy beauteous Face away Which like young Sorcerers rais'd a Pain Above its Power to lay Love moves not as thou turnst thy Look But here doth firmly rest He long ago thy Eyes forsook To revel in my Breast Thy Power on him why hop'st thou more Then his on me should be The Claim thou lay'st to him is poor To that he owns from Me His Substance in my Heart excells His shadow in thy Sight Fire where it burns more truly dwells Then where it scatters Light To his Mistress who dreamed He was wounded GUARINI THine Eyes bright Saint disclose And thou shalt find Dreams have not with illusive showes Deceiv'd thy Mind What Sleep presented to thy view Awake and thou shalt finde is true Those mortall Wounds I bear From thee begin Which though they outward not appear Yet bleed within Loves Flame like active Lightning flies Wounding the Heart but not the Eyes But now I yeeld to die Thy sacrifice Nor more in vain will hope to flie From thy bright Eyes Their killing Power cannot be shunn'd Open or clos'd alike they wound The Echange Dialogue Phil. THat kisse which last thou gav'st me stole My fainting Life away Yet though to thy Breast fled my Soul Still in mine own doth stay Char. And with the same warm Breath did mine Into thy Bosom slide There dwell contracted unto thine Yet still with me
before By such a Syrens call And yet neglects to shun that shore Deserves his second fall Each flatt'ring kiss each tempting smile Thou dost in vain bestow Some other Lovers might beguile Who not thy falsehood know But I am proof against all art No vowes shall e're perswade me Twice to present a wounded Heart To her that hath betray'd me Could I again be brought to love Thy form though more divine I might thy scorn as justly move As now thou sufferest mine The Losse YEt ere I go Disdainsul Beauty thou shalt be So wretched as to know What Joys thou fling'st away with me A Faith so bright As Time or Fortune could not rust So firm that Lovers might Have read thy story in my dust And crown'd thy Name With Laurel verdant as thy Youth Whil'st the shrill voice of Fame Spread wide thy Beauty and my Truth This thou hast lost For all true Lovers when they finde That my just aims were crost Will speak thee lighter then the winde And none will lay Any oblation on thy shrine But such as would betray Thy faith to faiths as false as thine Yet if thou chuse On such thy freedom to bestow Affection may excuse For love from Sympathy doth flow The Self-cruel CAst off for shame ungentle maid That misbecoming Joy thou wear'st For in my Death though long delay'd Unwisely cruel thou appearst Insult o're Captives with disdain Thou canst not triumph o're the slain No I am now no longer thine Nor canst thou take delight to see Him whom thy Love did once confine Set though by Death at Liberty For if my fall a smile beget Thou gloriest in thy own Defeat Behold how thy unthrifty pride Hath murthered him that did maintain it And wary Souls who never tride Thy Tyrant Beauty will disdain it But I am softer and that me Thou wouldst not pity pity thee Song By M. W. M. WErt thou yet fairer then thou art Which lies not in the power of Art Or hadst thou in thine Eyes more Darts Then ever Cupid shot at Hearts Yet if they were not thrown at me I would not cast a Thought on Thee I de rather marry a Disease Than court the thing I cannot please She that will cherish my Desires Must meet my Flames with equal Fires What pleasure is there in a Kisse To him that doubts the Hearts not his I love thee not because th' art fair Softer then down smoother then Air Nor for the Cupids that do lie In either Corner of thine Eye Wouldst thou then know what it might be 'T is I love you 'cause you love me Answer WErt thou by all Affections sought And fairer then thou wouldst be thought Or had thine Eyes as many Darts As thou believ'st they shoot at Hearts Yet if thy Love were paid to me I would not offer mine to thee I de sooner court a Feavers heat Then her that owns a Flame as great She that my Love will entertain Must meet it with no lesse disdain For mutual Fires themselves destroy And willing Kisses yield no Joy I love thee not because alone Thou canst all Beauty call thine own Nor doth my passion fuel seek In thy bright Eye or softer Cheek Then fairest if thou wouldst know why I love thee cause thou canst deny The Relapse OH turn away those cruel Eyes The stars of my undoing Or death in such a bright disguise May tempt a second wooing Punish their blindly impious Pride Who dare contemn thy glory It was my fall that deifi'd Thy name and seal'd thy Story Yet no new sufferings can prepare A higher praise to crown thee Though my first death proclaim thee fair My second will unthrone thee Lovers will doubt thou canst entice No other for thy fuel And if thou burn one Victime twice Both think thee poor and cruel To the Countess of S. with the holy Court Madam SInce every place you blesse the name This Book assumes may justlier claim What more a Court then where you shine And where your soul what more divine You may perhaps doubt at first sight That it usurps upon your right And praising vertues that belong To you in others doth yours wrong No 't is your self you read in all Perfections earlier Ages call Their own all Glories they e're knew Were but faint Prophecies of you You then have here sole Int'rest whom 't is meant As well to entertain as represent Song DE VOITURE I Languish in a silent Flame For she to whom my vowes encline Doth own perfections so divine That but to speak were to disclose her Name If I should say that she the Store Of Natures Graces doth comprize The Love and wonder of all Eyes Who will not guesse the Beauty I adore Or though I warily conceal The Charms her looks and Soul possess Should I her cruelty expresse And say she smiles at all the Pains we feel Among such suppliants as implore Pitty distributing her Hate Inexorable as their Fate Who will not guesse the Beauty I adore Drawn for Valentine by the L. D. S. THough 'gainst me Love and Destiny conspire Though I must waste in an unpitied fire By the same Deity severe as fair Commanded adoration and despair Though I am mark'd for Sacrifice to tell The growing age what dangerous Glories dwell In this bright dawn who when she spreads her raies Will challenge every heart and every praise Yet she who to all hope forbids my claim By Fortune's taught indulgence to my Flame Great Queen of chance unjustly we exclude Thy Power an int'rest in Beatitude Who with mysterious judgement dost dispence The Bounties of unerring Providence Whilst we to whom the causes are unknown Would stile that blindness thine which is our own As kinde in Justice to thy self as me Thou hast redeem'd thy Name and Votarie Nor will I prize this lesse for being thine Nor longer at my Destinie repine Counselâ— and choice are things below thy State Fortune relieves the cruelties of Fate The modest Wish BARCLAY REach Incense Boy Thou pious Flamen pray To genial Deities these Rites we pay Fly far from hence such as are only taught To fear the Gods by guilt of Crime or Thought This is my Suit grant it Celestial Powers If what my will Affects oppose not yours First pure before your Altars may I stand And practise studiously what you command My Parents Faith devoutly let me prize Nor what my Ancestors esteem'd despise Let me not vext enquire when thriving Ill Depresseth good why thunder is so still No such ambitious knowledge trouble Me Those curious Thoughts advance not Piety Peaceful my House in Wife and Children blest Nor these beyond my Fortunes be increast None couzen me with Friendships specious Glosse None dearly buy my Friendship with their Losse To Suits nor wars my quiet be betray'd My quiet to the Muses justly pay'd Want never force me court the rich with Lies And intermix my suit with Flatteries Let my sure friends deceive the tedious Light And my sound