Bright vestal flame that, kindled but ev'n now,
For ever dost thy sacred fires throw!

Thus the repeated acts of Nestor's age,
That now had three times ore out-liv'd the stage,
And all those beams contracted into one,
Alcides in his cradle hath outdone.

But all these flour'shing hiews, with which I die
Thy virgin paper, now are vain as I:

For 'bove the poets Heav'n th' art taught to shine
And move, as in thy proper crystalline;

Whence that mole-hill Parnassus thou dost view,
And us small ants there dabbling in its dew;
Whence thy seraphic soul such hymns doth play,
As those to which first danced the first day,
Where with a thorn from the world-ransoming wreath
Thou stung, dost antiphons and anthems breathe;
Where with an Angels quil dip'd i' th' Lambs blood,
Thou sing'st our Pelicans all-saving flood,
And bath'st thy thoughts in ever-living streams,
Rench'd1 from earth's tainted, fat and heavy steams.
There move translated youth inroll'd i' th' quire,
That only doth with wholy lays inspire;
To whom his burning coach Eliah sent,
And th' royal prophet-priest his harp hath lent;
Which thou dost tune in consort unto those
Clap wings for ever at each hallow'd close:
Whilst we, now weak and fainting in our praise,
Sick echo ore thy Halleluiahs.

1 Rinsed.

ON

THE BEST, LAST, AND ONLY REMAINING

COMEDY OF MR. FLETCHER.

THE WILD GOOSE CHASE.1

'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,

"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.

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 she1 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

And his eyes' idol the wing'd Deity:

eye,

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.

Singer reads he, but original she, as above. Of course Cleo

patra is meant.

First startles her with th' emerald Mad-Lover1
The ruby Arcas, least she should recover
Her dazled thought, a Diamond he throws,
Splendid in all the bright Aspatia's woes ;3
Then to sum up the abstract of his store,
He flings a rope of Pearl of forty more.
Ah, see! the staggʼring virtue faints! which he
Beholding, darts his Wealths Epitome ;5
And now, to consummate her wished fall,
Shows this one Carbuncle, that darkens all.

ΤΟ

MY NOBLE KINSMAN THOMAS STANLEY, ESQ.;

ON HIS LYRICK POEMS COMPOSED

BY MR. JOHN GAMBLE."

I.

HAT means this stately tablature,
The ballance of thy streins,

W

Which seems, in stead of sifting pure,
T'extend and rack thy veins?

1 Fletcher's Mad Lover. 2 Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess. 3 The Maid's Tragedy, by Beaumont and Fletcher, 1619.

4 Should we not read fifty, and understand the collected edition of Beaumont and Fletcher's Works in 1647?

5 The Wild-Goose Chase, which is also apparently the Carbuncle mentioned two lines lower down.

6 Thomas Stanley, Esq., author of the History of Philosophy, and an elegant poet and translator, v. suprâ.

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.]

7 66 Wood, in his account of this person, vol. i. col. 285, con

Thy Odes first their own harmony did break :
For singing, troth, is but in tune to speak.

II.

Nor trus1 thy golden feet and wings.
It may be thought false melody3
T'ascend to heav'n by silver strings;
This is Urania's heraldry.

Thy royal poem now we may extol,
As truly Luna blazon'd upon Sol.

III.

As when Amphion first did call

Each listning stone from's den;
And with his 5 lute did form the wall,
But with his words the men ;

So in your twisted numbers now you thus
Not only stocks perswade, but ravish us.

Thus do your ayrs

IV.

eccho ore

The notes and anthems of the sphæres,

jectures 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. 1 Lucasta and Ayres and Dialogues read thus, which leaves no meaning in this passage.

2 Old editions have may it.

3 Harmonie-Ayres and Dialogues, &c.

Original reads and, and so also the Ayres and Dialogues.

5 Old editions have the.

6 So the Ayres and Dialogues. Lucasta has his.