Hated of all, but pitied of none, Though swanlike now he makes his dying moan." (Extracted from a long piece in Mr. Halliwell's "Poetical Miscellanies," as above, pp. 15, 16. The last line is im portant, as proving that Raleigh was believed to have written verses shortly before his death.) 3. "The Nightingale will scarce be tame, He dare not show his face for shame; He feareth the look of man: And stare you in the face." (Extracted from a piece published from Gough's MSS. in the "Camden Society's Miscellany," iii. 22; and interpreted of the quarrel between Raleigh and Essex in Collier's "Life of Spenser," p. xix.) 4. "To whom shall cursed I my case complain, "To Heaven I dare not lift my wretched eyes, Esteeming them of no more worth than weeds: For now I find, and, finding, fear to rue, There is a God who is both just and true," &c. (From "The despairing Complaint of wretched Raleigh for his treacheries wrought against the worthy Essex;" MS. Ashm. 36, p. 11. The piece contains forty-one stanzas, each of seven lines except the first.) 5. "I speak to such, if any such there be, Who are possessed, through their Prince's grace, With swelling pride and scornful insolency, Come, see these vices punished in me!" &c. (From "Raleigh's Caveat to secure Courtiers;" following the above in the same MS.; thirty-eight stanzas of six lines each.) IV. ANSWERS TO "THE LIE;" CHIEFLY SUCH AS CONNECT RALEIGH WITH THAT POEM. 1. Go, echo of the mind, a careless truth protest; What reason proves, confess; what slander saith, deny : Let no untruth with triumph pass; but never give the lie! Confess, in glittering court all are not gold that shine; Yet say one pearl and much fine gold g[1]ows in the prince's mind. Confess that many [weeds] do overgrow the ground; Yet say, within the field of God good corn is to be found. Confess, some judge unjust the widow's right delay; Yet say there are some Samuels that never say her nay. Admit, some man of state do pitch his thoughts too high; Is that a rule for all the rest, their loyal hearts to try? Your wits are in the wane; your autumn in the bud; You argue from particulars; your reason is not good. And still that men may see less reason to commend you, I marvel most, amongst the rest, how schools and arts offend you. But why pursue I thus the witless words of wind? The more the crab doth seek to creep, the more she is behind. In church and commonwealth, in court and country both, What! nothing good? but all [s]o bad that every man doth loathe ? The further that you range, your error is the wider; The bee sometimes doth honey suck, but sure you are a spider! And so my counsel is, for that you want a name, To seek some corner in the dark to hide yourself from shame. There wrap the silly fly within your spiteful web; Both church and court may want you well; they are not at such ebb. As quarrels once begun are not so quickly ended, So many faults may soon be found, but not so soon amended. And when you come again to give the world the lie, I pray you tell them how to live, and teach them how to die. (Chetham MS. 8012, p. 107, each line as two. First printed by me, partially in 1842, and at length in 1845.) 2. The Answer to the Lie. Court's scorn, state's disgracing, potentates' scoff, governments' defacing, Princes' touch, church's unhallowing, arts' injury, virtue's debasing, Age's monster, honour's wasting, beauty's blemish, favour's blasting, Wit's excrement, wisdom's vomit, physic's scorn, law's comet, Fortune's child, valour's defiler, justice' revenger, friendship's beguiler, Such is the song, such is the author; worthy to be rewarded with a halter. Erroris Responsio. Court's commender, state's maintainer, potentate's defender, governments' gainer, Princes' praiser, church's preacher, arts' raiser, virtue's teacher, Age's rewarder, honour's strengthener, beauty's guarder, favour's lengthener, Wit's admirer, wisdom's scholar, physic's desirer, law's follower, Fortune's blamer, nature's observer, justice' proclaimer, friendship's preserver; Such is the author, such is the song; returning the halter, contemning the wrong. SR. WA. RA. (MS. Ashm. 781, p. 164. Printed from that MS. among Raleigh's own poems in the Oxford edition of his works, viii. 735.) 3. Extract from another Contemporary Answer to the Lie. St. 2. "The Court hath settled sureness In banishing such boldness; The Church retains her pureness, Though Atheists show their coldness: St. 3. "The Potentates reply, Thou hase, by them advanced, And at their actions glanced: Turn lies into thy heart," &c. (MS. Tann. 306, fol. 188; written stanza by stanza at the side of a copy of the original poem.) V. THE REACTION AFTER HIS DEATH. 1. "O hadst thou served thy Heroine all thy days! The valiant subject, but a coward king.” I have taken one ("Phoenix Britannicus," 1732, p. 453; Oldys' "Life of Raleigh," p. clxxxv., slightly altered. word from Oldys' copy.) 2. "I will not weep; for 'twere as great a sin To shed a tear for thee, as to have been An actor in thy death. Thy life and age Was but a various scene on Fortune's stage, With whom thou tugg'st and strov'st even out of breath And then, despite of trains and cruel wit, Thou didst at once subdue malice and it. "I dare not then so blast thy memory Thy most industrious and friendly foes, Who, when they thought to make thee scandal's story, Which, but for them, nature and age had done. "Such worthless things as these were only born Thou diedst an envious wonder, whose high fate (From Bishop Henry King's "Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes, and Sonnets," 1657, p. 97, as "An Elegy upon S. W. R." Also in Oldys, p. ccxxxi.) 3. "Great heart, who taught thee thus to die, Death yielding thee the victory? Where took'st thou leave of life? If here, Pale Death; Life only in thine eye. (Printed in Shirley's "Life of Raleigh," ad fin., as a taste of the poetry of those times." It occurs in MS. Rawl. Misc. 699, p. 35, along with the preceding elegy; also among the Hawthornden MSS. vol. viii. as by " A. B.," and was printed from this last copy by Mr. Laing, "Arch. Scot." iv. 238.) |