The stage (as this worke) might have liv'd and lov'd
Her lines, the austere Skarlet1 had approv'd;
And th' actors wisely been from that offence
As cleare, as they are now from audience.2

Thus with thy Genius did the scene expire,3
Wanting thy active and correcting fire,
That now (to spread a darknesse over all)
Nothing remaines but Poesie to fall:

And though from these thy Embers we receive
Some warmth, so much as may be said, we live ;
That we dare praise thee blushlesse, in the head
Of the best piece Hermes to Love* e're read;
That we rejoyce and glory in thy wit,

And feast each other with remembring it ;
That we dare speak thy thought, thy acts recite:
Yet all men henceforth be afraid to write.

Query, Laud.

2 These lines refer to the prohibition published by the Parliament against the performance of stage-plays and interludes. The first ordinance appeared in 1642, but that not being found effectual, a more stringent measure was enacted in 1647, directing, under the heaviest penalties, the total and immediate abolition of theatricals.

3 i. e. The scenic drama. The original meaning of scene was a wooden stage for the representation of plays, &c., and it is here used therefore in its primitive sense.

In the old mythology of Greece, Cupid is the pupil of Mercury or Hermes; or, in other words, Love is instructed by Eloquence and Wit.

LUCAS TA.

Pofthume

POEMS

OF

Richard Lovelace Efq;

Thofe Honours come too late,
That on our Afbes waite.

Mart. lib. 1. Epig. 26.

LONDON.

Printed by William Godbid for

Clement Darby.

1659.

THE DEDICATION.

TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE JOHN

SIR,

To

LOVELACE, ESQUIRE.1

UCASTA (fair, but hapless maid!)
Once flourisht underneath the shade
Of illustrious Mother; now,
your

An orphan grown, she bows to you!
you, her vertues' noble heir;

Oh may she find protection there!

Nor let her welcome be the less,

'Cause a rough hand makes her address :
One (to whom foes the Muses are)

Born and bred up in rugged war:

This gentleman was the eldest son of John, second Lord Lovelace of Hurley, co. Berks, by Anne, daughter of Thomas, Earl of Cleveland. The first part of Lucasta was inscribed by the poet himself to Lady Lovelace, his mother.