an historian, a navigator, a soldier, and a politician, he ranks with the first characters of his age and country; and his life furnishes the most unequivocal proof that, amid the distractions of an active and adventurous life, leisure may always be found for the cultivation of letters." But Sir Walter Raleigh did not confine himself to prose; he courted the Muses, and he is a votary of whom the Muses cannot but be proud. The poetry he has left is but little: it is sufficient, however, to discover that, had he made it a serious pursuit, he would have equally excelled in that, as he has in other departments of learning. Spenser, who had a high opinion of his poetical abilities, styles him "the Summer's Nightingale." The following pieces richly merit any encomium: A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY'S RECREATIONS. Quivering fears, heart-tearing Cares, Fly, fly to courts; Fly to fond worldlings' sports, Where strain'd Sardonic smiles are glosing still, And Grief is forced to laugh against her will; Where mirth's but mummery; And sorrows only real be! Fly from our country pastimes! fly, Sad troop of human misery; Come serene looks, Clear as the crystal brooks, Or the pure azured heaven, that smiles to see The rich attendance of our poverty. Peace and a secure mind, Which all men seek, we only find. Abused mortals! did you know Where joy, heart's-ease, and comforts grow; You'd scorn proud towers, And seek them in these bowers, Where winds sometimes our woods perhaps may shake, Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us, Here's no fantastic masque, nor dance, Nor wars are seen, Unless upon the green Two harmless lambs are butting one the other, And wounds are never found, Save what the plough-share gives the ground. better days he was too much occupied in action to have cultivated all the powers of a poet, which 1 "Do I pronounce Raleigh a poet? Not, perhaps, in the judgment of a severe criticism. In his require solitude and perpetual meditation. He possessed not perhaps the copious, vivid, and crestive powers of Spenser, but still we can perceive in him some traits of attraction and excellence, have been more forcible and sublime. His images would have been gigantic, and his reflections which perhaps even Spenser wanted. If less diversified than that gifted bard, he would, I think, more daring."--Sir Egerton Brydges. Here are no false entrapping baits, The fond credulity Of silly fish, which worldling-like, still look Nor envy, unless among The birds, for prize of their sweet song. Go! let the diving negro seek For gems hid in some forlorn creek; Save what the dewy morn Congeals upon each little spire of grass, And gold ne'er here appears, Blest silent groves! O may ye be For ever pitch their tents Upon these downs, these meads, these rocks, these mountains, Which we may every year Find when we come a fishing here! THE NYMPH'S REPLY TO THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD.1 But fading flowers in every field, Thy gown, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy belt of straw, and ivy-buds, But could Youth last, could Love still breed; 1 See the invitation of the Shepherd by Marlow, p. 87. A VISION UPON THE FAERIE QUEENE.' And groans of buried ghosts the heavens did pierce: of that which it disparages in comparison, and makes you feel that nothing could have torn the 1"A higher strain of compliment cannot well be conceived than this, which raises your idea even writer from his idolatrous enthusiasm for Petrarch and his Laura's tomb, but Spenser's magic verse and diviner Faerie Queene--the one lifted above mortality, the other brought from the skies."-Hazlitt. this extraordinary sonnet. The author must, at this time have been deeply read in works of poetical "I have been always singularly struck and delighted with the tone, imagery, and expression of fancy, and highly imbued with their spirit. Milton had deeply studied this sonnet; for in his conpositions of the same class, he has evidently, more than once, the very rhythm and construction, as well as cast of thought, of this noble, though brief composition."-Sir Egerton Brydges. 2 The lady to whom Petrarch addressed so much of his beautiful poetry. ascribed to Sir Walter Raleigh. I have therefore given it a place here with his poems, although there is no certainty about it. Sir Egerton Brydges, always good authority in every question of English Literature, places it at the end of his edition of Raleigh's poems, and says:-"I know no author so This poem appeared anonymously in "Davison's Poetical Rhapsody," in 1608, and has been capable of writing it as Raleigh; but, whoever was the author, it is a poem of uncommon beauty and merit, and glowing with all that moral pathos, which is one of the first charms in the composi Dons of genius." It is bere printed as in Sir E. Brydges's edition. Tell men of high condition, That rule affairs of state, Their practice only hate. Tell those that brave it most, They beg for more by spending, Seek nothing but commending. Tell Zeal it lacks devotion Give every one the lie. Tell Wit how much it wrangles Herself in over-wiseness: Tell Physic of her boldness; Tell Law it is contention: And if they yield reply, Tell Fortune of her blindness; Tell Friendship of unkindness; Tell Justice of delay; And if they do reply, Then give them all the lie. Tell Arts they have no soundness, But vary by esteeming; Tell Schools they lack profoundness, And stand too much on seeming. If Arts and Schools reply, Give Arts and Schools the lie. Tell Faith it's fled the city;. Tel! how the Country erreth; Tell Manhood, shakes off pity; Tell Virtue, least preferreth. The following most affectionate and touching letter, written by Raleigh to his wife, after his condemnation, cannot be omitted: You shall receive, my dear wife, my last words in these my last lines; my love I send you, that you may keep when I am dead, and my counsel, that you may remember it when I am no more. I would not with my will present you sorrows, dear Bess; let them go to the grave with me, and be buried in the dust. And seeing that it is not the will of God that I shall see you any more, bear my destruction patiently, and with an heart like yourself. First, I send you all the thanks which my heart can conceive, or my words express, for your many travails and cares for me; which though they have not taken effect as you wished, yet my debt to you is not the less; but pay it I never shall in this world. Secondly, I beseech you, for the love you bare me living, that you do not hide yourself many days, but by your travails seek to help the miserable fortunes and the right of your poor child. Your mourning cannot avail me that am but dust. Thirdly, you shall understand, that my lands were conveyed bona fide to my child; the writings were drawn at midsummer was twelve months, as divers can witness; and I trust my blood will quench their malice who desired my slaughter, that they will not seek also to kill you and yours with extreme poverty. To what friend to direct you I know not, for all mine have left me in the true time of trial. Most sorry am I, that, being thus surprised by death, I can leave you no better estate; God hath prevented all my determinations, that great God which worketh all in all; and if you can live free from want, care for no more, for the rest is but a vanity love God, and begin betimes-in him you shall find true, everlasting, and endless comfort; when you have travailed and wearied yourself with all sorts of worldly cogitations, you shall sit down by sorrow in the end. Teach your son also to serve and fear God whilst he is young, that the fear of God may grow up in him; then will God be an husband to you, and a father to him-an husband and a father that can never be taken from you. Baylie oweth me a thousand pounds, and in Jernesey also I have much owing me. for soul's sake, my all poor men. pay you, Aryan six hundred; 1 |