he wrote two books of his poem for which he is most known_his « Gondi. bert"—under the patronage of Henrietta Maria, that “ill-fated, ill-advisea queen" of Charles I. By her he was despatched with a colony of artificers for Virginia. He had scarcely cleared the French coast when his vessel was taken by a parliamentary ship, and he was sent prisoner to Cowes Castle. Here, with great composure and manliness of mind, he continued his poem till he had carried through about one-half of what he designed, when he suddenly broke off, expecting immediately to be led to execution. His life, how. ever, was spared, through the intercession of two aldermen of York, (whom Davenant had rescued from great peril in the civil wars,) united to the then all-powerful influence of Milton. After his release he supported himself by writing plays till the Restoration, when, beautiful to relate, it is believed that Milton himself was spared at his intercession, in return for his own preservation.

The fame of Sir William Davenant rests principally on his heroic poem, Gondibert; the main story of which, as far as developed, is as follows. Duke Gondibert and Prince Oswald were renowned knights, in the reign of Aribert, king of Lombardy, 653—661. Oswald sought the hand of Rhodalind, the only daugliter of Aribert, and heiress to the crown: but the king preferred Gondibert,-a choice in which Rhodalind fully concurred. It happened that

"In a fair forest, near Verona's plain,

Fresh, as if Nature's youth chose there a shade,
The duke, with many lovers in his train,

Loyal and young, a solemn hunting made." The duke, on his return from the chase, is surprised by an ambush, laid by the jealous Oswald. A parley succeeds, and it is finally agreed that the quar. rel shall be decided by the two leaders and three of the chief captains on each side. The combat accordingly takes place. Oswald and two of his friends are slain, and a third wounded and disarmed. Oswald's men are therefore so enraged that they immediately commence a general attack upon Gondibert, who is victorious, though severely wounded. He retires to the house of Astragon, a famous physician, where he is scarcely recovered from his wounds before he receives others of a more gentle kind from the eyes of Birtha, the daugbter of Astragon, by whose permission he becomes her professed but secret lover. While the friends of Oswald are forming schemes of revenge for their recent defeat, a messenger arrives from Aribert to signify his intention of honoring Gondibert with the hand of Rhodalind; and he and his daughter follow shortly afterwards. The duke is therefore obliged to accompany them back to the court, and leave behind that which is far more precious to him than a crown or Rhodalind. On parting from Birtha, he gives her an emerald ring, which had been for ages the token of his ancestors to their betrothed brides; and which, by its change of color, would indicate any change in his ailection. The arrival of some of the party at the capital concludes this singular and original fragment of a poem, -for a fragment it must be called, and we cannot but deeply regret that the author did not finish it.!

“ In the character and love of Birtha,” remarks an able critic, “ we have a

picture of most absolute loveliness and dove-like simplicity. Never was that delightful passion portrayed with a more chaste and exquisite pencil."'!

CHARACTER AND LOVE OF BIRTHA.

To Astragon, heaven for succession gave

One only pledge, and Birtha was her name;
Whose mother slept, where flowers grew on her grave,

And she succeeded her in face and fame.
She ne'er saw courts, yet courts could have undone

With untaught looks and an unpractised heart;
Her nets, the most prepared could never shun;

For nature spread them in the scorn of art.
She never had in busy cities been,

Ne'er warm d with hopes, nor e'er allay'd with fears;
Not seeing punishment, could guess no sin;

And sin not seeing, ne'er had use of tears.
But here her father's precepts gave her skill,

Which with incessant business filld the hours;
In Spring, she gather'd blossoms for the still;

In Autumn, berries; and in Summer, flowers.
And as kind nature with calm diligence

Her own free virtue silently employs,
Whilst she, unheard, does ripening growth dispense

Su were her virtues busy without noise.
Whilst her great mistress, Nature, thus she tends,

The busy household waits no less on her;
By secret law, each to her beauty bends;

Though all her lowly mind to that prefer.

The just historians Birtha thus express,

And tell how, by her sire's example taught,
She served the wounded duke in life's distress,

And his fled spirits back by cordials brought;
Black melancholy mists, that fed despair

Through wounds' long rage, with sprinkled vervain clear'd;
Strew'd leaves of willow to refresh the air,

And with rich fumes his sullen senses cheer'd.
He that had served great Love with reverend heart,

In these old wounds worse wounds from him endures;
For Love makes Birtha shift with Death his dart,

And she kills faster than her father cures.
Her heedless innocence as little knew

The wounds she gave, as those from Love she took ;

And Love lists high each secret shast he drew;

Which at their stars he first in triumph shook !"
Love he had lik-d, yet never lodg'd before;

But finds him now a bold unquiet guest;
Who climbs to windows when we shut the door;

And, enter'd, never lets the master rest.
So strange disorder, now he pines for health,

Makes him conceal this reveller with shame;
She not the robber knows, yet feels the stealth,

And never but in songs had heard his name.

With open ears, and ever-waking eyes,

And flying feet, Love's fire she from the sight Of all her maids does carry, as from spies;

Jealous, that what burns her, might give them light. Beneath a myrtle covert now does spend

In maids' weak wishes, her whole stock of thought; Fond maids! who love with mind's fine stuff would mend

Which Nature purposely of bodies wrought.
She fashions him she loved of angels kind,

Such as in holy story were employ'd
To the first fathers from th' Eternal Mind.

And in short visions only are enjoy d.
As eagles then, when nearest heaven they fly,

Of wild impossibles soon weary grow;
Feeling their bodies find no rest so high,

And therefore perch on earthly things below: So now she yields; him she an angel deem'd

Shall be a man, the name which virgins fear; Yet the most harmless to a maid he seem'd,

That ever yet that fatal name did bear. Soon her opinion of his hurtless heart,

Affection turns to faith; and then love's fire
To heaven, though bashfully, she does impart;

And to her mother in the heavenly choir.
If I do love, (said she,) that love, O Heaven!

Your own disciple, Nature, bred in me;
Why should I hide the passion you have given,

Or blush to show effects which you decree?

And you, my alter'd mother, (grown above

Great nature, which you read and reverenced here,)
Chide not such kindness, as you once call'd love,

When you as mortal as my father were.
This said, her soul into her breast retires;

With Love's vain diligence of heart she drearns
Herself into possession of desires,

And trusts unanchor'd hope in fleeting streams :
Already thinks the duke her own spoused lord,

Cured, and again from bloody battle brought,
Where all false lovers perish'd by his sword,

The true to her for his protection sought.
She thinks how her imagined spouse and she

So much from heaven may by her virtues gain,
That they by time shall ne'er o'ertaken be,

No more than Time himself is overta'en.
She thinks of Eden-life; and no rough wind

In their pacific sea shall wrinkles make;
That still her lowliness shall keep him kind,

Her cares keep him asleep, her voice awake.
She thinks, if ever anger in him sway,

(The youthful warrior's most excused disease,)
Such chance her tears shall calm, as showers allay

The accidental rage of winds and seas.
Thus to herself in day-dreams Birtha talks:

The duke, (whose wounds of war are healthful grown)
To cure Love's wounds, seeks Birtha where she walks:

Whose wandering soul seeks him to cure her own.
Yet when her solitude he did invade,

Shame (which in maids is unexperienced fear)
Taught her to wish night's help to make more shade,

That love (which maids think guilt) might not appear.
And she had fled him now, but that he came

So like an awed and conquer'd enemy,
That he did seem offenceless, as her shame;

As if he but advanced for leave to fly.
Of his minor pieces, we have room but for the following beautiful

SONG,
The lark now leaves his watery nest,

And, climbing, shakes his dewy wings;
He takes this window for the east;

And to implore your light, he sings,
Awake, awake, the morn will never rise.
Till she can dress her beauty at your eyes.
The merchant bows unto the seaman's star,

The ploughman from the sun his season takes .
But still the lover wonders what they are

Who look for day before his mistress wakes.
Awake, awake, break through your veils of lawn,
Then draw your curtains, and begin the dawn.

MARGARET, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE. Died 1673. This lady was the daughter of Sir Charles Lucas, and was born about the end of the reign of James the First. She early manifested a fondness for literary pursuits, and the greatest care was bestowed upon her education. Having been appointed one of the maids of honor to Henrietta Maria, the queen of Charles the First, she attended her when she fled to France, during the civil commotions; and having met with the Marquis of Newcastle et Paris, she there became his wife in 1645. Her lord, soon after their marriage, went to Antwerp to reside, and found her a most faithful and affectionate companion of his long and honorable exile. At the Restoration they returned to England.

* The labors of no modern authoress can be compared, as to quantity, with those of our indefatigable duchess, who has filled nearly twelve volumes, folio, with plays, poems, orations, philosophical discourses, &c. Her writings show that she possessed a mind of considerable power and activity, with much imagination, but not one particle of judgment or taste.”!

MIRTH AND MELANCHOLY.
As I was musing by myself alone,
My thoughts brought several things to work upon:
At last came two, which diversely were drest,
One Melancholy, t'other Mirth exprest;
Here Melancholy stood in black array,
And Mirth was all in colors fresh and gay.

Mirth.
Mirth laughing came, and running to me, flung
Her fat white arms about my neck, there hung,
Embraced and kiss'd me oft, and stroked my cheek,
Saying, she would no other lover seek:
I'll sing you songs, and please you every day,
Invent new sports to pass the time away;
I'll keep your heart, and guard it from that thief,
Dull Melancholy, Care, or salder Grief,
And make your eyes with Mirth to overflow;
With springing blood your cheeks soon fat shall grow;
Your legs shall nimble be, your body light,
And all your spirits, like to birds in flight.
Mirth sliall digest your meat, and make you strong,
Shall give you health, and your short days prolong;
Refuse me not, but take me to your wife;
For I shall make you happy all your life.
But Melancholy, she will make you lean,
Your cheeks shall hollow grow, your jaws be seen;
Your eyes shall buried be within your head,
And look as pale as if you were quite dead;