ON LELY'S PORTRAIT OF CHARLES THE FIRST. See what an humble bravery doth shine, So sacred a contempt that others show To this (o' the height of all the wheel) below; An elegant and accurate critic, Sir Egerton Brydges, has pointed out a singular coincidence between an illustration employed by Lovelace and a line for which Lord Byron has been, as it seems to me, unjustly censured in the " Bride of Abydos." The noble poet says of his heroine "The mind, the music breathing from her face;" and he vindicated the expression on the obvious ground of its clearness and truth. Lovelace, in a Song of Orpheus, lamenting the death of his wife, uses the same words in nearly the same sense. Lord Byron had probably never seen the poem, or, if he had, the illustration had perhaps remained in his mind to be unconsciously reproduced by that strange process of amalgamation which so often combines memory with invention. These are the lines sung by Orpheus, who works out the idea too far : Oh, could you view the melody Of every grace, And music of her face, You'd drop a tear Seeing more harmony Than now you hear. The poem of "Loyalty Confined" is supposed to have been written by Sir Roger L'Estrange, while imprisoned on account of his adherence to Charles the First. On a first reading, these terse and vigorous stanzas seem too much like a paraphrase of Lovelace's fine address "To Althea from Prison;" but there is so much that is original, both in thought and expression, that we can not but admit that the apparent imitation is the result of sim N* ilarity of sentiment in a similar situation. These imprisoned cavaliers think and feel alike, and must needs speak the same language. Beat on, proud billows. Boreas, blow; Swell-curled waves, high as Jove's roof; Your incivility doth show That innocence is tempest-proof; Though truly heroes frown, my thoughts are calm; That which the world miscalls a jail, A private closet is to me; While a good conscience is my bail, Locks, bars, and solitude together met I, while I wished to be retired, Into this private room was turned, The Salamander should be burned; Or like those sophists, that would drown a fish, The cynic loves his poverty, The pelican her wilderness, And 'tis the Indian's pride to be Naked on frozen Caucasus : These manacles upon my arm I, as my mistress' favors, wear; I have some iron shackles there; These walls are but my garrison; this cell, I'm in the cabinet locked up Like some high-priced Marguerite; Am cloistered up from public sight. And thus, proud Sultan, I'm as great as thee. Here sin, for want of food, must starve And these strong walls do only serve To keep vice out, and keep me in; So he that struck at Jason's life, Thinking to have made his purpose sure, Did only wound him to a cure. Malice, I see, wants wit; for what is meant When once my Prince affliction hath, What though I can not see my King, Neither in person nor in coin, Yet contemplation is a thing That renders what I have not, mine. My King from me what adamant can part, Have you not seen the nightingale Even then her charming melody doth prove I am that bird whom they contrive Thus to deprive of liberty; But though they do my corpse confine, Yet, maugre hate, my soul is free. And though immured, yet can I chirp and sing, My soul is free as ambient air, My King alone can captivate my mind. The following lines were written by the Marquis of Montrose upon the execution of Charles the First. He shut himself up for three days, and when Dr. Wishart, his chaplain, and the elegant historian of his wars, was admitted to him, he found these verses, which probably were intended as a sort of vow, on his table. We all know how that vow was redeemed. Great, good, and just! could I but rate My grief to thy too rigid fate, I'd weep the world to such a strain As it should deluge once again; But since thy loud-tongued blood demands supplies I'll sing thy obsequies with trumpet sounds, And write thy epitaph with blood and wounds. LOVE VERSES, BY THE MARQUIS OF MONTROSE. Sometimes the jargon of the different governments of the day, and sometimes the technical phrases of warfare, are made strange use of in these verses; yet some of the lines are so noble, and many so original, that we forgive this soldierly mode of wooing in favor of its frankness. It is to be presumed the lady did the same. My dear and only love, I pray Like Alexander I will reign, My thoughts shall evermore disdain A rival on my throne. He either fears his fate too much, That puts it not unto the touch To win or lose it all. But I must rule and govern still, And always give the law, And have each subject at my will, And all to stand in awe. But 'gainst my battery if I find Or in the empire of thy heart, And dares to vie with me; But if thou wilt be constant then, I'll serve thee in such noble ways Was never heard before, I'll crown and deck thee all with bays, And love thee evermore. Could it be in woman to resist such promises from such a man? PART SECOND. My dear and only love, take heed And let all longing lovers feed A marble wall, then, build about, But, if thou let thy heart fly out, Let not their oaths, like volleys shot, Nor smoothness of their language plot Nor balls of wildfire love consume For if such smoke about thee fume, I think thy virtues be too strong. Which victual'd by my love so long, And leave thee ruled in that health |