Lucasta [40]
of men and friends? we will create A genuine summer in each others breast; And spite of this cold Time and frosen Fate, Thaw us a warme seate to our rest.
VII. Our sacred harthes shall burne eternally As vestal flames; the North-wind, he Shall strike his frost-stretch'd winges, dissolve and flye This Aetna in epitome.
VIII. Dropping December shall come weeping in, Bewayle th' usurping of his raigne; But when in show'rs of old Greeke<41.8> we beginne, Shall crie, he hath his crowne againe!
IX. Night as cleare Hesper shall our tapers whip From the light casements, where we play, And the darke hagge from her black mantle strip, And sticke there everlasting day.
X. Thus richer then untempted kings are we, That asking nothing, nothing need: Though lord of all what seas imbrace, yet he That wants himselfe, is poore indeed.
<41.1> Charles Cotton the elder, father of the poet. He died in 1658. This poem is extracted in CENSURA LITERARIA, ix. 352, as a favourable specimen of Lovelace's poetical genius. The text is manifestly corrupt, but I have endeavoured to amend it. In Elton's SPECIMENS OF CLASSIC POETS, 1814, i. 148, is a translation of Anacreon's Address to the Cicada, or Tree-Locust (Lovelace's grasshopper?), which is superior to the modern poem, being less prolix, and more natural in its manner. In all Lovelace's longer pieces there are too many obscure and feeble conceits, and too many evidences of a leaning to the metaphysical and antithetical school of poetry.
<41.2> Original has HAIRE.
<41.3> i.e. a beard of oats.
<41.4> Meleager's invocation to the tree-locust commences thus in Elton's translation:--
"Oh shrill-voiced insect! that with dew-drops sweet Inebriate----"
See also Cowley's ANACREONTIQUES, No. X. THE GRASSHOPPER.
<41.5> i.e. horizontal lines tinged with gold. See Halliwell's GLOSSARY OF ARCHAIC WORDS, 1860, art. PLAT (seventh and eighth meaning). The late editors of Nares cite this passage from LUCASTA as an illustration of GUILT-PLATS, which they define to be "plots of gold." This definition, unsupported by any other evidence, is not very satisfactory, and certainly it has no obvious application here.
<41.6> Randolph says:--
"----toiling ants perchance delight to hear The summer musique of the gras-hopper." POEMS, 1640, p. 90.
It is it question, perhaps, whether Lovelace intended by the GRASSHOPPER the CICADA or the LOCUSTA. See Sir Thomas Browne's INQUIRIES INTO VULGAR ERRORS (Works, by Wilkins, 1836, iii. 93).
<41.7> Perch.
<41.8> i.e. old Greek wine.
AN ELEGIE. ON THE DEATH OF MRS. CASSANDRA COTTON, ONLY SISTER TO MR. C. COTTON.<42.1>
Hither with hallowed steps as is the ground, That must enshrine this saint with lookes profound, And sad aspects as the dark vails you weare, Virgins opprest, draw gently, gently neare; Enter the dismall chancell of this rooome, Where each pale guest stands fixt a living tombe; With trembling hands helpe to remove this earth To its last death and first victorious birth: Let gums and incense fume, who are at strife To enter th' hearse and breath in it new life; Mingle your steppes with flowers as you goe, Which, as they haste to fade, will speake your woe.
And when y' have plac't your tapers on her urn, How poor a tribute 'tis to weep and mourn! That flood the channell of your eye-lids fils, When you lose trifles, or what's lesse, your wills. If you'l be worthy of these obsequies, Be blind unto the world, and drop your eyes; Waste and consume, burn downward as this fire That's fed no more: so willingly expire; Passe through the cold and obscure narrow way, Then light your torches at the spring of day, There with her triumph in your victory. Such joy alone and such solemnity Becomes this funerall of virginity.
Or, if you faint to be so blest, oh heare! If not to dye, dare but to live like her: Dare to live virgins, till the honour'd age Of thrice
VII. Our sacred harthes shall burne eternally As vestal flames; the North-wind, he Shall strike his frost-stretch'd winges, dissolve and flye This Aetna in epitome.
VIII. Dropping December shall come weeping in, Bewayle th' usurping of his raigne; But when in show'rs of old Greeke<41.8> we beginne, Shall crie, he hath his crowne againe!
IX. Night as cleare Hesper shall our tapers whip From the light casements, where we play, And the darke hagge from her black mantle strip, And sticke there everlasting day.
X. Thus richer then untempted kings are we, That asking nothing, nothing need: Though lord of all what seas imbrace, yet he That wants himselfe, is poore indeed.
<41.1> Charles Cotton the elder, father of the poet. He died in 1658. This poem is extracted in CENSURA LITERARIA, ix. 352, as a favourable specimen of Lovelace's poetical genius. The text is manifestly corrupt, but I have endeavoured to amend it. In Elton's SPECIMENS OF CLASSIC POETS, 1814, i. 148, is a translation of Anacreon's Address to the Cicada, or Tree-Locust (Lovelace's grasshopper?), which is superior to the modern poem, being less prolix, and more natural in its manner. In all Lovelace's longer pieces there are too many obscure and feeble conceits, and too many evidences of a leaning to the metaphysical and antithetical school of poetry.
<41.2> Original has HAIRE.
<41.3> i.e. a beard of oats.
<41.4> Meleager's invocation to the tree-locust commences thus in Elton's translation:--
"Oh shrill-voiced insect! that with dew-drops sweet Inebriate----"
See also Cowley's ANACREONTIQUES, No. X. THE GRASSHOPPER.
<41.5> i.e. horizontal lines tinged with gold. See Halliwell's GLOSSARY OF ARCHAIC WORDS, 1860, art. PLAT (seventh and eighth meaning). The late editors of Nares cite this passage from LUCASTA as an illustration of GUILT-PLATS, which they define to be "plots of gold." This definition, unsupported by any other evidence, is not very satisfactory, and certainly it has no obvious application here.
<41.6> Randolph says:--
"----toiling ants perchance delight to hear The summer musique of the gras-hopper." POEMS, 1640, p. 90.
It is it question, perhaps, whether Lovelace intended by the GRASSHOPPER the CICADA or the LOCUSTA. See Sir Thomas Browne's INQUIRIES INTO VULGAR ERRORS (Works, by Wilkins, 1836, iii. 93).
<41.7> Perch.
<41.8> i.e. old Greek wine.
AN ELEGIE. ON THE DEATH OF MRS. CASSANDRA COTTON, ONLY SISTER TO MR. C. COTTON.<42.1>
Hither with hallowed steps as is the ground, That must enshrine this saint with lookes profound, And sad aspects as the dark vails you weare, Virgins opprest, draw gently, gently neare; Enter the dismall chancell of this rooome, Where each pale guest stands fixt a living tombe; With trembling hands helpe to remove this earth To its last death and first victorious birth: Let gums and incense fume, who are at strife To enter th' hearse and breath in it new life; Mingle your steppes with flowers as you goe, Which, as they haste to fade, will speake your woe.
And when y' have plac't your tapers on her urn, How poor a tribute 'tis to weep and mourn! That flood the channell of your eye-lids fils, When you lose trifles, or what's lesse, your wills. If you'l be worthy of these obsequies, Be blind unto the world, and drop your eyes; Waste and consume, burn downward as this fire That's fed no more: so willingly expire; Passe through the cold and obscure narrow way, Then light your torches at the spring of day, There with her triumph in your victory. Such joy alone and such solemnity Becomes this funerall of virginity.
Or, if you faint to be so blest, oh heare! If not to dye, dare but to live like her: Dare to live virgins, till the honour'd age Of thrice