Two centuries of song : or, Lyrics, madrigals, sonnets, and other occasional verses of the English poets of the last two hundred years . an anarchy ! Gentle Henrietta then, And a third Mary next began ; Then Joan, and Jane, and Audria,And then a pretty Thomasine,And then another Catherine, And then a long et cetera, But should I now to you relate The strength and riches of their state,The powder, patches, and the pins,The ribbons, jewels, and the lace, the paint, and warlike thingsThat make up all their magazines : If I should tell the politic arts To take and keep mens hearts ;The l
Two centuries of song : or, Lyrics, madrigals, sonnets, and other occasional verses of the English poets of the last two hundred years . an anarchy ! Gentle Henrietta then, And a third Mary next began ; Then Joan, and Jane, and Audria,And then a pretty Thomasine,And then another Catherine, And then a long et cetera, But should I now to you relate The strength and riches of their state,The powder, patches, and the pins,The ribbons, jewels, and the lace, the paint, and warlike thingsThat make up all their magazines : If I should tell the politic arts To take and keep mens hearts ;The letters, embassies, and frowns, and smiles, and flatteries,The quarrels, tears, and , nameless mysteries; And all the little lime-twigs laid By Machiavel, the waiting-maid;I more voluminous should grow—Chiefly if 1 like them should tellAll change of weathers that befell—Than Holinshed or Stow. But I will briefer with them be. Since few of them were long with higher and a nobler strain My present emperess does claim, Heleonora, first o th name, Whom God grant long to reign !6 /Vi- •,v^A ^i^:-. $ ROBKRT IIKKRICK. 1591—1674. The vicar of a Devonshire village, Herrick, was no quiet saintlypreacher of the Gospel like George Herbert of Bemerton. Heloved to press the grape clusters with Ben Jonson, in the Sun,the Dog and Triple Tun, and to listen to the revelling poets inthe Apollo Chamber, hard by Temple Bar. In calmer moments,in the dewy evening, in tlie tranquil meadows of Dean Prior,however, this graceful poet found time to watch the primrosesglowing in the dusk; time also to record their beauty and theirtransitoriness, and to weave into verse a thousand pleasant thoughtson the charms of a countrv life. ?^^ 1) V^ (O THE BAG OF THE BEE. About the sweet bag of a bee, . Two Cupids fell at odds ;And whose the pretty prize should be,They vowed to ask the gods. Which Venus hearing thither for their boldness stript them ; And, taking the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookpu, booksubjectenglishpoetry
