Part 13
When, however, we come to examine Stanley's work we may perhaps discover something in the very excellence of his translations which connects itself usefully with his original poems. These translations are excellent because he has almost unerringly selected writers who are suitable to the poetical style of his own day, and has transposed them into English verse of that style. But in his original poems there is perhaps a little too much suggestion of something not wholly dissimilar. They are (pretty as they almost always are, and beautiful as they sometimes are) a little devoid of the spontaneity and _élan_ which distinguish the best things of the time from Carew and Crashaw down to Kynaston and John Hall. There is a very little of the _exercise_ about them. Moreover, not quite as a necessary consequence of this, there is a want of decided character. Stanley is much more a typical minor Caroline poet than he is Stanley, and so much must needs be said critically in these volumes on the type that it seems unnecessary to repeat it on an individual who gives that type with little idiosyncrasy, even while giving it in some abundance and with real charm. Only let it be added that we could not have a better foil to Cleveland, who, though unpolished, is always 'Manly, Sir, manly!' than this scholarly and graceful but somewhat epicene poet.
There are, however, some peculiarities about his work which made me slow to make up my mind about the fashion of presenting it. His translations are numerous: but this collection was not originally intended to include translations unless they were inextricably connected with issues of original work, or where, as in Godolphin's case, there was a special reason. Further, the translations, which are from a large number of authors, ancient and modern, sometimes include prose as well as verse. Thirdly, even the original poems were cross-issued in widely different arrangements. In short, the thing was rather a muddle, and though no one has occupied me in my various visits to the British Museum and the Bodleian during the past ten or twelve years oftener than Stanley, I postponed him from volume to volume. At last, and very recently a feasible plan suggested itself--to give the edition of 1651 as Brydges had done, this being after all the only one which at once represents revision and definite literary purpose, and to let the translations in this represent--as the poet seems himself to have selected them to do--his translating habits and studies. Before these I have printed the original poems of the first or 1647 edition, and after them the few which he seems to have allowed to be added to the set versions in Gamble's _Airs and Dialogues_ ten years later. I think this will put Stanley on a fair level with the rest of our flock. Those who want his classical translations from Anacreon, Ausonius, the Idylls, and the _Pervigilium_, as well as from Johannes Secundus, will not have much difficulty in finding them; and I did not see my way to load this volume with Preti's _Oronta_, Montalvan's _Aurora_, &c. The bibliography of these things is rather complicated, and I do not pretend to have followed it out exhaustively. In fact this is certainly the case as far as my own collations of 1647, made at the British Museum, and those furnished me from the Bodleian copy are concerned.[1] But the differences are rarely of importance. 1647, a private issue, was reprinted in 1650 and 1651: while Gamble's _Airs and Dialogues_ appeared in 1656 and was reissued with a fresh title-page in 1657. In the latter year Stanley furnished another composer--John Wilson, Professor of Music at Oxford--with the letterpress of _Psalterium Carolinum_, the King's devotions from the _Eikon_ versified. His _History of Philosophy_ appeared in 1655: his _Aeschylus_ in 1663.
Some years ago (London, 1893) a beautiful illustrated edition of his _Anacreon_ appeared, and more recently--but, as I have noted, after the announcement of this collection--a carefully arranged and collated edition of the original _Lyrics_ with a few selected translations (Tutin, Hull, 1907), edited by Miss L. Imogen Guiney. I have not found Miss Guiney's work useless, and if I have occasionally had to question her emendations that is only a matter of course.
[Footnote 1: I am informed by three subsequent collators more experienced in such work than myself--Mr. Percy Simpson, Mr. Thorn-Drury, and a Clarendon Press reader--that they have not found some differences which my own comparison-notes of some years ago seemed to show between the British Museum and the Bodleian copies of 1647. No doubt they are right. Some of the dates given above have also been corrected by them.]
CONTENTS
PAGE
THOMAS STANLEY 95 Introduction 97
POEMS NOT PRINTED AFTER 1647 101 Despair 101 The Picture 101 Opinion 101
POEMS PRINTED IN 1647 AND REPRINTED IN 1656 BUT NOT IN 1651 102 The Dream 102 To Chariessa, beholding herself in a Glass 102 The Blush 103 The Cold Kiss 103 The Idolater 104 The Magnet 104 On a Violet in her Breast 105 Song: 'Foolish lover, go and seek' 105 The Parting 106 Counsel 106 Expostulation with Love in Despair 107 Song: 'Faith, 'tis not worth thy pains and care' 108 Expectation 108
1651 POEMS 109 The Dedication: To Love 109 The Glow-worm 110 The Breath 111 Desiring her to burn his Verses 111 The Night 112 Excuse for wishing her less Fair 113 Chang'd, yet Constant 113 The Self-deceiver (_Montalvan_) 115 The Cure 115 Celia Singing 117 A la Mesme 117 The Return 118 Song: 'When I lie burning in thine eye' 119 The Sick Lover (_Guarini_) 119 Song: 'Celinda, by what potent art' 120 Song: 'Fool, take up thy shaft again' 120 Delay 121 Commanded by his Mistress to woo for her (_Marina_) 121 The Repulse 122 The Tomb 123 The Enjoyment (_St.-Amant_) 124 To Celia Pleading Want of Merit 126 The Bracelet (_Tristan_) 127 The Kiss 128 Apollo and Daphne (_Garcilasso Marino_) 128 Speaking and Kissing 129 The Snow-ball 129 The Deposition 130 To his Mistress in Absence (_Tasso_) 130 Love's Heretic 130 La Belle Confidente 132 La Belle Ennemie 132 The Dream (_Lope de Vega_) 133 To the Lady D. 133 Love Deposed 134 The Divorce 134 Time Recovered (_Casone_) 135 The Bracelet 135 The Farewell 136 Claim to Love (_Guarini_) 137 To his Mistress, who dreamed he was wounded (_Guarini_) 137 The Exchange 138 Unaltered by Sickness 138 On his Mistress's Death (_Petrarch_) 139 The Exequies 139 The Silkworm 140 A Lady Weeping (_Montalvan_) 140 Ambition 141 Song: 'When, dearest beauty, thou shall pay' 141 The Revenge 142 Song: 'I will not trust thy tempting graces' 142 Song: 'No, I will sooner trust the wind' 143 To a Blind Man in Love (_Marino_) 143 Answer 143 Song: 'I prithee let my heart alone' 144 The Loss 144 The Self-Cruel 145 Song (_by M. W. M._): 'Wert thou yet fairer than thou art' 145 Answer 146 The Relapse 146 To the Countess of S. with the Holy Court 147 Song (_De Voiture_): 'I languish in a silent flame' 147 Drawn for Valentine by the L. D. S. 148 The Modest Wish (_Barclay_) 148 E Catalectis Veterum Poetarum 149 On the Edition of Mr. Fletcher's Works 149 To Mr. W. Hammond 150 On Mr. Shirley's Poems 151 On Mr. Sherburn's Translation of Seneca's _Medea_, and Vindication of the Author 152 On Mr. Hall's Essays 153 On Sir John Suckling his Picture and Poems 154 The Union (_by Mr. William Fairfax_) 154 The Answer 154 Pythagoras his Moral Rules 155
POEMS APPEARING ONLY IN THE EDITION OF 1656 159 'On this swelling bank, once proud' 159 'Dear, fold me once more in thine arms!' 160 'The lazy hours move slow' 160
POEMS NOT PRINTED AFTER 1647
_Despair._
No, no, poor blasted Hope! Since I (with thee) have lost the scope Of all my joys, I will no more Vainly implore The unrelenting Destinies: He that can equally sustain The strong assaults of joy or pain, May safely laugh at their decrees.
Despair, to thee I bow, Whose constancy disdains t' allow 10 Those childish passions that destroy Our fickle joy; How cruel Fates so e'er appear, Their harmless anger I despise, And fix'd, can neither fall nor rise, Thrown below hope, but rais'd 'bove fear.
[_Despair._] Note here the skill and success of the use of the short--almost 'bob'--lines, and the _In Memoriam_ arrangement of rhyme in the last half of each stanza.]
_The Picture._
Thou that both feel'st and dost admire The flames shot from a painted fire, Know Celia's image thou dost see: Not to herself more like is she. He that should both together view Would judge both pictures, or both true. But thus they differ: the best part Of Nature this is; that of Art.
[_The Picture._] The conceit wraps up the point of the epigram.]
_Opinion._
Whence took the diamond worth? the borrow'd rays That crystal wears, whence had they first their praise? Why should rude feet contemn the snow's chaste white, Which from the sun receives a sparkling light, Brighter than diamonds far, and by its birth Decks the green garment of the richer earth? Rivers than crystal clearer, when to ice Congeal'd, why do weak judgements so despise? Which, melting, show that to impartial sight Weeping than smiling crystal is more bright. 10 But Fancy those first priz'd, and these did scorn, Taking their praise the other to adorn. Thus blind is human sight: opinion gave To their esteem a birth, to theirs a grave; Nor can our judgements with these clouds dispense, Since reason sees but with the eyes of sense.
[_Opinion._] As in _The Dream_, distinctly nervous stopped couplet.]
POEMS PRINTED IN 1647 AND REPRINTED IN 1656 BUT NOT IN 1651
_The Dream._
That I might ever dream thus! that some power To my eternal sleep would join this hour! So, willingly deceiv'd, I might possess In seeming joys a real happiness. Haste not away: oh do not dissipate A pleasure thou so lately didst create! Stay, welcome Sleep; be ever here confin'd; Or if thou wilt away, leave her behind.
[_The Dream._] Closed couplets, already of considerable accomplishment. Reprinted in _1656_ in an enlarged form; after ll. 1-4 the poem continued:--
Death, I would gladly bow beneath thy charms, If thou couldst bring my Doris to my arms, That thus at last made happy I might prove In life the hell, in death the heaven of love. Haste not away so soon, mock not my joy, With the delusive sight or empty noise Of happiness; oh do not dissipate A pleasure thou so lately didst create! Shadows of life or death do such bliss give, That 'tis an equal curse to wake or live. Stay then, kind Sleep; be ever here confin'd; Or if thou wilt away, leave her behind. ]
_To Chariessa, beholding herself in a Glass._
Cast, Chariessa, cast that glass away, Nor in its crystal face thine own survey. What can be free from Love's imperious laws When painted shadows real flames can cause? The fires may burn thee from this mirror rise By the reflected beams of thine own eyes; And thus at last, fallen with thyself in love, Thou wilt my rival, thine own martyr prove. But if thou dost desire thy form to view, Look in my heart where Love thy picture drew; 10 And then, if pleased with thine own shape thou be, Learn how to love thyself in loving me.
[_To Chariessa &c._] ]
[Line: 12 _1656_ 'by loving'.]
_The Blush._
So fair Aurora doth herself discover (Asham'd o' th' aged bed of her cold lover) In modest blushes, whilst the treacherous light Betrays her early shame to the world's sight. Such a bright colour doth the morning rose Diffuse, when she her soft self doth disclose Half drown'd in dew, whilst on each leaf a tear Of night doth like a dissolv'd pearl appear; Yet 'twere in vain a colour out to seek To parallel my Chariessa's cheek; 10 Less are conferr'd with greater, and these seem To blush like her, not she to blush like them. But whence, fair soul, this passion? what pretence Had guilt to stain thy spotless innocence? Those only this feel who have guilty been, Not any blushes know, but who know sin. Then blush no more; but let thy chaster flame, That knows no cause, know no effects of shame.
[_The Blush._] Interesting to compare prosodically with _The Dream_ and _Opinion_. A much older fashion of couplet, here and there overlapped and breathless, but pointing towards the newer. In l. 11 Miss Guiney has unfortunately altered 'conferr'd' (_confero_ = 'to set side by side') to 'compar'd'. In l. 15, _1647_ has the common 'bin' and l. 16 'knows' for the second 'know'.]
_The Cold Kiss._
Such icy kisses, anchorites that live Secluded from the world, to dead skulls give; And those cold maids on whom Love never spent His flame, nor know what by desire is meant, To their expiring fathers such bequeath, Snatching their fleeting spirits in that breath: The timorous priest doth with such fear and nice Devotion touch the Holy Sacrifice.
Fie, Chariessa! whence so chang'd of late, As to become in love a reprobate? 10 Quit, quit this dullness, Fairest, and make known A flame unto me equal with mine own. Shake off this frost, for shame, that dwells upon Thy lips; or if it will not so be gone, Let 's once more join our lips, and thou shalt see That by the flame of mine 'twill melted be.
[_The Cold Kiss._] There are some very trifling alterations, all for the worse, in _1656_ (Gamble).]
_The Idolater._
Think not, pale lover, he who dies, Burnt in the flames of Celia's eyes, Is unto Love a sacrifice;
Or, by the merit of this pain, Thou shalt the crown of martyrs gain! Those hopes are, as thy passion, vain.
For when, by death, from these flames free, To greater thou condemn'd shalt be, And punish'd for idolatry,
Since thou (Love's votary before 10 Whilst He was kind) dost him no more, But, in his shrine, Disdain adore.
Nor will this fire (the gods prepare To punish scorn) that cruel Fair, (Though now from flames exempted) spare;
But as together both shall die, Both burnt alike in flames shall lie, She in thy breast, thou in her eye.
[_The Idolater._] ]
[Line: 11 'He' altered in _1656_ to 'she', which Miss Guiney adopts. But of course 'He' is Love.]
[Line: 18 breast _1647_: later, much worse, 'heart'.]
_The Magnet._
Ask the empress of the night How the Hand which guides her sphere, Constant in unconstant light, Taught the waves her yoke to bear, And did thus by loving force Curb or tame the rude sea's course.
Ask the female palm how she First did woo her husband's love; And the magnet, ask how he Doth th' obsequious iron move; 10 Waters, plants, and stones know this: That they love; not what Love is. Be not then less kind than these, Or from Love exempt alone! Let us twine like amorous trees, And like rivers melt in one. Or, if thou more cruel prove, Learn of steel and stones to love.
[_The Magnet._] ]
[Line: 9 'he' _1647_, altered to 'she' in _1656_. One would expect 'he' to avoid identical rhyme, but Stanley was a scholar and the Greek is [Greek: hê Magnêtis lithos], and the other things to be 'asked' are feminine.]
[In l. 13 'then' became 'thou', neither for better nor for worse.]
_On a Violet in her Breast._
See how this violet, which before Hung sullenly her drooping head, As angry at the ground that bore The purple treasure which she spread, Doth smilingly erected grow, Transplanted to those hills of snow.
And whilst the pillows of thy breast Do her reclining head sustain, She swells with pride to be so blest, And doth all other flowers disdain; 10 Yet weeps that dew which kissed her last, To see her odours so surpass'd.
Poor flower! how far deceiv'd thou wert, To think the riches of the morn, Or all the sweets she can impart, Could these or sweeten or adorn, Since thou from them dost borrow scent, And they to thee lend ornament!
[_On a Violet in her Breast._]
[Line: 6 'hills of snow' is probably as old as the Garden of Eden (if there was snow there). But Stanley must have known the exquisite second verse of 'Take, oh take those lips away' in _The Bloody Brother_. I would ask any one who despises this as a mere commonplace love-poem to note--if he can--the splendid swell of the verse to the fourth line, and then the 'turn' of the final couplet. With Stanley and his generation that swell and turn passed--never to reappear till William Blake revived it nearly a century and a half afterwards.]
_Song._
Foolish Lover, go and seek For the damask of the rose, And the lilies white dispose To adorn thy mistress' cheek;
Steal some star out of the sky, Rob the phoenix, and the east Of her wealthy sweets divest, To enrich her breath or eye!
We thy borrow'd pride despise: For this wine, to which we are 10 Votaries, is richer far Than her cheek, or breath, or eyes.
And should that coy fair one view These diviner beauties, she In this flame would rival thee, And be taught to love thee too.
Come, then, break thy wanton chain, That when this brisk wine hath spread On thy paler cheek a red, Thou, like us, mayst Love disdain. 20
Love, thy power must yield to wine! And whilst thus ourselves we arm, Boldly we defy thy charm: For these flames extinguish thine.
[_Song._] A Donne-inspired one, doubtless, but not ill justified. 'Distinguish' in the last line is one of the numerous misprints of _1656_.]
_The Parting._
I go, dear Saint, away, Snatch'd from thy arms By far less pleasing charms, Than those I did obey; But when hereafter thou shall know That grief hath slain me, come, And on my tomb Drop, drop a tear or two; Break with thy sighs the silence of my sleep, And I shall smile in death to see thee weep. 10
Thy tears may have the power To reinspire My ashes with new fire, Or change me to some flower, Which, planted 'twixt thy breasts, shall grow: Veil'd in this shape, I will Dwell with thee still, Court, kiss, enjoy thee too: Securely we'll contemn all envious force, And thus united be by death's divorce. 20
[_The Parting._] ]
[Line: 19 contemn _1647_: contain _1656_.]
_Counsel._
When deceitful lovers lay At thy feet their suppliant hearts, And their snares spread to betray Thy best treasure with their arts, Credit not their flatt'ring vows: Love such perjury allows.
When they with the choicest wealth Nature boasts of, have possess'd thee; When with flowers (their verses' stealth), Stars, or jewels they invest thee, 10 Trust not to their borrow'd store: 'Tis but lent to make thee poor.
When with poems they invade thee, Sing thy praises or disdain; When they weep, and would persuade thee That their flames beget that rain; Let thy breast no baits let in: Mercy 's only here a sin!
Let no tears or offerings move thee, All those cunning charms avoid; 20 For that wealth for which they love thee, They would slight if once enjoy'd. Who would keep another's heart With her own must never part.
[_Counsel._]
[Line: 7 'the' altered in _1656_ to 'their', which is clearly wrong. But the untrustworthiness of Gamble's text is still better illustrated by l. 10, which he twists into--
Stars _to_ jewels they _di_vest thee.
The copy was probably dictated to a very careless, ignorant, or stupid workman.]
[Lines: 23-4. This pointed if cynical conclusion was changed in _1657_ to the much feebler
Guard thy unrelenting mind; None are cruel but the kind. ]
_Expostulation with Love in Despair._
Love, with what strange tyrannic laws must they Comply, which are subjected to thy sway! How far all justice thy commands decline, Which though they hope forbid, yet love enjoin! Must all are to thy hell condemn'd sustain A double torture of despair and pain? Is 't not enough vainly to hope and woo, That thou shouldst thus deny that vain hope too? It were some joy, Ixion-like, to fold The empty air, or feed on hopes as cold; 10 But if thou to my passion this deny, Thou mayst be starv'd to death as well as I; For how can thy pale sickly flame burn clear When death and cold despair inhabit near? Rule in my breast alone, or thence retire; Dissolve this frost, or let that quench thy fire. Or let me not desire, or else possess! Neither, or both, are equal happiness.
[_Expostulation, &c._] The texts of _1647_ and _1656_ differ considerably here, and Miss Guiney has attempted a 'composite text'--a thing for which I have small fancy. That given above is from _1647_: _1656_ runs as follows in the first quatrain:
Love, what tyrannic laws must they obey Who bow beneath thy uncontrolled sway; Or how unjust will that harsh empire prove Forbids to hope, and yet commands to love.
and reads in l. 9 'hope' for 'joy'; l. 10 'thought that's cold'; l. 14 'old' and 'here' for 'cold' and 'near'; l. 15 (entirely different)
Then let thy dim heat warm, or else expire.
l. 16 'the' for 'thy'; and in the closing distich '_Thus_ let me not' and '_Either_ or both'. The interest of this piece is almost wholly centred on the penultimate line, which, being an evident and intended contradiction to
Amare liceat si potiri non licet,
gives us at once the connexion, in Stanley's mind, with that strange, Mrs. Grundy-shocking, but 'insolent and passionate' piece which is attributed, credibly enough, to Apuleius, but rather less credibly as a latinizing of Menander's [Greek: _Anechomenos_]. The contrast of the sensuous fire of this with Stanley's rather vapid and languid metaphysicalities is a notable one.]
_Song._
Faith, 'tis not worth thy pains and care To seek t' ensnare A heart so poor as mine: Some fools there be Hate liberty, Whom with more ease thou mayst confine.
Alas! when with much charge thou hast Brought it at last Beneath thy power to bow, It will adore 10 Some twenty more, And that, perhaps, you'll not allow.
No, Chloris, I no more will prove The curse of love, And now can boast a heart Hath learn'd of thee Inconstancy, And cozen'd women of their art.
[_Song._]
[Lines: 2, 3. The quality and value of _1656_ are again well illustrated by its readings of 'inspire' for 'ensnare' and 'pure' for 'poor'.]
_Expectation._
Chide, chide no more away The fleeting daughters of the day, Nor with impatient thoughts outrun The lazy sun, Or think the hours do move too slow; Delay is kind, And we too soon shall find That which we seek, yet fear to know.
The mystic dark decrees Unfold not of the Destinies, 10 Nor boldly seek to antedate The laws of Fate; Thy anxious search awhile forbear, Suppress thy haste, And know that Time at last Will crown thy hope or fix thy fear.
[_Expectation._] There is a suggestion here of John Hall's beautiful _Call_ ('Romira, stay'), and the two pieces appeared so close together that it is difficult to say which may have been the first. Perhaps the resemblance was what made Stanley omit it in _1651_. In l. 5 _1656_ reads '_N_or'.]
1651 POEMS
THE DEDICATION
_To Love._