The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw Volume II Part 69

O, pity her, ye sons, and vow Once more to crown your mother's brow; Once more to rear her crumbling walls; Once more to gather in her halls The young, the brave, the true, the good, The wise, the n.o.ble; and the Rood Over all shall bless and keep; So in old age ye shall not weep, Nor ever shall your fair fame sleep. G.

VENERABILI VIRO MAGISTRO TOURNAY,

TUTORI SUO SUMME OBSERVANDO.

Messis inauravit Cereri jam quarta capillos, Vitis habet Bacchum quarta corona suae, Nostra ex quo, primis plumae vix alba pruinis, Ausa tuo Musa est nidificare sinu.

Hic nemus, hic soles, et coelum mitius illi; 5 Hic sua quod Musis umbra vel aura dedit.

Sedit ibi secura malus quid moverit Auster, Quae gravis hibernum vexerit ala Jovem.

Nescio quo interea multum tibi murmure nota est: Nempe sed hoc poteras murmur amare tamen. 10 Tandem ecce, heu simili de prole puerpera! tandem Hoc tenero tenera est pignore facta parens.

Jamque meam hanc sobolem, rogo, quis sinus alter haberet?

Quis mihi tam noti nempe teporis erat?

Sed quoque et ipsa meus, de te, meus, improba, tutor, 15 Quam primum potuit dicere, dixit, erit.

Has ego legitimae, nec laevo sidere natae Non puto degeneres indolis esse notas; Nempe quod illa suo patri tam semper apertos, Tam semper faciles norit adire sinus. 20 Ergo tuam tibi sume: tuas eat illa sub alas: Hoc quoque de nostro, quod tuearis, habe.

Sic quae Suada tuo fontem sibi fecit in ore, Sancto et securo melle perennis eat.

Sic tua, sic nullas Siren non mulceat aures, 25 Aula cui plausus et sua serta dedit.

Sic tuus ille, precor, Tagus aut eat obice nullo, Aut omni, quod adhuc, obice major eat.

TRANSLATION.

TO THE VENERABLE MAN MASTER TOURNAY,

MY TUTOR MOST REVERED.[131]

A fourth time now our glebe for Ceres bears The golden locks of harvest; Bacchus wears Now the fourth season his bright vine-leaf crown, Since, scant'ly h.o.a.r as yet with the soft down Of her first plumage, in thy gentle breast My young Muse dar'd to build herself a nest.

Here found she sun and shade and gentler heaven, And what with these is by the Muses given Were hers. Here sat she careless how the skies Might darken, or the blasts of winter rise; And here her voice reach'd thee, but by what move Of fate I know not, only that thy love Her voice did win; and now at length behold-- And ah, how much the child her arms enfold Is like the mother!--she in tender years The parent of a tender babe appears.

What lap, then, for this infant shall I find Fitter than thine, or known by me so kind?

Yea, soon as she could speak, the wanton, she Said, 'He shall be my guardian,' meaning thee; And no ill forecast I would deem is this Of Genius true and favouring deities, That she so early should a sire divine Always so open, always so benign.

Take, then, thine own--she is beneath thy wing-- And of this gift accept the offering.

So may Persuasion, who her fount has made Upon thy lips, still pour from thence unstay'd Her sacred honey; so be at the Court, Whereto with plausive wreaths she doth resort, No ears thy Siren move not; so, I pray, No hindering bar thy Tagus strive to stay, Or only such as erst thy stream has swept away. CL.

ORNATISSIMO VIRO PRAECEPTORI SUO

COLENDISSIMO MAGISTRO BROOK.

O mihi qui nunquam nomen non dulce fuisti, Tunc quoque c.u.m domini fronte timendus eras; Ille ego pars vestri quondam intactissima regni, De nullo virgae nota labore tuae, Do tibi quod de te per secula longa queretur, Quod de me nimium non metuendus eras: Quod tibi turpis ego torpentis inertia sceptri Tam ferulae tulerim mitia jura tuae.

Scilicet in foliis quicquid peccabitur istis, Quod tua virga statim vapulet, illud erit; Ergo tibi haec poenas pro me mea pagina pendat.

Hic agitur virgae res tibi multa tuae.

In me igitur quicquid nimis illa pepercerit olim, Id licet in foetu vindicet omne meo.

Hic tuus inveniet satis in quo saeviat unguis, Quodque veru docto trans obeliscus eat: Scilicet haec mea sunt; haec quas mala scilicet: o si, Quae tua nempe forent, hic meliora forent!

Qualiacunque, suum norunt haec flumina fontem-- Nilus ab ignoto fonte superbus eat-- Nec certe nihil est qua quis sit origine. Fontes Esse solent fluvii nomen honorque sui.

Hic quoque tam parvus, de me mea secula dicant, Non parvi soboles hic quoque fontis erat.

Hoc modo et ipse velis de me dixisse: Meorum Ille fuit minimus--sed fuit ille meus.

TRANSLATION.

TO THAT MOST CULTURED MAN,

HIS MOST ESTIMABLE TUTOR MASTER BROOK.[132]

O thou, whose name to me was still endear'd E'en when the master's brow was justly fear'd; I, of thy realm the most inviolate part, By touch of thy birch-rod ne'er taught to smart, Give thee what through long years complains of thee That thou wast not enough a fear to me; That I, base subject of thy sceptre slow, Thy ferule's milder sway should only know.

Sooth, in these leaves what faults soe'er thou see, Thy rod in every case should punish'd be.

Then let this page for me the suffering pay; Here certainly thy rod may have full play; Howe'er that rod to me was once too mild, It may revenge it all on this my child; Here will thy nail discover where to rage, And scratch a learned blot across the page.

These which are bad, forsooth, these things are mine; Would they were better, that they might be thine!

Whate'er they are, these streams their fountain know, Nile from an unknown fount may proudly go.

Not lightly what one's source may be we deem; Fountains give name and honour to their stream.

So small--my times perhaps may say of me-- An offspring of no fountain small was he.

Only to say of me may it be thine: 'He was my least indeed--but he was mine!' R. WI.

IN REV. DRE. BROOKE EPITAPHIUM.[133]

Posuit sub ista, non gravi, caput terra Ille, ipsa quem mors arrogare vix ausa Didicit vereri, plurimumque suspenso Dubitavit ictu, lucidos procul vultus, Et sidus oris acre procul prospectans.

Cui literarum fama c.u.m dedit lumen, Accepit, atque est ditior suis donis.

Cujus serena gravitas faciles mores Muliere novit; cujus in senectute Famaeque riguit, et juventa fortunae.

Ita brevis aevi, ut nec videri festinus; Ita longus, ut nec fessus. Et hunc mori credis?

TRANSLATION.

EPITAPH ON REV. DR. BROOK.

Beneath this earth, strew'd lightly, lies the head Of one whom Death himself had learnt to dread, Scarce venturing to claim; and falter'd much Ere he allow'd his threatening stroke to touch That sacred presence. These bright eyes from far He view'd; from far that face ray'd like a star.

On whom when fame of letters l.u.s.tre drew, He took it as his right, and richer grew By his own gifts to learning; whose serene Severity of manners seem'd to have been Temper'd by woman's softness; whose good name, In later as in early years the same, Stood firm; his fortune equal to his fame.

His life so short, that not in haste he seem'd; So long, that weary he might not be deem'd: That such a one is dead, can it be dream'd? R. WI.

EPITAPHIUM IN GULIELMUM HERRISIUM.[134]

Siste te paulum, viator, ubi longum sisti Necesse erit, huc nempe properare te scias quocunque properas.

Morae pretium erit Et lacrymae, Si jacere hic scias Gulielmum Splendidae Herrisiorum familiae Splendorem maximum: Quem c.u.m talem vixisse intellexeris, Et vixisse tantum; Discas licet In quantas spes possit a.s.surgere mortalitas, De quantis cadere.

{ Infantem Ess.e.xia } Quem { Juvenem Cantabrigia } vidit Senem, ah infelix utraque Quod non vidit.

Qui Collegii Christi Alumnus Aulae Pembrokianae socius, Utrique ingens amoris certamen fuit, Donec Dulciss. lites elusit Deus, Eumque coelestis collegii, Cujus semper alumnus fuit, socium fecit; Qui et ipse collegium fuit, In quo Musae omnes et Gratiae, Nullibi magis sorores, Sub praeside religione, In tenacissimum sodalitium coaluere.

{ Oratoria Oratorem } { Poetica Poetam } Quem { Utraque Philosophum } agnovere.

{ Christianum Omnes }

{ Fide Mundum } { Spe Coelum } Qui { Charitate Proximum } superavit.

{ Humilitate Seipsum } Cujus Sub verna fronte senilis animus, Sub morum facilitate, severitas virtutis; Sub plurima indole, pauci anni; Sub majore modestia, maxima indoles adeo se occuluerunt ut vitam ejus Pulchram dixeris et pudicam dissimulationem: Imo vero et mortem, Ecce enim in ipso funere Dissimulari se pa.s.sus est, Sub tantillo marmore tantum hospitem, Eo nimirum majore monumento quo minore tumulo.

Eo ipso die occubuit quo Ecclesia Anglicana ad vesperas legit, Raptus est ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus; Scilicet Id. Octobris anno S. 1631.