Pays tribute to thy bed.

Rome's conquering hand

More vanquished nations under her command
Glad Berecynthia so

Never reduced.

Among her deathless progeny did go;

A wreath of towers adorned her reverend head,
Mother of all that on ambrosia fed.

Thy godlike race must sway the age to come,
As she Olympus peopled with her womb.
Would those commanders of mankind obey
Their honoured parent, all pretences lay
Down at your royal feet, compose their jars,
And on the growing Turk discharge these wars,
The Christian knights that sacred tomb should wrest
From Pagan hands, and triumph o'er the East;
Our England's Prince, and Gallia's Dauphin, might
Like young Rinaldo and Tancredi fight;

In single combat by their swords again
The proud Argantes and fierce Soldan slain;
Again might we their valiant deeds recite,
And with your Tuscan Muse* exalt the fight.

THYRSIS, GALATEA.†

THYRSIS.

AS lately I on silver Thames did ride,

Sad Galatea on the bank I spied;

Such was her look as sorrow taught to shine,
And thus she graced me with a voice divine.

GALATEA.

You that can tune your sounding strings so well, Of ladies' beauties, and of love to tell,

* Tasso.

+ The Duchess of Hamilton, whose untimely death is mourned in this pastoral, was the niece of the favourite Buckingham, and daughter of the Earl of Denbigh. She is said to have united the personal grace and beauty of the Villiers, with a highly cultivated mind. time of her death, 1638, determines the date of the poem.

The

Once change your note, and let your lute report The justest grief that ever touched the Court.

THYRSIS.

Fair nymph! I have in your delights no share, Nor ought to be concerned in your care; Yet would I sing if I your sorrows knew, And to my aid invoke no muse but you.

GALATEA.

Hear then, and let your song augment our grief,
Which is so great as not to wish relief.
She that had all which Nature gives, or Chance,
Whom Fortune joined with Virtue to advance
To all the joys this island could afford,
The greatest mistress, and the kindest lord;
Who with the royal mixed her noble blood,
And in high grace with Gloriana stood;
Her bounty, sweetness, beauty, goodness, such,
That none e'er thought her happiness too much;
So well-inclined her favours to confer,
And kind to all, as Heaven had been to her!
The virgin's part, the mother, and the wife,
So well she acted in this span of life,

That though few years (too few, alas!) she told,
She seemed in all things, but in beauty, old.
As unripe fruit, whose verdant stalks do cleave
Close to the tree, which grieves no less to leave
The smiling pendant which adorns her so,
And until autumn on the bough should grow;
So seemed her youthful soul not easily forced,
Or from so fair, so sweet, a seat divorced.
Her fate at once did hasty seem and slow;
At once too cruel, and unwilling too.

THYRSIS.

Under how hard a law are mortals born! Whom now we envy, we anon must mourn;

What Heaven sets highest, and seems most to prize,
Is soon removed from our wondering eyes!

But since the Sisters* did so soon untwine
So fair a thread, I'll strive to piece the line.
Vouchsafe, sad nymph! to let me know the dame,
And to the muses I'll commend her name;
Make the wide country echo to your moan,
The listening trees and savage mountains groan.
What rock's not moved when the death is sung
Of one so good, so lovely, and so young?

GALATEA.

'Twas Hamilton!-whom I had named before, But naming her, grief lets me say no more.

Saccharissa.t

ON MY LADY DOROTHY SIDNEY'S PICTURE.

SUCH was Philoclea, and such Dorus' flame!

The matchless Sidney, that immortal frame

* Parcæ.

↑ Under this title are here collected all the poems that directly refer to the Lady Dorothea Sidney. They belong, in chronological order, to a period antecedent to 1639, the year of Lady Dorothea's marriage. Dr. Johnson thinks that the poetical name conferred on the lady by her lover is contradicted by Waller's own account of her. It is derived,' he observes, from the Latin appellation of sugar, and implies, if it means anything, a spiritless mildness, and dull goodnature, such as excites rather tenderness and esteem, and such as, though always treated with kindness, is never honoured or admired. Yet he describes Saccharissa as a sublime predominating beauty, of lofty charms, and imperious influence, on whom he looks with amazement rather than fondness, whose chains he wishes, though in vain, to break, and whose presence is wine that inflames to madness.' Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Waller's description of Saccharissa is too vague and inconsistent to convey a distinct image of her person or character, and that the final impression it leaves upon the mind is indefinite and unsatisfactory. The loftiness ascribed to her is

Of perfect beauty on two pillars placed;
Not his high fancy could one pattern, graced
With such extremes of excellence, compose;
Wonders so distant in one face disclose!
Such cheerful modesty, such humble state,
Moves certain love, but with as doubtful fate
As when, beyond our greedy reach, we see
Inviting fruit on too sublime a tree.

All the rich flowers through his Arcadia found,
Amazed we see in this one garland bound.
Had but this copy (which the artist took
From the fair picture of that noble book)
Stood at Kalander's, the brave friends had jarred,
And, rivals made, the ensuing story marred.
Just nature, first instructed by his thought,
In his own house thus practised what he taught;
This glorious piece transcends what he could think,
So much his blood is nobler than his ink!*

blended with cheerful modesty and humble state;' and her haughti ness is considerably mitigated by natural grace and softness. This picture of contradictions is clearly not so much a representation of the actual attributes of the lady herself, as of the perplexity of a suitor, seeking, without success, to touch her heart. It is the rejected lover who speaks of Saccharissa's disdain and scorn; and it may be reasonably inferred that, had Waller been fortunate in his suit, he would have discovered in Saccharissa those qualities of sweetness and tenderness that first inspired the appellation he bestowed on her-'a name,' says Mr. Fenton, which recalls to mind what is related of the Turks, who, in their gallantries, think Sucar Birpara, i. e. bit of sugar, to be the most polite and endearing compliment they can use to the ladies.' * The allusions throughout this poem are to the Arcadia of Sir Philip Sidney, in which Pyrocles and Musidorus, inspired by the sight of the portraits of Philoclea and Pamela, fall in love with the originals, and ultimately succeed in their suits. Philoclea's beauty is that of sweetness and gentleness, while Pamela's is of a grander and more majestic cast. Both characters are described to be combined in the portrait of Saccharissa. Kalander, whose name is introduced into Waller's lines, is the hospitable host in the Arcadia, who receives Musidorus into his house, where the portraits are hung up. Sir Philip Sidney was great uncle to Lady Dorothea, or Dorothy, as she appears to have been generally called.

TO VANDYCK.*

RARE Artisan, whose pencil moves

Not our delights alone, but loves!
From thy shop of beauty we

Slaves return, that entered free.

The heedless lover does not know

Whose eyes they are that wound him so;
But, confounded with thy art,

Inquires her name that has his heart.

Another, who did long refrain,

Feels his old wound bleed fresh again
With dear remembrance of that face,
Where now he reads new hope of grace:
Nor scorn nor cruelty does find,
But gladly suffers a false wind
To blow the ashes of despair
From the reviving brand of care.
Fool! that forgets her stubborn look
This softness from thy finger took.

Strange! that thy hand should not inspire
The beauty only, but the fire;
Not the form alone, and grace,
But act and power of a face.
Mayst thou yet thyself as well,
As all the world besides, excel!
So you the unfeigned truth rehearse,
(That I may make it live in verse)

*This piece refers generally to Vandyck's skill in idealizing his female heads; but it appears also to have a special reference to a portrait of Saccharissa. There is a portrait of her by Vandyck preserved at Hall-Barn, which she is said to have presented herself to Waller. The portrait at Windsor, generally supposed to be that of Saccharissa, is of another Countess of Sunderland, daughter of George, Lord Digby, and daughter-in-law to Lady Dorothea. The portrait at Penshurst does not convey a character of habitual severity or scorn, but rather of good nature and a love of ease, subject to sudden gusts of temper; and the kind of beauty it displays disappoints the expectations raised by the poetry of Waller.