SONNETS.

I.

[TO THE NIGHTINGALE.]

O NIGHTINGALE that on yon bloomy spray
Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still,
Thou with fresh hope the lover's heart dost fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May.
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day,

First heard before the shallow cuckoo's bill,
Portend success in love. O, if Jove's will
Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate

Foretell my hopeless doom, in some grove nigh;
As thou from year to year hast sung too late
For my relief, yet hadst no reason why.

Whether the Muse or Love call thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.

II.

[ON HIS HAVING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE.]

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,

Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,

But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth

That I to manhood am arrived so near;
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.
Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow,

It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.

All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-Master's eye.

III.

DONNA leggiadra, il cui bel nome onora
L'erbosa val di Reno e il nobil varco,
Bene è colui d'ogni valore scarco
Qual tuo spirto gentil non innamora,
Che dolcemente mostrasi di fuora,

De' sui atti soavi giammai parco,
E i don', che son d' amor saette ed arco,
Là onde l'alta tua virtù s'infiora.
Quando tu vaga parli, o lieta canti,

Che mover possa duro alpestre legno, Guardi ciascun agli occhi ed agli orecchi L'entrata chi di te si truova indegno;

Grazia sola di sù gli vaglia, innanti
Che'l disio amoroso al cuor s' invecchi.

IV.

QUAL in colle aspro, all' imbrunir di sera,
L'avezza giovinetta pastorella

Va bagnando l' erbetta strana e bella
Che mal si spande a disusata spera
Fuor di sua natia alma primavera,

Così Amor meco insù la lingua snella Desta il fior novo di strania favella, Mentre io di te, vezzosamente altera, Canto, dal mio buon popol non inteso,

E'l bel Tamigi cangio col bell' Arno.
Amor lo volse, ed io all' altrui peso
Seppi ch' Amor cosa mai volse indarno.

Deh! foss' il mio cuor lento e 'l duro seno
A chi pianta dal ciel si buon terreno.

CANZONE.

RIDONSI donne e giovani amorosi
M' accostandosi attorno, e 'Perchè scrivi,
Perchè tu scrivi in lingua ignota e strana
Verseggiando d' amor, e come t'osi?
Dinne, se la tua speme sia mai vana,
E de' pensieri lo miglior t' arrivi!'
Così mi van burlando: ‘altri rivi,
Altri lidi t' aspettan, ed altre onde,
Nelle cui verdi sponde
Spuntati ad or ad or alla tua chioma

L'immortal guiderdon d' eterne frondi.
Perchè alle spalle tue soverchia soma?'
Canzon, dirotti, e tu per me rispondi :
'Dice mia Donna, e 'l suo dir è il mio cuore,
Questa è lingua di cui si vanta Amore.":

66

V.

DIODATI (e te 'l dirò con maraviglia),
Quel ritroso io, ch' amor spreggiar solea
E de' suoi lacci spesso mi ridea,

Già caddi, ov' uom dabben talor ş' impiglia. Nè treccie d'oro nè guancia vermiglia

M' abbaglian sì, ma sotto nova idea Pellegrina bellezza che 'l cuor bea, Portamenti alti onesti, e nelle ciglia Quel sereno fulgor d' amabil nero,

Parole adorne di lingua più d'una, El cantar che di mezzo l' emispero Traviar ben può la faticosa Luna;

E degli occhi suoi avventa sì gran fuoco
Che ' incerar gli orecchi mi fia poco.

VI.

PER certo i bei vostr' occhi, Donna mia,

Esser non può che non sian lo mio sole;
Sì mi percuoton forte, come ei suole
Per l'arene di Libia chi s' invia,
Mentre un caldo vapor (nè sentì pria)

Da quel lato si spinge ove mi duole,
Che forse amanti nelle lor parole
Chiaman sospir; io non so che si sia.
Parte rinchiusa e turbida si cela

Scossomi il petto, e poi n' uscendo poco Quivi d' attorno o s' agghiaccia o s'ingiela; Ma quanto agli occhi giunge a trovar loco Tutte le notti a me suol far piovose, Finchè mia alba rivien colma di rose.

VII.

GIOVANE, piano, e semplicetto amante,

Poichè fuggir me stesso in dubbio sono,
Madonna, a voi del mio cuor l'umil dono
Farò divoto. certo a prove tante

Io

N N

L' ebbi fedele, intrepido, costante,

Di pensieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono.
Quando rugge il gran mondo, e scocca il tuono,
S'arma di se, e d' intero diamante,
Tanto del forse e d' invidia sicuro,

Di timori, e speranze al popol use, Quanto d' ingegno e d'alto valor vago, E di cetra sonora, e delle Muse.

Sol troverete in tal parte men duro
Ove Amor mise l' insanabil ago.

VIII.

WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.

CAPTAIN or Colonel, or Knight in Arms,

Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize,
If deed of honour did thee ever please,

Guard them, and him within protect from harms. He can requite thee; for he knows the charms

That call fame on such gentle acts as these,
And he can spread thy name o'er lands and seas,
Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms.
Lift not thy spear against the Muses' bower:
The great Emathian conqueror bid spare
The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower
Went to the ground; and the repeated air

Of sad Electra's poet had the power
To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.

IX.

[TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.]

LADY, that in the prime of earliest youth

Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, And with those few art eminently seen That labour up the hill of heavenly Truth, The better part with Mary and with Ruth

Chosen thou hast; and they that overween, And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen, No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth. Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends

To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light,
And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure
Thou, when the Bridegroom with his feastful friends

Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night,
Hast gained thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure.

X.

TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.

DAUGHTER to that good Earl, once President
Of England's Council and her Treasury,
Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee,
And left them both, more in himself content,
Till the sad breaking of that Parliament

Broke him, as that dishonest victory
At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,

Killed with report that old man eloquent,
Though later born than to have known the days
Wherein your father flourished, yet by you,
Madam, methinks I see him living yet:
So well your words his noble virtues praise
That all both judge you to relate them true
And to possess them, honoured Margaret.

XI.

ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES.

A BOOK was writ of late called Tetrachordon,

And woven close, both matter, form, and style;
The subject new it walked the town a while,
Numbering good intellects; now seldom pored on.
Cries the stall-reader, “Bless us! what a word on
A title-page is this!"; and some in file

Stand spelling false, while one might walk to MileEnd Green. Why, is it harder, sirs, than Gordon, Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?

Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek
That would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.
Thy age, like ours, O soul of Sir John Cheek,

Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,
When thou taught'st Cambridge and King Edward Greek.

XII.

547

ON THE SAME.

I DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs
By the known rules of ancient liberty,

When straight a barbarous noise environs me
Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs;
As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs