Chapter 12

'And euen this self same Loue hath dauncing taught,'An Art that showes th' Idea of his minde'With vainesse, frenzie, and misorder fraught;'Sometimes with blood and cruelties vnkinde:'For in a daunce,Tereus'mad wife did finde'Fit time and place by murther[247]of her sonne,'T' auenge the wrong his trayterous sire had done.

101.

'What meane the mermayds when they daunce and sing'But certaine death vnto the marriner?'What tydings doe the dauncing dilphins[248]bring,'But that some dangerous storme approcheth nere?'Then sith both Loue and Dauncing lyueries beare'Of such ill hap, vnhappy may I[249]proue,'If sitting free I either daunce or loue.'

102.

Yet once againAntinousdid reply;'Great Queen, condemne not Loue[250]the innocent,'For this mischeuous lust, which traterously'Vsurps his name, and steales his ornament:'For that true Loue which Dauncing did inuent,'Is he that tun'd the World's whole harmony,'And linkt all men in sweet societie.

103.

'He first extracted from th' earth-mingled mind'That heau'nly fire, or quintessence diuine,'Which doth such simpathy in beauty find,'As is betweene the elme and fruitful vine,'And so to beauty euer doth encline;'Life's[251]life it is, and cordiall to the heart,'And of our better part, the better part.

104.

'Thisis true Loue, by that trueCupidgot,'Which daunceth galliards in your amorous eyes,'But to your frozen hart approcheth not—'Onely your hart he dares not enterprise;'And yet through euery other part he flyes,'And euery where he nimbly daunceth now,'Though[252]in your selfe, your selfe perceiue not how.

105.

'For your sweet beauty daintily transfus'd'With due proportion throughout euery part;'What is it but a daunce where Loue hath vs'd'His finer cunning, and more curious art?'Where all the elements themselues impart,'And turne, and wind, and mingle with such measure,'That th' eye that sees it surfeits with the pleasure?

106.

'Loue in the twinckling of your eylids daunceth,'Loue daunceth in your pulses and your vaines,'Loue when you sow, your needle's point aduanceth'And makes it daunce a thousand curious straines'Of winding rounds, whereof the forme remaines;'To shew, that your faire hands can daunce the hey,'Which your fine feet would learne as well as they.

107.

'And when your iuory fingers touch the strings'Of any siluer-sounding instrument;'Loue makes them daunce to those sweete murmerings,'With busie skill, and cunning excellent;'O that your feet those tunes would represent'With artificiall motions to and fro,'That Loue this art in ev'ry part might sho[w]e!

108.

'Yet your faire soule, which came from heau'n aboue'To rule thys house,—another heau'n below,—'With diuers powers in harmony doth moue,'And all the vertues that from her doe flow,'In a round measure hand in hand doe goe:'Could I now see, as I conceiue thys Daunce,'Wonder and Loue would cast me in a traunce.

109.

'The richest iewell in all the heau'nly treasure'That euer yet vnto the Earth was showne,'Is perfect Concord, th' onely perfect pleasure[253]'That wretched earth-borne men haue euer knowne,'For many harts it doth compound in one;'That when so one doth will, or speake, or doe,'With one consent they all agree thereto.

110.

'Concord's true picture shineth in this art,'Where diuers men and women rankèd be,'And euery one doth daunce a seuerall part,'Yet all as one, in measure doe agree,'Obseruing perfect vniformitie;'All turne together, all together trace,'And all together honour and embrace.

111.

'If they whom sacred Loue hath link't in one,'Doe as they daunce, in all their course of life,'Neuer shall burning griefe nor bitter mone,'Nor factious difference, nor vnkind strife,'Arise betwixt the husband and the wife;'For whether forth or bake[254]or round he goeAs the man doth, so must the woman doe.

112.

'What if by often enterchange of place'Sometime the woman gets the vpper hand?'That is but done for more delightfull grace,'For one[255]that part shee doth not euer stand;'But, as the measure's law doth her command,'Shee wheeles about, and ere the daunce doth end,'Into her former place shee doth transcend.

113.

'But not alone this correspondence meet'And vniform consent doth dauncing praise;'ForComlinesthe child of order sweet,[2]'Enamels it with her eye-pleasing raies;'Fair Comlines, ten hundred thousand waies,'Through dauncing shedds it selfe, and makes shine'With glorious beauty, and with grace diuine.

114.

'ForComlinessis a disposing faire'Of things and actions in fit time and place;'Which doth in dauncing shew it selfe most cleere,'When troopes confus'd, which here and there doe trace'Without distinguishment or bounded space:'By dauncing's rule, into such ranks are brought,'As glads the eye, as rauisheth the thought.

115.

'Then why should Reason iudge that reasonles'Which is wit's ofspring, and the worke of art,'Image of concord and of comlines?'Who sees a clock mouing in euery part,'A sayling pinnesse,[256]or a wheeling cart;'But thinks that Reason, ere it came to passe'The first impulsiue cause and mouer was?

116.

'Who sees an Armie all in ranke aduance,'But deemes a wise Commaunder is in place,'Which leadeth on that braue victorious daunce?'Much more in Dauncing's Art, in Dauncing's grace,'Blindnes it selfe may Reason's footstep trace;'For of Loue's maze it is the curious plot,'And of Man's fellowship the true-love knot.

117.

'But if these eyes of yours, (load-starrs of Loue,'Shewing the World's great daunce to your mind's eye!)'Cannot with all their demonstrations moue'Kinde apprehension in your fantasie,'Of Dauncing's vertue, and nobilitie;'How can my barbarous tongue win you there to,'Which Heau'n and Earth's faire speech could neuer do?

118.

'O Loue my king: if all my wit and power'Haue done you all the seruice that they can,'O be you present in this present hower,'And help your seruant and your true Leige-man'End that perswasion which I earst began;'For who in praise of Dauncing can perswade'With such sweet force as Loue, which Dancing made?

119.

Loue heard his prayer, and swifter then the wind,Like to a page, in habit, face, and speech,He came, and stoodAntinousbehind,And many secrets to his thoughts did teach;[257]At last a christall mirrour he did reachVnto his hands, that he with one rash view,All formes therein by Loue's reuealing knew.

120.

And humbly honouring, gaue it to the QueeneWith this faire speech: 'See fairest Queene (quoth he)'The fairest sight that euer shall be seene,'And th' onely wonder of posteritie,'The richest worke in Nature's treasury;'Which she disdaines to shew on this World's stage,'And thinkes it far too good for our rude age.

121.

'But in another World diuided far:'In the great, fortunate, triangled Ile,'Thrise twelue degrees remou'd from the North star,'She will this glorious workemanship compile;'Which she hath beene conceiuing all this while'Since the World's birth, and will bring forth at last,'When sixe and twenty hundred yeares are past.'

122.

Penelope, the Queene, when she had view'dThe strang eye-dazeling, admirable sight,Faine would have praisd the state and pulchritude,But she was stricken dumbe with wonder quite,Yet her sweet minde retain'd her thinking might;Her rauisht minde in heaunly thoughts did dwel,But what she thought, no mortall tongue can tel.

123.

You lady Muse, whomIouethe CounsellourBegot of Memorie, Wisdom's treasuresse;To your diuining tongue is giuen a powerOf vttering secrets large and limitlesse:You canPenelope'sstrange thoughts expresseWhich she conceiu'd, and then would faine haue told,When shee the wond'rous christall did behold.

124.

Her wingèd thoughts bore vp her minde so hie,As that she weend shee saw the glorious throneWhere the bright moone doth sit in maiesty:A thousand sparkling starres about her shone,But she herselfe did sparkle more aloneThen all those thousand beauties would haue doneIf they had been confounded all in one.

125.

And yet she thought those stars mou'd in such measure.To do their soueraigne honor and delight,As sooth'd her minde, with sweet enchanting plesure,Although the various change amaz'd her sight,And her weake iudgement did entangle quite;Beside, their mouing made them shine more cleare,As diamonds mou'd more sparkling do appeare.

126.

This was the picture of her wondrous thought;But who can wonder that her thought was so,SithVulcanking of fire that mirror wrought,(Who things to come, present, and past, doth know)And there did represent in liuely showOur glorious English Courts diuine image,As it should be in this our Golden Age.

Here are wanting some Stanzaes describing Queene Elizabeth. Then follow these.

127.

Her brighter dazeling beames of maiestieWere laid aside, for she vouchsaft awhileWith gracious, cheerefull, and familiar eyeVpon the reuels of her Court to smile;For so Time's Iourneis she doth oft beguile:Like sight no mortall eye might elsewhere see,So full of State, Art, and varietie.

128.

For of her barons braue, and ladies faire,—Who had they been elsewhere, most faire had been;Many an incomparable louely payre,With hand in hand were interlinkèd seene,Making faire honour to their soueraigne Queene;Forward they pac'd, and did their pace applyTo a most sweet and solemne melody.

129.

So subtile and curious was the measure,With such[258]vnlookt for chaunge in euery straine;As thatPeneloperapt with sweet pleasure,Weend[259]shee beheld the true proportion plaineOf her owne webb, weaud and unweaud againe;But that her art was somewhat lesse she thought,And on a meere ignoble subiect wrought.

130.

For here like to the silkeworme's industry,Beauty it selfe out of it selfe did weaueSo rare a worke, and of such subtilty,As did all eyes entangle and deceiue,And in all mindes a strange impression leaue;In this sweet laborinth didCupidstray,And neuer had the power to passe away.

131.

As when the Indians, neighbours of the morning,In honour of the cheerefull rising sunne;With pearle and painted plumes themselues adorning,A solemne stately measure haue begun;The god well pleasd with that faire honour done,Sheds foorth his beames, and doth their faces kisWith that immortal glorious face of his.

132.

So, &c., &c. * * *

Such is 'Orchestra' as given by the Author in 1622: but in the first edition (1596) no fewer than five omitted stanzas are found. They here follow.

127.

Away, Terpsechore, light Muse away!And come Vranie, prophetese diuine;Come, Muse of heau'n, my burning thirst allay:Euen now for want of sacred drinke I tine:In heau'nly moysture dip thys pen of mine,And let my mouth with nectar ouerflow,For I must more then mortall glory show.

128.

O, that I had Homer's aboundant vaine,I would hierof another Ilias make:Or els the man of Mantua's[260]charmèd braine,In whose large throat great Joue the thunder spake.O that I could old Gefferie's[261]Muse awake,Or borrow Colin's[262]fayre heroike stile,Or smooth my rimes with Delia's servants file.[263]

129.

O, could I, sweet Companion, sing like you,Which, of a shadow, under a shadow sing;[264]Or, likeSalue'ssad lover true,Or like the Bay, the Marigold's darling,[265]Whose suddaine verse Loue covers with his wing:O that your braines were mingled all with mine,T' inlarge my wit for this great worke diuine!

130.

Yet, Astrophell might one for all suffize,Whose supple Muse Camelion-like doth changeInto all formes of excellent deuise:So might the Swallow,[266]whose swift Muse doth rangeThrough rare Idæas, and inuentions strange,And euer doth enioy her ioyfull Spring,And sweeter then the Nightingale doth sing.

131.

O that I might that singing Swallow heare,To whom I owe my seruice and my loue!His sugred tunes would so enchant mine eare,And in my mind such sacred fury moue,As I should knock at Heau'ns gate aboue,With my proude rimes, while of this heau'nly stateI doe aspire the shadow to relate.[267]

Finis.

Uniform with the present volume.

EARLY ENGLISH POETS

Edited, with Introductions and copious Notes, by the Rev A. B. Grosart. Elegantly printed on fine paper, Crown 8vo., Cloth, 6s. per volume.

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I. FLETCHER'S (GILES B. D.) COMPLETE POEMS, Christ's Victorie in Heaven, Christ's Victorie on Earth, Christ's Triumph over Death, and Minor Poems, with Memorial-Introduction and Notes.II. DAVIES' (SIR JOHN) COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS, including Psalms I. to L. in Verse, and other hitherto unpublished MSS., for the first time collected and edited, with Memorial-Introduction and Notes, 2 volumes.III. HERRICK'S (ROBERT) HESPERIDES, NOBLE NUMBERS, and complete Collected Poems, with Notes, Introductory Memoir, and facsimile Portrait, Index of First Lines and Glossary, 3 volumes. [In thepress.IV. SIDNEY'S (SIR PHILIP) COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS, including the Songs and Sonnets, Astrophel and Stella, the May Lady, &c., &c., with Memorial-Introduction and copious notes. [In preparation.V. DONNE'S (JOHN) COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS, including the Poems on Several Occasions, the Satyrs, Polydoran, &c., &c., with Introductory Memoir and copious Explanatory Notes. [In preparation.

I. FLETCHER'S (GILES B. D.) COMPLETE POEMS, Christ's Victorie in Heaven, Christ's Victorie on Earth, Christ's Triumph over Death, and Minor Poems, with Memorial-Introduction and Notes.

II. DAVIES' (SIR JOHN) COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS, including Psalms I. to L. in Verse, and other hitherto unpublished MSS., for the first time collected and edited, with Memorial-Introduction and Notes, 2 volumes.

III. HERRICK'S (ROBERT) HESPERIDES, NOBLE NUMBERS, and complete Collected Poems, with Notes, Introductory Memoir, and facsimile Portrait, Index of First Lines and Glossary, 3 volumes. [In thepress.

IV. SIDNEY'S (SIR PHILIP) COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS, including the Songs and Sonnets, Astrophel and Stella, the May Lady, &c., &c., with Memorial-Introduction and copious notes. [In preparation.

V. DONNE'S (JOHN) COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS, including the Poems on Several Occasions, the Satyrs, Polydoran, &c., &c., with Introductory Memoir and copious Explanatory Notes. [In preparation.

Other volumes are in active preparation.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1]Through B. H. Beedham, Esq., as before, I have many details on the two contemporary Sir John Davieses from Sir Bernard Burke Ulster King at Arms, &c., &c., and J. N. C. Atkinson Davis, Esqr., Dublin; and the same acknowledgment has to be made on many points in the Life.

[2]Carte Papers, folios 330-334: Vol. XII. The particular MS. is headed "Notes of the life of Sr John Dauys. May 2d. 1674." These Notes are not very accurate. To begin with, the father's name is mistakenly given as Edward instead of John.

[3]In MS. F 4, 18, Trinity College, Dublin, the same origin is given, but the place beyond ... 'wyn' is illegible in both.

[4]Hoare's Wilts. gives many names; but his pedigrees are rarely trustworthy; as a rule, are exceedingly untrustworthy.

[5]The MSS. of notesupra.

[6]Wilts., as before, on Davies, Vol. IV. part I., p. 136; on Bennetts, Vol. III., part II., p. 107.

[7]Lives of Eminent Serjeants, 2 vols., 8vo. (1869). By H. William Woolrych, Sergeant-at-Law: Vol. I., p. 187. Considerable industry is shown in this work, but it literally swarms with blunders.

[8]In the fuller Life to be prefixed to the Prose Works, I hope to furnish more details.

[9]In the same I intend to give account of these Registers, and the many Davies entries, &c.

[10]From the original books, assupra. See Pearce's Inns of Court, p. 293, where it is stated that the elder Davies was a legal practitioner in Wilts.

[11]There is a copy at Lambeth.

[12]There is a copy in the Bodleian.

[13]See Woolrych, as before, and the authorities therein given. At the end of Thomas Coriate's "Traveller for the English Wits," W. Jaggard, 1616 (4to), is a list of his acquaintances, to whom he desires "the commendations of my dutiful respects." Among them occurs "Mr. Richard Martin, Counsellor."

[14]Lord Stowell wrote an elaborate Paper on the whole matter, and the restoration of Davies. It appeared in "Archæologia," Vol. XXI. I propose to write the narrativein extensoin my fuller Life, as before.

[15]Lord Stowell, as before.

[16]Vol. I., pp. 115-116, "Nosce Teipsum."

[17]See Vol. I., pp. 9-11. The date 1592, sometimes (modernly) appended to the dedication of "Nosce Teipsum," has no authority, and is in contradiction with all the known facts and circumstances. Equally erroneous and misleading is the ultra-rhetorically given chronology in "Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne," (2 Vols., 8vo., 1864), which bears the name of the present Duke of Manchester, as thus:—"This Templar ... who wrote a noble work on the immortality of the soul in the very hey-day of his young blood, who afterwards became famous for his gravity as a judge, his wisdom as a politician, and his soundness as a statesman, terminated his literary career as the author of a poem in praise of dancing," (Vol. I., p. 289). This is precisely the reverse of the fact. In his earlier hot-blooded days he threw off his gay and self-named "light" verses. In an interval of penitent self-inspection and worthier aspiration, he wrote "Nosce Teipsum," and he followed this up by ever-deepened grave, wise and weighty (prose) books. It is a pity (perhaps) to spoil your brilliant bits of antithetic scandal; and more pity that they should be hazarded for inevitable spoiling. Or put it in another way: it is too bad to have your cook serving up the Roast Beef of Old England as if it were strawberries (and cream). One need not use severer terms, knowing the ducal editorship is a blind. Campbell in his "Specimens," preceded in the blundering.

[18]In Memorial-Introduction to Poems, as before, pp. 15-21.

[19]See Vol. II., pp. 72-86.

[20]Ibid, pp. 87-95. See on this in second division of this Memorial-Introduction: Postscript.

[21]See Lord Stowell's Paper, in Archælogia, Vol. XXI., pp. 107-112, and our fuller Life, as before.

[22]See Prose Works, as before, Vol. II. With reference to the Lines to the Lord Chancellor on the death of his "second wife" (Vol. I. pp. 112-3) it may be noted that he married (1) Elizabeth, d. of Thomas Ravenscroft of Bretton, co. Flint, Esq., (2) Elizabeth, sister of Sir George More of Loseley co. Surrey, Kt., and widow of Sir John Wolley of Pirford, Surrey, Kt., and before him of Richard Polsted, Esq., of Aldbury, co. Surrey. Her second husband Sir John Wolley (sometimes spelled Wooley) died in February or March 1595-6 and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. She appears to have remarried (viz. the Lord Chancellor) in the same year: so that she did not live long thereafter; for she died on 20th January 1599-1600 and was buried with her second husband. The Lord Chancellor was in profound grief (as the Lines of Davies confirm); but he got over it sufficiently to marry (3) Alice, d. of Sir John Spencer of Althorpe co. Northampton, Kt., and widow of Ferdinando, 5th Earl of Derby, on 21st October of the same year (1599-1600) exactly nine months after the death of his (lamented) second wife. She survived the Lord Chancellor until 26th January 1636-7 and was buried at Harefield, co. Middlesex. Of Ellesmere himself thesedatamay be given: Sir Thomas Egerton was created Lord Ellesmere 21 July 1603, upon his appointment as Lord High Chancellor of England. He was further created Viscount Brackley 7th Nov. 1616, and was about being made Earl of Bridgewater when he died 15th March 1616-7. His son John was so created 27th May 1617.

[23]Vol. I., pp. 12-13.

[24]The Carte "Notes," as before, make Davies go to the Scottish Court on the birth of Prince Henry; but this is an obvious mistake: and yet it is noticeable that among the hitherto unpublished poems is one to the King, wherein contemporary allusion is made to his Majesty's visit to Denmark for his Queen.

[25]Wood, as before, ii., p. 401.

[26]See my edition of Sir Philip Sidney, being prepared for reproduction from the Fuller Worthies' Library in the present Series.

[27]Sir Bernard Burke and J. N. C. Atkins Davis, Esq., communications through Mr. Beedham, as before.

[28]See Smith's Law Officers of Ireland,s.n.The Patent of 29th May, 1609, I propose to givein extensoin the Life, as before. It is extremely interesting.

[29]As Sergeant-at-Law he ought to have been resident in London, but the King gave him "dispensation" that he might return to Ireland.

[30]Carte MSS. ff. 315-6.

[31]Carte, as before, Vol. 62, ff. 313-14.

[32]See Life to be prefixed to Prose Works for quotations from her writings in verse and prose, and for further details.

[33]See Prose, Vol. II.

[34]See fuller Life, as before, for a complete narrative from contemporary documents.

[35]Ibid, Vol. III.

[36]Willis's Nat. Parl., Vol. III., p. 173.

[37]In the Life, as before, will be given full details of the Grants, with a curious paper of his daughter long afterwards making inquiries as to what had become of the Irish estates, &c., &c.

[38]It will be observed that in the Letter Sir John does not name the gentleman he wishes to succeed him. It was no doubt Sir William Ryves, who actually was appointed. The "neere alliance" was through the family of Mervyn, and is shown in the following details drawn up for me by Mr. B. H. Beedham, from information communicated by Mr. J. N. C. Davis, as before:George Touchet,Earl of CastlehavenLucy, d. of Sir James Mervyn,Fonthill, Wilts.32Sir John DaviesLady Eleanor TouchetEdward DavysJoan CaveMatthew Davysb. 1595 ob. 1678.Ann d. of Edward Mervyn of Fonthill,ob. 8th Nov. 1657.John Ryves of Daunsey CourtElizabeth d. of John Mervyn(several children)68th son.Sir William Ryves settled in Ireland; had numerous appointments, and made large purchases of estates; Attorney General.Sir Thomas Ryves, Master in Chancery: Judge of the Prerogative Court there.

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