I thought that morning cloud was blessed, It moved so sweetly to the west.

I. saw two summer currents

Flow smoothly to their meeting,
And join their course, with silent force,

In peace each other greeting ;
Calm was their course through banks of green,
While dimpling eddies played between.

Where now I plain
Alas ! in vain,

Lacking my life for liberty.
For without th' one,
Th' other is gone,
And there can none

It remedy;
If th' one be past,
Th' other doth waste,

And all for lack of liberty.
And so I drive,
As yet alive,
Although I strive

With misery;
Drawing my breath,
Looking for death,

And loss of life for liberty.
But thou that still,
May'st at thy will,
Turn all this ill

Adversity ;
For the repair,
Of my welfare,

Grant me but life and liberty.
And if not so,
Then let all go
To wretched woe,

And let me die ;
For th' one or th' other,
There is none other;
My death, or life with liberty.

SIR THOMAS WYATT.

Such be your gentle motion,

Till life's last pulse shall beat ;
Like summer's beam, and summer's stream,

Float on, in joy, to meet
A calmer sea, where storms shall cease,
A purer sky, where all is peace.

JOHN G. C. BRAINARD.

LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY.

The fountains mingle with the river,

And the rivers with the ocean ; The winds of heaven mix forever,

With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single ;

All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle :-

Why not I with thine ?

See! the mountains kiss high heaven,

And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven

If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,

And the moonbeams kiss the sea :-
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

MY TRUE-LOVE HATH MY HEART. My true love hath my heart, and I have his,

By just exchange one to the other given : I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,

There never was a better bargain driven : My true-love hath my heart, and I have his.

His heart in me keeps him and me in one ; My heart in him his thoughts and senses

guides : He loves my heart, for once it was his own;

I cherish his because in me it bides : My true-love hath my heart, and I have his.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

THOSE EYES.
An! do not wanton with those eyes,

Lest I be sick with seeing ;
Nor cast them down, but let them rise,

Lest shame destroy their being.

I SAW TWO CLOUDS AT MORNING.

I saw two clouds at morning,

Tinged by the rising sun,
And in the dawn they floated on,

And mingled into one ;

Ah! be not angry with those fires,

For then their threats will kill me ; Nor look too kind on my desires,

For then my hopes will spill me. Ah! do not steep them in thy tears,

For so will sorrow slay me; Nor spread them as distraught with fears, Mine own enough betray me.

BEN JONSON.

Martha soon did it resign
To the beauteous Catharine.

Beauteous Catharine gave place
(Though loath and angry she to part
With the possession of my heart)

To Eliza's conquering face. Eliza till this hour might reign, Had she not evil counsels ta'en ;

Fundamental laws she broke, And still new favorites she chose, Till up in arms my passions rose,

And cast away her yoke. Mary then, and gentle Anne, Both to reign at once began ;

Alternately they swayed ;
And sometimes Mary was the fair,
And sometimes Anne the crown did wear,

And sometimes both I obeyed.
Another Mary then arose,
And did rigorous laws impose ;

A mighty tyrant she !
Long, alas ! should I have been
Under that iron-sceptred queen,

Had not Rebecca set me free.
When fair Rebecca set me free,
'T was then a golden time with me:

But soon those pleasures fled ; For the gracious princess died. In her youth and beauty's pride,

And Judith reigned in her stead. One month, three days, and half an hour, Judith held the sovereign power :

Wondrous beautiful her face !
But so weak and small her wit,
That she to govern was unfit,

And so Susanna took her place.
But when Isabella came,
Armed with a resistless flame,

And the artillery of her eye,
Whilst she proudly marched about,
Greater conquests to find out,

She beat out Susan, by the by. But in her place I then obeyed Black-eyed Bess, her viceroy-maid,

To whom ensued a vacancy : Thousand worse passions then possessed The interregnum of my breast;

Bless me from such an anarchy!
Gentle Henrietta then,
And a third Mary next began;

Then Joan, and Jane, and Andria ;
And then a pretty Thomasine,
And then another Catharine,

And then a long et cætera.

Gie me a canny hour at e'en,

My arms about my dearie 0, An' warly cares an’ warly men

May all gae tapsalteerie 0.

For you sae douce, ye sneer at this,

Ye're naught but senseless asses O! The wisest man the warl' e'er saw

He dearly lo'ed the lasses 0.

Auld Nature swears the lovely dears

Her noblest work she classes 0 : Her 'prentice han' she tried on man,

An' then she made the lasses 0.

ROBERT BURNS.

THE CHRONICLE.

MARGARITA first possessed,
If I remember well, my breast,

Margarita first of all ;
But when awhile the wanton maid
With my restless heart had played,

Martha took the flying ball.

But I will briefer with them be,
Since few of them were long with me.

An higher and a nobler strain
My present emperess does claim,
Heleonora, first of the name ;
Whom God grant long to reign !

ABRAHAM COWLEY.

A DOUBT.

FROM THE THIRD BOOK OF LAWES'S AYRES.

FAIN would I love, but that I fear
I quickly should the willow wear;
Fain would I marry, but men say
When love is tied he will away ;
Then tell me, love, what shall I do,
To cure these fears, whene'er I woo ?

The fair one she's a mark to all,
The brown each one doth lovely call,
The black 's a pearl in fair men's eyes,
The rest will stoop at any prize ;
Then tell me, love, what shall I do,
To cure these fears whene'er I woo ?

DR. R. HUGHES.

WISHES FOR THE SUPPOSED MISTRESS.

WHOE'ER she be,
That not impossible She
That shall command my heart and me;
Where'er she lie,
Locked up from mortal eye
In shady leaves of destiny:
Till that ripe birth
Of studied Fate stand forth,
And teach her fair steps to our earth ;
Till that divine
Idea take a shrine
Of crystal flesh, through which to shine :

Meet you her, my Wishes,
Bespeak her to my blisses,
And be ye called, my absent kisses.
I wish her beauty
That owes not all its duty
To gaudy tire, or glist'ring shoe-tie :
Something more than
Taffeta or tissue can,
Or rampant feather, or rich fan.
A face that's best
By its own beauty drest,
And can alone command the rest :

My dear and only love, I pray,

This noble world of thee
Be governed by no other sway

But purest monarchie.
For if confusion have a part,

Which virtuous souls abhore, And hold a synod in thy heart,

I'll never love thee more.

THE LOVELINESS OF LOVE.

It is not Beauty I demand,

A crystal brow, the moon's despair, Nor the snow's daughter, a white hand,

Nor mermaid's yellow p ide of hair : Tell me not of your starry eyes,

Your lips that seem on roses fed, Your breasts, where Cupid tumbling lies

Nor sleeps for kissing of his bed, A bloomy pair of vermeil cheeks

Like Hebe's in her ruddiest hours, A breath that softer music speaks

Than summer winds a-wooing flowers ; These are but gauds : nay, what are lips ?

Coral beneath the ocean-stream, Whose brink when your adventurer slips

Full oft he perisheth on them.

Like Alexander I will reign,

And I will reign alone,
My thoughts shall evermore disdain

A rival on my throne.
He either fears his fate too much,

Or his deserts are small,
That puts it not unto the touch,

To win or lose it all.

JAMES GRAHAM, Earl of Montrose,

MY CHOICE.

And what are cheeks, but ensigns oft

That wave hot youth to fields of blood ? Did Helen's breast, though ne'er so soft,

Do Greece or Ilium any good ?

SHALL I tell you whom I love!

Hearken then awhile to me; And if such a woman move

As I now shall versify,
Be assured 't is she or none,
That I love, and love alone.

Nature did her so much right

As she scorns the help of art.
In as many virtues dight

As e'er yet embraced a heart.
So much good so truly tried,
Some for less were deified.
Wit she hath, without desier

To make known how much she hath;. And her anger flames no higher

Than may fitly sweeten wrath.
Full of pity as may be,
Though perhaps not so to me.
Reason masters every sense,

And her virtues grace her birth;
Lovely as all excellence,

Modest in her most of mirth. Likelihood enough to prove Only worth could kindle love. Such she is; and if you know

Such a one as I have sung ;
Be she brown, or fair, or so

That she be but somewhat young;
Be assured 't is she, or none,
That I love, and love alone.

LOVE ME LITTLE, LOVE ME LONG.

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN 1569.
Love me little, love me long!
Is the burden of my song:
Love that is too hot and strong

Burneth soon to waste.
Still I would not have thee cold, -
Not too backward, nor too bold ;
Love that lasteth till 't is old .

Fadeth not in haste.
Love me little, love me long!
Is the burden of my song.
If thou lovest me too much,
"T will not prove as true a touch;
Love me little more than such, -

For I fear the end.
I'm with little well content,
And a little from thee sent
Is enough, with true intent

To be steadfast, friend.
Say thou lovest me, while thou live
I to thee my love will give,
Never dreaming to deceive

While that life endures;
Nay, and after death, in sooth,
I to thee will keep my truth,
As now when in my May of youth :

This my love assures.
Constant love is moderate ever,
And it will through life persever;
Give me that with true endeavor,

I will it restore.
A suit of durance let it be,
For all weathers, — that for me, -
For the land or for the sea :

Lasting evermore.
Winter's cold or summer's heat,
Autumn's tempests on it beat;
It can never know defeat,

Never can rebel :
Such the love that I would gain,
Such the love, I tell thee plain,
Thou must give, or woo in vain :
So to thee — farewell!

ANONYMOUS

WILLIAM BROWNE.

SONG.

But a smooth and steadfast mind

Gentle thoughts, and calm desires, Hearts with equal love combined,

Kindle never-dying fires :Where these are not, I despise Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes.

T. CAREW,

SHALL I love you like the wind, love,

That is so fierce and strong, That sweeps all barriers from its path

And recks not right or wrong? The passion of the wind, love,

Can never last for long.