SPRING.

Summer is come, for every spray now springs ;
The hart hath hung his old head on the pale;
The buck in brake his winter coat he flings;
The fishes flete with new-repaired scale;
The adder all her slough away she slings;
The swift swallow pursueth the flies smale;
The busy bee her honey now she mings;
Winter is worn that was the flowers' bale:
And thus I see among these pleasant things
Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs.

HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY.

COME, SLEEP, O SLEEP.

COME, Sleep, O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,
The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,
The indifferent judge between the high and low.
With shield of proof shield me from out the prease
Of those fierce darts, Despair at me doth throw;
O make in me those civil wars to cease:

I will good tribute pay, if thou do so.

Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed;
A chamber, deaf to noise, and blind to light;

COME, SLEEP, O SLEEP.

A rosy garland, and a weary head.
And if these things, as being thine by right,
Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me
Livelier than elsewhere Stella's image see.

Having this day my horse, my hand my lance
Guided so well, that I obtain'd the prize,
Both by the judgment of the English eyes,
And of some sent from that sweet enemy France;
Horsemen my skill in horsemanship advance;
Townfolks my strength; a daintier judge applies
His praise to sleight which from good use doth rise;
Some lucky wits impute it but to chance;
Others, because of both sides I do take
My blood from them who did excel in this,
Think Nature me a man of arms did make.
How far they shot awry! the true cause is,
Stella look'd on, and from her heavenly face
Sent forth the beams which made so fair my race.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

EARLY RISING AND PRAYER

MY MIND TO ME A KINGDOM IS

Samuel Daniel.
Michael Drayton.
George Herbert.

Ben Jonson.

Phineas Fletcher.
Robert Herrick.

BORN DIED PAGE 1563 1619 45 1563 1631 46 1593 1632 48 49

52

53

54

56

57

Sir Henry Wotton.
Sir John Suckling.
Francis Quarles.

1568 1639
1608 1641

1592 1644

William Drummond. 1585 1649

1574 1637

James Shirley.
George Wither.

DEATH'S FINAL CONQUEST

ON A STOLEN KISS .

CHRISTMAS.

THE LARK NOW LEAVES HIS WATERY NEST Sir William Davenant. 1605

THE ANGLER'S WISH

Izaak Walton.
Edmund Waller.

Go, LOVELY ROSE

Henry Vaughan.

Anon.

59

60

1584 1650 61

1591

--

64

69

70

71 1668 76 1593 1683 77 1605 1687 79 1614 1695 81 82

1596

1588

1666

1667

The Editor has included a few Poems which were written before the time of Elizabeth, and a few which properly belong to the early part of the reign of James the First. They all partake of a similar character, and stand unrivalled for the elegance of their language and their exquisite thought.