[CHIDIOCK TYCH BOURNE, of Southampton, was executed with Ballard and Babington in 1586.* Mr. Collier's MS. contains a copy of these verses, with a reply to them, of which the commencement may be cited here:

66
AN

ANSWERE TO MR TICHBORNE

WHO

WAS EXECUTED WTH BABINGTON.

"Thy flower of youth is with a north wind blasted;
Thy feast of Joye is an Idea found;

Thy Corne is shed; thy vntimely haruest wasted;
Thy good in ill, thy hope in hurt [is drowned ?];t

* Mr. D'Israeli, who has devoted to him an Article in his Curiosities of Literature, gives these verses from one of the Harl. MSS. and remarks, in the note, that they have, at one time, been assigned to Raleigh. Of course he is quite correct in treating this as a mere blunder. (p. 236, ed. 1839.) + MS.' as wasted'-the writer's eye having caught the line above.

Darke was thy daye, & shadow was thy Sun;
And, by such lights, thy life vntimely spun.
"Thy tale was nought; thy Oratory told;

Thy fruite is rotten, & thy leaues are gone;

Thy selfe wert young in yeares, in tyme growne old;

The world accoumpts thee not worth thinking on;" &c.

Copies of Tychbourne's lines are found in numerous MSS.; but some of them agree very nearly with the text here printed (e. g. Mr. Collier's, and one in MS. Ashm. 781, p. 138). I have given the variations from Mr. D'Israeli's copy, (=A.) and from one in MS. Malone 19, p. 44. (=B.) Their titles correspond (except in mere verbal differences) with that printed above. It seems that the first and second stanzas were printed, with considerable alterations, in Este's Madrigals, 1604. See Cens. Lit. ii. 101, 2nd edit.]

1.

Y prime of Youth is but a Frost of Cares;
My Feast of joy is but a Dish of pain;

M

[5]

My Crop of Corn is but a Field of Tares; And all my good is but vain hope of gain: The day is [fled], and yet I saw no Sun; And now I live, and now my life is done!

2. The Spring is past, and yet it hath not sprung; The Fruit is dead, and yet the leaves are green;

My youth is gone, and yet I am but young; [10] I saw the World, and yet I was not seen:

My Thread is cut, and yet it is not spun;

And now I live, and now my life is done!

3. I sought my Death, and found it in my Womb; I looked for Life, and saw it was a shade;

[15] I trod the Earth, and knew it was my Tomb; And now I die, and now I am but made:

The Glass is full, and now my Glass is run;

And now I live, and now my Life is done!

6

[VARIATIONS.-2. 'ioyes'-B.-4. 'goodes'—A.-5. ‘fleď’—A. (So also Mr. Collier's MS. and MS. Ashm.) In Rel. Wott. and B. 'past'-which occurs directly afterwards.-7. ' My Spring'— A. 'My tale was heard, & yet it was not told'-B.-8. 'My fruite is falne, & yet my leaues are greene'-B.-9. 'My youth is spent, & yet I am not old'-B. My youth is past'-A. (The readings of B. in this stanza seem to be supported by the Answere" quoted above.)—13. 'for death'-A. 'the wombe'-A B.-14. 'and yet it was'-A.-15. 'I trade the ground'—A.— 16. 'I was but made'-B.-17. 'My glasse is full’—B. ‘and yet'-A.]

66

[THIS piece, again, is claimed for Raleigh by Sir Egerton Brydges, on the authority of the signature. He remarks,— "If we admit this to be Raleigh's, what shall we say to the foul charge of Atheism, or even Deism, which has been made against him? The second and third stanzas are vigorous and sublime." Fortunately, we have better evidence than this to prove that the charge against Raleigh was hasty and unjust. The piece is retained in the Oxford edition of his works (viii. 707); and received by Mr. Tytler with implicit confidence. "It was probably about the same time," he tells us, referring generally to the period of his long imprisonment," that this fine hymn was composed......Making allowance for their occasional quaintness, the fault not of the writer but of the age, there are few who will not in these small pieces recognise that fiery stamp which marks the true gold of the imagination from its counterfeit." (Life of

Raleigh, p. 287, ed. 1840.)

There is a copy of it, without a signature, in Mr. Collier's MS., but as the variations appeared to be generally for the worse, I did not mark them.]

1.

2.

ISE, oh my Soul, with thy desires to
Heaven,

And with Divinest Contemplation use
Thy time, where times eternity is given,
And let vain thoughts no more thy thoughts*
abuse;

But down in darkness let them lie;

So live thy better, let thy worse thoughts die!

And thou, my Soul, inspir'd with holy flame,
View and review, with most regardful Eye,
That holy Cross, whence thy Salvation came,
On which thy Saviour, and thy Sin, did die!
For in that sacred Object is much pleasure,
And in that Saviour is my Life,
my Treasure.

3. To thee (O Jesu!) I derect my Eye[s];

To thee my hands, to thee my humble Knees; To thee my Heart shall offer Sacrifice;

To thee my thoughts, who my thoughts only

sees:

To thee my self,—my self and all I give;
To thee I die; to thee I only live!

IGNOTO.

* So all the editions, old and new; and I have not marked any variation from the MS. But it can scarcely be correct.-Again, the brevity of the fifth line is not countenanced by the form of the other stanzas.-In the first line of the third stanza, the eds. have 'eie' or Eye'-which the rhyme would be sufficient to correct; and in the MS. it is 'myne eyes'—•