Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

but it was only to fetch more company, returning with a surcrew of those splenetick Vapours that are called Hypochondriacal; of which, most say, the Cure is good Company; and I desire no better Physician than your self. I have in one of those fits endeavoured to make it more easie by composing a short Hymn: and since I have apparelled my best Thoughts so lightly as in Verse, I hope I shall be pardoned a second vanity, if I communicate it with such a Friend as your self; to whom I wish a chearful Spirit, and a thankful heart to value it, as one of the greatest Blessings of our good God; in whose dear love I leave you, remaining

Your poor Friend to serve you,

H. WOTTON."

This letter has no date; and the one which precedes it in Rel. Wotton. could not be written till after Feb. 6: 1638-9:* but I think there is a little evidence to shew that the letter containing the verses was written nearly a year before that time; for the expressions in the following extract so closely resemble those quoted above, that they can scarcely relate to any other poem; "I send you a few poor Lines, which my pains did beget: I pray keep them under your own favorable Judgment, and impart them tenderly to others; for I fear that even the best of our thoughts may be vainly clothed." (Rel. Wotton. p. 376.) This other letter is undated, like the former; but Wotton observes in it, that Sir Thomas Roe was "to take his leave on Sunday next at Court," in order to go to Hamburgh; and Garrard mentions his departure in a letter dated May 10: 1638: (Strafforde Letters, ii. 167.)

The Variations are from four copies of the piece; viz. A =Sancroft's,-MS. Tann. 465. p. 137.-B-MS. Rawl. Poet. 147. p. 101.-C=MS. Ashm. 38. No, 172.—D=

See Nicolas's Life of Walton, p. xiii. and Biogr. Not. of Bp. Henry King, 1843, p. xxxii.

Campbell's copy, as above. It will be seen, that Malone's transcript does not exactly agree with any of the MSS. The title which he gives it is taken from the Rawl. MS.]

[5]

H thou great Power! in whom I move,
For whom I Live, to whom I Die,
Behold me through thy beams of Love,
Whilst on this Couch of Tears I lie;
And cleanse my sordid Soul within
By thy Christs Blood, the Bath of Sin.

No hallowed Oyls, no grains I need,
No Rags of Saints, no purging Fire;
One Rosie drop from David's Seed
[10] Was Worlds of Seas to quench thine Ire.
O precious Ransome! which once paid,
That Consummatum est was said;

And said by him that said no more,
But seal'd it with his Sacred Breath :
[15] Thou, then, that hast dispong'd my Score,
And dying wast the Death of Death,

[ocr errors]

Be to me now, on Thee I call,

My Life, my Strength, my Joy, my All!
H. WOTTON.

[VARIATIONS.-1. ' wee move'-A B C D.-2. ' By whom wee live, to whom wee die'-A B C D.-4. While in'-A C.-7. 'no gums I need'—D.-8. 'No new-borne drams of'—B D.—13. 'who said no more'-A C.-15. wch hast'-A. 'who hast'-C. 'that hast dispurged our score'-D. 'our score' also in A B C. -16. 'wert'-A B C D.-17. 'Bee now, while on thy name wee call' A C. So also B D, except 'whilst on'-18. 'Our life, our Strength, our Joy, our All.'-A B C D.]

[graphic][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« VorigeDoorgaan »