And let his cation corse be a longer feast
To the King's dogs, than any other beast.
Now I have curst, let us our love revive;
In me the flame was never more alive;
I could begin again to court and praise,
And in that pleasure lengthen the short days
Of my life's lease; like painters, that do take
Delight, not in made works, but whilst they make.
I could renew those times, when first I saw

Love in your eyes, that gave my tongue the law
To like what you liked; and at masks and plays
Commend the self-same actors, the same ways;
Ask how you did, and often, with intent
Of being officious, be impertinent;

All which were such soft pastimes, as in these
Love was as subtly catched, as a disease;
But, being got, it is a treasure sweet,
Which to defend is harder than to get:

And ought not to be profaned on either part,
For though 't is got by chance, 't is kept by art.

ELEGY XVII.

WHOEVER loves, if he do not propose

The right true end of love, he's one, that goes
To sea for nothing but to make him sick:
Love is a bear-whelp born, if we o'er-lick

The Sestos and Abydos of her breasts, (Not of two lovers, but two loves, the nests) Succeeds a boundless sea, but yet thine eye Some island moles may scattered there descry, And sailing towards her India, in that way Shall at her fair Atlantic navel stay,

Though there the current be the pilot made,
Yet ere thou be where thou should'st be embayed,
Thou shalt upon another forest set,

Where many shipwreck and no further get.
When thou art there, consider what this chase
Misspent, by thy beginning at the face.
Rather set out below; practise my art;
Some symmetry the foot hath with that part,
Which thou dost seek, and is thy map for that,
Lovely enough to stop, but not stay at:
Least subject to disguise and change it is;
Men say the Devil never can change his.
It is the emblem, that hath figured
Firmness; 't is the first part that comes to bed
Civility we see refined: the kiss,

Which at the face began, transplanted is,
Since to the hand, since to the Imperial knee,
Now at the Papal foot delights to be:

If kings think that the nearer way, and do
Rise from the foot, lovers may do so too.
For as free spheres move faster far than can
Birds, whom the air resists; so may that man,
Which goes this empty and ethereal way,
Than if at beauty's enemies he stay.

Rich Nature hath in women wisely made
Two purses, and their mouths aversely laid:
They then, which to the lower tribute owe,
That way, which that exchequer looks, must go:
He which doth not, his error is as great,
As who by clyster gives the stomach meat.

COME, Madam, come, all rest my powers defy,
Until I labor, I in labor lie.

The foe ofttimes, having the foe in sight,

Is tired with standing, though he never fight.
Off with that girdle, like heaven's zone glittering,
But a far fairer world incompassing.
Unpin that spangled breastplate, which you wear,
That the eyes of busy fools may be stopt there;
Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime
Tells me from you, that now it is bedtime.
Off with that happy busk, which I envy,
That still can be, and still can stand so

nigh.ear Your gown going off such beauteous state reveals, As when through flowery meads the hill's shadow steals.

Off with that wiry coronet, and show

The hairy diadem, which on your head doth grow

ELEGIES.

Now off with those shoes, and then softly tread
In this Love's hallowed temple, this soft bed.
In such white robes heaven's angels used to be
Revealed to men: thou, angel, bring'st with thee
A heaven like Mahomet's paradise; and though
Ill spirits walk in white, we easily know
By this these angels from an evil sprite;
Those set our hairs, but these our flesh upright.
License my roving hands, and let them go
Before, behind, between, above, below,

my America! my Newfoundland!
My kingdom's safest, when with one man manned,
My mine of precious stones, my empery,
How am I blest in thus discovering thee!
To enter in these bonds is to be free;
Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.
Full nakedness, all joys are due to thee!
As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be,
To taste whole joys." Gems which you women use
Are, like Atlanta's ball, cast in men's views,
That when a fool's eye lighteth on a gem,
His earthly soul may court that and not them.
Like pictures, or like books' gay coverings made,
For laymen are all women thus arrayed ;
Themselves are only mystic books, which we
(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)

Must see revealed. Then since that I may know,
As liberally as to thy midwife show
Thyself; cast all, yea, this white linen hence;
There is no penance due to innocence.

To teach thee, I am naked first; why, then, What need'st thou have more covering than a man ?

ELEGY ON HIS MISTRESS.

By our first strange and fatal interview,
By all desires, which thereof did ensue,
By our long starving hopes, by that remorse,
Which my words' masculine persuasive force
Begot in thee, and by the memory

Of hurts, which spies and rivals threatened me,
I calmly beg. But by thy father's wrath,
By all pains, which want and divorcement hath,
I conjure thee; and all the oaths, which I
And thou have sworn to seal joint constancy,
Here I unswear, and overswear them thus;
Thou shalt not love by ways so dangerous.
Temper, O fair love, Love's impetuous rage,
Be my true mistress still, not my feigned page;
I'll go, and, by thy kind leave, leave behind
Thee, only worthy to nurse in my mind
Thirst to come back; O, if thou die before
My soul from other lands to thee shall soar,
Thy (else almighty) beauty cannot move
Rage from the seas, nor thy love teach them love