Burn in one breast, and, like heav'n's two great lights,

The first doth govern days, the other nights:
And then that early light which did appear
Before the sun and moon created were,

The prince's favour, is diffus'd o'er all,

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From which all fortunes, names, and natures, fall; Then from those wombs of stars, the bride's bright At ev'ry glance a constellation flies,

And sows the court with stars, and doth prevent

In light and power the all-ey'd firmament.

First her eyes kindle other ladies' eyes,

[eyes,

Then from their beams, their jewels, lustres rise, 30

And from their jewels torches do take fire,

And all is warmth, and light, and good desire.

Most other courts, alas! are like to hell,

Where in dark plots fire without light doth dwell;
Or but like stoves, for lust and envy get

Continual but artificial heat.

Here zeal and love, grown one, all clouds digest,
And make our court an everlasting East;
And canst thou be from thence?

IDIOS. No, I am there:

As heav'n, to men dispos'd, is ev'ry where;
So are those courts whose princes animate
Not only all their house but all their state.
Let no man think, because he 's full, he 'hath all:
Kings (as their pattern, God) are liberal

Not only in fulness but capacity,

Enlarging narrow men to feel and see,

And comprehend the blessings they bestow.
So reclus'd hermits often times do know

More of Heaven's glory than a worldling can.
As man is of the world, the heart of man

Is an epitome of God's great book

Of creatures, and men need no farther look;

So's the country of courts, where sweet peace doth,
As their own common soul, give life to both:
And am I then from court?

ALLOPHANES. Dreamer! thou art:

Think'st thou, Fantastique! that thou hast a part
In the Indian fleet, because thou hast
A little spice or amber in thy taste?

Because thou art not frozen, art thou warm?
Seest thou all good, because thou seest no harm?
The earth doth in her inner bowels hold

Stuff well dispos'd, and which would fain be gold,
But never shall, except it chance to lie

So upward, that Heav'n gild it with his eye.
As for divine things, faith comes from above,
So, for best civil use all tinctures move
From higher powers: from God religion springs,
Wisdom and honour from the use of kings;
Then unbeguile thyself, and know with me,
That angels, tho' on earth employ'd they be,
Are still in heav'n; so is he still at home
That doth abroad to honest actions come.
Donne.]
Nij

50

60

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Chide thyself then, O Fool! which yesterday

Might'st have read more than all thy books bewray, Hast thou a history which doth present

A court where all affections do assent

Unto the king's, and that that king's are just?
And where it is no levity to trust,

Where there is no ambition but t' obey,

Where men need whisper nothing and yet may;
Where the king's favours are so plac'd, that all
Find that the king therein is liberal

To them, in him, because his favours bend

To virtue, to the which they all pretend?
Thou hast no such, yet here was this, and more;
An earnest lover, wise thẹn, and before.

Our little Cupid hath sued livery,

And is no more in his minority:

He is admitted now into that breast

Where the king's counsels and his secrets rest.
What hast thou lost? O ignorant man!
IDIOS. I know

All this, and only therefore I withdrew.
To know and feel all this, and not to have
Words to express it, makes a man a grave
Of his own thoughts: I would not therefore stay
At a great feast, having no grace to say;
And yet I 'scap'd not here; for being come
Full of the common joy, I utter'd some.

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Read then this nuptial-song, which was not made
Either the court or men's hearts to invade ;
But since I'm dead and buried, I could frame
No epitaph which might advance my fame
So much as this poor song, which testifies

I did unto that day some sacrifice.

1. THE TIME OF THE MARRIAGE.

THOU art repriev'd, old Year! thou shalt not die, Tho' thou upon thy death-bed lie,

And shouldst within five days expire;

Yet thou art rescu'd from a mightier fire.
Than thy old soul, the sun,

When he doth in his largest circle run.

The passage of the West or East would thaw,
And open wide their easy liquid jaw

To all our ships, could a Promethean art

Either unto the Northern Pole impart

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The fire of these inflaming eyes, or of this loving heart.

II. EQUALITY OF PERSONS.

BUT, undiscerning Muse! which heart, which eyes, In this new couple dost thou prize,

When his eye as inflaming is

As her's, and her heart loves as well as his?
Be try'd by beauty, and then

The bridegroom is a maid, and not a man;

12)

If by that manly courage they be try'd
Which scorns unjust opinion, then the bride

Becomes a man: should chance or envy's art
Divide these two, whom Nature scarce did part,
Since both have the inflaming eye, and both the loving
heart?

IH. RAISING OF THE BRIDEGROOM.

THO' it be some divorce to think of you

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Single, so much one are you two,

Let me here contemplate thee

First, chearful Bridegroom! and first let me see
How thou prevent'st the sun,

And his red foaming horses dost outrun ;

How, having laid down in thy sovereign's breast
All businesses, from thence to re-invest

Them, when these triumphs cease, thou forward art
To shew to her, who doth the like impart,

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The fire of thy inflaming eyes, and of thy loving heart.

IV. RAISING OF THE BRIDE.

BUT now to thee, fair Bride! it is some wrong

To think thou wert in bed so long;

Since soon thou liest down first, 'tis fit

Thou in first rising should allow for it.

Powder thy radiant hair,

Which if without such ashes thou wouldst wear,