[ { "title": "The Discontent.", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "I.", "HEre take no Care, take here no Care, my Muse,", " Nor ought of Art or Labour use:", " But let thy Lines rude and unpolisht go,", "Nor Equal be their Feet, nor Num'rous let them flow.", " The ruggeder my Measures run when read,", "They'l livelier paint th'unequal Paths fond Mortals tread.", " Who when th'are tempted by the smooth Ascents,", " Which flatt'ring Hope presents,", " Briskly they clime, and Great Things undertake;", " But Fatal Voyages, alas, they make:", " For 'tis not long before their Feet,", " Inextricable Mazes meet,", " Perplexing Doubts obstruct their Way,", " Mountains with-stand them of Dismay;", " Or to the Brink of black Dispaire them lead,", " Where's nought their Ruine to impede,", "", " In vain for Aide they then to Reason call,", " Their Senses dazle, and their Heads turn round,", " The sight does all their Pow'rs confound,", "And headlong down the horrid Precipice they fall:", " Where storms of Sighs for ever blow,", " Where raped streams of Tears do flow,", " Which drown them in a Briny Floud.", "My Muse pronounce aloud, there's nothing Good,", " Nought that the World can show,", " Nought that it can bestow.", "", "II.", " Not boundless Heaps of its admired Clay,", " Ah, too successful to betray,", " When spread in our fraile Vertues way:", " For few do run with so Resolv'd a Pace,", "That for the Golden Apple will not loose the Race.", " And yet not all the Gold the Vain would spend,", " Or greedy Avarice would wish to save;", " Which on the Earth refulgent Beams doth send,", " Or in the Sea has found a Grave,", " Joyn'd in one Mass, can Bribe sufficient be,", " The Body from a stern Disease to free,", " Or purchase for the Minds relief", "One Moments sweet Repose, when restless made by grief,", "But what may Laughter, more than Pity, move:", " When some the Price of what they Dear'st Love", " Are Masters of, and hold it in their Hand,", " To part with it their Hearts they can't command:", " But chose to miss, what miss't does them torment,", " And that to hug, affords them no Content.", " Wise Fools, to do them Right, we these must hold,", " Who Love depose, and Homage pay to Gold.", "", "III.", " Nor yet, if rightly understood,", " Does Grandeur carry more of Good;", " To be o'th' Number of the Great enroll'd,", " A Scepter o're a Mighty Realm to hold.", " For what is this?", " If I not judge amiss.", " But all th'Afflicted of a Land to take,", " And of one single Family to make?", " The Wrong'd, the Poor, th'Opprest, the Sad,", " The Ruin'd, Malecontent, and Mad?", "", " Which a great Part of ev'ry Empire frame,", " And Interest in the common Father claime.", " Again what is't, but always to abide", " A Gazing Crowd? upon a Stage to spend", " A Life that's vain, or Evil without End?", "And which is yet not safely held, nor laid aside?", "And then, if lesser Titles carry less of Care,", "Yet none but Fools ambitious are to share", "Such a Mock-Good, of which 'tis said, 'tis Best,", "When of the least of it Men are possest.", "", "IV.", " But, O, the Laurel'd Fool! that doats on Fame,", " Whose Hope's Applause, whose Fear's to want a Name;", " Who can accept for Pay", " Of what he does, what others say;", " Exposes now to hostile Arms his Breast,", "To toylsome Study then betrays his Rest;", " Now to his Soul denies a just Content,", " Then forces on it what it does resent;", " And all for Praise of Fools: for such are those,", " Which most of the Admiring Crowd compose.", " O famisht Soul, which such Thin Food can feed!", " O Wretched Labour crown'd with such a Meed!", "", " Too loud, O Fame! thy Trumpet is, too shrill,", " To lull a Mind to Rest,", " Or calme a stormy Breast,", " Which asks a Musick soft and still.", " 'Twas not Amaleck's vanquisht Cry,", " Nor Israels shout of Victory,", " That could in Saul the rising Passion lay,", "'Twas the soft strains of David's Lyre the Evil Spirit chace't away.", "", "V.", " But Friendship fain would yet it self defend,", " And Mighty Things it does pretend,", " To be of this Sad Journey, Life, the Baite,", "The Sweet Refection of our toylsome State.", " But though True Friendship a Rich Cordial be,", " Alas, by most 'tis so alay'd,", " Its Good so mixt with Ill we see,", " That Dross for Gold is often paid.", " And for one Grain of Friendship that is found,", " Falshood and Interest do the Mass compound,", "Or coldness, worse than Steel, the Loyal heart doth wound.", " Love in no Two was ever yet the same,", " No Happy Two ere felt an Equal Flame.", "", "VI.", " Is there that Earth by Humane Foot ne're prest?", " That Aire which never yet by Humane Breast", " Respir'd, did Life supply?", " Oh, thither let me fly!", " Where from the World at such a distance set,", "All that's past, present, and to come I may forget:", " The Lovers Sighs, and the Afflicted Tears,", " What e're may wound my Eyes or Ears.", " The grating Noise of Private Jars,", " The horrid sound of Publick Wars,", " Of babling Fame the Idle Stories,", " The short-liv'd Triumphs Noysy-Glories,", " The Curious Nets the subtile weave,", " The Word, the Look that may deceive.", "No Mundan Care shall more affect my Breast,", " My profound Peace shake or molest:", "But Stupor, like to Death, my Senses bind,", " That so I may anticipate that Rest,", "Which only in my Grave I hope to find." ], "linecount": "125" }, { "title": "ON THE Dutchess of Grafton Under the Name of Alinda.", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "A SONG.", "", "I.", "TH'ambitious Eye that seeks alone,", "Where Beauties Wonders most are shown;", "Of all that bounteous Heaven displays,", "Let him on bright Alinda gaze;", "And in her high Example see,", "All can admir'd, or wisht-for, be !", "II.", "An unmatch't Form, Mind like endow'd,", "Estate, and Title great and proud;", "A Charge Heaven dares to few commit,", "So few, like her, can manage it;", "Without all Blame or Envy bear.", "The being Witty, Great, and Fair !", "", "III.", "So well these Murd'ring Weapons weild,", "As first Herself with them to shield,", "Then slaughter none in proud Disport,", "Destroy those she invites to Gourt:", "Great are her Charmes, but Vertue more,", "She wounds no Hearts, though All adore.", "IV.", "'Tis Am'rous Beauty Love invites,", "A Passion, like it self, excites:", "The Paragon, though all admire,", "Kindles in none a fond desire:", "No more than those the Kings Renown", "And State applaud, affect his Crown." ], "linecount": "29" }, { "title": "Upon the saying that my VERSES were made by another.", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "NExt Heaven my Vows to thee (O Sacred Muse! )", "I offer'd up, nor didst thou them refuse.", " O Queen of Verse, said I, if thou'lt inspire,", "And warm my Soul with thy Poetique Fire,", "No Love of Gold shall share with thee my Heart,", "Or yet Ambition in my Brest have Part,", "More Rich, more Noble I will ever hold", "The Muses Laurel, than a Crown of Gold.", "An Undivided Sacrifice I'le lay", "Upon thine Altar, Soul and Body pay;", "Thou shalt my Pleasure, my Employment be,", "My All I'le make a Holocaust to thee.", "", " The Deity that ever does attend", "Prayers so sincere, to mine did condescend.", "I writ, and the Judicious prais'd my Pen:", "Could any doubt Insuing Glory then ?", "", "What pleasing Raptures fill'd my Ravisht Sense ?", "How strong, how Sweet, Fame, was thy Influence ?", "And thine, False Hope, that to my flatter'd sight", "Didst Glories represent so Near, and Bright ?", "By thee deceiv'd, methought, each Verdant Tree,", "Apollos transform'd Daphne seem'd to be;", "And ev'ry fresher Branch, and ev'ry Bow", "Appear'd as Garlands to empale my Brow.", "The Learn'd in Love say, Thus the Winged Boy", "Does first approach, drest up in welcome Joy;", "At first he to the Cheated Lovers sight", "Nought represents, but Rapture and Delight,", "Alluring Hopes, Soft Fears, which stronger bind", "Their Hearts, than when they more assurance find.", "", " Embolden'd thus, to Fame I did commit,", "(By some few hands) my most Unlucky Wit.", "But, ah, the sad effects that from it came !", "What ought t'have brought me Honour, brought me shame !", "Like Esops Painted Jay I seem'd to all,", "Adorn'd in Plumes, I not my own could call:", "", "Rifl'd like her, each one my Feathers tore,", "And, as they thought, unto the Owner bore.", "My Laurels thus an Others Brow adorn'd,", "My Numbers they Admir'd, but Me they scorn'd:", "An others Brow, that had so rich a store", "Of Sacred Wreaths, that circled it before;", "Where mine quite lost, (like a small stream that ran", "Into a Vast and Boundless Ocean)", "Was swallow'd up, with what it joyn'd and drown'd,", "And that Abiss yet no Accession found.", "", " Orinda, (Albions and her Sexes Grace)", "Ow'd not her Glory to a Beauteous Face,", "It was her Radiant Soul that shon With-in,", "Which struk a Lustre through her Outward Skin;", "That did her Lips and Cheeks with Roses dy,", "Advanc't her Height, and Sparkled in her Eye.", "Nor did her Sex at all obstruct her Fame,", "But higher 'mong the Stars it fixt her Name;", "What she did write, not only all allow'd,", "But ev'ry Laurel, to her Laurel, bow'd !", "", " Th'Envious Age, only to Me alone,", "Will not allow, what I do write, my Own,", "But let 'em Rage, and 'gainst a Maide Conspire,", "So Deathless Numbers from my Tuneful Lyre", "Do ever flow; so Phebus I by thee", "Divinely Inspired and possest may be;", "I willingly accept Cassandras Fate,", "To speak the Truth, although believ'd too late" ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "TO My Lord Colrane, In Answer to his Complemental Verses sent me under the Name of CLEANOR", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "LOng my dull Muse in heavy slumbers lay,", "Indulging Sloth, and to soft Ease gave way,", "Her Fill of Rest resolving to enjoy,", "Or fancying little worthy her employ.", "When Noble Cleanors obliging Strains", "Her, the neglected Lyre to tune, constrains.", "Confus'd at first, she rais'd her drowsie Head,", "Ponder'd a while, then pleas'd, forsook her Bed.", "Survey'd each Line with Fancy richly fraught,", "Re-read, and then revolv'd them in her Thought.", " And can it be ? she said, and can it be ?", "That 'mong the Great Ones I a Poet see ?", "", "The Great Ones? who their Ill-spent time devide,", "'Twixt dang'rous Politicks, and formal Pride,", "Destructive Vice, expensive Vanity,", "In worse Ways yet, if Worse there any be:", "Leave to Inferiours the despised Arts,", "Let their Retainers be the Men of Parts.", "But here with Wonder and with Joy I find,", "I'th'Noble Born, a no less Noble Mind;", "One, who on Ancestors, does not rely", "For Fame, in Merit, as in Title, high!", "", " The Severe Goddess thus approv'd the Laies:", "Yet too much pleas'd, alas, with her own Praise.", "But to vain Pride, My Muse, cease to give place,", "Virgils immortal Numbers once did grace", "A Smother'd Gnat: By high Applause is shown,", "If undeserv'd, the Praisers worth alone:", "Nor that you should believ't, is't always meant,", "'Tis often for Instruction only sent,", "To praise men to Amendment, and display,", "By its Perfection, where their Weakness lay.", "This Use of these Applauding Numbers make", "Them for Example, not Encomium, take." ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "HERODIAS Daughter presenting to her Mother St. JOHN's Head in a Charger, also Painted by her self", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "BEhold, dear Mother, who was late our Fear,", "Disarm'd and Harmless, I present you here;", "The Tongue ty'd up, that made all Jury quake,", "And which so often did our Greatness shake;", "", "No Terror sits upon his Awful Brow,", "Where Fierceness reign'd, there Calmness triumphs now;", "As Lovers use, he gazes on my Face,", "With Eyes that languish, as they sued for Grace;", "Wholly subdu'd by my Victorious Charms,", "See how his Head reposes in my Arms.", "Come, joyn then with me in my just Transport,", "Who thus have brought the Hermite to the Court." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "St. John Baptist Painted by her self in the Wilderness, with Angels appearing to him, and with a Lamb by him", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "THe Sun's my Fire, when it does shine,", "The hollow Spring's my Cave of Wine,", "The Rocks and Woods afford me Meat;", "This Lamb and I on one Dish eat:", "The neighbouring Herds my Garments send,", "My Pallet the kind Earth doth lend:", "Excess and Grandure I decline,", "M'Associates onely are Divine." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "The Miseries of Man", "author": "Anne Killigrew", "lines": [ "IN that so temperate Soil Arcadia nam'd,", "For fertile Pasturage by Poets fam'd;", "Stands a steep Hill, whose lofty jetting Crown,", "Casts o'er the neighbouring Plains, a seeming Frown;", "Close at its mossie Foot an aged Wood,", "Compos'd of various Trees, there long has stood,", "Whose thick united Tops scorn the Sun's Ray,", "And hardly will admit the Eye of Day.", "By oblique windings through this gloomy Shade,", "Has a clear purling Stream its Passage made,", "The Nimph, as discontented seem'd t'ave chose", "This sad Recess to murmur forth her Woes.", " To this Retreat, urg'd by tormenting Care,", "The melancholly Cloris did repair,", "", "As a fit Place to take the sad Relief", "Of Sighs and Tears, to ease oppressing Grief.", "Near to the Mourning Nimph she chose a Seat,", "And these Complaints did to the Shades repeat.", "", " Ah wretched, truly wretched Humane Race!", "Your Woes from what Beginning shall I trace,", "Where End, from your first feeble New-born Cryes,", "To the last Tears that wet your dying Eyes?", "Man, Common Foe, assail'd on ev'ry hand,", "Finds that no Ill does Neuter by him stand,", "Inexorable Death, Lean Poverty,", "Pale Sickness, ever sad Captivity.", "Can I, alas, the sev'ral Parties name,", "Which, muster'd up, the Dreadful Army frame?", "And sometimes in One Body all Unite,", "Sometimes again do separately fight:", "While sure Success on either Way does waite,", "Either a Swift, or else a Ling'ring Fate.", "", " But why 'gainst thee, O Death! should I inveigh,", "That to our Quiet art the only way?", "", "And yet I would (could I thy Dart command)", "Crie, Here O strike! and there O hold thy Hand!", "The Lov'd, the Happy, and the Youthful spare,", "And end the Sad, the Sick, the Poor Mans Care.", "But whether thou or Blind, or Cruel art,", "Whether 'tis Chance, or Malice, guides thy Dart,", "Thou from the Parents Arms dost pull away", "The hopeful Child, their Ages only stay:", "The Two, whom Friendship in dear Bands has ty'd,", "Thou dost with a remorseless hand devide;", "Friendship, the Cement, that does faster twine", "Two Souls, than that which Soul and Body joyn:", "Thousands have been, who their own Blood did spill,", "But never any yet his Friend did kill.", "Then 'gainst thy Dart what Armour can be found,", "Who, where thou do'st not strike, do'st deepest wound?", "Thy Pitty, than thy Wrath's more bitter far,", "Most cruel, where 'twould seem the most to spare:", "Yet thou of many Evils art but One,", "Though thou by much too many art alone.", "", "What shall I say of Poverty, whence flows?", "To miserable Man so many Woes?", "Rediculous Evil which too oft we prove,", "Does Laughter cause, where it should Pitty move;", "Solitary Ill, into which no Eye,", "Though ne're so Curious, ever cares to pry,", "And were there, 'mongst such plenty, onely One", "Poor Man, he certainly would live alone.", "", " Yet Poverty does leave the Man entire,", "But Sickness nearer Mischiefs does conspire;", "Invades the Body with a loath'd Embrace,", "Prides both its Strength, and Beauty to deface;", "Nor does its Malice in these bounds restrain,", "But shakes the Throne of Sacred Wit, the Brain,", "And with a ne're enough detested Force", "Reason disturbs, and turns out of its Course.", "Again, when Nature some Rare Piece has made,", "On which her Utmost Skill she seems t'ave laid,", "Polish't, adorn'd the Work with moving Grace,", "And in the Beauteous Frame a Soul doth place,", "", "So perfectly compos'd, it makes Divine", "Each Motion, Word, and Look from thence does shine;", "This Goodly Composition, the Delight", "Of ev'ry Heart, and Joy of ev'ry sight,", "Its peevish Malice has the Power to spoyle,", "And with a Sully'd Hand its Lusture soyle.", "The Grief were Endless, that should all bewaile,", "Against whose sweet Repose thou dost prevail:", "Some freeze with Agues, some with Feavers burn,", "Whose Lives thou half out of their Holds dost turn;", "And of whose Sufferings it may be said,", "They living feel the very State o'th' Dead.", "Thou in a thousand sev'ral Forms are drest,", "And in them all dost Wretched man infest.", "", " And yet as if these Evils were too few,", "Men their own Kind with hostile Arms pursue;", "Not Heavens fierce Wrath, nor yet the Hate of Hell,", "Not any Plague that e're the World befel,", "Not Inundations, Famines, Fires blind rage,", "Did ever Mortals equally engage,", "", "As Man does Man, more skilful to annoy,", "Both Mischievous and Witty to destroy.", "The bloody Wolf, the Wolf does not pursue;", "The Boar, though fierce, his Tusk will not embrue", "In his own Kind, Bares, not on Bares do prey:", "Then art thou, Man, more savage far than they.", "", " And now, methinks, I present do behold", "The Bloudy Fields that are in Fame enroll'd,", "I see, I see thousands in Battle slain,", "The Dead and Dying cover all the Plain,", "Confused Noises hear, each way sent out,", "The Vanquisht Cries joyn'd with the Victors shout;", "Their Sighs and Groans who draw a painful Breath,", "And feel the Pangs of slow approaching Death:", "Yet happier these, far happier are the Dead,", "Than who into Captivity are led:", "What by their Chains, and by the Victors Pride,", "We pity these, and envy those that dy'd.", "And who can say, when Thousands are betray'd,", "To Widdowhood, Orphants or Childless made.", "", "Whither the Day does draw more Tears or Blood,", "A greater Chrystal, or a Crimson Floud.", "The faithful Wife, who late her Lord did Arm,", "And hop'd to shield, by holy Vows, from Harm,", "Follow'd his parting-steps with Love and Care,", "Sent after weeping Eyes, while he afar", "Rod heated on, born by a brave Disdain,", "May now go seek him, lying 'mong the Slain:", "Low on the Earth she'l find his lofty Crest,", "And those refulgent Arms which late his Breast", "Did guard, by rough Encounters broke and tore,", "His Face and Hair, with Brains all clotted ore.", "And Warlike Weeds besmeer'd with Dust and Gore.", "", " And will the Suffering World never bestow", "Upon th'Accursed Causers of such Woe,", "A vengeance that may parallel their Loss,", "Fix Publick Thieves and Robbers on the Cross?", "Such as call Ruine, Conquest, in their Pride,", "And having plagu'd Mankind, in Triumph ride.", "Like that renowned Murderer who staines", "In these our days Alsatias fertile Plains,", "", "Only to fill the future Tromp of Fame,", "Though greater Crimes, than Glory it proclame.", "Alcides, Scourge of Thieves, return to Earth,", "Which uncontrolled gives such Monsters birth;", "On Scepter'd-Cacus let thy Power be shown,", "Pull him not from his Den, but from his Throne.", "", " Clouds of black Thoughts her further Speech here broke,", "Her swelling Grief too great was to be spoke,", "Which strugl'd long in her tormented Mind,", "Till it some Vent by Sighs and Tears did find.", "And when her Sorrow something was subdu'd,", "She thus again her sad Complaint renewed.", "", " Most Wretched Man, were th'Ills I nam'd before", "All which I could in thy sad State deplore,", "Did Things without alone 'gainst thee prevail,", "My Tongue I'de chide, that them I did bewaile:", "But, Shame to Reason, thou art seen to be", "Unto thy self the fatall'st Enemy,", "Within thy Breast the Greatest Plagues to bear,", "First them to breed, and then to cherish there;", "", "Unmanag'd Passions which the Reins have broke", "Of Reason, and refuse to bear its Yoke.", "But hurry thee, uncurb'd, from place to place,", "A wild, unruly, and an Uncouth Chace.", "Now cursed Gold does lead the Man astray,", "False flatt'ring Honours do anon betray,", "Then Beauty does as dang'rously delude,", "Beauty, that vanishes, while 'tis pursu'd,", "That, while we do behold it, fades away,", "And even a Long Encomium will not stay.", "", " Each one of these can the Whole Man employ,", "Nor knows he anger, sorrow, fear, or joy,", "But what to these relate; no Thought does start", "Aside, but tends to its appointed Part,", "No Respite to himself from Cares he gives,", "But on the Rack of Expectation lives.", "If crost, the Torment cannot be exprest,", "Which boyles within his agitated Breast.", "Musick is harsh, all Mirth is an offence,", "The Choicest Meats cannot delight his Sense,", "", "Hard as the Earth he feels his Downy Bed,", "His Pillow stufft with Thornes, that bears his Head,", "He rolls from side to side, in vain seeks Rest;", "For if sleep comes at last to the Distrest,", "His Troubles then cease not to vex him too,", "But Dreams present, what he does waking do.", "On th'other side, if he obtains the Prey,", "And Fate to his impetuous Sute gives way,", "Be he or Rich, or Amorous, or Great,", "He'll find this Riddle still of a Defeat,", "That only Care, for Bliss, he home has brought,", "Or else Contempt of what he so much fought.", "So that on each Event if we reflect,", "The Joys and Sufferings of both sides collect,", "We cannot say where lies the greatest Pain,", "In the fond Pursuit, Loss, or Empty Gain.", "", " And can it be, Lord of the Sea and Earth,", "Off-spring of Heaven, that to thy State and Birth", "Things so incompatible should be joyn'd,", "Passions should thee confound, to Heaven assign'd?", "", "Passions that do the Soul unguarded lay,", "And to the strokes of Fortune ope' a way.", "Were't not that these thy Force did from thee take,", "How bold, how brave Resistance would'st thou make ?", "Defie the Strength and Malice of thy Foes,", "Unmoved stand the Worlds United Blows ?", "For what is't, Man, unto thy Better Part,", "That thou or Sick, or Poor, or Captive art ?", "Since no Material Stroke the Soul can feel,", "The smart of Fire, or yet the Edge of Steel.", "As little can it Worldly Joys partake,", "Though it the Body does its Agent make,", "And joyntly with it Servile Labour bear,", "For Things, alas, in which it cannot share.", "Surveigh the Land and Sea by Heavens embrac't,", "Thou'lt find no sweet th'Immortal Soul can tast:", "Why dost thou then, O Man! thy self torment", "Good here to gain, or Evils to prevent?", "Who only Miserable or Happy art,", "As thou neglects, or wisely act'st thy Part.", "", " For shame then rouse thy self as from a Sleep,", "The long neglected Reins let Reason keep,", "", "The Charret mount, and use both Lash and Bit,", "Nobly resolve, and thou wilt firmly fit:", "Fierce Anger, boggling Fear, Pride prauncing still,", "Bounds-hating Hope, Desire which nought can fill,", "Are stubborn all, but thou may'st give them Law;", "Th'are hard-Mouth'd Horses, bu they well can draw.", "Lash on, and the well-govern'd Charret drive,", "Till thou a Victor at the Goal arrive,", "Where the free Soul does all her burden leave,", "And Joys commensurate to her self receive." ], "linecount": "227" } ]