Drummond, Habington, Quarles, Waller, Ayton, Cowley, Milton, Byrd, Chamberlayne, Herbert, Denham, Marvell, Dryden, Addison, Pope, Parnell, Thomson, Collins, Trenstone, Young. DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORN DEN, the singular sweetness and harmony of whose poetry reminds us of Spenser,-wrote some touching sonnets in memory of his lost love, whose sudden death occurred just prior to their appointed nuptials. The poet was of noble lineage, and lived amidst the most romantic scenery, at his fine castle on the banks of the Esk. following are his beautiful sonnets on Spring : The Sweet Spring! thou turn'st with all thy goodly train, Thy head with flames, thy mantle bright with flowers; The clouds, for joy, in pearls weep down their showers. The sad memorials only of my pain Do with thee turn, which turn my sweets in sours! Delicious, wanton, amiable, fair; But she, whose breath embalmed thy wholesome air, Neglected virtue, seasons go and come, What doth it serve to see sun's burning face? And all the glory of that starry place? The mountain's pride, the meadow's flowery grace; The stately comeliness of forests old, The sport of floods which would themselves embrace? The wanton merle, the nightingale's sad strains, Hazlitt thought Drummond's sonnets approached as near almost as any others to the perfection of this kind of writing. Address to the Nightingale :- Here is his Sweet bird! that sing'st away the early hours, Fair seasons, budding sprays, sweet-smelling flowers: (Attired in sweetness) sweetly is not driven HABINGTON'S poem on The Firmament opens with these grand lines: When I survey the bright celestial sphere, So rich with jewels hung, that night The Almighty's mysteries to read The grave and eccentric QUARLES has written some remarkable poems, equally quaint in conceit and curious in structure: for example : Behold How short a span Was long enough of old To measure out the life of man: In those well-tempered days, his time was then Surveyed, cast-up, and found—but threescore years and ten! |