The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume I (of 2), by Richard Crashaw, Edited by Alexander Balloch Grosart

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume I (of 2)

Author: Richard Crashaw

Editor: Alexander Balloch Grosart

Release Date: January 12, 2012 [eBook #38549]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE WORKS OF RICHARD CRASHAW, VOLUME I (OF 2)***

E-text prepared by Taavi Kalju, Rory OConor,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)
from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries
(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto)

The Fuller Worthies' Library.

THE
COMPLETE WORKS OF RICHARD CRASHAW.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.
STEPS TO THE TEMPLE. CARMEN DEO NOSTRO.
THE DELIGHTS OF THE MUSES. AIRELLES.

LONDON:
ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W.

The Fuller Worthies' Library.

THE COMPLETE WORKS
OF
RICHARD CRASHAW.

FOR THE FIRST TIME COLLECTED
AND COLLATED WITH THE ORIGINAL AND EARLY EDITIONS,
AND MUCH ENLARGED WITH

I. Hitherto unprinted and inedited Poems from Archbishop Sancroft's mss. &c. &c.
II. Translation of the whole of the Poemata et Epigrammata.
III. Memorial-Introduction, Essay on Life and Poetry, and Notes.
IV. In Quarto, reproduction in facsimile of the Author's own Illustrations of 1652, with others specially prepared.

EDITED BY THE

REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART,

ST. GEORGE'S, BLACKBURN, LANCASHIRE.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.
1872.

156 copies printed.

TO

THE VERY REVEREND

JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, D.D.

AS AN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE FOR

FUNDAMENTAL INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL

QUICKENING AND NURTURE

FOUND IN AND SUSTAINED BY HIS WRITINGS

EARLIER AND LATEST,

THIS EDITION

OF A POET HE LOVES AS ENGLISHMAN AND CATHOLIC

IS DEDICATED BY

ALEXANDER B. GROSART.

CONTENTS.

Those marked [*] are printed for the first time from mss.; those marked [†] have additions for the first time given in their places.

Illustrations, in the illustrated Quarto only: Vol. I.

Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 are reproduced in facsimile from the author's own designs of 1652, by Pouncey of Dorchester, expressly for our edition of Crashaw. Besides the above there are a number of head- and tail-pieces by W.J. Linton, Esq.

PREFACE.

I have at last the pleasure of seeing half-fulfilled a long-cherished wish and intention, by the issue of the present Volume, being Vol. I. of the first really worthy edition of the complete Poetry of Richard Crashaw, while Vol. II. is so well advanced that it may be counted on for Midsummer (Deo favente).

This Volume contains the whole of the previously-published English Poems, with the exception of the Epigrams scattered among the others, which more fittingly find their place in Vol. II., along with the Latin and Greek originals, and our translation of all hitherto untranslated. Here also will be found important, and peculiarly interesting as characteristic, additions of unprinted and inedited poems by Crashaw from Archbishop Sancroft's mss., among the Tanner mss. in the Bodleian. These I have named 'Airelles,' after the little Alpine flowers that are dug out beneath the mountain masses of snow and ice, with abiding touches of beauty and perfume, as though they had been sheltered within walls and glass. The formerly printed Poems have been collated and recollated anxiously with the original and other early and authoritative editions, the results of which are shown in Notes and Illustrations at the close of each poem. Manyxii of the various readings are of rare interest, and collation has revealed successive additions and revisions altogether unrecorded by modern editors. In their places I have pointed out the flagrant carelessness of the last Editor, W.B. Turnbull, Esq., in Smith's 'Library of Old Authors.'

As was meet, I have adhered to the first titles of 'Steps to the Temple' and 'The Delights of the Muses,' the former embracing the Sacred, and the latter the Secular Poems. The original Editor (whoever he was), not the Author, gave these titles. In the Preface to 'the learned Reader,' he says, 'we stile his sacred Poems, Steps to the Temple.' At one time I was disposed to assign the editorship of the volumes of 1646 and 1648 to Sancroft; but inasmuch as both contained Bp. Rainbow's verses prefixed to Isaacson's 'Chronologie,' while the piece is not in the Sancroft ms., it seems he could not have been the editor. His pathetic closing words reveal much love: 'I will conclude all that I have impartially writ of this learned young Gent. (now dead to us) as hee himselfe doth, with the last line of his poem upon Bishop Andrewes' picture before his Sermons, Verte paginas—Look on his following leaves, and see him breath.'

I would now give an account of previous editions of our Worthy, and our use of them. The earliest of his publications—excluding minor pieces in University Collections as recorded in our Essay—was a volume of Latin Epigrams published at Cambridge in 1634 in a small 8vo. The name of Crashaw nowhere appears, but his initials R.C. are appended to the Dedication to his friend Laney. The title-page was as follows:xiii 'Epigrammatum Sacrorum Liber. Cantabrigiæ, ex Academiæ celeberrimæ typographo, 1634.' Besides the Epigrams, this now rare volume contained certain of his 'Poemata' before the Epigrams. A second edition was published in 1670 with a few additional Epigrams, and those in Greek. A third edition appeared in 1674. Fuller details, with collation of each, are given in Vol. II. in their places.

Nothing more of any considerableness was published until 1646, two years after the Poet's ejection. Then appeared a small volume of Poems, chiefly English, arranged in two distinct classes, Sacred and Secular, the latter with a separate title-page. In the Note which follows this Preface, the title-pages of the volume will be found, along with those of the subsequent editions of 1648 and 1670. With reference to the volume of 1646, a mistake in the printing was thus pointed out: 'Reader, there was a sudden mistake ('tis too late to recover it): thou wilt quickly find it out, and I hope as soone passe it over; some of the humane Poems are misplaced amongst the Divine.' These 'humane' poems, that belonged not to the 'Steps' but the 'Delights of the Muses,' were fifteen in all. They were assigned their own places in the new edition of 1648. With two exceptions, we have adhered to the classification of the 1648 edition: the exceptions are, that we have placed 'Vexilla Regis' immediately after the 'Office of the Holy Crosse,' as belonging properly to that composition; and the 'Apologie' for the Hymn to Teresa after the first, not after the second Hymn, seeing the 'Apologie' is only for the first. The new edition bore on its title-page the announcement: 'The second Edition, wherein are added divers pieces notxiv before extant.' Our contents of the present Volume (immediately following our Dedication) shows these additions, which were important and precious; viz. twenty-nine new English Poems and eighteen new Latin Poems.

The next edition was published in Paris in 1652. In our Note (as supra) the title-page is given. This volume is an elegant one, and is adorned with twelve dainty engravings after the Author's own designs, though we possess a copy without the engravings, having blanks left. This exceedingly rare book contains most of the Sacred Poems and some of the more serious of the Secular Poems; but as the contents (as supra) show, there were large omissions, notably the Sospetto and Musick's Duel. It was edited by Thomas Car, who prefixes two poems of his own, as follows:

I. Crashawe, the Anagramme 'He was Car.'

II. An Epigramme

Vpon the Pictures in the following Poemes, which the Authour first made with his owne hand, admirably well, as may be seene in his Manuscript dedicated to the Right Honourable Lady the L. Denbigh.

Thomas Car.[2]

It is clear from these lines in the former poem—

that the volume of 1652 carries the authority of Crashaw with it as his own Selection from what he had written. So that I have had no hesitation in accepting its text of the Poems previously published (in 1646 and 1648): understanding that the Selection was regulated by his desire only to offer the Countess of Denbigh those he himself most valued. There are inevitable misprints and a chaos of punctuation; but the text as a whole is a great advance on those preceding, as our Notes and Illustrations to the several poems prove. There are some very valuable additions throughout, entirely overlooked by modern Editors. Our text of all not in 1652 volume is based on that of 1648 collated with 1646.

xvii

The engravings celebrated in the Epigram of Car—of whom more, and of the origin and purpose of the Volume, in our Essay—are as follows:

1. 'To the noblest and best of ladyes:' a heart with an emblematical lock. Beneath is printed 'Non Vi' ( = not by force), and the following lines:

2. 'To the name above every name.' 'Numisma Urbani 6.' A dove under the tiara, surrounded with a glory. The legend is, 'In unitate Deus est.'

3. 'The Holy Nativity.' The Holy Family at Bethlehem. Beneath are these lines in French and Latin:

4. 'The Glorious Epiphanie.' The adoration of the Magi-kings.

5. 'The Office of the Holy Crosse.' Christ on the Cross. Beneath (from the Vulgate),

6. 'The Recommendation.' The ascended Saviour looking down toward the Earth. Above, this line,

Beneath, a Latin poem of thirteen lines, which appears in its place in our Vol. II.

7. 'Sancta Maria Dolorum.' The Virgin Mary underxviii the Cross with the instruments of the Passion, holding the dead Saviour in her arms.

8. 'Hymn of St. Thomas.' A Remonstrance. 'Ecce panis Angelorum.'

9. 'Dies Iræ.' The Last Judgment. 'Dies Iræ, dies illa.'

10. 'O Gloriosa Domina.' The Virgin Mary and Child. Angels hold a crown over her head, surmounted by the Holy Dove. Beneath:

11. 'The Weeper.' A female head, showing beneath, a bleeding and burning heart, surrounded by a glory. This couplet is below:

12. 'Hymn to St. Teresa.' Portrait: scroll above, inscribed 'Misericors Domini in æternum cantabo.' Beneath, 'La Vray Portraict de Ste. Terese, Fondatrice des Religieuses et Religieux réformez de l'ordre de N. Dame de mont Carmel: Décédée le 4^e Octo. 1582. Canonisée le 12^e Mars 1622.'

Besides these Twelve, I discovered another in illustration of 'O Gloriosa Domina,' substituted for No. 10 in the very fine copy of the volume in the Douce Collection in the Bodleian. I have the satisfaction of furnishing admirable reproductions in fac-simile of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12, and by the kindness of the Bodleian Trustees, the unique illustration for No. 10. No. 11 by my friend W.J. Linton, Esq. The wholexix of these belong exclusively to our illustrated quarto edition, and the impressions taken have been strictly limited thereto, and a very few for my own gift-use.

We have now done with genuine editions; but have yet to notice a wretched medley which bears the name of the '2d edition.' Its title-page is given in our Note (as before). This volume is fairly printed; but whatever was meant by '2d edition,' whether it was so styled from ignorance of the edition of 1648 or copying of its title, or because it was meant for a 2d edition of 1652, it is a deplorable compilation made out of 1646 and 1652. It first reprints 1646 and then 1652, omitting in the second part such poems of 1652 as were in 1646, but without taking the trouble of correcting any, so as to bring them into agreement with the better text. Not to mention well-nigh innumerable misprints and omissions, so blind is it, that it has twice printed two poems which in 1652 had their titles altered, not observing that it had already printed them under the old titles. These were the poems, On the Death of a Young Gentleman, and in Praise of Lessius. It contains only the eight Latin Poems of 1646, and no others. Of this edition Turnbull says, 'In its text [it is] the most inaccurate of all'—and—What then? He reprints it! and leaves undetected its inaccuracies and omissions, and superadds as many more of his own—as our Notes and Illustrations demonstrate, albeit we have left many blunders unrecorded, contenting ourselves with seeing that our own is correct. And yet this Editor got in a rage with a correspondent (Professor M'Carthy) of Notes and Queries, who at the time corrected incidentally a misprinted letter—oblivious of (literally) hundreds infinitely worse.

xx

Peregrine Phillips in 1785 published a very well-printed volume of 'Selections' from Crashaw; but, like Turnbull, he blundered over the (so-called) '2d edition' of 1670, and seems never to have seen those of 1648 and 1652. Of other more recent editions I shall speak in our Essay, and, as already stated in our Memorial-Introduction, notice the University Collections and others, to which our Poet contributed. In its place, at close of the present Volume, see account of a hitherto unused edition of a Verse-Letter to Countess of Denbigh.

Of the Poems now for the first time printed, the present Volume contains no fewer than fifteen or sixteen with important additions: Vol. II. will contain very many more, as well as our Translation of the hitherto untranslated Poems and Epigrams. The source of all these erewhile unprinted Poems is Vol. 465 among the Tanner mss., which is known to be in the handwriting (mainly) of Archbishop Sancroft. The Volume is a collection of contemporary Poetry, but as it now rests in the Bodleian is imperfect, as the Index shows. The following details will probably interest our readers. In the Index is first of all the following, 'Mr. Crashaw's Epigrams, sacra Latina;' but it is erased. Then underneath is written 'Mr. Crashaw's poems transcrib'd frō his own copie, before they were printed; amongst w^ch are some not printed.' 'Latin, On y^e Gospels v p 7. On other Subiects p 39, 95, 229. English Sacred Poems p 111. On other Subiects—39, 162, 164 v 167 v 196. 202 v 206. 223. v Suspetto di Herodi, translated frō Car. Marino p 287 v.' Guided by this Index—for, though to some 'R. Cr.' is prefixed, others printed in 1646 and 1648 are left without namexxi or initials—page 7 to 22 contains Latin Poems and Epigrams still unpublished. On page 22 is a large letter C = Crashaw. The pagination then leaps to p. 39 and goes on to page 64, and consists of Latin Poems and one in Greek 'On other Subjects,' also wholly unpublished. Page 66 is blank, and a blank leaf follows. Then there is a Latin poem by Wallis, and pp. 95-6 contain other Latin poems by Crashaw, in part published. Pages 97-102 are blank, and the pagination again leaps to p. 111, where begin the English Sacred Poems, continuing to page 137, with 'Crashaw' written at end. These pages (111-137) contain mainly Poems and Epigrams before published. On page 130 is a short poem 'On Good Friday' by T. Randolph. On page 135 are two poems by Dr. Alabaster: then, on page 136, Crashaw's poem 'On the Assumption,' and on page 137, a short poem by Wotton. Pages 138-142 are blank, and once more the pagination passes to p. 159, where there is a poem by Giles Fletcher (pp. 159-160)—printed by us in Appendix to Poems of Dr. Giles Fletcher in our Fuller Worthies' Miscellanies. Pages 160-1 have poems by Corbett (erroneously inserted as Herrick's by Hazlitt in his edition of Herrick), and a Song by Wotton. On page 162 'The Faire Ethiopian,' by Crashaw: p. 163, 'Upon Mr. Cl.' [Cleveland?], who made a Song against the D.D.s—The complaint of a woman with child [both anonymous]. Then at page 164 'Upon a gnatt burnt in a candle,' by Crashaw (being entered in Index as supra), and never published. On pages 165-6, Love's Horoscope (published): p. 166, Ad Amicam. T.R. (not by Crashaw, being entered in Index under Randolph): pp. 167-71, Fidicinis et Philomela Bellumxxii Musicum, and Upon Herbert's Temple: pp. 172-3, Upon Isaacson's Frontispiece (the second piece): pp. 173-4, An invitation to faire weather (all published before). Then translations from the Latin Poets with 'R. Cr.' above each, pp. 174-178—all unpublished: pp. 178-9, from Virgil (published). Next on pp. 180-87 are the following: 'On y^e Gunpowder-Treason' (three separate pieces), and 'Upon the King's Coronation' (two pieces). These have never been printed until now in our present Vol., and they are unquestionably Crashaw's, inasmuch as (a) All entered thus 164 v. 167 are by him, and so these being entered under his name in Index as 167 v. 196 must belong to him; (b) 'Upon the King's Coronation' are renderings in part of his own Latin; (c) As shown in our Essay (where also their biographic value is shown) unusual words used by Crashaw occur in them. Pp. 187-90, 'Panegyrick upon the birth of the Duke of York' (published): pp. 190-2, 'Upon the birth of the Princesse Elizabeth' (never before printed). Pages 192-196, poems by Corbett, Wotton, and others. Pages 196-7, Translation from the Latin Ex Euphormione (not before published), and on Lessius (published). Then pp. 197-201, poems by various, in part anonymous: pp. 202-3, An Elegy on Staninough—not having his name or initials, but entered in Index under his name—(never before published): pp. 203-5, In obitum desider. M^ri Chambers (published, but the heading new), and Upon the death of a friend (not before published): p. 205, 'On a cobler' (anonymous): p. 206, In obitum D^r Brooke: Epitaphium Conjug. (published): page 207, poem by Culverwell: p. 208, blank; and then the pagination passes to p. 223. Pages 223-229, poems on Herrys [or Harris] (all published,xxiii but with variations): pp. 229-30, Elegie on Dr. Porter (never before published, and entered in Index under Crashaw): from p. 231 to 238, various poems, but none by Crashaw; then the pagination leaps to p. 238, and goes on to p. 255, with various pieces, but again none by Crashaw. On pp. 297-8 are eight of the published English Epigrams. All the other anonymous and avowed poems being entered in the Index separately from Crashaw's, and under either their titles or authors, makes us safe to exclude them from our Volumes. On the other hand, the Index-entries and 'R.C.' together, assure us that rich and virgin as is the treasure-trove of unprinted and unpublished Poems—English and Latin, especially the Latin—it is without a shadow of doubt Richard Crashaw's, and of supreme worth. I have also had the good fortune to discover a Harleian ms. from Lord Somers' Library (6917-18), which furnishes some valuable readings of some of the Poems, as recorded and used by us.

Throughout we have endeavoured with all fidelity to reproduce our Worthy in integrity of text and orthography—diminishing only (slightly) italics and capitals, and as usual giving capitals to all divine Names (nouns and pronouns) and personifications. In Notes and Illustrations all various readings are recorded, and such elucidations and filling-in of names and allusions as are likely to be helpful.

It is now my pleasant duty to return right hearty, because heartfelt, thanks to many friends and correspondents who have aided me in a somewhat arduous and difficult work and 'labour of love.' To the venerablexxiv and illustrious man whose name by express permission adorns my Dedication, I owe a debt of gratitude for a beautiful, a pathetic, a (to me) sacred Letter, that greatly animated me to go forward. By my admirable friends Revs. J.H. Clark, M.A., of West Dereham, Norfolk, and Thomas Ashe, M.A., Ipswich, my edition (as Vol. II. will evidence) is advantaged in various Translations for the first time of the Latin poems, valuable in themselves, and the more valued for the generous enthusiasm and modesty with which they were offered, not to say how considerably they have lightened my own work in the same field. To Dr. Brinsley Nicholson, who retains in the Army his fine literary culture and acumen; to W. Aldis Wright, Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge; the very Reverend Dr. F.C. Husenbeth, Cossey, Norwich; the Earl and Countess of Denbigh; Monsignor Stonor, Rome; to Correspondents at Loretto, Douai, Paris, &c.; and to Colonel Chester and Mr. W.T. Brooke, London,—I wish to tender my warmest thanks for various services most pleasantly rendered; all to the enrichment of our edition.

The Illustrations (in the 4to) speak for themselves. I cannot sufficiently express my acknowledgments for the spontaneous and ever-increasing willinghood of my artist-poet friend W.J. Linton, Esq., who from his temporary Transatlantic home has sent me the exquisite head- and tail-pieces in both volumes, besides cunningly interpreting the two original Illustrations drawn for me by Mrs. Hugh Blackburn of Glasgow, and the Poet's 'Weeper.' To Mrs. Blackburn her work is its own abundant reward; but none the less do I appreciate her great kindness to me.

xxv

Anything else needing to be said will be found in the Memorial-Introduction and Essay on the Life and Poetry, and Notes and Illustrations. I cannot better close our Preface than with the fine tribute of R. Aris Willmott, in his 'Dream of the Poets,' wherein he catches up the echo of Cowley across two centuries:

Alexander B. Grosart.

15 St. Alban's Place, Blackburn, Lancashire,
4th February 1872.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

In a Study of the Life and Poetry of our present Worthy, which will be found in our Volume II.—thus postponed in order that the completed Works may be before the student-reader along with it—I venture to hope new light will be shed on both, and his character as a Man and Poet—one of the richest of the minor Poets of England—vindicated and interpreted as never hitherto they have been. Some memories cannot bear the 'cruel light' of close scrutiny, some poetries when tested prove falsetto-noted. Richard Crashaw grows on us the more insight we gain. If he were as well known as George Herbert, he would be equally cherished, while his Poetry would be recognised as perfumed with all his devoutness and of a diviner 'stuff' and woven in a grander loom; in sooth, infinitely deeper and finer in almost every element of true singing as differenced from pious and gracious versifying. In this hurrying-scurrying age, only twos-and-threes take time to hold communion with these ancient Worthies; and hence my Essay, as with the Fletchers and Lord Brooke and Henry Vaughan, may win-back that recognition and love due to Crashaw.

Then, in a much fuller and more adequate Memoir than hitherto furnished of William Crashaw, B.D.,xxviii father of our Poet—also in our Volume II.—the usually-given ancestral details will appear from new and unused sources. So that here and now I intend to limit myself to a brief statement of the few outward Facts, i.e. reserving their relation to the central thing in Richard Crashaw's life—his passing from Protestantism to Catholicism, and to contemporaries and inner friends, and to his Poetry—to our announced Study.

Willmott in his 'Lives of the English Sacred Poets' (vol. first, 1834, vol. second, 1839), begins his fine-toned little Notice thus: 'After an anxious search in all the accessible sources of information, I am able to tell little of one of whom every lover of poetry must desire to know much. The time of his birth and of his decease is involved in equal mystery.'[3] Our 'all' is still 'little' as compared with what we yearn for; but we do not need to begin so dolorously as our predecessor, for we have discovered both the 'time of his birth and of his decease.' He was born in London in 1612-3; this date being arrived at from the register-entry of his age on admission to the University, viz. 18 in 1630-1 (as hereafter stated). Shakespeare was then retired to his beloved Stratford; Milton was in the sixth year of his cherub-beauty. His father being 'Preacher at the Temple' at the date would have determined London to have been his birthplace; but his admission to Pembroke and his own signature at Peterhouse, 'Richardum Crashaw, Londinensem,' prove it. Who was his mother I have failed to find. The second Mrs. William Crashaw, celebrated in a remarkablexxix contemporary poetical tractate printed (if not published) by her bereaved husband (of which more anon and elsewhere, as supra), could not have been the Poet's mother, as she was not married to Crashaw (pater) until 1619. We should gladly have exchanged the 'Honour of Vertue or the Monument erected by the sorrowfull Husband and the Epitaphs annexed by learned and worthy men, to the immortall memory of that worthy Gentle-woman M^rs. Elizabeth Crashawe. Who dyed in child-birth, and was buried in Whit-Chappel: Octob. 8. 1620. In the 24 yeare of her age'—for a page on the first Mrs. Crashaw. Yet is it pleasant to know the motherless little lad received such a new mother as this tribute pictures. In 1620 he was in his ninth year. Thus twice a broad shadow blackened his father's house and his home. Little more than a year had he his 'second' mother.

Our after-Memoir of the elder Crashaw shows that he was a man of no ordinary force of character and influence. The Epistles-dedicatory to his numerous polemical books are addressed with evident familiarity to the foremost in Church and State: and it is in agreement with this to learn (as we do) that Master Richard gained admission to the great 'Charterhouse' School through Sir Henry Yelverton and Sir Randolph Crew—the former the patron-friend of the saintly Dr. Sibbes, the latter of Herrick, and both of mark. The Register of Charterhouse as now extant begins in 1680. So that we know not the date of young Crashaw's entry on the 'foundation' provided so munificently by Sutton.[4] Asxxx we shall find, one of the Teachers—Brooke—is gratefully and characteristically remembered by our Worthy in one of his Latin poems, none the less gratefully that 'the rod' is recalled. He was 'Schoolmaster' from 1627-8 to 1643. The age of admission was 10 to 14: the latter would bring us to 1627-8, or Brooke's first year of office. Probably, however, he entered sooner; but neither Robert Grey (1624-26) nor William Middleton, A.M. (1626-28), nor others of the Masters or celebrities of the famous School are celebrated by him, with the exception of (afterwards) Bishop Laney. Francis Beaumont was Head-Master in June 18, 1624, and I should have liked to have been able to associate Crashaw with the Beaumont family. Probably Dr. Joseph Beaumont of 'Psyche' was a school-fellow.

How long the Charterhouse was attended is unknown; but renewed researches at Cambridge add to as well as correct the usual dates of his attendance there. Willmott states that 'he was elected a scholar of Pembroke Hall, March 26, 1632,' and remarks, 'and yet we find him lamenting the premature death of his friend, William Herrys, a fellow of the same College, which happened in the October of 1631.'[5] He quotes from the Cole mss. The original register in the Admission-book of Pembroke College removes the difficulty, and is otherwise valuable, as will be seen. It is as follows:

'Julij 6. 1631. Richardus Crashawe, Gulielmi presbyteri filius, natus Londini annos habens 18, admissus est ad 2æ mensæ ordinem sub tutela M^ri Tourney.'

He was 'matriculated pensioner of Pembroke, March 26,xxxi 1632,' but, as above, his 'admission' preceded. Belonging to Essex, it is not improbable that Crashaw and Harris were school-fellows at the Charterhouse. His 'friendships' and associates, so winsomely 'sung' of, will demand full after-notice. In 1632-3 appeared George Herbert's 'Temple;' an influential event in our Poet's history. He took the degree of B.A. in 1634. In 1634 he published anonymously his volume of Latin Epigrams and other Poems; a very noticeable book from a youth of 20, especially as most must have been composed long previously. He passed from Pembroke to Peterhouse in 1636; and again I have the satisfaction to give, for the first time, the entry in the old College Register. It is as follows:

'Anno Domini millesimo sexcentesimo tricesimo sexto vicesimo die mensis Novembris Richardus Crashaw admissus fuit a Reverendo in Christo Patre ac D^no D^no Francisco Episcopo Elæcisi ad locum sive societatem Magistri Simon Smith legitime vacantem in Collegio sive Domo S^ti Petri, et vicesimo secundo die ejusdem mensis coram Magistro et Sociis ejusdem Collegii personaliter constitutus, juramentum præstitit quod singulis Ordinationibus et Statutis Collegii (quantum in ipso est) reverenter obediret, et specialiter præter hoc de non appellando contra amotionem suam secundum modum et formam statutorum prædictorum et de salvando cistam Magistri Thomæ de Castro Bernardi et Magri Thomæ Holbrooke (quantum in ipso est) indemnum, quo juramento præstito admissus fuit a Magistro Collegii in perpetuum socium ejusdem Collegii et in locum supradictum. Per me Richardum Crashaw Londinensem.' (p. 500.)

xxxii

He was made Fellow in 1637, and M.A. in 1638; looking forward to becoming a 'Minister' of the Gospel. His Latin Poems in honour of, and in pathetic appeal regarding Peterhouse, are of the rarest interest, and suggest much elucidatory of his great 'change' in religious matters; a change that must have been a sad shock to his ultra-Protestant father, but in which, beyond all gainsaying, conscience ruled, if the heart quivered. While at the University he was called on to contribute to the various 'Collections' issued from 1631 onward; and it certainly is once more noticeable that such a mere youth should have been thus recognised. His Verses—Latin and English—appeared thus with those of Henry More, Joseph Beaumont, Edward King ('Lycidas'), Cowley, and others; and more than hold their own. In 1635 Shelford, 'priest' of Ringsfield, obtained a laudatory poem from him for his 'Five Pious and Learned Discourses.' According to Anthony a-Wood, on the authority of one who knew (not from the Registers), he took a degree in 1641 at Oxford.[6]

Of his inner Life and experiences during these years (twelve at least), and the influences that went to shape his decision and after-course, and his relation to the Countess of Denbigh, I shall speak fully and I trust helpfully in our Essay. We need to get at the Facts and Circumstances to pronounce a righteous verdict.xxxiii For his great-brained, stout-hearted, iron-willed Father, the stormy period was congenial: but for his son the atmosphere was mephitic; as the Editor's 'Preface to the Learned Reader,' in his 'character' of him, suggests. Signatures were being put unsolemnly to the Solemn League and Covenant,' and as a political not a religious thing, by too many. Richard Crashaw could not do that, and the crash of 'Ejection' came. Here is the rescript from the Register of Peterhouse once more unused hitherto:[7]

'Whereas in pursuite of an ordinance of Parliament for regulating and reforming of the Universitie of Cambridge, I have ejected Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Penniman, Mr. Crashaw, Mr. Holder, Mr. Tyringham, late fellowes of Peterhouse, in Cambridge. And whereas Mr. Charles Hotham, Robert Quarles, Howard Becher, Walter Ellis, Edward Sammes, have been examined and approved by the Assembly of Divines now sitting at Westminster, according to the said Ordinance as fitt to be Fellowes: These are therefore to require you, and every of you, to receive the said Charles Hotham, Robert Quarles, Howard Becher, Walter Ellis, Masters of Arts; and Edward Sammes, Bach^r, as fellowes of your Colledge in room of the said Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Penniman, Mr. Crashaw, Mr. Holder, Mr. Tyringham, formerly ejected, and to give them place according to their seniority in the Universitie, in reference to all those that are or shall hereafter bee putt in by mee accordinge to the Ordinancexxxiv of Parliament aforesaid. Given under my hand and seale the eleaventh day of June anno 1644.

'Manchester.

'To the Master, President, and Fellowes of Peterhouse, in Cambridge.' (p. 518.)

'The ejection' of 1644, like that larger one of 1662, brought much sorrow and trial to a number of good and true souls. To one so gentle, shy, self-introspective as Crashaw, it must have been as the tearing down of a nest to a poor bird. His fellow-sufferers went hither and thither. Our first glimpse of our Worthy after his 'ejection' is in 1646, when the 'Steps to the Temple' and 'Delights of the Muses' appeared, with its Editor's touching saying at the close of his Preface 'now dead to us.' A second edition, with considerable additions, was published in 1648. Previous to 1646 he had 'gone over' to Catholicism; for in the 'Steps' of that year is 'An Apologie' for his 'Hymn'—'In Memory of the Vertuous and Learned Lady Madre de Teresa, that sought an early Martyrdome.' In 1646 it is headed simply 'An Apologie for the precedent Hymne:' in the 'Carmen Deo Nostro' of 1652 it is more fully inscribed 'An Apologie for the foregoing Hymn, as hauing been writt when the author was yet among the Protestantes.' His two Latin poems, 'Fides quæ sola justificat non est sine spe et dilectione' and 'Baptismus non tollit futura peccata,' were first published in 1648. Turnbull was either ignorant of their existence or intentionally suppressed them.

Our Worthy did not long remain in England. He retired to France; and his little genial poem on sending 'two green apricocks' to Cowley sheds a gleam of lightxxxv on his residence in Paris. Cowley was in the 'gay city' in 1646 as Secretary to Lord Jermyn; and inasmuch as the volume of that year contained his own alternate-poem on 'Hope,' I like to imagine that he carried over a copy of it to Crashaw, and renewed their old friendship. Cowley, it is told, found our Poet in great poverty: but Car's verses somewhat lighten the gloom. The 'Secretary' of Lord Jermyn introduced his friend to the Queen of Charles I., who was then a fugitive in Paris. So it usually runs: but Crashaw had previously 'sung' of and to her Majesty. From the Queen the Poet obtained letters of recommendation to Italy; and from a contemporary notice, hereafter to be used, we learn he became 'Secretary' at Rome to Cardinal Palotta. He appears to have remained in Rome until 1649-50, and by very 'plain speech' on the moralities, that is immoralities, of certain ecclesiastics, to have drawn down on himself Italian jealousy and threats. His 'good' Cardinal provided a place of shelter in the Lady-chapel of Loretto, of which he was made a Canon. But his abode there was very brief; for, by a document sent me from Loretto, I ascertained that he died of fever after a few weeks' residence only, and was buried within the chapel there, in 1650.[8] Cowley shed 'melodious tears' over his dear friend, in which he turns to fine account his 'fever' end: and with his priceless tribute, of which Dr. Johnsonxxxvi said, 'In these verses there are beauties which common authors may justly think not only above their attainment, but above their ambition,'[9]—I close for the present our Memoir:

On the Death of Mr. Crashaw.

Alexander B. Grosart.

THE
WORKS OF RICHARD CRASHAW.

VOL. I.

ENGLISH POETRY.

NOTE.

The title-pages, with collation, of the original and early editions of 'Steps to the Temple' and 'The Delights of the Muses' (1646 to 1670) are here given successively:

1st edition, 1646. (1)

STEPS
TO THE
TEMPLE.

Sacred Poems,

With other Delights of the
Muses.

By Richard Crashaw, sometimes
of Pembroke Hall, and
late Fellow of S. Peters Coll.
in Cambridge.

Printed and Published according to Order.

LONDON,
Printed by T.W. for Humphrey Moseley, and
are to be sold at his shop at the Princes
Armes in S^t Pauls Church-yard.
1646.

(2)

THE
DELIGHTS
OF THE
MUSES.
OR,
Other Poems written on
severall occasions.

By Richard Crashaw, sometimes of Pembroke
Hall, and late Fellow of S^t. Peters
Colledge in Cambridge.

Mart. Dic mihi quid melius desidiosus agas.

London,
Printed by T.W. for H. Moseley, at
the Princes Armes in S. Pauls
Churchyard, 1646. [12^o]

Collation: Title-page; the Preface to the Reader, pp. 6; the Author's Motto and short Note to Reader, pp. 2 [all unpaged]; 'Steps to the Temple,' pp. 99; title-page of 'Delights,' as supra, and pp. 103-138; the Table, pp. 4.

xlii

2d edition, 1648.

STEPS
TO THE
TEMPLE,
Sacred Poems.

With

The Delights of the Muses.

By Richard Crashaw, sometimes
of Pembroke Hall, and
late fellow of S. Peters Coll.
in Cambridge.

The second Edition wherein are added divers
pieces not before extant.

London,

Printed for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be
sold at his Shop at the Princes Armes
in S^t. Pauls Church-yard.
1648. [12^o]

The title-page to the 'Delights of the Muses' is exactly the same with that of 1646, except the date '1648.' Collation: Engraved title-page; title-page (printed); the Preface to the Reader and the Author's Motto, pp. 6; 'Steps,' pp. 110; the Table, pp. 4; the 'Delights;' title-page; the Table, pp. 3; Poems, pp. 71.

3d edition, 1652.

CARMEN
DEO NOSTRO,

Te Decet Hymnvs

Sacred Poems,

Collected,
Corrected,
Avgmented,
Most humbly Presented.
To
My Lady
The Covntesse of
Denbigh
By
Her most deuoted Seruant.
R.C.

In heaty [sic] acknowledgment of his immortall
obligation to her Goodnes & Charity.

At Paris

By Peter Targa, Printer to the Archbishope
ef [sic] Paris, in S. Victors streete at
the golden sunne.

M.DC.LII. [8^vo]

Collation: Title-page; Verses by Car, pp. 3; Verse-Letter to Countess of Denbigh, pp. 3 [all unpaged]; the Poems, pp. 131. (See our Preface for more on this and preceding and succeeding volumes, and for notice of a separate edition of the Verse-Letter to the Countess of Denbigh.)

4th edition, erroneously designated 2d edition, 1670.

STEPS
TO THE
TEMPLE,

THE
Delights
Of The
Muses,
and
Carmen
Deo Nostro.

By Ric. Crashaw, sometimes Fellow of Pembroke
Hall, and late Fellow of S^t. Peters
Colledge in Cambridge.

The 2^d. Edition.

In the Savoy,

Printed by T.N. for Henry Herringham at the
Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk of the
New Exchange. 1670. [8^vo]

Collation: Engraving of a 'Temple;' title-page; the Preface to the Reader and the Author's Motto, pp. 8; the Table, pp. 6 [all unpaged]; 'Steps,' pp. 77; 'Delights,' pp. 81-137; 'Carmen Deo Nostro, Te Decet Hymnvs,' pp. 141-208. For later editions see our Preface, as before, and for details on all, early and recent, and Manuscripts; and also our Memorial-Introduction and Essay. The 'Preface' of 1646 was reprinted in 1648 without change, save a few slight orthographical differences, and these: p. xlvi. line 3, 'their' for 'its dearest:' p. xlvii. line 1, 'subburd' for 'suburb:' and ibid, line 19, 'then' for 'than:' 1648 our text. It follows this Note in its own place. G.

STEPS TO THE TEMPLE, &c.

THE PREFACE TO THE READER.

Learned Reader,

The Author's friend will not usurpe much upon thy eye: This is onely for those whom the name of our divine Poet hath not yet seized[11] into admiration. I dare undertake that what Jamblicus[12] (in vita Pythagoræ) affirmeth of his Master, at his contemplations, these Poems can, viz. They shall lift thee, Reader, some yards above the ground: and, as in Pythagoras Schoole, every temper was first tuned into a height by severall proportions of Musick, and spiritualiz'd for one of his weighty lectures; so maist thou take a poem hence, and tune thy soule by it, into a heavenly pitch;[13] and thus refined and borne up upon the wings of meditation, in these Poems thou maist talke freely of God, and of that other state.

Here's Herbert's[14] second, but equall, who hath retriv'd Poetry of late, and return'd it up to its primitive use; letxlvi it bound back to heaven gates, whence it came. Thinke yee St. Augustine would have steyned his graver learning with a booke of Poetry, had he fancied its dearest end to be the vanity of love-sonnets and epithalamiums? No, no, he thought with this our Poet, that every foot in a high-borne verse, might helpe to measure the soule into that better world. Divine Poetry, I dare hold it in position, against Suarez on the subject, to be the language of the angels; it is the quintessence of phantasie and discourse center'd in Heaven; 'tis the very out-goings of the soule; 'tis what alone our Author is able to tell you, and that in his owne verse.

It were prophane but to mention here in the Preface those under-headed Poets, retainers to seven shares and a halfe;[15] madrigall fellowes, whose onely businesse in verse,xlvii is to rime a poore six-penny soule, a suburb-sinner[16] into Hell:—May such arrogant pretenders to Poetry vanish, with their prodigious issue of tumorous[17] heats and flashes of their adulterate braines, and for ever after, may this our Poet fill up the better roome of man. Oh! when the generall arraignment of Poets shall be, to give an accompt of their higher soules, with what a triumphant brow shall our divine Poet sit above, and looke downe upon poore Homer, Virgil, Horace, Claudian, &c.? who had amongst them the ill lucke to talke out a great part of their gallant genius, upon bees, dung, froggs, and gnats, &c., and not as himself here, upon Scriptures, divine graces, martyrs and angels.

Reader, we stile his Sacred Poems, Steps to the Temple, and aptly, for in the Temple of God, under His wing, he led his life, in St. Marie's Church neere St. Peter's Colledge: there he lodged under Tertullian's roofe of angels; there he made his nest more gladly than David's swallow neere the house of God, where like a primitive saint, he offered more prayers in the night than others usually offer in the day; there he penned these Poems, STEPS for happy soules to climbe heaven by. And those other of his pieces, intituled The Delights of the Muses, (though of a more humane mixture) are as sweet as they are innocent.

The praises that follow, are but few of many that might be conferr'd on him: he was excellent in five languages (besides his mother tongue), vid. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, the two last whereof he had little helpe in, they were of his own acquisition.

Amongst his other accomplishments in accademick (as well pious as harmlesse arts) he made his skill in Poetry, Musick, Drawing, Limming, Graving (exercises of his curious invention and sudden fancy) to be but his subservientxlviii recreations for vacant houres, not the grand businesse of his soule.

To the former qualifications I might adde that which would crowne them all, his rare moderation in diet (almost Lessian temperance[18]); he never created a Muse out of distempers, nor (with our Canary scribblers[19]) cast any strange mists of surfets before the intellectuall beames of his mind or memory, the latter of which he was so much a master of, that he had there under locke and key in readinesse, the richest treasures of the best Greek and Latine poets, some of which Authors hee had more at his command by heart, than others that onely read their works, to retaine little, and understand lesse.

Enough Reader, I intend not a volume of praises larger than his booke, nor need I longer transport thee to think over his vast perfections: I will conclude all that I have impartially writ of this learned young Gent. (now dead to us) as he himselfe doth, with the last line of his poem upon Bishop Andrews' picture before his Sermons: Verte paginas,

THE AUTHOR'S MOTTO.

Live Iesus, live, and let it bee
My life, to dye for love of Thee.

1

Sacred Poetry.

I.

STEPS TO THE TEMPLE

(1648),

AND

CARMEN DEO NOSTRO &c.

(1652).

SAINTE MARY MAGDALENE, OR THE WEEPER.[21]

THE WEEPER.[22]

I.

4

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

With some shortcomings—superficial rather than substantive—'The Weeper' is a lovely poem, and well deserves its place of honour at the commencement of the 'Steps to the Temple,' as in editions of 1646, 1648, and 1670. Accordingly we have spent the utmost pains on our text of it, taking for basis that of 1652. The various readings of the different editions and of the Sancroft ms. are given below for the capable student of the ultimate perfected form. I have not hesitated13 to correct several misprints of the text of 1652 from the earlier editions.

The present poem appears very imperfectly in the first edition (1646), consisting there of only twenty-three stanzas instead of thirty-three (and so too in 1670 edition). The stanzas that are not given therein are xvi. to xxix. (on the last see onward). But on the other hand, exclusive of interesting variations, the text of 1646 supplies two entire stanzas (xi. and xxvii.) dropped out in the editions of 1648 and 1652, though both are in 1670 edition and in the Sancroft ms. Moreover I accept the succession of the stanzas in 1646, so far as it goes, confirmed as it is by the Sancroft ms. A third stanza in 1652 edition (st. xi. there) as also in 1648 edition, I omit, as it belongs self-revealingly to 'The Teare,' and interrupts the metaphor in 'The Weeper.' Another stanza (xxix.) might seem to demand excision also, as it is in part repeated in 'The Teare;' but the new lines are dainty and would be a loss to 'The Weeper.' Our text therefore is that of 1652, as before, with restorations from 1646.

The form of the stanza in the editions of 1646, 1648 and 1670 is thus:

In 1652 from stanza xv. (there) to end,

but I have made all uniform, and agreeably to above of 1652.

I would now submit variations, illustrations and corrections, under the successive stanzas and lines.

Couplet on the engraving of 'The Weeper.' In 1652 'Sainte' is misprinted 'Sanite,' one of a number that remind us that the14 volume was printed in Paris, not London. In all the other editions the heading 'Sainte Mary Magdalene' is omitted.

St. i. line 2. 1646, 1648 and 1670 editions read 'silver-forded.' Were it only for the reading of the text of 1652 'silver-footed,' I should have been thankful for it; and I accept it the more readily in that the Sancroft ms. from Crashaw's own copy, also reads 'silver-footed.' The Homeric compound epithet occurs in Herrick contemporarily in his Hesperides,

[that is, the river Thames]. William Browne earlier, has 'faire silver-footed Thetis' (Works by Hazlitt, i. p. 188). Cf. also the first line of the Elegy on Dr. Porter in our 'Airelles'—printed for the first time by us: 'Stay silver-footed Came.'

With reference to the long-accepted reading 'silver-forded,' the epithet is loosely used not for in the state of being forded, but for in a state to be forded, or fordable, and hence shallow. The thought is not quite the same as that intended to be conveyed by such a phrase as 'silver stream of Thames,' but pictures the bright, pellucid, silvery whiteness of a clear mountain rill. As silver-shallow—a meaning which, as has been said, cannot be fairly obtained from it—can it alone be taken as a double epithet. In any other sense the hyphen is only an attempt to connect two qualities which refuse to be connected. All difficulty and obscurity are removed by 'silver-footed.'

St. iii. line 1. The. 'we'' may be = wee, as printed in 1646, but in 1648 it is 'we are,' and in 1670 'we're,' and in the last, line 2, 'they're.' The Sancroft ms. in line 2, reads 'they are indeed' for 'indeed they are.'

St. iv. line 4, 1646 and 1670 have 'crawles' and 'crawls' respectively, for 'floates,' as in 1648 and our text. The Sancroft ms. also reads 'crawles.' In line 3, 1646 and 1670 'meet' is inadvertently substituted for 'creep.'

Lines 5 and 6, 1646 and 1670 read

So too the Sancroft ms., save that for 'this' it has 'these.'

15

St. v. line 2. 'Brisk' is = active, nimble. So—and something more—Shakespeare: 'he made me mad, to see him shine so brisk' (1 Henry IV. 3).

Line 3. 1646, 1670 and Sancroft ms. read 'soft' for 'sacred' of 1652 and 1648.

Line 6, 'Breakfast.' See our Essay on this and similar homely words, with parallels. 1648 reads 'his' for 'this breakfast.'

St. vi. line 4, 'violls' = 'phials' or small bottles. The reading in 1646 and 1670 is 'Angels with their bottles come.' So also in the Sancroft ms.

St. vii. line 4. 'Nuzzeld' = nestled or nourished. In quaint old Dr. Worship's Sermons, we have 'dew cruzzle on his cheek' (p. 91).

Lines 1 and 3, 'deaw' = 'dew.' This was the contemporary spelling, as it was long before in Sir John Davies, the Fletchers and others in our Fuller Worthies' Library, s.v.

Lines 5 and 6. 1646, 1670 and Sancroft ms. read

1648 is as our text (1652).

St. ix. A hasty reader may judge this stanza to have been displaced by the xith, but a closer examination reveals a new vein (so-to-say) of the thought. It is characteristic of Crashaw to give a first-sketch, and afterwards fill in other details to complete the scene or portraiture.

St. xi. Restored from 1646.

St. xii. line 1. 1646, 1648 and 1670 read 'There is.'

Line 4, 'med'cinable teares.' So Shakespeare (nearly): 'their medicinal gum' (Othello, v. 2).

St. xiii. line 2. 1646 and 1670 unhappily misprint 'case;' and Turnbull passed the deplorable blunder and perpetuated it.

Line 5. Our text (1652) misprints 'draw' for 'deaw' = dew, as before.

Line 6. 1646 and 1670 read 'May balsame.'

St. xiv. line 3. 1646 and 1670 read

Turnbull misses the rhythmical play in the first and second 'though,' and punctuates the second so as to read with next line. I make a full-stop as in the Sancroft ms.

Line 4, ib. read

So the Sancroft ms.

Line 5, ib. read

So the Sancroft ms.

St. xv. lines 5 and 6, ib. read

'Faithful' looks deeper: but the Sancroft ms. agrees with '46 and '70.

St. xvii. line 2, in 1648 misreads

Turnbull, without the slightest authority, seeing not even in 1670 are the readings found, has thus printed lines 2 and 4, 'With loves, of tears with smiles disporting' ... 'Each other kissing and comforting'!!

St. xviii. line 2 in 1648 misreads

The 'balsome' is an evident misprint, but 'thee' is preferable to 'fill you' of our text (1652), and hence I have adopted it.

Line 3 in 1648 reads

St. xix. line 3, 1648, reads 'that' for 'the.'

Line 4, ib. 'those' for 'these.'

Line 6. cf. Revelations xiv. 5, 'These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.'

St. xxi. line 6. 'wipe with gold,' refers to Mary Magdalene's golden tresses, as also in st. xxii. 'a voluntary mint.'

Line 4. 'prouoke' = challenge.

St. xxii. line 2. Curiously enough, 1648 edition leaves a blank where we read 'calls 't' as in our text (1652). Turnbull prints 'call'st,' but that makes nonsense. It is calls't as = calls it. So too the Sancroft ms. Probably the copy for 1648 was illegible.

17

St. xxiv. line 1. 1646 and 1670 read

Line 2. Our text (1652) misprints 'starres' for 'teares' of 1646, 1648 and 1670.

Line 3. 1646 and 1670 read

The Sancroft ms. reads line 139 'Does the Night arise?' and line 141, 'Does Niget loose her eyes?'

St. xxv. line 2. 1646 and 1670 read

So the Sancroft ms.

Line 3. Our text (1652) misprints 'paire' for 'praire.' 'Sweet-breath'd' should probably be pronounced as the adjectival of the substantive, not as the participle of the verb.

Line 6. 1646, 1648 and 1670 read 'doth' for 'does.'

St. xxvi. lines 1 and 2. 1646 and 1670 read

So the Sancroft ms.

St. xxvii. Restored from 1646 edition. The Sancroft ms. in line 168 miswrites 'teares.'

St. xxviii. line 5. reads in 1646 and 1670

So also the Sancroft ms., wherein this st. follows our st. xv.

St. xxix. line 3. Our text (1652) misprints 'fires' for 'fire' of 1648.

St. xxx. line 1. Our text (1652) misprints 'Say the bright brothers.' 1646 and 1670 read 'Say watry Brothers.' So Sancroft ms. 1648 gives 'ye,' which I have adopted. The misprint of 'the' in 1652 originated doubtless in the printer's reading 'y^e,' the usual mode of writing 'the.'

Line 2. 1646 and 1670 read

So the Sancroft ms.

Line 3, ib. 'fertile' for 'fruitfull.'

Line 4, ib. 'What hath our world that can entice.' So the Sancroft ms.18

Lines 5 and 6, ib.

So the Sancroft ms.

St. xxxi. line 2. 1646 and 1670 read

and I accept 'sluttish' for 'sordid,' which is also confirmed by Sancroft ms.

Line 4, ib. 'your' for 'their;' and as this is also the reading of 1648 and Sancroft ms., I have accepted it.

Line 5. 1646 and 1670 omit 'Sweet.'

Line 6, ib. read 'yee' for 'you.'

St. xxxii. and xxxiii. In 1646 and 1670 these two stanzas are thrown into one, viz. 23 (there), which consists of the first four lines of xxxii. and the two closing lines of xxxiii. as follows,

In the Sancroft ms. also, and reads as last line 'A worthy object, our Lord Jesus feet.' On the closing lines of st. xxxii. cf. Sospetto d'Herode, st. xlviii.

I have not thought it needful, either in these Notes or hereafter, to record the somewhat arbitrary variations of mere orthography in the different editions, as 'haile' for 'hail,' 'syluer' for 'silver,' 'hee' for 'he,' and the like. But I trust it will be found that no different wording has escaped record. G.

19

SANCTA MARIA DOLORVM, OR THE MOTHER OF SORROWS

A patheticall Descant vpon the deuout Plainsong of Stabat Mater Dolorosa.[23]

I.

20

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

St. i. line 10. In 1648 the reading is

In 1670. 'All, more at home in her own heart.' I think 'all' and 'one' of our text (1652) preferable. There is a world of pathos in the latter. Cf. st. ii. line 8.

St. ii. line 1. On the change of orthography for rhyme, see our Phineas Fletcher, vol. ii. 206; and our Lord Brooke, Vaughan, &c. &c., show 'then' and 'than' used as in Crashaw.

St. vi. line 3. In 1648 the reading is 'love;' 1670 as our text (1652). The plural includes the twofold love of Son and mother.

Line 7, ib. 'to' for 'in.'

Line 9, ib. 'Oh give' at commencement. 1670, 'to' for 'too.'

St. vii. and viii. These two stanzas do not appear in 1648 edition, but appear in 1670.

St. vii. line 4. By 'tree' the Cross is meant. Cf. st. i. line 1.

St. ix. line 1. 1648 edition supplies the two words required by the measure of the other stanzas, 'in sins.' They are dropped inadvertently in 1652 and 1670. Turnbull failed as usual to detect the omission.

Line 4. 1648 spells 'Divident.'

25

Lines 5 and 6. I have accepted correction of our text (1652) from 1648 edition, in line 6, of 'If' for 'Is,' which is also the reading of 1670. 1648 substitutes 'just' for 'soft;' but 1670 does not adopt it, nor can I.

St. x. line 1. 1648 reads 'Lend, O lend some reliefe.'

Line 9 reads 'To studie thee so.'

St. xi. line 3, ib. reads 'thy' for 'the.'

Line 8, ib. reads 'Thy deare lost vitall death.'

Line 10. I have adopted from 1648 'in thy Lord's death' for 'thy lord's in death' of our text (1652).

Turnbull has some sad misprints in this poem: e.g. st. ii. line 4, 'sorrow's' for 'sorrows;' st. iii. line 2, 'death's' for 'deaths;' st. vi. line 9, 'Me to' for 'Me, too;' st. x. line 2, 'in' for 'an,' and line 3, 'a' mis-inserted before 'sad.' Except in the 'Me to' of st. vi., he had not even the poor excuse of following the text of 1670. G.

THE TEARE.[24]

I.

26

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

It is to be re-noted that st. v. is identical in all save 'watry' for 'bridegroom' with st. xi. of 'The Weeper' as given in text of 1652, and that st. iv. has two lines from st. xxix. of the same poem. Neither of these stanzas appear in 'The Weeper' of 1646. As stated in relative foot-note, I have withdrawn the former from 'The Weeper.' We may be sure it was inadvertently inserted in 1652, seeing that the very next stanza closes with the same word 'wine' as in it: a fault which our Poet never could have passed. It is to be noticed too that 'The Teare' did not appear in the edition of 1652. By transferring the stanza to 'The Teare' as in 1646, 1648 and 1670 editions, a blemish is removed from 'The Weeper,' while in 'The Teare' it is a vivid addition. The 'such' of line 1 links it naturally on to st. iv. with its 'such.'

Our text follows that of 1648 except in st. v. line 4, where I adopt the reading of 1652 in 'The Weeper' (there st. xi.) of 'bridegroom' (misprinted 'bridegrooms') for 'watry,' and that I correct in st. vii. line 6, the misprint 'the' for 'thee,'—the latter being found in 1646 and 1670. With reference to st. v. again, in line 5 in 'The Weeper' of 1648 the reading is 'balsome' for 'blossom.' The 'ripe' of line 6 settles (I think) that 'blossom' is the right word, as the ripe blossom is = the grape, to the rich lucent-white drops of which the Weeper's tears are likened. 'Balsome' doesn't make wine. I have adopted from st. xi. of 'The Weeper' of 1652 the reading 'the purpling vine' for 'the wanton Spring' of 1646, 1648 and 1670. The Sancroft ms. in st. i. line 2, reads 'expends' for 'expence;' st. iv. line 4, 'that's' for 'when;' st. v. line 4, 'manly sunne' for 'bridegroome,' and line 5, 'thine' for 'thy;' st. viii. line 6, 'I' th'' for 'In th'.' G.

29

THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.[25]

Tradidit semetipsum pro nobis oblationem et hostiam Deo in odorem suauitatis. Ad Ephe. v. 2.

THE HOWRES.

For the Hovr of Matines.

The Versicle.

The Responsory.

30

The Hymn.

The Antiphona.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Prayer.

For the Hour of Prime.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Hymn.

The Antiphona.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Prayer.

The Third.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Hymn.

The Antiphona.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Prayer.

The Sixt.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Hymn.

The Antiphona.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Prayer.

The Ninth.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Hymn.

The Antiphona.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Prayer.

39

Evensong.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Hymn.

The Antiphona.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Prayer.

Compline.

The Versicle.

The Responsor.

The Hymn.

The Antiphona.

The Recommendation.[27]

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

In the original edition of this composition, as supra (1648), it is entitled simply 'Vpon our B[lessed] Saviour's Passion.' What in our text (1652) constitute the Hymns, were originally numbered as seven stanzas. A few various readings from 1648 will be found below. Our text is given in full in 1670 edition, but not very accurately.

Various readings of the Hymns in 1648 'Steps.'

I. Line 1. 'The wakefull dawning hast's to sing.'
"  2. The allusion is to the petition in the old Litanies, 'By all Thine unknown sorrows, good Lord, deliver us.'
"  8. 'betray'd' for 'beseigd:' the former perhaps superior.
II. " 1. 'The early Morne.'
"  2. 'It' for 'she.'
III. " 5. 'ther's' for 'there is.'
IV. " 6. 'The fruit' instead of 'for'—a misprint.
V. " 6. 'our great sins' sacrifice.'
VII. " 1. 'The Nightening houre'—a curious coinage.
44

In the 'Prayer,' 'unto all quick and dead' is dropped, and reads 'the,' not 'Thy,' Church. In line 55 Turnbull reads 'weakful,' and, line 243, 'heed' for 'head,'—two of a number of provoking blunders in his text. G.

VEXILLA REGIS:

THE HYMN OF THE HOLY CROSSE.[28]

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

These variations &c. as between 1648 and 1652, deserve record:

St. i. line 1. 'Languishing,' which is the reading in 1648.

Ib. line 2. Here, and in v. line 1, I have added 'e' to 'badg' and 'larg' respectively from 1648.

St. vi. line 2. Our text (1652) corrects a manifest blunder of 1648, which reads 'wag'd' for 'way'd' = weighed. In 1648, lines 3-4 read

St. vii. appeared for the first time in our text (1652). In the closing four lines, line 4, 1648, reads noticeably

The allusion in st. iv. is to the old reading of Psalm xcvi. 10: 'Tell it among the heathen that the Lord reigneth from the tree.' The reference to Solomon points to the mediæval mystical interpretations of Canticles iii. 9-10.

I place 'Vexilla Regis' immediately after the 'Office of the Holy Crosse,' as really belonging to it, and not to be separated as in 1648. G.

47

[THE LORD SILENCES HIS QUESTIONERS.][29]

'Neither durst any man from that day aske Him any more questions.'

St. Matthew xxii.

OUR B[LESSED] LORD IN HIS CIRCUMCISION TO HIS FATHER.[30]

49

50

ON THE WOUNDS OF OUR CRUCIFIED LORD.[31]

VPON THE BLEEDING CRUCIFIX: A SONG.[32]

I.

II.

III.

52

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

The title in 1646 is 'On the bleeding wounds of our crucified Lord:' in 1648 has 'body' for 'wounds:' in 1670 as 1646. I record these variations, &c.:

St. i. lines 2 and 3, in 1646 and 1670 read

So the Sancroft ms.

St. ii. In 1646 and 1670 this stanza is the 5th, and in line 2 has 'teares' for 'showres.'

St. iii. This stanza, by some strange oversight, is wholly dropped in 1652. St. iii. not in Sancroft ms., and our st. ii. is the last. On one of the fly-leaves of the copy of 1646 edition in Trinity College, Cambridge, is the following contemporary ms. epigram, which embodies the sentiment of the stanza:

Turnbull gives the stanza, but misplaces it after our st. vi., overlooking that our st. ii. is in 1646 edition st. v.

54

St. iv. line 1: in 1646 and 1670 'they' for 'now.'

Line 3, ib. 'as they are wont'—evident inadvertence, as 'ever' is required by the measure.

Line 4, ib. 'blood' for 'floud:' so also in 1648.

St. v. line 1, ib. 'hand' for 'hands:' 'hand' in 1648, and in Sancroft ms.: adopted. Line 4, 'dropps' in Sancroft ms. for 'gives.'

St. vi. line 3. Our text (1652) prints 'pharian,' the Paris printer spelling (and mis-spelling) without comprehending the reference to Pharaoh.

St. vii. line 1, in 1646 and 1670 'not a haire but ...'

St. ix. line 3, in 1648 a capital in 'All's.' G.

55

TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME, THE NAME OF IESVS:

A HYMN.[33]

In Vnitate Devs Est
Numisma Vrbani 6.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

The title in 1648 'Steps' is simply 'On the name of Jesus.' In 1670 it is 'To the Name above every Name, the Name of Jesus, a Hymn,' and throughout differs from our text (1652) only in usual modernisation of orthography. The text of 1648 yields these readings:

Line 7, 'the bright.'
" 42, 'of th's.'
" 49, 'Into a habit fit of self tun'd Harmonie.'
" 79, 'you're.'
" 92, 'aloud.'
" 105, 'Seraphins.'
" 106, 'loyall' for 'joyfull.'
" 132, 'heavens.'
" 182 spells 'sillabell.'
" 187, 'The soules tastes thee takes from thence.'
" 202, 'bare.'
" 204, 'ware.'
" 209, 'For Thee: And serv'd therein thy glorious ends.'

See our Essay for critical remarks on the measure and rhythm of this poem as printed in our text (1652). G.

65

PSALME XXIII.[34]

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

In the Sancroft ms. this is headed 'Ps. 23 (Paraphrasia).' In line 4 it reads 'paths' for 'wayes,' which I accept; line 27 'weary' for 'giddy,' and line 28 'giddy' for 'weary,' both adopted; line 29 reads as we have printed instead of 'Spreads a path as cleare as day;' line 33, 'learne' for 'meet,' adopted; line 41, 'that' for 'the,' adopted. Only orthographic further variations. In line 30 'rub' = obstruction, reminds of Shakespeare's 'Now every rub is smoothèd in our way' (Henry V. ii. 2), and elsewhere. G.

PSALM CXXXVII.[35]

IN THE HOLY NATIVITY OF OVR LORD GOD:

A HYMN SVNG AS BY THE SHEPHEARDS.[36]

The Hymn.

Chorvs.

Tityrus.

Thyrsis.

Both.

Tityrus.

Thyrsis.

Tityrus.

Thyrsis.

Tityrus.

Both.

Fvll Chorvs.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

In the Sancroft ms. the heading is simply 'A Hymne of the Nativitie sung by the Shepheards.' It furnishes these various readings, though it wants a good deal of our text (1652):

Lines 1 to 4,

"  5 to 7,

"  24, 'Winter chid the world . . . .'
"  32, 'Bright dawne . . . . '
"  58 to 63,

'Officious' = ready to do good offices: 'obsequious' = obedient, eager to serve.

Lines 65 to 68,

"  79, 'Welcome to our wond'ring sight.'
"  83, 'glorious birth.'
"  85, 'not to gold' for 'nor to gold:' adopted.
"  96, 'points' = pupils (?).

76

Lines 101 to 103,

"  108, '. . . . while they feed the sheepe.'
"  114, 'Wee'l burne . . . .'

These variations agree with the text of 1646. See our Essay for critical remarks. G.

NEW YEAR'S DAY.[37]

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

St. ii. line 1,

the reference is to the empurpled lighter and lace- (or gauze-) like clouds of the morning. The heavier clouds are the 'crimson curtains,' the 'purple laces' the fleecy, lace-like, and empurpled streakings of the lighter and dissolving clouds, which the Poet likens to the lace that edged the coverlet, and possibly other parts of the bed and bedstead. Shakespeare describes a similar appearance with the same word, but uses it in the sense of inter or cross lacing, when he makes Juliet say (iii. 5),

So too in stanza v. 'each sparkling nest,' the flame-coloured clouds are intended. 'Nest,' like 'bud,' is a favourite word with Crashaw, and he uses it freely. In 1648 edition, st. iii. line 2 reads 'showes;' stanza v. line 2, 'cabinets;' stanza viii. line 5, 'and meet;' stanza ix. 'paramours' = lovers, wooers, not as now signifying loose love. G.

79

IN THE GLORIOVS EPIPHANIE OF OVR LORD GOD:

A HYMN SVNG AS BY THE THREE KINGS.[38]

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

The title in 1648 edition is simply 'A Hymne for the Epiphanie. Sung as by the three Kings.' Except the usual slight changes of orthography, the following are all the variations between the two texts necessary to record: and I give with them certain corrective and explanatory notes:

line 25, 'indifferent' is = impartial, not as now 'unconcerned.'
Line 52, 1648 edition misprints 'his't' for 'kis't.' In the 51st line the 'bright idol' is the sun.
Line 83, ib. reads 'thy' for 'this.'
"  95, 'a guilded horn.' Cf. Juvenal, Satire x.
"  99, ib. is given to 3d King. Throughout we have corrected a number of slips of the Paris printer in his figures.
Line 108, ib. spells 'to' for 'too.'
"  117, 'deliquium' = swoon, faint. In chemistry = melting.
"  122, 1648 edition reads 'his' for 'this;' and I have adopted it.
Line 143, ib. reads 'deere:' a misprint.
"  155, ib. reads 'domesticks.'
"  180, ib. reads 'the' for 'their.'
"  186, ib. drops 'it.'
"  195, ib. reads 'what' for 'that,' and in next line 'his' for 'this,' of 1652: both adopted.
Line 212, 'legible' is = legibly.
"  224 and onward, in 1648 is printed 'least,' in our text (1652) 'lest.' Except in line 224 it is plainly = last, and so I read it in 231st and 237th.

90

See our Essay for Miltonic parallels with lines in this remarkable composition. Line 46, 'these mortal clouds,' i.e. of infant flesh. Cf. Sosp. d' Herode, stanza xxiii.

Line 114, 'And urge their sun into Thy cloud,' i.e. into becoming Thy cloud, forcing him to become 'a long deliquium to the light of thee.' Line 189, our text (1652) misprints 'in self.' Line 190, 'By the oblique ambush,' &c. The Kings continuing in the spirit of prophecy, and with words not to be understood till their fulfilment, pass on from the dimming of the sun at the Crucifixion to a second dimming, but this time through the splendour of a brighter light, at the conversion of him who was taken to preach to the Gentiles in the court of the Areopagites. The speaker, or rather Crashaw, takes the view which at first sight may seem to be implied in the gospel narrative, that the light brighter than midday shone round about Saul and his companions but not on them, they being couched in the conscious shade of the daylight. Throughout, there is a double allusion to this second dimming of the sun as manifesting Christ to St. Paul and the Gentiles, and to the dimming of the eyes, and the walking in darkness for a time of him who as a light on Earth was to manifest the True Light to the world. Throughout, too, there is a kind of parallelism indicated between the two lesser lights. Both rebellions were to be dimmed and brought into subjection, and then to shine forth 'right-eyed' in renewed and purified splendour as evidences of the Sun of Righteousness. Hence at the close, the chorus calls them 'ye twin-suns,'—and the words, 'Till thus triumphantly tamed' refer equally to both. The punctuation to make this clear should be '... sun, ... undone; ...' 'To negotiate you' (both word and metaphor being rather unhappily chosen) means, to pass you current as the true-stamped image of the Deity. 'O price of the rich Spirit' (line 197) may be made to refer to 'thee [O Christ], price of the rich spirit' of Paul, but 'may be' is almost too strong to apply to such an interpretation. It is far more consonant to the structure and tenor of the whole passage, to read it as an epithet applied to St. Paul: 'O prize of the rich Spirit of grace.' I have also without hesitation changed 'of this strong soul' into 'of his strong soul.' 'Oblique ambush' may refer to the oblique rays of the sun now rays of darkness, but the primary91 reference is to the indirect manner and 'vigorous guess,' by which St. Paul, mentally glancing from one to the other light, learned through the dimming of the sun to believe in the Deity of Him who spake from out the dimming brightness. The same thought, though with a strained and less successful effort of expression, appears in the song of the third King, 'with that fierce chase,' &c.

Line 251. 'Somthing a brighter shadow (Sweet) of Thee.' Apparently a remembrance of a passage which Thomas Heywood, in his 'Hierarchie of the Angels,' gives from a Latin translation of Plato, 'Lumen est umbra Dei et Deus est Lumen Luminis.' On which see our Essay. Perhaps the same gave rise to the thought that the sun eclipsed God, or shut Him out as a cloud or shade, or made night, e.g.

TO THE QVEEN'S MAIESTY.[39]

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

In 1648 the title is 'To the Queene's Majestie upon his dedicating to her the foregoing Hymne, viz. "A Hymne for the Epiphanie,"' which there precedes, but in 1652 follows, the dedicatory lines to the Queen. 1648 furnishes these variations: line 7 misprints 'down' for 'dawn:' line 11 reads 'deare' for 'rare:' line 14 'royall' for 'golden:' line 18 corrects our text's misprint of 'whose' for 'whole,' which I have accepted: line 20 reads 'great' for 'dread.'

In line 3 we read

We know that the King on Twelfth-day presented gold, frankincense and myrrh, and so perhaps did the Queen. But these gifts were not presented to the magi-kings, and Crashaw seems to sue on behalf of 'these royall sages.' The explanation doubtless is that this was a verse-letter to the Queen, enclosing as a gift his Epiphany Hymn 'sung as by the three Kings.'

In line 5 'the purpling bud,' &c. requires study. Led by the (erroneous) punctuation (face,) I supposed this clause to refer to the 'Babe.' But would our Poet have said that the 'dawn of the world smiled on the Babe's face,' and in the same breath have called the face a 'rosy dawn'? Looking to this, and his rather profuse employment of 'bud,' I now believe the clause to be another description of the kings, and punctuate (face;). The rhythm of the passage is certainly improved thereby and made more like that of Crashaw, and the words 'right royall blood,' which may be thought to become difficult, can be thus explained. The races of the heathen kings were not 'royal,' their authority being usurped and falsely derived from false gods, and the kingly blood first became truly royal when the kings recognised the supreme sovereignty of the King of kings and the derivation of their authority from Him, and when they were in turn recognised by Him. Hence the use of the epithet 'purpling,' the Christian or Christ-accepting kings being the first who were truly 'born in the purple,' or 'right royall blood.'

In lines 15-18, as punctuated in preceding editions, the Poet is made to arrange his words after a fashion hardly to be called English, and to jumble his metaphors like a poetaster or 4th of July orator in America. But both sense and poetry are restored by taking the (!) after 'blood' as at least equal to (:), and by replacing 'whose' by 'whole,' as in 1648. This seems to us restoration, not change. Even thus read, however, the passage is somewhat cloudy; but the construction is—the groves of sceptres of your high-born ancestors bend with you their wealthy tops, when you bow down your head. Our Poet is fond of inversions, and they are sometimes more obscure than they ought to be. Line 20 = Psalm i., and cf. Philip. ii. 11. G.

94

VPON EASTER DAY.[40]

95

SOSPETTO D' HERODE.

LIBRO PRIMO.[41]

ARGOMENTO.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

XLII.

XLIII.

XLIV.

XLV.

XLVI.

XLVII.

XLVIII.

XLIX.

L.

LI.

LII.

LIII.

LIV.

LV.

LVI.

LVII.

LVIII.

LIX.

LX.

LXI.

LXII.

LXIII.