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Can do the things that statues do deserve,
And act the business which they paint or carve.
What you have studied, are the arts of life;
To compose men and manners; stint the strife
Of murmuring subjects; make the nations know
What worlds of blessings to good kings they owe:
And mightiest monarchs feel what large increase
Of sweets and safeties they possess by peace.
These I look up at with a reverent eye,
And strike religion in the standers-by;
Which, though I cannot, as an architect,
In glorious piles or pyramids erect
Unto your honour; I can tune in song
Aloud; and, haply, it may last as long.

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Yet read him in these lines: He doth excel In honour, courtesy, and all the parts Court can call hers, or man could call his arts. He's prudent, valiant, just and temperate : In him all virtue is beheld in state; And he is built like some imperial room For that to dwell in, and be still at home. His breast is a brave palace, a broad street, Where all heroic ample thoughts do meet : Where nature such a large survey hath ta'en, As other souls, to his, dwelt in a lane :

Witness his action done at Scanderoon,
Upon his birth-day, the eleventh of June ;

6 Witness his action done at Scanderoon,

Upon his birth-day, the eleventh of June.] This refers to an action in the bay of Scanderoon in 1628, wherein he beat certain vessels belonging to the states of Venice. "This onset was made,” says Antony Wood, "as 'tis reported on the eleventh of June, (his birth day as Ben Jonson will have it,) yet a pamphlet that was published the same year, giving an account of all the transactions of that fight, tells us, it was on the 16th of the same month; which, if true, then the fortune of that day is again marred." To all which we must answer, that this same pamphlet or letter, which gives the relation of this action, was dated indeed on the 16th of June, but it expressly says that the action happened on the 11th of the same month; and this is confirmed likewise by Mr. Ferrar's Epitaph on the death of sir Kenelm Digby, which makes the 11th of June memorable for his birth-day, the day of his victory, and the day of his death. The epitaph is as follows:

"Under this stone the matchless Digby lies,
Digby the great, the valiant, and the wise:
This age's wonder for his noble parts,

Skill'd in six tongues, and learn'd in all the arts:
Born on the day he died, th' eleventh of June,
On which he bravely fought at Scanderoon ;
'Tis rare that one and self-same day should be
His day of birth, of death, and victory."

It is remarkable that Antony Wood refers us to this epitaph, and quotes two verses from it, and yet disputes the authority of our poet for the time of his birth. WHAL.

Wood was probably influenced by Aubrey, who observes on the couplet quoted by Whalley, "Mr. Elias Ashmole assures me from two or three nativities by Dr. Napier, that Ben Jonson was mistaken, and did it for the rhyme sake." We have here a couple of dreamers -but they are not worth an argument: it is more to the purpose to observe from the latter, that "sir Kenelm Digby was held to be the most accomplished cavalier of his time, the Mirandola of his age, that he understood ten or twelve languages, and was well versed in all kinds of learning, very generous and liberal to deserving persons, and a great patron to Ben Jonson, who has some excellent verses on him," &c. Letters by Eminent Persons, vol. ii. p. 326.

Sir Kenelm Digby was one of our poet's adopted sons: he is now more remembered for his chemical reveries, his sympathetic powder, &c., than for his talents, and accomplishments. He was, however, an eminent man, and a benefactor to the literature of his country. He died in 1665.

When the apostle Barnaby the bright
Unto our year doth give the longest light,
In sign the subject, and the song will live,
Which I have vow'd posterity to give.
Go, Muse, in, and salute him. Say he be
Busy, or frown at first, when he sees thee,
He will clear up his forehead; think thou bring'st
Good omen to him in the note thou sing'st:
For he doth love my verses, and will look
Upon them, next to Spenser's noble book,"
And praise them too. O what a fame 'twill be,
What reputation to my lines and me,

When he shall read them at the Treasurer's board,
The knowing Weston, and that learned lord
Allows them! then, what copies shall be had,
What transcripts begg'd! how cried up, and how glad
Wilt thou be, Muse, when this shall them befall!
Being sent to one, they will be read of all.

XCVII.

A NEW-YEAR'S GIFT, SUNG TO KING CHARLES,

MDCXXXV.

Prelude.

EW years expect new gifts: sister, your harp,
Lute, lyre, theorbo, all are call'd to-day;
Your change of notes, the flat, the mean, the
sharp,

To shew the rites, and usher forth the way

1 For he doth love my verses, and will look

Upon them, next to Spenser's noble book.] Sir Kenelm had a great affection for the Fairy Queen, and wrote a commentary on a single stanza of that poem. It is called, Observations on the 22d stanza in the 9th canto of the 2d book of Spenser's Fairy Queen, Lond. 1644. Octavo. WHAL.

Of the new year, in a new silken warp,

To fit the softness of your year's-gift; when We sing the best of monarchs, masters, men; For had we here said less, we had sung nothing then.

Chorus of Nymphs and Shepherds.

Rector Cho. To-day old Janus opens the new year,
And shuts the old : Haste, haste, all loyal swains,
That know the times and seasons when t' appear,
And offer your just service on these plains;
Best kings expect first fruits of your glad gains.

1 Shep. Pan is the great preserver of our bounds. 2 Shep. To him we owe all profits of our grounds. 3 Shep. Our milk.

Our fells.

4 Shep.

5 Shep.

Our fleeces.

·6 Shep.

And first lambs.

7 Shep. Our teeming ewes.

8 Shep.

And lusty mounting rams.

9 Shep. See where he walks, with Mira by his side. Cho. Sound, sound his praises loud, and with his hers divide.

Of Pan we sing, the best of hunters, Pan, That drives the hart to seek unused ways Shep. And in the chase, more than Sylvanus can; Hear, O ye groves, and, hills, resound his praise.

Cho.

Of brightest Mira do we raise our song, Sister of Pan, and glory of the spring; Nym. Who walks on earth, as May still went along. Cho. Rivers and valleys, echo what we sing.

Of Pan we sing, the chief of leaders, Pan, Cho. of Shep. That leads our flocks and us, and calls

both forth

To better pastures than great Pales can:
Hear, O ye groves, and, hills, resound his

worth.

Of brightest Mira is our song; the grace Cho. of Nym. Of all that nature yet to life did bring; And were she lost, could best supply her place: Rivers and valleys, echo 'what we sing.

1 Shep. Where'er they tread the enamour'd ground, The fairest flowers are always found:

2 Shep. As if the beauties of the year

Still waited on them where they were.
I Shep. He is the father of our peace;

2 Shep. She to the crown hath brought increase.
1 Shep. We know no other power than his ;
Pan only our great shepherd is,

Cho.

Our great, our good. Where one's so drest
In truth of colours, both are best.

Rect. Cho. Haste, haste you hither, all you gentler swains,

That have a flock or herd upon these plains:
This is the great preserver of our bounds,
To whom you owe all duties of your grounds;
Your milks, your fells, your fleeces, and first lambs,
Your teeming ewes, as well as mounting rams.
Whose praises let's report unto the woods,
That they may take it echo'd by the floods.
Cho. 'Tis he, 'tis he; in singing he,

And hunting, Pan, exceedeth thee:
He gives all plenty and increase,
He is the author of our peace.

Rect. Cho. Where-e'er he goes, upon the ground
The better grass and flowers are found.

To sweeter pastures lead he can,
Than ever Pales could, or Pan:

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