FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134  
135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   >>   >|  
claim. II. What chains but are too light for me, should I Say that Lucasta in strange arms could lie? Or that Castara<73.2> were impure; Or Saccarisa's<73.3> faith unsure? That Chloris' love, as hair, Embrac'd each en'mies air; That all their good Ran in their blood? 'Tis the same wrong th' unworthy to inthrone, As from her proper sphere t' have vertue thrown. III. That strange force on the ignoble hath renown; As AURUM FULMINANS, it blows vice down. 'Twere better (heavy one) to crawl Forgot, then raised, trod on [to] fall. All your defections now Are not writ on your brow; Odes to faults give A shame must live. When a fat mist we view, we coughing run; But, that once meteor drawn, all cry: undone. IV. How bright the fair Paulina<73.4> did appear, When hid in jewels she did seem a star! But who could soberly behold A wicked owl in cloath of gold, Or the ridiculous Ape In sacred Vesta's shape? So doth agree Just praise with thee: For since thy birth gave thee no beauty, know, No poets pencil must or can do so. <73.1> The constellation so called. In old drawings Cassiopeia is represented as a woman sitting in a chair with a branch in her hand, and hence the allusion here. Dixon, in his CANIDIA, 1683, part i. p. 35, makes his witches say:-- "We put on Berenice's hair, And sit in Cassiopeia's chair." Randolph couples it with "Ariadne's Crowne" in the following passage:-- "Shine forth a constellation, full and bright, Bless the poor heavens with more majestick light, Who in requitall shall present you there ARIADNE'S CROWNE and CASSIOPEIA'S CHAYR." POEMS, ed. 1640, p. 14. <73.2> William Habington published his poems under the name of CASTARA, a fictitious appellation signifying the daughter of Lord Powis. This lady was eventually his wife. The first edition of CASTARA appeared in 1634, the second in 1635, and the third in 1640. <73.3> Waller's SACHARISSA, i.e. Lady Dorothy Sydney. <73.4> Lollia Paulina, who first married Memmius Regulus, and subsequently the Emperor Caligula, from both of whom she was divorced. She inherited from her father enormous wealth. THE DUELL. I. Love drunk, the oth
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134  
135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Paulina

 

constellation

 

CASTARA

 
strange
 
Cassiopeia
 

bright

 
Berenice
 

passage

 

Crowne

 

Randolph


couples
 

Ariadne

 

drawings

 

represented

 

sitting

 
called
 

pencil

 

branch

 

witches

 
CANIDIA

allusion

 
Sydney
 

Dorothy

 

Lollia

 

married

 

Regulus

 

Memmius

 
SACHARISSA
 

appeared

 

Waller


subsequently

 

Emperor

 

wealth

 

enormous

 

father

 

Caligula

 

divorced

 

inherited

 

edition

 

CROWNE


ARIADNE

 

CASSIOPEIA

 

majestick

 

requitall

 

present

 

William

 
daughter
 

eventually

 

signifying

 

appellation