es bequeath;
'Tis fit who gave them life, should give them death.

And whilst[7:2] in curled flames to heaven they rise,
Each trembling sheet shall, as it upwards flies, 5
Present itself to thee a sacrifice.

Then when above[7:3] its native orb it came,
And reach'd the lesser lights o' th' sky, this flame,
Contracted to a star, should wear thy name,

Or falling down on earth from its bright sphere, 10
Shall in a diamond's shape its lustre bear,
And trouble (as it did before) thine ear.

But thou wilt cruel even in mercy be,
Unequal in thy justice, who dost free
Things without sense from flames, and yet not me! 15

ON MR. FLETCHER'S WORKS [1647].[8:1]

Fletcher, whose fame no age can ever waste,
(Envy of ours, and glory of the last,)
Is now alive again; and with his name
His sacred ashes wak'd into a flame
Such as before could[8:2] by a secret charm 5
The wildest heart subdue, the coldest warm,
And lend the ladies' eyes a power more bright,
Dispensing thus, to either, heat and light.
He to a sympathy those souls betray'd
Whom love or beauty never could persuade; 10
And in each mov'd spectator did[8:3] beget
A real passion by a counterfeit.
When first Bellario bled, what lady there
Did not for every drop let fall a tear?
And when Aspasia wept, not any eye 15
But seem'd to wear the same sad livery;
By him inspir'd, the feign'd Lucina drew
More streams of melting sorrow than the true;
But then The Scornful Lady did[8:4] beguile
Their easy griefs, and teach them all to smile. 20
Thus he affections could or raise or lay;
Love, grief, and mirth thus did his charms obey:
He Nature taught her passions to out-do,
How to refine the old, and create new;
Which such a happy likeness seem'd to bear, 25
As if that Nature Art, Art Nature were.
Yet all had nothing been, obscurely kept
In the same urn wherein his dust hath slept;
Nor had he risen[8:5] the Delphic wreath to claim,
Had with[8:6] the dying scene expir'd his name. 30
O the indulgent justice of this age,
To grant the press what it denies the stage!
Despair our joy hath doubled: he is c