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

7 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.

4 Shep.

Our fells.

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; Cho. Hear, O ye groves, and, hills, resound his praise.

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:

He drives diseases from our folds,
The thief from spoil his presence holds :
Pan knows no other power than his,
This only the great shepherd is.
Cho. 'Tis he, 'tis he ; &c.

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XCVIII.

ON THE KING'S BIRTH-DAY.9

OUSE up thyself, my gentle Muse,

Though now our green conceits be gray, And yet once more do not refuse

To take thy Phrygian harp, and play

In honour of this cheerful day :

Long may they both contend to prove,
That best of crowns is such a love.

Make first a song of joy and love,
Which chastly flames in royal eyes,
Then tune it to the spheres above,
When the benignest stars do rise,
And sweet conjunctions grace the skies.
Long may, &c.

To this let all good hearts resound,
Whilst diadems invest his head;
Long may he live, whose life doth bound
More than his laws, and better led
By high example, than by dread.
Long may, &c.

8 In the old copy, several love verses are ridiculously tacked to this chorus: they have already appeared, and the circumstance is only noted here, to mark the carelessness or ignorance of those who had the ransacking of the poet's study, after his death.

This is probably Ben's last tribute of duty to his royal master: it is not his worst; it was, perhaps, better as it came from the poet, for a stanza has apparently been lost, or confounded with the opening one.

Long may he round about him see

His roses and his lilies blown:
Long may his only dear and he
Joy in ideas of their own,

And kingdom's hopes so timely sown.
Long may they both contend to prove,
That best of crowns is such a love.

XCIX.

TO MY LORD THE KING,

ON THE CHRISTENING HIS SECOND SON JAMES.'

HAT thou art lov'd of God, this work is

done,

Great king, thy having of a second son :
And by thy blessing may thy people see
How much they are belov'd of God in thee.
Would they would understand it! princes are
Great aids to empire, as they are great care
To pious parents, who would have their blood
Should take first seisin of the public good,
As hath thy James; cleans'd from original dross,
This day, by baptism, and his Saviour's cross.
Grow up, sweet babe, as blessed in thy name,
As in renewing thy good grandsire's fame :
Methought Great Britain in her sea, before
Sate safe enough, but now secured more.
At land she triumphs in the triple shade,
Her rose and lily inter-twined, have made.

Oceano secura meo, securior umbris.

1 James II. was born October 15, 1633, and the ceremony, here mentioned, took place in the succeeding month. In the Diary of Laud's Life, (fol. 1695, p. 49,) is the following memorandum by the archbishop. November 24, 1633. Sunday in the afternoon, I christened king Charles his second son, James duke of York, at St. James's."

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