Poems

And with judicious hand does the whole Current Guide.
T' has all the Beauties Nature can impart,

And all the comely Dress without the paint of Art.

Upon the Chair made out of Sir Francis Drakes ship, Presented to the University Library in Oxford, by John Davis of Deptford, Esquire.

this great Ship which round the Globe has run,
And matcht in Race the Chariot of the Sun,
This Pythagorean Ship (for it may claim
Without presumption so deserv'd a Name,
By knowledge once and transformation now)
In her New Shape this sacred Port allow.

Drake and his Ship could not have wish'd from Fate,
A more blest Station, or more blest Estate.
For (Lo!) a Seat of endless Rest is given,
To her in Oxford, and to him in Heaven.

NOTES

A=The Mistress, 1647. B=The First Folio of 1656. C=The Second Folio of 1668. D=The Verses of 1663.

When necessary, words from the present text are attached to each variant to indicate where the difference begins or ends. Titles and verse-numbers are counted as lines.

P. 5, 1. 17. B] taking in the. 1. 21. B] which had...reflect upon.
B] lesser.

p. 6, 1. 14.

1.33.

p. 8, l. 7. B] upon no. 1. 25. B omits] there. p. 9, 1. 1. C misprints] justificatiou. B adds after] work; for it is so uncustomary, as to become almost ridiculous, to make Lawrels for the Conquered. Now though in all Civil Dissentions, when they break into open hostilities, the War of the Pen is allowed to accompany that of the Sword, and every one is in a maner obliged with his Tongue, as well as Hand, to serve and assist the side which he engages in; yet when the event of battel, and the unaccountable Will of God has determined the controversie, and that we have submitted to the conditions of the Conqueror, we must lay down our Pens as well as Arms, we must march out of our Cause it self, and dismantle that, as well as our Towns and Castles, of all the Works and Fortifications of Wit and Reason by which we defended it. We ought not sure, to begin our selves to revive the remembrance of those times and actions for which we have received a General Amnestie, as a favor from the Victor. The truth is, neither We, nor They, ought by the Representation of Places and Images to make a kind of Artificial Memory of those things wherein we are all bound to desire like Themistocles, the Art of Oblivion. The enmities of Fellow-Citizens should be, like that of Lovers, the Redintegration of their Amity. The Names of Party, and Titles of Division, which are sometimes in effect the whole quarrel, should be extinguished and forbidden in peace under the notion of Acts of Hostility. And I would have it accounted no less unlawful to rip up old wounds, then to give new ones; which has made me not onely abstain from printing any things of this kinde, but to burn the very copies, and inflict a severer punishment on them my self, then perhaps the most rigid Officer of State would have thought that they deserved.

p. 28, 1. 21.

A full-stop has been supplied at the end of the line here, and

in similar obvious cases where it has been omitted.

p. 65. The poems that follow were published in 1647. The title-page and Preface are as follows:

The Mistresse, or Severall Copies of Love-Verses. Written by Mr. A. Cowley.-Hæret lateri lethalis arundo. London, Printed for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at his shop at the Princes Armes in St. Pauls Church-yard. Anno Dom. 1647. [6 ins. × 4 ins.]

To the Reader.

A Correct Copy of these verses [some copies and] (as I am told) written by the Authour himselfe, falling into my hands, I thought fit to send them to the Presse; cheifely because I heare that the same is like to be don from a more imperfect one. It is not my good fortune to bee acquainted with the Authour any farther then his fame (by which hee is well knowne to all English men) and to that I am sure I shall doe a service by this Publication: Not doubting but that, if these verses please his Mistresse but halfe so well as they will generally doe the rest of the world, he will bee so well contented, as to forgive at least this my boldenesse, which proceedes onely from my Love of Him, who will gaine reputation, and of my Countrey, which will receive delight from it. I shall use no more preface, nor add one word (besides these few lines) to the Booke; but faithfully and nakedly transmit it to thy view, just as it came to mine, unlesse perhaps some Typographicall faults get into it, which I will take care shall be as few as may be, and desire a pardon for them, if there be any.

Farewell.

Copies of this small 8vo. of 1647 exist in which the readings differ from those in other copies dated the same year. Some of these variants are probably misprints, corrected in some sheets but not in all. The variations given below under A have been arrived at after a collation of five copies all dated 1647. p. 65, 1. 11. A] And a. 1. 24. A] When I'me that thing.

p. 66, 1. 9. A] The spring Plants. 1. 22. A] a Noble.

At every spring they chant thy praise;

II. 26, 27. A]

Make me but love like them, I'le sing thee better laies.

1. 30. A] by Dart.

p. 67, 1. 7. p. 68, 1. 6. Lover.

A] Nor drink no more one wretched Lovers Teare.

A] Thy part. 1. 7. A] Thy sighs. 1. 16. A] The Given
A and B] Which thin-sould, under-mortalls take.

1. 21. p. 73, l. 12. A] The Planets.

Grace and.

p. 75, 11. 29, 30. A and B]

1. 17. A and B] But soon as. 1. 33. A]