1:1. To the Countess of S. with ‘The Holy Court’ (p. 6). This is most probably Dorothy Spencer, born Sidney, Countess of Sunderland, Waller’s ‘Saccharissa,’ then a widow: a woman entirely worthy of Stanley’s admiration, and within his circle of personal friends. The Holy Court, a practical and devotional treatise by Nicolas Caussin, S.J., was first translated into English by Sir Thomas Hawkins, and published in London in 1626. There was a fine five-volume edition printed in 1650. A copy of this may, very likely, have been Stanley’s gift. The poem, 1651, is preceded by ‘Madam’ in formal address. 2:1. Drawn for Valentine, etc. (p. 7). The Editor guesses this young lady, the ‘bright dawn,’ who will ‘challenge every heart,’ later, to be the future Marchioness of Halifax, the little Dorothy, daughter of the Earl of Sunderland (who was killed at Newbury when she was three years old), and ‘Saccharissa.’ She was eleven in 1651. Waller, Sedley, and others, have left happier poems addressed to children, in the same forced tone, which was quite characteristic of the time. ‘Dear, fold me once more in thine arms’ (p. 10). 3:1. P. 10, line 15. A final couplet difficult to scan. If correctly printed, it has a dissyllable rhyme, with the accentual stress on ‘wi’ thee.’ Love’s Innocence (p. 12). 4:1. P. 12. The 1647 title is ‘The Innocence of Love.’4:2. P. ” line 1. 1647 reads: ‘See how this ivy, Dear, doth twine.’
4:3. P. ” line 7. 1647: ‘To one another whispering there.’4:4. P. ” lines 9-12. 1647: ‘Then blush not, Fair, that flame to show,
Which, like thyself, no crime can know.
Thus, led by those chaste guides, we may
Embrace and kiss as free as they.’
4:5. Pp. 12-13, lines 20-21. 1647: ‘As are our flames, ’bove reach of words.
Thus, Doris, we of these may learn.’
5:1. The Dedication (p. 13). This, in the edition of 1647, is followed by twenty-seven lines of citations from the Greek poets, giving the origins of the epithets applied here to Love. The Glow-Worm (p. 13). 6:1. P. 13, line 2. 1647 has: ‘This living star of earth.’
But Stanley’s sensitive sequence, ‘A star thought,’ etc., seems to forbid our recurring to the ‘living star’ as better than the ‘animated gem.’6:2. P. 14, line 4. 1647: ‘deceiv’d.’6:3. P. ” line 12. 1647: 7:1. To Chariessa (p. 14). The title, 1651, is simply: ‘Desiring her to Burn his Verses.’7:2. P. 14, line 4. 1647: ‘as.’7:3. P. 15, line 7. 1651: ‘about.’ 8:1. On Mr. Fletcher’s Works (p. 15). Title, in Stanley, 1651, reads: ‘On the Edition of Mr. Fletcher’s Works.’8:2. P. 15, line 5. 1651: ‘did.’8:3. P. ” line 11. 1651: ‘could.’8:4. P. 16, line 19. 1647: ‘doth.’8:5. P. ” line 29. 1647 has ‘ris’’; 1651, ‘rise.’8:6. P. ” line 30. ‘With’ reads ‘not’ in all texts: clearly a misprint. 9:1. To the Lady D[ormer]. Sic 1651 (p. 16). This poem, under the title, ‘To my most honour’d Aunt, the Lady Dormer,’ is the dedication of 1647. Who this lady was is not clear to the Editor, unless she was Alice, daughter to Sir Richard Molyneux, Bart., of Sefton, Lancashire, widow of Sir William Dormer, and mother of the splendid first Earl of Carnarvon, killed in the King’s cause at Newbury, 1643. It is rather noticeable that many of Stanley’s friends and kinsfolk, like the Dormers, were Catholics. To Mr. W. Hammond (p. 17). 10:1. P. 18, line 30. 1647 reads: ‘Nor any flame but what is thine will own.’
11:1. On Mr. Shirley’s Poems (p. 18). Title in Stanley, 1647: ‘On Mr. I. S. his Poems.’11:2. P. 18, line 7. 1647: ‘Next like some skilful artist, who to wonder.’
11:3. P. ” line 8. 1651 has ‘a piece.’11:4. P. 19, line 19. 1647: ‘speech.’11:5. P. ” line 21. ‘Voice’ tentative. Original texts have ‘veil.’11:6. P. ” line 30. 1651: ‘poetry.’11:7. P. 19, lines 31-32 omitted in 1647.11:8. P. ” line 33. Thus, 1647. 1651, erroneously: ‘And hast so far even future aims surpass’d.’
12:1. On Mr. Sherburne’s Translation, etc. (p. 20). In Stanley, 1647, entitled: ‘To Mr. E. S. on his Translation of Medea, with the other Tragedies of Seneca the philosopher, and vindication of the Author.’ Sherburne was not knighted until 1682, four years after Stanley’s death.12:2. P. 20, line 20. 1647: ‘author.’ 13:1. On Mr. Hall’s Essays (p. 21). In Stanley, 1647: ‘To Mr. I. H. on his Essays.’13:2. P. 21, line 4. Here ends the prologue-like poem, in the edition of 1647. Then, as a separate piece on another page, under a new title, ‘To Mr. I. H.,’ follow these lines: ‘I’ll not commend thee; for thou hast outgrown
The reach of all men’s praises but thine own.
Encomiums to their full objects are exact:
To praise, and not at full, is to detract.
And with most justice,’ etc.
The rest as in the present edition. ‘Full,’ in the third line just quoted, is certainly a misprint, crept up from the line below.13:3. P. 21, line 13. 1647 has: ‘The pride of others’ autumns poor appears.’
John Hall of Durham was but nineteen years old in 1646.
14:1. On Sir John Suckling, etc. (p. 22). Fragmenta Aurea, the posthumous collection of Suckling’s poetry, came out in 1646, with a fine portrait engraving by Marshall. 15:1. Answer. The verses by Stanley’s tutor and friend are reproduced in the editions both of 1647 and of 1651.
THE UNION. ??a ????, d?? s?ata By Mr. William Fairfax. As in the crystal-centre of the sight
Two subtle beams make but one cone of light,
Or, when one flame twin’d with another is,
They both ascend in one bright pyramis;
Our spirits thus into each other flow,5
One in our being, one in what we know,
In what we will, desire, dislike, approve,
In what we love; and one is that pure love.
As in a burning glass the aerial flame
With the producing ray is still the same,10
We to love’s purest quintessence refin’d,
Do both become one undivided mind.
This sacred fire into itself converts
Our yielding spirits and our melting hearts,
Till both our lines into one spirit run;15
So several lines are in their centre one.
And when thy fair idea is impress’d
In the soft tablet of my easier breast,
The sweet reflexion brings such sympathy,
That I my better self behold in thee;20
And all perfections that in thee combine,
By this resultance are entirely mine.
Thy rays disperse my shades, who only live
Bright in the lustre thou art pleas’d to give,
15:2. P. 22, line 8. i.e. ‘I [who] know no native light but light borrowed from thee.’ The rather obscure phrase is obscured the more by its slovenly original punctuation.15:3. P. 22, line 10. ‘Wouldst’: 1651. The Blush (p. 24). 16:1. P. 24, line 11. ‘Conferr’d’ in 1647; ‘comferd’ in Gamble’s Ayres, 1657. The right word is obvious.16:2. P. 24, line 16. ‘Knows’: 1647. The Cold Kiss (p. 25). 17:1. P. 25, line 3. ‘These’: 1657.17:2. P. ” line 12. ‘My’: 1657.17:3. P. ” line 15. ‘Lip’: 1657. The Idolater (p. 25). 18:1. P. 26, line 7. ‘By’ in other texts, but ‘from’ in Gamble, 1856.18:2. P. ” line 11. ‘He’ in 1647: the later text must be right.18:3. P. ” line 18. ‘Breast’: 1647. The Magnet (p. 26). 19:1. P. 26, line 9. ‘She’: 1657.19:2. P. 27, line 13. ‘Then’: 1647. Song: ‘Foolish Lover’ (p. 28). 20:1. P. 28, line 24. ‘Distinguish,’ by printer’s error, in 1657. The Parting (p. 29). 21:1. P. 29, line 4. ‘Do’: 1647.21:2. P. ” lines 5-6. 1647: ‘But when hereafter thou shalt know
That grief hath slain me, come.’
21:3. P. ” line 19. ‘Condemn’: 1647; ‘contain’: 1657. ‘Contemn’ is Stanley’s word, if one is to judge from the context. Counsel (p. 29). 22:1. P. 29, line 4. ‘Creature’: 1647.22:2. P. 30, line 7. ‘Their’: 1657.22:3. P. ” line 10. This line is a tangle of misprints in 1657, viz.: ‘Stars to jewels they divest thee.’
22:4. P. ” line 13. ‘Powers’: a misprint of 1647.22:5. P. ” lines 23-24. The final couplet in 1647 is: ‘Who would keep another’s heart,
With her own must never part.’
Expostulation with Love, in Despair (p. 30). The text here given is a composite. The variants follow:23:1. P. 30, lines 1-4. 1647: ‘Love, with what strange tyrannic laws must they
Comply, which are subjected to thy sway!
How far all justice thy commands decline
Which though they hope forbid, yet love enjoin!’
The elision of the relative pronoun between lines 3 and 4 of the present text, and again in the course of line 5, is an irritating mannerism of the time, nowhere more frequent than in Stanley.23:2. P. 31, line 9. 1657: ‘hope.’23:3. P. ” line 10. 1647: ‘hopes as cold’; 1657: ‘thoughts that’s cold.’23:4. P. 31, line 14. 1647: ‘When death and cold despair inhabit near?’
And 1657: ‘When death and old despair inhabit here?’
23:5. P. 31, line 15. 1647: ‘Rule in my breast alone, or else retire.’
23:6. P. ” line 16. 1647: ‘thy.’23:7. P. ” lines 17-18. The closing couplet of 1647 reads: ‘Or let me not desire, or else possess!
Neither, or both, are equal happiness.’
And 1657: ‘Thus let me ...
Either, or both ...’
Song: ‘Faith, ’tis not worth your pains’ (p. 31). 24:1. P. 31, lines 2-3. 1657, blunderingly: ‘To seek t’inspire
A heart so pure as mine.’
24:2. P. ” line 12. 1647: ‘you’ll.’ Expectation (p. 32). 25:1. P. 32, line 5. 1647: ‘or.’ The Breath (p. 33). 26:1. P. 33, line 8. Sic in 1647 and 1657. ‘He back receives’: 1651.26:2. P. ” line 11. 1647 and 1657 have: ‘Which, while he sportively.’ Gamble evidently had the 1647 copy of this song before him, as he follows it throughout, slighting Stanley’s corrections of 1651.26:3. P. 33, line 16. 1647 and 1657: ‘back.’ The Night: a Dialogue (p. 34). 27:1. P. 34, line 1. ‘Chariessa’ is misprinted, in 1651, ‘Charissa.’ The names are placed over the speeches. 1647 has for title: ‘Amori Notturni: A Dialogue between Philocharis and Chariessa.’ Unalter’d by Sickness (p. 35). 28:1. P. 35, lines 1-4. The editions of 1647 and 1651 start off: ‘Sickness, in vain thou dost invade
A beauty that can never fade.’
The additional opening lines figure only in 1657; there, however, ‘her’ in the second line is misprinted ‘our,’ and line 4 reads: ‘Those beauties which can never fade.’
28:2. P. 35, line 6. 1647, 1651: ‘One o’ th’ sweets which crown this Fair.’
But 1657: ‘On those sweets which crown her fair.’
28:3. P. 35, line 9. ‘Blushing’ in the earlier versions.28:4. P. ” line 10. ‘Drooping’ in the earlier versions.28:5. P. ” line 16. ‘But’ in 1657, to the confusion of the sense. 29:1. To Celia: Excuse for Wishing her less Fair (p. 36). ‘To Celia’ is omitted in 1651.29:2. P. 36, lines 9-10. 1647: ‘Men might languish, and not die
At thy then less scorching fire.’
29:3. P. ” line 23. ‘Than’: 1657. 30:1. Celia, Sleeping or Singing (p. 37). ‘Celia Singing’ is the title except in 1647, and the whole is there printed as one stanza.30:2. P. 37, line 10. By a wickedly diverting mishap, ‘more’ reads ‘less’ in 1651 and 1657!30:3. P. 37, line 12. ‘Flame,’ by error, in 1651 and 1657.30:4. P. ” line 13. ‘His’: 1647.30:5. P. ” line 18. ‘Cherubins’ in all three texts.30:6. P. ” line 19. ‘Power’: 1647. 31:1. Palinode (p. 37). Not in the edition of 1651. The poem is printed in this section on account of its relation to ‘The Return,’ which follows. ‘The Return’ is possibly but another version of ‘Palinode.’31:2. P. 38, line 5. The Editor has ventured to print ‘That would,’ though against all three texts, which give ‘That wouldst.’ The meaning seems to be that the ‘proud empire’ of Beauty is rebellions to Reason or Philosophy, the restraints of which, (‘chains’) ‘would within tyrannic laws confine,’ etc.31:3. P. 38, line 7. ‘Powerful’: 1657.31:4. P. ” line 12. ‘In’: 1657. The Return (p. 38). 32:1. P. 38, line 2. ‘Unite,’ by a misprint: 1651.32:2. P. ” line 3. ‘Bounds’: 1651, 1657.32:3. P. ” line 5. ‘That’: 1647.32:4. P. ” line 7. ‘Sacred’: 1647, 1651.32:5. P. ” line 10. ‘Which’: 1657.32:6. P. 39, line 11. ‘Midst’: 1647, 1651.32:7. P. ” line 13. ‘Th’’ dropped out in 1651. Chang’d, yet Constant (p. 39). 33:1. P. 40, line 25. Eros.33:2. P. 41, line 56. May the Editor be forgiven for altering, with no explicit help from printed texts, one word of this splendid lyric, in the very best impudent spirit of the time? The second ‘hearts’ in the closing line reads ‘they’ in all editions of Stanley. It is possible that this word ‘they’ has been caught from the line just before, after a fashion only too familiar to copyists and printers. Even so, it would mean not ‘lovers’ but ‘hearts.’ The word ‘hearts,’ one is tempted to think, may be the right word. 34:1. To Chariessa: Beholding herself, etc. (p. 41). The edition of 1651 omits ‘To Chariessa.’ The Editor regrets having included it, by an oversight, in this section.34:2. P. 41, line 8. ‘One’: 1657.34:3. P. ” line 12. The reading of 1657. ‘In’: 1647. Song: ‘When I lie burning’ (p. 42). 35:1. P. 42, lines 13-16. This stanza, probably by inadvertence, is not included in the edition of 1651. ‘Eye,’ line 14, is ‘eyes’ in 1657; and ‘than,’ line 16, is misprinted ‘them’ in 1647.35:2. P. 42. line 17. ‘No’: 1651 and 1657. Delay (p. 43). 36:1. P. 44, line 18. ‘Be’: 1657. The Repulse (p. 44). 37:1. P. 44, line 3. The reading of 1657. ‘Tyrannic’: 1647, 1651.37:2. P. 45, line 21. ‘The’: 1651, 1657. Song: ‘Celinda, by what potent art?’ (p. 45). 38:1. P. 45, line 9. ‘Friend’: 1647, 1651. The Tomb (p. 46). 39:1. P. 47, lines 19-20. In the version of 1647, these lines read: ‘And (thou in this flame sacrific’d to me),
We might each other’s mutual martyr be.’
The whole third stanza is reproduced from 1647; it figures neither in 1651 nor in 1657.39:2. P. 47, line 30. ‘Love’: 1647; a manifest befogging duplication of the ‘love’ in the preceding line. ‘Kill’ seems to be called for, or perhaps ‘slay,’ a word less in favour with Stanley. 40:1. To Celia, pleading want of merit (p. 48). 1647: ‘To One that pleaded her own Want of Merit.’40:2. P. 48, line 12. ‘My’: 1647.40:3. P. ” line 19. The name in 1651, 1657; but ‘Dearest’ in 1647. 41:1. The Kiss. (p. 49). 1647: ‘The Killing Kiss.’41:2. P. 49, line 4. ‘Forms’ may be a misprint of 1651, 1657. This line in 1647 reads: ‘They both unite and join.’
41:3. P. 49, line 6. ‘And’: 1651; ‘by’ (which carries out the context) in the others.41:4. P. 49, line 12. 1647: ‘Our lips, our tongues, each other’s thoughts betray.’
41:5. P. 49, line 17. 1647: ‘Doris.’ The Snowball (p. 50). 42:1. P. 50, line 10. ‘Whiter’ in all; but ‘winter’ must be the word. 43:1. The Deposition (p. 50). 1647: ‘A Deposition from Beauty.’43:2. P. 51, line 1. ‘Were’: 1651.43:3. P. ” line 3. ‘Do’: 1647; somewhat clearer than ‘all,’ in the texts of 1651, 1657.43:4. P. 51, line 9. ‘Glories’: 1651.43:5. P. ” line 16. ‘Which’: 1647. Love’s Heretic (p. 52). 44:1. P. 53, line 34. ‘That’: 1647.44:2. P. ” line 38. ‘Pleasures’: 1651, 1657. La Belle Confidante (p. 54). 45:1. P. 55, line 16. ‘Can nor decay nor die’: 1651.45:2. P. 55, line 17. ‘And’: 1647.45:3. P. ” lines 18, 20. 1647: ‘Even in divorce delighted,
.....
Still in the grave united.’
The Divorce (p. 57). 46:1. P. 57, line 4. 1657: ‘cannot.’46:2. P. ” line 12. 1647: ‘That taught me such idolatry.’
The line as printed in this book follows 1657.46:3. P. 57, line 14. ‘Cold’: 1647.46:4. P. ” lines 15-16. 1647: ‘I by thy hate might be releas’d,
Who now am prisoner to thy love.’
46:5. P. 58, lines 21-22. 1647: ‘Thus whilst so many suppliants do
Implore thy pity they may prove.’
The Bracelet (p. 58). 47:1. P. 58, line 12. 1651 and 1657 have the line revised to its detriment: ‘A heart that many storms withstood, have sold.’
47:2. P. 58, line 15. 1647: ‘souls that do our life inspire.’ ‘Human’ in 1651, but ‘humane,’ in the commoner spelling of the time, in 1657.47:3. P. 59, line 22. Thus in 1651, 1657. 1647 has: ‘Guards and defends my heart.’
The Farewell (p. 59). 48:1. P. 59, lines 13-14. The text as given is 1657 only. 1647 has: ‘And may, in spite of Fate, thus blest,
Be, by this death, of heaven possess’d.’
And 1651: ‘And be, in spite of Fate, thus blest,
By this sad death, of heaven possess’d.’
49:1. The Exchange: Dialogue (p. 60). ‘Exchange of Souls’: 1647.49:2. P. 60, lines 5-6. This refrain is omitted after the speeches in 1651, but figures in other editions, earlier and later. The Exequies (p. 61). 50:1. P. 61, lines 7-8. Text as given in 1651, 1657. 1647 has: ‘Whose cold embraces do a victim hide
That, paid to Beauty, on Love’s altar died.’
The Silkworm (p. 62). 51:1. P. 62, line 1. ‘This’: 1651, 1657.51:2. P. ” line 6. All editions read: ‘To make thy ornament her spoil.’
Facts, and the context, force one to reverse the possessive pronouns.51:3. P. 62, line 7. 1651: ‘pain.’51:4. P. ” line 10. 1647: ‘That her rich work and labours, thou
Wilt,’ etc.
Ambition (p. 62). 52:1. P. 63, line 10. Misspelt ‘assent’ in 1657.52:2. P. ” line 16. ‘Honour,’ in all texts, obviously wrong. Song: ‘When, dearest Beauty’ (p. 63). 53:1. P. 63, line 5. ‘Left’: 1651; ‘least’: 1657. Song: ‘I will not trust’ (p. 64). 54:1. P. 64, line 15. ‘Captive’: 1657; the older form in 1647, 1651. Song: ‘I prithee’ (p. 65). 55:1. P. 66, line 7. ‘That,’ 1647, 1651. The Loss (p. 66). 56:1. P. 67, line 20. This word reads ‘thy’ in all editions of Stanley. The right reading is almost certainly ‘their.’ 57:1. The Self-Cruel (p. 67). Entitled ‘Song’: 1647.57:2. P. 68, line 17. ‘That’ in all texts: but presumably a misprint. 58:1. An Answer to a Song: ‘Wert thou much [?] Fairer’ (p. 68). Stanley gives the title inaccurately. Mr. W. M.’s Wither-like song (the author of which the Editor has not identified), appears only in the edition of 1651:— Wert thou yet fairer than thou art,
(Which lies not in the power of art,)
Or hadst thou in thine eyes more darts
Than ever Cupid shot at hearts;
Yet if they were not thrown at me,5
I would not cast a thought on thee.
I’d rather marry a disease,
Than court the thing I cannot please:
She that will cherish my desires
Must meet my flames with equal fires.10
What pleasure is there in a kiss,
To him that doubts the heart’s not his?
I love thee not because thou’rt fair,
Softer than down, smoother than air;
Nor for the Cupids that do lie15
In either corner of thine eye.
Wouldst thou then know what it might be?
’Tis I love you, ’cause you love me.
58:2. P. 68, line 8. ‘So’: 1647, 1651. 59:1. The Relapse (p. 69) Entitled simply ‘Song’ in 1647.59:2. P. 69, line 5. ‘Blind and impious’: 1647.59:3. P. 69, line 7. ‘Fall’: 1657; in the earlier versions ‘name,’ caught up by the compositor, in error, from the succeeding line. But the 1647 copy of Stanley in the Bodleian Library, which belonged to William Fairfax, has ‘name’ erased, and ‘fall’ written, in a seventeenth-century hand, above it.
TRANSLATIONS. Claim to Love. Guarini. [1651, 1657] (p. 72). 60:1. P. 72, line 5. ‘To’: 1651.60:2. P. ” line 7. ‘Thy’: 1651. The Sick Lover. Guarini. [1647, 1651, 1657] (p. 72). 61:1. P. 72, line 6. ‘It’ in all texts, possibly a misprint for ‘is.’ Apollo and Daphne. Marino. [1651] (p. 74). 62:1. P. 74, line 6. ‘Tears,’ manifestly wrong, in the text; ‘these’ as relating to ‘leaves,’ is inserted at a venture, and may or may not be the right word. A Lady Weeping. Montalvan. [1651, 1657] (p. 75). 63:1. P. 76, line 10. ‘Stars’ in both texts; but this may be in error for ‘tears.’ The Hasty Kiss. Secundus. [1647, 1651, 1657] (p. 76). 64:1. P. 76, line 1. 1647: ‘she did.’64:2. P. ” line 2. 1647: ‘her.’64:3. P. 76, line 3. 1651: ‘snatch.’64:4. P. ” line 4. 1651: ‘mock.’64:5. P. ” line 5. 1647: ‘my Chariessa!’64:6. P. ” line 6. 1651: ‘gavest.’ Translations from Anacreon. [1651, 1657.] 65:1. No. II. P. 79, line 7. ‘Love,’ in both originals, is self-contradictory.66:1. No. V. P. 80, line 5. ‘To’ omitted in 1657.66:2. No. V. P. 81, line 13. So 1657. ‘My fair one’ elsewhere. 67:1. Seven. Epigrams: Plato. From Laertius and the Anthology. (p. 81.)
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