COL. RICHARD LOVELACE, Son of Sir Richard Lovelace, of Bethersden, in Kent, was born 1618, and educated at the Charter-house, and at Oxford, from whence he attended the Court. The beauty of his person and elegance of his manners made him a great favourite of the ladies. He afterwards retired to his seat in the country, whence he was deputed to carry the Kentish Petition to the House of Commons, for which he was committed to the Gate-house, at Westminster. Here he wrote his famous song" Stone-walls do not a prison make." After the Oxford garrison surrendered 1640, he formed a regiment for the service of the French King, and was wounded at Dunkirk. In 1648, he returned to England, and was com mitted a prisoner to Peter-honse, in London, where he published his poems, entitled “ Lucasta,” 1649. After he was set at liberty, " he grew melancholy," says Wood, "became very poor in body and purse, was the object of "charity, went in ragged cloaths, (whereas when he was "in his glory, he wore cloath of gold and silver) lodged "in obscure and dirty places, more befitting the worst of "beggars, aud poorest of servants," &c. (Athenæ. 11. 229) After his death, his brother Dudley Posthumous Lovelace published another volume of his poems, in 1659. There is great elegance, and a very brilliant fancy, mixed with some quaintness, throughout the poems of Lovelace. See Gent. Mag. vol. LXI. p. 1095. LXII. p. 99, 321, 604. 971, &c. LOVE CONQUER’D. A SONG. BY COL. RICHARD LOVELACE. SET BY MR. HENRY LAWES. [FROM “ LUCASTA, 1649.] THE childish God of Love did swear Up then to th' head with his best art, At her constant marble heart Which bounded back, and hit his own. Now the Prince of fires burns! Flames in the lustre of her eyes! Triumphant she, refuses, scorns; He submits, adores, and mourns, And is his Votress' sacrifice. Foolish boy! Resolve me now What 'tis to sigh and not be heard! He, weeping, kneel'd, and made a vow, The world shall love, as yon fast two: So on his sing'd wings up he steer'd, SONG. BY THE SAME. SET BY MR. HENRY LAWES. TO LUCASTA, GOING BEYOND THE SEAS. IF to be absent were to be Away from thee, Or that when I am gone You or I were alone; Then, my Lucasta, might I crave Pity from blustring wind, or swallowing wave. But I'll not sigh one blast or gale Or pay a tear to 'swage The foaming Blue-God's rage; . For whether he will let me pass Or no, I'm still as happy as I was. Though seas and land betwixt us both, Like separated souls, All time and space controuls: Above the highest sphere we meet Unseen, unknown, and greet as angels greet. So then do we anticipate Our after-fate And are alive i' th' skies If thus our lips and eyes Can speak like spirits unconfin'd In heaven, their earthy bodies left behind. SIR ASTON COKAYNE, The heir of a very ancient family at Ashbourn, in Derbyshire, was born at Elvaston 1608, and educated at Cambridge, and the Inns of Court. Thence he travelled through France and Italy; and marrying on his return, settled at his Lordship of Pooley, in Warwickshire, where he gave himself up to his books and his boon-companions, not however without cultivating the friendship of some of the most eminent wits of his day. Being a papist, he suffered much for his religion during the civil wars. In the latter part of his life, having sold his ancient patrimony, he retired to Derby, where he died 1683-4, aged 76. His poems were published 1658. There is much doggrel in them, but he sometimes displayed the powers of a poet. See Gent. Mag. LVII, p. 366. SONG, BY SIR ASTON COKAYNE. [FROM COKAYNE'S POEMS, 1658.] OF WOMEN. I WONDER Why by foul-mouth'd men Women so slander'd be, Why are the Graces every one If not to shew that they in grace Why are the liberal Sciences But t' shew if they would study them, And yet the Senses every one Why are the Virtues every one If not to shew that they in them Since women are so full of worth, For commendations they deserve, |