And I will reign and govern still,
And always give the law,
And have each subject at my will,
And all to stand in awe :
But 'gainst my batteries if I find
Thou kick, or vex me sore,
As that thou set me up a blind,
I'll never love thee more.

And in the empire of thy heart,
Where I should solely be,

If others do pretend a part

Or dare to vie with me,—
Or Committees if thou erect
And go on such a score,—
I'll mock and smile at thy neglect,
And never love thee more.

But if thou wilt prove faithful then
And constant of thy word,
I'll make thee famous by my pen,
And glorious by my sword.
I'll serve thee in such noble ways
Was never heard before;

I'll deck and crown thy head with bays,
And love thee more and more.

Marquis of Montrose.

CLXXXIV.

NOX NOCTI INDICAT SCIENTIAM.

WHEN I survey the bright

Celestial sphere :

So rich with jewels hung, that night
Doth like an Ethiop bride appear;

My soul her wings doth spread,
And heaven-ward flies,

The Almighty's mysteries to read
In the large volumes of the skies.

For the bright firmament
Shoots forth no flame

So silent, but is eloquent

In speaking the Creator's name.

No unregarded star

Contracts its light

Into so small a character,

Removed far from our human sight,

But if we steadfast look,

We shall discern

In it, as in some holy book,

How man may heavenly knowledge learn.

It tells the conqueror,

That far-stretch'd power

Which his proud dangers traffic for,

Is but the triumph of an hour.

That from the farthest North
Some nation may

Yet undiscover'd issue forth,

And o'er his new-got conquest sway.

Scme nation, yet shut in

With hills of ice,

May be let out to scourge his sin,
Till they shall equal him in vice.

And then they likewise shall
Their ruin have;

For as yourselves your empires fall,
And every kingdom hath a grave.

Thus those celestial fires,

Though seeming mute,

The fallacy of our desires

And all the pride of life, confute.

For they have watch'd since first
The world had birth:

And found sin in itself accursed,

And nothing permanent on Earth.

W. Habington.

CLXXXV.

THE LUTE SONG IN "THE SAD
ONE."

HAST thou seen the down in the air,
When wanton blasts have tossed it?

Or the ship on the sea,

When ruder winds have crossed it? Hast thou marked the crocodile's weeping, Or the fox's sleeping?

Or hast viewed the peacock in his pride,
Or the dove by his bride,

When he courts for his lechery?

O, so fickle, O, so vain, O, so false, so false is she!-Sir John Suckling.

CLXXXVI.

THE CHRONICLE.

MARGARITA first possest,

If I remember well, my breast,

Margarita first of all;

But when awhile the wanton maid

With my restless heart had played,
Martha took the flying ball.

Martha soon did it resign

To the beauteous Catherine.
Beauteous Catherine gave place
(Though loth and angry she to part
With the possession of my heart)
To Eliza's conquering face.

Eliza till this hour might reign

Had she not evil counsels ta'en.

Fundamental laws she broke,

And still new favourites she chose,
Till up in arms my passions rose,
And cast away her yoke.

Mary then and gentle Ann

Both to reign at once began.

Alternately they sway'd,

And sometimes Mary was the fair,

And sometimes Ann the crown did wear,

And sometimes both I obey'd.

Another Mary then arose

And did rigorous laws impose,

A mighty tyrant she!

Long, alas, should I have been

Under that iron-sceptred Queen,

Had not Rebecca set me free.

When fair Rebecca set me free,

'Twas then a golden time with me.
But soon those pleasures fled,

For the gracious Princess died
In her youth and beauty's pride,
And Judith reigned in her stead.

One month, three days, and half-an-hour
Judith held the sovereign power.
Wondrous beautiful her face,

But so weak and small her wit,

That she to govern was unfit,

And so Susanna took her place.

But when Isabella came

Arm'd with a resistless flame

And th' artillery of her eye;

Whilst she proudly marched about
Greater conquests to find out,

She beat out Susan by the bye.

But in her place I then obeyed

Black-ey'd Bess, her viceroy-maid,
To whom ensu'd a vacancy,

Thousand worse passions then possest
The interregnum of my breast.

Bless me from such an anarchy !

Gentle Henrietta then

And a third Mary next began,

Then Joan, and Jane, and Audria.

And then a pretty Thomasine,

And then another Katherine,

And then a long et cætera.

But should I now to you relate,

The strength and riches of their state,
The powder, patches, and the pins,

The ribbons, jewels, and the rings,
The lace, the paint, and warlike things
That make up all their magazines ;