the Gunpowder-Treason' (see p. 387, below-'his Holinesse a feast Hath now præpar'd '), and the theory that the Gunpowder-Treason poems are more or less contemporaneous with those on the king's coronation thus receives some partial confirmation. The notes to the version of Psalm xxiii (p. 435, below) will suggest that the example of William Crashaw was not forgotten when it was written, and the simplicity of the style lends support to the supposition of an early date.

If the argument from the contents of Add. MS. 33219 has any value it would appear that the Italian influence comes in early, since that MS. contains the short translations from Ceba and Marino (see pp. 188 and 190, below), and 'The Weeper', in which Marino's influence may be traced; and the same influence may also be looked for elsewhere among comparatively early poems, as, if the date in the MS. version of the translation from 'Sospetto d' Herode' is to be trusted, Crashaw was still interested in Marino in 1637. This is of course precarious evidence, and so is the occurrence of echoes from Crashaw in the verse of Joseph Beaumont (or vice versa); but this perhaps mutual influence of the two English poets would be most likely to affect works written during the association of Crashaw and Beaumont as contemporary Fellows of Peterhouse. The works of St. Teresa, with their atmosphere of rapturous devotion, seem to have come in Crashaw's way somewhat later than the Italian influence. Steps to the Temple (1646) contains, it is true, the Apology' for the hymn in her honour ' as having been written when the author was yet among the Protestants'; but the succeeding poem, with its main title 'The Flaming Heart', apparently borrowed from the biography in English of the saint which appeared at Antwerp in 1642, suggests that the Teresa poems as a whole had not long been extant.

The poems which were added to Steps to the Temple in 1648 show that, apart from the continued preoccupation with 'divine' subjects and the continued and perhaps increased fostering of an exalted religious sense, Crashaw's style was now developing away from the clearly apprehended imagery and precise metrical forms of his earliest poetry towards a freer verse and more complex metaphorical utterance, in which

the images, as in Shakespeare's later style, seem to follow each other in quicker succession, without always being clearly conceived or fully exploited; and these are criteria which again may be used as confirmatory tests in determining the period of any poem (such as that ' On the Assumption') which was published in the volume of 1646 but which it seems reasonable, on other grounds, to assign to a later date than the majority of the poems in that volume.

It seems hardly worth space to embark upon a detailed chronological list in which so much would needs be conjectural; but if account be taken of all the considerations advanced above there would seem to be some semblance of authority for the following loose and hypothetical grouping, which together with the safer list already given may serve at least as a basis for future and more precise estimates.

Periods. Up to 1630.

Groups.

Poems on the Gunpowder-Treason and the King's
Coronation. Some of the Latin and English epigrams.
Translations of Psalms xxiii and cxxxvii.

Up to 1635. Latin epigrams published in 1634. Some of the Latin secular poems comprised in the editions of 1646 and 1648. All the English poems in Add. MS. 33219. Sospetto d' Herode.'

1637. 1635-45.

1645-8 1647-9

Latin poems on Peterhouse and its chapel. 'In the Glorious Assumption.' 'Lo here a little volume.' Teresa poems.

Most of the additions in English in the volume of 1648. The additions to the divine' poems which appear for the first time in Carmen Deo Nostro (1652), and the amplified version of the introductory poem in that volume published separately in (?) 1653 (see p. xlix above, No. 5).

EPIGRAMMATUM

SACRORUM LIBER

Amplissimi et ornatissimi nominis viro,
Custodi nostro dignissimo,

custodiam cælestem.1

UUM ecce (vir amplissime) sacratissimum nomen aperire sibi ausus est libellus iste; in lucem suam magis an in vmbram nescio. neque vero habet quo se excuset nisi id quod & ipsum excusatione indiget; nimirum non tam esse audacis Musæ robustam fiduciam, quàm teneræ adhuc & infantis pænè lasciuientem proterviam quæ illam sub oculos tuos ac si in quoddam augustissimi secreti adytum simplici quidem æstu officiosi amoris ludentem quasi & exultantem impulit. Et satis hinc habebit profectò, vnde se istius saltem laudis nomine commendare posteritati possit; quòd simplicis utcunque, 10 rudis, & implumis, legitimæ tamen nec degeneri indole exsurgentis infantiæ argumenta dederit; ex eo nimirum quòd rectà adeò se recipere norit ad Apollinem suum. Quidni verò liceat et mihi, cum hoc fætu meo qualicunque, venire in partem publici illius & auspicatissimi radii, quo intimè penetras in omnem hujus familiæ tuæ angulum; qui quidem nullus est tam obscurus suâque nocte ignobilis, quin suum te sentiat & fateatur Phæbum. O interim beatos nos (juvat enim fælicitate nostrâ ad jactantiam etiam frui. juvat orbis invidiæ tantisper indulgere) ô nos beatos! qui proprium audemus & 20 nostrum dicere suaue illud sed & verendum sydus oris tui te plenissimi & virtutum tuarum (quarum tamen luci vmbram modestiæ offundens, minùs fervido quidem sed dulci multo magis radio nobis eas dispensat, et in tantum nostris quasi parcit oculis) sydus inquam illud cujus ab auspicijs nostræ influxu nunquam non pacatissimo temperantur dies, nec nisi serenos experiuntur & Apollineos soles. Nos verò tantæ & tam audacis felicitatis nobis conscij, non possumus profectò nostra non timere gaudia. sed et ipse jampridem indignatur orbis, communisque rerum publicarum status queritur sub 30 angustijs privatæ virtutis castigari ingentem tuum Genium; neque vero patiens esset tam diu te sibi deberi fastigioque te jamdudum expectanti, nisi numen ipsi Joui tam prudentiâ quam potentiâ proximum, viam tibi in hoc strauisset modò, teque in sphæra tui capaciore explicare jam nunc cæpisset; vnde tandem te tuarum virtutum splendor (reluctante tuâ 10 commendare] commendre A4 (letter missing through wear of MS. at edge) 33 ipsi] ipso A4

1 The autograph dedication prefixed to Crashaw's Epigrammatum Sacrorum Liber in Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 40176 and now printed for the first time; see p. Ivi above.

quantumcunque modestiâ) elevabit te in apicem meritis tuis tam minorem, quam majorem votis (-nec vanus vatem me finxit Apollo.) Enimverò hoc ipsum cuj non spondebat omen illud divinitùs indultum, quod te a domesticorum sacrorum 40 curâ ad aras majores transtulit? Placeant sibi suarum sordium pulchritudine, pij nimirum isti & religiosi homines, quo nescio quam sacrorum illuviem amant, ipsosque (proh pudor!) cælites, & sacro-sanctos numinis ritus deducere in consortium squalloris sui (barbari homines) non erubescunt: pergant credere se ad illas aras litare posse, quarum & ipsi quidem vota dedignantur exaudire; orantium scilicet, & quasi supplices manus (frustra) tendentium, velint a se horrorem illum abstergere, vultusque elegantes, lucidos, augustos, suos demum sibi reddere. apud nos interim sub tuis (vir sanctissime) 50 auspicijs amæniori facie Religio se spectandam indulget. comit se pulcherrima dea; suosque jam ornatiore curâ distinguens radios, majestatem suam venustate etiam commendari quærit. nimirum ad oris tui exemplum, vbi severitatis reverentiam ita demulcet amænitas, vt pulcherrimo demonstret argumento, quàm bene possit amabile quid esse, & sanctum simul, ecce autem dum suum sacris sedibus nitorem restituis, dum in rebus divinis ornandis totus es; splendorem quem sacris suis attulisti modò, gratum numen in te refudit; et æquissimâ vice quasi repercussis in te tuis honoribus, redijsti ab aris tuis 60 ipse excultus donarijs. adeò res auctas nostri sacelli sacrarium rependit regium; et qui illud ornasti benignissimè, ab altero justissimè exornaris invicem. Sed tuam nolo vltrà onerare modestiam, nec etiam Epistolæ meæ: cui jampridem pudorem feci, dum has laudum tuarum partes ei viderer velle assignari, quæ quidem provocare possint anhelum Panegyrico spiritu oratorem, et etiam obruere. Augeat te sibi Deus optimus maximus diuque te (vir egregie) nobis nostræque, tibi verò tuæque felicitati æternum servet. tu interim hoc qualicunque murmure infantis Musæ patere tibi demulceri non 70 quidem censorias, sed paternas aures. eumque quem prono semper sydere tantillo mihi indulsisti radium, ornare porrò et fouere digneris. Tuorum minimorum minimus Ri: Crashaw.

54 ex

68 the brackets seem to delete

46 posse,] the comma after 'posse' is perhaps a semicolon emplum] exemlum A4 50 sanctissime)] there is a comma after this word which the bracket perhaps deletes. 72 indulsisti] indulsi A4

commas