Where in their dustie gowns of brasse and stone Of souldierie first seiz'd me! at what rate Would I have bought it then; what was there but I would have giv'n for the compendious hutt? Stuff'd through, and th' devil's beard and face weav'd in't. But I have done. And think not, friend, that I This freedome tooke to jeere thy courtesie; I thank thee for't, and I believe my Muse So known to thee, thou'lt not suspect abuse ; = 1 Query perpetual: a play on the duration of Winter in Lapland? G. UPON MR. FLETCHER'S PLAYES, PUB LISHED, 1647.1 KNEW thee not, nor durst attendance strive Labell to wit, Verser remonstrative, And in some suburb-page-scandal to thine- Titles to swell the reare of verse with lord, Nor politickly big, to inch low fame, Stretch in the glories of a stranger's name, And clip those bayes I court; weak striver I, I have not clothes t' adopt me, nor must sit The folio of Beaumont and Fletcher of 1647, corresponds with those of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson &c. G. In life and death now treads the stage agen; And thus are wee freed from that dearth of wit Which starv'd the Land, since into schismes split, Wherein th'hast done so much, wee must needs guesse Wit's last edition is now i'th' Presse, For thou hast drain'd invention, and he That writes hereafter, doth but pillage thee. But thou hast plotts; and will not the Kirk strain At the designes of such a tragick brain? Will they themselves think safe, when they shall see Will not the Eares' assemble, and think fit Teem'd with even in thy time, though seeming faire; 1 Sic. I fear it is used as = asses, though it may be a misprint for something less discreditable. G. Thy gentle soule meant for the shade, and ease, The hermit-angler, when the mid-seas roare hast Undone all future wits, and match'd the past. UPON THE POEMS AND PLAYES OF THE DID but see thee! and how vain it is 2 This forms one of the many laudatory verses found in Their twelve pence out, to clap their hands at wit; I fear to sinne thus neer thee; for-great saint !— 'Tis known, true beauty hath no need of paint. Yet, since a labell fixt to thy fair hearse Is all the mode, and tears put into verse Can teach posterity our present griefe And their own losse, but never give reliefe; I'le tell them-and a truth which needs no passe That wit in Cartwright at her zenith was, The old world's writings, kept yet from the fire the volume of Cartwright's Comedies, Tragi-Comedies, with other Poems' (1651). I note here an overlooked reference by the Fletchers' friend, T. BENLOWES, to these Cartwright Verses', in lines to his brother, author of 'Theophila, to which Poem they are prefixed: "Here heav'n-born Suadas star-like, gild each dresse Of the bride-soul espous'd to happinesse : Here Poetrie informs poetick art; As all in all, and all in every part, For all these dy'd not with fam'd Cartwright, though A score of poets joyn'd to have it so." G. |