Old England, She. Love has a thousand ways to please, And hoigh for the honor of old Eng- But more to rob us of our ease: land. For wakeful nights and careful days [These lines were written in honor of Frances, fourth daughter of Sir William Brooke (alias Cobham) and sister of the second wife of Sir John Denham, the poet. The lady married, first (before May, 1665), Sir Thomas Whitmore of Bridgenorth and Buddwas, who died in 1682; and, second, Matthew Harvey, Esq., of Twickenham, who died in 1693: she herself died in 1690. (See G. E. C.: Complete Peerage of England, etc., ii, 320, 321.) The Reverend Henry P. Prosser, vicar of Twickenham, writes to the present editor as follows: "There is in the lobby of our church a massive monument, a pedestal with an urn upon it. On one side of the base it is thus inscribed, Here lyeth ye Body of Matthew Harvie Esq, he dyed ye 14th of Janu", 1693. On the opposite side to this inscription are Dryden's lines to Lady Whitmore, whose name does not occur on the monument at all." Dryden's verses were first printed in Examen Poeticum, 1693. The text is essentially the same as that on the monument.] FAIR, kind, and true, a treasure each alone; A wife, a mistress, and a friend in one; Rest in this tomb, rais'd at thy husband's cost, Here sadly summing what he had, and lost. Come, virgins, ere in equal bands you join, Come first, and offer at her sacred shrine; Pray but for half the virtues of this wife, Compound for all the rest with longer life; And wish your vows like hers may be return'd, So lov'd when living, and when dead so mourn'd. EPITAPH ON THE POET'S NEPHEW, ERASMUS LAWTON [On a mural tablet in the church of Great Catworth, Huntingdonshire, there is the following inscription. The date of the verses contained in it cannot be determined: they are placed here for convenience.] Near this Place Was interred D! John Lawton and Mrs Rose Driden, his 2nd wife. He was a Pious man and learned, both in Divinity: and In Musick and diligently improved Both Studies to [Glory of God And to the good of His Neighbour. She was daughter of Erasmus Driden: Son of St Erasmus Driden of Canons Ashby in Northamptonshir and Mrs [Mary Pickering His wife by whom He had 14 children, the Eldest was John Dryden Est the Laureat of his time who Married the Lady Elizabeth Howard Daughter to Henry [Earl of Berkshire By whom she [sic] had 3 sons, Charles, Jolin & Erasmus [who all died fine young Gentlemen The 2 Brother to Mrs Lawton is the present S: Eras[mus Dryden of Canons Ashby By lineal descent an ancient Baronet. She was very beautifull and Pleasant in Her Youth [allways Good & Charitable allmost beyond her power, in which she [followed the rare Example of her Exelent Mother. Mr Lawton lived in this [Town near 40 years And died Lamented Decem 26. 1710. in the 77 Yeare [of her age Having first buried her only child Erasmus Lawton on whom her Brother wrote these lines Stay Stranger Stay and drop one Tear She allways weeps that layd him Here And will do, till her race is Run This was placed here by a Relation of Hers THE LADY'S SONG [This song is printed, with title, The Ladys Song by Mr. Dryden, in Poetical Miscelanies, the Fifth Part, 1704, from which the present text is taken. It also appears, with the heading, The Beautiful Lady of the May, written by Mr. Dryden in the year 1691, in a volume of Miscellaneous Works, written by his Grace, George, late Duke of Buckingham... the second edition.. printed for S. Briscoe, 1704, to which is added a collection of State Poems by several Hands. The song obviously refers to the banishment of James II and his queen.] EPITAPH ON JOHN GRAHAM [John Graham of Claverhouse, created Viscount Dundee in 1688, perhaps the most famous of the Scotch Jacobite leaders, was killed at the battle of Killiecrankie, July 17, 1689. In his honor Dr. Archibald Pitcairne, a noted physician and Latin poet, composed the following epitaph, which is printed, together with the free translation by Dryden given below, in Poems on Affairs of State, vol. iii, 1704. Ultime Scotorum, potuit quo sospite solo Dryden's lines are also printed, in an inferior text, under the title, Upon the Death of the Earl of Dundee, in Poetical Miscellanies, the Fifth Part, 1704. The date of composition is unknown. It seems appropriate to print this Jacobite epitaph immediately after The Lady's Song.] O LAST and best of Scots! who didst main- Thy country's freedom from a foreign reign; Scotland and thou did each in other live; Farewell, who living didst support the State, And couldst not fall but with thy country's fate. ELEONORA A PANEGYRICAL POEM DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE COUNTESS OF ABINGDON [The following poem was written in memory of Eleonora, Countess of Abingdon, who died on May 31, 1691. Dryden, as he tells us in his dedication, was requested by the Earl of Abingdon, with whom he was not personally acquainted, to write an elegy upon his deceased wife, whom the poet had never seen. Eleonora was first published in March, 1692 (see reference to the London Gazette in Scott-Saintsbury edition, xviii, 296), and was not reprinted until it was included in the folio Poems and Translations, 1701.] TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE EARL OF ABINGDON, &c. MY LORD, THE commands with which you honor'd me some months ago are now perform'd: they had been sooner; but betwixt ill health, some business, and many troubles, I was forc'd to defer them till this time. Ovid, going to his banishment, and writing from on shipboard to his friends, excus'd the faults of his poetry by his misfortunes; and told them that good verses never flow but from a serene and compos'd spirit. Wit, which is a kind of Mercury, with wings fasten'd to his head and heels, can fly but slowly in a damp air. I therefore chose rather to obey you late than ill: if at least I am capable of writing anything, at any time, which is worthy your perusal and your patronage. I cannot say that I have escap'd from a shipwreck; but have only gain'd a rock by hard swimming, where I may pant a while and gather breath; for the doctors give me a sad assurance, that my disease never took its leave of any man, but with a purpose to return. However, my Lord, I have laid hold on the interval, and menag'd the small stock which age has left me, to the best advantage, in performing this inconsiderable service to my Lady's memory. We, who are priests of Apollo, have not the inspiration when we please; but must |