Part 4

The present poem appears very imperfectly in the first edition (1646), consisting there of only twenty-three stanzas instead of thirty-three (and so too in 1670 edition). The stanzas that are not given therein are xvi. to xxix. (on the last see onward). But on the other hand, exclusive of interesting variations, the text of 1646 supplies two entire stanzas (xi. and xxvii.) dropped out in the editions of 1648 and 1652, though both are in 1670 edition and in the SANCROFT MS. Moreover I accept the succession of the stanzas in 1646, so far as it goes, confirmed as it is by the SANCROFT MS. A third stanza in 1652 edition (st. xi. there) as also in 1648 edition, I omit, as it belongs self-revealingly to 'The Teare,' and interrupts the metaphor in 'The Weeper.' Another stanza (xxix.) might seem to demand excision also, as it is in part repeated in 'The Teare;' but the new lines are dainty and would be a loss to 'The Weeper.' Our text therefore is that of 1652, as before, with restorations from 1646.

The form of the stanza in the editions of 1646, 1648 and 1670 is thus:

_______________________________ _______________________________ __________________________ _______________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________

In 1652 from stanza xv. (there) to end,

_______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________

but I have made all uniform, and agreeably to above of 1652.

I would now submit variations, illustrations and corrections, under the successive stanzas and lines.

Couplet on the engraving of 'The Weeper.' In 1652 'Sainte' is misprinted 'Sanite,' one of a number that remind us that the volume was printed in Paris, not London. In all the other editions the heading 'Sainte Mary Magdalene' is omitted.

St. i. line 2. 1646, 1648 and 1670 editions read 'silver-forded.' Were it only for the reading of the text of 1652 'silver-footed,' I should have been thankful for it; and I accept it the more readily in that the SANCROFT MS. from Crashaw's own copy, also reads 'silver-footed.' The Homeric compound epithet occurs in HERRICK contemporarily in his _Hesperides_,

'I send, I send here my supremest kiss To thee, my _silver-footed_ Thamasis'

[that is, the river Thames]. WILLIAM BROWNE earlier, has 'faire _silver-footed_ Thetis' (Works by Hazlitt, i. p. 188). Cf. also the first line of the Elegy on Dr. Porter in our 'Airelles'--printed for the first time by us: 'Stay silver-footed Came.'

With reference to the long-accepted reading 'silver-_forded_,' the epithet is loosely used not for in the state of being forded, but for in a state to be forded, or fordable, and hence shallow. The thought is not quite the same as that intended to be conveyed by such a phrase as 'silver stream of Thames,' but pictures the bright, pellucid, silvery whiteness of a clear mountain rill. As silver-shallow--a meaning which, as has been said, cannot be fairly obtained from it--can it alone be taken as a double epithet. In any other sense the hyphen is only an attempt to connect two qualities which refuse to be connected. All difficulty and obscurity are removed by 'silver-footed.'

St. iii. line 1. The. 'we'' may be = wee, as printed in 1646, but in 1648 it is 'we are,' and in 1670 'we're,' and in the last, line 2, 'they're.' The SANCROFT MS. in line 2, reads 'they are indeed' for 'indeed they are.'

St. iv. line 4, 1646 and 1670 have 'crawles' and 'crawls' respectively, for 'floates,' as in 1648 and our text. The SANCROFT MS. also reads 'crawles.' In line 3, 1646 and 1670 'meet' is inadvertently substituted for 'creep.'

Lines 5 and 6, 1646 and 1670 read

'Heaven, of such faire floods as this, Heaven the christall ocean is.'

So too the SANCROFT MS., save that for 'this' it has 'these.'

St. v. line 2. 'Brisk' is = active, nimble. So--and something more--SHAKESPEARE: 'he made me mad, to see him shine so _brisk_' (1 Henry IV. 3).

Line 3. 1646, 1670 and SANCROFT MS. read 'soft' for 'sacred' of 1652 and 1648.

Line 6, 'Breakfast.' See our Essay on this and similar homely words, with parallels. 1648 reads 'his' for '_this_ breakfast.'

St. vi. line 4, 'violls' = 'phials' or small bottles. The reading in 1646 and 1670 is 'Angels with their _bottles_ come.' So also in the SANCROFT MS.

St. vii. line 4. 'Nuzzeld' = nestled or nourished. In quaint old DR. WORSHIP'S Sermons, we have 'dew _cruzzle_ on his cheek' (p. 91).

Lines 1 and 3, 'deaw' = 'dew.' This was the contemporary spelling, as it was long before in SIR JOHN DAVIES, the FLETCHERS and others in our Fuller Worthies' Library, _s.v._

Lines 5 and 6. 1646, 1670 and SANCROFT MS. read

'Much rather would it tremble heere And leave them both to bee thy teare.'

1648 is as our text (1652).

St. ix. A hasty reader may judge this stanza to have been displaced by the xith, but a closer examination reveals a new vein (so-to-say) of the thought. It is characteristic of Crashaw to give a first-sketch, and afterwards fill in other details to complete the scene or portraiture.

St. xi. Restored from 1646.

St. xii. line 1. 1646, 1648 and 1670 read 'There is.'

Line 4, '_med'cinable_ teares.' So SHAKESPEARE (nearly): 'their _medicinal_ gum' (Othello, v. 2).

St. xiii. line 2. 1646 and 1670 unhappily misprint 'case;' and TURNBULL passed the deplorable blunder and perpetuated it.

Line 5. Our text (1652) misprints 'draw' for 'deaw' = dew, as before.

Line 6. 1646 and 1670 read 'May balsame.'

St. xiv. line 3. 1646 and 1670 read

'Might he flow from thee.'

TURNBULL misses the rhythmical play in the first and second 'though,' and punctuates the second so as to read with next line. I make a full-stop as in the SANCROFT MS.

Line 4, ib. read

'Content and quiet would he goe.'

So the SANCROFT MS.

Line 5, ib. read

'Richer far does he esteeme.'

So the SANCROFT MS.

St. xv. lines 5 and 6, ib. read

'No April e're lent softer showres, Nor May returned fairer flowers.'

'Faithful' looks deeper: but the SANCROFT MS. agrees with '46 and '70.

St. xvii. line 2, in 1648 misreads

'With loves and tears, and smils disputing.'

TURNBULL, without the slightest authority, seeing not even in 1670 are the readings found, has thus printed lines 2 and 4, 'With loves, of tears _with smiles disporting_' ... 'Each other kissing and _comforting_'!!

St. xviii. line 2 in 1648 misreads

'Friends with the balsome fires that fill thee.'

The 'balsome' is an evident misprint, but 'thee' is preferable to 'fill you' of our text (1652), and hence I have adopted it.

Line 3 in 1648 reads

'Cause great flames agree.'

St. xix. line 3, 1648, reads 'that' for 'the.'

Line 4, ib. 'those' for 'these.'

Line 6. cf. Revelations xiv. 5, 'These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.'

St. xxi. line 6. 'wipe with gold,' refers to Mary Magdalene's golden tresses, as also in st. xxii. 'a voluntary mint.'

Line 4. 'prouoke' = challenge.

St. xxii. line 2. Curiously enough, 1648 edition leaves a blank where we read 'calls 't' as in our text (1652). TURNBULL prints 'call'st,' but that makes nonsense. It is calls't as = calls it. So too the SANCROFT MS. Probably the copy for 1648 was illegible.

St. xxiv. line 1. 1646 and 1670 read

'Does the Night arise?'

Line 2. Our text (1652) misprints 'starres' for 'teares' of 1646, 1648 and 1670.

Line 3. 1646 and 1670 read

'Does Night loose her eyes?'

The SANCROFT MS. reads line 139 'Does the Night arise?' and line 141, 'Does Niget loose her eyes?'

St. xxv. line 2. 1646 and 1670 read

'Thy teares' just cadence still keeps time.'

So the SANCROFT MS.

Line 3. Our text (1652) misprints 'paire' for 'praire.' 'Sweet-breath'd' should probably be pronounced as the adjectival of the substantive, not as the participle of the verb.

Line 6. 1646, 1648 and 1670 read 'doth' for 'does.'

St. xxvi. lines 1 and 2. 1646 and 1670 read

'Thus dost thou melt the yeare Into a weeping motion. Each minute waiteth heere.'

So the SANCROFT MS.

St. xxvii. Restored from 1646 edition. The SANCROFT MS. in line 168 miswrites 'teares.'

St. xxviii. line 5. reads in 1646 and 1670

'Others by dayes, by monthes, by yeares.'

So also the SANCROFT MS., wherein this st. follows our st. xv.

St. xxix. line 3. Our text (1652) misprints 'fires' for 'fire' of 1648.

St. xxx. line 1. Our text (1652) misprints 'Say the bright brothers.' 1646 and 1670 read 'Say watry Brothers.' So SANCROFT MS. 1648 gives 'ye,' which I have adopted. The misprint of 'the' in 1652 originated doubtless in the printer's reading 'ye,' the usual mode of writing 'the.'

Line 2. 1646 and 1670 read

'Yee simpering ...'

So the SANCROFT MS.

Line 3, ib. 'fertile' for 'fruitfull.'

Line 4, ib. 'What hath our world that can entice.' So the SANCROFT MS.

Lines 5 and 6, ib.

'what is't can borrow You from her eyes, swolne wombes of sorrow.'

So the SANCROFT MS.

St. xxxi. line 2. 1646 and 1670 read

'O whither? for the _sluttish_ Earth:'

and I accept 'sluttish' for 'sordid,' which is also confirmed by SANCROFT MS.

Line 4, ib. 'your' for 'their;' and as this is also the reading of 1648 and SANCROFT MS., I have accepted it.

Line 5. 1646 and 1670 omit 'Sweet.'

Line 6, ib. read 'yee' for 'you.'

St. xxxii. and xxxiii. In 1646 and 1670 these two stanzas are thrown into one, viz. 23 (there), which consists of the first four lines of xxxii. and the two closing lines of xxxiii. as follows,

'No such thing; we goe to meet A worthier object, our Lords feet.'

In the SANCROFT MS. also, and reads as last line 'A worthy object, our Lord Jesus feet.' On the closing lines of st. xxxii. cf. Sospetto d'Herode, st. xlviii.

I have not thought it needful, either in these Notes or hereafter, to record the somewhat arbitrary variations of mere orthography in the different editions, as 'haile' for 'hail,' 'syluer' for 'silver,' 'hee' for 'he,' and the like. But I trust it will be found that no different wording has escaped record. G.

SANCTA MARIA DOLORVM, OR THE MOTHER OF SORROWS

_A patheticall Descant vpon the deuout Plainsong of Stabat Mater Dolorosa._[23]

I.

In shade of Death's sad tree Stood dolefull shee. Ah she! now by none other Name to be known, alas, but Sorrow's Mother. Before her eyes, 5 Her's, and the whole World's ioyes, Hanging all torn she sees; and in His woes And paines, her pangs and throes: Each wound of His, from euery part, All, more at home in her one heart. 10

II.

What kind of marble, than, Is that cold man Who can look on and see, Nor keep such noble sorrowes company? Sure eu'en from you 15 (My flints) some drops are due, To see so many unkind swords contest So fast for one soft brest: While with a faithfull, mutuall floud, Her eyes bleed teares, His wounds weep blood. 20

III.

O costly intercourse Of deaths, and worse-- Diuided loues. While Son and mother Discourse alternate wounds to one another, Quick deaths that grow 25 And gather, as they come and goe: His nailes write swords in her, which soon her heart Payes back, with more then their own smart. Her swords, still growing with His pain, Turn speares, and straight come home again. 30

IV.

She sees her Son, her God, Bow with a load Of borrow'd sins; and swimme In woes that were not made for Him. Ah! hard command 35 Of loue! Here must she stand, Charg'd to look on, and with a stedfast ey See her life dy: Leauing her only so much breath As serues to keep aliue her death. 40

V.

O mother turtle-doue! Soft sourse of loue! That these dry lidds might borrow Somthing from thy full seas of sorrow! O in that brest 45 Of thine (the noblest nest Both of Loue's fires and flouds) might I recline This hard, cold heart of mine! The chill lump would relent, and proue Soft subject for the seige of Loue. 50

VI.

O teach those wounds to bleed In me; me, so to read This book of loues, thus writ In lines of death, my life may coppy it With loyall cares. 55 O let me, here, claim shares! Yeild somthing in thy sad prærogatiue (Great queen of greifes), and giue Me, too, my teares; who, though all stone, Think much that thou shouldst mourn alone. 60

VII.

Yea, let my life and me Fix here with thee, And at the humble foot Of this fair tree, take our eternall root. That so we may 65 At least be in Loue's way; And in these chast warres, while the wing'd wounds flee So fast 'twixt Him and thee, My brest may catch the kisse of some kind dart, Though as at second hand, from either heart. 70

VIII.

O you, your own best darts, Dear, dolefull hearts! Hail! and strike home, and make me see That wounded bosomes their own weapons be. Come wounds! come darts! 75 Nail'd hands! and peircèd hearts! Come your whole selues, Sorrow's great Son and mother! Nor grudge a yonger brother Of greifes his portion, who (had all their due) One single wound should not haue left for you. 80

IX.

Shall I, sett there So deep a share (Dear wounds), and onely now In sorrows draw no diuidend with you? O be more wise, 85 If not more soft, mine eyes! Flow, tardy founts! and into decent showres Dissolue my dayes and howres. And if thou yet (faint soul!) desert To bleed with Him, fail not to weep with her. 90

X.

Rich queen, lend some releife; At least an almes of greif To' a heart who by sad right of sin Could proue the whole summe (too sure) due to him. By all those stings 95 Of Loue, sweet-bitter things, Which these torn hands transcrib'd on thy true heart; O teach mine too the art To study Him so, till we mix Wounds, and become one crucifix. 100

XI.

O let me suck the wine So long of this chast Vine, Till drunk of the dear wounds, I be A lost thing to the world, as it to me. O faithfull friend 105 Of me and of my end! Fold vp my life in loue; and lay't beneath My dear Lord's vitall death. Lo, heart, thy hope's whole plea! her pretious breath Pour'd out in prayrs for thee; thy Lord's in death. 110

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

St. i. line 10. In 1648 the reading is

'Are more at home in her Owne heart.'

In 1670. 'All, more at home in her own heart.' I think 'all' and 'one' of our text (1652) preferable. There is a world of pathos in the latter. Cf. st. ii. line 8.

St. ii. line 1. On the change of orthography for rhyme, see our PHINEAS FLETCHER, vol. ii. 206; and our LORD BROOKE, VAUGHAN, &c. &c., show 'then' and 'than' used as in Crashaw.

St. vi. line 3. In 1648 the reading is 'love;' 1670 as our text (1652). The plural includes the twofold love of Son and mother.

Line 7, ib. 'to' for 'in.'

Line 9, ib. 'Oh give' at commencement. 1670, 'to' for 'too.'

St. vii. and viii. These two stanzas do not appear in 1648 edition, but appear in 1670.

St. vii. line 4. By 'tree' the Cross is meant. Cf. st. i. line 1.

St. ix. line 1. 1648 edition supplies the two words required by the measure of the other stanzas, 'in sins.' They are dropped inadvertently in 1652 and 1670. Turnbull failed as usual to detect the omission.

Line 4. 1648 spells 'Divident.'

Lines 5 and 6. I have accepted correction of our text (1652) from 1648 edition, in line 6, of 'If' for 'Is,' which is also the reading of 1670. 1648 substitutes 'just' for 'soft;' but 1670 does not adopt it, nor can I.

St. x. line 1. 1648 reads 'Lend, O lend some reliefe.'

Line 9 reads 'To studie thee so.'

St. xi. line 3, ib. reads 'thy' for 'the.'

Line 8, ib. reads 'Thy deare lost vitall death.'

Line 10. I have adopted from 1648 'in thy Lord's death' for 'thy lord's in death' of our text (1652).

Turnbull has some sad misprints in this poem: _e.g._ st. ii. line 4, 'sorrow's' for 'sorrows;' st. iii. line 2, 'death's' for 'deaths;' st. vi. line 9, 'Me to' for 'Me, too;' st. x. line 2, 'in' for 'an,' and line 3, 'a' mis-inserted before 'sad.' Except in the 'Me to' of st. vi., he had not even the poor excuse of following the text of 1670. G.

THE TEARE.[24]

I.

What bright-soft thing is this, Sweet Mary, thy faire eyes' expence? A moist sparke it is, A watry diamond; from whence The very tearme, I think, was found, 5 The water of a diamond.

II.

O, 'tis not a teare: 'Tis a star about to dropp From thine eye, its spheare; The sun will stoope and take it up: 10 Proud will his sister be, to weare This thine eyes' iewell in her eare.

III.

O, 'tis a teare, Too true a teare; for no sad eyne, How sad so 'ere, 15 Raine so true a teare, as thine; Each drop leaving a place so deare, Weeps for it self; is its owne teare.

IV.

Such a pearle as this is, Slipt from Aurora's dewy brest-- 20 The rose-bud's sweet lipp kisses; And such the rose it self that's vext With ungentle flames, does shed, Sweating in a too warm bed.

V.

Such the maiden gem, 25 By the purpling vine put on, Peeps from her parent stem, And blushes on the bridegroom sun; The watry blossome of thy eyne Ripe, will make the richer wine. 30

VI.

Faire drop, why quak'st thou so? 'Cause thou streight must lay thy head In the dust? O, no! The dust shall never be thy bed: A pillow for thee will I bring, 35 Stuft with downe of angel's wing.

VII.

Thus carried up on high (For to Heaven thou must goe), Sweetly shalt thou lye, And in soft slumbers bath thy woe, 40 Till the singing orbes awake thee, And one of their bright chorus make thee.

VIII.

There thy selfe shalt bee An eye, but not a weeping one; Yet I doubt of thee, 45 Whether th' had'st rather there have shone An eye of heaven; or still shine here, In the heaven of Marie's eye, a TEARE.

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

It is to be re-noted that st. v. is identical in all save 'watry' for 'bridegroom' with st. xi. of 'The Weeper' as given in text of 1652, and that st. iv. has two lines from st. xxix. of the same poem. Neither of these stanzas appear in 'The Weeper' of 1646. As stated in relative foot-note, I have withdrawn the former from 'The Weeper.' We may be sure it was inadvertently inserted in 1652, seeing that the very next stanza closes with the same word 'wine' as in it: a fault which our Poet never could have passed. It is to be noticed too that 'The Teare' did not appear in the edition of 1652. By transferring the stanza to 'The Teare' as in 1646, 1648 and 1670 editions, a blemish is removed from 'The Weeper,' while in 'The Teare' it is a vivid addition. The 'such' of line 1 links it naturally on to st. iv. with its 'such.'

Our text follows that of 1648 except in st. v. line 4, where I adopt the reading of 1652 in 'The Weeper' (there st. xi.) of 'bridegroom' (misprinted 'bridegrooms') for 'watry,' and that I correct in st. vii. line 6, the misprint 'the' for 'thee,'--the latter being found in 1646 and 1670. With reference to st. v. again, in line 5 in 'The Weeper' of 1648 the reading is 'balsome' for 'blossom.' The 'ripe' of line 6 settles (I think) that 'blossom' is the right word, as the ripe blossom is = the grape, to the rich lucent-white drops of which the Weeper's tears are likened. 'Balsome' doesn't make wine. I have adopted from st. xi. of 'The Weeper' of 1652 the reading 'the purpling vine' for 'the wanton Spring' of 1646, 1648 and 1670. The SANCROFT MS. in st. i. line 2, reads 'expends' for 'expence;' st. iv. line 4, 'that's' for 'when;' st. v. line 4, 'manly sunne' for 'bridegroome,' and line 5, 'thine' for 'thy;' st. viii. line 6, 'I' th'' for 'In th'.' G.

THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.[25]

Tradidit semetipsum pro nobis oblationem et hostiam Deo in odorem suauitatis. _Ad Ephe._ v. 2.

THE HOWRES.

FOR THE HOVR OF MATINES.

_The Versicle._

Lord, by Thy sweet and sailing sign!

_The Responsory._

Defend us from our foes and Thine.

_V._ Thou shalt open my lippes, O Lord.

_R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy prayse.

_V._ O God, make speed to saue me. 5

_R._ O Lord, make hast to help me.

Glory be to the FATHER, and to the SON, and to the H[oly] GHOST. As it was in the beginning, is now, and euer 10 shall be, world without end. Amen.

THE HYMN.

The wakefull Matines hast to sing The unknown sorrows of our King: The Father's Word and Wisdom, made Man for man, by man's betraid; 15 The World's price sett to sale, and by the bold Merchants of Death and Sin, is bought and sold: Of His best freinds (yea of Himself) forsaken; By His worst foes (because He would) beseig'd and taken.

_The Antiphona._

All hail, fair tree, 20 Whose fruit we be! What song shall raise Thy seemly praise, Who broughtst to light Life out of death, Day out of Night! 25

_The Versicle._

Lo, we adore Thee, Dread LAMB! and bow thus low before Thee:

_The Responsor._

'Cause, by the couenant of Thy crosse, Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse.

_The Prayer._

O Lord IESV-CHRIST, Son of the liuing God! 30 interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death, Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy; vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest; to Thy 35 Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners, life and glory euerlasting. Who liuest and reignest with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

FOR THE HOUR OF PRIME.

_The Versicle._

Lord, by Thy sweet and sailing sign! 40

_The Responsor._

Defend vs from our foes and Thine. _V._ Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord. _R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. _V._ O God, make speed to save me. _R._ O Lord, make hast to help me. 45 _V._ Glory be to, &c. _R._ As it was in the, &c.

THE HYMN.