And bitter sends she now, to make me taste the better The pleasant sweet, when that it comes, to make it seem the sweeter. And so determine I to serve until my breath; 54 Yea, rather die a thousand times, than once to false my faith. And if my feeble corpse, through weight of woful smart, Do fail, or faint, my will it is that still she keep my heart; And when this carcass here to earth shall be refared, THE MEANS TO ATTAIN HAPPY LIFE.1 1 MARTIAL, the things that do attain The happy life, be these, I find : 2 The equal friend; no grudge, no strife; 3 The mean diet, no delicate fare; True wisdom join'd with simpleness; Where wine the wit may not oppress: 4 The faithful wife, without debate ; Such sleeps as may beguile the night; Ne wish for Death, ne fear his might. 'A translation from Martial, one of the earliest in the language. PRAISE OF MEAN AND CONSTANT ESTATE. (AFTER HORACE.) 1 OF thy life, Thomas,1 this compass well mark : 2 Whoso gladly halseth 3 the golden mean, Void of dangers advisedly hath his home; 3 The lofty pine the great wind often rives; 4 Hopeth amends; in sweet, doth fear the sour. God that sendeth, withdraweth winter sharp. Now ill, not aye thus: once Phœbus to low'r, With bow unbent, shall cease, and frame to harp 5 His voice. In strait estate appear thou stout; Take in a reef: haste is waste, proof doth find. 36 1 Thomas: Sir Thomas Wyatt.-2 Freat:' fret or grate. Halseth :' embraceth.Glome:' look at scornfully.-5 Clives:' cliffs.— ' Overthwartes' crosses, adversities. PRAISE OF CERTAIN PSALMS OF DAVID. TRANSLATED BY SIR THOMAS [WYATT] THE ELDER. THE great Macedon, that out of Persia chased To Wyatt's Psalms 3 should Christians then purchase? Where rulers may see in a mirror clear, The bitter fruit of false concupiscence; How Jewry bought Uriah's death full dear. In princes' hearts God's scourge imprinted deep, 10 OF THE DEATH OF SIR THOMAS WYATT. DIVERS thy death do diversely bemoan : Some that in presence of thy livelihed 4 b With envious tears to hear thy fame so good. A ''Ark:' 'coffer, chest. Gests:' exploits.- Wyatt's Psalms :' the seven penitential psalms, 'drawen into Englyshe meter by Sir Thomas Wyatt, Knyght.' 'Livelihed:' the state of life; 'presence of thy livelihed,' presence of thee living. S But I, that knew what harbour'd in that head, And kiss the ground whereas the corpse doth rest, With vapour'd eyes, from whence such streams availe,2 As Pyramus did on Thisbe's breast bewail. OF THE SAME. 1 WYATT resteth here, that quick could never rest; 2 A head, where wisdom mysteries did frame; Whose hammers beat still in that lively brain, 3 A visage stern and mild, where both did grow 4 A hand that taught what may be said in rhyme; 5 A tongue that served in foreign realms his king; Each noble heart; a worthy guide to bring 'Whereas: where. Availe:' fall down.-3Stithe :' forge, or anvil. 6 An eye, whose judgment none affect 1 could blind, 7 A heart, where dread was never so impress'd To hide the thought that might the truth advance; In neither fortune loft,3 nor yet repress'd, To swell in wealth, or yield unto mischance. 8 A valiant corpse, where force and beauty met: Happy, alas! too happy, but for foes, Lived, and ran the race that Nature set; Of manhood's shape, where she the mould did lose. 9 But to the heavens that simple soul is fled, Which left, with such as covet Christ to know, Thus for our guilt this jewel have we lost; OF THE SAME. IN the rude age, when knowledge was not rife, Arts, to convert to profit of our life, Wend 5 after death to have their temples sought: เ Affect' affection, passion.-2 Reposed:' calmly fixed.-3 'Loft: ' haughty. Corpse :' person. Wend:' did ween, or think. 46 56 |