Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

Charis’ Triumph (from Underwoods)

[One of the ten pieces forming A Celebration of Charis in Underwoods. The last two stanzas are sung or said by Wittipol in The Devil is an Ass (acted 1616), Act II, Sc. 2.]

SEE the chariot at hand here of Love,

Wherein my Lady rideth!

Each that draws is a swan or a dove,

And well the car Love guideth.

As she goes, all hearts do duty

Unto her beauty;

And enamoured do wish, so they might

But enjoy such a sight,

That they still were to run by her side,

Through swords, through seas, whither she would ride.

Do but look on her eyes, they do light

All that Love’s world compriseth!

Do but look on her hair, it is bright

As Love’s star when it riseth!

Do but mark, her forehead’s smoother

Than words that soothe her;

And from her arched brows, such a grace

Sheds itself through the face,

As alone there triumphs to the life

All the gain, all the good of the elements’ strife.

Have you seen but a bright lily grow

Before rude hands have touched it?

Have you marked but the fall o’ the snow

Before the soil hath smutched it?

Have you felt the wool of beaver?

Or swan’s down ever?

Or have smelt o’ the bud o’ the briar?

Or the nard in the fire?

Or have tasted the bag of the bee?

O so white,—O so soft,—O so sweet is she!