[_Prince Henry._] Besides composing these English verses King contributed two Latin sets to _Justa Oxoniensium_, one of several Oxford _tombeaux_ for the Prince who was taken away from the evil to come. The present poem appears to me (though, of course, the high-strung character of the mourning seems to have been both general and sincere) to be much more 'frigid and artificial' than the _Mrs. Anne Kirk_. Hannah gives several variants, not merely from his usual MS. but from Malone 21. I have taken those which seem to have some point.]
[Lines: 5-6 For 'Hark ... dead.' the Malone reading is:
Death and horror wed To vent their teeming mischief: Henry's dead.
Through the astonisht _world_, Henry _is_ dead. ]
[Line: 11 Malone MS. '_Compendious Eloquence_ of Death', &c.]
[Line: 18 For the first half, Malone MS. 'lies in this narrow compass'; the other, 'throngs' for 'lies'.]
[Sir W. Raleigh? Executed Oct. 29, 1618.]
I will not weep, for 'twere as great a sin To shed a tear for thee, as to have bin An actor in thy death. Thy life and age Was but a various scene on fortune's stage, With whom thou tugg'st and strov'st ev'n out of breath In thy long toil: ne'er master'd till thy death; And then, despite of trains and cruel wit, Thou didst at once subdue malice and it.
I dare not then so blast thy memory As say I do lament or pity thee. 10 Were I to choose a subject to bestow My pity on, he should be one as low In spirit as desert;--that durst not die, But rather were content by slavery To purchase life: or I would pity those, Thy most industrious and friendly foes; Who, when they thought to make thee scandal's story, Lent thee a swifter flight to Heav'n and glory;-- That thought, by cutting off some wither'd days (Which thou couldst spare them), to eclipse thy praise; 20 Yet gave it brighter foil, made thy ag'd fame Appear more white and fair, than foul their shame: And did promote an execution Which (but for them) Nature and Age had done.
Such worthless things as these were only born To live on Pity's alms (too mean for scorn). Thou diedst an envious wonder, whose high fate The world must still admire, scarce imitate.
[_S. W. R._] The initials are not in _MS._, and the identification, though almost certain, is a conjecture of Hannah's. Almost every line fits Raleigh.]