I.
Hail, sister springs!1
Parents of syluer-footed rills!
Euer-bubling things!
Thawing crystall! snowy hills
Still spending, neuer spent! I mean5
Thy fair eyes, sweet Magdalene!
II.
Heauens thy fair eyes be;
Heauens of euer-falling starres.
'Tis seed-time still with thee;
And starres thou sow'st, whose haruest dares10
Promise the Earth, to counter-shine
Whateuer makes heaun's forehead fine.
III.
But we' are deceiuèd all:
Starres indeed they are too true;
For they but seem to fall,15
As heaun's other spangles doe:
It is not for our Earth and vs
To shine in things so pretious.
IV.
Vpwards thou dost weep:
Heaun's bosome drinks the gentle stream.20
Where th' milky riuers creep,
Thine floates aboue, and is the cream.
Waters aboue th' heauns, what they be
We' are taught best by thy teares and thee.
V.
Euery morn from hence,25
A brisk cherub something sippes,
Whose sacred influence
Addes sweetnes to his sweetest lippes;
Then to his musick; and his song
Tasts of this breakfast all day long.30
VI.
When some new bright guest
Takes vp among the starres a room,
And Heaun will make a feast:
phials Angels with crystall violls come
And draw from these full eyes of thine,35
Their Master's water, their own wine.
VII.
The deaw no more will weep
The primrose's pale cheek to deck:
The deaw no more will sleep
Nuzzel'd in the lilly's neck;40
Much rather would it be thy tear,
And leaue them both to tremble here.
VIII.
Not the soft gold which
Steales from the amber-weeping tree,
Makes Sorrow halfe so rich45
As the drops distil'd from thee.
Sorrowe's best iewels lye in these
Caskets, of which Heaven keeps the keyes.
IX.
When Sorrow would be seen
In her brightest majesty:50
(For she is a Queen):
Then is she drest by none but thee.
Then, and only then, she weares
Her proudest pearles: I mean, thy teares.
X.
Not in the Euening's eyes,55
When they red with weeping are
For the Sun that dyes;
Sitts Sorrow with a face so fair.
Nowhere but here did ever meet
Sweetnesse so sad, sadnesse so sweet.60
XI.
Sadnesse all the while
Shee sits in such a throne as this,
Can doe nought but smile,
Nor beleeves she Sadnesse is:
Gladnesse it selfe would be more glad,65
To bee made soe sweetly sad.
XII.
There's no need at all,
That the balsom-sweating bough
So coyly should let fall
His med'cinable teares; for now70
Nature hath learnt to' extract a deaw
More soueraign and sweet, from you.
XIII.
Yet let the poore drops weep
(Weeping is the ease of Woe):
Softly let them creep,75
Sad that they are vanquish't so.
They, though to others no releife,
Balsom may be for their own greife.
XIV.
Golden though he be,
Golden Tagus murmures though.80
Were his way by thee,
Content and quiet he would goe;
Soe much more rich would he esteem
Thy syluer, then his golden stream.
XV.
Well does the May that lyes85
Smiling in thy cheeks, confesse
The April in thine eyes;
Mutuall sweetnesse they expresse.
No April ere lent kinder showres,
Nor May return'd more faithfull flowres.90
XVI.
O cheeks! Bedds of chast loues,
By your own showres seasonably dash't.
Eyes! Nests of milky doues,
In your own wells decently washt.
O wit of Loue! that thus could place95
Fountain and garden in one face.
XVII.
O sweet contest! of woes
With loues; of teares with smiles disputing!
O fair and freindly foes,
Each other kissing and confuting!100
While rain and sunshine, cheekes and eyes
Close in kind contrarietyes.
XVIII.
But can these fair flouds be
Freinds with the bosom-fires that fill thee!
Can so great flames agree105
Æternal teares should thus distill thee!
O flouds! O fires! O suns! O showres!
Mixt and made freinds by Loue's sweet powres.
XIX.
'Twas his well-pointed dart
That digg'd these wells, and drest this wine;110
And taught the wounded heart
The way into these weeping eyn.
Vain loues auant! bold hands forbear!
The Lamb hath dipp't His white foot here.
XX.
And now where'ere He strayes,115
Among the Galilean mountaines,
Or more vnwellcome wayes;
He's follow'd by two faithfull fountaines;
Two walking baths, two weeping motions,
Portable, and compendious oceans.120
XXI.
O thou, thy Lord's fair store!
In thy so rich and rare expenses,
Euen when He show'd most poor
He might prouoke the wealth of princes.
What prince's wanton'st pride e'er could125
Wash with syluer, wipe with gold?
XXII.
Who is that King, but He
Who calls 't His crown, to be call'd thine,
That thus can boast to be
Waited on by a wandring mine,130
A voluntary mint, that strowes
Warm, syluer showres wher're He goes?
XXIII.
O pretious prodigall!
Fair spend-thrift of thy-self! thy measure
(Mercilesse loue!) is all.135
thesaurus, Latin. Euen to the last pearle in thy threasure:
All places, times, and obiects be
Thy teares' sweet opportunity.
XXIV.
Does the day-starre rise?
Still thy teares doe fall and fall.140
Does Day close his eyes?
Still the fountain weeps for all.
Let Night or Day doe what they will,
Thou hast thy task: thou weepest still.
XXV.
Does thy song lull the air?145
Thy falling teares keep faithfull time.
Does thy sweet-breath'd praire
Vp in clouds of incense climb?
Still at each sigh, that is, each stop,
A bead, that is, a tear, does drop.150
XXVI.
At these thy weeping gates
(Watching their watry motion),
Each wingèd moment waits:
Takes his tear, and gets him gone.
By thine ey's tinct enobled thus,155
Time layes him vp; he's pretious.
XXVII.
Time, as by thee He passes,
Makes thy ever-watry eyes
His hower-glasses.
By them His steps He rectifies.160
The sands He us'd, no longer please,
For His owne sands Hee'l use thy seas.
XXVIII.
Not, 'so long she liuèd,'
Shall thy tomb report of thee;
But, 'so long she grieuèd:'165
Thus must we date thy memory.
Others by moments, months, and yeares
Measure their ages; thou, by teares.
XXIX.
So doe perfumes expire,
So sigh tormented sweets, opprest170
With proud vnpittying fire.
Such teares the suffring rose, that's vext
With vngentle flames, does shed,
Sweating in a too warm bed.
XXX.
Say, ye bright brothers,175
The fugitiue sons of those fair eyes,
Your fruitfull mothers!
What make you here? what hopes can 'tice
You to be born? what cause can borrow
You from those nests of noble sorrow?180
XXXI.
Whither away so fast?
For sure the sluttish earth
Your sweetnes cannot tast,
Nor does the dust deserve your birth.
Sweet, whither hast you then? O say185
Why you trip so fast away?
XXXII.
We goe not to seek
The darlings of Aurora's bed,
The rose's modest cheek,
Nor the violet's humble head.190
Though the feild's eyes too Weepers be,
Because they want such teares as we.
XXXIII.
Much lesse mean we to trace
The fortune of inferior gemmes,
Preferr'd to some proud face,195
Or pertch't vpon fear'd diadems:
Crown'd heads are toyes. We goe to meet
A worthy object, our Lord's feet.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
With some shortcomings—superficial rather than substantive—'The Weeper' is a lovely poem, and well deserves its place of honour at the commencement of the 'Steps to the Temple,' as in editions of 1646, 1648, and 1670. Accordingly we have spent the utmost pains on our text of it, taking for basis that of 1652. The various readings of the different editions and of the Sancroft ms. are given below for the capable student of the ultimate perfected form. I have not hesitated to correct several misprints of the text of 1652 from the earlier editions.
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:
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In 1652 from stanza xv. (there) to end,
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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
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]