Lucasta

by Richard Lovelace

TO MY DEAR BROTHER, COLONEL RICHARD LOVELACE.

Ile doe my nothing too, and try
To dabble to thy memory.
Not that I offer to thy name
Encomiums of thy lasting fame.
Those by the landed have been writ:
Mine's but a yonger-brother wit;
A wit that's hudled up in scarres,
Borne like my rough selfe in the warres;
And as a Squire in the fight
Serves only to attend the Knight,
So 'tis my glory in this field,
Where others act, to beare thy shield.
Dudley Lovelace, Capt.<12.1>

<12.1> The youngest brother of the poet. Besides the present lines, and some to be found in the posthumous volume, of which he was the editor, this gentleman contributed the following commendatory poem to AYRES AND DIALOGUES [by Thomas Stanley Esq.] set by John Gamble, 1656. The verses themselves have little merit; and the only object which I had in introducing them, was to add to the completeness of the present edition:—

TO MY MUCH HONORED COZEN, MR. STANLEY, UPON HIS POEMS SET BY MR. JOHN GAMBLE.

I.
Enough, enough of orbs and spheres,
Reach me a trumpet or a drum,
To sound sharp synnets in your ears,
And beat a deep encomium.

II.
I know not th' Eight Intelligence:
Those that do understand it, pray
Let them step hither, and from thence
Speak what they all do sing or say:

III.
Nor what your diapasons are,
Your sympathies and symphonies;
To me they seem as distant farre
As whence they take their infant rise.

IV.
But I've a grateful heart can ring
A peale of ordnance to your praise,
And volleys of small plaudits bring
To clowd a crown about your baies.

V.
Though laurel is thought thunder free,
That storms and lightning disallows,
Yet Caesar thorough fire and sea
Snatches her to twist his conquering brows.

VI.
And now me thinks like him you stand
I' th' head of all the Poets' hoast,
Whilest with your words you do command,
They silent do their duty boast.

VII.
Which done, the army ecchoes o're,
Like Gamble Ios one and all,
And in their various notes implore,
Long live our noble Generall.
Dudley Posthumus Lovelace.

DE DOMINO RICHARDO LOVELACIO,
ARMIGERO ET CHILIARCHA,<13.1> VIRO INCOMPARABILI.

Ecce tibi, heroi claris natalibus orto;<13.2>
Cujus honoratos Cantia vidit avos.
Cujus adhuc memorat rediviva Batavia patrem,
Inter et Herculeos enumerare solet.
Qui tua Grollaferox, laceratus vulnere multo,
Fulmineis vidit moenia Pacta globis.
Et cum saeva tuas fudisset Iberia turmas,
Afflatu pyrii pulveris ictus obit.
Haec sint magna: tamen major majoribus hic est,
Nititur et pennis altius ire novis.
Sermonem patrium callentem et murmura Celtae,
Non piguit linguas edidicisse duas.
Quicquid Roma vetus, vel quicquid Graecia jactat,
Musarum nutrix alma Calena dedit.
Gnaviter Hesperios compressit Marte cachinnos,
Devictasque dedit Cantaber ipse manus.
Non evitavit validos Dunkerka lacertos,
Non intercludens alta Lacuna vias,
Et scribenda gerens vivaci marmore digna,
Scribere Caesareo more vel ipse potest.
Cui gladium Bellona dedit, calamumque Minerva,
Et geminae Laurus circuit umbra comam.
Cujus si faciem spectes vultusque decorem,
Vix puer Idalius gratior ore fuit.

<13.1> Strictly speaking, the officer in command of a thousand men, from the Greek <<chiliarches>>, or <<chiliarchos>>, but in the present instance meaning nothing more than Colonel.

<13.2> I have amended the text of these lines, which in the original is very corrupt. I suppose that the compositor was left to himself, as usual.