Then think no freedom I desire,
Or would my fetters leave,
Since Phoenix-like I from this fire
20Both life and youth receive.
Song.] Sir Egerton thought this (which, by the way, Lovelace may have seen, or vice versa) 'a very elegant little song, with all the harmony of modern rhythm'. One might perhaps substitute 'with more of the harmony of contemporary rhythm than Stanley always attains'. It is certainly much better than The Cure. The bracketed stanza was dropped in 1651, but it seemed better to restore it thus in text than to degrade it hither. One or two extremely unimportant misprints occur in one or other version, but are not worth noting.
The Sick Lover.
GUARINI.
My sickly breath
Wastes in a double flame;