Blest and bewayl'd in death and birth!
The smiles and teares of heav'n and earth!
Virgins at each step are afeard,
Filmer is shot by which they steer'd,
Their star extinct, their beauty dead,
That the yong world to honour led;
But see! the rapid spheres stand still,
And tune themselves unto her will.
Thus, although this marble must,
As all things, crumble into dust,
And though you finde this faire-built tombe
Ashes, as what lyes in its wombe:
Yet her saint-like name shall shine
A living glory to this shrine,
And her eternall fame be read,
When all but VERY VERTUE'S DEAD.<44.3>
<44.1> This lady was perhaps the daughter of Edward Filmer, Esq.,
of East Sutton, co. Kent, by his wife Eliza, daughter of Richard
Argall, Esq., of the same place (See Harl. MS. 1432, p. 300).
Possibly, the Edward Filmer mentioned here was the same as the
author of "Frenche Court Ayres, with their Ditties englished,"
1629, in praise of which Jonson has some lines in his UNDERWOODS.
<44.2> Original reads FOR.
<44.3> "Which ensuing times shall warble,
When 'tis lost, that's writ in marble."
Wither's FAIR VIRTUE, THE MISTRESS OF PHILARETE, 1622.
Headley (SELECT BEAUTIES, ed. 1810, ii. p. 42) has remarked
the similarity between these lines and some in Collins'
DIRGE IN CYMBELINE:--
"Belov'd till life can charm no more;
And MOURN'D TILL PITY'S SELF BE DEAD.
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