When (like committed linnets<50.5>) I
With shriller throat shall sing
The sweetnes, mercy, majesty,
And glories of my King.
When I shall voyce aloud, how good
He is, how great should be,
Inlarged winds, that curle the flood,
Know no such liberty.
IV.
Stone walls doe not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Mindes innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedome in my love,
And in my soule am free,
Angels alone that sore above
Enjoy such liberty.
<50.1> The first stanza of this famous song is harmonized in
CHEERFULL AYRES OR BALLADS: FIRST COMPOSED FOR ONE SINGLE VOICE,
AND SINCE SET FOR THREE VOICES. By John Wilson, Dr. in Music,
Professor of the same in the University of Oxford. Oxford, 1660
(Sept. 20, 1659), 4to. p. 10. I have sometimes thought that,
when Lovelace composed this production, he had in his recollection
some of the sentiments in Wither's SHEPHERDS HUNTING, 1615. See,
more particularly, the sonnet (at p. 248 of Mr. Gutch's Bristol
edition) commencing:--
"I that er'st while the world's sweet air did draw."
<50.2> Peele, in KING DAVID AND FAIR BETHSABE, 1599, has a similar
figure, where David says:--
"Now comes my lover tripping like the roe,
And brings my longings tangled in her hair."
The "lover" is of course Bethsabe.
Pages:
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155