The other Sabbath was a shade of Thee;

And Thou the copy out of that which shall,
Amid the triumphs of Immensity,

Be all Heaven's everlasting festival;

That Sabbath, which no higher name shall know Than this, the Lord's Day; and that day art Thou.1 Joseph Hall (1574-1656), bishop successively of Exeter and Norwich, is now best remembered by his Meditations, the one among his voluminous prose writings which has maintained a place in popular esteem. His satires, written in earlier life, while he was a fellow at Emanuel College, Cambridge, were the first English compositions of their kind. Although he had always been a vigorous defender of Episcopacy, he was in most respects a Puritan. He was sent in 1618 to the Synod of Dort with some other English Divines, preached a Latin sermon before the Assembly and was received with very special honours. When the Civil War broke out, he protested against the validity of laws passed during the compelled absence of the bishops from Parliament. He was committed to the Tower, and though released after a few months' captivity, had his revenues sequestered, and was reduced for the rest of his life to poverty.

Bishop Hall translated into verse the first ten Psalms, but with no particular success. The following is part

of one of his Anthems:

Lord, what art Thou? Pure life, power, beauty, bliss:
Where dwell'st Thou? Up above, in perfect light;
What is Thy time? Eternity it is:

What state? Attendance of each glorious spright;
Thyself, Thy place, Thy days, Thy state
Pass all the thoughts of power create.

How shall I reach Thee, Lord? Oh, soar above,
Ambitious soul: But which way shall I fly?
Thou, Lord, art way and end: What wings have I ?
Aspiring thoughts, of faith, of hope, of love:
Oh, let these wings, that way alone,

Present me to Thy blissful throne.2

1 Psyche, Canto xv. stanza I13.

2 Works of Joseph Hall, 1839, vol. xii. p. 317.

Francis Rous (1579-1658) a Cornishman, was Provost of Eton in 1643, member of Parliament for Devonshire in 1653, and for Cornwall in 1656. He was a Presbyterian, one of Cromwell's Privy Council, a 'trier of clerical candidates' and a lay member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. His version of the

Psalms was accepted and published by Parliament in 1646. In 1649 the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland approved it, and it has been largely used there ever since. It is described as having vigour, though often prosaic and ungraceful. The version of the 23d Psalm, beginning 'The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want,' is considered his best.1

The following lines have an interest, as coming from the hand of William Bradford (1590-1657), one of the 'Pilgrim Fathers' who went to America in the Mayflower. He was Governor of Plymouth in Massachusetts::

PROVIDENCE AND THE PILGRIM.

From my years young in days of youth,
God did make known to me this truth,
And call'd me from my native place
For to enjoy the means of grace.

In wilderness He did me guide,

And in strange lands for me provide.

In fears and wants, through weal and woe,

A pilgrim, passed I to and fro :

Oft left of them whom I did trust;

How vain it is to rest on dust!

A man of sorrow I have been,
And many changes I have seen.
Wars, wants, peace, plenty, have I known;
And some advanced, others thrown down.
The humble poor,-cheerful and glad ;
Rich,-discontent, sour and sad :

When fears and sorrows have been mixt
Consolations came betwixt.

Faint not, poor soul, in God still trust,
Fear not the things thou suffer must;

1 Duffield's English Hymns, 1886, p. 533.

For whom He loves He doth chastise,

And then all tears wipes from their eyes.1

The following are a few lines upon the treasures of Scripture. They are by Peter Heylyn (1600-62), chaplain to Charles I., a divine of some note, who, in the time of the civil disturbances, took an active part in supporting the royal and ecclesiastical prerogatives :— If thou art merry, here are airs;

If melancholy, here are prayers;
If studious, here are those things writ ;
Which may deserve thy ablest wit ;
If hungry, here is food divine;
If thirsty, nectar, heavenly wine.
Read then; but, first, thyself prepare
To read with zeal and mark with care;
And when thou readst what here is writ,
Let thy best practice second it :

So twice each precept read shall be,-
First in the book, and, next, in thee.2

Mildmay, second Earl of Westmoreland (1601-1664), was Herrick's contemporary and friend. In the Civil War he declared for the King, and remained with him till 1663. He then submitted to the Parliament. His Otia Sacra was never published, but was privately printed for gifts in 1648. An impression of fifty copies of it was edited a few years ago by Mr. Grosart. The following is entitled To Kiss God's Rod:

Whatever God's divine

Decree

Awardeth unto mine

Or me,

Though 't may seem ill,
With patience

I am resolved to undergo,

Nor to His purpose once say no,

But moderate both mind and will:

And conquering the rebellions of sense

Place all content in true obedience.3

1 Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Literature, 1889,

i. 115.

2 Quoted by F. Saunders in Evenings with the Sacred Poets, 232.
3 Poems of Mildmay, Earl of Westmoreland, ed. by Grosart, p. 21.

Q

I add two short extracts, more for the worthiness of the man than of his verse.

From A Dedication of my First Son:—

Wherefore accept, I pray Thee, this
Thou'st given, and my first son is.
Let him be Thine, and from his cradleing
Begin his service's first reckoning.

Grant with his days Thy grace increase and fill
His heart, nor leave there room to harbour ill,
That in the progress of his years

He may express whose badge he wears.1

From My Happy Life:

First my God served, I do commend
The rest to some choice book or friend,
Wherein I may such treasure find
T'enrich my nobler part, the mind;
And that my body health comprise
Use too some moderate exercise ;
Whether invited to the field,

To see what pastime that can yield,

With horse, or hound, or hawk, or ť' be
More taken with a well-grown tree

Under whose shades I may rehearse
The holy lays of sacred verse.2

William Habington (1605-1645) belonged to a Roman Catholic family, and was educated for the Jesuit order, which, however, he declined to enter. He married a daughter of the Earl of Northumberland, the 'Castara' of his poems, which contain much that is admirable in purity and dignity of thought. The following is headed :

Nox nocti indicat Scientiam.

When I survey the bright

Celestial sphere,-

So rich with jewels hung, that night
Doth like an Æthiop bride appear,-

My soul her wings doth spread,
And heavenward flies,

Th' Almighty's mysteries to read
In the large volumes of the skies.

1 Poems of Mildmay, Earl of Westmoreland, ed. by Grosart, 1879, p. 83.

2 Id. 135.

For the large firmament

Shoots forth no flame
So silent, but is eloquent

In speaking the Creator's name.
No unregarded star
Contracts its light

Into so small a character,
Removed far from our human sight,

But if we steadfast look,

We shall discern

In it, as in some holy book,

How man may heavenly knowledge learn.

It tells the conqueror,

That far-stretch'd power,
Which his proud dangers traffic for,
Is but the triumph of an hour;

That from the furthest North
Some nation may,

Yet undiscover'd, issue forth

And o'er his new-got conquest sway.

Some nation, yet shut in

With hills of ice,

May be let out to scourge his sin,
Till they shall equal him in vice.

And then they likewise shall
Their ruin have;

For, as yourselves, your empires fall,
And every kingdom hath a grave.

Thus those celestial fires,
Though seeming mute,

The fallacy of our desires
And all the pride of life confute.

For they have watch'd since first
The world had birth:

And found sin in itself accurst,
And nothing permanent on earth.1

From Cupio Dissolvi :—

For in the fire when ore is tried
And by that torment purified,

1 Habington's Poems; Chalmers's British Poets, vi. 476.