The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw Volume I Part 21

_1 Kinge._ It was their weaknes woo'd his beauty; But it shall be 185 Their wisdome now, as well as duty, To injoy his blott; and as a large black letter Vse it to spell Thy beautyes better; And make the Night it self their torch to Thee.

_2 Kinge._ By the oblique ambush of this close night 190 Couch't in that conscious shade The right-ey'd Areopagite Shall with a vigorous guesse inuade And catch Thy quick reflex; and sharply see On this dark ground 195 To descant Thee.

_3 Kinge._ O prize of the rich Spirit! with what feirce chase Of his strong soul, shall he Leap at thy lofty face, And seize the swift flash, in rebound 200 From this obsequious cloud, Once call'd a sun, Till dearly thus vndone;

_Chorus._ Till thus triumphantly tam'd (O ye two Twinne svnnes!) and taught now to negotiate you. 205

_1 Kinge._ Thus shall that reuerend child of Light,

_2 Kinge._ By being scholler first of that new Night, Come forth great master of the mystick Day;

_3 Kinge._ And teach obscure mankind a more close way By the frugall negatiue light 210 Of a most wise and well-abused Night To read more legible Thine originall ray;

_Chorus._ And make our darknes serue Thy Day: Maintaining 'twixt Thy World and oures A commerce of contrary powres, 215 A mutuall trade 'Twixt sun and shade, By confederat black and white Borrowing Day and lending Night. 219

_1 Kinge._ Thus we, who when with all the n.o.ble powres That (at Thy cost) are call'd, not vainly, ours: We vow to make braue way Vpwards, and presse on for the pure intelligentiall prey; _2 Kinge._ At least to play The amorous spyes 225 And peep and proffer at Thy sparkling throne;

_3 Kinge._ In stead of bringing in the blissfull prize And fastening on Thine eyes: Forfeit our own And nothing gain 230 But more ambitious losse at last, of brain;

_Chorus._ Now by abased liddes shall learn to be Eagles; and shutt our eyes that we may see.

_The Close._

[_Chorus._] Therfore to Thee and Thine auspitious ray (Dread Sweet!) lo thus 236 At last by vs, The delegated eye of Day Does first his scepter, then himself, in solemne tribute pay.

Thus he vndresses 240 His sacred vnshorn tresses; At Thy adored feet, thus he layes down

_1 Kinge._ His gorgeous tire Of flame and fire,

_2 Kinge._ His glittering robe. _3 Kinge._ His sparkling crown; 245

_1 Kinge._ His gold: _2 Kinge._ His mirrh: _3 Kinge._ His frankincense.

_Chorus._ To which he now has no pretence: For being show'd by this Day's light, how farr He is from sun enough to make Thy starr, His best ambition now is but to be 250 Somthing a brighter shadow, Sweet, of Thee.

Or on Heaun's azure forhead high to stand Thy golden index; with a duteous hand Pointing vs home to our own sun The World's and his Hyperion. 255

NOTES AND ILl.u.s.tRATIONS.

The t.i.tle in 1648 edition is simply 'A Hymne for the Epiphanie. Sung as by the three Kings.' Except the usual slight changes of orthography, the following are all the variations between the two texts necessary to record: and I give with them certain corrective and explanatory notes:

line 25, 'indifferent' is = impartial, not as now 'unconcerned.'

Line 52, 1648 edition misprints 'his't' for 'kis't.' In the 51st line the 'bright idol' is the sun.

Line 83, ib. reads 'thy' for 'this.'

" 95, 'a guilded horn.' Cf. Juvenal, Satire x.

" 99, ib. is given to 3d King. Throughout we have corrected a number of slips of the Paris printer in his figures.

Line 108, ib. spells 'to' for 'too.'

" 117, '_deliquium_' = swoon, faint. In chemistry = melting.

" 122, 1648 edition reads 'his' for 'this;' and I have adopted it.

Line 143, ib. reads 'deere:' a misprint.

" 155, ib. reads 'domesticks.'

" 180, ib. reads 'the' for 'their.'

" 186, ib. drops 'it.'

" 195, ib. reads 'what' for 'that,' and in next line 'his'

for 'this,' of 1652: both adopted.

Line 212, 'legible' is = legibly.

" 224 and onward, in 1648 is printed 'least,' in our text (1652) 'lest.' Except in line 224 it is plainly = last, and so I read it in 231st and 237th.

See our Essay for Miltonic parallels with lines in this remarkable composition. Line 46, 'these mortal clouds,' _i.e._ of infant flesh. Cf.

Sosp. d' Herode, stanza xxiii.

'That He whom the sun serves should faintly peep Through _clouds of infant flesh_.'

Line 114, 'And urge their sun into Thy cloud,' _i.e._ into becoming Thy cloud, forcing him to become 'a long deliquium to the light of thee.'

Line 189, our text (1652) misprints 'in self.' Line 190, 'By the oblique ambush,' &c. The Kings continuing in the spirit of prophecy, and with words not to be understood till their fulfilment, pa.s.s on from the dimming of the sun at the Crucifixion to a second dimming, but this time through the splendour of a brighter light, at the conversion of him who was taken to preach to the Gentiles in the court of the Areopagites. The speaker, or rather CRASHAW, takes the view which at first sight may seem to be implied in the gospel narrative, that the light brighter than midday shone round about SAUL and his companions but not on them, they being couched in the conscious shade of the daylight. Throughout, there is a double allusion to this second dimming of the sun as manifesting Christ to St. Paul and the Gentiles, and to the dimming of the eyes, and the walking in darkness for a time of him who as a light on Earth was to manifest the True Light to the world. Throughout, too, there is a kind of parallelism indicated between the two lesser lights. Both rebellions were to be dimmed and brought into subjection, and then to shine forth 'right-eyed' in renewed and purified splendour as evidences of the Sun of Righteousness. Hence at the close, the chorus calls them 'ye twin-suns,'--and the words, 'Till thus triumphantly tamed' refer equally to both. The punctuation to make this clear should be '... sun, ...

undone; ...' 'To negotiate you' (both word and metaphor being rather unhappily chosen) means, to pa.s.s you current as the true-stamped image of the Deity. 'O price of the rich Spirit' (line 197) may be made to refer to 'thee [O Christ], price of the rich spirit' of Paul, but 'may be' is almost too strong to apply to such an interpretation. It is far more consonant to the structure and tenor of the whole pa.s.sage, to read it as an epithet applied to St. Paul: 'O prize of the rich Spirit of grace.' I have also without hesitation changed 'of this strong soul'

into 'of _his_ strong soul.' 'Oblique ambush' may refer to the oblique rays of the sun now rays of darkness, but the primary reference is to the indirect manner and 'vigorous guess,' by which St. Paul, mentally glancing from one to the other light, learned through the dimming of the sun to believe in the Deity of Him who spake from out the dimming brightness. The same thought, though with a strained and less successful effort of expression, appears in the song of the third King, 'with that fierce chase,' &c.

Line 251. 'Somthing a brighter shadow (Sweet) of Thee.' Apparently a remembrance of a pa.s.sage which THOMAS HEYWOOD, in his 'Hierarchie of the Angels,' gives from a Latin translation of PLATO, 'Lumen est umbra Dei et Deus est Lumen Luminis.' On which see our Essay. Perhaps the same gave rise to the thought that the sun eclipsed G.o.d, or shut Him out as a cloud or shade, or made night, _e.g._

'And urge their sun ...

... eclipse he made:' (lines 115-120).

'Not so much their sun as shade ... by this night of day:' (lines 138-151). G.

TO THE QVEEN'S MAIESTY.[39]

MADAME, 1 'Mongst those long rowes of crownes that guild your race, These royall sages sue for decent place: The day-break of the Nations; their first ray, When the dark World dawn'd into Christian Day, 5 And smil'd i' th' Babe's bright face; the purpling bud And rosy dawn of the right royall blood; Fair first-fruits of the Lamb! sure kings in this, They took a kingdom while they gaue a kisse.

But the World's homage, sca.r.s.e in these well blown, 10 We read in you (rare queen) ripe and full-grown.

For from this day's rich seed of diadems Does rise a radiant croppe of royalle stemms, A golden haruest of crown'd heads, that meet And crowd for kisses from the Lamb's white feet: 15 In this ill.u.s.trious throng, your lofty floud Swells high, fair confluence of all high-born bloud: With your bright head, whole groues of scepters bend Their wealthy tops, and for these feet contend.

So swore the Lamb's dread Sire: and so we see't, 20 Crownes, and the heads they kisse, must court these feet.

Fix here, fair majesty! May your heart ne're misse To reap new crownes and kingdoms from that kisse; Nor may we misse the ioy to meet in you The aged honors of this day still new. 25 May the great time, in you, still greater be, While all the year is your epiphany; While your each day's deuotion duly brings Three kingdomes to supply this day's three kings.