Among thy saints elected to abide,
And with thy angels placed, side by side,
But in thy presence, truly glorified

II.

Shall I there rest!

AN HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER.

EAR me, O God!

A broken heart
Is my best part :
Use still thy rod,
That I may prove
Therein, thy love.
If thou hadst not

Been stern to me,
But left me free,
I had forgot

Myself and thee.

For, sin's so sweet,

As minds ill bent

Rarely repent,
Until they meet

Their punishment.

Who more can crave

Than thou hast done?

That gav'st a son
To free a slave :

First made of nought;
With all since bought

Sin, death, and hell
His glorious name
Quite overcame;
Yet I rebel,

And slight the same.

But, I'll come in,
Before my loss,
Me farther toss,
As sure to win

Under his cross.

III.

AN HYMN ON THE NATIVITY OF MY SAVIOUR.

SING the birth was born to-night,
The author both of life and light ;

The angels so did sound it.
And like the ravish'd shepherds said,

Who saw the light, and were afraid,

Yet search'd, and true they found it.

The Son of God, the Eternal King,
That did us all salvation bring,

And freed the soul from danger;
He whom the whole world could not take,2
The Word, which heaven and earth did make,
Was now laid in a manger.

The Father's wisdom will'd it so,
The Son's obedience knew no No,

Both wills were in one stature;

And as that wisdom had decreed,
The Word was now made Flesh indeed,
And took on him our nature.

What comfort by him do we win,
Who made himself the price of sin,

To make us heirs of glory!

To see this Babe, all innocence
A martyr born in our defence;

Can man forget this story?

2 He whom the whole world could not take,] i. e. contain, a latinism, Quem non capit.

A CELEBRATION OF CHARIS.

IN TEN LYRIC PIECES.

A CELEBRATION OF CHARIS.

1

I.

HIS EXCUSE FOR LOVING.

ET it not your wonder move,
Less your laughter, that I love.
Though I now write fifty years,'
I have had, and have my peers;
Poets, though divine, are men :
Some have loved as old again.
And it is not always face,

Clothes, or fortune, gives the grace;

Though I now write fifty years.] This fixes the date of this little collection to 1624, the last year of health, perhaps, which the poet ever enjoyed.

There is a considerable degree of ease and elegance in these effusions; and, indeed, it may be observed in general, of our poet's lyrics, that a vein of sprightliness and fancy runs through them which a reader of his epistles, &c., is scarcely prepared to expect. In the latter, Jonson, like several other poets of his age, or rather of his school, who also succeeded in lyrics, sedulously reigns in the imagination, and contents himself with strength of sentiment and thought, in simple but vigorous language, and unambitious rhyme. His "Charis" has all the vivid colouring of the best ages of antiquity; and it is truly delightful to mark the grace and ease with which this great poet plays with the boundless mass of his literary acquisitions.