Page:Scotish Descriptive Poems - Leyden (1803).djvu/211

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PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
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profitable exercise, to my own perdition." This address is dated December 9. 1594. His ideas concerning love poetry are exhibited in the following sonnet

ON LOVE.

Not lawful love, but lechery I lack; Not women wife, but witless, I disdain:Not constant truth, but trompery I detract; Not innocence, but insolence profane: Not blessed bands, but secret workings vain;As Pyramus and Thisbe took on hand; As Jason and Medea made their train;As Demophon and foolish Phillis fand;As Hercules at Iöle's command, Which like a wife, for love, sat down to spin:And finally, all folly I gainstand, That may allure the heart to shame or sin:Bcware with vice, be not the cause of ill;Syne speak, and sport, look, laugh, and love your fill.

This sonnet is less distinguished by poetical spirit, than by propriety of sentiment. The fire of chivalry was now evaporating in the extravagancies of romance and the vapid conceits of metaphysical love poetry; and both of these were regarded by the presbyterians as inimical to their cause. The Catholic party had encouraged the representation of plays, masques, and every other species of amusement which could attract the populace, and draw their attention from religious innovation. The presbyterians dreaded this species of seduction, as producing religious indifference and preserving a relish for the pomp of Romish worship. Plays, and every species

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