The Romance of Biography (Vol 2 of 2)

TON'S

ever raised by genius to conjugal

oth sides, from the noblest blood in England; and her haughty relations at first opposed their union. It was, however, merely that degree of opposition, without which the "course of true love would have run too smooth." It was just sufficient to pique the ardour of the lover, and prove the worth and constancy of her he loved. The history of their attachment has non

d his Castara. "She it was who animated his imagination with tenderness and elegance, and filled it with images of beauty, puri

eard! and thy

ir i' the reg

beauties whic

o Heaven-each

...*..

firmament no s

, so purely c

is divided into two parts: those written before his marriage he ha

s for himself the honour of being the first conjugal poet in our language. To use his own words: "Though I appear to strive against t

heir school, and is not untinctured by the false taste of his day. He has not great power, nor much pathos; but these defects are redeemed by a delicacy of express

rks, he alludes to her very beautifully, and exults, wi

ind. Since time, that makes a mockery of the finest structures, shall itself be ruined before that be demolished. Thus was the foundation laid; and though my eye, in its survey, was satisfied even to curiosity, yet did not my search rest there. The alabaster, ivory, porphyry

a besieged city standing watchfully on her guard: in a word, all those virtues which should restore woman to her primitive state of virtue, fully adorned her." He then prettily apologises for this indiscreet

s mine own, I think even these verses will have that proportion in the world's opinion, that hea

er. He represents her "as fair as Nature intended her, helpt, perhaps, to a more pleasing grace by the sweetness of education, not by the sleight of art." This discrimination is delicately drawn.-He continues, "she is young; for a woman, past the delicacy of her spring, may well move to virtue by respect, never by beau

se and verse, which seems to have been the most striking part of her character, and her greatest charm in the eyes of her lover. He concludes, with the beautiful sentiment I

rrangement. The subjects of these, and their quaint expressive titles, form a kind of chronicle of their loves, in which every little incident is commemo

fear, Castara

n love, and wan

y our whispers

s, the wind da

asure I

ed her presence," (probably

ou, I charged t

ssenger, to

s whisper

tara resided with her parents, and where, it appears, he was not allowed to visit her.)-"On a

d, whose breath

violet, blushe

eld an odour

then so thri

en by custom?

your lip, my l

ight."-This alludes to a meeting of the lovers, at

tely graceful than any thing i

THE BOSOM

ng virgin

e nunnery of

ofane so ch

uld call it

thus, how b

perfume d

se garden,

than i' th

te cloisters

e blasts of

ore innocen

all wither

ich living g

us sepulchr

no marble

hath marbl

ir love, contains some very beautiful lines, in which he asserts the disinterestedness of his

nvious! woul

of some mount

oil worn out, c

wer than what

Nature; her w

rich in her own

hair's fair tre

yes; soft ermi

a in her

," which is extended to several stanzas, of unequal mer

violet, w

in some h

ra lives

oser eye

to herse

ts i' the

...*..

beauty, a

'd with bor

irth no pr

lushes in

ts a glori

blest, be

...*..

one makes r

passions

article

houghts to

vows rel

ove she v

ge," beginning "This day is ours," &c. has more fancy and poetry than tenderness. The lines to Lord Powis, the father of Castara, on the same occasion, are more beautiful and earnest, yet rich in fanciful imagery. Lord

Lord, 'tis pe

sought refuge

rth wind; ere the

ir the feather

motion, or th

'er the day-th

er I courted w

tain hopes; f

round of fortune

ut what waited

nly had that

had th' earth t

there's

I r

to my power

yond this, the wh

their wedding-day, h

ANNIV

d (great light)

t by marriage,

stara hearts;

, as then,-so

ased, but that

irst, it ne'er

glorious lamp,

ow thee, what

ness? I since

th and fade, the

nkled. Even th

e, and to thy gr

ove is one swe

s, probably, suggested by some speculative topics of conversation, d

north wind when t

ring, and gath

ightingales; wh

armonious languag

stone magnetic

iron; from

id first the

n the ocean

materials is

of what its

ming sun; wh

orld; what world

ncies at these

we know we'll

ainting;" those on

fear to melt

t die tog

er s

sigh a penit

ne, it would blo

in my marble

yrant worms to

uncle, Lord Morley; are all in the same strain of gentle and elega

heart, whe

'd passi

usie doth n

y t' expe

madness by

rhetorick

he softness

folly dot

eart, Castara,

heart, where

s new a

sh charm of

stratage

ndering her

am'rous

beauteous

e doth to o

heart, Castara,

t, at such a period, no man of a lofty and generous spirit could have avoided joining the party or principles, either of Falkland and Grandison, or of Hampden and Hutchinson. But Habington's family had

e who

s, in grov

cannot discover the date of Castara's death; but she d

tory, to mention "her extraordinary beauty, and as extraordinary fame." Her picture at Windsor is, indeed, more like a vision of ideal loveliness, than any form that ever trod the earth.[54] She was descended from the Percies and the Stanleys, and was first cousin to Habington's Castara, their mothers being sisters. The magnificent spiri

but a hatchmen

or Stanley, n

vir

s her that sh

ide to valian

en what

ies boast, lay

ar, lay on he

aits of her; the first, emblematical of her innocence, and the latter, of her triumph over slander: and not less, by these lines of Habington. If Venetia Digby had been, as Aubrey and others insinuate, abandoned to profligacy, and a victim to her husband's

e, my Castar

s ancient pro

er in death;

om the world

n to slumber

r blest ashe

too much woman

turb the silen

extraordinary creature. Neither the pen nor the sword of her husband could entirely clear her fame in her own age: he could only terrify slander into silence, and it died away into an indistinct murmur, of which the echo alone has reached our time.-But this is enough:-the echo of an echo could whisper into naught a woman's fair name. The idea of a creature so formed in the prodigality of nature; so complete

TNO

ed to her brother, Lord Mounteagle, that extraordinary

ory of Worc

t of the Habingtons

y Percy, exquisitely beautiful. At Gothurst, there is a picture of her, and a bust, which, a

am, voluptas: de

nelm Digby, pp. 211, 2

. 205, 213. Intr

moirs,

moirs,