Gondibert: An Heroick Poem/Canto 18

by William Davenant

CANTO the Fourth.

The Argument.

The King to Gondibert is grown so kind,
That he prevents the bounteous Rhodalind
In giving of her love; and Gondibert
Laments his Breast, holds but a single heart;
Which Birtha grieves her beauty did subdue,
Since he undoes the world in being true.

1.
FUll grows the Presence now, as when all know
 Some stranger Prince must be receiv'd with state,
When Courts shew those, who come to see the Show;
 And all gay Subjects like Domesticks wait.

2.
Nor Ulfinore nor Goltho absent were;
 Whose hopes expect what list'ning Birtha (hid
In the adjoyning Closet) fears to hear;
 And begs kind Heav'n in pitie would forbid.

3.
The King (who never time nor pow'r mispent
 In Subjects bashfulness, whiling great deeds
Like Coward Councels, who too late consent)
 Thus to his secret Will aloud proceeds.

4.
If to thy fame (brave Youth) I could adde wings,
 Or make her Trumpet louder by my voice,
I would (as an example drawn for Kings)
 Proclaim the cause, why thou art now my choice.

5.
But this were to suspect the world asleep,
 Or all our Lombards with their envy blind,
Or that the Hunns so much for bondage weep,
 As their drown'd Eyes cannot thy Trophies find.

6.
When this is heard, none dare of what I give
 Presume their equal merit might have shar'd;
And to say more, might make thy Foes believe,
 Thy dang'rous worth is grown above reward.

7.
Reward even of a Crown, and such a Crown,
 As by Heav'n's Model ancient Victors wore;
When they, as by their Coyn, by Laws were known;
 For Laws but made more currant Victors pow'r.

8.
A Crown soon taught, by whom Pow'r first was given;
 When Victors (of Dominion cautious made
By hearing of that old revolt in Heaven)
 Kept Pow'r too high for Subjects to invade.

9.
A Crown, which ends by Armies their debate,
 Who question height of Pow'r; who by the Law
(Till plain obedience they make intricate)
 Would not the People, but their Rulers aw.

10.
To Pow'r, adoption makes thy Title good;
 Preferring worth, as birth gives Princes place;
And Virtue's claim exceeds the right of blood,
 As Souls extraction does the Bodies Race.

11.
Yet for thy Bloods long walk through Princes veins,
 Thou maist with any Lombard measure time;
Though he his hidden house in Illium feigns;
 And not step short, when Hubert self would climb.

12.
And Hubert is of highest Victors Breed;
 Whose worth I shall for distant Empire chuse;
If he will learn, that you by Fate precede,
 And what he never had, he cannot lose.

13.
His Valour shall the Gothick Conquest keep:
 And would to Heav'n that all your mighty Minds
As soon were pleas'd, as Infants are with sleep,
 And you had Musick common as the winds.

14.
That all the Year your Seasons were like Spring;
 All joy'd as Birds, and all as Lovers kind;
That ev'ry famous Fighter were a King,
 And each, like you, could have a Rhodalind.

15.
For she is yours, as your adoption, free;
 And in that gift my remnant Life I give;
But 'tis to you, brave Youth! Who now are she;
 And she that Heav'n where secondly I live.

16.
And richer than that Crown (which shall be thine,
 When Life's long Progress I am gone with Fame)
Take all her love; which scarce forbears to shine
 And own thee, through her Virgin-Curtain, Shame.

17.
Thus spake the King, and Rhodalind appear'd
 Through publish'd Love, with so much bashfulness,
As young Kings shew, when by surprize ore-heard,
 Moaning to Fav'rite Ears a deep distress.

18.
For Love is a distress, and would be hid
 Like Monarchs grief, by which they bashfull grow;
And in that shame beholders they forbid;
 Since those blush most, who must their blushes show.

19.
And Gondibert with dying Eyes did grieve
 At her vail'd love (a wound he cannot heal)
As great Minds mourn, who cannot then relieve
 The virtuous, when through shame they want, conceal.

20.
And now cold Birtha's rosie looks decay;
 Who in Fear's Frost had like her beauty dy'd,
But that Attendant Hope perswades her stay
 A while, to hear her Duke, who thus reply'd:

21.
Victorious King! Abroad your Subjects are
 Like Legats safe, at home like Altars free!
Ev'n by your fame they conquer as by war;
 And by your Laws safe from each other be.

22.
A King you are ore Subjects, so as wise
 And noble Husbands seem ore Loyal Wives;
Who claim not, yet confess their liberties,
 And brag to strangers of their happy lives.

23.
To Foes a winter storm; whilst your Friends bow
 Like Summer Trees, beneath your bounty's load;
To me (next him whom your great self, with low
 And chearfull duty serves) a giving God.

24.
Since this is you, and Rhodalind (the Light
 By which her Sex fled virtue find) is yours;
Your Diamond, which tests of jealous sight,
 The stroke, and fire, and Oisel's juice endures;

25.
Since she so precious is, I shall appear
 All counterfeit, of Art's disguises made;
And never dare approach her Lustre near;
 Who can scarce hold my value in the shade.

26.
Forgive me that I am not what I seem;
 But falsly have dissembled an excess
Of all such virtues as you most esteem;
 And now grow good but as I ills confess.

27.
Far in Ambition's Feaver am I gone!
 Like raging Flame aspiring is my Love;
Like flame destructive too, and like the Sun
 Does round the world tow'rds change of Objects

28.
Nor is this now through virtuous shame confess'd;
 But Rhodalind does force my conjur'd fear,
As Men whom evil spirits have possess'd,
 Tell all when saintly Votaries appear.

29.
When she will grace the Bridal dignitie,
 It will be soon to all young Monarchs known;
Who then by posting through the World, will trie
 Who first can at her Feet present his Crown.

30.
Then will Verona seem the Inn of Kings;
 And Rhodalind shall at her Palace Gate
Smile, when great Love these royal Sutors brings;
 Who for that smile would as for Empire wait.

31.
Amongst this ruling Race she choice may take
 For warmth of Valour, coolness of the mind,
Eyes that in Empires drowsie Calms can wake,
 In storms look out, in darkness dangers find.

32.
A Prince who more inlarges pow'r than lands;
 Whose greatness is not what his Map contains;
But thinks that his, where he at full commands,
 Not where his Coyn does pass, but pow'r remains.

33.
Who knows that Pow'r can never be too high
 When by the Good possest; for 'tis in them
The swelling Nyle; from which, though people flie,
 They prosper most by rising of the stream.

34.
Thus (Princess) you should chuse, and you will find,
 Even he, since Men are Wolves, must civilize
(As light does tame some Beasts of savage kind)
 Himself yet more, by dwelling in your Eyes.

35.
Such was the Duk's reply, which did produce
 Thoughts of a divers shape through sev'ral Ears:
His jealous Rivals mourn at his excuse;
 But Astragon it cures of all his fears.

36.
Birtha his praise of Rhodalind bewails;
 And now her hope a weak Physician seems,
For Hope, the common Comforter prevails
 Like common Med'cines, slowly in extreams.

37.
The King (secure in off'rd Empire) takes
 This forc'd excuse, as troubled bashfulness,
And a disguise which suddain passion makes,
 To hide more joy than prudence should express.

38.
And Rhodalind (who never lov'd before,
 Nor could suspect his love was giv'n away)
Thought not the treasure of his Breast so poor,
 But that it might his debts of honour pay.

39.
To hasten the rewards of his desert,
 The King does to Verona him command;
And kindness so impos'd, not all his Art
 Can now instruct his dutie to withstand.

40.
Yet whilst the King does now his time dispose
 In seeing wonders, in this Palace shown,
He would a parting kindness pay to those
 Who of their wounds are yet not perfect grown.

41.
And by this fair pretence, whilst on the King
 Lord Astragon through all the house attends,
Young Orgo does the Duke to Birtha bring;
 Who thus her sorrows to his bosom sends.

42.
Why should my Storm your Life's calm voyage vex?
 Destroying wholly Virtues Race in one;
So by the first of my unluckie Sex,
 All in a single ruin were undone.

43.
Make Heav'nly Rhodalind your Bride! Whilst I
 Your once lov'd Maid, excuse you, since I know
That virtuous Men forsake so willingly
 Long cherish'd life, because to Heav'n they go.

44.
Let me her servant be! A dignitie;
 Which if your pitie in my fall procures;
I still shall value the advancement high,
 Not as the Crown is hers, but she is yours.

45.
Ere this high sorrow up to dying grew,
 The Duke the Casket op'ned, and from thence
(Form'd like a Heart) a chearfull Emrauld drew;
 Chearfull, as if the lively stone had sence.

46.
The Thirti'th Charract it had doubled Twice;
Not taken from the Attick silver Mine,
Nor from the Brass, though such (of nobler price)
Did on the Necks of Parthian Ladies shine:

47.
Nor yet of those which make the Ethiop proud;
Nor taken from those Rocks where Bactrians climb;
But from the Scithian, and without a Cloud;
Not sick at fire, nor languishing with time.

48.
Then thus he spake, This (Birtha) from my Male
 Progenitours, was to the loyal she
On whose kind Heart they did in love prevail,
 The Nuptial Pledge, and this I give to thee!

49.
Seven Centuries have pass'd since it from Bride
 To Bride did first succeed; and though 'tis known
From ancient lore, that Gems much virtue hide,
 And that the Emrauld is the Bridal Stone.

50.
Though much renown'd because it chastens loves,
 And will, when worn by the neglected wife,
Shew when her absent Lord disloyal proves,
 By faintness, and a pale decay of life;

51.
Though Emraulds serve as Spies to jealous Brides,
 Yet each compar'd to this does counsel keep;
Like a false Stone, the Husbands falshood hides,
Or seems born blind, or feigns a dying sleep.

52.
With this take Orgo, as a better Spy;
 Who may in all your kinder fears be sent
To watch at Court, if I deserve to die
 By making this to fade, and you lament.

53.
Had now an artfull Pencil Birtha drawn
 (With grief all dark, then straight with joy all light)
He must have fancy'd first in early dawn,
 A sudden break of beautie out of Night.

54.
Or first he must have mark'd what Paleness, Fear,
 Like nipping Frost, did to her visage bring;
Then think he sees, in a cold backward year,
 A Rosie Morn begin a sudden Spring.

55.
Her joys (too vast to be contain'd in speech)
 Thus she a little spake, Why stoop you down,
My plighted Lord, to lowly Birtha's reach,
 Since Rhodalind would lift you to a Crown?

56.
Or why do I, when I this plight imbrace,
 Boldly aspire to take what you have given?
But that your virtue has with Angels place,
 And 'tis a virtue to aspire at Heav'n.

57.
And as tow'rds Heav'n all travel on their Knees,
 So I tow'rds you, though Love aspire, will move:
And were you Crown'd, what could you better please
 Than aw'd obedience led by bolder Love?

58.
If I forget the depth from whence I rise,
 Far from your bosom banish'd be my heart;
Or claim a right by beautie to your Eyes,
 Or proudly think my chastitie desert.

59.
But thus ascending from your humble Maid
 To be your plighted Bride, and then your Wife,
Will be a Debt that shall be hourly paid,
 Till Time my dutie cancel with my life.

60.
And fruitfully if Heav'n ere make me bring
 Your Image to the World, you then my pride
No more shall blame, than you can tax the Spring
 for boasting of those Flowr's she cannot hide.

61.
Orgo, I so receive as I am taught
 By dutie to esteem what ere you love;
And hope the joy he in this Jewel brought,
 Will luckier than his former triumphs prove.

62.
For though but Twice he has approach'd my sight,
 He Twice made haste to drown me in my Tears:
But now I am above his Planets spite,
 And as for sin beg pardon for my fears.

63.
Thus spake she; and with fix'd continu'd sight,
 The Duke did all her bashfull beauties view;
Then they with kisses seal'd their sacred plight;
 Like Flowr's still sweeter as they thicker grew.

64.
Yet must these pleasures feel, though innocent,
 The sickness of extreams, and cannot last;
For Pow'r (Love's shun'd Impediment) has sent
 To tell the Duke, his Monarch is in hast:

65.
And calls him to that triumph which he fears
 So as a Saint forgiven (whose Breast does all
Heav'n's joys contain) wisely lov'd Pomp for bears,
 Lest tempted Nature should from blessings fall.

66.
He often takes his leave, with Love's delay;
 And bids her hope, he with the King shall find,
By now appearing forward to obay,
 A means to serve him less in Rhodalind.

67.
She weeping to her Closet-window hies;
 Where she with tears does Rhodalind survay;
As dying Men, who grieve that they have Eyes,
 When they through Curtains spie the rising Day.

68.
The King has now his curious sight suffic'd
 With all lost Arts, in their revival view'd;
Which when restor'd, our pride thinks new devis'd:
 Fashions of Minds, call'd new when but renew'd!

69.
The busie Court prepares to move; on whom
 Their sad offended Eyes the Countrey cast;
Who never see enough where Monarchs come,
 And nothing so uncivil seems as haste.

70.
As Men move slow, who know they lose their way,
 Ev'n so the Duke tow'rd Rhodalind does move;
Yet he does duteous fears, and wonder pay,
 Which are the first, and dang'rous signs of Love.

71.
All his addresses much by Goltho were
 And Ulfinore observ'd, who distant stand,
Not daring to approch his presence near;
 But shun his Eyes to scape from his command:

72.
Lest to Verona he should both require;
 For by remaining here, both hope to light
Their Hymen's Torches at his parting fire,
 And not despair to kindle them to night.

73.
The King his Golden Chariot now ascends;
 Which near fair Rhodalind the Duke contains▪
Though to excuse that grace he lowly bends;
 But honour so refus'd more honour gains.

74.
And now their Chariots (readie to take wing)
 Are ev'n by weakest breath, a whisper stay'd;
And but such whisper as a Page does bring
 To Laura's Woman from a Houshold Maid.

75.
But this low voice did raise in Laura's Ear
 An Eccho, which from all redoubled soon;
Proclaiming such a Countrey beautie here,
 As makes them look like Ev'ning to her Noon.

76.
And Laura (of her own high beautie proud,
 Yet not to others cruel) softly prays
She may appear! but Gartha, bold, and loud,
 With Eyes impatient as for conquest, stays.

77.
Though Astragon now owns her, and excus'd
 Her presence, as a Maid but rudely taught,
Infirm in health, and not to greatness us'd;
 Yet Gartha still calls out to have her brought!

78.
But Rhodalind (in whose relenting Breast
 Compassion's self might sit at School, and learn)
Knew bashfull Maids with publick view distrest;
 And in their Glass, themselves with fear discern;

79.
She stopt this Challenge which Court Beautie made
 To Countrey shape, not knowing Nature's hand
Had Birtha dress'd, nor that her self obay'd
 In vain, whom conqu'ring Birtha did command.

80.
The Duke (whom virtuous kindness soon subdues)
 Though him his Bonds from Birtha highly please,
Yet seems to think, that luckie he, who sues
 To wear this royal Maid's, will walk at ease.

81.
Of these a brief survey sad Birtha takes;
 And Orgo's help directs her Eye to all;
Shews her for whom grave Tybalt nightly wakes;
 Then at whose feet wise Hermegild does fall.

82.
And when calm Orna with the Count she saw,
 Hope (who though weak, a willing Painter is,
And busily does ev'ry Pattern draw)
 By that example could not work amiss.

83.
For soon she shap'd her Lord and her so kind,
 So all of love; till fancie wrought no more
When she perceiv'd him sit with Rhodalind;
 But froward-Painter-like the Copie tore.

84.
And now they move; and she thus robb'd, believes
 (Since with such haste they bear her wealth away)
That they at best are but judicious Thieves,
 And know the noble value of their prey.

85.
And then she thus complain'd, Why royal Maid!
 Injurious Greatness! Did you hither come
Where Pow'r's strong Nets of Wire were never laid?
 But childish Love took Cradle as at home.

86.
Where can we safe our harmless blessings keep,
 Since glorious Courts our solitude invade?
Bells which ring out, when th' unconcern'd would sleep;
 False lights to scare poor Birds in Countrey shade!

87.
Or if our joys their own discov'rie make,
 Envie (whose Tongue first kills whom she devours)
Calls it our Pride; Envie, The poys'nous snake,
 Whose breath blasts Maids, as innocent as Flow'rs!

88.
Forgive me beautious Greatness, if I grow
 Distemper'd with my fears, and rudely long
To be secure; or praise your beautie so
 As to believe that it may do me wrong.

89.
And you my plighted Lord, forgive me too,
 If since your worth and my defects I find,
I fear what you in justice ought to do;
 And praise your judgement when I doubt you kind.

90.
Now suddain fear ore all her beauty wrought
 The pale appearance of a killing Frost;
And carefull Orgo, when she started, thought
 She had her Pledge, the precions Emrauld, lost.

91.
But that kind Heart, as constant as her own,
 She did not miss; 'twas from a suddain sence,
Lest in her Lover's heart some change was grown,
 And it grew pale with that intelligence.

92.
Soon from her bosom she this Emrauld took;
 If now (said she) my Lord my Heart deceives,
This Stone will by dead paleness make me look
 Pale as the Snowy skin of Lilly Leaves.

93.
But such a chearfull green the Gem did sling
 Where she oppos'd the Rays, as if she had
Been dy'd in the complexion of the Spring,
 Or were by Nimphs of Brittain Valleys clad.

94.
Soon she with earnest passion kist the Stone;
 Which ne'r till then had suffer'd an eclips;
But then the Rays retir'd, as if it shone
 In vain, so near the Rubies of her Lips.

95.
Yet thence remov'd, with publick glory shines!
 She Orgo blest, who had this Relique brought;
And kept it like those Reliques lock'd in shrines,
 By which the latest Miracles were wrought.

96.
For soon respect was up to rev'rence grown;
 Which fear to Superstition would sublime,
But that her Father took Fear's Ladder down;
 Loose steps by which distress to Heav'n would climbe.

97.
He knew, when Fear shapes Heav'nly Pow'r so just,
 (And terrible parts of that shape drawn true)
It vails Heav'n's beauty, Love; which when we trust
 Our courage honours him to whom we sue!