less than they have hitherto done to a poetic form so peculiarly suitable for giving expression to the more varied intellectual life of these latter times as was that which secured to our literature among his detached pieces the were the of honest ben himself � the as he them of his studies it is unnecessary to point out though the poet had to do so in the admirable lines addressed to his mere english critic that his conception of the forms and functions of an the wider one entertained by the and that therefore his purpose in the large majority of these poems is not to work rapidly up to a point at the dose if this be borne in mind the of these ns and of those pieces in the which belong to the same class will not be denied the admiration which it deserves some are witty in the sense of the term � nearly all in the broader their sarcasm where they contain such itself against various types of men and women � among them much to s credit rather against those whom he might have been expected to flatter than those whom he might have been expected to but the fastidious were as genuine an to ben as the zeal of the land and this though he to some extent depended for his bread as well as for his sack upon the good will of the court and and it may be said in passing that though like all his brother he was devoted to the crown he was free spoken even to the most august of his and constantly to the commonplace but wholesome that it is the he has been but with the of the national the english poets love not the fear of his subjects upon which a monarch ought to rely but s are both less effective and less elaborate than those of a directly opposite tendency few of our or poets have equalled him in of � whether his theme was the praise of like the elder or the younger or of men of letters varying in kind and degree from whom he as monarch of letters to the poet s fellow nor was he less happy when the object of his poetic homage was a gentle woman like the of celebrated in the lines below and his among which room could only be found here for two of the most pathetic remain not only for a force which we are accustomed to find in but also for a tender grace which he is not so usually supposed to have possessed in the collection called the forest small as it is has done the greatest justice to the variety of poetic of which in addition to the dramatic he was capable he here excuses himself for not writing of love partly on the favourite poets plea of growing age and in truth his muse was comparatively a stranger to yet the little of to put together by in and inserted in the and some charming original and translated pieces to be found elsewhere show him not only to have written graceful love poetry himself but to have furnished examples of it to his younger was in his way almost as much indebted to as milton was in his as a or of classical was in his element his re of favourite gems from and others were doubtless true labours of love for the as his delighted to be justified in calling him had the early of a scholar and through life he remained deeply grateful to the famous his master at westminster that among the latin poets should have specially attracted him is easily to be accounted for in some of his original he has all the brightness and all the of his roman model � in the fine included in the forest he rises to a moral dignity beyond the reach either of or of his later for not even a slight summary like the present should from mention among s characteristics the firm and steady tone of his morality in his earlier manhood he twice changed his faith � without the faintest suspicion of interested motives ben to his � and in his later days he seems to have remained a close student of now to those wiser guides whom fashion had not drawn to study sides but to a conscientious desire for truth he added a humility of soul towards things divine which stands in strange and touching contrast to the high and quick temper of his bearing in most other matters critics have been known to cry out against having to hear too much about the of ben but his is inseparable from him and as the lines to heaven show he was not ashamed even of his piety a w ward � the english poets echo s lament of from acted act i sc i slow slow fresh keep time with my salt tears yet slower yet o faintly gentle springs list to the heavy part the music bears woe out her division when she sings and flowers fall grief in showers our beauties are not ours o i could still like melting snow upon some hill drop drop drop drop since nature s pride is now a withered song from v or acted act i sc come my let us prove while we can the sports of love time will not be ours for ever he at length our good will spend not then his gifts in vain that set may rise again but if once we lose this light tis with us perpetual night why should we our joys fame and rumour are but toys cannot we the eyes of a few poor household or his easier ears thus removed by our i compare v the allusion not taken from in the concluding lines is to a famous law ben tis no sin 