Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1852-02-04
He cried out to made his under song -
All, my loves queen, and goddess of my

Who shall me pity when thou dost me wrong?''
We are not informed Of the reason Of his
disgrace but it could have been ouly Of
short duration, as we soon afterwards find
both him and Spenser a, Court, and received
will, due distinction pro5sbly j, is to this
temporary Punishment from Court that the
following stanzas refer. They are not with
out elegance their humble tone, bordering
on serviity, nigh. perhaps offend our mod
ern ears, if we did not recollect that it was
the fashion of the day to approach Elizabeth,
not merely with the homage due from the
subjec. to the sovereign, but also with the
gallant devotion exac,ed from the true knight
by his lady -
"The frozen snake, oppressed with heaped snow,
BY struggling hard gets out her tender head,
And spies far off from where she lies below
The winter sun that from the north is fled.
But all in vain she looks upon the light,
When heat is wanting to restore her might.
What doth it help wretch in prison pent
Long time with biting hunger overpressed,
To see without, or smell within, the scent
Of dainty fare for others tables dressed?
Yet snake and prisoner both behold the thing
The which, but not with sight, might comfort
bring.
Such is my task, or worse, if worse may be-
My heart oppressed with heavy frost of care,
Debarred Of that which is most dear to me,
Killed up with cold, and pined with evil fare.
And yet see the thing might yield relief,
And yet the sight doth cause my greater grief
So Thisbe saw her lover through the wall,
And saw thereby she wanted what she saw;
And SO see, and, seeing, want withal,
And wanting so unto my death doth draw.
And so my death were twenty times my friend,
If with this verse my hated life might end.''
Raleigh's muse seemed to have expired
with Elizabeth. Poetry was no longer the
fashion of the Court, and the dark clouds
which now rested on his fortunes, and which
were destined to be dispersed only by his
death, al,hough III they did not repress his
love Of historical and philosophical research,
must have had the effect Of quenching tha,
fine fancy which once teemed with forms of
beauty. The following lines, written the
night before his execution, are the sole relic
TO which we can assign date subsequent
to the death of Elizabeth This brief sum-
ming up of long experience, simple and
devout as became the occasion, possesses a
peculiar interest from the circumstance un-
der which j. was written -
"Even such is time, that takes on trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days.
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
The Lord shall raise me up, trust!''
Such were the last notes Of the last as we'll
as the greatest Of the bevy Of cour,ier-poe,s
who had embellished the reign of Elizabeth
Although infected by the characteristic affec-
,a'ion Of the age, and trammelledb by the rules
which fashion had imposed upon poetry, it
was impossible not TO recognise in Raleigh
the stuff of which poets have been made
With keen eye for the beauty Of eternal
nature, and strong bent for philosophical
| speculation, he combined remarkable purity
Of diction and considerable ingenuity in that
complex and highly artificial versi6ca,on
upon which the fashion Of the times set the
highest value. He has contrived even to
lend in,eres, 10 the eclogue. The shepherds
and shepherdesses are not knights and la
dies of high degree in masquing attire they
bear the verilabIe stamp Of Arcadia. and
prstlle with naivete which is really charm
ing. 1t is matter of infinite regret ,ha. a
restless spirit, constantly goading him on to
visionary schemes Of impossible execution,
should have hindered him from accomplish
ing some great work which would have re-
fecled honor upon his age, and have entitled
him 10 niche side by side with Spenser.
That he was capable Of great work, that CO.
Iossal fragment, the ''His.ory Of the World,''
ates.s. Had he devoted his energies to a
grea. literary task earlier in life, when his
fancy was still buoyanl, and his mind un-
clouded by care, there can be lille doub,
that he would have selected poem as the
monument Of his genius. 1t would have
been ere perennius.