Songs of Mourning: Bewailing the untimely death of Prince Henry. Worded by Tho. Campion. And set forth to be sung with one voyce to the Lute, or Viol: By John Coprario. London: Printed for John Browne, and are to be sould in S. dunstons Churchyard. 1613. fol.

Prince Henry died 6 November, 1612, at the age of eighteen. His death was a national calamity, for he was a youth of high character and brilliant ability. By his patronage of letters he had endeared himself to the poets; and many were the elegies dedicated to his memory. Drayton, Chapman, Webster, Donne, Drummond and others passionately bewailed his loss. Campion's tribute was worthy of the occasion.

John Coprario, or Coperario, was an English composer. His real name was John Cooper; but he adopted the more sonorous name during his residence in Italy. There is an excellent account of him, by Mr. Barclay Squire, in the "Dictionary of National Biography."

ILLUSTRISSIMO POTENTISSIMOQUE

PRINCIPI, FREDRICO QUINTO, RHENI COMITI PALATINO, DUCI

BAVARIAE, ETC.

COGIMUR; invitis (Clarissime) parce querelis1

Te salvo; laetis non sinit esse Deus:
Nec speratus Hymen procedit lumine claro;
Principis extincti nubila fata vetant.
Illius inferias maesto jam Musica cantu
Prosequitur, miseros hæc Dea sola juvat.
Illa suos tibi summittit (Dux inclite) quaestus,
Fraternus fleto quem sociavit amor:

Sed nova gaudia, sed tam dulcia foedera rupit
Fati infelicis livor, et hora nocens.

Quod superest, nimios nobis omni arte dolores
Est mollire animus, spes meliora dabit:
Cunctatosque olim cantabimus ipsi Hymenaeos,
Laeta simul fas sit reddere vota Deo.

1 Old ed. "quærelis."

2 Campion fulfilled his promise by writing a Masque (see p. 191) in celebration of the Marriage of the Count Palatine with the Princess Elizabeth.

AN ELEGY UPON THE UNTIMELY

DEATH OF PRINCE HENRY.

READ, you that have some tears left yet unspent,

Now weep yourselves heart-sick, and ne'er repent:

For I will open to your free access

The sanctuary of all heaviness,

Where men their fill may mourn, and never sin :
And I their humble Priest thus first begin.

Fly from the skies, ye blessed beams of light!
Rise up in horrid vapours, ugly night,
And fettered bring that ravenous monster Fate,
The felon and the traitor to our state !
Law-eloquence we need not to convince
His guilt; all know it, 'tis he stole our Prince,
The Prince of men, the Prince of all that bore
Ever that princely name : O now no more
Shall his perfections, like the sunbeams, dare1
The purblind world! in heav'n those glories are.
What could the greatest artist, Nature, add
T'increase his graces? divine form he had,
Striving in all his parts which should surpass;
And like a well-tuned chime his carriage was,
Full of celestial witchcraft, winning all
To admiration and love personal.
His lance appeared to the beholders' eyes,
When his fair hand advanced it to the skies,
Larger than truth, for well could he it wield,
And make it promise honour in the field.

1 I suppose

dare" has the meaning

"

amaze, stupefy." There was a way of catching larks by daring them with a mirror.

When Court and Music called him, off fell arms,
And as he had been shaped for love's alarms,
In harmony he spake, and trod the ground
In more proportion than the measured sound.
How fit for peace was he, and rosy beds!
How fit to stand in troops of iron heads,

When time had with his circles made complete
His charmed rounds! All things in time grow great.
This fear, even like a comet that hangs high,
And shoots his threat'ning flashes through the sky,
Held all the eyes of Christendom intent

Upon his youthful hopes, casting th' event
Of what was in his power, not in his will:

For that was close concealed, and must lie still,
As deeply hid as that design which late
With the French Lion died. O earthly state,
How doth thy greatness in a moment fall,
And feasts in highest pomp turn funeral !

But our young Henry armed with all the arts
That suit with Empire, and the gain of hearts,
Bearing before him fortune, power, and love,
Appeared first in perfection, fit to move
Fixt admiration; though his years were green
Their fruit was yet mature: his care had been
Surveying India, and implanting there

The knowledge of that God which he did fear :
And ev'n now, though he breathless lies, his sails
Are struggling with the winds, for our avails
T'explore a passage1 hid from human tract,

1 On 26 July, 1612, King, James appointed Prince Henry supreme protector" of the expedition (fitted out by the Muscovy Company and East India Company) for the discovery of the North-West Passage (Cal. State Papers, Colon., 1513-1616, 616).