: r ; ."-.-s : .. ■■■':•■■. ' ■Mi ill LIBRARY^CONGRESS. DNITED STATES OF AJH* ICA Sara H TENDER AND TRUE. pozm$ of Lofce SELECTED BY THE EDITOR OF "QUIET HOURS," "SUNSHINE IN THE SOUL," ETC. >xm \ _3 ,^ ^. BOSTON: GEORGE II. ELLIS, 141 FRANKLIN STREET. 1882. Copyright, iSSi, By George H. Ellis. preface* This little volume is intended to contain love- poems of a pure and elevated character, and those alone. Poems of jealousy, remorse, and hopeless longing and regret are omitted, and this rule ex- cludes a very large number of well-known and sometimes very fine poems. I have not left out such as treat of the sorrow of absence and similar trials ; but I have wished to make the book, as a whole, inspire cheerfulness and hope, and not sad- ness. It contains sonnets of Shakespeare and Mrs. Browning, songs of Lovelace and Burns, and poetry by Tennyson, Coventry Patmore, and many other less-known singers. Some specimens are given of the ingenious and melodious versification of the younger English poets, such as Payne and Munby. It gives me pleasure to express my thanks to the authors who have kindly permitted me to make use of their poems for this purpose. I would especially iv Preface. mention the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, for the liberal selections he has allowed me to make from " Exotics," a volume of translations from the French and German ; and Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, to whom I am indebted for several sonnets, etc., from "The New Day." I have also to thank Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Messrs. Roberts Brothers, and Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, for giving me leave to take copyrighted poems. M. W. T. November, 1881. ^nbtx of SUutfjorg. PAGE All the Year Round. Comfort 116 Mignonette 129 Wisteria 158 Rest 165 Angelo, Michael (1474-1563). Yes ! hope may with my strong desire keep pace . 5 If it be true that any beauteous thing 23 The might of one fair face sublimes my love ... 24 Anonymous. Pure and True and Tender 13 Annie Laurie 26 O, I'm Wat, Wat * 67 Summer Days 95 A Cycle 99 When I think on the happy Days 101 Minnelied. Winter Sunshine 131 I cannot help loving thee 133 Love took me softly by the hand 134 The Sailor's Wife 156 Arnold, Edwin. A ma Future 12 Barton, Bernard (1784- 1849). Not ours the Vows 113 vi Index of Authors. Bourdillon, Francis W., b. 1852. Before the Daybreak 19 Light 136 Bronte, Charlotte (Mrs. Nicholls) (1816-1855). Song, from u Jane Eyre " 54 Browning, Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett (1809-1861). A Valediction 82 Sonnets from the Portuguese : Go from me — Yet I feel that I shall stand . . 123 If thou must love me, let it be for nought . . . 123 Beloved, my beloved, when I think 124 Is it indeed so ? If I lay here dead 124 Thoucomest! all is said without a word . . . 125 If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange . . . 125 Because thou hast the power and own'st the grace 1 26 How do I love thee ? Let me count the ways . 127 Browning, Robert, b. 1S12. My Star 43 Love in a Life 51 Life in a Love 52 One Word More 168 Burns, Robert (17 59-1796). The Bonnie Wee Thing 53 Mary Morison 60 Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes 68 My ain kind dearie, O ! 73 Bonnie Lesley ^ A red, red Rose 9S I love my Jean 128 Oh, wert thou in the cauld Blast 132 Mv wife's a winsome wee thing 155 The Blissful Day 166 John Anderson, My Jo 167 Index of Authors. vn Byron, George Gordon (Lord) (1788-1824). She walks in Beauty like the Night 28 Carew, Thomas (1589-1639). To Celia 3 Chambers' Journal. Love 151 Clarke, James Freeman, b. 1810. When shall we meet again 84 Clough, Arthur Hugh (1819-1861). From " The Bothie of Tober-Na-Vuolich " . . . . 6 Song in Absence 90 Cooper, Gilbert. Winifreda 141 Crashaw, Richard (1615 ?— 1652). Wishes for the supposed Mistress 9 Cunningham, Allan (1784-1842). Thou hast sworn by thy God, my Jeanie 136 Dobson, Austin, b. 1840. A Song of the Four Seasons 63 Eliot, George (Marian Evans Cross), 1880. Two Lovers 162 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, b. 1803. Eros 155 Geibel, Emanuel, b. 181 5. Lass Andre nur im Reigen ^ Voglein, wohin so schnell 85 Gilder, Richard Watson, b. 1844. The Mirror 34 My Songs are all of thee 34 Sonnet (After the Italian) 54 Song 62 I will be Brave for thee 11 After-Song [74 viii Index of Authors. Good Words. The Evening Time 75 Graham, Robert, of Gartmore (17 50-1 797). If doughty Deeds my Lady please 102 Heine, Heinrich (1800-1856). Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne .... 44 Ueber die Berge 98 Herrick, Robert (1 591-1674?). The Night-Piece. To Julia 18 H. H. Love's Fulfilling 150 Hood, Thomas (1798-1845). Ruth 72 Jonson, Ben (1574-1637). Triumph of Charis 4 Kemble, Mrs. Frances Anne, b. 181 1. Absence 87 Kingsley, Charles (1819-1875). Twin Stars aloft ... 138 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, b. 1807. Endymion 153 From "The Hanging of the Crane 161 Lovelace, Richard (1618-1658). To Althea, from Prison 102 To Lucasta 106 To Lucasta. On going to the Wars 107 Lowell, James Russell, b. 18 19. Love 1 My Love 29 Lytton, Sir EDWARD Bulwer (1805-1S73). When Stars are in the Quiet Skies 42 MacDonald, George. O Lassie ayont the Hill 65 Index of Authors. IX Milnes, Richard Monckton (Lord Houghton), b. 1809. The Brook-Side 74 Montrose, James Grahame, Marquis of (161 2-1650). My dear and only Love 104 Munby, Arthur, b. 1837. Doris : A Pastoral 70 Pailleron, Edouard. C Etait en Avril, le Dimanche 94 Patmore, Coventry, b. 1823. From the Angel in the House : The Lover 20 The Friends 39 To Heroism and Holiness 48 Then to my Room 49 She was all Mildness 50 Love in Tears 118 He safely Walks 119 Frost in Harvest 148 Love Ceremonious 149 Payne, John, Rondeau Redouble 59 Villanelle 81 Petrarch, Francesco (1 302-1 374). Doth any maiden seek • 25 Procter, Adelaide Anne (1825-1864). A Chain in For the Future 114 Because 121 Rossetti, Christina G. A Bird-Song 101 Sonnets : I wish I could remember that first day ....119 x Index of Authors. If I could trust mine own self with thy fate . . 120 If there be any one can take my place . . . . 121 Ruckert, Friedrich, b. 1789. Warum willst du Andre fragen 31 Griiss' aus der Feme 92 Wer Wenig sucht, der findet Viel 127 Scott, Lady John, b. 1816 When thou art near me 89 Scott, Sir Walter (1 771-1832). A Serenade 17 Shakespeare, William (1 564-1 61 6). Love alters not 2 Shall I compare thee 35 From " The Winter's Tale " 38 From " King John " 47 My glass shall not persuade me 62 When in disgrace with fortune 64 When to the sessions of sweet silent thought ... 78 My love is strengthened 132 From " The Merchant of Venice" 139 Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822). Lines to an Indian air 58 The Invitation 79 Sidney, Sir Philip (1 554-1 586). A Ditty 63 Spectator, London. Millais's "Huguenots" 107 Spenser, Edmund (i 553-1 599). Sonnets : More than most fair 36 The glorious portrait 36 Mark when she smiles 37 Index of Authors. xi Men call you fair . 37 Epithalamion 143 Sylvester, Joshua (i 563-1618). Love's Omnipresence 135 Taylor, James Bayard, 1825. Bedouin Love-Song 57 Tennyson, Alfred, b. 18 10. From " Idyls of the King " 8 A Voice by the Cedar Tree 14 Ask me no more 32 In Love, if Love be Love 40 From " The Princess " 44 The Day-Dream, The Departure yy Bugle Song 138 Move Eastward, happy Earth 140 From " The Miller's Daughter " 164 Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811-1863). At the Church Gate 15 Waller, Edmund (1605-1687). On a Girdle 19 Williams, Sarah, d. 1S68. Only Faithful 41 Wordsworth, William (1770-1850). She was a Phantom of Delight 27 Let other Bards of Angels sing 40 CettDer anti Crue* LOVE. / T^RUE Love is but a humble, low-born thing, A And hath its food served up in earthen ware ; It is a thing to walk with, hand in hand, Through the every-dayness of this work-day world, Baring its tender feet to every roughness, Yet letting not one heart-beat go astray From Beauty's law of plainness and content ; A simple, fire-side thing, whose quiet smile Can warm earth's poorest hovel to a home ; Which, when our autumn cometh, as it must, And life in the chill wind shivers bare and leafless. Shall still be blest with Indian-summer youth In bleak November, and, with thankful heart, Smile on its ample stores of garnered fruit, As full of sunshine to our aged eyes As when it nursed the blossoms of our spring. Such is true Love, which steals into the heart With feet as silent as the lightsome dawn That kisses smooth the rough brows of the dark. 2 Te?ider and True. And hath its will through blissful gentleness, — Not like a rocket, which, with savage glare, Whirs suddenly up, then bursts, and leaves the night Painfully quivering on the dazed eyes ; A Love that gives and takes, that seeth faults, Not with flaw-seeking eyes like needle-points, But, loving kindly, ever looks them down With the o'ercoming faith of meek forgiveness ; A Love that shall be new and fresh each hour As is the golden mystery of sunset, Or the sweet coming of the evening star, Alike, and yet most unlike, every day, And seeming ever best and fairest now. James Russell Lowell. LOVE ALTERS NOT. ET me not to the marriage of true minds ^ Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove : — O no ! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests, and is never shaken ; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken, To Celia. 3 Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come ; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom : — If this be error, and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. Willia?n Shakespeare. TO CELIA. T T E that loves a rosy cheek, A A Or a coral lip admires, Or from star-like eyes doth seek Fuel to maintain his fires, — As old Time makes these decay, So his flames must waste away. But a smooth and steadfast mind, Gentle thoughts, and calm desires. Hearts with equal love combined, Kindle never-dying fires : Where these are not, I despise Lovely cheeks, or lips, or eyes. Thomas c arew. 4 Tender and True. TRIUMPH OF CHARIS. CEE the chariot at hand here of Love ^ Wherein my lady rideth ! Each that draws is a swan, or a dove, And well the car Love guideth. As she goes, all hearts do duty Unto her beauty, And, enamoured, do wish, so they might But enjoy such a sight, That they still were to run by her side Through swords, through seas, whither she would ride, Do but look on her eyes ! they do light All that Love's world compriseth ; Do but look on her hair ! it is bright As Love's star when it riseth ! Do but mark ! her forehead's smoother Than words that soothe her ! And from her arched brows such a grace Sheds itself through the face As alone there triumphs to the life All the gain, all the good, of the elements' strife. Have you seen but a bright lily grow, Before rude hands have touched it ? Have you marked but the fall of the snow, Before the soil hath smutched it ? Sonnet. 5 Have you felt the wool of the beaver ? Or swan's down ever ? Or have smelt o' the bud of the brier ? Or the nard i' the fire ? Or have tasted the bag of the bee ? Oh, so white ! Oh, so soft ! Oh, so sweet, is she ! Ben Jons