The Poems of Lord Fairfax. 245 



come from the pen of the general rather than from the tutor of 

 his daughter.^ 



To observe for one's self, to describe one's feelings, demands a 

 certain amount of originality, and this is precisely what Fairfax 

 lacked. The greater part of his religious verse was paraphrase, 

 and we naturally look for translation in his secular poems. Pages 

 602-10 of the manuscript are taken, he tells us, from the French, the 

 Italian, the Latin. With the exception of the Mazarinades, all these 

 translations are directed against Rome, showing his strong Puritan 

 sympathies. It is interesting to notice that when he translates 

 Petrarch he does not choose the sonnets to Laura, but The Char- 

 acter of the Romish Church} Petrarchism, brought in by Wyatt 

 and Surrey a century before, had spent its force, and the lyrics of 

 Philip Ay res, 1687, fill the last book that shows the old sway of 

 the founder of the modern lyric.^ As confirmation of Fairfax's lack 

 of skill in writing, it is noticeable that he is unable to reproduce 

 the sonnet form, and turns the quatorzains into poems of twelve 

 lines. 



Eight pages of translation, however, constitute but a small part 

 of his secular verse. As we read it, we are impressed by the con- 

 trasts it shows, contrasts that can not be explained by assuming 

 that certain poems are separated by long intervals of time. Lady 

 Carey had written to Fairfax a metrical epistle on the death of his 

 wife, and he felt called upon to answer it. Knowing his devotion 

 to Lady Fairfax, we expect him to rise above himself under the 

 inspiration of his grief, but his thought is so trivial, and so feebly 

 exi)ressed, that To the Lady Cary Upon her Verses on my deare 

 Wife is one of the poorest poems. A few lines will show this more 

 plainly than any comment : 



Madam 



Could I a Tribute of my thanks express 

 As you have done in love and purer verse, 

 On my best selfe then I might Justly raise 

 Your Elogy t' Encomiums of your Prayse 

 And soe forgett the Subject that did move 

 Me to a thankfulness as 't did you to love. 

 O "twere to great a Crime but pray allow 



* See Marvell's Iloratian Ode upon Cromwell's Kituiii from Jreland. 



* Sonnets, De V'an'o Argtcmento, Nos, M and J<j. 



"• Lyric Poems^ made in Imitation of the Jtulians^ London^ 1G87. 



