LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 339 



" Fly, Joy, on wings of popinjays 

 To courts of fools ; there, as your plays, 

 Die," &c. 



"Where as," as then used, would make it the "plays" 

 that were to die. 



" As he Lucasta nam'd, a groan 

 Strangles the fainting passing tone; 

 But as she heard, Lucasta smiles, 

 Posses her round; she's slipt meanwhiles 

 Behind the blind of a thick bush." (p. 68.) 



Mr. Hazlitt's note on " posses " could hardly be matched 

 by any member of the posse comitatus taken at ran 

 dom : 



'' This word does not appear to have any very exact 

 meaning. See Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words, art. 

 Posse, and Worcester's Diet, ibid., &c. The context here 

 requires to turn sharply or quickly." 



The "ibid., &c." is delightful; in other words, "find 

 out the meaning of posse for yourself." Though dark to 

 Mr. Hazlitt, the word has not the least obscurity in it. 

 It is only another form of push, nearer the French 

 pousser, from Latin pulsare, and " the context here re 

 quires " nothing more than that an editor should read a 

 poem if he wish to understand it. The plain meaning 



is, 



" But, as she heard Lucasta, smiles 

 Possess her round." 



That is, when she heard the name Lucasta, for thus 

 far in the poem she has passed under the pseudonyme 

 of Amarantha. " Possess her round " is awkward, but 

 mildly so for Lovelace, who also spells " commandress " 

 in the same way with a single s. Process is spelt grosses 

 in the report of those who absented themselves from 

 Church, in Stratford. 



" thon, that swing'st upon the waving eare, 

 Of some well-filled oaten beard." (p. 94.) 



