LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 339 



" Fly, Joy, on wings of popinjays 

 To courts of fools ; there, iis your plays, 

 Die," &c. 



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

 that were to die. 



" As he Lucasta nam'd. a jji'oan 

 Strangles the fainting passing tonei 

 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 j^osse comitatus taken at ran- 

 dom : — 



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

 meaning. See Halliw^ell's dictionary of Archaic Woixh, art. 

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

 requires to turn sharply or quickly." 



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

 out the meaning of jwsse 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 j^ulsare, 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 psendonyme 

 of Aviarcmtha. " Possess her round " is awkward, bnt 

 mildly so for Lovelace, who also spells " commandress " 

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

 in the report of those who absented themselves fi'om 

 Church in Stratford. 



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

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



