CHARLES COTTON. clxix 



Cotton* and several other persons wrote Elegies to Lovelace's 

 memory, which were printed at the end of his " Lucasta and 

 Posthume Poems" in 1659. 



The most material facts which Cotton's own poems establish 

 are, that he was a zealous Royalist, and an uncompromising enemy 

 of Cromwell. He omitted no opportunity of expressing his 

 sentiments;^ and a decisive proof of his political opinions is 

 exhibited in his verses on the execution of James Earl of Derby, 

 in 1651,^ and in his severe castigation of Waller for writing a 

 panegyric on the Protector about the year 1654 : — 



*' TO POET E. W. OCCASIONED FOR HIS WRITING A PANEGYRIC 

 ON OLIVER CROMWELL. 



From whence, vile Poet, didst thou glean the wit. 



And words for such a vitious poem fit? 



Where couldst thou paper find was not too white, 



Or ink that could be black enough to write ? 



What servile devil tempted thee to be 



A flatterer of thine own slavery? 



To kiss thy bondage and extol the deed, 



At once that made thy prince, and country bleed f 



I wonder much thy false heart did not dread, 



And shame to write what all men blush to read ; 



Thus with a base ^ngratitude to rear 



Tjophies unto thy master's murtherer? 



Who call'd the coward ( — ) much mistook 

 The characters of thy pedantic look ; 



* See Cotton's Poems, p. 481. 



5 For example, in his Voyage to Ireland : — 



" We enter'd the port, 

 Where another King's head invited me dnwn, 

 For indeed I have ever been true to the Crown." — P. 198. 



In his Contentation, he says : " The man is happy 



Who free from debt, and clear from crimes, 



Honours those laws that others fear, 

 Who ill of princes in worst times, 



Will neither speak himself, nor hear." — P. 25S. 



In his Ode to Melancholy : — 



" An infamous Usurper's come, 

 Whose name is sounding in mine ear 

 Like that, methinks, oi Oliver. ^^ 



"And yet, methinks, it cannot be 

 • That he 

 - Should be crept into me. 

 My skin could ne'er contain sure so much evil, 

 Nor any place but hell can hold so great a Devil." — Pp. 264, 265. 



The Chorus to one of his Bacchanalian songs is : — 



" Then let us revel, quaff, and sing, 

 Health and his sceptre to the King." — P. 448. 



See also his Epode to Alexander Brome on the King's return, p. 511, and several other 

 instances throughout his Poems. 



6 Cotton's Poems, p. 411. 



