prefixed by Jonson to "The Touchstone of Truth," by J. Warre, published 1630:
"Truth is the trial of itself,
And needs no other touch,
And purer than the purest gold
Refine it ne'er so much.
"It is the life and light of love,
The sun that ever shineth,
And spirit of that special grace,
That faith and love defineth.
"It is the warrant of the word,
That yields a scent so sweet,
As gives a power to faith to tread
All falsehood under feet."
The following elegy, though some verses stand in weak contrast to others, which are beautiful, seems too much like the model of "In Memoriam" not to be quoted entire. Mr. Tennyson, the music of whose poetry is almost faultless, has improved on the metre and rhythm of the elder Laureate, but the similitude of some of the verses is very striking:
AN ELEGY.
Though beauty be the mark of praise,
And yours of whom I sing be such
As not the world can praise too much,
Yet 'tis your virtue now I raise.
A virtue like alloy, so gone
Throughout your form; as though that move
And draw and conquer all men's love,
This subjects you to love of one,
Wherein you triumph yet, because
'Tis of yourself, and that you use
The noblest freedom, not to choose
Against, or faith or honour's laws.
But who could less expect from you,
In whom alone love lives again,
By whom he is restored to men,
And kept, and bred, and brought up true?
