This page has been validated.
78
COWLEY.
The allusions, however, are not always to vulgar things: he offends by exaggeration as much as by diminution:
The king was plac'd alone, and o'er his head
A well-wrought heaven of silk and gold was spread.
A well-wrought heaven of silk and gold was spread.
Whatever he writes is always polluted with some conceit:
Where the sun's fruitful beams give metals birth,
Where he the growth of fatal gold does see,
Gold, which alone more influence has than he.
Where he the growth of fatal gold does see,
Gold, which alone more influence has than he.
In one passage he starts a sudden question, to the confusion of philosophy:
Ye learned heads, whom ivy garlands grace,
Why does that twining plant the oak embrace;
The oak for courtship most of all unfit,
And rough as are the winds that fight with it?
Why does that twining plant the oak embrace;
The oak for courtship most of all unfit,
And rough as are the winds that fight with it?
His expressions have sometimes a degree of meanness that surpasses expectation:
Nay, gentle guests, he cries, since now you're in,
The story of your gallant friend begin.
The story of your gallant friend begin.
In a simile descriptive of the morning:
As glimmering stars just at th' approach of day,
Cashier'd by troops, at last drop all away.
Cashier'd by troops, at last drop all away.
The
