Ben  .Jonson  lived  until  1G37,  and  one  of  the  most
interestmg  of  the  yoiiug  men  of  genius  who  gathered
about  him,  and  whom  he  distinguislied  as  his  "sons,"
was  William  Cai-twright,  the  son  of  a  wasteful
Gloucestershire  gentleman,  who  was  reduced  to  iiin-
keepmg  at  Cii'encester.  Cartwright  had  a  lilieral
education,  went  to  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  became  a
famous  Oxford  preacher  as  well  as  lecturer  on  meta-
physics, yet  -^i-ote  13'ric  poems  aiul  four  plays,  while
studying  sixteen  houi-s  a  day.  He  worked  also  for
the  king's  cause  in  the  Civil  Wai-  time,  and  died  in
164.3  of  camp  fever,  when  he  was  hut  thirty-two
years  old.     "  My  son  Cartwright  writes  all  like  a


William  Cartwright.
From  the  Fovtrait  a^xcd.  to  his  "  Poems,"

man,"  said  Ben  Jonson.  Rows  of  books  are  placed
over  the  studious  young  face,  and  other  reminders
of  his  scholarly  life  are  associated  with  the  portrait
of  WUliani  Cai-twriglit  prefixed  to  the  collection  of
his  poems  made  after  his  death.  These  are  three
poems  of  his  : —


■WTiiles  I  this  standing  lake,
Swath'd  up  with  yew  and  cypress  boughs,
Do  move  by  sighs  and  vows.
Let  .sadness  only  wake  ;


294


CASSELL'S   LIBRARY   OF   ENGLISH    LITERATURE.
[a.d.  1625


That  wliilos  thick  darkness  blots  the  light,
My  thoughts  may  cast  another  night ;
In  which  douhle  shade,
By  Hcav'n,  and  me  made,
O  let  me  weep,

And  fall  asleep,  10

And  forgotten  fade.
Hark  !  from  yond'  hoUow  tree,
Sadly  sing  two  anchoret  owls,

Whiles  the  hermit  wolf  howls.
And  all  bewailing  me  ;
The  raven  hovers  o'er  my  bier,
The  bittern  on  a  reed  I  hear

Pipes  my  eleg)-,

And  warns  me  to  die  ;

Whilst  from  yond'  graves  20

5Iy  wrong' d  love  craves

My  sad  company.
