Ben Jonson


  U  N  D  E  R  W  O  O  D  S .

 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.


LXIX. — ON LORD BACON'S BIRTH-DAY.  

Hail, happy GENIUS of this ancient pile !
How comes it all things so about thee smile ?
The fire, the wine, the men !  and in the midst
Thou stand'st as if some mystery thou didst !
Pardon, I read it in thy face, the day
For whose returns, and many, all these pray ;
And so do I.  This is the sixtieth year,
Since BACON, and thy lord was born, and here ;
Son to the grave wise Keeper of the Seal,
Fame and foundation of the English weal.
What then his father was, that since is he,
Now with a title more to the degree ;
England's high Chancellor :  the destin'd heir,
In his soft cradle, to his father's chair :
Whose even thread the fates spin round and full,
Out of their choicest and their whitest wool.
   'Tis a brave cause of joy, let it be known,
For 'twere a narrow gladness, kept thine own.
Give me a deep-crown'd bowl, that I may sing
In raising him, the wisdom of my king.


 
Source:
Jonson, Ben.  The Works of Ben Jonson.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co., 1853. 834.
Backto Works of Ben Jonson

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