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tell flesh it is but dust:
And wish them not reply,
for thou must giue the lie.

Tell age it daily wasteth;

tell honour how it alters;
Tell beauty how she blasteth;
tell fauour how it falters:

And as they shall reply,
giue euery one the lye.

Tell wit how much it wrangles

in tickle points of nicenesse; Tell wisedome she entangles

her selfe in ouer wisenesse : And when they do reply, straight giue them both the lie.

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Tell Phisicke of her boldnesse ;
tell skill it is pre[t]ension;
Tell Charity of coldnesse;

tell law it is contention :
And as they doe reply,

so giue them still the lye.

Tell fortune of her blindnesse;
tell nature of decay;

Tell friendship of vnkindnesse;

tell Iustice of delay:

And if they will reply,

then giue them all the lie.

Tell Arts they haue no soundnesse,
but vary by esteeming ;

Tell schooles they want profoundnesse,

and stand [too] much on seeming :

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If Arts and Schooles reply,

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giue arts and schooles the lye.

Tell Faith its fled the Citie;

tell how the countrey erreth; Tell manhood shakes off* pittie; tell vertue least preferre[th]: And if they doe reply,

spare not to giue the lye.

* In a case like this, where the old spelling,' of'—, though very common,

might mislead the reader, it seems improper to retain it.

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So, when thou hast, as I

commanded thee, done blabbing, [Although] to giue the lye

deserues no lesse than stabbing,Stab at thee he that will,

no stab th[e] soule can kill.

[VARIATIONS.-2. Though Birch printed 'Arrant' (as in Dav. and B, and in D E 'errant') it is modernized in A C to 'errand' (so also F G) which Sir H. Nicolas properly rejects. The rhyme is not uncommon.*-3. 'to teach'-F.-5. 'Goe thou, since I must dye'-G.-' since thou must needs'-F.-6. ‘And give them all the lie'-A D. 'And tell them all they lie'-E F.-7. 'Go, tell the Court'-A B C G.-8. 'painted wood'-A.-9. 'Go, tell the Church'-A B C.-10. but does no good'-A. (so, nearly, D F G.)—11. ‘If Court and Church reply'—A F. (so D, except or church')-12. 'Give Court and Church the lie'-A.13. 'Tell Protestants'-F. (so also in lines 17, 18,-a very curious corruption.)-14. but Oh! their actions'-A. 'but others' actions'-E F. It is 'actions' also in B C D. In Dav. and G. 'action.'-16. 'but by their factions'-A B C E F. In Dav. 'but by affection'—and in D, 'but by affections'-. I retain the reading of G, as being nearest to that of Davison.-20. 'That rule affairs of state'—A B C E F. That in affairs of state’— D G.-23. 'do reply'-A.-25. 'Tell those'-A E F G.-27. 'And in'-F G.-28. So A B C E F. In Dav. and D, 'Like nothing''Seeke but a selfe-commending'-G.-30. 'Spare not to give'-A B.-31. 'it lacks devotion'-A B C.-33. So A B C F. In Dav. and E, 'it meets but motion'-. 'it's but a motion' -D.-39. 'that it blasteth'-A. 'Tell truth how that she blasteth' -D.-40. 'that she falters'-AD F. 'how she falters'-B C.

*For example, in George Wither's Speculum Speculativum, 1660, p. 4. "For doubtless I may boldly do mine Errant

To Kings and Nations, when I have thy warrant.'

See also Richardson's Dict. s. v. Arrand, where the passage in the text is cited, as from" Sir W. Raleigh. The Lye."

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41. 'do reply'-A F.-42. Give each of them'-B.-44. 'In fickle points'-A. In tricks and points'-F.-46. 'Herself by much preciseness'-D.-47. 'And if'—A B.-48. 'Then give’— A. Then straight give'-E. 'So give them all'-F.-50. So A B C. In Dav. and D E, 'prevention'-. In F, ‘perversion'— corrected in MS. in Fulman's copy.-53. 'And if they yield reply'—A. ('if' also in F. 'yield' also in B.)—54. Then give' -A D.-59. 'if they do'-A E F. 'if they dare'-B.-62. ' by estraining'-E.-63. 'Tell Scholars lack'-Birch; but 'Tell Schools they lack'-A E.-64. Mispr. in Dav. 'so much'-. In the Lee Priory ed. of Davison, it is 'too much'-and 'so' is marked as a variation in the 3rd and 4th eds.-70. Mispr. in Dav. 'preferred'-. 75. So A B C D. In Dav. and E, 'Because' 77. Yet stab at thee who will'-A B C. who that will' -D and Nicolas.-78. So A B C. 'thy soul'-Dav. and D. 'the soul may'-E.-In E, stanzas 7 and 8 are transposed; one stanza is interpolated after line 36, and a second at the end.In F, stanzas 5 and 6 are transposed, and the last three stanzas are omitted.-In G, no stanza consists of more than four lines but the first; one is interpolated after the fourth; the sixth is altered; and the remaining seven are altogether omitted, their place being supplied by thirteen quatrains of most wretched doggrel.-Some of the corrections are made in ed. Nicolas, which differs from both the 4th and the L. P. eds. of Davison in one or two other small particulars.]

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["THIS is an extraordinary poem; a mixture of sublime ideas and sentiments, with quaint and degrading images. It is said to have been written in the short interval between his sentence and execution."-BRYDGES.* In another note, Brydges says;-" This poem is too full of far-fetched conceits to suffer us to believe that it was really written the night before Raleigh's execution. It might have been composed in the contemplation of death in one of the many years between his sentence and execution, during that sad period of cruel and unexampled imprisonment. It contains a mixture of bold and sublime passages, such as the aspiring and indignant soul of Raleigh was likely to utter. The first stanza, in which the imagery drawn from a pilgrim is vividly depicted, fills the mind with a wild interest.”—Mr. Tytler (p. 264, ed. 1840,) supposes, with far more probability, that

* Cf. Oldys, 424, 556. Cayley, ii. 165. D'Israeli, Cur. Lit. 420, ed. 1839. A copy in MS. Ashm. 38, No. 70, is entitled, " Verses made by Sr Walter Raleigh the night before hee was beheaded."

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