Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. I. Early Poetry: Chaucer to Donne

George Chapman (1559?–1634)

The Spirit of Homer (from The Tears of Peace)

‘I AM,’ said he, ‘that spirit Elysian,

That in thy native air, and on the hill

Next Hitchin’s left hand, did thy bosom fill

With such a flood of soul, that thou wert fain,

With exclamations of her rapture then,

To vent it to the echoes of the vale;

When, meditating of me, a sweet gale

Brought me upon thee; and thou didst inherit

My true sense, for the time then, in my spirit;

And I, invisibly, went prompting thee

To those fair greens where thou didst English me.’

Scarce he had utter’d this, when well I knew

It was my Prince’s Homer; whose dear view

Renew’d my grateful memory of the grace

His Highness did me for him; which in face

Methought the Spirit show’d, was his delight,

And added glory to his heavenly plight:

Who told me, he brought stay to all my state;

That he was Angel to me, Star, and Fate;

Advancing colours of good hope to me;

And told me my retired age should see

Heaven’s blessing in a free and harmless life,

Conduct me, thro’ earth’s peace-pretending strife,

To that true Peace, whose search I still intend,

And to the calm shore of a loved end.