a book in
that kind, full of worth and wit, but among religious thoughts and
duties not worthy to be named: nor to be read at any time without good
caution, much less in time of trouble and affliction to be a
Christian's prayerbook." This prayer is in itself so beautiful, coming
from the lips of Pamela, and the greater part of it suits so perfectly
the unhappy circumstances of King Charles, that at the risk of unduly
multiplying our extracts from the "Arcadia," it will be inserted
here:--

And therewith kneeling downe, euen where shee stood, she thus said:
O All-seeing Light, and eternall Life of all things, to whom
nothing is either so great, that it may resist; or so small, that
it is condemned: looke vpon my misery with thine eye of mercie, and
let thine infinite power vouchsafe to limite out some proportion of
deliuerance vnto me, as to thee shall seeme most conuenient. Let
not injurie, O Lord, triumph ouer me, and let my faults by thy hand
bee corrected, and make not mine vnjust enemy the minister of thy
justice. But yet, my God, if in thy wisdome this be the aptest
chastisement for my vnexcusable folly: if this low bondage be
fittest to my ouerhigh desires: if the pride of my not inough
humble heart be thus to be broken, O Lord I yeeld vnto thy will,
and joyfully embrace what sorrow thou will haue mee suffer. Onely
thus much let me craue of thee, (let my crauing, O Lord, be
accepted of thee, since euen that proceeds from thee,) let me
craue, euen by the noblest title, which in my greatest affliction I
may give myself, that I am thy creature, and by thy goodness (which
is thyselfe) that thou wilt suffer some beame of thy Majestie so to
shine into my minde, that it may still depend confidently on thee.
Let calamitie be the exercise, but not the ouerthrow or my vertue;
let their power preuaile, but preuaile not to destruction; let my
greatnesse be their pray; let my paine bee the sweetnesse of there
reuenge: let them, (if so it seeme good vnto thee) vexe me with
more and more punishment. But, O Lord, let neuer their wickednesse
haue such a hand, but that I may cary a pure minde in a pure body.
(And pausing a while.) And O most gracious Lord, (said she) what
euer become of me, preserve the vertuous Musidorus.[76]

The "Arcadia" combines the elements of both the chivalric and the
pastoral romance. Sidney's fam