This is excellent of its kind, and among all Herrera's imitators none comes so near to him as Góngora in lyrical melody, in fine workmanship, in a certain clear distinction of utterance. Yet already there are hints of qualities destined to bear down their owner. Not content with simple patriotism, with denunciation of schism and infidelity, Góngora foreshadows his future self as a very master of gibes and sneers. The note of altisonance, already emphatic in Herrera, is still more forced in the young Córdoban poet, who adds a taste for far-fetched conceits and extravagant metaphor, assuredly not learned in the Sevillan school. Rejecting experiments in the stately ode, he for many years continued his practice in another province of verse, and by rigorous discipline he learned to excel in virtue of his fine simplicity, his graceful imagery, and his urbane wit. It should seem that intellectual self-denial cost him little, for his transformations are among the most complete in literary history. Consider, for instance, the interval between the emphatic dignity of his Armada ode and the charming fancy, the distinguished cynicism of _Love in Reason_, as Archdeacon Churton gives it:— "_I love thee, but let love be free: I do not ask, I would not learn, What scores of rival hearts for thee Are breaking or in anguish burn._ _You die to tell, but leave untold, The story of your Red-Cross Knight, Who proffer'd mountain-heaps of gold If he for you might ride and fight;_ _Or how the jolly soldier gay Would wear your colours, all and some; But you disdain'd their trumpet's bray, And would not hear their tuck of drum._ _We love; but 'tis the simplest case: The faith on which our hands have met Is fix'd, as wax on deeds of grace, To hold as grace, but not as debt._ _For well I wot that nowadays Love's conquering bow is soonest bent By him whose valiant hand displays The largest roll of yearly rent...._ _So let us follow in the fashion, Let love be gentle, mild, and cool: For these are not the days of passion, But calculation's sober rule._ _Your grace will cheer me like the sun; But I can live content in shades. Take me: you'll find when all is done, Plain truth, and fewer serenades._"