sound,

Her breath awak'd her father's sleeping ire? The heav'nly armies flam'd, Earth shook, Heav'n frown'd,

[ fire! And Heav'n's dread king call'd for his three-fork'd Hark! how the pow'rful words strike through the ear:

The frighten'd sense shoots up the staring hair, And shakes the trembling soul with fright and shudd'ring fear.

"So have I seen the earth, strong winds detaining In prison close; they scorning to be under Her dull subjection, and her pow'r disdaining, With horrid strugglings tear their bonds in [their stay,

sunder.

Meanwhile the wounded earth, that forc'd With terrour reels, the hills run far away; And frighted world fears Hell breaks out upon the day.

"But see, how 'twixt her sister and her sire, Soft hearted Mercy sweetly interposing, Settles her panting breast against his fire, Pleading for grace, and chains of death unloosing:

Hark! from her lips the melting honey flows;
The striking Thunderer recals his blows,
And every armed soldier down his weapon throws.

"So when the day, wrapp'd in a cloudy night,
Puts out the Sun, anon the rattling hail
On Earth pours down his shot with fell despite ;
His powder spent, the Sun puts off his vail,

And fair his flaining beauties now unsteeps;
The ploughman from his bushes gladly peeps;
And hidden traveller out of his covert creeps.
"Ah, fairest maid! best essence of thy father,
Equal unto thy never-equall'd sire ;
How in low verse shall thy poor shepherd gather,
What all the world can ne'er enough admire?

When thy sweet eyes sparkle in cheerful light, The brightest day grows pale as leaden night, And Heav'n's bright burning eye loses his blinded sight.

"Who then those sugared strains can understand, Which calm'd thy father, and our desp'rate fears;

And charm'd the nimble light'ning in his hand, That all unawares it dropt in melting tears? Then thou dear swain, thy heav'nly load unfraught;

For she herself hath thee her speeches taught, So near her Heav'n they be, so far from human thought.

"But let my lighter skiff return again

Unto that little isle which late it left, Nor dare to enter in that boundless main, Or tell the nation from this island reft;

But sing that civil strife and home dissension "Twixt two strong factions with like fierce contention, [mention. Where never peace is heard nor ever peace is

See that sweet poem, entituled Christ's Victory and Triumph, part 1. stanza 18.

"A book entituled Christ's Victory and Triumph, &c.

(Where first they dwelt in midst of death and

night)

By force the left and empty island took,

[right:

Claim hence full conquest, and possession's
But that fair band which Mercy sent anew,
The ashes of that first heroic crew,
From their forefa hers claim their right, and
island's due.

In their fair look their parents' grace appears,
Yet their renowned sites were much more glo-
For what decays not with decaying years? [rious,
All night, and all the day, with toil laborious,
(In loss and conquest angry) fresh they fight:
Nor can the other cease or day or night,
While th' isle is doubly rent with endless war and
fright.

"As when the Britain, and Iberian flect,
With resolute and fearless expectation,
On trembling seas with equal fury meet,
The shore resounds with diverse acclamation;
Till now at length Spain's fiery Dons 'gin
shrink;

[si k: Courage, life, hope, and ships, the gaping surges Down with their ships, hope, life, and courage

drink.

ing;

Come, holy virgin, in my bosom sliding; With thy glad angel light my blindfold footsteps guiding.

"And thou, dread spirit! which at first didst spread

On those dark waters thy all-opening light; Thou who of late (of thy great bounty head This nest of hellish fogs, and Stygian night,

With thy bright orient Sun hast fair renew'd, And with unwonted day hast it endu'd; Which late, both day, and thee, and most itself eschew'd.

Dread spirit! do thon those sev'ral bands unfold; Both which thou sent'st, a needful supplement To this lost isle, and which with courage bold, Hourly assail thy rightful regiment;

[under.

The soul there restless, helpless, hopeless lies, The body frying roars, and roaring fries: There's life that never lives, there's death that never dies,

"Hence, while unsettled here he fighting reigns, Shut in a tow'r where thousand enemies Assault the fort; with wary care and pains He guards all entrance, and by divers spies Searcheth into his foes' and friends' designs: [minds: For most he fears his subjects' wavering This tower then only falls, when treason undermines.

"Therefore while yet he lurks in earthly tent, Disguis'd in worthless robes and poor attire,

Try we to view his glory's wonderment,

And get a sight of what we so admire:

For when away from this sad place he flies, And in the skies abides, more bright than skies;

Too glorious is his sight for our dim mortal eyes. "So curl'd-head Thetis, water's feared queen,

But bound in cauls of sand, yields not to sight; And planets' glorious king may best be seen, When some thin cloud dims his too piercing light,

And neither none, nor all his face discloses : For when his bright eye full our eye opposes, None gains his glorious sight, but his own sight he

loses.

“Those five fair brethren which I sung of late, For their just number called the pentarchy '; The other three, three pillars of the state: The first in midst of that high tow'r doth lie, (The chiefest mansion of this glorious king) The judge and arbiter of every thing, Which those five brethren's post into his office bring.

"Of middle years, and seemly personage,

Father of laws, the rule of wrong and right; Fountain of judgment, therefore wondrous sage, Discreet, and wise, of quick and nimble sight: Not those sev'n sages might him parallel; Nor he whom Pythian maid did whilome tell To be the wisest man, that then on Earth did dwell.

green;

His visage old, his face too much defac'd
With ashes pale; his eyes deep sunken been
With often thoughts, and never slack'd in-
tention:

Yet he the fount of speedy apprehension, Father of wit, the well of arts, and quick invention. "But in his private thoughts and busy brain

Thousand thin forms and idle fancies flit ; The three-shap'd Sphinx, and direful Harpy's train, Which in the world had never being yet;

Oft dreams of fire, and water, loose delight, And oft arrested by some ghastly spright, Nor can he think, nor speak, nor move, for great affright.

"Phantastes from the first all shapes deriving,
In new habiliments can quickly dight;
Of all material and gross parts depriving,
Fits them unto the noble prince's sight;

Which, soon as he hath view'd with search

ing eye,

He straight commits them to his treasury, Which old Eumnestes keeps, father of memory. "Eumnestes old, who in his living screen

(His mindful breast) the rolls and records bears Of all the deeds, and men, which he hath seen, And keeps lock'd up in faithful registers :

Well he recalls Nimrod's first tyranuy, And Babel's pride, daring the lofty sky; Well he recalls the Earth's twice growing infancy. "Therefore his body weak, his eyes half blind,

But mind more fresh and strong; (ah, better

fate!)

And as his carcase, so his house declin'd;
Yet were the walls of firm and able state:

Only on him a nimble page attends,
Who, when for ought the aged grandsire sends,
With swift, yet backward steps, his helping aid-

auce lends.

"But let my song pass from these worthy sages
Unto all the island's highest sovereign 6;
And those hard wars which all the year he wages:
For these three late a gentle shepherd swain

Most sweetly sung, as he before had scen
In Alma's house: his memory, yet green,
Lives in his well tun'd songs; whose leaves im-
mortal been.

"Nor can I guess, whether his Muse divine,

Or gives to those, or takes from them his grace; Therefore Enmnestes in his lasting shrine Hath justly him enroll'd in second place;

• The fancy.

• The understanding.

Next to our Mantuan poet doth he rest;
There shall our Colin live for ever blest,
Spite of those thousand spites, which living him
oppress'd.

"The prince his time in double office spends:
For first those forms and fancies he admits,
Which to his court busy Phantastes sends,
And for the easier discerning fits:

For shedding round about his sparkling light, He clears their dusky shades and cloudy night, Producing, like himself, their shapes all shining bright.

"As when the Sun restores the glitt'ring day,
The world, late cloth'd in night's black livery,
Doth now a thousand colours fair display,
And paints itself in choice variety;

Which late one colour hid, the eye deceiving, All so this prince those shapes obscure receiving, fing. Which his suffused light makes ready to conceiv"This first, is call'd the active faculty,

Which to an higher pow'r the object leaves: That takes it in itself, and cunningly,

Changing itself, the object soon perceives :

For straight itself in self-satne shape adorning,
Becomes the same with quick and strange
transforming;

So is all things itself, to all itself conforming.
"Thus when the eye through Visus' jetty ports
Lets in the wand'ring shapes, the crystal strange
Quickly itself to ev'ry sort consorts,

So is whate'er it sees by wondrous change:
Thrice happy then, when on that mirrour
bright

He ever fastens his unmoved sight,

[light. So is what there he views, divine, full, glorious "Soon as the prince these forms hath clearly seen, Parting the false from truc, the wrong from

right,

He straight presents them to his beauteous queen, Whose courts are lower, yet of equal might;

Voletta fair, who with him lives and reigns, Whom neither man, nor fiend, nor God constrains:

Oft good, oft ill, oft both, yet ever free remains. "Not that great sovereign of the fairy land, Whom late our Colin hath eternized; (Though Graces decking her with plenteous hand, Themselves of grace have all unfurnished;

Tho' in her breast she virtue's temple bare, The fairest temple of a guest so fair) Not that great Glorian's self with this might e'er compare.

"Her radiant beauty, dazzling mortal eye,

Strikes blind the daring sense; her sparkling Her husband's self now cannot well descry: [face With such strange brightness, such immortal

*But, ah! entic'd by her own worth and pride, She stain'd her beauty with most loathsome spot; Her lord's fixt law and spouse's light deny'd, So fill'd her spouse and self with leprous blot: And now all dark is their first morning ray: What verse might then their former light display, [day? When yet their darkest night outshines the brightest "On her a royal damsel still attends, And faithful counsellor, Synteresis": For though Voletta ever good intends, Yet by fair ills she oft deceived is,

By ills so fairly dress'd with cunning slight, That Virtue's self they well may seem to fight, But that bright Virtue's self oft seems not half so bright.

"Therefore Synteresis, of nimble sight,

Oft helps her doubtful hand and erring eye; Else mought she ever, stumbling in this night, Fall down as deep as deepest Tartary.

Nay, thence a sad fair maid, Repentance, rears,

And in her arms her fainting lady bears, Washing her often stains with ever-falling tears. "Thereto she adds a water sovereign,

Of wondrous force, and skilful coinposition: For first she pricks the heart in tender vein; Then from those precious drops, and deep contrition,

With lips' confession, and with pickled cries, Still'd in a broken spirit, sad vapours rise, Exhal'd by sacred fires, and drop through melting eyes.

These cordial drops, these spirit-healing balms, Cure all her sinful bruises, clear her eyes; Unlock her ears; recover fainting qualms: And now grown fresh and strong, she makes her rise,

And glass of unmask'd sin she bright displays, Whereby she sees, loaths, mends her former ways; [rays. So soon repairs her light, trebling her new-born

46

But, ah! why do we (simple as we been) With curious labour, dim and vailed sight, Pry in the nature of this king and queen, Groping in darkness for so clear a light'

A light, which once could not be thought or *told,

But now with blackest clouds is thick enroll'd, Press'd down in captive chains, and pent in earthly mould.

"Rather lament we this their wretched fate, (Ah, wretched fate, and fatal wretchedness!) Unlike those former days, and first estate, When he espous'd, with melting happiness,

To fair Voletta, both their lights conspiring,
He saw whate'er was fit for her requiring,
And she to his clear sight would temper her de-
siring.

"When both, replenish'd with celestial light,
All coming evils could foresee and fly;
When both with clearest eye, and perfect sight,
Could every nature's difference descry:

• Conscience.

THE rising Morn lifts up his orient head,
And spangled Heav'ns in golden robes invests;

Thirsil upstarting from his fearless bed,
Where useless nights he safe and quiet rests,
Unhous'd his bleeting flock, and quickly thence
Hasting to his expecting audience, [cense.
Thus with sad verse began their grieved minds in-

"Fond man, that looks on Earth for happiness,

And here long seeks what here is never found! For all our good we hold from Heav'n by lease, With many forfeits and conditions bound;

Nor can we pay the fine and rentage due: Tho' now but writ, and seål'd, and giv'n anew, Yet daily we it break, then daily must renew.

"Where is th' Assyrian lion's golden hide,

That all the east once grasp'd in lordly paw? Where that great Persian bear, whose swelling pride The lion's self tore out with rav'nous jaw?

Or he which, 'twixt a lion and a pard, Thro' all the world with nimble pinions far'd, And to his greedy whelps his conquer'd kingdoms shar'd.

"Hardly the place of such antiquity,

Or note of these great monarchies we find : Only a fading verbal memory,

And empty name in writ, is left behind :

But when this second life and glory fades, And sinks,at length in time's obscurer shades, A second fall succeeds, and double death invades.

And trode down all the rest to dust and clay:

His batt'ring borns pull'd out by civil hands, And iron teeth, lie scatter'd on the sands; Back'd, bridled by a monk, with sev'n heads yoked stands.

"And that black vulture, which with deathful wing

O'ershadows half the Earth, whose dismal sight Frighten'd the Muses from their native spring, Already stoops, and flags with weary flight:

Who then shall look for happiness beneath?
Where each new day proclaims chance, change,
and death;

And life itself's, as flit as is the air we breathe..
"Ne mought this prince escape, though he as far
All these excels in worth and heav'nly grace,
As brightest Phœbus does the dimmest star:
The deepest falls are from the highest place.

There lies he now, bruis'd with so sore a fall, To his base bonds, and loathsome prison thrall, Whom thousand foes besiege, fène'd with a frail yielding wall.

"Tell me, oh, tell me then, thou holy Muse! Sacred Thespio! what the cause may be

Of such despite; so many foemen use

To persecute unpitied misery!

Or if these canker'd foes, as most men say, So mighty be, that gird this wall of clay; What makes it hold so long, and threaten'd ruin stay?

"When that great Lord his standing court would build,

The outward walls with gems and glorious lights, But inward rooms with nobler courtiers fill'd; Pure, living flames, swift, mighty, blessed

sprights:

But some his royal service (fools!) disdain; So down were flung-(oft bliss is double pain) In Heav'n they scorn'd to serve, so now in Hell they reign.

"There turn'd to serpents, swol'n with pride and hate;

Their prince a dragon fell, who burst with spite, To see this king's and queen's yet happy state, Tempts them to lust and pride; prevails by slight:

To make them wise, and gods, he undertakes. Thus while the snake they hear, they turn to snakes; [makes. To make them gods he boasts, but beasts and devils "But that great Lion 2, who in Judah's plains

The awful beasts holds down in due subjection; The dragon's craft and base-got spoil disdains, And folds this captive prince in his protection; Breaks ope the jail, and brings the pris'ners thence':

Yet plac'd them in this castle's weak defence, Where they might trust and seek an higher Providence.