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“Who has not often read Troy's twice sung fires,

They sneer, they grin.---Like to his like will And at the second tiine twice better sung? Who has not beard th’ Arcadian shepherd's quires, Yet never let them greater mischief prove Which now have gladly chang'd their native

That this,

• Who batcs not oue, may he the other tongue;

love." And, sitting by slow Mincius, sport their fill,

“ Witness our Colin'; whom tho' all the Graces With swecter voice and never-equall'd skill, Chanting their amorous lays uuto a Roman quill?

And all the Muses nurs'd; whose well taught

Parnassus' self and Glorian embraces, [song “ And thou, choice wit, Lore's scholar, and Love's

And all the learn'd, and all the shepherd's throng ; master,

Yet all his hopes were cross'd, all suits deny'd; Art known to all, where Love himself is known :

Discourag'd, scorn'd, his writings vilify'd : Whether thou did'st Ulysses hie hin faster,

Poorly, poor man, he liv'd: poorly, poor man, he

died. Or dost thy fault and distant exile moan;

Who has not seen upon the mouroing stage, “And had not that great Hart (whose honour'd Dire Atreus' feast, and wrong'd Medea's rage;

head, Marching in tragic state, and buskin'd equipage ? Ah! lics full low) pity'd thy woful plight ; “ And now of late th' Italian fisher swain'

There had'st thou lain unwept, unburied,

Unbless'd, nor grac'd with any common rite : Sits on the shore, to watch his trembling line, There teaches rocks and prouder seas to plain

Yet shalt thou live when thy great foe shall sink,

(stink: By Nesis fair, and fairer Mergiline : While his thin net, upon his oars twin'd,

Beneath his mountain tomb, whose fame shall With wanton strife catches the Sun and wind;

And time his blacker wame shall blurre with black

est ink. Which still do slip away, and still remain behind.

"O let th' lambic Muse revenge that wrong, " And that French Muse's eagle eye and wing, Which cannot slumber in thy sheets of lead: Hath soar'd to Heaven, and there hath learn'd Let thy abused honour cry as long the art

As there be quills to write, or cyes to read : To frame angelic strains, and canzons sing :

On his rank name let thine own votes be turn'd, Too high and deep for every shallow heart.

Oh, may that man that hath the Muses Ah, blessed soul! in those celestial rays,

scorp'd, Which gave thee light, these lower works to

Alive, nor dead, be ever of a Muse adorn'd.' blaze, Thou sitt'st imparadis'd, and chant'st eternal lays.

“ Oft therefore have I chid my tender Muse ;

Oft my chill breast beats off her Autt'ring wing : “ Thrice happy wits, which in your springing May, Yet when new Spring her gentle rays infuse,

(Waru'd with the Sun of well deserved favours) All storms are laid, again to chirp and sing : Disclose your buds, and your fair blooms display, At length soft fires, dispers'd in cvery veing Perfume the air with your rich fragrant savours ! Yield open passage to the thronging train,

Nor may, nor ever shall, those honour'd flow'rs And swelling numbers' tide rolls like the surging
Be spoil'd by summer's heat, or winter's show'rs,

main.
But last, when eating time shall gnaw the proudest
tow'rs.

“ So where fair 'Thames, and crooked Isis son,

Pays tribute to his king, the mantling stream, .“ Happy, thrice happy times, in silver age ! Encounter d by the tides, (now rushing on

When generous plants advanc'd their lofty crest; With equal force) of's way doth doubtful seem, When Honour stoop'd to be learn'd Wisdom's page; At length the full grown sea and water's kirg When baser weeds starv'd in their frozen nest; Chid the bold waves with hollow murmuring : When th' highest flying Muse still highest Back fy the streams to shroud them in their mother climbs ;

spring. And virtuc's rise, keeps down all rising crimes: Happy, thrice happy age! happy, thrice happy

“ Yet thou, sweet numerous Muse, why should'st times !

thou droop,

That every vulgar car thy music scorns ? “ But wretched we, to whom these iron days, Vor can they rise, nor thon so low canst stoop; (Hard days !) afford nor matter, nor reward !

No seed of Heav'n takes root in mud or thorns. Sings Maro? Men deride high Maro's lays,

Wheu owls or crows, iinping their faggy wing Their hearts with lead, with steel their sense is With thy stol'n pluies, their votes through bag'd:

th' air do ling;

(strain to sing. Sing Linys, or his father, as he uses,

Oh shame! they howl and croak, whilst fond they Our Midas' ears their well tand verse refuses.

“ Enough for thee in Heav'n to build thy nest; What cares an ass for arts? he brays at sacred Muses.

(Far be dull thoughts of winning dunghill praise)

Enough, if kings enthrone thee in their breast, “ But if fond Barius rent his clouted song,

And crown their golden crowns with higher bays : Or Mævius chant his thoughts in Brothel charm ;

Enough that those who wear the crown of kings, The witless vulgar, in a num'rous throng,

(Great Israel's princes) strike thy sweetest Like summer flies about their dunghill swarm:

strings:

[heav'nly wings.

Heaven's dove, when high'st he flies, flies with thy
Sanuazas.
Bartas.

Spenser.

1

sell;

« Let others trust the seas, dare death and Hell, 'Thou First and Last, inspire thy sacred skill; Scarch either Ind', vaunt of their scars and Guide thou my hand, grace thou my artless wounds:

quill; Let others their dear breath (nay, silence) sell So shall I first begin, so last shall end thy will. To fools, and (swol'n, not rich) stretch out their bounds,

[dead;

Hark then, ah, hark! you gentle shepherd crew; By spoiling those that live, and wronging

An isle I fain would sing, an island fair , That they may drink in pearl, and conch

A place too seldom view'd, yet still in view; their head

[béd.

Near as ourselves, yet farthest from our care; In soft, but sleepless down; in rich, but restless

Which we by leaving lind, by seeking lost ;

A foreign home, a strange, tho' native coast; “ ), let them in their gold quaff dropsies down! Most obvious to all, yet most unknown to most.

0, let them surfeits feast in silver bright! Whilst sugar hires the taste the brain to drown,

“ Coeval with the world in her nativity, And bribes of sauce corrupt false appetite,

Which tho' it now hath pass'd thro' many ages, His master's rest, health, heart, life, soul, to

And still retain'd a natural proclivity

To rain, compass'd with a thousand rages Thus plenty, fulness, sickness, ring their knell. Of foe-men's spite, which still this island tosses, Death weds, and beds them; first in grave, and

Yet ever grows more prosp'rous by her crosses, then in Hell. Mantran

By with'ring, springing fresh, and rich by often

losses. But, ah! let me, under some Kentish hill, Near rolling Medway, 'mong my shepherd peers,

“ Vain men, too fondly wise, who plough the seas, With fearless merry-make, and piping stiil,

With dang'ruus pains another earth to find; Securely pass my few and slow-pac'd years :

Adding new worlds to th' old, and scorning ease, Wbile yet the great Augustus of our nation

The earth's vast limits daily more unbind! Shuts up old Janus in this long cessation,

The aged world, thongh now it falling shows, Strength’ning our plcasing ease, and gives us sure

And bastes to set, yet still in dying grows : vacation.

Whole lives are spent to win, what one death's

hour inust lose. “ There may I, master of a little flock, Peed my poor lambs, and often change their fare:

“ How like's the world unto a tragic stage ! She My lovely mate shall tend my sparing stock,

Where ev'ry changing scene the actors change ; And nurse my little ones with pleasing carc;

Sonne, subject, crouch and fawn; some reign and Whose love, and look, shall speak their father

rage:

(strange, plain.

[gain;

And new strange plots bring scenes as new and Health be my feast, Heaven bope, 'content my

Till most are slain; the rest their parts have

doue : So in my little house my lesser heart shall reign.

[groan,

So here, some laugh and play, some weep and The beech shall yield a cool, safe canopy, Till all put off their robes ; and stage and actors While down I sit, and chant to th' echoing wood:

gone. Ah, singing might I live, and singing die!

“ Yet this fair isle, scited so nearly near, So by fair Thames, or silver Medway's food, The dying swan, when years her temples pierce,

That from our sides, nor place, nor time, may In diusic's strains breathes out her life and

sev'r;

(dear, verse,

[hearsc.

Chough to yourselves Fourselves are not more And, chanting her own dirge, tides on her wat'ry

Yet with strange carelessness you travel nev'r:

Thus while yourselves and native home for" What shall I then need seek a patron out;

getting,

(sweating, Or beg a favour from a mistress' eyes,

You search for distant worlds, with needless To fence my song against the vulgar rout: You never find yourselves; so lose ye more by Or shine upon me with her geminines ?

getting. What care I, if they praise my slender song?

“ When that Great Pow'r, that All far more than Or reck I, if they do me right or wrong?

all, A shepherd's bliss, nor stands, nor falls, to ev'ry

(When now his time fore-set was fully come) tongue.

Brought into act this indigested ball, “Great Prince of Shepherds, tban thy Hear'ns Which in himself, till then, had only room ; more high,

He labour'd not, nor suffer'd pain, or ill; Low as our Farth, here serving, ruling there; But bid each kind their several places fill : Who taught'st our death to live, thy life to jie; He bid, and they obey'd, their action was his will: Who, when we broke thy bonds, our bonds would'st bear;

(Hell;

“ First stept the light, and spread his cheerful rays Who reigned'st in thy Heaven, yet felt'st our

Through all the chaos; darkness beadlong fell, Who (God) bought'st man, whom man (though Prightend with sudden beams, and new-born days; God) did sell,

(would'st dwell.

And plung'd her ugly head in deepest Hell : Who in our flesh, our graves, and worse, our hearts,

Not that he meant to help his feeble sight

To frame the rest; he made the day of night: “ Great Prince of Shepherds, thou who late didst All else but darkness ; he the true, the only light.

deign To lodge thyself within this wretched breast,

“ Fire, water, earth, and air, (that fiercely strove) (Most wretched brcast, such guest to entertain,

His sov'reign hand in strong alliance ty'd, Yet, ol! most bappy lodge in such a guest!)

Binding their deadly hate in constant love :

So that Great Wisdom temper'd all their pri

لواد

Unsnarl'd that chain, then firm that lake secur'd;

For which ten thousand tortures he endur'd:
So hard was this lost isle, so hard to be recur'd.,

"O thon deep well of life, wide stream of love,
(More deep, more wide, than widest, deepest seas)
Who dying, death to endless death didst prove,
To work this wilful rebel island's ease;

Thy love no time began, no time decays;
But still increaseth with decreasing days:
Where then may we begin, where may we end, thy
praise?

"My callow wing, that newly left the nest,

How can it make so high a tow'ring flight?
O depth without a depth! in humble breast,
With praises I admire so wondrous height:
But thou, my sister Muse", may'st well go
high'r,
[tire:
And end thy flight; ne'er may thy pinions
Thereto may he his grace and gentle heat aspire.

Then let me end my easier taken story,
And sing this island's new recover'd seat:
But see, the eye of noon, its brightest glory,
Teaching great men, is ne'er so little, great:
Our panting flocks retire into the glade ;
They crouch, and close to th' earth their horns
bave laid:
[shade.'
Vain we our scorched heads in that thick beech's

• A book called Christ's Victory and Triumph.

CANTO II.

DECLINING Phoebus, as he larger grows,
(Taxing proud folly) gentler waxeth still;
Never less fierce, than when he greatest shows:
When Thirsil on a gentle rising hill

(Where all his flock he rouud might feeding
view)

Sits down, and, circled with a lovely crew Of nymphs and shepherd-boys, thus 'gan his song

renew.

"Now was this isle puil'd from that horrid main,
Which bears the fearful looks and name of Death;
And settled new with blood and dreadful pain

By Him who twice had giv'n (once forfeit) breath:
A baser state thau what was first assign'd;
Wherein (to curb the too-aspiring mind)
The better things were lost, the worst were left
behind:

"That glorious image of himself was raz'd ;

Ah! scarce the place of that best part we find :
And that bright sun-like knowledge much defac'd ;
Only some twinkling stars remain behind:

Then mortal made; yet as one fainting dies,
Two other in its place succeeding rise;

"Whose looser ends are glew'd with brother
Of nature like, and of a near relation; [earth 2,
Of self-same parents both, at self-same birth;
That oft itself stands for a good foundation3:
Both these a third doth solder fast and bind :
Softer than both, yet of the self-same kind;
All instruments of motion in one league combin'd.

"Upon this base a curious work is rais'd,

Like undivided brick, entire and oue,
Though soft, yet lasting, with just balance pais'd;
Distributed with due proportion: [seen,

And that the rougher frame might lurk un-
All fair is hung with coverings slight and thin;
Which partly hide it all, yet all is partly seen :

"As when a virgin her snow-circled breast

Displaying hides, and hiding sweet displays;
The greater segments cover'd, and the rest
The vail transparent willingly displays: [light;
Thus takes and gives, thus lends and borrows
Lest eyes should surfeit with too greedy sight,
Transparent lawns with-hold more to increase de-
light.

"Nor is there any part in all this land,

But is a little isle: for thousand brooks
In azure channels glide on silver sand;
Their serpent windings, and deceiving crooks,
Circling about, and wat'ring all the plain,
Empty themselves into th' all-drinking main;
And creeping forward slide, but never turn again.

The foundation of the body is the bones. Bones are a similar part of the body, most dry or cold; made by the virtue generative through heat of the thicker portion of seed, which is most earthy and fat, for the establishment and figure of the whole.

2 A cartilage, or grisle, is of a middle nature, betwixt bones and ligaments, or sinews, made of the same matter, and in the same manner, as bones, for a variety and safety in motion.

3 Some of these (even as bones) sustain and uphold some parts.

4 Both these are knit with ligaments: a ligament, or sinew, is of a nature between grisles and nerves, framed of a tough and clammy portion of the seed, for hitting and holding the bones toge

And drooping stock, with branches fresh immor-ther, and fitting them for motion.

talize.

"So that lone bird, in fruitful Arabie,

When now her strength and waning life decays,
Upou some airy rock, or mountain high,
In spicy bed (fir'd by near Phœbus' rays)

Upon the bones, as the foundation, is built the flesh. Flesh is a similar part of the body, soft, ruddy, made of blood, and differently dried, covered with the common membrane of skin.

The whole body is, as it were, watered with great plenty of rivers, veins, arteries, and nerves.