Showing fair nature is both kind and tame; "And veil'd in them, did win whom he would maim: 31 "Against the thing he sought he would exclaim; "When he most burn'd in heart-wish'd luxury,3. "He preach'd pure maid, and prais'd cold chastity. "Thus merely with the garment of a Grace "The naked and concealed fiend he cover'd, "That the unexperienc'd gave the tempter place, Which, like a cherubin, above them hover'd. 66 Who, young and simple, would not be so lover'd? "Ah me! I fell; and yet do question make "What I should do again for such a sake. 66 46 66 O, that infected moisture of his eye, O, that false fire which in his cheek so glow'd, O, that forc'd thunder from his heart did fly, "O, that sad breath his spungy lungs bestow'd, "O, all that borrow'd motion, seeming ow'd, 32 "Would yet again betray the fore-betray'd, "And new pervert a reconciled maid!” 31 luxury] i. e. lewdness. 32 ow'd] i. e. owned, his own. 248 PASSIONATE PILGRIM. I. SWEET Cytherea, sitting by a brook, With young Adonis, lovely, fresh and green, · Did court the lad with many a lovely look, Such looks as none could look but beauty's queen. She told him stories to delight his ear; She show'd him favours to allure his eye; To win his heart, she touch'd him here and there: But whether unripe years did want conceit, Then fell she on her back, fair queen, and toward; II. Scarce had the sun dried up the dewy morn, A longing tarriance for Adonis made, A brook, where Adon us'd to cool his spleen. For his approach, that often there had been. III. Fair was the morn, when the fair queen of love, .1 Paler for sorrow than her milk-white dove, See in my thigh, quoth she, here was the sore: IV. Venus with [young] Adonis sitting by her, 1 Here a line has dropped out. Even thus, quoth she, the warlike god embrac'd me; Even thus, quoth she, the warlike god unlac'd me V. Crabbed age and youth Youth is full of sport, Age's breath is short, Youth is nimble, age is lame: Youth is hot and bold, Age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame. Age, I do abhor thee, Youth, I do adore thee; O, my love, my love is young! O sweet shepherd, hie thee, For methinks thou stay'st too long! VI. Sweet rose, fair flower, untimely pluck'd, soon vaded, Pluck'd in the bud, and vaded in the spring! 1 Like a green plum that hangs upon a tree, And falls, through wind, before the fall should be. weep for thee, and yet no cause I have; For why? thou left'st me nothing in thy will. And yet thou left'st me more than I did crave; For why? I craved nothing of thee still : yes, dear friend, I pardon crave of thee; Thy discontent thou didst bequeath to me. VII. Fair is my love, but not so fair as fickle, 2 vaded] Malone throughout these fragments altered the word to fuded, which is generally considered as synonimous ; yet Brathwait, in his Strappado for the Devil, 1615, (the exact reference to which I have mislaid) speaks of "no fading, vading flower," and other poets make the same distinction between the words. |