They had engag'd their wandering steps too far, And envious darknefs, ere they could return, Had ftole them from me; elfe, O thievish Night, 195 Why should't thou, but for fome felonious end,
In thy dark lantern thus clofe up the stars, That nature hung in Heav'n, and fill'd their lamps With everlafting oil, to give due light To the misled and lonely traveller?
This is the place, as well as I may guess, Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear, Yet nought but fingle darkness do I find. What might this be? A thousand fantafies Begin to throng into my memory,
Of calling fhapes, and beckoning shadows dire, And aery tongues, that fyllable mens names On fands, and fhores, and defert wildernesses.
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound 210 The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended By a ftrong fiding champion, confcience.- O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope, Thou hovering Angel girt with golden wings, And thou unblemish'd form of Chastity;
I fee you vifibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, t' whom all things ill Are but as flavish officers of vengeance,
Would fend a glistering guardian, if need were, To keep my life and honor unassail’d.
Was I deceiv'd, or did a fable cloud
Turn forth her filver lining on the night?
I did not err, there does a fable cloud Turn forth her filver lining on the night, And cafts a gleam over this tufted grove.
I cannot hallow to my Brothers, but
Such noife as I can make to be heard fartheft I'll venture, for my new inliven'd spirits Prompt me; and they perhaps are not far off.
SWEET Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'ft unseen Within thy aery shell,
By flow Meander's margent green,
And in the violet-embroider'd vale,
Where the love-lorn nightingale
Nightly to thee her fad fong mourneth well;
Canft thou not tell me of a gentle pair
That likeft thy Narciffus are?
Hid them in fome flowery cave,
Tell me but where,
Sweet queen of parly, daughter of the sphere,
So may'st thou be tranflated to the skies,
And give 1efounding grace to all Heav'n's harmonies.
COм. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mold Breathe fuch divine inchanting ravishment? Sure fomething holy lodges in that breaft, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To teftify his hidden refidence:
How fweetly did they flote upon the wings VOL. XII.
Of filence, through the empty-vaulted night, At every fall fmoothing the raven down Of darkness till it fmil'd! I have oft heard
My mother Circe with the Syrens three, Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades
Culling their potent herbs, and baleful drugs,
Who as they fung, would take the prison'd soul, And lap it in Elyfium; Scylla wept,
And chid her barking waves into attention, And fell Charybdis murmur'd foft applause: Yet they in pleafing flumber lull'd the fenfe, And in fweet madness robb'd it of itself; But such a facred, and home-felt delight, Such fober certainty of waking blifs,
I never heard till now. I'll speak to her,
And she shall be my queen. Hail, foreign wonder, 265 Whom certain these rough shades did never breed,
Unless the Goddess that in rural shrine
Dwell'ft here with Pan, or Sylvan, by bleft fong Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
To touch the profperous growth of this tall wood. 270 LA. Nay, gentle Shepherd, ill is lost that praise That is addrefs'd to unattending ears;
Not any boaft of fkill, but extreme fhift How to regain my fever'd company, Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo To give me answer from her moffy couch.
COм. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you LA. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth.
COM. Could that divide you from near-ushering
LA. They left me weary on a grassy turf. Coм. By falfhood, or difcourtesy, or why? LA. To feek i'th' valley fome cool friendly fpring. Coм. And left your fair fide all unguarded, Lady? LA. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick re-
COм. Perhaps fore-ftalling night prevented them. LA. How eafy my misfortune is to hit!
Coм. Imports their lofs, befide the prefent need? LA. No less than if I fhould my Brothers lofe. COм. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom!
LA. As fmooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. 290 COм. Two fuch I faw, what time the labor'd ox In his loofe traces from the furrow came, And the fwinkt hedger at his fupper fat; I faw them under a green mantling vine That crawls along the fide of yon fmall hill, Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots;
port was more than human, as they flood:
I took it for a faëry vision
Of fome gay creatures of the element, That in the colors of the rainbow live,
And play i'th' plighted clouds. I was aw-struck, And as I paft, I worthipt; if thofe you feek, It were a journey like the path to Heaven, To help you find them.
What readieft way would bring me to that place? 305 COM. Due weft it rifes from this fhrubby point. LA. To find out that, good Shepherd, I suppose, In fuch a fcant allowance of ftar-light, Would overtafk the beft land-pilot's art, Without the fure guefs of well-practis'd feet. COM. I know each lane, and every alley green, Dingle, or bufhy dell of this wild wood,
And every bofky bourn from fide to fide, My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood; And if your ftray-attendence be yet lodg'd, Or fhroud within thefe limits, I fhall know Ere morrow wake, or the low-roofted lark From her thatcht pallat roufe; if otherwise, I can conduct you, Lady, to a low
But loyal cottage, where you may be safe Till further queft.
LA. Shepherd, I take thy word,
And truft thy boneft offer'd courtesy, Which oft is fooner found in lowly sheds
With fmoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls
And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd, 325 And yet is moft pretended: In a place Lefs warranted than this, or lefs fecure,
I cannot be, that I fhould fear to change it. Eye me, bleft Providence, and square my trial To my proportion'd ftrength! Shepherd, lead on. 330 The two BROTHERS.
I BRO. Unmuffle, ye faint Stars, and thou fair Moon, That wont'ft to love the traveller's benizon,
« AnteriorContinuar » |