Cuddy tells how all the swainsPity Roget on the plains;Who, requested, doth relateThe true cause of his estate;Which broke off, because 'twas long,They begin a three-man song.
Roget, thy old friend Cuddy here, and I,Are come to visit thee in these thy bands,Whilst both our flocks in an enclosure byDo pick the thin grass from the fallowed lands.He tells me thy restraint of liberty,Each one throughout the country understands:And there is not a gentle-natured lad,On all these downs, but for thy sake is sad.
Not thy acquaintance and thy friends alonePity thy close restraint, as friends should do:But some that have but seen thee for thee moan:Yea, many that did never see thee too.Some deem thee in a fault, and most in none;So divers ways do divers rumours go:And at all meetings where our shepherds be,Now the main news that's extant is of thee.
Why, this is somewhat yet: had I but keptSheep on the mountains till the day of doom,My name should in obscurity have slept,In brakes, in briars, shrubbed furze and broom.Into the world's wide care it had not crept,Nor in so many men's thoughts found a room:But what cause of my sufferings do they know?Good Cuddy, tell me how doth rumour go?
Faith, 'tis uncertain; some speak this, some that:Some dare say nought, yet seem to think a cause,And many a one, prating he knows not what,Comes out with proverbs and old ancient saws,As if he thought thee guiltless, and yet not:Then doth he speak half-sentences, then pause:That what the most would say, we may suppose:But what to say, the rumour is, none knows.
Nor care I greatly, for it skills not muchWhat the unsteady common-people deems;His conscience doth not always feel least touch,That blameless in the sight of others seems:My cause is honest, and because 'tis suchI hold it so, and not for men's esteems:If they speak justly well of me, I'm glad;If falsely evil, it ne'er makes me sad.
I like that mind; but, Roget, you are quiteBeside the matter that I long to hear:Remember what you promised yesternight,You'd put us off with other talk, I fear;Thou know'st that honest Cuddy's heart's upright,And none but he, except myself, is near:Come therefore, and betwixt us two relate,The true occasion of thy present state.
My friends, I will; you know I am a swain,That keep a poor flock here upon this plain:Who, though it seems I could do nothing less,Can make a song, and woo a shepherdess;And not alone the fairest where I liveHave heard me sing, and favours deigned to give;But though I say't, the noblest nymph of Thame,Hath graced my verse unto my greater fame.Yet being young, and not much seeking praise,I was not noted out for shepherds' lays,Nor feeding flocks, as you know others be:For the delight that most possessed meWas hunting foxes, wolves, and beasts of prey;That spoil our folds, and bear our lambs away.For this, as also for the love I bearUnto my country, I laid by all careOf gain, or of preferment, with desireOnly to keep that state I had entire,And like a true-grown huntsman sought to speedMyself with hounds of rare and choicest breed,Whose names and natures ere I further go,Because you are my friends, I'll let you know.My first esteemed dog that I did find,Was by descent of old Actaeon's kind;A brach, which if I do not aim amiss,For all the world is just like one of his:She's named Love, and scarce yet knows her duty;Her dam's my lady's pretty beagle Beauty,I bred her up myself with wondrous charge,Until she grew to be exceeding large,And waxed so wanton that I did abhor it,And put her out amongst my neighbours for it.The next is Lust, a hound that's kept abroad,'Mongst some of mine acquaintance, but a toadIs not more loathsome: 'tis a cur will rangeExtremely, and is ever full of mange;And 'cause it is infectious, she's not wontTo come among the rest, but when they hunt.Hate is the third, a hound both deep and long.His sire is true or else supposed Wrong.He'll have a snap at all that pass him by,And yet pursues his game most eagerly.With him goes Envy coupled, a lean cur,And she'll hold out, hunt we ne'er so far:She pineth much, and feedeth little too,Yet stands and snarleth at the rest that do.Then there's Revenge, a wondrous deep-mouthed dog,So fleet, I'm fain to hunt him with a clog,Yet many times he'll much outstrip his bounds,And hunts not closely with the other hounds:He'll venture on a lion in his ire;Curst Choler was his dam, and Wrong his sire.This Choler is a brach that's very old,And spends her mouth too much to have it hold:She's very testy, an unpleasing cur,That bites the very stones, if they but stur:Or when that ought but her displeasure moves,She'll bite and snap at any one she loves:But my quick-scented'st dog is Jealousy,The truest of this breed's in Italy:The dam of mine would hardly fill a glove,It was a lady's little dog, called Love:The sire, a poor deformed cur, named Fear,As shagged and as rough as is a bear:And yet the whelp turned after neither kind,For he is very large, and near-hand blind;At the first sight he hath a pretty colour,But doth not seem so, when you view him fuller;A vile suspicious beast, his looks are bad,And I do fear in time he will grow mad.To him I couple Avarice, still poor;Yet she devours as much as twenty more:A thousand horse she in her paunch can put,Yet whine as if she had an empty gut:And having gorged what might a land have found,She'll catch for more, and hide it in the ground.Ambition is a hound as greedy full;But he for all the daintiest bits doth cull:He scorns to lick up crumbs beneath the table,He'll fetch 't from boards and shelves, if he be able:Nay, he can climb if need be; and for that,With him I hunt the martin and the cat:And yet sometimes in mounting he's so quick,He fetches falls are like to break his neck.Fear is well-mouth'd, but subject to distrust;A stranger cannot make him take a crust:A little thing will soon his courage quail,And 'twixt his legs he ever claps his tail;With him Despair now often coupled goes,Which by his roaring mouth each huntsman knows.None hath a better mind unto the game,But he gives off, and always seemeth lame.My bloodhound Cruelty, as swift as wind,Hunts to the death, and never comes behind;Who but she's strapp'd and muzzled too withal,Would eat her fellows, and the prey and all;And yet she cares not much for any food,Unless it be the purest harmless blood.All these are kept abroad at charge of many,They do not cost me in a year a penny.But there's two couple of a middling size,That seldom pass the sight of my own eyes.Hope, on whose head I've laid my life to pawn;Compassion, that on every one will fawn.This would, when 'twas a whelp, with rabbits playOr lambs, and let them go unhurt away:Nay, now she is of growth, she'll now and thenCatch you a hare, and let her go again.The two last, Joy and Sorrow, 'tis a wonder,Can ne'er agree, nor ne'er bide far asunder.Joy's ever wanton, and no order knows:She'll run at larks, or stand and bark at crows.Sorrow goes by her, and ne'er moves his eye;Yet both do serve to help make up the cry.Then comes behind all these to bear the base,Two couple more of a far larger race,Such wide-mouth'd trollops, that 'twould do you goodTo hear their loud loud echoes tear the wood.There's Vanity, who, by her gaudy hide,May far away from all the rest be spied,Though huge, yet quick, for she's now here, now there;Nay, look about you, and she's everywhere:Yet ever with the rest, and still in chase.Right so, Inconstancy fills every place;And yet so strange a fickle-natured hound,Look for her, and she's nowhere to be found.Weakness is no fair dog unto the eye,And yet she hath her proper quality;But there's Presumption, when he heat hath got,He drowns the thunder and the cannon-shot:And when at start he his full roaring makes,The earth doth tremble, and the heaven shakes.These were my dogs, ten couple just in all,Whom by the name of Satyrs I do call:Mad curs they be, and I can ne'er come nigh them,But I'm in danger to be bitten by them.Much pains I took, and spent days not a few,To make them keep together, and hunt true:Which yet I do suppose had never been,But that I had a scourge to keep them in.Now when that I this kennel first had got,Out of my own demesnes I hunted not,Save on these downs, or among yonder rocks,After those beasts that spoiled our parish flocks;Nor during that time was I ever wontWith all my kennel in one day to hunt:Nor had done yet, but that this other year,Some beasts of prey, that haunt the deserts here,Did not alone for many nights togetherDevour, sometime a lamb, sometime a wether,And so disquiet many a poor man's herd,But that of losing all they were afeard:Yea, I among the rest did fare as bad,Or rather worse, for the best ewes[1] I had(Whose breed should be my means of life and gain)Were in one evening by these monsters slain:Which mischief I resolved to repay,Or else grow desperate, and hunt all away;For in a fury (such as you shall seeHuntsmen in missing of their sport will be)I vowed a monster should not lurk about,In all this province, but I'd find him out,And thereupon, without respect or care,How lame, how full, or how unfit they were,In haste unkennell'd all my roaring crew,Who were as mad as if my mind they knew,And ere they trail'd a flight-shot, the fierce cursHad roused a hart, and thorough brakes and fursFollow'd at gaze so close, that Love and FearGot in together, so had surely thereQuite overthrown him, but that Hope thrust in'Twixt both, and saved the pinching of his skin,Whereby he 'scaped, till coursing o'erthwart,Despair came in, and griped him to the heart:I hallowed in the res'due to the fall,And for an entrance, there I fleshed them all:Which having done, I dipped my staff in blood,And onward led my thunder to the wood;Where what they did, I'll tell you out anon,My keeper calls me, and I must be gone.Go if you please a while, attend your flocks,And when the sun is over yonder rocks,Come to this cave again, where I will be,If that my guardian so much favour me.Yet if you please, let us three sing a strain,Before you turn your sheep into the plain.
I am content.
As well content am I.
Then, Will, begin, and we'll the rest supply.
Shepherd, would these gates were ope,Thou might'st take with us thy fortune.
No, I'll make this narrow scope,Since my fate doth so importuneMeans unto a wider hope.
Would thy shepherdess were here,Who belov'd, loves thee so dearly!
Not for both your flocks, I swear,And the gain they yield you yearly,Would I so much wrong my dear.Yet to me, nor to this place,Would she now be long a stranger;She would hold it no disgrace,(If she feared not more my danger,)Where I am to show her face.
Shepherd, we would wish no harms,But something that might content thee.
Wish me then within her arms,And that wish will ne'er repent me,If your wishes might prove charms.
Be thy prison her embrace,Be thy air her sweetest breathing.
Be thy prospect her fair face,For each look a kiss bequeathing,And appoint thyself the place.
Nay pray, hold there, for I should scantly thenCome meet you here this afternoon again:But fare you well, since wishes have no power,Let us depart, and keep the 'pointed hour.
[1] 'Ewes:' hopes.
The author of 'Gondibert,' was the son of a vintner in Oxford, and born in February 1605. Gossip says—but says with her usual carelessness about truth—that he was the son of no less a person than William Shakspeare, who used, in his journeys between London and Stratford, to stop at the Crown, an inn kept by Davenant's reputed father. This story is hinted at by Wood, was told to Pope by Betterton the player, and believed by Malone, but seems to be a piece of mere scandal. It is true that Davenant had a great veneration for Shakspeare, and expressed it, when only ten years old, in lines 'In remembrance of Master William Shakspeare,' beginning thus:—
'Beware, delighted poets, when you sing,To welcome nature in the early spring,Your numerous feet not treadThe banks of Avon, for each flower(As it ne'er knew a sun or shower)Hangs there the pensive head.'
Southey says—'The father was a man of melancholy temperament, the mother handsome and lively; and as Shakspeare used to put up at the house on his journeys between Stratford and London, Davenant is said to have affected the reputation of being Shakspeare's son. If he really did this, there was a levity, or rather a want of feeling, in the boast, for which social pleasantry, and the spirits which are induced by wine, afford but little excuse.'
He was entered at Lincoln College; he next became page to the Duchess of Richmond; and we find him afterwards in the family of Fulk Greville, Lord Brooke—famous as the friend of Sir Philip Sidney. He began to write for the stage in 1628; and on the death of Ben Jonson he was made Poet Laureate —to the disappointment of Thomas May, so much praised by Johnson and others for his proficiency in Latin poetry, as displayed in his supplement to Lucan's 'Pharsalia.' He became afterwards manager of Drury Lane; but owing to his connexion with the intrigues of that unhappy period, he was imprisoned in the Tower, and subsequently made his escape to France. On his return to England, he distinguished himself greatly in the Royal cause; and when that became desperate, he again took refuge in France, and wrote part of his 'Gondibert.' He projected a scheme for carrying over a colony to Virginia; but his vessel was seized by one of the Parliamentary ships—he himself was conveyed a prisoner to Cowes Castle, in the Isle of Wight, and thence to the Tower, preparatory to being tried by the High Commission. But a giant hand, worthy of having saved him had he been Shakspeare's veritable son, was now stretched forth to his rescue—the hand of Milton. In this generous act Milton was seconded by Whitelocke, and by two aldermen of York, to whom our poet had rendered some services. Liberated from the Tower, Davenant was also permitted, through the influence of Whitelocke, to open, in defiance of Puritanic prohibition, a kind of theatre at Rutland House, and by enacting his own plays there, he managed to support himself till the Restoration. He then, it is supposed, repaid to Milton his friendly service, and shielded him from the wrath of the Court. From this period Davenant continued to write for the stage—having received the patent of the Duke's Theatre, in Lincoln's Inn—till his death. This event took place on April 7, 1668. His last play, written in conjunction with Dryden, was an alteration and pollution of Shakspeare's 'Tempest,' which was more worthy of Trincula than of the authors of 'Absalom and Ahithophel' and of 'Gondibert.' Supposing Davenant the son of Shakspeare, his act to his father's masterpiece reminds us, in the excess of its filial impiety, of Ham's conduct to Noah.
'Gondibert' is a large and able, without being a great poem. It has the incurable and indefensible defect of dulness. 'The line labours, and the words move slow.' The story is interesting of itself, but is lost in the labyrinthine details. It has many lines, and some highly and successfully wrought passages; but as a whole we may say of it as Porson said of certain better productions, 'It will be read when the works of Homer and Virgil are forgotten—butnot till then.'
The hunting which did yearly celebrateThe Lombards' glory, and the Vandals' fate:The hunters praised; how true to love they are,How calm in peace and tempest-like in war.The stag is by the numerous chase subdued,And straight his hunters are as hard pursued.
1 Small are the seeds Fate does unheeded sowOf slight beginnings to important ends;Whilst wonder, which does best our reverence showTo Heaven, all reason's sight in gazing spends.
2 For from a day's brief pleasure did proceed,A day grown black in Lombard histories,Such lasting griefs as thou shalt weep to read,Though even thine own sad love had drained thine eyes.
3 In a fair forest, near Verona's plain,Fresh as if Nature's youth chose there a shade,The Duke, with many lovers in his train,Loyal and young, a solemn hunting made.
4 Much was his train enlarged by their resortWho much his grandsire loved, and hither cameTo celebrate this day with annual sport,On which by battle here he earned his fame,
5 And many of these noble hunters boreCommand amongst the youth at Bergamo;Whose fathers gathered here the wreaths they wore,When in this forest they interred the foe.
6 Count Hurgonil, a youth of high descent,Was listed here, and in the story great;He followed honour, when towards death it went;Fierce in a charge, but temperate in retreat.
7 His wondrous beauty, which the world approved,He blushing hid, and now no more would own(Since he the Duke's unequalled sister loved)Than an old wreath when newly overthrown.
8 And she, Orna the shy! did seem in lifeSo bashful too, to have her beauty shown,As I may doubt her shade with Fame at strife,That in these vicious times would make it known.
9 Not less in public voice was Arnold here;He that on Tuscan tombs his trophies raised;And now Love's power so willingly did bear,That even his arbitrary reign he praised.
10 Laura, the Duke's fair niece, enthralled his heart,Who was in court the public morning glass,Where those, who would reduce nature to art,Practised by dress the conquests of the face.
11 And here was Hugo, whom Duke GondibertFor stout and steadfast kindness did approve;Of stature small, but was all over heart,And, though unhappy, all that heart was love.
12 In gentle sonnets he for Laura pined,Soft as the murmurs of a weeping spring,Which ruthless she did as those murmurs mind:So, ere their death, sick swans unheeded sing.
13 Yet, whilst she Arnold favoured, he so grieved,As loyal subjects quietly bemoanTheir yoke, but raise no war to be relieved,Nor through the envied fav'rite wound the throne.
14 Young Goltho next these rivals we may name,Whose manhood dawned early as summer light;As sure and soon did his fair day proclaim,And was no less the joy of public sight.
15 If love's just power he did not early see,Some small excuse we may his error give;Since few, though learn'd, know yet blest love to beThat secret vital heat by which we live:
16 But such it is; and though we may be thoughtTo have in childhood life, ere love we know,Yet life is useless till by reason taught,And love and reason up together grow.
17 Nor more the old show they outlive their love,If, when their love's decayed, some signs they giveOf life, because we see them pained and move,Than snakes, long cut, by torment show they live.
18 If we call living, life, when love is gone,We then to souls, God's coin, vain reverence pay;Since reason, which is love, and his best knownAnd current image, age has worn away.
19 And I, that love and reason thus unite,May, if I old philosophers control,Confirm the new by some new poet's light,Who, finding love, thinks he has found the soul.
20 From Goltho, to whom love yet tasteless seemed,We to ripe Tybalt are by order led;Tybalt, who love and valour both esteemed,And he alike from either's wounds had bled.
21 Public his valour was, but not his love,One filled the world, the other he contained;Yet quietly alike in both did move,Of that ne'er boasted, nor of this complained.
22 With these, whose special names verse shall preserve,Many to this recorded hunting came;Whose worth authentic mention did deserve,But from Time's deluge few are saved by Fame.
23 New like a giant lover rose the sunFrom the ocean queen, fine in his fires and great;Seemed all the morn for show, for strength at noon,As if last night she had not quenched his heat.
24 And the sun's servants, who his rising wait,His pensioners, for so all lovers are,And all maintained by him at a high rateWith daily fire, now for the chase prepare.
25 All were, like hunters, clad in cheerful green,Young Nature's livery, and each at strifeWho most adorned in favours should be seen,Wrought kindly by the lady of his life.
26 These martial favours on their waists they wear,On which, for now they conquest celebrate,In an embroidered history appearLike life, the vanquished in their fears and fate.
27 And on these belts, wrought with their ladies' care,Hung cimeters of Akon's trusty steel;Goodly to see, and he who durst compareThose ladies' eyes, might soon their temper feel.
28 Cheered as the woods, where new-waked choirs they meet,Are all; and now dispose their choice relaysOf horse and hounds, each like each other fleet;Which best, when with themselves compared, we praise.
29 To them old forest spies, the harbourers,With haste approach, wet as still weeping night,Or deer that mourn their growth of head with tears,When the defenceless weight does hinder flight.
30 And dogs, such whose cold secrecy was meantBy Nature for surprise, on these attend;Wise, temperate lime-hounds that proclaim no scent,Nor harb'ring will their mouths in boasting spend.
31 Yet vainlier far than traitors boast their prize,On which their vehemence vast rates does lay,Since in that worth their treason's credit lies,These harb'rers praise that which they now betray.
32 Boast they have lodged a stag, that all the raceOutruns of Croton horse, or Rhegian hounds;A stag made long since royal in the chase,If kings can honour give by giving wounds.
33 For Aribert had pierced him at a bay,Yet 'scaped he by the vigour of his head;And many a summer since has won the day,And often left his Rhegian followers dead.
34 His spacious beam, that even the rights outgrew,From antler to his troch had all allowed,By which his age the aged woodmen knew,Who more than he were of that beauty proud.
35 Now each relay a several station finds,Ere the triumphant train the copse surrounds;Relays of horse, long breathed as winter winds,And their deep cannon-mouthed experienced hounds.
36 The huntsmen, busily concerned in show,As if the world were by this beast undone,And they against him hired as Nature's foe,In haste uncouple, and their hounds outrun.
37 Now wind they a recheat, the roused deer's knell,And through the forest all the beasts are awed;Alarmed by Echo, Nature's sentinel,Which shows that murderous man is come abroad.
38 Tyrannic man! thy subjects' enemy!And more through wantonness than need or hate,From whom the winged to their coverts fly,And to their dens even those that lay in wait.
39 So this, the most successful of his kind,Whose forehead's force oft his opposers pressed,Whose swiftness left pursuers' shafts behind,Is now of all the forest most distressed!
40 The herd deny him shelter, as if taughtTo know their safety is to yield him lost;Which shows they want not the results of thought,But speech, by which we ours for reason boast.
41 We blush to see our politics in beasts,Who many saved by this one sacrifice;And since through blood they follow interests,Like us when cruel should be counted wise.
42 His rivals, that his fury used to fearFor his loved female, now his faintness shun;But were his season hot, and she but near,(O mighty love!) his hunters were undone.
43 From thence, well blown, he comes to the relay,Where man's famed reason proves but cowardice,And only serves him meanly to betray;Even for the flying, man in ambush lies.
44 But now, as his last remedy to live,(For every shift for life kind Nature makes,Since life the utmost is which she can give,)Cool Adice from the swoln bank he takes.
45 But this fresh bath the dogs will make him leave,Whom he sure-nosed as fasting tigers found;Their scent no north-east wind could e'er deceiveWhich drives the air, nor flocks that soil the ground.
46 Swift here the fliers and pursuers seem;The frighted fish swim from their Adice,The dogs pursue the deer, he the fleet stream,And that hastes too to the Adriatic sea.
47 Refreshed thus in this fleeting element,He up the steadfast shore did boldly rise;And soon escaped their view, but not their scent,That faithful guide, which even conducts their eyes.
48 This frail relief was like short gales of breath,Which oft at sea a long dead calm prepare;Or like our curtains drawn at point of death,When all our lungs are spent, to give us air.
49 For on the shore the hunters him attend:And whilst the chase grew warm as is the day,(Which now from the hot zenith does descend,)He is embossed, and wearied to a bay.
50 The jewel, life, he must surrender here,Which the world's mistress, Nature, does not give,But like dropped favours suffers us to wear,Such as by which pleased lovers think they live.
51 Yet life he so esteems, that he allowsIt all defence his force and rage can make;And to the eager dogs such fury shows,As their last blood some unrevenged forsake.
52 But now the monarch murderer comes in,Destructive man! whom Nature would not arm,As when in madness mischief is foreseen,We leave it weaponless for fear of harm.
53 For she defenceless made him, that he mightLess readily offend; but art arms all,From single strife makes us in numbers fight;And by such art this royal stag did fall.
54 He weeps till grief does even his murderers pierce;Grief which so nobly through his anger strove,That it deserved the dignity of verse,And had it words, as humanly would move.
55 Thrice from the ground his vanquished head he reared,And with last looks his forest walks did view;Where sixty summers he had ruled the herd,And where sharp dittany now vainly grew:
56 Whose hoary leaves no more his wounds shall heal;For with a sigh (a blast of all his breath)That viewless thing, called life, did from him steal,And with their bugle-horns they wind his death.
57 Then with their annual wanton sacrifice,Taught by old custom, whose decrees are vain,And we, like humorous antiquaries, that prizeAge, though deformed, they hasten to the plain.
58 Thence homeward bend as westward as the sun,Where Gondibert's allies proud feasts prepare,That day to honour which his grandsire won;Though feasts the eyes to funerals often are.
59 One from the forest now approached their sight,Who them did swiftly on the spur pursue;One there still resident as day and night,And known as the eldest oak which in it grew:
60 Who, with his utmost breath advancing, cries,(And such a vehemence no heart could feign,)'Away! happy the man that fastest flies!Fly, famous Duke! fly with thy noble train!'
61 The Duke replied: 'Though with thy fears disguised,Thou dost my sire's old ranger's image bear,And for thy kindness shalt not be despised;Though counsels are but weak which come from fear.
62 'Were dangers here, great as thy love can shape,And love with fear can danger multiply,Yet when by flight thou bidst us meanly 'scape,Bid trees take wings, and rooted forests fly.'
63 Then said the ranger: 'You are bravely lost!'(And like high anger his complexion rose.)'As little know I fear as how to boast;But shall attend you through your many foes.
64 'See where in ambush mighty Oswald lay!And see, from yonder lawn he moves apace,With lances armed to intercept thy way,Now thy sure steeds are wearied with the chase.
65 'His purple banners you may there behold,Which, proudly spread, the fatal raven bear;And full five hundred I by rank have told,Who in their gilded helms his colours wear.'
66 The Duke this falling storm does now discern;Bids little Hugo fly! but 'tis to viewThe foe, and timely their first count'nance learn,Whilst firm he in a square his hunters drew.
67 And Hugo soon, light as his courser's heels,Was in their faces troublesome as wind;And like to it so wingedly he wheels,No one could catch, what all with trouble find.
68 But everywhere the leaders and the ledHe temperately observed with a slow sight;Judged by their looks how hopes and fears were fed,And by their order their success in fight.
69 Their number, 'mounting to the ranger's guess,In three divisions evenly was disposed;And that their enemies might judge it less,It seemed one gross with all the spaces closed.
70 The van fierce Oswald led, where ParadineAnd manly Dargonet, both of his blood,Outshined the noon, and their minds' stock withinPromised to make that outward glory good.
71 The next, bold, but unlucky Hubert led,Brother to Oswald, and no less alliedTo the ambitions which his soul did wed;Lowly without, but lined with costly pride.
72 Most to himself his valour fatal was,Whose glories oft to others dreadful were;So comets, though supposed destruction's cause,But waste themselves to make their gazers fear.
73 And though his valour seldom did succeed,His speech was such as could in storms persuade;Sweet as the hopes on which starved lovers feed,Breathed in the whispers of a yielding maid.
74 The bloody Borgio did conduct the rear,Whom sullen Vasco heedfully attends;To all but to themselves they cruel were,And to themselves chiefly by mischief friends.
75 War, the world's art, nature to them became;In camps begot, born, and in anger bred;The living vexed till death, and then their fame,Because even fame some life is to the dead.
76 Cities, wise statesmen's folds for civil sheep,They sacked, as painful shearers of the wise;For they like careful wolves would lose their sleep,When others' prosperous toils might be their prize.
77 Hugo amongst these troops spied many more,Who had, as brave destroyers, got renown;And many forward wounds in boast they wore,Which, if not well revenged, had ne'er been shown.
78 Such the bold leaders of these lancers were,Which of the Brescian veterans did consist;Whose practised age might charge of armies bear,And claim some rank in Fame's eternal list.
79 Back to his Duke the dexterous Hugo flies,What he observed he cheerfully declares;With noble pride did what he liked despise;For wounds he threatened whilst he praised their scars.
80 Lord Arnold cried, 'Vain is the bugle-horn,Where trumpets men to manly work invite!That distant summons seems to say, in scorn,We hunters may be hunted hard ere night.'
81 'Those beasts are hunted hard that hard can fly,'Replied aloud the noble Hurgonil;'But we, not used to flight, know best to die;And those who know to die, know how to kill.
82 'Victors through number never gained applause;If they exceed our count in arms and men,It is not just to think that odds, becauseOne lover equals any other ten.'
1 The King, who never time nor power misspentIn subject's bashfulness, whiling great deedsLike coward councils, who too late consent,Thus to his secret will aloud proceeds:
2 'If to thy fame, brave youth, I could add wings,Or make her trumpet louder by my voice,I would, as an example drawn for kings,Proclaim the cause why thou art now my choice.
* * * * *
3 'For she is yours, as your adoption free;And in that gift my remnant life I give;But 'tis to you, brave youth! who now are she;And she that heaven where secondly I live.
4 'And richer than that crown, which shall be thineWhen life's long progress I have gone with fame,Take all her love; which scarce forbears to shine,And own thee, through her virgin curtain, shame.'
5 Thus spake the king; and Rhodalind appearedThrough published love, with so much bashfulness,As young kings show, when by surprise o'erheard,Moaning to favourite ears a deep distress.
6 For love is a distress, and would be hidLike monarchs' griefs, by which they bashful grow;And in that shame beholders they forbid;Since those blush most, who most their blushes show.
7 And Gondibert, with dying eyes, did grieveAt her vailed love, a wound he cannot heal,As great minds mourn, who cannot then relieveThe virtuous, when through shame they want conceal.
8 And now cold Birtha's rosy looks decay;Who in fear's frost had like her beauty died,But that attendant hope persuades her stayA while, to hear her Duke; who thus replied:
9 'Victorious King! abroad your subjects are,Like legates, safe; at home like altars free!Even by your fame they conquer, as by war;And by your laws safe from each other be.
10 'A king you are o'er subjects so, as wiseAnd noble husbands seem o'er loyal wives;Who claim not, yet confess their liberties,And brag to strangers of their happy lives.
11 'To foes a winter storm; whilst your friends bow,Like summer trees, beneath your bounty's load;To me, next him whom your great self, with lowAnd cheerful duty, serves, a giving God.
12 'Since this is you, and Rhodalind, the lightBy which her sex fled virtue find, is yours,Your diamond, which tests of jealous sight,The stroke, and fire, and Oisel's juice endures;
13 'Since she so precious is, I shall appearAll counterfeit, of art's disguises made;And never dare approach her lustre near,Who scarce can hold my value in the shade.
14 'Forgive me that I am not what I seem;But falsely have dissembled an excessOf all such virtues as you most esteem;But now grow good but as I ills confess.
15 'Far in ambition's fever am I gone!Like raging flame aspiring is my love;Like flame destructive too, and, like the sun,Does round the world tow'rds change of objects move.
16 'Nor is this now through virtuous shame confessed;But Rhodalind does force my conjured fear,As men whom evil spirits have possessed,Tell all when saintly votaries appear.
17 'When she will grace the bridal dignity,It will be soon to all young monarchs known;Who then by posting through the world will tryWho first can at her feet present his crown.
18 'Then will Verona seem the inn of kings,And Rhodalind shall at her palace gateSmile, when great love these royal suitors brings;Who for that smile would as for empire wait.
19 'Amongst this ruling race she choice may takeFor warmth of valour, coolness of the mind,Eyes that in empire's drowsy calms can wake,In storms look out, in darkness dangers find;
20 'A prince who more enlarges power than lands,Whose greatness is not what his map contains;But thinks that his where he at full commands,Not where his coin does pass, but power remains.
21 'Who knows that power can never be too high;When by the good possessed, for 'tis in themThe swelling Nile, from which though people fly,They prosper most by rising of the stream.
22 'Thus, princes, you should choose; and you will find,Even he, since men are wolves, must civilise,As light does tame some beasts of savage kind,Himself yet more, by dwelling in your eyes.'
23 Such was the Duke's reply; which did produceThoughts of a diverse shape through several ears:His jealous rivals mourn at his excuse;But Astragon it cures of all his fears,
24 Birtha his praise of Rhodalind bewails;And now her hope a weak physician seems;For hope, the common comforter, prevailsLike common medicines, slowly in extremes.
25 The King (secure in offered empire) takesThis forced excuse as troubled bashfulness,And a disguise which sudden passion makes,To hide more joy than prudence should express.
26 And Rhodalind, who never loved before,Nor could suspect his love was given away,Thought not the treasure of his breast so poor,But that it might his debts of honour pay.
27 To hasten the rewards of his desert,The King does to Verona him command;And, kindness so imposed, not all his artCan now instruct his duty to withstand.
28 Yet whilst the King does now his time disposeIn seeing wonders, in this palace shown,He would a parting kindness pay to thoseWho of their wounds are yet not perfect grown.
29 And by this fair pretence, whilst on the KingLord Astragon through all the house attends,Young Orgo does the Duke to Birtha bring,Who thus her sorrows to his bosom sends:
30 'Why should my storm your life's calm voyage vex?Destroying wholly virtue's race in one:So by the first of my unlucky sex,All in a single ruin were undone.
31 'Make heavenly Rhodalind your bride! whilst I,Your once loved maid, excuse you, since I knowThat virtuous men forsake so willinglyLong-cherished life, because to heaven they go.
32 'Let me her servant be: a dignity,Which if your pity in my fall procures,I still shall value the advancement high,Not as the crown is hers, but she is yours.'
33 Ere this high sorrow up to dying grew,The Duke the casket opened, and from thence,Formed like a heart, a cheerful emerald drew;Cheerful, as if the lively stone had sense.
34 The thirtieth caract it had doubled twice;Not taken from the Attic silver mine,Nor from the brass, though such, of nobler price,Did on the necks of Parthian ladies shine:
35 Nor yet of those which make the Ethiop proud;Nor taken from those rocks where Bactrians climb:But from the Scythian, and without a cloud;Not sick at fire, nor languishing with time.
36 Then thus he spake: 'This, Birtha, from my maleProgenitors, was to the loyal sheOn whose kind heart they did in love prevail,The nuptial pledge, and this I give to thee:
37 'Seven centuries have passed, since it from brideTo bride did first succeed; and though 'tis knownFrom ancient lore, that gems much virtue hide,And that the emerald is the bridal stone:
38 'Though much renowned because it chastens loves,And will, when worn by the neglected wife,Show when her absent lord disloyal proves,By faintness, and a pale decay of life.
39 'Though emeralds serve as spies to jealous brides,Yet each compared to this does counsel keep;Like a false stone, the husband's falsehood hides,Or seems born blind, or feigns a dying sleep.
40 'With this take Orgo, as a better spy,Who may in all your kinder fears be sentTo watch at court, if I deserve to dieBy making this to fade, and you lament.'
41 Had now an artful pencil Birtha drawn,With grief all dark, then straight with joy all light,He must have fancied first, in early dawn,A sudden break of beauty out of night.
42 Or first he must have marked what paleness fear,Like nipping frost, did to her visage bring;Then think he sees, in a cold backward year,A rosy morn begin a sudden spring.
43 Her joys, too vast to be contained in speech,Thus she a little spake: 'Why stoop you down,My plighted lord, to lowly Birtha's reach,Since Rhodalind would lift you to a crown?
44 'Or why do I, when I this plight embrace,Boldly aspire to take what you have given?But that your virtue has with angels place,And 'tis a virtue to aspire to heaven.
45 'And as towards heaven all travel on their knees,So I towards you, though love aspire, will move:And were you crowned, what could you better pleaseThen awed obedience led by bolder love?
46 'If I forget the depth from whence I rise,Far from your bosom banished be my heart;Or claim a right by beauty to your eyes;Or proudly think my chastity desert.
47 'But thus ascending from your humble maidTo be your plighted bride, and then your wife,Will be a debt that shall be hourly paid,Till time my duty cancel with my life.
48 'And fruitfully, if heaven e'er make me bringYour image to the world, you then my prideNo more shall blame than you can tax the springFor boasting of those flowers she cannot hide.
49 'Orgo I so receive as I am taughtBy duty to esteem whate'er you love;And hope the joy he in this jewel broughtWill luckier than his former triumphs prove.
50 'For though but twice he has approached my sight,He twice made haste to drown me in my tears:But now I am above his planet's spite,And as for sin beg pardon for my fears.'
51 Thus spake she: and with fixed, continued sightThe Duke did all her bashful beauties view;Then they with kisses sealed their sacred plight,Like flowers, still sweeter as they thicker grew.
52 Yet must these pleasures feel, though innocent,The sickness of extremes, and cannot last;For power, love's shunned impediment, has sentTo tell the Duke his monarch is in haste:
53 And calls him to that triumph which he fearsSo as a saint forgiven, whose breast does allHeaven's joys contain, wisely loved pomp forbears,Lest tempted nature should from blessings fall.
54 He often takes his leave, with love's delay,And bids her hope he with the King shall find,By now appearing forward to obey,A means to serve him less in Rhodalind.
55 She weeping to her closet window hies,Where she with tears doth Rhodalind survey;As dying men, who grieve that they have eyes,When they through curtains spy the rising day.
Of this poetical divine we know nothing, except that he was born in 1591, and died in 1669,—that he was chaplain to James I., and Bishop of Chichester,—and that he indited some poetry as pious in design as it is pretty in execution.
Like to the falling of a star,Or as the flights of eagles are;Or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue,Or silver drops of morning dew;Or like a wind that chafes the flood,Or bubbles which on water stood:Even such is man, whose borrowed lightIs straight called in, and paid to-night.
The wind blows out, the bubble dies;The spring entombed in autumn lies;The dew dries up, the star is shot:The flight is past—and man forgot.
1 Dry those fair, those crystal eyes,Which like growing fountains riseTo drown their banks! Grief's sullen brooksWould better flow in furrowed looks:Thy lovely face was never meantTo be the shore of discontent.
2 Then clear those waterish stars again,Which else portend a lasting rain;Lest the clouds which settle thereProlong my winter all the year,And thy example others makeIn love with sorrow, for thy sake.
1 What is the existence of man's lifeBut open war or slumbered strife?Where sickness to his sense presentsThe combat of the elements,And never feels a perfect peaceTill death's cold hand signs his release.
2 It is a storm—where the hot bloodOutvies in rage the boiling flood:And each loud passion of the mindIs like a furious gust of wind,Which beats the bark with many a wave,Till he casts anchor in the grave.
3 It is a flower—which buds, and grows,And withers as the leaves disclose;Whose spring and fall faint seasons keep,Like fits of waking before sleep,Then shrinks into that fatal mouldWhere its first being was enrolled.
4 It is a dream—whose seeming truthIs moralised in age and youth;Where all the comforts he can shareAs wandering as his fancies are,Till in a mist of dark decayThe dreamer vanish quite away.
5 It is a dial—which points outThe sunset as it moves about;And shadows out in lines of nightThe subtle stages of Time's flight,Till all-obscuring earth hath laidHis body in perpetual shade.
6 It is a weary interlude—Which doth short joys, long woes, include:The world the stage, the prologue tears;The acts vain hopes and varied fears;The scene shuts up with loss of breath,And leaves no epilogue but Death!
This author was of the age of Spenser, and is said to have been an acquaintance and friend of that poet. It was not, however, till 1683 that good old Izaak Walton published 'Thealma and Clearchus,' a pas- toral romance, which, he stated, had been written long since by John Chalkhill, Esq. He says of the author, 'that he was in his time a man generally known, and as well beloved; for he was humble and obliging in his behaviour—a gentleman, a scholar, very innocent and prudent, and indeed his whole life was useful, quiet, and virtuous.' Some have suspected that this production proceeded from the pen of Walton himself. This, however, is rendered extremely unlikely—first, by the fact that Walton, when he printed 'Thealma,' was ninety years of age; and, secondly, by the difference in style and purpose between that poem and Walton's avowed productions. The mind of Walton was quietly ingenious; that of the author of 'Thealma' is adventurous and fantastic. Walton loved 'the green pastures and the still waters' of the Present; the other, the golden groves and ideal wildernesses of the Golden Age in the Past.
'Thealma and Clearchus' may be called an 'Arcadia' in rhyme. It resembles that work of Sir Philip Sidney, not only in subject, but in execution. Its plot is dark and puzzling, its descriptions are rich to luxuriance, its narrative is tedious, and its characters are mere shadows. But although a dream, it is a dream of genius, and brings beautifully before our imagination that early period in the world's history, in which poets and painters have taught us to believe, when the heavens were nearer, the skies clearer, the fat of the earth richer, the foam of the sea brighter, than in our degenerate days;—when shepherds, reposing under broad, umbrageous oaks, saw, or thought they saw, in the groves the shadow of angels, and on the mountain-summits the descending footsteps of God. Chalkhill resembles, of all our modern poets, perhaps Shelley most, in the ideality of his conception, the enthusiasm of his spirit, and the unmitigated gorgeousness of his imagination.
Arcadia, was of old, a state,Subject to none but their own laws and fate;Superior there was none, but what old ageAnd hoary hairs had raised; the wise and sage,Whose gravity, when they are rich in years,Begat a civil reverence more than fearsIn the well-mannered people; at that day,All was in common, every man bare swayO'er his own family; the jars that roseWere soon appeased by such grave men as those:This mine and thine, that we so cavil for,Was then not heard of; he that was most poorWas rich in his content, and lived as freeAs they whose flocks were greatest; nor did heEnvy his great abundance, nor the otherDisdain the low condition of his brother,But lent him from his store to mend his state,And with his love he quits him, thanks his fate;And, taught by his example, seeks out suchAs want his help, that they may do as much.Their laws, e'en from their childhood, rich and poorHad written in their hearts, by conning o'erThe legacies of good old men, whose memoriesOutlive their monuments, the grave adviceThey left behind in writing;—this was thatThat made Arcadia then so blest a state;Their wholesome laws had linked them so in one,They lived in peace and sweet communion.Peace brought forth plenty, plenty bred content,And that crowned all their plans with merriment.They had no foe, secure they lived in tents,All was their own they had, they paid no rents;Their sheep found clothing, earth provided food,And labour dressed them as their wills thought good;On unbought delicates their hunger fed,And for their drink the swelling clusters bled;The valleys rang with their delicious strains,And pleasure revelled on those happy plains;Content and labour gave them length of days,And peace served in delight a thousand ways.
Scarce had the ploughman yoked his horned team,And locked their traces to the crooked beam,When fair Thealma, with a maiden scorn,That day before her rise, outblushed the morn;Scarce had the sun gilded the mountain-tops,When forth she leads her tender ewes.
* * * * *
Down in a valley, 'twixt two rising hills,From whence the dew in silver drops distilsTo enrich the lowly plain, a river ran,Hight Cygnus, (as some think, from Leda's swanThat there frequented;) gently on it glides,And makes indentures in her crooked sides,And with her silent murmurs rocks asleepHer watery inmates; 'twas not very deep,But clear as that Narcissus looked in, whenHis self-love made him cease to live with men.Close by the river was a thick-leafed grove,Where swains of old sang stories of their love,But unfrequented now since Colin died—Colin, that king of shepherds, and the prideOf all Arcadia;—here Thealma usedTo feed her milky droves; and as they browsed,Under the friendly shadow of a beechShe sat her down; grief had tongue-tied her speech,Her words were sighs and tears—dumb eloquence—Heard only by the sobs, and not the sense.With folded arms she sat, as if she meantTo hug those woes which in her breast were pent;Her looks were nailed to earth, that drankHer tears with greediness, and seemed to thankHer for those briny showers, and in lieuReturns her flowery sweetness for her dew.
* * * * *
'O my Clearchus!' said she, and with tearsEmbalms his name: 'oh, if the ghosts have ears,Or souls departed condescend so low,To sympathise with mortals in their woe,Vouchsafe to lend a gentle ear to me,Whose life is worse than death, since not with thee.What privilege have they that are born greatMove than the meanest swain? The proud waves beatWith more impetuousness upon high lands,Than on the flat and less-resisting strands:The lofty cedar, and the knotty oak,Are subject more unto the thunder-stroke,Than the low shrubs that no such shocks endure;Even their contempt doth make them live secure.Had I been born the child of some poor swain,Whose thoughts aspire no higher than the plain,I had been happy then; t'have kept these sheep,Had been a princely pleasure; quiet sleepHad drowned my cares, or sweetened them with dreams:Love and content had been my music's themes;Or had Clearchus lived the life I lead,I had been blest!'
Within a little silent grove hard by,Upon a small ascent, he might espyA stately chapel, richly gilt without,Beset with shady sycamores about:And ever and anon he might well hearA sound of music steal in at his earAs the wind gave it being; so sweet an airWould strike a syren mute.—
* * * * *
A hundred virgins there he might espyProstrate before a marble deity,Which, by its portraiture, appeared to beThe image of Diana; on their kneeThey tendered their devotions, with sweet airs,Offering the incense of their praise and prayers.Their garments all alike; beneath their papsBuckled together with a silver claps,And 'cross their snowy silken robes, they woreAn azure scarf, with stars embroidered o'er.Their hair in curious tresses was knit up,Crowned with a silver crescent on the top.A silver bow their left hand held, their right,For their defence, held a sharp-headed flightDrawn from their broidered quiver, neatly tiedIn silken cords, and fastened to their side.Under their vestments, something short before,White buskins, laced with ribanding, they wore.It was a catching sight for a young eye,That love had fired before. He might espyOne, whom the rest had sphere-like circled round,Whose head was with a golden chaplet crowned.He could not see her face, only his earWas blessed with the sweet sounds that came from her.
——Tricked herself in all her best attire,As if she meant this day to invite desireTo fall in love with her; her loose hairHung on her shoulders, sporting with the air;Her brow a coronet of rosebuds crowned,With loving woodbines' sweet embraces bound.Two globe-like pearls were pendant to her ears,And on her breast a costly gem she wears,An adamant, in fashion like a heart,Whereon Love sat, a-plucking out a dart,With this same motto graven round about,On a gold border, 'Sooner in than out.'This gem Clearchus gave her, when, unknown,At tilt his valour won her for his own.Instead of bracelets on her wrists, she woreA pair of golden shackles, chained beforeUnto a silver ring, enamelled blue,Whereon in golden letters to the viewThis motto was presented, 'Bound, yet free,'And in a true-love's knot, a T and CBuckled it fast together; her silk gownOf grassy green, in equal plaits hung downUnto the earth; and as she went, the flowers,Which she had broidered on it at spare hours,Were wrought so to the life, they seemed to growIn a green field; and as the wind did blow,Sometimes a lily, then a rose, takes place,And blushing seems to hide it in the grass:And here and there good oats 'mong pearls she strew,That seemed like spinning glow-worms in the dew.Her sleeves were tinsel, wrought with leaves of greenIn equal distance spangeled between,And shadowed over with a thin lawn cloud,Through which her workmanship more graceful showed.
Down in a gloomy valley, thick with shade,Which two aspiring hanging rocks had made,That shut out day, and barred the glorious sunFrom prying into the actions there done;Set full of box and cypress, poplar, yew,And hateful elder that in thickets grew,Among whose boughs the screech-owl and night-crowSadly recount their prophecies of woe,Where leather-winged bats, that hate the light,Fan the thick air, more sooty than the night.The ground o'ergrown with weeds and bushy shrubs,Where milky hedgehogs nurse their prickly cubs:And here and there a mandrake grows, that strikesThe hearers dead with their loud fatal shrieks;Under whose spreading leaves the ugly toad,The adder, and the snake, make their abode.Here dwelt Orandra; so the witch was hight,And hither had she toiled him by a sleight:She knew Anaxus was to go to court,And, envying virtue, she made it her sportTo hinder him, sending her airy spiesForth with delusion to entrap his eyes,As would have fired a hermit's chill desiresInto a flame; his greedy eye admiresThe more than human beauty of her face,And much ado he had to shun the grace;Conceit had shaped her out so like his love,That he was once about in vain to proveWhether 'twas his Clarinda, yea or no,But he bethought him of his herb, and soThe shadow vanished; many a weary stepIt led the prince, that pace with it still kept,Until it brought him by a hellish powerUnto the entrance of Orandra's bower,Where underneath an elder-tree he spiedHis man Pandevius, pale and hollow-eyed;Inquiring of the cunning witch what fateBetid his master; they were newly sateWhen his approach disturbed them; up she rose,And toward Anaxus (envious hag) she goes;Pandevius she had charmed into a maze,And struck him mute, all he could do was gaze.He called him by his name, but all in vain,Echo returns 'Pandevius' back again;Which made him wonder, when a sudden fearShook all his joints: she, cunning hag, drew near,And smelling to his herb, he recollectsHis wandering spirits, and with anger checksHis coward fears; resolved now to outdareThe worst of dangers, whatsoe'er they were;He eyed her o'er and o'er, and still his eyeFound some addition to deformity.An old decrepit hag she was, grown whiteWith frosty age, and withered with despiteAnd self-consuming hate; in furs yclad,And on her head a thrummy cap she had.Her knotty locks, like to Alecto's snakes,
Hang down about her shoulders, which she shakesInto disorder; on her furrowed browOne might perceive Time had been long at plough.Her eyes, like candle-snuffs, by age sunk quiteInto their sockets, yet like cats' eyes bright:And in the darkest night like fire they shined,The ever-open windows of her mind.Her swarthy cheeks, Time, that all things consumes,Had hollowed flat into her toothless gums.Her hairy brows did meet above her nose,That like an eagle's beak so crooked grows,It well-nigh kissed her chin; thick bristled hairGrew on her upper lip, and here and thereA rugged wart with grisly hairs behung;Her breasts shrunk up, her nails and fingers long;Her left leant on a staff, in her right handShe always carried her enchanting wand.Splay-footed, beyond nature, every partSo patternless deformed, 'twould puzzle artTo make her counterfeit; only her tongue,Nature had that most exquisitely strung,Her oily language came so smoothly from her,And her quaint action did so well become her,Her winning rhetoric met with no trips,But chained the dull'st attention to her lips.With greediness he heard, and though he stroveTo shake her off, the more her words did move.She wooed him to her cell, called him her son,And with fair promises she quickly wonHim to her beck; or rather he, to tryWhat she could do, did willingly comply,With her request. * * *Her cell was hewn out of the marble rockBy more than human art; she did not knock,The door stood always open, large and wide,Grown o'er with woolly moss on either side,And interwove with ivy's nattering twines,Through which the carbuncle and diamond shines.Not set by Art, but there by Nature sownAt the world's birth, so star-like bright they shone.They served instead of tapers to give lightTo the dark entry, where perpetual Night,Friend to black deeds, and sire of Ignorance,Shuts out all knowledge, lest her eye by chanceMight bring to light her follies: in they went,The ground was strewed with flowers, whose sweet scent,Mixed with the choice perfumes from India brought,Intoxicates his brain, and quickly caughtHis credulous sense; the walls were gilt, and setWith precious stones, and all the roof was fretWith a gold vine, whose straggling branches spreadAll o'er the arch; the swelling grapes were red;This Art had made of rubies, clustered so,To the quick'st eye they more than seemed to grow;About the wall lascivious pictures hung,Such as were of loose Ovid sometimes sung.On either side a crew of dwarfish elvesHeld waxen tapers, taller than themselves:Yet so well shaped unto their little stature,So angel-like in face, so sweet in feature;Their rich attire so differing; yet so wellBecoming her that wore it, none could tellWhich was the fairest, which the handsomest decked,Or which of them desire would soon'st affect.After a low salute they all 'gan sing,And circle in the stranger in a ring.Orandra to her charms was stepped aside,Leaving her guest half won and wanton-eyed.He had forgot his herb: cunning delightHad so bewitched his ears, and bleared his sight,And captivated all his senses so,That he was not himself; nor did he knowWhat place he was in, or how he came there,But greedily he feeds his eye and earWith what would ruin him;—* * * * *Next unto his viewShe represents a banquet, ushered inBy such a shape as she was sure would winHis appetite to taste; so like she wasTo his Clarinda, both in shape and face;So voiced, so habited, of the same gaitAnd comely gesture; on her brow in stateSat such a princely majesty, as heHad noted in Clarinda; save that sheHad a more wanton eye, that here and thereRolled up and down, not settling any where.Down on the ground she falls his hand to kiss,And with her tears bedews it; cold as iceHe felt her lips, that yet inflamed him so,That he was all on fire the truth to know,Whether she was the same she did appear,Or whether some fantastic form it were,Fashioned in his imaginationBy his still working thoughts, so fixed uponHis loved Clarinda, that his fancy strove,Even with her shadow, to express his love.