Mean while in buxom mirth they spend the feast.
Ill fares the mortal man too much who knows;
Oft shall he wish himself from thought releaft;
The fatal knowledge in his bofom glows,
And mars his golden reft, and murders foft repose.
XXII.

Sir Chaunticleer now ey'd the rifing day,
And call'd dame Partlet from her vetchy bed ;
Now wakeful Phofpher fpreads his gleamy ray,
And the pale moon conceal'd her filver head;
The cattle brouze the lawn with dew befpread,
While ev'ry bird from out the buskets flies.
Then to the field our lover iffued;

But fleep had feal'd l'Allegro's drousy eyes,
And Bon-vivant also in downy flumber lies.
XXIII.

Our Squire, withouten drad, purfu'd his way,
And look'd around to fpy this monster fell,
And many a well conceited roundelay

He fung in honour of his Columbel :

Mote he, perchaunce, deftroy this spawn of hell,

How eafy were the task to him affign'd ?

The lond of Fairy doth each lond excel;

View there the paragons of woman kind;

View the bright virgins there, and leave thy heart behind.

XXIV.

Ah! lever fhould'st thou try the females there
Than thus unwise another course pursue;

There ev'ry nymph is innocent as fair:
Try what I here advance, you'll find it true.
Hard is our fate while bliss in hopes we few,
Some deadly fiend to blast our joy appears ;
Contentment fweet, alas, is known to few.
Thus for a while the fun the welkin cheers,

But foon he hides his head, and melts in dropping tears.
XXV.

Life is a scene of conteck and distress,

Ne is it longer than a winter's day;

And shall we make our few enjoyments less ?
Far from my cot, thou blatant-beast away.
No husband's noul will I with horns array,
Ne fhall my tongue it's venom'd malice wreak
On tuneful bards, whom laurel crowns apay ;
Ne will I 'gainst the comely matron speak,
Or draw one pearly drop down beauty's rofy cheek.
XXVI.

The Squire of dames rode on with muchel tine
And, as he cast askaunce his greedy look,
He saw empight beneath an auncient pine
A hoary fhepherd leaning on his crook ;

His

His falling tears increas'd the fwelling brook; And he did figh as he would break his heart. "O thou deep-read in forrow's baleful book, "The Squire exclaim'd, areed thy burning fmart; "Our dolors grow more light when we the tale impart.',

XXVII.

To whom the fwain reply'd, " O gentle youth,

"Yon fruitful meads my num'rous herds poffefs'd,

68

My days roll'd on unknown to pain or ruth, "And one fair daughter my old age ybless'd. "Oh, had you feen her for the wake ydrefs'd "With kirtle ty'd with many a colour'd string, 66 Thy tongue to all the world had then confefs'd "That she was sheener than the pheasant's wing, "And, when she rais'd her voice, ne lark fo foot could

"In virtue's thews I bred the lovely maid, "And the right well the leffons did pursue ; "Too wife she was to be by man betray'd; "But the curft blatant-beast her form did view, "And round our plains did spread a tale untrue, "That Rofabella, fpurning marriage band, "Had felt thofe pangs which virgin never knew, "And that Sir Topas my poor girl trepann'd ; "He, who in fable stole doth in our pulpit stand. K 3 XXIX. "Nay,

XXIX.

"Nay, more, the hellish monster has invented, "How a young fwain on Shannon's banks yborn

66

(Had not my care the deep-laid plot prevented)
"Would from my arms my Rosabel have born.
"Have I not caufe to weep from rifing morn
"Till Phoebus welketh in the western main,
"To fee my dearling's fame thus vildly torn?
"Have I not caufe to nourish endless pain ?"
At this he deeply figh'd, and wept full fore again.
XXX.

"Curft be this blatant-beast, reply'd the Squire,
"That thus infefts your fea-begirted isle ;
"Shew me his face, that I may wreak mine ire
"Upon this imp of hell, this monster vile."

Away from hence not paffing fure a mile, "Might I advise you, you had better wend,"

Return'd the fwain, Deep-read in magick-style

"There Merlin wons, fue him to be

your friend

;

"And left you mifs your way, myself will you attend."

XXXI.

Together now they seek the hermitage

Deep in the covert of a dusky glade,

Where in his dortour wons the hoary sage.

The mofs-grown trees did form a gloomy shade,

Their

Their ruftling leaves a folemn mufick made,
And fairies nightly tripp'd the awful green,
And if the tongue of fame have truth display'd,'
Full many a spectre was at midnight feen,

Torn from his earthly grave, a horrid fight! I ween.
XXXII.

Ne rofe, ne vi'let glads the cheerless bow'r,
Ne fringed pink from earth's green bofom grew;
But hemlock dire, and ev'ry baleful flow'r
Might here be found, and knots of mystick rue.
Close to the cell fprong up an auncient yew,
And ftore of imps were on it's boughs ypight,
At his behefts they from it's branches flew,
And, in a thousand various forms bedight,

Frifk'd to the moon's pale wain, and revell'd all the night
XXXIII.

Around the cave a cluftring ivy spread
In wide embrace his ever-twining arms,
Within, the walls with characters bespread
Declar'd the pow'rful force of magick charms.
Here drugs were plac'd destructive of all harms,
And books that deep futurity could scan:

Here stood a spell that of his

rage

difarms

The mountain lyon 'till he yields to man ;

With many fecrets more, which scarce repeat I can.

K 4

XXXIV. The