There entertain him all the saints above,
In solemn troops, and sweet societies,
That sing, and singing in their glory move,
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more;
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore,
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
To all that wander in that perilous flood.

180

185

Thus sang the uncouth swain to th' oaks and

rills,

While the still morn went out with sandals gray,
He touch'd the tender stops of various quills,
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay;
And now the sun had stretch'd out all the hills,
And now was dropt into the western bay;
At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blue:
To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.

191

190 See Past. Egl. on Sir P. Sidney's death, by L. B. ver. 159.

The sun, lo! hastned hath his face to steep

In western waves; and th' aire with stormy showres,
Warnes us to drive homewards our silly sheep:
Lycon, lett's rise ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬‚'

193 To-morrow] Fletcher's P. Island, c. vi. s. 77.

'To-morrow shall ye feast in pastures new' Warton.

IL PENSEROSO.

HENCE, vain deluding joys,

The brood of folly without father bred, How little you bestead,

Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys? Dwell in some idle brain,

And fancies fond with gaudy shapes possess, As thick and numberless

As the gay motes that people the sunbeams, Or likest hovering dreams

The fickle pensioners of Morpheus' train.
But hail thou Goddess, sage and holy,
Hail divinest Melancholy,

Whose saintly visage is too bright

To hit the sense of human sight,

5

10

The Sea-Nymphs, and their pow'rs offended:
Yet thou art higher far descended;

13 too bright] Hor. Od. i. xix. 5. 'Nimium lubricus spici.'

19 Ethiop] Noctem Æthiopissam.' Miltoni Prolus. p. 73.

Thee bright-hair'd Vesta, long of yore,
To solitary Saturn bore;

His daughter she (in Saturn's reign,
Such mixture was not held a stain).
Oft in glimmering bow'rs and glades
He met her, and in secret shades
Of woody Ida's inmost grove,
While yet there was no fear of Jove.
Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure,
Sober, steadfast, and demure,
All in a robe of darkest grain,
Flowing with majestic train,
And sable stole of cyprus lawn,
Over thy decent shoulders drawn.
Come, but keep thy wonted state,
With even step, and musing gait,
And looks commercing with the skies,
Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes:
There held in holy passion still,
Forget thyself to marble, till

With a sad leaden downward cast

Thou fix them on the earth as fast:

And join with thee calm Peace, and Quiet,
Spare Fast, that oft with Gods doth diet,
And hears the Muses in a ring

Aye round about Jove's altar sing:

45

35 cyprus] Winter's Tale, act iv. sc. 3.

'Cyprus black as e'er was crow.'

Warton.

37 keep] State in wonted manner keep.' Jonson's Cynth.

Rev. act v. s. 6. Warton.

And add to these retired Leisure,
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure;
But first, and chiefest, with thee bring,
Him that yon soars on golden wing,
Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne,
The Cherub Contemplation;
Ana the mute Silence hist along,
'Less Philomel will deign a song,
In her sweetest, saddest plight,
Smoothing the rugged brow of night,
While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke,
Gently o'er th' accustom'd oak;

Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly,
Most musical, most melancholy!

Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among

I woo, to hear thy even-song;
And missing thee, I walk unseen
On the dry smooth-shaven green,
To behold the wandering moon,
Riding near her highest noon,
Like one that had been led astray
Through the heav'n's wide pathless way;
And oft, as if her head she bow'd,
Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
Oft on a plat of rising ground,
I hear the far-off curfew sound,

59 Smoothing] Shakesp. Sonnets, 51.

59 checks] Todd's Milton, vol. vi. p. 323.

бе

Riding] Eurip. Suppl. 992. ἱππέουσι δι' ὀρφναιας.

65

70

Over some wide-water'd shore,
Swinging slow with sullen roar;
Or if the air will not permit,
Some still removed place will fit,

Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom;

Far from all resort of mirth,

Save the cricket on the hearth,

Or the bellman's drowsy charm,

To bless the doors from nightly harm:
Or let my lamp at midnight hour
Be seen in some high lonely tow'r,
Where I may oft out-watch the Bear,
With thrice-great Hermes, or unsphere
The spirit of Plato, to unfold

What worlds, or what vast regions hold
The immortal mind, that hath forsook
Her mansion in this fleshly nook:
And of those Demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground,
Whose power hath a true consent
With planet, or with element.
Sometime let gorgeous tragedy
In sceptred pall come sweeping by,
Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line,
Or the tale of Troy divine,

75 wide-water'd] Constable's Son. Ellis's Spec. ii. p. 305. 'Or like the echo of a passing bell,

Which, sounding on the water, seems to howl.'

98 Sceptred] Miltoni Eleg. i. 37.

'Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragoedia sceptrum

Quassat.'

Warton.