115

[hold

121

Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold?
Of other care they little reckoning make,
Than how to scramble at the shearer's feast,
And shove away the worthy bidden guest;
Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to
A sheep-hook, or have learn'd aught else the least
That to the faithful herdman's art belongs!
What recks it them? What need they? They are sped;
And when they list, their lean and flashy songs
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw;
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed,
But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw,
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread;
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw

Daily devours apace, and nothing said

But that two-handed engine at the door

Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.

125

130

115 climb] Crept into the fold.' Prose Works, ii. 381, ed. Symmons.

121 herdman's] Milton writes it 'herdsman,' in his MS. 'Herdman,' is used in our transl. of the Bible, Amos i. 1. Todd.

Stridenti miserum stipula dispendere carmen.' Newton. 125 sheep] See Past. Ægl. by L. B. ver. 130, on Sir P. Sidney's death.

'Unhappie flock! that wander scattred now,

What marvell if through grief ye woxen leane,
Forsake your food, and hang your heads adowne!
For such a shepheard never shall you guide,
Whose parting hath of weale bereft you cleane.'

130 two-handed] 'Yet, maie the ax stande next the dore.' Sir T. Smith's Psalms. Restituta. iv. 189.

Return, Alpheus, the dread voice is past,
That shrunk thy streams; return, Sicilian Muse,
And call the vales, and bid them hither cast
Their bells, and flow'rets of a thousand hues.
Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,
On whose fresh lap the swart-star sparely looks:
Throw hither all your quaint enamell'd eyes,
That on the green turf suck the honied showers,
And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet,
The glowing violet,

The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine,
With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
And every flower that sad embroidery wears:
Bid amarantus all his beauty shed,
And daffadillies fill their cups with tears,
To strow the laureate herse where Lycid lies.
For so to interpose a little ease,

Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise.
Ay me! Whilst thee the shores, and sounding seas

136 use] i. e. frequent, inhabit. Spens. F. Q. Introd. b. vi. st. 2. 'In these strange waies, where never foot did use.' Newton. 138 swart] See Warton's note on this word

153 dally] Gayton's Chartæ Scriptæ, p. 21.

"When our fond thoughts are wearied with the sports
O th' earth, we dally in the watry coasts.'

135

141

145

150

Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurl'd,
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world;
Or whether thou to our moist vows denied,
Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old,
Where the great vision of the guarded mount
Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold;
Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth:
And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.

155

160

Weep no more, woful Shepherds, weep no more, For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead,

Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor;
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,

And

yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore Flames in the forehead of the morning sky;

166

171

So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high,
Thro' the dear might of him that walk'd the waves,
Where other groves, and other streams along,

158 monstrous] The sea, the world of monsters. Hor. Od. i. 3. 18. Virg. Æn. vi. 729.

'Quæ marmoreo fert monstra sub æquore pontus.' Warton. 167 watery floor] Dante Purg. ii. 15. 'Sovra' suol marino.' Davison's Poet. Rhapsodie, p. 78.

169 repairs] Lidgate's Troy, p. 13, 'Long ere Titan 'gan make his repaire.' Browne's Brit. Past. p. 88, Breathes to the sullen night a soft repayre. See Fletcher's Christ's Victory, ii. 12; and the Adamus Exul Grotii, p. 28, 35; and Marino's Slaugh. of the Innoc. p. 45, His light immortal doth repair.' And Lucret. v. 733. 171 forehead] 'Oft scen in forehead of the frowning skies.'

Sylvest. Du Bartas, p. 25.

175

180

With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves,
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song,
In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.
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.
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.

177 blest] Past. Egl. on Sir P. Sidney's death, by L. B. ver. 135. 'Phillisides is dead! Oh happie sprite

That now in heaven with blessed seules doest bide:

Looke down awhile from where thou sitst above,' &c. 190 See Past. Ægl. 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.

185

191

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,

And therefore to our weaker view

5

10

15

O'erlaid with black, staid wisdom's hue;

Black, but such as in esteem

Prince Memnon's sister might beseem,

Or that starr'd Ethiop queen that strove

To set her beauty's praise above

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

13 too bright] Hor. Od. i. xix. 5. Nimium lubricus aspici.' 19 Ethiop] 'Noctem Ethiopissam.' Miltoni Prolus. p. 73. 36

VOL. II.