He sunk expiring; by their friendly care
Once more reviv'd, he thrice assay'd to speak,
And thrice the rising sobs his voice subdu`d:
Till thus at last his wretched plight he mourn'd.
"Sweet instrument of mirth! sole comfort left
To my declining years! whose sprightly notes
Restor'd my vigour, and renew'd my bloom,
Soft healing balm to every wounded heart!
Despairing, dying swains, from the cold ground
Uprais'd by thee, at thy melodious call,
With ravish'd ears receiv'd the flowing joy.
Gay pleasantry, and care-beguiling joke,
Thy sure attendants were, and at thy voice
All nature smil'd. But, oh, this hand no more
Shall touch thy wanton strings, no more with lays
Alternate, from oblivion dark redeem

The mighty dead, and vindicate their fame.
Vain are thy toils, O Hobbinol! and all
Thy triumphs vain. Who shall record, brave man!
Thy bold exploits? who shell thy grandeur tell,
Supreme of Kiftsgate? See thy faithful bard,
Despoir'd, undone. O cover me, ye hill ‹ !
Whose vocal clifts were taught my joyous song.
Or thou, fair nymph, Avona, on whose banks
The frolic crowd, led by my numerous strains,
Their orgies kept, and frisk'd it o'er the green,
Joound ani gay, while thy remurmuring streams
Dane'd by, weli pleas'd. Oh! let thy friendly waves
O'erwhelm a wretch, and hide this head accurs'd !"
So plains the restless Philomel, her nest,
And callow young, the tender growing hope
Offuture harmony, and frail return

For all her cares, to barbarous churls a prey;
Darkling she sings, the woods repeat her moan.

CANTO III.

THE ARGUMENT.

A

and renown,

Let Quixote's hardy courage,
With Sancho's prudent care be meetly join'd.
O thou of bards supreme, Mæonides!
What well-fed heroes grace thy hallow'd page
Laden with glorious spoils, and gay with blood
Of slaughter'd hosts, the victor chief returns.
Whole Troy before him fled, and men and gods
Oppos'd in vain: for the brave man, whose arm
Repell'd his country's wrongs, ev'n he, the great
Atrides, king of kings, ev'n he prepares
With his own royal hand the sumptuous feast.
Full to the brim, the brazen cauldrons smoke,
Through all the busy camp the rising blaze
Attest their joy; heroes and kings forego
Their state and pride, and at his elbow wait
Obsequious. On a polish'd charger plac'd,
The bulky chine with plenteous fat inlaid,
Of golden hue, magnificently shines.
The choicest morsels sever'd to the gods,
The hero next, well paid for all his wounds,
The rich repast divides with Jove; from out
The sparkling bowl he draws the generous wine
Unmix'd, unmeasur'd; with unstinted joy
His heart o'erflows. In like triumphant port
Sat the victorious Hobbinol; the crowd
Transported view, and bless their glorious chief:
All Kiftsgate sounds his praise with joint acclaim,
Him every voice, him every knee confess,
In merit, as in right, their king. Upon
Their flowery turf, Earth's painted lap, are spread
The rural dainties; such as Nature boon
Presents with lavish hand, or such as owe
To Ganderetta's care their grateful taste,
Delicious. For she long since prepar'd
To celebrate this day, and with good cheer
To grace his triumphs. Crystal gooseberries
Are pil'd on heaps; in vain the parent tree
Defends her luscious fruit with pointed spears.
The ruby tinctur'd corinth clustering hangs,
And emulates the grape; green codlings float
In dulcet creams; nor wants the last year's store;
The hardy nut, in solid mail secure,
Impregnable to winter frosts, repays

Its hoarder's care. The custard's jellied flood
Impatient youth, with greedy joy, devours.
Cheesecakes and pies, in various forms uprais'd,
In well-built pyramids, aspiring stand.
Black hams, and tongues that speechless can persuade
To ply the brisk carouse, and cheer the soul
With jovial draughts. Nor does the jolly god
Deny his precious gifts; here jocund swains,
In uncouth mirth delighted, sporting quaff
Their native beverage; in the brimming glass
The liquid ainber smiles. Britons, no more
Dread your invading foes; let the false Gaul,
Of rule insatiate, potent to deceive,
Pour forth his mumerous hosts; Iberia! join
And great by subtile wiles, from the adverse shore
Thy towering fleets, once more aloft display
Ty consecrated bannes, fill thy sails
With prayers and voys, most formidably strong
In holy trumpery, let old Ocean groan
Beneath the proud Armada, vainly deem'd
Iovineible; yet fruitless all their toils,
Vain every rash effort, while our fat glebe,
barley-grain productive, still supplies
Tflowing treasure, and with sums immense

With native honour, and resistless rage.
Thus vaunt the crowd, each freeborn heart o'erflows
With Britain's glory, and his country's love.

Here, in a merry knot combin'd, the nymphs
Pour out mellifluous streams, the balmy spoils
Of the laborious bee. The modest maid
But coyly sips, and blushing drinks, abash'd:
Each lover with observant eye beholds
Her graceful shame, and at her glowing cheeks
Rekindles all his fires: but matrons sage,
Better experienc'd, and instructed well
In midnight mysteries, and feast-rites old,
Grasp the capacious bowl; nor cease to draw
The spumy nectar. Healths of gay import
Fly merrily about; now Scandal sly,
Insinuating, gilds the specious tale

With treacherous praise, and with a double face
Ambiguous Wantonness demurely sneers,
Till circling brimmers every veil withdraw,
And dauntless Impudence appears unmask'd.
Others apart, in the cool shade retir'd,
Silurian cider quaff, by that great bard
Ennobled, who first taught my groveling Muse
To mount aerial. O! could I but raise
My feeble voice to his exalted strains,
Or to the height of this great argument,
The generous liquid in each line should bound
Spirituous, nor oppressive cork subdue
Its foaming rage; but, to the lofty theme
Unequal, Muse, decline the pleasing task.

Thus they luxurious, on the grassy turf
Revell'd at large: while nought around was heard
But mirth confus'd, and undistinguish'd joy,
And laughter far resounding; serious Care
Found here no place, to Ganderetta's breast
Retiring; there with hopes and fears perplex'd
Her fluctuating mind. Hence the soft sigh
Escapes unheeded, spight of all her art;
The trembling blushes on her lovely cheeks
Alternate ebb and flow; from the full glass
She flies absterious, shuns th' untasted feast:
But careful Hobbinol, whose amorous eye
From her's ne'er wander'd, haunting still the place
Where his dear treasure lay, discover'd soon
Her secret woe, and bore a lover's part.
Compassion melts his soul, her glowing cheeks
He kiss'd, enamour'd, and her panting heart
He press'd to his; then with these soothing words,
Tenderly smiling, her faint hopes reviv'd.

"Courage, my fair! the splended prize is thine. Indulgent Fortune will not damp our joys, Nor blast the glories of this happy day.

Hear me, ye swains! ye men of Kift-gate! hear:
Though great the honours by your hands conferr`d,
These royal ornaments, though great the force
Of this puissant arm, as all must own
Who saw this day the bold Gorgonius fall;
Yet were I more renown'd for feats of arins,
And knightly prowess, than that mighty Guy,
So fam'd in antique song, Warwick's great earl,
Who slew the giant Colbrand, in fierce fight
Maintain'd a summer's day, and freed this realm
From Danish vassalage; his ponderous sword,
And massy spear, attest the glorious deed;
Nor less his hospitable soul is seen

In that capacious cauldron, whose large fright
Might feast a province; yet were I like him,
The nation's pride, like him I could forego
All earthly grandeur, warder through the world

A jocund pilgrim, in the lonesome den,
And rocky cave, with these my royal hands
Scoop the cold streams, with herbs and roots content,
Mean sustenance; could I by this but gain
For the dear fair, the prize her heart desires.
Believe me, charming maid! I'd be a worm,
The meanest insect, and the lowest thing
The world despises, to enchance thy fame."
So cheer'd he his fair queen, and she was cheer'd.
Now with a noble confidence inspir'd,
Her looks assure success; now stripp'd of all
Her cumbrous vestments, Beauty's vain disguise,
She shines unclouded in her native charms.
Her plaited hair behind her in a brede
Hung careless, with becoming grace each blush
Varied her cheeks, than the gay rising dawn
More lovely, when the new-born light salutes
The joyful Earth, impurpling half the skies.
Her heaving breast, through the thin covering view'd.
Fix'd each beholder's eye; her taper thighs,
And lineaments exact, would mock the skill
Of Phidias; Nature alone can form
Such due proportion. To compare with her,
Oread, or Dryad, or of Delia's train,
Fair virgin huntress, for the chase array'd,
With painted quiver and unerring bow,
Were but to lessen her superior mien,
And goddess like deport. The master's hand,
Rare artisan! with proper shades improves
His lively colouring; so here, to grace
Her brighter charms, next her upon the plain
Fusca the brown appears, with greedy eye
Views the rich prize, her tawny front erects
Audacious, and with her legs unclean,
Booted with grim, and with her freckled skin,
Offends the crowd. She of the Gipsy train
Had wander'd long, and the Sun's scorching rays
Imbrown'd her visage grim; artful to view
The spreading palm, and with vile cant deceive
The love-sick maid, who barters all her store
For airy visions aud fallacious hope.
Corgonius, if the current fame say (rue,
lier comrade once, they many a merry prank
Together play'd, and many a mile had stroll'd,
For him fit mate. Next Tabitha the tall
Strode o'er the plain, with huge gigantic pace,
And overlook'd the crowd, known far and near
For matchless speed; she many a prize had won,
Price of first nehbouring mart, for mustard fam'd,
Sharp-biting grain, where amicably join
The sister thols, and with their liquid arms
Greeting cabroce. Here Gamaliel sage,

Or Cameronian brood, with ruling rod
Trains up his pa jes of grace, instructed woll
In all the gainful discipline of prayer;
To point the holy leer, by just degices

To close the twinkling eye, t' expand the palms,
T' expose the whites, and with the sightless ball
To glare upon the crowd, to rai-e or sink
The docile voice, now murmuring soft and low
With inward accent enlin, and then again
In foaming floods of rapturon, cloquence

Let lose the storm, and thunder through the nose
The tincaten'd vengeance: every Muse polane
1- banish'd hence, and, lieli onian streams
Deserted, the au'd Leman Lake supples

Tewksbory in the vale of Evesham, where the Avon tuns into the seven.

More plenteous draughts, of more divine import.
Hail, happy youths! on whom indulgent Heaven
Each grace divine bestows! nor yet denies
Carnal beatitudes, sweet privilege
Of saints elect! royal prerogative!
Here in domestic cares employ'd, and bound
To annual servitude, frail Tabitha,

Her pristine vigour lost, now mourns in vain
Her sharpen'd visage, and the sickly qualins
That grieve her soul; a prey to Love, while Grace
Slept heedless by! Yet her undaunted mind
Still meditates the prize, and still she hopes,
Beneath the unwieldy load, her wonted speed.
Others of meaner fame the stately Muse
Records not; on more lofty flights intent,
She spurns the ground, and mounts her native skies.
Room for the master of the ring; ye swains!
Divide your crowded ranks. See! there on high
The glittering prize, on the tall standard borne,
Waving in air; before him march in files
The rural minstrelsy, the rattling drum
Of solemn sound, and th' animating horn,
Each huntsman's joy; the tabor and the pipe,
Companion dear at feasts, whose chearful notes
Give life and motion to th' unwieldy clown.
Ev'n Age revives, and the pole puking maid
Feels ruddy health rekindla g on her cheeks,
And with new vigour trips it o'er the plain.
Counting cach careful step, he paces o'er
The allotted ground, and fives at the goal
His standard, there himself majestie swells.
Stretch'd in a line, the panting rivals wait
Th' expected signal, with inpatient cyes
Measure the space between, and in conceit
Already grasp the warm-contested prize.
Now all at once rush forward to the goal,
And step by step, and side by side, they ply
Their busy feet, and leave the crowd behind.
Quick heaves ezebrast, and quick they shoot along,
Thro' the divided air, and bound it o'er the plain.
To this, to that, capricious Fortune deals
Short hops, short feats, and momentary joy.
The breathless throng with open throats purse,
And broken accents shout imperfect praise.
Such noise ci rius'd is heard, such wi'd uproar,
When on the main the selling surges rise,

Da ho'er the ice, and, Ferry, & ch ough the flood,
Drive on each of ez's backs, and crowd the strand.
Before the rest tall Tabitha was seen,
Stretching amain, and whirling o'er the field;
Swift as the shooting star that gilds the night
With rapid transient blaze, she runs, she thes;
Sudden she stops, nor long or can endure
The painful course, but die ping sinks away,
And, like that falling meteor, there she lies
A jelly cold on earth. Tusea, with joy,
Behold her wretched plight; o'er the pale corse
Insulting bounds! Hi pe eave brwigs,
and
Fxetin all 1er peed, top after step,
At Garde, it's dow ured her way,
Her shoulder pie sis, and with poisonous brea
Tai in her ivory a
Loo, whit hadhil

st, but not propition savca,

In wasteful luxury, and wanton joy,
Lavish had spilt the cider's frothy flood,
And mead with custard mix'd. Surpriz'd, appall'd,
And in the treacherous puddle struggling long,
She slipp'd, she fell, upon her back supine
Extended lay; the laughing multitude
With noisy scorn approv'd her just disgrace.
As the sleek leveret skims before the pack,
So flies the nymph, and so the crowd pursue.
Borne on the wings of wind, the dear one flies,
Swift as the various goddess, nor less bright
In beauty's prine, when through the yielding air
She darts along, and with refracted rays
Paints the gay clouds; celestial messenger,
Charg'd with the high behests of Heaven's great
Her at the goal with open arms receiv'd [queen!
Fond Hobbinol; with active leap he seiz'd
The costly prize, and laid it at her feet.
Then pausing stood, dumb with excess of joy,
Expressive silence! for cach tender glance
Betray'd the raptures that his tongue conceal'd.
Less mute the crowd, in echoing shouts, applaud
Her speed, her beauty, his obsequious love.

Upon a little eminence, whose top
O'erlook'd the plain, a steep, but short ascent,
Plae'd in a chair of state, with garlands crown'd,
An! loaded with the fragrance of the spring,
Fair Ganderetta shone, like mother Eve
la her gay sylvan lodge: delicious bower!
Where Nature's wanten hand, above the reach
Of rule, or art, had lavish'd all her store,
To deck the flowery roof: and at her side,
Ing erial Hobbinol, with front sublime,
Great as a Roman consul, just return'd
Irom cities sack'd, and provinces laid waste,
In his paternal wicker sat, enthron'd.
With eager eyes the crowd about them press,
Amidons to b hold the happy pair.
Each vies, each instrument, proclaims their joy
With Telesty chemence; such noise is heard,
Seob a tumultuces din, when, at the call

fritain's sover ign, the rustic bands O', on ead the fields; the subtle candidates Disabled he mage pay, and court the fools Whom they depose; each proud majestic clown Look I, and shouts amain, mad with the taste Of; 6 supreme, frail empire of a day! Chat with the setting Sun extinct is lost. Nor is the grandeur, mighty Hobbinol! Of louer date. Short is, alas! the reign Of mortel pride: we play our parts a while Aud Sout noch the stage; the scene is chang'd, Anciers us a dungeon for a throne. Wretched vicissitude! for, after all It's tinsel dreams of empire and renown, Fortea, expricious dame, vithdraws at once e goodly pro pect, to bis eyes presents whom his encions con abhorr'd, and fear'd. through the crowd, a meagre form, Faty stop, and visage incompos'd! she stard; Rage sparkled in her eyes,

1

d reverty sat shru king on her cheeks, hoh the cloud that hung upon her brows,

Cluste in de, that dimly shone

its bears, the ruins of a face,

y time, and latter'd by ini-fortunes. babe bung at her flabby breast,

ed for life; bit went, with hideous moan, Trustrate hopes, and unavailing paius.

Another o'er her bending shoulder peep'd,
Swaddled around with rags of various hue.
He kens his comrade-twin with envious eye,
As of his share defrauded; then amain
He also screams, and to his brother's cries
In doleful concert joins his loud laments.
O dire effect of lawless love! O sting
Of pleasure past! As when a full-freight ship,
Blest in a rich return of pearls or gold,
Or fragrant spice, or silks of costly dye,
Makes to the wish'd-for port with swelling sails,
And all her gaudy trim display'd; o'erjoy'd
The master smiles; but if from some small creek,
A lurking corsair the rich quarry spies,
With all her sails bears down upon her prey,
And peals of thunder from her hollow sides
Check his triumphant course; aghast he stands,
Stiffen'd with fear, unable to resist,
And impotent to fly; all his fond hopes

Are dash'd at once! nought now, alas! remains
But the sad choice of slavery or death!
So far'd it with the hapless Hobbinol,
In the full blaze of his triumphant joy
Surpris'd by her, whose dreadful face alone
Could shake his stedfast soul. In vain he turns,
And shifts his place averse; she haunts him still
And glares upon him, with her haggard eyes,
That fiercely spoke her wrongs. Words swell'd with
sighs

At length burst forth, and thus she storms enrag'd.
"Know'st thou not ine? false man! not to know me
Argues thyself unknowing of thyself,
Puff'd up with pride, and bloated with success.
Is injur'd Mopsa then so soon forgot;
Thou knew'st me once, ah! woe is me! thou didst.
But if laborious days and sleepless nights,
If hunger, cold, contempt, and penury,
Inseparable guests, have thus disguis'd
Thy once-belov'd, thy handmaid dear; if thine
And Fortune's frowns have blasted all my charms;
If here no roses grow, no lilies bloom,
Nor rear their heads on this neglected face;
If through the world I range a slighted shade,
The ghost of what I was, forlorn, unknown;
At least know these. See; this sweet simpering babe,
Dear image of thyself; see! how it sprunts

With joy at thy approach! see, how it gilds
Its soft smooth face, with false paternal smiles!
Native deceit, from thee, base man, deriv'd!
Or view this other elf, in every art

Of smiling fraud, in every treacherous leer,
The very Hobbinol! Ah! cruel man!
Wicked, ingrate! And could'st thou then so soon,
So soon forget that pleasing fatal night,
When me, beneath the flowery thorn surpriz'd,
Thy artful wiles betray'd? was there a star,
By which thou didst not swear? was there a curse,
A plague on Earth, thou didst not then invoke
On that devoted head; if e'er thy heart
Prov'd haggard to my love, if e'er thy hand
Declin'd the nuptial bond? But, oh! too well,,
Too well, alas! my throbbing breast perceiv'd
The black impending storm; the conscious Moon
Veil'd in a sable cloud her modest face,
And boding owls proclaim'd the dire event.
And yet I love thee.-Oh! could'st thou behold
That image dwelling in my heart! But why,
Why waste I here these unavailing tears?
On this thy minion, on this tawdry thing,
On this gay victim, thus with garlands crown'd,
All, all my vengeance fall! ye lightnings, blast
That face accurs'd, the source of all my woe!
Arm, arm, ye Furies! arm; all Hell break loose!
While thus I lead you to my just revenge,
And thus '-Up starts th' astonish'd Hobbinol
To save his better half. Fly, fly," he cries,
"Fly, my dear life, the fiend's malicons rage."

Borne on the wings of far, away she bounds,
And in the neighbouring village pants forlorn.
So the cours'd hare to the close covert flies,
Still trembling, though secure. Poor Hobbinol
More grievous ills attend: around him press
A multitude, with huge Herculean clubs,
Terrific band the royal mandate these
Insulting show: arrested, and amaz'd,
Half dead he stands; no friends dare interpose,
But bow dejected to th' imperial scroll :
Such is the force of law. While conscious shame
Sits heavy on his brow, they view the wretch
To Rhadamanth's august tribunal dragg'd.
Good Rhadamanth! to every wanton clown
Severe, indulgent to himself alone.