Comes the blind Fury1 with the abhorred shears, Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies; Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed." O fountain Arethuse, and thou honour'd flood, And listens to the herald of the sea That came in Neptune's plea ; He ask'd the waves, and ask'd the felon winds, What hard mishap hath doom'd this gentle swain ? And question'd every gust of rugged wings They knew not of his story; And sage Hippotades3 their answer brings, Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow, Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge Fury: Destiny. streams of pastoral song. 2 36 Arethuse' and 'Mincius:' celebrated ancient Hippotades :' Eolus, the son of Hippotas, ruler of the winds.- Camus:' genius of the river Cam. Like to that sanguine flower inscrib'd with woe. "Ah! Who hath reft (qoth he) my dearest pledge?" Last came, and last did go, The pilot1 of the Galilean lake; Two massy keys he bore of metals twain (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain), He shook his miter'd locks, and stern bespake : Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold? Of other care they little reckoning make, And shove away the worthy bidden guest; Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold What recks it them? What need they? They are sped; And when they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel2 pipes of wretched straw; เ 1 'The pilot:' Peter.-2 Scrannel:' screeching.- 'Sed:' old spelling for said. 'Two-handed engine:' the sword with the two edges issuing out of Christ's mouth. Alpheus:' the Sicilian Muse of Theocritus and others. Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks, That on the green turf suck the honied showers, The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine, Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise; Where thou perhaps, under the whelming tide, 46 1 'Swart-star:' dog-star. -2 Moist:' wet with tears. 3 Bellerus:' a Cornish giant. The guarded Mount:' Mount St Michael; not far from the Land's end in Cornwall, whence at low water it is accessible. The guarded mount, says Mr Warton, is simply the fortified mount;* and the great vision is the famous apparition of the Archangel Michael, who is said to have appeared on the top of the mount, and to have directed a church to be built there. - 'Namancos,' or Numantia: a town of Old Castile, once highly celebrated in the Spanish history. *Is it not the Archangel rather than the fortress, who guards the mount? Look homeward, Angel,1 now, and melt with ruth: Weep no more, woful Shepherds, weep no more, Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor; And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, Through the dear might of Him that walk'd the waves; Where, other groves, and other streams along, With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and rills, 1. Angel:' Michael, namely. L'ALLEGRO.1 HENCE, loathed Melancholy, Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy! Find out some uncouth cell, Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings, And the night-raven sings ; There under ebon shades and low-brow'd rocks, As ragged as thy locks, In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell. But come, thou goddess fair and free, The frolic wind that breathes the spring, As he met her once a-Maying; There on beds of violets blue, And fresh-blown roses wash'd in dew, Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair, So buxom, blithe, and debonair. Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Jest, and youthful Jollity, 1 'L'Allegro:' i. e., The Cheerful Man.-2 'Two sister Graces:' meat and drink. |