Sunk though he be beneath the watry floar,
So finks the day-ftar in the Ocean bed,
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new.
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky:
So Lycidas funk low, but mounted high,
Through the dear might of him that walk'd the wayes
Where other groves, and other ftreams along,
With Nectar pure his oozy Locks he laves,
And hears the unexpreffive nuptial Song,
In the bleft Kingdoms meek of joy and love.
There entertain him all the Saints above,
In folemn troops, and fweet Societies
That fing, and finging 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 fhore,
In thy large recompenfe, and halt be good
To all that wander in that perilous flood.
Thus fang the uncouth Swain to th' Okes and rills
While the still morn went out with Sandals gray,
He touch'd the tender ftops of various Quills,
With eager thought warbling his Dorick lay:
And now the Sun had ftretch'd out all the hills,
And now was dropt into the Western Bay;
At laft he rofe, and twitch'd his Mantle blew:
To morrow to fresh Woods, and Pafturen new.
L'Allegro.
Ence loathed Melancholy
Of Cerberus, and blackeft midnight born,
In Stygian Cave forlorn
*Mongft horrid fhapes,and fhrieks, and fights unholy, Find out fome uncouth cell,
where brooding darkness fpreads his jealous wings, And the night Raven fings;
There under Ebon shades, and low-brow'd Rocks, As ragged as thy Locks,
In dark Cimmerian defart ever dwell.
But come thou Goddess fair and free,
In Heav'n ycleap'd Euphrofine,
And by men, heart-eafing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth
With two Sifter Graces more
To Ivy crowned Bacchus bore;
Or whether (as some Sager fing)
The frolick Wind that breaths the Spring,
Zephir with Aurora playing,
As he met her once a Maying,
There on beds of Violets blue,
And fresh-blown Rofes wafht in dew,
Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,
So buckfom, blith, and debonair.
Hafte thee Nymph, and bring with thee
Jeft and youthful Jollity,
Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles,
Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles,
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,
And love to live in dimple fleek;
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his fides.
Come, and trip it as you go
On the light fantastick toe,
And in thy right hand lead with thee,
The Mountain Nymph, fweet Liberty;
And if I give thee honour due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crue
To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free;
To hear the Lark begin his flight,
And finging startle the dull night,
From his watch-towre in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise;
Then to come in spight of forrow,
And at my window bid good morrow,
Through the Sweet-Briar, or the Vine,
Or the twisted Eglantine.
While the Cock with lively din
Scatters the rear of darkness thin;
And to the ftack, or the Barn-dore,
Stoutly ftruts his Dames before,
Oft lift'ning how the Hounds and Horn
Chearly rouse the slumbring morn,
From the fide of fome Hoar Hill,
Through the high wood echoing thrill
Some time walking not unfeen
By Hedge-row Elms, on Hillocks green,
Right against the Eastern gate,
Where the great Sun begins his ftate,
Rob'd in Flames, and Amber light,
The Clouds in thoufand Liveries dight,
While the Plow-man near at hand,
Whiftles o'er the Furrow'd Land,
And the Milkmaid fingeth blithe,
And the Mower whets his fithe,
And every Shepherd tells his tale
Under the Hawthorn in the dale.
Streit mine eye hath caught new pleasures
Whilft the Lantskip round it measures
Ruffet Lawns, and Fallows Gray,
Where the nibbling flocks do ftray,
Mountains on whofe barren breft
The labouring Clouds do often reft,
Meadows trim with Daifies pide,
Shallow Brooks, and Rivers wide.
Towers and Battlements it fees
Boofom'd high in tufted Trees,
Where perhaps fome beauty lies,
The Cynofure of neighbouring eyes.
Hard by, a Cottage chimney fmokes,.
From betwixt two aged Okes,
Where Corydon and Thyrfis met,
Are at their favoury dinner fet
of Herbs, and other Country Mefles,
Which the neat-handed Phillis dreffes
And then in hafte her Bowre the leav
the leaves,
With Theftylis to bind the Sheaves;
Or if the earlier Seafon lead
To the tann'd Haycock in the Mead,
Sometimes with secure delight
The up-land Hamlets will invite,
When the merry Bells ring round,
And the jocond rebecks found
To many a Youth, and many a Maid,
Dancing in the Chequer'd fhade;
And young and old come forth to play
On a Sunshine Holy-day,
Till the live-long day-light fail,
Then to the Spicy Nut-brown Ale,
With ftories told of many a fear,
How Faery Mab the junkets eat,
She was pincht, and pull'd, the faid,
And he by Friars Lanthorn led,
Tells how the drudging Goblin fwet,
To earn his Cream-bowle duly fet,
When in one night, ere glimps of morn,
His shadowy Flale hath thresh'd the Corn
That ten day-labourers could not end,
Then lies him down the Lubbar Fend.
And ftretch'd out all the Chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength;
And Crop-full out of doors he flings,
Ere the firft Cock his Mattin rings.
Thus done the Tales, to bed they creeps
By whispering Winds foon lull'd afleep,
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