And priests, and party-zealots, numerous bands With home-born lies, or tales from foreign lands; 465

Each talked aloud, or in some secret place,
And wild impatience stared in every face.
The flying rumours gathered as they rolled,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it added something new, 470
And all who heard it made enlargements too;
In every ear it spread, on every tongue it
grew.

Thus flying east and west, and north and south,
News travelled with increase from mouth to

mouth.

So from a spark, that kindled first by chance, 475 With gathering force the quickening flames advance;

Till to the clouds their curling heads aspire, And towers and temples sink in floods of fire.

When thus ripe lies are to perfection sprung, Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue, 480 Through thousand vents, impatient, forth they flow,

And rush in millions on the world below.

Fame sits aloft, and points them out their

course,

Their date determines, and prescribes their force:

Some to remain, and some to perish soon; 485
Or wane and wax alternate like the moon.
Around, a thousand winged wonders fly,
Borne by the trumpet's blast, and scattered
through the sky.

There, at one passage, oft you might survey'

1 "And sometime I saw there at once,
A lesing and a sad sooth saw

That gonnen at adventure draw

1

490

A lie and truth contending for the way;
And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent,
Which first should issue through the narrow
vent:

At last agreed, together out they fly,
Inseparable now, the truth and lie;

The strict companions are for ever joined, 495 And this or that unmixed, no mortal e'er shall find.

While thus I stood, intent to see and hear,1 One came, methought, and whispered in my

ear:

"What could thus high thy rash ambition raise ?

Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise?" ""Tis true," said I, "not void of hopes I

came,

For who so fond as youthful bards of fame ?
But few, alas! the casual blessing boast,
So hard to gain, so easy to be lost.

501

How vain that second life in others' breath, 505
The estate which wits inherit after death!
Ease, health, and life, for this they must resign,
Unsure the tenure, but how vast the fine!
The great man's curse, without the gains, en-
dure,

Be envied, wretched, and be flattered, poor; 510

Out of a window forth to pace-
And no man be he ever so wrothe,

Shall have one of these two, but bothe," &c.-P.

1 The hint is taken from a passage in another part of the third book, but here more naturally made the conclusion, with the addition of a moral to the whole. In Chaucer he only answers, "he came to see the place;" and the book ends abruptly, with his being surprised at the sight of a man of great authority, and awaking in a fright.-P.

515

All luckless wits their enemies professed,
And all successful, jealous friends at best.
Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favours call;
She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all.
But if the purchase cost so dear a price,
As soothing folly, or exalting vice:
Oh! if the Muse must flatter lawless sway,
And follow still where fortune leads the way;
Or if no basis bear my rising name,
But the fallen ruins of another's fame;
Then teach me, Heaven! to scorn the guilty

bays,

520

Drive from my breast that wretched lust of

praise;

Unblemished let me live, or die unknown;

Oh! grant an honest fame, or grant me none!"

IMITATIONS OF ENGLISH POETS.

DONE BY THE AUTHOR IN HIS YOUTH.

I.

CHAUCER.

COMEN ben full of Ragerie,

Yet swinken not sans secresie.
Thilke Moral shall ye understond,
From Schoole-boy's Tale of fayre
Irelond;

Which to the Fennes hath him betake,
To filch the gray Ducke fro the Lake.
Right then, there passen by the Way
His Aunt, and eke her Daughters tway.
Ducke in his Trowses hath he hent,
Not to be spied of Ladies gent.
"But ho! our Nephew," (crieth one)
"Ho!" quoth another, " Cozen John;'
And stoppen, and lough, and callen out,—
This sely Clerke full low doth lout:
They asken that, and talken this,
"Lo, here is Coz, and here is Miss."
But, as he glozeth with Speeches soote,
The Ducke sore tickleth his Erse-roote:
Fore-piece and buttons all-to-brest,

Forth thrust a white neck, and red crest.

5

10

15

20

"Te-hee !

spake :

cry'd Ladies :

Clerke nought

Miss star'd, and gray Ducke crieth Quake. "O Moder, Moder!" (quoth the daughter), "Be thilke same thing Maids longen a'ter? Bette is to pine on coals and chalke, Then trust on Mon, whose yerde can talke."

25

II.

SPENSER.

THE ALLEY.

I.

N ev'ry town where Thamis rolls his

Tyde,

A narrow pass there is, with Houses low;

Where ever and anon, the Stream is ey'd, And many a Boat soft sliding to and fro: There oft are heard the notes of Infant Woe, 5 The short thick Sob, loud Scream, and shriller Squall:

How can ye, Mothers, vex your Children so? Some play, some eat, some cack against the wall,

And as they crouchen low, for bread and butter call.

II.

ΙΟ

And on the broken pavement, here and
there,
Doth many a stinking sprat and herring lie;
A brandy and tobacco shop is near,