I pray thee then deny me not thy aid For this fame fmall neglect that I have made : Such as may make thee fearch thy coffers round, How he before the thunderous throne doth lie, To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings 15 20 25 30 335 Then paffing through the fpheres of watchful.fire, 40 45 In folemn fongs at king Alcinous feast, While fad Ulyffes foul and all the reft But fie, my wand'ring Mufe, how thou doft ftray ! 50 55 Then Ens is reprefented as father of the Predicaments his ten fons, whereof the eldest ftood for Substance with his canons, which Ens thus fpeaking, explains. OOD luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth Thy droufy nurfe hath fworn fhe did them fpie Strow all their bleffings on thy fleeping head. 60 She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldsft ftill 65 From eyes of mortals walk invifible: Yet there is fomething that doth force my fear, For once it was my dismal hap to hear 70 75 O'er all his brethren he fhall reign as king, And peace fhall lull him in her flow'ry lap; What pow'r, what force, what mighty spell, if not 85 90 The next Quantity and Quality spake in profe, then Relation was call'd by his name. R1 IVERS arife; whether thou be the fon Of utmost Tweed, or Oofe, or gulphy Dun, Or Trent, who like fome earth born giant fpreads 95 Of Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death, Or coaly Tine, or ancient hallow'd Dee, Or rocky Avon, or of fedgy Lee, Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythian's name, [The reft was profe.] 100 91. Rivers arife, &c.] In invoking thefe rivers, Milton had his eye particularly upon that admirable epifode in Spenfer, of the marriage of the Thames and the Medway, where the feveral rivers are introduced in honor of the ceremony. Fairy Queen, B. IV. Cant.II, III. On the MORNING of CHRIST'S NATIVITY. Compos'd in 1629. I. HIS is the month, and this the happy morn, TH Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King That he our deadly forfeit fhould release, II. That glorious form, that light unfufferable, Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table He laid afide; and here with us to be, Forfook the courts of everlasting day, And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay. III. Say heav'nly Mufe, fhall not thy facred vein Haft thou no verfe, no hymn, or folemn ftrain, Now while the Heav'n by the fun's team untrod, And all the fpangled hoft keep watch in squadrons bright? IV. See how from far upon the eastern road O run, prevent them with thy humble ode, 25 Have thou the honor firft, thy Lord to greet, And join thy voice unto the Angel quire, The HYM N. T was the winter wild, I. While the Heav'n-born child All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies; Nature in awe to him Had dofft her gaudy trim, With her great Mafter fo to fympathize: It was no feason then for her 30 35 To wanton with the fun her lufty paramour. 11. Only with fpeeches fair She woo's the gentle air To hide her guilty front with innocent fnow, And on her naked fhame, Pollute with finful blame, 40 The faintly veil of maiden white to throw, Confounded, that her Maker's eyes Should look fo near upon her foul deformities. But he her fears to ceafe III. Sent down the meek-ey'd Peace; She crown'd with olive green, came foftly fliding Down through the turning fphere His ready harbinger, 45 With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing, 50 And waving wide her myrtle' wand, She ftrikes an univerfal peace through fea and land. No war, or battel's found IV.. Was heard the world around: |