But such a facred, and home-felt delight,

Such fober certainty of waking bliss

I never heard till now.

I'll speak to her,

264

And she shall be my queen. Hail foreign wonder, Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, Unless the Goddess that in rural fhrine

Dwell'ft here with Pan, or Silvan, by bleft fong Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog

269

To touch the profp'rous growth of this tall wood. Lady. Nay gentle Shepherd, ill is loft that praise That is address'd to unattending ears;

boast of skill, but extreme shift

275

Not any
How to regain my fever'd company,
Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo
To give me answer from her moffy couch.
Com. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus?
Lady. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth.
Com. Could that divide you from near-ushering
guides ?

Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280
Com. By falfhood, or difcourtesy, or why?

Lady. To feek i' th' valley fome cool friendly spring. Com. And left your fair fide all unguarded, Lady? Lady.Theywere but twain, and purpos'dquick return. Com. Perhaps fore-stalling night prevented them. Lady. How eafy my misfortune is to hit! 286 Com. Imports their lofs, beside the present need? Lady. No lefs than if I should my Brothers lofe.

Com. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom? Lady. As fmooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. 290 Com. Two fuch I faw, what time the labor'd ox In his loofe traces from the furrow came, And the fwinkt hedger at his fupper fat; I faw them under a green mantling vine That crawls along the fide of yon fmall hill, 295 Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots; Their port was more than human, as they stood: I took it for a faëry vision

Of fome gay creatures of the element,

That in the colors of the rainbow live,

And play i' th' plighted clouds. I was aw-ftruck,
And as I paft, I worshipt; if those
you seek,
It were a journey like the path to Heaven,
To help you to find them. La. Gentle Villager,
What readiest way would bring me to that place?
Com. Due weft it rises from this fhrubby point. 306
Lady. To find out that, good Shepherd, I suppose,
In fuch a scant allowance of ftar-light,
Would over-tafk the beft land-pilot's art,
Without the fure guefs of well-practic'd feet. 310
Com. I know each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood,
And every bosky bourn from fide to fide,
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;
And if your ftray-attendence be yet lodg'd, 315
Or fhroud within these limits, I fhall know

Ere morrow wake, or the low-roofted lark
From her thatcht pallat rouse; if otherwise
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low

But loyal cottage, where you may be safe

320

Till further queft. La. Shepherd, I take thy word,

And truft thy honeft offer'd courtesy,

Which oft is fooner found in lowly sheds

With fmoky rafters, than in tap'ftry halls
And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd, 325
And yet is most pretended: In a place
Lefs warranted than this, or lefs fecure,

I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.
Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial
To my proportion'd ftrength. Shepherd lead on. 330

The two Brothers.

El. Bro. Unmuffle ye faint Stars, and thou fair Moon,
That wont'ft to love the traveller's benizon,
Stoop thy pale vifage through an amber cloud,
And difinherit Chaos, that reigns here
In double night of darkness, and of shades;
Or if your influence be quite damm'd up
With black ufurping mists, fome gentle taper,
Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole
Of fome clay habitation, visit us

335

With thy long levell'd rule of streaming light, 340 And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,

Or Tyrian Cynosure. 2. Bro. Or if our eyes

Be

345

Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear
The folded flocks penn'd in their watled cotes,
Or found of paft'ral reed with oaten stops,
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
Count the night watches to his feathery dames,
'Twould be fome folace yet, fome little chearing.
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs.
But O that haplefs virgin, our loft Sifter, 350
Where may she wander now, whither betake her
From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thiftles?
Perhaps fome cold bank is her bolfter now,
Or, 'gainst the rugged bark of fome broad elm
Leans her unpillow'd head fraught with fad fears. 355
What if in wild amazement, and affright,
Or, while we speak, within the dire grafp
Of favage hunger, or of favage heat?

Eld. Bro. Peace, Brother, be not over-exquifite

To caft the fashion of uncertain evils;
For grant they be fo, while they reft unknown,
What need a man foreftall his date of grief,
And run to meet what he would moft avoid?
Or if they be but falfe alarms of fear,

How bitter is fuch felf-delufion?

366

365

I do not think my Sifter fo to feek,

Or fo unprincipled in virtue's book,

And the sweet peace that goodness bofoms ever, As that the fingle want of light and noise (Not being in danger, as I truft she is not)

370 Could

Could ftir the conftant mood of her calm thoughts,
And put them into mis-becoming plight.
Virtue could fee to do what virtue would

By her own radiant light, though fun and moon
Were in the flat sea funk.

And wisdom's felf 375

Oft feeks to fweet retired folitude,

Where with her beft nurse contemplation

She plumes her feathers and lets grow her wings,
That in the various buftle of refort

Were all too ruffled, and sometimes impair'd. 380
He that has light within his own clear breast
May fit i'th center, and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark foul, and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;

Himself is his own dungeon.

2. Bro. 'Tis most true,

That musing meditation most affects

The pensive secrefy of defert cell,

Far from the chearful haunt of men and herds,

385

And fits as fafe as in a senate house;

For who would rob a hermit of his weeds,

390

His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,

Or do his gray hairs any violence?

But beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree

Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard 395
Of dragon-watch with uninchanted eye,

To fave her bloffoms, and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold incontinence.

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