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Of sheeny Heav'n, and thou fome Goddess fled Amongst us here below to hide thy nectar'd head? VIII.

Or wert thou that juft Maid who once before

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For fook the hated earth, O tell me footh,

And cam'ft again to vifit us once more?

Or wert thou that fweet fmiling Youth?

Or that crown'd matron fage white-robed Truth?
Or any other of that heav'nly brood

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[good? Let down in cloudy throne to do the world fome

IX.

Or wert thou of the golden-winged hoft,
Who having clad thyself in human weed,
To earth from thy prefixed feat didst post,

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And after short abode fly back with speed,
As if to fhow what creatures Heav'n doth breed,
Thereby to fet the hearts of men on fire

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To fcorn the fordid world, and unto Heav'n afpire?
X.

But oh why didft thou not stay here below
To blefs us with thy heav'n-lov'd innocence,

To flake his wrath whom fin hath made our foe,
To turn fwift-rufhing black perdition hence,
Or drive away the flaughtering peftilence,

To ftand 'twixt us and our deserved smart?

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But thou canst beft perform that office where thou art.

XI.

Then thou the Mother of so sweet a Child
Her falfe imagin'd lofs cease to lament,
And wifely learn to curb thy forrows wild;
Think what a present thou to God hast sent,
And render him with patience what he lent;
This if thou do, he will an ofspring give,
That till the world's laft end fhall make thy name to

68. Or drive away the flaughtering peftilence, It should be noted that at this time there was a

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[live.

Anno

great plague in London, which gives a peculiar propriety to this whole ftanza.

Thefe

II.

Anno tatis 19. At a Vacation Exercife in the college, part Latin, part English. The Latin fpeeches ended, the English thus began.

AIL native Language, that by finews weak

HAIL

before:

Didft move my firft endevoring tongue to speak, And mad'ft imperfect words with childish trips, Half unpronounc'd, flide through my infant-lips, Driving dumb filence from the portal door, Where he had mutely fat two years Here I falute thee, and thy pardon ask, That now I use thee in my latter task : Small lofs it is that thence can come unto thee, I know my tongue but little grace can do thee: Thou need'st not be ambitious to be first, Believe me I have thither packt the worst: And, if it happen as I did forecast,

I

The daintieft dishes shall be serv'd up

pray thee then deny me not thy aid

laft.

For this fame fmall neglect that I have made;

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15.

But

Thefe verfes were made in 1627, in the edition of 1645, but were that being the 19th year of the firft added in the edition of 1673.. author's age; and they were not

29. Yet

But hafte thee ftrait to do me once a pleasure,
And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure,
Not thofe new fangled toys, and trimming flight
Which takes our late fantastics with delight, 20
But cull those richest robes, and gay'ft attire l'
Which deepest spirits, and choiceft wits defire ::
I have fome naked thoughts that rove about,
And loudly knock to have their paffage out;
And weary of their place do only stay
Till thou haft deck'd them in thy best array;
That so they may without suspect or fears
Fly swiftly to this fair affembly's ears;

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Yet I had rather, if I were to chufe,

Thy service in fome graver subject use,

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Such as may make thee fearch thy coffers round,
Before thou clothe my fancy in fit found:

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Such where the deep tranfported mind may foar
Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav'n's door
Look in, and fee each blissful Deity

How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,
Lift'ning to what unfhorn Apollo fings
To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings
Immortal nectar to her kingly fire:

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Then paffing through the fpheres of watchful fire,
And mifty regions of wide air next under,
And hills of fnow and lofts of piled thunder,
May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves,
In Heav'n's defiance mustering all his waves;
Then fing of fecret things that came to pafs
When beldam Nature in her cradle was;
And last of kings and queens and heroes old,
Such as the wife Demodocus once told

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In

The fields he paffed then, whence hail and fnow,

Thunder and rain fall down from clouds above. Fairfax.

&c] Alluding to the eighth book 48. Such as the wife Demodocus of the Odyffey, where Alcinous entertains Ulyffes, and the celebrated musician and poet Demodocus fings the loves of Mars and Venus, and the destruction of Troy;

and

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