Whose lustre leads us, and for her most fit,
If my inferior hand or voice could hit
Inimitable sounds: yet as we go,
Whate'er the skill of lesser Gods can show,
I will assay, her worth to celebrate,
And so attend ye toward her glittering state;
Where ye may all that are of noble stem
Approach, and kiss her sacred vesture's hem.

80

SONG II.

O'ER the smooth enamell'd green,
Where no print of step hath been,
Follow me as I sing,

And touch the warbled string,

Under the shady roof

Of branching elm star-proof.

Follow me,

I will bring you where she sits,
Clad in splendour as befits.

Her deity.

Such a rural Queen

All Arcadia hath not seen.

SONG III.

NYMPHS and Shepherds dance no more

85

90

95

39 star] 'Sun-proof arbours.' Sylvester's Du Bartas, 171, and G. Peele's David and Bethsabe, 1599.

'This shade, sun-proof, is yet no proof for thee.'

Warton and Todd.

By sandy Ladon's lilied banks; On old Lycæus or Cyllene hoar

Trip no more in twilight ranks Though Erymanth your loss deplore,

A better soil shall give ye thanks
From the stony Mænalus

Bring your flocks, and live with us,
Here ye shall have greater grace,

To serve the Lady of this place.

Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were,
Yet Syrinx well might wait on her.

Such a rural Queen

All Arcadia hath not seen.

100

105

97 By sandy Ladon's lilied banks] Giles Fletcher's Christ's Victorie and Triumph, 1632. 'To Ladon sands.' p. 14, and On either side bank't with a lily wall,' p. 49. A. Dyce. 97 sandy] Browne's Brit. Past. ii. st. iv. p. 107.

'The silver Ladon on his sandy shore.'

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

ANNO ÆTATIS 17.

ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT, DYING OF A COUGH.

I.

O FAIREST flower, no sooner blown but blasted, Soft silken primrose fading timelessly,

Summer's chief honour, if thou hadst out-lasted Bleak Winter's force that made thy blossom dry; For he being amorous on that lovely dye

That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss, But kill'd, alas, and then bewail'd his fatal bliss.

5

II.

For since grim Aquilo his charioteer

By boisterous rape th' Athenian damsel got,
He thought it touch'd his deity full near,

1 0] Shakespeare's Passionate Pilgrim.

'Swet Rose, fair flower, untimely pluckt, soon vaded,
Pluckt in the bud, and vaded in the spring!
Bright orient pearle, alack, too timely shaded,

Fair Creature, kild too soone by Death's sharpe sting.'

6 kiss] Shakesp. Venus and Adonis,

'He thought to kiss him, and hath kill'd him so.'

Todd.

Newton.

10

If likewise he some fair one wedded not,
Thereby to wipe away the infamous blot
Of long-uncoupled bed, and childless eld,
Which 'mongst the wanton Gods a foul reproach
was held.

III.

So mounting up in icy-pearled car,

15

Through middle empire of the freezing air
He wander'd long, till thee he spy'd from far;
There ended was his quest, there ceas'd his care.
Down he descended from his snow-soft chair,

But all unwares with his cold-kind embrace 20 Unhous'd thy virgin soul from her fair biding place.

IV.

Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate;
For so Apollo, with unweeting hand,
Whilome did slay his dearly loved mate,
Young Hyacinth, barn on Eurotas' strand,
Young Hyacinth, the pride of Spartan land;

But then transform'd him to a purple flower: Alack, that so to change thee Winter had no power!

V.

Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead,
Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb,

12 infamous] The common accentuation of our elder poetry. Drummond's Urania, 1616,

'On this infamous stage of woe to die.' Todd.

Or that thy beauties lie in wormy bed,
Hid from the world in a low delved tomb;
Could Heav'n for pity thee so strictly doom?
Oh no! for something in thy face did shine
Above mortality, that show'd thou wast divine. 35

VI.

Resolve me then, oh Soul most surely blest,
(If so it be that thou these plaints dost hear,)
Tell me, bright Spirit, where'er thou hoverest,
Whether above that high first-moving sphere,
Or in th' Elysian fields, (if such there were,)

40

Oh say me true, if thou wert mortal wight, [flight. And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy

VII.

Wert thou some star which from the ruin'd roof
Of shak'd Olympus by mischance didst fall;
Which careful Jove in nature's true behoof
Took up, and in fit place did reinstall?
Or did of late earth's sons besiege the wall

45

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

VIII.

Or wert thou that just Maid, who once before 50 Forsook the hated earth, O tell me sooth,

81 wormy] Shakesp. Mid. N. Dr. act iii. sc. ult.

'Already to their wormy beds are gone.' Warton.

40 were] He should have said 'are,' if the rhyme had permitted. Hurd.