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now shew themselves to our ripe wits, which will certainly give them no other entertainment, but derision. For myself, I cannot account that worthy of your patronage, which comes forth so short of my desires, thereby meriting no other light than the fire. But since you please to have them see more day, than their credit can well endure, marvel not if they fly under your shadow, to cover them from the piercing eye of this very curious yet more censorious age. In letting them go abroad, I desire only to testify how much I prefer your desires before mine own, and how much I owe to you more than any other. This if they witness for me, it is all the service I require. Sir, I leave them to your tuition, and entreat you to love him, who will contend with you in nothing but to out-love you, and would be known to the world by no other Name, than

Your true Friend,

PHINEAS FLETCHER.

HILGAY, May 1, 1633.

THE

PURPLE ISLAND.

CANTO I.

I.

THE warmer sun the golden bull outran,
And with the twins made haste to inn* and play;
Scatt'ring ten thousand flow'rs, anew began
To paint the world, and piece the length'ning day ;
(The world more aged by new youths accruing) :
Ah, wretched man! this wretched world pursuing,
Which still grows worse by age, and older by renewing.
II.

The shepherd-boys, who with the muses dwell,
Met in the plain their May-lords new to choose,
(For two they yearly choose) to order well

Their rural sports and year that next ensues:

Now were they sat, where by the garden walls
The learned Cam with stealing water crawls,

And lowly down before that royal temple falls.

*To take up temporary abode. So Donne :..." Inn any where, Continuance is hell."

B

III.

Among the rout they take two gentle swains,

Whose sprouting youth did now but greenly bud ;
Well could they pipe and sing, but yet their strains
Were only known unto the silent wood :

Their nearest blood from self-same fountains flow,
'Their souls self-same in nearer love did grow;
So seem'd two join'd in one, or one disjoin'd in two*.
IV.

Now when the shepherd-lads, with common voice,
Their first consent had firmly ratified,

A gentle boy began to wave their choice ;—
"Thirsil, said he, tho' yet thy muse untried,
Hath only learn'd in private shades to feign
Soft sighs of love, unto a looser strain;

Or thy poor Thelgon's wrong, in mournful verse to plain;

V.

Yet, since the shepherd-swains do all consent

To make thee lord of them, and of their art; And that choice lad, to give a full content,

Hath join'd with thee in office as in heart;

Wake, wake thy long, thy too long sleeping muse,
And thank them with a song, as is the use+:

Such honour thus conferr'd, thou may'st not well refuse,
VI.

Sing what thou list, be it of Cupid's spite,
(Ah, lovely spite and spiteful loveliness !)
Or Gemma's grief, if sadder be thy sprite :
Begin beloved swain, with good success."--
"Ah, said the bashful boy, such wanton toys,

A better mind and sacred vow destroys,

Since in a higher Love I settled all my joys.

The Author speaks here of himself and his brother; who was also a Poet. tie. Custom.

VII.

But if you deign my ruder pipe to hear,

(Rude pipe, unus'd, untun'd, unworthy hearing) These infantile beginnings gently bear,

Whose best desert and hope must be your bearing. But you, O muses, by soft Camus sitting, Your dainty songs unto his murmurs fitting, Which bear the under-song unto your cheerful dittying ;VIII.

Tell me, ye muses, what hath former

ages,

Now left succeeding times to play upon ?
And what remains unthought of by those sages,
Where a new muse may try her pinion?

What light'ning heroes, like great Peleus' heir
Darting his beams thro' our hard frozen air,
May stir up gentle heat, and virtue's wane repair?
IX.

Who knows not Jason? or bold Tiphys' hand,*
That durst unite what nature's self would part ?
He makes isles continent, and all one land;

O'er seas, as earth, he march'd with dangerous art:
He rides the white-mouth'd waves, and scorneth all
Those thousand deaths wide gaping for his fall :
He death defies, fenc'd with a thin, low, wooden wall.
X.

Who has not often read Troy's twice sung fires,

And at the second time twice better sung

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Who hath not heard th' Arcadian shepherd's quires,
Which now have gladly chang'd their native tongue;
And sitting by slow Mincius, sport their fill,
With sweeter voice and never equall❜d skill,
Chanting their amorous lays unto a Roman quill† ?
* Tiphys was pilot of the vessel which conveyed Jason to Colchis.
Mincius, a river of Mantua, Virgil's birth-place.

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And thou, choice wit! love's scholar, and love's master, Art known to all, where love himself is known* ; Whether thou bidd'st Ulysses hie him faster;

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Or dost thy fault and distant exile moan;

Who hath not seen upon the tragic stage, Dire Atreus feast, and wrong'd Medea rage, Marching in tragic state, and buskin'd equipage? XII.

And now of late + th'Italian fisher-swain

Sits on the shore to watch his trembling line, There teaches rocks and prouder seas to plain By Nesis fair, and fairer Mergiline:

Whilst his thin net, upon his oars entwin'd, With wanton strife catches the sun and wind; Which still do slip away, and still remain behind. XIII.

And that French muse's eagle eye and wing,

Hath soar'd to heav'n, and there hath learn'd the art

To frame angelic strains, and canzons sing;

Too high and deep for any shallow heart.

Ah, blessed soul! in those celestial rays,

Which gave thee light, these lower works to blaze, Thou sit'st imparadis'd, and chant'st eternal lays.

XIV.

Thrice happy wits! which in the springing May,
Warm'd with the sun of well deserved favours,
Disclose your buds, and your fair blooms display,
Perfume the air with your rich fragrant savours!
Nor may, nor ever shall, those honour'd flow'rs
Be spoil'd by summer's heat, or winter's show'rs,
But last, when time shall have decay'd the proudest tow'rs,
Bartas.

* Ovid.

+ Saunazar.

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