་ Till, at full time, the tedious prison flying, It breaks all lets, its ready way denying; And shakes the trembling Isle with often painful dying. So by the Bosphorus straights, in Euxine seas, And parting oft, tost by the boist❜rous main, Here oft, not lust, but sweeter chastity, Coupled sometimes, and sometimes single, dwells; Such Phoenix one, (but one at once may be, ? What nymph was this, said fairest Rosaleen, Ah, royal maid! why shouldst thou thus lament thee? Queen Elizabeth. †The Earl of Essex. Historians inform us, that Elizabeth complained she had been betrayed into this sanguinary measure. It is too much, so much thou should'st repent thee; These words (vain words!) fond comforters did lend her; But, ah, no words, no pray'rs, might ever bend her To give an end to grief: till endless grief did end her. XXXII. But how should I those sorrows dare display ? Or how limme forth her virtues' wonderment! Few eyes fail'n lights adore; yet fame shall keep While men have ears to hear, eyes to look back, and weep. And though the curs (which whelpt and nurs'd in Spain, Have vow'd and strove her virgin tomb to stain; XXXIV. So is this Island's lower region: Yet, ah! much better is it sure than so. But my poor reeds, like my condition, (Low is the shepherd's state, my song as low) 1 Mar what they make-But now in yonder shade Rest we, while suns have longer shadows made : See, how our panting flocks run to the cooler glade." * In heathen mythology, a fabulous giant, with three heads. G CANTO IV. I. THE shepherds in the shade their hunger feasted, Pull'd from their stalks the blushing strawberries, Which lurk close shrouded from high looking eyes; Shewing that sweetness oft both low and hidden lies. II. But when the day had his meridian run, His wonted audience his sides entwining. "The middle province next this lower stands, Where th' Isle's heart-city spreads his large commands, Leagu'd to the neighbour towns with sure and friendly bands. III. Such as that star, which sets his glorious chair Their ends, place, office, state, so nearly near, That those wise ancients, from their nature's sight And likeness, turn'd their names, and call'd aright The sun the great world's heart, the heart the less world's light. IV. This middle coast, to all the Isle dispends All heat and life: hence it another guard (Beside these common to the first) defends; Built whole of massy stone, cold, dry, and hard : Which stretching round about his circling arms, Warrants these parts from all exterior harms; Repelling angry force, securing all alarms. V. But in the front † two fair twin-bulwarks rise; For hence the young Isle draws his nourishment; Here milky springs in sugar'd rivers flow, For when the lesser Island (still increasing VII. So where fair Medway down the Kentish dales, To many towns her plenteous waters dealing, *The heart is the seat of heat and life; therefore walled about with the ribs, for more safety. + The breasts. When the infant grows large, the blood vessels are so oppressed, that partly through the readiness of the passage, but especially by the providence of God, blood turns back to the breast, and there by an innate and wonderful faculty is turned into milk. Lading her banks into wide Thamis falls ; The big-grown main with foamy billows swelling, These two fair mounts are like two hemispheres, In blushing red; the rest in snowy tire, Like Thracian Homus looks, which ne'er feels Phoebus' fire. IX. That mighty Hand, in these dissected wreaths, (Where moves our Sun) his throne's fair picture gives; The pattern breathless, but the picture breathes; His highest heav'n is dead, our low heav'n lives: And fills with saintly spirits, so turns to Heav'n from Hell. About this region round in compass stand A guard, both for defence and respiration, * Of sixty four, parted in several bands; Half to let out the smoky exhalation; The other half to draw in fresher winds: Beside both these, a third of both their kinds, That lets both out and in; which no enforcement binds. In the Thorax, or breast, are sixty-five muscles for respiration, orbreathing, which is either free or forced: the instruments of forced breathing are sixty-four, whereof thirty-two distend, and as many contract it. |