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

To scorn the fordid world, and unto Heav'n afpire?

X.

But oh why didst thou not stay here below

To bless us with thy heav'n-lov'd innocence,
To flake his wrath whom fin hath made our foe,
To turn swift-rushing black perdition hence,
Or drive away the flaughtering peftilence,

65

To ftand 'twixt us and our deserved smart? But thou canft beft perform that office where thou art. 70

XI.

Then thou the Mother of fo fweet a Child
Her false imagin❜d lofs ccafe to lament,

And wifely learn to curb thy forrows wild;
Think what a present thou to God haft fent,
And render him with patience what he lent;

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

75

This

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

Thefe

This if thou do, he will an ofspring give,

That till the world's last end fhall make thy name to live.

II.

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

HAIL native Language, that by finews weak

5

Didst move my first endevoring tongue to speak, And mad❜st imperfect words with childish trips, Half unpronounc'd, slide through my infant-lips, Driving dumb filence from the portal door, Where he had mutely fat two years before: 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'ft not be ambitious to be firft, Believe me I have thither packt the worst:

ΙΟ

These verses were made in 1627, that being the 19th year of the author's age; and

And,

they were not in the edition of 1645, but
were firft added in the edition of 1673.
Sf 2
29. Yet

And, if it happen as I did forecast,
The daintiest dishes shall be ferv'd up laft.
I pray thee then deny me not thy aid

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

15

20

25

Yet I had rather, if I were to chufe,

Thy service in fome graver subject use,

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

30

35

How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,
Lift'ning to what unshorn Apollo fings

To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings
Immortal nectar to her kingly fire:

Then paffing through the spheres of watchful fire, 40
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 muftering all his waves;

37. unborn Apollo] An epithet by which he is diftinguish'd in the Greek and Latin poets. Pindar Pyth. III. 26. axeçσexqua Doilo. Hor. Od. I. XXI. 2.

Intonfum pueri dicite Cynthium.

41. And mifty regions of wide air next under, And bills of fnow and lofts of piled thunder, 1

Then

So Taffo defcribes the defcent of Michael,
Cant. 9. St. 61.

Vien poi da campi lieti, e fiammeggianti.
D'eterno dì là, donde tuona, e pioue:
The fields he paffed then, whence hail and
fnow,

Thunder and rain fall down from clouds.
above. Fairfax.

48. Such

Then fing of fecret things that came to pass
When beldam Nature in her cradle was;
And laft of kings and queens and heroes old,
Such as the wife Demodocus once told
In folemn fongs at king Alcinous feast,
While fad Ulyffes foul and all the reft
Are held with his melodious harmony
In willing chains and fweet captivity.
But fie, my wand'ring Muse, how thou doft stray!
Expectance calls thee now another way,

Thou know'ft it must be now thy only bent
To keep in compafs of thy predicament:
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may resign my room.

45

50

55

Then Ens is reprefented as father of the Predicaments his ten fons, whereof the eldeft ftood for Subftance with his canons, which Ens, thus fpeaking, explains.

GOOD

OOD luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth
The faery ladies danc'd upon the hearth;

48. Such as the wife Demodocus &c] Alluding to the eighth book of the Odyffey, where

60

Thy

Alcinous entertains Ulyffes, and the celebrated musician and poet Demodocus fings

the