for toyle doth give a better touch

to make us feele our joy;

and ease finds tediousness, as much

as labour yeelds annoy.

S. DANIEL

464

EVENING SONG OF THE PRIEST OF PAN

HEPHERDS all, and maidens fair,

SHOP VERDS and maidens

'gins to thicken, and the sun
already his great course hath run.
See the dew-drops how they kiss
ev'ry little flower that is,
hanging on their velvet heads,
like a rope of crystal beads:
see the heavy clouds low falling,
and bright Hesperus down calling
the dead night from under ground;
at whose rising mists unsound,
damps and vapours fly apace,
hovering o'er the wanton face
of these pastures, where they come,
striking dead both bud and bloom.
Therefore from such danger lock
ev'ry one his lovèd flock;

and let your dogs lie loose without,
lest the wolf come as a scout
from the mountain, and ere day
bear a lamb or kid away;
or the crafty thievish fox
break upon your simple flocks.
To secure yourselves from these,
be not too secure in ease;
let one eye his watches keep,
whilst the t'other eye doth sleep;
so you shall good shepherds prove,
and for ever hold the love

of our great god. Sweetest slumbers
and soft silence fall in numbers
on your eye-lids! so, farewell!
Thus I end my evening's knell.

J. FLETCHER

465

466

THE FIRST OF MAY

AIL! sacred thou to hallowed joy,

HA

to mirth and wine, sweet First of May!
to sports, which no grave cares alloy,
the sprightly dance, the festive play!
Hail! thou, of ever circling time

that gracest still the ceaseless flow!
bright blossom of the season's prime,
aye hastening on to winter's snow!
When first young Spring his angel face
on earth unveiled and years of gold
gilt with pure ray man's guileless race,
by law's stern terrors uncontrolled;
such was the soft and genial breeze

mild Zephyr breathed on all around; with graceful glee to airs like these

yielded its wealth the unlaboured ground.

So fresh-so fragrant is the gale

which o'er the islands of the blest
sweeps; where nor aches the limbs assail
nor age's peevish pains infest.

Where thy hushed groves, Elysium, sleep,
such winds with whispered murmurs blow;
so, where dull Lethe's waters creep,

they heave, scarce heave the cypress bough.
And such, when heaven with penal flame
shall purge the globe, that golden day
restoring, o'er man's brightened frame
haply such gale again shall play.

Hail thou, the fleet year's pride and prime,
hail! day, which fame should bid to bloom!
hail, image of primeval time!

hail, sample of a world to come!

IN

TO-MORROW

F. WRANGHAM

IN the downhill of life, when I find I'm declining,
may my lot no less fortunate be

than a snug elbow-chair can afford for reclining,
and a cot that o'erlooks the wide sea;

467

with an ambling pad-pony to pace o'er the lawn, while I carol away idle sorrow,

and blithe as the lark that each day hails the dawn look forward with hope for to-morrow.

With a porch at my door, both for shelter and shade too,

as the sun-shine or rain may prevail;

and a small spot of ground for the use of the spade too,

with a barn for the use of the flail:

a cow for my dairy, a dog for my game,

and a purse when a friend wants to borrow;

I'll envy no nabob his riches or fame,

nor what honours await him to-morrow.

From the bleak northern blast may my cot be completely

secured by a neighbouring hill;

and at night may repose steal upon me more sweetly by the sound of a murmuring rill:

and while peace and plenty I find at my board,

with a heart free from sickness and sorrow,
with my friends may I share what to-day may afford,
and let them spread the table to-morrow.

And when I at last must throw off this frail covering
which I've worn for three-score years and ten,
on the brink of the grave I'll not seek to keep ho-
vering,

nor my thread wish to spin o'er again:
but my face in the glass I'll serenely survey,

and with smiles count each wrinkle and furrow; as this old worn-out stuff, which is thread-bare to-day, may become everlasting to-morrow.

DAUGH

HYMN TO ADVERSITY

COLLINS

AUGHTER of Jove, relentless power, thou tamer of the human breast, whose iron scourge and torturing hour

the bad affright, afflict the best!

Bound in thy adamantine chain
the proud are taught to taste of pain,
and purple tyrants vainly groan

with pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.

468

When first thy Sire to send on earth
Virtue, his darling child, design'd,
to thee he gave the heav'nly birth,

and bade to form her infant mind.
Stern rugged nurse! thy rigid lore
with patience many a year she bore;

what sorrow was thou bad'st her know,

and from her own she learn'd to melt at others' woe.

O gently on thy suppliant's head,

dread Goddess, lay thy chastening hand,

not in thy Gorgon terrors clad,

not circled with the vengeful band

(as by the impious thou art seen)

with thundering voice and threatening mien,
with screaming Horror's funeral cry,

Despair, and fell Disease, and ghastly Poverty :

Thy form benign, O Goddess, wear,
thy milder influence impart,

thy philosophic train be there

to soften, not to wound my heart, The generous spark extinct revive, teach me to love and to forgive, exact my own defects to scan,

what others are to feel, and know myself a Man.

H

TRUE HAPPINESS

T. GRAY

E who is good is happy. Let the loud
artillery of heaven break through a cloud,

and dart its thunder at him, he'll remain
unmoved, and nobler comfort entertain

in welcoming the approach of death, than vice
ere found in her fictitious Paradise.

Time mocks our youth and (while we number past

delights and raise our appetite to taste
ensuing) brings us to unflattered age:
where we are left to satisfy the rage

of threatening death; pomp, beauty, wealth, and all
our friendships, shrinking from the funeral.

The thought of this begets that brave disdain

with which thou view'st the world, and makes those vain

treasures of fancy serious fools so court

and sweat to purchase thy contempt or sport.
What should we covet here? why interpose

a cloud 'twixt us and heaven? Kind nature chose
man's soul the Exchequer where she'd hoard her
wealth,

and lodge all her rich secrets; but by the stealth
of our own vanity, we are left so poor,
the creature merely sensual knows more.
The learned halcyon by her wisdom finds
a gentle season, when the seas and winds
are silenced by a calm, and then brings forth
the happy miracle of her rare birth,
leaving with wonder all our arts possest,
that view the architecture of her nest.
Pride raiseth us 'bove justice. We bestow

increase of knowledge on old minds, which grow
by age to dotage: while the sensitive

part of the world in its first strength doth live.

469

Satyr

W. HABINGTON

THE SATYR'S LEAVE-TAKING

'HOU divinest, fairest, brightest,

THOU

thou most powerful maid and whitest,

thou most virtuous and most blessed,

eyes of stars, and golden-tressèd

like Apollo; tell me, sweetest,

what new service now is meetest

for the Satyr? Shall I stray

in the middle air, and stay

the sailing rack, or nimbly take

hold by the moon, and gently make
suit to the pale queen of night
for a beam to give thee light?
Shall I dive into the sea,
and bring thee coral, making way
through the rising waves that fall
in snowy fleeces? Dearest, shall
I catch thee wanton fawns, or flies
whose woven wings the summer dyes