near. Upon this joyful day, some dainty chaplets twine: Sweet marjoram, with her like, sweet basil rare for Some others chosen out, with fingers neat and fine, smell, [to tell: Brave anadems do make: some bauldricks up do With many a flower, whose name were now too long bind: [sign'd And rarely with the rest, the goodly flour-de-lis. Some, garlands; and to some the nosegays were as- Thus for the nuptial hour, all fitted point-device, As best their skill did serve. But for that Tame Whilst some still busied are in decking of the bride, should be Some others were again as seriously employ'd Still man-like as himself, therefore they will that he In strewing of those herbs, at bridals us'd that be; Should not be drest with flowers to gardens that be- Which every where they throw with bounteous long, hands and free. [do fly, (His bride that better fit) but only such as sprung The healthful balm and mint, from their full laps From the replenish'd meads, and fruitful pastures The scentful camomile, the ven'rous costmary; They hot muscado oil with milder maudlin cast; To sort which flowers, some sit; some making gar- Strong tansey, fennel cool, they prodigally waste : lands were ; Clear hysop, and therewith the comfortable thyme, The primrose placing first, because that in the spring Germander with the rest, each thing then in her It is the first appears, then only flourishing ; (mix’d: prime; [flower, The azur'd hare-bell next, with them they neatly As well of wholesome herbs, as every pleasant T'allay whose luscious smell, they woodbind plac'd Which nature here produc'd, to fit this happy hour. betwixt. (the lilly; Amongst these strewing kinds, some oiher wild that Amongst those things of scent, there prick they in grow, And near to that again, her sister daffadilly. As burnet, all abroad, and meadow-wort they throw. To sort these flowers of show, with th' other that Thus all things falling out to every one's desire, were sweet, The ceremonies done that marriage doth require, The cowslip then they couch, and th’ oxlip, for her The bride and bridegroom set, and serv'd with sunmeet : dry cates, The columbine amongst they sparingly do set, And every other plac'd as fitted their estates; The yellow kingscup, wrought in many a curious fret, Amongst this confluence great, wise Charwell here And now and then among, of eglantine a spray, was thought By which again a course of lady-smocks they lay: The fitt'st to cheer the guests ; who thoroughly had The crow-flower, and thereby the clover-flower they been taught stick, In all that could pertain to courtship, long agon, The daisy, over all those sundry sweets so thick, As coming from his sire, the fruitful Helidon, (towns As nature doth herself; to imitate her right; He travelleth to Tames; where passing by those Who seems in that her pearl so greatly to delight, Of that rich country near, whereas the mirthful That every plain therewith she powd’reth to behold: clowns, The crimson darnel-flower, the blue-bottle, and gold; With tabor and the pipe, on holidays do use, Which though esteem'd but weeds; yet for their Upon the may-pole green, to trample out their shoes: dainty hues, (chuse. And having in his ears the deep and solemn rings, And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose Which found him all the way, unto the learned Thus having told you how the bridegroom Tame springs, [meet, was drest, Where he his sovereign Ouze most happily doth I'll shew you how the bride, fair Isis, they invest; And him, the thrice-three maids, Apollo's offspring, Sitting to be attir'd under her bower of state, greet Which scorns a meaner sort, than fits a princely rate. With all their sacred gifts; thus, expert being grown In anadems for whom they curiously dispose In music; and besides, a curious maker known; The red, the dainty white, the goodly damask rose, This Charwell (as I said) the first these floods among, For the rich ruby, pearl, and amethyst, men place For silence having call’d, thus to th’assembly sung: In kings imperial crowns, the circle that inchace. • Stand fast, ye higher hills; low vallies easily lie; The brave carnation then, with sweet and sovereign And forests, that to both you equally apply power (But for the greater part, both wild and barren be) (So of his colour call’d, although a July-flower) Retire ye to your wastes; and rivers, only we, With th' other of his kind, the speckled and the Oft meeting let us mix: and with delightful grace, pale: [gale Let every beauteous nymph her best-lov'd flood Then th' odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a embrace, Of sweetness; yet in scents as various as in sorts. An alien be he born, or near to her own spring, The purple violet then, the pansie there supports: So from his native fount he bravely flourishing, The marygold above t'adorn the arched bar: Along the flow'ry fields licentiously do strain, The double-daisy, thrift, the button batchelor, Greeting each curled grove, and circling everyplain ; Sweet-william, sops-in-wine, the campion: and to Or hasting to his fall, his shoaly gravel scow'rs, these And with his crystal front then courts the climbing Some lavender they put, with rosemary and bays: tow'rs. a name, • Let all the world be judge, what mountain hath Amongst his holts and hills, as on his way he makes, [flood of fame: At Reading once arriv’d, clear Kennet overtakes Like that from whose proud foot there springs some His lord the stately Tames, which that great flood And in the earth's survey, what seat like that is set, With many signs of joy doth kindly entertain. (again Whose streets some ample stream abundantly doth Then Loddon next comes in, contributing her store ; wet: [road, As still we see, the much runs ever to the more. Where is there haven found, or harbour, like that Set out with all this pomp, when this imperial Int' which some goodly flood his burden doth un- stream load ? (reign fraught Himself establish'd sees amidst his wat’ry realm, By whose rank swelling stream the far-fecht-fo- His much-lov'd Henly leaves, and prouder dotb May up to inland-lowns conveniently be brought. pursue (view. Of any part of earth, we be the most renown’d; His wood-nymph Windsor's seat, her lovely site to That countries very oft, nay, empires oft we bound. Whose most delightful face when once the river sees, As Rubicon, much fam'd both for his fount and fall, Which shews herself attir’d in tall and stately trees, The ancient limit held 'twixt Italy and Gaul. He in such earnest love with amorous gestures woes, Europe and Asia keep on Tanais' either side. (vide. That looking still at her, his way was like to lose ; Such honour have we floods, the world (even) to di- And wand'ring in and out, so wildly seems to go, Nay, kingdoms thus we prove are christened oft by As headlong he himself into her lap would throw. Iberia takes her name from crystal Iberus. [us; Him with the like desire the forest doth embrace, Such reverence to our kind the wiser ancients gave, And with her preseuce strives her Tames as much As they suppos'd each flood a deity to have. to grace. • But with our fame at home return we to proceed. No forest, of them all, so fit as she doth stand, In Britain here we find, our Severn, and our Tweed, When princes, for their sports, her pleasures will The tripartited isle do generally divide, [side. command; (seen, To England, Scotland, Wales, as each doth keep her No wood-nymph as herself such troops had ever Trent cuts the land in two so equally, as tho' Nor can such quarries boast as have in Windsor Nature it pointed-out, to our great Brute to shew Nor any ever had so many solemn days, (been; How to his mighty sons the island he might share; So brave assemblies view'd, nor took so rich assays. A thousand of this kind, and nearer, I will spare ; Then, hand in hand, her Tames the forest softly Where, if the state of floods at large I list to shew, brings I proudly could report how Pactolus doth throw To that supremest place of the great English kings, Up grains of perfect gold; and of great Ganges tell, The Garter's royal seat, from him who did advance Which when full India's showers enforceth him to That princely order first, our first that conquer'd swell, [shore: France; [knights, Gilds with his glistering sands the over-pamper'd The temple of St. George, whereas his honour'd How wealthy Tagus first, by tumbling down his ore, Upon his hallowed day, observe their ancient rites: The rude and slothful Moors of old Iberia taught Where Eaton is at hand to nurse that learned brood, To search into those hills, from which such wealth To keep the Muses still near, to this princely flood; he brought. That nothing there may want, to beautify that seat, Beyond these if I pleas'd I to your praise could bring, With every pleasure stor’d: and here my song comIn sacred Tempe, how (about the hoof-plough'd plete. spring) The Heliconian maids, upon that hallowed ground, THE XXVIII. SONG OF THE SAME. Recounting heavenly hymns eternally are crown'd. And as the earth doth us in her own bowels nourish; Three shires at once this song assays, So every thing that grows, by us doth thrive and By various and unusual ways. flourish. At Nottingham first coming in, To godly virtuous men, we wisely liken'd are: The vale of Bever doth begin; To be so in themselves, that do not only care ; Tow'rds Le'ster then her course she holds, [flow Then shows the braveries of that flood, And of her wonders makes her speak : [grounds, Till happily attain’d his grandsire Chiltern's Now scarcely on this tract the Muse had entrance Who with his beechen wreaths this king of rivers made, Inclining to the south, but Bever's batning slade THE ARGUMENT. crowns. (her so, Receiveth her to guest, whose coming had too long Thus with her handmaid Sence, the Soare doth Put off her rightful praise, when thus herself she eas’ly slide sung, By Leicester, where yet her ruins show her pride, • Three shires there are (quoth she) in me their Demolish'd many years, that of the great foundation parts that claim, [Nottingham. Of her long buried walls, men hardly see the station; Large Lincoln, Rutland rich, and th' north's eye Yet of some pieces found, so sure the cement locks But in the last of these since most of me doth lie, The stones, that they remain like perdurable rocks: To that my most-loved shire myself I must apply. Where whilst the lovely Soare, with many a dear Not Eusham that proud nymph, although she embrace, still pretend (send Is solacing herself with this delightful place, Herself the first of vales, and though abroad she The forest, which the name of that brave town doth Her awful dread command, that all should tribute bear, (hair, pay [though her clay With many a goodly wreath, crowns her disheveld To her as our great queen ; nor White-horse, And in her gallant green, her lusty livery shows Of silver seem to be, new melted, nor the vale Herself to this fair flood, which mildly as she flows, Of Aylsbury, whose grass seems given out by tale, Reciprocally likes her length and breadth to see, For it so silken is, nor any of our kind, As also how she keeps her fertile purlues free: Or what, or where they be, or howsoe'er inclind, The herds of fallow deer she on the lawns doth feed, Me Bever shall outbrave, that in my state do scorn, As having in herself to furnish every need. (take, By any of them all (once) to be overborn, But now since gentle Soare such leisure seems to With theirs, do but compare the country where I lie, The Muse in her behalf this strong defence doth My Hill, and Oulds will say, they are the island's make, Consider next my scite, and say it doth excel; [eye. Against the neighbour floods, for that which tax Then come unto my soil, and you shall see it swell And her a channel call, because she is so slow. With every grass and grain, that Britain forth can The cause is that she lies upon so low a flat, bring; Where nature most of all befriended her in that, I challenge any vale, to shew me but that thing The longer to enjoy the good she doth possess : I cannot shew to her (that truly is mine own) For had those (with such speed that forward seem Beside I dare thus boast, that I as far am known, to press) As any of them all, the south their names doth sound, So many dainty meads, and pastures theirs to be, The spacious north doth me, that there is scarcely They then would wish themselves to be as slow as found, she, [maid, A roomth for any else, it is so fill'd with mine, Who well may be compar'd to some young tender Which but a little wants of making me divine : Ent’ring some prince's court, which is for pomp arNor barren am of brooks, for that I still retain ray'd, Two neat and dainty rills, the little Snyte,and Deane, Who led from room to room amazed is to see That from the lovely Oulds, their beauteous parent The furniture and states, which all embroideries be, sprung The rich and sumptuous beds, with tester covering From the Leicestrian fields, come on with me along, plumes, Till both within one bank,theyon my north are meint, And various as the sutes, so various the perfumes, And where I end, they fall, at Newark, into Trent.' Large galleries, where piece with piece doth seem Hence wand'ring as the Muse delightfully beholds to strive, The beauty of the large, and goodly full-flock'd Of pictures done to life, landskip, and perspective, Oulds, Thence goodly gardens sees, where antique statues She on the left hand leaves old Leicester, and Aies, stand Until the fertile earth glut her insatiate eyes, In stone and copper, cut by many a skilful hand; From rich to richer still, that riseth her before, Where every thing to gaze, her more and more enUntil she come to cease upon the head of Soare, tices, Where Fosse, and Watling, cut each other in their Thinking at once she sees a thousand paradises, (source, Goes softly on, as though before she saw the last, At Sharnford, where at first her soft and gentle She long'd again to see, what she had slightly past. To her but shallow banks, begineth to repair, So the enticing soil the Soare along doth lead, Of all this beauteous isle, the delicatest air; As wond'ring in herself, at many a spacious mead; Whence softly sallying out, as loth the place to leave, When Charnwood from the rocks salutes her wished She Sence a pretty rill doth courteously receive: sight, [light, For Swift, alittle brook, which certainly she thought (Of many a wood-god woo'd) her darling and deDown to the banks of Trent would safely her have Whose beauty whilst that Soare is pausing to behold brought, Clear Wreakin coming in, from Waltham on the Because their native springs so nearly were ally'd, Ould, Her sister Soare forsook, and wholly her apply'd Brings Eye, a pretty brook, to bear her silver train, To Avon, as with her continually to keep, Which on by Melton makes, and tripping o'er the And wait on her along to the Sabrinian deep. plain, course a Here finding her surpriz’d with proud Mount-sor- The lesser Tame, and Mess, the Mess a dainty rill, rel's sight, Near Charnwood rising first, where she begins to fill By quickening of her course, more eas'ly doth invite Her banks, which all her course on both sides do Her to the goodly Trent, whereas she goes along abound By Loughborough, she thus of that fair forest sung. With heath and ferny olds, and often gleabyground, "O Charnwood, be thou call’d the choicest of thy Till Croxall's fertile earth doth comfort her at last kind, When she is entring Trent; but I was like t' have The like in any place, what flood hath hapt to find? past [hers, No tract in all this isle, the proudest let her be, The other Sence, whose source doth rise not far from Can shew a sylvan nymph, for beauty like to thee: By Ancor, that herself to famous Trent prefers, The satyrs, and the fawns, by Dian set to keep The second of that name, allotted to this shire, Rough bills, and forest holts, were sadly seen to A name but hardly found in any place but here; weep, Nor is to many known, this country that frequent. When thy high-palmed harts, the sport of bows and But Muse return at last, attend the princely Trent, hounds, Who straining on in state,the north’s imperious flood, By gripple borderers hands, were banished thy The third of England call’d,with many a daintywood, grounds. Being crown'd to Burton comes, to Needwood where The Driades that were wont about thy lawns to rove, she shows [flows, To trip from wood to wood, and scud from grove to Herself in all her pomp; and as from thence she grove, [rocks, She takes into her train rich Dove, and Darwin clear, On Sharpley that were seen, and Cadman's aged Darwin, whose font and fall are both in Derbyshire; Against the rising sun, to braid their silver locks ; And of those thirty floods, that wait the Trent upon, And with the harmless Elves, on heathy Bardon's Doth stand without compare, the very paragon. height, (night, Thus wand'ring at her will, as uncontrould she By Cynthia's colder beams to play them night by ranges, Exil'd their sweet abode to poor bare commons fled, Her often varying form, as variously and changes. They with the oaks that liv'd, now with the oaks First Erwash, and then Lyne,sweet Sherwood sends are dead. her in ; Who will describe to life, a forest, let him take Then looking wide, as one that newly wak'd had Thy surface to himself, nor shall he need to make been, Another form at all, where oft in thee is found Saluted from the north, with Nottingham's proud Fine sharp but easy hills, which reverently are height, crown's [sheep So strongly is surpris'd, and taken with the sight, With aged antique rocks, to which the goats and That she from running wild, but hardly can refrain, (To him that stands remote) do softly seem to creep, To view in how great state, as she along doth strain, To gnaw the little shrubs, on their steep sides that That brave exalted seat beholdeth her in pride, grow; As how the large-spread meads upon the other side, Upon whose other part, on some descending brow, All flourishing in flowers, and rich embroideries Huge stones are hanging out, as though they down dress'd, [bless’d. would drop, [prop In which she sees herself above her neighbours Where under-growing oaks, on their old shoulders As wrap'd with the delights, that her this prospect The others hoary heads, which still seem to decline, brings, And in a dimble near (even as a place divine, In her peculiar praise, lo thus the river sings : For contemplation fit) an ivy-ceiled bower, • What should I care at all, from what my name As nature had therein ordain’d some sylvan power; I take, As men may very oft at great assemblies see, [be: That thirty doth import, that thirty rivers make; Wbere many of most choice, and wond'red beauties My greatness what it is, or thirty abbeys great, For stature one doth seem the best away to bear; That on my fruitful banks, times formerly did seat: Another for her shape, to stand beyond compare ; Or thirty kinds of fish that in my streams do live, Another for the fine composure of a face: To me this name of Trent, did from that number give. Another short of these, yet for a modest grace What reck 1? let great Thames, since by his forBefore them all prefer'd; amongst the rest yet one, tune he Adjudgʻd by all to be, so perfect paragon, Is sovereign of us all that here in Britain be; That all those parts in her together simply dwell, From Isis, and old Tame, his pedigree derive; For which the other do so severally excel. And for the second place, proud Severn that doth My Charnwood, like the last, hath in herself alone, strive, What excellent can be in any forest shown.' Fetch her descent from Wales, from that proud On whom when thus the Soare had these high mountain sprung, praises spent, Plinillimon, whose praise is frequent them among, She easily slid away into her sovereign Trent, As of that princely maid, whose name she boasts to Who having wander'd long, at length began toleave bear, [heir, Her native country's bounds, and kindlydoth receive Bright Sabrin, whom she holds as her undoubted than me, Let these imperious floods draw down their long Which bending of himself to th' fashion of a ring, descent Above the forced weares, himself doth nimbly fling, From these so famous stocks, and only say of Trent, And often when the net hath drag'd him safe to land, That Mooreland's barren carth me first to light did Is seen by natural force to’scape his murderer's hand; bring, [plexion’d spring Whose grain doth rise in flakes, with fatness interWhich hough she be but brown, my clear com larded, Gain'd with the nymphs such grace, that when I Of many a liquorish lip, that highly is regarded. first did rise, And Humber, to whose waste I pay my wat'ry store, The Naiades on my brim danc'd wanton hydagies, Me of her sturgeons sends, that I thereby the more And on her spacious breast (with heaths that doth Should have my beauties grac'd with something abound) from him sent: Encircled my fair fount with many a lusty round: Not Ancum's silver'd eel excelleth that of Trent; And of the British floods, though but the third I be, Though the sweet smelling smelt be more in Thames Yet Thames and Severn both in this come short of me For that I am the mere of England, that divides The lamprey, and his lesse, in Severn general be; The north part from the south, on my so either sides, The flounder smooth and flat, in other rivers caught, That reckoning how these tracts in compass be ex- Perhaps in greater store, yet better are not thought: tent, [Trent; The dainty gudgeon, loche, the minnow, and the Men bound them on the north, or on the south of Since they but little are, little need to speak (bleake, Their banks are barren sands, if but compar'd with Of them, nor doth it fit me much of those to reck, mine, [shine: Which every where are found in every little beck ; Through my perspicuous breast, the pearly peebles Nor of the crayfish here, which creeps amongst my I throw my crystal arms along the flow'ry vallies, stones, Which lying sleek and smooth as any garden-alleys, From all the rest alone, whose shell is all his bones: Do give me leave to play, whilst they do court my For carp, the tench, and breame, my other store stream, among, And crown mywinding banks with many an anadem : To lakes and standing pools that chiefly do belong, My silver-scaled sculls about my streams do sweep, Here scouring in my fords, feed in my waters clear, Now in the shallow fords, now in the falling deep: Are muddy fish in ponds to that which they are here.' So that of every kind, the new spawn'd numerous fry From Nottingham, near which this river first beSeem in me as the sands that on my shore do lie. gun (run, The barbell, than which fish a braver doth not swim, This song, she the meanwhile, by Newark having Nor greater for the ford within my spacious brim, Receiving little Synte, from Bever's batning grounds, Nor(newly taken) more the curious taste doth please; At Gainsborough goes out, where the Lincolnian The greling, whose great spawn is big as any pease ; bounds. The pearch with pricking fins, against the pike pre- Yet Sherwood all this while, not satisfied to show par'd, Her love to princely Trent, as downward she doth As nature had thereon bestow'd this stronger guard flow, His daintiness to keep, (each curious palate's proof) Her Meden and her Man, she down from Mansfield From his vile ravenous foe: next him I name the To Iddle for heraid, bywhom she recommends (sends ruffe, Her love to that brave queen of waters, her to meet, His very near ally, and both for scale and fin, When she tow'rds Humber comes, do humbly kiss In taste, and for his bait (indeed) his next of kin, her feet, (fall. The pretty slender dare, of many call’d the dace, And clip her till she grace great Humber with her Within my liquid glass, when Phæbus looks his face, When Sherwood somewhat back the forward Muse Oft swiftly as he swims, his silver belly shows, doth call; But with such nimble flight, that e'er ye can disclose For she was let to know, that Soare had in her song His shape, out of your sight like lightning he is shot. Sochanted Charnwood'sworth, the rivers that along, The trout by nature mark’d with manya crimson spot, Amongst the neighbouring nymphs there was no As though she curious were in him above the rest, other lays, [her praise: And of fresh-water fish, did note him for the best; But those which seem'a to sound of Charnwood, and The roche, whose common kind to every flood doth Which Sherwood took to heart, and very much disfall; [call) dain'd, (tain'd The chub (whose neater name which some a chevin (As one that had both long, and worthily mainFood to the tyrant pike, (most being in his power) The title of the great’st and bravest of her kind) Who for their numerous store he most doth them To fall so far below one wretchedly confin'd devour ; Within a furlong's space, to her large skirts comThe lusty salmon then, from Neptune's wat'ry realm, par'd: When as his season serves, stemming my tideful Wherefore she as a nymph that neither fear'd nor stream, car'd Then being in his kind, in me his pleasure takes, Forought to her might chance, by others love or hate, (For whom the fisher then all other game forsakes) With resolution arm'd against the power of fate, a |