Nymphs and Shepherds dance no more Bring your flocks, and live with us, Here ye shall have greater grace, To serve the Lady of this place. Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were, Yet Syrinx well might wait on her. Such a rural queen All Arcadia hath not seen. 95 100 105 LYCIDAS. In this monody the Author bewails a learned Friend, unfortu nately drowned in his passage from Chester, on the Irish seas, 1637, and by occasion foretels the ruin of our corrupted Clergy, then in their height. YET once more, O ye Laurels, and once more Ye Myrtles brown, with Ivy never sere, I come to pluck your berries barsh and crude, 97..Ladon, another beautiful river in Arcadia.-Lyceus, &c. are celebrated mountains in the same country. This beautiful little poem, which partakes as much of the character of the allegory as of the pastoral, was written in memorial of Edward King, son of Sir John King, Secretary for Ireland, who perished by shipwreck in a voyage to Dublin, in the 25th year of his age. He was the fellow-collegian and most intimate friend of the poet, who at that time was destined, as well as himself, for holy orders. There are several allusions to the latter circumstance in the monody. Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 5 10 15 With lucky words, favour my destined urn, 20 And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud : Fed the same flock by fountain, shade, and rill. 25 Under the opening eye-lids of the morn, We drove a-field, and both together heard What time the grey-fly winds her sultry horn, 30 Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night, wheel. Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute, Rough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel But O the heavy change, now thou art gone, The willows, and the hazel copses green, 35 41 15. Sacred Well; the fountain Hippocrene, sacred to the muses, which springs from mount Helicon, on which there was an altar to Jupiter. 19. Muse, a metonomy for poet, see line 21. k Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. As killing as the canker to the rose, Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze, Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear, When first the white-thorn blows; Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. 45 Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas? Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie, 50 Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream: 55 Ay me! I fondly dream, Had ye been there; for what could that have done? 60 When, by the rout that made the hideous roar, To tend the homely, slighted shepherd's trade, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair? 65 Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 70 (That last infirmity of noble minds) To scorn delights, and live laborious days; But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, And think to burst out into sudden blaze, Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears, 75 Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies; 80 52. The steep; supposed to be Kerigy Drudion, a druid station in Denbighshire.-Mona; the isle of Anglesey.-Deva; the river Dee. 66. Meditate the Muse; a classical phrase; thus Virgil, Ecl. 1. 2. Musam Meditaris. And perfect witness of all-judging Jove; As he pronounces lastly on each deed, Of so much fame in Heaven expect thy meed. O fountain Arethuse, and thou honour'd flood, 85 Smooth-sliding Mincius, crown'd with vocal reeds, That strain I heard was of a higher mood: But now my oat proceeds, And listens to the herald of the sea That came in Neptune's plea; 90 He ask'd the waves, and ask'd the felon winds, 95 And sage Hippotades their answer brings, Sleek Panope with all her sisters play'd. 100 Built in th' eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark, Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow, His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge, Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge, Like to that sanguine flower, inscribed with woe. Ah! who hath reft (quoth he) my dearest pledge? Last came, and last did go, The pilot of the Galilean lake, 105 Two massy keys he bore of metals twain 110 (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain), He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake : 115 [hold 121 86. Mincius; a river near Mantua, where Virgil was born 89. The herald; Triton.-Hippotades; Eoles, the son of Hippotas.-Panope; a sea nymph.-Camus; the Cam. 109. The pilot; Saint Peter. 125 What recks it them? what need they? they are sped; 130 135 Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks, The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet, 145 The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine, 150 To strow the laureat hearse where Lycid lies. For so to interpose a little ease, Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise. Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide Or whether thou to our moist vows denied, 124. Scrannel; harsh. 128. An allusion, it is probable, to the supposed attempts at this period to introduce again the superstitious observances of the Roman church, which Archbishop Laud, it was thought, favoured. 142. Rathe; early. |