Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old, 160 Weep no more, woful Shepherds, weep no more, For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead, Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor; And yet anon repairs his drooping head, 166 And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore 170 Flames in the forehead of the morning sky; So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, Through the dear might of Him that walk'd the waves, Where, other groves and other streams along, 175 180 185 Thus sang the uncouth swain to th' oaks and rills, While the still morn went out with sandals grey, He touch'd the tender stops of various quills, With eager thought warbling his Doric lay: And now the sun had stretch'd out all the hills, 190 160. Bellerus; the Land's Ens, it is supposed, so called from an old Cornish giant.-Namancos and Bayona, fortresses on the coast of Spain. POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 1. (Anno Etatis 17.) ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT, DYING OF A COUGH. O FAIREST flower, no sooner blown but blasted, That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss, Of long-uncoupled bed, and childless eld, Which 'mongst the wanton gods a foul reproach was So mounting up in icy-pearled car Through middle empire of the freezing air He wander'd long, till thee he spy'd from far: [held 13 There ended was his quest, there ceased his care. But all unwares with his cold-kind embrace Unhoused thy virgin soul from her fair biding-place. 20 Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate; For so Apollo, with unweeting hand, Whilome did slay his dearly loved mate, 25 23. Apollo, it is said by the poets, slew Hyacinth while playing at quoits, and afterwards changed him into the flower bearing his name. But then transform'd him to a purple flower: Alack, that so to change thee Winter had no power. Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead, 35 Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb, 30 40 O say me true, if thou wert mortal wight, [flight. And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy Wert thou some star which from the ruin'd roof Of shaked Olympus by mischance did'st fall; Which careful Jove in Nature's true behoof Took up and in fit place did reinstall? Or did of late Earth's sons besiege the wall Or sheeny Heav'n, and thou some goddess fled Amongst us here below to hide thy nectar'd head? Or wert thou that just maid who once before 45 50 Or that crown'd matron sage white-robed Truth? 54 Or any other of that heav'nly brood [good? Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some Or wert thou of the golden-winged host, Who having clad thyself in human weed, 44. Shaked Olympus; in allusion to the war of the giants who besieged Jupiter. 50. That inst maid; Astrea, the goddess of justice. 53. I am inclined to think that Truth only is meant both in this and in the following expression, and that it is, therefore, not necessary to introduce, as the commentators have done, mercy or youth, in this line. Truth, for its purity, clear and unsoiled beauty, has all the characteristics of sweet smiling youth: for its gravity and unchanging steadiness it has the marks of matronly grace. The poet might hence very beautifully express a doubt as to whether he was to call it a youth or a matron. To Earth from thy prefixed seat didst post, GO As if to shew what creatures Heav' doth breed, But oh, why didst thou not stay here below To scorn the sordid world, and unto Heav'n aspire? To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart? But thou canst best perform that office where thou art. Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, Her false imagined loss cease to lament, And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild; Think what a present thou to God has sent, And render him with patience what he lent; This if thou do, he will an offspring give That till the world's last end shall make thy name to live. 71 75 II. (Anno Etatis 19.) At a Vacation Exercise in the college, part Latin, part English. The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began. HAIL, native Language, that by sinews weak The dantiest dishes shall be served up last. 68. These verses were written while there was a great plague raging. 10 I pray thee then deny me not thy aid 15 20 For this same small neglect that I have made : 25 Till thou hast deck'd them in thy best array ; Yet I had rather, if I were to choose, Such as may make thee search thy coffers round, How he before the thunderous throne doth lie, 30 35 To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings Then passing through the spheres of watchful fire, 41 May tell at length how green-eyed Neptune raves, In Heav'n's defiance must'ring all his waves; Then sing of secret things that came to pass 45 And last of kings, and queens, and heroes old, 50 48. Demodocus; a musician and poet mentioned in the eighth book of the Odyssey, in which king Alcinous is represented as entertaining Ulysses. The reader, if he be curious to understand the scope of what follows, must have reference to some book of logic. |