And the swink'd hedger at his supper sat;

I saw them under a green mantling vine
That crawls along the side of yon small hill, 295
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots;
Their port was more than human, as they stood:
I took it for a faery vision

Of some gay creatures of the element,

That in the colours of the rainbow live,

300

And play i' th' plighted clouds. I was awe-struck,
And as I pass'd, I worshipp'd; if those you seek,
It were a journey like the path to heaven,
To help you find them.

LAD. Gentle Villager,

What readiest

304

way would bring me to that place? COM. Due west it rises from this shrubby point. LAD. To find that out, good Shepherd, I supIn such a scant allowance of star-light,

Would overtask the best land-pilot's art,

[pose,

Without the sure guess of well-practis'd feet. 310
COM. I know each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle or bushy dell of this wild wood,
And every bosky bourn from side to side,
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;

sius's note on the force of this word. See too Arati Diosem. ver. 93.

297 human] The editions vary in pointing, either after 'human,' or after they stood.'

301 plighted] Folded. Milton's H. of England, b. ii. ‹ she

wore a plighted garment of divers colours.' Todd.

304 plighted clouds] Euripidis Orest. 1647. εν ἀιθέρος πτυχᾶις. A. Dyce.

And if your stray-attendants be yet lodg'd
Or shroud within these limits, I shall know
Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark
From her thatch'd pallat rouse; if otherwise
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low

But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
Till further quest.

LAD. Shepherd, I take thy word,
And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds

315

320

With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls
And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd, 325
And yet is most pretended: in a place

Less warranted than this, or less secure,

I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.
Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial
To my proportion'd strength. Shepherd, lead on.
Enter The Two BROTHERS.

1 BR. Unmuffle, ye faint stars, and thou, fair

moon,

That wont'st to love the traveller's benizon, Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,

331 Unmuffle] Benlowe's Theophila, st. xxii. P. 202.222. 'Unmuffle, ye dim clouds, and disinherit

From black usurping mists.'

Shirley's Young Admiral, act ii. sc. 2.

not a star

Muffled his brightness in a sullen cloud.'

331

See Gascoigne's Jocasta, p. 99. Lisle's Du Bartas, p. 106. Browne's Shepherd's Pipe, vol. iii. p. 41. 129. Thorney Abbey, p. 48, for the use of this word.

And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here.

In double night of darkness and of shades; 335
Or if your influence be quite damm'd up
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,
Though a rush candle, from the wicker-hole
Of some clay habitation, visit us

With thy long-levell'd rule of streaming light; 310
And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,
Or Tyrian Cynosure.

2 BR. Or if our eyes

315

Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear
The folded flocks penn'd in their wattled cotes,
Or sound of past'ral reed with oaten stops,
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
Count the night watches to his feathery dames,
'Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs.
But O that hapless virgin, our lost Sister,
Where may she wander now, whither betake her
From the chill dew, among rude burs and thistles ?
Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,
Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm
Leans her unpillow'd head, fraught with sad fears.

350

331 disinherit] Nabbes's Microcosmus. Reed. ix. p. 116. air had best

Confine himself to his three regions,

Or else I'll disinherit him.'

310 rule] Eurip. IKɛT. 650. 'Hλíov kavwv oapŋç. Hurd. 36 cock] Benlowes's Theophila, p. 199,

'Before the cock, light herald, day-break sings
To his feathery dames.'-

What, if in wild amazement, and affright,
Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp
Of savage hunger, or of savage heat?

1 BR. Peace, Brother, be not over-exquisite
To cast the fashion of uncertain evils;
For grant they be so, while they rest unknown,
What need a man forestall his date of grief,
And run to meet what he would most avoid?
Or if they be but false alarms of fear,
How bitter is such self-delusion!

I do not think my Sister so to seek,
Or so unprincipled in virtue's book,

360

And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever,
As that the single want of light and noise
(Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)
Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,
And put them into misbecoming plight.

Virtue could see to do what virtue would

370

By her own radiant light, though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self 375 Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude,

Where with her best nurse Contemplation

She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings,

361 For grant] This line obscures the thought, and loads the expression it had been better out. Warburton.

376 seeks to] This expression, seeks to,' common in our transl. of the Bible. Isaiah xi. 10. Deut. xii. 5. 1 Kings x. 24. Eccles. iv. 12. Warton. Todd.

378 plumes] I believe the true reading to be 'prunes.' Warton.

That in the various bustle of resort

Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impair'd. 380
He that has light within his own clear breast,
May sit i' th' centre, and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
Himself is his own dungeon.

2 BR. 'Tis most true,

That musing meditation most affects
The pensive secrecy of desert cell,

Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds,
And sits as safe as in a senate house;

For who would rob a hermit of his weeds,

His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,
Or do his

gray

hairs any

violence?

But beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree

335

390

305

Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Of dragon watch with unenchanted eye,
To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold incontinence.
You may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps
Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den,

And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on opportunity,

400

380 all-to] So read as in editions 1637, 1645, 1673, not 'too ruffled;' 'all-to' is 'entirely.' See Tyrwhitt's Gloss. Chauc. v. To. Upton's Gloss. Spens. v. 'all.' Warton.

380 ruffled] Benlowes's Theophila, p. 222. Retreating to sweet shades our shattered thoughts we piece.'

389 senate] See Tooke's Div. of Purley, i. p. 90, ed. 4to.