CANTO I.

Argument.

The Knight, as to Pædia's home
He his young son conveys,
Is staid by Custom; with him fights,
And his vain pride disdays.

A GENTLE knight there was, whose noble deeds O'er Fairy-land by Fame were blazon'd round: Far warlike enterprise, and sage areeds' Among the chief alike was he renown'd; Whence with the marks of highest honours By Gloriana, in domestic peace, [crown'd That port, to which the wise are ever bound, He anchor'd was, and changed the tossing seas Of bustling busy life, for calm sequester'd ease.

There in domestic virtue rich and great,
As erst in public, mid his wide domain,
Long in primæval patriarchal state,
The lord, the judge, the father of the plain,
He dwelt; and with him, in the golden chain
Of wedded faith ylink'd, a matron sage

Aye dwelt; sweet partner of his joy and pain,
Sweet charmer of his youth, friend of his age,
Skill'd to improve his bliss, his sorrows to assuage.
From this fair union, not of sordid gain,
But merit similar and mutual love,

(True source of lineal virtue) sprung à train Of youths and virgins; like the beauteous grove, 1 Padia is a Greek word, signifying education.

2 Areeds, counsels.

Which round the temple of Olympic Jove, Begirt with youthful bloom the parent tree, The sacred olive3; whence old Elis wove Her verdant crowns of peaceful victory, The guerdons of bold strength and swift activity. So round their noble parents goodly rose Those generous scions: they with watchful care Still, as the swelling passions 'gan disclose The buds of future virtues, did prepare With prudent culture the young shoots to rear: And aye in this endearing pious toil They by a palmer sage instructed were, Who from deep thought and studious search erewhile

[soil. Had learn'd to mend the heart, and till the human

For by celestial wisdom whilom led [mind, Through all the' apartments of the' immortal He view'd the secret stores, and mark'd the sted To judgment, wit, and memory assign'd; And how sensation and reflection join'd To fill with images her darksome grotte, Where, variously disjointed or combined, As reason, fancy, or opinion wrought, Their various masks they play'd, and fed her pensive thought.

3 Parent tree, the sacred olive. This tree grew in the Altis, or sacred grove of Olympic Jupiter at Olympia, having, as the Eleans pretended, been originally planted there by Hercules. It was esteemed sacred, and from that were taken the Olympic crowns.

4 Guerdons, rewards.

5 Palmer, pilgrim. The person here signified is Mr. Locke, characterized by his works.

6 Sted, place, station.

Alse' through the fields of science had he stray'd With eager search, and sent his piercing eye Through each learn'd school, each philosophic

shade,

8

Where truth and virtue erst were deem'd to lie:
If haply the fair vagrants he mote spy,
Or hear the music of their charming lore:
But all unable there to satisfy

His curious soul, he turn'd him to explore
The sacred writ of faith; to learn, believe, adore!

Thence, foe profess'd of falsehood and deceit,
Those sly artificers of tyranny,

Aye' holding up before uncertain feet
His faithful light to knowledge, liberty,
Mankind he led to civil policy,

And mild religion's charitable law;
That, framed by mercy and benignity,
The persecuting sword forbids to draw,
And free-created souls with penal terrors awe.

Ne 10 with the glorious gifts elate and vain
Lock'd he his wisdom up in churlish pride;
But, stooping from his height, would even deign
The feeble steps of infancy to guide,
Eternal glory him therefore betide!

Let every generous youth his praise proclaim: Who, wandering through the world's rude forest wide,

By him hath been y-taught his course to frame To virtue's sweet abodes, and heaven-aspiring fame!

7 Alse, also, further.
9 Aye, ever.

8 Mote, might. 10 Ne, nor.

For this the fairy knight with anxious thought,
And fond paternal care, his counsel pray'd;
And him of gentlest courtesy besought
His guidance to vouchsafe and friendly aid;
The while his tender offspring he convey'd
Through devious paths to that secure retreat;
Where sage Pædia, with each tuneful maid,
On a wide mount had fix'd her rural seat,
Mid flowery gardens placed, untrod by vulgar feet.

And now forth pacing with his blooming heir,
And that same virtuous palmer them to guide;
Arm'd all to point, and on a courser fair
Y-mounted high in military pride,

His little train before he slow did ride.
Him eke behind a gentle squire ensues",

With his young lord aye marching side by side, His counsellour and guard, in goodly thews", Who well had been brought up, and nursed by every Muse.

Thus as their pleasing journey they pursued,
With cheerful argument beguiling pain :
Ere long descending from an hill they view'd
Beneath their eyes outstretch'd a spacious plain,
That fruitful show'd, and apt for every grain,
For pastures, vines, and flowers; while Nature
fair,

Sweet-smiling all around, with countenance fain 13

Seem'd to demand the tiller's art and care,

Her wildness to correct, her lavish waste repair,

Ensues, follows.

12 Thews, manners,

13 Fain, earnest, eager.

Right good, I ween, and bounteous was the soil,
Aye wont in happy season to repay
With tenfold usury the peasant's toil:
But now 'twas ruin all, and wild decay;
Untill❜d the garden and the fallow lay,

The sheep shorne down with barren brakes 14 o'ergrown,

The whiles the merry peasants sport and play, All as the public evil were unknown,

Or every public care from

every breast was flown.

Astonish'd at a scene at once so fair And so deform'd; with wonder and delight At man's neglect, and Nature's bounty rare, In studious thought a while the fairy knight Bent on that goodly lond" his eager sight: Then forward rush'd, impatient to descry What towns and castles therein were empight 16; For towns him seem'd, and castles he did spy, As to the' horizon round he stretch'd his roaming eye.

Nor long way had they travell❜d ere they came
To a wide stream, that with tumultuous roar
Amongst rude rocks its winding course did.
frame.

Black was the wave and sordid, cover'd o'er
With angry foam, and stain'd with infants' gore.
Thereto along the' unlovely margin stood
A birchen grove, that waving from the shore,
Aye cast upon the tide its falling bud,

And with its bittèr juice empoison'd all the flood.

14 Brakes, briars.
16 Empight, placed.

15 Lond, land.