LYCIDAS. In this Monody, the author bewails a learned friend, unfortunately drowned in his passage from Chester on the Irish seas, 1637; and by occasion foretells the ruin of our corrupted clergy, then in their height. YET Once more, 0 ye laurels, and once more I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, Shatter leaves before the mellowing year. your Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear, 5 10 2 myrtles brown] Hor. Od. i. 25. 17. Pulla magis atque myrto.' Warton. 8 dead] Phillisides is dead.' Past. Ægl. on Sir P. Sidney's death, by L. B. v. 8. (Todd's Spenser, viii. 76), and v. 71. 'Sweet bowres of myrtel twigs, and lawrel faire.' 10 Who] 'Neget quis carmina Gallo.' Virg. Ecl. x. 3. Peck. 12 Watery] See Theod. Prodrom. Dos. et Rhod. Am. p. 254, ed. Gaulm. 14 Melodious] Cleveland's Obsequy on Mr. King, 'I like not tears in tune. Todd. Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well, That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring; So may some gentle Muse With lucky words favour my destin❜d urn, And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud. 20 25 For we were nurs'd upon the self-same hill, Fed the same flock by fountain, shade, and rill. Together both, ere the high lawns appear'd Under the opening eyelids of the morn, We drove a-field, and both together heard What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn, Batt'ning our flocks with the fresh dews of night, Oft till the star that rose, at evening, bright, Toward heav'n's descent had slop'd his west'ring Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute, [wheel. Temper'd to th' oaten flute; 30 17 sweep] E qui Calliopea alquanto surga.' Dante Purg. i. 9. 19 Muse] 'Gentle Muse-he passes.' See Jortin's Tracts, i. p. 341. 23 nurs'd] Compare Past. Ægl. on Sir P. Sidney's death, by L. B. ver. 85. "Through many a hill and dale,' &c. 26 opening] Middleton's Game at Chess. Dropp'd from the opening eyelids of the morn.' And Crashaw's Translation of Marino, 'The lids of day.' Warton, Todd. 29 Batt'ning] Drayton's Ecl. ix. "Their battening flocks on grassie leas to hold.' Warton. 33 Temper'd] On this word see P. Fletcher's Purple Isl. c. ix. st 3. Par. Lost, vii. 598. Warton. Rough Satyrs danc'd, and Fauns with cloven heel From the glad sound would not be absent long, And old Damætus lov'd to hear our song. 35 But, O the heavy change, now thou art gone, The willows, and the hazel copses green, Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze, Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherds' ear. 45 Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep Clos'd o'er the head of your lov'd Lycidas? For neither were ye playing on the steep, Nor yet where Deva spreads her wisard stream: 37 thou art gone] Browne's Sheph. Pipe (ecl. 4). 'But he is gone.' 50 Where] Spenser's Astrophel, st. 22, Ah, where were ye the while his shepheard peares, &c. Warton. 55 wisard] On the wisard stream of Deva, consult Warton's note. Had ye been there, for what could that have done? When by the rout that made the hideous roar, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair? Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise To scorn delights, and live laborious days; 63 swift] Vir. Æn. 1. 321. Volucremque fuga prævertitur Hebrum.' 69 tangles] Benlowes's Theophila, p. 2. Warton. 60 65 'Entangled thoughts in the trammels of their ambush hair.' Greene's never too late, 'Entangle men in their tresses,' p. 58. Shirley's Doubtful Heir, p. 36. G. Peele's Works, ed. Dyce, 1829, i. p. 17. ii. p. 11. 70 Fame] "Quasi hic subesset ingens Cupido gloriæ quæ etiam sapientibus novissima exuitur." Strada Prelu. p. 161. ed. Ox. 74 blaze] So P. Reg. iii. 47. 'For what is glory but the blaze of fame. Warton. 75 blind] Spenser's R. of Rome. st. xxiv. 'If the blind Furie which warres breedeth oft.' Warton. And slits the thin-spun life. But not the praise, Set off to th' world, nor in broad rumour lies; Of so much fame in heav'n expect thy meed. 80 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 ; He ask'd the waves, and ask'd the felon winds, That blows from off each beaked promontory: And sage Hippotades their answer brings, 77 touch'd] Virg. Ecl. vi. 3. -Cynthius aurem Peck. Vellit, et admonuit. 79 foil] See Shakes. Henry IV. act i. s. 2. Warton. 90 95 85 fountain] Hom. Od. xiii. 408. Końvn'Agɛboúơn. Virg. Ecl. x. 4. Æn. iii. 694. Warton. 87 higher] 'I'll tune my reed unto a higher key.' Browne's Brit. Past. iv. 41. 93 question'd] And question'd each wind that came that way.' Beaumont's Psyche, C. xviii. st. 56. 96 Hippotades] Eolus, the son of Hippotas, Hom. Od. x. 2. Ap. Rh. iv. 819. Ovid. Ep. ex Ponto, iv. x. 15, and elsewhere. Warton. |