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Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
That sing about the golden tree:
Along the crisped shades and bowers
Revels the spruce and jocund Spring,
The Graces, and the rosy-bosom'd Hours,
Thither all their bounties bring;
There eternal Summer dwells,

And west-winds, with musky wing,
About the cedarn alleys fling

Nard and cassia's balmy smells.

Iris there with humid bow

Waters the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue

Than her purfled scarf can shew,
And drenches with Elysian dew,

(List mortals, if your ears be true)
Beds of hyacinth and roses,
Where young Adonis oft reposes,
Waxing well of his deep wound
In slumber soft, and on the ground
Sadly sits th' Assyrian queen;
But far above in spangled sheen
Celestial Cupid her fam'd son advanc'd,

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988 There] Milton's own edition, 1673, reads 'That there,' but in the errata directs' That' to be omitted; so it is by Tickell and Fenton, but silently readopted by Newton.

Warton.

989 musky] See Cowley's Silva. p. 56, and Love's Riddle, p. 93. 'The musky kisses of the west wind.'

1002 Assyrian] Tickell and Fenton read 'the Cyprian Queen.'

Holds his dear Psyche sweet intranc'd,
After her wand'ring labours long,
Till free consent the Gods among
Make her his eternal bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twins are to be born,
Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn.
But now my task is smoothly done,
I can fly, or I can run

Quickly to the green earth's end,

Where the bow'd welkin slow doth bend,
And from thence can soar as soon

To the corners of the moon.

;

Mortals, that would follow me, Love Virtue, she alone is free She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime: Or, if Virtue feeble were,

Heav'n itself would stoop to her.

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1017 corners] Macbeth, a. 3. s. 5. Upon the corner of the Warton.

moon.

1021 sphery] 'sphery chime' is the chime or music of the spheres. Mids. N. Dream, act ii. sc. 7, 'Hermia's sphery eyne.' Machin's Dumbe Knight, (Reed's Old Pl. iv. 447), 'It was as silver as the chime of spheres.' Herrick's Hesp. p. 116, 'Fall down from those thy chiming spheres.' Warton and Todd.

1028 stoop] 'bow.' MS.

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, O ye laurels, and once more
Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere,

I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude,
And with forc'd fingers rude,

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 5
Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,
Compels me to disturb your season due:
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas! and hath not left his peer.
Who would not sing for Lycidas? He knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
He must not float upon his watery bier

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2 myrtles brown] Hor. Od. i. 25. 18. 'Pulla magis atque myrto.' Warton.

8 dead] 'Phillisides is dead.' Past. Egl. 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.

Unwept, and welter to the parching wind,
Without the meed of some melodious tear.

Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well,
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring,
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string.
Hence with denial vain, and coy excuse;
So may some gentle Muse

With lucky words favour my destin'd urn,
And as he passes turn,

And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud.

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For we were nurst 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,

14 melodious] Cleveland's Obsequy on Mr. King, 'I like not tears in tune.' Todd.

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17 sweep] E qui Calliopea alquanto surga.' Dante Purg. i. 9.

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19 Muse] Gentle Muse-he passes.' See Jortin's Tracts. i. p. 341.

28 nurst] Compare Past. Egl. 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.

Like a pearl,

Dropp'd from the opening eyelids of the morn.'

And Crashaw's Translation of Marino, 'The lids of day.'

29 Batt'ning] Drayton's Ecl. ix.

Warton. Todd.

"Their battening flocks on grassie leas to hold.' Warton.

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Oft till the star that rose, at evening bright, Toward heav'n's descent had slop'd his westering Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute, [wheel. Temper'd to th' oaten flute,

Rough Satyrs danc'd, and Fauns with cloven heel From the glad sound would not be absent long, And old Damætas lov'd to hear our song.

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But O the heavy change, now thou art gone,
Now thou art gone, and never must return!
Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods, and desert caves
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown,
And all their echoes mourn.

The willows, and the hazel copses green,
Shall now no more be seen,

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;

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Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. [deep
Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless
Clos'd o'er the head of your lov'd Lycidas?
For neither were ye playing on the steep,

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88 Temper'd] On this word see P. Fletcher's Purple Isl.

c. ix. st. 3. Par. Lost, vii. 598. Warton.

87 thou art gone] Browne's Sheph. Pipe (ecl. 4). 'But he is gone.'

50 Where] Spenser's Astrophel, st. 22,

Ah, where were ye this while, his shepheard peares, &c.

Warton.

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