And full against the beam he flung,

Where by the back the youth he hung
To spraul unneath the roof.

From thence," Reverse my charm, he cries, "And let it fairly now fuffice

"The gambol has been shown.”

But Oberon answers with a smile,
"Content thee Edwin for a while,

"The vantage is thine own."

Here ended all the phantom-play;
They fmelt the fresh approach of day,
And heard a cock to crow;

The whirling wind that bore the crowd
Has clapp'd the door, and whistled loud,
To warn them all to go.

Then screaming all at once they fly,
And all at once the tapers dye;
Poor Edwin falls to floor;

Forlorn his ftate, and dark the place,
Was never wight in such a case
Through all the land before.

But foon as Dan Apollo rofe,
Full jolly creature home he goes,
He feels his back the less;
His honeft tongue and steady mind
Had rid him of the lump behind,

Which made him want fuccefs.

With lufty livelyhed he talks,

He feems a dauncing as he walks,
His story foon took wind;

And beauteous Edith fees the youth
Endow'd with courage, fenfe, and truth,
Without a bunch behind.

The story told, Sir Topaz mov'd,
The youth of Edith erft approv'd,
To fee the revel scene:

At close of eve he leaves his home,
And wends to find the ruin'd dome
All on the gloomy plain.

As there he bides, it so befell,
The wind came ruftling down a dell,
A fhaking feiz'd the wall;

Up fpring the tapers as before,
The fairies bragly foot the floor,
And mufic fills the hall.

But certes forely funk with woe
Sir Topaz fees the Elphin show,
His fpirits in him dye:

When Oberon crys, "A man is near,
"A mortal paffion, cleeped fear,

66

Hangs flagging in the fky."

With that Sir Topaz, hapless youth!
In accents faultering, ay for ruth,
Intreats them pity graunt;

For als he been a mister wight

Betray'd by wandering in the night

To tread the circled haunt ;

"Ah Lofell vile, at once they roar : "And little skill'd of fairie lore,

66

Thy cause to come, we know: "Now has thy keftrell courage fell; "And fairies, fince a lye you tell,

"Are free to work thee woe."

Then Will, who bears the wispy fire
To trail the swains among the mire,
The caitiff upward flung;

There, like a tortoise, in a shop
He dangled from the chamber-top,
Where whilome Edwin hung.

The revel now proceeds apace,
Deftly they frisk it o'er the place,

They fit, they drink, and eat;

The time with frolic mirth beguile,
And poor Sir Topaz hangs the while
Till all the rout retreat.

By this the stars began to wink,

They fhriek, they fly, the tapers fink, And down y-drops the knight:

For never spell by fairie laid

With ftrong enchantment bound a glade, Beyond the length of night.

Chill, dark, alone, adreed, he lay,
Till up the welkin rose the day,

Then deem'd the dole was o'er:

But wot ye well his harder lot?
His feely back the bunch had got
Which Edwin loft afore.

This tale a Sybil-nurse ared;

She foftly ftroak'd my youngling head,
And when the tale was done,

"Thus fome are born, my son, she cries, "With base impediments to rife,

"And fome are born with none.

"But virtue can itself advance

"To what the favourite fools of chance "By fortune feem defign'd;

"Virtue can gain the odds of fate,
"And from itself shake off the weight

"Upon th' unworthy mind."

THE

VIGIL OF VENUS.

WRITTEN IN THE TIME OF JULIUS CÆSAR,

AND BY SOME ASCRIBED TO CATULLUS.

LET thofe love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
The fpring, the new, the warbling fpring appears,
The youthful season of reviving years;

In fpring the loves enkindle mutual heats,
The feather'd nation chufe their tuneful mates,
The trees grow fruitful with descending rain,
And dreft in differing greens adorn the plain.
She comes; to-morrow Beauty's empress roves
Through walks that winding run within the groves;
She twines the shooting myrtle into bowers,

And ties their meeting tops with wreaths of flowers,
Then, rais'd fublimely on her easy throne,
From Nature's powerful dictates draws her own.
Let thofe love now, who never lov'd before;
Let thofe who always lov'd, now love the more.
'Twas on that day which saw the teeming flood
Swell round, impregnate with celeftial blood;
Wandering in circles ftood the finny crew,
The midft was left a void expanse of blue,
There

parent ocean work'd with heaving throes, And dropping wet the fair Dione rose.