Befriend me, Night, best patroness of grief,
Over the pole thy thickett mantle throw,
And work my flatter'd fancy to belief,
That Heav'n and Earth are color'd with my woe;
My forrows are too dark for day to know:

The leaves fhould all be black whereon I write, And letters where my tears have wash'd a wannish white.

VI.

35

ΤΟ

IS

With truth, and peace, and love, fhall ever thing About the fupreme throne

Of him, t' whofe happy-making fight alone When once our heav'nly-guided foul fhall climb, Then all this earthy groffness quit,

Attir'd with ftars, we fhall for ever fit,

20

Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee, O Time.

YE

VI.

Upon the Crucifixion.

E flaming Powers, and winged Warriors
bright,

That erft with mufic, and triumphant fong,
First heard by happy watchful fhepherds' ear,
So fweetly fung your joy the clouds along

Through the foft filence of the lift'ning night; $
Now mourn, and if fad share with us to bear
Your fiery effence can diftil no tear,

Burn in your fighs, and borrow
Seas wept from our deep forrow:

He who with all Heav'n's heraldry whilere
Enter'd the world, now bleeds to give us cafe;
Alas, how foon our fin

ΤΟ

20

And that great covenant which we still tranfgrefs Entirely fatisfied,

And the full wrath befide 2 [T]

IX.

Song. On May Morning.

XII.

Another on the fame.

lieth one, who did moft truly prove

Now

ger,

5

Comes dancing from the eaft, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowflip, and the pale primrose.
Hail bounteous May, that doft infpire
Mirth and youth and warm defire;
Woods and groves are, of thy dreffing,
Hill and dale doth boast thy blefling.
Thus we falute thee with our early fong,
And welcome thee, and with thee long.

X.

On Shakespear. 1630.

ΤΟ

WHAT needs my Shakespear for his honor'd

bones

5

ΙΟ

en'd;

Nay, quoth he, on his fwooning bed out-ftretch'd, If I mayn't carry, fure I'll ne'er be fetch'd,

But vow, though the crofs doctors all ftood hear

Yet (ftrange to think) his wain was his increase:

His letters are deliver'd all and gone,

Only remains his fuperfcription.

Zephyr with Aurora playing, As he met her once a Maying, There on beds of violets blue,

20

Of herbs, and other country meffes,
Which the neat-handed Phillis dreffes;
And then in hafte her bower she leaves,
With Theftylis to bind the fheaves;
Or if the earlier feafon lead

And fresh-blown rofes wash'd in dew, Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair, So buxom, blithe, and debonair.

Hafte thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Jeft and youthful Jollity,

Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles,
Nods and Becks, and wreathed Smiles,
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,
And love to live in dimple fleek;
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his fides.
Come, and trip it as you go
On the light fantastic toe,

And in thy right hand lead with thee,
The mountain nymph, fweet Liberty;
And if I give thee honor due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew
To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free;
To hear the lark begin his flight,
And finging ftartle the dull night.
From his watch-tower in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rife;
Then to come in fpite of forrow,
And at my window bid good-morrow,
Through the fweet-briar, or the vine,
Or the twisted eglantine:

While the cock with lively din

Scatters the rear of darknefs thin,

And to the stack, or the barn-door, Stoutly ftruts his dames before:

The upland hamlets will invite,
When the merry bells ring round,
And the jocund rebecs found

To many a youth, and many a maid,
30 Dancing in the chequer'd shade;
And young and old come forth to play
On a funshine holy-day,
Till the live-long day-light fail;
Then to the spicy nut-brown ale,
With ftories told of many a feat,
How faery Mab the junkets eat,

35

She was pincht and pull'd, the faid, And he by frier's lanthorn led

Tells how the drudging Goblin swet, To earn his cream-bowl duly fet,

40

When in one night, ere glimpfe of morn,

His fhadowy flale hath thresh'd the corn, That ten day-laborers could not end; Then lies him down the lubbar fiend,

45

And stretch'd out all the chimney's length,

Bafks at the fire his hairy strength,

And crop-full out of doors he flings, Ere the first cock his matin rings.

Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,

50

By whifpering winds foon lull'd afleep. Towred cities please us then,

And the bufy hum of men,

Where throngs of knights and barons bold In weeds of peace high triumphs hold,

55

With fore of ladies whofe bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize

Oft liftening how the hounds and horn
Chearly roufe the flumbering morn,
From the fide of fome hoar hill,
Through the high wood echoing fhrill:
Some time walking not unfeen
By hedge-row elms, on hillocs green,
Right against the eastern gate,
Where the great fun begins his ftate,
Rob'd in flames and amber light,
The clouds in thousand liveries dight,
While the plow-man near at hand
Whistles o'er the furrow'd land,
And the milkmaid fingeth blithe,
And the mower whets his fithe,
And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale.

Strait mine eye hath caught new pleasures
Whilst the landskip round it measures,
Ruffet lawns, and fallows gray,
Where the nibbling flocks do ftray,
Mountains on whofe barren breast

The laboring clouds do often reft,
Meadows trim with daifies pied,
Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
Towers and battlements it fees
Bofom'd high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps fome beauty lies,
The Cyaofure of neighboring eyes.
Hard by, a cottage chimney fmokes,
From betwixt two aged oaks,

Where Corydon and Thyrfis met,

Are at their favory dinner fet

60

Of wit, or arms, while both contend To win her grace, whom all commend. There let Hymen oft appear In faffron robe, with taper clear, And pomp, and feaft, and revelry, With mark and antique.pageantry, Such fights as youthful poets dream, On fummer eves by haunted stream. 65 Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Joufon's learned fock be on, Or tweeteft Shakespear, fancy's child Warble his native wood-notes wild.

75

With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,

The melting voice through mazes running,

Untwisting all the chains that ty

The hidden foul of harmony;

That Orpheus' felf may heave his head

Or that starr'd Ethiop queen that ftrove

To fet her beauties' praise above

The Sea-Nymphs, and their powers offended :

Yet thou art higher far defcended,

Thee bright-hair'd Vesta long of yore

To folitary Saturn bore;

His daughter fhe (in Saturn's reign,

Such mixture was not held a ftain).

Oft in glimmering bowers and glades He met her, and in fecret fhades

Of woody Ida's inmoft grove,

While yet there was no fear of Jove.

Come, penfive Nun, devout and pure,
Sober, ftedfaft, and demure,
All in a robe of darkest grain,

Flowing with majestic train,

And fable ftole of Cyprus lawn,

Over thy decent fhoulders drawn. Come, but keep thy wonted ftate, With even ftep, and mufing gait,

What worlds, or what vaft regions, hold
The immortal mind that hath forfook
Her manfion in this fleshly nook:
And of those Demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground,
Whofe power hath a true confent
With planet, or with element.
Sometime let gorgeous tragedy
In fcepter'd pall come fweeping by,
Prefenting Thebes', or Pelops' line,
Or the tale of Troy divine,
Or what (though rare) of later age
Ennobled hath the bufkin'd ftage.
But, O fad Virgin, that thy power
Might raise Musæus from his bower,
Or bid the foul of Orpheus fing
Such notes as, warbled to the string,
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,
And made Hell grant what love did feek.
Or call up him that left half told

And looks commercing with the skies,

Thy rapt foul fitting in thine eyes:

There held in holy paffion ftill,

Forget thyself to marble, till

With a fad leaden downward caft

Thou fix them on the earth as faft:

And join with thee calm Peace, and Quiet, Spare Faft, that oft with Gods doth diet,

And hears the Mufes in a ring

Ay round about Jove's altar fing:

And add to thefe retired Leifure,

'Lefs Philomel will deign a fong,

In her sweetest, faddeft plight, Smoothing the rugged brow of night,

Till civil-fuited morn appear,

Not trickt and frounct as fhe was wont

With the Attic boy to hunt,