Looks
distracted
back in haste,
And then straight again is fled ;
XI.
And then straight again is fled ;
XI.
Marvell - Poems
Thou ne'er didst alive
Them any harm, alas ! nor could
Thy death yet do them any good.
I'm sure I never wished them ill ;
Nor do I for all this, nor will :
But, if my simple prayers may yet
Prevail with heaven to forget
Thy murder, I will join my tears.
Rather than fail. But, O my fears !
It cannot die so. Heaven's king
Keeps register of every thing,
And nothing may we use in vain ;
Even beasts must be with justice slain.
Else men are made their deodands.
Though they should wash their guilty hands
In this warm life-blood which doth part
From thine and wound me to the hcurt.
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OP MAR V ELL.
Yet could they not be clean, their stain
Is dyed in such a purple grain.
There is not such another in
The world, to oflfer for their sin.
Inconstant Stlvio, when yet
I had not found him counterfeit.
One morning (I remember well)
Tied in this silver chain and bell.
Gave it to me : nay, and I know
What he said then, I'm sure I do ;
Said he, ' Look how your huntsman here
' Hath taught a fawn to hunt his deer. '
But Sylyio soon had me beguiled ;
This waxed tame, while he grew wild,
And quite regardless of my smart,
Left me his fawn, but took his heart.
Thenceforth I set myself to play
My solitary time away
With this ; and, very well content.
Could so mine idle life have spent ;
For it was full of sport, and light
Of foot and heart, and did invite
Me to its game : it seemed to bless
Itself in me ; how could I less
Than love it ? 01 cannot be
Unkind to a beast that loveth me.
Had it lived long, I do not know
Whether it too might have done so
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48 THE POEMS
As Sylyio did ; his gifts might be
Perhaps as false, or more, than he ;
But I am sure, for aught that I
Could in so short a time espj.
Thy love was far more better than
The love of fabe and cruel man.
With sweetest milk and sugar first
I it at my own fingers nursed ;
And as it grew, so every day
It waxed more white and sweet than they.
It had so sweet a breath I And ofl
I blushed to see its foot more soft
And white, shall I say than my hand ?
Nay, any lady's of the land.
It is a wond'rous thing how fleet
Twas on those little silver feet ;
With what a pretty skipping grace
It oft would challenge me the race ;
And, when it had left me far away,
*Twould stay, and run again, and stay ;
For it was nimbler much than hinds.
And trod as if on the four winds.
I have a garden of my own,
But so with roses overgrown,
And lilies, that you would it guess
To be a little wilderness.
And all the spring time of the year
It only loved to be there.
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OF MARVELL. 49
Among the beds of lilies I
Have sought it of^, where it should lie.
Yet could not, till itself would rise,
Find it, although before mine eyes ;,
For, in the flaxen lilies' shade.
It like a bank of lilies laid.
Upon the roses it would feed,
Until its lips e'en seemed to bleed,
And then to me 'twould boldly trip,.
And print those roses on my lip.
But all its chief delight was still
On roses thus itself to fill,
And its pure virgin limbs to fold
In whitest sheets of lilies cold :
Had it lived long, it would have been
Lilies without, roses within.
help ! O help ! I see it faint
And die as calmly as a saint !
See how it weeps ! the tears do come
Sad, slowly, dropping like a gum.
So weeps the wounded balsam ; so
The holy frankincense doth flow ;
The brotherless Heliades
Melt in such amber tears as these.
1 in a golden vial will
Keep these two crystal tears, and fill
It till it doth overflow with mine,
Then place it in Diana's shrine.
4
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50 THE P0KM6
Now my sweet fawn is vanish'd to
Whither the swans and turtles go ;
In fair Elysium to endure,
With milk-white lambs, and ermines pure.
O do not run too fast : for I
Will but bespeak thy grave, and die.
First, my unhappy statue shall
Be cut in marble ; and withal, t
Let it be weeping too ; but there
The engraver sure his art may spare ;
For I so truly thee bemoan,
That I shall weep, though I be stone,
Until my tears, still dropping, wear
My breast, themselves engraving there ;
Then at my feet shalt thou be laid,
Of purest alabaster made ;
For I would have thine image be
White as I can, though not as thee.
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OP MARVELL. 51
YOUNG LOVE.
Come, little infant, love me now,
While thine unsuspected years
Clear thine aged father's brow
From cold jealousy and fears.
II.
Pretty surely 'twere to see
By young Love old Time beguiled,
While our sportings are as free
As the nurse's with the child.
III.
Common beauties stay fifteen ;
Such as yours should swifter move,
Whose fair blossoms are too green
Yet for lust, but not for love.
iv.
Love as much the snowy lamb.
Or the wanton kid, does prize,
As the lusty bull or ram,
For his morning sacrifice.
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62 THE POEMS
y.
Now then love me : Time may take
Thee before thy time away ;
Of this need we'll virtue make.
And learn love before we may.
VI.
So we win of doubtful fate,
Andy if good to us she meant,
We that good shall antedate.
Or, if ill, that ill prevent
vn.
Thus do kingdoms, frustrating
Other titles to their crown.
In the cradle crown their king,
So all foreign claims to drown.
Vlll.
So to make all rivals vain.
Now I crown thee with my love :
Crown me with thy love again.
And we both shall monarchs prove.
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OP MARVELL. 53
TO HIS COY HISTRESa
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Should'st rubies find : I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the fiood.
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews ;
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires and more slow ;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze ;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest ;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state.
Nor would I love at lower rate.
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But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near,
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found.
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song : then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity.
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust :
The grave's a fine and private place.
But none, I think, do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youtliful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew.
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may.
And now, like amorous birds of prey
Rather at once our time devour.
Than languish in his slow-chaped power.
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball.
And tear our pleasures with rough strife.
Thorough the iron gates of life ;
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
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OF MARYZLL. 55
THE UNFORTUNATE LOVER.
Alas ! how pleasant are their days,
With whom the infant love yet plays 1
Sorted by pairs, they still are seen
By fountains cool and shadows green ;
But soon these flames do lose their light,
Like meteors of a summer's night ;
Nor can they to that region climb,
To make impression upon time.
'Twas in a shipwreck, when the seas
Ruled, and the winds did what they please,
That my poor lover floating lay.
And, ere brought forth, was cast away ;
Till at the last the master wave
Upon the rock his mother drave,
And there she split against the stone.
In a Csesarian section.
The sea him lent these bitter tears,
Which at his eyes he always beai*s,
And from the winds the sighs he bore.
Which through his surging breast do roar ;
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No day he saw but that which breaks
Through frighted clouds in forked streaks,
While round the rattling thunder hurled,
As at the funeral of the world.
While nature to his birth presents
This masque of quarrelling elements,
A numerous fleet of cormorants black,
That sailed insulting o'er the wrack,
Received into their cruel care.
The unfortunate and abject heir ;
Guardians most fit to entertain
The orphan of the hurricane.
They fed him up with hopes and air,
Which soon digested to despair,
And as one cormorant fed him, still
Another on his heart did bill ;
Thus, while they famish him, and feast,
He both consumed, and increased.
And languished with doubtful breath,
The amphibium of life and death.
. And now, when angry heaven would
Behold a spectacle of blood.
Fortune and he are called to play
At sharp before it all the day.
And tyrant Love his breast does ply
With all his winged artillery.
Whilst he, betwixt the fiames and waves.
Like Ajax, the mad tempest braves.
See how he naked and fierce does stand,
Cuffing the thunder with one hand,
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OP MARVELL. 57
While with the other he does lock,
And grapple, with the stubborn rock,
From which he with each wave rebounds,
Tom into ilames, and ragged with wounds,
And all he sajs, a lover drest
In his own blood does relish best.
This is the only banneret,
That ever love created yet ;
Who, though by the malignant stars.
Forced to live in storms and wars.
Yet dying, leaves a perfume here.
And music within every ear ;
And he in story only rules,
In a field sable, a lover gules.
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58 THE rO£MS
THE GALLERY.
Ghlora, come view my soul, and tell
Whether I have contrived it well ;
How all its several lodgings lie,
Composed into one gallery,
And the great arras-hangings, made
Of various faces, by are laid.
That, for all furniture, you'll find
Only your picture in my mind.
Here thou art painted in the dress
Of an inhumane murtheress,
Examining upon our hearts,
(Thy fertile shop of cruel arts,)
Engines more keen than ever yet
Adorned a tyrant's cabinet,
Of which the most tormenting are.
Black eyes, red lips, and curled hair.
But, on the other side, thou*rt drawn,
Like to Aurora in the dawn.
When in the east she slumbering lies,
'And stretches out her milky thighs.
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OF MARVELL. 59
While all the morning quire does sing,
And Manna falls and roses spring,
And, at thy feet, the wooing doves
Sit perfecting their harmless loves.
Like an enchantress here thou show'st,
Vexing thy restless lover's ghost.
And, by a light obscure, dost rave
Over his entrails, in the cave.
Divining thence, with horrid care.
How long thou shalt continue fair,
And (when informed) them throw'st away
To be the greedy vulture's prey.
But, against that, thou sittest afloat,
Like Venus in her pearly boat ;
The halcyons, calming all that's nigh,
Betwixt the air and water fly ;
Or, if some rolling wave appears,
A mass of ambergrease it bears,
Nor blows more wind than what may well
Convoy the perfume to the smeJL
These pictures, and a thousand more.
Of thee, my gallery do store.
In all the forms thou can'st invent.
Either to please me, or torment ;
For thou alone, to people me,
Art grown a numerous colony.
And a collection choicer far
Than or Whitehall's, or Mantua's were.
But of these pictures, and the rest,
That at the entrance likes mc best,
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60 THE POEMS
Where the same postare and the look
Bemains with which I first was took ;
A tender shepherdess, whose hair
Hangs loosely playing in the air.
Transplanting flowers from the green hill
To crown her head and bosom filL
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F MARVELL* 61
THE FAIR SINGER.
I.
To make a final conquest of all me,
Love did compose so sweet an enemy,
In whom both beauties to my death agree,
Joining themselves in fatal harmony.
That, while she with her eyes my heart doe*
bind,
She with her voice might captivate my mind.
II.
I could have fled from one but singly fair ;
My disentangled soul itself might save.
Breaking the curled trammels of her hair ;
But how should I avoid to be her slave,
Whose subtle art invisibly can wreath
My fetters of the very air I breathe ?
III.
It had been easy fighting in some plain,
Where victory might hang in equal choice
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62 THE POEMS
But all resistance against her is vain,
Who has the advantage both of eyes and voice,
And all mj forces needs must be undone.
She having gained both the wind and sun.
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OF MARVELL. U8
MOURNING.
You, that decipher out the fate
Of human offsprings from the skies,
What mean these infants which, of late.
Spring from the stars of Chlora's eyes ?
11.
Her ejes confused, and doubled o'er
With tears suspended ere they flow,
Seem bending upwards to restore
To^ heaven, whence it came, their woe.
III.
When, moulding of the watery spheres,
Slow drops untie themselves away,
As if she with those precious tears.
Would strew the ground where Strephon lay.
IV. .
Yet some affirm, pretending art.
Her eyes have so her bosom drown'd,
Only to soften, near her heart,
A place to fix another wound.
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fi4 THE POEMS
V.
And, while vain pomp does her restrain
Within her solitary bower,
She courts herself in amorous rain,
Herself both Danae and the shower.
VI.
Nay others, bolder, hence esteem
Joy now so much her master grown,
That whatsoever does but seem
Like grief is from her windows thrown.
yn.
Nor that she pays, while she survives.
To her dead love this tribute due.
But casts abroad these donatives.
At the installing of a new.
VIII.
How wide they dream ! the Indian slaves,
Who sink for pearl through seas profound.
Would find her tears yet deeper waves.
And not of one the bottom sound.
IX.
I yet my silent judgment keep,
Disputing not what they believe :
But sure as ofl the women weep,
It is to be supposed they grieve.
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OF MARVELL. 6o
DAPHNIS AND CHLOE.
I.
Daphnis must from Chloe part ;
Now is come the dismal hour^
That must all his hopes devour,.
All his labour, all his art.
11.
Nature, her own sex's foe^
Long had taught her to be coy ;
But she neither knew to enjoy,
Nor yet let her lover go.
in.
But, with this sad news, surprised,
Soon she let that niceness fall.
And would gladly yield to all.
So it had his stay comprised.
rv.
Nature so herself doed use
To lay by her wonted state.
Lest the world should separate ;
Sudden parting closer glues.
5
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66 THE POKMS
He, well read in all the ways
By which men their siege maintain,
Knew not that, the fort to gain.
Better 'twas the siege to raise.
But he came so full possessed
With the grief of parting thence,
That he had not so much sense
As to see he might be blessed,
VII.
Till Love in her language breathed
"Words she never spake before ;
But than legacies no more,
To a dying man bequeathed.
VIII.
For alas ! the time was spent ;
Now the latest minute's run.
When poor Daphnis is undone,
Between joy and sorrow rent.
IX.
At that why ? that «toy, my dear I
His disordered locks he tare,
And with rolling eyes did glare.
And his cruel fate forswear.
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OP MARVELL. 07
X.
As the soul of one scarce dead.
With the shrieks of friends aghast.
Looks distracted back in haste,
And then straight again is fled ;
XI.
So did wretched Daphnis look.
Frighting her he loved most ;
At the last this lover's ghost.
Thus his leave resolved took.
XII.
** Are my hell and heaven joined,
More to torture him that dies ?
Could departure not suffice,
But that you must then grow kind ?
XIII.
" Ah ! my Chloe, how have I
Such a wretched minute found.
When thy favours should me wound.
More than all thy cruelty ?
XIV. '
^ So to the condemned wight.
The delicious cup we fill,
And allow him all he will,
For his last and short delight.
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68 THE POEMS
XV.
" But I will not now begin
Such a debt unto my foe,
Nor to my departure owe,
What my presence could not win.
XVI.
*^ Absence is too much alone ;
Better 'tis to go in peace,
Than my losses to increase,
By a late fruition.
XVII.
** Why should I enrich my fate ?
Tis a vanity to wear.
For my executioner.
Jewels of so high a rate.
xvin.
'* Bather I away will pine.
In a manly stubbomess,
Than be fatted up express,
For the Cannibal to dine.
XIX.
** While this grief does thee disarm.
All the enjoyment of our love
But the ravishment would prove
Of a body dead while warm ;
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OF MARVELL. 69
XX.
^ And I parting should appear
Like the gourmand Hebrew dead
While, with quails and manna fed^
He does through the desert err,
XXI.
" Or tlie witch that midnight wakes
For the fern, whose magic weed
In one minute casts the seed
And invisible him makes.
xxn.
** Grentler times for love are meant. :
Who for parting pleasure strain,
Grather roses in the rain,
Wet themselves and spoil their scent
XXIII.
** Farewell, therefore, all the fruit
Which I could from love receive :
Joy will not with sorrow weave,
Nor will I this grief pollute.
xxrv.
^ Fate, I come, as dark, as sad.
As thy malice could desire ;
Yet bring with me all the fire,
That love in his torches had. "
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70 THE POEMS
XXV.
At these words away he broke,
As who long has praying lien,
To his head's-man makes the sign
And receives the parting stroke.
XXVI.
But hence virgins all beware ;
Last night he with Phlogis slept,
This night for Dorinda kept,
And but rid to take the air.
xxvn.
Yet he does himself excuse;
Nor indeed without a cause :
For, according to the laws,
Why did Chloe once refuse ?
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OF MARVELL. 71
THE DEFINITION OF LOVE.
I.
My Love is of a birth as rare
As *iisy for object, strange and high ;
It was begotten by despair,
Upon impossibility.
n.
Magnanimous despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing.
Where feeble hope could ne'er have flown,
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.
III.
And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed ;
But fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowds itself betwixt
IV.
For fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, nor lets them close ;
Their union would her ruin be.
And her tyrannic jwwer depose.
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72 THE POEMS
V.
And therefore her decrees of steel
Us as the distant poles have placed,
(Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel)
Not by themselves to be embraced,
VI.
Unless the giddy heaven fall,
And earth some new convulsion tear.
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramped into a planisphere.
VII.
As lines, so loves oblique may well
Themselves in every angle greet :
But ours, so truly parallel,
Though infinite, can never meet.
vin.
Tlierefore the love which us doth bind.
But fate so enviously debars,
Is the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.
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OF MABYELL. 73
THE PICTURE OF T. C. IN A PROSPECT
OP FLOWERS.
I.
See with what simplicity
This nymph begins her golden days I
In the green grass she loves to He,
And there with her fair aspect tames
The wilder flowers and gives them names,
But only with the roses plays,
And them does tell
What colours best become them and what smelL
II.
Who can foretell for what high cause,
This darling of the Gods was bom ?
Yet this is she whose chaster laws
The wanton Love shall one day fear,
And, under her command severe,
See his bow broke, and ensigns torn.
Happy who can
Appease this virtuous enemy of man I
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74 THE POEMS
III.
O then let me in time compound
And parley with those conquering eyeSy
Ere they have tried their force to wound ;
Ere with their glancing wheels they drive
In triumph over hearts that strive,
And them that yield but more despise,
Let me be laid,
Where I may see the glories from some shade.
IV.
Meantime, whilst every verdant thing
Itself does at thy beauty charm,
Beform the errors of the spring ;
Make that the tulips may have share
Of sweetness, seeing they are fair ;
And roses of their thorns disarm ;
But most procure
That violets may a longer age endure,
V.
But O, young beauty of the woods.
Whom nature courts with fruits and flowers,
Gather the flowers, but spare the buds.
Lest Floba, angry at thy crime
To kill her infants in their prime,
Should quickly make the example yours,
And ere we see, .
Nip, in the blossom, all our hopes in thee.
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OF MARVELL. 4
^ TWO SONGS
OH THX LORD FAUCONBERG, AND THE LADT
MART CROMWELL.
CHORUS, ENDYMION, LUNA.
CHORUS.
The astrologer's own eyes are set,
And even wolves the sheep forget ;
Only this shepherd, late and soon.
Upon this hill outwakes the moon.
Hark how he sings with sad delight.
Thorough the clear and silent night !
ENDTMION.
Ctnthla, O Ctnthia, turn thine ear,
Nor scorn Endtmion's plainU to hear !
As we our flocks, so you command
The fleecy clouds with silver wand.
CTNTHIA.
If thou a mortal, rather sleep ;
And if a shepherd, watch thy sheep.
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ENDYMION.
The shepherd, since he saw thine eyes.
And sheep, are both thy sacrifice ;
Nor merits he a mortars name,
That bums with an immortal fame.
CYNTHIA.
I have enough for me to do.
Ruling the waves that ebb and flow.
ENDYMION.
Since thou disdain*st not then to share
On sublunary things thy care,
Rather restrain these double seas'.
Mine eyes, incessant deluges.
CYNTHIA.
My wakeful lamp all night must moye.
Securing their repose above.
ENDYMION.
If therefore thy resplendent ray
Can make a night more bright than day.
Shine thorough this obscurer breast,
With shades of deep despair oppressed.
CHORUS.
Courage, Endymion, boldly woo I
Anchises was a shepherd too,
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OF MARVELL. *
Yet is her younger sister laid
Sporting with him in Ida's shade :
And Cynthia, though the strongest,
Seeks but the honour to have held out longest.
ENDTHION.
Here unto Latmos' top I climby
How far below thine orb sublime I
O why, as well as eyes to see.
Have I not arms that reach to thee ?
CTNTHIA.
Tis needless then that I refuse,
Would you but your own reason use.
. ENDYMIOK.
Though I so high may not pretend.
It is the same, so you descend.
CYNTHIA.
These stars would say I do them wrong.
Rivals, each one, for thee too strong.
ENDYMION.
These stars are fixed unto their sphere
And cannot, though they would, come near.
Less loves set off each other's praise.
While stars eclipse by mixing rays.
CYNTHIA.
That cave is dark.
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78 THE POEMS
ENDTMION.
Then none can spy :
Or shine thou there, and 'tis the sky.
CHORUS.
Joy to Endtmion !
For he has Ctnthia's favour won,
And Jove himself approves
With his serenest influence their loves.
For he did never love to pair
His progeny above the air,
But to be honest, valiant, wise,
Makes mortals matches fit for deities.
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OP MABYELL. 79
SECOND SONG.
HOBBINOL, PHILLIS, TOMAUN.
HOBBINOL.
Fhillis, Tomalin, away I
Never such a merry day,
For the northern shepherd's son
Has Menalcas' daughter won.
PHILLIS.
Stay till I some flowers have tied
In a. garland for the bride.
TOMALIN.
If thou would'st a garland bring,
Phil LIS, you may wait the spring :
They have chosen such ah hour
When she is the only flower.
PHILLIS.
Let's not then, at least, be seen
Without each a sprig of green.
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80 THE POEMS
HOBBINOL.
Fear not ; at Menalcas' hall
There are bays enough for all.
He, when young as we, did graze^
But when old he planted bays.
TOMALIN.
Here she comes ; but with a look
Far more catching than my hook ;
*Twa8 those eyes, I now dare swear.
Led our lambs we knew not where.
HOBBINOL.
Not our lambs own fleeces are
Curled so lovely as her hair,
Nor our sheep new-washed can be
Half so white or sweet as she.
PHILLIS.
He so looks as fit to keep
Somewhat else than silly sheep.
HOBBINOL.
Come, let's in some carol new
Pay to love and them their due.
ALL.
Joy to that happy pair
Whose hopes united banish our despair.
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OF MARVELL. 81
What shepherd could for love pretend.
Whilst all the nymphs on Damon's choice attend ?
What shepherdess could hope to wed
Before Marina's turn were sped ?
Now lesser beauties may take place,
And meaner virtues come in play,
While they,
Looking from high,
Shall grace
Our stocks and us with a propitious eye.
But what is most, the gentle swain
No more shall need of love complain ;
But virtue shall be beauty's hire,
And those be equal, that have equal fire.
Marina yields. Who dares be coy ?
Or who despair, now Damon does enjoy ?
Joy to that happy pair.
Whose hopes united banish our despair 1
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82 THE POEMS
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THYRSIS AND
DORINDA.
DORINDA.
When death shall snatch us from these kids,
And shut up our divided lids,
Tell me, Thyrsis, prythee do,
Whither thou and I must go.
THYRSIS.
To the Elysium.
DORINDA.
Oh, where is't ?
THYRSIS.
A chaste soul can never miss't.
DORINDA.
I know no way but one ; our home
Is our Elysium.
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OF MARVELL. 83
THTRSIS.
Cast thine eye to yonder sky,
There the milky way doth lie ;
*Tis a sure, but rugged way,
That leads to everlasting day.
DORINDA.
There birds may nest, but how can I,
That have no wings and cannot fly ?
THTBSIS.
Do not sigh, fair nymph, for fire
Hath no wings, yet doth aspire
Till it hit against the pole ;
Heaven's the centre of the souL
DORINDA.
But in Elysium how do they
Pass eternity away ?
THTRSIS.
O ! there's neither hope nor fear,
There's no wolf, no fox, no bear.
No need of dog to fetch our stray.
Our Lightfoot we may give away ;
And there, most sweetly, may thine ear
Feast with the music of the sphere.
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84 THE rORMS
DOBINDA.
How I my future state,
By silent thinking, antedate !
I prythee let us spend our time, come.
In talking of Elysium.
Them any harm, alas ! nor could
Thy death yet do them any good.
I'm sure I never wished them ill ;
Nor do I for all this, nor will :
But, if my simple prayers may yet
Prevail with heaven to forget
Thy murder, I will join my tears.
Rather than fail. But, O my fears !
It cannot die so. Heaven's king
Keeps register of every thing,
And nothing may we use in vain ;
Even beasts must be with justice slain.
Else men are made their deodands.
Though they should wash their guilty hands
In this warm life-blood which doth part
From thine and wound me to the hcurt.
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OP MAR V ELL.
Yet could they not be clean, their stain
Is dyed in such a purple grain.
There is not such another in
The world, to oflfer for their sin.
Inconstant Stlvio, when yet
I had not found him counterfeit.
One morning (I remember well)
Tied in this silver chain and bell.
Gave it to me : nay, and I know
What he said then, I'm sure I do ;
Said he, ' Look how your huntsman here
' Hath taught a fawn to hunt his deer. '
But Sylyio soon had me beguiled ;
This waxed tame, while he grew wild,
And quite regardless of my smart,
Left me his fawn, but took his heart.
Thenceforth I set myself to play
My solitary time away
With this ; and, very well content.
Could so mine idle life have spent ;
For it was full of sport, and light
Of foot and heart, and did invite
Me to its game : it seemed to bless
Itself in me ; how could I less
Than love it ? 01 cannot be
Unkind to a beast that loveth me.
Had it lived long, I do not know
Whether it too might have done so
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48 THE POEMS
As Sylyio did ; his gifts might be
Perhaps as false, or more, than he ;
But I am sure, for aught that I
Could in so short a time espj.
Thy love was far more better than
The love of fabe and cruel man.
With sweetest milk and sugar first
I it at my own fingers nursed ;
And as it grew, so every day
It waxed more white and sweet than they.
It had so sweet a breath I And ofl
I blushed to see its foot more soft
And white, shall I say than my hand ?
Nay, any lady's of the land.
It is a wond'rous thing how fleet
Twas on those little silver feet ;
With what a pretty skipping grace
It oft would challenge me the race ;
And, when it had left me far away,
*Twould stay, and run again, and stay ;
For it was nimbler much than hinds.
And trod as if on the four winds.
I have a garden of my own,
But so with roses overgrown,
And lilies, that you would it guess
To be a little wilderness.
And all the spring time of the year
It only loved to be there.
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OF MARVELL. 49
Among the beds of lilies I
Have sought it of^, where it should lie.
Yet could not, till itself would rise,
Find it, although before mine eyes ;,
For, in the flaxen lilies' shade.
It like a bank of lilies laid.
Upon the roses it would feed,
Until its lips e'en seemed to bleed,
And then to me 'twould boldly trip,.
And print those roses on my lip.
But all its chief delight was still
On roses thus itself to fill,
And its pure virgin limbs to fold
In whitest sheets of lilies cold :
Had it lived long, it would have been
Lilies without, roses within.
help ! O help ! I see it faint
And die as calmly as a saint !
See how it weeps ! the tears do come
Sad, slowly, dropping like a gum.
So weeps the wounded balsam ; so
The holy frankincense doth flow ;
The brotherless Heliades
Melt in such amber tears as these.
1 in a golden vial will
Keep these two crystal tears, and fill
It till it doth overflow with mine,
Then place it in Diana's shrine.
4
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50 THE P0KM6
Now my sweet fawn is vanish'd to
Whither the swans and turtles go ;
In fair Elysium to endure,
With milk-white lambs, and ermines pure.
O do not run too fast : for I
Will but bespeak thy grave, and die.
First, my unhappy statue shall
Be cut in marble ; and withal, t
Let it be weeping too ; but there
The engraver sure his art may spare ;
For I so truly thee bemoan,
That I shall weep, though I be stone,
Until my tears, still dropping, wear
My breast, themselves engraving there ;
Then at my feet shalt thou be laid,
Of purest alabaster made ;
For I would have thine image be
White as I can, though not as thee.
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OP MARVELL. 51
YOUNG LOVE.
Come, little infant, love me now,
While thine unsuspected years
Clear thine aged father's brow
From cold jealousy and fears.
II.
Pretty surely 'twere to see
By young Love old Time beguiled,
While our sportings are as free
As the nurse's with the child.
III.
Common beauties stay fifteen ;
Such as yours should swifter move,
Whose fair blossoms are too green
Yet for lust, but not for love.
iv.
Love as much the snowy lamb.
Or the wanton kid, does prize,
As the lusty bull or ram,
For his morning sacrifice.
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62 THE POEMS
y.
Now then love me : Time may take
Thee before thy time away ;
Of this need we'll virtue make.
And learn love before we may.
VI.
So we win of doubtful fate,
Andy if good to us she meant,
We that good shall antedate.
Or, if ill, that ill prevent
vn.
Thus do kingdoms, frustrating
Other titles to their crown.
In the cradle crown their king,
So all foreign claims to drown.
Vlll.
So to make all rivals vain.
Now I crown thee with my love :
Crown me with thy love again.
And we both shall monarchs prove.
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OP MARVELL. 53
TO HIS COY HISTRESa
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Should'st rubies find : I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the fiood.
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews ;
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires and more slow ;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze ;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest ;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state.
Nor would I love at lower rate.
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54 THE POEMS
But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near,
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found.
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song : then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity.
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust :
The grave's a fine and private place.
But none, I think, do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youtliful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew.
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may.
And now, like amorous birds of prey
Rather at once our time devour.
Than languish in his slow-chaped power.
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball.
And tear our pleasures with rough strife.
Thorough the iron gates of life ;
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
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OF MARYZLL. 55
THE UNFORTUNATE LOVER.
Alas ! how pleasant are their days,
With whom the infant love yet plays 1
Sorted by pairs, they still are seen
By fountains cool and shadows green ;
But soon these flames do lose their light,
Like meteors of a summer's night ;
Nor can they to that region climb,
To make impression upon time.
'Twas in a shipwreck, when the seas
Ruled, and the winds did what they please,
That my poor lover floating lay.
And, ere brought forth, was cast away ;
Till at the last the master wave
Upon the rock his mother drave,
And there she split against the stone.
In a Csesarian section.
The sea him lent these bitter tears,
Which at his eyes he always beai*s,
And from the winds the sighs he bore.
Which through his surging breast do roar ;
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56 THE POEMS
No day he saw but that which breaks
Through frighted clouds in forked streaks,
While round the rattling thunder hurled,
As at the funeral of the world.
While nature to his birth presents
This masque of quarrelling elements,
A numerous fleet of cormorants black,
That sailed insulting o'er the wrack,
Received into their cruel care.
The unfortunate and abject heir ;
Guardians most fit to entertain
The orphan of the hurricane.
They fed him up with hopes and air,
Which soon digested to despair,
And as one cormorant fed him, still
Another on his heart did bill ;
Thus, while they famish him, and feast,
He both consumed, and increased.
And languished with doubtful breath,
The amphibium of life and death.
. And now, when angry heaven would
Behold a spectacle of blood.
Fortune and he are called to play
At sharp before it all the day.
And tyrant Love his breast does ply
With all his winged artillery.
Whilst he, betwixt the fiames and waves.
Like Ajax, the mad tempest braves.
See how he naked and fierce does stand,
Cuffing the thunder with one hand,
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OP MARVELL. 57
While with the other he does lock,
And grapple, with the stubborn rock,
From which he with each wave rebounds,
Tom into ilames, and ragged with wounds,
And all he sajs, a lover drest
In his own blood does relish best.
This is the only banneret,
That ever love created yet ;
Who, though by the malignant stars.
Forced to live in storms and wars.
Yet dying, leaves a perfume here.
And music within every ear ;
And he in story only rules,
In a field sable, a lover gules.
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58 THE rO£MS
THE GALLERY.
Ghlora, come view my soul, and tell
Whether I have contrived it well ;
How all its several lodgings lie,
Composed into one gallery,
And the great arras-hangings, made
Of various faces, by are laid.
That, for all furniture, you'll find
Only your picture in my mind.
Here thou art painted in the dress
Of an inhumane murtheress,
Examining upon our hearts,
(Thy fertile shop of cruel arts,)
Engines more keen than ever yet
Adorned a tyrant's cabinet,
Of which the most tormenting are.
Black eyes, red lips, and curled hair.
But, on the other side, thou*rt drawn,
Like to Aurora in the dawn.
When in the east she slumbering lies,
'And stretches out her milky thighs.
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OF MARVELL. 59
While all the morning quire does sing,
And Manna falls and roses spring,
And, at thy feet, the wooing doves
Sit perfecting their harmless loves.
Like an enchantress here thou show'st,
Vexing thy restless lover's ghost.
And, by a light obscure, dost rave
Over his entrails, in the cave.
Divining thence, with horrid care.
How long thou shalt continue fair,
And (when informed) them throw'st away
To be the greedy vulture's prey.
But, against that, thou sittest afloat,
Like Venus in her pearly boat ;
The halcyons, calming all that's nigh,
Betwixt the air and water fly ;
Or, if some rolling wave appears,
A mass of ambergrease it bears,
Nor blows more wind than what may well
Convoy the perfume to the smeJL
These pictures, and a thousand more.
Of thee, my gallery do store.
In all the forms thou can'st invent.
Either to please me, or torment ;
For thou alone, to people me,
Art grown a numerous colony.
And a collection choicer far
Than or Whitehall's, or Mantua's were.
But of these pictures, and the rest,
That at the entrance likes mc best,
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60 THE POEMS
Where the same postare and the look
Bemains with which I first was took ;
A tender shepherdess, whose hair
Hangs loosely playing in the air.
Transplanting flowers from the green hill
To crown her head and bosom filL
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F MARVELL* 61
THE FAIR SINGER.
I.
To make a final conquest of all me,
Love did compose so sweet an enemy,
In whom both beauties to my death agree,
Joining themselves in fatal harmony.
That, while she with her eyes my heart doe*
bind,
She with her voice might captivate my mind.
II.
I could have fled from one but singly fair ;
My disentangled soul itself might save.
Breaking the curled trammels of her hair ;
But how should I avoid to be her slave,
Whose subtle art invisibly can wreath
My fetters of the very air I breathe ?
III.
It had been easy fighting in some plain,
Where victory might hang in equal choice
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62 THE POEMS
But all resistance against her is vain,
Who has the advantage both of eyes and voice,
And all mj forces needs must be undone.
She having gained both the wind and sun.
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OF MARVELL. U8
MOURNING.
You, that decipher out the fate
Of human offsprings from the skies,
What mean these infants which, of late.
Spring from the stars of Chlora's eyes ?
11.
Her ejes confused, and doubled o'er
With tears suspended ere they flow,
Seem bending upwards to restore
To^ heaven, whence it came, their woe.
III.
When, moulding of the watery spheres,
Slow drops untie themselves away,
As if she with those precious tears.
Would strew the ground where Strephon lay.
IV. .
Yet some affirm, pretending art.
Her eyes have so her bosom drown'd,
Only to soften, near her heart,
A place to fix another wound.
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fi4 THE POEMS
V.
And, while vain pomp does her restrain
Within her solitary bower,
She courts herself in amorous rain,
Herself both Danae and the shower.
VI.
Nay others, bolder, hence esteem
Joy now so much her master grown,
That whatsoever does but seem
Like grief is from her windows thrown.
yn.
Nor that she pays, while she survives.
To her dead love this tribute due.
But casts abroad these donatives.
At the installing of a new.
VIII.
How wide they dream ! the Indian slaves,
Who sink for pearl through seas profound.
Would find her tears yet deeper waves.
And not of one the bottom sound.
IX.
I yet my silent judgment keep,
Disputing not what they believe :
But sure as ofl the women weep,
It is to be supposed they grieve.
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OF MARVELL. 6o
DAPHNIS AND CHLOE.
I.
Daphnis must from Chloe part ;
Now is come the dismal hour^
That must all his hopes devour,.
All his labour, all his art.
11.
Nature, her own sex's foe^
Long had taught her to be coy ;
But she neither knew to enjoy,
Nor yet let her lover go.
in.
But, with this sad news, surprised,
Soon she let that niceness fall.
And would gladly yield to all.
So it had his stay comprised.
rv.
Nature so herself doed use
To lay by her wonted state.
Lest the world should separate ;
Sudden parting closer glues.
5
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66 THE POKMS
He, well read in all the ways
By which men their siege maintain,
Knew not that, the fort to gain.
Better 'twas the siege to raise.
But he came so full possessed
With the grief of parting thence,
That he had not so much sense
As to see he might be blessed,
VII.
Till Love in her language breathed
"Words she never spake before ;
But than legacies no more,
To a dying man bequeathed.
VIII.
For alas ! the time was spent ;
Now the latest minute's run.
When poor Daphnis is undone,
Between joy and sorrow rent.
IX.
At that why ? that «toy, my dear I
His disordered locks he tare,
And with rolling eyes did glare.
And his cruel fate forswear.
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OP MARVELL. 07
X.
As the soul of one scarce dead.
With the shrieks of friends aghast.
Looks distracted back in haste,
And then straight again is fled ;
XI.
So did wretched Daphnis look.
Frighting her he loved most ;
At the last this lover's ghost.
Thus his leave resolved took.
XII.
** Are my hell and heaven joined,
More to torture him that dies ?
Could departure not suffice,
But that you must then grow kind ?
XIII.
" Ah ! my Chloe, how have I
Such a wretched minute found.
When thy favours should me wound.
More than all thy cruelty ?
XIV. '
^ So to the condemned wight.
The delicious cup we fill,
And allow him all he will,
For his last and short delight.
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68 THE POEMS
XV.
" But I will not now begin
Such a debt unto my foe,
Nor to my departure owe,
What my presence could not win.
XVI.
*^ Absence is too much alone ;
Better 'tis to go in peace,
Than my losses to increase,
By a late fruition.
XVII.
** Why should I enrich my fate ?
Tis a vanity to wear.
For my executioner.
Jewels of so high a rate.
xvin.
'* Bather I away will pine.
In a manly stubbomess,
Than be fatted up express,
For the Cannibal to dine.
XIX.
** While this grief does thee disarm.
All the enjoyment of our love
But the ravishment would prove
Of a body dead while warm ;
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OF MARVELL. 69
XX.
^ And I parting should appear
Like the gourmand Hebrew dead
While, with quails and manna fed^
He does through the desert err,
XXI.
" Or tlie witch that midnight wakes
For the fern, whose magic weed
In one minute casts the seed
And invisible him makes.
xxn.
** Grentler times for love are meant. :
Who for parting pleasure strain,
Grather roses in the rain,
Wet themselves and spoil their scent
XXIII.
** Farewell, therefore, all the fruit
Which I could from love receive :
Joy will not with sorrow weave,
Nor will I this grief pollute.
xxrv.
^ Fate, I come, as dark, as sad.
As thy malice could desire ;
Yet bring with me all the fire,
That love in his torches had. "
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70 THE POEMS
XXV.
At these words away he broke,
As who long has praying lien,
To his head's-man makes the sign
And receives the parting stroke.
XXVI.
But hence virgins all beware ;
Last night he with Phlogis slept,
This night for Dorinda kept,
And but rid to take the air.
xxvn.
Yet he does himself excuse;
Nor indeed without a cause :
For, according to the laws,
Why did Chloe once refuse ?
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OF MARVELL. 71
THE DEFINITION OF LOVE.
I.
My Love is of a birth as rare
As *iisy for object, strange and high ;
It was begotten by despair,
Upon impossibility.
n.
Magnanimous despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing.
Where feeble hope could ne'er have flown,
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.
III.
And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed ;
But fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowds itself betwixt
IV.
For fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, nor lets them close ;
Their union would her ruin be.
And her tyrannic jwwer depose.
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72 THE POEMS
V.
And therefore her decrees of steel
Us as the distant poles have placed,
(Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel)
Not by themselves to be embraced,
VI.
Unless the giddy heaven fall,
And earth some new convulsion tear.
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramped into a planisphere.
VII.
As lines, so loves oblique may well
Themselves in every angle greet :
But ours, so truly parallel,
Though infinite, can never meet.
vin.
Tlierefore the love which us doth bind.
But fate so enviously debars,
Is the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.
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OF MABYELL. 73
THE PICTURE OF T. C. IN A PROSPECT
OP FLOWERS.
I.
See with what simplicity
This nymph begins her golden days I
In the green grass she loves to He,
And there with her fair aspect tames
The wilder flowers and gives them names,
But only with the roses plays,
And them does tell
What colours best become them and what smelL
II.
Who can foretell for what high cause,
This darling of the Gods was bom ?
Yet this is she whose chaster laws
The wanton Love shall one day fear,
And, under her command severe,
See his bow broke, and ensigns torn.
Happy who can
Appease this virtuous enemy of man I
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74 THE POEMS
III.
O then let me in time compound
And parley with those conquering eyeSy
Ere they have tried their force to wound ;
Ere with their glancing wheels they drive
In triumph over hearts that strive,
And them that yield but more despise,
Let me be laid,
Where I may see the glories from some shade.
IV.
Meantime, whilst every verdant thing
Itself does at thy beauty charm,
Beform the errors of the spring ;
Make that the tulips may have share
Of sweetness, seeing they are fair ;
And roses of their thorns disarm ;
But most procure
That violets may a longer age endure,
V.
But O, young beauty of the woods.
Whom nature courts with fruits and flowers,
Gather the flowers, but spare the buds.
Lest Floba, angry at thy crime
To kill her infants in their prime,
Should quickly make the example yours,
And ere we see, .
Nip, in the blossom, all our hopes in thee.
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OF MARVELL. 4
^ TWO SONGS
OH THX LORD FAUCONBERG, AND THE LADT
MART CROMWELL.
CHORUS, ENDYMION, LUNA.
CHORUS.
The astrologer's own eyes are set,
And even wolves the sheep forget ;
Only this shepherd, late and soon.
Upon this hill outwakes the moon.
Hark how he sings with sad delight.
Thorough the clear and silent night !
ENDTMION.
Ctnthla, O Ctnthia, turn thine ear,
Nor scorn Endtmion's plainU to hear !
As we our flocks, so you command
The fleecy clouds with silver wand.
CTNTHIA.
If thou a mortal, rather sleep ;
And if a shepherd, watch thy sheep.
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76 THE PO£MS
ENDYMION.
The shepherd, since he saw thine eyes.
And sheep, are both thy sacrifice ;
Nor merits he a mortars name,
That bums with an immortal fame.
CYNTHIA.
I have enough for me to do.
Ruling the waves that ebb and flow.
ENDYMION.
Since thou disdain*st not then to share
On sublunary things thy care,
Rather restrain these double seas'.
Mine eyes, incessant deluges.
CYNTHIA.
My wakeful lamp all night must moye.
Securing their repose above.
ENDYMION.
If therefore thy resplendent ray
Can make a night more bright than day.
Shine thorough this obscurer breast,
With shades of deep despair oppressed.
CHORUS.
Courage, Endymion, boldly woo I
Anchises was a shepherd too,
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OF MARVELL. *
Yet is her younger sister laid
Sporting with him in Ida's shade :
And Cynthia, though the strongest,
Seeks but the honour to have held out longest.
ENDTHION.
Here unto Latmos' top I climby
How far below thine orb sublime I
O why, as well as eyes to see.
Have I not arms that reach to thee ?
CTNTHIA.
Tis needless then that I refuse,
Would you but your own reason use.
. ENDYMIOK.
Though I so high may not pretend.
It is the same, so you descend.
CYNTHIA.
These stars would say I do them wrong.
Rivals, each one, for thee too strong.
ENDYMION.
These stars are fixed unto their sphere
And cannot, though they would, come near.
Less loves set off each other's praise.
While stars eclipse by mixing rays.
CYNTHIA.
That cave is dark.
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78 THE POEMS
ENDTMION.
Then none can spy :
Or shine thou there, and 'tis the sky.
CHORUS.
Joy to Endtmion !
For he has Ctnthia's favour won,
And Jove himself approves
With his serenest influence their loves.
For he did never love to pair
His progeny above the air,
But to be honest, valiant, wise,
Makes mortals matches fit for deities.
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OP MABYELL. 79
SECOND SONG.
HOBBINOL, PHILLIS, TOMAUN.
HOBBINOL.
Fhillis, Tomalin, away I
Never such a merry day,
For the northern shepherd's son
Has Menalcas' daughter won.
PHILLIS.
Stay till I some flowers have tied
In a. garland for the bride.
TOMALIN.
If thou would'st a garland bring,
Phil LIS, you may wait the spring :
They have chosen such ah hour
When she is the only flower.
PHILLIS.
Let's not then, at least, be seen
Without each a sprig of green.
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80 THE POEMS
HOBBINOL.
Fear not ; at Menalcas' hall
There are bays enough for all.
He, when young as we, did graze^
But when old he planted bays.
TOMALIN.
Here she comes ; but with a look
Far more catching than my hook ;
*Twa8 those eyes, I now dare swear.
Led our lambs we knew not where.
HOBBINOL.
Not our lambs own fleeces are
Curled so lovely as her hair,
Nor our sheep new-washed can be
Half so white or sweet as she.
PHILLIS.
He so looks as fit to keep
Somewhat else than silly sheep.
HOBBINOL.
Come, let's in some carol new
Pay to love and them their due.
ALL.
Joy to that happy pair
Whose hopes united banish our despair.
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OF MARVELL. 81
What shepherd could for love pretend.
Whilst all the nymphs on Damon's choice attend ?
What shepherdess could hope to wed
Before Marina's turn were sped ?
Now lesser beauties may take place,
And meaner virtues come in play,
While they,
Looking from high,
Shall grace
Our stocks and us with a propitious eye.
But what is most, the gentle swain
No more shall need of love complain ;
But virtue shall be beauty's hire,
And those be equal, that have equal fire.
Marina yields. Who dares be coy ?
Or who despair, now Damon does enjoy ?
Joy to that happy pair.
Whose hopes united banish our despair 1
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82 THE POEMS
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THYRSIS AND
DORINDA.
DORINDA.
When death shall snatch us from these kids,
And shut up our divided lids,
Tell me, Thyrsis, prythee do,
Whither thou and I must go.
THYRSIS.
To the Elysium.
DORINDA.
Oh, where is't ?
THYRSIS.
A chaste soul can never miss't.
DORINDA.
I know no way but one ; our home
Is our Elysium.
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OF MARVELL. 83
THTRSIS.
Cast thine eye to yonder sky,
There the milky way doth lie ;
*Tis a sure, but rugged way,
That leads to everlasting day.
DORINDA.
There birds may nest, but how can I,
That have no wings and cannot fly ?
THTBSIS.
Do not sigh, fair nymph, for fire
Hath no wings, yet doth aspire
Till it hit against the pole ;
Heaven's the centre of the souL
DORINDA.
But in Elysium how do they
Pass eternity away ?
THTRSIS.
O ! there's neither hope nor fear,
There's no wolf, no fox, no bear.
No need of dog to fetch our stray.
Our Lightfoot we may give away ;
And there, most sweetly, may thine ear
Feast with the music of the sphere.
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84 THE rORMS
DOBINDA.
How I my future state,
By silent thinking, antedate !
I prythee let us spend our time, come.
In talking of Elysium.
