Thy statue then of Parian stone shall stand; 45 Thy legs in buskins with a purple band. THYRSIS. This bowl of milk, these cakes (our country fare), For thee, Priapus, yearly we prepare, Because a little garden is thy care; But, if the falling lambs increase my fold, CORYDON. Fair Galatea, with thy silver feet, O, whiter than the swan, and more than Hybla sweet! Tall as a poplar, taper as the bole! 50 Come, charm thy shepherd, and restore my soul ! 55 Come, when my lated sheep at night return, And crown the silent hours, and stop the rosy morn! THYRSIS. May I become as abject in thy sight, As sea-weed on the shore, and black as night; Such and so monstrous let thy swain appear, Hence from the field, for shame! the flock deserves No better feeding while the shepherd starves. 65 CORYDON. Ye mossy springs, inviting easy sleep, Ye trees, whose leafy shades those mossy foun tains keep, Defend my flock! The summer heats are near, And blossoms on the swelling vines appear. THYRSIS. With heapy fires our cheerful hearth is crowned; 70 And firs for torches in the woods abound: We fear not more the winds, and wintry cold, Than streams the banks, or wolves the bleating fold. CORYDON. Our woods, with juniper and chestnuts crowned, With falling fruits and berries paint the ground ; 75 And lavish Nature laughs, and strews her stores around : But, if Alexis from our mountains fly, Even running rivers leave their channels dry. THYRSIS. Parched are the plains, and frying is the field, CORYDON. The poplar is by great Alcides worn; Nor bays, nor myrtle boughs, with hazel shall 80 85 90 compare. THYRSIS. The towering ash is fairest in the woods; But, if my Lycidas will ease my pains, To him the towering ash shall yield in woods, MELIBUS. I've heard; and, Thyrsis, you contend in vain, * [This speech appears later thus :— "These rhymes I did to memory commend, -ED.] 95 PASTORAL VIII.* OR, PHARMACEUTRIA. ARGUMENT. This Pastoral contains the Songs of Damon and Alphesibæus. The first of them bewails the loss of his mistress, and repines at the success of his rival Mopsus. The other repeats the charms of some enchantress, who endeavoured, by her spells and magic, to make Daphnis in love with her. THE mournful muse of two despairing swains, *This Eighth Pastoral is copied by our author from two Bucolics of Theocritus. Spenser has followed both Virgil and Theocritus in the charms which he employs for curing Britomartis of her love. But he had also our poet's Ceiris in his eye; for there not only the enchantments are to be found, but also the very name of Britomartis.-D. The hungry herd their * needful food refuseOf two despairing swains, I sing the mournful muse. Great Pollio! thou, for whom thy Rome prepares The ready triumph of thy finished wars, Thine was my earliest muse; my latest shall be thine. Scarce from our upper world the shades withdrew,+ Scarce were the flocks refreshed with morning dew, When Damon, stretched beneath an olive shade, And, wildly staring upwards, thus inveighed Against the conscious gods, and cursed the cruel maid: "Star of the morning, why dost thou delay? Yet shall my dying breath to heaven complain. strain. * [Later, "the."-ED.] † [Later, "Scarce from the world the shades of night withdrew."-ED.] 5 10 15 20 25 30 VOL. XIII. 2 B |