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But kerchef'd in a comely cloud,
While rocking winds are piping loud,
Or usher'd with a shower still
When the gust hath blown his fill,
Ending on the rustling leaves,
With minute drops from off the eaves.
And when the sun begins to fling
His flaring beams, me, Goddess, bring
To arched walks of twilight groves,
And shadows brown that Sylvan loves
Of pine, or monumental oak,

Where the rude axe with heaved stroke
Was never heard the Nymphs to daunt,
Or fright them from their hallow'd haunt.
There in close covert by some brook,
Where no profaner eye may look,
Hide me from day's garish eye,

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135

140

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Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day.' Warton.

150

146 dewy] Liquidique potentia somni.' Val. Flac. iv. 18. 'Irriguus somnus.' Plaut. Ep. i. ii. 18. 'Dewy sleep.' Henry More's Poems, p. 263.

148 Wave] Consult Warton's note on the structure of thora lis

And as I wake, sweet music breathe
Above, about, or underneath,
Sent by some Spirit to mortals good,
Or th' unseen Genius of the wood.
But let my due feet never fail
To walk the studious cloisters pale,
And love the high embowed roof,
With antic pillars massy proof,
And storied windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light:
There let the pealing organ blow,
To the full voic'd quire below,

In service high, and anthems clear,

As

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160

may with sweetness, through mine ear, Dissolve me into ecstasies,

165

And bring all heav'n before mine eyes.
And may at last my weary age
Find out the peaceful hermitage,
The hairy gown and mossy cell,
Where I may sit and rightly spell
Of
every star that heav'n doth show,
And every herb that sips the dew
Till old experience do attain
To something like prophetic strain.
These pleasures Melancholy give,
And I with thee will choose to live.

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175

156 pale] Warton conjectures that the right reading may be 'the

studious cloister's pale,' i. e. enclosure.

L'ALLEGRO.

HENCE, loathed Melancholy,

Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born!

In Stygian cave forlorn,

'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy,

Find out some uncouth cell,

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Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings, And the night raven sings;

There under ebon shades, and low-brow'd rocks, As ragged as thy locks,

In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.

But come thou Goddess fair and free,
In heav'n y-clep'd Euphrosyne,
And by Men, heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth
With two sister Graces more,
To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore;
Or whether (as some sager sing)

The frolic wind that breathes the spring,

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15

1 Hence] Compare Marston's Scourge of Villanie, b. iii. s. 10. (ed. 1598.) 'Sleepe grim reproof,' &c. Warton.

5 uncouth] 'Searcht out the uncouth cell of thy abode.' Val. Welshman, 1615, act iv. s. 6. Todd.

10 Cimmerian] Miltoni Prolus. 'Dignus qui Cimmeriis occlusus tenebris longam, et perosam vitam transigat.' Warton.

15 two] Meat and Drink, the two sisters of Mirth. Warburton.

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

And fresh-blown roses wash'd in dew,
Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,

So buxom, blithe, and debonair.

Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee

Jest, 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 sleek;
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides.
Come, and trip it as you go,
On the light fantastic toe;

And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty;
And if I give thee honour due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew,

To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free;

22 wash'd] Shakesp. Tam. of Shrew, act ii. sc. 1.

'As morning roses newly wash'd with dew.' Bowle.

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24 buxom] 'To make one blithe, buxome, and deboneer.' Randolph Aristippus, p. 310, ed. 1662. Todd.

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28 Nods] With becks, and nods, and smiles againe.' Burton's An. of Melanch. p. 449 (ed. 1628). Warton.

33 Come] Shakes. Tempest, act iv. sc. 2.

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Come and go,

Each one tripping on his toe.' Newton.

VOL. II.

37

To hear the lark begin his flight,
And singing startle the dull night,
From his watch-tow'r in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise;
Then to come in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow,
Through the sweet-briar, or the vine,
Or the twisted eglantine:
While the cock with lively din
Scatters the rear of darkness thin,
And to the stack, or the barn-door,
Stoutly struts his dames before:
Oft list'ning how the hounds and horn
Cheerly rouse the slumb'ring morn,
From the side of some hoar hill,
Through the high wood echoing shrill :
Some time walking, not unseen,
By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green,
Right against the eastern gate,
Where the great sun begins his state,
Rob'd in flames, and amber light,
The clouds in thousand liveries dight;
While the ploughman near at hand
Whistles o'er the furrow'd land,

42 dull] K. Hen. V. act iv. chorus,

'Piercing the night's dull ear.'

46 good morrow] Browne's Brit. Past. iii. 2.

Steevens.

'Twice bid good morrow to the nether world.'

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50 Scatters] Gallum noctem explodentibus alis.' Lucret. iv. 714.

54 morn] Habington's Castora, p. 8, ed. 1640.

rouse the morne,

With the shrill musicke of the horne.'

Warton.

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