Anthologia Anglica. A new selection from the English poets from Spenser to Shelley. With short literary notices

Preface

. If to please is the peculiar and primary object of poetry, to instruct ought to be scarcely less the office of the divine art. The specious but imaginary idea of Plato of the intimate connection between corporeal beauty and mental excellence, so charmingly expressed by .Spenser — So every spirit as it is most pure, And hath in it the more of heavenly Hght, So it the fairer body doth procure To habit in, and it more fairly dight With cheerful grace and amiable sight : For of the soul the body form doth take, For soul is form, and doth the body make ; is applicable to the intimate union that ought to exist between the beautiful and the true in poetry. Yet the world in general seems to hold that mere sentimental pleasure is, and ought to be, the sole end and purpose of the poetic art ; that truth and instruction are quite beyond its legitimate province.

That it is not the proper purpose of poetry to be didactic in the sense of teaching theological dogma, or the facts of natural science, or, even of displaying the interesting enquiries of metaphysical speculation, may be readily admitted. But if it is meant, as it seems to be by most people,

PREFACE.

. VI that it has no sort of concern with moral truths, with the subsidiary enforcement and exaltation of practical morality, it is difficult to understand the reason or justness of so arbitrary a law. Poesy, as its original name implies, is, indeed, par excellence, the art of creation and invention. In the larger, and in the best interpretation, however, it means ' the best thoughts in the best language ; ' and, according to this modern definition, truth, no less than imagination, must ne cessarily be of the essence of its highest forms. The poet, in the exercise of his highest function, is the prophet of his time, and, indeed, of all times : not, in the vulgar sense, predictive, but (if the word may be so used) predicative — not an oracle-monger or a diviner of dreams, but a preacher of truth.

It is in this exalted sense that the best poets of modern times — a Shakespeare, a Cowper, and a Shelley — claim so unapproachable a position in comparison with the purely intellectual master-spirits of tbe old world.* A very considerable proportion of the world will scarcely even listen to truth unless it be presented to them, as it were by surprise, in the insinuating disguise of fable and fiction. So with poetry, with this difference, that, instead of allegorical insinuation which, after all, must often fail of its mark, a truth in poetry should arise directly and naturally, though incidentally, from the particular subject of the poet, as, notablv, in * An exception may possibly be made in favour of Euripides, who, in some of his works, seems to be conscious of something of the pro phetic spirit.

PREFACE.

. VII those truly didactic poems, The Seasons and The Task. Tasso has reminded us that — La corre il mondo ove piu versi Di sue dolcesse il lusinghier Parnaso, E che '1 vero eondito in molli versi I piu schivi allettando ha persuaso. Cosi all' egro fanciul porgiamo aspersi Di soave licor gli orli del vaso : Succhi amari ingannato intanto ei beve, E dall' inganno suo vita riceve. It is their clear consciousness and recognition of the moral principle which makes every reader of true taste and sensibility prefer the style of Thomson, or Cowper, or Shelley, in their different manners, to the mechanical excellence of Pope, or even to the exquisite but somewhat artificial charms of Byron. In prose fiction, it is this moral purpose which, in actual interest and value, raises the real style of Dickens above the romantic school of Scott ; the school of nature and feeling above that of mere art and sentiment.

These remarks may serve at once to explain the principle of the present selection, and as a reason for an addition to the already somewhat extensive catalogue of manuals of English poetry. AA7hile, in the first place, it Has been attempted to present to the reader all that is most beautiful and sublime in the region of pure poetic fancy, it has also been a principal object to collect, as far as possible, all that is most true and valuable in thought. If for music and melody, of the very essence in fact of their languages, the poetry of old Hellas and of modern Italy, of Homer, Sophokles,

PREFACE.

. Pindar, Anakreon, of Dante, Ariosto, Tasso, Petrarca, may claim a just pre-eminence ; for vigour of thought and expression, for reason and morality, the best EngHsh poetry stands alone and unrivalled by that of any age or country. The Anthologia Anglica Has been compiled, it may be hardly necessary to add, with special reference to that very numerous class of readers who have not the leisure to search out for themselves the most beautiful and most valuable of the flowers often almost concealed by the very luxuriance of the surrounding vegetation, in the garden of English poetry. If it may prove the humble means of at tracting the attention of any to some Hitherto over looked poetic beauties, its object will have been sufficiently accomplished. The brief notices prefixed to each poet pretend to nothing more than to be epitomes of the principal facts in his literary history, and to serve as some sort of guide to his best productions.

The spelling of Spenser has been modernised in every case except where the occasional exigency of his verse requires the retention of the old orthography, which, to ordinary readers at least, must appear strange or even grotesque. In conclusion, for the permission to use the copyright poems my acknowledg ments are due to the courtesy of the respective pro prietors. CONTENTS. PAGE Adam's Doubts Milton . . 191 Adam's Resolve ,, • • 191 Adversity, Hymn to Gray . . 2(59 Adversity, Uses of Shakespeare . 58 Advice, Good „ .62 Allegro, L' Milton . .145 All- Sufficiency of Nature Marvell . . 139 Ambition Shakespeare . 50 Amoret and Ferigot Fletcher . .107 Amoret and River-God ., • • 108 Angel, True and False Milton . .166 Animals, The Lower, and Man . . . ■ Cowper . . 310 Applause, Popular ....... • - 312 Arch-Fiend in Tartarus Milton . .158 Art and Nature . . . . . . • Cowper . . 298 Art, Miracles of Byron . . 390 Arts, The Sister Shakespeare . 88 Astræa Redux Pope ■ ■ 225 Shelley . . 415 Authority, Book Shakespeare . 46 Awakening, The First Milton . .176 Battle-Field, The Byron . . 385 Beauty, Charms of Shakespeare .

SI Belinda Pope . . 227 Bird-Buyers, To the Thomson . . 242 Birds, Loves of the 239 Bliss, Bower of sSpenser . . 8 Boadicea Cowper . . 313 Bodies, Corporate » . . 801 Bower, A Fairy Dryden . .211 Bride, The Suckling. . 119 Brutus, Character of Shakespeare . CONTENTS. X PAGE Castle of Indolence ...... Thomson . 253 Catholic Church, The Bryden . . 209 Celestial Aidance ...... Spenser . . 18 Celestial and Terrestrial Milton . . 197 Cemetery, Nature's ...... Crabbe . . 327 Charms, Nature's ...... Milton . . 174 Charms of Music ...... Shakespeare . 75 Chiara-Oscura, La Wordsworth . 342 Chiaro-Oseuro, II Shakespeare . 85 City and Suburb Keats . .379 Clorinda and Satyr Fletcher . .104 Coliseum, Fast and Present .... Byron . . 387 Conscience, The Evil Shakespeare . 68 Conspirator, The ,, .66 Coronach Scott . . 351 Corporate Bodies Cowper . .301 Critics, To the Pope . . 231 Curse, A Widow's Shakespeare . 67 Daughter, On My First Jonsnn . .101 Daughters of Judah Byron . . 400 Death and Sleep Shelley . .409 Death, Early Shakespeare . 55 Death, King Milton . .162 Death, Modes of Bryden . .221 Death of the Stag Shakespeare . 62 Death, Terrors and Refuge of . . ' . .

Shelley . . 439 Death, The Court of Milton . .195 Dealh, The First Day of Byron . 383 Delight, To the Spirit of Shelley . . 449 Devil of Lust, The Milton . .159 Diana, Hymn to Jonson . .102 Diana, Votaresses of Chalkhill . 127 Diets, The Vegetable, &c Thomson . 237 V™?,™ Shakespeare . 82 Dulcia Byron . . 393 Echo Milton . . 199 Eden 168 Education, The Duty of the State . . . Wordsworth '. 337 Ele£y Cowley . . 130 Elegy of Elegies, The s£,Uey \ \ 432 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard . . Gray . 279 EUen __.■ ■ Scott [ ; CONTENTS. PAGE England. Kingdom of Shakespeare . 70 Epic Style, Tho Usual Milton . .186 Eros, Conquests of Fletcher . .113 Euphemism Byron . . 399 Eve's Bower Milton . . 175 Eve's Lament . . . . . . . ,, . .194 Expediency Shakespeare . 73 Fairy Songs Shakespeare . 74 Faith and Reason Dryden . . 209 Faith, The True Pope . .231 Fame, Historic Milton . . 196 Fancy.

Hellenic Wordsworth . 335 Fancy, Ode to Kcais . . 374 Fawn. Nymph complaining for the Death of her Marvell . .136 Feminine Variableness Shakespeare . 47 Fen, An English Crabbe . . 326 Fidele, Dirge to Collins . . 269 Fiends Outdone by Men Milton . . 1 60 Flowers of the Garden Shelley . . 446 Forgetfulness, Dumb Shakespeare . 87 Friendship, The True and False . . . Barnfidd . . 95 Fruit, The Fatal Milton . .155 Garden, Flowers of the Shelley . . 446 Genius of Shakespeare, The .... Jonson . .98 Glory, Infamy of Miltnn . .181 Glory, Vain " Shirley . . 123 Gold Cowley . .135 Gothic Ruins Burns . . 318 Grasshopper, To the Cowley . .134 Grave of the Outcast, The .... Hemans . . 370 Haidee, Death of Byron . . 395 Hareem, The . . . . . ■ Moore . . 364 Harmony Shakespeare . 84 Haven after the Storm, The ....

Shelley . . 420 Heaven, Ode to 451 Heaven and Earth, A New .... „ . 415 Hell-Gates Milton . .161 Hellas, Sunset in Byron . . 384 Hellenic Sculpture, Master-pieces of . . . Hemans . . 366 Highland Gathering, A Scott . . CONTENTS. XI] PAGE Hinda ... .... Moore . . 357 Historic Fame Milton . .196 Hope Campbell . . 329 Human Mind, The Dryden . .221 Human Selfishness Thomson . . 252 Hymn, The Shelley . . 423 Image, A Mother's ...... Shakespeare . 74 Imagination, Force of .... . ,, .72 Immortality ....... ,, .85 Ingratitude ....... „ .81 In Memoriam Cowley . .130 „ Dryden . .217 „ Shelley . . 432 Italia Goldsmith . 290 Italian Masters of Painting .... Hemans . . 368 Jew and Christian Shakespeare . 71 Judah, Daughters of Byron . . 400 Just and the Unjust, The .... Brummond . 118 Katrine Loch Scott . . 345 King, The Divinity that doth Hedge a . .

Shakespeare . 49 Kingdom of England, The .... „ .70 Kisses Jonson . . 103 Late, Too Shakespeare . 72 Lavinia Thomson . . 245 Learning, Philosophy of Pope . . 232 Lesson, The Statesman's Shakespeare . 61 Life „ .65 Life, Origin of ~MUton . . 1S3 Life Out of Death Shakespeare . 90 Life, Spirit MUton _ _ 2n4 Life, The Sensual .... 197 Light, Address to ,,., Light and Life, To the Author of . Thomson . ' 243 Loch Katrine &,„„ 34- Love aod Learning ...... Shakespeare . 52 Love-In-Idleness .... Love Restrained ... in Love, Woman's T , ,T -. .58 .Lover s V ow. A Love's Pleading . .... Marlowe 91 Love's Frailty sheUey _ _' CONTENTS. XIII TAGS Lucifer, The Fall of Milton . .156 Lust, The Devil of ,, . . 159 Mab, Queen Shakespeare . 51 Mab, Queen, Palace of Shelley . . 413 Madness Shakespeare . 49 Man and the Lower Animals ....

Cowper . .310 Man and the Ocean Byron . . 392 Manners, French and English .... Cowper . . 304 Marriage of the Thames and Medway, The . Spenser . . 24 Martial Review, The First .... Milton . .160 Mary Queen of Scotland, Lament of . . . Burns . .316 Mater Dolorosa Shakespeare . 41 May Morning Milton . . 145 Mercy, The Reason of Shakespeare . 54 Message, The Soul's Sylvester. . 115 Mind, The Human Dryden . . 221 Miracles, Natural Cowper . . 307 Misanthrope, The Shakespeare . 82 Modes of Death Bryden . . 222 Multitude, Truth Against the .... Milton . .179 Music, Celestial ...... ,, . . 165 Music, Charms of Shakespeare . 75 Music, Divine Milton . . 200 Music, Power of ..... . Shakespeare . 38 Music, Triumph of . . ... . . Bryden . . 208 National Wealth Goldsmith . 289 Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism . . .

Cowper . . 299 Natura Consolator ...... Keats . . 374 Natural Miracles Cowper . . 307 Nature, All-Sufficiency of .... Marvell . .139 Nature and Art Cowper . .298 Nature, The Free Course of ... . Shakespeare . 46 Nature, True and False Worship of . . . Cowper . . 300 Nature's Cemetery ...... Crabbe . . .11 Nature's Charms Milton . .174 Neglect, The Sweet Jonson . .102 Nothingness, First Dark Day of Shakespeare . 76 Ocean, The Might of Byron . . 392 Ophelia, The Death of Shakespeare . 45 Organ, The Pope . . 233 Origin of Life Milton . CONTENTS. XIV PAGE Painting, The Italian Masters of Hemans . ■ 368 Parish Workhouse, The Crabbe . . 322 Passion, The Secret Byron . . 399 Passions, Ode to the Collins . . 263 Penseroso, II Milton . . 150 Peri, The Moore . . 355 Philosophy of Learning Pope . . 232 Pleasures of Sense Spenser . . 5 Plurality of Worlds Milton . .185 Poesy, The Progress of Gray . .271 Poetry.

English Masters of ... . Thomson . . 245 Poets^ Double-Life of Keats . . 377 Poets, Poet of Anon . . 129 Popular Applause Cowper . . 312 Pride, Dungeon of Spenser . . 3 Prophecy of Venus Shakespeare . 88 Raphael Milton . . 177 Reason and Faith Dryden . . 209 Reason's Opposition Ealeigh . . 93 Regrets, Vain Shakespeare . 55 Religieuse, La Pope . . 228 Remorse Byron . . 403 Reveillez Shakespeare . 80 Rex Olim „ .48 Ruins, Gothic Burns . . 318 Rural Sights Cowper . . 309 Snbrina Milton . . 200 Satan and Michael „ . 179 Sculpture, Hellenic Master-pieces of . . . Hemans . . 366 Secret Passion, The ...... Byron . . 399 Seducer, The First Milton . . 187 Selfishness, Human ...... Coicper . . 252 Sense, Pleasures of . . . . . . Spensir . . 5 Sensibility Burns . . 320 Sensual Life, The Milton . . 197 Shakespeare's Genius Jonson . . 98 Shipwreck, The Byron . . 394 Show, Outward Shakespeare . 43 Sights, Rural Cowper . . 309 Silvia Shakespeare . 74 Sister- Arts ....... ,, gg Sleep Fletcher . . m CONTENTS.

XV PAGE Sleep, Death and Shelley . . 409 Sleep in the Palace Shakespeare . 64 Sleep that Knows not Breaking . . . Scott . . 353 Skylark, Ode to the Shelley . . 442 Solitude, The True Byron . . 386 Soul's Message to Earth Sylvester. . 115 Spirit-Existence Byron . . 402 Spirit-Life . . . . . . . Milton . . 204 Spirit of Delight, To the Shelley . . 449 'Sport' Thomson. . 247 Spring, A Child of Wordsworth . 340 Spring, Advent of ..... . Milton . .145 Spring, A Herald of Wordsworth . 338 Spring, Approach of Warton . . 294 Spring Flowers Shakespeare . 73 Stag, Death of the „ .62 State, Education the Duty of the . . . Wordsworth . 337 Statesman's Lesson ...... Shakespeare . 61 Statesmen of Seventeenth Century . . . Bryden . .215 Storm, Haven after the ..... Shelley . . 420 Storm, The Coming Moore . . 360 Story, An Old Crabbe . . 324 Sunset in Hellas ......

Byron . . 384 Sunshine, The Power of . . . '". . Moore . .361 Superstition, Early Pope . . 230 Temple of Venus, The ..... Spenser . . 19 Thames and Medway, Marriage of . . . ,, . .24 Time, Flight of Shakespeare . 84 Time, The Devourer ,, .86 Too Late ......... „ .72 Traitor, The Moore . .359 Triumph of Music, The Bryden . . 208 Triumph, Song of Shelley . . 429 True Solitude Byron . 386 Truth Against the Multitude .... Milton . .179 Truth and Falsehood Pope . ■ . 229 Truth of a Dying Man, The .... Shakespeare . 36 Tyranny, Human ,, .43 Twilight Byron . . 386 Urania, Invocation of Milton . .181 VæVictis Campbell. . 331 Vanitas Vanitatum Shakespeare . CONTENT?. XVI PAGE Vanquished Cause, The Moon V- --.able and Animal Diets .... Thomson. ■ Venus. Prophecy of Shakespeare . 88 Venus, Temple of . . . . • • Spenser . . 19 ' -.

Adest . . . - • - • Milton . . 174 k code, Pleasures of Gray . . -" she Shelley . . 410 Vie reiigieuse. La ; ? . 40 Village, Deserted, The ' ;. Address to the Shelley . . 441 _ n. Hymn to the Scott . . 352 us, To the Herrick . . 125 V:t. ALoTers Shakespeare . 40 Wealth. National Goldsmith . 289 Winter Coicper . . 302 Winter, Horrors of Thomson . . 250 le to Campiell . . 331 Wisdom and Knowledge ..... Coicper . Workhouse. The Parish Craf.be . . 322 World, The, a Stage Shakespeare . 34 World, Way of the .83 . irality of Milton . SPEXSEE. 1553-1599. Pketctpai. Woeks : The Shepherd's Calendar, 1579, a pastoral poem in twelve eclogues, one for each month of the year. — The Faery Queen, 1590-96, the great romance-epic upon which the title of Spenser to a place in the foremost rank of the poets of all time depends, in six books, dedicated to the Queen (as his first work had been inscribed to his patron and friend Sir Philip Sidney), who was not too obscurely complimented in the character of Gloriana, the Faerv Queen, or of Belphœbe, a flattering name, which to her well-known personal vanitv might be more acceptable than even the other.

The Queen of Faery holds high festival for twelve days, on each of which one of her knightly champions undertakes some perilous adventure. Each of these champions is made to represent a moral or religions virtue. The Bed Cross Knight (St. George) representing Holiness ; Britomart, the lady-knight of the third book, Chastity; Sir Artegal, of the fifth book, Justice, &c Of the twelve books (the sacred traditional number of an epic since the Æneisj at first contemplated, six only ever appeared : nor is it much to be regretted, perhaps, that the original design was never completed. Hlmnined though it is to the end by many beauties, tlie interest of the poem begins to dijmnish after the fourth book, and the reader follows the career of Sir Calidore with much less enthusiasm than he did that of Britomart.

A double meaning and purpose may be detected through the whole of the poem : the apparent superficial one of Romance with its chival rous achievements such as could not fail to meet with the enthusiastic appreciation of the higher classes of the age ; and an allegorical sugges tion of the supposed graces and virtues of that — to use the language of her bishops— ' bright occidental star,' and of the ultimate triumphant discomfiture of her various malevolent foes. — Colin Clous s Come Home Again (dedicated to Raleigh), 1595, a pastoral and sort of supplement to the Shepherd's Calendar, composed in celebration of his own return to his Irish estate and Kileolman Castle, in which he recounts his expe riences at the court and in the fashionable life of the metropolis, with a celebration of the most eminent poets of the time. — An Epithalamium.

B of the same year, termed by his most recent editor ' the finest, the most perfect, of all his poems, the most beautiful of all bridal songs.' It celebrates his marriage with the Rosalind of his earlier poems, of whom nothing is known but that her Christian name was Elizabeth.— __f Hymn of Heavenly Love, and A Hymn of Heavenly Beauty, with the Prothalamium or A Spousal Verse, in honour of the double marriage of the ladies Elizabeth and Katharine Somerset, were his last productions. Strange as it seems, the author of The Faery Queen, the adulator of Elizabeth and the friend of Sidney and Raleigh, died in almost absolute poverty, apparently, in obscure lodgings in London. Of the personal history of Spenser not very much more is known than of Shakespeare's. It is an ungrateful task to be obliged to record that the httle that is known cf his life in Ireland at his far-famed Kileolman Castle, where the larger part of his great poem was composed, in relation to his tenants, shows him not in the most amiable light, or in the character we would fain imagine to belong to so charming a genius.

The appearance of Tlie Faery Queen marks an ever-memorable epoch in the history of Enghsh poetry. Spenser may be called the second father of English poetry. The Canterbury Tides, ' that well,' as he himself terms it, ' of English undefiled,' had appeared two hundred years before ; and stands alone and isolated in the age in which it was produced. The influence of Spenser upon his great successors, especially upon Milton, Thomson, Shelley, in different degrees and manner, and indeed upon a considei. ble proportion of English poetry ever since, it would be difficult to overestimate. He was the first to adopt the ottava rima of Ariosto and the Italian school, one of the most effective kinds of poetic forms, which he improved by the addition of the Alexandrine, as it is called, the ninth and concluding verse of the stanza.

As to its versification, its peculiar characteristics are a harmony and melody which have seldom been equalled and never surpassed. The Faery Queen is a veritable land of faerv, wandering in which the imagination is charmed in being withdrawn from the stem realities, the littlenesses and annoyances, of every-dav life into the most delightful and seductive scenes ever conjured up by the magic wand of the poet. Spenser is pre-eminently the poet of beautv, whether in picturing the charms of feminine loveliness, or those of birds and woods and fountains. It is to be regretted that he was tempted by his admiration for Chaucer to adopt his antique diction and phraseology; an unfor tunate choice which has doubtless deterred many, unacquainted with early English, from doing him justice by reading him through continuously.

For the benefit, however, of such readers, editions have been published of late with a spelling of more modern date. Of his special merits it has been justly said that ' he threw the soul of harmonv into our verse and made it more warmly, tenderly, and magnificently descriptive than it ever was before, or, with a few exceptions, than it has ever been SPENSER. 3 since. It must certainly be owned that in description he exhibits nothing of the brief strokes and robust power which characterise the very greatest poets ; but we shall nowhere find more airy and expansive images of visionary things, a sweeter tone of sentiment, or a finer flush in the colours of language, than in this Rubens of English poetry. His fancy teems exuberantly in minuteness of circumstance, like a fertile soil sending bloom and verdure through the utmost extremities of the foliage which it nourishes. . . .

The clouds of his allegory may seem to spread into shap less forms, but they are still the clouds of a glowing atmosphere. Though his story grows desultory, the sweetness and grace of his manner still abide by him. He is like a speaker whose tones continue to be pleasing, though he may speak too long ; or like a painter who makes us forget the defect of his design by the magic of his colouring. We always rise from perusing him with melody in the mind's ear, and with pictures of romantic beauty impressed on the imagination.' — {Campbells Specimens.') FAERY QUEEN. THE DUNGEON OF PRIDE. ' The porcelain clay of human-kind.' XLV In a dungeon deep huge numbers lay Of caitiff wretched thralls, that wailed night and day. XLVI A rueful sight as could be seen with eye, Of whom he learned had in secret wise The hidden cause of their captivity ; How mortgaging their Hves to Covetise Through wasteful Pride and wanton Eiotise, They were by law of that proud Tyranness Provoked with Wrath and Envy's false surmise, Condemned to that dungeon merciless, Where they should live in woe, and die in wretchedness.

B There was that great proud king of Babylon, That would compel all nations to adore, And him as only God to call upon ; Till, through celestial doom thrown out of door, Into an ox he was transformed of yore. There also was King Crœsus, that enhanced His heart too high through his great riches' store ; And proud Antiochus, the which advanced His cursed hand 'gainst God, and on His altars danced. XLVIII And them longtime before, great Nimrod was, That first the world with sword and fire warray'd ; And after him old Ninus far did pass In princely pomp, of all the world obey'd. There also was that mighty monarch lay'd Low under all, yet above all in pride, That name of native sire did foul upbraid, And would as Ammon's son be magnified, Till, scorned of God and man, a shameful death he died. XLIX All these together in one heap were thrown, Like carcasses of beasts in butchers' stall, And in another corner wide were strown The antique ruins of the Eomans' fall : Great Romulus, the grandsire of them all ; Proud Tarquin and too lordly Lentulus ; Stout Scipio, and stubborn Hannibal; Ambitious Sulla, and stern Marius ; High Cæsar, great Pompey, and fierce Antonius.

SPENSER. 5 L Amongst these mighty men were women mixed ; Proud women, vain, forgetful of their yoke : The bold Semiramis, whose sides transfixed With son's own blade her foul reproaches spoke : Fair Sthenebœa, that herself did choke With wilful cord for wanting of her will : High-minded Cleopatra, that with stroke Of Aspes sting herself did stoutly kill : And thousands more the like that did that dungeon fill. LI Besides the endless routs of wretched thralls, Which thither were assembled day by day From all the world, after their woful falls, Through wicked pride and wasted wealth's decay. But most of all which in that dungeon lay, Fell from high princes' courts or ladies' bowers, Where they in idle pomp, or wanton play, Consumed had their goods and thriftless hours, And lastly thrown themselves into these heavy stoures.

(I. 5.) THE PLEASURES OF SENSE. Sib Guton on the Island or the Enchantress* XII It was a chosen plot of fertile land, Amongst wide waves set, like a little nest, As if it had by Nature's cunning hand Been choicely picked out from all the rest, And laid forth for ensample of the best : * Compare with the originals in Odysseia V., and in Orlando Furicso VIII., Kalypso's Isle and Alcina's Palace. No d.iinty flower or herb that grows on ground, No arboret with painted blossoms drest And smelling sweet, but there it might be found To bud out fair, and throw her sweet smells all around. XIII No tree whose branches did not bravely spring ; No branch whereon a fine bird did not sit ; No bird but did her shrill notes sweetly sing ; No song but did contain a lovely ditt. Trees, branches, birds, and songs, were framed fit For to allure frail mind to careless ease : Careless the man soon waxed, and his weak wit Was overcome of thing that did him please ; >So pleased did his wrathful purpose fair appease. xiv • Thus when she had his eyes and senses fed With false delights, and filled with pleasures vain, Into a shady dale she soft Him led, And laid him down upon a grassy plain ; And her sweet self without dread or disdain She set beside, laying his head disarmed In her loose lap, it softly to sustain, Where soon he slumbered fearing not be harmed : The whiles with a love lay she thus him sweetly charmed. xv ' Behold, 0 man ! that toilsome pains dost take, The flowers, the fields, and all that pleasant grows, How they themselves do thine ensample make, Whilst nothing envious nature them forth throws Out of her fruitful lap ; how no man knows, SPENSER.

They spring, they bud, they blossom fresh and fair, And deck the world with their rich pompous shows ; Yet no man for them taketh pains or care, Yet no man to them can His careful pains compare. XVI ' The lily, lady of the flowering field, The flower-deluce, her lovely paramour, Bid thee to them thy fruitless labours yield, And soon leave off this toilsome weary stour : Lo ! lo ! how brave she decks her bounteous bower, With silken curtains and gold coverlets, Therein to shroud her sumptuous belamour ; Yet neither spins nor cards, nor cares, nor frets, But to her mother Nature all Her care she lets. XVII ' Why then dost thou, 0 man ! that of them all Art lord, and eke of nature sovereign, Wilfully make thyself a wretched thrall, And waste the joyous hours in needless pain, Seeking for danger and adventures vain ?