Corn-wales; for hither in the Saxon conquest the hereafter. So mighty were that time the men that lived there. If you trust our stories, you must believe the land then peopled with giants, of vast bodily composture. I have read of the Nephilim, the Rephaiim, Anakim, Og, Goliath, and other in holy writ of Mars, Tityus, Antæus, Turnus, and the Titans in Homer, Virgil, Ovid; and of Adam's stature (according to Jewish (o) fiction) equalling at first the world's diameter; yet seeing that Nature (now as fertile as of old) hath in her effects determinate limits of quantity, that in Aristotle's (p) time (near two thousand years since) their beds The deluge of the Dane exactly to have song. were but six foot ordinarily (nor is the difference, In the fourth year of Brithric (d), king of the 'twixt ours and Greek dimension, much) and that West-Saxons, at Portland, and at this place near the same length was our Saviour's sepulchre, (which makes the fiction proper) three ships of as Adamnan informed (q) king Alfrid; I could Danish pirates entered: the king's lieutenant, think that there now are some as great statures, offering inquisition of their name, state, and cause as for the most part have been, and that giants of arrival, was the first Englishman, in this first were but of a somewhat more than vulgar (r) exDanish invasion, slain by their hand, Miserable cellence in body, and martial performance. If losses and continual had the English, by their you object the finding of great bones, which, meafrequent eruptions, from this time till the Norsured by proportion, largely exceed our times; I man conquest; 'twixt which intercedes two hunfirst answer, that in some singulars, as monsters dred seventy-nine years: and that less acrather than natural, such proof hath been; but count of two hundred and thirty (e), during which withal, that both now and of ancient time (s), | space this land endured their bloody slaughters, the eye's judgment in such like hath been, and is, according to some men's calculation, begins at subject to much imposture; mistaking bones of king Ethelwulph: to whose time Henry of Hunthuge beasts for human. Claudius (t) brought over ingdon, and Roger of Hoveden, refer the behis elephants hither, and perhaps Julius Cæsar ginning of the Danish mischiefs, continuing so some, (for I have read (1) that he terribly af- intolerable, that under king Ethelred was there frighted the Britons with sight of one at Coway-begun a tribute insupportable (yearly afterward stakes) and so may you be deceived. But this is no place to examine it. exacted from the subjects) to give their king swain, and so prevent their insatiate rapine. It was between thirty and forty thousand pounds (ƒ) Of Corin Cornwal call'd, to his immortal fame. (for I find no certainty of it, so variable are the So, if you believe the tale of Corin and Gogma- reports) not instituted for pay of garrisons em-1 gog: but rather imagine the name of Cornwal ployed in service against them (as upon the misfrom this promontory of the land's end, extending understanding of the confessor's laws some ill itself like a horn (r), which in most tongues is affirm) but to satisfy the wasting enemy; but so Corn, or very near. Thus was a promontory in that it ceased not, although their spoils ceased, Cyprus called Cerastes (y), and in the now Candy, but was collected to the use of the crown, until or Crete, and Gazaria (the old Taurica Chersone-king Stephen promised to remit it. sus) another titled Kgiữ μirwwoy (2): and Brundusium in Italy had uame from Brendon or Brention (a), i. e. a hart's-head, in the Messapian tongue, for similitude of horus. But Malmes bury (b) thus: "They are called Cornwalshmen, because being seated in the western part of Britain, they lie over-against a horn (a promontory) of Gaul." The whole name is as if you should say (9) Rabbi Eleazar apud Riccium in epit. Talmud. cæterum in hâc re allegoriam v. apud D. Cyprian. serm, de montibus Sina & Sion. For indeed St. Edward, upon imagination of seeing a devil danc ing about the whole sum of it lying in his treasury, moved in conscience, caused it to be repayed, and released the duty, as Ingulph, abbot of Crowland, tells you: yet observe him, and read Florence of Worcester, Marian the Scot, Henry of Huntingdon, and Roger Hoveden, and you will confess, that what I report thus from them is truth, and different much from what vulgarly is received. Of the Danish race were afterward three kings, Cnut, Hardenut, and Harold the first. His offspring after long expulst the inner land. After some one thousand five hundred years from the supposed arrival (g) of the Trojans, their posterity were, by encroachment of Saxons, Jutes, (a) Seleucus apud Stephan. Berrns. & Suidas Wigorn. in Beard. (6) De gest. reg. 2. c. 6. (g) Chronologiam hùc spectantem consulas in illustrat. ad 4. Cant. But as my subject serves, so high or low to strain, avow: Angles, Danes, (for among the Saxons that noble Douz (h) wills that surely Danes were) Frisians (?), and Franks, driven into those western parts of the now Wales and Cornwales. Our stories have this at large, and the Saxon heptarchy; which at last, That as thou first found'st Art, and didst her rules by public edict of king Ecbert, was called Engle-So I, to thine own self that gladly near would be, lond. But John, bishop of Chartres (k), saith it May herein do the best, in imitating thee: had that name from the first coming of the As thou hast here a hill, a vale there, there a flood, Angles; others from the name of Hengist (1), | A mead here, there a heath, and now and then a (a matter probable enough) whose name, wars, wood, policies, and government, being first invested by Vortigern in Kent, are above all the other Germans most notable in the British stories: and Harding -he called it Engestes land, Which afterward was shorted, and called England. Hereto accords that of one of our country old poets (m): -- -Engisti linguâ canit insula Bruti (n). If I should add the idle conccits of Godfrey of Viterbo, drawing the name from I know not what Angri, the insertion of / for r by pope Gregory, or the conjectures of unlimitable phantasy, I should unwillingly, yet with them impudently, err. (h) Jan. Douz. annal. Holland. 1. & 6. (2) Procopius in fragm. d. lib. Gothic. ap. Camden. Name of England. (k) Policratic. lib. 6. c. 17. (1) Chronicon S. Albani. Hector. Boet. Scotorum kist. 7. (m) J. Gower epigram. in confess. amantis. (n) Britain sings in Hengist's tongue. POLY-OLBION. THE SECOND SONG. THE ARGUMENT. The Muse from Marshwood way commands Is wafted to the isle of Wight, Thence Hampshire-ward her way she bends; These things so in my song I naturally may show; Here, fruitful as the mead; there, as the heath be rare. My progress I again must seriously pursue, (As Phoebus getting up out of the eastern lake, Whereas the little Lim along doth eas❜ly creep, mellow bank, From all the British soils, for hemp most hugely That praise from every place, and worthily obtain'd made, flocks; Most famous for her folk excelling with the sling, MARCH strongly forth, my Muse, whilst yet the Of any other here this land inhabiting; temp'rate air Invites us eas'ly on to hasten our repair. That therewith they in war offensively might wound, By the great noise it made, the workmen seem'd harden'd hail, Her small assistant brooks her second name have Great Albion to this nymph an earnest suitor was; Great Albion (that fore-thought the angry goddess would [could) Both on the dam and brats take what revenge she Or sudden gusts from sea the harmless deer assail,' th' bosom of the Pool his little children plac'd; The shrubs are not of pow'r to shield them from First Brunksey, Fursey next, and little Hellen last; Then with his mighty arms doth clip the Pool about, the wind. [alas! we find "Dear mother," quoth the Froom, "too late, The softness of thy swerd, continued thro' thy soil, To be the only cause of unrecover'd spoil; When scarce the British ground a finer grass doth [were) "And wish I could," quoth she, ("if wishes helpful 5. Thou never by that name of White-hart hadst bear: been known, But stiled Black-moor still, which rightly was thine own. For why? that change foretold the ruin of thy state: Froom had past, And quitting in her course old Dorcester at last, won: But Purbeck, as profest, a huntress and a nun, The Piddle, that this while bestirr'd her nimble feet, To whom since first the world this later name her To keep the angry queen (fierce Amphitrite) out: to get) Herself in such a place from sight doth almost set, Where Stour receives her strength from six clear Which gathering to one stream from every several head, Her new-beginning bank her water scarcely wields; meet, are ye, From our predestin'd plagues that privileged be! Which only with the fish which in your banks do breed, [feed! And daily there increase, man's gormandise can But had this wretched age such uses to employ Your waters, as the woods we lately did enjoy, Your channels they would leave as barren by their spoil, As they of all our trees have lastly left our soil. doth ply, On Shaftsbury (by chance) she cast her crystal eye 8 The story of Pool. Stour riseth from six fountains. From whose foundation first such strange reports From that which highest flew, to that which lowest seen, As though the peopled towns had wayless deserts And whilst the loathly toad out of his hole doth crawl, And makes his fulsome stool amid the prince's hall, The crystal fountain turn'd into a gory wound, And bloody issues brake (like ulcers) from the ground; [turn, The seas, against their course, with double tides reAnd oft were seen by night like boiling pitch to burn. [main; Thus thinking, lively Stour bestirs her tow'rds the Which Lidden leadeth out; then Duias bears her train [bring: From Blackmore, that at once their watry tribute When,like some childish wench, she loosely wantoning, [shore. With tricks and giddy turns seems to inisle the Betwixt her fishful banks then forward she doth scow'r, Until she lastly reach clear Alen in her race: Which calmly cometh down from her dear mother chase 10, [see Of Cranbourn that is call'd, who greatly joys to A river born of her, for Stour's should reckon'd be, Of that renowned flood a favourite highly grac'd. Whilst Cranbourn, for her child so fortunately plac'd, With echoes every way applauds her Alen's state, A sudden noise from Holt seems to congratulate With Cranbourn, for her brook so happily bestow'd: [show'd Where, to her neighb'ring chase, the courteous forest So just conceived joy, that from each rising hurst, Where many a goodly oak had carefully been nurst, The Sylvans in their songs their mirthful meeting tell; [dwell, And Satyrs, that in slades and gloomy dimbles Run whooting to the hills to clap their ruder hands. As folt had done before, so Canford's goodly lands [veins, (Which lean upon the Pool) enrich'd with cop'ras Rejoice to see them join'd. When down from Sarum plains Clear Avon coming in, her sister Stour doth call, §. And at New-forest's foot into the sea do fall, Which every day bewail that deed so full of dread, Whereby she (now so proud) became first forested: She now, who for her site ev'n boundless seem'd to lie, Her being that receiv'd by William's tyranny, 10 Cranbourn chase. "Holt forest. 42 A wood in English. Providing laws to keep those beasts here planted then, [men; Whose lawless will from hence before had driven That where the hearth was warm'd with winter's feasting fires, The melancholy hare is form'd in brakes and briers: The aged ranpic trunk, where ploughmen cast their seed, [weed, And churches overwhelm'd with nettles, fern and By conq'ring William first cut off from every trade, That here the Norman still might enter to invade ; That on this vacant place, and unfrequented shore, New forces still might land, to aid those here before. But she, as by a king and conqueror made so great, By who:n she was allow'd and limited her seat, Into her own self-praise most insolently brake, And her less fellow-nymphs New-forest thus be spake: [Bere"; "Thou Buckholt 13, bow to me; so let thy sister Chute 13, kneel thou at my name on this side of the [adore, Where, for their goddess, me the Dryads1 shall [shore shire: With Waltham and the Bere, that on the sea-worn See at the southern isles the tides at tilt to run; And Wolmer, placed hence upon the rising Sun, With Ashholt thine ally (my wood-nymphs) and with you, [due. Proud Pamber tow'rds the north, ascribe me worship Before iny princely state let your poor greatness fall; And vail your tops to me, the sovereign of you all.” Amongst the rivers, so, great discontent there fell. Th' efficient cause thereof (as Dud report doth tell) Was, that the sprightly Test arising up in Chute, To Itchin, her ally, great weakness should impute, That she, to her own wrong, and every other's grief, Would needs be telling things exceeding all belief: For she had giv'n it out, South-hampton should not lose [choose; §. Her famous Bevis so, were 't in her pow'r to §. And for great Arthur's seat, her Winchester prefers, Whose old round-table yet she vaunteth to be hers ; And swore, th' inglorious time should not bereave her right; But what it would obscure, she would reduce to light. For, from that wondrous pond 1, whence she detives her head, And places by the way, by which she's honoured, (Old Winchester, that stands near in her middle way, And Hampton, at her fall into the Solent sea) She thinks in all the isle not any such as she, And for a demigod she would related be. "Sweet sister mine," quoth Test, "advise you what you do; [two: Think this; for each of us, the forests here are Who, if you speak a thing whereof they hold can take, Be't little, or be't much, they double will it make." Whom Hamble helpeth out; a handsome proper flood, In courtesy well skill'd, and one that knew her good: 11 The forest of Hampshire, with their situations. 14 Nymphs that live and die with oaks. 15 A pool near unto Alresford, yielding an unusual abundance of water. And nothing of that kind will any way allow. Besides, the Muse hath next the British cause in hand, About things later done that now she cannot stand." The more they her persuade, the more she doth persist; [list. Let them say what they will, she will do what she She stiles herself their chief, and swears she will command; And, whatsoe'er she saith, for oracles must stand. Which when the rivers heard, they farther speech forbear. And she (to please herself that only seem'd to care) To sing th' achievements great of Bevis thus began: "Redoubted knight," quoth she, “O most renowned man! [reprove Who, when thou wert but young, thy mother durst (Most wickedly seduced by th' unlawfui love Of Mordure, at that time the Almain emperor's son) That she thy sire to death disloyally had done."Each circumstance whereof she largely did relate; Then in her song pursu'd his mother's deadly hate; And how (by Saber's hand) when she suppos'd him dead, Where long upon the downs a shepherd's life heled; Till, by the great recourse, he came at length to slaughter make, (they drew, That whilst in their black mouths their blasphemies They headlong went to Hell. As also how he slew That cruel boar, whose tusks turn'd up whole fields of grain (And, rooting, raised hills upon the level plain; As that, into hose mouth the desperate Roman cleft, [left. fought; [strain, Which manfully he try'd. Next, in a buskin'd 1 At whose prodigious fall, the conquer'd foe forsook The field; where, in one day so many peers they lost, So brave commanders, and so absolute an host, As to the humbled earth took proud Damascus down, Then tributary made to the Armenian crown. And how at his return the king (for service done, The honour to his reign, and to Armenia won) In marriage to this carl the princess Josian gave. As into what distress him Fortune after drave, To great Damascus sent ambassador again; When, in revenge of theirs, before by Bevis slain, (And now, at his return, for that he so despis'd Those idols unto whom they daily sacrific'd, |