In liberty's defence, my noble task,

Of which all Europe rings from side to side. This thought might lead me through the world's

vain masque,

Content though blind, had I no better guide.

Milton.

[FAIRY SONG.]

L

TOME, follow, follow me,

You fairy elves that be,
Which circle on the greene;

Come, follow Mab your queene.
Hand in hand let's dance around,
For this place is fairy ground.

When mortals are at rest,
And snoring in their nest;
Unheard and unespy'd,

Through key-holes we do glide;
Over tables, stools, and shelves,
We trip it with our fairy elves.

And, if the house be foul,
Or platter, dish, or bowl,
Up stairs we nimbly creep,

And find the sluts asleep:
There we pinch their arms and thighes ;
None escapes, nor none espies.

But if the house be swept,
And from uncleanness kept,
We praise the household maid,
And duely she is paid :

For we use before we goe
To drop a tester in her shoe.

Upon a mushroome's head
Our table-cloth we spread;
A grain of rye or wheat

Is manchet which we eat ;
Pearly drops of dew we drink
In acorn cups fill’d to the brink.

The grasshopper, gnat, and fly
Serve for our minstrelsie;
Grace said, we dance awhile,

And so the time beguile :
And if the moon doth hide her head,
The glow-worm lights us home to bed.

On tops of dewie grasse
So nimbly do we passe,
The young and tender stalk

Ne'er bends when we do walk ;
Yet in the morning may be seen
Where we the night before have been.

SONNET.

[A PARTING.]

SINC

INCE there's no help, come let us kiss and

parte:
Nay, I have done : you get no more of me:
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free;
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time againe,

Be it not seen in either of our brows
That we one jot of former love retaine.
. . Now at the last gasp of Love's latest breath,
When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,
When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And Innocence is closing up his

eyes, Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over, From death to life thou might'st him yet recover!

MICHAEL DRAYTON.

[NOSE VERSUS EYES.]

REPORT OF AN ADJUDGED CASE NOT TO BE FOUND

IN ANY OF THE BOOKS.

B

ETWEEN Nose and Eyes a strange contest

arose, The spectacles set them unhappily wrong ; The point in dispute was, as well the world knows,

To which the said spectacles ought to belong. So Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause With a great deal of skill, and a wig full of

learning : While chief baron Ear sat to balance the laws,

So famed for his talent in nicely discerning. In behalf of the Nose it will quickly appear, And your lordship, he said, will undoubtedly

find, That the Nose has had spectacles always in wear,

Which amounts to possession time out of mind. Then holding the spectacles up to the courtYour lordship observes they are made with a

straddle

As wide as the ridge of the Nose is ;

in short, Design'd to sit close to it, just like a saddle. Again, would your lordship a moment suppose

('Tis a case that has happen’d, and may be again,) That the visage or countenance had not a nose, Pray who would, or who could, wear spectacles

then ?

On the whole it appears, and my argument shows,

With a reasoning the court will never condemn, That the spectacles plainly were made for the Nose,

And the Nose was as plainly intended for them. Then shifting his side (as a lawyer knows how),

He pleaded again in behalf of the Eyes; But what were his arguments few people know, For the court did not think they were equally

wise.

So his lordship decreed, with a grave solemn tone,

Decisive and clear, without one if or but, That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on, By daylight, or candlelight,-Eyes should be shut.

CowPER.

CUPID'S CURSE.

[SUNG BY ENONE AND PARIS. THE ARRAIGNMENT OF PARIS:" A DRAMATIC

PASTORAL—1584.]

En.

FA

AIRE, and faire, and twice so faire,

As faire as anie may be,
The fairest shepherd on our greene,

A Love for any Lady.

Paris. Faire, and faire, and twice so faire,

As faire as any may be,
Thy Love is fair for thee alone,

And for no other Lady.

(En. My Love is faire, my Love is gay,

And fresh as bin the flowers in May,
And of my Love my roundelay,
My merry, merry, merry roundelay,

Concludes with Cupid's Curse:
They that do change old love for newe,

Pray Gods they change for worse!

(En. Faire, and faire, and twice so faire,

As faire as any may be,
The fairest shepherd on our greene,

A Love for any Lady.

Paris. Faire, and faire, and twice so faire,

As faire as anie may be,
Thy Love is faire for thee alone,

And for no other Lady.

(En. My Love can pipe, my Love can sing,

My Love can manie a pretty thing,
And of his lovely praises ring
My merry, merry, merry roundelays.

Amen to Cupid's Curse:
They that do change old love for newe,
Pray Gods they change for worse !

GEORGE PEELE.