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They had engag'd their wandering steps too far,
And envious darkness, ere they could return,
Had ftole them from me; elfe, O thievish Night, 195
Why should't thou, but for fome felonious end,
In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars,
That nature hung in Heav'n, and fill'd their lamps
With everlasting oil, to give due light

To the miled and lonely traveller?

This is the place, as well as I may guess,
Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth
Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear,
Yet nought but fingle darkness do I find.
What might this be? A thousand fantasies
Begin to throng into my memory,

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Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire,
And aery tongues, that fyllable mens names ́
On fands, and fhores, and defert wilderneffes.
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound 210
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended
By a ftrong fiding champion, confcience.---
O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope,
Thou hovering Angel girt with golden wings,
And thou unblemish'd form of Chastity;

I fee you vifibly, and now believe

That he, the Supreme Good, t' whom all things ill
Are but as flavish officers of vengeance,

Would fend a gliftering guardian, if need were,
To keep my life and honor unaffail'd.

Was I deceiv'd, or did a fable cloud

Turn forth her filver lining on the night?

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I did

I did not err, there does a fable cloud

Turn forth her filver lining on the night,
And cafts a gleam over this tufted grove.

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I cannot hallow to my Brothers, but

Such noife as I can make to be heard fartheft
I'll venture, for my new inliven'd spirits
Prompt me; and they perhaps are not far off.

S 0. N G.

SWEET Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy aery shell,

By flow Meander's margent green,

And in the violet-embroider'd vale,

Where the love-lorn nightingale

Nightly to thee her fad fong mourneth well;

Can't thou not tell me of a gentle pair

That likeft thy Narciffus are?

O if thou have

Hid them in fome flowery cave,

Tell me but where,

Sweet queen of parly, daughter of the sphere,

So may'st thou be tranflated to the skies,

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And give refounding grace to all Heav'n's harmonies.

COм. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mold

Breathe fuch divine inchanting ravishment?

Sure fomething holy lodges in that breast,
And with these raptures moves the vocal air
To teftify his hidden refidence:

How fweetly did they flote upon
VOL. III.

245

the wings

of

K

Of filence, through the empty-vaulted night,
At every fall fmoothing the raven down
Of darknefs till it fmil'd! I have oft heard
My mother Circe with the Syrens three,
Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades

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Culling their potent herbs, and baleful drugs,

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Who as they fung, would take the prifon'd foul,

And lap it in Elyfium; Scylla wept,

And chid her barking waves into attention,

And fell Charybdis murmur'd foft applaufe:

Yet they in pleasing flumber lull'd the fenfe,
And in fweet madness robb'd it of itself;
But fuch a facred, and home-felt delight,
Such fober certainty of waking bliss,

I never heard till now. I'll speak to her,

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And she shall be my queen. Hail, foreign wonder, 265 Whom certain these rough fhades did never breed,

Unless the Goddefs that in rural fhrine

Dwell'ft here with Pan, or Sylvan, by blest song
Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog

To touch the profperous growth of this tall wood. 270
LA. Nay, gentle Shepherd, ill is loft that praise
That is addrefs'd to unattending ears;

Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
How to regain my fever'd company,

Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo

To give me answer from her moffy couch.

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[thus?

COм. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you LA. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth.

COM.

COм. Could that divide you from near-ufhering

guides?

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LA. They left me weary on a graffy turf.
COм. By falfhood, or difcourtesy, or why?
LA. To feek i'th' valley fome cool friendly fpring.
COм. And left your fair fide all unguarded, Lady?
LA. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick re-

turn.

COм. Perhaps fore-ftalling night prevented them. LA. How eafy my misfortune is to hit!

COм. Imports their lofs, befide the present need? LA. No less than if I should my Brothers lose. COM. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom?

LA. As fmooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. 290 COM. Two fuch I faw, what time the labor'd ox In his loofe traces from the furrow came, And the fwinkt hedger at his fupper fat; I faw them under a green mantling vine That crawls along the fide of yon small hill, Plucking ripe clusters from the tender fhoots; Their port was more than human, as they stood: I took it for a faëry vision

Of fome gay creatures of the element,

That in the colors of the rainbow live,

And play i'th' plighted clouds. I was aw-ftruck,
And as I paft, I worshipt; if those

you feek,

It were a journey like the path to Heaven,

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To help you find them.

LA. Gentle Villager,

K 2

What

What readiest way would bring me to that place? 305
COM. Due weft it rifes from this fhrubby point.
LA. To find out that, good Shepherd, I fuppofe,
In fuch a scant allowance of star-light,

Would overtafk the beft land-pilot's art,

Without the fure guess of well-practis'd feet.

COM. I know each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood,

And every bosky bourn from fide to fide,
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;
And if your stray-attendence be yet lodg'd,
Or fhroud within these limits, I fhall know
Ere morrow wake, or the low-roofted lark
From her thatcht pallat rouse; if otherwise,
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low

But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
Till further quest.

LA. Shepherd, I take thy word,

And trust thy honeft offer'd courtesy,

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Which oft is fooner found in lowly sheds

With fmoky rafters, than in tap'fry halls

And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd,

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And yet is most pretended: In a place
Lefs warranted than this, or lefs fecure,

I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.

Eye me, bleft Providence, and fquare my trial

To my proportion'd ftrength! Shepherd, lead on. 330 The two BROTHERS.

1 BRO. Unmuffle, ye faint Stars, and thou fair Moon, That wont'ft to love the traveller's benizon,

Stoop

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