Woods and groves are of thy dressing, Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. Thus we salute thee with our early song, And welcome thee, and wish thee long. 10 AN EPITAPH ON THE ADMIRABLE DRAMATIC POET W. SHAKESPEARE.* WHAT needs my Shakespeare for his honour'd bones, The labour of an age in piled stones? Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, 5 What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name? Thou in our wonder and astonishment Hast built thyself a live-long monument. For whilst to th' shame of slow-endeavouring art Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book 10 welcome Chaucer's Knight's Tale, ver. 1511. Todd. 10 * These lines were prefixed to the folio ed. of Shakespeare's Plays in 1632, but without Milton's name or initials. It is, therefore, the first of his pieces that was published. Warton. 11 unvalued] Invaluable. Rich. III. act i. sc. 4. 'Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels.' Todd. Those Delphic lines with deep impression took, 15 ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER, Who sickened in the time of his vacancy, being forbid to go to London, by reason of the Plague. HERE lies old Hobson; Death hath broke his girt, 15 sepúlcher'd] So accented in Shakesp. Rape of Lucrece. 'May likewise be sepúlcher'd in thy shade.' Malone. 1 Hobson] Seven Champions of Christendom, p. 50. 'Is Hobson there, or Dawson, or Tom Long?' Ellis Lett. on Engl. History, 1st. Ser. iii. 207. Our Hobson and the rest should have been forbidden.' Taylor's (W. Poet.) Works, fol. part ii. p. 188. Oh! quoth hee, I could have gone thither with my neighbour Hobson on foot, like a foole as I was, and I might have rid backe upon my neighbour Jobson's mare, like an asse as I am.' Dodg❜d with him betwixt Cambridge and the Bull. And thinking now his journey's end was come, In the kind office of a chamberlin Show'd him his room where he must lodge that night, ANOTHER ON THE SAME. HERE lieth one, who did most truly prove While he might still jog on and keep his trot, Time numbers motion, yet (without a crime Too long vacation hasten'd on his term. 15 Merely to drive the time away he sicken'd, 30 Yet (strange to think) his wain was his increase: His letters are deliver'd all and gone, Only remains this superscription. THE FIFTH ODE OF HORACE, LIB. I. WHAT slender youth bedew'd with liquid odours Courts thee on roses in some pleasant cave, Pyrrha? For whom bind'st thou In wreaths thy golden hair, Plain in thy neatness? O how oft shall he Who now enjoys thee credulous, all gold, Who always vacant, always amiable Unmindful. Hapless they 5 10 T'whom thou untry'd seem'st fair. Me, in my vow'd To the stern God of sea. 15 GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. BRUTUS thus addresses DIANA in the country of LEOGECIA. GODDESS of shades, and huntress, who at will 2 rowling spheres] Tickell and Fenton read lowring spheres.' 5 |