Cafe, daughter, to complain, and stint the ftrife;
Thy Palamon fhall have his promis'd wife :
And Mars, the lord of conqueft, in the fight
With palm and laurel fhall adorn his knight.
Wide is my course, nor turn I to my place,
Till length of time, and move with tardy pace.
Man feels me, when I prefs th' etherial plains,
My hand is heavy, and the wound remains,
Mine is the fhipwreck, in a watery fign;
And in an earthy, the dark dungeon mine.
Cold fhivering agues, melancholy care,
And bitter blafting winds, and poison'd air,
Are mine, and wilful death, resulting from de-
fpair.

The throtling quinfey 'tis my star appoints,
And rheumatisms afcend to rack the joints:
When churls rebel against their native prince,
I arm their hands, and furnish the pretence;
And, houfing in the lion's hateful fign,
Bright fenates and deferting troops are mine.
Mine is the privy poisoning; I command
Unkindly feafons, and ungrateful land.
By me kings' palaces are push'd to ground,

And miners crush'd beneath their mines are found.

Twas I flew Samfon, when the pillar'd hall
Fell down, and crush'd the many with the fall.
My looking is the fire of peftilence,

That fweeps at once the people and the prince.
Now weep no more, but truft thy grandfire's art,
Mars fhall be pleas'd, and thou perform thy part.
'Tis ill, though different your complexions are,
The family of Heaven for men should war.
Th' expedient pleas'd, where neither loft his
right;

All

Mars had the day, and Venus had the night.
The management they left to Chronos' care;
Now turn we to th' effect, and fing the war.
in Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play,
proper to the fpring, and sprightly May
Which every foul infpir'd with fuch delight,
Twas jefting all the day, and love at night.
Heaven fmil'd, and gladded was the heart of man;
And Venus had the world as when it first began.
At length in fleep their bodies they compose,
And dreamt the future fight, and early rofe.

Now fearce the dawning day began to spring, As at a fignal given, the streets with clamours ring:

t

At once the crowd arofe; confus'd and high
Ev'a from the heaven was heard a fhouting(
cry;

For Mars was early up, and rous'd the sky.
The Gods came downward to behold the wars,
Sharpening their fights, and leaning from their

ftars.

The neighing of the generous horfe was heard,
For battle by the busy groom prepar'd,
Ruling of harness, rattling of the fhield,
Clattering of armour, furbish'd for the field.
Crowds to the caftle mounted up the street,
Battering the pavement with their courfers' feet:
The greedy fight might there devour the gold
O gittering arms, too dazzling to behold;

And polish'd steel that caft the view afide,
And crefted morions, with their plumy pride.
Knights, with a long retinue of their squires,
In gaudy liveries march, and quaint attires.
One lac'd the helm, another held the lance:
A third the fhining buckler did advance.
The courfer paw'd the ground with restless feet,
And fnorting foam'd, and champ'd the golden bit.
The fmiths and armourers on palfreys ride,
Files in their hands, and hammers at their fide,{
And nails for loosen'd spears, and thongs for
fhields provide.

The yeomen guard the streets,.in feemly bands; And clowns come crowding on, with cudgels in their hands.

The trumpets, next the gate, in order plac'd, Attend the fign to found the martial blast ; The palace-yard is fill'd with floating tides,. And the last comers bear the former to the fides. The throng is in the midft: the common crew Shut out, the hall admits the better few; In knots they stand, or in a rank they walk, Serious in afpect, earnest in their talk: Factious, and favouring this or t'other fide, As their strong fancy or weak reason guide : Their wagers back their wishes;: numbers hold With the fair freckled king, and beard of gold : So vigorous are his eyes, such rays they cast, So prominent his eagle's beak is plac'd. But moft their looks on the black monarch bend, His rifing muscles and his brawn commend; His double-biting axe and beamy fpear,. Each afking a gigantic force to rear. All fpoke as partial favour mov'd the mind: And, fafe themselves, at others' coft divin'd.

Wak'd by the cries, th' Athenian chief arose,
The knightly forms of combat to dispose;
And paffing through th' obfequious guards, he fate
Confpicuous on a throne, fublime in state;
There, for the two contending knights he fent;
Arm'd cap-a-pee, with reverence low they bent;
Ha fmil'd on both, and with superior look
Alike their offer'd adoration took.
The people prefs on every fide, to fee
Their awful prince, and hear his high decree.
Then figning to their heralds with his hand,
They gave his orders from their lofty stand.
Silence is thrice enjoin'd; then thus aloud
The king at arms befpeaks the knights and liften-
ing crowd.

Our fovereign lord has ponder'd in his mind
The means to fpare the blood of gentle kind;
And of his grace, and inborn clemency,
He modifies his first severe decree!

The keener edge of battle to rebate,
The troops for honour fighting, not for hate.
He wills, not death fhould terminate their ftrife;
And wounds, if wounds enfue, be fhort of life :
But iffues, e'er the fight, his dread command,
That flings afar, and poniards hand to hand,
Be banifh'd from the field; that none fhall dare
With fhortned fword to ftab in clofer war;
But in fair combat fight with manly strength,
Nor push with biting point, but strike at length.

The tourney is allow'd but one career,
Of the tough afh, with the sharp-grinded fpear,
But knights unhors'd may rife from off the plain,
And fight on foot their honour to regain;
Nor, if at mischief taken, on the ground
Be flain, but prisoners to the pillar bound,
At either barrier plac'd; nor (captives made)
Be freed, or arm'd anew the fight invade.
The chief of either fide, bereft of life,
Or yielded to his foe, concludes the strife.
Thus dooms the lord: now valiant knights and
young

Fight each his fill with fwords and maces long.

The herald ends: the vaulted firmament With loud acclaims and vaft applause is rent: Heaven guard a prince fo gracious and fo good, So juft, and yet so provident of blood!

This was the general cry. The trumpets found, And warlike fymphony is heard around.

Thus rang'd, the herald for the laft proclaims A filence, while they answer'd to their names: For fo the king decreed, to fhun the care, The fraud of mufters falfe, the common bane of

war.

The tale was juft, and then the gates were clos'd;
And chief to chief, and troop to troop oppos'd.
The heralds laft retir'd, and loudly cry'd,
The fortune of the field be fairly try'd.

At this, the challenger with fierce defy
His trumpet founds; the challeng'd makes reply:
With clangor rings the field, refounds the vault-
ed sky.

Their vizors closŝ'd, their lances in the rest,
Or at the helmet pointed, or the creft;
They vanish from the barrier, speed the race,
And fpurring fee decrease the middle space.
A cloud of smoke envelops either hoft,
And all at once the combatants are loft:

way.

The great earl-marshal orders their array.
The fair from high the paffing pomp behold;
A rain of flowers is from the windows roll'd.
The cafements are with golden tissue spread,
And horfes hoofs, for earth, on filken tapestry
tread;

The king goes midmoft, and the rivals ride
In equal rank, and close his either fide.
Next after thefe, there rode the royal wife,
With Emily, the cause and the reward of ftrife.
The following cavalcade, by three and three,
Proceed by titles marthal'd in degree.

Thus through the fouthern gate they take their way,

And at the lift arriv'd e'er prime of day. 'There, parting from the king, the chiefs divide, And, wheeling Eaft and West, before their many ride.

Th' Athenian monarch mounts his throne on high,
And after him the queen and Emily:

Next these the kindred of the crown are grac'd
With nearer feats, and lords by ladies plac'd,
Scarce were they feated, when with clamours loud
In rush'd at once a rude promifcuous crowd:
The guards and then each other overbear,
And in a moment throng the spacious theatre.
Now chang'd the jarring noise to whispers low,
As winds foríaking seas more softly blow;
When at the western gate, on which the car
Is plac'd aloft, that bears the God of war,
Proud Arcite entering arm'd before his train,
Stops at the barrier, and divides the plain.
Red was his banner, and display'd abroad
The bloody colours of his patron God.

At that self-moment enters Palamon
The gate of Venus, and the rifing-fun;
Wav'd by the wanton winds, his banner flies,
All maiden white, and shares the people's eyes.
From East to Weft, look all the world around,
Two troops fo match'd were never to be found:
Such bodies built for ftrength, of equal age,
In ftature fix'd; fo proud an equipage:
The niceft eye could no diftinction make,
Where lay th' advantage, or what fide to take.

Courfers with courfers juftling, men with men:
As labouring in eclipfe, a while they stay,
Till the next blast of wind restores the day.
They look anew: the beauteous form of fight
Is chang'd, and war appears a grizly fight.
Two troops in fair array one moment show'd,
The next, a field with fallen bodies ftrow'd:
Not half the number in their seats are found;
But men and steeds lie groveling on the ground
The points of fpears are ftuck within the field,
The steeds without their riders fcour the field.
The knights unhors'd, on foot renew the fight;
The glittering faulchions cast a gleaming light;
Hauberks and helms are hewd with many

This thrufts amid the throng with furious force
Down goes, at once, the horseman and the hatt
That courfer ftumbles on the fallen steed,
And floundering throws the rider o'er his head
One rolls along, a foot-ball to his foes;
One with a broken truncheon deals his blows,
This halting, this disabled with his wound,
In triumph led, is to the pillar bound,
Where by the king's award he must abide:
There goes a captive led on t' other side.
By fits they ceafe; and, leaning on the lance,
Take breath a while, and to new fight advance.

Full oft the rivals met, and neither spar'd
His utmost force, and each forgot to ward.
The head of this was to the faddle bent,
The other backward to the crupper fent:
Both were by turns unhors'd; the jealous blow
Fall thick and heavy, when on foot they clafe.
So deep their faulchions bite, that every stroke
Pierc'd to the quick; and equal wounds they ga
and took.

Borne far afunder by the tides of men,
Like adamant and feel they meet again.

So when a tyger fucks the bullock's blood,
A famish'd lion iffuing from the wood
Roars lordly fierce, and challenges the food.

Each claims poffeffion, neither will obey,
But both their paws are fasten'd on the prey;
They bite, they tear; and while in vain they strive,
The fwains come arm'd between, and both to
distance drive.

By courfe of time to their appointed end;

So when the fun to Weft was far declin'd,
And beth afresh in mortal battle join'd,
The strong Emetrius came in Arcite's aid,
And Palamon with odds was overlaid :

For, turning fhort, he ftruck with all his might
Full on the helmet of th' unwary knight.

Deep was the wound; he stagger'd with the blow,

And turn'd him to his unexpected foe;

(For women, to the brave an easy prey,
Still follow Fortune where the leads the way):
Juft then, from earth fprung out a flashing fire,
By Pluto fent, at Saturn's bad defire:

The ftartling fteed was feiz'd with sudden fright,
And, bounding, o'er the pommel caft the knight;
Forward he flew, and, pitching on his head,
He quiver'd with his feet, and lay for dead.
Black was his countenance in a little space,
For all the blood was gather'd in his face.

down,

And cleft the circle of his golden crown.
But Arcite's men, who now prevail'd in fight,
Twice ten at once furround the fingle knight:
O'erpower'd, at length, they force him to the
ground,

Unyielded as he was, and to the pillar bound;
And king Lycurgus, while he fought in vain
His friend to free, was tumbled on the plain.
Who now laments but Palamon, compell'd
No more to try the fortune of the field!
And, worse than death, to view with hateful eyes
His rival's conqueft, and renounce the prize!
The royal judge on his tribunal plac'd,
Who had beheld the fight from first to last,
Bad cease the war; pronouncing from on high,
Arcite of Thebes had won the beauteous Emily.
The found of trumpets to the voice reply'd,
And round the royal lifts the heralds cry'd,
Arcite of Thebes has won the beauteous bride.
The people rend the skies with vaft applause;
All own the chief, when fortune owns the cause."
Arcite is own'd ev'n by the Gods above,
And conquering Mars infults the Queen of Love.
So laugh'd he, when the rightful Titan fail'd,
And Jove's ufurping arms in heaven prevail'd.
Laugh'd all the powers who favour tyranny;
And all the ftanding army of the sky.
But Venus with dejected eyes appears,
And weeping on the lifts diftill'd her tears;
Her will refus'd, which grieves a woman most,
And, in her champion foil'd, the cause of Love
is loft.

Till Saturn faid, Fair daughter, now be still,
The bluftering fool has fatisfy'd his will;
His boon is given; his knight has gain'd the day,
Eut loft the prize, th' arrears are yet to pay.
Thy hour is come, and mine the care fhall be
To please thy knight, and fet thy promise free.
Now while the heralds run the lifts around,
And Arcite, Arcite, heaven and earth refound;
A miracle (nor lefs it could be call'd)
Their joy with unexpected forrow pall'd.
The victor knight had laid his helm afide,
Part for his cafe, the greater part for pride:
Bare-headed, popularly low he bow'd,
And paid the falutations of the crowd.

ground,

And from his cumbrous arms his limbs unbound;
Then lanc'd a vein, and watch'd returning breath;
It came, but clogg'd with symptoms of his death.
The faddle-bow the noble parts had preft,
All bruis'd and mortify'd his manly breast.
Him ftill entranc'd, and in a litter laid,
They bore from field, and to his bed convey'd,
At length he wak'd, and, with a feeble cry,
The word he first pronounc'd was Emily.
Mean time the king, though inwardly he
mourn'd,

In pomp triumphant to the town return'd.
Attended by the chiefs who fought the field
(Now friendly mix'd, and in one troop compell'd).
Compos'd his looks to counterfeited cheer,
And bade them not for Arcite's life to fear.
But that which gladded all the warrior-train,
Though most were forely wounded, none were

flain.

The furgeons foon defpoil'd them of their arms, And fome with falves they cure, and fome with charms;

Foment the bruifes, and the pains affuage, And heal their inward hurts with fevereign draughts of fage.

The king in perfon vifits all around,
Comforts the fick, congratulates the found;
Honours the princely chiefs, rewards the reft,
And holds for thrice three days a royal feast.
None was difgrac'd; for falling is no fhame.
And cowardice alone is lofs of fame.
The venturous knight is from the faddle thrown;
But 'tis the fault of fortune, not his own,
If crowds and palms the conquering fide adorn.
The victor under better ftars was born:
The brave man feeks not popular applause,
Nor over-power'd with arms deferts his caufe;
Unfham'd, though foil'd, he does the beft he

can;

Force is of brutes, but honour is of man.

Thus Thefeus fmil'd on all with equal grace; And each was fet according to his place. With ease were reconcil'd the differing parts, For envy never dwells in noble hearts.

At length they took their leave, the time expir'd; Well pleas'd, and to their feveral homes retir'd.

Meanwhile the health of Arcite ftill impairs ; From bad proceeds to worse, and mocks the leeches cares;

Swoln is his breaft; his inward pains increase,
All means are us'd, and all without fuccefs.
The clotted blood lies heavy on his heart,
Corrupts, and there remains in spite of art:
Nor breathing veins, nor cupping, will prevail;
All outward remedies and inward fail:
The mold of nature's fabric is destroy'd,
Her veffels difcompos'd, her virtue void:
The bellows of his lungs begin to fwell:
All out of frame is every fecret cell,
Nor can the good receive, nor bad expel.
Those breathing organs thus within oppreft,
With venom foon diften'd the finews of his breast.
Nought profits him to fave abandon'd life,
Nor vomit's upward aid, nor downward laxative.
The midmoft region batter'd and destroy'd,
When nature cannot work, th' effect of art is void.
For phyfic can but mend our crazy state,
Patch an old building, not a new create.
Arcite is doom'd to die in all his pride,
Muft leave his youth, and yield his beauteous (
bride,

Gain'd hardly, against right, and unenjoy'd.
When 'twas declar'd all hope of life was past,
Confcience (that of all phyfic works the last)
Caus'd him to fend for Emily in haste.
With her, at his defire, came Palamon;
'Then on his pillow rais'd, he thus begun.
No language can express the smallest part
Of what I feel, and suffer in my heart,
For you, whom beft I love and value moft;
But to your fervice I bequeath my ghost;
Which from this mortal body when unty'd,
Unfeen, unheard, shall hover at your fide;
Nor fright you waking, nor your sleep offend,
But wait officious, and your steps attend :
How I have lov'd, excufe my faltering tongue,
My fpirits feeble, and my pains are strong:
This I may fay, I only grieve to die
Because I lofe my charming Emily:

To die, when Heaven had put you in my power,
Fate could not choose a more malicious hour!
What greater curfe could envious fortune give,
Than just to die, when I began to love!
Vain men, how vanishing a blifs we crave,
Now warm in love, now withering in the grave!
Never, O never more to see the fun!
Still dark, in a damp vault, and still alone!
This fate is common; but I lose my breath
Near biifs, and yet not bless'd before my death.
Farewel; but take me dying in your arms,
'Tis all I can enjoy of all your charms :
This hand I cannot but in death refign;
Ah! could I live! but while I live 'tis mine.
I feel my end approach, and thus embrac'd
Am pleas'd to die; but hear me speak my last,
Ah! my fweet foe, for you, and you alone,
I broke my faith with injur'd Palamon.
But love the fenfe of right and wrong confounds,
Strong love and proud ambition have no bounds.
And much I doubt, fhould heaven my life prolong,
I should return to justify my wrong;

For, while my former flames remain within,
Repentance is but want of power to fin.
With mortal hatred I pursued his life,
Nor he, nor you, were guilty of the strife:
Nor I, but as I lov'd; yet all combin'd,
Your beauty, and my impotence of mind;
And his concurrent flame, that blew my fire;
For fill our kindered fouls had one defire.
He had a moment's right in point of time;
Had I feen first, then his had been the crime.
Fate made it mine, and justify'd his right;
Nor holds this earth a more deserving knight,
For virtue, valour, and for nobler blood,
Truth, honour, all that is compriz'd in good;
So help me Heaven, in all the world is none
So worthy to be lov'd as Palamon.
He loves you too, with such an holy fire,
As will not, cannot, but with life expire;
Our vow'd affections both have often try'd,
Nor any love but your's could our's divide.
Then, by my love's inviolable band,

By my long suffering, and my short command,
If e'er you plight your vows when I am gone,
Have pity on the faithful Palamon.

This was his laft; for death came on amain, And exercis'd below his iron reign; Then upward to the feat of life he goes: Senfe fled before him, what he touch'd he froze; Yet could he not his closing eyes withdraw, Though lefs and lefs of Emily he faw; So, fpeechlefs, for a little fpace he lay; Then grafp'd the hand he held, and figh'd his foul away.

But whither went his foul, let fuch relate Who search the fecrets of the future ftate: Divines can say but what themselves believe; Strong proofs they have, but not demonstrative: For, were all plain, then all fides must agree, And faith itself be loft in certainty. To live uprightly then is fure the best, To fave ourselves, and not to damn the rest. The foul of Arcite went where heathens go, Who better live than we, though less they know. In Palamon a manly grief appears; Silent he wept, afham'd to fhew his tears: Emilia fhriek'd but once, and then, opprefs'd With forrow, funk upon her lover's breast: Till Thefeus in his arms convey'd with care, Far from so fad a fight, the swooning fair. 'Twere lofs of time her forrow to relate; Ill bears the fex a youthful lover's fate, When just approaching to the nuptial state. But, like a low-hung cloud, it rains fo faft, That all at once it falls, and cannot last. The face of things is chang'd, and Athens now, That laugh'd fo late, becomes the scene of woe: Matrons and maids, both fexes, every state, With tears lament the knight's untimely fate. Nor greater grief in falling Troy was feen For Hector's death; but Hector was not then. Old men with duft deform'd their hoary hair, The women beat their breafts, their cheeks they

tare.

Why would't thou go, with one confent thy cry, When thou hadst gold enough, and Emily.

Thefeus himself, who should have cheer'd the grief

Of others, wanted now the fame relief.
Old Egeus only could revive his fon,

Who various changes of the world had known,
And ftrange viciffitudes of human fate,
Still altering, never in a steady state;
Good after ill, and after pain delight;
Alternate, like the scenes of day and night;
Since every man who lives is born to die,
And none can boaft fincere felicity,
With equal mind what happens let us bear,

Nor joy nor grieve too much for things beyond

our care.

Like pilgrims to th' appointed place we tend ;
The world's an inn, and death the journey's end.
Ev'n kings but play; and when their part is done,
some other, worfe or better, mount the throne.
With worlds like thefe the crowd was fatisfy'd,
And fo they would have been, had Thefeus dy'd.
But he, their king, was labouring in his mind,
A fitting place for funeral pomps to find,
Which were in honour of the dead defign'd.
And, after long debate, at last he found
(As love itself had mark'd the spot of ground)
That grove for ever green, that confcious land,
Where he with Palamon fought hand to hand:
That where he fed his amorous defires

With foft complaints, and felt his hottest fires,
There other flames might wafte his earthly part,
And burn his limbs, where love had burn'd his
heart.

This once refolv'd, the peasants were enjoin'd Sre-wood, and firs, and dødder'd oaks to find. With founding axes to the grove they go, Fell, fplit, and lay the fuel on a row, Vulcanian food: a bier is next prepar'd, On which the lifeless body should be rear'd, Cover'd with cloth of gold, on which was laid The corpfe of Arcite, in like robes array'd. White gloves were on his hands, and on his head A wreath of laurel, mix'd with myrtle spread. A fword keen-edg'd within his right he held, The warlike emblem of the conquer'd field : Bare was his manly visage on the bier : Menat'd his countenance; even in death severe. Then to the palace-hall they bore the knight, To he in folemn ftate, a public fight. Groans, cries, and howlings fill the crowded place, And unaffected forrow fat on every face. Sad Palamon above the rest appears,

fable garments, dew'd with gufhing tears:
His auburn locks on either fhoulder flow'd,
Which to the funeral of his friend he vow'd:
But Emily, as chief, was next his fide,
A virgin-widow, and a mourning bride.
And, that the princely obfequies might be
Perform'd according to his high degree,
The fteed, that bore him living to the fight,
Was trapp'd with polish'd ftcel, all fhining
bright,

And cover'd with th'atchievements of the knight..
The riders rode abreaft, and one his shield,
His lance of cornel-wood another held;

Vol. VI.

| The third his bow, and, glorions to behold,
The coftly quiver, all of burnish'd gold.
The nobleft of the Grecians next appear,
And, weeping, on their fhoulders bore the bier;
With fober pace they march'd, and often staid,
And through the mafter-street the corps convey'd.
The houses to their tops with black were spread,
And ev'n the pavements were with mourning hid.
The right fide of the pall old Egeus kept,
And on the left the royal Thefeus wept;
Each bore a golden bowl of work divine,
With honey fill'd, and milk, and mix'd with ruddy
wine.

Then Palamon, the kinfman of the flain,
And after him appear'd th' illuftrious train.
To grace the pomp, came Emily the bright,
With cover'd fire the funeral pile to light.
With high devotion was the service made,
And all the rites of pagan honour paid:
So lofty was the pile, a Parthian bow,
With vigour drawn, muft fend the shaft below. |
The bottom was full twenty fathom broad,
With crackling straw beneath in due proportion
ftrow'd.

The fabric feem'd a wood of rifing green,
With fulphur and bitumen caft between,
To feed the flames: the trees were unctious fir,
And mountain ash, the mother of the spear;

The beech, the fwimming alder, and the plane,
Hard box, and linden of a fofter grain,
And laurels, which the gods for conquering (

chiefs ordain.

How they were rank'd, shall reft untold by me,
With nameless nymphs that liv'd in every tree;
Nor how the dryads, or the woodland train,
Difherited, ran howling on the plain :
Nor how the birds to foreign feats repair'd,
Or beafts, that bolted out, and faw the foreft bar'd:
Nor how the ground, now clear'd, with ghaftly
fright

Beheld the fudden fun, a ftranger to the light.

The straw, as first I faid, was laid below; Of chips and fere-wood was the second row; The third of greens, and timber newly fell'd; The fourth high ftage the fragrant odours held, And pearls, and precious ftones, and rich array; In midft of which, embalm'd, the body lay. The fervice fung, the maid with mourning eyes The tubble fir'd; the fmouldering flames arife: This office done, the funk upon the ground; But what the fpoke, recover'd from her fwoon, I want the wit in moving words to dress; But by themfelves the tender fex may guels, While the devouring fire was burning faft, Rich jewels in the flame the wealthy caft; [threw, And fome their fhields, and fome their lances And gave their warrior's ghoft a warrior's due. Full bowls of wine, of honey, milk, and blood, Were pour'd upon the pile of burning wood, And hiffing flames receive, and hungry lick the food.

Then thrice the mounted squadrons ride around The fire; and Arcite's name they thrice refound;