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Both roof and fides were like a parlour made,
A foft recefs, and a cool summer shade;
The hedge was fet fo thick, no foreign eye
The perfons plac'd within it could espy :
But all that pafs'd without with ease was seen,
As if nor fence nor tree was plac'd between.
'Twas border'd with a field; and some was plain
With grafs, and fome was fow'd with rifing grain.
That (now the dew with fpangles deck'd the ground)
A fweeter spot of earth was never found.

I look'd and look'd, and ftill with new delight;
Such joy my foul, fuch pleasures fill'd my sight:
And the fresh eglantine exhal'd a breath,

Whofe odours were of power to raise from death.
Nor fullen difcontent, nor anxious care,

Ev'n though brought thither, could inhabit there:
But thence they fled as from their mortal foe;
For this fweet place could only pleasure know.
Thus as I mus'd, I caft afide my eye,
And faw a medlar-tree was planted nigh.
The spreading branches made a goodly show,
And full of opening blooms was every bough:
A goldfinch there I faw with gawdy pride
Of painted plumes, that hopp'd from fide to fide,
Still pecking as fhe pafs'd; and still he drew
The fweets from every flower, and fuck'd the dew:
Suffic'd at length, the warbled in her throat,
And tun'd her voice to many a merry note,
But indiftinct, and neither fweet nor clear,
Yet fuch as footh'd my foul, and pleas'd my ear.

I

H

Her fhort performance was no fooner try'd,
When the I fought, the nightingale, reply'd:
So fweet, fo fhrill, fo varioufly the fung,
That the grove echoed, and the valleys rung :
And I fo ravifh'd with her heavenly note,
I ftood intranc'd, and had no room for thought,
But, all o'er-power'd with ecstasy of bliss,
Was in a pleafing dream of paradife ;

At length I wak'd, and, looking round the bower,
Search'd every tree, and pry'd on every flower,
If any-where by chance I might efpy,
The rural poet of the melody:

For ftill methought the fung not far away :
At laft I found her on a laurel spray.
Close by my fide fhe fat, and fair in fight,
Full in a line against her oppofite;

Where ftood with eglantine the laurel twin'd;
And both their native sweets were well conjoin'd.
On the green bank I fat, and liften'd long
(Sitting was more convenient for the fong):
Nor till her lay was ended could I move,
But wifh'd to dwell for ever in the grove.
Only methought the time too fwiftly pafs'd,
And every note I fear'd would be the last.
My fight, and fiell, and hearing, were employ'd,
And all three fenfes in full guft enjoy'd.

And what alone did all the reft furpafs,
The sweet poffeffion of the fairy place;
Single, and conscious to myself alone
Of pleasures to th' excluded world unknown:

Pleasures

Pleafures which no where else were to be found,
And all Elyfium in a spot of ground.

Thus while I fat intent to fee and hear,
And drew perfumes of more than vital air,
All fuddenly I heard th' approaching found
Of vocal mufic, on th' inchanted ground:
An host of faints it seem'd, fo full the quire;
As if the blefs'd above did all confpire
To join their voices, and neglect the lyre.
At length there iffued from the grove behind
A fair affembly of the female kind :
A train lefs fair, as ancient fathers tell,
Seduc'd the fons of heaven to rebel.

I pass their form, and every charming grace,
Less than an angel would their worth debase:
But their attire, like liveries of a kind
All rich and rare, is fresh within my mind.
In velvet white as fnow the troop was gown'd,
The feams with sparkling emeralds fet around:
Their hoods and fleeves the fame; and purfled o'er
With diamonds, pearls, and all the shining store
Of eastern pomp: their long descending train,
With rubies edg'd, and fapphires, fwept the plain :
High on their heads, with jewels richly set,

Each lady wore a radiant coronet.

Beneath the circles, all the quire was grac'd
With chaplets green on their fair foreheads plac'd.
Of laurel fome, of woodbine many more;
And wreaths of Agnus caftus others bore:

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There

These laft, who with thofe virgin crowns were drefs'd, Appear'd in higher honour than the rest.

They danc'd around: but in the midft was feen

A lady of a more majestic mien ;

By ftature and by beauty mark'd their fovereign queen.
She in the midft began with fober grace;

Her fervant's eyes were fix'd upon her face,
And, as the mov'd or turn'd, her motions view'd,
Her measures kept, and step by step purfued.
Methought the trod the ground with greater grace,
With more of godhead fhining in her face;
And as in beauty the furpass'd the quire,
So, nobler than the reft, was her attire.
A crown of ruddy gold inclos'd her brow,
Plain without pomp, and rich without a show :
A branch of Agnus castus in her hand
She bore aloft (her fceptre of command);
Admir'd, ador'd by all the circling crowd,
For wherefoe'er fhe turn'd her face, they bow'd:
And as she danc'd, a roundelay she fung,
In honour of the laurel, ever young:

She rais'd her voice on high, and fung fo clear,
The fawns came fcudding from the groves to hear:
And all the bending foreft lent an ear.

At every close fhe made, th' attending throng
Reply'd, and bore the burden of the song :
So juft, fo fmall, yet in fo fweet a note,

It feem'd the mufic melted in the throat.

Thus dancing on, and finging as they danc'd, They to the middle of the mead advanc'd,

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Till

I

Till round my arbour a new ring they made,
And footed it about the fecret fhade.

O'erjoy'd to fee the jolly troop so near,
But fomewhat aw'd, I shook with holy fear
Yet not fo much, but that I noted well
Who did the most in fong or dance excel.

Not long I had obferv'd, when from afar
I heard a fudden fymphony of war;

The neighing courfers, and the foldiers cry,
And founding trumps that seem'd to tear the sky:
I faw foon after this, behind the grove

From whence the ladies did in order move,
Come iffuing out in arms a warrior train,
That like a deluge pour'd upon the plain :
On barbed fteeds they rode in proud array,
Thick as the college of the bees in May,
When fwarming o'er the dufky fields they fly,
New to the flowers, and intercept the sky.
So fierce they drove, their courfers were fo fleet,.
That the turf trembled underneath their feet.

To tell their coftly furniture were long,
The fummer's day would end before the fong:
To purchase but the tenth of all their store,
Would make the mighty Perfian monarch poor.
Yet what I can, I will; before the rest
The trumpets iffued in white mantles drefs'd:
A numerous troop, and all their heads around
With chaplets green of cerrial-oak were crown'd.
And at each trumpet was a banner bound;

Wh

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