White velvet, but unfhorn, for cloaks they wore,
And each within his hand a truncheon bore:
The foremost held a helm of rare device;
A prince's ranfom would not pay the price.
The second bore the buckler of his knight,
The third of cornel-wood a spear upright,
Headed with piercing steel, and polish'd bright,
Like to their lords their equipage was seen,
And all their foreheads crown'd with garlands green.
And after these came arm'd with fpear and shield
An host so great, as cover'd all the field:
And all their foreheads, like the knights before,
With laurels ever-green were fhaded o'er,
Or oak, or other leaves of lafting kind,
Tenacious of the ftem, and firm against the wind.
Some in their hands, befide the lance and fhield,
The boughs of woodbine or of hawthorn held,
Or branches for their myftic emblems took,
Of palm, of laurel, or of Cerrial oak.
Thus marching to the trumpet's lofty found,
Drawn in two lines adverse they wheel'd around,
And in the middle meadow took their ground.)
Among themselves the turney they divide,
In equal fquadrons rang'd on either side.
Then turn'd their horfes heads, and man to man, And fteed to feed oppos'd, the jufts began.
They lightly set their lances in the rest,
And, at the fign, against each other prefs'd:
They met. I fitting at my ease beheld
The mix'd events, and fortunes of the field.
Some broke their fpears, fome tumbled horse and
And round the field the lighten'd courfers ran.
An hour and more, like tides, in equal fway
They rush'd, and won by turns, and loft the day:
At length the nine (who fill together held)
Their fainting foes to shameful fight compell'd,
And with refiftless force o'cr-ran the field.
Thus, to their fame, when finish'd was the fight,
The victors from their lofty fteeds alight:
Like them difmounted all the warlike train,
And two by two proceeded o'er the plain :
Till to the fair affembly they advanc'd,
Who near the secret arbor fung and danc'd.
The ladies left their measures at the fight,
To meet the chiefs returning from the fight,
And each with open arms embrac'd her chosen
knight.
Amid the plain a spreading laurel ftood,
The grace and ornament of all the wood:
That pleasing fhade they fought, a foft retreat
From fudden April showers, a shelter from the heat:
Her leafy arms with fuch extent were spread,
So near the clouds was her afpiring head,
That hofts of birds, that wing the liquid air,
Perch'd in the boughs, had nightly lodging there:
And flocks of fheep beneath the shade from far
Might hear the rattling hail, and wintry war;
From Heav'n's inclemency here found retreat,
Enjoy'd the cool, and fhunn'd the fcorching heat;
A hundred knights might there at ease abide;
And ev'ry knight a lady by his fide:
The trunk itself fuch odors did bequeath,
That a Moluccan breeze to thefe was common
The lords and ladies here, approaching, paid
Their homage, with a low obeifance made;
And feem'd to venerate the facred fhade.
Thefe rites perform'd, their pleafures they pursue,
With fong of love, and mix with pleasures new;
Around the holy tree their dance they frame,
And ev'ry champion leads his chosen dame.
I caft my fight upon the farther field,
And a fresh object of delight beheld :.
For from the region of the Weft I heard
New mufic found, and a new troop appear'd;
Of knights, and ladies mix'd a jolly band,
But all on foot they march'd, and hand in hand
The ladies drefs'd in rich fymars were seen
Of Florence fattin, flower'd with white and green,
And for a fhade betwixt the bloomy gridelin.
The borders of their petticoats below
Were guarded thick with rubies on a row;
And ev'ry damfel wore upon her head
Of flow'rs a garland blended white and red.
Attir'd in mantles all the knights were seen,
That gratify'd the view with chearful green:
Their chaplets of their ladies colors were,
Compos'd of white and red, to fhade their fhining
hair.
Before the merry troop the minstrels play'd;
All in their master's liv'ries were array'd,
And clad in green, and on their temples wore
The chaplets white and red their ladies bore.
Their inftruments were various in their kind,
Some for the bow, and fome for breathing wind:
The fawtry, pipe, and hautboy's noisy band,
And the foft lute trembling beneath the touching
hand.
A tuft of daifies on a flow'ry lay
They faw, and thitherward they bent their way; To this both knights and dames their homage made, And due obeisance to the daify paid.
And then the band of flutes began to play,
To which a lady fung a virelay :
And still at ev'ry close fhe would repeat
The burden of the song, The daisy is so sweet.
The daify is fo fweet, when the begun,
The troop of knights and dames continu'd on.
The confort and the voice so charm'd my ear,
And footh'd my foul, that it was heav'n to hear.
But foon their pleasure pafs'd: at noon of day,
The fun with fultry beams began to play:
Not Sirius fhoots a fiercer flame from high,
When with his pois'nous breath he blasts the sky:
Then droop'd the fading flow'rs (their beauty fled)
And clos'd their fickly eyes, and hung the head;
And rivell'd up with heat, lay dying in their bed.
The ladies gafp'd, and fcarcely could refpire;
The breath they drew, no longer air, but fire;
The fainty knights were fcorch'd; and knew not
where
To run for fhelter, for no fhade was near;
And after this the gathering clouds amain
Pour'd down a ftorm of rattling hail and rain:
And lightning flash'd betwixt: the field, and flow’rs,
Burnt up before, were buried in the fhow'rs.
The ladies and the knights, no fhelter nigh,
Bare to the weather and the wintry sky,
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