But all unwares with his cold kind embrace Unhous'd thy virgin-soul from her fair biding-place.

iv.
Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate;
For so Apollo, with unweeting hand,
Whilome did slay his dearly loved mate,
Young Hyacinth born on Eurotas' strand,
Young Hyacinth the pride of Spartan land;

But then transform'd him to a purple flower: Alack that so to change thee Winter had no power.

V. Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead, Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb, Or that thy beauties lie in wormy bed, Hid from the world in a low delved tomb; Could Heav'n for pity thee so strictly doom?

Oh no! for something in thy face did shine Above mortality, that show'd thou wast divine.

VI. Resolve me then, oh Soul most surely blest, (If so it be that thou these plaints dost hear) Tell me, bright Spirit where'er thou hoverest, Whether above that high first-moving sphere, Or in th' Elysian Fields, (if such there were),

Oh say me true, if thou wert mortal wight, And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy

(flight. Wert' thou some star which from the ruin'd roof Of shak'd Olympus by mischance didst fall; Which careful Jove in Nature's true behoof

Took up, and in fit place did reinstall ?
Or did of late Earth's sons besiege the wall

Of sheeny Heav'n, and thou some goddess fled Amongst us, here below, to hide thy nectar'd head?

VIII. Or wert thou that just maid who once before Forsook the hated earth, O tell me sooth, And cam'st again to visit us once more? Or wert thou that sweet smiling youth, Or that crown'd matron sage white-robed Truth?

Or any other of that heav'nly brood Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some

1X.

(good ? Or wert thou of the golden-winged host, Who having clad thyself in human weed, To Earth from thy prefixed seat didst post, And after short abode fly back with speed, As if to show what creatures Heav'n doth breed,

Thereby to set the hearts of men on fire To scorn the sordid world, and unto Heav'n aspire ?

x. But oh why didst thou not stay here below To bless us with thy Heav'n-loved innocence, To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our foe, To turn swift-rushing black Perdition hence, Or drive away the slaughtering Pestilence,

To stand 'owixt us and our deserved smart ? But thou canst best perform that office where thou art.

XI.
Then thou the mother of so sweet a child
Her false imagin'd loss cease to lament,
And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild :
Think what a present thou to God hath sent,
And render him with patience what he lent!

This if thou do, he will an offspring give, (live. That till the world's last end shall make thy name to

II. Anno Ælatis 19. At a Vacation Exercise in the

College, part Latin, part English. The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began.

Hall, native Language, that by sinews weak
Didst move my first endeavoring tongue to speaky
And mad'st imperfect words with childish trips,
Half-unpronounc'd, slide through my infant lips,
Driving dumb Silence from the portal door,
Where he had mutely sat two years before:
Here I salute thee, and thy pardon ask,
That now I use thee in my latter task:
Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee,
I know my tongue but little grace can do thee:
Thou need'st not be ambitious to be first,
Believe me I have thither packt the worst:
And, if it happen as I did forecast,
The daintiest dishes shall be serv'd up last.
I pray thee 'then deny me not thy aid
For this same small neglect that I have made :

But haste thee strait to do me once a pleasure,
And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure,
Not those new-fangled toys, and trimmings light
Which takes our late fantastics with delight,
But cull those richest robes, and gay'st attire
Which deepest spirits, and choicest wits desire :
I have some naked thoughts that rove about,
And loudly knock to have their passage out;
And weary of their place do only stay
Till thou hast deck'd them in thy best array ;
That so they may without suspect or fears
Fly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears;
Yet I had rather, if I were to choose,
Thy service in some graver subject use,
Such as may make thee search thy coffers round,
Before, thou clothe my fancy in fit sound:
Such where the deep transported mind may soar
Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav'n's door
Look in, and see each blissful deity
How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,
List'ning to what unshorn Apollo sings
To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings
Immortal nectar to her kingly sire :
Then passing through the spheres of watchful fire,
And misty regions of wide air next under,
And hills of snow and lofts of piled thunder,
May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves,
In Heav'n's defiance must'ring all his waves;
Then sing. of secret things that came to pas
When beldam Nature in her cradle was;

And last of kings and queens and heroes old,
Such as the wise Demodocus once told
In solemn songs at King Alcinous' feast,
While sad Ulysses' soul and all the rest
Are held, with his melodious harmony,
In willing chains and sweet captivity.
But fie, my wand'ring Muse, how thou dost stray!
Expectance calls thee now another way,
Thou know'st it must be now thy only bent
To keep in compass of thy predicament :
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may resign my room.

Then Ens is represented as father of the Predica

ments his ten sons, whereof the eldest stood for Substance with his canons, which Ens, thus speaking, explains.

Good luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth The faery ladies danc'd upon the hearth ; ; Thy drousy nurse hath sworn she did them spie Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie, And, sweetly singing round about thy bed Strow all their blessings on thy sleeping head. She heard them give thee abis, that thou shouldst still From eyes of mortals walk invisible : Yet there is something that doth force my fear, For once it was my dismal hap to hear A Sibyl old, bow-bent with crooked age, That far events full wisely could presage,