66

my deares

Meanwhile the rural dirties were not mute, It was that fatal and perfidious bark,

100 Temper'd to the oaten fute ;

Built in the eclipse, and rigg d with curses dark, Rough Satyrs danc'd, and Fawns with cloven heel That sunk so low that sacred head of thine. From the glad sound would not be absent long; Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow, And old Dametas lov'd to hear our song.

His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge, But, О the heavy change, now thou art gone, Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge Now thou art gone, and never must return! Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. Thee, shepherd, thee the woods, and desert caves “ Ah! who hath reft" (quoth he) With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown,

pledge ?" And all their echoes, mourn:

40 Last came, and last did go, The willows, and the hazel copses green,

The pilot of the Galilean lake; Shall now no more be seen

Two massy keys he bore of metals twain, 110 Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain,) As killing as the canker to the rose,

He shook his miter'd locks, and stern bespake : Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze,

“ How well could I have spared for thee, young Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear,

swain, When first the white-thorn blows;

Enow of such, as for their bellies' sake
Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherds' ear. Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold ?
Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless of other care they little reckoning make,
deep

Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast,
Clos'd o'er the head of your lov’d Lycidas? 51 And shove away the worthy bidden guest ;
For neither were ye playing on the steep, Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how is
Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie,

hold Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high,

A sheep-hook, or have learn'd aught else the least Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream: That to the faithful herdman's art belongs ! 121 Ay me! I fondly dream!

What recks it them? What need they? They are Had ye been there—for what could that have

sped; done ?

And, when they list, their lean and flashy songs What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore, Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; The Muse herself, for her enchanting son, The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, Whom universal Nature did lament,

60 But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they When, by the rout that made the hideous roar,

draw, His gory visage down the stream was sent, Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread : Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore ? Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw

Alas! what boots it with incessant care Daily devours apace, and nothing sed : To tend the homely, slighted, shepherd's trade, But that two-handed engine at the door 130 And strictly meditate the thankless Muse? Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more." Were it not better done, as others use,

Return, Alpheus, the dread voice is past, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,

That shrunk thy streams; return, Sicilian Muse, Or with the tangles of Neæra's hair?

And call the vales, and bid them hither cast Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise Their bells, and flowerets of a thousand hues. (That last infirmity of noble mind)

71 Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use To scorn delights and live laborious days; Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, On whose fresh lap the swart-star sparely looks; And think to burst out into sudden blaze,

Throw hither all your quaint enamell’d eyes, Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears, That on the green turf suck the honied showers, And slits the thin-spun life. • But not the praise," And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. Phæbus replied, and touch'd my trembling ears; Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, 142 “ Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, Nor in the glietering foil

The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet, Set off to the world, nor in broad rumor lies : The glowing violet, But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes, The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine, And perfect witness of all-judging Jove; 81 With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, As he pronounces lastly on each deed,

And every flower that sad embroidery wears : Of so much fame in Heaven expect thy meed.” Bid Amaranthus all his beauty shed, O fountain Arethuse, and thou honor'd flood, And daffadillies fill their cups with tears, 150 Smooth-sliding Mincius, crown’d with vocal reeds! To strew the laureate herse where Lycid lies. That strain I heard was of a higher mood : For, so to interpose a little ease, But now my oat proceeds,

Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise ; And listens to the herald of the sea

Ay me! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas That came in Neptune's plea ;

90 Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurlid. He ask'd the waves, and ask'd the felon winds, Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, What hard mishap hath doom'd this gentle swain ? Where thou, perhaps, under the whelming tide. And question'd every gust of rugged wings Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world; That blows from off each beaked promontory : Or whether thou, to our moist vows denied, They knew not of his story;

Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old,

160 And sage Hippotades their answer brings, Where the great vision of the guarded mount That not a blast was from his dungeon stray'd; Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold; The air was calm, and on the level brine Look homeward, angel now, and melt with ruths Sleek Panope with all her sisters play'd. And, 0 ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth

Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more, To lay their just hands on that golden key, For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead,

That

opes the palace of Eternity: Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor; To such my errand is; and, but for such, So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,

I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds And yet anon repairs his drooping head, 169 With the rank vapors of this sin-worn mould. And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway Flames in the forehead of the morning sky: Of every salt flood, and each ebbing stream, So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove 20 Through the dear might of him that walk'd the Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles, waves ;

That, like to rich and various gems, inlay Where, other groves and other streams along, The unadorned bosom of the deep: With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, Which he, to grace his tributary gods, And hears the unexpressive nuptial song, By course commits to several government, In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love. And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns, There entertain him all the saints above,

And wield their little tridents: but this isle, In solemn troops, and sweet societies,

The greatest and the best of all the main, That sing, and, singing in their glory, move, He quarters to his blue-hair'd deities ; And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes. And all this tract that fronts the falling Sun 30 Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more; 180 A nobler peer of mickle trust and power Henceforth thou art the genius of the shore, Has in his charge, with temper'd awe to guide In thy large recompense, and shalt be good An old and haughty nation, proud in arms : To all that wander in that perilous flood. Where his fair offspring, nurs'd in princely lore, Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and Are coming to attend their father's state, rills,

And new-intrusted sceptre: but their way
While the still Morn went out with sandals grey; Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear wood.
He touch'd the tender stops of various quills, The nodding horror of whose shady brows
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay; Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;
And now the Sun had stretch'd out all the hills, And here their tender age might suffer peril, 40
And now was dropt into the western bay: 191 But that by quick command from sovran Jove
At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blue : I was dispatch'd for their defence and guard :
To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. And listen why; for I will tell you now

What never yet was heard in tale or song,
From old or modern bard, in hall or bower.

Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape
Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine,

After the Tuscan mariners transformid,
COMUS.

Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed,

On Circe's island fell : (Who knows not Circe, 50 THE PERSONS.

The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup THE ATTENDANT Spirit, afterwards in the habit of Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, THYRSIS.

And downward fell into a grovelling swine ?) COMus, with his crew.

This nymph, that gaz'd upon his clustering locks THE LADY.

With ivy berries wreath'd, and his blithe youth, First BROTHER.

Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son Second BROTHER.

Much like his father, but his mother more, SABRINA, the Nymph.

Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus nam’d:

Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age, The chief persons, who presented, were Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,

60
At last betakes him to this ominous wood;
The lord Brackley ;

And, in thick shelter of black shades embower'd,
Mr. Thomas Egerton, his brother; Excels his mother at her mighty art,
The lady Alice Egerton.

Offering to every weary traveller
His orient liquor in a crystal glass,

To quench the drought of Phæbus; which as they The first Scene discovers a wild wood.

(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst :) The ATTENDANT Spirit descends or enters.

Soon as the potion works, their human countenance,

The express resemblance of the gods, is chang'd BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court Into some brutish form of wolf, or bear, 70 My mansion is, where those immortal shapes Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, Of bright aerial spirits live inspher'd

All other parts remaining as they were ; In regions mild of calm and serene air, And they, so perfect is their misery Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot, Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, Which men call earth; and, with low-thoughted care But boast themselves more comely than before ; Confin'd and pester'd in this pinfold here,

And all their friends and native home forget, Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being, To roll with pleasure in a sensual stye. Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives, Therefore when any, favor'd of high Jove, After this mortal change, to her true servants, 10 Chances to pass through this adventurous glade, Amongst the enthron'd gods on sainted seats. Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star

80 Yet some there be, that by due steps aspire I shoot from Heaven, to give him safe convoy,

taste

THE MEASURE.

:

As now I do: but first I must put off

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground
These my sky-robes spun out of Iris' woof, In a light fantastic round.
And take the weeds and likeness of a swain
That to the service of this house belongs,
Who with his soft pipe, and smooth-dittied song,

Break off, break off, I feel the different pace Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, of some chaste fooling near about this ground. And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith,

Run to your shrouds, within these brakes and trees; And in this office of his mountain watch

Our number may affright: some virgin sure Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid 90

(For so I can distinguish by mine art)

149 Of this occasion. But I hear the tread

Benighted in these woods. Now to my charms, Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now.

And to my wily trains : I shall ere long

Be well-stocked with as fair a herd as graz'd Comus enters with a charming-rod in one hand, his About my mother Circe. Thus 1 hurl

glass in the other ; wilh him a rout of monsters, My dazzling spells into the spungy air,
headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts, but otherwise of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion,
like men and wonen, their apparel glistering ; they And give it false preseniments, lest the place
come in making a riolous and unruly noise, with And my quaint habits breed astonishment,
torches in their hands.

And put the damsel to suspicious flight;
Comus

Which must not be, for that's against my course :

I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, 160 The Star, that bids the shepherd fold,

And well-plac'd words of glozing courtesy Now the top of Heaven doth hold;

Baited with reasons not unplausible, And the gilded car of day

Wind me into the easy-hearted man, His glowing axle doth allay

And hug him into snares. When once her eye In the steep Atlantic stream;

Hath met the virtue of this magic dust, And the slope Sun his upward beam

I shall appear some harmless villager, Shoots against the dusky pole,

Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear Pacing towards the other goal

100

But here she comes; I fairly step aside,
Of his chamber in the east.

And hearken, if I may, her business here.
Meanwhile welcome Joy, and Feast,
Midnight Shout, and Revelry,

THE LADY enters.
Tipsy Dance, and Jollity.
Braid your locks with rosy twine,

This way the noise was, if mine ear be true, 170 Dropping odors, dropping wine.

My best guide now; methought it was the sound Rigor now is gone to bed,

of riot and ill-manag'd merriment, And Advice with scrupulous head.

Such as the jocund flute, or gamesome pipe, Strict Age and sour Severity,

Stirs up among the loose unletter'd hinds; With their grave saws, in slumber lie. 110 When for their teeming flocks, and granges full, We, that are of purer fire,

In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan, Imitate the starry quire,

And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth Who, in their nightly watchful spheres,

To meet the rudeness, and swill'd insolence, Lead in swift round the months and years. Of such late wassailers; yet, O! where else The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, Shall I inform my unacquainted feet

180 Now to the Moon in wavering morrice move; In the blind mazes of this tangled wood ? And, on the tawny sands and shelves,

My brothers, when they saw me wearied out Trip the pert faeries and the dapper elves, With this long way, resolving here to lodge By dimpled brook and fountain brim,

Under the spreading favor of these pines, The wood-nymphs, deck'd with daisies trim, 120 Stept, as they said, to the next thicket side, Their merry wakes and pastimes keep;

To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit What hath night to do with sleep?

As the kind hospitable woods provide. Night hath better sweets to prove,

They left me then, when the gray-hooded Even, Venus now wakes, and wakens Love.

Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,

189 Come, let us our rites begin;

Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phæbus' wain. "Tis only daylight that makes sin,

But where they are, and why they came not back, Which these dun shades will ne'er report: Is now the labor of my thoughts ; 'tis likeliest Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,

They had engag'd their wandering steps too far; Dark-veil'd Cotytto! to whom the secret flame And envious darkness, ere they could return, Of midnight torches burns; mysterious dame, 130 Had stole them from me: else, O thievish Night, That ne'er art call'd, but when the dragon woom Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end, Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom, In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars, And makes one blot of all the air ;

That Nature hung in Heaven, and fill'd their Stay the cloudy ebon chair,

lamps Wherein thou rid'st with Hecat', and befriend With everlasting oil, to give due light Us thy vow'd priests, till utmost end

To the misled and lonely traveller ?

200 Of all thy dues be done, and none left out; This is the place, as well as I may guess, Ere the babbling eastern scout,

Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth The nice Morn, on the Indian steep

Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear; From her cabin'd loop-hole peep,

140 Yet nought but single darkness do I find. And to the tell-tale Sun descry

What this might be? A thousand fantasies Our conceal'd solemnity

Begin to throng into my memory,

return.

SONG.

Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
And aery tongues, that syllable men's names 208 To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood
On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses. Lad. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound, That is address d to unattending ears;
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
By a strong siding champion, Conscience.- How to regain my sever'd company,
O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope, Compellid me to awake the courteous Echo 275
Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings, To give me answer from her mossy couch.
And thou, unblemish'd torm of Chastity!

Com. What chance, good lady, hath bereft you I see ye visibly, and yow believe

thus ? That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill Lad. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth. Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,

Com. Could that divide you from near-ushering Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,

guides? To keep my life and honor unassail'd.

220 Lad. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280 Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud

Com. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why? Turn forth her silver lining on the night?

Lad. To seek i' the valley some cool friendly I did not err, there does a sable cloud

spring. Turn forth her silver lining on the night,

Com. And left your fair side all unguarded, lady? And casts a gleam over this tufted grove:

Lad. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick I cannot halloo to my brothers, but Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest Com. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. I'll venture ; for my new-enliven'd spirits

Lad. How easy my misfortune is to hit! Prompt me; and they perhaps are not far off. Com. Imports their loss, beside the present need ?

Lad. No less than if I should my brothers lose. Com. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom ?

289 SWEET Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv’st unseen Lad. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. Within thy aery shell,

231 Com. Two such I saw, what time the labor'd ox By slow Meander's margent green,

In his loose traces from the furrow came
And in the violet-embroider'd vale,

And the swink'd hedger at his supper sat;
Where the lovelorn nightingale

I saw them under a green mantling vine,
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well; That crawls along the side of yon small hill,
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair

Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots ; That likest thy Narcissus are ?

Their port was more than human, as they stood :
O, if thou have

I took it for a faery vision
Hid them in some flowery cave,

Of some gay creatures of the element,
Tell me but where,
240 That in the colors of the rainbow live,

300 Sweet queen of parley, daughter of the sphere! And play i’ the plighted clouds. I was awe-struck,

So may'st thou be translated to the skies, And, as I past, I worshipt; if those you seek, And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmo- It were a journey like the path to Heaven, nies.

To help you find them.
Lad.

Gentle villager,
Enter Comus.

What readiest way would bring me to that place ?

Com. Due west it rises from this shrubby point Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth's Lad. To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose, mould

In such a scant allowance of star-light,
Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? 245 Would overtask the best land-pilot's art,
Sure something holy lodges in that breast, Without the sure guess of well-practis'd feet. 310
And with these raptures moves the vocal air Com. I know each lane, and every alley green,
To testify his hidden residence.

Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood,
How sweetly did they float upon the wings And every bosky bourn from side to side,
Of silence, through the empty vaulted night, 250 My daily walks and ancient neighborhood ;
At every fall smoothing the raven-down

And if your stray attendants be yet lodg'd, 315
Of darkness, till it smil'd! I have oft heard Or shroud within these limits, I shall know
My mother Circe with the Syrens three,

Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades,

From her thatch'd pallet rouse; if otherwise, Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs; I can conduct you, lady, to a low Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul, But loyal cottage, where you may be safe And lap it in Elysium : Scylla wept,

Till further quest. And chid her barking waves into attention,

Lad.

Shepherd, I take thy word
And fell Charybdis murmur'd soft applause : And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy,
Yet they in pleasing slumber lullid the sense, 260 Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
And in sweet madness robb'd it of itself;

With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls
But such a sacred and home-felt delight,

In courts of princes, where it first was nam'd 325 Such sober certainty of waking bliss,

And yet is most pretended : in a place I never heard till now.—I'll speak to her,

Legs warranted than this, or less secure, And she shall be my queen.-Hail, foreign wonder! I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial Unless the goddess that in rural shrine

To my proportion'd strength -Shepherd, lead on. Dwell'st here with Pan, or Sylvan; by blest song

(Exeunt) of dragon-watch, with unenchanted eye, 391 Enter The Two BROTHERS.

To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit, El. Br. Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair From the rash hand of bold Incontinence. Moon,

You may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps That wont'st to love the traveller's benison, Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den, Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud, And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here

Danger will wink on Opportunity, In double night of darkness and of shades; 335 And let a single helpless maiden pass Or, if your influence be quite damm'd up Uninjur'd in this wild surrounding waste. With black usurping mists, some gentle taper, Of night, or loneliness, it recks me not; Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole I fear the dread events that dog them both, 405 Of some clay habitation, visit us

Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person With thy long-levell'd rule of streaming light; Of our unowned sister. And thou shall be our star of Arcady,

El. Br.

I do not, brother,
Or Tyrian Cynosure.

Infer, as if I thought my sister's state
Sec. Br.
Or, if our eyes,

Secure, without all doubt or controversy ;
Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear
The folded flocks penn'd in their wattled cotes, Does arbitrate the event, my nature is
Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops, 345 That I incline to hope, rather than fear,
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock And gladly banish squint suspicion.
Count the night watches 10 his feathery dames, My sister is not so defenceless left
"Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering, As you imagine; she has a hidden strength, 415
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs. Which you remember not.
But, О that hapless virgin, our lost sister!

Sec. Br.

What hidden strength, Where may she wander now, whither betake her Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean From the chill dew, among rude burs and thistles ?

that? Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,

El. Br. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength, Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm Which, if Heaven gave it, may be term'd her Leans her unpillow'd head, fraught with sad

own; fears.

355 "Tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity: What, if in wild amazement and affright? She, that has that, is clad in complete steel ; Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp And, like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen, Of savage hunger, or of savage heat?

May trace huge forests, and unharbor'd heaths, El. Br. Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds; To cast the fashion of uncertain evils :

Where, through the sacred rays of Chastity, 425 For grant they be so, while they rest unknown, No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer, What need a man forestall his date of grief, Will dare to soil her virgin purity : And run to meet what he would most avoid ? Yea there, where very Desolation dwells, Or, if they be but false alarms of fear,

By grots and caverns shagg’d with horrid shades, How bitter is such self-delusion!

365 She may pass on with unblench'd majesty, I do not think my sister so to seek,

Be it not done in pride, or in presumption. Or so unprincipled in Virtue's book,

Some say, no evil thing that walks by night And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, As that the single want of light and noise Blue meager hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not,) That breaks his magic chains at Curseu time, 435 Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts, No goblin, or swart faery of the mine, And put them into misbecoming plight.

Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.
Virtue could see to do what virtue would

Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call
By her own radiant light, though Sun and Moon Antiquity from the old schools of Greece
Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self To testify the arms of Chastity ?
Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude ;

376 Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow,
Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation, Fair silver-shasted queen, for ever chaste,
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings, Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness
That in the various bustle of resort

And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impair'd. The frivolous bolt of Cupid ; gods and men He that has light within his own clear breast, Fear'd her stern frown, and she was queen o' the May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day:

woods. But he, that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield, Benighted walks under the mid-day Sun; That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin, Himself is his own dungeon.

385 Wherewith she freez'd her foes to congeal'd stone Sec. Br. 'Tis most true, But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

450 That musing Meditation most affects

And noble grace, that dash'd brute violence The pensive secrecy of desert cell,

With sudden adoration and blank awe?
Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds, So dear to Heaven is saintly Chastity,
And sits as safe as in a senate-house ;

That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
For who would rob a hermit of his weeds, A thousand liveried angels lackey her,
His few books, or his beads, or maple dish, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt;
Or do his grey hairs any violence?

And, in clear dream and solemn vision,
But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree

Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear . Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard Till oft converse with heavenl; habitants