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Some say no evil thing that walks by night,
In fog or fire, by lake, or moorish fen,
Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,"
That breaks his magic chains at curfeu time,
No goblin, or swart fairy of the mine,
Hath hurtful pow'r o'er true virginity.
Do you believe me yet, or shall I call
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece
To testify the arms of chastity?
Hence had the huntress Dian' her dread bow,
Fair silver-shafted queen, for ever chaste,
Wherewith she tam'd the brinded lioness
And spotted mountain pard, but set at nought
The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men
Fear'd her stern frown, and she was queen o' th'
woods.

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What was the snaky-headed Gorgon shield,
That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin,
Wherewith she freez'd her foes to congeal'd
But rigid looks of chaste austerity, [stone,
And noble grace, that dash'd brute violence
With sudden adoration, and blank awe?
So dear to Heaven is saintly Chastity,
That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lackey her,
Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,
And in clear dream, and solemn vision,
Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear,
Till oft converse with heavenly habitants
Begin to cast a beam on th' outward shape,
The unpolluted temple of the mind,
And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence,
Till all be made immortal: but when lust,
By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,
But most by lewd and lavish act of sin,
Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
The soul grows clotted by contagion,
Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lase
The divine property of her first being.
Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp
Oft seen in charnel vaults, and sepulchres,
Ling'ring and sitting by a new-made grave,
As loth to leave the body that it lov'd,
And link itself by carnal sensuality
To a degenerate and degraded state.

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§9. Prowess of Body and Mind.. MILTON
how comely it is, and how reviving
To the spirits of just men, long oppress'd,
When God into the hands of their deliverer
Puts invincible might,

To quell the mighty of the earth, th' oppressor
The brute and boist'rous force of violent men,
Hardy and industrious to support
The righteous, and all such as honour truth!
Tyrannic pow'r, but raging to pursue

He all their ammunition
And feats of war defeats;
With plain heroic magnitude of mind,
And celestial vigour arm'd,
Their armories and magazines contemns,
Renders them useless, while
With winged expedition,

His errand on the wicked, who, surpris'd,
Swift as the lightning glance, he executes
Lose their defence, distracted and amaz'd.

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The labour of an age in piled stones,
Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid
Under a starry-pointing pyramid?
Dear son of memory! great heir of fame!
What need'st thou such weak witness of the
Thou in our wonder and astonishment [name]
Hast built thyself a live-long monument.
For whilst to th' shame of slow-endeavouringat
Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart
Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book
Those Delphie lines with deep impression took,
Then thou our fancy of itself bereaving,
Dost make us marble with too much conceiving
And so sepulchred in such pomp doth lie,
That kings for such a tomb would wish to de

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Self-fed, and self-consumed: if this fail,
The pillar'd firmament is rottenness,
And earth's base built on stubble.

§13. Patience. MILTON. MANY are the sayings of the wise,

Invisible, except to God alone,

By his permissive will, thro' heaven and earth:
And oft tho' Wisdom wake, Suspicion sleeps
At Wisdom's gate, and to simplicity Lill
Resigns her charge, while Goodness thinks no
Where no ill seems.

In ancient and in modern books inroll'd,
Extolling Patience as the truest fortitude;
And to the bearing well of all calamities,
All chances incident to man's frail life,
Consolatories writ
[sought,
With studied argument, and much persuasion
Lenient of grief and anxious thought;
But with th' afflicted, in his pangs, their sound
Little prevails, or rather seems a tune
Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his com-And holy dictate of spare Temperance:
Unless he feel within

$18. The Lady reproving Comus. MILTON.
HATE when vice can bolt her arguments,
And virtue has no tongue to check her pride.
Impostor! do not charge most innocent Nature,
As if she would her children should be riotous
With her abundance; she, good cateress,
Means her provision only to the good,
That live according to her sober laws,

Some source of consolation from above,"
Secret refreshings, that repair his strength,
And fainting spirits uphold.

gave,

[plaint; If every just man, that now pines with want.
Had but a moderate and beseeming share
Of that which lewdly-pamper'd luxury
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
Nature's full blessings would be well dispens'd
In unsuperfluous even proportion,

$14. Sonnet: on his deceased Wife. MILTON.
METHOUGHT I saw my late espoused saint And she no whit encumber'd with her store,
Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave, And then the giver would be better thank'd,
Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband His praise due paid; for swinish gluttony
[faint. Ne'er looks to leaven amidst his gorgeous feast,
Rescued from death by force, tho' pale and But with besotted, base ingratitude
Mine, as whom wash'd from spot of child-bed Crams,and blasphemes his feeder. Shall I go on!
Purification in the old law did save, [taint Or have I said enough? To him that dares
And such, as yet once more I trust to haveArm his profane tongue with contemptuous
Full sight of her in heaven without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind:
Her face was veil'd, yet to my fancied sight
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin'd
So clear, as in no face with more delight.
But, ol! as to embrace me she inclin'd, [might.
1 wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my

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Against the sun-clad pow'r of Chastity, [words
Fain would I something say, yet to what end!
Thou hast not ear, nor soul to apprehend
The sublime notion, and high mystery
That must be utter'd to unfold the sage
And serious doctrine of Virginity, [know
And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not
More happiness than this thy present lot.
Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,
That have so well been taught her dazzling fence,
Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinc'd;
Yet should I try, the uncontrouled worth
Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits
To such a flame of sacred vehemence, thize,
That dumb things would be mov'd to sympa-
And the brute earth would lend her nerves, and

shake,

Till all thy magic structures, rear'd so high,
Were shatter'd into heaps o'er thy false head.

$19. Sonnet to the Nightingale. MILTON.
NIGHTINGALE, that on yon bloomy spray:
Warblestat ere, when all the woods resul
Thou with fresh hope the lover's heart dost fill.
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May.
Thy liquid notes, that close the eye of day,

First heard before the shallow cuckoo's bill,
Portend success in love; oh if Jove's will
Have link'd that amorous pow'rto thy soft lay.
Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate
Foretel my hopeless doom in some grove nigh,
As thou from year to year hast sung too late
For my relief, yet hadst no reason why:
Whether the muse, or love call thee his inate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am 1.

§ 20. Echo: A Song. MILTON. SWEET Echo, sweetest nymph! that liv'st unWithin thy airy shell, [seen

By slow Meander's margent green, And in the violet-embroider'd vale,

Where the love-lorn nightingale Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well; Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair

That likest thy Narcissus are?

Oh if thou have

Hid them in some flow'ry cave,
Tell me but where,.

Sweet queen of parley. daughter of the sphere!
So mayst thou be translated to the skies,
And give resounding grace to all Heaven's har-
monies.

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growe,

VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS FROM Strong warres they make, and cruel batt'ry bend

SPENSER.

§ 21. Adonis's Garden.

BUT were it not that Time their troubler is,
All that in this delightful garden grows
Should happy be, and have immortal bliss:
For here all plenty and all pleasure flowes,
And sweet love gentle fits emongst them throws,
Without fell rancour, or fond jealousie ;
Frankly each paramour his leman knows,

Each bird his mate; ne any does envie
Their goodly merriment, and gay felicitic.

Right in the middest of that paradise
There stood a stately mount, on whoes round top
A gloomy grove of myrtle-trees did rise,
Whose shadie boughs sharp steele did never lop,)
Nor wicked beasts their tender buds did crop;

But, like a girlond compassed the hight, [drop,
And from their fruitfull sides sweet gumes did
That all the ground with precious dew bedight,
Threw forth most dainty odours, and most sweet
delight!

And, in the thickest covert in that shade, There was a pleasant arbour, not by art,

But of the trees own inclination made,

Which knitting their ranke branches part to part,
With wanton ivie-twine entail'd athwart,

And eglantine and caprisfole emoug,
Fashion'd above within her inmost part,

That neither Phœbus' beams could thro' them throng,

'Gainst fort of reason, it to overthrowe: Wrath, jealousy, grief, love, this 'squire have laid thus lowe.

Wrath, jealousy, grief, love, do thus expell: Wrath is a fire, and jealousy a weed;

Grief is a flood, and love a monster fell; The fire of sparke, the weed of little seed, The flood of drops, the monster filth did breed:

But sparks, seed, drops,and filth do thus decas The sparks soon quench, the springing seed outweed,

The drops dry up, and filth wipe clean away. So shall wrath, jealousy, grief, love, die and ce

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Nor olus' sharp blast could work them any But wrought by art; and counterfeited shew,

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Thereby more lovers unto her to call;
Nath'less, more heavenly faire in deed and view
She by creation was, till she did fall;
Thenceforth she sought for helps to cloke her
crimes withall.

There, as in glist'ring glory she did sit,
She held a great gold-chain ylinked well,
Whose upper end to highest heaven was knit,
And lower part did reach to lowest hell;
And all that prease did round about her swell,
To catchen hold of that long chaise thereby.
To

To climb aloft, and others to excell;

That was Ambition, rash desire to stie, And ev'ry link thereof a step of dignitie.

Of griesly hew, and foul ill-favour'd sight;
His face with smoake was tann'd, and eyes
were blear'd';

Some thought to raise themselves to high de-His head and beard with soot were ill bedight;

By riches and unrighteous reward;

[gree

His coale-black hands did seem to have been sear d [claws appear'd. Some by close should'ring, some by flatteree Others through friends, others for base reward; In smithe's fire-speting forge, and nails like His iron coat, all overgrown with rust, [lowe: Was underneath enveloped with gold,

And all, by wrong ways, for themselves prepar'd.

Those that were up themselves, kept others Those that were lowe themselves, held others hard,

Ne suffer'd them to rise, or greater growe; But every one did strive his fellow down to throwe.

O sacred hunger of ambitious mindes, And impotent desire of men to raigne!

Who neither dread of God, that devils bindes, Vor laws of men, that common weals containe, Vor bands of nature, that wild beasts restraine, Can keep from outrage, and from doing wrong, Where they may hope a kingdom to obtaine, No faith so firm, no trust can be so strong, No love so lasting then, that may enduren long.

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AND over him, art striveing to compaire
With nature, did an arbour green disspred,
Framed with wanton ivic, flowering fire,
Thro' which the fragrant eglantine did spred
lis pricking armes, entayl'd with roses red,
Which dainty odours round about him threw
And all within with flowres was garnished,
That, when mild Zephyrus emongst them
[colours shew.
Did breathe out bounteous smells, and painted

blew,

§ 26. Avarice.

AND greedy Avarice by him did ride,

Upon a camel loaden all with gold; Two iron coffers hung on either side, With precious metall full as they might hold, And in his lap a heap of coin he told;

;

For of his wicked pelf his god he made,
And unto hell himself for money sold:
Accursed usury was all his trade, [waide.
And right and wronge ylike in equall ballance
At last he came into a gloomie glade, [light,
Cover'd with boughs and shrubs from heaven's
Whereas he sitting found, in secret shade,
An uncouth, salvage, and uncivill wight,

Whose glistring gloss, darkened with filthy Well it appear'd to have been of old [dust, A work of rich entaile, and curious mould, Woven with anticks, and wild imagery; And in his lap a mass of coine he told,

And turn'd up-side down, to feed his eye, And covetous desire, with his huge treasury. And round about him lay, on every side, Great heaps of gold, that never could be spent ; Of which, some were ore not purifide Of Mulciber's devouring element; Some others were new driven, and distent

Into great ingots, and to wedges square; Some in round plates withouten monument; But most were stampt,and in their metall bare The antick shapes of kings and Cæsars strange and rare.

$27. Bashfulness. THE whiles, the fairie knight did entertaine Another damsel of that gentle crew,

That was right faire, and modest of demaine, But that too oft she chang'd her native huc. Strange was her tire, and all her garments blue, Close round about her tuckt, with many a plight:

Upon her fist, the bird that shunneth view, And keeps in coverts close from living wight, Did sit, as if asham'd how rude Dan did her dight.

So long as Guyon with her communed, Unto the ground she cast her modest eye,

And ever and anone, with rosie red," The bashfull blood her snowy cheekes did die, And her became as polish'd ivorie,

Which cunning craftsman's hand hath overWith fair vermillion, or pure lastery.

[laid

Great wonder had the knight to see the maid So strangely passioned, and to her gently said; Fair damsell, seemeth by your troubled chcare That either me too bold yee weene, this wise

You to molest, or other ill to feare,
That in the secret of your heart close lyes,
From whence it doth, as cloud from sea, arise.

If it be I, of pardon I you pray;
But if ought else that I mote not devise,

I will (it please you it discrue) assay
To ease you of that ill, so wisely as I may.

She answer'd nought, but more abasht for shame,

Held down her head, the whiles her lovely face

The flushing blood with blushing did inflame, And the strong passion marr'd her modest grace,

That

That Guyon marvail'd at her uncouth case :
Till Alma him bespake, Why wonder yee,
Fair sir, at that which you so much imbrace?
She is the fountaine of your modestee:
You shame-fac'd are, but Shame-fac'dness itself
is shee.
Another.

And next to her sate goodly Shame-fac❜dness;
Ne ever durst her eyes from ground up-reare,
Ne ever once did look up from her dress,
As if some blame of evill she did feare,
That in her check made roses oft appeare.

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ness

By envy's snares, or fortune's freaks unkind :
I, whether lately thro' her brightness blind,
Or thro' allegiance and fast fealty,
Which I do owe unto all womankind,

Feel my heart pierc'd with so great agony, When such I see, that all for pity I could die. Eftsoons there stepped forth

A goodly lady, clad in hunter's weed,
That seem'd to be a woman of great worth,
And by her stately portance, borne of heavenly
birth.

Her face so fair, as flesh it seemed not,
But heavenly portraict of bright angels hiew,
Clear as the sky, withouten blame or blot,
Thro' goodly mixture of complexions dew,
And in her cheeks the vermill' red did shew
Like roses in a bed of lillies shed,

The which ambrosial odours from them threw,
And gazers sense with double pleasure fed,
Able to heal the sick, and to revive the dead.
In her fair eyes two living lamps did flame,
Kindled above, at th' heavenly Maker's light,
And darted fiery beams out of the same,
So passing pearceant, and so wondrous bright,
That quite bereav'd the rash beholders of their
sight:

In them the blinded God his lustful fire
To kindle oft assay'd, but had no might;

For, with dread majesty, and awful ire, She broke his wanton darts, and quenched base desire.

Nought under heaven so strongly doth allure The sense of man, and all his mind possess,

As beauty's love-bait, that doth procure Great warriors of their rigour to repress, And mighty hands forget their manliness, Drawn with the pow'r of an heart-robbing eye, And wrapt in fetters of a golden tress,

That can with melting pleasance mollify Their harden'd hearts, enur'd to blood and cruelty.

So whilome learn'd that mighty Jewish swain, Each of whose locks did match a man of might, To lay his spoils before his leman's train:

So also did the great Cetean knight,
For his love's sake, his lion's skin undight:
And so did warlike Anthony neglect
The world's whole rule, for Cleopatra's sight.
Such wond'rous pow're has women's fair as
pect,
[reject
To captive men, and make them all the world

§ 29. Boar.

AND then two boars with rankling malice me, Their goary sides, fresh bleeding, fiercely fret,

Till breathless both, themselves aside retire, Where foaming wroth their cruel tusks they whet, [respire And trample th' earth the while they may Then back to fight again, new breathed and en tire.

THE

§ 30. Bower of Bliss.

HENCE passing forth, they shortly do arrive Whereat the Bower of Bliss was situate; A place pick'd out by choice of best alive, That nature's work by art can imitate; In which whatever in this worldly state

Is sweet and pleasing unto living sense, Or that may daintiest fantasie aggrate,

Was poured forth with plentiful dispense, And made there to abound with lavish affluence

Goodly it was enclosed round about, As well their enter'd guests to keep within,

As those unruly beasts to hold without; Yet was the fence thereof but weak and thin: Nought fear'd their force that fortilage to win.

But wisdom's powre and temperance's migh By which the mightiest things efforced bin: And eke the gate was wrought of substant

light,

Rather for pleasure than for battery or fight.
It framed was of precious yvory,
That seem'd a work of admirable wit;

And therein all the famous historie
Of Jason and Medæa was ywrit;
Her mighty charmes, her furious loving fit,
His goodly conquest of the golden fleece,
His falsed faith, and love to lightly flit,

The wondred Argo, which invent'rous pees First thro' the Euxian seas bore all the flow't Greece.

Ye might have seen the frothy billowes fry Under the ship, as thorough them she wen', That seemed waves were into yvory, Or yvory into the waves were sent: And other where the snowy substance sprent, With vermill-like the boyes bloud the A piteous spectacle did represent; And otherwhiles with gold besprinkeled, It seem'd th' enchanted flame which did Greus wed.

[shed,

All this and more might in this goodly gate Be read; that ever open stood to all

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