The darksome cave they enter, where they find
That cursed man low sitting on the ground,
Musing full sadly in his sullen mind;
His greasy locks, long growing and unbound,
Disordered hung about his shoulders round,
And hid his face thro' which his hollow eyne
Look'd deadly dull, and stared as astound;
His raw-bone cheeks, through penury and pine,
Were shrunk into his jaws, as he did never

dine.

:

His garment, nought but many ragged clouts,
With thorns together pinn'd and patched was,
The which his naked sides he wrapp'd abouts:
And him beside there lay upon the grass
A dreary corse, whose life away did pass,
All wallow'd in his own yet lukewarm blood,
faat from his wound yet welled fresh, alas!
(u which a rusty knife fast fixed stood, [flood.
And made an open passage for the gushing
Which piteous spectacle, approving true
The woeful tale that Trevisan had told,
When as the gentle Red Cross knight did view,
With fiery zeal he burnt in courage bold,
fim to avenge before his blood were cold;
And to the villain said: Thou damned wight!
The author of this fact, we here behold,
What justice can but judge against thee right,
With thine own blood to price his blood, here
shed in sight.

That frantic fit (quoth he) hath thus distraught
hee, foolish man, so rash a doom to give?
hat justice ever other judginent taught,
ut he should die, who merits not to live?
one else to death this man despairing drive
ut his own guilty mind deserving death.
then unjust to cach his due to give?
rlet him die, that loatheth living breath?
't let him die at ease, that liveth here uneath?

Tho travels by the weary wand'ring way,
0 come unto his wished home in haste,
nd meets a flood that doth his passage stay,
not great grace to help him over-past,
r free his feet, that in the mire stick fast?
ost envious man! that grieves at neighbour's
good;

nd fond, that jovest in the woe thou hast;
Why wilt not let him pass, that long hath stood
pon the bank, yet wilt thyself not pass the
flood?

e there does now enjoy eternal rest, [crave, nd happy ease, which thou dost want and nd further from it daily wanderest: What if some little pain the passage have, hat makes frail flesh to fear the bitter wave? not short pain well borne, that brings long

ease,

And lays the soul to sleep in quiet grave?
sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, [please.
Base after war, death after life, does greatly
The knight much wonder'd at his sudden wit,
And said: The term of life is limited,
Ne may a man prolong or shorten it:

The soldier may not move from watchful sted,
Nor leave his, stand, until his captain bed.
Who life did limit by almighty doom
(Quoth he) knows best the terms established;
And he that 'points the centinel in his room,
Doth licence him depart at sound, of morning
droom.

Is not his deed, whatever thing is done,
In heaven and earth? Did not he all create
To die again? All ends that was begun;
Their times in his eternal book of fate
Are written sure, and have their certain date.
Who then can strive with strong necessity,
That holds the world in his still changing
state,

Or shun the death ordain'd by distiny?
When hour of death is come, let none ask
The longer life, I wote the greater sin,
whence, nor why.
The greater sin, the greater punishment;
Thro' strife, and bloodshed, and avengement,
All those great battles which thou boasts to win,
Now prais'd, hereafter dear thou shalt repent:
For life must life, and blood must blood, repay.
Is not enough thy evil life forespent?
For he that once hath missed the right way,
The further he doth go, the further he doth
stray.

Then do no further go, no further stray,
But here lie down, and to thy rest betake,
Thill to prevent, that life ensuen may :
For what hath life, that may it loved make,
And gives not rather cause it to forsake?
Fear, sickness, age, loss, labour, sorrow, strife,
Pain, hunger, cold, that makes the heart to
And ever fickle fortune rageth rife, [quake;
All which, and thousands more, do make a
loathsome life.

Thou, wretched man, of death hast greatest
need,

If in true balance thou wilt weigh thy state;
For never knight that dared warlike deed
More luckless disadventures did amate:
Witness the dungeon deep, wherein of late
Thy life shut up, for death so oft did call:
Yet death then would the like mishaps forestall,
And tho' good luck prolonged hath thy date,
Into the which hereafter thou mayst happen
fall.

Why then dost thou, O man of sin, desire
To draw thy days forth to their last degree?
Is not the measure of thy sinful hire
Against the day of wrath, to burden thee?
High heaped up with huge iniquity,
Is not enough, that to this lady mild
Thou falsed hast thy face with perjury,
With whom in all abuse thou hast thyself de
And sold thyself to serve Duessa vild, [fid?
From highest heaven, and bears an equal eye?
Is not he just that all this doth behold
Shall he thy sins up in his knowledge fold,
And guilty be of thine impiety?

SA

Is not his law, Let every sinner die?
Die shall all flesh? What then must needs be
Is it not better to do willingly,

The which doth quench the brond of hellish smart,

[done, And that accurs'd hand-writing doth deface: Than linger till the glass be all out-run? [son. Arise, sir knight, arise, and leave this cursed Death is the end of woes. Die soon, O Fairy's

place.

The knight was much enmoved with this So up he rose, and thence amounted streigh Which when the earl beheld, and saw his guest Would safe depart, for all his subtle sleigh, He chose an halter from among the rest, And with it hung himself, unbid, unblest. But death he could not work himself the For thousand times he so himself had dread, Yet natheless it could not do him die, Till he should die his last, that is eternally.

speech,
[pierce,
That as a sword's point through his heart did
And in his conscience made a secret breach,
Well knowing true all that he did rehearse,
And to his fresh remembrance did reverse
The ugly view of his deformed crimes,
That all his manly pow'rs it did disperse,
As he were charmed with inchaunted rhimes,
That oftentimes he quak'd, and fainted often-
times.

In which amazement when the miscreant
Perceived him to waver weak and frail,
With trembling horror did his conscience dant,
And hellish anguish did his soul assail :

To drive him to despair, and quite to quail,
He shew'd him painted in a table plain,
The damned ghosts, that do in torments wail,
And thousand fiends that do them endless pain,
With fire and brimstone, which for ever shall

remain.

The sight whereof so throughly him dismay'd,
That nought but death before his eyes he saw,
And ever-burning wrath before him laid,

By righteous sentence of th' Almighty's law:
Then 'gan the villain him to over-craw, [fire,
And brought unto him swords, ropes, poison,
And all that might him to perdition draw;
And bade him choose what death he would
desire:
[God's ire.
For death was due to him that had provok'd
But when as none of them he saw him take,
He to him raught a dagger sharp and keen,
And gave it in his hand; his hand did quake,
And tremble like a leaf of aspin green,
And troubled blood thro' his pale face was seen
To come and go; with tidings from the heart,
As it a running messenger had been:
At last resolv'd to work his final smart,
He lifted up his hand, that back again did start.
Which when as Una saw, through every vein
The crudled cold ran to her well of life,
As in a swoon but soon reliev'd again,
Out of his hand she snatch'd the cursed knife,
And threw it to the ground, enraged rife,
And to hima said: Fie, fie, faint-hearted knight!
What meanest thou by this reproachful strife?
Is this the battle which thou vaunt'st to fight
With that fire-mouthed dragon, horrible and

bright?

Come, come away, frail, silly, fleshy wight,
Ne let vain words bewitch thy manly heart,
Ne devilish thoughts dismaythy contant spright:
In heavenly mercies bast thou not a part?
Why shouldst thou then despair, that chosen
[grace,

art?

FAIRFAX's TASSO. $121. Description of the Vision conjured by Alecto.

A MURDER'D body huge beside him stood,

Of head and right-hand both but late

spoil'd;

The left-hand bore the head, whose visage good
Both pale and wan, with dust and gore defi...
Yet spake, tho' dead; with those sad we
the blood

Forth at his lips in huge abundance boil'd-
Fly, Argillan, from this false camp fly fat,
Whose guide a traitor, captains mund

blow:

Where justice grows, there grows cke greater The bitter storm drove hail-stones in his look.

But yet his arm grew neither weak nor slow,
Till low to earth the wounded tree down
Nor of that fury heed or care he took, [bended:
Then fled the spirits all, the charms all ended.

Why do we labour thro' the arduous paths
Which lead to virtue? Fruitless were the toil,
Above the reach of human feet were plac'd
The distant summit, if the fear of death
Could intercept our passage. But in vain
His blackest frowns and terrors he assumes
knows

§ 128. Description of Armida's wonderful To shake the firmness of the mind, which

Parrot.

WITH party-colour'd plumes, and purple bill, That, wanting virtue, life is pain and woe; A wondrous bird among the rest there That, wanting liberty, ev'n virtue mourns, flew, [shrill; And looks around for happiness in vain. That in plain speech sung love-lays loud and Then speak, O Sparta, and demand my life; Here Leden was like human language true ; My heart exulting, answers to thy call, So much she talk'd, and with such wit and And smiles on glorious fate. To live with skill, [knew: The gods allow to many! but to die [fame That strange it seem'd how much good she With equal lustre, is a blessing Heaven Her feather'd fellows all stood hush to hear; Selects from all the choicest boons of fate, Dumb was the wind, the waters silent were. And with a sparing hand on few bestows. The gentle budding rose, quoth she, behold, That first scant pecping forth with virgin beams,

Half ope, half shut, her beauties doth unfold
In its fair leaves, and, less seen, fairer seems,
And after spreads them forth more broad and
bold,

Then languisheth, and dies in last extremes;
Nor seems the same that decked bed and
Of many a lady late and paramour. [bow'r
o, in the passing of a day, doth pass.
The bud and blossom of the life of man,
Nor e'er doth flourish more; but, like the
grass

Cut down, becometh wither'd, pale, and wan:
Ph, gather then the rose, while time thou hast!
short is the day, done when it scant began ;
Gather the rose of Love, while yet thou mayst,
Loving be lov'd, embracing be embrac'd.
the ceas'd; and, as approving all she spoke,
The choir of birds their heavenly tune renew;
The turtles sigh'd, and sighs with kisses broke;
The fowls to shades unseen by pairs withdrew:
t seem'd, the laurel chaste, and stubborn oak,
And all the gentle trees on earth that grew,
It seem'd, the land, the sea, and heaven
above,
All breath'd out fancy sweet, and sigh'd out
[love.

GLOVER'S LEONIDAS.
§ 124. Leonidas's Address to his Countrymen.
-He alone

Remains unshaken. Rising he displays
lis godlike presence. Dignity and grace
Adorn his frame, and manly beauty, join'd
With strength Herculean. On his aspect shines
Sublimest virtue, and desire of fame,
Where justice gives the laurel; in his eye
The inextinguishable spark, which fires
The souls of patriots; while his brow supports
Undaunted valour, and contempt of death.
Serene he rose, and thus address'd the throng:

Why this astonishment on ev'ry face,
Ye men of Sparta'? Does the name of death
Create this fear and wonder? O my friends!

§ 125. Leonidas's Answer to the Persian Am
bassador.

RThe Grecians, faithful to their post, await
His chosen myriads; tell him, thou hast seen
How far the lust of empire is below
A free-born mind: and tell him, to behold
A tyrant humbled, and by virtuous death
To seal my country's freedom, is a good
Surpassing all his boasted pow'r can give.

ETURN to Xerxes; tell him, on this rock

$126. Pathetic Farewel of Leonidas to his
Wife and Family.

SEE, I feel thy anguish, nor my soul
E'er prov'd a father's fondness, as this hour;
Has ever known the prevalence of love,
Nor, when most ardent to assert my fame,
How had it stain'd the honours of my name
Was once my heart insensible to thee.
To hesitate a moment, and suspend
My country's fate, till shameful life preferr'd
By my inglorious colleague left no choice,
Not virtue to accept! Then deem no more
But what in me were infamy to shun,
I haste uncall'd to death. The voice of fate,
That, of my love regardless, or thy tears,
The gods, my fame, my country, bid me bleed.
O thou dear mourner! wherefore streams afresh
That flood of woe? Why heaves with sighs
renew'd

That tender breast? Leonidas must fall.
Alas! far heavier misery impends
O'er thee and these, if soften'd by thy tears
Which justice, glory, liberty, and Heaven
I shamefully refuse to yield that breath,
Claim for my country, for my sons, and thee.
Think on my long unalter'd fove. Reflect
Eer known a pause of love, or pious care?
On my paternal fondness. Has my heart
Most warm and faithful. When thy husband
Now shall that care, that tenderness, be prov'd

dies

Not with, the feet of enemies we come,

The Spartan answers: Thro' the midnight shade [broad? What purpose draws your wand'ring steps aTo whom the stranger: We are friends to Greece,

Commiseration from the good, behold,

But crave adinittance with a friendly tongue. Thou glorious leader of unconquer'd bands,
Behold, descended from Darius' loins,
Th' afflicted Ariana, and my pray'r
Accept with pity, nor my tears disdain!
First, that I lov'd the best of human race,
By nature's hand with ev'ry virtue form'd,
Heroic, wise, adorn'd with ev'ry art,
Of shame unconscious does my heart reveal.
This day in Grecian arms conspicuous clad
He fought, he fell! A passion long conceal'd
For me, alas! within my brother's arms
His dying breath resigning, he disclos'd.

And to the presence of the Spartan king
Admission we implore. The cautious chief
Of Lacedæmon hesitates again:
When thus, with accents musically sweet,
A tender voice his wond'ring ear allur'd:

O gen'rous Grecian, listen to the pray'r
Of one distress'd! whom grief alone hath led
In this dark hour to these victorious tents,
A wretched woman, innocent of fraud.
The Greek descending thro' th' unfolded

gates

Jpheld a flaming brand. One first appear'd
n servile garb attir'd; but near his side
woman graceful and majestic stood;
Not with an aspect rivalling the pow'r
of fatal Helen, or the wanton charms
Of love's soft queen; but such as far excell'd
Vhate'er the lily blending with the rose
Paints on the cheek of beauty, soon to fade ;
uch as express'd a mind which wisdom rul'd,
And sweetness temper'd, virtue's purest light
lumining the countenance divine;

et could not sooth remorseless fate, nor teach
Lalignant fortune to revere the good;
which oft with anguish rends the spotless
heart,

nd oft associates wisdom with despair.
1 courteous phrase began the chief humane:
Exalted fair, who thus adorn'st the night,
orbear to blame the vigilance of war,
ad to the laws of rigid Mars impute
hat I thus long unwilling have delay'd
efore the great Leonidas to place
as your apparent dignity and worth.
He spake; and gently to the lofty tent
f Sparta's king the lovely stranger guides.
Agis' summons, with a mantle broad
is mighty limbs Leonidas infolds,

nd quits his couch. In wonder he surveys
hillustrious virgin, whom his presence aw'd:
fer
eye submissive to the ground inclin'd
Vith veneration of the god-like man.
ut soon his voice her anxious dread dispell'd,
enevolent and hospitable thus:

Thy form alone, thus amiable and great, hy mind delineates, and from all commands preme regard. Relate, thou noble dame, what relentless destiny compell'd, hy tender feet the paths of darkness tread : lehearse th afflictions whence thy virtue

Oh I will stay my sorrows! will forbid
My eyes to stream before thee, and my heart,
Thus full of anguish, will from sighs restrain!
For why should thy humanity be griev'd
With my distress, and learn from me to mourn
The lot of nature, doom'd to care and pain!
Hear then, O king, and grant my sole request,
To seek his body in the heaps of slain.

Thus to the Spartan sued the regal maid,
Resembling Ceres in majestic woe,
When supplicant at Jove's resplendent throne,
From dreary Pluto, and th' infernal gloom,
Her lov'd and lost Proserpina she sought.
Fix'd on the weeping queen with stedfast eyes,
Laconia's chief these tender thoughts recall'd:

Such are thy sorrows, O for ever dear!
Who now at Lacedæmon dost deplore
My everlasting absence!-then inclin'd
His head, and sigh'd; nor yet forgot to charge
His friend, the gentle Agis, thro' the straits
The Persian princess to attend and aid.
With careful steps they seek her lover's corse.
The Greeks remember'd, where by fate re-
press'd

His arm first ceas'd to mow their legions down;
And from beneath a mass of Persian slain
Soon drew the hero, by his armour known.
To Agis high pavilion they resort.

Now, Ariana, what transcending pangs
Thy soul involv'd! what horror clasp'd thy
heart!

But love grew mightiest; and her beauteous
limbs

On the cold breast of Teribazus, threw
The grief-distracted maid. The clotted gore
Deform'd her snowy bosom. O'er his wounds
| Loose flow'd her hair, and bubbling from her
eyes

Impetuous sorrow lav'd the purple clay,
When forth in groans her lamentations broke:
O tom for ever from my weeping eyes!
Thou, who despairing to obtain her heart,
Who then most lov'd thee, didst untimely
vield

Thy life to fate's inevitable dart
For her who now in agony unfolds
Her tender bosom, and repeats her vows
To thy deaf ear, who fondly to her own
Now clasps thy breast insensible and cold.
Alas! do those unmoving ghastly orbs
Perceive my gushing anguish? Does that heart,
Which death's inanimating hand hath chill'd,
3A 3
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