Page images
PDF
EPUB

No failor with the news fwell Egypt's pride,
By what inglorious fate our valiant died!
Weep, Arnon! Jordan, weep thy fountains dry,
While Sion's rock diffolves for a fupply.

Calm were the elements, night's filence deep,
The waves fcarce murmuring, and the winds afleep;
Yet fate for ruin takes fo ftill an hour,
And treach'rous fands the princely bark devour;
Then death unworthy feiz'd a generous race,
To virtue's fcandal, and the stars difgrace!
Oh! had th' indulgent pow'rs vouchfaf'd to yield,
Inftead of faithlefs fhelves, a lifted field;
A lifted field of Heaven's and David's foes,
Fierce as the troops that did his youth oppose;
Each life had on his flaughter'd heap retir'd,
Not tamely and unconquering thus expir'd:
But deftiny is now their only foe,

And dying e'en o'er that they triumph too;

With David then was Ifrael's peace restor'd;
Crowds mourn'd theirerror, and obey'd their lord.
Key to Abfalom and Achitophel.

Abdae!,

Abethdin,

Abfalom,
Achitophel,
Adriel,
Agag,

Amiel,

Amri,

With loud daft breaths their mafter's 'fcape applaud, Annabel,

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Afaph,

{

Of whom kind force could fcarce the fates defraud; Arod,
Who for fuch followers loft, O matchlefs mind!
At his own fafety now almost repin'd!
Say, royal Sir, by all your fame in arms,
Your praife in peace, and by Urania's charms,
If all your fuff'rings paft fo nearly prefs'd,
Or pierc'd with half fo painful grief, your breaft:
Thus fome diviner Mufe her hero forms,
Not footh'd with foft delights, but tofs'd in forms;
Nor ftretch'd on rofes in the myrtle grove,
Nor crowns his days with mirth, his nights with
love;

Balaam,
Balaak,
Barzillai
Bathfheba,
Benaiah,
Ben Jochanan,

Bezaliel,
Caleb,
Corab,
David,
Doeg,

But far remov'd in thund'ring camps is found,
His flumbers short, his bed the herblefs ground:
In talks of danger always feen the first,
Feeds from the hedge, and flakes with ice his thirft. Egypt,
Long muft his patience strive with fortune's rage, Eliab,
And long oppofing gods themselves engage;

Muft fee his country flame, his friends destroy'd, Ethnic-Plot, -
Before the promis'd empire be enjoy'd:
Such toil of fate muft build a man of fame,
And fuch to Ifrael's crown, the godlike David

came.

What fudden beams difpel the clouds fo faft,
Whose drenching rains laid all our vineyards wafte!
The fpring fo far behind her course delay'd,
On th' inftant is in all her bloom array'd;
The winds breathe low, the element ferene;
Yet mark what motion in the waves is feen!
Thronging and bufy as Hyblæn fwarms,
Or ftraggled foldiers fummon'd to their arms.
See where the princely bark in loosest pride,
With all her guardian fleet, adorns the tide!
High on her deck the royal lovers stand,
Our crimes to pardon ere he touch'd our land.
Welcome to Ifrael and to David's breast!
Here all your toils, here all your fuff'rings reft.
This year did Ziloah rule Jerufalem,
And boldly all Sedition's fyrtes ftem.
Howe'er encumber'd with a viler pair
Than Ziph or Shimei to affift the chair;
Yet Ziloah's loyal labours fo prevail'd,
That faction at the next election fail'd;
When ev'n the common cry did justice found,
And merit by the multitude was crown'd:

Gath,

Hebron,

Hebrew Priefs,
Helon,
Hufbai,

Barnet.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Marquis of Hallifax.

Jothran,

Lord Darmouth.

Ibbofbeth,

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Pharaoh,

Rahfheka,

King of France.

Sir Thomas Player.

At his approach they rais a rueful cry, [high,
And beat their breafts, and held their hands on

· Sagan of Jerufalem, Dr. Compton, Bp. of Lond. Creeping and crying, till they feiz'd at last

Sanbedrim, Saul,

Shimei,

Sheva,

Solymean Rout,

Tyre,

Uzza,

Zadoc,

Zaken,

Zimri,

Ziloab,

Parliament.

Oliver Cromwell.

Sheriff Bethel.
Sir Roger Leftrange.
London Rebels.
Holland.
Jack Hall.

Sancroft, Archbishop of
Canterbury.

A Member of the Houfe
of Commons.

Villiers, D. of Buckingham. Sir John Moor.

His courfer's bridle, and his feet embrac'd.

Tell me, faid Thefeus, what and whence you

arc,

And why this fun'ral pageant you prepare?
Is this the welcome of my worthy deeds,
To meet my triumph in ill-omen'd weeds?
Or envy you my praife, and would destroy
With grief my pleasures, and pollute my joy?
Or are you injur'd, and demand relief?
Name your requeft, and I will eafe your grief.

The most in years of all the mourning train
Began (but fwooned first away for pain);
Then fearce recover'd fpoke: Nor envy we
Thy great renown, nor grudge thy victory:

28. Palamon and Arcite; or, the Knight's 'Tis thine, O king, th' afflicted to redrefs,

Tale. DRYDEN.

BOOK 1.

IN days of old, there liv'd, of mighty fame,
A valiant prince, and Thefeus was his name:
A chief who more in feats of arms excell'd
The rifing nor the fetting fun beheld.

Of Athens he was lord; much land he won,
And added foreign countries to his crown.
In Scythia with the warrior queen he ftrove,
Whom first by force he conquer'd, then by love;
He brought in triumph back the beauteous dame,
With whom her fifter, fair Emilia, came.
With honour to his home let Thefeus ride,
With love to friend, and fortune for his guide,
And his victorious army at his fide.
I pafs their warlike pomp, their proud array,
Their fhouts, their fongs, their welcome on the

way:

}

}

But, were it not too long, I would recite
The feats of Amazons, the fatal fight
Betwixt the hardy queen and hero knight;
The town beficg'd, and how much blood it coft
The female army and th' Athenian hoft;
The fpoufals of Hippolita the queen;
What tilts and turneys at the feaft were feen;
The ftorm at their return, the ladies' fear:
But thefe, and other things, I muft forbear.
The field is fpacious I delign to fow,
With oxen far unfit to draw the plough;
The remnant of my tale is of a length

To tire your patience, and to waste my ftrength;
And trivial accidents fhall be forborne,
That others may have time to take their turn;
As was at firft enjoin'd us by mine hoft,
That he whofe tale is beft, and pleases most,
Should win his fupper at our common coft.

And therefore where I left I will purfue
This ancient flory, whether falfe or true,
In hope it may be mended with a new.
The prince I mention'd, full of high renown,
In this array drew near th' Athenian town;
When in his pomp and utmost of his pride,
Marching he chanc'd to caft his eye afide,
And faw a choir of mourning dames, who lay
By two and two across the cominon way:

And fame has fill'd the world with thy fuccefs:
We wretched women fue for that alone,
Which of thy goodnefs is refus'd to none;
Let fall fome drops of pity on our grief,
If what we beg be juft, and we deferve relief :
For none of us, who now thy grace implore,
But held the rank of fov'reign queen before;
Till, thanks to giddy chance, which never bears
That mortal blif's fhould laft for length of years,
She caft us headlong from our high eftate;
And here in hope of thy return we wait:
And long have waited in the temple nigh,
Built to the gracious goddefs Clemency.
But rev'rence thou the pow'r whofe name it bears,
Relieve th' oppreft, and wipe the widow's tears.
I, wretched I, have other fortune feen,
The wife of Capaneus, and once a queen:
At Thebes he fell; curft be the fatal day!
And all the reft thou feeft in this array,
To make their moan, their lords in battle loft
Before that town befieg'd by our confed 'rate hoft:
But Creon, old and impious, who commands
The Theban city, and ufurps the lands,
Denies the rites of fun'ral fires to thofe
Whofe breathlefs bodies vet he calls his foes.
Unburn'd, unburied, on a heap they lie;
Such is their fate, and fuch his tyranny;
No friend has leave to bear away the dead,
But with their lifelefs limbs his hounds are fed.
At this the fhrick'd aloud; the mournful train
Echoed her grief, and grov'ling on the plain,
With groans, and hands upheld, to move his mind,
Befought his pity to their helplefs kind!

The prince was touch'd, his tears began to flow,
And, as his tender heart would break in two,
He figh'd; and could not but their fate deplore,
So wretched now, fo fortunate before.
Then lightly from his lofty fteed he flew,
And raifing one by one the fuppliant crew,
To comfort each, full folemnly he fwore,
That by the faith which knights to knighthood
bore,

And whate'er elfe to chivalry belongs,
He would not ceafe, till he reveng'd their wrongs:
ThatGreece fhould fee perform'd what he declar'd;
And cruel Crcon find his juft reward.

He

-

He faid no more, but, fhunning all delay,
Rode on, nor enter'd Athens on his way:
But left his fifter and his queen behind,
And wav'd his royal banner in the wind:
Where in an argent field the god of war
Was drawn triumphant on his iron car:

Red was his fword, and fhield, and whole attire;
And all the godhead feem'd to glow with fire;
E'en the ground glitter'd where the standard flew,
And the green grafs was dyed to fanguine hue.
High on his pointed lance his pennon bore
His Cretan fight, the conquer'd Minotaur;
The foldiers fhout around with gen'rous rage,
And in that victory their own prefage.
He prais'd their ardour, inly pleas'd to fee
His hoft the flow'r of Grecian chivalry.
All day he march'd, and all th' enfuing night;
And faw the city with returning light.
The procefs of the war I need not tell,
How Thefeus conquer'd, and how Creon fell;
Or after, how by ftorm the walls were won,
Or how the victor fack'd and burn'd the towng
How to the ladies he reftored again
The bodies of their lords in battle flain;
And with what ancient rites they were interr'd:
All these to fitter times fhall be deferr'd.
I fpare the widows' tears, their woeful cries,
And howling at their husbands' obfequies;
How Thefeus at thefe fun'rals did affift,
And with what gifts the mourning dames difmifs'd.
Thus when the victor chief had Creon flain,
And conquer'd Thebes, he pitch'd upon the plain
His mighty camp, and, when the day return'd,
The country watted, and the hamlets burn'd;
And left the pillagers, to rapine bred,
Without controul to strip and spoil the dead.
There, in a heap of flain, among the reft,
Two youthful knights they found, beneath a load
opprest

Of laughter'd foes, whom first to death they fent,
The trophies of their ftrength, a bloody monument.
Both fair, and both of royal blood they feem'd,
Whom kinfien to the crown the heralds deem'd;
That day in equal arms they fought for fame;
Their fwords, their fhields, their furcoats, were
the fame.

Close by each other laid, they prefs'd the ground, Their manly bofoms pierc'd with many a griefly wound;

Nor well alive, nor wholly dead, they were,
But fome faint figns of feeble life appear:
The wand'ring breath was on the wing to part,
Weak was the pulfe, and hardly heav'd the heart
These two were fifters' fons; and Arcite one,
Much fam'd in fields, with valiant Palamon.
From thefe their coftly arms the fpoilers rent;
And foftly both convey'd to Thefeus' tent:
Whom known of Creon's line, and cur'd with care,
He to his city fent as pris'ners of the war,
Hopeless of ranfom, and condemn'd to lie
In durance, doom'd a ling'ring death to die.
This done,he march'd away withiwarlike found,
And to his Athens turn'd with laurels crown'd,
Where happy long he liv'd, much lov'd and
more renown'd.

But in a tow'r, and never to be loos'd, The woeful captive kinimen are inclos'd.

Thus year by year they pafs, and day by day,
Till once, 'twas on the morn of cheerful May,
The young Emilia, fairer to be seen
Than the fair lily on the flow'ry green,
More fresh than May herself in bloffoms new,
For with the roty colour ftrove her hue,
Wak'd, as her custom was, before the day
To do th' obfervance due to fprightly May:
For fprightly May commands our youth to keep
The vigils of her night, and breaks their fluggard
fleep;

Each gentle breaft with kindly warmth the moves;
Infpires new flames, revives extinguish'd loves.
In this remembrance Emily ere day
Arofe, and drefs'd herself in rich array;
Fresh as the month, and as the morning fair,
Adown her thoulders fell her length of hair:
A ribband did the braided treffes bind,
The reft was loofe, and wanton'd in the wind:
Aurora had but newly chas'd the night,
And purpled o'er the fky with blushing light,
When to the garden walk fhe took her way,
To fport and trip along in cool of day,
And offer maiden vows in honour of the May.

At ev'ry turn fhe made a little stand,
And thrust among the thorns her lily hand
To draw the rofe; and ev'ry rofe the drew,
She shook the ftalk, and brush'd away the dew:
Then party-colour'd flow'rs of white and red
She wove, to make a garland for her head:
This done, the fung and carol'd out fo clear,
That men and angels might rejoice to hear:
Ev'n wond'ring Philomel forgot to fing;
And learn'd from her to welcome-in the fpring.
The tow'r, of which before was mention made,
Within whofe keep the captive knights were
laid,

Built of a large extent and strong withal,
Was one partition of the palace wall:
The garden was inclos'd within the square,
Where young Emilia tock the morning air.

It happen'd Palamon, the pris'ner knight,
Reftlefs for woe, arofe before the light,
And, with his jailor's leave, defir'd to breathe
An air more whole fome than the damps beneath.
This granted, to the tow'r he took his way,
Cheer'd with the promise of a glorious day :
Then caft a languishing regard around,
And faw with hateful eyes the temples crown'd
With golden fpires, and all the hoftile ground.
He figh'd, and turn'd his eyes, because he kno
'Twas but a larger gaol he had in view:
Then look'd below, and from the caftle's height
Beheld a nearer and more pleasing fight:
The garden, which before he had not feen,
In fpring's new liv'ry clad of white and green,
Freth flow'rs in wide parterres, and thady
walks between.

This view'd, but not enjoy'd, with arms across
He stood, reflecting on his country's lofs;
Himfelf an object of the public fcorn,
And often with'd he never had been born.

At

At laft, for fo his destiny requir'd,
With walking giddy, and with thinking tir'd,
He through a little window caft his fight,
Though thick of bars, that gave a fcanty light:
But ev'n that glimm'ring ferv'd him to defcry
Th' inevitable charms of Emily.
[fmart,
Scarce had he feen, but, feiz'd with fudden
Stung to the quick, he felt it at his heart;
Struck blind with overpow'ring light he stood,
Then ftarted back amaz'd, and cried aloud.
Young Arcite heard; and up he ran with hafte,
To help his friend, and in his arms embrac'd;
And afk'd him why he look'd fo deadly wan,
And whence and how his change of cheer began?
Or who had done th' offence? But if, faid he,
Your grief alone is hard captivity,

For love of heaven, with patience undergo
A curelefs ill, fince fate will have it fo
So ftood our horofcope in chains to lie,
And Saturn in the dungeon of the sky,
Or other baleful afpect, rul'd our birth,
When all the friendly ftars were under earth:
Whate'er betides, by deftiny 'tis done;
And better bear, like men, than vainly feek to
Nor of my bonds, faid Palamon again, [fhun.
Nor of unhappy planets, I complain;
But when my mortal anguifh caus'd my cry,
That moment I was hurt through either eye;
Pierc'd with a random shaft, I faint away,
And perish with insensible decay :

}

A glance of fome new goddess gave the wound,
Whom, like Acteon, unaware I found.
Look how he walks along yon fhady space,
Not Juno moves with more majestic grace;
And all the Cyprian queen is in her face.
If thou art Venus (for thy charms confefs
That face was form'd in heaven, nor art thou lefs;
Difguis'd in habit, undifguis'd in shape)
O help us captives from our chains to 'fcape;
But if our doom be pafs'd in bonds to lie
For life, and in a loathfome dungeon die,
Then be thy wrath appeas'd with our difgrace,
And fhew compaffion to the Theban race,
Opprefs'd by tyrant pow'r! While yet he spoke,
Arcite on Emily had fix'd his look;
The fatal dart a ready paffage found,
And deep within his heart infix'd the wound:
So that if Palamon were wounded fore,
Arcite was hurt as much as he, or more:
Then from his inmost foul he figh’d, and said,
The beauty I beheld has ftruck me dead:
Unknowingly the strikes, and kills by chance;
Poison is in her eyes, and death in ev'ry glance.
O, I muft afk; nor ask alone, but move
Her mind to mercy, or muft die for love.

}

Thus Arcite and thus Palamon replies (Eager his tone, and ardent were his eyes): Speak ft thou in earnest, or in jefting vain? Jefting, faid Arcite, fuits but ill with pain. It fuits far worfe (faid Palamon again, And bent his brows),with men who honour weigh, Their faith to break, their friendship to betray; But worst with thee of noble lineage born, My kinfiman, and in arms my brother fworn.

Have we not plighted each our holy oath,
That one fhould be the common good of both;
One foul should both inspire, and neither prove
His fellow's hindrance in purfuit of love?
To this before the gods we gave our hands,
And nothing but our death can break the bands.
This binds thee, then, to further my defign,
As I am bound by vow to further thine :
Nor canft, nor dar'ft thou, traitor, on the plain
Approach my honour, or thine own maintain,
Since thou art of my council, and the friend
Whose faith I truff, and on whofe care depend:
And wouldst thou court my lady's love, which I
Much rather than release would choose to die?
But thou, falfe Arcite, never fhalt obtain
Thy bad pretence: I told thee first my pain;
For firft my love began ere thine was born:
Thou, as my counfel and my brother fworn,
Art bound t'affift my eldership of right,
Or justly to be deem'd a perjur'd knight.

Thus Palamon; but Arcite with disdain,
In haughty language, thus replied again:
Forfworn thyself; the traitor's odious name
I first return, and then difprove thy claim.
If love be paffion, and that paffion nurs'd
With ftrong defires, I lov'd the lady first.
Canft thou pretend defire, whom zeal inflam'd
To worthip, and a pow'r celeftial nam'd?
Thine was devotion to the bleft above;

I faw the woman, and defir'd her love;
Firft own'd my paffion, and to thee commend
Th' important fecret, as my chofen friend.
Suppofe (which yet I grant not) thy defire
A moment elder than my rival fire;
Can chance of feeing first thy title prove?
And know'st thou not, no law is made for love?
Law is to things which to free choice relate;
Love is not in our choice, but in our fate;
Laws are but pofitive; love's pow'r we fee
Is Nature's fan&tion, and her firft decree.
Each day we break the bond of human laws
For love, and vindicate the common cause.
Laws for defence of civil rights are plac'd ;
Love throws the fences down, and makes a gen'ral

waste :

Maids,widows,wives, without diftinction fall; [all. The fweeping deluge, Love, comes on, and covers If then the laws of friendship I tranfgrefs,

I keep the greater, while I break the lefs;

Both hopeless to be fanfom'd, never more To fee the fun, but as he paffes o'er.

}

Like Afop's hounds contending for the bone, Each pleaded right, and would be lord alone: The fruitlefs fight continued all the day; A cur came by, and fnatch'd the prize away. As courtiers therefore juftle for a grant, [want, And when they break their friendship plead their So thou, if fortune will thy fuit advance, Love on, nor envy me my equal chance: For I must love, and am refolv'd to try My fate, or, failing in th' adventure, die.

Great was their ftrife, which hourly was renew'd, Till each with mortal hate his rival view'd:

Now

Now friends no more, nor walking hand in hand,
But when they met they made a furly ftand;
And glar'd like angry lions as they pafs'd,
And with'd that ev'ry look might be their last.
It chane'd at length, Pirithous came t' attend
This worthy Thefeus, his familiar friend;
Their love in early infancy began,
And rofe as childhood ripen'd into man.
Companions of the war; and lov'd fo well,
That when one died; as ancient stories tell,
His fellow to redeem him went to hell.

But to purfue my tale; to welcome home
His warlike brother is Pirithous come;
Arcite of Thebes was known in arms long fince,
And honour'd by this young Theffalian prince.
Thefeus, to gratify his friend and guest,
Who made our Arcite's freedom his requeft,
Reftor'd to liberty the captive knight,
But on thefe hard conditions 1 recite :
That if hereafter Arcite should be found
Within the compass of Athenian ground,
By day or night, or on whate'er pretence,
His head fhould pay the forfeit of th' offence.
To this Pirithous for his friend agreed,
And on his promife was the pris'ner freed.
Unpleas'd and penfive hence he takes his way,
At his own peril; for his life muft pay.
Who now but Arcite mourns his bitter fate,
Finds his dear purchafe, and repents too late?
What have I gain'd, he faid, in prifon pent,
If I but change my bonds for banishment?
And, banith'd from her fight, I fuffer more
In freedom, than I felt in bonds before;
Forc'd from her prefence, and condemn'd to love:
Unwelcome freedom, and unthank'd reprieve !
Heaven is not but where Emily abides;
And where the 's abfent, all is hell befides.
Next to my day of birth was that accurs'd,
Which bound my friendship to Pirithous first:
Had I not known that prince, I still had been
In bondage, and had still Emilia feen:
For though I never can her grace deserve,
'Tis recompenfe enough to fee and ferve.
O Palamon, my kinfman and my friend,
How much more happy fates thy love attend!
Thine is th' adventure, thine the victory;
Well has thy fortune turn'd the dice for thee:
Thou on that angel's face mayft feed thine eyes,
In prifon-no-but blifsful paradife!
Thou daily feeft that fun of beauty shine,
And lov'ft at least in love's extremeft line.
I mourn in absence, love's eternal night;
And who can tell but, fince thou haft her fight,
And art a comely, young, and valiant knight,
Fortune (a various pow'r) may cease to frown,
And by fome ways unknown thy wishes crown?
But I, the most forlorn of human kind,
Nor help can hope, nor remedy can find;
But, doom'd to drag my loathfome life in care,
For my reward, muft end it in despair.
Fire, water, air, and earth, and force of fates
That governs all, and Heaven that all creates,
Nor art, nor nature's hand, can eafe my grief;
Nothing but death, the wretch's laft relief:

Then farewell youth, and all the joys that dwell With youth and life, and life itself farewell.

:

But why, alas! do mortal men in vain Of fortune, fate, or providence complain? God gives us what he knows our wants require, And better things than those which we defire: Some pray for riches, riches they obtain; But, watch'd by robbers, for their wealth are flain: Some pray from prifon to be freed; and come, When guilty of their vows, to fall at home; Murder'd by thofe they trufted with their life, A favour'd fervant, or a bofom wife. Such dear-bought bleffings happen ev'ry day, Because we know not for what things to pray. Like drunken fots about the street we roam: Well knows the fot he has a certain home; Yet knows not how to find th' uncertain place, And blunders on, and staggers ev'ry pace. Thus all feek happiness, but few can find: For far the greater part of men are blind. This is my cafe, who thought our utmost good Was in one word of freedom understood: The fatal bleffing came: from prison free, I ftarve abroad, and lofe the fight of Emily. Thus Arcite but if Arcite thus deplore His fuff'rings, Palamon yet fuffers more. For when he knew his rival freed and gone, He fwells with wrath, he makes outrageous moan: He frets, he fumes, he ftares, he ftamps the ground; The hollow tow'r with clamours rings around: With briny tears he bath'd his fetter'd feet, And dropp'd all o'er with agony of sweat. Alas! he cried, I wretch in prifon pine, Too happy rival, while the fruit is thine: Thou liv't at large, thou draw'ft thy native air, Pleas'd with thy freedom, proud of my despair: Thou mayft, fince thou haft youth and courage A fweet behaviour, and a folid mind, Affemble ours and all the Theban race, To vindicate on Athens thy difgrace; And after, by fome treaty made, poffefs Fair Emily, the pledge of lafting peace. So thine fhall be the beauteous prize, while I Muft languish in despair, in prifon die. Thus all th' advantage of the ftrife is thine; Thy portion double joys, and double forrows mine. The rage of jealouly then fir'd his soul, And his face kindled like a burning coal : Now cold Despair, fucceeding in her stead, To livid palenefs turns the glowing red. His blood, fcarce liquid, creeps within his veins, Like water which the freezing wind constrains. Then thus he said: Eternal Deities, Who rule the world with abfolute decrees, And write whatever time shall bring to pass, With pens of adamant, on plates of brafs; What, is the race of human kind your care Beyond what all his fellow-creatures are? He with the reft is liable to pain;

[join'd,

And like the fheep, his brother-beaft, is flain. Cold, hunger, prifons, ills without a cure, All these he muft, and guiltlefs oft, endure; Or does your juftice, pow'r, or prescience fail When the good fuffer, and the bad prevail?

What

« PreviousContinue »