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On fands, and fhores, and defert wildernesses.
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended 211
By a flrong fiding champion, conscience.---
O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope,
Thou hovering Angel girt with golden wings,
And thou unblemish'd form of Chastity;

I see ye vifibly, and now believe

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That he, the Supreme Good, t' whom all things ill
Are but as flavish officers of vengeance,

Would fend a glist'ring guardian if need were
To keep my life and honor unassail'd.
Was I deceiv'd, or did a fable cloud
Turn forth her filver lining on the night?
I did not err, there does a fable cloud
Turn forth her filver lining on the night,
And cafts a gleam over this tufted grove.
I cannot hallow to my Brothers, but
Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest
I'll venture, for my new inliven'd spirits
Prompt me; and they perhaps are not far off.

SWE

SONG.

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WEET Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'ft unseen Within thy aery fhell,

By flow Meander's margent green,

And in the violet-embroider'd vale,

Where the love-lorn nightingale

F f

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Nightly

Nightly to thee her fad fong mourneth well; 235 Canft thou not tell me of a gentle pair

That likeft thy Narcissus are?

O if thou have

Hid them in fome flow'ry cave,

Tell me but where,

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Sweet queen of parly, daughter of the sphere, So may'st thou be translated to the skies, And give refounding grace to all Heav'n's harmo(nies.

Com. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mold Breathe fuch divine inchanting ravishment? 245 Sure something holy lodges in that breast, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To teftify his hidden refidence :

How sweetly did they flote upon the wings

Of filence, through the empty-vaulted night, 250
At every fall smoothing the raven down
Of darkness till it fmil'd! I have oft heard

My mother Circe with the Sirens three,
Amidst the flow'ry-kirtled Naiades

Culling their potent herbs, and baleful drugs, 255
Who as they fung, would take the prison'd soul,
And lap it in Elyfium; Scylla wept,

And chid her barking waves into attention,
And fell Charybdis murmur'd foft applaufe:
Yet they in pleasing flumber lull'd the fenfe, 260
And in fweet madness robb'd it of itself ;

But

But fuch a facred, and home-felt delight,

Such fober certainty of waking bliss

I never heard till now.

I'll speak to her,

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And she shall be my queen. Hail foreign wonder, Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, Unless the Goddess that in rural fhrine

Dwell'ft here with Pan, or Silvan, by blest song Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog

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To touch the prosp'rous growth of this tall wood.
Lady. Nay gentle Shepherd, ill is loft that praise
That is addrefs'd to unattending ears;
Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
How to regain my fever'd company,
Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo
To give me answer from her moffy couch.
Com. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus?
Lady. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth.
Com. Could that divide you from near-ushering
guides?

Lady. They left me weary on a graffy turf. 280
Com. By falfhood, or discourtesy, or why?

Lady. To feek i' th' valley fome cool friendly spring. Com. And left your fair fide all unguarded, Lady? Lady. Theywere but twain, and purpos'dquick return. Com. Perhaps fore-ftalling night prevented them. Lady. How eafy my misfortune is to hit! 286 Com. Imports their loss, beside the present need? Lady. No lefs than if I fhould my Brothers lofe.

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Com. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom? Lady. As fmooth as Hebe's their unrazor'dlips. 290 Com. Two fuch I faw, what time the labor'd ox In his loose traces from the furrow came, And the swinkt hedger at his fupper fat; I saw them under a green mantling vine

That crawls along the fide of yon fmall hill, 295
Plucking ripe clufters from the tender fhoots;
Their port was more than human, as they flood:
I took it for a faëry vision

Of fome gay creatures of the element,
That in the colors of the rainbow live,

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And play i' th' plighted clouds. I was aw-struck,
And as I paft, I worshipt; if those you seek,
It were a journey like the path to Heaven,
To help you to find them. La. Gentle Villager,
What readiest way would bring me to that place?
Com. Due weft it rises from this shrubby point. 306
Lady. To find out that, good Shepherd, I suppose,
In such a scant allowance of star-light,
Would over-task the best land-pilot's art,
Without the fure guess of well-practic'd feet. 310
Com. I know each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood,
And every bosky bourn from side to side,
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;
And if your ftray-attendence be yet lodg'd,
Or fhroud within thefe limits, I fhall know

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Ere

Ere morrow wake, or the low-roofted lark
From her thatcht pallat rouse; if otherwise
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low

But loyal cottage, where you may be safe

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Till further queft. La. Shepherd, I take thy word,

And trust thy honeft offer'd courtesy,

Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With fmoky rafters, than in tap'ftry halls
And courts of princes, where it firft was nam'd, 325
And yet is most pretended: In a place
Lefs warranted than this, or less secure,

I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.
Eye me, bleft Providence, and square my trial
To my proportion'd ftrength. Shepherd lead on. 330

The two Brothers.

El. Bro. Unmuffle ye faint Stars, and thou fair Moon,
That wont'ft to love the traveller's benizon,
Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,
And difinherit Chaos, that reigns here

In double night of darkness, and of shades;
Or if your influence be quite damm'd up
With black ufurping mists, some gentle taper,
Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole
Of fome clay habitation, visit us

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With thy long levell'd rule of ftreaming light, 340 And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,

Or Tyrian Cynosure. 2. Bro. Or if our eyes

Be

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