Say, charmer, where do thy focks stray? $90. Song. To the Memory of W. Shenstone, O tell me, at noon where they feed !

Esq. CUNNINGHAM. Shall I seek them on sweet winding Tay, Come, shepherds, we'll follow the hearse, Or the pleasanter banks of the Tweed? And see our lov'd Corydon laid :

Though sorrow may blemish the verse,

Yet let the sad tribute be paid.

They call'd him the pride of the plain; $ 89. Song. Nancy of the Vale. SHENSTONE. In sooth he was gentle and kind;

He mark'd, in his elegant strain,
The western sky was purpled o'er
With ev'ry pleasing ray,

The graces that glow'd in his mind.
And flocks, reviving, felt no more

On purpose he planted yon trees, The sultry heat of day;

That birds in the covert might dwell ; When from a hazel's artless bow'r

He cultur'd the thyme for the bees, Soft warbled Strephon's tongue;

But never would rifle their cell. He bless'd the scene, he bless'd the hour,

Ye lambkins that play'd at his feet, While Nancy's praise he sung.

Go bleat, and your master benioan;

His music was artless and sweet,
Let fops with fickle falsehood range

His manners as mild as your own.
The paths of wanton love;
Whilst weeping maids lament their change,

No verdure shall cover the vale,
And sadden ev'ry grove :

No bloom on the blossoms

appear; But endless blessings crown the day

The sweets of the forest shall fail, I saw fair Esham's dale;

And winter discolour the

year. And every blessing find its way

No birds in our hedges shall sing To Nancy of the Vale.

(Our hedges so vocal before),

Since he that should welcome the spring 'Twas from Avona's bank the maid

Can greet the gay season no more.
Diffus'd her lovely beams;
And ev'ry shining glance display'd

His Phyllis was fond of his praise,
The Naiad of the streams.

And poets came round in a throng; Soft as the wild-duck's tender young,

They listend, and envy'd his lays, That float on Avon's tide,

But which of them equall'd his song? Bright as the water-lily sprung

Ye shepherds, henceforward be mute, And glitt'ring near its side.

For lost is the pastoral strain;

So give me my Corydon's flute,
Fresh as the bord'ring flow’rs her bloom,
Her eye all mild to view ;

And thus-let me break it in twain.
The little halcyon's azure plume

Was never half so blue.
Her shape was like the reed, so sleek,

So taper, straight, and fair;
Her dimpled smile, her blushing cheek,

$91. Song

LYTTELTON. How charming sweet they were !

The heavy hours are almost past Far in the winding vale retir'd

That part my love and me;
This peerless bud I found,

My longing eyes may hope at last
And shadowing rocks and woods conspir’d Their only wish to see.
To fence her beauties round.

But how, my Delia, will you meet
That nature in so lone a dell

The man you've lost so long? Should form a nymph so sweet,

Will love in all your pulses beat, Or fortune to her secret cell

And tremble on your tongue? Conduct my wand'ring feet!

Will you in ev'ry look declare Gay lordlings sought her for their bride, Your heart is still the same; But she would ne'er incline:

And heal each idle anxious care
Prove to your equals true, she cried,

Our fears in absence frame?
As I will prove to mine.
'Tis Strephon on the mountain's brow Thus, Delia, thus I paint the scene
Has won my right good-will;

When shortly we shall meet,
To him I give my plighted yow,

And try what yet remains between With him I'll climb the hill.

Of loit'ring time to cheat. Struck with her charms and gentle truth,

But if the dream that soothes my mind I clasp'd the constant fair;

Shall false and groundless prove; To her alone I give my youth,

If I am doom'd at length to find And vow my future care.

You have forgot to love; And when this vow shall faithless prove, All I of Venus ask is this Or I these charms forego,

No more to let us join; The stream that saw our tender love,

But grant me here the fatt'ring bliss, That stream shall cease to Aow.

To die and think you mine.

$ 92. Song:
LYTTELTON.

But pity succeeding sound place in his heart; When Delia on the plain appears,

And, pleas'd with his playing so well, Aw'd by a thousand tender fears,

He took her again in reward of his art. I would approach, but dare not move;

Such power had music in hell ! Tell me, my heart, if this be love?

$95. Song Rowe. Whene'er she speaks, my ravish'd ear No other voice but hers can hear,

To the brook and the willow, that heard him No other wit but hers approve;

Ah willow! willow!

[complain, Tell me, my heart, if this be love?

Poor Colin went weeping, and told him his pain.

Sweet streanı, he cried, sadly I'll reach thee to If she some other swain commend,

flow,

woe. Though I was once his fondest friend,

And the waters shall rise to the brink with my His instant enemy I prole;

All restless and painful my Celia now lies, Tell me, my heart, if this be love?

And counts the sad moments of time as it Aies: When she is absent, I no more

To the nymph, iny heart's love, ye soft slumbers, Delight in all that pleas'd before,

repair, The clearest spring, the shadiest grove; Spread your downy wings o'er her, and make Tell me, my heart, if this be love?

her your care;

Let me be left restless, mine eyes never close, When fond of pow'r, of beauty vain,

So the sleep that I lose give my dear one repose. Her nets she spread for ev'ry swain, I strove to hate, but vainly strove;

Sweet stream! if you chance by her pillow ta

creep, Tell me, my heart, if this be love?

Perhaps your soft murmurs may lull her to sleep:

But if I am doom'd to be wreiched indeed, $93. Song. SOAME JENYNS. And the loss of mycharmer the fates have decreed,

Believe me, thou fair one, thou dear one, believe, Too plain, dear youth, these tell-tale eyes

Few sighs to thy loss, and few tears will I give; My heart your own declare;

One fate to thy Colin and thee shall belide, But for love's sake let it suffice

And soon lay thy shepherd down by thy cold side. You reign triumphant there.

Then glide,genile brook,andto lose thyself haste, Forbear your utmost pow'r to try,

Bear this to my willow; this verse is my lası. Nor further urge your sway;

Ah willow! willow! Ah willow! willow! Press not for what I must deuy, For fear I should obey.

$ 96. Song Could all your arts successful prove,

Dear Chloe, while thus beyond measure

You treat me with doubts and disdain, Would you a maid undo, Whose greatest failing is her love,

You rob all your youth of its pleasure, And that her love for you?

And hoard up an old age of pain :

Your maxiin, that love is still founded
Say, would you use that very pow'r

On charms that will quickly decay,
You from her fondness claim,

You will find to be very ill-grounded
To rhin in one fatal hour

When once you its dictates obey. A life of spotless fame?

The passion from beauty first drawn, Resolve not then to do an ill,

Your kindness will vastly improve; Because perhaps you may;

Soft looks and gay smiles are the dawn, But rather use your atinost skill

Fruition's the sunshine of love: To save me, than betray.

And though the bright beams of your eyes Be you yourself my virtue's guard;

Should be clouded that now are so gay, Defend, and not pursue;

And darkness obscure all ibe skies,
Since 'tis a task for me too hard

We ne'er can forget it was day.
To strive with love and you.

Old Darby, with Joan by his side,

You oft have regarded with wonder; $94. Song. The Power of Music. Lisle. He is dropsical, she is sore-ey'd, When Orpheuswentdown to the regions below, Together ihey totter about,

Yet they're ever uneasy asunder:
Which men are forbidden to see,

And sit in the sun at the door ;
He tun'd up his lyre, as old histories show,

And at night, when old Darby's pipe's out, To ses his Eurydice free.

His Joan will not smoke a whiti more. All hell was astonish'd a person so wise

No beauty or wit they possess,
Should rashly endanger his life,
Audventure so far—but how vast their surprise, Then what are the charnus, can you guess,

Their several failings to smother;
When they heard that he cane for his rife!

That make them so fond of each other! To find out a punishment due to his fault, "Tis the pleasing rensembrance of youth, Old Pluto long puzzled his brain;

The endearments that love did bestow, But hellhad notiorments sufficient, he thought. The thoughts of past pleasure and truth, So he gave him his wife back again.

The best of all blessings below.

These traces for ever will last,

O Nancy! canst thou love so true, Which sickness nor time can remove;

Through perils keen with me to go; For when youth and beauty are past,

Or, when thy swain mishap shall rue, And age brings the winter of love,

To share with him the pang of woe? A friendship insensibly grows

Say, should disease or pain befall, By reviews of such raptares as these,

Wilt thou assume the nurse's care,
And the current of fondness still flows, Nor wistful those gay scenes recall
Which decrepit old age cannot freeze.

Where thou wert fairest of the fair?
And when at last thy love shall die,

Wilt thou receive his parting breath?
$ 97. Song. GILBERT Cooper.

Wilt thou repress each struggling sigh, AWAY! let nought to love displeasing,

And cheer with smiles the bed of death? My Winifreda, inove thy fear;

And wilt thou o'er his breathless clay Let nought delay the heavenly blessing, Strew flowers, and drop the tender tear? Nor squeamish pride, nor gloomy care.

Nor then regret those scenes so gay

Where thou wert fairest of the fair ? What though no grants of royal donors

With pompous titles grace our blood; We'll shine in more substantial honours, And to be noble, we'll be good.

§ 99. Song. Mallet. What though from fortune's lavish bounty No mighty treasures we possess;

The smiling morn, the breathing spring, We'll find within our pittance plenty,

Invite the tuneful birds to sing ; And be content without excess.

And, while they warble from each spray,

Love melts the universal lay. Still shall each kind returning season

Let us, Amanda, timely wise, Sufficient for our wishes give;

Like them improve the hour that Aies; For we will live a life of reason,

And in soft raptures waste the day, And that's the only life to live.

Among the shades of Endermay! Our name, while virtue thus we tender,

For soon the winter of the year, Shall sweetly sound where'er 'tis spoke,

And age, life's winter, will appear; And all the great ones much shall wonder

At this thy living bloom must fade, How [hey admire such little folk.

As that will strip the verdant shade. Through youth and age, in love excelling,

Our taste of pleasure then is o'er; We'll hand in hand together tread; The feather'd songsters love no more: Sweet siniling peace shall crown our dwelling, And when they droop, and we decay,

And babes, sweet smiling babes, our bed. Adieu the shades of Endermay. How should I love the pretty creatures,

Whilst round my knees they fondly clung, To see them look their mother's features,

$ 100. The Spanish Lody's Love. To hear them lisp their mother's tongue ! And when with envy Time transported

Will you hear a Spanish lady, Shall think to rob us of our joys,

How she wood an English man? You'll in your girls again be courted,

Garments gay, as rich as inay be,
And I'll go wooing in my boys.

Deck'd with jewels had she on:
Of a comely countenance and grace was she,
Both by birth and parentage of high degree.

As his prisoner there he kept her,
98. Song. Percy.

In his hands her life did lie; O Nancy! wilt thou go with me,

Cupid's bands did tie them faster, Nor sigh to leave the flaunting town?

By the liking of an eye. Can silent glens have charms for thee,

In his courteous company was all her joy, The lowly cot and russet gown?

To favour him in any thing she was not coy. No longer drest in silken sheen,

But at last there came commandment No longer deck'd with jewels rare,

For to set all ladies free, Say, canst thou quit each courtly scene

With their jewels still adorned, Where thou wert fairest of the fair?

None to do thein injury. O Nancy! when thou’rt far away,

O then, said this lady gay, full woe is me! Wilt thou not cast a wish behind ?

O let me still sustain this kind captivity! Say, canst thou face the parching ray,

Gallant captain, show some pity Nor shrink before the wintry wind?

To a lady in distress; O can that soft and gentle mien.

Leave me not within this city, Extremes of hardship learn to bear,

For to die in heaviness : Nor sad regret each courtly scene

Thou hast set, this present day, my body free, Where thou wert fairest of the fair ?

But my heart in prison still remains with thce.

OT,

“ How shouldst thou, fair lady, love me, Commend me to that gallant lady,

Whom thou know'st thy country's foe? Bear to her this chain of gold, Thy fair words make me suspect thee; With these bracelets for a token; Serpents lie where flowers grow."

Grieving that I was so bold : All the harm I wish on thee, most courteous All my jewels, in like sort, take thou with thee; knight,

[light! For they are fitting for thy wife, but not for me. God grant upon my head the same may fully

I will spend my days in prayer, Blessed be the time and season

Love and all his laws defy; That thou cam'st on Spanish ground !

In a nunnery I will shroud me,

Far from any company :
If you may our foes be termed,
Gentle foes we have you found:

But, ere my prayers have an end, be sure of this, With our city, you have won our hearts each one, To pray for thee and for thy love I will not miss. Then to your country bear away that is yourown. Thus farewell, most gallant captain !

Farewell to “ Rest you still, most gallant lady:

heart's content !

my,

Count not Spanish ladies wanton, Rest you still, and weep no more ;

Though to thee my mind was bent: Of fair flowers have plenty, you

Joy and true prosperity go still with thee! Spain doth yield you wondrous store.”

“ The like fall unto thy share, most fair lady!" Spaniards fraught with jealousy we oft do find, But Englishmen throughout the world are counted kind.

$ 101. Ballad. The Children in the Wood; Leave me not unto a Spaniard,

The Norfolk Gentleman's last Will and Thou alone enjoy'st my heart;

Testament.
I am lovely, young, and tender,
Love is likewise my desert :

Now ponder well, you parents dear,
Still to serve thee day and night my mind is prest;

The words which I shall write ; The wife of ev'ry Englishman is counted blest? | A doleful story you shall hear,

In time brought forth to light. “ It would be a shame, fair lady,

A gentleman of good account For to bear a woman hence;

In Norfolk liv'd of late, English soldiers never carry

Whose wealth and riches did surmount

Most men of his estate.
Any such without offence.”
I will quickly change myself, if it be so, Sore sick he was, and like to die,
And, like a page, will follow thee where'er No help that he could have;

His wife by him as sick did lie,

And both possess'd one grave. “ I have neither gold nor silver

No love between these two was lost, To maintain thee in this case :

Each was to other kind:
And to travel is great charges,

In love they liv’d, in love they died,
As you know, in ev'ry place.”,

And left two babes behind :
My chains and jewels ev'ry one shall be thy
own,

(unknown. The one a fine and pretty boy, And eke ten thousand pounds in gold that lies Not passing three years

old:

The other a girl, more young than he, “ On the seas are many dangers,

And made in beauty's mould. Many storms do there arise,

The father left his little son,
Which will be to ladies dreadful,

As plainly doth appear,
And force tears from wat'ry eyes." When he to perfect age should come,
Well, in troth, I shall endure extremity,

Three hundred pounds a year;
For I could find in heart to lose my life for thee. And to his little daughter Jane

Five hundred pounds in gold, “ Courteous lady, leave this folly,

To be paid down on marriage day,
Here comes all that breeds the strife;

Which might not be controll’d.
I, in England, have already

But if the children chanc'd to die
A sweet woman to my wife;

Ere they to age should come,
I will not falsify my vow for gold nor gain,

Their uncle should possess their wealth; Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in

For so the will did run.
Spain."

Now brother, said the dying man,
O how happy is that woman

Look to my children dear; That enjoys so true a friend;

Be good unto my boy and girl, Many happy days God send hér!

No friends else I have here: And of my suit I'll make an end : To God and you I do commend On my knees I pardon crave for my offence, My children night and day; Which love and true affection did first com- But little while, be sure, we have

Within this world to stay.

thou go.

You must be father and mother both, He took the children by the hand,
And uncle, all in one ;

When tears stood in their eye;
God knows what will become of them And bade them come and go with him,
When I am dead and gone.

And look they did not cry:
With that bespake their mother dear; And iwo long miles he led them on,
O brother kind, quoth she,

While they for food complain :
You are the man must bring our babes Stay here, quoth he, I'll bring you bread,
To wealth or misery.

Úhen I do come again. And if you keep them carefully,

These pretty babes with hand in hand Then God will you reward;

Went wandering up and down: If otherwise you seem to deal,

But never more they saw the man God will your deeds regard.

Approaching from the town. With lips as cold as any stone,

Their pretty lips with blackberries She kiss'd her children small :

Were all besmear'd and dy'd ; God bless you both, my children dear And when they saw the darksome night, With that the tears did fall.

They sat them down and cried. These speeches then their brother spoke Thus wander'd these two pretty babes, To this sick couple there :

Till death did end their grief; The keeping of your children dear,

In one another's arms they died, Sweet sister, do not fear;

As babes wanting relief. God never prosper me nor nine,

No burial these pretty babes Nor aught else that I have,

Of a

any man receives, If I do wrong your children dear,

Till Robin-red-breast painfully When you are laid in grave !

Did cover them with leaves. Their parents being dead and gone,

And now the heavy wrath of God
The children home he takes,

Upon their uncle fell;
And brings them both unto his house, Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house,
And much of them he makes.

His conscience felt a hell.
He had not kept these pretty babes

His barns were fir'd, his goods consum'd, A twelvemonth and a day,

His lands were barren made, When for their wealth he did devise

His cattle died within the field, To make them both away.

And nothing with him staid. He bargain’d with two ruffians rude,

And, in the voyage of Portugal,
Which were of furious mood,

Two of his sons did die;
That they should take the children young, And, to conclude, himself was brought
And slay them in a wood.

To extreme misery :
He told his wife, and all he had,

He pawn'd and mortgag'd all his land He did the children send

Ere seven years came about; To be brought up in fair London,

And now at length this wicked act With one that was his friend.

Did by this means come out: Away then went these pretty babes,

The fellow that did take in hand Rejoicing at that tide;

These children for to kill, Rejoicing with a merry mind,

Was for a robbery judg'd to die, They should on cock-horse ride.

As was God's blessed will; They prate and prattle pleasantly,

Who did confess the very truth, As they rode on the way,

The which is here express'd; To those that should their butchers be,

Their uncle died, while he for debt And work their lives' decay.

In prison long did rest. So that the pretty speech they had,

All you that be executors made, Made murd'rers' hearts relent;

And overseers eke, And they that undertook the deed

Of children that be fatherless, Full sore they did repent,

And infants mild and meek: Yet one of them, more hard of heart,

Take you example by this thing, Did vow to do his charge,

And give to each his right; Because the wretch that hired him

Lest God with such like misery, Had paid him very large.

Your wicked minds requite. The other would not agree thereto,

So here they fell at strife; With one another they did fight

$ 102. Ballad. The Hunting in Chevy Chase. About the children's life. And he that was of mildest mood

God prosper long our noble king, Did slay the other there,

Our lives and safeties all ! Within an unfrequented wood;

A woeful hunting once there did While babes did quake for fear.

In Chevy Chase befal.