What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid? Or if they be but false alarms of fear, How bitter is such self-delusion! I do not think my Sister so to seek, Or so unprincipled in Virtue's book, And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, As that the single want of light and noise (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not,) Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts, And put them into misbecoming plight. Virtue could see to do what Virtue would By her own radiant light, though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And wisdom's self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude ; Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation, She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings, That in the various bustle of resort Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impair'd. He, that has light within his own clear breast May sit i' the center, and enjoy bright day: But he, that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself is his own dungeon. - Second Brother. 'Tiş most true, 'That musing Meditation most affects The pensive secrecy of desart cell, Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds,

And sits as safe as in a senatc-house;
For who would rob a hermit of his weeds,
His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,
Or do his gray hairs any violence ?
But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree
Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Of dragon-watch with unenchanted eye,
To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit,
From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.
You may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps
Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den,
And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on Opportunity,
And let a single helpless maiden pass
Uninjur'd in this wild surrounding waste.
Of night, or loneliness, it recks me not;
I fear the dread events that dog them both,
Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person
Of our unowned Sister.

Elder Brother. I do not, Brother,
Infer, as if I thought my Sister's state
Secure, without all doubt or controversy,
Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear
Does arbitrate the event, my nature is! 23:
That I incline to hope, rather than fear,
And gladly banish squint suspicion...,
My Sister is not so defenceless left
As you imagine'; she has a hidden strength,

Which you remember not...

Second Brother. What hidden strength, Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that? Elder Brother. I mean that too, but yet a hid

den strength, Which, if Heaven gave it, may be term'd her own 'Tis Chastity, my Brother, Chastity: She, that has that, is clad in complete steel; And, like a quiver'd Nymph with arrows keen, May trace huge forests, and unharbour'd heaths, Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds; Where, through the sacred rays of Chastity, No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer, Will dare to spoil her virgin purity: . : Yea there, where very Desolation dwells, By grots and caverns shagg'd with horrid shades, She may pass on with unblench'd majesty, Be it not done in pride, or in presumption. Some say, no evil thing that walks by night. In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, Blue meager hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost That breaks his magick chains at Curfeu time, No goblin, or swart faery of the mine, Hath hurtful power o'er true Virginity. Do ye 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 brow; .

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' the

woods. -
What was the snaky-headed Gorgon shield,
That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin,
Wherewith she freez'd her foes to congeal'd stone,
But rigid looks of chaste austerity,
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 po gross ear can hear;
Till oft converse with heavenly habitant
Begin to cast a beam on the 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 lose

The divine property of her first being.
Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp,
Oft seen in charnel vaults and sepulchres
Lingering, and sitting by a new made grave,
As loth to leave the body that it lov'd,
And link'd itself by carnal sensuality
To a degenerate and degraded state.
Second Brother. How charming is divine Phi-

losophy!
Not harsh, and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets,
Where no crude surfeit reigns.
Elder Brother.

List, list; I hear
Some far off holloo break the silent air.
Second Brother. Methought so too ; what should

it be? . Elder Brother. For certain Either some one like us night-founder'd here, Or else some neighbour woodman, or, at worst, Some roving robber calling to his fellows. Second Brother. Heaven keep my Sister. Again,

and near ! : Best draw, and stand upon our guard.' Elder Brother..

I'll halloo : If he be friendly, he comes well; if not, Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us.