"Exalt thy love-dejected heart, Be mine the task, or ere we part, Now take the pleasure of thy chaunce; He spoke, and all a sudden there The monarch leads the queen: The dauncing past, the board was laid, But, now to please the fairy king, Some wind and tumble like an ape, Till one at last, that Robin hight, Renown'd for pinching maids by night, Has bent him up aloof: And full against the beam he flung, Where by the back the youth he hung To spraul unneath the roof. From thence," Reverse my charm," he cries, "And let it fairly now suffice The gambol has been shown." Here ended all the phantom-play ; The whirling wind that bore the crowd Then screaming all at once they fly, Forlorn his state, and dark the place, But soon as Dan Apollo rose, Which made him want success. With lusty livelyhed he talks, And beauteous Edith sees the youth The story told, sir Topaz mov'd, At close of eve he leaves his home, As there he bides, it so befell, The wind came rustling down a dell, Up spring the tapers as before, But certes sorely sunk with woe With that sir Topaz, hapless youth! "Ah, losel vile," at once they roar: "And little skill'd of fairie lore, Thy cause to come, we know: Now has thy kestrel courage fell; And fairies, since a lye you tell, Are free to work thee woe." AA S Then Will, who bears the whispy fire The revel now proceeds apace, The time with frolic mirth beguile, By this the stars began to wink, For never spell by fairie laid With strong enchantment bound a glade, Chill, dark, alone, adreed, he lay, Then deem'd the dole was o'er; But wot ye well his harder lot? This tale a Sybil-nurse ared; She softly stroak'd my youngling head, "Thus some are born, my son," she cries, "With base impediments to rise, And some are born with nonc "But virtue can itself advance To what the favourite fools of chance Virtue can gain the odds of Fate, A NIGHT-PIECE ON DEATH. By the blue taper's trembling light, No more I waste the wakeful night, Intent with endless view to pore The schoolmen and the sages o'er : Their books from wisdom widely stray, Or point at best the longest way. I'll seek a readier path, and go Where wisdom 's surely taught below. How deep yon azure dyes the sky! Where orbs of gold unnumber'd lie, While through their ranks in silver pride The nether crescent seems to glide. The slumbering breeze forgets to breathe, The lake is smooth and clear beneath, Where once again the spangled show Descends to meet our eyes below. The grounds, which on the right aspire, In dimness from the view retire : The left presents a place of graves, Whose wall the silent water laves. That steeple guides thy doubtful sight Among the livid gleams of night. |