Ere morrow wake, or the low-roofted lark
From her thatcht pallat roufe; if otherwise
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low
But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
Till further queft. La. Shepherd, I take thy word,
And trust thy honeft offer'd courtesy,
Which oft is fooner found in lowly sheds
With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls
And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd, 325
And yet is moft pretended: In a place
Lefs warranted than this, or lefs fecure,
I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.
Eye me, bleft Providence, and fquare my trial
To my proportion'd ftrength. Shepherd lead on. 330
El. Bro. Unmuffle ye faint Stars, and thou fair Moon,
That wont'ft to love the traveller's benizon,
Stoop thy pale vifage 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 mifts, fome gentle taper,
Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole
Of fome clay habitation, visit us
With thy long levell'd rule of streaming light, 340 And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,
Or Tyrian Cynofure. 2. Bro. Or if our eyes
Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear
The folded flocks penn'd in their watled cotes,
Or found of past'ral reed with oaten stops,
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
Count the night watches to his feathery dames,
'Twould be fome folace yet, fome little chearing
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs.
But O that hapless virgin, our lost Sister, 350
Where may she wander now, whither betake her
From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles ?
Perhaps fome cold bank is her bolster now,
Or, 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm
Leans her unpillow'd head fraught with fad fears. 355
What if in wild amazement, and affright,
Or, while we speak, within the dire grasp
Of favage hunger, or of favage heat?
Eld. Bro. Peace, Brother, be not over-exquisite
To caft the fashion of uncertain evils ;
For grant they be fo, while they rest unknown,
What need a man forestall his date of grief,
And run to meet what he would moft avoid?
Or if they be but false alarms of fear,
How bitter is fuch felf-delufion?
I do not think my Sifter so to seek,
Or fo 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 conftant mood of her calm thoughts, them into mis-becoming plight.
Virtue could fee to do what virtue would
By her own radiant light, though fun and moon
Were in the flat fea funk.
Oft seeks to sweet retired folitude,
Where with her beft nurse contemplation
She plumes her feathers and lets grow her wings, That in the various buftle of refort
Were all too ruffled, and sometimes impair'd. 380 He that has light within his own clear breast May fit i'th center, and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark foul, and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the mid-day fun;
Himself is his own dungeon.
2. Bro. 'Tis most true,
That musing meditation most affects
The penfive fecrefy of defert cell,
Far from the chearful haunt of men and herds,
And fits as fafe as in a fenate 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 Hefperian tree
Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard 395
Of dragon-watch with uninchanted eye,
To fave her blossoms, and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold incontinence.
You may as well spread out the unfunn'd heaps
Of mifers treasure by an out-law's den,
And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on opportunity,
And let a fingle helpless maiden pass
Uninjur'd in this wild furrounding waste.
Of night, or loneliness it recks me not;
I fear the dread events that dog them both,
Left fome ill-greeting touch attempt the perfon
Of our unowned Sifter.
Eld. Bro. I do not, Brother,
Infer, as if I thought my Sifter's state
Secure without all doubt, or controversy:
Yet where an equal poise of hope and fear
Does arbitrate th' event, my nature is
That I incline to hope, rather than fear,
And gladly banish fquint fufpicion.
My Sifter is not fo defenfeless left
As you imagin; she' has a hidden strength
Which you remember not.
2. Bro. What hidden strength,
Unless the strength of Heav'n, if you mean that?
El. Bro. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength,
Which if Heav'n gave it, may be term'd her own:
'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:
She that has that, is clad in complete fteel,
And like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen 425
May trace huge forefts, and unharbor'd heaths,
Infamous hills, and fandy perilous wilds,
Where through the facred rays of chastity,
No favage fierce, bandite, or mountaneer
Will dare to foil her virgin purity:
Yea there, where every defolation dwells
By grots, and caverns fhagg'd with horrid shades,
She may pass on with unblench'd majesty,
Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.
Some fay no evil thing that walks by night, 435
In fog, or fire, by lake, or moorish fen,
Blue meager hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,
That breaks his magic chains at Curfeu time,
No goblin, or swart faery of the mine,
Hath hurtful pow'r o'er true virginity.
Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece
To teftify the arms of chastity?
Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow,
Fair filver-shafted queen, for ever chaste,
Wherewith fhe tam'd the brinded lioness
And spotted mountain pard, but set at nought
The frivolous bolt of Cupid; Gods and men
Fear'dherstern frown, and she was queen o'th' woods.
What was that fnaky-headed Gorgon fhield, 450
That wife Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin,
Wherewith fhe freez'd her foes to congeal'd stone,
But rigid looks of chafte aufterity,
And noble grace that dafh'd brute violence
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