Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo,
To give me answer from her moffie Couch.
Co. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus?
La. Dim darkness, and this leafy Labyrinth.
Co.Could that divide you from near-ufhering guides?
La. They left me weary on a graffie turf.
Co. By falfhood, or difcourtesie, or why?
La. To feek i'th Vally fome cool friendly Spring.
Co. And left your fair fide all unguarded, Lady?
La. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick
Co. Perhaps foreftalling night prevented them. La. How eafie my misfortune is to hit! Co. Imports their lofs, befide the prefent need? La. No lefs than if I fhould my Brothers lofe. Co. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom La. As fmooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. Co. Two fuch I faw, what time the labour'd Oxe In his loose traces from the furrow came, And the fwink't hedger at his fupper fat; I saw them under a green mantling Vine, That crawls along the fide of yon small hill, Plucking ripe clusters from the tender fhoots; Their port was more than human, as they floodi I took it for a fairy vifion
Of fome gay creatures of the Element,
That in the colours of the Rainbow live,
And play i'th' plighted clouds. I was aw-ftrook,
And, as I paft, I worshipt; if thofe you feek,
It were a journey like the path to Heav'n,
To help you find them. La. Gentle Villager,
What readiest way would bring me to that Place?
Co. Due weft it rifes from this fhrubby point.
La. To find out that, good Shepherd, I suppose
In fuch a scant allowance of Star-light
Would over-task the best Land-Pilot's art,
Without the fure guess of well-practis'd feet.
Co. I know each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild Wood,
And every bosky bourn from fide to fide,
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;
And if your stray attendance be yet lodg'd,
Or shroud within these limits, Ishall know.
Ere morrow wake, or the low-roofted Lark.
From her thatch't pallat rowse: if otherwise,
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low
But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
Till further quest. La. Shepherd, I take thy word, And truft thy honeft offer'd courtefie,
Which oft is fooner found in lowly sheds
With fmoaky rafters, than in tap'stry Halls
And Courts of Princes, where it first was nam'd,
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 square my trial
To my proportion'd strength. Shepherd, lead on.--
Eld. Bro. Unmuffle, ye faint Stars; and thou fäir
That wont'ft to love the travellers 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 dam'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 ftreaming light;
And thou shalt be our Star of Arcady,
Of Tyrian Cynosure. Y. Bro. Or if our eyes
Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear
The folded frocks pen'd in their watled cotes,
Or found of paftoral 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 loft fifter!
Where may she wander now, whither betake her From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thiftles?
Perhaps fome cold bank is her Boulster now,
Or 'gainst the rugged bark of fome broad Elm
Leans her unpillow'd head, fraught with fad fears.
What if in wild amazement, and affright,
Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp
Of favage hunger, or of favage heat?
Eld. Bro. Peace, Brother; be not over-exquifite
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 fo to feek,
Or fo unprincipled in Virtue's book,
And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever,
As that the fingle want of light and noise
(Not being in danger, as I truft fhe is not)
Could ftir the conftant mood of her calm Thoughts,
And put them into misbecoming plight.
Virtue could fee to do what Virtue would
By her own radiant light, though Sun and Moon
Were in the flat Sea funk: And Wifdem's felf
Oft feeks to fweet retired Solitude:
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.
He that has light within his own clear breast,
May fit i'th' 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.
Y. Bro. 'Tis most true,
That mufing meditation most affects
The penfive fecrecy of defart Cell,
Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds,
And fits as fafe as in a Senate 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
Of Dragon-watch with uninchanted eye,
To fave her bloffoms and defend her fruit
From the rafh hand of bold incontinence.
You may as well spread out the unfunn'd heaps
Of Mifer's Treasure by an Outlaw's den,
And tell me it is fafe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on Opportunity,
And let a fingle helplefs Maiden pass
Uninjur'd in this wild furrounding wafte,
Of night or loneliness, it recks me not;
I fear the dread events that dog them both,
Left some ill-greeting touch attempt the person
Of our unowned Sifter.
Eld. Bro. I do not, Brother,
Infer, as if I thought my Sifter's ftate
Secure, without all doubt or controverfie:
Yet where an equal poife of hope and fear
Does arbitrate th' Event, my Nature is
That I incline to hope rather than fear,
And gladly banish squint fufpicion.
My Sifter is not fo defenceless left
As you imagine; the has a hidden ftrength,
Which you remember not.
Y. Bro. What hidden ftrength,
Unless the strength of Heav'n, if you mean that? Eld. Bro. I mean that too; but yet a hidden
Which, if Heav'n gave it, may be term'd her own: 'Tis chastity, my Brother, chastity.
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