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See from afar the fields no longer smoke,
The fweating steers unharness'd from the yoke,
Bring, as in triumph, back the crooked plough;
The fhadows lengthen as the fun goes low.
Cool breezes now the raging heats remove;
Ah, cruel heaven! that made no cure for love!
I wish for balmy fleep, but wifh in vain:
Love has no bounds in pleasure, or in pain.
What frenzy, fhepherd, has thy foul poffefs'd,
Thy vineyard lies half prun'd, and half undrefs'd.
Quench, Corydon, thy long unanswer'd fire : 105
Mind what the common wants of life require:
On willow twigs employ thy weaving care;
And find an easier love, though not so fair.

THE

THE

THIRD PASTORAL,

O R,

PAL Æ MO N.

THE ARGUMEN T.

Damætas and Menalcas, after fome fmart ftrokes of country raillery, refolve to try who has the most skill at a fong; and accordingly make their neighbour Palamon judge of their performances: who, after a full hearing of both parties, declares himself unfit for the decifion of fo weighty a controverfy, and leaves the victory undetermined.

MENALCAS, DAMÆTAS, PALEMON.

MENALCAS.

Ho, fwain, what thepherd owns those ragged sheep DAM. Egon's they are, he gave them me to keep.

MEN. Unhappy fheep of an unhappy swain !

While he Neæra courts, but courts in vain,

And fears that I the damfel fhall obtain.

5

Thou, varlet, doft thy master's gains devour:

Thou milk'ft his ewes, and often twice an hour;

Of

Of grass and fodder thou defraud’st the dams ;
And of their mother's dugs, the starving lambs.
DAM. Good words, young Catamite, at least to

men :

We know who did your business, how, and when.
And in what chapel too you plaid your prize;
And what the goats observ'd with leering eyes :
The nymphs were kind, and laugh'd, and there
your fafety lies.

10

MEN. Yes, when I cropt the hedges of the Leis; 15 Cut Micon's tender vines, and stole the stays.

DAM. Or rather, when beneath yon ancient oak, The bow of Daphnis, and the shafts you broke: When the fair boy receiv'd the gift of right; And, but for mischief, you had dy'd for spite.

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MEN. What nonsense would the fool thy master

prate,

When thou, his knave, canft talk at such a rate !
Did I not fee you, rascal, did I not ?

When you lay fnug to snap young Damon's goat?
His mungrel bark'd, I ran to his relief,

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And cry'd, There, there he goes; stop, stop the thief! Discover'd, and defeated of your prey,

DAM. An honeft man may freely take his own;

You skulk'd behind the fence, and sneak'd away.

The goat was mine, by finging fairly won.
A folemn match was made; he lost the prize.
Afk Damon, ask if he the debt denies ;

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I think he dares not; if he does, he lyes.

MEN.

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MEN. Thou fing with him, thou booby! never pipe Was fo prophan'd to touch that blubber'd lip : Dunce at the beft; in ftreets but fcarce allow'd To tickle, on thy ftraw, the stupid crowd.

dare

DAM. To bring it to the trial, will you
Our pipes, our skill, our voices, to compare?
My brinded heifer to the stake I lay;
Two thriving calves she fuckles twice a day :
And twice befides her beaftings never fail
To ftore the dairy with a brimming pail.
Now back your finging with an equal stake.

40

MEN. That fhould be feen, if I had one to make. 45 You know too well I feed my father's flock: What can I wager from the common stock? A ftepdame too I have, a curfed fhe, Who rules my hen-peck'd fire, and orders me. Both number twice a-day the milky dams; At once the takes the tale of all the lambs. But fince you will be mad, and fince you may Sufpect my courage, if I should not lay,

The pawn I proffer shall be full as good:

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Two bowls I have, well turn'd, of beechen wood; 55 Both by divine Alcimedon were made;

To neither of them yet the lip is laid;

The ivy's ftem, its fruit, its foliage, lurk
In various fhapes around the curious work.
Two figures on the fides embofs'd appear;
Conon, and, what's his name who made the sphere,
And fhew'd the feafons of the fliding year,

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In

Instructed in his trade the labouring swain,

And when to reap, and when to fow the grain ?
DAM. And I have two, to match your pair, at

home;

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The wood the fame, from the fame hand they come :
The kimbo handles feem with bears-foot carv'd ;
And never yet to table have been ferv'd:
Where Orpheus on his lyre laments his love,
With beasts encompass'd, and a dancing grove:
But thefe, nor all the proffers you can make,
Are worth the heifer which I set to stake.

MEN. No more delays, vain boaster, but begin :

I prophefy before-hand I shall win.

Palamon fhall be judge how ill you rhime:

I'll teach you how to brag another time.

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DAM. Rhymer, come on, and do the worst you can:

I fear not you, nor yet a better man.

With filence, neighbour, and attention wait:

For 'tis a business of a high debate.

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PAL. Sing then; the shade affords a proper place; The trees are cloath'd with leaves, the fields with grass; The bloffoms blow; the birds on bushes fing;

And nature has accomplish'd all the spring.
The challenge to Damætas shall belong,
Mænalcas shall sustain his under-song:
Each in his turn your tuneful numbers bring;
By turns the tuneful Muses love to fing.

DAM. From the great Father of the gods above
My Mufe begins; for all is full of Jove ;

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