Around thefe wonders as I caft a look,
The trumpet founded, and the temple shook,
And all the nations, fummon'd at the call,
From different quarters fill the crowded hall :
Of various tongues the mingled founds were
heard ;
280
In various garbs promifcuous throngs appear'd;
Thick as the bees, that with the spring renew
Their flowery toils, and fip the fragrant dew,
When the wing'd colonies firft tempt the sky,
O'er dusky fields and fhaded waters fly,
Or, fettling, feize the fweets the bloffoms yield,
And a low murmur runs along the field.
Millions of fuppliant crowds the fhrine attend,
And all degrees before the goddess bend;
The poor, the rich, the valiant, and the fage, 290
And boasting youth, and narrative old age.
Their pleas were different, their request the fame;
For good and bad alike are fond of Fame.
Some the difgrac'd, and fome with honours crown'd;
Unlike fucceffes equal merits found.
Thus her blind fifter, fickle Fortune, reigns,
And undifcerning fcatters crowns and chains.
First at the fhrine the learned world appear,
And to the goddess thus prefer their prayer.
Long have we fought t' instruct and please man-
kind,
With ftudies pale, with midnight vigils blind;
But thank'd by few, rewarded yet by none,
We here appeal to thy fuperior throne:
On wit and learning the just prize bestow,
For Fame is all we must expect below.
The goddess heard, and bade the mufes raise
The golden trumpet of eternal praise :
From pole to pole the winds diffufe the found,
That fills the circuit of the world around;
Next these the good and juft, an awful train,
Thus on their knees addrefs the facred fane.
Since living virtue is with envy curs'd,
And the best men are treated like the worft,
Do thou, juft goddefs, call our merits forth,
And give each deed th' exact intrinsic worth.
Not with bare justice shall your act be crown'd,'
(Said Fame) but high above defert renown'd:
Let fuller notes th' applauding world amaze,
And the loud clarion labour in your praise.
This band dismiss'd, behold another crowd
Preferr'd the fame request, and lowly bow'd;
The conftant tenor of whofe well-spent days 330
No lefs deferv'd a just return of praise.
But straight the direful trump of flander sounds;
Through the big dome the doubling thunder bounds;
Loud as the burft of cannon rends the skies,
The dire report through every region flies,
In every ear inceffant rumours rung,
And gathering fcandals grew on every tongue.
From the black trumpet's rufty concave broke
Sulphureous flames, and clouds of rolling smoke :
The poisonous vapour blots the purple skies, 340
And withers all before it as it flies.
A troop came next, who crowns and armour
wore,
300 And proud defiance in their looks they bore:
Not all at once, as thunder breaks the cloud; 310
The notes at first were rather fweet than loud:
By just degrees they every moment rise,
Fill the wide earth, and gain upon the skies.
At every breath were balmy odours shed,
Which ftill grew fweeter, as they wider spread;
Lefs fragrant fcents th' unfolding rose exhales,
Or fpices breathing in Arabian gales.
Ver. 276. Around these wonders, &c.]
I heard a noife approachen blive,
That far'd as bees done in a hive,
Againft her time of out flying,
Right fuch a manere murmuring,
For all the world it seemed me,
Tho gan I look about and fee
That there came entering into th' hall,
A right great company withal;
And that of fundry regions,
Of all kind of conditions, &c.-
Ver. 294. Some fhe difgrac'd, &c.]
And fome of them the granted fone,
And fome the warned well and fair,
And fome the granted the contrair-
Right as her fifter dame Fortune
Is wont to ferve in commune.
Ver. 318. The good and juft, &c.]
Tho came the third companye,
And gan to the dees to hye,
And down on knees they fell anone,
And faiden: We been everichone
Folke that han full truely
Deserved fame right-fully,
And prayen you it might be knowe
Right as it is, and forth blowe.
I grant, quoth fhe, for now we lift
That your good works fhall be wist.
And yet ye shall have better loos,
Right in despite of all, your foos,
Than worthy is, and that anone.
Let now (quoth fhe) thy trump gone-
And certes all the breath that went
Out of his trump's mouth fmel'd
As men a pot of baume heid
Among a basket full of roses.
Ver. 328, 338. Behold another crowd, &c.--
From the black trumpet's rufty, &c.].
Therewithal there came anone
Another huge companye
Of good folke
What did this Eolus, but he
Took out his trump of brass,
That fouler than the devil was:
And gan his trump for to blowe,
As all the world fhould overthrowe.
Throughout every regione
Went this foul trumpet's foune
Swift as a pellet out of a gunne,
When fire is in the powder runne.
And such a smoke gan out wende,
Out of the foul trumpet's ende-&e.
For thee (they cry'ď) amidst alarms and strife,
We fail'd in tempefts down the stream of life;
For thee whole nations fill'd with flames and blood.
And swam to empire through the purple flood.
Thofe ills we dar'd, thy infpiration own;
What virtue feem'd was done for thee alone.
Ambitious fools! (the queen reply'd, and frown'd)
Be all your acts in dark oblivion drown'd;
There fleep forgot, with mighty tyrants gone,
Your ftatues moulder'd, and your names unknown!
A fudden cloud straight snatch'd them from my
fight,
And each majestic phantom funk in night.
Then came the smallest tribe I yet had feen; Plain was their dress, and modeft was their mien. Great idol of mankind! we neither claim The praise of merit, nor aspire to fame! But, fafe in deferts from th' applaufe of men, Would die unheard-of, as we liv'd unfeen. 'Tis all we beg thee, to conceal from fight Thofe acts of goodness which hemselves requite. O let us ftill the fecret joy partake, To follow virtue ev'n for virtue's fake.
Ours is the place at banquets, balls, and play??
Sprightly our nights, polite ate all our days;
Courts we frequent, where 'tis our pleafing care
To pay due vifits, and addrefs the fair:
In fact, 'tis true, no nymph we could perfuade,
But ftill in fancy vanquish'd every maid;
Of unknown ducheffes lewd tales we teil,
Yet, would the world believe us, all were well.
The joy let others have, and we the name, 389
And what we want in pleasure, grant in fame.
The queen affents, the trumpet rends the skies, And at each blast a lady's honour dies. (preft
Pleas'd with the ftrange fuccefs, vast numbers Around the fhrine, and made the same request: What you (the cry'd), unlearn'd in arts to please, Slaves to yourselves, and even fatigued with ease, Who lofe a length of undeferving days,
360 Would you ufurp the lover's dear-bought praise?
To juft contempt, ye vain pretenders, fall,
The people's fable, and the scorn of all.
Straight the black clarion sends a horrid found,
Loud laughs burst out, and bitter fcoffs fly round,
Whispers are heard, with taunts reviling loud,
And fcornful hiffes run through all the crowd.
And live there men, who flight immortal fame? Who then with incenfe fhall adore our name? But, mortals! know, 'tis ftill our greateft pride, To blaze thofe virtues which the good would hide. Rife! muses, rife! add all your tuneful breath; 370 These must not fleep in darkness and in death. She faid in air the trembling mufic floats, And on the winds triumphant fwell the notes; So foft, though high, so loud, and yet so clear, Ev'n listening angels lean from heaven to hear: To fartheft shores th' ambrofial spirit flies, Sweet to the world, and grateful to the fkies. Next thefe a youthful train their vows exprefs'd, With feathers crown'd, with gay embroidery drefs'd:
Hither, they cry'd, direct your eyes, and fee 380 The men of pleasure, drefs, and gallantry;
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Vcr. 356. Then came the fmalleft, &c.]
I faw anone the fifth route,
That to this lady gan loute,
And downe on knees anone to fall,
And to her they befoughten all,
To hiden their good works eke.
And faid, they yeve not a leke
For no fame ne fuch renowne;
For they for contemplacyoune,
And Goddes love had it wrought,
Ne of fame would they ought.
What, quoth fhe, and be ye
And ween ye for to do good,
And for to have it of no fame?
Flave ye despite to have my name?
Nay ye shall lien everichone:
Blow thy trump, and that anone
(Quoth the) thou Eolus, I hote,
And ring these folks works by rote,
That all the world may of it heare;
And he gan blow their loos fo cleare,
IMITATIONS.
In his golden clarioune,
Through the world went the fonne,
All fo kindly, and eke so soft,
That ther fame was blown aloft.
Ver. 406. Laft, those who boast of mighty, &c.]
Tho came another companye,
That had y-done the treachery, &c.
Ver. 418. This having heard and feen. &e.] The scene here changes from the Temple of Fame, to that of Rumour, which is almost entirely Chaucer's. The particulars follow.
Tho faw I ftonde in a valey,
Under the calle faft by
A houfe, that Domus Dedali
That Labyrinthus cleped is,
Nas made fo wonderly I wis,
Ne half fo queintly y-wrought!
And evermo as fwift as thought,
This queint houfe about went,
That never more it ftill ftent-
And cke this house hath of entrees,
As many as leaves are on trees
Before my view appear'd a structure fair,
Its fite uncertain, if in earth or air;
With rapid motion turn'd the manfion round;
With ceaseless noise the ringing walls refound:
Not lefs in number were the spacious doors,
Than leaves on trees, or fands upon the shores;
Which ftill unfolded ftand, by night, by day,
Pervious to winds, and open every way.
As flames by nature to the fkies afcend,
As weighty bodies to the centre tend,
As to the fea returning rivers roll,
And the touch'd needle trembles to the pole;
Hither as to their proper place, arise
All various founds from earth, and seas, and skies,
Or fpake aloud, or whisper'd in the ear;
Nor ever filence, reft, or peace, is here.
As on the smooth expanfe of crystal lakes
The finking ftone at first a circle makes;
The trembling furface, by the motion stirr'd,
Spreads in a fecond circle, then a third;
Wide, and more wide, the floating rings ad
Fill all the watery plain, and to the margin dance :
Thus every voice and sound, when first they break,
On neighbouring air a foft impression make;
Another ambient circle then they move;
That, in its turn, impels the next above;
Through undulating air the founds are sent,
And spread o'er all the fluid element.
There various news I heard of love and ftrife,
Of peace and war, health, fickness, death, and life,
Of lofs and gain, of famine and of ftore,
Of forms at fea, and travels on the fhore,
Of prodigies, and portents seen in air,
Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair,
Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,
The falls of favourites, projects of the great,
Of old mifmanagements, taxations new:
All neither wholly false, nor wholly true.
In fummer, when they ben grene;
And in the roof yet men may fene
A thousand hoels and well mo
To letten the foune out-go;
And by day in every tide,
Ben all the doors open wide,
And by night each one unfhet;
No porter is there one to let,
No manner tydings in to pace :
Ne never rest is in that place.
Ver. 448. There various news I heard, &c.]
Of werres, of peace, of marriages,
Of reft, of labour, of voyages,
Of abode, of dethe, and of life,
Of love and hate, accord and ftrife,
Of lofs, of lore, and of winnings,
Of hele, of sickness, and leffings,
Of divers tranfmutations,
Of eftates and eke of regions,
Of truft, of dred, of jealousy,
Of wit, of winning, and of folly,
Of good, or bad government,
Of fire, and of divers accident.
Above, below, without, within, around, Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found, Who país, repafs, advance, and glide away; Hofts rais'd by fear, and phantoms of a day : Aftrologers, that future fates foreshew, Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few; And priests, and party zealots, numerous bands With home-born lies, or tales from foreign lands: Each talk'd aloud, or in fome fecret place, And wild impatience star'd in every face. The flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd, Scarce any tale was fooner heard than told; And all who told it added something new, 470 And all who heard it made enlargements too, In every ear it fpread, on every tongue it grew, Thus flying caft and west, and north and fouth, News travell'd with increase from mouth to mouth. So from a fpark, that kindled first hy chance, With gathering force the quickening flames ad
Till to the clouds their curling heads afpire,
And towers and temples fink in floods of fire.
When thus ripe lies are to perfection sprung,' Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue, 480 Through thousand vents, impatient, forth they flow,
And rush in millions on the world below,
Fame fits aloft, and points them out their course,
Their date determines, and prescribes their force:
Some to remain, and fome to perifh foon;
Or wane and wax alternate like the moon.
Around, a thousand winged wonders fly,
Borne by the trumpet's blast, and scatter'd through
the sky.
There, at one paffage, oft you might furvey
A lie and truth contending for the way;
Ver. 458. Above, below, without, within, &c.]
But fuch a grete congregation
Of folke as I faw roame about,
Some within, and fome without,
Was never feen, ne shall be eft-
And every wight that I saw there
Rowned everich in others ear
A new tyding privily,
Or else he told it openly
Right thus, and faid, Knowft not thou
That is betide to-night now?
No, quoth he, tell me what?
And then he told him this and that, &c.
-Thus north and fouth
Went every tyding from mouth to mouth,
And that encreasing evermo,
As fire is wont to quicken and go
From a sparkle fprong amifs,
Till all the citee brent up is.
Ver. 489. There, at one paffage, &c.]
And fometime I faw there at once,
A leifing and a fad footh faw
That gonnen at adventure draw
Out of a window forth to pace-
And no man, be he ever fo wrothe,
Shall have one of thefe two, but bothe, &c.
And long 'twas doubtful, both fo closely pent,
Which first should issue through the narrow vent:
At last agreed, together out they fly,
Infeparable now, the truth and lie;
The ftrict companions are for ever join'd,
These thoughts he fortify'd with reafons still,
(For none want reasons to confirm their will).
Grave authors fay, and witty poets fing,
That honeft wedlock is a glorious thing:
But depth of judgment most in him appears,
And this or that unmix'd, no mortal e'er fhall Who wifely weds in his maturer years.
find.
While thus I ftood, intent to fee and hear,
One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear:
What could thus high thy rafh ambition raife?
Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise? 500
'Tis true, faid I, not void of hopes I came,
For who fo fond as youthful bards of fame!
But few, alas! the cafual bleffing boast,
So hard to gain, fo easy to be loft.
How vain that fecond life in others breath,
Th' eftate which wits inherit after death!
Eafe, health, and life, for this they must resign,
(Unfure the tenure, but how vaft the fine!)
The great man's curse, without the gains, endure,
Be envy'd, wretched, and be flatter'd, poor; 510
All luckless wits their enemies profest,
And all fuccefsful, jealous friends at best.
Nor Fame I flight, nor for her favours call;
She comes unlook'd-for, if the comes at all.
But if the purchase costs so dear a price
As foothing folly, or exalting vice:
Oh! if the mufe muft flatter lawless fway,
And follow ftill where fortune leads the way;
Or if no bafis bear my rifing name,
But the fall'n ruins of another's fame; 520
Then, teach me, heaven! to fcorn the guilty bays,
Drive from my breaft that wretched luft of praife;
Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown:
Oh, grant an honest fame, or grant me none!
THERE liv'd in Lombardy, as authors write,
In days of old, a wife and worthy knight;
Of gentle manners, as of generous race,
Bleft with much fenfe, more riches, and fome
grace;
Yet, led aftray by Venus' soft delights,
He fcarce could rule fome idle appetites:
For long ago, let priests say what they could,
Weak finful laymen were but flesh and blood.
But in due time, when fixty years were o'er,
He vow'd to lead this vicious life no more:
Whether pure holiness infpir'd him forth to wed,
Or dotage turn'd his brain, is hard to find;
But his high courage prick'd him forth to wed,
And try the pleasures of a lawful bed.
This was his nightly dream, his daily care,
And to the heavenly powers his conftant prayer,
Once ere he dy'd, to tafte the blissful life
Of a kind husband and a loving wife.
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Then let him choose a damfel young and fair,
To bless his age, and bring a worthy heir;
To foothe his cares, and, free from noise and ftrife,
Conduct him gently to the verge of life.
Let finful bachelors their woes deplore,
Full well they merit all they feel, and more:
Unaw'd by precepts human or divine,
Like birds and beafts promifcuously they join:
Nor know to make the prefent bleffing laft,
To hope the future, or efteem the past:
But vainly boaft the joys they never try'd,
And find divulg'd the fecrets they would hide.
The marry'd man may bear his yoke with ease,
Secure at once himself and heaven to please ;
And pafs his inoffenfive hours away,
In blifs all night, and innocence all day: [mains,
Though fortune change, his conftant spouse re-
Augments his joys, or mitigates his pains.
But what fo pure, which envious tongues will
fpare?
Some wicked wits have libell'd all the fair.
With matchlefs impudence they style a wife
The dear-bought curfe, and lawful plague of life ;
A bofom-ferpent, a domeftic evil,
A night invafion, and a mid-day devil.
Let not the wife these flanderous words regard,
But curfe the bones of every lying bard.
All other goods by fortune's hand are given,
A wife is the peculiar gift of heaven.
Vain fortune's favours, never at a stay,
Like empty fhadows, pafs, and glide away;
One folid comfort, our eternal wife,
Abundantly fupplies us all our life:
This bleffing lafts (if those who try fay true)
As long as heart can wish-and longer too.
Our grandfire Adam, ere of Eve poffefs'd,
Alone, and ev'n in paradife unblefs'd,
With mournful looks the blissful fcenes furvey'd,
And wander'd in the folitary fhade:
The Maker faw, took pity, and bestow'd
Woman, the laft, the best referv'd of God.
A wife ah, gentle deities, can he
That has a wife, e'er feel adverfity?
Would men but follow what the sex advise,
All things would profper, all the world grow wife.
'Twas by Rebecca's aid that Jacob won
His father's bleffing from an elder fon :
Abufive Nabal ow'd his forfeit life
To the wife conduct of a prudent wife:
Heroic Judith, as old Hebrews fhew,
Preferv'd the Jews, and flew th' Affyrian foe:
At Hefter's fuit, the perfecuting fword
Was fheath'd, and Ifrael liv'd to blefs the Lord.
Thefe weighty motives, January the fage
Maturely ponder'd in his riper age;
And, charm'd with virtuous joys and fober life,
Would try that Chriftian comfort, call'd a wife.
His friends were fummon'd on a point fo nice,
To país their judgment, and to give advice;
But fix'd before, and well refolv'd was he;
(As men that afk advice are wont to be). 1
My friends, he cry'd (and caft a mournful look
Around the room, and figh'd before he spoke);
Beneath the weight of threescore years I bend,
And worn with cares, and haftening to my end;
How I have liv'd, alas! you know too well,
In worldly follies, which I blush to tell;
But gracious heaven has ope'd niy eyes at last,
With due regret I view my vices paft,
And, as the precept of the church decrees,
Will take a wife, and live in holy cafe.
But, fince by counsel all things fhould be done,
And many heads are wiser still than one;
Choofe you for me, who beft shall be content
When my defire's approv'd by your confent.
One caution yet is needful to be told,.
To guide your choice; this wife must not be old:
There goes a faying, and 'twas fhrewdly said,
Old fish at table, but young flesh in bed.
My foul-abhors the tastelefs, dry embrace
Of aftale virgin with a winter face:
In that cold feafon love but treats his guest
With bean-ftraw, and tough forage at the best.
No crafty widows fhall approach my bed;
Thofe are too wife for bachelors to wed;
As fubtle clerks by many fchools are made,
Twice marry'd dames are miftreftes o' th' trade:
But young and tender virgins, rul'd with cafe,
We form like wax, and mould them as we pleafe.
Conceive me, Sirs, nor take my fenfe amifs;
'Tis what concerns my foul's eternal bliss:
Since if I found no pleasure in my spouse,
As flesh is frail, and who (God help me) knows?
Then should I live in lewd adultery,
And fink downright to Satan when I die.
Or were I curs'd with an unfruitful bed,
The righteous end were loft, for which I wed;
To raile up feed to blefs the powers above,
And not for pleasure only, or for love
Think not I doat; 'tis time to take a wife,
When vigorous blood forbids a chafter life;
Thefe that are bleft with ftore of grace divine,
May live like faints, by heaven's confent and mine,
And fince I fpeak of wedlock, let me fay,
(As, thank my ftars, in modeft truth I may)
My limbs are active, ftill I'm found at heart,
And a new vigour fprings in every part.
Think not my virtue loft, though time has fhed
Thele reverend honours on my head;
Thus trees are crown'd with bloffoms white
(now,
The vital fap then rifing from below:
Old as I am, my lufly limbs appear
Like winter greens, that flourish all the year.
Now, Sirs, you know to what 1 ftand inchin'd,
Let every friend with freedom freak his mind.
He faid; the reft in different parts divide;
The knotty point was urg'd on either fide:
Marriage, the theme on which they all declaim'd,
Some prais'd with wit, and fome with reafon blam'd;
Till, what with proofs, objections, and replies,
Each wondrous pofitive, and wondrous wife,
There fell between his brothers a debate,
Placebo this was call'd, and Justin that.
VOL. VIII
Firft to the knight Placebo thus begurt (Mild were his looks, and pleafing was his tone): Such prudence, Sir, in all your words appears, As plainly proves, experience dwells with years! Yet you purfue fage Solomon's advice, To work by counfel when affairs are nice; But, with the wife man's leave, I must proteft, So may my foul arrive at ease and reft As ftill I hold your own advice the best.
Sir, I have liv'd a courtier all my days, And study'd men, their manners, and their ways; And have obferv'd this useful maxim ftill, To let my betters always have their will, Nay, if my lord affirm'd that black was white, My word was this, Your honour's in the right. Th' affuming wit, who deems himself fo wife, As his mistaken patron to advise,
Let him not dare to vent his dangerous thought,
A noble fool was never in a fault.
This, Sir, affects not you, whofe every word
Is weigh'd with judgment, and befits a lord:
Your will is mine; and is (1 will maintain)
Pleafing to God, and fhould be fo to man!
At least, your courage all the world must praife,
Who dare to wed in your declining days.
Indulge the vigour of your mounting blood,
And let grey fools be indolently good,
Who, past all, pleasure, damn the joys of sense,
With reverend dulnefs, and grave impotence.
Juftin, who filent fat, and heard the man,
Thus, with a philofophic frown, began.
A heathen author of the first degree,
(Who, though not faith, had sense as well as we)
Bids us be certain our.concerns to truft
To thofe of generous principles and juft.,
The venture's greater, I'll prefume to fay,
To give your perfon, than your goods away;
And therefore, Sir, as you regard your reft,
First learn your lady qualities at least:
Whether the's chafe or rampant, proud or civil,
Meek as a faint, or haughty as the devil;
Whether an eafy, fond, familiar fool,
Or fuch a wit as no man,e'er can rule.
'Tis true, perfection none must hope to find
In all this world, much lefs in womankind;
Bot if her virtutes prove the larger share,
Biefs the kind fates, and think your fortune rare.
Ah, gentle Sir, take warning of a friend,
Who knows too well the ftate you thus commends
And, fpite of all his praifes, muft declare,
All he can find is bondage, coll, and cars.
Heaven knows, I fhed full many a private tear,
And figh in filence, left the world fhould hear!
While all my friends applaud my blifsful life,
And fwear no mortal's happier in a wife;
Demure and chafte as any vestal nun,
The meekeft creature that beholds the fun!
But, by th' immortal powers, I feel the pain,
And he that finarts has reafon to complain.
Do what ye lift, for me; you muit be lage,
Aud cautious fure; for wildom is in age:
But at thefe years, to venture on the fair;
By him who made the ocean, carch, and air,
To please a wife, when her occafions call,
Would busy the molt vigorous of us alt
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