177
KENSINGTON GARDEN.
Glad I for thee renounce my royal birth,And all the giant daughters of the earth.Thou, if thy breast with equal ardour burn,Renounce thy kind, and love for love return.So from us two, combined by nuptial ties,A race unknown of demi-gods shall rise.Oh speak, my love! my vows with vows repay,And sweetly swear my rising fears away." To whom (the shining azure of her eyesMore brighten'd) thus th' enamour'd maid replies: "By all the stars, and first the glorious moon,I swear, and by the head of Oberon,A dreadful oath! no prince of fairy lineShall e'er in wedlock plight his vows with mine.Where'er my footsteps in the dance are seen,May toadstools rise, and mildews blast the green,May the keen east-wind blight my fav'rite flowers,And snakes and spotted adders haunt my bowers.Confined whole ages in a hemlock shade,There rather pine I a neglected maid;Or worse, exiled from Cynthias gentle rays,Parch in the sun a thousand summer-days,Than any prince, a prince of fairy line,In sacred wedlock plight his vows with mine." She ended: and with lips of rosy hueDipp'd five times over in ambrosial dew,
