18
THIRD PASTORAL.
-->A while, O D'Urfy, lend an ear or twain,[1]Nor, though in homely guise, my verse disdain; 10Whether thou seek'st new kingdoms in the sun,[2]Whether thy muse does at New-market run,Or does with gossips at a feast regale,And heighten her conceits with sack and ale,Or else at wakes with Joan and Hodge rejoice, 15Where Durfy's lyricks swell in every voice;Yet suffer me, thou bard of wondr'ous meed,[3]Amid thy bays to wave this rural weed.[4] Now the sun drove adown the western road,And oxen laid at rest forget the goad, 20The clown fatigu'd trudg'd homeward with his spade,Across the meadows stretch'd the lengthen'd shade;When Sparabella pensive and forlorn,Alike with yearning love and labour worn,Lean'd on her rake, and strait with doleful guise[5] 25Did this sad plaint in moanful notes devise. Come night as dark as pitch, surround my head,From Sparabella Bumkinet is fled;The ribbon that his val'rous cudgel won,Last Sunday happier Clumsilis put on. 30Sure, if he'd eyes (but love, they say, has none)I whilome by that ribbon had been known.
- ↑ Line 9. Tu mihi seu magni superas jam saxa Timavi.Sive oram Illyrici legis æquoris
- ↑ 11. An opera written by this author, called the World in the Sun, or the Kingdom of Birds; he is also famous for his song on the New-market horse-race, and several others that are sung by the British swains.
- ↑ 17. Meed, an old word for fame or renown.
- ↑ 18. ——— Hanc sine tempora circumInter victrices ederam tibi serpere lauros.
- ↑ 25. Incumbens tereti Damon sic cæpit Olivæ.
Ah,
