The Castle of Indolence/Canto I
THE
CASTLE
OF
INDOLENCE.
The Castle hight of Indolence,
And its false Luxury;
Where for a little Time, alas!
We liv'd right jollily.
I.
Do not complain of this thy hard Estate;
That like an Emmet thou must ever moil,
Is a sad Sentence of an ancient Date;
And, certes, there is for it Reason great;
For, though sometimes it makes thee weep and wail,
And curse thy Stars, and early drudge and late,
Withouten That would come an heavier Bale,
Loose Life, unruly Passions, and Diseases pale.
II.
With woody Hill o'er Hill encompass'd round,
A most enchanting Wizard did abide,
Than whom a Fiend more fell is no-where found.
It was, I ween, a lovely Spot of Ground;
And there a Season atween June and May,
Half prankt with Spring, with Summer half imbrown'd,
A listless Climate made, where, Sooth to say,
No living Wight could work, ne cared even for Play.
III.
Sleep-soothing Groves, and quiet Lawns between;
And flowery Beds that slumbrous Influence kest,
From Poppies breath'd; and Beds of pleasant Green,
Where never yet was creeping Creature seen.
Mean time unnumber'd glittering Streamlets play'd,
And hurled every-where their Waters sheen;
That, as they bicker'd through the sunny Glade,
Though restless still themselves, a lulling Murmur made.
IV.
Were heard the lowing Herds along the Vale,
And Flocks loud-bleating from the distant Hills,
And vacant Shepherds piping in the Dale;
And now and then sweet Philomel would wail,
Or Stock-Doves plain amid the Forest deep,
That drowsy rustled to the sighting Gale;
And still a Coil the Grashopper did keep:
Yet all these Sounds yblent inclined all to Sleep.
V.
A sable, silent, solemn Forest stood;
Where nought but shadowy Forms were seen to move,
As Idless fancy'd in her dreaming Mood.
And up the Hills, on either Side, a Wood
Of blackening Pines, ay waving to and fro,
Sent forth a sleepy Horror through the Blood;
And where this Valley winded out, below,
The murmuring Main was heard, and scarcely heard, to flow.
VI.
Of Dreams that wave before the half-shut Eye;
And of gay Castles in the Clouds that pass,
For ever flushing round a Summer-Sky:
There eke the soft Delights, that witchingly
Instil a wanton Sweetness through the Breast,
And the calm of Pleasures always hover'd nigh;
But whate'er smack'd of Noyance, or Unrest,
Was far far off expell'd from this delicious Nest.
VII.
Where Indolence (for so the Wizard hight)
Close-hid his Castle mid embowering Trees,
That half shut out the Beams of Phœbus bright,
And made a Kind of checker'd Day and Night.
Mean while, unceasing at the massy Gate,
Beneath a spacious Palm, the wicked Wight
Was plac'd; and to his Lute, of cruel Fate,
And Labour harsh, complain'd, lamenting Man's Estate.
VIII.
From all the Roads of Earth that pass there by:
For, as they chaunc'd to breathe on neighbouring Hill,
The Freshness of this Valley smote their Eye,
And drew them ever and anon more nigh,
Till clustering round th'Enchanter false they hung,
Ymolten with his Syren Melody;
While o'er th'enfeebling Lute his Hand he flung,
And to the trembling Chords these tempting Verses sung:
IX.
“See all but Man with unearn'd Pleasure gay.
“See her bright Robes the Butterfly unfold,
“Broke from her wintry Tomb in Prime of May.
“What youthful Bride can equal her Array?
“Who can with her for easy Pleasure vie?
“From Mead to Mead with gentle Wing to stray,
“From Flower to Flower on balmy Gales to fly,
“Is all she has to do beneath the radiant Sky.
X.
“The swarming Songsters of the careless Grove,
“Ten thousand Throats! that, from the flowering Thorn,
“Hymn their Good God, and carol sweet of Love,
“Such grateful kindly Raptures them emove:
“They neither plough, nor sow; ne, fit for Flail,
“E'er to the Barn the nodding Sheaves they drove;
“Yet theirs each Harvest dancing in the Gale,
“Whatever crowns the Hill, or smiles along the Vale.
XI.
“Of bitter-dropping Sweat, of sweltry Pain,
“Of cares that eat away thy Heart with Gall,
“And vices, an inhuman Train,
“That all proceed from savage Thirst of Gain:
“For when hard-hearted Interest first began
“To poison Earth, Astræa left the Plain;
“Guile, Violence, and Murder seiz'd on Man;
“And, for soft milky Streams, with Blood the Rivers ran.
XII.
“Push hard up Hill; but as the farthest Steep
“You trust to gain, and put an End to Strife,
“Down thunders back the Stone with mighty Sweep,
“And hurls your Labours to the Valley deep,
“For-ever vain: come, and, withouten Fee,
“I in Oblivion will your Sorrows steep,
“Your Cares, your Toils, will steep you in a Sea
“Of full Delight: O come, ye weary Wights, to me!
XIII.
“To pass the joyless Day in various Stounds:
“Or, louting low, on upstart Fortune fawn,
“And sell fair Honour for some paltry Pounds;
“Or through the City take your dirty Rounds,
“To cheat, and dun, and lye, and Visit pay,
“Now flattering base, now giving secret Wounds;
“Or proul in Courts of Law for human Prey,
“In venal Senate thieve, or rob on broad High-way.
XIV.
“From Village on to Village sounding clear;
“To tardy Swain no shrill-voic'd Matrons squall;
“No Dogs, no Babes, no Wives, to stun your Ear;
“No Hammers thump; no horrid Blacksmith sear,
“Ne noisy Tradesman your sweet Slumbers start,
“With Sounds that are a Misery to hear:
“But all is calm, as would delight the Heart
“Of Sybarite of old, all Nature, and all Art.
XV.
“Good-natur'd Lounging, Sauntering up and down:
“They who are pleas'd themselves must always please;
“On Others' Ways they never squint a Frown,
“Nor heed what haps to Hamlet or in Town.
“Thus, from the Source of tender Indolence,
“With milky Blood the Heart is overflown,
“Is sooth'd and sweeten'd by the social Sense;
“For Interest, Envy, Pride, and Strife are banish'd hence.
XVI.
“A pure ethereal Calm! that knows no Storm;
“Above the Reach of wild Ambition's Wind,
“Above those Passions that this World deform,
“And torture Man, a proud malignant Worm!
“But here, instead, soft Gales of Passion play,
“And gently stir the Heart, thereby to form
“A quicker Sense of Joy; as Breezes stray
“Across th'enliven'd Skies, and make them still more gay.
XVII.
“They hate to mingle in the filthy Fray;
“Where the Soul sowrs, and gradual Rancour grows,
“Imbitter'd more from peevish Day to Day.
“Even Those whom Fame has lent her fairest Ray,
“The most renown'd of worthy Wights of Yore,
“From a base World at last have stolen away:
“So Scipio, to the soft Cumæan Shore
“Retiring, tasted Joy he never knew before.
XVIII.
“Some Zest for Ease, 'tis not forbidden here.
“Amid the Groves you may indulge the Muse,
“Or tend the Blooms, and deck the vernal Year;
“Or softly stealing, with your watry Gear,
“Along the Brooks, the crimson-spotted Fry
“You may delude: The whilst, amus'd, you hear
“Now the hoarse Stream, and now the Zephyr's Sigh,
“Attuned to the Birds, and woodland Melody.
XIX.
“Losing the Days you see beneath the Sun;
“When, sudden, comes blind unrelenting Fate,
“And gives th'untasted Portion you have won,
“With ruthless Toil, and many a Wretch undone,
“To Those who mock you gone to Pluto's Reign,
“There with sad Ghosts to pine, and Shadows dun:
“But sure it is of Vanities most vain,
“To toil for what you here untoiling may obtain.”
XX.
The deep Vibrations of his witching Song;
That, by a Kind of Magic Power, constrain'd
To enter in, pell-mell, the listening Throng.
Heaps pour'd on Heaps, and yet they slip'd along
In silent Ease: as when beneath the Beam
Of Summer-Moons, the distant Woods among,
Or by some Flood all silver'd with the Gleam,
The soft-embodied Fays through airy Portal stream.
XXI.
And here his baneful Bounty first began:
Though some there were who would not further pass,
And his alluring Baits suspected han.
The Wise distrust the too fair-spoken Man.
Yet through the Gate they cast a wishful Eye:
Not to move on, perdie, is all they can;
For do their very Best they cannot fly,
But often each Way look, and often sorely sigh.
XXII.
With sudden Spring he leap'd upon them strait;
And soon as touch'd by his unhallow'd Paw,
They found themselves within the cursed Gate;
Full hard to be repass'd, like That of Fate.
Not stronger were of old the Giant-Crew,
Who sought to pull high Jove from regal State;
Though feeble Wretch he seem'd, of sallow Hue:
Certes, who bides his Grasp will that Encounter rue.
XXIII.
Their Joints unknit, their Sinews melt apace;
As lithe they grow as any Willow-Wand,
And of their vanish'd Force remains no Trace:
So when a Maiden fair, of modest Grace,
In all her buxom blooming May of Charms,
Is seized in some Losel's hot Embrace,
She waxeth very weakly as she warms,
Then sighing yields Her up to Love's delicious Harms.
XXIV.
A comely full-spred Porter, swoln with Sleep:
His calm, broad, thoughtless Aspect breath'd Repose;
And in sweet Torpor he was plunged deep,
Ne could himself from ceaseless Yawning keep;
While o'er his Eyes the drowsy Liquor ran,
Through which his half-wak'd Soul would faintly peep.
Then taking his black Staff he call'd his Man,
And rous'd himself as much as rouse himself he can.
XXV.
He was, to weet, a little roguish Page,
Save Sleep and Play who minded nought at all,
Like most the untaught Striplings of his Age.
This Boy he kept each Band to disengage,
Garters and Buckles, Task for him unfit,
But ill-becoming his grave Personage,
And which his portly Paunch would not permit.
So this same limber Page to All performed It.
XXVI.
Great Store of Caps, of Slippers, and of Gowns;
Wherewith he Those who enter'd in, array'd;
Loose, as the Breeze that plays along the Downs,
And waves the Summer-Woods when Evening frowns.
O fair Undress, best Dress! it checks no Vein,
But every flowing Limb in Pleasure drowns.
And heightens Ease with Grace. This done, right fain,
Sir Porter sat him down, and turn'd to Sleep again.
XXVII.
That in the Middle of the Court up-threw
A Stream, high-spouting from its liquid Bed,
And falling back again in drizzly Dew:
There Each deep Draughts, as deep he thirsted, drew.
It was a Fountain of Nepenthe rare:
Whence, as Dan Homer sings, huge Pleasaunce grew,
And sweet Oblivion of vile earthly Care;
Fair gladsome waking Thoughts, & joyous Dreams more fair.
XXVIII.
Withouten Trump, was Proclamation made.
“Ye Sons of Indolence, do what you will;
“And wander where you list, through Hall or Glade:
“Be no Man's Pleasure for another's staid;
“Let Each as likes him best his Hours employ,
“And curs'd be he who minds his Neighbour's Trade!
“Here dwells kind Ease, and unreproving Joy:
“He little merits Bliss who Others can annoy.”
XXIX.
As thick as idle Motes in sunny Ray,
Not one eftsoons in View was to be found,
But every Man stroll'd off his own glad Way.
Wide o'er this ample Court's blank Area,
With all the Lodges that thereto pertain'd,
No living Creature could be seen to stray;
While Solitude, and perfect Silence reign'd:
So that to think you dreamt you almost was constrain'd.
XXX.
Plac'd far amid the melancholy Main,
(Whether it be lone Fancy him beguiles;
Or that aerial Beings sometimes deign
To stand, embodied, to our Senses plain)
Sees on the naked Hill, or Valley low,
The whilst in Ocean Phœbus dips his Wain,
A vast Assembly moving to and fro:
Then all at once in Air dissolves the wondrous Show.
XXXI.
Whose soft Dominion o'er the Castle sways,
And all the widely-silent Places round,
Forgive me, if my trembling Pen displays
What never yet was sung in mortal Lays.
But how shall I attempt such arduous String?
I who have spent my Nights and nightly Days,
In this Soul-deadening Place, loose-loitering?
Ah! how shall I for This uprear my moulted Wing?
XXXII.
Thou Imp of Jove, touch'd by celestial Fire!
Thou yet shalt sing of War, and Actions fair,
Which the bold Sons of Britain will inspire;
Of ancient Bards thou yet shalt sweep the Lyre;
Thou yet shalt tread in Tragic Pall the Stage,
Paint Love's enchanting Woes, the Heroe's Ire,
The Sage's Calm, the Patriot's noble Rage,
Dashing Corruption down through every worthless Age.
XXXIII.
Ne cursed Knocker ply'd by Villain's Hand,
Self-open'd into Halls, where, who can tell
What Elegance and Grandeur wide expand
The Pride of Turkey and of Persia Land?
Soft Quilts on Quilts, on Carpets Carpets spread,
And Couches stretch around in seemly Band;
And endless Pillows rise to prop the Head;
So that each spacious Room was one full-swelling Bed.
XXXIV.
With Wines high-flavour'd and rich Viands crown'd;
Whatever sprightly Juice, or tasteful Food,
On the green Bosom of this Earth are found,
And all old Ocean genders in his Round:
Some Hand unseen These silently display'd,
Even undemanded by a Sign or Sound;
You need but wish, and, instantly obey'd,
Fair-rang'd the Dishes rose, and thick the Glasses play'd.
XXXV.
Nor Gossip's Tale, nor ancient Maiden's Gall,
Nor saintly Spleen durst murmur at our Joy,
And with envenom'd Tongue our Pleasures pall.
For why? There was but One great Rule for All;
To wit, That each should work his own Desire,
And eat, drink, study, sleep, as it may fall,
Or melt the Time in Love, or wake the Lyre,
And carol what, unbid, the Muses might inspire.
XXXVI.
Where was inwoven many a gentle Tale;
Such as of old the rural Poets sung,
Or of Arcadian or Sicilian Vale:
Reclining Lovers, in the lonely Dale,
Pour'd forth at large the sweetly-tortur'd Heart;
Or, looking tender Passion, swell'd the Gale,
And taught charm'd Echo to resound their Smart;
While Flocks, Woods, Streams, around, Repose and Peace impart.
XXXVII.
Depeinten was the Patriarchal Age;
What Time Dan Abraham left the Chaldee Land,
And pastur'd on from verdant Stage to Stage,
Where Fields and Fountains fresh could best engage.
Toil was not then. Of nothing took they Heed,
But with wild Beasts the silvan War to wage,
And o'er vast Plains their Herds and Flocks to feed:
Blest Sons of Nature they! True Golden Age indeed!
XXXVIII.
Bade the gay Bloom of Vernal Landskips rise,
Or Autumn's varied Shades imbrown the Walls:
Now the black Tempest strikes the astonish'd Eyes;
Now down the Steep the flashing Torrent flies;
The trembling Sun now plays o'er Ocean blue,
And now rude Mountains frown amid the Skies;
Whate'er Lorrain light-touch'd with softening Hue,
Or savage Rosa dash'd, or learned Poussin drew.
XXXIX.
Lull'd the weak Bosom, and induced Ease.
Aerial Music in the warbling Wind,
At Distance rising oft, by small Degrees,
Nearer and nearer came, till o'er the Trees
It hung, and breath'd such Soul-dissolving Airs,
As did, alas! with soft Perdition please:
Entangled deep in its enchanting Snares,
The listening Heart forgot all Duties and all Cares.
XL.
Here sooth'd the pensive melancholy Minds;
Full easily obtain'd. Behoves no more,
But sidelong, to the gently-waving Wind,
To lay the well-tun'd Instrument reclin'd;
From which, with airy flying Fingers light,
Beyond each mortal Touch the most refin'd,
The God of Winds drew Sounds of deep Delight:
Whence, with just Cause, The Harp of Æolus it hight.[2]
XLI.
Who up the lofty Diapasan roll
Such sweet, such sad, such solemn Airs divine,
Then let them down again into the Soul?
Now rising Love they fan'd; now pleasing Dole
They breath'd, in tender Musings, through the Heart;
And now a graver sacred Strain they stole,
As when Seraphic Hands an Hymn impart:
Wild warblings Nature all, above the Reach of Art!
XLII.
Of Caliphs old, who on the Tygris' Shore,
In mighty Bagdat, populous and great,
Held their bright Court, where was of Ladies store;
And Verse, Love, Music still the Garland wore:
When Sleep was coy, [3]the Bard, in Waiting there,
Chear'd the lone Midnight with the Muse's Lore;
Composing Music bade his Dreams be fair,
And Music lent new Gladness to the Morning Air.
XLIII.
Soft-tinkling Streams, and dashing Waters fell,
And sobbing Breezes sigh'd, and oft began
(So work'd the Wizard) wintry Storms to swell,
As Heaven and Earth they would together mell:
At Doors and Windows, threatening, seem'd to call
The Demons of the Tempest, growling fell,
Yet the least Entrance found they none at all;
Whence sweeter grew our Sleep, secure in massy Hall.
XLIV.
Raising a World of gayer Tinct and Grace;
O'er which were shadowy cast Elysian Gleams,
That play'd, in waving Lights, from Place to Place,
And shed a roseate Smile on Nature's Face.
Not Titian's Pencil e'er could so array,
So fleece with Clouds the pure Etherial Space;
Ne could it e'er such melting Forms display,
As loose on flowery Beds all languishingly lay.
XLV.
My Muse will not attempt your Fairy-Land:
She had no Colours that like you can glow;
To catch your vivid Scenes too gross her Hand.
But sure it is, was ne'er a subtler Band
Than these same guileful Angel-seeming Sprights,
Who thus in Dreams, voluptuous, soft, and bland,
Pour'd all th' Arabian Heaven upon our Nights,
And bless'd them oft besides with more refin'd Delights.
XLVI.
Even feigning Virtue; skilful to unite
With Evil Good, and strew with Pleasure Pain.
But for those Fiends, whom Blood and Broils delight;
Who hurl the Wretch, as if to Hell outright,
Down down black Gulphs, where sullen Waters sleep,
Or hold him clambering all the fearful Night
On beetling Cliffs, or pent in Ruins deep:
They, till due Time should serve, were bid far hence to keep.
XLVII.
From these foul Demons shield the Midnight Gloom!
Angels of Fancy and of Love, be near,
And o'er the Blank of Sleep diffuse a Bloom!
Evoke the sacred Shades of Greece and Rome,
And let them Virtue with a Look impart!
But chief, a while o lend us from the Tomb
Those long-lost Friends from whom in Love we smart,
And fill with pious Awe and Joy-mixt Woe the Heart.
XLVIII.
Rise to new Light, and beam afresh the Days
Of Innocence, Simplicity, and Truth;
To Cares estrang'd, and Manhood's thorny Ways.
What Transport! To retrace our boyish Plays,
Our easy Bliss, when each Thing Joy supply'd:
The Woods, the Mountains, and the warbling Maze
Of the wild Brooks———But, fondly wandering wide,
My Muse, resume the Task that yet doth thee abide.
XLIX.
In a huge crystal magic Globe to spy,
Still as you turn'd it, all Things that do pass
Upon this Ant-Hill Earth; where constantly
Of Idly-busy Men the restless Fry
Run bustling too and fro with foolish Haste,
In search of Pleasures vain, that from them fly;
Or which, obtain'd the Caitiffs dare not taste:
When nothing is enjoy'd, can there be greater Waste?
L.
Here you a Muckworm of the Town might see,
At his dull Desk, amid his Legers stall'd,
Eat up with carking Care and Penurie;
Most like to Carcase parch'd on Gallow-Tree.
A Penny saved is a Penny got:
Firm to this scoundrel Maxim keepeth he,
Ne of its Rigour will he bate a Jot,
Till it has quench'd his Fire, and banished his Pot.
LI.
Comes fluttering forth a gaudy spendthrift Heir,
All glossy gay, enamel'd all with Gold,
The silly Tenant of the Summer-Air.
In Folly lost, of Nothing takes he Care;
Pimps, Lawyers, Stewards, Harlots, Flatterers vile,
And thieving Tradesmen him among them share:
His Father's Ghost from Limbo-Lake, the while,
Sees This, which more Damnation does upon him pile.
LII.
Still at their Books, and turning o'er the Page,
Backwards and forwards: oft they snatch the Pen,
As if inspir'd, and in a Thespian Rage;
Then write, and blot, as would your Ruth engage.
Why, Authors, all this Scrawl and Scribbling sore?
To lose the present, gain the future Age,
Praised to be when you can hear no more,
And much enrich'd with Fame when useless worldly Store.
LIII.
With Carts, and Cars, and Coaches roaring all:
Wide-pour'd abroad, behold the prowling Crew;
See! how they dash along from Wall to Wall;
At every Door, hark! how they thundering call.
Good Lord! what can this eager Rout excite?
Why? Each on Each to prey, by Guile or Gall;
With Flattery These, with Slander Those to blight,
And make new tiresome Parties for the coming Night.
LIV.
In dark Cabals and nightly Juntos met;
And now they whisper'd close, new shrugging rear'd
Th' important Shoulder; then, as if to get
New Light, their twinkling Eyes were inward set:
No sooner [4]Lucifer recalls Affairs,
Than forth they various rush in mighty Fret;
When lo! push'd up to Power, and crown'd their Cares,
In comes another Set, and kicketh them down Stairs.
LV.
Was to behold the Nations all on Fire,
In cruel Broils engag'd, and deadly Strife;
Most Christian Kings, inflam'd by black Desire,
With Honourable Ruffians in their Hire,
Cause War to rage, and Blood around to pour:
Of this sad Work when Each begins to tire,
They sit them down just where they were before,
Till for new Scenes of Woe Peace shall their Force restore.
LVI.
An useless were, and eke an endless Task:
From Kings, and those who at the Helm appear,
To Gipsies brown, in Summer-Glades who bask.
Yea, many a Man perdie I could unmask,
Whose Desk and Table make a solemn Show,
With Tape-ty'd Trash, and Suits of Fools that ask
For Place or Pension, laid in decent Row;
But These I passen by, with nameless Numbers moe.
LVII.
There was a Man of special grave Remark:
A certain tender Gloom o'erspred his Face,
Pensive not sad, in Thought involv'd not dark,
As soote this Man could sing as Morning-Lark,
And teach the noblest Morals of the Heart:
But These his Talents were ybury'd stark;
Of the fine Stores he Nothing would impart,
Which or boon Nature gave, or Nature-painting Art.
LVIII.
Where purls the Brook with Sleep-inviting Sound;
Or when Dan Sol to slope his Wheels began,
Amid the Broom he bask'd him on the Ground,
Where the wild Thyme and Camomil are found:
There would he linger, till the latest Ray
Of Light sat trembling on the Welkin's Bound:
Then homeward through the twilight Shadows stray,
Sauntring and slow. So had he passed many a Day.
LIX.
For oft the heavenly Fire, that lay conceal'd
Beneath the sleeping Embers, mounted fast,
And all its native Light anew reveal'd;
Oft as he travers'd the Cerulean Field,
And mark'd the Clouds that drove before the Wind,
Ten thousand glorious Systems would he build,
Ten thousand great Ideas fill'd his Mind;
But with the Clouds they fled, and left no Trace behind.
LX.
(Profoundly silent, for they never spoke)
One shyer still, who quite detested Talk:
Oft, stung by Spleen, at once away he broke,
To Groves of Pine, and broad o'ershadowing Oak;
There, inly thrill'd, he wander'd all alone,
And on himself his pensive Fury wroke,
Ne ever utter'd Word, save when first shone
The glittering Star of Eve—"Thank Heaven! the Day is done."
LXI.
For forty Years, ne Face of Mortal seen;
In Chamber brooding like a loathly Toad,
And sure his Linen was not very clean;
Through secret Loop-hole, that had practis'd been
Near to his Bed, his Dinner vile he took;
Unkempt, and rough, of squalid Face and Mein,
Our Castle's Shame! whence, from his filthy Nook,
We drove the Villain out for fitter Lair to look.
LXII.
A joyous Youth, who took you at first Sight;
Him the wild Wave of Pleasure hither drove,
Before the sprightly Tempest tossing light:
Certes, he was a most engaging Wight,
Of social Glee, and Wit humane though keen,
Turning the Night to Day and Day to Night;
For him the merry Bell had rung, I ween,
If in this Nook of Quiet Bells had ever been.
LXIII.
What most elates then sinks the Soul so low;
When Spring-Tide Joy pours in with copious Flood,
The higher still th' exulting Billows flow,
The farther back again they flagging go,
And leave us groveling on the dreary Shore:
Taught by this Son of Joy, we found it so;
Who, whilst he staid, kept in a gay Uproar
Our madden'd Castle all, th' Abode of Sleep no more.
LXIV.
Sprung from the Meads, o'er which he sweeps along,
Chear'd by the breathing Bloom, and vital Sky,
Tunes up amid these airy Halls his Song,
Soothing at first the gay reposing Throng:
And oft he sips their Bowl; or nearly drown'd,
He thence recovering, drives their Beds among,
And scares their tender Sleep, with Trump profound;
Then out again he flies, to wing his mazy Round.
LXV.
Who felt each Worth, for every Worth he had;
Serene yet warm, humane yet firm his Mind,
As little touch'd as any Man's with Bad:
Him through their inmost Walks the Muses lad,
To him the sacred Love of Nature lent,
And sometimes would he make our Valley glad;
Whenas we found he would not here be pent,
To him the better Sort this friendly Message sent.
LXVI
"But if, alas! we cannot Thee persuade,
"To lie content beneath our peaceful Dome,
"Ne ever more to quit our quiet Glade;
"Yet when at last thy Toils, but ill apaid,
"Shall dead thy Fire, and damp its Heavenly Spark,
"Thou wilt be glad to seek the Rural Shade,
"There to indulge the Muse, and Nature mark:
"We then a Lodge for Thee will rear in Hagley-Park."
LXVII
But call'd by Fame, in Soul ypricked deep,
A noble Pride restor'd him to the Stage,
And rous'd him like a Gyant from his Sleep.
Even from his Slumbers we Advantage reap:
With double Force th' astonish'd Scene he wakes,
Yet quits not Nature's Bounds. He knows to keep
Each due Decorum: Now the Heart he shakes,
And now with well-urg'd Sense th'enlighten'd Judgment takes.
LXVIII
[5]Who void of Envy, Guile, and Lust of Gain,
On Virtue still, and Nature's pleasing Themes,
Pour'd forth his unpremeditated Strain,
The World forsaking with a calm Disdain:
Here laugh'd he careless in his easy Seat,
Here quaff'd encircled with the joyous Train;
Oft moralizing sage; his ditty sweet
He loathed much to write, ne cared to repeat.
LXIX
Of Clerks good Plenty here you mote espy.
A little, round, fat, oily Man of God,
Was one I chiefly mark'd among the Fry:
He had a roguish Twinkle in his Eye,
And shone all glittering with ungodly Dew,
If a tight Damsel chaunc'd to trippen by;
Which when observ'd, he shrunk into his Mew,
And strait would recollect his Piety anew.
LXX
(Old Inmates of the Place) but State-Affairs:
They look'd, perdie, as if they deeply thought;
And on their Brow sat every Nation's Cares.
The World by them is parcel'd out in Shares,
When in the Hall of Smoak they Congress hold,
And the sage Berry sun-burnt Mocha bears
Has clear'd their inward Eye: then, smoak-enroll'd,
Their Oracles break forth mysterious as of old.
LXXI
Bevies of dainty Dames, of high Degree,
From every Quarter hither made Resort;
Where, from gross mortal Care and Business free,
They lay, pour'd out in Ease and Luxury.
Or should they a vain Shew of Work assume,
Alas! and well-a-day! what can it be?
To knot, to twist, to range the vernal Bloom;
But far is cast the Distaff, Spinning-Wheel, and Loom.
LXXII.
And Labour dire it is, and weary Woe.
They sit, they loll, turn o'er some idle Rhyme;
Then, rising sudden, to the Glass they go,
Or saunter forth, with tottering Step and slow:
This soon too rude an Exercise they find;
Strait on the Couch their Limbs again they throw,
Where Hours on Hours they sighing lie reclin'd,
And court the vapoury God soft-breathing in the Wind.
LXXIII.
But ah! too late, as shall eftsoons be shewn.
A Place here was, deep, dreary, under Ground;
Where still our Inmates, when unpleasing grown,
Diseas'd, and loathsome, privily were thrown.
Far from the Light of Heaven, they languish'd there,
Unpity'd uttering many a bitter Groan;
For of these Wretches taken was no Care:
Fierce Fiends, and Hags of Hell, their only Nurses were.
LXXIV.
To this dark Den, where Sickness toss'd alway.
Here Lethargy, with deadly Sleep opprest,
Stretch'd on his Back a mighty Lubbard lay,
Heaving his Sides, and snored Night and Day;
To stir him from his Traunce it was not eath,
And his half-open'd Eyne he shut strait way:
He led, I wot, the softest Way to Death,
And taught withouten Pain and Strife to yield the Breath.
LXXV.
Soft-swoln and pale, here lay the Hydropsy:
Unwieldy Man! with Belly monstrous round,
For ever fed with watery Supply;
For still he drank, and yet he still was dry.
And moping here did Hypochondria sit,
Mother of Spleen, in Robes of various Dye,
Who vexed was full oft with ugly Fit;
And some Her frantic deem'd, & some Her deem'd a Wit.
LXXVI.
Yet oft her Fear her Pride made crouchen low:
She felt, or fancy'd in her fluttering Mood,
All the Diseases which the Spittles know,
And sought all Physick which the Shops bestow,
And still new Leaches and new Drugs would try,
Her Humour ever wavering to and fro;
For sometimes she would laugh, and sometimes cry,
Then sudden waxed wroth, and all she knew not why.
LXXVII.
With aching Head, and squeamish Heart-Burnings;
Pale, bloated, cold, she seem'd to hate Mankind,
Yet lov'd in Secret all forbidden Things.
And here the Tertian shakes his chilling Wings;
And sleepless Gout here counts the crowing Cocks,
A Wolf now gnaws him, now a Serpent stings;
Whilst Apoplexy cramm'd Intemperence knocks
Down to the Ground at once, as Butcher felleth Ox.
- ↑ Those Islands on the western Coast of Scotland called the Hebrides.
- ↑ This is not an Imagination of the Author; there being in fact such an Instrument, called Æolus's Harp, which, when placed against a little Rushing of Current of Air, produces the Effect here described.
- ↑ The Arabian Calips had Poets among the Officers of their Court, whose Office it was to do what is here mentioned.
- ↑ The Morning Star.
- ↑ The following Lines of this Stanza were writ by a Friend of the Author.