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النشر الإلكتروني

L'ALLEGRO.

HENCE, loathed Melancholy,

Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born!

In Stygian cave forlorn,

'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy,

Find out some uncouth cell,

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Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings, And the night raven sings;

There under ebon shades, and low-brow'd rocks, As ragged as thy locks,

In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.

But come thou Goddess fair and free,
In heav'n y-clep'd Euphrosyne,
And by Men, heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth
With two sister Graces more,
To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore;
Or whether (as some sager sing)

The frolic wind that breathes the spring,

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1 Hence] Compare Marston's Scourge of Villanie, b. iii. s. 10. (ed. 1598.) 'Sleepe grim reproof,' &c. Warton.

5 uncouth] Searcht out the uncouth cell of thy abode.' Val. Welshman, 1615, act iv. s. 6. Todd.

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10 Cimmerian] Miltoni Prolus. Dignus qui Cimmeriis occlusus tenebris longam, et perosam vitam transigat.' Warton.

15 two] Meat and Drink, the two sisters of Mirth.

Warburton.

Zephyr with Aurora playing,
As he met her once a Maying;
There on beds of violets blue,

And fresh-blown roses wash'd in dew,
Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,
So buxom, blithe, and debonair.

Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee
Jest, and youthful Jollity,

Quips, and Cranks, and wanton Wiles,
Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles,
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,
And love to live in dimple sleek ;
Sport that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides.
Come, and trip it as you go,
On the light fantastic toe;

And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty;
And if I give thee honour due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew,

To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free;

22 wash'd] Shakesp. Tam. of Shrew, act ii. sc. 1.

'As morning roses newly wash'd with dew.' Bowle.

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24 buxom] 'To make one blithe, buxome, and deboneer.' Randolph Aristippus, p. 310, ed. 1662. Todd.

28 Nods] With becks, and nods, and smiles againe.' Burton's An. of Melanch. p. 449 (ed. 1628). Warton.

33 Come] Shakes. Tempest, act iv. sc. 2.

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Come and go,

Each one tripping on his toe.' Newton.

VOL. II.

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To hear the lark begin his flight,
And singing startle the dull night,
From his watch-tow'r in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise;
Then to come in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow,
Through the sweet-briar, or the vine,
Or the twisted eglantine:

While the cock with lively din

Scatters the rear of darkness thin,
And to the stack, or the barn-door,
Stoutly struts his dames before:
Oft list'ning how the hounds and horn
Cheerly rouse the slumb'ring morn,
From the side of some hoar hill,
Through the high wood echoing shrill :
Some time walking, not unseen,
By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green,
Right against the eastern gate,
Where the great sun begins his state,
Rob'd in flames, and amber light,
The clouds in thousand liveries dight;
While the ploughman near at hand
Whistles o'er the furrow'd land,

42 dull] K. Hen. V. act iv. chorus,

'Piercing the night's dull ear.'

46 good morrow] Browne's Brit. Past. iii. 2.

Steevens.

'Twice bid good morrow to the nether world.'

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50 Scatters] Gallum noctem explodentibus alis.' Lucret. iv. 714.

54 morn] Habington's Castora, p. 8, ed. 1640.

rouse the morne,

With the shrill musicke of the horne.' Warton.

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The lab'ring clouds do often rest;
Meadows trim with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide.
Towers and battlements it sees
Bosom'd high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps some Beauty lies,
The Cynosure of neighb'ring eyes.
Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes,
From betwixt two aged oaks,
Where Corydon and Thyrsis met,

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Are at their savoury dinner set

Of herbs, and other country messes,

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Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses;
And then in haste her bow'r she leaves,

With Thestylis to bind the sheaves;

Or, if the earlier season lead,

To the tann'd haycock in the mead,

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85 messes] Sylv. Du Bartas, p. 171.

'Yielding more holesom food then all the messes,

That now taste-curious wanton Plenty dresses.' Warton.

Sometimes with secure delight
The upland hamlets will invite,
When the merry bells ring round,
And the jocund rebecks sound

To many a youth, and many a maid,
Dancing in the chequer'd shade;
And young and old come forth to play
On a sunshine holiday,

Till the live-long daylight fail;

Then to the spicy nut-brown ale,

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With stories told of many a feat,

How fairy Mab the junkets eat;
She was pinch'd, and pull'd she said,
And he by friars' lanthorn led
Tells how the drudging Goblin sweat,
To earn his cream-bowl duly set,
When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy flail hath thresh'd the corn,
That ten day-lab'rers could not end;
Then lies him down the lubber fiend,

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And stretch'd out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength,
And crop-full out of doors he flings,
Ere the first cock his matin rings.

Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,
By whispering winds soon lull'd asleep.

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110 lubber] There is a pretty tale of a witch that had the devil's mark about her, God bless us, that had a gyaunt to her son, that was called Lob-lye-by-the-fire.' Knight of the B. Pestle, act iii. sc. 1. Warton.

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