So him he foil'd; and put to sudden flight, It liketh me to figure Chastity; His labour like that foul unclean desire, That under guide of tickling fantasy Would mar the mind through pleasure's scorching fire. And who hath seen a fair alluring face, A lusty girl, yclad in quaint array, Whose dainty hand makes music with her lace, Whose ticing hair, like nets of golden wire, Enchain thy heart; whose gait and voice divine Enflame thy blood, and kindle thy desire; Whose features wrap and dazzle human eyne : Who hath beheld fair Venus in her pride In ivory bed, strait laid by Mars his side, To wish to dally, and to offer game, (Forgive me, Chastness, if in terms of shame, Who hath not liv'd, and yet hath seen, I say, Crown him with laurel for his victory, Clad him in purple, and in scarlet dye, Enroll his name in books of memory, Ne let the honour of his conquest die! More royal in his triumph, than the man Whom tigers drew in coach of burnish'd gold; In whom the Roman monarchy began, Whose works of worth no wit hath erst controll'd: Elysium be his walk, high heaven his shrine, And that I may, in brief, describe his due, L'ENVOY. To thee, in honour of whose government My gentle friend, these hasty lines are meant ; CORIDON AND MELAMPUS' SONG,* From England's Helicon, 1600. COR. Melampus, when will Love be void of fears? MEL. When Jealousy hath neither eyes nor ears. COR. Melampus, when will Love be throughly shriev❜d? MEL. When it is hard to speak, and not believ'd. COR. Melampus, when is Love most mal-content? MEL. When lovers range, and bear their bows unbent. COR. Melampus, tell me when Love takes least harm? MEL. When swains' sweet pipes are puft, and trulls are warm. COR. Melampus, tell me when is Love best fed? MEL. When it has suckt the sweet that ease hath bred. COR. Melampus, when is time in Love ill spent? † MEL. When it earns meed and yet receives no rent. COR. Melampus, when is time well spent in Love? MEL. When deeds win meed, and words love works do prove. *This song formed part of the Hunting of Cupid, see p. 261. + So stands the line in England's Helicon, 1600, Malone's copy of which is now before me in the reprint of that very rare work (in the British Bibliographer,) it is incorrectly given thus: Melampus, when is Love in time ill-spent." CUPID'S ARROWS, From England's Parnassus, 1600.* AT Venus' entreaty for Cupid her son The third is Hope, from whence our comfort springs, This metal Vulcan's Cyclops sent from hell. E. P. p. 177, under the head Love. These verses are (as I suspected before I had seen the Drummond MSS.) a portion of the Hunting of Cupid: see p. 261. |