As cypresses are wont among the lithe Mel. Pray, what proved to thee Upon an idle man, when once his beard 43. Tendenti, the "barber," should the reader prefer it but it may be supposed that a slave would shave his own beard when cash was scarce. A barber would find some difficulty in giving such a spendthrift as Tityrus any credit. 45. Tityrus seems to have been somewhat in the condition of Cowley, if we may judge from his ballad of infinite playfulness, the Chronicle; e. g.: "Mary then, and gentle Anne, Both to reign at once began: And sometimes Mary was the fair, eye, 46. Perhaps it was his own fault, like Thenot's in Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, iv. 5: "Oh, hapless love, which, being answered, ends! And, as a little infant cries and bends His tender brows, when, rolling of his He hath espied something that glisters nigh, Which he would have; yet, give it him, away He throws it straight, and cries afresh to play With something else: such my affection, set On that which I should loathe if I could get." Perhaps it was Galatea's: "Go, false one! now I see the cheat: And I was galled to think that you, How could you once so kind appear, 48. "For such a foole I doe him firmly hold, "Should Rome, for whom you've done the happy service, Turn most ingrate, yet were your virtue paid In conscience of the fact: so much good deeds Reward themselves!" Ben Jonson, Catiline, iii. 2. 52. The cause of Tityrus coming home with empty purse was the same that enriched Autolycus, at the Clown's expense, in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, iv. 3: The hedge, which at th' adjoining boundary Hath aye its willow-blossom made a feast By bees of Hybla, oft shall thee entice "If I were not in love with Mopsa, thou shouldst take no money of me; but being enthralled as I am, it will also be the bondage of certain ribands and gloves." 67. "You virgins, that did late despair To keep your wealth from cruel men, Tie up in silk your careless hair, Soft peace is come again. Now lovers' eyes may gently shoot The drum was angry, but the lute Sing Io, Io! for his sake, Whilst we whole groves of laurel bring, And all the bloom we owe." Shirley, The Imposture, i. 2. 76. Or- "Shalt shady cool enjoy." See Ecl. ii. 7. 12. 79. "There flowery hill Hymettus, with the sound Of bees' industrious murmur, oft invites To studious musing." Milton, P. R. b. iv. 80 By gentle murmuring to drop to sleep. Nor turtle, cease from tow'ring elm to coo. it. Then sooner nimble harts shall feed in air, And seas leave fishes bare upon the strand; Sooner,-both countries' frontiers traversed o'er, Or Parthian exile shall the Arar drink, Mel. But we, 90 Some hence shall pass to Afric's thirsty sons; Thy pear-trees, Melibus, range arow 84. "Making that murm'ring noise that cooing doves Use in the soft expression of their loves." Dryden, The Indian Queen, iii. i. "No more shall meads be decked with flowers, Nor sweetness dwell in rosy bowers; Nor greenest buds on branches spring, Nor warbling birds delight to sing; Nor April violets paint the grove, Ere I forget my Celia's love." Carew, The Protestation. Shakespeare uses the powerful aid of impossibilities for a different purpose; Merchant of Venice, iv. 1: "You may as well go stand upon the beach, And bid the main flood bate his usual height; You may as well use question with the wolf, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ; You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noise, When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven, As seek to soften that, his Jewish heart." And again, in Coriolanus, v. 3: "Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach Fillip the stars; then let the mutinous winds Strike the proud cedars 'gainst the fiery sun, Murdering impossibility, to make What cannot be, slight work." 91. "But poorer now than poverty itself;" "Now, like a sea-tost navy in a storm, Must we be severed unto divers shores ?" Webster, The Weakest goeth to the Wall, ii. 3. "Thou hast forced My heart to sigh, my hands to beat my breast, My feet to travel, and my eyes to weep." iii. 1. Goldsmith feelingly alludes to the miseries of exile: "Have we not seen, at pleasure's lordly call, Again in the Deserted Village: Away! You nevermore shall I, [while] stretched Within the verdant grot, see hanging far 66 Tit. Yet here this night hadst thou along with me Far different these from every former scene,- 94. So Ambrose Philips, with a pleasing variety; Past. 2: "Sweet are thy banks! Oh, when shall I once more With ravish'd eyes review thine amell'd shore? When in the crystal of thy waters scan Each feature faded, and my colour wan? When shall I see my hut, the small abode Myself did raise, and cover o'er with sod? Small though it be, a mean and humble cell, Yet is there room for peace and me to dwell." "His stubborn hands my net hath broken quite; 100. My fish, the guerdon of my toil and pain, He causeless seized, and, with ungrateful spite, Bestowed upon a less deserving swain: The cost and labour mine, his all the gain." P. Fletcher, Ecl. ii. 7. "So many new-born flies his light gave life to, Buzz in his beams, flesh-flies and butterflies, Hornets, and humming scarabs, that not one honey-bee, That's loaden with true labour, and brings home Increase and credit, can 'scape rifling; And what she sucks for sweet, they turn to bitterness." J. Fletcher, The Loyal Subject, ii. 5. 112. So Spenser's Shepheards Calender, September, 254: "But if to my cotage thou wilt resort, THE shepherd Corydon with fervor loved He used unceasingly to come: he there Now e'en the thorny brakes green lizards shroud; And Thestylis for reapers, faint with raging heat, Together bruises garlic and wild thyme, Herbs strong of odor: but along with me, ALEXIS. Were swarthy, e'en though thou wert fair. By thee am I disdained; nor who I am Why, sir? black Line 6, 7. "6 Give sorrow words: the grief, that does not speak, Whispers the o'er fraught heart, and bids it break." 21. Macbeth, iv. 3. "Unkindness, do thy office! poor heart, break! Those are the killing griefs, which dare not speak." Webster, Vittoria Corombona, ii. 1. Mercy hangs upon your brow, like a precious jewel, 9. O let not then, Most lovely maid, best to be loved of men, Marble lie upon your heart, that will make you cruel! Pity, pity, pity! Pity, pity, pity! That word begins that ends a true-love ditty." T. Middleton, Blurt, iii. 1. 13. Milton makes his Thestylis assist the reapers in a different way, assigning the culinary department to Phillis: "Hard by, a cottage-chimney smokes, Of herbs and other country messes, L'Allegro. Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, ii. 1. 27. "Two thousand sheep have I as white as milk, Though not so sweet as is thy lovely face; The pasture rich, the wool as soft as silk: All this I give, let me possess thy grace." Sir Philip Sidney, The Lady of May. "An hundred udders for the pail I have, That give me milk and curds, that make me cheese To cloy the markets; twenty swarm of bees, Whilk all the summer hum about the hive, And bring me wax and honey in *bilive." B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 1. 33. This may call to mind the language of Eve: "And laid me down. . . . to look into the clear Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky. As I bent down to look, just opposite A shape within the watery gleam appeared, Bending to look on me: I started back, It started back; but pleased, I soon returned." Milton, P. L., iv. * "Bilive," with life, quickly. When quiet through the breezes stood the sea : I should not Daphnis fear, thyself the judge, The flock of kidlings to the mallow green! : Nor let it irk thee with a reed to chafe Damotas spoke; the fool Amyntas grudged. With white, a ewe's twain udders daily drain : Which I for thee reserve. This long time past, 33. Carew gives another turn to the idea: So votaries, from every place, No winds but lovers' sighs blow here, On which no star from any sphere To crystal, then, in haste congeal, How cold, how hard she is." Sight of a Gentlewoman's face in the Water. "And fair my flock, nor yet uncomely I, That she might carry them away from me, Hath Thestylis been craving, and her end will gain, Since paltry are my presents in thine eyes. Come hither, O thou beauteous boy! For thee 60 Their lilies, lo! in baskets full, the Nymphs And chestnuts, which my Amaryllis loved. : 72 61. So "Sensuality" in Nabbes' Microcosmus, iv. "Gather all the flowers Tempe is painted with, and strew his way. Similarly Venus engages to Paris : The bordering flowers less beauteous than they 69. "I pr'ythee let me bring thee where crabs grow?" A. Philips, Past. 1. grow; And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts; Wild boars have I, [to reason] lost, let in. Whom art thou flying, ah! thou witless one? Even the gods have tenanted the woods, Let haunt the fortresses, which she hath built; Us above all things let the woods delight. The bullocks by the yoke are bearing home; Consuming; for what bound can there be set The wings of pregnant western gales do enrich The air withal, which, gliding as you walk, May kiss the teeming flowers, and with soft breath Open the buds, to welcome their preserver." Shirley, The Imposture, iii. 3. 90. "And every humour hath its adjunct pleasure, Wherein it finds a joy above the rest." Shakespeare, Sonnet 91. The force of ipse, in verse 63 of the original, would be best brought out by "in turn." 100. How clearly the poet saw that useful employment was a cure for irregular desires! "Wherefore if thou, I say, Dost covet to avoid That Bedlam Boy's deceitful bow, Eschew the idle life! Flee! flee from doing naught: Turberville, The Lover to Cupid. Philosophy, religious solitude And labour wait on temperance. In these ECLOGUE III. PALEMON. MENALCAS. DAMETAS. PALEMON. Menalcas. Inform me, O Damotas! whose | That these [misdoings] should with more Line 7. It is very doubtful that alienus means "hireling;" for Damotas may have been in too comfortable a position to accept of formal pay. He paid himself, however, unless Menalcas was untruthful,-which he may very well have been, and his companion with him. The character of each depends on the testimony of the other; and all that is certain is, that they had both very abusive tongues. The probability is, that Damotas was a thief, at all events; and so he need not have sought a remuneration for his trouble in honest cash. Vide v. 16 of the Latin text. Or here by th' agèd beech, When you the bow and shafts of Daphnis broke ; Which when, O curst Menalcas, you beheld Bestowed upon the lad, you were not only vexed, 15. Malá may either be referred to falce, as in the translation; or to Damotas, when it should be rendered "spiteful." |