Had hunted late the libbard' or the bore,

And nowe would bathe his limbes, with labor heated sore.

Then came the Autumne, all in yellow clad,

As though he ioyéd in his plenteous store,
Laden with fruits that made him laugh, full glad
That he had banisht hunger, which to-fore2
Had by the belly oft him pinchéd sore;
Upon his head a wreath, that was enrold3
With ears of corne of every sort, he bore;
And in his hand a sickle he did holde,

To reape the ripened fruits the which the earth had yold.*
Lastly came Winter, cloathed all in frize,

Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill;
Whilst on his hoary beard his breath did freese,
And the dull drops, that from his purpled bill
As from a limbeck did adown distill:
In his right hand a tippéd staffe he held,
With which his feeble steps he stayed still;
For he was faint with cold and week with eld;"
That scarse his looséd limbes he hable was to weld.7

THUS the fresh Clarion, being readie dight,
Unto his iourney did himselfe addresse,
And with good speed began to take his flight;
Over the fields, in his frank lustinesse,
And all the champaine 10 o're he soared light;
And all the country wide he did possesse,
Feeding upon their pleasures bounteouslie,
That none gainsaid, nor none did him envie.
The woods, the rivers, and the medowes greene,
With his aire-cutting wings he measured wide;
Ne did he leave the mountaines bare unseene,
Nor the rank grassie fennes delights untride:

(2) To-fore-before this.

(1) Libbard-the leopard. (4) Yold-yielded. (5) Limbeck-an alembic or still. (7) Weld-wield, govern.

(3) Enrold-surrounded. (6) Eld-old age.

(8) "Muiopotmos; or, the Fate of the Butterflie,” vv. 145–232. (9) Clarion -the name of the butterfly. (10) Champaine-from the French champagne, Italian campagna, Latin campanus, and all from campus, a plain-open country.

But none of these, however sweet they beene,
Mote please his fancie, nor him cause to abide :
His choicefull sense with every change doth flit;
No common things may please a wavering wit.

To the gay gardins his unstaid desire

Him wholly caried, to refresh his sprights:
There, lavish Nature, in her best attire,

Powres forth sweete odors and alluring sights;
And Arte, with her contending, doth aspire

To excell the naturall with made delights:
And all that faire or pleasant may be found,
In riotous excesse doth there abound.

There he arriving, round about doth flie
From bed to bed, from one to other border;
And takes survey, with curious busie eye,
Of every flowre and herbe there set in order;
Now this, now that, he tasteth tenderly,

Yet none of them he rudely doth disorder,
Nor with his feete their silken leaves deface,
But pastures on the pleasures of each place.

And evermore, with most varietie

And change of sweetness (for all change is sweete),
He casts his glutton sense to satisfy;

Now sucking of the sap of herbe most meet,
Or of the deaw which yet on them does lie,
Now in the same bathing his tender feete:
And then he pearcheth on some braunch thereby,
To weather him,3 and his moyst wings to dry.

And then again he turneth to his play,

2

To spoyle the pleasures of that Paradise;
The wholesome Saulge, and Lavender still gray,
Ranke-smelling Rue, and Cummin good for eyes,
The Roses raigning in the pride of May,

Sharp Isope good for green wounds remedies,
Faire Marigoldes, and bees-alluring Thime,

Sweet Marjoram and Daysies decking prime;

(1) He casts-he casts in his mind, contrives how. (2) Thereby-close by. (3) To weather him-to expose himself to the air. (4) Spoyle-make a spoil of. (5) Saulge-from the Latin salvere, to be in good health-the herb sage, so called from its salutary properties. (6) Isope hyssop. (7) Green-fresh.

Coole Violets, and Orpine growing still,
Embathéd Balme, and chearfull Galingale,
Fresh Costmarie, and breathfull Camomill,
Dull Poppy, and drink-quickning Setuale,
Veyne-healing Verven, and hed-purging Dill,
Sound Savorie, and Bazil hartie-hale,
Fat Colworts, and comforting Perseline,1
Cold Lettuce, and refreshing Rosmarine.

And what so else of vertue good or ill
Grewe in this gardin, fetcht from farre away,
Of every one he takes and tastes at will,

And on their pleasures greedily doth pray,
Then when he had both plaid, and fed his fill,
In the warm sunne he did himselfe embay,
And there him rests in riotous suffisaunce,
Of all his gladfulnes, and kingly ioyaunce.3

What more felicitie can fall to creature
Than to enjoy delight with libertie,
And to be lord of all the works of nature,

2

To raigne in the air from the earth to highest skie,
To feed on flowres and weeds of glorious feature,
To take whatever thing doth please the eie?
Who rests not pleased with such happines,
Wel worthy he to taste of wretchednes.

But what on earth can long abide in state?
Or who can him assure of happy day?
Sith morning faire may bring fowle evening late,
And least mishap the most blisse alter may!
For thousand perills lie in close awaite

About us daylie, to worke our decay;
That none except a God, or God him guide,
May them avoyde, or remedie provide.

And whatso heavens in their secret doome
Ordained have, how can fraile fleshly wight
Forecast, but it must needs to issue come?
The sea, the aire, the fire, the day, the night,

(2) Embay-bathe, delight.

(3) Ioyaunce-the (4) Fore

(1) Perseline-parsley. word must be pronounced here io-y-aunce for the sake of the metre. cast-foresee, provide against.

And the armies of their creatures all and some
Do serve to them, and with impòrtune might
Warre against us the vassals of their will.
Who then can save what they dispose to spill?

THE RUINS OF ROME.'

THOU stranger! which for Rome in Rome here seekest,
And nought of Rome in Rome perceivst at all,
These same olde walls, olde arches which thou seest,
Olde palaces, is that which Rome men call.
Beholde what wreake, what ruine, and what wast,
And how that She, which with her mightie powre
Tamed all the world, hath tamed herselfe at last ;-
The pray of Time, which all things doth devowre!
Rome now of Rome is the onely funeral,
And onely Rome of Rome hath victorie;
Ne ought save Tyber, hastening to his fall,
Remains of all: O worlds inconstancie!
That which is firme doth flit and fall away,
And that is flitting doth abide and stay.

Thou that at Rome astonisht doth behold
The antique pride which menacéd the skie,
These haughtie heaps, these palaces of olde,
These wals, these arcks, these baths, these temples hie!
Judge, by these ample ruines vew,3 the rest,
The which injurious Time hath quite outworne,
Since of all workmen held in reckning best;
Yet these olde fragments are for paternes borne:
Then also mark how Rome, from day to day,
Repayring her decayéd fashion,

Renewes herselfe with buildings rich and gay,
That one would judge that the Romaìne dæmòn
Doth yet himselfe with fatal hand enforce,
Againe on foot to reare her pouldred' corse.

(2) Flit-to fly away

(1) From the poem of this name, stanzas 4, 27-29. rapidly. (3) These ample ruines vew-the sight of these ample ruins. (4) One would judge, &c.-i. e. one would imagine that the genius or spirit of Rome were striving to reanimate the mouldering body. (5) Pouldred-powdered, mouldering.

He that hath seene a great oke drie and dead,
Yet clad with reliques of some trophees olde,
Lifting to heaven her aged hoarie head,
Whose foot on ground hath left but feeble holde,
But halfe disboweld lies above the ground,
Shewing her wreathéd rootes and naked armes,
And on her trunk, all rotten and unsound,
Onely supports herself for meate of wormes;
And, though she owe her fall1 to the first winde,
Yet of the devout people is adored,

And manie yong plants spring out of her rinde:-
Who such an oke hath seene, let him record
That such this cities honour was of yore,
And mongst all cities florishéd much more.2

All that which Egypt whilome3 did devise,
All that which Greece, their temples to embrave,
After the Ionicke, Atticke, Doricke guise,
Or Corinth, skild in curious works to grave;
All that Lysippus practique art could forme,
Apelles wit, or Phidias his skill;

Was wont this auncient citie to adorne,

And the heaven itselfe with her wide wonders fill:
All that which Athens ever brought forth wise,
All that which Afrike ever brought forth strange,
All that which Asia ever had of prise,7

Was here to see. O mervelous great change!
Rome, living, was the worlds sole ornament,
And, dead, is now the worlds sole moniment.

(1) Owe her fall-i.e. her fall is, as it were, due-she is doomed to fall by the first wind. (2) Much more-i. e. than the oak does amongst trees. (3) Whilome -formerly. "In the antiquated word whilom, at times, we have a remnant of the old dative in m. The sense of the word is adverbial; its form, however, is that of a dative case."-Latham. (4) Embrave-make brave or fine, adorn. tique-skilful, cunning. (6) Wit-ingenuity or genius. value.

(5) Prac(7) Prise-praise,