Prepare. As eldest, Hobbinol begin ;

And Lanquet's rival-verfe, by turns, come in.
HOBBINO L.

Let others ftake what chofen pledge they will,
Or kid, or lamb, or mazer wrought with skill:
For praise we fing, nor wager ought befide;
And, whofe the praise, let Geron's lips decide.
LANQUE T.

To Geron I my voice, and skill, commend, A candid umpire, and to both a friend.

GERON.

Begin then, boys; and vary well your fong:
Begin; nor fear, from Geron's fentence, wrong.
A boxen hautboy, loud, and sweet of found,
All varnish'd, and with brazen ringlets bound,
I to the victor give: no mean reward,
If to the ruder village-pipes compar'd.
HOBBINO L.

The fnows are melted; and the kindly rain
Defcends on every herb, and every grain :
Soft balmy breezes breathe along the sky;
The bloomy season of the year is nigh.

LONQUE T.

The cuckoo calls aloud his wandering love;
The turtle's moan is heard in every grove;
The paftures change; the warbling linnets fing:
Prepare to welcome-in the gaudy spring.

HOBBINO L.

When locufts, in the ferny bushes, cry, When ravens pant, and fnakes in caverns lie,

Y 2

8

12

20

24

28

Graze

Graze then in woods, and quit the shadeless plain,
Elfe fhall ye press the spungy teat in vain.

LANQUE T.

When greens to yellow vary, and

ye fee

The ground beftrew'd with fruits of every tree,
And ftormy winds are heard, think winter near,
Nor trust too far to the declining year.

HOBBINO L.

Woe then, alack! befall the fpendthrift fwain, When froft, and fnow, and hail, and fleet, and rain, By turns chastise him, while, through little care,

His fheep, unfhelter'd, pine in nipping air.

LANQUE T.

The lad of forecast then untroubled fees

The white-bleak plains, and filvery frosted trees:
He fends his flock, and, clad in homely frize,

In his warm cott the wintery blaft deres.

HOBBINO L.

Full fain, O blefs'd Eliza! would I praise Thy maiden-rule, and Albion's golden days: Then gentle Sidney liv'd, the fhepherd's friend: Eternal bleffings on his fhade attend!

LANQUE T.

Thrice happy fhepherds now! for Dorfet loves The country-mufe, and our refounding groves, While Anna reigns: O, ever may she reign! And bring, on earth, the golden age again.

HOBBINO L.

I love, in fecret all, a beautcous maid,

And have my love, in fecret all, repaid;

32

36

40

44

48

52

This coming night she plights her troth to me:
Divine her name, and thou the victor be.

LANQUE T.

Mild as the lamb, unharmful as the dove,

True as the turtle, is the maid I love:
How we in fecret love, I fhall not say:
Divine her name, and I give up the day.
HOBBINOL.

Soft on a cowflip-bank my love and I
Together lay; a brook ran murmuring by:
A thousand tender things to me she said;
And I a thousand tender things repaid.

LANQUE T.

56

60

In fummer-shade, behind the cocking hay, What kind endearing words did she not fay! Her lap, with apron deck'd, the fondly spread, And strok'd my cheek, and lull'd my leaning head. 68 HOBBINO L.

Breathe foft, ye winds; ye waters, gently flow ; Shield her, ye trees; ye flowers, around her grow: Ye fwains, I beg you, pass in filence by;

My love, in yonder vale, afleep does lie.

LANQUE T.

Once Delia slept on casy moss reclin❜d,

Her lovely limbs half bare, and rude the wind:
I fmooth'd her coats, and ftole a filent kifs :
Condemn me, fhepherds, if I did amiss.

HOBBINOL.

As Marian bath'd, by chance I passed by; She blush'd, and at me glanc'd a fidelong eye:

72

76

Then, cowering in the treacherous ftream, fhe try'ď Her tempting form, yet ftill in vain, to hide. LANQUET.

As I, to cool me, bath'd one fultry day, Fond Lydia, lurking, in the fedges lay:

The wanton laugh'd, and feem'd in hafte to fly,
Yet oft fhe stopt, and oft fhe turn'd her eye.

84

HOBBINO L.

When firft I faw (would I had never feen!) Young Lyfet lead the dance on yonder green, Intent upon her beauties, as fhe mov'd,

Poor heedlefs wretch! at unawares I lov'd.

LAN O U E T.

88

When Lucy decks with flowers her fwelling breaft, And on her elbow leans, diffembling reft,

Unable to refrain my madding mind,

Nor herds, nor pafture, worth my care I find.

HOBBINOL.

Come, Rofalind, O come! for, wanting thee,
Our peopled vale a defert is to me.

Come, Rofalind, O, come! My brinded kine,
My fnowy fheep, my farm, and all, are thine.

LANQUE T.

Come, Rofalind, O come! Here fhady bowers, Here are cool fountains, and here fpringing flowers: Come, Rofalind! Here ever let us stay,

And fweetly wafte the live-long time away.

HOBBINO L.

In vain the feafons of the moon I know,

The force of healing herbs, and where they grow:
No herb there is, no feafon, to remove

From my fond heart the racking pains of love.

92

9.6

104 LAN

LANQUE T.

What profits me, that I in charms have skill,
And gholts, and goblins, order as I will,
Yet have, with all my charms, no power to lay
The fprite that breaks my quiet night and day?
HOBBIN O L.

O, that, like Colin, I had skill in rhymes,
To purchase credit with fucceeding times!
Sweet Colin Clout! who never, yet, had peer;,
Who fung through all the feafons of the year.

LANQUE T.

Let me, like Merlin, fing: his voice had power
To free the 'clipfing moon at midnight hour:
And, as he fung, the Fairies with their queen,
In mantles blue, came tripping o'er the green.

HOBBINOL.

108

112

116

Laft eve of May did I not hear them fing,
And fee their dance? And I can fhew the ring,
Where, hand in hand, they fhift their feet fo light:
The grafs fprings greener from their tread by night.
LANQUET.

But haft thou feen their king, in rich array,
Fam'd Oberon, with damask'd robe fo gay,
And gemmy crown, by moonshine sparkling far,
And azure fceptre, pointed with a star ?

GERON.

Here end your pleafing ftrife. Both victors are;
And both with Colin may, in rhyme, compare.
A boxen hautboy, loud, and fweet of found,
All varnish'd, and with brazen ringlets bound,

Y 4

124

128

Το