35 MEN. Thou fing with him, thou booby! never pipe Was fo prophan'd to touch that blubber'd lip: Dunce at the beft; in ftreets but scarce allow'd To tickle, on thy ftraw, the ftupid crowd. 40 DAM. To bring it to the trial, will you dare Our pipes, our fkill, our voices, to compare? My brinded heifer to the stake I lay; Two thriving calves fhe fuckles twice a day : And twice befides her beaftings never fail To ftore the dairy with a brimming pail. Now back your finging with an equal stake. MEN. That fhould be feen, if I had one to make. 45 You know too well. I feed my father's flock: What can I wager from the common stock? A ftepdame too I have, a curfed the, Who rules my hen-peck'd fire, and orders me. Both number twice a-day the milky dams; At once he takes the tale of all the lambs. But fince you will be mad, and fince you may Sufpect my courage, if I should not lay, The pawn I proffer shall be full as good: 50 Two bowls I have, well turn'd, of beechen wood; 55 Both by divine Alcimedon were made; To neither of them yet the lip is laid; The ivy's ftem, its fruit, its foliage, lurk 60 In Inftructed in his trade the labouring swain, And when to reap, and when to fow the grain? DAM. And I have two, to match your pair, at home; 65 The wood the fame, from the fame hand they come : MEN. No more delays, vain boaster, but begin: Palamon fhall be judge how ill you rhime: 70 75 DAM. Rhymer, come on, and do the worst you can: I fear not you, nor yet a better man. With filence, neighbour, and attention wait: For 'tis a business of a high debate. 80 PAL. Sing then; the fħade affords a proper place; The trees are cloath'd with leaves, the fields with grafs; The bloffoms blow; the birds on bushes fing; And nature has accomplish'd all the spring. DAM. From the great Father of the gods above 85 90 Το To Jove the care of heaven and earth belongs; 95 MEN. Me Phœbus loves; for he my Mufe infpires; MEN. But fair Amyntas comes unafk'd to me, } DAM. To the dear mistress of my love-fick mind, Her fwain a pretty present has defign'd: I saw two stock-doves billing, and ere long MEN. Ten ruddy wildings in the wood I found, DAM. The lovely maid lay panting in my arms; 105 MEN. Ah! what avails it me, my love's delight, 115 To call you mine, when absent from my fight! I hold the nets, while you purfue the prey; And must not share the dangers of the day. DAM. I keep my birth-day: send my Phyllis home; At fhearing-time, Iolas, you may come. MEN. With Phyllis I am more in grace than you: 120 125 DAM. The nightly wolf is baneful to the fold, Storms to the wheat, to buds the bitter cold; But from my frowning fair, more ills I find Than from the wolves, and ftorms, and winter-wind. MEN. The kids with pleasure browse the bushy plain, The showers are grateful to the fwelling grain: To teeming ewes the fallow's tender tree; But more than all the world my love to me. DAM. Pollio my rural verfe vouchfafes to read: A heifer, Mufes, for your patron breed. MEN. My Pollio writes himself; a bull be bred With fpurning heels, and with a butting head. 130 135 DAM. Who Pollio loves, and who his Mufe ad mires, Let Pollio's fortune crown his full defires. Let myrrh inftead of thorn his fences fill; And showers of honey from his oaks distil. MEN. Who hates not living Bavius, let him be 140 (Dead Mævius) damn'd to love thy works and thee: The fame ill tafte of fenfe would ferve to join Dog-foxes in the yoke, and fhear the fwine. DAM. Ye boys who pluck the flowers, and spoil the fpring, Beware the fecret fnake that fhoots a fting. 145 MEN. Graze not too near the banks, my jolly sheep, The ground is falfe, the running ftreams are deep: See, See, they have caught the father of the flock, Who dries his fleece upon the neighbouring rock. DAM. From rivers drive the kids, and fling your hook; Anon I'll wash them in the fhallow brook. 150 MEN. To fold, my flock; when milk is dry'd with heat, In vain the milk-maid tugs an empty teat. DAM. How lank my bulls from plenteous pasture come! But love, that drains the herd, destroys the groom. 155 MEN. My flocks are free from love; yet look fo thin, Their bones are barely cover'd with their skin. What magic has bewitch'd the wooly dams, DAM. Say, where the round of heaven which all contains, To three fhort ells on earth our fight restrains : 160 MEN. Nay, tell me first, in what new region fprings A flower that bears infcrib'd the names of kings: As Phœbus' self; for Phyllis shall be thine. PAL. So nice a difference in your finging lies, That both have won, or both deferv'd, the prize. D3 165 Reft |