Exalt thy love-dejected heart,
Be mine the task, or ere we part,
To make thee grief resign;
Now take the pleasure of thy chaunce;
Whilft I with Mab, my part'ner, daunce,
Be little Mable thine.
He spoke, and all a sudden there
Light music floats in wanton air;
The monarch leads the queen :
The reft their fairie part'ners found:
And Mable trimly tript the ground
With Edwin of the green.
The dauncing past, the board was laid,
And fiker fuch a feast was made
As heart and lip defire,
Withouten hands the dishes fly,
The glasses with a wish come nigh,
And with a wish retire.
But now to please the fairie king,
Full ev'ry deal they laugh and fing,
And antic feats devise;
Some wind and tumble like an ape,
And other-some transmute their shape
In Edwin's wond'ring eyes.
'Till one at last that Robin hight,
Renown'd for pinching maids by night,
Has hent him up aloof;
And full against the beam he flung,
Where by the back the youth he hung
To spraul unneath the roof.
From thence, "Reverse my charm, he cries,
"And let it fairly now fuffice
"The gambol has been shown."
But Oberon answers with a fmile,
Content thee Edwin for a while,
The vantage is thine own.
Here ended all the phantom-play;
They smelt the fresh approach of day,
And heard a cock to crow ;
The whirling wind that bore the crowd
Has clap'd the door, and whistled loud,
To warn them all to go.
Then screaming all at once they fly,
And all at once the tapers dye;
Poor Edwin falls to floor;
Forlorn his state, and dark the place,
Was never wight in fuch a cafe
Thro' all the land before.
But foon as dan Apollo rose,
Full jolly creature home he goes,
He feels his back the less;
His honeft tongue and steady mind
Had rid him of the lump behind,
Which made him want success.
With lusty livelyhed he talks,
He seems a dauncing as he walks,
His story foon took wind;
And beauteous Edith fees the youth,
Endow'd with courage, sense, and truth,
Without a bunch behind.
The story told, Sir Topas mov'd,
The youth of Edith erst approv'd,
To fee the revel scene;
At close of eve he leaves his home,
And wends to find the ruin'd dome
All on the gloomy plain.
As there he bides, it so befell,
The wind came rustling down a dell,
A shaking feiz'd the wall :
Up sprung the tapers as before,
The fairies bragly foot the floor,
And music fills the hall.
But certes forely funk with woe
Sir Topaz fees the Elphin show,
His spirits in him dy :
When Oberon crys, a man is near,
"A mortal passion, cleeped fear,
With that Sir Topaz, hapless youth!
In accents falt'ring, ay for ruth,
Intreats them pity graunt;
For als he been a mister wight
Betray'd by wand'ring in the night
To tread the circled haunt;
"Ah Losell vile, at once they roar; "And little skill's of fairie lore,
"Thy cause to come, we know: "Now has thy kestrell courage fell; "And fairies, since a lye you tell; "Are free to work thee woe."
Then Will, who bears the wispy fire
To trail the swains among the mire,
The captive upward flung;
"There like a tortoise in a shop
He dangled from the chamber-top,
Where whilome Edwin hung.
The revel now proceeds apace,
Deftly they frisk it o'er the place,
They fit, they drink, and eat;
The time with frolic mirth beguile,
And poor Sir Topaz hangs the while
'Till all the rout retreat.
By this the stars began to wink,
They shriek, they fly, the tapers fink,
And down ydrops the knight,
For never spell by fairie laid
With strong enchantment bound a glade,
Beyond the length of night.
Chill, dark, alone, adreed, he lay, 'Till up the welkin rose the day,
Then deem'd the dole was o'er:
But wot ye well his harder lot ?
His feely back the bunch had got
Which Edwin loft afore.
This tale a Sybil-nurse ared;
She softly stroak'd my youngling head,
And when the tale was done,
" Thus fome are born, my son, she cries, " With base impediments to risfe,
"And fome are born with none.
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