Thou shouldst have left the fair before 'twas night, But thou sat's toping till the morning light.

Cic❜ly, brisk maid, steps forth before the rout 35 And kiss'd with smacking lip the snoring lout; For custom says, whoe'er this venture proves, For such a kiss demands a pair of gloves. By her example Dorcas bolder grows, And plays a tickling straw within his nose. He rubs his nostril, and in wonted joke The sneering swains with stammering speech bespoke ;

40

'To you, my lads, I'll sing my carols o'er; As for the maids - I've something else in store.'

No sooner 'gan he raise his tuneful song, But lads and lasses round about him throng, Not ballad-singer plac'd above the crowd. Sings with a note so shrilling sweet and loud; Nor parish-clerk who calls the psalm so clear, Like Bowzybeus soothes the attentive ear.

Of Nature's laws his carols first begun, Why the grave owl can never face the sun;

Ver. 40.] Sanguineis frontem moris et tempora pingit.

Virg.

45

50

Ver. 43.] Carmina quæ vultis, cognoscite; carmina vobis; Huic aliud mercedis erit.

Virg.

Ver. 47.] Nec tantum Phobo gaudet Parnassia rupes;
Nec tantum Rhodope mirantur et Isinarus Orphea.

Virg.

Ver. 51.] Our swain had probably read Tusser, from whence he might have collected these philosophical observations. Namque canebat, uti magnum per inane coacta, &c.

Virg.

For owls, as swains observe, detest the light,
And only sing and seek their prey by night:
How turnips hide their swelling heads below, 55
And how the closing coleworts upward grow;
How Will-a-wisp misleads night-faring clowns
O'er hills, and sinking bogs, and pathless downs:
Of stars he told, that shoot with shining trail,
And of the glow-worm's light that gilds his tail: 60
He sung where woodcocks in the summer feed,
And in what climates they renew their breed;
Some think to northern coasts their flight they
tend,

Or to the moon in midnight hours ascend :
Where swallows in the winter's season keep, 65
And how the drowsy bat and dormouse sleep:
How Nature does the puppy's eyelid close,
Till the bright sun has nine times set and rose :
For huntsmen by their long experience find,
That puppies still nine rolling suns are blind.

70

Now he goes on, and sings of fairs and shows, For still new fairs before his eyes arose: How pedlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid, The various fairings of the country-maid: Long silken laces hang upon the twine, And rows of pins and amber bracelets shine: How the tight lass, knives, combs, and scissors spies,

And looks on thimbles with desiring eyes.

Of lotteries next with tuneful note he told,

75

Where silver spoons are won, and rings of gold: 80

85

The lads and lasses trudge the street along,
And all the fair is crowded in his song:
The mountebank now treads the stage, and sells
His pills, his balsams, and his ague-spells;
Now o'er and o'er the nimble tumbler springs
And on the rope the venturous maiden swings;
Jack Pudding in his party-colour'd jacket
Tosses the glove, and jokes at every packet:
Of rareeshows he sung, and Punch's feats,
Of pockets pick'd in crowds, and various cheats. 90
Then sad he sung The Children in the Wood;
Ah! barbarous uncle, stain'd with infant blood!
How blackberries they pluck'd in deserts wild,
And fearless at the glittering fauchion smil'd:
Their little corpse the robin-red-breasts found, 95
And strow'd with pious bill the leaves around.
Ah! gentle birds! if this verse lasts so long,
Your names shall live for ever in my song.
For buxom Joan he sung the doubtful strife,
How the sly sailor made the maid a wife.

100

To louder strains he rais'd his voice, to tell What woful wars in Chevy-chase befell, When Percy drove the deer with hound and horn; Wars to be wept by children yet unborn! Ah! Witherington! more years thy life had crown'd, If thou hadst never heard the horn or hound!

104

Ver. 97.] Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt, Nulla dies unquam memori vos eximet ævo. Virg. Ver. 99.] A Song in the Comedy of 'Love for Love,' beginning, A Soldier and a Sailor, &c.

109

Yet shall the 'Squire who fought on bloody stumps,
By future bards be wail'd in doleful dumps.
All in the land of Essex next he chaunts,
How to sleek mares starch quakers turn gallants:
How the grave brother stood on bank so green;
Happy for him if mares had never been!

Then he was seiz'd with a religious qualm,
And, on a sudden, sung the hundredth psalm.
He sung of Taffey Welch, and Sawney Scot, 115
Lilly-bullero, and the Irish Trot.

Why should I tell of Bateman or of Shore,
Or Wantley's Dragon slain by valiant More;
The bower of Rosamond, or Robin Hood,
And how the grass now grows where Troy town
stood?

119

His carols ceas'd; the listening maids and swains Seem still to hear some soft imperfect strains. Sudden he rose; and as he reels along, Swears kisses sweet should well reward his song. The damsels laughing fly; the giddy clown. Again upon a wheat-sheaf drops adown ; The power that guards the drunk his sleep attends, Till ruddy like his face the sun descends.

Ver. 109.] A Song of Sir J. Denham's. See his Poems. Ver. 112.] Et fortunatam, si nunquam armenta fuissent Pasiphaen.

Ver. 117.] Quid loquar, ut Scyllam Nisi, &c.
Ibid.] Old English ballads.

Virg.

125

AN

ALPHABETICAL CATALOGUE

OF NAMES, PLANTS, FLOWERS, FRUITS, BIRDS, BEASTS, INSECTS, AND OTHER MATERIAL THINGS MENTIONED IN THESE PASTORALS.