Beauty it selfe out of it selfe did weaue
So rare a worke, and of such subtilty,
As did all eyes entangle and deceiue,
And in all mindes a strange impression leaue;
In this sweet laborinth did _Cupid_ stray,
And neuer had the power to passe away.
131.
As when the Indians, neighbours of the morning,
In honour of the cheerefull rising sunne;
With pearle and painted plumes themselues adorning,
A solemne stately measure haue begun;
The god well pleasd with that faire honour done,
Sheds foorth his beames, and doth their faces kis
With that immortal glorious face of his.
132.
So, &c., &c. * * *
_Such is 'Orchestra' as given by the Author in 1622: but in the first
edition (1596) no fewer than five omitted stanzas are found. They here
follow._
127.
Away, Terpsechore, light Muse away!
And come Vranie, prophetese diuine;
Come, Muse of heau'n, my burning thirst allay:
Euen now for want of sacred drinke I tine:
In heau'nly moysture dip thys pen of mine,
And let my mouth with nectar ouerflow,
For I must more then mortall glory show.
128.
O, that I had Homer's aboundant vaine,
I would hierof another Ilias make:
Or els the man of Mantua's[260] charmèd braine,
In whose large throat great Joue the thunder spake.
O that I could old Gefferie's[261] Muse awake,
Or borrow Colin's[262] fayre heroike stile,
Or smooth my rimes with Delia's servants file.[263]
[Footnote 260: Virgil. G.]
[Footnote 261: Chaucer. G.]
[Footnote 262: Spenser. G.]
[Footnote 263: Daniel: The allusion being to his 'Sonnets to Delia.' G.]
129.
O, could I, sweet Companion, sing like you,
Which, of a shadow, under a shadow sing;[264]
Or, like _Salue's_ sad lover true,
Or like the Bay, the Marigold's darling,[265]
Whose suddaine verse Loue covers with his wing:
O that your braines were mingled all with mine,
T' inlarge my wit for this great worke diuine!
[Footnote 264: Edward Guilpin calls his volume 'Skialetheia, or a
_Shadowe_ of Truth in certain Epigrams and Satyres,' 1598. G.]
[Footnote 265: I hazard a guess, that this may refer to _Charles
Best_, an associate of DAVIES in the 'Rhapsody,' and author
of certain vivid lines called 'A Sonnet of the Sun: a jewell, being
a sun shining upon the _Marigold_ closed in a heart of gold, sent to
his mistress, named Mary, among others. See _Nicolas's_ edition of the
'Rhapsody,' Vol. I., pp. 183, 184. G.]
130.
Yet, Astrophell might one for all suffize,
Whose supple Muse Camelion-like doth change
Into all formes of excellent deuise:
So might the Swallow,[266] whose swift Muse doth range
Through rare Idæas, and inuentions strange,
And euer doth enioy her ioyfull Spring,
And sweeter then the Nightingale doth sing.
[Footnote 266: Perhaps a play on his 'then' friend's name of Martin. G.]
131.
O that I might that singing Swallow heare,
To whom I owe my seruice and my loue!
His sugred tunes would so enchant mine eare,
And in my mind such sacred fury moue,
As I should knock at Heau'ns gate aboue,
With my proude rimes, while of this heau'nly state
I doe aspire the shadow to relate.[267]
[Footnote 267: Collier gives _supra_ in his 'Bibliographical Account of
Early English Literature,' _s.n._]
$Finis.$
_Uniform with the present volume._
EARLY ENGLISH POETS
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