And you my companions fo dear, Forbear to accufe the falfe maid; Tho' thro' the wide world we should range, If while my hard fate I fuftain, Let her come with the nymphs of the plain, Is to shade me with cypress and yew, Then to her new love let her go, Be finest at every fine show, And frolic it all the long day; E 4 ROWE. S on a fummer's day, A$ In the greenwood fhade I lay, As her fancy mov'd, And as fhe paffed by, With a fcornful glance of her eye, What a fhame, quoth fhe, For a fwain muft it be, Like a lazy loon for to lie? And doft thou nothing heed What Pan our God has decreed; What a prize to-day Shall be given away To the sweetest shepherd's reed? There's There's not a fingle fwain But with hopes and fears, Now bufily prepares The bonny boon to gain. Shall another maiden fhine Tune thy pipe once again, Alas! my love, I cried, What avails this courtly pride? Since thy dear defert Is written in my heart, What is all the world befide? To me thou art more gay In this homely ruffet gray, Than the nymphs of our green, Or the brightest queen of May. What What tho' my fortune frown, Be content with this fhade RowE. A LEXIS fhunn'd his fellow fwains, Their rural sports and jocund ftrains ; He loft his crook, he left his flocks, The nymphs and shepherds round him came, The fatal caufe all kindly feek; He figh'd, but could not speak. CLORINDA CLORINDA came among the reft, And afk'd the reafon of his woe; She fear'd too much to know.. The shepherd rais'd his mournful head, While I the cruel truth reveal? Which nothing from my breaft fhould tear, 'Tis thus I rove, 'tis thus complain, You are the cause of all my care; You eyes ten thousand dangers dart, Too much ALEXIS have I heard, "Tis what I thought, 'tis what I fear'd, And yet I pardon you, she cried; But you fhall promife ne'er again To breathe your vows, or fpeak your pain ; PRIOR. |