Alas! silly swain that I was! Thus sadly complaining he cried; When first I beheld that fair face, "Twere better by far I had died. She talk'd, and I blest the dear tongue, How foolish was I to believe She would doat on so lowly a clown, Or that her fond heart would not grieve To forsake the fine folks of the town; To think that a beauty so gay, So kind and so constant would prove, To go clad like our maidens in gray, And live in a cottage on love. What tho' I have skill to complain, Tho' the Muses my temples have crown'd? What tho' when they hear my soft strain, The virgins sit weeping around? Ah Colin thy hopes are in vain, Thy pipe and thy laurel resign, Thy fair one inclines to a swain Whose music is sweeter than thine. And you, my companions so dear, Forbear to accuse the false maid; Tho' thro' the wide world we should range, "Tis in vain from our fortune to fly; "Twas hers to be false, and to change, 'Tis mine to be constant, and die. If while my hard fate I sustain, 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: While Colin forgotten and gone, av No more shall be heard of her seen, Unless when beneath the pale moon His ghost shall glide over the green. [Rowe.] As on a summer's day, In the greenwood shade I lay, Came walking forth that way. And as she passed by, With a scornful glance of her eye, What a shame, quoth she, For a swain must it be, Like a lazy loon for to lie? And dost 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 not a single swain ⚫ But with hopes and fears, Shall another maiden shine Tune thy pipe once again, Alas! my love, I cried, What avails this courtly pride? Is written in my heart, What is all the world beside? To me thou art more gay Than the nymphs of our green, Or the brightest queen of May. What tho' my fortune frown, Be content with this shade, THE DESPONDING SHEPHERD. [PRIOR.] ALEXIS shunn'd his fellow swains, The nymphs and shepherds round him came, The fatal cause all kindly seek; Clorinda came among the rest, She fear'd too much to know. |