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"Gleams thro' the shade," and this way guides their

steps.

Let us withdraw a while and watch their motions.

[They retire.

Enter COMUS' Crew revelling, and by turns caressing each other, till they observe the Two Brothers; then the Elder Brother advances and speaks.

E.Bro. What are you, speak, that thus in wanton riot And midnight revelry, like drunken Bacchanals, Invade the silence of these lonely shades?

F. Wom. Ye godlike youths! "whose radiant forms excel

"The blooming grace of Maia's winged son,"
Bless the propitious star that led you to us;
We are the happiest of the race of mortals,
Of freedom, mirth, and joy, the only heirs :
But you shall share them with us; for this cup,
This nectar'd cup, the sweet assurance gives
Of present and the pledge of future bliss.

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[She offers them the cup, which they both put by.

SONG. By a Man.

By the gayly circling glass
We can see how minutes pass,
By the hollow cask are told

How the waining night grows old.
Soon, too soon, the busy day
Drives us from our sport and play:
What have we with day to do?
Sons of care 't was made for you.

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E. Bro. Forbear, nor offer us the poison'd sweets That thus have render'd thee thy sex's shame, All sense of honour banish'd from thy breast.

"SONG.

"Fame's an echo, prattling double,
"An empty, airy, glitt'ring, bubble;
"A breath can swell a breath can sink it,
"The wise not worth their keeping think it.

"Why then, why such toil and pain
"Fame's uncertain smiles to gain?
"Like her sister Fortune blind,
"To the best she's oft', unkind,

"And the worst her favour find.

250

E. Bro. “ By her own sentence Virtue stands ab

solv'd,

"Nor asks an echo from the tongues of men
“To tell what hourly to herself she proves.
"Who wants his own no other praise enjoys;
"His ear receives it as a fulsome tale
"To which his heart in secret gives the lie:

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“ Nay, slander'd innocence must feel peace, "An inward peace, which flatter'd guilt ne'er knew." F. Wom. Oh! how unseemly shews in blooming

youth

Such grey severity !

-But come with us,

We to the bow'r of bliss will guide your steps; you shall taste the joys that Nature sheds

There

On the gay spring of life, youth's flow'ry prime,
From morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve,
Each rising hour by rising pleasures mark'd.

SONG. By a Woman in a pastoral habit.

Would you taste the noon-tide air,
To yon' fragrant bow'r repair,
Where woven with the poplar bough
The mantling vine will shelter you.

Down each side a fountain flows,
Tinkling, murm'ring, as it goes,
Lightly o'er the mossy ground,
Sultry Phabus scorching round.

Round the languid herds and sheep
Stretch'd o'er sunny hillocks sleep,
While on the hyacinth and rose
The fair does all alone repose.

All alone

-and in her arms

Your breast may beat to love's alarms,
Till bless'd and blessing you shall own
The joys of love are joys alone.

270

280

E. Bro. "How low sinks beauty when by vice de

bas'd!

"How fair that form if virtue dwelt within!
"But from this shameless advocate of shame
"To me the warbled song harsh discord grates.

290

Y. Bro. "Short is the course of ev'ry lawless pleasure; « Grief·like a shade on all its footsteps waits, “Scarce visible in joy's meridian height, "But downward as its blaze declining speeds “The dwarfish shadow to a giant spreads.”

F. Wom. No more; these formal maxims misbecome

[blocks in formation]

E. Bro. How can your impious tongues profane the

name

Of sacred Virtue, and yet promise pleasure

In lying songs of vanity and vice?

From virtue sever'd pleasure phrenzy grows,
"The gay delirium of the fev'rish mind,
"And always flies at reason's cool return.

310

F. Wom. "Perhaps it may; perhaps the sweetest

joys

"Of love itself from passion's folly spring;

"But say, does wisdom greater bliss bestow ?

E. Bro. "Alike from love's and pleasure's path you

stray,

"In sensual folly blindly seeking both,

"Your pleasure riot, lust your boasted love.
"Capricious, wanton, bold, and brutal, lust
"Is meanly selfish, when resisted cruel,
"And like the blast of pestilential winds

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"Taints the sweet bloom of Nature's fairest forms:
"But love, like od'rous Zephyr's grateful breath,
"Repays the flow'r that sweetness which it borrows;
"Uninjuring, uninjur'd, lovers move

"In their own sphere of happiness content,
"By mutual truth avoiding mutual blame.”
But we forget: who hears the voice of Truth
In noisy riot and intemp'rance drown'd ?
Thyrsis, be then our guide; we'll follow thee,
And some good angel bear a shield before us!

330

[Exeunt Brothers and Spirit. F. Wom. Come, come, my friends, and partners of

my joys,

Leave to these pedant youth their bookish dreams; "Poor blinded boys, by their blind guides misled! "A beardless Cynick is the shame of nature,” Beyond the cure of this inspiring cup; "And my contempt, at best my pity, moves." Away, nor waste a moment more about 'em.

340

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