Thinks not their Rage fo defperate t'aflay
An Element more merciless than they.
But fearlefs they pursue, nor can the Flood

Quench their dire Thirft; alas, they thirst for
Blood.

So tow'rds a Ship the Oar fin'd Gallies ply,
Which wanting Sea to ride, or Wind to fly,
Stands but to fall reveng'd on those that dare
Tempt the last Fury of extream Despair.
So fares the Stag, among th' enraged Hounds
Repels their Force, and Wounds returns Wounds.
And as a Hero, whom his bafer Foes

In Troops furround, now thefe affails, now thofe,
=Though prodigal of Life, disdains to die
By common Hands; but if he can defcry.
Some nobler Foe approach, to him he calls,
And begs his Fate, and then contented falls.
So when the King a mortal Shaft lets flie
From his unerring Hand, then glad to die,
Proud of the Wound, to it refigns his Blood,
And ftains the Crystal with a Purple Flood.
This a more innocent, and happy Chase,
Than when of old, but in the self-fame place,
Fair Liberty purfu'd, *) and meant a Prey
To lawless Power, here turn'd, and ftood at bay.
When in that Remedy all Hope was plac'd
Which was, or should have been at least, the last.
Here was that **) Charter feal'd, wherein the Crown
All Marks of Arbitrary Pow'r lays down:
Tyrant and Slave, thofe Names of Hate and Fear,
The happier Stile of King and Subject bear:
Happy, when both to the fame Center move,
When Kings give Liberty, and Subjects Love.
Therefore not long in force this Charter ftood;
Wanting that Seal, it must be feal'd in Blood.

The

*) Runny Mead, where that great Charter was first sealed.

*) Magna Charta.

Beisp. Samml. 3. B.

Denham.

Denham. The Subjects arm'd, the more their Princes gave,
Th' Advantage only took, the more to crave:
Till Kings by giving, give themselves away,
And ev'n that Pow'r, that fhould deny, betray.
Who gives conftrain'd, but his own Fear reviles,
Not thank'd, but fcorn'd; nor are they Gifts but
Spoils.

Thus Kings, by grafping more than they could
hold,

First made their Subjects, by Oppreffion, bold;
And popular Sway, by forcing Kings to give
More than was fit for Subjects to receive,
Ran to the fame Extreams; and one Excess
Made both, by ftriving to be greater, leís.
When a calm River rais'd with fudden Rains,
Or Snows diffolv'd, o'erflows th' adjoining Plains,
The Husbandmen with high rais'd Banks fecure
Their greedy Hopes, and this he can endure.
But if with Bays and Dams they strive to force
His Channel to a new, or narrow Courle;
No longer then within his Banks he dwells,
First to a Torrent, then a Deluge fwells:
Stronger and fiercer by Reftraint he roars,

And knows no Bound, but makes his Pow'r his
Shoars.

Milton.

Milton.

Unter den jugendlichen Arbeiten dieses großen crischen Dichters (geb. 1608. geft. 1674.) giebt es zwei vortreffliche kleine poetische Gemählde, L'Allegro und Il Penferofo, wo rin er die verschiednen Gesichtspunkte, aus welchen der Fröhliche und der Schwermüthige die Gegenstände der Natur und des Lebens ansehen, und die dadurch ganz vers schieden gestimmten Empfindungen beider meisterhaft ausges drückt hat. Vornehmlich suchte er, wie Dr. Johnson bez merkt, zu zeigen, wie aus der Reihe mannichfaltiger Gegens ftånde und Eindrücke jede von diesen beiden Gemüthsstim- mungen diejenigen auffasst, wodurch ihr am meisten gewillfahrt, wodurch ihre herrschende Empfindung am meisten uns terhalten wird. Man sehe die schöne Zergliederung, welche er (Lives of the Engl. Poets, Vol. I. p. 227. ff.) von beiden Gedichten, in dieser Hinsicht, giebt. Nur das Kolorit der Schreibart scheint ihm nicht abstechend genug zu seyn; denn auch in der Sprache des Fröhlichen herrscht ein gewisser schwermüthiger Gang. Wenn aber dieser Mangel auch wirklich gegründet wåre; so hat ihm doch Händel durch seis ne herrliche Komposition, und besonders durch den glücklis chen Gedanken abgeholfen, die von ihm aus beiden Stücken *gewählten einzelnen Stellen wechselsweise auf einander fols gen zu lassen.

L'ALLEGRO.

Hence, loathed Melancholy,

Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born

In Stygian cave forlorn.

'Mongft horrid shapes, and shrieks, and fights
unholy!

Find out fome uncouth cell,

Where brooding darkness (preads his jealous

wings

And the night-raven fings;

Milton.

There under ebon fhades, and low-brow'd rocks

As ragged as thy locks,

In dark Cimmerian defert ever dwell!
But come thou goddefs fair and free,
In heav'n ycleap'd Euphrofyne,
And by men, heart-eafing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth
With two fifter Graces more
To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore;
Or whether (as fome fager fing,
The frolic wind that breathes the spring,
Zephyr with Aurora playing,
As he met her once a-Maying,
There on beds of violets blue,
And fresh-blown rofes wafh'd in dew,
Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,
So buxom, blithe, and debonnair.
Hafte thee nymph, and bring with thee
Je eft and youthful Jollity,

Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles,
Nods and Becks, and wreathed Smiles,
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek
And lowe to live in dimple fleek;
Sport, that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his fides.
Come, and trip it as you go
On the light fantastic toe,

And in thy right hand lead with thee,
The mountain-nymph, fweet Liberty;
And if I give the honour due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew,
To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free;
To hear the lark begin his flight,
And finging startle the dull night,
From his watch-tow'r in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rife;
Then to come in fpite of forrow,
And at my window bid good-morrow,

Trough

Through the fweet-briar, or the vinė,

Or the twisted eglantine:

While the cock with lively din

Scatters the rear of darkness thin,
And to the ftack, or the barn-door,
Stoutly ftruts his dames before:
Oft lift'ning how the hounds and horn
Cheerly roufe the flumb'ring morn,
From the fide of fome hoar hill
Through the high wood echoing fhrill:
Some time walking not unseen
By hedge-row elms, on hilloks green,
Right against the eastern gate,
Where the great fun begins his ftate,
Rob'd in flames, and amber light,
The clouds in thousand liveries dight;
While the ploughman near at hand
Whistles o'er the furrow'd land,
And the milkmaid fingeth blithe,
And the mower whets his fithe,
And every fhepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale.
Strait mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
Whilft the landscape round it meaíures,
Ruffet lawns, and fallows gray,
Where the nibbling flocks do ftray,
Mountains on whofe barren breaft
The lab'ring clouds do often reft,
Meadows trim with daifies died,
Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
Towers and battlements it fees
Bofom'd high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps fome beauty lies,
The Cynofure of neighb'ring eyes,
Hard by a cottage-chimney fmokes,
From betwixt two aged oaks,
Where Corydon and Thyrfis met
Are at their favoury dinner fet
Of herbs, and other country-meffes,
Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses;

£3

Milton.

And