Classic Poem

Canto the Fourth

From war's wide breaches, whence his brave friends had
With victory brought him, the old prince arrived
In safety, whilst fear punishes the bad,
Rewards that virtue which his cause revived.

In which brave act, Argalia's merits met
With a reward that e'en desert out-grew,
Whilst him it the fair princess' guardian set,
The root on which love's fruit to ripeness grew.

That too inferior branch, which strove to rise
With the basilic to anastomize,
Thus drained, the state's plethoric humors are
Reduced to harmony; that blazing star,
Which had been lifted by rebellious breath
To 's exaltation, in the house of death
Now lay oppressed. Which victory complete,
Leaving his army where before the seat
O' the rebels was, his entertainment by
The welcome harbinger of victory
Before prepared, the pleased Epirot goes
With an exalted joy to visit those
His goodness, whilst unknown, relieved; where he
Such noble welcome finds, as not to be
Imagined but by grateful souls that know
The strength of courtesy, when 'twould o'erflow
Those merits, which, whilst love incites to praise
Our friend's deserts, to pyramids we raise.
The narrow confines of Alcithius' wall,
Which kept them safe from dangers past, too small
Grows for that present triumph, that blots out
All thoughts of grief, but what are spent about
Thanksgiving for delivery; which they do
Perform in sports, whose choice delights might woo
Cold anchorites from their sullen cells. The earth,
The air, the sea, all, in a plenteous birth,
Exhausted their rich treasuries to pay
Tribute to their desires; which, could Time stay
His chariot wheels from hurrying down the hill
Of feeble nature, man's vain thoughts would fill
With subaltern delights, most highly prized,
Till the conclusion — Death, hath annalized
The doubtful text with what lets mortals know
Their blooming joys must drop to shades below.
That great eclipse of glory's rays, within
Whose shades sad Corinth had benighted been,
Since, like a widowed turtle, first she sat
A mourner for her wandering prince's fate;
Now, like the day's recovered reign, breaks forth
In fuller lustre. All excelling worth,
That honored virtue, or loved beauty, placed,
Her ornaments, with their appearance graced
Those public triumphs she prepares to meet
The princes in; in every splendid street
The various pride of Persia strove to outvie
Rich English wool dipped in the Tyrian dye:
Each shop shines bright, and every merchant shows
How little to domestic toil he owes,
By the displaying beauteous wardrobes, where
The world's each part may justly claim a share;
Though what in all art's stiff contention lent
Most lustre, was the windows' ornament —
Fair constellations of bright virgins, that,
Like full blown flowers, first to be wondered at,
Display their beauties, but that past withal,
Tempt some kind hand to pluck them ere they fall.
Their entrance in this triumph made: whilst now
Each busy artist is endeavouring how
To court their fancies, time's small stock to improve,
The grave Epirot, whose designs toward love
Yet only by ambition led, had made
His first approach so seeming retrograde
By state's nice cautions, and what did presage
More ill — the inequality of age,
That when converse his fancy captive led,
His largest hopes on the thin diet fed
Of a paternal power; assisted by
Whose useful aid, with all the industry
Of eager love, he still augments that fire
Which must consume, not satisfy desire.
But, as occasion warned him to prevent
Unequal flames, he but few days had spent
In love's polemics, ere unpractised art,
From this calm field to war's more serious part,
Is sadly summoned. Those large conquests he
Had triumphed in, whilst glorious victory
Waited on 's sword, too spacious to be kept
Obedient whilst that glittering terror slept
In an inactive peace, disclaiming all
The harsh injunctions of proud victors, fall
Off from 's obedience; and to justify
Their bold revolt, to the unsafe refuge fly
Of a defensive power. To crush whose pride,
With such a force as an impetuous tide
Assaults the shore's defence, he 's forced to take
A march so sad, as souls when they forsake
The well known mansions of their bodies to
Tread death's uncertain paths, and there renew
Acquaintance with eternity; perplexed
To hear those new combustions, but more vexed
With love's proud flames burning. In which we 'll leave
Him on his hasty voyage, and receive
A smile from the fair princess' fate; which, till
Enjoyment stifles strong desire, will fill
The tragic scene no more, but, with as sad
A progress to her hopes, as ever had
Poor virgin to the throne of Love, will frame
Those harsh phylacteries, which in Cupid's name
She must obey, unless she will dispense
With sacred vows, and martyr innocence.
These storms blown o'er, and the Epirot gone,
Her father, that till now had waited on
His entertainment, with a serious eye
Looks o'er his kingdom's wounds, and doth supply
Each part, which in this late unnatural war
Was grown defective. Unto some that are
Not lethargized in ill, he gently lays
Refreshing mercies; sometimes, danger stays
From an approaching gangrene, by applying
Corroding threats; but unto those that, flying
All remedies prescribed, had mortified
Their loyalty, stern justice soon applied
The sword of amputation: which care past,
As 'twas his greatest, so becomes his last —
Pharonnida he places, where she might
At once enjoy both safety and delight.
Her thoughts' clear calm, too smooth for th' turbulent
And busy city, wants that sweet content
The private pleasures of the country did
Afford her youth; but late attempts forbid
All places far remote: which to supply,
He unto one directs his choice, that by
Its situation did participate
Of all those rural privacies, yet sat
Clothed in that flowery mantle, in the view
O' the castle walls, which, as placed near it to
Delight not trouble, in full bulk presents
Her public buildings' various ornaments.
This beauteous fabric, where the industrious hand
Of Art had Nature's midwife proved, did stand
Divided from the continent b' the wide
Arms of a spacious stream, whose wanton pride
In cataracts from the mountains broke, as glad
Of liberty to court the valley, had
Curled his proud waves, and stretched them to enclose
That type of paradise, whose crown top rose
From that clear mirror, as the first light saw
Fair Eden 'midst the springs of Havilah;
So fresh as if its verdant garments had
Been in the first creation's beauties clad,
Ere, by mistaking of the fatal tree,
That blooming type of blest eternity,
Subjected was, by man's too easy crime,
Unto the sick vicissitudes of time.
Nor was she in domestic beauty more
Than prospect rich — the wandering eye passed o'er
A flowery vale, smooth, as it had been spread
By nature for the river's fragrant bed.
At the opening of that lovely angle met
The city's pride, as costlier art had set
That master-piece of wit and wealth to show —
Unpolished nature's pleasures were below
Her splendid beauties, and unfit to be
Looked on, less in the spring's variety:
Though from the palace where in prospect stood
All that nice art or plainer nature would,
If in contention, show to magnify
Their power, did stand, yet now appeared to vie
That prospect which the city lent; unless,
Diverted from that civil wilderness,
The pathless woods, and ravenous beasts within,
Whose bulks were but the metaphors for sin,
We turn to view the stately hills, that fence
The other side o' the happy isle, from whence
All that delight or profit could invent
For rural pleasures, was for prospect sent.
As nature strove for something uncouth in
So fair a dress, the struggling streams are seen,
With a loud murmur rolling 'mongst the high
And rugged clifts; one place presents the eye
With barren rudeness, whilst a neighbouring field
Sits clothed in all the bounteous spring could yield;
Here lovely landscapes, where thou might'st behold,
When first the infant morning did unfold
The day's bright curtains, in a spacious green,
Which Nature's curious art had spread between
Two bushy thickets, that on either hand
Did like the fringe of the fair mantle stand,
A timorous herd of grazing deer; and by
Them in a shady grove, through which the eye
Could hardly pierce, a well built lodge, from whence
The watchful keeper's careful diligence
Secures their private walks; from hence to look
On a deep valley, where a silver brook
Doth in a soft and busy murmur slide
Betwixt two hills, whose shadows strove to hide
The liquid wealth they were made fruitful by,
From full discoveries of the distant eye.
Here, from fair country farms that had been
Built 'mongst those woods as places happy in
Their privacy, the first salutes of light
Fair country virgins meet, cleanly and white
As were their milky loads; so free from pride,
Though truly fair, that justly they deride
Court's nice contentions, and by freedom prove
More blest their lives — more innocent their love.
Early as these, appears within the field
The painful husbandman, whose labor steeled
With fruitful hopes, in a deep study how
To improve the earth, follows his slow-paced plough.
Near unto these, a shepherd, having took
On a green bank placed near a purling brook
Protection from the sun's warm beams, within
A cool fresh shade, truly contented in
That solitude, is there endeavouring how
On's well tuned pipe to smooth the furrowed brow
Of careful Want, seeing not far from hence
His flock, the emblems of his innocence.
Where the more lofty rock admits not these
Domestic pleasures, Nature there did please
Herself with wilder pastimes; — on those clifts,
Whose rugged heads the spacious mountain lifts
To an unfruitful height, amongst a wild
Indomitable herd of goats, the mild
And fearful cony, with her busy feet,
Makes warmth and safety in one angle meet.
From this wild range, the eye, contracted in
The island's narrow bounds, would think 't had been
I' the world before, but now were come to view
An angel-guarded paradise; till to
A picture's first rude catagraph, the art
Of an ingenious pencil doth impart
Each complement of skill; or as the court
To the rude country; as each princely sport
That brisks the blood of kings, to those which are
The gross-souled peasant's rude delight — so far
These objects differ: here well figured Nature
Had put on form, and to a goodly stature,
On whose large bulk more lasting arts were spent,
Added the dress of choicest ornament.
The stately mount, whose artificial crown
The palace was, to meet the vale stole down
In soft descents, by labor forced into
A sliding serpentine, whose winding clew
An easy but a slow descent did give
Unto a purling stream; whose spring did live,
When from the hill's cool womb broke forth, within
A grotto; whence before it did begin
To take its weeping farewell, into all
The various forms restrictive Art could call
Her elemental instruments unto
Obedience by, it courts the admiring view
Of pleased spectators — here, exalted by
Clear aqueducts, in showers it from those high
Supporters falls; now turned into a thin
Vapor, in that heaven's painted bow is seen;
Now it supplies the place of air, and to
A choir of birds gives breath, which all seemed flew
From thence for fear, when the same element,
With such a noise as seas imprisoned, rent
Including rocks, doth roar: which rude sound done,
As noble conquerors who, the battle won,
From the loud thunders of impetuous war
To the calm fields of peaceful mercies, are
By manly pity led; so, Proteus like,
Returned from what did fear or wonder strike,
The liquid nymph, resuming her own shape
Within a marble square, a clear escape,
Till from her winding stream the river takes
Still fresh supplies, from that fair fountain makes.
Upon those banks which guarded her descent,
Both for her odor and her ornament,
Lillies and fragrant roses there were set;
To heighten whose perfume, the violet
And maiden primrose, in their various dress,
Steal through that moss, whose humble lowliness
Preserves their beauties; whilst Aurora's rose,
And that ambitious flower that will disclose
The full-blown beauties of herself to none
Until the sun mounts his meridian throne,
(Like envied Worth, together with the view
Of the beholders), being exposed unto
Each storm's rough breath, in that vicissitude
Find that their pride their danger doth include,
When scorched with heat or burthened with a shower,
From blooming beauty sinks the fading flower;
Though here defended by a grove that twined
Mutual embraces, and with boughs combined,
Protects the falling stream, which it ne'er leaves,
Till thence the vale its flowery wealth receives.
Placed as the nobler faculty to this
Of vegetation, like an emphasis
Amongst the flowers of rhetoric, did stand
The gorgeous palace; where Art's curious hand
Had, to exceed example, centered in
One exact model what had scattered been —
But as those fragments which she now selects,
The glory of all former architects.
Here did the beauties of those temples shine,
Which Ephesus or sacred Palestine
Once boasted in; the Persian might from this
Take paterns for his famed Persepolis;
This, which had that fair Carian widow known,
Mausolus' tomb had ne'er a proverb grown,
But been esteemed, after her cost, by her
That did erect't — a homely sepulchre.
Though to describe this fabric, be as far
Above my art as imitations are
Beneath its worth, yet if thy Fancy's eye
Would at its outside glance, receive it by
This cloudy medium. — On a stately square,
Which powerful art forced to a level where
The mountain highest rose, compassed about
With a thick grove, whose leafy veil let out
Its beauties so — 'tis at a distance seen —
A silver mount enamelled o'er with green,
The shining palace stood; whose outward form
Though such as if built for perpetual storm,
Yet in that strength appeared but armed to be
Beauty's protector; whose variety,
Though all met in an artful gracefulness,
In every square put on a several dress.
The sides, whose large balcones conveyed the eye
T' the fields' wild prospects, were supported by
A thousand pillars; where in mixture shone
The Parian white and red Corinthian stone,
Supporting frames, where in the like art stood
Smooth ivory mixed with India's swarthy wood:
All which, with gold, and purer azure brought
From Persian artists, in mosaics wrought,
The curious eye into meanders led,
Until diverted by a sight that bred
More real wonder — The rich front wherein
By antic sculpture, all that ere had been
The various acts of their preceding kings,
So figured was; no weighty metal brings
Aught to enhance its worth, art did compose
Each emblem of such various gems — all chose
Their several colors — Under a sapphire sky
Here cheerful emeralds, chaste smaragdi lie —
A fresh green field, in which the armed knights
Were all clad in heart-cheering chrysolites,
With rubies set, which to adorn them twist
Embraces with the temperate amethyst;
For parts unarmed — here the fresh onyx stood,
And Sardia's stone appeared like new drawn blood;
The Proteus-like achates here was made
For swords' fair hilts, but for the glittering blade,
Since all of rich and precious gems was thus
Composed, was showed of flaming pyropus:
And least aught here that's excellent should want,
The ladies' eyes were shining adamant.
These glorious figures, large as if that in
Each common quarr' these glittering gems had been
By sweaty laborers digged, united by
Successful art, unto the distant eye
Their mixed beams with such splendid lustre sent,
That comets, with whose fall the firmament
Seems all on fire, amazes not the sight
With such a full and sudden flux of light.
As lines extended from their centre, hence
Unto the island's clear circumference,
Four flowery glades, whose odoriferous dress
Tempted the weary to forgetfulness,
Cutting the mountain into quadrants, led
Into the valley — Pleasure's humbler bed.
Where come, if Nature's stock can satisfy
The fancy at the fountains of the eye,
'Twas here performed, in all that did include
What active mirth or sacred solitude
Could happy call — Groves never seen b'the eye
O' the universe, whose pleasing privacy
Was more retired from treacherous light than those,
To hide from Heaven, Earth's first Offender chose.
When Contemplation, the kind mother to
All thoughts that e'er in sacred rapture flew
Toward celestial bowers, had here refined
The yet imperfect embryoes of the mind;
To recreate contracted spirits by
The soul's best medicine — fresh variety,
An easy walk conducts them unto all
That active sports did e'er convenient call.
All which, like a fair theatre b' the bank
O' the river verged, was guarded by a rank
Of antient elms; whose lofty trunks, embraced
By clasping vines, with various colors graced
Their spreading branches — Whose proud brows, being crowned
With stately walks, did from that ample round
The well pleased eye to every place convey,
That in the island's humble level lay.
To guard her court, a hundred gentlemen,
Such as had glorified their valour, when
Tried in her father's wars, attended; which,
Commanded by Argalia, did enrich
His merit with such fair reward, that all
His better stars, should they a synod call,
Those fires convened ne'er with more glorious light
Could clothe his hopes; his fortune's dim-eyed night
Enflamed to noon, and the fair princess blest
By the same power; for though his fate invest
His noble soul within the obscure mask
Of an unknown descent, his fame shall ask,
In time to come, a chronicle, and be
The glory of that royal family
From whence he sprung. But ere he must attain
The top of Fortune's wheel, that iron chain,
By whose linked strength it turns, too oft will grate
Him with most hot afflictions; his wise fate
Digs deep with miseries, before it lays
The ground-work of his fame, which then shall raise,
On the firm basis of authentic story,
To him eternal pyramids of glory,
Thou that art skilled in Love's polemics here
Wish they may rest awhile; and though drawn near
A sadder fate, if Pity says — too rath
'Tis to let sorrow sad the scene, we'll bathe
Our pen awhile in nectar, though we then
Steep it in gall again. The spring did, when
The princess first did with her presence grace
This house of pleasure, with soft arms embrace
The Earth — his lovely mistress — clad in all
The painted robes the morning's dew let fall
Upon her virgin bosom; the soft breath
Of Zephyrus sung calm anthems at the death
Of palsy-shaken Winter, whose large grave —
The earth, whilst they in fruitful tears did lave,
Their pious grief turned into smiles, they throw
Over the hearse a veil of flowers; the low
And pregnant vallies swelled with fruit, whilst Heaven
Smiled on each blessing its fair hand had given.
Becalmed on this pacific sea of pleasure,
No boisterous wave appearing, the rich treasure
Of Love, being ballast with content, did fear
No threatening storm, so safe a harbour near,
As the object whence it sprung. Such royal sports,
As take their birth from the triumphant courts
Of happy princes, did contract the day
To pitied beauty; Time steals away
On downy feet, whose loss since it bereaves
Them of no more than what new birth receives
From the next teeming day, by none is thought
Worth the lamenting. Sometimes, rocked i' the soft
Arms of the calmest pleasures, they behold
A sprightly comedy the sins unfold
Of more corrupted times; then, in its high
Cothurnal scenes, a lofty tragedy
Erects their thoughts, and doth at once invite,
To various passions, sorrow and delight.
Time, motion's aged measurer, includes
Not more, in all the hours' vicissitudes,
Than their oft changing recreations; that,
When the sun's lofty pride sat smiling at
The earth's embroidered robes, or Winter's cold
And palsied hand did those fresh beauties fold
Up in her hoary plush, each season lends
Delights of 'ts own — such a beguiled time spends
Its stock of hours unwasted on, in chaste
Though private sports. Here happy lovers past
Fancy's fresh youth, whose first attempts did prove
Too innocent for th' sophistry of love;
There scornful beauty, or the envious eye
Of jealous rivals, ne'er afflicts — all by
An equal and a noble height so blest,
Pride none had raised, nor poverty depressed.