"Twas mine with him to lead the mazy dance.

When lo, the harp's sweet string, too tightly wound,

Burst sudden, and sent forth a jarring
sound.

A signal too well known by every swain
For licens'd rudeness; nor could I restrain

The daring youth: in vain I long denied
What ancient custom idly sanctified.
In rage

I could have rent the chorded lyre, And him, base wretch, who led the tuneful quire!

Cel. My short-lived anger I dismiss in
air:

Nor let resentment thy soft bosom tear.
And, whilst returning amity we hail,
Thus let our lips the pleasing compact seal.
[Salutes Pastora.
Wherefore my errand should I thus delay ?
For I have much of import dear to say.

Pas. What, O ye powers! can of such
import be

As Celadon would fain confide to me?
Cel. Hear then the truth, for why should
I conceal

What honest passion bids me to reveal!
Will fair Pastora kindly condescend
T'approve my suit?

Pas.

tend

Your suit? Ah, whither

Those words mysterious of my gentle friend.

Cel. In simpler words be then my thoughts array'd, Such as shall not my doubting fair mislead.

Fiddle.

+This interruption in the musical strain is said to be often designedly produced by the fiddler in the middle of a dance to promote a more lively intercourse between the country beaux and belles; the former being expected to salute the latter during the pause which consequently ensues. A Moor bard of my acquaintance suspects that Horace in the following passage refers to a similar circumstance, and that by carmina divides," we are to understand the winding the strings of the lyre so tight as to cause their breaking (divisio), for the same purport as is mentioned in the text; and hence the propriety of the phrase "grata fæminis."

"grataque fæminis

Imbelli cytharâ carmina divides."-Hor. Carm. i. Od. 15. The epithet imbellis denotes a lyre liable to such accidents. Warner, in his "Second Walk through Wales," mentions, that in the peasants' dances the men salute their partners upon the musicians playing a peculiar tune. It tends to illustrate the custom among the Ex-moor beaux noticed above, which is perhaps merely a variation of the same ancient ceremony of Celtic origin. It may have been at one time the proemium to the dance (another variation), and alluded to by Shakspeare in his masque in the Tempest :

"Curtsied when you have, and kist."

"Very great," in which sense, conjoined to another word, it frequently occurs in various writers" an over-mind, an over-desire, an over-weening ;"-to over-eat, overrun-errant from sgewegew interrogo. quero.

§ "marvel."

The timid delicacy of Margery, and manly affection of Andrew, cannot be sufficiently admired. How superior-how much more natural is this love scene than any that can be found in modern novels or antiquated romances!

This account of setting a leasehold estate (though extremely natural and prudent), does not sound very poetical; yet I did not think myself at liberty to depart from my ori

chonge a live for dree* yallow-beets. And than there's that +lant up to Parracomb town; and whan es be to Parracomb, es must ha wone that es can trest to look arter tha gerred-teal'd meazles, and to zar tha § ill and tha barra, and melk tha kee to Chattacomb, and to took arter tha thengs o' tha houze.

Mar. O varjuice! why a good steddy zarvant, cozen Andra, can do all that.

An. Po, po, po! chell trest no || zarvants. And more and zo, than they zey by me, as they did by Gaffer Hill t'other day: "They made two beds, and ded g' into one;"-no, no, es bant zo ¶mad nether. Well, bet, look dest zee, cosen Margery; zo vur vore as tha wut hu ma, chell put thy live pon Parracomb down.

Tes

Whilst life informs three stout and healthful

swains

My right to Æglon's grassy vale remains:
Nay more, that vale by gold's resistless
power,

I can secure Pastora's future dower.
Parthenius' distant hill, that swells beside
Tegea's strong-built walls and towery pride,
Is likewise mine: tho' ample the domain,
Yet many a cause it gives me to complain.
The flocks which o'er its airy summit rove,
Require attendance if I thence remove.
When there, my lowing herds that roam
the vale,

My cows, whose milky nectar swells the
pail,

The sty's rude tenants other aid demand; And cares domestic claim Pastora's guiding hand.

Pas. Spare the request, my kinsman and my friend!

A faithful menial may such cares attend.
Cel. Hence shepherdess, with that vain
fancy; ne'er

Shall Celadon entrust a menial fair.
No tale disgraceful shall of him be spread:
Such as was lately of old Gelon said;
Two different bowers though he and Mysis
chose

For rest, they sought not but in one repose. wor twonty nobles a-year, and a puss to put Far, far from me be ever such offence,

men in.

To shame not harden'd, nor depriv'd of

sense.

Accept then, much-lov'd maid, this proffer'd

hand,

And when the fates my forfeit life demand,
Parthenius' height, and all its golden grain,
Its lowing oxen, and its fleecy train,
With stores of glittering treasure shall be
thine.-

Pas. And oh! can I my virgin state
resign?

A circum

ginal-nor is that indeed destitute of classical authority. A shepherdess in Theocritus stipulates for a jointure, and her lover promises to comply with her request. stance that is here, much more delicately, proposed by the shepherd.

* Guineas.

+ Land.

Κ. Και τι μοι εδυον αγεις γαμε αξιον την επινεύσω;

Α. Πασαν την αγέλαν, παντ' αλσεα και νομον εξεις. Idyll. xxvii.

Or "gorred-tailed," from the A. S.

66

§" Spayed sows," and (I believe) young pigs."

"dirt, a dunghill."

At the opening of the Drama we are to suppose that Andrew was just arrived from his Lant at Parracomb, and obliged soon to return. His prudence in persevering in that point is admirable, as well as in making love, which partakes a good deal of the modern system; but his sentiments in regard to an illicit amour, agrees with the simplicity of the golden age in its most pure and unalloyed state.

I cannot forbear again recalling the reader to notice this instance of virtuous simplicity. How delightfully innocent to suspect that illicit gallantry must proceed from some degree of insanity! When shall we hear in these degenerate days such a sentiment in court, city, or country?

**Much to the same purpose, and with the same degree of sincerity the shepherdess in Theocritus declares,

• Πολλοι με μνώοντο, νεον δ' εμον στις εκδε

Γαμοι πλήθεσιν ανίας. Idyl. xxvii. 22.

yeet in Parracomb. Na, chell ne'er marry, vor ort's know. No, no: they zey thare be more a married aready than can boil tha • crock o Zendeys.-No, no, cosen Andra; es coud amorst zwear chudent ha tha best square in oll Ingland.-But come, prey, cozen Andra, zet down a lit. Es must g' up in chember, and speak a word or two wey Zester Tamzin. Hare's darning up of old blankets, and rearling tha + peels, ang snapping o vleas. Es et come again presently.

An. Well, do than; bet, make haste, d'ye see. Mean time chell read o'er tha new ballet chave in ma pocket.

Mar New ballet! O good now, let's ‡ hire ye zing et up.

An. Zing!-No, no: tes no zinging ballet, mun; but tes a godly one good

now.

Mar. Why, whot's about than?

An. Why, tes about a buy that kill'd hes vauther, and how his vauther went agen in shape of a gurt voul § theng wey a cloven voot, and vlashes o vire, and troubled the houze zo that tha || Whatyecomb, tha whitwitch, was vorst to lay en in the red-zea: and how the buy repented, and went distracted, and wos taken up, and was hang'd vort, and zung saums and zed hes praers. 'Twull do your heart good to hire et, and

Ab A. S.

an earthen vessel to put butter in is styled a pan-crock from the A. S. Panna or Penne, a pan or deep dish. + Pillows, from the A. S. pyle, pile.

A pretty trait of character; and discovers that the message she was engaged to carry her sister, as mentioned in her preceding speech, was fictitious, to avoid the importunities of Andrew, whose heart at this period is so deeply interested in his " godly ballet," that it escapes his observation. It is a subject of debate among the Moor critics, whether sublimity or terror principaily prevails in the analysis he gives of it.

§ Gurt voul theng-analagrov vnuμa the foul thing, in former times denoted the Devil:-" shield us fro the foule thing."

This means "the what d'ye call him, the congurer (Haviolus), who uses his supernatural powers to benevolent purposes;"the Mago Christiano in Italian poetry.

At length the priest of that tremendous God,
Who sways the realms where rolls the
Stygian flood,

By words of import dark the restless ghost
Dismiss'd from upper air to his infernal

coast.

Now deep remorse, such was the will of
fate,

Possest the youth, but, ah! it came too late.
In frenzy wild he urg'd his devious way,
Till justice seiz'd upon his trembling prey.
Now strove he to absolve his guilt with
tears,

With pious strains, and supplicating prayers.
The tender tale would melt thy breast with
woe,

And bid thy eyes with plenteous tears o'erflow.

Behold these forms traced by an artist's

hand

See there the youth in high-wrought fury
stand;

There by his side the sacred priest appears,
His sinking soul with hopes of mercy cheers;
There lifts the minister of justice high
The axe which sent him to the nether sky:
The father's angry shade is there display'd,
And there th' avenging fiend in sable stole
array'd.

Pas. Ah me! as true must I thy words
believe,

Or does some well-wrought tale my ears deceive?

Cel. No question maiden of the truth remains

"By their command who rule Arcadia's plains,"

See, here 'tis said-" memorial of the

crime,

The fact recorded stands to future time."
At this I bade each idle doubt adieu;
They never witness to a fact untrue.

Pas. Whilst I to seek my Athenais go, Be thine the chast'ned joy that flows from storied woe.

[Exit Pastora-Scene closes on Celadon.

Scene A shady bower, ornamented with woodbine, jessamin, and other flowery shrubs.--The floor strewed with the fleece of sheep, and hides of cattle.

Athenais discovered, to her enter Pastora.

Pas. No more, my Athenais, I repine At hopes delusive-Celadon is mine.

Here seems a little mistake; as the ghost appears to have been laid by the Whitwitch, and sent to their usual place of exile, the Red Sea, which, according to the gardener's opinion in the Drummer, and who seems to have been an honest Ex-moorean, was certainly stocked with a power of em." However that may be, it must be allowed that the group would not have been complete with him. The concise sublimity of the original (enfeebled as I fear by the expanded version), cannot be sufficiently admired. The terrifying aggregate of "tha parson and tha dowl, the ghost and the gallows," set all imitation at defiance.What a noble subject for the pencil of Fuzeli !

put vore tha quesson to ma a'ready.-Es verly believe tha banes wull g' in next Zendey.-Tes oll es ho vor.-Beet es tell en, marry aketha! and tell en downreert es chant marry tha best man in Sherwill Hundred. Bet, dost tha hire ma, Zester Tamzen? don't ye be a tabb o' tha tongue in whot cham a going to zey, and than chell tell tha zomething.-The Banes, cham amorst zure wull g' in ether a Zindey or a Zindey Zinneert to vurdest. Es net aboo two and twonty ;-a spicy vella and a vitty vella vor enny keendest theng. Thee know'st Jo. Hosegood es reckon❜d a vitty vella: Poo! es a § zooterly vella to Andra: there's no compare.

Perchance, when at Apollo's sacred fane
Our youths and maidens meet-a jocund
train,

The swain before them will avow his choice,
Yet, in my secret soul tho' I rejoice,
With feign'd reluctance to his suit, I cry,
In wedlock I'd e'en scepter'd kings deny.
But what I now impart to none reveal;
Thy lips, let the still power of silence seal;
The first, at least the next succeeding day,
When we to | Phoebus adoration pay,
Will he, as our Arcadian laws ordain,
Proclaim his future spouse within the hal-
low'd fane.

Say, is there in our wide-stretch'd region

seen

A face more lovely, a more graceful mien? Yet in his cheek tho' youth's gay blossom dwells,

He in each art and manly sport excels.
Damon thou know'st and Damon oft is
named

As far beyond our swains for beauty famed;
But when my shepherd by his side is seen,
A vulgar look is his and awkward mien.

Ath. Hence with such wiles dissembling
maiden! why

What thy heart prompts should thy false
tongue deny?

When he the wishes of his soul made known,
Why with vain artifice conceal thy own?
Wherefore reject his honest suit ?-beware,
Lest he thy words unkind no longer bear,
And, stung with anger, to some distant
shore

Retire, and never never see thee more.

* A gurrulous tattling person. By Aphærisis for blab, or from the Belgic labbern, to babble, or the Latin labium.-In the Miller's Tale of Chaucer we have

I am no labbe,

Ne, though I say it, I n'am not lefe to gabbe.

This language of the courtly Chaucer is now only perfectly intelligible in the neighbourhood of Exmoor.

+ Che'll or chill, I will." In the London Prodigal," Oliver says, "If I do not meet him, chill give you leave to call me cut;-a vituperative appellation equally disliked by Sir Andrew Aguecheek—“ if I don't, call me cut."

+ " Special and clever in any kind of business;"-the latter word may be traced to the Belgic vitten, to fit.

The seventh day was considered by the old Greeks as sacred to Phoebus-a Sun-day

Εβδομαγέτας Απολλων ε
εβδομη ιερον ημας,

Τη γαρ Απολλωνα χρυσάορα γείνατο Λητώ.

Go off secretly or clandestinely.-The boy, schoolboy, or apprentice, who absents himself without leave is called a mitcher universally in Devonshire. The commonly people in Glocestershire call a notorious truant-" a blackberry moucher."

"Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher, and eat blackberries ?"
1 Hen. IV. A. ii. S. 2.

Perhaps it may be a corruption of march.

** Or aneast" near," from A. S.