Quoth Puck," My llege, I'll never lin, But I will thorough thick and thin, Until at length I bring her in,

My dearest lord, ne'er doubt it." Thorough brake, thorough brier, Thorough muck, thorough mier, Thorough water, thorough fier,

And thus goes Puck about it.

This thing Nymphidia overheard, That on this mad king had a guard, Not doubting of a great reward,

For first this bus'ness broaching: And through the air away doth go Swift as an arrow from the bow, To let her sovereign Mab to know

What peril was approaching.

The queen, bound with love's pow'rful'st charm,
Sate with Pigwiggen arm in arm;

Her merry maids, that thought no harm,
About the room were skipping:

A humble-bee their minstrel, play'd
Upon his hautbois, ev'ry maid
Fit for this revel was array'd,

The hornpipe neatly tripping.

In comes Nymphidia, and doth cry, "My sovereign, for your safety fly, For there is danger but too nigh,

I posted to forewarn you :

The king hath sent Hobgoblin out,
To seek you all the fields about,
And of your safety you may doubt,
If he but once discern you."
When like an uproar in a town,
Before them every thing went down ;
Some tore a ruff, and some a gown,
'Gainst one another justling:
They flew about like chaff i' th' wind;
For haste some left their masks behind,
Some could not stay their gloves to find;
There never was such bustling.

Forth ran they by a secret way,
Into a brake that near them lay,
Yet much they doubted there to stay,
Lest Hob should hap to find them:
He had a sharp and piercing sight,
All one to him the day and night,
And therefore were resolv'd by flight

To leave this place behind them.

At length one chanc'd to find a nut,
In th' end of which a hole was cut,
Which lay upon a hazel root,

There scatter'd by a squirrel,
Which out the kernel gotten had :

When quoth this fay, "Dear queen, be glad, Let Oberon be ne'er so mad,

I'll set you safe from peril."

"Come all into this nut," quoth she, "Come closely in, be rul'd by me, Each one may here a chuser be,

For room ye need not wrestle, Nor need ye be together heapt." So one by one therein they crept, And lying down, they soundly slept, As safe as in a castle,

Nymphidia, that this while doth watch, Perceiv'd if Puck the queen should catch, That he would be her over-match,

Of which she well bethought her; Found it must be some pow'rful charm, The queen against him that must arm, Or surely he would do her harm,

For throughly he had sought her.

And list'ning if she aught could hear,
That her might hinder, or might fear;
But finding still the coast was clear,
Nor creature had descry'd her:
Each circumstance and having scann'd,
She came thereby to understand,
Puck would be with them out of hand,
When to her charms she hy'd her.

And first her fern-seed doth bestow,
The kernel of the misletow;

And here and there as Puck should go,
With terror to affright him,
She night-shade straws to work him ill,
Therewith her vervain and her dill,
That hind'reth witches of their will,
Of purpose to despight him,

Then sprinkles she the juice of rue,
That groweth underneath the yew,
With nine drops of the midnight dew,

From lunary distilling;

The molewarp's brain mixt therewithall,
And with the same the pismire's gall:
For she in nothing short would fall,
The fairy was so willing.

Then thrice under a brier doth creep,
Which at both ends was rooted deep,
And over it three times she leapt,

Her magic much availing :
Then on Proserpina doth call,
And so upon her spell doth fall,
Which here to you repeat I shall,

Not in one tittle failing.
"By the croaking of the frog;
By the howling of the dog;
By the crying of the hog

Against the storm arising;
By the evening curfeu-bell;
By the doleful dying knell;
O let this my direful spell,

Hob, hinder thy surprising,
"By the mandrakes dreadful groans;
By the Lubricans sad moans;
By the noise of dead mens bones
In charnel-houses rattling;
By the hissing of the snake,
The rustling of the fire-drake,
I charge thee this place forsake,

Nor of queen Mab be prattling.
"By the whirlwind's hollow sound,
By the thunder's dreadful stound,
Yells of spirits under ground,

I charge thee not to fear us : By the scritch-owl's dismal note, By the black night-raven's throat, I charge thee, Hob, to tear thy coat With thorns, if thou come near us.'

૨૧ 4

Her spell thus spoke, she stept aside,
And in a chink herself doth hide,
To see thereof what would betide,

For she doth only mind him:
When presently she Puck espies,
And well she markt his gloating eyes,
How under every leaf he pries,

In seeking still to find them.

But once the circle got within,
The charms to work do straight begin,
And he was caught as in a gin:

For as he thus was busy,

A pain he in his head-piece feels,
Against a stubbed tree he reels,
And up went poor Hobgoblin's heels:
Alas! his brain was dizzy.

At length upon his feet he gets,
Hobgoblin fumes, Hobgoblin frets,
And as again he forward sets,

And through the bushes scrambles,
A stump doth trip him in his pace,
Down comes poor Hob upon his face,
And lamentably tore his case

Amongst the briers and brambles. "Plague upon queen Mab," quoth he, "And all her maids, where'er they be; I think the devil guided me,

To seek her, so provoked."

When stumbling at a piece of wood,
He fell into a ditch of mud,
Where to the very chin he stood,

In danger to be choked.

Now worse than e'er he was before,

Poor Puck doth yell, poor Puck doth roar, That wak'd queen Mab, who doubted sore

Some treason had been wrought her;

Until Nymphidia told the queen
What she had done, what she had seen,
Who then had well-near crack'd her spleen
With very extreme laughter.

But leave we Hob to clamber out,
Queen Mab and all her fairy rout,
And come again to have a bout

With Oberon yet madding:
And with Pigwiggen now distrought,
Who much was troubled in his thought,
That he so long the queen had sought,
And through the fields was gadding.

And as he runs, he still doth cry,
"King Oberon, I thee defy,
And dare thee here in arms to try,

For my dear lady's honour :
For that she is a queen right good,
In whose defence I'll shed my blood,
And that thou in this jealous mood

Hast laid this slander on her." And quickly arms him for the field, A little cockle-shell his shield, Which he could very bravely wield,

Yet could it not be pierced : His spear a bent both stiff and strong, And well near of two inches long: The pile was of a horse-fly's tongue,

Whose sharpness naught reversed.

And puts him on a coat of mail,
Which was of a fish's scale,
That when his foe should him assail,
No point should be prevailing.
His rapier was a hornet's sting,
It was a very dangerous thing;
For if he chanc'd to hurt the king,
It would be long in healing.

His helmet was a beetle's head,
Most horrible and full of dread,
That able was to strike one dead,
Yet it did well become him:
And for a plume, a horse's hair,
Which being tossed by the air,
Had force to strike his foe with fear,
And turn his weapon from him.
Himself he on an earwig set,
Yet scarce he on his back could get,
So oft and high he did curvet,

Ere he himself could settle:
He made him turn, and stop, and bound,
To gallop, and to trot the round,
He scarce could stand on any ground,
He was so full of mettle.

When soon he met with Tomalin,
One that a valiant knight had been,
And to great Oberon of kin :

Quoth he, “ Thou manly fairy,
Tell Oberon I come prepar'd,
Then bid him stand upon his guard;
This hand his baseness shall reward,
Let him be ne'er so wary.

، Say to him thus, That I defy
His slanders and his infamy,
And as a mortal enemy

Do publickly proclaim him: Withal, that if I had mine own, He should not wear the fairy crown, But with a vengeance should come down ; Nor we a king should name him,'

This Tomalin could not abide,
To hear his sovereign vilify'd;
But to the Fairy court him hy'd,
Full furiously he posted,
With ev'ry thing Pigwiggen said;
How title to the crown he laid,
And in what arms he was array'd,
And how himself he boasted.

'Twixt head and foot, from point to point,
He told the arming of each joint,
In every piece how neat and quaint;
For Tomalin could do it:
How fair he sat, how sure he rid;
As of the courser he bestrid,
How manag'd, and how well he did.
The king, which listen'd to it,

Quoth he, "Go, Tomalin, with speed,
Provide me arms, provide my steed,
And every thing that I shall need,

By thee I will be guided :
To strait account call thou thy wit,
See there be wanting not a whit,
In ev'ry thing see thou me fit,

Just as my foe's provided.”

Soon flew this news through Fairy-land, Which gave queen Mab to understand The combate that was then in hand

Betwixt those men so mighty: Which greatly she began to rue, Perceiving that all Fairy knew, The first occasion from her grew, Of these affairs so weighty.

Wherefore attended with her maids,

Through fogs, and mists, and damps she wades,
To Proserpine the queen of shades,

To treat, that it would please her
The cause into her hands to take,
For ancient love and friendship's sake,
And soon thereof an end to make,

Which of much care would ease her.

A while there let we Mab alone,
And come we to king Oberon,
Who arm'd to meet his foe is gone,

For proud Pigwiggen crying:
Who sought the fairy king as fast,
And had so well his journies cast,
That he arrived at the last,

His puissant foe espying.

Stout Tomalin came with the king,
Tom Thum doth on Pigwiggen bring,
That perfect were in ev'ry thing

To single fights belonging:
And therefore they themselves engage,
To see them exercise their rage,
With fair and comely equipage,

Not one the other wronging.

So like in arms these champions were,
As they had been a very pair,
So that a man would almost swear
That either had been either:
Their furious steeds began to neigh,
That they were heard a mighty way:
Their staves upon their rests they lay;
Yet ere they flew together,

Their seconds minister an oath,
Which was indifferent to them both,
That on their knightly faith and troth,

No magick them supplied;

And sought them that they had no charms,
Wherewith to work each other's harms,
But came with simple open arms,

To have their causes tried.

Together furiously they ran,

That to the ground came horse and man; The blood out of their helmets span,

So sharp were their encounters : And tho' they to the earth were thrown, Yet quickly they regain'd their own; Such nimbleness was never shown,

They were two gallant mounters.

When in a second course again,
They forward came with might and main,
Yet which had better of the twain,

The seconds could not judge yet:
Their shields were into pieces cleft,
Their helmets from their heads were reft,
And to defend them nothing left,

These champions would not budge yet.

Away from them their staves they threw, Their cruel swords they quickly drew, And freshly they the fight renew,

They every stroke redoubled:
Which made Proserpina take heed,
And make to them the greater speed,
For fear lest they too much should bleed,
Which wond'rously her troubled.

When to th' infernal Styx she goes,
She takes the fogs from thence that rose,
And in a bag doth them enclose,

When well she had them blended:
She hies her then to Lethe spring,
A bottle and thereof doth bring,
Wherewith she meant to work the thing
Which only she intended.

gone

Now Proserpine with Mab is
Unto the place where Oberon
And proud Pigwiggen, one to one,
Both to be slain were likely :
And there themselves they closely hide,
Because they would not be espy'd;
For Proserpine meant to decide
The matter very quickly.

And suddenly unties the poke,
Which out of it sent such a smoke,
As ready was them all to choke,

So grievous was the pother:
So that the knights each other lost,
And stood as still as any post,
Tom Thum nor Tomalin could boast
Themselves of any other.

But when the mist 'gan somewhat cease,
Proserpina commandeth peace,

And that a while they should release
Each other of their peril :

"Which here," quoth she, "I do proclaim
To all, in dreadful Pluto's name,
That as ye will eschew his blame,
You let me hear the quarrel.

"But here yourselves you must engage,
Somewhat to cool your spleenish rage,
Your grievous thirst and to asswage,
That first you drink this liquor;
Which shall your understandings clear,
As plainly shall to you appear,
Those things from me that you shall hear,
Conceiving much the quicker."

This Lethe water, you must know,

The memory destroyeth so,
That of our weal, or of our woe,
It all remembrance blotted,

Of it nor can you ever think:
For they no sooner took this drink,
But nought into their brains could sink,
Of what had them besotted.

King Oberon forgotten had,
That he for jealousy ran mad;
But of his queen was wond'rous glad,

And ask'd how they came thither.
Pigwiggen likewise doth forget,
That he queen Mab had ever met,
Or that they were so hard beset,

When they were found together.

Nor either of 'em both had thought,
That e'er they had each other sought,
Much less that they a combat fought,
But such a dream were loathing.
Tom Thum had got a little sup,
And Tomalin scarce kiss'd the cup,
Yet had their brains so sure lockt up,

That they remember'd nothing.

Queen Mab and her light maids the while
Amongst themselves do closely smile,
To see the king caught with this wile,
With one another jesting:

And to the Fairy court they went,
With mickle joy and merriment,

Which thing was done with good intent;
And thus I left them feasting.

POLY-OLBION.

THE FIRST SONG.

THE ARGUMENT.

The sprightly Muse her wing displays,
And the French islands first surveys;
Bears up with Neptune, and in glory
Transcends proud Cornwal's promontory;
There crowns Mount-Michael, and descries
How all those riverets fall and rise;
Then takes in Tamer, as she bounds
The Cornish and Devonian grounds.
And whilst the Dev'nshire nymphs relate
Their loves, their fortunes, and estate,
Dert undertaketh to revive

Our Brute, and sings his first arrive:
Then northward to the verge she bends,
And her first song at Ax she ends,

Or Albion's glorious isle the wonders whilst I write,
The sundry varying soils, the pleasures infinite,
(Where heat kills not the cold, nor cold expells the heat,
The calms too mildly small, nor winds too roughly great,
Nor night doth hinder day, nor day the night doth wrong,
The summer not too short, the winter not too long)
What help shall I invoke to aid my Muse the while?

Thou genius of the place (this most renowned isle)
Which lived'st long before the all-carth-drowning flood,
Whilst yet the world did swarm with her gigantic brood,
Go thou before me still thy circling shores about,
And in this wand'ring maze help to conduct me out :
Direct my course so right, as with thy hand to show
Which way, thy forests range, which way thy rivers flow;
Wise genius, by thy help that so I may descry

How thy fair mountains stand, and how thy vallies lic;
From those clear pearly cliffs which see the morning's pride,
And check the surly imps of Neptune when they chide,
Unto the big-swoln waves in the Iberian stream1,
Where Titan still unyokes his fiery hoofed team,
And oft his flaming locks in luscious nectar steeps,
When from Olympus' top he plungeth in the deeps:
That from th' Armoric sands, on surging Neptune's leas,
Through the Hibernic gulf (those rough Vergivian seas)
My verse with wings of skill may fly a lofty gait,
As Amphitrite clips this island fortunate,
Till through the sleepy main to Thuly3 I have gone,
And seen the frozen isles, the cold Deucalidon,
Amongst whose iron rocks grim Saturn yet remains,
Bound in those gloomy caves with adamantine chains,
Ye sacred bards, that to your harps melodious strings
Sung th' ancient heroes deeds (the monuments of kings)
And in your dreadful verse ingrav'd the prophecies,
The aged world's descents and genealogies;

If, as those Druids & taught, which kept the British rites,
And dwelt in darksome groves, there counselling with sprites
(But their opinions fail'd, by error led awry,

As since clear truth hath shew'd to their posterity)
When these our souls by death our bodies do forsake,
They instantly again do other bodies take;

I could have wisht your spirits redoubled in my breast,
To give my verse applause to time's eternal rest.

Thus scarcely said the Muse, but hovering while she hung
Upon the Celtic wastes, the sea-nymphs loudly sung :
"O ever-happy isles! your heads so high that bear,
By nature strongly fenc'd, which never need to fear
On Neptune's wat'ry realms when Eōlus raiseth wars,
And every billow bounds, as though to quench the stars:
Fair Jersey first of these here scatter'd in the deep,
Peculiarly that boasts thy double-horned sheep:
Inferior nor to thee, thou Guernsey, bravely crown'd
With rough-embattled rocks, whose venom-hating ground
The hard'ned emeril hath, which thou abroad dost send:
Thou Ligon her belov'd, and Serk, that doth attend
Her pleasure every hour; as Jethow, them at need,
With pheasants, fallow deer, and conies that dost feed:
Ye seven small sister isles, and Sorlings, which to see
The half-sunk seaman joys; or whatsoe'er you be,
From fruitful Aurney, near the ancient Celtic shore,
To Ushant and the Seams, whereas those nuns of yore
Gave answers from their caves, and took what shapes they

please :

Ye happy islands set within the British seas,

With shrill and jocund shouts, th' unmeasur'd deeps awake,
And let the gods of sea their secret bow'rs forsake,

Whilst our industrious Muse great Britain forth shall bring,
Crown'd with those glorious wreaths that beautify the spring;
And whilst green Thetis' nymphs, with many an amorous lay
Sing our invention safe unto her long-wisht bay."
Upon the utmost end of Cornwal's furrowing beak,
Where Bresans from the land the tilting waves doth break;
The shore let her transcend, the promont to descry,
And view about the point th' unnumber'd fowl that fly;
Some rising like a storm from off the troubled sand,
Seem in their hov'ring flight to shadow all the land;
Some sitting on the beach to prune their painted breasts,
As if both earth and air they only did possess ;
Whence climbing to the cliffs, herself she firmly sets
The bourns, the brooks, the becks, the rills, the rivulets,
Exactly to derive; receiving in her way

[bay,

That streight'ned tongue of land, where at Mount-Michael's
Rude Neptune cutting in, a cantle forth doth take;
And on the other side, Hayle's vaster mouth doth make

A chersonese 10 thereof, the corner clipping in;

Where to th' industrious Muse the Mount doth thus begin : "Before thou further pass, and leave this setting shore, Whose towns unto the saints that lived here of yore

(Their fasting, works and pray'rs, remaining to our shames)
Were rear'd, and justly call'd by their peculiar names,
The builders honour still; this due and let them have,
As deign to drop a tear upon each holy grave;
Whose charity and zeal, instead of knowledge stood:
For surely in themselves they were right simply good.
If credulous too much, thereby th' offended heaven,
In their devout intents yet be their sins forgiven."
Then from his rugged top the tears down trickling fell;
And in his passion stirr'd, again began to tell
[pass:
Strange things, that in his days time's course had brought to
That forty miles now sea, sometimes firm fore-land was;
And that a forest then, which now with him is flood,
Whereof he first was call'd the Hoar-rock in the wood;
Relating then how long this soil had laid forlorn,
As that her genius now had almost her forsworn,
And of their ancient love did utterly repent,
Sith to destroy herself that fatal tool she lent,

To which th' insatiate slave her intrails out doth draw,
That thrusts his gripple hand into her golden maw;
And for his part doth wish, that it were in his pow'r
To let the ocean in, her wholly to devour.

Which Hayle doth overhear, and much doth blame his rage,
And told him (to his teeth) he doated with his age.
For Hayle (a lusty nymph, bent all to amorous play,
And having quick recourse into the Severn sea,
With Neptune's pages oft disporting in the deep;
One never touch'd with care, but how herself to keep
In excellent estate) doth thus again intreat';
"Muse, leave the wayward Mount to his distemper'd heat,
Who nothing can produce but what doth taste of spight,
I'll shew thee things of ours most worthy thy delight.
Behold our diamonds here, as in the quarrs they stand,
By nature neatly cut, as by a skilful hand,
Who varieth them in forms, both curiously and oft;
Which for she (wanting power) produceth them too soft,
That virtue which she could not liberally impart,
She striveth to amend by her own proper art.
Besides the sea-holm here, that spreadeth all our shore,
The sick-consuming man so powerful to restore,

7 The French seas.

8 A small island upon the very point of Cornwal 9 A hill lying out as an elbow of land into the sea. 10 A place almost surrounded by the sea.

Whose root th'eringo is, the reins that doth inflame
So strongly to perform the Cytheraan game,

That generally approv'd both far and near is sought;
And our Main-Amber here, and Burien trophy, thought
Much wrong'd, nor yet preferr'd for wonders with the rest."
But the laborious Muse, upon her journey prest,
Thus uttereth to herself; "To guide my course aright,
What mound or steddy mere is offered to my sight
Upon this outstretcht arm, whilst sailing here at ease,
Betwixt the southern waste, and the Sabrinian seas,
I view those wanton brooks, that waxing still do wane;
That scarcely can conceive, but brought to bed again;
Scarce rising from the spring (that is their natural mother)
To grow into a stream, but buried in another."
When Chore doth call her on, that wholly doth betake
Herself unto the Loo; transform'd into a lake,
Through that impatient love she had to entertain

The lustful Neptune oft; whom when his wracks restrain, ¦
Impatient of the wrong, impetuously he raves :
And in his rageful flow, the furious king of waves
Breaks foaming o'er the beach, whom nothing seems to cool,
Till he have wrought his will on that capacious pool:
Where Menedge, by his brooks, a chersonese 1o is cast,
Widening the slender shore to ease it in the waste;
A promont jutting out into the dropping south,

That with his threat'ning cliffs in horrid Neptune's mouth,
Derides him and his pow'r : nor cares how him he greets.
Next Roseland (as his friend, the mightier Menedge) meets
Great Neptune when he swells, and rageth at the rocks
(Set out into those seas) inforcing through his shocks
Those arms of sea that thrust into the tinny strand,
By their meand'red creeks indenting of that land,
Whose fame by every tongue is for her minerals hurl'd,
Near from the mid-day's point, throughout the western world.
Here Vale a lively flood, her nobler name that gives
To Falmouth; and by whom, it famous ever lives,
Whose entrance is from sea so intricately wound,
Her haven angled so about her harb'rous sound,
That in her quiet bay a hundred ships may ride,
Yet not the tallest mast be of the tall'st descry'd;
Her bravery to this nymph when neighbouring rivers told,
Her mind to them again she briefly doth unfold:

"Let Camel 12 of her course and curious windings boast,
In that her greatness reigns sole mistress of that coast
Twixt Tamer and that bay, where Hayle pours forth her pride;
And let us (nobler nymphs) upon the mid-day side
Be frolic with the best. Thou Foy, before us all,
By thine own named town made famous in thy fall,
As Low amongst us here, a most delicious brook,
With all our sister nymphs, that to the noonsted look,
Which gliding from the hills upon the tinny ore,
Betwixt your high-rear'd banks, resort to this our shore;
Lov'd streams, let us exult, and think ourselves no less
Than those upon their side, the setting that possess."

Which Camel over-heard: but what doth she respect
Their taunts, her proper course that loosely doth neglect?
As frantic, ever since her British Arthur's blood,

By Mordred's murtherous hand was mingled with her flood.
For as that river best might boast that conqueror's breath,
So sadly she bemoans his too untimely death;
Who after twelve proud fields against the Saxon fought,
Yet back unto her banks by fate was lastly brought:
As though no other place on Britain's spacious earth
Were worthy of his end, but where he had his birth:
And careless ever since how she her course doth steer,
This mutt'reth to herself, in wand'ring here and there:
"Even in the aged'st face, where beauty once did dwell,
And nature (in the least) but seemed so excell,
Time cannot make such waste, but something will appear,
To shew some little tract of delicacy there,
Or some religious work, in building many a day,
That this penurious age hath suffer'd to decay;
Some limb or model dragg'd out of the ruinous mass,
The richness will declare in glory whilst it was:
But time upon my waste committed hath such theft,
That it of Arthur here scarce memory hath left."

The nine-ston'd trophy thus whilst she doth entertain,
Proud Tamer swoops along with such a lusty train,
As fits so brave a flood, two countries that divides:
So to increase her strength, she from her equal sides
Receives their several rills; and of the Cornish kind,
First taketh Atre in; and her not much behind
Comes Kensey: atter whom, clear Enjan in doth make,
In Tamer's roomthier banks their rest that scarcely take.
Then Lyner, tho' the while aloof she seem'd to keep,
Her sovereign when she sees t' approach the surgeful deep,
To beautify her fall, her plenteous tribute brings;
This honours Tamer much, that she whose plenteous springs
Those proud aspiring hills, Bromwelly and his friend
High Rowter, from their tops impartially commend,
And is by Carew's 3 Muse the river most renown'd,
Associate should her grace to the Devonian ground,
Which in those other brooks doth emulation breed.

Of which, first Car comes crown'd with osier, segs and reed:
Then Lid creeps on along, and taking Thrushel, throws
Herself amongst the rocks; and so incavern'd goes,
That of the blessed light (from other floods) debarr'd,
To bellow underneath she only can be heard,

As those that view her tract, seems strangely to affright:
So Toovy straineth in; and Plym, that claims by right
The christning of that bay, which bears her nobler name.
Upon the British coast 14 what ship yet ever came,
That not of Plymouth hears, where those brave navies lie,
From cannons thund'ring throats that all the world defy?
Which to invasive spoil, when th' English list to draw,
Have check'd Iberia's pride, and held her oft in awe:
Oft furnishing our dames with India's rar'st devices,
And lent us gold, and pearl, rich silks, and dainty spices.
But Tamer takes the place, and all attend her here,
A faithful bound to both; and two that be so near
For likeliness of soil, and quantity they hold,
Before the Roman came; whose people were of old
Known by one general name, upon this point that dwell,
All other of this isle in wrestling that excell:
With collars be they yok'd, to prove the arm at length,
Like bulls set head to head, with meer deliver strength;
Or by the girdles graspt, they practise with the hip,
The forward, backward, falx, the mar, the turn, the trip 15,
When stript into their shirts, each other they invade
Within a spacious ring, by the beholders made,
According to the law. Or when the ball to throw,
And drive it to the goal, in squadrons forth they go;
And to avoid the troops their forces that fore-lay,
Through dikes and rivers make, in this robustious play;
By which the toils of war most lively are exprest.

But Muse, may I demand, Why these of all the rest,
(As mighty Albion's eld'st) most active are and strong?
From Corin 16 came it first, or from the use so long?
Or that this foreland lies farth'st out into his sight,
Which spreads his vigorous flames on every lesser light?
With th' virtue of his beams, this place that doth inspire,
Whose pregnant womb prepar'd by his all-pow'rful fire,
Being purely hot and moist, projects that fruitful seed,
Which strongly doth beget, and doth as strongly breed:
The well-disposed Heaven here proving to the Earth
A husband furthering fruit, a midwife helping birth.

But whilst th' industrious Muse thus labours to relate
Those rillets that attend proud Tamer and her state,
A neighbourer of this nymph's, as high in fortune's grace,
And whence calm Tamer trips, clear Towridge in that place
Is poured from her spring, and seems at first to flow
That way which Tamer strains; but as she great doth grow,
Rememb'reth to foresee what rivals she should find

To interrupt her course; whose so unsettled mind
Ock coming in perceives, and thus doth her perswade: [made
"Now Neptune shield, bright nymph, thy beauty should be
The object of her scorn, which (for thou canst not be
Upon the southern side so absolute as she)

Will awe thee in thy course. Wherefore, fair flood, recoil,
And where thou may'st alone be sov 'reign of the soil,
There exercise thy pow'r, thy braveries and display :
Turn Towridge, let us back to the Sabrinian sea,
Where Thetis handmaids still, in that recourseful deep,
With those rough gods of sea continual revels keep;
There may'st thou live admir'd, the mistress of the lake."
Wise Ock she doth obey, returning, and doth take
The Taw; which from her fount forc'd on with amorous gales,
And easily ambling down through the Devonian dales,
Brings with her Moul and Bray, her banks that gently bathe;
Which on her dainty breast, in many a silver swathe,
She bears unto that bay where Barstaple beholds
How her beloved Taw clear Towridge there enfolds.

The confluence of these brooks divulg'd in Dertmoor, bred
Distrust in her sad breast, that she so largely spread,
And in this spacious shire the near'st the center set
Of any place of note, that these should bravely get
The praise from those that sprung out of her pearly lap:
Which, nourish'd and bred up at her most plenteous pap,
No sooner taught to dade, but from their mother trip,
And in their speedy course strive others to outstrip.
The Yalm, the Awn, the Aum, by spacious Dertmoor fed,
And in the southern sea b'ing likewise brought to bed;
That these were not of power to publish her desert,
Much griev'd the ancient moor; which understood by Dert
(From all the other floods that only takes her name,
And as her eld'st, in right the heir of all her fame)
To show her nobler spirit it greatly doth behove.
"Dear mother, from your breast this fear" (quoth she) "re
Defy their utmost force; there's not the proudest flood,"
That falls betwixt the Mount and Exmore, shall make good
Her royalty with mine, with me nor can compare :

I challenge any one to answer me that dare;

move;

That was, before them all, predestinate to meet
My Britain-founding Brute, when with his puissant fleet
At Totness first he touch'd; which shall renown my stream
(Which now the envious world doth slander for a dream :)

14 The praise of Plymouth.

15 Terms of art in wrestling.

16 Our first great wrestler, arriving here with Brute..