Narcissus, OR, The Self-Lover. By JAMES SHIRLEY. Haec olim— LONDON, Printed for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at his shop, at the sign of the Prince's arms in St. Paul's churchyard. MDCXLVI. Narcissus OR, The self-lover. 1. Fair echo rise, sick-thoughted Nymph awake, Leave thy green Couch and canopy of Trees, Long since the choristers o'th' wood did shake Their wings, and sing to the bright sun's uprise: Cay hath wept o'er thy Couch, and progressed, Blusheth to see fair echo still in bed. 2. If not the Birds, who 'bout the Coverts fly, And with their warbles charm the neighbouring air, If not the Sun, whose new embroidery, Makes rich the leaves that in thy arbours are, Can make thee rise; yet Love-sick Nymph away, Thy young Narcissus is abroad to day. 3. See not far off Cephisus son appears, No Nymph so fair in all Diana's train, When like a huntress she for chase prepares; His bugle-horn, tied in a silken chain, And mounted on a comely Steed, which knows What weight he carries, and more proudly goes. 4. Pursue him timorous Maid, he moves apace, Favonius waits to play with thy loose hair, And help thy flight; see how the drooping grass Courts thy soft tread, thou child of Sound and air, Attempt and overtake him, though he be, Coy to all other Nymphs, he'll stoop to thee. 5. If thy face move not, let thy eyes express, Some rhetoric of thy tears to make him stay; He must be a Rock, that will not melt at these, Dropping these native Diamonds in his way: Mistaken he may stoop at them, and this (Who knows how soon?) may help thee to a kiss. 6. If neither love, thy beauty, nor thy tear Invent some other way to make him know, He need not hunt, that can have such a deer. The Queen of Love did once Adonis' woe. But hard of soul, with no persuasions won, He felt the curse of his disdain too soon. 7. In vain I counsel her to put on wing, echo hath left her solitary Grove, And in a Vale, the Palace of the spring, Sits silently attending for her love; But round about to catch his voice with care, In every shade and Tree, she hid a snare. 8. Now do the huntsmen fill the air with noise, And their shrill horns chafe her delighted care Which with loud accents give the wood a voice, Proclaiming Parley to the fearful deer: She hears the jolly tunes, but every strain, As high and musical, she returns again. 9 Roused is the game, pursuit doth put on wings, The Sun doth shine, and guild them out their way: The deer into an o'ergrown Thicket springs, Through which he quaintly steals his shine away. The Hunters scatter; but the Boy o'erthrown In a dark part o'th' wood complains alone. 10 Him, echo lead by her affection found, Joyed (you may guess) to reach him with her eye; But more, to see him rise without a wound, Who yet obscures herself behind some Tree: He vexed exclaims, and asking, where am I? The unseen Virgin answers, here am I. 11. Some guide from hence; will no man hear, he cries? She answers in her passion: O man hear. I die, I die, say both; and thus she tries With frequent answers to entice his ear And person to her Court, more fit for love, He tracts the sound, and finds her odorous Grove. 12. The way he trod was paved with Violets, Whose azure leaves do warm their naked stalks, In their white double ruffs the daisies jet, And Primroses are scattered in the walks: Whose pretty mixture in the ground declares Another galaxy embossed with stars. 13. Two rows of Elmes ran with proportioned grace, Like nature's Arras to adorn the sides, The friendly Vines their loved Barks embrace, While folding tops the chequered groundwork hides Here oft the tired Sun himself would rest, Riding his glorious Circuit to the West. 14. From hence delight, conveys him unawares Into a spacious green, whose either side A Hill did guard, whilst with his Trees like hairs. The Clouds were busy binding up his head: The flowers here smile upon him as he treads, And but when he looks up, hang down their heads▪ 15. Not far from hence, near an harmonious Brook, Within an Arbour of conspiring Trees, Whose wilder boughs into the stream did look, A place more suitable to her distress. echo suspecting that her love was gone, Herself had in a careful posture thrown. 16. But Time upon his wings had brought the Boy To see this lodging of the airy Queen, Whom the dejected Nymph espies with joy, Through a small Window of Eglantine; And that she might be worthy his embrace, Forgets not to new dress her blubbered face. 17. With confidence she sometimes would go out, And boldly meet Narcissus in the way: But then her fears present her with new doubt, And chide her overrash resolve away. Her heart with overcharge of love must break, Great Juno will not let poor echo speak. 19 Ungentle Queen of heaven, why was thy curse So heavy on this Virgin? Jove compressed Not her, and must her destiny be worse Than theirs that met her flame? thy angry breast Holds not in all the list a blacker doom, Better transform the maid, then make her dumb. 20. Thy jealousy was sin, above what she Was guilty of: But she is wife to Jove; For that in heaven must there no Justice be? Or didst thou find this cruelty, for her love To this coy Lad, whom in the Book of Fate Thou didst foresee thyself shouldst love too late? 21. Thou tedious to thyself, not being fair, To whom thy wakeful jealousy succeeds A greater curse; when mortals jealous are, They're cured to know their faith abused, what seeds For some act worse than hers, grow up in thee, At once to doubt, and know Jove's perjury? 22. But still this Nymph was innocent, reverse Thy rash decree, repentance is no sin In heavenly natures; but I vain rehearse Thy story of thy hate: it is not in Poor echoes power to Court the Boy, with more Than smiles or tears, and his last breath restore. 23. Narcissus now collects his scattered sense, He finds himself at loss, drawn thither by Imagined answers to his grief, from whence That he may find some surer guide, he'll try His bugle-horn, whose found was understood, But drew no great compassion from the wood. 24. Only, so soon as he dispatehed the air, At her own bower echo received the noise; Every thing helped to bring the message near, And the wind proud to wait upon the voice; When she returned a cheerful answer, knew The way again, and with loud music flew. 25. Narcissus' glad that such return was made, And flattered by his overbusy ear, Was soon directed to the virgin's shade, Without a thought to find a fair Nymph there: Nor did he see the maid, for she, so soon As he appeared, found passage to be gone. 26. The Boy inquisitive looks round with fear, But could see none to make addresses to, Nor observes any print of foot-step there, The flowers unpressed his modest forehead view, And court his stay; the trees and every thing Give him a silent welcome to the spring. 27. Amazed what this solitude should mean, And wondering at the sound that did invite him So late, to that fair desert, a new scene, With a most curious arbour doth delight him, Who now to please his late surprised eyes; Whilst they do gaze, down on a bank he lies. 28. And now does every object show what spell It hath upon his senses, too much sight Deprives him of his eyes, a mist doth dwell About 'em, and by soft degrees invite The Boy to slumber, which glad echo spies, And while he dreams, keeps sentry with her eyes. 29. In silence she approaches where he lay, With his arms chained cross upon his breast; His silken Bonnet slilding, did betray A face, which all the Nymphs did call the best. A bank his Pillow was, the flowers his sheet, His Blanket air, the trees his Coverlet. 30. Sometimes the wind befriends a tender bough, Part of his leafy canopy, which hides The subject of all wonder, his white brow, And helps it nearer to obtain a kiss: Which once enjoyed, away the twig doth skip, Not daring to be taken at his lip. 31. While taller boughs hover about his head, And justle one another for their view; The humble branches are enamoured, And have their short carresses with him too. Thus all conspire, him several ways to woe, For whose love only they delight to grow. 32. echo at every look feels new desires, And wishes that he were Endymion, For whom in her most glorious star attires, Oft in her nightgown came the Love-sick Moon, To Latmos sacred Hill, when for his sake, Whilst he did sleep, she'd ever wish to wake. 33. But this she soon revokes, her love will bear No rival thoughts, no competition. The Queen of heaven must have no interest here; This beauty's Empire must be all her own: Thus while she all embraceth, her desires Conspire but to enlarge her funeral fires. 34. Her eye takes in more flame now, than before, Gazing improves her love's perfection, Whose every part riseth a silent wooer, And the most taking presence doth put on; Sweetly enticing her delighted sense, To lose herself in every excellence. 35. One while she thinks all but a cozening dream, And him but some fantastic mockery: 'Tis too much happiness if he be the same, And she the Nymph that she was wont to be: If she sleep not, who blessed more than she: Yet if she dream, awake she'd never be. 36. How could his hair, so many finest threads Of gold, but make a net to catch her sight? How could she trace his brow? or see those lids, Whose either ivory box shut up a light To travellers, more cheerful, than the star That ushers in the day, but brighter far? 37. She with her danger doth these parts admire, But loves 'em more: another flame and art May praise, her love belongs to her own fire, And is the office proper to her heart. But echo has not done, for she pursues Dangers, above what she at distance views. 38. Sh'as yet but exercised her wondering eye Upon his wealthy cheek, his brow, his hair, Another sense the Nymph will satisfy; She thinks his heavenly lips forgotten are: Which now she boldly tastes, and at first kiss, Concludes, there is no other heaven but this. 39 The lips that will not open to praise his, She wishes may be closed eternally These freely touched, are able to entice The soul to lose its immortality. The Gods may boast Ambrosia alone, But she feeds on a dew above their own. 40. Oft doth she kiss, as often doth she see, A fresher blush die o'er his coral gate, Whose close enjayles his tongue, and seems to be Ashamed, the maid is so insatiate. But speak he cannot, though she do him wrong, Her door, and his do double bar his tongue. 41. But stay rash echo, see what thou hast done; His lips, that kissed themselves like two Rose-leaves, Grow pale o'th' sudden, thy impression, Them of their blushing modesty bereaves. His blood will be required of you, I fear; And see some drops upon your lip appear. 42. And wilt thou still (Forgetful Nymph) pursue Thy wanton touches? all the blood is gone: What of his cheek wilt thou be murderer too? Thinking the others Sanguine thither run? Alas, there is but of its own, apart, Fear hath sent back the rest unto his heart. 43. Leave shameless echo, leave a little here, Another time to enrich thy lip withal; For thy own sake this cruelty forbear, Dost think the guilt of such a blood is small? But 'tis the last she fears, and cannot tell Better, than with a kiss to take farewell. 44. But use thy freedom, I'll not blame thee now, Thou know'st his stubborn dispos, Hasten thy kisses then, and take enough To serve thee for an age, ere thou hast done: And when thou hast took all but one, foresee Thou be'st a taking that, eternally. 45. But echo needs no counsel to proceed, Fearing too soon Narcissus should awake. She plies his lips, as if to make them bleed, Were to restore the colour she did take. But mark what follows this offence? his eyes Open by degrees, and she thence guilty flies, 46. It was a cowardice to steal away, Not daring to avouch what she had done; Fugitive Lover, thou hadst better stay, The Boy's alone, and put fresh beauty on; Nor dost thou wisely maid pursue thy choice: For echo seldom goes without a noisr. 47. But she is gone, and the fair youth is risse, Suspicious that he felt some person there; Then busily he looks about the trees, Whose boughs would guide him on the way to her; Directed by the wind, at last he found, The beauteous Nymph laid careless on the ground. 48. Amazed, that such a presence should remain In such an unfrequented place, as this: He takes the wisest-counsel of his brain, In supposition she some goddess is: And when he had devote submission paid To her, this with a trembling voice he said. 49. Celestial dweller, sure thou art no less, Such brightness never knew mortality: Or if thou be'st a mortal, I may guess There are no gods, nor heaven, if gods there be, Thou dost excel; and if a heaven, 'tis clear, That here it is, because thou art not there. 50. Yet here it cannot be, for I am here Conscious, that I am wretched, and alone: If this be heaven, I wish myself elsewhere; All joys inhabit heaven, but here are none; For if true joy exceed the name of things, We must deduce them from the higher springs. 51. Where am I then? alas I cannot tell, Whether in earth, or hell; if earth it be, Than it is both; yet can it not be hell, For that cannot be capable of thee. Beside, if Sages do not hell belie, In hell, I sure should have more company. 52. But I do walk this Labyrinth alone, And this adds to the languish of my heart, That in this sad consinements, I have none Will join his misery, and take a part. I never yet provoked the high heavens so, That they should mark me out alone to woe. 53. With many more, as late I hunting was In this unlucky wood, I know not where I lost my train, ill fortune, and the place, Conspiring with my horse to leave me there. Since when endeavouring myself to find, I might as well o'ertake, and stay the wind. 54. Fair goddess, then inform me, where I am, And with thy kind and safe direction, Convey a lost man thither, whence he came: Or if not thither, to a place more known: Nay into any other wilderness, There is a path from any place, but this. 55. Then shall the Nymphs, for they affect my name, Build thee a glorious Temple for this deed, Wherein they shall a stately Altar frame, Which shall not with the tender firstlings bleed; They shall present fresh Chaplets, which their love Shall set on fire, and their sighs Incense prove. 56. echo who all the while attentive sat, And heard the music of his passion, But held first pity due to her own fate, Yet knew not with what art is should be done, Rallies her wiser thoughts, and while he stays Expecting answer, to herself she says; 57 What shall poor echo do? I want a voice To tell him what I am, how I have loved; Juno, thy curse was an unhappy choice, Some other punishment thou mightst have proved. Revoke this cruel doom, a power restore To my chained tongue, I'll never ask thee more. 58. Mean time, like a pale prisoner at the Bar, Oppressed more with fear, than his own chains, (These of the feet, those the head troubles are) Suspecting much her silence, he complains In smothered sighs, and 'cause they not prevail, Look, and you'll see a tear is breaking jail. 59 The Nymph in pity of his grief, put on Her stock of smiles, and love in either eye, Courts him to shine, the majesty is gone That frighted him; and now a frestier dye, Dawns in his cheek, and his own eye so near, New burnished drew up the complaining tear. 60. echo now thinking she had won the prize, Seeing all clouds clear up, and in his brow The milky path of heaven again, his eyes Sparkling out heavenly fire, which even now Peeped through the brine of sorrow, came once more, Boldly to kisle her convert Paramour. 61. But echo missed her aim, for he went back, And with his hand checked her unruly one, As such addresses did good manners lack, She else perhaps might an embrace have stolen: Angry he was, a second knowledge now Appears too plain upon his rugged brow. 62. Look how some infant by the Parent beat, For having played the wanton with her breast, Afraid to cry looks pale, some pearly wet, Swelling to peep out of her watery nest, Shrinking his pretty lip, hangs down the head, His red to pale, his pale converts to red. 63. So fared poor echo in this ecstasy, Whose trembling blood although it had forsook Her cheek, was ignorant yet where to be, Fear had detrowred the beauty of each look, And had not some divine relief been sent, She had settled there her own pale monument. 64. But unexpectedly her tongue released, By Juno's own compassion to the maid, whose sufferings in love her wrath appeared, Gave echo a new life, who thought to have said Within her heart; proud boy, th''ve done thy worst; But found her voice, a clear one, as at first. 65. Then wisely fearing to have called him proud, Could be no argument to make him kind, She thought to cure him with a Palinode, Saying her heart was of another mind: And thought him gentle, yet some spirits gained; Unto the boy, thus she at last complained. 66. Mankind, from henceforth must not nature call, An equal mother, fondly to bestow Upon thee one, her beauty's stock, her all, And others by her empty hand undo. For though not eldest, she hath made thee heir, And thou, above thy numerous brethren, fair. 67. But too much sweetness is ill placed upon A stubborn heart: A Panther and a Dove; Cruel and fair, were never meant for one: Resign thy beauty, or else put on love. Thou wert unkind Narcissus, to deny, Thyself the office of a courtesy. 68 What was a kiss? the rape of such a Treasure What Tyrant were he Judge, would call a sin? Thou canst not lose thy lip, but find a pleasure: Come let us now, though late, loves war begin; And meet me boldly, for one kiss of thine I'll give a thousand: love's Exchequers mine. 69. If thou be'st scrupulous, I will not pay, Thou shalt have half in earnest, if thou please: Or if not so, I ask no longer day To number the whole sum, before I cease: And at the total, if thy lip repine, I'll treble all, to have one more of thine. 70. But whither doth suspicion draw thy eye? Thou Mayst commit thyself to silent Groves, The listening Trees grooms of my chamber be, This air close Secretary to our loves. Be not too coy then to receive a kiss, Thou mightst have kissed me twenty times'ere this. 71. Come sit thee down upon this bank a while, And let us sport, as other lovers do. The heaven in gold, the earth in green doth smile, My heaven on earth, prithee do thou so too. Unwreath thy arms, and with an amorous twine. Girdle my waste, whilst I in circle shine. 72. My shady Province, walled about with trees, The wealthy currents that divide the Land, Shall give up all their treasure to thy eyes: Pleasure itself shall spread at thy command, Her most desired soul, and thou as free As air, shalt move, and share all bliss with me. 73. If thou wilt hunt, the Lion and the Pard Shall Every morn unto the chase invite thee. The boar and Panther when thou art prepared, Shall play before thy spear, and never fright thee: Bleed any Beast, hunt what thou likest most, All wild shall tame before thee as thou go'st. 74. See how the trees bow their exalted heads, And not a shrub but sign of gladness bears, Which else would shrink into their Earthy beds, Or through their bark break out in gummy tears; And for thy absence weep out all their rind, Proud if they have for thee their soul resigned. 75. The wind, thy Herald flies about the Groves, Aloud proclaiming thee the wood-Nymphs King, Snatching up odours as be whistling roves, At thy hand to unlade them from his wing. The Silvans frisk about, while Nymphs prepare A rosy Garland to o're-top thy hair. 76. Shepherd's shall all the day new pastimes spring. A mask of Satyrs shall beguile the night: The choicest Birds shall to the antics sing, The slarres grow brighter to behold the sight: Yet these but shadows of the mirth, we'll prove, If thou wilt stay, and be thy echoes love. 77. I have a Cloister overlooks the Sea, Where every morning we secure from fear, Will see the porpoise and the dolphin's play, And all the wonders that in habit there, Where many a bark into the Clouds doth leap, While Surges caper round about the Ship. 78. Lovely Narcissus prithee stay with me, If thou do thirst, from every Spring shall rise Divinest Nectar, and thy food shall be The glorious Apples of Hesperides: A Nymph shall be thy Hebe, of thou need Shalt have another for thy Ganymede. 79. Feel how my Pulses beat, my breasts swell high: Come, come be not so modest pretty one; Why dost thou turn that beavenly cheek from me; Who but thyself would such a blessing shun? Those frowns will discompose thy beauty quite, My lips do blush in daring thee to fight. 80. Prethes unlock thy words sweet treasury, And rape me with the music of thy tongue, But let no accent touch upon Deny, This will thy beauty, and my passions wrong. I'll rather praile thy silence, it may prove What Lovers use t' expound, consent to love 81. The Boy seems pleased, and here begins to break Into a language, ecstasied the maid, By her own hearts dictamen he did speak: And if she asked him love, he loved he said, She darts a glance, and he returns a smile, She sees, and surfeits on his lips the while. 82. But soon these sunbeams vanished, all his smiles Were feigned, to get some knowledge how to quit The wood when she not moved with those wiles, Told him all information was unfit Against herself; at this swift as the wind, Away he flies, but leaves his frown behind. 83. echo laments his absence, and in vain Calls him again unto her amorous wars, She hath too sure a proof of his disdain: She sighs and curses her malignant stars; And while she chides the Fate that gave her birth, Her eyes make poor themselves, t' enrich the earth. 84. Oh that I ne'er had seen his face (quoth she) That ignorant of the sweetness, I mignt rest In supposition, what the blisle might be: My knowledge has betrayed me to the best; And by acquaintance with so much delight, I find a new flame in my appetite. 85. Justice, thou dreadful Queen Ramnusia, Punish with sorrow my contemners pride, And by some strange and most prodigious way, Let him the weight of thy reverige abide. And since to me, his heart a Rock hath proved, Let him so love at last, and die unloved. 86. echo hath spent her sting, Narcissus now Hath got the top of an aspiring hill, Whose site commands the country round to view Some tract, to lead him from the place, but still In vain he does employ his searching eyes, Through thick embracing woods, no path he spies. 87. Wounded with objects that no comfort bring, He might conclude his fortune at the worst, Had he not seen hard by a goodly spring, And thither he descends to quench his thirst. O do not taste (Narcissus) hence will flow, What will thee more, thou thy past fate undo. 88 Thy eyes betray thee, and are sorrows spies, Contain thy feet, thy danger is beneath, Run not quick-sighted to a precipice, A blind man cannot miss his way to death. Thy liberty was all thou lost before, The Nymphs too soon may thus thy death deplore. 89. Choose any other fountain: hark and fear, The Birds are singing Dirges to thy death; Does not a sooty Raven strike thine ear From an high oak tuning her fatal breath? A mighty cloud obscures the sun's bright eye, Not willing to behold thy Tragedy. 90. And yet these move thee not, then reach the stream, And meet thy blacker Destiny, the Sun Is bright again, wrath burns in every beam, And guilds the Scene of thy destruction: Each sullen wind is in his prison penned, lest with their murmur it the Spring offend. 91. No portion of a Birds forsaken nest, Fell from the bows to interrupt the claim, No withered leaf did in his fall molest The stilnesle of it, smooth as settled balm; But crystal less transparent. Such a mirror, So formed could only show disdain his error. 92. And now Narcissus humbled on the grass, And leaning with his breast upon the brink, Looks into th' water, where he spies a face, And as he did incline his head to drink; As fair as countenance seemed to meet with his, Offering to entertain him with a kiss. 93. Giving a little back, he doth admire The beauty of the face presented to him, Thinking at first some water-Nymph was there, And rising from her silver Couch to woe him: Yet Court she cannot whom she did surprise, Never from water did such flames arise. 94. His heart glows in him. Punishment fulfils: Love leaps into full age, at the first hour, New wonders like the waves, with rolling hills Follow his gazes; all that loved before, Have flung their gathered flames into his breast, Fit him for Love, a sacrifice and Priest. 95. But strucken with his own, his burning eyes Are only thirsty now; he drinks apace Into his soul the shadow that he sees, And dotes on every wonder of the face. He stoops to kiss it, when the lips half way Meet, he retreats, and th' other steals away. 96. He, moved at the unkindness which he took By his own teaching, bows himself again, The other meets him in the silent brook, They spy again, but he cannot refrain To Court whom he desires, and at his talk, The lips within the water seem to walk. 97. And every smile doth send his own again, This cheers him, but he cannot hear a sound Break from the watery prison, and he than Complains a fresh, that his unhappy wound Admits no cure, and as he beats his breast, The Conflict under water is expressed. 98. What e'er thou art, come forth, and meet me here He cries; why dost deceive me with a look? What means that that imitution? come near, Leap from the depth of thy imprisoning brook, Fold not thy arms like mine, or smile on me, Unless I may enjoy thy company. 99 But whether is my wiser reason fled? It is the shadow of myself, I see, And I am cursed to be enamoured, Where did I lose my soul? or where am I? What god shall pardon me this sin, if here, I must become my own I dolater? 100 Thou fatal looking-glass, that dost present Myself to me, (my own incendiary.) Oh let my eyes in love with their lament, — Weep themselves out, and prove a part of thee: This I shall gain, either my shade may fleet, Or if it stay, I may want eyes to see't. 101. Under this burden of my love I faint, And find I am with too much plenty poor: Wealthy I am in nothing but my want; I have, and yet (O gods) want nothing more: Mysteriously divided thus I stand, Half in the water, half upon the land. 102. But sure it cannot be myself I love; How with myself despair I to agree? By one example both must gentle prove, If I Narcissus' love, can he hate me? It is no shade then doth my fancy slatter, But something that's divine doth bless the water. 103. Essence, of all that's fair, ascend to me; To thy acceptance I present my heart: Let not these elements our prisons be, I in a fire, and thou in water art; O let a friendly kiss as we two meet, From thy cool water rise t'allay my heat. 104. This said, Narcissus doth his hold secure, And with intention to receive a kiss, His lip descends to meet the other there, But hence his expectation cozened is; For touching but the superficies, He did too soon the frighted Image lose. 105. Th' offended water into Circles ran. And with their motion so disturbed the place, The Lover could not see himself again: Then doth he call aloud unto this face; Thou bright-beamed star, oh whither art thou gone? But newly shown thy head, and set so soon? 106. Or if a Comet, thou hadst spent thy light, (The matter gone, should feed thy flaming hair,) Thou art mistaken; thy unnatural flight Is heaven: all Meteors to the earth repair, Where I now mourn thy absence; But I fear, I have some way profaned the waters here. 107. What God soever doth this fountay owe, Forgive me, and you Naiades that l●ve Your tresses here, trust me I did not know What sacred power, or precedent you have. My mother was a Nymph, Lyriope, Oh for her 〈◊〉 some kind one pity me. 108. Forgive disturbed water my rude touch, 'Twas not to rob thee of the smallest drop, In penitential tears I'll pay as much As there can hang upon my lips cold top: O calm thy brow then, let thy frowns declare Themselves at once finite, and Circular. 109. In thy smooth bosom once more let me pray, A sight of that sweet figure I adore, Unless to heaven returned some other way; And if it be, 'tis not so far before; But I can die, and off this flesh Robe burled, I'll overtake it in the other world. 110. Now doth each swelling Circle gently haste To be dissolved, and spread themselves to air; No polished Marble seemed more smooth, and fast; The Boy takes this a fruit of his own prayer, Yet 'ere he thanked the gods, he thought it fit, To see his love, and seen, forgot them quite. 111. Fearing to be deprived again, he woes, As every syllable 〈…〉 a life, A sigh, at every clamorous period goes, With greater noise than it, but no relief. His air of tongue, and breast, thus spent a look Presents their 〈◊〉, doubled in the brook. 112. But all in vain, the face, he saw before, Is in the same il'-shewing silence dressed, Changed to more sad, but not oneaccent more, Deaf as the stream, and now he beats his breast, Condemned again to his more hapless thought, He had but all this while his shadow sought. 113. This multiplies his grief into despair, Since his own Image doth procure the fire, And nothing left in nature to repair His vexed affections, that now grow higher; That face, his own, or whose so e'er, was that, Which took him first, to unlove is too late. 114. He beckons to the figure, that replies, Taught by his postute how to call him thither; To lift him from the water than he tries, But when their white hands should have met together, A new distraction fell upon the stream, And his (because alone) thenes weeping came. 115. When he to bear that company, let's fall More tears than would have made another spring Till grief had not another drop to call, Though to have cured his eyes, but will this bring The loved shade again? No; every tear Was both his own, and t' others murderer. 116. But more than this must be (Narcissus) borne, As a revenge for many nymphs that loved, And died upon the torture of thy scorn; And see his eyes that once so charming moved Do lose their beams, and hasten to be dead In their own hollows, borne and buried. 117. See what a dotage on himself hath sent, That brow that challenged late the snow, for white Veins that were made to shame the Firmament, The cheek that so much wonder drew to it, The voice, when tuned to love, might gods entice To change for earth their immortalities. 118. All, all is vanished Nemesis have yet Some pity, let him live, he faints, he dies, 'Twere safer for the Boy himself to hate, Then if he love, to pay so dear a price. He did but love himself, and if he die, That loves, propose the haters destiny. 119. But Nemesis irrevocable doom, Must be obeyed though echo late repent, Who with a murmuring pace unseen was come To mourn for his, and her own punishment. His groans had thrilled her soul, and at his death She comes to catch his farewell taking breath. 120. And as a glimmering Taper almost spent, Gasping for moisture to maintain its fire, After some dark cont●●●●●s, doth present A short-lived blaze, and presently expires: So he, collecting ebbing Nature, cries, Oh youth, beloved in vain, farewell and dies. 121. Farewell poor echo did repeat; and fled With what wings sorrow sent, t'embalme the boy; But looking carefully to find the dead, She missed the shadow of her liveless joy: His body, vanished; by what mystery Conveyed, not found by her enquiring eye. 122. But in the place where he did disappear, Out of the ground a lovely flower betrays His whiter leaves, and visibly did rear His tufted head, with saffron-coloured rays: Upon a smooth stem all this beauty grows; This change to heaven the lost Narcissus owes. 123. echo with wonder turns a Statue now, Yet not an idle figure; for her eyes From her dark swelling springs do overflow, Having no power to check them as they rise: She thus presents a fountain, as she were Meant to refresh the newborn Tulip there. 124. To which, after some truce with tears, she says, Art thou a pledge for the sweet Boy I loved? Oh, take a voice, tell by what aery ways, The choicest flower of nature is removed. If in the blessed shades? I can make room, Through death to meet him in Elysium. 125. Assume the wings of love, echo, away Unto the Stygian Lake, go, follow him, There thou Mayst find him on a bank of Clay, Eyeing himself upon the water's brim: The sooty gods enamoured on him are, And round about him on his beauty stare. 126. But since he was unkind alive to me, I must despair to meet his love in death, And this remaining flower, another He, Shall be preserved with my best use of breath. And though the obstinate deserved to die, I will be just, and love his memory. 127. But since his curse, though just upon his pride, Hath made him this example for his sin: Never shall dream ease my distracted head, Sleep shall forget his office, and within Darks shades, shut up from all society, In Rocks or Caves I'll undiscovered lie. 128. And to redeem the shame my folly had Contracted, by preposterous wooing man; Whose bolder nature was in order made To Court our Sex: Juno take back again Thy gift; from henceforth echo will return, But their own words sent back again in scorn 129. This said, she walketh to the fountains side, Where she no sooner did the stream survey, But her own shadow in the glass she spied, And cried, some other witchcraft did betray That heavenly boy; o, perish in some wave! Be drowned for ever, since thou wouldst not save. 130. It is not thee I seek, open thou stream, And show me where that fairer Strumpet is; That, from whose sight the boys infection came, And from poor echo did her soul entice. Will no charm call it back? poor echo then, Here cease to be the scorn of Gods and men. 131. With that impatient, she threw her weight Into the tempting stream, where now we leave her; Whom the proud waters did imprison straight, Yet of her voice they did not quite bereave her, For when I asked aloud, is she not dead? Not dead distinctly, the Nymph answered, Of echo now no more remains to tell, But that I her, and she bid me farewell. FINIS.