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Wye's fong to this purpose discharges my further expreffing only of their fertile breed and swiftlabour.

Comes Dulas, of whofe name so many rivers be.

As in England the names of Avon, Oufe, Stoure, and fome other; fo in Wales, before all, is Dulas, a name very often of rivers in Radnor, Brecknock, Caermardhin, and elsewhere.

Which fume bave held to be begotten of the wind.

nefs in courfe; which is elegantly to this pur pofe, framed by him that was the father (i) of this conceit to his admiring pofterity, in thefe lines fpeaking of Xanthus and Balius, two of Achilles's horfes :

-(κ) τώ αμαπνοῆσι πετέσθιου Τις ετεκε Ζεφύρων ἀνέκῳ Αρωμα Ποδάργη Βοσκομμένη λειμώνι παρὰ ῥέον Οιανοῖο.

Whence withal you may note, that Homer had at

In those western parts of Spain, Gallicia, Por-leaft heard of these coafts of Spain, according as tugal, and Auftria, many clallic teftimonies, both poets, as Virgil, Silius Italicus, naturalifts, hiftorians and geoponics, as Varro, Calumel, Pliny, Trogus and Solinus have remembered these mares, which conceive through fervent luft of nature, by the west wind, without copulation with the male (in fuch fort as the Ovu fubventanea (g) are bred in hens) but fo that the foals live not over fome three years. I refer it as an allegory (6) to the

(2) śwnviwe, windy eggs, bred without a cock.
(b) Justin, hift. lib. 44.
(i) Iliad. w.

(*) Thefe did fly like the wind, which swift Podarga foaled to their fire Zephyrus, feeding in a

upon the conjectures on the name of Lisbon, the Elysians, and other fuch you have in (1) Strabo. But for Lisbon, which many will have from Ulyffes, and call it Ulixbon, being commonly written Olefippo or Uliffippo in the ancients, you fhall have better etymology, if you hence derive and make it 'ohos www, as it were, that the whole tract is a feminary of horses, as a moit learned man hath delivered.

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POLYOL BION:

THE SEVENTH SONG.

The Argument.

The Mufe from Cambria comes again,
To view the forest of fair Dean;
Sees Severn; when the Higre takes her,
How fever-like the fickness shakes her;
Makes mighty Malvern speak his mind
In honour of the mountain kind;
Thence wafted with a merry gale,
Sees Lemster, and the Golden Vale;
Sports with the nymphs, themselves that ply
At th' wedding of the Lug and Wy;
Viewing the Herefordian pride
Along on Severn's fetting fide,
That fmall Wigornian part furveys:
Where for a while herfelf the stays.

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As when we haply fee a fickly woman fall
Into a fit of that which we the mother call,
When from the grieved womb the feels the pain
arife,

Breaks into grievous fighs, with intermixed crys, Bereaved of her sense; and struggling still with thofe

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[oppofe, That 'gainst her rising pain their utmost strength Starts, toffes, tumbles, strikes, turns, touses, spurns, and fprauls,

Cafting with furious limbs her holders to the walls; But that the horrid pangs torment the grieved fo, One well might mufe from whence this fudden ftrength fhould grow.

Here (queen of forests all, that weft of Severn ly) [high, Her broad and bushy top Dean holdeth up fo The leffer are not feen, she is so tall and large. And ftanding in such state upon the winding marge,

§ Within her hollow woods the Satyrs that did

wonne

In gloomy fecret fhades, not pierc'd with fummers fun,

Under a falfe pretence the nymphs to entertain, Oft ravished the choice of Sabrin's watry train; And from their miftrefs banks them taking as a prey,

Unto their woody caves have carried them away: Then from her inner groves for fuccour when they cry'd,

She retchlefs of their wrongs (her fatyrs 'fcapes

to hide)

Unto their just complaint not once her ear inclines: So fruitful in her woods, and wealthy in her mines, That Leden which her way doth through the defert make,

[fake Though near to Dean ally'd, determin'd to forHer courfe, and her clear limbs amongst the bushes hide,

Left by the Sylvans (should she chance to be espy'd)
She might unmaiden'd go unto her fovereign flood:
So many were the rapes done on the watry brood,
That Sabrine to her fire (great Neptune) forc'd
to fue,

The riots to reprefs of this outrageous crue,
His armed Orks he fent her milder stream to keep,
To drive them back to Dean that troubled all
the deep.

Whilft Malvern (king of hills) fair Severn
overlooks

(Attended on in ftate with tributary brooks) And how the fertil fields of Hereford do ly, And from his many heads, with many an amo

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'I envy not thy state, nor less myself do make; 'Nor to poffefs thy name, mine own would I for 'fake :

• Nor would I, as thou do'st, ambitiously aspire To thrust my forked top into th' etherial fire. For, didft thou take the fweets that on my face ⚫ do breath, [neath : 'Above thou wouldst not seek what I enjoy beBefides, the fundry foils I every way survey, 'Make me, if better not, thy equal every way. 'And more, in our defence, to answer thofe, with fpight [light;

'That terms us barren, rude, and void of all de'We mountains, to the land, like wars or wens to 'be,

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[fee;

By which, fair'st living things disfigur'd oft they This strongly to perform, a well-ftuft brain

'would need.

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'The task to undertake. As not a man that fees 'Mounchdenny, Blorench hill, with Breedon, and 'the Clees,

[they,

'And many more as great, and nearer me than 'But thinks, in our defence they far much more 'could fay.

'Yet, falling to my lot, this ftou:ly I maintain "Gainft forefts, vallies, fields, groves, rivers, pa'fture, plain,

And all their flatter kind' (fo much that do rely Upon their feedings, flocks, and their fertility) 'The mountain is the king: and he it is alone 'Above the other foils that nature doth enthrone. For mountains be like men of brave heroic mind, 'With eyes erect to heaven, of whence themselves 'they find,

Whereas the lowly vale, as earthly, like itself, 'Doth never further look than how to purchase pelf. 'And of their batful fites, the vales that boaft them

'thus,

[us:

'Ne'er had been what they are, had it not been for • For, from the rifing banks that ftrongly mound ⚫ them in,

The valley (as betwixt) her name did first begin: And almost not a brook, if the her banks do fill, 'But hath her plenteous fpring from mountain or 'from hill, [take, 'If mead, or lower fhade, grieve at the room we 'Know that the fnow or rain, defcending oft, doth make [glide,

The fruitful valley fat, with what from us doth Who with our winter's wafte maintain their 'fummer's pride:

And to you lower lands, if terrible we seem, And cover'd oft with clouds; it is your foggy ⚫ steam

'The powerful fun exhales, that in the cooler day Unto this region come, about our tops doth stay. 'And, what's the grove, so much that thinks her 'to be grac'd,

<If not above the reft-upon the mountain plac'd,

Where the her curled head unto the eye may 'fhew?

For in the eafy vale if she set below,

That with the filk-worms web for smallness doth compare:

Wherein, the winder fhews his workmanship so rare • What is the but obfcure? and her more dampy As doth the fleece excel, and mocks her loofer 'fhade

And covert, but a den for beasts of raven made? Befides, we are the marks, which looking from on high,

The traveller beholds; and with a cheerful eye Doth thereby shape his course, and freshly doth 'pursue [view. 'The way, which long before lay tedious in his What foreft, flood, or field, that standeth not in awe

* Of Sina, or shall see the fight that mountain faw? To none but to a hill fuch grace was ever given : As on his back, 'tis faid, great Atlas bears up 'heaven. [nown'd; So Latmus by his wife (6) Endymion is reThat hill, on whofe high top he was the first 'that found [fphere, 'Pale Phoebe's wand'ring courfe; so skilful in her 'As fome stick not to fay that he enjoy'd her there. * And those chafte maids, begot on memory by Jove,

Not Tempe only love delighting in their grove; Nor Helicon their brook, in whofe delicious 'brims,

'They oft are us'd to bathe their clear and crystal 6. limbs ;

"But high Parnaffus have, their mountain, whereon they

' our own,

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'Upon their golden lutes continually do play. Of these I more could tell, to prove the place [thewn.' Than by his fpacious maps are by Ortelius For mountains this fuffice. Which scarcely had ' he told; [hold Along the fertile fields, when Malvern might beThe Herefordian floods,far distant though they be: For great men, as we find, a great way off can fee. First, Frome with forehead clear, by Bromyard that doth glide; [guide, And taking Loden in, their mixed ftreams do To meet their fovereign Lug, from the Radnorian

plain

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At Preftain coming in; where he doth entertain The Wadel, as along he under Derfold goes: Her full and lufty fide to whom the foreft fhews, As to allure fair Lug, abode with her to make.

Lug little Oney first, then Arro in doth take, At Lemfter, for her wool whose staple doth excel, And feems to over-match the golden Phrygian fell. Had this our Colchos been unto the ancients known,

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clew;

As neatly bottom'd up as nature forth it drew; Of each in high account, and reckoned here as fine, ftine.

As there th' Apulian fleece, or dainty Taren From thence his lovely felf for Wye he doth dif pofe, (goes; To view the goodly flocks on each hand as he And makes his journey fhort, with firange and fundry tales

Of all their wond'rous things; and, not the leaft, of Wales; (paft) Of that prodigious fpring (him neighbouring as he That little fishes bones continually doth cast. Whose reason whilft he feeks industriously to know, [thew A great way he hath gone, and Hereford doth Her rifing fpires aloft; when as the princely Wye, Him from his mufe to wake, arrefts him by and by. Whose meeting to behold, with how well-order'd grace

Each other entertains, bow kindly they embrace; For joy, fo great a fhout the bordering city fent, That with the found thereof, which thorough {won; The wood-nymphs did awake that in the forest To know the fudden caufe, and presently they

Haywood went,

run

[to fee With locks uncomb'd, for hafte the lovely Wye (The flood that grac'd her moft) this day fhould married be

To that more lovely Lug; a river of much fame, That in her wandering banks fhould lose his glo

rious name.

For Hereford, although her Wye she hold fo dear, Yet Lug (whofe longer courfe doth grace the goodly fhire, [doth bring) And with his plenteous ftream so many brooks Of all hers that be north is absolutely king.

But Marcely, griev'd that he (the nearest of the rest, [gueft And of the mountain kind) not bidden was a Unto this nuptial feast, so hardly it doth take, As (meaning for the fame his station to furfake) § Enrag'd and mad with grief, himself in two did rive; (drive, The trees and hedges near, before him up doth And dropping headlong down, three days together fall: [appal, Which, bellowing as he went, the rocks did fo That they him passage made, who coats and chappels crufh:

So violently he into his valley rush. But Wye (from her dear Lug whom nothing can restrain,

In many a pleafant fhade, her joy to entertain) To Rofs her courfe directs; and right her () name to fhew,

Oft windeth in her way, as back he meant to go.

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(d) Wye or Gwy, lo called (in the British) of her finge

Meander, who is faid fo intricate to be, [fhe. Hath not so many turns, nor crankling nooks as The Herefordian fields when well near having past,

way;

As fhe is going forth, two fifter brooks at last That foil her kindly fends, to guide her on her [lay Neat Gamar, that gets in fwift Garran: which do Their waters in one bank, augmenting of her train, [Dean. To grace the goodly Wye, as the doth pafs by Beyond whofe equal fpring unto the west doth ly [do fly The goodly Golden Vale, whofe luscious fcents More free than Hybla's fweets; and 'twixt her bord'ring hills,

The air with fuch delights and delicacy fills, As makes it loth to itir, or thence those smells to bear. [there: Th' Hefperides fcarce had fuch pleasures as be Which fometime to attain, that mighty fon of Jove [ftrove, One of his labours made, and with the dragon That never clos'd his eyes, the golden fruit to guard; [fpar'd: As if t enrich this place, from others, nature Banks crown'd with curled groves, from cold to keep the plain, [maintain; Fields batful, flow'ry meads, in ftate them to Floods, to make fat thofe meads, from marble veins that fpout, [without. To fhew, the wealth within doth anfwet that So brave a nymph fhe is, in every thing fo rare, As to fit down by her, the think there's none fhould dare.

And forth fhe fends the Doire, upon the Wye to wait, [treat Whom Munno by the way more kindly doth in(For Efkle, her most lov'd, and Olcon's only fake) With her to go along, till Wye she overtake. To whom the condefcends, from danger her to fhield [fordian field. That th' Monumethian parts from th' HereWhich manly Malvern fees from furtheft of the shire,

On tye Wigornian wafte when northward looking near,

On Corfwood cafts his eye, and on his (e) homeborn chace,

Then conftantly beholds, with an unusual pace, Team with her tribute come unto the (ƒ) Cambrian queen, [feen, Near whom in all this place a river's scarcely That dare avouch her name; Team fcorning any fpring, [bring,

But what with her along from Shropshire the doth Except one nameless ftream that Malvern fends her in,

And Laughern though but small: when they fuch grace that win, [bank. There thruft in with the brooks inclosed in her Team laftly thither com'n with water is fo rank, Severn.

(e) Malvern chace.

As though she would contend with Sabrine, and doth crave

Of place (by her defert) precedency to have: Till chancing to behold the other's godlike grace, So ftrongly is furpris'd with beauties in her face By no means fhe could hold, but needsly she must

fhew

Her liking; aud herself doth into Sabrine throw. Not far from him again when Malvern doth perceive

Two hills, which though their heads so high they do not heave,

Yet duly to observe great Malvern, and afford Him reverence: who again, as fits a gracious lord, Upon his fubjects looks, and equal praise doth give That Woodberry so nigh and neighbourly doth live With Abberley his friend, deferving well fuch fame That Saxton in his maps forgot them not to name: Which, though in their mean types small matter doth appear,

Yet both of good account were reckoned in the fhire, And highly grac'd of Team in his proud paffing by. When foon the goodly Wyre, that wonted was

fo high

Her ftately top to rear, ashamed to behold Her ftraight and goodly woods unto the furnace fold

(And looking on herself, by her decay doth fee The misery wherein her fifter forafts be) Of Erificthon's (g) end begins her to bethink, And of his cruel plagues doth with they all might [defpight;

drink

That thus have them difpoil'd: then of her own* That the, in whom her town, fair Beudly took delight,

And from her goodly feat conceiv'd fo great a pride, In Severn on her east, Wyre on the fetting fide, So naked left of woods, of pleasure, and forlorn, As the that lov'd her most, her now the most doth scorn;

With endless grief perplext, her stubborn breaft fhe ftrake,

And to the deafen'd air thus paffionately fpake; 'You Dryads, that are faid with oaks to live ' and die, [fly: 'Wherefore in our distress do you our dwellings Upon this monstrous age and not revenge our wrong?

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For cutting down an oak that justly did belong 'To one of Ceres' nymphs, in 'Theffaly that grew "In the Dodonian grove (O nymphs!) you could ' pursue

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The fon of Perops then, and did the goddess stir That villainy to wreak the tyrant did to her:

Who, with a dreadful frown did blast the grow

⚫ing grain:

[maintain,

And having from him reft what fhould his life 'She unto Scythia fent, for hunger him to gnaw, 'And thruft her down his throat, into his stanch • lefs maw:

Who, when nor fea nor land for him fufficient were, [tear. 'With his devouring teeth his wretched flesh did

(8) A fable in Ovid's metam.

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