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Feed fairly on the lawns,—both sorts of seasoned deer.
Here walk the stately red; the freckled fallow there;
The bucks and lusty stags amongst the rascals1 strewed,
As sometime gallant spirits amongst the multitude. . . .

Now, when the hart doth hear

The often-bellowing hounds to vent2 his secret lair,
He, rousing, rusheth out, and through the brakes doth drive,
As though up by the roots the bushes he would rive;
And, through the cumbrous thicks as fearfully3 he makes,
He with his branchèd head the tender saplings shakes,
That, sprinkling their moist pearl, do seem for him to weep:
When after goes the cry, with yellings loud and deep,
That all the forest rings, and every neighbouring place,
And there is not a hound but falleth to the chase,
Rechating with his horn which then the hunter cheers :
Whilst still the lusty stag his high-palmed head upbears,
His body showing state, with unbent knees upright
Expressing from all beasts his courage in his flight.
But when, the approaching foes still following, he perceives
That he his speed must trust, his usual walk he leaves
And o'er the champain" flies: which when the assembly find,
Each follows as his horse were footed with the wind.
But, being then imbost, the noble stately deer,

When he hath gotten ground, the kennel cast arrear-
Doth beat the brooks and ponds for sweet refreshing soil:
That serving not, then proves if he his scent can foil;
And makes amongst the herds and flocks of shag-woolled
sheep;

Them frighting from the guard of those who had their keep :
But, whenas all his shifts his safety still denies,

Put quite out of his walk, the ways and fallows tries :
Whom when the ploughman meets, his team he letteth stand
To assail him with his goad: so, with his hook in hand,
The shepherd him pursues and to his dog doth hollow:
When, with tempestuous speed, the hounds and huntsmen
follow,

Until the noble deer, through toil bereaved of strength,
His long and sinewy legs then failing him at length,
The villages attempts; enraged, not giving way
To anything he meets now at his sad decay.
The cruel ravenous hounds and bloody hunters near,
This noblest beast of chase, that vainly doth but fare,"

2 Snuff.

8 Frightened.
5 Open country.

1 Lean, or worthless, deer.
4 A "recheat" is one of the measures in winding the horn.

Some bank or quick-set finds : to which his haunch opposed,
He turns upon his foes that soon have him inclosed;
The churlish-throated hounds then holding him at bay.
And, as their cruel fangs on his harsh skin they lay,
With his sharp-pointed head he dealeth deadly wounds:
The hunter, coming in to help his wearied hounds,
He desperately assails; until, opprest by force,
He, who the mourner is to his own dying corse,
Upon the ruthless earth his precious1 tears lets fall.
Song XIII.

THE THAMES AND LONDON IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY,

But now this mighty flood,2 upon his voyage pressed,— That found how with his strength his beauty still increased, From where brave Windsor stood on tiptoe to behold The fair and goodly Thames, so far as e'er he could, With kingly houses crowned, of more than earthly pride, Upon his either banks as he along doth glide,With wonderful delight doth his long course pursue Where Oatlands, Hampton Court, and Richmond he doth

view.

Then Westminster, the next, great Thames doth entertain,
That vaunts her palace large3 and her most sumptuous fane;1
The land's tribunal seat," that challengeth for hers
The crowning of our kings, their famous sepulchres.
Then goes he on along by that more beauteous Strand,
Expressing both the wealth and bravery of the land.
So many sumptuous bowers within so little space
The all-beholding Sun scarce sees in all his race:
And on by London leads, which like a crescent lies
Whose windows seem to mock the star-befreckèd skies;
Besides her rising spires so thick themselves that show
As do the bristling reeds within his banks that grow:
There sees his crowded wharves and people-pestered shores,
His bosom overspread with shoals of labouring oars ;

1 The hart weeps at his dying; and his tears were held to be precious in medicine. 2 The river Thames.

3 Westminster Palace was the principal seat of the English sovereigns from Edward the Confessor to Queen Elizabeth. It was partly destroyed by fire in 1512; and Henry VIII., after Wolsey's disgrace, removed his palace to Whitehall. When Drayton wrote, there were still standing, and in use, the Star Chamber, St. Stephen's Chapel, and other parts of the old palace. The only portions now extant are Westminster Hall and St. Stephen's Crypt; but the name survives in Palace Yard. 4 The Abbey. 5 See note 1, p. 102. 6 The Strand, originally a mere roadway between the two cities of London and Westminster, was first paved in the reign of Henry VIII., and became the favourite quarter of the bishops and nobility. Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Burleigh,

With that most costly Bridge1 that doth him most renown, By which he clearly puts all other rivers down.

Song XVII.

FROM THE SONNETS TO "IDEA."

A PARTING.

Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part:
Nay, I have done, you get no more of me;
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
That thus so clearly I myself can free.
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
And, when we meet at any time again,

Be it not seen in either of our brows

That we one jot of former love retain.
Now, at the last gasp of Love's latest breath,

When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies, When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,

And Innocence is closing up his eyes;

Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou mightst him yet recover.

THE CRIER.

Good folk, for gold or hire,
But help me to a crier ;

For my poor heart is run astray
After two eyes that passed this way.

O yes, O yes, O yes,

If there be any man
In town or country can
Bring me my heart again,
I'll please him for his pain.
And by these marks I will you show
That only I this heart do owe.2
It is a wounded heart,

Wherein yet sticks the dart;

1 Old London Bridge spanned the Thames from London to Southwark. It succeeded a still older one of wood lower down the river, and was built between the years 1176 and 1209. It was built upon piles; had nineteen arches, the widest 36 feet, a drawbridge for large vessels, a gate-house at each end on which were exhibited the heads of traitors, and a chapel and crypt in the centre. were two rows of houses upon it, like a street, in one of which it is said the artist Holbein lived. It was the only bridge over the Thames at London until 1738.

There

Some bank or quick-set finds: to which his haunch opposed,
He turns upon his foes that soon have him inclosed;
The churlish-throated hounds then holding him at bay.
And, as their cruel fangs on his harsh skin they lay,
With his sharp-pointed head he dealeth deadly wounds:
The hunter, coming in to help his wearied hounds,
He desperately assails; until, opprest by force,
He, who the mourner is to his own dying corse,
Upon the ruthless earth his precious1 tears lets fall.
Song XIII.

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THE THAMES AND LONDON IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY,

But now this mighty flood,2 upon his voyage pressed,-
That found how with his strength his beauty still increased,
From where brave Windsor stood on tiptoe to behold
The fair and goodly Thames, so far as e'er he could,
With kingly houses crowned, of more than earthly pride,
Upon his either banks as he along doth glide,—
With wonderful delight doth his long course pursue
Where Oatlands, Hampton Court, and Richmond he doth
view.

Then Westminster, the next, great Thames doth entertain,
That vaunts her palace large and her most sumptuous fane;1
The land's tribunal seat," that challengeth for hers
The crowning of our kings, their famous sepulchres.
Then goes he on along by that more beauteous Strand,
Expressing both the wealth and bravery of the land ·
So many sumptuous bowers within so little space
The all-beholding Sun scarce sees in all his race :
And on by London leads, which like a crescent lies
Whose windows seem to mock the star-befreckèd skies;
Besides her rising spires so thick themselves that show
As do the bristling reeds within his banks that grow:
There sees his crowded wharves and people-pestered shores,
His bosom overspread with shoals of labouring oars ;

1 The hart weeps at his dying; and his tears were held to be precious in medicine. 2 The river Thames.

3 Westminster Palace was the principal seat of the English sovereigns from Edward the Confessor to Queen Elizabeth. It was partly destroyed by fire in 1512; and Henry VIII., after Wolsey's disgrace, removed his palace to Whitehall. When Drayton wrote, there were still standing, and in use, the Star Chamber, St. Stephen's Chapel, and other parts of the old palace. The only portions now extant are Westminster Hall and St. Stephen's Crypt; but the name survives in Palace Yard. 4 The Abbey. 5 See note 1, p. 102. 6 The Strand, originally a mere roadway between the two cities of London and Westminster, was first paved in the reign of Henry VIII., and became the favourite quarter of the bishops and nobility. Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Burleigh,

With that most costly Bridge1 that doth him most renown, By which he clearly puts all other rivers down.

Song XVII.

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Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part:
Nay, I have done, you get no more of me ;
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
That thus so clearly I myself can free.
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
And, when we meet at any time again,

Be it not seen in either of our brows

That we one jot of former love retain.
Now, at the last gasp of Love's latest breath,

When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,
When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,

And Innocence is closing up his eyes;

Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou mightst him yet recover.

THE CRIER.

Good folk, for gold or hire,

But help me to a crier ;

For my poor heart is run astray
After two eyes that passed this way.

O yes, O yes, O yes,

If there be any man
In town or country can
Bring me my heart again,
I'll please him for his pain.

And by these marks I will you show
That only I this heart do owe.2
It is a wounded heart,

Wherein yet sticks the dart;

1 Old London Bridge spanned the Thames from London to Southwark. It succeeded a still older one of wood lower down the river, and was built between the years 1176 and 1209. It was built upon piles; had nineteen arches, the widest 36 feet, a drawbridge for large vessels, a gate-house at each end on which were exhibited the heads of traitors, and a chapel and crypt in the centre. There were two rows of houses upon it, like a street, in one of which it is said the artist Holbein lived. It was the only bridge over the Thames at London until 1738.

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