And you my companions fo dear, Who forrow to see me betray'd, Whatever I fuffer, forbear, Forbear to accufe the falfe maid; Tho' thro' the wide world we should range, If while my hard fate I sustain, Let her come with the nymphs of the plain, Is to shade me with cypress and yew, Then to her new love let her go, And deck her in golden array, And frolic it all the long day : E 4 ROWE. A S on a fummer's day, In the greenwood shade I lay, As her fancy mov'd, And as the paffed by, With a fcornful glance of her eye, What a fhame, quoth fhe, For a fwain muft it be, Like a lazy loon for to lie? And doft thou nothing heed What Pan our God has decreed; What a prize to-day Shall be given away To the sweetest shepherd's reed? There's There's not a fingle swain But with hopes and fears, Shall another maiden fhine Tune thy pipe once again, Alas! my love, I cried, What avails this courtly pride? Since thy dear defert Is written in my heart, What is all the world befide? To me thou art more gay In this homely ruffet gray, Than the nymphs of our green, Or the brighteft queen of May. What What tho' my fortune frown, Be content with this fhade And a fhepherd all thy own. ROWE. A LEXIS fhunn'd his fellow fwains, He loft his crook, he left his flocks, The nymphs and shepherds round him came, The fatal caufe all kindly feek; He mingled his concern with theirs, He figh'd, but could not speak. CLORINDA CLORINDA came among the reft, And afk'd the reason of his woe; She fear'd too much to know. The fhepherd rais'd his mournful head, While I the cruel truth reveal? Which nothing from my breaft fhould tear, "Tis thus I rove, 'tis thus complain, You are the cause of all my care; Too much ALEXIS have I heard, "Tis what I thought, 'tis what I fear'd, But And yet I pardon you, she cried; you fhall promife ne'er again To breathe your vows, or speak your pain; He bow'd, obey'd, and died. |