100 That she might look at will through every pore? By privilege of death and burial From worst of other evils, pains, and wrongs, 105 But made hereby obnoxious more To all the miseries of life, Life in captivity Among inhuman foes. But who are these; for with joint pace I hear 110 Perhaps my enemies, who come to stare CHOR. This, this is he; softly a while, O change beyond report, thought, or belief! 115 100 a living death] Consult the note, in Mr. Todd's edition, for the frequent use of this expression, from Petrarch, and Shakespeare, and the old English Poets. 102 a moving grave] A living grave.' Sidney's Arcadia, p. 352. 'A walking grave.' Sir R. Howard's Vestal Virgin, 1665. 118 diffus'd] Sits diffus'd.' Heywood's Troy, p. 314. Mr. Thyer quotes Ovid ex Ponto, iii. 3. 8. Fusaque erant toto languida membra toro.' With languish'd head unpropp'd, In slavish habit, ill-fitted weeds Or do my eyes misrepresent? can this be he, 194 125 Irresistible Samson? whom unarmed [withstand; Made arms ridiculous, useless the forgery 130 Of brazen shield and spear, the hammer'd cuirass, Chalybean temper'd steel, and frock of mail Adamantean proof; But safest he who stood aloof, When insupportably his foot advanc'd, 135 In scorn of their proud arms and warlike tools, Spurn'd them to death by troops. The bold Asca lonite Fled from his lion ramp; old warriors turn'd 188 Chalybean] Virg. Georg. i. 58. Ov. Fast. iv. 405. Newton. 140 184 Adamantean] Johnson thinks this word peculiar to Milton. Perhaps he coined it from Ovid. Met. vii. 104. Todd. 186 insupportably] Spens. F. Q. i. vii. 11. he gan advance With huge force, and insupportable main.' Thyer. Or grov❜ling soil'd their crested helmets in the dust. 145 Then by main force pull'd up, and on his shoulders Like whom the Gentiles feign to bear Which shall I first bewail, Thy bondage or lost sight, up heav'n. 151 The dungeon of thyself; thy soul, Which men enjoying sight oft without cause com-. Imprison'd now indeed, In real darkness of the body dwells, Shut up from outward light, T' incorporate with gloomy night; Puts forth no visual beam. O mirror of our fickle state, The rarer thy example stands, [plain, By how much from the top of wondrous glory, 147 gates of Azza] Beaumont's Psyche, c. v. st. 71. 165 Strongest of mortal men, To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n. For him I reckon not in high estate, Whom long descent of birth Or the sphere of fortune raises: 170 But thee, whose strength,while virtue was her mate, Might have subdued the earth, Universally crown'd with highest praises. 175 SAMS. I hear the sound of words, their sense the Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear. [air CHOR. He speaks, let us draw nigh. Matchless The glory late of Israel, now the grief, [in might, We come, thy friends and neighbours not unknown, From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale, To visit or bewail thee, or, if better, 181 Salve to thy sores: apt words have power to swage The tumours of a troubled mind, And are as balm to fester'd wounds. 185 179 glory] Fletcher's Pisc. Eclogues, 1633, p. 27. 'his glory late, but now his shame.' Todd. 184 Salve to thy sores] This is one of the most common expressions in old English poetry. See Southwell's Mæonia, p. 21. Park's note to Heliconia, Part 1, p. 186. Billingsley's Divine Raptures, p. 67. Smith's Chloris, 1597. Byrd's Psalms, p. 11. Lydgate's Troy, p. 220. Gascoigne's Works, p. 14. 177. 230. 247. Beaumont's Psyche, c. xiii. st. 225; and Ellis's Specimens, ii. p. 15. 184 apt words] Esch. Prom. Vinct. ver. 378. Hor. Epist. i. 34. 'Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem 190 194 SAMS. Your coming, friends, revives me, for I Now of my own experience, not by talk, [learn How counterfeit a coin they are who friends Bear in their superscription (of the most I would be understood); in prosperous days They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head, Not to be found, though sought. Ye see, O friends, How many evils have inclos'd me round; Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me, Blindness; for had I sight, confus'd with shame, How could I once look up, or heave the head, Who, like a foolish pilot, have shipwreck'd My vessel trusted to me from above, Gloriously rigged; and for a word, a tear, Fool! have divulged the secret gift of God To a deceitful woman? tell me, friends, Am I not sung and proverb'd for a fool In every street? do they not say, how well Are come upon him his deserts? yet why? Immeasurable strength they might behold In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean; This with the other should, at least, have pair'd, These two proportion'd ill drove me transverse. 200 205 CHOR. Tax not divine disposal: wisest men 210 Have err'd, and by bad women been deceiv'd; And shall again, pretend they ne'er so wise. Deject not then so overmuch thyself, Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides; Yet, truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder 215 Why thou shouldst wed Philistian women rather |