And, tho' a grandee of the house,
Claw'd him with fundamental blows;[1]
Tied him stark naked to a bed-post.
And firk'd his hide, as if sh' had rid post:890
And after in the sessions' court,
Where whipping's judg'd, had honour for't?
This swear you will perform, and then
I'll set you from th' enchanted den,[2]
And the magician's circle, clear.895
Quoth he, I do profess and swear,
And will perform what you enjoin.
Or may I never see you mine.
Amen, quoth she, then turn'd about,
And bid her squire let him out.[3]900
But ere an artist could be found
T' undo the charms another bound.
The sun grew low, and left the skies,
Put down, some write, by ladies' eyes.[4]
The moon pull'd off her veil of light,905
That hides her face by day from sight.
Mysterious veil, of brightness made,
That's both her lustre and her shade,[5]
And in the lanthorn of the night,
With shining horns, hung out her light:[6]910
For darkness is the proper sphere[7]
Where all false glories use t' appear.
- ↑ "Legislative blows," in the two first editions.
- ↑ In editions subsequent to 1734, we read:
I'll free you from the enchanted den. - ↑ So in the corrections at the end of vol. ii. of the second edition in 1664.
- ↑ One of the romance writers' extravagant conceits.
- ↑ The rays of the sun obscure the moon by day, and enlighten it by night. This passage is extremely beautiful and poetical, showing, among many others, Butler's powers in serious poetry, if he had chosen that path.
- ↑ Altered subsequently to—
And in the night as freely shone,
As if her rays had been her own. - ↑ This and the following line were first inserted in the edition of 1671.
Sir Henry Mildmay's lady, were supposed to have exercised the same authority. See History of Flagellants, p. 340, 8vo; and Loyal Songs, vol. ii. p. 68, and 58.
