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Meanwhile all pale th' expiring poet laid,
And sunk his awful head,
While vocal shadows pleasing dreams prolong;
For so, his sick'ning spirits to release,
They pour'd the balm of visionary peace.
And sunk his awful head,
While vocal shadows pleasing dreams prolong;
For so, his sick'ning spirits to release,
They pour'd the balm of visionary peace.
First, sent from Cam's fair banks, like Palmer old,
Came * Tityrus slow, with head all silver'd o'er,[1]
And in his hand an oaken crook he bore,
And thus in antique guise short talk did hold.
"Grete clerk of Fame' is house, whose excellence
"Maie wele befitt thilk place of eminence,
"Mickle of wele betide thy houres last,
"For mich gode wirkè to me don and past.
"For syn the daies whereas my lyre ben strongen,
"And deftly many a mery laie I songen,
Came * Tityrus slow, with head all silver'd o'er,[1]
And in his hand an oaken crook he bore,
And thus in antique guise short talk did hold.
"Grete clerk of Fame' is house, whose excellence
"Maie wele befitt thilk place of eminence,
"Mickle of wele betide thy houres last,
"For mich gode wirkè to me don and past.
"For syn the daies whereas my lyre ben strongen,
"And deftly many a mery laie I songen,
"Old
- ↑ Came * Tityrus &c.] i. e. Chaucer, a name frequently given him by Spenser, vide Shep. Cal. Ecl. 2, 6, 12, and elsewhere.
