The Canterbury tales and Faerie queene &c., &c., &c., ed. for popular perusal with current illustrations and explanatory notes, by D. Laing Purves.

COLIN CLOUT'S COME- HOME AGAIN 6r1
In faithful service of fair Cynthia,: That can empierce a Prince's mighty heart,
And there is Corydon,l though meanly waged, There also is-ah no, he is not now!
Yet ablest wit of most I know this day. But since I said he is, he quite is gone,
And there is sad Alcyon,2 bent to mourn, Amyntas 14 quite is gone, and lies full low,
Though fit to frame an everlasting ditty, Having his Amaryllis left to moan.
Whose gentle sprite for Daphne's deathArdoth Help, 0 ye shepherds, help ye all in this,
turn Help Amaryllis this her loss to mourn!
Sweet lays of love to endless plaints of pity. Her loss is yours, your loss Amyntas is,
Ah! pensive boy, pursue that brave conceit Amyntas, flower of shepherds' pride forlorn:
In thy sweet Eglantine of Meriflure; 3 He whilst he lived was the noblest swain
Lift up thy notes unto their wonted height, That ever piped in an oaten quill:
That may thy Muse and mates to mirth allure. Both did he others, which could pipe, maintain,
There eke is Palin,4 worthy of great praise,. And eke could pipe himself with passing skill.
All be 5 he envy-at my rustic quill: And there, though last not least, is Aetion;15
And there is pleasing Alcon,6 could he raise A gentler shepherd may nowhere be found:
His tunes from lays to matter of more skill. Whose Muse, full of high thoughts' inventi6n,
And there is old Palemon,7 free from spite, Doth like himself heroically sound.
Whose careful 8 pipe may make the hearer rue: 9 All these and many others more remain,
Yet he himself may rued be more right, Now, after Astrophell6 is dead and gone:
That sung so long until quite hoarse he grew. But, while as Astrophel did live and reign,
And there is Alabaster,l' throughly taught Amongst all these was none his paragon.
In all this skill, though knowen yet to few; All these do flourish in their sundry kind,
Yet, were he known to Cynthia as he ought, And do their Cynthia immortal make:
His Eliseis would be read anew. Yet found I liking in her royal mind,
Who lives that can match that heroic song, Notfor my skill, but for that shepherd's sake." 17
Which he hath of that mighty Princess made? Then spake a lovely lass, hight Lucida;
O dreaded Dread,"l do not thyself that wrong, Shepherd, enough of shepherds thou hast told
To let thy fame lie so in hidden shade: Which favour thee, and honour Cynthia:
But call it forth, O call him forth to thee, But of so many nymphs which she doth hold
To end thy glory which he hath begun: In her retinue thou hast nothing said;
That, when he finish'd hath as it should be, That seems, with none of them thou favour
No braver poem can be under sun. foundest,
Nor Po nor Tiber's swans so much renown'd, Or art ungrateful to each gentle maid,
Nor all the brood of Greece so highly prais'd, That none of all their due deserts resoundest."
Can match that Muse when it with bays is "Ah, far be it," quoth Colin Clout, "from
crown'd, me,
And to the pitch of her perfection rais'd. That I of gentle maids should ill deserve!
And there is a new shepherd late upsprung, For that myself I do profess to be
The which doth all afore him far surpass; Vassal to one whom all my days I serve;
Appearing well in that well tuned song The beam of beauty sparkled from above,
Which late he sung unto a scornful lass. The flow'r of virtue and pure chastity,
Yet doth his trembling Muse but lowly fly, The blossom of sweet joy and perfect love,
As daring not too rashly mount on height, The pearl of peerless grace and modesty:
And doth her tender plumes as yet but try To her my thoughts I daily dedicate,
In love's soft lays and looser thoughts' delight. To her my heart I nightly martyrize:
Then rouse thy feathers quickly, Daniel,12 To her my love I lowly do prostrate,
And to what course thou please thyself advance: To her my life I wholly sacrifice:
But most, me seems, thy accent will excel My thought, my heart, my love, my life is she,
In tragic plaints and passionate mischance. And I hers ever only, ever one:
And there that Shepherd of the Ocean 3 is, One ever I all vowed hers to be,
That spends his wit in love's consuming smart; One ever I, and other's never none." 1
Full sweetly temper'd is that Muse of his, ThenthusMelissa said; "Thricehappy maid,
1 Abraham Fraunce, a friend of Sir Philip Sidney's, 11 Queen Elizabeth. See note 10, page 306.
who wasthe author of "The Lamentation of Corydon 12 Samuel Daniel, a poet and dramatist of considerfor the Love of Alexis," published in 1588. able reputation, who, on the death of Spenser, suc2 Sir Arthur Gorges; in honour of whose dead wife, ceeded him as Poet-Laureate.
Douglas Howard, daughter and heir of Henry Lord 13 Raleigh.
Howard, Viscount Byndon, Spenser wrote his elegy en- 14 Ferdinando, Earl of Derby, who died in April 1594,
titled "Daphnaida." In the present passage, Daphne while the poem was still in Spenser's hands.
is, of course, the deceased lady. 15 It is almost beyond doubt that under-this name
3 Probably anunpublished poem of Sir Arthur's. Spenser pays a tribute to his greater contemporary,
4 Thomas Chaloner, a pastoral poet; or- George William Shakespeare. 16 Sir Philip Sidney.
Peele, the dramatist. 5 Although. 17 Spenser owed his first introduction to Queen
6 Thomas Watson, who published in1591 a collection Elizabeth to the persuasions and good offices of his
of sonnets. visitor and travelling companion, Raleigh.
7 Thomas Churchyard, a prolific poet of the day. s1 When this was written, Spenser was probably
8 Sorrowful. 9 Feel pity. courting the lady to whom he dedicated his Sonnets,
1o William Alabaster, a scholarand poet ofthe period; and whom he had wedded-before "Colin Clout" was
his "'Eliseis" was, of course, in eulogy of the Queen. published-in June 1594.