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An' raise a din;

For me, an aim I never fash!

I rhyme for fun.

The star that rules my luckless lot,
Has fated me the russet coat,
An' damned my fortune to the groat;
But in requit,

Has blessed me wi' a random shot
O' countra wit.

BURNS.

THE MUSE.

THE Muse doth tell me where to borrow

Comfort in the midst of sorrow;
Makes the desolatest place

To her presence be a grace;
And the blackest discontents
Be her fairest ornaments.
In my former days of bliss,
Her divine skill taught me this,
That, from every thing I saw,
I could some invention draw;
And raise pleasure to her height,
Through the meanest object's sight.
By the murmur of a spring,
Or the least bough's rustling,
By a daisy, whose leaves spread,
Shut, when Titan goes to bed,
Or a shady bush, or tree,
She could more infuse in me,
Than all Nature's beauties can
In some other wiser man.
By her help, I also now
Make this churlish place allow
Some things that may sweeten glad-

ness,

In the very gall of sadness.

The dull loneness, the black shade, That these hanging vaults have made;

The strange music of the waves
Beating on these hollow caves;
This black den which rocks emboss
Overgrown with eldest moss;
The rude portals which give light
More to terror than delight
This my chamber of Neglect,
Walled about with Disrespect;
From all these, and this dull air,
A fit object for despair,
She hath taught me by her might
To draw comfort and delight.
Therefore, thou best earthly bliss,
I will cherish thee for this;

Poesy, thou sweet'st content,
That e'er Heaven to mortals lent,
Though they as a trifle leave thee,
Whose dull thoughts cannot con-
ceive thee,

Though thou be to them a scorn
Who to nought but earth are born;
Let my life no longer be

Than I am in love with thee. GEORGE WITHER.

THE POET.

AND also, beau sire, of other things,
That is, thou hasté no tidings
Of Love's folk, if they be glade,
Ne of nothing else that God made,
And not only fro far countree,
That no tidings come to thee,
Not of thy very neighbors,
That dwellen almost at thy dores,
Thou hearest neither that ne this,
For when thy labor all done is,
And hast made all thy reckonings
Instead of rest and of new things,
Thou goest home to thine house

anone,

And also dumbé as a stone, Thou sittest at another booke, Till fully dazèd is thy looke, And livest thus as an hermite.

CHAUCER.

PRAYER TO APOLLO.

GOD of science and of light,
Apollo through thy greate might,
This littell last booke now thou gie,*
Now that I will for maistrie,
Here art potenciall be shewde,
But for the rime is light and lewde,
Yet make it somewhat agreeable,
Though some verse fayle in a sillable,
And that I do no diligence,
To shewe craft, but sentence,
And if divine vertue thou
Wilt helpe me to shewe now,
That in my heed ymarked is,
Lo, that is for to meanen this,
The House of Fame for to discrive,—-
Thou shalt see me go as blive†
Unto the next laurel I see
And kisse it, for it is thy tree,
Now enter in my brest anon.

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CHAUCER.

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"Ah foole," (quod she,) "wist thou not what it is

When that I say, ocy, ocy, ywis? Then meané I that I would wonder faine

That all they were shamefully yslaine That meanen ought againé love amiss.

"And also I would that all tho were dede

That thinké not in love their life to lede,

For whoso that wol not the God of love serve,

I dare well say, he worthy is to sterve, And for that skill, ocy, ocy, I grede.' CHAUCER.

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To men as they are men within themselves.

How oft high service is performed within,

When all the external man is rude in show:

Not like a temple rich with pomp and gold,

But a mere mountain chapel that protects

Its simple worshippers from sun and shower!

Of these, said I, shall be my song; of these,

If future years mature me for the task, Will I record the praises, making verse Deal boldly with substantial things, in truth

And sanctity of passion speak of these, That justice may be done, obeisance paid

Where it is due. Thus haply shall I teach,

Inspire, through unadulterated ears Pour rapture, tenderness, and hope; my theme

No other than the very heart of man, As found among the best of those who live,

Not unexalted by religious faith, Nor uninformed by books, good books, though few,

In Nature's presence: thence may I

select

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